How to Assure Fair Elections

OT, but of interest: More of the culture of corruption, incompetence and cronyism as reported by the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau. In essence, it outlines how John Bolton's war on the State Department has been continued by his acolytes without much oversight from Rice.

Posted on Tue, Feb. 07, 2006

State Department sees exodus of weapons experts

By Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - State Department officials appointed by President Bush have sidelined key career weapons experts and replaced them with less experienced political operatives who share the White House and Pentagon's distrust of international negotiations and treaties.

The reorganization of the department's arms control and international security bureaus was intended to help it better deal with 21st-century threats. Instead, it's thrown the agency into turmoil and produced an exodus of experts with decades of experience in nuclear arms, chemical weapons and related matters, according to 11 current and former officials and documents obtained by Knight Ridder.

The reorganization was conducted largely in secret by a panel of four political appointees. A career expert was allowed to join the group only after most decisions had been made. Its work was overseen by Frederick Fleitz, a CIA officer who was detailed to the State Department as senior adviser to former Undersecretary of State John Bolton, a critic of arms agreements and international organizations.

[...]
The political appointees who crafted the shakeup sought and received assurances from the State Department's legal and human resources offices that what they were doing was legal.

But other officials charge that it violated long-standing management and personnel practices.
"The process has been gravely flawed from the outset, and smacks plainly of a political vendetta against career Foreign Service and Civil Service (personnel) by political appointees," a group of employees told Undersecretary of State for Management Henrietta Fore on Dec. 9, according to notes prepared for the meeting.

A dozen State Department employees delivered a rare written dissent to Fore and W. Robert Pearson, the director general of the Foreign Service, on Oct. 11. Some also sought, but failed to get, a stay from the Justice Department to stop the plan.
[...]
Jonathan Granoff, the director of the Global Security Institute, an arms control advocacy group, said the loss of State Department arms-control expertise was especially worrisome because the only mechanism for verifying U.S. and Russian nuclear arms cuts - the 1991 START I treaty - is due to expire in less than three years.

That also will eliminate the most effective way of verifying that the former rivals are abiding by their Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments to eliminate their nuclear arsenals eventually, he said. "Rather than nurture our experts, the administration seems to have brought in neophytes without a passion for progress in this field and, worse, undermined the international institutions that are most effective in stopping proliferation," he said.
[...]
An inquiry by Knight Ridder has found evidence that the reorganization was highly politicized and devastated morale:

-Thomas Lehrman, a political appointee who heads the new office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism, advertised outside the State Department to fill jobs in his office. In an e-mail to universities and research centers, a copy of which was obtained by Knight Ridder, he listed loyalty to Bush and Rice's priorities as a qualification.

Lehrman reportedly recalled the e-mail after it was pointed out that such loyalty tests are improper.
[...]
-Specialists in the department's old Nonproliferation Bureau, which frequently battled Bolton on policy toward Iraq, Iran and North Korea, largely were frozen out of important jobs when offices in that bureau merged with those in another.
[...]
The post, which oversees U.S. diplomacy regarding international efforts to contain suspected nuclear-weapons programs such as those in Iran and North Korea, went to a more junior officer who numerous officials said shared Bolton's views.

Five higher-ranking officers were passed over, the document says, adding that none had negative work histories "aside from intimations that they were not as `trusted' politically by the political management level."

In August 2005, the officer chosen for the job sent an e-mail sarcastically titled: "A Nobel for the IAEA? Please." The agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October.
[...]
-The effort was at odds with the recommendations of four December 2004 reports by the department's inspector general, also obtained by Knight Ridder.

read the complete article here...
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/13814730.htm

And they're doing the same thing at the CIA per the Washington Post...

Top Counterterrorism Officer Removed Amid Turmoil at CIA

By Barton Gellman and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 7, 2006; Page A06

The CIA's top counterterrorism officer was relieved of his position yesterday after months of turmoil atop the agency's clandestine service, according to three knowledgeable officials.
[...]
The CIA's Counterterrorism Center, like the agency itself, has been shoved from its preeminent position in a turbulent reorganization of the intelligence community.
[...]
Grenier's departure comes at a time when the agency is bleeding top talent, robbing the CIA of institutional memory and damaging morale among case officers and analysts. Since Porter J. Goss became director in September 2004, well over a dozen senior officials -- several of whom were promoted under Goss -- have resigned, have retired early or have requested reassignment. Grenier was the third person to be head of counterterrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Like Grenier, most of those leaving the agency had spent their career in the clandestine service and had years of experience in the Middle East and, more specifically, with al Qaeda. Charlie Siddel, the station chief in Amman, Jordan, took early retirement late last year when he was recalled to headquarters. In the fall, the head of the European division, whose undercover role included overseeing the hunt for al Qaeda on the continent, also left.

Last month, John Russack, the program manager for information-sharing in the office of the director of national intelligence, was forced out after less than a year on the job. Russack, who had run the Energy Department's intelligence shop before moving to the DNI's office, apparently left after personality clashes with other top officials.

read the complete article here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020700016.html

It never ends... From the Ohio Free Times, DHS has dictated that only US citizens can visit the NASA visitor's center at the NASA Glenn Research Center.

City Chatter: The Terrorists of Tiny Town: Homeland security keeping our country safe from kindergarteners (hey, they could be Al Qaeda...)

by Michael Gill

The kindergarten class at Lakewood’s Taft Elementary was planning a field trip to NASA Glenn Research Center. It’s a popular trip because it’s free, because the NASA staff already has age-appropriate tours that fit well with school curriculum, and, well, it’s outer space, for pete’s sake. They’ve got rocket ships.
[...]
But school principal Margaret Seibel says this year’s trip for Taft kindergarteners — we’re talking 6-year-olds here — had to be canceled due to homeland security concerns.

Since new security regulations went into effect in May 1, 2005, access to the Visitor Center is restricted to United State citizens. All others might be terrorists.

No tourists from France, no exchange students from Tokyo and, no foreign national kindergarteners on field trips.

“I was told they would not make any exceptions,” Seibel says.

Because two kids in the kindergarten class are not U.S. citizens, the teacher had to cancel the trip.

“It was just a policy that came down from the Homeland Security Department,” said Chief Community and Media Relations Officer Linda Dukes-Campbell. “We are a federal reservation, and we have to work within those ramifications.”

Dukes-Campbell says, though, that the agency is “looking at a policy revision” that might allow kindergarteners onto the federal reservation for field trips. She says they’re “hoping to have language” in order in a couple of weeks.

read the entire article here...
http://tinyurl.com/cbggg

Chuck in Doha for All:

Well, I think this is a great thread topic and four-square smack-dab in the middle of the original intent (as I understood it) of the DCP, which had to do with somehow moving the entire concept of how citizens participate in government (e.g., electoral processes and the relationship between information media and the political process) toward better informed and more effectively represented electors.

I think when I get back to Houston I'll look up my local election board and, just as a pretext, walk in and ask about employment opportunities. In that context, I would hope I might learn something about how that process actually works. (As an aside to Anne -- $100K for a job like that? You've got to be kidding -- these are state jobs right? And I mean "state" as in "the-fifty-states".) Heck, I'll take my soon-to-be-7 daughter with me too on a follow-up (assuming the office is designed for the public, unlike all other State of Texas branch offices which I've had to deal with which remind me a bit of bureaucracy in Kazakhstan....)

Great thread topic. That's grass-roots organization! That's what the other side has been doing for thirty years at all levels, seems to me!

Chuck in Doha

National Journal columnist Stuart Taylor Jr. writes about the current National Journal cover story about Guantanamo by Corine Hegland.

Here's the link to Stuart's column, titled Falsehoods About Guantanamo, which is a good summary...
http://nationaljournal.com/taylor.htm#

Here's the link to Corine Hegland's story, Guantanamo's Grip, which is lengthier

http://nationaljournal.com/njcover.htm#

FYI: Both items look as if they are currently available free but will disappear behind a subscriber-only wall when the next "new" cover story and column appear.

Chuck,

I can't wait to hear what you find out when you get back to Houston. And you're right... this hits squarely in the center of what educated, empowered, activated people can do to take ownership of their government.

Let us know what you find out.

Posted by: chuck at February 8, 2006 12:00 PM

Chuck, elections supervisors in Florida make upwards of $115K/year base salary.

In some of the other locations I researched, salaries were similar although responsibilities/quals might be much greater (i.e. for a "county clerk", who often has to have a law degree).

Veritas:

Yeah, but in Florida you might have to guarantee results as a pre-condition for getting that kind of a feather-bed job! OK, not in so many words maybe, plausible deniability and all, but, as they used to say in the Soviet Union, that kind of work is typically reserved for "a reliable guy." (In Russian, that's "nadezhnyi paren'," as in "prosto nado naiti nadezhnego parnia".) That's actually the norm around the world, from my experience.

But anyhow, Anne, you are on! Look for some feedback from me in about a month or two. Don't anybody let me off the hook on this one! Great job, DCP! Consider that you all have just provided someone (me) with an idea of just the unobtrusive sort of direct invovlement that they were looking for.

To be honest, personality-wise, I am not comfortable in public displays (although my car still has its Kerry bumpersticker and I used to play in a rock band -- but as a bass-player). I've been looking for a low-key way of engaging that fits my skills and interests and personality. That's just the sort of internal-audit thing that comes natural to an old "Columbo" fan like me.

Thanks All!

Chuck in Doha

dwahzon:

Check your e-mail.

Hey Fe, this is fellow Contracts person Chuck in Doha and this is way-off-topic (in a sense) but I've always wanted to post this when you were around because way back you posted something to the effect that "we have to be the heroes," in the DCP-sense that individual people have to take ownership of this situation, which immediately got the David Bowie song (below) going in my head, so here 'its! (Note to file -- Otter picked up on that back then -- must be a bass-player thing -- and Veritas, if you are old enough, you have to think of this song in the Billy Rancher and the Unreal Gods context -- that's a Portland thing.)

"Heroes" - The Song
Words by David Bowie. Music by David Bowie and Brian Eno.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be Heroes, just for one day

And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that

Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes

We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day

Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day

Chuck in Doha

Posted by: chuck at February 8, 2006 01:52 PM

Chuck, good point!

That is one of my most favorite songs of all time!

On the topic of elections:

One other suggestion is to do some research into election laws in your state and make sure some antiquated law can't be pulled out of the hat to supress the vote.

Truth:

I thought you said you were a "sqaure!" You can't be hip to classic David Bowie and be a "square." Not in this universe. Something has to give....

Chuck in Doha

PS: Purplize the Northern Great Plains!

Chuck:

I was a square. I saw it sung in the movie "Moulin Rouge" - my favorite movie ever!!!

It is exciting to hear from the people themselves that they are fed up with this administration.

The guy yesterday said: "If everyone took to the streets, what would they do with us? They can't lock everyone up!"

I love the color purple!!! :-)

Obama addressed a packed room today at the Brookings Institute today about election reform. Here's what he said...

"Election reform," he said, "is one where Americans have the tendency to go from shocked to trance."

But beyond the nuts and bolts of how ballots are cast and counted, Obama said a larger problem comes from the intense gerrymandering that both parties have employed. The result: People know that their votes may, theoretically, not count.

"In too many districts today, people's votes probably won't make a difference," Obama said. "As a consequence of the gerrymandering of redistricting, people aren't being illogical when they stay home because the outcome is a foregone conclusion."

Then, he added: "We now have a system where too often, representatives are selecting their voters instead of voters selecting their representatives. That is a situation that we should not accept."

But realistically, he conceded that neither Democrats nor Republicans are likely inclined to change the system anytime soon. Both sides, he said, instead try to seize the tactical advantages that come with serving in the majority.

"The idea of redistricting is a complicated problem," Obama said, noting that he is looking to the Supreme Court to give guidance in a Texas redistricting case it is considering. "But I cannot imagine any scenario where Congress would draw new districts, thereby rendering half of the seats competitive."

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/02/obama_the_gerry.html

(BTW, check out the Tribune's blog... I was surprised at how progressive some of the threads are... The comments, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. But it's a good place to get a handle on people are thinking and saying.)

Marjorie Alert!!

Band of Brothers: Feb. 8th Reminder
New York City
• 10am, 7th st. NW betw. Madison & Jefferson: Come support Sen. Max Cleland and over forty Fighting Dems running for the House. Fight back against GOP swiftboating. Fight for better body armor for the troops. This will be a major media event, and, of course, it's free. Please note the location change. This rally will no longer be on the Capitol steps - it's now on the mall.

• 6pm: Frederick Douglass House: Join us for a fundraiser to support all of these candidates. We're no longer able to sell tickets online, but you can purchase them at the door. (Contribution levels start at $100.) Meet-n-greet with dozens of veterans, all of whom have great stories to tell.

Correction - that may be over - go to the 2nd part

Now THIS is what you want to see!

Kerry and Clark Coming TONIGHT!

Today's Band of Brothers event on the mall was AMAZING. Sen. Cleland was absolutely inspiring. And it was just tremendous to see so many Fighting Dems arrayed together.

Two more veterans are coming to tonight's fundraiser at the Frederick Douglass House. You may have heard of them: John Kerry and Wesley Clark.

Chuck in Doha:

I feel as though now it goes even deeper than being heroes, at least in the sense of what mainstream media tries to portray heroism as.

I try to imagine myself as heroic, but like everything else Madison Avenue does (including sell this war), we don't always synch up to what the images portray.

So I am working very hard to release myself from the images, not very hard to do as a child of the sixties and seventies, and to stay away from media as much as possible, read as many sources as I can and talk to as many people as I can.

I guess what I'm saying is that the creation of heroism in this 21st century day and age is going to depend by and large on community, instead of individual. That by empowering us as a group, we honor ourselves AND others. I think this is the meaning of the time--we can't do it on our own anymore. Our community has to be heroic. And because we have the internet tools to do it, there's really no other way.

Truth:

Please keep in there hammering away! Nice and subtle, of course, and not judgmental. I know you know that why do I feel I have to post it? Just something on my mind I guess. And keep reminding them that not only can we be heros but we also like to have a little fun once in a while and it does everybody some good!

Chuck in Doha

Fe:

Right on -- and heroes are around everyday. Help someone in a parking lot. Help someone in a supermarket check-out line. Respect people. Challenge bullies. Be a hero one day at a time and one place at a time. Didn't do it yesterday or today? No problem! Try to do it today and tomorrow. I think we are on the same page on that. So we can be heroes, one day at a time. The rest is up to fate.

Chuck in DOha

Chuck in Doha

Or maybe Led Zeppelin (Zepellin? no idea) said it best: "If we could just join hands, that's all it takes, that's all it takes"

Chuck in Doha

Fe:

After re-reading your post I have to think on this some more -- you seem to visualize a community heroism and I am thinking in terms of individuals that just do the right thing, to their minds, and abstracting a community of values from that. Kind of a direction of causality thing. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That always messed me up in Statistics Class!

Chuck in Doha

In one of his nominally 'detective-fiction' but still rather philosophical novels, Les Roberts described a few of the *real* heroes of regular working-class life this way:

"The little Italian lady who runs her own restaurant and makes her own sausage and pasta fresh every day so she can control the quality.

"The neighborhood mechanic who takes an extra hour to work on your car without charging you for it because he doesn't want it to leave his shop until it's purring like a calico cat and running perfectly.

"The little old tailor from Poland who works magic with his fingers when you put on a few extra pounds and have to have your expensive suit let out but don't want anybody to know.

"The schoolteacher who's more interested in making your kid a decent human being than in teaching long division."

works for me,
Otter

Chuck in Doha for Fe:

And, in a final thought in that respect, I had a statistics professor once that said something like "statistics are man's best guess as to the parameters of God." But the thing is, I cannot determine what anyone else thinks. I can determine what I do. I can be a hero or a fake in my own mind, or sometimes a bit of both. I believe that personal heroism is about doing the right thing, or at the very least trending in that direction, one instance at a time. Of course, that begs the question, in what direction should I (we) be trending? What is the right thing? I'm suggesting that the answer is inside each individual, and out of that comes a community of values, not the other way around. Sorry this post is a bit unfocused.

Chuck in Doha

from SFGATE.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/08/BAG5JH4R4S1.DTL

S.F. supervisors set to debate call for impeachment of Bush, Cheney
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

In case you're short a hot topic tonight, Bill O'Reilly, take a look at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors -- which is working up a resolution calling for the "full investigation, impeachment or resignation'' of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Pennsylvania Avenue Pair's alleged crimes:

-- Waging an unnecessary war in Iraq.

-- Authorizing torture of terrorist prisoners.

-- Failing to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina.

-- And not to be forgotten -- ordering the secret wiretapping of U.S. citizens without a warrant.

San Francisco's ever-left-leaning Supervisor Chris Daly placed the resolution on the board's consent calendar Tuesday -- but the matter was sent to committee at the request of Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who opposes the resolution. That ensures a roll-call vote when it eventually comes back to full board.

"I have more important things to do than to vote for President Bush's impeachment,'' Elsbernd said.

But from the looks of things, Elsbernd is in the minority. There appear to be more than enough supervisors lining up to pass the resolution.

"Absolutely -- I support it, '' said board President Aaron Peskin, who gave the resolution a quick first read when we phoned him.

"One of the fundamental tenets of a democratic society is the freedom of elected officials to express sentiments on behalf of their constituents,'' said North Beach's Peskin. "And I believe the sentiments expressed in this resolution are widely held by the voters of San Francisco."

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, whose battles with Daly have been widely reported over the years, is also on board.

"I never thought in my lifetime I would see a form of fascism where the corporate powers have taken total control of the government,'' McGoldrick told us.

Daly says he sponsored the resolution at the request of the San Francisco Democratic Central Committee, which passed an identical version a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm just being a good Democrat,'' he said, before hopping on his bike and riding off from City Hall.

For the record, San Francisco wouldn't be the first city to call for a Bush impeachment investigation. Back in September, on a 6-1 vote, the Santa Cruz City Council made a similar call.

Chuck:

I think to get back to stats-its more like individual heroes working as a collaborative (not collective), to create change.

Chuck:

By the way, I am swamped in construction K's here at my desk. We're at ramp up here at the office for the capital program.

Hey, Karen? Hey, DCPeeps?

Whaddaya think, can/should we sign the DCP blog into the right-hand sidebar of this page as supporting (nominally co-sponsoring, by their language) the relevant concept?

Look from here like if we did do that, we'd be in some good company -- including some that we seem to be fellow travelers with on a regular basis anyway.

And, after all... as Dr. "Oh, No-oooo" Bill Frist found out when he allowed his so-called blind trust to go ahead and bought & sold stocks in his family's medical-industry holding corporation even though legally it wasn't supposed to do so... at least in cases like his, people actually *are* known by the companies they keep...

Ahem.

http://www.openlettertochrismatthews.blogspot.com

(don't) tell me lies tell me sweet little lies,
Otter

How can you *not* love an op-ed column that starts with a single simple freestanding sentence like this one??

"We need more wrinkled, jowly, white-haired women in power."

http://tinyurl.com/afay3

and that works for me too,
Otter

Posted by: Fe at February 8, 2006 05:30 PM

Although I do different work, we answer to federal authorities because of our funding.

We are ramping up, too. Our quotas to survive have increased substantially.

I'm suggesting that the answer is inside each individual, and out of that comes a community of values, not the other way around.

Posted by: chuck at February 8, 2006 05:28 PM

I think that is a very good point, Chuck. It is kind of a picture of democracy, isn't it?

And freedom? No one person, even in a religion, is a legalistic mouthpiece for anyone else. It is how we think, discern, feel, and act that counts, and it has to start with us as individuals. Anyone with a conscience should know that robbing the poor to line someone elses purse with gold is wrong. I think the bottom line always has to be, within practical limits, what is for the greater good for all concerned, and does my action help or hurt someone?

Posted by: nmp at February 8, 2006 03:51 PM

ENJOY!!!

Posted by: chuck at February 8, 2006 04:15 PM

Chuck!!! What's so neat about these people is that I have never seen them before, and they were sitting in public places loudly voicing concern, fear, and anger at this administration.

The administration is hanging itself. I know we must do something as well, because the people were asleep for far too long. They are waking up, and let's hope it is a waking Giant. We can't afford any more complacency!!! The question isn't "Is this administration okay?" anymore, it is "Can we save ourselves in time?"

Posted by: chuck at February 8, 2006 04:15 PM

Re: the fun thing.

Being free allows you to have fun and be happy. Anyone who knows me will tell you I don't take myself or life too seriously, because I'm free. And it is so fun. A person can have fun doing almost anything!

Freedom from religious dictates, and some societal ones, is freedom indeed. I think perhaps the left, because it has alot of educated people in it's ranks, along with artists and independent thinkers, threatens and shakes the control mongers on the right, who want to suppress people.

Is this, like, totally FUBAR or what?

==========

DELAY LANDS COVETED APPROPRIATIONS SPOT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.

DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA -- a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.

"Allowing Tom DeLay to sit on a committee in charge of giving out money is like putting Michael Brown back in charge of FEMA -- Republicans in Congress just can't seem to resist standing by their man," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

GOP leaders also named California Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, vacated that post after winning a campaign to replace DeLay.

McKeon is a seven-term conservative who has a generally good relationship with educators. He authored a 2001 law to remove disincentives for workers who would have lost part of their Social Security benefits when switching jobs to become public school teachers.

DeLay was able to rejoin the powerful Appropriations panel -- he was a member until becoming majority leader in 2003 -- because of a vacancy created after the resignation of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. Cunningham pleaded guilty in November to charges relating to accepting $2.4 million in bribes for government business and other favors.

==========

you make the call,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at February 8, 2006 06:53 PM

Yup..., FUBAR...!!!

Posted by: Otter at February 8, 2006 05:38 PM

I liked a lot of things about Sandra Day O'Connor... except for her swing vote that put The Cretin in office in 2000. That one was a monumental error in judgement. But her white/silver hair is pretty, and I don't quite get it when women change the color of their hair when they're older.

White-haired women are pretty neat, IMHO, but then I have family precedent to be prejudiced in favor of them. My godmother and aunt, my dad's next to youngest sister, had a raucous sense of humor and she was big and round and huggable and lovely (pretty face), and she had beautiful naturally-wavy silver-white hair by the time she was 22, so I don't remember her without it and have only seen photos of her with black hair. She was also the first of my father's siblings to die and my dad died on the same day eight years later. Because my hair is fast becoming the same color as my aunt's (I actually like the silver-gray, probably because my aunt was such a nice person, so the color has pleasant associations), I don't mind looking older in that sense. The wrinkles I mind, however...! But, since gray hair is supposed do denote some kind of wisdom in men, why not the same association for gray-haired women?!?

There have been 2264 US Troops Killed in Iraq.

4 yesterday.
3 more today.

Peace. Now.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-budget8feb08,0,6837957.story
Editorial: Budget Busters
At a time of belt-tightening throughout the federal government, failing to take a hard look at Pentagon spending is the wrong strategy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bovard8feb08,0,1117607.story
A Terrorist on Every Corner?
Under loose guidelines of federal agencies, many Americans could come under suspicion. By James Bovard.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060208/pl_nm/trade_wto_gmos_africa_dc_2
US may press Africa on GMOs
LUSAKA (Reuters) - The U.S. may push Africa to accept gene-altered (GMO) food now that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO foods and seeds, but Africans vowed on Wednesday to resist.

{{{ OK. Stupid Question #42 from me: Have those GMOs ever been completely tested to find out if they're even safe? Or did those corporations trying to sell them think they could push their grain on to the African populations thinking the starving people would be their testing subjects?!?!? Like the chemical companies want to test their toxins on babies, children, and pregnant women - that piece of legislation needs watching for loopholes, too!!!!!}}}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_go_co/boehner_lobbyist
Records Show Boehner Rents From Lobbyist
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner, according to lobbying records.

Boehner, R-Ohio, pays $1,600 a month rent for the apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne and his wife, Debra Anderson, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour Jr. said.

CAN BLOGS REVOLUTIONIZE PROGRESSIVE POLITICS?
Lakshmi Chaudhry, In These Times
Bloggers tout the rise of the netroots as changing how politics works, but will the internet just become a new method of conducting politics as usual?
http://www.alternet.org/story/31955/
{{{Long article, but absolutely fascinating on multiple levels.}}}

LOSING OUR FEMINIST LEADERS
Jessica Valenti, AlterNet
Within a week, America lost three great women who worked for social change in different ways. Who will continue their work?
http://www.alternet.org/story/31954/

"Nerve gas in the Russell Senate building???"
Threat real or percieved???
12 Senators and 200 staffers hold up in the garage???

I wonder if these senators had the "nerve" to oppose Bushco???

Can you say, "scare tactics"?????

Sheeeesh!!!!

Peace. Now.

Posted by: madame defarge at February 8, 2006 07:37 PM

But, but, but the fundies say this IS a mission of peace.

Prey for them.

Bush Sneaks Social Security Plan into Budget
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806R.shtml
Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday.

{{{NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!! This MUST NOT be allowed to stay in the budget!!!!!! I object to this for the same reason I object to the "private medical accounts" = someone else controls the purse strings (WRONG move when someone else controls the purse strings!), and when a government with sticky fingers - like The Cretin and his Criminal Cabal - get their hands on the money, it somehow magically disappears down black holes and reappears somewhere else in the pockets of big corporations!!! Just like Medicare.... the medical professions, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies are raking in BIG BUCKS off of the elderly and poor people, and that is just SO wrong!!! It's a finance / investment racket, not much different from pyramid schemes!}}}

Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806S.shtml
George C. Deutsch, the presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.

Senate Toughens Scrutiny of Wiretapping
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806J.shtml
It's more than just a probe into who authorized what, when, and why in a recently disclosed domestic eavesdropping program. If the president is not checked, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue, then the
constitutional balance of power could shift away from the Congress for at least a generation.
{{{Two articles on this link.}}}

John Dickerson | Where's My Subpoena?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806K.shtml
John Dickerson writes: After the special counsel went after Matt [Cooper] so enthusiastically, the arrival of men in trench coats asking what I knew seemed imminent. But I never got to try out any of my Dashiell Hammett lines on them. When my other former Time colleague Viveca Novak got tangled in Fitzgerald's hunt last year, I thought, OK, they're coming now for sure. Nope. No Fitzgerald; no FBI; no nothing.

Alfred W. McCoy | Why the McCain Torture Ban Won't Work
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806L.shtml
Alfred W. McCoy asks: Does Bush administration policy really reflect a fundamental shift in moral choices by the American public? Have we really developed a taste for torture?

New York Times | The Art of Saying Nothing
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806N.shtml
The New York Times editors write: We thought President Bush's two recent Supreme Court nominees set new lows when it came to giving vague and meaningless answers to legitimate questions, but Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales made them look like models of openness when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday about domestic spying.

Posted by: pcdoc at February 8, 2006 08:40 PM

I'd first ask which senators have their offices there and which ones are Democrats running for re-election this fall.... and if I were any of those senators, I'd also hire someone to check out their offices and that of their staffs to find out if some bugs were left behind, and get a computer geek to find out if tracking cookies were left on their computers that would give info straight into the NSA computers, or if any cell phones left behind during evacuation were programmed to give info to neoCon spies ... or to RNC headquarters....

And if I were a Dem running for election or re-election this fall, the first thing I'd do is take all campaign strategy meetings to secure locations without cell phones with GPS, nothing of campaign strategy on computers connected to the internet, and certainly no email correspondence with anyone that would tip off the RNC about what they plan to talk about, speeches they plan to give that could be pre-rebutted in advance press briefings by the neoCons so that would not put Dems in the position of having to defend themselves rather than taking the offensive (and control!) for once....! Etc.

Does anyone know if these things have been verified in this article? I'd like to know fact/fiction in it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060207/ap_on_re_us/katrina_evacuees_hotels_7

Totally off topic, and old news to boot, but for those who were there when I asked the question about the connection between Grover Norquist and Jack Abramoff, here's the answer

http://tinyurl.com/d6dmt

carry on...............

Bush Sneaks Social Security Plan into Budget
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806R.shtml
Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday.

Posted by: NonnyO at February 8, 2006 09:13 PM

WHAT????????????????

THIS CAN'T BE!!! (I worried about this happening.)

O.M.G. What a bunch of crappy news today.

Posted by: Fe at February 8, 2006 04:14 PM

Fe,

I am getting to reading the blog only now. Amen to what you said about the role of the electronic community and individuals in that community.

However, It has been said before, and referred to a different time in our country's history; we see it in front of our faces everyday: E
pluribus unum.

I never thought I'd see the day but Russia is running out of vodka.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/03/russia.vodka.reut/

Also, the US is so low on money that we aren't pushing the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptives strikes much anymore (Daniel Shores, NPR).

& I read that the percentage of Guards & Reserves in Iraq and Afghanistan is going to decrease soon, a concession to the public, a PR move. However, in another article I read that the Navy is going to be sent in higher numbers to Iraq and Afghanistan. Same day, my son, who is almost 25 and hasn't been getting military recruitment stuff for awhile - well he gets a pamphlet encouraging him to enlist in the Navy.

I'm not surprised to hear about Social Security surprises being snuck into the budget - along with cuts to Medicare & Medicaid - here's hoping that both parties nip this in the bud. I did hear some of Bush's speech in New Hampshire.

Also wondering (at the end of the day) - did anyone we know see Kerry & Clark's appearance or Max Clelland?

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 8, 2006 11:20 PM

Object lesson: When The Cretin stops talking about his favorite obsessions involving how to make money off of taxpayers (the poorest of the taxpayers, that is), the silence only means he's doing something sneaky and underhanded to still get his way and take from the poorest first, then the next poorest, etc....

Yupper-doo. Looks like tomorrow will involve writing to my senator and rep.......

Gee, I never thought I'd see a state of fascist feudalism in my lifetime.... Just shows ya that if you live long enough, there are still surprises in store, even if this kind of thing is an extremely unpleasant surprise.

People can still try to save against catastrophic events and medical expenses and even retirement in their lives WITHOUT letting the government control the purse strings for the money involved. I know how difficult it is to save the smallest amounts on a limited income, but it can be done (not easily, but it can be done), and the only one controlling the purse strings is the one holding the money!!! The government certainly does NOT need to be involved!!!

Footnote on DeLay's new appointment.

They also put him on the sub-committee that handles the Dept of Justice: budget and priorities.

Guess they figured that since this Abramoff scandal reaches deep into the WH and the GOP leadership in Congress, they needed to rig the whole investigation.

How much you want to bet that this committee cancels the investigation, or redirects funds and resources to "other priorities"?

As posted elsewhere, the "culture of corruption" meme doesn't even get to the heart of the matter.

These guys are running an organized crime syndicate the likes of which even the Mafia has never seen.

Oh the arrogance of power.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely- to be sure.

Posted by: wild salmon at February 9, 2006 12:52 AM

How many people just don't know or understand this? And will just say, "That's politicians and they're all alike."

The terror of President Bush
How one word granted one man so much power and control
By Mike Adams
The outright evil of one man is not nearly as surprising (nor frightening) as the collective evil of the people who go along with him. Dumbfounded Conservatives all across the country blindly stroll into history along the same well-trodden path followed by Hitler's fascist supporters. It's a well-worn path: First you create an imaginary enemy to justify war. Then you strip away the civil liberties of your own citizens and launch domestic spying programs to keep everyone in a constant state of fear.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11836.htm

{{{This might be a good article to send to our politicians and ask them to stop saying the word 'terror' (or associated words, depending on sentence construction) and call the criminal acts what they are: criminal acts. If the only ones uttering the word 'terror' is The Cretin and his Criminal Cabal, it will force people to recognize the difference between the paranoia of the administration and REALITY, and the only ones who would look like paranoid crazies (which is what they are) would be the Criminal Cabal running this country. REALITY: We all go about our daily lives totally unafraid of being blown up in our local supermarkets and stores or places of employment, etc. Why not use language to reflect REALITY??? Very few of us are afraid of any of The Cretin's bogey men who live in his mind and who have bombs strapped to their bodies.... That only happens in movies in this country where people use 'terror' or 'terrorism' as entertainment.}}}

Paul Bremer - New Canaan's Pontius Pilate:
His work was precisely laid out in Washington and he performed it with quiet ferocity. His first task was to turn over Iraq’s traditional publicly owned enterprises to foreign investors. He started with electricity. - Next to go was the public water supply, and soon the telephone system. New Canaan can identify with this sort of privatization.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11833.htm

An Interview with British MP George Galloway:
"If I have to choose between Iran and George Bush, I choose Iran."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11839.htm

Congressman Maurice Hinchey : Bush didn’t want to capture Bin Laden:
They didn’t want to capture Bin Laden because if they captured Bin Laden and wiped out the Taliban, which they could have done at that moment, there would have been no justification for going to war in Iraq
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/BinLaden_Hinchey-06Feb06.htm

Bush calls for sell-off of Western public land:
President Bush wants to sell more public land across the West to raise money for schools, conservation and deficit reduction.
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_3485264
{{{Un huh. And if you believe the money that would raise would not go to finance The Cretin's wars, I have this bridge to sell you, complete with historical provenance....}}}

Russ Feingold | Congress Has Lost Its Way
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020806A.shtml
Senator Feingold delivered a statement yesterday on the senate floor in response to the President's warrantless wiretapping program: The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his efforts to justify this program. How is that worthy of applause?

Sweden Plans to Be World's First Oil-Free Economy
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0208-05.htm
{{{Now there's a concept that would make the corporate oil executives in this country sweat bullets.... What's more civilized, is that all sorts of people from different areas of expertise in Sweden are collaborating to make it all happen!!!}}}

John Nichols | Lieberman's Lapdog Act Not Playing Well
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0208-22.htm

Everyone, I've been incredibly busy lately, but it's been wonderful to read your comments later and catch up even if I haven't had time to respond to too many of them.

Morning all,

I have been in lots of discussions here in DC over the past week--all about next steps for the anti-war, peace and justice groups here.

I would really like to put the questions out to the good minds here--but you need to actually think about and answer these questions, OK?

1. Do you think another huge march in DC would be effective? If so, how many people need to be here? And what would inspire them to come?

2. Do you think a series of small, concerted local efforts all across the country would work? And if so, what inspires those?

3. Is there a single issue, or 2-3 issues that so motivate people that they would act? Or do we think in terms of the overriding issue that the Bush regime must go?

4. What or who would allow YOU to feel safe enough or motivated enough that you would move beyond your comfort zone in order to work for a return to democracy now?

It depends on what the goal of the protest is. If it's just to get some more MSM (very little more) coverage and show the President that there are those who disagree with him, I suppose a march in DC is more visible to him.

But in the long run, another DC protest doesn't change the balance of power. That won't change until the control of one or both legislative bodies in Congress is changed.

I think that local protests are more effective in bringing the issues home to voters who aren't paying attention. Another protest march in DC is just another news event that is too easily ignored by most people. Something that happens on their own streets is different. It allows other people who are unhappy to see that there are others like themselves. It creates the opportunity for more one-on-one conversations where educated, empowered people can educate their friends and neighbors.

That allows focus on changing local representation in Congress which will allow change in the 'rollover' Congress to one that more aggressively performs its Constitutional duties. We already know that people are dissatisfied and "ready for a change".

That's what really requires focus, that and our careful attention to our election process as Veritas suggested above.

The Bush Regime must go, yes. And it's okay to remind people of the reasons for that when appropriate.

But we can only effect meaningful regime change if we frame the issues differently than just saying "these people are evil, so get rid of them."

After all, that's the same thing the current administrations said about Saddam, and we all know how well *that* plan worked out for the people of Iraq.

Reasonable citizens will respond to that kind of nearsighted Bush-must-go approach by saying "okay, so we get rid of them -- but *then* what?"

We have to present people with logical, desirable, realistic alternatives to the neocons' disastrous policies and proven lack of principles if we're going to accomplish anything meaningful here.

There's plenty of evidence piling up about just how evil these particular people really are, and the momentum is building for a ground-up "get rid of them" movement. And that works to our advantage.

But just repeating "Bush...bad" isn't enough. And neither is just repeating "Us...good" along with it. We also have to provide reasons for people to believe that us really are good, as it were, or else we'll keep eliciting the old "ah, all you bums are all alike anyway" response.

The discussions can't just be about Them. The discussions have to be about *Us*. Hammering away at what their side has done wrong is not enough. It's our requirement, and our responsibility, to focus the message on what our side can & will do *right* instead.

Otherwise we'll just end up spinning our wheels. Again.

just my 0.01671 Euros,
Otter

To add to dwahzon & Otter's excellent points...

We need to work the common issues that affect all Americans, not just progressives. Our country is so divided now and we need to show how we want to work side-by-side with everyone to present rational & effective solutions.

To me, two issues that seem to affect all Americans are...
- the war
- the budget cut and its effect on the middle class

IMHO, committing efforts and resources to another large event in Washington rather than using them to generate multiple more-localized events would not only be ineffective, it would be downright counter-productive at this juncture.

Out here in the real world, Joe and Jane Voter already believe nothing that happens in Washington actually has anything to do with them and their ilk anymore. We have to counteract their popular conceptions that nobody's vote counts anymore and that nobody's actions matter anymore unless they're living on some artifical planet called The Capital.

We need to show Joe and Jane that all politics really is local after all, that what happens in their small corner of the heartland really can make a difference to what's going on in faraway Washington, not just the other way around.

We need to show Joe and Jane that "one person, one vote" means that power really does flow from the people to the politicians, not the other way around.

We need to show Joe and Jane that they really do have something to stand up for, to believe in, to be proud of, right there at home... and that we are ready, willing, and able to represent them because we really *are* them, and they are us, and we're all in this together.

And we can't do that just by milling around on The Mall some more. We can only do that by reaching Joe and Jane Voter at home, where they live and work and play. We can only do that by showing and not just telling them that they're not alone out there in the heartland after all.

just my 29.4 Iraqi dinars,
Otter

To add to dwahzon's, Otter's, and madame's points:

Yes, the actions should be local. Yes, the message has to be what progressives will do. And yes, the message should be the war and budget cuts.

The democratic message and our own progressive pledge are sound basis for running. My biggest concern is that the talk of 'impeachment' should hold a back seat to the rest.

One message: Bush broke the law. Bush's war against Iraq and Bush and the republican's war against the middle class.

We offer BETTER--here's our mantra and our stance:

http://progressiveu.org/110629-what-have-you-stood-for-make-a-change

http://progressiveu.org/185026-support-our-troops-with-more-than-a-ribbon

http://progressiveu.org/201128-state-of-the-union-anti-middle-class-reform

http://progressiveu.org/192458-the-democratic-mantra

http://progressiveu.org/125724-bush-administration-chose-politics-over-security

Posted by: karen at February 9, 2006 07:52 AM

You may not get many people in the dead of winter, more by spring and/or summer. Option #1 sounds best...IF, IF, IF, Lamestream Media will pay attention - the more attention, the better. Kinda like the Million Mom March - I think that made Lamestream Media - at least I remember seeing something on TV about it, albeit it was only a blurb and no lengthy interviews with people, which would have been ideal, to go with the photos and sound bytes of the marchers. I think the local media covered the in-state Million Mom March in the Twin Cities, if memory serves. I hope I'm not mis-remembering which media... sometimes things get on PBS/BBC, not the three major networks, and I've been tending to watch BBC on PBS recently. I'd say contact the local DC offices of BBC first - they'll pick up on the story before any of the three major networks in the US would.... (I've seen local DC BBC feeds on BBC news that I get on PBS. I do not know if all PBS markets broadcast BBC news in the half hour slot before The News Hour comes on or not, but I'd recommend you start with BBC first, and/or contact your local PBS market to see if they can get publicity on The News Hour. Then the three other major networks, but I somehow doubt you'll get any attention from them. The three major networks might take a cue from those two and start running stories of any major protests if the others carry the news of protesters long enough, or maybe even feature interviews with protesters....)

MEDIA attention is the KEY!!! SUSTAINED MEDIA ATTENTION spanning weeks and months would be the best so that everyone out here in the dingtoolies knows something besides propaganda can make the news. It would let people out here in the dingtoolies KNOW that we are not alone in KNOWING we've been LIED to repeatedly on every issue (war, Social Security, Medicare, Choice/Right to Privacy, wiretapping - pick an issue, we've been LIED to), that we KNOW The Cretin and his Criminal Cabal have broken the laws of this land and seeing those images/sound bytes on national news indicates other people are aware of what we KNOW but don't hear in Lamestream Media, and we're not alone in KNOWING they NEED to be IMPEACHED for LYING and BREAKING LAWS. (The Cretin, Vice Cretin and their Criminal Cabal are NOT above the law, no matter how they try to justify it!!!!!)

If you can get #1 accomplished - SUSTAINED MEDIA ATTENTION - #2 will follow and get local media attention, and more protests will happen on their own in local communities.

#3 Pick two or three big issues into which the other issues would be included as an umbrella. War/Torture, LYING, Breaking Laws (wiretapping), Social Security (in view of what The Cretin is trying to slip in again about private accounts) Medicare. The latter two because so many Baby Boomers are turning 60 this year (me included) and those two will impact a very large population, but Boomers are also concerned for their grandkids' generation who are in an illegal, unjust, immoral, and unethical war of choice based on LIES, and Boomers want their granddaughters and great-granddaughters to have the right to personal autonomy over their own bodies. In any case, because this administration has LIED so often and broken multiple laws and international, treaties, that alone is grounds for IMPEACHMENT. If you need one over-riding topic, IMPEACHMENT based on LIES to get us into an illegal, unjust, immoral, and unethical war, plus LYING about torture and wiretapping would be the best to start with, then add and/or include other issues.

#4..... WHO to follow is an issue in and of itself, and the #1 PROBLEM. Of the newsletters I get from politicians, the only one I'd follow right now is Teddy Kennedy (or, at least his letters are the most concise, direct, and to the point, so he has a very good writer on his staff, if nothing else). On the other hand, Kennedy's letters have not asked for money (so far), but are devoted to news about issues and his opinions on the issues. Yes. I do realize for obvious reasons he'll never run for president, but someone with that kind of charisma and DEFINITE opinions on issues is the only thing that would make me endure the pain of sitting at a computer too long and writing reams of emails (spirit is willing to march, back pain would force me off my feet and likely put me to bed for a week with major pain, which even sitting at a computer too long can do at times). Kerry and Boxer have people who send letters that aren't too different from stump speeches, not definitive enough, resemble namby-pamby mumbling, and they are asking for money in big bold letters between paragraphs of imprecise dialogue about issues, and that's a big turn-off for me. If they aren't going to DO SOMETHING, something DEFINITIVE (without changing their minds and voting for whatever the administration wants rubber-stamped), then they can't ask for money.

IMHO, start the protests without a political leader - make the politicians follow the "will of the people," for a change. Too many Democrats have disappointed us too many times in the last five years; occasionally a few have temporarily spoken out against the administration and we've cheered with hope, written letters of support, and then they've reverted back to pandering to the administration..., and WAY too often the Democrats have just been rubber-stamping The Cretin's legislation, going along with the lies, and cowering like scared puppies every time The Cretin barks. ENOUGH ALREADY!!! If the Democrats can't find their backbone or their balls, they don't deserve to be re-elected (or elected if they're new to the political scene). *IF* there are enough protesters, and weekly protests and the protests get SUSTAINED MEDIA ATTENTION (which will then motivate people to start protesting in their local areas because they will know they are not alone in their dissatisfaction with the status quo), and IF politicians ever wise up and remember they work for US (we, the people), not the fascist corporations who want to take up permanent residence in Iraq (and elsewhere), or corporations who are trying to bilk us for more money while they get all the tax cuts, the politicians have to do more than say whatever is expedient to get support from the so-called undecideds or moderates (they are in the minority anyway). The politicians will HAVE to take their cues from the people who elected them. But NO MORE waffling about and saying whatever namby-pamby crap comes to mind with those appeasing and defending tones of voice and body language. I've had more than enough of watching that for the last five years!

No one that I know of is moderate about a war based on LIES (and don't forget, The Cretin is trying to spin 'terror' - again - to try to get us into a war with Iran based on LIES - again!), nor is anyone I know moderate about torture and detention camps - which are all clearly illegal, nor is anyone I know moderate about the Fourth Amendment right to privacy (wiretapping issue, and choice for some). IF the Democratic and/or progressive politicians want votes this fall, they are going to HAVE to come out four-square AGAINST the Iraq war (and be immune to the LYING propaganda about Iran, and point out the fact that The Cretin is once again LYING to try to start another illegal war), and they are going to HAVE to promote bringing the troops home from Iraq PDQ. (That eliminates Hillary as a politician to follow because she has not come out against the war, or for bringing the troops home PDQ - and her associations with the Bu$h family and DLC make her Republican Lite, IMHO.) In any case, the Democrats who want to be re-elected this fall are going to have to STOP PANDERING TO THE ADMINISTRATION, and STOP PUTTING UP WITH THE LIES, which means they will have to also advocate IMPEACHING this administration because of the LIES we've been told - repeatedly. (And they will HAVE to stop saying the administration "mislead" the country; they did not merely "mislead" us, they LIED, LIED, LIED, LIED, LIED!!! The politicians are going to have to get used to saying Bu$h LIED!!! All together now, let's practice: Bu$h LIED....!)

UNITARY EXECUTIVE = DICTATOR
Bu$h LIED
Bu$h LIED; PEOPLE DIED
TIME FOR A CHANGE
IMPEACH the LIARS

Then start the revolution without a political leader and see if any politicians are courageous enough to stand with the people who elected them in the first place.... If not, we'll elect other Democrats who are not afraid to speak truth to the lying power that has been in office for five+ years.... For those states affected that have voting machines that can be hacked into and rig elections, they'll have to demand paper ballots that can be re-counted... or they can contest elections and demand a re-vote with support from those of us who have countable paper ballots already.

Those are My Humble Opinions......
(Sorry this is so long and sounds so much like a rant, but I feel very strongly about these issues - and others - and I'm tired of politicians who do nothing.... Start the revolution without them!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060209/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_8
Bush to Detail 2002 Attack Plot in Speech
WASHINGTON - President Bush, in a speech about terror, will focus on a foiled attack in 2002 in which plotters planned to use hijacked commercial airplanes to strike the West Coast.

Bush has referred to the plot before, but White House officials said he planned to provide more specifics in a speech Thursday.

In an address last October, Bush said the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts.

The White House initially would not give details of the plots but later released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each.

{{{ Click on link for more. Hmmm... "Vague"... Okay. I'll bet a whole penny that he will "justify" his use of illegal wiretapping in the speech, too, saying that's how the plot was foiled (IF there ever was a plot, that is!!!).... I wonder what kind of LIES he will come up with about the plots that would "justify" illegal wiretapping and more LIES to us... all designed, I'm sure, to solidify his 'unitary executive' stance of protecting the American people while LYING to us and taking away our rights in the process...??? Terra, terra, terra... yeah, yeah, yeah... What-ever! I wanna know what he doesn't want Lamestream Media to talk about while their attention is diverted to 'terra' - again...! LIES about how to get us into a war with Iran based on his paranoia about terrorists - I'm thinking he will try to tie Iran to the "plots" in 2002 to "justify" his LIES about why Iran is a threat and 'needs' (in his paranoid little mind) to be invaded - remember the Iran Oil Bourse is set to open in March, so he has some quick 'splainin' to do to get others to ratchet up the warmongering rhetoric and attempt to get the support of American people and the rest of the world, just as he "had" to attack Iraq when their Oil Bourse started (which must have been dismantled by now?)..., Abramoff, Fitzgerald's grand jury, DeLay, Social Security private accounts he slipped into the latest legislation.... Pick a topic, or all of the above and others that aren't on my sore brain at the moment, and he wants Lamestream Media to talk about that instead of something else that will go under the radar as he yaks on and on and on about more terra....}}}

Simply put: All politics is local.