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DCP ver. 2.0 -- Getting Some on the Sides
Take a look to the left and right of this column of text. If you're reading this as an above-the-fold threader intro on the blog's 'Main' page, then you'll see sidebars on both sides of the page. Those two sidebars are common to many parts of the site, but not to all of them. If you're reading this as the entire threader plus comments on its own secondary page, you'll only see the left-hand sidebar. On some parts of the site, such as the forums, you won't see any sidebars at all.
Sidebars are very useful things, which is why you see them on practically all websites. They can contain links and information that's always accessible from any of the various content pages. They can be used to provide ancillary items that can be related to the main page content but aren't part of that content itself. They can display blogrolls, RSS newsfeeds, links to other parts of the site, calendars, photos, widgets -- indeed, practically anything that can fit into a narrow space on one or both sides of the page can and has been used in sidebars.
It's an unfortunate fact that the sidebar(s) on the DCP site are static in design, which means they need to be updated manually or their content grows outdated and stale. And there's no question that the sidebar content on the site hasn't been updated in quite a while. There's a lot of accumulated dust and layers of cobwebs on both sides of the pages these days.
That's one of the goals we have in redoing the DCP site design: we want to make the sidebars more dynamic in design and more useful in content. We want to use those spaces more effectively, to include more information and make sure that it's updated frequently. We want to provide more of what you DCPeeps want to see in the sidebars on this website. That's why we're asking you to tell us what you want to see when you look to the left and the right of what you're reading here.
One thing to consider right off the bat is whether to have one sidebar or two on different parts of the site. If we continue to use both sidebars on the top pages of the site but eliminate the right-hand one on the blog content pages as we do now, then we have to make sure that the left sidebar contains the most often-requested content. What's your preference for the full threader-plus-comments blog pages, then -- one sidebar or two?
You've all seen plenty of sidebars on other sites as you surf around the web, so you have a good idea of what's available. Not everything you see is available on every software platform, but a lot of it is common to practically all blog packages. What have you seen in other sites' sidebars that's worked for you? What makes you find yourself thinking, "Gee, I sure wish we had that on our DCP website too?"
One thing that's clear from the ongoing conversations on the blog is that DCPeeps are news junkies who like to read, post, and discuss topical stories from a variety of sources. So one piece of useful and frequently updated sidebar content that we do plan on implementing on our site is the use of embedded news feed columns from other sites such as these examples from Media Matters and Buzzflash.
Other progressive news sites have similar sidebar column feeds available, too. In fact, we can probably build the same kind of content boxes for just about any site that offers RSS feeds of its content (though of course not all of them lend themselves to the short-headline format required). So what particular news feeds would you like us to provide on the sides of your pages for you to scan as you blog away here at the DCP?
Another thing you see on practically all blog sites are the links and blogroll sections in their sidebars. Links and blogrolls serve multiple purposes for sites like ours. They can drive traffic back and forth from our blog to other blogs, increasing our presence on the web and introducing our readers to other sites they might not be familiar with. They can provide handy links to useful reference sources like FirstGov.com, Wikipedia, and other such sites that DCPeeps might want to access while they're writing their comments.
And the list of links and blogs visible in a site's sidebars also serves as a sort of common-interest identifier, too. (For example, if I visit a site I've never seen before and I notice that it features links to other sites like FreeRepublic, RedState, and littlegreenfootballs.com I can pretty much bet that I won't be interested in anything that site has to offer.)
So what links do you want us to have easily accessible in our sidebars? What reference sites do you regularly use when you're looking up some outside fact or trivia item for your comments? What blogs do you think we should be including in the blogroll on our site? Who do you want the DCP to be associated with on its pages, and why?
Those are just a few examples of what we might be able to build into our sidebars as we redo the Democracy Cell Project website. So take a look to the left and the right of the threader you're reading now, and tell us what you'd like to see there next time. As always, you can brainstorm about this and other suggestions for changes to the site your comments on the blog, or you can email them to rick(at)democracycellproject(dot)net. Either way, we want to know what you want -- because that is, after all, what small-d democracy is all about.
I think you're on the right track! We need to keep our individuality but take advantage of the interconnectedness and speed of the internet.
I enjoyed your comments about the conservative sites and I use them for research and belong to one of them. I wouldn't say they are without value. They're like a window into another way of thinking - frightening sometimes, but informative.
I would love to see links to progressive news summaries and op-eds, to resources for research, to organizations, to popular progressive blogs and also smaller personal ones but have them labelled as such. Could break them down by interest, like human rights, environment, etc. as well.
I know the Forum was supposed to perform this role but it seemed to have proved to be unwieldy.
Rick/NMP:
Here's my thinking on this. First, the stuff on the sidebar of any page sort of tells visitors the "bias" of the page. For that reason, I am kind of against them in general-- let the blog speak for itself.
On the other hand, keeping with the Democracy Cell concept, it would be kind of neat to have "allied" sites in other countries so that we could have some cross-fertilization. But all those links would have to ascribe to the same sort of ethics and the DCP.
For example on what is going on with the French elections, it would be interesting to be able to post (in English or French as people's skills permit -- you could even have language-specific blogs on all these sites) on a place where French people like Andree post. By the way, NMP, what ever happened to her?
Chuck in Houston
Rick:
Sorry for the typos in the above, but further to that, speaking for myself, I never use anything in any sidebars. I know how to "Google" and I know how to hit [Cntrl]+"F" so what else is there?
My concept would be the "KISS" of success: "Keep It Simple Stupid," otherwise known as "Less-is-More."
Just my two-bits, obviously.
Chuck in Houston
Rick:
The other interesting point you raise is accessibility -- need to go and have a smoke on that....
Chuck in Houston
Rick:
OK, I had a smoke on it, and here is what I think. Other things being equal, I'm a libertarian, so I am against forcing people out of anonymity should they chose to maintain it. On the otherhand, anonymity can allow irresponsible people to disrupt a good thing (think of the freedom of speech being limited to excluding yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater that is not on fire). For that reason, I think it is OK to require an email address to register (not to be shown on the blog). Then if a poster seems to be disruptive, the blog could email a query, and, if unanswered within [X] days, disable that ID. To re-enable it with that address the poster would have to appeal to the site owner using that email address.
Chuck in Houston
PS: It would also be nice if possible toallow posters to edit their blogs somehow within a certain period. Linda Enterkin used to say that that was a feature on the old General Clark blog.
Well, as NMP has written that musical interludes are a positive feature of the blog, I would like to say, even though I am not a big Pink Floyd fan (yes, Madam DeFarge, I like Led Zepellin, even if I can't ever spell it -- two "p's" and one "l" or the other way around?), I would like to ask, rather:
"Hello,
"Is there anybody out there?"
Chuck in Houston
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse
Chuck
That's "Faces" I think
I'm a man, I'm not wooden
Tell you 'bout a gal named Sally Goodin.
Lived upon a hilltop, seen Sally comin'
Just about killed myself going down runnin'.
Had it all, I'm not kiddin'
Give it all away, just to see Sally Goodin.
Chuck
PS: That's a song.
As per NMP
See, the "Sally Goodin" theme is nothing less than Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra," if you think on it. Or maybe not....
Chuck in Houston
PS: Yes, I am merely tryng to be provocative. Of course Cleopatra doesn't have a voice in "Sally Goodin," in contradistinction tothe Shakespeare play. But then you have to consider that it is an entirely different medium.
ANTHONY
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interrèd with their bones.
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest --
For Brutus is an honorable man,
So are they all, all honorable men --
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And sure he is an honorable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause.
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason!
Bear with me.
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
CITATION:
http://www.hycyber.com/VERSE/friends_romans.html
Chuck in Houston
Sorry, I know that was a "cut and paste" and moreover from a different play. On the other had it's Shakespeare so it can't hurt! Like the Stones, Shakespeare is always appropriate.
Chuck in Houston turning in while he's behind.
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons/2007/04/042307_fullterm.html
Two suicide car bombers struck a small U.S. patrol base in Diyala province Monday, killing nine American soldiers and wounding 20 others, according to a U.S. military official in Diyala.
All of the casualties were members of the Army's 82nd Airborne, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the U.S. military said in a statement
"Today represents the single greatest loss of life for soldiers from Fort Bragg in more than five years of simultaneous deployment," media affairs officer Maj. Tom Earnhardt told CNN.
Be sure to include a sidebar to Snopes.com or some other urban legend debunker thingy. I can't tell you how many dopey emails cross my path, passed on as "real news", and then fwd on to 10 others who believe anything they read.
I have to send them the obligatory "you really need to reearch your facts" in that shame on you tone of voice (somehow effective in writing, go figger).
Ah, also, as a progressive site, all links in the left sidebar should move to useful links, anything on the right only takes you backwards.
Troofreader
Obama: Bush falls short as world leader
Says the security of America and the wider world demands respect
CHICAGO - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that President Bush has fallen short of his role as leader of the free world, and the 2008 election is a chance to change that.
"This president may occupy the White House, but for the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open. And it's time to fill that role once more," Obama said, according to excerpts of his speech prepared for delivery to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
In his remarks, Obama said the world is disappointed in America.
"The disappointment that so many around the world feel toward America right now is only a testament to the high expectations they hold for us. We must meet those expectations again, not because being respected is an end in itself, but because the security of America and the wider world demands it," according to the speech.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18273765/
I'm with Chuck -- less is more. There are an abundance of sites that have very comprehensive blogrolls. Why duplicate that?
Maybe you could consider letting us "build our own" blogroll, a la Daily Kos. (I realize that will require user authentication.) It's very informative & enlightening to find unfamiliar & interesting sites that way.
As for news feeds, unless you keep it to just the bare bones title of the article (or allow us to turn it off if we choose), they add clutter. Buzzflash is notorious for having unwieldy titles for their articles that can take up way too much space.
Chuck
I don't think Andree has been posting as much - had alot of family and business responsibilities.
Jerome a Paris from DailyKos has a cool site that's in English but concerned with alot of interesting issues outside US-only.
Re links - we could have a button that went to links and then have them divided up by type. I love links. I started to organize them on the Forum but they were so embedded they weren't intuitive to access.
Can we have a rotating playlist of blogger submitted music to access while taking in said DCP v2.o?
Serenade vs. Koolaid
Any morning crew able to synch their music in the irc?
(Also, lurkers and newbies, irc invitation includes you.)
can't stay, must run as usual, BUT:
I am all for snopes.com on the sidebar.
Also http://www.dailyhowler.com/
others as needed
This just in:
Kucinich Has Introduced Articles of Impeachment Against Vice President Richard Cheney
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has acted. It's time now for us to follow through by asking the rest of Congress to get on board with the American public, and by letting the media know where we stand.
http://afterdowningstreet.org
My irc time is up. Talk to folks another time.
Karen...
Postponed!
"Postponed Again
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-04-24 15:18. Activism | Congress | Impeachment
From the office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich:
Kucinich Postpones Press Conference in Wake of Today's Reports on the Vice President's Health
WASHINGTON, D.C. - "News reports this morning indicate the Vice President was experiencing a medical crisis. Until the Vice President's condition is clarified, I am placing any action on hold," Kucinich said.
..."
Bush 'disappointed' by Democrats' direction on Iraq
April 24, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, standing firmly against a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, said Tuesday that he will veto the latest war spending bill approved by Congress.
"I'm disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course," Bush said.
"They chose to make a political statement," he said. "That's their right but it is wrong for our troops and it's wrong for our country. To accept the bill proposed by the Democratic leadership would be to accept a policy that directly contradicts the judgment of our military commanders."
Bush's statement came after Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by October 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. The decision assured a historic veto showdown.
"No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
Bush said U.S. troops should not be caught in the middle of a showdown between the White House and Congress.
"Yesterday, Democratic leaders announced that they planned to send me a bill that will fund our troops only if we agree to handcuff our generals, add billions of dollars of unrelated spending and begin to pull out of Iraq by an arbitrary date," Bush said on the South Lawn.
He said the bill would mandate the withdrawal of U.S. troops beginning as early as July 1 and no later than Oct. 1, despite the fact that Petraeus has not yet received all the reinforcements he has said he needs in the latest military buildup to help secure Baghdad and the troubled Anbar Province.
"The American people did not vote for failure," he said. "That is precisely what the Democratic leadership's bill would guarantee. "It's not too late for Congress to do the right thing."
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/24/congress.iraq.ap/index.html
"The American people did not vote for failure"...
Twice in fact.
Execs refuse to hear Wolfowitz's explanations
World Bank directors reject request by their president to give reasoning of giving perks to his staffer girlfriend.
April 24 2007
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The World Bank's executive directors have rejected a request by their embattled president, Paul Wolfowitz, to explain his role in a deal that sent his girlfriend to a new job at the State Department with a hefty pay raise, a source close to the probe told CNN Tuesday.
Asked about the report, Wolfowitz's attorney, Robert Bennett, told CNN's Zain Verjee, "I am very disappointed that there is a rush to judgment. This will be harmful to Mr. Wolfowitz and to the image of the bank."
Wolfowitz has been resisting calls for his resignation, and Bennett re-emphasized his stand Tuesday, saying, "We are not resigning."
more...
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/24/news/international/world_bank_wolfowitz/index.htm?postversion=2007042412
We?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1177251160686&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Cheney's "medical crisis" and Kucinich's plans - just check the foreign press!
Jessica Lynch stands with Tillman's family
http://people.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1295885.php/Jessica_Lynch_debunks_hero_myth_stands_with_Tillmans_family
They were both used as a pro-war publicity stunt.
Now I really have no regrets for not watching tv. I don't believe hardly any of it anyway, but if I watched, I'm afraid I'd get somewhat more sucked in. MSM calls the shots about what the focus is on and how it's framed. It seeps into your consciousness.
Fox reassures us that Darth is alright.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3015076&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1
Kucinich isn't mentioned.
I also received an earlier press release from Kerry where he responded to Cheney's digs about Harry Reid.
more:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/kucinich_to_unv.html
(Cheney, Kucinich)
Now got to eat
latest from Elizabeth on voter fraud:
On Election Night 2004, the "live" returns on Ken Blackwell's website were frozen for 90 minutes after Kerry had been deemed the winner in Ohio's biggest cities. Furthermore, on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website - which gave the world the presidential election results - was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of GOP owned/controlled servers containing scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors.
From: Mark Crispin Miller
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2553
The GOP's cyber election hit squad
by Steven Rosenfeld and Bob Fitrakis
Did the most powerful Republicans in America have the computer capacity, software skills and electronic infrastructure in place on Election Night 2004 to tamper with the Ohio results to ensure George W. Bush's re-election?
The answer appears to be yes. There is more than ample documentation to show that on Election Night 2004, Ohio's "official" Secretary of State website - which gave the world the presidential election results - was redirected from an Ohio government server to a group of servers that contain scores of Republican web sites, including the secret White House e-mail accounts that have emerged in the scandal surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's firing of eight federal prosecutors.
Re cent revelations have documented that the Republican National Committee (RNC) ran a secret White House e-mail system for Karl Rove and dozens of White House staffers. This high-tech system used to count and report the 2004 presidential vote- from server-hosting contracts, to software-writing services, to remote-access capability, to the actual server usage logs themselves - must be added to the growing congressional investigations.
(more at the link)
Another rightwing claim debunked:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=68814j
Abortion does NOT increase breast cancer risk.
Masturbation does NOT make you go blind.
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 03:17 PM
Holy chit.
WaPo "Sleuth" Chimes in about Cheney & Kucinich, makes fun of vegans.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2007/04/kucinich_halts_impeachment_hun.html
An interesting mix of comments though.
American media is totally cowed in the face of corporate power. They manage to marginalize anyone who tries to make a difference.
Is the Surge Backfiring?
Tuesday, Apr. 24, 2007
By MARK KUKIS/BAGHDAD
You never get much sleep at a patrol base at night. In Ramadi, where Marines man several combat outposts amid the inner city, darkness often brings fear as Iraqi security forces come and go, leaving some Marines wondering whether they are among friends or enemies. In Ghazaliya, a violent neighborhood in western Baghdad with similar combat outposts, nearby gunfire cracks through the inky blackness outside seemingly every time you drift off. And in Diyala Province, where nine U.S. soldiers died Monday, troops stand watch on rooftops overlooking stretches of palm groves where they know insurgents dwell, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Increasingly across Iraq, U.S. forces are leaving the comfort and safety of their fortified mega-bases and establishing small combat outposts and patrol bases like the one insurgents struck outside Baquba that left 20 soldiers wounded as well. Some patrol bases are well protected with blast walls and large numbers of troops. Others are little more than abandoned houses that a few platoons circle with Humvees while hunkering down inside. As a reporter frequently embedded with U.S. forces, I've visited many such patrol bases, and the sense of vulnerability at them is all too palpable. The paratroopers tasked with controlling the volatile territory on the outskirts of Baquba knew they would face attacks from insurgents in the area as they stepped up their presence by manning such patrol bases. But they saw little choice, since the ongoing surge strategy calls for U.S. forces to abandon the old notion of return-to-base patrols in favor of living full time in deadly areas.
more...
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1614091,00.html?cnn=yes
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 03:06 PM
Not just network TV, but even the cable networks like Discovery and National Geographic. They are full of propaganda as well.
[sarcasm] And I appreciate Fox News' loyalty and integrity in its sensitivity reporting toward the Korean community, in the face of VT massacre. [/sarcasm] If only Fox carried that same integrity toward blacks, Jews, Muslims, and others...
Reid: Cheney is Bush's 'attack dog'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called Vice President Dick Cheney an "attack dog" Tuesday, moments after the vice president accused Reid of opposing the Iraq war for political gain.
"The president is in a state of denial," Reid also said. "We believe the troops should get every penny they need, and we've put our money where our mouth is with the supplemental appropriation bill."
"I'm not going to get into a name calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating," Reid added.
http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/index.html
Reality bites, doesn't it, Dick...
Reality bites, doesn't it, Dick...
Posted by: madame defarge at April 24, 2007 03:44 PM
Anyone who still thinks al-Qaeda was active in Iraq before our invasion, ought to be locked up in mental wards themselves.
I've had enough of OUR people getting locked up in mental wards, and not THEM, as political prisoners.
If it's small comfort, America and France are hardly alone in going backwards.
Israel now has gender-segregated buses, as demanded by the ultra-Orthodox. Most women are up in arms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6584661.stm
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 03:17 PM
I sent that entire article to my rep's local secretary and to my list of people interested in politics, along with this comment:
So between the SCOTUS decision of Dec. 2000 that stopped the Florida recount and e-voting machines rigged in Ohio in 2004, we've had a fake president all these years. A fake president whose decisions (along with Cheney and Rove) have been responsible for the deaths of multiple thousands (our own and the residents of countries illegally invaded), shamed us all by illegally authorizing torture and setting up prison camps, sacked our treasury, and ruined our reputation abroad (that's just the short list of crimes!).
Kucinich was set to introduce impeachment papers against Cheney in the House soon, then postponed that when news of Cheney's leg blood clot (deep vein thrombosis) surfaced today.
Anyone have a wake-up pill for Nancy Pelosi, or willing to give her a good metaphorical swift kick in her arse to get her to put impeachment back on the table...? (For both Bush and Cheney, I mean....)
Posted by: madame defarge at April 24, 2007 03:44 PM
NINE percent "approval" rating?!?
I don't remember the last time I heard anything about Dickie's "approval" ratings, but a few weeks ago I read a 29% "approval" rating for DimWit.
Used to be whenever I tuned in to at least in-state snooze I'd hear "approval" ratings quoted during the first five minutes. With "approval" ratings all below 30%, it's no wonder polls haven't been mentioned much recently.
Woof, woof... if Kucinich wakes up and doesn't take Dickie's medical condition into consideration (why should he when Dickie doesn't give a damn about anyone else?), we might get lucky and hear about impeachment for at least ONE of the head criminals.
This can't happen soon enough for me....
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2007/04/kucinich_halts_impeachment_hun.html
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 03:31 PM
Update at the top of that column:
Kucinich Halts Impeachment Hunt Against Cheney
UPDATE, 3:45 p.m. ET: Kucinich now plans to hold his news conference announcing articles of impeachment against the vice president at 5 p.m. ET today. (Kucinich was in the Speaker's Lobby off the House chamber just moments ago personally handing out press releases announcing that the big event is back on.)
Let's hope Cheney doesn't have a dental appointment or anything between now and then!
Oooh, *SNAP*!!
---------------
"Dick Cheney’s attacks on Harry Reid are as disturbing as they are disingenuous. He is the American Idol of outlandish claims. No one has been more wrong about Iraq from day one than Vice President Cheney.
"The Cheney Doctrine has been a recipe for disaster in Iraq that has put American troops in unforgivable danger and made America less secure. The Vice President has only been consistent in his miscalculations and misdirection.
"I could hardly believe my ears when the Vice President had the nerve to accuse Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of being uninformed. This is the same man who claimed that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq and that the Iraqi insurgency was in its last throes, when in fact the civil war was growing.
"It is time for the Vice President to return to his secure, undisclosed location to rejoin his neocon friends rather than attack the Majority Leader who is fighting to keep faith with American troops."
-------------
nmp at 3:07 knew who it was what said that,
Otter
Double-snap...
Rove's White House political activity probed
Bush spokesman insists informational briefings 'entirely appropriate'
Updated: 15 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - A little-known federal investigative unit has launched a probe into allegations of illegal political activity within the executive branch, including a White House office led by President Bush's close adviser, Karl Rove.
The new investigation, which began several weeks ago, grew out of two other investigations still under way at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel: the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias from New Mexico and a presentation by Rove aide J. Scott Jennings to political appointees at the General Services Administration on how to help Republican candidates in 2008.
"We're in the preliminary stages of opening this expanded investigation," Loren Smith, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, an independent investigative and prosecutorial agency, said Tuesday. "The recent suggestion of illegal political activities across the executive branch was the basis we used to decide that it was important to look into possible violations of the Hatch Act."
The office, led by Scott J. Bloch, enforces the Hatch Act, a 70-year-old law that bars federal employees from engaging in political activities using government resources or on government time.
Whether politics played an inappropriate part in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, including Iglesias, was at the heart of the controversy that has threatened Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job. Whether executive branch employees violated federal laws that restrict them from using their posts for political activity also is at the center of the controversy about the January meeting at GSA.
"Six participants have confirmed that, at the end of the presentation, GSA Administrator Lurita Doan asked all present to consider how they could use GSA to 'help our candidates' in 2008,'" 25 Democrats wrote in a letter of complaint on Monday to White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.
Among questions the senators asked Bolten:
-"Why did Mr. Jennings and his staff communicate the presentation materials which bear the White House seal, via a private e-mail account affiliated with the Republican National Committee?"
-"Does the White House consider the preparation and delivery of such a presentation to be an appropriate use of taxpayer funds?"
The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the wider inquiry, said Doan doesn't recall making such comments.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18295584/
Republican puts out 'action alert' claiming Rice will be subpoenaed tomorrow Michael Roston
Published: Tuesday April 24, 2007
A spokesman for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that she had more important things to do than testify before Congress the day before a House Committee is threatening to issue a subpoena for her cooperation with an investigation into the evidence used to build the case for the Iraq War.
Meanwhile, a Republican Congressman sent out an "action alert" claiming that "we've gotten word that Waxman will issue a subpoena to Secretary Rice tomorrow morning," adding that such a move could allow the GOP to show how Democrats are "trying to win the political war for themselves no matter its effect on America’s efforts to promote peace and democracy abroad."
"I can only assume that members of Congress would rather have the secretary of State be focused on issues of war and peace," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in a press briefing today, and then listed her obligations over the next month.
He added, "So she can be doing those things, or she can be testifying before Chairman Waxman's committee about an issue that has been about as investigated as an issue can possibly be investigated."
He was responding to an inquiry regarding whether or not Rice would agree to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform prior to the Memorial Day recess, as requested by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Chairman Waxman is scheduled to have a hearing tomorrow to consider issuing a subpoena to compel Rice's cooperation with his probe.
McCormack further dismissed the question of how the case for the Iraq War was built as too old to be worthy of concern.
"I'm not quite sure what these questions about her job four years ago, and a four-year-old controversy that has been thoroughly investigated, have to do with her current-day duties," he said.
But, he maintained that the State Department's response to Waxman's questions would ward off any need for a subpoena or testimony.
"Congressman Waxman has had a series of questions for Secretary Rice, and we started out at the -- some 50-plus questions. I think we've narrowed it down to about three, and we will be providing a response to those last three questions, I expect, later this afternoon to Chairman Waxman and his committee," he added.
Subsequently, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-SC) issued an alert via his 'Theme Team' saying that Waxman's plans could offer Republicans a political opportunity.
"This could be a great place for us to get our foot in the door in showing that Waxman is unecessarily issuing the subpoena and, in doing so, is standing in the way of Dr. Rice doing what we all agree is necessary - building and improving on international support for our efforts worldwide," wrote Chris Crawford, who works for the Congressman, in an e-mail to bloggers.
The email continues, "Waxman’s actions border on harassment and will prevent the Dr. Rice from completing those duties entrusted to her office."
"The subpoena threatens to disrupt a busy and important schedule including trips to a NATO conference on Afghanistan, the Iraq Neighbors Conference in Egypt, and facilitating talks between Israel and Palestine," the 'Theme Team Action Alert' states. "Is Mr. Waxman more concerned with getting press or is he trying to save the diplomatic limelight for Speaker Pelosi?"
McCormack's full exchange with reporters in today's State Department press briefing can be found below.
more on....
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Secretary_Rice_still_dodge_subpoena_shirking_0424.html
Too busy (important) to testify...
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at April 24, 2007 04:01 PM
IMHO, it just proves the ubiquitousness of fear of women on the part of men who consistently display other traits of rabid misogyny, and then go about making laws and customs to fit their fears and xenophobia. It carries over to a general misanthropic world view where anyone who is not like them or anyone who does not think like them is shunned, but the root of the problem is their own fear, or maybe even uterine envy because they can't produce heirs without women, so their misplaced fear becomes loathing of the "objects" they fear most. I'm not forgetting that women and children were chattel property in most places in the world up until laws were changed only in the last century, and most of that displaced fear has its origins in religion.
I keep running into this odd phenomenon in baptism records (while pursuing genealogy research) where it mentions women being re-introduced to congregations 40 days after giving birth because after giving birth women were considered "unclean" and couldn't enter a church for a specified time after giving birth. Where men conceived that bizarre idea, I don't know, but it was practiced in some religions.
Happily, there are enlightened men nowadays (the ones on this blog, specifically, as well as a few others I know personally) who do not buy into the fear and loathing of women.
I just wish there were more men like them who would be elected (in honest elections) to represent all of us, not just the misogynistic misanthropes "leading" this country....
FYI, for anyone who can stand to listen to the SAME old blather (occasionally when I've listened to Charlie Rose interview Cons, it seems Rose is one of them, so I expect he'll not challenge anything Dumbya says when he blows smoke up his butt):
Tonight on Charlie Rose:
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
A conversation with President George W. Bush about Iraq as well as other challenges and opportunities for the country in the remainder of his presidency.
*Please Note the Special Time: {10pm in New York and Washington D.C.} For other locations be sure to check your local PBS Affiliate.
democrats.com
Events Are Spreading Like Wildfire
http://www.a28.org
With ten (only 5) days to go, we're entering the homestretch in building for A28 - and the grassroots impeachment movement is sizzling!
We've got actions from Miami to North Pole, Alaska, with more being added by the hour. April 28 will mark the beginning of Impeachment Summer , and we've got a whole list of ways to turn up the heat on Congress even more after A28.
Now is the time to figure out what you're going to do on A28, chip in for the cause, and get the word out far and wide. There's a lot going on behind the scenes as well, and over the next week you can expect to hear some very exciting announcements!
Find A28 Actions on ImpeachMap
The A28 website has been completely overhauled and one of the most exciting new features is the ImpeachMap. You can use this to find an action near you, add your own action, or locate people in your area to team up with. Visit the map on the A28 homepage:
http://www.a28.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24wiccan.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
Use of Wiccan Symbol on Veterans’ Headstones Is Approved
(snip)
Until now, the Veterans Affairs department had approved 38 symbols to indicate the faith of deceased service members on memorials. It normally takes a few months for a petition by a faith group to win the department’s approval, but the effort on behalf of the Wiccan symbol took about 10 years and a lawsuit, said Richard B. Katskee, assistant legal director for Americans United.
The group attributed the delay to religious discrimination. Many Americans do not consider Wicca a religion, or hold the mistaken belief that Wiccans are devil worshipers.
“The Wiccan families we represented were in no way asking for special treatment,” the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said at a news conference Monday. “They wanted precisely the same treatment that dozens of other religions already had received from the department, an acknowledgment that their spiritual beliefs were on par with those of everyone else.”
A Veterans Affairs spokesman, Matt Burns, confirmed that the “V.A. will be adding the pentacle to its list of approved emblems of belief that will be engraved on government-provided markers.”
“The government acted to settle in the interest of the families concerned,” Mr. Burns added, “and to spare taxpayers the expense of further litigation.”
There are 1,800 Wiccans in the armed forces, according to a Pentagon survey cited in the suit, and Wiccans have their faith mentioned in official handbooks for military chaplains and noted on their dog tags.
At least 11 families will be immediately affected by the V.A.’s decision, said the Rev. Selena Fox, senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church in Wisconsin.
In reviewing 30,000 pages of documents from Veterans Affairs, Americans United said, it found e-mail and memorandums referring to negative comments President Bush made about Wicca in an interview with “Good Morning America” in 1999, when he was governor of Texas. The interview had to do with a controversy at the time about Wiccan soldiers’ being allowed to worship at Fort Hood, Tex.
“I don’t think witchcraft is a religion,” Mr. Bush said at the time, according to a transcript. “I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.”
Americans United did not assert that the White House influenced the Veterans Affairs Department. Under the settlement, Americans United had to return the documents and could not copy them, though it could make limited comments about their contents, Mr. Katskee said.
Americans United filed the lawsuit last November on behalf of several Wiccan military families. Among the plaintiffs was Roberta Stewart, whose husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, was killed in September 2005 in Afghanistan.
Ms. Stewart said she had tried various avenues to get the pentacle approved. Late last year, Gov. Kenny Guinn of Nevada, her home state, approved the placing of a marker with a pentacle in a Veterans Affairs cemetery in Fernley, east of Reno. But Ms. Stewart said she had continued to pursue the lawsuit because she wanted the federal government to approve the markers.
Other religious groups that have often opposed Americans United supported the effort to have the government approve the pentacle.
“I was just aghast that someone who would fight for their country and die for their country would not get the symbol he wanted on his gravestone,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, which litigates many First Amendment cases. “It’s just overt religious discrimination.”
Ralph...
Great link for those actions. Looks like we're not the red states and blue states anymore.
Kerry is having a busy day
Kerry Demands Answers on Death of Corporal Pat Tillman
WASHINGTON D.C. – Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) today made the following statement on the death by friendly fire of Corporal Pat Tillman in 2004. At today’s hearing at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. Army Specialist Bryan O'Neal revealed he was ordered by his superiors to conceal information about the cause of Tillman’s death from his family.
“Corporal Tillman made the greatest sacrifice for his country, and at the very least his family was owed the truth about his death,” Senator Kerry said. “Today’s developments further prove why we won’t rest until every question is answered about Tillman’s death. The families of those who give their lives for our country should never have to fight for the truth – and we owe them so much more. Now, over three years after Corporal Tillman’s death, his family and friends and those who served with him are still asking questions they never should have had to ask. Corporal Tillman was a hero, his service will be remembered by all of us, and his family will remain in all of our prayers
Does the media pay any attention to his press releases? Or do they have a systematic blackout system? If they do things like that, they are complicit in murder.
I keep running into this odd phenomenon in baptism records (while pursuing genealogy research) where it mentions women being re-introduced to congregations 40 days after giving birth because after giving birth women were considered "unclean" and couldn't enter a church for a specified time after giving birth. Where men conceived that bizarre idea, I don't know, but it was practiced in some religions.
Posted by: NonnyO at April 24, 2007 05:40 PM
It's in the Bible.
As I feared, the guy who will investigate Bush is himself under investigation - and he's a Bush appointee.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=189590
It's in the Bible.
Posted by: V at April 24, 2007 06:28 PM
When I was in Thailand once, my friend's niece began her menstrual period. She was not allowed to enter a Buddhist temple and had to sit in a van for a couple of hours with an adult driver who had been hired and was not known to the family. I insisted on staying with her.
Some of these ideas must have originated back when families were larger and less was known about disease sources and there was more superstition. If they are still to be followed - in any religion - then to be consistent, people should not be using electricity, computers, telephones or cars.
Further, people who do not believe in evolution should not accept cancer treatment as is is based on the theory of cells mutating, which is part of the theory of evolution.
From David Swanson et al:
Kucinich Has Introduced Articles of Impeachment Against Vice President Richard Cheney
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has acted. Here are his Articles of Impeachment and supporting materials.
It's time now for us to follow through by asking the rest of Congress to get on board with the American public, and by letting the media know where we stand.
http://www.impeachcheney.org
Ask your Congress Member to support impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney:
http://tinyurl.com/yttnxq
Ask members of the House Judiciary Committee and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead, follow, or get out of the way:
http://tinyurl.com/2ar8ch
Tell the media that you support Congressman Dennis Kucinich's proposal to begin impeachment proceedings:
http://tinyurl.com/2cag7t
Learn more at:
http://www.impeachcheney.org
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 06:31 PM
Also worth remembering:
Buddhism as practiced in the West is a fairly liberal religion, but as practiced in the East, is often anti-women and anti-gay. (Despite Kwan Yin being transgender.)
There is a reason why Christians in South Korea, being the reactionary bastards they really are (and having proven that in the American society), sell themselves as enlightened liberals - because that country's Buddhists are THAT backward.
If they do things like that, they are complicit in murder.
Posted by: not my president at April 24, 2007 06:13 PM
They've been complicit ever since the "Fairness Doctrine" was scrapped during the Reagan era.
Looks like we're not the red states and blue states anymore.
Posted by: sparrow at April 24, 2007 06:11 PM
It's never been that clear-cut. Plenty of red states have strong blue pockets, and vice versa.
My state, California, is supposedly "blue," but we are home to one of the largest and reddest metropolitan areas in the nation - Orange County.
Bingo.
Kucinich story hits our paper.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003678547_impeach24.html
This project has support here.
Also watching MSM turn yesterday's Rove embarrassment ("Don't touch me!") turn in to the Sheryl Crow toilet paper story.
Can imagine the quickie meetings that go on to launch attacks and counter attacks. Meanwhile, where is the news?
Most worthwhile story of the day, for me, came from reading about the Iraqi University engineering students who extended compassion to the students of Virginia Tech. They do know the horror of daily violence.
Irc open for the evening.
On the menu:
Smoothies
http://www.smoothjazz.com/
Smoothies
http://www.drinkswap.com/drinks/detail.asp?recipe_id=10347
Ally McRepuke
I was raised a Methodist but am not now. It's the 3rd large US denomination after Catholics and Baptists but in the future, the US congregation will be dwarfed by that in the developing world, such as Africa.
The situation is that the developing countries will take a very conservative literal reading of the Scriptures and uphold the primitive homophobia and mysogyny, causing a split in the church, which is already happening with the Anglicans.
Believe me, I have seen African evangelists preaching in Hyde Park and in eastern Paris and they are all about hellfire and brimstone. One of them screamed at me that I was a sinner when I dared to contradict him when he blamed Hurricane Katrina on the behavior of people in New Orleans (partying, I guess).
Then in Bristol, south of London, I encountered a whole choir of Korean evangelists with one tone-deaf Jamaican guy as I came up out of the Underground and walked into the combination fried chicken/curry place. Surreal.
Given the population growth & younger demographic of the developed world and the fact that they will probably continue to be the poorest on the planet, & that many inhabit the countries that are likely to be most affected by global warming, what can we expect in the future?
More poor people desperately clinging on to something for dear life, and more wars to be fought over religion and resources as those on the bottom scramble for survival; more refugees pouring into the richer countries in both hemispheres, risking death to do so, then trying to join those living the "American dream" or "European dream." Sad.
sparrow,
won't be able to join you in IRC tonight. I hope others will, however!
NMP,
You mean Brixton, not Bristol (which is two hours west of London), right? We talked about that experience last July.
At least we recognize the conservatism, misogyny, and homophobia in the Third World. The sad truth is, many liberals don't, and they keep painting a very idealistic, idyllic view of the Third World. Sure, it was the West and its religions that spread the seeds of hate in the Third World, but the Third World inhabitants have taken it to a new level (i.e. blatant Jamaican homophobia).
Posted by: sparrow at April 24, 2007 06:00 PM
Thank you for that update, little bird.
Posted by: V at April 24, 2007 06:28 PM
Book, chapter, verse...???
While I read the Bible cover-to-cover twice, I read it for content, not excerpted verses, and I didn't memorize them....
Ally
You're right - Brixton, home of wig stores & lots of drum 'n bass shops. I like it there.
Now London is so expensive that one pound buys two dollars.
Ally
I blame alot the unequal distribution of wealth and resources on the planet & the exploitation of some by others, not to mention neglect of animals and plants we depend on. A rape mentality applied by colonialism.
On the "unclean woman" thang: it is Orthodox Jewish law that women have to go to the baths during their menstrual periods. Also, when I gave birth in an Orthodox Jewish Hospital (don't ask...) during Passover, the layers of rules about unclean women led to not one father appearing to help with the babies or just hang out with Mom, except for my son's Dad and sister.
I had a friend who converted to Orthodox Judaism and I asked her about the ritual bath nonsense, and she claimed that it didn't bother her at all--she got out of the house for a few days a month and hung out in a hot tub. She highly recommended it.
Ralph...
Great link for those actions. Looks like we're not the red states and blue states anymore.
Posted by: sparrow at April 24, 2007 06:11 PM
@@@@@@@@@@
The West side of Michigan (lower peninsula) is Republican/Bush country but there are three - anti-Bush/anti-war protests scheduled in the next few weeks:
Grand Rapids (Again!!!)
Kalamazoo
Holland - they are doing an anti-Blackwater protest. Holland is where the founder of Blackwater was born and raised, I believe. Betsy Devos's brother etc..
Karen
My theory is that probably long ago there was something like AIDS that was believed or figured out to be blood-borne. Same may explain the not eating of pork or other conventions. People may have figured out where some of the hazards were but not known what else to do what avoid them.
Nowdays we have bad peanut butter, bad lettuce, bad hamburger, bad pet food. We know that it's because of slack regulation and moneygrubbing producers but if we didn't, we might design a religion where they were proscribed.
I would love for there to be a religion that forbade people from riding in elevators after eating meals heavy on beer and protein, for example!
I'm heading off to the hot tub and sauna. It's my religion. Just had wine and my husband cooked dinner for me (he's on vacation and I am not, because we had too many snow days and used up all my time).
On the way home, I saw this creepy off-road vehicle (with big lights designed to blind rabbits so the guy can shoot them and leave them there dead) and on the back it had a huge photo of an eagle with an American flag - big airbrushed transplucent thing. Over the top of it, it said, "Jihad this." Needless to say, I didn't pass the guy, as I thought maybe he'd shoot me.
Book, chapter, verse...???
Posted by: NonnyO at April 24, 2007 08:28 PM
Leviticus 15:19-24
I had a friend who converted to Orthodox Judaism and I asked her about the ritual bath nonsense, and she claimed that it didn't bother her at all--she got out of the house for a few days a month and hung out in a hot tub. She highly recommended it.
Posted by: karen at April 24, 2007 09:52 PM
I also have a good friend who is a feminist Orthodox Jew (if that makes any sense) and she too has found ways to really enjoy a lot of the "restrictions".
Is this religion or just a bunch of clean freaks? Seems kind of weird to me. Kind of brings a declining Howard Hughes to mind. Oh well, different strokes for differnt folks I guess.
Leviticus 15:19-24 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
19And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
22And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
23And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
Chuck in Houston
Come to think on it, I guess I'd just rather not think on that too much. Sorry! Nevermind....
Chuck in Houston
You know, the one unclean thing that really gets to me is when you let dishes accumulate in the sink and the gunk gets dried up on them to where you can't hardly even scrape it off with a knife. I mean, that's my vision of unclean. It's disgusting. Cockroach bait I call it. That's why I am a freak about rinsing dishes right away, even if I don't wash them that moment or put them inthe dishwasher that moment.
Oh, and the stories I could tell about garbage collection practices (or non-practices) in some parts of the world! Don't even get me started on that one!
Chuckin Houston
Posted by: Chuck at April 24, 2007 11:30 PM
Here's an explanation my (feminist Orthodox Jewish) friend gave me:
This process maximizes the couple's reproductive chances by abstaining from sex during the woman's least fertile time of the month (menstruation & immediately after), building up desire between the couple by having to abstain for two weeks, and then reconvening, as it were, for the woman's most fertile time of the month (right around ovulation) - also the time of the month when women generally feel much more desire for sex.
I have heard from various orthodox Jewish women that although it can be tough early in a marriage, it is somewhat of a relief later on, to have two weeks "off" (no excuses necessary!) and to focus your lovemaking efforts on the other two weeks.
V:
I suppose that makes some sense if the goal (of marriage?) is to create (beget?) the maximum number of offspring from one couple.
Like I say, to each according to their own....
Chuck in Houston
V:
But even so, what is with all the bathing and washing? Is that to kill the natural drive until the moment most fortuitous for conception arrives? I mean, if it stipulated cold water, I might could see (or push-ups or something).
Sorry, I should stop while I'm behind.
Chuck in Hosuton
Posted by: Chuck at April 24, 2007 11:27 PM
This is great! And the men decreed: that women should have a holiday for one week every month! To hell with just staying in a separate room - I'd go on an expensive holiday every month if the fellas didn't want me around - give me money and I'll vanish for 7 days and seven nights and do all my unclean things elsewhere! They can call me whatever they like.
I read a book called the Red Tent. Same deal - and the women thoroughly enjoyed their 7 days of freedom for talking and laughing - and crying - in the Red Tent.
Well I thoroughly enjoyed my workout at the gym and the following sauna and hot tub. I read tabloids and listened to my iPod and now I'm drinking Shiraz.
I once knew a feminist masochist and that sounds kind of confusing, but she said that she was into "topping from the bottom." It takes all kind, I guess.
wanna see the creepy thing that drove in front of me on the way home from work, click on my name
Jihad that
Karen, V, Chuck, et al....
Actually, the ritual bathing I get. I think it was Chaim Potok in Wanderings: A History of the Jews who said that the reason the Jewish population didn't get hit as hard with the plague was because of the ritual bathing, ritual cleanliness (done for religious reasons because one could not go to temple to worship when one's body was dirty; but it's also practical in other aspects of life, too, such as keeping separate utensils for food preparation, because that doesn't cross-contaminate food, etc.). True, their households were affected by the plague, too, but they mostly lived apart from the Christian population (some areas had ghettos), and the ritual cleanliness helped keep fleas and such out of homes, but living apart probably helped. It was the Christians who sewed themselves into winter underwear and didn't bathe all winter, whose homes and bodies were infected with fleas (killing cats who had killed rats and other rodents worked against everyone), and they were the truly 'unclean' peoples. Some early pope decreed bathing a trait of vanity, one of the seven deadly sins, and I think he tried to make bathing a sin.
I get the ritual waiting until a fertile cycle for sex. It was just practical. When people lived closer to nature (and practically everyone had farm animals, even if it was only a few on a small plot of land), they would have all been aware of when females "came into season" (both human as well as four-legged creatures). Cows, for instance, can only produce milk after calving, a fact lost on most modern people who have never gone near a farm and don't know the biology behind getting milk in a plastic jug at the grocery store; when a cow's milk dries up, she goes into estrus and has to have a calf to produce milk again. The disconnect has worked against knowing about natural cycles.
The mentions I ran into involved "unclean" women for 40 days after the birth of a child, having to be re-introduced to a (Protestant Christian) congregation after birth. I don't think any ritual bathing for religious reasons was involved (I've never heard of any, and I was raised the same religion, but the outmoded practice of re-introduction to a congregation was not involved in this country that I know of; the records I'm doing research in are in a European country), although if there was abstention from sex after a childbirth or during menstrual periods, I get that, too; I know there was no "time off" for sex or waiting a specific time after a menstrual period to have sex was involved otherwise.
It is known by modern science that the sense of smell is involved with sexual attraction - pheromones. Not the stinky physical-work-sweat after bacteria makes people smell rancid, but the clean sweat, like right after bathing. It's subtle, but it's there. One of the bonding events between mother and child is smell. Every normal woman I've ever known loves the smell of their babies, and they recognize the smell of their newborns even before the sight of their babies is imprinted on their brains. (I read a study about that. Other people could recognize a baby's face better than the mother immediately after birth, but new mothers passed the smell test when everyone else failed. On average, women's sense of smell is much keener than men's, and that's been proved in studies, too.)
The part that I find odd is that the 'unclean' discrimination is against women (on grounds that men think menstrual blood or blood after childbirth is 'unclean'). None of the banishment is against men if they stink of sweat or don't bathe often enough, and (although no menstrual blood is involved, of course) if wounded and bleeding, men don't consider their own blood 'unclean'....
Kucinich Announces Impeachment Charges Against Vice President Cheney :
By Michael Roston
"The weight of the lies used to lead us into war has grown heavier with each death. Now is the time for Congress to examine the actions that led us into this war, just as we must work to bring the troops home. This resolution is a very serious matter, and I will urge the Committee on Judiciary to investigate and carefully consider this resolution."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17590.htm
Excerpt:
Because I believe the vice president's conduct of office has been destructive to the founding purposes of our nation. Today, I have introduced House Resolution 333, Articles of Impeachment Relating to Vice President Richard B. Cheney. I do so in defense of the rights of the American people to have a government that is honest and peaceful.
~~~~~
{{{Apparently Kucinich did introduce articles of impeachment....??? Transcript of a news conference included at the end of Kucinich's news conference speech.}}}
~~~~~
Excerpt from Q & A:
QUESTION: Why solely Mr. Cheney?
KUCINICH: Well, there's a practical reason here. And the practical reason is -- first of all, I want to say that each and every charge against Mr. Cheney relates to his conduct or misconduct in office.
Now, with respect to the president. I think that it's very important that we start with Mr. Cheney. Because if we were to start with the president and pursue articles of impeachment, Mr. Cheney would then become president.
It's significant and responsible to start in this way, because if the same charges would relate to the president as relate to the vice president, you would then have to go through the constitutional agony of impeaching two presidents consecutively.
Congress looks to revive oversight role
By Elizabeth Williamson
washingtonpost.com
April 25, 2007
Over the course of only 15 minutes today, three congressional committees will consider subpoenas for half a dozen officials from the White House and the departments of Justice and State. On the list is former presidential chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Justice Department liaison to the White House Monica M. Goodling, a key figure in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
Republican leaders call it a "partisan witch hunt." But Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans, say it is an overdue return to their constitutional role of executive-branch oversight.
Since Democrats assumed control of Congress in January, they have hired more than 200 investigative staffers for key watchdog committees. They include lawyers, former reporters and congressional staffers who left oversight committees that had all but atrophied during the six years that the GOP controlled Congress and the White House. They have already begun a series of inquiries on subjects ranging from allegations of administration meddling in federal scientists' work on global warming and the General Services Administration's alleged work for Republican campaigns to how disproved claims that Iraq had purchased nuclear material from Niger evolved into a case for war.
Democrats have been emboldened, investigators say, by their House and Senate judiciary committee colleagues' inquiries into the firings of U.S. attorneys. Last week's day-long testimony by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, some Democrats said, was a reminder of how rare Cabinet-level grillings had become on Capitol Hill. By the end of today, the Senate Judiciary Committee alone is set to authorize subpoenas for 15 people in the inquiry on the prosecutor dismissals.
"Oversight is just as important, if not more important, than legislation," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The new investigations illustrate just how many questions went unanswered in the six years when Democrats "couldn't hold hearings, we couldn't compel information . . . all we could do was ask for it," he said.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18298909/from/RS.3/
FYI, The Tall Guy is spending the next hour nattering away about 'This Moment on Earth' with Jane Hamsher & taking questions from the posting audience over at:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/04/25/fdl-book-salon-john-kerry-and-this-moment-on-earth/#respond
Guess what?
John McCain is announcing a run for President!
What a surprise!
Wow, my hiccups are gone.
IMPEACHMENT TODAY IN D.C.
mpeachment Events Postponed to April 25th
The event described below and originally planned for April 19 at 11:15 a.m. has been moved to Wednesday April 25 at Noon. This postponement is made out of respect for the victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech and their families and friends.
WHAT: Coalition statement in support of impeachment
WHEN: 12:00 Noon ET, Wednesday, April 25, 2007
WHERE: The Cannon House Office Building Outdoor Terrace, Washington D.C. (A House Office Building room has been reserved in case of rain).
The list of well-known people who will be in attendance is growing.
Check for updates at http://www.impeach07.org
________
A group of prominent Americans will gather at the U.S. Capitol to speak in support of beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Among them will be mayors, including Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City and John Shields of Nyack, NY; city council members, including Dave Meserve of Arcata, CA; former government officials, including Daniel Ellsberg who released the Pentagon Papers; David MacMichael, a former analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and a member of the steering committee of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity; retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, a career diplomat who quit in protest the day the war began; and legal experts, including Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Also participating will be authors, journalists, poets, and playwrights, including Chris Hedges, Eve Ensler, Justin Frank, Mark Kurlansky, John Nichols, Barbara Jentzsch, Ann Marie Macari, and Ariel Dorfman; actors, producers, and photographers, including Eunice Wong, Kathy Chalfant, Malachy McCourt, Frances Fisher, Henry Chalfant, and Patricia Foulkrod, and leading anti-war voices, including Andy Shallal, Cindy Sheehan, Tina Richards, Medea Benjamin, Bob Fertik, David Swanson, Debra Sweet, Kevin Zeese, and Tim Carpenter.
House panel votes to grant immunity to Gonzales aide Monica Goodling
** new thread **
What Waxman is up to:
http://www.oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?ID=101
Look at that LIST!