Electronic Writer

I just finished reading the LA Times Article, GOP hold reins in debate over tax cut extension.  The authors of the article wrote pretty strong opening statements about the situation:

A day after agreeing to work with President Obama to end a stalemate over expiring tax cuts, congressional Republicans flexed their newfound political muscle Wednesday, declaring that they would block consideration of any other legislation during the lame-duck session until a deal is reached on the tax cuts and temporary government funding.

You don’t have to dig too deeply to discover the hidden meaning.  It is pretty clear.  Republicans intend to block EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF LEGISLATION unless they get to extend tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans (that were irresponsible, to begin with–according to Ronald Reagan’s Budget Director).  Everyone agrees that middle and lower-class Americans need the tax breaks, but the fight is squarely over making the tax cuts from George Bush permanent.

Does this sound like extortion to you?

While I am certainly no legal expert, my first impression was that this sounded like a form of extortion.  But, being unsure of the exact definition and some of the nuances that make certain actions Extortion, so I did a little research.  According to the Wikipedia, the definition of Extortion is:

Extortion, outwresting, and/or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person(s), entity, or institution, through coercion.

This seemed to be a pretty close match as a description of the behavior of these Senators, but after a bit more research, I stumbled upon the definition of Coercion, and thought it may be a better fit:

Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation  or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way. Coercion may involve the actual infliction of physical pain/injury or psychological harm in order to enhance the credibility  of a threat. The threat of further harm may lead to the cooperation or obedience  of the person being coerced. Torture is one of the most extreme examples of coercion i.e. severe pain is inflicted until the victim provides the desired information.

This sounds much closer to the case–though, apparently, the Republicans have a code-word for this behavior on Capitol Hill.  I think they simply call it Power. Regardless of the name we use for this, obstructionist tactics (also see:  here, and here for more examples) for political gain are wrong.  This is not how the Democratic Process was intended to be used, and is a misappropriation of the government and their positions as legislators.

Perhaps Robert Gibbs summed it up the best:   “Nothing could be more completely out of whack with what is important to the American people and to getting our economy going again than to watch a debate about billionaire tax cuts while people lose their unemployment benefits.”

The Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas made the news recently with their protest of their shameless display of hate at the funeral of a recent serviceman, then winning the legal battle with the father, and forcing him to pay for their legal fees. In fact, everything about them is somewhat sickening–right down to their website address (god hates fags dot com).

By far, the worst thing about them is their shameless exploitation of the children of the parents of their church. An 8 year old child, marching with a sign and filled with hatred has had their childhood stolen from them . . . regardless of the strength of the convictions of their parents.

But, this is not a tale of woe and sadness. This is a tale of victory.

When the Westboro Baptist Church showed up with their signs and their children to West Virginia to tell the families of the miners who died that their loved ones had died because the country is too tolerant of gays, and that there are too many Catholics in West Virginia and that God hates them . . . they were met with a bit of a surprise.  (I SWEAR, I am not making this up . . . .)

The roughly 10 people filed out of a mini-van only to be met with a force of 500 West Virginians who were there to counter-protest the Westboro Baptist Church and their message of hatred with . . . love, compassion and peace.

But, don’t take my word for it . . . watch the video and see for yourself.

The protest schedule for the Westboro Baptist Church [ed. of hatred] is on their website.  If you believe that peace, tolerance and love are more powerful than hatred, there may be an opportunity for you to test your hypothesis.  The people of Iowa did it . . . and had similar results to the good people of West Virginia.

In the issue regarding the John McCain campaign denying United States Citizens their right to Freedom of Speech, I guess there are others who agree with me.

Here is the interview of the Librarian on Keith Oberman:

Bush claims executive privilege on CIA leak

(AP Article published at Yahoo)

George Bush, in a stroke of genius using the one club in his legal golf bag, has invoked Executive Privilege again.

Allegedy, someone was preparing to ask him to prove something that he might have said at some time, and before the question had gained momentum from a thought to an auditory format, Executive Privilege had been invoked–thereby circumventing the even public PHRASING of the question.

Do you remember the kid who would say, “I know you are, but what am I?” as a direct response to your verbal attacks?  That kid, seeing the success decides then and there to utilize it to every word out of your mouth–until it is no longer fun to play together.

The kid is George Bush, and the game is Democracy.

I am going to go home and have some cookies and milk . . . .

Dear Senator McCain,

If you were to become Commander-in-Chief, you are going to have to do a bit better.

Freedom of Speech is a RIGHT guaranteed to every Citizen of the United States of America by the Constitution–the Supreme Law of the Land.  I learned this in 5th Grade.

You cannot take it away from Citizens who happen to exercise it and say things that do not agree with you–even if it has done before–and right before your very eyes.

If someone were jumping off of a cliff, would you follow him?  NO.  Well, just because someone breaks the Supreme Law, do you have to follow him? (Please follow the article on the “Free-Speech Zone” in The American Conservative.)

Clearly, in the VIDEO below, your actions show that you are breaking the law and denying Citizens of the United States of America their right to Freedom of Speech, and that you are asking other Citizens and Police Officers to enforce it.  What you did to the Librarian who was holding a sign at the rally in Denver, CO was illegal.  She should have never been given a ticket and a court date for exercising her rights afforded to her as a Citizen.

Please do better, and respect the Supreme Law, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the RIGHTS of Citizens.

Thank you,

-Electronic Writer

There are going to be a couple of changes to how I update Electronic Writer:

1. New Reactions to news and events. There is a new category called Reactions.  Shorter works that are responding primarily to news and events will be categorized as a Reaction.  My reactions to news and events will come more frequently, and will be directing readers to other pieces of information.
2. Longer Opinion/Editorial articles. I will also be publishing longer pieces that attempt to editorialize some of the events of the world.  These will be longer, contain more analysis, and will be researched.  some of the longer pieces might appear in other printed or online publications.

I look forward to your feedback and participation.

Thank you.