December 2004 Archives
Susan Sontag, a talented writer for many publications over many years, has passed away at the age of 71. This last May, Sontag penned an essay for the NY Times entitled "Regarding the Torture of Others". It is an earnest and heartfelt reaction to the revelations of torture in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq this year, by U.S. soldiers. Here is a link to that essay.
As the death toll continues to rise in South Asia, millions of people who have lost all that they have need our help. For those of you interested in getting help to tsunami survivors in South Asia, check the following websites, which are in alphabetical order. If you have additional sites, please leave them in the comments and we'll update this list. Thanks.
As promised, lo these many weeks ago, we are migrating to a new server. It is happening now. The new site will look a lot like the old site for a while, but we may lose some of your comments in the shift.
If that happens, please know that we are trying to capture everything, but may miss a few comments here and there. Do not take this personally! We just know we have little control over the technology deities.
Once the new site is up, features will begin appearing, and there will be much more to actually do on the DCP site. We welcome suggestions for continuing improvements, as usual--this project belongs to you and me! (apologies to the memory of Woody Guthrie).
Arundhati Roy, recipient of the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize, has been a voice for peace consistently since the mid-1990s when she wrote her first novel "The God of Small Things". This excerpt from one of her essays, read at a September 2002 conversation with historian Howard Zinn, is about turning an individual philosophy of compassion and tolerance into a resonant force through literature, and using our skills as individuals to work hard for what we believe in.
[Editor's note: Blogger NativeTexan4Kerry sent us this note about a surprising essay she got back from one of her students after the election. Good thing this kid's teacher was a Kerry fan!]
For part of my mid-term exam this year, students were asked to write an essay in Spanish, using their vocab words, about a setback they had and how they overcame it. This is one essay (translated) a student wrote:
As the evidence continues to mount of irregularities in Ohio, Rep. John Conyers and other House members have announced their intention to object to the certification of the election when the Congress meets in joint session on January 6th to certify the votes of the state electors.
And as you have probably read by now, in order for such an objection to be heard, the objection has to be raised by at least one Member of the House and one Member of the Senate. There are a number of grassroots campaigns underway to find that Senator. A similar effort to challenge the outcome of the 2000 election failed when not a single Senator was willing to stand with the Members of the House who wanted to object; the film of this scene is the heart-wrenching opening of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
But what happens if a Senator does come forward to join with Conyers and other House members? In brief, each houses then has a short, two-hour debate over whether to accept or rejection the objection, followed by a vote. Then both houses meet together again, and unless both houses voted to accept the objection, the objection fails. (There's a more detailed narrative in Part II, and the text of the U.S. Code in Part III.)
[Editor’s note: Rep. John Conyers is leading the fight to get Congress to agree to investigate the 2004 election. There are a number of groups that are focusing on this investigation, some old and some newly hatched. At democrats.com, Bob Fertik has an election investigation blog. (Disclosure: I was on the founding advisory board of democrats.com, and have worked with Bob in online organizing since the early 1990s.) Another old friend, David Lytel, is running an aggressive website called redefeatbush.com. (More disclosure: online political organizing was a small world in the early 1990s. I worked with David when he was in the Clinton White House, David was a co-founder of democrats.com.) David is holding a special online press conference TODAY at 1 PM east coast time to talk about the vote investigation. Other sites you may want to check include contestthevote.org, and DoNot Concede.com. There are many other sites; leave their URLs in the comments below.—Dick Bell]
"Did you see any of the John Conyers' meetings on CSPAN? It was a circus an absolute circus!" a Republican staffer on the House Judiciary committee told me Wednesday--with a dismissive chuckle as if the loss of our democracy and voting rights were simply for entertainment.
An Open Letter to the Editors of Time Magazine:
Dear Editor,
I am immediately cancelling my subscription to Time magazine. Are you hoping to earn greater "access" by declaring Bush to be the most honorable person of the year? His re-election campaign was filled with lies, revisionist history, and the demonization of gay Americans. Worst of all, four more years of President Bush means four more years of indiscriminate torture behind prison walls, while the architect of this policy of torture is promoted to Attorney General. Have you no shame, Time magazine? Your magazine is worthless to us now.
Sincereley,
Andrew Podolsky
Former "Time magazine" enthusiast
Blogger DiAnne Grieser filed this today:
"Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the Author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance." -- Thomas Jefferson: Legal Argument, 1770. FE 1:376
The intelligence bill that the Congress just passed has the makings for creating a national identity card, a federal government intrusion that Americans have resisted for centuries.
Senator Byrd voted against the bill, as he has a strong preference for understanding what he is voting for with respect to the Constitution. A Republican from Texas, Congressman Ron Paul, openly questioned these aspects of the bill.
This time of year, it's particularly difficult to fathom what our soldiers are facing in Iraq. The news of more insurgent attacks, more bombings, and more prisoner abuse revelations is hard to take. More and more people question the cost of the war -- in casualties as well as dollars. Yet our president continues to be evasive when questioned about the war and refuses to admit the mistakes that have been made.
[Blogger Matt sent in this piece on a new report on the role of religion in the 2004 election.]
The polling data is in, and according to a new report produced by the Pew Research Center, Karl Rove's program to sell George W. Bush as a man of faith succeeded. The polling data reveals that Bush did significantly better in 2004 among White Evangelicals (78% in 2004 compared to 68% in2000), Catholics (52% to 47%), African-American Protestants (13% to 7%) and Jewish voters (25% to 19%). In contrast, Senator Kerry did better in 2004 among secular voters than Al Gore did 2000 - improving on the former Vice-President's support of four years earlier by a 6-point margin.
However, in a country where a substantial majority of Americans describe themselves as Christians, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Bush's improved standing among both regular and casual churchgoers likely proved the margin of victory in Presidential race. If there's a surprise in this data, it's that Karl Rove (otherwise known as the Political Prince of Darkness) was even able to sell a President who advocated in Iraq "doing unto others before they do on you" - and, in the process, found himself at odds with the leadership of all but the most conservative religious organizations around the world - as an example of credible Christian leadership.
[DCP crew member Deborah Brault send in her thoughts on Bill Moyer's last show on PBS.]
I watched Bill Moyers NOW last PBS show after 30 years of great journalism. Fittingly, his last show was about the Media, how it had evolved, and the role of Media in Politics. It was a brilliant program (though deeply disturbing) and I encourage everyone who missed it to try to catch the reruns this week. The show was aptly named: What Happened to Fairness?
Here's a synopsis of the show: Bill Moyers looks inside the right-wing media machine that New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks called a "dazzlingly efficient ideology delivery system." The program examines how a vast echo chamber that is admittedly partisan and powerfully successful delivers information — and misinformation — with more regard for propaganda than fact. Founding father to the conservative movement, Richard Viguerie tells Moyers, “That’s what journalism is, Bill. It’s all just opinion. Just opinion.”
I know, I know. Lies from the government are like jelly beans at Easter--they're pretty much everywhere and in every color and flavor imaginable. Still, when the government takes the time and effort to lie about the details, it's a lot like getting one of those buttered popcorn flavored jelly beans. It's unexpected, unpleasant, and leaves a bad flavor in your mouth for a while.
Which brings me to this morning's phone call with Defense Secratary Donald Rumsfeld's office. But to get the whole story, we have to go back to December 6, 2004.
I read over at David Hackworth's site, SFTT.org that Secretary Rumsfeld was not personally signing the letters to the families of soldiers killed in action (KIA). Despite being a remarkably insensitive policy, it also seemed incredibly stupid from a public relations perspective. But, Rumsfeld is well known for having the press corps in continual state of ring-kissing obeisance. So I decided to call his office and ask them right up front, "Is Secretary Rumsfeld signing all of the letters to the families of the KIA himself, personally, by hand, no auto-pen?" It's a simple yes or no question, right? Or not...
On the first really cold, snowy evening in Washington, sitting here reading through the blog, I find myself thinking about how groups like the users of this blog come to create communities that endure.
Looking at the frost, I think about my experience in a small village in England where I spent a week doing research several years ago. Every day at 5:00 pm, the local pub opens. People stream in for a pint and some snacks. Mill workers, professors, handymen, farmers, glass blowers, and even the village idiot show up like clockwork. There is much greeting, even though it has been less than 24 hours since they saw each other last. But the evening pub opening is a ritual, and to miss it is to miss a touchstone.
Blogger oncall has gotten the "democracy cell" bug. He sent out this note to his neighbors to get a cell going in his neighborhood. Thanks, oncall!
Were you disappointed by the November 2nd election results? Do you think there is little left for those of us who believe in a country whose policies are based on thoughtful debate? After the election many of us felt an overwhelming sense of futility. We weren’t sure if there was anything we could do.
Last weekend my pet chinchilla died.
Despite my first statement, this is not an "Ode to Kritter" article, so please be patient with me and allow me the chance to elaborate.
As I recall with fondness some of the antics of my lost chinchilla, I am amazed to discover some surprising resemblances Kritter had to our notorious president, Mr. George W. Bush and his administration.
This is a blog about democracy cells, people coming together for change. But there are some important changes that you can do all by yourself. Why drive a gas-guzzling car if you can drive a hybrid?
And if your bank account is low, don't despair. You can win a 2005 Toyota Prius hybrid with just 10 creative words.
I got into hybrids after some kids stole our van and totaled it. My wife decided it was time to put our money where our mouths were, and set her heart on a hybrid. At the time, the Prius was backordered for 6 months, and the insurance company would only rent us a replacement car for a month.
After reading the New York Times article which stated that the Democrat party has decided to set themselves up as the "watchdog" of the government, I am reminded of an experience I once had on this very same subject--watchdogging the government.
I was in an adult Civics class and we were discussing the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as Freedom of the Press vs Free Speech. One aspect of the Freedom of the Press is the age old argument, " the public's right to know" vs "an individual's right to privacy." Of course, we were discussing the fine line between the two. Additionally, we were taught WHY the press was given the Freedom of the Press and WHY we have the Freedom of Information Act and WHY we have the right to WATCH our GOVERNMENT in action. These are all parts of our lives and freedoms which we citizens of the USA take for granted.
One of our bloggers sent in this impassioned plea for help from Gary Polvinale, in Sandusky, Ohio. Gary describes how hard people in Ohio are working to make sure that every vote gets counted, and why he's looking for you to write to the media and demand that they start reporting on the growing list of irregularities being uncovered as the recount moves ahead.
Yesterday in 30 degree temperature with winds that knocked me over while I was filming the Ohio Statehouse Rally, Ohioans and people from all over America who came to Ohio to help us, listened to Joan and Eve tell how they were denied access to those public records in Greene County Ohio.
While answering questions from the Oval Office with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (who owns a highly controversial percentage of the Italian media), George Bush explains the intricacies of international economic policy:
"There's a trade deficit. That's easy to resolve: People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit."
Thank goodness he cleared that up for us. For a minute there, I thought he had jujubes for brains when it came to economic policy.
Two of the exciting new projects now happening on the Internet involve the digitization of a vast collection of human creations from every realm of the arts. Literature, music, movies, television, radio, newspapers, and art from hundreds and thousands of years ago will all be instantly accessible from your computer in a vast online library.
One of these projects is "Universal Access to Human Knowledge," spearheaded by Archive.org. Director and Co-Founder of Archive.org Brewster Kahle was on C-Span recently delivering a seminar about the potential benefits and challenges of this undertaking.
The indomitable Indy from Texas posted this item, and, we agree:
And now for something that REALLY SHOULD be a blog thread...
Rep. John Conyers, who is leading the Congressional investigations in Ohio, needs your help now. He is asking for one million emails from the American public demanding that the House Judiciary Committee hold full hearings on the 2004 Election.
Full hearings are essential, because that will give the Committee subpoena powers — until now, Blackwell and others have been able to simply ignore Rep. Conyers' demands for information — because the GOP Committee Chairman has refused to convene a full hearing. YOU can change that. Send your message now! Tell a friend to write an email, too.
So, I am going along, trying to behave. Trying to be a serious-type self-important writer. Sure, I write some snark in my blog items, but I try to stay away from abject personal humiliation or slants toward sleaze, no matter how fun, or completely appropriate when writing about politics, it might be.
And then God drops the Bernard Kerik "Tales of the Tawdry" smack on your keyboard. What are you supposed to do?
Fortunately, I came across a very well-written and very funny essay on Kerik by Peter Carlson, of The Washington Post. I can print it here for our enjoyment, while still being able to deny any interest in this sordidness. Plausible deniability for writers. Gee, I feel more like a Washington Insider already...uh oh. Shower time.
Here's the article, with gratitude to Peter Carlson of WaPo:
We have another story in the every expanding list of media propraganda--made specifially to garner support for Bush's war policies--and of course truth doesn't matter.
The media does not like to put a face on the war, unless it serves their purpose. There was Jessica Lynch who was rescued. "What a wonderful human interest story," they clearly thought! And then there was Pat Tilman--the up and rising football star who gave up the big money to "defend" our Country--a handsome young man who represented the face of our brave, generous soldiers. What more could they ask for?
"Nobody is above the law." Teddy Roosevelt said. He could have been reprimanding Kenneth Blackwell. And Kenneth Blackwell would certainly deserve it for his actions on Friday, December 10, 2004 when he decided to play footloose and fancy free with the law and lock down the Ohio recount. Anybody who doesn't understand why we need transparancy in elections need look no further than the actions of Mr. Blackwell. As Ray Beckerman reports on his Ohio Election Fraud blog:
Conyers Weighs In.
Each of these visionaries had something in common. They each understood the importance of the press. Great minds think alike!
“Our liberty depends on freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
-Thomas Jefferson
“Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.”
-Walter Cronkite
"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," says Moyers. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American People." -Bill Moyers (http://apnews.myway.com//article/20041209/D86SBTC80.html)
Since November 4, many of us have felt that we have entered a new Dark Ages. But let's keep this in mind: The Dark Ages was followed by the Age of Enlightenment, which led to the destruction of the powerful kingships and theocracies of the time and led to the modern nation state.
There are other reminders of the light around us, like this year's winner of the The Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai. Here is a small sample of her Nobel lecture that touches on the power of grassroots movements to change the world:
It has been more than a month now since the election, and many of us are still grieving the results -- the loss of our hopes and dreams for a better nation and world, the loss of a sense of purpose we all felt by being involved, the loss of a community of friends we connected to. This can be summed up in the equation Change = Loss = Grief.
In thinking about this, I'm reminded of the 5 Stages of Grief -- originally called the 5 Stages of Receiving Catastrophic News (and that certainly applies to Nov. 2). They are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
Many of the bloggers here at the Democracy Cell Project came together at the Kerry-Edwards Blog. One of the tasks the bloggers took on was to let lurkers and newbies know who John Kerry really was; his solid record and his warm qualities; his investigative background and his parenting skills, his patriotism and his bravery in Viet Nam and in front of the Senate in 1971. In order to respond effectively to the queries and to provide that level of response, the bloggers read voraciously, asked questions of Dick Bell, and acted as a rapid response team--often more quickly than anyone thought possible!
John and Teresa met bloggers everywhere they went. And Teresa, Vanessa Kerry, and Chris Heinz all posted to the Blog from the campaign trail. John often mentioned the bloggers' work, and, in his remarks at the staff farewell party he specifically mentioned bloggers as one of the groups who made a difference.
Today is John Kerry's 61st birthday. We know the bloggers would like to have the opportunity to tell him "Happy Birthday", and to send him their good wishes for the future. We also think he would get a kick out of knowing some of the fun responses the bloggers had to come up with on the K-E Blog. What are your fondest memories of a "Blog moment"?
Write them here, along with your birthday messages, and we will get them to Senator Kerry.
While the Bush Administration is gearing up for a $40 million inaugration that Caligula could be proud of, The Washington Times reports that veterans from the Iraq War are already beginning to show up at homeless shelters:
"When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. "I have talked to enough (shelters) to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that."
To recap, the Bush inaugural committee's communications director Steve Schmidt explains that, although they will be raising a record-breaking amount of money for this event, "There have been 55 inaugurations and very few have taken place during wartime, and this inaugural will reflect that," said Steve Schmidt, "You will see a strong emphasis on the military and veterans."
Shorter Version Bush Inaugural Committee To Iraqi War Homeless Vets: "Let them eat red, white and blue inauguration cake."
I’m talking about the kind of self-adoration that makes Madonna look like she has low self-esteem.
Sadly, I read a number of websites and blogs. For reasons that I cannot fully explain, I am drawn to reading the vile gagflow of Ann Coulter, and the growing number of pompous proclamations from ‘the conservative viewpoint.’ Interestingly, none of these patriotic Americans are discussing the concept of actual governance now that their guys have won the race. Nope. Not into it. These folks are fully occupied dancing to their own spin. It’s like the country has turned into a gigantic shower, and we’re all listening to that super upbeat group, the Neocon Singers....
In this morning's edition of the NYT, Elizabeth Bumiller, not usually a friend to the progressive political movement, was momentarily stunned out of her normally hacktacular writing by the openly craven behavior of the Bush Inaugural Committee, quoted from here in part (my emphasis added):
Tickets to all official inaugural events, including an "elegant" candlelight dinner with a special appearance by President Bush: $100,000.
Tickets to all official inaugural events, two additional tickets to an "exclusive" lunch with Mr. Bush and Vice President Cheney, plus an all-access pass to any inaugural ball: $250,000.
Telling your friends, "As I explained to the president just the other day... .": priceless.
Mr. Bush's inaugural committee, seeking to raise more than $40 million, a record, sent out hundreds of solicitations to the president's biggest campaign contributors this week offering packages of party benefits and access to the president in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary (1996. rev. 1998) defines the word, bribe, as follows:
bribe, n : the practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage [syn: graft]
Here's the quiz--How is what the Bush inauguration Committee doing different than taking a bribe? Please discuss and show all work on your paper.
What kinds of opportunities are there for integrating the ideas of your democracy cell into community events? Pamela Leavey of Light up the Darkness sent us this story about how her local peace group took their message to the streets in the Chamber of Commerce's annual Christmas parade.
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Saturday night in Studio City, California, Neighbors For Peace & Justice, my local Dem Cell group, participated in the annual Christmas Parade. Our group is very well known in the area, because we have held Friday night peace vigils, every Friday night for over 2 years. Granted we may well be in the liberal bastion of Hollywood, here, but peace activists are not a common site in a Holiday parade. Given that, I thought it would be helpful to share a bit of the process here, in hopes that others will take the inspiration to their own communities.
Most of the presenters at Monday's Common Cause conference on the 2004 election were "the usual subjects," liberal and progressive organizations that have long labored at making elections fairer.
But there was one surprise, a group that stood out, with a speaker whose smooth delivery and friendly demeanor masked a deadly challenge to the work that every other group in the room does.
This group was Redeem the Vote, and the speaker was its founder, Dr. Randy Brinson. Brinson described the mission of Redeem the Vote as a simple one: making sure that people of all faiths participate in elections. And who could object to such a simple, straight-forward mission?
If you wanted to know just about everything that went wrong in the 2004 election, Room G50 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building was the place to be today from 8:30 to well after 5:00 pm. Common Cause, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Century Foundation combined forces to present "Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America's Election Process," an all-day, 29 presenters in 7 panels, critique of the election, as well as a raft of solutions to the problems voters encountered through the 2004 election year. Several hundred people turned out to more than fill the room.
It's been a very rich and full day so far, but there's no wireless in the Dirkson Building! By far the liveliest and juiciest panel was the one on voting machines.
The crowd clearly believes that there was malicious coding. It was a very informative session, and we learned that California and Nevada had really thought about the potential problems. Clearly, Florida, did not.
All of the panelists are deeply concerned with the pre-election voter supression, with only one glaring exception. The sole exception was representative Bob Ney, (R-OH), who it would seem, is living on some other planet than you or I.
We will have more details of the specific information and the proposals that are starting to come out of the sessions, but we want to ask everyone to please watch these hearings on C-SPAN.
The statements and reports that we have been hearing today, have given us the most thorough and comprehensive view of what happened during the 2004 elections.
Our democracy cells have a lot of work to do over the next two years if we are to hold our elected representatives accountable.
We must change the rules.
Tuesday, your Democracy Cell crew will be at the Dirksen Building of the U.S Senate for an all-day event on voting reform. We hope to blog from the meeting room, but if we can't we will let you know what is happening at break times.
Meanwhile over at the Common Cause site, they just announced that CSPAN will be covering the event.
http://www.commonblog.com/section/Elections
Over 600 people have registered for this event, which means that your crew will be going over there very early!
Also from that blog:
(A memo from blogger Suz Krueger)
Why am I here at the Democracy Cell Project?
I hear my insides churning as I consider the question. This election was the impetus to look beyond the safety of my own backyard and to set on a journey to learn.
Here is a great story that Blogger Denise O from Charlotte posted as a comment. Her compelling story of democracy in action reminds us of how attainable power is for a grassroots group:
In my cell, we are forging a new, close relationship with elected officials. We are exploring new pathways for funding their campaigns and will be guiding the message development, delivery and implementation in the process. Instead of hitting up our base every four years, we are putting a structure in place to have ongoing relationships with our Dem voters, to whom we must be responsive and accountable. We will communicate with them often and effectively. Every Dem will know who their precinct captain is. Every Dem will know who in the Democratic Cell to go to for help with an issue or complaint; and they will be responded to each and every time. We are building a fighting machine that is strong and successfully conveys that strength throughout the community. We are conducting force field analyses of our opponents.
Hello to our Blog Family,
The Democracy Cell Project came out of discussions that some of the moderators of Kerry-Edwards Blog had about the next steps in online organizing for political change. Over the course of the last few months of the campaign, we got very excited about the potential benefits of generating and constructing new directions for grassroots efforts. With the results of the election, we all began to put our heads together further, and with additional input from many of you, we came up with the DCP.
The Blog is only the beginning of what promises to be an ever-evolving effort to study, teach, and construct democracy--with a small "d". Over the course of the next few weeks, we plan to add many features, including more links, interviews, tool kits, and online workshops, in order to encourage the idea of a democracy of participation, not passive observation.
Some of the "Mod Squad" are gathering this weekend at a beautiful house in upstate New York to discuss the next steps for the website and the DCP. We want your input. Tell us what you are willing to do, and what you need from us.
And thank you all, for all you have contributed already.
There are times when what I read makes me so angry, I don't even know where to begin. This is one of those occasions.
In today's LA Times, Max Boot writes of our glorious victory in Fallujah, comparing it Wellington's victory at Waterloo. Self-aggrandizing and delusional? Yes. Infuriating and disgusting? No, not just yet. That part comes here, in this section of the story:
"As significant as what happened is what didn't happen. The second battle of Fallouja did not turn into a public relations debacle, as did the attack in April. The Marines cleverly began this campaign by occupying the main hospital in Fallouja, which, in the spring, had been the source of inflated claims about civilian casualties."
Inflated according to whom? He goes on--
"The only major PR snafu came when a journalist taped a Marine shooting a wounded insurgent."
Oh, right. I forgot. That's what was wrong with the marine shooting an unarmed and injured man. It was bad PR.
Nice moral values.
Casey Morris wrote yesterday about the refusal of CBS to run a television ad for the United Church of Christ because it's "too controversial," an ad for a church that seeks -- like Jesus -- to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation. Now, NBC has joined CBS in refusing the ad, which was supposed to begin airing yesterday, Dec. 1st. The ad is being denied network access because it implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples, among other minority constituencies, and is, therefore, too "controversial."
Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) thinks that he knows best when it comes to managing Social Security. I find it hard to believe that he knows anything about managing money, given the fact that his political fund can't cover their sizable bank loan, according to today's WaPo.
It seems that a few investments have gone awry, resulting in some $460,000 in total losses since 2000. How bad do you have to be with money in order to be a Republican who can't raise $500,000?
But they sure think they know what to do with your money.
Let us not forget these were the same people who thought Enron was a great investment for consumers. And we all remember what they thought of Grandma Millie.
It all started with a phone call one afternoon almost two weeks ago. I called Representative John Sweeney's office to see how he voted on the DeLay rule (allowing DeLay to stay in power even if he is indicted). After being given the run around for the next five days, I discovered that Sweeney was indeed a DeLay man.
Then I passed my findings on to Josh Marshall, who published and quoted my experience in his web column, Talking Points Memo.
Then I called political reporter Elizabeth Benjamin of the Albany Times Union. Two days later this story, critical of Sweeney's treatment of constituents and futher exposing his deep support of Tom DeLay, appeared in the Albany Times Union.
And in today's Albany Times Union, Editor Rex Smith has written a blistering thirteen paragraph editorial about the the Sweeney-Delay Connection, saying in part:
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is launching a major ad campaign across the United States beginning today, featuring a television commercial which has as its main theme a message of inclusion. Unfortunately, CBS has no such policy of inclusion when it comes to including a Constitutional idea in your advertising.
It seems that CBS has decided that freedom of religion is now a political advocacy position.
The ad for UCC, which can be viewed here, shows a lovely church setting and two burly "security" men guarding the Sunday morning services, deciding who can be admitted to the church and who cannot. The scene is then interrupted with written text appearing on the screen and the message, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." A voice-over follows with the United Church of Christ's message of welcome, "No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."
In the UCC's press release, CBS offers the following explanation on this subject, quoted in part here,
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