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December 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
Outraged Moderates Thad Anderson has created a political blog for people who like to consider issues from more than one point of view and are fed up with how infrequently it's happening these days. Of particular interest are the Four Things Americas Agrees On, discussing issues that underlie everything we face today as a nation, and the Download for Democracy section, which is a both a thorough how-to covering distribution of public documents via Peer-to-Peer networks as well as an extensive archive of documents in the site's Government Document Library. There's also a decent selection of quotes from various public and political figures, and even a cafepress store if you like what you see and want to show your support.
News
Valerie Plame Update. More big news in the Valerie Plame case? Looks like there might be. Last week the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case of two reporters who are appealing the civil contempt they've been charged with after refusing to reveal the identity of their source, which outed then-active CIA Agent Valerie Plame and ruined her career. Intentionally blowing the cover of a CIA agent is, in fact, treason - and after Time magazine then agreed to reveal its documents pertaining to the story, MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell stated in a taping of the McLaughlin Group that the documents would finger Karl Rove as the so-far-unnamed source. Whether this generates any heat is anybody's guess, but if it does turn out to be Rove the real question will be: Does he walk away free?
C. Boyden Gray: Activist Analyst Fox News "Supreme Court Analyst" C. Boyden Gray wants to make sure that Bush's nominee to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor is not "vilified by the left." He's so concerned about protecting whomever this ends up being that he's the founder and chairman of a group called "Committee for Justice," which works to build public support for Bush's judicial nominations. The thing is, the Committee for Justice and Gray's involvement in it wasn't mentioned by Gray or host Linda Vester when he said on her show that it is "our job" to protect Bush's nominee. Never mind the fact that he consulted with Karl Rove in founding it, which doesn't exactly lend it much credibility with the left that Gray is so anxious to protect the courts against. Make sure you watch the clip; as a side note, it's funny how Fox quite literally drapes itself in the flag.
House Majority Whip Exerts Influence by Way of K Street If you're still waiting to see whether the hammer will fall on Tom DeLay over his shaky grasp of basic ethics, you might be interested in what Roy Blunt has been getting up to. As the House Majority Whip, Blunt is second in line only to DeLay himself, and he's built up an organization of congressional leaders and Washington corporate interests that has delivered to the GOP more than 50 consecutive legislative victories. So far undefeated and operating largely outside the public spotlight, Blunt's organization seems a natural to succeed DeLay's own if DeLay should find himself sinking faster than he can bail. In 2004, Blunt's lobbying efforts resulted in the passage of a bill that eliminated business export tax breaks which were in violation of international agreements by the World Trade Organization. In order to overcome Republicans' opposition to eliminating these illegal tax breaks, which would result in billions of dollars in losses to companies operating in their districts, manufacturing companies got a three-percentage-point corporate tax cut and suddenly opposition to the bill evaporated.
Editorials
2006's Most Important Senate Race David Sirota's latest column in the Huffington Post makes the case that the most important US Senate race in 2006 is not the one you might think. As much as we should work to send Katherine Harris and Rick Santorum off with a lovely home version of DC Monopoly, Sirota argues that Congressman Bernie Sanders would be the perfect replacement when Vermont's Jim Jeffords retires next year. Sanders is currently the target of a well-funded GOP and Big Business effort to defeat his campaign, and has refused to accept corporate PAC money to run for office. The column contains lots of background info on Sanders and his record as a strong progressive, as well as lots of left/right infighting in the comments down the page.
Science Fiction Someone once said that you're entitled your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts. They've obviously never met the Bush Administration, or its single-minded pursuit of profit at the expense of anything that stands in the way of profit. This LA Times editorial reports on yet another instance of facts being fixed around policy: Cattle grazing. A government biologist and a hydrologist complained that their report, indicating that cattle grazing in wildlands had a "significant adverse impact" on wildlife, was released with that passage changed to state it was "beneficial to animals." Bush then used the report to justify relaxing rules concerning cattle grazing on public lands ... yet another example of how the Bush administration doesn't allow reality to alter its steadfast course and resolute leadership.
They are more like our enemy, Part II Markos Moulitsas runs down a long list of issues to demonstrate how the American Right (aka American Taliban) have more in common with the real Taliban than with the American Left. Some of the comparisons (submitted by Daily Kos readers) feel a little squeezed in, but in reality he makes a very valid point: Both regimes act from an attitude of intolerance and conquest. For Bush and his followers, you truly are either with them or against them. There is no nuance (except to explain why none of them are truly responsible for anything awful), there is no compromise, there is no true debate. This attitude is still arguably in the minority as far as the US population goes, but a political majority who take it very seriously control both the Executive and Legislative branches, and are chomping at the bit to control or dismantle the Judicial.
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December 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Wednesday's Links
Activism
Outraged Moderates Thad Anderson has created a political blog for people who like to consider issues from more than one point of view and are fed up with how infrequently it's happening these days. Of particular interest are the Four Things Americas Agrees On, discussing issues that underlie everything we face today as a nation, and the Download for Democracy section, which is a both a thorough how-to covering distribution of public documents via Peer-to-Peer networks as well as an extensive archive of documents in the site's Government Document Library. There's also a decent selection of quotes from various public and political figures, and even a cafepress store if you like what you see and want to show your support.
News
Valerie Plame Update. More big news in the Valerie Plame case? Looks like there might be. Last week the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case of two reporters who are appealing the civil contempt they've been charged with after refusing to reveal the identity of their source, which outed then-active CIA Agent Valerie Plame and ruined her career. Intentionally blowing the cover of a CIA agent is, in fact, treason - and after Time magazine then agreed to reveal its documents pertaining to the story, MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell stated in a taping of the McLaughlin Group that the documents would finger Karl Rove as the so-far-unnamed source. Whether this generates any heat is anybody's guess, but if it does turn out to be Rove the real question will be: Does he walk away free?
C. Boyden Gray: Activist Analyst Fox News "Supreme Court Analyst" C. Boyden Gray wants to make sure that Bush's nominee to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor is not "vilified by the left." He's so concerned about protecting whomever this ends up being that he's the founder and chairman of a group called "Committee for Justice," which works to build public support for Bush's judicial nominations. The thing is, the Committee for Justice and Gray's involvement in it wasn't mentioned by Gray or host Linda Vester when he said on her show that it is "our job" to protect Bush's nominee. Never mind the fact that he consulted with Karl Rove in founding it, which doesn't exactly lend it much credibility with the left that Gray is so anxious to protect the courts against. Make sure you watch the clip; as a side note, it's funny how Fox quite literally drapes itself in the flag.
House Majority Whip Exerts Influence by Way of K Street If you're still waiting to see whether the hammer will fall on Tom DeLay over his shaky grasp of basic ethics, you might be interested in what Roy Blunt has been getting up to. As the House Majority Whip, Blunt is second in line only to DeLay himself, and he's built up an organization of congressional leaders and Washington corporate interests that has delivered to the GOP more than 50 consecutive legislative victories. So far undefeated and operating largely outside the public spotlight, Blunt's organization seems a natural to succeed DeLay's own if DeLay should find himself sinking faster than he can bail. In 2004, Blunt's lobbying efforts resulted in the passage of a bill that eliminated business export tax breaks which were in violation of international agreements by the World Trade Organization. In order to overcome Republicans' opposition to eliminating these illegal tax breaks, which would result in billions of dollars in losses to companies operating in their districts, manufacturing companies got a three-percentage-point corporate tax cut and suddenly opposition to the bill evaporated.
Editorials
2006's Most Important Senate Race David Sirota's latest column in the Huffington Post makes the case that the most important US Senate race in 2006 is not the one you might think. As much as we should work to send Katherine Harris and Rick Santorum off with a lovely home version of DC Monopoly, Sirota argues that Congressman Bernie Sanders would be the perfect replacement when Vermont's Jim Jeffords retires next year. Sanders is currently the target of a well-funded GOP and Big Business effort to defeat his campaign, and has refused to accept corporate PAC money to run for office. The column contains lots of background info on Sanders and his record as a strong progressive, as well as lots of left/right infighting in the comments down the page.
Science Fiction Someone once said that you're entitled your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts. They've obviously never met the Bush Administration, or its single-minded pursuit of profit at the expense of anything that stands in the way of profit. This LA Times editorial reports on yet another instance of facts being fixed around policy: Cattle grazing. A government biologist and a hydrologist complained that their report, indicating that cattle grazing in wildlands had a "significant adverse impact" on wildlife, was released with that passage changed to state it was "beneficial to animals." Bush then used the report to justify relaxing rules concerning cattle grazing on public lands ... yet another example of how the Bush administration doesn't allow reality to alter its steadfast course and resolute leadership.
They are more like our enemy, Part II Markos Moulitsas runs down a long list of issues to demonstrate how the American Right (aka American Taliban) have more in common with the real Taliban than with the American Left. Some of the comparisons (submitted by Daily Kos readers) feel a little squeezed in, but in reality he makes a very valid point: Both regimes act from an attitude of intolerance and conquest. For Bush and his followers, you truly are either with them or against them. There is no nuance (except to explain why none of them are truly responsible for anything awful), there is no compromise, there is no true debate. This attitude is still arguably in the minority as far as the US population goes, but a political majority who take it very seriously control both the Executive and Legislative branches, and are chomping at the bit to control or dismantle the Judicial.
|
December 29, 2005
Outraged Moderates Thad Anderson has created a political blog for people who like to consider issues from more than one point of view and are fed up with how infrequently it's happening these days. Of particular interest are the Four Things Americas Agrees On, discussing issues that underlie everything we face today as a nation, and the Download for Democracy section, which is a both a thorough how-to covering distribution of public documents via Peer-to-Peer networks as well as an extensive archive of documents in the site's Government Document Library. There's also a decent selection of quotes from various public and political figures, and even a cafepress store if you like what you see and want to show your support.
News
Valerie Plame Update. More big news in the Valerie Plame case? Looks like there might be. Last week the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case of two reporters who are appealing the civil contempt they've been charged with after refusing to reveal the identity of their source, which outed then-active CIA Agent Valerie Plame and ruined her career. Intentionally blowing the cover of a CIA agent is, in fact, treason - and after Time magazine then agreed to reveal its documents pertaining to the story, MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell stated in a taping of the McLaughlin Group that the documents would finger Karl Rove as the so-far-unnamed source. Whether this generates any heat is anybody's guess, but if it does turn out to be Rove the real question will be: Does he walk away free?
C. Boyden Gray: Activist Analyst Fox News "Supreme Court Analyst" C. Boyden Gray wants to make sure that Bush's nominee to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor is not "vilified by the left." He's so concerned about protecting whomever this ends up being that he's the founder and chairman of a group called "Committee for Justice," which works to build public support for Bush's judicial nominations. The thing is, the Committee for Justice and Gray's involvement in it wasn't mentioned by Gray or host Linda Vester when he said on her show that it is "our job" to protect Bush's nominee. Never mind the fact that he consulted with Karl Rove in founding it, which doesn't exactly lend it much credibility with the left that Gray is so anxious to protect the courts against. Make sure you watch the clip; as a side note, it's funny how Fox quite literally drapes itself in the flag.
House Majority Whip Exerts Influence by Way of K Street If you're still waiting to see whether the hammer will fall on Tom DeLay over his shaky grasp of basic ethics, you might be interested in what Roy Blunt has been getting up to. As the House Majority Whip, Blunt is second in line only to DeLay himself, and he's built up an organization of congressional leaders and Washington corporate interests that has delivered to the GOP more than 50 consecutive legislative victories. So far undefeated and operating largely outside the public spotlight, Blunt's organization seems a natural to succeed DeLay's own if DeLay should find himself sinking faster than he can bail. In 2004, Blunt's lobbying efforts resulted in the passage of a bill that eliminated business export tax breaks which were in violation of international agreements by the World Trade Organization. In order to overcome Republicans' opposition to eliminating these illegal tax breaks, which would result in billions of dollars in losses to companies operating in their districts, manufacturing companies got a three-percentage-point corporate tax cut and suddenly opposition to the bill evaporated.
Editorials
2006's Most Important Senate Race David Sirota's latest column in the Huffington Post makes the case that the most important US Senate race in 2006 is not the one you might think. As much as we should work to send Katherine Harris and Rick Santorum off with a lovely home version of DC Monopoly, Sirota argues that Congressman Bernie Sanders would be the perfect replacement when Vermont's Jim Jeffords retires next year. Sanders is currently the target of a well-funded GOP and Big Business effort to defeat his campaign, and has refused to accept corporate PAC money to run for office. The column contains lots of background info on Sanders and his record as a strong progressive, as well as lots of left/right infighting in the comments down the page.
Science Fiction Someone once said that you're entitled your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts. They've obviously never met the Bush Administration, or its single-minded pursuit of profit at the expense of anything that stands in the way of profit. This LA Times editorial reports on yet another instance of facts being fixed around policy: Cattle grazing. A government biologist and a hydrologist complained that their report, indicating that cattle grazing in wildlands had a "significant adverse impact" on wildlife, was released with that passage changed to state it was "beneficial to animals." Bush then used the report to justify relaxing rules concerning cattle grazing on public lands ... yet another example of how the Bush administration doesn't allow reality to alter its steadfast course and resolute leadership.
They are more like our enemy, Part II Markos Moulitsas runs down a long list of issues to demonstrate how the American Right (aka American Taliban) have more in common with the real Taliban than with the American Left. Some of the comparisons (submitted by Daily Kos readers) feel a little squeezed in, but in reality he makes a very valid point: Both regimes act from an attitude of intolerance and conquest. For Bush and his followers, you truly are either with them or against them. There is no nuance (except to explain why none of them are truly responsible for anything awful), there is no compromise, there is no true debate. This attitude is still arguably in the minority as far as the US population goes, but a political majority who take it very seriously control both the Executive and Legislative branches, and are chomping at the bit to control or dismantle the Judicial.
