empty friend

Saving Darfur

2005-02-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

Nicholas Kristof has a moving Op-Ed in the NY Times today about Darfur . The piece describes several photos that accompany the column. Kristof has been given access to an African Union archive describing the genocide in Sudan with documents and more photos.

The archive also includes an extraordinary document seized from a janjaweed official that apparently outlines genocidal policies. Dated last August, the document calls for the "execution of all directives from the president of the republic" and is directed to regional commanders and security officials.

"Change the demography of Darfur and make it void of African tribes," the document urges. It encourages "killing, burning villages and farms, terrorizing people, confiscating property from members of African tribes and forcing them from Darfur."

It's worth being skeptical of any document because forgeries are possible. But the African Union believes this document to be authentic. I also consulted a variety of experts on Sudan and shared it with some of them, and the consensus was that it appears to be real.

The U.S. has publicly declared the massacre in Darfur genocide, but at the same time we are not willing to let the International Criminal Court handle the situation. Without our backing any attempts to prosecute these killers would be futile. The U.S. needs to jump on board. If the ICC is not a viable option, then what about setting up Tribunals similar to those used to prosecute the killers in Rwanda?

In his inauguration speech and in the State of the Union Address President Bush went on about freedom being on the march and it is our duty to spread liberty throughout the world. If this is what he truly believes then he needs to put the rhetoric into action and begin to support the world community in coming together to stop these atrocities.

Organizations such as www.darfurgenocide.org and www.savedarfur.org need our support. We need to let our Senators know that we are ashamed at the fact that we have let this continue and that something needs to be done.

During past genocides against Armenians, Jews and Cambodians, it was possible to claim that we didn't fully know what was going on. This time, President Bush, Congress and the European Parliament have already declared genocide to be under way. And we have photos.

This time, we have no excuse.

I couldn’t have said it any better.

The Abuse Goes On

2005-02-13T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

Again, things have been crazy for me and I haven’t had a chance to post anything in the last couple of days, but I saw this on the local news the other night and I couldn’t believe it.

An Iraqi refugee who returned home to visit relatives says he was detained and severely mistreated by U.S. soldiers for 12 days.

Jawad al-Hamid, 34, of Everett, told The Herald newspaper the soldiers didn't feed him or let him use a restroom for several days, fastened his handcuffs so tight that he was left with scars on his wrists and pushed him to the floor of his tiny cell.

I shouldn’t be surprised at what al-Hamid is claiming. I think what shocks me the most is that this kind of thing continues to happen.

Al-Hamid said he flew from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Oct. 23 with a friend from Seattle. During stops in Chicago and Amman, Jordan, they met two other U.S. Iraqis who were returning to their homeland to visit their families, he said.

The four agreed to rent a car and driver once they arrived at their final stop, Damascus, Syria. They crossed into Iraq from Syria, and several hours later arrived at a U.S. Army checkpoint near al-Ramadi, al-Hamid said.

Soldiers asked the men for their identification, frisked them and searched the car, he said. The soldiers asked why four strangers had rented a car together and crossed into Iraq from Syria, a base for terrorists.

The soldiers also expressed concern about seven cell phones al-Hamid had with him - gifts for his relatives, he said. A man who appeared to be a high-ranking officer then accused the four of being terrorists and ordered soldiers to arrest them, al-Hamid said.

Soldiers put plastic handcuffs on the men and covered their heads with hats or towels, laughing as they were doing so, al-Hamid said. They took them to a detention center, he said.

Maybe the fact that they did not know each other prior to the meeting on the flight over and renting a car and al-Hamid had seven cell phones on him is a legitimate reason to sit them aside and question them, but the treatment they received is absolutely ridiculous. Al-Hamid’s wrists are still scarred from the plastic handcuffs and he doesn’t have complete use of his hands now. According to the news report that I saw, doctors have told him it might take up to two years for the damage to heal. Since he has been home he has tried once to file a complaint at a recruiting center in Everett, WA. and this failed.

This is absolutely sick and appalling. I watched this report on Friday and began to get a sick feeling in my stomach as he recalled what had happened to him and showed off his scarred wrists. Then they showed the video he took once he reached Basra and you could see the damage done. Not only did he have to endure physical torture he says he was barely fed while he was imprisoned and he was refused medical treatment.

When is this going to stop?

The Propaganda Machine

2005-02-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

So I haven’t had a chance to cover the “Jeff Gannon” story, but basically Mr. “Gannon” (since the story broke we’ve found out his real name is James Guckert) worked for Talon News, which is a pseudo-news agency. Talon is owned and operated by the Republican PAC GOPUSA. Anyway “Gannon” has been attending Presidential Press Conferences and White House Briefings for over a year and a half now. During the President’s January 26th Press Conference Gannon asked the President this question:

"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy." He continued, "[Minority Leader] Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

Reid never said anything about soup lines. “Gannon” has since said that he heard Rush Limbaugh claim that Reid had said this and he used that for his question.

The fact that “Gannon” was attending press conferences is bewildering. His only “journalistic training” includes attending a Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism seminar, run by Republican Morton Blackwell. This was a two day event and cost $50 for anyone to attend. Beyond his “credentials”, many are wondering how the hell he was allowed in to the press conferences using a fake name. If this just slipped by security then there are major security issues that need to be addressed at the White House. I find it hard to believe that he was slipping past the security checks with a fake ID. The White House claims that they did not know him, but the President calls him out by name during the press conference and it is well known that only certain questions are addressed during press conferences in an effort to stay on message.

Since the story broke “Gannon” (Guckert) was not talking; until now .

If you just believe in something enough eventually it becomes true; at least to you.

"I asked a question at a White House press briefing and this is what happened to me," Guckert told The News Journal on Wednesday after announcing his resignation. "If this is what happens to me, what reporter is safe?"

Is he missing something? He is not a reporter! He was merely posing as a reporter. Working for some pseudo-news company (propaganda machine) and attending a two day journalism seminar doesn’t make you a reporter. Real reporters don’t get “information” from the Rush Limbaugh program.

When you’ve got nothing else, just claim the “liberal media bias”. I’m sure he learned this at the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism.

"There are people out there who will turn people's lives inside out," Guckert said. "They tried to intimidate me, punish me. Then they tried to embarrass me, and they've done a pretty good job of that."

How can he possibly say that when he was a part of a conservative media conspiracy?

All of this along with the recent revelations of “journalists” getting paid by the administration to push the White House agenda raises more questions about the administration engaging in propaganda.

The Democrats have been making comparisons to the ’94 midterms and how they need to learn from what Newt Gingrich was able to accomplish during that time in order to take back the Congress and eventually the White House. This is the perfect opportunity. This has become a full-fledged scandal and some Democrat needs to lead the charge to investigate how the administration is manipulating the media.

Budget Plan Will Raise Energy Costs in Northwest

2005-02-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

The budget that President Bush put forth yesterday would likely raise electricity rates in the Northwest by 20 percent in each of the next three years. The plan calls for Bonneville Power Administration to begin selling electricity at market rates instead of wholesale. Currently BPA, under federal law, must sell electricity at wholesale rates.

Without Bonneville's wholesale prices to hold down market rates, it's possible that the market would escalate rampantly, causing even more hardship for the region, Harding said.

Bush would like to make his tax cuts permanent but you have to pay down the deficit somehow.

The extra money that Bonneville would make under the plan would go directly to the U.S. Treasury Department to pay down the deficit, which is expected to be around $400 billion this year.

One official said the proposal was worth considering since it would aid in this nations economic recovery.

How about repealing those tax cuts? That would definitely aid in recovering the nation’s economy. A proposal, such as this, is no different than raising taxes. It affects everyone to some degree, but will be more of a hardship for those who are already struggling to get by. These are the same people that are not benefiting from the Bush tax cuts. These are the same people that live paycheck to paycheck. These are the same people that can’t afford quality health insurance.

The article in the Seattle Times only addresses one instance like this. The issue with Bonneville Power Administration will only affect those of us in the Northwest, but this raises more questions. Namely, is this being proposed elsewhere in the country

Fuzzy Math

2005-02-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

President Bush’s budget was presented to Congress today. The budget shows the federal deficit cut in half by 2009. In this case half is relative. The budget cuts the projected deficit of last year, not this year, in half.

It is the 2004 deficit that Bush is promising to cut in half, but he's not starting with the actual 2004 deficit of $412 billion.

Instead, his benchmark is the projected $521-billion deficit that his Office of Management and Budget estimated a year ago, when the fiscal year was four months old. Using half of that figure, Bush's goal is to reach a deficit of $260.5 billion.

If Bush were to start with the actual 2004 figure, his goal would be a deficit of $206 billion — $54.5 billion more.

Oh by the way, half does not mean half the dollars.

Bush proposes to cut the deficit in half not in dollars but as a share of the economy. If the economy grows, as is projected, then the deficit will decline as a share of the economy even if it does not shrink by a single dollar.

The 2004 deficit was 4.5% of the economy. So in fiscal 2009 it must be 2.2% or less. That is exactly the average share of the last 43 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

This is just playing with the numbers to say that the deficit will be cut in half. It is all in how you perceive what should be considered part of the deficit. Not only is Bush shaping the math to benefit him, he is leaving out key items. His budget proposal doesn’t take into account any more money needed for the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. It also doesn’t address the money that would need to be borrowed to implement his hair-brain social security reform.

No On Gonzales, Like We Needed Another Reminder

2005-02-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

The Senate debated today on whether to confirm Alberto Gonzales to be the next Attorney General. Republicans continue to talk about Gonzales’ “great story” and how he has overcome many obstacles in life. This isn’t a lifetime achievement award. Yeah, Gonzales’ “story” is one of great triumph, but the most pressing issues are:

Is he qualified? No.
Did he endorse torture? Yes.
And did he completely and honestly answer questions that were asked by the Judiciary Committee? No.

Still the rift runs deep in the Senate and it looks like Democrats can’t muster the votes to stop his confirmation . According to the DailyKos , Senator Reid plans to vote no and this makes it roughly 30 Democrats that don’t believe in torture.

As if they needed another reminder of the backlash that has occurred due to the torture at places like Abu Ghraib? An Iraqi militant group has captured another US soldier. The group released a photo and a statement on their website.

"God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from US prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released," the statement said.

The claim has not been verified.

Some would argue that this kind of thing would have happened whether or not the torture occurred but our acts have taken the ability to condemn torture out of our hands and given the militants more of a means to justify their actions.

Troubled Youth

2005-02-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted at The Pacific Daily .

Okay, here is a definite sign that I’m getting old. Generations before mine have accused us as being lazy and uninformed, but this really scares me.

The way many high-school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.

It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high-school attitudes released yesterday.

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high-school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

I’m going to repeat that last sentence because it is very important, “Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.” What are they thinking? I wasn’t the most informed teenager and I could always work towards being a better informed citizen, but this just reeks of sheer ignorance.

Maybe they think this way because they are confused as to what is currently legal and what isn’t.

Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.

I don’t want to lay all of the blame on the students. The glaring problem here is that schools are not doing their part when it comes to teaching history and social/political sciences. Most kids in high school don’t really care about history and how it might relate to current events. They need teachers and curriculum that will teach them the importance of the Bill of Rights and the importance of being informed on issues. They need to understand that being informed does not just include watching the news every night, but entails an understanding of the issues. The best way to understand how current events may affect the future is to realize how they relate to history. This stuff is all very boring to teenagers and that is where schools, teachers, and parents need to be involved. These are the people that can help convince high school students of the importance of being an informed citizen.

I’m going to stop ranting now. I’m beginning to sound like my grandfather.

Bush’s Secret Health Care Plan

2005-01-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

While all of the public attention has been on Social Security since the election, it seems that the Bush Administration is quietly planning to overhaul the health care system . Are we being ambushed?

Emboldened by their success at the polls, the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress believe they have a new opportunity to move the nation away from the system of employer-provided health insurance that has covered most working Americans for the last half-century.

In its place, they want to erect a system in which workers — instead of looking to employers for health insurance — would take personal responsibility for protecting themselves and their families: They would buy high-deductible "catastrophic" insurance policies to cover major medical needs, then pay routine costs with money set aside in tax-sheltered health savings accounts.

The first step to this was the creation of HSAs. They were added to the Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003. Bush has also been throwing out the idea of eliminating the deduction for businesses that offer health care to employees.

The health care system in this country is in shambles, but putting the onus on the employee to take care of their own health insurance is not going to fix the problem. There is already a problem in this country with people shunning needed medical attention because they can’t afford the deductible or to pay their percentage of the bill. With the plan that Republicans are talking about this would only get worse because the individual would have to pay for that out their own “savings account”.

What the Republicans seem to be missing here is that there are two major problems with health care. 1) It has become too expensive. 2) Not enough people are covered. We need to find a way to lower costs and insure more people. A plan like this one won’t do either. It will only shift the burden to the individual, in an attempt to benefit business.

I shouldn’t be surprised by this though. Most Republicans that I’ve gotten to know seem to only look out for themselves. They believe that if you can’t afford a place to live or insurance it’s your own fault. They don’t believe in social programs that could better the community as a whole. This proposal doesn’t deviate from that idea.

Ann Coulter's An Idiot

2005-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not saying anything too outrageous here. Let's face it, she seems to be as good at making herself look like an ass as Condi Rice is at making herself look like a liar. Who am I kidding, they're both asses and liars.

So I don't think Ann is going to be teaching Canadian History anytime soon. In an interview with Bob McKeown, Coulter insisted that Canada sent troops to Vietnam to help the US. You can watch the Quicktime video here .

This is just proof of her clear incompetence. It's really great!

Iraqi Vote

2005-01-30T13:26:00.000-08:00

Iraqis turned out in higher than expected numbers to vote on Sunday. It sounds like voter turnout was slow at first, especially in Sunni cities, and then picked up as the day went along.

The Iraqi election commission estimated that 8 million Iraqis had taken part in the vote for the country's first multi-party elections for over 40 years. Officials had earlier claimed a turnout of 72% but the commission backtracked and said it had only been an estimate.

With polls closed in Iraq, election officials today claimed a 60% turnout on a day that had left at least 33 would-be voters dead.

Polls were deserted at first in mostly Sunni cities like Falluja, Ramadi and Samarra in the Sunni triangle around Baghdad, and in the restive, heavily Sunni northern city of Mosul.

The Associated Press reported that the situation changed by the middle of the day as hundreds of people voted in Samarra and many more in east Mosul, which includes both Kurdish and Arab neighbourhoods.

The day didn’t pass without incident though. I’ve seen various numbers, but according The Guardian 33 people were killed, mainly in and around Baghdad.

Baghdad bore the brunt of a series of attacks, with a rapid succession of eight suicide bombings claiming 13 lives in queues for the ballot boxes.

In the Sadr City area of the capital, a further four people died and seven were wounded when a mortar struck a polling station. Mortar rounds also hit several other cities, killing one person in Hilla.

The attacks, which mostly came early in the day, were claimed by followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi but did not appear to deter determined voters elsewhere.

There are no results available yet, but one Shia group is already claiming victory.

A senior official from the United Iraqi Alliance, a predominately Shia religious coalition, claimed a widely expected victory based upon the grouping's own opinion polling. The official election results are published next week.

We’ll have to wait and see on these, but first can the newly elected government govern? To do so they will need to be able stop the everyday violence, because the next target for insurgents will most likely be the new government officials.

More Good News for Dean

2005-01-28T23:32:00.000-08:00

Harold Ickes, former aid to President Clinton, has said that he is backing Howard Dean for DNC chairman.

``I think all the candidates who are running have strong attributes, but Dean has more of the attributes than the others,'' said Ickes, who considered running for chairman himself before dropping out in early January. ``Many people say Howard Dean is a northeastern liberal, he is progressive, but his tenure as governor of Vermont was that of a real moderate.''

Ickes is currently the chairman of the political action committee for Senator Clinton and said that his endorsement is in no way an endorsement by Hillary. If Senator Clinton is planning on running for president in ’08 I don’t expect her to endorse anyone publicly. I would imagine she would keep quiet until whoever is elected and then seek to support that person.

It’s looking more and more like that person is going to be Dean. He has received several endorsements, including that of Florida. I believe I read somewhere that he now has twice as many endorsements as the rest of the candidates

Cantwell Will Oppose Gonzales

2005-01-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Today Washington Senator Maria Cantwell announced her displeasure with the Gonzales. She will be voting no. Here is the statement from her website .

“WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today announced that she will vote against the nomination of Judge Alberto Gonzales to be the next U.S. Attorney General when it comes to the Senate floor next week.

“The Attorney General of the United States , as the chief law enforcement officer in the land, holds a special independent place in the government. While the President selects the nominee, the Constitution requires the Senate to provide ‘advice and consent.' After carefully listening to Judge Gonzales during his Senate hearings and reading his responses to questions, I have decided to oppose his confirmation.

“Given that Judge Gonzales's office generated legal opinions that counseled the White House it did not have to be bound by domestic and international laws on torture, and he failed to commit to recuse himself on Enron matters prior to confirmation, I cannot support him for the top law enforcement officer in the land.

“We want our Attorney General to uphold the law no matter who the criminal is or who asks for his advice.

“It is essential that the person the Senate confirms for this position is independent. I am unconvinced that he has the independence to be the nation's leading law enforcement officer. As White House Counsel, his office generated a legal opinion on whether the President is bound by domestic and international law on torture, which the government recently repudiated as legally faulty. Such a repudiation calls Judge Gonzales's judgment into question, judgment that is important for our country's top attorney. It also suggests he is not independent of the President, which is essential for his new Cabinet role. Further, Judge Gonzales's changed position on the torture memos in the weeks before his confirmation hearings appears to demonstrate political convenience, not a truly self-reflective change in his thinking on these matters. Had Judge Gonzales recognized the serious problems with the judgments he made on these issues and given convincing assurances that he understands that his new role will require a different approach and a new allegiance to the law, I might have been convinced to defer to the President on this nomination.

“Additionally, Judge Gonzales had substantial ties to Enron while he was an attorney in private practice and then a candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, including receiving many thousands of dollars from Enron and its PAC both in campaign contributions and legal fees. These ties could effect the ongoing criminal investigations of Enron officials. Given the significance of this case and the past recusal of the outgoing Attorney General, Judge Gonzales should have made clear his intention to recuse himself from that investigation.

“Outgoing Attorney General Ashcroft recused himself because of similar political ties to Enron. While I have not been satisfied with the Administration's Enron investigation to date, at least I knew that the Attorney General Ashcroft acknowledged that his former friendship with Enron could pose problems in the investigation sufficient enough to justify his recusal. I want the same assurances from Gonzales, or at least an explanation of why these former professional and political ties to Enron do not constitute grounds for recusal. Yet in his written answers, Judge Gonzales would not state whether he would recuse himself, and he would not be specific about how his former ties to Enron might impact the Department of Justice's investigation of that company. What Enron did to my constituents in Washington and countless others across the nation was disgraceful, and one of the most important things the next Attorney General will do is conduct that investigation and bring Enron criminals to justice. Having read Gonzales's answers to the Enron questions, I am not even reassured that he would believe the investigation to be a priority.”

This is great news. Hopefully Patty Murray, the other Democrat from Washington, will follow. It takes little steps, but I believe this will help convince all Democrats to vote no on Gonzales. If we're lucky a statement like that might also influence some Republicans to stand up for human rights.

So Long Feith

2005-01-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

Undersecretary of Defense, Douglas Feith, will resign this summer. Feith is one of the controversial policy advisors to Rumsfeld and it’s safe to say quite a fan of the War in Iraq.

It was Feith's advocacy of a hard line toward Saddam Hussein after the Sept. 11 attacks that turned his office into the nerve center for U.S. policy toward Iraq. The changeover caused frequent clashes between his staff, on one side, and the CIA and the State Department, on the other.

Here is what General Tommy Franks had to say about Feith in his recent book:

"No one could deny Feith's academic achievements," Franks wrote. "But Feith was a theorist whose ideas were often impractical."

Elsewhere in the book, Franks wrote that Feith was "getting a reputation around here as the dumbest [expletive] guy on the planet."

Aren’t their people on Capital Hill that feel the same way about Bush?

It sounds like Feith did a lot of the grunt work in trying to link Al Qaeda and Iraq.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Feith established an office at the Pentagon that sifted through raw intelligence to determine whether the CIA might have missed links between rogue states and international terrorist networks.

The intelligence unit, the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group, purported to have found new links and briefed the CIA, the National Security Council and members of Vice President Dick Cheney's staff on its findings.

A memo written by Feith about the group's discoveries was leaked to the media, and Cheney touted the memo as the "best source" on the links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

However, at a subsequent hearing on Capitol Hill, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet said the agency "did not agree with the way the data was characterized in that document."

Rumsfeld said that Feith expressed his desire to resign in November and that he was asked to stay on until they find a replacement.

Another Journalist on the Payroll

2005-01-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

Syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher is now caught up in Payola-Gate . Gallagher was on the take from the Department of Health and Human Services in 2002 when she wrote several columns, including one in October 2002 for The National Review Online, endorsing Bush’s anti-gay marriage proposal.

She seems to be having the same problem Condi Rice has about getting her stories straight.

First:

"Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?" Gallagher said yesterday. "I don't know. You tell me." She said she would have "been happy to tell anyone who called me" about the contract but that "frankly, it never occurred to me" to disclose it.

Then:

In the interview, Gallagher said her situation was "not really anything near" the recent controversy involving conservative commentator Armstrong Williams. Earlier this month Williams apologized for not disclosing a $241,000 contract with the Education Department, awarded through the Ketchum public-relations firm, to promote Bush's No Child Left Behind law through advertising on his cable-TV and syndicated radio shows and other efforts.

When she penned the column for the National Review Online she was under contract with the administration for $21,500 and she also received an additional $20,000 from the administration in 2002 and 2003 for writing a report titled "Can Government Strengthen Marriage?" for a private organization called the National Fatherhood Initiative. When asked, Gallagher said she vaguely aware that her work was federally funded.

I expect to see more and more these stories popping up in the coming months.

Hey Kids Meet the New Education Secretary

2005-01-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like the New Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, is already going after PBS and their so-called gay brainwashing techniques.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.
The episode of "Postcards From Buster," which has not yet run, shows the title character, a bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont, a state that recognizes same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit organization had decided not to distribute the episode, "Sugartime!," to its 349 stations but that the Education Department's objections were not a factor in that decision.

When are these people going to wake up and realize everything is not black or white, gay or straight?

US Will Spare Opium Fields

2005-01-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

Amid pressure from Amid Karzai, Kabul’s Mayor, errr, the Afghan President, the United States will not use spray planes to fumigate the opium crop in Afghanistan.

Instead, the United States will help develop alternative livelihoods for poor farmers, build up the police and counternarcotics forces and pay teams of Afghans to cut and burn poppy fields by hand this spring to demonstrate that opium production will be a risky business in the new Afghanistan.

The State Department had asked Congress to earmark $780 million in U.S. aid to Afghanistan for counternarcotics programs, of which $152 million had been earmarked for aerial eradication beginning this month.

Since Karzai has become president, the opium production has increased enormously and no one is doing anything about.

Supporters of spraying have argued that opium profits are swelling the coffers of warlords and enriching Taliban and possibly Al-Qaida elements as well.

The United Nations has estimated that drug trafficking equals 60 percent of Afghanistan's legitimate GDP.

.
There is clear doubt about Karzai’s plan, which happens to be the one we are adopting, to eradicate the opium trade. Opium is clearly the largest and most profitable export from Afghanistan and many, including Karzai, have a lot to lose if we suddenly start spraying the crops.

Will MoveOn Make a Difference in the DNC Chair Vote?

2005-01-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

They plan to.

Ronald Brownstein has the details .

MoveOn.org, the online liberal advocacy group, threw its weight into the race for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship by announcing a plan Tuesday for state-by-state endorsements from its nearly 3 million members.

Under the plan announced Tuesday, MoveOn's political action committee will ask its members to suggest questions for the candidates in the DNC race. Within a few days, it expects to forward the most commonly requested questions to the candidates.

After posting the answers on its website, the group will ask its members in each state to vote on their preference for the party chairperson. Then it will send the results to the DNC members.

This definitely could be a boost for Dean, which is great news. The involvement of MoveOn demonstrates what the grassroots movement can do when technology is used effectively. Just think, ten years ago this many Democrats didn’t have a voice in choosing the next Chairperson.

There is also more good news for Dean.

On Tuesday, the former Vermont governor won the support of several African American members of the DNC — Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who heads the committee's black caucus; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois; and Minyon Moore, a former Clinton White House aide.

All of the news lately looks really good for Dean’s chances. I don’t want to jinx it though. I do remember Iowa.

No on Gonzales

2005-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone over at the DailyKos for organizing this movement against Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General.

I couldn’t agree more with what Armando has to say.

With this nomination, we have arrived at a crossroads as a nation. Now is the time for all citizens of conscience to stand up and take responsibility for what the world saw, and, truly, much that we have not seen, at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. We oppose the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States, and we urge the Senate to reject him.

The nomination of Alberto Gonzales is a slap in the face to human rights. Not only did Gonzales draft the infamous memos calling the Geneva Conventions “quaint” he has since acted as if he had nothing to do with them. In his confirmation hearing he refused to acknowledge that he in fact did write them. Not only has he made a legal argument for the government to commit atrocious crimes against humanity he has failed to be honest and forthright to Congress about his role. For these reasons I urge all of you to contact your Senator and ask them to vote no for Gonzales.

Deficit Forecast is Higher than Expected

2005-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

The Congressional Budget Office released its annual report on the budget and the numbers are not good.

The CBO's annual report on the budget outlook foresees a deficit of $400 billion this year. It also forecast a cumulative deficit of $1.3 trillion from 2005 to 2014, an increase of nearly 60% from the CBO's $861-billion estimate of just four months ago.

And that is without assuming we will need any more funding for Iraq and that Congress won’t pass a bill to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

These figures take into account some of the administration's request today for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, but they do not assume an extension. Nor do they assume the likely extension by Congress of some major tax cuts that were enacted in 2001 and 2003 and are scheduled to expire in 2009 and 2011.

There is no mention of the possible $2 trillion more that would get lumped in there if Bush gets his way with Social Security.

The Democrat’s Agenda

2005-01-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

I picked up on this from Chris at MyDD.com.

The Democratic leaders in the Senate have posted their agenda for the 109th congress. You can take a look at it here
.
Some of the highlights I’ve noticed include the pursuit of a minimum wage increase and the elimination of tax incentives for companies shipping jobs overseas. The outsourcing thing was something that I think Kerry really missed in his presidential campaign. Millions of jobs have been lost in the last four years do to this and it needs to be addressed. I thought all through the campaign that if Kerry was going to focus on domestic issues that included the economy he should make outsourcing the focal point. It’s also nice to see a call for federal election standards and overall reform of the election process on the agenda.

Two major misses include the lack of legislature focused on the environment and energy policy. With the recent announcement of expanded drilling in Alaska, Bush is proving once again that he is not interested in protecting the environment. This has always been a Democratic value that has meant a lot to me. It’s a shame that the agenda doesn’t offer some solutions that address air pollution and the anti-forest legislation that was passed last year.

You can co-sponsor the agenda here .

2005-01-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

A new report released today by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch claims that abuse of Iraqi prisoners is a continued problem. The report focuses on prisoner treatment by Iraqi forces, not US. In an interview, Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin acknowledged some of the Iraqi forces shortcomings.

"The Iraqi security forces have their shortcomings," Amin said, adding that this was partly due to the legacy of "three and a half decades of dictatorship, widespread torture and human rights violations."

This quote implies that the security forces just can’t help themselves since torture was a common method they’ve used for years. Didn’t Paul Bremmer disband the Iraqi army? Aren’t we training these Iraqis?

It looks like Prime Minister Allawi might be resorting to scare tactics to help lessen the field of political candidates too.

"The report also said Iraq's intelligence service had violated the rights of political opponents.

It highlighted the systematic use of arbitrary arrest, pre-trial detention of up to four months, improper treatment of child detainees and abysmal conditions in pre-trial facilities.

I’m sure the Iraqi people are very excited to be liberated now. It looks like we’re showing them what real democracy is all about.

Open Thread

2005-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

I don’t typically do this. But lately traffic has been picking up, albeit without many comments. Maybe that will change soon too. Anyway, I was extremely busy at work today and didn’t get to post as much as I would’ve liked. I have class until late tonight so I won’t be online, but here’s your chance to talk about whatever you like!

Mixed News from Iraq

2005-01-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

Another car bomb exploded today injuring at least ten outside of the party headquarters for the Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The wounded included eight policemen and two civilians, Dr. Mudhar Abdul-Hussein of Yarmouk Hospital told the Associated Press.

The local Al Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the bombing. The government, meanwhile, announced it has captured a key member of the group, believed to be tied to the majority of attacks in Baghdad.

Meanwhile Abu Musab Zarqawi has declared war on democracy

In an audiotape posted Sunday on the Web, a speaker claiming to be Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of the local Al Qaeda group, declared "fierce war" on democracy and said anyone who takes part in next weekend's Iraqi elections would be considered "an infidel."

"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," the speaker said. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."

There was some good news today. Iraqi security forces have arrested one of Zarqawi’s masterminds behind most of the recent car bombings.

Sami Mohammed Ali Said Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar Kurdi, was arrested during a Jan. 15 raid in Baghdad, a government statement said today. Two other militants linked to Jordanian-born Zarqawi's also were arrested, authorities announced.

Jaaf was linked to the August 2003 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others. The U.N. attack was "planned and directed by two others affiliated with Abu Omar," the statement said.

Jaaf was also responsible for 32 car bombing attacks that killed hundreds of Iraqis, the statement said.

Democrats Ask for GOP Lawsuit to Be Thrown Out in Washington

2005-01-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Washington State Democrats have decided, once again, to challenge the GOP lawsuit that was brought to a Chelan County Superior Court judge by filing papers claiming that the matter should be handled by the legislature and that there is no precedent set for the gubernatorial race to be decided by the courts.

The Democrats seemed to have bounced around on this idea since the recounting started, but they are making their stance much more official now.

On Friday, the party filed papers arguing that Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges should dismiss the case brought by Republican candidate Dino Rossi and his party.

If the court allows Rossi's legal challenge, Democrats said, "It could lead to conflicting decisions from this court and the Legislature as to which candidate had actually won the election."

Republicans plan to file papers to oppose the Democrat’s motion. If the case does get thrown out then the fight would nearly be over. The Democrats hold the majority in the Washington Legislature and they are not likely to order any kind of revote.

I’m not sure about the law either. From what I can tell close elections have gone to the courts in the past in this state, but never for an election of such a high office. According to the Democrat’s argument elections for offices, such as governor, must be decided in the legislature. But even the Democrats can’t seem to agree on that.

Brown said the Legislature has given that power to the courts. Reading that section of the constitution dealing with contested elections for governor and other statewide officials, she said: "Contested elections for such officers shall be decided by the Legislature in such manner as shall be determined by law."

"Fortunately, previous legislators had the wisdom to pass a contested-election law," Brown said.

"If it were not there, I believe our job today would in fact be very different; that the place to answer the questions would be here, that the place perhaps to bring the evidence forward would be here, that it would be our job to set up a process to fairly adjudicate that process."

Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, said the founders "expressly kept us out of that process. It's not our job. We do not want to step across that boundary in to that other process and exert our power.

"Leave it alone. Let it work."

I don’t really have a feeling on which way this is going. I obviously want the Democrats to win. At first the GOP claims of illegal voting were unsubstantiated but more evidence has come out recently about illegal votes that might have swayed this close election.

More on Journalistic Ethics

2005-01-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I picked this up from Atrios . It's a couple of days old, but it gives me a good opportunity to rant this morning.

After President Bush gave his inaugural speech, Charles Krauthammer was on Fox News gushing over Bush's "Wilsonian" speech. Of course he loved it. He helped write it! Maybe he or Fox should have disclosed that.

As they drafted the speech this month, White House political aide Karl Rove and chief speechwriter Michael Gerson held a two-hour seminar with a panel of foreign policy scholars, including several leading neocons -- newspaper columnist Charles Krauthammer, Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University and Victor Davis Hanson of Stanford's Hoover Institution -- according to a person who was present.

I wonder how much they are paying Mr. Krauthammer? Unfortunately the poor saps that take Fox News as the gospel don't know any better and believe what they hear, especially if you say it enough.

Check out the whole article in the LA Times . It compares Bush to other recent Republican presidents on the neo-con scale.

Dean Should Lead the DNC

2005-01-22T23:09:00.000-08:00

The candidates gathered in Sacramento to meet and answer questions from western state Democrats on Saturday. 430 voting members of the Democratic National Committee will pick Terry McAuliffe’s successor on Feb. 12. Among the candidates Gov. Howard Dean appears to the front-runner, but I’ve also read several articles that point to Martin Frost as being a top contender. Another candidate to watch out for is Simon Rosenberg.

I’m backing Dean although my opinion doesn’t matter much since I don’t have a vote. Dean has experience with managing a party organization, but beyond that he has the right vision for the party. He believes in trying to win all 50 states, not just red states that are close to turning blue. He’s talked about primary reform, but more than that he has proved to understand how to build a grassroots movement and he understands how to utilize the Internet to help build that movement. He proved this during his bid for president and he proved it more recently by coming to the aid of Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. He quickly gathered about $200,000, by rallying the members of Democracy for America, to help pay for a recount that proved Gregoire as the winner in the topsy-turvy race for governor in Washington.

Aside from this he has a clear vision to rally the Democratic base by sticking to true liberal ideals. He doesn’t believe in watering down the party by shifting to the right. Democrats have been slowly doing this for years now and it’s not working. It’s time to get back to basics and stand up for our core beliefs. Dean is just the person to lead the DNC in that direction.

The Coalition of the Who?

2005-01-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Remember the Coalition of the Willing? I’m sure everyone can remember Bush insisting that we not forget Poland in that grand coalition. Well that coalition is no more .

The White house has scrapped its list of Iraq allies known as the 45-member “coalition of the willing,” which Washington used to back its argument that the 2003 invasion was a multilateral action, an official said on Friday.

Even the people of Costa Rica know things aren’t going as planned.

Former coalition member Costa Rica withdrew last September under pressure from voters who opposed the government's decision to back the invasion.

When will the Bush Administration figure this out?

Protests, The Media, and Our Future

2005-01-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

I’m actually surprised that the protests yesterday received the publicity that they did, although the mainstream media didn’t focus on it enough. Their argument would be that the day itself was bigger than the protests. I would argue that it is not the case. I believe only one other president in history had protesters lined up during his inauguration and that was Woodrow Wilson. Aside from that Bush has had this happen to him during both of his inaugurations, the protests in 2001 received no press. This year though there were tens of thousands of protesters just in DC. There were also prominent protests in several other major cities, including New York and Seattle .

That is why this story is as big as the inauguration. The number of protesters was unprecedented. Only one other president has entered his second term with a lower approval rating (Nixon). But even then there were no organized public protests. The massive number of protesters and organized events demonstrates the public discontent for this president. Yes, according the election results their numbers make up less than 50% of the electorate, but their passion ranks higher than anything we have seen since the Vietnam War. This is why yesterday’s protests were more important than NBC, ABC, CNN, CBS, and MSNBC will let on.

Can we expect this type of reaction in the coming years or will this be looked at as a particular moment in our history when we were more divided than we’ve ever been? I think history will look back at this time as a moment when we were deeply divided on very controversial issues. It will be looked as a moment in our history when we needed a strong leader, someone who could appeal to Democrats and Republicans both. History will look back and show that Bush is not that leader.

US Will Expand Drilling in Alaska

2005-01-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

Again the administration drops another Friday Surprise. This time it was late in the day on Friday and after a big news day. They probably are expecting the networks to still be devoting quite a bit of time to the inauguration.

The Bureau of Land Management has concluded that oil and gas exploration in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska can be conducted with "minimal impact" on the area's wildlife.

While most of the 22 million-acre reserve is open to oil development, its lake-pocked northeastern corner has been fenced off, dating back to the Reagan administration, because of environmental concerns. That area also is viewed as having the highest oil and gas potential within the reserve.

Well it looks like Bush is already hard at work on those domestic issues. Now that he has destroyed our international credibility, sacrificed American soldiers, and increased our national security vulnerability it’s time to move on to new things, like destroying our environment!

Washington Governor Update

2005-01-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well Christine Gregoire was sworn in over a week ago, but the Republicans are still fighting to get her thrown out of office. Yesterday a judge in conservative Chelan County denied the Republican’s request to expedite the schedule for collecting evidence. He claims that an accelerated schedule wil only lead to “expedited chaos”.

In the first major day of court action in the case, Bridges denied a Republican request to expedite the schedule for collecting evidence and taking depositions. Attorneys representing some of the 39 counties named in the suit told Bridges that the requests have been overwhelming, particularly in small counties. One even accused Republicans of attempted extortion, saying the party offered to cut back its information request in exchange for the county agreeing not to fight some issues in court.

Here are the two main issues being raised by both parties.

Those issues, raised by Democrats, are:

• Should the Legislature, and not the courts, decide the case, given that the state constitution says contested elections for governor and other statewide offices "shall be decided by the Legislature in such manner as shall be determined by law"?

Republicans say there is a specific contested-election law laying out a court proceeding, and that is the way "determined by law" to settle these disputes.

• If a court is the proper place, should the case have been filed with the state Supreme Court?

This wasn’t a complete win for Democrats either. He also denied the Democrat’s request that all discovery, or compiling of evidence be suspended until major certain major legal questions have been answered. He did, however, sit a quick deadline for these questions. They will be heard on Feb. 4.

Get On the Obama Bandwagon!

2005-01-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a little something to cheer you up on such a sad day.

I happen to agree with Eric Zorn on all eight of his points. Obama is the current golden-boy and there will no doubt be a new “Midas” in 2008. Time will help us determine whether Obama could be a good president, but right now he is a rock star and in some ways that is what matters most. Zorn refers to Obama as a fundraising machine right now. That is exactly how the Republicans built Bush into a candidate in 2000. They ignored many of his obvious flaws and firmly backed him several years before the primary. This allowed him to raise even more money and build a stronger base. Obama can be that candidate for Democrats. He has the charisma that is needed to appeal to voters in the red states, plus he is missing those obvious flaws that Bush had going into the 2000 primaries.

Troubling Poll About World View of US

2005-01-20T13:16:00.000-08:00

This poll is not good news, especially for Condoleezza Rice. It looks like Condi’s got her work cut out for her.

A poll of 21 countries published yesterday - reflecting opinion in Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe - showed that a clear majority have grave fears about the next four years.

Fifty-eight per cent of the 22,000 who took part in the poll, commissioned by the BBC World Service, said they expected Mr Bush to have a negative impact on peace and security, compared with only 26% who considered him a positive force.

Break out your anti-Bush gear if you’re traveling abroad sometime soon.

The survey also indicated for the first time that dislike of Mr Bush is translating into a dislike of Americans in general.

I feel sorry for Tony Blair. When is this guy going to grow a pair? His allegiance to Bush will eventually cost him his political career.

Tony Blair, in an interview with the Guardian, expressed hope that Mr Bush's second term would prove to be more consensual than the first.
He said there had been an evolution in US policy, witnessed by him in successive conversations with Mr Bush.

"Evolution comes from experience," he said.

Mr Blair said that, as part of a learning process that began with the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the US administration had reached the conclusion that "in the end, we can take security and military measures against terrorism but... the best prospect of peaceful coexistence lies in the spread of democracy and human rights".

Asked if Mr Bush had become a multilateralist, Mr Blair said he could not speak for the president but "it is significant, in my view, that he is coming to Europe as his first foreign visit".

Keep in mind that this poll was conducted before Bush’s “accountability test” statement this weekend. I’m sure that didn’t help our image in the eyes of the world.

An Inaugural Speech to Divide

2005-01-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the transcript to Bush’s inaugural speech today. After a quick read though it a a things jumped out at me. First of all, I wouldn’t call this a speech that is going to unite Americans. It was just a lot of the same rehashed ideas and themes from the campaign. It reminded more of an acceptance speech than an inaugural address appealing to all Americans.

Like a good journalist Bush delivered the “good stuff” first. He began his speech by revisiting 9/11 again, this time referring to it as “a day of fire”. This is a good technique to capture an audience’s attention before lulling them to sleep with the same old rhetoric.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half-century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical -- and then there came a day of fire.

Okay enough with the 9/11 references. At what point do the people of New York and DC begin to feel exploited? It seems like the Republicans have been exploiting this since the day it happened.

Also, what’s with “years of repose, years of sabbatical” comments? It’s well documented that the Clinton Administration took the threats from Osama bin Laden much more seriously than the Bush Administration. It was his administration that ignored the warning signs not Clinton’s.

Questions Surround Slain US Contractor’s Death

2005-01-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

Dale Stoffel was shot and killed after leaving an Iraqi military base on December 8, 2004. At the time his killing was attributed to insurgents, but as more information has become available about his business more speculation has arisen about his killers. The FBI is now investigating the possibility that he was killed in retaliation for whistle-blowing. A close business associate, Joseph Wemple, was also murdered in the attack.

The killings came after Stoffel alerted senior U.S. officials in Washington that he believed Iraqi Defense Ministry officials were part of a kickback scheme involving a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to his company, Wye Oak Technology, to refurbish old Iraqi military equipment.

Stoffel, of Monongahela, Pa., made his allegations in a Dec. 3 letter to a senior Pentagon official and in a meeting with aides to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Soon after, Stoffel was summoned to the Taji military base in Iraq by coalition military officials to discuss his concerns about his contract. He complained about payment problems with a mysterious Lebanese businessman designated by the Iraqis as a middleman, sources said.

As Stoffel, Wemple and an Iraqi interpreter left the Taji base in a car Dec. 8, another vehicle rammed theirs head-on. Two masked men jumped out and executed the two Americans in a fusillade of bullets, according to news accounts at the time. Their interpreter fled and is missing.

Some experts are questioning the legitimacy of the initial claim that Stoffel was killed by insurgents.

The attackers stole Stoffel's computer from the scene. About a week later, a video showing photographs and identity documents of Stoffel and Wemple was posted on a website frequently used by insurgent groups. A group calling itself the Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the killings. The group was not previously known to terrorism experts.

The timing and the unusual details of the killings have raised suspicions in the U.S. and Iraq that the video was a ruse to disguise an assassination.

"The video was very unusual," said Evan Kohlman, a terrorism consultant who examined the video.

"It didn't show bodies or the killing, but only photos, documents and materials taken from the bodies. It is certainly possible that someone [other than insurgents] manufactured the video."

This coupled with allegations that PM Allawi personally executed several insurgents is very troubling.

What’s Wrong With an Ownership Society

2005-01-19T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well this article doesn’t blatantly point out the flaws of the Ownership idea, but I think by reading the proposed benefits you can see some of the major flaws. The article addresses some of the major points to Bush’s plan including savings, college aid, taxes, and the opportunity to pass more money on to your children.

The major flaw in this is that it benefits only the wealthy. Basically the plan lessens the tax burden on invested money. The problem is not everyone makes enough to contribute the maximum to their 401k and to their children’s 529 plan and then be able to still put food on the table. It doesn’t help poor or middle-class families struggling to get by save money for retirement. It doesn’t aid poor families struggling to save a little just so their kid can go to a good college and do better for him or herself.

All this plan will do is widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor in this country. Ownership Society is another one of the Orwellian terms that the administration likes to throw around because it sounds so positive. Based on what I read so far it doesn’t sound like Bush’s plan will create an Ownership Society. Instead it will create a Me First, Fuck You! Society.

Rice Endorsed; Gonzales Vote Delayed

2005-01-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed Condoleezza Rice to be the next Secretary of State. The panel voted 16-2 in favor. The two senators voting against Rice’s appointment were John Kerry and Barbara Boxer.

On Ms. Rice's nomination, all 10 Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee voted in favor, as had been expected. Six of the panel's eight Democrats also voted in favor, with only Senators Barbara Boxer of California and John Kerry of Massachusetts in opposition.

In an all-day session on Wednesday and in today's wrap-up, senators from both parties expressed worries about the administration's policy on Iraq, even as they made clear that they planned to follow Senate tradition and approve the president's nominee.

As for Gonzales, could this be a good sign?

On another closely watched nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed until next week a vote on Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel, to be attorney general after Democrats on the committee insisted they did not have all the information and documents they need.

The main point of contention on the nomination has been Mr. Gonzales's role in formulating the administration's approach to prisoners captured in the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. The delay on a committee vote will probably not threaten Mr. Gonzales's confirmation by the full Senate.

I agree with the article. He is pretty much a shoo-in to get confirmed, but there is always hope.

Bush’s Approval Worst Since Nixon

2005-01-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

An LA Times poll shows that most Americans are skeptical of Bush’s planned overhaul of Social Security and his handling of Iraq. He is also enjoying the lowest approval rating going into a second term since Nixon. Bush’s currently sits at 50%.

One of the poll's most striking trends is the consistency in overall public attitudes about Bush's performance. In six Times surveys last year, his overall job approval rating ranged from 49% to 52%. In the new poll, his job approval rating stands at 50%, with 47% disapproving.

Bush continues to snub his nose at public opinion when it comes to the grandiose size of the inaugural celebration.

In the days leading up to Bush's inaugural, the poll found that 75% believed he should scale back the celebration amid the war in Iraq and the tsunami disaster in Southern Asia. The White House rejected a more limited celebration, while adding a ball honoring soldiers in the field.

These are not good numbers on Iraq either.

Asked to judge his Iraq policy, 42% approved and 54% disapproved, a slightly weaker showing than at any point last year.

Fully 44% said they strongly disapproved of his handling of the war — a verdict shared by 45% of military families.

Though 39% of those polled said the "situation in Iraq was worth going to war over," 56% said it was not. That was the smallest percentage who said the war's benefits justified its costs since The Times first asked the question, in November 2003.

It’s a little bit shocking that marketing machine in the White House hasn’t been able improve these numbers. Are people starting to see the light? I think people saw the problems facing us in Iraq prior to November and they were looking for someone else to support, but unfortunately Kerry’s campaign could not sell him to America quite the way Rove could sell Bush.

Getting Out the Sunni Vote

2005-01-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

The division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq is not unique to Iraq, but their inability to get along might ruin what little credibility the coming election does have. When Britain carved out Iraq in the 1920s Iraq was mostly Shiite, but Britain installed a Sunni monarch. Ever since then the Sunnis have ruled Iraq. The Sunnis are currently at the heart of the insurgency there as well. They fear handing over too much power to the Shiites in the coming election. Now Sunni leaders are calling for a boycott on the January 30th election.

Leading Shiites have scrambled to reassure Sunnis that they will share in power when a government is formed after the elections. Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the most prominent Shiite group on the 111-slate ballot, takes pains to sound inclusive. "We want an Iraq that protects freedoms, a democratic Iraq for all Iraqis, an Iraq that respects the Islamic identity of the Iraqi people," he said last week.

In his office in the former Baath Party headquarters in west Baghdad, Ayad al-Samarrai is the picture of calm in his sport coat and sweater. But the deputy chief of the Iraqi Islamic Party is on a knife's edge. The IIP, which claims to be the largest predominantly Sunni party in Iraq now that the Baathists are banned, decided last year to participate in the elections.

The IIP reversed itself two weeks ago, announcing it was pulling out of the balloting. Party leaders say the November U.S. military offensive in the Sunni bastion of Fallujah was the latest in a long list of abuses under the U.S. occupation.

They say the United States:

• Threw all former Baathists — not just Saddam loyalists — out of the government and disbanded the military. The United States failed to understand that, while some soldiers and officials "were part of the Baath Party, they were against the regime, and they were waiting to see the day when they could get rid of Saddam Hussein," al-Samarrai says.

• Built up new military bases, thus feeding Iraqi suspicions that the United States wants to stay and control Iraq's oil fortune. The Bush administration says it will withdraw troops as soon as Iraq can manage its own security.

• Appointed incompetent and corrupt administrators in the immediate aftermath of Saddam's fall and failed to quickly mobilize for reconstruction.

The images of US soldiers killing innocent civilian Iraqis don’t help either.

"We had expected good relations with the United States," says al-Doori, 47. "But every day you see on the news, 'American Army kills family.' They destroy civilian cars. An engineer who works with me was killed in one of these accidents with a tank."

Many Sunni groups have requested a delay in the election, but Bush is holding steadfast on his January 30th promise. The President seems to missing the point again. What is most important here is to get the elections right. Not much of the occupation has been done right, but this is an opportunity to make up for some of those mistakes. The only way to have legitimate elections is if the Sunnis participate. If Sunnis do not get out and vote it’s safe to say that they will not be represented adequately in the new government. This will only enrage more Sunnis and fan the flames of the insurgency.

More Signs of the Coming GOP Implosion

2005-01-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

Several key issues that Bush has put on his agenda for the next four years are drawing criticism . But this time it’s not only from Democrats. Many Republicans are finally speaking up against some of the President’s ideas as well.

Representative Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, said many Republicans in Congress were hesitant to criticize the president during his reelection campaign, for fear of hurting the party's chances in the election. But members of what he called the "bite-your-lip caucus" now have no reason to hold back their reservations, he said, and they don't owe the administration blind loyalty.

"As of Nov. 2, that caucus is dissolved," said Tancredo, who is leading Republican efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. "Second-term presidents don't have a terribly impressive success rate. . . . I don't know where he's going to get the votes to do some of these things."

The crackdown on illegal immigration is not the only issue that seems to be dividing some Republicans. Other hot button issues with some of the more fiscal conservatives include Bush’s Social Security proposal and attempting to roll back portions of the Medicare prescription drug plan before it takes affect in 2006.

Bush has indicated that he will move quickly to transform Social Security, saying that the system is in "crisis" because of the coming retirements of baby boomers and the long-term fiscal instability of the program's funding mechanism. Most criticism to date has come from Democrats, but some Republicans, including Representative Robert R. Simmons of Connecticut, have questioned Bush's sudden focus on the issue, since the retirement system will be solvent for at least another 40 years.

Diverting payroll taxes from Social Security to private accounts is expected to cost between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in the coming decade, adding to a deficit currently pegged at $400 billion this year. Some members of the conservative Republican Study Committee have pronounced themselves skeptical of those costs, and Republicans are questioning the political wisdom of tinkering with the retirement program that so many elderly voters hold dear.

At least some Republicans, like Rep. Simmons, can think for themselves and not just fall in line with what their leader says. All of this power the Republicans have worked so hard to amass will catch up with them. Bush’s agenda is the first example of the greediness that will help the party self-destruct. Of course we can’t sit back and wait for it to happen. We need to do our part to accelerate the process.

Florida for Dean

2005-01-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

In a unanimous vote the Florida Delegation to the DNC has decided to endorse Howard Dean for DNC chairman. Scott Maddox, the Florida Democratic Chairman, made the announcement yesterday and then went on to say:

"What our party needs right now is energy, enthusiasm and a willingness to do things differently," he said. "I think Howard Dean brings all three of those things to the party."

I couldn’t agree more. By the way, Florida snubbed its nose at the orchestrated effort by the DNC to have all of the states endorse one candidate at the same time. Does this mean there is quite a battle to ensue?

Rice Confirmation Begins

2005-01-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Despite her failures leading up to 9/11, the debacle that is the war in Iraq and her repeated twisting of the facts Condoleeza Rice is expected to be confirmed by the Senateby this Thursday. Rice’s thirty minute opening speech called for the US to mend ties with allies.

"If confirmed, I will work with the members of this Congress from both sides of the aisle to build a strong bipartisan consensus behind American foreign policy," Rice said. "I will seek to strengthen our alliances, to support our friends and to make the world safer and better."

Rice has been the most influential character in the administration when it comes to shaping the foreign policy over the last four years, yet she claims that “the time for diplomacy is now”. Why should we believe this?

Senator Biden claims to have some tough questions ready for Condi, but says that he will vote for her. Even if this is the case why announce this to the public before the hearings? Suddenly Biden’s questions have no teeth.

One senator that continues to impress me is Barbara Boxer. I’ve listed some of her prepared statement below. You can read much more about this at the Dailykos. Armando has a great post outlining Boxer’s plan.

It is my hope that today, we will have a candid discussion, Dr. Rice, because I believe it is crucial that a Secretary of State speak openly and honestly with the American people and with Congress. Frankly, this issue of candor is where my concern lies.
Since 9/11, we have been engaged in a just fight against terrorism. I voted to use force against Osama bin Laden and the terrorists in Afghanistan, and I assumed that we would focus on that challenge, not stopping until we got bin Laden, dead or alive, and broke the back of al Qaeda.
However, instead, with you in a lead role Dr. Rice, we went into Iraq. I want to read you one paragraph that best expresses my views, and the views of millions of Californians, on the impact of the Iraqi war on the war against terrorism. It was written by one of the world's experts on terrorism and foreign policy, Peter Bergen, five months ago.

He wrote:
"What we have done in Iraq is what bin Laden could not have hoped for in his wildest dreams: We invaded an oil-rich Muslim nation in the heart of the Middle East, the very type of imperial adventure that bin Laden has long predicted was the United States' long-term goal in the region. We deposed the secular socialist Saddam, whom bin Laden has long despised, ignited Sunni and Shia fundamentalist fervor in Iraq, and have now provoked a "defensive" jihad that has galvanized jihad-minded Muslims around the world. It's hard to imagine a set of policies better designed to sabotage the war on terrorism."

This conclusion was reiterated last Thursday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA Director's think tank, which released a report saying that Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists. NIC Chairman Robert L. Hutchings said that Iraq is "a magnet for international terrorist activity."

These quotations are significant to this hearing, Dr. Rice, because as a major proponent and spokesperson for the war in Iraq, and as someone who was asked by the President to make the case for this war to the American people, and as the person in charge of the reconstruction effort- you have many questions to answer to the American people.

This war was sold to the American people- as Chief of Staff to President Bush, Andy Card said-like a "new product." You rolled out the idea and then you had to convince the people, and as you made your case, I personally believe that your loyalty to the mission you were given overwhelmed your respect for the truth. That was a great disservice to the American people.

But worse than that, our young men and women are dying. So far, 1342 American troops have been killed in Iraq. More than 25 percent of those troops were from California. More than 10,000 have been wounded. I don't want their families to think for a minute that their lives and bodies were given in vain. Because when your commander in chief asks you to sacrifice yourself for your country, it is noble to answer the call. I am giving their families all the support that they want and need, but I will also not shrink from questioning a war that was not built on the truth.

Senator Boxer also has a petition drive asking for support for holding Rice accountable. Someone has to hold the people in this administration accountable because their boss sure the hell isn’t.

Kerry Questions Election, Finally

2005-01-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

Where was this talk back in November?

Sen. John Kerry, in some of his most pointed public comments yet about the presidential election, invoked Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on Monday as he criticized President Bush and decried reports of voter disenfranchisement.

The Massachusetts Democrat, Bush's challenger in November, spoke at Boston's annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast. He reiterated that he decided not to challenge the election results, but ``thousands of people were suppressed in the effort to vote.''

``Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways. In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, eleven hours to vote, while Republicans (went) through in 10 minutes - same voting machines, same process, our America,'' he said.

In his comments, Kerry also compared the democracy-building efforts in Iraq with voting in the U.S., saying that Americans had their names purged from voting lists and were kept from casting ballots.

``In a nation which is willing to spend several hundred million dollars in Iraq to bring them democracy, we cannot tolerate that too many people here in America were denied that democracy,'' Kerry said.

Voting irregularities in Ohio drove primarily Democratic challenges to the Nov. 2 election, but Congress eventually affirmed President Bush the winner by a slim electoral vote count of 286-251 - plus a single vote cast by a Minnesota elector for Kerry's running mate, former Sen. John Edwards.

Is Iran Next?

2005-01-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

According to Seymour Hersh it is. Yesterday on CNN’s “Late Edition” Hersh claimed he has reliable sources in Washington that are telling him the administration is in the intelligence gathering stage of planning an attack on Iran.

Hersh said U.S. officials were involved in "extensive planning" for a possible attack -- "much more than we know."

"The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids," he wrote in "The New Yorker" magazine, which published his article in editions that will be on newsstands Monday.

He said his information on Iran came from "inside" sources who divulged it in the hope that publicity would force the administration to reconsider.

"I think that's one of the reasons some of the people on the inside talk to me," he said.

Hersh said the government did not answer his request for a response before the story's publication, and that his sources include people in government whose information has been reliable in the past.

So with the troops stretched thin and the conditions in Iraq worsening the administration believes it’s time to pick a new fight.

"The planning for Iran is going ahead even though Iraq is a mess," Hersh said. "I think they really think there's a chance to do something in Iran, perhaps by summer, to get the intelligence on the sites."

He added, "The guys on the inside really want to do this."

Hersh identified those inside people as the "neoconservative" civilian leadership in the Pentagon. That includes Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith -- "the sort of war hawks that we talk about in connection with the war in Iraq."

And he said the preparation goes beyond contingency planning and includes detailed plans for air attacks:

"The next step is Iran. It's definitely there. They're definitely planning ... But they need the intelligence first."

These guys are crazy!

Flip-Flopper

2005-01-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

Reversing his campaign-trail rhetoric President Bush is now saying
that he will not pursue a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Although Bush believes that an amendment is necessary, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said, "legislative realities" work against passage.

It sounds like the natives might be getting restless.

An official from Concerned Women of America, which supports a gay-marriage ban, said yesterday that Bush and the Senate would be wrong to think that the Defense of Marriage Act was enough. Jan LaRue, the group's chief counsel, said a federal judge could declare the law unconstitutional or a state could defy it.

"I would hope that they would all think this through and not rely on DOMA," she said.

If Bush doesn’t pursue the ban I think Democrats should view this as a small victory. Let’s face the facts. Bush was merely throwing this out there as a wedge issue during the campaign in hopes of drumming up more of the “evangelical” vote and knowing full-well that his chances of getting an amendment passed was slim to none. Nevertheless, this can be viewed as a Democratic victory and an issue that might accelerate the implosion of the GOP.

My fingers are crossed.

Golden Globe Wrap-up

2005-01-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

Here’s a link to all of the winners last night.

The surprises started quickly with Clive Owen winning for Best Supporting Actor (Closer). I should preface my comments with the fact that I haven’t seen all of the movies or performances nominated. Many experts believed that this was Thomas Hayden Church’s award all the way. I even read one piece that said this award was the only sure thing. The surprises continued when Natalie Portman won for Best Supporting Actress. Even the crowd seemed surprised when Nip/Tuck won for best Drama. I was a little surprised to see The Aviator win Best Picture Drama. I saw Million Dollar Baby over the weekend and I was blown away. Clint Eastwood continues to amaze and Hillary Swank’s performance is jaw dropping. The highlights had to be Jamie Foxx’s acceptance speech and Robin Williams didn’t let anyone down when he accepted the Cecil B. Demille Award.

Can’t wait for the Oscars now.

Social Security Will Fund Its Own Demise

2005-01-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

So this is how you fund a multi-million dollar campaign to destroy Social Security.

Social Security officials say the agency is carrying out its mission to educate the public, including more than 47 million beneficiaries, and to support President Bush's agenda.

"The system is broken, and promises are being made that Social Security cannot keep," Mr. Bush said in his Saturday radio address. He is expected to address the issue in his Inaugural Address.

But agency employees have complained to Social Security officials that they are being conscripted into a political battle over the future of the program. They question the accuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy.

"Trust fund dollars should not be used to promote a political agenda," said Dana C. Duggins, a vice president of the Social Security Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 of the agency's 64,000 workers and has opposed private accounts.

It sounds like there is at least one person over there that can see through this crap.

Deborah C. Fredericksen of Minneapolis, who has worked for the Social Security Administration for 31 years, said, "Many employees believe that the president and this agency are using scare tactics to promote private accounts."

Graner convicted

2005-01-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

Army Specialist Charles Graner was convicted today of abusing Iraqi prisoners. The jury took less than five hours to find him guilty. He now faces up to 17 1/2 years in prison.

The verdict came after a five-day trial in which prosecutors depicted Graner as a sadistic soldier who took great pleasure in seeing detainees suffer. He was accused of stacking naked prisoners in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs. He also allegedly punched one man in the head hard enough to knock him out, and struck an injured prisoner with a collapsible metal stick.

The jury of four Army officers and six senior enlisted men rejected the defense argument that Graner and other guards were merely following orders from intelligence agents at Abu Ghraib when they roughed up the detainees.

Unfortunately justice will not be served until the "higher-ups" are punished. This includes you Rumsfeld!

Iraqi Women Risking Everything

2005-01-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

This story really puts things in perspective.

A group of lawmakers recently traveled to Jordan to meet with female Iraqi political candidates. Many of the lawmakers brought campaign paraphernalia along with ideas for these aspiring politicians. They quickly learned that the biggest challenge facing these brave candidates is not how to get the swing vote, but how to avoid getting killed.

The teenage sons of two candidates have been killed in retaliation for the women's political activities. Another candidate was kidnapped and held until her family paid her ransom.

Some have lost their lives and others have been begged by their families to stay out of it.

Under the law setting up the Jan. 30 elections for a national assembly, which was written under American supervision, at least one-third of the candidates on the ballot must be women. That provision has provoked bloody opposition. One female candidate, Wijdan al-Khuzai, was found killed near her Baghdad home in December.

The Iraqi women can run for office without campaigning because most Iraqis will cast votes for political party slates, rather than individual candidates. To protect the candidates, most names on the lists remain secret.

Several Iraqi women told the American lawmakers that their adult children have begged them not to run for office. Granger said that it was “one of the hardest things” to hear. “I have three grown children,” Granger added. “I kept asking myself, would I do that if I were in that kind of situation and my children were saying, ‘Please don't do that'?”

I can’t imagine what these women are going through, nor can I personally relate to the courage that they have.

Iraq is a mess thanks to the US occupation, but stories such as this one can put a lump in your throat and make you think about how lucky we were to have strong leaders like Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and Madison. These leaders put everything on the line because of what they believed in.

These women should not be overlooked. They are truly courageous.

White House Wanted Torture To Be An Option

2005-01-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

According to White House officials one of the key sticking points in the recently passed Intelligence Bill was the inclusion of legislature that would impose new restrictions on the use of extreme tactics by intelligence officers. The measure was originally a part of the bill in the Senate, but was removed at the urging of the White House.

In a letter to members of Congress, sent in October and made available by the White House on Wednesday in response to inquiries, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, expressed opposition to the measure on the grounds that it "provides legal protections to foreign prisoners to which they are not now entitled under applicable law and policy."

Earlier, in objecting to a similar measure in a Senate version of the military authorization bill, the Defense Department sent a letter to Congress saying that the department "strongly urges the Senate against passing new legislation concerning detention and interrogation in the war on terrorism" because it is unnecessary.

This explains why the White House was publicly gung-ho about the bill while many in Congress said the White House was taking a lukewarm approach behind the scenes. This all changed once the restrictions were removed.

Yet Another Washington Governor Update

2005-01-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

Today at noon PST Christine Gregoire was sworn in as the next governor of Washington. Normally this is not a very newsworthy event, but given the circumstances of the election debacle here in Washington I thought it necessary to add this update.

Gregoire was sworn in amidst protest. Even the Republicans in the House and Senate did not applaud when she was introduced. Gregoire acknowledged the tough battle that lies ahead for her.

"This is not an easy time to lead," she conceded. "Much has been written about red states and blue states and the great political divide — not to mention the razor-thin governor's race here.

"Many have asked how I can govern without a clear mandate from the voters. I believe the voters have given all of us a mandate — a mandate to overcome our differences and to solve problems."

Republicans have filed a lawsuit in Chelan County contesting the election and there were hearings on the matter today. There are more hearings expected on Friday and the case most likely will be brought to the State Supreme Court. The court has already ruled twice on the election.

Besides Gregoire’s issues with the Republican Party, she also can expect a few battles with the more progressive Democrats. Washington is heavily Democratic, but one of the reasons she did not fair well in the election is that many Democrats view her as being too moderate. When it came time to ask for a recount a large chunk of the money raised to fund the recount came from more liberal Democratic groups, including Howard Dean’s Democracy for America and MoveOn.org. Many of these Democrats are expecting something in return. After she successfully wards of the challenge by Republicans this will be her next test.

Bush Threatens Jobs in Congress

2005-01-12T09:37:00.000-08:00

This time he has taken the King George thing a bit too far.

President Bush tried to increase pressure on members of Congress who are leery of his ideas to change Social Security by telling them Tuesday they could be risking their jobs.

Seriously though, it looks like Bush is stepping up his effort to get Social Security reform passed, but it also looks like the Democrats aren’t going down without a fight.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., told reporters in a conference call that his first priority is to ``prevent the Bush administration from wrecking what is really the bedrock of income security protection.''

``They do it by diverting money to private accounts and by cutting guaranteed benefits,'' Levin said. ``And that would wreck a program that's now providing secure income ... to 48 million people.''

Bush only used the word “crisis” once and that was when he was mocking his opponents. What better way to win over your opponents but to mock them. It’s really quite brilliant.

``If nothing takes place, if Congress says, `Oh, don't worry, we'll just push it down the road, why do we need to deal with it, there's no crisis,' if nothing happens, and we don't start moving on it now, by the time Josh gets to retirement age, the system will be flat broke,'' Bush said.

Bush’s logic is to address what he sees as a crisis now only if it benefits the special interests groups that have lined his campaign’s pockets.

In the meantime he would much rather run up an insurmountable deficit for the fictitious Josh to deal with later.

``So if you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt, unless the United States Congress has got the willingness to act now,'' Bush said.

Bush should think about that quote in terms of the deficit. The hypocrisy never stops.

US Gives Up Hunt for WMD

2005-01-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like the Administration has given up the search for WMD . Of course they are still holding out hope.

Bush has expressed disappointment that no weapons or weapons programs were found, but the White House has been reluctant to call off the hunt, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are well hidden somewhere inside the country. But the intelligence official said that possibility is very small.

I’m not disappointed they didn’t find any WMD. I’m disappointed that so many American troops have been misled when it comes to why they are there and I’m deeply saddened that so many have had to die for that mistake.

Got the Time?

2005-01-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

..Tickin’ in my head. Sorry about the Joe Jackson/Anthrax reference.

Anyway, I’ll move on to more pressing matters. David Ignatius has a column in the Washington Post that lays out several possible scenarios that some Washington insiders foresee in Iraq.

Reduce the U.S. target. Iraq's best hope for avoiding a civil war may be the fact that nearly all Iraqis are united in wanting the U.S. occupation to end -- and are reaching out to find some common ground. A source close to Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani told the Arabic daily Al Hayat last weekend: "The representation of our Sunni brethren in the coming government must be effective, regardless of the results of the elections." He added that a new government "might demand that the occupying powers leave Iraq." Similarly, the leading Sunni clerical organization, the Association of Muslim Scholars, told Al Hayat that it would accept a Shiite government as long as it negotiated a firm deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Even if such a Shiite-Sunni alliance had an anti-American tone, it would be a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape.

Live with de facto partition. For all of the difficulties in the war, much of northern and southern Iraq is stable today. Right now, the United States can be pumping billions of dollars in unspent reconstruction money into any part of the country that's able make good use of it. It may take years to end the chaos in central Iraq, but that shouldn't stop progress elsewhere.

Make it deadly to be an insurgent. If a fledging agreement can be reached between Shiite and Sunni religious leaders on a formula for self-government, the Iraqi authorities must be ruthless in destroying opposition to that accord. Insurgents must wake up each morning afraid that they will die. This sort of dirty war isn't one I would like to see American forces fighting; it's one for Iraqi special forces. It will be a brutal fight, but it's the same one authorities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria must fight every day against jihadists there. Somehow, the psychology of intimidation in Iraq has to be reversed, so that it's the insurgents who fear for their lives.

One of Mr. Ignatius’ themes is that time and patience are still needed to ultimately succeed in Iraq. He argues that based on historical evidence it could take up to a decade to remove the insurgency in Iraq. I’m positive Americans are not expecting the war to last that long.

As for the three scenarios he lays out, I’m no expert but I think the first option makes the most sense. The second and third options just rely too heavily on concepts that might not come to fruition including, “Insurgents must wake up each morning afraid that they will die.” This just isn’t going to happen. These people are willing to kill themselves for what they believe in. It would be next to impossible to instill that kind of fear in them.

Dean Announces Candidacy

2005-01-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

This Is From Democracy for America .

As I have traveled across our country, I have talked to thousands of people who are working for change in their own communities about the power of politics to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. Every group I have spoken to, I encouraged them to stand up for what they believe and to get involved in the electoral process—because the only sure way to make difference is to step up and run for office yourself.

Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level. We will only win when we show up and fight for the issues important to all of us.

Another integral part of our strategy must be cultivating the party's grassroots. Our long term success depends on all of us taking an active role in our party and in the political process, by volunteering, going door to door and taking the Democratic message into every community, and by organizing at the local level. After all, new ideas and new leaders don't come from consultants; they come from communities.

As important as organization is, it alone can no longer win us elections. Offering a new choice means making Democrats the party of reform—reforming America's financial situation, reforming our electoral process, reforming health care, reforming education and putting morality back in our foreign policy. The Democratic Party will not win elections or build a lasting majority solely by changing its rhetoric, nor will we win by adopting the other side's positions. We must say what we mean—and mean real change when we say it.

But most of all, together, we have to rebuild the American community. We will never succeed by treating our nation as a collection of separate regions or separate groups. There are no red states or blues states, only American states. And we must talk to the people in all of these states as members of one community.

That word—'values'—has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.

We cannot let that happen. And we cannot just mouth the words. Our party must speak plainly and our agenda must clearly reflect the socially progressive, fiscally responsible values that bring our party—and the vast majority of Americans—together.

All of this will require both national perspective and local experience. I know what it's like to lead hands-on at the state level and I know what it's like to run for national office.

With your help, this past election season, Democracy for America, already started creating the kind of organization the Democratic Party can be. This past election cycle, we endorsed over 100 candidates at all levels of government—from school board to U.S. Senate. We contributed almost a million dollars to nearly 750 candidates around the country and raised millions of dollars for many more candidates.

Together, we helped elect a Democratic governor in Montana, a Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah and an African American woman to the bench in Alabama. Fifteen of the candidates we endorsed had never run for office before—and won.

I also have experience building and managing a local party organization. My career started as Democratic Party chair in Chittenden County, Vermont. I then ran successful campaigns: for state legislature, lieutenant governor and then governor. In my 11-year tenure as governor, I balanced the state's budget every year.

I served as chair of both the National Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA). And as chair of the DGA, I helped recruit nearly 20 governors that won—even in states like Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.

All of these experiences have only reaffirmed what I know to be true. There is only one party that speaks to the hopes and dreams of all Americans. It is the party you have already given so much to. It is the Democratic Party.

We can win elections only by standing up for what we believe.

Thank you and I look forward to listening to your concerns in the weeks ahead.

Two of the things I like about Dean, the Presidential candidate, were his clear vision and his candor. Dean continues to say the things I want to hear about were the Democrats should go from here.

Clooney Invites O’Reilly to Fundraiser

2005-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

It looks like George Clooney is calling O’Reilly out on this one.

GEORGE Clooney has challenged Fox News Channel star Bill O'Reilly to participate in Saturday's fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall for tsunami victims rather than "simply stand on the sidelines and cast stones." Clooney made a letter public yesterday in response to what O'Reilly said last Thursday when he reminded viewers that Clooney was also behind a fund-raiser for 9/11 victims three years ago. "You may also remember that Clooney strenuously objected to 'The Factor' investigation that uncovered problems in distributing the 9/11 money, even though we proved our case," O'Reilly said. "Clooney objected to . . . my insistence that if celebrities ask for money, they have a moral obligation to see the donations go where they are supposed to go — Clooney disagreed." And Clooney still disagrees. "No one objected to you investigating where the funds were going, but we strenuously objected to you insinuating that it was a fraud," Clooney says. "I don't make as much money as you, Mr. O'Reilly . . . but I'm fascinated by your use of the word 'celebrity' as if you're not one . . . I'm booking the talent for the tsunami event, and you . . . are now officially invited to be a presenter. This way, you can personally follow up on our fund-raising. This is your chance to put your considerable money where your considerable mouth is." Last night, O'Reilly told viewers: "I got a letter from my pal George Clooney today. I don't think he likes me." He said the invite "sounds good . . . but I have to see what the format is . . . I think George Clooney may be considering me for a part in 'Ocean's Thirteen,' where I meet an unpleasant demise."

I’m sure O’Reilly won’t show.

Bush Nominates Chertoff for Head of Homeland Security

2005-01-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

I’m a bit late with this one. It was going down as I was driving to work this morning. That’s one of the downsides to the west coast. A lot can happen before I get up.

This morning President Bush officially nominated the former Whitewater prosecutor Michael Chertoff to be the next Homeland Security Secretary.

"Mike has shown a deep commitment to the cause of justice and an unwavering determination to protect the American people," Bush said. "Mike has also been a key leader in the war on terror."

Chertoff also headed the Justice Department’s criminal division from 2001 to 2003. He played a key role in the drafting of the Patriot Act and took the lead in arguing the government’s case in the appeal involving terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. We all now how well that worked out.

I need to read up on Mr. Chertoff and I will post a more detailed assessment in the coming days.

Several Fired At CBS Over Memogate

2005-01-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

After the release of an independent report that looked into the 60 Minutes II program claiming President Bush won special treatment in the Texas Air National Guard three top executives and Mary Mapes, the producer of the 60 Minutes II report were fired today by CBS . The report cited a “myopic zeal” to get the story out first as being the primary cause for overlooking red flags that were raised before airing the report.

According to a CBS statement, an independent panel appointed by the network concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in putting together the piece, which aired September 8. That failure was compounded with a "rigid and blind" defense of the report, the statement continued.

The panel, which was led by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi, added that -- despite accusations of political bias against CBS -- "[the panel] cannot conclude that a political agenda at '60 Minutes Wednesday' drove either the timing of the airing of the segment or its content."

Some conservatives will still argue that Rather and CBS were politically motivated in airing the report. Frankly, I just don’t buy that. There is no evidence to prove this agenda. In fact there is no evidence to prove the memos CBS had were forged but there is wide speculation of their authenticity.

Is a Draft Looming?

2005-01-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday on Meet the Press Sen. Bill Frist said that we were straining our Guard and reservist personnel. Frist also declined to say whether he supports extending the 24 month tours of duty that is the current standard for reservists and National Guard members.

Frist said the ``repeated missions'' to Iraq by reservists and Guard forces ``after a brief time back home puts a stress and a strain'' on the troops. Frist said the government should increase the number of reservists and Guard personnel, rather than send the same troops overseas repeatedly.

Frist didn’t mention the word draft, but I’m not sure how you’re going to convince more young men and women to sign-up for military duty with the way the war in Iraq is playing out. Young men and women aren’t really lining at recruitment offices.
Between Frist’s comments on Meet the Press and Sen. Joe Biden’s comments last week that pretty much echoed what Frist said yesterday I think we can’t rule out the possibility of a draft. Bush has said he will give the commanders more troops, if that is what they want and he is in a position to worry less about alienating voters if a draft is implemented.

Williams Says Others Were Paid Too

2005-01-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

According Armstrong Williams there are many other “journalists” that have been paid by the Bush Administration besides him. But he’s not saying who.

I asked if Williams had yet been conducted by the inspector general at the Education Department, the agency that had awarded the contract that supplied him $241,000 for promoting the NCLB measure within the African-American community. Representative George Miller, the ranking Democrat on the education committee, and other House Democrats had already called for an investigation. Why should the IG contact me? Williams replied, noting he had been merely a subcontractor. Any thorough investigation, I remarked, would include questioning the subcontractor. He scratched his head. "Funny," he said. "I thought this [contract] was a blessing at the time."

And then Williams violated a PR rule: he got off-point. "This happens all the time," he told me. "There are others." Really? I said. Other conservative commentators accept money from the Bush administration? I asked Williams for names. "I'm not going to defend myself that way," he said. The issue right now, he explained, was his own mistake. Well, I said, what if I call you up in a few weeks, after this blows over, and then ask you? No, he said.

Does Williams really know something about other rightwing pundits? Or was he only trying to minimize his own screw-up with a momentary embrace of a trumped-up everybody-does-it defense? I could not tell. But if the IG at the Department of Education or any other official questions Williams, I suggest he or she ask what Williams meant by this comment. And if Williams is really sorry for this act of "bad judgment" and for besmirching the profession of rightwing punditry, shouldn't he do what he can to guarantee that those who watch pundits on the cable news networks and read political columnists receive conservative views that are independent and untainted by payoffs from the Bush administration or other political outfits?

If Williams got $241,000, how much are they paying Robert Novak or Ann Coutler?

Democrats Uniting

2005-01-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

This is a good sign.

Many Democrats believe the President doesn’t have the political capital he claims to have. This is evident in the lack of bounce he has received since re-election. Going into his inauguration ten days from today Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in recent history. This coupled with some of the more divisive issues he has put on his second term agenda will give Democrats an opportunity to pounce.

This can only occur if Democrats can stay united on these issues. One of the issues that might put pressure on the GOP is Social Security deform.

Bush's Social Security proposal that would allow younger workers to invest some of their contributions in personal savings accounts has further served to unite Democrats across the ideological spectrum -- from the liberal Campaign for America's Future to two centrist groups, the Democratic Leadership Council and the newly formed Third Way.

"I don't think Democrats are frightened of him," said DLC President Bruce Reed. "They're frightened of what he wants to do but not frightened of what he can do to them, the way many were on tax cuts."

"It looks like Democrats are going to stay firm and stay united," said Roger Hickey, one of the leaders of the Campaign for America's Future. "Bush is asking Republicans to bite a harder bullet than he did four years ago."

Even though Democrats are a smaller minority than they were four years ago they seem to be more outspoken and united on issues than they were going into Bush’s first term. This can be attributed Bush’s past broken promises on bipartisanship. Democrats can smell the bullshit coming from Bush this time and they want no part of his “united” talk.

"The president's idea of bipartisanship is, 'Here's what I want to do, join me,' " said Rep. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "It isn't about negotiating. It isn't about compromise. It's almost this belief that they have the monopoly on what's best for the country."

Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa), one of the most combative Democrats in Congress, accused Bush of "throwing down the gauntlet" since winning reelection. "Usually when you win you try to be magnanimous," he said. "But everything we've heard from the president is, 'I've got a mandate,' 'I've got all this political capital,' and 'We'll work with you as long as you agree with us.' Well, wait a minute, you mean we have to agree to everything before they'll work with us. That's a non-starter."

Democrats aren’t going to win every battle, but for starters they need to stand tall against Bush’s Social Security plan and do everything they can to stop any appointment of ultra-conservative judges to the Supreme Court.

Social Security; Deciphering the Rhetoric

2005-01-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Times has a good piece that outlines both sides of the Social Security issue.

At an economic conference last month, President Bush declared that Social Security's fiscal crisis has arrived.

How well the administration does in persuading the public to accept that description of the system's condition will shape the debate over changing the system.

Opponents of Bush's plans to create private, personal accounts say there is no crisis. So do many economists, liberal and conservative. They acknowledge that a problem exists, and they argue over its immediacy and severity.

Even if you think that Social Security is facing a crisis private accounts would not help the problem. In fact the cost of implementing this sort of tool would burden the system more than if you were to just address the fiscal issues that lie ahead.

Semantics aside, there is broad agreement regarding fundamental facts concerning Social Security's fiscal state, facts often obscured, intentionally or not, by partisan rhetoric. Among them:

The system is not about to run out of money. As long as payroll taxes are collected, the well never will run dry. Unless something is done, though, there will come a time when Social Security won't be able to pay all that has been promised.

Despite what you've heard, the baby-boom generation is not the only source of the system's difficulties. The projected shortfalls, once they arise, persist long after the boomers are dead. In later years, with extended life expectancies, things actually worsen.

Republicans have been looking for an opportunity to overhaul Social Security for some time. The Bush Administration knows that to get support for this they need to convince Americans there is a Social Security crisis when there is clearly not a crisis looming. Democrats should know by now that they should not take the White House for granted. Don’t forget they were able to successfully convince most Americans to vote for Bush despite the despicable war management and economic record of Bush’s first term.

Rossi Challenges Election in Washington

2005-01-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

This does not surprise me at all.

Republican Dino Rossi filed a sweeping lawsuit today challenging Democrat Christine Gregoire's election as governor.

"It is clear this election is a mess," Rossi said this afternoon as he announced the lawsuit in Bellevue.

There are a few possibilities ahead.

The type of challenge the GOP is planning would essentially put the election on trial, with a judge hearing testimony and taking evidence on allegations of fraud or error that resulted in enough "illegal votes" that the true outcome of the election is unknown.

A judge can throw out the claim, declare Rossi the winner or nullify the election and call for a new one.

I think those regular readers know how I feel about this .

White House Pays Pundit to Spread the Word

2005-01-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Dailykos for this one.

USA Today is reporting the White House paid Armstrong Williams, a prominent African-American pundit, to promote the No Child Left Behind Act by regularly commentating on it during his broadcasts and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige on several occasions during 2004. Williams is a conservative talking head that hosts a TV and radio program called The Right Side. The contract, worth $240,000, was discovered because Williams was telling other commentators about how the White House was taking caring of him by paying to talk about it.

The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record) of California, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal." He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation

“Probably illegal”? This kind of propaganda is illegal.

The contract may be illegal "because Congress has prohibited propaganda," or any sort of lobbying for programs funded by the government, said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "And it's propaganda."

This is what the White House had to say.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said he couldn't comment because the White House is not involved in departments' contracts.

They can’t comment because they’re not involved in their own contracts. What the hell is going on over there? Were they involved with the contract they signed with the devil to get elected in the first place? What kind of lame ass excuse is that anyway? If they are truly not involved with their own contracts then what are they involved in?

As for Williams, he claims he only took the money to pump up NCLB because he passionately believes in it. Someone needs to tell Williams that if he believes in NCLB then he can talk about without the cash approval of the White House. That is one of the beauties of this country.

Republicans Continue Challenge Rhetoric in Washington

2005-01-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

With governor-elect Christine Gregoire set to be inaugurated next week Washington state GOP leader Chris Vance continues his demand for a revote. Vance also produced what he called a “bombshell” for the Republicans charge of voter fraud.

At a Bellevue news conference, Vance produced a Republican-appointed King County election worker, Joe O'Donnell, who said he personally witnessed about 150 to 300 provisional ballots go straight into AccuVote tabulating machines on Election Day without any voter verification.

O'Donnell, a college student, said he pointed out the improprieties to polling place supervisors, but by then it was too late to separate the ballots of questionable validity from other ballots.

Rossi has yet to concede and some Republicans keep pointing to this as grounds for a revote as well. They fail to realize that conceding is not necessary in an election. It does show good sportsmanship though. Elections are won when the final tally is counted, not when the apparent loser gives up. As for the alleged "bombshell", if those ballots were fed through machines without being cleared that is wrong, but this happened during the original count not the hand recount. Rossi won the original count. Since then the hand recount proved that Gregoire was the winner. Did it ever occur to the GOP that there was voter fraud committed, but it was in favor of Rossi?

Same Old Story

2005-01-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

This isn’t shocking news , but I thought I would just run an update on the January 30th election in Iraq.

In a news conference yesterday interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said that the elections will not be delayed. Even as the violence worsens and the insurgents have moved to more direct intimidation, the plan is to move forward with the election.

There really has been enough said on this. Most logical individuals realize there will be real legitimacy questions surrounding the election results in Iraq due to the Sunni protest, voter intimidation by insurgents, and various other factors. I just can’t help but to continue to be amazed at the fear the Bush Administration has at showing any sign of admitting to failure.

Thank You Barbara!

2005-01-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

It’s great to see that at least one senator has the balls to stand up for the people.

Barbara Boxer formally announced today that she will join with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones to contest the Ohio electoral vote.

"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election," Boxer wrote in a letter to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, a leader of the Democratic effort.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan had this to say.

"I think the American people expect members of Congress to work together and move forward on the real priorities facing this country, instead of engaging in conspiracy theories and rehashing issues that were settled long ago," McClellan said.

I think the American people expect Congress to act as one of the checks and balances in our great system when appropriate. Not to turn their head to obvious voter irregularities because it might harm them politically. No, this won’t change the election, but it will move the discussion about reforming the voting system in the US. That is the kind of reform that needs to be discussed on Capital Hill. Not tort reform or tax reform.

How Much Influence Does Jon Stewart Have?

2005-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Last night the new president of CNN, Jonathan Klein, announced that CNN was canceling Crossfire. When questioned about the influence of Jon Stewart’s recent appearance on the show Klein said that he agreed wholeheartedly with Stewart’s criticism. Klein also said that CNN needed to do some “roll up your sleeves storytelling”. How about they just report the freakin’ news? I don’t need any storytelling. If I want storytelling I’ll watch Fox News.

On a related note Klein also announced the departure of CNN’s most famous dick. Tucker Carlson will be leaving the network. Carlson had stated early in the year that he had an agreement with MSNBC to do a prime time show that would air a 9pm but he would stay on at CNN to fulfill his contract. I think that is Deborah Norville’s spot. MSNBC said they are exploring options with Carlson for a 9pm show. I’m not sure who is worse. Norville is fraud and her show is just insignifigant, but Carlson is one of the biggest hacks on TV.

Can I Get a Senator?

2005-01-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

Remember that opening scene in Fahrenheit 9/11 when the African-American Congressmen and women were appealing to any senator to join forces and contest the 2000 election? Unfortunately, no senator had the balls to step up.

On Thursday Congress will formalize the electoral vote and there are a handful of House Democrats poised to raise some hell.

A handful of House Democrats plan a long-shot effort to snarl President Bush's formal re-election by preventing Congress from counting Ohio's pivotal votes when lawmakers tally the electoral vote on Thursday.

No one expects the action to undo Bush's victory. Instead, it seems likely to do little more than call attention to Election Day voting irregularities, a growing frustration for Democrats who blamed similar problems in Florida for Bush's 2000 defeat of Democrat Al Gore.

Democratic Rep. John Conyers has sent letters to senators looking for their support. It will only take one House Member and one Senator to contest a state’s electoral results and California Senator Barbara Boxer might be Conyers only hope.

Her spokesman, David Sandretti, said Tuesday that she has been asked to sign the complaint "and she is considering it."

Kerry will be traveling on Thursday and will not attend the joint session. Through a spokesperson Kerry had this to say:

"Senator Kerry conceded the election on November 3rd. ... He has been very clear all along that voting irregularities must be examined, not because it would change the outcome of the election but because it's critical to our democracy,"

Even if Conyers can get a senator to join the fight the election results will not get overturned, but at the very least we can hope that it will open some eyes to all of the voting irregularities that occurred, force those in Congress to engage in a discussion about and maybe then the mainstream media will start to talk about it.

Bush Drawing Tort Reform into Sights

2005-01-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Between tort reform, Social Security reform, and the forthcoming tax reform the president seems to have his plate full. Aside from these reforms Bush has many confirmation hearings coming up, including Alberto Gonzales’, he has yet to name a Homeland Security Secretary to replace Tom Ridge and oh yeah, there is that little skirmish going on in Iraq. With all of this; Bush continues to press unnecessary domestic reform , including mapping out an agenda for tort reform.

Bush is pushing tort reform on three fronts: Besides trying to cap damages in medical malpractice cases, he wants Congress to restrict the scope of class-action lawsuits and to take steps to curtail asbestos-related litigation. The White House contends that excessive damage awards have become an onerous burden for business and a drag on the U.S. economy.

Bush will appear today in Madison County, IL to push for a $250,000 congressional cap on jury awards for pain and suffering. Again Bush is misinformed and is only listening to the corporations that line his pockets. Although malpractice suits do play some role in the cost of health care, the administration fails to recognize the rising cost of prescriptions as being the major player in the cost of health care.

DLC Opposes Bush’s Social Security Plan

2005-01-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

I’m not the world’s biggest DLC fan, but this could be promising.

Two groups of prominent Democratic centrists plan to oppose the centerpiece of President Bush's proposal to restructure Social Security, potentially dimming administration hopes of building bipartisan support for its top domestic priority.

The Democratic Leadership Council, the party's leading centrist organization, and Third Way, a new group working with moderate Senate Democrats, expect to issue statements soon opposing Bush's push to divert part of the Social Security payroll tax into accounts that individuals could invest in the stock market, officials of the groups say.

Many Republicans, including Lindsey Graham, believe they can persuade the necessary Democratic votes to get the Social Security reform passed. They think they can do this by getting a few moderate Democrats that have spoke out for this type of reform to go ahead and vote for it, but the stance that the DLC is taking might change a few minds.

This could be just another step towards uniting the centrists and the progressives in the party. This unification needs to occur if we’re going to succeed in 2006 and 2008.

Bush Trying to Score One for the Pharmaceuticals

2005-01-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

With a battle brewing here in the US over the price of prescription drugs and many seniors having their prescriptions shipped from Canada the Canadian government is now exploring the possibility of banning mail order drug sales. Many Americans order their prescription drugs from Canada because they are much cheaper. This was heavily debated during the campaign this fall and prompted President Bush to say some not so smart things.

Bush has been reluctant to allow the purchase of drugs through Canada, saying that the practice could result in consumers buying unsafe, untested pharmaceuticals. The position was backed up last month by an administration task force that said legalized prescription-drug imports should be allowed only under strict federal supervision.

Some are suggesting that Bush made an appeal to the Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, during his visit to Ottawa in November to push for the ban in attempt to stave off a fierce battle over prescription drug costs here in the US. This is just another example of Bush backing big corporations and not showing any sympathy for the American people. If this works, score one for Bush and the pharmaceutical companies.

Bill Frist is a Hypocrite

2005-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Atrios for turning me on to this one .

In recent weeks Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has been preaching against the use of the filibuster to block judicial nominees.

Frist said filibustering judicial nominees is "radical. It is dangerous and it must be overcome." Frist called judicial filibusters "nothing less than a formula for tyranny by the minority."

But Frist used the technique, that he is now condemning, in an attempt to block Judge Richard Paez in 1996. Conservatives were successful in holing up the vote for nearly four years.

Frist was directly confronted with this vote by Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation (11/21/04). Schieffer said "Senator, a group called The American Progress Action Fund sent me a question to ask you. And here's what it says: 'Senator Frist, if you oppose the use of the filibuster for judicial nominations, why did you vote to filibuster Judge Richard Paez when President Clinton nominated him to the 9th Circuit?'" Frist replied "Filibuster, cloture, it gets confusing--as a scheduling or to get more information is legitimate. But no to kill nominees."

Oh really?

On March 9, 2000, Former Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) issued a press release describing the intent of the Paez filibuster vote the day before. The release says Senator Smith "built a coalition of several moderate and conservative Senators in an effort to block" Paez's nomination. Frist was a part of that coalition. Smith did not organize the filibuster to get more information on Paez (after all his nomination had been pending for four years). He organized the filibuster because he had already decided Paez was "out of the mainstream of political though and...should [not] be on the court"

So this is just another shining example of the hypocrisy of the Republican Party. The filibuster has its place and it is there to allow the minority to have some power. Stripping the minority of the power of the filibuster would, in this case, allow the GOP to hand pick any conservative judge without any real challenge from the Democrats.

Taking a Stand Against Gonzales

2005-01-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

Robert Scheer’s column in the LA Times today pretty much sums up my feelings about the Gonzales nomination.

Acting like a sleazy attorney advising a client on how not to be convicted of an ongoing crime, Gonzales was apparently not worried about irrational foreign courts or high-minded jurists in The Hague, but rather U.S. prosecutors who might enforce federal laws that ban torture of foreign prisoners of war. Indeed, Gonzales made the case for a legal end run around the 1996 War Crimes Act, which mandates criminal penalties, including the death sentence, for any U.S. military or other personnel who engage in crimes of torture.

The memos Gonzales sent to the president regarding prisoner abuse are horrific and to think that Gonzales could be the nation’s top law enforcement official is even more terrifying.

On Monday, a group of military legal experts, including Rear Adm. John Hutson, who was recently the Navy's judge advocate general, released a letter to the Judiciary Committee noting that Gonzales' recommendations "fostered greater animosity toward the United States, undermined our intelligence gathering efforts, and added to the risks facing our troops serving around the world."

We need to do all we can to stop his nomination and show the Bush Administration that we have not disbanded since the election and we will not tolerate this lack of respect for humanity. Human Rights First has a website where you can send a letter to your Senator to oppose Gonzales's approval.

Bush Proposal Would Slash Social Security Benefits

2005-01-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

The word is that the White House will propose cutting Social Security benefits by as much as a third to help solve the perceived future deficit facing Social Security. This isn’t without cost though.

The change would save trillions of dollars in scheduled expenditures and solve Social Security's long-term deficit, but at a cost. According to the Social Security Administration's chief actuary, a middle-class worker retiring in 2022 would see guaranteed benefits cut by 9.9 percent. By 2042, average monthly benefits for middle- and high-income workers would fall by more than a quarter. A retiree in 2075 would receive 54 percent of the benefit now promised.

Opponents of the proposal have also been mobilizing. Under an inflation-linked formula, benefits would keep up with prices, but wage levels determine standards of living, Rother said. Social Security benefits currently equal 42 percent of the earnings of an average worker retiring at 65. Under the new formula, that benefit would fall to 20 percent of pre-retirement earnings. Future retirees would, in effect, be consigned to today's standard of living.

Those in favor of the cut are just not thinking logically.

"If this was a case of just price indexing and doing nothing else, frankly, some of the [opponents'] charges are pretty valid," John said. "But if you give the personal accounts as well, you're giving people the opportunity to make up the difference. Not everyone will do that, but a substantial number will."

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said benefits under a revamped system should be compared with benefit levels that are possible under the current system, not benefit levels that are promised but cannot be financed. "A solution has to be compared to current law, and current law will guarantee huge tax increases or huge benefit cuts, or both," he said.

Sure, the possibility will be there to increase your benefits if you invest wisely. Investing wisely is easier said than done. Even if you consider the potential opportunity that private accounts would give retirees as legitimate, it would be next to impossible to recover that kind of loss in benefits investing a small portion of what you have available in Social Security.

Mo’ Money

2005-01-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

Several leaders in Congress have stated publicly that they expect the White House to request an additional $100 billion for war related costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The brunt of the money will go to Iraq. The request could put a damper on Bush’s vision to overhaul Social Security. At some point this administration is going to have to stop spending and this type of request isn’t going to help Bush with that “cut the deficit in half” pledge he made on the campaign trail. Many in Congress are also getting frustrated with these supplemental requests and believe that the White House should be adding the war costs to the annual budget.

“There is a feeling among a lot of members that … this war has become enough of a routine that they should be able to build it into their annual budgeting and not have to come back to us for supplemental funding of that size,” said Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., head of the House Appropriations panel that oversees spending on foreign operations.

GOP Back Off Ethics Rule Changes

2005-01-04T08:34:00.000-08:00

Republican leaders have curled back some of the ethics rule changes they were pursuing, citing the possibility that these changes might get them off track from more important issues in the coming session. The relaxed rules would have benefited majority leader Tom Delay.

At least one prominent Republican, outgoing ethics committee chairman Joel Hefley, R-Col., voiced concerns about the rules changes because "ethics reform must be bipartisan and this package is not bipartisan."

Hefley has drawn fire from fellow Republicans for agreeing with several panel findings that criticized DeLay for his political tactics.

But the likelihood of a bitter fight over ethics was largely averted when DeLay, R-Texas, and Hastert made two startling announcements at the beginning of the GOP meeting.

First DeLay asked Republicans to overturn the party rule, enacted last November on his behalf, that allows party heads to retain their posts even if indicted. Three of DeLay's Texas associates have been indicted by a grand jury in Austin on fund-raising violation charges.

Even with the change of heart. Republicans are bound to run into some opposition regarding their proposal. First the new rules would require a majority vote to start an investigation. Currently an investigation can begin automatically if there is no action taken within 45 days. Second the new proposal would allow lawmakers to take relatives beside a spouse or child along with them on lobbyist-financed trips.

The outrage seems to have called a halt to some of the outlandish proposals, hopefully Democrats can stop some of the other uncalled for provisions as well.

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years Eve. I was going to post some resolutions, but I kept putting it off. So here I am and I still don’t have anything posted. Maybe my New Years resolution should be to quit procrastinating. Anyway, here’s to 2005. Let this be the year that Democrats regroup and start to solidify a movement for change in 2006.

GOP Wants to Relax House Conduct Rules

2004-12-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

Republican leaders in the House are seeking to remove the general rule of conduct that the ethics committee uses to admonish lawmakers. When the House convenes this week there are three proposals that are backed by Republicans. One proposal would eliminate the general code of conduct rule that allows the committee to point out lawmakers that bring discredit on the House even if their violation is not covered by a specific regulation. The second proposal would relax restrictions on relatives of lawmakers accepting foreign and domestic trips from groups interested in legislation before the House. And a third proposal would allow either party to stop any investigation by the ethics committee with a majority vote.

Currently, if the panel, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, is deadlocked on a complaint, the matter automatically goes to an investigative subcommittee after 45 days. The proposed change would drop any complaint that is not backed by a majority vote to move it forward.

Government watchdog groups called the proposals startling and unjustified. If the proposed rules are adopted next week as GOP leaders suggest, they would amount to "the biggest backtracking on House ethics rules that we have seen," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21.

Who needs rules, right? The idea of allowing lawmaker’s relatives to accept bribes from groups interested in legislation is appalling. These ethics rules have been in place for many years and the only time they’ve caused a problem is when they affect one of the lawmakers, as with Tom DeLay. One positive is the possibility of this just being one of the necessary steps the Republicans need to take to begin imploding. The Republican Party will implode over the next four years. They have too much power and they are too greedy. Those two things coupled with the in fighting that will occur over presidential campaign positioning by some of their stronger leaders will give Democrats a window in the coming years. We need to take advantage of it.

Rossi Asks for a Do-Over in WA. Governor Race

2004-12-29T22:59:00.000-08:00

During a press conference on Wednesday Republican Dino Rossi called for a revote in the Washington governor race. Rossi read from a letter he sent to Christine Gregoire pleading for a revote and claiming that "people need to know for sure that the next governor actually won the election." Gregoire responded quickly by rejecting the idea of a recount. Gregoire is currently the governor-elect and the election is set to be certified on Thursday by Secretary of State Sam Reed.

Someone needs to tell Rossi that he'll need to wait until 2008 to run again. The race was close, but once it's certified it's over. The worst thing that could possibly happen would be to drag this out for months by challenging the results in court

No Post Election Bounce for Bush

2004-12-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

According to a new Gallup poll President Bush has not gained any points in approval since the election. Most sitting presidents who have won re-election see their approval ratings jump a bit after the election. This hasn’t been the case for Bush. His approval rating is still at 49%. Those numbers are 10 to 20 percent lower than every re-elected president since WWII.

Unlike other presidents, who cruised toward inaugural festivities on a tide of growing public support after re-election victories, Bush has had to somberly respond to mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq. Last week, he made a rare concession: "No question about it, the bombers are having an effect."

One person who met with Bush the same day a U.S. military mess tent was bombed in Iraq described the president as "distraught."

Can you say, “What political capital?”

Tsunami Death Toll Climbs to 44,000

2004-12-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

Officials are now describing the series of tsunamis that hit Indonesia over the weekend as one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. The new death toll is around 44,000 and this is feared to rise. Many of the hardest hit areas are reporting thousands still unaccounted for. The Red Cross is concerned that the onslaught of disease that is bound to in sue will take nearly as many lives as the tidal waves.

The US has pledged $15 million to clean up and aid. This number has been criticized as “stingy” by the United Nations. $15 million does seem to be only a mere fraction of what it will cost to help these nations recover, but this is not the time or the subject to point fingers about. We need to come together as a nation and in the international community to help provide support for the countries in need.

My Return & A New Site

2004-12-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and got to spend lots of quality time with their family. I’m back from my trip although the posts will continue to be a bit limited until the first of the year. I’m off work this week and ironically I get a lot more reading done when I’m working.

I’m also going to spend the next week working on a new and improved website. My plan is to move empty friend to the new site sometime in January of the New Year. The new site will have a new name and new layout, including a diary feature, but the content won’t change. I would encourage the faithful 2 ½ readers (I was recently informed that one of the faithful reads daily usually with their 14 month old on their lap, hence the new ½ a reader) to take a look at it. I am open to suggestions. It's not close to being finished, but I have been double posting some there. Here is the link Pac Daily .

Merry Christmas

2004-12-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let all the faithful readers (I think there are two of you) that I’ll be out of town for the holidays with limited time and Internet access. So Merry Christmas and I’ll be back on Tuesday.

Pledge-a-Pickett

2004-12-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

I found this story on Salon.

Some Planned Parenthood affiliates have organized pledge drives against picketers. This is a brilliant way to create a no-win scenario for protesters. The way it works at the affiliate in Waco is for every protester, supporters can donate 25 cents to a dollar. Planned Parenthood claims that the money is adding up despite the low pledge cap. The Pledge-a-Pickett program has raised $18,000 for the Waco affiliate.

They even show these protesters how they are contributing by hanging a sign that indicates how much money is being raised. In a true conservative, not reading the entire sign, fashion many protesters were seen shouting, “Count me! Count me!” Not realizing that they were actually contributing to the organization they were protesting.

Beautiful!

Gregoire Up by 10 in Governor Race

2004-12-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

After two recounts, including one hand recount Christine Gregoire is now leading Republican Dino Rossi by ten votes. These numbers are minus the 735 votes that have yet to be counted in King County. The King County canvassing board is going to meet today to decide which of the 735 ballots should be counted. The county expects to have all ballots counted and reported by sometime this afternoon.

What happens after that is not clear. At yesterday's court hearing, justices and lawyers made reference to the state law that allows elections to be contested in a court trial where evidence of fraud or legal error can be heard. The law allows election results to be set aside, and new elections ordered, under certain circumstances.

"Someone will decide to contest it," the Republican Party's attorney, Harry Korrell, told the Supreme Court yesterday. "I think that is almost unavoidable regardless of what this court does."

Now the Republicans are talking a different language. After the election and the first recount, Republicans chastised Gregoire for “dragging the election out” and called for her concession. Now that it appears Rossi lost they are talking about taking this to trial and possibly calling for a second election. Looks like Governor Locke isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Washington Court Rules in Favor of Democrats

2004-12-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

The State Supreme Court ruled today that that the 735 uncounted ballots in King County should be counted. The decision comes as a major blow the Dino Rossi. Currently Rossi is ahead in the recount, but Gregoire will likely pick up votes in King County, especially considering the 735 uncounted ballots. The results in King County (minus the 735 uncounted) should be made available this afternoon.

Here is more detailed article on the court's decision.

I'll add more to this as it becomes available.

First Major US Company to Leave Iraq

2004-12-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

Contrack International Inc. has officially pulled out of reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Contrak is the leader of a partnership that won twelve major reconstruction contracts this year, including one to help rebuild transportation in Iraq. The company cited the rising costs of security as the reason why they were pulling out.

Contrack’s joint venture headquarters came under attack by gunmen nearly 2 ½ months ago and their construction sites were repeatedly hit with small-arms and mortar fire. Earlier this year an Egyptian truck driver was kidnapped and killed by insurgents. The driver was a Contrack employee.

The Pentagon is trying to spin this as a mutual agreement by saying they were going to reopen the bidding for the project, but many experts aren’t buying it.

""It's a very bad sign," said Michael O'Hanlon, a scholar at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington who has closely followed the reconstruction process. "If this is how other private companies are thinking, it's a very bad potential warning."

Coming as U.S. reconstruction officials have been touting signs of progress, Contrack's withdrawal underscores the challenges in the $18.4-billion effort to rebuild Iraq.

Contrack is not the only company to back out of Iraq, but it is definitely the largest. Finding another company to take over the contract might not be that easy. The violence is worsening and many companies are beginning to view the reconstruction the same way Contrack sees it. Too costly!

Bush Faces Uphill Battle Over Social Security

2004-12-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

Will Bush have as tough of a battle over Social Security as Clinton did over health care reform? Some experts think he just might . The health care issue was much more complicated for Clinton, but the president faces an uphill battle with some Republicans and the public. Hence the aggressive campaign planned for 05.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll last week found that by 50 to 38 percent respondents thought it was a bad idea to allow workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the stock market.

Gregoire Wins! Well, Maybe

2004-12-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

The Washington State Supreme Court is set to hear arguments for and against including 735 misplaced King County ballots today at 9:30 am PST. Meanwhile King County has finished counting and will announce their results (minus the 735 in question) this afternoon. All of this and now the Democratic Party Chairman, Paul Berendt, said last night that they believe Gregoire is ahead by eight votes. This is based on Democratic calculations during the recount. Republicans would only say they believe the race has become much closer.

I will post the election results this afternoon as soon as I get them.

White House to Launch Social Security Campaign in 2005

2004-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

The Bush propaganda machine will be at full tilt next year. According to Reuters the White House plans to launch an intensive campaign aimed at convincing Americans that Social Security is in dire need of an overhaul. The campaign is expected to focus on presidential speeches, television and radio ads, newspaper op-ed articles and grass-roots rallies to get the message out.

"It's going to be a battle royal, very much like an election campaign but over an issue rather than a candidate," said Stephen Moore, executive director of Club for Growth, a Republican group that hopes to spend $15 million on a media campaign backing the White House.

I believe I saw a Wall Street Journal poll recently (can’t find the link) that showed most Americans are not for the type of overhaul that the president is planning, but I’m sure by the end of this propaganda campaign they will have brain-washed plenty of “opponents”.

This is my favorite quote:

“The initial focus of the campaign is that we have to do reform. But they don't want a lot of details out there," said Mike Tanner of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank that is preparing to distribute 25,000 Social Security guides to help community leaders shape public opinion for Bush.

Details. Who needs details? If you tell them we need to do something enough eventually they’ll believe it, right? Besides if you give them too many details they might realize it’s not such a good idea.

Washington Governor Race Update

2004-12-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

All but one of the counties in Washington has reported there recount results in the gubernatorial race. Currently Dino Rossi holds a slim 49 vote lead over Christine Gregoire and that one county that still needs to report is King; the largest and most Democratic county in the state. King County is set to release its results tomorrow. Wednesday just happens to be when the State Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments for and against the inclusion of 735 ballots that were misplaced during the original count and the machine recount. Don’t misunderstand here. There is nothing wrong with these votes. They were simply misplaced before the recount. Therefore the voters that placed these ballots deserve to have their votes counted.

The other day on the news here in Seattle there were groups for and against allowing these votes to be counted protesting on the streets in one of Seattle’s suburbs. They were divided appropriately. Those for Gregoire were for having the ballots counted and those for Rossi were against having the ballots counted. Watching this just made me think of the irony involved here. Essentially these Republicans were protesting to suppress someone else’s vote. How democratic. When the Republicans that were protesting were interviewed nearly every one of them said that it was wrong to allow votes that were disqualified before to be counted now. I couldn’t believe it. I guess I should believe it because these are the same people that seem to not get Iraq or the state of the nation’s economy either. So why would they take the time to find out the truth about these ballots anyway?

Needless to say this will not end on Wednesday no matter what happens. Secretary of State Sam Reed said publicly that if the high court rules against King County including those ballots then the entire state would need to be recounted again. He said that many other counties included ballots that had slipped through the cracks on the first and second count. Again, these are not ballots that were once disqualified they are ballots that were missed for whatever reason the first and second times through the count. If the Supreme Court rules against counting the 735 ballots in King County there may be a need for a re-vote because at that point another statewide recount would need to be held to eliminate votes that were added during the recount. Some counties have said they have no way of knowing which ballots were added back to the mix during the recount.

Stay tuned.

Coburn and Brownback Appointed to Senate Judiciary Committee

2004-12-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

Senate Republicans announced yesterday the appointment of two new members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and they are two of the most prominent antiabortion advocates in the Senate. Senator Sam Brownback (KS) and Senator-elect Tom Coburn (OK) were announced to take the place of Larry E. Craig (Idaho) and Saxby Chambliss (GA). Both of the senators leaving will be reassigned to other committees. Although the outgoing senators are pro-life conservatives they have not focused on abortion in the past. Coburn, on the other hand, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and Brownback introduced the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act last year. The UCPA Act would have required women seeking an abortion to be told that the fetus might feel pain.

Antiabortion groups hailed yesterday's appointments, while advocates of keeping abortion legal expressed dismay. "The color code for potential threats to the Constitution just went from orange to red," said Ralph G. Neas of People for the American Way. "It's hard to believe the Judiciary Committee could go any farther to the right, but it just did."

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said: "It appears the far right is massing troops on the border of Roe v. Wade."

It looks like the Republicans are preparing for a battle. This could get ugly over the next year or two.

Base Attacked in Mosul

2004-12-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

The news from Iraq just doesn’t get any better. Initial reports have said that the dining hall at Forward Operating Base Marez, in Mosul, was attacked by insurgents with rockets and mortar. The attack killed at least 22 and wounded 50.

A radical Iraqi Muslim group, Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the attack, news agencies reported. The group said in a statement posted on the Internet that it had targeted a canteen used by the U.S. military at the base, which is located 240 miles north of Baghdad.

If confirmed, the death toll would make the attack one of the bloodiest single incidents for the U.S. military since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Executive Order Authorized Torture

2004-12-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

The ACLU has released more documents that reveal the ongoing torture at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in 2003 and as late as August 2004. But the most shocking document is an email from an FBI agent that references an Executive Order to use methods characterized as torture. The Order authorizes sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and the use of hoods as interrogation techniques. A separate email discusses an FBI investigation into an alleged rape of a juvenile male prisoner at Abu Ghraib in July 2004.

This just gets worse and worse. If there is an Executive Order authorizing torture at these facilities the Administration needs to reveal it. If it can be found, Bush should be tried for war crimes. I’m embarrassed to be an American.

This isn't going away!

Bush’s Press Conference

2004-12-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here is an excerpt from Sam Rosenfeld’s comments on Bush’s press conference.

BUSH, STRETCHING OUT AND GETTING COMFORTABLE. Ah, it’s going to be a great four years. George W. Bush just wrapped up a rare, hour-long, real-deal press conference, without the usual backup from a visiting world leader that he usually relies on when facing the media. Bush’s answers were alternately petulant and philosophical, all delivered in that dependably incoherent manner the American people have come to know, love, and reward with reelection.

You can read it all here.

Bush Could Face More Challenges in Next Term

2004-12-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

Let the infighting begin. In a way, this started with the Intelligence Bill.

President Bush might have to deal with a Republican Congress that is not as willing to pass legislation on blind faith as they have been in the past. Some Republicans are already speaking out about some of the key issues the Bush Administration would like to accomplish in the next four years.

Immigration may be the first hurdle for Bush. Several conservative Republicans were not happy with the immigration proposals in the recently passed Intelligence Bill and they have been promised an opportunity in 2005 to address this. They would like to not see more relaxed immigration policies and that is exactly what Bush wants. Consider also that many more conservative Republicans do not feel as tied to the president politically as they did in 2002 and keep in mind that some who are looking at presidential runs in ’08 (McCain and Frist) might be a bit more outspoken in an effort to better position themselves for a run in ’08.

Overall, this could be good news for the Democrats. It will still take a valiant effort to stop some of the reform Bush has planned but with signs on the GOP beginning to implode Democrats can’t help but smile at they opportunities that lie ahead.

Many Questions Surround New Intelligence Department

2004-12-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

Even before the president nominates someone for Director of National Intelligence many questions surround the post. Some are speculating as to whom the president will nominate, but the real question is how much power the director will have. The answer depends on how much respect the president gives the position. There will, no doubt, be some struggles between the Pentagon, the CIA, and the Intelligence Department in the coming months and it might be left up to the White House to help resolve them. The Intelligence Bill that Bush signed last week has some vague wording and will really be left open to interpretation. How the White House interprets the bill will determine how much of a player the new department will be.

Rumsfeld Acknowledges Auto Signature on Letters

2004-12-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

After being ridiculed for not personally signing the letters to families that have lost members in Iraq, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld said he would begin to sign the letters personally. Rumsfeld said that he allowed the auto-signature in an effort to get the letters out as quickly as possible. Senator Chuck Hagel continues to voice his displeasure in Rumsfeld’s performance. Hagel pointed out that if the president has the time to sign letters for the families then Rumsfeld should as well. Senator Hagel and McCain continue to be a minority when it comes to Republicans that continue to scrutinize the administration's handling of the War in Iraq.

Bush Named Person of the Year by Time

2004-12-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

President Bush was selected as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in its latest edition. The magazine cited his “uncompromising leadership style and clear-cut victory in the elections” as what gave him the title. That “uncompromising leader” is what has caused the War in Iraq to be a debacle and not so fast on the “clear-cut election victory”. There are many questions about the votes in Ohio and even Florida. Many more questions exist around the vote in Ohio though, where just recently Representative Conyers asked the FBI to investigate.

Keep in mind too that Time did pick Bush in 2000 for losing the election, but somehow getting appointed president. Time also said they were considering Karl Rove. As much as I despise him, he did have a major impact on the news this year..

Time also handed out its new Blog of the Year Award to the conservative “Power Line”. What the hell? Where is the DailyKos or MyDD? These are the blogs that have brought political blogging to the forefront.

Wrap Up of Economic Summit Day 2

2004-12-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of Bush’s “economic summit” focused primarily on reforming, or should I say privatizing, Social Security. Bush claimed that the “crisis is now.” This is garbage. The crisis is not now. Many experts believe that Social Security has enough in it to last the next 40 to 50 years. The cost to overhaul it now will be in the $1 to $2 trillion range. The cost to overhaul it in the 40 to 50 years would be in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 trillion. I’m not saying that Social Security should be ignored. It needs to be tweaked. It can be fixed by raising the payroll tax on individuals making over $87,000 a year. This kind of change would save Social Security and not put people at risk with their retirement.

Bush continues to claim that the American people have given him a mandate and part of that includes privatizing Social Security, yet he hardly mentioned Social Security on the campaign trail. and he never mentioned privatization. As for the mandate, a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked Americans if they believed the President has a mandate and 51% said no. Some mandate then.

As with every thing else the administration does, there were no critics of Bush’s economic plan at the “summit”. This approach makes for wonderful discussion and hashing through ideas. It worked well for them with the War in Iraq. I find it interesting too that all of the groups in favor of Bush’s Social Security plan represent groups of corporations, but nearly every public group in America that represents people, not companies, oppose his ideas. These groups include AARP and the Alliance for Retired Americans.