"Tavis Smiley, the television host who moderated both PBS forums, said at the outset: “Some of the campaigns who declined our invitations to join us tonight have suggested publicly that this audience would be hostile and unreceptive. Since we are live on PBS right now, I can’t tell you what I really think of these kinds of comments.”"

so the top four bozo pelican candidates skipped the debate held at morgan state that was to focus on the concerns of minority voters. i think the best person to explain their absence would be that master of intercultural affairs, that beacon of multi-cultural hope, that courageous pioneer who braved the pork chops and baked beans up at slyvia's......thats right...bill o'liely!!!

After the senate vote on the lieberman/kyl
amendment, I was so pissed, I was about to leave the party once and for all. But I will hold out hope that Al Gore will run, he is the only reason
I would help the Dems. otherwise im out of here.

re-post because I want to make sure this one gets read:

gregg, this will be Very interesting. In order to save some of his legacy, will we see Bush admit to Corporations and humans causing Global Warming at long last???

Clock Ticking As Bush Looks To His `Legacy List'
On Agenda: Dealing With Global Warming, Working Toward Stabilizing Iraq, Restructuring Of War On Terror

WASHINGTON - As he addresses a conference on climate change this morning, President Bush will face not only a crowd of skeptics but the press of time.

For nearly seven years, he invested little personal energy in combating the challenge of global warming. Now with the end of his presidency in sight, he has called the biggest nations of the world together to press for a plan by the end of next year.

There are some other interesting tidbits in this article, too on how he hopes to try and rewrite the legacy that is coming his way!

Success in any of these areas would amount to a singular achievement and, in the view of advisers, could help rewrite Bush's place in history. No president wants to be remembered as the author of an ill-fated war and, while Iraq certainly will be at the core of the Bush administration's record, advisers hope to broaden the picture. Yet analysts said the hour is late to resolve the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict on his watch, critics doubt his sincerity on climate change and Iran remains as intransigent as ever.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HERE IS WHY HILLARY, OBAMA AND EDWARDS RETREATED ON GETTING TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ !!!!

The goal, as national security adviser Stephen Hadley told the Council of Foreign Relations recently, is that "a new president who comes in in January of '09, whoever he or she may be, will look at it and say, `I'm persuaded that we have long-term interests here. It's important we get it right. This strategy is beginning to work. I think I'll leave Iraq alone.'"

Bush has even quietly sent advice through intermediaries to Clinton and other Democratic candidates, urging them to be careful in their campaign rhetoric so they do not limit their options should they win, according to a new book, "The Evangelical President," by Bill Sammon of the Washington Examiner.

http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-bush0928.artsep28,0,7099979.story

hey pam. folks like bush will wait until children are choking from pollution before they agree to study the problem. screw them. bbl.

folks like bush will wait until children are choking from pollution before they agree to study the problem. screw them. bbl.
Posted by gregg on September 28, 2007 at 09:27 AM

Not even then, would any of these Neo Con pigs relent and do anything about it !

On a scale of 1 to 10 (one lowest) How much Freedom do you have with Bush compared to Bill (Not Hillary) Clinton.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (one lowest) How much Democracy do you have with Bush compared to Bill (Not Hillary) Clinton.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (one lowest) How much Constitutional civil liberties do you have with Bush compared to Bill (Not Hillary) Clinton.

Last on a scale of 1 to 10 (one lowest) How much better are we as a nation with Bush compared to Bill (Not Hillary) Clinton.

Would in your mind Hillary be more like George or Bill as a President?

Lets see if the repuKKKan congress will be outrage at rush LIMPbaugh comments about phony soldiers. I hope Reid and Pelosi introduce an amendment to condemn LIMPbaugh comments ....... Oh.. and lets see if BARNEY and his pet get ask about LIMPbaugh comment from bill sammon

Would in your mind Hillary be more like George or Bill as a President?

Posted by dlesterpoet on September 28, 2007 at 09:39 AM

well dlester, seeing as how Bill has admitted he was a two-fer, that Hillary was integral in his administration, I would say that Hillary is on the same page that Bill was.

It was unfortunate that Bill had to be backed up by a Republican congress who did not do one single thing other than keep trying to pin something on him, which they never ever were able to, outside of Monica. I will take a stained blue dress over the death of 3800+ US troops, and 28,000 Disabled and limb-less boys.

Bill Clinton's approval when leaving office was one of the highest ever, and his legacy is now one of the most favorable! Let's watch Bush's very carefully! We KNOW how he will slither out the back door in disgrace as the Worst President in the History of the USA!

You know that org that goes to different rallies and puts up 3800 pairs of the dead soldier's boots as a symbol of what this Lie of an occupation is really about?? Well, when Bush drives out of that White House for the last time, let's line Pennsylvania Avenue with all the boots of all the boys he has killed !

Good morning Democrats. Would love to see someone post a list of the Neo Cons who are responsible for the PNAC business. We should give these people some notoriety and "credit" for the mess we're in. Lets keep them in the light for awhile. Most of them are still crawling around under the rocks and working their evil on government policies.

Good morning, all.

Posted by PamB on September 28, 2007 at 09:14 AM

If Clinton, Obama, or Edwards fall for this scam, they shouldn't be running for dog catcher.

Limit the options? Let's be real here.

When you invade the wrong country, with bogus intel and outright lies, and then destroy their infrastructure and social fabric what options are left? There is no way to make this right.

Any Democrat that would give Bush cover after the way he has conducted himself is highly lacking in intelliegence and judgment.

Diplomatically-speaking, the only thing left for Bush to do is resign or do as the discredited Chinese toy plant manager did.

Gotta run. later.

well, here is a partical list of the slimeballs from their site, Larry.

Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz

this is a really good article on PNAC done by Information clearing House.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm

If Clinton, Obama, or Edwards fall for this scam, they shouldn't be running for dog catcher.

Sandy, Trust me, I have sent a similar message on to each of their campaigns. WHY would they trust or believe or even HELP this Idiot-in-Chief with this Lie ?????

Richardson, Kucinich both look better and better.

It is the end of the quarter and I was going to send last minute cash to some of these guys. Guess who I just eliminated !

Vietnam rants are frustrations that must come out living in a Bush Vietnam redefined Iraq Civil War quagmire. They are sometimes abstract requiring thoughts, and yes, there are many typos. In writing Bush frenzies, I need a better editor but it is about getting it out of your system this political trash we have in Washington.

I wish Congress would give working Americans Constitutional Freedom and Democracy, when they are off work with due process of challenging Corporate policies of after hour policing. These Corporate parents, who ban our private lives "At Will" in order to keep a paycheck, are like working for a Red Chinese controlled society. Yes in America you cannot have your day in court after they ban you for writing in Freedom and Democracy of your own home, they can then "At Will" terminate you for things like POETRY. It is time for worker's right inside their own home or else they will ban smoking, drinking, dancing, and screwing only in the Missionary position of only one child. With a special Taliban Bush Intercourse Police Force, using their Patriot Act infra red cameras with Microsoft filters.

The Republican riddle
By: Roger Simon
Sep 26, 2007 07:27 PM EST

The race for the Republican presidential nomination is a muddle. It is clouded by confusion and illuminated only by brief flashes of perplexity.

Rudy Giuliani leads in virtually every national poll but trails in the key states that may decide the nominee.

Mitt Romney leads in key states but continues to rank an anemic fourth in national polls.

Fred Thompson gets terrible opening-night reviews but debuts in second place nationwide.

John McCain, once the front-runner, then written off as dead, now is rebounding, but how far can he go?

Then there is Mike Huckabee. Everybody’s choice for vice president, could he actually sneak away with the top spot?

Though I usually rely on my own impeccable judgment in such matters, today I ask three top Republicans for their assessment of the race thus far. They are not aligned with any campaign, which is another sign of just how smart they are.

Whit Ayres is a pollster and consultant who worked in Lamar Alexander’s 1996 presidential campaign and in numerous Senate and governors’ races. He is an expert on Southern politics.

“This is a completely wide-open race, and any of three or four or five candidates can actually win,” Ayres says. “The insiders’ front-runner is Mitt Romney; the national front-runner is Rudy Giuliani; John McCain needs to continue clawing his way back and get some money; Thompson needs to justify his high-flying numbers; and Mike Huckabee needs millions of dollars in the bank.

“The others have to stop Romney somewhere before Feb. 5 [when more than 20 states will vote]. It could be in New Hampshire or Florida. But it has got to be somewhere. The others can’t wait until Feb. 5. to defeat him.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/6045.html

All you Dems that support John Edwards need to donate as much as you can possibly afford to give to his campaign today. Time is of the essence!

If the Republicans are not afraid of Hillary winning, WHY are they already spending so much money to stop her? Thank God Hillary's campaign has a Rapid Response Unit that is by far more effective than Kerry's ever was! She does not worry about the "Mr nice guy approach"

"Sensing that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) will win the Democratic presidential nomination, Republican Party operatives are stepping up their political attacks on the former first lady but are wary of going too far with their criticisms because she is a woman.

As with the other Democratic White House hopefuls, GOP strategists are concerned that extremely aggressive rhetoric against Clinton could backfire. However, they point out that they are devoting significant resources to defeat her.

Richard Collins, a wealthy Texas businessman and a leading organizer of Stop Her Now, a political committee devoted to opposing Clinton’s White House bid, told The Hill his group will spend $500,000 to $600,000 between now and February targeting her candidacy.

“We expect we’ll be much more intense in our efforts between now and Feb. 28,” said Collins.

Collins emphasized that his group’s strategy and tactics are more important than how much it plans to spend.

Stop Her Now will use humor in its attacks against Clinton to make them more appealing to swing voters. Its website features anti-Clinton cartoons and jokes of the week. It also has posted a spoof of “The Tonight Show” in which an unflattering parody of Clinton plays the role of Johnny Carson.

Republican operative David Bossie, president of Citizens United, is producing a critical film documentary about Clinton that conservative financial backers hope will be as effective as the attacks of another group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, against former Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/600k-aimed-at-clinton-2007-09-28.html

What I am hoping for also, is the Democrat's in Congress use these to Force Votes in Congress condeming the use of Filthy dirty tricks!

Posted by PamB on September 28, 2007 at 09:51 AM
==========================================
Thank you for your view, it is what America needs, its people talking and debating forcing our politicians to react to our voices not theirs or Corporate Global America. It is in silence that has been imposed by intimidation, that they divide US in their secret agendas. So it is important to keep open lines of communication that is why we are filtered to control open minds from thinking. Thank again patriot.

A quick shout out to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the new leadership role the US is taking in greenhouse gas emission discussions. They can ignore Kyoto completely and deny global warming on one hand and then take a "leadership" role on the other hand. Talk about manual dexterity!

bbl, Dems. Time to shed the pjs and jump in shower.

hey pam i just saw this over at crooks and liars. hope it is true.

Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California’s 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.

In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday’s print editions, The Times’ Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.

here is more on the california story from the l.a. times, feast till your bellies are full my jackels...

BREAKING NEWS: Electoral initiative backers give up

Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California's 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.

In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday's print editions, The Times' Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.

The reality is hundreds of thousands of signatures must be gathered by the end of November to get the measure on the June 2008 ballot.

Although Maine (since 1972) and Nebraska (since 1996) award electoral votes to the popular vote winner in each congressional district, the California initiative ignited a national controversy with Democratic critics charging it was a power grab by Republicans who are regularly shut out of any California electoral votes by the current winner-take-all system. Democrats have won all the state's 55 electoral votes in the last four presidential elections.

Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are currently held by Republicans, giving them a fair chance of winning those electoral votes in a presidential election. The remaining two electoral votes would still go to the state's overall winner.

The initiative began in July with an air of mystery. Its text and paperwork were filed by a Republican law firm in Sacramento -- Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk -- but the actual identity of the backers was unknown. Observers noted the initiative would have helped independent candidates because its text specifically provided for third-party or independent candidates to win electoral votes by district.

Supporters said the initiative would increase California's role in presidential politics and better represent the state's diversity.

Opposition was led by Democratic consultant Chris Lehane who received financial backing from donors such as Stephen Bing, like Lehane a Hillary Clinton backer who saw any threat to keeping all of California's electoral votes as unacceptable.

"We want to to make sure this is not the Freddy Krueger of initiatives," Lehane said today, "that comes back to life. We'll continue to monitor it." Morain's full story is available here.

--Andrew Malcolm

OMG, gregg, that is fantastic news if true !

We need to keep cutting the head off the snake as they start to branch off into these dirty schemes to steal another election.

Betcha Karlie Rove is stomping his feet and bellowing today!!!! :)

Tommaso Palladini of Milan perhaps said it best as he marched with his countrymen in Rome. "You fight terrorism," he said, "by creating more justice in the world."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm

Posted by PamB on September 28, 2007 at 09:59 AM

PamB, thanks for that post and link. Great artical. Palladini has it right.

It is good news they're giving up the initiative but we must still keep an eye on it and also we must put a stop on their voting suppression tactics everywhere especialy Florida and Ohio.

ap,

This was only the tip of the iceburg. I am sure there are many many more intimidations, election manipulations, voter machine cheating, coming down the road. the only way the Republians can win, is by cheating. I wonder why Real Republicans don't feel more shame at having to win this way. As a highly competitive person, I do not advocate winning if it means winning by cheating. That isn't winning at all!

Good to hear you're sticking with us social but we still have alot of work to do the DLC and the blue dogs who are up for re-election must be voted out in the primaries so we have to start recruiting some strong progressive candidates to challenge them.

Notice he says "reasonable' people. The little gonad-less macho neo cons are not reasonable !

"It is an exceedingly dangerous time. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hard-core "neo-conservative" protégés in the administration and Congress are pushing harder and harder for President George W. Bush, isolated from reality, to honor the promise he made to Israel to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

On Sept. 23, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned pointedly:

"If we escalate tensions, if we succumb to hysteria, if we start making threats, we are likely to stampede ourselves into a war [with Iran], which most reasonable people agree would be a disaster for us...I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092807O.shtml

ap, start a movement within your state to find and run REAL progressives in Primaries for positions. We have such a force here in this state. We don't have too many in the State, but those who want to walk a center line are being targeted.

Think I will send this one on to Rush. He disses Real Soldiers? Real Soldiers do not kill for lies, nor follow leaders blindly !

Soldiers With Picket Signs
By Amber Healy
The Fairfax Connection

Thursday 13 September 2007

More than five years after war began in Iraq, veterans speak out against the occupation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092807J.shtml

G'morning people, check out 'Project for the OLD American Century' and their 'George W Bush and the 14 points of fascism'. Good stuff and the reason why we should take off the kid gloves and start calling a f*n fascist what it really is, a f*n fascist.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4. Supremacy of the Military

5. Rampant Sexism

6. Controlled Mass Media

7. Obsession with National Security

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined

9. Corporate Power is Protected

10. Labor Power is Suppressed

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

14. Fraudulent Elections

what the democrats should do is get a ballot initiative going in texas to break up the electoral votes there. ever since the theft of the presidency in 2000 this is about winning or giving the country over to gilded age worshiping pigs.

Posted by gregg on September 28, 2007 at 11:18 AM

hi gregg, that may be exactly why they decided to back off. if every state was divided up like that, they'd never win!

Posted by BoilerMan on September 28, 2007 at 11:15 AM

Great post, Boiler Man. The best defense is a better offense. Lets take it to the Republicans.

Many good comments on the blog today. I was having breakfast in Lexington KY today and came across Joseph Galloway's column: "Spineless Congress abetting Bush."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/19992.html

I was inspired. Take a minute to read it. Again I continue to ask where has the democratic leadership run off and hid? We need better leadership, not just a bunch do-nothings. Posted the content below.

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2007|

Once again, the Bush administration is flimflamming the hapless Democratic majority in Congress into rushing an important piece of legislation into law without serious thought or debate about the implications.

Although Congress passed a temporary extension of the FISA law in August that carries it through to February, the administration is already back demanding the immediate passage of a permanent law that permits the government to snoop on all private communications.

They’ve also requested a few “improvements” to the law, including a retroactive waiver of liability for the big telecommunications companies that gave the government unfettered warrantless access to phone calls and e-mail communications in violation of existing law.

The other “improvements” that the White House wants, and our intelligence chiefs say they need, would broaden the already bloated power of the executive branch.

This, even as one member of Congress revealed this week that the temporary extension of the snooping law was jammed through in August when administration officials stampeded legislators by revealing secret information about an alleged terrorist plot to bomb the Capitol. Which, surprise, never materialized.

That was a good one. What will they do to frighten Congress this time? Threaten to send Osama bin Laden the home addresses of every member of Congress who opposes them?

And precisely when can we expect the people who run Congress these days — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — to wake up to the reality that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are playing them like a fiddle?

The White House has stonewalled this same Congress on its demands for information about known abuses of the new surveillance powers. It's assumed for itself, without challenge, all sorts of powers that would appall the men who wrote checks and balances into our Constitution to prevent the unfettered power of a king or dictator.

The Bush White House may have gotten most everything it's touched wrong, but it's raised fear mongering to a fine art. It's wrapped itself in a cloak of invisibility named National Security that quashes all questions, stifles all debate and conceals a multitude of sins.

The equal branches of government, meant to keep a chief executive greedy for power under control, have failed the American people for nearly seven years of the Bush administration. Shame on Congress and shame on the judiciary for their dereliction of duty and failure to protect the inalienable rights of the American people under the Constitution.

Shame, as well, on the American people, who've been too busy shopping, too busy partying while Rome burns, to pay as much attention to the steady erosion of their rights as they do to Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton or O.J. Simpson. Shame on most of the news media for regularly parroting so many of the administration's assertions about Iraq, Iran, terrorism and so on without bothering to ask whether or not they're true.

Meanwhile, men whose incompetence has become legendary, men who seemingly have no common decency, nor even a smidgen of good intentions, dare to claim for themselves the mantle of Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman.

Is it too much to ask that Americans begin paying attention to all that's being stolen from them? To the breathtaking failures of this administration and the entire federal government? To a president who's about to demand another $200 billion to finance his war of choice in Iraq for another year but who refuses to spend another penny to care for sick children?

To government departments and regulatory agencies run by Republican hacks and industry tools who not only don’t do their jobs but also block all attempts to investigate the theft of billions of tax dollars by Republican cronies, donors and contractors?

"The evil that men do lives after them," Shakespeare's Mark Antony said in his eulogy of Julius Caesar.

If the Democrats in Congress don’t find their spines and find new leaders who aren’t confused about what’s happening and aren’t afraid of the word "impeachment", then we all may find ourselves in an even worse mess than the one Bush and Cheney already have made. At war with Iran, for example, and throw in Syria and North Korea, too, for good measure.

While we're at it, we need to encourage the Republican and Democratic parties to find some better candidates for the presidency. The ones out on the campaign trail now look like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

If the two parties don’t find some better candidates with some new ideas, the pitiful 40 percent of Americans who bother to vote may vote for “None of the Above.” Or write in Lincoln or Truman for president. Even dead, they're a better choice than what’s on offer now.

Consider this a last-minute wakeup call. This is your country. Take it back before it’s too late.

2007 McClatchy Newspapers

Hey Pam i just wanna to stop by and tell you you're one of the truest friends on this blog and i have alot of respect for you cause you're kind and very loyal i want to give you my email address in case you want to keep in touch with me.

ap215@aol.com

Have a good day Pam and thanks. :-)

Contra Blackwater Gate Iran Iraq Saving and Loan Scandals, how much can we endure in Family Fraternity closed door secret Bohemian power brokers. They have aborted the people out of Washington by segregating them as below their social level.

If you list all the scandals that the bridges lead to Republicans since Eisenhower. How can any religion stand behind Republican candidates that won't debate with black audiences.

I think the Democrats need a Presidential Debate on people issues where Blacks, Katrina, education, and the inner circle to be discussed. Let US draft a debate that most Republican won't have, one about Main Street America and see if Hillary, Edwards, and Obama show up or will they fear their words betraying them. I rather have a President who made a mistake than a fashion statement that never made one. It would also be nice that they dressed down as civilians willing to meet them in equality. We need another Liberal collage sponsor "Diversity and What It Means."

I wish we had Gore running or a Bill Clinton form of Hillary. She is just too much underground for my taste, I want to know about her. We cannot have another Bush secret family like inner circle.

Afternoon,

Pammy I agree with AP!

Ur one True Blue blogging Democrat

Thanks for all the hard work you do on behalf of this Party! Never change who you are! Passion is a good thing. IMO. We've got enough stepford-wives in this party as it is!

wooHOO my buddy Paul is on with ED!

So the phony journalist/talking head Limbaugh called troops who do not support the occupation of Iraq "phony soldiers"....

I sincerely hope that an entire platoon of these "phony soldiers" pay him a personal visit. And you thought the squealing in Deliverance was bad...

When the election gets stolen by the Republicans again, you may all thank the marijuana movement for setting precedence on election fraud.

Judge voids results of Berkeley measure on medical pot
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, September 28, 2007

An Alameda County judge has voided election results for a failed 2004 Berkeley medical marijuana measure, ordering it returned to the ballot next year because county election officials failed to hand over data from voting machines, attorneys in the case said Thursday.

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith also said county officials should pay attorneys' fees and reimburse a medical marijuana group more than $22,000 for the costs it incurred during a disputed recount shortly after the November 2004 election.

In her ruling Tuesday, Smith said county officials had failed to retrieve backup data from electronic voting machines, logs of activity on the machines and other records as she had specifically ordered.

Instead, the county ignored the request and returned the devices to their manufacturer, Diebold Election Systems, after the measure's advocates had sued the county seeking access to the data, the judge said.

"Why the county did so is anybody's guess," the judge wrote. "But the result is absolutely certain: The information on those machines is lost completely."

Smith ordered the Berkeley measure returned to the ballot in November 2008 but said she first wanted to review the exact text of it. By Oct. 19, city officials must provide the court with any minor changes to the measure.

"Local election officials have been trying to reassure the public that their own oversight will protect the integrity of the ballot," said Gregory Luke, an attorney for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group that sued the county shortly after the election.

"Now we see that not only are the machines vulnerable, but some election officials cannot be counted on to protect the vote."

Richard Winnie, Alameda County counsel, said the mistakes had been made during a turbulent period in which "the method of handling electronic voting data was very much undecided."

"We've learned a lot in four years," Winnie said, including "what data should be used in a recount. Our practices are much different today."

In April, the judge ruled that the county had violated the state Constitution and election law in rejecting the plaintiffs' request for the data. The country registrar has argued in court papers that the data weren't relevant.

The plaintiffs were backers of Measure R, which would have allowed medical marijuana clubs to move into retail areas in Berkeley without public hearings and would have erased limits on the amount of cannabis that patients could have.

According to the county's certified results, the measure lost, 25,167 to 24,976. The initiative lost again in a recount.

Earlier this year, the plaintiffs visited a warehouse in Plano, Texas, to examine the Diebold machines that the county had returned to the company in the middle of litigation without preserving the data inside them.

Only 20 of the 482 machines used in the election still contained the data being sought, and copies of the votes from 96 percent of the machines had been destroyed, the judge said.

Posted by BlueinIdaho at September 28, 2007 12:34 PM

hehe evil genius

Posted by gro4me on September 28, 2007 at 12:36 PM

no kidding???

I'm sure glad you keep up with all this! Thank you! And I hope your pain is mild today?

Mine comes in waves.

Posted by gregg on September 28, 2007 at 11:18 AM

Gregg, their reversal in California shows how much the fascist's backs are against the wall. They're grabbing at straws and making foolish mistakes because they aren't thinking things thru (as if they ever did). Such desperation can be dangerous to innocent by-standers so we all need to be extra vigilant in watching out for their underhanded manuvering, their dirty tricks, and the poisonous residual trail they leave behind as they slime across the landscape.

If the NCAAP was more than a puppet now a days after being exiled by Bush into silence they might have a Forum inviting political leaders to its Barber Shop Forum. But instead of all black issues make it Middle Class and poverty issues. They can start it by saying a prayer for those victims of Katrina and other social issues like the decimation of public education. They could have a human chain stretched across Washington that respects diversity in equality. It can start at the Lincoln memorial and chain its way to Congress, the White House, and around Washington that like Buddist monks, we chant we want Freedom and Democracy of being treated with honor that never lies in deciet.

But no the NCAAP RIP for MLK's dream has been Bush redefined into silence much like Myanmar revolution for the riot police here will also stopp the right of Americans to demonstate peacefully. Try in a Bush America to demonstate in Free Speech they will ban you, threaten you, and then send the IRS after you as they did the NCAAP, Bush came in with a big stick and smashed the publics righ to question him. Look at his audiences by God they have to have his religion.

What will the NCAAP do? Celebrate a MLK holiday and then forget his, "I have a dream speech." Those dreams are lost in Bush public education they are teaching America's future palesinian like ghettos.

Good afternoon all

The narrative gels: Grandpa Fred too clueless to be Prez Hotlist
by Kagro X
Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 05:48:28 AM PDT

Somebody wake Grandpa Fred up and tell him it's time to go home:

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Thursday he was unaware that a federal judge had ruled last week that lethal injection procedures in his home state were unconstitutional.

Thompson also told reporters he was unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to consider a Kentucky case about whether lethal injection violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Thompson's support for the death penalty was a major part of his campaign platform when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee in 1994. Asked for his response to the recent Tennessee and Kentucky cases, Thompson responded, "I hadn't heard that. I didn't know."

Please. What a loser. The rap on Fred has always been that he's just too damned lazy for this gig. He was too lazy to be a Senator, and you barely have to have a pulse for that job. Now he wants to be president, but it's constantly being revealed that he doesn't know jack about the top issues of the day. Too lazy to even read about them, I suppose.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/28/83132/1230
==================================================

I think it's all over for Freddy Cheeseball.

SCHIP Is Sent To the President In Bipartisan Fashion Hotlist
by DemFromCT
Thu Sep 27, 2007 at 08:23:49 PM PDT

The roll call vote (67 aye and 29 nay) in the Senate this evening means the SCHIP bill will be sent to President Bush with a rousing bipartisan endorsement. It's so bipartisan that it passed both chambers with ease. 18 Republicans in the Senate joined the 45 Republicans in the House to pass this bill. And because that might not be enough for a veto override, members of the House (including my own CT-05 freshman Democrat Chris Murphy) sent a letter to the 22 Republican Governors asking for their support in talking to the person leading their party over a cliff by threatening a veto.

Eighteen Republicans in the Senate, some of whom have been Bush allies for years, voted for the $35 billion increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The Senate GOP defectors joined 45 House Republicans who voted for the bill.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/27/225615/032

==================================================

So, it's all up to Chimpy. Does he continue being
a disgusting right winger or will he at least do one decent thing before he leaves? His choice
will impact the GOP in 2008.

Time for a new resolution Hotlist
by kos
Thu Sep 27, 2007 at 03:55:11 PM PDT

The MoveOn resolution:

(b) Sense of Senate.–It is the sense of the Senate–

(1) to reaffirm its support for all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, including General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq;

(2) to strongly condemn any effort to attack the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces; and

(3) to specifically repudiate the unwarranted personal attack on General Petraeus by the liberal activist group Moveon.org.

Rush:

CALLER 2: No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined --

Looks like it's time for another resolution.

Update: The headline on a Jerry McNerney email blast:

Chickenhawk Limbaugh Goes Too Far

Glad McNerney is on it. Now maybe he can work with his colleagues to draft a resolution condemning Rush on the floor of the House.
===============================================

Right now! Let's condemn druggy Limbaugh for insulting the troops.

If the black and Latin communities would get together and say come talk to US or we will not vote for you in mass, you would see a lot of candidates move toward diversity. I think America needs to put politicians on civilian terms, not on royal fraternity terms.

It is like a college like Alabama where "The Machine" of fraternities runs the whole college because the rest of the college has been banned from participating. Frats are the bullies of our high schools, who demand they are better than the rest of US, they alwat segregate against any diversity (Look at their one way look membership) for they are cloned into Conservative conformity.

Black Caucus be Democratic and support the "BARBER SHOP," so you can even have a meeting together discussion the problems facing all Americans not just the black community, so all people can be a part of your hearts. But remember Bush will attack you for your Freedom and and Democratic Independence.

If we had a Tienanmen Square Freedom rally today, like the Red Chinese, Bush might say Lady Liberty must fall for his type of Chinese Freedom and Democracy. The sad part is our government never said anything back then, like they do now in Myanmar. I think a replica of the Tienanmen Square Lady Liberty must parade for China, the U.S. and Myanmar in Washington D.C. and across the nation. Would Bush dare to stop a parade here for Myanmar Freedom and Democracy and people saying we need ours returned?

Hating it today. Pain is actually pretty bad this week. Couldn't even crawl out to puter yeaterday. Qu'ell damage. I'll live. I melted a hash caramel into a cup of hot milk, and it helped a lot.

But here is this week's Granite Stater's Report on the candidates:

Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana Weekly Newsletter
To:Jenifer Valley Valley
From: Stuart Cooper, GSMM campaign manager

Here is this week's update on Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana's campaign to press the presidential candidates to take public, positive positions on medical marijuana access. This week, I attended the Democratic debate at Dartmouth College and spoke with Sen. Mike Gravel, Gov. Howard Dean, and Elizabeth Edwards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Sen. Mike Gravel pledges to end the war on medical marijuana patients
2. DNC chair Howard Dean will let nominee set party's marijuana policy
3. Elizabeth Edwards wants FDA to review medical marijuana
4. Help make the raids history
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Sen. Mike Gravel pledges to end the war on medical marijuana patients

Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) has been an outspoken proponent of ending the war on drugs throughout the primary campaign. During an interview on C-SPAN this past May, he announced that he would end marijuana prohibition altogether if he became president, stating clearly, "I would legalize marijuana."

I caught up with Sen. Gravel in the spin room after the Democratic debate at Dartmouth College this week to get his position on the federal government's war on medical marijuana patients in particular. When asked if he would end the DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, caregivers, and patients, Sen. Gravel responded, "Totally! I would deregulate. There is nothing wrong with marijuana, it is not nearly as addictive as alcohol. And plus, it has some health properties to it. So, we deregulate marijuana — let's go buy it in a package store … Addiction is a public health problem, it is not a criminal problem. We make it criminal. We do exactly what we did in the 20's. We create the mafia, we create disrespect for the law, and it doesn't make any sense at all. We spend $50, $60, $70, $100 billion every single year destabilizing foreign governments … [T]he war on drugs must end."

You can see footage of Sen. Gravel discussing his views on marijuana here.

2. DNC chair Howard Dean will let nominee set party's marijuana policy

While campaigning for the Democratic nomination in 2003, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean refused to pledge to end the federal raids on medical marijuana patients, but did say that he would order the FDA to do a full analysis of marijuana's medical efficacy.

Now that all eight Democratic candidates have publicly pledged to end the raids, arrests, and prosecutions of medical marijuana patients, I wanted to revisit the issue with Gov. Dean, who is now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). When I asked him if he supported his party's presidential candidates in their efforts to end the raids on medical marijuana patients, he told me, "I'm not going to discuss where I stand on issues. I think the candidates speak for the Democratic party, not me. So I'm not going to get into the specifics of the issue … The candidates have spoken, one of those candidates will be the nominee, and the nominee sets policy, not the DNC."

If what Gov. Dean says about candidates setting the Democratic Party's marijuana policy is correct, then with all eight candidates having taken the pledge to protect medical marijuana patients and caregivers, it would seem that this may become the official Democratic Party policy.

3. Elizabeth Edwards wants FDA to review medical marijuana

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has publicly pledged to end the federal raids on medical marijuana patients, saying, "What I will do as president is, we will not be going in and raiding the use of marijuana for medical purposes in states that have legalized it. I think where democracy has worked, where voters have decided this should be legalized, I will not as president go in and run contrary to the will of the people in those states where it has been legalized." (You can see video of his pledges here.)

When Sen. Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, who has been diagnosed with bone cancer, made herself available for questions in the spin room after the Dartmouth Democratic debate, I asked her for her personal position on medical marijuana, since many cancer patients get relief from pain, nausea, and appetite suppression by using marijuana. She responded, "Well my personal take … right now there is a rule that prohibits the FDA from treating, as drug treatments, purely agricultural products. I think that's the rule, but honestly I could be wrong about that. If that's the rule, maybe it should be changed in order to let the FDA make an evaluation of the efficacy and danger of this treatment, or frankly any treatment … We have a lot of herbal remedies for a lot of things. I know as someone living with cancer, it must happen a dozen times a day, someone gives me their herbal answer to cancer, but it might be useful to have the FDA — if we need a change in law — have the FDA look at all of these things. Honestly, I think that most Americans want to make certain that we have the best drugs available, the best treatments available, for those people who are suffering with diseases like this."

When I asked her if she thought cancer patients using medical marijuana ought to be arrested, she was reluctant to answer, saying, "You're not going to back-door this on me. I'm pleading spouse."

Make sure to visit the candidate pages on our Web site for video footage of this interview and interviews with many of the candidates.

Posted by rjsnj on September 28, 2007 at 01:03 PM

I think blueinIdaho had it about right!

This will be Lumpy's biggest foot in mouth dilemma and I do think MORE VETS will find a way to let IT know how WRONG IT is!!

Pay back
Karma
What goes around
etc!

I look forward to hearing about that dish served best cold!

grow!

I love caramels! lol ;-)

A comment on the Berkeley story:

Jason Grant Garza here ... Smith said county officials had failed to retrieve backup data from electronic voting machines, logs of activity on the machines and other records as she had specifically ordered. Did the judge fine or fire the county officials that broke the order. What was the penalty for such a violation? The article leads one to believe that the officials deliberately did what they wanted ... forced the other side to retain lawyers and go thru the process and afterwards still keep their job. Where was the down side for the officials? Please read the defintion of Official Misconduct as listed by SF City Attorney against Ed Jew and ask yourself if these officials weren't guilty of Official Misconduct?

Dawn, are you anywhere near Oregon?

“This disgusting attack from Rush Limbaugh, cheerleader for the Chicken Hawk wing of the far right, is an insult to American troops,” Kerry said. “In a single moment on his show, Limbaugh managed to question the patriotism of men and women in uniform who have put their lives on the line and many who died for his right to sit safely in his air conditioned studio peddling hate. On August 19th, The New York Times published an op-ed by seven members of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division critical of George Bush’s Iraq policy. Two of those soldiers were killed earlier this month in Baghdad. Does Mr. Limbaugh dare assert that these heroes were ‘phony soldiers’? Mr. Limbaugh owes an apology to everyone who has ever worn the uniform of our country, and an apology to the families of every soldier buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is an embarrassment to his Party, and I expect the Republicans who flock to his microphone will now condemn this indefensible statement.” - Senator John Kerry

I feel that Mr. Garza makes a good point: those who are responsible for the mishandling of voting machines MUST be punished for their misconduct, even if it is mere negligence.

Thanks for all the hard work you do on behalf of this Party! Never change who you are! Passion is a good thing. IMO. We've got enough stepford-wives in this party as it is!
Posted by NkneeDemDawn on September 28, 2007 at 12:31 PM

I try, Dawnie. Fortunetly, or unfortunetly, I will never change. I am like a pit bull who gets their teeth sunk into a leg and will not shake loose no matter what. No neo con will move me from my course.

Myanmar is marching for Freedom and has been intimidated into silence so where our the world voices marching for them. Can the Vatican Catholics march around the Vatican, can the Japanese march, and so on into a worldwide condemnation. But you know who is missing in this equation? The country whose Constitution founding fathers fought for it and it is celebrated on parades on the fourth of July. Well America it is there Fourth of July away from tyranny so March On America become vocal in Freedom's patriotism. At the U. N. American flags and Myanmar flags need to be displayed with Hollywood bringing out its Star Spangled Banners to show that Freedom cannot be redefined. And do you know what Bush should march with the people in standing up to what he preaches.

The people on this site are so talanted that they must carry the torch of Freedom and Democracy that it be passed on from patriot to patriot of open minds, bless you.

Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton..............

The appearance of George Jr. with Bill does not inspire comfort. Not really much difference between the two other than how they go about accomplishing their goals. Bill and Hillary are definitely centrists to the heart and sometimes show just ever so slightly right leanings.

Also not politically healthy for two families to virtually lock in the Presidency for decades. Kinda like that thing of needing new blood.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/ap_po/bush_clinton_fatigue;_ylt=AoPJ8Hbh7IvbWt6Q6XakRYKs0NUE

Posted by gro4me on September 28, 2007 at 01:17 PM

I wish. That's ONE lovely state I've never ventured through or stopped by........ maybe some day.

I'm in Western NC right now and for the last year plus. I love it here in this blue city. I hope we can change the state BLUE in 08. It's working that way!
GO KAY HAGAN for US SENATE
KICK OLD BIDDY DOLE TO THE CURB!!

This morning we went to our usual place for brunch. They have dollar bills all over the walls stapled there from patrons with their names, etc.

After a year going there we finally put up our dollar and of course I had to put GO DEMS IN 08
across the bill along with our names!! Now we have our own booth we will always ask for when we go! hehe! This was the place I got angry with once when they had FOX news on TV. I couldn't digest my food. Now they play ESPN. heheh.

One day at a time!

Posted by J on September 28, 2007 at 01:53 PM

I must have been looking at the wrong voting record of Hillary's then cuz over the years her votes have been more liberal than I originally thought.

She's also NOT voted to finance this war the last couple times which is a good thing although this Iran toothless bill they felt they had to sign is a puzzle.

Hillary Rodham Clinton - Voting Record

While Hillary Clinton may work to convince voters she is a moderate, her voting record demonstrates that she is quite liberal on many issues important to economic and social conservatives.

Here's another one about Hillary's voting record

we should keep it honest

Posted by PamB on September 28, 2007 at 01:21 PM

What a picture in my mind! LOL

No, I don't think of you as any kind of dawg - ur too pretty!

But I love your fortitude

:-] u go girl!

Help!

I need some quotes about the accuracy of neocon pundit and author Dinesh D'Souza. And I need them quickly.

I suspect that he's one of the many who predicted easy success in Iraq, for example. But any sold quotes showing his lack of credibility would be a huge help.

Thanks!

Sorry never heard of him

did you try googling it?

a couple to start with. A simple google brings them up.

Dinesh D’Souza, known to conscientious commentators everywhere as “Distort D’Newsa,” has been – for far too long – one of the Right’s rising stars. Known for his bigoted-sounding theories on race, gender, and sexuality, D’Souza has been flown around to college campus after college campus by his benefactors at Young America’s Foundation and The Heritage Foundation, spewing his shock-value material to budding college conservatives.

D’Souza’s rise is the perfect illustration of the success that right-wing foundations have had in cultivating a generation of conservative thinkers and leaders by throwing money at them, supporting their academic work, and hooking them up with internships, government jobs, and the right conservative network.

A darling of the right-wing-campus-newspaper-backing Collegiate Network, D’Souza helped found the infamous ultra-conservative Dartmouth Review as an undergrad. Under D’Souza’s “leadership,” The Review ran notoriously tasteless, bigoted, and just downright offensive articles of all stripes. Among his signature pieces: a parody of African American students at Dartmouth entitled “This Sho Ain’t No Jive Bro”; an interview with a Ku Klux Klan member featuring a graphic of a hanged black man; and selected words of wisdom from Adolf Hitler. The Review consistently referred to gay men as sodomites, and D’Souza himself publicly outed one gay student in an article based on stolen correspondence between members of the Dartmouth Gay Student Alliance.

http://www.campusprogress.org/tools/118/know-your-right-wing-speakers-dinesh-dsouza

Colbert was in top form last night when conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza came on the show to promote his new book, The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. In his latest screed, D'Souza, according to Publishers Weekly's review, "roots the blame for the 9/11 attacks in the left wing's 'aggressive global campaign to undermine the traditional patriarchal family'." (emphasis mine) D'Souza's logical (and factual) inconsistencies are too numerous to list so have at it in comments.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/17/colbert-nails-dinesh-dsouza/

As General BetryUs was here spinning for Bush, 43 people were shot !

Baghdad - On Sept. 9, the day before Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told Congress that things were getting better, Batoul Mohammed Ali Hussein came to Baghdad for the day.

A clerk in the Iraqi customs office in Diyala province, she was in the capital to drop off and pick up paperwork at the central office near busy al Khilani Square, not far from the fortified Green Zone, where top U.S. and Iraqi officials live and work. U.S. officials often pass through the square in heavily guarded convoys on their way to other parts of Baghdad.

As Hussein walked out of the customs building, an embassy convoy of sport-utility vehicles drove through the intersection. Blackwater security guards, charged with protecting the diplomats, yelled at construction workers at an unfinished building to move back. Instead, the workers threw rocks. The guards, witnesses said, responded with gunfire, spraying the intersection with bullets.

Hussein, who was on the opposite side of the street from the construction site, fell to the ground, shot in the leg. As she struggled to her feet and took a step, eyewitnesses said, a Blackwater security guard trained his weapon on her and shot her multiple times. She died on the spot, and the customs documents she'd held in her arms fluttered down the street.

Before the shooting stopped, four other people were killed in what would be the beginning of eight days of violence that Iraqi officials say bolster their argument that Blackwater should be banned from working in Iraq.

During the ensuing week, as Crocker and Petraeus told Congress that the surge of more U.S. troops to Iraq was beginning to work and President Bush gave a televised address in which he said "ordinary life was beginning to return" to Baghdad, Blackwater security guards shot at least 43 people on crowded Baghdad streets. At least 16 of those people died.

Two Blackwater guards died in one of the incidents, which was triggered when a roadside bomb struck a Blackwater vehicle.

Still, it was an astounding amount of violence attributed to Blackwater. In the same eight-day period, according to statistics compiled by McClatchy Newspapers, other acts of violence across the embattled capital claimed the lives of 32 people and left 87 injured, not including unidentified bodies found dumped on Baghdad's streets.

The best known of that week's incidents took place the following Sunday, Sept. 16, when Blackwater guards killed 11 and wounded 12 at the busy al Nisour traffic circle in central Baghdad.

Iraqi officials said the guards were unprovoked when they opened fire on a white car carrying three people, including a baby. All died. The security guards then fired at other nearby vehicles, including a minibus loaded with passengers, killing a mother of eight. An Iraqi soldier also died.

In Blackwater's only statement regarding the Sept. 16 incident, Anne Tyrell, the company's spokeswoman, denied that the dead were civilians. "The 'civilians' reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals were in fact armed enemies," she said in an e-mail, "and Blackwater personnel returned defensive fire."

A joint commission of five U.S. State Department officials, three U.S. military officials and eight Iraqis has been formed to investigate the incident, though almost two weeks later, the commission has yet to meet. A U.S. Embassy statement on Thursday, the first official written comment from the embassy since the al Nisour shooting, said that the group was "preparing" to meet.

Blackwater and the U.S. Embassy didn't respond to requests for information about the other incidents.

But interviews with eyewitnesses and survivors of each incident describe similar circumstances in which Blackwater guards took aggressive action against civilians who seemed to pose no threat.

"They killed her in cold blood," Hussein Jumaa Hassan, 30, a parking lot attendant, said of Hussein.

Hassan pointed to the bullet-pocked concrete column behind him. He'd hidden behind it.

"I was boiling with anger, and I wished that I had a weapon in my hands in those minutes," he said. "They wanted to kill us all."

Anyone who moved was shot until the convoy left the square, witnesses said. Also among the dead was Kadhim Gayes, a city hall guard.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092807A.shtml

Marijuana eradication sets county record
By Ryan McMaster/Staff Writer

A massive marijuana farm discovered south of Lompoc was the largest ever found in Santa Barbara County, sheriff's officials said Thursday as they finished eradicating the crop.

Sgt. Erik Raney, spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, said 92,000 mature marijuana plants, with a street value of $288.4 million, were destroyed. No arrests were made.

Raney said those numbers surpassed by far the pot farm raided in July at Twitchell Reservoir near Highway 166, where about 62,000 plants were found, valued at about $195 million. There were no arrests there either.

The pot farm was discovered by air Monday. It straddled U.S. Highway 1 along San Julian Ranch Road. Sheriff's workers started digging up the 6-foot plants at 7 a.m. Tuesday, transporting them by helicopter to a location nearby where they burned and buried them. The work was finished at 11 a.m. Thursday, Raney said.

Like the crop at Twitchell Reservoir, Mexican nationals were believed to be the growers in this raid, Raney said. Another popular location for marijuana farms in the county is national forests such as the Los Padres National Forest, he said.

Raney said the pot farm will be investigated, but it is unlikely that those responsible will be found.

“It's rare to find them,” he said. “We always make an effort to investigate and find them. ... We'll do what we do and hopefully it will breed a positive outcome.”

He said the department chose to destroy the crop rather than stake out the area in hopes of making arrests because of the availability of resources to do the work. “We had all our resources in place,” he said.

Now that the department had finished the eradication, signs on Highway 1 warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers will be removed, Raney said. However, he said, such warnings are still valid.

“People should never pick up hitchhikers, whether there is a marijuana eradication or not.”

Ryan McMaster can be reached at 737-1057 or rmcmaster@lompoc record.com.

September 28, 2007

Marijuana: Four Initiatives Make November Ballot In Idaho Town
Printer Friendly Version Email this Articlefrom Drug War Chronicle, Issue #503, 9/28/07
A central Idaho marijuana legalization advocate's three-year struggle to get marijuana initiatives on the ballot in the town of Hailey will come to fruition in November. City officials announced last Friday that a package of marijuana initiatives proposed by Ryan Davidson will be on the November 6 ballot.

Selkirk mountains, northern IdahoDavidson sought in 2004 to file initiative petitions seeking the legalization of marijuana with the communities of Sun Valley, Hailey, and Ketchum, but local officials in all three locales balked. Sun Valley officials refused to process the initiatives, claiming they were unconstitutional. Davidson and his group, the Liberty Lobby of Idaho, took the municipality all the way to the Idaho Supreme Court, which issued a decision in Davidson's favor last year.

Davidson won a second court victory last month, when a US District Court issued a preliminary injunction barring the city of Hailey from requiring that initiative initiators be residents of the city.

Now, Davidson has four different marijuana initiatives on the November ballot. The first would mandate the city to revise its ordinances to regulate and tax marijuana sales and require it to advocate for the reform of marijuana laws at the state and national level. If approved by voters, city officials would have up to a year to implement the new ordinance. A second initiative would legalize the medical use of marijuana. The third initiative would make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest law enforcement priority, while the fourth initiative would allow for the use of industrial hemp.

Local officials are resigned to letting the voters decide. "The only way this is going to go away is to let the people vote on it," said Hailey City Council President Rick Davis at a Monday council meeting.

"The voters have to vote on this; the Supreme Court was very clear," said Hailey city attorney Ned Williamson.

Voters in Hailey will get their chance in November. But Ketchum and Sun Valley could be next. Davidson told the Idaho Mountain Express he hoped to have initiatives on the ballot in those two cities for next May's local elections.

Thanks, PamB, that was extremely useful!

Did this happen to anyone else? I recently received an e-mail from Karl Rove with the subject header reading, "I'm Watching You."

In this e-mail, Mr. Rove ordered me not to contribute to the DCCC, because Democrats in Congress have been making things "difficult" for Republicans. Mr. Rove wrote specifically, "Over the past eight months Democrats in the House have made life for my Republican friends and me difficult -- issuing subpoena after subpoena. This has got to stop."

Now, here's the thing. How have the Democrats been making life difficult for Republicans? I have no idea what Karl is talking about. President Bush wanted virtually limitless freedom to spy on Americans. The Democratic-controlled Congress gave it to him. Bush wanted more funding for the Iraq War. The Democrats gave it to him.

Oh, sure, the Democrats sometimes subpoena Republicans. But when that happens, as for example with Harriet Miers, the Republicans are perfectly free to ignore the subpoenas! And the Democrats shuffle their feet and mumble, "oh, okay," or something, and life goes on. I can hardly see how subpoenas would constitute anything but a very minor annoyance for Republicans.

Why, when Republicans got upset because MoveOn.org challenged the trustworthiness of Gen. Petraeus, the Democrats joined them in condemning MoveOn! That's right, the Democrats in both the Senate and the House stabbed their own supporters in the back, just to make the Republicans feel good! Now, how could Mr. Rove ask for anything more?

It's true, I won't be giving any money to the DCCC any more. I object to throwing money away for no good purpose. But I can't understand what Rove means by saying that he's "concerned" or that the Democrats are being "difficult."

Does anyone have any idea what he's talking about?

Thanks,
ChristianPinko

must have been looking at the wrong voting record of Hillary's then cuz over the years her votes have been more liberal than I originally thought.

She's also NOT voted to finance this war the last couple times which is a good thing although this Iran toothless bill they felt they had to sign is a puzzle.

Posted by NkneeDemDawn on September 28, 2007 at 02:00 PM

For me social issues are important, BUT more importantly is the fact of the lack of fresh political insight or "new blood".

This is not to pitch or support any one candidate. Just to say that other viewpoints and options are brought forth with viable candidates.

Good Afternoon, ALL!

Posted by Peter on September 28, 2007 at 02:34 PM

Hope this helps:

Play Us A Hymn, You’re D’Souzaphone

Dinesh D’Souza: Mediocre Tequila, Worse Pundit

"...Dinesh D’Souza:

“It’s customary to say we lost the Vietnam war, but who’s ‘we’?” Dinesh D’Souza asks angrily. “The left won by demanding America’s humiliation.” On this ship, there are no Viet Cong, no three million dead. There is only liberal treachery. Yes, D’Souza says, in a swift shift to domestic politics, “of course” Republican politics is “about class. Republicans are the party of winners, Democrats are the party of losers.”

[…]

Several days later, the nautical counter-revolution has docked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where passengers will clamber overboard into a nation they want to wall off behind a 1,000-mile fence. One expresses horror at my intention to find a local street kid to show me around, exclaiming, “Do you want to die?” D’Souza summarizes the prevailing sentiment by unveiling what he modestly calls “D’Souza’s law of immigration”: An immigrant’s quality is “proportional to the distance traveled to get to the United States.” In other words: Asians trump Latinos. Wingnut Boat

My God is a mighty slacker

"the cultural left in this country is responsible for causing 9/11."...the Left is "secretly allied" with "the movement that bin Laden and Islamic radicals represent"...The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

The Somewhat Shorter Dinesh D’Souza

“Pelosi’s crew and Osama bin Laden share common goal” Symphony in Retarded Minor

tbogg also has a little bit about him. 5 blog posts about Dinesh D'Souza tbogg

Hope this helps, and as usual, click on the internal links for more.

If you need any more, just holler.

Posted by ChristianPinko on September 28, 2007 at 03:16 PM

I got the same thing. READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH!!

It CLEARLY states "Obviously this is a joke...", and goes on to link to the DCCC funding drive. I thought it was a pretty funny parody on Rahm's part.

Afternoon all good Dems,

I heard on the Ed Schultz show that the Congress castrated the liverlips/Kyl (as in pile of shit) bill.

They took out the two fascist paragraphs which contained the call to war against Iran. I love it.

Ed also said that Arhmadinzad (sp?) invited bush to speak at Tehran University. bush is too cowardly to go and will make some excuse. Security would be a problem but who cares. That would be the best thing that has happened during this Nazi misadministration.

Posted by DPD on September 28, 2007 at 03:27 PM

D’Souza is one of those crafty individuals who came to America to make a million off the right-wing followers in this Country and in the process assist in destroying the fabric of our nation: the Constitution.

But, let him and his former bedmate, Ann Coldsore, represent the right-wing...the left is all the better for it.

Check out this website. The author was on the Ed Schultz show today. He outed Congressman Patrick Henry from North Carolina who is a hypocrite because he hates gays and is a loud voice in Congress against gays.

Check it out.

More hypocrite closet gays in Congress anyone?

I heard on the radio news this morning that bush is pissed at Congress because of the child health bill because they didn't include his savings account idea. He thinks the savings account is all one needs.

What is wrong with this moron. The savings account idea is a POS idea from the head of a cheer leader. No reflection on cheer leaders.

Blue, tbogg coined the term "Wingnut Welfare" to describe those right wing nut jobs who are all subsidized by Scaife and the Heritage / Hoover / CEI / AEI / Fed Society "think tanks. People like Coldsore and D'Souza.

Want to know how well Wingnut Welfare pays?

D'More D'Souza

Posted by Johnedwrd on September 28, 2007 at 03:42 PM

HillWilliam has been on this story for weeks, now. That Pug may also be tangentially involved in a double murder, and a male escort "service" operating out