http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muqflDqEEp8&feature=related
http://www.truth-out.org/volunteers-of-america67884
Excerpts:
Volunteers of America
Friday 18 February 2011
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
1) Peaceful protesters outside the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo: Rob Chandanais / Flickr)
Did you hear about the uprising?
Not the one in Tunisia, or Egypt. >
Not there.
Here.
In America.
In the great state of Wisconsin.
2) Here's the deal, in case you've missed the news: Wisconsin's newly-minted Republican governor, Scott Walker, has wreathed himself in folly during the slender six weeks he has disgraced the office.
First, he imposed a series of ridiculous proposals on the state, which do nothing whatsoever to help the economy but cost upwards of $140 million.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-05-28/212982/
Excerpt:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-05-28/212982/
Excerpt:
Killer-D Lawsuit Still Alive
Both Rep. Lon Burnam and the Department of Public Safety win in appellate court
By Jordan Smith, Fri., May 28, 2004
State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, scored a legal victory on May 13, when Texas' 3rd Court of Appeals sent his suit against the Texas Department of Public Safety back to district court for further proceedings. Burnam filed suit in May 2003, claiming the DPS violated state law by destroying documents related to its involvement in last spring's manhunt for the "Killer D's" – the state reps, including Burnam, who fled to Oklahoma to break the House quorum and stall Republican redistricting plans – while Burnam's open-records request for those documents was pending before the agency. The DPS argued that they hadn't destroyed any records related to Burnam's request, that the question was moot because the documents were already gone, and that neither argument really mattered since "sovereign immunity" ultimately insulates the DPS from Burnam's suit.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/18/946684/-Legislators-on-the-LamWisconsin,-and-Texas-History
Excerpt (or not):
In one of the many diaries about the amazing actions going on in Wisconsin, including the quorum busting Senators who have disappered, I left a few comments about the Texas history of similar actions. At least one commenter thought the background was interesting enough to compile into a diary. You can jump over if you think it might be interesting, too. (I've added some commentary from Molly Ivins, so you know at least part of it will be interesting)
The first break out was in 1979. The fight was actually between liberal and conservative Dems over how the primaries would be structured
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946253-1,00.html Fast forward to 1993, and taking a page from the Killer Bees' book, House Dems (later dubbed Killer D's) took a stand in objecting to DeLay's redistricting plans. It started with the House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Ds And Dems in the Senate took a similar action when the bill was presented there
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Eleven There were substantial shenanigans in the search for the House members hiding out in Oklahoma, including involvement from Homeland Security and the FAA - and subsequent cover ups.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-15-texas-lawmakers_x.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/national/16TEXA.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/national/22TEXA.html And over at the FAA
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2003-07-25/170004/ And, for a taste of Molly's commentary at the time:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-may-13.html
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-may-16-2003-05-16.html So, may the Dem leadership in Wisconsin create its own legend - and with better success than Texas ultimately enjoyed from the redistricting fight.
All liberal-to-moderate Democrats, the twelve senators had blocked legislation and opposed Hobby so often in the past that he had dubbed them "the Killer Bees." They did not so much mind an early primary as they did the plan to divide the voting into two events: one in March for President, the second in May for state offices.The whole thing was pure Texas, in its own way:
It was one of the most celebrated man hunts in the history of the state. As many as 50 lawmen, including members of the vaunted Texas Rangers, combed the countryside, scanning the sagebrush and cactus scrubland from helicopters, throwing up roadblocks, searching bars, and rummaging through seedy Mexican border towns. For five days the hunt went on .... .....the dozen agreed simply to vanish from the 31 -seat state senate, thus blocking any senate action by preventing the necessary quorum of 21. The next morning ten of the Bees (two others simply left the state) began hiding out in a 12-ft. by 20-ft. room in a garage apartment that had only two beds, a shower, a toilet and a sink—and a peephole in the door. Most of the Bees figured that they would be there only a short time until Hobby agreed to drop the bill, but he instead empowered the state law-enforcement officers to arrest the fugitives and return them to Austin.
A5 the search went on, the holed-up Bees whiled away the time by watching television soap operas, playing cards, studying the rules of the senate and consuming more than $350 worth of liquor and cold food smuggled into their hideaway by trusted assistants. The ill-prepared band soon began to swelter in the small room. They shed their outer clothes, padded around in underwear, and began to get on each other's nerves.
...they nearly did nail Senator Gene Jones, who had chosen to leave the hideout because he had just sworn off cigarettes and was getting edgy in the smoke-filled room. To avoid the police, Jones was house-hopping around Houston. When a Ranger and another lawman arrived at the place where he was staying, the clean-shaven Jones jumped over a back fence; the police thereupon arrested his mustachioed brother Clayton and, despite his avowal that he was the wrong man, helicoptered him back to Austin. People began calling the cops the "Bumble Bees."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946253-1,00.html Fast forward to 1993, and taking a page from the Killer Bees' book, House Dems (later dubbed Killer D's) took a stand in objecting to DeLay's redistricting plans. It started with the House
The Killer Ds are a group of Texas House Democrats who left Texas for Ardmore, Oklahoma during the week of May 12, 2003. The Killer Ds left to prevent House consideration of the redistricting legislation that would have benefited Texas Republicans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Ds And Dems in the Senate took a similar action when the bill was presented there
The Texas Eleven were a group of Texas Senate Democrats who fled Texas for Albuquerque, New Mexico for 46 days in 2003 aimed at preventing the passage of controversial redistricting legislation that would have allegedly benefited Texas Republicans. A group of Texas House representatives, dubbed the Killer Ds, had fled the state earlier that same summer for the same reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Eleven There were substantial shenanigans in the search for the House members hiding out in Oklahoma, including involvement from Homeland Security and the FAA - and subsequent cover ups.
Democrats in Texas and Washington accused DeLay of ordering federal Homeland Security Department forces to help search for the missing legislators. DeLay denied it. But Homeland Security officials acknowledged Thursday that they helped looked for a state plane assigned to a senior Texas Democrat because state police feared it was missing.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-15-texas-lawmakers_x.htm
Department officials said Texas law enforcement officials had misled them into believing that the plane might have been in mechanical trouble or had crashed.
In fact, department officials said, the Texas state police, acting on orders of Republicans who control the Texas House of Representatives, were searching for the plane on Monday to try to track down the Democratic lawmaker and several of his colleagues, in hopes of forcing them home and establishing a quorum that would allow a vote on a disputed Republican redistricting plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/national/16TEXA.html
The fight over the flight of Democratic legislators intensified yesterday as the Texas Department of Public Safety admitted it had destroyed documents that were collected last week as state troopers searched for the missing lawmakers.
....
Today's uproar began after The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that a commander at the Department of Public Safety issued an e-mail notice instructing that all "notes, correspondence, photos, etc." concerning the search "be destroyed immediately."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/national/22TEXA.html And over at the FAA
According to Balloff, he first learned of the absent legislators in the May 13 Washington Post and later (much later) told investigators (says the report), "I figured out why they were calling. ... I just felt like I had been used. ... I don't do anything for political purposes. ... I would never use my office to help somebody out politically, for any political reasons, period." (Although Balloff was immediately aware that the agency was reviewing the circumstances of the search, he made a point of not telling his superiors about his involvement until he was asked a direct question he couldn't evade.) Inspector General Mead is rather politely circumspect about Balloff's versions of events, but anyone reading the report is extremely likely to conclude that Balloff's virginal protestations are -- well, pure-dee Texas bullshit. Not only was the Democrats' flight a statewide and nationwide story by Monday afternoon when Balloff began making his calls, not only did even some of the air-traffic controllers themselves recognize immediately what was up ("You must be looking for the missing Democrats," one told the DPS), according to his official FAA bio, Balloff is a former longtime Republican congressional staffer and "a three-time elected member to the Tennessee State Republican Executive Committee."
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2003-07-25/170004/ And, for a taste of Molly's commentary at the time:
The latest flap is over a congressional redistricting map that is so bad it's actually funny. Of course, the thing was passed without public hearings, because as Rep. Joe Crabb explained, "The rest of us would have a very difficult time if we were out in an area — other than Austin or other English-speaking areas — to be able to have committee hearings or to be able to converse with people that did not speak English." Sometimes you have to wonder what planet these people are from.
That was the proverbial straw for the Democrats, 53 of whom left the state or went into hiding Sunday to break the quorum, thus bringing legislative business to a halt. They've already been dubbed the Killer D's, after the tradition of the Killer Bees in 1979. Believe me, stopping the legislature from functioning at this point is high public service.
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-may-13.html
When last we left the saga of Texas' few living elected Democrats, they had fled the state pursued by minions of the law — legislators on the lam. These courageous citizens, fleeing vile Republican oppression in their state capital, took refuge at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma.... Gov. Goodhair Perry, who keeps saying he wants more civility and bipartisanship, denounced the AWOL solons as "cowardly," childish" and "irresponsible." It was a bad day for bipartisanship....
The manhunt continued despite the presence of a swelling press corps in Ardmore. Gov. Perry asked neighboring governors to arrest the perps on sight. The attorney general of New Mexico obligingly put out an all-points bulletin on any politicians who favor health care and oppose tax cuts for the rich. U.S. House Majority Leader Tom (the Hammer) DeLay, who caused the walkout with a stupefying redistricting map, threatened to send the federales after the recalcitrant D's. Yup, he wants to send the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to bring the runaway solons home in cuffs.
http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins/molly-ivins-may-16-2003-05-16.html So, may the Dem leadership in Wisconsin create its own legend - and with better success than Texas ultimately enjoyed from the redistricting fight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Ds
Killer Ds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Killer Ds are a group of Texas House Democrats who left Texas for Ardmore, Oklahoma during the week of May 12, 2003. The Killer Ds left to prevent House consideration of the redistricting legislation that would have benefited Texas Republicans. The Texas Constitution requires 100 representatives, or two-thirds of the 150-member House, to conduct business in the lower chamber. The absence of 52 House Democrats prevented Republican passage of the redistricting plan during the 2003 regular session.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Texas Eleven
Further information: Texas Eleven
The Killer Ds were followed by a group of 11 Senators, called the Texas Eleven, who fled the state in August 2003 for the same reasons.[1][edit] History
The moniker "Killer Ds" alludes to the Killer Bees, twelve liberal Democratic Texas Senators who busted a quorum during the 1979 regular session to prevent a vote on a presidential primary bill favorable to Republican John Connally.[2][edit] List of Killer Ds
(I only looked up a few of these folks but the ones I did look up seemed very much for the people.) ...cal
The "Killer Ds" are:*Jaime Capelo (Corpus Christi) http://dannoynted1-thinktank.blogspot.com/2006/08/jaime-capelo-deposition-page-1.html* A "As I was walking out of the settlement event this
evening I ran into Ray Maldonado of the Huerta Law Firm
making a speech against you to claimants as they were
walking in the doors. He was also handing out leaflets as
you know. He was telling the claimants that you were the
author of a Bill to get rid of class actions and to make it
hard for people who are hurt by big companies to recover. His speech also included the fact that you are one of the
lawyers for Citgo and the flier says that you have made tens
of thousands of dollars from Citgo, but when the people hurt
have received nothing or words to that effect. I suspect
there will be more of this over the weekend".
*James R. (Jim) Dunnam (Waco) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_DunnamExcerpt:
| Jim Dunnam | |
 | |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 57th district | |
| In office 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Barbara Rusling |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | Marva Beck |
| Born | December 12, 1963 McLennan County, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle |
| Residence | Moody, Texas |
| Alma mater | Baylor University |
| Profession | attorney |
| Religion | United Methodist |
James R. "Jim" Dunnam (born December 12, 1963) was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 57th District since his election in 1996 from January 14, 1997, until January 11, 2011. He is the grandson of William Vance Dunnam, who served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Coryell County in the 35th Legislature, 1917-1918.
In history, Dunnam will be best known as "the leader of the Democrats in the lower chamber, distinguished for years as the sharpest and most persistent thorn in the conservative paw," as the New York Times reported in November, 2010. He is acknowledged as engineering the Killer Ds walkout to Ardmore, Oklahoma to postpone consideration of Tom DeLay's mid-decade redistricting plan. The walkout is credited with starting serious media inquiry into DeLay's actions as majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, which ultimately led to DeLay's resignation in 2006.
Dunnam was educated at Baylor University, where he earned an undergraduate business degree and a law degree. Born in McLennan County, Texas, Dunnam is the second son of Clyde Vance Dunnam and Elnora Eveline Hohertz.
http://orangereport.livejournal.com/
Excerpt:
AUSTIN - In reaction to Rick Perry's call for a special session on redistricting, Texas Democratic Party Chairwoman Molly Beth Malcolm released the following statement:
"Rick Perry has turned himself into Tom DeLay's puppet, and it's going to cost the people of Texas $1.7 million.
"After saying in 2001 that redrawing congressional lines would be "a waste of taxpayer's money," Perry has flip-flopped and joined in Tom DeLay's power grab.
"The people of Texas are sick and tired of these Republican political games. The Republicans just passed a budget that will hurt hundreds of thousands of people. They abused and misused state law enforcement officers when the Killer D's broke the House quorum.
"Even though the U.S. Supreme Court approved a congressional redistricting plan in 2001, Perry has decided to follow Tom DeLay's lead and redraw the lines again. What a waste of time and money!
"In the regular session, the Republican redistricting plan needlessly divided up Texas, marooning rural voters in districts dominated by suburban voters and cutting off urban voters from long-standing neighborhoods. Rural Texans, Hispanics and African-Americans all lost under the DeLay redistricting plan. There is no reason to believe they won't try again to jam down our throats the same sort of outrageous plan.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/18/946684/-Legislators-on-the-LamA-Wisconsin-swarm-of-Killer-Ds
Excerpt:
Democrats in Texas and Washington accused DeLay of ordering federal Homeland Security Department forces to help search for the missing legislators. DeLay denied it. But Homeland Security officials acknowledged Thursday that they helped looked for a state plane assigned to a senior Texas Democrat because state police feared it was missing.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-15-texas-lawmakers_x.htm
Department officials said Texas law enforcement officials had misled them into believing that the plane might have been in mechanical trouble or had crashed.
In fact, department officials said, the Texas state police, acting on orders of Republicans who control the Texas House of Representatives, were searching for the plane on Monday to try to track down the Democratic lawmaker and several of his colleagues, in hopes of forcing them home and establishing a quorum that would allow a vote on a disputed Republican redistricting plan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/national/16TEXA.html
The fight over the flight of Democratic legislators intensified yesterday as the Texas Department of Public Safety admitted it had destroyed documents that were collected last week as state troopers searched for the missing lawmakers.
....
Today's uproar began after The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that a commander at the Department of Public Safety issued an e-mail notice instructing that all "notes, correspondence, photos, etc." concerning the search "be destroyed immediately."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/national/22TEXA.html
And over at the FAA
According to Balloff, he first learned of the absent legislators in the May 13 Washington Post and later (much later) told investigators (says the report), "I figured out why they were calling. ... I just felt like I had been used. ... I don't do anything for political purposes. ... I would never use my office to help somebody out politically, for any political reasons, period." (Although Balloff was immediately aware that the agency was reviewing the circumstances of the search, he made a point of not telling his superiors about his involvement until he was asked a direct question he couldn't evade.) Inspector General Mead is rather politely circumspect about Balloff's versions of events, but anyone reading the report is extremely likely to conclude that Balloff's virginal protestations are -- well, pure-dee Texas bullshit. Not only was the Democrats' flight a statewide and nationwide story by Monday afternoon when Balloff began making his calls, not only did even some of the air-traffic controllers themselves recognize immediately what was up ("You must be looking for the missing Democrats," one told the DPS), according to his official FAA bio, Balloff is a former longtime Republican congressional staffer and "a three-time elected member to the Tennessee State Republican Executive Committee."http://thirdwavedave.blogspot.com/2011/02/rockford-tea-partier-david-hale-located.html
Excerpt:
Friday, February 18, 2011
ROCKFORD TEA PARTIER, DAVID HALE, LOCATED AWOL WISCONSIN SENATORS, JOINS ANDREA SHEA KING FOR A REPORT
Yesterday, when the Wisconsin legislature had a scheduled vote on a controversial budget item--union benefits--some of the democrat senators decided to head for the hills...of Illinois, that is. The Rockford Register Star reports.Here's the deal: If the democrats aren't on the floor for the vote, the vote can't take place. Hence the travel plans.
The Wisconsin senators took to the highway, southbound to the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, crossed into Illinois and found a hideaway in the cozy "resort" city of Rockford. Once there, they were safe and sound. Or so they thought.
Enter one David Hale. A local Tea Party member, Hale heard that the AWOL legislators were holed-up in a Rockford motel. Hale traveled to the site and was able to locate, confront and shoot video of the lawmakers as they made a dash for the parking lot. The video is on it's way to going viral.
Tea Party Express III made a tour stop in Rockford back in April 2010. David Hale attended and was able to meet the entire TPX crew, headed up by Amy Kremer and Sal Russo. John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit attended and reported on the Rockford rally HERE and HERE. Teressa Monroe-Hamilton of NoisyRoom filed this report too. Andrea Shea King was there as well. *More on the developing Wisconsin situation at her site, The Radio Patriot.
Wisconsin state lawmakers making a mad dash across state lines to avoid a crucial vote on the state's fiscal problems is no laughing matter, especially to the tax payers of Wisconsin. But it does seem comical that a group of professional lawmakers would go to this extreme to avoid doing the job they were elected to do--to protect the interests of the tax payers of their state. In this case, however, it appears the union's interests are what the lawmakers are protecting.
This is a developing story. As of this writing, law enforcement officials have been sent to the home of Wisconsin's minority leader to make sure he attends the day's session. More on that as it becomes available.
*TONIGHT--THE ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW--9 PM ET
*GUEST: David Hale, Rockford Tea Party Member. Hale will walk us through the events that led up to his confrontation with the AWOL Wisconsin lawmakers at the soon-to-be infamous Rockford motel. As a Tea Party Member, Hale should get a medal for a job well done!
UPDATE: Jesse Jackson has arrived in Madison.
Sometime When We Touch youtube (dedicated to my soul mate and to our families in the Middle East and all over the world)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVf940pO5ME
In Your Eyes youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCLlkldprU&feature=related
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