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Hillbillies on Politics, They're Scary

Republicans: Worse than the Stomach Flu?

(Today's guest author is SourKraut. Catherine is in Firenze this week discovering that the Renaissance was an early form of a government endowment)

Call me interested, or call me a fool, but I wasted an hour or so last night watching the Republican debates.

Overall, I found the candidates to be scary. Really. The whole Roe v. Wade discussion just made my stomach turn, especially when they were talking about putting members on the SCOTUS who would overturn it.

Pass the Pepto-Bismol. It's going to be a long time between now and November 4, 2008.

One Down Too Many To Go

Tommy Thompson has dropped his bid to be the repub presidential nominee. He has made this decision after he placed sixth in the Iowa straw poll over the weekend. At least, SCOTUS is safe from this conservative.

He is going to take some time off then most likely go back to working for some drug company.

One down, a million pieces of crap candidates to go.

Always Trust a Teddy

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
                -Theodore Roosevelt

Unlucky Numbers: 5-4, 5-4, 5-4

Damn Justice O'Connor and her silly plans of retirement!  Our fears of a 5-4 majority are becoming commonplace are ringing true.  Hence today's U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Kansas death-penalty statute.

The Kansas law requires the death penalty when jurors conclude that so-called aggravating and mitigating factors -- those arguing for and against capital punishment -- are equally balanced. The court, voting 5-4, rejected arguments that the state's law unconstitutionally creates a presumption in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers.  In other words, you're going to fry no matter what in Kansas even when there's doubt among jurors over capital punishment.  So much for a fair justice.

Dumb Ass of the Day: Gov. Kathleen Blanco

As if she and the state Legislature of Louisiana don't have enough to do trying  to help the citizens of New Orleans and surrounding areas recover from Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (a woman and Democratic no less) signed into law today a ban on most abortions.  This comes on the heals of similar legislation from South Dakota, a law that was enacted partly to invite a court challenge in the hope a more conservative Supreme Court would overturn its Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman's right to abortion.

Ms. Blanco, you let your people down after the hurricane with your incompetence under pressure, and now you're letting woman around your state down under the pressure of the winds of ignorance.

Round 'em up

I first read about these "round-ups" over at Detroit Diva. This outraged and pissed me off.

While I do realize that some of these people are violent offenders, it did make me think.

The last time that a government rounded people, they disappeared were killed and started a World War. Oh, wait. We have people being gathered, disappearing and a war going on. Hmmm.

Not, Not Knocking on Your Door

Five is a magic number.

Have you felt the power? Do you feel your civil rights being chipped away?

Can you say b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t?

Not All Immigrants Look Alike

Immigration seems to have many faces and covers more than those from Mexico and South America. Today of all days, take a moment to dig deep and think about your perceptions.

I have pasted in an article that ran in March in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Irish are standing up to be counted among the nation's illegal immigrants, hoping their civic appeal at St. Patrick's Day will soften the debate over immigration reform.

At St. Patrick's Day parades in San Francisco and Chicago last weekend, activists with the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform wore white-and-green T-shirts saying "Legalize The Irish" and passed out flyers urging people to call their elected representatives in support of allowing undocumented workers to earn legal status as guest workers. Similar activism is expected at parades in other cities in coming days.

Adding heft to the immigrants' message, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who visited San Jose on Tuesday, plans to push President Bush for legal status for illegal Irish immigrants when he visits the White House on Friday, St. Patrick's Day.

Although most of this country's 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants are from Mexico and Central America, about 50,000 Irish people are among 3 million illegal immigrants from countries outside Latin America. Other countries contributing significantly to illegal immigration are Russia, Poland, Canada, Haiti, Korea, India, China and the Philippines.

"We've had some very surprised reactions when they hear it is an issue for the Irish," said Celine Kennelly, executive director for the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center in San Francisco, an advice and referral service sponsored by the Irish Catholic Conference of Bishops.

"They are in as dire straits as any other ethnic group," said Kennelly, who estimates there are 3,000 to 4,000 Irish illegal immigrants in San Francisco, most working in construction, in restaurants or as nannies and caretakers for the elderly. "They cannot get driver's licenses, it's harder to open bank accounts, they cannot travel home and return again. ... The relationship between Ireland and America is so long and fantastic, but it's in danger now."

More than 250,000 Irish immigrants reside in the United States, according to the census, and most of them are here legally. But in recent decades, most arrivals from Ireland have overstayed their visas and become illegal immigrants, said Kennelly, because the government is issuing fewer work visas. A 1991 program offered legal permanent residence to about 16,000 undocumented Irish, but there has been no legalization plan since then.

Kennelly helped organize a town hall meeting in San Francisco this month that drew 1,000 Irish immigrants ready to campaign on the issue. And she was among 2,000 Irish people who rallied in Washington last week for guest-worker legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

San Francisco Federal Building in a push for immigration reform. Organizer Sheila Chung said she expects participation from Irish immigrants, as well as Latino, Filipino, Chinese, Caribbean, Arab and others.

Irish participation -- motivated in part by Catholic archbishops -- can help advance the immigration-reform movement, said East Bay immigration lawyer Sarnata Reynolds, who is Irish by birth.

"They're a community that isn't viewed as 'bad.' People don't assume they might be undocumented," she said. "The Irish lobby has been very well organized for years, and they have a tradition of rallying around issues of social justice."

In Chicago on Friday, hundreds of Irish residents joined an unprecedented 100,000-strong rally opposing a bill that passed the House last year and another proposed bill that's scheduled to come to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant or to aid one.

"Most people thought it was just a Mexican thing, but it's not. It's Irish, Polish, Korean, Chinese," said Billy Lawless, the owner of two Chicago pubs who led a contingent called Celts for Immigration Reform. "If they want to deport the whole group, who's going to work in our kitchens? Who's going to work in our construction industry?"

Lawless compared the anti-immigrant sentiment he has encountered from groups like the Minutemen to the cold reception Irish immigrants received when they fled the potato famine in their homeland in the 19th century.

Illegal Irish immigrants, like those from other parts of Europe and Asia, generally enter the United States on a legitimate work, school or tourist visa and stay after it expires.

In the Bay Area, immigrant advocates plan a hunger strike and candlelight vigil all next week at the

South Dakota: Women's Rights Diminished

I think that my blood may have just stopped boiling long enough for me to discuss the recent abortion ban in State of South Dakota. Is this 2006 or 1946? I am confused.

So, please take a good look at the man to the right. Memorize his face. He is starting a revolution. Right here, right now.

What’s worse the ban or the seemingly little opposition from women? Where is the rallying cry? Where is our demonstration of free speech and outrage at this ass backwards ban? How can we accept this?

Do you want to join the fight that will surely take this all the way to the Supreme Court? The first step is to make a donation to Planned Parenthood.

Brace yourselves, the Roe v. Wade is coming NOW. Will you stand up and be counted? Or will you sit silently on your couch letting it happen?

X-posted at Daily Pepper