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Louisville, Kentucky

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October 13, 2007
Outrageous

I love the New York Times.  It has some of the most talented journalists in the world reporting some  of the most beautifully written (Dexter Filkins!) and informative articles you're ever likely to read.  They also have the unfortunate habit letting some of the most biased, GOP friendly pap imaginable (Judy Miller, anyone?) slip onto their front pages.  <a href="Link This "Congressional Memo"</a> item, with the headline, <b>Liberal Base Proves Trying To Democrats</b> is worthy of Fox *News,* at best.  It is a gross mis-characterization of the anger Liberals feel toward Congress.  I'd venture to say we Liberals are fairly well read folks who know a thing or two about the disappointment and betrayal we  endure because of the abject failure of our Democraticly controlled Congress to stand up to this WH for trashing our civil liberties or ending Bu$h's disaster in the desert or to defend the Constitution. against this WH's assault.   That's what gets our blood boiling!  But what does this intrepid reporter find to be the defining subject of the "BASE'S ANGER?"  (((GAY sexual identity!)))  Who the hell knew?  Well, Barney Frank, the most openly (((GAY))) Democrat in Congress, that's who.  This is just pure, unmitigated BS!  That particular issue is NOT on the radar of the Liberal base.  But it gets worse.  This *reporter,* who is explaining how Liberals think/operate, finds it necessary to prove his point by quoting <i> two hardcore,  partisan, conservative REPUBLICANS to drive home his message.  </i>  Ru$h Limpballs could not have typed up a better memo. </b>  Read it and complain! <a href="Link to the public editor.</a>  if you wish.

My head hurts.

It looks like the Democrats have given the middle finger to voters on a number of fronts. First there's this:

Democrats Pull Troop Deadline From Iraq Bill That great sniveling dolt, Harry Reid called the complete cave-in a "compromise" and "great progress." The other issue Dems ran on and won was "draining the swamp" of corruption in Congress.

So try to wrap your head around Democrats Find Ethics Overhaul Elusive in House

You know what else these turncoats will find elusive in the next election? Campaing donations from private citizens and support from the voters who put them in office. We no longer have a Democracy in this country. Policy is for sale to the highest bidder, our votes are easily stollen and elected officials feel no obligation whatsoever to honor their campaign promises. I am just sick.

Here's something that has been bugging me for 2 straight Sundays: The odious Senator McConnell first claimed on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday, May 13, that if the Iraqi government asked us to leave, "we will be happy to comply." He essentially said the same thing on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday. So here's my question: Why in the hell is McConnell expressing military decision making for the US on TV?

Bu$h is constantly whining about those horrid Dems for butting in on his role as Commander-in-Chief by insisting that progress be made by certain dates or we withdraw our troops. And we hear endlessly (and falsely) about how the Decider listens to commanders on the ground for setting military policy in Iraq. So what gives here? Is McConnell speaking for GW Bu$h or just spouting off? I also find it bizarre that in one breath McConnell claims that pulling out of Iraq would be a disaster (it's going so well now!) and that leaving would be a declaration of "defeat" In the next breath he claims we'll be "happy to comply" with a demand that we leave. As usual, Mitch wants it both ways. He wants to cover his ass on a withdrawal in time for the '08 elections and act like Mr. Surge cheerleader at the same time. I know McConnell thinks we're deeply stupid and easily manipulated, but he can't fool all the people all the time. DITCH MITCH!

The wingnuts are so stinking predictable I could write their scripts of outrage for them in advance. One of the hallmarks of today's conservative is an aversion to the truth and a willing embrace of propaganda from Fux Newz, the WH and fact free AM hate radio. Unreality rules the right wingosphere.

-- "Sicko," Michael Moore's ferocious and funny attack on the U.S. health care system, got a warm welcome at the Cannes Film festival Saturday. At home, it has started a firestorm.

[. . .]

"I decided to make a different film this time," Moore said. "I wanted a different tone and I wanted to say things in a different way.

"I got tired of all the yelling and screaming and not getting anywhere."

The film's emotional climax is a brilliant -- and, some will say, brilliantly manipulative -- sequence in which Moore and the New York rescue workers visit a Cuban hospital.

"The Cuba stuff is incendiary," said Boston Globe critic Peter Brunette, who predicted a savage response from some quarters in the United States.

Moore says the criticism of the Cuba trip is misplaced. He said he intended to take the workers to Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base on the island where terror suspects are held -- and, the film claims, receive top-notch medical care.

"The point was not to go to Cuba but to go to America, to go to American soil ... being in Cuba was just an accident in a sense," he said.

Moore said he hoped audiences would focus on the film's message, not the controversy. He said it is both "a call to action" and a plea for a better, friendlier society.

"The bigger issue in the film is, who are we as a people?" Moore said.

With the latest revelations about Bu$h's illegal, warrantless wiretapping of US citizens and the latest round of serial lying before Congress, Abu Gonzales can no longer even pretend to be competent to run the Dept. of Justice. He is a sad and pathetic little man. Congress is calling for his head and even some of the most *loyal Bu$hies* are having a tough time defending him. This article by Glenn Greenwald, of Salon has a lot to say about this matter.

James Comey's testimony amounts to a statement that -- even according to the administration's own loyal DOJ officials -- the President ordered still-unknown spying on Americans, and engaged in that spying for a full two-and-a-half-years, that was so blatantly and shockingly illegal that they were all ready to resign over it. And the President's Attorney General then lied to ensure that this episode remain concealed. Mere one-day calls for a Congressional investigation are woefully inadequate here.

There is clear and definitive evidence of deliberate lawbreaking. In addition to Congressional investigations, there is simply no excuse for anything other than the immediate commencement of a criminal investigation by a Special Prosecutor. And the administration ought to be pressured every day to account for what it did here. This is not a one-day or one-week fleeting scandal. These revelations amount to the most transparent and deliberate crimes -- felonies -- by our top government officials, not with regard to private and personal matters but with regard to how our government spies on us.

The GOP hypocrites that could never get enough investigations of President Clinton spent the last 6 years looking away while Bu$h and his minions destroyed the integrity of our system of justice. They are complicit. Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell is front and center in this disgrace. Ditch Mitch!

Nothing is more disgraceful than a broken press during the Worst President Ever's reign. Bill Moyers did a public service with his Buying The War special last week. Now Frank Rich, of the New York Times, gives us his always pitch perfect take on the beltway press. Special scorn is earned by the "dean of Washington" [HAhahahahaha] David Broder. What an ass. Read Frank Rich as he gives the media the spanking they deserve

The press has enabled stunts from the manufactured threat of imminent mushroom clouds to Saving Private Lynch to Mission Accomplished, whose fourth anniversary arrives on Tuesday. For all the recrimination, self-flagellation and reforms that followed these journalistic failures, it's far from clear that the entire profession yet understands why it has lost the public's faith.
That state of denial was center stage at the correspondents dinner last year, when the invited entertainer, Stephen Colbert, fell flat, as The Washington Post summed up the local consensus. To the astonishment of those in attendance, a funny thing happened outside the Beltway the morning after: the video of Mr. Colbert's performance became a national sensation. (Last week it was still No. 2 among audiobook downloads on iTunes.)

It's really telling of our Stockholm Syndrome press corp that Moyers and Rich are dismissed as "Liberals" (aka, not having any say on important matters) fior presenting mere facts. They tell the truth and it feels like hell to the wingnuttery. And the press at large.

From left to right, Treva, June, Congressman Yarmuth, Vicki

We saw many, many DLers (Drinking Liberally members:( WWW.louisville.drinkingliberally.org )at Congresman Yarmuth's office today, including Andrew Horne and Jimmy Moore. It was a joyful event and everyone was in good spirits. I Must say I enjoyed the chocolate treats a little too much! Hahahaha. I now turn this post over to June:

Friday, February 24 Vicki, Treva and June had the chance to go visit an open
house that our own John Yarmuth had for his constituents at his downtown office. It was packed with wellwishers and happy Louisville area citizens celebrating having our district represented by a true
representative of the people again. Good exposure coming up--John's long awaited interview with
Stephen Colbert was taped two weeks ago and is going to air March 7. Here's
John with his admirers--any rumor that I coordinated my sweater with his
tie is completely unfounded!
June

The clowning GOP kooks are trying--in typical, foolish fashion--to make a mountain out of....nothing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not request a larger plane for personal use to travel cross-country without stopping, Bill Livingood, the House sergeant at arms, said Thursday.

Livingood said the request was his, and he made it for security reasons.

"The fact that Speaker Pelosi lives in California compelled me to request an aircraft that is capable of making non-stop flights for security purposes, unless such an aircraft is unavailable," Livingood, who has been at his post for 11 years, said in a written statement.

"I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue," the statement said.

[ . . . ]

Meanwhile, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said on Thursday that he's planning hearings this spring on executive and congressional travel on military aircraft.

Murtha said he's requested from the Defense Department records on travel and logistics from the past two years. He asked the Defense Department to hand those over within a month

Hahahahahahaha. Gamesmanship's a bitch, Bitch!

How's this for the most insincere, Orwellian presentation by Bu$h ever? Think about the cut and run Dems, Saddam loving, terrorist coddling, America last Democrats Bu$h and Co. have been pimping for the last 6 years. Who are you gonna believe--Bush or your own lying ears? What a clowning little man.

â�" In a rare appearance before an audience of Democrats, President Bush said Saturday that he did not question the patriotism of those who disagreed with his Iraq strategy and asked lawmakers not to let dissension over the war entirely erode their trust in him.

�I welcome debate in a time of war, and I hope you know that,� Mr. Bush said. �Nor do I consider a belief that if you don�t happen to agree with me, you don�t share the same sense of patriotism I do. You can get that thought out of your mind if that�s what some believe.�

Hahahahahahaha. What a joker. Only the dumbest man in America would find that convincing. A pie should have been thrown in the direction of his face.

Good grief! Ever since Hilary announced she was running for Prez on Sat., the press and pundits have all but declared her the Democratic primary winner. Every beltway reporter and pundit, left and right, are declaring her the front runner on the basis of polls that reward name recognition only this early on. This HuffPo column gets it How many LIBERALS do you know that support Hillary? Only wingnuts and the press seem pleased.

For example, a recent San Francisco Chronicle news report (headlined "Obama Emerges as Clinton's Rival for Dems' Left") asserted that Hillary Clinton was "widely regarded as the left's most influential voice inside the now-revered Clinton White House."

Widely regarded? Actually, progressives see Hillary Clinton as having been consistently wrong on the war and a host of other issues, especially trade. Her absurdly bureaucratic healthcare proposal in 1993 - shaped by and for big insurance companies - was a slap in the face of unions, Congress members and grassroots forces who'd built a movement for simple, nonprofit national health insurance: in effect, enhanced Medicare for All. She helped set back the cause of universal coverage for years.

And far from being "revered," many Democratic activists see the Clinton era as one of decline in which Democrats lost their strong majorities in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governorships and state legislatures. It's simple math .

The 2008 presidential election is shaping up as a test of the power and capacity of new independent media vs. old conglomerate-dominated media. And a test of grassroots/netroots politics vs. corporatized Democratic politics.

Howard Dean, as Democratic Party chairman is doing a fantastic job at the grassroots level. The so-called New Dems have lost election after election running "mushy middle" candidates like Clinton and Lieberman. We need to be very actively against that tired, losing strategy.

It seems everyone but Mitch McConnell and his boy, " W" have gotten the message that an escalation of troops in Iraq is an exceedingly bad idea. Please contact your STATE members of Congress as well as the national members to tighten the screws on them to act for the good of our military. Tell them sending our troops off to die for the disasterously bad Bu$h invasion of Iraq was bad enough, but adding to the misery must not be allowed.

Every State in the Union has National Guard units. They are vitally needed AT HOME. Our State legislators need to protect them from harm and keep them here--not "over there." The Progressive State Network is hard at work on this issue, and Ted Kennedy is showing real, courageous leadership.

Please notify your reps on where you stand. Sign the petition and save lives.

There's an excellent discussion going on at Fire Dog Lake (see blog links at DL Louisville approved sites on right side) and here:for the best roundup ever for why we need to ditch the corrupt, racist electoral college and get with the one person, one vote system of honest Democracy in this country. Here's a snip:

Now, before everyone gets upset and thinks that we are saying all southerners are racists: the data does not say that. But when it comes to conservative white southerners, I'm sorry to say that the evidence is clear. When all is said and done, the thing that separates them from the rest of the nation is racism. All the racial codes, the slick misdirection, even the appeals to homophobia and religion are in some sense directed at this one simple characteristic. And that characteristic is the thing that trumps all the other concerns about economic justice that Democrats persist in believing they can use to persuade white southern males to vote for them. Democrats simply cannot thread that needle.

Schaller does not "write off the south" as so many assume. Indeed, he explicitly endorses Howard Dean's 50 state strategy to build for the future and ensure that Democrats are prepared to step in where opportunities present themselves. What he is saying is it is impossible for Democrats to currently win nationally by trying to appeal to the southern conservative majority, which seems to me to be an obvious point. You can't be all things to all people.

Word! But you can be the true moral voice for all the people when you stand up for equality and against oppression. KKKarl Rove is an ass who's time has passed.

Heck of a job, Bu$hie. I wish Colin Powell, the talking heads and that tiny band of Bu$h supporters would just shut the hell up and stop pretending there is any way out of the mess Bu$hCo has made of Iraq. Bu$h is despised the world over and has disgraced the U.S. like no other. Jim Baker's laughable "Iraq Study Group" is a tragic joke. Here's the latest progress on the ground in Iraq

52 bodies found in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Police in Baghdad on Wednesday said they found 52 bullet-riddled bodies across the capital.

Most of them were found on the west side of the Tigris River, which has a mostly Sunni population. However, it is not known if the slain people were Sunnis, Shiites or both.

Dumped bodies are a common mode of sectarian killings, and many slain people are found shot and tortured every day in Baghdad. --From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq (Posted 1:49 p.m.)
Al-Maliki skips dinner with Bush, Jordanian leader

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Jordan on Wednesday and met with Jordan's King Abdullah. However, he skipped a dinner with President Bush and Abdullah, and is to meet with the president on Thursday, said Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett.

Because that bilateral meeting was held, it was decided that a three-way meeting was not required, Bartlett said.

It had been reported that Bush-al-Maliki meetings -- focusing on the out-of-control security situation across Iraq -- would start Wednesday.

Whew! You really cannot make this s**t UP! Maria sent me the link to the Smirking Chimp site where this article came from. You'll want to click on the link to Sy Hersh's article in the New Yorker and feel like Halloween came a little late this year.

Seymour Hersh is reporting in The New Yorker that Dick Cheney is in the middle of advocating a military strike on Iran. This could start a war with no foreseeable end. The US versus the whole Muslim world. Is there anything more dangerous in the world? Osama bin Laden would love to start a war like this, but he doesn't have the capacity.

Cheney does.

As Hersh and others point out, this is not a done deal. There are other forces inside the White House who are battling the Vice President over the tiny battleground that is George Bush's mind. But the fact that Cheney is waging this fight and would attack Iran if he had his way clearly makes him the most dangerous man on earth.

Can we really take take 2 more years of this? Impeach the bastards, for the good of the world.

I was watching CNN last night and Wolf Blitzer showed a clip of James Carville ripping into DNC Chairman, Howard Dean for "losing 20 seats" for the DCCC. What the.... So I checked www.dailykos.com and found the real truth of the matter. Read it and shake your head in wonder.

Is Carville is carrying Emanuel's water on this one? I don't know for sure, but I do know that the rest of the Dem Party establishment has credited Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy for the great success of this cycle. Senator Schumer said so himself in a comment in his diary today:

Friday night I was on the Bill Maher show and talked about what a great job Dean has been doing at the DNC. The DNC helped out at a crucial time financially and organizationally that helped put us over the top.

Chuck Schumer hasn't run around to every traditional media outlet to pat himself on the back and hog all the credit for this victory, when our victories in the Senate were incredible. We all knew we'd take the House, but how many really thought we could swing six Senate seats? Schumer's leadership in this achievement was critical, but he graciously acknowledges all contributions to the effort.

This year we won because we are smart, committed to a common cause, determined, and indefatigable. The diversity of our new Democratic majority shows that we have a big tent. From Ben Cardin to Amy Klobuchar to Bob Casey to Bernie Sanders, to Jon Tester and James Webb, our candidates were energetic campaigners, and will now be exceptional members of the Senate.

Carville is a fool to bash a major player in his own party a week after a successful election. He's mad as a hatter, I tell ya. He's giving Dems a bad name by being ungreatful for the millions of dollars Dean raised and the GOTV Dean got from an energized grassroots. That kind of sucks.

War is hell. Pure and simple Go to Http:// Warletters.com to read and weep.

In my humble opinion, no Vet should suffer so much as a paper cut without the full support of the Government and medical community. We're about to see the return of horrificly maimed Vets to our communities in the near future. They deserve our open arms, compassion and open-ended services. Whatever they need, we will give them. Right, Bu$h?

This is disturbing. The writer, Joe Galloway, is the senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder newspapers. Read the whole article here:

And we should keep the current Congress, WHY?

And impeachment is strictly for lying about SEX these days. Oy!

Ruining America
Joe Galloway

So we're going to stay put in Iraq; going, in fact, to stay the course all the way to victory. We aren't going to be drawing down our troops, who are square in the middle of a burgeoning Iraqi civil war. In fact, we might even send more troops over there if the president can find any to send from an Army and Marine Corps already stretched so thin that you can read your morning paper through them.

The president says that there'll be tough fighting to come, which is hardly news to a military that's already suffered more than 2,800 killed and 22,000 wounded; a military so ground down that it won't be able to man the next annual deployments without once again reaching out and activating thousands of Army National Guard and Reserve troops that have maxed out their active duty availability.

Oh yes. One other bit of news: the White House that says nothing is too good for our troops has turned its back on a plea by Army leaders for a $25 billion increase in its 2008 budget so it can carry out the missions the administration has assigned to it.

The White House Office of Management and Budget rejected Army chief Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker's extraordinary plea by for the additional funds to pay for repairing and replacing thousands of worn out and blown up tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees.

Instead of the $25 billion that Schoomaker says the Army needs just to keep doing what it's been doing with spit, adhesive tape and baling wire for the last five years, the Pentagon says the Army can have $7 billion.

The president declared himself confident that Republicans would sweep to victory and maintain their stranglehold on both houses of a Congress that's done nothing but rubberstamp Bush's war policies and Republican efforts to enrich their fat-cat donors and themselves, of course.

There has, thankfully, never been a more Orwellian, insane, corrupt administration in U.S. history. We've been "treated" to propaganda in the MSM, written torture into law, lied to on a daily basis and called terrorist loving America haters for opposing the Iraq war by the GOP from the top down. This divorced from reality administration scares people the world over. The latest visit to crazy town is nicely summed up in The War Room at Salon.com here:

So why is the mainstream media jumping on the story now? Because the White House is spinning it so hard now. "Stay the course," Tony Snow said Monday, has left "the wrong impression about what was going on, and it allowed critics to say, 'Well, hereâ??s an administration thatâ??s just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is,' when, in fact, it is the opposite." And why is the White House spinning so hard now? Because three streams have just converged: Democrats are saying that "staying the course" is a prescription for disaster. An overwhelming, 65-percent majority of the American people say that the United States is losing ground in Iraq. And now the generals on the ground in Iraq say the current plan hasn't worked.

"Stay the course"? Who said "stay the course"? Tony Snow insisted Monday that the White House policy on Iraq is "not a stay-the-course policy."

So what kind of policy do we have? We're betting "stay the course" is replaced any minute now with "blame the military." In an interview with CNBC, the president says he's always been about flexibility but suggests that his generals haven't done enough to keep America limber. "Well, I've been talking about a change in tactics ever since I -- ever since we went in, because the role of the commander in chief is to say to our generals, 'You adjust to the enemy on the battlefield.'"

OK, somebody hold me! More good stuff here

Holy Joe Loserman is a total tool of the GOP. When will the Democratic Party tell him to piss off?

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman collected Democratic primary loss by tapping a lengthy list of major contributors to President Bush, dozens of Washington special interest groups and a lot of loyal Democrats....

The effort to get Bush loyalists into Lieberman's camp was triggered by White House political guru Karl Rove's Aug. 8 phone call to the senator, just before Lieberman learned he would lose to Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary.

Rove did not promise any help, or offer any support...

That call, said Republican strategist Scott Reed, "was a signal to a lot of the Republican faithful to get engaged in the Lieberman race."...

Oy Farking Vey!!!!!! Cut him loose, already.

Think I'm making this up? Check it out here:

Link

While the C-J and David Hawpe sing the praises of our odious senior Senator, Mitch McConnell, the Lexington Herald-Leader does some serious investigative journalism. As sleazy as you think you knew him to be, this series of articles will curl your hair. Here's a brief snip. Do yourself a favor and read the entire series of articles here: Then call the C-J and ask them why Lexington got the scoop that should have come from them more than a decade ago.


TWO FOR THE MONEY
WHEN MCCONNELL'S PULL FAILS, HIS LABOR SECRETARY WIFE FILLS IN
John Cheves, Herald-Leader Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Millionaire coal magnate Bob Murray knew the name to drop in September 2002, when Mine Safety Health Administration inspectors confronted him about safety problems at his mines: Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Murray, a large man with a fierce temper, is a huge donor to Republican senators. McConnell, R-Ky., rose through the ranks by raising money for those senators. And McConnell is married to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whose agency oversees MSHA.
Shouting at a table full of MSHA officials at their district office in Morgantown, W.Va., Murray said: "Mitch McConnell calls me one of the five finest men in America, and the last I checked, he was sleeping with your boss," according to notes of the meeting. "They," Murray added, pointing at two MSHA men, "are gone. . .

Some longtime McConnell donors found their lobbying efforts more effective once Chao took over the Labor Department.

For example, the Food Marketing Institute lobbied the Senate and the Labor Department after President Bush took office in 2001 to kill the mandatory ergonomics rules that President Clinton had intended to protect workers from repetitive-stress injuries. The institute says it represents 26,000 grocery stores.

At the urging of the institute and other business groups, in 2001 McConnell and the GOP Senate narrowly approved a resolution declaring that Clinton's safety rules "shall have no force or effect."

But it was Chao, after the food institute's officials approached her, who sealed the deal by replacing Clinton's safety rules with "voluntary guidelines," the institute told its members in a newsletter.

Thanks to Dezi for pointing us to this series.