Peace Train--Climb Aboard

Marietta:

"I feel like I can only express what is going on in this country in expletives, but Karen won't let me put such expletives on the blog.

Seriously though, I feel optimistic about a march for the first time in a long time. I've been thinking a lot about the march I went to in London in February 2003. That was the largest worldwide protest in recorded history. I'm hoping we will get a huge turnout today.

Fox reported that there are more buses and more people expected and there are now satellite marches going on in distant cities, like Seattle."

I was just listening to coverage of today's peace protests in Washington & elsewhere on NPR, and I know that several of the MSM video outlets are planning on doing some live coverage of it later in the day as well. There's certainly been a sea change in public perception of the anti-war movements since the escalation process began -- instead of happening quietly and offstage, now it's coming out right into the center spotlight. And this is, of course, a Good Thing. (Well, maybe not such a Good Thing in terms of it even being necessary in the first place, but if there's a war on then it's up to make sure there's a peace on, too.)

because surging for peace is like screwing for virginity,
Otter

The SF group that put on Impeach at the Beach are planning to do it again at the Mall today, with the Capital in the background. If MSM is indeed covering the events in DC, I hope like hell that one of them gets an aerial shot & dares to show it on the news. (OK, I know it's a longshot...)

Richard:
Unbelievable though it might seem with the Democrats having just seized control of the legislative branch on a wave of anti-Iraq war sentiment, close observers of U.S troop movements are increasingly convinced that Bush intends to strike Iran, the Congress, the American people and the rest of the civilized world be damned.
Posted by Karen at January 27, 2007 07:56 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been reading overnight news, excerpts of what king georgie has said... and I'm appalled... and fear you are correct in more ways than one.

I'm totally convinced that if Congress does not reign him in, tie him down and sit on him for the next two years (oh, puh-leeze, will Congress at least just start impeachment proceedings and stop this war insanity by cutting off money for more war?!?), Bush/Cheney absolutely will start WWIII... and all that that implies with the horrors we couldn't possibly imagine at this point. They'd make 9/11 look like a cakewalk next to what they're capable of, IMHO.

I'm glad you seem to have nice weather. We're getting snow right now....

Karen, Richard, Anybody there:

If you can corner Conyers, will you please ask him why he has suddenly sided with Pelosi about 'impeachment off the table' since he once was at the forefront of wanting to start impeachment proceedings? (His answer preferably in ten words or less, or my eyes will glaze over!) What would make him change his mind? How about Kucinich, Waters, and Woolsey? Would they support impeachment proceedings?

With the increasing deja vu of more warmongering talk, this time against Iran, I feel the urgency in the air to stop Bush/Cheney war insanity ASAP!

NonnyO: All of those folks will be there, as well as David Swanson and the impeachment folks, so I am SURE it will come up!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/washington/26left.html

Groups Head to Capital to Step Up Antiwar Drive

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 — Tens of thousands of demonstrators are set to arrive in the capital this weekend for a major antiwar march, staging the first of several protests intended to persuade the new Democratic-controlled Congress to do more than simply speak against President Bush’s Iraq policy.

But do not look for senators to be standing among the protesters on the Mall on Saturday. Despite a consensus building around a Senate resolution to oppose sending more troops to Iraq, even the most liberal Democratic senators do not appear eager to align themselves with a traditional antiwar protest.

So the groups that are organizing the demonstrations against the president’s strategy are also carrying out a sophisticated, well-financed lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill. Their behind-the-scenes efforts are intensifying, relying on tactics deployed in a cutthroat political race.
~~~~~
“The country has told us they don’t like what’s happening, and they want us to do something about it,” said Representative Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat who is one of four members of Congress (none of them senators) scheduled to attend the rally on Saturday. “Congress has yet to keep up with the public.”
~~~~~
While Democrats have shown little reticence speaking against the president’s plan, there is little agreement on the next step. Next week, Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, is convening a hearing to discuss the ways in which Congress can begin blocking the financing for the war, an idea that remains deeply controversial inside the party.

“It’s a walk in the park right now to oppose the idea of this war. It’s also very easy to oppose the escalation,” Mr. Feingold said. “They are once again being too timid and too cautious.”

{{{More on link. Woolsey seems to get it!!!}}}

SAVVY IRAQ WAR PROTESTS DON'T JUST TARGET "THE DECIDER" IN DC
By Evan Derkacz
Tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands will march in Washington and elsewhere to protest Bush, the occupation of Iraq, and Congress's reluctance to prevent escalation.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/47266/

Posted by: karen at January 27, 2007 09:32 AM

THANK YOU! And please let us know what they all say about impeachment, whether or not they'll also talk to their fellow reps to support impeachment....?

My rep once signed on to Conyers' impeachment proposal, but that was prior to election day last year. I don't yet know if he still feels the same about it or not.

I'll take any diversion from more war talk... and as I said, our reps and senators WILL have to learn how to multi-task for the next two years. If they dither and talk things to death and patiently put up with neoCon stalling tactics, nothing will get done and Georgie will still start another war....

Hugs to you and everyone! :-)

Oh, and PS: Is the demonstration going to be televised online on one of the three C-SPAN channels, or will it only be shown on TV? I can only get the three online C-SPAN feeds....

My message to those in power in DC:

Stop the war
Bring the troops home
Take care of them when they get here

This news from MN reinforces my last point...

This Marine's death came after he served in Iraq

At first, Jonathan Schulze tried to live with the nightmares and the grief he brought home from Iraq. He was a tough kid from central Minnesota, and more than that, a U.S. Marine to the core.

--snip--
Two weeks ago, Schulze went to the VA hospital in St. Cloud. He told a staff member he was thinking of killing himself, and asked to be admitted to the mental health unit, said his father and stepmother, who accompanied him. They said he was told he couldn't be admitted that day. The next day, as he spoke to a counselor in St. Cloud by phone, he was told he was No. 26 on the waiting list, his parents said.

Four days later, Schulze, 25, committed suicide in his New Prague home.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/963363.html

People with the www.setadeadline.com website are going to be there handing out fliers and signing people up. A couple of the johnkerry.com bloggers are bringing laptops with aircards.

You can join them by signing up online to be a citizen sponsor of John Kerry's set-a-deadline bill at http://www.setadeadline.com

They'll publish the names of everyone who checks the 'ok to publish box' in DC newspapers the day that JK submits the bill.

Kerry wrote an amazing note at his blog which you may want to read in its entirety. It does highlight how closely he reads the blogosphere. I wanted to highlight this part:

-----

I am posting here not only to thank you but I am asking for your help yet again.

Our work is yet to be done and I hope that you will put the same energy behind my efforts to set a deadline in Iraq. We have a moral mission here. I feel it as strongly as I have anything in my life. You will be instrumental to make sure young Americans don't die for anyone's mistakes. When I was a young man protesting another war people used to come up and say "My country right or wrong" and our reply was "My country right or wrong -- when it's right keep it right and when it's wrong make it right." Please help us get it right in Iraq -- not a campaign for the presidency, a campaign for our country.

----

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2007/01/thank_you.html

Let's make that a huge number of names on that bill.

because surging for peace is like screwing for virginity,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at January 27, 2007 09:13 AM

Ok, ok, I'm in.

Now what?

Even New York Daily News has a headline about Bush called, "Senate, Take a Hike."

Bush adviser Rove subpoenaed for Libby trial

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/26/cia.leak/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Opponents of the war in Iraq want their protest on the National Mall to launch a nationwide movement to bring the troops home.

Demonstrators chartered buses, bought plane tickets and filled their gas tanks to join Saturday's rally, and hundreds of them planned to flood congressional offices Monday to lobby for a troop withdrawal.

Plans call for rallies across the country and visits to members of Congress when they return home to their districts.

United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group sponsoring the protest, said there has been intense interest in the rally since President Bush announced he was sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

The group said its Internet site received more than 5 million hits this month, including 650,000 on Wednesday -- the day leaders held a media briefing about the protest.

-snip-

A small group of active-duty military troops also will attend the protest, said Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto. The sailor, stationed about the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, said he planned to speak.

Cynthia O. Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said members of the Armed Forces can speak out, subject to several restrictions. They must not do so in uniform, and they must make clear that they do not speak on behalf of their military unit, their service or the Defense Department, unless authorized to do so, she said.

The rally was scheduled as congressional opposition to the war is building. The Senate is considering nonbinding resolutions that would state opposition to Bush sending the extra forces to Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/27/iraq.protest.ap/index.html

THIS - and other items relating to Iran - is why I ended up with insomnia in spite of my cold/bronchitis/sinus stuff last night. THIS kind of thing is what MUST be STOPPED at all costs.... (IMHO) - My brain echoes warmongering talk during the buildup to Iraq now being said for what seems a firm build-up to Iran...:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiran27jan27,0,7990005.story
Bush defends new policy on Iranians in Iraq
U.S. troops are cleared to kill agents from Tehran seen as endangering lives.
WASHINGTON — President Bush staunchly defended a tough new administration policy on Iran that is drawing criticism at home and causing anxiety abroad, arguing Friday that it was only sensible for U.S. troops to move aggressively against Iranians who endangered them in Iraq.

Bush, appearing with military advisors at the White House, said the policy was not meant to spread U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into Iran, but asserted that U.S. troops had the right to seek out agents from Tehran, which he has accused of supporting Iraqi militants.

It just make sense that if somebody is trying to harm our troops or stop us from achieving our goal, or killing innocent civilians in Iraq, that we will stop them," Bush said.

The administration announced two weeks ago, as part of its new strategy on Iraq, that it would move more forcefully against Iranian and Syrian agents in Iraq. The White House also then moved Navy warships and fighter jets into the Persian Gulf in a display of determination to maintain its influence in the region.
~~~~~
"If our troops get actionable intelligence that agents are going to cause our troops or Iraqi citizens harm, they're going to take whatever force protections that are necessary," he said.

Bush first outlined his harsher stance toward Iran on Jan. 10 as he unveiled a new strategy to address the deteriorating situation in Iraq. The latest administration policy has caused anxiety among Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite Arab leaders, who want to form closer ties with their larger and more industrialized neighbor, and fear they would be the losers in any conflict between the United States and Iran.
~~~~~
Toby Dodge of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said the confrontational U.S. tone toward Iran was likely to appeal to many in Congress.

"This is a way to explain to the U.S. public that Iran is partly to blame for Iraq's problems," he said. "It's a way to rally public opinion and forge some kind of consensus."

But Sean McCormack, the chief State Department spokesman, said that those who see a political motive in the new policy "just don't know what they're talking about."

{{{More on link. There's also a video if you can stomach more lies and warmongering rhetoric from The Cretin's mouth, and it ends with film footage of Pelosi in Iraq and a few words from Hoyer. IMHO, Bush is deliberately trying to goad Iran into "attacking" so he can expand his war, including forays into Iran (if 'he' deems necessary, of course, since 'he's' the Decider) - although where he would get the increased numbers of troops to do any fighting is beyond me; the only other alternative is bombing Iran to smithereens, and we all know the megalomaniac without a conscience would do just exactly that so he can keep his war going, so he can keep the region in a perpetual state of chaos. WHEN will Congress forcibly STOP Bush from making more enemies around the globe?!? If the Dodge fellow quoted in the article is correct and Congress goes back to being only loyal to The Cretin, then we're doomed, indeed. Plain and ordinary schmucks like myself just want a life of peace, to have amicable relationships with the other people on this planet.... With Bu$hCo we only hear war, war, and more war; ter'ra, ter'ra, and more ter'ra. Enough already! Impeach the bam dastards - or get the hell out of the Beltway Bubble of endless dictatorial Bushite delusions...!}}}

More relating to Iran:
http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1009&Itemid=135
Death and Dishonor: Bush's New Assassination Order

Excerpt:
The real story here is the story behind the story. After all, George W. Bush has already authorized his agents to kill American citizens -- without arrest, charge, trial, or even any warning -- if the victim has been designated -- arbitrarily, at the whim of the "Leader," outside any judicial process or oversight -- as an "enemy combatant." This "authority," claimed by Bush in October 2001 (I first wrote about it in print in November 2001) extends to every person on earth, not just Americans, so Iranian "agents" or "Revolutionary Guards" or anyone else Bush or his minions decide to kill has always been fair game. The only new wrinkle here is the specific authority given to the U.S. military to carry out these "extrajudicial" assassinations -- a license to kill that had hitherto been reserved for the security organs.

For assassination -- Phoenix-program style -- is definitely what we're talking about here. Let's be very clear about this, and not get tangled up in all the euphemistic jargon that Beltway reporters are so enamored of. Who decides that an Iranian in Iraq is an "operative" with ill intent, a member of a Revolutionary Guard or an accomplice to the insurgency (which, by the way, is led almost entirely by Sunni Arabs, the sworn enemies of the Shiite Persians)? And will these "operatives" be arrested, charged and tried, provided with defense counsel? No; the story makes clear -- and is intended by the White House to make clear -- that Iranian "operatives" are to be killed outright; indeed, "Bush administration officials have been urging top military commanders to exercise the authority." Thus any one of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Iranians who stream across the border into Iraq each year, almost all of them involved in either religious rites or trade, can be arbitrarily denounced by someone for any reason -- good or bad, personal, political, ideological, financial -- and then be shot dead by U.S. forces. This is what Bush's direct "authorization" means, this is what it is: an order to commit murder outside all bounds of legality, morality and military honor.
~~~~~
What Bush has done with this order is to turn the American military into his own private death squad. It is an act of breathtaking dishonor, of unspeakable moral filth. That this pathetic little man and the jumped-up thugs around him – especially the hulking, smirking, lying coward Dick Cheney – are allowed to show their faces among civilized people, much less exercise power over a mighty nation, remains an unfathomable mystery...and a source of deep shame for all Americans.

{Click on link for more; embedded links within text of original story, so I recommend going to the web site to read the full story and click on links for additional info.}

BTW, Floyd wrote about an Executive Order The Cretin signed in the fall of 2001 that granted him the power to order assassinations.... Did anyone else know about this? We desperately need Bu$h!te secrets revealed...!!!
http://empireburlesquenow.blogspot.com/2005/03/death-wish-presidential-prerogative-of.html
Link to Floyd's original story:
Death Wish: The Presidential Prerogative of Murder
First published in The Moscow Times on Nov. 2, 2001. Yes, that's how long Bush has claimed the absolute power of life and death over every single person on earth.

Gates: Iraq resolution helps enemy
At first Pentagon press conference, he also talks of speeding deployment

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq amounts to undercutting U.S. commanders in a way that “emboldens the enemy.”

He also said the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.

At his first Pentagon news conference since taking office, Gates was asked his reaction to the debate in Congress over the effect of such a nonbinding resolution. “It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries,” he said.

“I think it’s hard to measure that with any precision, but it seems pretty straightforward that any indication of flagging will in the United States gives encouragement to those folks,” Gates said, referring to the anti-government forces in Baghdad. He added that he was certain this was not the intent of those who support the congressional resolution.

“But that’s the effect,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16829400/

Sad stories like these two are starting to appear in papers/tv news around the country.

From Chicago Tribune's front page:
`I don't have will to go back to war'
After seeing combat in Afghanistan twice, a Darien man and his family are fighting the Army's call for a third tour, this time to Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/2hjta3 = Chic Trib

Two Year Old Boy Loses Father In War; Mother Scheduled To Return To Active Duty
http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=55354

Stop the Iran War Before It Starts
By Scott Ritter
Democrats should seek immediate legislative injunctions to nullify the War Powers' authority granted to the President in September 2001 and October 2002 when it comes to Iran.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/128/2/

Excerpt:

The President and his advisers believe that they are acting in accordance with the authorities given to the executive by the US Constitution, and by legislative authority as well, as provided for in both the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution of September 14, 2001 (after the attacks of September 11, where Congress not only authorized the President to use military force against the perpetrators of the terror attacks but also against those nations deemed to be harboring people or organizations involved in the attacks), and the Authorization of Military Force Against Iraq resolution of October 2002 (where Congress concurred that any presidential action would be "consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001").

{{{Okay. Since the first AUMF was technically to go after OBL and he's still free and no one's going after him the first AUMF should be null and void, and since Iraq didn't have one danged thing to do with 9/11, the second AUMF should be null and void. Any ephemeral connections foisted upon us by a brainwashing Lamestream Media have now been proven as lies. Yet, still, The Cretin has continued to declare he is the supreme dictator ('unitary executive'), and he continues to get by with murder and war crimes. Will Congress stop him before he starts WWIII?!?}}}

Democrats in Congress have the opportunity to nip this looming disaster in the bud. The fact that most of the Democratic members of Congress who enjoy tenure voted in favor of the resolutions giving the President such sweeping authority is moot. Democrats are all capable of pleading that they were acting under the influence of a Republican-controlled body and unable to adequately ascertain through effective oversight the genuine state of affairs. This is no longer the case. The Democrats in Congress are in firm control of their own destiny, and with it the destiny of America. A war with Iran will pale in comparison with the current conflict in Iraq. And if there is a war with Iran, this Congress will be held fully accountable.

Democrats should seek immediate legislative injunctions to nullify the War Powers' authority granted to the President in September 2001 and October 2002 when it comes to Iran. Congress should pass a joint resolution requiring the President to fully consult with Congress about any national security threat that may be posed to the United States from Iran and demand that no military action be initiated by the United States against Iran without a full, constitutionally mandated declaration of war. Those who embrace the notion of a unitary executive will scoff at the concept of a Congressional declaration of war. They hold that the power to make war is not an enumerated power per se. While statutory authorization (i.e., a formal declaration of war) is enumerated in the Constitution, the reality (as reflected by the current War Powers Act) is that the powers of bringing America to a state of war are not so much separated as they are linked and sequenced, with Congress exercising its control over budgetary appropriations and the President through command.

There may well be merit to this line of argument. But one thing is perfectly clear: Only Congress holds the power of the purse. While a President may commit American forces to combat without the consent of Congress (for periods of up to 180 days), he cannot spend money that has not been appropriated. There is, in the passing of any budget, inherent authority given to the President when it comes to national defense. However, Congress can, if it wants to, put specific restrictions on the President's ability to use the people's money. A recent example occurred in 1982, when Congress passed the Boland Amendment to restrict funding for executive-sponsored actions, covert and overt, in Nicaragua. While it is in the process of getting a handle on America's policy vis-à-vis Iran, Congress would do well to pass a resolution that serves as a new Boland Amendment for Iran.

{Click on link for more

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 10:08 AM

Gates needs to enter a rehab program to stop his addiction to kool-aid, and he needs to get a new prescription for those rose-colored glasses he has while he's at it....

I just spoke with Karen and things are picking up near the march site. She's just arriving with the Code Pink people and it's huge!!!

She's going to try to update us as often as possible and as long as her battery lives. So pray for her to locate an outlet!

I pray we all find an outlet already, for Gods sake!!!!

Who wants a Peace?

COMMENTARY
By Keith Olbermann

-snip-

But our winner is comedian Rush Limbaugh, he read a made-up quote from Obama, supposedly responding to an endorsement from actress Halle Barry. He later admitted it was made-up, but fatso still said, as an Half-African-American, I am honored to have Miss Barry’s support, as well as the support of other Half-African-Americans. Not the first time Limbaugh has used the Half-African insult. Listen Rush, cut to the chase here. You want to call Senator Obama a mulatto or an octaroon, or something. Go for it. Hell, you want to call him the N word. It’s in your heart. Go ahead, come out from under your hood and just say it.

Comedian Rush Limbaugh, Thursday’s Worst Person in the World.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16826243/

I'm listening but can't tell who is speaking. She's saying that the President 'thinks' he has all the power.

He doesn't! We must CALL and tell our reps to pass HR (missed the number!) and together we will bring our kids home!

SO just CALL and tell them to tell Bush NO MORE WAR!

Posted by: dwahzon at January 27, 2007 09:51 AM

Uh.... what date? No date is listed that I could see.

I'd prefer a date as early as next week after an up or down vote.

Three months from now we could be in WWIII at the rate The Cretin is going. He MUST be stopped with an unbreakable deadline/date or be in violation of a law mandated by Congress.

Sorry, but I need a firm date before I'll put my name to anything. There have been too many vague dates and potential deadlines mentioned over the last three years over which we've gotten our hopes up (or I used to; no longer).

Firm date that can be kept, definitive language on a bill that can be put before the House or the Senate... then I'll sign.

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 10:18 AM

Pray for Peace too!

I know I do!

http://tinyurl.com/27579z

Acc / United for Peace and Justice site, you can watch the demonstration from 11:00 AM Eastern on C-Span.

Karen continues to do live-phoning (as opposed to live-blogging, ahem) from the Code Pink rally -- she is holding up the cell phone so we can hear what's going on -- it's awesome to listen to, so many people raising their voices together to call for peace -- Sean Penn was just speaking, Jane Fonda's up next -- in a little while they're supposed to head over from their rally to join the main body of the protesters for what's starting to sound like the largest peace rally to hit Washington since the Vietnam war years.

think pink,
Otter

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/

Hardball: This week in the Libby trial

Scroll down to click on link for the video.

The White House has to keep the focus off of Cheney's role in outing Plame. What better way than to start another war...?

think pink,
Posted by: Otter at January 27, 2007 10:46 AM

I am. I do. Pink is just about my 'most favoritest' color in the whole wide world... ;-) It's a nice warm color, makes one think of PEACE and lovely fluffy clouds scudding overhead in a clear azure sky....

Oh... for practicality. Has anyone estimated how many people are there?

Here's a diary from someone who is live-blogging from the protest in DC.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/27/104229/881

CNN is covering the rally now on the news.

CSPAN coverage of the rally has started.

CNN is covering the rally now on the news.
Posted by: madame defarge at January 27, 2007 11:06 AM

Must be TV/Cable C-SPAN. It's not on the three C-SPAN channels online....

Oh... Neffer mind. I checked again (sometimes the titles don't change, and I know that), and now it's on C-SPAN-1 online...!

:-)

I see the Prints of Peace, and they are us.

Pretty In Pink

There is a supportive rally here in Seattle - will end up at a recruiter's office. It's kind of a nontraditional route through mostly minority neighborhoods, more like the MLK march route. Will go see - so need to get morning errands done.

Madam,

Thanks for the kos link. I saw within that link a different link to local protests. There are none close to me, but I saw lots of protest in the rural 'red' areas of the state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/world/middleeast/27cong.html

Democrats Try to Increase Leverage Over Iraq Policy

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 — Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the House majority leader, said Friday that Congress might consider legislation revising the authorization it gave President Bush in 2002 to use military force in Iraq.

Mr. Hoyer set out a road map for the House to exercise more control over Iraq strategy, as he and other Democratic leaders continued on Friday to exert pressure against the president’s plan to send in an additional 21,500 troops.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, moved on Friday to force a debate on a resolution opposing the troop increase that had been offered by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska.

But Mr. Reid said that he also expected debate on other similar resolutions. Ultimately, he said, he expects the Senate to come together behind one resolution when the debate begins the week after next, with broad bipartisan opposition to the president’s plan.

Public opinion, he predicted, will compel many Republicans to support a resolution opposing the troop increase.

“Twenty-one Republicans are up for re-election this time,” Mr. Reid said. “If they think this is going to be a soft vote for them, they’ve got another think coming.”

{{{More on link. Earth to Steny: The time for discussing repealing or amending AUMF '02 is LONG overdue, and it doesn't need that much discussing; just an up or down vote. Stop flapping your gums and wasting time! Just DO IT!!! There is NO "victory" to be "won" in the commission of a continuing war crime. While you're at it, only allow funds to bring the guard and reserve troops on the first troop transports headed for home, redeploy troops out of the civil war zone, but get them out of harm's way and/or home. We're sick of the death and destruction and people dying for lies and oil. Congress moved with lightning speed for up and down votes for everything Georgie wanted for the last six years, often in only a week or two. It's time to move that fast on behalf of your constituents, not dither and blather on and on about NON-binding resolutions. It's time to do what the voters elected you all to do (stop the war, close Gitmo, get the troops home, repeal bad legislation - NOW).... WAY past time...!}}}

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27sat1.html
Editorial
The Bait-and-Switch White House
We often wonder whether there is a limit to the Bush administration’s obsession with secrecy, its assault on the rule of law, its disdain for the powers of Congress, its willingness to con the public and its refusal to heed expert advice or recognize facts on the ground. Events of the past week suggest the answer is no.

In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Bush stuck to his ill-conceived plans for Iraq, but at least admitted the situation was dire. He said he wanted to work with Congress and announced a bipartisan council on national security.

That lasted a day. By Wednesday evening, Vice President Dick Cheney was on CNN contradicting most of what Mr. Bush had said. We were left asking, once again, Who exactly is running this White House?

While Mr. Bush has been a bit more forthright lately about how badly things have gone in Iraq, Mr. Cheney spoke of “enormous successes” there and refused to pay even curled-lip service to consulting Congress. Whatever votes Congress takes on Iraq, Mr. Cheney said, “it won’t stop us.”

~~~~~

Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney claim that they are protecting the powers of the presidency. At least that’s the bait they use to explain their trampling on civil liberties and the constitutional balance of power. But by abusing the government’s legitimate right to claim secrecy in court hearings, they will make it harder for other presidents to do that when it is actually justified. And with that switch, they have done grievous harm to the credibility of the Oval Office and the country.

{{{Short editorial; recommended reading.}}}

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27wills.html

At Ease, Mr. President

WE hear constantly now about “our commander in chief.” The word has become a synonym for “president.” It is said that we “elect a commander in chief.” It is asked whether this or that candidate is “worthy to be our commander in chief.”

But the president is not our commander in chief. He certainly is not mine. I am not in the Army.

~~~~~

The president is not the commander in chief of civilians. He is not even commander in chief of National Guard troops unless and until they are federalized. The Constitution is clear on this: “The president shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States.”

~~~~~

But we have not seen normal life in 66 years. The wartime discipline imposed in 1941 has never been lifted, and “the duration” has become the norm. World War II melded into the cold war, with greater secrecy than ever — more classified information, tougher security clearances. And now the cold war has modulated into the war on terrorism.

There has never been an executive branch more fetishistic about secrecy than the Bush-Cheney one. The secrecy has been used to throw a veil over detentions, “renditions,” suspension of the Geneva Conventions and of habeas corpus, torture and warrantless wiretaps. We hear again the refrain so common in the other wars — If you knew what we know, you would see how justified all our actions are.

But we can never know what they know. We do not have sufficient clearance.

~~~~~

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s prescient last book, “Secrecy,” traced the ever-faster-growing secrecy of our government and said that it strikes at the very essence of democracy — accountability of representatives to the people. How can the people hold their representatives to account if they are denied knowledge of what they are doing? Wartime and war analogies are embraced because these justify the secrecy. The representative is accountable to citizens. Soldiers are accountable to their officer. The dynamics are different, and to blend them is to undermine the basic principles of our Constitution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Bush chides Dems on reflexive response

WASHINGTON - There's hardly a topic these days on which President Bush isn't asking the Democratic-controlled Congress to avoid "a reflexive partisan response."

{{{Pot. Kettle. Black. Why doesn't he work with Congress? They outnumber him and his few corporate cronies who should be kept out of any governmental process....}}}

OK, liveblogging here, at least as long as the battery lasts!

Energy is amazing. I will put photos up if I can.

We can't hear much, but there is a lot happening right around here: drums, singing, gatherings.

The JK mod folks are here, and Larry is making setadeadline.com signs with them.

We are promoting that site, campdemocracy dvds, Jessealyn Radack's book, The Canary in the Coalmine, and the aroma of marijuana is drifting by.

Feels like a DC demo, all right.

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR EMAILS WHEN YOU DIE?
By Heather Gehlert
If you don't decide who should gain access to your digital property, a court might for you.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/47279/

SO just CALL and tell them to tell Bush NO MORE WAR!

Posted by: sparrow at January 27, 2007 10:25 AM

It's Rep. Lynn Woosley who was speaking and the number to pass is HR 508.

I'm thinking what a difference an election makes. Lots of Congresscritters there at the rally today.

Maxine Waters:
"He is not the Decider
He is the Liar!"

Ooooohhhh, and I think I'm falling in love with Rocky Anderson....

Karen called...said her battery is dead.

Here's a site with live camera feeds from prominent corners in DC. Bookmark it & watch the march!

http://www.trafficland.com/findacamera/findacamera.php?city=WAS&maptype=flat&map=100#

I checked the web sites of the local affiliates for CBS and ABC.

WCCO (CBS affiliate) has a link for a live webcast of the anti-war rally in DC. I sent a brief thank you note and said I hoped to hear about it on this evening's news, asked about local anti-war rallies.

KSTP (ABC affiliate) had nothing on the home page. I wrote a short note, sent them a link to the C-SPAN web site, asked if they were going to mention it on tonight's news....

I will do five minutes of channel surfing on tonight's news to see what they say....

I about wept when Brenda Hervey said she didn't want Congress to fund the war, and she represents military families. That's the only way this madness will stop.

My heart breaks for Bob Watada....

Thanks for the updates, Karen, et al! Anxiously awaiting pictures!

The beautiful women in pink's message:

Pull Out Now

(Karen, which letter were you?)

Jesse Jackson's speech was inspiring. Col' Ann's remarks were compelling. Jesselyn Radack is speaking even as we type. I've been watching this since the first minute it started -- even though I've got other things I was supposed to be doing elsewhere this afternoon, I just can't tear myself away. C-Span is an incredibly powerful tool for truth and justice, and don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise.

Ah, and now the big celebrity guns are taking the stage here at the main march -- Sean Penn just spoke, with Jane Fonda on stage at the podium now speaking out at her first anti-war protest in 34 years, with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins right behind her in line. C-Span's cameras are panning the mall from the stage right now, and it's an incredible sight -- a tightly-packed sea of people filling the mall as far as the eye can see.

This is awesome. This is huge. There's no way this can be ignored. Are you listening, Congress?

Karl Rove has been subpoenaed.

Like Otter, I've been watching this since the beginning. I think I only missed the first three to five minutes....

The crowd keeps growing....

Time Robbins just announced Karl Rove has just been subpoenaed...!

He's only the third or fourth person I've heard mention IMPEACHMENT.....

OH, can you believe how BEAUTIFUL that crowd looks?!?!?!?

Go Robbins... IMPEACHMENT... Keep mentioning it!

Tim Robbins is positively inspired, much like Rocky Anderson...!

On this webcam, check out 3rd & Constitution to see if you can see the march. There is no camera at 3rd & Jefferson (where the march is starting), but perhaps we'll see them come by.

http://www.trafficland.com/findacamera/findacamera.php?city=WAS&maptype=flat&map=100#

Karen just called--said Hi to everyone. Said she's the drummer with Code Pink.

she said the best sign, "Rapture is not an exit stretegy"
They're about to start the march. And they're HOT! Yes--always hot but this time she means they're overdressed.

Estimated number of people at the march (per Daily Kos diary):

600,000!!!

Sean Penn and Jane Fonda are iconic enough to recognize anywhere!

Usually isn't the crowd about half the organizer estimate and about double the police estimate? LOL

Can feel the excitement!

I am going to start a list of good news.
1. Karl Rove has been subpoenaed.

Even if good seems outweighed by bad or good turns into bad, we need the rats to keep jumping ship if it's sinking, and to tell what they know. We need justice and peace - they're intertwined, as the orgaizer of the march said.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, threatened to use congressional spending power to try to stop the war. “George Bush has a habit of firing military leaders who tell him the Iraq war is failing,” he said, looking out at the masses. “He can’t fire you.” Referring to Congress, the Michigan Democrat added: “He can’t fire us.

“The founders of our country gave our Congress the power of the purse because they envisioned a scenario exactly like we find ourselves in today. Now only is it in our power, it is our obligation to stop Bush.”

“Silence is no longer an option,” Fonda declared to cheers, addressing not only the nation’s response to Iraq but her own absence from anti-war protests for 34 years.

The actress once derided as “Hanoi Jane” by conservatives for her stance on Vietnam said she had held back from activism so as not to be a distraction for the Iraq anti-war movement, but now needed to speak out.

“Thank you so much for the courage to stand up against this mean-spirited, vengeful administration,” she said.

Fonda drew parallels to the Vietnam War, citing “blindness to realities on the ground, hubris ... thoughtlessness in our approach to rebuilding a country we’ve destroyed.” But she noted that this time, veterans, soldiers and their families increasingly and vocally are against the Iraq war.

more...
www.msnbc.com

Actor Sean Penn said lawmakers will pay a price in the 2008 elections if they do not take firmer action than to pass a nonbinding resolution against the war, the course Congress is now taking.

“If they don’t stand up and make a resolution as binding as the death toll, we’re not going to be behind those politicians,” he said.

On the stage rested a coffin covered with a U.S. flag and a pair of military boots, symbolizing American war dead. On the Mall stood a large bin filled with tags bearing the names of Iraqis who have died.

Some service members present
A small contingent of active-duty service members attended the rally, wearing civilian clothes because military rules forbid them from protesting in uniform.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Tassi McKee, 26, an intelligence specialist at Fort Meade, Md., said she joined the Air Force because of patriotism, travel and money for college. “After we went to Iraq, I began to see through the lies,” she said.

In the crowd, signs recalled the November elections that defeated the Republican congressional majority in part because of President Bush’s Iraq policy. “I voted for peace,” one said.

“We see many things that we feel helpless about,” said Barbara Struna, 59, who came from Brewster, Mass., to march. “But this is like a united force. This is something I can do.”

About 40 people staged a counter-protest, including military family members and Army Cpl. Joshua Sparling, 25, who lost his leg to a bomb in Iraq in November 2005.

He said the anti-war protesters, especially those who are veterans or who are on active duty, “need to remember the sacrifice we have made and what our fallen comrades would say if they are alive.”

msnbc.com

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 03:36 PM

My inlaws still send us anti-Fonda emails. Talk about living in the past! They live in it AND create a separate reality.

Jane Fonda may have been a little unwise back then, but her heart was in the right place. The leaders back then had no brains and no heart. The more time passes, the more the similarities between Iraq/Vietnam go on.

The march continues...now they're at Independence & Washington...Just saw CodePink walk by!

http://www.trafficland.com/findacamera/findacamera.php?city=WAS&maptype=flat&map=100#

I'm sure we paid her a higher salary than most of us make...

Ex-Cheney aide shares media manipulation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_under_fire

~snip~
[Cheney's former top press assistant] Cathie Martin described the craft of media manipulation — under oath and in blunter terms than politicians like to hear in public.

The uses of leaks and exclusives. When to let one's name be used and when to hide in anonymity. Which news medium was seen as more susceptible to control and what timing was most propitious. All candidly described. Even the rating of certain journalists as friends to favor and critics to shun — a faint echo of the enemies list drawn up in Richard Nixon's White House more than 30 years ago...

~snip~

But by July 6, 2003, Wilson wrote his own account in the Times and appeared on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

After that much exposure, Cheney, Libby and Martin spent the next week trying get out word that Cheney did not know Wilson, did not ask for the mission to Niger, never got Wilson's report and only learned about the trip from news stories in 2003.

Cheney personally dictated these points to Martin. She e-mailed them to the White House press secretary for relay to reporters.

When the story did not die, Martin found herself in a bind because Cheney's office was known for disclosing so little.

"Often the press stopped calling our office," Martin testified. "At this point, they weren't calling me asking me for comment."

So she had to call National Security Council and CIA press officers to learn which reporters were still working on stories.

Once Martin got names, Cheney ordered his right-hand man, Libby, rather than lowly press officers, to call — a signal of the topic's importance.

Top levels of the Bush administration decided that CIA Director George Tenet would issue a statement taking the blame for allowing Bush to mention the Niger story. Cheney and Libby worried Tenet would not go far enough to distance the vice president from the affair.

Libby asked Martin to map a media strategy in case Tenet fell short.

A Harvard law school graduate, Martin had succeeded legendary Republican operative Mary Matalin as Cheney's political and public affairs assistant. Matalin had brought Martin to Cheney's office as her deputy and trained her.

Martin offered these options in order:

_Put Cheney on "Meet the Press."

_Leak an exclusive version to a selected reporter or the weekly news magazines.

_Have national security adviser Condoleezza Rice or Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hold a news conference.

_Persuade a third party or columnist to write an opinion piece that would appear in newspapers on the page opposite the editorials.

Not only did Tenet leave unanswered questions about Cheney, his remarks came out late on a Friday, the government's favorite moment to deliver bad news.

Why?

"Fewer people pay attention to it later on Friday," Martin testified. "And in our view, fewer people are paying attention on Saturday, when it's reported."

As Martin rated their options, putting Cheney on "Meet the Press," NBC's Sunday morning talk show, "is our best format." Cheney was their best person for the show and "we control the message a little bit more," according to Martin.

The downside was that Cheney could "get pulled into the weeds and specifics. We like to keep him at a pretty high level," she said. Also, it "looks defensive to rush him out on `Meet the Press.'"

Next they could give an exclusive or leak to one reporter and she considered David Sanger of The New York Times, Walter Pincus of The Washington Post, or Time or Newsweek.

Because reporters are competitive, "if you give it to one reporter, they're more likely to write the story," Martin testified.

Plus an official can demand anonymity in return for the favor. "You can give it to them as a senior administration official," she said. "You don't have to say this is coming directly from the White House."

The news weeklies offered a focus on the big picture and opinion-editorial writers and columnists could voice opinions.

Ultimately, Cheney crafted an on-the-record statement to be attributed to Libby by name along with some anonymous background information. Libby personally called Matt Cooper of Time, who had e-mailed questions to Martin earlier.

But when Libby suggested calling Newsweek in fairness, Cheney's aides were at a loss.

"We were scrambling for a number for a reporter that we know there named Evan Thomas," Martin testified. "We were looking around for a number. I didn't have it with me." Eventually, they found a number and left a message.

But Cooper did not use the full quote and Martin called to complain. "I put Scooter on the phone with him, which we didn't do very often on the record with a quote," she testified, "and he took just a piece of it." The result "wasn't helpful" and the story did not fade away.

So the following week, two senior Bush aides — communications director Dan Bartlett and Rice's deputy, Steve Hadley — briefed White House reporters. Cheney invited a group of conservative columnists to lunch at his residence.

On the Net:

Documents for the Libby trial may be found at:
http://wid.ap.org/documents/libbytrial/index.html

Posted by: sparrow at January 27, 2007 03:40 PM

Curious Monkey that I is, just wonderin' if the inlaws hated Fonda as much (or at all) during the Vietnam era, or have they come to hate her over the last, say, 10-15 years, coincidentally during the time period where conservative hate radio/broadcasting came into vogue, where beating a dead horse is all the rage?

Thou Shalt Not Rush To Judgement

aimzzz thanks for those links. Very interesting. Going through them more thoroughly now.

Sign the petition:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ufpj/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=447

And of course there's
www.setadeadline.com too

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 03:48 PM

I don't know. Before tha advent of email and hate-tv and hate-radio we didn't talk politics much. We didn't delve into Vietnam. (They did have a 'right-winged' bent and I was more liberal but not as liberal as my sister. For goodness sakes, I never considered even considering gayness an issue on one side or the other. They did. My inlaws against...my sister for... )

The only thing we spoke of was abortion. They were anti-choice period. I was anti-abortion but pro-choice. I felt demeaned because I didn't have their 100% 'pro-life'mentality and so I rarely had the courage to speak out.

I have the courage now, because I see pro-life is more than anti-choice. I believe I AM pro-life--much more so than they are!

Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?

All: Courage!

You can say that again! Huh?

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 03:58 PM

lol-- that's a mouth full!

Regardless... come visit me in the irc and we'll speak more of courage and cowardice.

Why we march...

U.S. military reports deaths of 7 troops
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military reported the deaths of seven more American soldiers Saturday, while Sunni insurgents bombed another market in a predominantly Shiite district, killing at least 13 people in a bid to terrorize Baghdad before a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown.

The U.S. deaths raised to at least 12 the number of service members killed in the past three days.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

This is an atrocity! Vets returning home and being denied healthcare!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/27/85827/2575

Hey DCPers:

We are back at our house: Marjorie G., Island Blue, globalvillage, FedUpinBushCountry, ProSense, JR from the campaign, Marietta, my brother and his partner, my son, Richard...

checking out our photos--a few more will go up soon.

We did good work today. Not so many Freepers and lots and lots of pro-peace folks. My student, the former neo-con, marched with us for a while and it seemed to turn him around even further. He was impressed and engaged.

But ya' know, even if it just makes the media, that works for me. The weather was gorgeous, it sounds like the speeches were good (we were too far back to hear), the energy amazing--

NOW LET'S GET READY TO CALL CONGRESS ON MONDAY!!

Say Hi for me!

We will now eat chocolate...

Posted by: karen at January 27, 2007 04:33 PM

That settles it. I'm coming to the next march.

madame--we were hoping you would BRING the chocolate next time!

I'll bring my dad's fudge recipe & buy the stuff there & make it. Otherwise, the chocolate would never survive the trip...

bout 40 people staged a counter-protest, including military family members and Army Cpl. Joshua Sparling, 25, who lost his leg to a bomb in Iraq in November 2005.

He said the anti-war protesters, especially those who are veterans or who are on active duty, “need to remember the sacrifice we have made and what our fallen comrades would say if they are alive.”

msnbc.com

Posted by: monkey at January 27, 2007 03:40 PM

We did not see forty counter-protesters; maybe twelve, including Cpl. Sparling.

To all of you, go to http://thegroundtruth.org to see what returning Iraq vets say to all of us.

40 people to um... 600,000 if you believe the blogs and 10's of thousands if you beieve the 'liberal media.'

Sounds like the 40 were a huge outpouring of support and I think I'll just have to keep the bombs flying as a result of their counter-protest.

I believe I AM pro-life--much more so than they are!

Posted by: sparrow at January 27, 2007 03:54 PM

You indeed are, and so are the DCP members.

After all, we don't believe in the death industry continuing to influence America.

Apparently, Faux News acknowledged that there were at least 100K protesters at the march. So 600K doesn't seem out of the realm of possibilities.

think pink,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at January 27, 2007 10:46 AM

I certainly will!

cspan playing the protest again right now.

I am going off to Busboys and Poets and will try to see what we can encounter there!

Posted by: aimzzz at January 27, 2007 03:44 PM

heh, heh, heh... We've known about some of those tactics for years, especially the bad news Friday thing, and creating one crisis to cover up some nefarious thing that gets reported near the classified page in small headlines below the fold. Wonder what the reich-wing kool-aid drinkers will think of the dirty details about the deliberate manipulation? Wonder if they'll even read it?

Gonzales Taps Bush Supporters to Fill US Attorney Vacancies
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012707Y.shtml
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is transforming the ranks of the nation's top federal prosecutors by firing some and appointing conservative loyalists from the Bush administration's inner circle who critics say are unlikely to buck Washington. The nine recent appointees identified by McClatchy Newspapers held high-level White House or Justice Department jobs, and most of them were handpicked by Gonzales under a little-noticed provision of the Patriot Act that became law in March.

{{{For whatever baby steps we've progressed forward since Jan. 4, there are ten giant steps backward.... The Patriot Acts, along with MCA '06, and other bad legislation passed since 2000 MUST be repealed in their entirety before we can take any larger steps forward...!!!!!}}}

We marched from Union Street, Seattle to the Langston Hughes cultural center and then to the Navy Recruiting, Army Recruiting and Marine Recruiting centers, ALL of which are in a minority neighborhood strip mall. For shame.

Just got home myself for the day, will go check out C-Span to see if I can see the protest.

Good going, gang!!!

THANK YOU!!!!

If you know me, you know I don't watch television but I'm a radio fanatic. Some people put down NPR but by now, I think I can listen to it analytically enough to separate the wheat from the chaff.

My absolute favorite radio show in the world is "This American Life" with Ira Glass. I have to hear it every Saturday when I'm heading to the bakery where my son works for my discounted vanilla latte. It's getting to be the only thing that can make me cry, and it invariable does.

Today, they outdid themselves. One of the only reporters I have ever trusted re Iraq has always been Anne Garrels. I seldom hear her but I did read her book and little did I know that some of the time I'd heard her broadcasting from the Palestine Hotel, she was actually "Naked in Bagdad," in the dark, with nothing for a month but whiskey, cigarettes and Kit Kat bars.

My other favorite reporter re Iraq was always Adam Davidson, from David Brancacio's Marketplace. Yes it was a business show and he was a business reporter, but when he reported on Halliburton, reconstruction, Iraqi entrepreneurs, or life in the Green Zone, I could always hear the fatigue, the skepticism, the horro in his voice through his attempt at neutrality. What would happen is that his voice would sound flat in affect, yet he sounds like a fairly young man and I knew there was more behind it.

Well today the story was about how Adam decided in 2003 that he'd save some money by NOT living in the Green Zone but by living in Bagdad proper, just in a regular neighborhood. At that time, an American could job, an American could shop, an American could even wander through protests of angry young men and interview and photograph them.

Things started to get much much worse and Adam ended up over $22,000 in debt. It turned out to be much harder to have a communal house/bed & breakfast for reporters & photographers than he'd expected. His house turned out to be a notorious site for getting a translator or driver who might be a relative of someone that death squads were after, or worse. It was known to every cab driver in Bagdad, except it took Adam a long time to figure this out.

By the time he was fluent in Arabic, he realized he was running quite the operation, and that it was pretty dangerous and he could be a sitting duck for insurgents. Check it out at http://www.npr.org and let your imagination run wild!! I'm going to send ore money to NPR.

A little more ..

Adam used to have dinner parties & he'd invite over those officials that he could stand. Usually tight-lipped and spouting the party line about how things were going great in Iraq, they would become less guarded when the alcohol started to flow. It wasn't long before he began to pick up that things were totally out of control in Iraq.

Also found out Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book called "Dancing in the Streets," about how the powers that be don't look so fondly on dancing and celebration - it was given a bad review by the Wall Street Journal, apparently. So that makes me want to read it, particularly since I've read every thing else she has ever written, back to Mother Jones days.

I belong to a music list which is national, even international, but pretty DC-centric. It turns out quite a few of the members were in DC today, and had a MeetUp. Wish I'd thought ahead early enough to go - takes planning (flights, time off work, money etc). Anyway, Congrats all!

You know what? It's funny how these things work sometimes.

One of the features of the blog software that we use here at the DCP is that you can include an email address where people can contact you -- it's masked on the front end to keep it hidden from spammerbots, but it's there if you click on our names should we choose to include it.

Another feature of the blog software that we use here at the DCP is that you can also include a URL of the site that you favor so that people can link there when they click on your name instead.

Not all of us use that, but some of us do -- usually to reference our own blogs, or those we consider to be our home base even though we post here at the DCP also.

In the past, I didn't use that particular feature. I do now, though. Click on my nick to find out why.

because when the people speak their representatives listen,
Otter

Just saw the cat alerting to a sound like rolling thunder in the distance. Curious to hear such a thing this time of year and listening closer, it sounded like bombing in the background. Went to the window and saw over the roofs of the houses a thousands-of-dollars' fireworks display, like the Fourth of July. We are Googling around and can't find any evidence of what it was for. It's too early for the Lunar New Year. Who paid for all this?! I have my husband as a witness or I'd think I was going psychotic from all the strange world events.

Otter
Smart. Cool. Thanks!

Regular papers are still reporting "tens of thousands" in DC, which is sick, but at least one in Billings admitted to "dozens" of protesters there in Montana!

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/27/news/state/23-protest.txt

A Sorry State
Following his State of the Union address, President Bush’s approval rating hits a new low in the NEWSWEEK poll

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Brian Braiker
Newsweek

Jan. 27, 2007 - President George W. Bush concluded his annual State of the Union address this week with the words “the State of our Union is strong … our cause in the world is right … and tonight that cause goes on.” Maybe so, but the state of the Bush administration is at its worst yet, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll’s history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over, a sentiment that is almost unanimous among Democrats (86 percent), and is shared by a clear majority (59 percent) of independents and even one in five (21 percent) Republicans. Half (49 percent) of all registered voters would rather see a Democrat elected president in 2008, compared to just 28 percent who’d prefer the GOP to remain in the White House.

Public fatigue over the war in the Iraq is not reflected solely in the president’s numbers, however. Congress is criticized by nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans for not being assertive enough in challenging the Bush administration’s conduct of the war. Even a third (31 percent) of rank-and-file Republicans say the previous Congress, controlled by their party, didn’t do enough to challenge the administration on the war.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840614/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

more arbusto...

With Bush widely viewed as an ineffectual “lame duck” (by 71 percent of all Americans), over half (53 percent) of the poll's respondents now say they believe history will see him as a below-average president, up three points from last May. The first time this question was asked, in October 2003, as many people thought Bush would go down in history as an above average president as thought we would be regarded as below average (29 to 26 percent). Only 22 percent of those polled think Bush's decisions about Iraq and other major policy are influenced mainly by the facts; 67 percent say the president's decisions are influenced more by his personal beliefs. This perhaps explains why only about half (49 percent) of adult Americans even bothered to watch or listen to any of the State of the Union speech as it happened. Of those, less than half (42 percent) think his energy, health care and other domestic policy proposals are likely to be seriously considered by the new Democratic-controlled Congress. Overall, 61 percent are unsatisfied with the way things are going in America; just 30 percent are satisfied.

monkey:

el arbusto = mentiroso mentiroso pantelones en el fuego

y hay más para el mono:

Lord I'm gettin' restless, I'm runnin' out of time
I've been around the world and I still ain't satisfied
That's why I'm going back to Memphis... where the feeling felt so fine
And let that magic Memphis rhythm rock 'n roll me one more time

Well... I'm going back to Memphis... (going back to Memphis)
Yeah... I'm going back to Memphis... (going back to Memphis)
Well... I'm going back to Memphis... back where it all began

Where rock 'n roll was born and gave the world a dream
Well the spirits living on in Memphis, Tennessee
Well... I'm going back to Memphis... and do it all again

From Bourbon Street to Broadway to Hollywood Boulevard
I drifted with the wind too long and too far
Thats why I'm going back to Memphis cause Memphis is my home
And let that River City Rockabilly blues soothe my soul

Got my sunshades on... guitar in the back
Blue Suede Shoes blastin' from an old eight track
I'm goin' back to Memphis in a rag top pink Cadillac
There'll be a rock 'n roll revival and more than one heart attack

coz gene kelton nose.
Otter

Hey, y'all!

If you've just been hitting 'refresh' and looking for new comments at the tail of this thread, then you really otter go back the top and check out all the fresh photos that Karen has added to the news of the day. Props to everybody who been there and done that!

'peacemaking' is not a passive verb,
Otter

Best. Daily Show. Bit. EVER.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/26/jon-stewart-tries-to-relate-to-cheney/

Pray for Molly Ivins

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4503517.html

I found out what was behind the gigantic fireworks display.
Microsoft paid thousands to reveal a clue for its new video game. I kid you not!

People are dying & this is what people are doing.