Van Os for Texas Attorney General :: In David's Own Words: May 2006

ELECT THE PEOPLE'S LAWYER: David Van Os, Democrat for Texas Attorney General

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Monday, May 29, 2006

Memorial Day Message 2006

My father and mother named me in memory of an uncle I never knew, my father's older brother David, a naval fighter pilot in the Pacific theatre who did not return from his last mission and of whom it is said no trace was ever found. On the occasion of Memorial Day it is impossible for me not to think of this and of the similar sacrifices that have been made by so many Americans and their families in defense of the dream.

Over the approximately 231 years since the day the embattled colonists fired the shots heard 'round the world at Lexington and Concord, a long line of courageous Americans and their families have offered themselves willingly to sacrifice everything they had in order to defend the dream of a place where tyranny is unknown and the people govern themselves. All of us living today owe more than words can ever express to every one of them for what they did.

On this occasion of Memorial Day 2006, something else must be said, grim though it is to have to say it. For the last 5-and-a-half years the chief executive of the United States of America and his entourage of sycophants have brazenly declared themselves by word and deed to be contemptuous of the Constitution and above the rule of law. In so doing they have continually shown themselves to be unworthy of every American who has sacrificed himself to defend the dream in every conflict since the courageous defenders of Lexington Green stood firm against Imperial Redcoat regiments.

The uncle I never knew did not pay the ultimate price in order for the likes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Alberto Gonzales to trample all over the American dream that he perished to defend. Every one of the honored dead who has made the ultimate sacrifice down through the years of our nation's history deserves better than for the dream they defended to be dishonored by an American regime that scorns the very Constitution they were sworn to defend. My fellow Americans and Texans, we owe it to ourselves, our legacy, and our posterity to flood our polling places this November and bring this dishonor to an end.

posted by snarko! at 12:50 PM |

Monday, May 15, 2006

Your right to private phone calls

[audio post]

People everywhere are outraged to learn that telephone companies turned over millions of private call records to the federal government. David Van Os was one of the first public voices to speak out against the regime's unconstitutional spying actions. David publicly called the situation a Constitutional Crisis [see Constitutional Crisis, Message to Bush and Gonzales, Constitutional Crisis Continues] before Al Gore (whom David admires) did so in the former Vice President's speech on the subject. Here is David's response to the latest developments:

"More and more continues to be revealed about the Bushite regime's scorn for the Bill of Rights. Now we see they enlisted their corporate allies in their plan to destroy the Constitution. When I'm Texas Attorney General I will not stand for it. I'll use every tool at my disposal to protect the Constitutional rights and liberties of the people of Texas against this runaway federal regime and its corporate cronies. Individual Texans won't have to hire expensive private lawyers to sue the phone companies and the federal government to protect their Constitutional rights. They will have a people's lawyer to do it for them."

RELATED BREAKING ARTICLE:
Greg Palast on the further reach of the wiretapping issue, including ID theft, DNA testing, and more >>

posted by snarko! at 1:05 PM |

Monday, May 08, 2006

Greg Abbott Takes Care of His Homebuilding Buddies

"I am mad as hell about our about government being run for the benefit of the privileged few. Chalk another one up for Corporate Mouthpiece Greg Abbott."

On Greg Abbott siding with homebuilders against consumers, David Van Os had this to say:

"I am mad as hell about our government being run for the benefit of the privileged few at the expense of everybody else.

"What a neat deal it must especially be to own the Attorney General of Texas. When Greg Abbott ruled this week that Comptroller General Carole Strayhorn had no right to investigate the Texas Residential Construction Commission, it was a grand payback for one of Greg's biggest financial supporters, Texas homebuilding tycoon Bob Perry.

"Never mind that the Comptroller's investigation revealed that 86% of Texas homeowners who used the TRCC process still had construction defects that were never repaired. Never mind that the TRCC, to quote the Comptroller, is a 'builders protection agency.'

"The important things for Greg Abbott are that Perry Homes is one of the hugest homebuilding companies in Texas, that owner Bob Perry is the single biggest financial contributor for Republican politicians in Texas, that Perry and his wife have given over $570,000 in political contributions to Abbott, and that Perry gave Abbott $50,000 in one payment on December 15, 2005 alone - when Perry would have to have known that the Comptroller's investigation was underway. (Rep. Swinford requested Abbott's opinion on December 16.)

"The Comptroller's report says what it says regardless of Greg Abbott's clumsy effort to rule it out of order. Abbott's homebuilder buddies are getting the meat and Texas home-buying consumers are getting the dry bones. Thus it has always been under the Greg Abbott Attorney Generalship. As John Cobarruvias, President of HADD Texas (Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings) puts it, 'If Abbott had investigated the homebuilding industry back when consumers asked him to, the Comptroller's investigation wouldn't have even been necessary.'

"Chalk another one up Corporate Mouthpiece Greg Abbott, protector of the powerful against the people!"

posted by snarko! at 12:03 PM |

Monday, May 01, 2006

Please join me in a 24-hour Citizens' Filibuster for Freedom

On the occasion of Cinco de Mayo, May 5-6, San Antonio

The spreading popular rebellion against Big Oil represents the growing realization that we the people must win a revolution at the ballot box to reclaim our rights and liberties from the corporate and political power grabbers who seek to destroy democracy and abolish Constitutional checks and balances. As a fitting opportunity to spread that realization, please join me in a 24-hour Citizens' Filibuster for Freedom on the occasion of Cinco de Mayo. The Filibuster will begin at 12 noon on Friday, May 5 and will continue until 12 noon on Saturday, May 6. It will take place at Main Plaza in downtown San Antonio (across the street from San Fernando Cathedral).

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "May 5") commemorates the May 5, 1862, victory of the outnumbered and outgunned forces of Mexico's democratic government over the invading troops of Napoleon III's Imperial France at Puebla, Mexico. Abraham Lincoln sympathized strongly with Mexico's resistance to the French imperial invasion, but in 1862 Lincoln's necessary preoccupation with the Civil War prevented the U.S. from coming to Mexico's aid at that time. France returned with more troops and armaments after the Battle of Puebla and succeeded in occupying Mexico City in 1863. The democratically elected government of President Benito Juarez retreated to the north and carried on a government in exile and the struggle for freedom. After the end of the Civil War the United States was able to supply the Mexican freedom fighters with arms and material. With the support of their friends to the north, the Mexican people succeeded in overthrowing the French and their puppets, and regained their freedom from European imperialism. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the universal pursuit of freedom and democracy, as well as the historic partnership of the peoples of the United States and Mexico in that pursuit.

posted by snarko! at 1:52 PM |

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