Posted by leftofdayton on March 19, 2008
(3/12/200 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union responded today to a stunning new report that the NSA has effectively revived the Orwellian “Total Information Awareness” domestic-spying program that was banned by Congress in 2003. In response, the ACLU said that it was filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more information about the spying. And, the group announced that it was moving its “Surveillance Clock” one minute closer to midnight.
“Congress shut down TIA because it represented a massive and unjustified governmental intrusion into the personal lives of Americans,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU. “Now we find out that the security agencies are pushing ahead with the program anyway, despite that clear congressional prohibition. The program described by current and former intelligence officials in Monday’s Wall Street Journal could be modeled on Orwell’s Big Brother.”
The ACLU said the new report confirmed its past warnings that the NSA was engaging in extremely broad-based data mining that was violating the privacy of vast numbers of Americans. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Constitution, MSM/Main Stream Media, US Government, Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, freedom of speech | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on March 3, 2008
A most thoughtful article that explores how it is that the Right Wing managed to gain control of the American Psyche and how Progressives can regain their voice…
By Sara Robinson
Created 02/29/2008
Make no mistake: When the conservatives set out to take over America 30 years ago, they were working off of a well-thought-out plan.The plan was put in place by a wide variety of thinkers — but three of the main strategists were Howard Phillips, Richard Viguerie, and Paul Weyrich, each of whom wrote important books and papers laying out the goal of creating a conservative America, and showing specifically how the movement could make that happen.The ideas in these plans went through various iterations through the decades; but their essential goals and intentions never changed much. And, as it turned out, they didn’t have to: the plan worked so well and kept the conservative base so focused and engaged over the long term that it didn’t need much more than an occasional refresher, or the odd subplan elaborating on how the main ideas should be applied in some specific domain.
Reading these plans now, as a progressive, it strikes me: We’re now living in an America in which every institution is dominated by these guys. Every facet of our looming disaster was dictated by bankrupt conservative ideas; yet our very ability to visualize fresh alternatives has been constricted by the frames they deliberately laid around our language and discourse. Most of the country finds it hard to even contemplate or discuss our predicaments in anything but conservative terms. It’s clear they’ve done more than merely mess up our country; they’ve also, quite intentionally, messed with our minds.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Constitution, Democratic Party, Montgomery County Democratic Party, POLITICAL ANALYSIS, US Government | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on February 15, 2008
The Ohio Attorney General has opened an investigation into the forcible strip searching of a Stark County woman, Hope Steffey, by a mixed gender team of County Sheriffs deputies. Video has commentary from Cuyahoga County Sheriff where he states that if this had happened in his department, the deputies would have been fired…
Watch the most recent news update at: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?sid=82866&aid=54225
2/27/08 I called the AG’s office in Columbus:No details released to the public, but confirmation that an investigation is on-going.
Posted in CITY LIVING, Constitution, MSM/Main Stream Media, freedom of speech | 3 Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on February 8, 2008
WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that the widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding is legal and that President Bush could authorize the CIA to resume using the simulated-drowning method under extraordinary circumstances.
The surprise assertion from the Bush administration reopened a debate that many in Washington had considered closed.
Two laws passed by Congress in recent years — as well as a Supreme Court ruling on the treatment of detainees — were widely interpreted to have banned the CIA’s use of the extreme interrogation method.
But in remarks that were greeted with disbelief by some members of Congress and human rights groups, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that waterboarding was a legal technique that could be employed again “under certain circumstances.”
Fratto said the nation’s top intelligence officials “didn’t rule anything out” during congressional testimony Tuesday on CIA interrogation methods, and he indicated that Bush might consider reauthorizing waterboarding or other harsh techniques in extreme cases, such as when there is “belief that an attack might be imminent.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Constitution, Middle East, PRESIDENTIAL RACE, Torture, US Government, US MILITARY | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on February 2, 2008
David Esrati for Congress OH-3
Here’s my endorsement in the race to beat Mike Turner in the fall, and it’s NOT the Democratic Party’s choice of Jane whatshername. There is good reason for that. Ms Jane appears to be mostly fluff with very little substance. Her “website” is basically an online billboard with no substantive information about her positions on anything. She got her butt whupped by Turner in ‘04, 63% to 37%. And, despite her proclamations, she was NOT unanimously endorsed by the Montgomery Count Dem’s…I know, I was there for the vote.
Compare this with David Esrati, who for the last three years has been posting his thoughts about “change” and how to achieve it for the 3rd District at Esrati.com. On subjects ranging from the recent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Board to giving computer laptops to students in Dayton Public Schools as a way to enhance the educational process, Esrati has articulated a vision that one can look at, ponder and discuss. Where has Jane been for the last 4 years? There’s no evidence of her presence on the local political scene, whereas David Esrati has been in the thick of it the whole time.
We need a voice in the Democratic Congress that is not beholden to the same old power elites that have controlled the levers of power for far too long, both here in the Miami Valley and in Washington. A boldness of vision and a dedication to Real Reform are hallmarks of David Esrati’s campaign for Congress. Honest to a fault!
Visit Esrati.com for more information. Check out his videos on Youtube. Support real change. Support David Esrati for Congress!
Posted in Anti-war Veterans, Constitution, Iraq War, Montgomery County Democratic Party, US CONGRESS, US Government | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on January 26, 2008
John Nichols
Posted 01/24/2008 @ 10:46pm
The media managers of the 2008 presidential contest
worked for months to get Dennis Kucinich off the stage
and out of the running. And they have finally succeeded,
as the Ohio Congressman says he is now “transitioning
out of the presidential campaign” and into a tough
Democratic primary race for reelection to his Cleveland-
area U.S. House seat.
Kucinich’s decision to quit the Democratic presidential
race is an acknowledgement of reality. Never flush with
the funds needed to buy paid media, he has lately been
denied access to the free media that is the lifeblood of
insurgent candidacies. The congressman was excluded from
the last few debates by the television networks, and his
campaign events — even those that drew substantial
crowds in New Hampshire and Michigan - went largely
uncovered. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Constitution, Democratic Party, Employment Issues, Iraq War, Middle East, US Government, freedom of speech | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on January 21, 2008
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s drawing heat from fellow Democratic lawmakers as well as people across the nation for refusing to move to impeach President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.
“I go through airports, and people have buttons as if they knew I was coming,” Pelosi said with a smile, mimicking a protester pointing to an “Impeach” button on their chest.
But the California Democrat said she is sticking to her position that trying to remove Bush or Cheney would be divisive, and she added, most likely unsuccessful. If the House voted to impeach Bush and Cheney, a two-thirds vote would be needed in the closely divided Senate to oust them.
Many Democrats and civil liberties groups have accused the Bush administration of misleading the United States into the Iraq war and violating the rights of U.S. citizens with its warrantless surveillance program. The White House denies the charges.
In helping Democrats win back control of Congress in 2006 from 
Republicans, Pelosi said she would not push for impeachment despite a number of calls to do so.
Speaking with reporters, she recalled that she wanted to focus on unifying the nation, passing the Democrats’ legislative agenda — not picking an impeachment fight with the White House.
“It was my belief that an impeachment of the Vice President or the President … would be very divisive in our country, and that is what I believed then,” Pelosi said. “It should have come to no surprise when I became Speaker I said it again, and I continue to hold that view.”
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
Posted in Blue Dog Democrats, Constitution, Dick Cheney, Impeachment, Political Corruption, US CONGRESS, freedom of speech | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on January 2, 2008
SALEM, Ore. - A House Resolution to impeach U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, Dennis Kucinich’s H.R. 799, is gathering more support. The national impeachment continues to grow and generate increasing interest since being referred to the House Judiciary Committee last month, a Kucinich spokesperson said.
As a member of that committee, Representative Robert Wexler and two other committee members, Luis Gutierrez and Tammy Baldwin, have joined together in demanding that the legal action against Cheney moves forward.
Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida is just one elected official who says the charges are too serious to ignore.
“There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unnecessary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings”
He went on to say that he believes Vice President Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration have demonstrated a consistent pattern of abusing the law and misleading Congress and the American people.
“We see the consequences of these actions abroad in Iraq and at home through the violations of our civil liberties,” Wexler said. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blue Dog Democrats, Constitution, Dick Cheney, Impeachment, US CONGRESS | No Comments »
Posted by leftofdayton on December 27, 2007
By SHERRY WOLF12/26/07 “Counterpunch‘ – — “POLITICS, LIKE nature, abhors a vacuum,” goes the revamped aphorism. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s surprising stature among a small but vocal layer of antiwar activists and leftist bloggers appears to bear this out.
At the October 27, 2007, antiwar protests in dozens of cities noticeable contingents of supporters carried his campaign placards and circulated sign-up sheets. The Web site antiwar.com features a weekly Ron Paul column. Some even dream of a Left-Right gadfly alliance for the 2008 ticket. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, liberal maverick and Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich told supporters in late November he was thinking of making Ron Paul his running mate if he were to get the nomination.
No doubt, the hawkish and calculating Hillary Rodham Clinton and flaccid murmurings of Barack Obama, in addition to the uninspiring state of the antiwar movement that backed a prowar candidate in 2004, help fuel the desperation many activists feel. But leftists must unequivocally reject the reactionary libertarianism of this longtime Texas congressman and 1988 Libertarian Party presidential candidate.
Ron Paul’s own campaign Web site reads like the objectivist rantings of Ayn Rand, one of his theoretical mentors. As with the Atlas Shrugged author’s other acolytes, neocon guru Milton Friedman and former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan, Paul argues, “Liberty means free-market capitalism.” He opposes “big government” and in the isolationist fashion of the nation’s Pat Buchanans, he decries intervention in foreign nation’s affairs and believes membership in the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Constitution, Democratic Party, Health Care, Iraq War, Republican Party, US Government, freedom of speech | No Comments »
