MRS. C's MISSION
After the toxic life of the wreckage at ground zero, patients like David O'Neal, a day laborer in Local 79, and Joseph Lebretti, a Local 580 ironworker, thank the doctors. Who do the doctors thank? Who do the unions thank? Hillary Clinton.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

HOBBESIAN?

I was reading the article below (NUMBER TWO) that called Cheney a "Hobbesian". Given that I am prone to using metaphors and images I thought I would follow that trail to refresh my memory about Thomas Hobbes. I Found the definition on a website that is very interesting. Some professor at Oregon State has put together an instructional site (click here)that has a wealth of information and that is quite fun. If you just want the bare bones part of the site go to the site map link.

DEFENSE OR EMPIRE? Ultimately, the real rationale for missile defense is to protect U.S. forces so they can engage in military intervention throughout the world to enforce a Pax Americana -- a strategy of empire by another name. ... A better alternative -- especially given the post-September 11, 2001, realities of the al-Qaeda terrorist threat -- is for the United States to adopt a more restrained foreign policy." (CATO INSTITUTE)

THAT'S RICH
How do you determine who's rich, middle class or poor? President Bush weighed has clairified things with a broad, new definition of rich and not rich.
(WASHINGTON POST)

SHADOW GOVERNMENT
"A 43-page, painstakingly annotated report, 'Ending Secret Detentions,' by Human Rights First (formerly named the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). claims that the the U.S. is holding prisoners in more than two dozen secret detention facilities worldwide. "At least half of these operate in total secrecy...these offshore prisons are 'beyond the reach of adequate supervision, accountability, or law [and the Geneva Conventions]. "
(VILLAGE VOICE)

NUMBER TWO
"Dick Cheney Is a Hobbesian whose doom-laden vision of life as a dog-eat-dog struggle has not only defined our nation's foreign policy but his own public persona."
(VILLAGE VOICE)

SAME SEX MARRIAGE AMENDMENT FLIP-FLOP
"This week the Senate formally debated the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) - which would change the U.S. Constitution to eliminate the right of any state to permit same-sex marriage. Having failed to muster sufficient votes to bring it to the floor for a vote, Republican leaders have avowed to continue efforts to pass such a constitutional amendment, though. But, only eight years ago, they were advocating the opposite solution: Rather than federalizing the issue of same-sex marriage, they advocated leaving it to the states. "
(FINDLAW)

CUBAN EMIGRATION EXPLAINED
"When compared with most migratory waves until that time, Cuba's post-revolutionary emigration was a historic anomaly. The emigrants represented the most privileged sectors of the previous regime and their decision to emigrate reflected a clear political choice against the Cuban revolution. Under this premise, the United States accepted them under exceptional conditions and the emigres became the social base for the counter-revolution.
Beginning in 1980, those presuppositions were radically altered and a crisis afflicted the bases that had created both the United States' preferential policy and the Cuban government's overall opposition to the emigration movement. "
(Progresso)

ALABAMANS SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA
A statewide survey finds overwhelming support among Alabama residents for legalizing marijuana use for medical purposes, the Mobile Register (CLICK HERE FOR THAT STORY) reported July 4.
(JOIN TOGETHER, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

PATRIOT ACT REMAINS UNBRIDLED
"The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate people's reading habits.
The amendment appeared on its way to victory as the roll call's normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP leaders kept the vote open for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the provision to change their votes, losing by 210-210, with a majority needed to prevail. "
(COMMON DREAMS)

DEATH PENALTY APOLOGIA
Acting under severe constraints imposed by our own constitutional system, we execute some people here and there, episodically confessing worry and even shame that we're not quite sure about what we're doing. Then we nervously try it all again. Politically, we can't live without capital punishment. Morally, we have some trouble living with it. So we impose just enough of it to keep the art form alive.
(SLATE, unearthed by Kate Varner)

DO-IT-YOURSELF FIREWORKS DISPLAY
"Using your mouse, click in the sky above NYC. HAPPY FOURTH!!!!!"
(Suggested by Jay Lewis)

"FEENEY 2" PROPOSED
Not content with filling up the country's prisons, the Jihadists have decided to exacerbate the injustices perpetrated by their already draconian policies. We're talking about here, in the U.S.! Despite the recent Blakely decision that puts the whole scheme in question Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), a proponent of the notorious Feeney Amendment, has introduced legislation to further curtail the sentencing discretion of federal judges.
A hearing regarding this legislation will take place on Tuesday, July 6, before the House of Representative's Crime Subcommittee. Because Congressman Sensenbrenner is the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and controls the committee's agenda, The "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act" (H.R. 4547) poses a serious risk. It would:

Establish mandatory minimum sentences for drug distribution involving persons under 18 years of age. The sale of any quantity of any controlled substance (including anything greater than five grams of marijuana) by a person older than 21 to a person younger than 18 would be subject to a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence; persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug offense has become final would receive a mandatory life sentence.

Result in a blanket five-year mandatory minimum sentence for distribution of any quantity of any controlled substance in a metropolitan area. The bill increases to five years the federal mandatory minimum sentence for the sale of a controlled substance, of any type or quantity, within 1,000 feet of a school, college, public library, drug treatment facility (or any place where drug treatment, including classes, are held), or private or public daycare facilities -- in short, almost anywhere in cities across the U.S.

Unduly restrict the federal "safety valve" to cases in which the government has certified that the defendant pled guilty to the most serious readily provable offense (the one that carries the longest sentence), and has "done everything possible to assist substantially in the investigation and prosecution of another person," and would prohibit the federal "safety-valve" in cases where drugs were distributed or possessed near a person under 18, where the defendant delayed his or her efforts to provide substantial assistance to the government, or provided false, misleading or incomplete information. Eliminate the mitigating role cap under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for minimal or minor drug offenders.

Exacerbate overly harsh sentencing based on drug weight by requiring that a defendant be punished for the conduct of co-conspirators that occurred before the defendant joined the conspiracy.
(NACDL)

IT'S A HERITAGE THING
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, a biracial woman who stepped forward last year to acknowledge that she was the daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, now wants to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization of descendants of soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War."
(NYT)

$87,000,000,000.00
"On September 7th, 2003, President Bush announced on national television that he was asking the Congress to grant him an additional $87 billion dollars for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1, to continue the fight on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But $87 billion is an impossibly high number for anyone to visualize. Let's have a look...."
(CRUNCHWEB, unearthed by Connie Acevedo)