Civil Liberties

The Crucial Importance Of A Democratic Senate And President For The Future

Ronald Leave a comment

The battle for Democratic control of the House of Representatives, the need to gain 17 seats, is a bitter one, with right wing groups spending millions to make sure that the Republicans keep control, and prevent any furthering of the Barack Obama agenda.

Due to the reality of gerrymandered districts, created by Republican legislatures and governors, as a result of the 2010 midterm elections, the concept of majority rule has been distorted, with Democrats winning more total votes nationally in Congressional races, but Republicans able to win a majority of seats, and oppose everything Obama wants, and cause a shutdown of the government in October.

Due to the extremism of the Republican House as a result of the “hostage” situation created by the Tea Party Movement, the 2013 session of the Congress has been the worst since records were kept in 1947, but now the “establishment” Republicans are declaring war on the Tea Party right wingers, and trying to insure that the mainstream conservatives, led by Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, will be able to control the future.

At the same time, right wing pressure groups are trying to defeat a group of conservatives in House and Senate primaries, so the civil war may give Democrats the opportunity to gain enough seats to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker again in the 114th Congress of 2015-2016. That would allow the budgetary power of the House Ways and Means Committee to be back in Democratic hands, giving them the opportunity to reverse regressive policies perpetrated by Republicans since 2011.

But even more important is the keeping of a Democratic Senate majority, with the ability to get appointments of the President confirmed by a majority, rather than needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. This is particularly important for federal district and circuit court nominees, and for the eventual approval of Supreme Court nominees on the aging Court.

Part of this is also the need to have a Democratic President after 2016, as that reality, plus a Democratic Senate, would guarantee that social conservatism would lose out on such issues, as abortion, gay marriage, civil liberties, civil rights, and so many other issues that are crucial to the long range future of making America a nation of fairness, justice, equality, and tolerance!

Disturbing News That NSA Spying Unknown By Obama! If So, What Does That Say?

Ronald 16 Comments

The news that the National Security Agency (NSA) has engaged in massive spying NOT only against terrorists, which is understandable, but also against American citizens by invasive investigation of all phone calls and emails, and also against friendly nations, such as Germany, France and Spain, is truly alarming to the extreme!

One might say that national security requires it, but that is a slippery slope that can undermine the Bill of Rights, and do permanent damage to the concept of having allies in the world against terrorism.

If American citizens cannot trust their own government to avoid invasion of their privacy, that is alarming!

If friendly foreign governments cannot trust that America is avoiding unnecessary intrusion in their private activities, and can look at these governments as not worthy of being trusted as allies, that is alarming!

And even worse, the news that, supposedly, Barack Obama was not aware of these activities by the NSA and, also, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies, then that is TRULY alarming, as that means we have a shadow government which operates outside the parameters of accountable government authority!

It was often said in the past that the CIA was out of control, and that agency was investigated by the Church Committee in the 1970s, and supposedly, controls were put on that agency, or were they?

Are we being lied to all along, and indeed, no matter who is President, they are often unaware of what the spy agencies do?

And if that is so, does that not mean that Presidents of either party are, themselves, subject to being watched, observed, and possibly compromised, and conceivably, be marked for being “neutralized” by these agencies?

Notice the word “neutralized”, as the author is reluctant to say precisely what he means, but anyone reading this is likely to understand the dangers that any President faces from unaccountable espionage!

And although the author has never believed in conspiracy theories, the thought has to cross one’s mind as we come up to the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Assassination, and the belief of some that the CIA or FBI or other such agencies MIGHT have been involved in the demise of the 35th President.

This whole scenario at present is something to be really concerned with, worried about, and requires some kind of government action and oversight to stop these breaches of civil liberties and diplomatic protocol!

Vladimir Putin, The New York Times, And Lecturing America

Ronald 6 Comments

It is literally shocking that the NY Times chose to publish a self serving, propagandistic statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Putin lectures the United States, and questions the “exceptionalism” that America is known for, and even discusses God in a society infamous for atheism during the Soviet Period, when Putin was a member of the Russian Secret Police of that era, the KGB!

Yes, the United States has many problems and faults, but still we are an “exceptional” nation that is a model for the world!

Meanwhile, the Russian Federation has arranged for the disappearance and death of dissidents, even in other countries; invaded the nation of Georgia; massacred hundreds of thousands of people in Chechnya; denies basic freedoms to its own citizens, including freedom of speech and press; and is now on a campaign to persecute and intimidate gays who live in Russia, as well as causing an Olympics crisis with its anti gay laws, which are likely to lead to arrest of foreigners in Russia during the upcoming Winter Olympics!

Putin is, clearly, a dictator and a totalitarian, and the NY Times should be ashamed of itself for allowing him a venue through their newspaper to lecture the US and its government and people!

Instead, what Putin needs to do is look in the mirror, and work on promoting human freedom and opportunity in Russia, on the model of the United States, which has plenty of work left to do, but has a lot to show that is good, to the rest of the world!

Senator Lindsey Graham Faces Whacko Tea Party Opponents In Republican Senate Primary In South Carolina!

Ronald 35 Comments

Anyone who follows American politics KNOWS that South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is a solid conservative.

Graham tends to be critical of President Obama on most issues; was one of the leaders of the fight to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998, while a member of the House of Representatives; and is always a strong supporter of defense and foreign interventions, as is his good friend, John McCain.

But that is precisely the problem he faces now in the upcoming battle for the Senate nomination of his party for a third term election in 2014. That is, he SOMETIMES agrees with the President; is TOO GOOD a friend of John McCain, seen by many conservatives as not conservative enough; and infuriates those who are isolationist and non interventionist in the libertarian movement led by Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

So therefore, Graham is labeled not acceptable to the Tea Party whackos who want to defeat him and put someone more right wing than he is in the Senate! Graham also has the gall to support immigration reform, and support the President on civil liberties policies..

So we have South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright taking on Graham, and this Tea Party activist has gone off the deep end, and demonstrated total insanity in his assertions that Graham is a “Community organizer” for the Muslim Brotherhood!

Think of how crazy and looney that assertion by Bright is, and it is clear that Bright is far from “bright”!

First, Graham Is NOT a community organizer, while Barack Obama was, but somehow these right wing nuts think anyone who helps poor people in urban neighborhoods is, somehow, not legitimate. Apparently, only if someone is involved in the corporate world and makes tons of profit and steps all over workers and consumers, is a person worth anything!

This is a very sick, twisted way of looking at fellow human beings, wishing to do nothing to help those less fortunate, and yet, one can be sure that Bright think of himself as a “good Christian”, which he most certainly is not, as if he examines the life of Jesus Christ, what does he think Jesus was?—A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!

And to say that Lindsey Graham is working for the Muslim Brotherhood, when Graham is one of the most outspoken critics of that Middle Eastern group, makes Lee Bright certifiable to be committed for a mental examination as to his sanity! It is a totally preposterous idea, but just as much to say that Barack Obama is a Muslim or a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, when Obama has been responsible for the death of more Islamic terrorists and, sadly, some innocent bystanders, than George W. Bush did in his eight years in the White House!

As one observes the total lunatic nature of the Tea Party Movement, one realizes that there is a serious mental illness prevalent among people who claim to follow Christianity, but have no clue as to the teachings of their Lord and Savior!

The only blessing for Graham is that Bright is only one of three primary opponents, all nuts and looney, and that should help him to gain the nomination for a third term, by the division of votes among his opponents!

A Major Day For Civil Liberties And Civil Rights In NYC And Nationally!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today was a day of major victories on civil liberties and civil rights, both in New York City and in the nation!

A federal court judge declared New York City’s “Stop And Frisk Law”, which targeted young black and Hispanic males in 90 percent of the cases of utilizing this law. People were being stopped based on racial profiling, simply because police chose to consider young black and Hispanic males as suspect, forcing them to be checked on whether they had guns or drugs, without any obvious reason to believe so, and with 88 percent of those stopped sent on their way without charges or arrests.

The federal court judge ruled that the “Stop And Frisk” law violated the 4th Amendment, and the 14th Amendment, and ordered that federal monitors watch over changes in the law.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly denounced the decision, and plan an appeal, but it is clear that minority youth are being victimized, with only a small percentage actually engaged in crimes and wrongdoing.

Attorney General Eric Holder also gave a speech today in San Francisco before the American Bar Association, and called for a new policy on those arrested and incarcerated for drug possession, which puts many people in prison, ruins their lives for the future when they leave prison, and if anything, teaches them about crime because of the environment they live in while in prison. It also undermines the ability of their families, including children, to advance out of poverty in the long run.

It is amazing that population has gone up about 40 percent since 1980, but 800 percent increase in people in prison and jails, and it is costing the nation $80 billion a year to house and supervise 2.2 million people in prison, dooming the drug offenders with a disadvantage they cannot overcome when they leave incarceration.

This is all due to Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs, which began in 1971, and has totally failed, another part of the Nixon tragedy for our nation.

One can be sure that the Republican Party will oppose both developments today, but it is essential to promote justice and equality in a country that claims to believe in freedom and liberty.

And the idea that 5 percent of the world (the US), houses 25 percent of all prisoners worldwide is atrocious, unacceptable, and great cannon fodder for our enemies overseas, besides being morally wrong! And much of this imprisonment is in the South, with private corporations making incarceration a profit making business, which is, in itself, despicable!

The Bill of Rights and other civil liberties is in constant combat with those who have no concern for these rights,but today has been a good day for civil liberties and civil rights!

Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, And The Espionage Act of 1917!

Ronald 3 Comments

In 1917, after America had entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson pushed through Congress the infamous Espionage Act, designed to be used against actual spies, but manipulated instead to bring Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party leader and five time Presidential candidate to trial, and to sentence him to federal prison, with Debs only being pardoned in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding, as Wilson refused to consider such a pardon.

That was not a bright moment in our civil liberties history, and Wilson remains condemned for promoting legislation that was abused by him and Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, not only the Espionage Act, but also the Sedition Act of 1918, the first such federal legislation of that name and type since the Sedition Act of 1798 under President John Adams, which was repealed under his successor, Thomas Jefferson! The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed by Congress in late 1920, but never has that occurred for the Espionage Act!

The Espionage Act should have been repealed, but instead, it was used against Pfc, Bradley Manning, who used his position in the Army to give access to hundreds of thousands of documents about the Iraq and Afghanistan War to Wikileaks, and then, after being arrested, was horribly mistreated, including total isolation and being stripped naked, outrageous conditions he did not, and no one, deserves!

Manning has now been acquitted of “aiding the enemy” under the Espionage Act language, but still faces many years in prison, when to many, he was a “whistle blower”, who should not be prosecuted and convicted for exposing the secret actions of our government and military in both Iraq and Afghanistan, two highly unpopular wars created by the actions of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld!

The same controversy centers around Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency employee, who shocked the nation by exposing many secrets of the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency, and then fled, first to Hong Kong, and then Russia, and is trying to gain asylum in Latin America, if not Russia.

A majority of the American people see him as a “whistle blower” rather than a spy, and so the issue of how to deal with these two individuals, one military, and one civilian, divides the American people!

America At Crossroads On Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Class

Ronald 10 Comments

After recent events in Florida on racial profiling; in Texas and other states on abortion restrictions; in Arizona and other states on legislation regarding undocumented immigration; the push for theocracy by the Religious Right; the move in many states to allow discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment; and the growing chasm between workers and management regarding labor rights and conditions, it is clear that America is at a crossroads on issues of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and class!

African Americans, women, Latinos and Hispanics, those for separation of church and state, gays and lesbians, and the middle class and the poor face constant attack on their basic rights and their quality of life, as the Right is moving to curb advancements that have been made over the past 60 years since the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower onward by the Supreme Court, Congressional action on civil rights and civil liberties, and courageous Presidents of both parties who have seen the need to lower the barriers on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and class!

We are at a crossroads in the constant struggle for American democracy and fair play, as even when progress is made, there is aggressive action to reverse the progress, trying to wipe out what has been accomplished!

The country is changing, but we have negative elements who are trying to return America to what it was many generations ago, and the fight for continued progress and advancement to a “more perfect Union” is a never ending one, and no one can give up their participation in the struggle, as that only advances the movement toward negativism, regression, and reversal!

Irony: Bush V. Gore Attorneys Joined Together To Win Gay Marriage Case In California!

Ronald 1 Comment

It is extremely ironic to realize that the opposing attorneys in the infamous Bush V. Gore case, which George W. Bush won over Al Gore in the Supreme Court, making Bush the 43rd President of the United States, have now triumphed in the most significant civil liberties decision in recent memory, the case against Proposition 8 in California.

This victory in the Supreme Court last month allowed the revival of gay marriages in the most populous state in the Union, with about one out of every eight Americans!

That case, along with the case that declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional for its discrimination against gay couples who wished to marry, will stand out in the history of civil rights and civil liberties in America.

And these two heroes are Ted Olson, who represented George W. Bush, and David Boies, who represented Al Gore, and now are joined together in a case that will go down in history as just as important as the Bush V. Gore case, and possibly more so, as the long range effect of winning gay marriage in the Supreme Court is massive!

Two Important Supreme Court Anniversaries On June 13: Miranda Decision And Nomination Of Thurgood Marshall

Ronald Leave a comment

On this day, 47 years ago, the Supreme Court made one of its most important decisions in modern times, in the case Miranda V. Arizona, declaring that anyone stopped and questioned as a suspect by police officers must be read his basic rights before any questions are asked. While law enforcement was furious about this at the time, it has become one of the most important expansions of civil liberties in modern times, although one wonders if the Roberts Court would favor it, if a case came up to reverse it, as the Warren Court was a special, unique period in Supreme Court history.

Also, a year later on this day, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated the first African American Supreme Court Justice, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, who went on to a distinguished 24 year career on the Supreme Court as one of its leading liberals. Sadly, he was replaced by Clarence Thomas, who is the direct opposite of everything Marshall believed in, with the only common theme being that Thomas is the only other African American ever to serve on the Supreme Court.

These two events transformed the Court in major ways, and this is an occasion to celebrate both events, as we await major decisions facing the Court in the next two weeks!

Al Qaeda And Other Terrorist Groups Have Won: The Battle For Civil Liberties And Personal Freedoms Has Been Lost!

Ronald 3 Comments

This is a very depressing time in the world, with the battle against terrorism being fought, and the victims of this battle are our civil liberties and personal freedoms!

The author is in Toronto on vacation, and just read this morning of a similar eavesdropping and snooping program being exposed in Canada, as it was revealed in the past few days in the United States that the National Security Agency is engaged in such a program of all phone calls and emails and other electronic communication. And we know the same thing is going on in Great Britain, France, Australia and all other “democracies” in this world, all of which are supposedly “better” than totalitarian or dictatorial regimes, which dominate much of the world.

It is hard NOT to be depressed, and to realize that no matter how many protests we might lodge, none of what is happening will ever change, and there are bound to be innocent victims, as there were in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and in the Cold War Era, but this present war on terrorism will likely NEVER be over, and therefore, all “democratic” governments will come to dominate and monopolize our lives and freedoms!

We are in the era of “1984”, George Orwell’s realistic novel, published in 1948, and in many ways, way beyond that stage of government control and interference in our lives. No matter who is elected President in the United States, or Prime Minister in Great Britain, Canada, or Australia, or President in France, as well as other “democratic nations”, we will never regain what we had, or thought we had, and we will have to be even more concerned when a leader or a political party in any of these nations becomes the government, and is a leader or party which we do not trust, which is inevitable!

So Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have won, and continue to win, no matter how many such individuals or groups we kill or destroy!

I wish to give credit here to one of my critics on this blog, Juan Domingo Peron (the name he uses), for making me reflect and realize that while I may trust Barack Obama, I would be alarmed if George W. Bush had been the one to authorize the NSA eavesdropping, or if in the future, any conservative Republican or Libertarian were to become the leader of our nation, because as he said, nearly half the population at any time does not trust whoever our President is!

A dose of reality set in when I read what Juan said, and while I want to trust Barack Obama and his good intentions, the bureaucracy of national security makes me worry about what is being done, and the reality that someday, maybe sooner or later, a leader will emerge who I will NOT trust!

So we all need to be sober and realistic about our struggle for civil liberties and personal freedoms to be preserved in a world gone mad in the fight against terrorism!