Texas CD-22 News

Via Charles Kuffner we learn that Governor Goodhair has finally gotten off his duff to call a special election for the remainder of DeLay's term.

This has to be a bit of a ploy to get Shelley Sekula-Gibbs name on the ballot so that people can see it, and spell her name correctly in the general election portion of the ballot.

Also, it sets up the possibility of one candidate being elected for a term from November to January, with the regular term starting in Jaunary. If one of the candidates wins both the special election, and the general election, there is 60+ days worth of seniority over any other candidate elected in the general election.

Or, we end up with a newly elected lame-duck congressperson for the remainder of DeLay's term.

In either case, Rick Perry has made this already intractable situation worse, by waiting to declare the special election. As Kuff pointed out, even with the legal wranglings that have been going on, Tom DeLay was officially resigned from Congress, 7 June. Even with everything else that was going on, it was clear that DeLay had no intention of serving out his term. Additionally, the final selection for the GOP candidate was made on 17 August.

So, why did Perry wait?




Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, Nick Lampson, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, TX-22, Special Election, Rick Perry, Governor Goodhair, Texas

That Sound You Hear ...

Is the sound of desperation of a career failing:



Poor Rita Cosby.



Thanks to Atta J. Turk for the light laugh.

Thought for the Day

"Think twice before you speak, and then you may be able to say something more insulting than if you spoke right out at once."

--Evan Esar

Demand Names

John at Americablog has it right, who are the Americans who say we should appease the terrorists?

So please, dear media, just like you pestered John Kerry incessantly about who those supposed "world leaders" were who didn't want Bush to win re-election, please demand that the vice president name names and provide us with quotes. The American people deserve to know who among us has outright said that we should "appease the terrorists" in the hope that if we make them happy they won't hit us again.

Because if he can't prove what he's saying, then that means Dick Cheney is lying to the American people about the war on terror in an effort to sway the election. And that, if true, is big news and a serious offense.

I know there is a double standard when it comes to Republicans making pronouncements, versus Democrats. However, at least have the decency to ask who it is that is telling Cheney that we should appease the terrorists.

A Sure Fire Way to Lose

Democrats pretending they have already won:

Barring an unexpected and big event, Democrats will win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November and conceivably the Senate, too. Whether it's a tsunami or just a powerful wave, the political dynamics are moving in that direction, or more accurately, against the Republicans and President George W. Bush.

Democratic insiders, who months ago thought their chances of winning a majority in the House were no better than even, and that the Senate was a lost cause, have become far more optimistic. Now, they say, winning the House is a lock, and the Senate is within reach.

``We have to go back to 1974 (during Watergate) to find such a favorable environment,'' says James Carville, who ran Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. ``If we can't win in this environment, we have to question the whole premise of the party.''

More telling is that the smartest Republican political minds agree. ``The issue matrix and political dynamics are not good for us,'' says Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican. ``Only some big national or international event before the election can change that.''

I am not going to try and provide any attempt at any type of analysis of this article, except to add that if any Democrat, who is not running unopposed, that thinks on 29 August they have the election sewn up, deserves to lose.

There is nothing I hate more than someone slacking off in sight of the finish line.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Election, 2006

Republicans Fear the President

It seems that 2006 will be the year that the Republican Congress rebukes the Republican President

All this Republican uneasiness underscores the importance of the New York Times-CBS poll showing that 51 percent of those surveyed found no link between the war in Iraq and the broader war on terrorism, an increase of 10 percentage points since June. A majority now rejects the administration's core foreign policy argument.

The cracking of Republican solidarity in support of Bush on Iraq has short-term implications for November's elections and long-term implications for whether the administration can sustain its policies.

With a growing number of Republicans now echoing Democratic criticisms of the war, Republican strategists will have a harder time making the election a referendum on whether the United States should "cut and run" from Iraq, the administration's typical characterization of the Democrats' view.

And even the war's strongest supporters are offering increasingly critical assessments of past decisions. Last Tuesday Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recited a litany of past administration statements -- "stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes, a few dead-enders" -- as indications that "we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be." On Friday McCain reiterated his loyalty to the Iraq mission, but he had already made his point.

The Republicans' restiveness suggests that Bush may not be able to stick with his current Iraq policy through Election Day. Even if he does, he will come under heavy pressure from his own party after Nov. 7 to pursue a demonstrably more effective strategy -- or to begin pulling American forces out.

The realization is hitting many of Bush's supporters, that not only is the entire situation in Iraq FUBAR, but Bush has no plan, and no courage to deal with it.

The only plan that Bush has is "Stay the Course", even if that course leads the Republican Party off a cliff and into permanent irrelevance.

That is if he doesn't do permanent damage to the country first.



Technorati Tags: Republican, Bush, GOP, Election, Iraq, 2006

Broken Promises

After one year since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, what has been done?

Not much.

Jonathan Alter:

A year ago, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, NEWSWEEK published a cover story called "Poverty, Race and Katrina: Lessons of a National Shame." The article suggested that the disaster was prompting a fresh look at "The Other America"—the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. "It takes a hurricane," I wrote. "It takes the sight of the United States with a big black eye—visible around the world—to help the rest of us begin to see again." I ended on a hopeful note: "What kind of president does George W. Bush want to be? ... If he seizes the moment, he could undertake a midcourse correction that might materially change the lives of millions. Katrina gives Bush an only-Nixon-could-go-to-China opportunity, if he wants it."

As Alter notes many people took issue with this statement. Many people, including myself, felt strongly that George W. Bush is indifferent to the problems people in the affect region had. Poverty was not, and to this day, is not a concern that Bush shares with the rest of America. When Bush stood in Jackson Square, in New Orleans, and made his speech about how he was going to direct the federal government to do what was necessary, not only to rebuild the city, but help the people rebuild their lives, it was met with a collective "yeah, right".

The Republican Congress didn't do anything, and more importantly, George W. Bush wasn't out pushing for his "worker recovery accounts", or "Gulf Coast Enterprise Zone", or anything substantial that didn't benefit Halliburton, or any of the other GOP contributors lined up ready to take the government's money.

After all the heat he took last year, how could Bush have blown the aftermath of Katrina? It's not as if he lacks confidence in the power of his office. He believes he can fix Iraq and transform the Middle East. He aspires to spread democracy to the far corners of the globe. But the fate of an American city and millions of his impoverished countrymen are apparently beyond his control, or perhaps just his interest

Now, as we are in the 2006 hurricane season, what has the government done?

Sure, the levees are largely repaired, but are they repaired even to the levels they were pre-Katrina?

Speaking about the levees. What are the plans for New Orleans for the future?

Apparently, they are all talk as well:

The Dutch know a thing or two about staying dry. Most people in the Netherlands live below sea level, and the country's major cities are in continual danger of being washed away. Or they would be, if Dutch engineers weren't so good at designing levees and floodgates to keep storms at bay. The Netherlands hasn't suffered a catastrophic storm-driven flood since the 1950s, when it began building the current system. Over the decades, North Sea storms have battered the country, and the dikes have held. The Dutch are, no argument, the world's experts. Which raises a question as U.S. politicians and bureaucrats dicker over whether and how to fortify New Orleans against future storms: why not hire the Dutch?

[...]

Congress has given the Army Corps of Engineers $20 million to come up with a comprehensive design to protect the city permanently. American engineers have been in consultation with Dutch designers, and in the meantime the Corps has asked a Dutch firm to design a 100- to 200-year floodgate system for the western end of Lake Borgne. Dan Hitchings, the Army Corps official in charge of Gulf Coast protection, says it may ultimately bring in more Dutch help. But it likely won't know for sure for more than a year. The Corps has until the end of 2007 to complete its study, and it shows no signs of speeding things along. Hitchings says the Corps has to give Congress a range of options and price tags, to "make sure the nation wants to do what the Netherlands did."

Vrijling, for one, can't understand what the Corps is going to study for so long. The technology already exists and has been tested over decades in the Netherlands. He says Dutch and American engineers, working together, would need only "a couple of months" to draw up a detailed plan. "If we had the will and one month's money from Iraq, we could do all the levees and restore the coast," says Ivor Van Heerden, a Louisiana State University hurricane scientist who warned for years about a Katrina-like disaster. "We can save Louisiana. It is very doable."

As John Kerry told Alter:

"This is the greatest lost opportunity I've ever seen in public life," Sen. John Kerry told me last week. "The Jackson Square speech ought to stand as one of the all-time monuments to hollow rhetoric and broken promises."

Indeed.



Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Katrina, Levees, Netherlands, George Bush

War on Christmas

Eventhough it is only the end of August, the lunacy of last years "War Against Christmas" has started already:

It appears the battle against what some call the politically correct title for Christmas has already begun. A pro-family group is highlighting ad on page 69 in the Sam's Club in-house magazine, Source, that promotes "holiday" cards, ribbons and gift bags, despite all the products obviously being designed for Christmas.

What can you say about this?

Many of these same people wail in outrage at what they perceive to be the latest attempt by groups such as the NAACP to impose political correctness (read racial equality), and consider it an assault on their sensibilities, are the same people who see an anti-Christian conspiracy in calling the holiday season, anything other than Christmas. Eventhough there is more than one religious group who have holidays during the same time period.

Quick update: Courtesy of a commenter at the Carpetbagger, Sam's Club has responded:

A message to our Members inquiring about “Christmas” and “Holidays”

We have received some comments about using the word “holiday” in place of Christmas in our August/September 06 Source Magazine.

SAM’S CLUB serves 47 million members with different faiths across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and China. We attempt to take a very thoughtful approach to the words we choose in communicating with our members.

In some cases, we use the word “holiday” or phrase “happy holidays” to include the season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. In other cases, we name specific holidays such as Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Easter. In our upcoming December/January 06 Source Magazine we plan to reference specific holidays such as Christmas and others, as we have in the past. For example, in our Spring 06 catalog, we referenced Easter on the inside cover, pages 4-6 and provided menu ideas for Easter as well as Passover entertaining.

We value each and every member of SAM’S CLUB and want to make you aware of our efforts to be respectful and inclusive.

Take that.


Technorati Tags: holiday, Christmas, AFA, Wal-Mart

Thought for the Day

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."

--W. C. Fields

Work Harder!

Real wages stagnate:

With the economy beginning to slow, the current expansion has a chance to become the first sustained period of economic growth since World War II that fails to offer a prolonged increase in real wages for most workers.

[...]

The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity — the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation’s living standards — has risen steadily over the same period.

American workers are not even seeing, what had been a traditional cost of living increase that matched the increase in inflation.

Add the stagnating, or falling wages to the fact that Americans aren't taking vacation, we have a very bad situation.

I admit I am right there with most of these people. I am afraid to take more than a long weekend off, and have not had a raise in years. This is the new work environment in America, and most businesses are perpetuating this.

Most of these fears, and admittedly mine as well, are being fueled by outsourcing and offshoring. Job security is the number one reason people don't take vacations. If I can take more than a couple of days off, and the job gets done, perhaps there are too many people doing the job. However, if things collapse, perhaps the company will explore hiring two or three employees from low wage regions to spread out the work, while simultaneously lowering employee costs. It is a vicious circle, that ends up leaving American workers in jobs that do not have good benefits, no real prospects, or spending 300 days a year in the office with no vacation, and early burnout.

Is this what we want?



Technorati Tags: Wages, Vacation, Employment, Burnout

And Like A Good Neighbor ...

State Farm Insurance is being accused of destroying documents to avoid paying any claims for damages from Hurricane Katrina:

State Farm Insurance supervisors systematically demanded that Hurricane Katrina damage reports be buried or replaced or changed so that the company would not have to pay policyholders' claims in Mississippi, two State Farm insiders tell ABC News.

Kerri and Cori Rigsby, independent adjusters who had worked for State Farm exclusively for eight years, say they have turned over thousands of internal company documents and their own detailed statement to the FBI and Mississippi state investigators.

Not only do I have no doubt that insurance companies such as State Farm have gone out of their way with twisted logic and, it seems, destroying paperwork, to ensure they don't have to pay claims, but that they are actively doing whatever they can to absolve themselves of any liability for not paying their policyholders.

This appears to be yet another instance of "big bidness" sticking it to the little guy again. My question is, where are the state and federal insurance regulators?

If you have State Farm Insurance, I would contact them and demand to know why they are denying their policyholders claims, and if that is what you can expect from them, were you to file a claim.

Technorati Tags: State Farm, Insurance, Hurricane Katrina

What?

DCCC chairman Rahm Emanuel reaches for stupid:

Rahm Emanuel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, expressed confidence that Democratic turnout would be strong for the House races in Connecticut.

“Explain to me how two Democrats running is bad,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview.

If they are in the same race, and they are in a Primary? Nothing.
In the general elections, and there was a primary in which one of the candidates is the Democrat who lost? Everything.

Why, oh why couldn't he and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership say that during the Connecticut primary?

Now that Joe Lieberman has lost, people like Emanuel seem to be contemptuous of Connecticut Democrats.

It's as if the Democratic Party leadership in Washington want to lose.



Technorati Tags: Rahm Emanuel, DCCC, CT-Sen, Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman

Thought for the Day

"Oh, come on. If you can't laugh at the walking dead, who can you laugh at?"

--Unknown, Dan Fielding in "Night Court"

Unintentional Irony

The thought that a Bush supporter would put this on his blog:

Really, though, this is just what happens when a major political movement becomes more about opposing the other side than doing what is best for the country.

Really.

The entirety of the Republican platform is not that Republicans are doing the right thing, but that Demcorats will do the wrong thing.


Thanks to Oliver for this link.

Thought for the Day

"The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened."

--Saki

Krauthammer and Reality

Shorter Charles Krauthammer as explained by the eminent Dr. Atta J. Turk:

Before we bomb the Iranians, we have to bomb the French.

I wonder if Krauthammer read this first:

The vast bulk of the world's oil, gas and strategic minerals resources either is coming under or is already under the control of authoritarian, or less-than-democratic, or leftist, or otherwise radical regimes either with a decidedly anti-Western political stance and ideology or pointedly decreased sensitivities to strategic US interests.

It is difficult to name more than a handful of resource-rich states that are liberal democracies and that are still significantly aligned with the West. Only Canada and Mexico come immediately to mind, and even Canada is increasingly embracing China and the East in the sphere of strategic energy deals and agreements.

I kind of doubt it.

Thanks to the kind of diplomacy that the Bush administration has engaged in since 2000, the United States is being increasingly isolated.

Krauthammer writes his little diatribe against France, and how they don't seem to be acquiescing to the will of George W. Bush, while at the same time, France and the rest of the western world is aligning against the United States.

The policy that Republicans have had, of maligning and undermining the United Nations, and "Old Europe", is beginning to catch up to us. Other countries are creating strategic partnerships with regards to energy policy, and strategic interests. These new partnerships are beginning to explicitly exclude the United States from participation. Rather than other countries trying to join with the US in the formation of these alliances, the US will have to be the one requesting begging for inclusion.

Only, the Bush administration is not interested in performing the diplomacy required to keep the United States involved. From Condi Rice's ineptitude, to Karen Hughes' non-action, and George Bush's incompetence the United States is becoming increasingly isolated. The irony in all of this, is that on 12 September 2001, the entire world was sympathetic to, and in essence aligned with the United States.

Rather than capitalize on that, to maintain the United States' leadership in the world community, George Bush and the Neo-Conservatives, enabled by the Republican Congress (and a few Democrats) set about destroying the opportunity before us on that day.

As a result, today, we are seeing the rest of the world, in its realization that Bush is not interested in cooperation, is moving on. After World War I the United States willfully disengaged from the rest of world affairs. We became isolationist on our own. Today, we are becoming isolationist, not because of United States policy of disengagement from the rest of the world, but because our President, and his Neo-Con agenda is alienating, even our closest allies.


Technorati Tags: Foreign Policy, France, Lebanon, United Nations, Charles Krauthammer, George Bush, Neo-Conservative, Isolationism

Thought for the Day

"The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war."

--E. B. White



This sentiment is especially poignant to me.
I have an 8 year old son.

Blogger, Bloggered

Blogger appears to be bloggered today (for me anyway).

Until things resolve, light (if any) posting.

--
David (Austin Tx)
http://supremeirony.blogspot.com

A Moment of Clarity?

What's this?

The New York Times is challenging the neocon agenda?

The last thing this country needs as it heads into this election season is another attempt to push the intelligence agencies to hype their conclusions about the threat from a Middle Eastern state.

That's what happened in 2002, when the administration engineered a deeply flawed document on Iraq that reshaped intelligence to fit President Bush's policy. And history appeared to be repeating itself this week, when the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, released a garishly illustrated and luridly written document that is ostensibly dedicated to "helping the American people understand" that Iran's fundamentalist regime and its nuclear ambitions pose a strategic threat to the United States.

It's hard to imagine that Mr. Hoekstra believes there is someone left in this country who does not already know that. But the report obviously has different aims. It is partly a campaign document, a product of the Republican strategy of scaring Americans into allowing the G.O.P. to retain control of Congress this fall. It fits with the fearmongering we've heard lately — like President Bush's attempt the other day to link the Iraq war to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

It seems that, although belatedly, the veil of fear has fallen from the eyes of the editorial board at the Times.

Better late than never, I suppose. If only they could have seen through the fog of BS the administration was peddling leading up to the Iraq invasion as well.


Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Peter Hoekstra, Intelligence, George Bush, New York Times

Hurricane Proof Homes

Some say they are too expensive:

With solid concrete walls and roofs and laminated glass windows protected by storm shutters, a house can be built to withstand nearly any hurricane. But very few are.

Even in the most vulnerable U.S. coastal areas, virtually no one builds homes or buildings to survive a Category 5 hurricane -- a monster storm with winds higher than 155 miles per hour (250 km per hour) that can crush ordinary houses.

It costs too much.

When I was in Jamaica this past April, one of the things I noticed while riding from the Montego Bay airport to Negril, was a significant number of, what appeared to be, only half built homes. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. I knew Jamaica was not a very wealthy country, but I didn't think that the country was so poor that people were reduced to living in homes that were collapsing around them, particularly in a heavy tourist area such as Montego Bay, or Negril.

What I found out, was that after Hurricane Ivan destoryed many of the wood frame homes in western Jamaica, those people who decided to stay in the coastal area, started rebuilding their homes out of concrete. Just like these homes that are too expensive in the United States.

The reason that the homes were onlly half built is due to the exhorbitant interest rates that banks in Jamaica charge. One of the cab drivers that we used, explained to me, after stopping by his house, is that people are rebuilding their homes in phases. As they had the cash, they would replace a room of wood framed structure with concrete structure, until the entire house was rebuilt in concrete.

The point is, not the have a bunch of half built homes in the gulf coast regions, the point is, that in Jamaica can build these hurricane proof homes, why can't people in the United States?

Maybe banks could do the right thing, and provide favorable financing for people to rebuild their wood frame houses with concrete homes that could withstand hurricanes. Maybe insurance companies could provide some financial incentive for their customers to replace their wood frame homes with concrete homes?



Technorati Tags: Hurricane

Spying on Americans

Yesterday, at a fundraiser, Karl Rove said that the government should be free to spy on Americans.

No doubt he got cheers from the Big Brother lovin' Republican supporters.

At what point will the fact that the Bush Administration is subverting everything America stands for, filter into the media?

It is not just a fact to be reported, the George Bush, and Karl Rove believe the Federal Government have an obligation to spy on American citizens. They are advocating subverting the very Constitution that defined the America they are supposedly trying to protect. Is it the position in the media, that this is acceptable?



Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying, Terrorist Surveillance, Karl Rove, George Bush, Anna Taylor Diggs, Constitution

More John Carter Silliness

First Texas Congressman John Carter says that his opponent Mary Beth Harrell has to "earn the right to debate" him, because she has no "credibility".

Today Carter lies about what he said about participating in debates.

Carter was asked if he told the Austin American-Statesman that Harrell had not earned the right to appear with him on stage.

“No, not exactly,” he said. “(To) the American-Statesman, what I said was, ‘you earn the right to debate me - by (showing) your credibility,’” Carter said.”

There's more.

When it comes to debating both Democrat Harrell, and the Libertarian candidate Matt McAdoo on a public television station?

“No, no, no - I don’t believe I’m going to be able to do that,” Carter said. “I mean, that’s public television and that’s public radio. I will have to think about that. I might do it. I haven’t decided yet.”

It makes you wonder what John Carter is afraid of?




Technorati Tags: John Carter, Mary Beth Harrell, Matt McAdoo, Debates, Texas, Elections, TX-31

Second Verse Same As the First

Literally

Where have we heard this before?

In the thick of an election campaign, President Bush has revived and retooled his argument that the U.S. must fight terrorists overseas or face them here. Despite the unpopularity of the Iraq war, some GOP candidates are borrowing Bush's line.

"We leave before the mission is done, the terrorists will follow us here," Bush warned at a news conference this week.

[...]

The fight-them-there theme has been part of Bush's national security stump speech since 2003. But the "follow us here" part is a relatively new twist.

I'm sorry, did the author of this article mean to suggest that the "fight them there, so we don't have to fight them here" is a "retooled" message?

28 June 2005:

Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war. Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, in Washington, and Pennsylvania. There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home. The commander in charge of coalition operations in Iraq -- who is also senior commander at this base -- General John Vines, put it well the other day. He said: "We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad, or we deal with it when it comes to us."

There is nothing retooled about that message, other than the media telling us it is.



Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq, Terrorism, Media, GOP

The Secrecy President

With the revelation that the Bush administration is going back reclassifying Cold War missile data, America's Finest News Source tried to get the public's reaction:

Jerome Bahn,
Stamp Collector
"Nothing wrong with
admitting you made
a mistake—in this
case, telling the truth
to an informed public.
But it's not too late to
correct that mistake."

And thus we are presented with the real reason the Bush administration is reclassifying this information.

Thought for the Day

"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated."

--Poul Anderson

Selling War

The US-Iran war sales pitch is being ramped up:

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran’s role in Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.

Why in God's name would anyone be hankering for another war in the Middle East? 2,500 Marines were just called up from the Inactive Ready Reserve to augment troops in Iraq, and now Republicans want to launch an invasion of Iran?

Never mind that the country is significantly larger than Iraq. Nevermind that the Iranian Army is significantly larger than the Iraqi Army was. Nevermind the sheer insanity of proposing more war, when Iran has indicated that it is ready to talk to the UN about its nuclear programs.

Then again, the hurry up and invade argument was made, as Iraq began talks to avoid war.

The Republicans in Congress are obviously dead set on invading Iran. If Iran were to enter serious negotiations about their nuclear weapons program, what remaining argument is there to use as justification to invade Iran? Oil?

The insanity must stop.

Technorati Tags: Iran, Invasion, Republican, Nuclear

Well, That Took Long Enough.

It only took 12 days for Senator George Felix Allen to apologize to the person he called "macaca":

Sen. George Allen personally called an opponent's aide and apologized for singling the man out almost two weeks ago with an obscure comment that has cast a shadow over the senator's White House ambitions, his campaign said.

And, why did it take 11 days?

Despite all of the repeated denials, blaming other people, and last but not least blaming the "liberal" media for reporting this story in the first place. The reason that Senator George Felix Allen, potential Republican candidate for President in 2008:

"Senator Allen made a heartfelt apology," Wadhams said. "He told Sidarth he thought he would see him on the campaign trail, but Sidarth had headed back to U.Va., so we Googled his name, found his number and the senator called him this morning."

Technorati Tags: George Allen, S.R. Sidarth, Senate, Virginia, Macaca

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine ?

Not Pizza-pies

This was the mnemonic I was taught to use to remember the order and names of the planets in our solar system. Other people were taught different ones, but now:

Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

Those activist astronomers!

Technorati Tags: Astronomy, Pluto, Planet, Dwarf Planet, Solar System

Making Racism Acceptable

That seems to be the latest strategy from the NRSC and its chair Liddy Dole.

What's worse, is that this blatantly racist ad is against the Republican opponent of RI Senator Lincoln Chaffee.

Just wait until the primary is over,and the NRSC goes against the Democratic candidate.

Technorati Tags: Republican, Lincoln Chaffee, Steve Laffey, NRSC, LIddy Dole, RI-Sen, Racism

New Orleans, One Year Later

One year after Hurricane Katrina wrought its devastation across South Louisiana, Mississsippi and Alabama, much of New Orleans and surrounding areas are still a mess.

The Bush administration will no doubt be doing some serious damage control, and spinning to try and paint a much rosier picture of the condition of New Orleans as a whole than reality will belie (how much the media will enable this spin remains to be seen, I look at you Anderson Cooper).

The administrations efforts will (fortunately) be hampered by the revelations of just how screwed up the administrations response was:

Finally, asked by exasperated Senate investigators what evidence he had collected showing the levees had not breached, Broderick said he had relied exclusively on two sources. The first was the Army Corps of Engineers, but the former general suspected even that agency of hyping the situation, since it had reported "extensive" flooding in New Orleans and "'extensive' is all relative," Broderick said.

The second source, Broderick allowed, was unimpeachable: CNN Headline News. Late Monday afternoon, the network aired a report from New Orleans. The focus of the video snippet was a scene on Bourbon Street, near the highest spot in the city, where people "seemed to be having a party," Broderick said.

"The one data point that I really had, personally, visually, was the celebration in the streets of New Orleans, of people drinking beer and partying because -- and they used, they came up with the word -- 'we dodged the bullet,'" Broderick said. "So that's a pretty good indicator right there."

Pretty sad, that one person in Washington DC was able to say that Headline News broadcasting a few people having a hurricane party was "unimpeachable" evidence that things were going well in New Orleans, when all actual evidence to the contrary was painting a considerably different, and much more devastating picture.



Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Katrina

Thought for the Day

"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."

--Dan Quayle

Governors Approval Ratings

Survey USA

Texas:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Rick Perry is doing as Governor?

Approve: 43%
Disapprove: 52%
Not Sure: 5%

With this sort of approval rating, the other candidates for Texas Governor should be able to make some inroads into Perry's support for re-election.

I just fear that with Friedman and Strayhorn on the ballot, it will not translate into a significant enough amount of support for Chris Bell to overcome his deficit. At least get close enough to force a run off.




Technorati Tags: Texas, Chris Bell, Rick Perry, Tx-Gov

Why I Love Irony

This is the voting machine that will be used in the November election in Tom DeLay's old district.

Because DeLay withdrew from the race, the only way Republicans can get elected is through write-in candidates. The candidate that the Republicans have decided to back is, as you can see, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

Accoring to TPMmuckraker, Hart Intercivic, the manufacturer of the voting machine, even though the image only shows 18 characters, the machines in use have 25 character limits. But no hyphen (notice the candidates name is hyphenated), and the screen is not a touch screen, you have to use the wheel at the lower right hand corner to move the cursor.

Here is where things start to get a bit dicey.

Just how much mis-spelling of the candidates name will be acceptable for a write-in ballot to be accepted?

Are, as TPMmuckracker speculated, mis-spellings going to be the hanging chads of 2006?

Technorati Tags: Texas, Elections, TX-22, eSlate

They'll Excuse Anything

I wonder just how long the AP had to search to find someone, anyone, who would give Bush a pass on his crass behavior.

While four-letter expletives or a shoulder massage of a co-worker of the opposite sex could raise eyebrows in many office settings, Bush for the most part gets a pass from etiquette experts.

"Part of it is he comes from Texas, and they don't stand on a lot of formality in that state," said Letitia Baldrige, who was President Kennedy's social secretary. "I think you get the Eastern kind of aristocrats, like the old days, they're always going to be more formal, they're always going to have a jacket on."

All presidents take an individual approach to protocol, Baldrige said, noting that presidents Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson also were informal at times.

While it is true that we in Texas don't stand on much formality, two points need to be mentioned.

1) George Bush is as much as a Texan as I am. Both of us are from New England.
2) Texans are not a rude, crass bunch of chewing with our mouths open, speaking with our mouths full, grabbing women at inappropriate times, countrified simpletons.

Certainly, formality here in Texas is nothing like what many expect, so the use of the word "shit" by Bush was not anything out of the ordinary, as far as I am concerned. However, the rest of his behavior is. None of it should be excused, just because Bush is supposedly from Texas.

In Case You Weren't Aware

Yesterday was supposed to be the end of the world.

The words you are reading might be your last. That is, if you believe the apocalyptic speculation of Internet surfers and Middle East analysts who claim that today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hopes to spark the final conflagration in order to usher in the Islamic messiah.

Ahmadinejad is due Tuesday to deliver Iran's response to an international incentive program offered in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear program. The date, August 22, also marks the prophet Muhammad's ascension to heaven and coincides with Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem.

I am not going to try and link to any of the right-wing whackjobs who, so desparate for the end times, cited with breathless anticipation Iran's bringing it on.

Needless to say, much of Right Blogistan is appropriately embarrassed.


P.T. Barnum was right. There is a sucker born every minute. (or David Hannum, if you wish)

Kerry Hurts Some Feelings

The Democratic Daily reports on a conference call with John Kerry and Pennsylvania Congressional candidate Patrick Murphy.

Jonathan Kaplan of The Hill repeatedly pressed the point to Murphy that Lamont's win in Connecticut helps Republicans.

After responding (twice), the following exchange occured:

After Murphy’s second response to Kaplan, John Kerry interjected his thoughts on Kaplan’s question and made it very clear to Kaplan that the press “should not allow them [the GOP] to be able to try to transform failure into an offensive policy to suggest that someone is weak because they have an alternative that works.”

Kaplan snidely responded to Kerry saying, “Isn’t that your job not ours?”

John Kerry proceed to give Jonathan Kaplan a quick lesson in what the role of the media really is — “We communicate through you,” Kerry said. “We need to invite you to hold them accountable… We speak but if it doesn’t get out there, the American people don’t hear it.”

Kerry's point is that it doesn't matter what Kerry, or Murphy, or any Democratic candidate or elected official says, if the media refuses to report it, how should they get their message out?

Needless to say, if you read the rest of that post, you will find that Kaplan took great offense at what Kerry said, being quoted as saying “Screw that and Screw him!! For Him to criticize us, it’s his own fault.”.

Kaplan's position (and frankly that of much of the media), is that it is not the role of the media to report what Kerry says. It is Kerry's responsibility to force the media to report what Kerry says. Explain that.

This all ties back into the media narrative. Much of the political media is not particularly interested in Democrats, unless it involves something negative. This is why the punditocracy fears blogistan. There has been a cozy relationship that has been fostered by Republicans, and the beltway media. Many Democrats have allowed themselves to be drawn into this relationship, and through their actions allow the media narrative to be formed.

Many of the pundit class have, as Kaplan's response has shown, developed this sense of superiority, and the notion that they, and they alone, are the gatekeepers. How dare John Kerry tell a political reporter how to do his job! How dare John Kerry point out the undeniable fact that the political press not only ignored Kerry's words during the 2004 election, not only enabled the Swift Boaters to operate free of scrutiny, not only follows that GOP narrative that Lamont is a win for the GOP, and proves the Democrats are "cutters and runners", but that they have an obligation to not allow themselves to be spun by the GOP.

I suspect that what got Kaplan so upset, wasn't that Kerry challenged Kaplan to report what Democrats say (free of GOP spin), but that Kaplan came to the realization that his being a GOP tool, was exposed in front of an audience of unknown size and composition. What Kaplan had happen, was his own pretentiousness was exposed for all to see, and he didn't like it.

I suspect if the same were done for many of the beltway pundit class in the same manner, their reactions would not be too dissimilar




Technorati Tags: John Kerry, Patrick Murphy, Jonathan Kaplan, The Hill, Media, Narrative

Conservative Morality

Imposed on you:

Pornographic movies now seem nearly as pervasive in America's hotel rooms as tiny shampoo bottles, and the lodging industry shows little concern as conservative activists rev up a protest campaign aimed at triggering a federal crackdown.

A coalition of 13 conservative groups - including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America - took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies widely available in hotels violate federal and state obscenity laws.

The coalition also is trying to draw attention to CleanHotels.com, a directory of hotels and motels nationwide that pledge to exclude adult offerings from their in-room entertainment service.

These groups are simultaneously trying to impose their morality on you, by preventing you from watching hotel porn (if you want to), and generate business for their own website.

If you want to watch porn, that's none of my business. Just like it is none of your business if I want to watch it. However, it becomes my business, if one group or another decides that you or I cannot watch porn, because they don't like it.

I am not a minor, and I can decided for myself.

Hotels continue to offer adult programming on their televisions because their customers continue to pay for it. In room movies, be they children, adult, or porn movies are big business bringing in hundred of millions of dollars per year to the hotel industry. If a hotel owner wishes to forego a part of, or that entire revenue stream, that is their business decision. These religious organizations who want to impose their morality on the rest of us, need to deal with it.

Particularly since these are the same organizations who get so up in arms when the morality of tolerance is forced on them.

Technorati Tags: Morality Police, Hotels, Hotel Porn

Thought for the Day

"If mankind minus one were of one opinion, then mankind is no more justified in silencing the one than the one - if he had the power - would be justified in silencing mankind."

--John Stuart Mill

Song for the Dead

Yet another day passes, and we are witness to the bunraku puppet theater of JonBenet Ramsey with the puppeteers of Fox, MSNBC, and CNN each working in concert to keep this charade going:

In heaven, JonBenet Ramsey, who, although her body stopped growing, has acquired the wisdom of ten years of soul-living, wonders why everyone is so excited to see her puppet dance, thinks it's grotesque and even a little embarassing for the same pictures to be trotted out. She asks, to no one in particular, how making her corpse dance, however prettied up it might be, can be so entertaining for hour upon hour, even if the image of her puppet body is interwoven with the immobile features of her alleged killer.

Two Marines and one sailor walk by her and hear the question. They are still trying to accept where they are. In the distance, they see a crowd of other soldiers who are waving them over. They pause behind JonBenet and watch the television she has on for a moment, and, it being heaven, a moment can be anywhere from a split second to four weeks. In that time, they see nary a mention of themselves. Finally one of the Marines tells her, "It's easier to make one single porcelain little girl dance than it is to make puppets out of three thousand grown-ups."

What the puppeteers are trying to distract you from, is a song playing in the background. It is one you probably have heard before.

Randy Newman's Song for the Dead:

Deep in the field
A lone soldier stands
With mud on his boot
And blood on his hands
They left him behind
To bury the dead
And to say a few words on behalf of the leadership

Pardon me boys
If I slip off my pack
And sit for awhile with you
I'd like to explain
Why you fine young men had to be blown apart
To defend this mud hole

Now our country boys
Though it's quite far away
Found itself jeopardized
Endangered, boys
By these very gooks
Who lie here beside you
Forever near
Forever

We'd like to express
Our deep admiration
For your courage under fire
And your willingness to die
For your country, boys
We won't forget
We won't forget

Through all the distraction of JonBenet, Israel-Lebanon, the arrests in Britian, and on and on and on, there is still fighting in Iraq.

George Bush just said yesterday, that the U.S. will stay in Iraq so long as he is President.

How much longer will this latest distraction last?


Technorati Tags: JonBenet Ramsey, The Rude Pundit, Iraq

Trial Balloons

At The Smirking Chimp, Kathleen Reardon wonders if Joe Scarboro's "Is Bush an Idiot" show, examining the mental capacity of our President wasn't a trial balloon for 2006 and 2008?

Think about it. If selected, visible, staunch Bush supporters begin talking about how intellectually wanting the President is, with his full knowledge and collaboration (such as chewing with his mouth open, striding motorcycles, goofing around with unappreciative world leaders), there won't be an anti-Bush platform for the Democrats. In fact, if these balloonists play their cards right, it will seem as if there isn't a nickel's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats. Everyone will be anti-Bush. The playing field will be leveled.

It's an excellent "inoculation" tactic, too, against a possible impeachment move should the Democrats win enough seats in November. Inoculation, a persuasion strategy, works by telling people in advance of an anticipated negative event how to think about it. A phone company intending to introduce rate hikes might run ads about how people just don't use their phone books enough. Then when the rates are raised, we know who to blame -- ourselves.

This certainly is an interesting thought. Of course, the caveat should be included, are the Republican strategists clever and bold enough to try this tactic?

Personally I think this is a bit of a stretch, but with Republican candidates in states like Oklahoma and Nebraska publicly announcing that they have switched party affiliation to the Democratic Party, and polls showing just how little the public's faith in the Republican Party is, could it be outside the realm of possibility?

More importantly, if by some strange twist of politics, this "Bush is an idiot" tactic is a trial balloon, and if it floats, what should be the appropriate response from Democrats?

With the notoriously short memory span of the American public (aided and abetted by the national media), how will Democrats successfully combat this, if Republicans start agreeing with everything Democrats say about Bush?

For the record, I find it kind of implausible that Republicans would adopt this tactic, but I find it plausible that Republicans will do just about anything to remain in power.




Technorati Tags: George Bush, Idiot, 2006 Election, Kathleen Reardon, Republicans, Democrats

A Pledge

DemVet has a pledge that everyone opposed to stem-cell research should be forced to sign:

"Because of my strong opposition to embryonic-stem-cell research, I hereby pledge that should I, at any point in the future, develop diabetes, cancer, spinal-cord injuries or Parkinson's, among other diseases, I will refuse any and all treatments derived from such research, at home or abroad, even if it costs me my life. Signed, ______"

I would take this one step further.

Everyone who is forced to sign this pledge, should also be forced to compensate the families of people who die from diseases and/or injuries for which cures are ultimately developed through stem-cell research, yet delayed because of this so-called debate.

Be Afraid

Bush's supporters are falling off the deep end:

Bush has virtually never in his political career made a decision that he didn't think was the right thing to do and the right way to do it. Conservatives who are piling on the anti-Bush bandwagon should consider that this trait—which makes the Bush family historically great—is a historical rarity to be treasured. This administration would do well to be more concerned with its popularity — the President and even Vice President should appear every week in press conferences and on the Sunday talk shows — if only to strengthen the political viability of their agenda, and be able to shape the terms of debate. But it was not so long ago that Americans could only wish for a president who was obviously trustworthy, upstanding, and principled. And the day is not far off when we will think ourselves lucky to have seen this President defend the honor and integrity of his office—and the American people—for eight years. The times are difficult, and nobody could have gotten through the last five years without making mistakes. But in that station to which God called him, George W. Bush has been himself honestly, and thank God for that.

Now, I was wondering if the other people at The Corner would be so fawning. I mean really, Mario Loyola really believes that God appointed Bush to the White House?

Apparently, not only does Loyola believe that, but K-Lo (Kathryn Jean Lopez) believes the same.

That is one frightening bunch at The Corner.


Thanks to The Anonymous Liberal for this disturbing link.

Technorati Tags: Mario Loyola, K-Lo, The Corner, NRO, God, Bush

Speechless?

Armor of God PJs - Children's Pajamas Inspired by Ephesians 6:10-18.

Fetishists indeed.


This is a serious link.

Hat tip to August J. Pollak

A Friendly Tip

If someone calls you, and tells you they tried to send a fax, and your fax machine is not picking up?

Go turn your damned fax machine on!



Thanks to people who cannot even grasp basic technological details, like the on button, or ensuring there is paper in the fax machine, I have to waste gasoline delivering something which could have been delivered electronically.

Music Monday

This is a story from Friday, but seeing as I found it today, let's pretend.

I am a big fan of Reggae music. Admittedly, like most Americans, my first exposure to Reggae was Bob Marley and the Wailers. Over the years I was slowly exposed to more and more Reggae artists, Marcia Griffiths, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uruhu, Steel Pulse, etc.

Friday Newsweek reported that a number of reissues of old Reggae songs, some as far back as 1959 have been released over the summer.

I acquired a five disk set of Toots and the Maytals a couple of months ago, as well as a reissue of Steel Pulse's Earth Crisis just last week. I have been in Reggae heaven. Now that we are seeing proper remasterings of older songs, I look forward to finding them and adding to my growing collection.

Da music make me feel irie, mon.

Technorati Tags: Jamaica, Reggae, DJ Spooky, Studio One, Trojan Records

Thought for the Day

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."

--Ralph W. Sockman

Wine

It is only within the past few years that I have developed a taste for wine. Predominatly red wines, but I have had a white wine, or champagne (or sparkling wine) that I have enjoyed as well.

The problem with finding good wines, is that it can become an expensive proposition, and as I have refined my taste for wines, I have fallen into the trap that many wine drinkers have, of buying more expensive bottles of wine. I know there are some very good bottles that are less than $20, only it can be very hit and miss, unless you have a friend who has tried them already, and has the same tastes as you.

In that vein, I was excited to read this from Majikthise : Free wine for bloggers

This wine (2004 Amelie Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot) comes from Mankas Hills Vineyards in California. I am looking forward to trying it. You can read about the details of the offer in their Blog


Technorati Tags: Mankas Hills, Wine, Cabernet, Merlot, Bloggers

Bush's Unstrategy

Can be summed up with a single statement:

“We’re not leaving [Iraq] so long as I’m the president."

This is the choice before us today.

Think Progress has the video.




Technorati Tags: George Bush, Iraq, Strategy, Think Progress

Debating the Stupid

There is a lot of ink spilled about political debates, and whether an incumbent should respond, and how.

But, Congressman John Carter (R-TX31) takes the issue of responding to debate challenges to new levels of stupidity:

“People earn the right to debate me,” Carter said in the interview. “I will determine how and not them.”

Asked what would qualify someone for a debate, Carter said “credibility.”

In a call to his office Wednesday, Carter’s spokeswoman Amy Ellsworth said his comments were still an accurate reflection of his views.

Oh, yes Master Carter, thank you Master Carter.

Needless to say:

[Mary Beth] Harrell said that was ridiculous.

"This is pretty basic. It doesn’t have to do with my rights or Carter’s rights. The voters have an absolute right to know where we stand,” Harrell said. “I think it is bizarre that we’re talking in terms of whether a candidate has a right to debate. We are running for office and we owe it to the people.”

This is why Republicans all across the country must be ousted from Congress.

They feel they are, not only entitled to their seats in Congress, but the fact that someone would challenge their authority in an election, is appalling to them.

Burnt Orange Report has more.

To the left is a link to my actblue page. Mary Beth Harrell is on the list of candidates who need your help.

Also, John Carter needs reminding that he is an employee of the voting public. He is not entitled to anything.




Technorati Tags: John Carter, Mary Beth Harrell, TX-31, Debates

Thought for the Day

"Inanimate objects are classified scientifically into three major categories - those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost."

--Russell Baker

Snakes on a Plane

I saw it, I loved it, and heartily recommend it.

If you are in any doubt as to why, read this review.

Then see the movie, and you will understand.

Technorati Tags: Snakes on a Plane, Samuel L. Jackson,

The Price of Incompetence

New Orleans:

Nearly half of New Orleans was still under water when President Bush stood in the Crescent City's historic Jackson Square and swore he would "do what it takes" to rebuild the communities and lives that had been laid to waste two weeks before by Hurricane Katrina.

"Our goal is to get the work done quickly," the president said.

He promised to spend federal money wisely and accountably. And he vowed to address the poverty exposed by the government's inadequate Katrina response "with bold action."

A year after the storm, the federal government has proven slow and unreliable in keeping the president's promises.

Any assertion that "these things take time" are false. Look how quickly the government acts when it comes to Bush's priorities (i.e. invading Iraq). However, when it comes to real, and not fabricated, problems, the incompetence of all levels of the Bush administration is quite clear.

Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Bush, Incompetence

John McCain

Due to the vagaries of local network broadcasts, MTP here in Austin starts after it starts in Philly.

John McCain is the guest, and Atrios sums up the entirety of the Mavericks position:

The administration has done the wrong thing for the last 3 and a half years which leaves us with no option other than staying the course.

Even worse, McCain's position is that not only is Bush wrong, the Generals who supposedly have not asked for more soldiers, or more equipment, are right for not asking, except that we don't have enough soldiers or equipment in Iraq.

So much for the Straight Talker.

Technorati Tags: John McCain, Iraq

Fear and Loathing at CNN

Via Americablog we see that CNN has gone into full-time fearmonger mode.

How pathetic

Technorati Tags: CNN, Fearmongering

Thought for the Day

"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise."

--Gore Vidal

Friday Stuff

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster




Need I say any more?


Thanks to Lindsay for the link.

Do You Blog Here Often?

Pew Charitable Trust is conducting a blogging survey.

Go take it


NTodd pointed it out.

Thought for the Day

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

--George Bernard Shaw

More Cracks in the Base

Yesterday it was NASCAR Dads, today it's Security Moms:

Married women with children, the "security moms" whose concerns about terrorism made them an essential part of Republican victories in 2002 and 2004, are taking flight from GOP politicians this year in ways that appear likely to provide a major boost for Democrats in the midterm elections, according to polls and interviews.

This critical group of swing voters -- who are an especially significant factor in many of the most competitive suburban districts on which control of Congress will hinge -- is more inclined to vote Democratic than at any point since Sept. 11, 2001, according to data compiled for The Washington Post by the Pew Research Center.

[...]

The study, which examined the views of married women with children from April through this week, found that they support Democrats for Congress by a 12-point margin, 50 percent to 38 percent. That is nearly a mirror-image reversal from a similar period in 2002, when this group backed Republicans 53 percent to 36 percent. In 2004, exit polls showed, Bush won a second term in part because 56 percent of married women with children supported him.

Here in suburban Columbus, one of the most important arenas in the 2004 campaign, the diffusion of this support is obvious in interviews, and the political implications are unmistakable.

Jean Thomas, a married mother of one, said she still feels a pang of fear every time she boards an airplane for work travel around the Midwest. "Terrorism," she said, "is the biggest concern on a daily basis."

But she said she is "pretty frustrated with politics driving decisions" in Washington. That is why she said she is strongly considering abandoning her support of Republicans to vote for the Democrats challenging Rep. Deborah Pryce and Sen. Mike DeWine on Nov. 7. Polls show that both Republican incumbents from Ohio are acutely vulnerable.

This just has to be a wakeup call for Democrats.

People in the "swing groups" all across the country are ready for change. Start speaking to these issues. Democrats have opportunities all across the country to change the tone of the debate, and win the 2006 elections.

The only way this will happen though, is if Democrats everywhere, start acting like they want to win.

Technorati Tags: Security Moms, Democrats, Election, 2006

More Frank Wuterich

In case you don't remember the name Frank Wuterich, he is the one who is filing a libel suit against Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha, over comments Murtha made about what happened in Haditha.

It is kind of hard for Wuterich to claim anything when we hear things like this:

A high-level military investigation into the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha last November has uncovered instances in which American marines involved in the episode appear to have destroyed or withheld evidence, according to two Defense Department officials briefed on the case.

The investigation found that an official company logbook of the unit involved had been tampered with and that an incriminating video taken by an aerial drone the day of the killings was not given to investigators until Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the second-ranking commander in Iraq, intervened, the officials said.

[...]

It says that the logbook, which was meant to be a daily record of major incidents the marines’ company encountered, had all the pages missing for Nov. 19, the day of the killings, and that those portions had not been found, the officials said.

No conclusions are drawn about who may have tampered with the log. But the report says that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, the leader of the squad involved in the killings, was on duty at the unit’s operations center, where the logbook was kept, shortly after the killings occurred, the officials said.

Thanks to Attaturk for this link.




Technorati Tags: Frank Wuterich, Jack Murtha, Marines, Haditha, Pentagon

The Bedwetting Brigade

Right Blogistan has their panties all in a twist because those of us on the left don't wet our pants at every single terror threat:

Apparently Ace is whining that there are Americans who don't act like seven year-old girls at their first Kiwanis Halloween Haunted House who screech and go,"Omigawdomigawdomigawd" and do the pee-pee dance every time that CNN or Fox jumps the gun on a "breaking story". Quite frankly, I would have thought that the death-dealing Ace of Spades would be a tad more butch than that, but no

It is hard to take any of these bloggers concerns seriously, if when every crackpot starts muttering in coherently, and cannot control their panic attacks or claustrophobia on a plane.

I suppose this is one of the more disturbing results of the 9/11 attacks. Particuarly when these are the same people who cannot seem to reconcile the fact that the terrorist attacks that have actually been stopped, were stopped using good old fashioned police work, and not invading a country.

In one breath they would belittle Democrats for advocating using the FBI and the CIA for tracking and capturing/killing terrorists, and simultaneously holding this arrest, using law enforcement, as proof that things are working. Or something like that.

Then the bedwetting brigade starts to go all nerdy on us:

(As an aside I want to point out that Ace is attempting to coin the term "sinestrosphere" to describe leftwing bloggers. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be catching on, possibly because it's genesis is known only to 48th Level Berserker Nerds.)

I'll admit to having been a reader of comic books, but I can honestly say, that after trying to comprehend who Sinestro was in the comic book world, I still cannot figure out what Ace is trying to get at.

Technorati Tags: Ace of Spades HQ, Bedwetting Brigade, Tbogg

Flailing Madly

Republicans continue to try and scare Americans. Today's installment comes from the Senator who continuously decries the level of partisan rancor in Washington:

Sen. Orrin Hatch, who continuously decries the bitter partisanship in Washington, implied this week that Democratic success in November's election could result in terrorist attacks on America.

Hatch was quoted in Tuesday's Tooele Transcript Bulletin as saying Middle East terrorists are "waiting for the Democrats here to take control, let things cool off and then strike again."

Of course Hatch quickly tried to backtrack by saying that he didn't recall making those comments.

The politics of fear indeed.



Technorati Tags: Orrin Hatch, Senate, Utah, UT-Sen, Republican, Politics of Fear

More on Today's Ruling

As usual, Glenn Grennwald sums up legal rulings. This on on Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling that Bush's domestic spying is unconstitutional:

I have read the opinion. Here is my immediate analysis of it. It is a very strong opinion in some places, weak in others, but is rather straightforward -- and sometimes eloquent -- in its almost always unequivocal rejection of the Bush administration's arguments:

Glenn breaks down the decision into each of its parts and provides a summary.

The conclusion, which I happen to agree with based on my own uninformed opinion, is that the decision is correct. Honestly, those who would argue that she was wrong (never mind the hateful rhetoric coming from the right), ultimately are of the opinion that the Constitution of the United States should be rewritten to remove those freedoms we, as Americans, are guaranteed.

This case probably has already been appealed to the sixth circuit, but it is very telling that the judge had very little sympathy for the position of the Justice Department and the Bush administration on this.

I look forward to the next round.

Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying, Terrorist Surveillance, George Bush, Anna Diggs Taylor, Constitution

George Bush's America

Half mid-income adults can't pay medical costs:

About half of adults in middle-income families reported serious problems in paying for their health care while even those in more affluent circumstances said they had troubles with medical bills, a new survey found.

Republicans normally take the easy way out of this argument, by pointing their fingers at medical malpractice cases, as the reason for high insurance premiums driving the cost of healthcare up.

However, studies have shown that not only have malpractice insurance premiums not risen significantly, they are not driving up the costs.

The reasons for the rising costs are varied, and a large factor is the increase of the emergency room being used as the primary care physician. As more people start dropping their medical insurance, because they can no longer afford it, and simultaneously unable to afford their medical bills, those who can pay, are being required to make up the short falls.

Insurance companies are raising their premiums to remain profitable, which in turn causes employers to raise the rates that their employees pay, in order to "remain competitive", and more people drop insurance, because they can no longer afford it, driving them to the emergency room for routine medical care, thus ...

Three-quarters of the adults surveyed said the health care system needs fundamental change or a complete rebuilding.

A fundament change, or complete rebuilding.

Thus we enter the realm of universal healthcare. There are a lot of different systems that the US could look to for inspiration. I happen to think the ideal solution should be a single payer system, in which the federal government ensures that the doctors and hospitals are paid, and the patient pays a reasonable co-pay.

That way, everyone can get the medical care they need, without clogging the emergency rooms of hospitals all across the country.

Technorati Tags: Health Care, Single Payer, Doctors

Warrantless Wiretaps: Unconstitutional

My goodness:

DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

That's got to hurt.

More from ThinkProgress.

And predictably, the Bush apologists flail wildly.

Technorati Tags: Domestic Spying, Terrorist Surveillance Program, Bush

Thought for the Day

"A nation is a society united by delusions about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors."

--William Ralph Inge

Cracks in the Base

The media loves to categorize people. Think "Security Moms", "Soccer Moms", and from the 2004 election "NASCAR Dads".

In 2004, more than half of the "NASCAR Dads", voted for George W. Bush. However are recent Zogby poll indicated that 56% feel the country is on the wrong track (nice pun, unintentional of course)

Almost one-third of NASCAR fans now intend to vote for Democrats in congressional races this fall, similar to the number planning to vote Republican, according to the Zogby poll. According to political analysts, this has occurred despite no significant increase in Democratic campaigning aimed at this group.

While Democrats start speaking out on the issues, Republicans are taking the position that because NASCAR fans are loyal to their favorite drivers, they will remain loyal to the Republican Party.

Only time will tell, but it appears that much of what was considered the "Republican Base" is now showing cracks.

This all goes back to what I have been saying. Democratic values are the same a the blue collar values that many NASCAR fans hold. The media and Republicans like to make a big deal over the social issues, but in reality, the issues that Republicans are exploiting are but a small part of what people are concerned about. Democrats need to start (I say re-start) talking about the issues people used to vote Democrat for. Jobs, wages, healthcare, etc.

Nothing I am saying here should be new to anyone. However, with the lack of attention the Democratic Party has been paying to these core issues, over the past few years, it is new to many people.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, NASCAR Dads, Elections, 2006

Sen. George Felix Allen

On Friday Republican Senator George Allen (2008 Presidential hopeful), speaking at a fundraiser for his Senate re-election campaign called a campaign worker (Indian-American) for his opponent, Former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, a "macaca".

As has been pointed out, in various blogs, and now in the San Jose Mercury News, that macaque (similar pronounciation), is a racial slur:

Bloggers pointed out macaque is a French Tunisian slur for people with dark skin, and Allen's mother is of French Tunisian descent. Campaign spokesman Bill Bozin acknowledged the senator's heritage, but insisted Allen did not know what the word meant.

His denial that he "made up" the term, and was not aware of the meaning of the term, which are continuing even today, are not getting mush support from Virginia residents.

As Allen, and his campaign keep spinning the story his defense gets weaker and weaker.

Technorati Tags: George Felix Allen, Virginia, Senate, 2006, Election

Thought for the Day

"Stuffed deer heads on walls are bad enough, but it's worse when they are wearing dark glasses and have streamers in their antlers because then you know they were enjoying themselves at a party when they were shot."

--Ellen DeGeneres

That's Telling

Today George Bush issued some pardons.

Let's look at some of the offenses, shall we?

• Illegal firearms sales? Check.


• Liquor law violations? Check


• Manufacturing illegal liquor? Check


• Embezzlement? Check


• AWOL? Check


• Drug Dealing? Check.

I don't want to make any presumptions about the individuals, however there seems to be a bit of a dichotomy here.

Based on Republican support for the Second Amendment, one of them makes sense, from a Republican standpoint.

How does he explain the others? Campaign contributions maybe?

I seem to remember the brouhaha over Clinton's pardons. I wonder what the difference here is?


Thanks to Holden @ First-Draft for this interesting link.




Technorati Tags: George Bush, Pardons

Introspection

It seems that the defeat of Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary has caused a bit of introspection on the part of some people, both in the news media, and in left blogistan.

It is fair to say that it is George Bush, and his Republican enablers that have done it.

It is accurate to say, that I have always been a Liberal. My family comes from both an education and organized labor background, and my political beliefs were formed around the philosophy of both. Despite my chosen career path, in IT, my political beliefs have not strayed to the typically Libertarian bent that many in IT hold. That said, I have never been so politically polarized, as since George W. Bush first came on the political scene in Texas.

Texas politics has never been the collegial affair that many presumed Washington to be (pre-Clinton era). It has always had a dirty tinge to it, and successful Texas politicians have always had a bit of a mean streak. There are lots of theories about why, but no one would disagree that the mythology of Texas has fed it. So, when George Bush won the Texas gubernatorial race, it set the tone for how he would ascend to the White House. Is it any wonder that Karl Rove succeeded in Texas!

When I started reading blogs in 2001, Josh Marshall and Kevin Drum were two of the "moderate" bloggers. They held out hope (probably for too long) that Democrats and Republicans could work together, and despite the antics of the 90's probably believed that things would not degenerate to the point they are today. Since then, both Drum and Marshall have become, like most bloggers, radicalized.

Not really, as their political philosophies have not really changed, that I can detect. But they have become as strident a voice in the blogosphere as any other Liberal (or Conservative for that matter) blogger. What the Lieberman-Lamont race has done is to cause people all across the political spectrum (whether they read blogs or not), to take stock of their political leanings, and make a decision of whether "staying the course" with Republicans is the right choice, or advocating change, with the Democrats is right.

There is no middle any more. Lieberman used to be praised as some sort of "moderate" Democrat, and maybe he was, but that was when bi-partisanship was not considered a liability by the party in power.

Since Republicans now control the executive and legislative branches (and many would argue the judicial branch as well), Republicans have pursued a strategy of divide and conquer. Lieberman probably had always been a neo-conservative, to some degree or another, when it came to middle eastern issues, but those they were not the issue of the day, as it is now.

As to the domestic issues that Clinton lead the charge to the middle on, Lieberman was quick to join in. However, none of the arugments about the "political center" having moved to the right, were actually true. What has happened since, was that the Republican Party moved to the right, and dragged the political "centrists" like Joe Lieberman along (willingly?).

Why?

Because the DLC, of which Lieberman was one of the charter members, were more interested in maintaining this air of bi-partisanship, while the Republican Party was not. This new direction for the Republicans was best summarized by Grover Norquist, when he compared bi-partisanship to "date rape". Only it was the Republican Party who was doing the "raping" (horrible analogy, I know).

As the Republican Party kept dragging their members to the right, and manufacturing outrage over issues that no one gave a seconds thought to, they were able to successfully peel off layers of moderate voters, who would just as soon cast their vote for a Democrat, as a Republican. Then came 9/11. The perfect opportunity to put the final nail in the moderate coffin.

But this is all history, and anyone paying attention could see it happening, if not being able to predict the inevitable outcome.


Where does that leave us today?

Political moderates (not Joe LIeberman) have come to the realization, albeit somewhat late to the game, that by hoping to pursue a bi-partisan solution to our problems will never work in the current climate. As former Republican Party supporters (and elected members) begin to either make it clear that they will not vote for a George Bush Republican, or even switch parties, the case for a bi-partisan reconciliation between Democrats and Republicans is fading fast. Today, it looks like Democrats are heading for a majority in either the House or Senate (hopefully both), and the Republican Party, being lead by George Bush, is heading for denial-ville.

Continuing to pretend that the Iraq war is going well. Pretending that Israel's bombing of southern Lebanon was a good thing. The revelations that the Bush administration was urging Israel to attack Syria, and taking a hostile position against Iran, many have come to the conclusion that Republicans are not leading America in the right direction (if there is any direction at all).

Lieberman's loss to Lamont was, hopefully not too late, the wake up call that both the American public, and especially the American media, needed. Finally, after Dick Cheney's bizzare Al Qaeda Democrat speech, Thomas Friedman reached his breaking point.

There are 83 days left until the 2006 elections. The American people are beginning to wake up to what 6 years of Republican rule was wrought. It is up to the Democratic Party to continue to present the attractive alternative, that many people, Friedman included (even if he cannot fully admit it), want. Those of us on the left, the liberals, have done all we can to convince people that the Republicans, and George W. Bush have been wrong on just about every issue since 2000. Those moderate Democrats, and others who now have realized this, are the ones that need to be targeted. People like Marshall and Drum need not be cowed by their newfound partisanship. It is the only thing that will get this country back on the right track.

Then, after things have been corrected, and America is headed back in the right direction, we can debate just how far left things should come.

Technorati Tags: Demcorat, Republican, Thomas Friedman, Josh Marshall, Kevin Drum, Joe Lieberman, George Bush

The Law of Unintended Consequences

I am sure that when the war against Bill Clintion reached its heated pitch, Republicans were not thinking about anything beyond the immediate consequence of getting Bill Clinton.

However, karma can be a real bitch sometimes:

A lawyer plans to use a legal precedent that allowed President Bill Clinton to be sued while in office to force Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove to testify in a lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband.

[...]

Cotchett, who took over as trial counsel in Plame's case on Tuesday, said legal precedent for whether Cheney and the others could claim legal immunity in the case comes, in part, from Paula Jones' sexual harassment case against Clinton.

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that neither Clinton "or any other official has an immunity that extends beyond the scope of any action taken in an official capacity."

In order to be dismissed from the case or avoid testifying, Cotchett said, lawyers for Cheney and the other men would have to argue that they were acting on government business if they are found to have leaked Plame's name to the media.

Federal law makes it a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert agent.

Lawyers correct me on this, but this case would put Cheney, and Bush in a legal bind.

Either Cheney was acting on his own, and therefore the suit goes forward, or he claims that he was acting in his official capacity as Vice President in revealing the identity of a covert agent, and as such becomes subject to federal law covering such revelations. Which then should spawn a criminal investigation against, at least, Cheney and the Vice President's office, if not Bush and the White House.


"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive"
--Sir Walter Scott



Technorati Tags: Cheney, Plame, Wilson, Clinton, Bush

Typical Republican Tactic

Since 2002, Republicans have decided that if you serve in the military, and are a Democrat, your military service is open to any form of attack.

This came to a head during the 2004 election with Republican groups attacking John Kerry, Max Cleland, and others, with blatant and vicious lies.

This policy of attacking members, both current and retired, of the United States armed forces continues even today with Republican Texas house member, Gene Seaman attacking his Democratic opponent, Juan Garcia, stating that he lied about his service in the Naval Reserves.

The problem with Seamen's attack?

Juan Garcia is currently fufilling his active duty requirement for the Naval Reserves and cannot respond to the attacks.

Truly, there is no bottom to the level of Republican hypocrisy when it comes to "supporting the troops".



Technorati Tags: Gene Seaman, Juan Garcia, Navy, Texas, HD-32, 2006, Republican, Hypocrisy

Ooops

While many want to believe that purchasing a bunch of prepaid cellphones by men of middle eastern descent, is a crime, it isn't:

Within days of the Ohio arrests, three Palestinian-American men from Texas were charged in Michigan after nearly 1,000 cell phones were found in a van they were driving.

In the Michigan case, the FBI said Monday that it had no indication that the men had any ties to known terrorist groups. Local prosecutors, however, were standing by the charges.

Prosecutors have not said what they believe the three men intended to do with the phones, though officials have said cell phones can be used as detonators and the Coast Guard increased its patrols of the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge after the arrests.

Money-making scheme
Relatives of the men said they were just trying to make money by reselling the phones and were targeted because of their Arab backgrounds.

In Ohio, Houssaiky and Abulhassan were stopped by sheriff’s deputies for a traffic violation Aug. 8, then arrested after the deputies found 12 cell phones, $11,000 cash, airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints in their car, authorities said.

Prosecutors have not provided details about the passenger lists or their significance. Defense lawyers have said the flight information consisted of old papers left in the car by a relative who worked at an airport.

Money making scheme?

I imagine there were a lot of Republicans who came out in their support, arguing that they were just trying to make a buck. Right?

Nutpicking

I seem to be focusing on Kevin Drum lately. Hmmm.

At any rate, on Thursday I pointed out a sort of contest Kevin was holding to find a name for trawling the comments sections of liberal blogs to generate column content.

The winning term? Nutpicking.

However, I refuse to call it Drum's Law, as it doesn't really convey what it is about (I realize Godwin's Law doesn't either, but it is already established).

I am sure there is a more appropriate name that could be used.

The Nutpickers Constant?

Technorati Tags: Kevin Drum, Nutpicker

Burden of Proof and the Five Second Sound Bite

There is this insane need, on the part of Republican Party supporters, who find themselves unable to commit fully to the Republican Party in 2006, to have a rational position on the Democratic Party.

Kevin Drum found an example from Andrew Sullivan the other day:

Andrew Sullivan, in an apparent attempt to drive me insane, writes today that although he's appalled by Republican ineptitude in the war on terror, he's still waiting for a serious Democratic plan to come along that he can get behind. Without that, no dice.

Now this is where I begin to start pulling what remains of my hair out.

It is this silly need for the Democrats to give Andrew Sullivan (and many who think like him), a reason to not vote for Republicans.

Let us ponder that for a moment.

Andrew Sullivan supports much of the Republican Party platform (maybe not all), but in 2006 he really doesn't feel comfortable with the Republican Party winning, yet it is now encumbent on the Democratic Party to, in essence, come to him.

There is an intellectual laziness that surrounds people like Andrew Sullivan.

Republicans don't do nuance. Why? Because nuance requires thought.

You could go down the list of issues, and in many, if not most cases, the Repubican position is the simple one.

Democrats, on the other hand, do nuance. Why? Because very few issues can be painted in black and white terms.

I have had discussions in other forums with people who have made the same argument. Namely that it is encumbent on Democrats to present something to them that they could get on board with. It is encumbent on Democrats to give them what they want, in bite-sized chunks.

In evitably, when I point out to some of these people, that the information they want can be found in various places (be it on a candidates, or some other orgs website), the complaint back to me, is that it is too difficult for them to figure out what the position is.

Namely, it isn't presented to them in a 5 second sound bite.

So, what is it really that people such as Andrew Sullivan want when they call for Democrats to "woo them" over?

Do they really want the Democrats position on a given subject? No. They want the 5 second sound bite. Even if the logical, and correct solution cannot be summarized in a 5 second sound bite.

What should be done about it? I am sure that many political consultants will tell you that you must get your point down to the mythical 5 second sound bite.

What was the primary complaint against John Kerry? Verbal diarrhea.
It was Kerry's inability to explain a position in 5 seconds or less.

I know it is impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the American public as a whole, but the attention span of the average American is more than 5 seconds. It is all too easy to point the finger at the news media, as they are the ones who ultimately created the narrative that John Kerry spoke too much. However, the American public at large created this monster. The people stopped watching news, because the news got boring. Boring cue card readers, presenting boring stories tailored to the corporate masters boring points of view.

As a result the viewing public stopped watching news. The boring cue card readers then tried to "jazz up" the news broadcasts, which lead to the 5 second sound bite.

Which in turn lead us to the American public expecting policy positions to be explainable in 5 seconds. Which gave us George Bush, which gave us the horror of the past six years. Which spawned Andrew Sullivan, which leads us to what started this post.

Andrew Sullivan demanding that the Democrats give him a policy position that a) he agrees with, and b) can be presented in a 5 second sound bite.

So if I may, I will, for the sake of Andrew Sullivan, and those who think like him, give them the most definitive reason for supporting the Democratic Party, and not supporting the Republican Party:

In just about every case, from foreign policy issues to domestic policy issues, the Democratic Party has been consistently correct.

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan, Kevin Drum, Democrats, Republicans, Media

Dick Cheney's Hysteria

I missed Froomkin yesterday, as I was engaged with the parental units.

However, as usual, he nails it:

By insinuating that the sizeable majority of American voters who oppose the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy, Vice President Cheney on Wednesday may have crossed the line that separates legitimate political discourse from hysteria.

There is no "may have" about it. The fact is that Cheney is getting more and more hysterical every day (and not in the funny way).

Is it a sign of some paranoid delusion or is it the realization that his plan for world domination has failed miserably?

What is truly scary about Cheney's hysteria, is that he is but one step away from the Presidency.



Technorati Tags: Dick Cheney, Hysteria, Paranoia

Thought for the Day

"To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best."

--Margaret Thatcher

More Republican Woes

Republicans in Texas seem to be struggling as of late. First Tom DeLay brings his house of hammers down on the state party. One of the casualties of DeLay's antics, John Colyandro, has ended the aspirations of Republican Ben Bentzin:

Republican Ben Bentzin plans to drop out of the November race for state representative from western Travis County, leaving no GOP nominee for an office that the party held less than a year ago. Bentzin, a former executive at Dell Inc., cited new business opportunities and the negative tone in his earlier race for the District 48 seat as reasons for dropping out. He is not moving out of the district, so, barring an unlikely turn of events, Republicans will have no nominee challenging Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin.

[...]

At issue in the campaign was Bentzin's hiring of Republican operative John Colyandro to help with his unsuccessful run for state Senate in 2002. Colyandro has since been indicted on charges related to his role in helping other GOP groups that year.

Bentzin was never accused of wrongdoing by prosecutors.

But in one mail piece paid for by the political arm of Education Austin, a teachers' group, he was labeled "public education enemy No. 1" and his photo was shown alongside shots of Colyandro, indicted former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

This is just one race of many, in which the tendrils of Tom DeLay have been felt, and should continue to be pointed out.

It is up to the Democrats to ensure that the voters know just what the Republican Party has been up to for the past decade, and how the situation we feel today, be it economic, or security, is a direct result of Republican policies, directed by DeLay in the House of Representatives.

If Only

If only the American media would realize what other countries think about them:

There are two sides to every conflict - unless you rely on the US media for information about the battle in Lebanon. Viewers have been fed a diet of partisan coverage which treats Israel as the good guys and their Hizbollah enemy as the incarnation of evil.

That is all you have to know about this article. Certainly there is bias in just about every media outlet, but the American news media is particularly onesided. Not just about the Israel-Lebanon conflict, but on just about every single aspect of George Bush's faux war on terror. At somepoint, we all can hope that things will improve here, however, I doubt it. Technorati Tags: Media, Bias, Israel, Lebanon, America

Games We Play

Oliver Willis finds that RedState likes to play picture games.

My contribution:



Technorati Tags: Economy, Oliver Willis, RedState

Wow!

Pamela of Atlas Shrugs is pretty whacked out, rumor has it that even Rush Limbaugh was embarrassed by just how deeply she has partaken of the kool aid, if you can believe that.

However, you don't realize just how over the edge someone is until you seem them in a real world situation

Stunned, I am.

Technorati Tags: John Bolton, Atlas Shrugs, Whackjob

The Art of the Weasel

as demonstrated byKen Mehlman

In the war for ideas, Ken Mehlman starts out 20 points down.

Technorati Tags: Ken Mehlman, Wanker, Weasel

Thought for the Day

"I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good."

--Seneca

The Obviousness of It All

Yesterday, I posted about Dick Cheney's insane ramblings.

Today, since I was away from television, the Internet, and blogs, I really haven't seen what has evolved. Scanning Atrios's site, what I have noticed is that the realization has hit many in the media, that they have been led, like the children, by the pied piper.

Only now, that the tune has become disjointed, and without any melody, do people start to come to their senses. First the American public. Next the media, obviously subject to easier manipulation. Joe Lieberman is one of those who will never stray from the path, as just the sound of the magic flute is enough for him, and those the believe as he does.

The question on the table, is just how much longer is the media going to follow, now that they are starting to wake up? The American public is turning away faster.

Personal Note

As I don't doubt you've noticed, there were no posts today.

Family is visiting, so very few posts until Monday afternoon.

Blah, blah, blah, blah

You know what is truly pathetic?

Dick Cheney's, and insane ramblings:

Cheney said that to “purge a man like Joe Lieberman” was “of concern, especially over the issue of Joe’s support with respect to national efforts in the global war on terror.” He explained:

The thing that’s partly disturbing about it is the fact that, the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task.

I know Republicans like to think that this is a winning strategy. And frankly, I am content to let them make these insane statements.

However, the fact that the media, so uncritically reports this stuff, when we know that 60% of the American public no longers believes Republicans, is either laziness, or deceit. I'll leave it to the reader to decide.

Technorati Tags: Cheney, Lieberman, Iraq, Democrats, Republicans, War on Terror, Insane

Thought for the Day

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

--George Orwell

Another Laptop?

Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: There is another matter... one I'm reluctant to...

Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Please.

Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: One of our submarines, an Alfa, was last reported in the area of the Grand Banks. We have not heard from her for some time.

Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Andrei, you've lost another submarine?

Hunt for Red October

Theft of government laptop in Doral puts 133,000 Florida residents at risk

A laptop computer used by the Department of Transportation to combat fraud was stolen in Doral last month, putting the sensitive personal information of almost 133,000 Florida residents at risk of the criminal activity the agency was trying to guard against.

Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses were on the laptop assigned to a special agent in the Miami office when it was stolen from a government-owned vehicle on July 27, acting Inspector General Todd Zinser wrote Gov. Bush in a letter on Wednesday.

[...]

The missing laptop, which by late Wednesday had not been recovered, is the latest in a string of government agency laptops stolen in recent months, including incidents at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Trade Commission.

* sigh *


Technorati Tags: Data Security, Data Breach, Department of Transportation

The Failure of Conservatism

HuffPo:

The failure of the occupation of Iraq, coupled with the Bush Administration’s unleashing of Israel, makes one thing clear: conservative foreign policy has failed. Conservatism hasn’t strengthened America’s position in the world, produced the Pax Americana that conservatives expected. It’s done the exact opposite; weakened the United States across the board. As a result, we’re witnessing the death of the conservative dream of American empire.

So true.

Not just conservative foreign policy, but domestic policy as well. New Orleans is the prime example of this failure. Everything that would normally fall under the responsibility of government (infrastructure, public welfare, public safety, etc.) has steadily been denied the necessary resources to be maintained. We are coming up on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, is New Orleans rebuilt, as George Bush promised?

Where is the "compassion" that Bush promised he would deliver with his special brand of conservativism?

The hard reality is, that despite the lofty rhetoric of the "Contract with America" that the Republicans promised us in 1994, the conservative agenda, which is synonymous with the neo-conservative agenda does not provide for any of what they promised. Holding schools to account for performance, while not providing the necessary resources to affect the necessary changes?

When conservatives talk about "small government" or "getting the government off your back" or "the marketplace will resolve these problems", what is the expectation?

Is the levee system in south Louisiana going to be rebuilt by "the marketplace"? Are WMD programs going to be exposed, and shut down by "the marketplace"?

I realize that I am kind of wandering all over the place with this post, however, what solution that conservatism has given us, worked?

The critical question is not, as Burnett asks, what is the liberal alternative, but what will the consequence be of not changing direction?

Technorati Tags: Conservatism, Neo-Conservatism, Bob Burnett, Failure

A Name, A Name, My Blogdom for a Name

Kevin Drum has an interesting idea:

COMMENT TRAWLING....A reader notes that the practice of trawling through open comment threads to find wackjobs who can be held up as evidence of "crazy liberals" is on the rise. Needless to say, this practice is almost self-discrediting: if the best evidence of wackjobism you can find is a few anonymous nutballs commenting on a blog, then the particular brand of wackjobism you're complaining about must not be very widespread after all. So how can we mock this practice effectively enough to make people ashamed to indulge in it?

I think Kevin's definition is pretty accurate "If you're forced to rely on random blog commenters to make a point about the prevalence of some form or another of disagreeable behavior, you've pretty much made exactly the opposite point.". It could use some refinement, but it most definitely needs a name.

The point of this, is the same point that Godwin's Law made. Trawling the comment sections of various blogs looking for the worst statements, and then using them as some sort of "proof" of Liberal insanity, is no different than the casual use of the monniker Hitler, or Nazi when involved in an online flamewar. Godwin posited, correctly, that the overuse of the terminology, will diminish the impact of the comparison in the cases where it is truly appropriate.

Thus, we could say that, by trawling the comment sections of blogs for examples of whacked out insane, or angry Liberals, and subsequently using those examples as proof of Liberal insanity, or anger among all Liberals , the writers argument is automatically lost.

Or something.

Always the Bridesmaid

With reports of Condi Rice's increasing anger between Condi Rice and George Bush, one might wonder why?


Is it, as thought, that the Bush administration is undermining Rice's attempt at Middle Eastern diplomacy, or is it because there is a new NFL commissioner?


She has already passed on applying for the job once.

Technorati Tags: Condi Rice, NFL, Commissioner

News You Can Use

As a left-handed person, to the point where I can do very little with my right hand that requires any dexterity, I have always felt somehow, slighted.

No longer. As Kevin Drum found out, lefties aren't so bad off:

"Among the college-educated men in our sample, those who report being left-handed earn 13 percent more than those who report being right-handed," said economist Christopher S. Ruebeck of Lafayette College.

....And lefties, stay in school: Those who finished all four years of college earned, on average, a whopping 21 percent more than similarly educated right-handed men. Curiously, the researchers found no wage differential among left- and right-handed women.

Now, I am just waiting for my big break, where I can earn 21% more, than my similarly educated right-handed colleagues.

Or, better yet, get a paid blogging gig, earning 21% more than right-handed paid bloggers.

Technorati Tags: Left-handed, Kevin Drum, Christopher Ruebeck, blogging

Thought for the Day

"Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."

--Mark Twain

More Data Breaches at VA

I was caught up in the moment of the Connecticut Primary yesterday, and let this story go by.

More VA data security breaches:

The U.S. Senate's top Democrat on Tuesday called on Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson to resign after the department disclosed that another batch of personal information on veterans was missing.

"Enough is enough," Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada said. "Less than a month after promising to make the VA the 'gold standard' in data security, Secretary Nicholson has again presided over loss of personal information of thousands of veterans."

The VA on Monday announced that a subcontractor reported personal information on up to 38,000 veterans was missing from the company's offices.

This really just highlights more of the total incompetence that pervades all levels of the Bush administration.

First the VA loses ~27 million veterans and active duty personnel information, and now, they do it again to 38,000 veterans.

The MBA CEO President should know that a culture of competence is fostered from the top. If the leaders are incompetent, that incompetence filters down to all their subordinates. The only difference here, is that the incompetence is at the highest levels of the federal government.

Not only should the VA Secretary, Jim Nicholson, resign. At a corporation, this level of incompetence would spur the resignation of the CEO, or in this case George Bush.

Technorati Tags: Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson, Data Security, Harry Reid

One More Post

I know I said I was going to try and step away from Connecticut and focus on other things, but it is a useful excersize to recount what was learned from the Connecticut Democratic Primary.

Markos does an admirable job of highlighting some of the major points. There is one that I want to reinforce:

Losers

The DC beltway consultancies. Boy, they went up against an all-star team of out-of-DC consultants and got their asses handed to them. Tom Swan ran circles around the Lieberman brain trust, Bill Hillsman made the best ads of the cycle, ran far fewer than Lieberman's ad people did, and clearly had a bigger impact. Tim Tagaris, who I'm proud is a fellow Chicagoan, has shown us again how our 50-state-strategy can have unexpected benefits. While the 2004 campaign of Jeff Seemann fizzled, the campaign gave us Tim. And he tore it up in the Paul Hackett special election, and tore it up again in Connecticut. He's the best netroots coordinator in the biz and we might not have him had it not been for the 2004 Kos Dozen.

Meanwhile, the DC crowd led a popular 18-year-incumbent to defeat. Is it any wonder Republicans have been kicking our ass?

This is something that I have written about in the past. Although I don't agree with alot of what Markos pushes for. He is a bigger supporter of the Democratic Party as an establishment than I am, one thing is clear. The DC consultant class, which is supposed to be the go-to crowd for running a campaign, are not the winners they pretend to be.

Like Markos said, is it any wonder Democrats have continued to lose.

This result should serve as a big wake-up call to Democratic candidates all across the country this November. You can win without them.

There are people who want to see Democrats win, who have good ideas. There are candidates who have good ideas. It is time to start, I would say past time, speaking directly to your constituents. Stop listening to what the DC consultants say, they are not necessary, and their track record should reinforce that.

There are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks, armchair generals, what have you, in DC who will try and rationalize Lieberman's loss. Many will probably say that Connecticut is not representative of anything. However, I believe the opposite is true. As Markos points out, people all across the country (and this was borne out by the calls into C-Span during the returns last night), that were watching this race. There were two responses that the callers fell into.

1. I am a Republican, and I don't understand what Democrats are doing by getting rid of a great Senator.

2. I am a Democrat and I am tired of the Pro-Bush Democrats and need to see change.

Who should Democrats be listening to?
What should their message be?

My recommendation is for Democrats to embrace these "wild-eyed lefties". We have only the best interests of the Democratic Party in mind. We want to see Republicans removed from power. We want Democrats to win.

You can be sure that after Democrats win, we will be pushing to move back to the left. To embrace more liberal ideals. However, most people realize this is going to have to be a two step process.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Lieberman, Lamont, Consultants, 2006, Elections

Lieberman and Democrats

Now that Lieberman has demonstrated that his love for the Democratic Party out paced by Lieberman's love for Lieberman, I look forward to watching just how this campaign will shape up. But there are things closer to home, than the Senate race for Connecticut.

While I wont promise that I will not write anymore about Lamont and the race for Connecticut, I will continue to include him in the Supreme Irony Candidate List (link to the left), and would ask that you consider to help him out with either your time or finances if possible.

That said, let me offer one last contribution to the race result. The DSCC: Statement from Senators Reid and Schumer

“The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.

“Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.”

I don't really need to add any more to that.

Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, CT-Sen, Connecticut, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, DSCC

DeLay To Withdraw

Apparently the thought of a campaign was too much:

Dogged by scandal, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay intends to withdraw as a candidate for Congress, a Republican strategist said today, a step that would allow the party to field a write-in candidate in hopes of holding his seat.

Go read the link for more.

Two bits of good news in an otherwise boring day.

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, TX-22, Texas

Lieberman Loses

Ned Lamont wins Connecticut Democratic Primary!


Technorati Tags: Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman, CT-Sen

Does the "Liberal" New Republic want Democratic Wins?

All signs point to no:

HH: Do you want the Democrats to win majorities in the House or the Senate, Martin Peretz?

MP: I'm...I'm appalled by some of the people who would become head of Congressional committees.

HH: Is that a no?

MP: Uh, but I'm also appalled by some of the shenanigans...

HH: But is that...I've got five seconds. Is that a no, Martin Peretz?

MP: It's a cowardly refusal to answer.

HH: (laughing) Okay. We'll carry it on, later. Martin Peretz, thanks.

For those that don't know, Martin Peretz is the co-owner, and editor-in-chief of The New Republic magazine.

The New Republic, at least in words, is a liberal magazine. In reality is has been the mouthpiece of the Democratic Leadership Committee (DLC), which, although portrayed as "centrist", is actually rather conservative for a part of the Democratic party.

Now that we know this "liberal" magazine is rooting against Democratic control of Congress, we can safely label it what it is, part of the Conservative Media.

Technorati Tags: Martin Peretz, New Republic, Democrat, Congress

The Other Middle East War

The one that shall not be named:

The strategy for the Middle East is to keep Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon fighting. Keep all attention on them. If they ever stop, then everybody would look at Americans dying.

[...]

Spc. Hsia joined the Army because he couldn't make enough as a security guard to support a wife and baby. He spent three years in the Middle East and wanted to come home for good, but part of the secret of Iraq is that we don't have enough soldiers. He was ordered back.

This time Hsia was in Iraq for a month. Now he returns to the Alfred E. Smith houses in a box.

He is placed on the list with other U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since July 1.

I missed this when it was published on the 6th, because I was off with my family.

This is the truth. The Bush administration, enabled by the media, have turned away from Iraq.

Everyday people are dying in Iraq, both American and Iraqi. Yet the national conversation on the Middle East is about Israel and Lebanon. Certainly a serious enough situation. However, lest we forget, there are still Americans fighting and dying in Iraq. Just because that is an unpleasant subject, we cannot pretend it isn't happening.

Thanks to Jimmy Breslin for reminding us that it still isn't over.

And thanks to Athenae for point this out.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Bush, Jimmy Breslin, Israel, Lebanon, Media

Thought for the Day

"It's true. I don't think Jesus polled the Pharisees before he moved in and began helping those with leprosy."

--Chris Bell (Texas Gubernatorial Candidate)

20%

Bush's polling amongst voters 18 to 24:

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's hopes of attracting a new generation of voters to the Republican Party may be fading, as younger Americans are far more critical of his job performance than the broader population.

A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of Americans age 18 to 24 found Bush's approval rating was 20 percent, with 53 percent disapproving and 28 percent with no opinion. That compares to a 40 percent approval rating among Americans of all ages in a separate Bloomberg/Times poll.

Much like Franklin Roosevelt attracted a new generation of voters with the New Deal, Bush and his administration have had high hopes of drawing younger voters to his party. He has sought to do that through policy initiatives aimed at creating an ``ownership society,'' and public relations tactics like a Youth Convention at the party's 2004 national convention, in which his twin daughters took the stage.

Among the initiatives aimed at drawing a new generation into the Republican fold are health-care savings accounts, elimination of the so-called marriage penalty in the U.S. tax code, and Bush's proposal to create private investment accounts from a portion of Social Security payroll taxes. `Younger Americans really want to see some leadership,'' Bush said last year as he launched his Social Security plan.

Instead, the Social Security initiative flopped in Congress after attracting criticism from the public and lawmakers of both parties, and health-care savings accounts haven't done much to expand coverage, with only about 1 percent of the U.S. population currently participating in them.

More interesting stats?

26% support maintaining troop levels, or increasing levels in Iraq
24% of students self-identify as Republican (down from 31% in 2003)
32% self-identify as Democrat (up from 27% in 2003)

It gets better.

26% who consider themselves religious and 12% who don't , approve of Bush.

Amongst those who will be voting in the next few years (12 to 17 year olds): 21% approval for Bush and the Republicans.

It is kind of hard to suggest that Republicans are appealing to younger voters, and future voters.

This all dovetails in with the post a few days ago about how the public in general is not becoming more conservative. Democrats are positioned to appeal to broad swaths of the American electorate by supporting Democratic positions.

Democrats don't have to appeal to Republicans, because Republican supporters are becoming a smaller and smaller group.  What was promised in the 1990's that appealed to large numbers of Americans, is not what is being delivered (and frankly was never delivered). Americans are looking for change, and the change they are looking for, is what Democrats should be offering.

Not ALL CAPS! (shock-horror)

As the Lieberman-Lamont race wraps up, Mr. Sensitivity, Lanny J. Davis, wrote a sad, sad lament:

My brief and unhappy experience with the hate and vitriol of bloggers on the liberal side of the aisle comes from the last several months I spent campaigning for a longtime friend, Joe Lieberman.

[...]

One Sunday morning on C-Span I debated Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel on the Lieberman versus Lamont race. Afterwards I received a series of emails--many of them in ALL CAPS (which often suggests the hyper-frenetic state of these extremist haters)--that were of the same stripe as the blog posts, and filled with the same level of personal hate.

In between these two paragraphs, are selected quotes from the comment sections of some blogs, as if they are representative of the entire anti-Lieberman constituentcy. However, as Lanny Davis full well knows, that is just not true, and selected comments, do not a platform make.

However, what the saddest part of this is, and this isn't the first pundit to raise this point, is that they cannot deal with criticism of their views. Both David Broder, and Richard Cohen of the Washington Post have devoted entire columns to "exposing the vitriol" and "vituperativeness" of left-wing bloggers (and only left-wing bloggers).

This isn't even about Joe Lieberman any more. This has extended to the point where criticism of the pundits is now hurtful, and destructive. In the world of people like Lanny Davis and others, who purport to tell Democrats, and the public who should be in Congress, and how the game should be played, it is the public who is, and shall remain, silent.

We, on the outside have no opinion that matters to these people. So when Ned Lamont, or some other outsider, wants to challenge one of the "kool kids" like Joe Lieberman (the Republican's favorite Democrat), the riff-raff of the Internet (read: the public) are interfering with what is "right".

So when Lanny Davis writes:

Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard--that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do.

It is disingenuous tripe. Why? Because no one knows who these "Ann Coulters of the Left" are, because they are but commenters on a blog. However, people like Lanny Davis, and his media enablers, know full well who Ann Coulter is, and despite knowing this, continue to give her a platform, and a large megaphone, to spew her garbage.

At the risk of further upsetting Lanny Davis, let me just say, Joe Lieberman must go. His "Democrat creds" are worthless, when his entire position is to enable George Bush to continue the war in Iraq. He could have been part of the Democratic Senate that tried to stop the horrible bankruptcy bill. He could have tried to stop Alito and Roberts from being confirmed to the Supreme Court. He could have done alot of things that would have kept him in the good graces of Democrats all across Connecticut. Instead, he decided that because George Bush would be President until 2008, that he would become a supporter of George Bush.

For that Joe must go.





Wait a minute, where is the ALL CAPS LUNATIC RAVINGS OF A LEFT-WING ANN COULTER WANNABE?

There, that's better.

Primary Day in Connecticut

If you live there, and are a registered Democrat, vote.
(unless it is for Joe Lieberman, j/k)

For those of you who hadn't heard there was an unsubstantiated rumor that Joe Lieberman's website was "hacked".

The truth, as they say, is much different.



Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, CT-Sen, Connecticut

DeLay News

Courtesy of an email from Lone Star Project:

Just a short while ago, Justice Antonin Scalia denied the Texas Republican's request for a stay in Tom DeLay's ballot challenge - less than one day after it had been filed.

While Texas Republicans have a few legal options left, their practical options are essentially exhausted.

Because Rick Perry refused to call a special election and because Tom DeLay and the Republican Party have insisted on pursuing a flawed scheme to overturn the GOP primary, voters in the 22nd District of Texas have gone three months without a voice in Congress.

Tom DeLay remains the Republican nominee for Congress in the 22nd District of Texas. He may withdraw from the ballot if he wishes, but he cannot be replaced by another candidate. After attempting to "cut and run" instead of facing voters in a fair election, Tom DeLay must now decide to "run or cut".

You can read the request for the stay here (warning PDF)

Technorati Tags: SCOTUS, Tom DeLay

Turning Away

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is has had a change of heart on the situation in Iraq:

Hagel said Iraq was “headed” toward a civil war. He was adamant that “we cannot put American troops, and ask them to do the things that we’re asking them to do in the middle of a civil war.” Hagel added, “I hope this administration has got a way out of this.”

After reading about the funeral service of Marine Cpl. Phillip Baucus (nephew of Montana Senator Max Baucus), I have to think that, at long last, people have had enough. I don't know if this loss from a Senate colleague even registered with Hagel, but it's over.

George Bush has mismanged the entire occupation of Iraq to the point where very few can continue to rationalize it. Bush and his supporters can continue to deny reality all they want, however, when their denials continue to result in the injuring and killing of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians, at some point even many of his former supporters have said stop!

I just wonder how many people have to say stop, before Bush listens?

"Otherwise It's Just Capitulation"

This quote was shamelessly stolen out of this post by digby about the lamentings of our pundit class on Joe Lieberman's "purge" from the Democratic Party.

The entire quote is thus:

"Bipartisanship only works when the other side compromises, too. Otherwise it's just capitulation."

What generated this response from McJoan at dKos was in response to a David Gergen column in the Hartford Courant on Lieberman:

Yes, I am biased in favor of my friend, but I also fear that if Joe Lieberman - a man, let's remember, who was the vice presidential nominee of his party only six years ago - is purged from national leadership, that would send a message rippling through both parties: that in our new politics, working too closely with leaders across the aisle can be political suicide. It's hard to believe that, despite all their frustration, that's what Connecticut Democrats really want to say.

You can go see what the punditry had to say about the Republican form of bi-partisanship that exists in Congress today (summary: If it isn't a Republican bill, it doesn't get consideration) in digby's post, but there is something I want to add, that dovetails to McJoan's quote above.

I know I am not the only one to say this, but where is it writ that bi-partisanship must come from Democrats only? I'm not talking about traditional bi-partisanship (disagree without being disagreeable), but the Joe Lieberman form of bi-partisanship, in which the Democrat sides with Republicans on many, if not most, issues.

The pundits keep harping on it, and I see it in discussions with individuals of a conservative bent, in other forums, that it is encumbent upon the Democrats to "reach across the isle", and work with Republicans. It has become conventional wisdom amonst conservatives, and pundits.

There is obviously a pundit rulebook somewhere, that the pundits are reading from that demands the Democrats work with Republicans, but not the reverse. I want to see this rulebook, and contact the author for an explanation.

Thought for the Day

"The author of the Iliad is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name."

--Aldous Huxley

The Grand Scheme Of Things

Yesterday, I spent the day with family and friends at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.

It was hot, damn hot.

But beyond the heat, one thing that struck me, not as odd, but as incongruous, in the context of the "Great Immigration Debate" that was waged in Congress just a short time ago. Particularly now, knowing that probably next month as the campaigns begin to heat up in the final 60 day stretch before the elections, what reality versus perception is in Republican World and the real world.

Granted, that amusement parks are rather expensive, and the people who go there, generally are of the middle class, economically. The great irony is that I spent the entire day amongst whites, hispanics, blacks, asians, and Indians (both Native American, and Asian), and remarkably, there was no confrontation. I even believe there were a few middle easterners there, based on the style of head coverings the women were wearing.

So, what is the purpose of this post? Beyond the fact that I am still very worn out from spending all day in the heat, I saw, confined in the smallish area that is Fiesta Texas, America.

Sure, as a white family, we were probably in the minority, as is the case in Texas today, but ultimately it doesn't matter. Americans are not American based on the color of their skin, or where they were born, or where their parents were born. They are American, because they believe in America. How better to express your feelings for America, but by doing a very American thing on a hot summer day in August? Take your family to an amusement park.

Thought for the Day

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

--Douglas Adams

The Right-Wing Fungus

It spreads insidiously:

Digby notes the fungus spread of the right wing's new talking point regarding the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon: the scenes of civilian casualties are staged photo ops by Hezbollah intended to prey upon the squeamish consciences of the Western media. Therefore we shouldn't be guiled or swayed by shots of limp, dead children in grieving arms. They're just propaganda props, bloody ragdolls served up for camera consumption ("The Palestinians, and by extension their rollicking sidekicks around the Muslim world, are the masters of dead-child porn"), and that pretentious quack Shrinkwrapped, for one, refuses to mourn the dead children in Qana, because that would only serve to weaken the will, milken the coffee, and soften our resolve to See This Through: "Our mourning, the appeal to the best within us, is a weapon that our enemy uses to weaken our ability to fight. The Arab propaganda machine, schooled in the ways of Goebbels, aided and abetted by fools in the Western media, are doing all they can to create the illusion of moral equivalence and stop the Israelis from their systematic destruction of Hezbollah's terror capabilities."

There really is a sickness within the ranks of the Movement Conservatives. Dead children as props?

Yes, I can see how the conversation went.

"Mommy, would you set off an explosive near me, so that my dead body may be used as a prop to weaken the resolve of the imperialistic Americans and Israelis?"

"Yes, of course dear. I will miss you, but anything to break the will of the American people."


Technorati Tags: Lebanon, Israel, Wolcott

Those Were The Days

Nostalgia:




Thanks to Digby for this trip down memory lane.

Thought for the Day

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

--Albert Einstein

A Note About Fundraising Solicitations

As we approach the end of the 2006 campaign cycle, you will notice that my appeals for donations of either time or money will increase. August is a pretty dry month for campaign funds coming in, and all candidates running for elected office need whatever assistance they can get.

I don't work for a specific campaign. This doesn't preclude me from working for one in the future, but right now I am pressing for Democrats to win in November.

In the case that I do any paid work for a campaign, I will make an effort to disclose that information, but any volunteer work on my part, is my own business.

As to the fundraising part. Our elected officials spend an inordinate amount of time making phone calls, and doing other activities solely to raise money to conduct a campaign. Some are more effective than others, and some, like John Carter, can count on big business, and big oil to come to their aid.

So, if you can spare some time or money help out. I have a list of candidates on my Act Blue candidate list that I support at the top left of this window. However, regardless of what state you live in, consider helping out any of the candidates I have listed here, or any candidate you have identified as worthy of your support. They will appreciate it more than you know.

With Howard Dean's 50-State strategy starting to see positive results in states like Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Utah, and others, it is really important to help candidates out in these states.  Not only do all of these Democratic candidates have a shot at winning, just by putting a strong show on in their state/district they are having an affect on the 2006 (and beyond) races.  The RNC, and other Republican groups are now having to spend money on races that they didn't count on.  A longshot candidate has the ability to affect a race in another state that is less of a longshot, and there is a real possibility that the longshot candidate could win.

The best of both worlds.

In summary, help out when you can.

Thanks.

Fighting Back Against Republican Labels

Texas Democrats rally to fight back at 'cut and run' charge:

Stung by criticism from Republicans that they are "cut and run" candidates on the war in Iraq, a group of Texas Democrats running for Congress who are also military veterans pushed back Thursday.

The "Texas Fighting Dems" staged a small rally at the Sun City retirement community to support fellow Democrat Mary Beth Harrell, the wife of an Army veteran and mother of a soldier in Iraq. She is running against incumbent Republican John Carter of Round Rock in the 31st Congressional District.

With a color guard, American flags and red-white-and-blue bunting on the podium in front of a crowd about 60, the Democrats lashed out at Carter, who sent a campaign fundraising letter to his supporters last month calling Harrell a "cut and run" liberal.

Although the group supports pulling out of Iraq, they bitterly resent any suggestion their position is cowardly and criticized Carter for not serving in the military.

Mary Beth Harrell is the Democratic candidate for the 31st Texas Congressional district. Her opponent John Carter, is a bit time recipient of Tom DeLay's largess. Like Tom DeLay, Carter needs to be defeated.

Help Mary Beth Harrell either with your time, or financial assistance

Lieberman's Friends

They are still out trying any defense to save him:

No, Lieberman's sin is of a different order. Lieberman stands condemned today because he didn't recant. He didn't say he was wrong. He didn't turn on his former allies and condemn them. He didn't claim to be the victim of a hoax. He didn't try to pretend that he never supported the war in the first place. He didn't claim to be led into support for the war by a group of writers and intellectuals whom he can now denounce. He didn't go through a public show of agonizing and phony soul-baring and apologizing in the hopes of resuscitating his reputation, as have some noted "public intellectuals."

You see, in the Robert Kagan's mind, that everyone else who has changed their mind on the Iraq War are the problem. That Joe Lieberman didn't change his mind, makes him the better candidate for Connecticut, despite the fact that Connecticut doesn't support his pro-Iraq War views.

The difference here, is that Robert Kagan wants to paint this election as some sort of nationwide referendum.  A nationwide referendum that is only decided by the Democratic primary voters of Connecticut.

Is That A Draft I Feel in Here?

Raise enlistment age to 42:

The Defense Department quietly asked Congress on Monday to raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all branches of the service.

What other "incentive" programs might the Pentagon want to offer those thinking of joining the military?

Increasing enlistment bonuses from an administration requested $30,000 to $40,000.
$1,000 "referral bonus" to those enlistees who get someone else to join.
The "Army Home Ownership Program" which will set aside money for new recruits to buy a new home when (if?) their enlistement ends.

And one of the more disturbing incentives:

special pay and incentive bonuses for nuclear qualified officers to $30,000

As Jo Fish at Democratic Veteran says:

How long 'til 45 and/or they start recalling recent retirees with the required skill sets on a non-optional basis?

To which I have to add, how long until a draft?


Technorati Tags: Bush Administration, Pentagon, Recruiting, Iraq, Draft

Thought for the Day

"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of."

--Burt Bacharach

More Lieberman

Thanks to commenter SMurph, I am pointed to Matt Stoller's latest update on the Liber-thugs activities.

The 50-ish year old man who seemed to be leading the overly aggressive protest against Ned Lamont, is apparently a lobbyist in Washington, a Lieberman donor, and one could logically assume, paid by Lieberman to pursue these overly aggressive tactics against Lamont and his supporters.

Is this was we should expect from a 3-term United States Senator? What's next Senator Lieberman?

People showing up to Lamont events with water cannon and night-sticks?

Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, CT-Sen, Connecticut

Your Peace Loving President

Via Salon (get the day pass):

By secretly providing NSA intelligence to Israel and undermining the hapless Condi Rice, hardliners in the Bush administration are trying to widen the Middle East conflict to Iran and Syria, not stop it.

Everytime a Bush sycophant, a Bush administration official, or Bush himself, says that they are interested in finding a "lasting peace" or "meaningful peace" between Israel and Lebanon, you now know, rather than suspect, that they are lying through their teeth.



Technorati Tags: Israel, Lebanon, Bush, Lying Liar

Froomkin

Bye, bye briefing room:

President Bush's cheeky, newsless visit to the White House briefing room yesterday was an appropriate sendoff for a press corps that has been unable to get much if any advantage from its physical proximity to Bush's inner sanctum.

[...]

So there was something entirely appropriate about Bush stopping by the briefing room yesterday not to answer (or even be asked) a single substantive question -- but to insult pretty much everyone in spitting distance.

[...]

Asked a sycophantic question about the press corps itself -- by chief briefing-room bootlicker Raghubir Goyal, who represents an Indian newspaper I'm not even sure really exists -- Bush responded sarcastically: "It's a beautiful bunch of people."

And when former ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, famous for shouting out important questions to Ronald Reagan, asked Bush an idiotic one -- "Mr. President, should Mel Gibson be forgiven?" -- Bush responded: "Is that Sam Donaldson? Forget it. You're a has-been. We don't have to answer has-been's questions."

Even a press corps used to chuckling and guffawing at Bush's frat-boy towel-snapping responded with what the White House transcribers recorded as an "Ohhhhh!" over that one.

All in all, an appropriately ugly and useless sendoff to a room where both respect and self-respect have been in short supply.

And this wraps up your daily press briefing.



Technorati Tags: George Bush, Dan Froomkin, White House, Press Briefing

A 3-Term Senator's Shame

I didn't want to write as much as I have about the Lamont-Lieberman race, but unfortunately the tactics adopted by the Lieberman campaign are so disgraceful and beneath an incumbent United States Senator, that it bears writing about.

Lieberman campaign staff are going around to Ned Lamont events, and starting fights. Literal fights:

A large man, around 50 years old or so, then started screaming at Ned, "Are you an Al Sharpton Democrat, or a Bill Clinton Democrat?" Ned was trying to answer, and the gentleman kept yelling. The Lamont press secretary tried to intervene, and meanwhile, the people behind the counter who owned the restaurant were horrified and embarrassed. Then Ned Lamont went up to the few people in regular clothes and introduced himself, even as the Lieberman supporters kept screaming. He also tried to introduce himself to the Lieberman staffers, but to no avail. The screaming continued, and it was so abrasive that he left, and the whole crowd followed him outside.

These kids poured out, and a half a dozen reporters were mostly outside. The large man kept yelling, and was joined by one particularly obnoxious Lieberman supporter who started yelling about national security and how Lamont would endanger the country. The messaging seemed rehearsed. The Lieberman supporters started getting aggressive, pushing some of the Lamont staffers. When confronted, the Lieberman staffers said that they are just doing what the bloggers did.

In the whole affair, one photographer caught an elbow and got a bloody nose. It seems that the Lieberman campaign is explicitly setting up their supporters at Lamont events in tense and aggressive situations, all in the presence of reporters. When asked, the Lieberman campaign is expressing outrage at the unsavory and unruly behavior of the Lamont supporters.

It is one thing to get this from a Karl Rove Republican, but when a Democrat, and a 3-term Democratic Senator stoops to such disgraceful tactics, he should be shunned by all Democrats.

If I were Bill Clinton, I would be ashamed to be associated with this person. Joe Lieberman has reached for the bottom of the barrell.

Only he reached so far down, he punched through the bottom.

Shame on you Joe Lieberman, shame on you.

Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, CT-Sen, Senate, Connecticut, Bully

Is America Getting More Conservative?

Despite the claims of Republicans, and various Religious Right groups, not really

This has, for the past decade been the rallying cry of imposing Republican policies on America.

How does the abortion issue stand (Pew Research Council poll):

Generally available: 35%
Available with restrictions: 20%
Illegal with few exceptions: 35%
Completely illegal: 9%

That means 55% of Americans want women to have the ability to terminate a pregnancy, in some form.

Gay marriage?

56% say no, but 53% say civil unions or some other mechanism that provides marriage rights to homosexual couples.

Are people born gay?

Now 36% of Americans say yes, up from 30% just a couple of years ago. 49% of Americans don't believe in the "homosexual re-education camps".

Stem-cell research?

56% of Americans favored even though human embryos would have to be destroyed in the process, and most telling, 57% didn't even realize there was a debate.

The overriding conclusion is that only 12% of Americans supported the Conservative viewpoint on the five issues, and 22% supported the Liberal viewpoint on the same issues. That leaves 66% of Americans who are in the middle, and based on the breakouts, a majority of those favor the "liberal" positions to some degree or another.

What does this mean going into the 2006 elections. First and foremost Democrats must stop trying to equivocate on their message. A majority of Americans support the same positions on social issues that Democrats do, with the exception of gay marriage, which is trending in right direction. A majority of Americans don't oppose abortion. A majority of Americans don't oppose stem-cell research (a majority weren't even aware there was a debate!).

Most political bloggers fall into the so-called base of each party. Sometimes we lose sight of that. This poll should put lie to the notion that America is trending Conservative. If anything the traditional socially liberal position that most Americans hold, is still present. If Democrats would start speaking to this socially liberal bias that most Americans seem to hold, Democrats can easily regain Congress.

My plea to the Demcoratic Party is, wake up. You do not have to cater to Republicans. You speak to Democrats, and Americans will listen. A majority will probably agree.



Technorati Tags: Democrat, Republican, Election, 2006, Congress

If You Don't Count The Times

that Rumsfeld did try to paint a rosy picture in Iraq, then I guess he actually didn't:

CLINTON: Well, Mr. Secretary, I know you would and I know you feel strongly about it, but there’s a track record here. This is not 2002, 2003, 2004-5, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented, you know, many assurances that have frankly proven to be unfulfilled, and –

RUMSFELD: Senator, I don’t think that’s true. I have never painted a rosy picture. I have been very measured in my words, and you’d have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I have been excessively optimistic. I understand this is tough stuff.

This is just so farcical on its face.

Rumsfled is the one that said that American troops would be welcomed into Iraq by Iraqis.

Willful delusion is the only term I can think of to describe Rummsfeld's response.

Technorati Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq

DeLay to Stay

Just got an email from The Lone Star Project:

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Texas Democrats a short time ago. As a result, Tom DeLay remains eligible for the 2006 general election as the Republican nominee for the 22nd Congressional District of Texas.

There is a link to a pdf document of the official ruling from the court.

The question that remains to be answered is how DeLay will handle his campaign.

As the saying goes, game on.

Update: Here is the conclusion from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling:

For the reasons stated above, the district court did not err when it held that the Texas ineligibility statute was unconstitutional as applied. In addition, Benkiser failed to meet the standards of the statute because the public records did not conclusively establish DeLay’s ineligibility. Finally, the injunction was an appropriate remedy. For these reasons, we AFFIRM.

Appellant’s motion for partial stay pending appeal is DENIED AS MOOT. Appellant’s second motion for partial stay pending appeal or, in the alternative, motion for full stay is also DENIED.
(United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 06-50812, August 3, 2006, Page 25)

This should end the debate.

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay, TX-22

Thought for the Day

"We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know."

--W. H. Auden

Murtha Responds to Lawsuit

Doesn't blame him:

"I don’t blame the staff sergeant for lashing out," Murtha said in a statement today. "When I spoke up about Haditha, my intention was to draw attention to the horrendous pressure put on our troops in Iraq and to the cover-up of the incident."

The Representative once again used the occasion to call for a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

“Our troops are caught in the middle of a tragic dilemma," Murtha went on to explain. "The military trains them to fight a conventional war and use overwhelming force to protect U.S. lives. I agree with that policy, but when we use force, we often kill civilians. What are the consequences?"

As the Pentagon report indicated, something bad happened in Haditha. It is now time to get to the bottom of it, and find out some truth, for a change.

Technorati Tags: John Murtha, Frank Wuterich, Haditha, Iraq

Oh, This is Rich

College Republicans for Lieberman.

Is there any wonder why Democrats outside of the party establishment are for Ned Lamont?

Technorati Tags: Joe Lieberman, Ned Lamont, CT-Sen

Jonah Goldberg

Whose hypocrisy knows no bounds:

Another tactic in this "“asymmetric" war is to make the Israelis the bad guys for resisting terrorism. Jews have a well-cultivated sense of guilt (take my word for it). And, for obvious reasons, no insult could hurt more than depicting Jews as Nazis. Hence, the nigh-upon global campaign to depict Israelis as the heirs to Hitler. Of course, ad hitlerum argumentation is just the tip of the propaganda spear.

This coming from the person whose soon to be released book is titled:

Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton

And features this as the cover:


Go read Glenn Greenwald for more on the idiotic hypocrisy that is Jonah Goldberg.

Technorati Tags: Jonah Goldberg, Glenn Greenwald

I Don't Blame Him One Bit

Rangel: I'll quit Congress if Democrats lose

Rep. Charles Rangel, a powerful senior Democrat in Congress and the dean of New York's congressional delegation, said Wednesday that he'll quit Congress if the Democrats don't retake control of the House this year.

"I'm a poker player and I've had good hands all night long. This is all in," Rangel said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I would not put everything on the table if I thought for one minute we would lose."

[...]

"Hell, if we don't take back the House, then the Democrats would go down in history, saying that there's no group in the world that can grab defeat from the jaws of victory," Rangel said. "It just seems like America is so frustrated and fed up like I am and if she's not then I may have to say maybe it's me."

Does anyone really have to spell out the litany of horrors that George Bush and the Republicans have inflicted on this country since 2000?

Billmon went on a bit of a tear yesterday, and I agree with his sentiment. However, like Charlie Rangel, I will hold out hope that the Democrats will get it together by November.

If Democrats lose in November, then like Rangel, I will have reached my breaking point.

Technorati Tags: Charlie Rangel, Democrats, 2006

What Can You Say?

Read this and then compare it to the known testimony before the 9/11 commission.

Thought for the Day

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

--Kurt Vonnegut

Swift Boating Backfires

Right Blogistan is jumping for joy today, because Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania is being sued for libel and defamation over his statements about the Haditha action. According to Frank Wuterich, the information that Murtha release in press releases and interviews is a) not true and b) not protected speech.

The problem is, the Pentagon doesn't agree with Wuterich:

Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

This lawsuit a number of questions

First and foremost, who is funding Mr. Wuterich? The former Swift Boaters of the 2004 election cycle aren't hiding the fact that they are going to try and bring Murtha down with the same dishonest tactics they used against John Kerry. It makes me wonder if this is part of their plan.



Technorati Tags: John Murtha, Frank Wuterich, Haditha, Pentagon, Iraq

Y'all Remember That Katherine Harris, Don't Ya?

Well, she is runnin' for Senate in Florida. An' it appears that her senate campaign is just falling to pieces all 'round her. There are times that I just feel so bad for her, an' her situation.

That is, until I read about this. I am just left to wonderin' aloud to myself, "hooo doggie! What kind of mess she has left for herself?":

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris received a grand jury subpoena from federal investigators and concealed the fact from top campaign advisers hired to help her deflect negative publicity, her former campaign manager has disclosed.

"Yes, there was a subpoena. She didn't tell us," said Glenn Hodas, Harris' third and most recent campaign manager. He said he learned of it in June while reviewing invoices from powerhouse Washington lawyer Benjamin J. Ginsberg and confronted his boss.

Ms. Harris is in trouble with the law, and she is trying to cover it up in the middle of her Senate campaign?

I just don't know what came over her. It looks like Ms. Harris is fixin' to get herself into a world 'o hurt. But you know what they say. "What goes around, comes around."



Technorati Tags: Katherine Harris, FL-Sen, Florida

Repubicans Are Paying This Guy?

Welcome to the future of Republican Party strategy:

“Connecticut should have its statehood taken away from it. The foolishness of its pampered residents should be demonstrated to others by a government program to bulldoze the entire state, salt the land and construct a windfarm to supply NYC with electricity. And its residents should be relocated to Guantanamo Bay where they can take a number behind the 3 who hung themselves this weekend, since they seem so intent on suicide.”
-- Daniel Kish, a senior adviser to Pombo, in an email

In case you aren't sure, that's Republican Congressman from California Richard Pombo's senior advisor.



Technorati Tags: Richard Pombo, Daniel Kish, GOP, California