Below are the 14 most recent journal entries recorded in bradamante3's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
9:13 am	Dodd Fever, Catch it! I wanted to tell you about the California Democratic Convention. Something you won't hear in the mainstream media, because they are afraid to do real reporting.   Dodd Fever. Catch It!   Christopher Dodd electrified the audience. We were taken by surprise. No one expected him to run away with everything.   Our throats were hoarse from yelling, our hands sore from clapping. People threw down their signs and buttons supporting other candidates, and he was swarmed once he left the podium.   It was Dodd Fever, baby!   And you didn't hear anything about it in the media.   That's because that scene only happened in Christopher Dodd's mind.   He flew thousands of miles to be with thousands of activists and no one cared that he came.   Similarly, no one cared that Senator Joseph Biden didn't come.   I only saw three people hold up signs for Senator Dodd.   All the other presidential candidates had people standing in the aisles trying to shake their hands and holding signs showing support.   No one did that for Dodd.   I happened to notice that in our bags full of goodies that we received at registration that there was a Dodd bumper sticker. I stood and held mine in the air while he was speaking. The delegates around me laughed, and laughed. They thought my holding a bumper sticker with his name on it was hysterically funny.  I think it was pathetic.   Dodd has had a long distinguished career in the United States Senate, yet no one cares that he is running for president.   The late Morris Udall is credited for having said that every senator automatically considers themselves to be a candidate for president unless they are under indictment or in detox. He also said that the only cure for presidential ambition is embalming fluid.   After seeing the polite, but disinterested reaction to Dodd's speech, I have to say that his candidacy has already been infused with formaldehyde. And that is something that the mainstream media is too polite to say.   Same thing with Biden's campaign. Both are headed for the morgue. The only question remains: how long will they continue trying to "get their name and ideas out there" before they realize that the race is not theirs to win? Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
6:01 pm	It's a good day for America, it's a good day for the world. I just wanted to sound a note of general optimism that the horrible global storm of oppressive American policies should be lifting soon.  It won't be until January that the Democrats take over the House of Representatives (and with fingers crossed possibly the Senate.) However with the change in power to the opposition party means there will soon be checks on the administration that was sorely lacking when we had one party rule. That means Congressional oversight hearings.  I know the incoming Chair of the Judiciary Committee Congressman John Conyers has many, many things he has been chomping at the bit to investigate.  He will now be able to issue subpoenas and compel testimony. Congressman Jack Murtha, a decorated Vietnam war veteran who became a vocal critic of the Iraq war/occupation, will now be the chair of the House Armed Services Committee. And then, should the Democrats secure the Senate majority, Senator Byron Dorgan has pledged to hold Truman style hearings on war profiteering. Back in November 2002, the day after the midterm elections, I sent a message to my friends across the globe issuing a pre-emptive apology for what the U.S. would be doing to the world once the Republicans had taken control of the House and Senate.  I had no real idea as to the extent to which their lust for power and greed would take them.  I did not anticipate that they would ignore the Geneva Conventions on Torture, nor did I think they would hold people indefinitely without trial or access to attorney.  I did not think they would shred our Constitutional protections to Habeus corpus or give the president an easier ability to declare martial law. All those things shamefully occurred under Republican one party rule. Now we shall have divided government again here in the States, and hopefully restore some semblance of sanity on the world stage. Thankfully our national elections were not stolen in the manner they were in 2000 and 2004 which allowed Bush to take office due to theft. We still have to be vigilant about our elections, but thankfully we now have a Democratic majority who will actually listen to critics of voting on computer touch screens with no paper trail or accountability. Tonight I shall be celebrating by drinking champagne.  I was too nervous to jinx things by celebrating last night. I wanted to let my friends know worldwide that things should be improving.  We shall still unfortunately have an arrogant jackass embarrassing our country on the world stage, but his power is about to be checked. ETA:  Rumsfeld is stepping down.  Hallelujah!!!  The changes are just starting.  Rummy did not want to have to answer to any of the hard questions that would be facing him by the Democratic Committee Chairs.  'Tis a really good day. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
2:52 pm	I saw a link to this article "There's a label for girls' deaths" http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15690440.htm#recent_comm and was impressed enough to leave a comment. Here's my response: Yes, it was a hate crime, even if the laws in Pennsylvania do not recognize it as such.   Because the incidence of violence against women is so prevalent in our society there is a resistance to recognixe it for what it is:  hatred against women and girls.     ( Read more... )     (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
3:36 pm	My response to the Washington Post's attack on Joseph Wilson Dear Editor: I was made aware of your editorial on 9/1 about former Ambassador Joseph Wilson by two very different analyses on MSNBC. One was by Keith Olbermann and the other by Joe Scarborough. After going to your site and reading the editorial in its entirety, I have to side with Olbermann’s analysis. It seems you have sold your journalistic souls. I remember your paper from my childhood, when Woodward and Bernstein were heroes because they sought to expose governmental corruption at its highest levels. I don’t understand how independent arbiters of the facts could come away with the conclusion that former-Ambassador Joseph Wilson is in anyway responsible for the illegal revelation that his wife was an undercover CIA operative. It boggles my mind. Richard Armitage was made aware of her being a CIA agent due to a classified memo. To the outside world she worked for a company named Brewster Jennings. Brewster Jennings had been a CIA front operation whose identity, mission and agents were all blown due to the irresponsible acts of Bob Novak. How many lives have been put in danger because of the destroying of its carefully constructed cover? Have any of the other agents that worked for Brewster Jennings died because of their covers being blown? Does anyone know? Outside of the CIA, that is? I am appalled. Terribly appalled that anyone in our federal government would dare to expose the identity of a CIA operative to anyone who was not classified to receive such information. That it was done either by Armitage for gossipy reasons, or by Rove and Libby in a direct attempt to smear Joseph Wilson does not matter. IT IS ALL TREASON. And should be treated as such. Independent of Joseph Wilson’s content of his Op-Ed in the NYT, the decision to reveal the name of a CIA covert operative by a governmental employee is illegal and goes against our own national security interests. Period. End of story. My opinion of your newspaper has reached a nadir with your editorial. It will take a long time for you to repair that damage, but I will still bear a grudge for years over this. For you have destroyed the trust of this American citizen, and I no longer can see that the editorial board at your paper is interested in upholding the integrity of your Constitutionally protected profession to preserve the People’s Right to Know. We deserve better than a paper serving as an apologist for a reckless administration and an imperial presidency. I expect such conduct from the Washington Times, not the Post. Bradamante (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
2:17 pm	Resolution of Impeachment This was passed last night: Resolution calling for the California Legislature to pass a Joint Resolution impeaching George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney WHEREAS, the rules in the United States House of Representatives allow for setting a federal impeachment in motion by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State or territory; and WHEREAS, George W. Bush has ordered the federalization and deployment of National Guard members overseas and thus has exceeded the authority granted in the provision of the United States Constitution that Congress shall have the power to "provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections and repel invasions," reserving to the states the authority to direct the training and arming of members of the National Guard for defense of their state; this federalization and deployment of National Guard members has rendered the National Guard force unable to carry out its state activities effectively and thus deprived the states of their Constitutional powers to keep the National Guard for defense of their state; and George W. Bush has allowed stop-loss orders that violate the mutual understanding between the members in the Armed Forces including the National Guard and the state and nation they agreed to serve; and WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted that he willingly and repeatedly directed surveillance of U. S. persons without warrants, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of the United States; and his administration including Vice-President Richard B. Cheney have supported willful violations of international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions on Torture which according to Article VI of the United States Constitution considers treaties to be the “supreme Law of the Land” as well as denying enumerated Constitutional protections to accused persons such as “the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury”; “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; to have the assistance of counsel for his defence”; to be free of “cruel and unusual punishments”; and to not be deprived of liberty “’without due process of law” as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments of the United States Constitution all of which have been repeatedly violated by indefinite detentions of “enemy combatants” which classification seeks to deny political prisoners legal rights; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee call on the Democratic legislators in the California State Assembly and State Senate to ratify a Joint Resolution calling for the impeachment of President George Walker Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney in accordance with Section 603 of the Manual of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives for willfully violating their Constitutional oaths of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States; that they have been subversive of Constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the State of California and of the United States; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution and supplemental materials be sent to the Democratic Assembly and State Senators, the other 57 Democratic Central Committees of California for their consideration of endorsement of a Joint Resolution by our state legislature as well as courtesy copies to our local Congressional representatives, our Senators and notice to major media outlets in our community and the state of California to be sent no later than March 31, 2006. Submitted by the Issues and Legislation Committee on March 14, 2006 Passed March 14, 2006 Watch out, because this ripple is becoming a tidal wave. Current Mood: determined (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 20th, 2005
2:37 pm	political test Because my friend genealogygirl did this, I tried it as well. Here's my results: You are a Social Liberal (66% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid being on my local Democratic Central Committee, I guess I shouldn't be shocked.. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 3rd, 2005
8:27 pm	Timeline for Hurricane Katrina This timeline is from Sam Seder on Air America’s “The Majority Report” from: http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/index.php ( “Timeline ) (Comment on this)
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
11:28 am	View from overseas on Katrina The following was written by Barry Petersen, CBS News correspondent who is in their Tokyo/Beijing bureau. It is his perspective as an American that is living overseas, and he has given me permission to publish it on my live journal and to share it with anyone that I like. Personally, I have never felt as ashamed to be an American as I do right now. And, it helps to know that others like Barry share my same level of anger and frustration at the incompetence and negligence in this national crisis. Here are Barry's words: ( The view from overseas on Katrina. ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 13th, 2005
8:04 pm	Cindy Sheehan is my hero I just want to say categorically that I admire Cindy Sheehan and I am appalled at some of the attempts by the Right Wing to attack and defame her character. It shows more of what their true character is than hers. I'm going to post something that was sent to me by a fellow Progressive Democrat of America. ( Read the report, and addresses to send letters of support ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 10th, 2005
9:40 pm	John Roberts and the Right to Privacy This is the issue that we need to hone in on. That’s because it impacts everyone, man, woman, child, and the future generations of this country. The idea that we should have aspects of our life as being private is ingrained in us. We know that we have the right to have privacy in our doctor/patient, lawyer/client, clergy/parishioner relationships. We feel that reporters should be able to protect their sources, so that if you are a whistleblower, you can keep your anonymity. We recognize that we have the Constitutional right to not incriminate ourselves in a court of law, and that we have the right to not have our persons or our property searched without a warrant (or legitimate reason). We no longer are forced to have soldiers quartered in our houses. We also think that we ought to have the right to expect our medical records be kept private, as well as our financial records. In this time of electronic communication where our computers are threatened with spyware, and identity theft is common and huge financial conglomerations are selling our credit scores to their subsidiaries as if we are simply commodities, the right of privacy is an incredibly important social issue. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Monday, January 3rd, 2005
9:25 pm	open letter to Senator Boxer January 3, 2005 The Honorable Barbara Boxer 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Boxer: I implore that you join with Congressman John Conyers and to contest the electors from the Ohio delegation on January 6th. This past election, particularly in Ohio is filled with questionable acts that must be investigated. The only way to get the full attention of the House of Representatives and the Senate in dealing with the issue of electoral malfeasance is to bring it front and center on January 6th. I have spent far too much energy working on the issue of voting rights and whether or not election technology is reliable. I was like most Americans that thought that our elections were fair and free and that any question about voting rights was solved with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It was in November 2000 that I received a rude wake up call, and I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I spent vexed about the state of our democracy. I spent countless hours working prior to our last election in trying to get verified voter paper trails for these insecure electronic voting machines. We have no way of knowing if votes were altered after they were cast by voters and then recorded for a competing candidate. Without a paper trail, there is no ability to perform a true audit. And then, in Ohio with the questionable acts of Triad, there are now allegations that even with different forms of election machines that they can be altered to prevent accurate audits as well. Having free, fair and verifiable elections should not be a partisan issue. In Washington state we see that the governor’s race was exceedingly close and after a hand count, the announced winner has changed. If I lived in Washington state, I wouldn’t care who won at this point, I would just want to know that all the votes cast were counted to the best of everyone’s ability, and that no fraud had taken place. We do not have that kind of confidence in Ohio. ( Read more... ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
7:29 pm	The 1960 Presidential Election was challenged by Republicans Ahhh, It seems that whenever talk of election recounts becomes a topic of conversation that a myth surrounding Richard Milhous Nixon comes to the fore. The idea that he quietly accepted his loss to Kennedy and didn't contest things, out of the good for the country. Nice sentiments, but that isn't what happened. Now mind you, JFK was before my time, and I was a small child when Nixon was first elected in 1968, so I'm going by secondary sources and not my own memory. However, comma, I clearly remember this topic in the last go-round in 2000. The Republican party asked for recounts in ELEVEN states. Including Texas and Illinois. Tell your right wing friends to put that in their pipe and smoke it. ( Here's the Tom Paine article from 2000 that details how Nixon's efforts to challenge the election results stayed under radar and what really happened forty-four years ago. ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
11:45 am	Call for Two Sets of Electors from Ohio Into the blogosphere I go... I've seen many pleas for people to contact Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and demand that he recuse himself from the upcoming recount of Ohio. Yes, that needs to be done. However, while you are making your call, fax or email, you should also demand that two sets of electors cast their ballots on December 13th. That's because I don't think they'll be done with the recount in time, and they should not try to run out the clock as if it were a basketball game. This is a democracy, not a game. This is the email I sent to the governor of Ohio: ( Read the letter and the precedent of how the state of Hawaii in 1960 had two sets of electors ) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 20th, 2004
9:43 am	Opening salvo I have hesitated in doing an online journal for several years. The reluctance has been due to paranoia of what Big Brother might do with it. However, I have come to the realization that it doesn't matter anymore. The only hope that we have as a society and as a world is to speak out against injustice and not worry about the consequences. In the US, we technically still have the right to free speech and the right to dissent politically. I don't know how much longer that will last. So, I'm going to make use of my pen (or my computer) while I still can and hope that my thoughts may inspire others. I am one of many disaffected Democrats that do not believe the results of the November 2nd, presidential election. I don't. I don't believe that the majority of Americans voted for George W. Bush. I believe that the election was rigged. And there is now evidence emerging that this is indeed what happened. 'Stinking Evidence' of Possible Election Fraud Found in Florida http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112004X.shtml http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111904W.shtml UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds 'Smoke Alarm' for Florida E-Vote Count http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111404A.shtm The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy by Steven Freeman, statistician from the University of Pennsylvania. And http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111604Z.shtml I smell a rat. There is right now, I recount that will be held in New Hampshire. The Democracy Resistance Fighters convinced Ralph Nader to file for it. The state went for Kerry, but there was a large discrepancy between the exit polls and what the margin of victory was. It is a small state, and there are paper trails for all of the votes. I hope that they will find a discrepancy between the votes cast and the recorded votes. If they do, it will indicated that there was fraud. This will then embolden us to question election results in other states. And, Ohio is going to have all the votes counted. Because the Green Party and Libertarian Party candidates did what Kerry wouldn't do. Pay for a recount. That meant that the ninety two thousand votes that hadn't registered a vote in the presidential race will be looked at for the first time. http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112004W.shtml Ohio Recount Must Start Now. Remember the good old Hanging Chad? Well, it's back and that could be where thousands of votes for Kerry went. I want resolution, and in regards to what happened to Bev Harris in Volusia County (see the link for the Stinking Evidence above) I want to see prosecutions. Destruction of evidence is a crime and I want to see heads roll for this. I also want to see the Democratic Party grow some spines. It is our only hope. Bradamante This is my first time using this LJ thang, and I don't have all the code figured out yet. I shall soon. (1 Comment |Comment on this)