An Insider's Perspective on Fair Voting

'the Will of the People"--what IS it?

Are we so easily annoyed and entitled that we are unwilling to put up with some discomfort in order to bring about a change in our way of doing the business of the country?

Are we therefore getting the government we deserve?

Or are we manipulated victims of a disingenuous and Machiavellian group of powermongers?

As I listened to the speakers at the Arts Advocacy Days, I wondered once again: Which is it? Do they MEAN to disenfranchise artists? Or are we only a problem if we get in their way?

The right to vote, the resources for healthy growth, the stewardship of the soul of the nation and the planet, the care of children, the ill, and the elderly--all of these are ebbing away.

And what WILL we do? What is our WILL?

In this state, Republicans want to make sure no one is voting who shouldn't be (actually, they are freaked out by how successful our GOTV was) & Democrats also want to make sure each vote is counted.

I don't think anyone should have to stand in line 10 hours to vote in America. We have four years to prepare for each election. I vote absentee but have never waited more than 20 minutes to vote in my life when I went to the polls, whether in rural South Dakota or urban Seattle.

We would have scrapped the electoral system in the 50s if not for Republican filibuster. Every election, the fact that East Coast results are announced before the election is over makes some people on the West Coast not bother to vote.

Each state gets 2 electors for each Senator. I think it should be proportional completely if we're going to do it. Wyoming has too much power & we end up with anomalies like Cheney as VP.

Whe Republicans show interest in redistricting or in voter reform even though they already control all three branches of government, you have to ask why.

We should have had no problems with our election after what happened in 2000. That should have been a wakeup call. Instead, look what happened.
The Republicans had multiple ways to make sure they "won" - contingency plans. Hackable system, DOMA panic calls to fundies, fake terror alerts & tapes at the last minute, & having the public pay for what should have been campaign-financed.

Bush also completely ignored all campaign finance reform law from day one, forcing the Democrats to do the same. An obscene amount of money then had to be raised. Now you essentially have to buy your way in (& if that doesn't work, cheat). it's a farce.

Carter said we didn't meet any of 5 criteria for fair election that he's established after supervising elections in 55 countries. He said that before the election - wonder what he thinks now?!

We should have a national day off from work for the election. We should have citizens work, selected like they are by jury duty. We can use paper ballots & they can count them. It's done in Germany and Canada and runs smoothly, without these problems.

The only answer anyone has given me so far, including Bev Harris, is that it won't work here because we have too many people on the ballots.

Well change that! Vote for just President and Vice President & or just them & also the Senate & House people who are up that year. Have separate elections for all the little state, county, city stuff - if other countries do it, there is no reason we need this unwieldly system that doesn't work.

I'm sick of hearing perfectly good ideas trashed & complicated, corrupt systems left in place or worse yet, added. It really does make the whole thing not only meaningless but actually quite dangerous.

The only thing that makes me feel worse than working and voting for Kerry and Bush ends up still in there is going to work each day and knowing that a portion of my tax money goes to kill human beings.

Karen

I don't think they care about the arts. So many times govt officials have covered up nude statues, gotten upset about art they don't understand, made snide comments about what a waste of money the National Endowment for the Arts is.

NIH & NSF funding will be affected by the religious beliefs of the government - even now, there are certain things that can't be mentioned in grants for HIV research. Talk to a stem cell researcher or an environmentalist. There are faith-based grants in at least 11 departments!

Any new programs the State Department has - if they include a faith-based piece in their application/funding, we may as well say taxpayers are now subsidizing fundamentalism and its spread.

Watch Bush's tour of his literal western art collection in the White House. He actually likes it.

They obviously don't know what the arts are.
Notice how hard it was to get actors, musicians, artists etc. to even support them & which dorky ones they ended up with.

By the way, on Wednesday March 30, Moby will be signing his work at Barnes & Noble here. He was a very early Kerry supporter.

Suz,

I apreciate your provocative post. Stirring things up performs a service.

With so much to respond to, I'll take just one:

"People in Iraq waited for hours, knowing that they could be killed while waiting in line, but they were determined to vote. This is what is missing in the United States."

In this country, people TRIED to wait for hours. But because of their jobs, or family responsibilities, or other reasons, they HAD to leave without voting.

Why should people HAVE to wait for hours to exercise their right to vote? We know that most people have jobs that do not allow them HOURS of waiting in line to vote.

If people of the United States did not have to face hours they could not give to waiting in line to vote, Johon Kerry might be our President today.

1- Why don't you vote on Saturdays or Sundays as in other countries.?
These are days off for the majotrity.
Some will oppose Sunday is God's day, but you have plenty of time to go to church on early morning. It doesn't prvent many believers abroad to do it that way.

2 - Why don't you have enough voting places?
That might solve the problem as well. With schools empty, you would have looots of schoolrooms providing space and cutting down lines. No need to wait for hours anymore.

It works, so why is it so hard to have the government putting up something so simple?

Karen,

Do they mean to disenfranchise artists? I don't know, but artists seem to be targets, and we've never been able to understand why.

I want you to know, though, that I thought of you when when I saw a rare showing on cable of my favorite musical -- West Side Story. Later, I caught another classic when they ran Fiddler on the Roof.

A reminder, perhaps, that no matter how bad they can make it, we aspire.

Posted by: Andrée - France at March 16, 2005 09:48 AM

Andrée,

Again, you make eminent sense. Making voting simple and easy should be the objective. Unless there are partisan reasons to prevent that. Oops--we gotpartisan reasons all over the place . . .

As Emily Latella says, "Nevermind."

Bob,

The days of overt attacks on the NEA and NEH are over, mostly because the NEA and NEH played nice and pulled all grants to individual artists.

Now the money goes to mid-large size arts organizations, usually for projects that will travel and create increased access. All very worthy, but we no longer fund much in the way of new or innovative work.

In fact, overall, I would say that, while this administration seems to appreciate culture in theory (defined as: no longer trying to KILL culture), when it comes to new and innovative ideas and approaches, experimental works, fostering creative arts education in the classrooms, real advances in global community-building through cultural exchange--we won't be seeing much of that anytime soon.

LIVE on CSPAN 2
Sen. John Kerry
now speaking on the Senate floor
debating an amendment to the FY 2006 Budget Resolution to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(Cantwell-Kerry Amendment)

Several amendments introduced yesterday & today before the Senate, are currently ongoing further debate today (including ANWR drilling, Veterans benefits, restoring AMTRACK funding) and restoring funding to NIH & Pell grants educational budgets (co-sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter R-PA & Sen. Tom Harkin D-Iowa) will be put to vote, beginning approx. 1 PM EST.today.

Karen,

That, of course, is our loss. At least, for now. But those kinds of restraints tend to challenge art, and even repression provides stimulus to artists. In the end, it is the art that endures.

Perhaps things are not so hopeless as they may appear . . .

New York election reform efforts are the same as elsewhere. How much we can push back the momentum, lobbyist success, and assumption at making e-voting a done deal. E-voting is a fight over safeguards for a system that can never be safe. With trails just audits, and not always mandated or indicative of fraud, or actual votes, we need paper ballots and our electeds to work for that option.

Paper trails have been in the jargon for a while, without understanding how little they reveal of fraud, error, and how small a percentage are ever screened for potential trigger for a recount. The merely are receipts of possible fraud or error, and the voter has left the poll without being able to confirm the vote.

Paper ballots, which we are pushing for in NY, can be counted at the poll with a precinct-based optical scanner and kept for easy, discernible recount. Important they are scanned at the polls, and not hacked through any centralized computer as last election. If scanners become inoperable, tallies can be retrieved and switched with another far less expensive machine than a computer.

The same companies sell both technologies, but make more money off the machines, with service contracts and maintenance. Codes in the last election were unknown to anyone outside of the company. E-voting machines, DREs, are privatized. They also technical help, more poll workers than available at the poll site.

We are making headway in New York, with paper ballots getting endorsed by The New York Times, Daily News, and The League of Women Voters. The Assembly is becoming informed, but we are still uphill with the Senate.

As usual, I’m at work and unable to be as clear, thereby accurate, as I would like. I'll try to pop back in later.

Hope DiAnne chimes in, also.

OTV4, please give us updates on Kerry and the rest of C-Span. Frustrating, but illuminating, yesterday.

If I get funny symbols, I've never figured out the notepad feature from MS Word.

Pushing the pawns on the world chess game. How far will the WH go?

After nominating Bolton to UN, here comes Paul Wolfowitz. Bush wants to appoint him as head of World Bank.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4354839.stm

The World Bank is supposed to help finance programs in the 3rd world! What will happen with such a hawk in command? What does he know about helping poor nations? His dudes are just making Americans poorer.
We are really walking on our heads...

Okay, never use apostrophe from MS Word.

On.to vic,

Thanks again for the heads-up on the C-Span debate. Thanks to you, I caught the end of Kerry.

Following the rest now, Kerry back on.

Andrée, do you get our c-span coverage? I'm curious, since you seem to get so much news before we do.

A little Irish humor on this fine day to ease our worries.
"I've Lost Me Luggage"

An Irishman arrived at J.F.K. Airport and wandered around the terminal with tears streaming down his cheeks. An airline employee asked him if he was already homesick.

"No," replied the Irishman "I've lost all me luggage!"

"How'd that happen?"

"The cork fell out!" said the Irishman.

**************************************************

"Water to Wine"

An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut.

The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?"

"Just water," says the priest.

The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"

The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"

***********************************************

"The Brothel"

Two Irishmen were sitting at a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street.

They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad."

Then they saw a rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation as well."

Then they see a catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be dying.

*************************************

Irish Cemetery

Three Irishmen, Paddy, Sean and Seamus, were stumbling home from the pub late one night and found themselves on the road which led past the old graveyard..

"Come have a look over here," says Paddy, "It's Michael O'Grady's grave, God bless his soul. He lived to the ripe old age of 87."

"That's nothing," says Sean, "here's one named Patrick O'Toole, it says here that he was 95 when he died."!

Just then, Seamus yells out, "Good God, here's a fella that got to be 145!"

"What was his name?" asks Paddy.

Seamus stumbles around a bit, awkwardly lights a match to see what else is written on the stone marker, and exclaims,

"Miles, from Dublin."

*************************************************
Irish Predicament

Drunk Ole Mulvihill (From the Northern Irish Clan) staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional box, sits down, but says nothing.

The Priest coughs a few times to get his attention but Ole Mulvihill just sits there.

Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall.

The drunk mumbles, "ain't no use knockin, there's no paper on this side either."

**************************************************
Irish Last Request

Mary Clancy goes up to Father O'Grady's after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears.

He says, "So what's bothering you, Mary my dear?"

She says, "Oh, Father, I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night."

The priest says, "Oh, Mary, that's terrible. Tell me, did he have any last requests?"

She says, "That he did, Father..."

The priest says, "What did he ask, Mary?"

She says, "He said, 'Please Mary, put down that damn gun!'

*************************************************

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Posted by: Bob Evans at March 16, 2005 04:25 AM
From the previous topic..

Bob,
I hesitated posting the article because I didn't want to offend anybody. As we discussed earlier, you were verbally abused several time after serving honorable and heroically. I was even cursed and I was a drunk.

What this article shows is the rewrite of history going on about the conduct of our troops, the suffering they went through then and now, and the crap the new vets are going through. The sad part is both sides are lining up to exploit them!

Debate on Cantwell-Kerry Amendment on C-Span Now
16 March 2005

Tune into C-Cpan2 now. The debate continues on drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

More in the news on the fight to save the Arctic Refuge: Democrats furiously fight move into ANWR

Just announced vote to be held at 1:00 pm, est.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=557

BB,

We know, in our experience, the truth of what some want to call "myth". For me, it's not a major issue -- though it's certinly a highly emotional one when others raise it.

More Important issues are ANWR, funding of Iaq and Afghanistan, and U.S. treatment of prisoners -- all on C-span now. Trying to follow all can drive you nuts.

I hope DeLay gets hammered (pun intended)

Corruption and Unethical Behavior Grows in House

March 16, 2005

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay disingenuously claimed yesterday, "I have yet to be found breaking any House rules." This fast and loose interpretation of ethical standards defies common sense about what Americans expect of their leaders. In the past year, DeLay has been rebuked three times for ethics violations and has abused his position of authority to limit House investigations of his actions.

How many "rules" does DeLay have to break before he is held accountable for his actions? On September 30, 2004, he was admonished by the House Ethics Committee for trying to bribe a colleague into supporting the Medicare bill. On October 6, 2004 he was rebuked for using the Federal Aviation Administration to track down Texas legislators during a state partisan squabble. He was also rebuked for appearing to solicit campaign contributions from corporations interested in an energy bill. And new charges have surfaced that lobbyists picked up the tab for expensive vacations DeLay took to Britain and.

Conservatives claim to stand for personal responsibility, so why are so many of them supporting unethical behavior? As DeLay's troubles have mounted, his right-wing allies have moved to prohibit investigations of his actions and stack the Ethics Committee with cronies. DeLay personally paralyzed the Ethics Committee after his third rebuke for ethics violations last year. He pushed through new rules to hamstring the committee and had the three Republican committee members who ruled against him kicked off. (Two of the replacements contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund.) Why won't more of DeLay's colleagues stand up for ethics and responsible behavior?

DeLay's ethical wall of shame is starting to crack. Although appeals to ethical standards go unheeded, self-interest appears to be making inroads. An unnamed "senior House Republican" told House Speaker Denny Hastert, "The perception is that we're not in control of the ethics process, that DeLay can do what he wants…It's giving the party a bad name."

Sorry to be off topic but I am consumed with the Anwar debate. After the Senate has debated it and turned it down repeatedly over the last 10 years I find it more than ironic that on the day it will be decided, that oil prices have spiked to an all time historic high of $56/barrel. Its more than a coincidence and I suspect manipulated to push the deciding Senate votes over the top to approve drilling.
Sounds like Enron traders and Grandma Millie.

I find it more annoying that they once again, Ira, to a GOP Senator, mention national security as justification for ANWR. As if beginning a war, or not dealing with Saudi hate schools, or alternative energies, might be better solutions than a short-term gain.

Breaking the rules, and weakening the resolve of environmentalists, health concerns over drilling in CA, LA and FL, are paramount.

President Bush today said his efforts to inform the American people about future problems with Social Security are having an impact. Bush said, "I believe we're making progress of convincing the American people of two things: one, nothing will change for seniors ... and we must work together to make sure the system works for younger Americans."

Translation: They are NOT making any progress in convincing the American people of anything he just said... which is why he is announcing it.

Counting Sheep keeps me up at night.

Ira... very astute.

I made a similar comment last week when record gas prices stories were starting to float...saying things like gas will go up by 25cents a gallon in next 2 months.

I believe it's a pretty clear use of the media to sway public favor in advance of a mega-vote like ANWR.

I am seeing waaaay too much reporting these days on things that should absolutely positively not be public knowledge, like our weakest security locations for example.

Played like a fiddle.

"Andrée, do you get our c-span coverage? I'm curious, since you seem to get so much news before we do."

Bob,

As an event planner I work from home and I always have the radio on, so I just have to listen to get the news.

News, sound ones, on all topics, with good ecperts for deeper analyses... you know something that existed in your country before Chimp!

Posted by: Marc Trager at March 16, 2005 12:07 PM

I know I love when he states opposit of what's happening and then the News picks it up as fact, after reporting for days that he is pushing people farther and farther away from wanting this. Amazing. I sould not be amazed though, we should all be used to it. This is a White House who thinks propaganda is good for our democracy.

Sorry, experts

Wolfowitz tapped for World Bank

Deputy defense secretary, one of the main advocates of Iraqi war, will need European confirmation.
March 16, 2005: 11:07 AM EST

http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/16/news/international/world_bank/index.htm?cnn=yes

Another example of how out of touch Bush is with reality!

Hi April,

We posted the same stuff. What made me react is that I know how bad the Europeans feel about it.
My youngest daughter's boyfriend's uncle (everybody following?) is one of the 5 vice presidents of World Bank . He is mad at it!

It seems like the poor state of our national security should be assaulted. After all, the Repubs are the party of defense and it is now public knowledge that they are inept about this subject - as they are about all subjects.
So going after Repubs who have no excuses as they are the party in power everywhere makes sense to me.
We can even thank them for helping the terrorists attack us.

Posted by: Andrée - France at March 16, 2005 12:27 PM

What made me react is Wolfowitz is a scarey little man who has always had his own agenda, and him in any position of power is a terrifying thought, now to mention what you said are any other countries really going to trust him? I do not think so.

Second strange appointing in the last 2 days, Hughes being the one yesterday, I seriously do wander if Bush has lost his mind. His party better get some control of him fast!

A further examination of why the Dems can't seem to hurt the Repubs.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/16/democrats_asleep_at_the_wheel/

[snip]
There's a larger story here. Time after time, Bush administration policies do real economic harm to ordinary people, yet the Democrats can't seem to turn that reality into winning politics. Why not? Other recent examples include:
...
Read to discover the five reasons!

April

This is what I called the strange WH chess game.
From here it looks totally surrealistic. As you said, he he doing just the opposite of what he said.

Liar he was, liar he is, liar he will always be, for the worse unfortunately...

The question I am having is why Wolfowitz? There are a lot of Repub nut-cases who at least know something about international finance. Putting someone so clueless in a position of great importance is disgraceful. Couple this with the appointment of Bolton to UN ambassador. Is it really so necessary for Bush to give a middle finger salute to the rest of the world? How far up the fence post to they need to pee after all? I don’t see the gain since Bush needs world help to extricate us from Iraq and help with Iran and North Korea.

April, this WH never really cares what the world thinks, just because their power is created by our media, and maintained by our citizens, still kept purposely in a fog over their slogan-love of the Democracy and how to get there.

Keeping his loyal few in controllable positions, with never a disloyal word, benefits the American perception of Bushco.

They think the economy and ability to work together will mysteriously pass through a favorable cycle because we are so rich and powerful, or so they think.

I just called Mary Landrieu's office at 202-224-5824 and faxed to 202-224-9735. Her secy. Linda was noncommittal which way she is leaning and only told me they were keeping a tally of calls but wouldn't tell me the tally. That doesn't sound good to me but I strongly urge everone here to call her office immediately since the vote on Anwar may hing on her and will probably be this afternoon.

Battlebob,

Why Wolfowitz? "Because he is a good hearted man".

This is what Bush said and that I just read in Le Monde.
I can't post the link, it doesn't open abroad, but it's written. Trust me.

Senator Dewine also needs to be contacted.
Washington, D.C. Office
140 Russell Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2315
Fax: (202) 224-6519
TDD: (202) 224-9921

So que pasa with the Senate? At work without access to our chat room, C-span, or anything that will give me feed or commentary.

Ayudame, por favor

~~recap this morning's debate on Senate floor on ANWR drilling: (I watched it on CSPAN 2)

[please recognize that my note taking is woefully inadequate]

The pro-drilling speakers: Senators Judd Gregg R-N.H.; George Allen R-VA; Daniel Inouye D-Hawaii; John Thune R-SDak.; Trent Lott R-Mississippi; Ted Stevens R-Alaska; Thomas Craig R-Idaho; Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska; Pete Domenici R-New Mex) all basically extolling their opinions that drilling at ANWR would increase jobs, would not damage the wilderness and that it would insure increased US oil supply and lower gasoline prices at the pump.

Sen. Inouye D-Hawaii, said that although his office had received many calls & letters to ask him to reconsider his position, he was still going to go ahead and vote against the Cantwell amendment and for drilling ANWR "because the people of Alaska want it".

Speaking on behalf of Cantwell Amendment (not to allow drilling at ANWR):

Sen Cantwell D-WA:
"any oil recovered there would be sold on open world market and there is no guarantee this oil would remain in US to benefit US consumers"

Sen John Kerry D-Mass:
"wilderness refuge and industrial [drilling]zone cannot co-exist"
"This is an abuse of power, it is an abuse of common sense" regarding attaching ANWR drilling to the Budget Resolution, when it should be openly debated during discussion on Energy bills.

Sen Cantwell & Sen Kerry's views were seconded forcefully by Sens. Kent Conrad D-NDak (ranking member on Budget Resolution), Barbara Boxer D-Calif; Ron Wyden D-Oregon; Russ Feingold D-Wisc.; and Joe Lieberman D-Conn.(who spoke quite eloquently about his long-standing belief that this "small piece of Eden" should be guarded and preserved.

From my layman's observation, it seems the Republicans (and Sen. Inouye) believe that drilling ANWR will insure more jobs, more oil supply for US, "so we do not have to be so dependent on OPEC", will bring lower gas prices at the pumps, and will not harm the small wildlife area at all.

The Senators supporting Sens. Cantwell & Kerry, (to preserve ANWR), do so because this is a pristine area, set aside by Pres. Eisenhower, as a wildlife refuge, and should be preserved for future generations, not plundered for the small amount of oil it may produce, 10 years from now. We should be debating new renewable sources of energy and inventing our way out of our dependence on oil. If we allow this drilling at ANWR, this opens the door for drilling on any federally preserved land anywhere else in the country. And the attachment of drilling at ANWR to the Budget Resolution is an "abuse of process" [Sen. Conrad], that does not belong in the Budget Resolution but should be openly discussed and debated as part of Energy policy.

Senate is now discussing other amendments regarding Veterans care, Amtrack funding, National Institute of Health funding and funding for Pell Grants for vo-tech schools (all of which Bush's budget has either cut back or eliminated.)

Votes on these amendents (including ANWR) scheduled to begin at 1:10 PM EST.

I just spoke with Mary in Senator Inouye's Washington office and apparently no one is calling his office to complain about his support for drilling.

Washington DC Address
722 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1102
Phone: 202-224-3934
TTYD Number: 202-224-1233

Please call Mary and express your outrage. She seemed uncomfortable with the conversation.

The pro-drilling speakers: Senators Judd Gregg R-N.H.; George Allen R-VA; Daniel Inouye D-Hawaii; John Thune R-SDak.; Trent Lott R-Mississippi; Ted Stevens R-Alaska; Thomas Craig R-Idaho; Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska; Pete Domenici R-New Mex)

Correction:: that was supposed to be
Sen. Larry Craig R- Idaho (not Thomas)

Posted by: Andrée - France at March 16, 2005 12:57 PM

Always hun.

Theirs are specious business arguments which don't hold up. Appealing here to fear and challenging OPEC and Saudi rule, which they don't do at any other time.

Are we really losing the business view, which is stronger, plus incorporating environment and smarter energy?

On the ANWR amendment vote, as with everything else, it appears to me that the Republicans will always vote in unison, pro-big business interests.
So this is not really about drilling for oil at the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for them. Its about opening the door, letting big business into other federally protected land all over America. [my opinion]

When in the world are Democrats going to get that message hat they too need to vote in unison, on to victory? Especially now when their numbers have dwindled. We always get a renegade Senator like Inouye, Landrieu, or Nelson that crosses the line and hands a victory to the Republicans.
I am especially angered by Inouye. Yes gas prices are high in Hawaii but off all places on this planet you would think that someone from Hawaii would have the highest respect for the environment. I urge everyone here to call Mary and tell her her collectively of our outrage with Senator Inouye.

I sickens me to think that it will end up being a Democratic Senator that decides the future of Anwar. It sickens me!

What kinds of oil interests are we talking about with Hawaii? Has to be.

The rethugs attached ANWR to the budget bill. Why would any self-respecting Dem vote for that immoral piece of crap of a budget in the first place regardless of ANWR? I am disgusted by the fact that we have to keep beating these people up to try to get them to do the right thing.

I'd probably be one of the last to go populist campaign, because I'm moderate with a nod to all interests. I don't like pitting people or simplifying issues using emotion. Businesses employ people and make the engine go, with all the rest of the factors in place. Like people.

However, to what degree can't our legislators use moderation with big business, occasionally saying they go over the line?

Do campaign dollars and constituent interests in oil drilling mean giving every vote? They are elected to stay beyond a couple other cycles, enough to say no, like today, with even the business case on our side.

We all know that the world will soon run out of oil. The high prices are due to last, because of the combination of a restricted production and a growing demand from China and India.
Venezuela and Iran tend to blurr the visibility, as producers, for the coming years as well.

Drilling Alaska won't improve anything but just create more pollution. If money was to be put in something it's in new energies for the benefit of environment. Whatever is the angle you analyse the situation, it always come down to the same conclusion. We all have to change our habits.
I don't know what most Americans would think of the Paris Town Hall decision to stop any traffic in 6 central precincts : it will be public transportation or walking. Period...
I've been living that way for years, it won't change a thing for me
Uh they are talking of the Alaska drilling on my 8 pm news, explaining you consume more and more... Now we have the protests in Washington and the debate in the Senate...
I'll keep walking!

ira & others,
I share your frustration. Sen. Landrieu disappoints once again. She is a Louisiana DINO, as John Breaux was also. (Here in LA. they call themselves "conservative moderate Dems). Breaux was replaced by Vitter (R). Mary is aware that her seat will not be threatened by a fellow DEM trying to unseat her. She has to safeguard her re-election from a future Republican challenger (possibly Bobby Jindal, LA's newly elected Congressman, who replaced Vitter in the House, when Vitter won Breaux's former Senate seat). She votes pro-military and pro-big business. Her Democrat constituents seem to sometimes be an after thought. Don't count on Landrieu to always vote as a Democrat. She has disappointed us many times. But if the alternative for LA. is Vitter or Jindal, we have to keep Mary. We just need to continue to press her to remember she is a Democrat!

Sen. Landrieu was on Ed Schultz show last Friday. Said that her constituentcy was pro oil but that she did not approve of the budget itself so maybe she votes against Cantwell amendment to remove ANWR from the budget bill but then votes against the budget itself? Clinging to last little bit of hope!!

Posted by: Ira at March 16, 2005 01:44 PM

and

Posted by: on.to.victory4Dems at March 16, 2005 02:25 PM

I called Sen. Landrieu's office repeatedly up to the vote and got a busy signal. Then the secretary answered and informed me Sen. Landrieu had just voted against the Cantwell amendment, and hung up without waiting for my comment. Maybe more attention needs to be paid to up and coming democratic candidates. Does being "the only game in town" give these senators carte blanche to vote regardless of their constituents?

Posted by: on.to.victory4Dems at March 16, 2005 02:25 PM

Thank you, that explanation helps.