Thank you to the handful; shame on the rest

Thank you to the THREE brave Republican senators who crossed the GOP partisan line and voted for our stimulus. Arlen Specter. Olympia Snowe. Susan Collins. Thank you for putting our national interests ahead of partisan politics.

I recently saw an op-ed by Specter in the Washington Post:

I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action.

The unemployment figures announced Friday, the latest earnings reports and the continuing crisis in banking make it clear that failure to act will leave the United States facing a far deeper crisis in three or six months. By then the cost of action will be much greater -- or it may be too late.

This reason makes sense. This reason is rational, and shows that Senator Specter recognizes the gravity of our national situation and cares about our collective survival.

So what is wrong with the rest of his party? Even my own Senator Lugar voted lockstep with his GOP peers, casting his vote against our bill.

The banks have their money (and are already back, asking for more.) But this bill was for the people; for all of us who were crushed when the greedy bankers and speculators ran amok under Bush and the GOP gilded age.

Yes, this mess was created by eight years of greedy excess, with no oversight and plenty of winks and nods from the GOP. I'm sure the seeds began long before W was elected. But removing all federal oversight turned a smoldering fire into a raging inferno. The fire has now spread across both oceans and has threatened the global economy.

Heckuva job, guys.

And so now we all turn to the government for help, as the only entity powerful enough to right our national ship. As Lincoln wisely noted: "If all men were just there would be some, although not as much need for government."

And all men are not just. Not even close. It only takes one Madoff - plundering without any apparent government oversight - to bring down benevolent giants.

That even Indiana's Senator Lugar couldn't bring himself to vote nonpartisan... this is a great disappointment. For me, this pretty well signals the final inglorious swan-dive of the GOP.

Due to GOP screaming, this bill is now laced with tax cuts that siphon money away from the programs we really need.

Tax cuts have never worked for anyone but the very rich - which is why the GOP supports them (when voting, they cater to their real base.) Now there is less stimulus money available for rebuilding our roads, dams, bridges and levees; improving our lagging educational system, our health care system (health care costs are the number one cause of bankruptcy in this nation,) and creating an alternative energy grid.

All of these desperately-needed projects create new jobs. They also will address our crumbling national infrastructure, which just wasn't a priority for the GOP. Apparently the wealthy never drive over out-dated bridges or live below aging damns.

Or reside below Gulf Coast levees.

But because they have a lot of money, they adore tax cuts. This is only logical. The more money you have, the higher your taxes. A tax relief check for most of us would barely pay off a credit card. This is supposed to stimulate our economy? No -- only satisfy the wealthy who fill the GOP political coffers.

Think about it. What is the point of a tax cut if you've lost your job due to a factory closing? How will a tax cut help you if you've already lost your home?

The GOP is dead. The die is cast.

Our entire state turned blue because people here are desperate for change, yet our remaining republican representatives still won't represent us. They stubbornly play political games while people here suffer and grow angrier by the day. I expect they will be out the door in the next election. We watch the president -- because we can see he is aware of our pain, listening and trying to help us -- we set our jaws, and we vow to do whatever we can do to make this work.

We will do it from the ground up; with federal assistance and a will to survive. And we will proceed without the GOP. They have rendered themselves obsolete as a force in American government, and the politics they hold more dear than anything else, including the best interests of our nation.

Rather than owning up to the failures of the last eight years - which they could at any point have addressed, to head this off - they stubbornly refuse to work with the Democratic majority that we elected (the majority of voters) and the ACTION that is being taken to address our national crisis.

By voting against our stimulus bill, they voted against the American people... hoping and betting that the economy won't turn around before the 2010 election; rearranging the political deck chairs as our nation sinks.

It appears they finally ripped off that American flag they've been hiding behind.

But thank you to the three senate republicans who stepped forward. History will remember you kindly. And we all owe you a debt of gratitude... and maybe even a thankful phone call.

What they cut

According to CNN, the following was cut out of our stimulus bill... in favor of 'tax cuts.'

Partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)

• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)

• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)

• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)

• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)

• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)

• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Fully eliminated

• $55 million for historic preservation

• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters

• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization

• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service

• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation

• $100 million for distance learning

• $98 million for school nutrition

• $50 million for aquaculture

• $2 billion for broadband

• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology

• $50 million for detention trustee

• $25 million for Marshalls Construction

• $300 million for federal prisons

• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program

• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program

• $10 million state and local law enforcement

• $50 million for NASA

• $50 million for aeronautics

• $50 million for exploration

• $50 million for Cross Agency Support

• $200 million for National Science Foundation

• $100 million for science

• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees

• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration

• $89 million General Services Administration operations

• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security

• $200 million Transportation Security Administration

• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use

• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife

• $55 million for historic preservation

• $20 million for working capital fund

• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement

• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management

• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start

• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity

• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants

• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)

• $16 billion for school construction

• $3.5 billion for higher education construction

• $1.25 billion for project based rental

• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization

• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing

• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)

So let me see here... the GOP doesn't like schools, health prevention and IS technology, the environment (but we knew that;) they don't like the Coast Guard (those jerks that rescued thousands from rooftops during Katrina -- the only government entity to actually show up in time, which undoubtedly made the rest of the Federal Response look terrible;) and of course, they don't like NASA because NASA scientists keep warning us about Climate Change.

The GOP doesn't want to help farmers, clean up environmental disasters like the coal slag mess in Tennessee; they snubbed their noses at making buildings more energy efficient (burn baby burn!) and of course we know they don't believe in science, so they sure won't spend any of our money on it. They obviously don't see why anyone (but themselves) needs broadband, they're certainly not going to protect communities down-river from aging dams (watershed rehabilitation,) they don't care about the desperate needs of many states, and refuse to fund local law enforcement, they flat out reject the needs of Fish & Wildlife, our national parks and... history.

Wait a minute... this is our tax money, right? Don't all of these services... serve... us?

Why am I getting the impression that electing a president that understands our needs was completely useless without cleaning out the senate?

Senate Democrats are useless. They are no different than Senate Republicans (also useless, but organized and determined to put business interests ahead of our needs.) Senate Democrats seem... entirely lacking in any kind of determination. They just sit there, like lumps, whenever it is time to stand up and fight for their constituents (supposedly their constituents include us.)

Senate Democrats won't fight for citizen Americans, won't fight for our programs, won't fight for the president's reform platform (the platform that swept them back into office with a majority;) they won't even fight for their supposed party principles. They whine and insist that they 'don't have the votes;' when this time we know damn well they have the votes. We made sure of that.

They are the passive aggressive business interest representatives pretending to confront the aggressive business interest representatives. They all belong to the same country club.

Harry Reid is the perfect poster child for everything that is wrong with the Wishy-washy Democratic Party. He is Charlie Brown in a business suit. Every time GOP-Lucy holds out that football, he happily takes off running, then predictably falls, face in the mud.

This is what we have to work with? This is going to somehow save our country?

The Winter of our Discontent

Why are we letting a group of millionaires decide the fate of the working middle class? Is this what our democracy has boiled down to? That millionaire senators can hack apart the bill that would save our jobs and homes, then drive off in their BMWs -- no wait, they all have drivers (and its not like they pay any of these taxes. We sure got a heads up on that this past week.)

These senators don't get it. Because surely... they have no reason to get it. Why would they get it? What have they lost?

Even if we voted them out of office, they'd immediately land a lucrative job with a lobbying firm. And to those corporate lobbying firms that are their future employers, their loyalties are clear.

The Senate plan, reached in an agreement late Friday night between Democrats and three moderate Republicans, focuses more heavily on tax cuts, provides far less generous health care subsidies for the unemployed and lowers a proposed increase in food stamps. To help allay Republican concerns about cost, the Senate proposal even scales back President Obama’s signature middle-class tax cut.

They hacked it to shreds.

The Senate makes me absolutely crazy. They are so out of touch it's frightening. Or they simply do not care.

One thing is obvious: they don't represent the people. Yet they are deciding our fate.

Oh, and Arizona Senator Kyl: you who had the gall to say:

"In discussing with the American people his approach to the stimulus of our economy, he (Obama) has first really used some dangerous words," said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican. Mr. Kyl added, "It seems to me that the president is rather casually throwing out some careless language."

Dangerous words? Careless language? Really now.

Well it can't possibly compare with this, now can it?

Arizona talk show host Barry Young was on the air with U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl talking about the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina about the exact moment the Big Easy was drowning under 20 feet of water. Young was in favor of a strong national response to help the disaster-stricken area.

Kyl: "Because the question is if people know year after year after year a natural disaster occurs in a particular place and people continue to build there and want to live there, should they bear the responsibility of buying insurance or should everyone else bear the responsibility?"

Jerk.

McConnell to Stevens: Resign from Senate or be expelled

Politico is reporting that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has joined a growing list of senators demanding that Ted Stevens resign from the United States Senate:

"I think he should resign immediately," McConnell said. "If he did not do that ... there is a 100 percent certainty that he would be expelled from the Senate."

The article notes that McConnell, who originally held back from demanding Stevens' resignation, is locked in a "tough reelection fight in Kentucky" (red state Kentucky? Times they are a-changin!)

It appears that McConnell - a former chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee - is finally throwing Stevens under the bus.

GOP Presidential hopeful and Senator John McCain, along with Republican senators Norm Coleman, Jim DeMint, John Sununu and Gordon Smith all called on Stevens to resign on Tuesday. Once McCain demanded that Stevens step down, even Sarah Palin decided to let Stevens sink or swim on his own.

It appears that Senate Republicans are desperately hoping that Alaskans will do the 'dirty work' of getting rid of the inconvenient Stevens problem by electing Democratic candidate and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich:

While the Senate can expel Stevens, senators are clearly hoping that he saves them from the excruciating and embarrassing task of expelling him – or that Alaska’s voters do it for them when they go to the polls on Tuesday.

"Voters will determine Ted Stevens' fate much more quickly than the Senate could at this point," said one Senate Republican aide. "Should he be reelected, however, he will most certainly face serious and immediate consequences in the 111th Congress."

Another top GOP aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that “the voters in Alaska will be the judge and jury” in deciding Stevens’ fate at this time, not his Senate colleagues.

For he's a jolly good felon!

It would appear that poor Alaska just can't stay out of the news these days. No wonder the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska's largest newspaper) endorsed Obama. They've obviously seen more than enough GOP corruption of their own.

From The Hill:

Sen. Ted Stevens guilty of felony charges

By Manu Raju

Posted: 10/27/08 04:02 PM [ET]

Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican in history and patriarch of Alaska politics, was found guilty of all seven felony charges for making false statements.

The verdict could spell the end of a 40-year Senate career for a man who rose to be one of the most dominant figures in the upper chamber and who helped transform Alaska in its 50 years of statehood. The verdict was reached after the jury deliberated since Wednesday and found the 84-year-old senator guilty of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen, the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends.

They say what goes around comes around. It would appear that a whole lot of GOP 'go around' is coming back to smack them squarely in the face.

The arrow to nowhere

A few of the Senate's (pork) additions to the Wall Street bailout legislation are hilarious. Or they would be... if the nation weren't on the brink of economic collapse.

These senators couldn't save our houses... but they took a special interest in reducing the tax on wooden practice arrows?

You can't make this stuff up.

Excise Tax Exemption for Wooden Practice Arrows Used by Children -- Cost: $2 million over 10 years

Current law imposes an excise tax of 39 cents, adjusted for inflation, on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more.

Praise the Lord! Our children can practice for the next Stone Age!

Feingold, Cantwell, Sanders opposed Bailout

Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was one of 25 senators (see below) who voted against the government bailout package. Maria Cantwell of Washington State also voted Nay, and made an attempt to improve the existing plan (she was apparently ignored.)

By coincidence (or not,) Feingold used to be described as the 'poorest' man in the Senate - the one who won't accept lobbyist gifts, isn't a billionaire - or even a millionaire - and who won't even allow friends to buy him dinner. Feingold can't be bought. Imagine if we had a senate full of men of his caliber.

Of the freshmen senators, Tester and Independent Bernie Sanders (both voted against the bailout,) are probably the most economically in sync with angry taxpayers... and perhaps more in touch with the pain out here.

From a Forbes article "Meet Senator Millionaire":

Not all the freshmen senators have struck gold, however. Jon Tester, the flat-topped senator-elect from Montana, is as humble as his man-of-the-people image suggests.

He told The New York Times that he has earned barely $20,000 a year farming in the last decade. Aside from his ranch, which is valued at $600,000 to $1 million, he owns shares in just one stock, American Electric Power, and a stake in a bond fund. His securities portfolio is worth no more than $30,000 and as little as $2,000.

Rep. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who trounced millionaire Rich Tarrant in Vermont's Senate race, seems to live a spartan life, in accordance with his political beliefs. Aside from a Burlington condominium valued at $100,000 to $250,000, he had just $31,000 to $115,000 stashed in a credit union and a retirement account.

Twenty-five senators voted against the government bailout. How did yours vote? How much are they worth?

My Indiana senators - one Democrat, one Republican (both rich) voted in favor. And with this vote - as I promised when I wrote to them - they have lost any and all support from this Independent voter. I will not forget. And I will be the first to remind them of their votes when the dollar eventually collapses.

And of course... they will neither listen nor will they care. I don't belong to the club.

Senator Russ Feingold said the following:

"I will oppose the Wall Street bailout plan because though well intentioned, and certainly much improved over the administration’s original proposal, it remains deeply flawed. It fails to offset the cost of the plan, leaving taxpayers to bear the burden of serious lapses of judgment by private financial institutions, their regulators, and the enablers in Washington who paved the way for this catastrophe by removing the safeguards that had protected consumers and the economy since the great depression. The bailout legislation also fails to reform the flawed regulatory structure that permitted this crisis to arise in the first place. And it doesn’t do enough to address the root cause of the credit market collapse, namely the housing crisis. Taxpayers deserve a plan that puts their concerns ahead of those who got us into this mess."

-Senator Russ Feingold, October 1, 2008

Here is the Senate roll call from the government bailout bill:

Democrats who voted Yes

Akaka, Hawaii; Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Brown, Ohio; Byrd, W.Va.; Cardin, Md.; Carper, Del.; Casey, Pa.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Dodd, Conn.; Durbin, Ill.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Kerry, Mass.; Klobuchar, Minn.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; McCaskill, Mo.; Menendez, N.J.; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Nelson, Neb.; Obama, Ill.; Pryor, Ark.; Reed, R.I.; Reid, Nev.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Salazar, Colo.; Schumer, N.Y.; Webb, Va.; Whitehouse, R.I.

Democrats who voted No

Cantwell, Wash.; Dorgan, N.D.; Feingold, Wis.; Johnson, S.D.; Landrieu, La.; Nelson, Fla.; Stabenow, Mich.; Tester, Mont.; Wyden, Ore.

Democrats Not Voting

Kennedy, Mass.

Republicans voting Yes

Alexander, Tenn.; Bennett, Utah; Bond, Mo.; Burr, N.C.; Chambliss, Ga.; Coburn, Okla.; Coleman, Minn.; Collins, Maine; Corker, Tenn.; Cornyn, Texas; Craig, Idaho; Domenici, N.M.; Ensign, Nev.; Graham, S.C.; Grassley, Iowa; Gregg, N.H.; Hagel, Neb.; Hatch, Utah; Hutchison, Texas; Isakson, Ga.; Kyl, Ariz.; Lugar, Ind.; Martinez, Fla.; McCain, Ariz.; McConnell, Ky.; Murkowski, Alaska; Smith, Ore.; Snowe, Maine; Specter, Pa.; Stevens, Alaska; Sununu, N.H.; Thune, S.D.; Voinovich, Ohio; Warner, Va.

Republicans voting No

Allard, Colo.; Barrasso, Wyo.; Brownback, Kan.; Bunning, Ky.; Cochran, Miss.; Crapo, Idaho; DeMint, S.C.; Dole, N.C.; Enzi, Wyo.; Inhofe, Okla.; Roberts, Kan.; Sessions, Ala.; Shelby, Ala.; Vitter, La.; Wicker, Miss.

Others (Independent) voting Yes

Lieberman, Conn.

Others (Independent) voting No

Sanders, Vt.

Senate passes bailout; both candidates support it

Ron Paul... are you still running for president?

According to most reports, an overwhelming majority of Americans are staunchly against this bailout, and do not trust that it will be handled responsibly. Some reports have indicated that incoming calls to the congressional switchboard were 100-1 against.

And yet it passed the Senate. And both candidates voted for it. Amazing.

See what a third party option would do for this nation? We obviously need a party for the 95% of us that aren't wealthy. (Like our senators.)

He said, We said:

President Bush, following the Senate vote, said the bill was central to the "financial security" of the nation. "The American people expect - and our economy demands - that the House pass this good bill this week and send it to my desk."

Snapshot of tonight's CNN poll, and what the American people really expect:

Should the Senate pass the $700 billion bailout package for the U.S. financial system?

Yes	28%	100829
No	51%	183300
Don't have enough info to decide	21%	75910
Total Votes: 360039

Open letter to my Representatives

To my senators and representative:

As a constituent - a socially progressive/fiscally conservative Independent (if you can wrap your mind around that -- we're the ones who fall through the cracks;) I have taken my share of personal hits during the Bush administration.

We're struggling through these tough financial times and have been for some time. There are few of us left these days who aren't struggling. People are losing their houses and their jobs. Its a mess out here.

After Katrina, I started really paying attention. I saw what happened to New Orleans, the lies that led us into the Iraq war fiasco (and who benefited from it, financially.) I saw that contractors in Iraq where making millions of dollars, as were the oil companies... while billions of our treasury dollars were vanishing into thin air. The government - executive and congress - that took this nation to war obviously wasn't funding body armor for our troops, and it wasn't paying to take care of them when they returned home injured. But there was more than enough cash lying around (and disappearing) to create an entire boom industry of war profiteers.

Yes, I started paying attention... and frankly am amazed that congress ever let this looting party go on for 8 years without any intervention. Are they simply asleep at the wheel? Or serving lobbyist interests over the interests of the nation as a whole?

I have now seen enough. Our government is in the hands of robber barons holding a gun in our face and emptying our wallets. Unless you plan to do something for the taxpayers this time instead of simply bowing to lobbyist interests, I literally won't vote for you. I know when I'm being represented... and when I'm being thrown to the dogs.

There is a reason that congress polls lower even than Bush; and his poll numbers are the lowest in history. We expected you to do something about these wild excesses and overreaches of power. Most of you stood by and did nothing. Worse than that, you collaborated. Pelosi is the poster child for collaboration and betrayal. Betrayal upon betrayal.

I laugh when I see the surprise among pundits and the media, when confronted with the rage out here. Until an election year, no one was paying attention. We've been on 'ignore' for a long, long time.

Eight years ago there was a surplus and a balanced budget. Now everything is falling apart; nationally and locally (and don't even get me started about climate change -- I saw neighboring towns entirely under water this summer! Even conservative Hoosiers know something is drastically wrong with the weather.)

We're fed up. What you are seeing is the tipping point... Democrat and Republican alike, fed up. Masses of us have left our previous (but unrecognizable) parties and have become angry Independents.

I am thus writing to request that you vote NO to a Wall Street bailout and support a fair deal for Main Street - and that includes actually protecting us from these robbers, not handing over whatever they want and then asking us to foot the bill. This disaster happened because of their recklessness and rampant greed. A band-aid isn't going to fix that.

Economists all seem to agree that this bailout will be disastrous for our economy in the long run... and those of us who live in this country will have to live in that 'long run.' We don't have our money safely ensconced in Dubai.

The legislation should include these five points:

1. Reform Bankruptcy Laws - fix it for everyone! We can't consume if we're homeless and jobless. The leading cause of bankruptcy in this country is health care costs. FIX IT. Fix the root cause for a change. Isn't that why you're there?

2. Provide a Stimulus for Main Street –Aid to the Real Economy, because that trickle down thing isn't happening. Instead we're seeing a 'trickle out of the country' effect. The elite of this country don't want wealth 'trickling down' to us. They want absolute power - and power is consolidated wealth. That is now obvious to nearly everyone; thus the rage.

3. Make Wall Street Speculators Pay for the Bailout – no more debt dumped on the taxpayers. Our nation is in hoc to China for this stupid Iraq war... and speculators made a killing on that one financially, did they not? Halliburton... now headquartered in Dubai. It was all a giant money laundering operation.

4. Shut down the Casino: Rein in the Unregulated Financial Sector. Yes regulation. Obviously they can't and won't regulate themselves... it goes against human nature, even if it looks great on paper. These people are too greedy to regulate themselves and they're destroying our country in their rampage.

5. Provide Limits on CEO Pay and Prohibitions on Profiteering from the Bailout -- because you know Paulson won't do it. These are his friends.

Should the bailout, or "rescue plan" fail to embrace these points, vote “NO” on the bailout legislation until it is fixed. This is supposed to be a representative government. Prove that you remember that.

The House stood up to the pressure in the first round... stand firm! We can't afford any caving now; not until this is hashed out so that everyone is represented and the dollar is protected. Surely this is important enough that you can take the time to do it right!

I am very angry about any potential free ride for greedy bankers. I am also very worried that any bailout - and this would lead to many bailouts, not just one - will cause the dollar to collapse. This is a very real danger, expressed by the brightest economists in our country. I am sure Bush has his cash safely banked offshore, perhaps in yen... but we don't, and generations of Americans will pay for whatever you do today, and whatever effect your actions have on our struggling economy.

Haste is the enemy. Fear (the favorite tactic of the Bush administration) is getting old and bitter. That wolf has been cried so many times now we're just not afraid anymore. We're done with this.

Someone has to fight for our country and if you won't do it, this country will fall into a depression to dwarf the Great Depression of the 1930s. Have we no leaders left in this country? Leaders that put nation first?

The anger out here is very, very real; and it is growing. It is also increasingly bipartisan, in spite of the corporate media. We've realized that we're all suffering together. And that is the kind of real common ground that eclipses outdated party mantras.

I will express my response in the ballot box should the bailout for Wall Street pass without a fair deal for taxpayers footing the bill. And believe me... you have no idea how many Independents like myself view this as the final and ultimate betrayal by a government that has completely forgotten about the people of this country.

Thank you.

To those of you in the House, from Indiana... I was very proud. Please don't cave.

I am counting on Republicans to remember what it once meant to be Republican: let the market work as intended. I am also counting on the Democrats to remember the needs of the masses -- people... not just corporations.

Here it comes... jammed down our throat

Notice how the Dow miraculously recovered today after its terrifying tumble? Do you ever feel like you're being squeezed and squished from all directions - especially the corporate media - so that you will shut up, put up, and go back to quietly consuming?

Today the Senate will take up the emergency 'bail the fat cats out of hot water' bill, with the pretense of doing it to save us -- we who demanded that this not be done without a lot more thought and a little helping hand for the people losing their homes.

It appears that the Senate (made up of rich guys) is going to force the hands of the House by making the first move; something that almost never happens (but can happen if lobbyists and bankers scream loudly enough.)

And of course that media drumbeat -- powered by White House talking points -- is now pounding home the desperate need to act immediately (now now now! Before rational thought can kick in. Before we realize... that we've been stampeded by fear yet again.)

I guess there was no way we were going to beat the lobbyists. They pulled the market strings, people lost money and the terror began. So Bush and Paulson will get what they want, and the Wall Street fat cats will get to have their cake, eat it, and buy 10 more they can stick in the freezer. Band-aids for our own suffering? That was always a pipe dream.

At least we put up a fight this time.

When the dollar finally collapses from the weight of this debt (and the subsequent debt when this doesn't work;) and y'all have no food, no gas, no jobs and no future... remember this 'we must do it now now now' moment.

Remember the people who said this must be done immediately, with a half-ass plan, and without the intelligent input of the economists.

Remember who gave away your farm: put the blame squarely on the robber baron in chief and his vast array of financial stooges, cheered on by the loud demands of an arrogant corporate media. And then demand a lawsuit. If we can't impeach... perhaps one day we can imprison. God knows enough laws were broken. Pelosi is a coward: judges and lawyers are not.

I now suspect that the dollar is doomed. If you think things are bad now... just wait.

See you in September

Reid: Senate Will Explore Long-Term Fixes To FISA In September

Washington, D.C.—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter today to Senators Jay Rockefeller and Pat Leahy, encouraging them to develop long-term modernizations to FISA that better serve our national security interests than the law signed by President Bush this month:

August 14, 2007

The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV
Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Jay and Pat:

On August 3rd the Senate passed and on August 5th President Bush signed legislation (Public Law 110-55) providing temporary six-month changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in light of the Director of National Intelligence’s expressed concerns about a recently-emerged gap in foreign counterterrorism intelligence collection. This issue was given even greater urgency because of the recently-published National Intelligence Estimate on the terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland, which indicates that, after six years of Bush Administration counterterrorism efforts, the threat to the homeland today from Al Qaeda is nearly as great as it was before 9/11.

I know both of you share my disappointment at the process that led to passage of the recent law, and at the flawed outcome itself, which you and I and many others strongly opposed. The temporary authorities in the new law will sunset in six months. While these temporary authorities are in effect, I support all efforts by your two committees to conduct vigorous and comprehensive oversight of their implementation.

I also know that your committees have been working exhaustively on sound options for a longer-term change to FISA, even though your work has been hindered by lack of cooperation from the Administration in providing relevant information. When the Senate reconvenes in September, I fully support your committees working expeditiously together and in a bipartisan manner to develop a longer-term statutory change that better serves American national security interests and comports with the Constitution and proper judicial and congressional oversight. I would like to see the full Senate consider as soon as possible a bill reported by your committees that addresses the deficiencies in the recently-enacted law and any other matter you believe must be addressed.

Thank you for your leadership on these matters.

Sincerely,


HARRY REID

Uh huh.

Hey Harry, look! Our own military spy satellites have now been turned on us!

Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose of scientific and environmental study.

--- snip ---

Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify smuggler staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists to manufacture chemical weapons.

--- snip ---

Coming on the back of legislation that upgraded the administration's ability to wiretap terrorist suspects without warrants, the development is likely to heat up debate about the balance between civil liberties and national security.

--- snip ---

In recent years, some military experts have questioned whether domestic use of such satellites would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. The act bars the military from engaging in law-enforcement activity inside the U.S., and the satellites were predominantly built for and owned by the Defense Department.

According to Pentagon officials, the government has in the past been able to supply information from spy satellites to federal law-enforcement agencies, but that was done on a case-by-case basis and only with special permission from the president.

Even the architects of the current move are unclear about the legal boundaries. A 2005 study commissioned by the U.S. intelligence community, which recommended granting access to the spy satellites for Homeland Security, noted: "There is little if any policy, guidance or procedures regarding the collection, exploitation and dissemination of domestic MASINT." MASINT stands for Measurement and Signatures Intelligence, a particular kind of information collected by spy satellites which would for the first time become available to civilian agencies.

According to defense experts, MASINT uses radar, lasers, infrared, electromagnetic data and other technologies to see through cloud cover, forest canopies and even concrete to create images or gather data.

Thanks guys! Should I now wave at the sky every time I go outside to water my tomatoes? Offer the sky a tomato? A cookie? Thank the sky for keeping me safe? Apologize to the sky for the fact that I didn't shower and brush my hair before watering the tomatoes; and that perhaps my appearance in my own yard isn't spiffy and presentable?

You senators have done so much for me -- I'm just not sure how I could ever repay you. Never in our history has a presidential administration - with the capitulation of an opposition congress - done so much to undermine the rights and privacy of the American people. I'm truly honored to have lived to see your historic precedence.

In fact, I feel a song coming on...



See you in September (by Harry Reid & the Senators!)

I'll be awake each and every night
While you're away, I'm afraid to write

Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long

See you in September
See you when the summer's through
Here we are (4th amendment, goodbye)
Saying goodbye via FISA (Constitution, goodbye)
Congressional vacation (4th amendment, goodbye)
Is taking you away (Constitution, goodbye)

We were free once but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer vote
(counting the days 'til I'll be with you)
(counting the hours and the minutes, too)

4th amendment, goodbye
Constitution, goodbye
4th amendment, goodbye (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Constitution, goodbye (bye-bye, so long)

We were free once but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer vote
(I'll be awake each and every night)
(While you're away, I'm afraid to write)

See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
I'm hopin' I'll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Well, maybe I'll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)

Today's poll on the WSJ:

How well does the U.S. balance national security with individual liberty?

Leans too far toward security Leans too far toward liberty Balances them about right 6307 votes (76%) 917 votes (11%) 1097 votes (13%)

Yours truly, A. Lincoln

As I have had no luck at all in my frequent correspondences with my congressman and senators, I have finally come to the sad conclusion that I am simply not important enough, and my opinion is of no consequence.

In light of my apparent uselessness, I approached my late friend Abraham Lincoln and have asked him if he might use his considerable respect, leverage and mastery of the English language to write a letter to Congress on my behalf.

Due to his... inability to use a keyboard, and slight confusion as to the workings of the internets, I have offered to take this letter down as dictation, and he has allowed me the option of slipping in a few words of my own: the agreement being that I attribute his own words via use of

blockquotes.

Sincerely, feduphoosier

_____________________________________________



Gentlemen and Ladies of the Congress:

It is with great regret that dictate this letter to you, in this time of national upheaval and constitutional crisis. I cannot watch your current actions without extending my deepest concern and indeed, a dire warning.

You must protect the Constitution; this is not optional. You must protect the rule of law; you have sworn to do so with your oaths of office, before the citizens and before God.

Your unconscionable sacking of the Constitution, and the unalienable rights of each American citizen to protect his and her own privacy, papers and possessions from unreasonable searches: these protections are guaranteed by the fourth amendment of the Constitution, which you have sworn to uphold. Your rushed passage of the recent FISA bill was a grievous blow to the rule of law and justice in this land.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

What I shall say upon this head, I design exclusively for the law-loving and law-abiding part of the House. To those who claim omnipotence for the Legislature, and who in the plenitude of their assumed powers, are disposed to disregard the Constitution, law, good faith, moral right, and every thing else, I have not a word to say.

I frequently make mistakes myself, in the many things I am compelled to do hastily.

Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

I have borne a laborious, and, in some respects to myself, a painful part in the contest [the war between the States.] Through all, I have neither assailed, nor wrestled with any part of the Constitution.

I freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the bond of service -- the United States Constitution; and that, as such, I am responsible to them.

I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act.

It was in the oath I took that I would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power.

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army.

These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle.

Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.

When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgement of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny.

I know the American People are much attached to their Government;---I know they would suffer much for its sake;---I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

Has it [popular sovereignty] not got down as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death?

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.

As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;---let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty.

Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap---let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges;---let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;---let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.

And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.

The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

I know not how to aid you, save in the assurance of one of mature age, and much severe experience, that you can not fail, if you resolutely determine, that you will not.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Yours truly,

Animal House

A sad day for the U.S. Senate

Put out the torch, Lady Liberty. It was nice while it lasted.

From the AP:

The Senate, in a high-stakes showdown over national security, voted late Friday to temporarily give President Bush expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants.

The House, meanwhile, rejected a Democratic version of the bill.

Democratic leaders there were working on a plan to bring up the Senate-passed measure and vote on it Saturday in response to Bush's demand that Congress give him expanded powers before leaving for vacation this weekend.

The White House applauded the Senate vote and urged the House to quickly follow suit.

The bill "will give our intelligence professionals the essential tools they need to protect our nation," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "It is urgent that this legislation become law as quickly as possible."

Senate Democrats reluctantly voted for a plan largely crafted by the White House after Bush promised to veto a stricter proposal that would have required a court review to begin within 10 days.

I'm speechless. Democratic majority? My own Senator, Evan Bayh, has betrayed us. Democratic majority? Cowards. They caved to Bush AGAIN. They threw our constitutional rights under the bus, again, for a little 'temporary safety.'

Benjamin Franklin is rolling in his grave.

No Republicans voted against the bill. The following Democrats voted for it: Evan Bayh (Indiana); Tom Carper (Delaware); Bob Casey (Pennsylvania); Kent Conrad (North Dakota); Dianne Feinstein (California); Daniel Inouye (Hawai‘i); Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota); Nancy Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Claire McCaskill (Missouri); Barbara Mikulski (Maryland); Bill Nelson (Florida); Ben Nelson (Nebraska); Mark Pryor (Arkansas); Ken Salazar (Colorado); Jim Webb (Virginia).

Senators Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Barack Obama all opposed the bill, as did 23 other Democrats and Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont. Joe Lieberman voted... with the neocons, of course.

From the NY Times:

A furious push by the White House to broaden its wiretapping authority appeared on the verge of victory on Friday night after the Senate approved a measure that would temporarily give the administration more latitude to eavesdrop without court warrants on foreign communications that it suspects may be tied to terrorism.

The House is expected to take up the White House-backed measure on Saturday morning before going into its summer recess.

Democratic leaders acknowledged that the bill would probably pass.

Democrats in both the House and the Senate failed to pass competing measures on Friday that would have included tougher judicial checks and oversight on the eavesdropping powers.

The White House and Congressional Republicans hailed the Senate vote as critical to plugging what they saw as dangerous gaps in the intelligence agencies’ ability to detect terrorist threats.

“I can sleep a little safer tonight,” Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who co-sponsored the measure, declared after the Senate vote.

Rock-a-bye baby Bond... you were more likely to be injured by a car accident than a terrorist, you coward.

What ever happened to 'we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here?' I guess they're damned good swimmers. Or maybe the real problem is that Bush hasn't been looking for 'them' at all, but simply bullying Iraq into signing his oil bill, while 'they' continued to get stronger and stronger in Pakistan.

Only days before recess, the White House started screaming that a desperately needed FISA upgrade was required to give Bush broader spying capabilities. Here is why they got their panties in a bunch, from Newsweek:

Aug. 1, 2007 - A secret ruling by a federal judge has restricted the U.S. intelligence community's surveillance of suspected terrorists overseas and prompted the Bush administration's current push for "emergency" legislation to expand its wiretapping powers, according to a leading congressman and a legal source who has been briefed on the matter.

And what did this judge know that we apparently do not? We'll never know! I'm guessing that the Senate will never know either. This will of course be 'privileged information,' and we the people... we will never be so privileged. We are just the great unwashed, kicked out of our own democracy -- and by our representatives no less.

The measure “goes far, far beyond” the National Security Agency program that the president secretly approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin.

Caroline Frederickson, head of the American Civil Liberties Union office here, said: “The Democrats caved in to the politics of fear we’re seeing from this administration. They didn’t want to be depicted as soft on terrorism. But this measure removes any court oversight from surveillance on Americans in a large number of cases.”

Nice try Russ, but they aren't listening to you. It's a bitch caring about democracy these days. It's a real bummer to have a grasp of history and the Constitution. Lonely, frightening and beyond depressing.

We are losing everything: the very soul of this once proud country. Stolen from us because we are... in fact, no longer 'the home of the brave' at all; or even the descendants of the greatest generation that liberated Europe from fascism.

Apparently we are now merely the home of the quivering, fearful and the gullible.

But I'll be mailing a pair of kneepads to Senator Bayh, to take some pressure off his poor kneecaps for his return to the Senate next month. Poor Bayh: cowering before the supreme executive must be humiliating work. I can think of better ways to make a living. Like cleaning toilets.

I hope he gets a nice tan while he is off on 'recess.' I hope he sleeps a lot better than I do.

Bush and Cheney are much more interested in partisan and corporate interests than terrorists (we were never attacked before he took office, did you notice?)

Corporate Bush buddies can now use 'Homeland Security' to attack people who blow the whistle on law-breaking, corporate polluters; so you can just imagine how Bush will use these broader powers he so desperately wanted, while the Senate is home facing our wrath.

And they will face our wrath:

Democrats agreed the law should not restrict U.S. spies from tapping in on foreign suspects. However, they initially demanded the FISA court to review the eavesdropping process before it begins to make sure that Americans aren't targeted.

By the final vote, Senate Democrats had whittled down that demand and approved a bill that largely mirrored what the Bush administration wanted.

Before the vote, Democrats excoriated the GOP plan, which Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said "provides a weak and practically nonexistent court review."

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, angrily chastised his colleagues for bending to the administration's will.

"The day we start deferring to someone who's not a member of this body ... is a sad day for the U.S. Senate," Feingold said. "We make the policy -- not the executive branch."

Likewise, civil liberties advocates said they were outraged that Democratic-led Senate would side with the White House.

"We're hugely disappointed with the Democrats," said Caroline Fredrickson, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union. "The idea they let themselves be manipulated into accepting the White House proposal, certainly taking a great deal of it, when they're in control -- it's mind-boggling."

I will never vote for any Senator who voted for this bill. Ever. And I will never forget this betrayal.

Congress: No August recess for you!!

Open letter to both Houses of Congress:

Don't come home. I'm serious. STAY WHERE YOU ARE. We as a nation cannot afford to have you taking an entire month off at a time like this. Proceed with the full vote in the House and declare Miers and Bolton in contempt. Demand a special counsel to investigate Gonzo - and stay there and follow through. Get it done!

All you have to do, if you won't listen to us directly, is to look at your poll numbers and you will see that we are displeased. We want justice. We demand a return to the rule of law. We're not asking you, we're demanding this: we sent you to Washington to represent us.

Don't come home. We don't want you here. We want you THERE. I shudder to imagine what Bush and Cheney will be doing while you are away for an entire month. Don't let them. We want you on that wall.

Don't come home. We don't want you here.

Our troops aren't getting any 'August recess' from the 100+ degree heat of Baghdad. They are there every day, fighting in the blazing sun and risking death and injury. You have an obligation to remain and work, because your work is only just beginning and you have nothing to show for your work until there are RESULTS.

Stay and work. The rest of us don't have the luxury of an August vacation.

Your work is the most important work of all: it falls to you to defend our Constitution and our very democracy. No -- no August vacation in a 'time of war.' This war has two fronts... the one overseas, and the one in Washington D.C.

Stay right there and fight it. We don't want you here.

Document proves Gonzo was abolutely lying

Under oath.

Impeach this one, maybe? Or wouldn't it be quicker to just toss him in jail? Perjury -- that's kinda a slam dunk, isn't it?

Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

--- snip---

Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program's legality.

"The dissent related to other intelligence activities," Gonzales testified at Tuesday's hearing. "The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program."

"Not the TSP?" responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "Come on. If you say it's about other, that implies not. Now say it or not."

"It was not," Gonzales answered. "It was about other intelligence activities."

A four-page memo from the national intelligence director's office shows that the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.

A Gonzales spokesman is insisting that the attorney general 'stands by his testimony.'

But of course.

The high price of contempt

Gonzales is again testifying before the Senate, and once again... his testimony is damning. Leahy and Specter are ripping him to shreds, but I can't help but wonder (once again;) to what end? Do they intend to do anything about this obvious and complete contempt of Congress? Or allow it to continue?

I think most of us believed Gonzo would be out of office months ago. Yet there he sits, still smug, still suffering continual memory lapses or simply refusing to answer. He is no Attorney General... he is the private council to the White House.

From Truthout.org

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) failed to disguise their contempt for Alberto Gonzales in their opening statements. Leahy, after running down the laundry list of Gonzales' failures and instances of questionable testimony, said that the administration's stance on their surveillance programs was "just trust us." Well, "I don't trust you," said Leahy.

Specter was no more sparing in his criticism. Pointing out that the Justice Department suffered from a "lack of credibility, candidly, your credibility," Specter went on a tear of his own ("the list goes on and on"). On Gonzales' infamous visit to John Ashcroft's hospital bed in order to get the ill attorney general to sign off on the president's surveillance program, Specter said "It's just decimating, Mr. attorney general, to your judgment and your credibility."

I am beginning to wonder if the Democrats' insistence that they do not have the votes to impeach, oh, anyone at all, really translates to 'we don't have our lobbyists on board with impeachment.'

Seriously.

Take the DoJ's failure to prosecute a potentially HUGE Enron-like fraud case. The corporations love this administration. How could they not? It's a gravy train!

Consider that there are now about 24 lobbyists for every legislator in D.C.. Why else would the solution - impeachment - be so obvious to us, and so impossible for them?

We don't have lobbyists whispering in our ears. And the Democrats and GOP alike depend on corporate campaign contributions to get re-elected.

No wonder they cite the 2008 campaign as their reason for not impeaching. It is undoubtedly true. I am sure a number of corporations have told them straight out that they will not give any campaign contributions if the Democrats impeach.

It always comes down to money in the end.

GOP smashing previous filibuster record

Remember the good old days, when the GOP was determined to get rid of the 'filibuster' entirely?

Republicans say that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term -- although confirmation of Bush nominees exceeds in most cases the first-term experience of presidents dating to Ronald Reagan. Describing the filibusters as intolerable, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has hinted he may resort to an unusual parliamentary maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to thwart such filibusters.

Aww.

Too bad they didn't do it.

According to a new story from McClatchy, entitled 'Senate tied in knots by filibusters,' this GOP Senate is on track to blow all previous records for 'obstructionism' in Congress:

WASHINGTON: This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before, a pattern that’s rooted in — and could increase — the pettiness and dysfunction in Congress.

--- snip ---

Nearly 1 in 6 roll-call votes in the Senate this year have been cloture votes. If this pace of blocking legislation continues, this 110th Congress will be on track to roughly triple the previous record number of cloture votes — 58 each in the two Congresses from 1999-2002, according to the Senate Historical Office.

Of course, as you've already guessed... the Democrats are to blame!

Republican Senate leader McConnell said Friday in a news conference that when he became minority leader, "it was not my goal to see us do nothing. I mean, you can always use the next election as a rationale for not doing anything. But as you all know, we've had a regularly scheduled election every two years since 1788, so there's always an election right around the corner."

--- snip ---

"And I think clearly the way to accomplish things is in the political middle, and I would challenge our friends on the other side of the aisle to step up and take a chance on something big and important for our country."

Oh please.

Of course the mainstream media has blamed the Democrats for gumming up the works, and most especially for demanding the all night session to debate an early withdrawal from Iraq. Some news reports have even accused the Democrats of filibustering.

McClatchy is one of the only news departments that has maintained any semblance of balance and honesty in their news reporting. As we've seen, just about every other news service has blamed the Democrats for congressional inaction, and ignored the fact that the GOP has been obstructing at every turn. The fact that they are taking it to a new historic level... can't wait to see that reported on CNN and NBC.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., forced an all-night session on the Iraq war this week to draw attention to what Democrats called Republican obstruction.

"The minority party has decided we have to get to 60 votes on almost everything we vote on of substance," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "That's not the way this place is supposed to work."

Even Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who's served in Congress since 1973, complained that "the Senate is spiraling into the ground to a degree that I have never seen before, and I've been here a long time. All modicum of courtesy is going out the window."

I read McClatchy, but it was fun to take a trip down memory lane and revisit Frist at his high-handed finest; criticizing the Democrats for 'blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees'. Uh huh.

Maybe its time to bring back that nuclear option...

The Daily Show: C-Span After Dark

Jon Stewart can make anything funny: even tedious, all night GOP BS vote obstructions!

C-Span After Dark



Political Theater



Red Aye

What are we becoming?

I know people keep asking that question. But as a country composed almost entirely of immigrants (other than the Native Americans,) we should... well naturally be tolerant.

This nation was founded on freedom: most especially freedom of religion.

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. - Thomas Jefferson

On July 12th (and for the first time in history,) a Hindu delivered the Senate’s morning invocation. He was interrupted by three protesters belonging to the Christian Right anti-abortion group Operation Save America, who chanted “Lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight.”

How embarrassing.

We seem at times to be held hostage by wildly intolerant and judgmental 'sects' among us. The majority of us are very tolerant. I guess we just have to put up with this small-minded prejudice of the minority... but we don't ever have to let them take over our government.