Political Diahrrea

Have you heard about the "Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"? It was voted on in October but the mainstream media has been mum. I just heard about it on KBOO (a community-sponsored radio station).

From democracynow.org:

"A little-noticed anti-terrorism bill quietly making its through Congress is raising fears of a new affront on activism and constitutional rights. The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act was passed in an overwhelming 400 to six House vote last month. Critics say it could herald a new government crackdown on dissident activity and infiltration of universities under the guise of fighting terrorism. The bill would establish two government-appointed bodies to study, monitor and propose ways of curbing what it calls homegrown terrorism and extremism in the United States. The first body, a National Commission, would convene for eighteen months. A university-based "Center for Excellence" would follow, bringing together academic specialists to recommend laws and other measures.

Critics say the bill's definition of "extremism" and "terrorism" is too vague and its mandate even more broad. Under a false veil of expertise and independence, the government-appointed commissions could be used as ideological cover to push through harsher laws."

One of the potentially vague definitions they added is "force" as in violence & force. They could easily consider a SIT-IN or tree-sitting as force & thus you become a terrorist. Apparently some people are "terrorized" by someone with a different opinion & values. And here I thought that Thought Crimes only were plots in novels and movies.

Whoa, I just noticed what the # of the bill is. Ironically, it’s HR 1955. 1955-that's during the MCCarthy Era - an era the NEOCONS would no doubt love to take us back to almost as much as they want to bring on the "End Times". Just read up on McCarthyism (this term was coined on March 29 – that’s my birthday!) & found out 1955 is toward the end of the era. Could this be an omen?

Only 6 members of the House voted Nay on this bill. Three Republicans & three Democrats. Kudos to Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Jerry Costello (D-IL), John Duncan (R-TN), Jeff Flake (D-AZ), & Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). Ron Paul was one of 22 members of the house didn’t vote on HR 1955.

Thank God for the 1% of elected Republicans with brains.
I could so go on about whatever happened to following their platform. They seem to have lost the “conserve” that makes them conservative & now give everything to corporations (Italy’s Mussolini called this FACISCM). Big government is bad but it’s fucking okay to have big CORPORATIONS? Of course, there’s no profit in government. What are you thinking Republicans? I’m so disappointed in you. You do not deserve to be called Republicans. You are not standing for the Republic. And Democrats, you are just as guilty.

Of course, all of Oregon’s Congresspeople voted for the bill. WTF? The Republicans I expected but not progressive Dems like DeFazio & Blumenauer. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Did you actually read the entire bill? You are so going to hear from me about this as soon as I finish this blog.

Further information on HR 1955:
Text of HR 1955

Find out how your Congressperson voted

So are we gonna just sit there & let our REPUBLIC slide into fascism or are we gonna do something?

Speaking of Kucinich & Ron Paul, according to a Cleveland Plain Dealer blog during a New Hampshire speech, Kucinich said, "I'm thinking about Ron Paul" as a running mate. A Kucinich-Paul administration could bring people together "to balance the energies in this country.”

The two disagree on abortion, healthcare, & size of government but they have two big areas of agreement. Both campaign on getting our troops out of Iraq & staying out of the affairs of other countries. Another similarity, both Paul & Kucinich also frequently cite the Constitution as providing the authority for their agendas. Paul never votes for legislation unless the measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution, his campaign says. Kucinich keeps a pocket-size copy of the Constitution handy, brandishing it to invoke authority for such proposals as the impeachment of Vice President Cheney, one of Kucinich's signature issues.

Doesn’t sound like Ron Paul is as willing as Kucinich. "Dr. Paul and Rep. Kucinich are friends and there is a lot of mutual respect," Paul communications director Jesse Benton said in an e-mail when asked whether a running-mate spot on the Kucinich ticket would be attractive to Paul. "They have worked, and will continue to work, together on the ending the war and protecting civil liberties.

"However, Ron wants to substantially cut the size and scope of the federal government. There are too many differences on issues such as taxes and spending to think a joint ticket would be possible."

I’m open to a Kucinich – Paul ticket (they are the two most interesting candidates & definitely idealists), although I’m sure the thought makes my friend Paul cringe!

It’s an interesting thought. Have we ever had a Democrat & Republican on the same ticket in a presidential election? Originally the presidential candidates receiving the second-largest number of electoral votes became Vice President. According to wikipedia.com in 1797-1801 John Adams, a Federalist, was president & Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican, was vice president.

The problematic election of 1800, where Jefferson & Burr tied, led to the passage of The Twelfth Amendment in 1804. This changed the system so that the electoral college voted separately for president and vice president. Over time the presidential candidate gained power over the nominating convention to choose his own running mate & thus we have the elections we have today.

On a side note, while reading up on this I found out that Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican. The last Democratic-Republican was John Quincy Adams in 1829. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) was the first Democratic President. No wonder I can’t tell the two parties apart anymore. I’ve always suspected that the two parties were the same. Hee, hee!

Back to my original thought, maybe it’s time we try something new. Obviously the current method is not working. We have been divided & conquered. Government will never solve anything otherwise all the politicians will be out of a job. Community action & involvement is the only thing that can solve our problems.

To that end, it’s time we set aside our differences & worked to make positive changes in this country. Think of all we could achieve if we worked together on what we have in common! We can’t have everything we want, that’s why there’s compromise. We need to go back to basics & then start from there. What’s important to us? Life? Liberty? The pursuit of happiness? Education? Healthy & safe citizens?

Since we’re on the subject of presidential nominees, here’s yet another reason (among the many) to not vote for Hillary. Hillary Clinton has received $52,600 in campaign donations from the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. She was the largest recipient of donations of any of the candidates. With that kind of backing don’t expect her to change the way our government works & to get us out of Iraq (and other country’s affairs for that matter).

According to The Huffington Post, “An examination of contributions of $500 or more, using the Huffington Post's Fundrace website, shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to Republicans.

Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.), who raised $32,000.”

This is a turn around from the past decade, where Republicans were the favored recipients of Defense donations. In the 2004 election Bush received over $819,000 in defense industry donations. This is more than double the amount Kerry received ($366,000).

Also according to the Huffington Post article, “Clinton's major industry benefactors - donors who gave the $4,600 maximum allowed by law -- include Roger A. Crone, Boeing's president of Network and Space Systems; Stanley Roth, Boeing's Vice President for Asia, International Relations, $4,600; Anne Sullivan, a Raytheon attorney; William Lynn, Raytheon's Senior Vice President for Government Relations; and Michele Kang, Northrop Grumman Vice President for health science solutions.”

While searching the information in Hillary Clinton’s Federal Election Commission disclosure reports which list what individuals & committees have donated to her campaign I ran across some surprising data. The Michigan Republican Party has donated $4,587 to her. Another group, titled “Republican Issues Committee” has donated almost $50,000 to her this year. Must be because she’s was a college republican back in the day. That’s just plain weird!

HILLARY’s campaign motto ought to be “SHE WILL NOT BE UNBOUGHT.” Ha! I seriously should make this a bumper sticker.

This is nifty. You can look at numerous break downs of each candidate’s donations at opensecrets.org’s race for the White House. This is a totally cool tool! Very interesting to look at each candidate’s fundraising data. If you look at nothing else, look here.