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December 29, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Thursday's Links
Activism
Vote for a Grassroots All-Star. Ever complain about the lack of good candidates for public office? Well, now's your chance to put your mouse where your mouth is. Democracy for America is taking a poll, asking you to decide who they should endorse as the first member of their "DFA-List". An endorsement from DFA is pretty powerful, but the real power lies with those who participate in our democracy. If you have a local representative that you liek, vote for him or her. If you don't have a representative you like, go to the page and read about the possible selections, and then vote for the one that you think deserves the endorsement. Our country won't get better without our help.
News
Power Crews Diverted. Maybe it wasn't very judicious of us to accuse Cheney of being on vacation while Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. As it turns out, Cheney was quite busy, making important phone calls and giving critical directives. It seems that within hours of Katrina striking, Cheney's office called to order two power substations restarted. Those substations serve the Colonial Pipeline Company, which sends fuel to the Northeast. In the meantime, this order delayed efforts to restore power to the local area, including substations that serve local hospitals and medical centers. Apparently, the order was given to "avert a national fuel crisis". We're not sure about you, but given the choice between causing millions of people to have a hard time finding gas for a day, and providing medical assistance to hundreds of suffering people, we'd be willing to walk around for a day if necessary. It's really this simple: Cheney and people of his ilk care more about money and property than they do about people and their lives. You might be able to argue that this was critical infrastructure that needed to be maintained, but nonetheless, the story is incriminating: A potential fuel shortage was able to rouse Cheney from his vacation, but apparently the destruction caused by Katrina wasn't bad enough to keep him from returning to it.
Chertoff Delayed Federal Response, Memo Shows. It's official - we now know that Brownie was the administration's fall guy. How else can you explain it? Don't get us wrong - Mike Brown completely screwed up, and wasn't qualified for his job in the first place, but Chertoff shouldn't be let off the hook, either. The power to send federal agencies into action over Katrina laid with Chertoff until 36 hours after the storm. That means that Chertoff could have done something earlier, but did not. Chertoff, not Brown, was responsible for creating and implementing the National Response Plan. Chertoff was apparently "confused" about his role. Confused? You'll pardon our skepticism here. Say what you will about Tom Ridge, but we're fairly sure he wouldn't have been "confused" about his job description.
Support for Bush Continues to Drop, Poll Shows. In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, Bush's approval rating continues to hover at 41%. For the first time ever, only half of the Americans surveyed approve of the way Bush is handling terrorism. Over 60% say that he doesn't share their priorities, while barely half say he has strong qualities of leadership. More Americans now distrust the federal government to do the right thing than at any time since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And finally, while half of all respondents disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled the aftermath of Katrina, nearly three-quarters of blacks do. What does this tell us? Simply what we've known all along - Bush is an ineffective leader; it just means that most Americans are waking up to it now.
Editorials
Parsing the Abortion Debate. Well, no one ever said that John Roberts wasn't smart. As Terry Neal writes, as he is cruising through his confirmation hearings, he neither confirmed nor denied his desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet he did so in a way that left both sides thinking that he was on their side. Although many pro-choice groups are demanding that Roberts be up front and answer the abortion question, the sad truth is that he does not have to. And if his hearings continue as they have for the first three days, Roberts seems a shoe-in to be confirmed. Then again, there's always the possibility that we'll find out that he used to have an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper or something.
Time to Talk to Al-Qaeda? Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, associate director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, has an editorial up in the Boston Globe where he suggests that, as this conflict enters it's fifth year, it might just be time to talk to Al-Qaeda. After all, neither side is ever going to "win" this war. While it is in the realm of possibility that we will succeed in liberating Iraq, we will never be able to truly stop Al-Qaeda; the organization is too large, too diverse, and constantly growing. And even with a nuclear weapon or three, Al-Qaeda will never succeed in bringing the whole of America to her collective knees. So, why not try to talk? It's not like we've made any progress capturing Osama...for reasons why, keep on reading.
Blogger Commentary
Did We Let Osama Get Away on Purpose? Of course not! Such a statement is completely ridiculous, right? Well, at this point, we're not quite sure to believe. It's pretty clear that the Bush Administration's incompetence knows no bounds, but at the same time, the details that have come our regarding what happened at Tora Bora imply that bin Laden's escape was more than a mere accident. We knew bin Laden was at Tora Bora. We sent only 36 troops in to get him. Contrast this with the forces we were able to mobilize to capture Saddam Hussein. Cenk Uygur outlines the details of this utter farce, and some possible explanations. Frankly, whether staggering incompetence or borderline treason, it doesn't matter: Bush is a failure and is completely incapable AND uninterested in keeping Americans safe.
Bankruptcy Laws: If They're Unfair To Victims of Katrina, They're Unfair To Everyone. We talked about this when the bill was passed, but Michael from AMERICAblog hits the nail on the head: If the bankruptcy bill is unfair to the victims of Katrina, then why is it fair to the rest of the country? Michael is right when he calls on Democrats to overturn this bill; however, they would have some trouble. The bill passed the Senate back in May by 74-25, which meant that quite a few Democrats voted to pass the bill (18, to be exact). You see, this is why leaders should always vote their conscience. If those 18 didn't vote for the bill, Democrats would be in a much stronger position to decry it now. If those 18 actually voted for the bill because they believed in it, then why do they still consider themselves Democrats?
|
December 29, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Thursday's Links
Activism
Vote for a Grassroots All-Star. Ever complain about the lack of good candidates for public office? Well, now's your chance to put your mouse where your mouth is. Democracy for America is taking a poll, asking you to decide who they should endorse as the first member of their "DFA-List". An endorsement from DFA is pretty powerful, but the real power lies with those who participate in our democracy. If you have a local representative that you liek, vote for him or her. If you don't have a representative you like, go to the page and read about the possible selections, and then vote for the one that you think deserves the endorsement. Our country won't get better without our help.
News
Power Crews Diverted. Maybe it wasn't very judicious of us to accuse Cheney of being on vacation while Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. As it turns out, Cheney was quite busy, making important phone calls and giving critical directives. It seems that within hours of Katrina striking, Cheney's office called to order two power substations restarted. Those substations serve the Colonial Pipeline Company, which sends fuel to the Northeast. In the meantime, this order delayed efforts to restore power to the local area, including substations that serve local hospitals and medical centers. Apparently, the order was given to "avert a national fuel crisis". We're not sure about you, but given the choice between causing millions of people to have a hard time finding gas for a day, and providing medical assistance to hundreds of suffering people, we'd be willing to walk around for a day if necessary. It's really this simple: Cheney and people of his ilk care more about money and property than they do about people and their lives. You might be able to argue that this was critical infrastructure that needed to be maintained, but nonetheless, the story is incriminating: A potential fuel shortage was able to rouse Cheney from his vacation, but apparently the destruction caused by Katrina wasn't bad enough to keep him from returning to it.
Chertoff Delayed Federal Response, Memo Shows. It's official - we now know that Brownie was the administration's fall guy. How else can you explain it? Don't get us wrong - Mike Brown completely screwed up, and wasn't qualified for his job in the first place, but Chertoff shouldn't be let off the hook, either. The power to send federal agencies into action over Katrina laid with Chertoff until 36 hours after the storm. That means that Chertoff could have done something earlier, but did not. Chertoff, not Brown, was responsible for creating and implementing the National Response Plan. Chertoff was apparently "confused" about his role. Confused? You'll pardon our skepticism here. Say what you will about Tom Ridge, but we're fairly sure he wouldn't have been "confused" about his job description.
Support for Bush Continues to Drop, Poll Shows. In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, Bush's approval rating continues to hover at 41%. For the first time ever, only half of the Americans surveyed approve of the way Bush is handling terrorism. Over 60% say that he doesn't share their priorities, while barely half say he has strong qualities of leadership. More Americans now distrust the federal government to do the right thing than at any time since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And finally, while half of all respondents disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled the aftermath of Katrina, nearly three-quarters of blacks do. What does this tell us? Simply what we've known all along - Bush is an ineffective leader; it just means that most Americans are waking up to it now.
Editorials
Parsing the Abortion Debate. Well, no one ever said that John Roberts wasn't smart. As Terry Neal writes, as he is cruising through his confirmation hearings, he neither confirmed nor denied his desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet he did so in a way that left both sides thinking that he was on their side. Although many pro-choice groups are demanding that Roberts be up front and answer the abortion question, the sad truth is that he does not have to. And if his hearings continue as they have for the first three days, Roberts seems a shoe-in to be confirmed. Then again, there's always the possibility that we'll find out that he used to have an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper or something.
Time to Talk to Al-Qaeda? Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, associate director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, has an editorial up in the Boston Globe where he suggests that, as this conflict enters it's fifth year, it might just be time to talk to Al-Qaeda. After all, neither side is ever going to "win" this war. While it is in the realm of possibility that we will succeed in liberating Iraq, we will never be able to truly stop Al-Qaeda; the organization is too large, too diverse, and constantly growing. And even with a nuclear weapon or three, Al-Qaeda will never succeed in bringing the whole of America to her collective knees. So, why not try to talk? It's not like we've made any progress capturing Osama...for reasons why, keep on reading.
Blogger Commentary
Did We Let Osama Get Away on Purpose? Of course not! Such a statement is completely ridiculous, right? Well, at this point, we're not quite sure to believe. It's pretty clear that the Bush Administration's incompetence knows no bounds, but at the same time, the details that have come our regarding what happened at Tora Bora imply that bin Laden's escape was more than a mere accident. We knew bin Laden was at Tora Bora. We sent only 36 troops in to get him. Contrast this with the forces we were able to mobilize to capture Saddam Hussein. Cenk Uygur outlines the details of this utter farce, and some possible explanations. Frankly, whether staggering incompetence or borderline treason, it doesn't matter: Bush is a failure and is completely incapable AND uninterested in keeping Americans safe.
Bankruptcy Laws: If They're Unfair To Victims of Katrina, They're Unfair To Everyone. We talked about this when the bill was passed, but Michael from AMERICAblog hits the nail on the head: If the bankruptcy bill is unfair to the victims of Katrina, then why is it fair to the rest of the country? Michael is right when he calls on Democrats to overturn this bill; however, they would have some trouble. The bill passed the Senate back in May by 74-25, which meant that quite a few Democrats voted to pass the bill (18, to be exact). You see, this is why leaders should always vote their conscience. If those 18 didn't vote for the bill, Democrats would be in a much stronger position to decry it now. If those 18 actually voted for the bill because they believed in it, then why do they still consider themselves Democrats?
|
December 29, 2005
Vote for a Grassroots All-Star. Ever complain about the lack of good candidates for public office? Well, now's your chance to put your mouse where your mouth is. Democracy for America is taking a poll, asking you to decide who they should endorse as the first member of their "DFA-List". An endorsement from DFA is pretty powerful, but the real power lies with those who participate in our democracy. If you have a local representative that you liek, vote for him or her. If you don't have a representative you like, go to the page and read about the possible selections, and then vote for the one that you think deserves the endorsement. Our country won't get better without our help.
News
Power Crews Diverted. Maybe it wasn't very judicious of us to accuse Cheney of being on vacation while Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. As it turns out, Cheney was quite busy, making important phone calls and giving critical directives. It seems that within hours of Katrina striking, Cheney's office called to order two power substations restarted. Those substations serve the Colonial Pipeline Company, which sends fuel to the Northeast. In the meantime, this order delayed efforts to restore power to the local area, including substations that serve local hospitals and medical centers. Apparently, the order was given to "avert a national fuel crisis". We're not sure about you, but given the choice between causing millions of people to have a hard time finding gas for a day, and providing medical assistance to hundreds of suffering people, we'd be willing to walk around for a day if necessary. It's really this simple: Cheney and people of his ilk care more about money and property than they do about people and their lives. You might be able to argue that this was critical infrastructure that needed to be maintained, but nonetheless, the story is incriminating: A potential fuel shortage was able to rouse Cheney from his vacation, but apparently the destruction caused by Katrina wasn't bad enough to keep him from returning to it.
Chertoff Delayed Federal Response, Memo Shows. It's official - we now know that Brownie was the administration's fall guy. How else can you explain it? Don't get us wrong - Mike Brown completely screwed up, and wasn't qualified for his job in the first place, but Chertoff shouldn't be let off the hook, either. The power to send federal agencies into action over Katrina laid with Chertoff until 36 hours after the storm. That means that Chertoff could have done something earlier, but did not. Chertoff, not Brown, was responsible for creating and implementing the National Response Plan. Chertoff was apparently "confused" about his role. Confused? You'll pardon our skepticism here. Say what you will about Tom Ridge, but we're fairly sure he wouldn't have been "confused" about his job description.
Support for Bush Continues to Drop, Poll Shows. In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, Bush's approval rating continues to hover at 41%. For the first time ever, only half of the Americans surveyed approve of the way Bush is handling terrorism. Over 60% say that he doesn't share their priorities, while barely half say he has strong qualities of leadership. More Americans now distrust the federal government to do the right thing than at any time since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And finally, while half of all respondents disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled the aftermath of Katrina, nearly three-quarters of blacks do. What does this tell us? Simply what we've known all along - Bush is an ineffective leader; it just means that most Americans are waking up to it now.
Editorials
Parsing the Abortion Debate. Well, no one ever said that John Roberts wasn't smart. As Terry Neal writes, as he is cruising through his confirmation hearings, he neither confirmed nor denied his desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. Yet he did so in a way that left both sides thinking that he was on their side. Although many pro-choice groups are demanding that Roberts be up front and answer the abortion question, the sad truth is that he does not have to. And if his hearings continue as they have for the first three days, Roberts seems a shoe-in to be confirmed. Then again, there's always the possibility that we'll find out that he used to have an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper or something.
Time to Talk to Al-Qaeda? Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, associate director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, has an editorial up in the Boston Globe where he suggests that, as this conflict enters it's fifth year, it might just be time to talk to Al-Qaeda. After all, neither side is ever going to "win" this war. While it is in the realm of possibility that we will succeed in liberating Iraq, we will never be able to truly stop Al-Qaeda; the organization is too large, too diverse, and constantly growing. And even with a nuclear weapon or three, Al-Qaeda will never succeed in bringing the whole of America to her collective knees. So, why not try to talk? It's not like we've made any progress capturing Osama...for reasons why, keep on reading.
Blogger Commentary
Did We Let Osama Get Away on Purpose? Of course not! Such a statement is completely ridiculous, right? Well, at this point, we're not quite sure to believe. It's pretty clear that the Bush Administration's incompetence knows no bounds, but at the same time, the details that have come our regarding what happened at Tora Bora imply that bin Laden's escape was more than a mere accident. We knew bin Laden was at Tora Bora. We sent only 36 troops in to get him. Contrast this with the forces we were able to mobilize to capture Saddam Hussein. Cenk Uygur outlines the details of this utter farce, and some possible explanations. Frankly, whether staggering incompetence or borderline treason, it doesn't matter: Bush is a failure and is completely incapable AND uninterested in keeping Americans safe.
Bankruptcy Laws: If They're Unfair To Victims of Katrina, They're Unfair To Everyone. We talked about this when the bill was passed, but Michael from AMERICAblog hits the nail on the head: If the bankruptcy bill is unfair to the victims of Katrina, then why is it fair to the rest of the country? Michael is right when he calls on Democrats to overturn this bill; however, they would have some trouble. The bill passed the Senate back in May by 74-25, which meant that quite a few Democrats voted to pass the bill (18, to be exact). You see, this is why leaders should always vote their conscience. If those 18 didn't vote for the bill, Democrats would be in a much stronger position to decry it now. If those 18 actually voted for the bill because they believed in it, then why do they still consider themselves Democrats?
