WhistleblowerSupporter

Understanding Sarah Palin's Popularity in Alaska

(Or Understanding the Differences between Alaska and “The lower 48”)

I’ve been watching with amusement the dialog and arguing going on as people struggle to find out about and then understand Republican Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin.  The list of those who are sending comments regarding this and wanting to argue about the merits (or demerits) of the candidate include people who simply do not have any idea of how different it is in Alaska from the rest of the country.  One person maintains that if she is so popular in Alaska, then she must be just what the McCain Campaign is presenting her as being.  “I mean,” s/he stated, “How could she be so popular up there if she did this awful things those Democrats are trying to say she did?”

 

Here is my response to her/him and any others who have similar questions:

Dear friends,

You just don't understand the Alaskan mindset.  There is a lot of history to the current state of the relationship of the citizens of the State of Alaska and the rest of us, often referred to by Alaskans as those in “the lower 48.”  (Alaskans do not generally include Hawaii in this lumping together of the rest of the U.S. as they have a certain fondness for Hawaii, as that is a favorite wintertime vacation get away for those that “have” and can afford to take yearly trips over there to get away from the ice and snow.  The most popular time is just before and during spring breakup when things are particularly dismal in our 49^th state.) 

There is also a feeling of shared comradery that comes from the experienced history of each state and the perception of having been used and abused by our government for the good of those in the lower 48 repeatedly over time. 

Alaskans tend to be a brash bunch.  Those that develop diplomacy no doubt also tend toward a career in politics.  There is a good deal of the spirit of a pirate up there.  It is felt individually, and is a social attitude found throughout the population as well.  It is a shared mindset.  Alaskans, particularly those Alaskans who either overtly or covertly support or sympathize with the secessionist movement, tend to admire their swashbucklers who create controversy, and find a way to get back at "the man" in the "lower 48."

One Alaskan told me “Sarah is very smart.”  S/he did not explain what that meant.  In fact s/he seemed unable to clarify or give examples.   But apparently the general consensus whether you agreed with her policies or not, was that she is enough of a politician to be smart in how to get certain kinds of things done.  She may have started out as the competitive Sarah Barracuda, but over time, has learned to use the beauty queen, cheerleader persona to her advantage.  “If they don’t see the barracuda coming, it is decidedly an advantage,” one Alaskan commented.

And smart indeed she may have been when she affiliated herself with one of the most powerful figures (albeit infamous as of late figures) in Alaskan history, Senator Ted Stevens.  A move politically astute Alaskans would have recommended to anyone who seriously thought they wanted a career in Alaskan politics.  Depending on whom you ask, you get enthusiasm for her energy, or a cautious notation about her single-mindedness in using her power to meet her own personal and political ends. 

And she is affiliated through her husband with BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, a large international mega oil company.  One might wonder how smart it is to place oneself in a compromised position of having one’s husband’s job at the whim of an oil company who might be most interested in what you do and say while in your next coveted office, that of the United States, Vice President, if one indeed wishes to remain an independent “maverick.” 

 

Alaskans like politicians whom they believe will tell it like it is.  At least they say they do.  They also value those who can deliver the booty to Alaska from the Feds or from industry.  There are many Alaskans who appear to me to be quite myopic when it comes to whether something they perceive is good for Alaska, is actually good for the Nation as a whole.  (I expect this phenomena is found in every state, as we still struggle with our identity.   “Am I American or am I a Virginian?”   You remember the history.  We fought a civil war eventually over the complications from this conflict.

  

In fact, many Alaskans, I have observed, do not care, and some exhibit a certain passive aggressive glee when a blow can be struck at the Feds.  It is kind of similar to the attitude that so called Welfare scammers have toward the government and those good taxpayers who fund welfare benefits, laughing and smirking at us all, while collecting and depositing the checks each month. 

Now, about that attitude…  It goes back quite a while.  I shall cite one notable situation, which led some Alaskans to gleefully say “Let the bastards freeze in the dark.”  Some time ago, we did not have an Alaska Oil Pipeline.  There was, if you recall a lot of controversy about this project and no small amount of backlash to its proposed building from environmentalists, who operated mostly in the lower 48.    During this time period, Alaskans viewed these people as obstructionists to progress and needed jobs and economic benefit.  This led to the coining of the phrase, which further aggravated lower 48ers, even some who until hearing themselves referred to in that way hadn’t paid much attention to the controversy.  (Here’s a link to an article about this:  http://www.accesstoenergy.com/view/atearchive/s76a3669.htm)

Now all this bridge business also goes back a long way.  Please understand that though Alaska is a large state geographically, it has a relatively sparse population compared to many of the lower 48 states.  Alaskans are sometimes a bit conflicted about all of this.  There is a great need to defend the honor of the 49^th state, I mean everything is large up there:  brown bear loom, Mt. McKinley makes Washington’s Mount Rainier look dwarfed by comparison, salmon are bigger and more numerous than anywhere else in our borders, even flies and mosquitoes are legendary and numerous.  (Just remember the tourist souvenir mosquitoes are actually made from Caribou or Moose scat, I can’t recall which, which is dried and lacquered and sent home with unsuspecting tourists.   Alaskans won’t export their real mosquitoes.  They nurture them to extract a blood payment from the tourists each year.)

There are to my knowledge two such “Bridges to Nowhere” that were dreamed of being built in Alaska, but in the end were not built: the Gravina Island bridge in Ketchikan which would have linked the island to the rest of Ketchikan society and the Knik Arm Bridge which would have cut across Knick Arm, (a famous tidal flow area fed by Cook Inlet, similar to the Bay of Fundy in its extreme tidal flow), to conveniently connect Anchorage to the little community of Hope, Alaska, cutting of many hours of driving time, around the long expanse of sometimes difficult road that must be driven to circumvent Knik Arm.  (Link to information on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_to_Nowhere )

 

(Update:  I did some more fact checking and discovered I had confused Knik Arm Bridge project with the Turnagain Arm Bridge project.  Some hoped to connect Anchorage more directly with Hope Alaska, by putting a bridge across Turnagain.  That is the bridge over the water that acts much as the Bay of Fundy.  Knik Arm I believe may be the one that is related to Oil Company territory.  I am not sure and do not have time today to get that information.  I imagine you can research it if it matters to you personally.  Need I say, there's a lot of bridges that are wanted in Alaska that unfortunately, they do not have the local money to build? GFS 9-21-08)

 

Now it was said earlier on, that Sarah Palin, along with a lot of other Alaskans was for getting Federal funding for the Bridge(s) to Nowhere, (consider how hard it is to build very expensive projects in isolated places with few people, and few local taxes to pay for it), until it became apparent that it was becoming controversial and was garnering too much negative attention, then being the consummate politician she is, she just changed her position. 

It appears, however, she did not give back the money sent by the Feds, (thanks in great part to Senator Ted Stevens and his colleagues), for the "bridge."  The money got used for other things.  Lord knows, there are a lot of things that need funding in a state that large, that has such a small taxpayer base.  But wouldn’t you think if she were the "knight on a horse" she is purported to be, she would have sent the money back to the Feds with a note saying it should not have been sent for the bridge in the first place?   In fact, I believe she did tell all of us, she told them (the Feds) that if Alaska wanted that bridge (which one?) they'd build it themselves.

What other projects was the money spent on instead of the bridge, you ask?  That seems to be a part of the question.  At this time, I do not know.  Perhaps you’ll be able to research this online and find out and report your findings here.

Now, I must say that this explanation is in no way meant to denigrate all Alaskans.  I have visited Alaska, and have family up there myself.  I find myself admiring people who are direct and blunt.  In fact, I have been told I resemble that description myself.   But there really is a difference in how people think and what measure they use to judge things.  Maybe it’s having Canada between us, or the long history of isolation before satellite phones, computers and the Internet, which are relatively new in our shared history.  But anyone who really wants to understand Sarah Palin must first learn to understand Alaska and Alaskans. 

-GFS

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For another bloggers views of Sarah Palin, please click here:  http://www.congresscheck.com/2008/09/14/sarah-palin-autocrat/   This was sent to me today also.  -GFS

Senator Reid Wants to Expand Whistleblower Rights

Senator Reid Wants to

Expand Whistleblower Rights

 

 

 

By Alan Maimon

 

August 17, 2008

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called on the Transportation Security Administration to investigate whether Las Vegas-assigned air marshals have been appropriately sanctioned for acts including drunken driving and reckless use of weapons.

 

Reid, D-Nev., also said he plans to advance legislation strengthening the rights of whistleblowers in the air marshal service and other federal agencies.

 

Reid's statements were prompted by a Review-Journal story earlier this month about the Federal Air Marshal Service's Las Vegas office. The story contrasted the apparently light punishments given to misbehaving agents, with the severe discipline handed down to marshals critical of agency policy.

 

"I believe it is very important for the Transportation Security Administration to fully examine these allegations," the Nevada senator said.

 

The Federal Air Marshal Service is the primary law enforcement entity within the TSA.

 

Its armed agents help protect commercial flights against terrorist attacks.

 

TSA spokesman Nelson Minerly said his agency responds promptly to concerns from Congress, but he said incidents highlighted in the Review-Journal were "the isolated actions of a very few over the course of many years."

 

The newspaper found that, since 2001, at least six air marshals assigned to Las Vegas have been criminally or internally investigated for misconduct.

 

Minerly said all the situations cited by the newspaper were thoroughly investigated and properly resolved.

 

He denied that his agency has mistreated whistleblowers: "The Federal Air Marshal Service maintains a policy of zero tolerance of retaliation in the workplace against an employee for raising a concern or complaint through any established formal or informal process.

 

"Any Federal Air Marshal Service employee who in good faith reports waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, or a violation of the law or agency policy shall not be subjected to any form of harassment, adverse employment consequences or other form of retaliation."

 

 

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P. Jeffrey Black, a Las Vegas air marshal, said he filed 15 whistleblower complaints against the air marshal service between August 2004 and April 2007.

 

"For years, TSA has been telling its employees there is a zero-tolerance policy against whistleblower retaliation, but for the past four years, I have received nonstop retaliation for my whistleblower disclosures," Black said.

 

Black said things got so bad at one point that he was ordered by his superiors to paint walls and have cars washed at the agency's local field office.

 

Last month, Black, who is president of the Nevada chapter of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, met with Reid on Capitol Hill to discuss whistleblower protection legislation.

 

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the Review-Journal story about the air marshal service "demonstrates that whistleblower protections don't really exist for federal employees."

 

That's why POGO and more than 100 other groups are urging Congress to finalize new laws that would add teeth to the 1994 Whistleblower Protection Act.

 

The House and Senate have been trying to resolve differences in separate bipartisan bills that each chamber overwhelmingly passed last year. The goal is to come up with a compromise bill that could be voted on before Congress adjourns this fall.

 

Advocates of the legislation say the House bill has elements lacking in the Senate version, including the guarantee of a jury trial for whistleblowers and whistleblower protections for FBI and intelligence employees.

 

Federal employees who appeal dismissals by claiming whistleblower protection have their cases heard by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, a quasi-judicial agency that critics say lacks the resources to appropriately rule on often complex matters.

 

Very few rulings in recent years have gone in favor of whistleblowers at any federal agency, according to Rep. Todd Platts, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-sponsored the House whistleblower protection bill.

 

"Unfortunately, we are once again largely back to where we started," Platts said on the House floor last year. "Since the 1994 amendments, 177 whistleblower cases have come before the federal circuit court; however, only two whistle-blowers have prevailed."

 

Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based government watchdog group, said no agency better illustrates the need for stronger whistleblower protections than the Federal Air Marshal Service.

 

He called the agency's management "a lowest common denominator in bureaucratic incompetence."

 

"Hopefully, the House and Senate will roll up their sleeves and iron out their differences to get a final bill," Devine said.

 

As Senate majority leader, Reid will play a key role in determining the fate of the legislation.

 

Reid said he is committed to seeing it pass.

 

"I will determine when to bring this important legislation before the Senate, in consultation with Senate sponsors of the legislation and leading whistleblower advocates," he said.

 

President Bush has vowed to veto the bill.

 

A statement of Bush administration policy from March 2007 said the House bill "could compromise national security, is unconstitutional, and is overly burdensome and unnecessary."

 

It takes a two-thirds vote of both houses to override a presidential veto.

 

The House whistleblower bill passed last year by a vote of 331-94 with Nevada's three representatives all voting in favor of it. The Senate bill passed unanimously.

 

Former air marshals who filed whistleblower complaints are keeping a close eye on what Congress does.

 

Robert MacLean was fired from the air marshal service's Las Vegas office for going public in 2003 about TSA plans to temporarily remove agents from cross-country and international flights. He said the American public deserves to know when the government makes bad decisions.

 

Following MacLean's disclosure, the plan to cut back on air marshal assignments was scrapped. But MacLean was later fired for revealing what the government deemed to be sensitive security information. He is appealing his dismissal with the Merit Systems Protection Board.

 

"I believe I did the right thing," he said. "But until the laws are improved and there are more protections for whistleblowers, everybody will be afraid to step forward."

 

Contact reporter Alan Maimon at:   AMaimon@reviewjournal.com   or   702-383-0404.

 

 

 

See Original Article Here:

http://www.lvrj.com/news/27067449.html

 

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules

The camel does appear to have its nose, perhaps its whole head under the tent.  -GFS

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US May Ease Police Spy Rules

Saturday 16 August 2008

 

by: Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie Johnson, The Washington Post

A Justice Department proposal would grant broader spy powers to the police. (Photo: AP)

    The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

    The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

    Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

    Taken together, critics in Congress and elsewhere say, the moves are intended to lock in policies for Bush's successor and to enshrine controversial post-Sept. 11 approaches that some say have fed the greatest expansion of executive authority since the Watergate era.

    Supporters say the measures simply codify existing counterterrorism practices and policies that are endorsed by lawmakers and independent experts such as the 9/11 Commission. They say the measures preserve civil liberties and are subject to internal oversight.

    White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the administration agrees that it needs to do everything possible to prevent unwarranted encroachments on civil liberties, adding that it succeeds the overwhelming majority of the time.

    Bush homeland security adviser Kenneth L. Wainstein said, "This is a continuum that started back on 9/11 to reform law enforcement and the intelligence community to focus on the terrorism threat."

    Under the Justice Department proposal for state and local police, published for public comment July 31, law enforcement agencies would be allowed to target groups as well as individuals, and to launch a criminal intelligence investigation based on the suspicion that a target is engaged in terrorism or providing material support to terrorists. They also could share results with a constellation of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and others in many cases.

    Criminal intelligence data starts with sources as basic as public records and the Internet, but also includes law enforcement databases, confidential and undercover sources, and active surveillance.

    Jim McMahon, deputy executive director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said the proposed changes "catch up with reality" in that those who investigate crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking and document fraud are best positioned to detect terrorists. He said the rule maintains the key requirement that police demonstrate a "reasonable suspicion" that a target is involved in a crime before collecting intelligence.

    "It moves what the rules were from 1993 to the new world we live in, but it maintains civil liberties," McMahon said.

    However, Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the proposed rule may be misunderstood as permitting police to collect intelligence even when no underlying crime is suspected, such as when a person gives money to a charity that independently gives money to a group later designated a terrorist organization.

    The rule also would allow criminal intelligence assessments to be shared outside designated channels whenever doing so may avoid danger to life or property -- not only when such danger is "imminent," as is now required, German said.

    On the day the police proposal was put forward, the White House announced it had updated Reagan-era operating guidelines for the U.S. intelligence community. The revised Executive Order 12333 established guidelines for overseas spying and called for better sharing of information with local law enforcement. It directed the CIA and other spy agencies to "provide specialized equipment, technical knowledge or assistance of expert personnel" to support state and local authorities.

    And last week, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said that the Justice Department will release new guidelines within weeks to streamline and unify FBI investigations of criminal law enforcement matters and national security threats. The changes will clarify what tools agents can employ and whose approval they must obtain.

    The recent moves continue a steady expansion of the intelligence role of U.S. law enforcement, breaking down a wall erected after congressional hearings in 1976 to rein in such activity.

    The push to transform FBI and local police intelligence operations has triggered wider debate over who will be targeted, what will be done with the information collected and who will oversee such activities.

    Many security analysts faulted U.S. authorities after the 2001 terrorist attacks, saying the FBI was not combating terrorist plots before they were carried out and needed to proactively use intelligence. In the years since, civil liberties groups and some members of Congress have criticized the administration for unilaterally expanding surveillance and moving too fast to share sensitive information without safeguards.

    Critics say preemptive law enforcement in the absence of a crime can violate the Constitution and due process. They cite the administration's long-running warrantless-surveillance program, which was set up outside the courts, and the FBI's acknowledgment that it abused its intelligence-gathering privileges in hundreds of cases by using inadequately documented administrative orders to obtain telephone, e-mail, financial and other personal records of U.S. citizens without warrants.

    Former Justice Department official Jamie S. Gorelick said the new FBI guidelines on their own do not raise alarms. But she cited the recent disclosure that undercover Maryland State Police agents spied on death penalty opponents and antiwar groups in 2005 and 2006 to emphasize that the policies would require close oversight.

    "If properly implemented, this should assure the public that people are not being investigated by agencies who are not trained in how to protect constitutional rights," said the former deputy attorney general. "The FBI will need to be vigilant -- both in its policies and its practices -- to live up to that promise."

    German, an FBI agent for 16 years, said easing established limits on intelligence-gathering would lead to abuses against peaceful political dissenters. In addition to the Maryland case, he pointed to reports in the past six years that undercover New York police officers infiltrated protest groups before the 2004 Republican National Convention; that California state agents eavesdropped on peace, animal rights and labor activists; and that Denver police spied on Amnesty International and others before being discovered.

    "If police officers no longer see themselves as engaged in protecting their communities from criminals and instead as domestic intelligence agents working on behalf of the CIA, they will be encouraged to collect more information," German said. "It turns police officers into spies on behalf of the federal government."

    Civil liberties groups also have warned that forthcoming Justice Department rules for the FBI may permit the use of terrorist profiles that could single out religious or ethnic groups such as Muslims or Arabs for investigation.

    Mukasey said the changes will give the next president "some of the tools necessary to keep us safe" and will not alter Justice rules that prohibit investigations based on a person's race, religion or speech. He said the new guidelines will make it easier for the FBI to use informants, conduct physical and photographic surveillance, and share data in intelligence cases, on the grounds that doing so should be no harder than in investigations of ordinary crimes.

    Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that updating police intelligence rules is a move "in the right direction. However, the vagueness of the provisions giving broad access to criminal intelligence to undefined agencies . . . is very troubling."

    ---------

    Staff writers Joby Warrick and Ellen Nakashima contributed to this story

 

Bush Signs Consumer Product Safety Reform Bill

For Immediate Release
Thursday, August 14, 2008

 

 

20 Million Employees Get Whistleblower Protection 

Consumer Product Safety Reform Signed by President

Washington, D.C. August 14, 2008. Today President Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Overwhelming Congressional majorities sent the bipartisan bill to the president's desk on July 30, after a reaching compromise on several key provisions, including whistleblower protection. This Legislation is Congress' response to recent massive consumer product recalls, on everything from lead-laden children's toys to toxic toothpaste, which had angered Americans and prompted calls for reform.

The law includes whistleblower protections approved as part of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act (H.R. 4040 and S.2663).

The whistleblower provision of the new law will guarantee protection for over 20 million employees involved in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of consumer goods. This protection ensures that employees have the right to report defective and hazardous consumer goods to their superiors or a regulatory agency, such as the CPSC.

Stephen M. Kohn, the President of the National Whistleblower Center issued the following statement on behalf of the NWC:

"This law is a major victory. Today, despite attacks from big business, the interests of American families have prevailed. Finally, employees in the manufacturing industry have the vital whistleblower protections necessary to report hazardous products. Now American regulatory agencies must follow the government's lead and enforce these critical protections."

 

The law can be viewed in its entirety HERE

-end-

 

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The National Whistleblower Center is a nonprofit educational and advocacy organization dedicated to helping whistleblowers. Since 1988, the Center has worked with whistleblowers to improve environmental protection, nuclear safety, national security, government ethics and corporate accountability. For more information, please visit www.whistleblowers.org OR www.whistleblowersblog.org

 

OSHA Sues Company for Firing Whistleblower

This was sent to me from a Whistleblower Group.  I do not have the credits for this article, unfortunately.  I post it as received.  –GFS

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OSHA Sues Company for Firing Whistleblower

 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has filed suit against Exclusive Decorators Inc.; Interiors Furniture, LLC; and its vice president, Garrett Ney, on behalf of an employee who was terminated in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The complaint alleges that the employee was terminated after complaining to the employer about the lack of ventilation in the workplace. OSHA previously had cited the employer for ventilation violations. OSHA conducted an inspection of the worksite in response to a complaint about safety and health practices.

The former employee filed a complaint with OSHA, alleging retaliation by the defendants in violation of Section 11(c) of the OSH Act. OSHA investigated the complaint and determined it had merit. After being notified of OSHA's findings, the defendants refused to reinstate the employee to the same or a substantially equivalent position of employment and declined to pay back wages or other employment benefits. Exclusive Decorators Inc. specializes in manufacturing and installing wood cabinets and furniture.

"Every employee should be free to exercise his or her rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "The Labor Department is committed to protecting those rights."

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the complaint seeks to reinstate the employee; secure compensatory damages, lost back pay, and punitive damages; and require the company to post a notice in a prominent place for 60 days that explains employee rights under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the OSH Act and 15 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, and securities laws. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: http://www.osha. gov/dep/oia/ whistleblower/ index.html.

Quotes to mull over in your "spare time."

Quotes to Amuse You

Here's some more quotes, which to my research tired brain seem related to the causes and events surrounding the necessity and experiences of whistleblowing.

-Flyover

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“Fear is the foundation of most governments.”  -John Adams

“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.”  -John Adams

“All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.”   -John Quincy Adams

“Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.”  -John Quincy Adams

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”  -John Quincy Adams

"Why do you always have to try to do something about things?"  -Dan Athern

“To see a wrong and not to expose it, is to become a silent partner to its

continuance.”    -Dr. John Raymond Baker

“America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world.”  -George H.W. Bush

“Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.” –Julius Caesar

“It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.”  -Jimmy Carter

If you are going through hell, keep going.   -Winston Churchill

“A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.”  Grover Cleveland

“Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made”  -Grover Cleveland

“Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.”  -William J. Clinton

“I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.”  -Calvin Coolidge

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but

because of those who look on and do nothing."   -Albert Einstein

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.”  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.”  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Action expresses priorities.”  -Mohandas Gandhi

“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.”  -James A. Garfield

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”  -Mohandas Gandhi

“There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.”  William Henry Harrison

“The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.”  -Rutherford B. Hayes

“A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus.”  -Herbert Hoover

“Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.”  -Herbert Hoover

“It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business.”  -Herbert Hoover

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad."  -Aldous Huxley

“All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.”  -Andrew Jackson

“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”    -Andrew Jackson

“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.”  -Andrew Jackson

“It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.”  -Andrew Jackson

“The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.”  -Andrew Jackson

“The great constitutional corrective in the hands of the people against usurpation of power, or corruption by their agents is the right of suffrage; and this when used with calmness and deliberation will prove strong enough.”  -Andrew Jackson

“To the victors belong the spoils.”  -Andrew Jackson

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

-Thomas Jefferson

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”  Thomas Jefferson

“Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”  -Thomas Jefferson

“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”  -Thomas Jefferson

“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”  -Thomas Jefferson

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”  -Thomas Jefferson

“Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”  -Thomas Jefferson

“Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects.” -Andrew Johnson

“Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests.”  -Andrew Johnson

“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”  -John F. Kennedy

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”  -John F. Kennedy

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”  -John F. Kennedy

” The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” 

-John F. Kennedy

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”  Abraham Lincoln

“The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.”

-Abraham Lincoln

“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

-Abraham Lincoln

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”  -Abraham Lincoln

“To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.”  -Abraham Lincoln

“Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”  -Abraham Lincoln

"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."

-Arthur Miller, Playwrite

"The great mass of people ... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one."   -Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator. Mein Kampf, vol. 1, ch. 10 (1925)

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

-Steven Biko

"It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realize that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality."   -Steven Biko

"Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict."    -Saul Alinsky

"We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it."   -Saul Alinsky

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform."    -Susan B. Anthony

"No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies."    -Daisy Bates

"The last struggle for our rights, the battle for our civilization, is entirely with ourselves."   -William Wells Brown

"We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure."   -Cesar Chavez

"You are never strong enough that you don't need help."    -Cesar Chavez

"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever."

-Noam Chomsky

"Do something. If it doesn't work, do something else. No idea is too crazy."

-Jim Hightower

"If you do not speak up when it matters, when would it matter that you speak? The opposite of courage is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow."

-Jim Hightower

"So now is the time, more than ever, for those who truly value all the principles of democracy, especially including dissent, to be the most forceful in speaking up, standing up and speaking out."   -Jim Hightower

"The corporations don't have to lobby the government anymore. They are the government."

-Jim Hightower

“I am tired of talk that comes to nothing.”   -Chief Joseph

“It does not require many words to speak the truth.”  -Chief Joseph

“Treat all men alike. Give them the same law. Give them an even chance to live and grow.”   -Chief Joseph

"Expedience, not justice, is the rule of contemporary American law."

-Abbie Hoffman

"I believe that no man who holds a leader's position should ever accept favors from either side. He is then committed to show favors. A leader must stand alone."    -Mother Jones

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."   -Mother Jones

"Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others."

-Coretta Scott King

“A right delayed is a right denied.”   -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”   -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”   -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”   -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” 

-Dalai Lama

"It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees."   -Wangari Maathai

"All I was doing was trying to get home from work."   -Rosa Parks

“Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers.”   -William Penn

"Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship."    -A. Philip Randolph

“A single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.”  -Tecumseh

“Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.”  -Tecumseh

“Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.”  Tecumseh

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”  -Margaret Thatcher