A Man Who Knows His Clientele

The White House has just hired a new Executive Pastry Chef. He is Bill Yosses the author of:

Stop the Surge!

Hard Times A'Comin'!

My Lawn Before Election Day

What the well dressed Democratic Lawn was wearing last fall!

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney

I love the comic strip. The creator is both an artist and a philosopher.

Senator Inhofe and Coburn Vote Against Workers

Inhofe and Coburn: Fat Cats For Fat Cats
Our two Oklahoma senators voted to keep minimum wage workers below the poverty level. The House voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, up from the $5.15 an hour where it has been for the past 9+ years. The Senate voted down a "cloture" motion which would have cut off Senate debate and allowed an up or down vote on the measure known as HR2. While a majority of the Senate voted for the motion (54-43 with 3 not voting), the motion fell short of the 60 vote "super majority" it needs to cut off debate. So much for the Repubs claim that Democratic senators were to be faulted for not allowing up and down votes for their pet project when the Repubs had the majority.

Working people need to be reminded that Senator Inhofe sees them as little more than a business commodity. (George Will in an op-ed piece claimed that working Americans are no more than commodities.) Not only will raising the minimum wage allow millions of Americans to escape poverty, we must recognize that this act is a simple matter of justice. It is patently unjust for Americans to work full time and yet find themselve falling deeper and deeper into the poverty trap.

Senator Inhofe and Coburn, you bring shame to our state.

Repeal the "Military Commissions Act"

Khaled el-Masri
Kaled el-Masri is a German citizen. On December 31, 2003 he was on vacation in Macedonia. When the bus he was traveling on reached the Serbia-Macedonia border, he was detained by Macedonia authorities and turned over to the CIA. They suspected him of being linked with terrorist organizations. Mr. el-Masri was held for 23 days before being beaten, drugged and flown on a plane leased by our government to Afghanistan where he was detained in the notorious "Salt Pit" prison.

The trouble is that by this time, the CIA knew that he was innocent. He was a victim of mistaken identity. Five months after being kidnapped, Mr. el-Masri led out of his cell, blindfolded, handcuffed, chained to the seat of a plane, flown to Albania and--without explanation--abandoned on a hillside at night.

President Bush first denied that the US engaged in rendition, kidnapping another term. He denied we used torture. When cases like Mr. el-Masri's came to light, his lie was exposed. He then successfully got the Republican Congress to pass the Military Commisions act to give him the right to continue the practice of denying basic human rights to anyone he believes to be guilty of terrorism. The law allows among other things to:
1. deny prisoners the right to habeas corpus so that a prisoner can be locked away without charge or without the right to an attorney.
2. use force to gain evidence against prisoners and convict them on the basis of statements made under coercion.
3. keep prisoners locked up indefinitely.

The claim is always made that 9-11 gives us the right to use means above the Constitution to defend ourselves, that we are dealing with very dangerous people. But as Sen. John McCain said in his debate against the use of torture, this is not about who they are, it's about who we are. If we resort to kidnapping, torture, forced confessions, indefinite imprisonment, denial to laws of law, then what have we become? How can we say that we have the moral right to defend freedom around the world, when we can't exercise it at home?

Congress must repeal the Military Commissions Act. Our national soul is at stake here. For how can we ask the brave men and women of our military to sacrifice themselves if America has become little better than the tyrannies we oppose. To paraphrase a famous statement of Abraham Lincoln I assert that as a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except those we declare to be enemy combatants." When if this is allowed to continued, we will say "all men are created equal, except Muslims and others we dislike." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty so that my tyranny can be take pure, and without hypocritical lip-service to the ideal of liberty and justice for all.

Separated at birth?????

Mr. Potter Mr. Dick

Me and a Bust of Will Rogers from our trip to see the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, OK

Oklahoma in January

John Marshall High School, Oklahoma City

This was a very long week at school. Everyone felt that way. The main reason is that we came back after having lost a week to a big ice storm that started on Friday, ended on Sunday, and stayed around till the following Saturday. Basically, we were starting the 2nd semester over again. We had only been in school a week and two days before the ice storm hit. So it's like everything we began was lost on the students. We will have to make it all up at the end of the semester so we'll be in school through the first week of June.



We also lost our school principal who was demoted to an assistant principal. We haven't gotten a replacement for him. Things are rather chaotic in the building. This has been the roughest year I have had as a high school teacher save for the first year I taught. These kids have so little going for them that it's a crime for them to have to go through all they have had to go through this year.

Gonzales says the Constitution doesn't guarantee habeas corpus

More evidence that this is the most dangerous presidencies since the Nixon White House

by Bob Egelko

San Francisco Chronicle

January 24, 2007

One of the Bush administration's most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus -- the right to go to federal court and challenge one's imprisonment -- is not protected by the Constitution. "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,'' Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Jan. 17.

Gonzales acknowledged that the Constitution declares "habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless ... in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.'' But he insisted that "there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.''

Specter was incredulous, asking how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right that didn't exist -- a right, he noted, that was first recognized in medieval England as a shield against the king's power to dispatch troublesome subjects to royal dungeons

Bush Tragedy: Act V

I watched Pres. Bush's "State of the Union" address. I am reminded of a story about a young preacher who delivered his first sermon. The young man was very full of himself and it showed in the manner in which he ascended to the pulpit. However, his sermon was very poorly delivered. One could tell that even he knew this by the humbled way he descended from the pulpit. An older minister who had been the young man's mentor came to him at the end of the service and said, "If ye had gone up the way ye had come down, ye woulda gone down the way ye had come up." Bush has been humbled by the events in Iraq and in the Fall elections. Had he approached his presidency in the spirit he displayed last night, he would have the unity he absolutely needs now. But, it is too late for that. The Bank of Political Capital is bankrupt. We are seeing the last act of the Bush tragedy."

More Die in Mr. Bush's War

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military helicopter crashed Saturday northeast of Baghdad, killing all 13 people on board, a new blow to American efforts in Iraq. The military said the crash was under investigation. The brief U.S. statement lacked the customary comment that the aircraft was not shot down, indicating it may have come under fire by insurgents.
The helicopter was carrying 13 passengers and crew members and all were killed, it said.

I'm not sure how valid this is, but here is a link to a group that claims private citizens can initiate impeachment proceeding against Bush. I'll let you decide.
http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html

"FIVE YEARS LATER: The Courage to Love"

This is a condensed version of The Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers sermon on Sept. 10, a reflection on the five years that have passed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

The scripture reading was Mark 2: 1-16

The day after September 11, an American businessman trying to get back home found himself in a cafe in Athens, Greece. When the cafe's customers discovered his nationality, they rose up together and offered him this toast, "As one, shoulder to shoulder till Justice is done." The French periodical Le Mond had as its headline "We all Americans." Now 5 years later, all of those sentiments have disappeared. This is partly due to the fact what we are unable as humans to sustain such sentiments. But mostly this is due to what we did with all those sentiments follwing 9-11.

What we did was 1) Declare war on a people who had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks and 2) Declare that the Constitution was an impediment to our need for security. Civil liberties were declared to be Civil Weaknesses.

Franklin Roosevelt, facing the twin threats of civil unrest due to the Great Depression and worldwide destruction due to the threat of Fascism declared, "All we have to fear is fear itself." In our time the sentiment is, "All we have is fear."
In 1993, the first attempt to bring down the World Trade Towers occured. Our response at the time was to track down those responsible for the attacks without involving those innocent of the attacks by resorting to war.

What we failed to recognize in our rush strike back at someone, anyone in order to appease our need for revenge is the true source of terrorism. Terrorism is the result of arrogance. Terrorism is hatred due to arrogance. Hatred is the enemy, and hatred cannot be overcome by force. Fear and intimidation never wins hearts and minds. The chief result of our violence is to turn Osama Bin Laden into a "rock star" and give him an unending supply of suicide bombers to carry out his missions.

Our need for security always outstrips our ability to provide it. Sadness and grief should not provide us with an occasion for creating more sadness and grief. We must recognize living in fear means we must live outside of love since it is fear, not hatred, that is the opposite of love. We should say, "We have sinned and come short of God's will for us." We need to heed the prophetic voice and quit our national denial. We owe that much to those who died both in the 9-11 attack and in our response to those attacks. We owe them the courage to love.

"Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?"

By Keith Olbermann
MSNBC Countdown

Tuesday 05 September 2006

It is to our deep national shame-and ultimately it will be to the President's deep personal regret - that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies - or even question their effectiveness or execution - to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.

Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 - without ever actually saying so - the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, "a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government."

Make no mistake here - the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the "media."

The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.

Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:

The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word - "media" - the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.

That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.

Mr. Bush and his colleagues have led us before to such waters.

We will not drink again.

And the President's re-writing and sanitizing of history, so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics, is just as false, and just as scurrilous.

"In the 1920's a failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews," President Bush said today, "the world ignored Hitler's words, and paid a terrible price."

Whatever the true nature of al Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi State of Germany serves only to embolden them.

More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek - a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.

It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration's recent Nazi "kick" is an awful and cynical thing.

And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:

"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Happy Labor Day!

A little poetry from my union brother, Bob Bearden, a retired Letter Carrier (NALC 458)
Unions
by Bob Bearden
Unions have helped bring us overtime,
Family medical, sick and annual leave,
And they have made the workplace safer,
One of many benefits they did perceive.

Retiring has been made much easier,
Because of what the Unions have done,
Just another of the many innovations,
That because of Unions we have won.

Seniors would not have medicare,
And Social Security would not be,
Without the work of Labor Unions,
Who helped give them to you and me.

Labor Unions gave us Labor Day,
We celebrate it each and every year,
So stand up and holler for the Union,
Let's give the brotherhood a cheer.

Bush Nixes Public Access to EPA Libraries!

Is Ray Bradbury's Vision Coming True in Our Time

by Frank J. Ranelli

What has been termed, "positively Orwellian", by PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, is indeed frightening. It seems that the self-appointed "Decider", George W. Bush, has decided to "end public access to research materials" at EPA Regional libraries without Congressional consent. In an all out effort to impede research and public access, Bush has implemented a loosely covert operation to close down 26 technical libraries under the guise of a budgetary constraint move. Scientists are protesting, but at least 15 of the libraries will be closed by Sept. 30, 2006.

"Public access to EPA libraries and collections will end as soon as possible", according to a report found online at PEER, an acronym for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. All total, nearly 80,000 documents, not in digital format, are being boxed up and placed in infinite limbo status by the Bush Administration. The scene from the Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the Ark of the Covenant was wheeled into a massive sea of identical box crates, inside an enormous warehouse, comes vividly to mind.

The suppression of information to the public and efforts to control the flow of information of the sciences has reached critical mass. Shades of the once science fictional book, Fahrenheit 451, are dangerously close to reality and the banning and burning of books looms all to surreal, but are more fact than science fiction now. Who could have ever envisioned that Ray Bradbury's vicious, futuristic, dystopian society would ever come to fruition; but it may indeed have done just that!
Read Complete Article Here

You should write your congressman about this.

Some Facts to Ponder on Labor Day

In 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected president, 84% of American workers in large to medium sized corporations had retirement pension plans. Today, just over 25 years later, only 33% due. It is estimated that 40% of those who are working today will not have enough through either savings, retirement, or Social Security to live above the poverty line.

The Federal Minimum Wage has not been raised since 1997. Despite this fact, and despite the fact that we have record budget deficits, Congress this year voted to give itself a $3,3100 raise. The new pay raise for Congress means the salaries of senators and representatives have gone up by $31,600 since 1997, while minimum wage workers still earn only $10,700 a year.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, seven of every 10 workers who would benefit from a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage are adults.

At the current federal minimum wage rate of $5.15, a minimum wage worker has to work 11.2 hours to pay for one tank of gas.

In 2003, workers paid an average of $2,283 for employment-based family health insurance. That's 20 percent of a minimum wage worker's $10,712 full-time, full-year earnings.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the percentage of businesses offering health insurance to their employees has declined from 69% in 2000 to 60% in 2005. Among those firms still offering health insurance, 20% offer "high-deductible" health plans. Since 2000, health insurance premiums have increased 73% while overall inflation increased 14% and wages increase only 15%.

Some Thoughts From Sunday Services

Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers

I have been neglecting my blog lately. The beginning of school seems to absorb all my time and energy. I thought, however, that I would post some exerpts from my pastor's, Robin Meyers, sermons. I like to take notes when Robin preaches. I find it keeps me focused, and I come away with some good ideas such as these:

"In Christian Art, before Jesus was depicted as being crucified, he was shown feeding the multitudes."

"Jesus is Lord of Culture, not subject to it."

"If Jesus is everything we want him to be, then he is nothing."

"Last year in America, only one person burned a flag. However, 1 out of 5 Americans live in poverty. How come no one is talking about passing a Constitutional Amendment banning poverty?"

"The Church is using the Politics of Purity to shelter its members from the Politics of Compassion."

"Jesus was crucified for the company he kept."

"In the purity system of Israel, shepherds were considered the lowest of the low. However, they were the first ones to get the news of Jesus' birth."

"Religious observance must not interfer with work of the heart."

"Ministers can't stay out of politics as long as politics affects people for whom Christ died."

"It is in service to humanity that service to Christ is proved."

The People of Oklahoma County Need a New DA

We need a change of leadership in the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office. Actually, what we have in our DA’s office is a nearly total lack of leadership. In his tenure as DA, Wes Lane is frequently absent from duty and provides little direction to the assistant prosecutors who have the responsibility of representing the people of Oklahoma County in criminal cases. Due to the rudderless direction in the DA’s office, Oklahoma County has in the last year seen over 50 prosecutors leave the office, many out of sheer frustration. Lane’s predecessor, Bob Macy, never experienced anything near the current attrition rate during his tenure in office. This means that taxpayers have had to pay for the retraining of new prosecutors who lack the experience of those they replace. These new prosecutors receive only the briefest of orientations, and no mentoring, before they are thrown into their important tasks. This often has led to new resignations and the cycle of retraining new prosecutors begins anew.



This has had a detrimental effect on criminal prosecutions in the county. Current, there is a backlog of approximately 14,000 unprosecuted felony cases in Oklahoma County. Cases are taking well over two years to get to trial. This means that criminals able to make bail are out on the street committing new crimes while their trial is repeatedly postponed. Those accused who are unable to make bail remain in the county jail, at taxpayer’s expense, awaiting trial. Imagine if you have been arrested for a crime you did not commit and having to wait 2 years before you have a chance to establish your innocence. Imagine being the victim of a crime and having to go through the trauma of reliving molestation or assault and then finding out that the prosecutor has had to file yet another continuance because a new attorney has had to replace the one who quit. During this time victims are revictimized, memories fade, and errors creep in to the prosecution. All too often the solution to this is for the prosecutor to plea bargain for lesser sentence. Truly justice delayed is justice denied.



Clearly we need a change in District Attorney. David Prater, a former police officer and prosecutor, has promised Access, Accountability, and Action when he becomes our new District Attorney. He will be accessible to his employers, the citizens of Oklahoma County. He believes that the one in charge of the office should accept accountability for the production of that office. He will take action to fix problems rather than just let them slide. Pious platitudes sounded when election time comes are no substitute action and accountability. I urge my fellow citizens of Oklahoma County to vote for David Prater as our new District Attorney so that the people can finally obtain adequate counsel in our criminal courts.