Saturday, November 18, 2006

Bill Maher: A re-look-see at the Constitution

Ah yes, the 'living constitution' just what the Federalist Society jerks partying down at the Mayflower Hotel hate.

Just love this quote from Chertoff:
"Some people now have taken up the idea that, really, the Federalist Society is kind of like a modern-day da Vinci conspiracy, a secret society that controls all the legal jobs and all the legal decision-making in the administration," Chertoff quipped. "And of course that is nonsense."

And better yet, Washington Post reporter David Montgomery's response:

Except, um . . . what about all those Cabinet secretaries, White House lawyers, Justice Department memo writers and appeals court nominees who are so tight with the society? Not to mention Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, a longtime Federalist and Thursday's dinner speaker.

NOW President Kim Gandy has an excellent analysis on the Federalist Society kooks. They want to ruin our lives.

Thanks Bill! I'm sure Scalia is seething over this. No doubt he'll issue an angry retort.
There's no out-of-the-box thinking in this country. If we were really looking for a new direction, we'd not just change Congress, we'd have another Constitutional Convention, as Jefferson suggested we do. Jefferson said: "Let us provide in our Constitution for its revision. . . every 19 or 20 years. . . so that it may be handed on, with periodical repairs, from generation to generation." He himself was saying, "I'm a bright guy, but even I can't foresee the iPod." Or the assault rifle.

But that's Jefferson's phrase: periodical repairs. This thing needs periodical repairs, but it hasn't been in the shop for 219 years. Of course it's belching oil. Literally. And that's because one of the glaring flaws a Constitutional Convention might correct is something called corporate personhood, which means somewhere along the way, stupid or corrupted courts gave corporations all the rights of individuals, with none of the liability. If some person defecates on your lawn, we throw him in jail, but if a corporation does it, they get a tax break. Somehow "we the people" got to be defined as Halliburton. This thing needs to go in the shop!

And I know traditionalists are saying, "But Bill, it's a sacred document!" Please, it's full of crap about pirates, for God's sake. And I don't mean the kind that copies Justin Timberlake CDs. I mean peg legs and parrots. "The founders were so brilliant." Yes, they were: the proof being, the government they designed keeps functioning even with cement-head doofuses like you in it.

[...]

How about this: You can own any gun you want, as long as it works on technology developed before 1787. This is what conservatives call "original intent," you can look it up. By candlelight. If Robert Blake wants to allegedly kill another wife, he has to use a musket. Or burn her at the stake, but who has the time?

And how about getting rid of the Electoral College? We don't have to protect the farmer in his sparse state anymore; let the votes count from where the people are. And besides, the farmer is now a huge corporation called Monsanto.

And if we got rid of the 22nd Amendment, not that I agree with Bill on this one, but how cool would it be if Hillary and Bill could run against each other for president in 2008?

Good Riddance To The Gingrichites

Mea Culpa this: CBS's Dick Meyer apologizes 12 years later for the stinking mess the press made on not calling a 'duck a duck' thereby legitimizing the newtonion narcissists -- weirdos he calls them -- of K Street.

Really, it's just a simple thesis: The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history. And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do.


Buh Bye...

Parent's Imprisonment Tough on Kids

One in 10 children in America have a parent in prison and I bet a lot of their parents are there on nonsense charges.

Seven million children! And 90% of the women in prison are single mothers with 54% of them women of color. An increase of 138% convictions in the past 10 years. The majority of their crimes are property related, forged checks and credit cards, victims of the war on drugs and domestic violence. These are poverty stricken families and the justice system metes out hefty prison sentences to them.

It's no wonder why we have a high drop-out rate in Georgia.

I've been watching a case in Gwinnett County, north of Atlanta, and was shocked, shocked I tell you, at what little regard law enforcement, prosecutors and the courts had for a mother who was clearly innocent of the idiotic charges leveled against her.

Thanks to BuzzFlash.com linking this story on their website, I see the problem is widespread.

So much for getting tough on crime. We're only making it worse.

Having a parent locked up in prison can be devastating for a child, particularly if it’s the mother, who most often is the primary caretaker, says task force member Gail Smith, executive director of Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers.
[...]
Typically, women have shorter sentences, “but it can have a huge impact on their child.” Smith says. “It’s hard [for them] to concentrate in school. Most children grieve by getting angry. A teacher may read that as something else.”
[...]
Worse yet, Smith notes, are instances when teachers and other school staff know that a child is dealing with a parent’s incarceration but stigmatize rather than support them.

“We have had situations where a caretaker has shared [information about a parent in prison] and really regretted it,” Smith says. “If something is missing, everybody looks at that child first.”
[...]
“Of course it’s a big deal,” says Jackson, noting the impact of Jordan’s mother and father being in prison. Teenaged boys, like Jordan and his younger brother, often assume an I-don’t-care attitude about their parents, but it’s just a cover, she adds.
>r>

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Ode to Bobby Franklin

A clip from 'The Meaning of Life'


Franklin bill urges felony for abortion

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

Bobby now 'Feminist' Franklin is trying to hoodwink the public with junk science in hand claiming that abortion is public enemy number one. Sheesh. I thought that fatherless families were the du jour culprit of choice. It's the cause of all of our contemporary social problems dag nab it!

South Dakota's abortion ban was rejected by voters and in Kansas, where Bobby's not in anymore, the Attorney General's plan for obtaining abortion records was trounced as was the California ballot initiative for parental notification. Yet, this is Georgia, sigh, and we're not in Kansas, South Dakota or California. Democrats won big across the country, but not here. No telling how successful Bobby's bill will be.


ATLANTA - A Cobb lawmaker is trying - again - to outlaw abortion in Georgia.

State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-east Cobb) filed the first bill Wednesday for the upcoming legislative session that begins in January. If passed, the bill would make it a felony to perform an abortion in Georgia in nearly all cases.

[...]

In the previous year, he proposed a bill that would require a woman to receive a "death warrant" from a judge before getting an abortion. He also filed an anti-abortion bill in 2005.

Some members of Franklin's own party didn't show support for the new bill, despite having not reviewed it Wednesday evening.

"As in the past, this bill has not moved through the legislative process and I believe that will be its fate again," said Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-east Cobb).

[...]

Rep. Judy Manning (R-Marietta) said she supports the right to abortion in cases involving rape and incest. She added that the bill would only create problems for the state's already crowded jails.

"I'm pro-life. But as a woman I have some reservations with a felony conviction," Ms. Manning said.

Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell) said she thinks Franklin's bill is far-fetched and unconstitutional.

"You are punishing someone because of a private decision they have made between their doctors and their mate," Ms. Morgan said.

She added that the bill infringed on personal and privacy rights like those established by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. "It is important to have a woman's right to choose," she said
.

LC 18 5850T

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

To amend Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to crimes against public health and morals, so as to make certain findings of fact; to define certain terms; to provide that any abortion shall be unlawful; to provide a penalty; to provide for severance; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.
Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to crimes against public health and morals, is amended by revising Article 5, relating to abortion, in its entirety as follows:

ARTICLE 5

16-12-140.
(a) The State of Georgia has the duty to protect all innocent life from the moment of conception until natural death. We know that life begins at conception. After three decades of legal human abortion, it is now abundantly clear that the practice has negatively impacted the people of this state in many ways, including economic, health, physical, psychological, emotional, and medical well-being. These, too, are areas of legitimate concern and duty of the state. The General Assembly therefore makes the following findings of fact:

After three decades of legal human abortion, it is now abundantly clear that the practice has negatively impacted the people of this state in many ways, including economic, health, physical, psychological, emotional, and medical well-being. These, too, are areas of legitimate concern and duty of the state. The General Assembly therefore makes the following findings of fact:
Findings of fact? Whoa. More like Findings of fulsomeness...
[Every Sperm/Embryo is Sacred]


(2) A fetus is a person for all purposes under the laws of this state from the moment of conception;
(3) Even if the answer to the question of when life begins were unclear, the Georgia Constitution, at Article I, Section I, Paragraph II, provides: 'Protection to person and property is the paramount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.' Because a fetus is a person, constitutional protection attaches at the moment of conception. It is therefore the duty of the General Assembly to protect the innocent life that is currently being taken;
(4) As a direct result of three decades of legalized abortion on demand, the nation has seen a dramatic rise in the incidence of child abuse and a dramatic weakening of family ties, with the infamous Roe v. Wade decision pitting mothers against their children and women against men;

[C’mon Bob. You know that isn’t true. Where’d you get your stats from, the angry fathers’ rights organizations? It’s the FROs/MROs' theme song. I looked up the pro-life women’s groups and they’re funded by pro-life men. And who would have thought that the Feminists for Life have fathers' rights stories on their website?]

(5) Studies of the three decades since Roe v. Wade have revealed that women have been deeply wounded psychologically, with one researcher reporting that 81 percent of the women who have had an abortion had a preoccupation with an aborted child, 54 percent had nightmares, 35 percent had perceived visitation with an aborted child, and 96 percent felt their abortion had taken a human life;
(6) Studies have shown that women who have had an abortion require psychological treatment of such symptoms as nervous disorders, sleep disturbances, and deep regrets, with 25 percent of one test group of women who have had abortions visiting a psychiatrist while only 3 percent of a control group did so;
(7) Another random study showed that at least 19 percent of women who have had an abortion suffered from diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, with 50 percent suffering from many, but not all, symptoms of that disorder, and 20 to 40 percent of the women studied showed moderate to high levels of stress and avoidance behavior relative to their abortion experience;
(8) Approximately 60 percent of women who have had an abortion and who reported post-abortion trauma also reported suicidal tendencies with 28 percent actually attempting suicide, of whom half attempted suicide two or more times;
(9) Abortion results in increased tobacco smoking, and women who have had an abortion are twice as likely to become heavy smokers and suffer the corresponding health problems as women who have never had an abortion;
(10) Abortion is linked to alcohol and drug abuse, with a two-fold increase in the risk of alcohol abuse among women who have had an abortion and a significant increase in drug abuse;
(11) Most couples find abortion to be an event which shatters their relationship, causing chronic marital troubles and divorce;

imnotsorry.net disagrees with you Bobby.

[And oh just great. Stats from an electrical engineer! David ‘Rear-don’ who coined the term post-abortion syndrome or PAS and founded the Elliot Institute. Hah! As in the case of Richard Gardner’s – and oh by the way he stabbed himself to death -- parental alienation syndrome the other PAS leading scientists have panned it both PASs has being downright sloppy science, basically not peer reviewed, crappy methodology, corporate junk science and downright dangerous to women.]

Just loved Reardon’s study on Lorena Bobbit.Reardon analyzed the trial in 1996 and came upon the idea that her abortion led her to cutting off her husband’s penis. Never mind that she was repeatedly raped, battered, had numerous affairs and severe financial problems. But then there’s the traumatic consequences of abortion, in Reardon’s peevish world, abortion trumps overwhelming evidence that Lorena Bobbit was a battered woman.
Other witnesses provided supporting testimony, saying that they had seen the results of Lorena's abuse, such as bruises and cuts on her body. Even John's friends said that he often bragged "about how he liked to force Lorena to have sex and how he controlled and dominated her," Pershing reported. The defense suggested it was only a matter of time before Lorena snapped. At the time of the wounding, psychologists claimed that she was suffering from clinical depression and possibly posttraumatic stress disorder.


[…]

John also managed to wrack up a considerable criminal record. Tanith Carey reported for The Mirror that, "he was arrested seven times for offenses ranging from assault to grand larceny." Some of the charges included domestic violence, such as when he allegedly beat his ex-fiancée, Kristina Elliott, and punched his third wife, Joanne Ferrell, on two occasions. To date, John continues to live in Nevada where he is trying to eke out a new life and stay out of trouble.


More evidence against Bobby, Brind and Reardon

Anti-abortion advocates like Brind and Reardon, ones who wear the lab coats but not the respect of scientists, have not been deterred by the response of the scientific community. Even though a panel at the National Cancer Institute has concluded, "Induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk,"21 and the American Psychiatric Association does not recognize PAS as a legitimate syndrome, such high status pronouncements are irrelevant to the followers of B.A.D. scientists. The success of their performances relies on volume before a general audience, not on the fidelity of their technical merits.”


(12) Abortion exploits women, treating them and their children as mere property, and abortion is contrary to feminist values, and the great suffragette Susan B. Anthony referred to abortion as 'child murder';


Bob you're taking this out of historical context. Abortion was legal in the 19th century. Some fathers forced women to have abortions against their will. It was MALE doctors who fought against so-called 'untrained practioners' ergo midwives mid-1800s to out of business by criminalizing abortion.

As in the New York Times article Deperately seeking Susan Stacy Schiff explores the question on what Susan B. Anthony and her colleagues would respond to 21st century debates. Since most women aren't forced into abortions now, taking away the right of self-determination probably wouldn't set none to well with them.

What Susan B. Anthony did say: “We demand that woman shall be given the means to assert herself, regardless of whether she ever uses it or not..."

And this: "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

And this: “For a people is only as great, as free, as lofty, as advanced as its women are free, noble and progressive.”


There's absolutely nothing in anything that she [Susan B. Anthony]ever said or did that would indicate she was anti-abortion," said Gloria Feldt, an activist and author who formerly served as head of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

She [Susan B. Anthony] never voiced an opinion about the sanctity of fetal life," Gordon said of Anthony. "And she never voiced an opinion about using the power of the state to require that pregnancies be brought to term.


(13) Thirty years of abortion on demand have resulted in an increase in breast cancer, and a study has shown that women who had an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy before experiencing a full-term pregnancy may be at increased risk for breast cancer;


[No. No. No. & Not. Bob. The National Cancer Institute says otherwise. You must have found these specious stats from reading the fundy-neocon National Review Online.]

(14) The practice of abortion has had a profound detrimental effect on the health and well-being of the citizens of this state as well as the health of the economy; and

[Abortion hasn’t affected me or anyone in my family either positively or negatively. And please do tell us how abortion affects the economy? I would just love to learn about that.]

(15) The practice of abortion has caused the citizens of this state an inestimable amount economically including, but not limited to, the costs and tax burden of having to care for individuals and their families for the conditions cited above, as well as a significant reduction of the tax base and of the availability of workers, entrepreneurs, teachers, employees, and employers that would have significantly contributed to the prosperity of this state.


[WTF? A financial and tax burden for non-existing syndrome? Okey-dokey Bob, you’re presuming that more children would be born into financially stable circumstances – a father in every pot syndrome – and all said children, even those poverty stricken, would grow up and get great jobs, et rich and pay taxes. Maybe we should have someone sponsor a bill requiring legislators to take I.Q. and competency testing?]

b) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) 'Abortion' means the intentional termination of human pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus; provided, however, that if a physician makes a medically justified effort to save the lives of both the mother and the fetus and the fetus does not survive, such action shall not be an abortion. Such term does not include a naturally occurring expulsion of a fetus known medically as a 'spontaneous abortion' and popularly as a 'miscarriage' so long as there is no human involvement whatsoever in the causation of such event.
(2) 'Fetus' means a person at any point of development from and including the moment of conception through the moment of birth. Such term includes all medical or popular designations of an unborn child from the moment of conception such as zygote, embryo, homunculus, and similar terms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote


Zygotes are people too!

(c) The practice of abortion is contrary to the health and well-being of the citizens of this state and to the state itself and is illegal in this state in all instances.
(d) Any person performing an abortion in this state shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in subsection (d) of Code Section 16-5-1. The license of any physician indicted for an alleged violation of this Code section shall be suspended until resolution of the matter. The license of any physician convicted of a violation of this Code section shall be permanently revoked. The provisions of this Code section shall be in addition to any other provisions relating to the killing of a fetus or any other person.ʺ
SECTION 2.
If any portion of this Act is found to be unconstitutional by the courts, the remaining portions of this Act shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 3.
This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval.

SECTION 4.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Maureen Dowd: The Drapes of Wrath

This is too precious. America heading to a matriarchy. Thanks Pottersville!
Because of the power of female consumers, some marketing experts predict we will end up a matriarchy. This year, women also flexed their muscle at the polls, transformed into electoral Furies by the administration’s stubborn course in Iraq.

[...]

According to The Times’s exit polls, women were more likely than men to want some or all of the troops to be withdrawn from Iraq now, and 64 percent of women said that the war in Iraq has not improved U.S. security.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Carville trashing Dean



DNC RESPONSE TO CARVILLE:
Howard Dean spokeswoman Karen Finney emails the following in response to James Carville's comments below:

After the Republicans have admitted to a thumping, why is it that the only one complaining on the Democratic side is James Carville, who today in addition to trashing Howard Dean, praised the RNC, the outfit that brought us the racist ad that defeated Harold Ford, James' supposed candidate for Chair? ...
Now why would he do this? Seems to me that Howard Dean has done a smash up job raising money for the DNC. Wait, wait, I forgot Carville is Zell Miller's lap dog.

Just loved this post on dailykos.com.
Thanks decon
Three strikes (14+ / 0-)
Strike One: Elected Zell Miller
Strike Two: Married a Republican operative
Strike Three: Dissed Howard Dean.
Bye bye.

Carville & Paul Begala were/are Zell's political advisers. Thanks for reminding us blogfordemocracy!

"The reporter questioning miller said that Miller had slammed Johnson for supporting civil rights, accusing him of "selling his Southern heritage for a mess of dark pottage."

[...]

"when the Atlanta Constitution had printed that so-called quote he'd marched down to the paper's offices and demanded and received a correction. He'd never say a thing like that.

"The next day that great moment became one of our greatest nightmares. Al May, the veteran political reporter for the Atlanta Constitution, interviewed Miller as Paul [Begala] drove them and Shirley Miller to an event in rural Georgia. May made small talk for a little while. Then he sprang the trap. "Zell," he said, "I've talked to all the editors who were around back then, checked the morgue and the archives, and you never asked for a retraction and the paper never printed one."
"I know," Miller said, biting the words off the words like they were bitter herbs.

"So why'd you say all that in the debate last night?"

"Miller leaned in close to May and said, "Because, Al, I was trying to mislead the people of Georgia."

So Carville claims the GOP drugged Zell
When Imus noted that the Georgia Democrat sounded "fine" when he interviewed him the next morning," Carville shot back: "They probably shot him up with something, you know. He just likes screaming at people."

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Fatehi 'The Discriminator' on Kazakhstan


Now Fatehi is a movie and travel critic. Maybe he'll do the women at Kennesaw State University a favor and move to Kazakhstan soon...

Depiction in 'Borat' doesn't do Kazakhstan justice

By KAMAL FATEHI
HASH(0x6208a0)
Published on: 11/08/06
Often, when people in the entertainment business want to tell a story about an overseas country, they will make one up. A good example is "Syriana," a story about Middle Eastern oil, which was set in a fictional country with a name that sounded something like Syria.

But when Sasha Baron Cohen invented his character "Borat," he didn't make up a country. He decided Borat should be from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

Kamal Fatehi visits a marketplace during his stay in Kazakhstan as a Fulbright scholar. 'None of what is portrayed in the movie is what I have seen,' he writes.

Now this is brilliant...

[...]

"Why call them 'stan' countries?" I asked. "You don't say all of those 'land' countries. We have Holland, Poland, Switzerland, Iceland, Finland . . . you differentiate among those countries."

After all, the terms "stan" and "estan" mean "land."


Going to Kazakhstan soon to be a university tycoon?

Kazakhstan's economy is improving rapidly. I had a colleague, a Harvard graduate, who was working in one of the country's more recently established universities. He told me several years ago he planned to convert all his savings from dollars to tenges, Kazakhstan's currency. He said the tenge was appreciating, so he would benefit from it. In the last few years I could see he was correct; the currency had appreciated 20 percent.

If there is one thing I want people to know about Kazakhstan, it is that it is filled with smart, highly educated people who are modernizing the country quite rapidly, much faster than Russia. I tell people that if I were a citizen of the former Soviet Union, of all the republics I could choose, I'd want to live in Kazakhstan.

The real Kazakhstan may not be as funny as Borat's Kazakhstan, but it would be a shame to consider it one of those "stan' countries, and nothing more.


• Fulbright scholar Kamal Fatehi, originally from Iran, is a professor of international management at Kennesaw State University.

And he used to be the chair of the Kennesaw State University Department of Management and Entrepreneurship.

Law Reform Measure Fails in South Dakota


South Dakota's "J.A.I.L for Judges" Measure Fails
according the the WSJ.com's Law Blog

There's no update on J.A.I.L's website though, at least not that I can find.

But wait there's more. Newly elected New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has plans as noted in today's New York Times Editorial The Task for Mr. Spitzer.

Mr. Spitzer has repeatedly promised to do in Albany what he did on Wall Street as attorney general. That means cleaning up cronyism and the culture of secrecy. But his plans for reform are by no means limited to the way the political game is played. He promises Medicaid reform, debt reform and court reform — each one involving entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo. At the same time, he vows to make New York a national leader in the areas where leadership has failed in Washington, like education, civil rights, the environment and housing.


And wait, wait, there's still more in Colorado's Amendment 40 on DenverPost.com Performance reviews proposed for judges</span>.

A 120-page study done at a think tank Kourlis set up at the University of Denver concluded that "the time has come to implement judicial performance evaluation programs in every state and federal jurisdiction in the United States."


Even though Amendment 40 lost by 56.87% of the vote, it's amazing that it even came up for a vote and shows growing discontent on judicial accountability across the nation.

That independence, said federal Judge Thomas Hogan of the Washington, D.C., area, who leads the executive committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, "is a foundation of our system of justice which has made our system of justice, certainly the federal system, the envy of the world."

But mishandled cases nationwide "are breeding converts" for those who support reform, said lawyer Gary Zerman, a lawyer who runs JAIL 4 Judges, a Los Angeles-based group that has branches in 50 states.

Judges "have never been apolitical," he said. "They have to be held accountable. No man is above the law."


For more on how the courts fail women read here, here and here.