Argue With My Dad

It took way too long, but the good news finally came from the unanimous Minnesota Supreme Court that Al Franken was the winner of the Senate seat in Minnesota that has been vacant since the end of the prior term.  Of course, some of us think it was vacant when Coleman held the position during the Bush regime.  Coleman finally did the right thing and conceded victory to Franken like he should have months ago. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/30/coleman-concedes/.  Now that he is the proven winner, Senator Elect Franken needs to hit the road running and help the Obama administration pass the real health care reform that will provide coverage for everyone.  He will require  help from Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, who will have to  grow a spine and challenge the obstructionist tactics of the neocon
Republicans.  With Franken in the Senate, the Senate should be able to pass the important issues and confirm the nominations of quality nominees like Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel, if Reid does his job and keeps the troops in line. 

Now that the Dems have a theoretical filibuster proof majority, I will be expecting big things.  I already mentioned the nomination of Prof. Dawn Johnsen which has been delayed way too long already.  I would also expect the Senate to take a stand and investigate the torturers and those that authorized the torture and hold all who have violated the law accountable.  I will be watching our newest Senator very closely.  I will also be watching Speaker Reid to see if he has what it takes to make proper use of this majority.  The country needs the Democrats to pass the change that we need and the change that we voted for.   Senator Reid, the ball is in your court.

After a busy weekend which included some quality time with my grandson, I almost forgot about our weekly, MONDAY MUSINGS.  I don’t know about you, but I have seen a couple of stories that jumped out at me when I read them.  The first story that I want to discuss is the turn over of the military control of Baghdad to the Iraqis that is effective at the end of this month.  There was a lot of hoopla and even a large party to celebrate that the American forces are retreating to bases on the edges of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities as required by the Status of Forces agreement with the Iraqi government. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31611805/ns/world_news-conflict_in_iraq/.  Our pull back from day to day military operations in Iraq’s capital city is 6 years and over 4,000 GI deaths too late.  I haven’t agreed with everything that President Obama has done since he took office in January, but we do seem to be heading for the withdrawal from Iraq that he campaigned for.  We now have to hope that the Iraqi forces have what it takes to control the violence.  We also have to hope that Maliki is able to expedite the reconciliation process between the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.  If Maliki and his government is able to calm the factions, then the retreat of the GI’s might not be troublesome.  I think we better keep our fingers crossed.  I am not too confident about Maliki’s intentions, but I am hopeful that he proves me wrong.

The next story that caught my eye was the crazy Kentucky pastor that had the bright idea to have a “Bring your gun to Church Day”. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/29/guns-church/ & http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26guns.html?_r=1.  I have to admit that in my youth there were times when the Nuns were “convincing” me of my evil ways that having a concealed gun in church would have gotten me in real trouble!  After I dispelled those bad memories, I immediately began to wonder What Would Jesus Do about guns in the church?  I will take a wild guess that JC would take a dim view of his church being used for political purposes and for holding a gun raffle.  This event is another example of how the Right has distorted the gun views of the Obama Administration.  The linked New York Times article tell us, “Last year, the National Rifle Association ran a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign against Mr. Obama, stoking fears that he would be the most antigun president in history and that firearms would be confiscated. One worry was that a Democratic president and Congress would reinstitute the assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26guns.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1.   As usual, the NRA was crying wolf to create fear in the right and to pump up gun sales.  I will go a step further and say that they used Obama’s race to ignite further fear in the radical right.  The Pastor tries to claim that guns and Christianity are not contradictory, but  he never mentions guns in church and Christianity.  If Jesus tossed out the money changers from the temple, what do you think he would do with parishoners packing firearms?  What do you think?

It is time, once again, for another edition of the AWMD Friday Free For All.  This is the only time of the week when our arguewithmydad.com readers can control the topic(s) for discussion.  All you have to do is get someone else to respond to your suggested topic and then the floor is yours.  Don’t be shy and don’t hesitate.  Get busy and be sure to get your views and arguments where everyone can read and react to them.  Right here on arguewithmydad.com.  I will make a couple of suggestions for possible topics, but they are only suggestions.  Today, you can be the boss, but you need to tell us what you want to to discuss.

My first suggested topic is related to the recent arrest of a right wing internet radio host and blogger who was arrested for making threats to kill Federal Judges.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-internet-radio-arrest-25-jun25,0,7879524.story.  It seems that this guy has made threats before and has not acted upon them, but this white supremacist made some very specific threats against 3 U.S. Court of Appeals judges from the 7th Circuit.     ” ‘The charges alleged Turner used his Web site to call the three “cunning, ruthless, untrustworthy, disloyal, unpatriotic, deceitful scum” who violated the Constitution. “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed,” officials quoted the site.’ “  Those threats are scary, but does this speech cross the First amendment line that protects free speech?  Is this the proverbial yelling of “Fire” in a crowded theater?  The First Amendment is not absolute, but I am pretty close to being an absolutist when it comes to the First Amendment, however, this kind of threat worries me because of not only the speaker, but also his dangerous audience.  What do you think?  Does the First Amendment protect this slimeball or should he have been arrested and charged?

My second suggested topic is a Supreme Court decision that just came down that outlawed the strip search of a 13 year old girl in an Arizona school.  http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/search/40033prs20090625.html?s_src=RSS.  This is an interesting case because the school officials were looking for drugs.  However, in this case the drug or drugs was prescription strength ibuprofen, not heroin or marijuana.  The school did not find the pills and the Supreme Court declared that the school went too far.  They did not find the school officials liable, but the school district looks to be at risk of a civil suit and in my opinion, I hope this girl and her family teach this school district a lesson.  Here is a link to the full decision, http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/drugpolicy/saffordvreddingscotusruling.pdf.  What do you think?  Should the school be allowed to strip search a 13 year old girl on the basis of a claim by another student for ibuprofen pills?  What about the liability issue?  Do you think that the school officials should have been left off the hook by the Supreme Court?  Let’s hear what you think. 

Do not delay in setting out what you want to talk about.  I will be anxiously waiting to see what topics the readers want to discuss.  These are important Constitutional issues that I have suggested, but your topic is just as important.  Lets hear from everyone.

It is time once again for another edition of Monday Musings.  After a wonderful Fathers Day weekend, I have a couple of news items that caught my eye.  The first one that jumped out at me was the New York Times article that highlights a recent poll that said that 72% of Americans favor a government run Health Insurance program and 57% would also support higher taxes to pay for that government run health plan.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html?_r=1&ref=politics.  These numbers are amazing.  It doesn’t surprise me that the right wing was immediately attempting to refute the numbers.  Of course, they used bogus methods and information and failed to undercut the  polling data.  Even Republican Senator, John Cornyn used inaccurate information that he got off of a right wing blog to try to refute the polling numbers and his numbers just don’t add up. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/22/cornyn-powerline/.  It is really sad to see a United State Senator get egg on his face, but I have to admit, when it comes to Cornyn, it couldn’t happen to a bigger snake.  I have to say that facts never get in the way of the Right.  Cornyn is especially good at repeating false and inaccurate information.  The good news in these articles is that the public is not buying the crap that the right is spewing in its attempt to defeat the health insurance reform that is sorely needed in this country.  The lobbyists for the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies have been spending millions to try to defeat the health insurance reform and these numbers prove that the public is winning this fight.

I was pleased to read that Senator Chris Dodd has changed his position on gay marriages and now supports full marriage rights for gays.  http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/22/dodd-marriage-equality/.  He is the latest Dem to come to their senses and throw his full support for the the civil rights of all people to get married to whomever they desire. You can read Dodd’s op-ed here, http://dodd.senate.gov/?q=node/5040.  I have always been amazed at how the Left has dodged this issue by backing the “separate but equal” type of solution through civil unions.  The Right has controlled the debate on gay marriages from Day One and the Democrats have failed to protect the rights of all Americans by fully supporting gay marriages.  Maybe this change by a Senator like Dodd will help convince other Democrats that they have to stand up for all American’s right to marry.  I am not holding my breath, but I am hopeful that the Democrats will see the light.  Kudos to Senator Dodd.

I want to take this opportunity to honor all Fathers on this hot and muggy Father’s Day.  As a Father and now a Grandfather, I am proud of my children and grandson and proud that I have been able to assist in the growth and maturation of such beautiful people.  There is no job more important in this world than that of Mothers and Fathers.   Today is the day that all of us Fathers think of all year long.  This is the day that we get to make all of the important decisions around the house.  Decisions relating to what we are eating, what we are watching and when are we getting up from the couch.  Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy.

It is time, once again, for another edition of the AWMD Friday Free For All.  This is the one time of the week when our arguewithmydad.com readers can control the topic(s) for discussion.  All you have to do is get someone else to respond to your suggested topic and then the floor is yours.  Don’t be shy and don’t hesitate.  Get busy and be sure to get your views and arguments where everyone can read and react to them.  Right here on arguewithmydad.com.  I will make a couple of suggestions for possible topics, but they are only suggestions.  Today, you can be the boss, if you tell us what you want to to discuss.

My first suggestion of a topic comes from a frequent right wing talking point and a recent personal email discussion that I have had with an old friend.  I am talking about the right wing claim that the United States is a “Christian Nation”.  Of course, the radical religious right has been making this claim for years.  However, it has reared its ugly head lately and would be a good topic for us to debate.  Let’s hear what you thoughts are on this issue.  I, for one believe that we are a nation that is comprised of many faiths and under the Constitutional separation of Church and State, religion does not belong in our politics.  What do you think?  If I am wrong, tell me why. 

The other topic that might be fun to deal with is the recent Senate testimony by Attorney General Holder where he refused to label warrantless wiretapping as illegal.  I believe he use the word, “unwise”.  It appears to me that Holder is stepping back from his earlier comments that this conduct initiated by the Bush regime was illegal and could not be swayed by Senator Russ Feingold.  As you can see in this story on the Jonathan Turley blog site, Senator Feingold calls out Holder for his change of tune. http://jonathanturley.org/2009/06/18/holder-warrantless-surveillance-was-unwise-rather-than-illegal/.  I have to agree with Senator Feingold’s take on the situation.  Do you think Holder is engaging in “doublespeak” as Professor Turley suggests?  Let’s hear what you think of this issue. 

Now that you have my suggested topics, let’s hear about your topics.  Anything is fair game as long as you can get someone else interested in your topic.  This is no time to be wishy-washy.  Get started and let us know what you think!

I am a bit late in getting to the latest edition of Monday Musings due to my participation in a charitable bike ride on Saturday and Sunday.  Thirty five miles on Saturday and 35 miles on Sunday was more than enough to tire out these old bones.  I am now ready to get back to work, so here we go.

The story that jumped out at me today is the story about the ACLU’s receipt of more redacted CIA documents that provide further evidence of the Bush regime’s torture program.  http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/15/ksm-make-up-stories/.  It seems that the detainees who were tortured actually admitted in interviews that they made up stories in order to stop the torture.  This is evidence that the CIA has been withholding.  I can’t imagine why they would not want the American public to know that they even had evidence that the detainees were giving them false information.  Does that make Cheney a liar when he claims that Khalid Sheikh Mohamed gave us good information?  I think the answer is obvious.  When is the Obama administration going to put a halt to the CIA’s attempts at stonewalling?  I am still waiting for the transparency that President Obama promised us. 

I also want to make a comment about the hysteria being thrown about by the right about the nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.  They have called her just about every name in the book and they have lied about her record and they have lied about the time they have been given to review her record before Senate hearings are to begin.  They even made jokes about her breaking her foot in the airport on her way to meetings with Senators in Washington.  The Republicans are already holding up the nominations for the head of the Office of Legal Counsel and the chief counsel to the State Department and now they think they can drag their feet on Sotomayor’s nomination.  Of course, these same Republican Senators have also hinted at and threatened the use of a filibuster to delay the nomination.  These are the same guys who claimed during the Bush Administration that the use of a filibuster by the Democrats would be a power grab.  According to a press release by Sen. Inhofe,’ “ This outrageous grab for power by the Senate minority is wrong and contrary to our oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Inhofe said.’ “ http://inhofe.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=191287.  It is time to call these guys what they are,  hypocrites and serial liars.  The Neocons are desperate and they will lie and cheat and steal to prevent the Obama administration from being successful.  The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate must call their hand and make these Republican crooks follow through on their threats.  The American public has already seen how hypocritical they are and they will soon see even more evidence of their slime tactics.  The Sotomayor hearings will be full scale televised evidence of how slimy the Republicans have become.  It will be fun to see the Republican party self destruct.

It is time, once again, for another edition of the AWMD Friday Free For All.  This is the one time of the week when our arguewithmydad.com readers can control the topic(s) for discussion.  All you have to do is get someone else to respond to your suggested topic and then the floor is yours.  Don’t be shy and don’t hesitate.  Get busy and be sure to get your views and arguments where everyone can read and react to them.  Right here on arguewithmydad.com.  I will make a couple of suggestions for possible topics, but they are only suggestions.  Today, you can be the boss. 

The first suggested topic I have is the hot issue that seems to be gaining importance by each day.  That would be the Health Care reform legislation that is being formulated by the Obama administration.  This linked Washington Post article discusses one possible model that the White House is considering. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/10/AR2009061003669.html.  We need to discuss how we as a country can control our prices and improve our health care.  The Public Health Care option as suggested in this linked article, http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/pr20090403, would not only improve health care in general, it would make it affordable for all.  What do you think about the importance of Health Care reform and especially the Public Health Care Option?

My second suggested topic concerns the news that the second highest Republican in the House compared Obama’s policies to those of Putin in Russia.  This is a variation of the normal theme from the Republicans where they try to allege that Obama and the Dems are Socialists or are supporting Socialistic legislation.  This linked AP story that was reproduced on the Raw Story website gives us the amazing quote by Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia.  http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/06/rep-cantor-compares-obamas-policies-to-putins-russia/.   I see this as more name calling by Republicans who do not have a clue on what it takes to fix the problems this country has and therefore they resort to name calling.  It sounds like Dick Cheney has never left Washington with these ridiculous comments.  What do you think of Rep. Cantor’s statements?

Now that I have made my suggestions, what do you want to discuss.  Don’t keep sitting there on your hands.  Get to work and take a stand right here on Arguewithmydad.com.  We are all waiting for you to give us your views.  Don’t hesitate.

The weekend was so busy that I almost forgot that it was time for our weekly Monday Musings.  There have been a lot of stories that have caught my eye this past weekend and past week.  The first one that caught my eye was the continuing attempts by the radical right wing to demonize Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sotomayor.  They have called her a racist, stupid and lied that she made it through college and law school due to her minority status.  G. Gordon Liddy even commented that he hoped that she wasn’t hearing cases when she was menstruating! http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/liddy-sotoyamor-menstruating/.  I did not think that I would ever use that word on this site.  After all of these mindless and untrue claims, you would think that the neocons would run out of lies, but the hits just keep on coming.  With all of that crap being spewed by the right, you can imagine my surprise when former First Lady, Laura Bush, came out in favor of the nominee.  On ABC’s Good Morning America program Mrs. Bush stated: ” ‘I think she sounds like a very interesting and good nominee,’ ” Bush said.” http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/08/laura-endorses-sotomayor/.  Kudos for Mrs. Bush for going above the lies and sexist claims from the heads of her party.  Maybe Mrs. Bush’s comments will send a signal to the rest of neocons that it is time for the lies to stop. 

The next story that just hit the wires today was that the Supreme Court just decided that buying judges won’t be allowed in this country. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/08/judge-for-sale/.  In the decision in Caperton et al v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. Inc, etal, the majority drew a line that judges cannot cross.  http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-22.pdf.   This case is an interesting one because a West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals justice refused to recuse himself from a case that involved one of his campaign contributors.  Not just any contributor, but one that gave a cool $3 Million dollars to his campaign.  The decision was 5-4 in favor of judges recusing themselves from cases involving their significant campaign contributors.  Which judges voted against this?  I would think that you could guess  by now that it was Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia who decided that bribing judges is ok in their world.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote the dissent and states that the new decision will actually cause more judges to be accused of being biased.  He complains that the majority was not specific enough with guidelines to allow future judges to know when they are crossing the line of bias.  I guess when you decide a case in favor of a party that gave you a $3 Million contribution and you still don’t see anything wrong with it, maybe the minority does need some more guidelines. Or maybe they just need a new moral compass.   Only a neocon Republican conservative judge could think that not recusing yourself in that situation was nothing serious.  Thankfully, the majority was not swayed by this type of monetary logic.    I am glad that the Supreme Court decided that justice should not only be blind, but it should also not be bought.

It is time, once again, for another edition of the AWMD Friday Free For All.  This is the one time of the week when our arguewithmydad.com readers can control the topic(s) for discussion.  All you have to do is get someone else to respond to your suggested topic and then the floor is yours.  Don’t be shy and don’t hesitate.  Get busy and get your views and arguments where everyone can read and react to them.  Right here on arguewithmydad.com.  I will make a couple of suggestions for possible topics, but they are only suggestions.  Today, you are the boss. 

My first suggestion is the story about Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday’s edition of C-Span’s Washington Journal where he stated that the criminal activities of torture by the Bush administration should not be punished because they ordered the torture out of fear.  Here are his words, “So as we go back and try to hold people criminally liable. I think we’re doing a lot of damage to the country, because their mistakes were not criminal mistakes. They were mistakes made out of fear. “  http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/04/graham-bush-fear-torture/.  I will have to remember that lame excuse for war crimes.  They were afraid so don’t prosecute them.  I think Sen. Graham knows better.  What do you think?  Can you and I use that excuse if we commit a crime? 

My second and last suggested topic was this interesting story I saw on the Raw Story blog: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/04/judge-tasering-a-suspect-for-dna-legal-if-not-malicious/.  It seems that a judge in New York has allowed the police to obtain a DNA sample from a suspect by tazing him.  The judge said it was legal as long as the police weren’t malicious in their delivery of the tazing!  Here is a copy of the judge’s order http://blog.simplejustice.us/files/66432-58232/TaserDecision1.pdf and here is a link to the original story in the Niagara Gazette, http://www.niagara-gazette.com/breakingnews/local_story_154132251.html.  What is this country coming to when we can taser suspects as long as we don’t mean to hurt them?  It sounds suspiciously like the Yoo legal memos that suggested that the torture would be legal if the torturers did not have a malicious intent!  Let’s hear what you think of this tortured logic!

Don’t waste any time here.  Get to work and let me know and let us all know what you want to talk about.  I am anxious to see what issues that the AWMD nation wants to discuss in this Friday Free For All.