Office by Alex Penny
Politics • Snark • EcoFriendly • Veggie • Photos I Like • Doctor Who
When the world says, Give Up, Hope whispers, Try it One More Time.
http://bit.ly/tt-blog; http://bit.ly/tt-pins; psychedelictara.etsy.com
[NOTES* from Leftish - are always in brackets]
—
John Fugelsang
So often, I am appalled and embarrassed to be an American. We seriously suck. We claim to be so civilized, and so “free”…BULLSHIT I TELL YA, IT’S ALL BULLSHIT!
To all of you from other countries, please know that there are MANY Americans who disagree with MOST of our policies, especially with our Foreign Pugilistic, Aggressive Behaviors…targeting tiny countries and innocent civilians.
We really suck. I mean it.
Over the weekend, struggling Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson reminded MSNBC viewers that GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich had once to called to punish some drug offenders with death.
“Newt Gingrich, in 1997, proposed the death penalty for marijuana — for possession of marijuana above a certain quantity of marijuana,” Johnson explained. “And yet, he is among 100 million Americans who’ve smoked marijuana.”
“I would love to have a discussion with him on the fact that he smoked pot, and under the wrong set of circumstance he proposed the death penalty for, potentially, something that he had committed. I have troubles with that,” he added.
Johnson, a former New Mexico governor who has advocated for marijuana legalization since 1999, is at least partially correct about Gingrich’s position.
As Speaker of the House, Gingrich introducedthe “Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996.”
The bill would have required a “sentence of death for certain importations of significant quantities of controlled substances.” It would have applied to anyone convicted more than once of carrying 100 doses — or about two ounces — or marijuana across the border. Defendants would have had a window of 18 months to file their one and only appeal.
“If you import a commercial quantity of illegal drugs, it is because you have made the personal decision that you are prepared to get rich by destroying our children,” the Georgia Republican said at a fundraiser for Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) in 1995. “I have made the decision that I love our children enough that we will kill you if you do this.”
“The first time we execute 27 or 30 or 35 people at one time, and they go around Colombia and France and Thailand and Mexico, and they say, ‘Hi, would you like to carry some drugs into the U.S.?’ the price of carrying drugs will have gone up dramatically.”
U.S. law already allows the death penalty in the cases of large-scale drug operations — or continuing criminal enterprises — that result in murder.
Gingrich charged in 1994 that 25 percent of President Bill Clinton’s White House staff used drugs, but at the same time admitted that he had also smoked pot 25 years earlier.
“That was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era,” he explained.
“See, when I smoked pot it was illegal, but not immoral,” Gingrich reportedly told Wall Street Journal reporter Hilary Stout in 1996. “Now, it is illegal AND immoral. The law didn’t change, only the morality… That’s why you get to go to jail and I don’t.”
Tea Party Vacation!
And my mother always told me to call things what they are.
This is a murder.”
~ Ed Dubose, President Georgia NAACP
This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.
On September 21st, 2011, Troy Davis, an innocent man, was murdered by the state of Georgia. Troy Davis was one of the 99 percent.
Ending capital punishment is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more wealth than half of the country’s population.
Ending wealth inequality is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, four of our members were arrested on baseless charges.
Ending police intimidation is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, we determined that Yahoo lied about occupywallst.org being in spam filters.
Ending corporate censorship is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, roughly eighty percent of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track.
Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, roughly 15% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing.
Ending political corruption is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of Americans did not have work.
Ending joblessness is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of America lived in poverty.
Ending poverty is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, roughly fifty million Americans were without health insurance.
Ending health-profiteering is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, America had military bases in around one hundred and thirty out of one hundred and sixty-five countries.
Ending American imperialism is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, America was at war with the world.
Ending war is our one demand.
On September 21st, 2011, we stood in solidarity with Madrid, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madison, Toronto, London, Athens, Sydney, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Milan, Amsterdam, Algiers, Tel Aviv, Portland and Chicago. Soon we will stand with Phoenix, Montreal, Cleveland and Atlanta. We’re still here. We are growing. We intend to stay until we see movements toward real change in our country and the world.
You have fought all the wars. You have worked for all the bosses. You have wandered over all the countries. Have you harvested the fruits of your labors, the price of your victories? Does the past comfort you? Does the present smile on you? Does the future promise you anything? Have you found a piece of land where you can live like a human being and die like a human being? On these questions, on this argument, and on this theme, the struggle for existence, the people will speak. Join us.
We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying Liberty Square, were decided through a consensus based process by the group, for the group.
Note: Our use of the one demand is a rhetorical device. This is not an official list of demands. Click Here to learn more about how you can participate in the democratic process of choosing the “one demand”.
It just seems like we’re looking at maybe a sit-com where there are no main characters, and just wacky neighbors - especially Ron Paul, Bachmann and Rick Perry, I mean, Rick Perry is becoming like, you know for those people who felt that George W Bush was too cerebral, you’ve got Rick. Rick is a scary guy.”
~ Andy Borowitz, www.borowitzreport.com/
I saw a (Black) Georgia resident imploring the world to please Boycott Georgia, in solidarity with the Troy Davis movement. We absolutely must stop the barbaric practice of the Death Penalty. Very few civilized nations still have it.
Although a boycott might hurt the workers in Georgia, it is also imperative to make a statement, and let people know that this is NOT OKAY!
I’m sure the Supreme Court vote was 5-4 to kill Troy Davis. I’m sure the split was along party lines.
I posit that the person or people who were responsible for bestowing George Bush with BOTH of his illegally begotten Presidencies is responsible for this unjust murder of an obviously innocent man.
Perhaps Ralph Nader is partially to blame, for splitting off ANY part of the vote.
And we could also consider blaming Al Gore for not fighting harder for his legitimate win.
At any rate, George Bush’ appointees to the Supreme Court are who made this heartless decision.
I am destroyed by this outcome, and continue to lose faith in our country, even further.
“The Land of the Free” proved to be a cruel and heartless nation yesterday.
I don’t know if you saw this! I, too, was horrified by it. What sort of person would CHEER for executions? How different is this from throwing Christians to the Lions?
—
T Thralls
![[We’ve gone wrong.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls0em71eTR1qeawdho1_500.jpg)