well swing out sister, we got another person on the side of right and justice. let's put the spotlight on folding star of a winding road.
from a winding road yesterday:
Another matter that I've been wanting to blog about is the conviction of Lynne Stewart. If you're a member of the Common Ills Community or a reader of Rebecca's over at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, you know that they both devoted more than one post to this matter this weekend. But outside of them, and interviews with Stewart on Democracy Now! and The Laura Flanders Show, I've seen far too little attention paid and far too little outrage expressed.
Stewart is a Civil Rights Attorney who came forward to do a very difficult but very necessary job- to provide a terrorist suspect with his constitutionally guaranteed right to an attorney and a fair trial.
The Bush Administration has demonstrated time and again that fair trials are the LAST thing they believe in, Constitution be damned. They're all about the sort of narrow minded frontier 'justice' that represents one of the most dire parts of our history, glorified though it's been in countless Westerns.
Given these people's overall disgust for the Constitution (except for that right to bear arms thing, now that they love), I wasn't surprised when former Attorney General Ashcroft announced these trumped up charges against Stewart. What better way to get around a fair and legal trial than to go after the lawyer and scare others off from taking on similar jobs in the future?
I was shocked and sickened by the verdict against Stewart, though.We cannot pretend this is anything other than what it is- the latest attempt of the Bush Administration to undermine and destroy our Civil Liberties. If this new path were to follow its illogical but evidently intended course, the very idea of a fair trial in this country is out the window. We have to know that each and every person accused of a crime- and remember, any such person is INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty- is going to have a fair chance at legal defense.
I see today that the National Lawyers Guild have called for a Day of Outrage on this matter, and I applaud that. You can read their statement here
But really, this should be a matter of outrage for each and every one of us, not just on this specific day but every day.
Lynne Stewart is the latest human face making the Bush Administration's dangerous goals all too vivid a reality.
We've got to fight this. Stewart is appealing her case and we've got to appeal it as well, in our own way. We've got to be writing about this, talking about it, telling people what's going on. The outcry from all of us over this should be deafening. We cannot let these things just happen without being heard, without going out in the streets if we have to in order to be heard.
tell somebody
what happened in the usa?
i wanna read about it in the news
i wanna hear about it on tv, yeah
what happened in the usa?
when they ask you
what happened in the usa?
tell somebody.
they'll wanna know, oh people
the depth of our democracy
is only as good as the voices of protest she protects
voices of protest - rise!
These are lyrics by Rickie Lee Jones that seem fitting on this matter. The song, Tell Somebody, is on her latest cd, Evening of My Best Day, and was written about the Patriot Act.
. . .
so let's take a moment to spotlight folding star of a winding road who has demonstrated bravery. applaud folding star, visit A winding road.
for those keeping track, here are the ones needing applause and thanks: democracy now!, the common ills, the laura flanders show, the third estate sunday review, talk left, a winding road
and the national lawyers guild.
now let's turn to the disgusting. no, i haven't spotted joe lieberman in a speedo, it's much worse.
lizz winstead and rachel maddow the silly gals of unfiltered who never let the facts stand in the way of a cheap laugh.
so today big brain and no brain do this skit about those naughty bloggers. and big brain is her usual joyless self - flat affect any 1? but there's no brain (lizz) screaching and rushing in and out of the skit as though flying a broom.
i'm guessing that listening to lizz's lame skit about ethics had to be painful for even the most devoted unfiltered listener (that would include c.i. of the common ills who loves this show) . playing their lame skit, the gross gals strike the pose of ethics and how important they are. that would be the same dreary duo that can't get their own facts right and, here we focus on no brain lizz, love to fall back on the excuse 'hey, i am a comedian.' well you say you are.
me, i'm still waiting for the laughs.
regardless, no brain built a skit around the fact that bloggers lied about what eason jordan said.
hey, no brain and big brain can go WWF all over the asses of right wing bloggers, i could care less. but they embarrass themselves when they don't know the basic facts.
here's just 1 they should have known: there is no proof that eason jordan didn't make those comments.
but ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-NO BRAIN! rushes in with her theme song to play gatekeeper and make sure that we do not get curious about the actual issue of whether or not reporters are being targeted. my 10 cents? they are.
no brain is no journalist. she's just becoming the screeching schill of the middle class, middle road, close your eyes to reality crowd.
and that point was driven home when i had to hear 'ask a vet' and 'ask a vet for doggies' in the same show. lizz, if you're thinking you're looking less pathetic by crowing over you dog than you would if you were just another old lady with a cat, you're kidding yourself.
what is lizz anyway? 60?
so once again there are 2 'ask a vet's and there are no ask an advocate.
big brain's on some sort of macho trip as she sniffs freely at the crotches of any male who's 'served.' silly no brain lizz thinks 'balance' is talking about animals.
i had this little fantasy while i listened to unfiltered today. here it is. the year is 2015. no brain's career has hit the skids (she's almost there already) and she moves to iraq only thing is she's not funny over there either. but she does her little lame show over there for the 1st time and after she finishes up, she's walking down the streets of, say, najaf. and she has to look at the eyes of all the iraqis who lost loved 1s. she has to know that she was the art buchwald of the left, the saturday review of the 60s, when she could have been making a difference.
let's hope something similar happens and she has to live with that for the rest of her days.
she deserves it.
the common ills is always noting the magazine clamor. i picked it up and it is a great magazine. if you're looking for a new magazine, i'd say start with this 1.
but there's an advertisement in it that made me chuckle. 'radical talk radio now!' highlights many worthy radio hosts. but lizz winstead is radical?
it's funny to read unfiltered fans take on terry gross's interview with lynne cheney and hear them judge it a 'softball.' what do they think lizz is tossing out day after day?
and it's cute as well the way lizz uses the unfiltered blog to plan hook ups. (i'm not suggesting sexual encounters. i am saying there's something a little impersonal about blogging 'am i seeing you this weekend?' for instance.)
but 'radical?' radical???????????????????????
prove me wrong, lizz, do an hour on lynne stewart if you can pull your non-radical ass out of the middle of the road.
