Stephanie,
I guess the White House just doesn't get it - they are NOT going to be able to make enough new rules or signing statements or whatever to exempt them from the LAWS of the land. I just hope that the new Congress holds the administration's feet to the fire and lets them know in no uncertain terms that this kind of dodging the laws just isn't going to fly anymore. It makes me sick how Bush and Cheney think that the laws apply to everyone but them and their cronies. This illegal pattern of secrecy has NO place in a true democracy!
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
"This memo reflects the Bush administration's view of American government, which is that the people's business should be conducted behind closed doors."
Steven Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists
White House Visitor Records Closed http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_visitors
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
Fri., Jan. 5, 2007
The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.
The Bush administration didn't reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.
In a federal appeals court filing three weeks ago, the administration's lawyers used the memo in a legal argument aimed at overturning the judge's ruling. The Washington Post is suing for access to the Secret Service logs.
The five-page document dated May 17 declares that all entry and exit data on White House visitors belongs to the White House as presidential records rather than to the Secret Service as agency records. Therefore, the agreement states, the material is not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. ...
The chief counsel to another Washington-based group suing to get Secret Service logs calls the creation of the memo "a political maneuver couched as a legal one."...
In the mid-1990s, a conservative group, Judicial Watch, obtained Secret Service entry logs through a lawsuit.
Secret Service records played a significant role in the Whitewater scandal in the 1990s, supplying congressional Republicans with leads to follow in their investigations of the Clintons....
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Friday, January 5, 2007
Rally Set for Monday in Columbus
Farewell to Stephanie - Plea for Stay of Execution of WTPG
http://www.ohiomajorityradio.com/
Columbus fans of WTPG, Columbus's only progressive radio station, are gathering in front of the Statehouse Monday, 11-noon, to say a joint farewell one of their favorite talk show hosts, Stephanie Miller. It is the last hour of her program scheduled to air in Columbus.
Mary Jo Kilroy is scheduled to speak, and Mayor Coleman has been asked to call in. Our strong supporter, Ohio Rep. Dan Stewart may also show up.
The gathering of WTPG fans will listen on their portable radios to the last Columbus hour, and near the end of the broadcast, the group will call out their good-byes over a cell phone. Stephanie Miller announced this event on her radio program, Thursday, January 4. Afterwards, attendees are invited to join a mock funeral procession to Clear Channel Communications, 2323 W. Fifth Ave., to present a petition of over 2000 names, requesting a stay of execution so that WTPG listeners can attempt to work with Clear Channel to make WTPG viable.
If the plea is turned down, the group will thank Clear Channel for 2 wonderful years of WTPG, and depart--to start the job of finding a radio station that would like to serve a community of dedicated, loyal, progressive fans.
The OhioMajorityRadio.com petition and linked web site will remain the rallying point for that effort.
Please note that signs can have cardboard handles only. And let's be friendly, to show what good listeners a station can gain by providing progressive programs. The Statehouse grounds are reserved for inaugural preparations, but we were advised that the wide sidewalk in front of the Statehouse is often used when statehouse grounds are unavailable. Hope to see you there.
http://www.ohiomajorityradio.com/
Columbus fans of WTPG, Columbus's only progressive radio station, are gathering in front of the Statehouse Monday, 11-noon, to say a joint farewell one of their favorite talk show hosts, Stephanie Miller. It is the last hour of her program scheduled to air in Columbus.
Mary Jo Kilroy is scheduled to speak, and Mayor Coleman has been asked to call in. Our strong supporter, Ohio Rep. Dan Stewart may also show up.
The gathering of WTPG fans will listen on their portable radios to the last Columbus hour, and near the end of the broadcast, the group will call out their good-byes over a cell phone. Stephanie Miller announced this event on her radio program, Thursday, January 4. Afterwards, attendees are invited to join a mock funeral procession to Clear Channel Communications, 2323 W. Fifth Ave., to present a petition of over 2000 names, requesting a stay of execution so that WTPG listeners can attempt to work with Clear Channel to make WTPG viable.
If the plea is turned down, the group will thank Clear Channel for 2 wonderful years of WTPG, and depart--to start the job of finding a radio station that would like to serve a community of dedicated, loyal, progressive fans.
The OhioMajorityRadio.com petition and linked web site will remain the rallying point for that effort.
Please note that signs can have cardboard handles only. And let's be friendly, to show what good listeners a station can gain by providing progressive programs. The Statehouse grounds are reserved for inaugural preparations, but we were advised that the wide sidewalk in front of the Statehouse is often used when statehouse grounds are unavailable. Hope to see you there.
Guess the Quotes
Hey there Steph,
Thanks to you, Jim, Chris, and Rebekah and a whole lotta fabulous (and I mean that in the very best sense of the word!!!) Americans - we've taken back the Country. Here are a few Guess the Quotes for the Voice Guy in celebration of this momentous occasion! The theme is the 110th Congress and its new leadership! Enjoy!
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
Thanks to you, Jim, Chris, and Rebekah and a whole lotta fabulous (and I mean that in the very best sense of the word!!!) Americans - we've taken back the Country. Here are a few Guess the Quotes for the Voice Guy in celebration of this momentous occasion! The theme is the 110th Congress and its new leadership! Enjoy!
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
"The genius of our founders was that every two years, new members would bring to this House their spirit of renewal and hope for the American people. This Congress is reinvigorated, new members, by your optimism and your idealism, and your commitment to our country."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi"
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi"
"Shortly, President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It is the responsibility of the president to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets and their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region and a plan that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
"For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. . . . Now the sky is the limit. Anything is possible."Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
“The Democrats are back, and the Congressional Black Caucus. is in the lead, in the lead! We envision a new direction that is there for all of the people, not just the privileged few, a direction that builds and strengthens the middle class.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
“With the opening of the 110th Congress and the beginning of new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, it’s time to start moving America forward. Guided by the spirit of bipartisanship, Democrats are ready to take this country in a new direction.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
"For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. . . . Now the sky is the limit. Anything is possible."Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
“The Democrats are back, and the Congressional Black Caucus. is in the lead, in the lead! We envision a new direction that is there for all of the people, not just the privileged few, a direction that builds and strengthens the middle class.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
“With the opening of the 110th Congress and the beginning of new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, it’s time to start moving America forward. Guided by the spirit of bipartisanship, Democrats are ready to take this country in a new direction.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
"If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual."
Frank Herbert(1920 – 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. He is best known for the novel Dune, and the five other novels in the series that followed it.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Save Progressive Radio Drop
Click here to hear Stephanie (AKA Momma) and Jim "Voice Deity" Ward (Playing dubya - much better than Bush does, I might add) as they valiantly attempt to save WTPG 1230AM (now WYTS) in Columbus, Ohio:
http://www.switchpod.com/users/nonstop/nonstopspecial-steph-columbus.mp3
http://www.switchpod.com/users/nonstop/nonstopspecial-steph-columbus.mp3
Buddhists in Congress
Good Morning Stephanie,
Here an interesting piece on the religious beliefs or lack thereof of some new members of Congress. I'm all for religious diversity in Congress and across America. I think it's a great thing that there are two Buddhists in Congress. I think that you said one time that ex-Catholics probably make up the majority of new Buddhists in this country. I don't know whether that is true, but I like the fact that there are those in public life who look beyond Judeo-Christian religion for guidance in their lives.
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
Monday, January 01, 2007
Keith Ellison: Tip of the Iceberg
http://petty-larseny.blogspot.com/2007/01/keith-ellison-tip-of-iceberg_01.html
While everyone goes ooh and ah over new Rep. Keith Ellison's choice of magic book to place his hand upon when he says the magic words that will make the man in the sky ensure that he keeps his promise, folks seem to have missed something. Ellison's status as the first Muslim in the House was just the tip of the iceberg with this new Congress. There's an even bigger milestone that I haven't seen much mention of (with one exception).
In Susan Jacoby's essential "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism," she quotes a North Carolina minister's objection to the proposed U.S. Constitution's ban on religious tests for officeholders. He called it, "an invitation for Jews and pagans of every kind to come among us."
Meet Hank Johnson and Mazie K. Hirono. They're two other members of the 110th Congress who are doing something no one in Congress has done before. Not even Ellison. They don't believe in God. Not the Judeo-Christian God. Not the Muslim God. They're Buddhists. The first ever in Congress. For the first time, as far as I can tell, bouncing around adherents.com, the U.S. Congress as of Thursday will now include as members representatives who openly do not subscribe to any version of monotheism.
Johnson is from Georgia (4th district), for Christ's sake. And check out Hirono. She's from Hawaii. What does Hawaii's House Caucus look like in the 110th Congress?
Mazie K. Hirono -- Buddhist.
Neil Abercrombie -- "Non-Affiliated."...
Read the entire post:
http://petty-larseny.blogspot.com/2007/01/keith-ellison-tip-of-iceberg_01.html
Here an interesting piece on the religious beliefs or lack thereof of some new members of Congress. I'm all for religious diversity in Congress and across America. I think it's a great thing that there are two Buddhists in Congress. I think that you said one time that ex-Catholics probably make up the majority of new Buddhists in this country. I don't know whether that is true, but I like the fact that there are those in public life who look beyond Judeo-Christian religion for guidance in their lives.
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
Monday, January 01, 2007
Keith Ellison: Tip of the Iceberg
http://petty-larseny.blogspot.com/2007/01/keith-ellison-tip-of-iceberg_01.html
While everyone goes ooh and ah over new Rep. Keith Ellison's choice of magic book to place his hand upon when he says the magic words that will make the man in the sky ensure that he keeps his promise, folks seem to have missed something. Ellison's status as the first Muslim in the House was just the tip of the iceberg with this new Congress. There's an even bigger milestone that I haven't seen much mention of (with one exception).
In Susan Jacoby's essential "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism," she quotes a North Carolina minister's objection to the proposed U.S. Constitution's ban on religious tests for officeholders. He called it, "an invitation for Jews and pagans of every kind to come among us."
Meet Hank Johnson and Mazie K. Hirono. They're two other members of the 110th Congress who are doing something no one in Congress has done before. Not even Ellison. They don't believe in God. Not the Judeo-Christian God. Not the Muslim God. They're Buddhists. The first ever in Congress. For the first time, as far as I can tell, bouncing around adherents.com, the U.S. Congress as of Thursday will now include as members representatives who openly do not subscribe to any version of monotheism.
Johnson is from Georgia (4th district), for Christ's sake. And check out Hirono. She's from Hawaii. What does Hawaii's House Caucus look like in the 110th Congress?
Mazie K. Hirono -- Buddhist.
Neil Abercrombie -- "Non-Affiliated."...
Read the entire post:
http://petty-larseny.blogspot.com/2007/01/keith-ellison-tip-of-iceberg_01.html
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Park Service Caves in to Christian Extremists
How Old Is the Grand Canyon?
Park Service Won't Say
PEER Press Release
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801
Orders to cater to creationists makes national park agnostic on geology.
Washington, DC - Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is 'no comment.'"
Park Service Won't Say
PEER Press Release
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801
Orders to cater to creationists makes national park agnostic on geology.
Washington, DC - Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is 'no comment.'"
Monday, January 1, 2007
A Grim Milestone...
I woke up this morning, only slightly hungover, to the grim news that the 3000th American soldier has died in Iraq. This number, of course, doesn't reflect the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been murdered in this wrong and insane occupation, this unnecessary, unprovoked war. Please visit the link to United for Peace and Justice (http://www.unitedforpeace.org/) or the American Friends Service Committee (http://www.afsc.org/3000/), for ideas on how to mark this tragic number.
Another Grim Milestone -- 3,000 Deaths Too Many .
U.S. Toll In Iraq Reaches 3,000
Deaths in December Most in Two Years
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 1, 2007
BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 -- The number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003 reached 3,000 on Sunday, a symbolic milestone at a time when the Bush administration is rethinking its strategy for the increasingly violent conflict.
As the year drew to a close, the U.S. military announced that a soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb while on patrol in a southeastern neighborhood of Baghdad. Two soldiers were injured in the attack. Their names were not released.
The Defense Department also announced that Spec. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Tex., was killed by small-arms fire Thursday in Baghdad.
Another Grim Milestone -- 3,000 Deaths Too Many .
U.S. Toll In Iraq Reaches 3,000
Deaths in December Most in Two Years
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 1, 2007
BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 -- The number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003 reached 3,000 on Sunday, a symbolic milestone at a time when the Bush administration is rethinking its strategy for the increasingly violent conflict.
As the year drew to a close, the U.S. military announced that a soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb while on patrol in a southeastern neighborhood of Baghdad. Two soldiers were injured in the attack. Their names were not released.
The Defense Department also announced that Spec. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Tex., was killed by small-arms fire Thursday in Baghdad.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Here's What's the Matter with Kansas, Now...
Hey there Steph,
Here's a good one for the "republicans eating their own" file - I can't help it, I gain a special kind of glee from reading about the mess that the ultra-right-wing has made of politics in our northern neighboring state. Happy New Year!
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220.html
By Peter Slevin, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and the ideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost his reelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves for Paul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became a Democrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state's most populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especially shocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the county chose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign his nomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group of partisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside Family Church in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide 316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
"The moment Phill Kline got the nomination, half the room got up and walked out," said Scott Schwab, the county GOP chairman. "It wasn't so much yelling or cussing. They threw up their arms and said, 'What do we do now?' "
Kline's reincarnation as Johnson County prosecutor reveals the depth of the continuing Republican split in Kansas and suggests challenges faced by the GOP nationwide as it tries to recover from its Nov. 7 losses and build toward 2008.
Republicans lost their U.S. House and Senate majorities and 350 seats in state legislatures across the country. The early post-election Kansas experiences show that a recovery could be difficult because the splits inside the party between social conservatives and moderates will not be easily healed.
Given the defeats in Kansas of religious conservatives such as Kline, U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun (R) and some members of the State Board of Education, one Kansas political analyst expected the GOP "would be ready to mend fences and move forward."
But that has not yet happened. "I think the divide between the moderates and conservatives is deepening rather than closing," said Kansas State University professor Joseph Aistrup. "This type of politics is continuing into our future, at least another four years."
The Kansas political divide has drawn outsized attention in recent years. The state was the setting for an influential 2004 book by Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America."
Here's a good one for the "republicans eating their own" file - I can't help it, I gain a special kind of glee from reading about the mess that the ultra-right-wing has made of politics in our northern neighboring state. Happy New Year!
Cheers - your radical militant librarian,
Faye in Tulsa, OK
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220.html
By Peter Slevin, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and the ideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost his reelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves for Paul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became a Democrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state's most populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especially shocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the county chose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign his nomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group of partisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside Family Church in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide 316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
"The moment Phill Kline got the nomination, half the room got up and walked out," said Scott Schwab, the county GOP chairman. "It wasn't so much yelling or cussing. They threw up their arms and said, 'What do we do now?' "
Kline's reincarnation as Johnson County prosecutor reveals the depth of the continuing Republican split in Kansas and suggests challenges faced by the GOP nationwide as it tries to recover from its Nov. 7 losses and build toward 2008.
Republicans lost their U.S. House and Senate majorities and 350 seats in state legislatures across the country. The early post-election Kansas experiences show that a recovery could be difficult because the splits inside the party between social conservatives and moderates will not be easily healed.
Given the defeats in Kansas of religious conservatives such as Kline, U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun (R) and some members of the State Board of Education, one Kansas political analyst expected the GOP "would be ready to mend fences and move forward."
But that has not yet happened. "I think the divide between the moderates and conservatives is deepening rather than closing," said Kansas State University professor Joseph Aistrup. "This type of politics is continuing into our future, at least another four years."
The Kansas political divide has drawn outsized attention in recent years. The state was the setting for an influential 2004 book by Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
