Censure Killed; Point Made
| By Rick Jacobs, Courage Campaign - Nov 17th, 2007 at 9:41 pm PST |
The people's effort to censure Senator Feinstein was killed with a few objections in a crowded committee room tonight, just a stone's throw from Disneyland. The destiny of the censure resolution was clear from the outset. Because the resolution had been submitted within ten days of today's meeting, it was on the agenda of the resolutions committee as a "late" resolution, along with sixteen or so others.
After four hours of deliberations on about 60 resolutions, the late resolutions were read out by title. The rules state that if any one member of the rules committee objects to a specific resolution, that resolution is dead; it is not heard, not voted upon and not considered in any way.
When finally the resolution to censure Senator Feinstein was brought up, the Party's chief political strategist, Bob Mulholland, stood and shouted from the side of the room, "object, and object!" There were other shouts from the room as committee members joined in. First, Committee Co-Chair John Hanna objected and then others objected and then, as if to make sure that we got the point, everyone who wanted to join the chorus of objections demanded that their objections be counted, too. It was a sort of pile on moment, in which one veto simply would not do. It all happened within about a minute.
Senator Feinstein's best friend and her campaign chair, Roz Wyman, had sat in the room all day, just a few feet from me. When all of the objecting was over, Bob Mulholland came over to her for a quick chat, Roz stood and said, "I'm going home," she patted a few people on the back and off she went. Mission accomplished.
uriously, the next resolution but one, entitled "Defining 'Waterboarding' as torture and eliminating its practice by the U.S. government," met the same fate. Mr. Hanna objected to this resolution as well, so the CDP will not take a stand on the substance of a bill that Senator Feinstein herself has already signed on to support with Senator Kennedy.br />
While the censure resolution failed, the movement succeeded on the substance of the issue -- namely holding elected officials accountable for their votes. As others have noted, CDP Chair Art Torres addressed the plenary session of the executive board this morning, extolling the long and virtuous record of Senator Feinstein and explaining that he had spoken with her, telling her that people are upset. While Chairman Torres chose to frame the anger at the senior senator as stemming from two votes out of thousands in her career, trying to diminish the existence of a whole pattern of votes by the senator, Mr. Torres got the point. And I hope so does Senator Feinsteinbr />
Let's take stock: Two weeks ago, people all over the country and especially in this state were angered and dejected because Senator Feinstein had, in quick succession, voted for an apparently morally bankrupt man for federal judge and then for judge Mukasey as attorney general. This followed on the heels of earlier votes that extended the rights of the federal government to spy on us without warrants. And the senator was signaling that she would vote to give retroactive immunity for such spying to telecom companies.br />
We banded together and took action, even as many thought it was futile. Today, thanks to very agile and determined grassroots organizers at PDA, some forty Democratic Clubs and organizations in California and our good friends at MoveOn, more than 31,000 individuals signed on to support the censure resolution together with those clubs. Max Follmer's reporting at the Huffington Post forced party employees and consultants as well as senator Feinstein's staff, to acknowledge that there is a problem. The Sacrament Bee's online insider political website wrote about the issue. And no less than the UK's Guardian newspaper filed a story.br />
Of course we wanted the California Democratic Party to pass this resolution. But political parties are not built to do that. They exist to perpetuate the party and that comes through keeping incumbents in office. There were sharp disagreements here today as people in the corridors buzzed about the temerity of 31,000 individuals and dozens of clubs asking for a senator to be held accountable. And having sat through the resolutions committee hearing today, I think that the vast majority of the folks who volunteer countless hours to serve on these committees take their work seriously. They really care about what they are doing. Had we polled the members on whether they approved of the senator's recent votes, my guess is we'd have had near unanimity that her votes were wrong.br />
But that's not the way it works. There remains an element of democratic centralism in the party structures, a sense that we can disagree behind closed doors but never in public. And many think we have to defend "our own" no matter what. The problem , of course, is that those who are not part of the system stop registering as Democrats. Today, over 20% of registered voters in California are "decline to state" (not affiliated with a political party) because they increasingly see the parties as pale shadows of each other. People want honesty and transparency, they want to vote for people who will stand for principles and get stuff done, not just work to win an election.br />
Our job is clear. We are outside. We must be willing to upset the applecart to assure that our nation is not weakened by those who would temporize about essential civil liberties. Torture is torture. We oppose it. Domestic spying is illegal. We oppose it. Hate speech and separating families due to sexual orientation is an abuse of fundamental equal and human rights. We oppose it.br />
We make our own leaders stronger when we tell them that we watch them as closely as we watch those who have led our country into its current state. In many ways, we owe it to ourselves, to Senator Feinstein and to the Democratic Party to hold all on our "side" to higher standards than those who overtly trample on America as the Bush Administration has for seven years.br />
We'll stay vigilant. And we'll continue to call on Senator Feinstein and others to communicate with her constituents, to listen and to be expect public consequences if she again puts the fundamental issues of democracy at risk. The party leaders know we are here and so does our senator; now we have to stay here.
After four hours of deliberations on about 60 resolutions, the late resolutions were read out by title. The rules state that if any one member of the rules committee objects to a specific resolution, that resolution is dead; it is not heard, not voted upon and not considered in any way.
When finally the resolution to censure Senator Feinstein was brought up, the Party's chief political strategist, Bob Mulholland, stood and shouted from the side of the room, "object, and object!" There were other shouts from the room as committee members joined in. First, Committee Co-Chair John Hanna objected and then others objected and then, as if to make sure that we got the point, everyone who wanted to join the chorus of objections demanded that their objections be counted, too. It was a sort of pile on moment, in which one veto simply would not do. It all happened within about a minute.
Senator Feinstein's best friend and her campaign chair, Roz Wyman, had sat in the room all day, just a few feet from me. When all of the objecting was over, Bob Mulholland came over to her for a quick chat, Roz stood and said, "I'm going home," she patted a few people on the back and off she went. Mission accomplished.
uriously, the next resolution but one, entitled "Defining 'Waterboarding' as torture and eliminating its practice by the U.S. government," met the same fate. Mr. Hanna objected to this resolution as well, so the CDP will not take a stand on the substance of a bill that Senator Feinstein herself has already signed on to support with Senator Kennedy.br />
While the censure resolution failed, the movement succeeded on the substance of the issue -- namely holding elected officials accountable for their votes. As others have noted, CDP Chair Art Torres addressed the plenary session of the executive board this morning, extolling the long and virtuous record of Senator Feinstein and explaining that he had spoken with her, telling her that people are upset. While Chairman Torres chose to frame the anger at the senior senator as stemming from two votes out of thousands in her career, trying to diminish the existence of a whole pattern of votes by the senator, Mr. Torres got the point. And I hope so does Senator Feinsteinbr />
Let's take stock: Two weeks ago, people all over the country and especially in this state were angered and dejected because Senator Feinstein had, in quick succession, voted for an apparently morally bankrupt man for federal judge and then for judge Mukasey as attorney general. This followed on the heels of earlier votes that extended the rights of the federal government to spy on us without warrants. And the senator was signaling that she would vote to give retroactive immunity for such spying to telecom companies.br />
We banded together and took action, even as many thought it was futile. Today, thanks to very agile and determined grassroots organizers at PDA, some forty Democratic Clubs and organizations in California and our good friends at MoveOn, more than 31,000 individuals signed on to support the censure resolution together with those clubs. Max Follmer's reporting at the Huffington Post forced party employees and consultants as well as senator Feinstein's staff, to acknowledge that there is a problem. The Sacrament Bee's online insider political website wrote about the issue. And no less than the UK's Guardian newspaper filed a story.br />
Of course we wanted the California Democratic Party to pass this resolution. But political parties are not built to do that. They exist to perpetuate the party and that comes through keeping incumbents in office. There were sharp disagreements here today as people in the corridors buzzed about the temerity of 31,000 individuals and dozens of clubs asking for a senator to be held accountable. And having sat through the resolutions committee hearing today, I think that the vast majority of the folks who volunteer countless hours to serve on these committees take their work seriously. They really care about what they are doing. Had we polled the members on whether they approved of the senator's recent votes, my guess is we'd have had near unanimity that her votes were wrong.br />
But that's not the way it works. There remains an element of democratic centralism in the party structures, a sense that we can disagree behind closed doors but never in public. And many think we have to defend "our own" no matter what. The problem , of course, is that those who are not part of the system stop registering as Democrats. Today, over 20% of registered voters in California are "decline to state" (not affiliated with a political party) because they increasingly see the parties as pale shadows of each other. People want honesty and transparency, they want to vote for people who will stand for principles and get stuff done, not just work to win an election.br />
Our job is clear. We are outside. We must be willing to upset the applecart to assure that our nation is not weakened by those who would temporize about essential civil liberties. Torture is torture. We oppose it. Domestic spying is illegal. We oppose it. Hate speech and separating families due to sexual orientation is an abuse of fundamental equal and human rights. We oppose it.br />
We make our own leaders stronger when we tell them that we watch them as closely as we watch those who have led our country into its current state. In many ways, we owe it to ourselves, to Senator Feinstein and to the Democratic Party to hold all on our "side" to higher standards than those who overtly trample on America as the Bush Administration has for seven years.br />
We'll stay vigilant. And we'll continue to call on Senator Feinstein and others to communicate with her constituents, to listen and to be expect public consequences if she again puts the fundamental issues of democracy at risk. The party leaders know we are here and so does our senator; now we have to stay here.
Comments are closed for this post.
Only 11% approve of Congress - that's the 1% who actually profit from fascism and the 10% at the bottom of the IQ scale. Perhaps not this cycle but sometime very soon we will see a Ross Perot or an Al Gore or a green president, and one of the two corporate parties will go the way of the Whigs.
Sadly, the system is lacking in effective mechanisms to allow fundamental democracy and it's hard to start anything outside these two corrupt parties. Maybe parties aren't the answer at all.
Feinstein's capitulation to the right wing IS the system for now.
Some day we Americans will figure out again that we have a say. Then, if we care to act on it by uprooting the plutocracy, Feinstein and the others will be tried in the court of chaos. If we don't care to act on it, everyone will be swallowed alive by the sharp-clawed monster called Power. We are not immune to fascism.
Oh dear, what shall we do? Upset the apple cart? Or ask the deaf to listen?
= $1,550,000 not coming in to the cofers because of JOHN HANNA THE BARBARIAN
Who says we don't get to put up a damn sign
That will end Monday.
I still support Boxer and Kucinich but i must express my disgust in the only way i can.
I will never again choose the lesser of two Republicrats
Vote Green!
Feinstein's first disappointment was her approval of Condi Rice. I wrote to her about the vote for Condi and I received a letter of gobbly-gook. It sickened me.
I have contacted her office many times disapproving how she has voted to perpetuate the war.
As far as I am concerned, Dianne Feinstein and Susan Davis are Corporate, War-mongering Whores.
Politics always has been a dirty game and with every election, the games get more insidious. To blame one person for going over to the dark side is simply naive. To seek salvation in another savior is equally naive.
The American public is anesthetised with its insatiable appetite for 'bread and circuses' = entertainment and shopping; politicians know only too well that if we are comfortable, we will not try to change things.
Only when we are prepared to go without and stop spending, will any effective change occur. Refuse to shop as much this season, buy less gas, drive less. Buy produce only from local growers and refuse to buy from any of the bigger vendors. Refuse to give your money to the neocon giants (their names are emblazoned everywhere; at malls and in your home on tv).
Consider where the opposition gets most of its votes and refuse to buy from those sources. If the red states continue to support a government that is morally bankrupt and violent, then those states should be boycotted.
Californians have enormous economic clout - use it!
I do not know if you count my club in your list of 30 that backed this censure. We did not have the time to alert the general membership and take a vote, but the board is authorized to act as the board, and we all signed your petition.
Additionally we, as the board, sent DiFi a scathing letter of condemnation.
We are particularly furious at Mulholland for his comments dismissing our opinions. The CDP demands dues from us, and for this we get an insult?
Please consider drafting a movement among those Dem clubs that you have access to. I can assure you that we will want to participate.
Kevin Harrop
Political Action Chair
Burbank Democratic Club
I had late resolutions that were read and voted on on their merits. The Feinstein resolution was read and objected to on its merits.
I agree that there was a bit of unnecessary piling on.
I opposed the resolution (as an e-board member - I am not a member of the resolutions committee). I think that the subsequent motion on the floor by Jo Olson showed that the resolution would not have passed, although I cannot be sure.
In one way I wish that we had taken it to the floor as I believe that it would have been voted down, and perhaps we would not be leaving Anaheim accusing the party of conspiring against us.
I am sure of one thing. The brouhaha sent a message to Dianne, even beyond Art's phone call, that we are angry about her decision, at least on Mukasey.
We might have made more hay if every angry one of us had written a well-thought-out personal snail mail letter to her voicing our displeasure. When those things mount up in the in-box, where there is no "delete" key, they begin to make a point. I was angry with her and did just that.
The curious thing to me is that we got this angry about some of Diane's decisions, and on the fate of the resolution, yet most of us were dead silent on the resolution to censure the president for dereliction of duty as commander-in-chief at the last meeting.
I fear that we are perpetuating the Democratic Circular Firing Squad vision that many, including our close friends, have of us.
Respectfully,
Sandy Cook
PS We must note that John Hanna made a public apology at the Sunday General Session
Hi heard you on Laila Garrett today and I participated in Feinstein campaing. But we also have to MOVE ON: When people say left political types dwell on the negative and have no visions of a positive future, I say “No way! The shape of a healthy replacement culture is very obvious.”
When people say, “What we need is less focus on problems and more focus on SOLUTIONS, I say, “Why not look at the obvious?”
A vision of a healthy replacement culture for the Bush-Cheny culture of domination fast fading, can be stated in one sentence (a good thing):
Intentional communities whose residents, during the day, focus on producing practical things with sustainable practices; and at night, participate in social events around running their own community and cultural offerings.
These intentional communities could be rural or urban. They could be making corrugated building materials, grinding nut butters or growing row crops. These owner-run cooperatives are what is likely to replace Corporate cultures organized around Greed.
If you want to see existing intentional communities of this kind, here are the resources:
Link
The historical rationale for intentional communities, especially communities of healers, becoming the next “economic instrument of expansion” can be found in the very readable best seller, The Evolution of Civilizations by Caroll Quigley (one of Bill Clinton's teachers at Georgetown U.). Find a summary of Quigley's work at:
Link
Have a copy shipped to your door for $15.00 from AllBookStores.com
Two types of communities are likely to be the most dynamic, those that are very profitable making and selling building and other materials and known as good places to work for; and, those based around healing and spirituality, whose product is healing and personal-spiritual growth.
Successful healing and growth activity naturally creates a magnet for people to come and receive services. These for-pay services are the economic basis sustaining these communities.
Such healing communities could easily become the nuclei of larger future intentional communities of various kinds.
Prototypes of such communities already exist. The most vibrant example known to me is Peace Theological Seminary (http://pts.org/). They offer Fri-Sun class weekends once a month in a Masters and Doctorate in Spiritual Science (muscle testing with God as your Partner). This program is so new, few of the actual benefits are described in the online pages. A better written description has was distributed fro the first time in Oct to present students. I describe the purpose of the program as a doctorate program in medical intuition with the twist that students are primarily led to work on themselves not become practitioners.
Many other prototypes of healing communities exist, so many no one person can keep track of them all. If you know of any, please share the wealth!
Healing communities could happen anywhere people want them. They are likely to have diverse philosophies, aims and goals. However the spiritual center of gravity of these communities are all likely to be at soul+one or above. People whose center of gravity is at soul+one down here say things like, "let's heal the world."
Bruce Dickson
Link
Free Report: The Meaning of Illness Is Now an Open Book, request from
ToFreedom@DSLextreme.com 310.287.2813