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Human rights and Human Duties * Money Questions & U.S. Military * Supreme Decison

1) Human rights and Human Duties

2) Bush Will Face Money Questions on U.S. Military

3) A Laymans Guide to the Supreme Court Decison in Bush V. Gore
by Mark H. Levine, Attorney at Law
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1) Human rights and Human Duties

The following message is from Teófilo L. Martú‹ez from Chile, who is offering feeback stemming from the Tupac Amara story in the last issue of Flyby News, (December 27, item 3: Peru Alert for Human Rights and Political Prisoners). I realize there are many points of view, but often various ideas overlap in mutual interests to learn a little more how to serve for the well being of all. Teo offers ideas relating to a spiritual reality and a common sense that supports our united efforts in caring for life.

----- Original Message -----
From: Contacto Consultores
To: Jonathan Mark
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 7:45 PM
Subject: Human rights and Human Duties.

Dear Jonathan:

Well if my opinion helps you, I am satisfied and end of the story. I think it is not worth to issue, because you will get answer back from the Tupac Amaru suporters, and your site interest will move for a while to other topics different than your goals and our commom goals. So I suggest not to issue it.

Remember Cambodia? Millions were killed after Americans withdrew from Vietnam. Who ever cared for the human rights of those campesins killed by nonsense guerrilla?

Peru was not nearly as bad as Cambodia, but very frequently they were on the news because guerrilla assalted a town or a village, similar to what is happening in Colombia where thousands are dying every year.

In many places around the world some people thought that fighting with guns they were going to free their countries from whatever ruling and social progress was going to be achieved. Reality has shown in many countries exhausting ever lasting civil wars have followed and countries had been destroyed, thousands and thousands of people death or injured. The final situation is worser than when they begun to fight. The thinking than changing peoples will by guns is the same thinking behind poor countries, and behind nukes and missile advocates in rich nations. God, peace, harmony, brotherhood, justice had been forgotten and buried.

In my modest opinion, guerrilla really affect more middle class people and the poor. The rich can pay for security, guards, or even move to live in another more peaceful country. So the middle class, the hardworking people normally is the one more affected for guerrilla, because assaults scare people, dammage roads, communications, jobs get unstable, investment is stopped, mothers and parents dont know if their children are going to come back safe home from shools, etc. The poor always have lived with little, but the middle class is the people seriously affected. In Latin America, medium class is not what you think in USA or Europe. It is just hard working people with good education and low salary. And the real poor and humble also suffer so much because they get scared of this men in guns, and they are used by the rich to get more rich, and they are also used by the guerilla as argument to explain their fight, but they never get anything out of those strugles. The poor people under civil war and guerrilla fight around the world, only suffer more pain at the end. Just look around the world.

Jonathan, you have many subjects related to the nukes you can deal with, and teach to us. Probably once in a while issue articles about the knowledge of the ancient people, indian tribes about the sky, planets and outer life to show modern people than modern technology is NOT really a must to get certain knowledge. There are other ways to know the Universe and another definitions of Science.

For instance, Have you read about the life of Giordano Bruno, the former dominican priest burned by the church in Rome, in February 1600 ? Maybe you can issue something about his efforts teaching about other planets and stars with inteligent life when there is another anniversary of his death (401 years). I just got back from Rome, and on his statue erased where he was burned in Campo di Fiori, there were flowers because people hasnt forgotten his sacrifice. My wife and I also put a carnation to this brave man fighting for the Universe.

Probably the darkness of some of our military and politicians to understand the global consequences of the technology, is due to the killing of men like Giordano Bruno, because to Bruno, all planets and stars were the body of a big soul. So there were parallel universes. Like our body is the house of our soul, on the same way, the Earth is the physical body of a great being.

So the meaning of life and evolution is far more rich and complex than the concepts being developed by some of our narrow minded powerful men in the governments today. They see no life on the space. And there is plenty of life we are dammaging by our technology, because the scientist with more vision were killed or left aside. This sort of controversy is good to develop, because we can teach the young scientist to look in another sources and deep in their own heart, before being able to discover natures hearth and secrets.

Have you read, for instance Fritjoj Capra book: The Tao on physics ? You will enjoy it.

My dear friend, nukes and all the weapons we have, threathen all sort of rights: human rights, animals rights, plants rights, the angels rights, and all sort of beings right to live in Earth and the Earth itself right to live in equilibrium. Men always will fight between themselves for whatever reason, but we can not kill the entire life or dammage it for centuries as radiation does, when we have a fight or disagreement between men or nations. So I encourage you to stay in your subject but enrich it with more spiritual visions or other thoughts, so we also can pray together to stop this madness and learn and enlight our inteligence and spirit..

And a philosophical thought. Everyone asks today for human rights, but to acomplish them, someone has to be willing to take duties. Otherwise the rights will never be fullfilled.

So in modest opinion, we must fight for the Human Duties. Like you do, you feel the duty to fight and teach about the space and the nukes. You took the duty. The entire world is built by men that takes duties. We have to teach the people to work, to serve the comunity. The talk, the speachs must be about taking a challenge, a mission, duties for life. We need more men and women on asignement around the world to improve our quality of life. Enough of human rights speaches that weakens warriors will and motivation. You and I dont ask for rights. You are on duty. This is the philosophy for the new millenium. We need men and women ready to fight for their ideas, to live plenty a new philosophy in more harmony with nature. One example helps more than many words about human rights. One takes on duty, and the rest follow behind.

It is a pleasure to be in contact with you. Well, if you want to issue part of this mail is OK.

Sincerely

Teo

Teófilo L. Martú‹ez
contacto@telsur.cl

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2) Bush Will Face Money Questions on U.S. Military

Thursday December 28 3:53 PM ET

By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When George W. Bush becomes president and commander-in-chief of the U.S. military on Jan. 20, he could quickly find that putting new muscle in an overworked armed force is more easily promised than done.

Analysts say the current $310 billion defense budget will increase under Bush, but it is unlikely he can add perhaps hundreds of billions over the next four years for new arms, more troops and higher pay while giving Americans a tax cut and building a costly, unproven National Missile Defense (NMD).

For full story click to:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001228/pl/bush_defense_dc_1.html

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3) A Laymans Guide to the Supreme Court Decison in Bush V. Gore
by Mark H. Levine, Attorney at Law

Q: I'm not a lawyer and I don't understand the recent Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore. Can you explain it to me?

A: Sure. I'm a lawyer. I read it. It says Bush wins, even if Gore got the most votes.

Q: But wait a second. The US Supreme Court has to give a reason, right?

A: Right.

Q: So Bush wins because hand-counts are illegal?

A: Oh no. Six of the justices (two-thirds majority) believed the hand-counts were legal and should be
done.

Q: Oh. So the justices did not believe that the hand-counts would find any legal ballots?

A. Nope. The five conservative justices clearly held (and all nine justices agreed) "that punch card balloting machines can produce an unfortunate number of ballots which are not punched in a clean, complete way by the voter." So there are legal votes that should be counted but can't be.

Q: Oh. Does this have something to do with states' rights? Don't conservatives love that?

A: Generally yes. These five justices, in the past few years, have held that the federal government has no business telling a sovereign state university it can't steal trade secrets just because such stealing is prohibited by law. Nor does the federal government have any business telling a state that it should bar guns in schools. Nor can the federal government use the equal protection clause to force states to take measures to stop violence against women.

Q: Is there an exception in this case?

A: Yes, the Gore exception. States have no rights to have their own state elections when it can result in Gore being elected President. This decision is limited to only this situation.

Q: C'mon. The Supremes didn't really say that. You're exaggerating.

A: Nope. They held "Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, or the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities."

Q: What complexities?

A: They don't say.

Q: I'll bet I know the reason. I heard Jim Baker say this. he votes can't be counted because the Florida Supreme Court "changed the rules of the election after it was held." Right?

A. Dead wrong. The US Supreme Court made clear that the Florida Supreme Court did not change the rules of the election. But the US Supreme Court found the failure of the Florida Court to change the rules was wrong.

Q: Huh?

A: The Legislature declared that the only legal standard for counting vote is "clear intent of the voter." The Florida Court was condemned for not adopting a clearer standard.

Q: I thought the Florida Court was not allowed to change the Legislature's law after the election.

A: Right.

Q: So what's the problem?

A: They should have. The US Supreme Court said the Florida Supreme Court should have "adopt[ed] adequate statewide standards for determining what is a legal vote"

Q: I thought only the Legislature could "adopt" new law.

A: Right.

Q: So if the Court had adopted new standards, I thought it would have been overturned.

A: Right. You're catching on.

Q: If the Court had adopted new standards, it would have been overturned for changing the rules. And if it didn't, it's overturned for notchanging the rules. That means that no matter what the Florida Supreme Court did, legal votes could never be counted.

A: Right. Next question.

Q: Wait, wait. I thought the problem was "equal protection," that some counties counted votes differently from others. Isn't that a problem?

A: It sure is. Across the nation, we vote in a hodgepodge of systems. Some, like the optical-scanners in largely Republican-leaning counties record 99.7% of the votes. Some, like the punchcard systems in largely Democratic-leaning counties record only 97% of the votes. So approximately 3% of Democratic votes are thrown in the trash can.

Q: Aha! That's a severe equal-protection problem!!!

A: No it's not. The Supreme Court wasn't worried about the 3% of Democratic ballots thrown in the trashcan in Florida. That "complexity" was not a problem.

Q: Was it the butterfly ballots that violated Florida law and tricked more than 20,000 Democrats to vote for Buchanan or Gore and Buchanan.

A: Nope. The Supreme Court has no problem believing that Buchanan got his highest, best support in a precinct consisting of a Jewish old age home with Holocaust survivors, who apparently have changed their mind about Hitler.

Q: Yikes. So what was the serious equal protection problem?

A: The problem was neither the butterfly ballot nor the 3% of Democrats (largely African-American) disenfranchised. The problem is that somewhat less than .005% of the ballots may have been determined under slightly different standards because judges sworn to uphold the law and doing their best to accomplish the legislative mandate of "clear intent of the voter" may have a slightly different opinion about the voter's intent.

Q: Hmmm. OK, so if those votes are thrown out, you can still count the votes where everyone agrees the voter's intent is clear?

A: Nope.

Q: Why not?

A: No time.

Q: No time to count legal votes where everyone, even Republicans, agree the intent is clear? Why not?

A: Because December 12 was yesterday.

Q: Is December 12 a deadline for counting votes?

A: No. January 6 is the deadline. In 1960, Hawaii's votes weren't counted until January 4.

Q: So why is December 12 important?

A: December 12 is a deadline by which Congress can't challenge the results.

Q: What does the Congressional role have to do with the Supreme Court?

A: Nothing.

Q: But I thought ---

A: The Florida Supreme Court had earlier held it would like to complete its work by December 12 to make things easier for Congress. The United States Supreme Court is trying to help the Florida Supreme Court out by forcing the Florida court to abide by a deadline that everyone agrees is not binding.

Q: But I thought the Florida Court was going to just barely have the votes counted by December 12.

A: They would have made it, but the five conservative justices stopped the recount last Saturday.

Q: Why?

A: Justice Scalia said some of the counts may not be legal.

Q: So why not separate the votes into piles, indentations for Gore, hanging chads for Bush, votes that everyone agrees went to one candidate or the other so that we know exactly how Florida voted before determining who won? Then, if some ballots (say, indentations) have to be thrown out, the American people will know right away who won Florida.

A. Great idea! The US Supreme Court rejected it. They held that such counts would likely to produce election results showing Gore won and Gore's winning would cause "public acceptance" and that would "cast[] a cloud" over Bush's "legitimacy" that would harm "democratic stability."

Q: In other words, if America knows the truth that Gore won, they won't accept the US Supreme Court overturning Gore's victory?

A: Yes.

Q: Is that a legal reason to stop recounts? or a political one?

A: Let's just say in all of American history and all of American law, this reason has no basis in law. But that doesn't stop the five conservatives from creating new law out of thin air.

Q: Aren't these conservative justices against judicial activism?

A: Yes, when liberal judges are perceived to have done it.

Q: Well, if the December 12 deadline is not binding, why not count the votes?

A: The US Supreme Court, after admitting the December 12 deadline is not binding, set December 12 as a binding deadline at 10 p.m. on December 12.

Q: Didn't the US Supreme Court condemn the Florida Supreme Court for arbitrarily setting a deadline?

A: Yes.

Q: But, but --

A: Not to worry. The US Supreme Court does not have to follow laws it sets for other courts.

Q: So who caused Florida to miss the December 12 deadline?

A: The Bush lawyers who first went to court to stop the recount, the mob in Miami that got paid Florida vacations for intimidating officials, and the US Supreme Court for stopping the recount.

Q: So who is punished for this behavior?

A: Gore, of course.

Q: Tell me this: Florida's laws are unconstitutional, right?

A: Yes

Q: And the laws of 50 states that allow votes to be cast or counted differently are unconstitutional?

A: Yes. And 33 of those states have the "clear intent of the voter" standard that the US Supreme Court found was illegal in Florida.

Q: Then why aren't the results of 33 states thrown out?

A: Um. Because...um.....the Supreme Court doesn't say...

Q: But if Florida's certification includes counts expressly declared by the US Supreme Court to be unconstitutional, we don't know who really won the election there, right?

A: Right. Though a careful analysis by the Miami Herald shows Gore won Florida by about 20,000 votes (excluding the butterfly ballot errors).

Q: So, what do we do, have a re-vote? Throw out the entire state? Count all ballots under a single uniform standard?

A: No. We just don't count the votes that favor Gore.

Q: That's completely bizarre! That sounds like rank political favoritism! Did the justices have any financial interest in the case?

A: Scalia's two sons are both lawyers working for Bush. Thomas's wife is collecting applications for people who want to work in the Bush administration.

Q: Why didn't they recuse themselves?

A: If either had recused himself, the vote would be 4-4, and the Florida Supreme Court decision allowing recounts would have been affirmed.

Q: I can't believe the justices acted in such a blatantly political way.

A: Read the opinions for yourself:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/supremecourt/00-949_dec12.fdf (December 9 stay stopping the recount), and
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/00pdf/00-949.pdf (December 12 final opinion)

Q: So what are the consequences of this?

A: The guy who got the most votes in the US and in Florida and under our Constitution (Al Gore) will lose to America's second choice who won the all important 5-4 Supreme Court vote.

Q: I thought in a democracy, the guy with the most votes wins.

A: True, in a democracy. But America is not a democracy. In America, in the year 2000, the guy with the most US Supreme Court votes wins.

Q: Is there any way to stop the Supreme Court from doing this again?

A: YES. No federal judge can be confirmed without a vote in the Senate. It takes 60 votes to break a filibuster. If only 41 of the 50 Democratic Senators stand up to Bush and his Supremes and say that they will not approve a single judge appointed by him until a President can be democratically elected in 2004, the judicial reign of terror can end... and one day we can hope to return to the rule of law.

Q: What do I do now?

A: E-mail this to everyone you know, and write or call your senator, reminding him that Gore beat Bush by several hundred thousand votes (three times Kennedy's margin over Nixon) and that you believe that VOTERS rather than JUDGES should determine who wins an election by counting every vote. And to protect our judiciary from overturning the will of the people, you want them to confirm NO NEW JUDGES until 2004 when a president is finally chosen by most of the American people.

-- MarkLevineEsq@aol.com

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