Yet Again, The Democrats Roll Over

This illustrates clearly the old saying "the more things change the more they stay the same." Election cycles are always flooded with rhetoric by the party not in power with themes of change, progress, and reform only to be followed up by lack of action and complicity in the very policies they earlier criticized. We are in big trouble as long as these two parties govern us. We need reform in election financing, along the lines of outlawing all corporate donations. It is bribery straight up. The conflict of interest is completely transparent. Corporations have completely hijacked American politics and that is where the public should focus. I believe that most politicians are generally good people who are corrupted by the system with time. They see how things operate and realize that they must play by certain rules to stay in the game. I am an independant voter and am hoping for a third party popular movement of some sort that will sway the public beyond the tipping point for radical reform. Until then I am hoping with the utmost sincerity for the nomination of
DENNIS KUCINICH for President.

Dems and Repubs are the same breed. They have the same mother and father. They're survival aims are the same. If it weren't so, someone would be reminding us loudly and often that it was the Bush administration that was asleep at the wheel on 9/11/01. And it this same administration that has made zero progress on their so-called war on terror. Who is soft on terror? I'd say it is the bunch of twits who missed the boat in 2001. And anyone else who enables them to continue their incompetence while pretending to "lead" us.

although it's only conjecture at this point, when you contemplate the psychology of Bush and his crowd, it's difficult to see them abnegating their control. They came in a bunch of crooks, they'll go out a bunch of crooks.

Business men often off themselves when the feel they have failed in their business venture. Something rational people (like us) would not be able to comprehend as "life goes on" even if your busted. But this is the Bush groups only shot at glory, at history. If they blow this, what are they? I imagine for them, whatever happens, the fate of failure in their crimes and endeavors is incomprehensible.

To think that all this will just be a bad dream in a year and a half is kind of wishful thinking. Or believing that the "system" isn't in ruins. Something smells rotten in the state of. . .

"Joe Sixpacks from his slumber."

With many Americans still believeng that there was a definite conection between Saddam Hussein and the bombing of the WTC it is commendable that progressive journalists are still exposing the lies albeit lies that wide-awake Americans knew five years ago . It took twelve years and millions of lives to fully expose the lies and expunge the ramifications of those lies perpetrated by leaders of the Third Reich. If the world but especially the US has to follow the example of Germany in retribution for telling lies and believing lies , then so be it

NOTHING IN THE MSM ABOUT THIS BUNCH OF HUMPS BLINDSIDING THE PEOPLE AS WELL AS THE REAL DEMS.

A tightly-knit group of self-styled moderate and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives known as the Blue Dog Coalition supported controversial legislation granting the Bush administration expanded powers to spy on Americans. The group was instrumental in passing legislation that was opposed by a vast majority of Democrats.

According to their web site, the coalition named themselves Blue Dogs because "their moderate-to-conservative-views had been 'choked blue' by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election." They have had some success taking seats from Republican incumbents. According to their web site, 24 Blue Dogs won elections against Republican incumbents since 1996.
CHECK THEM OUT
http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/

Helen,

Can you find out any details about the negotiations between Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate, leading up to the vote?

when helen talks, i listen.

Treason isn't "rolling over".

Well, more Americans have now died in Iraq -- which apparently had nothing to do with 9/11, a genocidal scale of Iraqi civilians have suffered the past decade or two from neocon foreign policy, our Bill of Rights, treasury, and international standing are in shambles. And they rely heavily on mercenaries, ignoring the Geneva Conventions.

Who's the terrorist? If I were reading this objectively, I'd have to say that Bin Laden struck the US with the first blow, Bush & Co. with the second.

I agree with the earlier sentiment in this thread. It's a misreading to suggest that the Democrats have have rolled over. On the contrary, at least 2/3rds of them have been performing the handshake with the Bush administration.

No doubt about it, the terrorists have already won. Bin Laden is laughing in his cave.

Just politics as usual. Democrats broke a deal with Republicans so that the next White House is occupied by a Democrat. In exchange, they're letting Bush and Cheney get away with (mass)murder with impunity for the duration of the entire Bush's presidency.

Bill Clinton, his wife, Terry McAuliffe, the Bush Family and James Baker are the masterminds. Only Al Gore can change this or a Republican actually winning the popular vote.

OOPS forgot. their newspapers and the governemtn for first 6 months after purchase would not release the names of who had bought he property and it was not until Bush's daughter who has a cusshy job with UNICEF talking to young professioanl women not children, arrived with a full entourage of Secret Service and military protection to inspect said property.
Oh how did she get the Job?
Well it seems the woman appointed for head of UNICEF is a long time family acquaintence.
Odd how that works, but no oder than Cheneys daughter having a position in State Department as Under Secretary of State for Middle Eastrn Afairs, now is it.

PS; they even had to change thier Constituion which prohibited basing foreign trops upon their lands, yet their President and the Agricultural and Industrial people who own 90% of country and elected took the bribes and lied to their people even though every newspaper, except the two major partys papers, that ran polls showed the vast majority of populace were more of a "YANKEE GO HOME" attitude.
Sound familiar!

"I reserve the Right To Rescind and Amend my comments", and the presideing chairperson says "Agreed".
One of the best records to have on hand when researching how this country got to be the way it is and the epople who let it get this way is The Congressional Record ofr every year they have printed it, the Voting records of who voted for what, and a copy on hand of the printed version of the bill with following amendments made to those bills.
the first line above is what an elected says in public on the floor and what he later puts into the Congressional record.

It never ceases to amaze me the twisted logic and excuses they use to justify their vote on a Bill during the time they rescind and amend.
War Powers ACT. Many of what people today deem Right Wingers, were dead set against givng the President the power to make war without a Declaration of WAr coming from Congress yet even in the most Southern Conservative states they voted Yes right along with the Liberals from the North.
We were fearfull of putting too much power in he hands of one man, especially when the Constituion strictly forbid Congress the ability to designatge what was theirs and theris alone to declare and had been a founding principal fought for ever since this nations founding.
Three Presidents damn near got impeached for it, and one Senator and some very rich personages went to jail because of it.
In their recinded and Amended Remarks many mentioned that they believed the bill was un-Constituional but had been assured the dangers were very real and that they had been assured the powers so granted to President would never be abused.
Some 20 some odd Senators who had voted for passage noted thisin passing for the Congresional Record.
Enter FISA, Un-Constituional and still it was voted upon by the majority and yet again in the Congressional Record many who voed for once again noted Unconstituinal as it took powers away from ones granted to only the Supreme Court and over roade every state legal system, was outside of , Right to Petiton , lets just sday a bunch more.
Of course the yaes all said well it will be overseen by Congressional people and hey had been assured it would not be abused within the rescincded and amended Congressioanl Records.
In both cases the American public went along in FEAR of a boggyman, boggymen, and trusted the publicly spoken words of the elected but never took the time to read how they tried to cover their butts just in case later on soemone would dare to challenge and win on Constitutional grounds or the system was used and abused as they damn well knew it would be
The Congresional record is a good lie cover over as they can appear to of been against while in reality they supported so that later when one ask why did you vote such a way they sday well we tried to stop it and warned against it but they assured me.
I don't know why I wrote this as we no longer are ruled by Constituion but just as an example of ways country went gradually inot a Fascist Entity.
People Like MS. Thomas are now acting tough in their newsrags Rescinded and Ammended Comments long after the time for getting tough has long gone.
Oh Yes the land bush owns in Paraguay is over 750,000 acres, has three good size villages with over a thoudsand popualce, has alredy gotten Heli pads been completley covered and still is by US special Froces groups, supposedly on drugh searches,and the Governemtn of Pargauay got real good pricing on F-16s and loads of other military equipment, their monetary system is backed by US dollars, they have almost an unlimited Fair Trade Agreeemnt with US, no duty or tarrifs, and the amounts of Aid packages has been increased each year.
Oh yes they had to agree to an over 3500 man airport and military base for the US alone. No joint operations here that is upon another us built and paid for joint training base.

It's actually the 11th option. He's already purchased a huge farm in a South American country that does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. The land was bought in his daughters name...So he has a plan...

“ARE THERE PRISON STRIPES IN BUSH’S FUTURE?”
Or, Ten Reasons Why Bush Assumes He won’t be Jailed

Other than the fact that Bush is utterly delusional and divorced from reality, why isn't he appearing more afraid of the day when a new President has access to the White House files? Surely, given what has already been found out about the many formerly secret and highly illegal activities, he must be worried about what will be disclosed when Cheney is no longer stamping all incriminating evidence “top secret” and forbidding staffers to be subpoenaed. Perhaps he forgot the classification of something as secret can be reversed just as easily as Bush himself already declassified and disclosed more important national security matters such as the Phlamegate “outing.”

Does he . . .

1. . . . believe he has actually done a great job and committed no crime? Not even Nixon seemed to believed that.

2. . . . believe that he can keep everything buried? Like cornered beasts in a cage, the Republicans are already starting to turn on and bite one another. Heck, some Republicans may want to investigate just to clear themselves of Bush’s tar baby taint.

3. . . . believe that the next President automatically will pardon him as Ford did Nixon to supposedly “heal” the country? That seems to assume a lot, especially if the Democrats gain control as seems likely given the way the nation is headed.

4. . . . believe that the Democrats are too timid, weak or ineffectual to pursue the matter once he is out of office? Well, he may be right about that in light of the timid, weak and ineffectual response of the Democrats over the last seven years on just about everything. The voters though may replace irresponsible Democrats as well as Republicans in the next election with office holders who actually care about their oath of office to defend the Constitution.

5. . . . believe that he is untouchable because all his life someone has bailed him out of his many, many, many failures? Sorry Bush, the law of averages finally catches up to almost everyone. Murphy’s Law should have stopped him far earlier, but it is a “law” of a sorts and does seem to work. Besides, no one on earth, not even Bill Gates has enough money to bail the country out of the fiscal mess he has created, let alone the moral and ethical ones.

6. . . . believe that there are no prosecutors smart enough to convict him? Granted, the prosecutors normally selected by Republicans such as Ken Starr, Alberto Gonzales and the dufus who almost got the Padilla case (where the defendant freely admitted guilt of being a terrorist) thrown out of court tend to be an amazing collection of bumbling barristers unable to tie their own shoes. Nevertheless, not every available prosecutor is a Right Wing hack put into office solely for his or her slavish adulation of Bush. Out of the million or so licensed attorneys out there, there are many relatively bright prosecutors fully competent of finding at least one criminal act for which Bush should be jailed or turned over to an international tribunal.

7. . . . believe he will be forgiven for frivolously wasting lives, not to mention our treasury, our security, our military, our soil, our air, our forests, our country’s integrity and honor and allies, and you name it ad infinitum? Good luck on that one, Bushie. Those of us who want to prevent such fiascoes in the future see a need to bring you to justice if for no other reason than future crime deterrence and dictatorship avoidance.

8. . . . believe that even if disgraced and punished he will ultimately be seen as a Christian martyr in future histories saving civilization from the Muslim horde? Okay, he is free to hope for that so long as he spends a long time in jail first.

9. . . . believe that the unshakable 25% who still faithfully support him will bust him out of jail? They are a rabid unreasoning bunch to be sure, but as unthinking cult-like followers, it is not evident that they would even be capable of sufficient independent thought to pull that off.

10. . . . believe Cheney will successfully pull off a coup and entrench fellow Neocons in power for the next several decades. He did come close to establishing an despicable dictatorship and apparently dreamed of family hereditary appointment like Caesar or Napoleon hoped. Fortunately, the minions he entrusted to accomplish that permanent takeover were just too incompetent. If you use the Keystone Kops as your Korp of Korruption, you get a komedy of errors. A tragic comedy perhaps, but a happy ending for the rest of us.

Nah. It’s probably none of those. Bush is probably really is just delusional and divorced from reality.

Mirf59: Here's my problem with Gravel's "National Initiative for Democracy" is that it's merely a national consensus on various issues to "advise" the rotten corporate fascist members of Congress as to how we "wish" they would vote.

Now if my understanding was that we could use the "National Initiative for Democracy" to tell the Congress how they WILL vote, then we're talking.

Temp to perm

jobs - nope
spying - yep

Helen Thomas is a wonderful journalist, a rose growing among a field of yak dung, but she seems to be rather naive on a number of points.

Bush and Cheney will probably step down as they've done their job, and then they'll let Rudy or Hillary carry on...

Is it that surprising that they are creating de facto police states in the “liberal democracies”? Now that the Soviet Union is gone and corporate capitalism appears triumphant, there is absolutely no reason for our corporate masters to continue to allow us those pesky civil liberties that we thought were sacrosanct.

It was useful propaganda at the time to point out that the KGB spied on their own people and abused civil liberties, but, hey, now’s the time to employ similar policies. You never know when the population might wake up and make a fuss.

The chances that a Democrat will really investigate the Bush Cabal's crimes against the American people and humanity in general seem nil. The Democrats, should they even win, will help to cover up the crimes. Let bygones be bygones. After all, most of the Democrats were complicit in the wars and the passage of the panoply of police state legislation now on the books.

COMarc and emma, you are so right on. the Democrats aren't rolling over, they are doing what they want to do. They use their power where they want to use it. Mike Gravel pointed out they could shut the war down fast if they chose. And he said how it could be done. He knows the Senate, spent years in it.

I watched 9/11 Revisited on streaming video and ordered the DVD ($6 including shipping). The makers also urge us to copy and share it. Among other things, it interviews engineers, physicists, architects, and the last man out of the WTC, a maintenance man. Basically, that had to be a planned demolition. After watching that video, there is no re doubt about it in my mind. I read William Rivers Pitt's essay of "9/11 Revisited" on Truthout (not related to the DVD), and the administration had to know what was coming. For months, about 90 intelligence agencies all over the world warned the US of an impending attack involving hijacked airplanes crashing into public structures, and almost always naming the WTC as one of them. A month before the attack, the WTC was closed and sealed off with high security and filled with workers - doing what? Planting demolitions? The week before the attack, put options on United and American Airlines stocks garnered millions in profits for secret individuals afterwards. Some of these stories surfaced briefly and then disappeared. Why?

I've noticed more and more elderly people working in menial jobs. At the gas station (here in Oregon we don't pump our own gas) an old man working there who doesn't have internet access told me about the Halliburton camps, including two new facilities nearby in our own community. He told me the administration was in on 9/11 and that we are on the verge of being a dictatorship. I wondered where he gets his information, since off the internet I can't find anything. Maybe he has a relative telling him this stuff.

The people working in what used to be middle class jobs are worried and want to change things. I tell them about the September 11 General Strike and the National Initiative at www.vote.org and urge them to tell everyone they know. And they are eager to hear about this. Just about every time I get on the phone with office personnel I manage to start a conversation and bring up the National Initiative. They are very receptive and say, wait, I'm writing that down. They tell me they feel overworked, falling behind, powerless, afraid of losing their job. I point out that's the idea. And I ask them to tell everyone they know. People in low end jobs don't usually have internet access, and most are completely apathetic about politics. I understand, they feel powerless. I'm trying to figure out to help them feel empowered. I think giving them information sheets about the National Initiative and collecting signatures is the best way to do it. The webmaster at the site said he would set up a PDF file for that.

This has to be a grassroots, feet on the ground movement. Nobody will do it for us. The press won't talk about it. In the former USSR they called it Samizdat: (Russian: самиздат) the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries. Copies were made a few at a time, and those who received a copy would be expected to make more copies. This was often done by handwriting or typing.

This grassroots practice to evade officially imposed censorship was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored materials.

Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it."

We're not facing what they faced, but the way we're headed, that could come. Right now, the illusion of a free democracy is being maintained. But if we get "unruly" that could change. So please, get busy.

Peace Warrior, thank you for your excellent and enlightening post.

And you think Bush is leaving in 2009, do you?
What makes you and others think that?

-------

I agree. It's actually not logical to think that the cons would give up power (even to a soft republican like hillary) after lusting and lying and legislating for it for the past 6 years. Indeed, with complicit dems, they've managed to legislate themselves into a position of complete power and no accountability. Why on earth would they give that away to the opposition?!!

P.S. diane feinstein's bill on election reform bypasses the '08 election all together and talks about reforms beginning in '10.

Finally, some straight talk! Go get 'em, Helen. Give 'em hell!

Bobbi Dykema Katsanis,

The Dems already have a backbone.

As I said in my post direcly above yours:

"The Bush-Enablers did not roll over. Instead they stood up for Dictator Bush and YES’ed him once again with their strong spine of steel for helping Bush, just like they have repeatedly since 2000."

The sooner you stop drinking the Dems' koolaid the sooner you will have a chance to see the Dems for who and what they are (assuming you want to), rather than who and what you want them to be.

I know it's fun to bash Democrats, and I'm mad as hell that they are refusing to defend the Constitution (their sworn duty) myself. But but but...

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=654

They need to find themselves a backbone a lot faster, but it IS happening.

No Helen, the Bush-Enablers did not roll over.

Instead they stood up for Dictator Bush and YES'ed him once again with their strong spine of steel for helping Bush, just like they have repeatedly since 2000.

And you think Bush is leaving in 2009, do you?
What makes you and others think that?

Oh that's right, that's the unspoken. It's taboo to talk about that because most people refuse to think about it and prefer to live in their comfortable denial that that can't possible happen. The Bush Crime Family can't/won't do that, you think? Suckers.

The law permits spying on all communications between US citizens and anyone "resonably believed" to be outside the country, even US citizens "Reasonably believed" to be outside the country.

With no oversight, I can forsee Bush and Gonzo "reasonably believing" that Democratic Headquarters is outside the USA...or that the e-mail communications following the world wide web looped outside the borders at some point.

At least Nixon's "plumbers" had to break into Dem headquarters...but the Dumb Dems just gave Bush the keys to the front door and file cabinet.

Wasn't there a story of spying on Peace Protesters and Democrats recently?

Do people want to know "what they can do" about the crisis of democracy this country is facing? Here's something concerned people can do: talk earnestly to those in your personal circles -- your friends, family, & acquaintances. Help them to understand that the 2-party system is a monstrous fraud; that it is hostile to the interests of the broad population. It functions merely to impose the will of the wealthy upon the rest of the population. Get them to see that the Democrats are not "the lesser evil;" they are simply an integral part of the very same evil.

The 2-party system framework cannot possibly lead to any solution, because it was never meant to be a vehicle of genuine democracy in the first place. It was always intended primarily as a mechanism allowing elite domination of society, while secondarily permitting the sorting out of conflicts among ruling factions. (Read "Democracy for the Few" by Michael Parenti, for extraordinary insight into the determinants of the historical process here.)

It's the height of illogic to believe that this system, which has led us to the brink, can possibly change its stripes & fix itself. After all, the system is doing precisely what it was always intended to do -- safeguarding the interests of the owning classes, while maintaining 100% political control over society.

*** revised oath of office for Democrats ***

"I hereby swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, unless it's politically inconvenient or unless I'm afraid of being called soft on terror, to the best of my ability."

Good article, Ma'am. About the phrase, "soft on terrrorism": seems pretty silly. Does that mean a person wouldn't mind if the "terrorists" just blew up a few things? Whereas, 'hard on terrorism' would mean being displeased if the "terrorists" blew up a few things? Seems as if "soft" is just a title that shouldn't bother people who are accused of much worse on a daily basis. I suggest that rather than being "soft" the politicians you mention are without moral fiber and find that going along with murderers and sociopaths is the easy way out.

Please keep asking the hard questions of the lice at the head of our government whenever you get the chance.

To the comment above, if the judicial branch is currently an 'annex of the Executive branch', that is also with the complete approval and support of Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate.

Every Federal judgeship is only filled with the 'advice and consent' of the US Senate. We saw during the Clinton years that the Senate rules allow a single US Senator to put a 'hold' on a judicial nomination and stop it. We certainly know that 41 US Senators can form a filibuster and stop anything.

So all of these Republican judges that constantly rule pro-corporate and in favor of Bush's executive branch are there with the blessings and approval of the Democrats in the Senate. Its just yet another way the Democrats have sold us out and betrayed us and fooled us by their phony stance as a opposition party when in reality they are no such thing.

If Harry Reid really opposed this bill, he could have stopped it cold. As Senate leader he has a great deal of control as to what bills are debated on the floor of the Senate and when.

And even if for some reason he couldn't do that, if the leader of the Senate Dems had really opposed this he could have organized an effective filibuster to stop it. A filibuster being pushed by the leadership of the majority party in the Senate would have a very strong chance of succeeding.

If Harry Reid is saying this, then he's just yet another Democratic lying SOB. I'm at the point where I think "Democrat" and "lying SOB" are basically synonyms. The Democratic Party is based on lies. They constantly lie because they want you to somehow believe that what they really think is somehow different from what it is they constantly do. The entire structure of the Democratic Party is based on lying to its supporters. The supporters believe the party is somehow very different from what it really is.

What the Democratic Party really is is that they are completely supportive and on board with these police state powers. Clinton and a Democratic congress started this in the 1990s. And the Democratic congress has always been completely supportive of this in the Bush years. Harry Reid is a lying SOB if he tries to tell you anything differently.

I'm really sick of all of this junk about how the Democrats 'rolled over' or are afraid of being branded as weak on terror.

All of that is based on the completely wrong notion that the Democrats really oppose this. THEY DON'T. Face it. There's a five year track record (or longer) of the Democrats being completely on board and approving of these policies. The Democratic leadership has supported every one of these bills and made sure they had the votes to pass. Every single time.

So quit telling me the Democrats 'rolled over'. That's just smoke screen BS to try to convince the idiots who still support the Democrats that on yet another issue the Democrats are really something they are not. The Democrats do not oppose this. The Democrats have helped every bill from the Patriot Act onwards to pass. The Democrats all vote to approve the budgets to fund this. With the Democrats in control of the agenda of Congress, there's been no attempt to roll back any of the legislation that the Democrats voted to approve when the Republicans ran Congress.

Please stop trying to BS me into thinking the Democrats are really opposed to this but are just 'rolling over', or are 'too weak' or are 'cowards' or that they 'caved in', etc, etc, etc. Its BS all designed to fool people into voting Democrat under the delusion that they really oppose these policies.

Face it .... 41 Democratic Senators could have stopped this bill with a filibuster. The Democratic leadership of either house could have stopped this bill with their control of the calendars or agendas of the two houses. The Democrats could easily have stopped this if they wanted to. But like on every other previous bill like this, THE DEMOCRATS SUPPORT IT TOO!

What or who is to stop the Attorney General from claiming our citizen's phone calls or e-mails were routed through a foreign source?

Who knows how their e-mails are routed? Or their telephone calls?

Would this latest degree by our 'Decider' also cover TV reception? Satellite transmissions?

How about importing a foreign car? (Aren't cars made by 'corporations'?. Since the 'corporation' or 'money' has been proclaimed a 'person', if we imported a 'corporate' product won't we be importing a 'person' too?

And if 'corporate people' can contribute to political campaigns, why can't they vote too?
Or, are 'corporate' rights only for American corporations?

I know it's all too secret for us to know.

COMarc and emma, you are so right on. No, the Democrats aren't rolling over, they are doing exactly want they want to do. Mike Gravel pointed out the leaders could stop it if they wanted to, and he showed exactly how. He was in the Senate for years, he knows. And I concur with lillulu about Peace Warrior's post.

I watched "September 11 Revisited" on streaming video and ordered the DVD ($6 including shipping). The makers ask us to copy and share the DVD. It leaves no doubt in my mind that this administration knew 9/11 was coming and that the WTC was a controlled demolition. Those planes couldn't have done what we saw. I read about the put options on the United and American Airline stocks the week before 9/11, and the millions in profits by secret individuals afterwards. This was briefly mentioned in the press, and then dropped. Why? Or need I ask?

I talk with office personnel on the phone about where our country is going (when making business calls - I just start up conversations upon conclusion of business) and they are troubled and eager to hear about the National Initiative. So I send them to www.vote.org and Mike Gravel's website for more information. I find that people in bottom end jobs are apathetic and indifferent to politics. But I want to find a way to reach them too. For the most part they don't have internet access. So I talked to the webmaster at the National Initiative and he agreed to set up a PDF file for hand signatures. I made up an information sheet and I think if we want to change things, we have to do it the gressroots way, feet on the ground. We won't get any help from our "free" press. It's going to have to be person to person, one at a time.

Samizdat (Russian: самиздат) was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries. Copies were made a few at a time, and those who received a copy would be expected to make more copies. This was often done by handwriting or typing.
This grassroots practice to evade officially imposed censorship was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored materials. Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it."

At this point we're just ignored, and we still have the illusion of a democracy. But if we get unruly, the gloves may come off. And I am telling everyone I talk with about the General Strike, September 11. Of course, no one has heard of it. But we can spread the word. It's up to us. And it's up to us to take back our country.

Helen,

I would love to read whatever book you and Keith Olberman could co-author about the insanity of the current administration.

After an interminable 'black-balling' it's nice to see the occasional question you are permitted to ask at the WH press conferences, even if all you get back is the typical 'Snow' job answer. Keep fighting for us; we need you.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid denounced the new legislation, saying it authorizes warrantless searches and surveillance of American phone calls, e-mails, homes, offices and personal records.

---------
What bullcrap! This incompetent should have held up the vote! Both he and Pelosi played politics by trying to have it both ways--personally voting against this measure but allowing the vote (which they knew would pass) to happen.

The dems did the same thing with Alito. Congresspeople, like Clinton, voted against Alito--but this was after she'd voted against a fillibuster.

They don't even try, they don't even try.

What secret infringements?... They have all been right in front of everyone...who bothered to look.

The crackpot 9/11 Reichstag Theory is beginning to get more traction as this administration finishes tearing up the US Constitution.

Remember whose family was the US bankers for the 3rd Reich ! (and had to be threatened by the US Gov't in 1942 before they relinquished the role)

Once again, the non-opposition party had the opportunity to put a small brake on the cheney-led presidency, and they didn't do it. Nothing new there.

But it has happened so often since 9-11 and the explanations of why just don't seem to fit. Agreed that they are in hock to the military-industrial-political machine. Agreed that cheney pulls out the terrorist and fear card and it still works. Agreed that many of them have been part of the Washington establishment for too long and that they are greedy and corrupt.

We all know that here is a reptilian energy of vileness and furtiveness and rage that emanates from the cheney-rove-gonzales-bush gang and their supporters. And this energy drives them to create the indescribable and almost unimaginable harm in the world that they have.

Though the non-opposition party is weak, I don't sense that many of them are vile and furtive and rageful. My experience has been that the fear card loses its credibility with each wolf cry. And greed also grows old after a time. Maybe I just don't understand the extent to which the non-opposition party is in hock or the level of fear that they have in their lives, but these excuses just don't seem to cover the vast extent of the breach of trust that they have allowed. Especially such a large group of them and more especially among those who seemingly had a small shred of dignity and ethics - Pelosi and Reed come to mind. Outside of Kuchinich, Gravel, and of course Nader, there is no one listening.

And this says to me that there is something bigger going on.

Does anyone else besides me think that there is more to this massive capitulation than we now know? Or am I just too much of a believer in the generally good nature (however deeply hidden) of the majority of people?

The Democrats didn't roll over, by and large, most of them are no different than the Republicans.

Crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Crazy is continuing to vote for democrats and expecting any real change rather than more blowhard speeches that contradict their actions.

The solution to this problem is the National Initiative for Democracy, in some perfected form as yet to be determined.

ni4d.org

Please take a look and submit your suggestions for improvements. If the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch are not functioning to uphold the Constitution, they are not doing their most basic job and our democracy is not functioning.

I don't mention the Judicial Branch because it is currently an annex of the Executive Branch. Maybe we could say the same for Congress.

It's time for the people to reassert its inherent power to govern itself, and even to legislate itself.

Why would any person who believes in the Constitution, or democracy, or freedom vote for any of the "leaders" for 2008....Republifascist or Fakeocrat

All they have to offer is fear and corporate sponsorship...."fear" of terrorists we created or "fear" of the Republifascist who is 2% more evil than the Fakeocrat.

Neither represents the people. Both harm....the world

Why would a thinking person participate in corporate evil by selecting between the 2 corporate candidates...the only candidates allowed to be taken seriously in corporate elections. Why would thinking people validate the corporate takeover of our country by participating in the corporate elections. That's all it is...corporations fooling idiots into believing they actually have a say in who runs our country...appeasing those who remember the word "democracy" , no matter how dishonest the premise that we live in one today.

Appeasing these corporate scum is tantamount to being an accomplice to the overthrow of the United States. All who ignorantly vote for one of the corporate candidates, no matter what the reason, are as guilty off treason as the corporations that have overthrown our government...supplying comfort and aid to the enemy

When the corporations trot out there candidates why do we cowardly submit to the corporate will and play along. Stop it

Lesser-evilism accomodates evil

It'll be curious to see when they overstep their bounds and wake Joe Sixpacks from his slumber. Clearly, they're dancing around a fine line. But giving themselves legal rights to perform the unethical, or limiting civil liberties of people who are ordinarily fairly ethical persons, suggests a growing divergence between ethics and law. Laws they cannot enforce, and ignore themselves, aren't really laws in the traditional sense.

But it's a moot point whether, in cultivating a new dictatorship at the expense of civil liberties, it is a "legal" totalitarianism or an "illegal" one. Probably 99% of the Republicans and 75% of the Democrats are onboard with trading in civil liberties and the Bill of Rights for "security" -- all the way.

Perhaps they feel we can dismantle the Bill of Rights in order to save it? That the terrorists are trying to wreck our way of life, they are under every rock, potentially in a home near YOU, and the best way to protect the US against their always present threat to our way of life is by slowly dismantling systemic/legal/codified protection of our freedoms. A sort of slash & burn thing? Kill the patient to kill the tumor?

We're in two ME countries now . . . bringing "democracy"!

Cheney wants to attack IRAN . . .

And the Democrats are off on vacation.

If Cheney attacks IRAN, what are Americans going to do about it? What Germans did when Hitler attacked Poland?

I can only feel that this group of neo-cons are basically insane and suicidal and taking us all along for the ride.

Can we really be assured that the Cheney/Bush administration will actually leave office? Can we really have any confidence that they will not create pretexts to avoid having elections and an elected successor to the presidency? All of the underlying 'laws' seem to have been put into place to allow Bush to declare military law in the country and to arrest and detail without access to courts anyone who is an 'illegal enemy combatant' (which he gets to provide the definition of!).

At least we know we can count on Arlen Specter and the dumbocrats to talk a good fight for 15 minutes before they capitulate...