Still Fighting

Activism

Patriot Act Becomes An Anti-Civil Liberties Christmas Tree. That darn Patriot Act just won't go away. Our favorite Representative John Conyers has an update about what's going on with the nefarious act, and in his words, "it is not good." The House is scheduled to vote on its renewal today, but that doesn't mean it's too late to act. You can go to Conyers' Patriot Act Action Center to get more informed about the details of the Act and find resources. Additionally, you should go here to sign his petition against renewing the act. The first article we linked to paints a pretty scary picture of how the Republicans have hijacked the bill, and need to be stopped. That is, unless you don't care about civil liberties any more.

News

House Democrats Defeat Spending Bill. Talk about being on a mini-roll. Democrats in the House were unanimous in voting against yesterday's health, education and social programs funding bill. One of the chief reasons for the Democratic unity was the fact that, for the first time in a decade that someone has proposed education cuts. Republicans also blame the abscence of Tom DeLay's "vote-gathering powers." The quote of the day goes to Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), who said, speaking about Roy Blunt taking over for DeLay, "Not every blunt instrument is a hammer." Really, if we've gotten to the point where Democrats can claim such a large victory in the House, of all places, maybe it means we're finally uniting the party and doing something right. Now we just need to work on that message thing.

Senators Threaten to Hold Up Patriot Act. This would have been unthinkable two years ago, but a bipartisan panel, made up of Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Larry Craig (R-ID), John Sununu (R-NH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have told the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees that they will try to block the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, protesting the changes that were agreed to on Wednesday. Those changes, while appearing good on the surface, removed a few restrictions that had been in the original Act, including requiring the government to inform targets of a "sneak and peek" search warrant within seven to 30 days, and a provision that would have mandated judicial reviews when authorities used Patriot Act powers to search financial, medical, library, school and other records. Most outspoken of the six Senators is Russ Feingold, the only Senator with the guts to vote against the Patriot Act the first time around. With Congress in a rush to finish legislation in time for Thanksgiving, it's going to be interesting to see how this situation is addressed by Republican leadership. Given the bi-partisenness of this situation, Republicans can't just cry foul over it. (See "Activism" for what you can do to help.)

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force. We hope you're prepared for this shocker. Are you sitting down? Well, it turns out that our Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has ties to big oil companies. Our President does as well! And, furthermore, they've been making record profits recently, as the costs of gasoline and heating skyrocket. It seems Mr. Cheney held "Energy Task Force" meetings in 2001, in which he listened to corporations and completely ignored environmentalists. Those big oil companies claimed not to be involved at their recent hearings, but apparently they were lying. How did they get away with that? Well, the Republican Chair of the Energy Committee, Ted Stevens, refused to place the oil execs under oath. At least the Senate managed to increase taxes on Big Oil just a bit, amidst another disasterous spending bill.

Editorials

Reid: We Need Answers and a Way Forward in Iraq, Not Another Cheney Attack Speech. Boy, someone must have slipped the Democrats a bottle of Skele-gro. How else can you explain the sudden spines that have shown up in the Democratic Party? Here, you can read prepared remarks spoken by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) on the Senate floor. See, Reid's a little miffed that Cheney can take the time to hold a closed-door speech to "DC insiders," but can't find the time to talk to reporters. It really is stunning. At this point, even the most clueless of us must realize that our actions in Iraq simply aren't working. Yet here's Dick "Stay the Course" Cheney, telling us we'll be all right. We've said it before, and we'll say it again. Worst. Veep. Ever.

Black Bodies Remain Still.....Part II. Scout Prime outlines a horrific situation that we can't even begin to imagine. Katrina victims that are finally returning home are finding the dead bodies of their relatives amongst the wreckage. Scout Prime's righteous indignation sums it up: "It is a disgrace that this is happening in America...This is not a matter of time or resources. The authorities simply chose not to take the time or allocate the resources to Do the Right Thing." At the time of the post, very few were reporting the news. Now, at least, the mainstream media has picked up on it, but that doesn't mean our outrage should dwindle in the least.


Blogger Commentary

Frist Secretly Pimps For Drugmakers Again!! Jamie Court chronicles yet another underhanded, sneaky, dirty trick by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN). We're surprised that this doesn't fall under the catagory of "ethics violation," personally. Frist is trying to add a last-minute amendment to an appropriations bill that would provide legal protection for drug manufacturers or distributors of vaccines used during a White-House declared "public health threat." Specifically, the written amendment would "bar any punitive damages and limit awards for physical and emotional pain and suffering and other noneconomic damages to a maximum of $250,000." According to Bush, "In the past three decades, the number of vaccine manufacturers in America has plummeted, as the industry has been flooded with lawsuits. Today, there is only one manufacturer in the United States that can produce influenza vaccine." So, we're supposed to give the companies carte blanche? Particularly when the one company that would benefit the most from this amendment just happens to be a giant donor to the Frist campaign? What's next? Giving McDonald's a free pass for possible mad cow? This is a blatant ethics violation, and it makes us sick.

The Ohio Vote. John Cole, over at Balloon Juice, details a GAO report that shows that there were, in fact, problems with voting machines in Ohio in 2004. Machines did not record votes, machine results could be altered, machine real-time results could be tampered with, and gaining unauthorized access to the network was a piece of cake; it's a bloody mess. As much as we favor technology, we find outselves agreeing with Cole; the electronic voting machine needs to be retired. It's obvious that states don't want to pay for any sort of verified voting or paper receipts. It's also quite frustrating that this isn't bigger news.