December 29, 2006

Weekend Open Thread

Happy Weekend!

Posted by at 3:44 PM | Comments (662)

December 27, 2006

Open Thread

Kicking Ass may be on holiday, but PartyBuilder is always around. Check it out.

Posted by at 2:10 PM | Comments (554)

December 23, 2006

Holiday Open Thread

Chat away...

Posted by at 8:07 PM | Comments (534)

December 21, 2006

The Decider Still Can't Decide

The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously disagrees with White House officials favoring escalation in Iraq through redeployment of troops scheduled to go home, the Washington Post reported recently. Despite Bush claiming to listen to military commanders, he now says he might ignore their serious warnings that escalating the civil war "could lead to more attacks by al-Qaeda, provide more targets for Sunni insurgents and fuel the jihadist appeal for more foreign fighters to flock to Iraq to attack U.S. troops."

The president also indicated that he had made no decision about a proposal for a so-called "surge" of troops into areas of Iraq hardest hit by sectarian violence. When a reporter asked if the president would overall military leaders who opposed such a surge, Bush called it a "dangerous hypothetical question" and said he would not speculate on any potential change in strategy before he had consulted fully with military leaders.

While President Bush is reportedly leaning towards escalation, he continues his failed "stay the course" strategy while Iraq spirals further out of control. In fact, the New York Times ominously warned against the reckless disregard for urgency on display by the White House while political handlers attempt to dodge fresh calls for a change of course by the Iraq Study Group.

More stunning, however, is the sudden reversal over the weight Bush gives to recommendations by military commanders. At his press conference, Bush refused to rule out overriding their advice against the escalation policy. However, consider these statements he made in the past:

December 2006: Force size will depend solely on "conditions on the ground and upon the recommendations of our commanders on the ground."

June 2006: President Bush said the U.S. troop presence in Iraq would be determined by military commanders, the Iraqi government and "conditions on the ground."

May 2006: "As the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down. But, our commanders on the ground will make that decision."

April 2006: "If [Casey] says he needs more troops, he'll get them. And if he says he can live with fewer troops, that's the way it's going to be."

Now that the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously disagrees with the White House officials wanting to escalate the war, Bush suddenly does an about-face and refuses to rule out overriding their recommendations.

Posted by Michael Link at 11:14 AM | Comments (141)

Open Thread

Chat away...

Posted by at 9:00 AM | Comments (374)

December 20, 2006

Creating Opportunity

Earlier this year, when the Republicans cut Pell Grant funding by almost $1 billion, young Americans suffered the burden at a time when tuition for higher education is skyrocketing. Rather than taking on the higher rates, the federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid assistance "estimated that as many as 170,000 college-eligible high school graduates will not go on to college because of cost issues."

Today the New York Times, highlighting the University of Florida, tells the story of public universities attempting to further raise tuition.

So the universities face a tough balancing act: should they push for higher status and higher tuition revenue by accepting more top-achieving, out-of-state students, or should they worry about broadening access for low-income, in-state students? Is their primary goal to serve the people of their state or to compete nationally with private research universities? Can they leave the less prestigious state colleges to serve the bulk of in-state students?

Luckily, Democrats are committed to making higher education more accessible. During the first 100 hours of the incoming Congress, "Democrats plan on reducing the interest rate from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent." According to the McClatchy News Service, this is "part of a broader Democratic effort to make it easier for students and parents to pay tuition by increasing Pell Grants from $4,050 to $5,100 per year and expanding tax credits, among other things."

With Democrats taking strong positions on behalf of young Americans, it's not a surprise that these voters contributed greatly to gains in the November elections. Yesterday Paul Loeb reminded us at the Huffington Post:

I suspect you've heard about the stunning margin of the youth vote--how 18-29 year-olds supported Democratic congressional candidates over Republicans by a massive 60% to 38% difference. They did so in every region of the country, from a 74-25% split in the East to a 51-48% margin in the South. They provided the winning margin for Tester in Montana and Webb in Virginia, and helped put McCaskill over the top in Missouri.

Supporting higher education and making it more accessible is just another example where good policy is good politics.

Posted by Michael Link at 12:46 PM | Comments (11)

Looking Back

What ThinkProgress said:

Yesterday, President Bush announced his intention to increase the “overall size” of the Army, acknowledging that the current forces were “stressed.” The Washington Post reports he’s considering an increase of 50,000-70,000 troops.
On June 3, 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) — campaigning for the presidency — proposed expanding the Army by 40,000 troops. Bush quickly slammed the proposal as unnecessary and counter-productive:

Bush’s campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld already has authorized 30,000 more troops through extended tours and new recruitment. He said the country would be “less safe” under Kerry’s approach.

In a news release, Kerry explained the problem with the Bush approach:

The Bush administration is relying on temporary solutions including “Stop Loss” orders, recalling the Individual Ready Reserve and extending tours to meet our commitments. These temporary measures have increased the burden on our troops and their families without addressing the underlying reality: we need more troops.

As recently as six months ago, President Bush was sticking to his guns. From a June 14, 2006, “Statement of Administration Policy“:

The Administration opposes increases in minimum active Army and Marine Corps end strengths in Title IV, because they could require DoD to maintain a higher personnel level than is needed. The restructuring of the Army and the Marine Corps, plus other initiatives, is enabling our military to get more warfighting capability from current end strength.

This “restructuring” was a central part of Rumsfeld’s efforts to make the military a “more modern force.” Bush cited those efforts as a key reason why he believed Rumsfeld was “one of the finest defense secretaries” in history.

Posted by at 10:24 AM | Comments (7)

Wedneday Open Thread

Hey, Look! It's an Open Thread!

Posted by at 9:44 AM | Comments (228)

December 19, 2006

Roadblocks to Democracy: We Won't Miss the GOP-led Senate

Bob Geiger breaks down how the GOP-controlled Senate managed to do one thing effectively all year - kill Democratic-sponsored legislation at every turn:

Of all the nauseating tactics used by the Republican party in the 2006, midterm election campaign, one of the more galling was their continued insistence that Democrats had "no plan" for national security. To provide cover for that bogus claim, the Senate's GOP leadership made damn sure that, on September 13, 2006, they killed 528 pages of a national-security blueprint, proposed by Democrats, called the Real Security Act of 2006 -- and then went around for the next six weeks saying the Democrats had no plan.
That legislation, dumped on an almost-straight party line vote, was one of many Democratic-sponsored measures to die in the Republican-controlled Senate in 2006 and part of a whopping three-quarters of Democratic initiatives squashed over the two years of the 109th Congress.

An analysis of all Senate roll call votes in 2006, shows that, true to the form they established the previous year, the GOP killed most legislation proposed by Senate Democrats.

So, how partisan was this?

There are two things that jump out when one considers the votes of the last Senate… One is that it was indeed as partisan as it appeared to those of us observing it each and every day and the deck was at all times stacked against Democrats and any legislation they tried to move forward. This was brought into specific relief when I averaged the roll call votes on all 73 times in 2006 that Democratic legislation was killed and the average numeric vote in those instances was 46-53 -- amazingly close to the exact split of 44 Democrats and 55 Republicans in the 2004-2006 Senate.

And what did it really effect?

The other startling thing that becomes obvious when analyzing the votes, is the sheer number of bills related to national security or helping America's Veterans that were voted down by the Republicans -- with no substitute measures of their own -- simply because the ideas came from the other side of the aisle.

Click here to see a sampling of some of the legislation that was shot down by the GOP majority.

Posted by at 11:22 AM | Comments (7)

Tuesday Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Posted by at 9:40 AM | Comments (246)

December 18, 2006

Faculty, Administrators, & Staff Protest Possible Bush Library

Texas Monthly via HuffPo:

"We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends."
"[T]hese violations are antithetical to the teaching, scholarship, and ethical thinking that best represents Southern Methodist University."

"Another matter that warrants our attention is that whether it aims to or not SMU will, in the long run, financially profit on the backs of hard-working Americans who feel squashed by policies they've now rejected at the polls. Surely it's not the case that SMU will allow itself to benefit financially from a name and legacy that globally is associated with suffering, death, and political 'bad faith.' Taken together, all these issues set decision-making about the Library in a framework of inescapable ethical questions, and remind us of a key imperative adopted by many leading universities around the globe: 'to be critic and conscience of society.'"

I'm not affiliated with SMU, but you can count me in too.

Someone is going legacy shopping....too late. As the saying goes, "You break it, you bought it."

And the bad news is that this is a new millennium. And our memories are long. The internet, this wonderful always-on stream of information, is going to make rewriting the past harder than ever. But we know you are going to try.

How many millions of dollars will be spent to try and write over all the mistakes the President has made? How many "scholars" would his taxpayer funded think tank/library have to churn out to drown out the voices of all the thinking people who can already see this Presidency as the disaster that it is?

Posted by at 5:02 PM | Comments (12)

Healthcare Challenges in Rural America

Rural Americans who suffer from HIV/AIDS have face additional challenges when it comes to receiving treatment they need. A new national funding measure may help solve that problem. More.

Posted by at 4:32 PM | Comments (2)

What She Said

Christy explores, "the last gasp of American credibility as it strains against the malignant legal misinterpretations and persistent lies of the Bush Administration's disrespect for the rule of law and utter disregard for the oath to uphold and protect the Constitution."

Posted by at 4:22 PM | Comments (3)

Party Time!

Tom McMahon, our Executive Director, sent the following e-mail to Democrats across the country today. Majority Parties will be our first nationwide organizing event of 2007. We worked hard for our victories in 2006, and everyone deserves a little fun, so why not get together and celebrate two strong Democratic majorities in Congress as we kick-off another year of successes!

Dear Fellow Democrat,

If there's one thing I want every Democrat to remember as we head into the New Year and into a fast-approaching presidential election, it is this: we are the majority. I don't mean just that Democrats have a majority in the House and the Senate, or the majority of governors in the states.

Democrats like you are the majority in America.

The 2006 election was a crystal clear answer to the question, "Where do Americans stand?" Every single incumbent Democrat was re-elected, and scores more Democrats beat Republican challengers everywhere.

It's up to you to help remind every Democrat that we are the majority, and we will fight for the principles and promises we made in this election. If you can host a Majority Party during the first week of January, you can help set the context for the new year.

Your party doesn't need to have a slideshow and agenda. The point of these parties is social -- to bring Democrats together to celebrate change and send the message to the media and the Republicans that we know we are the majority in America.

You can make your New Year's Eve party a Majority Party, you can bring people together the night of January 4th to celebrate the new Democratic Congress, or you can plan your event for the weekend of the 6th -- it's up to you.

Planning your event is simple and easy using our online events tool, and we'll make sure you have supporting materials about what the Democratic majority means for our country. Get started with your party here:

http://www.democrats.org/majorityparties

One election may be over, but our work building the Democratic Party must continue to intensify. Your 50-state strategy field organizers and other staff continue to organize in the field in every state. There will be elections in major cities as early as the spring, and three states have important races for governor in November 2007.

Even with our success, elections are not mandates. Elections are power being loaned to politicians for a period of time. It's what we do, not what we say that matters. The voters of this country loaned the Democrats their power, now it's our job to earn it again in 2008 and deliver a Democratic President of the United States and a Democratic Congress that can deliver progress in America.

Every one of us has the responsibility to keep organizing in order to make good on the promises we made in 2006.

We promised a new kind of politics -- a party of leaders focused on real solutions, a party with a human face in every single community across America.

You are that face, and our strength of our party and our cause depends on your willingness to step up in your own community.

There will be a lot of work over the next two years, but hosting a Majority Party should be one of the easiest and most fun. Create your own in our online events system now:

http://www.democrats.org/majorityparties

Politics isn't the nonsense you hear on right-wing radio or the cable news channels.

Politics is what you make of it in your own community. It's the relationship you have with another volunteer, it's the conversation you have with your neighbor, it's the effort you put in to beating back cynicism and helping people believe that we can make change and solve real problems.

Sure, we all celebrated our victories in November.

But in January, as a newly-elected Democratic majority takes office in Washington and in state capitals across the country, we will celebrate something more important than winning a single election: the ability to change our country for the better.

I hope you will be a part of it.

Thank you,
Tom

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

Posted by Tracy Russo at 2:30 PM | Comments (14)

Take Action: Make History!

On January 4, 2006, Nancy Pelosi will be sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives as she shatters the marble ceiling, and becomes the highest-ranking woman to serve in government in American history.

Sign the card today!

Join us in congratulating Ms. Pelosi on this historic achievement and celebrate our new Democratic majorities by sending the Speaker a message on her first day!

Sign the card today!

Posted by at 1:01 PM | Comments (9)

Bye Bye Rummy

With the swearing in of Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense this morning, the failed Rumsfeld era comes to a close.

As we saw last week, the President and his Administration are going to try and paint a rosy picture of his tenure, but no amount of revisionist history can change the facts - that Donald Rumsfeld's history is one of deadly misjudgments and overly optimistic projections that never came to pass.

Here's a look back at some of his greatest misses:

Rumsfeld’s History Of Failure
September 2002: Rumsfeld Said Iraqis Would Start “Singing and Flying Kites” After Liberation. "Think of the faces in Afghanistan when the people were liberated, when they moved out in the streets and they started singing and flying kites and women went to school and people were able to function and other countries were able to start interacting with them. That's what would happen in Iraq." [Media Roundtable, 9/13/02]

February 2003: Rumsfeld “Doubts” the War Will Last Six Months. During a town hall meeting with troops, Rumsfeld said that if the US went to war in Iraq, although “it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.” [Town Hall Meeting, 2/7/03]

March 2003: Rumsfeld Said “We Know Where” The WMD Are. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, when asked why the military had not found Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction yet, Rumsfeld said, “We know where [the WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.” [ABC, 3/30/03]

June 2003: Rumsfeld Says Army's Estimates of Troops Needed For Post-War Iraq Were Too High. Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz criticized the Army's chief of staff, General Eric Shinseki, after Shinseki told Congress in February 2003 that the occupation could require "several hundred thousand troops." Wolfowitz called Shinseki's estimate "wildly off the mark." [USA Today, 6/2/03]

July 2003: Generals Admit Bush Administration Never Had Concrete Plan for Post-War Iraq. Bush administration officials and military personnel admitted that there was never a real plan for post-war Iraq operations. Posed with the question of whether the Army had an outlined plan for peacekeeping in Iraq, V Corps Commander Lt. Gen. William Wallace said “Well, we’re making this up here as we go along.” A former-senior administration official said, “There was no real planning for postwar Iraq.” Knight Ridder reported, “The disenchanted U.S. officials today think the failure of the Pentagon civilians to develop such detailed plans contributed to the chaos in post-Saddam Iraq. ‘We could have done so much better,’ lamented a former senior Pentagon official, who is still a Defense Department adviser.” [Newsweek, 7/21/03; Knight Ridder, 7/12/03, emphasis added]

February 2004: Rumsfeld Says “We Do Not Expect” to Have 115,000 Troops Permanently Deployed In Any One Place. “The increased demand on the force we are experiencing today is likely a ‘spike,’ driven by the deployment of nearly 115,000 troops in Iraq. We hope and anticipate that that spike will be temporary. We do not expect to have 115,000 troops permanently deployed in any one campaign.” [Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 2/4/04]

December 2004: Rumsfeld Dismissed Shortage Of Armored Humvees, Told Troops To Go To War With What You Have. One soldier asked Rumsfeld why their combat vehicles were not properly armed. "You go to the war with the Army you have," Rumsfeld responded. "Not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later date." The response struck many military families as callous. [UPI, 12/9/04; CNN, 12/9/04]

August 2006: Rumsfeld Says There Is Violence, But No Civil War. When asked whether Iraq was fighting a civil war, Rumsfeld said, “There's no question there's a high level of sectarian violence…[which is] a shame…But it -- the people who look at it contend that they're not in it, and the government of Iraq says they're not in a civil war…” [Department of Defense News Briefing, 8/22/06]

Posted by at 12:29 PM | Comments (6)

GOP Fears Extremely Conservative 4th Circuit Will Become Just Regular Conservative

Via WaPo:

A growing list of vacancies on the federal appeals court in Richmond is heightening concern among Republicans that one of the nation's most conservative and influential courts could soon come under moderate or even liberal control, Republicans and legal scholars say.
A number of prominent Republican appointees have left or announced plans to leave the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which has played a key role in terrorism cases and has long been known for forceful conservative rulings and judicial personalities.

So much for those so-called crazy liberal activist judges, huh?

Enter Concerned Women for America...they're concerned:

Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, said she and other conservatives are disappointed with Bush and Senate Republicans for not pushing harder to fill the vacancies before losing control of the Senate.
"Now all they've done is managed to kick the can down the road, and we've lost the majority," said LaRue, whose group advocates for conservative jurists. "That circuit in the wrong hands could certainly move toward the center-left."

Coming soon to a bench near you: judges who uphold the constitution and not an extreme-right agenda? Here's hoping.

Posted by at 12:21 PM | Comments (3)

First 100 Hours

There has been a tremendous amount of talk about the first 100 hours of the Democratic House of Representatives. Here's a reminder:

Included in House Democrats' first 100 legislative hours are:

* Draining the swamp -- break the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go budgeting, no new deficit spending
* Giving Americans a raise -- increase the minimum wage
* Making college more affordable -- cut the interest rate in half on federally subsidized student loans
* Making health care more affordable -- negotiate for lower prescription drug prices
* Ending subsidies for Big Oil
* Giving hope to families with devastating diseases -- allow stem cell research

Posted by at 11:30 AM | Comments (38)

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning! This is an open thread.

Posted by at 10:05 AM | Comments (194)

December 16, 2006

Weekend Open Thread

Chat away...

Posted by at 5:04 PM | Comments (287)

December 15, 2006

Listen Up!: DNC Podcast

This week, the DNC's Podcast features former White House Chief of Staff, and Iraq Study Group member, Leon Panetta. During the interview, Panetta touted the bipartisan nature of the Iraq Study Group report and expressed concern over the President's decision to delay his report to the nation on a new strategy.

From the podcast:

"Frankly, the only recommendations that he's going to get that are truly bi-partisan come from the Iraq Study Group and I think that's why it's important to recognize that these recommendations reflect a consensus that has been lacking in this country in the war. This country is badly divided by the war in Iraq, and one thing the president badly has to do is unify the country if he's going to conduct a war. What five Democrats and five Republicans did is present to him a consensus report and hopefully he'll pay attention to it because it is bi-partisan," said Panetta.

You can listen to the full thing, here.

Posted by at 11:41 AM | Comments (6)

TGIF Open Thread

Chat away...

Posted by at 10:00 AM | Comments (431)

December 14, 2006

He's In No Rush

Tony Snow discusses urgency and President Bush bides his time. Read all about it.

Posted by at 3:37 PM | Comments (21)

What's he hiding?

Inquiring minds want to know...

The Bush administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to overrule a federal judge and allow the White House to keep secret any records of visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and office.
To make the visitor records public would be an "unprecedented intrusion into the daily operations of the vice presidency," the Justice Department argued in a 57-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.

The government was responding to an October order, by U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, to release two years of White House visitor logs to The Washington Post. The newspaper, researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, sought Secret Service records for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers...

A lawsuit over similar records revealed in September that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed — key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal — landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.

Posted by at 12:52 PM | Comments (9)

An Open House

One of the goals of Speaker-designee Pelosi is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. Those intended reforms include plans to create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.

An editorial in today's New York Times reads:

For all the worthy proposals for ethics reform being hashed out by the incoming Congress, a heavy dose of Internet transparency should not be overlooked in the effort to repair lawmakers’ tattered credibility. The technology is already there, along with the public’s appetite for more disclosure about the byways of power in Congress.
The Web is increasingly wielded by both campaign donors and bloggers clicking and tapping as wannabe muckrakers. Politicians would be wise to catch up. Local citizens were enlisted to track pork-barrel abuses in the last campaign by a new watchdog organization, the Sunlight Foundation, which enlisted Ms. Gillibrand’s disclosure pledge. It aims to have voters use the Internet as an engine of political information.

Much more than disclosure is needed to cure the Capitol’s ills — particularly some sort of independent agency to prod Congress to fully investigate corruption allegations. But prompt, searchable postings of basic data — from lobbyists’ itineraries and expenses to incumbents’ donor ties and legislative labors — should be part of any corruption cure. In the information age, this amounts to a modest proposal for a Congress truly intent on reform.

House and Senate Democratic Leaders are already exploring ways to utilize the tools of the digital age to facilitate greater openness and accountability. At RootsCampDC representatives from both Congresswoman Pelosi's office and Senator Reid's office held the first in a series of discussions to solicit feedback and recommendations on what Congress can do to achieve these goals. You can check out the notes from that discussion, here.

What ideas do you have? Add your suggestions in the comments.

Posted by at 11:13 AM | Comments (2)

Democrats Plan to Take Control of Iraq Spending

The new year is going to bring about a lot of new changes - and the Bush Administration had best be prepared to deal with a Congress that will actually think critically and ask questions instead of simply rubber-stamping everything the White House sends over.

One of the changes to be expected - Democrats are going to take control of spending on Iraq:

Democrats are planning to assert more control over the billions of dollars a month being spent on the conflict when they take charge of Congress in January.
In interviews, the incoming Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees said they would demand a better accounting of the war’s cost and move toward integrating the spending into the regular federal budget, a signal of their intention to use the Congressional power of the purse more assertively to influence the White House’s management of the war.

The lawmakers, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Representative John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, said the administration’s approach of paying for extended military operations and related activities through a series of emergency requests had inhibited Congressional scrutiny of the spending and obscured the true price of the war.

“They have been playing hide-the-ball,” Mr. Conrad said, “and that does not serve the Congress well nor the country well, and we are not going to continue that practice.”

Mr. Spratt, who along with Mr. Conrad is examining how the Democratic Congress should funnel the war spending requests through the House and Senate, said, “We need to have a better breakout of the costs — period.” He is planning hearings for early next year on the subject even as the White House readies a new request for $120 billion or more to pay for the war through Sept. 30, in addition to the more than $70 billion in emergency appropriations already spent this year.

In fact, this kind of oversight was one of many recommendations made recently by the Iraq Study Group. It is a problem which and has caused frustration on both sides of the aisle:

Both Republicans and Democrats have objected to the administration’s refusal to add the war costs to the budget, particularly when the conflict has lasted almost four years. “It is hard to comprehend with an ongoing event like the war that there wouldn’t be something on it in the budget,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader.

How do you think "The Decider" will react to checks and balances with Democrats in control of Congress? My guess is: not well.

Posted by at 10:11 AM | Comments (5)

Thursday Open Thread

Some random news:

Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. Folks here are really excited about Dreamgirls. Also I am realizing how many great movies I missed during campaign season!

An inquiry by Scotland Yard into the tragic death of Princess Diana has been completed with no evidence of conspiracy being uncovered.

According to The New York Times, "Circumcision appears to reduce a man’s risk of contracting AIDS from heterosexual sex by half". Here's to hoping for funding for comprehensive sex education programs in the near future.

What's on your mind?

Posted by at 9:39 AM | Comments (211)

December 13, 2006

Tick Tock

It's just dandy to see the President feels no sense of urgency when it comes to dealing with the war in Iraq.

Posted by at 4:38 PM | Comments (85)

Ending the Status Quo

The President can "Stay the Course", declare "Mission Accomplished" and claim that he is looking for "A New Way Forward" but all the snappy slogans in the world won't change the fact that we need a new direction in Iraq that is based more than rhetoric. Democrats know this and a majority of Americans do too.

From the LA Times:

A majority of Americans favor setting a fixed timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq, and just 12% would support a plan to increase troop strength, an option under serious consideration by the military, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
A month after a watershed election that switched control of Congress to the Democrats, respondents expressed low confidence in President Bush's ability to resolve the conflict in Iraq.

By a hefty margin they said Iraq should be the top priority for the new Congress. A plurality of 45% said they had more trust in Democrats to handle the war; 34% said they had more confidence in Bush, who has rejected the idea of setting any timetable for withdrawing troops.

Nearly two-thirds said they believed Iraq had descended into civil war, which Bush has denied. At a time when the administration is at work on a new strategy for Iraq and is resisting calls to start bringing troops home, the poll suggests that the president and his staff are out of step with public opinion.

"The public doesn't want the status quo any longer in Iraq, and they believe the Democrats, rather than President Bush, will be best at finding a solution to the war," said Times polling director Susan Pinkus.

Democrats are ready to lead with a new direction in Iraq. We are united behind a plan of phased redeployment that places more responsibility on Iraqis to protect and unite their country, end the sectarian violence and defeat the insurgency.

Posted by at 4:04 PM | Comments (4)

TX-23: Another Democratic Victory!

South Texans went to the polls yesterday and elected former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez to represent them in the 23rd District of Texas, capping off a landslide year with a 30th pick-up for Democrats.

Rodriguez faced 7-term Republican incumbent, Henry Bonilla, who was forced into a special general election this summer after the Supreme Court ruled that the Tom DeLay-engineered redistricting of South Texas violated the Voting Rights Act. The primary election results of March were thrown out, and the general election pitted Bonilla against a slew of Democratic challengers.

No candidate managed to capture 50% of the vote on November 7th, and a run-off election was scheduled between the top two vote getters, Rodriguez and Bonilla.

Rodriguez's campaign moved to aggressively turn out the vote during the early vote period, and as a result, led the GOP incumbent in votes before the polls opened on Tuesday. A hard-charging field operation and media strategy led to victory Tuesday night and Rodriguez trounced Bonilla, winning 54-46% of the vote.

Commenting on the mood of the electorate, Rodriguez said:

"I think (it was) the trend throughout the country," Rodriguez said after his 54 percent to 46 percent victory in Tuesday's runoff. "I think they're fed up ... they elect us to go out there and solve problems, not create any more."

San Antonio's local political columnist called it an "earthquake":

The soundness with which Rep. Henry Bonilla, the one-time Hispanic poster boy of the Republican Party, was beaten Tuesday night was the equivalent of a political earthquake.
The seven-term incumbent, who as late as Tuesday harbored dreams of becoming a U.S. Senator, was essentially fired from office and replaced by Ciro Rodriguez, a former congressman known more for being a good man than a good campaigner.

Defying every political truism of Bexar County politics, Bonilla started the night by becoming the rare well-known Republican to not only lose early voting, but to lose it badly.

And the slide only continued. Without the benefit of voting analysis that will show exactly what happened in the coming days, the assumption has to be that Bonilla's Republican base either stayed home or strayed to Rodriguez, while more motivated Democrats went to the polls.

During his victory speech last night Ciro demonstrated he was clearly ready to get to work on many of the items on Speaker-designee Pelosi's agenda:

"I think we have a real mandate," he said. "We needed to make sure we worked on raising the minimum wage. We're also going to take care of prescription drug costs. And, by God, we're going to do the right thing by our veterans."

Thanks to Texas, Democrats just got a larger majority and America just got another fantastic Congressman.

Posted by at 9:35 AM | Comments (12)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

What's going on? This is an open thread.

Posted by at 8:59 AM | Comments (225)

December 12, 2006

Idaho Dems Walk Out

(Via release)

Newly elected Democrats stood up and left their desks empty on the floor of the House chamber during Friday's organizational session, a show of unity against a patently unfair and mean-spirited move by Republicans who refused to recognize Democratic electoral gains.
According to custom and tradition, legislative committees are assigned to lawmakers based on their partisan percentages. This year, Democrats gained six seats in the House, an increase of 8.57 percent, for a total of 19 representatives out of a 70-member House.

But the Republican leadership, lead by newly-elected Speaker Lawerence Denney, decided that wasn't enough to merit another seat on the budget committee. By law, the Speaker may determine the makeup of the committees; but past precedent has allowed each party a fair representation on committees.

Not this year, and not with this new leadership.

“This is a breach of trust,” House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet told the House in brief remarks protesting the Republican move. “We won our seats, you won your seats. ... It is political. It is mean-spirited.”

Democrats then stood and walked out of the House chamber en masse. Republicans sat in their seats and stared, dumbfounded at the courage of the Democratic Caucus.

House Assistant Minority Leader George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, said: “If this continues, it’s going to be a very tough session and a very contentious one, and I’m very disappointed that they chose to go this route. I guess it’s a reflection of the political agenda of the new leadership,” as reported in the online blog "Eye on Boise" by Idaho Spokesman-Review reporter Betsy Russell.

House Republican Speaker Lawerence Denney then broke another tradition by continuing the organizing session without a single Democrat on the floor.

Jaquet said Democrats will continue to fight for the seat on the budget committee using procedural tactics.

"The Republicans are disenfranchising the voters when they refuse to recognize our election wins," Jaquet said. "We worked hard to win these seats, and we will fight hard to get the respect and representation we deserve."

Posted by at 9:45 AM | Comments (16)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Tell me something good. This is an open thread...

Posted by at 8:31 AM | Comments (333)

December 11, 2006

Monday Night (Football) Open Thread

The Chicago Bears take on the St. Louis Rams tonight in Monday Night Football. Go Bears!

This is an open thread...

Posted by at 5:56 PM | Comments (167)

Everyone Wants a New Strategy in Iraq - Except George W. Bush

George W. Bush is apparently the most stubborn man on Earth. How else to explain that while two thirds of the American public support the proposals in the Iraq Study Group report (such as reducing troops in Iraq), Bush refuses to change his strategy. Stubborn as a mule.

"One way to assure failure is just to quit, is not to adjust and say it's just not worth it," said Bush, adding, "I believe we'll prevail."

That places the president in a distinct minority. According to the NEWSWEEK poll, more than two out of three Americans believe the United States is losing ground in Iraq (68 percent).

...

In fact, the public goes farther than the Baker-Hamilton report. Sixty-two percent of Americans want the Bush administration to set a timetable for withdrawal. And not in the distant future. Forty-eight percent of Americans want U.S. soldiers and Marines to come home now or within the next year.

As Iraq's civil war spirals out of control, it's of little comfort to the families of soldiers fighting that the President doesn't seem to be in any sort of a rush to bring the troops home.

Posted by at 1:34 PM | Comments (43)

Texas Election is Tomorrow

The WaPost reports the runoff election for the largest congressional district in the United States will take place tomorrow in Texas. Former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, the Democrat, is locked in an extremely tight race that has become too close to call.

The Supreme Court ordered the boundaries of the 23rd District redrawn after determining that the old map -- created under a 2003 redistricting by the Texas Legislature but orchestrated by then-House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) -- discriminated against Latino voters and did not comply with the Voting Rights Act. The new district is now more Hispanic (61 percent as opposed to about 50) and less Republican (54 percent instead of 62).

Because the new map was not finalized until August, five months after the state's primary election, a special election was held Nov. 7. State election law required a runoff if no candidate broke 50 percent. Bonilla won 48.6 percent of the vote; Rodriguez led a field of six Democrats with 19.9 percent.

Good luck to all of those out on the campaign trail in Texas.

Posted by at 11:23 AM | Comments (2)

Monday Morning Open Thread

Stories that made news this weekend:

Troy Smith wins the Heisman.

New poll shows 71 percent of Americans disapprove of war policy: More Americans than ever say President Bush is doing a pitiful job with the war, and an almost equally overwhelming number of people think Iraq won't turn out to be a stable democracy, a new poll showed Friday.

Shout out to all my fellow lactose intolerant peeps: Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution: A surprisingly recent instance of human evolution has been detected among the peoples of East Africa. It is the ability to digest milk in adulthood.

Report on Iraq Exposes a Divide Within the G.O.P.: The release of the report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group this week exposed deep fissures among Republicans over how to manage a war that many fear will haunt their party — and the nation — for years to come.

White House debating new Iraq strategies: In a rush to chart a new course for the Iraq war, President Bush's national security team is debating whether additional troops are needed to secure Baghdad.

Democrats Plan Oil Royalties Inquiry: House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property.

GOP heaps scorn on retiring Frist: Just before the 109th Congress finally adjourned shortly before dawn Saturday, retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist got some last-minute perks for his home state of Tennessee -- and took a rhetorical beating from his colleagues.

This is an open thread...

Posted by at 9:54 AM | Comments (79)

December 8, 2006

Friday Night Open Thread

Have a good one.

This is an open thread...

Posted by at 5:58 PM | Comments (454)

Republicans: Willfully Ignorant

The House ethics committee has issued its report on the allegations against former Republican Representative Mark Foley, and has deemed their response negligent in respect to the protection of teenage House pages.

From CNN.com:

"The failure to exhaust all reasonable efforts to call attention to potential misconduct involving a member and House page is not merely the exercise of poor judgment; it is a present danger to House pages and to the integrity of the institution of the House," the report's executive summary states.

It further states that some who knew of the allegations shifted responsibility and some declined to probe too deeply into the matter, while "others tried repeatedly to elevate the matter, but encountered obstacles in the chain of command."

"In all, a pattern of conduct was exhibited among many individuals to remain willfully ignorant of the potential consequences of former Represenative Foley's conduct," the report states.

At question before the ethics panel was what and when Republican leaders knew about the Florida Republican's actions and how they reacted to the accusations once they surfaced.

Posted by at 2:48 PM | Comments (113)

Last Day Of The Do-Nothing Congress

Congratulations to the American people for making it through two years of hard times that will be written about in the history books as the "109th Congress." It's been rough, but it's finally over.

The DNC Press shop had this to say:

Today marks the last day of the GOP's "do-nothing" Congress. Over the last two years, the Republican-controlled 109th Congress "worked a total of 103 days," which is "seven days fewer than the infamous 'Do-Nothing Congress' of 1948." [Washington Post, 12/8/06] Democrats are committed to taking the business of the American people seriously and, like most American workers, will put in the long hours needed to get the job done.

And once again, I want to give a shout out to all the Democratic activists that helped make our victories in the November election happen.

Posted by at 1:30 PM | Comments (11)

Employee Free Choice Act

Democrats have a long history of supporting the rights of workers. Earlier this year, we created a petition in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. While the fight is not yet over, after the new Democratic Congress is sworn in on January 4th, we can expect to see legislation like the EFCA come up for a vote.

"Under the Republican Congress and the Bush Administration, workers' freedom to form unions has been steadily eroded by lax enforcement of labor laws, decisions cutting organizing protections, and administration interference in collective bargaining. In addition, Republicans have worked to strip overtime protections from millions and have pushed through trade deals that have sent American jobs overseas, further weakening workers' power to organize and bargain.
"The Democratic National Committee has called for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, an important measure for restoring workers' freedom to form unions and protecting America’s hard working families. The legislation would protect workers against employer interference in organizing drives, help workers win contracts after voting for a union, and protects workers from intimidation when forming unions."

Posted by at 12:29 PM | Comments (4)

Friday Morning Open Thread

Pittsburgh stuns Cleveland, and those of us who picked the Browns to win, 27-7 last night in Thursday night football.

Bush Cool to Iraq Study Group's Recommendations. If it isn't stay the course, it won't get done?

Wii Have A Problem. DNC Internet's favorite gaming system features a wireless controller that may hurl into objects in homes.

Use this as an open thread.

Posted by at 11:22 AM | Comments (96)

December 7, 2006

Toxic

But that doesn't seem to bother Bush and Co.:

The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.
Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.

A preliminary staff review released by the Environmental Protection Agency this week acknowledged the possibility of dropping the health standards for lead air pollution. The agency says revoking those standards might be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976" as an air pollutant.

The EPA says concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90 percent in the past 2 1/2 decades.

But Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, called on the agency to "renounce this dangerous proposal immediately," because lead, a highly toxic element, can cause severe nerve damage, especially in children.

"This deregulatory effort cannot be defended," Waxman wrote EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

It's not like we need to be breathing clean air or anything...

28 days until the Democratic Congress is sworn in.

Posted by at 3:53 PM | Comments (8)

A Middle Class Mandate

AFSCME President on the Democrats plan for the first 100 hours:

It has been a month since the Democrats enjoyed an Election Day victory far more sweeping in scope than Bush's 2004 win. But you don't see House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pounding their chests or making partisan proclamations about their newly acquired political capital.
Instead, they're championing a consensus legislative agenda geared toward helping families that have been left behind by the GOP. They're standing up for America's shrinking middle class. Pelosi has pledged to spend her first 100 hours on key bread-and-butter economic issues long neglected under Republican rule.

This is a leader who understands her mandate.

Pelosi's priorities for the first 100 hours include increasing the minimum wage, lifting the prohibition on Medicare negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower prescription drug prices, halving the interest rate on student loans and ending tax breaks for big oil companies in order to invest in alternative energy.

Pelosi calls her 100-hour plan a "down payment on the American dream." I'll take that deal any day over the Bush administration's "zero percent interest" in the middle class. The Speaker-designate's ambitious pro-working families agenda is worthy of our support.

This morning, Pelosi and Reid paid a visit to a national board meeting of my union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, at our headquarters in Washington, D.C., where both showcased a collaborative governing philosophy that has been sorely missing in Washington for years. Their "style" is inclusive and determined.

"The Republicans want to reward the wealthy; the Democrats want to reward work. That's our biggest difference," Speaker-elect Pelosi told AFSCME leaders. "What [Republicans] need to understand is that they wouldn't have their wealth without the people doing the work.

"When I accept the Speaker's gavel, I will be taking it out of the hands of the special interests and put it into the hands of America's working families and children for a better future. There will be civility, integrity and bipartisanship. We'll conduct ourselves in the manner the American people expect."

...

"So here we are. We have won," Pelosi declared to AFSCME's leaders. "We have removed from power those who were there for one reason--to concentrate wealth in the hands of the top 1 percent. I know that expectations are high that we do better for the American people, and they should be."

Concluded Reid: "Thomas Jefferson once said, 'If you stand on principle and you are patient, you will succeed.' That's what we have done. We got our Election Day miracle. Now, it's time to change this country."

Working families have always been a priority for Democrats, in stark contrast to the GOP whose priorities seem to be to cater to a narrow group of wealthy individuals and special interests.

McEntee also details the newly created campaign, "Change America Now" - a coalition of progressive partners whose goal is to provide grassroots support for the middle-class agenda Democrats plan to champion:

The founding purpose of the CAN campaign is to marshal public support for the economic reforms envisioned under Pelosi's 100-hour legislative agenda. The CAN campaign has united 41 progressive groups from across the country to advance a broader agenda of economic prosperity for American families in the areas of job creation, wages, health care, education and the environment.
CAN will use the campaign model developed during the successful effort to defeat Social Security privatization last year. Led by Americans United, a national coalition AFSCME helped create, outraged citizens across the country held hundreds of rallies, town halls and district meetings. An aggressive rapid response unit was set up in Washington, D.C., to counter Republican misinformation and articulate Congress' duty to protect the most successful social program in American history.

CAN will employ the same grassroots model to brand a progressive agenda and to answer the question of what we and our allies are for--and why the agenda we support is important to Americans from all walks of life.

Posted by at 2:49 PM | Comments (12)

McHire: More Proof the Straight Talk Express is Dead

John McCain has tapped Terry Nelson to be his campaign manager. What's so special about that? Matt explains:

Nelson was an unindicted co-conspirator in the TRMPAC scandal as a key point of contact between Tom Delay and the RNC. He was James Tobin's boss during the 2002 New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal, for which Tobin was convicted. He also worked at the head of opposition research for the NRCC this cycle, where robocalls from Republicans pretending to be Democrats were the norm all over the country. Nelson also produced the racist bimbo ad against Harold Ford.

TPM has more.

Straight-talk or double-talk? You Decide.

Posted by at 12:40 PM | Comments (8)

Remembering Pearl Harbor Open Thread

"A date which will live in infamy." President Roosevelt addresses the nation.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Project is an awesome example of using new media to look back, honor and remember our history.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Project pays a debt of gratitude to the Pearl Harbor survivors from the greatest generation by creating a community to share and immortalize their stories. The initiative remembers the survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941 themselves, as well as the freedom they preserved. The campaign seeks to engage the next generation of Americans who benefit even today from these efforts.

The New York Times looks back and releases "the full text of a 15,000-word, six-part series from a dispatch sent to The New York Times by Robert Trumbull, the paper's correspondent at Pearl Harbor. It details a triumphant but mostly forgotten story of World War II: the salvage effort that rebuilt the Pacific Fleet after the Japanese attack."

Posted by at 10:04 AM | Comments (261)

December 6, 2006

Open Thread

What to do with the Rubberstamp? E-bay? GWB Presidential Library? Burn it? Keep it? Tell the 30-Somethings...

SusanG has some reactions from the troops in response to the ISG.

When an entirely new company has to be formed to bail your corrupt administration out of trouble, you know you have problems.

If I understood/cared anything about football, this game would be cause for concern in DNC Internet land. It pits Christy's beloved Bruins against mine and Mike's Seminoles.

Consider this an open thread...

(And be glad I don't try to do the sports analogy thing...)

Posted by at 4:42 PM | Comments (224)

Ending A Do-Nothing Congress: It's Gonna Hurt A Little

Democrats will have their work cut out for them when they take the reigns over from the Rubber-stamp Republican Congress in January. Thanks to the oh-so-professional and responsible actions of the departing Republican majority, who clearly have America's best interests at heart:

Like a retreating army, Republicans are tearing up railroad track and planting legislative land mines to make it harder for Democrats to govern when they take power in Congress next month.
Already, the Republican leadership has moved to saddle the new Democratic majority with responsibility for resolving $463 billion in spending bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. And the departing chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Bill Thomas (R., Calif.), has been demanding that the Democrat-crafted 2008 budget absorb most of the $13 billion in costs incurred from a decision now to protect physician reimbursements under Medicare, the federal health-care program for the elderly and disabled.

The unstated goal is to disrupt the Democratic agenda and make it harder for the new majority to meet its promise to reinstitute "pay-as-you-go" budget rules, under which new costs or tax cuts must be offset to protect the deficit from growing...

With Congress turning off the lights this week, there seems no chance of saving the appropriations process. Instead, most of the government will remain on a stopgap bill through Feb. 15, and in kicking this can down the road, the Republican leadership has no idea where it will stop rolling.

"It's a demonstration of the irresponsibility of Republicans that they would leave this country with this mess," said the next House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). "But we won, we will deal with it."

And deal with it we will. One step towards getting the House back in order starts with setting an aggressive schedule.

Incoming Majority Leader Hoyer broke the news yesterday, which seemed to cause even more whining and crying from the GOP:

"I have bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you had planned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day in January, starting with the 4th."
The reporters groaned. "I know, it's awful, isn't it?" Hoyer empathized.

For lawmakers, it is awful, compared with what they have come to expect. For much of this election year, the legislative week started late Tuesday and ended by Thursday afternoon -- and that was during the relatively few weeks the House wasn't in recess.

Next year, members of the House will be expected in the Capitol for votes each week by 6:30 p.m. Monday and will finish their business about 2 p.m. Friday, Hoyer said.

With the new calendar, the Democrats are trying to project a businesslike image when they take control of Congress in January. House and Senate Democratic leaders have announced an ambitious agenda for their first 100 hours and say they are adamant about scoring legislative victories they can trumpet in the 2008 campaigns.

Hoyer and other Democratic leaders say they are trying to repair the image of Congress, which was so anemic this year it could not meet a basic duty: to approve spending bills that fund government. By the time the gavel comes down on the 109th Congress on Friday, members will have worked a total of 103 days. That's seven days fewer than the infamous "Do-Nothing Congress" of 1948.

Hoyer said members can bid farewell to extended holidays, the kind that awarded them six weekdays to relax around Memorial Day, when most Americans get a single day off. He didn't mention the month-long August recess, the two-week April recess or the weeks off in February, March and July.

He said members need to spend more time in the Capitol to pass laws and oversee federal agencies. "We are going to meet sufficient times, so the committees can do their jobs on behalf of the American people," he said.

Poor Republicans, what will they do now that they are actually going to have to work? Blame Democrats, of course! Luckily we don't have to wait too long:

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Perhaps Rep. Kingston is worried about the effect all that time spent working will have on his on ability to pursue those K-Street dollars?

To me this says that Democrats are committed to doing the work of the nation in a thoughtful and thorough way. It says that Democrats believe in a working hard and not taking hand-outs from the American taxpayer in the form of a paycheck and then cutting and running from their responsibility to the Americans who elected them to office.

It's like, Rep. Thompson said:

"It's long overdue," said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who lives in Napa Valley and will have to leave his home at 3 a.m. on Sundays to catch a flight to Washington in time for work Mondays. "I didn't come here to turn around and go back home."

Fixing the mess that this Rubber-stamp Republican Congress has created isn't going to an easy task, but Democrats are ready and willing to tackle the challenge. We'll do what we have to do to "make it work".

Posted by at 2:38 PM | Comments (4)

The Iraq Study Group

The much anticipated report from The Iraq Study Group was released today. According to the New York Times:

Saying that “the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating,” a bipartisan commission today urged stepped-up diplomatic and political efforts to stabilize that country, coupled with a shift in the mission of the American military to allow the United States to “begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly.”
This could allow all United States combat brigades “not necessary for force protection” to be out of Iraq by the first quarter of 2008, the Iraq Study Group’s report said.

The panel studying the war in Iraq presented its findings this morning to President Bush, who said he would take their ideas “very seriously” and act on them “in a timely fashion,” and then to Congressional leaders.

The report, by a 10-member commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d and former Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, urges a commitment by the United States to work with Iran, Syria and other nations to bring stability to the region.

“We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution,” Mr. Baker said pointedly at a question-answer session accompanying the report’s release. “In our opinion, that is no longer viable.” Those remarks were sure to be interpreted, at least by administration critics, as a rebuke to President Bush.

The Report echoes what the American people said last month when they went to the polls: It is time for a new direction in Iraq. It is the clear that the President must be willing to change the course, and not just "stay the course" when it comes to dealing with Iraq.

Governor Dean:

"In the past, President Bush and his Administration have refused to acknowledge the facts on the ground in Iraq and turned a deaf ear to the advice of our military leaders on the ground. Democrats have long been calling for many of the proposals made in this report, including a phased redeployment of our troops and placing more pressure on the Iraqi government to take responsibility for its own security. "
"This report presents yet another opportunity for President Bush to change course in Iraq. The American people have made it clear and our brave troops deserve a new direction in Iraq. As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, I hope that with the release of this report the President will take action to change course in Iraq."

Yet, in the days before the report was released, the President had already dismissed what he anticipated to be a report contrary to his "stay the course" "strategy":

"We'll be in Iraq until the job is complete, at the request of a sovereign government elected by the people,'' Bush said. "I know there is a lot of speculation that these reports mean that there is going to be some sort of graceful exit out of Iraq...This business about graceful exit just has no realism to it at all,'' Bush said.

It's comments like that which lead me to question the President's idea of reality. And then, there's Tony Snow, the President's spokesperson, saying at a Press Briefing that the White House will "study" the study. Yet when asked the following question:

QUESTION: On the evaluation of the report, it says the following, the co-chairs say the following, stay the course is no longer viable, the current approach is not working. The situation is grave and deteriorating. Chairman Hamilton says he is not sure whether the situation can be turned around -- Can this report be seen as anything other than a rejection of this president's handling of the war?

His answer?

SNOW: Absolutely.

Absolutely? Sounds less like "studying" the report and more like the same old spin.

Posted by at 1:47 PM | Comments (22)

FL-13: What's Going On?

Over at DailyKos, Adam B. takes a look at what exactly went wrong in the 13th District of Florida, where Democrat Christine Jennings is still fighting to make sure that every vote, and every voter, is heard.

One option Adam looks at, explained by Rick Hasen, election law professor:

The House can — and should — declare the seat vacant, requiring the seat to be filled by a special election. ...
Overturning an election in the courts is tough, absent proof of fraud or proof that legal votes were not counted.

But there is another option. The Constitution provides that "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members ... ." The House has resolved disputed elections before. For two reasons, the House should declare the seat vacant, triggering a special election.

On the web: Christine Jennings

Posted by at 12:47 PM | Comments (7)

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

Iraq Study Group says Iraq situation is grave and deteriorating. What do you think? This is an open thread...

Posted by at 12:05 PM | Comments (71)

December 5, 2006

Determination

Via ThinkProgress, via Gristmill:

Al Gore's plan to deal with the fact that President Bush still hasn’t seen An Inconvenient Truth...

Q: Do you know if President Bush has seen the movie yet?

GORE: Well, he claimed that would not see it. That’s why I wrote the book. He’s a reader.

Posted by at 5:26 PM | Comments (21)

Governor Dean and the DNC Support DC Voting Rights

Governor Dean:

"For far too long, residents of the District of Columbia have been denied full voting rights in Congress. The Democratic National Committee is on record supporting full voting rights for District residents, believing that change is long overdue. Residents of our nation's capital share responsibilities in their government, pay federal taxes, and serve honorably in our nation's military and should have an equal voice in America's strong democratic process. Republicans should withdraw their opposition."

Posted by at 5:16 PM | Comments (9)

Like a Breath of Fresh Air: Senator Boxer & the Environment Committee

More reasons to love a Democratically controlled Senate, via AP:

Environmental rollbacks from the Bush administration "in the dead of the night" are history, the incoming head of the Senate environment committee declared Tuesday.
"That's over. We are going to bring these things into the light," Sen. Barbara Boxer D-Calif., said in a wide-ranging interview laying out her agenda with The Associated Press. She cited concerns about a host of new Bush administration rules on air, land and water quality.

Boxer expressed optimism that Congress could reach agreement with President Bush on a global warming bill, but acknowledged she might not get all she hopes for. Bush has opposed mandatory regulation of industrial carbon dioxide.

"I have no line in the sand. ... Even a little step will look like a big step," she said. "I very much want the environment to go back to being a nonpartisan issue."

Boxer's rise marks not only a sharp turn in the nation's environmental leadership, but in Democrats' ability to question and demand documents on the administration's decisions.

"Any kind of weakening of environmental laws or secrecy or changes in the dead of night — it's over," Boxer said. "We're going to for once, finally, make this committee an environment committee, not an anti-environment committee. ... This is a sea change that is coming to this committee."...

..."Real goals, real percentages," Boxer said of what she's seeking nationally, though she added that along with being an idealist, she's also a realist — and hopes above all to get some form of new regulations started.

Several world leaders have called Boxer expressing their hope for a new day in U.S. environmental policy, she said, adding that "we want to send a signal to the world."

Also on the agenda is a proposal to provide support and care for the many workers from Ground Zero who have developed health problems due to hazardous environmental conditions present post-9/11.

"We are taking care of the families who lost loved ones and nobody complains about that," Boxer said. "Why wouldn't we take care of the people who are surviving and coughing and sick — and dying, I might add — as a result of their work? To me it's clear, I don't have any hesitation about what our obligation is."
Doctors found thousands of workers suffered a variety of ailments, principally lung and gastrointestinal disorders. The demands for treatment grew more urgent after the January death of 34-year-old former NYPD detective James Zadroga was blamed on his exposure at ground zero.

These brave men and women selflessly gave of themselves during a national crisis, and they deserve better than what they have gotten in the years since that horrible day. You can be sure a Democratic Congress will make sure it gets delivered.

It will be a good day when the United States can live up to its responsibilities, locally and globally, when it comes to preserving and protecting our environment. That is a responsibility that the Bush Administration has routinely ignored, or tried to get around by coming up with catchy names for legislation like, "Clear Skies Act" or "Healthy Forests Initiative", that do nothing of the sort to actually produce those conditions.

Won't it be nice to see a new direction for our environmental policy? When Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are sworn in as Leaders of the Senate and the House and Democrats take control it is going to be a beautiful day - clear skies or not.

Posted by at 3:52 PM | Comments (16)

Nevada Nurses Locked Out

Nurses working to negotiate lower staffing ratios so they can provide better care for their patients were locked out of local hospitals and replacements were brought in when contract negotiations failed in Nevada.

This is a fight about the quality of care the nurses are able to deliver under the current system, and the desire of the nurses to lower the nurse-to-patient ratio in order to provide better care.

From a local paper, via Taylor Marsh, who has some additional interviews up on her site that are worth checking out.

Hundreds of nurses are off the job at Valley and Desert Springs hospitals today. They've hit the picket line after negotiations between the nurses union and the hospital went stale over the weekend.
The Service Employees International Union members and the hospitals aren't fighting over money, but rather union access and what the nurses describe as sub-standard staffing.

Joined by a beefed up security presence, more than 1000 Valley Hospital employees gathered together outside the front entrance at 6 a.m., a time on any other day the union nurses would be starting their shift.

Donna West, a Valley Hospital nurse, said, "The nurses in this hospital are taking care of too many patients at one time."

The nurses union spent the weekend meeting with hospital officials to try to come to an agreement. But with neither party able to come to terms on the staffing issues at hand, the nurses hope Monday's strike sends a message.

Karen Kinimaka, Valley Hospital ICU nurse, said, "We're trying to get better staffing ratios. That's what we're here for. We're trying to take care of our patients."

In the meantime, local officials are trying to bring both sides together to agree to a "cooling off period", the hospital has brought in a bunch of "stand in" nurses from other parts of the country and the locked out nurses are hoping to bring this to a swift conclusion so they can get back to caring for their patients.

Posted by at 2:30 PM | Comments (4)

Leading the Way for DGA

Via WaPo, some most excellent news:

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) will become chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association next year, officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.
The Democrats are coming off a successful campaign season, picking up six statehouses in last month's elections.

Sebelius and the DGA declined to comment ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the governors association, when the announcement of Sebelius's appointment is expected. She would replace New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is considering a run for president in 2008.

Next year, the Democrats will hold a majority of the country's governorships for the first time in 12 years. This year's victories came in several states that had Republican governors despite strongly Democratic leanings, such as Massachusetts and New York.

But the elections also underscored the importance of the party reaching out to more conservative states. Sebelius, who defeated her opponent with 58 percent of the vote Nov. 7, is considered a leading model for how Democrats can win in traditionally Republican territory.

The Democrats also picked up governor's seats in Ohio, Arkansas, Colorado and Maryland, and they will control 28 states in January. The Democrats' success in governor's races was mirrored in state legislatures, where they picked up nine chambers.

Sebelius's vice chairman at the DGA will be West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III, according to the AP.

Governor Sebelius has done an amazing job leading the state of Kansas and bringing the Democratic message to the heart of a "red" state. Not only is this a fabulous development for women leaders, but it's going to be a fantastic fit for the Democratic Governor's Association as we seek to build a truly national party as part of the 50-State Strategy. Governor Sebelius already knows the importance of fighting for every vote and has shown that not only is she willing to do it, but that she can do it and win:

One of the key reasons Kansas Democrats are in fighting mood is their governor, Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius's vote represents an island of Democratic blue in a sea of Republican red on the political map, and she has impressed by reaching the middle-ground voters in a startlingly successful first term. Shunning the hot-button social issues, she has focused on education, jobs and health. This has earned her approval ratings touching 68 per cent in a state that was overwhelmingly pro-Bush in 2004.
Sebelius has cracked the political holy grail: persuading heartland Republicans to vote Democrat. 'Her style works here, and then bringing over Parkinson to the Democrats has been the coup of all coups,' said Professor Bob Beatty, a political scientist at Washburn University near Topeka.

More on how Governor Sebelius has re-energized the state of Kansas with her common sense approach, here and here.

Posted by at 12:16 PM | Comments (1)

We Report, You Decide...

From Adam, over on the PartyBuilder community blogs, The Worst President Ever?. You decide!

The debate rages between Bush critics who insist that he is the worst president in US history, and the pro-Bush people, vigorously defending their hero by insisting that he's merely the fifth worst president in US history.
That's a just a highlight of the Outlook (opinion) section of the Washington Post this weekend, which included a number of articles on the question of how history will view George W. Bush. Some of the articles included:

"Move Over, Hoover"
"He's The Worst Ever"
"He's Only Fifth Worst"
"At Least He's Not Nixon"

Wow. When "at least he's not Nixon" and "he's only the fifth worst" are the pro-Bush columns, you know Bush is in trouble.

Discuss...

Posted by at 12:01 PM | Comments (7)

Tuesday Open Thread

AP - 2 attacks in Baghdad kill at least 30 -- Suspected insurgents set off a car bomb to stop a minibus carrying Shiite government employees in Baghdad, then shot and killed 15 of them, the government said. In another attack in the capital on Tuesday, two car bombs exploded in a commercial district, killing 15 other Iraqis, police said. The U.S. command said an insurgent attack on an American military patrol in Baghdad on Monday killed one soldier and wounded five. Another U.S. serviceman also died in southern Iraq that day in an accident involving his vehicle. Their deaths came after a weekend during which 13 American service members died in Iraq....

Washington Post - U.S. Army Battling To Save Equipment -- .... The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to government data. An estimated $17 billion-plus worth of military equipment is destroyed or worn out each year, blasted by bombs, ground down by desert sand and used up to nine times the rate in times of peace. The gear is piling up at depots such as Anniston, waiting to be repaired. The depletion of major equipment such as tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and especially helicopters and armored Humvees has left many military units in the United States without adequate training gear, officials say. Partly as a result of the shortages, many U.S. units are rated "unready" to deploy....

NY Times - Votes in Doubt, Bolton Resigns as Ambassador -- President Bush reluctantly accepted the resignation of the United Nations ambassador, John R. Bolton, on Monday, conceding that the envoy could not win Senate confirmation and signaling that the administration was unwilling to make another end run around Congressional opponents in order to keep Mr. Bolton in his job....Despite the president’s strong words, administration officials had largely given up on Mr. Bolton’s confirmation last month, after Sen. Lincoln Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he would not support it.

Posted by at 9:33 AM | Comments (231)

December 4, 2006

Supreme Court to Review School Integration

Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments for two cases that involve racial integration. The WaPost has more:

More than 50 years after the Supreme Court decided in Brown v. Board of Education that separate schools are inherently unequal, the court will consider tomorrow whether race can still be a factor when school systems design programs to promote racial integration. A broadly written decision on Louisville's plan, and on a related one from Seattle, could have a profound impact on school systems across the country.

I walked past the Supreme Court this morning and saw hundreds of demonstrators protesting segregation in schools. It was a sight to behold:

Some in the crowd that gathered before dawn wore t-shirts bearing a photo of Thurgood Marshall, the late Supreme Court justice who as a civil rights attorney famously argued the 195 Brown vs. Board of Education case that led to the desegregation of the nation's schools.

"Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas," the demonstrators chanted, "will try to segregate us, and take what we've been promised."

The demonstration was organized in part by student leaders from the nation's historically black colleges and universities, including many from Howard University in the District. Labor groups, the National Organization for Women and teacher's unions also turned out in force.

Posted by at 11:39 AM | Comments (12)

Bolton Resigns Open Thread

This just in: John Bolton has resigned as ambassador to the United Nations.

This is an open thread.

Posted by at 9:25 AM | Comments (273)

December 2, 2006

Weekend Open Thread

In DNC land, a window into the goings on from todays RBC meeting, courtesy of the Director of Party Affairs:

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) met today to continue its work on the Party's 2008 delegate selection process.
Among the items on the Committee's agenda is consideration of a proposal that would establish an incentive system using bonus delegates to encourage states to hold their primaries and caucuses later in the process. S tates that hold their primaries and caucuses later than they were in 2004 would receive significant bonus delegates. All in an effort to combat front-loading by states at the beginning of the calendar.

Additionally, the RBC will adopt its "Regulations." This document helps guide the RBC and the State Democratic Parties in implementing the rules regarding the delegate selection process.

The RBC is a 30-member standing committee of the DNC and is charged with administering the Party's presidential nominating process. Former Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman and Massachusetts State Party Counsel (and FDR grandson) James Roosevelt serve as Co-Chairs of the RBC.

This is an open thread...

Posted by at 9:39 PM | Comments (252)

December 1, 2006

TGIF Open Thread

It's so hard to say goodbye....

In a way that's really not!

More videos from Speaker (to be) Pelosi, here.

Posted by at 9:38 AM | Comments (536)