LIBERADIO(!)

Yeah, we do. Smart public policy, not fear-based reactionary legislation that’s all showy bluster (I’m talking to you, Border Fence). Remember, 78% of Americans Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform, with an Earned Path to Citizenship

To that end, please use this handy-dandy phone number, 1-800-417-7666, to call Senator Alexander and Senator Corker today and ask them to please vote “Yes” on a motion to proceed on a debate of S 2611, now called S 1348.

We need, at the very least, to talk about this so that Congress can reach a bipartisan consensus and move forward on this issue. Fix it, please, so that it can be removed from the “hot-button” issue column and stop being used as a tool for the political manipulation of the American people.

What happened to even pretending we wear a white hat or have some semblance of moral authority? From Crooks and Liars:

During the second GOP debate, Fox News’ Brit Hume sets up a hypothetical situation where three terrorist attacks occur at shopping malls in major cities. A fourth attack is thwarted and that would-be attacker, who we know has information about an impending, larger attack is captured and taken to Guantanamo Bay. The candidates are asked if they believe Torture Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, including waterboarding, should be used to get information from the detainee.

McCain: No on Torture Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
Giuliani: Yes on Torture Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
Romney: Yes on Torture Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and while you’re at it, Double Guantanamo! (loud applause from audience)

Learning history from Wikipedia…

“The ‘Mother’s Day Proclamation’ by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother’s Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe’s feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.”

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Summary: In the last segment of our WAMB show, we listen to the generals on the ground (unlike some person we know) and Freddie notes that the Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress, really pushing the envelope on this whole constitutional powers thing.

Listen to: Do Veterans Count as Troops?(17:46 16.3MB)

Summary: Author, american, anti-war activist and mother, Cindy Sheehan, joins us for a conversation about the real meaning of Mother’s Day and her call to action for all mothers to march on Washington this coming Monday, May 14. “Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts, Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!” — Julia Ward Howe, Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870

Listen to: What Mother’s Day Means to Cindy Sheehan (15:53 14.5MB)

Summary: In part one of our Friday show on WAMB, we reveal that the White House is misrepresentin’ and withholdin’ key docs and info from Congress. And is Alberto Gonzales a liar, incompetent, or both? Plus a note to Mother Nature: Only one natural disaster at a time, please. And make sure they are at least a few months apart.

Listen to: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Sex Scandal! (11:17 10.3)

03 May 2007
“A Power Governments Cannot Suppress,” By Howard Zinn, City Lights.
An excerpt from Howard Zinn’s new book — a collection of essays on history, class and the strength of ordinary citizens — explores the unfair trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the flawed justice system that still haunts us today.

05 May 2007
“A Split Emerges as Conservatives Discuss Darwin,” By Patricia Cohen (NY Times)
Over here we have the rational crowd of conservatives likely to represent about 50% of the country quite well. And over here we have the fundamentalists likely to represent about 5% of the country quite well. But honestly: Huckabee?!

06 May 2007
“A Liberal Case for Gun Rights Helps Sway Judiciary,” By Adam Liptak (NY Times)
Why is this news? Because despite what conservatives want you to believe, since 1939 there has been an “almost complete scholarly and judicial consensus” that the second amendment supports a collective and not Individual rights of gun ownership.

07 May 2007
“Beyond Books: Oprah Winfrey’s Seal of Approval Goes Presidential,” by Juston Jones (New York Times)
The Oprah brand enters uncharted territory: politics. Let’s hope her unprecedented endorsement fares better than the New Yorker’s did in 2004…

08 May 2007
“Reagan, White As Snow,” by Alec Dubro (TomPaine.com)
During their debate, Republican presidential candidates invoked the name of Ronald Reagan about 20 times. Perhaps they should have thought that one through.

09 May 2007
VoteVets.org Launches ‘Generals’ Ad Blitz (VoteVets.org)
Maj Gen John Batiste (Ret.): “Mr. President, you did not listen. You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps. I left the Army in protest in order to speak out. Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril. Our only hope is that Congress will act now to protect our fighting men and women.”

14 May 2007
“Generational Tensions,” by Michael Hirsh (Newsweek)
A fascinating case study in how partisanship is passed through the generations, focusing on the heirs of some lofty political legacies.

And energy security at the state level marches on. This morning SB0116 passed the State Senate unanimously. Here’s the bill summary:

Requires, instead of authorizes, the department of economic and community development to promulgate energy and lighting efficiency standards to be administered by local governments.

The bill was amended prior to passage. As amended, the bill makes “the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code published by the International Code Council . . . the minimum energy conservation standards for any new residential building construction on or after January 1, 2008″ and requires ECD to publish info about these standards on its website.

The bill was sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Rosalind Kurita and Sen. Raymond Finney (R – Maryville). We hear there was considerable work done with local governments and developers to ensure the bill would pass easily. Cynical ol’ me would’ve expected that a bill that tinkers with codes would’ve met considerable resistance from developer-friendly legislators. Apparently, the developers feel they are currently meeting these standards or can meet them in the future without increased cost. All of which suggests that the climate (pun intended) for energy and environmental legislation has changed in the General Assembly. Is it just me, or is Sen. Kurita managing to be an effective member of the Senate, particularly on energy issues?

Our friends over at Kilowatt Ours informed us that this is the first major update to these codes in 15 years. Progress is good.

Of course, the bill is still held up in the House. We recommend that you contact Rep. John Tidwell (D – New Johnsonville), the House sponsor, to see how you can help get the bill passed in his chamber.

Summary: First Elbert Ventura, Research Fellow for Media Matters for America, smacks down Glenn Beck for his one-man global warming (read: hot air) project. Then Mary and Robert, gadfly extraordinaire, get into it over Bush’s conservatism and immigration. Freddie hides.

Listen to: Smackdowns all Around (26:00 23.8MB)

The TCASK blog excerpts a letter by the Rev. James Lawson that was published in the Tennessean this morning.

For those of us who are Christian, we are called, as the early church described itself after Jesus’ crucifixion, to be “people of the way.” Our lives should manifest the love, forgiveness and reconciliation exemplified and taught by Jesus. This would preclude the deliberate, premeditated murder of another human being, so we are summoned to be faithful disciples by opposing the death penalty.

In a society where an estimated 90% of its inhabitants say they believe in God, and with time running out for Phillip Workman, we really need to ask ourselves, WWJD? And then listen for an honest answer.

Email Phil Bredesen and ask him to halt the execution of Phillip Workman and commute his sentence.