By John Burl Smith

A prolific writer, Charles Dickens captured the grim and harsh reality of working class poor in England during the 18th century. His metaphors and characters reflect timeless snapshots of conditions endured at the hands of the wealthy. Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a powerful story of penitence and redemption ("Means Never Justify Evil Ends," The DISH Vol. 6 No 42). Splendidly woven around yuletide, this philosophical allegory is a lesson about the corrupting nature of greed.

Beginning with the ghost of Christmas past, Dickens revealed how easily one can miss the point of experience. Following that trajectory, the ghost of Christmas present haunts an unwilling Scrooge, who does not wish to examine decisions made. Dickens' sullen portrayal reveals why "staying the course," i.e., the ghost of Christmas present, predicts one's future.

Dickens' metaphor frames the present predicament of presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry's quest for the White House ("Battles," The DISH Vol. 6 No 26). Haunted by Campaign 2000 and caught in the tailwind of Al Gore, who wasted time and resources running away from Bill Clinton's legacy ("Gore's Last Stand," The DISH Vol. 3 No 42), Kerry is slowly being sucked into the same void (The DISH Vol. 6 No 28). Without a Jacob Marley haunting his dreams, the ghost of campaigns past awaits Kerry, like the grim reaper.

A role reversal in 2004 casts George W. Bush as Scrooge and Kerry as Bob Crachit, a paltry vassal, his "brother of the bones." Weighted down by issues dictated by Bush, Kerry sloughs along reacting to Bush's definitions. Arguing over words, like "sensitive" and questions about his war record, Kerry is not addressing issues affecting millions of voters, who will stay home rather than vote for Bush. Spooked by the ghost of campaigns past and running from the ghost of campaign present, Kerry whistles while passing the graveyard.

"Run out of the South" (The DISH Vol. 6 No 47) by Dixiecrats like Sen. Zell Miller, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and turncoat scalawag US Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), the ghost of campaigns past has Kerry afraid to cross the Mason-Dixon line. Totally intimidated and running scared months before the presidential debates, Kerry does not seem to have even a backdoor strategy for blacks in the South.

Dixiecrats Miller and Barnes gave Georgia's Electoral College votes to Bush in 2000, while thousands of black voters stood in line at polls to cast their ballots. Adding insult to injury, Kerry has ignored Democratic senatorial candidate Denise Majette, whose low-tech campaign beat a white millionaire sponsored by former President Jimmy Carter. Rather than embrace Majette, the first black woman to win the Senate nomination of a major political party in the South, and the thousands of blacks that voted for her, Kerry is in full retreat.

Dickens' melancholy tale warns that the future belongs to those who truly embrace change for those they previously dismissed or disparaged. Accepting the reality of Gore's ghost of campaign past petrifies Kerry (The DISH Vol. 6 No 46). Knowing that winning the White House depends on millions of disaffected blacks and minority voters throughout the South and in urban centers haunts Kerry's dream of the future. Galvanizing slave descendants to turnout to elect the next president of the US is a legacy only a real war hero can bear ("Goldwater's Legacy," The DISH Vol. 3 No 33).

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is on a quest to conquer sixth grade. Faced with changes and challenges from every quarter, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro pledged to "work hard" and make his family and himself proud. When asked for comments, he remarked, "I'm too busy staying the course to engage in idle chatter."

United States Senate (1787-1913)

The US Constitutional Convention met during the summer of 1787; it settled the large-small and slave-free states disputes by creating a bicameral congress in which the States have equal representation in the Upper House or Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives. The Senate was created to protect states' rights. To provide stability, the senators--two per state--were elected by their respective state legislatures for six-year terms. Every two years, one-third of the Senate's members must face reelection.

The first Senate session convened on March 4, 1789 in New York City. Work began with a quorum of twelve members on April 6, 1789. A president pro tempore was selected, and the Senate and House tallied the electoral ballots from the first presidential election.

In January 1790, the second session of the first Congress convened to consider financial matters and a permanent seat of government along the Potomac River. While the proposed site was being prepared, Congress moved the government to Philadelphia.

Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate held closed-door sessions. Already under attack by state legislatures, whose members opposed secret sessions, a clash over the seating of Pennsylvania Senator Albert Gallatin (1794) strengthened calls to end the closed-door policy. While it held open-door legislative sessions, its doors remained closed for executive business until 1929.

On November 21, 1800, the Senate moved to Washington, D.C. On January 4, 1859, the Senate moved to the Capitol's north wing, where it evolved into an elite club of powerful committee chairmen that controlled its agenda. David Phillips' "The Treason of the Senate" excoriates the body for being a rich man's club, reluctant to discipline its members, many of whom allegedly engaged in bribery and vote-buying to support legislation to aid various industries and special interests.

Likewise, state legislatures were open to bribery and often elected conservatives that did not represent the public. According to William Allen White, "The legislature met biennially, and enacted such laws as the corporations paid for, and such others as were necessary to fool the people, and only such laws were enforced as party expediency demanded" (McClure's, Dec. 1905).

Efforts to wrest control of government from special interests and corrupt state legislators failed as the Senate blocked resolutions calling for popular election. Impatient with the lack of reform, progressives in some states obligated legislators to choose candidates voters wanted through preferential votes. By 1912, most states had adopted such devices and/or more direct action.

In New Jersey, Gov. Woodrow Wilson (1911) blocked a party boss' legislative election, while Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York led insurgents against the hand-picked candidate of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party machine run by corrupt bosses like William Tweed. Public indignation over Senate corruption forced the sixty-second Congress (1912) to pass a resolution calling for the direct popular election of Senators. The seventeenth amendment was ratified by thirty-six states, and made a part of the Constitution on May 31, 1913. (Sources: American History: A Survey (1975), Current, Williams & Freidel and www.senate.gov)

Majette: Making Senate History

Product of a working-class background, Denise Majette became one of the first black women to attend Yale University and Duke University School of Law. She moved to Georgia in 1983 from North Carolina, where she worked for Legal Aid. After working in various legal positions, Majette was appointed as a judge to the State Court of DeKalb County in 1993.

In 2002, Majette, a political novice, resigned her judgeship to oppose five-term veteran Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Georgia's first black congresswoman. Majette won the race for the 4th Congressional District seat with what many believe was a significant Republican crossover vote during the Democratic primary.

On August 10, 2004, Majette made history by becoming the first black from the South to win a political party's nomination for the US Senate. The 49-year-old one-term congresswoman, wife and mother of two sons easily defeated wealthy white businessman Cliff Oxford to clinch the Democratic Party nomination to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Senator Zell Miller.

In the upcoming November 2, 2004 general election, Majette faces Republican Johnny Isakson, the heavy favorite to win the Senate seat. Despite the odds, with a strong Democratic turnout, especially in the heavily black urban areas across metro Atlanta, Majette can became the first black female Senator from the South. (For more information on Majette's historic run for the Senate, visit www.majetteforsenate.org)

By John Langley

Eager little citizens, eager little slaves,
Kneel before the mighty state who'll hound you to your graves!

Obey your laws and leaders, so clamouring, so clever,

Who regulate your lives and sap your energies for ever.

Pay your taxes, vassals! Pay them to the brim!

Slaves, support your masters' sport and gratify each whim!

From your earnings you may keep just half for you and yours.

The rest will be sequestered by those gangsters and their whores.

Do you long for children? Find a willing mate,

Then sign along the dotted line.

You're married to the state.

Your children will be brainwashed by educated fools

To love the state that confiscates your wealth to fund your schools.

But please don't feel depressed or let such sentiments distress you,

For every now and then you get to choose who will oppress you.

In this democratic heaven you are absolutely free

To cast a vote for Tweedledum or else for Tweedledee.

And if you want some facts to tell you where your vote should go,

Your television set will tell you all you need to know.

And if you're short of money after all the tax you've paid,

Your credit card will cover any longing long-delayed.

No bleating, little sheeple!

Just do as you are told.

Your wool may all be shorn and you may shiver in the cold,

But your shepherds will continue to fleece you in the field,

While your flesh plumps up so nicely for that final fatal yield.

About Me: The father of eight little libertarians, John Langley resides in England; he writes poetry and makes pottery. Email comments to j_langley@btconnect.com. This poem and an introductory essay can be found at www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/langley4.html.

Iraqi War Resolution

"Terror is not a new weapon. Throughout history it has been used by those who could not prevail, either by persuasion or example. But inevitably they fail, either because men are not afraid to die for a life worth living, or because the terrorists themselves came to realize that free men cannot be frightened by threats, and that aggression would meet its own response." (John F. Kennedy, 1961)

Using the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 as a pretext, Congress passed a resolution in October 2002 authorizing the use of force against Iraq. The resolution has four sections, not including its preamble, which enunciates Iraq's offenses beginning with its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The preamble reads like the Bush Administration talking points, which were repeatedly cited in the press and by members of both political parties prior to the preemptive attack.

Succinctly, the resolution states Iraq has large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction and an advanced nuclear weapons program, which threaten US vital security and international peace. With statements presented as facts that have since been discredited, the preamble paints a damning portrait of a rogue regime. Yet, the 9-11 Commission found no credible evidence linking Iraq to 9-11. No United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution authorized the no fly zones maintained by the US and Great Britain. Whenever Iraq fired on US planes violating its airspace, it did not constitute a breach of any UNSC resolution.

Section 1 of the congressional joint resolution simply provides a short title for the document. Section 2 expresses support for diplomatic efforts to force Iraqi compliance with existing UNSC resolutions. Section 3 authorizes the use of force to defend US national security against the "continuing threat posed by Iraq" and enforce UNSC resolutions. Congress leaves it up to the president to make the determination that diplomatic efforts will neither protect the US nor lead to the enforcement of UNSC resolutions. Finally, Section 4 directs the president to report to Congress the status of plans and actions taken pursuant to this authorization.

On Millionaires' Club

By Dot

Contrary to the concept of noblesse oblige, US Senate history is awash with a tide of wealthy and ambitious people seeking personal gain and promoting special interests. Senatorial campaigns are expensive, so generally, people with financial means tend to be successful in politics at this level. Ipso facto, a large percentage (40) of the 100 members of the Senate are millionaires. And, while the others may not be as wealthy yet, they collectively reside on an economic level well above the vast majority of working class Americans.

Of the forty Senate millionaires, 22 are Republicans and 18 are Democrats; six of the fourteen white women in the Senate rank among this elite group, including New York's junior senator Hilary Rodham Clinton. The wealthiest senators are Democrats, John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, who is married to Heinz food heiress Teresa Heinz, Herb Kohl (WS), of the family retail chain by the same name, who owns the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, and John "Jay" Rockefeller (WV), who hails from one of the world's wealthiest families. Another millionaire of note is Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN). A heart surgeon, Frist is a multi-millionaire whose family has made a fortune in the healthcare industry.

Based on past practices, most of the current crop of Senators will leave office richer and go on to further capitalize on their terms in office. Former senators are aggressively recruited to serve on the boards of multi-national corporations or they become personally involved in growing personal and family fortunes. Using insider information and connections gained while in the Senate, they frequently advise well-funded think tanks that produce research, which does, among other things, counsel national leaders on matters of war and peace.

Despite their fancy rhetoric, invariably politicians just pay lip service to acting in the public's best interest. Wars rarely improve poor people's living condition. And, generally, it is wealthy people, like US Senators, improving their fortunes that lead nations to war.

Disgruntled says: In May 2002, the Bush administration made a big production of signing another economic stimulus package; the $350 billion bill included $330 billion in tax cuts that disproportionately favored the wealthy. Hours later, George Bush signed, without fanfare, a bill increasing the federal debt ceiling by a record $984 billion, rising the amount the government can borrow to a whopping $7.4 trillion. As of August 16, 2004, the federal debt stood at $7.3 trillion. With the federal budget deficit projected to reach nearly half a trillion dollars, Congress will have to pass legislation to increase the legal debt ceiling to avoid a federal default. Avowed conservatives, the Bush regime is a liberal spending machine that has emptied the national vault and mortgaged present and future generations to the hilt.

Disgruntled wants to know: A recently aired Bush/Cheney '04 campaign advertisement makes an issue of John Kerry's attendance record at Senate Intelligence Committee public hearings. As Senate history illustrates, the real business conducted by this body is rarely on public display. Yet, since the incumbent has made attendance at meetings, or more precisely absence, and war records campaign issues that the media have obliged Bush/Cheney '04 with generous print and television coverage, when will the press produce men who served in the National Guard with George W. Bush that can explain the gap in his record?

Disgruntled feels: Harassed! Not surprisingly for an era when protesters are ignobly confined to "free speech" cages, the FBI has stepped up efforts to prevent what it characterizes as "violent and disruptive" protests at the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled for later this month in New York City. Shades of the FBI Counter Intelligence Program better known as Co-Intel-Pro, which killed, jailed and otherwise neutralized black leaders during the 1960s and 1970s, this new aggressive effort to silence dissent is eerily reminiscent of tactics employed by the Gestapo. People, planning to exercise what is supposed to be their constitutional right in a democratic society, are understandably feeling harassed.

Email firestorm@aol.com Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez survived the August 15, 2004 recall referendum. The poor that Chavez has championed turned out en masse to defeat the measure. According to international election monitors' exit polling, Chavez won by a substantial marginal. Venezuelans await the next move by the US to destabilize the South American nation.

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