The fall-out from the Supreme Court’s recent action in the case of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling has brought a famous political prosecution back into the headlines.

The conviction of former Alabama Governor Donald E. Siegelman for bribery in 2006 had become a cause célèbre in the United States and internationally, with one hundred and four current and past states attorneys general going on record that Siegelman should have a new trial. One of these former AGs was Grant Woods, national co-chairman of the McCain presidential campaign.

Siegelman’s case was the most famous of the Bush Justice Department’s political prosecutions, but the unsuccessful effort to jail Cyril Wecht was probably the most malignant of them. It illustrates the kind of political prosecution that has become common in the Republican South. These prosecutions hinge of a very vague and short piece of legislation—the “honest services” and mail fraud statute-- that imposes stiff penalties upon officials and others accused of not providing citizens with “honest services” due to corruption.

The Siegelman Case in Brief

On August 4, 2010, the Goodtime Amusements Company took down a game that allowed patrons to spend a dollar to take six shots at a figure who very much resembled President Barack Obama. The African American figure held a "Health Bill," and his belt buckle was adorned with what appeared to be the presidential seal. Targets were on the forehead and heart, but there was no target on the health bill.

The company had been using this "Alien Attack" game for six or seven weeks. It was so named because the figure had two alien antennas on his head.

The owner of the company received one complaint about the game when it was first used. He withdrew the game on August 4 after another complaint was lodged and the Secret Service looked into it. It appears that he first defended the game on the grounds of "free speech."

The game was last used at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Borough of Roseto, Pennsylvania. The Big Time Carnaval was to raise money for the parish school. According to a spokesman for the Diocese of Allentown, no one associated with the parish had any idea the offensive game was part of Goodtime's offerings.

Many factors are involved in our difficulty in understanding today’s strange politics, but two stand out. One is saliency of irrational factors and clever manipulation of people’s fears and prejudices, but that is the subject for another time. The second is that one of the political parties no longer fits the mold of a traditional American political party, but few analysts seem to recognize this.

On April 19, 1995, the Alfred E. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed. The generally accepted account of the Oklahoma City bombing is that one man, with some assistance from an accomplice, pulled it off, using just one explosive device, a Ryder Truck full of a fertilizer- based explosive.

It was such a horrible event—costing 168 lives—that none of us at the time could bear to think that there could have been something wrong with official account. The evidence that we have about this terrible incident lends itself to several interpretations, none of which can be proven. Some have even connected strands to suggest that it was some sort of false flag operation gone-wrong that was intended to pin the blame on Saddah Hussein or Muslims. But there is not enough evidence to make that case. There is much more evidence for the view that the people who perpetrated this horror were closely watched by government agents, but that somehow they were able to bomb the building before government got its act together and arrested them.

Basic Information

Philadelphia City Council Votes to Support the Single-Payer Healthcare
Solution
January 30, 2009, Philadelphia, PA

City Council unanimously endorses the only State (HB 1660/SB 300) and
National Bills that Guarantee Comprehensive, Quality, Affordable
Healthcare for All

JANUARY 28--Earlier today, groups representing doctors, nurses, medical students, and labor unions successfully lobbied Philadelphia City
Council to pass a resolution in support of the Single Payer Healthcare
Solution. The resolution, sponsored by Councilman Greenlee and
Councilwoman Tasco, specifically embraced Rep. Kathy Manderino's HB
1660, Senator Jim Ferlo's SB 300, and Congressman John Conyers' HR 676.

The victory was the second critical breakthrough for Pennsylvania
citizens in the span of a week. The first triumph was last week's
blocked merger of Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross and
Pittsburgh-based Highmark, a monopoly merger that would have
constituted a 57%-70% market share of Pennsylvania health insurance
sales.

Dozens of citizens rallied behind and witnessed Philadelphia City
Council's bipartisan, unanimous passage of the resolution.

Erie Campaign Launched To Keep PA National Guard Home

 The Erie Peace Initiative (EPI) has begun circulating a “People's Resolution” that urges our governor to “… exhaust every avenue in his power to stop further deployment of Pennsylvania National Guard troops to Iraq.”

The local campaign is part of a coordinated state-wide grassroots effort to keep our National Guard home.  In October 2002, Congress authorized President Bush to federalize state Guard and send them to Iraq.  The stipulated purpose was to defend U.S. national security against the “threat posed by Iraq.”  In 2008, Iraq poses no threat to the United States; the authorization has expired; control over Pennsylvania National Guard now reverts to our governor.

Pennsylvania National Guard troops are needed at home.  EPI's Resolution calls on our governor not only to keep them home but also, without delay, to bring home those now deployed in Iraq.

We are collecting signatures on a petition, addressed to Govenor Rendell, to bring the PA National Guard home from Iraq, with no new deployments. We are working with partners across the state. Legislation will be introduced in the PA House and Senate.

Download the Word version of the petition here.

by Doris Cipolla

The Marriage Protection Amendment is tabled, but not dead. It wll emerge again. We need to be vigilant and alert to stop this direct assault to our Constitution.

Al Quaida could not have created a better weapon than the Marriage Protection Amendment to destroy our American democracy. The Marriage Amendment is much larger than a “gay issue.” The more serious matter is one of inserting prejudice and discrimination into our Commonwealth Constitution; moreover, amending a particular religious definition of marriage in our civil document is of grave concern.

The proponents of the Marriage Protection Amendment encourage its adoption to our constitution because twenty-seven other states have done so. Twenty-seven states have assaulted and violated a minority group of their citizens with discrimination and second-class status and Pennsylvania should follow suit? This kind of reasoning is frightening. Perhaps then “might does make right?”

On March 9. 2008, the Erie Peace Initiative held a peace rally to mark the 5th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. After the March, all US Congressional candidates for the PA-3 legislative district were invited to speak in a candidate forum at Cauley Auditorium in Erie PA. All four Democratic Party candidates and the Independent candidate attended. Republican incumbent Phil English did not attend. Video by Al Richardson.