Gender Bias: Women Lawyers Like the Rest of Us

Just went through this at my last job. Damn those qualifiers...

"Women attorneys are criticized for being too little of this or too much of that; not confident enough or too confident; not aggressive enough or too aggressive; not ambitious enough or too ambitious. But women are seldom just right," said Ms. Luce, who also chairs the "Hidden Brain Drain," a task force that helps employers retain women.

[...]

When a woman seems uncertain, speaking softly or using qualifiers, her behavior may reinforce the belief that she is not sufficiently assertive or confident. Supervisors may even begin to question her competence, interpreting a hesitant style as questionable ability.

"My friend was told during her review [at a New York City firm] that her work was excellent but her speaking style made her sound 'unintelligent,'" said an attorney who has worked at two national firms. She explained that her friend frequently uses qualifiers and couches her statements as questions.

Killer Women's Beauty Trends

From The Guardian, just in time for Halloween, literally a scary look at torturous trends in women's fashion throughout history.

Looks pretty svelte eh?


Here's what it does to a woman's body. Gasp!

Only Way to the Truth---Torture Hastert

Just loved this novel idea put forth by Tom D'Antoni on The Huffington Post writing on the Foley ped investigation.

There's only one way to get this information. Send Foley, Hastert, Boehner, and the rest of them to Guantanamo and torture the information out of them....Habeas Corpus? Pfaff! If President Bush can waive it for Muslims, he can waive it for those who prey on our children, right?

Bush Threatens World

Bush Parody State of the Union Address…Bush to Iraq: Go Home and Die!
Every year we meet here by law and by custom to threaten the world…

Fathers' Rights media propaganda

Demand that the Orlando Sentinel and Detroit News cease running Kathleen Parker's columns.

Orlando Sentinel Columnist editor Mike Murphy
mjmurphy@orlandosentinel.com

direct ph # 407/420-5168

Murphy's Supervising editor - Manney Pynn 407/420-5715

To the Editors:

Please ban Kathleen Parker from publishing any more articles on custody litigation and fathers issues, unless she prints an apology and retraction of her recent article which included mention of Maine Governor Baldacci and Parental Alienation.

We have talked at length with Governor Baldacci's office and he was very unhappy to learn of Parker's reference to Governor Baldacci in this article:
K. Parker "Let's not alienate parents in custody... " 5/13/06/ Detroit News

The Governor's office was not aware, when a low level staff person had a recent telephone discussion with a fathers’ rights representative, that they would be endorsing Parental Alienation. The staff person was not authorized and probably did not confirm the Governor's endorsement of Parental Alienation or a special Parental Alienation Awareness day. Upon learning more about the fathers’ groups who promote Parental Alienation and Richard Gardner, they definitely do not endorse it. [Interesting to note that Baldacci's website does not have a link to the to the 4/25/06 Parental Alienation Proclamation.]

We have followed Parker's writing on the subject of the fathers’rights/custody movement for many years and find her writings to be very irresponsible, malicious and sometimes dishonest. She does not separate 'fact' from her own personal subjective opinions about the virtuousness of men, and does not check the "facts" she does use in her opinion writings.

Parker doesn't appear to be cognizant of the fact she is writing about the legal outcomes other people's court cases, when insisting that those outcomes have not been fair to the same group of people [i.e., the father's groups] which she does not disclose to her general readership that she has been closely associated with.

She continually infers that legal adversaries of her patrons have won these court cases by perjury and deceit, in addition to being malicious parents.

We are the people Parker has been slandering for years. Yet, she will not communicate with us, or cite any specific cases or court orders to support the claims she makes, or verify facts by checking the court orders. Instead, she relies solely on the word of the fathers she has been patronizing for years - and who most people in protective parent custody circles know to be a "gang" of violent sociopathic liars who have been kicked out of many Congressional offices and state legislative hearings because of their crude and threatening conduct.

The Baldacci incident is one of many such dishonest involvements on their part.

We know who these men are - they are our ex-husbands - and many of them are seriously disturbed and violent men who are organized for the sole purpose of getting revenge against the mothers of their children so they don't have pay child support. Some have even killed their own children and the mother, out of sheer vengeance, per many news reports. Parker seems oblivious to these disturbing facts and continues to represent their community as totally innocent victims of malicious mothers who lie in court to get sole custody.

Parker and her editor have the mistaken notion that her writings are 'opinions' subject to different interpretations. However, this is not just an opinion in which a party in a domestic litigation was awarded custody or ordered to pay child support. Court orders are legal facts.

Parker has been in error on this point and similar points she has been making in her columns. She wrongfully reports that the fathers as a "class" have been unjustifiable losers in custody litigation - without defining the class or citing the relevant court orders as evidence.

We know the truth, because we are the parties in that litigation and not Kathleen Parker. These are OUR court cases and not hers.

The truth is that the fathers are winning most of the issues and motions and mothers are the ones victimized by loss of all custody rights, loss of most or all contact with their children, loss of income because of unreasonable court ordered child support obligations and most importantly – we are the victims of parental alienation misconduct that the fathers complain about. It is the fathers Parker patronizes who are the parental alienators - not the mothers - because most of the litigating mothers have little contact with their children, even ones with joint custody.

The fathers have been feeding Parker a bunch of lies for years to which she has printed lock, stock, and barrel without any verification attempts.

They don't tell her (and she has shown no interest in learning)that they are in control of specialized federal HHS program funds which are used to pay their custody attorneys. They are in the business of generating domestic dispute litigation for the benefit of crooked attorneys and court evaluators. The fathers need to create a climate of fear among the prospective litigating-father community in order to pull in more business for their litigation scam. Parker's collaboration with their disinformation campaign is tantamount to collaboration in an illegal litigation solicitation scheme.

The funds being used for fathers’ cases are not authorized for these purposes, which is why several Congressional committees are reviewing the matter, in addition to high level HHS legal officials.

Parker is so self-righteous about her crusade to advance the rights of fathers, that she obviously failed or didn’t care enough to check out Richard Gardner's Parental Alienation Syndrome(PAS)- which she also mentioned in this recent column.

She apparently has never done a Google search on Richard Gardner, or she would have learned he is an incest advocate with many published statements which blatantly endorse father-child incest as a positive experience, with severe punishment for mothers who interfere. Parental Alienation is nothing more than a semi-dignified way to normalize father-child incest by preventing mothers from complaining by keeping them away from the affected children.

This is why every professional organizations involved in family and child litigation has condemned Gardner and PAS – including:

National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse

NCPCA Update Newsletter Volume 16, Number 6, 2003

NCPCA Update Newsletter Volume 16, Number 7, 2003

The NCPCA has published a double edition report saying it should not be used in court because it is harmful to children.

Yet Parker talks about Gardner and PAS in her recent column as if it were a great advance in social research whose time as come.

Parker must inform her readers that PAS is not acceptable and is harmful to children and that the fathers' rights men she patronizes are not custody court victims.

Liz Richards
nafcj.org

Save the Internet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5RQrxkGgCM

NSA spying on us & Cheney reviving cold war

Did anyone else see Cheney on the news tarring Russia for human rights' abuses? What an idiot. Who would fall for this stuff? Certainly not Putin who compared him to "Comrade Wolf."

Now, today we learn that Comrade Wolf et al. are spying on all of us. Whoa! Wonder what this will do to the Bushies' approval ratings? Or will the wingnuts keep supporting him? I've already read it on blogs..."I don't have anything to hide/ I'm a patriot, so go ahead and tap my phones!"

Meanwhile, an ex-Homeland Security aide is freed on bail and Hillary Clinton thinks Bush is charming and has charisma!

Feds Create Massive Database of Phone Calls
Companies Turn Over Domestic Records to National Security Agency
By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
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"The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
"The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
"For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
[…]
"Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
"Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide some services — primarily long-distance and wireless — to people who live in Qwest's region. Therefore, they can provide the NSA with at least some access in that area.
[…]

"The sources said the NSA made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation. AT&T, which at the time was headed by C. Michael Armstrong, agreed to help the NSA. So did BellSouth, headed by F. Duane Ackerman; SBC, headed by Ed Whitacre; and Verizon, headed by Ivan Seidenberg.

[…]

"Trying to put pressure on Qwest, NSA representatives pointedly told Qwest that it was the lone holdout among the big telecommunications companies. It also tried appealing to Qwest's patriotic side: In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested that Qwest's refusal to contribute to the database could compromise national security, one person recalled.

"In addition, the agency suggested that Qwest's foot-dragging might affect its ability to get future classified work with the government. Like other big telecommunications companies, Qwest already had classified contracts and hoped to get more.

"Unable to get comfortable with what NSA was proposing, Qwest's lawyers asked NSA to take its proposal to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused.

Robert Scheer: Hayden: The Spook in Your Phone
Michael V. Hayden, nominated by President Bush to head the CIA, is the man responsible for the most extensive attack ever on the privacy of U.S. citizens. As USA Today reveals, it was during the six years that Hayden ran the ultra-secret National Security Agency that the Feds gained access to the phone calling records of most Americans.
By cross-checking those phone record against other readily available databases, the Feds are now in a position to profile the intimate daily lives of the citizenry--providing a tool that no Big Brother could ever have dreamed of obtaining before the advent of modern telecommunications technology. Yet this assault on our freedom was never disclosed to the public, debated by our elected representatives or tested by the courts.
Most disturbing is the revelation by USA Today that leading members of Congress-- Democrats as well as Republicans--had been told of this ghastly assault on our freedom but did nothing to thwart it. They must now be held accountable. So too General Hayden, who obviously should not be trusted with running the CIA spy agency after having engineered such massive spying on the American public. As my Wednesday column, reproduced bellow indicates, there were already sufficient reasons to reject this nominee, but the latest charge dwarfs previous concerns.

Posted to the web on: 11 May 2006
Putin warns on ‘fortress America‘
Richard Balmforth

Reuters
"MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin appealed to nationalist sentiment in his annual Kremlin address yesterday, saying Russia faced growing military competition with “fortress America”, and offered financial incentives to boost Russia’s falling birthrate.
"In his seventh annual keynote address to the nation, Putin said Russia would develop a stronger army and that the US cared more about its own interests than for democracy or human rights.
"Russia, which has amassed almost $300bn in savings in the past eight years, was rearming its military to meet growing global threats as defence spending by former Cold War foes soared, Putin said.

[…]
"US-Russian relations hit their coldest moment last week when US Vice-President Dick Cheney, speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, accused Moscow of backsliding on democracy and using its vast energy resources as a tool for “intimidation and blackmail” against its neighbours.
"Putin went on to take a swipe at US foreign policy and Washington’s criticism of Russia’s human rights record. He said Washington’s commitment to human rights was secondary to US national interests.
“We see what’s happening in the world. As the saying goes, comrade wolf knows who to eat and he eats without listening to others,” he said.
"US President George Bush, due to meet Putin in St Petersburg in July at a Group of Eight summit, stepped in to the fray, telling a German newspaper recently that Russia was sending mixed signals on democracy.
"Turning to Iran, Putin sidestepped open criticism and issued a veiled warning to Washington not to take military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/04/dhs.sex.charge/index.html
Ex-Homeland Security aide freed on bail
Official to return to Maryland after hearing on child sex charges
Thursday, May 4, 2006; Posted: 4:18 p.m. EDT (20:18 GMT)
Defense attorney Barry Helfand said Doyle will return to his home in Maryland to be examined by two psychiatrists who specialize in sexual dysfunctions.
Helfand said Doyle remains "very depressed" since his April 4 arrest at his Silver Spring, Maryland, home as he allegedly communicated with a Polk County detective posing on the Internet as a 14-year-old girl. (Full story)
The detective, Sandy Scherer, testified during Thursday's hearing that authorities moved quickly on arresting Doyle because of his position and high security clearance. She also said that Doyle indicated he had spoken to other

Hillary Clinton Says Bush Has Charm and Charisma
By DEVLIN BARRETT, AP
"He is someone who has a lot of charm and charisma, and I think in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I was very grateful to him for his support for New York," Clinton said Tuesday night during a talk at the National Archives about her life in politics.
"Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said that despite their "many disagreements about many, many issues," she has always had a good personal relationship with the president."

Where's the JQC when 'ya need them?

"I get real excited about things because I see myself as a conductor or an actor, and I realize that it's very powerful."
-- T. Jackson Bedford, Atlanta lawyer in a three-attorney firm

Verdict is in: Fulton judge way over line
Bob Barr - For the Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

"The recent incident in Fulton County Superior Court when Judge T. Jackson Bedford ordered District Attorney Paul Howard handcuffed and detained in a holding cell is not only unseemly and bordering on bizarre, but also highly corrosive of the respect for the law and for our judicial process that is essential to the proper functioning of civil society.
[...]
"The roots of the dispute between the judge and the DA go back even before January, when Bedford suppressed an incriminating statement by a defendant charged with a violent murder over the objections of the assistant district attorney trying the case on Howard's behalf. The judge, in refusing to allow the DA's office to appeal his ruling (as is allowed), berated Howard for questioning the court's decision. The defendant was subsequently acquitted.
[...]
"Discussing a case with jurors, especially a case you've lost, is a long-standing and common practice in courtrooms throughout Georgia and across the United States. Indeed, for a district attorney who has just lost a case --- especially one that will be followed by others involving the same defendant --- not to seek insights from such a jury would be highly irresponsible.
"Yet, apparently based on prior bad blood between these two elected officials, Bedford tried to prohibit the district attorney himself from speaking with jurors, insisting that only the assistant district attorney who actually tried the case could do so.
"While a judge, based on sound rules of procedures as well as common sense, is responsible for the proper administration of all official proceedings in his or her courtroom, there are --- or ought to be --- limits to such power.
[...]
"Employing the power of sheriff's deputies to forcibly handcuff and detain an elected district attorney for doing nothing more than what he not only is allowed to do, but essentially is obligated to do, raises serious questions about personal judicial power that truly must be addressed by higher and more temperate authorities. (Furthermore, deputies' allegiance ought to be to the system of ensuring order and safety in the courtroom, not to a judge who seeks to use them as personal Praetorian Guards.)
"Although Bedford apparently has enlisted the public support of at least one former judge to defend his actions and to explain publicly that a judge's power to control everything that takes place in "their" courtroom is absolute, those tasked with addressing the fallout from this latest incident probably will take a more learned and reasonable approach."
Former congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta. Web site: www.bobbarr.org.

Judge reverses his decision to arrest Fulton DA

By RHONDA COOK and BILL MONTGOMERY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/28/06
"The arrest warrants against Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard were stayed, less than 24 hours after a Douglas County judge signed the papers allowing a deputy to move forward with her attempts to have the prosecutor face criminal charges for a courtroom altercation.
"Former Gov. Roy Barnes, one of Howard's lawyers, confirmed that Douglas County Judge David Emerson had reversed himself.
[...]
"Barnes called the issuing of the warrants "outrageous" and accused the deputy, Levoular McCray, and her lawyer, Dennis Scheib, of "judge shopping."
"I've never heard of anybody arresting a district attorney in my 35 years of practicing law," Barnes said."

Opening the Mind's Eye
With clients demanding more and competitors cutting in on lawyers' turf, any practice can thrive by dumping rote thinking and getting creative
By Steven Keeva
"A Houston law firm with a nonhierarchical structure constantly reinvents firm processes, making change the firm's lodestar. The firm operates under the principle that doing work and learning to do it better can be one and the same thing, and that they must happen simultaneously. For example, the firm recently completed a case that required six months of relentless work, ending in trial. As the case was concluding, the lead attorney asked all the lawyers involved to spend billable time reflecting on how they worked and what could have been done better. Rather than doing a post-mortem, the emphasis was on getting the freshest possible perspective by looking at the work while it was still in progress.
[...]
"As a springboard for discussing a problem, Couger copies a page from an encyclopedia and distributes it. "For example, we were looking at the problem of meeting project deadlines, something every company has wrestled with over the years. I copied an entry on ant colonies and how they are established and organized, and how the ants keep them going successfully," he says. "Then I tried to do a direct translation to the problem at hand: Does the way ants do this lend any insight into how we might tackle the problem? I usually borrow from nature as my starting point."

"I get real excited about things because I see myself as a conductor or an actor, and I realize that it's very powerful."
T. Jackson Bedford
Atlanta lawyer in a three-attorney firm

"UCLA law Professor Gary Blasi, who is known as a creative lawyer himself, is currently doing research on creativity in public interest law. Some of his suggestions are valid for any kind of practice:
* Think about what tools you have, then try using them. Earl Rogers, a well-known lawyer in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles, was astute enough to realize he had a powerful tool in the unjaded mind of his 8-year-old daughter, who often accompanied him to court. Sometimes her "child sight," as he called it, suggested solutions that his adult, legally trained mind consistently overlooked.
* Develop the habit of running through several different perspectives. "It doesn't take long to say, 'What would an economist say about that? What would a doctor say? What would a single mother on welfare say? It can be liberating to bor-row someone else's prism and look at the world through that for a while."
* In meetings, make sure people are not afraid to express ideas, even off-the-wall ideas. Some big organizations, Blasi says, develop the antithesis of an idea-friendly culture. In the end, they pay for it. [emphasis added]
* Read broadly. "My experience is that everything helps." For example, reading literary criticism on what makes a good story or what makes a detail more compelling can help a trial lawyer structure an argument.
* Resist the temptation to seize immediately on what you already know. Don't just accept the way a client frames a situation or the interpretation your own experience superimposes on it. Look for other possibilities.
* Keep in mind that anything can be questioned and reconsidered for a more creative approach. "Why didn't I offer that client coffee when she came in?" is a worthwhile question.

On monstersandcritics.com's Water Cooler Stories, "Terry Sullivan, the jury foreman, described the scene as 'two stubborn mules.'"

And on ajc.com:

"State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Bozman and Michael Langford of the United Youth and Adult Council said Monday they planned to file a complaint against Bedford with the state Judicial Qualification Commission.
"We're concerned that Judge Bedford's actions in putting Paul Howard in custody [were] excessive. It just seems something could have been done so that the situation didn't get to that point," Fort said.
"Fortunately, Judge Bedford isn't taking any of this personally," Brogdon said."

Trash Talk Culminates in Judge's Recusal
"Bedford appointed Thomas' co-counsel Thomas M. West, but he denied Thomas' petition. Bedford said in a prepared statement that his decision was "prompted by what I believed to be unfounded and unprofessional derogatory comments that he made about me in the Daily Report several years ago." Bedford said he was afraid Thomas' attitude might affect his conduct in his courtroom."

White justice treats all Blacks equally
by ALTON H. MADDOX JR.
Originally posted 4/5/2006

"Can you imagine any judge in New York ordering court officers to handcuff Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and put him in a holding pen with murderers and rapists for legally discussing an acquittal with a willing jury after it had rendered its verdict? No.
"This happened to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard in Atlanta. Howard is Black. The judge, T. Jackson Bedford, Jr., is white. Howard replaced legendary District Attorney Lewis Slaton, who was able to nail Wayne Williams on questionable, voodoo evidence for the ''Atlanta Child Murders.''

Superior Court, Fulton County, GA
The Atlanta Constitution
12-04-1997
"Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford gave Casey Carpenter an unusual sentence, to say the least. Instead of the 15-year prison term Carpenter could have gotten for vehicular homicide, Bedford ordered an 11-year probation with conditions including no rock concerts or football games, period, and no dating or marriage unless the judge gives his permission."

Abdullah Boortz & The Pentagon Club

Does Boortz give cover to terrorists?

"I pulled records from PDK and found that on one day alone, about half the flights were "unknown." The last time I'd written about general aviation airports was in Miami -- where private planes formed the Drug Runners Squadron. I've sat on my sailboat in the Keys and watched smugglers toss "square grouper" from their planes as cops chased them." -- John Sugg

Mixing booze and big 'unknown'planes at Peachtree DeKalb Airport

"Here's the scoop "In 1992, a squadron of partying private pilots who buzz in and out of PDK landed a cushy deal. For $250 a month, they rented the old control tower at PDK and converted it into the mucho private Pentagon Club."

Hooray for Feminista! For outing Wendy McElroy, the faux feminist at ifeminists.com, which is a project of the Independent Institute and a contributor for Intellectual Conservative. Here’s what she has to say about Castle Rock v. Gonzales:

"Responsible adults—both male and female—have both a right and a need to defend themselves and their families, with lethal force if necessary. If DV advocates had focused on putting a gun in Jessica’s hand and training her to use it, then the three Gonzales children might still be alive."

So now Betty Friedan is a communist?

A Different Look at Betty Friedan’s Legacy by Wendy McElroy

McElroy has a nasty habit of attacking mothers who have lost custody of their children to abusive fathers. When California NOW released a study on women who lost in California family courts, McElroy had absolutely no sympathy for them and refused to look at evidence including court and medical records accumulated by CA NOW and by the National Alliance for Family Court Justice (NAFCJ). She simply did NOT want to see the documentation. She went on a rampage accusing all of us as being liars. She then had the audacity,"waiving her usual fee, asking only for expenses" to write that she accepted the challenge.

"McElroy is right, this is news, not a university study. I challenge her as
a "feminist" to sit in a room with the hundreds of women who have had their
rights to contact with their children denied on the whim of a sexist judge,
or tried desperately to get her child out of the home of a man who has been
sexually molesting that child, or who has had her teenage son commit suicide
rather than go live with his father, and tell them their stories don’t
count." -- Rachel Allen

And here's McElroy's pot calling the kettle black, as if she doesn't work for an advocacy group with a vested interest:

"My column clearly stated that data is not invalidated by being advanced by an advocacy group. But when reports and studies are released by those with a vested interest in reaching certain conclusions, the data should receive extra scrutiny. To quote the column, "Although CANOW’s self-description as a ’political action organization’ does not invalidate the report, it should raise red flags emblazoned ’extra scrutiny required.’"

In her Put UP or Shut Up column for Fox News, she admits that she didn't bother to look at documents supporting abuse allegations. All she wants us to do is shut up!

"In another e-mail — Ms. Pierce also makes serious accusations against an individual by name. It is time for PC feminists to prove their concern by going public with solid proof of criminal activity against children and women — not merely allegations.

"If NAFJC and NOW care about abused women and children, they will publicize whatever hard evidence they hold in their hands. Let the "facts" be aired and not just alleged in what appears to be a cowardly attempt to destroy the reputations and lives of people who disagree."

More from Feminista! On how war is not just murder it’s also rape. Literally. Get this:

“'90 per cent of war casualties are civilians, 80 per cent of which are children,' claimed leading women's rights advocate, and member of the Women's National Commission in England, Indira Partel claimed earlier this year. Partel also claimed there is evidence of 'women being used as deliberate targets of war,' for 'sexual torture', specifically in order to attack the 'honor and culture' of the men belonging to that society(1). Sexual exploitation/slavery, rape and violence against women is a defining feature of any war, and a means for feminizing/degrading the enemy. Women in many cultures are often viewed as a possession of men, and attacking this possession is like attacking men, raping these women is seen to be raping and effeminizing men.”

And this:

“Hatred of women and what is seen to be traditionally feminine often characterizes most military training. In 1978 radical feminist Mary Daly quoted George Gilder on training in the U.S. military corps- 'When you want to create a solidary group of male killers, that is what you do, you kill the women in them,' and that 'the female anatomy provides a rich field of metaphor for every degradation,' and that despised men are those that are seen to be 'feminine and individual.'”

Cynthia McKinney and Selective Prosecution

“[The Senators and Representatives] shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same;
“Commenter Gunner brought that one to our attention. Now, one of us went to Law School, and the other one used to see Law & Order cast members around town, so we know our Constitution. Initially, we read it the same way as Gunner — Rep. McKinney was ABOVE THE LAW. But once our lawyer half busted out his pocket constitution, desperately tried to remember 1st year Con Law, and eventually gave up and called someone who knew, we figured that that provision (called the Speech and Debate Clause) does not give a Representative immunity. The important bit comes later, about how Reps “shall not be questioned in any other Place” about speech on the floor. So, in other words, Cynthia can still be booked by the po-po, as long as she’s not on her way to or from a House session (stay at your desk! Don’t leave the floor!).
“Oh well. We still think she’s awesome.”


“I like my congresswoman, so leave her alone. She has the courage to speak truth to power and hasn't gotten into any truly revolting trouble. At least Cynthia McKinney stood in opposition to a runaway administration. Last time I checked, she certainly didn't start an ill-advised war that has led to the deaths of 2,400 military personnel.”
DERRICK LYLE COLEMAN, Decatur
What? No taser?
“I agree with Rep. Cynthia McKinney. The Capitol Hill police officer acted improperly. After he was assaulted, he should have subdued her with a taser gun or flattened her to the ground before leading her away in handcuffs --- just like any other reasonable citizen would expect to be treated.”
PAT FANTIS, Marietta
Whites don't see blacks as equals
“I moved into my present neighborhood in 1987. During the first four to five years, when I was out mowing my lawn, whites driving by would stop to ask me what I would charge them to do their lawns. Apparently, it never occurred to them that I was mowing my own lawn. One day, I was fed up and really gave the next guy who asked a good piece of my mind, profanity and all.
I have been a guest at five-star hotels and had whites ask me for directions to their rooms. I have entered corporate meetings and been asked to replenish their coffee or a pitcher of water. While attending a conference at a major hotel, I have even had other hotel guests ask me to get their bags out of their car. Apparently it doesn't matter how I am dressed; I am never perceived as an equal. It just makes me wanna holler!”
HANK THOMAS, Stone Mountain
Arresting question
“Why is there an arrest warrant being issued for Cynthia McKinney for "assaulting" a security guard by snatching her arm out of his hands, but ol' Dick Cheney was actually hunting without a valid hunting license (since hunting season was over) and shot a man, without any repercussions whatsoever? Boy, I know what I want to come back as in my next life.”


by Rep. Cynthia McKinney
[This is a transcript of Rep. McKinney's remarks on September 14 at the reception for the Congressional Black Caucus.]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/31/mckinney.police/

The Red Burka for a Red America

The Red Burka for a Red America, from the Tennessee Guerilla Women, and it’s coming to Georgia soon…

Fathers Rights myths

Fathers Rights myths blown apart… So there!  Thank Goddess that there are people out there that don’t fall for their b.s….
 
Our family mythsStaffSunday, March 26, 2006
Families have never been perfect, says Stephanie Coontz, author and director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families in Chicago.
Yet many of us still perpetuate the myths, says Coontz, one of several family scholars scheduled to speak at a free public conference Thursday and Friday at Emory University.
In a different place, in a different time --- we believe --- we were closer, kinder, more organized and self-sufficient. Truth, however, tends to be air-brushed with time.
And Coontz --- who cites seven key family myths --- hopes that parents will re-evaluate what they see in their own homes against a more accurate portrait of life through the ages.
1. Families used to be harmonious and stable until modern individualism undermined their solidarity.
For most of history, families looked stable from the outside because the husband and father controlled all the property and could enforce his will through physical violence. Even after wife and child abuse became illegal, most states had "Head and Master Laws" until the 1970s [emphasis added], giving husbands the final say over many family decisions.
2. Parents today don't sacrifice for their kids or spend the kind of time with them that parents did in the past.
Families didn't use to save up to send their kids to school. They pulled their children out of school to work for the family. Most mothers and fathers today --- even in two-earner families --- spend more time with their kids and invest more in their education than ever before.
3. Couples don't work at their relationship the way they used to.
For thousands of years, marriage wasn't about love but about raising capital, sealing business deals or military alliances, expanding the family labor force, and reinforcing male authority [emphasis added]. It was only 200 years ago that we invented the radical idea of marrying for love. Today a marriage that works can be fairer, more intimate and more loving than most couples of the past ever dared to dream.
4. The male-breadwinner family was the traditional model.
Until the 20th century, most wives not only brought home half the bacon but also raised the pig, helped butcher it and took it to market. It wasn't until the 1920s that a bare majority of kids grew up in a home where the wife wasn't working beside her husband in a farm or business and the kids were at school instead of working on farms or in factories. That family faded during the Depression and World War II, made a comeback in the '50s, but was a minority again by the end of the 1970s.
5. People are much more tolerant of nonmarital sex.
Premarital sex is much more accepted than in the past, but disapproval of coerced sex and underage sex is much higher than it used to be. Until the 1880s, the age of consent for girls was 10, 11 or 12 in most states --- 7 in Delaware. Marital rape was not considered a crime until the 1980s [emphasis added]. And the percentage of people who believe it is OK to be sexually unfaithful in a marriage has fallen over the past 40 years.
6. Divorce rates began to rise only after the 1950s.
Conservative myth: Divorce rates started rising because of the cultural revolution of the 1960s.
Liberal myth: Divorce rates were a result of the economic stress on families that began during the 1980s.
Rising divorce rates were an instant side effect of the growing emphasis on married love. As soon as people began to marry for love, they began to demand the right to leave a marriage that felt loveless [emphasis added].
7. Traditional families always "stood on their own two feet" and never needed help from the government.
In the 1950s, 40 percent of young men starting families were eligible for veterans' benefits. Thousands of working-class men got an education or training for middle-class jobs and were able to buy homes because of those benefits. Plus, the government paid 90 percent of the costs of massive highway projects that opened up suburbia to home buyers and provided blue-collar workers with jobs that paid a family wage. Today's families receive far less government support, even though job security and real wages are falling.
Source: Stephanie Coontz, professor of history and family studies at Evergreen State College and director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families
Single Fathers

Scott Coltrane
In both single-father and two-parent families, American men are taking more responsibility for the daily aspects of parenting and housework, but they still have a long way to go.
In the majority of two-parent families, fathers and mothers still perform different tasks (mothers cook, clean, wash, shop, and do child care; fathers take out the trash, mow the lawn, and sometimes play with the kids). In single father households, in contrast, men's family work looks a lot like women's. Parenting requires on-the-job training, and a growing number of single fathers are proving that they can do the job. The challenge ahead is for fathers in two-parent families to follow their lead.
ON THE NUMBERS:From 1990 to 2000, the increase in the number of single mothers was more than double the increase in the number of single fathers. The percentage increase for single moms (about 20%) sounds less than the 62% for single dads, but 6 of 7 single parents are still mothers. We have seen an increase in single fatherhood because fathers are more likely to be awarded custody by the courts and because it is culturally more acceptable for men to do the job [emphasis added]. The increase seems large because there were so few children living with single fathers in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s (1.5, 1.3, and 1.1 % of all children respectively) . It was not until the 1980s that the proportion of children living with single fathers surpassed the levels common in the earlier part of the twentieth century (2.5-2.8% from 1890-1940s; 3.1% in 1990, 2.6% in 1996. from CPS and SIPP data on internet). The 1998 CPS data shows an even bigger jump (to 4.4%, with a total of 2.1 million single fathers).
How the pro-marriage movement harms children and families: It is naive to believe our society could legally privilege married couples without simultaneously treating unmarried people like second-class citizens. For instance, denying health insurance to domestic partners will force one parent in an unmarried partner farnily to buy expensive individual insurance (resulting in fewer financial resource available for child-related expenses) or go uninsured (increasing the risk that the child will experience the serious illness or death of a parent). Given the growing millions of children and adults living in families that are not defined by marriage, it is essential for policies to recognize the existence of these families in treat them fairly.
Mixed Messages on Marriage -- by Frank FurstenbergFifty years ago, the overwhelming majority of Americansbelieved that anyone who wasn't married by their early 20swas an immature neurotic who would never achieve asuccessful adult existence. Today, according to a pollsponsored by the Network on Adult Transitions funded by theMacArthur Foundation, half of all Americans believe that onecan become a mature, responsible adult withoutmarrying. Many people have ceased to believe that marriageis even essential for its age-old purpose of havingchildren. More than a third of first births in America nowoccur out of wedlock.   Belief in the necessity of marriage has declined for allage groups and in every region of the country. Theonly groups that have substantially increased their supportfor the institution of marriage over the past three decadesare gays and lesbians.   Ironically, however, federal policy is now focused on tryingto promote marriage for individuals hesitant to wedwhile moving to permanently deny marriage to gays andlesbians so eager to take their vows that they travelhalfway across the country and stand in line for days. TheBush Administration has committed $1.5 billion to promotemarriage for low-income heterosexuals, and who-knows-howmuch in the effort to pass a constitutional amendmentbarring gay couples from marriage.[...]
For heterosexuals, the President's marriage program islargely about persuading low-income people that they wouldbe better off if they got married. But most low-incomepeople already agree that marriage is a desirablestate. They hesitate to marry for practical reasons, becausethey and/or their partners may not be able to support afamily. They believe -- and social science backs them up --that a stable marriage requires stable employment withdecent wages for both partners. Yet there is nothing in theadministration's proposal to help young people cope with thestresses of working minimum-wage jobs with no benefits, orprovide them with the educational opportunities that are thekey to a secure future in modern America.[...]
 Forty percent of American marriages, demographersestimate, will end in divorce. And research shows that ratesof marital conflict and divorce are even higher than thisamong couples under economic stress. Even if theAdministration is successful in achieving its goal ofgetting more people to marry, their accomplishment mighthave a perverse effect: driving up the divorce rate. Manyfamily scholars predict this outcome unless couples get morehelp from a government that has become stingier and stingierwith its support for fledgling families.
[...]
  Paradoxically, conservatives may win the battle overexcluding gays from marriage while losing the war becausemore young people may simply find marriage less relevant tothem. If marriage is no longer "cool," then all the hotrhetoric issued by politicians who give lip service to theideal of marriage but do nothing to help people actuallyconstruct stable relationships, will have been for naught.   Media Contact: Frank Furstenberg, fff@sas.upenn.edu

BushClintonBushClinton

Bush, Clinton, Bush Clinton and Zell Miller will speak at the next Democratic convention….
Is there a new member of the Bush family?
Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:01 PM GMT(image placeholder)
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the Democratic former president is like a member of the family.
[…]
“He said ex-presidents share rare experiences that others cannot understand. "And so I can understand why ex-presidents are able to put aside old differences," he said.
“Bush said he checked in with Clinton occasionally.
"And you know, he says things that makes it obvious -- that makes it obvious to me that we're kind of, you know, on the same wavelength about the job of the presidency. Makes sense, after all, there's this kind of commonality," he said.
“Bush jokingly referred to speculation that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former president's wife, will seek the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He had earlier referred to the former first lady as "formidable."
"Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton," he said, referring to how Bill Clinton had followed his father, and Hillary Clinton could follow him.”

President Jonah

President Jonah
A Dig led by Gore Vidal on truthdig.com
“Finally, we shouldn’t be surprised at the antipathy toward democracy displayed by the Bush administration…. As already noted, fundamentalism and democracy are completely antithetical. The opposite of the Enlightenment, of course, is tribalism, groupthink; and more and more, this is the direction in which the United States is going…. Anthony Lewis who worked as a columnist for the New York Times for thirty-two years, observes that what has happened in the wake of 9/11 is not just the threatening of the rights of a few detainees, but the undermining of the very foundation of democracy. Detention without trial, denial of access to attorneys, years of interrogation in isolation—these are now standard American practice, and most Americans don’t care. Nor did they care about the revelation in July 2004 (reported in Newsweek), that for several months the White House and the Department of Justice had been discussing the feasibility of canceling the upcoming presidential election in the event of a possible terrorist attack.” I suspect that the technologically inclined prevailed against that extreme measure on the ground that the newly installed electronic ballot machines could be so calibrated that Bush would win handily no matter what (read Rep. Conyers’ report (.pdf file) on the rigging of Ohio’s vote).”

Al Gore on Media & Democracy

Al Gore on The Threat to American Democracy, "The subjugation of news by entertainment seriously harms our democracy: it leads to dysfunctional journalism that fails to inform the people."

[...]

"The news divisions - which used to be seen as serving a public interest and were subsidized by the rest of the network - are now seen as profit centers designed to generate revenue and, more importantly, to advance the larger agenda of the corporation of which they are a small part. They have fewer reporters, fewer stories, smaller budgets, less travel, fewer bureaus, less independent judgment, more vulnerability to influence by management, and more dependence on government sources and canned public relations hand-outs. This tragedy is compounded by the ironic fact that this generation of journalists is the best trained and most highly skilled in the history of their profession. But they are usually not allowed to do the job they have been trained to do.

"The present executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations: from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. They placed a former male escort in the White House press pool to pose as a reporter - and then called upon him to give the president a hand at crucial moments. They paid actors to make make phony video press releases and paid cash to some reporters who were willing to take it in return for positive stories. And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President."

Harriet Miers SCOTUS

Take that SCOTUS!

http://harrietmiers.blogspot.com/

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5651534.html

"George W. Bush has just rung the death knell for his presidency.

"For the Supreme Court of the United States, a president under fire for cronyism has chosen the ultimate crony.

"For the highest court in the land, a president criticized for a lack of gravitas has chosen a woman whom the president's own former speechwriter describes as "a taut, nervous, anxious personality."

[...]

"Bush once described Miers as "a pit bull in size 6 shoes." It's worth remembering that many are the dog owners who rue the day they unleashed their favorite pit bulls."

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002383.html

"But she [Miers] does know better than just about anyone else where the bodies are buried (relax, it's a just a metaphor...we hope) in President Bush's National Guard scandal. In fact, Bush's Texas gubenatorial campaign in 1998 (when he was starting to eye the White House) actually paid Miers $19,000 to run an internal pre-emptive probe of the potential scandal. Not long after, a since-settled lawsuit alleged that the Texas Lottery Commission -- while chaired by Bush appointee Miers -- played a role in a multi-million dollar cover-up of the scandal.

[...]

"In 1997, Barnes was abruptly fired by Gtech. That's a bad thing, right? Well, on the other hand, they also gave him a $23 million severance payment. A short time later, Gtech -- despite the ongoing scandals -- got its contract renewed over two lower bidders. A former executive director thought the whole thing stunk:

"The suit involving Barnes was brought by former Texas lottery director Lawrence Littwin, who was fired by the state lottery commission, headed by Bush appointee Harriet Miers, in October 1997 after five months on the job. It contends that Gtech Corp., which runs the state lottery and until February 1997 employed Barnes as a lobbyist for more than $3 million a year, was responsible for Littwin's dismissal.

"Littwin's lawyers have suggested in court filings that Gtech was allowed to keep the lottery contract, which Littwin wanted to open up to competitive bidding, in return for Barnes's silence about Bush's entry into the Guard."

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=306

Miers is linked to a Bush's Guard Records/Texas Lottery/GTech Scandal:

Democrats Oppose Gonzales

"Alberto Gonzales was recommended to Bush as counsel in the Texas Governorship by Harriet Miers, who has replaced Gonzales as White House counsel. Referred to by Bush as a "pit bull in size 6 shoes'', Miers is a former President of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell and former chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission. Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell have given at least $65,000 to Bush campaigns and are major backers of tort reform. One case involved a unique law - passed under former Gov. George Bush - that blocked Texas consumers from recovering $6 billion in overcharges on car loans and allowed dealers to keep kickbacks secret. Two consumer groups have called on the Texas Legislature to repeal it. Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell were defendants of the litigation, which included auto dealers in Texas. Miers was also Chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and responsible for a chain of events involving GTech, which ran the Texas Lottery, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, and accusations of kick-backs and illegal contracts. Yes, that Ben Barnes, who says he helped George Bush get into the National Guard. His original deposition on that subject was given in 1999, during this Texas Lottery Commission investigation, and has been permanently sealed."

http://www.chompy.net/blogs/sarah/archives/003052.html

"It's worth noting that the Texas Lottery Commission was formerly mismanaged by the current White House Counsel, Harriet Miers during the interesting era when the Commission contracted with a firm called GTech:

"By 1998, Barnes was on top again, as a millionaire lobbyist working for GTech, the company operating public lotteries in 37 states. But lottery revenues were plummeting, and lottery-commission chair Harriet Miers (who was also Bush’s personal lawyer and once was paid $19,000 to look into the National Guard story for a gubernatorial campaign) re-bid GTech’s contract. GTech sued, threatened to shut down the Texas lottery for a year, and hired a new lobbyist — after providing Barnes a $23 million severance package. Miers fired one lottery director who sued and settled. Then the second lottery director fired by Miers filed suit. He claimed he was taking the fall for GTech, which, he alleged, kept its contract and bought out Barnes because he had the story on Bush.

”naturally, has his own interesting connections to gambling:

"George W. Bush gave the nation's gambling industry plenty of reason to fear his presidency. He moved to shut down an Indian-run casino while governor of Texas. He declared in a widely circulated state report that ''Casino gambling is not OK. It has ruined the lives of too many adults, and it can do the same thing to our children." He wooed religious conservatives by boasting in a presidential debate about his ''strong antigambling record."

”But as president, Bush has not spoken out against gambling. After promising not to take money from gambling interests, Bush's campaign fund accepted large contributions from gambling-related sources. His 2001 inaugural committee raised at least $300,000 from gambling interests, including gifts from MGM/Mirage, Sands, and a leading slot-machine maker. Bush later appeared at a Las Vegas casino for a fund-raiser for his reelection campaign.

“In fact, according to the Boston Globe, President Bush "met with Indian gaming leaders at the White House in annual sessions over a four-year period that were arranged by antitax crusader Grover Norquist...

”...in some cases after tribes contributed to Norquist's organization." Mr. Norquist, whose organization "received $1.5 million from tribes and fought a tax on Indian casinos" is under investigation by the Senate and Justice Department along with his friends Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition director (who "allegedly used some money from Indian gaming tribes to fund his efforts to close down rival casinos and lotteries" and served as Southeast regional chairman to the Bush re-election campaign) and Jack Abramoff, "a top Bush fund-raiser who earned millions of dollars in fees as a consultant to gaming tribes." Mr. Abramoff, of course, is one of the "closest and dearest friends" of House majority leader Tom DeLay, who has said he is strongly antigambling yet has drawn media scrutiny because of his opposition to an Indian gaming tax.



http://www.wotisitgood4.blogspot.com/
"It's important to recognize, finally, what Karl Rove and the Bush administration, with the help of the modern Republican apparatus under Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed is all about. They are building a political machine, not a political movement. I find it very amusing that the right wing "intellectuals," from their ivory tower think tanks and millionaire supported sinecures at political magazines, have still failed to recognize that."

More from Georgia 10 blogspot:
http://g10.blogspot.com/

Georgia/Texas GTech connection, and don't forget that Georgia Lottery Services, Inc. is on the state vendor list for Diebold evoting machine contracts:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_12_31/ai_58170287 "In Georgia, Lottery Director Rebecca Paul called a closed-door session with the company when Gtech's bid came in $50 million above the low bidder. After Gtech agreed to drop its price by just $23 million, Paul inked the deal. Did Paul cut Gtech a break because she was offered a job? Probably not, but she certainly knows that the company takes good care of lottery directors who show it consideration."

[...]

"Other prominent Gtech lobbyists have included William Daley (now secretary of commerce) and William Broadhurst, an extremely close political advisor to the governor of Louisiana when Gtech was fighting for that state's contract. Broadhurst, of course, first came to the public's attention when he chartered the "Monkey Business" and introduced Donna Rice to his close friend Gary Hart. Hubert Plummer, the former president of one of Gtech's competitors famously once said, "We'd go out to dinner with the lottery director and find that Gtech had hired a yacht and taken out the whole goddamn legislature."

"But if many of the company's critics are to be believed, Gtech doesn't just buy and schmooze with people, it intimidates them--charges that Gtech emphatically denies. When Bruce Mayberry, the Arizona lottery director in 1993 (now an employee of one of Gtech's competitors) got into a dispute with the company, he soon found a crate of rotten mutton on his doorstep with a note attached: "Enjoy" A gruff Gtech spokesman explained that the meat was, of course, a goodwill present gone bad through a combination of Arizona heat and DHL's slow service. As he said later in a terse interview, "It's a rough business." Indeed.

[...]

"An aide to Henry Hyde was covertly offered $10 million by Primadonna Resorts (see Memo of the Month) in return for landing them a casino license in Illinois; the plan was only foiled when a man chasing an unrelated conspiracy theory stumbled upon the critical files in a trash can. Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) unabashedly admits that he owes his career to gambling interests; Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) is deeply involved in the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) that, according to the non-profit watchdog Public Citizen, received $1.26 million from the gambling industry in 1997-98. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the man commanding the jihad against campaign finance reform, has raised at least $1 million for the GOP in the last three years from the gambling industry.

[...]

"State lotteries spend more than half a billion dollars a year on advertising on television, radio, posters, and in any other rewarding medium. The Maryland state lottery, for example, bought well over $1 million worth of ads with major television stations in the first nine months of 1999. As with all media advertising, there is scant direct proof that the purchases influence coverage, but commercial television producers know where every dollar their station or network gets comes from.

[...]

"Unfortunately, the propaganda is getting through to Americans. According to a July 1999 poll by the Consumers Federation of America and Primericam, 27 percent of Americans believe that winning the lottery is their "best chance to obtain half a million dollars or more in [their] lifetime." This is a grim statistic which would surely change if states were to cancel their lottery ads and instead publicize the wonders of compound interest: $50 invested weekly with a 9 percent return would yield over $1 million in 40 years.

http://tennessean.com/special/lottery/archives/04/03/41139723.shtml?Element_ID=41139723

"When Georgia lottery officials requested proposals for a contract to run online games — games in which players choose numbers for a future drawing — two companies responded. GTECH of West Greenwich, R.I., offered to do the job for 3.4% of gross ticket sales; New Jersey-based Automated Wagering International asked for 2.25%.

"Paul negotiated with GTECH, and the company subsequently lowered its bid to 2.99% of sales. Paul told The Tennessean that she talked to GTECH about reducing its bid ''to save money for scholarships.''
"But even after the negotiations, GTECH's services looked to cost up to $6 million a year more than AWI's, based on sales projections.

"GTECH got the deal, however, as lottery board members explained that they were more confident in the company's ability to start the games on time, which they said would make up part of the difference in cost.
"AWI officials said they were never asked if they could meet the same deadline. They protested the decision, claiming Paul was biased.

"Paul had told lottery employees who were evaluating the bids of problems with AWI's performance in Florida when she worked there, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. But Florida's lottery renewed its contract with AWI in 1992, two years after Paul was fired.

"During a hearing on the protest, AWI attorney Richard Sinkfield produced notes that showed Paul had said in a meeting with GTECH that the ''huge difference'' in the bids ''needs to be addressed and justified.''

"Jack P. Etheridge, a former judge who heard the protest, said the lottery's decision to go with GTECH was appropriate.

"He ruled in May 1993 that the quasi-governmental Georgia Lottery Corp. could hire a higher bidder if that vendor offered ''a decidedly better product given the relevant specifications.''

"A Fulton County Superior Court judge upheld the ruling a year later, and AWI dropped the case.

"Sinkfield said a confidentiality agreement prevented him from talking about the case now."

http://tennessean.com/special/lottery/archives/03/10/41113020.shtml

"Massachusetts returned $140 per capita in proceeds to the state in 2002, compared with $86 per capita in Georgia, Tennessean calculations show.

''We have the highest payout structure in the industry and we think that contributes to our success,'' said Joseph C. Sullivan, the new executive director of the Massachusetts lottery.

Lest we forget, from the AJC Stacks, Zell backs Bill, now Zell backs Bush…

SPECIAL REPORT: Helping out in political fund-raising: Miller, GTECH affiliate came to Clinton's aid

"This is a sidebar to a Special Report on Georgia Lottery funds and where they're going.

"Early in 1992, Bill Clinton's quest for the presidency was threatened by news reports that he had dodged the draft and cheated on his wife.

"Amid speculation that Clinton might quit the race for the Democratic nomination, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller came to his aid, along with a company called Integrated Strategies of Georgia.

"The teamwork illustrated how private companies that lobby for public contracts can be involved in political campaigns, sometimes by giving cash but often in more subtle ways.

"Miller helped line up supporters for a $500-a-head luncheon in Atlanta that raised more than $42,000 for Clinton's faltering campaign. A staffer in Miller's office reserved the Fireplace Room in a state-owned building near the Capitol for the luncheon, held Feb. 21, 1992.

"The chief fund-raiser for the event was Hubert Riley, son of Richard Riley, a former governor of South Carolina who is now secretary of education in Clinton's Cabinet.

"Hubert Riley, who had moved to Atlanta in the fall of 1991, worked for Integrated Strategies of Georgia also known as I.S. GA. He said he got the job after Edgar Sims, whom Miller had named as chairman of the state Democratic Party, introduced him to L. Rogers Wells Jr., who is now president of the company.

"Integrated Strategies of Georgia had a contract to lobby for GTECH Corp., a company that hoped to win a multimillion-dollar contract running the computers for the Georgia Lottery. But although GTECH was the firm's only client, Riley said he didn't do any lobbying.

[...]

"It is unclear what I.S. GA does for the money.

"GTECH, the world's largest lottery contractor, has a history of hiring well-connected lobbyists. Federal investigators have alleged that some of these lobbyists in four states kicked back a portion of their receipts to J. David Smith, a former GTECH executive who has been convicted of fraud for such transactions in New Jersey.

"- In New Jersey, Smith was convicted in October of accepting $169,500 in kickbacks from a lobbyist whose partner was related to the governor's chief of staff.

"- In New York, a consultant of GTECH's paid Smith $132,613, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey. No charges have been filed in the New York case.

"- In Texas, a federal grand jury is investigating a lucrative contract between GTECH and former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, and Barnes' subsequent payment of more than $500,000 to Smith.

"- And in Kentucky, Smith and Wells were indicted by a federal grand jury in 1994 on charges of fraud and money laundering. The charges were dismissed at trial.

"According to federal authorities, payments to Integrated Strategies of Georgia place it among GTECH's highest-paid consultants in the United States.
[...]
"In Georgia, a federal grand jury investigation of the Georgia Lottery's contract with GTECH ended last fall with no indictments. Prosecutors would not discuss the case.

"In Texas, in addition to the federal investigation, lottery officials have been stung by revelations that Barnes, the former lieutenant governor, signed a contract after leaving office that paid him 4 percent of GTECH'S earnings from the Texas lottery, and that GTECH had once employed the boyfriend of Texas lottery director Nora Linares.

"Federal prosecutors in New Jersey allege Barnes Paid Smith more than $500,000 in kickbacks from the proceeds of his contract, but no criminal charges have been filed. Barnes, who has said he paid Smith for non-lottery consulting, declined to comment.

"Smith's attorney, Larry Lustberg, denied any wrongdoing by his client in Texas. "They have never been the subject of any charge and he's obviously been convicted of no wrongdoing in . . Texas," Lustberg said.

"Linares, meanwhile, was fired in January after GTECH's employment of her boyfriend for a period several years ago was disclosed.

"The revelations have prompted two of the three members of the Texas Lottery Commission to recommend rebidding GTECH's contract there. "

http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/
news_34f3d871d49151ac0077.html

Reed fought ban on betting
Anti-gambling bill was defeated
Jim Galloway, Alan Judd - StaffSunday, October 2, 2005

"Ralph Reed, who has condemned gambling as a "cancer on the American body politic," quietly worked five years ago to kill a proposed ban on Internet wagering --- on behalf of a company in the online gambling industry.
Reed, now a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Georgia, helped defeat the congressional proposal despite its strong support among many Republicans and conservative religious groups. Among them: the national Christian Coalition organization, which Reed had left three years earlier to become a political and corporate consultant.

"A spokesman for Reed said the political consultant fought the ban as a subcontractor to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff's law firm. But he said Reed did not know "the specific client" that had hired Abramoff: eLottery Inc., a Connecticut-based company that wants to help state lotteries sell tickets online --- an activity the gambling measure would have prohibited.

[...]

"It flies in the face of the kinds of things the Christian Coalition supports," said the Rev. Cynthia Abrams, a United Methodist Church official in Washington who coordinates a group of gambling opponents who favored the measure.

"The eLottery episode echoes Reed's work against a lottery, video poker and casinos in Alabama, Louisiana and Texas: As a subcontractor to two law firms that employed Abramoff, Reed's anti-gambling efforts were funded by gambling interests trying to protect their business.

"By working against the Internet measure, Reed played a part in defeating legislation that sought to control a segment of the gambling industry that went on to experience prodigious growth.

"Since 2001, the year after the proposed ban failed, annual revenue for online gambling companies has increased from about $3.1 billion worldwide to an estimated $11.9 billion this year, according to Christiansen Capital Advisers, a New York firm that analyzes market data for the gambling industry.

[...]

"Speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington in 1996, for instance, Reed called gambling "a cancer" and a "scourge" that was responsible for "orphaning children ... [and] turning wives into widows."
But when the online gambling legislation came before Congress in 2000, Reed took no public position on the measure, aides say.

[...]

"It slips over being disingenuous," said the Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, who worked for the gambling ban. "Jack Abramoff was known as 'Casino Jack' at the time. If Jack's doling out tickets to this feeding trough, for Ralph to say he didn't know --- I don't believe that."

Harry Reid on Harriet Miers

And what's up with Harry Reid?

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1128416712027

"But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor after Bush's speech to praise Miers.

"With so much at stake, we shouldn't rush to judgment about this or any other nominee, but even at this early stage of the confirmation process, I will say that I am impressed by what I know about Harriet Miers," said Reid, who recommended her to the president.

"Ms. Miers has not been a judge, but I regard that as a strength, not a weakness," said Reid, a former trial lawyer himself. "In my view, the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer, a nominee with relevant nonjudicial experience."

You'ld expect this from Hatch:

"A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don't know her as I do," said Hatch, a former Judiciary Committee chairman. "She's going to basically do what the president thinks she should, and that is be a strict constructionist."