A Common Sense Road to Peace

The inevitable result of trickle down economics...

They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob.
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear,
I was always there, right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead --
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad, now it's done --
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower, up to the sun,
brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower, now it's done --
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal --
Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, ah, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal --
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

thank you! I was hoping for a story on that, considered writing one! Wonderful photo.

Just received this (which was actually in reference partially to the indigenous people of Oaxaca), but could apply most anywhere:

I see mankind as a herd of cattle inside a fenced enclosure. Outside the fence are green pastures and plenty for the cattle to eat, while inside the fence there is not quite grass enough for the cattle. Consequently, the cattle are tramping underfoot what little grass there is and goring each other to death in their struggle for existence.

I saw the owner of the herd come to them, and when he saw their pitiful condition he was filled with compassion for them and thought of all he could do to improve their condition.

So he called his friends together and asked them to assist him in cutting grass from outside the fence and throwing it over the fence to the cattle. And that they called Charity.

Then, because the calves were dying off and not growing up into serviceable cattle, he arranged that they should have a pint of milk every morning for breakfast.

Because they were dying off in the cold nights, he put up beautiful well-drained and well-ventilated cowsheds for the cattle.

Because they were goring each other in the struggle for existence, he put corks on the horns of the cattle, so that the wounds they gave each other might not be so serious. Then he reserved a part of the enclosure for the old bulls and the old cows over 70 years of age.

In fact, he did everything he could think of to improve the condition of the cattle, and when I asked him why he did not do the one obvious thing, break down the fence, and let the cattle out, he answered: "If I let the cattle out, I should no longer be able to milk them."

The blogosphere is humming not just about Mitt Romney but now about Ken Mehlman's links to Abramhoff. & then the original financial backer for Swift Boats for Truth is running anti Ned Lamont ads.

Let's hope voters attend to corruption as well as sex scandals.
Alot of it is their tax money, after all!

Kerry: Washington a House of Lies

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Kerry_Washington_a_house_of_lies_1014.html

Let's see which media cover this - & it'll be on C-Span again and Kerry will be on Fox News with Chris Wallace, talking about national security.

America is Finally Revolting Against the Republicans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1922825,00.html

Thanks for this. The Nobel Peace Prize can sometimes be a head- scratcher (Kissinger???!!), but this was both deserved and FRESH, a reminder that peace is not just about diplomatic negotiations between countries, but something more, and deeper, than that.

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 11:00 AM

DiAnne, thanks for this great article! I already feel an extra spring to my step. : )

The article Fe linked to above talks about the process of selecting the winner for this year's Nobel peace prize, but provides relatively little detail about the recipient or why he was selected for this honor.

To fill in the blanks, here's some info from a recent Reuters headline news story on Muhammad Yunus that explains more about why he so richly deserves the Peace Prize this year for extending the paradigm of peacefulness to include economic as well as military definitions of the term:

---------------

OSLO (Reuters) - Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for grassroots work to lift millions out of poverty that earned him the nickname "banker to the poor."

Yunus, 66, set up a new kind of bank in 1976 to lend to the neediest, particularly women, in Bangladesh, enabling them to start up small businesses without collateral.

In doing so, he pioneered microcredit, a system copied in more than 100 nations from the United States to Uganda. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, presidents and prime ministers hailed the award, the first Nobel Peace Prize to a Bangladeshi.

"Eradication of poverty can give you real peace," Yunus told reporters at his home in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, after he won from a field of 191 candidates.

"Now the war against poverty will be further intensified across the world. It will consolidate the struggle against poverty through microcredit in most of the countries," he said. "There should be no poverty, anywhere."

In awarding a prize more traditionally given to those who sign treaties to end wars or fight for human rights, the secretive five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee said eliminating poverty was a path to peace and democracy.

"Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights," the committee added.

[snip]

Returning from a Fulbright scholarship in the United States, Yunus was shaken by the 1974 Bangladesh famine and headed out into the villages to see what he could do.

He found the region's women in severe debt to extortionate moneylenders. His initial goal was simply to persuade a local bank manager to give villagers regular credit, but the banker said that was impossible without a guarantee.

Yunus set out to prove him wrong and never looked back. Grameen -- the word means "village" or "rural" in the Bangla language -- has lent $5.72 billion since it began. Of this, $5.07 billion has been repaid.

The bank, which has turned a profit in all but three years, lends to 6.6 million people, 96 percent of them women, and has not received donor funds in eight years. It counts beggars among its members, giving them interest-free loans and life insurance.

Members are not required to give up begging, but encouraged to work. Today the bank is 94 percent owned by the rural poor it serves and 6 percent by the state. Yunus is managing director.

Nobel Committee Chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes told Reuters: "This idea was generated in a mostly Muslim country and then fantastically spread to the whole world in a positive way."

[snip]

--> Full article is here: http://tinyurl.com/y8gfuq

---------------

buddy can you paradigm,
Otter

Man what if Frist lost his seat!!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6266660

It would only be appropriate if Frist lost his seat, since he obviously lost his head quite some time ago.

and frist in the hindparts of his countrymen,
Otter

These photos put a human face on isolated North Korea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6052344.stm

And speaking of human faces, he segued smoothly...

---------------

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that voters "know something is wrong" in Washington and urged Democrats to create change in the November elections.

"I have never seen the American people so serious," said Clinton. "I think I know why. People know things are out of whack. The rhythm of our public life and our common life in America has been disturbed."

The former president was the keynote speaker at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, the Iowa Democratic Party's biggest annual fundraising event. He drew more than 3,500 activists.

There is speculation that Clinton's wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, may seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. She has not been in Iowa during this election cycle, even though other candidates have already begun campaigning in the state that will open the presidential nominating season.

Bill Clinton joked about the speculation. "I am under no illusions as to why I'm here," he said. "You were so desperate for a Democrat with any name recognition at all who isn't running for president that you resorted to the chief caseworker to the junior senator from New York."

Clinton urged activists to focus on the midterm election.

"People are sick of partisanship, they are sick of gridlock and they are coming to us in droves," said Clinton. "People know something is wrong and they want to change."

Clinton called the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress "unprecedentedly unaccountable" and said tax cuts for the rich have led to huge deficits.

"This is not class warfare," said Clinton. "I've been poor and I've been rich and I like rich better. I want to pay my share. I don't need another vacation home."

Both the White House and Congress are resistant to scrutiny from the outside, he said.

"In Iraq, which is famous for no-bid contracts, $9 billion has gone missing and there has been no serious congressional investigation," said Clinton. "There's never been a more secretive, unaccountable administration."

----------------

where are the bill c.'s of yesteryear,
Otter

Hmm, he said, answering his own tagline question in a subsequent post, maybe here?

---------------

SOLON, Iowa (AP) - Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards on Saturday bashed the Bush administration for "proactive stupidity" by sticking with a failed policy in Iraq and being unable to admit its mistakes.

He predicted the Iraq war and a wave of scandals in the Republican-run Congress will prompt voters to demand change in November.

"There is an underlying current that Democrats are in a strong position, for a lot of reasons," Edwards told The Associated Press. "Some of it is the scandals and corruption that people all across the country are seeing in Washington."

Edwards was spending the weekend in eastern Iowa raising money for Democratic legislative candidates.

He finished a surprising second in Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses in the 2004 presidential election, and that propelled him to a spot on the ticket with eventual nominee John Kerry. Edwards has left little doubt he's interested in again seeking the party's nomination, and he's been among the most active of the potential candidates campaigning in Iowa.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman with the Republican National Committee, said Saturday that Edwards is a "failed presidential candidate and a rejected vice presidential candidate whose political attacks will be no more successful today than they were two years ago."

Edwards diverted from his campaign schedule to speak at a University of Iowa conference on poverty issues. "We should be for the eradication of poverty in America," he said. "In our party, we need to seize the moral high ground."

---------------

make the ground higher! make the ground higher!,
Otter

On the other hand (dampening a bit my Guardian- and congressional-polls-engendered optimism), how the h____ can Bush STILL (Oct 14, Rasmussen Poll) STILLl have an approval rating as high as 43% ??????? !!!!!!!!!!!! (http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/). iGood God.

But congressional polls really are looking good. Real Clear Politics has just upped its projection of Senate gains for Dems to 6 seats, which is what they need to retake the Senate
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/latestpolls/, and Webb is now only 2% behind Allen in VA. .

poll central

http://www.pollingreport.com/

Doubts over Iraq Drive Volatile Campaign

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/15/AR2006101500197.html

from the rightwing-dreaded Reuters in the rightwing-dreaded Washington Post

Let's keep up the pressure - I just mailed a bill to Kentucky for a credit card & wrote political stuff on the back of the envelope, sent one of my Hendrix checks

Poll: Majority of Brits back General Gannett in his comments and position re Iraq

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Britons-back-army-chief-on-Iraq-poll/2006/10/15/1160850812264.html

It's not just us

Democrats have the Intensity but Republicans have the Machine

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/us/politics/15base.html?hp&ex=1160971200&en=15fe2312eee67b93&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Bono and Ophrah Promote new iPod to Fight AIDS

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/10/13/winfrey.bono.nano.ap/index.html

cool use of technology

Not just Raw Story now - Emails link Abramhoff to the White House itself (Mehlman)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mehlman15oct15,0,1634103.story?coll=la-home-headlines

(Just a side note: Gannett owns newspapers. Dannatt is in charge of the British Army. But Bush is still a doink either way.)

and doinks is as doinks does,
Otter

otter
you're right - bad memory

Panic over midterm elections ends at White House front door

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003305391_rove15.html

Bush & Rove aren 't worried .. ???

Of course they're not. Bush is too unipolar to even consider anything that doesn't fit into his rigidly pre-defined worldview, and Rove's too dang shrewd to ever show signs of doubt in public no matter how tight the rope around his neck is getting.

sorry george but brain death will not release you,
Otter

I really like the thread head. And thanks for the other information about this wonderful, person. Here is some more information about microcredit, microfinance, and community driven development (the World Bank). Yunus is featured in the article as well. His comments are quite interesting.

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/260304/com.html

Good interview - Bob Woodward interviews John Kerry, March 2006

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/10/woodward_interviews_kerry_on_9_1.html#more

Conservatives are trying to "rein in runaway liberal judges" - in other words, silence the judiciary through intimidation at the ballot box.

Kiss your separation of three branches of government goodbye. Say hello to theocracy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-judges15oct15,0,7024224.story?coll=la-home-headlines

I'm in a really upset mood today.

Between the LA Times article I just mentioned, and the sample ballot which shows NO federal-level Democrats worth voting for (my Repuke Congressman runs unopposed, for example), and the fact that I am headed for Yuma tomorrow - a city that's turned my formerly Dem friend into a Religious Reich Republican before I could ever intervene - I'm losing it.

Ally
Let me know about Yuma. My mom went there to visit a friend & I went there to visit her - hot, dusty, heavy-drinking elderly, lack of mass transit, big fences with big dogs inside - the best thing to do is go over the border to Mexico. You can get yourself a nice big Margarita and a huge plate of shrimp for about $6.

Leave the spot for judge blank if the creep is running unopposed. We used to have judges here that were good but they now compete with neanderthals. I used to vote on the basis of gender and surname, making assumptions like women are good, minorities are good (in power, to right the balance). Now that I know about rightwing women and minorities (or both) - a frustrating development in politics - I research them thoroughly, as a judge is forever.

I'd like to see the Log Cabins & closet cases pay & pay, after they made life miserable for GLBT people everywhere, eroded their rights, and exploited public homophobia in order to keep their own power.

Frank Rich | The Gay Old Party Comes Out
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101506E.shtml
"Paging Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council: Here's a gay Republican story you probably did not hear last week. On Tuesday a card-carrying homosexual, Mark Dybul, was sworn into office at the State Department with his partner holding the Bible. Dr. Dybul, the administration's new global AIDS coordinator, was flanked by Laura Bush and Condi Rice.... Could wedding bells be far behind?" asks Frank Rich.

Preview: Kuo's Loss of Faith, tonight

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

DiAnne,

Judge votes in CA, as in most other states, are nonpartisan. I will leave most of them blank, as I know of the qualifications for very few of them (if at all).

It's my Congressman (Gary Miller, not to be confused with Democrat George Miller in NorCal) who is running unopposed. I will leave his spot blank as well.

And yes, Log Cabiners and closet gays must PAY PAY PAY.

While at it, here's an AsianWeek article that hits home to me, and you might find it of interest as well.

http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=44bf5822abf3f17e50e0653edce25b35

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 06:26 PM

I once heard Randi Rhodes say that she votes for the candidate who had the smallest amount of contributions because they were less likely to be bought.

Max Blumenthal: Is a Gay Republican Purge Coming?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20061014/cm_huffpost/031681 Dobson wants them all fired.

It's reached Australia. Foley was a pervert who happened to be gay but the fallout is hitting closeted gay Republicans.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/republicans-in-trouble-gay-rights-support-comes-out/2006/10/15/1160850808626.html

Concerns over gay issues challenge Republicans
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2564929&page=1
How could they have thought they could betray peoples' human rights & remain bedfellows with fundamentalist gay bashers?

No port in a storm for gay Republicans
http://blogs.chron.com/bluebayou/2006/10/no_port_in_a_storm_for_gay_rep.html

AntiGay Leader claims memo targets closeted Republican staffers
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid37535.asp

Condi delivers the labels of gay marriage without the laws
http://www.towleroad.com/towleroad/2006/10/condi_delivers_.html
Here you can see Condi and Laura with the happy couple.

Gay Republicans in the Hot Seat
http://www.washblade.com/2006/10-13/view/editorial/editorial.cfm

Foley Page Scandal Exposes GOP Gay Identity Crisis
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=66979
Now if they had just been honest in the first place, as I tried to tell Mayor West of Spokane, who had a similar case, after years of GLBT discrimination - the rightwing are not going to be your friends now.

Concerns Over Gay Issues Challenge GOP
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2564929&page=1

Locally: GOP Party Boy Scandal
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=87882

What goes around comes around.

Here is a link to watch John Kerry's interview with Chris Wallace on Fox. Not as exciting as Clinton's but JK was excellent as usual.

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4469

OK, so I went to church today. Wait, wait, don't go away. there was this hymn with great lyrics, written in 1985/1994. Here are parts of the hymn that I think will resonate with a lot of people here. I've skipped over the more overtly religious parts. If there's still too much religious stuff for you, just substitute an * or a blank or some other alternative of your choice for the "God" words etc. Whatever your attitude toward religion and related Stuff , I think you'll share the views of humanity expressed here. The author of the words is Marty Haugen.
The hymn: "God of Day and God of Darkness" (or, depending on your feelings: " * of Day and * of Darkness " )

God of day and God of darkness,
Now we stand before the night;
As the shadows stretch and deepen,
Come and make our darkness bright.
. .
When the sun of peace and justice
Fills the earth with radiant light.

Still the nations curse the darkness,
Still the rich oppress the poor;
Still the earth is bruised and broken
By the ones who still want more.
Come and wake us from our sleeping,
So our hearts cannot ignore
All your people lost and broken,
All your children at our door.

Marine Corps Issues Gag Order in Detainee Abuse Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101506X.shtml
The US Marine Corps has threatened to punish two members of the military legal team representing a terrorism suspect being held at Guantanamo Bay if they continue to speak publicly about reported prisoner abuse, a civilian lawyer from the defense team said Saturday.
Excerpt:
"In one fell swoop, the government is gagging a defense lawyer and threatening retaliation against a whistle-blower," Ahmad said. "It really points out what is wrong with the detainee legislation that Bush is scheduled to sign on Tuesday: It permits the abuse of detainees to continue, immunizes the wrongdoers and precludes the detainees from ever challenging it in court."

{{{Ah. So. Tuesday is the day DimWit signs his de facto dictatorship into official dictatorship.... The October-not-so-surprise that could lead to abuses of power that we can anticipate with more horror than ever before.}}}

Bush Administration Appeals Wiretapping Decision
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406B.shtml
The Bush administration on Friday appealed a federal judge's ruling this summer that a controversial post-September 11, 2001, domestic spying program was illegal. The Justice Department, in documents filed with a federal court in Cincinnati, argued that President George W. Bush had acted within the law in authorizing the surveillance of domestic wiretaps of international telephone calls.

Cheney Still at Forefront of CIA Leak Case
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406D.shtml
Behind closed doors at the US District Court for the District of Columbia this week, US District Judge Reggie Walton is considering what classified information I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff and national security adviser, will be able to use to defend himself against charges of obstruction of justice, false statements, and perjury. To bring Libby to trial, the special prosecutor in the case, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick J. Fitzgerald, has to avoid the risk of graymail - the defense strategy of forcing the prosecution to drop the case because of classified information the defense would reveal at trial.

Aide Says White House Mocked Evangelicals
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406F.shtml
A former senior presidential aide has accused the Bush administration of using evangelical Christians to win votes but then privately ridiculing them once in office. The allegations by David Kuo, the former deputy director of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, come at a devastating time, when the administration is counting on born-again Christians to vote in sufficient numbers to save the Republicans' hold on Congress in the November elections.

GOP Congressman Pleads Guilty but Will Not Resign
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406E.shtml
Representative Bob Ney, the first member of Congress to confess to crimes in dealings with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty to corruption charges Friday but said he would not immediately resign.

Blair Devastated as Army Chief Savages His Approach to Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101406G.shtml
The authority of Tony Blair was left battered last night as he attempted to play down a rift with the head of the British Army over his unprecedented warning that the presence of foreign troops was "exacerbating" the security situation in Iraq.

US Begins $42 Million Program to Bolster Hamas Opponents
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101506Y.shtml
The United States has quietly started a campaign projected to cost up to $42 million to bolster Hamas's political opponents ahead of possible early Palestinian elections, say officials linked to the program. The plan to promote alternatives to Hamas includes funding to help restructure Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group and provide training and strategic advice to politicians and secular parties opposed to Hamas Islamists. US funds will also be used to encourage "watchdog" groups and local journalists to investigate the activities of the Hamas-led government and parliament.

{{{Er... Did our not-so-beloved Rubber Stamp Congress authorize these funds be spent to stick *our* nose into the affairs of other countries....? Or were these monies granted in one of those abominable Executive Orders issued by the pretzelnit?}}}

It's Time to Say Sorry for Iraq's Agony
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101506A.shtml
Mary Riddell writes "History will forgive the war on Iraq. Or so Tony Blair told the US Congress in July 2003, as the first cold shadows fell on the invasion. The Prime Minister also warned of 'many further struggles ahead'. He cannot have imagined that these would include being gunned down by the head of the British army. By calling for a pull-out from Iraq, General Sir Richard Dannatt has reversed the view of the French wartime leader, Georges Clemenceau, that 'war is too serious a matter to entrust to military men'."

Keith Olbermann on Kuo book:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/the_office_of_f.html

Excerpt:

So how does the Bush White House keep 'the nuts' turning out at the polls?

One way, regular conference calls with groups led by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard, and radio hosts like Michael Reagan.

Kuo says, "Participants were asked to talk to their people about whatever issue was pending. Advice was solicited [but] that advice rarely went much further than the conference call. [T]he true purpose of these calls was to keep prominent social conservatives and their groups or audiences happy."

They do get some things from the Bush White House, like the National Day of Prayer, “another one of the eye-rolling Christian events,” Kuo says.

And “passes to be in the crowd greeting the president when he arrived on Air Force One or tickets for a speech he was giving in their hometown. Little trinkets like cufflinks or pens or pads of paper were passed out like business cards. Christian leaders could give them to their congregations or donors or friends to show just how influential they were. Making politically active Christians personally happy meant having to worry far less about the Christian political agenda.”

When cufflinks weren't enough, the White House played the Jesus card, reminding Christian leaders that, quote, “they knew the president's faith” and begging for patience.

----And who was behind alot of it? Ken Mehlman
----And who is outed at alot of progressive gay sites as a
bigoted closet case homophobe who is gay himself?
You got it .. Ken Mehlman
----And who got the free U2 tickets from Abramhoff, &
could be counted on to get people fired that the lobbyist/
criminal didn't like .. Ken Mehlman

These people need to pay and pay.

More on Frank Rich's column:

http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/10/frank-rich-gops-gay-hypocrisy.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/15/AR2006101500197.html
"Doubts over Iraq drive a volatile US campaign"
. . an excerpt from concluding paragraphs. .
If the spotlight is on Iraq for much of the final stage of the campaign, the Republicans could well lose both chambers,". .

Democrats were favored over Republicans by 17 percentage points in a . . poll asking which party could better handle Iraq, and the traditional Republican advantage on fighting terrorism vanished in the same poll, with Democrats ahead by 5 points.
. . .
the fact that this election is becoming a referendum on the war in Iraq is the real nightmare for the Republican Party."
. . .
"I've never seen anything like it," independent pollster Dick Bennett of American Research Group said of the combination of anger and uncertainty among the public. . . .
. . . "Aside from gasoline prices, nothing is getting better for Republicans."

I was looking for the original source for the Pew Poll on Evangelicals and didn't findit right off, but found these recent polls. Go to http://www.people-press.org and you can read the full reports.

Growing Number of Liberal Democrats

The percent of Democratic voters who think of themselves as "liberals" has been slowly rising in recent years, while the number of conservative Democrats has declined. In polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press from January to September of 2006, 32% of Democrats describe themselves as ideologically liberal, while 23% think of themselves as conservative. This reflects a starkly different balance of opinion from four years ago, when there were as many conservative Democrats as liberals (27% and 26%, respectively).

Blue States Get Even More Democratic

Party ID: Red States Still Red, Swing States Deadlocked
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Republican Party made sharp gains in party affiliation nationally, nearly wiping out the Democrats' long-standing advantage. However, the Republican increases have faded and the Democratic Party now holds a slim edge in overall partisanship among registered voters. The modest Democratic recovery has been mostly concentrated in the blue states that were already firmly in the Democratic camp, and the party has not made inroads in either politically contested swing states or in Republican red states. But the Democrats have gained ground among independent voters, who now lean more Democratic than in 2004.

November Turnout May Be High
Democrats Hold Enthusiasm, Engagement Advantage

Turnout in the 2006 midterm election may well be higher than normal, given the level of interest expressed by voters. Today, 51% of voters say they have given a lot of thought to this November's election, up from 45% at this point in 2002 and 42% in early October of 1998. Even in 1994 a recent high in midterm election turnout just 44% of voters had thought a lot about the election in early October.

The difference this year is due to record-high levels of Democratic enthusiasm about the election. Currently, 59% of Democratic voters say they have given a lot of thought to this election, up from 46% at this point in the 2002 election. Republicans, by comparison, are no more or less engaged this year than four years ago (48% now, 47% in 2002). Democrats are also far more excited about voting this year, with 51% saying they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual, up from 40% in 2002. Just a third of Republicans say they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual, down from 44% four years ago.

Iraq Looms Large in Nationalized Election
Congressional Race Unchanged After Foley's Resignation

Iraq has become the central issue of the midterm elections. There is more dismay about how the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going than at any point since the war began more than three years ago. And the war is the dominant concern among the majority of voters who say they will be thinking about national issues, rather than local issues, when they cast their ballot for Congress this fall.

Pew's latest nationwide survey finds 58% of the public saying that the U.S. military effort in Iraq is not going well, and a 47% plurality believes the war in Iraq is hurting, not helping, the war on terrorism. The poll finds extensive public awareness of a leaked intelligence estimate suggesting that the war is spawning more terrorism.

Good stuff by Murtha:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301425.html
Also see discussion at http://www.thepremise.com

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 07:33 PM

This chart, from the NY Times, confirms that times (or at least voter registrations) are changing. Get those retirees, baby-boomers and twenty-somethings to the polls in November!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/10/14/weekinreview/15kirk_graphic.ready.html

Tao Te Ching, Verse 5:

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.

The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the center.

that's about the most commonsensical road to peace I know,
Otter

Blue States Get Even More Democratic

Party ID: Red States Still Red, Swing States Deadlocked

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 07:40 PM

Very true here in California. The blue zones (Bay Area, pockets of Los Angeles) are bluer than ever, the red zones (the rest of the state) are even redder than before, and the independents (like my Republican mother who rarely votes Republican) are the ones swinging Democratic.

Posted by: mbk at October 15, 2006 07:44 PM

I am nearly always perplexed (you can use that for something otter) whenever I see a 30-40 year old supporting Bushco. It really boggles my mind.

These people need to pay and pay.

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 07:14 PM

That can never be said enough.

I fully support the enforcement of Biblical law - namely, the death penalty - for gay Republicans. They support it, they gotta live (or die) by it.

But they should not feel so alone
'Cause everybody must get stoned.

Ally
I don't believe in the death penalty, and as for Biblical law, I don't believe in following the Bible as it contradicts itself. If I were to take from the Bible, I would follow "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and "turn the other cheek." The Amish community's reaction to the killing of their children made me think of Jesus saying "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do."

It's hard to forgive these sellouts though. I resent closet cases in politics, and I would be more opposed to "outing" them, had they not worked against civil rights of others. It is the ultimate in hypocrisy. It's not as though they followed a "don't ask don't tell" policy. They actively worked to discriminate and they courted the religious right and social conservatives for their own political gain.

It seems to me very parallel to the "apple" Indian, "Oreo" black, "banana" Asian who is white on the inside. It seems to me parallel to the Anita Bryants, the Phyllis Schlaflys, the Katharine Harrises, who work against women's rights. Not everyone has to idenfity politically with a specific group, but to actually DO HARM to said group while enjoying secret membership in the group seems to me evil.

If they are exposed at this particular time in history, it is their own doings coming back on them.

It was a pleasure to see the covers of the latest Time and Newsweek. The press is cooperating a little in telling the truth, if it is indeed true that the general public is wondering why the war is going on and on and on, if they are noticing that the "moral" are immoral, if they are realizing they've been played.

Interesting perspective:

http://tomwatson.typepad.com/tom_watson/2006/10/this_choir_need.html

Democratic victory is not going to rescue America from America. One need only listen to the candidates grasp at the same bread-and-butter pieties of Patriotism, Security, and Constitution to know that. "Tax relief for the middle class" doesn't sell me. I am not an incrementalist. "Tougher and smarter on security" sells me even less. Why should I waste my beautiful mind, as Bar Bush put it, on the selection of the less egregious users of euphemism, when I know already that they will roll on issues of significance and spend their time hawking bastardized medical subsidies and pledging to keep social security as it is, was, and ever shall be. I haven't heard a Democrat mention our habeasless nation in weeks.

Read the rest at the link

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 10:03 PM

Dianne,

That is an interesting perspective. However, the Democrats have to approach the upcoming Congress with bold and inclusive solutions to remedy the problems that ail us, and those kind of fears will be washed away in a heart beat. If the Dems should take back the Congress, Americans wont be patient when political retribution becomes the only game in town. Americans will want real solutions to their problems. If the Dems don't deliver reasonable solutions, they will deserve the angry rejection from Americans. Americans know that Bushco has screwed up. We don't need Congress to tell us that. We don't need Congress to punish Bush, however satisfying it might feel. We need Congress to hold Bushco accountable for any proposals that they submit. We need Congress to over ride any veto that he may deliver. We need Congress to live up to its responsibility as the people's Congress. We need Congress to deliver equality, fairness and good judgment.

Oncall
read the part about Rove

http://thepremise.com/archives/10/15/2006/396

New surge of violence hits Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6052432.stm

A series of six bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, police say.

And police found at least 40 corpses in the town of Balad and close to another 30 in Baghdad, in an apparent fresh wave of sectarian killings.

Earlier in Baghdad, two bombs hit the convoy of a senior interior ministry official, killing seven people....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scalia16oct16,0,3031110.story
Scalia Debates Law, Liberties With ACLU Chief
In a televised session, the Supreme Court justice defends his views before a liberal crowd of 1,500.

Excerpt:
The justices may be called upon to decide whether Congress has the power to withdraw or "suspend" habeas corpus for such people. Scalia seemed to suggest Sunday that Congress could do just that.

"Unless there is a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, which Congress can do," he said, imprisoned persons can seek the help of the courts.

{{{Ah. Yeah. Sure. PretzelNitWit, the Torturer in Chief, is due to sign the torture bill on Tue., which obliterates the US Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the Geneva Conventions, and US Law... and idiots like Scalia will probably not think twice about reinforcing his dictator status. Gee, I feel "safer" already... NOT.}}}

Posted by: DiAnne at October 15, 2006 10:03 PM
Posted by: oncall at October 15, 2006 11:17 PM

Great points.

Going Democratic is NOT enough. Payback is NOT enough. It's only the result that matters - one that's accountable to the American voters.

Just in time for Nov 7...

Official: Saddam verdict to be read on Nov. 5
If found guilty, ex-Iraqi leader, co-defendants to be sentenced same day

Updated: 38 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)- A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official said on Monday.

Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.

The former Iraqi leader could be hanged if convicted. However, he could appeal the sentence to a higher, nine-judge court.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15285264/

not TOO transparent!

Wowzers! You meant that might make the news here in America on, oh, I dunno, the weekend before the mid-term elections? Why, what an astounding coincidence!

Posted by: Otter at October 16, 2006 10:19 AM

Disgusting but not totally unexpected. I just want to hear the Iraqis say they intend to put Bush on trial next month.