abortion

Those were the first words that came to my mind when I was looking through the released Abu Ghraib photos on Salon's site. To see how we are treating these people while sitting there and trying to claim "we are the beacon of freedom" is pure bull shit. Every single person involved from civilian leadership all the way down the line should be severely prosecuted. They have taken everything they claim to "defend" along with everything this country has worked to become over the past 200 years and totally shredded it.

Even more, I feel Salon should be required viewing for every right wing Bush supporter out there. The people who claim we are "doing the right thing" needs to spend time looking at these photos. Every right wing, human rights bashing website should have their domain names changed to go to the site so they have to see what we have done. Amazing that these same people are the ones who consider abortion "a cruel murder". Well what in the hell do they call this - some radical right Sunday fun?

Remember - none of these people are "convicted" criminals. They are just held on suspicion. Even if they were convicted criminals, this kind of abuse is still way out of line.

So the filibuster didn't fly. Even though Alito is on his way to the Supreme
Court, it is not a defeat by any means. Four days ago the talk on the hill was
there would not be any filibuster attempts. John Kerry sparked a movement and
the liberal blogosphere provided the fuel for that fire. By people tapping away
at their keyboards, it caused Senators to come back to voice mails full of
people asking to support the filibuster.

This is a perfect example of the strength the blogosphere is gaining on
politics. Unlike corporations, citizens can not afford the high dollars of
lobbyists to get through to their elected representatives. The blogosphere is
the new vehicle of getting a message heard and it has a wealth of power that is
just starting to get tapped.

We can not look at what happened as defeat, but rather as a learning
experience. We need to channel the energy that was felt this weekend into the
big picture. That will be this November's elections. Every seat we gain is a big
step forward. Right now polls prove that people are looking towards the
Democrats to be next year's leaders. We need to keep that momentum going and let
it carry us through the election cycle.

Alito can be an extremely valuable tool for us. The decisions he will help
make are ones that will affect the unlikely voter more than the voters. Those
unlikely voters are the ones who typically lean to the left. These are the
people we need at the polls. I am of course talking about the age group of
18-30. These will be the people more out to need an abortion or worry about
illegal searches. The message needs to be made clear to them that the only way
to prevent further justices getting appointed that will strip these rights is to
ensure a party is elected that stands up for the rights of this country.

Its seeming more and more like Bush played the ultimate trump card by
nominating John Roberts. He has gone out, picked someone with a short lived
bench life and there for does not have many opinions to show how he would vote
on controversial issues such as Roe V Wade. Short of him being a pot head or
hiring illegal aliens to work for him, he is sure to get confirmed.

The deal made by the seven Republican and seven Democratic Senators will seem
to stand firm during this confirmation also. The promise was not to filibuster
unless it was extreme circumstance, and I can not find one that would be extreme
when it comes to confirming John Roberts. The only down votes I can fore see
with this nomination would come from the extreme sides of both aisles. The far
right might say he is not conservative enough while the extreme left would
oppose his lack of opinions on issues such as abortion.

This varies greatly from my first opinion of the man, but after a day of
research I can truly say that he might be the best we could expect from George
Bush. The even better side of this is that we will see less attention on his
confirmation and more attention on Karl Rove. Poor Karl even made the front page
of the Washington Post today, where it talked about the State Department memo
marking Valerie Plames identity as secret. This is should help keep the
journalistic flames turned up on President Bush and Scott McLellan.

It is still disheartening to see that our President doesn't take leakers that
serious. Rove now has to be convicted of a crime to be punished, and not just
involved. This kind of message is not a good one to come from the President who
vowed to restore integrity to the White House. I guess in Michael Jackson's
defense, it is ok for parents to send their kids back over to Never Land Ranch
also!