Remember from history, how in the 18th and 19th and very early 20th centuries, the ruling classes, or their police lackeys, used to charge militant workers in order to break incipient union movements?
Well, fast forward a bit: Houston police trampled on striking janitors with horses last night.
Pictures and links at MyDD.
(Headline refers to the famous Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819.)
I await the debunking — this is too cute to be easy to believe:
Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked: A major undercount of Democratic votes and an overcount of Republican votes in U.S. House and Senate races across the country is indicated by an analysis of national exit polling data, by the Election Defense Alliance (EDA), a national election integrity organization.
These findings have led EDA to issue an urgent call for further investigation into the 2006 election results and a moratorium on deployment of all electronic election equipment.
“We see evidence of pervasive fraud, but apparently calibrated to political conditions existing before recent developments shifted the political landscape,” said attorney Jonathan Simon, co-founder of Election Defense Alliance, “so 'the fix' turned out not to be sufficient for the actual circumstances.” Explained Simon, “When you set out to rig an election, you want to do just enough to win. The greater the shift from expectations, (from exit polling, pre-election polling, demographics) the greater the risk of exposure—of provoking investigation. What was plenty to win on October 1 fell short on November 7.
Also, I've never heard of the Election Defense Alliance, nor of its leaders (although some of the bios are intriguing). Perhaps someone could evaluate their report?
Time to exhume my “Experts Agree: Ed Meese is a Pig” T-Shirt.
Someone was kind enough to provide the text of the bill Sen. Dodd hopes to introduce today to amend the Military Commissions Act (MCA), the “Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act”.
I look forward to reading the actual text of the bill, but from the press release, this sounds like a very good idea. Dodd Introduces Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act:
Washington- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), an outspoken opponent of the Military Commission Act of 2006, today introduced legislation which would amend existing law in order to have an effective process for bringing terrorists to justice. This is currently not the case under the Military Commission Act, which will be the subject of endless legal challenges. As important, the bill would also seek to ensure that U.S. servicemen and women are afforded the maximum protection of a strong international legal framework guaranteed by respect for such provisions as the Geneva Conventions and other international standards, and to restore America’s moral authority as the leader in the world in advancing the rule of law.
“I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting this country from terrorists,” Sen. Dodd said. “But there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. It’s clear the people who perpetrated these horrendous crimes against our country and our people have no moral compass and deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But in taking away their legal rights, the rights first codified in our country’s Constitution, we’re taking away our own moral compass, as well.”The Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act:
- Restores Habeas Corpus protections to detainees
- Narrows the definition of unlawful enemy combatant to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants
- Bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials
- Empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence they deem to be unreliable
- Authorizes the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to review decisions by the Military commissions
- Limits the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and makes that authority subject to congressional and judicial oversight
- Provides for expedited judicial review of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to determine the constitutionally of its provisions
“We in Congress have our own obligation, to work in a bipartisan way to repair the damage that has been done, to protect our international reputation, to preserve our domestic traditions, and to provide a successful mechanism to improve and enhance the tools required by the global war on terror,” Dodd said.
Sadly, no bill can undo the amnesty we gave for tortures past — although the Supreme Court could in theory find the entire bill unconstitutional, or find part of unconstitutional and say that the lack of a severance clause means the entire bill falls. Not that I'm holding my breath.
Posted in Guantanamo, Torture 5 CommentsCrow for Desert
Steve Clemons dines out with the Great and the Powerful and reports back Nightmare Confirmed: Things Are Soooo Bad. . .:
some of America’s and Europe’s leading current and former political personalities were there — 60 people only — and among them a few former Secretaries of State and foreign ministers, top intelligence officials, think tank chiefs, Senators and House Members, former National Security Advisors and Secretaries of Defense. The attendance list was extraordinary.
And the conversations — on the whole — were about the crappy condition of America’s national security position.
It seems that none of the people in charge have a clue how to improve what they consider to be the US’s dismal national security situation. Which I take to mean Iraq, Iran, North Korea, the mid-East, the whole ball of wax.
But nothing. Absolutely nothing. People were depressed and dismayed about current conditions. One very, very senior Bush administration official when asked by me what ideas he had to stabilize Iraq and stop our slow bleed situation said he had exhausted what he felt was possible.
Another top tier official when another guest pushed him to move the President into some rational deal-making that might trigger a more fruitful trend, ominously said “don’t hold your breath.”
Maybe if they would just all quit in disgust we might get in a fresh team with an idea or two?
Or at least if there were enough resignations, Bush might get the message?
Posted in National Security 3 Comments
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