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Frist Things First
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, you have a ton of power to decide what legislation moves where, and when and if it ever breathes its first breath of life, let alone lives to see even a committee vote.
As the Senate Majority Leader, you don't have quite the same range or immediacy of power on legislation that the Speaker does on the House side, but you have some, which is usually enough.
And those two facts are what make this story particularly disgusting.
It seems that Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, has decided to use his power to move the National Rifle Association's pro-gun manufacturer's bill, S.397, to the head of the line. What is even more egregious, is that he had to stop the debate and work on the National Defense Bill to do it.
From the AP, (Via The Huffington Post)
Senate Republicans on Tuesday moved the National Rifle Association's top priority ahead of a $491 billion defense bill, setting up a vote on legislation to shield firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits over gun crimes.
[...]
With strong support from the White House, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., used a technical maneuver to halt debate on the defense bill and move to the contentious gun legislation sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.
"The president believes that the manufacturer of a legal product should not be held liable for the criminal misuse of that product by others," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We look at it from a standpoint of stopping lawsuit abuse."
So does this mean that the President thinks that gun liability and stopping lawsuit abuse is more important than our national defence? Because that is certainly what these actions suggest. And if the President disagrees with Doctor Frist's prorities of shielding gun owners over defending our nation, what is he doing to contact Senator Frist and get things back on the right track?
Priorities people, priorities.
And speaking of priorities, I imagine the Democrats are going to have quite I time temping down the outrage over this, which is what they will need to do in order to deflect this fairly obvious attempt at legislation baiting in order to move Rove-Cheney-Libby-Plamegate off the front pages any way they can.
Time will tell. In the meantime, if this irritates you, feel free to create a minifirestorm of political action in your local paper and at Senator Frist's Office of Less Than Patriotic Majority Leader Activities. Contact information for both can be found here.
and from Think Progress:
How Congress Spends Your Money
This week, Congress is expected to pass an $80 billion energy bill. The bill is filled with billions in pork for the energy industry.
continue~
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/27/congress-money/
and here~
DeLay Still Up To Dirty Tricks
Tom DeLay thinks the federal treasury is his personal piggy bank. DeLay slipped “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas” into the energy bill.
But this isn’t a normal case of government pork. DeLay has completely dispensed with the democratic process.
continue~
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/27/delay-dirty-tricks/
Why not frame it the way it's meant to be framed, Casey? Frist did this to stop McCain's torture amendment from reaching the floor, which the Dems would have jumped on. The WH promised a veto, didn't they? Was Frist more afraid of McCain and a bi-partisan vote or the WH?
FEARUL FRISTY
HE STUCK IN IN AFTER THE CONFERENCE WAS CLOSED???
The provision was inserted into the energy legislation after the conference was closed, so members of the conference committee had no opportunity to consider or reject this measure.
The $1.5 billion won’t be administered by the government but a private consortium in DeLay’s district:
The subtitle appears to steer the administration of 75% of the $1.5 billion fund to a private consortium located in the district of Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Ordinarily, a large fund like this would be administered directly by the government.
Do we deduce from Frist's First priority (NRA = PAC $$$$$) that he doesn't really think the military people are all that important in the vast scheme of things???
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Airwaves Off-Limits to New Propaganda Tsar
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0727-07.htm
:-) I wonder how Karen Hughes will get around this?!? I wonder if Gonzilla will "re-define" existing laws to work around prohibitions for Hughes to use the air waves.....
David Rossie | Court Nominee Lets Rove Hide in Back Pages
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-27.htm
People for the American Way: Bush Uses Smoke and Mirrors to Obscure Roberts Record
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0727-02.htm
Ted Rall | Say Sayonara to Abortion
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-28.htm
NOW | Abortion Rights Under Attack in America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705P.shtml
NOW examines Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline's policies which have made Kansas ground-zero for the reproductive rights debate in America.
David Sirota | The Democrats 2008 Choice: Sell Out & Lose, Or Stand Up & Win
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0727-32.htm
William Rivers Pitt | Vacation's All I Ever Wanted
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705A.shtml
Imagine you're the CEO of a company. The last several major decisions you've made have gotten a large number of your employees killed. The company you're working with overseas is taking a beating in its infrastructure. The customers you tried to entice with your product are arriving in morgues by the busload.
Cartoonist Trudeau Defends 'Turd Blossom' Reference
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705M.shtml
"I felt that [President] Bush's nickname for Rove was illuminating. 'Turd blossom' has so many connotations, none of them flattering. It's a small masterpiece of nastiness."
why would DeLay need to do this? B/C he is in the deep stuff in Sugarland and on the verge of losing his seat in Congress. Desperate people do desperate things. Its time to Clean up the Corruption in Washington.
DeLay Still Up To Dirty Tricks
Tom DeLay thinks the federal treasury is his personal piggy bank. DeLay slipped “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas” into the energy bill.
Sounds like Bolton has lied to Congress in his confirmation Hearings. Shouldn't we be asking that if this is true he should be held in contempt of Congress?
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Democratic opponent of John Bolton asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday whether the nominee for U.N. ambassador had testified to a grand jury about the leak of CIA operative's identity.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee say they want to determine whether Bolton was truthful when he wrote on a questionnaire for his confirmation hearing that he has not been interviewed in any recent investigations.
In a letter to Rice, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., referenced an MSNBC report from July 21 that Bolton was among State Department undersecretaries who "gave testimony" about a classified memo that has become an important piece of evidence in the leak investigation.
Biden asked Rice to tell the committee "whether Mr. Bolton did, in fact, appear before the grand jury, or whether he has been interviewed or otherwise asked to provide information by the special prosecutor or his staff in connection with this matter."
The words of the judge who today sentenced the would be terrorist Assam to 22 years:
The message I would hope to convey in today's sentencing is twofold:
First, that we have the resolve in this country to deal with the subject of terrorism and people who engage in it should be prepared to sacrifice a major portion of their life in confinement.
Secondly, though, I would like to convey the message that our system works. We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution.
I would suggest that the message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart. We can deal with the threats to our national security without denying the accused fundamental constitutional protections.
Despite the fact that Mr. Ressam is not an American citizen and despite the fact that he entered this country intent upon killing American citizens, he received an effective, vigorous defense, and the opportunity to have his guilt or innocence determined by a jury of 12 ordinary citizens.
Most importantly, all of this occurred in the sunlight of a public trial. There were no secret proceedings, no indefinite detention, no denial of counsel. {emphasis switzer's}
The tragedy of September 11th shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism.
Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. This is a Constitution for which men and women have died and continue to die and which has made us a model among nations. If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.
It is my sworn duty, and as long as there is breath in my body I'll perform it, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We will be in recess.
Correction - the person sentenced today is named Ahmed Ressam.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/07/27_enlist.html
Interesting article about the culture war by
Patricia Goldsmith
snip
"Clinton advised gay people to come out: "Just keep telling your stories." He changed the environment in which we live, by responding emotionally and symbolically. When Matthew Shepard was murdered, for example, Bill Clinton treated it as if it were an important event. He mourned. This was the first time in my memory that a hate crime against a homosexual received respectful national attention.
"What Clinton did was so powerful that the right, always alert to the emotional impact of symbols, has latched onto Matthew Shepard for its own purposes. In a little-noted but extremely frightening gesture, George Bush made October 12 National Defense of Marriage Day. It just so happens that October 12 is the date of Matthew Shepard's death. This is one of those coded messages George Bush is always sending to his base - and what an unintentionally apt description that is in this case. "
Ill buy this for a dollar..
The Peoples Amendments
Acrticle X Section A
1) All members of Congress shall disclose all lobbyist donors, or ongoing lobbiest negotiation every time they are compelled to speak from the floor of the House or Senate. Failure to appear on the floor, or to disclose non taxpayer financial sources once there, will result in a loss of all congressional privelages, up too, and including your salary.Failure to disclose publicly will also render you INELIGBLE to seek re-election.
2) From this date the Electoral College is to be disbanded and a 1 citizen 1 vote will therefore be implemented. Failure to protect EACH VOTE with a varified paper trail will immediately prompt a federally regulated and mandatory investigation starting with the local police and District Attorneys office. The penalty for subversion or corruption of this system will result in charges of TREASON. The penalty for TREASON, is hanging.
3)Print, television, Internet and radio media, shall hither too, be held responsible for any factual errors, imflamatory opinion, or deliberate slandering of citizens for political purposes. Any reporter recieving TAX PAYER moneies of ANY country, MUST DISCLOSE their FINANCIAL TAX MONIES in ANY article printed or broadcast within the borders of the United States Of America. Reporters who knowingly plant false facts and deliberately decieve their public in all affairs large and small, will leave themselves open to criminal penalties that can range from a simple negligence misdomeanor, up to TREASON and its penalty of hanging, depending on the scale and impact of the falsehood.
(3A) Any reporter who exposes government corruption that will directly conflict with their personal liberty shall be given a broad immunity and federal whistleblower status. Any threat to these reporters will be met with FEDERAL FELONY charges. Any information they have recieved that will directly affect the safety of the American People is to be given directly to local, state and federal prosecutors.
4) Anytime the United States Military is engaged in combat operations anywhere on the globe, a twice yearly meeting of ALL state govenors ahall be convened to review the articles of War and any LEGAL issues that apply to all soldiers, regardless of rank.This council of governors will be responsible to release the minutes of such meetings to the public, and will present an overall summary in a time not to exceed two weeks, after the close of such session. The location of these meeting shall be decided by a blind lottery and will be carried out in the capital city of the choosen state.
"George Bush made October 12 National Defense of Marriage Day. It just so happens that October 12 is the date of Matthew Shepard's death." Amy
Truely sick, I did not know that, that is disgusting. Thats just unbelievably foul.
For the Night Owls...
Tonight on PBS: Charlie Rose
Guests include:
Former National Security Advisers
BRENT SCOWCROFT & SAMUEL BERGER
TOM VILSACK
Governor of Iowa
AND
A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE
STATE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WITH:
MARK HALPERIN
Political Director, ABC News
DAN BALZ
The Washington Post
Condoleezza Rice at the Center of the Plame Scandal:
She alone among senior officials was knowing and complicitous at every successive stage of the great half-baked yellow cake fraud.
http://www.counterpunch.com/morris07272005.html
{{{ TIMELINE!!! The full cast of characters is there, events listed in chronological order, long read, but well worth it (IMHO)....}}}
Halliburton announces 284 percent increase in war profits: -
Halliburton announced on Friday that its KBR division, responsible for carrying out Pentagon contracts, experienced a 284 percent increase in operating profits during the second quarter of this year.
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/earnings072205.html
{{{ Don't forget to also check out the home page, scroll down and check out the bribery clock... and check out that location...! I was unaware of this web site and have now marked it in my PoliSci file; fascinating!}}}
The GOP is Certain to Win in 2006 — Unless...:
Here’s the very bad news: the Democrats will almost certainly lose in 2006 and again in 2008.
http://www.crisispapers.org/essays-p/certainwin.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If everyone else also got the letter from Conyers, you also know that Eliot Abrams, pardoned for his previous criminal activities in the Reagan years, is now working for the Bu$h administration and is implicated in outing Plame.... I do so admire Conyers for staying on top of that mess.... I'd gladly vote for him if he ever runs for president. Conyers' track record since the voter fraud of 2004, then the Downing Street Memos, now the rest of the mess in WA.... Kudos to Conyers!
Good night all....
"George Bush made October 12 National Defense of Marriage Day. It just so happens that October 12 is the date of Matthew Shepard's death." Amy
Amy,
Was that intentional, you think? Maybe something else happened that day.
And if it was intentional, I am sorry, but I know many wonderful 'fundamentalists' who would cringe at the brutal murder of someone--even if they're gay. I personally think that could be used against any neoCON or Republican who supports it. (Though maybe there are anti-gay Democrats too; I don't know.)
Arianna makes the case that Judy Miller is in jail because Judy Miller is the original leaker:
Judy Miller: Do We Want To Know Everything or Don't We?
Not everyone in the Times building is on the same page when it comes to Judy Miller. The official story the paper is sticking to is that Miller is a heroic martyr, sacrificing her freedom in the name of journalistic integrity.
But a very different scenario is being floated in the halls. Here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/arianna-huffington/judy-miller-do-we-want-_4791.html
This one is for our beloved ALLY----
A little boy runs into his house and says, 'Daddy daddy guess what? Billy from the projects just rode up on his bicycle and guess what he told me?'
'What would that be son?'
Billy says his dad was in the GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM and he got shot real bad and now he has an artificial leg. Isn't that neat? Daddy, what did you do in the GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM?
And the father answered, "Well son, I was part of a very different effort, right here in America. I was a part of the AMERICAN SENATORS STRUGGLE AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS OBTAINING LIBERTY & EQUALITY"
So the boy goes outside and walks up to Billy, his face a bit down. Billy says, "what did your dad say. What did he do in the GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM?"
And poor lad, he looked up at Billy and said, "my father didn't do anything for the GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM. He was too busy being an assahole."
Nancy Pelosi is doing Dems proud.
I have the CAFTA vote on Amy. Are you watching C-SPAN, too?
oh--about my joke--I didn't put a Senator's name in there, so please feel free to think it's about any senator of your choosing......
I'm watching, Tutt.
I have to say, from my perspective having lived in Canada for decades... sorry, Indy! - that NAFTA was much better for Canada than it's been for the US.
Looks like it's passed.
Why not frame it the way it's meant to be framed, Casey? Frist did this to stop McCain's torture amendment from reaching the floor, which the Dems would have jumped on. The WH promised a veto, didn't they? Was Frist more afraid of McCain and a bi-partisan vote or the WH?
--------------
You make a good and valid point. It's also correct. I hadn't remembered about that part even after having seen a very small bit of the CSPAN coverage. That would have been a betterplace to start. I was shocked by the lack of media coverage of the fact that they went form DEFENSE being our priority, to gun liability, because they knew they could win a vote to end cloture on the Defense bill.
I am going to bed now and wonder all night about the self confessed "shock at the media"... what a sap I am! Once again, I see Lucy with the football, I do see her, and I know she's just going to pull it out from under Charlie Brown, but you know, you want to believe so much that eventually, the right thing is going to happen.
Keeping the Faith,
Casey
Sparrow, can't find anything else that happened Oct. 12. And since both items are homophobia gone mad....
Casey started new thread before trilly-padding off to bed..........
Amy,
That may be true; however, I still think 1/2 or more of those "Fundies" have no idea what that date means; they only know the "sentiment".
So maybe it's up to us to inform them and see if they feel any shame about accepting murder--which is clearly against Biblical teachings--or accepting the idea that they may not like gays but the Bible teaches love and not hate!
Perhaps I'm naive, but I think they would curl up in shame and actually feel disgust for their own party.
Posted by: tutterfly at July 27, 2005 10:46 PM
Thanks for that one, tut! I loved it!
Too bad I had a severe headache from LA's worst traffic jam of the year... (took me 90 minutes to drive 10 miles from work to home) and had to lie down to recover.