soundtrack!
Chanta-lot was a lonely rooster
June 29, 2008 archive
Jun 29 2008
In the Country (photo heavy)
Jun 29 2008
Operation Read the Bill (FISA ACTION)
First, print the thing out, all 114 pages (pdf), and hand it to your Senators. Best if you can say “I’ve read it, I expect you to take the time to do so yourself.” For extra credit, take a highlighter to the printout and mark up the sections you consider problematic.
Bring an accomplice with a vidcam. An admission that they haven’t and won’t read the bill makes nice youtube, come re-election time.
“I’m pleased we were able to delay a vote on FISA until after the July 4th holiday instead of having it jammed through. I hope that over the July 4th holiday, Senators will take a closer look at this deeply flawed legislation and understand how it threatens the civil liberties of the American people. It is possible to defend this country from terrorists while also protecting the rights and freedoms that define our nation.”
How to find your Senators’ appearances? Start with their Senate and Campaign websites. Next, search Google News for “YourSenator’sname Parade” “YourSenator’s name Barbeque” “YourSenator’sname Picnic” “YourSenator’sname fundraiser” If you don’t get hits, make a Google Alert. Post any scheduled events you find below in comments.
Senator Feingold plans to introduce 6 Amendments. He explains them, not in great detail, in Fact Sheet: Potential Feingold Amendments to FISA Bill. Print it out too, and when you catch your Senator, ask that they support them all.
They are
Dodd-Feingold Amendment Stripping Retroactive ImmunityFeingold-Webb-Tester Amendment to Provide Protections for Americans
Use Limits Amendment
Prohibiting “Reverse Targeting”
Prohibiting “Bulk Collection”
Congress Access to FISA Court Materials
If your Senator won’t budge on immunity shift the conversation to the problems with the parts that go forward. If any Amendments pass, and the Senate approves the revised version, it throws the whole deal back to re-negotiation with the House, which would then have to start it’s process all over again. The package can not go to Bush’s desk until both the House and Senate pass identical versions.
Jun 29 2008
My Life in the Martial Arts
My father was a soldier and a drill instructor who trained briefly with a Japanese jujitsu master during WWII in preparation for teaching hand-to-hand combat to Army GIs. He taught my two brothers and me some basic techniques so that we might have an edge in dealing with schoolyard bullies – and the training stood me in good stead. I used what he taught me on more than one occasion to inject a little homegrown justice into an unpleasant situation. Those experiences left me with two lasting gifts, an antipathy for bullies and a love for the martial arts.
I began formal training in Judo at age eleven on the Army base at Ft. Benning, Georgia where I trained for a year. I continued my training in Paris and for a brief time competed on the French National Judo Team as a brown belt (sankyu).
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