Fwd: Call Senators tomorrow and fight for your democracy!

[Igor Loving]

The Senators became the Texas Rangers and Bush's team so what is the deal.?

>From: Clark Santos <clarksantos at earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>To: Remembrances of Austin Ghetto 
<GHETTO2 at LISTS.WHATHELPS.COM>,survivors' reminiscences about Austin 
Ghetto Daze in the 60s <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>Subject: Fwd: Call Senators tomorrow and fight for your democracy!
>Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:02:53 -0600
>
>Hey ghetto folk,
>	I am on one of several hundred neighborhood teams formed by
>MoveOn.org to call Senators tomorrow to protest what Republicans are
>trying to do in the congress, so as to shuffle "Ws" failed 
judicial
>appointments through over reasonable Democratic objections.
>Madeleine, another team member, writes and explains the situation
>much better than I could, which is why I am forwarding this and
>asking each of you to call some Senators if possible.
>	Names and numbers are included in her message. If you help us and
>call, please email me that you
>did, how many, and who. Thanks for the effort, we all need to pull
>together.
>
>Clark
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>----- Original Message -----
>  From: Madeleine Crozat-Williams
>To: magicas at pdq.net
>Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:02 PM
>Subject: Call Senators tomorrow and fight for your democracy!
>
>
>Hello friends,
>   MoveOn.org is mounting a huge campaign this week to prevent
>VicePresident Cheney from using what is being called the "nuclear
>option" to prevent a filibuster that would oppose the appointment 
of
>extreme right wing judges by the Bush administration.  I have
>condensed the info from several MoveOn website locations and listed
>the important points below.   It is  of extreme importance that you
>call the Senators in large type below and give them the message that
>you oppose this (sample message also in large type).  The call in
>day is tomorrow, Wednesday March 16.  Please call and send this
>message to your friends and urge them to call, too.  If these judges
>get in, they will be the nails in the coffin of democracy.
>     Madeleine C-W
>
>
>Republicans are closer than ever to the number of Senate votes they
>need to use the "nuclear option"—paving the way for the 
appointment
>of truly extreme right-wing judges. With enough of an outcry, we can
>stop them. But we need to move fast to get the word out and
>demonstrate to our senators broad-based opposition to this dangerous
>measure. So our call-in day comes at just the right time.
>
>How would the "nuclear option" eliminate the filibuster?
>
>  Legitimately changing the rule that allows a filibuster would
>require a 2/3 majority vote, and Republican leaders don’t have
>nearly that much support. Instead, the plan calls for Dick Cheney
>(who, as Vice President, is also technically the ‘President of the
>Senate') to simply make a ruling that the filibuster rule no longer
>applies to judges. If Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
>can twist enough arms to get 50 senators to support this
>"reinterpretation," the filibuster will be history.
>
>  Why do Republican leaders want to eliminate the filibuster?
>
>  First, it would allow the Republicans to force through the 20
>federal judges Democrats rejected last term onto the courts. Seven
>of these judges were already filibustered once, and the others might
>be.
>
>  But there are also 4 Supreme Court justices over 70, any or all of
>whom could retire in the next four years. If Republicans abolish the
>right to filibuster judicial nominees, Bush would be free to stack
>the Supreme Court with the most right-wing, corporate friendly
>nominees he can find - and there would be absolutely no incentive
>for Bush to appoint any justices acceptable to both parties.
>
>  Have Democrats abused the filibuster or been “obstructionist”?
>
>  No. Democrats filibustered only 10 of the 230 nominees Bush
>submitted last term. Bush has been more successful at getting
>appontees onto the bench in his first term than Clinton, or the
>first President Bush.
>
>  Why should I care?
>
>  If you are a woman, choice is still the law of the land.  If the
>nuclear option is triggered, President Bush will be in a position to
>nominate to the Supreme Court judges who believe that Roe v. Wade
>was the wrong decision.  Right-wing Justices have already struck
>down portions of the Violence Against Women Act.
>
>If you are a disabled person, your rights may be restricted by
>nominees who believe that the federal government can’t tell the
>states what to do when it comes to enforcing the laws that protect
>you.
>
>Even if you have done nothing wrong, your right to privacy when you
>talk on your cell phone or borrow books from the library may be
>threatened by a nominee who will support the steady erosion of civil
>liberties exemplified by the USA PATRIOT Act.
>
>  If you want to breathe clean air and drink clean water, you should
>be concerned about the nomination of judges who believe federal
>regulations requiring corporate polluters to cut their emissions are
>excessive or even that the government should have to pay polluters
>not to poison us.
>
>The call in day is now Wednesday, March 16. We've changed it to
>reinforce a rally happening in Washington late that week against
>biased judges.
>
>Please call:
>
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>
>  Senator Frist: 202-224-3344
>
>District Offices: Chattanooga: 423-756-2757 Jackson: 731-424-9655
>Kingsport: 423-323-1252 Knoxville: 865-637-4180 Memphis:
>901-683-1910 Nashville: 615-352-9411
>
>and  your  Senators,  ( the ones for  Texas are  listed here)
>
>Senator Hutchison: 202-224-5922
>
>District Offices: Abilene: 325-676-2839 Austin: 512-916-5834 Dallas:
>214-361-3500 Harlingen: 956-425-2253 Houston: 713-653-3456 San
>Antonio: 210-340-2885
>
>  Senator Cornyn: 202-224-2934
>
>District Offices: Austin: 512-469-6034 Dallas: 972-239-1310
>Harlingen: 956-423-0162 Houston: 713-572-3337 Lubbock: 806-472-7533
>San Antonio: 210-224-7485 Tyler: 903-593-0902
>
>  YOUR MESSAGE:  “Hi. My name is ________. I live in _______ and I’m
>calling to urge Senator ____ to oppose the 'nuclear option' and keep
>the courts fair by requiring that judges should have broad support
>in the Senate. Thank you."
>
>Who are these judges that would get forced onto the courts?
>
>  The judges who President Bush has renominated were blocked by
>Democrats because they've sided so consistently with powerful
>special interests over ordinary Americans that they simply could not
>be given lifetime appointments on the federal bench.
>
>  Take a look at just the first four to be reconsidered this term:
>
>William Myers III has never been a judge and spent most of his
>career as a lobbyist for the cattle and mining industry.1 He has
>written that all habitat conservation laws are unconstitutional
>because they interfere with potential profit.2 In 2001, Bush
>appointed him as the chief lawyer for the Department of the
>Interior. In that role he continued as a champion of corporate
>interests, setting his agenda in meetings with former employers he
>promised not to speak with, and even illegally giving away sacred
>Native American land to be strip mined.3
>
>Terrence Boyle was a legal aide to Jesse Helms. As a judge, his
>signature decisions have attempted to circumvent federal laws
>barring employment discrimination by race, gender, and disability.4
>His rulings have been overturned a staggering 120 times by the
>conservative 4th District Court of Appeals, either due to gross
>errors in judgment or simple incompetence.5
>
>William Pryor Jr. served as Attorney General of Alabama, where he
>took money from Phillip Morris, fought against the anti-tobacco
>lawsuit until it was almost over, and cost the people of Alabama
>billions in settlement money for their healthcare system as a
>result.6 He called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of
>constitutional law in our history," and has consistently argued
>against federal protections for the civil rights of minorities,
>lesbian and gay couples, women, and the disabled.7
>
>William Haynes III served as the chief legal counsel for the Defense
>Department, where he championed the legal doctrine that led to the
>torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. He advised the White House
>that in a time of war the President should be considered exempt from
>all international and domestic laws barring torture. Haynes also
>developed the “enemy combatant” doctrine that allows for United
>States citizens to be detained without trial, official charges or
>access to a lawyer -- forever -- at the sole discretion of the
>President.8
>
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