Get the Facts Newsletter, April 2006
Volume 2, Issue 4
On March 28, 2006, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. ruled 2–1 against me in my ongoing battle with House Majority Leader John Boehner. Their decision stated that I must have known the tape was illegally recorded and thus that I could not use the First Amendment as a defense.
Ever since that day, experts around the country have been analyzing exactly what impact this decision could have on your First Amendment rights. And it's not pretty. Bottom line: According to the ruling, anyone who even reads information that was illegally obtained would be violating the law.
As the Washington Post put it, in their excellent editorial about the ruling: "[Dissenting] Judge Sentelle rightly points out that under the majority's reading, the newspapers that published the story were just as legally culpable as Mr. McDermott . . . [The 2–1] ruling can't be right; the full court ought to intervene."
So, after careful consideration, I have decided to petition the full nine-member appeals court to hear the case. The stakes are just too high for me to give up the fight. But I'll need your help because, as you can imagine, the legal bills have become quite onerous after almost a decade of arguing this case up and down the court system. Please join the fight by making a donation to my campaign fund. Even a $10 donation would help.
Thank you for all of your support over the years. Now, let's go win this fight once and for all because America can never be free without free speech.
Sincerely,
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Some days, I really wish the U.S. had a vote-of-no-confidence like other democracies around the world do. Then we might not have to endure months of budget bickering and butchering and the ill-advised, unguided spending that occurs in the meanwhile. Instead we would be forced to find a way to work together, which seems to be the only way that happens these days.
For inspiration, I look to Latvia. According to a recent article by David Baumann of the National Journal, when Latvian leaders couldn’t reach agreement on the country's 2004 budget, they voted to dissolve Parliament and form a new government that could actually get something accomplished. Baumann then proceeds to rip apart America's so-called budget resolution process, revealing its seamy underbelly and concludes this:
"As the year drags on and Election Day approaches, Democrats are likely to remind voters that the Republicans who control both chambers of Congress couldn't pass a budget. 'Symbolically, it makes a big difference,' said Tom Kahn, Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee. 'If you can't budget, you can't govern.' Just ask the former prime minister of Latvia."
• Read the full article
WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON WITH OUR PLANS FOR IRAN?
Trying to keep up with the Bush Administration's plans for dealing with Iran is an exercise in frustration. If it weren't for leaks to the media (see above), we really wouldn't know much of anything, and that should scare us all. Needless to say, I've been keeping a close eye on media coverage of our policy toward Iran, and I've found some articles worth recommending to you.
First is one by Fred Kaplan of Slate called "Are We Really Going to Nuke Iran?" He asks some questions that seem obvious, but we certainly haven't heard any helpful answers to them. For example, he asks, "Is President Bush or anyone else in a position of power truly, seriously thinking about dropping nuclear bombs on a country that poses no direct threat to the United States, possesses no nuclear weapons of its own, and isn't likely to for at least a few years? . . . preventive war waged with nuclear weapons is (not to put too fine a spin on it) crazy."
Simon Jenkins, a writer at the Guardian, poses this frightening point: If ever there was a nation not to drive to extremes, it is Iran. He writes, "Iran is the first test of [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair's interventionism, and the auguries are not good. Every saber rattle in Washington must be music to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's ear. Whether or not a bombing attack might damage his factories, it is unlikely to destabilize his government, rather the reverse. It would heighten nationalist fervor and increase hatred of the West."
And, finally, a report by Sarah Baxter in London's Sunday Times, "Gunning for Iran," all but confirms that a direct strike by the U.S. on Iran is coming. She writes, "White House insiders say that Bush and Dick Cheney . . . have made up their minds to resolve the Iranian crisis before they leave office in three years' time. They say that military intervention—in the form of a massive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities—is being planned and that Bush is prepared to order the raid unless Iran scraps its nuclear programme."
• Read the Slate article
• Read the Guardian article
• Read the Sunday Times article
• Read or watch my speech "America Must Resist Temptation to Start a War with Iran"
As I read daily reports of pro-democracy protestors being beaten and arrested by government security forces in Nepal, visions of Tiananmen Square are flooding back into my head. I watch these protestors' convulsive steps toward full democracy with a mix of pride and deep concern. Since April 6, the Nepali people have taken to the streets day and night to demand an end to King Gyanendra's resumption of total control of the government, which began in February 2005 when he dismissed democratically elected officials and appointed loyalists in their place.
Protestors have defied countless totalitarian tactics by King Gyanendra: For more than a week they have disobeyed a daytime curfew he ordered to keep protestors off the streets. They have launched a massive strike that has closed shops, businesses, and schools and halted transportation. And they were recently joined on the streets by lawyers from the Nepal Bar Association. At least 80 lawyers were injured by security forces as they protested in front of Nepal's Supreme Court building. As of April 26, 15 protestors have reportedly been killed by Nepali troops and thousands arrested.
According to the Observer, "The death toll from the demonstrations is likely to be much higher, with eye-witness accounts from protesters accusing the police of removing critically wounded demonstrators from the street and taking them to army camps for treatment or 'disposal' instead of hospitals or mortuaries. . . . Some of those released had been tortured, beaten or put before firing squads and threatened. Many people are missing."
• Urge Nepali leaders to release human rights activists
• Read the Observer article on white-collar street protests
• View a timeline of Nepal's political turmoil
• Find news updates on Nepal
The recent Seattle visit by Chinese president Hu Jintao has me thinking about the state of U.S. trade under the Bush Administration. As they do with most things that aren't going well for them, the Bushies are blaming others, especially the Chinese, for our trade deficit.
They fail to remember that our trade deficit occurred because foreigners are financing our budget deficit. When the Republicans took control of the Congress over a decade ago, they came in as the party of free trade and free enterprise and balanced budgets. Well, now they blame the patients and the courts for higher health-care costs. They blame environmentalists for the high price of crude oil, and they blame workers when their jobs are outsourced. They blame everyone but themselves for our problems and avoid doing anything that can improve the situation.
That approach does not help make us more competitive in the world, and it does not make us deal with our deficit. We have to deal with the budget in this country if we are going to be serious about the Chinese investing in our bonds. They own big chunks of America, and they are going to continue to as long as the Republicans run the kind of deficits that they seem to think do not make any difference any more.
• Read my speech on China and the trade deficit
Here are just a couple of the Web sites I rely on to get the facts:
• The Earth Day Network: http://www.earthday.net/
• EarthCorps: http://www.earthcorps.org/
• ProgressiveGovernment.org: http://www.progressivegovernment.org/
Maurice Rosenblatt and the Fall of Joseph McCarthy
By Shelby Scates (University of Washington Press; 2006)
This in-depth look at the man who brought down Joe McCarthy by former Seattle P-I columnist Shelby Scates brings the ugliness of that era back into sharp focus. But Scates also rewards us for reliving all of that by introducing us to a real American hero: Maurice Rosenblatt, the lobbyist who ended McCarthy's reign of fear.
• Get more details
Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics
By Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (Chelsea Green Publishing; 2006)
As you know from previous newsletters, I'm a regular reader of and contributor to a politically progressive blog called DailyKos. Well, now the man who created it in 2002 has found time between postings to write a book with fellow blogger Jerome Armstrong of MyDD.com. It's an insightful insiders' view of how the so-called netroots (the Internet-era evolution of "grassroots") movement is changing American politics.
• Get more details
• Join the American Values Team
• Make a donation
Note: Jim McDermott is not responsible for content on Web sites listed in this newsletter except for http://www.mcdermottforcongress.com/.
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Revision date: May 9, 2006
