And So Another Great Elder Joins Our Ancestors: Coretta Scott King 1927-2006

We continue to lose our warriors for peace and justice. Today the Goddess God has taken home another powerful elder Coretta Scott King. She transitioned early this morning in her sleep in California at age 78.

I am quite prayerful today. I am grateful for her personal legacy of social justice rooted in the Civil Rights Movement. Mrs. King made her final public appearance at a King rememberance ceremony about 2 weeks ago in Atlanta and I assumed that she was recovering and would be with us for atleast several more years.

Isn't it interesting that Mrs. King made her transition on the day that radical right wing ideologue Samuel Alito will be confirmed for the Supreme Court? He is one who is being specifically placed on the court to rollback the social justice gains of the last 50 years in legal decisions that privelege rights of the individual as it pertains to civil liberties, workers rights, environmental protections, women's reproductive rights, separation of church and state, affirmative action and gay rights. Perfect, isn't it? What better way to send a message summoning the next generation to stand up and accept the torch working toward peace and social justice?

I accept this torch. I feel grateful for the immense legacy that has been left to me and the younger generations of all people. For I am summoned for this high calling and I pledge to continue the fight for peace and equal justice for all.

I also call upon the Goddess God to assist the King children to come together in peace and wisdom and decide upon the best future for the King Center for Social Change for the Beloved Community.

I thank you Mother King!

Going Forward: We Still Have the Power. Period.

Ok. It sucks. Alito will be on the Supreme Court because the filibuster failed. The number of Democrats who voted against the filibuster included a number of red state senators. This is somewhat understandable since the Democratic senators and interest groups did a HORRIBLE job of educating the public on just how much Alito is out of the mainstream.

So, we lost this battle but not the war. Here's a great post from the blog DailyKos written a longtime progressive activist on going forward. I think it merits a quick read, for it is quite wise.

My prayer is that more of the apathetic public will wake up and realize how much the truth matters then rally with us to take our country back.

Update: Time for a Million Man Phone March Against Alito TODAY!

Over the weekend you generated a tsunami of phone calls supporting a
filibuster of Alito. Today at 4:30 PM EST is the cloture vote on the
Alito filibuster, and with your dedication we will generate two tsunamis.

We will win because we will hit them where they are weakest, their fear
of not getting reelected. In your calls today we will arm you below
with specifics about candidate registration deadlines for primary
challenges so THEY know WE know where their election hopes live.

The bottom line is ANY senator who betrays the will of the people must
be removed from the general election before they have a chance to lose
yet another seat because of their cowardice, and be replaced with a
stronger candidate who WILL fight for the people and win. Regardless of how this turns out, we will immediately and aggressively move in that direction.

Very simply, in your calls today ask for a commitment that they will
either vote against cloture OR abstain (either is acceptable). If not
tell them you will encourage a challenger to run in their own state and
support them any way you can. Use the details below (like cutoff date
for primary candidate filing) to let them know how very serious you are.

Tell them what state you are actually calling from if they ask. Please
concentrate on your own senators and the ones listed below as the key
ones to sway. All the toll free numbers to the Washington offices we
have are 888-355-3588, 888-818-6641, 800-426-8073, 877-851-6427,
866-340-9279 and 866-340-9281. The master list of all direct dial phone and
fax numbers for all senators state by state including all district
offices is here:

http://www.nocrony.com/master_senate_phones.txt

UP FOR ELECTION IN 2006

Daniel Akaka [HI], already has two primary challengers, one of whom, Ed
Case, is a former elected state representative and is polling well.

Joe Lieberman [CT], already has a primary challenge looming from Ned
Lamont who has set up an exploratory site, and until 5/16 to make the
decision to jump in. They last thing Joe needs is lots of more
encouragement for Lamont.

Bill Nelson [FL], currently has NO primary challenger, with until 5/12
to find one.

Ben Nelson [NE], currently has NO primary challenger, but if there is a
concerned citizen in Nebraska who wants to run they have until 3/1 to
register as a candidate.

Jeff Bingaman [NM], currently has NO primary challenger but still two
weeks remain until the deadline for filing of 2/14.

Carper [DE], currently has NO primary challenger and all the way until
7/28 to enter the primary against him.

Kohl [WI], currently has NO primary challenger. We have heard he plans
on skipping the vote, which is the same thing as an abstain. The
filing deadline in Wisconsin is 7/11.

Cantwell [WA], is being already challenged by a strong progressive
candidate, Mark Wilson.

Byrd [WV], has no serious primary challenger we can confirm and the
1/28 deadline has just expired. Perhaps you can appeal to his professed
love of the Constitution which Alito would gut.

Robert Menendez [NJ], was just appointed but has to run himself this
year. If he drops the ball there are challengers waiting in the wings
and until 4/10 to decide.

Lincoln Chafee [RI] is a Republican who professes to be pro-choice and
not feeling very secure right now about her 2006 prospects. Perhaps he
is a possibility for abstention on cloture.

Olympia Snowe [ME] is a another Republican who professes to be
pro-choice who must face the electorate in 2006. She should also be encouraged
to abstain on cloture.

OTHER POSSIBLE SWING SENATORS

Blanche Lambert Lincoln [AR], up for reelection in 2010
Mark Pryor [AR], up for reelection in 2008
Tom Harkin [IA], up for reelection in 2008
Evan Bayh [IN], up for reelection in 2010
Mary Landrieu [LA], up for reelection in 2008
Susan Collins [ME], up for reelection in 2008
Carl Levin [MI], up for reelection in 2008
Max Baucus [MT], up for reelection in 2008
Frank Lautenberg [NJ], up for reelection in 2008
Tim Johnson [SD], up for reelection in 2008
Patty Murray [WA], up for reelection in 2010

Just tell them that failure to support this filibuster will be a deal
breaker as Alito starts to cast the votes that his reactionary
supporters absolutely know he will.

If you can't get through any other way, or even if you can, also submit
these two action pages too:

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/nuke_option.php

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/reid.php

Let us be able to look back and say we did everything we could have
done to win this victory in spite of the corrupt media pundits who are
working overtime to tell us what we cannot do. We are proving them wrong
day by day. At the very worst we will establish once and for all who
we can never trust with the public office ever again.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed
to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

Here's how to push the Senate to Oppose Alito!

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the unfolding Senate confirmation proceedings of radical right winger Samuel Alito, here's why Alito needs opposing - in the words of spineless Republican Senate Majority leader Bill Frist.

Furthermore, today the New York Times editorial page ran a gutsy take on why the Dems and moderate Republicans MUST do EVERYTHING possible to keep Alito from poisoning the courts against "the little guy".

Here's an email I received from a friend of mine named Marymine. She sums up the situation best and lets you know what we can do TODAY to push the Democrat and moderate Republican senators to do everything they can to keep this nutcase OFF of the Supreme Court:

I'm in the process of emailing out to as many people as possible what
I'm discovering as I am calling Senate offices, which are now open.

1. They are really listening!

2. They take seriously hearing that Gore's speech fully expressed
Democrats' rage and fear we all have for what is happening in this
country, as well as our immense frustration and hopelessness about our
own representatives because of their repeated passivity.

3. They are particularly sensitive to repeating back to them their own
promise - that they were "holding their powder (bullets?)" on Roberts
(who should have been resisted), because THIS nomination for O'Connor's
seat was the critical one and they would even filibuster to stop from
putting anyone but a moderate in that spot.

4. And they hear when I say that people across the country are
DISGUSTED with their own party for not standing up for them again and
again, including women now truly detesting Diane Feinstein for blowing
off even the idea of filibuster, betraying not only her own promise
about abortion, but the central issue of how frighteningly to the right
this guy is and how READY he is to declare constitutional all that Bush
is doing (since Alito helped devise most of it!).

What is at stake?

We are:

**being falsely taken into wars,
**being spied on without warrants,
**holding 1000s of people on no charges,
**facing legal changes that increasingly deny access to courts,
**overwhelmed by the growth of corporate power,
**left with environmental laws parsed into impotence,
**receiving presidential signing statements which contradict the very
bills,
**caught in the Federalist Society move toward a unitary
presidency capable of eliminating federal agencies under him such as
the EPA, FDA, Voting Rights Commission, SEC ...)

And that is leaving off the huge importance of women's issues or gay
issues - but only listing the full court press of a presidency moving
us further and further toward his total control.

I started my calls with the Judiciary Committee Democrats (Kennedy,
Kohl, Feingold, Schumer, Leahy, Feinstein, Durbin and ?) but I'm also
calling Harry Reid's office (all of them, repeatedly) since he's the
minority leader and is also walking away from a fight. Call him a
coward, call them all that, get mad, let them know how you feel.

I believe they are now sensitized by the endless emotional standing
ovations that Gore got and by the truly profound picture he painted -
and this nomination is SMACK DAB in the middle of everyone of those
issues. (How can you say you care about spying and not care who will
decide whether it's constitutional? Same about corruption or any other
crime this administration has committed.)

Gore's speech stirred up a hornet's nest and the Democratic Senators
are now caught between the full horror Gore aptly described and their
flabby consciences and in that spot between the two, OUR ANGER at them for
past betrayals, OUR CERTAINTY that this guy is dangerous, OUR DEMAND FOR A
FILIBUSTER, is getting heard.

So, I hope you will also print out the list of Senators below, too, and
take them with you today and call in every spare minute.

Call and call and get mad for what we have all been put through and
then call again, and again.

We HAVE to do something RIGHT NOW!!! The Judiciary Committee is
scheduled to vote Tuesday and the full Senate may vote this week.

Best wishes to all of us on fulfilling our responsibility to save this
country from what it is becoming. Gore didn't use the F word but
fascism is real and already happening here.

Would you pass the list to friends, ask them to call and contact
everyone you possibly can on the internet through groups and
organizations and blogs and emails? Would you let them know that they
need to do something RIGHT NOW - today! today! - about Alito? Would
you encourage all the people you can reach to do as much networking and
phone banking and internet-savvy moves as they can possibly jump on to
stir up millions (I mean that literally) of calls to the Senate
Democrats and the handful of moderate Republicans?

Moblization used to be in the streets at a moment's notice. We have to
do it this way now, by phone and email and internet groups, but,
isolated as it is, we HAVE TO DO IT!

If you don't feel like calling, then drop an email to these senators. Here's the senate website

Akaka, Daniel- (D - HI) (202) 224-6361
Baucus, Max- (D - MT) (202) 224-2651
Bayh, Evan- (D - IN) (202) 224-5623
Biden, Joseph- (D - DE) (202) 224-5042
Bingaman, Jeff- (D - NM) (202) 224-5521
Boxer, Barbara- (D - CA) (202) 224-3553
Bunning, Jim- (R - KY) (202) 224-4343
Byrd, Robert- (D - WV) (202) 224-3954
Cantwell, Maria- (D - WA) (202) 224-3441
Carper, Thomas- (D - DE) (202) 224-2441
Chafee, Lincoln- (R - RI) (202) 224-2921
Clinton, Hillary- (D - NY) (202) 224-4451
Susan Collins - (R - ME) (202) 224-2523
Conrad, Kent- (D - ND) (202) 224-2043
Corzine, Jon- (D - NJ) (202) 224-4744
Dayton, Mark- (D - MN) (202) 224-3244
Mike Dewine - (D - OH) (202) 224-2315
Dodd, Christopher- (D - CT) (202) 224-2823
Dorgan, Byron- (D - ND) (202) 224-2551
Durbin, Richard- (D - IL) (202) 224-2152
Feingold, Russell- (D - WI) (202) 224-5323
Feinstein, Dianne- (D - CA) (202) 224-3841
Harkin, Tom- (D - IA) (202) 224-3254
Inouye, Daniel- (D - HI) (202) 224-3934
Jeffords, James- (I - VT) (202) 224-5141
Johnson, Tim- (D - SD) (202) 224-5842
Kennedy, Edward- (D - MA) (202) 224-4543
Kerry, John- (D - MA) (202) 224-2742
Kohl, Herb- (D - WI) (202) 224-5653
Landrieu, Mary- (D - LA) (202) 224-5824
Lautenberg, Frank- (D - NJ) (202) 224-3224
Leahy, Patrick- (D - VT) (202) 224-4242
Levin, Carl- (D - MI) (202) 224-6221
Lieberman, Joseph- (D - CT) (202) 224-4041
Lincoln, Blanche- (D - AR) (202) 224-4843
Mikulski, Barbara- (D - MD) (202) 224-4654
Murray, Patty- (D - WA) (202) 224-2621
Nelson, Bill- (D - FL) (202) 224-5274
Nelson, Ben- (D - NE) (202) 224-6551
Obama, Barack- (D - IL) (202) 224-2854
Pryor, Mark- (D - AR) (202) 224-2353
Reed, Jack- (D - RI) (202) 224-4642
Reid, Harry- (D - NV) (202) 224-3542
Rockefeller, John- (D - WV) (202) 224-6472
Salazar, Ken- (D - CO) (202) 224-5852
Sarbanes, Paul- (D - MD) (202) 224-4524
Olympia Snowe - (D - ME) (202) 224-5344
Schumer, Charles- (D - NY) (202) 224-6542
Stabenow, Debbie- (D - MI)- (202) 224-4822
Wyden, Ron- (D - OR) (202) 224-5244

Why hasn't Bush caught Osama Bin Laden yet?

Regarding the Bin Laden tape that appeared today, I can honestly say that it is unacceptable that he is still running free after 5 years and all of the money and lives that have been wasted in Iraq. I no longer trust President Bush and his entire administration.

I find it suspicious that whenever Bush is in a tight-spot regarding his power grab activities, a tape of Bin Laden appears. His administration is now conveniently pouncing on the tape to support his illegal wiretapping and the rights-robbing Patriot Act. And isn't it interesting that there hasn't been a terrorism alert since the 2004 Elections?

The sight of Bin Laden no longer moves me to rally behind Bush. In fact, it makes me see how incompetent, weak and corrupt America's current political leadership really is. The only reason we've not been attacked again is because the terrorists have chosen not to do so. Bush's response to Katrina demonstrated his inability to even defend us from standing water!

It is clear to me that the preservation of our civil liberties and adopting a wise, not reckless foreign policy and national defense is American democracy's only hope of survival. We can never allow our U.S. Consititution to be trashed by Bush while so many of our soldiers have died to preserve it.

I wonder will the mainstream media have the guts to ask the real question Americans want to know: Why is Osama STILL FREE? I doubt it. I expect that the media will continue to work on Bush's behalf and try to increase Americans' fear of terrorism to make an argument for Bush's illegal wiretapping and other power grab activities.

Al Gore lets out a roar for the preservation of our U.S. Constitution!

Al just gave an AMAZING speech regarding Bush's attempt to crush our Constitution and become KING George W. Bush.

Here's the transcript. It is also being shown several times on C-SPAN where I originally watched it.

Shrewdly, Gore is working with other concerned Republicans such as ex-Congressman Bob Barr from Georgia on the preservation of our system of checks and balances.

It's like Bob Barr says, "Bush has drawn the line in the sand and is daring the American people to call him on it."

Personally, I find Bob Barr's politics repellent, but I'm with him on this one. I also respect the fact that he's working with the ACLU and other civil liberties and legal organizations to return us to our normal way of conducting business as a country for over 200 years. From what I've heard, the legal and judicial organizations are livid over Bush's claim that he is above the law.

If you're not angry or concerned yet, you've not been paying attention.

The Co-opting of Martin Luther King Holiday

I hope you will all go out today and engage in acts that enrich our community today. I write with some skepticism and anger today. I write on a day in which the mainstream media and pundits tell us that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is a shoo-in for confirmation. Not sure why this is a bad thing?

I'm not surprised since our mainstream media and the Democratic legislators have done a poor job of helping the American public understand the high stakes of this confirmation. Our system of checks and balances is crumbling at our feet and the very concept of democracy in America is being rolled back before our very eyes.

Yet, many Americans are sleeping. They sleep because our media shockingly chooses to focus on the fact that Alito's wife broke out in tears in a fit of calculated political theatre when her husband was being fairly questioned about his extremist record of civil rights hostility. What about the tears of the worker, women who can't get their pharmacist to fill their birth control pill prescriptions, and those who are being held at Guanatanomo Bay prison for years without access to a fair trial in America?

Alito has been hand-picked by Bush to rule for unchecked presidential power, corporate power, abolishing privacy rights, civil liberties, government regulation and the separation between church and state. If you watched the Supreme Court Confirmation hearings last week then you know that I'm speaking the truth. Alito could barely be bothered to cover these truths up, since he believes himself to be a shoo-in and expects Dems will not have the backbone to challenge his confirmation with a filibuster. By the looks of things, he may be right.

I tire of folks who oppose everything that King stood for and are actively working to rollback peace and justice in America, nevertheless step in and claim to be a defender of King's dream? Right now, I'm watching the King Holiday Celebration Ceremony at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on television. Prominent Republicans such as Governor Sonny Perdue, Senator Johnny Isakson and the like are hurrying up to the church pulpit to sing King's praises - while continuing to work to ram through the rights-robbing Voter ID Bill which is designed to discourage Democrats, particularly the elderly and poor, from voting.

Luckily, folks such as the Ebenezer Baptist Church pastor are giving speeches that are calling Governor Perdue out! Yesterday, Representative John Lewis who marched with Dr. King, refused to attend the MLK Holiday Ceremony at the Georgia State Capitol because he felt it would be hypocritical were he to stand next to Gov. Perdue and behave as if everything is okay when legislation like the Voter ID Bill is being entertained. YES!

I've written all this in a desperate call to get people to realize that the call of the Civil Rights Movement has never been more current and necessary than today! We need to be about the business of building a new social movement and pattern ourselves, to a helpful degree, after what our ancestors did to change this nation for the better.

King was more than "the dream". He took stands against the Vietnam War and for the Poor People's Campaign - just before he was assasinated.

We must take a stand now and organize, organize, organize! We must get involved in our communities and work to strengthen and rebuild it. We must ask questions and raise our voices before a mainstream media and folks who seek to co-opt Dr. King's message while diluting its meaning.

We must demand accountability.

Dems coming at Alito with some real fire power?

Let me just say right up front that I've not been very happy with the way the right wing leaning media spin has been treating the Scalio nomination like its inevitable. And when I hear weak-kneed Dems begin to talk the same way, it drives me nuts.

What will the progressive legislators fight for, many wonder? I can't stand the idea of Scalito getting on the courts. His record indicates that he is a dependable agent of the Christian right wing extremists and the corporate agenda. Which means workers, people of color, women, gays, seniors, the environment, separation of church and state, our system of checks and balances and civil liberties can hang it all up. All of our gains are rapidly being eroded right before our eyes. Don't know how many people can still be in denial about this, but it is true.

Samuel Alito has a pattern in word and legal rulings of working to roll back legally accepted precedents like Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, separation between church and state and other major civil liberties Americans now take for granted.

I've kept tabs on the hearings since Monday and have been displeased with the Dems. When will they make their move? It is during the hearings that Dems need to get the attention of the public and let them know what Scalito really means to do to our lives and the Consitution.

Today, there's been some rumbling on the Dems' side. Senator Edward Kennedy calls Senator Arlen Spector's bluff regarding Scalito's membership in the racist and sexist Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

Here's hoping this is the turn of the tide.

Poll: Most Americans believe U.S. Government should have a court warrant to eavesdrop on Americans

Funny what happens when you ask the right polling question. Really, this is a no-brainer. The American Constitution contains a strong system of checks and balances and it is in disarray right now because the GOP leadership refuses to follow our rules. If it is worth the effort of wiretapping then it is worth the effort to go before a court and make your case for it! Otherwise, law-abiding peace activists, gays, Democrats, Independents, wayward Republicans, and anyone else who disagrees and actively opposes the Bush administration can and are winding up on Bush terrorist list for wiretapping. This is already happening.

Is Christianity a Casualty of War?

Amen. Christian Evangelist Tony Campolo writes a wonderful column on how many leading Christian Evangelists have been derelict in their duty to challenge the Bush Administration's corrupt regime. Any thing is acceptable to them as long as gay marriage and abortion are stamped out. Thing is, both issues are only being used to rally the GOP troops.

Increasingly, the Christian right wing has alienated most of America and I hope they are as visible as possible around Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito when hearings start tomorrow.