Jack in the House

Great website, Dick! I love all of the negative attention that my congressman, Tom DeLay is finally getting. Let's hope he doesn't peak too soon and that he keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole all the way through to 2006. I'd hate for the repubs to clean up their House before we have a chance to have fun with him a year or so from now.

Is there ANY end to the corruption in this administration?

We have GOT to remember to be the media and write those op-eds and go door to door.

(Also, don't forget about your local city and state governments, because this is the stairstep to the power.)

Happy Tax Day! With Love Always, Ben Dover

The Fix Is In
President Bush has set up a panel to entertain new ideas for reforming our federal tax system. But if history is any guide, the conclusions are already set. A sneak preview.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7433769/site/newsweek/

-snip-

But reform no longer means "making things better"—if it ever did. In these days of spin and packaging, reform means "doing what I want to do." A case in point: the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform that George W. Bush created in January. You'd like to believe that this commission, which is currently holding hearings and plans to file a report by July, will propose making the tax system much less unfair than the mess we've currently got. But look out.

If you decode Bush's order creating the commission—it's on the commission's Web site, taxreformpanel.gov—you can pretty much guess what the commission will propose. It's not going to create a tax return that you can fill out without software or a master's degree in taxation. Rather, it seems all but certain to propose things that will lend Bush's existing agenda the imprimatur of the word reform.

Hey all missed me. Immmmmm back, now I know I am not allowed to say anthing bad so i will shut my mouth and think it. He want our bloody net now
We ignore internet at our peril, Murdoch warns editors

Murdoch speech: full text

Chris Tryhorn, City correspondent
Thursday April 14, 2005

Rupert Murdoch has admitted he "didn't do as much as [he] should have" to confront the digital challenges faced by his newspaper business, which owns the Sun, Times and News of the World in the UK as well as titles in the US and Australia.

Describing himself as a "digital immigrant" in contrast to his young daughters, who would be "digital natives", he said the internet was "an emerging medium that is not my native language".

In a speech to American editors in Washington, Mr Murdoch issued a stark warning to the industry, arguing that the web was "a fast-developing reality we should grasp".

He said consumers wanted "control over the media, instead of being controlled by it", pointing to the proliferation of website diaries known as "blogs" and message boards.

And newspaper editors simply cannot afford to ignore this, he said, or to look down on readers or ignore what they actually wanted.

'Editors too often ask "do we have the story?" rather than "does anyone want it?"'

"I believe too many of us editors and reporters are out of touch with our readers. Too often, the question we ask is 'Do we have the story?' rather than 'Does anyone want the story?'"

"As an industry, most of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent," Mr Murdoch said.

"Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp away.

"Well it hasn't... it won't... and it's a fast-developing reality we should grasp as a huge opportunity to improve our journalism and expand our reach."

Mr Murdoch was one of the early pioneers in the internet in the mid-1990s but rowed back in the late 1990s when the dotcom industry overheated with billions of pounds squandered on ambitious but ultimately doomed dreams.

Now, however, the Sun is, along with the Guardian and the BBC, one of the top 10 news websites in the UK but the online operations of the Times and Telegraph, which have not received the same investment, are not ranked in the top tier.

Mr Murdoch, who recently held a summit with his newspaper bosses about forging a new internet strategy, said the industry had "sat by and watched" as circulations had fallen over the past 40 years, complacent because of its historic monopoly on the news business.

A rise in population had masked a relative decline in the TV age, he said, while in the 1990s profitability had held up in spite of circulations falling, further lulling the industry into a false sense of security.

"But those days are gone," he warned. "The trends are against us...so unless we awaken to these changes, which are quite different to those of five or six years ago, we will, as an industry, be relegated to the status of also-rans."

Mr Murdoch's comments came as his News Corp empire, which has interests in TV, film and newspapers, mulls how to best to approach the internet and new media.

Since the dotcom bubble burst, News Corp has concentrated its online efforts around its newspapers in the UK and Australia and its film and television holdings in the US.

Mr Murdoch, who turned 74 last month, admitted it was hard for "digital immigrants" like him to get to grips with the challenge of the internet.

"The peculiar challenge then, is for us digital immigrants - many of whom are in positions to determine how news is assembled and disseminated - to apply a digital mindset to a set of challenges that we unfortunately have limited to no first-hand experience dealing with.

"We need to realise that the next generation of people accessing news and information, whether from newspapers or any other source, have a different set of expectations about the kind of news they will get, including when and how they will get it, where they will get it from, and who they will get it from."

He said consumers between the ages of 18-34 were increasingly using the web as their medium of choice for news and neglected more traditional media.

Young people's attitudes towards newspapers were "especially alarming", he said. "Only 9% describe us as trustworthy, a scant 8% find us useful, and only 4% of respondents think we're entertaining."

He described the shift in attitudes as "a revolution in the way young people are accessing news".

"They don't want to rely on the morning paper for their up-to-date information. They don't want to rely on a God-like figure from above to tell them what's important. And to carry the religion analogy a bit further, they certainly don't want news presented as gospel."

A****** ther I didnt say it, we gonna give it to him

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1459697,00.html

My personal fave on the Abramoff website above: Michael Scanlon:

From the website:

"Michael Scanlon was formerly a spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and is Jack Abramoff's longtime business partner. Working together, Scanlon and Abramoff bilked six different Indian tribes out of $82 million from for various lobbying efforts, including the 2002 closing and then attempted re-opening of the Tigua Indian Tribe's casino."

Turns out they successfully played tribes off each other, including getting money from one tribe to stop the other one, and then from the second tribe to stop the first tribe.

Just the kind of public servant the Bush Administration rewards with higher office! What a guy!

OT, but heads up... Frist is going to play the faith card...again. Funny, I thought the truly faithful showed it by their kind actions for all of humanity, not violence towards people.

Here's another great way to spend some of the 5 minutes a day on democracy on the weekend...talking with others of faith as we participate in our respective religious gatherings.

Frist Set to Use Religious Stage on Judicial Issue
April 15, 2005
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WASHINGTON, April 14 - As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as "against people of faith" for blocking President Bush's nominees.

Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other. The flier does not name participants, but under the heading "the filibuster against people of faith," it reads: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."

Organizers say they hope to reach more than a million people by distributing the telecast to churches around the country, over the Internet and over Christian television and radio networks and stations.
--snip--
Some of the nation's most influential evangelical Protestants are participating in the teleconference in Louisville, including Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and Dr. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
--snip--
"As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and organizer of the telecast, wrote in a message on the group's Web site. "For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."

Democrats accused Dr. Frist of exploiting religious faith for political ends by joining the telecast. "No party has a monopoly on faith, and for Senator Frist to participate in this kind of telecast just throws more oil on the partisan flames," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.
--snip--
Democrats, for their part, are already stepping up their efforts to link Dr. Frist and the rule change with conservatives statements about unaccountable judges hostile to faith.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/politics/15judges.html?th&emc=th

Frist is a dirtbag... pass it on.

What's slicker than oil???

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers advanced an energy bill in the House late Wednesday that would provide billions of dollars in tax breaks to industry, open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and aid farmers by expanding the use of ethanol in gasoline.

In three committees, Democrats repeatedly were rebuffed in attempts to significantly alter the GOP-crafted legislation, which probably will move to a vote by the full House next week.

The Energy and Commerce Committee cleared its energy provisions by a 39-15 vote late Wednesday. Two other committees completed work on other parts of the bill earlier in the day.

The bill includes a slimmed down $8 billion tax package, mostly tax breaks for energy industry. Held down by budget constraints, it's about a third the size of the tax breaks approved two years ago in legislation that later died in the Senate.

Democrats failed in trying to strip away from the bill two of its most controversial measures: drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and giving makers of the gasoline additive MTBE a shield from lawsuits stemming from MTBE contamination of drinking water.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-California, argued that MTBE makers knew the additive, used to reduce air pollution, would contaminate drinking water and now should not be absolved from cleanup costs. Her attempt to remove a liability waiver from the bill, failed 31-20 in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Republicans also turned back Capps' attempt to scuttle a provision that would give MTBE makers $1.75 billion for transition costs as MTBE is phased out in 2014.

The legislation would increase the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive, a major boost for farmers. It will require at least 5 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be used annually, about a third more than current production.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, called it "nothing more than a welfare program" for farmers, but his amendment was defeated by voice vote.

Democrats also failed to remove a provision that would, for the first time, allow oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Their effort was rebuffed 30-13 in the House Resources Committee.

"This is about making the country safer," said Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, because it will increase domestic production and ease reliance on imports.

The government estimates about 10.4 billion barrels of oil beneath the refuge's coastal plain. Environmentalists complain oil drilling will harm caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.

The refuge drilling issue is all but certain to be rejected in the Senate, where opponents have vowed to block it by filibuster. Refuge drilling proponents in the Senate, instead, are hoping to get the measure passed as part of the budget process where the filibuster cannot be used.

The tax provisions, many of which would help energy companies, included more favorable tax treatment to spur expansion and modernization of the electric grid and construction of natural gas pipelines to meet growing demand for electricity and gas.

Democrats complained that the tax package, which advanced out of the Ways and Means Committee, provides little to promote renewable energy sources and reduce energy use while funneling tax benefits to energy companies that already are making huge profits from high energy prices.

"There is no provision ... that will lower the price of gasoline, only protect the profits of the oil industry," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington. "What do the American people get? Nothing but a raw deal."

Of the $8 billion in tax incentive, less than $500 million would go to promote renewable energy sources or foster efficiency and conservation programs.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-California, the Ways and Means Committee chairman, said he expects programs to be added during negotiations with the Senate.

A proposal, offered by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, that would require the Transportation Department to boost fleet-wide auto fuel economy requirements beginning with 2015 model year cars was defeated.

Markey said cars are less fuel efficient than they were eight years ago. "We are now moving backwards," he said.

The legislation also would:

Require the Energy Department to stop oil from being added to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if oil prices dip below $40 a barrel.

Give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission clear final authority to approve liquefied natural gas import terminals, even over state or local objections.

Provide a 20 percent tax credit up to $2,000 for homeowners who put in more energy efficient windows, doors and insulation.

Ease environmental reviews for alternative energy projects such as hydropower dams, offshore wind farms and waste incinerators used for making energy.

Allow the Environmental Protection Agency to extend compliance deadlines for cities to meet federal smog standards if they show most of the pollution comes from outside the region.

Bush questions border I.D. rules

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Plans requiring passports from people entering the United States don't pass muster with President Bush, who has ordered a review of this border security effort amid fears it would impede legal travel from Canada, Mexico and other U.S. neighbors.

The president said Thursday he was surprised by the proposed rules announced last week by the State and Homeland Security departments.

"When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly today's crossings that take place, about a million for instance in the state of Texas, I said, 'What's going on here?"' Bush said when asked about the rules at a meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Read more... http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/15/bush.passports.ap/index.html

Wait a tick, I thought El Presidunce didn't read the newspapers... ahhh, but he WAS speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, so he HAD to say he reads the papers, at least for a day. FUrthermore, WHY is he finding out critical info that is being announced by the State and Homeland Security departments by allegedly reading the papers, anyway?

Kinda reminds me of an August 2001 PDB I read once.

Madame,

I was already to post that article too. I think his hypocrisy speaks for itself. Don't you? Our next cell meeting is this Monday and I will make sure that this problem is discussed. I want local clergy to take the bold step and speak out against this type of prejudice.

I heard about Bush on the way home - his opinion has to do with his plantation mentality & guest worker ideas. He's afraid passport at the border would impinge on his cheap labor NAFTA/CAFTA type ideas. It's no coincidence he has someone like Negroponte in government (ignored torture in Honduras) and Rice supporting Bolton. They can take the plantation mentality global - sweat shops & slave labor & Bangalore call centers.

Someone on Kerry 2008 Yahoo group pointed out that Time omitted John Kerry (& Teresa Heinz Kerry, for that matter) for 100 most Influential people. No matter that millions supported him.
Time magazine is toilet paper. Someone sent me US News & World Report & it goes into the trash unread. I used to use these for debate - now they're tools of the state.

I had two strange dreams - my pet monkey had diahrea and I didn't know what to do, & then a large fat man was trying to get into the tub with me. I figured out the monkey is W and the fat man is the government.

"'cause there's a fat man, in the bathtub, with the blues"

From Fatman in the Bathtub, by Little Feat

DiAnne did you see that Ann Coulter was named as one of the 100 most influential people;i.e. dirtbags. We should write to Time and tell them what garbage their publication has become.

Remember to note here that John McCain was investigating this issue, but publicly told his GOP buddies in Congress he would not pursue leads into their related corruption.

Follow this web of deceit.

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/map_conservative_ties_raw_story_415.htm

From the NYT:

"We offer no judgment on Mr. DeLay's actions in the obtaining of funds and favors from lobbyists and foreign agencies, other than to note that they are the subject of continuing disclosure and discussion well outside the Beltway and in the heart of areas of strong respect for traditional Republican values of honesty and accountability," they said. "We write not as a Revolt of the Elders but in the sincere hope that you will act to restore public confidence in the People's House."

"We felt grave concern," the letter added, "when the Republican leadership changed the ethics rules several weeks ago to require a bipartisan majority vote to even investigate a charge of ethical misconduct. We saw it as an obvious action to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay."

A copy of the letter, which called on House leaders "to reinstate the old rules," was provided to The New York Times by the Public Campaign Action Fund, a private group that monitors campaign fund-raising and has long been critical of Mr. DeLay.

Notice: "Republican values of honesty and integrity...that is what is missing from the party nowadays. Instead it is the "win at all cost" Party; unfortunately, the cost we pay is the loss of our democracy, our rights, and our own health and safety.

Ira

GROSS! Anne Coulter probably IS one of the 100 most influential people in this country, unfortunately. Ugly stepchild of Phyllis Schafly of Eagle Forum. Dimwit who thinks Canada fought in the Vietnam war. Heaven help us!

Time magazine isn't worth the paper it's printed on anymore. If I write to them I will remember to use all "thee" and "thou" as pronouns, since they have taken this American Taleban twist lately.

Pretty clever Dick Bell...Jack in the box.

While our Politicians busy themselves instilling the fear of Religious persecution into hearts and minds of god fearing Americans, China signed a massive Multi Billion dollar Oil deal with Canada on April 15th.

Canada has oil reserves that may exceed Saudi Arabia's. Republicans are so blinded by ideology they involved the United States in a war that cannot be won (in Iraq) instead of securing energy for this Nations industries.

On the other Hand China see's the potential in Canada, and signs trade deals with our more civilized neighbors to the north.
This will come back to haunt Our inept conservative Politicians.