I Hope They Don't Have TV In Mexico

Goodbye, Coretta
With any luck, Coretta Scott King was too "out" of it to see any television today, or she would have seen Samuel Alito voted onto the Supreme Court before she passed away today. She would have seen the beginning of the end of civil liberties her husband fought for half a century ago. She would have seen that privileged, wealthy white men rule the universe after all. With any luck, Coretta Scott King passed from this earth without seeing any of that today and can finally join her husband in a place where his dreams become reality.

I Live in a Red State

Betrayed by Our Own
One of the advantages of living in a Red State is that you don't have to worry about who's a Democrat and who's a Republican. All of the Congressional representatives from my state are Republicans, even the Democrats. For example, one of our senators is a Democrat: Ben Nelson. Prior to today, he was one of four Democrats that publicly announced support for Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court nominee. In fact, eighteen of the Democrats in the Senate ended up voting to force a vote for Alito on Tuesday. It's amazing to me that everyone keeps saying how Alito wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, expand presidential powers, and reign in those "out of control" civil rights that everyone seems to be taking advantage of. But when it comes down to it, not even the democrats will stand up and vote "no". I guess we'll see tomorrow who actually votes for him. I'll laugh my ass off if they forced a vote today and secretly have enough votes to turn down his appointment. That would be a terrific message to send to Bush on the day of his State of the Union address.

A while back, I e-mailed Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel, asking them to vote "no" on Alito. Obviously, both of them voted "yes." Hagel didn't reply at all. Here is Nelson's e-mail reply:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I value your input on this important judicial nomination.

As you know, Judge Alito was nominated to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has announced her intent to resign upon confirmation of her successor. I-like you and other Americans of all political and judicial philosophies-recognize the importance of this nomination.

With the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings completed, I have decided to vote in favor of Judge Alito to serve as the 110th Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I came to this decision after careful consideration of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association's strong recommendation, and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the Court.

I understand your concerns regarding Judge Alito and his views on the judicial issues which will affect Americans for years to come. I believe the duty of judges is to adjudicate based on fact, law, and precedent without regard for personal ideology. I take Judge Alito at his word that he shares my view of the role of a Supreme Court Justice: that the role of judges is to balance the scales of justice, not to be activists and legislators.

Once again, thank you for contacting me. While we disagree on this particular nomination, I sincerely appreciated hearing your opinion and hope you will continue to share your views in the future.

Sincerely,

Ben Nelson

U.S. Senator

Well, we all know he's going to bring his (and Bush's) political agenda to the Court. That's why so many he was nominated and so many liberals and civil rights groups were against him. Get your abortions now, folks, you won't have the opportunity much longer.

Gonzales Knew
And, speaking of Bush, apparently Attorney General Gonzales may have known about the wiretaps when he testified in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee in January, 2005. I hope he is pressed on the issue. The Democrats don't seem to be showing much initiative to follow through with their threats recently.

Jim Jones up for Sainthood
I can't believe this is legitimate news. If any other religion proclaimed to have found a "miracle" that one of their religious leaders performed, it would be printed in the "wacky news." Let me rewrite this article and see what you think:

JONESTOWN (Jan. 30) - The People's Temple may have found the "miracle" they need to put the late Father Jim Jones one step closer to sainthood -- the medically inexplicable healing of a French "sister" with the same Parkinson's disease that afflicted him.

Brother Slawomir Oder, the People's Temple official in charge of promoting the cause to declare the late Father a saint of the Temple, told Reuters on Monday that an investigation into the healing had cleared an initial probe by doctors. Oder said the "relatively young" Sister, whom he said he could not identify for now, was inexplicably cured of Parkinson's after praying to Jones.

"I was moved," Oder said in a telephone interview. "To think that this was the same illness that destroyed the Holy Father and it also kept this poor Sister from carrying out her work."

Jim Jones suffered from Parkinson's Disease during the last decade of his life. His body trembled violently and he could not pronounce his words or control his facial muscles.

"To me, this is another sign of God's creativity," he said, adding that the Sister worked with children. He said Temple investigators would now start a more formal and detailed probe of the suspected miracle cure. The process that could lead to sainthood for Jones began in May when Jonestown archdiocese published an edict asking the Faithful to come forward with evidence "in favor or against" Jones' reputation of holiness. One proven miracle is required after Jones' death for the cause to lead to beatification. It must be the result of prayers asking the dead Father to intercede with God. Miracles are usually a physical healing that doctors are at a loss to explain. Another miracle would be necessary between beatification and eventual sainthood. Oder said his office had received many messages from Faithful around the world claiming that they had got what they wanted after having prayed to Jones after he died.

He said his office had also received many letters and e-mails from people claiming they had been miraculously cured or otherwise helped with a serious problem after praying to the Father even while he was alive. But under Temple rules, only those "miracles" which occurred after the Father's death can be investigated and eventually used as proof of holiness. The month after Jones died, Brother Benedict dispensed with Temple rules and put him on the fast track to sainthood. Benedict waived rules that impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can start. The quick start means Jones could be beatified and so declared a "blessed of the Temple" within a few years if a miracle can be attributed to his intercession with God. The crowds at Jones' funeral on April 8 chanted "Santo Subito" (Make him a saint now!).

Oder said he and other members of the investigating team were convinced that Jones "is already a saint" but he could not say how long the bureaucratic procedure could take. In past centuries, the saint-making procedure has often been long and expensive but many Faithful believe that Jones' life of suffering and service was clear to all. Many of the people who knew or worked with Jones are alive. This could speed up the case significantly because witnesses would be readily available to testify.

Ok, now THAT'S just creepy! But I think it illustrates my point. Written about the Pope, the article isn't anything special, but changed a little so that it makes you think about what it is actually saying, you see how ridiculous it all is. And, I hope they take into account all of the deaths from AIDS in Africa that can be directly linked to the Pope's prohibition of using condoms. Millions of people dead because of that one man. He may have murdered more people than anyone in history, including Hitler or Stalin. And yet Catholics want to beatify him. The sad thing is, Jim Jones is declared a monster because he convinced 900-some odd people to commit suicide quickly. However, John Paul convinced thousands or millions to commit suicide slowly and painfully, and he is considered worthy of sainthood. So long as I live, I will NEVER understand organized religion. In fact, when Li Hongzhi claimed that an elderly female follower began menstruating again, his claim was labeled "bizarre."
And, why is Showtime afraid of Scientology?

Not News Again
Again, this is not really news. Ted Koppel says that news agencies are more interested in profits than news. Well, duh. Most media outlets are owned by ten huge corporations. I think with the proliferation of the Internet, most 'zines have gone by the wayside. Once corporations figure out how to limit ownership of URL's online, the Internet will be limited to what is profitable and controlled by corporations also. Foreign governments already control a lot of what if published and viewed in those countries.

Muslims Hate Norwegians
Muslim attacks on Danes and Norwegians have intensified. This is a result of a Danish newspaper printing twelve cartoons of Mohammed. Images of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims, but apparently violence against people is not. It's too bad there aren't any Vikings left. I'd like to see Ignar the Horrible row up in a Longboat and go berserk on their ass.

Do This, Don't Do That, Can't You Read the Signs?
The Patriot Act just keeps getting scarier and scarier. Back in the Day, you could protest whatever you wanted. If you got arrested, you typically stood to get fined or possibly spend the night in jail. Now, you could end up in federal prison for violating designated "secure areas," whether anyone of any importance is there or not. Who would do the arresting? Why the Department of Homeland Security's uniformed police force, of course. What, you've never heard of them? That's because it's another provision of the Patriot Act. I wrote about it a few days ago, but here is the link again. They would be

"empowered to make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony."

Wow, that sounds bad.

Ok, let me run this down.

1) The Bush/Cheney administration has exercised broad, sometimes extreme, Executive powers under the reasoning that he is waging a "war on terror."
2) So far, but with a few delays, the Senate either endlessly debates minutiae or just ends up doing what the president wants.
3) With Alito's approval, the president may have a quorum on the Supreme Court, so that if he gets sued by and liberal wackos and it goes all the way to the Supreme Court, it gets squashed pretty quickly.
4) The president, though the DoHS, will be in charge of not only the military, which has restrictions on what they are allowed to do on US soil, but also a federal police force, which would have the power to make warrantless arrests of anyone for "any offense against the United States." (Again, I submit to you that the abbreviation for the Secret Service would be the "SS".)
One of the guys who introduced the Patriot Act even regrets it and admits that it gives the government too much power.

I suppose they would be deemed "enemy combatants" and held indefinitely without trial, as well. This just gets scarier and scarier. And, with all the conspiracy theories about 9/11, such as this (also refuted here), the world is a scary place to live in. As soon as I get paid, I'm joining the ACLU.