This is a little essay that has been brewing in my mind since hurricane Katrina, and which I put together in honor of Martin Luther King, jr.'s birthday, though it applies to all of us, not just blacks.

Today's focus for the Twelve Days for Justice Protest centers on Judge Alito's views regarding presidential powers, in light of the recent admission of George W. Bush that he has violated the 4th Amendment by authorizing unwarranted wire-tapping on U.S. citizens.

If you've been following along with us so far, you already know that Judge Alito's record on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals clearly shows that he subscribes to a far right-wing judicial philosophy: he holds a very narrow and harmful view of the role of the federal government in protecting our health and safety; he believes in restricting a women's right to obtain an abortion; he is hostile to disability rights; he has belonged to groups supportive of gender discrimination; and he regularly sides with big corporations against workers and environmental protections, even when his mainstream colleagues do not.  The nomination of a judge with such extreme ideological views to the Supreme Court is a threat to our long-standing constitutional rights and legal protections, one that we must do everything in our power to oppose.

Links to previous diaries, today's sample form letter to send to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and contact information for the Senators below the fold...

As you may be aware, Sens. Leahy and Sununu introduced a legislation to extend the expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act by 3 months so that the reauthorization legislation can be debated thoroughly before most of the act becomes permanent.

It is critical to pass this extension before the Senate recesses for the holidays, and I'll leave it to you to imagine the political calculus, given that 16 provisions will expire on 12/31.

The bill number is S. 2082, and it currently has 48 sponsor+co-sponsors. If we have 3 more senators onboard, the bill will have the 51 votes required to pass. Please help push it past that mark.

Key Words: Patriot Act, Defense spending bill, National Deficit, Legislative Activism, Activism

An observation: the run away Bush National Debt. which stood at $8.1 trillion on 12/15 will soon hit the National Debt Ceiling that was raised in November of 2004 to $8.18 Trillion (yes, after the election).

A simple estimation shows that the Federal Government will default on its payments, effectively a bankruptcy, from around the 12th of January, if not earlier, unless the Congress plays along with this grotesque mismanagement by Bush, Cheney & Co and raises the debt ceiling again.

Being X-posted across: Daily Kos, My Left Wing, Booman Tribune, myDD, political Cortex. Volunteers for posting this at Democratic Underground (I can't post a new topic there yet) are welcome.

On Monday the lamented folk singer Phil Ochs would have been 65 years old.  I'm going to post everywhere I can about him, for he heralded an idealism that we sorely need today.  And I will post about him again here through Monday.

Ochs was part of a tradition whose guiding light was Woody Guthrie, a generation older than Ochs.  By the 1960s, when Ochs did most of his recordings, Guthrie was incapacitated by Huntington's corea.  Ochs, like Bob Dylan, wrote a song for him, showing his appreciation.  That song is "Bound for Glory"

To honor Phil Ochs, I have taken that song and created a new version, one meant to honor Ochs himself:

Update 1: The house voted in favor of the conference report on wednesday by a 251-174 vote with 44 Democrats voting to pass the conference report (alas). Roll call.

I have added C-Span 2 feed below the fold. A must-watch on Friday (if you take headphones to work on Friday you can keep tabs on the developments all through the day). Thanks.

I'm setting up this posting so that we can do a liveblog on the breakout sessions at BlogLeft Massachusetts. The original thread is up to about 26 comments, so this will take some of the pressure off that thread.

BostonJoe, a regular diarist over at Booman Tribune, has quickly organized a grassroots protest that will target a couple of the Chickenhawk Republicans who slandered Rep. Murtha's military service last week.

Operation Yellow Feather is in full swing!

Click this link for more information, including downloads for faxes or mailings you can send to Rep. Jean Schmidt and State Rep. Danny Bubp of Ohio.

It is time to stop this new era of McCarthyism where the Chickenhawks in power question the patriotism of any American who disagrees with the lies and horrendous leadership provided by the Bush War Council.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Please spread the word and let me know if you participated so I can alert BostonJoe and the rest of the BooActivists.

Excerpts from BostonJoe's diary below the fold...

A media controlled by liberals and remorselessly-biased  in favor of them would have covered this event on its front pages and during the first five minutes of its evening newscasts. It would be mentioned for days in conjunction with the polls that show how abysmally unpopular George Bush and the GOP are.

(Via Ethereal Fire)