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I don't call that complaining or blaming. It is in fact, taking a principled stand. I was called to jury duty recently, but excused due to being disabled. Had I been chosen, I would have done the exact same thing as Tohm, except I would NOT have told them in advance. Justice in this country depends on how much you can afford. Think O.J.
I think there are four that can and should be reomved from the bench. We can not have Supreme court judges legislating from the bench. Those justices are creating a conflict of interest, just being in the same neighborhood as fund raisers, or lectures and so forth. It/they need to be stopped.
I sit as a Judlge pro-tem in several jurisdictions. It is CLEARLY UNETHICAL for these Justices to participate in any decision involving known parties, as described. It belies the "appearance of fairness" from the first. Any first-year law student knows that undermines all respect for the entire judicial system. I believe they should have recused themselves, per the ethical Canons of every jurisdiction or bar association I know of, or face appropriate charges including impeachment. Their actions, as described, clearly evidence plain spoken and obvious disrespect for the entire judicial system for all involve in it. It is an insult, and a severe one, to the integrity of the Judicial Branch of our government not to recuse yourself from cases such as Citizens United.
We only need 2 impeachments. One for Scalito and one for Thomas. This whole government is appearing more like a ruse with our Capital a stage set. Time for us to set things right. Organize.........organize.......unionize..........unionize and GROW!
This is so bleeping outragous !!! The massive corruption by republican fascists barely goes unnoticed!
I'm so damned mad I could scream. Come on, people. Aren't you friggin mad as hell?
These are the same rates we paid under President Bush.
LOW TAXES ON THE SUPER RICH DO NOT CREATE JOBS!
The last 10 years proved that.
The proper question is, "for whom does the justice system work?"
My friend wasn't evading jury duty. He was answering the question honestly.
A jury could not be empaneled in Montana recently because the prosecution could not find enough people who would render a verdict on the law in a marijuana case.
The fact that there is a class of people who are too rich to go to jail should be informative. Bernie Madoff is in jail because he ripped off rich people. Jeff Skilling is in jail not because he erased his employees' 401ks, but because he defrauded stockholders.
Think about it.
It's typical of you lefties to find clever ways not too fullfill your duties as a juror. That's why you'll never be succesful at changing anything. The only thing you do well is complain and blame.
Thom,
Public Financing of Campaigns: There's a key piece of public financing systems that will counteract Citizens United and it's often overlooked. It's the additional matching funds provided by the system to candidates who are targeted by independent expenditures by corporate America and other wealthy special interest groups. I know these groups can now spend unlimited sums, and that it will now be more difficult for public financing systems to completely match such large sums...but they don't have to! They just have to provide enough money for the targeted candidate to get the word out about what they stand for, and who's supplying all the money being used to target them. I'm not naive. I know public financing by itself can't fix everything. But it's one of the crucial reforms we need, a reform that will help counteract the Citizens United case, and a reform which that case does not make pointless but rather more urgent. Please mention it more often in conjunction with your excellent explanantions of how private money undermines our democracy.
I wanted to call your attention to the efforts of a courageous former Islamist "radical," Dr. Tawfik Hamid, who is now a Muslim reformer. Dr. Hamid has written a new article about an important recent development by Muslim clerics.
http://freethoughtnation.com/contributing-writers/72-tawfik-hamid/476-finally-the-first-true-reformation-of-islam-is-starting.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/4bdefnw
"A historic and potentially momentous event occurred on January 24, 2011 impacting the teachings and understanding of Islam. To put that event in perspective, we have seen over the last few decades problems related to Islamism, including terrorism, suicide bombings, but also suppression of values of human rights in several Islamic societies....
"The power of this step stems from the fact that it acknowledges the existence of a problem, addresses its root cause (s), and admits the need for a change in Islamic teaching and education. On the contrary to the appeasing approach that denies the existence of an ideological component for the phenomenon of violent Islam, the previously mentioned honest approach is the ONLY approach that will ultimately lead to a real and long term solution for the phenomenon of Islamic Radicalism."
Tawfik Hamid's voice is very important - please support his efforts and those of other Muslim reformers by passing around this post!
Thank you.
Acharya S/D.M. Murdock
Joan FitzGerald? I think she used to be Colorado's Speaker of the House or President of the State Senate.
EtA: I was right--President of the Senate.
There's one picture of Elizabeth Warren I particularly like, because the refracted shadow of her glasses looks like warpaint on her cheeks.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/29/news/economy/Elizabeth_Warren/index.htm
Random thoughts regarding the newly minted RNC Chairperson, Reince Priebus:
Mr. Priebus is a man who’s parents probably deserve jail time . . . Perhaps if his parent had taken a little more care in naming him, he would known for more than being the head bean counter of Wisconsin RNC and the guy who spent an hour and a half calling President Obama by the name, Osama.
Personal admission of guilt ala Harry Potter - Reince Priebus can be rearranged to spell, “I be crepes ruin.”
Reince Priebus without vowels becomes the acronym, RNC PRBS which most likely stands for “Republican National Committee Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence.”
In closing: If your Reince Priebus lasts more than four hours, you should contact your Doctor.
@Gerald #1 A friend was called to jury duty in a drug possession trial. He was asked if he could find guilt or innocence based on the law and he replied, "no."
When asked why, he replied, "drug laws are used against the poor."
Asked to elaborate, he replied, "if you're rich, you can do anything you want."
Boom; outta there.
January 27, 2011
I was asked to sit as a juror in a criminal case. In determining if I would be selected for duty, I had to answer questions before the jurist. I said that if the criminal case was a blue collar trial, I will automatically vote not guilty and if the the criminal case was a white collar trial, I would automatically vote guilty. I was asked why would I vote that way? I said because white collar criminals never spend time in prison whether they are guilty or not guilty. As you would guess, I was not selected to be a juror. Since that experience I have never received any notification to serve as a juror.
Taxes as an Investment
I am a believer in taxes as an investment!!!
I attended a Catholic Caucus meeting and the speaker said something interesting to us. Why should taxes be considered a tax relief to reduce taxes, especially for the multi-millionaire? Maybe we should see taxes as an investment for present and future generations. The taxes would be an investment in education, roads, environment, services in law enforcement, firefighters, libraries, health care, affordable prescription drugs, etc. Taxes can be considered a positive life experience and not a negative experience, especially if the taxes are progressive and fairly applied to the poor, middle class, and the rich. The federal government does not receive $300 billion in taxes per year that she should receive and 90% of this money should come from the rich who pay little or no taxes since they have all the tax loopholes and tax shelters. The rich need to pay their fair share in taxes in order to help America. Are the rich really Americans?
The use of the word, liberal, is out and the use of the word progressive is in. There are two myths that tax cuts means more jobs and increase in the minimum wages means loss of jobs.
We need to talk about ethics and not moral values. Progressives are moral people and most definitely they are more ethical in comparison to the conservatives. Progressives stand for community and cooperation and the conservatives stand for selfishness and greed. Progressives are nurturing and sensitive and the conservatives are authoritative and deceitful.
Conservatives are working together to destroy America but the progressives are split in terms of how to best help America.
Appearances are not reality. Church going and Bible carrying people are not necessarily good people.
In order for public policies to reflect gospel values we need to hear more about Matthew 25:31-46.
Call your congress critters and demand that America stop violating your Fourth Amendment rights.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/patriot_acts_wiretapping_fisa_provisions_quietly_c.php
A serial wife recycler, Batshi** Bachmann, Sharon Angle . . . The issue is that GWBush soooooo lowered the bar that every idiotic whackadoo with right to entitlement issues has followers and toadies enough to allow themselves to believe they are deities. At least, the Republicans will have plenty of the same person to choose from in the Primaries.
Now if we just had a Democrat instead of a DLCer running on the otherside.
Nailin' Palin maybe correct about "WINce, THE FUTURE" . . . Is everyone else flashing back on Gerald Ford's re-election campaign? He came across wishy-washy and middle-of-the-road also . . . On the other hand, Sarah Unloaded falls under her own "WTF" meme.
DRichards, frustrating to read such articles, because I think your supposition at the end is spot on. Technology that would end our dependency on fossil fuels, always seems to disappear before many ever hear about it.
N
Breakthrough promises $1.50 per gallon synthetic gasoline with no carbon emissions
By Mike Hanlon
05:26 January 26, 2011
UK-based Cella Energy has developed a synthetic fuel that could lead to US$1.50 per gallon gasoline. Apart from promising a future transportation fuel with a stable price regardless of oil prices, the fuel is hydrogen based and produces no carbon emissions when burned. The technology is based on complex hydrides, and has been developed over a four year top secret program at the prestigious Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford. Early indications are that the fuel can be used in existing internal combustion engined vehicles without engine modification.
According to Stephen Voller CEO at Cella Energy, the technology was developed using advanced materials science, taking high energy materials and encapsulating them using a nanostructuring technique called coaxial electrospraying.
“We have developed new micro-beads that can be used in an existing gasoline or petrol vehicle to replace oil-based fuels,” said Voller. “Early indications are that the micro-beads can be used in existing vehicles without engine modification.”
“The materials are hydrogen-based, and so when used produce no carbon emissions at the point of use, in a similar way to electric vehicles”, said Voller.
The technology has been developed over a four-year top secret programme at the prestigious Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, UK.
The development team is led by Professor Stephen Bennington in collaboration with scientists from University College London and Oxford University.
Professor Bennington, Chief Scientific Officer at Cella Energy said, “our technology is based on materials called complex hydrides that contain hydrogen. When encapsulated using our unique patented process, they are safer to handle than regular gasoline.”
http://www.gizmag.com/breakthrough-promises-150-per-gallon-synthetic-gasoline-with-no-carbon-emissions/17687/
Hmmm... I wonder if they will get bought out, and we will never see the product.
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President Obama's sense of balance was in evidence last night. Balance surely is not achieved by discounting one side of an argument but by acknowledging both sides (actually more than two, for in this case, each side is at least split in half). Thus, he has assumed the goal of our Founding Fathers, esp. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who founded the Democratic Republican party-- the forerunner of today's Democratic Party. It is a noble cause that serves our democracy/republic well and should be taken up by all Americans.
Freeze Non-War Spending for Five Years?
"So tonight, I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years." Thus spoke the President last night. "Domestic" spending means non-war and non-military spending. Over half of our public spending goes to wars and the military. Even the President's own catfood (deficit) commission recommended cutting $100 billion. Why leave it out of the freeze? This may be why:
"And we've sent a message ... to all parts of the globe: We will not relent, we will not waver, and we will defeat you." That's going to be expensive, and President Obama promised lower taxes on corporations in the same speech. He's already signed off on tax cuts for billionaires. Spending cuts will have to come somewhere else.
It's time to resist: http://warisacrime.org/primary
"Already, we've frozen the salaries of hardworking federal employees for the next two years. I've proposed cuts to things I care deeply about, like community action programs. The Secretary of Defense has also agreed to cut tens of billions of dollars in spending that he and his generals believe our military can do without." But those little cuts out of the $1 trillion we spend on the military each year are planned for future years, not this one. The President is expected to propose a larger military budget for the third year in a row next month. And he has thus far consistently used off-the-books supplemental bills to add more funding to his wars.
If you oppose this agenda, add your name now to a growing movement to push back.
http://warisacrime.org/primary