tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234909682024-03-07T20:34:17.102-06:00Texas for Feingold"Sen. Russ Feingold, Standing Tall and Shooting Straight".
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
~ Abraham LincolnWestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-28389049680563592242007-10-13T07:16:00.000-05:002007-10-13T07:17:43.779-05:00Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.Don't Waver When The Moment Comes.<br /><br />Suddenly cool Al Gore looks like a good choice.<br /><br />Al Gore could become the only man to win an Oscar, a Nobel Prize and his party's presidential nomination. <br /><br />He already has collected an Oscar for his global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." (Actually, that's two Oscars, if you count best song.) He's Won the Nobel Peace Prize. <br /><br />We hope he goes for it.<br /><br />Gore has said repeatedly that he's happy doing what he's doing, while not irrevocably ruling out a run. Friends and former aides are hedging bets.<br /><br />The first President Bush mocked him as "ozone man." Now, corporations seek his counsel on global warming.<br /><br />"An Inconvenient Truth" has made environmental activism - and Gore, in all his woodenness - cool again. Thousands flock to his lectures on campuses. Rock stars go gaga over him.<br /><br />But more important, international leaders, who turned against America when Bush scoffed at treaties and rejected diplomacy, respect and admire Gore.<br /><br />However much he has achieved in the past seven years, President Gore could achieve what citizen Gore cannot. So bide your time, Al Gore, as Bobby Kennedy did in 68. But don't waver when the moment comes.WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-77950759858295113582007-07-04T23:08:00.000-05:002007-07-04T23:44:49.471-05:00Health-Care Costs Are Sickening<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">"If We Can Find The Money To Kill People, We Can Find The Money To Help People."</span></strong> </div><div align="justify"><br />Allen Campbell kisses his wife, Cynthia, Tuesday in a hallway of the state Capitol, where she testified in favor of Senate Bill 840, which would mandate universal health care in California. Cynthia Campbell, diagnosed with two forms of aggressive cancer and left bald by chemotherapy, will see her insurance coverage lapse on July 20. </div><div align="justify"><br />I'm too young for Medicare, and I make too much money for Medi-Cal, Campbell, 53, told the panel. But one eligibility worker told me how I could get Medi-Cal: 'Get pregnant, get the Medi-Cal card, abort the baby, and keep the card.' This is my only option. </div><div align="center">~</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="center"><strong>I think the health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies are in for some pretty bad times. I don't think people are going to tolerate this any more. They're going to demand legislation. They're going to demand that we have universal health care. </strong></div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/255757.html">READ THE FULL STORY: </a></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-22894620329844474032007-05-31T18:41:00.000-05:002007-05-31T18:43:02.146-05:00The Internet<div align="justify">The Internet has the potential to revitalize the role played by the people in our constitutional framework. It has extremely low entry barriers for individuals. It is the most interactive medium in history and the one with the greatest potential for connecting individuals to one another and to a universe of knowledge. It's a platform for pursuing the truth, and the decentralized creation and distribution of ideas, in the same way that markets are a decentralized mechanism for the creation and distribution of goods and services. It's a platform, in other words, for reason. But the Internet must be developed and protected, in the same way we develop and protect markets—through the establishment of fair rules of engagement and the exercise of the rule of law. The same ferocity that our Founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the Internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic. We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the Internet service provider they use to connect to the Web. We cannot take this future for granted. We must be prepared to fight for it, because of the threat of corporate consolidation and control over the Internet marketplace of ideas.<br /><br />The danger arises because there is, in most markets, a very small number of broadband network operators. These operators have the structural capacity to determine the way in which information is transmitted over the Internet and the speed with which it is delivered. And the present Internet network operators—principally large telephone and cable companies—have an economic incentive to extend their control over the physical infrastructure of the network to leverage control of Internet content. If they went about it in the wrong way, these companies could institute changes that have the effect of limiting the free flow of information over the Internet in a number of troubling ways.<br /><br />The democratization of knowledge by the print medium brought the Enlightenment. Now, broadband interconnection is supporting decentralized processes that reinvigorate democracy. We can see it happening before our eyes: As a society, we are getting smarter. Networked democracy is taking hold. You can feel it. We the people—as Lincoln put it, "even we here"—are collectively still the key to the survival of America's democracy.<br /><br />~ Al Gore: The Assault on Reason<br /><br />Edited by WestTexasBliss<br /><br /></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-87647535236467104502006-11-14T08:02:00.000-06:002006-11-14T08:05:30.481-06:00Who Killed The Electric Car ?<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong> </div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://n.l.bliss.googlepages.com/whokilledtheelectriccar%3F">Who Killed The Electric Car ?</a></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">~</span></strong></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;"><strong>Make a difference right now. Take Action!</strong></span></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-76182237940050009842006-11-13T07:47:00.000-06:002006-11-13T07:51:27.620-06:00Hang in Feingold<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong> </div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;">Hang in Feingold;</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong> </div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;">It’s too early to pull out. </span></strong></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-45783383699170153162006-10-15T11:37:00.000-05:002006-10-15T16:13:49.983-05:00Julia Wilson, Upset By The War In Iraq.<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/4504/2867/1600/ssflag.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/4504/2867/320/ssflag.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her MySpace.com page.<br />She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She replaced the page last spring after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.<br />Too late.<br />Federal authorities had found the page and placed her on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.<br />The 14-year-old freshman at Sacramento's McClatchy High School was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents.<br />"I think they did completely overreact. I'm just a kid. I don't think I'm much of a threat," Wilson said.<br />The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.<br />"It was an interrogation," said Kirstie Wilson, the teen's mother.<br />On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning over her page on the popular teenage Internet gathering spot led her to tears.<br />"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack -- it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president." </div>---------------------------------------------------------------<br /><div align="justify"></div><strong><span style="color:#990000;">WestTexasBliss wrote<br /></span></strong><div align="justify"><span style="color:#990000;">Can you believe this? Wouldn’t a simple phone call to the parents been enough? Who do you Secret Service agents think you are, Nazi SS agents? I know you have to kiss your boss’s (Bush) Anus, but give me a brake, a 14 year old girl and all you need to do is look at her parent’s and her background! Were do you think your at, the Middle East? You’re in America! 14 year old girls in America, with a background like hers don't kill people! You made her cry! You… This goes to show me that Sen. Russ Feingold is right about wiretapping. Some jobs should be on the line but I know all you will get is a stupid donkey grin and a pat on the backside from your boss Bush. Wait till 2006; I pray we can find someone to clean up the crap in Washington! So far we have Republican gangsters, spineless Democrats, a House and Senate selling this country to the highest bidder (K street, business as usual) and now, Secret Service agents who are like Nazi SS agents and American couch potatoes. Sen. Russ Feingold, were are you? I don’t condone the picture, but, go get them girl. </span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#990000;"><br /></span><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=188">READ THE FULL STORY</a></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1156074051183660392006-08-20T06:38:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:34.225-05:00The Sin of Silence<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/1600/abraham_lincoln.0.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/320/abraham_lincoln.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000099;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000099;">"<span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>o sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."<br />~ Abraham Lincoln</span></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1155318317917259042006-08-11T12:42:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:34.166-05:00Beat Swords into Plowshares<div align="justify"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/1600/Plowshares.2.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/320/Plowshares.2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;">W</span></strong>hen I was 8 years old a hornet's nest began to take shape in the back of our yard. I went out and watched with a combination of fascination and fear as it grew day by day.<br /><br />Finally, unable to stand the suspense, I took a big brick and threw it at the nest, breaking off the bottom half and sending the hornets into a swarming frenzy. I ran away as fast as I could as the angry bees swirled behind.<br /><br />When I think of the relationship of the United States to the Middle Eastern Muslim countries, my experience as an 8-year-old comes to mind. "Why do they hate us?" Americans ask. Well, we've thrown a brick at their hive.<br /><br />Forget the rhetoric about World War III. Choose the rhetoric of the Middle Eastern prophet Isaiah: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."<br /><br />Frank O'Hara is vice president of Planning Decisions in Hallowell.<br /><br />By Frank O'Hara</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=187">READ THE FULL STORY</a>... </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1154707306845255602006-08-04T10:55:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:34.101-05:00FAIR VERSUS FREE<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#993300;"><strong>T</strong></span>he Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition — provided that it is "fair."<br /><br />Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you will not find the word "fair." The First Amendment does not protect the "fair" exercise of religion, but the "free" exercise thereof; it does not restrain Congress from abridging the "fairness" of speech or of the press, but the "freedom" of speech or of the press.<br /><br />The modern tendency to substitute "fair" for "free" reveals how far we have moved from the initial conception of the Founding Fathers. They viewed government as policeman and umpire. They sought to establish a framework within which individuals could pursue their own objectives in their own way, separately or through voluntary cooperation, provided only that they did not interfere with the freedom of others to do likewise.<br /><br />The modern conception is very different. Government has become Big Brother. Its function has become to protect the citizen, not merely from his fellows, but from himself, whether he wants to be protected or not. Government is not simply an umpire but an active participant, entering into every nook and cranny of social and economic activity. All this, in order to promote the high-minded goals of "fairness," "justice," "equality."<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;">Does this not constitute progress? A move toward a more humane society? Quite the contrary. When "fairness" replaces "freedom," all our liberties are in danger. In Walden, Thoreau says: <strong>"If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life." That is the way I feel when I hear my "servants" in Washington assuring me of the "fairness" of their edicts.<br /></strong></span><br />There is no objective standard of "fairness." "Fairness" is strictly in the eye of the beholder. If speech must be fair, then it cannot also be free; someone must decide what is fair. A radio station is not free to transmit unfair speech — as judged by the bureaucrats at the Federal Communications Commission. If the printed press were subject to a comparable "fairness doctrine," it would have to be controlled by a government bureau and our vaunted free press would soon become a historical curiosity.<br /><br />What is true for speech — where the conflict is perhaps clearest — is equally true for every other area. To a producer or seller, a "fair" price is a high price. To the buyer or consumer, a "fair" price is a low price. How is the conflict to be adjudicated? By competition in a free market? Or by government bureaucrats in a "fair" market?<br /><br />Businessmen who sing the glories of free enterprise and then demand "fair" competition are enemies, not friends, of free markets. To them, "fair" competition is a euphemism for a price-fixing agreement. They are exemplifying Adam Smith's remark that "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." For consumers, the more "unfair" the competition, the better. That assures lowest prices and highest quality.<br /><br />Is then the search for "fairness" all a mistake? Not at all. There is a real role for fairness, but that role is in constructing general rules and adjudicating disputes about the rules, not in determining the outcome of our separate activities. That is the sense in which we speak of a "fair" game and "fair" umpire. If we applied the present doctrine of "fairness" to a football game, the referee would be required after each play to move the ball backward or forward enough to make sure that the game ended in a draw!<br /><br />Our Founding Fathers designed a fair Constitution to protect human freedom. In Thomas Jefferson's ringing phrases from the Declaration of Independence, "Governments are instituted among Men ... to secure ... certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."<br /><br />Milton Friedman, the winner of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, is the author of Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose . This piece originally appeared in the July 4, 1977 issue of Newsweek and was reprinted in Bright Promises, Dismal Performances: An Economist's Protest, a collection of his articles. Copyright 1983 by Thomas Horton and Daughters, 26662 South New Town Drive, Sun Lakes, AZ 85224.</div><p><br /><a href="http://www.fff.org/freedom/0292d.asp">By Milton Friedman</a> </p><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: </em></span><a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml</em></span></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</em></span></p>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1153134864642791212006-07-17T06:12:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:34.039-05:00Murtha Hits Rove In Backside -- But It's "Padded"~ by LindberghWestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1146427983935468962006-04-30T15:07:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.972-05:00Home Sweet Home<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/1600/Rock.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/320/Rock.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>arcasm aside, I'm not getting my hopes up on a Rove indictment. Too many times over the last 5 years, something has happened that should have signaled the downfall of the current administration. Voting discrepancies, Katrina, Libby's indictment, NSA spying, and the list goes on and on. Yet either the topic was next thing to ignored by the media or by those who could actually take some action (Democrats), or it was somehow forgotten by the angry masses because of something new happening to divert our attention. In that way, Rove has been successful.<br />I fear for our country for the next 2-3 years. I've learned the hard way that bad things don't take long to happen, but it takes a helluva long time to correct them. Will we ever be able to crawl out of this hole or will this continue until there is nothing left of the U.S.A.?<br />Posted by: RD April 30, 2006 at <a href="http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2006/04/indictment_for_.html">WE Blog </a><br /><br /><span style="color:#993300;"><span style="font-size:180%;">W</span>hat’s it going to take for you spineless good for nothing coward Democrats wimps to do something? Will you Censure Bush&CO now? Are you ever going to crawl out from under that rock and do something! It’s your fault we are in this mess; you Democrats did a piss poor job the last time you were in office so Americans voted for every Republican on the ticket. You Republican Gangsters and you Democrat Cowards are nothing but a big joke and you are laughing all the way to the bank, and we Americans pay.<br />Russ Feingold doesn’t have a problem standing up to the Republicans. To bad he is all alone. Americans need more like him!<br />Posted by: </span><a href="http://backyardpit.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#993300;">BackyardPit</span></a></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1146156486819659002006-04-27T11:45:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.911-05:00Troop Return By End Of Year<div align="justify"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/1600/100.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/320/100.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">S</span>en. Russ Feingold said Thursday he will introduce an amendment to a spending bill requiring that U.S. troops leave Iraq by the end of the year.<br /><br />Feingold, D-Wis., had proposed last year a target date of Dec. 31, 2006 for the troops to return. His latest amendment takes that concept a step further by requiring the troops to leave by that date.<br /><br />"Our country desperately needs a new vision for strengthening our national security, and it starts by redeploying U.S. forces from Iraq," Feingold, a potential presidential candidate, said in a statement.<br /><br />"Our military has performed valiantly in Iraq, but the indefinite presence of large numbers of U.S. forces there tends to weaken our ability to fight the global terrorist networks that threaten us today."<br /><br />Feingold plans to offer the amendment to a $106.5 billion emergency spending measure for Iraq and further hurricane relief. The amendment might not come to a vote until next week. </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1146055923441584252006-04-26T07:48:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.852-05:00Give Me A Brake<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">G</span>ive me a brake, regarding your article “Sen. Russ Feingold's Leadership PAC suggests the White House wants to wiretap political opponents” on April 25, 2006 by Brooks Jackson and Justin Bank.<br /></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Let’s see, you have Sen. Russ Feingold, Bush, Rove and Gonzales and you want to nail Sen. Russ Feingold.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">Ho I get it, you what to get a job with Fox News.</div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1145868131377581622006-04-24T03:30:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.780-05:00My Dinner with Feingold<div align="justify"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/1600/RussFeingold_Brad.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/812/983/320/RussFeingold_Brad.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>uss Feingold blew through town this weekend, and called on a few bloggers to meet him for lunch.<br /><br />I'm happy to report that upon introducing myself, he informed me that he's well familiar with The BRAD BLOG. On the other hand, he's a very good politician, so I'd have said the same thing to me too ;-)<br /><br />I'll mention up front, that of the current cadre of '08 Democratic Presidential contenders -- which, of course, he claims not to be thinking about -- he's just about the only one I'd seriously consider supporting at this time (though I'd certainly be open to the idea of Al Gore if he jumped back in, and Wes Clark hasn't yet done anything to piss me off yet, but barring any other fresh ideas, I'd likely be forced to go the third-party route as usual. But I digress.<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=179">Read The Full Story</a>… </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1144132855719957422006-04-04T01:38:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.711-05:00Leaving Feingold To Hang Out To Dry Is Asinine<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">L</span>etting Senator Feingold hang out to dry only cements the Republican lie about our spinelessness for the as-yet undecided electorate. Just as John Kerry lost the election by not immediately tearing the Swift Boaters a new one, we might lose again by not seizing this moment. As Josh Marshall wrote then about Kerry, "If you can't defend yourself against this attack how can we trust you to protect the country." The same will be asked about Democrats and Feingold. "If you won't protect one of your own, how can we trust you to protect the rest of us."<br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=172">MORE</a>… </div><div align="justify">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><strong><em><span style="color:#660000;"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=174">Republicans should be worried </a></span></em></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#000000;">---------------------------------------------------------------</span></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1144045102883602862006-04-03T01:16:00.000-05:002006-10-13T14:45:33.645-05:00The Republicans are TRAITORS<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>he Republicans are TRAITORS<br /><br />Watching the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Feingold's censure resolution, I am struck, ONCE AGAIN, by the abysmal lack of integrity of the Republicans in Congress.<br /><br />They have made their stand, behind the most criminal, deceitful and incompetent President in the history of the United States of America -- and they will not be moved. Not by facts, not by arguments, not by the very Constitution they swore to uphold and defend.<br /><br />In this execrable display of mindless partisanship, the Republicans in Congress neither uphold nor defend that Constitution. It is patently clear that the Republicans hold partisanship above all else -- above truth, above country, above the Constitution.<br /><br />They are traitors. They are GUILTY OF TREASON AGAINST THEIR COUNTRY.<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=171">Read The Full Story</a>… </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1142158059610955952006-03-31T20:10:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:31.315-05:00United States of America for Feingold<p><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#660000;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Available</a></span></strong></p><ol><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Alabama for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Alaska for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Arizona for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Arkansas for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Colorado for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Connecticut for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Delaware for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Florida for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Georgia for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Hawaii for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Idaho for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Indiana for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Kansas for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Kentucky for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Louisiana for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Maine for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Maryland for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Mississippi for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Montana for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Nebraska for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Nevada for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">New Hampshire for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">New Mexico for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Carolina for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">North Dakota for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Oklahoma for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Oregon for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Rhode Island for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">South Carolina for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">South Dakota for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Utah for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Vermont for Feingold</a> </li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Virginia for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">West Virginia for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Wisconsin for Feingold </a></li><li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/start">Wyoming for Feingold </a></li></ol><p align="center">All Hands On Deck</p><p>---------------------------------------------------------------</p><p align="center"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=159"><span style="font-size:180%;">L</span>et Russ Know That We've Got His Back.</a></p><p align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</p>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143705469874619052006-03-30T01:55:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.579-05:00Democrats: Waiting Until The Time Is Right<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>aybe the electorate is waiting until the fall to make up its collective mind, when the people can watch endless distorted attack ads on television paid for by special interests. Maybe that's what they crave, followed by a two-year presidential campaign decided by a couple of thousand rich people and a handful of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.<br /><br />Right now the best thing President Bush and the Republican Party have going for them is the Democratic Party. God forbid someone should stand up and start connecting the dots, linking the permanent interests of urban America and rural America, pulling together the soccer moms and the NASCAR dads.</div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143482395400957322006-03-27T11:58:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.515-05:00Feingold Is A Patriot<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>epublican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman came to Madison last week with an important message for his party's members in Wisconsin and nationally.<br /><br />Mehlman said that, while he may disagree with U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold on particular issues, "I recognize Senator Feingold is a patriot and a good man."<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=169"><em>Read the full story</em></a><em>… </em></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143456858469791462006-03-27T04:51:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.450-05:00Feingold's Principled Stance Deserves Support<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">O</span>nce again, the Democrats have shown why they do so poorly in elections.<br /><br />The recent resolution for censure of President Bush put forth by Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin illustrates the point, as no other senator has joined him in this effort to expose the crime of illegal wiretapping by this president.<br /><br />One has to wonder why other senators do not rush out to join a senator speaking out about an actual crime. Isn't it the duty of senators to uphold the law, no matter which party they belong to?<br /><br />Perhaps this explains why fewer than half of eligible voters go to the polls. They already know the game is rigged.<br /><br />But every now and again, a patriot like Feingold shows up to do his job, and wouldn't you know it, he's the only one crying in the wilderness of a Congress that will let this administration do anything in the whole wide world its wants to.<br /><br />As former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said recently in a speech, and I paraphrase, we are at the beginning of dictatorship, and it would be better to fix it now rather than later.<br /><br />Looks like only Feingold is willing to act.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/letters/wb/wb/xp-58501">William Johnson</a>… </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143232198225770442006-03-24T14:26:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.379-05:00Election 2006 Is the Key<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">I</span>n the end, this issue is going to be resolved by the 2006 midterm election. If Republicans lose control of either the House or Senate, the investigations of the Bush/Cheney White House will begin. It won't be pretty. It will make dealing with lying about sex look like High School hazing. It will even make Richard Nixon look like a piker when it comes to staying within the law.<br /><br />If the early polls are half correct, independent swing voters have had it with Bush. Democrats want no part of him. Moderate Republicans are keeping their distance; they are no longer willing to hold their noses and vote for him.<br /><br />It will be up to the voters in this Fall's election to judge him, and to decide whether to sweep out of office those legislators who are preventing a full investigation of this matter.<br /><br />But if this issue goes to court, Bush should worry. Even Republican-appointed judges would have to comprise their judicial integrity to rule in his favor.<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=165">READ THE FULL STORY</a>… <span style="font-size:78%;color:#cc0000;"><strong><em>Good </em></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><em><span style="color:#000000;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------</span></em></div><div align="center"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=166">Applaud Feingold</a></div><div align="left">--------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#660000;"><span style="font-size:180%;">C</span>ongress has the responsibility to provide oversight and to check the power of the president. This is our country. It is our Constitution. Feingold should not be the only one to stand on this serious matter. America is watching, and we don't expect him to stand alone.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#660000;">--------------------------------------------------------------</span></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143140993068935622006-03-23T13:07:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.312-05:00Democrats, Excuses Excuses Excuses. Republicans, Lyres Lyres Lyres.<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>yth-making and excuse-making on the Feingold Resolution<br /><br />Counteracting negative reactions to censure with facts and frames.<br /><br />In order to generate further support for the Feingold Censure Resolution, numerous bloggers are encouraging everyone to pay an actual physical visit to their Senators' local offices in order to urge support for censure. Anyone doing so is likely to encounter the two primary myths/excuses which have been concocted by Senators and others in order to justify their refusal to support the Resolution. They are both plainly false:<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=163">MYTH/EXCUSE NUMBER ONE</a>: An investigation is needed before it can be known whether the President broke the law.<br /><br /><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=163">MYTH/EXCUSE NUMBER TWO</a>: Republicans want this scandal to persist because it benefits them politically.<br />---------------------------------------------------------------<br /></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#990000;">History is on Feingold’s side, even if Democrats aren’t </span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#990000;">---------------------------------------------------------------</span></div><div align="center"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=164">Ganging Up On Feingold</a></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1143006088184664482006-03-21T23:38:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.234-05:00Republicans Release New Ad That Mischaracterizes Feingold's Censure Resolution<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">R</span>epublicans release New Ad that Mischaracterizes Feingold's Censure Resolution<br /><br />FactCheck.org states, "A GOP radio ad falsely characterizes Sen. Feingold's censure resolution as reprimanding the President for pursuing Al Qaeda"<br /><br />The nonpartisan, nonprofit, voter advocacy group FactCheck.org has revealed several falacies in a new Republican advertisement that takes aim at Senator Feingold and his resolution to censure President Bush for the illegal wire tapping of American Citizens. FactCheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.<br /><br />The GOP radio ad accuses Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin of proposing to censure President Bush "for pursuing suspected members of al Qaeda," which isn't true. Feingold has stated he supports wiretapping suspected terrorists. His measure would censure Bush for ordering wiretaps on US soil without a court warrant, for failing to notify all members of the Senate and House intelligence committees, and for "efforts to mislead the American people" about the legality of the program.<br /><br />The Republican National Committee (RNC) released the radio advertisement on March 21. The RNC would not disclose how much they spent on the ad, but an RNC spokesperson said the advertisement is scheduled to run for a week on Wisconsin radio stations.<br /><br />The ad characterizes President Bush as "working to keep American families safe," while accusing Sen. Feingold of leading Democrats who are "working against . . . efforts to secure our country." The ad claims that "Feingold and other Democrats want to censure the President. Publicly reprimanding President Bush for pursuing suspected members of al Qaeda." That is a false characterization.<br /><br />You can read the complete analysis of the ad, the copy of the ad itself and the respective references at the following FactCheck.org page:<br /><br /><a href="http://somd.com/news/headlines/articles/3521.shtml">Southern Maryland Online </a><br /><br /><a href="http://factcheck.org/article381.html">FactCheck.org</a></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=161">Feingold Is Right To Ask For Censure</a></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><em><span style="color:#990000;">The Republican Spin Machine is up and running.</span></em></div><div align="center"><em><span style="color:#990000;">Can you see Karl Rove’s finger prints?</span></em></div><div align="left"><em><span style="color:#000000;">-------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></em></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#990000;"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=162">Back to the Big Lie</a></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#990000;">---------------------------------------------------------------</span></div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1142977442308522512006-03-21T15:41:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.156-05:00If Senate Won't Vindicate Feingold, History Will<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">H</span>ow can we know if a President isn’t abusing his authority to eavesdrop on American citizens?<br /><br />We can’t, at least under President Bush’s sweeping claim of wartime executive power.<br /><br />That’s the issue at the core of Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold’s brave and lonely attempt to censure President Bush. Feingold has never asserted that “we shouldn't be listening to al Qaeda communications” as White House Communications Director Scott McClellan falsely claimed. Feingold is challenging the President’s interpretation of the law and whether government can ever spy on Americans without a search warrant, even when Americans are communicating with someone in another country.<br /><br />Such warrants aren’t hard to get. In 1978, Congress established special courts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law recognizes that emergency circumstances often require immediate action and allows the executive branch to obtain a warrant within 72 hours of the search. Not only does the law strike a balance between national security and civil liberties, it also respects the balance between the executive and judiciary. America has a long and wise history of checking unlimited power of any single branch of government, especially when individual rights are at stake.<br /><br />Even if the searches are legal, which many legal scholars vehemently dispute, there’s a public policy issue that goes beyond President Bush. Would Republicans feel comfortable giving a Democratic President this kind of clandestine power? What would keep a Democrat from eavesdropping on Rush Limbaugh hoping to uncover embarrassing information on Limbaugh’s prescription drug history or failed marriages? It was only 40 years ago when FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, unchecked by search warrants or judicial oversight, abusively wiretapped Martin Luther King, Jr. We can only hope that President Bush is limiting eavesdropping to genuine terror suspects and not gathering information on political adversaries exercising their First Amendment rights.<br /><br />Nobody argues against eavesdropping on terror suspects. Nobody argues that warrants shouldn’t be classified or post-dated under exigent circumstances. However, it doesn’t take a pacifist to insist that a magistrate -- someone who doesn’t serve at the pleasure of the president -- review electronic eavesdropping requests. It’s not only the law; it’s the only way to conduct surveillance consistent with the Fourth Amendment. Senator Feingold is right to insist that the President honor both the law and Constitution. If Feingold’s fellow Senators won’t vindicate his stance, history will.</div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.tomahjournal.com/articles/2006/03/20/opinion/01edeavesdropping.txt">The Tomah Journal</a>… </div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23490968.post-1142734406682067322006-03-18T20:09:00.000-06:002006-10-13T14:45:33.081-05:00Feingold Is Right; Now Congress Must Fulfill Its Oversight Responsibility<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;">N</span>orman Stockwell: Feingold is right; now Congress must fulfill its oversight responsibility<br /><br />A letter to the editor<br />Dear Editor: In Monday's paper you ran <a href="http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=76059&ntpid=2">a story on Sen. Russ Feingold's efforts </a>to call for censure of President Bush. "The president must be held accountable for authorizing a program that clearly violates the law and then misleading the country about its existence and its legality," said Feingold.<br /><br />I agree, but I believe the responsibility goes further. Senator Feingold sits on the Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Budget and Intelligence committees, all of which have oversight components related to the conduct of the "war on terror."<br /><br />It was revealed this week by National Public Radio reporter Jackie Northam that sitting in Guantanamo, Cuba not on U.S. soil are "more than 120,000 documents," which Major General Jay Hood says were "hastily inventoried, stacked up, sealed and then transported here to Guantanamo ... Frankly, it's just in the last year that we've been able to take a closer look at what we've got here."<br /><br />This is either gross negligence or total incompetence. Why were these documents, if they are such valuable clues in the investigation of terrorism, remanded to hurricane-prone, tropical storage in a foreign country and not even examined for the first three years? Why were they not brought to a state-of-the-art U.S. forensics laboratory following standard investigative process?<br /><br />If, in fact, this disrespect of process and just plain common sense is any indication, Senator Feingold and other privacy advocates have good reason to voice concern over the way in which the mountains of data collected through an illegal wiretapping program are being handled.<br /><br />I applaud Senator Feingold's bold statements, and I call on Congress to truly fulfill its oversight responsibility to the people of the United States, by whom they were elected.<br /><br />Norman Stockwell<br /><a href="http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/letters/index.php?ntid=76676&ntpid=2">Madison </a></div><div align="justify">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0319valdez0319.html"><span style="font-size:180%;">D</span>ems won't win by hiding</a></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=156"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:180%;">M</span>ost Democratic Senators Fail As Presidential Candidates</span> </a></span><span style="font-size:78%;color:#cc0000;"><strong>Good</strong></span></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div><div align="center"><a href="http://normanbliss.com/blog/?page_id=158"><span style="font-size:180%;">F</span>eingold's Call For Censure Makes Us Proud.</a></div><div align="left">---------------------------------------------------------------</div>WestTexasBlisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04256016030466219920noreply@blogger.com