Molly,

I agree with you 100%.  Hillary seems to have learned more from Karl Rove than Gene McCarthy.

And just a thought on the prospective Alito fillibuster...  The Democtats ought to fillibuster if for no other reason than to provoke the 'nuclear option'.  Senate rules survive congressional elections.  And come November when the new Democratic majority is elected in the senate there will be no possibility of repuglican fillibusters.  By cutting off debate Frist will have cut off his own balls.  More power to him.

Kim Walker
Denver, CO

On December 17th, 2005 President George W. Bush told the nation that he had authorized, some 30 times, the NSA to conduct domestic surveillance operations against US citizens without a warrant,  and  that he would continue to do so. This was nothing less than a confession that he had violated federal law, in the form of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, the constitutional separation of powers and of the fourth Amendment of the US Constitution and that he would contiue to do so. Contrary to any claims made by the White House or the Justice Department, the President has no inherent authority to violate federal law or the Constitution in these matters.

These actions by the President pose a direct threat to the rule of law in this nation. If the President can take any action he sees fit under the guise of "national security", what need do we have of legislative or judicail branches of government?

Our country is being bled dry as good jobs leave. Large, multi-national corporations have no loyalty to any nation. Their only goal is to maximize profits. They will go where labor is cheapest and laws regarding safety, pollution, etc. are least or non-existent. If they can employ workers in China for 25 cents a day, you would have to work for 20 cents a day to compete. It is a race to the bottom. There are places where child labor is available even cheaper or slave labor is available at no cost at all. How do we keep jobs here? The answer is not to work for pennies a day, or keep expanding prisons to provide more slave labor or let our children be abused and discarded or give up benefits and retirement or continually work longer hours for less pay or eliminate all our health and safety laws. Instead of tearing down the wages and benefits of American workers and reducing our standard of living to the point that we make only cents per day like they do in impoverished nations the answer is to build wages up in these other countries to the point their wages are comparable to ours.

Columbus, Ohio - The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) announced today their endorsement of Congressman Ted Strickland to be Ohio's next governor.

"As a collective body of African-American legislators, we are convinced that Ted Strickland is the best candidate to help improve the quality of life of all people across Ohio regardless of their race, economic status or religious beliefs," said Representative Barbara Sykes (D-Akron), OLBC President.

Eighteen African-American Ohio state legislators make up OLBC.

"Civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. consistently talked about how shameful it is for one of the most prosperous countries in the world to have high poverty rates and an educational system that remains separate and unequal. He said that we have the resources to make the change, but many of our leaders simply don't have the will," said Rep. Sykes. "Under the leadership of our current administration the gap between the have's and have-not's has grown. Poverty rates are up, and our public school system that provides hope and inspiration to the majority of our children has not received adequate support."

On New Year's Day, I decided to start 2006 out with a public protest against the war.  Little did I know how public it would become.

My younger brother and I (he was only the wheelman, led astray) tagged three highway overpasses near Toledo with "TROOPS OUT NOW!" (see photo, below).  Suburban cops with too much time on their hands and citizens with cell phones being what they were, we were soon pulled over by five (no kidding) patrol cars and arrested on no fewer than five felonies each.  For those of you who haven't been paying attention to how state legislatures protect us from crime, in the late 90's in Ohio it became a felony to spraypaint a public building (called "getting tough on gangs") AND a felony to possess a can of spraypaint in the commission of that crime ("possession of criminal tools" says the Ohio Revised Code).

We spent that night in jail and the next day appeared, shackled together, before a judge who set bond at (this is all for real, pals) $3,000 each, no 10% business.