Health Care: A Time for Change
There is a growing chorus of Americans calling for affordable, accessible health care and it has become quite loud.
Our nation's health care crisis is one of the most important problems facing us today. The cost of health care is skyrocketing and the ranks of the uninsured, including uninsured children, are growing.
Overwhelmed emergency rooms continue to turn away patients that they cannot accommodate, while overworked health professionals are forced to spend precious hours dealing with HMO paperwork instead of caring for patients.
Thousands of Americans die each year from preventable conditions that would have been held in check if only these patients had health care coverage. This is a sorry state of affairs for the richest country in the world.
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee health care to all its citizens. The U.S. spends $1.7 trillion, or $5,800 per citizen, each year on health care, yet tens of millions of Americans do not receive adequate care.
Despite spending more on health than any other country, the U.S. ranks 37th in citizens' health outcomes. Many European and Asian nations cover all their citizens with quality health care while spending less than the U.S. and achieving better health outcomes.
I introduced legislation last year aimed at remedying this predicament, H.R. 676, "The United States National Health Insurance Act." 77 Members of Congress joined me by co-sponsoring this bill. This legislation would create a universal health care system by expanding, strengthening, and improving the Medicare program so that all Americans would have access to comprehensive medical services including prescription drugs, mental health services, and dental care throughout their lives.
Over the past two years, citizen hearings on universal health care have taken place in more than 90 cities across the country. These events were marked by a huge turnout from people sharing their experiences with our broken health care system and calling for a change. To paraphrase the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, people are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
As we move forward to a Democratic Majority, I will continue to seek solutions to our ailing health care system.
How?
Back in '98, I was locked up. For a week. Without my medicine.
This injured me in a dozen ways, each more severe than any of the others. It would hurt you, simply to understand, how badly I was hurt. I'm going to spare you that. I'm going to forgo as well explaining why this was done to me, save to say it was for the amusement value. What I want well understood, because of current events, is the HOW of my being taken to jail and there tortured to the brink of death by laughing policemen. The HOW is very simple, really. When it came time to formally accuse me, time to explain to the Court why I was taken to jail, the Prosecutor stood mute.
In case you think that a typo, I'll write it again. The Prosecutor stood mute.
Untill the prosecutor states an accusation, the defendant can do, and say, nothing, before the court. It is not yet his turn to speak, therefore he may not. He can sue, in civil court, if he has $100,000 to throw at the problem. And he can make a complaint with the U.S.Department of Justice and see that complaint ignored. And he can resort to thermobaric weaponry. But he cannot put up an argument, or a defence, before being accused. The lack of accusation ends the legal process. That is great, if you are guilty. Does anyone think I was guilty? Of what?
Similarly, we are being told today that Impeachment is "Off the Table". This means the prosecutor is standing mute. This means the legal process is at end. This means that America, and the world, will recieve none of the protection written into our law, for such occasions as we face today. And supposedly faced with our votes a short time ago. This fails to comport with the Law or the situation and is no more appropriate than in my personal case of justice denied.
Nor are we offered explanation or excuse. The assumption seems to be, we are due nunsuch. And you know what happens when you assume.
The only explanations available are fragmentary and self generated. Primary among them is, that some show of impartiality is neccesary, in order to avoid the impression of prejudice. After all, you don't want to start an investigation with the thought in mind that perhaps the guy being investigated might be guilty.
Huh?
That is completely bassed ackwards. If you don't believe the the guy being investigated might be guilty, you don't have probable cause, and the investigation is completely illegal. Moreover, the House of Representatives is not the judge, it is the Prosecutor, it is the cop. It is not the role of the House to be unbiased or fair or to present any such appearance. The role of the House is to state the case. To lay the facts on the table. For the Senate to judge the merits of. While the People watch them do it. So they may know they need not do it themselves.
It is the Senate who Judges. And does so, that the people might have peace with thier government. It is this Peace, this Peace and no other, that the Constitution was written to assure.
Let us show respect to our forebears by operating the Government they built for us in the manner they specified, that it might work in the manner they intended, and that we might have Peace, if not with the World, then at least between ourselves.
Later, is the time to alter the Constituiton, to reflect the lessons learned. And later still, to act as if the Constitution had been altered, and then, only if it really had.
It is my considered belief, it is my hope, that such words as these are what the Congressman is trying to gather, is waiting to hear, while standing there, as he is, mute.
But then, as is well understood and widely known, I am a Moron.
I'm still here.
Frosted Flake
I wish you would quit
insulting yourself. You know very well that you are very highly thought of around here.
Prosecution…
I get it (maybe). Congress stands mute on the charge of impeachment, just as the prosecutor stood mute as to the charges against you - FF.
But have Bush, Cheney et al been arrested? Are they being held in jail? Are they being subjected to torture and abuses… as you apparently were?
On another note. Self-description is a personal choice and I,m wondering why you now reffer to yourself as a Moron? Your previous posts provide no hint of this self-deprecating perception... unless, of course, you "personally" place more emphasis on Flake - rather than Frosted (as others do).
~ Jackster
And you?
Do you place more emphasis on the Jack, or the Stir?
And do you doubt, should we meet, you will be on the ground in less than a minute?
Put a sock in it.
Frosted Flake
Oh my goodness
There are certainly a lot of touchy people here on ConyersBlog.
Frosty (may I call you that as others have?), I am curious what caused you to write such a defensive response to Jackster. I read his post and did not find cause for that - am I missing something? Is it his words or mere presence that bothers you?
I noticed on the previous page (Now the Hard Part Begins, page 8) that Jewels was offended by one of your responses to her and has now wrote what appears to be a farewell to this blog. How sad. We are writing a collective ballad - are we not?
Maybe I have completely misunderstood the purpose here - and this site is really a place for people to post their individual and disjointed views regarding Congressman Conyers position on a variety of issues. Please help me understand, Frosty, so that I may decide whether to stay involved or bid farewell myself.
Cordially,
Malcontent (with government's reign of tyranny)
Hey Mal
in defense of Frosted, that he doesn't need by the way, The diatribe has a history.
Flake is well loved here ,and has been for a wile, Jackster came here a few days ago , and started stepping on toes , and this is just a continuance.
I know for one that I wouldn't want to have to stand up to a mean Flake in a man on man showdown(<:
Oh yer goodness.
That was not a defensive response. It was an offensive response. You are missing something.
There is a certian breed of cat that seeks to gain sway by interfering with others conversation. As in, pipeing in with irrelevancies which lead the reader off point. The hope is to confuse the reader, thereby making the point the writer is making...vanish.
We call such cats, "Trolls"
Trolls do not make points. They attempt to prevent others doing so. Jackster is a troll. There is no reason I should enjoy conversing with him.
And you missed something else. It was not I who upset Jewels and caused her decision to absent herself from this blog. The Congressman did that. What I did was discuss it with her. If you doubt this, simply re-read the posts in question. It is very plain, though you have to read them togeather. Seperatly, they are posts. Togeather, they are a conversation.
Alternatly, you might try all-caps, like this :
HEY, JEWELS ! WHAT'S THE DEAL ?
That sometimes works.
As for the purpose of this blog, I am sorry, but find I frequently wonder about that myself. I attempt to make the best use of it I can, but, if I come close to the purpose the site owners intended, that is a coincidence. If I am to offer a suggestion, it would be that you should make the best use you can of it, state your point as clearly as may be, learn from others, try to work with others toward the goals that attract you.
If I am allowed to pontificate (momentarily) I would note that the state an organization is in, is the result of the organizing that went on up till now, and the state it will be in will be the result of the organizing the happens tween now and then. Your task, if I may be so bold, is to visualize they way things should be, think of the steps in need of taking to get there, and take the first of them. Then the second, and so on. If this blog helps you do that, Use it.
And finally, I wouldn't want to leave anyone the impression that I am a nice guy. Too much maintenance. And nice guys finish last.
Frosted Flake
Farewell to all
Dear Frosted Flake,
Please accept my apology for misunderstanding why Jewels bid farewell. My memory is not what it once was and you,re right, I only read the last couple of posts on the previous page before I wrote to you. I am sorry for that.
With pounding heart and trembling hands I feel compelled to say that I now realize few newcomers are really welcomed within this long-standing fold. Sorry, I do not view Jackster as a Troll as you described and while he may be willing to confront this group on a regular basis, I am just not capable of that. I have read and reread Jackster,s posts, and discovered that not once did he use profanity and ad hominine remarks to combat the profanity and ad hominines used in the assault against him. An oversight by the ConyersBlog site administrator, I,m sure. Maybe it,s not just anger and touchiness that afflicts this group; it seems like a healthy dose of paranoia is present as well.
My husband and my boys have taught me never to sweat the small things. I am very thankful for my family; a family where love, understanding, diverse opinions, and forgiveness have been the very foundation of my adult experience. The men in my life, although very strong and confident, are gentlemen (nice guys) and have done quite well for themselves and for others as well.
I have already written to Jackster privately (after he posted his email address) and found him to be a true gentleman. He also shared that many other ConyersBloggers had written to him as well. Many who said to him that the unfriendly tone offered to newcomers is not uncommon and that it has existed here for a very long time. There does seem to be a silent majority - you know.
I may check in from time-to-time to see if Congressman Conyers ever responds himself. But other than that, I prefer to participate in more friendly environments and engage in less stressful blogs.
Please do not respond to me Frosted Flake, I prefer nice guys who understand that an occasional apology or forgiving attitude is not a sign of personal weakness.
Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards [all] Men.
Malcontent (with government's reign of tyranny)
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Please don't leave...
You are evidently new to blogging. The entire purpose of a troll is to convince people not to stay on a blog!
Trolls are masters at what they do. They know how to affect the way people think and feel on a blog. In some cases, they are professionals. If you read, really read, what Jackster has been saying, you'll see lie after lie and distortion after distortion. Was he a perfect gentleman in the posts he wrote about us? What he wrote to you was a lie, too.
If you knew us, if you had any idea what we're about and who we are, you'd see through Jackster. But, you don't. You've only been here a few days, too.
This is JC's blog and I will stand up and tell you that he trusts us. He trusts me, I am the Chair of the board of his blogger volunteers. Rusty is on the board of directors. JC has thanked us for organizing and supporting him and has given us the honor of using the banner, TeamConyersBlog. We've been here for a very long time. How does that jive with what Jackster has been saying about us? Jackster who has been here only a few days? Do you really think suddenly people are following Jackster? There can be only one truth here. And you're choosing the lie. I'm sorry for that.
I'm sorry you're so sensitive to the normal ups and downs and ins and outs of a blog. It's a public forum and freedom of speech allows for all sorts of comments to be made. The only person you deprive, if you leave, is yourself. And that would be a shame.
Government accountability is the issue
Dear Patriot,
I really do not want to have this conversation and yet feel compelled to say that when Jackster responded to my e-mail, he was very sensitive to me and wrote a very compelling letter in support of ConyersBlog. A Troll wouldn,t do that. Maybe you have misread this gentleman?
Please just let this subject go away and continue to encourage Congressman Conyers to do the right thing.
Thank you,
Malcontent (with government's reign of tyranny)
Maybe...
... if you are around for a while, you'll start to understand how blogs work and how trolls work. I'm through groveling and apologizing. You are free to believe what you want.
PS I just went back and read the post that Rosebud wrote which contained his email address and if you consider that the writing of a gentleman and someone who cares about ConyersBlog, then I just don't know what else to say.
I agree with Patriot, please do not leave us, Malcontent!!!
Frosted Flake, Patriot and others are correct. Jackster came on here just to cause trouble, by insulting Patriot, Rusty and SoapBox4Truth, who I have respect for, as a group for what they have done. He comes on here, uses insults, and even gets me in the conversation by mentioning me without MY permission! If you reread the last thread, you can clearly see how much of a distraction Jackster really is.
His post towards Frosted Flake (a good freind of mine) is unwarranted, and seems insulting to me, therefore, bthere was nothing wrong with Frosted Flakes's response, and the original post by FF did not at all warrant Jackster's snide remaks, that he made.
I have been on this blog and a member of it since May 2005, and have NEVER seen trolls as bad as Jackster. I do understand yoru concern for civility, and I want that to. But please realize that Jackster has been causing much trouble by attacking us personally, when such attacks are neitehr warranted nor tolerated.
Please do not think we are rude or brazen or arrogant.......in fact, we are one big family. It is just that Jackster is the black sheep, so to speak.
So please stay.....your posts are very informative and thought-provoking for everyone, and you make excellent contributions to this blog.
- Neerav (a.k.a. "Angry Democrat")
Thank you
This is a nice and supportive post, Neerav. Thank you.
That's cute, that is.
Here I am, thinking to myself, why do I bother trying.
On top of that, I got a troll that wants to snuggle into my lap.
On top of that, If I stand up for myself, I get Some (Deleted) who cries for me to be kind to the poor troll.
The number of times I check this site, on any given day, is a fair indicator that it might be important to me. But I'm getting nothing for my effort from those I attempt to serve, and a bunch of trash from folks who don't even know me.
Is this worth my time?
Frosted Flake
This, too, ...
shall pass.
To Malcontent
I have to add another thought that has just got me bewildered.
Jackster has been here for only a few days. He is a total stranger and has no clue as to what is going on. Yet when you had a problem with the bloggers here and you wrote to him and now he claims other people are writing to him, too?
Why on earth would anyone write to complain to a total and clueless stranger instead of writing to Admin? Do you and Jackster think Admin is non-existant or that he's incapable of reading this blog or that for some reason, he's handed his authority and responsibility over to Jackster? This makes no sense to me at all... it feels like this is drifting towards the twilight zone.
There is a way to complain. If you feel we have treated you in any way that was unfriendly or unwelcoming or you have a technical problem or whatever you need to have addressed, the way to do it is to write the word "Admin" in the subject of a comment. Then write whatever you have to say. Admin is the only person to whom you should be addressing your problems and questions if you don't trust the veteran bloggers. Or don't do anything, he reads everything that's written here.
And, by the way, we are visitors here, too, we don't own it. You have the same potential to welcome new people as any of us.
Jackster has done a good job as a troll.......
Warding a lot of people that we had off of this blog by causing fights on this forum. If he keeps this up, I will ask the Admin of this blog to BAN him, as he is being disruptive, and is keeping people unfairly away from this blog, as well as causing trouble to everyone here.
- Neerav (a.k.a. "Angry Democrat"),
Senior Conyers Blog Member
Malcontent
Your comment: " I now realize few newcomers are really welcomed within this long-standing fold," has no basis in fact.
More than 100 newcomers have posted on this blog in the past week or so.
Only 2 or 3 of them have been involved in disputes with members of "this long-standing fold."
More than 100 of them have not encountered any problem of any kind with members of "this long-standing fold."
So can you explain to me how you can say with any credibility that few newcomers are really welcome here?
It seems to me that you are the one who has contracted a "healthy dose of paranoia".
Your comment: "I have already written to Jackster privately (after he posted his email address) and found him to be a true gentleman. He also shared that many other ConyersBloggers had written to him as well. Many who said to him that the unfriendly tone offered to newcomers is not uncommon and that it has existed here for a very long time," is interesting in a number of ways.
First of all, your definition of "a true gentleman" seems to be based on whether that person is polite to YOU. You seem to have overlooked the fact that he has taunted people, been condescending, accused people of being members of a "closed-minded clique", demanded unwarranted apologies, and has mocked a published author as someone who "can't follow complex threads."
Secondly, it seems to me that people like Jackster and you and these anonymous "others" who have contacted one another privately so their views could not be challenged by those who disagree with them are the ones who are in a closed-minded clique, not people like me and Patriot and Frosty who have been dealing with this publicly on this blog.
I would have preferred that everyone put these issues behind us, but your portrayal of what has been happening on this blog is so misguided and uninformed that I have had to respond.
You began your post by saying your memory "is no longer what it once was."
Taking note of what you apparently remember about the conduct of your "true gentleman" and what you've forgotten about his misconduct gives me no choice but to agree with you that your memory doesn't always seem to function very well.
Your ballad analogy post was very eloquent. I hope to see more posts from you like that instead of any more commentary from you about who is a "true gentleman" around here and who isn't.
Hear, hear!
I'll drink to that, Rusty!
And if you do not like that dose of reality on this blog, Malcontent, given by veteran members such as Rusty, then I suggest not coming on here anymore. Rusty speaks ths truth, as I have been on this blog since May 2005 (more than a year and a half), and I see how this operates.
But what Rusty says is true.......
Private messages
Malcontent,
We used to have our email addresses published with our comments, so there was quite a bit of private messaging going on. But the statement Jackster made to you that "many people had written to him" is false. Trolls follow some pretty standardized techniques (maybe there is a troll school) and this statement is one of them.
If someone has a legitimate complaint, he or she would direct it to Admin and I'm sure we'd hear about it. We've never been warned of any such complaint.
The reality of this blog
The normal tone of this blog is what this thread was prior to the Jackster-Frosty exchange. It is the highest rated blog of all elected officials... number one. There was an explosion of new people who were enraged by JC's "off the table" statement and it threw the blog off balance for a few days. With the appearance of Jackster on top of the stress we were all under, things got a bit out of hand. As I hope you read in the previous thread, I apologized to you for my part in that upheaval and things came to calm down and have returned to normal.
In every blog, this one or any other, there will be people who use it for their own purposes, to distract and annoy. It's the nature of blogs to have trolls attack them and it's the nature of the blog's veterans to blow up about it once in a while. A troll's purpose is to frustrate and annoy the readers until they leave. They intend to deprive the reader of this valuable resource.
Don't let that happen. Stay and use this for whatever you feel is right for you and ignore things you don't like. JC does read the blog and he does think about what's written here. You do have an opportunity to speak directly to him. From what we can tell, he interacts with his bloggers more than any other member of either house of the congress. Don't give that up just because of some troll. JC is our congressman, not the troll's. Keep talking to him. He hears you.
Yes
And we should be careful not to expect a Congressman to have the time to chew the fat.
Response, in such a case as this, is a subtle thing.
You gotta watch for it.
Frosted Flake
HA HA
Apparently he has the time to chew the fat with Nancy, enough time to let us know that "Impeachment is off the table"
But not enough time to tell us that it,s a big joke!
I'm still sussing out . . .
how this blog works, both "mechanically" and socially. As best as I can determine from the post I reply to, Patriot, if you intended to direct your message toward a specific someone, I was not able to determine who the someone was. Nevertheless, I found it heartening and after wading through the DAYS of bickering between commenters that have gone before, I really needed to be heartened. So, if intended for someone else, I have hijacked your post for my own selfish reasons and thank you regardless of the intended target of your message.
"Stay and use this for whatever you feel is right for you and ignore things you don't like." Solid advice coming from someone who from my best determination, is a major investor in this blog in terms of both time and passion. I'll take that advice, too, thank you. My ability to contribute to this blog will often be severely restricted for a number of reasons and so for the most part I will spend my limited time here reading the writing of others so that I can broaden my own view.
I must express before I sign out that I find that my feelings remain the same now as when I first learned of Mr. Conyers' announcement regarding impeachment a few weeks ago. They are comprised of
3 parts "monstrous disappointment,"
2 parts "wait to see what the new year brings," and
1 part "we can't go back because we know what we know (philosphy bottled by Rumskull) so bush has got to go!"
It so happens that the above is also the ratio of ingredients for making a kickbutt Margarita. And that, my friends, is sounding really good right now. (Shaken with ice and drained into a chilled glass, the booze and lime, not my feelings.)
Y'all have a great Thanksgiving. Don't be forgettin' in all the haste and noise of post-election holiday mania, we DO have something to be thankful for: the heart of democracy still beats in this country and its voice shouts over the internet on blogs like this one.
TTFN
NeoCleo
Thank you so much!
I was just taking a final peek before shutting down and it was so nice to get some encouragement from a new person just when I needed it! I hope you'll stay and contribute often.
Malcontent, you asked for comment.
In a previous post, you mentioned that promoting the draft would be a form of gambling. Why? I don't understand.
As someone who has read a bizarre number of books regarding warfare, for someone of my ilk, I most strenuously disagree.
I instilled in my son a love and respect for his country. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1999 and spent 6 years active without being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Spending three years in Hawaii, as his fellow soldiers were being killed by Casio watches and the remnants of cluster bombs, left him feeling like he wasn't doing what he could to help his country.
In 2005 his term was up, and he almost immediately re-enlisted in the Idaho National Guard. After spending 45 days cleaning up after Katrina, he took the opportunity to volunteer for Iraq duty.
I can't describe the mix of emotions this created within me. Immense pride mixed with panic, and an incredible fear that I trained my son to sacrifice himself for a country that prattles on about equallity without ever having shown to me that it even exists. Did I do a tremendous disservice to my son by teaching him to love honor and respect his country?
If America is to survive this generational conflict(30 years war), we must either initiate a draft or do as Little Georgie wants to do. Which is to entrust our future to third world mercenaries who will be offered citizenship if they show allegiance to the neocon cause.
Doonesbury has been running comics that show a group of neocon college age children debating why they support the war as they denigrate the soldiers who volunteer, and proclaim that only stupid sheep enlist.
Isn't that the crux of the matter? The people benefitting are giggling about how stupid we are for falling for their fairy tales?
The draft would wipe the smirk off their faces. As far as deferrments and exemptions are concerned, we saw how the public reacted to the educated elite when they evaded Viet Nam.
Look at how the non-serving cowardly neocons are still persecuting Bill Clinton about going to Oxford instead of Viet Nam. We the people could benefit greatly by reinitiating the draft.
I would rather have people like my son serving in the military than third worlders with no allegiance to America or our ideals.
My son is fighting over there to supposedly spread Democracy, and I'm fighting over here to make sure that when he comes home we'll still have it here.
If the sacrifice isn't shared equally, America will not survive. Lets face it, they've been lying to us for generations. Are we so stupid that we'll keep allowing ourselves to be conned?
My son deserves better than that.
PS- Do a little research on the man who created the Rhodes scholarship program. It will put Bill Clinton's acceptance of the global markets in proper perspective. Anyone who gets invited to become a Rhodes Scholar has been predetermined to be among the elite of the elite intellectually. This group predates Leo Strauss and is responsible for much of the woes of the world since the 1870's. They are all like-minded individuals.
I second that, Alma.
Frosty, you certainly are well thought of here.
Your post is very painful to read, especially since we care so much for you. I hope this expression of anger, the putting it down in words for others to read, helps release some of it for you.
I know you're frustrated that some of us are taking a breather on the issue right now, but I, for one, believe JC will do the best that he can for accountability. I have to believe that because there's no one else who I trust at all.
The tip of the iceberg FF.
Consider yourself lucky that it happened in 1998, and not now. I've been advocating for victim class members of Franklin County New York since 2002. I've waved fraudulent support paperwork in the faces of social workers while asking for formal written complaint forms only to be chased away by Sheriff's doing damage control. Trying to report the collusion between my local post office and individuals within the Support Collection unit, to the Post Office was likewise fruitless. But it did result in many helicopter flights over my property to the point of quitting my job to become a full time activist. They don't need 50 caliber machine guns on these helicopters, but it sure looks intimidating. I've been trying to help an inmate who filed a complaint explaining that someone had stolen his radio from commissary. The CO's went to his cell and coerced him into copying a statement they had handwritten explaining that his complaint was frivolous. Then they left the rough draft in front of him. He sent it to his sister. We brought it to the Essex County DA who immediately informed the CO's of trouble. He was beaten, placed in the most dangerous prison in New York, charged with assault and given 2 more years before we could get a response from the DA. To date we've had a handwriting analysis done, but have had to file FOIA requests to get the results. The investigator who works for the DA, is an ex-police officer who serves as the gatekeeper to the brotherhood. When I asked him if he had ever heard of the brotherhood before, he stared at me blankly and said no. Everyday people are being beaten by guards, used, abused, illegally arrested, illegally detained and illegally sentenced. In my radical past I've been maced and arrested for obstruction(asking to see a warrant as the police kicked my door in), failure to comply with a support court order(didn't return redundant paperwork), attempted possession of marijuana(lost my senior year of high school to that one in 1975), and I get threatened with arrest every time I try to file a formal written complaint against the powers that be. Unlike the other Malcontent on this site, who I respect by the way, I'm a lifelong contrary malcontent of the old mold. I refuse to accept their judgement of me. After having house purchases blocked, checking accounts closed by the bank with $8,000 in it in an effort to have me arrested for bouncing checks on a closed account, and the incessant helicopter flights and walk throughs by police that left my neighbors nervous and my door unlockable, I decided to dedicate my remaining years to making their remaining years miserable. They've worked my entire life, after I declined their offer to be a co-conspirator in 1978, to keep me from acquiring credibility. As I quit my job in 2004, I talked to a police officer who was on the DA's terrorism financed drug taskforce. He was pretending to be my bosses friend at the time to get whatever angle he could on me. I told him to let our local DA know that I knew the crimes he was committing and if I had to take the last 20 years of my life to comvict him, I would. 2000 letters later, here I am. The DA is still there, the inmates are still being persecuted, but the county is in an uproar. Probation officers have been arrested for stealing restitution money, the Sheriff's accountant went to prison for stealing bail and restitution money, CO's are now being convicted for murder, arson, rape, drunken driving resulting in death, then another DWI the following week for the same person, CO's arrested for bringing Heroin into prison, dispatchers convicted for participating in underage sex rings, and there was even a report about a local judge last year being implicated in a pedophilia ring out of Cornwall, Canada. This Judge and the local DA deflected these charges by promoting NYS's new pedophilia law while standing next to George Pataki. Nothing further was heard from Cornwall. FYI, Foley is the tip of the iceberg too. Ignoring the impeachable offenses of Bush allows the other perverse perpetuators of organized crime, to escape guilt free. Shit rolls downhill. If we don't go after the top, how do we get to the shit at the bottom, like my local DA? By the way, this DA has now risen to become the leader of the NYS DA's association, and was awarded a position in the NYS DA teaching college, to promote his unConstitutional activity statewide. My mission is to eliminate the future of this man. If someone had zeroed in on George when he was snorting cocaine and Laura was selling pot, maybe we wouldn't be subjected to their little war of terror. We have to work locally to eliminate these people before they become DeLay types capable of spreading their anti-democracy poison to a larger audience. Most people can't do as I've done because they have too much too lose. I've been blacklisted so long I don't have to worry about that. I'm free. I refuse to accept their judgement of me. I accept their challenge. I will never give up, never surrender. I don't squash, and I only have to win once. Let the games begin. I am also a malcontent. I couldn't be any other way if I tried. People like me aren't meant to rule the world, just change it. For the first time in my life, I have a mission. I choose to accept it. Get ready Mr. DA, you ain't seen nothing yet. Find a bad DA of your own to mess with, but don't leave them an opening cause they'll gitcha. This is for keeps. Think globally, act locally.
This isn't where I meant to go with that Mark.
I understand and appreciate the point. This sort of experience IS way too common. But hope you will excuse if I don't make extensive comment, just now.
No offence meant.
Frosted Flake
FF, it is my apology to make, not yours.
Your post shouldn't have been used by me as a platform to further my agenda. I didn't mean to belittle your experience. I understand how damaging to the psyche these experiences can be. Inadvertantly belittling these experiences, negates the right people have to feel outraged. I know rage. Rather than vent in an inappropriate manner societally, as has been my life history, I've been intending to vent at the people I'm truly angry at. Our so-called protectors. Please accept my most heartfelt apologies.
Patriot, am I doing better? I've been told that before, and I'll probably need to be told again. I learned to type 2 years ago so I could rant to the world. At least it doesn't take me three hours to submit a post anymore.
Rusty, If my complaints to Elliott Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, and Chuck Schumer hadn't been ignored, I never would have learned how to type. Remember WhiteWater? Hillary's failed real estate venture that caused such an uproar? I expect something like that is happening in the Adirondack Park, just South of me.
The Governor's Commission to Protect the Adirondacks in the 21st Century, came out in 1990. It outlined the desire to create the Bob Marshall Wilderness Park which would extend from the Great Lakes to the tip of Maine, including the area North of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. They described the Constitutional and Civil Rights abuses that would be necessary to depopulate and gentrify the area to make it a rich enviro's playground. It went to a statewide vote and the public shot it down. They're doing it anyways.
The 3 day, front page, New York Times article describing the abuses of the taxpaying citizen of New York focused on my County. But the entire gist of the article was about the uneducated justice court system that takes orders from the very same crooked DA that runs the entire state DA association. It was a damage control article designed to refut my arguments without ever responding to my talking points. Yes, I wrote to them 2 years ago offering a scoop. The Judge that explained the fact that it is the uneducated justices, not the educated lawyers, is coincidentally in charge of seeing that these abuses don't happen. He is also from my county of 50,000.
I would not be ranting about the educateds, if it weren't for the fact that I have been thwarted in all of my attempts at getting attention, by highly educated people, who are protecting their real estate investments.
Here we have a report outlining the need for these abuses in order to create the Great Bob Marshall Wilderness Park. We have three day front page articles outlining the abuses currently being done to the taxpaying public, exactly as described in the 1990 report. And a lunatic named Mark removing the plausible deniability from everyone he can think of, who is being paid to prevent these things.
Oh yeah, they know about what's happening, they don't care because it might affect their real estate profits.
As an 11th grade dropout, I've spent a lot of time in the service halls of Northern New York. For five years I did meeting set-ups in Lake Placid where these things were openly discussed. Nobody even see's the guy who refills their pitchers, nor do they care who cleans up the reams and reams of state financed paperwork left behind. That's where I come in.
Some of what I've written over the last couple years was so inflammatory that I spazzed everytime someone pulled into my driveway for a while. But I have no credibility. The second they argue with me, it gives me credibility. Remember George the First's response when he was confronted with the fact of his 35 year affair with his secretary? "I will not dignify that with a response." Credibility must be kept from me at all costs. Societally and economically. That's why they close my bank accounts.
I understand why Mr. Conyers doesn't pursue impeachment until all his ducks are in a row. It's too dangerous. With everything on the table Mr. Conyers has to work very methodically.
FYI, the New York Times has a very extensive real estate section. They market to neo-libs who see us as an impediment to their dream of living in a pristine wilderness as their investor class status allows their corporate investments to destroy the environment of impoverished third world nations. America will be the facade, but the environtal damage will continue.
Can you say eco-tourism? I knew you could. Eco-tourism is a melding of GOP developers and investor class Greenies who feel entitled to make whatever area they feel like, their personal pristine playground.
But where does the Constitution come in? The Constitution says they aren't allowed to do this to us. But everyone being paid to protect us, is lined up to make money from our depopulation and gentrification.
I didn't participate in MoveOn.org's Calls for Change program locally, because the eco-tourists have infiltrated the local MoveOn (60 miles away) group. I made 50 calls for Kirsten Gillibrand, then had second thoughts as to who it would be in my best interests to help.
If you wanna know the prosecutable crimes of our politicians? Ask the victim class. We know that they're all crooks and our lack of credibility free's us from worrying about being ostracised. We also know what they're doing and who they're doing it to.
The trick is to figure out a way to make the educated protectors of America understand that their personal wealth isn't as important as the rights they are denying the citizens of America.
Sooner or later the same procedures they are using to deny us our rights, will be perfected to eliminate theirs too.
My wife once told me that she didn't want to live in my world, my reality. I told her it's too late, she already does. She just doesn't know it yet.
I would be willing to accept any help, from anyone, on this matter. We are a microcosm of America. What you allow to be done to us, WILL eventually be done to you.
I know many people who are willing to pursue a class action lawsuit to stop this activity. But in a rural county of 50,000, the bar association can meet in a phone booth. Anyone know a good lawyer outside the area?
FYI, one of the major players in the Gingrich takeover of 1994, graduated from the same public school my daughter goes to, St. Regis Falls, New York. His name is Pat Barrett. It is through people like him that these activities are transferred to a national level.
You wanna prove that the potential abuses of the Patriot Act are real? Come to Franklin County New York and start here. Once it is on record that these abuses are real and not imagined, it will be harder for the neo-cons to say Bolton/Bush didn't abuse their authority. I just wish I had taken pictures of the twin 50 caliber machine guns on the helicopter as it flew 500 feet over my property. Their intent was to intimidate me(IMO), so I gave them the flying fickle finger of fate award. For the youngsters, look it up.
It has to start somewhere.
Mark, thank you!
Thank you for being you and thank you for all your courageousness in all that you have done and are doing. It must be a lonely position, as well. We all would benefit with a few, wait a minute -- a lot, more "Marks" in this world.
I'm not courageous.
If I were, I would have started this long before I became a cornered animal. Cornered animals aren't courageous. They do what they have to do, to survive. Please save your praise. In my world, no good deed ever goes unpunished. If I weren't so dysfunctional, my efforts might result in credibility. That would really freak me out. I'm not courageous, I'm a contrary malcontent. That's what we do.
Well, one thing for certain, you are certainly
an extraordinarily honest person. But isn't it often the case, most individuals do not necessarily ACT until they, themselves have been a victim of injustice? Perhaps, there are a few individuals who do pick up the banner of injustice, for whatever cause or reason, without having suffered one themselves, but not many. So, if you don't mind, I will still consider you courageous!
Food for thought, Mark
"The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice... it,s conformity." ~ Albert Schweitzer
"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." ~ Denis Waitley
"There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time." ~ Malcolm X
"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." ~ Samuel Johnson
"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." ~ Cecil Beaton
"Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest." ~ Epicurus
"Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity." ~ W. Clement Stone
"A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so." ~ Walter Lippmann
"Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self." ~ Charles Spurgeon
Mark, as a self-described contrary malcontent - you may find agreement and alignment with many of the forgoing quotes -excepting the last of course.
Enjoy the journey, I personally admire your courage ~ Jackster
Knowing "who" you are and "what" you stand for and, thereby,
feeling secure within your own being is probably the best possible position we human beings can achieve in our lives. There is peace and comfort therein. I believe you have reached that "pinnacle."
Mark, a suggestion
White spaces between ideas would help me read your posts. I know they are good posts and I would like to read them in their entirety, but I lose my place so often that I've come to skip them. You put a lot of effort into your writing and you deserve to be read and understood. Inserting paragraphs would be so very helpful for me. Thank you.
Mark, your post should be a Daily Kos diary.
There are a lot of New Yorkers on Kos who might be able to team up with you to go after these thugs and help finish the job you've started. Others may have corroborating evidence or useful information. But it isn't just the NY aspects, your post might get a lot of attention on the biggest progressive blog in the world if you cross-post it over there.
One guy with a camera and YouTube's website address drove a stake through the heart of George Allen. Jim Webb and several hundred thousand other people took him down from there, and now that thug and his entire Virginia mafia are out of power. And it all started with one guy.
It would be inspiring to see a similar outcome in Franklin County.
Do you have any plans to contact Spitzer about this? As NY AG did he have any authority over DA's? This DA doesn't sound like the kind of slime Spitzer would tolerate, and as governor, maybe he can take some major action.
Thank you for what you've done and are doing, Mark. I'm glad you're on our side!
Rusty
Feel free to cross post anything I write. I have the brain of a jet engine combined with the computer and skills of a Yugo.
The main reason why I'm here is because Mr. Conyers provided a link. I'm not proud of it, but reality really bites sometimes.
Anything you do to further my message would be greatly appreciated.
I'm working on enlisting the aide of a marketing professional who has the skills I'm missing, to create a website. But we are in the discussion stage and nothing has been accomplished as of yet.
You never know, MoveOn shutting down could be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Feel free to help spread the message. I'm not proud, I'll take help from anybody.
No sooner post that but get a letter from Pete DeFazio
Pete, quit pretending to be stupid. It won't carry. Folks know better.
You said to me :
"Most people who advocate for impeachment do so because of the war in Iraq. However, it is important to keep in mind that a majority of the House and an overwhelming majority in the Senate voted to authorize the war with Iraq. I voted against the war, but it is hard to make the case that a president can be impeached for something Congress authorized him to do. If so, an argument can be made that the 296 members of the House and the 77 members of the Senate who voted in favor of the war should also be removed from office."
Christ, Pete, that argument can be made in any case, and is, in any case, completely irrelevant. What is relevant is, THE PRESIDENT LIED to Congress in order to get those legislators to vote for war. Had he told the truth, that there were NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, no one would have voted for war, there would be no war, 2800 of our brothers and sisters would not have died in it, nor would the 50, or is it 500 thousand Iraqies, and the trillion Dollars this is costing us would not have been wasted.
Then you said to me :
"While I understand your frustration with the Bush administration, even with the Democratic takeover of both the House and the Senate, there is still no chance that President Bush will be impeached, convicted and removed from office. Conviction and removal requires the vote of 2/3rds of the Senate. Even if all of the Democrats in the Senate voted to convict and remove the president and vice president (an unlikely scenario), that would only be 51 votes, far short of the 67 votes that would be required. Therefore, if the goal of impeachment is to change U.S. policies by removing the current administration from power, that goal will not be achieved with an impeachment strategy."
Christ, Pete, the goal of Impeachment is accountability. The goal is to put the facts front and center, before God and everyone, and react to them. If the facts are as they are and some legislator wishes to react as if the facts were as he wished they were, let him do that in public, and pay the inevitable penalty. If he prefers to avoid the penalty, by voting not according to his conscience, but according to the facts, then a removal is assured.
And then you said to me :
"Rather than an impeachment strategy, we need a strategy to turn the country around, to instill some backbone in Congress so that it exerts itself as a co-equal branch of government, and to investigate the failings and abuses of power of the current administration whether it's Iraq, warrantless spying on Americans, giving contracts to friends and contributors, or the sanctioning of torture. Given the Democratic takeover, it is certain that Congress will conduct meaningful oversight, hold hearings, and attempt to pass legislation to overturn or revise the Bush administration's many flawed and failed policies. After all, in the House of Representatives, a majority of Democrats voted against the Iraq war, against the military commissions legislation, and against the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, among other Bush initiatives. If the goal is too actually change policies and the direction of our country, an oversight and legislative strategy can succeed. An impeachment strategy will fail."
Christ, Pete, You are talking out both sides of your mouth. There is no distinction between an oversight strategy and an Impeachment strategy. Impeachment is a part of oversight, and oversight, minus impeachment, is mere complicity. Now you are pretending I'M stupid. Knock that off.
And then you said to me :
"Democrats could put our legislative agenda on hold and pursue an all consuming effort to impeach the president as the Republicans did in the late 1990s. But, I don't think that makes sense since impeachment and conviction will not succeed and the trade-off would be abandoning a real chance to make a difference in the lives of average working families via a legislative agenda to raise the minimum wage, reduce the price of pharmaceuticals, expand access to health care, reduce the cost of higher education, overhaul failed trade policies and other initiatives."
Christ, Pete, where did you get the idea the Congress is capable of only one thing at a time? There are 435 House members and another hundred Senators. The Sun could explode without distracting every single one of you. The Country is being taken for a joyride by a bloodthirsty (2800 dead American Soldiers) Neo-Con conspiracy and you are telling me Congress is too busy tuning the radio to grab the wheel and stomp on the brake before the whole shebang careens over the cliff.
What I hear you saying, Pete, is you want me to run against you. From the left.
I'm thinking about it.
My.Name@gmail.com
Burning doghnuts...
Happened to think that analogy was a home run. I had to pause and ask, do I mow the lawn before or after I kick the hoodlums out and repaired the damage, or do I just mow the mud, dodging the hoodlums all the way.
Pete DeFazio...a Noble Loyalist. Often he reminds you that, "Impeachment won't happen." Is this the tail waging the dog, or what? It seems that his approach is a bit backward. Let the crime go unpunished but correct the deed. In other words, heal the injured victim but not arrest the drunken Chief of police that ran the victim over. Seems to imply an intent to remain complicit to the facts. He did attempt to excuse Congress's failing at a blank check to go to war, NO? So then, he says he supports liars. And those that advocate liars as being holier than thou, usually belong in that same club. "You shall be known by your fruits."
I'd vote for you Frosted.
Thanks for the Vote.
The part that concerns me, is Pete knows better. He didn't buy the lie, didn't vote for war, but seems to have forgotten this while frequently pointing it out to his constituants. He should be the guy saying, "Hey! It was a lie!" This would be on point, precisely. But Pete is off in La-La land.
Ain't too many ways to explain that.
Frosted Flake
That sounds more like the Frosty I know
Ain't enough ways to appreciate that.
Frosty, et al.
The facts seem to be a little bit skewed here.
The reality is that Congress authorized the use of military force, if necessary, but Congress NEVER authorized the war on Iraq, was NEVER sought out for Congressional approval and NEVER, in fact, gave its approval. The Executive Administration simply went ahead on it's own.
Think about that one!
Q U E S T I O N
Q U E S T I O N:
Why are we in Iraq, STILL?
At best, and I mean in the purest of lights, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
Congress, granted to the President, Authority to Use Military Force to remove Saddam Hussein based on definitive terms:
For all intensive purposes, those terms were based on faulty evidence. Who's fault, is up for debate. This is where investigations are required. However it turns out, it will not change the fact that this Administration put forth evidence about the need to wage war that turned out to be false. The facts have all been seen and are widely accepted into the record books of history. It's about the OIL, silly.
And now the politiCo's argue about how do we stay? When in reality, do we have that license and who granted us that permission to hoard another countries natural resources. That used to be called pillaging. Bush now calls it Liberation.
Max, I think it's clear and has been to most of us that
the invasion in Iraq was a goal (established long ago by the PNAC) strictly based (of course, not said) on the greed of those "few" who wanted to capture the oil resources in Iraq -- this is the "real" reason why we have not left Iraq -- we have not yet been totally successful in that regard. Don't forget that the Bushes have been oil people from a way back, as are so many in the Executive branch of our so-called government. This is why they had to manufacture intelligence, etc. in order to "legitimize" the invasion. Yes, it's pillage, attempt at thievery, or whatever you want to call it, based on every other theme that has been presented, all the reasons you gave, plus an attempt to "democratize" a Middle Eastern country.
Put it bluntly, we went into another country to rob them of their natural resources -- OIL -- without regard to another damn thing on earth -- particularly, to an already down-trodden people!
How can we live with that, Max?
BTW, have you read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"?
We can't afford war a generational war and social programs too.
The tax programs that benefit the rich, combined with the pre-9/11 positioning of Halliburton to profiteer from the war, tell me that the wealth of America and the world is being re-alligned.
Look at the money stolen from America by the thieves of the Carlyle Group and Halliburton. It isn't only the oil, the oil is a means to an end. The goal is to impoverish the world to the point where the robber barons of the world gain ultimate control.
The money spent supplying the war is designed to bankrupt the social programs enacted by Congress in the 30's. We can't afford a 30 year war and food stamps too, can we?
What many people don't realise is that more fortunes have been made supplying armies during wartime than almost any other way. If we didn't fuel the vehicles used to wage war on a daily basis, we wouldn't be anywhere near peak oil. Why do you think they went from the four cylinder Jeep to the heavy eights of the Hummer? Consumption cause economic stimuli. But only within a select group.
It isn't the oil bankrupting America, it is the syphoning of our tax dollars by the military industrial complex that will bankrupt America. Can you inmagine if the world was broken up into fuedal zones, controlled by robber baron types, with a goal to keep the population of overbreeding poor people down?
The constant wartime economy combined with the depopulating character of war, allows the overeducated radical enviros who see overpopulation as the bane of humanity, a perpetual motion gentrification machine that will ensure they maintain their fortunate lifestyle. The neo-con military industrial complex makes the money, the eco-tourism agents reap the homeland benefits.
Hence the need for the destruction of the middle class. Comfortable people aren't desperate enough to fight. But starving welfare recipients will enlist in droves.
The people who sign up to become policemen in Iraq, don't do it because they have a love of law and order. Simply put, they want to feed their children. The more desperate the population becomes as a result of neverending conflict, the more cannon fodder society produces.
It isn't only about the oil. It's about realligning the finances of the world to ensure the robber barons each have their own street corner like, drug dealers in the city.
When the pitiful poor start overbreeding, and concern that overpopulation will affect the lifestyles of the rich and famous grows, the fuedal lords who control the world will simply start another conflict to depopulate the vermin.
Isn't that the pattern the military industrial complex has been repeating since the days of Leo Strauss?
Perpetual, or generational war, requires a constant incitement process. Considering the fact that the Iraq War has been filled with gross mistakes and deliberate acts designed to incite the radicals, by a man who grew up holding hands with Saudi royalty, I don't accept the theory that the politicians who take defense contractor money, want the war to end. It isn't in their financial best interests.
Why does it take a high school dropout to express this view? Maybe because I'm not investor class.
Mark, you have touched on a subject which
so many of us here, who have been on this blog for a long time, have dissected and broken down to the oomph degree on many, many past threads now gone. There is nothing that you say that can be disputed. It is the utter truth and crux of the whole picture. All I can do is agree with you. Thanks again for your thoughtful effort.
As Little Georgie says;
the key to politics is repetition.
I have a smile, Mark!
Thanks!
Education…
Mark:
Your points on the investor class, robber barons, and the military industrial complex (amongst other excellent posts) are well stated… Kudos!
On the other subject, education is not confined to the halls of academia… as you have so aptly demonstrated. As we all know, there are three primary methods of learning: from T&E, observation, or through OPE. And of course, our personal level of education is usually a combination of all three. In any event, I have benefited immensely by what you have said throughout this blog and how you have said it.
Thanks ~ Jackster