Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.
In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges.
Ms O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman supreme court justice, declared: "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary."
She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and former Communist countries as lessons on where interference with the judiciary might lead. "It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."
Common Dreams: Former Top Judge Says US Risks Edging Near to Dictatorship
Them Nazis ain't all crazy. Whole lot of people just can't seem to fit in to where things seem to be going. Like you, CJ. See, the Black race can't afford you no more. There used to be a time, we'd see someone like you singin', clownin', yassuh-bossin'...and we wouldn't do anything. Folks liked that. You were good. Homey kind of nigger. When they needed somebody to mistreat, call a name or two, they paraded you.Reminded them of the good old days. Not no more. The day of the Geechee is gone, boy. And you're going with it. We can't let nobody go on believing we're all fools like you.
You know the damage one ignorant Negro can do? We were in France in the first war; we'd won decorations. But the white boys had told all them French gals that we had tails. Then they found this ignorant colored soldier, paid him to tie a tail to his ass and run around half-naked, making monkey sounds. Put him on the big round table in the Cafe Napoleon, put a reed in his hand, crown on his head, blanket on his shoulders, and made him eat *bananas* in front of all them Frenchies. Oh, how the white boys danced that night... passed out leaflets with that boy's picture on it. Called him Moonshine, King of the Monkeys. And when we slit his throat, you know that fool asked us what he had done wrong?
In keeping with IMAN's (Inner City Muslim Action Network) larger commitment to advocate on behalf of and organize along side the most vulnerable and exploited sectors of our community, particularly in urban areas, IMAN is actively requesting larger Muslim participation in tomorrow's march and rally against Bill HR 4437.
Bill HR 4437, commonly referred to as the Sensenbrenner Bill (after Republican House Representative Sensennbrenner from Wisconsin), is one of the most draconian and unjust pieces of legislation to be introduced to congress in recent years. While it has deep implications for all immigrants and the larger society, it most viscously targets the large undocumented Latino community and anyone or any entity that provides them with the most nominal level of support, including the most basic human services.
IMAN will join a coalition of many leading Latino organizations and agencies across the state to take part in a Day of General Strike on Friday March 10th. Please join us to demonstrate the concern of the larger Muslim community for this social justice and human dignity issue. As sectors of the Muslim community continue to struggle with its own legislative injustices, our larger community cant afford to be silent or aloof from these types of actions and opportunities to build solidarity with our Latino brothers and sisters across the state. Moreover, this is a great opportunity for segments of the Latino community to interact with the Muslims through their presence at the march and through the Friday Jummah Prayer, which will be in English and translated into Spanish.
Email latino@imancentral.org or call the IMAN Office at 773-434-IMAN to speak with Adalberto Madrigal for organizing details
Meet at 11am to car pool in the parking lot of the New IMAN Health Clinic and Administrative Center at 2748 W. 63rd Street, just east of 63rd Street and California Avenue or meet at the marching location itself at 11:45am to march with IMAN at Ashland and Lake. Finally, some of you may wish to join us at the rally itself at the Federal Plaza at 230 S Dearborn St at 2pm, right after Jummah services.
Color. (I'm not always deep. I'm a fan of the old Twilight Zones and a few old movies... 12 Angry Men comes to mind... but I generally want some color. Goodnight and Goodluck was alright but I'd much rather read about the McCarthy era in a book.)
Sports. Like Huey Freeman says: "And today in sports, a black man somewhere ran with a ball and jumped with a ball and threw a ball and people got really excited as if they hadn't seen it a million times before"
8-Track.. lol... I used to DJ so I appreciate vinyl. I feel like I'm practically Amish since I've never downloaded music onto an I-pod or burned a CD on my computer. But seriously, I guess I'm still a CD-person.
With ten million I could take care of my family, friends, everyone.
This is kind of a cop-out because it's kind of amorphous but I would say global north-south issues.
Among other things, political power needs to be decentralized, shared among different countries. We need a stronger UN, and other international bodies. Third world countries should democratize (on their own terms), develop and cooperate.
I have an answer but I'm not sharing.
First I will get onto a soapbox and suggest that history actually isn't determined by individuals or specific events... especially if you think about Guns, Germs and Steel.
I also saw Butterfly Effect one too many times so I'm actually really skeptical as to how effective any changes would be.
But for the moment I'll say I would prevent exposing Europe to the Black Death. That way, Europe's Dark Ages would have progressed very differently, and so would the early encounter between the Indigenous people of the Americas and the Europeans.
Since I don't speak Italian, I will say Grand Ole' Opry.
The 2000 Presidential election.
Sushi with Suheir Hammad.
I'm Muslim, but I have a certain amount of respect for Buddhism. I really do think that certain vices really do have real spiritual consequences which we experience even in this life. So I'm not actually certain that I would go out an rob a bank or something. Um.... eat a ham sandwich?
