It’s time to help get the word out. The ACLU took out a full page ad in the New York Times about Bush’s illegal wiretapping activities and how it compares to Nixon’s wiretaps and spying on Americans. The ad is shown below. Feel free to grab it and post it on your site as well. We need to achieve the widest audience possible so Americans can understand how Bush’s wiretapping violates not only FISA, but also our fundamental 4th Amendment rights.

Unfortunately, due to my site’s size restrictions, I was unable to post the entire ad here. The text portion of the ad is here:

The last time a United States President claimed that he alone had the unilateral power to tap phones without a judicial order, that incident ended in the national disgrace known as the Watergate scandal. At the time, Congress stepped up to the plate and served as an essential check and balance to preserve democracy for future generations of Americans.

No American - even one the President claims has ties to terrorism - is beneath the law’s protection. And no one - not even a US President - is above the law’s limits.

Congress must step up to the plate again and demonstrate a bi-partisan committment to our system of checks and balances. A special counsel must be appointed to determine whether oaths of office were broken and federal laws violated.

Because it’s not about promoting a political agenda. It’s about preserving American democracy.

Call your Member of Congress at (202) 224-3121.
Insist on Congressional hearings. Demand that the Attorney General appoint a special counsel to investigate whether the President violated the Constitution and his oath of office.

Protect our system of checks and balances.
To learn more, go to www.aclu.org/ruleoflaw

A while back I posted about American Girl supporting Girls, Inc. Well, it looks like those idiots at the American Family Association got American Girl owner, Mattel, to bow under the pressure and not renew their contract with Girls, Inc. when it expires.

While doing some more research into how I could support Girls, Inc., I found this interesting tidbit of information:

Milwaukee (Licensee)
YWCA of Greater Milwaukee
1915 N. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr.
Milwaukee, WI 53212-0544

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t YWCA stand for Young Women’s Christian Association? According to their website it does. So why then is an organization like the YWCA supporting causes that are supposedly pro-lesbian and pro-abortion? Maybe we should tell the AFA about this. Maybe even James Dobson. I bet he’d know what to do with this evil crowd. Hypocrites…

That little tidbit of an Ozzy tune is one I’m sure my brother was singing all week. No longer is he tear-assing up and down the Iraqi highways. RoadRage is back home! Anybody in the Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin area needs to look out as he’ll be tear-assing up and down those roads now. I guess he got home yesterday at about 2:00pm. I want to thank each and every one of you who have kept my brother in your thoughts, prayers, etc. over the past year. I also want to thank you all for the kind things you’ve said. Your words, althought only printed, mean a lot.

Now, it’s time to celebrate!!!!

ROADRAGE IS BACK HOME!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!

Ethics.

Compassion.

Morals.

All of these things have been carlessly tossed by the roadside like some piece of trash. Responsibility has been flicked out the window like a burning cigarette with its ashes left to flicker on the road until they go out. Carelessness and callousness now fester in those DC halls where once-great leaders governed this great country. What has happened to my country?

The president says that 9/11 changed everything, but I’m not so sure it did or even should have. For one brief, shining moment in American history, our country came together as one. Then, the pillaging began. It started with the USA Patriot Act that eroded our basic civil liberties one by one. All in the name of stopping terror. Then came Iraq. On its head, the Patriot Act seemed like a good idea, but underneath its fancy cloak of “protection” was something not quite right.

Looking back now, with 20/20 hindsight, Bush was right. September 11th did change everything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for the better. Sure, we could all feel safer, but at what expense? Our government has changed and I don’t like what it has become. In a flurry of emotion, we cast aside traditional checks and balances for unfettered power to do anything, at any time, to anybody. All in the name of “protecting America”. What has happened to my country?

Lord Acton once wrote “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Who knew how prophetic those words would become? After 9/11, we gave our president absolute power. And following Lord Acton’s prophetic words, we now see that it has corrupted absolutely. The government’s responsibility to its citizens is gone now, perhaps never to return. And we let it happen. The recent announcement that wiretaps were granted over 30 times against U.S. citizens without warrants being issued is extremely frightening to me. Dissent may be the highest form of patriotism, but it is fast becoming the highest form of treason. We have failed to hold our elected representatives responsible to us. We let this happen, willfully. I wonder what has happened to my country?

The problems facing us right now are bigger than the Bush Administration. We have Congress to blame as well. There are a few bright spots there that still regard our inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness very high indeed. But they are fast becoming the silenced minority. Rational discourse has gone the way of the dinosaurs. We need to find our way back to a time when our country was great, not because of its size or power, but because of our morals, our ethics, and our compassion. Folks on the right constantly proclaim that ours is a Christian nation. But Christ himself would not recognize us now. We have lost our way. The politics of hatred and destruction of personal character rule the day now. It is time for a change. Time to rid our government of the stubborn, money-hungry, power-mongers. It is time to kick the money-changers out of the temple, as Jesus once did.

Call or write your elected representatives, Democrat or Republican, and have them begin impeachment proceedings. The law has been broken before by members of the Bush Administration, but the cockiness the President has about spying on his own people, regardless of how “necessary” it is, is flat-out wrong. As my senator, Russ Feingold, said: “He was elected President, not King.” The powers granted to Bush after 9/11 were NOT a blank check no matter how he tries to spin it. Let’s put these assholes out of a job.

I found this whilst perusing a post over Shakespeare’s Sister. I have to say that XQUZYPHYR and Overboard is my new favorite cartoon. Check it out. His blog is pretty funny too.

So far, in reading numerous blogs about the torture ban that Bush has conceded to, I haven’t really seen this side of the argument presented too often: If Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the cabal want to torture, they will.

One thing decidedly missing from Condi’s not-so-eloquent speeches last week was the fact that she kept insisting that the US will not now, nor ever will torture since it is against the rules, so to speak. What isn’t mentioned is that torture is NOT illegal in numerous countries that we call our allies. So while the US military, CIA, FBI, etc. may not torture, what is stopping us from continuing rendition flights and just dropping off the suspects to a country whose government has no problem whatsoever with torture? I mean, Mohammed is grabbed up on suspicion of connections to Al-Qaeda. Since we don’t torture (’cuz the President said so!), we drop him off to be water-boarded, placed on the rack and “interrogated” until our “allies” get a confession. At which point we take the “intel” and proceed with “stoppin’ the terrists!”

Taking the above position, the Bush Administration still maintains their plausible deniability. They really can honestly say “We Don’t Torture” and mean it. Unfortunately, the beatings will continue until morale improves we win the unwinnable War on Terror. Thankfully, our Congress realizes what a bad situation allowing an exception to the proposed torture amendment would be.

In going through the logs of visits to this here humble slice of the blogosphere, I’m finding more and more searches for the lyrics to “Frosty the Dopeman”. I did a post on it last year and since everyone seems to be finding my site as a result, I figure what the hell, give the people what they want. So without further adieu, here’s my post from last year (with a few edits to include the entire lyrics):

I found this over at Buried.com and thought it was hilarious! BE ADVISED, SOME OF THESE PARODIES ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!

Frosty the Dopeman
(sung to the tune of Frosty The Snowman)

Frosty the dopeman was a mildly happy soul
With an old crackpipe and a runny nose
and two eyes squinting like a mole’s
Frosty the dopeman was no fairy tale, no way
He wasn’t made of snow, but the children know
that he used some everyday
There must have been some magic in that
old syringe they found
For when they stuck it in his arm
he began to jump around

O, Frosty the dopeman was as wired as he could be
And the children say he could smoke all day,
much more than you and me

Puffetty Puff Puff
Puffetty Puff puff
Look at Frosty go
Puffetty Puff Puff
Puffetty Puff puff
Hey Kid, Where’s my blow?

Frosty the dopeman knew his shit was hot that day
So he said “Let’s run and we’ll have some fun
before the cops take me away”

Down to the alley, with a crackpipe in his hand
Running here and there `til he burnt his hair,
saying “Shit I’m on fire man”
He rolled around in the trash from town
right into some big-ass cop
And he never even heard him
when the policeman hollered “Stop!”

For Frosty the dopeman was all ready on his way
But he waved goodbye saying “Fuck you guy,
You ain’t gonna catch my ass today”
humpetty hump hump
humpety hump hump
Look at that crackhead go
humpetty hump hump
humpety hump hump
Gotta have that dope Mofo’

There’s a lot more on his site that’ll keep you laughing all night long. Quite refreshing compared to the typical fare we get every Christmas season. OK, maybe not refreshing, actually quite sick and twisted.

I pondered titling this post “What is prison for, really?”, but decided to go with the title you see now. At 12:01am PST this morning, Stanley “Tookie” Williams was put to death. To many people across this country, that’s all he is/was. What is disturbing is what this says about our justice system, specifically the role of prisons or the death penalty in deterring crime. I have always thought that the role of the justice system, in regards to prison, was to rehabilitate the criminal. Granted there are some instances where this can’t be accomplished with even the heaviest handed prison sentence. But was that the case with Tookie Williams? In his autobiography, he mentions being the co-founder of the L.A. Crips street gang. This gave him the sort of notoriety that many prisoners on Death Row (not the record label) do not enjoy.

Back to my original thought: What is the purpose of our current prison system? If it is to rehabilitate criminals, how do we discern whether said criminal has been rehabilitated? By many accounts, the death of Tookie Williams is a sad one. Here was a man that made many mistakes in his youth. (ed. note: Haven’t we all?) What differentiates the mistakes most of us make to the ones that Tookie made is the fact that his were lethal. If you believe, as I do, that a person can be rehabilitated, be it as a result of the prison system or from drug treatment, then you have to try and set a standard by which to gauge that rehabilitation. Many proponents of the death penalty state that the overwhelming factor that caused them to support putting Mr. Williams to death was the fact that he didn’t acknowledge his role in the murders of the 4 people he was convicted of killing. I know it sounds cliche, but what if he really didn’t do it? Can we trust life-long criminals to tell the truth? Because that was the testimony that put Williams at the scene of the 4 murders. Some of the prosecution’s witnesses were hardened criminals with something to gain from their testimony. I am not saying he didn’t commit the crimes, but nor am I saying he did. I don’t know. For all practical purposes humans are fallible. Because we are emotional beings, that emotion tends to sway us one way or another when dealing with crime and punishment. In a capital murder case, for example, if the victim was a frail individual and the alleged perpetrator is seen as rough and tough in the eyes of the jury, that will definitely sway the jury even if the facts presented are questionable at best. So how do we as a society come to grips with our shortcomings in deciding justice?

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in an interview following the death of Tookie Williams, said that this will cast new doubts and raise the level of debate on the death penalty. Not that I buy all of what he’s selling, but I happen to agree with him on this instance. I think the death of Tookie Williams will raise the level of debate in this country over the death penalty. All of the facts in a case need to be weighed, including the reliability of witnesses. I think the jury should know, in advance, of what, if any, benefits are given criminals in exchange for testimony against another criminal.

I don’t know if we will ever be able to get rid of the death penalty. I hope so, but I doubt it. In a case like Tookie’s, I feel he did rehabilitate himself, even if he didn’t apologize for killing the 4 people he was accused of killing. His sentence would have been better served had Gov. Schwarzenegger commuted it to life in prison without parole.

I hope you all, upon reading this, will reexamine the death penalty as well as punishment in general, in your own minds. If prison is indeed meant to not only punish, but rehabilitate the criminal, then we need to set some standard by which to measure the rehabilitation of the prisoner. This does not always mean requiring them to apologize or acknowledge their crime, although if the actual hard evidence does show, without a doubt, they committed the crime then that condition should be set. I’ll admit that I am not a professor of even a student of the law, but I know an injustice when I see one. Tookie Williams’ death was an injustice to us all.

I’m kind of late to the game, but DBK over at Blanton’s and Ashton’s have a Blogswarm going on right now in support of Congressman Rush Holt’s proposed resolution for verified voting. If you’re not familiar with this, then please read on.

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 550) will:

• Mandate a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in every federal election, nationwide; because the voter verified paper record is the only one verified by the voters themselves, rather than by the machines, it will serve as the vote of record in any case of inconsistency with electronic records;
• Protect the accessibility requirements of the Help America Vote Act for voters with disabilities;
• Require random, unannounced, hand-count audits of actual election results in every state, and in each county, for every Federal election;
• Prohibit the use of undisclosed software and wireless and concealed communications devices and internet connections in voting machines;
• Provide Federal funding to pay for implementation of voter-verified paper balloting; and
• Require full implementation by 2006

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has some excellent information as to WHY this is needed HERE.

So go ahead and sign Congressman Holt’s petition by clicking the image below:

Thanks go to DBK and Congressman Holt for the filching of the image above.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin State Senate approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would effectively ban gay marriage “or anything similar”. I am deeply disheartened that the Republicans in my state would stoop this low to “protect the sanctity of marriage”. I wrote emails to both of my state legislators concerning this issue. Thankfully, my State Senator voted against the amendment. I’m fairly sure my State Representative will as well.

There are going to be some of you who try to argue with me that not allowing gay marriage DOES NOT equate to destroying civil rights. Please continue to read on. Prior to civil rights movement in the `50s and `60s, African-Americans did not enjoy the same legal benefits as White Americans. They couldn’t go where they wanted, sit where they wanted, go to college where they wanted, etc. That is basically what is going on today. Homosexual couples currently do not enjoy the same legal benefits and protections that heterosexual couples do: the ability to marry. This legislation is saying “We don’t like it that you’re gay. We wish you would all die. But since we cannot just kill you, we want you to know that there’s no way in hell you’re going to get the same rights and benefits as I do because the bible says what you’re doing is SIN!” Those who are against it continually try to frame the argument that by allowing gays to marry would further destroy marriage. That’s a flat-out lie. The number one factor that destroys the sanctity of marriage is the legal ability to divorce. Because of that factor, I have asked both of my state legislators to sponsor a proposed amendment banning divorce since that is what has destroyed the so-called sanctity of marriage.

Just what is at risk by allowing gays to “marry “? Straight people interact with gays all the time; they just don’t know it. For those in the Catholic Church, there are some parishes where the parishioners have been exposed to a homosexual priest for years or even decades. Did it really affect their religious upbringing prior to them knowing their priest was gay? (ed. note: I’m not talking about the ones who have harmed children either) The answer to that question is NO. The fact of the matter is that, contrary to the Republican and religious viewpoint, gays are not going to “turn your kids gay”. Being gay is NOT a radical movement. They are not out to subvert everything that you hold dear. In fact, if you got to know some gay people, you might just find out they’re just like you. The whole argument is nothing short of mob mentality (see the book Chicken Little if you don’t get my meaning).

These same people that spout the nonsense about turning your kids gay are cut from the same cloth as the ones 40 years ago (and even today) that went on and on about how all blacks were criminals. Newsflash: They’re NOT! Same thing with homosexuals.

My final thought is this: This debate, this legislation, is not about protecting marriage. This legislation is about legalizing discrimination. This debate is about Equality, across-the-board equality. I’ll say to those who support banning gay marriage pretty much the same thing I tell anti-choice (read Pro-Life) advocates: You don’t want Gay Marriage, don’t have one. You don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one.