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December 29, 2005
Monday, April 04, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
Starting today, the Senate will begin debating the judicial nomination of William Gerry Myers III. Myers is one of those "re-nominations" from last time who didn't make the cut. Myers is one of the more right-wing extremist nominations this year (and that's saying something - read what Senator Dianne Feinstein had to say about Myers last year here). The Senate needs to hear your voice to urge them to filibuster, if need be (and you can be assured it will be needed). Daily Kos has the info on this situation. We are asking you to use the link on the left sidebar to contact your Senators (or the one on the bottom of Kos's post) and urge them to do everything in their power to stop this and other nominations. For the record, you'll make a bigger impact by calling. Let us know what their offices say by using the comments below!
News
What Do You Mean, "They Can Disagree with Me?" Very few things are more dangerous than a Republican who knows he's wrong, yet has his back to the wall. Consider Tom DeLay. After an impassioned plea to Congress, where he cried over the potential fate of Terri Schiavo, DeLay got his wish, and the Schiavo bill passed. It proved fruitless, as the no court overturned the earlier verdict. Since DeLay can't possibly fathom losing more face, he's going to ask the Judiciary Committee to make a broad review of how the courts handled Schiavo's case. DeLay essentially wants to examine what he called the "failure" of state and federal courts to protect Schiavo. All of this comes on the heels of DeLay's public comments threatening judges. We're sure that DeLay can back up his claims of irregularity and indecency, given his undergraduate degree in biology, or his experience running a small business before he got into politics. We would think that he'd have some experience in law to be able to make these accusations. Unfortunately, DeLay's only law experience has been his recent court cases for unethical behavior. If DeLay's going to be grasping at these obvious desperate straws, and if they're going to continue to support him, we have to to wonder how stable the Republican party actually is.
Daily Intelligence Briefings Are Vague, Officials Say. Remember the President's Daily Brief? You know, the document given to the president every morning that details the most important intelligence on threats to America? The thing from August 6th, 2001 that was entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." that Condi Rice denied had any useful information? The document is supposed to be a critical part of the president's daily update. Well, according the small circle of other government officials who read the PDB, they consider the document vague, and of little value. With Bush giving the impression of being so concerned about intelligence, we're surprised that the PDB hasn't been given more attention by the intelligence community. Well, you know that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on.." Oops.
Warning: Don't Move to Nevada. We love when stupidity like this is made public, because it means the MSM hasn't completely given up yet. Government analysts in Nevada are studying whether or not Yucca Mountain would be a "suitable" place to bury nuclear waste. The Energy Department wants to do it. An analyst found data that he couldn't explain. What would you do? If you answered, "Withhold it," you'd be part right. If you answered, "Withhold it, and make up data to match the conclusion we want," congratulations! You too can have a career in government! Let's be clear about this: This isn't a retail store, where if $20 is missing from the register at the end of the night, you can just slip two $10s in to balance it out. With clear disregard for the environment and the safety of the citizens of Nevada (and Las Vegas, which is a scant 100 miles from Yucca), these analysts fudged their data to get a result that was desirable for the government. Although names have not been released, prison would be the minimum punishment that these despicable people deserve.
Editorials
More GOP Than GOP. Michael Kinsley writes about the 2005 Economic Report of the President. If you consider the Republicans the party of "fiscal responsibility," you would think that they come out in this report smelling like roses. Not so much, according to Kinsley. He writes, "The party with the best record of serving Republican economic values is the Democrats." Tracking from 1960 on, Kinsley finds that spending goes up faster for Republican Presidents then for Democratic ones. The economy grows faster under Democrats. But the most startling statistic is average federal deficit. Under Republicans, the number is $131 billion a year. Under Democrats, $30 billion. That's incredible, if you think about it. The party that preaches fiscal responsibility and less of "big government" actually raises the national debt more than Democrats. Kinsley's well-researched editorial is an eye-opener for right-wingers who still claim that Republicans look out for America's financial future. They sure do - they look at how low it goes under their leadership.
The Heat Is On the GOP. We'd like to agree with David S. Broder here. While Congress has been disgraced over the Schiavo bill, they must now look at that little thing called the budget. Bush has hacked it to bits, but every Senator and Representative has their own pet or constituency projects. The heat is now on the majority to pass a budget that doesn't eliminate critical programs, but also one that doesn't spiral us even further in debt. This would be so much more than fascinating if we didn't have to suffer with the results.
Bush's Back-and-Forth Reflects Rift in Party. Peter Baker makes another great case for the rift that seems to be developing within the Republican party. Case in point: Bush flew back to DC from his vacation for the Schiavo bill,
signed it, and then didn't speak about it again until her death last week. He used his following weekly address to discuss the school shooting in Minnesota (which, as we discussed a couple weeks ago, was addressed full week after it happened). With the overwhelming disapproval of Americans for the Schiavo bill, Bush's plans to push forward with Social Security took a back seat. The bottom line is that the Terri Schiavo case, while tragic, is something any Congress never should have touched, much less a Republican Congress that preaches "an end to big government." It certainly shouldn't have been in the form of a bill that required the President's signature. The GOP are swinging for the fences, and coming up empty, and we couldn't be happier. Now is the time for Democrats to press the advantage. But will they?
|
December 29, 2005
Monday, April 04, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
Starting today, the Senate will begin debating the judicial nomination of William Gerry Myers III. Myers is one of those "re-nominations" from last time who didn't make the cut. Myers is one of the more right-wing extremist nominations this year (and that's saying something - read what Senator Dianne Feinstein had to say about Myers last year here). The Senate needs to hear your voice to urge them to filibuster, if need be (and you can be assured it will be needed). Daily Kos has the info on this situation. We are asking you to use the link on the left sidebar to contact your Senators (or the one on the bottom of Kos's post) and urge them to do everything in their power to stop this and other nominations. For the record, you'll make a bigger impact by calling. Let us know what their offices say by using the comments below!
News
What Do You Mean, "They Can Disagree with Me?" Very few things are more dangerous than a Republican who knows he's wrong, yet has his back to the wall. Consider Tom DeLay. After an impassioned plea to Congress, where he cried over the potential fate of Terri Schiavo, DeLay got his wish, and the Schiavo bill passed. It proved fruitless, as the no court overturned the earlier verdict. Since DeLay can't possibly fathom losing more face, he's going to ask the Judiciary Committee to make a broad review of how the courts handled Schiavo's case. DeLay essentially wants to examine what he called the "failure" of state and federal courts to protect Schiavo. All of this comes on the heels of DeLay's public comments threatening judges. We're sure that DeLay can back up his claims of irregularity and indecency, given his undergraduate degree in biology, or his experience running a small business before he got into politics. We would think that he'd have some experience in law to be able to make these accusations. Unfortunately, DeLay's only law experience has been his recent court cases for unethical behavior. If DeLay's going to be grasping at these obvious desperate straws, and if they're going to continue to support him, we have to to wonder how stable the Republican party actually is.
Daily Intelligence Briefings Are Vague, Officials Say. Remember the President's Daily Brief? You know, the document given to the president every morning that details the most important intelligence on threats to America? The thing from August 6th, 2001 that was entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." that Condi Rice denied had any useful information? The document is supposed to be a critical part of the president's daily update. Well, according the small circle of other government officials who read the PDB, they consider the document vague, and of little value. With Bush giving the impression of being so concerned about intelligence, we're surprised that the PDB hasn't been given more attention by the intelligence community. Well, you know that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on.." Oops.
Warning: Don't Move to Nevada. We love when stupidity like this is made public, because it means the MSM hasn't completely given up yet. Government analysts in Nevada are studying whether or not Yucca Mountain would be a "suitable" place to bury nuclear waste. The Energy Department wants to do it. An analyst found data that he couldn't explain. What would you do? If you answered, "Withhold it," you'd be part right. If you answered, "Withhold it, and make up data to match the conclusion we want," congratulations! You too can have a career in government! Let's be clear about this: This isn't a retail store, where if $20 is missing from the register at the end of the night, you can just slip two $10s in to balance it out. With clear disregard for the environment and the safety of the citizens of Nevada (and Las Vegas, which is a scant 100 miles from Yucca), these analysts fudged their data to get a result that was desirable for the government. Although names have not been released, prison would be the minimum punishment that these despicable people deserve.
Editorials
More GOP Than GOP. Michael Kinsley writes about the 2005 Economic Report of the President. If you consider the Republicans the party of "fiscal responsibility," you would think that they come out in this report smelling like roses. Not so much, according to Kinsley. He writes, "The party with the best record of serving Republican economic values is the Democrats." Tracking from 1960 on, Kinsley finds that spending goes up faster for Republican Presidents then for Democratic ones. The economy grows faster under Democrats. But the most startling statistic is average federal deficit. Under Republicans, the number is $131 billion a year. Under Democrats, $30 billion. That's incredible, if you think about it. The party that preaches fiscal responsibility and less of "big government" actually raises the national debt more than Democrats. Kinsley's well-researched editorial is an eye-opener for right-wingers who still claim that Republicans look out for America's financial future. They sure do - they look at how low it goes under their leadership.
The Heat Is On the GOP. We'd like to agree with David S. Broder here. While Congress has been disgraced over the Schiavo bill, they must now look at that little thing called the budget. Bush has hacked it to bits, but every Senator and Representative has their own pet or constituency projects. The heat is now on the majority to pass a budget that doesn't eliminate critical programs, but also one that doesn't spiral us even further in debt. This would be so much more than fascinating if we didn't have to suffer with the results.
Bush's Back-and-Forth Reflects Rift in Party. Peter Baker makes another great case for the rift that seems to be developing within the Republican party. Case in point: Bush flew back to DC from his vacation for the Schiavo bill,
signed it, and then didn't speak about it again until her death last week. He used his following weekly address to discuss the school shooting in Minnesota (which, as we discussed a couple weeks ago, was addressed full week after it happened). With the overwhelming disapproval of Americans for the Schiavo bill, Bush's plans to push forward with Social Security took a back seat. The bottom line is that the Terri Schiavo case, while tragic, is something any Congress never should have touched, much less a Republican Congress that preaches "an end to big government." It certainly shouldn't have been in the form of a bill that required the President's signature. The GOP are swinging for the fences, and coming up empty, and we couldn't be happier. Now is the time for Democrats to press the advantage. But will they?
|
December 29, 2005
Starting today, the Senate will begin debating the judicial nomination of William Gerry Myers III. Myers is one of those "re-nominations" from last time who didn't make the cut. Myers is one of the more right-wing extremist nominations this year (and that's saying something - read what Senator Dianne Feinstein had to say about Myers last year here). The Senate needs to hear your voice to urge them to filibuster, if need be (and you can be assured it will be needed). Daily Kos has the info on this situation. We are asking you to use the link on the left sidebar to contact your Senators (or the one on the bottom of Kos's post) and urge them to do everything in their power to stop this and other nominations. For the record, you'll make a bigger impact by calling. Let us know what their offices say by using the comments below!
News
What Do You Mean, "They Can Disagree with Me?" Very few things are more dangerous than a Republican who knows he's wrong, yet has his back to the wall. Consider Tom DeLay. After an impassioned plea to Congress, where he cried over the potential fate of Terri Schiavo, DeLay got his wish, and the Schiavo bill passed. It proved fruitless, as the no court overturned the earlier verdict. Since DeLay can't possibly fathom losing more face, he's going to ask the Judiciary Committee to make a broad review of how the courts handled Schiavo's case. DeLay essentially wants to examine what he called the "failure" of state and federal courts to protect Schiavo. All of this comes on the heels of DeLay's public comments threatening judges. We're sure that DeLay can back up his claims of irregularity and indecency, given his undergraduate degree in biology, or his experience running a small business before he got into politics. We would think that he'd have some experience in law to be able to make these accusations. Unfortunately, DeLay's only law experience has been his recent court cases for unethical behavior. If DeLay's going to be grasping at these obvious desperate straws, and if they're going to continue to support him, we have to to wonder how stable the Republican party actually is.
Daily Intelligence Briefings Are Vague, Officials Say. Remember the President's Daily Brief? You know, the document given to the president every morning that details the most important intelligence on threats to America? The thing from August 6th, 2001 that was entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." that Condi Rice denied had any useful information? The document is supposed to be a critical part of the president's daily update. Well, according the small circle of other government officials who read the PDB, they consider the document vague, and of little value. With Bush giving the impression of being so concerned about intelligence, we're surprised that the PDB hasn't been given more attention by the intelligence community. Well, you know that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on.." Oops.
Warning: Don't Move to Nevada. We love when stupidity like this is made public, because it means the MSM hasn't completely given up yet. Government analysts in Nevada are studying whether or not Yucca Mountain would be a "suitable" place to bury nuclear waste. The Energy Department wants to do it. An analyst found data that he couldn't explain. What would you do? If you answered, "Withhold it," you'd be part right. If you answered, "Withhold it, and make up data to match the conclusion we want," congratulations! You too can have a career in government! Let's be clear about this: This isn't a retail store, where if $20 is missing from the register at the end of the night, you can just slip two $10s in to balance it out. With clear disregard for the environment and the safety of the citizens of Nevada (and Las Vegas, which is a scant 100 miles from Yucca), these analysts fudged their data to get a result that was desirable for the government. Although names have not been released, prison would be the minimum punishment that these despicable people deserve.
Editorials
More GOP Than GOP. Michael Kinsley writes about the 2005 Economic Report of the President. If you consider the Republicans the party of "fiscal responsibility," you would think that they come out in this report smelling like roses. Not so much, according to Kinsley. He writes, "The party with the best record of serving Republican economic values is the Democrats." Tracking from 1960 on, Kinsley finds that spending goes up faster for Republican Presidents then for Democratic ones. The economy grows faster under Democrats. But the most startling statistic is average federal deficit. Under Republicans, the number is $131 billion a year. Under Democrats, $30 billion. That's incredible, if you think about it. The party that preaches fiscal responsibility and less of "big government" actually raises the national debt more than Democrats. Kinsley's well-researched editorial is an eye-opener for right-wingers who still claim that Republicans look out for America's financial future. They sure do - they look at how low it goes under their leadership.
The Heat Is On the GOP. We'd like to agree with David S. Broder here. While Congress has been disgraced over the Schiavo bill, they must now look at that little thing called the budget. Bush has hacked it to bits, but every Senator and Representative has their own pet or constituency projects. The heat is now on the majority to pass a budget that doesn't eliminate critical programs, but also one that doesn't spiral us even further in debt. This would be so much more than fascinating if we didn't have to suffer with the results.
Bush's Back-and-Forth Reflects Rift in Party. Peter Baker makes another great case for the rift that seems to be developing within the Republican party. Case in point: Bush flew back to DC from his vacation for the Schiavo bill,
signed it, and then didn't speak about it again until her death last week. He used his following weekly address to discuss the school shooting in Minnesota (which, as we discussed a couple weeks ago, was addressed full week after it happened). With the overwhelming disapproval of Americans for the Schiavo bill, Bush's plans to push forward with Social Security took a back seat. The bottom line is that the Terri Schiavo case, while tragic, is something any Congress never should have touched, much less a Republican Congress that preaches "an end to big government." It certainly shouldn't have been in the form of a bill that required the President's signature. The GOP are swinging for the fences, and coming up empty, and we couldn't be happier. Now is the time for Democrats to press the advantage. But will they?
