Supreme Court

Last week I was both surprised and pleased when the Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions requiring the Federal Reserve Bank to comply with requests for information made by Bloomberg under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). Bloomberg simply wanted to know who received loans from the Fed's discount window in the aftermath of the 2008 financial market crisis, and how much each entity received. Surely this is basic information that should be available to every American taxpayer. But the Fed fought tooth and nail all the way to the Supreme Court to preserve their privileged secrecy. However, transparency and openness won the day. There are some 29,000 pages to decipher, but a few points stand out initially.

"Wisconsin v. Yoder, a 1972 Supreme Court case dealing with an Amish family who wanted to withdraw their children from public school after the eighth grade. [Citation] from the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger:

"Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU’s legal director, has said his group is in a "Catch-22" because the government says the identities of people whose communications have been intercepted is secret. But only people who know they have been wiretapped can sue over the program"

from Associated Press: High court turns away challenge to domestic-spying program

If it is necessary to limit government, then perhaps we cannot have government. It is after all a "monopoly on the use of force in a given geographic area." Everyone has to deal with it. Therefore if what we need, as human beings, liberty and agencies to protect that liberty, government is the worst way of trying to provide them. We need a polycentric ordering of society, not a single power.

Mary Stromberg is a grandmother in Alabama who is concerned about what her grandchildren will be learning. Her concerns started when Congress passed the Military Commissions Act and moved her to ask educators in Alabama what children would be told when the Act was signed by Bush on October 17th. Mary and all Americans want to know.

Aaron Russo is a man with guts.  A former music promoter, talent agent, film producer, and near candidate for President of the Libertarian Party, Russo is one of those uniquely American iconoclasts whose stubbornness has led him to stray far and wide to satisfy his intellect.

Initially a film about his search to find out whether Americans indeed are required to pay Federal Income taxes, Russo became compelled to delve into much deeper topics related to political corruption, the influence of international banking on American policy and, ultimately, the fate that awaits our nation if we continue to allow our government to increase its control on our daily lives.

Alito is in. If it hadn't been him it would have been one of the clones lined up to take his place provided by the Federalist Society. When the opposition controls both the ball the field and both the teams you cannot win. Now is time to take a hard look at our approach and examine, with egos deactivated, how this happened.

The Supreme Court is now totally iced, frozen into compliance with the view that America's checks and balances are no longer in force. We discovered a week ago, beyond doubt, that the NeoCon strategy is working. It works so well that the Congress is in effect a one party legislature and that party is not Republican but NeoCon. Make no mistake, the two are not identical. Expect to see independently minded Democrats to go the same way as the

Out of sheer desperation, President Bush nominated a computer as his 17th and most recent candidate to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. With only two months left in his second term, it's now or never for a Bush nominee to make it onto the highest court in the land. Harriet Miers, the President's first and now long forgotten nominee, drew the wrath of the President's own party when it was discovered that she just wasn't conservative enough. She was not, for example, an Evangelical Born-Again Pentecostal Witness ...

by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, ERA Campaign Network California Coordinator

Wording of the Equal Rights Amendment:

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any state on account of sex.

You may think that the Equal Rights Amendment is dead; however, you would be wrong. It has never been more alive and ready to become law.
On October 19^th Representative Arthenia Joyner of Florida filed a bill in
the state legislature there calling for ratification. The bill, (HCR 8005) will be considered in the 2006 Legislative Session.

For some years now a small but determined group of women have been
pursuing ratification of the long overdue ERA through a

Let's take a look at the latest Federal assault on State Rights, which of course is the ultimate assault on personal choices. No, it is not Abortion but something just as dangerous to the U.S. Constitution.

The Social Conservatives, neo cons, Christian Coalition, Bush Republicans, it doesn't matter what you call them, want control of the citizens in America . I am talking about trying to control how we, as individuals, want to die.

I got into a discussion with another political writer this week about the old right vs left brain functions. He was looking for a connection between liberals who think in terms of government control and conservatives who used to think of limited government and would it be possible to connect the brains in hopes of changing the whole political process. I would like to take this on another road and hope he will forgive me for using his hypothesis and changing the brain division in a different direction.

I am seeing a different division in American politics at this time. Forget Republicans versus Democrats and let's get into the crux of the problem. Just in the last couple of weeks we are seeing our government in action trying to locate two replacement judges for Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O'Conner. What is the division problem? Can we be honest and admit it is the prohibition of abortions?

The ongoing account of the Lost Liberty Hotel may be the ultimate definition of comeuppance. Take your choice of these choice cliches:

Turnabout is fair play

Saturday Night (7/2/05) I spent most of the night listening to the American people's discussions on the appointment of another Supreme Court Judge.  As far as our American opinions go it comes down to whether the Government has the right to step into our personal choices or whether the individual still keeps his freedoms.

Saturday Night (7/2/05) I spent most of the night listening to the American people's discussions on the appointment of another Supreme Court Judge. As far as our American opinions go it comes down to whether the Government has the right to step into our personal choices or whether the individual still keeps his freedoms.

The American people demand that these decisions be made by the Federal Government as the states are not to be trusted. We have three major decisions resting on whether the Feds tell us whether our Universities or Corporations can or cannot use Affirmative Action in building their student body and employees. They have already handed over Hate Crime Legislation away from the States and given it to the Federal Government. The War on Drugs is another decision that is totally directed by Federal Authority.

An outstanding investigative journalist money can’t buy

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Greg Palast
New York: Penguin Books, 2004
361 pages

The most important chapter of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (Democracy) is the first: It details how Florida officials, especially Governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris, wrongly disqualified thousands of Democratic voters to throw the 2000 election to George W. Bush.