This Blog is Closed

Sorry. My five years of inspiration has gone.

Probably because after working so hard to get Democrats back in the White House, this article sums up how I feel right now.

Alan Grayson Cont'd

When Republicans threw a hissy fit after Alan Grayson attacked their lack of a healthcare plan on the House floor, he defended himself! We need more Democrats like this.

This is his appearance on Leslie Blitzer's show on CNN:



Rachel Maddow's show had a good summary of the entire contretemps, including clips from several Republicans making similar claims on the House floor over the last few months.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Whip The Senate Into Supporting the Public Option

Time to get the pusillanimous Democrats off the fence and lined up to support a robust public option available on day one of the healthcare reform legislation. Please take the time to send a fax to each of these fine recipients of buckets of cash from the healthcare industry. The fax will be sent by Howard Dean's organization "Stand With Dr. Dean".

* Send a fax to Mark Begich, asking him if he supports the public option!
* Send a fax to Tom Carper, asking him if he supports the public option!
* Send a fax to Jon Tester, asking him if he supports the public option!
* Send a fax to Mark Warner, asking him if he supports the public option!
* Send a fax to Ron Wyden, asking him if he supports the public option!

I took great pleasure in faxing all of them. I'm tired of trying to get more Democrats into office. From now on it's only better Democrats. If you're not with us you're against us.

Obama: Stand Up and Fight for the Public Option

The last tough Democratic President

OpenLeft: Public Option or Primary!

Any Democrat who does not vote for a "public option" insurance plan in health care reform must be challenged in a primary. And this includes any President who does not go to the mat and fight 100% for a public option.

I'll camp out in front of Howard Dean's door for a year to get him to run for President if Obama abandons the campaign promises he made to us.

No public option, not one red cent to any Democrat who opposed the public option. It's that simple. And that includes one Barack Obama. I hope he realizes that. If he does not fight for us he is just another in the long line of corporate shills who talk a good game to get our votes then go off and vote with the money guys.

He's either with us or against us. Will the real Barack Obama please stand up?

Grow Up

Why must politicians treat their work like jr. high school?

There were plenty of smiles as she [Kirsten Gillibrand] was introduced in Albany last week, but Gillibrand is widely disliked within New York’s congressional delegation for her bullying personality and unwillingness to wait her turn in the Washington seniority queue. Already Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, of Long Island, has vowed to challenge Gillibrand in a 2010 Democratic primary because of the new senator’s pro-gun stance. Paterson seems to believe that he has cauterized the intramural Democratic fighting. Instead, the elevation of Gillibrand has widened the wound. Last Thursday, one of the governor’s aides called Andrew Cuomo, asking the attorney general to attend Gillibrand’s unveiling. Cuomo, according to a friend, said he’d be busy reorganizing his sock drawer.

This is also completely sexist, for in a man, "bullying personality" would be described as "hard-charging go-getter". Every time I read something like this about Gillibrand, I like her more.

Traitor Joe Must Go

New video from Brave New Films:

Joe Lieberman has launched consistent, deeply partisan attacks on President-elect Barack Obama, questioning his patriotism and fitness to lead. While Lieberman campaigned for John McCain and spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention, he spread some of the GOP's nastiest smears. Think Progress has provided thorough evidence of Lieberman's partisan politics. Lieberman should not be allowed to have subpoena power to investigate the Obama administration as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In fact, he should not be allowed to remain chairman of this or any other committee.

Lieberman has proven he cannot be trusted to hold a high rank within the Democratic caucus. That is why we launched Lieberman Must Go last summer, a campaign that caught Congress' attention when we delivered a petition with over 43,000 signatures. Now, we ask you to help us escalate the pressure by contacting members of the Senate Democratic Steering Committee. Tell them to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship in the Democratic caucus.

We have included a sample script and phone numbers below for you to use, and we ask that you be polite when you explain why Lieberman Must Go.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I agree! Vote Democratic.

Forget the Constitution, she doesn't even know the symbol of her own party.

Election Protection News: Michigan Republicans Admit Scheme to Steal Foreclosed Homeowners Right to Vote

emptywheel: MI Republicans Admit to Illegal Foreclosure Scheme, “Surrender” to Democrats

This is from the statement issued by the Michigan Democratic Party:

An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Macomb County Republican Party, the Macomb County Democratic Party, and plaintiffs Duane Maletski, Sharon Lopez, and Frances M. Zick protects the voting rights of foreclosure victims. The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote. This settlement has the force of law behind it and ensures that Republicans cannot disenfranchise families facing foreclosure. [emphasis added]

Republicans deny that the settlement acknowledges the vote suppression scheme. I will link to the settlement agreement if and when it comes online.

Chicago Tribune: GOP, Dems announce settlement in foreclosure flap

DetNews.com: Dems, GOP settle foreclosure lawsuit; debate over plan continues

Election Protection News, October 9, 2008

The New York Times reports today on vast purges of eligible voters from the voting rolls. Although the Times concludes that the purging does not appear to be coordinated by one party, since Republicans are always the party in favor of vote suppression, I doubt that this is just a coincidence. The Democrats have registered millions of new voters, and Republicans are carrying out a sustained campaign to disenfranchise as many as possible.

NYTimes: States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

[]

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver’s licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches.

Some Worst Case Scenarios

A lot of doom and gloom on the liberal blogs today. Unfortunately, I think they're right.

thereisnospoon, dailykos: DON'T TAKE THE BAIT: How to Lose an Election in 10 Easy Steps - The Republicans are setting up the Democrats to take the fall.


Billmon (he's back!), dailykos: Things Become More Serious - The Great Depression looked like this.


Jim Kuntsler, Clusterfuck Nation: Falling Into Fall - We are now a much poorer nation, and that will have many bad consequences.

Be Forewarned

The Republican/McCain plan is to get the Democrats to bail out the GOP's Wall Street friends and then run against them for doing it.

- Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo

The first blogger to call this? Duncan Black (Atrios), of course:

And Because It's So Obvious

If the Democrats pass this piece of shit, look for Republican challengers to run against them on it.

Now That's An Analogy

Thank you Hillary Clinton!

Asking the Republicans to clean up the mess they made is like asking the iceberg to save the Titanic.

Obama campaign: More analogies, please! That's memorable. You need more like it.

Politics 8/25/08

McCain = Bush
Busy today so a linky-linky post.

Uncle Ted, my favorite senator, is going to be at the Democratic convention.

Despite McCain's noun, verb, POW claim that his military record qualifies him to be President, the fact remains that John McCain was a lousy soldier. The man lost five planes, for crying out loud. That's a qualification? Kind of like Bush's record of driving businesses into the ground, and we all know how that worked out.

Back in the 1990s Cindy McCain just claimed to have adopted a baby from an orphanage in Calcutta. In 2007 she suddenly started claiming that Mother Theresa had asked her to adopt the baby. When those claims were called into question, the McCain website was scrubbed. Lies you might believe in: McCain 2008.

No time to read all the papers? You should be reading the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup, daily at dailykos.

Margaret Thatcher has dementia, as did her old pal Ronald Reagan.

Vote for Obama, Save Social Security

Great video on Social Security from the DNC:

Veepstakes: Claire McCaskill

I like Claire McCaskill a lot. She doesn't talk like a Senator. She talks like a real person who worked as a waitress to put herself through law school. A woman from a working class background who can balance a budget, she should appeal to the disaffected Hillary voters. She doesn't come from money and she's not a fake. To my mind she has been Obama's best surrogate on the talking head shows, smart, tough, and on message.

On the downside, she has no military or foreign policy experience. And my brother thinks she's too ambitious to take the bucket of warm spit job.

Me, I'd give her two thumbs up for the job.

She wiped the floor with Carly Fiorina yesterday on MTP.

David Mixner, HuffPo: Senator Claire McCaskill for Vice President

A Wee Bit O' Good News

Orlando Sun-Sentinal: Voter registrations in Florida show 'huge swing' toward Democrats

An escalating number of voters registering as Democrats is providing evidence that the 2008 election could produce a wave of support for Barack Obama — and trigger a decades-long shift of party allegiance that could affect elections for a generation.

The numbers are ominous for Republicans: Through May, Democratic voter registration in Broward County was up 6.7 percent. Republican registrations grew just 3 percent while independents rose 2.8 percent.

Democrats have posted even greater gains statewide, up 106,508 voters from January through May, compared with 16,686 for the Republicans.

Wuzz Happenin?

Today's cave, from wikipedia:
Photo by Dave Bunnell showing stalagmites, stalactites, and draperies by a pool in Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico
Today is the day the Senate sells out the Constitution. It's just the fucking constitution, after all, no biggie, just the founding source of law and order for this once-great country. Congress now has a pre-1776 mentality. King George the Tyrant can now outsource violations of the law. Smirky McConstitutionFucker can order a private entity to violate the Constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures and Congress will say hey, no problem, whatever, it's OK by us, we had our spines removed a decade ago, just do it. And the private entity can invoke the Nuremberg defense: They were just following orders. Javold, Herr Bush.

Here's what Congress is going to pass:

H.R. 6304, THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 (6/19/2008)

The ACLU recommends a no vote on H.R. 6304, which grants sweeping wiretapping authority to the government with little court oversight and ensures the dismissal of all pending cases against the telecommunication companies. Most importantly:

• H.R. 6304 permits the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing.

• H.R. 6304 permits only minimal court oversight. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) only reviews general procedures for targeting and minimizing the use of information that is collected. The court may not know who, what or where will actually be tapped.

• H.R. 6304 contains a general ban on reverse targeting. However, it lacks stronger language that was contained in prior House bills that included clear statutory directives about when the government should return to the FISA court and obtain an individualized order if it wants to continue listening to a US person’s communications.

• H.R.6304 contains an "exigent" circumstance loophole that thwarts the prior judicial review requirement. The bill permits the government to start a spying program and wait to go to court for up to 7 days every time "intelligence important to the national security of the US may be lost or not timely acquired." By definition, court applications take time and will delay the collection of information. It is highly unlikely there is a situation where this exception doesn’t swallow the rule.

• H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever it gathered in the meantime.

• H.R. 6304 ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the telecommunication companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping programs over the last 7 years. The test in the bill is not whether the government certifications were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that they were, all the cases seeking to find out what these companies and the government did with our communications will be killed.

• Members of Congress not on Judiciary or Intelligence Committees are NOT guaranteed access to reports from the Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, and Inspector General.

Of course, FISA is just the tip of the government's abrogation of the Fourth Amendment; every branch, every agency, every law enforcement entity, they're all spying on us.

Tiny ray of light: Judge in Guantanamo case tells the government, no, you're not getting any more postponements, you've had these poor men in jail for six years. If you've had enough evidence to keep them in jail for six years, you're ready for trial right now. Go.

Hire these losers: Mark Penn starts a consulting company with Karen Hughes. Really.

I'm going to the studio to make pears. Reality is too depressing today.

Last Day of Fundraising Quarter

Today is the last day of the fundraising quarter. Make your favorite Democrats look good by donating. Just reporting a great number of contributors is good. You can give $10 by midnight tonight and give your candidate a little more good press.

I'm giving to Barack Obama and Eric Massa (running to replace the Shotgun Senator, Randy Kuhl, in upstate New York's 29th District).

If you give Obama $30 or more, he'll send you a t-shirt

or this one

Or this organic t-shirt

Or if you contribute $15, you can get on of these three car magnets (guess people don't like bumper stickers any more):

5" logo car magnet

5" blue "Yes We Can" car magnet

9" "Change We Can Believe In" car magnet

This concludes the advertising part of this blog!

Veepstakes: Jack Reed

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

Senator Jack Reed helped broker a plan to widen access to federally insured mortgages without tapping into taxpayer money.

NYTimes: A Quiet Dealmaker Works for Pained Homeowners

I like Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) a lot. He's a lawyer, a West Point graduate, and was an Army Ranger for 12 years. He's one of the few members of Congress who can ask a question (most of them just give long rambling speeches and annoy me no end!). He opposed the war from the start (like I said, he's smart.) He's a pretty standard New England liberal; here are his positions & votes on some key issues.

Drawbacks as a candidate: Rhode Island would probably vote Democratic anyway, as will the rest of New England. And he's not the most charismatic guy in the world. For evidence of this, watch him deliver a Democratic response to a Bush speech last September:

September 13, 2007 (Less info)
Senator Jack Reed delivered the Democratic response to President Bush's address to the nation on Iraq.

Elect Better Democrats

Billions for pointless war. Nothing for unemployed Americans. Pitiful.