April 2006 Archives

It's a gorgeous day and the Mall is packed. Finally, an issue everyone can get behind. The crowd is diverse and international.

Here is the first person we ran into:

That's Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and spokesperson against torture.

"As a Jew, I'm here because when we needed people to help us, nobody came," Wiesel, the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told the applauding crowd. "Therefore, we're here."

Music is playing, the kids are off taking photos and getting local color--we will check in here as we can.

As our globalizing civilization accelerates the destruction of the planet, it’s easy to get innured to one disaster story after another. How much worse is more coral bleaching, or tree-eating bugs spreading north, or tree-frogs going extinct because their cloud forests are drying out?

It takes a strong stomach to stay at the business of trying to protect the natural world, and it grinds away at even the most dedicated. Yet you can’t walk around in a state of fury, or depression, and expect to have a chance of accomplishing anything.

But I’m finding lately that there are stories, and images, breaking through the defenses, that chill my bones, that I can feel tearing away a chunk of my heart that I will never get back.

Julia Stimson Thorne, an author and the former wife of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, died from cancer yesterday afternoon. She was 61.

Julia Thorne raised two courageous and immensely talanted daughters, while tackling life's challenges with an unflinching honesty and a willingness to share her private sorrow so that others could learn and grow.

After a difficult and painful divorce, she crafted a mature and respectful relationship with John Kerry that gave security and stability to their children.

Through her books (You Are Not Alone: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey through Depression," with Larry Rothstein. She also wrote, "A Change of Heart: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey through Divorce," published in 1996), she was enable to enrich the lives of people she would never meet, and a public whose accolades she did not need.

She will be missed by those that loved her, those that knew her and many more who admired her quiet fortitude and grace.

The world is a little less today without her.

God bless her spirit and give comfort to her family at this difficult and private time.

Things are going pretty quickly today.

From Raw Story, reporting on MSNBC reporting (yeah, I know):

Karl Rove has described his three and a half hour fifth meeting with a grand jury as "hell," and is more worried about being prosecuted than ever, MSNBC is reporting.

The three and a half hour duration is considered highly unusual for a fifth appearance before a grand jury, MSNBC's David Shuster reported. Shuster will be giving an updated report at 7pm EST.

One MSNBC commentator claimed that the fifth appearnce also ties the record held by Betty Currie, former President Bill Clinton's personal secretary.

Also not boding well for Rove is the fact that the grand jury plans to meet tomorrow. Some are speculating that an indictment for Rove may be handed up tomorrow, though others have claimed such a fast turnaround time is unlikely.

MSNBC transcript:

WHILE HIS SUPPORTERS CONTINUE TO PUT ON A GOOD FACE, SOURCES CLOSE TO KARL ROVE SAY THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR IS NOW MORE WORRIED, NOT LESS, THAT HE IS GOING TO GET INDICTED. THE SOURCES SAY ROVE WAS SURPRISED BY SOME OF THE QUESTIONS HE WAS ASKED AND BY THE FACT THE SESSION STRETCHED ON FOR THREE AND A HALF HOURS.

MINUTES AFTER ROVE LEFT THE GRAND JURY, HIS LEGAL TEAM ISSUED A WRITTEN STATEMENT SAYING PROSECUTORS HAD, QUOTE, "WANTED TO EXPLORE A MATTER RAISED SINCE MR. ROVE'S LAST APPEARANCE IN OCTOBER 2005."

BUT THE GRAND JURY, ACCORDING TO SOURCES, ALSO PRESSED ROVE ABOUT HIS TESTIMONY IN 2004 WHEN HE FAILED TO REVEAL HE SPOKE TO TIME MAGAZINE'S MATT COOPER ABOUT VALERIE PLAME -- THE FORMER CIA OPERATIVE AT THE HEART OF THE INVESTIGATION.

Moving right along...Schuster will be updating the piece on the 7PM edition of Hardball.

As I mentioned above, things are moving quickly today, so don't forget to check out the two stories below is you haven't already.

A few minutes ago on "The Situation Room", with Wolf Blitzer, Paul Begala put an excellent frame around the sheer greed of high gas prices and the Republican's "bold new plan" of giving $100 rebate check to each taxpayer.

Rought transcript:

After watching video of Senate Majority leader Bill Frist's call a $100 rebate for tax payers in response to the exhorbitant greed at the pumps, Blitzer asks Begala for a comment (emphasis mine):

Blitzer: (to Begala) After hearing Senator Frist there just now, tell us, what do you think of that, Paul?

Begala: I think that the Republicans have just told you what they think you're worth America- a hundred bucks. The Republicans think that CEO's like Lee Raymond, the head of Exxon oil, should get $600 million dollars, they think he's worth $13,700 an hour, that's what he gets paid, and people like you and I are worth a hundred bucks.

Nice frame.

We've all been here before, but perhaps not quite so soberly or aware. David Swanson is being interviewed on WPFW, and he is telling Verna Avery Brown that today is about "putting a face on the war".

Are we ready to see those faces?

Keep coming back and we'll discuss it.

People around the world are commemorating the 20th anniversary of the worst nuclear power accident in history at the Chernobyl reactor in the then-Soviet Union. The accident released many times as much radioactivity into the air as the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, produced immediate casualties from intense radiation exposure, and will continue causing elevated cancer rates for decades to come. There are several usual links at the bottom of this post.

I've been thinking a lot about nuclear power lately because of two events: reports that the Bush administration is considering using nuclear weapons against Iran's nuclear laboratories; and the huge push the nuclear power industry has launched worldwide to resurrect the industry by claiming that nuclear energy is the solution to global warming. Since I started fighting nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the mid-1970s with New England's Clamshell Alliance, I've always thought that the single gravest danger of spreading nuclear power plants around the globe was that we were simultaneously spreading the knowledge and materials for building nuclear weapons. Iran and North Korea are only the latest examples of this terrible folly.

There is an important piece of legislation before the Commerce Committee in Congress this week and everyone who reads this should get involved.

The Democracy Cell Project, as a 501(c)(3) will not argue one way or another on this piece of legislation, except to point out that we think neutrality of access on the net is a principle of democracy, part and parcel of freedom of speech, or in this case, freedom to be heard.

One commentor, as noted over at Eschaton this morning, called this legislation, Medicare Part D for the internet. Kevin Drum doesn't understand it, or why people think it's so bad. You see the problem.

Fortunately, there are MANY MANY posts on blogs about this issue that will help you to understand the fate of the internet is this legislation passes.

Please get involved. Here's a short list of blogs that are posting on this matter with links to the issue. There are also several blogs that have been started to deal specifically with this issue.

My DD - Has a good round-up on the issue

Taylor Marsh guest posting over at FireDogLake with a more in-depth essay and great links

You Tube - This short video explains the issue.

SaveTheInternet.com - The name says it all

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo - Josh gives the crisp explanation

Political Animal - Comment section helps to answers the questions on the issue that Kevin poses that you may share.

Get involved now. The vote could come as soon as tomorrow. The National Journal reports that the raised profile of this issue is making a difference. Be part of that difference.

Go visit the links and make your voice heard today on this important issue.

How many retired Generals does it take to change a Secretary of Defense?

None. All it take is one President who is not a stubborn ass.

From Think Progress:

Fox News is reporting an eighth general has called for Rumsfeld’s resignation. Ret. Marine General Paul Van Riper said he constantly talks with many active duty and retired senior officers who share his feelings that Secretary Rumsfeld has not fought the Iraq war competently. He told Fox that Rumsfeld has run the Pentagon through intimidation and that a change in leadership is needed:

If this leader is not capable of doing it, now going in excess of five years, has not demonstrated he is, then perhaps it is time to find a new one. If I was the president, I would have relieved him three years ago.

Van Riper follows the calls of Generals Swannack, Newbold, Eaton, Zinni, Batiste, Riggs, and Clark.

Eight retired Generals and counting.

2390 dead American soldiers and counting.

Ten of thousands of Iraqis dead and counting.

I am counting the days until Rumsfeld resigns.

Is it a draft?

I imagine this is the beginning of a conversation leaking into the traditional media:

Sitting on a military draft board is not exactly a taxing job right now. With no draft, the boards have, well, no work to do.

"It's not hard at all. There's nothing to it," deadpans Michael Cohen, a Selective Service System board member from Highland Park, Ill.

That could change if there is a national crisis and if the government decides the crisis requires a return to the draft, which ended 33 years ago. Officials say they don't expect to restart conscription -- public sentiment is heavily against it -- but should they, draft boards could face their biggest workload in history as they help decide who gets drafted and who doesn't.

Until then, a draft board member's main chore is training. At half-day annual sessions, members keep up on rules for granting postponements, deferments, exemptions and conscientious objector status. They learn how to hold meetings, judge evidence and elicit testimony.

Really, what is to stop a draft after the November 2006 elections should the Republicans be successful in retaining control of Congress, and still Bush has two years as a lame duck President? Even a lame duck still has considerable power.

Repeated polls have shown that about seven in 10 Americans oppose reinstatement of the draft. Yet with President Bush saying U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for years, many Americans find it hard to believe repeated government assurances that there are no plans to revive conscription.

Any politician who supports Bush's Folly in Iraq and is running for office, should be made to answer the question, "How can we keep troop levels up in Iraq absent a draft?"

One of the wonderful outcomes of last week's production of FEAR UP in London was connecting with the antiwar and peace and justice communities there. I will share that these entities are no more on the same pages than organizations here are--there are alliances and coalitions and disagreements about strategies and tactics there as well. One interesting point of discussion that came up in the post-performance talk-back was a concern on the part of Houzan Mahmoud, the UK Head of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq and co-founder of the Iraq Freedom Congress, that the antiwar forces are supporting a government in Iraq that is bound to be anti-women, just to get troops out of there. It was a moment in which the full complexities of what has been created were apparent. (Read more here)

However, the Stop the War Coalition is attempting to hear all the voices. Here is their latest newsletter, in the interest of continuing discussion and understanding of all the complexities. And, of course, seeing what is happening that our own msm is NOT covering.

UPDATE, 12:30 PM, (EST): Kerry Speech is reprinted in its entirety below, after the link to the LIVEBLOGGING by Tay-Tay. The speech text is followed by Kerry's Op-Ed from this morning.

Here's the link to Tay-Tay's liveblogging of John Kerry's speech at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Go over and make the action happen.

The speech will also be broadcast tomorrow on C-SPAN. Check your local listings.

The Speech (as prepared text)

Senator John Kerry
“Dissent”
Faneuil Hall
April 22, 2006

Thirty-five years ago today, I testified before the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate, and called for an end to the war I had returned from fighting not long before.

It was 1971 – twelve years after the first American died in what was then South Vietnam, seven years after Lyndon Johnson seized on a small and contrived incident in the Tonkin Gulf to launch a full-scale war—and three years after Richard Nixon was elected president on the promise of a secret plan for peace. We didn’t know it at the time, but four more years of the War in Vietnam still lay ahead. These were years in which the Nixon administration lied and broke the law—and claimed it was prolonging war to protect our troops as they withdrew—years that ultimately ended only when politicians in Washington decided they would settle for a “decent interval” between the departure of our forces and the inevitable fall of Saigon.

I know that some active duty service members, some veterans, and certainly some politicians scorned those of us who spoke out, suggesting our actions failed to “support the troops”—which to them meant continuing to support the war, or at least keeping our mouths shut. Indeed, some of those critics said the same thing just two years ago during the presidential campaign.

I have come here today to reaffirm that it was right to dissent in 1971 from a war that was wrong. And to affirm that it is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a President who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a war in Iraq that weakens the nation.

I believed then, just as I believe now, that the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, dishonors their sacrifice, and disserves our people and our principles. When brave patriots suffer and die on the altar of stubborn pride, because of the incompetence and self-deception of mere politicians, then the only patriotic choice is to reclaim the moral authority misused by those entrusted with high office.

At the corner of Art and Politics today, we find this amazing example from singer Pink, called "Dear Mr. President".

Go. Listen. Now.

Then come back for the link up to the Kerry live blogging from Faneuil Hall up at 10:30 AM (EST). Since the speech will not be broadcast on C-SPAN until tomorrow, we will be posting a link to the live bloggers on the scene in Boston.

Here's the link to Kerry Liveblogginging as promised.

One of the many, many great things about the internet, is that it aids the free flow of educational materials throughout the world to people who would otherwise be unable to connect with these resources.

One of the many, many great things about blogging, is that it allows us a place to discuss the materials we find, refine our opinions, argue premise, et cetera. Website such as this one are the classroom. Blogs are the blackboards.

One of the many, many great things about the intersection of these two entities, is that we don't have to reinvent the wheel each and every day. And to that extent, I wonder if this is how folks felt when Mr. Guttenberg invented the printing press.

What all of this is leading up to, is a diary entry on Daily Kos, by MarionCountyDemocrat on How To Organize A Precinct. Marion County refers to Democrats in her piece, but these principles can, of course, be applied to organize the party of your choice. To read the entire entry (and please do) go here.

I have reprinted her list of excellent recommendations here, and ask that you bookmark this page or add these to your growing compendium of political skills files:

Here's how I believe a precinct should be organized:

1.) Get a list of all the registered Democrats in the targeted precinct (from your local supervisor of elections, or whoever managed elections in your county - in Florida the state party has provided each county party a way to access this information quickly and easily.)

2.) Take the list of registered Democrats, and pull out those Democrats who have voted in 4 out of the last 4 elections (including primaries.) These are committed Democrats.

3.) Get a team together (hopefully a county party's precinct committee or whichever person or institution that should be dealing with this, again if there is such an entity.) Find a central meeting place and prepare for a meetup.

4.) Send out a snail mail invitation (preferably hand-written, sorry, but this is far more likely to get read) to all the "4/4" Democrats to the meetup.

5.) Coordinate a phone bank to call all of these active Democrats to coincide with the arrival of the snail mail and encourage them to attend.

6.) At the meetup, discuss the need to organize the precinct and how it figures into the larger Democratic strategy. Set some dates for a few (3-4) more meetups.

7.) At the subsequent meetups, discuss local issues and ideas on how to solve them, invite candidates to come speak - and always have free food. Hopefully, some leaders might emerge.

8.) At the final county party sponsored meetup, ask the group to elect a captain and turn over control of the small organization to the captain. But don't just walk away! Always have something there for the precinct captain to fall back on and get support from within the county party.

She has made a great list to help us all be involved, but she makes this important point in:

However, I don't think anyone would argue that the best way to organize a precinct is for someone interested to come forward and agree to stop complaining, and start leading.

And isn't that what we are always complaining about? If we don't have leaders then WE need to lead. It really is as simple as that.

WE are the people we have been waiting for.

Shocking. There really is something worse than watching Scott McClellan lie his way through White House press conferences on a daily basis and I know what it is. It's being forced over the last twenty-four hours to watch the White House Press Corpse massive effort at revisionist history and to make McClellan's tenure as the cover-up's cover-up man, seem somehow, well, a noble endeavour.

The chief among those who rewrite McClellan's job description from eager accomplice to hapless victim is CNN's John Roberts. From Media Matters:

Commenting on White House press secretary Scott McClellan's April 19 announcement that he will resign, CNN senior national correspondent John Roberts -- after acknowledging that he would likely get "in trouble in the liberal blogs" for saying it -- said of McClellan: "I think that he is a truth-teller." This is the second time Roberts has praised McClellan as a "truth-teller." As Media Matters for America documented, Roberts -- then with CBS -- described him using that exact term in November 2005.

Why anyone would think of McClellan as a truth-teller is beyond me. Is it because he seemed like a sweaty Pillsbury Doughboy cooking under the hot lights at the podium every afternoon?

Note to media: Just because someone is bad at lying, it doesn't make them a "truth-teller". That's a logical fallacy only a member of the media idiotarian could embrace.

And how many stories do we need to have on the order of, "The Tough Job of Being the Public Face of the White House" (from NPR's Melissa Block)?

Let's be clear here - Scott McClellan's job was tough because he believed that defending a White House wrapped in secrecy and lies was the right thing to do. Being a White House Press secretary is just a job. Defending liars on a daily basis is hard work. There's a difference between the two. Or there should be.

Scott McClellan continued to lie for the White House staff even after he himself was lied to. Even after those lies were revealed, he continued to cover them up. Even after it was revealed that the president himself was lying about the leaks.

He wasn't a victim. He was a volunteer.

I think Amy Poehler summed up McClellan's departure best on last week's prescient Saturday Night Live episode:

"According to Washington insiders, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan could be the next official to leave the Bush administration. McClellan says he'd like to spend more time lying for his family."

Hey, I hear his mother's campaign staff may need have an opening...Godspeed, Scottie.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Elie Wiesel

London is a busy city, a place crowded with people from all over the world. English may be heard, but also Arabic, Farsi, Swahili, Japanese, French, German... As we wandered the city last week, we became aware of the constant presence of the world as it is. You cannot move around the city and not be confronted with what is happening globally.

Brian Haw has been in front of the Houses of Parliament for almost five years. When we came across him last week, he was in his chair, and ready to talk about torture, and war and the deaths of children.

The Bush administration has been trotting out Air Force General Richard B. Meyers, the department chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at every conceivable opportunity to defend the President's policy on Iraq.

But neither Meyers nor his compliant media hosts like to remind the public that General Meyers has a pony in this race. His niece, Judy L. Meyers, is now the head of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), an agency created under the Department of Security by combining the former INS and the U.S. Customs Service.

Meyers was completely unqualified for the job. At ICE, she is responsible for supervising more than 100 times as many people and a budget that is 1,600 times bigger than her previous job. Conservative blogger Debby Schlussel has a good background piece on the controversy over Meyers' nomination.

And for the icing on this little happy-family cake, she just happens to be married to John F. Wood, currently serving as Chief of Staff to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

It's a cozy little world indeed out there. After all, wouldn't you be just a little more willing to step up to the plate if you knew that you were dealing with a bunch of thugs who would think nothing of throwing your niece out of work? At the very least, it's useful to know when there might be nepotistic conflicts of interest.

Lines Written In Early Spring


by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

How much is enough? As humanity has been warned again and again over the ages, by sages on every continent, the inability to limit our appetites and desires is a recurring theme in the decline and fall of civilizations. Not the only cause, but a good indicator that a civilization is going down.

No one agrees on how much is too much; embedded in the myth of the freedom of the individual in America (the American Dream) is a belief that nothing is too much, that as long as a person is making money by legally accepted methods, there should be no ceiling on the amount of compensation he or she can receive.

So what do I think is too much? I'm reminded of a famous remark by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart while he was wrestling with another of humankind's most long-standing problems (sex). Ruling in a 1964 pornography case, Justice Stewart said: "I shall not today attempt to further define pornography...but I know it when I see it."

How about here in the good old U.S.of A? Two stories today reminded me of how greed is gnawing away at the foundations of our country, as inequalities in wealth become greater by the day.

The first story is a perfect illustration of Justice Potter's point: today's corporate executives are essentially looting their companies and their shareholders by manipulating their boards to pay them sums of money which are unconscionable.

As today's poster boy, let's look at the New York Times feature on Lee R. Raymond, the outgoing chairman and chief executive for Exxon, where's worked for the last 43 years.

Counting his pension, Raymond has earned an AVERAGE of $144,573 a day over those 43 years.
That's right: an average of $144,573 a day.

All is not well within the political community of the (allegedly) monolithic religious right. Heads up to Bill Berkowitz over at Media Transparency for spotting yet another fault line in this community, as some religious conservatives recoil at their fellow travelers’ embrace of the defrocked former House whip, Tom Delay.

After watching Delay get a wonderful reception at the recent "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006" conference, Ken Connor, currently founder and president of the Center for a Just Society (“where faith, law and policy meet”) posted this blast on the front page of his website under the bracing headline: “A Double Standard for Delay.”

Connor used to be head of the Family Research Council, one of the most important theocratic organizations, so there’s little question about his conservative bona fides. Here are some excerpts from Connors’ piece:

What is most troubling to us, at the Center for a Just Society, has been the willingness of far too many Christian conservatives to cast a deaf ear and a blind eye toward DeLay's misdeeds….

Connor provides a link to a long piece from U.S. News & World Report with even more detail about DeLay and the internal struggle within the theocratic right.

DeLay’s troubles are only beginning, and if enough conservatives have the moral strength to be what Connor calls “equal opportunity critics,” the split in the Republican ranks could rock the polls this fall. Few of these fallen-away conservatives are likely to cross over and vote for Democratic candidates. But their disillusionment with what is now the mainstream Republican Party may lead enough of them to stay home to tip elections in close races.

Karen has told us many times and in many ways to speak out, to do something -- anything -- to help make visible the reality that this administration has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It's easy to read her words and say, "Yes, she's right. I'll do something...soon..."

Guess what? Time is running out.

That's the bad news. The good news -- if there can be good news about this subject -- is that people are starting to realize that time is short and are doing something about it...people like Ray McGovern.

Hello All,

We just got back from the performance and talk-back for FEAR UP, and there is some good information to share. The piece went well, and we are so grateful to the wonderful actors who told the stories with such honesty.

First of all, everyone is talking about the film Road to Guantanamo, which is the story of the Tipton Three. You can get it via Amazon (and other sources, no doubt) here . A good portion of our retelling of stories from Baghdad and Guantanamo is their story, and it is an important story for us to know about.

Secondly, we learned a great deal from the panelists for the talk-back. Houzan Mahmoud of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq spoke of the brutality of both the invaders and the insurgents against women and children, especially. She is also part of a new (as of March 2005) opposition group in Iraq, the Iraq Freedom Congress. A coalition of progressive grassroots labor, women's and other groups, the Congress acts as an independent, democratic, non-religious and non-ethnic counterbalance to the US-influenced government. She made the point strongly that a fundamentalist Islamic agenda will not fly in Iraq any more than the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein did. In fact, she said, women fared better under Hussein than they are faring now.

Houzan also said the Congress is getting good support from grassroots labor and peace groups in the US, which was good to hear.

Jim Brann from the Stop War Coalition pointed out that one tactic the Bush Administration has used is to deny history. He referenced Nicaragua and the Reagan administration's attempts to influence that country's balance of powers. He pointed out that "bombing is the U.S.'s way of teaching itself geography." He also mentioned that the Bush Adminsitration is now giving out medals for the war; the citations on them, according to Brann, describe the medals as awarded for "The Central Command Area after September 11, 2001". In other words, war without end.

Kartik Raj, who works with Amnesty International, provided his persepctive on the entire range of torture, from the overtly horrific to the "lighter" approaches, such as incessant music, or sleep deprivation. Many of these are referenced in FEAR UP and are also in the Road to Guantanamo film as well. Raj mentioned that AI has taken testimony from many of the Guanatanamo prisoners who have been released, family members of some of those still held, and those renditioned to countries such as Syria, where they are being tortured as well. He mentioned particularly the case of Jumah al-Dossari, a Guantanamo detainee who has attempted suicide several times. Kartik requests that we take action HERE.

What remains clear to me from this evening is the need for continual communication and willingness to learn. Stories are told *by heart* and it is with heart and fierce concern that we must hear them, and act, together and across boundaries.

There's been a lot of interesting discussion about immigration. Has anyone done any research on the issues? Looked into the details of the various immigration bills and able to offer summarizations of them?

The research I've done thus far indicates that there's even debate over just how to name the people who come into the US and live here without legal status.

In the INS and the Census Bureau language, an immigrant is a person who is migrating legally.

Wikipedia does a good job in laying out the definitions of the various terms that have been used.

In addition to telling our stories, let's do a little research on this topic and contribute it here.

The organizers planned for 5000 but 40,000 filled the streets, and not a single arrest was made. It was life-changing to experience this and to know that this was happening all over the country. These photos help speak for me. If our country is inclusive enough to reject the Sensenbrenner bill, I could feel patriotic for the first time in awhile. This also taught me alot about the true meaning of family values. We have so much more than we realize in this country, and there is enough for all. Wedges are driven between us, but warfare and pay raises to CEOs dwarf what it would cost for all of us to have a decent standard of living. I am so proud to live in a multicultural nation of hard-working people, a nation of immigrants, a place where people can still dream.

Second exit poll showing Silvio Berlusconi out as Prime Minister of Italy.

Reuters reporting Berlusconi out and Mediaset shares falling on the news.

The Guardian does a fine job of explaining the weirdness that is the complex political situation in Italy. (hat tip to Moonbootica)

And last but not least, meet Italy's new Prime Minister, Romano Prodi.

From this morning's Washington Post:

In churches, shops and sidewalks across the Washington region yesterday, thousands of people bustled in preparation for a rally that immigration advocates say could be a pivotal moment for Latinos and other groups seeking to demonstrate their political clout.

Organizers of the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice -- or La Marcha, as some volunteers are calling it -- said it could draw as many as 180,000 people to the Mall and hundreds of thousands more in nearly 100 cities nationwide.

Here is a site that can help you find exact time and location information for the many demonstrations scheduled across the country. It will also give you information on the many ways that you can help and downloads for flyers in English and Spanish.

So, how will you be protesting today?

And, BTW, if you are able to report back in from a protest or send photos, that would be wonderful. Just post your report here on the blog, and send the photos to dickbell@democracycellproject.net. We will try to post all photos we can. Picture being worth a thousand words and all...

Thanks for helping us to share what is happening across America.

Once again, John Kerry gives us a no-holds barred vision of what must immediately be done to resolve the incendiary situation in Iraq.

In his appearance on NBC's Meet The Press this morning, Senator Kerry (D-MA) continued to passionately press his case for holding Iraqis accountable and responsible for their own government.

In discussing his plan for successfully ending the US presence in Iraq, released earlier this week in an op-ed in The New York Times, Kerry continued to be the strong and leading voice in America on getting tough with Iraq's leaders.

Two deadlines and a date.

Fareed Zakaria, in lending his support to Kerry this morning, on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, said we've hidden behind idea that we'll hold elections, but that doesn't get you beyond the central question of power distribution between the Sunnis, Kurds and Shiias.  If U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad cannot get them to come together, Zakaria says, "it's worth it to listen to guys like John Kerry and Jack Murtha because we are not going to baby-sit a civil war."

In listening to Senator Kerry last week on the Senate floor, and today on Meet The Press, I was reminded of the Senator Kerry who first came to Washington 35 years ago to bring courage and character to the debate over a failed war and a failed foreign policy.  He was passionate, truthful, and representative of the growing national consciousness about the immorality of the war in Iraq.

Kerry was short, sweet and to the point with Russert this morning.  Two deadlines and a date.

What else does he want?

"I have a pretty short message, Tim.  Tell the truth, fire the incompetents, get out of Iraq."

Amen to that Senator Kerry.

Cross posted at The Daily Kos

Last night, my husband and I ventured out to see authors, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos and Jerome Armstrong of My DD) read and discuss their book, "Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots & the Rise of People-Powered Politics". We hoped to garner a few good grassroots ideas from the interaction of the authors and those assembled. Cars circled for parking, as we did, identifiable by bumper stickers (Dean, Air America, etc.). The sponsors were SEIU and Drinking Liberally, and the event was held in that church of labor, the Seattle Labor Temple. There is also a bar in the building, so the surprisingly sober talk was punctuated by noises of revelry from below. There was also a nice spread of free food, impressive for a progressive event.

I had learned that DailyKos gets more than a million visitors per day, that traffic has grown by 5-10% per week, that it is about to dwarf the weekday circulation of the New York Times. Combined with the 70 busiest progressive blogs, more people can now be reached than by the DNC per thestranger.com. The time may be passing when mainstream elements of the party could ignore the blogosphere in favor of highly-paid consultants. Blogs have certainly not faded from the scene, following the 2004 election. Bloggers pushed for Dean to be head of the DNC and now many want to transform the party. These authors certainly fall into that group and advocate for a "vast leftwing conspiracy" to rival the powerful conservative network of think tanks and big donors.

To us, the most interesting aspect of the talk was the Q & A session with local residents. A summary follows. Each Q represents a citizen activist, each A one or both of the authors (paraphrased from notes). The audience was made up of a broad spectrum within the progressive/liberal community, moreso than we expected. This Q/A series represents ordinary citizens and questions you or I might have and relates to political activities we already participate in and how we could expand on them.

Q Why don't we say what we're for rather than what we're against, as a message?

And so I get on an airplane in a few minutes and fly to London for a new staging of FEAR UP: Stories from Baghdad and Guantanamo. Marietta and I have reworked it and updated it; we were concerned that in the aftermath of this year's revelations about torture, and the horrific death toll in Iraq, it would seem quaint or too tame.

So we added some new facts, and a couple of scenes. One is a retelling of the Helen Thomas/Scotty McClelland *discussion* about torture; another a scene with an Army interrogator at Guanatanamo.

I will include the scene with the interrogator, which was taken from a first hand account. But I want to say something to all of the DCP readers and commenters and crew members before I go. The PLAY, FEAR UP, came out of true stories, just like the ones we read and post and tell here, every day. There is a Chinese adage that says, "May you live in interesting times." Well, we have been through far more than interesting times over the past years. We have witnessed and fought against the most terrible of regimes, and we have stood up for brave good people who speak truth to power.

So it is, in the end, the stories we tell each other that make the difference; that reveal who each of us is, at heart. And it is the stories we tell that teach others how it is, and show us into the hearts of others.

As I travel over the next few days, I carry each of you and your stories with me. They are important and they are the fabric of our beings and of these harsh times. Please keep telling them. They are lights in the darkness, and the antidote to fear.

Elise Alper and Maboud E. tell the stories in the original production of FEAR UP

I'm not sure about you, but I'm in a wee bit of shell shock over the immensity of the revelation, one we've long suspected but have been waiting interminably for evidence. Sort of like being in an accident and watching things go slow motion as the car tumbles, pitches and rolls. Is this issue going to come to a grinding halt or will those seeds of darkness planted three years ago reach the light of day and much-needed justice?

FROM TODAY'S AP:

"The president said early on he wanted to get to the bottom of this. I think it's now long past the point the president and vice president come out and level with the American people." — Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Plame's husband.

The pundits, the politicians, the spinmeisters and the media mixmasters are doing their chime-in, framing, and shaping message.

What do we, the American people say?

John Kerry making a floor statement on ending the war in Iraq.

Now on C-SPAN.

Go watch and blog here. IRC chat is also open.

Senator Russ Feingold didn't waste any time endorsing his fellow Senator John Kerry's call for pulling out of Iraq on a firm timeline. There is the usual grumping around the blogosphere about who went first, etc. People need to lift up their eyes unto the hills: something is happening in the House and the Senate, and instead of gimlet-eyed examination of "who's on first," we should be excited to see Murtha and Kerry and Feingold all lining up in the same direction: it's time to get out of Iraq. Senator Feingold's quick statement in support of Kerry (see below) is a tribute to Feingold's selflessness in pursuing this goal.

Could there be any doubt that the millions of people who've been working to end the war are seeing some results for all their hard work? It wasn't the DNC that sent Murtha and Feingold and Kerry out there to take these positions. It was us. We're not sitting in the water anymore, with no one to champion our cause inside the Capitol. Now we have to get more Senators and Reps to get off their butts and sign on ASAP. One of the basic rules in politics is that if your opponent is down, whether he/she slipped or you put him/her there, so you want to get your foot on his/her neck and never let up on the pressure.

Here are some of the things I have been reading in the comments sections that are rational and well thought out:

From a Daily Kos commenter:

This op-ed was not written by a senator or a former presidential candidate, though John Kerry is both those things.

It was written by a former soldier who has been fighting for fellow veterans and for the safety of our troops for 35 years. This former soldier is pissed off at the needless suffering and death he's seen on his visits to Iraq, he's pissed off that he was lied to by his own president and that kids are dying as a result. He's had enough and this is both a warning shot to the Bush administration and a call to arms.

A call to all of us who care about the heartless, heedless, ignorant foreign policy of this administration which is throwing away lives every day. A call to me and a call to you.

This op-ed was written by a guy who's been there and wants our troops HOME and out of danger. But he's also a decorated officer and an excellent, educated military strategist and possibly the most informed, caring member of the Senate Foreign Services Committee. What you're reading here is the result not only of combat experience but also of conversations with generals on the ground and troops on the spot. It is also the result of careful assessment of the diplomatic possibilities of the region and discussions with the leaders of surrounding countries.

So forget all your opinions about Kerry the Senator and Kerry the Candidate -- answer this call and spread the word of Kerry the Veteran and Patriot. What he's saying here makes SENSE.

Send letters to the editor, forward this op-ed to everyone you know, call your local TV stations and talk about it and demand they cover it, and forward it to your members of congress and make sure they know you want them to do whatever they can to make it happen! What John Kerry is calling for here is important not for Democrats or Republicans, but for our country and for the world.

And from Tena at the blog First Draft in response to a commenter (who is not a troll). The commenter's post is in italics:

I mean, I'm grateful that he did, but in both cases it's kind of a day late and a dollar short..... steve simels

I don't think so, and I'll tell you why, and it isn't because I think Kerry is the shizzy. It's because the first goddamned thing out of every Repug's mouth and every f****** pundit's mouth for months has been: The Democrats have no plan. The Democrats have no ideas. Ok, here's a plan and it's based on reality and I like it - it's a good damn plan, the best I've seen. With the most well-reasoned support, and rather succinctly put, at that.

Can we put aside moaning about Kerry long enough to have some appreciation for the plan? Am I the only one who thinks it make perfect sense?

And steve simels responds:

No...as I said, I'm glad Kerry is doing this and I think the party should get behind him on it. steve simels | 04.04.06 - 11:52 pm | #

The above is a good example of what supporting Kerry on the blogs looks like, and how we can use blogs to gain more active support for an issue we are working on, or rebut complaints folks may have, and change opinion through discussion.

From Phoenix Woman:

Kerry's throwing out a lifeline to the other Democrats, and saying "Here's a workable stance on Iraq, a lifeline you can use to set yourselves apart from the Republicans who are chained to Bush and his war. F*** Lieberman, ignore him; he's just a Bush groupie anyway. Use my lifeline to ease away from the Bush/Iraq sinking ship and onto the waiting lifeboat."

From David in Austin:

I am surprised, to this day, the number of Democratic supporters who refuse to support Democrats (Lieberman excepted), who chose to stand up and display some attachments.

Should Kerry have been more forceful in 2004?

What does it matter in 2006.

Good point, not to mention the fact that the majority of Americans still supported the war in Iraq in 2004. That has changed dramatically. That is what gives this proposal an excellent chance of having impact.

I put these posts up because they demonstrate some of the arguments being thrown around out there, and because they are effective in addressing them.

Effectiveness in addressing arguments against one's position is not a partisan issue. It's a political skill that takes constant practice.

Please take these ideas with you as you post around the blogs today, showing support for the solutions that are being presented.

And then come back here and post in the comments what you are hearing and seeing out there, and what the effective responses are.

In Wednesday's New York Times, John Kerry issues a call for ending the war in Iraq: if the Iraqis cannot form a government by May 15th, Kerry wants to withdraw U.S. troops immediately. And if they beat this May 15th deadline, Kerry wants the new government to accept the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2006.

Kerry's proposal overlaps Rep. John Murtha's previous withdrawal proposal, but Kerry goes one better thanh Murtha by setting specific dates and conditions.

Here's what Kerry wrote in the Times:

Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America’s leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. We want democracy in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our valiant soldiers can’t bring democracy to Iraq if Iraq’s leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that democracy requires.

Here's a question for the room I picked up on. Feel free to bat it around and expand on it:

Has anyone bothered to explain how it is that indicted felon Tom DeLay, who would currently be residing in the Fort Bend County Jail had he not posted a $100k bond, can up and decide to move his place of residence to Virginia?

Sounds like Ronnie Earle might want to petition the court on that.

And is it me, or does it seem that the whole of Texas election law can pretty much be summed up with the word, "whatever"?

UPDATED: Here's the next round of questions:

What level of pissed off will people who just donated to his campaign under the 3.31 deadline be feeling about now?

Does he get to keep that money? What will be the pressure to return it or turn it over to the next fellow? How do we rachet up that pressure?

It seems to me that if he is leaving because of bad polling (as he told the very excited Chris Matthews, and the polling was done in advance of the deadline, does that make a prima facie case for fraud, or at least grounds for a big stink if he decides to try to keep it and use it for his legal defense fund?

CNN's Dana Bash confirms from two Congressional sources that former House Majority Leader and indicted felon Tom DeLay (R-Texas) will not seek re-election.

Nothing up on their web site yet.

...MSNBC's Chris Matthews confirms that he spoke to DeLay.

DeLay to make announcement tomorrow.

More from Time Magazine on how Tom DeLay plans to lie his way OUT of Congress. Lovely:

DeLay said he is likely to leave by the end of May, depending on the Congressional schedule and finishing his work on a couple of issues. He said he will change his legal residence to his condominium in Alexandria, Va., from his modest two-story home on a golf course here in the 22nd District of Texas. "I become ineligible to run for election if I'm not a resident of the state of Texas," he said, turning election law to his purposes for perhaps on last time. State Republican officials will then be able to name another Republican candidate to face Democrat Nick Lampson, a former House members who lost his seat in a redistricting engineered by DeLay.

The latest in our series to heal the lumpen…

I would like to discuss a topic that came sharply into focus this week in Andersonia… Namely, the smoking ban.

Now you may be saying to yourself, “Hey, I don’t smoke, and I really don’t give a damn.” But I think this is a critical issue because it represents one more hill in the “I’m going to tell you how to live” battle that is raging on many fronts in our country.

It’s another hill we lost.

Well, spring has finally sprung here in the Northeast and thank God for that. I don't know how much longer the children I know could have waited. I don't know how much longer I could have waited.

And isn't that always the way?

I think about that, in terms of the work we all do here on the Democracy Cell Project, in our communities, our families and our lives. How we keep working through every season to make things better, be involved, create change.

In politics, as in life, it seems like winter lasts forever. But there have been some definite signs of spring out there all last week.

And my son ran into the house this morning, breathless from counting the crocuses, "There's seventeen now, Mom! There's sevenTEEN! There weren't even any last week!"

Photo credit: Michael Johnson

Yup. Spring is here, and I am taking a day to look back at where we were this time last year, enjoy the day, and feel gratitude for all of you.

[From the ongoing Saturday series, "Art and Politics", examining the impact of Politics on Art, Art on Politics, and a few things in between.]

This was in my e-mail a few days ago, and I was reminded of its presence by John Aravosis. There is an artfulness about the structure of its writing that often eludes political communications.

REMEMBER WHEN you displayed your flag on the front porch on the 4th of July, and you didn’t have to worry about whether it would be misinterpreted as support for a corrupt president and his administration?

REMEMBER WHEN ‘Support the Troops’ meant equipping our military with everything necessary for battle, instead of just being a catchy phrase that looked good on a bumper-sticker?

REMEMBER WHEN your tax dollars paid for things like improved education and social programs, instead of making Halliburton shareholders millionaires?

REMEMBER WHEN you watched movies about WWII, and it was the enemy who tortured captured American soldiers, instead of American soldiers torturing the people they’d allegedly ‘liberated’?

REMEMBER WHEN you heard something on the TV news or read something in a newspaper, and you didn’t have to go to the internet to find out just how much of it was fact, and how much of it was ‘spin’?

REMEMBER WHEN a politician was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he resigned in disgrace, instead of excusing his own behaviour by claiming that his political opponents were equally as guilty of wrongdoing?

REMEMBER WHEN ‘Made in the USA’ labels on products were the norm, and not a total oddity?

REMEMBER WHEN you hitchhiked through Europe as a teenager, and you DIDN’T have to replace the American flag on your knapsack with a Canadian flag in order to be a welcomed guest in a foreign country?

REMEMBER WHEN organized crime figures had to make phone calls from the corner phone booth, because they were the only people who had to worry about wire-taps?

REMEMBER WHEN telling a fellow politician on the floor of the House to ‘go f*ck himself’ was considered behaviour unbecoming an elected official, instead of being accepted as the way a Vice President behaves himself?

REMEMBER WHEN you could pretty well count on the fact that if the president said it, it was based on sound intelligence and was probably true?

REMEMBER WHEN you could rely on your elected representatives to put your interests ahead of the corporations that filled their campaign coffers, or the lobbyists who gave them great basketball tickets?

REMEMBER WHEN you didn’t even KNOW what religion the people you voted for were, because it didn’t really matter? Remember when you didn’t know what party your neighbour belonged to, because that didn’t really matter either?

REMEMBER WHEN the pension you’d worked for your whole life wasn’t in danger of being wiped out by corrupt CEOs, assisted by respected accounting firms that made that corruption almost impossible to detect?

REMEMBER WHEN you could brag that as an American, you were guaranteed things like free speech and due process of law, without checking the nightly news to see whether those rights were still in effect?

REMEMBER WHEN the president upheld the law of the land, instead of coming up with ‘legal loopholes’ to support the idea that he’s above the law?

REMEMBER WHEN you could say, “I’m a proud American,” without qualifying it with a list of all of the things your government is doing that you’re not exactly proud of?

REMEMBER WHEN you actually thought that the people in charge of running your country were smarter than you were?

REMEMBER WHEN your parents worked all their lives to ensure you a better life, instead of worrying about how bad the life they’d be leaving their children might be?

REMEMBER WHEN the importance of clean drinking water and breathable air were unquestionable mandates, and not some crazy hippie agenda to be weighed against corporate profits?

REMEMBER WHEN questioning your government’s policies was seen as ‘participating in the process’, and not ‘giving aid and comfort to the enemy’?

REMEMBER WHEN the ‘enemy’ was a country or military force that posed a threat to American democracy, and not a nation of innocent civilians who whose destruction was dismissible as ‘collateral damage’?

REMEMBER WHEN your country went to war based on facts beforehand, instead of constantly-changing suppositions after-the-fact?

REMEMBER WHEN ‘patriotism’ was judged by your words and actions, and not by whether you were a member of the party currently in power?

REMEMBER WHEN the ‘American Dream’ was attainable through diligence and hard work, and not the luck of the ‘outsourcing’ draw?

REMEMBER WHEN the election of a president was considered the result of democracy in action, and not the result of Diebold executives doing the job they were expected to do?

REMEMBER WHEN you sang ‘God Bless America’ as a kid, and never thought you’d grow up to wonder if, in view of your country’s actions, asking God’s blessing was asking a bit too much?

I REMEMBER WHEN … and I wonder if these ideas will become ancient history by the time those of us old enough to recall them are dead and gone.

Thoughts? What would you add? What would you remove?