Contempt for the Courts

The audacity and the sheer criminality of the blatantly partisan Republican courts is beyond belief.

A Republican-dominated * Federal Appeals Court ordered the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to stop requiring employers to inform employees of their legal right to organize. The NLRB, the agency responsible for regulating labor-management relations, had required employers to post a notice advising employees of certain rights under the law. The Court has decided that employers will no longer have to advise employees that they have legal rights.

The tortured logic of these ethically-challenged stooges for the Plutocracy holds that the First Amendment protects free speech and the NLRB interfered with employers’ free speech by making them tell their employees NLRB’s opinion. Opinion!?!? The NLRB simply required that employees be told what the law already requires — it’s not an opinion, it’s the law!

The Court essentially used the same reasoning as found in the court cases which held that schools could not order children to say the pledge of allegiance. It is nonsense, it is bull—-! Labor law IS mandatory, the Pledge is not, and to confound them is a specious violation of common sense.

This by the way is the very same Court which also has decided that ALL of President Obama’s appointments to the NLRB are illegal and hence the NLRB cannot operate. So although created 80 years ago and charged by statute with labor law enforcement by the Congress, the Court has effectively abolished the agency. Their argument here is that the appointments were made during a Congressional recess and therefore not subject to Congressional approval. Heck, Congress is always in recess, it is impossible not to appoint or conduct operations unless done during a Congress recess.

The Republican caucuses have refused to act on Presidential appointments thus leaving agencies and courts without responsible policy-makers. Presidents have always made recess appointments when the Congress neglected to act. Democratic Presidents and Republican Presidents have exercised this power and now a Republican Court has overturned appointments with precious little legal basis other than adherence to to the McConnell Rule: “Republicans will do anything to contribute to the failure of Government under the Obama Presidency”. The McConnell Rule is a corollary to the Republican Fundamental Principle: “Who cares if we wreck the country as long as we own the wreckage”.

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* The Courts have been increasingly dominated by Republican appointees since 1980 for one very lamentable reason. When Presidents Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 had appointed judges, the Senate approves them. But when Presidents Clinton and Obama have attempted appointing anyone other than a Republican or Bluedog Democrat, the Republican caucuses have done everything they can to stymy the appointment. As a result the Courts have 70 vacancies and Republican-appointee majorities in 10 of the 11 Circuits.

The War on Democracy

I’ve been asked how I could say such nice things about the recently deceased President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, when leading “liberals” have dismissed him as an Anti-American Dictator. Fact is, we’ve been lied to, and much of the “liberal media” has fallen into line   regurgitating the Establishment’s propaganda without any critical analysis. Hugo Chavez wasn’t a puppet for Washington and he is condemned for that. He was a Venezuelan patriot and someone deeply committed to the welfare of his people. I truly wish he was an American, we could have used a leader with his courage. John Pilger’s documentary film provides a good explanation of United States-Venezuelan relations

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‘The War On Democracy’ (2007) was John Pilger’s first for cinema. It explores the current and past relationship of Washington with Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile.

Using archive footage sourced by Michael Moore’s archivist Carl Deal, the film shows how serial US intervention, overt and covert, has toppled a series of legitimate governments in the Latin American region since the 1950s. The democratically elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, for example, was ousted by a US backed coup in 1973 and replaced by the military dictatorship of General Pinochet. Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have all been invaded by the United States.

John Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries in the region. He investigates the School of the Americas in the US state of Georgia, where Pinochet’s torture squads were trained along with tyrants and death squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.

The film unearths the real story behind the attempted overthrow of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez in 2002 and how the people of the barrios of Caracas rose up to force his return to power.

You can watch the documentary film at Vimeo – http://vimeo.com/16724719

Desmond Tutu

Desmond Tutu, Noble Peace Prize recipient and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa, wrote to the New York Times regarding the Obama kill-list:

Do the United States and its people really want to tell those of us who live in the rest of the world that our lives are not of the same value as yours? That President Obama can sign off on a decision to kill us with less worry about judicial scrutiny than if the target is an American? Would your Supreme Court really want to tell humankind that we, like the slave Dred Scott in the 19th century, are not as human as you are? I cannot believe it.

I used to say of apartheid that it dehumanized its perpetrators as much as, if not more than, its victims. Your response as a society to Osama bin Laden and his followers threatens to undermine your moral standards and your humanity.

And Counting

HADIYA PENDLETON, a 15 year old high school girl, performed at the Inaugural with her school’s band. Hadiya was an honors student, a volleyball player and a majorette at King College Prep.  She and a dozen other students had taken shelter from a rain storm under a Park’s canopy. An unidentified gun man started shooting into the crowd. Hadiya, although not the target, died of her wounds.

Since the massacre at Sandy Hook, Newtown, CT, 1400 more people have died in gun violence.

One hopes that the Congressional Committees meeting this week to deliberate as to whether to take some sort of action to alleviate gun deaths think a moment about Hadiya.

 

So Much for “Gun Appreciation Day”

From CNN (January 19, 2013) —

At least five people — three in North Carolina, one in Indiana and
one in Ohio — were injured after weapons went off at gun shows
Saturday, officials said, at a time when there’s been renewed
discussion about private gun sales at such shows.

The most casualties came at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, North Carolina, where attendees bolted — with at least one woman wiping out in the frenetic scene — when gunfire rang out around 1p.m., as seen on video captured by CNN affiliate WRAL.

Police later explained that a a 36-year-old man from Wilmington, North Carolina, was unfastening the case of his 12-gauge shotgun on a table near the show entrance when it accidentally discharged. The man planned to sell the shotgun at the show.

The bird shot ended up injuring three people. One was a sheriff’s
deputy, who suffered a slight injury to his hand and was treated and released at a local hospital before returning immediately to work, said Joel Keith, chief of police of the North Carolina State Fair.

Remember Guns don’t hurt people — Only Gun Nuts with Guns hurt people!

A Well Regulated Militia Being Necessary to the Security of a Free State

Lawrence A Winans

I am a gun-owner and have been for years. I’ve been a member of the local Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). The CMP was established by the Defense Department to promote the training of civilians in the proper use of firearms in case of a national emergency. Although not a hunter I enjoy the sport of marksmanship. I’ve also read case law developing the meaning and application of the Second Amendment.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) does not represent me.

President Obama and Vice President Biden have developed a reasonable set of proposals which do not violate the rights of gunowners but do make an effort to reduce the sort of violence we repeatedly see on the news. The NRA’s irrational rejection of anything in the nature of gun regulation does not protect the constitutional rights of lawful gunowners but rather violates the rights to life and liberty held by schoolchildren and the other victims of gun violence.

The key word here is “regulation”. The Second Amendment* does not grant an absolute right to own and use firearms. It recognizes the need to maintain an armed populace which may be assembled as a militia for the defense of the country. The Amendment states clearly that there is a need for a “well regulated militia” and the right of gunownership is predicated upon that need.

The Constitution does not protect any would-be right to kill people, to buy guns secretly and without recordation, to maintain firepower exceeding that of many small nations, to load “cop-killing” bullets, or to possess weaponry of mass destruction.

We here at the DISSENTING DEMOCRAT are not in the tank for Obama but on this issue he speaks for the Nation. This is not a conservative or liberal issue, it is sanity versus insanity. We hope Congress chooses sanity.

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* The Second Amendment reads as follows:

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Learn How the World Works

Julian Assange appeared on the balcony of the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he lives under the protection of the Ecuadoran Government. The British,  Swedish and Australian governments have already indicated that once they get ahold of him they will transfer him into the custody of the CIA. Once the Administration of the Hopester-in-Chief gets him, he will be disappeared into the depths of its prisons. And for what? For telling us how our Government actually works.

Good evening London.

What a sight for sore eyes. People ask what gives me hope. Well, the answer is right here.

Six months ago – 185 days ago – I entered this building.

It has become my home, my office and my refuge.

Thanks to the principled stance of the Ecuadorian government and the support of its people, I am safe in this embassy to speak to you.

And every single day outside, for 185 days, people like you have watched over this embassy – come rain, hail and shine.

Every single day. I came here in summer. It is winter now.

I have been sustained by your solidarity and I’m grateful for the efforts of people all around the world supporting the work of WikiLeaks, supporting freedom of speech, freedom of the press, essential elements in any democracy.

While my freedom is limited, at least I am still able to communicate this Christmas, unlike the 232 journalists who are in jail tonight.

Unlike Gottfrid Svartholm in Sweden tonight.

Unlike Jeremy Hammond in New York tonight.

Unlike Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain tonight.

And unlike Bradley Manning, who turned 25 this week, a young man who has maintained his dignity after spending more than 10 per cent of his life in jail, without trial, some of that time in a cage, naked and without his glasses.

And unlike so many others whose plights are linked to my own.

I salute these brave men and women. And I salute journalists and publications that have covered what continues to happen to these people, and to journalists who continue publishing the truth in face of persecution, prosecution and threat – who take journalism and publishing seriously.

Because it is from the revelation of truth that all else follows.

Our buildings can only be as tall as their bricks are strong.

Our civilization is only as strong as its ideas are true.

When our buildings are erected by the corrupt, when their cement is cut with dirt, when pristine steel is replaced by scrap – our buildings are not safe to live in.

And when our media is corrupt, when our academics are timid, when our history is filled with half- truths and lies – our civilization will never be just. It will never reach to the sky.

Our societies are intellectual shanty towns. Our beliefs about the world and each other have been created by the same system that has lied us into repeated wars that have killed millions.

You can’t build a skyscraper out of plasticine. And you can’t build a just civilization out of ignorance and lies.

We have to educate each other. We have to celebrate those who reveal the truth and denounce those who poison our ability to comprehend the world that we live in.

The quality of our discourse is the limit of our civilization.

But this generation has come to its feet and is revolutionizing the way we see the world.

For the first time in history the people who are affected by history are its creators.

And for other journalists and publications – your work speaks for itself, and so do your war crimes.

I salute those who recognize the freedom of the press and the public’s right to know – recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, recognized in the First Amendment of the United States – we must recognize that these are in danger and need protection like never before.

WikiLeaks is under a continuing Department of Justice investigation, and this fact has been recognized rightly by Ecuador and the governments of Latin America as one that materially endangers my life and my work.

Asylum is not granted on a whim, but granted on facts.

The U.S. investigation is referred to in testimony – under oath – in the U.S. courts, is admitted by the Department of Justice, and in the Washington Post just four days ago by the District Attorney of Virginia, as a fact. Its subpoenas are being litigated by our people in the U.S. courts. The Pentagon reissued its threats against me in September and claimed the very existence of WikiLeaks is an ongoing crime.

My work will not be cowed. But while this immoral investigation continues, and while the Australian government will not defend the journalism and publishing of WikiLeaks, I must remain here.

However, the door is open – and the door has always been open – for anyone who wishes to speak to me. Like you, I have not been charged with a crime. If you ever see spin that suggests otherwise, note this corruption of journalism and then go to justice4assange.com for the full facts. Tell the world the truth, and tell the world who lied to you.

Despite the limitations, despite the extra-judicial banking blockade, which circles WikiLeaks like the Cuban embargo, despite an unprecedented criminal investigation and a campaign to damage and destroy my organization, 2012 has been a huge year.

We have released nearly one million documents:

Documents relating to the unfolding war in Syria.

We have exposed the mass surveillance state in hundreds of documents from private intelligence companies.

We have released information about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere – the symbol of the corruption of the rule of law in the West, and beyond.

We’ve won against the immoral blockade in the courts and in the European Parliament.

After a two-year fight, contributions to WikiLeaks have gone from being blockaded and tax-deductible nowhere to being tax-deductible across the entirety of the European Union and the United States.

And last week information revealed by WikiLeaks was vital – and cited in the judgment – in determining what really happened to El-Masri, an innocent European kidnapped and tortured by the CIA.

Next year will be equally busy. WikiLeaks has already over a million documents being prepared to be released, documents that affect every country in the world. Every country in this world.

And in Australia an unelected Senator will be replaced by one that is elected.

In 2013, we continue to stand up to bullies. The Ecuadorian government and the governments of Latin America have shown how co-operating through shared values can embolden governments to stand up to coercion and support self-determination. Their governments threaten no one, attack no one, send drones at no one. But together they stand strong and independent.

The tired calls of Washington power-brokers for economic sanctions against Ecuador, simply for defending my rights, are misguided and wrong. President Correa rightly said, “Ecuador’s principles are not for sale.” We must unite together to defend the courageous people of Ecuador, to defend them against intervention in their economy and interference in their elections next year.

The power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt and undemocratic power. So much so that ordinary people here in the West are now the enemy of governments, an enemy to be watched, an enemy to be controlled and to be impoverished.

True democracy is not the White House. True democracy is not Canberra. True democracy is the resistance of people, armed with the truth, against lies, from Tahrir to right here in London. Every day, ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and dissent.

For once we, the people, stop speaking out and stop dissenting, once we are distracted or pacified, once we turn away from each other, we are no longer free. For true democracy is the sum – is the sum – of our resistance.

If you don’t speak up – if you give up what is uniquely yours as a human being: if you surrender your consciousness, your independence, your sense of what is right and what is wrong, in other words – perhaps without knowing it, you become passive and controlled, unable to defend yourselves and those you love.

People often ask, “What can I do?”

The answer is not so difficult.

Learn how the world works. Challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control us behind a facade of democracy and monarchy.

Unite in common purpose and common principle to design, build, document, finance and defend.

Learn. Challenge. Act.

Now.

Sad Days

We have refrained from commenting on the terrible murder of children and schoolteachers in Connecticut. There is nothing we can say to make sense out of it. All we can say is that we have been saddened. We will hug our grandchildren more readily and will likely do so with tears in our eyes.

God bless the children, and the school staff at Sandy Hook School.

Liberals Have Two Black Eyes, One Received from Their Lover (Obama), and the Other from the Guy Next Door (The Republicans)

The following was published in a major progressive publication* —

Partly because he’s done it before, partly because he specifically left it on the table in a not-yet aired interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters this week, but mainly because it’s a terrible policy idea  , progressives are saying loudly that if President Obama agrees to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 he’ll have, as one notable critic put it, “hell to pay.”

Oh, yeah, like as-if.

Barack Obama has been doing this for his entire first term. For the Left, kind words, hugs and kisses; for the Right, and its Corporate owners, policy results.

This has been his consistent pattern throughout his career beginning with his selection as editor of the Harvard Law Review.  He did whatever needed to get the liberal-progressive students to believe he was one of them, and then upon election, he turned the Review over to the conservative students. In 2008, and again in 2012, he ran as the Great Liberal Hope but in power he uses it to serve the Wall Street cabal that he so desperately wants to join.

Only Nixon could go to China, and only a black so-called liberal President could destroy the last vestiges of the New Deal-Great Society programs of two generations of liberal policymakers. If it would gain his acceptance by the elite, Obama would raise the Medicare age of eligibility to 80. If the doors of the whits-only country club would open for him, Social Security would be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Liberals are much like abused women who despite their treatment keep going back to their abuser deeply believing “he’ll change”. Well, he won’t change, and he doesn’t love you anyhow. So grow up, face facts, and get the hell out of the relationship.

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*  Jon Queally, “Alarms Go Off as Obama Plays Footsie with Raising Medicare Age”,  COMMON DREAMS  (December 12, 2012)

Ollie, It’s Another Fine Mess

The whole “Smear Susan Rice” campaign is beyond belief. The way the Republicans were carrying on we thought Susan Rice had shot the U.S. Ambassador to Libya. It turns out that all she did was repeat the talking points given her by our own intel. Since the intel subsequently turn out to be wrong, now she is being castigated for “lying to Congress”.

It wasn’t that long ago that another African-American PhD holder with the name Rice was testifying before Congress, and telling untruths she was told to say. Remember the mushroom cloud we were told to fear? Well, despite Condi’s lies John McCain had no difficulty supporting her for Secretary of State.

Now we have Ollie North, a man who actually really lied to Congress, a man who brokered drug-smuggling deals., who has an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Costa Rica, tut-tut at Susan Rice’s veracity. Un-fracking-believable!