“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.” But, what if there is still doubt?
It’s done. He is dead. Despite the doubt, in spite of the public outcry, Troy Anthony Davis was executed. Time of death, 10:08 CST.
As of January 2011, 266 people, previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States, had been exonerated by DNA testing since 1989. The Innocence project estimates 200,000 innocent people are presently behind bars in the United States. How many of them are innocent?
Think about the thousands of people who are wrongly convicted each year, or those who will die as a result of wrongful convictions. Get ANGRY! Now, channel that anger toward changing the system. Get involved.
My incontrovertible sense of humor can’t help me laugh this one away. I simply cannot laugh away the pain. Pain caused by the realization that our nation is plagued by hate, fear, and indifference. What happened to humanity? Have we lost our ability to love each other? When did humanity become so disconnected that it’s common place to walk past our wounded brothers or sisters without so much as acknowledging their pain? I really need to know. The idealist in me doesn’t want to become like the machine. Spend a minute tonight thinking about this. To
those who can hear me, speak out! We are humanity… “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And, if you wrong us…[does anyone really care]? (Some of us do); It’s time for a compassion renaissance. Will you start the revolution?
US War Profiteering: Coup de grâce to the sanctimonious ‘American Dream’ hyperbole.
Nothing captures the essence of ‘war as business’ better than the satirical brilliance of War Inc. (2008). Corporate sponsorship of war (depicted in the film) may seem far-fetched, but the industrial military complex of our current reality is proof that this far fetched notion is disturbingly accurate. Perhaps, serving up the truth with a side order of satire helps to make the unspeakable reality of wars for profit (in spite of human devastation) easier to stomach. But, off screen, the harsh reality doesn’t end when the credits roll.
Funding contrived, perpetual wars in the name of greed… is the new American way. Our leaders (past and present) sell the notion of war by exploiting the villain, victim, hero frames deeply embedded in the psyche. The ever looming threat of terrorism (fueled by metaphors of fear) provide the necessary level of political brainwashing to gain supporters. Soon, the war mongering puppet masters execute murder-for-profit contracts, written in blood.
Support war or suffer the consequences-opposition will be labeled treasonous, unpatriotic, or un-American. But, anti-war activists are immune the tactical framing and political brainwashing of the war mongers.
They see contrived war for the scam it really is…war profiteering fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse.
Governments offer up the human sacrifices to fuel the war profiteering machine. Stop the machine. Know the truth.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” — Howard Zinn
The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.
The headlines read, “WOMEN GET THE VOTE.” The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. After decades of oppression, women’s rights advocates brought a triumphant end to the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. The movement began, simply enough, by women who gathered together to voice their frustration over social, economic, and gender disparities. The convergence of their collective intelligence, conveyed through public discourse, produced a platform to share their concerns, philosophies, and proposed solutions. Once women realized the power and influence behind their collective voices, they changed the course of politics for generations to come.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex (Amendment XIX).
Women are passionate, effective, and extremely powerful advocates. After all, a typical day in a Woman’s life begins seconds after the alarm breaks the silence of dawn. Within minutes, she hits the ground running… she starts the coffee, prepares breakfasts and lunches, and then she’ll jump in the shower. After that, she’ll fold a load of yesterday’s laundry, load the dishwasher, and then get dressed. Before she loads the car, she’ll feed the dogs, empty the cat litter box, and take out the trash.
On the way to her second job she’ll drop off the dry cleaning, fill up the car with gas, and stop by the post office. But, it doesn’t end there. She is constantly planning ahead- even running personal errands on her lunch hour. After an eight to ten hour grind, she’ll head back home to finish the marathon that she started at daybreak-and this, is on a slow day.
(A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. A woman must do what he can’t-. Rhonda Hansome )
A woman can scale Mount Everest in the same amount of time that it takes a man to perform his morning constitutional (atop his porcelain throne- while thumbing through the sports pages). Women are obviously the movers and shakers of humanity. Why then, are women (still) grossly underrepresented?
Last year, as a result of the 2010-midterm elections, the 112th Congress became the first in a generation to start out with fewer women in its ranks than the Congress before it. After decades of slow incremental growth in the number of women serving in Congress, last year we actually lost ground, dropping from 93 to 92 women (thankfully Kathy Hochul’s victory last summer returned us to the previous level.)
But 2011 also saw the House of Representatives engage in an unprecedented assault on women’s reproductive rights. Whether it was their passage of a bill to defund Planned Parenthood or their legislation that would allow hospitals receiving federal funds to refuse reproductive care to women even if their life was in danger, time and again, the House of Representatives proved it was hostile toward women’s rights.
~Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned- W. Congreve (1697).
A friend and I recently had the pleasure of meeting Nancy Pelosi. The event was sponsored by the Dallas Democrats (and hosted by Harryette Ehrhardt & Eddie Bernice Johnson). And, as most socially conscious political bloggers do, I shared this information on Face Book. Much to my chagrin, a couple of the comments from beleaguered Democratic colleagues were quite disturbing.
The lack luster responses (premised by the not-so-subtle disclaimer): “I don’t mean to offend, but…” were, in fact, offensive. Side bar: when someone begins a statement with “No offense, but…” or “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…”-you can be certain that any statement that follows WILL offend you. More importantly, the person delivering these ultimate wastes of verbal intercourse, think that by disguising their insult, they will offset any backlash it may cause them. But, it doesn’t really work that way, now does it?
Democrats, someone has high-jacked your way of thinking and it’s hindering your effectiveness. Perhaps, it time to dust off the cobwebs of discontent, break free from the psychological quicksand. Democrats, you will never find the promised land if you continue to wander in the radical right wing desert of defeat.
Can you say, “UNITY- all together now…U-N-I-T-Y.”
Democrats, do not allow idiots like Bachman, Palin, Limbaugh, Beck, Boehner, Hannity, O’Reilly, Colter, and all of the other tea party imbeciles (masquerading as “Patriots”) to redefine what a Democrat is and what a Democrat stands for. Do not stand idly by; do not acquiesce as they attempt to make ‘Liberal’, ‘Left’, and ‘Democrat’, dirty words. Remember, the core principles that built the rock solid foundation of our party. Adlai Stevenson said it best:
“The people are wise, wiser than the Republicans think. And the Democratic Party is the people’s Party — not the labor Party, not the farmers’ Party, not the employers’ Party — it is the Party of no one because it is the Party of everyone.
Define. Don't Defend. 