If Al Gore gave speeches with as much passion, intensity and intelligence as his speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I would’ve definitely voted for him in 2000. If Gore decides to run in 2008, he has my vote:
At present, we still have much to learn about the NSA’s domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently.
A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution – our system of checks and balances – was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: “The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.”
An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat that the Founders sought to nullify in the Constitution – an all-powerful executive too reminiscent of the King from whom they had broken free. In the words of James Madison, “the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
Now we just need to convince him to run. Run, Al, run!
Some more good news on the local marriage equality scene:
Senator Tom Plant and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald are proposing a ballot measure that would legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.
The referred measure would need a two-thirds vote in each house to get on the November ballot. It would not require the signature Gov. Bill Owens.
The measure would give same-sex couples the right to visitation and to be involved in the care of hospital patients and nursing home residents, inheritance and pension benefits, access to a partner’s health care benefits and family leave benefits, and the right to take possession of a deceased partner’s remains.
It’s not legalizing marriage, but it’s a step in the right direction.
coloradolib.com has a guest post from Bill Winter up that they want people to cross-post liberally. I am liking Winter more and more, so I am going to pass along a link to the full article on coloradolib.com.
The Cost Of War
Yesterday morning I went to the meeting of the United Veterans Committee of Colorado, an organization that brings various veteran’s advocate groups together. Tom Tancredo showed up late, spoke for five minutes, and left, but an interesting thing happened while he was there.
Mr. “Let’s Nuke Mecca” spent his whole five minute speech talking about all the “positive” things being done in Iraq. Most of what he said was provably untrue. I don’t know if he was actually lying, or just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Either way it’s a shame that he chooses to put partisanship above the welfare of America and our troops.
(…click for more of Bill Winter’s post)
Well now this is extremely interesting: Sean Duffy, Republican and former Communications Director under Governor Owens here in Colorado, will apparently lead the opposition to an anti-gay-marriage amendment here in Colorado (via ColoradoPols.com).
I’m kind of cynical, so my first instinct is to say, “yeah, right, sure… I’m supposed to believe that someone like Duffy would actually support gay rights, or at least would work to have rights taken away from gays? Sell me another bridge, why dontcha.” But it turns out that this is exactly what Duffy is going to do:
Duffy said he knows that many conservatives may be surprised by his involvement in the issue, but he believes many Republicans share his belief that gays should be “left alone.”
“I have a number of conservative friends who are on board with what I’m doing in terms of gay rights,” Duffy said. “There are a lot of folks ideologically on the Republican side who believe putting a ban on gay marriage in the state constitution is overstepping government authority.”
Duffy actually sounds like a reasonable guy regarding this issue. Will he actually come through? I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
The Rude Pundit is at it again, this time lambasting Democratic senators for their horrible no-show at Alito’s nomination hearings:
How about this for a Democratic strategy now and in the debate after - act like the general public is fuckin’ sick of the Republicans and how they’ve led the nation. Act like Americans are begging for someone to stop the crazy train we’re on. ‘Cause if you can’t pull the emergency brake, then you need to get thrown onto the tracks. Slam this motherfuckin’ Alito for being the weaselly bastard he is. Stop making him into some noble, nice guy - fucker defended a warrantless strip search of a ten year-old - what more do you need?
Alito is one of the scariest sons-of-bitches to come along in a long, long time. His nomination for the Supreme Court needs to come to an end ASAP. Unfortunately, the Democratic Senators sure don’t seem to be in a hurry to do so. Yet they would have the good will of the American public if they were to do so! C’mon, Dems, show some spine!
Here’s a good idea: a local Colorado group is trying to get an amendment to limit Eminent Domain onto the ballot this November:
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this summer allowed local governments to seize property for economic purposes, but said states were free to enact their own laws protecting property rights.
Colorado Citizens for Property Rights is seeking an amendment to the state constitution that would limit the government’s ability to use eminent domain to take property for private uses such as stores, private toll roads, corporate campuses or other economic development projects.
They said their proposal would not affect the use of eminent domain for public projects such as highways, schools or utilities.
I won’t completely endorese this ’til I get a chance to read their proposal, but I agree with the sentiment. Eminent Domain needs to be limited, as we learned last year.
Final score is a draw:
Man: 1
Mouse: 1
A Fort Sumner, N.M., man said he caught a mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it. He had a pile of leaves burning outside, so he threw the mouse on it. The mouse caught fire and ran back into the house.
Luciano Mares, 81, talked about the event Saturday from a motel room. The blaze the mouse started destroyed the home and everything inside it.
The mouse died, but exacting posthumous revenge by burning down the dude’s house has to be worth a point. And who in the world is both stupid and mean enough to get rid of a mouse by throwing it into a fire?
via SoapBlox Colorad: Bill Winter will be on the Majority Report next week.
The CD-6 candidate (You know, the guy running against Mad Tom Tancredo?) will be on the Air America program the Majority Report, in an interview hosted by Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, as part of the “Fighting Dems” segment.
The segment is about veterans running as Democrats for congress, and Winter, having served in the Navy and Marine Reserves, should be a perfect fit.
The exact time listed for the interview is 7:34 p.m (EST) on Air America radio, this Tuesday. The best bet would probably be AAR’s live internet stream, because I’m not sure AM 760 will carry the show on time.
AM760 carries the Majority Report on a tape delay, so you will need to listen to the Majority Report either on XM or via their internet stream if you want to listen live.
Here is an example of why it’s not a good idea to keep telling people, “look out for anything suspicious while you are flying.”:
A Frontier Airlines passenger on a flight from Denver who had a notebook that contained the words “suicide bomber” was taken into custody Wednesday and questioned for several hours before being released to his family, police said.
The suspect, identified only as a 36-year-old male residing in Santa Cruz County, got the attention of a fellow passenger after writing in a journal that had the words “suicide bomber” handwritten on the front, authorities from the San Jose Police Department and the FBI said. He was also clutching a backpack in what the fellow passenger regarded as a suspicious manner.
The entire concept of reporting suspicious behavior is making people paranoid. Now, if you are eccentric, you have a good chance of having to explain to law enforcement why you aren’t a terrorist. Does anyone think this is a good thing?
