The Genius of Glenn Greenwald: Last year I had the distinct pleasure of listening to Glenn Greenwald speak at Harvard. It was, of course, an honor to be able to listen to someone so brilliant, so eloquent and so well versed in the concept of civil liberties which are central to our democracy and our way of life.

I enclose the link at the bottom for your listening pleasure and urge you if you have the time to do so. It was a lecture he gave and a question and answer session at Brown University in April, 2011.

Glenn's writings appear regularly at Salon.com and many of his talks, debates and discourse can be found on Utube. I found the Utube below to be particularly interesting and informative as to the nature and concept of civil liberties. We throw around that word very often and take pride in our nation which was founded on civil libertarian principles enumerated within our Constitution which bestows certain rights the people enjoy and certain prosecutorial prohibitions beyond which the government cannot go.

Glenn is a master of civil liberties and according to Salon is a former Constitutional and civil rights litigator and is the author of New York Times Bestselling books on the Bush and Obama administration’s executive power and foreign policy abuses. If you Google Amazon books and put his name in the search you can see the gems he has written and read samples of them.

I offer the link below as an introduction to one of the premier intellects, historians and civil liberties attorneys of our time. If you listen I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kirz_vGQeI&NR=1

The Gaffe Heard Round the World: Last evening’s Republican debate was the most hilarious “debate” I have ever heard or seen. Larry O’Donnell, the brilliant MSNBC political pundit, called Rick Perry’s gaffe one of the worst gaffes in the history of presidential debates. As I see it, it goes down with Nixon's sweaty lip except better.

This week has been a GIFT to Democrats. Between the Republican gaffe-filled so called “debates” and the 2011 Republican failures in the midterms, I HOPE once the Christmas party is over, the president can take advantage of the anemic Republican field and keep the momentum up.

If the Republican Party itself were not so mean and hypocritical rotten with the exception of perhaps John Huntsman and, yes, I suppose the flip-flopper-in-chief, Romney, I would not get joy in Perry’s mistake because, truthfully, it was uncomfortable to view. It could not happen, however, to a more cerebrally pathetic and unqualified candidate than Rick Perry.

Herman Cain could not have provided better ammunition to help prove the veracity of the sexual harassment accusers in this circus of sexual harassment by calling the former Speaker Nancy Pelosi “princess Pelosi.” That condescending insult to the preeminently qualified woman Speaker Pelosi put the icing on his exploding cake. I do hope more accusers come forward to buttress Ms. Bialek’s accusation but if they do not it does not matter. Cain is through.

Add to the insanity is Newt Gingrich’s horrible record with women having had numerous extra-marital affairs. Gingrich is a man who served his former wife divorce papers when she was hospitalized undergoing cancer treatment. Trying to squirm around the problems presented by Cain in this field of supposedly "family values" candidates is an unmitigated disaster. Jay Leno could not have written a more comedic script BUT admittedly what Gingrich did is not funny. It is tragic in this tragi-comedy of Shakespearean proportions!

There is a pathetic quality to the 2012 Republican slate. Add to that the disastrous showing of the Republicans in the midterm ballot initiatives and loss in state legislatures it proves the strength and organizational skills of Democrats with the help of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Republican Party has NOTHING and the one candidate they do have, Romney, must fit the round peg of his true beliefs (assuming anyone knows what they truly are) into the square hole prison the Know Nothing extremist Republican base has made.

I link the video of the Perry gaffe below so one can see the pathetic quality of the 2012 Republican slate. Add to that the disastrous showing of the Republicans in the midterm ballot initiatives and loss in state legislatures it proves the strength and organizational skills of Democrats with the help of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

FINALLY a smile was brought to my face. I HOPE we will be able to kiss the Tea Bag Party with is cruelty and often racist mantra good bye and none too soon, indeed. Enjoy! :-)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

The Three Shames: There are no words to describe the sickness of what took place at Penn State. The stupidity and the insanity of men who are responsible for the protection of students entrusted to their care witness or are told of this most egregious behavior of child rape and come to the conclusion that the institution with all its money, power and prestige is more important to save than saving the vulnerable minors they have a moral obligation to protect. This is an abomination.

The Catholic Church, too, when the hierarchy KNEW that young boys were being sexually molested by priests decided in their infinite wisdom to IGNORE the very children of their flock and came to the conclusion that the institution was more important to save than those innocents who depend upon that institution for their spiritual life. Instead of reporting the perpetrators to police they decided to protect their most egregious behavior by moving the perpetrator priests around to protect the wealth, power and prestige of the religious institution they served. It was and still is an abomination.

Herman Cain when faced with FOUR female accusers telling similar stories about his alleged assaults says that because he did not harass thousands those four allegations of the woman should be disregarded. He is an abomination.

The institutions and people MUST be taken to the watershed of public punishment and we as a country and as a people need to decide who we TRULY are. It is a disgrace for the entire world to see this nation based on such lofty ideals fall from that grace in so many ways too innumerable to count.

Our Founders who gave us a gift lie in their graves but we the living must live with who we have become. It is a sad day for our country which is SUPPOSED to be the shining city on the hill, an example of ethics and good government. Who are we?

Shame on you the lofty Joe Paterno for looking the other way when you KNEW children were raped and did nothing. Shame on the leadership of the Catholic Church for moving pedophile priests from district to district and state to state so they could perpetrate their sickness on so many other children and reward Cardinals that allowed that behavior to continue by giving them cushy jobs in Rome. Shame on YOU Herman Cain for NOT addressing the seriousness of the charges levied against you. Instead you had the unmitigated gall to disrespect the former speaker Nancy Pelosi and call her princess Pelosi. You sealed your fate with that comment. You, sir, cannot even walk in her shadow.

Shame on ALL of you who give institutions a pass before the very people, including so many children, you are entrusted to protect. You all truly are an abomination!