Texas Never signed the treaty

Embarrassment may lie ahead for our embarrassment of an Attorney General, Alberto Gonzoles. Most people know him as the man who decided that the Geneva Conventions were "quaint." But his pro-torture memos weren't the first suspect legal opinions he provided for George W. While Bush was Governor, Gonzales insisted that Texas did not have to follow the terms of an Vienna Conventions signed by, among others, the USA and Mexico, that defendants in capital cases have the right to contact their nation's consular after arrest. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case, (article) which means that even people who don't read blogs might find out that Mr. Gonzales stated, with regard to this case, that: "Since the State of Texas is not a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we believe it is inappropriate to ask Texas to determine whether a breach ... occurred in connection with the arrest and conviction[.]" This is an absolutely absurd statement. Anyone who has been to law school, scratch that, anyone who passed 8th grade social studies, knows that whent the United States government signs an international treaty it binds all of the individual states. For a better description of his faulty legal analysis check out this Nobember 2004 post on Democratic Blog Swarm. Perhaps Mr. Gonzales forgot that Texas is no longer an independent Republic. I admit that I often daydream that this is the case, but then I fucus and remember the reality - that Texas is a part of my country. Ah, well.

Terry Schiavo will never wake up -- will the US citizens?

This tempest in a teapot over what should be a private family issue is appalling! I want to find the list of which Democrats went along with this farcical piece of unconstitutional legislation -- they are KILLING our party. This was a perfect opportunity for Democrats to point out to the people the game that the Republicans have been playing for YEARS. Using Abortion and other "religious issues" to appear compassionate, while what they really care about is allowing the rich to get and remain richer on the backs of the working people.

The Republicans have been reducing the tax burden on the richest members of our society for 20+ years. In the 1950s the top marginal tax rate was 90% --- that doesn't mean, of course that someone subject to that rate would pay 90% of all the money they earn, only that they would pay 90% of earnings above a certain EXTREMELY luxurious level. Had we not allowed these rich people to keep more and more of their money out of the public coffers, we could have joined EVERY other developed country in providing unversal health care for our citizens. We could spend more money on our educational system so that we could stop falling further and further behind in the world in Math and Science.

I don't doubt that people have VERY strong feelings about abortion and right to die with dignity, BUT I challenge the wisdom of choosing federal officials based ONLY on these issues of personal beliefs. I resent the fact that these issues have been dominated only by extremists. I resent that conservatives like to tell people that we have "abortion on demand" in this country -when anyone knows that we only have anything resembling that for first trimester fetuses. These conservatives love to panic people into believing that fully viable children are being aborted regularly be women in this country -- they are NOT. I know that even first trimester fetuses are precious life in the view of some people, but MOST people realize there is a difference. The fact is that life is so fragile at this point that couples are often told not to tell people they are expecting until they've made it past the first trimester because miscarraige is so common during that period.

ON the other hand, I resent liberal supporters of Roe who insist on opposing even a miniscule restriction on abortion rights. Had Clinton signed the bill regarding partial birth abortions instead of leaving it for Bush, the law would have contained an exception for when the life of the mother is threatened. Democrats should have let the partial birth issue go long ago, it is far to good a PR issue for the Republicans. We have to start recognizing that most people are in the middle of these issues. If we carve out the middle, we can make the Republicans look excessively extreme and they can no longer use these wedge issues to distract!

One of the MOST appalling voices in this is Bill Frist. This man lost any credibility as a physician when he quibbled about whether tears and sweat could transmit AIDS on "This Week." Anyone with the slightest medical knowledge knows that no such transfer can or ever has happened, but Frist pandered to the evangelicals by abandoning his hypocratic oath -- OH, YEAH he did HARM! Then this week he stands up and insists that from studying some videos he can tell that Terry S. is not in a persistent vegitative state. What a joke. I can't tell whether all this nonsense is about pandering to the christian right or is designed to distract from the theiving of Tom DeLay.

BUSH -- WHAT A MORON

UNBELIEVABLE - The great thing about Bush is that you never know when he is going to display his stupidity/ignorance in an even more astounding way.

The following appeared on Howard Dean't "Blog for America" having been submitted by Jesse Jackson, Sr.

During the first weekend of March, in Selma, Alabama, marchers commemorated the 40th anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in that city. The violence unleashed by Southern sheriffs and racial vigilantes on that day galvanized President Johnson to push through the Voting Rights Act, giving blacks the right to vote in the South for the first time since the brief reconstruction period after the Civil War.

Now, 40 years later, that right to vote is once more at risk. When President Bush met with the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.—I report with some pride—asked him if he would support extension and strengthening of the Voting Rights Act when it comes up for renewal in 2007.

President Bush responded that he did not support voting rights for the District of Columbia. Rep. Jackson said that was not what he asked; he asked about extending the Voting Rights Act. Bush replied that he was not aware of the act and would look at it when it got to his desk. The president's passivity would enable House Majority leader Rep. Tom "the Hammer" DeLay to torpedo the act, just as he has real voting-rights reform.

For the younger people reading this, you have to remember that Bush graduated from High School the year this historic legislation was passed. It's not like it didn't make the papers, and it's not like it wasn't HUGE news. Before signing this bill, Lyndon Johnson said he was delivering the South to the Republican Party for the next 40 years.- Why? Because the white Democrats in the south would be FURIOUS with him for having signed this legislation.
"I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" what a MORON.







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