Still Fighting

Wednesday's Links

2005-12-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Activism

Help Set MoveOn's Course. You have ideas on how to change the system, but chances are, you alone don't have the capital or influence to make those changes happen. That's where MoveOn comes in. They've created an online forum for you to voice suggestions as to what their next major focus should be. Election reform? Presidential law? What's it going to be, America? Log on now and write your recommendation.

News

Top 12 Media Myths and Falsehoods on the Bush Administration's Spying Scandal. Media Matters has compiled a list of 12 "media myths and falsehoods" regarding Bush's illegal wire-tapping. Everything from "timeliness necessitaed bypassing the FISA court" to "the Clinton administration conducted domestic spying," this article debunks every Republican argument for wire-tapping. Our president clearly feels that the law is beneath him, and this article will certainly make you mad enough to do something about it.

Abortions Rare In South Dakota. Will Others Follow? Although we're not willing to grant Hilary Clinton the reigns to the country, she does have some policies that just make a whole lot of sense. One of them is her stance on abortion; while Clinton is obviously a pro-choice proponent, she also agrees that just having abortions legal isn't enough. More must be done to discourage the need for abortions, through education programs (yes, including, but not limited to, abstinence). But for every step forward we take, states like South Dakota take three steps backwards. There's one clinic in the state of South Dakota that provides abortions, and they do it one day a week. The reason that it's only one day a week is that no doctor in the state of South Dakota will provide an abortion, and so one of four doctors flies in from Minnesota every week. Some people in the state, one of three to only have one clinic state-wide, have to travel as much as 700 miles roundtrip in this mostly rural, poor state. It's not that all doctors in SD are morally opposed to giving abortions; they are, however, concerned about "their careers and community standing." We talk about "letting the terrorists win" by hiding in fear; how is this any different?

Fear Destroys What in Laden Could Not. And speaking of "letting the terrorists win," the Miami Herald has an analysis of how bin Laden's actions have, in fact, helped him accomplish what he set out to do: put fear into the hearts of Americans. Bin Laden's fear has changed the face of this country, and whether you consider that the changes were a direct result of bin Laden or a result of Bush doing things that he wants, and using bin Laden as a convenient excuse, the fact remains that this is a very different country than it was 5 years ago. Yet we spend our time arguing about a "war on Christmas." No wonder the face of this country is changing.

Editorials

Power That Bush Can't Just Take. Eugene Robinson is of one mind with the Still Fighting crew. Even if you believe, in some bizarro universe, that Bush has done evrtyhing he's done for the betterment of the country (the Patriot Act, the Iraq war, etc.), you still cannot believe that his decision to wire-tap Americans is a good one. There is just nothing to justify this "administration's usurpation of power." If Bush wants go full-tilt against terrorism, he could have policemen on every corner doing random profile searches. He could have "the White House lawyers to draw up yet another thumb-on-the-scale legal opinion explaining how torture isn't really torture, and have at it," in order to preserve freedom. He could eavesdrop on every American email, telephone call and letter, and bring in anyone who looks "suspicious." But we don't do these things because they are, after all, absurd. "There can be no freedom without some measure of risk." This president has single-handedly taken away America's values, freedoms and ethics and created the image of a society that just doesn't give a damn; a society that will do anything to survive. That's why we're here, and that's why you're reading this. Because you care about America, and you're not willing to let one man throw away 230 years of history because "he can."

Blogger Commentary

Ted Koppel: "If 9/11 Had Happened on Bill Clinton's Watch, He Would Have Gone Into Iraq." This is about as dumb as dumb can be. Ted Koppel is a celebrated and respected newsman, but for him to even consider that Bill Clinton would have done the same thing is absurd. As Steven Brant writes, Clinton would have done exactly what the American people would have expected him to do; he would have sent 10 times the number of troops we sent to find bin Laden. Period. And even if Clinton somehow believed that Iraq had WMDs (a lie which we know now to be fabricated by this administration), you can bet that Clinton would not have wavered from finding bin Laden until he had him (or his corpse) in captivity. Americans expected nothing less, and he would have delivered nothing less. Bush had the chance to unite this country, to get Americans from both sides of the divide solidly behind him, and instead of working to better the country, eh chose to mislead the country into a useless war. Koppel should have known better.

Tuesday's Links

2005-12-27T19:16:00.000-05:00

Activism

Letter Advising the President of Censure and Steps to Begin Special Committee Investigation. Representative John Conyers has written a letter to our illustrious president, telling him that we're extremely unhappy with his gross misuse of power, and "calling upon Congress to form a Special Committee to investigate your administration's abuses of power and report any offenses which rise to the level of impeachment." Although this letter alone won't spurn the president into action (really, what will?), this is an extremely good first step in showing our country that we won't stand for a president who feels that law is beneath him.

News

U.S. Allies in Iraq Want Out, Adding to Bush Pressure. Read it and rejoice. Other countries are getting the message from their citizens that they need to get out of Iraq. Italy and South Korea are just two of the countries that are pulling out of the so-called "coalition of the willing." Now, when will our president heed the call? Sending home 7,000 troops by the end of 2006 is not exactly "bringing the troops home."

Media Matters for America Applauds CNN Decision to Drop Robert Novak. Astute readers will recall Robert Novack's obscene outburst on CNN last August, when he got into a bit of a spat with James Carville, swore on the air (live), and stormed off the set. Novack is universally reviled by liberals, for his insincerity, his skewing of the facts, and, lest we forget, his unexplained role in leaking Valerie Plame's name. This is the same columnist who demanded Clinton be impeached for his lying under oath about Lewinski, yet sees no problem with Bush's thorough abuse of power. We're glad he's off the air. Now, other media outlets need to see Novack for what he is, and drop his syndication.

Editorials

What Bush Could Learn From Lincoln. Much has been made about Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book, "Team of Rivals." Licoln's presidency was filled with many good things. He was a model for the Republican Party (although not the current version of the party, for sure). He stocked his cabinet with his political opponents, to keep himself honest. He helped unite a country divided, not by blue and red, but blue and grey. Robert Kuttner explains what more Bush could learn from Lincoln. We'd love to buy a copy of the book for our president, but we're afraid that the only thing he'd emancipate is the top 1%.

Blogger Commentary

A Fitting Epilogue. The Cunning Realist is back with a collection of quotes surrounding Dr. Rihab Rashida Taha (Doctor Germ) and Dr. Huda Ammash (Doctor Anthrax). Both were caught and arrested in 2003, for their efforts in creating Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" program. Last week, U.S. forces in Iraq released the two "following the failure to find weapons of mass destruction." When will the president admit that he took us to war under false, manufactured pretenses? History will show that he did, but that doesn't help us in the here and now.

Thursday's Links

2005-12-22T21:32:00.000-05:00

We would like to apologize for the sporadic posting. December has been extremely rough on both of us, schedule-wise. We are still actively seeking other writers, so if you're interested, drop us an email to the links above. Thanks!

Activism

This Divided State. A documentary by Steven Greenstreet. Looking at the screenshots, you might think that this is a documentary of "Michael Moore vs. the World," but it's far more than that. From the filmmaker's website: "A raw and riveting examination of the heated "red versus blue" rift in the nation, This Divided State begins in September 2004 with the presidential election fast approaching and the State of Utah ready to declare itself "Bush Country" once again. However, this complacent state of Republican majority was rocked when Utah Valley State College announced that liberal filmmaker Michael Moore would speak on their campus two weeks before the election. Within 24 hours of the announcement, a media frenzy descended upon the school as angry community members and religious leaders shouted protests, pointed fingers, and quoted Mormon scripture. Some even claimed Moore's arrival would bring the Apocalypse." This Divided State is a gripping look at how politics can tear apart a state. The link above will allow you to watch the first 26 minutes of the film, and we're fairly sure that, after seeing it, you'll want to buy the whole film.

News

Paradise Lost. For the vast majority of us, the war on gay rights in this country isn't very concrete. We know that it's unjust, but even if you're gay, it doesn't necessarily have an impact in your daily lives. The story of Barbara and Tibby, two Virginia lesbians, probably isn't going to change anyone's minds on gay rights and the gay marriage issue. But the important lesson is to understand that decisions made for political reasons do impact real people's lives. In this case, Virginia's passing of the "Affirmation of Marriage Act" basically forced these women to leave their home and community behind, because they could no longer be assured of rights they counted on, such as visiting rights and property co-ownership. Read the quote from State Sen. R. Edward Houck (D), who voted for the law: " 'I can't always just vote my conscience and my convictions,' he says. Houck also insists that Barbara and Tibby, whom he doesn't know, don't have to leave Fredericksburg, that the law refers not to wills and medical directives, but 'the rights and responsibilities of marriage.' But what are those? 'I can't answer that,' he says. 'I don't know all these things.' " When you make policies based on ignorance and hate and intolerance, real people get hurt.

Editorials

Their Own Patriot Act. Although E.J. Dionne's editorial is from earlier this week was written before Congress authorized the Patriot Act to be extended by one month, his point is still valid. Four Republicans Senators crossed party lines to continue debate on the Patriot Act, one of the most heinous pieces of legislation to pass our government. True, some parts of the act are beneficial. But overall, Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) initial displeasure with the bill has turned the Patriot Act into something which is being scrutinized more closely. Debate rages on, and we'll find out in January what the ultimate resolution will be.

Blogger Commentary

Bush Lies, Again (Surprise, Surprise). There's been a lot of flap (and rightfully so) surrounding the bombshell that Bush authorized wire-tapping. In this commentary, mcjoan, writing for Daily Kos, prints a quote from Bush about how wire-tapping in 2001 would have helped capture al-Qaeda operatives in San Diego. Unfortunately for Bush, the NSA already knew about these operatives and were listening to their phone calls, and should have alerted the FBI as to their presence in the U.S. But the NSA didn't. This isn't about wire-tapping; it's about what the 9/11 commission wrote: the bungling and dropped information between intelligence agencies. This article, by DHinMI (of Daily Kos), cries foul on Republicans who tried to cry foul on Democrats. See, Congressmen Nancy Pelosi and Jay Rockefeller both wrote letters to the White House when they learned about this spying, and Republicans called Rockefeller out, saying that if he was so concerned, he should have gone public. News flash: if the Distinguished Gentleman from West Virginia had gone public, he would have been breaking the law. "As a member of the so-called 'gang of four' which includes the top Republican and Democrat of the Senate and House intelligence committees, Rockefeller was one of four members of Congress who received those briefings. . .The 'gang' -- Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan and Democrats Rockefeller and Rep. Jane Harman of California -- is virtually gagged from discussing anything from meetings with anyone outside the group -- not even other senators, staffers or lawyers with security clearance on the intelligence committees. 'You can't discuss it with anybody as long as you live,' Rockefeller said Monday." How convenient for Republicans, who conveniently leave out the fact that if Rockefeller had gone public, he'd be facing crimes far worse than treason.

Humor

Special Address from the President. This may be a few years old, but it gives you an accurate portrayal of how our president thinks of science. You'll need Quicktime for it. Thanks to Mike Sese for the link.

Wednesday's Links

2005-12-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

Activism

Make Your Freedom of Information Act Request. Today's post is mostly devoted to Bush's illegal wire-tapping. Yes, illegal. And by the time you finish today's post, you'll agree with us. We start with today's activism (above). The Democratic Party has created a nifty petition for George W. Bush. You see, Bush's buddies over at Justice created memos that contain legal justification for Bush's wire-tapping. But those documents are still classified, though it's been over two years. DNC leader Howard Dean has created a request for this information, under the Freedom of Information Act. Sign his petition, and help us discover what sort of lies the Justice Department has created to spin this as "legal."

News

Bush's Snoopgate. Jonathan Alter, writing for Newsweek, notes that we "finally" have a scandal that goes beyond sex or bribes. In Bush's televised speech on Sunday night, he "came out swinging," warning us all that if we didn't stand with him, we supported the terrorists. Not only is such a claim ludicrous, but it's not working anymore. Any blind fear that Americans had after 9/11 has been lost, courtesy of a president who is more concerned with advancing his own agenda than the country's. In fact, you can easily see how 9/11 turned Bush from president to "dictator," as Alter calls him. Bush didn't try to keep the story submerged within the New York Times because of "national security." He tried to keep the story submerged because he was breaking the law, pure and simple. Although we're ultimately pleased that the story finally ran, the New York Times isn't off the hook for sitting on it for a year.

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest. U.S. District Judge James Robertson resigned on Monday, from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court). Robertson resigned in protest of Bush's wire-tapping, which he says undermined the work of the court these last four years. Although Senators and Congressmen on both sides share Robertson's sentiment, there are still some Republicans who can't understand what the fuss is about. "I am personally comfortable with everything I know about it," Acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-MO) said. That's probably because he's not under surveillance. Here's Robertson's beef, and it's fair: Since 1979, the FISA court has approved tens of thousands of eavesdropping requests and rejected only four. There was no indication the existing system was slow-as the president seemed to claim in his press conference-or in any way required extra-constitutional action. So why undermine FISA? Why break the law? We'll still be scratching our heads in outrage at this one for years.

Editorials

Why Didn't He Ask Congress? Wow. As a self-billed conservative, how badly do you need to screw up to have George F. Will call you out? Apparently, wire-tapping crosses that line. Will makes some excellent points, including the idea that Congress would probably have approved this, if Bush had come to them. Will also argues that the "legal justification" memos (see above) should be declassified and discussed. Will is nothing if not a historian, and our government was created the way it was so that one branch would not be able to run amok. You may remember the phrase "checks and balances" from your high school civics class. By circumventing Congress, Bush has shown that he's going to do what he wants, when he wants. Only, with this story, Bush may have picked on someone just a little bigger then he: Congress. How is Congress supposed to take Bush seriously now? How are any of us?

Fear Distorting the Rule of Law. H.D.S. Greenway, writing for the Boston Globe, draws on a unique parallel between Bush and Roosevelt. Well, perhaps parallel isn't the right word. In Roosevelt's most famous speech, he said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Perhaps you've heard those words before. Roosevelt was leading the greatest country in the world against the greatest threat that the world had seen. He urged the country to not be blinded by their fear; don't allow the fear to cloud your judgment, in other words. But Bush seems to be allowing a conception of fear to cloud his judgment. Surely he can't really believe that going to war in Iraq, creating a color-coded system for warnings and wire-tapping thousands of Americans will make this country safer, can he? A President threatening to veto a ban on torture? A Vice-President actively lobbying for torture? Greenway writes that "I have no doubt that one day the Bush administration's curtailment of civil liberties, especially the torture of prisoners, will be looked back on as a national shame." Bush is using people's fear to try and promote his agenda. Only, that fear is now dissipating into anger.

Enough. Let's Try 'Accountability.'. Richard Cohen echoes a sentiment we've been preaching since we started this blog. Bush ran in 2000 on the "responsible" ticket. And boy, has he been responsible for some doozies. The Iraq war. The failed Social Security non-plan. Katrina's non-relief. But nothing is more shocking, appalling, or close-to-the-bone as the revelation that Bush authorized wire-taps. Cohen lays out how Bush has repeatedly used the word "responsibility," and yet each time, no one holds him accountable for that responsibility. Well, he's now crossed a line that can't be uncrossed, and it's time to demand action.

Blogger Commentary

S.O.S.. Katherine, over at Obsidian Wings, uses Monday's press conference as a jumping off point for the case that this administration is out of control. Creating legal justification for anything the President wants, like the wire-tapping, is only one part of it. Secret prisons. Torture of innocents. This isn't the America that we grew up with, and we sincerely hope that it's not the America we'll see in 10 years. Bush steamrolling over the 4th amendment is but the tip of the iceberg. Folks, this is just going to keep happening until we do something about it. Write your Senator today and ask them to demand that the "legal justification" memos be declassified. If this was being done by a Democratic president, he'd be facing impeachment proceedings right now. What does it say about our country when Bill Clinton is put on trial for lying about a blow job, but Bush, who is so deliriously drunk with power that he flaunts the law like a trophy wife, walks around free?

Florida Elections Director Now Believes '2000 Presidential Election Hacked'! Yes, there is other news out there besides wire-tapping! Brad, of BradBlog fame, is nothing if not eager. But he's also immersed himself into spreading the truth about the Republican machine. This time, he discusses the voter problems in the state of Florida. Based on a "hack test" last week, in which results of a mock election were changed with no discernable evidence, election officials were stunned. The machines were made by, you guessed it, Diebold, who are slowly but surely finding their market squeezed smaller and smaller as more and more examples of their treachery come to light. It's hard enough to get people to come out and vote in the first place. By supporting Diebold, states are telling their citizens that their votes really don't matter anyway.

Monday's Links

2005-12-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

Activism

The Innocence Project. The Innocence Project is a group (based at Yeshiva University) whose mandate is to "exonerate the wrongfully convicted through postconviction DNA testing; and develop and implement reforms to prevent wrongful convictions." We've seen a few cases over the last few weeks where the wrong people have been prosecuted due to DNA evidence that wasn't properly handled, or despite evidence that will clear them, based on newer technology. Witness the story of these two Virginia men, or this man in Ohio, for example. The Innocence Project is a not-for-profit group, and they need support to help those that cannot afford to help themselves; those to whom the system has given no hope. Make a donation today, and help us straighten out the legal system in this country. Even one wrongfully incarcerated person means that the system isn't working as it should be.

News

Health Care for All, Just a (Big) Step Away. In 2004, two-thirds of the 45.5 million Americans who lacked health insurance in 2004 earned less than twice what the federal government defines as poverty ($19,300 for a family of four). The money that the government spends to allow Americans to buy health insurance is in the range of $130 billion (and growing), but that's mostly in the form of tax cuts, and those cuts go straight to the top 1%. Think about that amount of money: $130 billion. Some experts believe that that figure alone can get us to universal health care. Imagine the closing of private companies and extending "Medicaid coverage up to the desired income level and to require people above that point to buy into the system according to a price scale that rose proportionately to income." This analysis is pretty thorough, and it makes sense. After all, while the American Dream is to build yourself up to become rich, that doesn't mean you need to step on those who are trying to follow you up there.

Criminal Probes Entangle Numerous Fund-Raisers. Welcome to Ohio, where Republican corruption seems to be a way of life. But it's not limited to Ohio, where folks like Tom Noe and Larry Householder are giving new meaning to the term "ethics violation." Consider the "Bush Pioneers and Rangers;" individuals who raised at least $100,000 to $200,000 for the 2004 Bush campaign. The money was used for "bribery, money laundering, stock manipulation, and extortion," no exaggeration. In fact, the multiple instances of ethical and legal violations of the law have led one Democrat to speculate that, as investigations continue, there will be "enough [convictions] for their own prison softball team." What would they be called? The Sing Sing Swindlers? But Republican corruption isn't limited to Ohio. From James Tobin in New Hampshire (jamming Democratic phone lines) to P. Nicholas Hurtgen (hospital construction extortion scam) to Brent Wilkes (bribes, money laundering), the corruption isn't limited to those figures in office, but also those Republicans working behind the scenes. Hopefully this will open people's eyes to the ridiculous things Republicans are trying to get away with, and how these actions undermine anything they try to say in public.

Louisiana's Deadly Storm Took Strong as Well as the Helpless. The New York Times has released a study in which they were able to contact 268 families that lost someone in Hurrica Katrina, and of those 268, 260 died after the storm, either becauser they couldn't leave, wouldn't leave, and/or couldn't get help in time. While the fate of these 268 is not necessarily indicative of the 1,100 who died, it's an unsettling thought nonetheless. At this point, the State Department has released the names of less than half the estimated deaths, and no causes. But if the NYT study is any indication, many of those who died did so as a result of the aftermath of the storm, and not the storm itself. Perhaps, if things had been better organized by our illustrious president, FEMA, and state officials, we could have prevented such a large loss of life.

Editorials

The War and the Elections. A few weeks ago, we talked about how the Nation would not endorse any candidate for federal public office "who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign." Given American public sentement, this only makes sense, as Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate who wants to get our troops home. And although House Democrats are in line with this idea (Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did endore John Murtha's plan), the Senate has been in shambles. Some Senators are calling for immediate withdrawal. Some are calling for a phased-out withdrawal. Some are blasting Bush's policies, but don't want to offer an alternative, like exit. And some, like Joe Lieberman, have simply turned their back on the party to become "yes-men" for Bush. This sentence in The Nation's editorial says it all: "The key is to elect the right Democrats, or to force the wrong Democrats to get right about Iraq." There are quite a few Democratic challengers highlighted in this editorial that are on the right path...at the very least, making Bush's war stance their hot issue (if not out and out declaring that we need to bring troops home). If you think that the 2006 elections won't hinge on the war, well, you've got another thing coming.

Spying on Americans. You can be sure that we're going to have plenty of discussion of Bush's latest abuse of his authority in the near future. For now, we present a simple editorial from the Washington Post to set the stage. Why does he need to circumvent courts to secretly spy on Americans? Why should we trust that he won't abuse that authority? If members of his Administration are willing to out covert agents for political revenge, why should we believe he'd use these powers with any sort of discretion? Maybe if the President had any credibility, "Because he's the President" would be a valid answer. But he doesn't, so it isn't.

Blogger Commentary

A Conspiracy Against Organized Labor. Being on the East Coast, we have had no exposure to Ralphs Grocery Company (which owns Southland supermarkets). Well, Ralphs was recently indicted by a federal grand jury for "secretly rehired hundreds of locked-out employees under false names and false social security numbers during the 2003-2004 grocery workers labor dispute." Apparently, Ralphs rehired the locked out employees under illegal names and social security numbers, so as to hide these illegal activites from labor unions, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the National Labor Relations Board. Ralphs falsified employment records, tax records and withholding statements, all of which are illegal. In order to actually pay these rehired workers, Ralphs allowed the employees (who had payroll checks made out to the made-up names) to cash their payroll checks in the stores. Ralphs had the rehired workers moved to different stores, had them wear nametags with their fake names, and even moved them from store-to-store. All done to enhance their image and save money during the 2003-2006 strike. We don't blame the workers, most of which are under the poverty line, and needed the work and the money. We blame Ralphs for making this offer to them, and allowing them what essentially come to "no option." And all done for the almighty dollar. Thanks to Greg, over at The Talent Show, for bringing this story to light.

"Crazy Every Now And Then". The Cunning Realist provides a little historical context for our current state of government. Unfortunately, "We live in one of those uniquely 'crazy' periods in American history that seem to come along just infrequently enough that we forget how dangerous they can be." It's up to us to make sure that a) this period ends as soon as possible (2006!), and b) that the American people don't forget the havoc this "craziness" has wrought on our democracy.

Sunday's Links

2005-12-18T12:13:00.000-05:00

Activism

Shop For New Orleans. It struck the creators of this website that the best way for New Orleans to get help the city rebuild is for the city to help itself. So, the team created a listing of websites, sorted by catagory, to shop at. Everything from Art to Home Furnishings to Sporting Goods can be found here, and all stores/companies are based in New Orleans. Support the rebuilding of New Orleans, and buy yourself something nice!

News

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying. In what is certainly one of the most important stories of the year, we learned that Bush, back in 2002, authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens and foreign nationals in the U.S. The NSA, under orders from Bush, tapped the phone calls (and other types of communications) of people that this administration suspected are "tied" to al-Qaeda. Instead of getting legal permission to do this (something that would have been dicey, at best), authorities implemented this immediately because they "were worried that vital information could be lost in the time it took to secure a warrant from a special surveillance court." On top of this, the press was asked to sit on this story for a year, because of national security concerns. Was this legal? History would indicate that it's not. But one thing is for certain: In four years, Bush has pushed the envelope of wartime powers, and Americans are sick of it. Don't believe us? Then why was Bush viewed as the least popular, most bellicose, most warlike, worst for the economy, and least effective of the last 10 presidents in a recent survey?

White House Briefing: McClellan Battles Reporters Over Bush Backing DeLay . White House Press Secretary has what could possibly be the worst job in government. He has to spin Bush's foul-ups. Consider the most recent: For months now, McClellan has been saying that he would not comment on any ongoing federal investigation (i.e. Plamegate). Well, earlier this week Bush publically commented that he thought Tom DeLay was innocent. The result led reporters in the White House Press Briefing room to lambast (and we do mean lambast) McClellan over the hypocrisy. Read and chortle: we sure did.

Editorials

Big Brother Bush. Touching on the first news story above, this editorial (originally posted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) shows just how Bush has taken America one step closer to being a police state. Wire-tapping citizens, maintaining criminal files on peaceful anti-war protestors; these are the tactics of an administration gone amock. Are you happy with that? What's your "safety" worth?

Blogger Commentary

The Dirty Little Secrets of Voting System Testing Labs. Avi Rubin chimes in on a recent summit in California to discuss voting issues. The results (both what happened and what didn't happen) were surprising, to say the least. From misrepresentations from the Independent Testing Authority to Diebold codes, electronic voting is in a bad state right now. Rubin's article is a must read.

Friday's Links

2005-12-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

Activism

Dobson's Choices: It's Not a Blacklist, It's a Buyer's Guide! "Dr." James Dobson, in his infinite wisdom, has created a list of companies who support gay rights and/or activism. His intent is to have his parishoners boycott these companies. But let's get realistic; are people really going to stop shopping at the Gap and drinking Pepsi? We think not. In fact, with both Microsoft and Apple on the list as well, Dobson's probably a bigger hypocrite than we'd thought (you know, unless he's running Linux on a Dell machine). In point of fact, Dobson's list isn't going to deter anyone but the most dedicated. His list, however, is extremely useful to progressives. Want to support gay activism? Shop at the stores/companies that he's listed! By releasing this self-proclaimed "blacklist," Dobson stands to bring them more business than he will drive away! Thanks to RJ Eskow for bringing this info into the light.

News

Senate Fails to Reauthorize Patriot Act. That about says it all, right? Big ups to Chuck Hagel, Lisa Murkowski, John Sununu and Larry Craig. They are four of the five Republican Senators who voted "Nay" to the reauthorization. The fifth was Bill Frist, but that was a purely political move (by voting with the "winning side," it allows him to call for a revote at any time). The vote wasn't enough to stop Craig and Russ Feingold from filibustering this stupid act. Republicans didn't help their cause when they allowed Ted Stevens (R-AK) to attach a measure to allow drilling in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge to a Defense Spending bill. This is called "attaching a measure that has nothing to do with a bill, that has failed a vote time and time before, to a bill that will probably pass." Debate is scheduled to start on that bill tomorrow morning, and it could be much harder to block passage. Thankfully, there is bipartisan support for getting drilling taken off the spending bill, which Harry Reid has threatened to veto. Go get 'em, Democrats!

Congress Doesn't See Same Intelligence As President, Report Finds. Again, we see something we've suspected become fact. This time, it's the Congressional Research Service, who determined that Congress did not see the same intelligence about Iraq that Bush did. Senators have made this claim. Congressmen have made this claim. Now, the CSR has identified the facts, and the fact is that Bush saw more information that Congress. So how could they have made an informed decision to go to war?

Editorials

A Credibility Chasm. The Bush Administration was quick to trumpet the latest opinion poll of the president, saying that it showed a "dramatic increase in support." Forgive us for sounding dim, but it if Bush's approval rating went from 89 to 93, that might be considered dramatic. But going from 35 to 39 is far from dramatic; it's still within the margin of error! Thomas Oliphant lays out how Bush's last four speeches have actually hurt him, and why he's not gaining any credibility with the public.

No Elections Will be Credible While Occupation Continues. As a special to the Guardian, Harith al-Dari notes that elections in Iraq, although well attended, are meaningless while the country is still under occupation. His editorial makes strong, compelling reasons for us to set a timetable to leave Iraq. Now, if only someone would listen.

Blogger Commentary

Are We Really This Stupid? This has gone beyond partisan politics. Cenk Uygur writes "The deficit is careening out of control. Health care costs are through the roof. We’ve started a disastrous war in Iraq that threatens the stability of the whole region. Osama bin Laden has never been caught. The 9/11 Commission says four years after the attacks on this country, we are failing to protect the American people. And what are the Republicans talking about? Tax cuts that go largely to the upper class. The war on Christmas. The gay marriage amendment. Flag burning. Does anyone believe these are the real pressing concerns of the American people? Is our top problem that the rich don’t have enough tax breaks?" No, no one does. Yet that's what captivates our president and Republican leadership. Do everything possible to make the top 1% comfortable, and screw the rest of the country.

Thursday's Links

2005-12-15T16:40:00.000-05:00

Activism

Join Congressman Murtha's Call for a Real Debate on Iraq. What would a real debate sound like? It's been so long, we don't even know. These days, what passes for debate is something like this: Dems: "We need to get our troops out of Iraq." GOP: "You are all weak traitor who want to cut-and-run." Dems: "Oh yeah? Then why didn't you ever serve in the war?" GOP: "Stop undermining our troops." Dems: "Shut up." GOP: "No YOU shut up." And on and on. But this country needs and deserves a real, intelligent debate about what to do in Iraq now that we've basically screwed the pooch. So, go sign the petition joining John Murtha's call for a real debate about our troops in Iraq. Who knows? Maybe it'll even work!

News

Bush Takes Blame for Iraq War on Bad Intelligence. Yes, you read that right. George "I can't do wrong and won't apologize if I do" Bush has taken responsibility for going to war over faulty intelligence. Now, reign it in, kids. There's more here than meets the eye. Why would Bush finally decide to make this statement? A leopard doesn't change its spots, after all. It certainly appears to us like Bush is worried about the press sniffing around all that pre-war intelligence, the Downing Street Memo, Plamegate and all the rest, and so he's issuing a public "my bad," in an effort to get everyone to stop digging up the past. But read between the lines. The headline is actually misleading. He didn't say that invading Iraq was wrong, just that it was his responsibility, and the decision was on him. Well, that's great, except that if he doesn't think there was anything wrong with the decision, then why's it a big deal for him to admit the decision was his? He's saying this because he wants the credit for the eventual "victory", not because he acknowledges that any reasonable definition of victory has been made nigh impossible by his actions.

McCain, White House Remain at Impasse. They sure aren't picking out curtains. The White House still maintains that it wants to be able to torture people. McCain says no. That's exactly what this argument comes down to. There should not need to be any discussion. There should be no heated debate. There should be no "chatting," as McCain said. Karen Hughes, self-annointed savior of the Middle East, is on record as saying "The goal is the same here. . .The goal is to make it very clear that the United States is a nation of laws and that we operate our detainee policy within our laws, within our international obligations and without torture." Well, that's not quite true. The goal is to outlaw torture. Our president won't allow that. Her spin is pretty impressive, isn't it? She doesn't say McCain is right (although she implies it). Rather, she indicates that we follow a system of laws. Hughes must believe that the administration has some dirt on McCain that'll force him to capitulate this discourse, because decorated VietNam vet and Hanoi Hilton survivor John McCain ain't gonna roll over and play dead on this one.

Don't Dictate To Me, Canadian Leader Tells U.S. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins, acting as a mouthpiece for the administration, has really made a clusterfrick of things. First, there's the softwood lumber debate, where, in 2001, America raised tarriffs on Canada's softwood lumber to an astonishing 21% (Canada's rate is approximately 1%). America maintained all along that they were in the right, but recently NAFTA ruled that America was, in fact, not in the right, and that the 21% tarriffs were illegal. The decision meant that lumber tarriffs should be cut (which they were, but only in half) and the money America collected on those tarriffs should be returned ($4.1 billion, which hasn't been returned). Now, since that decision a few weeks ago, there's been a vote of no-confidence in Canada, and Prime Minister Paul Martin, along with the rest of government, faces a vote on January 23. In campaigning for that election, Martin has sharply criticized the U.S. several times, both for the above softwood dispute, as well as America's dinosaur-like approach to climate change. Ambassador Wilkins warned Martin not to bash the U.S. while campaigning. Martin's response? "When it comes to defending Canadian values, when it comes to standing up for Canadian interests, I'm going to call it like I see it. I am not going to be dictated to as to the subjects I should raise." In other words, "Screw you, Ambassador Wilkins." And why shouldn't Martin be ticked off? It took several rulings before the World Trade Organization and NAFTA before the softwood dispute reached the point that it's at now. Forestry is an integral and huge part of Canada's economy, and the U.S. doesn't produce enough wood to meet the enormous American demand, so we import wood from Canada. Although Canada likes our cash, they can just as easily not trade with us, and shift focus to China (which they have already begun to look at). In the meantime, Bush, using Wilkins as that mouthpiece, has managed to piss off yet another American ally. What a track record!

Editorials

An Update on Watchdog Reporting Around the U.S. Watchdog reporting? In this day and age? Yes, indeedy! And no, we're not talking about local news fearmongering, in which they reporting that drinking your tap water will kill you instantly. No, we're talking about legitimate press oversight of fraud and abuse going on every day. For instance, did you know about the dangerous cargo that's being hauled through majors cities by rail, and the problems in planning for a related disaster? Or how about the erroneous allocation of homebuying funds that was intended for low income families, and instead went to unqualified middle class home buyers? Or what about rapes and stabbings in high schools that aren't properly investigated? It's important to see that while it seems watchdog reporting at the national level is dying a slow death, there are still local cases where the press is doing its job. The results of these investigations may not be pretty, but if we're going to solve any of these problems, it certainly helps to know about them in the first place.

America's Shame in Montreal. No, this isn't about the Canadiens' 1971 thrilling Stanley Cup series against the Chicago Blackhawks. This is about climate change, and the Bush administration's adamant refusal to admit that the science is actually, you know, right. Instead of requiring companys to regulate and lower their emissions, the Bush administration favors "research into 'breakthrough' technologies," allowing companies to reduce their rates at their own pace. The problem, of course, is that companies just won't do it if the law isn't there. There's no reason (other than, you know, the survival of the human race) for companies to invest the time to make these changes. So, until we get a President who gives a damn, we're stuck with letting companies get a free ride. And if we won't require our companies to reduce their emissions, how can we possibly expect other countries to do the same?

Blogger Commentary

On Torture, III: Brutality and Sadism as National Policy, and the Monsters of Our Time. Don't feel cheated that there's only one Blogger Commentary today, because it's not only extremely important, but extremely long. Arthur Silber has a six part series on torture up at the Power of Narrative, and although we're only linking to part III, we encourage you to read the entire thing. Silber's premise for this part is that torture is never, ever, ever, ever acceptable. How can you fault that? This isn't about being "better than them." This is about holding to the morals that this country was founded upon. It's about subscribing to a code of ethics that is accepted the world over. It's about not running from our principles when we get scared. And those who do choose to circumvent difficulty by utilizing torture can be summed up in one word: evil.

Tuesday's Links

2005-12-13T02:59:00.000-05:00

Activism

Torture Has No Place on American Soil. That's Why We Have It Done Overseas. Are you tired of the clever parsing and semantic games being played about our torture policy? We sure are. And while it seems a petition on this pops up every other week, the fact is that unless we denounce torture unconditionally, and make it crystal clear to our leaders that it's not ok, in any circumstances, then we shouldn't expect anything different. Hop on over to Amnesty International's site and make your views known. Torture is wrong. It's evil. It's anti-American. And it's got to end. No ifs, ands, or buts.

News

Court Nixes Gay Nups in City. Before you get even more riled up about this, go ahead and read the article. What the court is saying is that gay marriage shouldn't be decided by the courts. The state's legislation makes it very clear that marriage is between a man and a woman, and although the lone dissenter in the ruling stated that the law should not be bound by the "assumptions of previous generations" who also once assumed brides were "chattel," the judge's ruling is essentially correct. The court cannot simply overturn legislation; that's judicial activism. Instead, in an extremely surprising move, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said "I will ask the Legislature to change the state's Domestic Relations Law to permit gay marriage." Although we absolutely support legalizing gay marriage, in this case it was not up to the courts to make that ruling. Now, we'll see if the state's legislature has the grapefruits to change the Domestic Relations Law.

In Iraq, Bush Pushed For Deadline Democracy. Remember that the core argument against setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is that the insurgents will just "wait us out". Putting aside the lunacy of that argument (um...they live there, by the way), what's stunning about this article is how inconsistent Bush's position has been. For withdrawal, apparently the war will take as long as it takes for "complete victory". But for the political process, that has to adhere to arbitary deadlines set by the inept Paul Bremer, ex-head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. This article gives us a peek behind the scenes of how the U.S. has utterly screwed up its involvement in Iraq on a political level. Just read about all of the vacillating and shifts in power behind the scenes. Why didn't we have a plan going in? Why didn't we have any idea how the three Iraq factions would respond? Add it all up, and throw in the incompetence of Bush, "who instinctively dismisses doubters and abhors changing course", and you get one big, ugly mess.

Supreme Court to Review Texas Political Map. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear several cases about the redistricting in Texas. For example, the Constitution demands redistricting every 10 years. Texas was redistricted in 2000. So why did DeLay spearhead the redistricting (again) in 2002? Simple; to consolidate Republican power and to get Democrats out of the House. Keep in mind that the 2002 plan had to be approved by the Justice Department, which it did. Why would the Justice Department authorize a redistricting so soon after the mandated one? The same Justice Department that overruled legal experts who warned that the plan wasn't legal, that's who. We can't wait to hear this go before the Court. It's way past time to show Republicans that there is accountability for every illegal action they take.

Editorials

It Takes a Potemkin Village. It's pathetic to have to sift through the disinformation that this administration spews forth. But it's even more pathetic that we, as Americans, automatically assume that we're receiving disinformation. Take the "Plan for Victory" Bush laid out recently. A few clever folks (like Scott Shane, at the New York Times) have been able to electronically "figure out," using the actual PDF on whitehouse.gov, that the plan was created by "Peter Feaver, a Duke political scientist who started advising the National Security Council only this June." As Frank Rich points out, Peter Feaver is an expert on war opinion; not on the war itself. How could we possibly be expected to believe that a military strategy to leave Iraq, created by a PR guy, will be effective? 75% of Americans don't think it will be, and at the time that poll was taken, very few people knew about Dr. Feaver. How about the fake, planted news stories in the Iraqi newspapers? The articles were created by the Lincoln Group, who subsequently paid off the newspapers to run them. The "head" of the Lincoln Group? Christian Bailey, who has not only had a sketchy couple of years heading various groups, but she's also a Republican contributor. It's readily apparent that the White House just doesn't care about insulting our intelligence. Only, it's not 2002 anymore, and we're not running scared. It's the dawn of 2006, and the country has caught on.

Can Amtrak Survive Three More Years of Bush? Bush's "War on Amtrak" has taken some disturbing turns over the last few months. First, he recommends cutting Amtrak's budget by 100%. Then, his handpicked Board of Directors ousted longtime president David Gunn. Now, according to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), "Amtrak is now being run by a board made up of members who have virtually no experience in passenger rail. ... Mr. Gunn was fired because he would not agree with 'FEMA-tizing' Amtrak." Is this surprising? For an administration that saw no problem in putting disaster relief in the hands of a horse judge, or Middle East PR in the hands of a white woman from Texas, this shouldn't be at all shocking. Bush wants to break up Amtrak into smaller subsidiaries, which would mean the end of federal operating grants, which would mean turning Amtrak into somthing it was never intended to be: private companies. Bush does so love his private companies. Oh, and let's not forget the states that would have to chip in costs, should this happen. No, should Bush's subsidiary idea actually come to fruition, Amtrak would die a slow, painful death, and leave hundreds of thousands of people who depend on Amtrak to commute to work in limbo. But since we've already documented how Bush just doesn't seem to give a fig about the American people, it's up to us to do something about it.

Blogger Commentary

Fox News: Holidays 10, Xmas 0 on a Single Webpage. Bill O'Reilly just isn't feeling the holiday love. First, he slams the ACLU, who apparently seem to exist to help al-Qaeda. Then, he misinterprets the Geneva Convention. (Don't these people have fact-checkers?) But in the biggest "screw you" to Mr. O'Reilly, his own station's website has given him the finger. Yes, we are all aware of Mr. O'Reilly's continued exclamations that "liberals are trying to get rid of Christmas." In fact, Steven Colbert does an extremely good farce on O'Reilly's view. But poor Mr. O'Reilly. You see, as Bob Harris, of Daily Kos, writes in the title link, Fox News's own website is adorned with "Happy Holidays" from stem to stern. But that isn't even the worst of it. Bowing to some sort of cosmic pressure, O'Reilly changed his website to say "Recommended Holiday Gifts," where it intially said "Recommended Christmas Gifts." Even the people at Mr. O'Reilly's website are against Christmas!

It is Not Acceptable to be a Republican Anymore. There. We finally said it. Well, Cenk Uygur finally said it. Sure, initially it sounds a little snarky and partisan, but notice the difference between Republicans and conservatives. Conservatives, if there are any of them left, believe in small government. Republicans believe in torture, lying, greed, and corruption. We're pretty sure that there are many people who vote Republican because they are honest conservatives, but how long are we going to give them the benefit of the doubt for sticking their heads in the sand. As Uygur says, "The only defense Republicans have now is that they're ignorant. If you are ignorant of these facts, I feel sorry for you but I understand you have been manipulated and duped. But if you know these facts and you still support this administration, you are as guilty as they are and you are as un-American as they are." To that, we'd like to add that if you still don't know the facts because you choose to remain ignorant, that's nearly as bad.

Monday's Links

2005-12-12T15:55:00.000-05:00

Activism

Ho-Ho-Holiday Donations, Early Edition. Have you started your holiday shopping yet? Well, we sure hope so, but before you get too far, take a moment to think about those less fortunate. The end of the year is the perfect time for you to assess how you've fared, and how lucky you likely have it. Over at The Nation, Katha Pollitt has assembled a short list of some very worthwhile causes that could use your support. Furthermore, these are progressive causes, and ones that don't get a lot of press. The holidays are the time for giving!

News

Family Upset Over Marine's Body Arriving As Freight. Well, that's certainly an understatement. We can see Bush's end of the decision now. "OK, Joint Chiefs, here's the situation. We're appropriating another $700 trillion for y'all to use in Iraq. But you've gotta start watching the books. Don't make any unnecessary spending." So, we give Halliburton, et al, an overabundance of money so that they can line their pockets, but the soldiers who come back from Iraq in coffins are sent to their families in the hold of a commercial airplane, next to Uncle Joe's skis? If you needed any additional sign that this administration doesn't give a damn about our soldiers, then look no further.

Commission Finds Irregularities in Iraqi Voter Registration. Wow, Iraq really is becoming more and more like the U.S.! With parliamentary elections scheduled for this week, the Iraqi electoral commission has found "irregularities in voter registration." To quote the New York Times, "The commission said experts conducting an audit of voter lists found that there had been an unexpected surge in voter registration in the area. When the experts scrutinized the voter registration forms, the commission said in a written statement, they found that many had been filled out incorrectly. Some had missing signatures and others had more than one signature. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms." Monkey see, monkey do, we suppose. The "irregularities" occured in the province of Kirkuk, which has no clear dominance of Shiite, Sunni or Kurdish Iraqis. Kinda like Florida, or Ohio. So what better way to ensure that your party will win then by cooking the books? After all, it worked for the GOP here. Twice!

Protesters Placed in FBI Terrorism Files, ACLU Says. From the Bill of Rights, Amendment I. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." However, as the FBI so conveniently notes, it doesn't say anything about amassing a database of those that do choose to assemble. Witness the story above, where 30 people who attended an anti-war event three years ago in Colorado have now been placed in the FBI's "terrorism" files. These were peaceful protestors. They weren't throwing rocks, or threatening policemen. In fact, all they had done was sit in the street. They were told to disperse, did not, and were tear gassed and pepper sprayed as a result. Still feel safer, America, knowing that the FBI is hard at work keeping tabs on these miscreants?

Editorials

Dreaming Big to Keep America Rolling. Do you ever get the idea that America's stagnating? Sure, there's still a lot to be proud of as an American, but sometimes we wonder if a country with this many resources ought to be achieving a lot more. David Ignatius writes about the perils of GM, and wonders if it's "a snapshot of where we're all heading unless people take the country's economic problems more seriously." One of our major industries is lagging behind. We can either throw our hands up in the air, or we can do something about it. Ignatius takes a look at a strategy "proposed last year in a study by Amory Lovins called 'Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security.' " The title alone seems to encompass all of those things America used to stand for: Innovation, Profits, Security. What are we waiting for?

Blogger Commentary

Conservative? No. Radical, Regressive, and Reckless? Yes. Gary Allen Scott makes a point that we've been thinking about for several months now. The GOP at large (from Bush to O'Reilly) are not conservatives. There are, in fact, very few conservatives left. Conservatives we could work with. No, this new breed of Republican is radical, regressive and reckless. "Webster's Dictionary defines 'conservatism' as the 'disposition in politics to preserve what is established'. It is further defined as 'a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions and preferring gradual development to abrupt change.'" Does that sound like anyone you know? Anyone? Anyone at all? Can you name one Republican politician to whom this definition truly applies? Its not really recent (Reagan wasn't exactly fiscally conservative, was he?), but it's become far more apparent over the last year or two that the mentality of "conservative" has fallen by the wayside, and that the RRRs are taking over.

Saturday's Links

2005-12-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

Activism

Tell Sen. Joe Lieberman: Debate Is Patriotic. It has been a long time since a political figure has gone from hopeful to hopeless as quickly as Senator Joe Lieberman ("D"-CT). It was a little over five years ago when Lieberman was set to become America's first Jewish Vice-President, on a solid, strong ticket with Al Gore. Since then, Lieberman has slid down the rope so far that he's being villified by Democrats and praising Bush. Why, you ask? Lieberman recently said "It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he'll be commander-in-chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." Is this man out of his mind? History is riddled with instances where a nation followed a leader blindly, and those situations never turn out well, for either the citizens or the world. We agree with Democracy for America: public debate is patriotic. If you agree, go to the link above and sign Democracy for America's open letter to Lieberman.

News

Two Nobel Laureates Hit Bush on Science. Bush's disdain of science is well documented, and now he is under fire for it. First, two Nobel Prize winners in Physics slammed the administration for evaluating current projects with an eye for politics, and not science. We've seen it time and time again, including the science on greenhouse gases. Bush not only thinks that the science is flawed, but that it would "cost too much" to fix. Last week, former President Clinton called Bush's lie, saying that if America reduced greenhouse gas emissions, it would actually strengthen the economy. Since we all know that Bush doesn't give a rat's behind about the future, this news shouldn't surprise us. What's it going to take to get this administration to believe in science?

Editorials

Why Media Ownership Matters. Amy and David Goodman, writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have a fantastic editorial up about the ownership in media. Six companies own all major U.S. media, and those companies have so many divested interests that getting dissent against the White House is close to impossible. Consider Donahue's dismissal from MSNBC in 2003 for airing "anti-war comments." But it goes far deeper than that, as the Goodmans document. If Americans aren't getting the full story from the MSM, then the MSM is not doing the job that they are required to do. And when that happens, we all lose.

Blogger Commentary

The Emperor Will Take No Questions. The president's job, ultimately, is to answer the will of the people. The president is paid by the people's tax dollars, and the president is elected by and serves the people. Yet this president screens the people who attend his appearences. This president refuses to listen to, or even acknowledge, the voice of dissent. Combine that with the overall lack of press conferences, and you get to Gary Hart's question: "How can a president govern who is so isolated, so cocooned away from the American public, so protected from any question, let alone voice of dissent?" He can't; not effectively, at least. But then, we're all seeing that, aren't we?

Friday's Links

2005-12-09T12:02:00.000-05:00

Activism

Alito's America. Do you want to live in Alito's America? Not sure? Hop on over to the link and see a cute little rendering of the effects some of Alito's decisions would have on America. It's not pretty. And as the site reminds us, "we could feel the consequences of an Alito Supreme Court for fifty, sixty years or more." Sign the petition opposing his nomination today. There's no reason to believe that once he gets to the Supreme Court, he'll suddenly start caring about the average American. He's an extremist, and we certainly don't want Alito's America to become our America.

News

U.N. Official Faults U.S. Detentions. The discussion on torture just won't go away. Despite Condoleeza Rice's repeated attempts to explain that the U.S. does not torture (complete with caveats and loopholes), it's still fairly obvious that torture has occurred on Bush's watch, and because this administration has been deliberately cryptic and misleading about such places as Guantanamo Bay (which they won't open to UN inspectors) and the so-called "black prisons" (which may or may not exist, depending on who you read). We know that there is more to the story than simply saying "we do not torture." The U.N. knows it too, and on Thursday, Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, called out those in favor of torture. Holding suspects incommunicado, she said, amounts to torture. She also slammed Dick Cheney, though not by name, for wanting to be allowed to torture. Enter John Bolton, renowned hypocrite and jerk, who blasted Arbour for, well, see for yourself. "Today is Human Rights Day. It would be appropriate, I think, for the U.N.'s high commissioner for human rights to talk about the serious human rights problems that exist in the world today. . .I think it is inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we're engaged in in the war on terror, with nothing more as evidence than what she reads in the newspapers." Two problems with that. Number one, Arbour never mentions the U.S. specifically in her report. Number two, second guessing is exactly what Arbour should be doing! BushCo hasn't earned the moniker "Worst administration in history" for nothing, you know.

Iraq Violence Raises Doubts About Progress. How are we doing in Iraq? Not good, you say? Pish tosh! We just saw Bush on TV tell us that Mosul and Najaf are prime evidence that we are on the right path in Iraq! What's that? You say that Mosul is under emergency law and Najef has had constant battles and an assasination attempt in the last week? Surely, these must be isolated incidents. What about our contractors: aren't they doing a great job? What's that? Private security contractors are killing Iraqis, and it's been caught on tape? Oh dear; pehaps Bush was wrong when he told us that progress was being made in Iraq. We just read, in the title link, that experts don't have a positive forecast for Iraq's economy. And we know that, although European leaders don't think we should leave, the European public does. What do you think?

Bush's Attention Wanders From Katrina as Reconstruction Lags. Like a child who is tired of his new toy, Bush has lost interest in the Katrina rebuilding effort, and it makes us wonder just how much he cared in the first place. Bush has barely talked about, much less visited New Orleans, and thats typical of this administration. Remember Social Security? Osama bin Laden? Neither does Bush, apparently.

Editorials

Not much tobacco settlement money goes to reducing smoking. We love Nieman Watchdog because they shine the spotlight on important issues that the press ignores. In this editorial, Eric Lindblom looks at the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) from 1998. The fact that you're not aware of the MSA (neither were we) is ample evidence that the press is falling flat in its responsibility to be a watchdog. See, in 1998, "major cigarette companies agreed to settle state lawsuits against them by making annual payments to 46 states, DC and the U.S. Territories that will total more than $200 billion in just the first 25 years." That sounds like a good start. So where's the money going? Not where it's supposed to. "Although the MSA has clear language stating that a significant portion of the funds should be used to prevent and reduce tobacco use, especially among children, and to treat smoking-caused illness, the states are allocating only about $550 million per year (or significantly less than $1 out of every $10 tobacco settlement dollars they receive) on tobacco prevention efforts – and they spend little or none of their settlement funds specifically to treat smoking-caused illness." Once again, big business wins, and our kids lose.

A Health Threat We're Not Treating. Up is down! Black is white! Newt Gingrich is making sense! Good ol' Newt documents a growing problem: Specialty hospitals. These hospitals are very specific in their focus, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But what can happen is that doctors and specialty hospitals can form a symbiotic relationship, in which doctors cherry-pick "easy" cases and refer them to those hospitals. But if those doctors are somehow associated with the hospital (say, through owning stock in it), then they get compensated for their referral. Meanwhile, more difficult and expensive cases are referred elsewhere. Who loses? The larger community hospitals, and ultimately, their patients. Gingrich has a few good suggestions: "Congress should insist on hospital ownership rules that allow doctors to invest in specialty hospitals in which they do not practice but that forbid doctors from having ownership in a hospital in which they do practice. Alternatively Congress should consider establishing a law requiring that specialty hospitals take all the cases in their area of specialization, the difficult and complex (and expensive) as well as the simple and profitable. What Congress should not do is allow the current market-distorting and community hospital-destroying system to continue unchecked." Gingrich for President! Just kidding.

Blogger Commentary

Senate Votes Define GOP Response to 9/11 Commission. Bob Geiger breaks down the 9/11 commission's "report card" for the Bush administration, which, as we all know, amounts to one big "F." Geiger documents efforts by Democrats, including Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), who all introduced Senate bills that were logical, smart, and designed to enhance the safety of America. Thanks to partisan politics, though, all bills failed in the vote. Read through Geiger's summary, and tell us how Republicans can claim to have America's best interests at heart.

The Murphy Plan for Iraq. You want a plan for Iraq? You can't handle a plan for Iraq!! Well, maybe you, dear reader, could, but apparently the Administration can't. And, frankly, we're starting to wonder if the Democrats can either. There may be some valid political reasons for hanging back from producing a detailed plan that the party rallies around, since they have no political power to implement it. So we're stuck in the rhetorical mire, with Democrats not willing to risk their ever-improving stance in the 2006 elections, and Republicans apparently not willing to make any sort of sacrifice to end the war they started. But Patrick Murphy, running for Congress in '06, has nothing to lose. He's an Iraq War vet, and actually has a plan for Iraq. How novel! He makes a lot of sense, too, and we like the fact that he's actually served his country. Go Fighting Dems!

Thursday's Links

2005-12-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

Activism

Pick a Progressive Patriot. You've got exactly one week to pick a Congressional candidate for Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) to support. His list includes 11 progressive Democrats who are running for office in 2006 (non-incumbants). Personally, we're voting for Nick Lampson, because nothing would be sweeter than having DeLay out of office (coming in second on the "sweetness" scale, though, would be having former Redskins quarterback Heath Shuler in Congress).

News

Voting Machines Under Scrutiny. Across the country there have been numerous instances of electronic voting machines giving false reports, or losing data. From Florida to Ohio to Maryland, stories of electronic voting machines failing in some way have been too numerous to count. (And we're not even using electronic machines to count them!) The result is that many states will not make a January 1, 2006 deadline to ensure that touchscreen machines are secure. But the blame can't be placed solely at the feet of states who refuse to require a verified paper ballot (like Maryland). Machine makers, like Diebold, sure seem to have something to hide. North Carolina has required that the machines' software code be placed in escrow for examination in case of a problem. Diebold sure wasn't happy with that, and pulled their machines from the state. What could Diebold possibly have to hide? We weren't sure, and then we read that Diebold executives gave money to two Republican campaigns in Ohio. This was after Diebold, based in Ohio, publically banned its "top brass" from doing so. We don't want to look like conspiracy theorists, but the facts certainly point in a dark direction. And now that Ohio is set to pass House Bill 3, the conspiracy seems more and more likely. The Republican-controlled state will easily pass this bill, which will require voters to show "positive identification" (the same trick that Georgia tried to pull, which amounts to nothing more than a poll tax), exempt electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuple the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and the biggest coup of them all: The bill would make it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. The GOP is trying its hardest to ensnare the country in an iron grip, telling us who can and can't vote. This has got to stop, and it's got to stop now.

Professor beaten; attackers cite KU creationism class. God sure works in mysterious ways, don't he? Look, the professor was an idiot for having "said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a 'nice slap in their big fat face.' " But you'd think that fundamentalist Christians would be well-versed in the art of letting insults roll of their backs. Instead, they beat the crap out of the professor. Funny that you don't often see atheists beating up religious figures nowadays. Hypocrisy: It's not just for adults any more.

Air-Cargo Screening `a Disaster Waiting to Happen,' Critics Say. Those crazy critics, always undermining the war against terror by pointing out how inept we are. Why can't those critics just shut up and wait until thousands more are killed in an attack? When even Republicans (Chris Shays, of CT) are among those critics, maybe it's time to take them seriously. See, airlines aren't willing to pay money to meet higher security regulations. And the Bush Administration hasn't made increased security a priority, most likely because they're always willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to make big companies richer. So we're screening luggage, but not cargo. "The idea that there is no security in cargo holds while there's the charade of carefully screening airline passengers is a slap in the face of the airline passenger." Forget the slap in the face - we're worried about the bomb in the hold.

Editorials

Dodging Debate On Alito. We've devoted a lot of space to Samuel Alito's nomination over the last few weeks, because we feel that it's imperative that Americans understand just how disasterous his confirmation would be. The fact that ScAlito made a very strong case, 20 years ago, for the idea "that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" is now an argument he says was more opportunistic at the time, and that we shouldn't take it seriously. What? Really? If we aren't supposed to take it seriously 20 years ago, as E.J. Dionne Jr. writes, then how are we supposed to take his statements seriously now? Evasion may work with the pundits, or it may have worked 20 years ago, but if ScAlito doesn't tell the Senate Judiciary Committee what they want to hear, they might just not vote to confirm him. But if ScAlito is approved by the committee, and then confirmed by the full Senate, as it stands, we'd be looking at a justice who would like nothing better than to overturn Roe v. Wade. We don't tell Christians that they can't get tattoos; why so they feel like they can tell women that they can't have an abortion? This holier-than-thou sanctity that we see from people like James Dobson is nothing but a self-serving farce, and it makes us sick.

Time for a House-Cleaning. Boy, is David Broder right! This place sure could use a good cleaning! There are piles of pork in that corner, and the whole place smells of corruption. Of course, that's why four Democrats proposed a 14-point plan that would act like a dose of highly-concentrated bleach to the pigsty created by the Republican culture of corruption. The plan would crack down on lobbyists funding exotic trips for Representatives. It would prevent House alumni from debating issues in which they have a financial stake. It would end the Republican tactic of using long roll calls to delay votes until they've twisted enough arms to get their way. There are a few other important pieces to the plan. The point is, for our government to work, we need to ensure that it operates with the interests of the citizens in mind, not the selfish interests of the Representatives who will stoop to any level to maintain power. It's a good start, which is why we have no faith that it will pass.

Blogger Commentary

When Alleging Rape Becomes a Crime. It may seem obvious, but we'd like to take a moment to point out that we don't live in Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or any other country where women don't have equal rights and protection under the law. So why do our courts not think so? Specifically, the courts in Oregon, where a municipal judge held a hearing for a 17 year old women who alleged that she was raped by three men, including her then-boyfriend. The women had filed a police report, which led to this hearing. But the judge, Peter A. Ackerman, decided that "he found the young men to be more credible. He also said he relied on the testimony of a Beaverton police detective and the woman's friends who said she did not act traumatized in the days following the incident," and so he dismissed the case. Putting aside the notion that she "didn't act traumatized," (we didn't know that there was a law saying that she had to outwardly display trauma), the judge, with gross negligence, said that there were "inconsistencies" in their stories. Gee. Three guys gang-rape a woman and then have time to come up with their own version of events...you think there are inconsistencies? But, in a move far, far worse than not hearing the original case, the judge then turned around, tried and convicted the woman of "filing a false police report." This is a misdemeanor in the state of Oregon. So, by doing the right thing, and looking for justice, this woman instead now has no justice and a criminal record. As Lindsay Beyerstein, over at Majikthise, writes, it would be understandable if there was an initial trial, and the woman's claim was deemed unfounded. "Consent" is quite subjective, and it's entirely possible that there were miscommunications. It's tragic if so, but there it is. But no one can fathom how there might be criminal intent on the part of the woman. This also sets a very scary precedent for women, who might be far less inclined to report a rape, if the possibility of a criminal record exists in their future if they do. You want to talk activist judges, you're looking at one right here.

Republican Values. Seems an oxymoron, we know. Point Pleasant, located in Ocean County, is a wonderful town in New Jersey. It's also the home of Laurel Hester and her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. Hester has lung cancer, and will almost certainly die in the next few months. Hester has worked for the county for 23 years, and she wants to make sure that when she passes away, Andree will continue to receive her pension. Only, she won't. The county's "freeholders," mostly Republican, refused to grant Hester's request to transfer her pension to Andree, which wouldn't be an issue if Andree was male. New Jersey law leaves it up to each local government to decide if benefits should be paid. If Andree does not receive those benefits, she will lose their house. "At least one freeholder, John P. Kelly, the law and public safety chairman, has cited moral reservations, telling the Asbury Park Press it violates 'the sanctity of marriage.'" That's just about the biggest pile of bull we've read in awhile. Thanks to Ocean County's freeholders' incompetence, neighboring Mercer County voted and passed a resolution granting health-care and pension benefits to county employees' domestic partners. And Hester's denial has drawn hundreds of gay and lesbian activists to Point Pleasant. Local editorials are blasting the freeholders. Hell, the news even made it as far as the UK. This quote, from the editorial, sums up the situation better than we could: "They [the freeholders] all can look forward to comfortable retirements paid for by the taxpayers, yet they stand on high moral ground to deny Hester's request for similar security for her life partner. . .Hiding behind morality and the sanctity of marriage to keep another from ensuring the family security they enjoy because they might win future elections by smaller margins is, in itself immoral."

Wednesday's Links

2005-12-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Activism

Tell the Government to Stop Hiring the Bad Guys. Not all government contractors are evil. Many simply bid for contracts, get them awarded, and do their jobs. It's the Halliburtons of the world that give a bad name to government contractors. So, why does the government continue to give them contracts, especially no-bid contracts? We're over the fact that these evil contractors are using their positions of influence to do shoddy work and make money off of the taxpayers, and it's time to put this practice to an end. Go to the link above and sign the Project on Government Oversight's petition to stop giving contracts to the "bad guys." Your voice will make a difference!

News

'Holiday' Cards Ring Hollow for Some on Bushes' List. It's not often that we agree with the White House, but in this case, we must give credit where credit is due. The White House sent out this year's holiday cards (to 1.4 million or so "close friends"). Don't worry - it's paid for by the RNC. The cards wish people a happy "holiday season," and if you can't see where this is going, where have you been? Yes, you guessed it. Religious extremists are royally upset that "Christmas" has been taken out of the White House's holiday cards. Can you hear that, folks? It's the persecution train - all right-wing zealots, hop aboard! In a statement, the White House indicated that the Bushs' cards "in recent years have included best wishes for a holiday season, rather than Christmas wishes, because they are sent to people of all faiths." Never mind the hypocrisy of these extremists; they claim to be persecuted, but by demanding that the White House send out Christmas cards, they are supporting the discarding of all other religions. Hey, extremists, we'll make a deal with you: You can have your Christmas cards between now and 2008, but then we elect a Jewish president. Hope you like Hanukkah: you can expect those first "Hava Nagila" cards to be delivered sometime around November, 2009.

Iraq VP Disputes Bush on Training of Forces. It comes down to who you believe. If you believe Bush, who has a tremendous track record for telling the truth, then the Iraqi forces are being trained quite well. However, if you believe Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer, troops are not being trained, and "the army and other forces are being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains." Who's got more credibility? The man who won't come off of vacation for a national disaster, or the man who is actual IN Iraq, and can see what's happening?

Lieberman Calls For Formation Of 'War Cabinet'. We are officially prepared to throw the towel in on Joe Lieberman. It's hard for us to say, because he is a Democratic Senator, but it's time to face the fact that Lieberman no longer has the party's interests at heart. On Tuesday, Lieberman called for Bush to create a "War Cabinet," to provide advice and direction on the war effort. Perhaps the Senator is unfamiliar with the Secretaries of Defense and State, whose combined responsibilities include "advice and direction on the war effort." Not that we have a whole lot of faith in Rummy and Condi in the first place, but we certainly wouldn't have faith in a new, redundant "cabinet." It's sad to say, but Lieberman's time in the Senate seems to have passed. And with Lieberman possibly being challenged next year by Lowell Weicker, who would run as an Independent, that time could end rather quickly.

Editorials

The Next Iraq Offensive. General Wesley Clark has an op-ed piece in the New York Times, where he discusses what needs to happen next in Iraq. Clark is not a "Hill Man;" he is a retired, four-star general and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. He also led forces into Kosovo, under Clinton, where not a single American soldier died. Clark knows a little something about the world stage, having been out and in it for 38 years plus. So when Clark says that we need to stay in Iraq, but that the course needs to change radically, we believe him. In addition to the things we need to do militarily, such as guard the borders and train the Iraqi troops, Clark notes that we also must extend the hand of diplomacy to the insurgents. Unfortunately, right now, this administration knows as much about Muslim culture as they do about telling the truth, and it shows. American muscle should only, and always, be used as a last resort, and not to settle petty grudges. Clark realizes this. We realize this. Why doesn't the administration realize this?

It's Not Whether You 'Win' or 'Lose'... Ever seen the movie "A Fish Called Wanda" ? Well, if you haven't, you should. In it, Kevin Kline plays borderline-psychotic thief "Otto", who fancies himself a warrior and a patriot. He can't stand the British, and when America's superiority is challenged by mentioning Vietnam, he replies "We did not lose in Vietnam! It was a tie!" Definitely a classic line, but it's amazing how that caricature has nicely captured the mentality of some of our war hawks. On the heels of Howard Dean's comment that "The idea that the United States is going to win the war in Iraq is just plain wrong.", Applebaum's column is becoming increasingly relevant. Bush has never defined what victory means; he's just blithely asserted that it's inevitable. But Dean and Applebaum are right - a war is not a binary operation, where at the end, you either win or lose. Some of your goals are accomplished (getting rid of Saddam), and some aren't (bringing stability to Iraq). At this point, it is very unlikely we'll win. Maybe we should start thinking differently. It would, however, require elevating our political discourse just a little, so let's not hold our breath.

Blogger Commentary

The Economic Picture. We touched on the state of the economy yesterday, in quoting this Paul Krugman article. But Kevin Drum nicely sums up the "economic picture" in just a few short sentences. Productivity is up, but the real hourly compensation is down. What does this mean? Basically, we're working harder, and making more money...but for whom? If it's not going to the people doing the work (in the form of compensation), then where's it going? Hop on over to the link for the answer. Krugman was reluctant to blame Bush very much for the current state of the economy, but certainly the Republican Party isn't doing a whole lot to try and turn things around. Why should they? After all, it benefits them directly.

Opinion-making and Accountability. As long as we're quoting from Kevin Drum, why not quote from someone else who analyzes Kevin Drum? Greg Sargent takes a look at Drum's assertion that liberals should get over the fact that some liberals supported the war, and aren't going to apologize for that fact. He thinks it's unreasonable to expect us to "force tearful confessions of doctrinal error out of them", and we can see his point. But Sargent wants to take a look at the phrase "doctrinal error". He asserts that "The decision to support or oppose the Iraq war wasn't about doctrine. It was about judgment," and make a whole lot of sense in doing so. Sure, there were ideologues who led us to war, following their absurd doctrine of "spreading democracy" or "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here" or even "lie us into war so all my defense contracting buddies get rich and Bush gets re-elected". However, the majority of the public isn't made of ideologues. Our elected officials, the pundits, and the people who voted for those officials exhibited poor judgment. Our leaders didn't do their jobs. The media didn't do their jobs. The pundits didn't do their jobs. "If we look at those who are now mea-culpa-ing about the war and see their decision retrospectively as having been driven by doctrine or ideology, not judgment, it absolves them of professional failure." He follows up with a fantastic point that not enough people are asking: "Because if they don't think they should be held accountable for past judgments, why should anyone turn to them for future ones?" Good question, Greg.

Tuesday's Links

2005-12-06T17:22:00.000-05:00

Due to Blogger outages, we were not able to post on time today. Our apologies.

Activism

Sign the Voter Confidence Petition in Support of H.R. 550. Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ 12th) has been an extremely vocal supporter of H.R. 550: the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005. The bill calls for some very sensible requirements: a voter-verified paper ballot for every federal vote cast, nationwide; requiring each state to meet the accessibility needs of voters with disabilities; random, unannounced hand counts for federal elections, and more. H.R. 550 simply makes sense, and we urge you to sign Congressman Holt's petition now.

News

Americans Want Different Type of President Next Time, Poll Says. Three in five Americans want the next president "to be completely different from incumbent George W. Bush." That's an absolutely fascinating statistic. Iraq, gasoline and energy policies have turned Americans off from the Bush candidate. Even his "Victory in Iraq" speech and new debate on illegal immigration haven't been enough to make Americans give favor back to him. Shouldn't the overwhelming opposition to the president be a sign to Democrats to keep attacking, and to the media that Americans want the truth from this administration?

Rumsfeld Says the Media Focus Too Much on Negatives in Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld is upset that the press is focusing too much on the negative in Iraq. Never mind the fact that we're a culture that is transfixed by the negative, what else does Rumsfeld expect? Even the "success" stories of Iraq, like the rebuilt Iraqi infrastructure, are marred (in this case, because the completion rate is far lower than promised or expected). Rumsfeld, caught in lies about the reception of American troops in Iraq, is clearly grasping at straws to garner support for the war. This is what happens when you lie to the American public; we can be forgiving, but screwing over our country in such a blatant way yields no support.

DeLay's Felony Charge Is Upheld. So much for DeLay's hopes to reclaim his House leadership position. By keeping the felony (money laundering) charges intact against DeLay, the Congressman cannot seek to reclaim his leadership position in the House, currently held by Roy Blunt. DeLay's legal team is trying every trick in the book to get these charges dropped, but it seems like the judge believes that the money laundering case should go forward. It also seems like DeLay should be worrying less about his leadership and more about his own seat, which is up for re-election next year. A new Gallup poll of DeLay's home district (TX-22) shows that eligible voters not only believe that DeLay is guilty, but that they would overwhelmingly vote for a Democratic challenger (Nick Lampson). This is great news for Democrats, and we need to keep the pressure on GOPers in Texas.

Editorials

The Joyless Economy. Paul Krugman checks in with the state of the economy, and it's not good. Well, many don't think it's good. It's true that energy prices are up, but gas prices are down. The gross domestic product is up. So why do over 3 out of every 5 Americans this the economy is only "fair" or "poor?" Krugman urges us to consider the political reasons. Job growth is pretty flaccid. We see CEOs raking in the dough, yet our salaries aren't rising. In short, it's hard to credit an economic rise when no one's seeing any sort of benefit from it. Say what you will about Clinton's presidency, but he was very good to the economy, and Americans recognized that. Whatever happened to Republicans as the party of "fiscal responsibility?"

Blogger Commentary

When Will We Fight the New Shiite Army We're Building in Iraq? Cenk Uygur's a little pissed off. See, Reagan sold weapons to Saddam in the 80's, and then we invaded Iraq to find them. We financed and trained a Muslim army under Reagan in the 80's to fight in Afghanistan, and then we turn around and wind up fighting that same Muslim army in 2001. So, how long will it be before we're fighting the Shi'ite army we're training in Iraq? Uygur theorizes that the Kurds will soon split off to form their own country (similar to what the Basques want, but were never able to accomplish), leaving the Shi'ites in Iraq. The Shi'ites then have the potential to turn Iraq into something similar to what the Sunnis had under Saddam. Add in the anti-American sentiment, and it's a recipe for disaster. Uygur ends on a very depressing, yet entirely plausible, scenario. "If the Iraqi Shiites work with the Iranian Shiites to build weapons of mass destruction and we have to fight the army we built for them because they have WMD, I think we will have broken the record for irony."

Monday's Links

2005-12-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

Activism

CA-48: Call to Action - Final Weekend Push. Tomorrow is the special election in California's 48th District. That gives you just one day to help Democrats take back a seat in the House of Representatives. Dems are down a whole bunch of seats, and there's no reason we can't start taking back the House right now. Go to the link above and see what you can do to help Steve Young strike a blow for democracy. And you don't have to live in the 48th District to participate: You can virtual phone bank, or at least email your CA friends and let them know how they should vote. Just do something!

News

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake. How long's it gonna be before the threat of terrorism isn't used to justify every secretive, illicit, or morally reprehensible act this administration undertakes? Maybe if more cases like Khaled Masri's are made public, the citizenry will demand more openness. Look, we understand that secrecy is critical in certain cases. And we certainly understand that it only takes a few terrorists slipping through the cracks to wreak violence upon innocent Americans. But when we engage in acts like "rendition", and then shield them in secrecy, we allow ourselves to make horrible errors. If the leadership is more concerned with prosecuting as many people as possible, and allowing no oversight, we're going to have more cases like Masri's, in which he was erroneously imprisoned for five months "because the head of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center's al Qaeda unit 'believed he was someone else,' one former CIA official said. 'She didn't really know. She just had a hunch.' " How many innocents have to be abused before the war on terror becomes just as bad as the terror itself?

Private Security Guards in Iraq Operate With Little Supervision. Last Monday, we talked about a video of private security contractors in Iraq shooting Iraqi civilians ('Trophy' Video Exposes Private Security Contractors Shooting up Iraqi Drivers). As the LA Times details, this wasn't an isolated case. Yet none have been prosecuted, even in the most obvious of situations. Imagine how this must feel to the Iraqis: an occupying force comes in, causes mass chaos and removes most of the infrastructure. Now, private American citizens are killing private Iraqi citizens, and there's absolutely no culpability. While the law states that these contractors can't be held liable in Iraq, they are supposed to be tried in their home countries. We'll give you one guess as to the number of times that's happened.

U.S. Not 'Well-Prepared' for Terrorism. Remember the 9/11 commission? The former chairman and vice-chairman said on Sunday that the U.S. is not at all prepared to face another terrorist attack. We wonder what their first clue was. Was it the simple-minded color-coded alert system? Over-budgeting and under-delivering contractors? The lack of cargo inspection at ports? The failed FBI database? The massively poor response to Katrina? Much of the lack of preparedness stems from this administration's unwillingness to implement many of the changes recommended by the 9/11 commission, and as a result, we are not in much better shape than we were four years ago. If you talk with disaster preparedness experts, they will tell you that the two most important things to do are create a plan, and have a way to implement that plan. The plan can be ever changing (and it should be), but without one in place, you're just asking for trouble. And we apparently are.

Editorials

All the President's Flacks. When are insiders too inside? Look at Bob Woodward. He knew about Valerie Plame six months before any sort of investiation occurred. He doesn't understand what Plamegate has to do with the Iraq War. And he really doesn't understand why it was wrong of him to stay silent for over two years. Woodward, along with Carl Bernstein, were able to break open Watergate partly because, at the time, they were outsiders. They didn't have ties to that administration, and it allowed them to see things clearly. Now, Woodward is the Washington insider, looking at the nation through rose-tinted glasses. Insight into what has happened with pre-war intelligence is being made by the "next" Woodwards and Bernsteins. Frank Rich's column details Woodward's duplicitousness, and why we still have some friends in the MSM.

The Ginsburg Fallacy. Look, the President's in charge, ok? He gets to appoint whomever he wants to the Supreme Court, and the Senate should generally approve his nominee. Disagree? Well, that's what they did with Clinton when he nominated Ginsburg. You see, she was "an ACLU-loving, bra-burning feminazi", but the Republicans deferred to the power of Clinton's office, so now the Democrats should do the same thing with Alito. Just one thing...that's all false. Ruth Marcus goes into some details of Ginsburg's case history, but no matter the spin, Alito and Ginsburg are quite different cases. Whereas Bush was running back to his base by appointing Alito, "then-Judge Ginsburg was a consensus choice, pushed by Republicans and accepted by the president in large part because he didn't want to take on a big fight." Bush wants a fight. Let's give him one.

Blogger Commentary

You're Going to Make a Martyr of Me Whether You Like It Or Not. On Saturday we gave you a news story about four pharmacists who were suspended by Walgreens for failing to follow Illinois law and dispense emergency contraception (Walgreens Places 4 Pharmacists on Leave). Amanda Marcotte, at Pangagon, talks about this, and raises some good points. No one talks about how these pharmacists (who refuse to dispense emergency contraception on the basis of "moral philosophy") are discriminating against the women who come to get these prescriptions. There's also the religious discrimination, the "My religious philosophy is better than yours, and I don't approve of yours, so I'm not going to do my job" kind of discrimination. Marcotte laments that "When I worked in customer service type jobs, I don't think that I met a single Christian coworker who would have thought themselves in the right to refuse service to a customer for having different religious beliefs, even in the transaction involved those. For instance, I'd known lots of bank tellers who believed that Islam was a Satanic religion or that all Jews were going to hell, but they weren't going to throw a temper tantrum when given a deposit for an account in the name of a mosque or a temple. I don't think it ever occured to them they had a right to use their job to harass a customer for having different religious beliefs." So what gives pharmacists the right to do differently? It's not a question of "well, there's another pharmacist available, so let him/her fill the prescription." It's a question of "it's your job, do it." This attempted-martyr thing religious extremists have going for them is getting tired. Hopefully, what happened in Illinois will wake them up.

Ooops! He Did It Again..... Our President just seems to keep making the same mistake again and again. Somehow, we don't think it's an accident. See, he repeatedly conflates the war on terror with the war in Iraq. One problem: Every single day we get more information about how the two aren't the same, and how the administration knew that before we went to war. Well, slight correction: They're the same now that we've made Iraq a haven for terrorists, but it didn't used to be that way. The Cunning Realist argues that by saying "America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief.", Bush has essentially "placed his own identity---his manliness, courage and cojones---above whatever might be right for our troops, the nation, Iraq or the world." Thanks, George, you macho idiot.

Sunday's Links

2005-12-04T17:08:00.000-05:00

Activism

Michael Steele has Karl Rove and George W. Bush. Ben Cardin Needs YOU! Ben Cardin is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbaines (D-MD) in 2006. Although Cardin isn't the only challenger (Kweisi Mfume is also running), Cardin has just as much of a chance, at this point. Republican challenger Michael Steele has the support of Bush and Rove, who will be visiting Maryland this week to campaign for Steele. We saw how well that worked for Jerry Kilgore in Virginia; let's send the message that it won't work in Maryland, either!

News

CEO: Worker Pay Ratio Shoots Up to 431 : 1. Here we have yet more proof of something that's usually considered "conventional wisdom." We know CEOs are raking in millions, and we know that this administration has been friendly with contractors. Thanks to a report by "United for a Fair Economy," we know that they average CEO pay is $11.8 million, and the average worker pay is $27,460. 2 years ago, the ratio was 301-1. Last year, it jumped to 431-1. Republicans will tell you that America is all about the bottom dollar, and commend these CEOs for their "ingenuity." But the fact of the matter is that defense contractor CEOs saw their pay increase (on average) 200%. All other saw a raise of 7%. This is due to nothing else than this administration's desire to throw money at defense contractors, like United Technologies, Textron and General Dynamics. Need any more proof that your tax dollars are being wasted and the average worker is getting screwed?

Katrina Documents Released. Over 100,000 pages of documents relating to Katrina were released last week by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, who is most likely going to have to delay elections in New Orleans, scheduled for February 4. The documents show communications between Louisiana and the White House, and they are quite...enlightening. Blanco sent a letter to the White House the day before Katrina hit, which stated "I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments and that supplementary federal assistance will be necessary." Three days after the storm, she wrote another letter to Bush asking for the 256th Louisiana National Guard Brigade to be sent home from Iraq, to help, as well as additional resources. A full five days after that, the White House said that they hadn't received the letter, and Bush assistant Maggie Grant emailed a Blano aide to say "We found it [the letter] on the governor's Web site, but we need 'an original' for our staff secretary to formally process the requests she is making. We are on the job but appreciate your help with a technical request. Tnx!" The idea that people were dying in New Orleans while some mindless aide wrote an email notwithstanding, this is typical of the administration. Delays, lack of response and misplaced priorities have been a hallmark of this administration, so why should we have expected the Katrina response to be any different?

Third Party Group, Santorum Campaign Use Same Footage. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is running scared. He's down in every poll taken, some by as much as 18 points, to Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr. A recent internet ad by Santorum uses footage of a grandfather and grandson. But those two same actors appear in a television ad that is being run by a third-party group in support of Santorum. Coincidence or collaboration? Santorum's ad began running on November 25th. The third party ad was distributed two days before and began running six days after. Democrats have asked this third-party group, Americans for Job Security, to release the names of its donors, something they can legally do, and something that isn't normally hidden. Yet AJS won't do it, leading to even more speculation that there's something amiss. Santorum's spokeswoman is on record as saying, "It just seems like that Bob Casey is using this as an opportunity to change the issue to talk about something other than the issues that Pennsylvania voters care about." Really? He's afraid to talk about the issues? Then why has he had a double-digit lead in virtually every poll taken this year?

Editorials

Judge Alito and Abortion. A new editorial in the New York Times highlights Judge Samuel Alito Jr.'s back and forth with abortion. On Friday, Alito said that his personal views on abortion would not be a factor in approaching abortion cases. But given Alito's background and history, it seems like he'd prefer nothing more than overturning Roe v. Wade. From his Reagan memos to his job applications, Alito's background is sure to entice the religious right, as it is plagued with his "proud" stance against abortion. This isn't about getting answers in a confirmation hearing, like Harriet Miers. This is about stopping a man who wants to bring the Supreme Court back into the 1800s.

A Vatican Retreat on Homosexuality. Ellen Goodman, of the Washington Post, talks about the recent Vatican ruling that says it "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.'" This is, as Goodman states, a huge backslide from thirty years ago, where the Church accepted that some members were gay. This new proclamation goes a step backwards, banning not only those who are gay, but those who have homosexual "tendencies." For a church that proclaims its doctrine to be tolerance, we're sure not seeing it here. This isn't a case of something improper, like bestiality or child pornography. Homosexuality occurs between consenting, of-age adults. The debate of nature vs. nurture should have no place here, yet the church has taken it upon themselves to push this civil rights debate back about 60 years. And with so many states trying to pass bans on gay marriage, this isn't a positive step at all.

Blogger Commentary

A history of (pro-life) violence. We've talked a lot about the political ramifications of the Democratic Party being open to at least understanding certain pro-life positions, but we want to make it clear that banning abortions is something that is completely unacceptable. But for pro-lifers to justify their zealotry, many have to turn members of the pro-choice movement into "baby killers" and anti-Christian heathens. Steve Almond examines the mentality that leads to such delusion. It's much easier to hassle the opposition relentless if you believe that they're evildoers and demons, but doing so is actually a form of projection. Almond provides a bunch of keen observations, such as "Embedded in the anti-choice stance is the basic notion that sex for pleasure is wrong. Sex is for procreation, which is why every fetus (in some minds every sperm) is holy." This is what happens when you see the world in black and white. As Almond says, "The choice to abort an unborn child is, without a doubt, a modern tragedy. Forcing poor women to seek out illegal practitioners is a medieval one."

Alito Night Music. The more we learn about Alito, the less we like him. We don't care if Arlen Specter thinks his nomination isn't in trouble. We think it should be. He is a radical, a man who has taken far-right positions, and spent considerable effort pushing the judiciary towards draconian conservativism. We don't buy his excuses, and when a man takes positions like the one Digby outlines in the link above, you shouldn't either. Digby summarizes his position thusly: "When in doubt, blow their brains out." Yeah, Alito's not a radical. Right.

Saturday's Links

2005-12-03T19:00:00.000-05:00

Activism

Call on President Bush to Oppose Torture. With so many things to get active about, many people may wonder where to devote their time. One of the easiest and most effective ways of becoming active is to get your name on a petition, especially a petition from a reputable source, like Democracy For America. The above link will take you to a petition that calls on Bush to keep his word when he said "We do not torture." Let's make sure this doesn't continue to be yet another lie by this administration.

News

Military Says It Paid Iraq Papers for News. So, it's not OK to pay Armstrong Williams to promote No Child Left Behind (well, it's not OK after the fact), but it's OK to pay Iraqi newspapers to promote democracy? Under the guise of "independent journalism," the military has been planting advertisements and "opinion pieces" in support of the U.S. Not only does it violate journalistic integrity, but it's a horribly misleading thing to do to the Iraqi people. One of many things we've done to them, we're afraid.

Walgreens Places 4 Pharmacists on Leave. Kudos to Walgreens for following the law. In Illinois, any pharmacy that sells contraceptives approved by the FDA is legally required to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. Four pharmacists at a Walgreens in Illinois would not fill prescriptions for the contraceptives, citing "moral objections," so Walgreens suspended them. It's as we've said all along. If you don't wish to be put in this position, don't work at a pharmacy that distributes them. But if you work at a pharmacy that does, you are legally required to dispense the prescription. Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich did the right thing by passing this law, and Walgreens did the right thing by suspending the pharmacists.

Editorials

America: The Fundamentalist Invasion. We talk all the time about how conservatives want to take over the courts, but what exactly does that mean? And what would the implications of such a takeover be? Philippe Boulet-Gercourt examines the conservative plan, and how they manage to justify their radical agenda. What's pathetic and frightening is that they'll accept nothing less than total domination. Already, Republican appointees control 10 of the 13 Appeals Courts, likely to be 12 in 2008. Furthermore, close to 85% of Appeals Court judges have been chosen by Republicans. Maybe you think that simply being appointed by a Republican doesn't guarantee a conservative slant. You're right! It doesn't, and it shouldn't! Some of those judges are probably ok. But when you see judges like Thomas, Scalia, and Alito, it makes you wonder how long it'll be before we're living just like we were in the 1800's.

Blogger Commentary

The Big Tent Party. Often, as of late, we find the Bull Moose to be off his rocker. He embraces so-called "moderates" like John McCain, and so-called "Democrats" like Joe Lieberman. But in his latest post, he has a point. He encourages Democrats to become the "Big Tent" Party, which is often a euphemism for accepting more pro-lifers. But the Moose wants to simply change the meaning a little, and make Democrats not so narrowly focused. "Democrats should not cede the 'culture of life' issue to the Republicans. After all, abortion rates dropped during the Clinton years. And the great contradiction for most Republican pro-lifers is that they seek to weaken the safety net while claiming to be pro-life. In contrast, the 'seamless garment' school of the pro-life community promotes strong programs for maternal health and medical care for the child after birth." Democrats need to think long-term, and by reinforcing the "safety net", and providing more support for pregnant women, they can make the abortion issue almost a moot point. And frankly, that should make anyone truly interested in promoting life quite happy.

Friday's Links

2005-12-02T14:39:00.000-05:00

Activism

Volunteer with OneWorldHealth. What is OneWorld Health? Well, according to their website, they're a Nonprofit Pharmeceutical Company. What a novel idea! Providing helpful drugs to people not for profit, but simply because you want to help people. Imagine the possibilities. They were founded 5 years ago, and currently have $25 million dollars "at work", fighting infectious disease around the world. Their stated values are "Integrity, Courage, and Collaboration". Frankly, we can't imagine many organizations more worth your time. So hop on over and volunteer your time at the link above, or at least donate here.

News

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal. Remember when Tom DeLay spearheaded the redistricting of Texas, which caused several Democrats to lose their House seats? At the time, we were all very mad, and wondered how it could have been legal. Funny story: It isn't. Six lawyers and two analysts in the Justice Department unanimously agreed that the move was illegal, because it "diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections." These eight individuals crafted a memo to this effect, but were overruled by "senior officials." The redistricting was a gross misuse of power, and the case is on the Supreme Court's docket. Let's hope that the Supreme Court sees it for what it really is: A illegal ploy to engineer the Republicans takeover of Congress.

FBI's Sham Candidate Crawled Under W.Va.'s Political Rock. We're astounded not only that this happened, but that it's considered legal. In 2004, as part of a plea agreement, Thomas E. Esposito ran for the West Virginia House of Delegates. He was one of 10 candidates on the ballot. He received 2,175 votes. And he never had any intention of taking office, because he ran at the behest of the FBI to help flush out corruption in the election process. He created a campaign, with bumper stickers, phone calls, gladhandling, and all the rest. So the government was sued over election fraud, where the lawyer argued that the citizens who voted for Esposito were robbed of a constitutional right. But, get this, the Judge sided with the government, and here's why. "Corruption in Logan County had been endemic 'for longer than living memory' and that the bogus election campaign might have been the only way to root it out." Although that's certainly true, and we applaud the FBI for trying to crack down on this, the FBI has clearly overstepped their bounds on this case. This isn't a vote for class president: This is a state's House of Delegates. So not only is the FBI sending a message that they don't care, but the court is sending a message that "the ends justify the means." The court ruled in favor of the government because of the situation in West Virginia. The judge, David A. Faber, asked the lawyer during the hearing, "What else could the Justice Department have done?" The lawyer replied, "Not violate the constitutional rights of the voters of Logan County." Well, we know how this administration feels about the sanctity of elections. This just adds to that sacrilege.

Most Americans Doubt Bush Has Victory Plan. On the heels of Bush's "Victory Plan" speech, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 55% of Americans do not believe that Bush has a plan that will achieve victory for the United States in Iraq, although it is conincidental that what we know of Bush's plan is eerily similar to Senator Joe Biden's (D-DE). See Editorial #2 (Bullet Points Over Baghdad) for more. In further Iraq news, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), best known for his call for America to leave Iraq "now," recently told a civic group that our Army is "Broken, worn out." He, like so many others, admits that he was wrong to vote for the Iraq War. There's absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that. No decision should ever be made without re-examining it. If we knew then what we know now (or even what we think we know), far fewer people would have voted to authorize Bush to go to war. But we were a nation scared, and Bush preyed on that. Now Bush wants us to continue to "stay the course," which isn't really an option, when you get right down to it. Murtha also predicted that it will cost $50 billion to upgrade military equipment nationwide, but says the federal government is already reducing future purchases to save money. Of course they are. That's Bush's M.O., isn't it? Save today, screw tomorrow. Well, actually, screw up today, and screw tomorrow.

Editorials

If America Left Iraq. What would happen if America left Iraq right now? Of course, no one really knows, but maybe it's something we should start seriously thinking about. The President likely would argue that leaving Iraq would basically directly the denotation of nuclear weapons in every major U.S. city, but he has no clue what he's talking about. However, Nir Rosen does. He convincingly argues that our presence there does more harm than good, and there's basically no hope for a "western-style" democracy anyways, so we might as well give up the ghost. He believes that our presence is fueling the insurgency, and that if we left, it would likely stop. Additionally, Sunnis would realize that they can't defeat the Shiite majority, and would try to work with them. Furthermore, hopefully Iraqis would band together and ensure that Iran doesn't take over. Why should we believe Nir Rosen? Well, he did spend six months in Iraq post-invasion, and as far as we can tell, unlike Bush, he doesn't have a track record of utter failure.

Bullet Points over Baghdad. We know Bush's "Victory Plan" is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Paul Krugman breaks down exactly why that's so. The plan is full of talking points and tired cliches, but Krugman writes that it's actually a test for the media. Will the media hold Bush accountable for this "plan?" Conventional wisdom says no, but lately some members of the MSM have grown a backbone. No, as Krugman writes, "The point isn't just that the administration is trying, yet again, to deceive the public. It's the fact that this attempt at deception shows such contempt - contempt for the public." Should we expect anything more from this administration?

Blogger Commentary

O'Reilly Brought Christmas War to Cavuto. Look, usually, Bill O'Reilly's not worth our time. But Friday's usually our day to kick back and just make fun of crazy Republicans. Sure, it's not particularly productive, although we can't imagine any of our readers would actually waste their time with him, and it is important to know just exactly what kind of psychosis he's promoting. Lately, he's been engaging in his annual "Save Christmas" crusade, setting up "secular, liberal" strawmen who are out to eliminate Christmas. It's just plain old nuts. But unfortunately, some people take him seriously, which is how we get from harmless stupidity to people trying to fight against the "liberal courts" out to destroy Christianity. For adding fuel to the fire, or taking credit for lower gas prices, or just being an ass in general simply to further his ratings, Bill O'Reilly may just be the worst person in the world. Sound like hyperbole? Well, maybe, but at least Keith Olbermann agrees with us.

The President Makes a Speech for Peace. Ok, before reading the rest of this paragraph, go to the link and read it. It's quick, we promise. Don't worry, we'll wait. Go now! Ok, done? So, this might seem like a cute little joke, taking "Vietnam" out of an old speech and replacing it with "Iraq", but this is really no laughing matter. The rhetoric surrounding Iraq and the justification for continuing the war is eerily similar to that of Vietnam. Do we want to go through Vietnam again? Apparently, people like Cheney and Rumsfeld do, given that they served under Nixon, and didn't get the memo about what happened to him. On top of the similarities between the two war themselves, it now looks like rationale for Vietnam was faked too.

Thursday's Links

2005-12-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

Activism

Stop Drive-Through Mastectomies. Sick of politics? So are we. Just kidding. But here's what must surely be an apolitical issue, right? Surely, the idea of a woman with breast cancer who has been forced to get a mastectomy to save her life, and then is booted out of the hospital to save insurance costs is abhorrent to people of any political persuasion, right? So then why does it still go on? The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005 would require that all women being undergoing be mastectomies be guaranteed reasonable coverage. Go to the link and sign the petition supporting this important legislation.

News

GOP Closer to Breaking Up Left-Leaning 9th Circuit Appeals Court. Here's the problem with electing conservatives: They do long-term damage to the country that can't simply be undone in a couple of election cycles. The recent incarnation of conservatives seek total dominance of the government. They're not satisfied with just two of the three branches, even though we've seen what atrocities they've already wrought. No, they want to rule them all. So, even though it's the only Appeals Courts left dominated by Democratic nominees, the Ninth Circuit has to go. Legislators claim that "it's too large to administer justice", whatever that means. Even conservative judges think it's a ridiculous idea. It's solely politics at work - break up any last vestiges of liberal courts (even though the Ninth Circuit works just fine) and engineer a lasting conservative rule of the judicial branch. This is why Republican domination of the government cannot be allowed to occur again.

Air Force Erred With No-Bid Iraq Contract, GAO Says. Once again, the Pentagon is looking out for its friends, instead of the country. Last year, the Pentagon pressured the Air Force into awarding a no-bid contract to REEP, Inc. The contract required REEP to find bilingual speakers "committed to a democratic Iraq," for some propaganda and "government advisement." REEP went ahead and employed Iraqi political exiles for the job. The first problem is that the Air Force didn't bid the contract, which means that no one else had an opportunity to submit a proposal for the work. The Pentagon says that they felt like there wasn't enough time to seek proposals, and REEP was the only qualified company, so that's who they chose. Never mind that there are (at least) two other companies capable of doing this work. But those companies probably aren't under the thumb of the Pentagon, and wouldn't have used the political exiles, which is problem number 2. Problem number three reared its head when the Pentagon decided not to compete an extension of the same contract, and award it to REEP again. Thankfully, the GAO has called the Air Force on this egregious misuse of taxpayer monies. However, we don't expect the Pentagon to change their spots over this.

IRS Complaint Filed Against Focus on the Family. We love this story, if for no other reason then it shows liberals on the offensive, for once. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked the IRS to investigate whether or not James Dobson's Focus on the Family should lose its tax-exempt status, based on Dobson's endorsement of candidates in 2004. You may recall that a liberal pastor in California is under investigation for the same charges. But what's most amusing about this are the views of the right. This editorial, in Texas's The Monitor, tries to fight back against the charge, and fails. Instead of trying to defend Dobson, the editorial attacks CREW for being partisan, and claims that there's a double standard at work, and perhaps CREW should be investigated and have their tax-exempt status revoked. News flash: CREW doesn't participate in electioneering. The editorial cites CREW's website. "Moreover, a look at CREW’s Web site indicates that the vast majority of those it targets for alleged ethics violations are Republicans. . .But CREW has made only a token effort to go after Democrats — two of 13 members of Congress identified by the organization as "most corrupt" were Democrats — suggesting a one-sided agenda." Or, perhaps it suggests that there just aren't as many Democrats whose corruption approaches that of Republicans. The right's arguments here are hollow, and don't add up. How often are we going to see Democrats use facts and Republicans use innuendo and slander before we do something about it?

Editorials

The War on Our Children. When a Congressman from California speaks, we listen. First it was "Duke" Cunningham admitting that he is a liar and a fraud, by accepting $2.4 million in bribes. Now, Pete Stark (D-CA) has an editorial up that blasts Congress for its poor short-sightedness. Republicans in Congress are creating so many roadblocks for Americans who are under the age of 18 that their lives are going to be harder than ever. Cutting Head Start: check. Making job training for mothers of children six and under harder: check. Under funding a bad No Child Left Behind Act: check. Not raising the minimum wage: check. How else can Republicans screw up our children? Oh yes, by proposing to cut $14.3 billion from federal student aid programs. If we're facing such a money crisis, why are House Republicans continuing to cut taxes? Stark puts it far better than we could. "If the United States can find $250 billion for a failed war in Iraq and give American millionaires an average tax break of $41,574 apiece in 2006, then the most affluent country in the world can find the funds to improve its schools and workplaces. Our future depends on it."

Starving The Beast. Republicans love the idea of "starving the beast," the idea that less government is better, and that states and private enterprise are better equipped to deal with issues. But even before Hurricane Katrina, it's obvious that parts of the country were woefully unprepared. Take Louisiana, for instance. Poverty; teen pregnancy; low teacher pay; these were all occurring in Louisiana in disturbing proportions. Louisiana, unable to financially deal with the Katrina impact, has had to cut funding to Medicaid and hospitals (nearly $1 billion worth). So while Republicans "starve the beast," the people in Louisiana starve. Just dandy.

Blogger Commentary

Mark Warner, Batting a Thousand. Governor and Presidential hopeful Mark Warner (D-VA) didn't grant clemency to Robin Lovett because of a stunt, or because he didn't want the stigma of the "1,000th person executed since 1976" label. Warner had denied clemency to eleven previous executions. No, Warner granted clemency because the DNA evidence that might have cleared Lovett was destroyed, and Lovett's conviction wasn't strong enough, in Warner’s eyes, to merit the death penalty. Warner did the right thing, and in doing so, elevated his status in the eyes of liberals. Michael Oates Palmer looks at the case, and why Warner did the right thing.

Mexamerica. Digby chimes in with the next big topic. After failing with Social Security and, in a sense, the war, Bush is trying to find something to build a legacy on. The answer may be in a wall to separate the U.S. and Mexico. Not a fence, and not a "Great Wall," but an honest to goodness $8 billion dollar prison-type wall. "[A] barrier consisting of a 'pyramid' of rolls of barbed wire piled 6 to 8 feet high. Alongside it would run a deep ditch, followed by a fence, a security road, another fence, another ditch, and then another wire pyramid. Cameras and motion detectors would monitor the fence to create a formidable barrier 40 to 50 yards wide. The cost: $2 million to $4 million a mile, or $4 billion to $8 billion in total." Despite wingnuts like Pat Buchanan who have no sense of history, it's true that some 500,000 Mexicans make it into America every year. This is nothing new. But this $8 billion dollar idea isn't the solution. Do you have any suggestions?

Wednesday's Links

2005-11-30T15:14:00.000-05:00

Activism

Remember when you were a kid, and you'd be scared by the lightning and thunder outside? You'd put the blanket over your head, close your eyes, and keep telling yourself "It's all OK?" Those were good times, weren't they? Imagine simply being able to close your eyes and just wish everything bad away! But then you grew up, and you found out that nothing is that easy. You've got to stand up and take accountability. Closing your eyes will never, ever make the problem simply "go away." Someone needs to explain to our President that he isn't a kid anymore, and he's not allowed to hide under a blanket. You can help show him this coward that he needs to grow up by buying a car magnet with a real message: the "Just Pretend It's All Okay" ribbon, brought to you by Northern Sun, who makes "Products for Progressives." Isn't time we all spoke our minds?

News

FCC Boss Prods Pay TV To Do More on Decency. Wow, let's see how many laws and amendments we can try to violate simply because a handful of parents can't control their children. It's been a while since we've talked about Senator Ted Stevens' (R-AK) attempts to regulate television even more, but he's back in the news. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants cable channels to not only tone down their content and match the "deceny" standards that are currently applied to network television, but he wants them to provide "family-friendly" packages of cable channels, a move that would significantly raise cable prices. Here's the thing. We agree that there need to be decency standards for network television: Any family with a TV can receive network channels, and those can't be easily "blocked" by parents. However, if a family wants to get cable, they have to pay for it. They have to make a choice to receive cable at home. With that choice comes a responsibility. And if parents don't like what their children are watching on cable, then they should either block those channels (as there are numerous devices available to do so), or simply not allow their children access into those parts of the house with cable. It's not up to the federal government to regulate choice, particularly when the choice will raise costs, and especially when there are so many more important things for the Senate to be discussing. And no, we're not talking about Terrell Owens.

U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press. And from the "are we at all surprised" category, ladies and gentlemen, the U.S. propaganda machine! While there are no outright lies in these stories, they do lie by omission, often telling only one side of the story. Where have we seen this before...? Oh yes, Armstrong Williams. And Maggie Gallagher. And the Dallas Morning News, the Sacramento Bee, the Mobile Register, the Grand Island (NE) The Independent, Al Dia, and En USA. This administration apparently has no problem throwing money around like candy to raise its image. Furthermore, when Iraqis learn of our press manipulation, is that going to increase their image of the U.S.? Probably not. Here's a hint, Mr. President: Doing the right thing will get you more good press than you can buy.

Abuse Worse Than Under Saddam, Says Iraqi Leader. What was that whole thing about making Iraq safer? Iraq's first Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, told the Guardian that human rights violations are even more prevelent than under Hussein. Shias in the government are allegedly responsible for "death squads" and "secret torture chambers." Allawi also struck home by saying "Iraq is the centrepiece of this region. If things go wrong, neither Europe nor the US will be safe." Well, things have been going wrong for years now, and it's become increasingly clear that neither Europe nor the US is safe.

Editorials

Villains Honoring Villains. One of the biggest travesties being wrought by the Bush Administration is also one of the least reported on: Bush's overwhelming desire to privatize all land in America. Bush wants to halt funding of public parks and lands, in an effort to sell them to private citizens or companies, thus helping reduce the Department of Parks and Recreation's budget. Huh? Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA) has proposed "revisions of park management policies that would allow cell phone towers, low-flying tour flights and all-terrain vehicles in parks, expand snowmobile access and would limit park managers' authority to prevent development." According to Representative Mark Souder (R-IN), "Parks won't be sold. I can guarantee you that. . .But commercialization in the parks is a very tough challenge. How far and where are we going to go in allowing it? It's a valid question." this commentary by Bill Berkowitz may seem a little extreme at times, but his message is dead on: By the time 2008 rolls around, Bush's fondest hope is that all of America is privatized. Wouldn't you enjoy taking the family to the Subway Grand Canyon?

Hunger, Almost Eliminated In the 70’s, Is Now Widespread. Of course we know who's fault that is, but J. Larry Brown, who directs the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, tries to explain why it is. The poverty level is rising, and the problem is so vast and widespread that it's apparently hard to report on the entire scope. Brown also gives us some facts that'll make your head spin. For example, "The United States is the only developed country with a serious hunger problem, and more than 12 million of those affected are children" and "38 million Americans live in households that suffer from hunger or food insecurity. The number of hungry mouths has increased by 43 percent in the past five years." Yet you don't hear Bush, or Republican leadership, talk about this problem, do you? In fact, the only person that comes close to being a "leader" who is actively doing something about hunger and poverty is John Edwards and the One America Committee. And while Edwards is certainly working here at home, creating Centers on Poverty, he's also working overseas to do his part. This administration isn't going to come up with some magical solution to reduce hunger: It'll take a collective effort from the country.

Blogger Commentary

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States... Nitpicker has linked to excerpts from an actual speech by our President, given in Arizona at a "Jon Kyl for Senate Dinner" event. Apparently, Kyl still listens to his mother and likes NASCAR, so the people in Arizona should vote for him. Bush's insight is truly something to behold, especially when he gives deep thoughts like "And the biggest problem we got is we're still at war." He goes on to say that "[t]he enemy has made Iraq a central front in this war on terror, so we must take it seriously..." Really? We didn't make Iraq a central front in this war on terror by deposing a leader under false pretenses, then occupy his country? Bush's summary, though, leaves us all with a hurting brain: "You know, I just recently came off a trip to the Far East...And it struck me that I was in a region of the world where there -- where wars had started." And to think, people voted for this guy. Twice.

Humor

Paul Rudnick offers an...interesting take on Intelligent Design. Trust us - don't read this with a mouthful of coffee. Thanks to Kelley Slagle for the link.

Tuesday's Links

2005-11-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

Activism

CA-48th: 8.5 days left...Virtual Phone Bankers Needed. Remember how Paul Hackett nearly won a special election in a Ohio district that went overwhelmingly for Bush? Remember how the left "blogosphere" rallied around Hackett and helped to boost his campaign? Well, we need a repeat of that. You may not even be aware of the fact that there's a special election in California's 48th district in a little over a week, but there is. Steve Young (not the ex-QB) is running and needs your help. If you're not in CA, you can help by virtual phone banking - just go to the link above for instructions. If you are in CA, then volunteer, and vote if you're in the 48th! We'll take the Congress back, one seat at a time.

News

Cheney Sidesteps Travel Disclosure Rules. You know, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a big deal. Really, this is the mastermind behind the Iraq war debacle, our torture policy, the CIA leak, and who knows what else? But that's exactly the point - it's critical to a functioning democracy to know what its leaders are up to. In fact, they refuse to even accept reimbursements from the organizers of the events to which he travels, precisely so they don't have to disclose those payments. We don't know how much we're paying to subsidize the trips of our Vice-President, and most of the time, we don't even know where he's going. It's pretty crappy that we're being stuck with the bills of his travel that seems to be almost exclusively for political purposes, but that's nothing new with this Administration. No, the point of this is that Cheney apparently doesn't feel he has any obligation to inform the electorate of what he's doing or where he's going, even those we're his boss. Of course, the Veep's office believes it's completely justified: "Their view is that the vice president is a constitutional office that is not subject to the laws that others in the executive branch are. They have been consistent in that." Well, at least they've been consistent...

The FBI's Secret Scrutiny. Do you trust the government? Because that's ultimately what the Patriot Act comes down to. If you trust the government not to abuse it's power, and to use their powers to go after those intent on causing Americans harm, then there's nothing wrong with the Patriot Act. On the other hand, if you pay just a bit of attention to what's going on, you realize how easy it is for a group of cynics and greedy powermongers can abuse that trust and game the system. That's what's happening now, and it's that atmosphere of abusiveness that makes the Patriot Act so dangerous. Read this story and learn about the FBI's monitoring of private citizens for whatever reason they deem appropriate. Since Bush has taken office, his Administration has steadily worked to lower to standards of what proof and justification is necessary to monitor and intrude upon private citizens. Do you really trust them to have our best interests at heart and exercise the appropriate restrait? Us neither.

Harper's Index for October 2005. We've always been big fans of Harper's Index. Some highlights from last month's numbers: "Rank of 2004 among the most fiscally reckless years in U.S. history, according to the comptroller general: 1", "Minutes that NBC and CBS spent covering the Darfur genocide last year: 8", "Total U.S. spending on poppy eradication and other antidrug efforts in Afghanistan last year: $780,000,000", and "Amount it would have cost to purchase the country’s entire 2004 poppy crop: $600,000,000." Sometimes, numbers are also worth 1000 words.

Editorials

Guatemala, home of powerful drug runners. Often, we'll cover the same issues over and over again, but once in a while we like to mix things up. So, here's an issue that hasn't yet been mentioned on Still Fighting: The Guatemalan drug trade. Some in America believe that Guatemala is a "transfer point for 75 percent of the cocaine that gets into the U.S." Unfortunately, Guatemala doesn't seem to be doing anything to combat the problem. They don't seem to want to cooperates with our efforts to stem the drug trade, and so "[i]nstead of extradition, the DEA is now luring suspects into the U.S. and then arresting them." That seems to be a pretty ineffective method of fighting the problem. It'd be nice if we knew more about Guatemala's complicity in the global drug war, and what the U.S. is doing to pressure them to aid us in the fight. Hey media: Do your jobs!

So you want details about who lied. The ever-dwindling group of Bush defenders continue to insist that he never lied about WMDs in Iraq, and that it was just "bogus intelligence". Well, the fact that Cheney and his cohorts actively distorted that intelligence has been quite well established on this blog, but war supporters continue to insist that Cheney and Bush didn't lie in the run up to the war. They keep asking for details. One might be able to argue that "it isn't a lie if you truly believe it", but we now have information showing that for the most part, the White House shouldn't have believed the intelligence they push. This letter to the editor to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer outlines just some of the most egregious examples of the Administration willfully lying to the public. Yes, they knew that Saddam was unlikely to have nuclear weapons, and stated that he likely did. To quote the author, "If that isn't lying, I don't know what is."

Blogger Commentary

Rahm, Please Tell Us: How Many More Have to Die for It to Be "The Right Time?". David Sirota nails it with his righteous indignation, and for once, it's toward Democrats. After Jack Murtha called for an Iraq pullout, Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) said that the Democrats would have a position on Iraq "at the right time". Who's Rahm Emanuel? Well, only the leader of the House Democrats' election campaign. This might be prudent politics, although it's also typical of what many (including us) dislike about Democrats: Their unwillingness to take a stand, even if it's unpopular. But forget politics for a second - it's morally reprehensible to play politics with this war. It's wrong for the Republicans to continue to do it, and it's wrong for the Democrats to do it at all. If a Democratic opposition to the war could end it and save lives in the long run, then it's the right thing to do. Have some integrity, Rahm!

It's Our Fault. Arthur Silber's back, and this time he's dispelling another myth that seems to circulate in the right-wing propaganda factory. Namely, the idea that if, but some strange twist of fate, we "lose" in Iraq and are forced to pull out before "victory" is achieved (whatever that means), then it won't be the fault of our leadership. No, they believe the blame will rest on "Main Street, U.S.A.", for engaging in "defeatism". Silber points out the absurdity of this argument: "We are the strongest nation in the history of the world. We have the most powerful military forces ever known to man. But if we 'lose,' it's the fault of those of us sitting at home who read and think about these events, and who dare to reach certain inescapable conclusions. It's our fault. We control nothing, and cannot dictate even the most miniscule part of the outcome." The right-wing is in charge. When they fail, it's their fault. It's called "accountability". Look into it for once.

Monday's Links

2005-11-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

Activism

Political Ringtones: What Can 527s Do With This? Here's a nifty little idea from the Development Seed blog: Political ring tones. We feel that they could be useful, but how to maximize their effectiveness? Well, we'll start by encouraging you to download and use one or two. Imagine, sitting on the metro and hearing Bush say, "Brownie, you're doin' a heck of a job." Wouldn't that start to piss you off? And if you want more than what Eric's got on the above page, check out these of Tom DeLay. Sometimes, people need constant reminders of how inept and/or corrupt their leaders are.

News

Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity. Under this Republican leadership, we're moving closer and closer to an Orwellian society, and frankly, it scares the shit out of us. Chances are you've never heard of CIFA, the Counterintelligence Field Activity agency, created three years ago under the Pentagon. CIFA currently coordinates Pentagon security efforts, but under a Presidential commission proposal, CIFA would turn to spying on Americans. The Pentagon has also been pushing for an exemption from the Privacy Act, which would allow "the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence." Thankfully, when it comes to the latter, some of the most extreme requests have been beaten down, but there's still quite a bit to be worried about here. Of course, this info won't be kept within the confines of the E-ring. No, we've got to bring in contractors. The result is that dossiers of Americans will be available to be hijacked by "White Oak Technologies, Inc." and "MZM, Inc." This administration has already proven, time and time again, that it can't abide by any sense of ethics, particularly when it comes to "trying to get our man." We abduct and send a Canadian Arab into Syria for 18 months, bloody, bruise and beat him, only to find out that he's completely innocent, yet we can't find Osama bin Laden? And this administration wants to collect even more data on us, in order to "keep us safe"? No thank you.

'Trophy' Video Exposes Private Security Contractors Shooting up Iraqi Drivers. Who decided that contractors (private security companies) were above the law? If this kind of thing was happening here in America, there would be no limit to our moral outrage, and rightfully so. Why then, should we allow it to happen in Iraq? Given the video evidence, the company can't simply deny what has occured. So, they do the next "best" thing: declare an internal investigation. This will give them time to grind the gears and come up with the right spin. In the meantime, Aegis could be killing more Iraqi civilians. Believe it or not, though, this isn't even the most important thing to come out of the UK this week. Britain's Tony Blair now seems to be facing the full-scale parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq war -- its justification, conduct and aftermath -- that Bush has been able to avoid. While Bush has been able to escape it here at home (and that's another point of contention), the Blair investigation will undoubtably open up some ugly cans of worms for Bush. We can't wait!

US Reveals Blueprint for Iraq Pullout. And speaking of Iraq, the White House finally came out of the closet on Sunday, indicating that they have a troop withdrawal plan for Iraq. Of course, this administration never does anything without attacking someone, so it should come as no surprise that Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) was the recipient of that attack. On Saturday, the Washington Post published this commentary from Biden, which outlines an exit strategy for Iraq. Biden lays out a sensible plan that doesn't leave anyone "hanging." Then, yesterday, BushCo announced that...well, read for yourself. "Today, Senator Biden described a plan remarkably similar to the administration's plan to fight and win the war on terror." Really? Then how come Bush has never mentioned it before? In fact, how come Bush has routinely said that setting a timetable would be a mistake? As Bull Moose writes, Republicans don't even know what the party line is anymore. Oh, who's the flip-flopper now?

Editorials

A Tolerable Genocide. Hey, remember that whole genocide in Darfur thing? It didn't go away! African Union peacekeepers can't even protect themselves, much less the Sudanese there. And if they have to pull out, estimates put the monthly death toll at 100,000. Nicholas Kristof has followed this story extremely closely, and he wonders what it'll take to get Bush interested in the genocide. We can't continue to proclaim ourselves to be the best in the world, and yet ignore the world when our help is needed. And, lest we forget, Darfur is just another example of a place that we'd be in much better shape to help if we weren't bogged down in a useless war. America is rapidly becoming the shame of the world - richest in material goods, poorest in nobility.

Dishonest, Reprehensible, Corrupt... Do you think Frank Rich is talking about George Bush and Dick Cheney? If so, you get a gold star! Rich writes about the cover-up that led to the Iraq War. The cover-up is failing, and the administration's penchant for lying will ultimately be fruitless, because the truth always comes out. It's already started, between Bob Drogin, John Goetz and Murray Waas. These are probably not names you know, but names that you should. All three are reporters, and all are helping to fill in the blanks when it comes to what we knew and when we knew it. "'We're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history,' the vice president said of his critics." How about just telling the truth about history, then? They say that history is written by the winners, and it certainly looks like Bush's version is slipping down the drain. When 2/3 of the country thinks that you're lying, it's time to come clean.

Blogger Commentary

A Democratic Karl Rove. Armando, at Daily Kos, writes about a William Raspberry editorial in today's Washington Post. Democrats don't have their own Karl Rove, and perhaps that's part of the problem. But if they did, you can bet he'd do exactly as Raspberry and Armando indicate: he would tell Democrats to not come up with an exit strategy for Iraq. Not having one has served them well so far; and there's nothing that BushCo can really come up with that will curry them favor with the American people. So, let Bush flounder, but we need to be prepared to "act in ways designed to allow [them] to regain power in 2006." Sounds good to us!

Inherit the Dumbassery. It's almost possible to consider that lawsuits like this hurt the system, by taking court time away from other cases. Then again, we'd love to see Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell have their moment in the sun, if only to be shot down. You see, the Caldwells are suing the University of California - Berkeley, which has a website (partially funded by the National Science Foundation), designed to help teachers teach evolution. The Caldwells maintain that this violates the Seperation of Church and State. As Shakespeare's Sister writes, "Yes, it a conspiracy to brainwash kids into believing in science and not god! The eeeevil scientists and science teachers are out to get your children!" Oh, and the Caldwells don't believe in Intelligent Design. They just "object to the teaching of evolution as scientific fact." Ah yes. A widely accepted scientific theory can't be taught as fact. Well, we feel put in our place now.

Sunday's Links

2005-11-27T11:18:00.000-05:00

Activism

Tired of the media not portraying stories that you think deserve attention? Participate.net has created Report It Now, a place for anyone to sumbit stories that the media isn't covering. Here's a very good opportunity for those of you who want to get more involved and know what needs to be to be talked about. If you're frustrated with the current news coverage, this Activism is for you!

News

Ohio Scandals May Give Democrats a Lift. It's not enough that the administration is taking great pains to hurt their image in the country. It's not even enough that Republican leaders in the House and Senate have been implicated in ethics violations. Now, we look at the 2004 battleground state of Ohio, where Tom Noe, Robert Ney and Bob Taft are singlehandedly turning the state against the Republican Party. Now, if Democrats can keep the pressure on Republicans, and we just may see Ohio turn blue.

Congress Arrives at A Deal on Patriot Act. Did you notice, last week, that the Patriot Act was reauthorized? The final agreement left a lot of civil liberties stricken, as you can read in this Daily Kos diary. Essentially, 14 of the 17 provisions that would have expired this year are now permanent, and the other three have been extended through 2012. This is a "compromise?" This is a disgusting abuse of power at the expense of civil liberties.

ACLU Suing Over Ouster From Event. It's about time we saw some action on this. The ACLU is suing a "federal bureaucrat" in Denver, based on the ousting of 2 people from a presidential event in Denver. The two were ousted because of, well, we're not sure why. No one was; hence the reason for this case. The bureaucrat in question is Michael Casper. Since there was no reason for the ouster, since the two had tickets to the event, and since the event was taxpayer funded, the suit alleges violations of the First and Fourth Amendments. We'll keep tabs on this, but keep in mind that the suit could have huge implications for Bush's favored "town hall" meetings.

Editorials

What I Knew Before the Invasion. Former Democratic Senator Bob Graham responds to the Bush Administration's assertions that "everyone had the same intelligence" before the Congress voted to authorize Bush to go to war. Graham was the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during 9/11, and he thought he had all the info. He did not. And if he did not, how could the rest of the Congress have it? Once again, Bush caught in another lie.

A Slice for Democrats. David S. Broder maintains that the Democrats need to create a tax plan before the 2006 election. Certainly, if you scan the ideas solicited at SinceSlicedBread.com, a majority of them involve ways to fix the tax problem in this country. With Democrats, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has started the ball rolling with his "Fair Flat Tax Act of 2005." But we'll see bigger strides when the Senate Finance Committee starts working on plans next year. Democrats need to be able to respond to Bush's horrendous tax cuts and the alternative minimum tax.

Blogger Commentary

Mr. Outsourcing CEO, You're Evil. Russell Shaw discusses how CEOs who are outsourcing jobs are hurting America. CEOs see this as a win-win, as they are paying less for these jobs (like tech-support), thus keeping their bottom line raised. When we see the American economy dwindling, we can certainly point the finger to outsourcing as one of the biggest reasons why.

US Senate: Something Evil This Way Comes. Once more, our Republican leadership is trying to hurt America by providing more money to the private sector. Heard of OSHA? It's the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and it's designed to help protect you at work, whatever your job is. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) wants to privatize OSHA enforcement by allowing employers to hire private sector consultants to inspect their workplaces and issue a "certificate of compliance," exempting them from an OSHA citation for two years. But the bill goes far beyond that. Check out Jordan's entry on the "Confined Space" blog, and then try to tell us that our Congress is looking out for Americans.

Saturday's Links

2005-11-26T12:29:00.000-05:00

Activism

The New Organizing Institute is a unique grassroots program that trains young, technology-enabled political organizers to work for progressive campaigns and organizations. The Institute is being created by experienced online organizers in conjunction with MoveOn.org to fill an urgent need in progressive politics. Next February & June, the NOI will hold a two week long organizer training, and a six week advanced technology workshop in the summer. This is the first and only training session specifically geared towards online politics. If you're at all interested, check out the info here, and then sign up here for this truly unique opportunity!

News

Judge Rejects Challenge to Bush Education Law. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the federal government can require states to spend their own money to comply with No Child Left Behind. This is both a historic and ridiculous ruling. The message that the court is sending is that Congress can essentially do anything they want, specifically because they didn't indicate, in the NCLB legislature, that the federal government would pay for it all. The Judge, Bernard A. Friedman, said that if lawmakers had meant to pay for mandates in the law, they would have phrased the legislation "to say so clearly and unambiguously." So, now we're stuck with an act that, despite recent concessions, still doesn't work and states will have to divert funds to pay for. And if you need more evidence that NCLB doesn't work, check out the state of Tennessee. Tennessee's 8th grade students tested at 87% or above the proficiency level in math. But under NCLB, the federal government decided that only 21% of those students were considered "proficient" in math. And it's not just Tennessee; over a dozen states have experienced similar problems with federal reporting. Still want to try and tell us that NCLB is the way to go?

Democrats Call for Policy to Address High Fuel Costs. Is it just another gesture, or are Democrats flexing their new-found muscles? Governor Christine Gregoire (D) of Washington used this week's Democratic radio address to demand a better national energy policy. The simple truth is that, right now, more Americans care about the cost of their heating bills than they care about the Jack Abramoff investigation. And really, can you blame them? Although the Abramoff investigation speaks to corruption in the highest levels of government, high heating bills will directly affect the pocketbooks of every American. Gregoire notes that this Republican-led Congress won't "create a national energy policy that works." But if states like Washington, Pennsylvania and New Mexico can embrace alternative energy sources, why can't our federal government do the same? Oh, right, because they want to help oil executives.

Republicans Are Deeply Split Over How to Apportion New Tax Cuts. This is just the height of absurdity, but it's also some good news. The White House and House Republicans want tax cuts to go to the rich (i.e. the top 1%). They also want Bush's tax cuts to be extended. Senate Republicans, though, don't want to renew Bush's tax cuts, they want to shield middle- and upper-income families from the alternative minimum tax, and they want a one-year, $5-billion tax on major oil companies and a provision that would make it easier to impose steep penalties on people caught using illegal tax shelters. Obviously, both parts of Congress want to favor the upper-class, but the Senate less so. Quite honestly, we're not sure why Republican leadership in the Senate is continuing to split from Bush, and we can only conclude that key Senators are looking to help their own causes, not only with re-election in 2006, but for those with presidential aspirations in 2008, a stunt like this not only still appeals to their base, but makes it look like they are doing something for the ever-shrinking middle class. Not going to work, guys. Sorry.

Editorials

The Phony War Against the Critics. Michael Kinsley gets back to his roots with a fantastic editorial on Dick Cheney's hypocrisy. Now that the administration freely admits that Hussein had no WMDs, wouldn't the reasons that we went to war be considered "mistaken?" Yet, even with this "revelation," we're still supposed to think that anyone who accuses the administration of leading us to war by "faking a belief that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear and/or chemical and biological weapons" is dishonest, reprehensible, corrupt and shameless? Nope, and Kinsley tells us why. Back in 2000, Cheney was highly outspoken against Clinton's military campaigns in Bosnia and Kosovo, saying that we absolutely must have an "exit strategy." (Remember, we had a total of 11,000 American troops over there, alongside 55,000 allies). How, exactly, are our troops supposed to feel now, knowing that 2,107 American soldiers have died for a lie?

Bad for the Country. You might have read that GM is cutting 30,000 jobs. And unless you or someone you know is personally affected, you probably thought, "Oh, that's too bad," before moving on to the sports page. But Paul Krugman is here to tell us why we should care about this. GM's weaknesses are a reflection of the "broader weakness of US manufacturing." And that weakness can be summed up in one word: healthcare. Our economy has been turned into a shambles under this administration, and we've been importing far more than we export. The trade deficit has exceeded $600 billion, which means more money is leaving this country than coming into it. As a result, employers are forced to spend more money on healthcare, which means less profit, which means layoffs. As Krugman shows, it's all intertwined, and if the current situation continues, it won't be good news for any of us.

Blogger Commentary

American Traitor. We don't particularly like wasting space on idiots like Ann Coulter, but we couldn't let this Daily Kos commentary by Hunter go by without writing about it. In a recent column, Coulter calls Representative John Murtha, and, by extension, Democrats, traitors. Her words: "The Democrats are giving aid and comfort to the enemy for no purpose other than giving aid and comfort to the enemy. There is no plausible explanation for the Democrats' behavior other than that they long to see U.S. troops shot, humiliated, and driven from the field of battle." It's incredible to consider that a pampered, spoiled rich toerag like Coulter would have the audacity to call a Vietnam veteran like Murtha a traitor. Incredible, that is, until you consider that Coulter's attempt to shine the spotlight back on herself stem from her position as "batshit crazy frothing McCarthy-loving racist head-spinning lying female ass of the Right" is being usurped by the other batshit crazy woman on the right, Michelle Malkin. So, this personal vendetta is nothing more than a popularity contest, and the country is suffering because of it. We ask you, who's hurting the country more: John Murtha or Ann Coulter?

Analyze This. From Mahablog, it just wouldn't be a week if the blogosphere on the right didn't find something to bitch at. This week, Maha writes about conservative idiots who are up in arms over the decision by the U.S. Postal Service to discontinue printing the "Madonna and Child" holiday stamp. They see at as another attack on Christians. Never mind that Christians haven't seriously been targeted as a group in this country since, well, ever. No, what makes this story amusing is that the USPS has no plans to stop printing the Madonna and Child stamp. In fact, it's still up on their website. Yet, according to some conservative blogger "who got it from her mom who got it from a clerk at the local post office," not only will they not reprint the stamp, but "clerks have been instructed not to wish customers Merry Christmas; itÂs Happy Holidays only." Gosh, Shaggy! Stop the persecution train! The idea that anyone is going to get upset and uptight over this is simply stupid, so we'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Wednesday's Links

2005-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

There will be no Still Fighting Post on Thursday, November 24 or Friday, November 25. Enjoy your Thanksgiving! We'll be back on Saturday.

Activism

Today's Activism is to make a purchase. With the holiday season just around the corner, you may be looking for gifts. Unembedded is a photo essay book by four independent journalists who have traveled Iraq during the war, without military escorts. Some photos are poignant, some astounding, and some heart-wrenching. The unfettered stories shown in this book paint a veyr different picture than the one that the Bush Administration would have you believe: from triumph to tragedy, this is definitely a book that you'll want to have.

News

3 Brigades May Be Cut in Iraq Early in 2006. The Pentagon has announced that they will remove three brigades from Iraq early next year, although one of those will remain in Kuwait on "standby." This news would be a lot more welcome if there was evidence that we've been effective in training Iraqi soldiers, but the sad truth is that we haven't. We're spending so much time in Iraq battling insurgents and picking fights that there hasn't been adequate time (or resources or plans) to train up the Iraqis.

Paper Says Bush Talked of Bombing Arab TV Network. It took a day or two for this to leave the blogosphere and get picked up by the MSM, and now that it is, it's kind of staggering to consider. Apparently, in April 2004, Bush wanted to bomb al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network, and Tony Blair had to talk him out of it. Bush cronies are trying to spin this as a "humorous remark, not intended to be taken seriously." First off, we don't find anything funny about it. Secondly, this is exactly the kind of thing Bush would suggest. For a man who didn't think (or care) about the ramifications of going in from of the UN and lying about WMDs, why should he care about the ramifications of bombing al-Jazeera?

CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described. The lead paragraph of this story says it all. "Harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002, ABC News has been told by former and current intelligence officers and supervisors." And this is the same group that Dick Cheney wants to allow to continue to torture? This story, by ABC News, is something that will shock and sicken you, but it must be read. This is what our administration has allowed, and remember kids, "We do not torture."

Editorials

Bring Democracy to Congress. E.J. Dionne, Jr. is pissed, and we don't blame him. He's pissed because of the $50 million in budget cuts the House passed last week. Cuts in programs like Medicaid, food stamps and child support enforcement. Not a single Democrat voted for the cuts, and why would they? House leadership has refused to "revisit any of the tax cuts it has passed since President Bush took office." Even Republicans were up in arms over the budget cuts, as the bill passed by a margin of 217-215. That means 14 Republicans voted against the bill, and that gives us some hope. Of course, if you look at the "new map," based on approval rating, it gives us a lot more hope.

Exit Strategy in Search of a Party. Harold Meyerson on the decline of Bush's last few months. Attacked on all sides, from Democrats, the American public, and now even some in his own party, Bush certainly has nothing to be thankful for this holiday. Democrats stay silent when it comes to suggesting a plan for withdrawal, and then when someone does speak up, it's Congressman Jack Murtha (D-PA 12th), known as a "longtime war hawk." As Meyerson writes, "[i]nitially, the White House compared Murtha to Moore, and some pipsqueak freshman congresswoman from Ohio called Murtha a coward, but these attacks embarrassed and angered so many Republicans that they quickly ground to a halt. For their part, the Democrats sang Murtha's praises but gave his proposal a wide berth." (What's amazing is that the "pipsqueak" congresswoman, Jean Schmidt, called Murtha a coward, and was booed off the floor of the House, and now she doesn't understand why she's become the villain). And it's that very silence that confounds us all. Because, you see, the American people are overwhelmingly supportive of withdrawing our troops. So why aren't Democrats more vocal about this?

Blogger Commentary

Wyden's Bold Move. Before Bush's popularity went in the toilet, one of the items on his second term agenda was to "reform the tax code". Of course, by now we all know that's code for "screw the middle and lower classes", since that's pretty much his goal no matter what policy he's implementing. But this is one item on which Democrats can be proactive, and a few weeks ago, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) proposed a “Simpler, Flatter, Fairer” tax plan. Frankly, the inequality currently in the tax code is staggering. "By far the most significant part of Wyden's plan is his proposal to tax income from wealth at the same rate as wages. He'd tax dividends and capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income, eliminating absurdly favorable tax treatment for forms of income that mostly go to the rich." Why should capital gains be taxed less than ordinary income? It doesn't make any sense, and it's not fair to the people who actually do the work in this country, instead of sitting around watching their bank accounts increase.

A Letter from Ramadi--"I Wish Every American Could See This for Him/Herself". Look, one person's account of how things are going in Iraq isn't necessarily accurate. But such accounts can offer valuable insight into the mind of our military, and that's why they're worth looking at. Paul Rieckhoff relates a letter from one of his friends serving as an Army Officer in Ramadi, and the picture's pretty bleak. They're frustrated, understaffed, and lacking necessary equipment. He claims the worst aspect is that they could make a difference, but that the brass isn't giving them the tools to do so. His conclusion: "I wish every American could see this for him/herself. Registering your frustration at the ballot box isn't nearly enough. There should be jail terms for this." It's hard to disagree.

Tuesday's Links

2005-11-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Activism

National Stop Alito Petition Drive. How long has it been since we linked to a petition or campaign to stop Alito? Well, however much time it's been, it's too much. They can pretend all they want, but the fact is that Alito will move the court to the right - much farther than they're willing to admit publicly. Most recently, a paper was unearthed that revealed his true opinions on abortion. Of course, that's not the only issue Alito could affect, but it's a big one. That's why NARAL is running this petition drive, and why you should sign on. Make no mistake: This is the far-right's opportunity to take firm control of the judicial branch.

News

Iraqi Leaders Urge a Timetable for Eventual Troop Withdrawal. Poor Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld. One by one, their arguments for the war are crumbling, along with their public opinion. Of course, it's not like most of the arguments made any sense in the first place - witness Cenk Uygur's destruction of the "Insurgents will wait us out if we set a timetable" argument. But now even Iraqi "leaders" are asking for a timetable. (The Arab League, not the actual Iraqi government.) Bush used to maintain that we'd leave as soon as the Iraqi government asked us to. That hasn't happened yet, although we're not so sure Bush would let it happen, or become public if it did, but it's yet one more sign that we shouldn't be there anymore.

Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case. We try to stay away from articles that have too much of an "insider" feel to them, but the Abramoff scandal is important. It might sound intricate, but really the issue is the wholesale buying and selling of our government, piece by piece, to the highest bigger. Abramoff seems to be the guy largely responsible for facilitating the Republican culture of corruption that is turning Washington into a cesspool. We can't even hope to change Congress until we can be sure that the leaders we elect won't just whore themselves out as soon as they arrive in D.C. So it's very important that the Abramoff case is prosecuted, and that all of those on the take go down with him. Therefore, it's quite a good thing that Michael Scanlon, a lawyer with strong ties to Abramoff, pled guilty. "As part of the plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Scanlon admitted plotting to cheat clients and corruptly influence federal officials." The article details a lot more about how he bought off Congressmen. His plea bargain is a good start. Now let's get moving on booting those officials.

Bush Administration Grants Leeway on 'No Child' Rules. Bush has yet to admit that he's been wrong on anything, and this is the closest we'll see him coming to doing so. BushCo has eased some of the rules under No Child Left Behind, because someone in the White House realized that kids just are getting screwed by this bill. The biggest change is allowing 10 states to create "growth model" schools. What this means, essentially, is that states will qualify as "making progress" if they show improvement in test scores at these growth schools, even if those final results fall below the NCLB benchmarks. It is a much fairer way to assess schools, particularly those in lower-income areas. The big problem with NCLB, aside from being wholly unrealistic, was that it was trying to do too much at once; forcing states to have their students meet an arbitrary benchmark AND require teachers to get certified AND financially penalize those schools that didn't conform to either of those. NCLB is still a horrible plan, but at least this administration has seen that it doesn't work, and is trying to do something about it. That's something, for once. the larger problem is that requirements are different in each state, so trying to regulate something like this on a national level strips some of the power of the states.

Editorials

Time to Leave. Krugman's back, and taking up the argument that it's time for us to exit Iraq. Honestly, it seems pretty obvious to us, but Krugman has a knack for making his points so clearly that it's a wonder anyone bothers to think otherwise. The fact is, we're not winning in Iraq. Our presence there makes things worth. What's keeping us there? Stubborn, arrogant leaders who refuse to "admit defeat", but can't even define victory. Maybe you're conflicted about withdrawal, but read Krugman's article and then see how you feel. As a Marine officer quoted in an article Krugman references says, "We can lose in Iraq and destroy our Army, or we can just lose." Given that choice, we think we'll opt for the latter.

Bush's War on the Press. John Nichols and Robert McChesney detail the steps that the Bush administration has taken to remove "the power of the press." Everything that is documented here, from fake news ads to PBS to the Freedom of Information Ace are all individual acts that lead to a greater goal: the gutting of the independent media. Although Bush doesn't want to hear any "bad" news, or news that disagrees with him, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. This isn't the case of a hear-no-evil monkey. So the administration has taken extreme steps to remove that news from the public eye. Whether it's hiding the names of the dead soldiers in Iraq or secretly paying Armstrong Williams to pimp the NCLB Act, this administration is trying everything in it's power to covertly withhold information from the public. Fortunately, there's no such thing as "covertly" anymore.

Blogger Commentary

'Reform Republicans' - The McCain Scam. Over at MyDD, Matt Stoller points out that liberals who love John McCain are being scammed. Heck, he's even pulled the wool over Still Fighting's eyes from time to time! Stoller claims there's no particular reason we should like John McCain: "Liberals shouldn't fall for it. John McCain is a corrupt Republican, just like Bush. He doesn't play to the base, preferring instead a 'good government' bipartisan strategy, but he's corrupt, mean-spirited, and puts his ambition above everything else." He claims to be against torture, but votes against habeus corpus rights. He wants to reform campaign finance publicly, but privately is just as much in the pocket of big business as the rest of the party. McCain's nothing special, and we should stop lionizing him just because he criticizes Bush once in a while.

Genie In A Bottle. One of the most disturbing aspects of our recent debates about the merits of torture is what it reveals about our own culture. Years ago, torture was commonly considered morally reprehensible and beneath us. Now, we're practically having open debates about it, and discussing its effectiveness, as if it would somehow be justifiable if it worked. It's not. But where is this debate taking us? It's debasing us, as Americans. Digby references an article that discussions how torture can affect the mind of those administering torture, and we fear that's exactly what's happening to our collective conscience. "Now that we've let the torture genie out of the bottle, I wonder if we can put that beast back in. He looks and sounds an awful lot like an American." Scary.

Monday's Links

2005-11-21T11:25:00.000-05:00

Activism

Help Stop the Reverse Robin Hood Budget: Take a Photo. It's a wonder that Congress can look us in the eye and with a stright face actually claim that the budget they propose is what's best for the American people. The fact is, it's not. The most recent budget atrocity may have been defeated last week, but you can be sure there will be something almost as abhorrent coming along soon. Unfortunately, the fact is that most Congresspeople never really do have to look their constituents in the face and justify their votes. But maybe, just maybe, if we look them in the eye and tell them what our priorities are, they'll get the message. Hop on over to the link above and help out with MoveOn's campaign to send Congress a host of pictures that depict concerned citizens looking right at the camera and explaining their priorities. It may seem crazy, but months ago, we never would have thought enough Republicans would turn and vote down the most recent budget proposal. So, be a little creative and add your picture!

News

Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare Lawmakers. No word defines Jack Abramoff more than "chutzpah". He's been indicted, and while we've only gleaned bits and pieces of the extent of his lobbying activities, what we've seen so far is enough to turn out stomachs. Look, politicians beholden to interest groups and rich lobbyists are really nothing new. But Abramoff took lobbying to a whole new level, essentially outrightly buying politicians. He's essentially being charged with "being part of a broad conspiracy to provide 'things of value, including money, meals, trips and entertainment to federal public officials in return for agreements to perform official acts' - an attempt at bribery, in other words, or something close to it." But it takes two to tango, and what that means is all of the politicians who provided their "services" to Abramoff should be quaking in their boots. We've already seen White House budget official David Safavian arrested "on charges of lying to investigators about his business ties to Mr. Abramoff, a former lobbying partner." We've heard about Tom DeLay's close ties to Abramoff, and rumors of the president of Gabon paying for a meeting with Bush. Who knows how far the corruption goes? One Congressional specialist quoted in the article says "I think this has the potential to be the biggest scandal in Congress in over a century."

A Rebuilding Plan Full of Cracks. Is there anything that this administration has touched that hasn't had the anti-Midas effect? In 2002, Bush launched a $73 million dollar development program for Afghanistan. The goal was to create or restore 1,000 schools and clinics by the end of 2004. How many have been completed? By the end of 2004, 100 (mostly all refurbishments), and an additional 40 since then. Let's see...1,000 buildings, 140 completed...that's 14%. 14%! The conditions in Afghanistan are so horrendous, what with the infrastructure being destroyed, that life expectancy is now only 43 years. So, does the fault lie with the administration, for creating a faulty "plan," or with USAID and the Louis Berger Group, who failed to get the job done? Well, to hear USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios tell it, the goal was really to build 533 buildings by the end of 2004, and that they had really completed far more than the 140 listed above. But even if this is true, the conditions in Afghanistan are still atrocious. USAID can't be proud of the job they've done while locked buildings still sit empty in the cities, and babies are dying at a rate of 1 out of every 4.

Powell Aide: Torture 'Guidance' From VP. Even more proof that Dick Cheney is pure evil. Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, recently told CNN that he has no doubt that the torture that has happened, and the torture that is continuing to happen, is the result of Dick Cheney's "philosophical guidance." Wilkerson went on to discuss a "cabal" formed by Cheney and Rumsfeld that "made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made." Although Cheney and Rumsfeld have seperately dismissed the idea of a cabal as absurd, it's important to note that Wilkerson is a Republican who voted for the Bush/Cheney ticket twice. Why would he make something like that up? Maybe he's growing a conscience...

Editorials

One War Lost, Another to Go. Frank Rich is back with his latest installment. This time, he focuses on the Iraq War. Rich notes that the American public knows that the war is "over." Even Republican lapdogs like Rick Santorum, faced with re-election next year and down by 16 points, are distancing themselves from Bush and pointing the finger of blame, ever so slightly, at the White House. While Bush refuses to set a timetable, it should be fairly obvious that there already is one: November 7, 2006. That's the date of the mid-term elections in this country, and if Bush and company don't do something about getting us out of Iraq before then, we're going to see a large number of Republican incumbents dropped on the front stoop, in favor of Democrats who have long held the belief that we must leave Iraq.

What's a Senior Administration Official? This editorial by Daniel Engber is pretty neat. Engber, prompted by Bob Woodward's claim that he was told of Valerie Plame weeks before by a "senior administration official," sets out to explain exactly what that means. We see it all the time in news articles. But what does it mean? The answer is...well, nebulous. There's no hard and fast rules about it. Pretty much anyone in the White House (except for interns) can be a "senior administration official." It also depends on the context of the story and the informer's title/position. For example, writes Engber, Dick Cheney wasn't the "senior administration official" who told Woodward about Plame. So, that narrows it down to the, oh, several hundred non-interns that work in the White House.

Blogger Commentary

Kent State Redux? In case you missed it, over the last few weeks Kent State University has been the target of a massive campaign. Supported by liberal bloggers all over the country, Americans were encouraged to send letters to KSU denouncing their attempts to silence the first amendment. In short, as Caroline Arnold writes, David Airhart is an ex-marine and current student at KSU. On October 19 of this year, Airhard climber a 30 foot climbing wall and displayed a banner that said, "KENT OHIO 4 PEACE," an anti-war sentiment, protesting against the military recruiters on campus. Once he arrived at the top, one of the recruiters started to climb up after him, so Airhart started climbing down. As he did so, he was met by another recruiter who tried to pull him down. Airhard received a fine and was ordered to appear at a disciplinary hearing, which was cancelled hours before it was scheduled to start. Airhart is admirable in that he took a stand, made his convictions known, and was prepared to accept whatever consequences came of this. KSU was inundated with letters, phone calls and emails. Only, there didn't seem to be any reason for them. The military recruiters didn't speak for the University, and KSU President Cartwright has long been an outspoken proponent of the first amendment. No, what KSU shows us is that Bush is very good at spreading dissent, and we need to be united against our real enemies, not divided against ourselves.

Ten Commandments for Wal-Mart. What's really amazing about this piece by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) is not so much what he's written, which is quite good, but the scathing comments from readers. The Huffington Post is an unapologetic liberal blog, yet there are more comments from uneducated conservatives to his post that from liberals. Maybe it's because liberals know that he's right. After all, what kind of a corporation pays their CEO hundreds of million of dollars a year, yet leaves 48% of its work force without health insurance? Kennedy makes a very interesting note regarding returns, as well. Costco pays its employees, on average, 76% more than Wal-Mart. Employees at Costco have health and dental insurance, as well as retirement benefits. Oh, and in the last decade, Costco has delivered higher returns to its shareholders. So don't tell us that it can't be done. If Wal-Mart truly cared about their employees, they'd find a way. Clearly, Costco has.

Sunday's Links

2005-11-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

Activism

The Bill O'Reilly Blacklist. Bill O'Reilly really is an idiot. The worst kind of idiot, actually: One with a microphone. But unfortunately, despite his idle threats to "retire", he's not going anywhere any time soon. Since he's a complete hypocrite and unable to respond to any of his critics with facts, he has to resort to ad hominem attacks. Recently, he labelled them "smear merchants", and blamed the whole hubbub about his threat to San Francisco as their fault. Furthermore, he "promised to publish a blacklist to publicly intimidate his 'enemies'." Arianna Huffington is collecting the names of those who will be proud to be on his absurd list. Count Still Fighting in, Arianna! You should take a stroll over to her post and add your name. Maybe if a large percentage of Americans WANT to be on his list, he'll get the message. Probably not, but it's worth a shot.

News

How U.S. Fell Under the Spell of 'Curveball'. You gotta give Bush credit for one thing: He's good at repeating the same lies over and over again. But unlike in the run-up to the war, and even the 2004 election, the media and the public are no longer willing to buy what he's selling. What that means is that the harder he pushes, the more of his dirty laundry comes out. From the L.A. Times, we're learning how the Bush Team based their intelligence on a single, unreliable informant (the infamous "Curveball"), and how the Germans who had him in custody (he was a defector) knew "his information was often vague, mostly secondhand and impossible to confirm." What was their reaction when Powell used Curveball's claims to justify the war? "Mein Gott!" We just have one question: Why didn't you speak up then?

Afghanistan Insurgents 'Extremely Resolute and Fought to the Last Man'. You may not have noticed, but there's still conflict in Afghanistan. So much conflict, in fact, that you might call it an insurgency. An insurgency that is just as dedicated to removing the invading forces as those in Iraq. The entire occupation/insurgency can be summed up by this quote: "The issue is not that they're [the insurgents] going to be successful today or tomorrow or even next year, but that in time, the United States and other major powers ... just do not have the political will to stay." And that's what it comes down to. The American public has made it very clear that they want us to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. Once we do, the insurgents win, because they persisted. But we certainly don't have a better idea...do you?

Texas GOP Agrees to Stop Some Campaign Practices. This story goes beyond the absurd. The Texas Republican Party has "agreed" to avoid continuing practicing illegal activity. How nice! Texas's Travis County Attorney David Escamilla has prepared an 18 month study documenting illegal activites by the Texas GOP in 2002. He was preparing to release his finding when the Texas GOP struck a deal to stop breaking the law, in return for delaying the release of the report until 2007, well after the 2006 mid-term elections. The study centers around corporate monies being used for campaign activities; a severe no-no. The article goes on to say that "[t]he GOP also agreed not to violate the state election code and to seek election-law training for its executive director and finance officials." Isn't that considerate? The Texas GOP is agreeing not to break the law! And if you're infuriated with that story, consider this one: last week, business lobbyists raised over $200,000 for Tom DeLay, in recognition of his hardworking efforts for their legislation. Included in those lobbyists were representatives from oil and electricity-utility industries, who must have been overjoyed to reward DeLay, for helping to get that horrendous energy bill passed. "DeLay has been the best thing for the lobbying industry in Washington in recent history," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, a Washington-based advocacy group that has called for a special counsel to investigate the lawmaker. "They work hand in glove with him to get his legislative agenda passed, and pay him and the Republican Party back with huge campaign contributions. At all costs, they want to get this guy back in power and re-elected." This is exactly why we need him out of office: we need a politicians who will work for the American people as a whole, and not for special interest groups.
Editorials

A Private Obsession. Paul Krugman makes clear the only obvious thing about the new Medicare plan that just took hold: It's a terrible idea. Where did it come from? It came from those idealogues who are obsessed with privatization. To dogmatic conservatives (you know, the ones running everything nowadays), privatization isn't just a means, but rather a goal. So, even though certain things (like health care) shouldn't be privatized, because private companies would not benefit the actual system, our current government doesn't really care about making the system work. Instead, we're left with a confusing and ineffective prescription drug plans, with "doughnut holes" and higher, non-negotiable prices. This is what you get when you have people who care more about ideology than results. "And the result of that ideology is a piece of legislation so bad it's almost surreal."

An Open Letter to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald - From Former White House Counsel John W. Dean. We all know that Patrick Fitzgerald has been unswayed by political pressure in his quest to discover the truth about the Valerie Plame outing. And while his efforts so far have produced the resignation of Dick Cheney's chief of staff, how important is that, really? It's like getting Al Capone for tax evasion. In this letter, John Dean, former White House Counsel lays out exactly what Fitzgerald's powers are, and, using historical references, suggests a course of action that involves more than just zeroing in on the breaking of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. We urge you to read Dean's letter, because it'll help you undertand exactly what Fitzgerald is capable of doing.

Blogger Commentary

The Privilege to Destroy: The Priesthood of Journalism. One of our favorite verbose bloggers is back: Arthur Silber has an incisive, detailed writing style that allows him to examine important issues with a level of focus that most other bloggers (and certainly other newspapers) don't provide. In his latest missive, he likens the communications between anonymous sources and journalists to the communications betweens priests and confessors. In both cases, one party has been granted anonymity. In the priest-confessor case, it's pretty clear that there's an important service being performed that requires anonymity, but even then, in recent years, "even the clergy-communicant privilege has been revisited. Many have argued that such a privilege cannot be applied absolutely..." However, journalists, whose service is supposed to benefit the public, seem to now believe that they should be extended the same privileges, and not even have to make an exception to help punish crimes. There's a lot more in Silber's post, but here's one important point: "Any such legal privilege -- applied absolutely and with no exceptions, and regardless of the truth or falsity of the information provided -- serves only to protect the guilty and punish the innocent."

What Was That About Access to Intel? As we've talked about, one of the current Republican talking points is that, pre-war, Congress had access to all of the intelligence information that Bush did, so there shouldn't have been any reason for (Democratic) Senators of Representatives to lament the war now, or say that they weren't informed. But, as Matt over at 1115.org shows us, back in 2001, Ari Fleischer explained to reporters that Congress wouldn't have access to all of the intelligence information that Bush saw. In fact, Fleischer actually says that "the President has decided that he wants to make certain that the agencies that report to him provide information in a fashion that is a smaller circle to members of Congress." Republicans, once again, caught in a talking points lie. When will the American people learn? Even though the president's approval rating is down to 36%, we can't let up.

Saturday's Links

2005-11-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

Schedules have not permitted a full post today, but we'll be back tomorrow!

Activism

Supporting the McCain Ani-Torture amendment is one of the most obvious and important things you can do right now. Although the amendment passed by an overwhelming margin, the president is threatening to veto the bill if/when it gets to his desk. However, there's no reason for him to do so, and no reason for us to allow it. If enough members of the Senate vote for the bill (2/3 or more), a veto can be overridden. Use "Torture is not Us"'s link to email your represenatives and demand they vote yes on the bill.

Friday's Links

2005-11-18T13:16:00.000-05:00

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.

Thursday's Links

2005-11-17T11:58:00.000-05:00

Activism

We've discussed the "pharmacists declining to dispense Plan B" fiasco for weeks. But, as John over at AmericaBlog shows us, now Target is trying to justify their pharmacists' reticence to dispense Plan B by saying that they are covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Huh? It's very simple, really. Pharmacists are paid to do a job. Not part of a job. Not a job when it's convenient. A job. John recommends contacting Target to ask them about this absurd policy, and in the link above, he provides the link. Not filling a prescription for "religious reasons," and then trying to hide behind the Civil Rights Act, is just about the most asinine thing we've ever heard. Oh, and don't forget that most of these religious fanatics don't mind using the Civil Rights Act when it benefits them, but then they turn around and say that homosexuals aren't entitled to those same rights. The hypocrisy is just astounding.

News

Massive bid-rigging scam alleged in Iraq. There's that word again: Alleged. But let's just assume, for sake of argument, that this allegation is true. Think about what this means for you, the American taxpayer. You pay your money to the government. The government then uses that money to finance an illegal war. But that's not all. The money for the war goes to corporations so they do work in Iraq. Then, those corporations take that money and use it to bribe more officials to get more contracts, and more of your tax money. Not only that, but the Administration then argues that programs like Social Security and Medicare are too expensive, and so need to be cut, all while cutting taxes for corporations and wealthy people, who funnel that money right back into the system in the form of bribes. Millions of YOUR dollars are missing in Iraq. This is the first U.S. criminal case brought against coalition officials. We bet it won't be the last.

A 'fiscal hurricane' on the horizon. We don't mean to be so gloomy all of the time, but would you prefer false optimism? We thought not. Fortunately, more and more politicians are realizing that we could be in deep financial trouble in the near future. Pointing that out is not being pessimistic; rather, it's the realistic and responsible thing to do. "To hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is 'worse than advertised,' he says. It has a 'broken business model.' It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings — and its leadership." The deficit is a serious problem. We've made promises to future generations in the form of Medicare, Medicard, and Social Security, that are going to be very difficult to fully keep, especially if we continue on the track we've been on. At some point, this won't be a theoretical notion any more, but will start affecting "real people" - "Higher interest rates. Lower wages. Shrinking pensions. Slower economic growth. A lesser standard of living. Higher taxes in the future for today's younger generation. Less savings. More consumption. Plunging stock and bond prices. Recession." It's time we had some responsible leadership in Washington, even if that means electing people who don't only tell us good news, and require some sacrifice.

U.S. Goals Are Thwarted At Pro-Democracy Forum. Last weekend, there was an international conference in the Middle East. The stated goal was to advance democracy, but it ended without a formal declaration, leaving the United States a tad disappointed, needless to say. The idea was that such a declaration would bind countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa to "expand democratic practices, to enlarge participation in political and public life, to foster the roles of civil society, including NGOs, and to widen women's participation in the political, economic, social, cultural and education fields and to reinforce their rights and status in society while understanding that each country is unique." Sounds good to us. Unfortunately, our leaders have failed dramatically at "selling" democracy, and have no moral authority anymore, so it's kinda tough to get any other country to respect our desires.

Editorials

Bush Rewrites History to Criticize His Anti-War Critics. David Corn, of the Nation, writes an extremely important piece. This administration loves to call out anyone who criticizes the war, by saying that they are un-American. And if they actually voted "for the war?" Then they are a flip-flopping, unpatriotic bastard. It's easy to forget, but important to not, that Congress didn't vote "for the War." Congress voted to give Bush the power to go to war if he deemed it necessary, after taking specific measures. The difference is staggering. Congresspeople from both parties had put faith in Bush to find a negotiated settlement. Obviously, that faith was misplaced. And now, even people like Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) are lashing out at the White House for their attacks on critics of the war. "To question your government is not unpatriotic -- to not question your government is unpatriotic," said Hagel. And if people like former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) can pony up and admit that they made a mistake in voting for this war in 2002, why can't "average" citizens do the same? What kind of administration has the audacity to tell us that we can't criticize them, particularly when that administration went out of its way to cook the books and manipulate the intelligence to get us to war, as Larry Johnson writes. As the lies become unraveled (and make no mistake, they are), it's becoming more and more apparent just which party actually gives a damn about this country and its citizens. Back in 1998, Ann Coulter wrote a trashy book called High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton. If Republicans actually believe that Clinton's "crimes" were so heinous, what do they think of a president who lied to the country and killed 2,079 American soldiers (and counting)?

Imperial presidency, invisible Congress. If the above block of editorials wasn't enough, here's another one: All of the previous treachery oulined would be irrelevant if Congress had simply done its job and stopped this imperial Presidency, but instead, it decided to be invisible. Andrew Rudalevige at Nieman Watchdog has some important questions he thinks the press needs to ask our Congress. Why did they give Bush so much power? When are they going to stop letting him trample over their role in government? Do they have any interest in checking the power of this Presidency that has run so far off the rails? American citizens would like to know.

Blogger Commentary

Chalabi, Syria, and Iran: Cambodia Redux? Ah, Representative John Conyers; how we love your candor. If the government was a family, Conyers would be the old mother-in-law, who has been around for ages, always says the truth, gets a rise out of the rest of the family for it (particularly when he talks about the "other half"), and is routinely dead-on correct. In this column on the Huffington Post, Conyers calls out Bush, drawing strangely accurate parallels between Iraq and Viet Nam. Conyers has a good finger on the pulse of government, and it wouldn't surprise us at all to find out that Conyers' predictions turn out to be true. It would certainly disturb us, but it wouldn't surprise us.

No Longer Ready For His Closeup. Here's the thing about Bob Woodward: he was a brilliant reporter/writer. He could capture a story so perfectly and write it in such a way as to really make you care. His investigative skills were never in doubt. But, as the Cunning Realist writes, his holier-than-thou silence on what he knew about Plamegate is simply nauseating. He's become a shell of what he once was, and it's that very reason why newspaper readership is down: when you treat your readers as the lowest ones on the totem pole, pretty soon they are going to give you the finger. (Note that Woodward has since apologized for keeping his silence, saying that "I didn't want anything out there that was going to get me subpoenaed" by Patrick Fitzgerald.) Is it possible to apologize and make yourself look even worse?

Wednesday's Links

2005-11-16T18:46:00.000-05:00

Communication problems necessitate this abbreviated post...we apologize.

Activism

This is a bit off-the-wall for us, but we'd like to think that this would be a no-brainer. Since the 1950s, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) has required that the animals covered under that law be "rendered insensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut." And while the bill lists what livestock is covered, chickens aren't on that list. Chickens! Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other birds are not expressly listed, so they don't get the same humane treatment. It's time to stop. Sign the Humane Society's "Petition for Poultry," asking Congress to amend the HMSA to include poultry. Who knows...maybe if we get the government to agree to stop causing needless pain to animals, we could get them to stop causing needless pain to humans, in the form of torture.

News

Abuse Included Use of Lions, Iraqis Allege. Remember when "allege" still had some credibility? If the Iraqis are to be believed (and really, why wouldn't they be), then it's like a Sigfreid and Roy show over there! In an effort to figure out where Saddam was, our military allegedly beat, tortured and humiliated two Iraqi businessmen in 2003. Those two businessmen are now suing Donald Rumsfeld, and that's fantastic. The suit contends that U.S. policies during the war allowed abuse and torture. You know, one incident might have given credence to the notion that some troops were acting of their own accord. But there have been too many reports in too many places of too many different kinds of torture for us to think that.

Broadcast Chief Violated Laws, Inquiry Finds. Ah, Kenneth Tomlinson, we hardly knew ye. First you blow up about a liberal bias in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It turned out not to be there, but only after you paid a friend with tax dollars to watch your programming to figure it out. Then you were forced to resign your chairmanship early, amid rumors of unethical actions. But who knew that those unethical actions would actually be illegal? The charges all stem around Tomlinson's desire to bring more conservative programming to the station, although he'll never be prosecuted for his actions. Tomlinson threw his weight around, threatening to withhold money if his conservative demands aren't met. This is an abysmal misuse of power, and yet another reason why Republicans, by and large, should not be put in charge of a day care center, much less the country.

Editorials

Alito's Dangerous Activism. The Reverend Jesse Jackson has an editorial in the Chicago Sun Times. In it, he warns of Samuel Alito's "dangerous activism." Even more alarming that his pro-life stance is his desire to return control of states back to Congress. Alito's track record proves that he is not a judge who will interpret the constitution, but bend it to his will. Is that someone we really want on the Supreme Court?

Tuesday's Links

2005-11-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

Activism

1000 Organizing Events and Counting. We've mentioned this before, but it's worth reminding everyone: Tomorrow is the Democratic Party's National Organizing Kickoff. And in keeping with what fueled Howard Dean's campaign, the DNC is relying on the grassroots to fuel the party. It's a wise idea, but it depends on you to make it work. "Tomorrow night - in all fifty states (and in 20 other countries) - Democrats will come together and begin the work that's needed to win in 2006 and 2008." If you want to host an event, you can go here to do so. If you just want to attend an event, search for one here. It's your country - be a part of taking it back!

News

Senators Agree on Detainee Rights. We've been talking about this for a few days now, and it looks like we're coming to some sort of consensus. Of course, the final "agreement" doesn't give detainees full rights, but given the fact that we're dealing with Republicans in power, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) was lucky to get the concessions that he did. If today's vote passes (Note: The Republican version passed), detainees will have the right to appeal any military tribunal ruling. Although this is a big step for Democrats, it's still disgusting that we're having this discussion in the first place. Couple that with Cheney's desire to eliminate the McCain torture amendment, and we're embarrased to have people like that running the country.

Review of 'Plan B' Pill Is Faulted. We've speculated that the FDA delay in selling Plan B over the counter was politically motivated. Now we know that it was, as is evidenced by a GAO report that shows that approval was never going to be given, regardless of the outcome of the scientific review. The Government Accountability Office, the White House watchdog group, if you will, finally concluded that then-FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan and others were involved in the unsubstantiated disapproval. The GAO can't say for sure, because McClellan wouldn't speak to them. Still, we see once again that politics trumps science, and that's a sorry state of affairs for a government agency that depends on science to make educated decisions.

Parents Carry Burden of Proof in School Cases, Court Rules. This is just depressing. In a 6-2 ruling (with John Roberts recusing himself), the Supreme Court decided that parents who are unhappy with their school, district's special education programs must carry the burden of proof. What this means, generally, is that "parents who disagree with a school system's special-education plan for their child have the legal burden of proving that the plan will not provide the "appropriate" education to which federal law entitles all children with disabilities." (Sandra Day O'Connor's full 26 page majority opinion can be found here). In a way, this isn't fully the SCOTUS's fault. But what does that mean? The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was designed in such a way that schools must (with parents' consent) test students with special needs, and then create an IEP, or Individualized Education Program, for that student. The way IDEA was originally written in 1970 didn't make it clear who's responsibility it was to address issues with the IEP (it's been subsequently updated several times, but this has never been discussed). What this ruling says is that if parents feel that the IEP isn't working, it is the parents' responsibility to prove that it isn't. Surprisingly, the Bush administration initially favored the parents in this ruling, before, ahem, flip-flopping to the state's side when the decision came before the court. With the burden of proof on the parents, administrations won't be so quick to look so hard to make sure they are doing the right thing, particularly in more rural areas where money and expertise is limited. If the burden of proof were on the schools (that is to say, the experts), maybe schools wouldn't be so quick to jump and create an IEP that won't work.

Editorials

Health Economics 101. Paul Krugman's one of our favorite political writers, because he's not afraid to point out the moral shortcomings of the Bush administration, and to pull no punches. But he's at his best when talking about his area of expertise, economics, and explaining how it affects every day people. A side specialty of his is moral outrage, and discussing the health care system allows him to engage both his strengths. In his latest missive, he explains why the GOP solution to everything, namely, throw a little capitalism at the problem, won't work with health care. Preach on, Professor Krugman.

Facing the Reality of Choice. Progressives are pro-choice - that much is obvious. But as much as the right-wing would like to paint pro-choice people as pro-abortion, that's simply not the case. In fact, all reasonable pro-choice people want to reduce the number of abortions in America, which is an admirable goal. It's important to keep that perspective and understand how a women choosing to have an abortion is a tragic, difficult choice. We want less women to be forced into that decision, although we firmly believe it's an option they should have. This editorial outlines one woman's experience during a Planned Parenthood visit, and makes some good points that people on both sides of the abortion fence would do well to keep in mind.

Blogger Commentary

They Won't Stop Lying Until You Start Impeaching. Yesterday we linked to a Washington Post article entitled "Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument." In it, the White House is called out for their pre-war intelligence. Also yesterday, the White House was quick to respond by saying that the problem was with the actual intelligence, and reminded us that the The Commission On The Intelligence Capabilities Of The United States Regarding Weapons Of Mass Destruction concluded back in March that "in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments." Stirling Newberry points out that the lying continues, and that it's got to stop. And the only way it's going to stop is with Democrats standing up and continuing to pour the pressure on the White House. Come on, it's been more than half a decade since our last impeachment - what are we waiting for?

Our Care vs. Their Care. Ezra Klein discusses a study that was released last week. It compares the patient care experiences in the following countries: Australia, America, Canada, Germany, England, and New Zealand. Not surprisingly, the U.S. ranks near the bottom in pretty much everything. Also not surprisingly, "the United States is an outlier for financial burdens on patients and patients forgoing care because of costs." Wait times are too long. Patients are dissatisfied. After-hours access is poor. How long before we can no longer claim to be the world's superpower with a straight face?

Monday's Links

2005-11-14T11:40:00.000-05:00

Activism

On Saturday we wrote about Senator Lindsey Graham's ridiculous measure to disallow habeus corpus to those in Guantanamo Bay. We now know how the Senators voted, and we need to do something about it. Kos has a write up on the situation here, and you can contact your Senators and tell them to vote no on the full spending bill here. This is a bill that needs to be stopped, and voting could happen as early as today, so make sure to contact them right away! (For a more detailed, legal explanation of what this means, check out Marjorie Cohn's column).

News

Study: Stem Cells Help Heart After Attack. Science is in the news again, once again showing that Bushco's policies are hurting, not helping. Private sector researchers at the annual American Heart Association meeting showed that "Heart attack survivors whose hearts were infused with stem cells from their own bone marrow showed nearly twice the improvement in the organ's pumping ability as patients given a placebo." So what does this mean? If nothing else, it shows that there are still many avenues of exploration to study for stem cells, not only in preventive medicine, but in recouperative medicine. Yet Bushco won't allow federal funding for it, which, if nothing else, is bad business. Just think - you'd imagine Bush would be persuaded to agree to federal funding, because that would mean more patents for America (hey, we're trying to look at it from his point of view). Meanwhile, a Republican has actually come out in support of science! Only, it's Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), and his plan to create a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency is a good one. The agency would "help spur research and development of drugs and vaccines to blunt the impact of a pandemic or bioterrorist attack." Here's the catch, though. Burr wants the agency to have full exemption from the Freedom of Information Act. Huh? His argument is that he doesn't want the information to fall into the "wrong hands." Tell us, Senator, if the agency would simply be studying defensive measures, why would it need to be shielded from FOIA? The last thing we need is another Plum Island.

Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument. The White House is certainly feeling the pressure about pre-war intelligence. Last week they tried to argue that Congress had the same pre-war intelligence that the White House did. Of course, that's false - the fact is that the White House was privy to far more information than Congress saw. Bush himself has been busy trying to spin the war as well, contradicting himself by saying "it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began." And in the same speech, he said "When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support." Even Condi Rice is playing the blame game, noting that Clinton "went to war" in 1998 with Iraq because of "concerns about his weapons of mass destruction." Condi's half right; Clinton sent bombers in. Clinton didn't send ground troops in and overthrow a government. Clinton didn't occupy a nation. And Clinton actually succeeded in his goal of containing Saddam (maybe with a bit too much collateral damage). This article came out on Saturday, and on Sunday, National Security Advisor Steven Hadley was busy. He told CNN that the accusation that Bush misled us to war are "flat wrong." He also said that "[w]e need to put this debate behind us. It's unfair to the country. It's unfair to the men and women in uniform risking their lives to make this country safe." Wrong! It would be unfair to the country to simply ignore it! Those "men and women in uniform" have a right to know why they are dying over there, and if they were misled into war, well, why should they die for a lie?

CIA Allegedly Hid Evidence of Detainee Torture. Torture in any situation is far from OK. But when a detainee dies because of it, and that news is covered up for two years, well, that's a problem. And the CIA wants to be exempted from torture laws? Ask Manadel al-Jamadi if that's a good idea. He was the one who was captured two years and 10 days ago, on "suspicion" of harboring explosives. We're not saying he was innocent; we're just saying that CIA documents show that there was no proof. And now he's dead. But hey, if George says "We Do Not Torture", it must be true, right? Maybe al-Jamadi fell down the stairs or something.

Editorials

Nobody Loves a Torturer. Fareed Zakaria, of Newsweek, has a new column up at the Daily Press, taking on Bush's latest lie: "We do not torture." Likewise, Frank Rich has one called "'We Do Not Torture' and Other Funny Stories." The amount that this administration thinks it can get away with is absolutely incredible to contemplate. Fully one and a half years after Abu Ghraib, with more and more information becoming available via FOIA (like News article #3, above), and this president has the audacity to stand up and tell us that we don't torture? Rich points out that Bush may feel like he's entitled, as he's gotten away with telling lies for years. Well, no longer. America will only give you so much rope, Mr. President, and you've used more than your share. Hence your miserably low 36% approval rating.

Democrats and the War. This editorial, from The Nation, hits pretty hard. It's pretty clear, based on public outcry and poll numbers, that the majority of Americans do not support the war. Whatever the reason, whether it's the false pre-war intelligence, the fact that we were lied to, the fact that 2,066 (and counting) Americans soldiers have died, or the fact that we have no strategy to leave, over half the population feels that we should not be in Iraq. The Nation, therefore, has made the following statement: "We will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign." We couldn't be more pleased. The Nation has promised to, over the coming weeks and months, identify candidates who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. And this only makes sense: After all, no matter how much Americans want us out of Iraq, it's not going to happen unless we elect politicians who want to make it happen.

Blogger Commentary

Plantiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of New Mexico '04 Election Lawsuit. It's sheer folly to think that the only problems with the 2004 election were in Ohio and Florida. Take New Mexico, where a lawsuit has been brought about challenging the results of the 2004 presidential election. It's not that we expect a turnover in the results, but the lawsuit is proceeding, and the results would certainly go a long way in showing that electronic voting machines simply aren't working like they are supposed to. Part of the discovery phase of this lawsuit includes the examination of electronic voting machines in the state, and comparing their data with their actual results. Well, you're not going to believe this, but all of a sudden the state decided that the plantiff could not view the machines or their results. Now, evidence had already been found that some machines recorded votes incorrectly, and some didn't record votes at all! In one case, inspection of the machines wasn't allowed because "[d]oing so would void the County's warranty from the manufacturer." Seriously! So, we're halting the legal process because of a warranty. It would be laughable if it weren't so very, very unlawful.

Unhinged: Unhonest. We spend quite a bit of time pointing out how Republican politicians are dishonest with America. But politicians, by and large, aren't heard by Americans as much as so-called pundits are. Even their books aren't political pieces so much as biographies or fiction. So when someone like Michelle Malkin, a syndicated columnist and second only to Ann Coulter for the title "Most Annoying Mouthpiece on the Right Who Thinks That They Are Attractive" writes a book, it's purchased and read by a large portion of America. The problem with books by pundits is that there's virtually no accountability. Malkin's latest opus, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild is a fluff piece full of half-truths. David Neiwert, a true intellectual, rips Malkin a new one for this book. For example, Malkin writes that "the Left's knee-jerk response [is] to trot out well-worn examples of unseemly behavior on the right -- Dick Cheney swearing, or mean-spirited conservatives' Internet jibes about Democrats -- the truth is that it's conservatives themselves who blow the whistle on their bad boys and go after the real extremism on their side of the aisle." She fails to point out that Cheney's "Go Fuck Yourself" was extremely unhinged behavior. He also never apologized. How's that for model behavior from our Vice-President? She also decides to use selective quotes, leaving out portions that don't fit her own unhinged theories. Once again, it's too easy to dismiss these types of polemics as absurd and not worth our time. The problem is, if we don't spend time fighting back, then people start to believe the lies. As we said above, 36% of Americans still believe Bush is doing a good job!

Sunday's Links

2005-11-13T13:06:00.000-05:00

Activism

What's happened to political discourse in this country? When Bill O'Reilly can endorse a terrorist attack on San Francisco, and no one bats an eyelash, that's a gigantic problem. We're here to bat a few eyelashes, and do a bit more than that. The problem is not so much that Bill O'Reilly said those things, although it's quite sickening. No, the problem is that his rhetoric has become the norm on the right, and that there are actually people out ther who take his words to heart. But maybe we can make O'Reilly and those of his ilk realize just how irresponsible they're being. It won't be through logic - they threw that out the window long ago. Rather, we'll hit 'em in the wallet. Go here and get a list of some of O'Reilly's sponsors, as well as local stations that carry his shows. Then, make sure they know the type of commentary they're endorsing, and that they won't be receiving any of your business. It's time we stopping blowing off O'Reilly and his buddies as kooks, and started treating them as real threats that need to be stopped.

News

Amman Bombings Reflect Zarqawi's Growing Reach. How much more proof do we need that our approach in Iraq is doing more harm than good? The loss of innocent life is disturbing enough. But on top of that, we should make no mistake about it - the emergence and success of Zarqawi is our fault. We don't repeatedly state that Bush's War has inflammed terrorism because we want to prove him wrong. We say it because it's true and we want him to change course before the problem is entirely out of control. The article outlines how Zarqawi already may have "eclipsed al Qaeda's founder, Osama bin Laden, in terms of prominence and appeal to Islamic radicals worldwide." He has been able to attract thousands of fighters to Iraq, which maybe be the sign of the "emergence of another Afghanistan." His goal is likely the elimination of Israel, and he's well on his way. Way to go, George. How many more people must die for your political gain?

House Bill Counters Eminent Domain Ruling. Hey, once in a while, we see good news come out of Washington. Of course, it's become a little more recent, with the collapse of Bush's political support, and Republicans jumping ship. Maybe they realized that the Supreme Court ruling that allowed "local governments to seize property needed for private development projects that generate tax revenue," wasn't something that went over too well with the public. Maybe they realized that given all their recent woes, it's not too wise to give local governments more power, if they weren't going to be controlling those local governments. So the House passed a bill 376-38, which "would withhold federal money from state and local governments that use powers of eminent domain to force businesses and homeowners to give up their property for commercial uses." Works for us. While it can be true in some cases, we're sick of the argument that somehow commercial interests are the same as public interests. It's nice to see the House give Americans (back) rights once in a while.

Civil Rights Focus Shift Roils Staff At Justice. It looks like Republicans are now going out of their way to pit themselves against Democrats and the American public. How else can you explain the purge of lawyers at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division? One-fifth of all the division's lawyers left in FY2005, in part because the administration is trying to push out those that don't agree with "conservative civil rights" values. At the same time, the number of actual discrimination cases that Justice is handling has dropped. This entire affair is ridiculous, and it shows conservative "values" once again in action: we don't care about the little guy. How much more is Bush going to try and mold the government into an image of himself, and how much more are Americans going to suffer?

Editorials

Framing the Poor. Tim Wise writes a long, but incredibly detailed and enlightening article on the state of the poor in New Orleans, and why Katrina affected them the way it did. Of course, the conservative narrative was one that framed "low-income black folks in the streets of New Orleans as a collection of deviant criminals." Wise details some lies that were perpetuated post-Katrina. Some were pushed by the media, and some were just circulated over email, but all painted the picture that the victims, "had, ultimately, gotten what they deserved." Wise then thoroughly debunks these myths, including the idea that many of these victims were on welfare. Our government has systematically marginalized these people, and to then blame them for this tragedy is almost as cruel as the suffering they had to endure in the hurricane.

Repairing Journalism. Sydney Schanberg, of the Village Voice, writes about how Plamegate exposed some serious flaws in journalism, and how it's high time we fix them. How do reporters put together a news story? Mostly, off of a government press release. But the building of a story has always remained shrouded in mystery, and it often times hampers the story. In Plamegate, for example, Tim Russert spoke with Scooter Libby about information that wasn't classified; that was, in effect, public knowledge. So why did Russert give Libby confidentiality? It's obvious that journalism has become just another Washington "give and take," and that's why our MSM has been so unreliable.

Blogger Commentary

Reminder of GOP Attacks on Clinton's Motives & Honesty re: Iraq & Kosovo. We provide you with links like this not to "prove" that Democrats are right, but rather so that you can feel empower with the facts. Every day, you might encounter someone that blithely asserts that "Democrats had the same intelligence that Bush did when going to war with Iraq." or that "Questioning the war undermines the morale of the troops." It might be tempting to let such ignorance go in the name of harmony, but should you choose to dispel such falsehoods, we want you to be well-armed with facts and confident. So, as Democrats finally force the issue of why we went to war, Republicans label such questioning as unpatriotic. Glenn Greenwald provides a nice rebuttal to those that claim that implying the President went to war for anything other than the purest of reasons is somehow anti-American. He incriminates them with their own words about the war in Kosovo. Hypocrisy, thy name is GOP.

On Bush, the Dems, Jon Stewart, Hunter Thompson, Bill Moyers, and King (not Don). John Cusack is just like you or me. He's an American citizen, and he's entitled to his opinion. So his piece on the Huffington Post is pretty interesting, all things considered. Cusack is asking the same question we're trying to ask: Where are the Democrats? Sure, the closed-door Senate session was a good start, but that's all it was: a start. Even this week's elections were the beginning of something, but again, only the beginning. Cusack cuts through a lot of the BS, and leaves us wondering the same things: when 2008 rolls around, will we be doomed for another four years of Republican leadership?

Saturday's Links

2005-11-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

Activism

You may not know this, but Rush Limbaugh is the only political commentator on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). Last year, Media Matters for America got enough signatures to force the Senate to offer alternative and balanced voices. ARFTS was set to sign progressive voice Ed Schultz, but then something happened. Not only did ARFTS pull his show at the last minute, but now they claim that they never even hired him! The Defense Department pulled his show, and Rush is still the only political voice on AFRTS. Read Media Matters for America's write-up here, and then write to AFRTS and demand satisfaction (they provide the mailto link). There's absolutely no reason that a taxpayer-sponsored service should be providing such slanted commentary, and we need to ensure that this practice stops.

News

Senate Votes to Bar Challenges to Detentions by Foreigners. Apparently, Republicans don't want to hear any more from foreigners detained in Gitmo. In the grand tradition of South Carolinians taking a step backwards (John Rutledge, anyone?), a measure introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) passed the Senate 49-42. The measure will strip detainees in Gitmo from the right to challenge their detention as unlawful, and will only allow them to challenge their status as an "enemy combatant" once. Graham argued that "For 200 years, ladies and gentlemen, in the law of armed conflict, no nation has given an enemy combatant, a terrorist, an al Qaeda member the ability to go into every federal court in this United States and sue the people that are fighting the war for us." Perhaps someone should remind Senator Graham that most of the detainees in Gitmo are not only being tortured and mistreated, but quite a few of them haven't even been told why they are being held there. Here's what kills us, though: Lindsey Graham is also one of the co-sponsors to John McCain's "no torture" bill. So, which is it, Senator? Are you for detainee rights or against them? The measure is also a direct counter to a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that said that the detainees could challenge their detentions. How much more do Republicans want? They want to hold prisoners indefinitely without necessarily charging them with anything. Their leadership wants to torture them. And now they want them to be silent, and not have a voice to an appeal. Does this sound like America to you?

Democrats Losing Race For Funds Under Dean. This is a little distressing. Under Dean, Democrats are losing the fundraising battle 2-1. The frustration lies in two different places; Dean has not been able to tap the Internet funds that were so successful for him in 2004, and the DNC has not been able to establish any real ties with "high-dollar" donors. Certainly, fundraising didn't seem to be an issue when Dean was elected to head the DNC in 2004. In fact, much of the reason Dean won the chairmanship is because of his fundraising prowress. But several departures of key DNC fundraisers have left many questions to be answered. DNC members aren't as worried, though, noting how much they raised for 2005 candidates like Tim Kaine. Of course, if we limited the amount that candidates could spend on any given race, this wouldn't be as big of an issue.

DeLay Team Weighed Misdemeanor Plea to Save GOP Post. As a mark of how desperate he is (or how scared he was of being convicted), the Washington Post reports that Tom DeLay's lawyers tried to enter a plea bargain for a misdemeanor in September. That plea was turned down, and resulted in some admissions of guilt by DeLay that he probably shouldn't have made; admissions that DeLay was aware of the money transfers he's now been indicted for. The article also gives a good background of the story, for anyone who hasn't had a chance to follow the story yet.

Editorials

Cornbread and Roses. There are Democrats, and then there are Democrats, and then there's John Edwards, who has had an extremely profound effect on the party, if only they'd see it. The former Senator and Vice-Presidential hopeful's "new" crusade has been poverty, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's followed him since last November. Whether it's working for a soup kitchen or speaking to over 2,000 students at the University of Michigan, Edwards is working, and working hard, to end poverty, particularly in red states. "How long had it been since you heard a Democrat utter the word poverty," a question asked by Chris Kromm, executive director of the progressive Institute for Southern Studies, rings true in our ears. Democrats in Washington, while not exactly having walked away from their core principles, have certainly been mute on many of them. No wonder people in this country are still divided: the party that speaks for them isn't speaking for them (although this new poll certainly brings us some satisfaction). The Democratic party needs more people like John Edwards. Or maybe the party just needs John Edwards.

... And Why It Should Never Be One. Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and deputy director of the State Department Office of Counterterrorism, makes a point that we've been trying to emphasize for weeks. Torture simply does not work. Period. Trust and rapport go far further than cattle prods and punishment boxes. Take it from a man who would know. If a former head of CIA counterterrorism is telling us that torture doesn't work, why should we believe Dick Cheney when he tells us that the CIA would need it? The closest thing Cheney has ever had to torture is when his Halliburton profit checks are delayed by the mail. Johnson also makes a fundamental point that bears repeating. "We should never use our fear of being attacked as justification for dehumanizing ourselves or others." And make no mistake: by torturing others, we do dehumanize ourselves.

The Deadly Doughnut. In the latest from Paul Krugman, he tackles the new Medicare prescription drug program. What exactly is the "doughnut" he's referring to? Well, the plan looks simple to begin with. Deductables, co-payments, etc. Then, something very strange happens. Once your cumulative drug expenses reach $2,250, you're on your own. And you'll be on your own until you spend $5,100. Hence the name "doughnut hole." Isn't that ridiculous? Krugman illustrates by saying that, under this program, if you spend $2,000 on drugs next year, you'll save 66%. But if you spend $5,000, you'll only be saving 30%. What this means is that people with high drug costs will be OK until, oh, say, late summer. Then they'll be screwed. Oh yes, and you can't buy supplemental coverage for the doughnut hole. What this will result in is more money for drug companies and less help for Americans who need it. Sounds like a Republican plan to us!

Blogger Commentary

Next Time, Let Captain Kangaroo Run the Senate's Kangaroo Court. David Sirota's a little ticked off, and we can't blame him. Actually, to say that he's a "little ticked off" is like saying that the Titanic had a run in with "an ice cube." On Thursday, the Senate met with oil industry executives on the rising costs of oil. Not only did the Republican leadership not require them to swear in, but they refused to ask any type of question other than a "comfortable" one. For an industry that rakes in record profits, surely questions could have been asked about the setting of prices. In fact, not only were no questions like that asked, but Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Majoras actually had the unmitigated gall to say that "she opposed a federal price-gouging law because it might lead to price caps." In essence, an industry is price gouging Americans, and we should do anything that would require them to stop? Her argument only makes sense if you consider that she used to be a corporate lawyer for ChevronTexaco. We're not saying it's right; only that we understand why a Bush-appointed crony would argue something so blatantly wrong. We can't wait for the day that we are able to take back this country for Americans, and take it away from those who are only out for money.

Friday's Links

2005-11-11T15:23:00.000-05:00

Activism

This is, perhaps, the oddest visual for Activism we've shown yet. The Natural Resource Defense Council, or NRDC, has created a very unusual animation entitled "The Flip and Chilly Show," to help illustrate (pardon the pun) the dangers of global warming. Watch the animation here, and then take action here, by writing to Bush and demanding that this administration raise fuel economy standards. It's well past time to demand a more responsible form of government, and this is a good step in the right direction.

News

House Leaders Pull Spending Cuts Bill. It started three days ago, when Republican leadership introduced a massive deficit reduction bill. Two days ago, moderate Republicans (they exist?) in the House spoke out against the ridiculous cuts that were being proposed, as well as the measure included to, once again, try drilling in the ANWR. Yesterday, those same Republican leaders scuttled a vote on the bill. The moderates complained that the spending cuts were too harsh, even after the ANWR provision was removed. Couple these cuts with the partner tax-cut bill, and, well, it's apparently even too much for the Republican party to stomach. We said it on Wednesday, and we'll say it again today: It's entirely possible that we're seeing the implosion of the Republican party. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Republican leadership is a walking example of that.

Plaintiff alleges Alito conflict. It's been a while since we checked in on our good buddy Samuel Alito. What's going on with him? Well, let's just say that recent revelations make up pine for nominees like John Roberts. Say what you will about Roberts' judicial philosophy (while is nothing, since we really don't know much about it), at least he seemed to be a man of character. But what about Alito? It seems he has a little history with a company called Vanguard. In 2002, he ruled in favor of Vanguard in a case. No biggie, right? Well, the problem is that he had nearly $400,000 in Vanguard funds at the time. A conflict of interest? You betcha. This was after, by the way, he promised in his Senate confirmation hearing, to recuse himself from any case involving Vanguard. But that's not the only conflict of interest in his case history - in 1995, he reviewed a case in which his sister's law firm was one of the parties. Oh yeah - he had promised to recuse himself in that case as well. So it should come as no surprise that while Democrats are stepping over themselves trying to find ways not to filibuster, liberal groups are starting to come out swinging. More power to 'em. The last thing we need is yet another far right-winger in high office who doesn't have objectivity or integrity.

Colorado voters give up billions in tax refunds. This little vote slipped under the radar on Tuesday, but it's important for a number of reasons. For one, it's reassuring that there are some people in the country who put their community's priorities ahead of their own. 52% of voters in Colorado suspended the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) in order to "give up more than $3 billion in taxpayer refunds to help the state bounce back from a recession." But the other nice effect of this is how it punches a couple more holes in the Republican dogma that taxes must be cut, at all times, nonstop, no matter the cost. Listen to how apoplectic the Colorado Republicans are: "The establishment is going to say we had 13 years of experience with spending limits and we changed our minds," said the author of TABOR. Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman said: "It sends a terrible message to the rest of the nation." Funny - we feel the exact opposite is true.

Editorials

An Army Ready to Snap. Bob Herbert on the Army's downward spiral. No, not the one of torture, or deceit. The Army is spiraling downward in where it's been asked to go. Afghanistan, Iraq...the number of soldiers we needed in Iraq was grossly underestimated by an administration that simply doesn't care, while the number of recruites drops lower and lower, and the result is that something, somewhere is going to snap. And it's not surprising that our soldiers feel like they are fighting this war alone, because they are. We're not sacrificing here. We're not accepting tax cuts to offset the war. We're not experiencing brownouts. The wheels of the Army are coming off, and there's not a whole lot that we can do about it. On one side there's the insurgency, on one side is the Army that won't support them with the right equipment, and on one side is the administration who won't map out a long term plan. We guarantee that if you were over there, you'd feel like snapping too.

The Virginia GOP's Dirty Money. This editorial by Max Blumenthal was posted last Friday, before the election, but we're posting it because you need to know what we're all up against. Look at how then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore and Attorney General candidate Bob McDonnell financed their campaigns: Kilgore rode a wave of cracking down on illegal immigration while accepting money from an anti-immigrant group with racist ties, and McDonnell has repeatedly spoken out against illegal drugs and corruption, only to finance his campaign with an illegal slush fund, and staff his campaign with corrupt employees. Kilgore and McDonnell pulled in copious amounts of money from questionable sources, or sources at odds with their proclaimed stances on issues. Thankfully, Kilgore lost (badly), but you can bet that we'll see much more of this kind of dirty tactic next year.

Blogger Commentary

New Batch Of Awards.... Remember the last time Bush gave out the Presidential Medal of Freedom? As The Cunning Realist reminds us, the recipients were such upstanding characters as George Tenet, Tommy Franks and Paul Bremer. Well, on Wednesday, Bush gave out a few more. One was Alan Greenspan, despite the fact that there was a run on the housing market this week, thanks to projections of housing sales dipping. TCR is right when he says that we won't know the extent of the damage that Greenspan caused until after he leaves, but it's fairly safe to say that, at least recently, he hasn't done the economy any favors. Who else got the medal? Jack Nicklaus, Carol Burnett, Aretha Franklin, Frank Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Andy Griffith. That's all true. Sure, they are/were great entertainers, and we might even be convinced that, of those six, Muhammad Ali, for all his generous charity work, is the most deserving. But Jack Nicklaus? Aretha Franklin? As TCR writes, "The Presidential Medal of Freedom is this country's highest civilian citation. While entertainers and sports figures certainly fall under that rubric, I can't help but think that during wartime there must be some better candidates. Why not an unsung physical therapist from Walter Reed who works overtime year after year with troops missing arms and legs? How about a doctor who, instead of making more money in private practice, volunteers to work with those amputees---or one from Doctors Without Borders who risks his life treating civilians in war zones?" Yet another opportunity for Bush to do the right thing, and again he avoids the high road in favor of Bush Turnpike.

Who's the Girlie-Man Now? We tangentially mentioned the defeat of all of the Governator's ballot proposals in California, but Robert Scheer delves into more detail. Many of Schwarzenegger's proposals would have had the effect of turning one of the bluest states much redder. Who stopped him? "Schwarzenegger was defeated primarily by the hardworking public sector workers of the state: the teachers, firefighters and other civil servants who are sick and tired of being pitted by politicians against those they are so dedicated to serving." Scheer's conclusion is that the GOP has lost its ability to terrorize voters. We hope he's right.

Thursday's Links

2005-11-10T15:23:00.000-05:00

Activism

Sign Tom's Petition to Bring Our Troops Home! Tom who? Tom Daschle! Who, you might ask again? Yes, that's right, former Senate Majority (and Minority) Leader Tom Daschle is back in action. He may have been a pretty ineffective Minority Leader, but we're glad to see he's still speaking out in favor of principled leadership. And in direct response to those who say the Democrats are the party of "no", and don't have any ideas, Mr. Daschle has a detailed plan to "down all of our troops in two phases: 80,000 by the end of 2006 and the remainder by the December 31, 2007." Sign his petition today!

News

Senators to Set Iraq Inquiry Timetable. No, they aren't actually setting a timetable to leave Iraq. This is to investigate prewar intelligence. The bipartisan panel, made up of Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kit Bond (R-MO) and Trent Lott (R-MS), need to work together to get this investigation going. Harry Reid wants to go so far as to subpeona Bush, which we're all for, but won't make a lick of difference in the long run. We're learning more and more pieces of the puzzle, and there shouldn't be anyone left who thinks that Bush had the best of intentions when going into Iraq, much less the best planning or intelligence.

Arctic Drilling Dropped from House Bill. We mentioned yesterday that Republican members of the House were pretty ticked off at what their leadership included in the deficit reduction bill, including the drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Well, ask and ye shall receive, as that drilling has been dropped from the bill! Although it's still in the Senate bill, right now, at least, and could appear back on the final bill, ANWR seems a little safer. This issue is extremely important to Bush, who wants to get his buddies into Alaska.

FDA Official: Review of Barr Pill May Take Months. Hi, and welcome to the FDA, where we'll do just about anything in our power to delay authorizing Plan B for over-the-counter sale. First it was former Commissioner Lester Crawford, caving to politics. Now it's Dr. Scott Gottlieb, deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs. The delay stems from Crawford's "independent" decision to seek public comments on issues such as how to keep the prescription requirement for girls younger than 17 while easing access for older women. Our guess would be the same way you keep cigarettes from those under 16, or alcohol from those under 21. Simply don't sell it to them. If someone over 17 buys it for someone under 17, then they should be liable. Or require a doctor's prescription. A doctor won't just write a prescription for someone who doesn't need it, and if s/he does, then they should be just as liable. Come on, people, this isn't painting the Mona Lisa. It's pretty straightforward, especially since an FDA advisory panel recommended allowing over-the-counter sales in December 2003. The urgency is even greater, now that some pharmacies are acting the coward by refusing to fill prescriptions for Plan B. Actually, "coward" might be too meek a term. Toerags, maybe?

Editorials

The Media are Minimizing US and British War Crimes in Iraq. George Monbiot, of the UK Guardian, writes that the Pentagon is vastly misleading us in the number of Iraqi insurgent deaths. First we had the Pentagon, the field commander in Iraq and Rummy all tell us that "we don't do body counts of the enemy." Then, when support for the war starts lagging, the Pentagon starts releasing the numbers of dead Iraqis. But last week, in the Pentagon's latest security report, there is a line item of "average daily casualties - Iraqi and coalition." Although it's unclear who they are referring to, one this is extremely clear: The number has more than doubled from January 2004 to September 2005. Extrapolating the numbers, we find that the number of Iraqi deaths (based on this line item) is far, far lower than the number that the Pentagon is reporting. Monbiot cites a survey done by the Lancet, in which they conclude that 98,000 have died in Iraq; far less than what the Pentagon is reporting. (This figure does not include Fallujah). The media tore the survey apart. The numbers are questioned, and it's absurd. Quite frankly, when media outlets are asked why they put no credence in the Lancet survey, "The standard response is that the study's 'technique of sampling and extrapolating from samples has been criticised'. That's true, and by the same reasoning we could dismiss the fact that 6 million people were killed in the Holocaust, on the grounds that this figure has also been criticised, albeit by skinheads." Why is our media so terrified of defying the Pentagon?

No More Blank-Check Wars. We blame Bush and his buddies for the Iraq War quite often, but the sad fact is that they're not the only ones to hold responsible. No, our lily-livered Congress had a big part in it. Essentially, they abdicated their Constitutional responsibility to oversee they executive branch. Congress, and Congress alone, has the power to declare war. Their failure as an institutional has become our failure as a country. Iraq's a glass of spilled milk, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from our mistakes. Gelb and Slaughter, the editorial's authors, propose a return to the Constitution. How novel! "Requiring Congress to declare war, rather than just approve or authorize the president's decision to take troops into combat, would make it much harder for Congress to duck its responsibilities." Maybe then, it wouldn't be the case that "Congress deliberates on transportation bills more carefully than it does on war resolutions."

Blogger Commentary

US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon. So, if you've not been following this story, essentially the Army has been caught using white phosphorus in Iraq, killing several civillians. This is a chemical agent, and should be considered illegal. The Army had claimed that the white phosphorus was used solely as illumination. If that's the case, then why does, as Kos points out, the Army Field Manual allow for the use of white phosphorus in fighting? Further, it has been pointed out that white phosphorus can't be used without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. Finally, an embedded reporter for the North County Times wrote a piece last year about how he witnessed a unit use white phosphorus as a weapon. So, does the Army's story about "illumination" still hold water?

What is France Willing To Do To Maintain Order? Hey, a problem in a foreign country that we didn't (directly) cause! Seriously, though, what's going on in France right now is startling, especially given France's overstated desire to stay out of the War. The riots are not only out of control, but France resembles the Wild West under martial law. So, as Steve Gilliard writes, what are those living in France willing to give up to be French? The shouldn't have to give up anything. Muslims should still be Muslims. Yet that tolerance just isn't there. Muslims may be French in nationality, but they are still different to the "real" French, who have a habit of looking down on just about everyone else anyway. This was finally the breaking point. As much as we may have civil unrest and discrimination in this country, at least we don't have riots in 200 American cities. Yet.

Humor

If Fox News Had Been Around Throughout History. A frightening thought.

Wednesday's Links

2005-11-09T06:37:00.000-05:00

Activism

Have you heard about the Wal-Mart movie entitled "WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price?" It's not a company-sponsored flick at all, though. It's actually a documentary on what Wal-Mart is hiding; i.e. where the money is going. It's tremendously well received, and it's playing in select cities now. It's also available to purchase. Check out all the information here, and then help take action against Wal-Mart here.

News

Stinging Defeats for G.O.P. Come at a Sensitive Time. Although the results are pretty well known by now, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to trumpet the 2005 Election Day results. In Virginia, Democrat Tim Kaine beat Jerry Kilgore easily, despite a last-second appearance by Bush in support of Kilgore. Now Kaine is already starting to make good on his campaign promises. Oh, and Democrats gained seats in the House legislature as well. In New Jersey, Gubernatorial candidate Democrat Jon Corzine absolutely flattened Doug Forrester. What makes this victory so important is that now Corzine can name his replacement to the Senate (Richard Codey). And in California, every single ballot initiative failed. Not only does this show as a massive failure for Schwarzenegger, but it was also an egregious waste of money. Now Democrats need to capitalize on these wins, and build towards 2006.

Evolution Slate Outpolls Rivals. But that's not all that happened on Election Day. Pennsylvania voters in Dover laid the smackdown on the current school board, and replaced every single member who was up for re-election, and voted Democrats into those slots (the breakdown can be seen here). Dover, you may recall, was the school board that had been sued for introducing the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in biology class. But this good news is tempered by news out of Kansas, where the Kansas Board of Education "approved new public school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on the theory of evolution." The vote was 6-4, where all six who voted yes are Republican, and the four no votes were from two Republicans and two Democrats. "This is a sad day. We're becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that," said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat. Too true. There's more on the Dover win in our Blogger Commentary section.

House Budget-Cut Bill Faces GOP Objections. House Republican leaders have created a $54 billion deficit reduction package. It contains exactly what you'd expect: drilling in the Arctic, cuts to social programs, and a companion tax-cut bill. Only, what you don't expect is that many House Republicans are against the bill. From New Jersey to Florida, Republicans have indicated that they won't vote for this bill. Between the White House woes, the Senate CIA leak, Plamegate and now dissention in the House, it's entirely possible that we're seeing the implosion of the Republican party. Enjoy it, but remember that we need to keep the pressure on. There should be no doubt in any voter's mind that they should vote Democratic in 2006.

Editorials

Deconstructing Cheney. Scooter's indictment seems to have given the media some spine. In this piece by James Carroll, he writes about how the indictment "is an occasion to consider just how damaging the long public career of Richard Cheney has been to the United States." Carroll's summation of Cheney's life would be simply maddening if it wasn't true. Since it is true, however, it's beyond tolerable. It would have been nice to have these kinds of reports before the 2004 election, but we can only hope that people realize that monsters like Cheney are the kinds of people that the GOP likes to elevate. If Cheney (who was indirectly responsible for creating al-Qaeda) is your type of person, then, by all means, vote Republican.

The Mysterious Death of Pat Tillman. Remember Pat Tillman? As Frank Rich writes, Tillmas was "the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who famously volunteered for the Army in the spring after 9/11, giving up a $3.6 million N.F.L. contract extension." Tillman was killed last April, and the Army explained that he was killed in battle. What they didn't say was that Tillman was killed by friendly fire. Tillman's saga, and the subsequent lie, are a staple of this administration. Scooter. Abu Ghraib. Why tell the truth when they think a lie will suffice? Only, the lies always come back around, and the truth comes out. Shame on this administration for their continued deceit of the American people.

Blogger Commentary

A Clean Sweep in Dover We talked above about the meaningful vote in Pennsylvania, but what does it mean? As The Questionable Authority Writes, there's a lot of good that's come out of this. Voter turnout in Dover was higher than other school districts, as a direct result of the previous school board's stupidity. Although Dover is heavily Republican, Democratic candidates won 54-48 (overall). Remember, the results in Dover are great, but they are only a start. We must keep up the pressure around the country. Too many voters are uneducated about local races and issues, and we need to keep them educated, and keep the pressure on the GOP. They've got to learn that if they try to just throw money at every campaign in America, they'll quickly realize that that tactic just won't work.

Democrats Rising, W Sinking. Mark Green, of The Huffington Post, with more on yesterday's election. There were so many local races yesterday that it would be impossible for us to document them all. Green writes about some of the most important, including wins in New York, Missouri and Minnesota. While it is certainly not true that local politics are decided by national issues, it is true that national politics influences local elections. If yesterday was any indication, then Green's closing comment could be prophetic. "If Democratic values were a stock, now would be the time to buy."

Tuesday's Links

2005-11-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

Activism

It's Election Day! Now, it might not be election day in your state, but that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do. If you live in Virginia, or know someone who does, it's time to get out the vote for Tim Kaine for Governor. If you live in New Jersey, or know someone who does, then help out Jon Corzine for Governor. But that's not all - in Ohio, you can help out Reform Ohio Now, who is pushing for YES on Issues 2-5. And, finally, in California, there are five ballot initiatives, including parental notification for abortions. You can make a difference in these states. Together, we'll make a more progressive America, election by election.

News

Medicare Drug Plan Finder: Still Waiting. After scamming America into paying $150 billion dollars more for the prescription drug plan, you'd think that the government would, at the very least, have the website working. You'd be wrong. The government had planned to create a tool on the Medicare website to help people understand their choices with the new Medicare benefits. It's been just about a month since the new website tool was promised, and it didn't go up until late yesterday. But it's not like there's a viable option for those who would rather use a "Medicare Advantage" program, offered by providers like UNUM, because although they appear cheaper, they wind up costing far more. The new plan takes effect on January 1, 2006, and while the government trumpets that there's still "plenty of time" left in the year to sign up, perhaps they don't realize that there are only seven weeks left in this one. And when you consider that the elderly are going to have to carefully study plan after plan to figure out which plan will work best for them, we see this turning into one giant clusterfluck. (There's more on health care below, in the editorials section).

U.S. Should Repay Millions to Iraq, a U.N. Audit Finds. The U.S. made history last Friday! "[T]his is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq." Congratulations to us! And of course, what's the company that was responsible for overcharging Iraq? Why, none other than KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary. Whenever anyone on the left claims that we went into Iraq to "loot their oil", they're labelled as a radical. But when stories like this come out, how are we supposed to believe otherwise. This is wrong in many different ways: First, we're essentially stealing Iraqi money. Second, we're stealing it because the Administration wants to prop up its corporate cronies, who in turn will use some of their plunder to fund their re-election. And thirdly, as a former Iraqi says in the article, "Something like this will be caught in the Iraqi press and be discussed by the Iraqi general public and will leave a very bad taste in the mouth of the Iraqis...It will increase the hostility towards the United States." Hey, it's a lose-lose for everybody! Except for the star of our next article, and his buddies at Halliburton.

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy. Dick Cheney is the most evil Vice-President in the history of the country. There, we said it! Yes, that's including Schuyler Colfax (Grant), and even Richard Nixon. While Bush is touting our stance against torture, Cheney has been campaigning for it. It's not a recent thing, either - Cheney's been doing this for months. What's intriguing is that the rest of his party, even inside the Administration, is turning on him. Of course, it's only because public opinion is finally turning on him - you can be sure that if Bush's approval rating was up, most would be firmly behind him. But Cheney doesn't tolerate dissent, which is why he's resorting to his standard evil tactics, which have "included 'trying to have meetings canceled ... to at least slow things down or gum up the works' or trying to conduct meetings on the subject without other key Cabinet members, one administration official said." Most. Evil. Veep. Ever.

Editorials

Revision Thing. Sam Smith at Harper's presents a history of the Iraq War. It contains quotes like "You couldn't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talked about the war on terror," and "We waged a war to save civilization itself. We did not seek it, but we fought it, and we prevailed." The entire article is actually composed of quotes from Bush Administration officials, and tells an entirely false tale of the Iraq War. It's entertaining on one level, and deeply disturbing on another. What we think is important to take from this little article is how easily the truth can be distorted, and how valuable our democracy is. Imagine if Ashcroft had stayed on as Attorney General and the Plame leak had never been investigated. Imagine if the White House had gotten further in its corruption of the press, and we had never learned about Abu Ghraib, or Jose Padilla, or any other atrocities the Administration has perpetrated? We need to end the war in Iraq and make sure the truth comes out, not just so that justice can be achieved, but so that history is written truthfully. If we let the propagandaists rewrite history to their liking, we will once again be doomed to repeat it.

Pride, Prejudice, Insurance. If you've read us at all, you know that we're disgusted with the health care system in this country. Massive premiums and CEO salaries have forced organizations to cut their health care spending. But even those corporations aren't without fault, as their CEOs take down millions of dollars each year. As Paul Krugman writes, "America's health care system spends more, for worse results, than that of any other advanced country." Isn't that ridiculous? The most "advanced" nation on the planet, and we have the worst health care in terms of bang for the buck. We've talked about it before, but it bears repeating that a majority of Americans prefer universal health care, even if it means paying more in taxes. Instead, we've got a corrupt system that rewards those at the top and punishes those who really need it. Instead of learning from what our neighbors are doing right (Canada, Germany, England), we instead continue to flounder, and more and more people lose the ability to afford basic health care. Is that a system you want to be a part of?

Blogger Commentary

Religion, Wars, and the IRS: Pro-War Sermons Get Tax Privilege; Anti-War Sermons Not. Reading this commentary by Steve Clemons, we're just pissed off. If you read the comments below the story, you'll see that there are very specific things that a church can and can't do (in order to maintain it's non-profit status). They can't endorse candidates or contribute cash, goods or services to a campaign. But what about political policy and discourse? Two days before the 2004 election, a liberal-leaning church in California saw their pastor deliver an anti-war sermon. He is quoted as saying that Jesus would have told Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster." There was no urging of people to go out and vote against Bush. In fact, Reverend Regas said that "good people of profound faith" could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support. Yet the IRS saw fit to serve the church with a letter, warning them that they were under investigation because of the above sermon, and a piece in the LA Times. What gets us extremely angry about this is the fact that we see much more obvious political proselytizing from the right quite frequently. Remember Pat Robertson asking God to "open a vacancy" on the Supreme Court? Or what about James Dobson, having it on "good authority" from Karl Rove that Harriet Miers would have voted pro-life? Hell, even Bush's own church called for an end to the war! Until the IRS (a supposedly apolitical organization) starts investigating churches equally, we consider this nothing more than right-wing thuggery, and it sickens us.

Three Strikes and We're Out: Destroying America. Arthur Silber writes a long, meandering rant, and frankly, it's a bit depressing to read. But his core points are important, which is why we're linking to him. There are three big issues he's concerned about, and it's tough to dismiss his concerns. Even if Democrats are finally showing some semblance of a spine, and as weak as Bush is, American principles are still actively being undermined. First, there's the Patriot Act, which is almost definitely going to be renewed, undermining many of our Constitutional protections. He quotes from the Nation: "The Patriot Act has been and will continue to be used mainly against ordinary Americans accused of crimes unrelated to terrorism, or those who disagree with government policies or happen to be immigrants or of the Muslim faith. The result is likely to be an enduring shift of power from the legislative and judicial branches to the executive branch--and less privacy and liberty for all." Next is the confirmation of John Roberts, who has "unquestioning deference to an omnipotent executive, at least in times of war." And finally, there's the Jose Padilla case, in which an American citizen has been held for three years, without charges. Add it all up, and what does Arthur get? "It now appears that neither Congress nor the judiciary will defend the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. I add to this list of crimes against history, and against what the United States once stood for, the fact that Congress has also completely abdicated its Constitutional responsibility with regard to declaring war..."

Monday's Links

2005-11-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

Activism

You remember how, when you were a kid, you told a lie to your mom? Something small, like, "I didn't eat any cookies before dinner." But then your mom sees chocolate on your fingers and crumbs in your bed, and she tells you that she knows you ate the cookies. So you come clean; you have no choice. The evidence is against you. Well, Mr. Bush, the chocolate is on your fingers, only it's oil. And the crumbs are in your bed, only instead of cookies, it's the crumbs of Valerie Plame's career. We're not going to stand being lied to anymore. We're signing Harry Reid's petition to demand you stop lying to us about Iraq, and we encourage our readership to do the same.

News

Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Suspicions. This is monumentally screwed up. While much of what you see in "spy" movies isn't remotely true (shooting a boat from helicopter? Come on!), we often see people confess to real crimes under torture. Just look at "24" last season. But that doesn't happen in real life. And when you capture one terrorist that you've (successfully) linked with al-Qaeda, you certainly question that terrorist. But when that terrorist gives you information, wouldn't you corroborate that information? Going back to "24", there was no corroboration because there was "no time." But if your captured terrorist tells you that "Iraq trained Al Qaeda members to use biological and chemical weapons," you'd probably want to check that out. You'd want to verify what one person tells you. Especially if intelligence officials indicate, right away, that the captured terrorist "was intentionally misleading the debriefers." Well, that terrorist was Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, and despite intelligence reports that they felt he was lying, Bush, Cheney, Powell and others used his information to make the case to go to war. And if you believe what we wrote last week about Italy's intelligence (Forging the Case for War), this misleading intelligence was used by the Pentagon to trick other countries into supporting our stance. If true (and we have no reason to believe that it isn't), it opens up a whole nest of hornets. At that time, al-Libi was the most senior ranking al-Qaeda operative, and, as we read in this Newsweek article from June, his arrest was really the "torture" spark that America received. Back in 2001, the FBI had control over questioning detainees. The CIA wanted al-Libi. The FBI went to Mueller. The CIA went to Tenet. Tenet beat Mueller to the White House, and the CIA gained custody of Libi, where they physically and verbally tortured him. No wonder he was so ready to give false information to the CIA. But Republicans do like to point the finger at Democrats, saying that they weren't alone in thinking Saddam had WMDs. Ah yes, that thought has been around for years. Only, when Clinton was in office, he obviously didn't have the intelligence to prove it, did he? Neither did Bush, but that didn't stop him from using the lie he wanted to hear to set us all in motion, and it makes us sick. The web of lies is unravelling, and it's about time we knew the truth.

GOP Senator Criticizes White House Torture Stance. We touched briefly above on the unsuccessfulness of torture. Indeed, it might be argued that torture has had an adverse affect on the truth. Republicans in the Senate have made their voices heard on this issue; aside from the nine cowards who voted against the bill, 90 Senators voted for Senator John McCain's torture ban bill, including Chuck Hagel, who is a leading candidate for the Republican ticket in 2008. Cheney has lobbied against the bill, and Bush has threatened a veto if the bill gets to his desk. This has moved beyond a partisan issue: it's now a question of "How stupid is the president that he can't see that this is wrong?" Senators like Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) voted against the ban because they, well, they are idiots. They want to change the fabric of the country because it's simply easier. Well, as we saw above, torturing al-Libi didn't exactly have the intended effect. What about Scooter? if he remains silent, or pleads "the fifth" in court, should we torture him to get answers? the problem is that once you go down this road, you can't stop. In fact, with the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case of Osama bin Laden's driver, who has been in GitMo, the torture issue just isn't going away.

GOP Mulls End of Birthright Citizenship. On the subject of government destroying the old to make way for the new, House Republicans want to do away with birthright citizenship. They also want to build a barrier: a "Great Wall of Mexico," if you will, on the border. These two ideas have "terrible" written all over them. Do we even need to go into why removing birthright citizenship is a bad idea? And a barrier...because, you know, that's going to solve our immigration problem. Perhaps if our government were to work with Mexico to help stabilize their economy, there might be more paying jobs in Mexico, and less people would feel the need to come here. It's too easy to divide people, though. But that's not all. Under the poorly named "Patriot Act," our FBI is investigating like crazy. Only, it's the Average Joe that they're looking at by giving out "National Security Letters" to request information on public goings-on. Library records, to be specific. Hey, remember, back in July, when the Republican-led house created the "Library Amendment," which would require the Director of the FBI to authorize any pulling of library records? We thought it was a tiny ray of sunshine, even though it royally upset the American Library Association (they called it "kafkaesque"). What makes this so interesting is that it was one of 30,000 requests per year, which means that it wasn't signed off on by the Director, or it was signed off, but barely looked at, if at all. It would be impossible for the Director of the FBI to personally approve 30,000 requests a year, wouldn't it? Even worse than this, the FBI has decided to take all the data they obtain and "dump it" into a government database. Who gets to see this database? According to Executive Order 13388, signed into law by Bush, "'state, local and tribal' governments and for 'appropriate private sector entities,' which are not defined." Oh, and not responding to one of these letters? A criminal offense. But this is just the tip of the FBI iceberg. Check out the WaPo article (it's long) for the whole story. You'll finish with your jaw on your desk.

Editorials

Kaine for Governor. The Washington Post Editorial Board gives Kaine emphatic support for Governor. And really, why shouldn't they? Working as Lt. Governor under Mark Warner, he worked to "clean up the mess" that his Republican predecessors had wrought upon Virgnia. Jerry Kilgore represents a return to that style of governing, as well as the one that Mr. Bush embodies: Ask for no sacrifices, and pass fiscal burdens onto future generations. As the Post says, "It's a pipe dream". "Mr. Kaine -- forthright, proactive, inclusive, brimming with energy -- is a far better candidate possessed of much clearer vision. He alone has the potential for excellence." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Virginians, vote for Kaine tomorrow!

Bleeding Hearts of the World, Unite! Imagine Madeline Albright and Sam Brownback as a couple. No, not for the purposes of procreation, but to bring liberals and Christians together. It happened last week, at the Aspen Institute, and it's amazing what they agree upon. In point of fact, quite a bit. As Nicholas D. Kristof writes, "sex trafficking, genocide, religious oppression, prison brutality" are all pertinent issues that Democrats and Christians easily agree upon. (However, we have to laugh when Albright and Brownback start discussing "the Top 5 worst places to wake up in the morning.") Although it's only a small bridge, it's a bridge that can be built. The idea of "us vs. them" in American politics has really escalated over the last 10 years, and it's nice to see that there are major issues, like genocide, that we can agree upon. Kristof sums up our feelings perfectly. "Look, I think that Christian leaders on the right like Senator Brownback, Frank Wolf in the House and Chuck Colson are utterly wrong on many issues. I probably wouldn't vote for them for political office. . .Over the next year, Democrats and Republicans will devote millions of dollars to heap slime on each other. If they devote 1 percent as much energy to cooperating on a few of these issues, they'll make the world a much better place." We can dream, can't we?

Blogger Commentary

Did Harry Reid Hit Bill Frist This Week With The "Smoking Gun"? "The Smoking Gun" is a phrase that has come up quite a bit recently. "Was the Downing Street Memo the Smoking Gun?" What makes the last week very interesting, from an outside point of view, is the timing of the events. Harry Reid calls for a closed door session, because Republicans won't discuss the intelligence failure of the Iraq War. Republicans acquiesce. Then, on Saturday, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) disseminated a declassified memo that indicated that even U.S. intelligence didn't believe the intelligence about Iraq and WMDs (see news story #1, above). So, if it was a crafted plan, it was a damned good one. But here's the icing on the cake, and it comes courtesy of Steve Soto at The Left Coaster. Soto writes that, in addition to the above, 53% of the American public says that if it is clear that Bush lied, they would support Congress considering impeachment proceedings against the president. That's incredible! If this is the beginning of a Democratic push, it's perfectly timed. If it isn't, well, why are they waiting?

Saturday's Links

2005-11-05T11:16:00.000-05:00

Activism

He could be the best Senator from Minnesota, but right now Al Franken is simply making life difficult for Republicans. He's a radio personality on Air America Radio, and he's got a new book out. It's called "The Truth (with jokes)," and your activism mission today is to purchase it. The right (especially Ann Coulter) get frosted when people purchse Franken's books. But the difference between writers like Franken and "writers" like Coulter couldn't be more obvious. Franken's earlier books all use facts. These facts are indisputable: There are sources for every one. Coulter's books, on the other hand, are full of "liberals say this" and "Quakers say that" with not a hint of proof. Franken has the added bonus of making us laugh, while Coulter makes us see red. Furthermore, the more liberal books sell, the more likely they are to get published in the future. Everybody wins!

News

Kenneth Tomlinson Quits Public Broadcasting Board. The only way this could be any better is if he was forced to resign. Oh wait, he was! You may remember Tomlinson as the idiot who alleged that there was a liberal bias in Public Broadcasting, and gave several million taxpayer dollars to a friend to "survey" the programming on CPB. CPB's inspector general, Kenneth Konz, delivered a report that was very critical of Tomlinson's leadership, so Tomlinson walked. The next step is to try and get CPB's leadership restructured, and we'll keep you posted.

Senate Passes Plan to Cut $35 Billion From Deficit. You've read the title of this article, and you're probably cringing. We are, and for good reason. Of that $35 billion (over 5 years) will see cuts in prescription drugs, student loans and, oh yes, it'll help open the Arctic Refuge to drilling. The bill passed 52-47, and if you're wondering why we harp on the fact that every Senate seat counts, here's your answer. As we mentioned yesterday, The House is also looking at cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and child support enforcement. Tell us, what good will it be to cut spending if we drive our nation's disadvantaged to death while doing it?

Cheney, Libby Blocked Papers To Senate Intelligence Panel. This is about a week old, but it bears mentioning. Back in 2004, Scooter and Cheney decided to withhold "crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." Among the documents were earlier versions of Colin Powell's 2003 speech to the U.N. (with the infamous 16 words). What's really interesting, though, is a quote by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS). "We in Congress would not have authorized that war, in 75 votes, if we knew what we know now." We're starting to see a pattern of Congressional Republicans distancing themselves from the White House over this, particularly in light of Fitzgerald's investigation. Why aren't Democrats hammering this more? Republicans repeatedly use the findings of the Committee to claim that Bush was no more responsible for 9/11 than Clinton. Not only is that not the case, but how could the Senate have come to an accurate conclusions if they didn't have all of the necessary information?

Editorials

Scare Tactics in Virginia. Barring an Ohio-type situatuon, Virginia is just three days away from electing a new governor. Jerry Kilgore (R) is trying to use "scare" tactics to crack down on illegal immigrants, once again making promises he can't hope to keep. If you live in the Metro area, now's your chance to get out there, volunteer, and help dispel the Kilgore rhetoric. Virginians will also choose all 100 members of the House of Delegates. For a list of Washington Post-sponsored candidates, see here.

Clueless About Torture. Does torture produce results? This editorial in USA Today says that no, it doesn't. Just ask Senator McCain (R-AZ). But that hardly seems to matter to this administration. "Certainly, no one wants to coddle terrorists who might possess information about planned attacks. But neither should the United States sink to the level of its enemies." Bingo.

Blogger Commentary

Legislation Killed By GOP Senate Defines Republicans. Yesterday, we linked to a post by Bob Geiger outlining how the GOP-dominated Senate has basically quashed almost all legislation proposed by Democrats. Not that any right-wingers read Still Fighting, but if they did, we could hear them whining, "Yeah, but that was radical, left-leaning legislation that the American people elected Republicans to defeat!" Sure, it was, hypothetical wingnut. So Geiger follows up, giving a quick rundown on some of the legislation that was discarded by the GOP Senate: Amendments seeking to exempt those with medical problems, those acting as caregivers, those victimized by corporate bankruptcies, and those below America's median income. Two proposals to raise minimum wage from $5.15. A proposal to revoke security clearances from those who disclose classified information. Money for veterans and first responders. The list goes on. But actions speak much louder than words, and the actions of the GOP speak loud and clear: The GOP hates average Americans. It's really just that simple.

Why Reid did what he did. Harry Reid's move last week was pretty smooth. And almost immediately, Republicans were bitching and moaning that it was a "stunt" and a "slap in the face." But, as Reid noted, it really was a slap in the face to all Americans that Democrats even had to resort to such a tactic to get the Senate to investigate the Iraq War properly. If you jump to the link, you'll see the detailed timeline from Reid's office, outlining how the Republicans stonewalled the investigation for over two years. They delayed for a year, so that the information wouldn't affect the election (nothing would have hurt Bush's chances so much as an informed electorate), and then they're stalling now, probably just because they can. Well, at least they could, until Reid stood up.

Friday's Links

2005-11-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

Activism

Rights, Recovery, and Renaissance. Unfortunately, now that the hubbub about Katrina has died down, many Gulf Coast residents are being left to their own devices to rebuild the devastated areas. But with the federal government often working to undermine their rights, it's becoming even more difficult that you might imagine. That's why Democracy for America and Louisiana's NAACP are sponsoring a "day-long event to create actionable items that will foster the cultural and economic rebirth of the Gulf Coast. If you can make it to Baton Rouge on November 19th, sign up and do what you can to ensure the rights of those who want to start a Gulf Coast Renaissance.

News

Food Stamp Cuts Are On Table. The age-old conservative philosophy of "starving the beast" is alive and well. Except the philosophy is horribly misguided; the so-called beast is really our government programs that aid the poorest, sickest, and most unfortunate in this country. But the budget's so unbalanced that even the no-tax-and-spend GOP is realizing something's gotta be done. But they're not going to end the expensive and unnecessary war, or the expensive and unnecessary tax cuts, or the expensive and unnecessary prescription drug plan. No, they're going to end the relatively inexpensive and quite necessary food stamp plan for about 300,000 citizens. Furthermore, they're considering cutting people off of school lunch programs, and rolling back expanded foster care support. It's simply disgraceful.

AIDS Gel on a Faster Track. Here's some fantastic news, for once. A new, promising method of fighting AIDS is being pursued by both Bristol-Myers and Merck. We often lambaste drug companies for not doing more to help the billions of people who need their help, and maybe they're finally getting the message. (Of course, we're not delusional enough to believe it's because of us, but hey, every little bit helps, right?) What's even more promising is that usually, drug companies won't make groundbreaking treatments available to poorer countries until they've been on the market a while. And often, it's the poorer countries that need the advanced treatments most. But in this case, Merck and Bristol-Myers are trying to keep costs low, and seem to be interested in providing the new gel to AIDS victims in poor countries. It's a start - let's hope other drug companies will follow their lead.

Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn To Military. Newly released Pentagon data shows just how much this war is taking from the people who can least afford to give. 44% of recruits come from rural areas, while only 14% are from major cities. And "[n]early two-thirds of Army recruits in 2004 came from counties in which median household income is below the U.S. median." It's a deadly spiral - we have an economy with slow job growth, and that funnels money from the poor to the rich. Then, the poor have no opportunities, so they're forced to join the military, which is fighting a war in which the only people benefitting are the rich contractors and oil companies. It's not sad that kids are joining the Army - after all, the profession is a noble one, even if their current mission night not be. However, what is deeply disturbing is that many of this kids are forced to turn to the Army because they have no other options.

Editorials

The wealth puzzle: There’s a lot of money someplace, but where? You know, one thing we agree with the Bush administration on is that the tax code is too complicated. But it's too complicated because there are all sorts of loopholes that only the richest among us qualify for, and on top of that, only people that are well off can afford accountants to even find those loopholes. Beyond that, Henry Banta does some interesting work for Nieman Watchdog, and digs up some very important questions. There's clearly been shift of income to the top 1% (or even top .05%), but their wealth hasn't increased. So where's all that money going? Banta proposes that the money's being put in offshore tax havens that the IRS is doing very little to investigate. Banta claims the IRS isn't even capable of investigating these cases, and that's by design. We're not sure why, though: Just imagine how many wars we could fund with the taxes on the estimated $1.6 trillion held by Americans offshore! (Hmm...let's not give Bush any ideas...)

In the Company of Friends. You know, with news continuing to be released about the ineptitude and callousness of Michael Brown, you might think that Bush had taken a respite from cronyism. Hell, he even nominated Ben Bernanke to the Fed, a man who actually appears to be qualified! Apparently, he thinks that absolves him of past and future cronyism, because now he's at it again. This time, Bush "appointed nine campaign contributors, including three longtime fund-raisers, to his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a 16-member panel of individuals from the private sector who advise the president on the quality and effectiveness of U.S. intelligence efforts." Yes, campaign contributors have been appointed to positions in the past, but Bush has really elevated these appointments to an art form. And given that he's still ostensibly fighting this whole war on terror thing, one might think that he'd be interested in having qualified people improve our intelligence gathering critiques. You might think that, but you'd be wrong.

Blogger Commentary

Partisan Democrats? Let's Look at How The GOP-Dominated Senate Has Worked This Year. The biggest slam that Republicans have been making against the Democrats, when they're not slamming their patriotism, or using the word "liberal" as a slur, is claiming that they're simply obstructionist and have no ideas. Well, we know that's not true, especially as of late, when Democrats have suggested plans for exiting Iraq , Katrina-relief suggestions, and improved health care for children, just to name a few ideas. But most of the time (and this is just in the Senate - the House is far worse), the Senate just shuts the Democrats out. They complain about Democrats not acting in a bipartisan manner, but it's all just a ruse. In fact, they want nothing to do with Democrats. The stats bear this out: "Of 118 pieces of Democratic-sponsored legislation, a whopping 80 percent were rejected by Senate Republicans, many of them on straight party-line votes. Of those bills, 24 were 'agreed to' and 94 were 'rejected.' " Not only that, but of those 24, "nine were benign acts that passed by a unanimous vote or, in one case, 94-6." Remember that Democrats do hold 44 seats, and that those seats actually represent over 50% of the country's population. Democrats have tried bipartisanship. It doesn't work, because the Republicans won't let it. And they have the nerve to criticize Harry Reid for finally playing hardball?

The ultimate Newspeak. Tired of simple-minded partisan discussions? Well, then you can turn to the same guy that we turn to for erudite discussion and heady analysis: Dave Neiwert. We find it amusing that he often seems to challenge people like Michelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg - in the real of intelligence, it's like Goliath attacking a pair of smurfs. Goldberg, who we can reliably say might be one of the biggest idiots in the entire world, has released a new book titled "Liberal Facism". Why does Neiwert spend time on this moron? Because, as he says, "Propagandists like Goldberg always flourish in a vacuum of public ignorance. If liberals try to pretend he doesn't exist in the hope this meme will just go away ... it may be a fatal mistake."

Humor

Harlan McCraney, Presidential Speechologist. You probably thought that Bush's obliteration of the English language was accidental. Not so. In fact, it's the product of Harlan McCraney, who has specially crafted Bush's incomprehensible manner of speech. Masterful!

Thursday's Links

2005-11-03T16:18:00.000-05:00

Activism

Tell Your Iraq Story. Here's an innovative idea from Democracy for America. Many of you know Americans who went off to war and the people they left behind. But too many of us don't know their stories — because whenever the pain and futility of this war starts to hit home, Republicans work overtime to change the subject. The plan is for DFA to turn these stories into radio commercials all over the country. Check out the page above, and if you have a story to share, call (800) 279-7950. Americans need to hear the truth, and if the administration isn't going to tell it, then it's up to us.

News

Rumsfeld Hints at More Troops in Iraq. We can only assume Rumsfeld is referring to the 101st Diaper Brigade when he's referring to "more troops." Never mind the lunacy of simply throwing more troops at the problem; Rumsfeld sums up the administration's strategy for war with one sentence. "We'll decide what we're going to do about December as we go along." Because, really, why should December be any different? It's obvious that this administration has been making it up as they go along for years now. There's no long-term plan. There's no strategy. The troops in the field have been left without a clear vision of what they are supposed to do, what they are allowed to do, and what the goal is. Is the goal to crush the insurgency? Protect the citizens? Train the Iraqi troops? We don't know, and you can be sure that they don't either.

Wolfowitz, in New Role, Blocked by Iraq Chaos He Didn't Foresee. From the "unintentionally ironic" file, let's see how Paul Wolfowitz is doing. Remember when he took over the World Bank, fresh off being Rumsfeld's #2 guy? Wolfowitz had "predicted" that relief efforts in Iraq wouldn't be hampered by the war effort. Guess what? Relief efforts in Iraq are being hampered by the war effort. The region is just too dangerous. Gosh, who would have thought that shutting out the Sunnis would lead to this kind of violence? Certainly not this administration who, as you can read above, certainly planned for every possibility. Who suffers because of this miscalculation? We'll give you a hint: It ain't Wolfowitz.

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons. If the last two stories make you angry, then this is going to make your blood boil. It turns out that "[t]he CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement." Yes, you read that correctly. But wait, it gets better. The Soviet prison is one of many in eight countries that have been set up over the last four years. No one knows who's held there. No one knows how they are being treated. The "prisoners" there are simply forgotten, for all intents and purposes. "[T]he CIA has not even acknowledged the existence of its black sites. To do so, say officials familiar with the program, could open the U.S. government to legal challenges, particularly in foreign courts, and increase the risk of political condemnation at home and abroad." You don't say! Gosh, why would anyone want to challenge this? The CIA tries to argue that there is a need for such installations in today's world. We argue the same thing that we've argued over the discourse on torture: What are our ideals, if we don't hold to them when things get "tough?" This article is extremely long, and it may sicken you, but you are encouraged to read it.

Editorials

Forging the Case for War. Still Fighting has been trucking for 51 weeks now, and this is the first time we've ever linked to an article in the American Conservative. You may ask yourselves "Are you guys going soft?" Not at all. We simply link to articles that make sense. This editorial, written by Philip Giraldi, is subtitled "Who was behind the Niger uranium documents?" It's a look at what led Colin Powell to declare before the U.N. the now infamous 15 words: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." How did the British government find out? From the Italian government, who didn't want to be mentioned. The Italian government gave information (paperwork, really) to the British. Only, funny enough, that paperwork was forged. Crudely. But that's not all. Giraldi makes the case that the paperwork was originally forged by the Pentagon. If this is the case (and the facts fit), then we've got extremely serious problems in this country. Let's hope that Patrick Fitzgerald is able to dig as deep and come up with the right answers.

Stirring Up a Hornets' Nest. Anyone who has been paying attention to this White House can tell you their M.O.: When trouble brews for the administration, in any capacity, they quickly try to shift attention elsewhere. 13 separate times in the past few years the terror alert has been raised on the same day as breaking news (in a bad way) about Bush and/or the White House. 13 times! So it shouldn't have been any surprise that, in an effort to distract American from Plamegate, Bush announced Alito as his pick for SCOTUS. Only, as Eric Alterman writes, it backfired. Instead of distracting the public from Plamegate, it energized the liberal activist groups in this country. Remember the Activism link we gave you on Monday, to sign MoveOn's petition? As of last night, MoveOn already had over 350,000 signatures! By choosing the most conservative of the Conservatives, Bush has "unleashed a maelstrom." And, as you can tell with editorials like the one below, Plamegate ain't exactly going gentle into that good night, either.

Blogger Commentary

Friends. "Friends" are the 45 Democratic Senators who voted for the Online Freedom of Speech Act that we discussed this past Tuesday. "Friends" are the Democrats who don't need a mound of words when one sentence will suffice. "Friends" are, apparently, not people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Waxman, who gave trite reasoning for not voting for this bill. "Friends" recognize the value that the online community offers to voters and to the party. If we had more "friends," this bill would have passed.

The Imminent Debate on Pre-War Intelligence. We're with Nathan Gardels on this one; we fully expect the Bush arguement about pre-war intelligence to be "Hey, we weren't the only ones to believe this." That won't wash for several reasons, not the least of which is that Bill Clinton's Pentagon didn't fabricate information to get us to war (see Editorial #1). It also doesn't wash because Bush warned of the "imminent threat" that was Hussein. Stockpiled yellowcake, labs of WMDs...it was all laid out before the UN (by Colin Powell) and in his State of the Union address of 2003. Our favorite quote from that speech, by the way, is "Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them." Of course he hadn't: He didn't have them!

Wednesday's Links

2005-11-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

Activism

Stop Alito. Bush, the cowboy who never gives in, has given in. He's actually been doing that a lot recently, and we're still trying to decide if he was more dangerous when he never changed his mind, or now that he's so weak he has to pander to his base. With the SCOTUS nomination of borderline-crazy right-winger Samuel Alito, it's looking like the latter. Go to MoveOn's page and sign a letter to your Senator opposing his nomination. If you don't know why we need to oppose this guy, read the last blogger entry. Democracy only works when you participate in it!

News

GOP Angered by Closed Senate Session. Action? From a Democratic Senator? Someone check the skies for pigs! Senator Harry Reid (R-NV) must have gotten an extra shot of espresso with his latte yesterday, because, while on the Senate floor, he demanded a closed session to discuss the Senate's unwillingness to hold Bush accountable for the Iraq War. Demanding a closed session is completely legal, under Senate Rule 21. Kos has a nice write-up on this, too. As you would probably guess, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) was really mad. "This is an affront to me personally," he said. "It's an affront to our leadership. It's an affront to the United States of America. And it is wrong." How? It's legal. It's what the people want. Maybe if the ruling party in the Senate was doing their job, Reid and his fellow Democrats wouldn't have to utilize Rule 21. But they aren't, so they did. Republicans immediately capitulated to Reid's demands for the Senate to create a bipartisan panel to report on the progress of a Senate intelligence committee report on prewar intelligence. How's that for fantastic? How's that for trying to get something done for progressives and for the country?

Democratic Judge Is Removed From DeLay Case. And let the ridiculousness begin. What's next? A judge who once voted for Walter Mondale won't be allowed? A judge is appointed because they can be impartial. This isn't a moral or ethical debate case, like a Roe v. Wade. This is a case about improper use of money and conspiracy. Either the defense will show that he didn't do it, or the prosecutor will show that he did. There is no "moral" question to wrestle with. it's the same reason that incoming Supreme Court nominees aren't asked by the Senate how they would rule in a money laundering case. DeLay's lawyer argued that having this judge on the case "would create questions 'in the minds of reasonable people' that he could not rule impartially." Two points, really. One, no it won't. The unfounded hype of "judicial activism" is getting ridiculous. Two, who cares what these so-called "reasonable people" think? Since when did the decision of who should preside over a case become about what the public wants? This is nothing more than an attempt to stack the deck in DeLay's favor, and, unfortunately, it's working.

Poll Shows Governor's 4 Initiatives Losing November 8. It always amazes us that the Republican party, for all their abilities, can't keep Schwarzenegger over in California. Hell, they took Bush and kept him in enough of a positive light that he got re-elected. So it's staggering to see the Governator's campaigning for his four issues on next week's ballot having an adverse effect. Then again, maybe it's not so staggering, given how many people in California have no idea what the election is about.

Editorials

Ending the Fraudulence. Paul Krugman discusses Bush's monumental slew of fradulent activities: Abysmal failures of policy? Check 9/11? Check. Osama? Check. Katrina? Check. And finally, Plame? Check. The investigation into Plamegate continues, Scooter will have his day(s) in court. In 2008, Rove will still be where he is today. So, what's the only way to get this country back on track? "First, politicians will have to admit that they were misled. Second, the news media will have to face up to their role in allowing incompetents to pose as leaders and political apparatchiks to pose as patriots." We're not sure which one of those is going to be easier.

Just How Monolithic Are American Evangelicals? We throw around the term "Evangelical" quite a bit. But what does it really mean? Who are these people, with their noses in scripture? And are they exclusive to the right? Laura Olson tries to answer these questions, and she meets with a fair amount of success. Reading this editorial made us think of last week's episode of the West Wing, where the GOP candidate is pro-choice. One of the characters makes a speculation that "we are this close to the religious right forming their own political party." Perhaps that statement is slightly exaggerated, but as we can read from Olson, not by much.

Blogger Commentary

Alito: Hostility to Equality. Bill Scher sums up Alito's record in a simple phrase. His past cases show that he is: Dismissive of women's independence; Sympathetic to employers accused to sexual discrimination as well as racial discrimination; Hostile to families who need a member to take leave from work. It seems that his case history defines the term "regressive". Then, in this article, Larry Beinhart offers some important questions for Alito: Will he be an honest judge? Of course he'd say yes, but so would all of the other Supreme Court Justices, and five of them ruled for Bush over Gore in 2000. How about "Do you believe that the Constitution applies to everyone?" and "Do you believe that everyone is equal before the law or are there people above the law?" These should be simple questions to answer, but recent court actions have shown they might not be. And, finally, the Rude Pundit chimes in with a nice, rude summary of the Alito nomination. (Warning: He's called the Rude Pundit for a reason!)

What A Relief! Cenk Uygur on the relief we felt from Harry Reid's Senate demands. It's ridiculous to assume that the entire country thought that it was a good idea, but the fact that hearings will now be held on the pre-war intelligence is a positive step for this country. Now, as Uygur writes, please don't let up! Don't stop! Keep Fighting!

Tuesday's Links

2005-11-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

Activism

FEC/Internet: Today is ACTION DAY for Online Freedom of Speech. Taken from Daily Kos, we know that there's an important vote tomorrow in the House. The vote is on H.R. 1606, the Online Freedom of Speech Act. Why should you care? The gist of the bill is simple: "To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to exclude communications over the Internet from the definition of public communication." Specifically, this affects bloggers like us. Bloggers don't maintain themselves as journalists (unless they are certified journalists, like Keith Olbermann, or the various WaPo blogs). 97% of the blogger community simply disseminates published information and editorializes. And the purpose of H.R. 1606 will allow us to continue to do so without regulation. Call or email your house reps today and make sure that they vote yes for H.R. 1606.

News

Alito Leans Right Where O'Connor Swung Left. Actually, the title of this article is quite misleading. It should read "Alito is an Extremist Conservative, Whereas O'Connor was Only a Moderate Conservative." Nevertheless, it's quite rare that we get to see two judges compared and have such a clear idea of how their votes actually differed on nearly identical cases. For instance, "In 1991, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. voted to uphold a Pennsylvania statute that would have required at least some married women to notify their husbands before getting an abortion; a year later, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor cast a decisive fifth vote at the Supreme Court to strike it down." These types of differences give us a very clear idea of what a far cry from O'Connor Alito is, and how it'll impact our country for years to come. This man is dangerous, and his confirmation should be stopped.

Debate rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine. You might be aware that there's a recently-developed vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. That's great news, right? Well, unless you're a radical conservative, that is. How twisted is their logic? Opposition to making the vaccine mandatory is centered around the argument that immunizing girls near puberty would encourage them to engage in pre-marital sex. Let's be clear hear: There's a vaccine that seems to be almost 100% effective in preventing a type of cancer that "strikes more than 10,000 U.S. women each year, killing more than 3,700," yet the radical right is worried that it might cause people to have more sex. This is the opposite of pro-life. How ludicrous is it that there's even a debate about this?

Military Faces Parental Counterattack. It's obvious that 10 years ago, few parents thought much about military recruiters in high schools. In fact, it was quite commonplace. Nowadays, however, parents have their grapes in a vise over military recruiters in schools. Perhaps the change is due to a strong anti-war feeling. Perhaps it's because parents know that the army is desperate for recruits. Whatever the reason, we've seen parents finally stand up, over the last few months, and demand that their children be left alone. Some counties are asking their school boards to stop releasing their children's information to recruiters. Others have demanded that schools not allow recruiters into school. Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) has introduced a bill that would rewrite the law so that families have to opt in rather than opt out of having their child's information released. Do you see what's happening here? Parents are energized about a cause, and are actively fighting to effect change. It's America at work, and it's absolutely fantastic.

Editorials

Dick Cheney's Song of America. David Armstrong's essay from 2002 reads like a creepy piece of fiction. A plan masterminded by the Vice President, over ten years, to take over the world? It seems absurd until you realize that the Vice President actually is Cheney, and he has the means to accomplish it. Hell, as Armstrong writes, "One has to admire, in a way, the Babe Ruth-like sureness of his political work. He pointed to center field ten years ago, and now the ball is sailing over the fence." Armstrong calls this The Plan, it began in 1989, and it involves such figures as Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz. It involved the elder Bush, and by 1990, the plan started to take form. Through the "first" Iraq War, the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11, the "second" Iraq War, and beyond, the Plan has been utilized. The Plan has guided Cheney's world strategy, and although it's easy to see it in retrospect, what we see (or rather, remember) is nothing compared to the research Armstrong has done. There's no doubt the the Plan is firmly in place right now. "Perhaps, in short, we can achieve our desired ends by means other than global domination." We could, but not with this administration.

So Who Are the Activists? As the Supreme Court battle heats up (again), you're liable to hear a lot of rhetoric about judicial activism. But like any term the GOP seems to sink their teeth into, it's mostly used inaccurately, and has thus lost some significance. What is judicial activism? What is legislating from the bench? Who really has judicial restraint? Well, of course it's not a well-defined term, but one measure of judicial activism could be "How often has each justice voted to strike down a law passed by Congress?" A couple Yale Law grads published a study in July that answers that question, and not surprisingly, it reveals that the rhetoric coming from the Right about the Court being out of control is largely unfounded, at least by this definition of activism. The study reaches the conclusion that "those justices often considered more 'liberal' - Justices Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens - vote least frequently to overturn Congressional statutes, while those often labeled 'conservative' vote more frequently to do so. At least by this measure (others are possible, of course), the latter group is the most activist."

Blogger Commentary

Contrasting Visions: Which Spending To Cut? As always, Scott Shields (over at MyDD) asks the good questions. This one is in response to an AP article about the House cutting spending by taking away food stamps from an estimated 300,000 people, and school lunches from 40,000. Republicans involved with these cuts don't want us to "pass the buck" to our kids. So, we won't feed them, and that will solve the problem? Oh yeah, and we'll take that money, and funnel it right back into oil companies. We'd love to ask the question "Do they not realize that they are getting caught at this?", but they know they are. But since no one seems inclined to do anything about it, why even bother to hold up the guise of "fiscally responsible" anymore?

Military Disapproves of Bush War Plan. How odd. According to Bush, Americans who don't support the war are against America. So, what happens when the troops are against the war too? We'll have to ask the good military folks in North Carolina, who, in a recent survey, disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and his overall job performance. As Paul Rieckhoff, of Operation Truth writes, the poll is no surprise, as there's no exit strategy. Which means that soldiers will be there indefinitely. Would you be happy if that were your future? We think not.

Monday's Links

2005-10-31T11:20:00.000-05:00

Activism

Operation Truth's new campaign is called "Honor the Fallen," and is endorsed by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Veterans for Common Sense, Democracy for America, MoveOn.org CivicAction, TrueMajorityAction, and Free Press. To date, 2,016 American soldiers have died in Iraq, with the number of injured at 15,353. Honor the Fallen is a "get the word out" campaign designed to force media outlets to take the (American, not insurgent) death count more seriously. On the main page (linked above), you'll find links to email your local newspapers and watch Operation Truth's video advertisement. Perhaps, if more Americans were being given the numbers and information about what's going on in Iraq, they might be more vocal in calling for our troops to be brought out of this ridiculous war.

News

Bush Selects Alito for Supreme Court. If you haven't read it yet, Bush nominated appeals court Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. Alito, at a robust 55, has already caused a rift between liberals and conservatives, most noticably for his ruling on Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which he upheld a Pennsylvania law that would impose numerous restrictions on women seeking abortions. "Citing previous opinions of O'Connor, Alito wrote that an abortion regulation is unconstitutional only if it imposes an undue burden on a woman's access to the procedure. The spousal notification provision, he wrote, does not constitute such a burden and must therefore only meet the requirement that it be rationally related to some legitimate government purpose." Alito also subscribes to the hyper-conservative view of church and state, namely, that they're pretty much the same thing. We're sure that there's plenty more in his background, and the 24-hour news networks will inundate us with it all. However, at this early point, it looks like Alito is the conservative voice that Bush wants, which isn't good for us progressive-type folk. (Actually, it's ultimately not good for all of us American-type folk.)

CIA Yet to Assess Harm From Plame's Exposure. This is a fairly interesting story, and the ramifications are pretty important. Whoever leaked the Valerie Plame information didn't take into account the other factors that would be affected, or maybe they did, and just didn't give a crap. For example, the bogus CIA-fronted company that listed Plame as an employer. Her contacts around the world were put in jeopardy, and can never be approached again. But that's got to be just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the CIA hasn't done any sort of analysis on the long-term harm that Robert Novak caused when he outed Valerie Plame, the "energy analyst" from Boston. And while Democrats are getting worked up and demanding that Rove resign, why has no one called on Robert Novak? Why didn't he spend months in jail for "protecting his source?" He was, after all, the one who broke the story. Nicholas LeMann has a fantastic article in the New Yorker about the chronology of a leak.

Berlusconi 'Tried to Dissuade Bush on Iraq'. It's two-plus years later, so why is everyone NOW deciding to come forward and talk about how they "warned Bush that Iraq was a bad idea" or "the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal was taking over"? Wouldn't everyone have been better served if we knew these things back in 2003? The latest to step forward is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has been a "staunch U.S. ally on the War with Iraq." Berlusconi says that "I was never convinced that war was the best way to succeed in bringing democracy to a country and in leading it out of a bloody dictatorship." But you went along with it anyway, Mr. Berlusconi. You failed to notify your country and the world that this was happening, and you chose, against your own self-admitted better judgement, to lead your country into a war that you didn't think was the best course of action. And now, two-plus years later, you want to come forward and tell everyone? "On the contrary, I tried on numerous occasions to convince the American president not to go to war. I did what was within my capabilities to avoid that happening." That doesn't wash with us, sir.

Editorials

Stop the Campaigning. Lewis L. Gould weighs in with a fantastic editorial that cuts to the heart of what's wrong with the American political process. The problem is that our leaders use their terms to mount a continuous campaign. Everything's spun, and prepared, and glossed up. That takes a lot of effort, and leaves very little time for actual governing. Oh, Reagan and Clinton did plenty of campaigning, but at least they spent some time actually doing their jobs. Bush has taken the continuous campaign to dangerous new heights. Some of the comments that Gould makes should be so self-evident that it's infuriating that he even has to state them. But in this day and age, he does. You know, stuff like: "But government, while it has elements of a show and entertainment, is not at bottom about pleasing today's cable TV audiences. The president needs to take the long view about the national interest beyond the demands of a political campaign or the continuous electioneering so common to the modern White House." Well, duh.

Hypocrisy and The Miers Case. A wise man once said that if hypocrisy were outlawed, no one would be allowed to say anything. That may be true, but these days, the amount of hypocrisy coming from the right leads us to believe that silence is probably preferable. And nowhere was that hypocrisy more evident than with the Harriet Miers debacle. Every nominee deserves an up-or-down vote? Guess not. There should be no abortion litmus test? Guess not. There should be no discussion of religion when it comes to nominees? Well, only if they already like the nominee. The whole situation almost makes us feel bad for poor Harriet. Almost.

Blogger Commentary

The Real Indictment of Dick Cheney. How many times can we say "I told you so?" During the summer of 2000, Dick Cheney was painted as evil. He was repeatedly mocked on television for this, and Democrats warned that he was not to be trusted. Well, now we know why. As Cenk Uygur writes, in this, the 21st century, Dick Cheney is lobbying for torture. As Americans, we like to think of ourselves as more enlightened than we were 100 years ago, but we're only as enlightened as the lowest common denominator, and in this case, that's Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States. But it doesn't just end with Cheney, either. Bush threatened to veto the bill if he wasn't allowed to continue to torture people. Oh, and last week, there was a report that showed at least 21 homicides have occured to "detainees under our supervision." Enlightened? Please...we can't even see the light switch right now.

Yes, This Is The First Time In Three Decades That Republicans Were Hypocrites. Right. We continue on a theme from above: Republican hypocrisy when it comes to judicial nominees. Over at Seeing the Forest, Dave Johnson links to a WaPo article that discusses the different tactics conservatives used between Roberts and Miers. "Conservative activists crippled Harriet Miers's Supreme Court nomination largely by challenging her judicial philosophy, debating the importance of her religious beliefs, demanding to see White House documents and derailing her before she reached a Senate vote. Those tactics may make it harder for them to defend President Bush's next pick, expected by many to be a solid conservative." Well, Alito is a solid conservative, but what the article doesn't touch on is this: Republicans are hypocrites. it's what they do. They didn't ask for confirming documentation for Roberts, but they did for Miers, and they won't for Alito. They demanded an up-or-down vote on Roberts, and not for Miers, but they will for Alito. The GOP does what they want, when they want, with absolutely no consistency in their philosophy, and that's why we need to get them out of office and stop the ideologues that run the party.

Sunday's Links

2005-10-30T13:33:00.000-05:00

Activism

Question War. Look, the central message of the "Support Our Troops" ribbons is certainly worth supporting - the troops do need and deserve our support. But what frustrates us to no end is the simplistic jingoism that leads people to believe slapping a magnet on their car is the best way of doing so - it's worthless tokenism, bordering on mindless propaganda. Furthermore, many of these people likely believe that supporting our troops is the same as blindly supporting the administration that sent so many of them to die. Finally, someone's come up with a retort - an unwound ribbon in the shape of a question mark, urging people to "question war". Of course, there's a lot more you can do to end the war, and slapping a ribbon on your car really isn't that powerful a statement, but it's better than rear-ending that car with 87 magnets all over its bumper. Maybe one of those fools will see your ribbon and get the message. We can dream, can't we?

News

Truck Bomb Explosion in Iraq Kills 26. This is what Scooter Libby was covering up. He (and his boss) didn't want America to know that what we were getting into wasn't worth the cost. Scooter may go to jail for up to 30 years, although Cheney and Bush still walk free, but tens of thousands of people are paying for their sins with their lives. They won't go to jail. Almost all of them did nothing wrong, yet they'll be giving their lives up for this ridiculous war. And nothing's changed, as we hear Bush utter the same things, over and over again, fiddling while his empire burns. What kind of perverse logic concludes that the only way to honor death is with more death?

U.S. Quietly Issues Estimate of Iraqi Civilian Casualties. You didn't think they'd just trumpet this at a press conference, did you? Of course, it's shameful that it's not on the front page of most papers. Care to hazard a guess at the estimates? Well, using the coarse statistics provided, the estimate is that 25,902 civilians and security forces have been killed by insurgents. This doesn't count the ones killed by American troops - there's an estimate of 589 killed in Baghdad alone. The details are fuzzy because the military is only releasing estimates in the form of bar graphs, but not the underlying data, citing security issues.

Commissions Are Fine, but Rarely What Changes the Light Bulb. This is an interesting news article about presidential commissions. The reports that presidential commissions compile are rarely used. The two biggest commissions in history were the 9/11 commission and the Warren commission, and in both cases it was looked at, people said "ah," and then they went on a shelf. Most don't even get the "ah." The newest report is from the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, and although the changes that are made are probably good, they won't be implemented. They'll get read by some administration official, they'll be posted on a website, and then they will be forgotten. Once again, your tax dollars are hard at work.

Editorials

News Media Profits Undermine Reporting. Michael Bugeja, posting on Nieman Watchdog, writes about how profits ultimately trump everything in the media. This shouldn't be news to anyone. After all, media outlets are corporations. They exist to make money. The idea that the press is "a mouthpiece to the public" is all well and good, but profit trumps that. Need to break a story first, but don't have all the facts? That's OK (see Newsweek). Tied to a political party, so you want to slant your reporting? That's OK too (see Fox News). "It doesn’t matter if sources are lying, spinning, manipulating, hoaxing or misinformed. Fact-checking, once routine, has been eliminated at many outlets because it cuts into productivity, resulting in cases of plagiarism at newspapers." (read: Jayson Blair). Bugeja's article is extremely well thought out, and you should definitely check it out.

Our 27 Months of Hell. Hey, remember Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV? You know, the guy who's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed and let to Scooter's resignation? Wilson has an editorial up on Truthout, in which he discusses the "27 months of hell" since Plame was outed. Wilson doesn't offer thanks that Scooter resigned, which is good, because it's not over. Wilson laments th Iraq War, because he knows that the justification for that war was "faulty," to say the least. He ends the editorial with a heartfelt sentiment: "We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology."

Blogger Commentary

Fitz’s Knuckle Ball. By now, you're all away of Libby's indictment in the Plame leak case. And we warned you that once indictments were handed down, fur would fly. The initial question is, what's really going on? Libby was indicted, and that's it? What about Rove? What about Cheney? Well, of course, because Fitzgerald is a professional, no one really knows. And we're back to the guessing game, although it's nice to have bagged Cheney's Chief of Staff. But one of the important things that Fitzgerald said (and we urge you to read the entire transcript of the press conference here) is that Libby's obstruction of justice impeded his investigation into who was actually responsible for the leak itself. This is important to note. Gadfly's article delves into some more details of the case and what's coming up. He believes that Fitzgerald's gearing up to take a shot at Cheney. Let's hope he's right!

Reform Ohio Now: By the Numbers. With all the issues surrounding Ohio in 2004, it's extremely interesting to see where the state stands now. There are four measures on the ballot next month, and of the two biggest PACs in the state, the liberal PAC (Reform Ohio Now) is far outdistancing the GOP PAC (Ohio First), in terms of total donations, average donations and total donors. Tim Tagaris does a "Harpers-style index" of the issues in Ohio, and the results are not only pretty interesting, but they lend further credence to the idea that Ohio was "stolen" in 2004.

Saturday's Links

2005-10-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

Schedules have finally caught up with the Still Fighting writers, and we regret the fact that there won't be a full post today. Instead, we're asking you to become involved in one of the races next month. Personally, we're going to be helping out Tim Kaine in Virginia, but there are many races and many propositions to be voted on (New York, California and New Jersey, among other places). Do what you can to help keep Democrats in office and Democratic principle in place!

Friday's Links

2005-10-28T12:02:00.000-05:00

Activism

There's so much that we have within our power to fix or help, and yet America often sits idly by. Darfur, for example. One might argue that we are currently ill-equipped to deal with the genocide in the Sudan. That's a contestable point. But what about children from disadvantaged countries who are dying from completely curable diseases? It's estimated that in a 24 hour period, over 300,000 children will die from just such a cause. And we're concerned about ? The bill is S.525, the 'Child Health Insurance and Lower Deficit Act," and is sponsored by Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch. Go here to sign a petition from Save the Children, urging your Senators to pass the bill. Special thanks to Lori Firestone for the link.

News

Cheney's Top Aide Indicted in Probe of CIA Leak. The effects of a two year investigation began to be felt today. I. Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, now faces five indictments, including obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the CIA leak case. What's become known in the blogsphere as "Fitzmas" has come, but has not passed. Although Rove was not indicted today, he is not out of "legal jeopardy." Libby was indicted because, as the indictment reads, he was a threat to national security. It's difficult to grasp the concept of the threshold we are on here: Libby's indictment means that a trial could be in the works. Any trial, as the New York Times writes, "would shine a spotlight on the secret deliberations of Bush and his team as they built the case for war against Iraq." Not that you'd know it from Bush, who was all smiles today. Maybe he just doesn't understand what's going on. If we were the president, and our entire misguided rationalization for going to war with Iraq were about to be uncovered, we'd be a little less smiley.

UPDATE: As expected, Scooter has resigned. And there was much rejoicing.

Prevailing Wages to Be Paid Again On Gulf Coast. If you recall, one of the first things that Bush did when he finally got around to attending to the Katrina disaster was to suspend the Davis-Bacon Act, which "guarantees construction workers the prevailing local wage when they are paid with federal money." In a move showing just how weak Bush is, he reversed course, under pressure not only from Democrats, but moderate Republicans. Make no mistake - this is a victory for the middle-class, and thus the entire country. This is a great example of what happens when you fight back - moderate Republicans can no longer afford to be linked to Bush's disdain for the American worker, and finally start listening to reason. Not only does the reversal of the suspension mean the workers will be paid more, it should also undermine some of the no-bid contracting that occurred. Of course, as one now-unemployed New Orleans resident said, "This is the way it should have been from the beginning."

Louisiana Hospitals Nearing Financial Collapse. With all the news stories going around about Katrina's financial impact (including the Red Cross being in a world of hurt), we're not surprised to read that Louisiana's public hospital system is on the verge of financial collapse. Once Thanksgiving hits, they will be out of money. As it is, there are 2,900 furloughs scheduled for next week. Part of the problem is, of course, paperwork. Waiting for FEMA to approve this and Congress to approve that. Not to sound apocalyptic, but we do consider it the height of ridiculousness that more priority isn't given to these hospitals. After all, if the hospitals have to close, where will the wounded and sick go? Texas?

Editorials

Intriguing Elections on Both Sides of River Blur Party Lines. Sure, we're a little partisan because we live here, but the Virginia governor's election in 2005 (and Maryland's in 2006) offer very interesting contrasts, as written by Robert Barnes. In 2001, Virginia elected a Democratic governor, even though the state voted by more than 10% to elect Bush in the 2000 election. Maryland overwhelmingly voted for Gore (and later Kerry), yet the state elected a Republican Governor in 2002; one who ran on a platform of slot machines for education, no less. Virginia's election is probably the most important this year (and the one most closely contested). Ads have been flying back and forth about the candidates (ads which Jerry Kilgore (R) started), with each candidate clearly representing his party, and both parties want that governor's seat. But in Maryland, there's a different sort of track. Republican Senate hopeful Michael Steele (Maryland's Lt. Governor) is no doubt a Republican, but he's not labeling himself as such. The current governor, Robert Ehrlich, is being challenged by two Democrats who are extremely popular in the state: Baltimore City Mayor Martin O'Malley and Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan. Surprisingly, Democratic challengers to Steele have been quiet, particularly since Kwame Mfume announced his candidacy. This entire picture serves as an extremely good reminder that, no matter how blue the state, we need to continue to ensure that the people that we want elected get elected; there's no free lunch here. Conversely, no matter how red the state, there are still opportunities (with the right candidate) to get Democrats elected.

Blogger Commentary

The Democrats Blow It On Iraq Again! Man, we hate sounding like broken records, but these days, our needle just seems to be skipping back to the beginning of the same track: "Indictments coming soon", "Situation in Iraq worsens while Bush remains in denial", "Bush nominates unqualified crony to important position", "Prominent GOP member lies", and of course, "Democrats endorse ridiculously lame position on Iraq." That last one is what Arianna Huffington discusses, and she's right - to read Clinton and Schumer discuss their opinions on the Iraq vote makes us cringe. Then there's the oh-so-powerful slogan that is being floated for the Democrats in 2006: "American can do better." That's it? We know America can do better. Can Democrats?

The Clinton Defense. As Digby writes, now that it's clear that at least Scooter Libby will be indicted, we can expect to hear Republicans, playing the role of "hurt, confused public servants" trot out the "how dare you compare these silly charges to the reprehensible behavior of Bill Clinton" talking point. We've made this point before, we'll make it again, and we'll continue to make it: Bill Clinton having an affair in the White House is nothing like this. Did his affair lower his standing in the country and the world? Ultimately, no. People still love the guy. But Rove and Libby's transgression (lies) are so much more harmful to the country that Republican comments like the one above make us drop our jaws. We're talking a breach of national security. We're talking unraveling the justification for a war. We're talking, in short, treason. Which would you rather see out of your White House?

Humor

Enjoy seeing your tax dollars wasted? Wondering where all the "frivolous spending cuts" are? When we read this, courtesy of Moxiegrrrl, we can't help but laugh. The alternative involves some Senators and a shotgun, after all.

Thursday's Links

2005-10-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

Activism

No More Pardons. Well, apparently "Fitzmas" isn't until tomorrow, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In the meantime, we can and should pressure Bush to commit to not pardoning anyone that is indicted as a result of the Plame investigation. Can you imagine if all of Fitzgerald's work is undone because Bush wants to pardon his buddies? He'd take some flak, but he seems almost beyond caring at this point. Sign your name and urge him to commit to no pardons before we know who will be getting indicted.

News

Miers, White House Surrender to Ultraconservatives. Although anyone who opens up a browser to a news website will see this story splashed at the the top of their screen, it's truly important to know exactly what happened. Miers was a nomination that came out of nowhere; a nomination which no one but Bush liked. Her stances were unclear, and her written responses to the Senate were ludicrous, at best. We're a little bittersweet about this. Don't get us wrong, we're happy (we think) that a Bush nominee isn't getting confirmed (although, since we don't know her stance on, well, anything, that may not be a good thing). But we're not so happy about this article, which reminds us that Miers withdrew thanks to "ultraconservatives," as PFAW calls them. Most Senators were willing to wait and hear Miers out, and look at her background information (that Bush wouldn't release). But not the ultracons. They saw that she was vulnerable on abortion, and did their best to get rid of her. Now that's certainly not in the best interests of the country, is it? Over at her "official" blog, today's post is pretty amusing.

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs. Speaking of not acting in the best interests of the country, this story is pretty disgusting. Wal-Mart is concerned about the rising costs of health care. So, the board of directors circulated a memo proposing "numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation." Their solutions? Hire more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart. How do you discourage "unhealthy" people from working at Wal-Mart? By requiring all jobs to include some physical activity. That's just plain absurd. Corporations have a responsibility to their communities. If Wal-Mart is going to offer to employ some 400 people at each store, then they have a responsibility to provide health care for those that are full time. We can't do much about them wanting to hire part-time, but we certainly can argue that "discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart" is both ridiculously inappropriate and possibly illegal, particularly if Wal-Mart is going to change its job descriptions for this very reason.

Taking Aim at Oil's Riches. You hear it quite often in recent political rhetoric: "Energy companies are posting record profits", but that's easy to dismiss as just a line. Well, it's not just a line: Energy companies are going to be reporting their third-quarter profits in the next few days, and they're larger than ever. Exxon is expected to report profits of 8.7 billion dollars during the quarter. And because the profits are so obscene, the battle's beginning for what to do with the money. Of course, the obvious answer is that they should stop exploiting the general public's need for oil and gas, and lower their prices. But that's not what politicians are proposing - some want a gas tax, some want more refineries, and some (Democrats, of course), want some money rebated to consumers.

Editorials

Vice President for Torture. Wow, the worm must really be turning. Here, the Washington Post editorial board rightly excoriates Cheney for his suggestion that torture by the CIA should be legal. It's pretty incredible that he would lay his motives out so clearly, but fortunately, the Senate has forced him to do so. If the Vice President of the United States is willing to so openly state his support for torture, it can only leave to the imagination what atrocities he encourages behind close doors. And, no, we're not only talking about the Plame outing: "The CIA is holding an unknown number of prisoners in secret detention centers abroad...The Justice Department and the White House are known to have approved harsh interrogation techniques for some of these people, including 'waterboarding,' or simulated drowning; mock execution; and the deliberate withholding of pain medication." For once, the Post doesn't pull its punches: "As for Mr. Cheney: He will be remembered as the vice president who campaigned for torture." Let's make sure we're remembered as the country that defeated his insidious campaign.

Corrupt, Incompetent and 'Off Center'. What would you say if we told you that 65% of all Americans favor universal health care, even if it means raising taxes? That 86% want the minimum wage raised? That 59% think that Iraq was a mistake? That 63% think that we should pull some (or all) of our troops home? You might think that the country identifies itself as overly liberal. You'd be wrong. According to Eric Alterman, over 30% of Americans answer to "conservative" and 18% call themseleves "liberal." What's the problem here? The problem, once again, is that Democrats don't have a clear message, and no one knows what they stand for. And with indictments, arrests and scandals, not to mention public opinion firmly in the liberal court, Democrats have a golden opportunity right now.

Blogger Commentary

Hey Good Lookin'. It's pretty incredible to us how far some Republicans will go to justify their beliefs. For example, thinking that "'Isn't it more likely that the lack of exposure to attractive women causes Democrats to be gay?' And 'Do Democratic women consider compliments in the workplace to be sexual harassment simply because they rarely hear them?'" is just beyond asinine, yet that's exactly how some Republicans think. Orcinus is dead to rights when he says "Gays and lesbians tend to vote Democratic. . .because the Republican Party is full of people with repugnant and grotesque misperceptions about what makes people gay." In other words, they vote for the party that they agree with; that they see will help them and tries to understand them. A party that understands the equal value of human life. To think otherwise is uneducated and absurd.

For the Time Capsule. Sometimes we link to drawn-out, well-argued posts, and sometimes we just like to link to pithy observations that make you think. Usually The Cunning Realist is good for the former; this time, it's the latter. He asks about the three times in recent history when Donald Trump was a popular icon. What did all those episodes have in common? What did they imply about the state of our societal and cultural values? What about the state of the economy? Read his post and find out. (Hint: It's not good.)

Wednesday's Links

2005-10-26T16:05:00.000-05:00

Activism

In a somber moment, America lost it's 2,000th soldier in Iraq. 2,000 is 2,000 too many. Take up United for Peace & Justice's idea and organize an Anti-War action in your community. More and more Democrats are coming out with plans to bring our troops home (most recently John Kerry and his "20,000 home by December" plan), and we need to let our elected Democrats know that we want them to speak out this way!

News

Secret MoD poll: Iraqis Support Attacks on British Troops. This is an extension of something we briefly touched on a few days ago; namely, that Iraqis support attacks on Coalition soldiers. The article does say that "The nationwide survey also suggests that the coalition has lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, which Tony Blair and George W Bush believed was fundamental to creating a safe and secure country." We believe that the numbers do far more than just "suggest" it, though. 65% of the population agrees with these attacks. Why are we still there? Is it cowboy diplomacy? "We're going to free these people whether they want it or not" just doesn't have the same ring as "Hussein has WMDs!", does it? Then again, it's obvious that this administration will do just about anything to try and garner support for the war. They've recently started posting the enemy body counts again. "Hey Ma, look at how many insurgents we killed today!"

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations. Allow us, for just a moment, to put on our shocked faces. Honestly, why are we surprised by this? Administrative error? "Oh, yes, your honor. We followed this guy for 15 months. We must have forgotten to fill out a form SL67-B. Our bad." Seriously, where is Robert Mueller in all this? If he knows that these illegal "investigations" are going on, he has the responsibility to report them. If he doesn't, then what is he doing over at the J. Edgar Hoover Building? Flossing? Why should we trust the FBI with the additional authority granted by the Patriot Act when they can't even be trusted with the authority they have?

No Announcement From Leak Counsel as Deadline Approaches. Looks like we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if anyone's going to be indicted in Plamegate. You can bet that the White House is on pins and needles, and if they knew anything, or knew that Rove and/or Libby would be exonerated, they'd be leaking it right now. We take the silence to mean that either Fitzgerald is doing his non-partisan duty, or someone's going to be indicted. Either answer is fine by us, but you know what we're pulling for. Common Dreams has a nice write-up on Cheney's involvement, too.

Editorials

Five Minutes With John Edwards. He may not be Vice President, but he sure ain't going anywhere. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) is working tirelessly for Americans; not just those affected by Katrina, but disadvantaged students who have gotten the shaft from the federal government. He's also got some great ideas about how to avoid another Ohio and the future of the "white" vote. This interview, conducted by AlterNet, is definitely worth your time. Who says Democrats don't have any ideas? (Of course, note that Edwards doesn't hold office any more...)

Recuse Or Refuse? So, Bush isn't going to allow papers to be released about Miers. Yet speculation runs rampant through the media. "She spoke about this in 1996." "She donated to that in 1989." "She supported this in 1992." Putting that aside, Miers hasn't helped her case by ambiguously answering her Senate questionnaire. A big question, as Daniel Benaim writes, is how will she conduct herself in a case where she has a conflict of interest. Will she recuse herself? She was purposely nebulous in her questionnaire, and you can expect that this Bush crony will hear this question many a time in her confirmation hearings.

Blogger Commentary

The Number Isn't 2,000. Chris Bowers, over at MyDD, reminds us that the number isn't 2,000. Yes, (now) over 2,000 American soldiers have died. But so have somewhere between 26,000-30,000 Iraqis. Coalition forces in Iraq have suffered at least 199 fatalities, including 97 from Britain. 272 contractors have died. 58 journalists have died. They should be remembered equally as victims of this folly we call war. Their names are on Bush's list as well, written in blood. Eventually, he'll answer to someone - at the very least, let's make sure he answers to history, and he's remembered accurately.

How Ruling Powers Distort Morality So That It Does Not Restrain Them. Andrew Bard Schmookler on the rise of power within BushCo, and the resulting lack of morality. We do have to give Schmookler some credit, though - he assumes there once was morality where we believe none ever existed. "And so it is that our present ruling powers seek to divert the attention of people who care deeply about morality away from the uses and abuses of power onto other areas peripheral to the rulers’ own lusts for riches and domination." Terri Schiavo on one hand, the Arctic Refuge on the other. We need to not only get these kinds of people out of office now, but learn the lesson to never, ever, ever elect them (and their kind) again.

Tuesday's Links

2005-10-25T12:01:00.000-05:00

Activism

Organize for 2006. The 2006 elections are a year away, but it's very comforting to see that the Democrats are already organizing. And you can help! On November 15th, the DNC is hosting National Organization Kickoffs around the country, and you can participate. At the link above, you can sign up to host an event, or find one near you to attend. If we want to compete with the vast Republican Election Machine, we need to get organized, and there's no time like the present.

News

Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees. Wheels within wheels. See, here's the thing. The Senate last month overwhelmingly voted to condemn torture. It wasn't even a close vote (90-9), and the reasons for the bill are fairly obvious. Enter Dick Cheney, who wants the CIA to be exempt from that bill. Maybe it's just us, but it seems like that destroys the entire purpose of the bill, no? Does Cheney think that Congress is just going to roll over and say yes? The proposed bill "states that the measure barring inhumane treatment shall not apply to counterterrorism operations conducted abroad or to operations conducted by 'an element of the United States government' other than the Defense Department." Great! So, the Army will strictly adhere to guidelines that they should have been following all along, but the CIA can do as they please? We're getting tired of making this argument, but you can't change the rules just because the game gets harder. If we do, we're no longer America.

Rape Victim: 'Morning After' Pill Denied. Nothing like a little dose of reality to break up a Republican agenda. Emergency Contraception, or "Plan B," is safe, legal, and available with a prescription. The fact that it should be available over-the-counter but isn't shows the real problems within the FDA, and is a story for another time. Regardless, a woman was recently raped in Tucson, Arizona. She spent three days calling pharmacies, frantically trying to find one that stocked Plan B. When she finally did, she was told by the pharmacist on call that he would not distribute the drug, on grounds of "religious and moral objections." Although we've heard this story in general terms before, this really hits home. It's simply incredible to us that a corporate policy that allows employees to not sell things based on "religious and moral objections" can be legal. You don't want to sell Plan B, don't work in a pharmacy that stocks it! What's next? Christians at a bookstore refusing to sell copies of the Koran? Vegetarians at McDonald's that won't sell Big Macs? Amish at a hotel that won't give a room to a man and woman who aren't married?

Congress Seeks Cuts As Debt Hits $8 Trillion. Hear that? It's the sound of the national debt spiraling out of control. What you're not hearing are the sound of new taxes. Perhaps Bush is too concerned with the mistakes of the father (Read my lips!), but this is getting ridiculous. And here's the kicker: It's going to get worse. This is exactly how the text appears in the article: "Sources in the House of Representatives said it likely would be mid-week before Republican leaders know whether they have enough support for spending reductions, including cuts in health programs for the elderly and poor, that go beyond the $35 billion sketched out last spring. Congress is also debating a Republican-backed plan for more tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy." What? We can't possibly be the only ones that are astounded by this. The tax cuts would total $106 billion. $106 billion! That could buy a whole lot of health care for Katrina victims. And the "best" part? "Republicans, who also control the White House, have now presided over an increase in $2 trillion to the national debt over four years or so, despite contending that they are the only U.S. political party that practices fiscal discipline." In Bill Clinton's entire eight year term, the debt rose $1.6 trillion, and would have been paid off by 2015.

Editorials

A Constitutional Disaster. Hey, remember the Patriot Act? Chip Pitts does, and reminds us that its renewal is, unfortunately, almost a given. Pitts lays out exactly why the Patriot Act will not only be reauthorized, but how the deception of the administration has fostered the belief that we need the Patriot Act. We don't need the Patriot Act. We certainly don't need the idea of the unchecked power that comes with it. "Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee James F. Sensenbrenner joined many in the latest floor debate in maintaining that 'there is no evidence that the Patriot Act has been used to violate civil liberties.' But this position ignores both the fact that the mere existence of such broad powers chills rights and is abusive, and the serious evidence of specific abuses that has come to light."

No Job for an Ideologue. You may have heard that yesterday, Bush nominated Ben Bernanke as new chairman of the Fed, to replace Alan Greenspan. It's pretty widely thought that Bernanke will be approved without many problems, but let's dig a little deeper. First of all, as Dionne writes, he's not "a classic crony". He has the necessary credentials and experience. That's a good start. Greenspan wasn't perfect, especially in his support of Bush's tax cuts. But now that those tax cuts are hurting us more and more, it'd be nice to have someone to stand up to Bush. Bernanke's not gonna be that guy, having defended Bush's tax cuts as benefitting all Americans. We know that's not the case. It doesn't seem Bernanke's going to be much different than Greenspan, but "A Fed chairman who beats inflation at the cost of middle-income living standards will not be regarded as a success."

Blogger Commentary

Pre-Emptive War Against Patrick Fitzgerald. Here's the problem with Representative John Conyers (D-MI): He really-just kidding! We have absolutely no problems with Conyers. Not only is he a thoroughly progressive voice, but he communicates so directly with the American public that you know exactly where he stands on any given issue. In a recent blog entry, he wrote about the pre-emptive strike on Patrick Fitzgerald. We see, yet again, the hypocrisy of Republicans. For example, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison recently said that she hoped "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars." But on Fenruary 12, 1999, during the Clinton impeachment hearings, she said, "Lying is a moral wrong. Perjury is a lie told under oath that is legally wrong....[t]o say otherwise would be to severely lower the moral and legal standards of accountability that are imposed on ordinary citizens every day. The same standard should be imposed on our leaders....I will not compromise this simple but high moral principle..." Does that seem wrong to you? Does that seem contradictory to you? Does that seem to you like a load of BS designed to stay loyal to her party? It sure does to us.

This stinks. A lot of things stink, but Nitpicker is referring to the now-known-to-be-forged letter from Zarwahiri to Zarqawi. Really, we like this post because it's a nice rant against the politicization of the military. Their job is to carry out the orders of the President, not to defend them. They're not some propaganda wing of the government, and it's a disgrace that the Republicans in charge seek to use them as such.

Monday's Links

2005-10-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

Activism

The Rapid Response Network. Unfortunately, being a progressive isn't easy. It requires constantly working to further progressive values, and these days, it also requires being quite vigilant. Fortunately, the Rapid Response Network is creating an infrastructure to maintain "a 'national conversation' about core progressive values. They're an all-volunteer network, which means that you can help. You can volunteer to be an "Action Alert" writer, an editor, or a researcher. Also, the RRN focuses on local issues, so you can help focus the dialogue on issues important to your city and state. Go here to volunteer nationally, or click on your state on the front page and volunteer locally. Progress doesn't happen by itself, people!

News

Battle Lines Drawn After Kansas Gay-Sex Ruling. It's amazing what some people see as "groundbreaking." For example, this ruling in Kansas that will disallow "harsher punishment for older teenagers who have consensual sex with underage teens of the same gender." We shouldn't have to be patting ourselves on the back for this. Make no mistake, the ruling is important; particularly in a state like Kansas, which bleeds red, so to speak. But the fact that the decision was ever in doubt in the first place really, really bugs us, and it should bother you too.

Tribunal Hears Testimony At Hospital. Boy, things are rapidly becoming unglued (were they ever glued?) in the Middle East. First, Saddam Hussein's Tribunal took its first testimony from a witness; this man, a former Iraqi intelligence officer, is critically ill and in a hospital. But the Iraqi Lawyers Union, overwhelmingly concerned about the death of one of the defense lawyers in the case, is boycotting the continuence of the case until such time as the murder is solved. As this was all going on, over a dozen people were killed in Iraq this weekend - it must be pretty hard to fight the Insurgency when 45% of Iraqis feel that violence on American and British troops is justified. Finally, given the recent allegations that Syria had a hand in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the U.S. and Britain will "press for action" at Tuesday's U.N. Security Council meeting. Maybe it's just us, but in an effort to bring "stability" to the Middle East, Bush seems to have done the exact opposite.

Letter Shows Authority to Expand CIA Leak Probe Was Given in '04. Indictments are expected to come down from Patrick Fitzgerald any day now. While we're all excited about the prospect of seeing justice served, at least in part (and let's not kid ourselves - there's certainly a bit of lust for revenge against Rove), you can bet that the GOP has been preparing for this too. If you think this case is complicated now, just wait until Fitzgerald actually names names. You can bet the disinformation will be flying around so fast that facts and fiction will be virtually indistinguishable. (Hey, isn't that how we got here in the first place?) That's why it's important to keep tabs on the real story, especially now. The article above gives details about how Fitzgerald got the authority to to expand his investigation from a simple leak case into other charges. (And, frankly, it's clear that the White House never expected it to even get this far.) Also, you can be sure that people will start to impugn Fitzgerald's character. But read this story, and realize that he "has a reputation as an incorruptible prosecutor in the mold of Chicago crime-fighter Eliot Ness." Works for us!

Editorials

Iraq Slips Away. Like sands through the hourglass. Larry Johnson highlights all that's going right and going wrong in Iraq. OK, you got us - there's nothing going right in Iraq. Sunnis are continually being squeezed out of the government. The constitutional vote was a joke. The insurgency is continuing to grow in strength, leading us closer and closer to full-scale civil war. Bin Laden remains at large. Oh, and the road from Baghdad to the airport remains the most unsecured and dangerous road in the world. Feel better about what we're accomplishing in Iraq?

Questions for the Times and Judith Miller. Friday night on "Real Time with Bill Maher", Maher argued that one reason we got led into Iraq is because even the "paper of record", the New York Times, was reporting that Saddam had WMDs. Fox News is one thing, he claimed, but when even the supposedly left-tilting Times was pushing us towards war, many Democrats were convinced. We know that there's pretty much a direct line from the White House to the brains (if they have any) of the anchors at Fox, but how did these lies infect the Times as well? It's one of the keys as to how we were mislead into Iraq, and the Judy Miller case offers a lot of insight into how this happened. John Hanrahan at Nieman Watchdog poses some great questions that we need to start asking of the Times and Judy Miller: "When did Miller or her attorney disclose to prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald that she had a June 23, 2003, conversation with Libby?" Or, "Do any other reporters for the Times or for any other news media outlets have security clearances as Miller reported she obtained as an embedded reporter in Iraq in 2003?" Let's start asking these questions before, say, Dick Cheney manipulates the Washington Post into advocating war with Syria.

Blogger Commentary

The Politics of Killing the Miers Nomination. If nominating Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court was Bush's plan to throw the Congress into chaos, he's succeeded. And killing her nomination will be politically dicey. If Republicans were smart, they would leave it to Democrats to stop it, and then cry "Foul!" Only, the GOP is entirely too worried about the ramifications of a Miers confirmation that they may not have that luxury. Heck, as it stands now, she might not even make it out of committee! Not only is the White House concerned about the preparation of her testimony, but the answers on her Senate questionnaire leave a whole lot to be desired. But before we get too excited about her nomination being rejected, let's remember that Bush does get to nominate someone to replace her...

A plan for Iraq. Holy cow! A real plan for Iraq? Don't worry, it's just from Bryan Lentz, a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's seventh district, not anyone who actually holds public office. But maybe that can all change - he's running against Curt Weldon (R-PA) in 2006. The next time someone asserts that Democrats don't have any ideas or plans, point them here. The fact is, many Democrats do have alternative proposals, but they're either overshadowed by louder, planless Democrats, or shouted down by Republicans who won't even let them speak in the House. So, here's a plan, which involves establishing a timeline for withdrawal ("Our current problem is not that we plan too much; it's that the Bush Administration has planned too little."), and radically overhauling the reconstruction effort. Often people pose a false choice - you're either pro-war or anti-war. Lentz responds: "[T]his is not a question of being 'pro-war' or 'anti-war.' It's about acting now to stop the spiral of failure that George Bush, Curt Weldon and the Republican party have created."

Sunday's Links

2005-10-23T20:11:00.000-05:00

Activism

Redistricting has become a staple of Republican elections. When things aren't going their way, GOP leadership "redistricts" an area to enhance their hold in the state legislature. We saw it in Texas. We saw it in Georgia. And now we're seeing it in Florida. Find out how you can keep fair elections in Florida by going to the website of the Committee for Fair Elections.

News

Who Should Redistrict? And speaking of redistricting, The NYT magazine has a great article on when, how and who should redistrict. In addition to the states mentioned above, California is also considering redistricting, and Governor Schwarzenegger has a proposition on November's ballot that would decide who would have the power to redistrict. Redistricting serves virtually no purpose except to stack a community with a political party. What do you think - would you let Prop 77 pass?

Cast of Characters Grows in CIA Leak Drama. Plamegate is growing by leaps and bounds. So many people are being brought into the investigation; could this be the payoff Democrats have been waiting for? The best thing to do is sit back and let Patrick Fitzgerald continue his investigation; and keep an eye out for the indictments this week!

Judiciary Panel May Ask Dobson to Testify. And it's about time, too. Dobson, you may remember, made comments that Karl Rove told him that Miers would definitely vote anti-abortion. Well, now Dobson will most likely testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what he knows and who told him. Maybe this will tell Republicans to keep their mouths shut, or come forward with any and all information that they have.

Editorials

Why Many Eyes Are on the Virginia Race. E.J. Dionne, Jr. writes about, well, why the Virginia Governor's race is so important. Not only is it a benchmark, and not only does it represent the future of the red-state-with-a-Democratic-Governor, but Republican challenger Jerry Kilgore's advertisements are out of control. When you read the advertisement that Dionne quotes, you'll wonder too why anyone would vote for him.

Karl and Scooter's Excellent Adventure. Frank Rich on the continuing adventures of Karl Rove and Lewis (Scooter) Libby. You see, we'd like to argue that nothing in Washington is more important right now, but that's not exactly true. Nothing in politics is more important right now. Keeping that in mind, we can't let government grind to a halt over this; there's still a mounting deficit, Katrina aid and, oh yeah, that whole "War in Iraq" thing. Frank Rich gives a very good accounting of Scooter and Rove, but keep in mind that there are far more important things going on in government right now.

Blogger Commentary

Kay Bailey Hutchison, During WWII Traitors Who Leaked the Names of American Agents Were Shot. Yet Today, You Defend Treason. Why Do You Hate America? It's a fair question. After all, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) approves of treason. Ms. Hutchison said she hoped "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars." She's referring to a situation that would be "similar" to the Martha Stewart scandal. Hey, Senator, wake up, smell the coffee, and do your job, and let Patrick Fitzgerald do his!

More Bad News for Bush. More bad news for Bush! Fantastic! CIA field commander Gary Berntsen is releasing a book on December 27. Why do you care? Because Berntsen was in charge of the team in Tora Bora, and had conclusive and damning evidence that bin Laden was in Tora Bora, and that he could have been caught. Instead, Bush shifted America's focus to Iraq, and the opportunity was lost. And lest we forget, last time we checked, he was still on the FBI's ten most wanted list!