Nuclear Trigger

Folks,

This is a very terrifying time to be an American, and I know it is easy to withdraw and hide for the next four years, but we can't. We have got to stand up and fight every battle, every fight, even the ones we don't think we can win. We cannot go quietly.

The first of the many major battles to be fought is raging right now on the floor of the Senate. For those of you who don't know, the Senate is currently debating the confirmation of a group of very nasty judges. These judges, should they be confirmed, would have lifetime appointments to some of the nation's highest courts. They would have the opportunity to still be making laws when I have grandchildren. This is not a case where they would have to answer to public opinion or be subject to facing re-election. The damage they could do will certainly last well beyond our lifetimes.

This, however, is not the scariest part. Thanks to several strong courageous Democrats, who have been fillibustering the nominations, these judges' confirmations have been held up (some for as many as four years), but this could all change should the Republicans choose to invoke the "nuclear option." Doesn't sound pretty, does it? Well, it's not. The nuclear option would fundamentally change the way we have appointed judges in this country for over 200 years. It would involve the Republicans rewriting the rules to change parlimentary proceedure of the senate.

Right now it takes 60 votes to change a rule. What the nuclear option would do is change that number to 50. They would do this without voting; it would simply be a decree from the Senate President (i.e. Dick Cheney). With this new, lower standard for changing rules, or breaking rules since that is really what we are dealing with, the Republicans will then turn around and outlaw the fillibuster on judicial nominations.

This is exactly the kind of tyranny of the majority the Founding Fathers sought to protect us from when they established the checks and balances of the Constitution. The nuclear option would forever silence the voice of the minority when it comes to federal judges. The importance of a lifetime appointment was so crucial to the framers of the Consistution that they made sure no simple majority could ever override the well-being of all Americans by forcing a radical agenda through our courts, but the Republicans are situated the change that.

Never mind the fact that the Senate has functioned under these checks and balances for over 200 years. Never mind that over 95% of George Bushs' judges have been confirmed. Never mind that changing the rules would allow a party that barely has a majority to make decisions that will affect the entirety of the nation. These senators who vote to break the rules, written in the very core of our nation's foundation, will be forever weakening the cornerstone of American democracy. This is not majority rule; this is bullying.

The vote will come tomorrow, 5/24/05. Please call your senators. IF you do not know how to reach your senators please go to www.moveon.org and find out! Tell them to stand up for the Constitution, stop the silencing of the minority, and demand that radical judges be kept from doing a lifetime of damage. Send our leaders a clear message : Vote No on the Nuclear Option!

Pray for Peace, Fight for Change

Rachild

"Moral" Pharmacists

So, pharmacists have decided that they want to take the moral high ground now. Does this mean they are going to finally stand up to HMO's and demand reliable medical care? Or perhaps they are going to draw the line on the price gouging done by drug companies? Is it the real problem of inadequate or non-existent insurance coverage for our senior citizens that ticked them off?

Of course not! It seems the new trend in American pharmacists is the idea that they have the right to decide who does and doesn't deserve to receive medication. For instance, over the past few months several anti-choice pharmacists have denied women access to the morning-after pill even though they have been prescribed by a doctor. Do these pharmacists check to see why the women may need the drug? No! It doesn't matter if the woman has been a victim of rape or incest or if she has cancer or AIDS or another disease that may make a pregnancy life-threatening for her. These pharmacists have decided that any pregnancy that could become a reality should, regardless if the women and/or her doctor disagree.

Now let me make something clear: I do not believe in abortion. I don't. I think is symbolizes a great failure of society that any woman would be put in a position where she faces the decision of having to end an unplanned pregnancy, but unfortunately we live in a world where that happens. Due to any number of factors ranging from poverty to lack of education around contraceptives to gross misuses of male power, abortion exists, forcing women to take matters into their own hands rather than with the supervision of a medical profession is only going to compound the situation.

Furthermore, I want to know where this stops. If we let pharmacists decide they have the right to bring their personal beliefs to work on this issue, what's next? Does a Catholic pharmacist then have the right to deny women access to their birth control pills because of his or her personal moral beliefs? Or refuse to sell condoms? What about the homophobic pharmacist that won't give an AIDS patient his or her AZT because they are offended by that person's "lifestyle." This is a slippery slope, folks, and I guarantee you it doesn't go both ways. I could never refuse to provide services to a Southern Baptist who I think is morally offensive. Can you just imagine that, I refuse to give Republicans Viagra because I think God made them impotent so they can't reproduce.

Everyone has their right to his or her own beliefs; that's the American way (in theory anyway), but no one should have the right to force his or her beliefs on someone else, especially when doing so could put that person's life at risk.

How Low Can You go?

So, the press is finally getting around to noticing that Tom DeLay is slimy. Can I get a show of hands please, who is surprised that Tom DeLay is not on the up and up? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? No one? Good.

I have always thought the guy was just a great big Texas-sized talking head for the corpoate intertest. He is a long time buddy of George Bush with a donor list that includes RJ Reynolds, Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Exxon Mobil. So, I barely looked up from my copy of The Motorcyle Diaries when I heard the news talking about Tom DeLay's ethics problems. Of course the guy has ethics problems, look at his friends. iIf you lie down with dogs you are going to come up with fleas. That would be like the news reporting that water is wet. However, when the story didn't go away, I decided to look into it more, and wow, this guy doesn't have fleas, he is one! He is a blood sucking insect at its finest.

You see, what Tom DeLay has been doing is using his charitable organization, DeLay for Kids, which is supposed to help abused and neglected kids in the foster system, to get around fundraising regulations and ethics boards. You see, when people give money to a charity, they don't have to disclose it, whereas if they had given that money to a congressman, they would have to make the contribution public. This is generally a good rule since it lets big business give anonymus donations to good causes, and what's a better cause than abused kids, right?

Well, it just so happens that the board of directors for DeLay for Kids is filled with corporate donors and washington insiders, many of whom are well known corporate criminals and accounting frauds. Then you throw DeLay's stellar staff into the mix. These guys are pulling double duty since most of them work both for DeLay's fund raising PACs and the charity. They are often trying to raise money for the charity while at the same time raise money for legislative battles. For instance, if a bill were to come up in Congress that would might really help everyday citizens but would hurt phone companies, the DeLay staffers would call AT&T and ask them if they would like to pay 1 million dollars for a ticket to a DeLay for Kids charity event. Then they mention that at this event, all of the donors will have a chance to mingle with Congressman DeLay, maybe sit down and have a chat with him.

Now, never mind the fact that your average citizens can't afford a million-dollar meeting with their congressman. And never mind the fact that big business is cutting checks to DeLay's charity right before he votes on a measure that could save them billions. The money is going to abused kids, so we can forgive DeLay. He was just thinking with his heart, not his head.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this guy isn't stealing from rich to feed the poor. You see, it turns out that these million-dollar golf outings are raising large sums of money, over $7 million since 2000, yet only about $80,000 of that has gone to the kids. So where is the rest of it? Well, it seems that the "charity" has been paying for a Tom DeLay to do a lot of golfing. See, when these big events are held for donors to pay all this money and meet with DeLay, the charity pays for DeLay to fly down, stay in exlusive resorts, eat expensive meals and play several rounds of golf with all of the big wigs who, since they are giving the money to a charity and not a candidate can remain safely nameless.

When called out on this most recent scandals, DeLay said that the "charity" had to save up a lot of money in order to break ground on the new housing complex it is going to build for foster kids to live in permanantly. Nevermind the fact that the charity had enough money to break ground at the beginning of 2003. They just got started, so it's all going to be fair play from here on out, right?

Wrong again. You see, DeLay has hired Perry Homes Construction to run the project. For those of you who don't know, Bob Perry is the lovely man who brough you Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Yes, the guys that went on T.V. and lied about John Kerry's service to his country during Vietnam. Bob Perry has donated over $50,000 to DeLay and his legal defenses, and now he has been rewarded with a 26 million dollar housing contract. That's a pretty good investment, wouldn't you say?

Stealing from corporations for votes is bad enough, and DeLay has screwed over the average American more than once with this method of fund raising, but using money for abused kids to go golfing or paying off your defense donors, that's abhorent. President Bush still thinks he's a "really good guy," so that must make it all ok. Next time you get mad at seeing DeLay on T.V. talking about the sins of gay marriage or sex education, just try and remember all those foster kids he's been golfing for.