Good News For Kirsten Gillibrand

The first ad should morph Abramoff's face into Sweeney's
NYTimes: Democrats Open Purse Strings for a 2nd Upstate House Race

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plans to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into an advertising campaign trying to unseat John Sweeney, a Republican congressman from upstate New York, Democratic officials said on Thursday.

Now if we can just get Gillibrand or the party's ads to hit Sweeney hard. Enough with the namby-pamby getting to know you ads. Time to fight. Because if you don't fight, you don't win.

I like the tactics of Charlie Brown, who's running against John Doolittle, another Abramoff bagman, in California.

From TurnTahoeBlue: "It's Time For Doolittle To Give Back The Wages Of Sin"

Charlie Brown just started a new radio ad, accompanied by a new website, attacking Doolittle on his connections to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his client the government of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory.

This is a transcript of the ad:

Most Americans have never heard of a place called the Northern Marianas Islands .

Most of us don’t know that in this far away American territory, forced abortions, sex slavery and sweatshops are all too common.

Most Americans don’t know about these terrible abuses. But Congressman John Doolittle does – and he has for almost ten years.

How did Congressman Doolittle respond after he learned about forced abortions, sex slavery and sweatshops?

Doolittle actually helped fund the local government that tolerated forced abortions. And he refuses to return campaign contributions tied to this corrupt government.

It’s time for Doolittle to give back the wages of sin. Time for John Doolittle to stop tolerating forced abortions and sex slavery.

Time for a change...

Please, find out more at Doolittlefacts.org.

I’m Charlie Brown and I approve this message. Join the fight at CharlieBrownforCongress.org. Paid for and authorized by Charlie Brown for Congress.

Gillibrand should be running similar ads. Why was the Congressman from the 20th New York Congressional District giving a speech in the Marianas Islands to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce in January of 2001? Why did he say he'd seen worse sweatshops in New York? Why did he have so many meetings with Tom Delay's chief aide in 2001, now-convicted felon Tony Rudy?

For an excellent review of Sweeney's role as Abramoff's bagman, see Lisa M.'s post at 20TrueBlue: Sweeney Defended Sweatshops and Lobbied for Abramoff (July 28, 2006)

See Also dailykos: CA-04: Brown Hits Doolittle Hard on Abramoff, Forced Abortion and Sex Trafficking

....Republicans tied to Jack Abramoff are vulnerable to attacks for their work to protect a system of sweatshops, human trafficking, forced prostitution and forced abortion on the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands (CNMI)--a US Territory in the Western Pacific.

Entitlement

From Lamontblog:

A Thousand Words

Sen. Lieberman's car parked at Fairfield University this morning:

We're Melting

San Francisco Chronicle, via commondreams:
Even in Winter, Arctic Ice Melting
Alarmed Scientists Warn that Polar Thawing Threatens Wildlife and is 'Strongest Evidence Yet of Global Warming' in Region

The vast expanses of ice floating in the Arctic Sea are melting in winter as well as in the summer, likely because of global warming, NASA scientists said Wednesday.

[]

The size of this summer's Arctic ice won't be known for a few weeks because it usually reaches its smallest size the third week of September. Last year, scientists found that polar ice twice the size of Texas had melted since NASA started compiling satellite data 27 years ago. Scientists said there could be no ice left in the Arctic in the summer by the end of the century.

Until 2005, the wintertime sea ice -- which is thick and multilayered -- had been relatively stable. In the summer, the ice is thinner, more mobile and melts at the edges every spring before freezing up again in the autumn.

In the last two winters -- 2005 and 2006 -- the size of the sea ice was 6 percent smaller than average, the data show. The sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere covers nearly 10 million square miles in the winter. The melting -- most of it occurring in the eastern Arctic near the North Pole -- correlates with a rise in the ocean's surface water temperature.

If you saw An Inconvenient Truth (if you haven't, rent or buy it when it comes out Sept. 26th) this will send chills down your spine:

Serreze [senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.] said he was surprised to see a new lake, or polynya, the size of Maryland, opening up in the sea ice north of the Beaufort Sea.

Another Reason To Support Eric Massa (NY-29) For Congress

Cheney is campaigning for his opponent, the Shotgun Senator, Randy Kuhl:

Raw Story: Cheney to stump for GOPer who bullied wife with guns

Roll Call excerpt:

If readers recall, widely reported divorce records showed that Kuhl, currently running for his second term, pulled not one but two shotguns on his wife during a 1994 dinner party at their home. Kuhl's ex-wife also described him as an abusive drunk who "hustled women."

Cheney, the man who may always be remembered for accidentally shooting his good friend on a hunting trip, has agreed to do a private photo-op at a Sept. 22 fundraiser for Kuhl in Rochester, N.Y. And, yes, you guessed it, Kuhl is considered vulnerable this year.

As one Democratic operative told HOH, "I can't tell what Cheney likes best about him—Kuhl's penchant for rubber-stamping the president or for combining beer with firearm use."

Eric Massa for Congress 2006

MainStUSA ActBlue Page

We Love Lists

Project Censored has issued its list of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007 (the stories you should be reading about, but won't).

#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media

#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran

#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger

#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US

#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo

#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy

# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq

#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act

#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall

#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

#11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed

#12 Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines

#13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup

#14 Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US

#15 Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner

#16 Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court

#17 Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda

#18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story

#19 Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever

#20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem

#21 Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers

#22 $Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed

#23 US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe

#24 Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year

#25 US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region

Via BoingBoing

Operation Photo Op, September 11th Edition, Day 1825

Surrounded by all the New Yorkers who love them, President My Pet Goat and the Laurabot snuck into Ground Zero for a photo op yesterday.


U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush pay their respects at a pool of water after laying a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center in New York September 10, 2006. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)

So they could take closeups like this, like it's a real ceremony:


U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush lay a wreath into a reflecting pool at the site of the World Trade Center in New York September 10, 2006, during a ceremony to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. (Keith Bedford/Reuters)

Hat tip to STOPGeorge on dailykos.