Slim Pickins: Meanderings of a Progressive Independent

The assault on liberty (the Constitution) also comes from the mouth-breathers on the right, e.g., Neoconpoops and fundamentalists. I don’t care if it is left or right, any assault on Liberty is trouhling.

The Republicans got control of all three branches of government in 2000…

Eight years later, our elections are rigged, habeus corpus is in jeopardy, free speech occurs only in zones, you have to be careful what books you check out of the library, posse comitatus is gone, you’re probably on a “no fly” list, and the Supreme Court makes decision after decision in favor of the corporations.

Thank you, Republicans!

Pagan, I feel I need to point out that the ACLU does NOT take a proactive role in ANYTHING. They ONLY respond when someone ELSE comes to THEM.
Name me a SINGLE court case where the ACLU went to court as the aggrieved party (that is, the one which felt his/her civil rights had been attacked).
The ACLU has stood firmly on the side of EVERYONE’S civil rights. It’s so fucking easy to attack them but the fact is that standing up FOR everyone’s civil rights frequently involves standing behind someone, or some group, who’s not universally popular, even if that person or group despises the ACLU or what it stands for (the Nazis in Skokie, Rush Limbaugh).
Quite simply, when you choose to attack the ACLU, you’re doing nothing but rehashing right-wing propaganda points, points which have no validity in the first place. Read up on the actual cases the ACLU has participated in and the side which the ACLU has taken, and see how their stance enhances, even strengthens, everyone’s basic civil rights and civil liberties before making such asinine comments. (Until MoveOn.org became such a shill, and apologist, for Obama, the group was actually very much in the forefront of promoting and protecting civil rights. That mission, as I noted, has changed since the February endorsement by the “members”.)
As to these “Nanny Staters”, wouldn’t a large number of them actually be more conservative, than progressive? The conservatives are the ones now wanting “big brother” to “protect” them from all the bad guys, whether real or imagined. They’re the ones that scream “think of the children” when it comes to almost everything. Nudes in the museum? “Think of the children”. Same-sex couples holding hands or kissing? “Think of the children”. Exposed female nipple or male butt on network TV? “Think of the children”. Bono says “fuckin’ great” at the Grammys? “Think of the children”.
Usually, you offer some wonderfully insightful comments, but this time, I feel you’ve gone off the mark.

that’s a lie-the Clintons are not the same as Bush and Obama.

They are much different–that’s why they are so hated by the extreme right and the extreme left. Try again.

Show me someone who hates the Clintons and I’ll show you a degenerate.

Breath dude, air deprivation will cause senselessness. Obama is just dishonest, to the point of being rightwing republican like. Bill and Hillary have helped rebuild the party and country. Big difference.

Perhaps you should clarify who you think the Democratic Party sold out to? - The truth is that Bill Clinton was elected by the people and he actually attempted to be their servant in areas of traditional Democratic Party values. He brought the party back towards a more pragmatic center, which permitted him to actually pass a decent welfare reform bill, a decent tax package that actually REDUCED the Federal Deficit, and made an honest attempt to attack the moneyed interests of our healthcare system. If this is selling out, I’ll take it over Obama’s shenanigans any day. Go find some history books to read.

Kerry still suffers from sour grapes. This election between McCain and Obama’s supporters is a fight about EGOS only.

NOBAMA!

FISA and the PATRIOT Act are both tools to extend Federal authority and don’t do anything to protect us against potential Muslism terrorism here at home.

Hell even after 7 years Bush and Congress still refuse to secure our ports and borders which make the PATRIOT Act and FISA a bad joke. Especially when you have people who can come and go as they please by simply walking across our unsecured borders.

Alternatives to FISA and the PATRIOT Act would be to secure our borders and ports, restrict immigration from countries that support and harbor Islamic terrorists for starters.

That means no more Saudis, Pakistanis, Iranians, Somalis and Yemenis.

Expel those who are in the U.S. under various visas or overstayed and have been found to support Jihad and the imposition of the Shariah and or who support Hamas, Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood.

The first ones to be rounded up ought to be those Salafists who make their women wear a burkha. These guys are natural terrorist sympathizers because of the toxic ideology they hold.

Shut down Mosques and madrassas here in the U.S. that are funded by the Saudis and use Saudi trained Imans. Where ever you look in the world where Saudis provide Imans, madrassa teachers and teaching material, Islam becomes radicalized and violent.

Of course this would upset the Saudis who own large controlling interests in both parties especially the Republicans and would never be done.