As this idiotic war continues with no end in sight, our junior senator is more interested in rearringing seating charts than holding the President accountable (whether it's the war, hurricane Katrina, torture, warentless wiretapping, etc).
Since winning re-election to the U.S. Senate in November, Joseph Lieberman has had trouble putting the 2006 election behind him.
He's been public about his anger with some Democratic senators who didn't support his candidacy as an independent, after he lost last summer's Democratic primary.
He's been public about how uncomfortable he is when he has to listen to Democrats who, unlike him, oppose the war in Iraq.
He's been public about his thoughts of becoming a Republican, a step that would give Republicans majority control of the Senate.
He's been public about how he doesn't really plan to turn Republican, since he doesn't agree with them about much more than the war in Iraq.
The Lieberman hand-wringing might be interesting to him, but even his strongest supporters must be wondering when the senator will move beyond the 2006 election.
So it was interesting this week to hear that Lieberman had proposed a war tax to fund, as he said, the war on terrorism as well as health care for military personnel and veterans.
"Every American has a responsibility to share in the burden that our soldiers are now carrying in defense of our freedom " and that means paying the costs of this war more adequately and equitably than we are today," he said.
Lieberman's right that soldiers are carrying the burden. But is this a serious proposal? No. Lieberman said he doesn't plan to seek a vote on the idea.
Even those who didn't vote for Lieberman in November have higher expectations for him than this. Pouting about the last election? Proposing a war tax without any plans to pursue it?
Then there's his fixation with seating charts.
As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Lieberman should be focusing on the many security issues facing the nation. But this month, the big news from the committee was that Lieberman had rearranged the seating chart.
From now on, he announced, the senators will sit Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican, instead of one party on one side of the room and the other party on the other side.
[...]
Instead of focussing on seating charts, instead of proposing a war tax that's dead on arrival, instead of reveling in his hurt feelings, Lieberman should do what he said he would do while running for re-election last year " focus on representing Connecticut, focus on holding the Bush administration accountable for its war policies.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
As this idiotic war continues with no end in sight, our junior senator is more interested in rearringing seating charts than holding the President accountable (whether it's the war, hurricane Katrina, torture, warentless wiretapping, etc).
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
