Democrats on the Same Team about Iraq

Now it's up to us to make sure everyone steps up to the plate too.

Actually, I wonder if Mathews and Delay's comments were to take our eyes off Kerry's Iraq comments and now Feingolds.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/05/oh-get-a-room/

Feingold's comments starting with August, while the plan wasn't a plan, and Kerry's October plan was a plan. Now this. Definitely who's on first.

Why, too, Feingold's statement on gay marriage. Not liking so blatantly self-serving.

Max Cleland has made a statement too, I don't know if it's been posted yet.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/news/news_2006_0405c.html

Very heart warming and encouraging, I remember how much he gave during the primaries, had to blog about it,

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/

Glad to see Feingold making this statement, it would be nice to get everybody on the same page for once. It's so practical. Like Max says in hs statement, it gives the Iraqis a shot at democracy, with clear guidelines to bring our troops home.

Off target as usual...
This is from Sen Debbie Stabenow from Michigan about my letter on immigration policy.

Thank you . . .

. . . for contacting me regarding our nation's immigration policies. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me. I understand and appreciate your deep concerns.

As you know, since 9-11 of 2001, the issue of immigration has been at the forefront of Congress. The Senate Judiciary Committee, of which I am not a member, recently reported out immigration legislation to the full Senate for debate. The issue will be considered by the Senate in the coming weeks.

As you know, President Bush and several members of Congress have proposed various programs and reforms. These proposals have dealt with a broad range of issues including our national security, border enforcement, guest worker programs and the issues of immigrant workers in agriculture, seasonal jobs, and high-skilled positions.

Michigan faces unique immigration issues as a major border state with Canada, including the protection of hundreds of miles of unguarded borders. I have helped lead efforts to increase resources along our northern border. I have also visited our nation's southern border to view first-hand the major challenges unique to our Mexican-American border. In addition, my office has been contacted by thousands of Michigan citizens about their problems with our federal immigration system. I am well aware of the urgent need for reform and the impact of our system on those trying to navigate this complicated bureaucracy.

For these reasons, I believe that we must consider any reforms to our immigration system in a comprehensive and balanced manner, first and foremost taking into account our nation's security, the jobs of American workers, the rights of individuals and the economic interests of our state.

Thank you again for contacting my office. I will keep your strong views in mind as the Senate considers this issue. As always, please don't hesitate to contact me whenever I can be of assistance to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Debbie Stabenow

United States Senator

But don ot forget this is a mess
Nine U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq; Three Missing

I am on Vern Ehlers mailing list (gotta keep track of the enemy)
Here is his views on the budget...

Thank you for contacting me about the federal budget for the coming year. I appreciate knowing your views.

Congress and the President have made restoring fiscal restraint and dealing with growing deficits a priority. There is a two-fold strategy for reducing the deficit: spending restraint and economic growth. We ended last year with a $318 billion deficit, which represented a one-year reduction of about $95 billion, so we are making some progress. These deficit reductions are largely due to increased tax receipts, an indication of a strong national economy. In addition, Congress has taken steps to reduce unnecessary spending and to reform outdated federal programs.

On February 6, the President sent to Congress his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. It focuses federal spending on defense and homeland security priorities, and it calls for essentially a hard freeze on non-defense, non-homeland security spending, with some specific programs being increased and others decreased. The budget also proposes $65 billion in reductions to "mandatory" programs (those not subject to annual appropriations and that run on autopilot without regular intervention or review), including Medicare, Medicaid, agriculture programs, and pension insurance. Finally, the President has asked Congress to make permanent the tax relief we passed in 2001 and 2003, in order to avoid burdensome tax increases on families and businesses and to maintain our country's economic growth. Under the President's budget proposal, the federal deficit is projected to be cut in half by 2009.

While it is the President's job to submit a budget proposal, the ultimate responsibility for writing the budget falls to Congress. Over the coming months, I will carefully study the requests and, as usual, I will likely support some aspects and oppose others. For example, I am very excited about the President's proposal to strengthen American competitiveness by increasing investments in scientific research and development, recruiting more math and science teachers, and encouraging innovation to strengthen our ability to compete in the global economy. These are initiatives that I have been pressing for years.

However, it will be very difficult for us to address the many priorities that different people and groups have within this budget. I know that many will want us to increase spending for health care, education, transportation, veterans, the environment, and agriculture, among other programs. If we are to show fiscal restraint, though, Congress will be faced with some difficult choices among the many important programs the federal government funds. Clearly we must look to cut wasteful spending first, and then Congress will have to set priorities as the budget process proceeds.

I appreciate knowing your views, and I will keep them in mind as we craft our budget. Sincerely, Vernon J. Ehlers Member of Congress

Dear All:

I just wanted to throw something out for consideration. I think there is a lot of merit in many of these approaches on disentangling ourselves from Iraq, including this latest refinement from John Kerry, but I wanted to make a larger point.

First let me say that I saw Dean on CNN and he had a lot of good things to say. Also, I think that Feingold's call for hearings for censure are very appropriate given the fact that the manner in which POTUS has pursued searches and seizures of Americans is, at best, in a legal grey area, and at worst a flagrant abuse of power and a crime.

Now, to my point. I don't like to personalize these issues too much, but it is inevitable that to some degree messages and messengers conflate. In that vein, I think it is very important to the causes most of us beleive in that we defend the messengers.

In this case, John Kerry, a man whose career I am pretty familiar with, pushed these issues forward over the decades and carried the banner for these issues in the last generals. I think it is very important to the message that we do not allow this messenger -- or any of the others -- twist in the winds.

For real change to occur, our people must come to recognize the lost opportunity we had in 2004 to correct our course as a nation. This in turn means we must continue to defend all of those, including John Kerry, from personal attacks, and, more importantly, stress what good leaders that have been and continue to be. Even more basic, if we disgard or scoff at our chosen leaders just because on a given Sunday the ball bounced the wrong way, we end up the losers.

That is not hero-worship. That is simply recognizing and rewarding merit and standing behind those that try to stand up for us. We need to be loyal to leaders that have earned that loyalty or in the end we are only spitting in the wind.

Hope that made sense.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck in Houston

Posted by: chuck at April 5, 2006 09:10 PM

Chuck,

It made perfect sense. And I agree with you. (So I hope that doesn't make you regret your statement. heh heh heh)

Posted by: Sandy at April 5, 2006 08:47 PM

Thanks for sharing those. I hadn't seen both of them yet. I think you're right. We do need to be on the same page and it's nice to see Cleland and Feingold step up to the plate. Who is next?

Thanks, sparrow -- I think I might have tried to cram to much into it plus the usual typos. I guess I am just trying to warn against that "Narcissism of small differences" (I think it's called) and projecting too much on people who are, after all, to most of us, complete strangers as flesh-and-blood people, and keep focusing our limited resources as a team where they can do the most good.

Chuck in Houston

Linda:

I second-that big-time -- I also assumed it was a typo.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck- I agree with you that we need to support our leaders, and I also think that we need to be able to relate to others what our leaders' plans for our country are. So, it's good that they're now stating a time limit for the withdrawal of our troops. I'm sick of democrats sitting still for the Republican claims that we have no agenda- that all we are is anti-Bush. Our party has always been pro-environment, pro-equal rights, pro-labor, pro-decent healthcare for all citizens- there are lots of things that we're FOR, not just against. So, if our leadership now says we're FOR withdrawing from Iraq by the year's end, we can agree that we're "FOR" that too. It's a start of a platform, at least.
BTW- a comment was made on CNN that DeLay's resignation may have been a direct result of
DeLay's political savvy- an indication that he believes there'll be a "political tsunami" in November. Vern nice to hear that kind of rhetoric on CNN for a change.

Battlebob,

If you don't like her response, then call them back and tell them what you think she needs to think about and/or do.

Linda and Chuck,

Great catch. Lol. I read it, but with my migraine it didn't click.

Wonderful follow-up to Kerry's Op-Ed & great comments!

& here's a tidbit:

LONDON Reuters http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=11758929&src=rss/Entertainment -
British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.

Wondering if it was Rock the Casbah? London Calling?
Ridiculous.

And more election fraud stuff. It's like quicksand! (without end!)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/5/11636/85527

Republican-dominated Congress voted to limit 527 spending.
They'll do anything to stay in power.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1811114

We need to get out before we mess things up more.

Democracy in Iraq Not a Priority in US Budget
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506D.shtml
While Bush wants to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy, his administration cuts funding for the organizations trying to carry out his vision, democratic institutions such as political parties and civil society groups.

Is US Planning More Attacks on Shiite Militias?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506E.shtml
The attack by US-led Iraqi paramilitary forces on a building that Shiite leaders claim was a mosque may have marked the beginning of a new stage of US policy in which Iraqi forces are used to carry out military operations against Shiite militia forces.

US Uses Front Companies for "Rendition"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506K.shtml
Human rights group Amnesty International accused the United States on Wednesday of using front companies to transfer individuals to countries where they have faced torture or ill-treatment.

I Will Not Be Forced Out by US and UK, Says Iraqi PM
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506S.shtml
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Baghdad - his first since Condoleezza Rice and Jack Straw pleaded with him and his rivals for an immediate agreement to prevent a slide to civil war - Ibrahim Jaafari insisted he would continue to carry out his duties.

Alarm at UK Call on International Law
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506G.shtml
Politicians and human rights campaigners reacted with dismay Tuesday to British Defense Secretary John Reid's call for international laws, including the Geneva Conventions, to be redrawn.

Linda:

I agree that it will be helpful to have a coherent opposition party position with respect to disentangling ourselves from internal Iraqi politics. However, we do have both a moral obligation and a national interest obligation to insure that our withdrawal does not make a bad situation even worse. That will require a broader agenda on how to develop a coherent foreign policy in the region, which in turn will require at a minimum the active support of the US, EU, Russia and China and has to somehow come to grips with the fact that Iran now has considerable leverage in Iraq and potential protectors in Russia and China. At the same time, the Israel-Palestine dispute has a huge impact in the Arab world, especially in countries hosting large, and largely unwanted, diasporas of displaced Palestinian families (beyond the national pride issues, which are of a different nature but which are also significant).

Chuck in Houston

Plus, as per our Constitution, we only get one CinC at a time, and one Secretary of State at a time, so it is a bit unrealistic to expect the party that does not control the Executive Branch (or any other branch for that matter) to develop a dynamic approach to this.

Chuck in Houston

And yes, our national interest in the region does involve the energy industry, which is why, in the longer run, the foundation of the platform has to include real momentum toward ecologically sustainable energy independence.

Chuck in Houston

Dianne:

That vote to limit 527s is really significant and should be renamed the stop moveon and unions, legislation.
While DeLay is about to leave, Drier, Hastert, and Boehner are ready to carry the water for the RNC and voters should be reminded that this vote reflects that the anything goes mentality of Delay is alive and kicking. The people's business be damned.
My guess is that this legislation will be tested before Alito and Roberts. More of the same old same old with this crowd Dianne.

I'm almost done reading the article by George Packer in the most recent New Yorker about Iraq. It covers the current state of Iraq, the insurgency, the way the war has been handled/mishandled by the administration, plans/realities of leaving Iraq, etc. A large part of the article includes information from & discussions with US Army Colonel H. R. McMasters (author of "Dereliction of Duty") and his experience in Tal Afar.

The article is not available online; however, you can listen to an 8 minute interview with Packer here ==> http://www.newyorker.com/online/covers/?060410onco_covers_gallery

Or get your hands on the printed copy of the magazine and read the article...

BTW, Scott Ritter wrote some stuff about McMasters -- praise & criticisms -- in an Alternet article about recruitment in January, if you want to get a sense of what McMasters did in Tal Afar...
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/ritter/30941/

I may give some highlights of the New Yorker article tomorrow, if anyone is interested... Let me know.

Madame Dafarge
Thanks! We get the New Yorker. I'm going to crawl into bed & read it, or at least get started. Thanks again.

Ira
Yes, it's more than tiresome. This crowd will do anything to stay in power.

I just watched Ben Cohen's Oreo presentation again - our military budget dwarfs everything else in our budget and everyone else's, including Russia, China and the "Axis of Evil."
It's obscene. It's like a welfare system devoted to killing rather than human services.

Interesting book:
Attention Deficit Democracy
(also discusses battered American syndrome)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory114.html

I remember shortly after the 2004 election Kerry sending out his videos. Those were somewhat cryptic and open to speculation as to exactly what his plans were.

There is no doubt exactly where he stands right now. This is refreshing.

It also reminds me of my earlier prediction that Kerry would establish a shadow Presidency in the Senate. It has taken awhile but now Americans are realizing that a terrible mistake occured when Bush was placed back in the White House. It is also heartening to witness other Democrats coming together and support a rationale patriotic plan to protect our soldiers.

John Kerry has established himself as a true leader. I am proud to have voted for him and worked on his behalf.

Christy Harden Smith from Firedoglake makes an excellent point...

Why is our government doing background checks on activists but not on its own staff?

Pedophiles in Our Midst

By Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake. Posted April 6, 2006.
http://www.alternet.org/story/34528/

Howard on Hardball...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12174553/from/RS.1/

"House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) described the bill as "the first piece of the broad GOP lobbying and earmark reform package." Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) declared that the legislation demonstrates that "the Republican Party is the party of reform."

Their statements drew ridicule from Democrats. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the measure is designed to tilt campaign finance in favor of the GOP and will not change the public image of this session as "the Congress that Jack and Tom built."

This is the first leg of their so called reform package? What other corrupt legislation do they have in mind perhaps increasing the meal allowance and expanding golf outings.

I like this frame: The Congress that Jack and Tom built; what do the rest of you think?

Was it not the RNC that did everything in their power to block McCain/Feingold and accept $8 million from Bob Perry in 527 money to slime JK. Perhaps we should know what the swiftboaters think of this legislation.

OnCall
Well said. I am taking the same position.

While the Republicans are scattering and running like rats from a sinking ship, it is good to have this show of solidarity on Iraq. There is no better time to show them that Democratic Unity is not an oxymoron.

A few last nuggets about DeLay from buzzflash made me chuckle:

snip
"Before Tom DeLay became the official Anti-Christ of the Republican Party (or maybe he shares the position with Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush), he was known as "Hot Tub Tom" when he served in the Texas legislature.

Actually, his partying ways never quite stopped. He took a junket of lobbyists to Las Vegas a few years back and smoked a fine cigar as his daughter (we are not making this up) soaked in a hot tub of champagne, as the lobbyists poured the bubbly in.

Oh, and did we remind you that he won't speak to his mother, and won't acknowledge one of his brothers? DeLay's mother told the Washington Post awhile back that she doesn't know why Tom has disowned her, but it breaks her heart.

Did we also tell you that DeLay, a former exterminator (whose business fell apart in a court house dispute with his partner), thinks that the toxic chemical Dioxin is GOOD for you?"

I've posted this before - the "thermometer" map of Georgie's approval rating. Watch it for about a minute to see the latest national & state temperature for our Commander InCompetence...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2554826

Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, April 6, 2006

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff has testified that President Bush authorized him to disclose the contents of a highly classified intelligence assessment to the media to defend the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, according to papers filed in federal court on Tuesday by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.

Libby testified to a federal grand jury that he had received "approval from the President through the Vice President" to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified to a federal grand jury that he had received "approval from the President through the Vice President" to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to the court papers. Libby was said to have testified that such presidential authorization to disclose classified information was "unique in his recollection," the court papers further said.

Libby also testified that an administration lawyer told him that Bush, by authorizing the disclosure of classified information, had in effect declassified the information. Legal experts disagree on whether the president has the authority to declassify information on his own.

The White House had no immediate reaction to the court filing.

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0406nj1.htm

A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case, THE NEW YORK SUN reports Thursday.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bush_authorized_leak_of_Iraq_intelligence_0406.html

This just in from TayTay on DU:

Prosecutor says county fudged recount "head" Recount was fudged, prosecutor says
Prosecutor says Cuyahoga skirted rules
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

After the 2004 presidential election, Cuyahoga County election workers secretly skirted rules designed to make sure all votes were counted correctly, a special prosecutor charges.

While there is no evidence of vote fraud, the prosecutor said their efforts were aimed at avoiding an expensive - and very public - hand recount of all votes cast.

Three top county elections officials have been indicted, and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter says more indictments are possible. Michael Vu, executive director of the Cuyahoga County elections board, said workers followed procedures that had been in place for 23 years. He said board employees had no objection to doing an exhaustive hand count if needed, meaning they had no motive to break the law.

Baxter charges that Cuyahoga election workers -mindful of the monthlong Florida recount in 2000 - not only ignored the safeguards but worked to defeat them during Ohio's 2004 recount. Candidates for president from the Green and Libertarian parties requested the Ohio recount. State laws and regulations specify how a recount works. Election workers in each county are supposed to count 3 percent of the ballots by hand and by machine, randomly choosing precincts for that count.

Kerger said he believes there are two reasons, generally, why an elections board would precount before a recount. The first is to change the results of the vote, which he does not believe happened.

The second, he speculated, was that "the workers were so tired and didn't want to hassle with doing a hand recount."

see the whole story here:
http://tinyurl.com/jw3ac

***
And that's it folks, democracy dead because it's just TOO HARD! Hey! We're tired over here! We all want a vacation! Let's just kill people and discount their votes and their lives and get to the golf course!

DCP Family forum members:

If you have time to help today, go here and follow instructions

http://www.democracycellproject.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1051&view=findpost&p=4149

JK headed to floor of Senate for his speech.