Tag: Activism

This from AP should bring cheers and applause:

The New Jersey Assembly approved legislation Thursday to abolish the state’s death penalty, making Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s signature as the only step left before the state becomes the first in four decades to ban executions.

Lawmakers voted 44-36 to replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill within a week.

This is a fantastic victory by abolitionists in New Jersey, and something that should inspire those in the other states.

The vote comes as state executions across the US are on hold until the Supreme Court decides the lethal injection challenge.

Break out the champagne!!

Details on the vote now at Blue Jersey.

WaPo suggests the victory had its roots in the state’s finances:

The repeal bill follows the recommendation of a state commission that reported in January that the death penalty “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.” But equally persuasive to lawmakers was not saving lives but money — it costs more to keep a prisoner indefinitely on death row than incarcerated for life.

And Reuters adds:

In New Jersey, a legislative commission in January 2007 recommended abolishing the death penalty, saying there was no clear evidence it deterred the worst crimes, and that it was “inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”

I am so very pleased with this!  This is the best good news I’ve had all week!  I hope you all are enjoying this even a tenth as much as I am!!  

The best show on television today is “The Wire.” In subsequent entries, I’ll explain why I think so. Its new season, Season 5, starts in January and The Wire will be one of the things I write about. Season 4 focused on politics a good deal.

At the finale to Season 4, the new mayor of Baltimore, where the show is set, is faced with the dilemma of doing “the right thing” and doing what he perceives is the right thing politically (the plot point involves “eating shit” so the Baltimore schools get money it needs vs. what’s right for his shot at being Governor. You know what he does.

Afterwards, his close aide, who fought the campaign with him, discusses this with the chief of staff of the former mayor, saying “can’t believe he left the money on the table.” The former COS responds “they all disappoint.” And indeed, they do. They’ve all disappointed, even Lincoln, FDR and Bobby Kennedy.

As citizens and activists, our allegiances have to be to the issues we believe in. I am a partisan Democrat it is true. But the reason I am is because I know who we can pressure to do the right thing some of the times. Republicans aren’t them. But that does not mean we accept the failings of our Democrats. There is nothing more important that we can do, as citizens, activists or bloggers than fight to pressure DEMOCRATS to do the right thing on OUR issues.

And this is true in every context I think. Be it pressing the Speaker or the Senate majority leader, or the new hope running for President. There is nothing more important we can do. Nothing. It’s more important BY FAR than “fighting” for your favorite pol because your favorite pol will ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS, disappoint you.

In the middle of primary fights, citizens, activists and bloggers like to think their guy or woman is different. They are going to change the way politics works. They are going to not disappoint. In short, they are not going to be pols. That is, in a word, idiotic.

Yes, they are all pols. And they do what they do. Do not fight for pols. Fight for the issues you care about. That often means fighting for a pol of course. But remember, you are fighting for the issues. Not the pols.

More on this theme in a week or so. I’m traveling.  

by Hillary Rettig and OPOL

Bleeding heart.

Tree hugger.

Feminazi.

Commie sympathizer.

Traitor.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Sometimes, a video is worth a lot more, whether it is simply an animated image or a full-fledged movie. Or simply an image that morphs (transforms) into another image. Over the past few days, I’ve been experimenting with image morphing software and posting a few examples of the results in various locations….

Cross-posted at Daily Kos
Hello out there! I don’t usually diary because as working mother of young children I am quite busy. But I really want ask this – is stopping the war a priority? I know there is a lot of compelling news today, but hope you will give this subject a moment of your attention. There are protests in 11 cities this Saturday and, on behalf of everyone who is planning to attend, I want to tell you – WE NEED YOU THERE!
http://www.oct27.org/

My sign for this protest reads  – “Stop the war – for their children, and for ours” and I believe this.  We have to stop this war for our children.  We are draining the treasury, we are turning the world against us, we are causing pain and destruction – in their names – and they will pay for it.  I shudder to think the kind of world they will grow up in. 

Perhaps you will say that our energy is better spent combating global climate change – I say that protesting the war will help in this fight too.  Not only by showing our politicians that we Democrats are no shrinking violets, but because going to a protest will make you an activist – one who is willing to go outside their comfort zone for what they believe in, and this carries over into other areas. 

We complain and complain about our representatives continuing to fund the war.  Are they spineless? We ask.  What about all the alleged abuses and countless innocents living and dying in squalor?  What about our soldiers PTSD who are abandoned when they return? Is our government evil?  We ask.  Do they have spines? We ask.

The truth is – we could ask each of these questions about ourselves.  What are we willing to do to stop the war?  We expect our representatives to stand up for us, but we will not even stand up for ourselves. 

Do you think protesting is futile?  Well, if it does no good it is because you are not there.  That’s right!  If you went, the protest would be a success!  Because if you are going, that means that someone like you, somewhere else has seen the light and has decided to go.  If everyone who is against the war marched, we could not be ignored any longer.

I am sorry for the negativity – I know a lot of you out there are going or have damn good reasons not to.  I am discouraged because the entire group of mothers that I organized to march backed out.  They are all against the war, but marching was not a priority.  They are my friends, and I want to understand, but I don’t.

BTW – Bush and Cheney might be ignoring us, but do you think our own candidates are?  Perhaps Clinton/Obama/Edwards/et al. are watching to find out what kind of supporters they’ve got.  We need to let them know that we mean business – that we will not sit around and be fed on chocolate cream puffs while the world is burning down around us. 

It is true that as one person we are each but a drop in the bucket.  In these situations we cannot be more than that – and  that bothers some people.  But I say that this is pure ego and that to get things done sometimes we must move swarm-like with a crowd.  If you want to express your own opinions loud and clear – go out and buy a piece of cardboard and write your thoughts in large, bold letters.  You will be most satisfied when a like minded person gives you the “thumbs up” (or a counterprotestor gives you a different sort of gesture).  And then march.

Please join us this Saturday at noon. For more information see http://www.oct27.org

Yesterday was Today is Iraq War Moratorium Day. It is a day of national individualized action observed the third Friday of every month. Take the pledge.

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s already been four weeks since the first Iraq War Moratorium Day. The time flew by for me. And perhaps for some of you.

Unfortunately, since then, time has just came to a halt, real and metaphorical, for more victims–civilian and military–of the continued occupation of Iraq and their loved ones .