Cass County IN Dems

New site- and a new home for this blog

2009-04-17T22:00:00.002-04:00

Sorta of big news, the Cass County Democratic Party has a new website, and with it a new home for our blog. We can now offer multimedia on the new website, and as well give this blog it's own page at cassdems.org/blog; you'll find all the content from this page, as well as new posts. So please join us at our new home, and feel free to let us know what works, and what doesn't.

Tim Banter's First Ad

2008-10-14T08:39:00.002-04:00

Meet Some of Our Local Candidates

2008-09-17T10:56:00.003-04:00

Here's a picture taken recently of Rep. Joe Donnelly and some of our local candidates who attended an Ice Cream Social at the Lion's Den in Walton. Candidates L-R: Marvin Griest, Coroner; Tim Banter, State Representative.; Julian Pugh, County Council; Gordon Southern, County Council; and U.S. Congressman Joe Donnelly (D-IN 2nd District). Not pictured but attending was also State Senate candidate Linda Klinck.

Thank you to the wonderful ladies in serving us the good ice cream!

New Obama Ad on Economy

2008-09-17T10:55:00.001-04:00

I like this ad.

truthfightsback.com

2008-08-13T15:06:00.001-04:00

Obama leads better than 3:1 in field offices

2008-08-13T15:03:00.000-04:00

Obama's VP choice imminent via website, e-mail, text message

2008-08-13T15:02:00.000-04:00

3 million volunteers, unionists included

2008-08-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

"Why I will Not Vote for John McCain"

2008-08-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

McCain, Obama Florida machines get cranking

2008-08-13T14:58:00.000-04:00

Book on Obama hopes to repeat anti-Kerry feat

2008-08-13T14:56:00.002-04:00

Just an FYI. They're starting up again. Same old tactics. Hopefully, the public won't be fooled again this time!

Some thoughts on Republican energy policy...

2008-08-01T09:30:00.003-04:00

Let me get this straight now....the the Dick Cheney energy policy along with the Republican congress' history of support for big oil are barking the loudest about our energy problems. What is it? Their profits aren't big enough so they want handed to them more? Is this a front just to combat environmentalists so that they can have the freedom to drill wherever and whenever they want without regard to anything? Someone said the perpetrator of the crime is usually tries to paint himself as the victim.

Don't fall for it for one minute public! If you vote for McCain you're getting hoodwinked into the same pattern of the last 20 years concerning energy. There is a pattern here folks...

AFL-CIO NOW Blog: Answering the rumors about Obama

2008-07-30T23:48:00.001-04:00

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign for president is based on working-family values and important issues like health care, jobs and fair trade. Naturally, the right-wing rumor machine has been hard at work to change the subject, by making outlandish claims aimed at dividing and distracting us. The AFL-CIO is working hard to counter the rumors and lies leveled at Obama and keep the election focused on working people’s lives.

In a new mailer we’re sending to thousands of union households in key states, the AFL-CIO is taking on the rumors directly, giving straight answers to the questions people have about Obama. The mailers are attracting positive media attention, and bloggers are praising them as, as the Jed Report puts it, “the most effective anti-smear message of the campaign.”

Obama supporters step up effort to woo Hispanic, union voters

2008-07-30T23:44:00.001-04:00

Barack Obama's supporters are launching renewed efforts to shore up support among two key constituencies - Hispanics and union members.

The AFL-CIO announced that, starting yesterday, it was sending mailers to more than 600,000 union households in the key battleground states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. "Union voters, like many voters across the country, are still learning about Senator Obama and have heard many things - some true, some false," the AFL-CIO said.

So one mailer tries to dispel the false rumors that Obama is Muslim, that he used a Koran for his Senate swearing-in, that he will not wear a flag lapel pin, that he won't put his hand over his heart while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and that he wasn't born in the United States.

The other mailer features testimonials about his record on jobs, healthcare, and workers' rights.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee and Obama's campaign yesterday announced a $20 million effort to mobilize Hispanic voters.

The campaign plans to spread the money in all 50 states but will emphasize their efforts in swing states such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico, Temo Figueroa, the Latino vote director for the Obama campaign, said at a news conference. The campaign said the money will be spent on registering and mobilizing voters, advertisements, and online organizing. It also plans to put additional staff in the four states and aims to train about 500 Latino organizers.

The largest phonebanking event for voter registration ever (woot!)

2008-07-30T23:42:00.001-04:00

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 30, 2008
Filed at 10:02 p.m. ET

DENVER (AP) -- Those 75,000 Democrats who will pack a football stadium for Barack Obama's convention speech won't be there just to whoop and holler on television. They'll form the world's largest phone bank to boost voter registration -- fired-up supporters using computer targeting the campaign has spent months putting together.

The move to the Invesco Field at Mile High stadium for the convention's final night next month -- at an additional cost of $5 million -- will capture a huge crowd the Obama campaign plans to put to work. They'll be armed with data gleaned through ''microtargeting'' unregistered voters the campaign believes are ripe to back Obama if pressed to get on board.

''If we do this right, we'll be unbeatable,'' said Steve Hildebrand, the Obama adviser overseeing the effort.

One key to Obama's victory plan is to expand the electorate, bringing in more young voters, minorities, suburban women, seniors on fixed incomes and people who have been disaffected by politics and might respond to the freshman Illinois senator's message of change over the more experienced Republican John McCain.

President Bush used microtargeting techniques effectively in 2004, but his target was regular voters who were likely to vote for him. Obama's focus is more on finding people who are not registered to vote and figuring out how to persuade them to sign up and back him.

Hildebrand said the campaign has identified 55 million unregistered voters across the country, by comparing registration lists with lists of potential voters gleaned by mining consumer databases the same way credit card companies track people's spending. They say their research estimates more than two-thirds would vote for Obama if they were registered and motivated.

The campaign is already holding voter registration efforts across the country, and the convention will be followed by a big drive on the following Labor Day weekend.

The campaign is convening the 4,439 convention delegates in state-by-state meetings during the next couple of weeks, and they will be asked to commit time each week before the Nov. 4 election to register voters and persuade them to back Obama. That includes delegates who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton, some of whom still have hard feelings from the primary but are being asked to work diligently for the ticket.

The delegates will be part of a massive audience expected at Invesco on Aug. 28, when Obama becomes the party's first black presidential nominee. The campaign wants to use the hype surrounding the historic moment to build a volunteer force in all 50 states.

The Democrats plan to hand out 60,000 stadium tickets to state party leaders, with instructions to distribute them in a way that helps drive up Obama's support. That might mean rewarding local organizers who are volunteering their time for voter registration, or perhaps identifying independent or Republican voters who might be persuaded by hearing Obama accept the nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s ''I Have a Dream'' speech.

Not all states will be treated equally. Battleground states where voters are being targeted and Western states within driving distance of Denver will be given more tickets, with host Colorado getting the most. The Obama campaign sees the convention as a chance to put him on top in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992.

The campaign has identified more than half a million unregistered potential voters in Colorado -- one-fifth of the state's eligible population. The numbers are even higher in some other battleground states.

Hildebrand points to Georgia as a prime example, where nearly a third of the voting-eligible population is unregistered -- more than half of those being black, Hispanic or under 24. He says Obama could win the state with a muscular drive to enroll them and with McCain losing Republican votes to Bob Barr, a former GOP congressman from Georgia running for president as a Libertarian.

The campaign recognizes that people who live in battleground states will be more effective at persuading their neighbors than the traditional advertising campaigns, which is why it's important to send the masses who will be in Denver out with instructions and training to bring in votes.

In the past half-century, technology has replaced peer-to-peer, ground-game politics with the broader weapons of hitting opponents in television commercials and other mass advertising. The Obama campaign wants to use technology and microtargeting techniques to return to the political roots.

''What has won elections for 200 years is a neighbor talking to a neighbor, some peer talking to a peer,'' said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. ''People need other people to do their validating, especially young voters who are more resistant to ads and mainstream media reports.''

Enter the 75,000 people who will have to come hours early for Obama's acceptance speech to get through security, most carrying cell phones. As they settle in their seats, campaign aides will be on stage asking them to text message their friends and use call sheets to get people to register. ''There will be a lot of idle time. We put idle people to work,'' Hildebrand said.

The campaign effectively used similar organizational tactics in the Democratic primary, such as when tens of thousands gathered to see Oprah Winfrey campaign with Obama in Iowa and South Carolina. But this will be on a much larger scale and focus on voter registration besides persuasion.

The Obama campaign is using microtargeting not just to identify voters and their chief issues -- much as Bush did -- but as a way of going after the untapped resource of unregistered people.

''New technologies and the data that's available to us makes me fundamentally believe that we do not need to accept the electorate as it is,'' Plouffe said. ''It can be greatly expanded.''

The campaign has found about 8.1 million unregistered yet eligible blacks, another 8 million unregistered Hispanics and nearly 7.5 million unregistered people between the ages of 18 and 24. Officials also are looking at more women versus men, more highly educated voters, people on fixed incomes and those who have moved across state lines in recent years and could change the voter makeup.

Obama benefits from a highly motivated group of supporters -- more than 2 million people living across all 50 states have volunteered to help elect him -- and a record-breaking fundraising operation that can fund these efforts nationwide.

''This is not smoke and mirrors,'' Hildebrand said. ''We're just the first campaign with the capacity to do it.''

He compares Obama's potential to change the party to President Reagan, who remade the GOP for a generation. ''If we do it right, we can be the dominant party for the next decade,'' Hildebrand said.

GOP kills effort to release oil from U.S. stockpile

2008-07-24T16:10:00.001-04:00

WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Thursday scuttled a bill that Democrats hoped would help lower gasoline prices by forcing the Energy Department to release 70 million barrels of oil — about a three-day supply — from the national stockpile.
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Democrats promised that the action would have produced immediate relief at the pump, as was the case with similar releases in 1991, 2000 and 2005. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve now holds about 700 million barrels.

Despite winning a clear 268-157 majority, the measure still lost. Democratic leaders had brought the proposal up for debate under rules requiring a two-thirds vote to pass.

But passing the bill by just a majority would have meant allowing Republicans to force a vote on new offshore drilling leases.

"They're hiding from a vote," said GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "They're scared to death to allow us to ... force their members to vote on drilling."

Democrats said the release from the oil reserve could provide relief at the pump within two weeks, though they would not say how much it would help $4-per-gallon gas. Earlier releases, such as a 34 million barrel drawdown in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, caused prices to fall.

As debate began, the White House threatened a veto. "Rather than drawing down a strategic reserve intended to protect our nation's energy security from a severe supply disruption, Congress should pass legislation to increase domestic oil supply," the White House said in a statement.

McCain questions speech, forgets Canada (and Columbia)

2008-07-24T16:07:00.002-04:00

From NBC's Mark Murray
In his interview with NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, which will air on NBC's Nightly News tonight, McCain questions whether Obama should have given a speech in Berlin before becoming president.

"I would rather speak at a rally or a political gathering any place outside of the country after I am president of the United States," McCain told O'Donnell. "But that's a judgment that Sen. Obama and the American people will make."

However, on June 20, McCain himself gave a speech in Canada -- to the Economic Club of Canada -- in which he applauded NAFTA's successes. An implicit message behind that speech was that Obama had been critical of the trade accord. Also, McCain's trip to Canada was paid for by the campaign.

More at link...

p.s. don't let us forget Columbia last week, either:
Click here for article on McCain's visit to Columbia...

Support for Obama crossing party lines

2008-07-23T23:39:00.003-04:00

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A Republican political get together is planned for Thursday night in Hamilton County. GOP loyalists will work on a strategy to support their candidate for president.

But don't jump to conclusions. This group of Republicans, in one of the most Republican counties in the nation are working on behalf of a Democrat.

"I voted for Reagan and Bush and Bush, then Dole, then Bush and Bush," said Republican Chuck Lasker a GOP Obama supporter.

But this time, Lasker is voting for Barack Obama and he's trying to get other Hamilton County Republicans to do the same.

"There's a lot of disaffected Republicans out here. And so, just looking at the alternatives, I decided that Senator Obama better represents my views," said Lasker.

Full article at link. I do believe Indiana is a VERY disgruntled state right now. I kind of like it.

Gobama! Knocking it out of the park in his patriotism speech!!!

2008-06-30T12:52:00.001-04:00

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama

The America We Love – as prepared for delivery

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Independence, Missouri

On a spring morning in April of 1775, a simple band of colonists – farmers and merchants, blacksmiths and printers, men and boys – left their homes and families in Lexington and Concord to take up arms against the tyranny of an Empire. The odds against them were long and the risks enormous – for even if they survived the battle, any ultimate failure would bring charges of treason, and death by hanging.

And yet they took that chance. They did so not on behalf of a particular tribe or lineage, but on behalf of a larger idea. The idea of liberty. The idea of God-given, inalienable rights. And with the first shot of that fateful day – a shot heard round the world – the American Revolution, and America’s experiment with democracy, began.

Those men of Lexington and Concord were among our first patriots. And at the beginning of a week when we celebrate the birth of our nation, I think it is fitting to pause for a moment and reflect on the meaning of patriotism – theirs, and ours. We do so in part because we are in the midst of war – more than one and a half million of our finest young men and women have now fought in Iraq and Afghanistan; over 60,000 have been wounded, and over 4,600 have been laid to rest. The costs of war have been great, and the debate surrounding our mission in Iraq has been fierce. It is natural, in light of such sacrifice by so many, to think more deeply about the commitments that bind us to our nation, and to each other.

We reflect on these questions as well because we are in the midst of a presidential election, perhaps the most consequential in generations; a contest that will determine the course of this nation for years, perhaps decades, to come. Not only is it a debate about big issues – health care, jobs, energy, education, and retirement security – but it is also a debate about values. How do we keep ourselves safe and secure while preserving our liberties? How do we restore trust in a government that seems increasingly removed from its people and dominated by special interests? How do we ensure that in an increasingly global economy, the winners maintain allegiance to the less fortunate? And how do we resolve our differences at a time of increasing diversity?

Finally, it is worth considering the meaning of patriotism because the question of who is – or is not – a patriot all too often poisons our political debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together. I have come to know this from my own experience on the campaign trail. Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given. It was how I was raised; it is what propelled me into public service; it is why I am running for President. And yet, at certain times over the last sixteen months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged – at times as a result of my own carelessness, more often as a result of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for.

So let me say at this at outset of my remarks. I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign. And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine.

My concerns here aren’t simply personal, however. After all, throughout our history, men and women of far greater stature and significance than me have had their patriotism questioned in the midst of momentous debates. Thomas Jefferson was accused by the Federalists of selling out to the French. The anti-Federalists were just as convinced that John Adams was in cahoots with the British and intent on restoring monarchal rule. Likewise, even our wisest Presidents have sought to justify questionable policies on the basis of patriotism. Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act, Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans – all were defended as expressions of patriotism, and those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic.

In other words, the use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic. Still, what is striking about today’s patriotism debate is the degree to which it remains rooted in the culture wars of the 1960s – in arguments that go back forty years or more. In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic. Meanwhile, some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself – by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world; and perhaps most tragically, by failing to honor those veterans coming home from Vietnam, something that remains a national shame to this day

.

Most Americans never bought into these simplistic world-views – these caricatures of left and right. Most Americans understood that dissent does not make one unpatriotic, and that there is nothing smart or sophisticated about a cynical disregard for America’s traditions and institutions. And yet the anger and turmoil of that period never entirely drained away. All too often our politics still seems trapped in these old, threadbare arguments – a fact most evident during our recent debates about the war in Iraq, when those who opposed administration policy were tagged by some as unpatriotic, and a general providing his best counsel on how to move forward in Iraq was accused of betrayal.

Given the enormous challenges that lie before us, we can no longer afford these sorts of divisions. None of us expect that arguments about patriotism will, or should, vanish entirely; after all, when we argue about patriotism, we are arguing about who we are as a country, and more importantly, who we should be. But surely we can agree that no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism. And surely we can arrive at a definition of patriotism that, however rough and imperfect, captures the best of America’s common spirit.

What would such a definition look like? For me, as for most Americans, patriotism starts as a gut instinct, a loyalty and love for country rooted in my earliest memories. I’m not just talking about the recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance or the Thanksgiving pageants at school or the fireworks on the Fourth of July, as wonderful as those things may be. Rather, I’m referring to the way the American ideal wove its way throughout the lessons my family taught me as a child.

One of my earliest memories is of sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders and watching the astronauts come to shore in Hawaii. I remember the cheers and small flags that people waved, and my grandfather explaining how we Americans could do anything we set our minds to do. That’s my idea of America.

I remember listening to my grandmother telling stories about her work on a bomber assembly-line during World War II. I remember my grandfather handing me his dog-tags from his time in Patton’s Army, and understanding that his defense of this country marked one of his greatest sources of pride. That’s my idea of America.

I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, listening to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I remember her explaining how this declaration applied to every American, black and white and brown alike; how those words, and words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the injustices that we witnessed other people suffering during those years abroad. That’s my idea of America.

As I got older, that gut instinct – that America is the greatest country on earth – would survive my growing awareness of our nation’s imperfections: it’s ongoing racial strife; the perversion of our political system laid bare during the Watergate hearings; the wrenching poverty of the Mississippi Delta and the hills of Appalachia. Not only because, in my mind, the joys of American life and culture, its vitality, its variety and its freedom, always outweighed its imperfections, but because I learned that what makes America great has never been its perfection but the belief that it can be made better. I came to understand that our revolution was waged for the sake of that belief – that we could be governed by laws, not men; that we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we could be free to say what we want and assemble with whomever we want and worship as we please; that we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams but the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs.

For a young man of mixed race, without firm anchor in any particular community, without even a father’s steadying hand, it is this essential American idea – that we are not constrained by the accident of birth but can make of our lives what we will – that has defined my life, just as it has defined the life of so many other Americans.

That is why, for me, patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people. Instead, it is also loyalty to America’s ideals – ideals for which anyone can sacrifice, or defend, or give their last full measure of devotion. I believe it is this loyalty that allows a country teeming with different races and ethnicities, religions and customs, to come together as one. It is the application of these ideals that separate us from Zimbabwe, where the opposition party and their supporters have been silently hunted, tortured or killed; or Burma, where tens of thousands continue to struggle for basic food and shelter in the wake of a monstrous storm because a military junta fears opening up the country to outsiders; or Iraq, where despite the heroic efforts of our military, and the courage of many ordinary Iraqis, even limited cooperation between various factions remains far too elusive.

I believe those who attack America’s flaws without acknowledging the singular greatness of our ideals, and their proven capacity to inspire a better world, do not truly understand America.

Of course, precisely because America isn’t perfect, precisely because our ideals constantly demand more from us, patriotism can never be defined as loyalty to any particular leader or government or policy. As Mark Twain, that greatest of American satirists and proud son of Missouri, once wrote, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” We may hope that our leaders and our government stand up for our ideals, and there are many times in our history when that’s occurred. But when our laws, our leaders or our government are out of alignment with our ideals, then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expression of patriotism.

The young preacher from Georgia, Martin Luther King, Jr., who led a movement to help America confront our tragic history of racial injustice and live up to the meaning of our creed – he was a patriot. The young soldier who first spoke about the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib – he is a patriot. Recognizing a wrong being committed in this country’s name; insisting that we deliver on the promise of our Constitution – these are the acts of patriots, men and women who are defending that which is best in America. And we should never forget that – especially when we disagree with them; especially when they make us uncomfortable with their words.

Beyond a loyalty to America’s ideals, beyond a willingness to dissent on behalf of those ideals, I also believe that patriotism must, if it is to mean anything, involve the willingness to sacrifice – to give up something we value on behalf of a larger cause. For those who have fought under the flag of this nation – for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.

We must always express our profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform. Period. Indeed, one of the good things to emerge from the current conflict in Iraq has been the widespread recognition that whether you support this war or oppose it, the sacrifice of our troops is always worthy of honor.

For the rest of us – for those of us not in uniform or without loved ones in the military – the call to sacrifice for the country’s greater good remains an imperative of citizenship. Sadly, in recent years, in the midst of war on two fronts, this call to service never came. After 9/11, we were asked to shop. The wealthiest among us saw their tax obligations decline, even as the costs of war continued to mount. Rather than work together to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and thereby lessen our vulnerability to a volatile region, our energy policy remained unchanged, and our oil dependence only grew.

In spite of this absence of leadership from Washington, I have seen a new generation of Americans begin to take up the call. I meet them everywhere I go, young people involved in the project of American renewal; not only those who have signed up to fight for our country in distant lands, but those who are fighting for a better America here at home, by teaching in underserved schools, or caring for the sick in understaffed hospitals, or promoting more sustainable energy policies in their local communities.

I believe one of the tasks of the next Administration is to ensure that this movement towards service grows and sustains itself in the years to come. We should expand AmeriCorps and grow the Peace Corps. We should encourage national service by making it part of the requirement for a new college assistance program, even as we strengthen the benefits for those whose sense of duty has already led them to serve in our military.

We must remember, though, that true patriotism cannot be forced or legislated with a mere set of government programs. Instead, it must reside in the hearts of our people, and cultivated in the heart of our culture, and nurtured in the hearts of our children.

As we begin our fourth century as a nation, it is easy to take the extraordinary nature of America for granted. But it is our responsibility as Americans and as parents to instill that history in our children, both at home and at school. The loss of quality civic education from so many of our classrooms has left too many young Americans without the most basic knowledge of who our forefathers are, or what they did, or the significance of the founding documents that bear their names. Too many children are ignorant of the sheer effort, the risks and sacrifices made by previous generations, to ensure that this country survived war and depression; through the great struggles for civil, and social, and worker’s rights.

It is up to us, then, to teach them. It is up to us to teach them that even though we have faced great challenges and made our share of mistakes, we have always been able to come together and make this nation stronger, and more prosperous, and more united, and more just. It is up to us to teach them that America has been a force for good in the world, and that other nations and other people have looked to us as the last, best hope of Earth. It is up to us to teach them that it is good to give back to one’s community; that it is honorable to serve in the military; that it is vital to participate in our democracy and make our voices heard.

And it is up to us to teach our children a lesson that those of us in politics too often forget: that patriotism involves not only defending this country against external threat, but also working constantly to make America a better place for future generations.

When we pile up mountains of debt for the next generation to absorb, or put off changes to our energy policies, knowing full well the potential consequences of inaction, we are placing our short-term interests ahead of the nation’s long-term well-being. When we fail to educate effectively millions of our children so that they might compete in a global economy, or we fail to invest in the basic scientific research that has driven innovation in this country, we risk leaving behind an America that has fallen in the ranks of the world. Just as patriotism involves each of us making a commitment to this nation that extends beyond our own immediate self-interest, so must that commitment extends beyond our own time here on earth.

Our greatest leaders have always understood this. They’ve defined patriotism with an eye toward posterity. George Washington is rightly revered for his leadership of the Continental Army, but one of his greatest acts of patriotism was his insistence on stepping down after two terms, thereby setting a pattern for those that would follow, reminding future presidents that this is a government of and by and for the people.

Abraham Lincoln did not simply win a war or hold the Union together. In his unwillingness to demonize those against whom he fought; in his refusal to succumb to either the hatred or self-righteousness that war can unleash; in his ultimate insistence that in the aftermath of war the nation would no longer remain half slave and half free; and his trust in the better angels of our nature – he displayed the wisdom and courage that sets a standard for patriotism.

And it was the most famous son of Independence, Harry S Truman, who sat in the White House during his final days in office and said in his Farewell Address: “When Franklin Roosevelt died, I felt there must be a million men better qualified than I, to take up the Presidential task…But through all of it, through all the years I have worked here in this room, I have been well aware than I did not really work alone – that you were working with me. No President could ever hope to lead our country, or to sustain the burdens of this office, save the people helped with their support.”

In the end, it may be this quality that best describes patriotism in my mind – not just a love of America in the abstract, but a very particular love for, and faith in, the American people. That is why our heart swells with pride at the sight of our flag; why we shed a tear as the lonely notes of Taps sound. For we know that the greatness of this country – its victories in war, its enormous wealth, its scientific and cultural achievements – all result from the energy and imagination of the American people; their toil, drive, struggle, restlessness, humor and quiet heroism.

That is the liberty we defend – the liberty of each of us to pursue our own dreams. That is the equality we seek – not an equality of results, but the chance of every single one of us to make it if we try. That is the community we strive to build – one in which we trust in this sometimes messy democracy of ours, one in which we continue to insist that there is nothing we cannot do when we put our mind to it, one in which we see ourselves as part of a larger story, our own fates wrapped up in the fates of those who share allegiance to America’s happy and singular creed.

Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

The News You Don't See Today: Kucinich brings up Articles of Impeachment in Congress

2008-06-10T13:47:00.006-04:00

Didn't you hear? Last night in congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich brought up the Articles of Impeachment. Anyone hear about it? I haven't. The only way I know about it is because I receive his campaign's emails and they sent me an alert telling me he was on C-Span bringing up the Articles of Impeachment. I've been watching the mainstream news all day today, read the local newspaper and I haven't read or heard one thing about it.

The only place I've been able to hear of it is youtube. For several excerpts of his move, see here. This will now be on the congressional record for as long as our country remains a country.

Senate Republicans Block Taxes on Oil Majors

2008-06-10T13:33:00.003-04:00

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans have blocked a Democratic plan to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies.

Democrats on Tuesday failed, 51-43, to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster of the energy package, and bring the bill up for consideration.

Democrats said the huge profits enjoyed by the largest U.S. oil companies should be reined with motorists paying more than $4 a gallon for gasoline and oil prices soaring well beyond $100 a barrel. But Republican critics said higher taxes on oil companies would increase — not lower — gasoline prices and reduce the incentive for domestic oil exploration and production.

Ok. I thought this was what the people wanted? As I understand, the taxes would be used to create/support more alternative/renewable energy domestically?

Florida people don't want drilling & exploration in their backyards. Miles O'Brien of CNN stated yesterday that there is only 3 months to 2 years of oil in ANWR according to high and low end estimates depending on our domestic consumption rate.

We really need to find other options. We can't drill our way out of this.

McCain, McBarbie, and painkillers

2008-03-03T01:38:00.001-05:00

Click above for the link to the whole story.

The Terror of Marriage Fraud

2007-02-20T23:25:00.000-05:00

At least that's how the Justice Department sees it. It turns out that from 2001 to 2005 they included cases of immigration violations, marriage fraud, and drug trafficking as terror cases. In all only 2 of the 26 reports sent to Congress were correct.

Hmm, 2001 to 2005 you say? I'm trying to remember did anything happen in those 4 years? I seem to remember something, oh yeah there were a couple of elections where the GOP claimed to be the party that would keep America safe. Apparently they meant safe from mail-order brides.

Well that's what you get for not reading the fine print.

Guess We Should've Bought The Extended Warranty

2007-02-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that seems about right.

Even Rupert Isn't Pretending Fox News Is Fair Anymore

2007-02-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

Maybe it was candor, maybe he's bored, maybe he just doesn't care anymore, but Rupert Murdoch admitted to what we all knew:

"Asked if his News Corp. managed to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq, Murdoch said: "No, I don't think so. We tried." Asked by Rose for further comment, he said: "We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East…but we have been very critical of his execution."

So there you have it, even the guy at the top of the pyramid at Fox says they don't accurately report the news. Who knew?

Cartoon Time (Don't Tell the City of Boston)

2007-02-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

How Do We Know If It Is A Surge?

2007-01-28T19:37:00.000-05:00

Its now been 2 years since the last National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, and intelligence czar John Negroponte seems in no real hurry to deliver a new one to Congress. NIEs are “the most authoritative written judgment concerning a national security issue” according to the CIA, severely needed as the last one was completed in 2004. According to this report Negroponte is dragging his feet as this NIE would be "deeply pessimistic" and embarrassing to the President.

So how do we know if the 20,000 troop surge will be enough if we're operating off of 2 year old data? And is it really putting the lives of another 20,000 troops in danger to avoid embarrassing the President?

So Does This Mean Peyton And Snoop Dogg Roll Together?

2007-01-21T17:10:00.000-05:00

I think its safe to say Rush Limbaugh is unraveling pretty fast. Maybe he's back on the Oxy, or caught something in Costa Rica, or he's simply deeply depressed about the election, but quotes like this have to make you wonder if its safe to allow him to roam the streets:

"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

Doesn't he know NFL stands for the "No Fun League?" Is he trying to tell me that Rex Grossman's play is an attempt at a drive buy on the Bears? That when Peyton is changing the play at the line he's throwing gang signs? I'm honestly not even sure what he means when he says this.

Looks Like Somebody Is Full Of All Kinds Of Stupid Ideas These Days

2007-01-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

So basically the President realized that he hadn't done anything to help insurance screw consumers, so now he wants to tax people who receive health insurance from their company.

"Today, the tax code unfairly penalizes people who do not get health insurance through their job," Bush said. "It unwisely encourages workers to choose overly expensive, gold-plated plans. The result is that insurance premiums rise and many Americans cannot afford the coverage they need."

First off, their is nothing gold plated about health insurance in America other then the name plaques on the doors of the insurance executives offices, and denying employees savings of buying group plans, will only add to that. Reducing buying power will not improve any one's health, and will instead lead to another increase in the already high rate of medical cost induced bankruptcies as lower middle class families will be forced to buy plans without adequate catastrophic coverage, as these will be the only plans they can afford when forced to price plans individually.

Well this Should End a Lot of those Rumors About Condi

2007-01-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

Sure nobody is shocked to hear Condi say she loves Fox News, but the fact that anybody actually knows who Harry Smith is at this point was a surprise.

I wonder how long it'll take FNC to turn that clip into an ad?

Hide and Go-Seek

2007-01-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

What to do when faced with releasing embarrassing information? Hand it over and take your lumps? Dump it on Friday and spin? Nah, that's for Boy Scots, when you the Bush White House you just make it all go away.

On 29 (and counting) occasions the Bush administration has removed embarrassing information, failed to produce reports required by Congress, or classified records. The latest involves the White House visitors logs, logs that would detail how ofter Jack Abramoff. Previously they were considered property of the Secret Service and open to FOIA requests. Now suddenly they are considered White House documents and are sealed. But that's not all:

* In March, the administration announced it would no longer produce the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which identifies which programs best assist low-income families, while also tracking health insurance coverage and child support.

* In 2005, after a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.

* After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

* When an annual report called “Budget Information for States” showed the federal government shortchanging states in the midst of fiscal crises, Bush’s Office of Management and Budget announced it was discontinuing the report, which some said was the only source for comprehensive data on state funding from the federal government.

* When Bush’s Department of Education found that charter schools were underperforming, the administration said it would sharply cut back on the information it collects about charter schools.

Probably the Only Thing Dick Cheney and I Will Ever Agree On

2006-12-30T21:53:00.000-05:00

With the death of President Ford it seems the nation is revisiting his pardon of Nixon. Many on the left link Bush's near absolute power in the bungling of Iraq, and there is a connection there. Those on the right like Cheney view the pardon as an act of national healing, a way to cleanse the national psyche. If that had occurred, we wouldn't be discussing it still today, but it was the right thing to do.

What Ford did was preserve the Presidency, if Nixon had gone on to do prison time it would have minimized the Presidency for decades. Quite possibly it wouldn't have regained its stature until September 11th, you could argue that it would have required an attack on such large proportions to bring the presidency back to relevancy. Whether or not that would have happened, the country would have been a quasi-parliamentary government for 25 plus years. Do you really think Denny Hastert would've been a better leader then Bush? Me neither.

What the left misses when it says that Ford beget Bush is this, if Ford had allowed Nixon to go through the legal system, if he had allowed the nation to accept that the Office of President could be convicted along with the man who had held it, then Bill Clinton would have surely been impeached and convicted. Once you've been down that road it is so much easier to go down it again, and there were plenty of Republicans who would have loved to see Clinton go down, to become the disgraced poster boy of all the thing the "Moral Majority" says we stand for in the Democratic Party. You think there favorite phrase is "Yeah but Clinton..." now, just imagine if they had removed him from office.

So while Cheney thanks Ford for allowing him and the President to expand the powers of the Executive Branch to an overwhelming degree, I thank him for preserving the relevancy of the Presidency, we'll undue the damage of Bush more quickly then we would've undone the damage of an irrelevant President.

What Can Big Blue do for You? Apparently Not Much.

2006-12-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

A lot has been said about the failure of Texas' efforts to privatize their welfare system under Accenture. So how has IBM faired at privatization?

"An $80 million contract to build a gigantic data repository for over 1 million students and teachers in North Carolina has ended acrimoniously, turning into a war of words between contractor IBM Corp. and state officials.
“We have told IBM that we’re terminating the project for failure to perform,” says Vanessa Jeter, public information officer at the state’s Department of Public Instruction. She would not reveal specific details.
The initiative, called the North Carolina Window of Information on Student Education (NC WISE), is a Web-based system for collating and analyzing student data, such as report cards and transcripts. But the system -- developed by IBM -- has been dogged by systems crashes and major delays."

Mitch can talk about incompetence and fraud within FSSA all he wants, but replacing it with privatized incompetence and fraud isn't a solution. And for what its worth, all these "dirty" departments of state government that Mitch railed against, what has he done to clean them up?

Ask the Joint Chiefs

2006-12-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

Its telling that less then a week after Rumsfeld's last day that the Joint Chiefs are telling the President that a major departure from our current Iraq strategy is required. Telling because its hard to believe that they just though of it this week, but its the first time we've heard anything about current thinking among the Joint Chiefs in quite some time. For all Rumsfeld's talk about rebuilding and modernizing the military, in the end he'll be remembered for his autocratic and stubborn refusal to adept to the realities of the civil war raging in Iraq.

More pressing for the future is a somewhat ominous note at the end of this article:

A constant subtext in the meeting yesterday, and in the ongoing White House
review, is the Joint Chiefs' growing concern about the erosion of the U.S.
military's ability to deal with other crises around the world because of the
heavy commitment in Iraq and the stress on troops and equipment, said officials
familiar with the review. The chiefs planned to tell Bush of the significantly
increased risk to readiness in the event of a new emergency, rather than push
for a timeline to leave Iraq.

An undercurrent of the conflict over the last six months is the toll it is taking on our battle readiness, and the administration's unwillingness to acknowledge this. While this isn't new, to hear that the Chiefs have begun to press this issue would lead one to believe that the situation is more dire then we think.

He's the Snake to My Mongoose, or the Mongoose to My Snake.

2006-12-12T22:32:00.000-05:00

E.J. Dionne argues in his column in the Washington Post that a Barak Obama candidacy is good for Hillary Clinton, as well as Sen Bayh. The concept is that instead of a Hillary/ anti-Hillary primary, Democrats would be treated to a primary where candidates would need to define themselves, and more importantly take chances.

The idea that caught my attention was his comparison of Obama to the Bill Clinton of 1991/92.

In 1991 Gov. Bill Clinton railed against politicians who "have divided us
against each other, pitting rich against poor, playing for the emotions of the
middle class, white against black, women against men, creating a country in
which we no longer recognize that we are all in this together."
In his New
Hampshire debut over the weekend, Obama said that we had "come to be consumed
by" the "24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative-ad, bickering, small-minded politics
that doesn't move us forward. . . . There's no sense that they are coming
together in a common-sense, practical, non-ideological way to solve the problems
that we face."

Cloak, Dagger and... Google?

2006-12-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

Recently when the Bush Administration went to the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement with Iran's nuclear program the CIA refused saying there sources were to valuable to expose. So what did they do when rebuffed? They googled it.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer
to find the names another way -- by using Google. Those with the most hits under
search terms such as "Iran and nuclear," three officials said, became targets for
international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United
Nations.

The results? About what you'd expect when you try and replace a clandestine intelligence network with an internet search engine.

There is nothing that proves involvement in a clandestine weapons program,
and there is very little out there at all that even connects people to a
clandestine weapons program," said one official familiar with the intelligence
on Iran. Like others interviewed for this story, the official insisted on
anonymity when discussing the use of intelligence.

So what was the purpose, to try and look tough? To pointedly rebuke the Iraq Study Group's recommendation that they negotiate with Iran? To show the world how impotent the civil war in Iraq has made us?

12 Years Older and Deeper in Debt

2006-12-10T20:19:00.000-05:00

With the House's adjournment at 5am Saturday the GOP's 12 year run in Congress ended. A "movement" that rode in on the back of the Contract with America seemed to be the start of a Republican stranglehold to match the decades of Democratic control reaching from Roosevelt to Clinton (with brief interruptions.) The threat of the Republican Revolution to undue the social programs that served as the primary safety net for millions of Americans never occurred, if anything the period will be remembered for wild spending that has occurred during the Bush administration.

But setting the chaos of Iraq aside for a moment, will the last 12 years be remembered? One historian says not so much:

Compared with the liberal ascendancy, which ran from Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal to Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and arguably Ronald
Reagan's election, the conservative era has been brief and relatively
inconsequential, said Julian Zelizer, a Boston University congressional
historian. Nothing in the past 12 years compares with the creation of Social
Security or Medicare, the voting rights and civil rights acts, the Marshall Plan
or Dwight D. Eisenhower's interstate highway system. Nor were any of those
big-government achievements fundamentally altered.

A Story of Lobbyist Run Amok

2006-12-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

There aren't really any winners or losers (other then the consumer) in this story, everybody seems to be plenty wealthy. And it isn't a story of Democrats vs. Republicans, neither side can point to this as shinning example. And while there is no hero there are plenty of villains; lobbyist.

In this article at the Washington Post front page we learn about the laws governing milk production in the US and how laws are written to allow dairies in one state (Nevada) to ignore federal regulations, while forcing one specific dairy to follow them. It servers as a microcosm of American politics today where legislation often goes to the highest bidder.

Excuses

2006-12-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

I like this column because it combines my two favorite things this year, Butler winning the NIT and Democrats taking control of Congress. The uniting theme? That the media insists on making excuse for the losers.

How Not to be President

2006-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

In today's Washington Post Doug Brinkley has an interesting preview of how history will judge President Bush. The answer is not well.

This last point is crucial. Though Bush may be viewed as a laughingstock, he won't have the zero-integrity factors that have kept Nixon and Harding at the bottom in the presidential sweepstakes. Oddly, the president whom Bush most reminds me of is Herbert Hoover, whose name is synonymous with failure to respond to the Great Depression. When the stock market collapsed, Hoover, for ideological reasons, did too little. When 9/11 happened, Bush did too much, attacking the wrong country at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. He has joined Hoover as a case study on how not to be president.

When an historian is comparing you to Hoover, you've got problems. Big problems. Even worse when this judgment isn't including the worsening situation in Afghanistan, the war he fore sake for Iraq.

Just an FYI/Heads Up: Indiana May Outsource Welfare System via IBM

2006-11-29T17:41:00.000-05:00

You may encounter an ad you can click through on the link above.

Indiana May Turn Over Welfare System To IBM Under $1.6 Billion Outsourcing Deal

IBM would provide Indiana with intake processing services and set up an automated welfare eligibility application system that will be accessible online 24 hours a day.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek

Nov 29, 2006 03:00 PM

"The state of Indiana is close to outsourcing the technology and back-office operations that support its welfare system under a contract that, if approved by the governor, would be worth $1.6 billion to IBM and a handful of partners, including ACS and Phoenix Data Corp.

The 10-year deal requires the final approval of Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, who, in a statement released Wednesday, said it would make "America's worst welfare system better for the people it serves." Daniels said he will wait until the outcome of a Dec. 8 public hearing before signing off on the agreement.

Sources familiar with the negotiations say IBM prevailed over technology outsourcer Accenture.

Under the deal, IBM would provide Indiana with intake processing services and technology support for its Family and Social Services Administration. Among other things, IBM will set up an automated welfare eligibility application system that will be accessible online 24 hours a day."

Murder by Numbers

2006-11-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

Fox TV will air the "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened." on November 27 and 29. Hyping the up coming book "If I Did It" published by Harper Collins (also a News Corp division)its billed as "the definitive last chapter in the 'Trial of the Century.' "

Leave it to Newscorp to set a new cultural low watermark. This is the sort of thing Fox News would go into natural disaster mode to cover, if it was another network. The only good that can come from this is that hopefully Nancy Grace's head will explode from rage.

Feingold Bows out of '08

2006-11-12T11:17:00.000-05:00

Easily the most liberal of the potential candidates for '08 Russ Feingold has chosen not to run. So far we have two in (Biden just told ABC he plans to announce after the start of the new year) and two now out (Kerry is out even if he doesn't know it.) The question now is were the liberals who saw Feingold as their standard bearer will go? Probably Obama, not because he reflect their views, but because of what he symbolizes to them.

All the same guys, its only been 5 days since the mid-term, feel free to take your time.

Now That the Election is Over We Can Get Back to Important Issues

2006-11-10T15:03:00.000-05:00

Add to the Republicans’ coming disadvantages on the House floor and in committee rooms a growing difficulty on the greens.

The best golfer in Congress, identified last year by Golf Digest as Rep. Chris Chocola, went down to defeat on Tuesday. His 0.5 handicap was tops in the House or Senate.

The top two golfers in Congress are now — GASP! — Democrats.

As of last year, Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., carried a 1.8 handicap and Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., held a 2.2.

The top Republican is now New Jersey’s Mike Ferguson, with a 4.3 handicap, followed by Ohioan John Boehner, with a 4.8 and Tennessee’s Zach Wamp, with a 4.9.

The GOP will need them, too. Democrats won their first-ever victory this year in September’s annual party vs. party golf tournament at Columbia Country Club.

And We Have Our First Darkhorse Entering the Starting Gate

2006-11-09T15:13:00.000-05:00

Two days(!) after the midterm elections and we now have our first declared Democratic candidate for President. Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa announced his bid for the Presidency today and opened a campaign office and launched his website.

The first primary isn't for another 15 months, and this guy isn't exactly going to generate Obama like mania, still he'll run strong in Iowa. That is assuming he doesn't run out of money between now and then, I'm betting he doesn't have Hillary's war chest. So we'll see, he could be another Bill Clinton coming from relative obscurity, or he could end up pulling out of the race because he can't raise funds.

Congressman (Elect) Donnelly

2006-11-07T22:39:00.000-05:00

It was a rough night in Cass County, really rough, but talking to Joe tonight knowing he was going to be my Congressman was a great feeling.

Indiana GOP Fires Harrassing Robo Call Firm

2006-11-06T19:58:00.000-05:00

I told you so! Please warn others!

Warn Others About Underhanded Robo-calls from GOP

2006-11-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

I just received a robo call from the Indiana Republican party. Although they were not claiming to be a harrassing Democrat as described in this article, it WAS automated as I tried to interrupt and it cut off. It was made to sound like a live person with the background noise of other phonebankers for added effect. My interruption included asking the caller if they were "live" or not---then it disconnected.

Click on the headline link to find out about a different kind of dirty robo-calling and be aware:

"What we're talking about is something a bit different. What we're seeing is an apparent coordinated effort from the NRCC -- the House GOP committee -- to place calls that appear to be from the local Democratic candidate and then automatically call the same number back as many as seven or eight times each time the caller hang-ups. If the caller listens to the whole message it goes on to bash the Democratic candidate. But if the caller hangs up prematurely, the computer calls right back. Hang-ups are the achilles heal of robo-calls. So this seems to be an attempt to cover for that weakness by making those who hang up think the Democratic candidate is basically harassing them with phone calls. The GOP wins either way."

Remember, this is illegal!

Yet Another Call for Rumsfeld to Step Down

2006-11-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

The Military Times, publishers of the Army Times, Navy Times, Marine Corp Times, and the Air Force Times will publish an editorial calling for the resignation or removal of Donald Rumsfeld. Read by over 250,000 members of the military, the editorial this is seen as a high water mark in the growing wave of dissatisfaction in the military with the Defense Secretary.

"It is extremely widely read and influential for the professional military," said David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland.

The relationship goes two ways, said Segal. "I think it would be safe to say if the Army Times is saying that, it is something they are hearing from senior officers in the Army," he said

So the rank and file as well as well as numerous retired general and a growing number of members of Congress have called for his resignation or removal. So who's defending him? The Republican leadership.

"Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld," Boehner said in an interview on CNN on Wednesday afternoon. "But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president."

So when the generals on the ground ask for more troops, they had crackers in their mouths and Rumfeld couldn't understand them? Is that the excuse, that even though the generals have been ignored or replaced by Rumsfeld, it's all their fault?

2006-11-04T21:56:00.001-05:00

Paging Dr. Freud, Dr. Freud to the Oval Office

Every Freudian slip has a meaning, they usually aren't this obvious.

2006-11-04T21:00:00.000-05:00

Joe Donnelly at the St. Joseph County JJ Dinner

Can you tell I've recently discovered how to use youtube?! lol Well, anyway, I just received this clip of Donnelly and Bayh in St. Joseph County last evening. They will be here in Logansport tomorrow at the Memorial Home at 4pm! Please come and show your support if possible!

Dateline Logansport

2006-11-04T00:22:00.000-05:00

Not something you expect to see in The Economist but as interest in Joe's campaign has built the world is taking notice. If Joe can get this type of exposure for Logansport and Cass County, the least we can do is put Joe Donnelly in Congress.

2006-11-03T20:46:00.000-05:00

Joe Donnelly Rallies UAW Members with Evan Bayh

Evan Bayh will make an appearance in Logansport Sunday afternoon at 4pm. I believe it will be at the Memorial Home?? Cassdems? Is this correct? I know it's Sunday at 4pm for sure. Here's a chance to personally witness live a possible future presidential candidate!

-Yes that's correct.

GOP Goes All Out, and Way Over the Line

2006-11-03T08:21:00.000-05:00

Jacob Weisberg does an effective job of detailing how the GOP has sunk to a new low this election cycle in their commercials. Yes, the Democrats run negative ads, but they're about the President, and Iraq, big oil, and corruption. The GOP?

If there were an Oscar for political slime, it would go to "Twilight Zone," a spot run by Vernon Robinson, a congressional challenger in North Carolina. In 60 seconds, the ad manages to tie Democrat Brad Miller to Osama, gay marriage, "lesbians and feminists," activist judges, infanticide, flag-burning, racial quotas, space aliens, illegal immigrants, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. In another ad, Robinson stamps "XXX" across Miller's face, claiming that his opponent refused to support body armor for troops in Iraq but that he "pays for sex" and that he "spent your tax dollars to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia." It's all mendacious nonsense, but Paul Nelson, a Republican running for Congress in Wisconsin, liked the ad so much he ran it virtually unchanged against his own opponent.

Even factcheck.org, an independent group that analyzes commercials for validity, finds that the GOP's ads are out of line.

Hey America! Feel Safer with Republicans in Charge?

2006-11-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times. This is pretty bad.

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Guide

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

--snip--

America's Least Wanted Political Endorsement

2006-11-02T17:18:00.000-05:00

Sullivan: "This is not an election anymore, it's an intervention"

2006-11-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan regarding Bush's comments on Rumsfeld and Cheney:

But it wasn't only endangered Republicans who have been calling for Rumsfeld's ouster who may have blanched. Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer who was once a key media supporter for the Iraq war, denounced the latest Bush statement on CNN on Wednesday night, stating that the president is so delusional, "This is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."

...more at link above from editorandpublisher.com.

With Less Then A Week To Go Dems in Good Position

2006-11-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Reuters has released their latest House polls and they show Joe with a 52% to 39% lead. I'd ignore the 39%, that number is probably higher then that. The important number is Joe's 52%, given that at least some of that 9% undecided will break his way means with 6 days to go he's in the driver's seat.

But Joe still needs your help to win, so if you can spare some time over the weekend and on Monday or Tuesday please call 574.722.3554 and volunteer today.

2006-10-31T21:19:00.000-05:00

I'm Takin' My Country Back

For all you Cass County internet "honkey tonkers" out there....a pep rally!

2006-10-30T23:01:00.000-05:00

Pink- Dear Mr President - Live

For some of the more progressives in Logansport...I keep thinking and wondering how Rep. Chocola can continue to be a rubber stamp for this administration with a clear conscience.

Check Your Votes!

2006-10-30T14:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not trying to start a conspiracy, but please, please check the review screen when you vote to make sure its right.

Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-workers manual.

This is the truth with touch screens, so please make sure your votes is counted for the right candidate!

Well this is Reassuring

2006-10-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

Over 14,000 weapons bought for Iraq's defense forces have gone missing, and many more cannot be repaired due to no parts and lack of manuals according to a government audit.

The Defense Department cannot account for 14,030 weapons — almost 4% of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003, according to a report from the office of the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

I'm not even sure I want to know what the "other weapons" are in a list that includes RPGs. But the bigger questions are how many of these weapons have fallen into the wrong hands, and how many US soldiers will be injured or killed by them?

The Final Week

2006-10-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

Indiana Second CD is currently rated a top 10 pickup for the Democrats this year. From the National Journal to internal GOP memos everybody is saying that Joe have every chance to win this race. But he still needs help. Here in Cass County we will need a lot of help to get the vote out on Election Day. The best way to help is to volunteer, we'll need a lot volunteers, especially working the phone the last four days to make sure we get out the vote for Joe.

So please if you have any time the last four days please call 574 722 3554 and volunteer today.

Run its Nancy Pelosi!!

2006-10-29T14:10:00.000-05:00

Jack Colwell writes today on the single thing that scares the GOP more then anything. No, not that their ill-conceived war in Iraq has lead the US to withdraw resources from Afghanistan allowing the Taliban to begin to re-establish control there.

Instead they fear Nancy Pelosi. They seem very worried about her being from San Fransisco. I'm not sure if the 49ers porous defense make them think she'll be weak on national security, or that Barry Bonds will lead her to require that all Little Leaguers use the cream and the clear, but they sure are scared of her.

My question is, are we really supposed to trust a party afraid of a 66 year old grandmother to protect us?

Those Who Fail to Learn from History...

2006-10-29T11:28:00.003-05:00

The New York Times (reg. req.) has a story today about corporate America and the Bush admin. attempting to repeal the more stringent laws put in place post Enron. It's goal?

The groups are drafting proposals to provide broad new protections to corporations and accounting firms from criminal cases brought by federal and state prosecutors as well as a stronger shield against civil lawsuits from investors.

Less then 4 years after Enron and Worldcom and they're already trying to go back to business as usual. The idea that we should protect these people from paying for their wrongs is laughable, but most likely will occur as the S.E.C. will pass most of these "reforms" as administrative policies. The only way to stop these policies, which are scheduled to be announced the day after the election is by an act of Congress.

So ask yourself who is more likely to vote to uphold the more stringent law, Joe or Chris "Big Business's best friend" Chocola?

Great News!

2006-10-27T23:24:00.000-04:00

To everyone in the Cass County Dems I must say, I have been hearing great things about you! I talked to Andrew from the Donnelly campaign and he said that you had around 15 vols for a canvass. Wow! I know that the Donnelly race is the least of your worries. I know that we need to get people who listen(Dems) in all levels of government. Election day is a week and a half away and we must get the people out to vote! Remind your friends, neighbors, spouses, everyone needs to vote this year. All the work that we have been doing is not going to mean a thing if we don't hit the phones and doors hard over these last few days. I must say that I am proud to be hearing that Cass County is coming alive! Everyone on the Hodes for Congress Campaign in New Hampshire knows about you guys! I think that Matt and Dave deserve a standing ovation! Give them Hell Cass County Dems!

Out of Touch

2006-10-22T00:08:00.000-04:00

There is no other way to describe a person who would donate money to Katherine Harris. How can Chocola make any claim to being capable of sound fiscal management when he thinks giving Katherine Harris money seems like a good bet?

NYT: In a GOP Stronghold, 3 Districts in Indiana Are Now Battlegrounds

2006-10-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

Second District

Representative Chris Chocola, a Republican, and the Democrat, Joe Donnelly, a lawyer and businessman, are in a race that was never supposed to be so close, though the district has elected Democrats in the past.

The economy and immigration loom as large as Iraq in this blue-collar district. Many auto-parts plants have closed or been cut back. Workers are nervous, and some say that Mr. Chocola does not understand their predicament because he is independently wealthy.

Plant workers blame Washington for higher gasoline prices, which hurt demand for automobiles; for spending money on Iraq that could be spent at home; and for failing, as they see it, to stop illegal immigrants from taking jobs in nonunion shops.

Mr. Chocola soundly defeated Mr. Donnelly in 2004, but polls now show Mr. Donnelly ahead. Mr. Donnelly appears to be benefiting from spending by independent groups and national Democrats. (Republicans recently stopped broadcasting advertising for Mr. Chocola, cautioning they have not given up on him but declining to say if the advertisements will resume.)

“Billions of dollars go to China, they’re taking away our jobs, and they call it free trade,” said Richard Rittenhouse Jr., leaning against a friend’s pickup after their shift at the AM General Hummer H2 plant in Elkhart.

Illegal immigrants, whose numbers are relatively small in Indiana, but are concentrated in some areas, are “working hard and cheap” in nonunion plants Mr. Rittenhouse said, while union jobs are trimmed.

He and his friend, Steve Patton, said they were also frustrated by high property taxes, the leasing of a state toll road to a foreign entity and changes in the local daylight saving time.

Mr. Chocola said he was not worried.

“This district is always competitive,” he said, after addressing students at Penn High School in Mishawaka. “Nothing unusual.”

Mr. Donnelly, who criticizes Mr. Chocola for supporting the president on Iraq and foreign trade, sounds equally confident.

“We’re going to change the country,” he said in a South Bend pub.

Will Weldon Make 5?

2006-10-18T15:06:00.000-04:00

You've got to give Curt Weldon some credit, he has a very vivid imagination. Only he would:

Launch his own hunt for WMDs in Iraq.
Suggest that he personally convinced Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi to give up his nuclear program.
Accuse his democratic challenger, Joe Sestak, of being a carpetbagger, citing as proof the fact that Sestak's five-year-old daughter was receiving cancer treatment in Washington, D.C. rather than in Pennsylvania.

So not only is he full of it, he's a classless hack. Now we can add under investigation by the FBI to his list of "honors." Weldon's involvement with a Russian company known as ITERA has come under scrutiny, the firm also does business with Weldon's daughter to the tune of $500,000 a year. After visiting Russia Weldon began very aggressively pursuing a deal between another one of his daughter's clients, Saratov and the Navy. The product? A drone described as a "flying saucer."

So it would appear that Mr Weldon is well on his way to becoming the fifth indicted Republican Congressman this year. When Republican campaign on government corruption, do you think they add a disclaimer that they're the source of most of that corruption?

Country Democrat

2006-10-16T13:11:00.000-04:00

I admittedly know nothing about country music, so my basic understanding of Tim McGraw is limited to he's Faith Hill's husband, and Tug McGraw's kid (I do know baseball, and Faith has done enough pop (well that and I'm not blind) to enter my radar.) So I had no idea he was a Democrat, and a fairly well spoken one at that.

The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country.

That is exactly why you vote Democrat, and it's good to see somebody with "red state" appeal say it so eloquently.

Confessions of a 'Defeatocrat' (reg. req.)

2006-10-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

There's really nothing here for me to add, I'll let Rep. Murtha speak for himself.

"Cats and Dogs, living together"

2006-10-15T10:04:00.000-04:00

Yes the end of the world may be near The Indianapolis Star has endorsed Democrats. The good news is Joe is one of them.

Supporters of Rep. Chris Chocola are crying foul that he's taking blame for the leasing of the Indiana Toll Road to a private entity, an unpopular move in the Northern Indiana district.
But challenger Joe Donnelly is right to argue that a congressperson should at least have spoken up informally about the momentous deal involving an interstate highway, even if the federal government was not directly involved.
Making his second consecutive run at the Republican two-term incumbent, Democrat Donnelly could benefit enough from the Toll Road controversy and another state issue, daylight-saving time, to close the narrow margin by which he lost in 2004. Dissatisfaction with the national GOP and with the Iraq war also is behind one of the nation's closest congressional races.
At the same time, Donnelly, a well-spoken Mishawaka businessman and former State Election Board member, brings many positives of his own to the table, including sound, moderate positions on extrication from Iraq, immigration control and taxation. While Chocola in his brief tenure has established himself as an advocate for small business and fiscal sense, Donnelly is the better choice between two worthy candidates.

I have to give the Star some props for acknowledging that Chocola could've done something about Major Moves, far too many media outlets have been far too willing to give him a pass on it.

Americans for Tom DeLay?

2006-10-14T10:33:00.000-04:00

Rep. Chocola does travel in some interesting circle you have to admit. And one of the key figures in that circle continues to be former House majority leader Tom DeLay. Chocola has taken over $30,000 from DeLay, and has contributed to DeLay's defense fund as well. One would think in a tight Congressional race like this it would be a good idea to distance one's self from DeLay. But that's not how Chris rolls. Recently a group known as "Americans for Honesty on Issues" have been trying to run ads on Chocola's behalf attacking Joe. I say try because WSBT has refused to air them as being dishonest. Who is "Americans for Honesty on Issues"?

The leader of Americans for Honesty on Issues is Sue Walden, a close ally of Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who left Congress amid questions on ethics and fund-raising. Ms. Walden has also raised money for President Bush and served as an adviser to Kenneth L. Lay, the former chief executive of Enron who died in July.

And Chris like to whine about moveon.org. Why is it every time you turn around there is another link between Chocola and DeLay? Is this some sort of pathological disorder? Chris will have plenty of time to think about it after he loses on November 7th.

Conservative Pickpockets

2006-10-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'm not the only one to receive the Republican Party's most recent plea in a flier mailed out urging everyone to "vote early" or the liberal Democrats will pick your pockets!! ...or "Failing to vote could be a costly mistake" and "Hold on tight to your paycheck. Vote Republican." Funny. I recall my paycheck going further 6 years ago.

Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future group, has written this article presented on tompaine.com. Please read this excellent rebuttal of their resurrected campaign meme.

Earth to Chris, Come in Chris

2006-10-10T13:04:00.000-04:00

On the heels of the third immigration focused mailer I've received from Chocola in the last week (sorry Chris I voted this morning, and it wasn't for you) I found this article interesting.

Just 24 percent of voters name immigration as a key election issue, compared with 51 percent who cite Iraq and 37 percent who cite terrorism, according to the poll.

"It matters a great deal to a small minority of voters, but it is not a top-tier issue for a majority of voters," said Pew's associate director, Carroll Doherty.

With the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley dominating the national political discussion, it remains to be seen what impact immigration - or, for that matter, any other issue - will have on voters.

Even among Republicans only 32% identified it as a top issue. Those aren't good odds for a Congressman trying to avoid talking about Iraq and Mark Foley. And once people start learning the details of the vote authorizing the 700 mile long security fence (like the fact that the money can be transfered to pay for other homeland security projects) I'm not sure if it really is going to be a point of strength.

GOP Officials Brace for Loss of Seven to 30 House Seats

2006-10-09T23:29:00.000-04:00

Sweet music to my senses!

Exerpt:

With four weeks left in the campaign, GOP strategists, speaking on background, have begun to outline a highly gloomy view of the House election for their party.

They are all but writing off GOP open seats in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Florida (the one previously held by Foley). Party officials said that three GOP incumbents in Indiana are trailing in private polling and that seats thought safe suddenly appear imperiled. These include the open Florida seat vacated by Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), who is running for senator. "It is unquestionably closer than we would like," said Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.).

NYT: In House Races, GOP Races Are Seen at Risk

2006-10-07T00:42:00.000-04:00

See also this link for a color coded map of the congressional House races.

Ready For Some Fun? Watch This.

2006-10-07T00:30:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun campaign ad....sure beats the heck out of the negative ad campaigns!

Have You Had Enough? Click here!

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment

2006-10-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

Awesome commentary from Countdown's Keith Olbermann.

Indiana to take 1200 California prisoners--Thank You Mitch Daniels

2006-10-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

I think I'm going to get sick. I've heard that the prison system is nothing more than a big business industry for the wealthy. Not only are the toll roads and our state hospitals up for leases and privatization respectively, but our nation's prison systems have also been moving to become operational through private enterprise. I wonder who are those receiving the benefits here? Into whose pockets do these tax dollars go? I am an RN and I've seen first-hand the use of agencies in the prison system. The state relinquishes the duty of providing benefits for these healthcare workers yet they pay double the salary to the contracted agencies of which the nurse only gets half of that pay on the hour...many times the nurse will receive a slightly higher payscale than at a regular facility but often without decent health benefits and no guarantee of a job when the contract is over. Every so often the state will take bids for nursing agency contracts for these prison & mental health systems and the contract, of course, goes to the lowest bidder. So where does this leave the nurse in the long run? The nurse is often forced to switch tp the agencies that pay the lowest because those are the ones who win the contracts with the state government. This is a race to the bottom in pay for nurses--if only they would understand how they are being used longterm.

But back to the article....

Do you suppose the average Hoosier Joe would be happy knowing that we will be receiving some of California's overflow of criminals?? I thought I've also recalled that our local county jails are overcrowded and much money is needed to expand these particular facilities?? I suppose those die-hard conservatives will continue to support such representatives as Daniels no matter what--so long as they "win". What a pity. What a shame. I wonder if this will make front page Hoosier news? I'll be surprised if it does.

Click here for full story in another window.

Condoleezza Rice Should Resign?

2006-10-04T13:46:00.000-04:00

Since calls for Rumsfeld to resign have become so common place as to seem pedestrian, I thought we'd take a swing at a Condi should resign rant. Its been a few years since we've seen somebody really go after her, and what makes this all the more surprising is its from a Conservative. And it far more inflammatory then what you see coming from our side.

The fact that Rice cared nothing of the warnings, however, should surprise no one. Having a long association with neoconservatives, Rice cares nothing for the United States. As many close to her have revealed, she was secretly pleased by the 9/11 attacks (as were many neocons, like David Frum and Bill Kristol), because they could be used as a pretext to invade Iraq. Her loyalty to America is about as thick as a checkbook, and her disdain as long as the proposed NAFTA superhighway.

That sort of language from a liberal would have the lapdogs of the right (I'm looking in your direction Mr. Drudge) screaming bloody murder, and its probably one of the more polite thing said in the article. You doubt me? Try this:

She has received many reports about Iranian and Arab terrorists - Spanish speaking and disguised as Mexicans - crossing the US-Mexico border, but she has done nothing. She knows of the Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwestern United States, and she (like Bush’s left-wing Mexican nephew) secretly supports it. As someone recently said, "Condi hates traditional white America with a passion." Not many realize how left-wing Rice truly is.

Like all of her neocon associates, Rice cares for only one thing: power. She wants power, and she doesn’t care what it takes to acquire it. She is willing to throw aside the Constitution and American lives to obtain it. And she (supporting almost unlimited immigration) plans to transform the US into a third-world wasteland.

Condoleezza Rice should resign immediately and treason charges should be brought against her.

Secret plot by Mexico to retake the South West? Treason? The next time somebody starts foaming at the mouth about Cindy Sheehan, ask them to explain that.

Poll Prediction Site Links

2006-10-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

Here are some links for some websites that track polls:

Election Projection

Election Prediction

Electoral Vote

Real Clear Politics

The Foley Follies

2006-10-02T09:31:00.000-04:00

A lot has been made of the GOP's Orwellian Speak over the past few years, the Clear Skies initiative creates more pollution, Healthy Forests is the name of a massive logging operation.

But this one has to take the cake. No doubt we've all heard by now about Rep. Mark Foley who resigned Friday after it was revealed that he had sent explicit email to an underage page. The piece de resistance?

Foley, co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, helped write a law signed by President Bush in July that toughened prison sentences for sexual offenders. He told USA TODAY earlier this year the bill was needed because of online child exploitation. Referring to online predators, he said: "We're going to make your life a living hell."

Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. For those keeping track this would be the fourth Republican Representative to resign in the last year. And as we learn that Republican leadership may have been protecting Foley we may see more heads roll.

Chocola gets TV stations to yank ads against him

2006-09-30T01:04:00.000-04:00

Click & bookmark for future reference.

Poll: Donnelly Ahead in tight race in 2nd congressional district--South Bend Tribune

2006-09-30T00:25:00.000-04:00

Click here for full article. It's about 10 days old but I found it on another site. I think Joe is looking good right now but we must keep our nose to the grindstone. A little over a month from an election is like an eternity in politics. Much can happen. However, right now, if yard signs could determine the vote, Donnelly would be winnign in a landslide. If that's what it takes to get name recognition, it's what we've got to do.

I also heard on the radio this morning that Joe Donnelly was endorsed by the Democrat Pro-Life group. I bet many of the one-issue voters never realized he was a pro-life candidate. I remember campaigning in '04 for Donnelly and I knocked on the door of this one home in my precinct to canvass for Donnelly. The occupants didn't want to hear anything from me because I was Democrat. They were obviously staunch religious right-wing Republicans. I saw allusions to this by the stickers in their window and their bumper stickers on their car. The next week they had Chocola signs in their front yard. Little did they know they were supporting the opponent of a pro-life candidate. I tried to tell them!

More Signs of Dissent from the Military

2006-09-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

What started out as a few retired Generals publicly criticizing the preparation leading up to the war has now spread inside the Pentagon. Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, who has in the past weeks made pointed criticisms, has refused to submit the Army's 2008 budget. After Secretary Rumsfeld limited the Army's budget to $114 billion Schoomaker responded:

On Aug. 23, at a speech before the National Press Club, Schoomaker publicly threw down the gauntlet: "There is no sense in us submitting a budget that we cannot execute … a broken budget."

The problems with Rumsfeld's budget cap?

A month earlier, Government Executive reported that Schoomaker had told a group of congressional staffers about grave backlogs at the Army's repair depots. Nearly 1,500 Humvees, M2 Bradley fighting vehicles, and other vehicles were awaiting repair at the Red River Army Depot in Texas. The same was true of 500 M1 tanks at the Anniston depot in Alabama. None of the Army's five largest depots was operating at more than 50 percent capacity—all because of a shortage of money.

The cost to repair the Army's equipment damaged in Afghanistan and Iraq is in excess of $17 billion. Due to the budget shortfalls the Army's 3rd ID, the group that so successfully charged to Baghdad currently faces a situation where half of it's brigades have no armored vehicles and only half it's troops.

The war in Iraq has taken a toll on this country, the loss of over 2500 young men and women, thousands more wounded. This war has become a recruiting poster for Al Qaeda, failed to find any of the WMDs that Iraq once had, and further destabilized the region. Now we are finding that it is eroding the military, leaving us with an Army that is increasingly struggling to meet it's duties, and leaving America less safe then it was before.

Does anybody really want to argue that the GOP is the party of national security?

Lesson in Honor from the Military

2006-09-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

Somewhere along the line the people who run this country failed to learn some valuable lessons about honor and integrity. What is stupefying about that is for all of the "reverence" they have for the military, they've never seemed to absorb any of the morals to the stories they love to tell. The fact that so many retired officers have spoken out in the last 2 years should be telling them something, but it isn't. What are they missing?

The retired officers believe that the negative consequences of the president's anti-terror policies could have been avoided if the administration had followed traditional military practices. Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Fred E. Haynes, 83, is a veteran of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1945, he was a captain in the regiment that seized Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima and raised the U.S. flag there. In March of that year, his unit found two U.S. soldiers dead, apparently victims of torture. On March 17, about 10 days before the battle ended, a Japanese soldier, wearing nothing but his boots and a cotton jock strap, stepped out of a cave with his hands up. He had read one of the leaflets Americans were distributing in artillery shells that promised that anyone who gave up would get his wounds treated and his stomach filled.

The Moral?

"The moral of the story," said the general, "is we Americans have been so thoroughly imbued with the idea that you have to treat prisoners humanely — and this [story] is an example of why. It is an illustration of how by treating an individual decently you are much more likely to get any information you might want — and it's more likely to be correct."

How are things done today?

Retired Brig. Gen. James P. Cullen was chief judge of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals. "I grew up in an Army where the rules were very clear and where serviceman and women had no question about what their obligations and responsibilities were under both the Geneva Convention and our domestic law," he said. "When you have a winking-and-nodding policy [as was the case at Abu Ghraib], that just brings about the consequences that we came to view at [the prison]."

What further fuels the officers' outrage is that the policies they believe have undermined the military were mostly formulated by men, like Bush, who have not seen combat.

"[Vice President Dick] Cheney made mention in the days after 9/11 that he wanted to operate sort of on the dark side," Cullen said. "Here was a guy who never served, and now something terrible had happened, and he wanted to show that he was a tough guy…. So he's going to operate outside the rules of law. Bad message."

Maybe if the administration spent more time listening to them and less parading them around like show ponies they could learn something.

Instant Terrorist, Just Add Ill-Conceived War

2006-09-24T10:44:00.000-04:00

A leaked intelligence document shows that instead of fighting and destroying the terrorist threat with the war in Iraq, instead the opposite is occurring.

"They conclude that the Iraq war has made it worse," said a government official familiar with the document who spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature.

"It paints a fairly stark picture of what we all know, and that this is a movement that is spreading and gaining momentum around the world," said the official familiar with the document. "Things like the Iraq war have given the terrorists recruiting tools and places to ply their trade and a training ground."

It will be interesting to see how the GOP and the White House try to spin this, explicit acknowledgement by it's own people that the war has in fact not made the world safer from terrorism. My guess is they'll try and attack the leak first, before eating their own.

The Week in Cartoons

2006-09-22T20:16:00.000-04:00

Dubai Still Owns US Ports?

2006-09-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

From NPR:

Six months ago, Dubai Ports World reached an agreement with Congress to sell its North American operations to a U.S.-based firm within four to six months. Six months later, the company still owns those ports, but says it will sell soon. Democrats say they will make it a campaign issue if a sale isn't completed before the November elections.

(Link includes audio.)

So apparently the GOP's plans to improve border security is to allow foreigners to own our ports, but not vote in our elections. I feel safer already.

They Come Here to Vote?

2006-09-20T21:59:00.000-04:00

You know the Republicans in Congress are out of touch with reality, I know it, we all know it. But I'm still astounded at the ways in which they find to demonstrate this.

The House and the Senate moved yesterday toward a piecemeal crackdown on illegal immigration, pushing forward separate bills to require photo identification to vote, build vast fences on the U.S.-Mexico border and speed the deportation of undocumented workers.

Whatever you think about illegal immigration, I think most sane people would agree that nobody comes here so they can vote. I'm guessing the jobs are a big reason, not the chance to choose the next township constable in Marion county (yeah somehow they still have them).

So are they crazy or crazy like a fox? Sure the photo ID bill was upheld in Indiana (so far) its been struck down in Georgia and Missouri. And with the furor over immigration, we have an environment similar to the time when the PATRIOT Act was passed where reasonable dissent is seen as weakness. So it looks like the GOP has pulled a fast one, launching Strom Thurmond's revenge on the electorate in the name of national security, and getting away with it right? I have faith that the voters will see through this, they'll realize that this has nothing to do with their safety. They may not see the wrong being perpetuated by disenfranchising voters, but they'll see that this is the most hollow of security measures.

Spy for Hire?

2006-09-17T19:04:00.000-04:00

The La Times today has an article on how the US intelligence operations are now largely dependent upon private contractors. Not just for operational support, or technology, but intelligence gathering. It would appear that it has gotten to the point where the agencies can't even control the situation.

The proliferation of contractors has outstripped the intelligence community's ability to keep track of them.

Former intelligence officials said most U.S. spy agencies did not have even approximate counts of the numbers of contractors they were employing — although several officials said the number at the CIA had nearly doubled in the last five years and now surpassed the full-time workforce of about 17,500.

"So What" you say?

"We have to come to some conclusion about what our core intelligence mission is and how many [full-time employees] it's going to take to accomplish that mission," Sanders said, adding that the growth in contracting over the last five years had been driven by necessity and was extremely haphazard.

"I wish I could tell you it's by design," he said. "But I think it's been by default."

Senior U.S. intelligence officials said that the reliance on contractors was so deep that agencies couldn't function without them.
"If you took away the contractor support, they'd have to put yellow tape around the building and close it down," said a former senior CIA official who was responsible for overseeing contracts before leaving the agency earlier this year.

Do we really want to create an environment where its pay for play on national security? If the administration is doing everything it can to make the nation more secure, then why has it allowed the intelligence agencies to wither on the vine to the point that they need this much outside help?

I Feel Your Pain

2006-09-15T16:21:00.000-04:00

The week in political cartoons.

Have We Run Out of Troops?

2006-09-14T19:39:00.000-04:00

In an op-ed appearing in the Washington Post this week William Kristol and Rich Lowery called on the White House to send more troops to Iraq. Calling for a return to the show of overwhelming force that has been a trademark of the US military since the Whiskey Rebellion (Washington personally lead 13,000 troops, a force nearly the size of the entire Revolutionary Army) would seem like common sense. We can't leave Iraq unstable, but we can't stabilize it with current troop levels. So whats the catch?

According to in-house assessments, fully two-thirds of the Army's operating force, both active and reserve, is now reporting in as "unready"—that is, they lack the equipment, people, or training they need to execute their assigned missions. Not a single one of the Army's Brigade Combat Teams—its core fighting units—currently in the United States is ready to deploy. In short, the Army has no strategic reserve to speak of.

The White House's reaction?

One remarkable aspect of the current disarray is how the administration has refused to face up to the problem. The military's funding requests to improve readiness were reduced by the Office of the Secretary of Defense when the Pentagon was putting together its budget request because of the costs of operations in Iraq and, to a much lesser degree, in Afghanistan. (Those costs are the major reason why the current national defense spending of $562 billion is higher in dollar terms than in any other year since World War II except 1952, the height of the Korean War buildup.) On top of that, the Office of Management and Budget cut nearly $5 billion more from the budget submission that emerged from the Pentagon.

So in a world where Afghanistan isn't yet stable, Iran wants the bomb, and North Korea has it, we're tapped out. Is this supposed to be how we make the US safer from terrorist? Do we really believe that our current strategy is going to defeat terrorism?

"Bad Presidents Happen to Good People"

2006-09-14T17:25:00.001-04:00

Video of Bill Maher's appearance on Hardball last night.

Voting Machine Irregularities in Ohio? That's Unpossible!

2006-09-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

In the first thorough study of a paper-backed system -- often seen as an answer to concerns about touch-screen voting -- the nonpartisan Election Science Intistute (sic) found that about 10 percent of the paper ballots sampled were uncountable. And in Ohio, that's a big problem: The paper ballot is the official ballot if there's a recount.

If Diebold's ATM machines failed to record a transaction 10% of the time they'd be out of business, and would have the Feds breathing down their necks. But voting machines fail? Meh. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I think incompetence can explain most things like this, but do we really want incompetence deciding an election?

Lag Time

2006-09-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

A report from the International Telecommunications Union ranks the US as 16th in the world in broadband access. The sad thing is, that's the good news, the not so good?

The U.S. has the fourth highest level of students who have never used a computer, among these nations, exceeded only by Turkey, Slovakia and Mexico

For being the country that invented both the computer and the internet, that's not great company to be in. Why should we care? I'll let FCC Commissioner Michael Copps answer that one:

The reason is that we do not have a national strategy to get broadband out to our people. I think we're probably the only industrialized country on the face of the earth that lacks a coherent national strategy to build this infrastructure, and it's damaging for all Americans. It's damaging for small businesses who are unable to compete, and most of all, it's damaging for minorities and diversity communities, people who live in the inner cities and people who live in rural America, where the market, I don't think, is just going to automatically take all of this infrastructure.

More National Exposure

2006-09-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

The American Enterprise Institute takes up the story of the imperiled Indiana Republicans. But I think its this quote that deserves noting:

In addition to the poor political climate, Democrats have fielded a very strong group of conservative Democrats. Baron Hill and Ken Lucas lost to Sodrel and Davis in 2004. In the 108th, Hill’s voting record was among the most 25 percent conservative for Democrats. Lucas was the fourth most conservative Democrat in the House. Hostettler faces elected sheriff Brad Ellsworth. Chocola faces a popular businessman Joe Donnelly. All are running significantly to the right of the national Democratic Party.

Remember all those Chocola ads calling Joe a liberal? Not so much, but what do you expect from somebody as desperate as Chris?

No ZZ Top isn't Holding a Tryout

2006-09-13T19:36:00.000-04:00

Gary Weddle says he won't shave until Osama bin Laden is caught.

Makes you wonder how long it will get before he can cut it? If he can ever cut it. Anybody want to guess what the odds are we'll find Osama in Iraq?

Olbermann

2006-09-11T22:22:00.000-04:00

If you have a broadband connection watch the video.