In my blog today I stated that Iran is a sovereign country and any attack upon it would be a violation of International Law according to the Charter of the United Nations
The Bush administration wants a dialogue to begin about attacking Iran. It has thrown out several reasons, none of which are justified under International Law, for an attack.
There should be no dialogue about violating International Law.
Ed O’Reilly
Democratic Candidate for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts
Please share widely!
I really think we need to put a stop to letting this Administration frame the questions. Any talk about taking military action against Iran has to be seen through an international lense. The question about military action against Iran has to be put in the context of a potential war crime, according to the UN Charter.
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Anything less is allowing this Administration to frame the issue.
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Thank you for the compliment.
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Ed O’Reilly
But I skimmed your profile and see you are a senate candidate? Presumably aiming to challenge our esteamed junior senator? Umm, so why would you be framing your viewpoints in exactly the same way that he does? How would this excite people? I mean, I see you as just another bloke on the board so if I wanted change and I dont know as I do, but why would I vote for you and not Raj?
… is that I want someone who is not just hot air and sound bites, someone who doesn’t frame his positions with a fantasy of becoming president, someone who stands up and speaks for democratic values even when the polls say the war-mongers are ascendant.
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What excites me about Ed’s candidacy is not just that Ed says what he says, but that he means it and fights for it. Kerry has ‘compromised’ so many times that he is now just an enabler of bad government, whatever he says.
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And on the present diary, it is crucial to understand that further violations of international law, like the invasion of Iraq that Kerry voted to authorize, will damage American interests and security in ways that will haunt us for years.
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BTW: your reference to the “esteamed junior senator” is ironic; as i said, he is just full of hot air. Perhaps you meant “esteemed”?
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And: your reference to “Raj” is also ironic; if nothing else, Kerry is certainly an elitist.
(ref “esteamed
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No, Kerry is not an elitist. He’s a poseur. There’s nothing wrong with one being an elitest, as long has one has the smahts to be an elitest. Kerry doesn’t. He’s nothing more than a C- level student from Yale. Just like GWBush.
He fills my inbox with spam and makes me feel important.
Now as for our other senator, I wish they would fix the filter they use to answer constituents questions. I keep writing them both trying to get them to support the Grassley/Durbin H1B reform bill (http://www.numbersus…)
and all I get back is some spam from Teddy’s ‘puters about how happy he is that I support his “comprehensive approach to immigration reform” and yada yada ..
Lol ..
Back in the 80s before the internet, when you had to actualy write letters on paper, I got a response from Teddy that was just as useless but I saved it because the stamped signature below his blabbering about how much he cared was upside down … I wonder if I can sell that on ebay …
Ah well .. thats politics.
Enjoy
but why would I vote for you and not Raj?
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…raj is not running for office.
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I know little of O’Reilly except for what he has written here, but the more that he has written, the more that I like him. BUT, and this is a big “but,” I would prefer that Kerry slink away stage left and let Barney Frank take his place. I don’t know whether O’Reilly lives in Barney’s district, but, if he does–as do I–he might very likely get my vote for the House.
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I don’t like Kerry. More importantly, I don’t trust Kerry. I never have. NB: I don’t particularly care for TKennedy, but I trust him. Therein lies the difference.
Maybe I’ll write you in just to be spiteful.
Ed is right: an attack on Iran would be a violation of international law. Why aren’t the Democrats shouting about this? They have a majority in Congress and a majority in the polls and they were elected to get out of Iraq and yet they are not only not getting out of Iraq, but they are aquiescing in Bush/Cheney’s threats to start another war in Iran!! It’s unbelievable!
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It will be great to have a chance to vote for Ed, someone who is not afraid of whatever the current crop of Dems is afraid of.
What I’m about to write is something Ed never addresses.
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A fundamental problem is that there are enough conservative Democrats (Blue Dogs and New Democrats) that will vote with Republicans on a lot of these issues. You might think the problem is Kerry, but it isn’t. The problem is Landrieu, Backus, and Pryor. Similar problem in the House.
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We who don’t work in Congress might want Pelosi and Reid to take principled stands — stands with which we know Pelosi, by the way, agrees and Reid probably too. The trouble is it is also very important to keep the caucuses together. You don’t want to provoke a revolt of conservative Democrats. If you do, you risk having a worse mess.
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Given that, Principled and Heroic Stands (think Feingold, Dodd, and Leahy) are good, powerful, and useful but they just don’t carry enough votes and to win in Congress you need enough votes and not just the right kind of wind.
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So what do you do in that circumstance? I think there are four things you need to do:
The Bush Dog campaign is the best thing I’ve seen on item #3. With conservative Democrats, this isn’t simple. There’s a range of actions. Rep. Lipinski from Illinois, an anti-choice war supporter who votes wrong on FISA, represents a solid Democratic district in a very Democratic year. Please contribute to his opponent Mark Pera. Stephanie Herseth, on the other hand, represents South Dakota. We’re lucky to have her representing South Dakota, but alas she votes wrong on both crucial issues. I’m not sure what we do to bring her along, but a Real Leader might have figured that out. For Lipinski, sticks; for Herseth, carrots.
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As for #5, that’s why I kvetch so much about gotcha games here with conservatives when it’s moderates liberals need to be taking very, very seriously, listening to carefully, and ultimately convincing.
I just got in from a Democratic Dinner in Shrewsbury and wanted to comment on paragraph 5, above.
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Iraq–John Kerry wants to keep troops in Iraq in “enclaves”. I am calling for ALL of our troops to withdraw unless they are part of an real international peace keeping team.
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FISA–John Kerry not only missed the FISA vote on the last day the Senate was in session, before a month long vacation (August 3rd), but he actually skipped out earlier in the day.
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Someone just posted this BlueMass Diary which may give you an indication about the differences between John Kerry and me.
not significant.
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You haven’t made a case that it is significant, so I feel you’re just feeding me a soundbite. Again, how would his presence have changed SENATOR PRYOR’S and SENATOR FEINSTEIN’S votes. How do YOU propose to change SENATOR LANDRIEU’s vote — or SENATOR SPECTOR’s?
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Frankly, the difference between you and Kerry on Iraq is insignificant compared to the difference between Lipinski and Pera or between Sununu and Sheehan. He’s not President and you’re not running for it. The Senate does not really get to decide “enclaves” vs “no enclaves”. It does get to decide “fund without timeline” or “insist on timeline”.
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And yes, I agree with the diarist that you’re a personable guy.
If the Democrats had threatened a filibuster, the 60 votes in favor of the Bush FISA legislation represent a one vote swing difference–just one vote! Bush filed his version of the FISA legislation on July 28th and pushed it through in the week before the Senate’s vacation.
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The bottom line is that we really have no way of knowing whether I could have made a difference with this vote. I can only tell you that I wouldn’t have bailed out one day early for a one month’s vacation as Senator Kerry did. I would have stayed and fought.
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I have been fighting in the courtroom for 25 years and I never give up. I have tried cases on Christmas Eve and the day before Thanksgiving, etc. While I was a Corrections Officer and a Firefighter, I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and every other holiday. I went to law school at night while working two jobs. I have tried to give back to the community with the little spare time I have had as a member of the City Council and the School Committee. I have also served on the North Shore AIDS Health Project Board of Directors. I have never had a straight month’s vacation in my adult life and intend to bring this work ethic to the Senate.
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This is a major difference between John Kerry and me. He talks the talk and votes the right way a whole lot of time. What John Kerry doesn’t seem to do is walk the talk. He seems to operate on sound bites and photo ops. Also, John Kerry just doesn’t seem to be a team player and how can the Democratic Team win when one team member decides not to stay and fight for the Democratic FISA legislation? Even more importantly, Senator Kerry failed to stay and support the hard work of Senators Rockefeller and Levin in drafting the Democratic alternative FISA legislation.
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Senator Kennedy seemed to think it was important to stay and fight. He didn’t leave the Senate early.
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Thank you.
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Ed
You know as well as I that forty votes against a bill do not equal forty votes against cloture. I wish you’d stop suggesting they are the same because, frankly, it seems dishonest.
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You may work hard. You may be eloquent. Leadership is not an abstract thing. It has goals and purpose. On none of these issues have you indicated any actions that you would take that go beyond symbolism. I don’t want a Wonder Symbolic Senator. I want an effective one. I have spelled out above what I think “effective” means. You don’t respond to that. Instead, we get theater criticism of Senator Kerry. I do not care about his character at all.
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Kerry’s efforts to put pressure on the Roadblock Republicans make a great deal of sense to me. It also makes sense to me that he is out of state pushing politically for things we need. I’ve seen nothing from you that would one-up that.
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Again what are you going to do to bring Senator Pryor around?