Stop Alito Today!

Or at least fucking TRY! The news reports that Alito's confirmation  to the Supreme Court is likely. But there is still a little hope.  You can never lose hope.Just look at Rosa Parks! She was a solitary
black female who stood up and said NO. ENOUGH. THIS IS WRONG AND I
DEFY YOU. With no political party behind her and facing the specters
of the discrimation, jail, or even the attack dogs that were sicked
on other African-American freedom fighters, this ballsy bitch really
"rosa" to the occasion. Ok, I apologize for the cheap joke, but face
it, we're still reaping the benefits of her boldness today. At her
memorial, Al Sharpton criticized today's youth for having a home
phone, two cell phones, two pagers and an email account, so many
different ways to communicate, and yet they aren't using them to
speak up for themselves and demonstrate the same courage and
righteousness that this lady had--decades before any one even knew
what a cellphone, pager or email was! Maybe Rosa's still teaching
from her grave! Are we listening?

Senator Kerry, speaking more forcefully than usual, announced just a
few days ago that he would try to filibuster Alito's hearings. He was
the only democrat with this position on Thursday. Now, 10 senators
support the filibuster. But 10 is a long shot from the 41 needed for
the motion, so there's work to do, fast. Bush and co. want Alito
confirmed so that their camp can have one bit of good news when Bush
makes his state of the union adress on Tuesday. So they're pushing.
Let's push back! Let's meet every one of their thrusts! (Ooh! Sounds
kinda kinky!)

If you aren't familiar with the issue Alito's confirmation or any
other Supreme Court nomination, I can dig it. Until this hearing I'd
never heard the legal term "stare decisis". But I do know this. A
filibuster is just a delay, to discuss this important appointment in
more detail. The Bush administration is afraid the truth may come out
about Alito if more in-depth hearings crack his robotic, well-
rehearsed answers. That's why republicans pay for commercials which
urge for an "up or down vote"--in other words, a vote with as little
discussion of their not-so-moderate candidate as possible. Look.
Those commercials aren't being run for the 100 Senators. Or the
states' representatives. They're being run to alter public opinion
and the republicans can afford a lot more than moveon.org can. And I
bet those well-organized conservatives have sent out plenty of
letters to their senators and representatives urging a vote for Alito.

For a different point of view, here's a way to inform yourself on
this complex and dry issue in a passionate, very entertaining
broadcast by AIR AMERICA's Randi Rhodes.

Click on http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

Click on her 1/24 broadcast "Samuel Scalito" and prepare to gag at
this fiasco. I've been intending to write an in-depth love letter to
Randi and her incredibly witty and incisive AIR AMERICA broadcasts
for months and have spent many afternoons giddiliy scribbling notes
for a blog post which I can't read afterwards. But there is no time
for a love letter. WE HAVE TO ACT TODAY. I wish Randi's genius Friday
show was archived on her site, but it isn't , so I'll attempt to
decipher/paraphrase my dictation of her brilliant words. If this
doesn't goad you into action, you're either dead or republican. (Or
is that being redundant?) Isn't democracy supposed to be government
by the people? Well, then start governing yourselves and take a
stand, motherfuckers! This little ol' Supreme Court nomination is a
little more important than the OSCAR nominees, people!

Opinion polls show the president's approval rating at the lowest
ever. It took 9/11, Iraq, Katrina, a decrease in our standard of
living, top republicans stepping down amidst scandal and impeachment
proceedings over Bush's illegal spying to get the message into our
heads, but we ARE waking up. Maybe Bush will wind up being impeached
and jailed. At the very least, once he's out of office and his
propaganda machine is tirned off,  without a doubt he'll be
remembered as one of America's most irresponsible, incompetent and
corrupt leaders. But even after Bush is disgraced, his judicial
appointments will continue to affect all of our lives for decades.
That's why it's so important to act now. To those women who may need
an abortion, or who may have a daughter who'll need one. To gays,
blacks, latinos, miners, the poor, transsexuals, handicapped folks
who wants to get into Princeton or just onto the damn bus, unjustly
accused folks on death row, families who want to retain the right to
pull the plug on their own Terri Schiavo--anyone who doesn't have
well-paid lobbyists to fight for their rights/bribe congressmen. And
anyone who enjoys the benefits of the sexual revolution and doen't
want to turn back the moral tone of this country to the 1950's.
Anyone who doesn't want to be spied on, held without charges, or
tortured.

Hopefully, this is all of you. So what fight are you waiting for?
Unless you are ready to drop dead before Tuesday, Alito's appointment
will affect you all gravely. Alito would give the office of the
presidency MORE power. Does this sound like a plan? The rogue
currently in the White House has practically run this country into
the ground, so let's not enhance his ability to grind it down any
further. Do you really want to aid the breakdown of our
Constitution's system of checks and balances between the executive,
legislative and judicial branches? As Randi cleverly put it, "Does
this president have the Constitution printed on his doormat so you
can wipe your feet on it before entering?" Though Bush acts all
"traditional values" and "patriotic" for the cameras, in truth, he
ignores the very Constitution that our nation is built on.

A vote for Alito, a corporate lawyer, also means placing the
interests of big business over that of the individual. Are you
enjoying your exorbitant cost of your health insurance? Loving the
higher gas prices? Thrilled that you have no job and that you can
never compete with greedy corporations who can outsource your jobs to
foreign workers who'll glady work for a fraction of our minimum wage?
(Or hell, just sick of having to translate the heavy accents of these
foreign workers every time you phone a credit card help-line?) Does
it fill your heart with joy to hear that Dick Cheney's "former"
company Halliburton is given no-bid contracts to quench american
soldiers' thirst in the desert with shit-tainted water which sickened
them? If so, do nothing. But if any of these things bug you, now is
the time to speak up. There's one thing that every senator has in
common--they require your votes to be re-elected. If they aren't
hearing from you, then they are only hearing from lobbyists.  Just
because you aren't accustomed, as I admit I'm not, to voicing your
concerns to the people who your votes put in office, DOES NOT MEAN
THAT THEY DON'T HEAR THEM WHEN AND IF YOU DO. If these fools wanna
get re-elected, and they do, they are monitoring every email and
opinion poll they can get their hands on.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ON MONDAY

1. PHONE OR EMAIL BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS. If you are unsure what to
say, simply say that you have called to urge your senator to support
the filibuster against Samuel Alito. When calling, you may be asked
whether or not you voted for this senator. If yes, mention that you'd
withdraw your future support from the senator unless they filibuster.
If you did not vote for this senator