Tuesday, November 08, 2011

The beginning of life as perscribed by 'faith base' values is not the beginning of 'personhood' / 'citizenship.'

Anti-abortion “personhood” law loses in Mississippi (click title to entry - thank you)
Voters in conservative Mississippi were rejecting a so-called “personhood” ballot measure that would have the effect of outlawing all abortions and challenging the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The proposition on the Magnolia State’s ballot asked:  “Should the term ‘person’ include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof?”
With half the vote counted, the measure was garnering only 43 percent of the vote.  It was initially favored to pass, but lost support rapidly in waning days of the campaign. A Public Policy Polling survey last week found the state evenly divided on “personhood.”
Groups not usually associated with Mississippi politics — Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union — campaigned against the measure....

The government cannot be so invasive into a woman's life that it controls an embryo at conception.  It is not possible to have such a law nor should there be a law to enforce such an idea.

...“It does sound so ludicrous,’’ (click here) Derzis told me last Friday — so much so, she contends, that opponents were long complacent, and now have been left to scramble. “We were all behind the eight ball,’’ she said. “I think if we had another month here we could defeat this legislation.’’ But with a few days left, she wasn’t sure. Indeed, a poll released yesterday showed that 45 percent of the population supported the measure, and 44 percent opposed it...

Mr. Cain stated the American people wanted CEOs instead of politicians.

 
He could not be more "W"rong. 

Do I detect the 1% again?

We already had those and it was a huge mistake!

I find Lin Wood an interesting choice as Mr. Cain's attorney.

John Clune and Lin Wood, (click title to entry - thank you)  attorneys for Kobe Bryant's accuser, said Tuesday there have been no talks about settling the civil case.
As Ms. Allred knows when women come forward to report a wrong doing against them in a sexual content, it is usually the woman that suffers regardless of the truth in the circumstances. 
There have been many women that have come forward in years and decades past to report their facts to the media as public offices carry a great deal of brevity.
It is they that suffer in the long run while men do not.  It is that unavoidable suffering some of the women are trying to avoid by remaining anonymous. 
I wish Ms. Allred could find a way to bring the four together in a panel, even if they have to remain behind screens, to discuss openly their encounters with Mr. Cain and the course they took and why.  There are four women.  They can't all be wrong.  And every person, especially women, know that payments for resignation or ending employment is often the best they can do for themselves and still keep their dignity and potential employment for the future.
This is hardly over and I hope the women find a way to resolve this topic to the satisfaction of the people.
To understand the devastating effect of the media on a woman's career, Ms. Sherrod was the victim of baseless complaints, too.  Her career was ended viciously and iwthout casue; even though she was offered her position back in the government.  I don't blame her, she would have been harassed and second guessed at every turn.
Yet, Mr. Cain claims to be the victim of baseless complaints, but, he is mostly uneffected in the face of four women stating the same facts about their experience with him.  As a matter of fact his campaign treasury has vastly increased since the first woman came forward.

I thank the National Restaurant Association for releasing employees from liability for the media to pursue the truth.

...The association (click title to entry - thank you) told the woman’s attorney it is willing to waive the confidentiality agreement signed by the parties involved — although not by Cain himself — but her lawyer, Joel P. Bennett, said in his own statement Friday that the woman wishes to remain a private citizen and would not be revealing further details regarding her story....

To say there are many women working for members of this association as a career and as a method of self-support and family support through episodes of college or otherwise is an understatement.  It is a relief to realize the leadership of the National Restaurant Association is sensitive to this topic and willing to be a partner to the truth.

John Cornyn continues the Right Wing Rhetoric with AG Holder.

From the "Houston Chronicle"

The National Rifle Association (click here) has close ties to Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (below left) and John Cornyn (below right)–and it is doing whatever it can to prevent the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Cornyn is trying to exonerate the Bush White House from the failed program of "Wide Receiver" (gun walking) by stating the Mexican government was aware of the program.  If I follow the assessment of the ATF in regard to "Fast and Furious," the 'idea' of an autonomous program without Mexican government knowledge may have been appropriate.

Perhaps what Cornyn should be asking is for the assessment of "Wide Receiver" that lead to the decisions regarding "Fast and Furious" by the ATF. 

Cornyn is obviously doing the business of the RNC in trying to 'pin' the outcomes of "Fast and Furious" on upper levels of government in an attempt to reach the AG and the President.  This entire line of questioning is inappropriate and political in its ambitions.

Cornyn, himself, doesn't understand the facts as he attempted to confuse memos, phone calls and meeting with the two programs.  If that was deliberate on Cornyn's part than his "Oath of Office" is in jeopardy for abuse of power and creating political rhetoric from facts.

November 01, 2011 3:02 pm ET — Matt Gertz
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) (click title to entry - thank you) is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was previously the Attorney General of Texas. And he's apparently unaware that when law enforcement finishes investigating one group of criminals, they don't just stop; they move on to a new investigation....

In the video at this article Cornyn, on FOX News with Bill Hemmer, lies about the knowledge of the Mexican government about "Fast and Furious."  On this blog it was noted that in a speech within Mexico AG Holder spoke about the gun programs.  So, Cornyn is simply lying for the sake of lying and trying to exonerate the Bush program as a superior program regardless of its failue.

The BLAMING that is the POSTURE of the Republicans is to distract from the profound problem in the USA and its Gun Cartel.  The fact there is no ban on Assault Weapons is the problem NOT the failed attempts to prove the migration of guns to Mexico or the inability of the USA to stop this disaster of a legislative nightmare when Bush allowed The Assault Weapons Ban to expire.

The Gun Programs of the Clinton Administration PROVED to work, among them The Assault Weapons Ban. 

Common sense gun safety laws bring down gun crime by 40 percent.President Clinton fought the gun lobby and won common sense gun safety laws including the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, overall gun crime has declined 40 percent, and firearms related homicides committed by juveniles have dropped by nearly 50 percent. There were 227,000 fewer gun crimes in 1999 than 1992, and 1,246 fewer children were killed by guns than in 1992.
  • Background checks performed under the Brady Law have prevented more than 611,000 felons, fugitives and domestic abusers from buying a gun.
  • The Assault Weapons Ban, passed as part of the 1994 Crime Bill, banned the manufacture, sale and importation of 19 of the deadliest assault weapons.
  • The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked with state and local governments to increase prosecution of gun crime. Since 1992, the number of federal firearms cases has increased 16 percent, and as a result of this Administration’s unprecedented partnership with states and localities, overall gun prosecutions - federal, state, and local combined — are up 22 percent. In addition, federal gun offenders are serving sentences that are about two years longer than in 1992 and the number of serious gun offenders sent to federal prison for more than five years is up more than 41 percent.
  • Clinton-Gore Administration U.S. Attorneys in Richmond (Project Exile) and Boston (Operation Ceasefire) were instrumental in innovative efforts to crack down on armed drug traffickers, violent criminals, gang members and violent youth which has helped to reduce crime in these cities. The Clinton-Gore Administration has also implemented a comprehensive crime gun tracing initiative — the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative — in 38 cities to trace crime guns and identify and arrest illegal gun traffickers.
  • Finally, to combat violence in schools, the Clinton-Gore Administration enacted the Gun Free Schools Act, which requires schools to adopt zero-tolerance policies toward guns in schools and expel students bringing firearms to school. Over the 1996-98 school years, nearly 10,000 students were expelled from public schools for bringing a firearm to school.
The fact of the matter is, the less guns on the street in the USA, the less the gun crimes. 

...As shown in exhibit 6, (click here) law enforcement agency requests for BATF assault weapons traces in the 1993–95 period declined 20 percent in the first calendar year after the ban took effect, dropping from 4,077 in 1994 to 3,268 in 1995. Some of this decrease may reflect an overall decrease in gun crimes; total trace requests dropped 11 percent from 1994 to 1995, and gun murders declined 10 percent over the same period. Nevertheless, these trends suggest a 9- to 10-percent additional decrease (labeled with a triangle in exhibit 6) due to substitution of other guns for the banned assault weapons in 1995 gun crimes15...

The line of questioning of AG Holder proves the RNC is sitting at the committee meetings and not the people these Republicans are suppose to represent.  They use every opportunity, from inflammatory rhetoric in statements during legislative sessions to oversight of their perspective committees to obstructing necessary legislation to promote their politics and not the business of the nation!  Instead of taking care of the majority of Americans they ONLY want to care about 1% of the wealthy in America.

At least three Senators expressed gratitude to AG Holder forthe continuation and funding of "The Cops Program," which was developed under Former President Clinton in 1994.


The COPS (click here) Hiring Program is a competitive grant program that provides funding directly to state,local and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire police officers dedicated to addressing specific crime and disorder challenges confronting communities, overseen by the COPS Office, a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide.
 
This program is not only proven to be vital to American communities, but, provides a strong basis for the spending in The American Jobs Act.

Nearly $9 billion of the $30 billion of expenditures (click title to entry - thank you) authorized by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Crime Act) was allocated to the law’s Title I, the legislative basis of what soon became known as the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.Title I listed four specific goals intended to change both the level and practice of policing in the United States:

1. To increase the number of officers deployed in American communities.

2. To foster problem solving and interaction with communities by police officers.

3. To encourage innovation in policing.

4. To develop new technologies for assisting officers in reducing

Senator McCain, Lieberman, and Graham, Praise Gadaffi and Libya!!



Indeed.

Senator Lindsay Graham, in questioning Attorney General Holder on Gitmo, appears to be near fainting.

Is Graham okay?  His eyes rolled back in his head far enough to believe there was something sincerely wrong with his ability to question the issue of Gitmo.

If indeed, Graham was not under stress enough to cause him health issues, he asked AG Holder to reconsider the administration policy to closing Gitmo.

What Graham stated (my words, not his) is that in the nation's longest wars since September 11, 2001 there are no adequate prison facilities FOR THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS CRIMINALS in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The history of the USA on prisons and prisoners in Iraq is hardly admirable.  GITMO and its torture standards under the previous administration aligns with those antics.  GITMO, under President Obama, is considered a humane facility, but, to expect the USA to 'house' international criminals from other sovereign nations is simply outrageous. 
GITMO has an extremely tainted past.  It needs to be closed to prevent a repeat of the Human Rights and the breaking of the Geneva Accords.  The CORRECT method for any sovereign nation to house the Most Dangerous Criminals in the World is to seek trials of these human beings through the World Courts where they can be housed for trial.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's Pulling the Plug on Grandma smear



More and more of Grassley's RHETORIC is nothing but inflammatory for 'old world' politics that victimize the voter and does NOT educate them to THE TRUTH.  This is exacly how Americans are victimized by the RNC, hence, compromising the country's democracy.  In this example, Grassley doesn't care if there are ACTUAL Americans dying because of the policies and lack of regulation of the HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY, but, seems to think fear mongering is the answer to political succes

Senator Grassley states in live testimony today regarding GUN LAWS that the 'episode' with the ATF programs...

...should not result in more gun control laws.  (click title to entry - thank you)

While in office, Senator Grassley (click here) has voted both in favor of, and against a bill to protect manufacturers from lawsuits when their firearms are used in a crime. He voted against an assault weapons ban. During the confirmation of Eric Holder to the Attorney General position, Senator Grassley expressed concern for Holder's position on the second amendment.

Catering to the NRA is more than obvious in the motives of Grassley.

The NRA is attacking the Obama Adminstration to limit Gun Control even further.



Newsmax TV?  Really?   Is the NRA sequested into a corner or what?  Can't get more Right Wing Extremist than Newsmax. 

Attorney General Holder needs to address this issue. 

The program "Fast and Furious" was begun under George Walker Bush.  Oddly, while there was a death where the recorded guns turned up, there is nothing to say the death would not have occurred anyway.  It happened on one of the most dangerous and war-like crossing areas for the drug cartel.  The Border Agent knew the dangers and was prepared from them when he went into the region with a team of agents.  He was not alone, nor was he unprepared for what was to follow.  Did he give his life for his country?  Absolutely.  But, so have many other Border Agents.  He is not alone.  It is unfortunate, but, true. 

The program is extreme, but, the pentation of guns into Mexico because they flow like water and in criminal content of the Gun Control Laws that do exist in the USA, especially near the Mexican-American Border, resulted in extreme measures to find the extent to the way guns from the USA actually made it to the Mexican gun cartels.  I am fairly confident the program was conceived under the Bush White House because the NRA and gun pundits were stating there is no proof of the final destination of the guns from the USA actually making it to the cartels.  The 'idea' that the 'drug network' was loose and too entrepenurial

The government-sanctioned gunrunning (click here) operation Fast and Furious was a plot to undermine Second Amendment rights in the United States, National Rifle Association officerWayne LaPierre charged on Friday in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV.

The program, Fast and Furious has accomplished what it was set up to accomplish and that was to identify the FACT guns from the USA were getting into the hands of drug cartels PRIMARILY.  Was there a better way of doing this?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  The quandry in this matter was to find a way to actually PROVE the guns were being bought by drug cartels without alerting the purchases to the fact the guns were 'marked' for tracing by the ATF.  It was an impossible task right from the beginning.  The recorded guns involved in this program were found in places where many other guns were found and in the possession of illegal operations where laws were being broken in order for the drug cartels to be successful. 

The USA Justice Department needs to at least publish the etiology of the program, its deployment and its results including the death of a Border Agent.  They have to do this because the NRA is continuing a campaign of hate regardless of THE TRUTH of the circumstances in realtion to the problems the USA has at its border with Mexico. 

The fact this was a Bush Program indicates a lot about its outcomes.  Rather than regulating ASSAULT WEAPONS as they should have been, the Bush White House turned the mess loose for their political base.  In my opinion, the Fast and Furious Program was created because of the lack of 'spine' the Bush./Cheney White House had in relation to gun control and elections for the Right Wing.  The entire gun sales to transport south of the USA border is a no brainer.  GUN CONTROL.  I am sure those in Mexico would agree.

The fact there was not far tighter gun control over these highly dangerous weapons in the face of the drug war in Mexico facilitated by loose USA gun laws proves there was no WILL by the Bush/Cheney Administration to actually stop the practice and hence stop the cartels.  The Republicans literally dropped in the lap of the next administration to carry out.

AG: Operation Fast and Furious flawed in concept and execution, never should have happened (click here)