In light of the police shooting deaths of four tribal members on the Soboba Indian Reservation since December 2007 (after the Soboba canceled a lucrative policing contract), the Soboba recently hosted a forum with other Indian tribes and groups. Their recommendation: repeal Public Law 280.

The repeal of PL 280 is, of course, of particular concern to those who deal with its consequences every day; however, though the costs may not be readily apparent, PL 280 ultimately creates social and financial costs for all Americans. What happens to the least of us affects us all,

As the Soboba and other groups challenge and work to repeal PL 280, the support and participation of progressives and the Democratic Party will materially and substantially affect the success of those efforts.

Not a day passes that I don't see some diary on Kos talking about McCain's advertising and race. Sometimes it's not even a real ad but just an internet shot meant to stir up the bee's nest of our wrath. I get the feeling that this insider game is taking too much focus and energy away from an analytical and strategic look at what's going on. What's going on? Well between now and Labor Day I think we can expect a game of chess.

Cross posted from Docudharma.

I find myself, on some level, torn between my highly strained faith in American democracy and a perception that it no longer exists.  I applaud and encourage political activism and cherish the activists that I know, but for all their heroism, commitment and hard work, I see us sliding steadily backwards.  This has been my observation for the past 40 years.  We progressives have faced unremitting defeat at the hands of the ultra-conservative ‘system’, which clearly serves our super-wealthy overlords – not us.  

Yesterday's lead editorial in the NY Times follows up on the great injustices being done to the immigrant workers picked up at the Agriporcessors plant in  Postville, Iowa.  Not only were these people subjected to intolerable working conditions, but now they face a Kafka-esque legal "process" that is heavily weighted against them.  

They are being charged with a more serious crime of "aggravated identity theft" carrying up to 5 years in jail, rather than the usual administrative penalties.  They have been shuffled through mass hearings, receiving inadequate legal representation (1 lawyer/17 defendants for 30 minute sessions).  Meanwhile, the owners are still scot-free.

A man is about to be executed next week by the State of Alabama, and both the judicial system and Governor Riley himself have denied requests for DNA testing that could prove his innocence.

Thomas Arthur, scheduled to be executed next week for the 1982 murder of Muscle Shoals' Troy Wicker Jr., has asked the state Supreme Court to grant his attorneys access to evidence in the case for DNA testing.

Attorneys for Arthur offered to pay for the testing and asked the court to delay the execution if tests can't be completed before the July 31 execution date.

"Without the benefit of DNA testing here, the state of Alabama assumes the intolerable risk of executing an innocent man," said Arthur's appeal, which was filed Monday.

The Dhammapada teaches

Conquer the angry man by love.
Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness.
Conquer the miser with generosity.
Conquer the liar with truth.

While most of us understand the logic of this approach in theory, it far too rarely spills over into practice.

No one is safe - at all. Not even agents of the government.

The plight of activist journalist Susan Lindauer is proof enough that when an administration seeks to cover its tracks for its sheer incompetence, it will go to great lenghts in order to do so - including destroying the lives of citizens.

Yes, it can happen. It has happened.

And there's no reason to think that it won't ever happen again.

Two days ago I posted a diary regarding underage sex slaves in Louisiana.  I spent a good deal of time calling people to get more information about this.  I managed to beg and plead until somebody, who I can't name, gave me some details.  I will not reveal their identity, because they could lose their jobs for providing me with something to go on.  I was told that a lot of the cases involve massage parlors.  Many of the girls who work in this trade have been brought here illegally for that purpose.  Most of them are not underage, but they are all victims of human trafficking.  I took that information and went out to see what I could do to stop this.

Our government has just released a report on the importation of young girls to work in the sex trade in South Louisiana, and nobody has been fingered.  At least that's what I glean from the information: underage girls have been transported to Louisiana to service workers rebuilding the region, and as of yet no one has been held accountable for it.  Not only that, the underage girls have faced criminal charges as a result of their victimization.  Do you not believe it, as I had problems believing it?  

Crossposted from ePluribus Media.

___

My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing...

___

What happens when the checks and balances of our government are compromised, and justice is undermined?

What happens when the most criminally corrupt group of criminals rule with nearly complete control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government for nearly two full Administrations, and the media fails to oppose, to challenge and to expose them?

Criminal malfeasance. Negligence. Dereliction of duty. Failure -- multiple failures: failure to uphold the law, failure to act, failure to uphold the duty and responsibility of office.

Actively undermining the just due process of the law and Constitution. Actively interfering with the proper operation of government.

War crimes.

Eight years of crimes, unaccountable to anyone and protected by the entire Republican party -- and Joe Lieberman.

(Updated below)

The following constitutes mainly a repost of something I've written last year, along with new commentary added. The reasons for this are two-fold: A) there has been zero development on the matter since last year; and B) today is BloggersUnite's Human Rights day.

On today's visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the White House, President George W. Bush spoke many words. Interestingly, Bush's very own words illustrate the ludicrous hypocrisy of his message, his policies, and even his so-called faith - all evaporating swiftly under the glaring light of truth.

Allow me to illustrate my point, again using Bush's own damning words uttered this day.

(Cross posted from Docudharma)

Any more the bad news comes like the steady downpour of the tropical monsoon.

There is no time to catch one’s breath.

There is no pause to absorb the outrages of the day, no interlude to break the tragedies into digestible chunks, no relief for the overwhelmed between the vicious punches to the gut, the finger jabs to the eyes, the thunder kicks to the groin.

The views of a pastor are the views of a pastor.  Are Catholics running for office supposed to "renounce" their church based on any controversial political messages of the Pope (and Catholics are "supposed" to follow what the Pope says, while no one is ever expected to follow pastors in that way)?   Who would treat Jews this way based on the political views of a rabbi?  

Once we get real - stepping away from this dirty little racist game of "gotcha" which actually "gets" nothing at all about the lived life of the person - and look at ACTIONS and the tangible experience of the person toward others, then Hillary Clinton is standing in very deep stuff, having been historically involved with and now currently working with, one of the most despicable organizations on the face of the earth.  

Rather than play such nonsense games as to go after someone's pastor, let's take religious principles seriously.

The Catholic Church has seven new mortal sins, the first among them - genetic engineering.

Hillary Clinton's involvement with Monsanto, world's largest genetic engineering corporation, presents an ethical and religious dilemma for faithful Catholics.

The hype of this election season seems to have drowned out any political news not directly relating to which candidate is up or down. The often fanatic candidate diaries here on dailykos only reflect this fact. One sad victim of this is the Don Siegelman case, the story of the former Democratic Governor of Alabama now serving 7 years in a federal prison for nothing but what seems to be a political prosecution orchestrated by Karl Rove himself. CBS News recently brought national attention to this outrage in Alabama on 60 Minutes. Mysteriously, that part of the program was blocked out by a local CBS station in Alabama. Senator John Kerry has since written to the FCC protesting what he described as an effort by the local affiliate to hide information from the American public.

Well folks, it's tax return time, and for my service-wage self, that usually means I get a decent (for me) chunk of change in the form of a rebate.

Not this year...

~my story in theresmoresville~

The Ignoble Arrest of Sue Schmitz at Dawn

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel.
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level.
And show that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded.
And that even the nobles get properly handled.

All credit for the reporting of this story should rightly be attributed to Scott Horton at Harpers Magazine.

I'm sure many are still in shock from the reports that John Edwards is dropping his bid for president.

While there will undoubtedly be threads where a combination of shock and sadness will be expressed, I wanted to use this space as a spot to personally thank John Edwards for elevating the debate and bringing issues to light that, without his candidacy, simply would never have seen the light of day.