Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving to all


Wishes for a happy Thanksgiving for everyone, and especially the American ex-pats who are thinking of turkeys far away.

To my FDL friends -- Oklahoma Kiddo, Hugh, OldCoastie, Rayne, angie, Angry Old Broad, Nate, NZExpat (found a turkey for you), Medaka, millineryman, Louisiana Girl, kirk murphy, Caoimhin Laochdha, egregious, John Casper, Stephen Parrish CPA, looseheadprop, TeddySanFran, raven, selise, sofistic, Mrs K8, katiemine, petedownunder, Marion in Savannah, sharkbabe, perris(FKAM2M), Beard5, watertiger, darkblack, Oilfieldguy, TRex, Balrog, ed*ard teller, Mary4, Pach, Siun, Donita, Howie, montag, EvilParallelUniverse (hello!), Linda, Twisted Martini, marksb, EvilDrPuma, yourlittledogtoo, *ilson (where are you ?) and everyone, and especially Jane and Christy for making it so.

To my family -- missing more of us this year, but got some new ones coming up to take our places.

Everybody. Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Whew! And now it's time to get to work...

The election results are mostly in now and hooray! We have a Dem House and *maybe* a Dem senate -- with still a couple of counts to be finalized. But it's not too soon to start thinking about doing some much-needed housecleaning.

There are twelve Democratic senators who voted for torture and the abolition of habeas corpus. They need to be replaced with senators who do what they swore an oath to do -- defend the Constitution. Must be some good Democratic youngsters out there who'd give these dinosaurs a smart run in their next primary.

Here is a list of the Democratic senators who voted for the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the year they will be up for re-election:
Tom Carper (DE) -- 2012
Tim Johnson (SD) -- 2008
MaryLandrieu (LA) -- 2008
Frank Lautenberg (NJ) -- 2008
Joe Lieberman (CT) -- 2012 (well, not so much a Dem anymore...)
Robert Menendez (NJ) -- 2012
Bill Nelson (FL) -- 2012
Ben Nelson (NE) -- 2012
Mark Pryor (AR) -- 2008
Jay Rockefeller (WV) -- 2010
Ken Salazar (CO) -- 2009
Debbie Stabenow (MI) -- 2012

I know it's a ways off, but we should keep our eyes peeled, maybe find a young one, and train 'em up. No point in waiting until the last minute. And while we are in the mood, Representative Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL05) is up for re-election in 2008 as well. I'd really love to see Christine Cegelis in that seat!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

"We won't give you up" -- thanks LJ/Aquaria at FDL

And justice for all.


Those who do not have mercy shall yet have justice. Thanks to Shez for putting this article from The Nation up at Firedoglake

War Criminals, Beware
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith

On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come before the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other key Bush Administration figures for war crimes. The recent passage of the Military Commissions Act provides a central argument for the legal action, under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction: It demonstrates the intent of the Bush Administration to immunize itself legally from prosecution in the United States, even for the most serious crimes.

The Rumsfeld action was announced at a conference in New York City in late October titled “Is Universal Jurisdiction an Effective Tool?” The doctrine allows domestic courts to prosecute international crimes regardless of where the crime was committed, the nationality of the perpetrator or the nationality of the victim. It is reserved for only the most heinous offenses: genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture.

(snip) much more at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith