red dog 1
red dog 1's JournalShould President Obama Pardon Don Siegelman?
See e-mail sent yesterday, Saturday, May 30, by Don Siegelman
"Politicians Beware: The Definition for Bribery in Politics Has Changed"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251409545
More info on the Siegelman case
http://www.freedonsiegelman.org/
"Politicians Beware! The Definition for Bribery in Politics has changed"...by Don Siegelman
I got the following e-mail from former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman this morning. (Sat. May 30)
In it, he references his "Opinion Piece" in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.
"You Don't Need a Quid Pro Quo to Wind Up in Prison" by Don Siegelman
Unfortunately, the WSJ only allows the first 50 words or so to be seen for free, if you want to read more, you have to take out a paid subscription to the WSJ.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016123380
I have included most of the WSJ Opinion Piece in the following e-mail from Don
Hopefully, the entire OP will soon be on Don's website
http://www.freedonsiegelman.org/
May 30, 2015
"While you weren't looking, the legal definition of "political bribe" changed.
I'm about as far outside of the DC Beltway as one can get...I'm in the swamps of Louisiana in a federal prison.
Regardless, I'm blessed, my friends send me the Washington Post, and the WSJ.
Fortunately we get CNN, Morning Joe and Fox & Friends at breakfast, and catch Cavuto and MSNBC in the afternoon.
So, through prison's prism, presidential politics may be a bit diffracted, but one thing is crystal clear, we have two frontrunner's, Hillary and Jeb.
Another thing is clear, there is an obscene amount of money being handed out and hoarded.
Good news for the public: the cashes of campaign cash may buy unforeseen fireworks and political blowback that embarrass or more.
Since January, there have been dozens of major stories in the Post and the WSJ about the race...the race for big money.
Now, there is even an 'opinion piece' in the WSJ by yours truly".
( Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2015, Letters & Opinion section)
"The following is an amplified Version of that article
Seemingly, several Republicans may have enough cash and wherewithal to hang in and challenge Jeb.....Jeb, who I got to know and respect, reminds me so much of our friend, Mitt Romney....Democrats went giddy watching Jeb's evolutionary answer to the question of whether he would, knowing what we know today, invade Iraq.
Lesson: feet are best used to pad the precincts in Iowa and out of one's mouth.
Republican detractors are telling jeb to stop with the money and get out on the campaign trail.
Time will tell whether those naysayers are really soothsayers.
But Republicans became buoyed by Peter Schweizer's book, 'Clinton Cash' revealing that Mrs. Clinton is flush with cash in all of her, and Bill's, pockets.....Yet, to Rove's dismay, 'she only has two challengers, Senator Sanders who pulls no punches and Governor O'Malley who throws no punches.
The good news for Rove republicans is that Hillary doesn't need a serious Democratic opponent....She has a team of distracters: Bill and Hillary.
Old axiom: People don't trip over the grand Canyon..It's the cracks in the sidewalks that bring them down.
Bill and Hillary have done for the American public what Cicero couldn't induce interest in Latin.
'Quid Pro Quo' we now know means 'Something For Something'.
In the campaign speak:'I'll give you a campaign donation IF you give me what I want.'
Since I'm in prison, having been convicted of 'quid pro quo' bribery, I feel compelled and qualified to give a shocking 2016 election law primer on the subject.
EXPLICIT AGREEMENT:
The good news for candidates is that the U.S. Supreme Court told us in the McCormick case in 1991, that because a campaign contribution puts the First Amendment into play, it takes an 'explicit' agreement .where the terms of the agreement are 'asserted', before one crosses the line from politics to crime.
INFER AGREEMENT:
Only with Personal gain:..The bad news is that in run-of-the-mill bribery situations, where personal gain is involved, the courts give juries more leeway to convict, if the jury can 'infer' or 'imply' an agreement.
NOW YOU CAN 'INFER AGREEMENT' WITHOUT PERSONAL GAIN:
And there's more bad news that will give lawyers heartburn.
I am in prison because of a campaign contribution to The Alabama Education Foundation.
The contribution wasn't even to my reelection campaign.
There was no testimony of a 'quid pro quo', much less an 'express' one, and no allegation of personal gain.
No personal benefit, not a single penny.
There was no self-enrichment scheme at all.
LEGAL PRECEDENT HAS POTENTIAL TO CRIMINALIZE POLITICS
While my case may be anomaly in American Jurisprudence, it is nonetheless legal precedent, and as George Will points out, this ruling puts 'dangerous discretion' in the hands of prosecutors."
"Is is bribery or just politics?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-it-bribery-or-just-politics/2012/02/09/gIQA4hy34Q_story.html
"Candidates should ask themselves, 'Are donors going to want something?..Perhaps an innocent appointment? Maybe being Governor of Samoa? An ambassadorship? Governmental action of some kind? SuperPac donors may find their donations which were intended to fuel the campaign are now fodder for an ambitious prosecutor who wants to shoot fish in a barrel."
Google: "Why super PACs have moved from sideshow to center stage for presidential-hopefuls"
Washington Post, March 12, 2015 (Unable to post link)
"While Hillary calls for a constitutional amendment, Jeb asks donors to limit gifts to $1,000,000.
Gov. Huckabee has a better idea....The former governor says lift the ban on campaign contributions to 'yank back control from SuperPacs' and require instant disclosure by candidates."
"The candidate would have to go out and defend whether he was a wholly owned subsidiary of the $100 million dollar donor..."
Google: "Big money in politics emerges as a rising issue in 2016 campaign"
Washington Post, April 19, 2015...(Unable to post link)
"The impression that large donors steer our democracy feeds the belief that 'my vote doesn't count,' eroding faith and trust in public officials.
As Governor Huckabee points out, disclosure will give voters the information they need to cast an informed ballot.
Ergo, with disclosure, voters will feel more empowered knowing WHY they need to hammer who on election day.
Now that will enliven our democracy!"
Don Siegelman
Governor of Alabama 199-2003
http://www.donsiegelman.org/
New York City housing workers told to wear vests to protect themselves from New York City Police
Daily Kos
May 27, 2015
The New York Post ran a story a couple of days ago about how the New York City Housing Authority has ordered it's workers to wear bright orange vests in order to protect them from being shot by the NYPD.
The edict came down from city Housing Authority brass after an officer fatally shot an unarmed man in the stairwell of a Brooklyn complex and other cops accidentally pulled a gun on a maintenance crew, sources said.
"The elevator workers were basically told the reason was because of recent incidents where cops had pulled a gun on a caretaker and a supervisor on the roof of a housing complex," a source said.
One Housing boss told his workers that the move was for their own good because cops are "trigger happy", the sources said.
The workers also were told to wear their official IDs around their necks.
"They said in case a cop stops you, we don't want you reaching around in back pocket.
That could be another reason for a cop to shoot you," a source said.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/27/1388235/-New-York-City-housing-workers-told-to-wear-vests-to-protect-themselves-from-New-York-City-Police
Best Gene Hackman Movie Ever?
That scene at the end of The Birdcage with Gene Hackman in drag was hilarious, IMO.
(The Birdcage, a first rate comedy, also starred Robin Williams & Nathan Lane)
I wanted to add to the list of options the following great Gene Hackman movies, but, alas, they only allow you 10 Poll options
Young Frankenstein..("Wait..I was going to make espresso"
Mississippi Burning
Get Shorty
Scarecrow
The Firm
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Quick and the Dead
A Bridge Too Far
Behind Enemy Lines
Heist
I Never Sang For My Father
(and many others as well, including The Replacements)
30 Million Gallons Under the Sea: Five Years After BP Disaster, New Drilling OK'd by Spill Site
Democracy Now
May 14, 2015
Drilling has resumed near the site of the BP-operated offshore oil rig that exploded five years ago in the worst industrial environmental disaster in U.S. history.
A Louisiana-based oil company purchased the area from BP and is now drilling into the Macondo reservoir.
BP insists most of the oil has now dissolved or evaporated and did not settle on the ocean floor
.
AMY GOODMAN:
"But that's not what our guest found.
Antonia Juhasz spent two weeks on a ship in the Gulf of Mexico as part of a scientific research mission exploring the impact of the BP Gulf oil spill.
She participated in a dive in the Alvin submarine nearly a mile below the ocean surface, getting closer to the site of the blowout than anyone had ever been."
ANTONIA JUHASZ:
"The Alvin submarine is the first and last human-occupied submarine still available for research, so it's an incredible experience to go down in it.
And Dr. Samantha Joye, one of the leading experts on oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, who has lead the research looking at the impacts of the BP disaster, was my guide, with our pilot, Bob Waters, who's both, thank goodness, an engineer and a pilot, so if anything goes wrong with the sub, he's there with us.
So we went within two miles of the site of the blowout, which is as close as you can get, because the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon is still there.
It took two hours to get down
We then made a curve around the site of the disaster, taking sediment samples all along the way.
And when we got down there, you know, really, the most stark thing to report was that it --
there's basically nothing there.
It;s a moonscape.
Basically, all the sea life that could get out of the way of the oil got out of the way of the oil,
everything that couldn't was just, in Dr. Joye's words. 'nuked and killed'
And there is a blanket of oil, as much as two inches thick, covering 3,000 square feet of the ocean floor."
Read entire transcript of interview, Watch video, Listen to audio:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/05/14/30_million_gallons_under_the_sea
Stop Congress from gutting the Endangered Species Act
CREDO Action
May 18, 2015
Republicans in Congress have a problem.
They badly want to get rid of the Endangered Species Act, one of the most successful conservation laws we have for protecting endangered wildlife from going extinct.
But unfortunately for them, the law works and is immensely popular with the American people.
Their solution?
Keep the law, but gut it beyond recognition and make it totally ineffective by adding burdensome new restrictions and allowing local politicians to overrule science whenever they feel like it.
Congress is considering multiple bills right now - including one from Senator Rand Paul - that would gut the Endangered Species Act and put countless species at risk for extinction.
We can't let them get away with this cynical attempt at destroying the Endangered Species Act.
Just last week, the U.S. Senate considered eight bills that would modify the Endangered Species Act, most of which aim to saddle resource-strapped federal wildlife agencies with burdensome new hurdles and requirements.
Many also include rules that would force agencies to consider shoddy science and prioritize economic considerations like dirty fossil fuel drilling over wildlife habitat protection.
But one of those bills, crafted and sponsored by presidential candidate Rand Paul, would be so devastating to our ability to protect endangered wildlife that it was described by one expert as
the "Extinction Acceleration Act."
Paul's bill would remove protections from 94% of currently listed species, including polar bears, wolves, grizzly bears and sea otters.
It would force the automatic removal of species from the endangered list after five years, whether or not those species had recovered and were deemed safe by scientists.
Worst of all, it would take the entire process of species protection out of the hands of biologists and wildlife experts, where it rests right now, and require the consent of state governors and a joint resolution of Congress.
And if an endangered species was found to reside entirely within the borders of a single state, that state's governor would have the power to overrule the protection of that species.
We need to stand up against all these attempts now before Congress guts the Endangered Species Act.
TELL CONGRESS; HANDS OFF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT!
LEAVE THIS CRUCIAL AND IMMENSELY SUCCESSFUL WILDLIFE PROTECTION LAW ALONE!
To sign petition, go to:
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Save_ESA
ALERT: DFA Warning New TPP Provision Would Cut Medicare $700 Million
Daily Kos,
May 16, 2015
ALERT: DFA Warning: New TPP Provision Would Cut Medicare $700 Million to Help Pay for Trade Aid
Just received a mailing today from Democracy for America with an alert that a new provision in the pending TPP Trade Bill, inserted by the GOP of course, would cut $700 million from Medicare to pay the cost of a Democrat-backed proposal to provide aid to workers who lose their jobs because of TPP.
Here's part of the DFA message and a link to their petition:
"I didn't think it was possible -- but the Trans-Pacific Partnership just got a lot worse.
There's a big --brand new -- attack on Medicare that's just been added in the Senate to the Fast Track bill for the TPP.
The bill would cut a whooping $700 million from Medicare, hurting seniors who need access to health care.
That's right, Republicans insisted on cutting Medicare spending to pay for a Trade Adjusting Assistance program that Democrats got added to the bill in order to support workers who lost their jobs due to trade deals like the TPP.
This is ridiculous!
If Senators are concerned about the impact of the TPP on jobs, then they should reject the Fast track bill that makes it possible -- especially if the plan to pay for it comes out of the pockets of seniors who rely on Medicare to survive.
The Senate is about to vote again on Fast Track for the TPP.
President Obama is pressuring Democrats to vote for it, even with this cut to Medicare.
We have just a few days to stop them."
Sign our petition:
(Link to Democracy for America petition at the following link)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/16/1385285/-ALERT-DFA-Warning-New-TPP-Provision-Would-Cut-Medicare-700-Million-to-Help-Pay-for-Trade-Aid
Equally beneficial, get in touch with your senators' offices now and tell them not to support TPP in general, but especially if uses seniors' benefits to pay for it.
Count on the GOP....if they can screw American workers AND seniors in a single move, they'll jump at the chance.
Stand With Postal Workers This Thursday in a National Day of Action -- by Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
May 12, 2015
You can buy rolls of "Forever" stamps from your local post office, protecting you from future price increases...But We The People need to put a "Forever" stamp on the Post Office itself.
A cabal of corporate predators, congressional anti-government ideologues, and pussillanimous postal officials are dismantling this invaluable public service, piece by piece -- an agency that has literally delivered for America since the very start of our country.
Yet, in the name of "saving" the US Postal Service, they've been gutting it's services, intentionally driving away business.
Having fewer customers will give the cabal an excuse to make more cuts...and ultimately to kill it as a public entity.
This is like a boss telling workers: "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
Post office workers, letter carriers, and mail handlers are tired of the beatings, so they've launched a nationwide campaign with dozens of other grassroots organizations to rally public support to Save Our Public Postal Service by revitalizing and expanding the services that this venerable American institution can and should provide.
Under the uplifting banner of "I Stand with Postal Workers," the American Postal Workers Union is coordinating a National Day of Action this Thursday, May 14.
Some 70 public demonstrations and rallies will take place Thursday at post offices in 30 states -- from Alaska to Florida, Maine to California.
To join this spirited stand for restoring the common good in America, you can find the exact location, time, and contact number for each local event at:
http://www.apwu.org
This is Jim Hightower saying....Join me this Thursday in standing with postal workers -- for the benefit of all the people.
Each of us can be a symbolic "Forever" stamp to protect our public post offices from the privateers.
To join us, go to
http://www.apwu.org
Best Beatles Album Ever?
Note:
While "Abbey Road" was the last album the Beatles recorded,
"Let It Be" was the last album the Beatles released.
A Joke From India
Mr. Sharma comes home one night, and his wife throws her arm around his neck,
"I have great news..I'm a month overdue..I think we're going to have a baby!..The doctor gave me a test today, but until we find out for sure, we can't tell anybody."
The next day, Mrs. Sharma receives a telephone call from Reliance Energy,
(electricity supplier in India) because the electricity bill has not been paid.
"Am I speaking to Mrs. Sharma?"
"Yes, speaking."
Reliance guy: "You're a month overdue, you know."
"How do YOU know?" stammers the young woman.
"Well, ma'am, it's in our files.' says the Reliance guy.
"What are you saying? It's in your files. HOW?"
"Yes. We have a system of finding out who's overdue."
"GOD, this is too much."
"Madam, I am sorry. I am following orders. I have to inform you are overdue."
"I know that..Let me talk to my husband about this tonight..He will speak to your company tomorrow."
That night, she tells her husband about the incident, and he, mad as hell, rushes to the Reliance office the next morning.
"What's going on? You have it on file that my wife is a month overdue?" What business is that of yours?" the husband shouts.
"Just calm down," says the lady at the reception desk at Reliance.
"It's nothing serious..All you have to do is pay us."
"PAY you? And if I refuse?"
"Well, in that case, sir, we'd have no option but to cut yours off."
"And what would my wife do then?" he asks.
"I don't know..I guess she'd have to use a candle."
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Home country: U.S.A.
Member since: Tue Sep 14, 2010, 03:05 PM
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