Some pictures are worth more than 1,000 words -- II

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose:

"If Iraq is Vietnam on crack, the effectiveness of the Iraqi army and police forces is Vietnam on methamphetamines. If learned helplessness were water, Iraq would be drowning in it."

http://badtux.net/2007/05/vietnamization-of-iraq.html

According to a new book, Hillary did not read the NIE before voting for IWR in 2002.

Carlson has moved from bashing Edwards yesterday(that was so Thursday...) to Clinton today.

I've been on planet x since last week. Came back to discover this tasty link about Rosie and Elizabeth of the View.

(Don't normally see the View at all. And usually don't care. But Rosie and Elizabeth get into it over who supports the troops (or who is a terrorist) and the Fox-fake meme that Democrats don't as well and that Democrats are terrorists.)

http://tv.yahoo.com/the-view/show/253/news/urn:newsml:tv.ap.org:20070525:tv_the_view_o_donnell

GV--Great work on that video. This Memorial Day I will most definitely be thinking about the words of the Generals and the lies of those in power. I will feel tremendous sadness for all the yellow-dog Democrats and fake-moderate-Republicans who have signed a death warrent on thousands of more soldiers and Iraquis.

...Really touching video...thinking about the words and the soldiers. Thanks, GV.

Rosie is gone, as of last Wednesday. They announced it about an hour ago.

Posted by: Cyrano at May 25, 2007 04:37 PM

Ching-chong Rosie won't be missed. The ching-chong comment cost Rosie her credibility.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at May 25, 2007 04:42 PM

Aren't you supposed to be on a plane now???

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at May 25, 2007 04:42 PM

I think that I mercifully missed that one.

Hundreds of students and faculty erupted in a chorus of boos Friday when President Bush's former chief of staff Andrew Card rose to accept his honorary doctorate in public service at the University of Massachusetts, blaming him in part for the Iraq war.

The boos and catcalls -- including those from faculty who stood on stage with Card -- drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour's remarks as she awarded the degree. Protesters claim Card lied to the American people in the early days of the Iraq war and should not have been honored at the graduate student commencement.

Card smiled slightly while Seymour spoke and raised his hand in thanks, then sat down without speaking.

The protests were mainly contained to an area in the back of the campus arena and many of the faculty on stage who joined the three- to four- minute outburst.

One faculty member on stage held a sign: "Card -- no honor, no degree." Another sign said "War criminals go home."

Before the commencement ceremony, about 100 faculty and students sang anti-war songs, handed out leaflets and waved signs outside the arena.

http://tinyurl.com/2quhym = Boston Globe

Which candidate's Memorial Day barbeque would DCP members prefer to attend? Pollsters have been asking Americans this question this week, and the winners are Rudy and Barak.

Personally, I would probably find the widest variety of things to eat at the Kucinich barbeque - but I'm thinking that this isn't the right approach.

I might prefer to attend the barbeque of the candidate who parties the best. Who would that be in this group? I hear that Chris Dodd has a rep as a strong party animal. Maybe he'd be my choice.

I am so curious.
My workplace is blocking it. (photo)

I am so curious.
My workplace is blocking it. (photo)

@@@@@@@@@@@@

It's a Utube video - a good one about Veterans, with music by Crosby Stills and Nash

BUSH - HIS MOTHER OF ALL FLIP-FLOPS: TIMETABLES

from the AP article:

Lawmakers predict change in Bush war policy
Repeated war authority votes seen in months ahead

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican and Democratic congressional leaders both forecast a change in President Bush's Iraq war policy as the president prepared to sign legislation Friday providing funds for military operations through Sept. 30.

"I think the president's policy is going to begin to unravel now," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who described the just-passed measure as a disappointment because it did not force an end to U.S. participation in the conflict.

At a separate news conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change, and said Bush would show the way.

"I think the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall and I think the president is going to lead it," he said.

McConnell said he expects Bush announce his intentions on his own timetable.

WHY WAIT until the fall for "the change"???

http://tinyurl.com/2quhym = Boston Globe

Posted by: madame defarge at May 25, 2007 04:58 PM

Madame - Thanks. I am impressed by those on stage who stood publicly this way. It gives me heart that our students still have teachers and professors who will go against the etiquette to issue a powerful message for peace and truth. Words. Peace. Love.

Global Village. Once again a powerful glimpse of the devastations of war. And I wonder where I was when Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young put this song out. Perfect matching of music to the stills. Thanks GV.

Hello DCP folks.

As a break from my ongoing rage and throat-throttling urges, my son went to his prom tonight and there is great joy in this:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r82/kkbradleydc/MarketpProm029.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r82/kkbradleydc/MarketpProm037.jpg

Sharing that joy with all of you,

That's why we fight so hard too.

Posted by: sparrow at May 25, 2007 04:27 PM

I got out of the habit of watching The View when Elisabitch Hasslebitch joined the show, but tried to catch it once in a while after Rosie joined. I caught the cat fight. Elisabitch was clearly in the wrong. She has previously talked about how much she loves Fux Snooze, Hannity and Coombs (she says they present "balanced snooze"), and she's a huge fan of he-who-shall-remain-nameless as well as his war (she was invited to the WH for the state dinner for the Queen, but I didn't hear how that went). Elisabitch's latest question to Rosie a day or two before or after the cat fight was "Do you believe in terrorism?" (Those exact words; she repeated herself in another cat fight. Elisabitch is the one who started most of this crap.) Elisabitch has clearly imbibed WAY too much kool-aid. Worse, she's preggers again and is having her second child in the fall (these people reproduce... aaagh!). Baba Wawa tries to stay in the middle and comes off as a wimp (altho I suspect with her friendship in high circles, she's a 'Publican, if not a neoCon), and idiots like O'Lielly have been guests to sell books. Needless to say, haphazard though my attempts to watch the show were after Rosie joined, I refuse to watch at all in the future. The person who needed to leave was not Rosie, but Elisabitch Hasslebitch, the cross-eyed, blonde bimbo who dresses like a 12-year-old hooker and has imbibed 'way too much kool-aid, and couldn't analyze or deconstruct Bu$hite propaganda lies long enough to get herself out of a paper bag with a detailed realistic map.

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 25, 2007 08:39 PM

And how many more thousands will be dead by this fall, thanks to Congress Critters giving in - AGAIN - to the blackmail and temper tantrums of King Georgie...? Methinkst some Congress Critters have some 'splainin' to do about their medical conditions (no spines) and their mental conditions (empty heads, giving King George everything he demands, and then some, acting like indulgent parents to the spoiled brat who would be dictator).,,,,

Then there's that Biblical injunction that Congress Critters should be told about regarding how to treat King Georgie: Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Karen - Wow! Those photos are great. Thanks for sharing them.

Posted by: NonnyO at May 26, 2007 01:03 AM

I'm thinking Georgie may need a dose of the rod applied in the same orifice his torturers used on his imaginary terrorists.

Posted by: Cyrano at May 25, 2007 05:08 PM

I'd choose to go to a picnic with Dennis Kucinich. Dodd is occasionally a guest on the bobblehead shows, but I don't recall ever hearing about Kucinich being on those dog & pony shows. The fact that DimWit's war just got refunded (at least through this fall) is not a cause for celebration or partying (except at DimWit's ranch), but a cause for mourning. We will have many days, likely years, of mourning ahead of us because of Congress Critters' bone-headed votes this week.

Reason: I've been doing some 'puter file housecleaning in my email program. I ran across a 2003 Truthout article sent to me by a relative (no link, but the header was for TO), and it was a speech Dennis Kucinich gave on the House floor begging to end DimWit's war, and he was eloquent and told the truth in very few paragraphs! Kucinich isn't a pretty boy (and I wish someone would style his hair! ;-)), but what he has between his ears functions with intelligent reasoning ability. He's not being listened to, and I would like to sit across a picnic table with him over a glass of iced tea and a plate of chicken like my mother made and have a chat. The very few times I've heard/seen sound bytes by Dennis Kucinich, he's had some common sense things to say, and he's spoken the truth. I don't know that anyone in Lamestream Media is willing to hear the truth right now.

What are the copyright laws about the text of speeches given on the floor of the House or the Senate? The text of the speech was put on the Truthout article (which is covered by copyright laws), but the speech itself was given on the House floor. Are Congressional speeches covered by copyright laws, or are they in the public domain?

Since the speech is very short by Congressional standards (just nine short paragraphs), it's blunt and truthful and to the point, I could copy and paste it to a blog entry. I just don't know the copyright laws about Congressional speeches and whether or not they're in the public domain.

I'm thinking Georgie may need a dose of the rod applied in the same orifice his torturers used on his imaginary terrorists.
Posted by: woz at May 26, 2007 01:09 AM

I'm a pacifist to the point of being nearly a dishrag, so I disapprove of violence and coercion on physical and mental or emotional levels.

BUT, in this instance ONLY, I would make an exception to my own value system and beliefs. I would "permit" the same degree of torture meted out to Georgie and Dickie and their ilk that they have approved be done at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and wherever else in the world they've sent prisoners who are only perceived as "possible" threats (threats to whom or what, I don't know; that remains in the delusional paranoid minds of Georgie and Dickie and their ilk).

That's the christian thing to do: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. What Georgie and Dickie and their cohorts have done unto others, it is implied they want done unto them.

If they subscribed to Hillel's version from some 500 years earlier, the same phrase would be along the lines of 'What is hateful done unto you, do not do unto others.' It's the prohibitions that make up the philosophical basis of most laws, not what's permitted.

Posted by: karen at May 26, 2007 12:54 AM

Handsome, with a beautiful date! :-) I hope they had a wonderful time! :-)

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/05/25/1/an-hour-with-former-vice-president-al-gore

I see the current video is not available on the web site yet, but I just watched an hour interview of Al Gore on PBS's Charlie Rose regarding his latest book 'The Assault on Reason.' I still don't quite know what to think of the interview. Like '04 and my MAJOR disappointment with Kerry's throwing in the towel too early, Gore did the same to us in 2000, so I don't have any political "trust" in either one (altho Gore is coming off good regarding environment and asking for reasoned debate in mass media). The lack of fight in both men is why we have a dictator wannabe in power right now.

Things I couldn't post on the last thread because the computer screen froze on me when I clicked to open the thread header:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/countdown-turley-breaks-down-gonzo-goodling/
Countdown: Turley Breaks Down Gonzo & Goodling

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/al-gore-on-the-daily-show-2/
Al Gore on The Daily Show

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/daily-show-democrats-throw-a-pussy-party/
Daily Show: Democrats Throw a Pussy Party

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/
Story Update: McClatchy Claims It's Barred from Defense Secretary Plane

Al Gore | Drive for Global Domination Puts Us in Greater Danger
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052507A.shtml
Al Gore writes, "Moral authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this willful president."
{Two articles on one link. I particularly appreciate the last couple of paragraphs of The Boston Globe's book review.}

CIA Warned of Risks of War in the Mideast
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052507B.shtml
In a move sure to raise even more questions about the decision to go to war with Iraq, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will on Friday release selected portions of pre-war intelligence in which the CIA warned the administration of the risk and consequences of a conflict in the Middle East.
{Three articles on this one link. Friday news dump. Holiday weekend at that....}

Kucinich Claims War Masks the Real Objective: Iraqi Oil
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052507H.shtml
Representative Dennis Kucinich, in an unusual hour-long address on the House floor on Wednesday, laid out his contention that the White House and Democratic-led Congress are helping oil companies grab a stake in Iraq's vast oil fields while claiming to be interested merely in winding down the Iraq war.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/daily-show-dissecting-goodlings-testimony/
Daily Show: Dissecting Goodling’s Testimony
{{{BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!!! ROTFLMAO!!! Caveat: Major splutter factor by the end of this tape! Don't say I didn't warn you if you end up with stuff coming out of your nose or splattered all over your keyboard or computer screen!}}}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/colbert-slams-democrats-for-capitulating-on-iraq/
Colbert Slams Democrats For Capitulating on Iraq

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/25/olbermann-fear-we-go-again/
Olbermann: Fear We Go Again

For those of you who haven't noticed, Bill Moyer is not just one helluva journalist, he's one helluva blogger too: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/

And he can even do bloggerly snarkasm -- *ever* so much better than most so-called mainstream pundits turned blogger-manques like, say, Joe Klein can:

"P.S. Some of you have asked whether I will run for office, and I've said no, I can't afford the haircuts."

And speaking of helluva bloggers, he segued conveniently, our friend Dorret (ProSense on DU, AllDemsOnBoard on dKos) continues to crank out exhaustively well-researched omnibus postson a practically daily basis. (If she ever breaks down and starts her own blog rather than writing for other group blogs, it'll be Katy-bar-the-door time.) Here's a recent and typically awesome example of her DU posts for your reading and information-absorbing pleasure:

"Some Other Voices in the Withdrawal Debate"
http://tinyurl.com/32x74z

And speaking of informational pleasure, he segued smoothly again -- NonnyO, floor speeches and the like are public record and can be cited freely so long as proper attribution is provided.

And yes, y'all, it's true: GlobalVillage really does totally kick ass.

cheers (and roebuck),
Otter

Two more links that are timely, relevant and well worth taking the time to read through in detail...

Re this week's disappointing no-deadline supplemental funding bill scenario, the previous threader here on the DCP blog was a port of a certain senator from Massachusett's dKos diary called "Round One is Over". Let me tell you this right up front, when he posts stuff on dKos it's not just boilerplate cranked out by some staff hack. The man actually blogs his stuff himself, and he really does mean what he says when it comes to valuing the netroots. (Um, that would be, like, us.)

A founding friend of the DCP gathered said senator's followup replies from the dKos thread and coupled them with some snips from his floor speech about the bill and presented them very nicely for all to see at his blog here: http://tinyurl.com/3xw89e

I strongly recommend you going there and reading that. It ain't spin, it ain't staff-hackery, it's the man himself speaking in his own words to people just like you and me. And if reading his words (and, thanks to the ubiquitous GV, hearing his voice) gives you a little pang of bittersweet tristesse over how very damn close we actually came in 2004, well, then, so be it.

And the other link? Well, given the situation in Lebanon this week, where the tinderbox has been going up in flames, it might be interesting to go back and re-read a DCP threader that was posted at the beginning of January this year:
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2007/01/small_country_b.html

I'm just sayin',
Otter

Killer graphics and some excellent debate:
http://tinyurl.com/2lquul

Since it's public record (Thanks, Otter!), I'll post the whole succinct speech from Dennis Kucinich that was made on 2 April 2003 on the floor of the House. IMHO, no one who heard/saw this speech being made can adequately claim "if I knew then what I know now."

Kucinich Takes to the House Floor to Call For An End to The War
t r u t h o u t | Statement

Wednesday 2 April 2003

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), who leads opposition to the War in Iraq within the House, today, issued the following statement on the House floor:

"Stop the war now. As Baghdad will be encircled, this is the time to get the UN back in to inspect Baghdad and the rest of Iraq for biological and chemical weapons. Our troops should not have to be the ones who will find out, in combat, whether Iraq has such weapons. Why put our troops at greater risk? We could get the United Nations inspectors back in.

"Stop the war now. Before we send our troops into house-to-house combat in Baghdad, a city of five million people. Before we ask our troops to take up the burden of shooting innocent civilians in the fog of war.

"Stop the war now. This war has been advanced on lie upon lie. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for any role al-Qaeda may have had in 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for the anthrax attacks on this country. Iraq did not tried to acquire nuclear weapons technology from Niger. This war is built on falsehood.

"Stop the war now. We are not defending America in Iraq. Iraq did not attack this nation. Iraq has no ability to attack this nation. Each innocent civilian casualty represents a threat to America for years to come and will end up making our nation less safe. The seventy-five billion dollar supplemental needs to be challenged because each dime we spend on this war makes America less safe. Only international cooperation will help us meet the challenge of terrorism. After 9/11 all Americans remember we had the support and the sympathy of the world. Every nation was ready to be of assistance to the United States in meeting the challenge of terrorism. And yet, with this war, we have squandered the sympathy of the world. We have brought upon this nation the anger of the world. We need the cooperation of the world, to find the terrorists before they come to our shores.

"Stop this war now. Seventy-five billion dollars more for war. Three-quarters of a trillion dollars for tax cuts, but no money for veterans ' benefits. Money for war. No money for health care in America, but money for war. No money for social security, but money for war. We have money to blow up bridges over the Tigris and the Euphrates, but no money to build bridges in our own cities. We have money to ruin the health of the Iraqi children, but no money to repair the health of our own children and our educational programs.

"Stop this war now. It is wrong. It is illegal. It is unjust and it will come to no good for this country.

"Stop this war now. Show our wisdom and our humanity, to be able to stop it, to bring back the United Nations into the process. Rescue this moment. Rescue this nation from a war that is wrong, that is unjust, that is immoral.

"Stop this war now."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jdtZv4PUmXg
Al Gore on David Letterman

Well, at least he knows the invasion/occupation of Iraq is "the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of this nation." He knows Iraq/Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, etc. (the truths we already know). He knows there is no reasonable discourse in Lamestream Media. He indicated (either on Charlie Rose or in this interview) that the Internet should be left alone. Hmmmm.... Might have to think on this. Kucinich is the ONLY declared candidate in the running for the moment who seems to actually KNOW the Iraq war was based on a pack of lies and is trying to do something about it from within the system (not succeeding, but at least he knows what we know about the lies for oil, and he's spoken out in favor of impeachment). ... What about a Gore-Kucinich ticket...???

http://youtube.com/tullysvision
Real Time with Ball Maher
Dennis Kucinich (ad before short comedy routine, then the interview with Kucinich five minutes into the tape) Quote from Kucinich: "The Global War on Terror is a hoax." (Yes, Dennis, I (we) know. Tell that to Georgie's and Dickie's speechifying scribblers and Lamestream Media bobbleheads, and 'splain why and how it's a hoax.... We know the answer, but I don't think they do.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052501380.html
Analysts' Warnings of Iraq Chaos Detailed
Senate Panel Releases Assessments From 2003

{{{Tsk, tsk, tsk. About four and a half years too damned late with this article, you nitwits!!! Any fortune teller reading tea leaves or a crystal ball - or any person with an average IQ above a rock - could have accurately predicted the outcome of the illegal Iraq invasion (some did). It didn't take a classified or secret NIE report (or even a genius) to figure it out. I know I "misunderestimated" the stupidity of Lamestream Media bobbleheads and the majority of the American people who believed the lies and then ultimately favored this illegal Iraq war. I thought we, as a people, were smarter than that, that all (especially Congress Critters) could see the lying body language and deconstruct the lies as easily as I could and never let the fools invade. I was SO wrong.}}}

I know many of you like to cite Greg Palast, so you'll want to read this dKos post:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/83915/0129

Re this week's disappointing no-deadline supplemental funding bill scenario, the previous threader here on the DCP blog was a port of a certain senator from Massachusett's dKos diary called "Round One is Over". Let me tell you this right up front, when he posts stuff on dKos it's not just boilerplate cranked out by some staff hack. The man actually blogs his stuff himself, and he really does mean what he says when it comes to valuing the netroots. (Um, that would be, like, us.)

A founding friend of the DCP gathered said senator's followup replies from the dKos thread and coupled them with some snips from his floor speech about the bill and presented them very nicely for all to see at his blog here: http://tinyurl.com/3xw89e

@@@@@@@

I Must Say That It Is A Great Shame That The Certain Senator From Mass. voted to authorize the stupid war in Iraq.

And continued to support the stupid war in Iraq after the invasion... even during his campaign for president in 2004...

We could call the Senator a "Johnny come lately" on the Iraq war.

But better late than never, eh?

And how many more thousands will be dead by this fall, thanks to Congress Critters giving in - AGAIN - to the blackmail and temper tantrums of King Georgie...? Methinkst some Congress Critters have some 'splainin' to do about their medical conditions (no spines) and their mental conditions (empty heads, giving King George everything he demands, and then some, acting like indulgent parents to the spoiled brat who would be dictator).,,,,

@@@@@@@@@@

In his press conference in the Rose Garden on Thursday, the president - for the first time in 5 years - uttered the truth. Bush said that this summer in Iraq would be deadly - a lot of fighting. A startling admission from an administration which has given nothing but happy talk about Iraq.

I Must Say That You Haven't Bothered To Do Your Homework, Ralpheh.

But better late than never, eh?

May 26, 2007
Suit Sheds Light on Clintons’ Ties to a Benefactor
By MIKE McINTIRE
When former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton took a family vacation in January 2002 to Acapulco, Mexico, one of their longtime supporters, Vinod Gupta, provided his company’s private jet to fly them there.

The company, infoUSA, one of the nation’s largest brokers of information on consumers, paid $146,866 to ferry the Clintons, Mr. Gupta and others to Acapulco and back, court records show. During the next four years, infoUSA paid Mr. Clinton more than $2 million for consulting services, and spent almost $900,000 to fly him around the world for his presidential foundation work and to fly Mrs. Clinton to campaign events.

(snip)

The disclosure of the trips and the consulting fees is just a small part of a broader complaint about the way Mr. Gupta has managed his company. But for the former president, and for the senator who would become president, it offers significant new details about their relationship with an unusually generous benefactor whose business practices have lately come under scrutiny.

In addition to the shareholder accusations, The New York Times reported last Sunday that an investigation by the authorities in Iowa found that infoUSA sold consumer data several years ago to telemarketing criminals who used it to steal money from elderly Americans. It advertised call lists with titles like “Elderly Opportunity Seekers” or “Suffering Seniors,” a compilation of people with cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. The company called the episodes an aberration and pledged that it would not happen again.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/26/us/politics/26clinton.html

Ralpheh -

"Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time." Does that sound at all familiar?

"The country and the Congress were misled into war. I regret that we were not given the truth; as I said more than a year ago, knowing what we know now, I would not have gone to war in Iraq. And knowing now the full measure of the Bush Administration's duplicity and incompetence, I doubt there are many members of Congress who would give them the authority they abused so badly. I know I would not. The truth is, if the Bush Administration had come to the United States Senate and acknowledged there was no "slam dunk case" that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, acknowledged that Iraq was not connected to 9/11, there never would have even been a vote to authorize the use of force -- just as there's no vote today to invade North Korea, Iran, Cuba, or a host of regimes we rightfully despise."

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=952

This is Bush's war. Let's try to remember that.

I Must Say That You Haven't Bothered To Do Your Homework, Ralpheh.

But better late than never, eh?

Posted by: Otter at May 26, 2007 11:11 AM

May 26, 2007

@@@@@@

Well,

first I voted for the $87 billion,

and then, I voted against the $87 billion.

But knowing what I know today, I would would still vote for the stupid war.. just as my pal Hillary did.... we both did the politically easy thing when we cast our votes...

And now, after doing the easy but wrong thing, we both want to be president....

This is Bush's war. Let's try to remember that.

Posted by: GV at May 26, 2007 11:26 AM

@@@@@@

Yes, that is true.

But Congress helped, greatly -

by being a doormat...

and not raising so much as a peep.... a truly dark time in our history...

Ralpheh, you've got a helluva long way to go before you can establish your scholarly creds on this sort of thing. I suggest you practice doing so more often. Try looking at one of ProSense's/AllDemsOnBoard's posts from DU or dKos, it might give you some hints as to how the big kids do it.

ON JK and the war vote:

Ralpheh, you know, and we all know that you know, that many of the commenters and writers on this blog were moderators on the johnkerry.com blog. Your remarks annoy everyone because many of us spent two years addressing them.

I won't go into the details of those responses b/c many here already have--with links to the actual speeches and gentle and not-so-gentle reminders of the spin that the r-w gave everything that came out of his mouth.

On the flip-flop meme: When we were cleaning out our basement last summer, we came across some materials from the 1988 election, in which Dukakis was called every single thing JK was. We realized that for the 2004, all they had to do was recycle everything Lee Atwater put together, and let the Dems kill their own candidate.

The media helped. But really, WE are to blame. John Kerry was the closest thing to an honest hard-working caring President we are likely to see in our lifetime. Every single slam at him can be traced back to a well-meaning concerned and thoughtful position on his part, and a slap from the right, followed by the left piling on. We could spend a lot of time here parsing every single moment with you but we have been there and done that. At this point, the posts are all over the internet and you can avail yourself of them.

I am here, at DCP, to encourage activism. That means: research, strategy, and action, with evaluation afterwards and refinement of process. The goal is democracy.

Every time this blog turns into a sandbox, with people throwing toys at each other, other people stop reading, they stop researching, and they stop working.

It has to stop. NOW.

There's an excellent article at Daily Kos about the media and blogs. It's a review of the book "The Rise of the Blogoshere".

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/10548/6089

Well worth the cost of the book. And you can even purchase it through our paypal link and give a little back to the DCP.

And speaking of ACTION:

Passionate about ending the US occupation of Iraq? Curious about how Congress works? Want to join with peacemakers from around the country to reclaim your government this summer? Join CODEPINK in DC this summer for our Peace Surge: 2 months of week-long activist trainings with daily actions in Congress!

This summer, CODEPINK is offering week-long training sessions as part of our efforts to keep constant pressure on Congress to bring our troops home, and our work to build a strong women-initiated peace movement throughout the U.S. If you are interested in building the skills and confidence to organize locally and deepening your commitment to peace work, please apply to join us in DC this summer! Apply Today for a CODEPINK Summer Training:
http://www.codepinkalert.org/modinput4.php?modin=74

Application + Costs:
http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=2962

Session Dates + Sample Weekly Schedule:
http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=2961

And the flip side of that coin is that Samualson in Newsweek wants the internet to permenently crash.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/112436/953

Posted by: karen at May 26, 2007 12:06 PM

Karen,

Isn't there a peace rally in DC this June too?

"Get off your a$$e$ and Protest"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/92943/5818

There is a peace rally here almost daily. The problem is, not enough care to show up.

So feel free to walk the talk! We have a couch...

Fair warning, there's a lot of disturbing imagery in this one but it's too powerful not to tell you about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?eurl=&v=SaR59TAV_AU

Posted by: karen at May 26, 2007 12:12 PM

Actually, in AA at the Federal building there is a peace rally each day at 5pm until you decide to leave. So far, there's been good responses there, but it is AA afterall.

Also every Sunday in downtown Chelsea there is a peace rally. I go to that when I can.

But a few years ago there would be only 3 people at these protests. Now the numbers are usually bigger (particularly during nice weather) and there are less people giving the protestors the middle finger and more people giving thumbs up.

Wow, and here I always thought that going to AA every day at 5 pm would be a drag.

"I believe there's something out there watching over us. Unfortunately, it's the government."

-- Woody Allen

Ralpheh

When Karen said, "all they had to do was recycle everything Lee Atwater put together, and let the Dems kill their own candidate" she wasn't kidding.

Rove is a protege of Atwater and the American people fall for this stuff.

There is alot of stuff about a third party. Talk about too little too late!

If it weren't for the public's growing dissatisfaction with the war, the Democrats wouldn't have done as well in 2006. We need to keep the pressure on. We need to urge them to vote the way that they should later this year (on redeploying troops from Iraq by one year from now). We also need them to vote to deauthorize the use of force in Iraq.

Petraeus has to report in September. Bush predicts a bloody August because of this and his oversimplification is bothersome because he is incapable of considering multiple variables and seems to think the evildoers sit around watching FOX to see what to do next. If 61% of Americans oppose the way, 39% favor it. What factors make this change? What can wake these brainwashed recalcitrants up? Senator Warner wrote the benchmarks and he hopes they will lead to adoption of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, and pressure from other Arab nations may make this happen anyway.

$120 billion. Children's health insurance was left alone or I might have been out of a job. Hate to see more people die.
I can't imagine that the situation in Iraq is going to get better.

Kucinich warned about this.

FOCUS | What Congress Really Approved: Benchmark No. 1: Privatizing Iraq's Oil for US Companies
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052607Z.shtml
Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright says the supplemental bill Congress passed to continue funding the Iraq war is really about "stealing Iraq's oil - the second largest reserves in the world. The "benchmark," or goal, the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is privatization of
Iraq's oil. Now they have Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds."

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2007/05/saturday-cartoons_26.html
Saturday Cartoons

The thing to keep in mind when assigning responsibility for the Iraq debacle is that, according to polls released in February 2003, a strong majority of the American people (if memory serves me, around 65%) concluded that Saddam had been given enough time to cooperate with the weapons inspectors. We the people had spoken, and we the people (if the polls can be believed) were wrong.

I wonder if Bush would have had the stones to launch that war if those numbers had been reversed? I doubt it - but we'll never know.

What I do know is this: Our Framers established a system of government in which no single person was intended to wield too much power - and where truth was meant to be hashed out, roughly, among as wide a circle of Americans as is feasible.

But for that system to work, the Congress has to play its part, and has to be willing to challenge a President, even if he belongs to their party; and the people have to play their parts as well - which inevitably involves insisting that they be given accurate information, and when they're not, holding both political leaders and the news media responsible.

Some of the Republicans who supported this President have paid a price; but as far as I can see, few, if any, in the media have paid a price for their role in leading, and often, misleading, their nation to war.

John Kerry voted for that resolution, and he paid a price. He lost the presidency. I can't think of a greater price to pay for a man in his position.

I'm still waiting for the media barons and pundits who greased the skids of this rush to war to pay a price. For instance, have the executives who run MSNBC paid a price for pulling Phil Donahue, one of the few voices willing to passionately argue the case against this war? Not as far as I know.

Nothing happens in a vacuum - and the American people's attention span is pathetically short. If we don't fundamentally alter the dynamics that led to this debacle, we'll see the same mistakes made over and over again. And make no mistake, the psycho-conservatives that John Dean describes in "Conservatives Without Conscience" are not admitting their error, but instead licking their wounds, and attempting to scapegoat liberals for the failure of their ideology. Things could get really ugly in America over the next couple of decades. We better get control of a Cable Network, and we better be prepared.

Posted by: non ma presidente at May 26, 2007 01:36 PM

Yup. What Kucinich has been saying has been accurate all along. It's about the oil. It's always been about stealing the oil. I wish he'd get some publicity in Lamestream Media. As of right now he's the only one I'd consider voting for if the election were held tomorrow. All the rest (both Dems and Cons) sound like they are in an echo chamber. Can't tell one from the other, none stand out except Kucinich.

A bloody August could work in one of two ways. DimWit could use it to "justify" keeping our people in Iraq. Or, people will be so fed up with more deaths in Iraq that the remaining 28% who still approve of the idiot will turn against him. It just depends on which Lamestream Media Tee Vee publicity gets aired most. The lying propaganda that we've heard every day, repeatedly..., or some semblance of the truth that everyone who gets their news on the Internet and/or who watch Olbermann, Stewart, and Colbert knows already, and have known since the beginning.

I don't care what side of the great political divide you're on, there's simply no way not to approve and want to participate in this one:

http://booksforsoldiers.com/

because there's a reason the first amendment is, well, first,
Otter

Matthew said

John Kerry voted for that resolution, and he paid a price. He lost the presidency. I can't think of a greater price to pay for a man in his position.

I say

That is not the only reason. There was no groundswell of American public opinion that was antiwar. If there were, another candidate would have won the nomination and then there would have been a landslide.

McGovern took one state. I was at his inauguration, underage/drunk. I do not forget. McCarthy lost the nomination and then RFK was assassinated.

I blame the American people for believing bullshit about 9/11 and for supporting Bush II at 90%, for not taking to the streets when he stole the first election. So now after all these years and deaths they are starting to question a little yet still driving around aimlessly in SUVs and trading in for houses with more square footage.

John Kerry is a convenient scapegoat.

NonnyO
We could be in Iran by Bloody August. McDermott told me personally he was surprised we weren't in there BEFORE the 2006 election. We are dealing with madmen.

Matthew also said

the American people's attention span is pathetically short

Amen - and scientists have now shown that it starts when mere infants are placed in front of the blinking monitors. It literally alters the nervous system so that they expect flash editing or are bored.

Cindy Sheehan diary
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/10135/7518
This is very good but I would argue that it does not come close to having mainstream American acceptance. Many will answer a poll that yes, they do not really support the war or think it is going well - they're tired of it. That does not mean they will take to activism, truly question or go into the street, or back antiwar activists. I'm sorry but it's true.

Gore is touched that so many want him to run.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/26/04732/3375
The candidates are popping up around here locally but I'm going to wait to see them in Chicago in August at YearlyKos. So far they all score about the same on the political spectrum test and use a bunch of expedient rhetoric, like most politicians.

alpheh

When Karen said, "all they had to do was recycle everything Lee Atwater put together, and let the Dems kill their own candidate" she wasn't kidding.

Rove is a protege of Atwater and the American people fall for this stuff.

There is alot of stuff about a third party. Talk about too little too late!

Posted by: non ma presidente at May 26, 2007 01:02 PM

@@@@@@@

I am frankly tired of the excuses from the Kerryites and the Dems - Atwater... Rove.... etc... And frankly, giving a list of excuses does not improve the Dem. party, the progressive position or the prospect of winning the next election....

If someone like Karl Rove can beat us at every election - why bother trying? Bush, an incompetent president, incompetent leader, incompetent speaker and his group managed to out-maneuver us twice in a row.

People better start thinking about how to prevent a third disaster, in 2008.....

Posted by: Cyrano at May 25, 2007 04:14 PM

I have only seen Tucker a couple of times since his move to MSNBC, but I had to chuckle the last time I happened upon his program.

Gone was the bow-tie. He was seemingly trying to sound middle of the road moderate independent etc.

I think he's having a serious identity crisis. What to do? Support a failing administration, or accept reality? Depends on who is REALLY paying him probably. If he doesn't get the ratings because of his positions, does he keep his job anyway? Or is that why he is there? Mewonders.

Speaking of Kerry, he probably also lost votes by being too "secular" for some - although a Catholic, he championed the separation of church and state, which some see as "secularism" (vs the evangelical view). Here is a view from the right comparing Bush & Kerry re worldview:

http://www.contenderministries.org/2004voterguide.php

America, being less secular than many developed nations, eats stuff like this up.

Ralpheh
I agree there has to be a new way. I'm not convinced progressives and the left have the answer yet, having already gone through McCarthy, RFK, McGovern, Dukakis etc. It isn't always capitulation to the right. Sometimes it's the right co-opting the left. If there are new answers for how to win in 2008, I'd like to hear them, but so far I'm hearing rehash of stuff that already failed in the last few decades. Clinton won and was a Centrist. That certainly wasn't very exciting either but it appeared to have worked. We have gone even further to the right as a country since then, with inroads by militarists and conservative theocracy-leaners.

My point is not that Karl Rove always beats us. I am not whining about big bad Karl. I am pointing out that we the people have to be a lot smarter and we the people need to see through those tactics a little more clearly than we do.

The smears of JK and others are mere suggestions without life until we the people buy them hook, line, and sinker.

We the people bought Willie Horton and Rocky the Squirrel in 1988 and Dukakis lost. We bought Al Gore as arrogant and claiming to have invented the internet in 2000. And too many of us bought that JK was a weak flip-flopper in 2004.

The fact is Mike Dukakis, AL Gore, and John Kerry would each have been better Presidents, with better policies, than the ones who (ostensibly) won.

SO the point here is, I do not want to hear about the Dem candidates as weak and ineffective. The party has been ineffective, but most assuredly, we have failed to research and think critically enough about whatv is being dished out to us.

I tell you, reading the items from 1988 brought a cold sick feeling to my stomach--not because those memes and frames were recycled, but because they worked--again.

Matthew said

John Kerry voted for that resolution, and he paid a price. He lost the presidency. I can't think of a greater price to pay for a man in his position.

@@@@@@

Hillary made the same historic mistake. That Hillary is the Dem front-runner at this point, should cause great concern for people.

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 03:09 PM

I think the point IS, that all the energy you spend blaming people isn't going to change ANYTHING. Put all that energy into activism!

We're tired of hearing negative comments about Kerry over and over again. I say the only person who can ever be critical of him must be someone who walked in his shoes every single long day of the '04 campaign. Until any one person has spent as much time and effort and energy to accomplish everything that JK has, their criticism is worth nothing. IMHO.

We KNOW the challenges we face. We KNOW how overwhelming it can all seem. But we focus on discussing things, then affecting what we can. We have discussed the Kerry thing too many times before and now it is OVER. FIMO.

HERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS: DEMS AND OTHERS ARE CALLING FOR IMPEACHMENT IN MICHIGAN:

METRO DETROITERS TO HOLD IMPEACHMENT TOWN HALL DISCUSSION WITH
CONGRESSMAN JOHN CONYERS, JR.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 ­ 5:00 p.m. Central United Methodist Church

A moderated panel and discussion on the impeachment of President Bush and
Vice-President Cheney will be
held with Congressman John Conyers, Jr. on May 29 at 5 p.m. at Central
United Methodist Church, located at
23 E Adams Ave., Detroit, MI 48226. The event will include national and
local speakers, members of the
Detroit City Council, and a special performance by jazz great Spencer
Barefield & friends.

This event dovetails the Detroit City Council¹s passage, in the Name of Full
Council, of a resolution calling for
impeachment of Bush and Cheney on May 16. Detroit is the largest of more
than 60 cities to do so.

April 24, 2007, Rep. Kucinich (OH) submitted H Res 333, calling for the
Impeachment of Vice-President
Cheney; Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush have been drafted by
several organizations,
including the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The moderated panel and discussion currently includes these confirmed
speakers:
*Jack Lessenberry: Detroit Metro Times editorialist.
*Bill Goodman: Former legal director of Center for Constitutional Rights,
local Detroit NLG attorney.
*JoAnn Watson: Detroit City Council Member.
*Maureen Taylor: State Chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.
*Ann Wright: U.S. Army Colonel and diplomat who resigned in protest the day
before the war began.
*Ray McGovern: During his career as a CIA analyst, he prepared and briefed
the President's Daily Brief and
chaired National Intelligence Estimates. He is a member of the Steering
Group of Veteran Intelligence
Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
*Malik Rahim: Co-founder Common Ground, New Orleans, Green Party Candidate
for NO City Council in
2002 and former Black Panther Party member.
*Debra Sweet: National Coordinator, World Can¹t Wait! Drive Out the Bush
Regime!

The Detroit City Council resolution, co-sponsored by President Pro Tempore
Monica Conyers and Council
Member JoAnn Watson, demonstrates that significant political and grassroots
momentum is building toward
impeachment. The resolution highlights the need for Impeachment as recourse
for the administration¹ s illegal
NSA domestic surveillance, willfully misleading America in to the war in
Iraq, utilizing torture in violation of US
and International Law, and illegally denying Americans their Constitutional
right to due process at Presidential
discretion. The resolution notes these offenses to be, ³[a] manifest injury
of the people of the City of Detroit.²

Sponsors of the event include: National Lawyers Guild, Detroit & Michigan
Chapter; MIImpeach.org; Veterans for Peace;
Latinos Unidos of Michigan; Michigan Welfare Rights Organization;
Democrats.com; AfterDowningStreet. org; Progressive
Democrats of America; World Can¹t Wait‹Detroit Chapter; A28; Green Party of
Michigan.

Posted by: non ma presidente at May 26, 2007 02:43 PM

These are complex issues, but I don't believe that I'm overstating the case when arguing that the dissonance between Kerry's vote and his later criticism of the war (and I don't think he ever took a cleanly anti-war position throughout the campaign) was problematic with enough voters to cost him at least one or two swing states, and hence the election.

But in life, stuff happens. There were people who opposed this war for purely ideological reasons - as ideological in my view as the neo-con position in favor. Kerry took a pragmatic position, and was never adequately able to explain that position to the American people, especially GIVEN THE TREMENDOUS MEDIA MANIPULATION by the forces opposed to his candidacy.

I bet that if you asked John today, that if he knew that Colin Powell wouldn't be a warrior in defending the pragmatic reasons why war should be resisted except under cirumstances that made preemption self-evident, and with a broad array of allies, would you still vote for the resolution, he'd say HELL NO.

Bottom line is that when you don't control even a segment of the airwaves, and the other side has agents throughout the media establishment, working to obscure the truth, you can't sell a mature, pragmatic position.

Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at May 26, 2007 03:37 PM

Exactly. I watched every day as JK's voice was snuffed out.

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 03:35 PM

I have heard that you are a very nice person, Ralph. Everytime you feel like you want to blame someone remind yourself how futile that is and go do something that affects change!

Do you know the enormity and magnitude of those with the power in this country today? Blaming it on one person or even one party is moot.

Now, regarding the Dem vote on the Iraq war funding, I had my tin foil hat on last night and I thought of this:

Maybe they know something we don't know in Washington, like something that has to do with Iran. The neocons would love for us to pull the guys out then all of a sudden have Iran "act up".

We're tired of hearing negative comments about Kerry over and over again. I say the only person who can ever be critical of him must be someone who walked in his shoes every single long day of

@@@@@@

Kerry is The Past...

Can we learn from the past and move on.... ?

"John Kerry is a convenient scapegoat.

Posted by: non ma presidente at May 26, 2007 02:43 PM:"

He really is while other Democrats have been silent are constantly given free passes.

"Kerry is The Past...

Can we learn from the past and move on.... ?

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 03:51 PM"

Yep, keep eating your own and tearing down one of the few that is on our side.

Keep tearing down one of the few that is working his tail off to end the slaughter in Iraq.

Keep slamming and trashing a good Democrat just because they don't meet your stupid litmus test.

Keep letting Bush off the hook by letting him get away with his lies and saying that Kerry and other dems "voted for the war."

Keep using a 4 1/2 year old vote as an Anti-War "ha, ha, I/we knew, we were right, you were wrong" exam. It's self-righteous and arrogant.

So keep throwing the stones.

This is BUSH'S ILLEGAL, IMMORAL WAR!

This is BUSH'S ILLEGAL, IMMORAL WAR!

Posted by: Indie Liberal at May 26, 2007 04:34 PM

No, I'm sorry, but it's WAYYYY more than just Bush's illegal, immoral war.

It's the media's illegal, immoral war. It's the blue-dog-yellow-dog Democrats and the 'moderate' Republicans who are pretending to be against the War in private to Bush but leaked to the media so that they can forestall their own demise in 08's War.

In 2004, I called the media every day and told them, "The blood is on your hands..." because I realized in 04, thanks to the jk blog that I never received the real news in in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004...until I finally told them that they lost a viewer who had used to watch them every day.

The blood is on their hands when people who watched their march to Baghdad in teeee veeeeeee entertainment (news) but we didn't know that Judith Miller was actually Judas Miller for building up the lies to go to war.

The blood....

It's on Bush's hands, Cheney's hands, the media hands, and on the hands of those who willingly and self servingly sold us the war. The media and their connections to the White House promoted this crime and they continue to do so to this day.

So the blood is still on their hands.

It has to stop. NOW.
Posted by: karen at May 26, 2007 11:52 AM

Thank you, Karen. And Otter and Non ma presidente and GV and Indie Liberal.And Truth Shall Prevail. Because it will.

Hillary made the same historic mistake. That Hillary is the Dem front-runner at this point, should cause great concern for people.
Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 03:26 PM

Ralph, for the record, I have no problem with Hillary "voting" for the resolution. I have a problem with her attitude and actions later, as when challenged by her constitutents like myself, over her continued support of the war.

I think too much has been made of "voting for the resolution" and not enough of what people said or did afterwards. Hillary was publicly dissing Cindy Sheehan the weekend of the September 2005 Anti-War March. She was staking out a Lieberman-lite position - and insulting her constituents in NYC, who on the morning of the war's launch were polling 51%-49% against.

What matters to me is what a candidate did since that vote to insure that Bush be held in check, and that the best interests of the nation were made his primary consideration (as opposed to the President's legacy).

It's the media's illegal, immoral war. It's the blue-dog-yellow-dog Democrats and the 'moderate' Republicans who are pretending to be against the War in private to Bush but leaked to the media so that they can forestall their own demise in 08's War.

Posted by: sparrow at May 26, 2007 04:45 PM

Oh yes, it's their war too. The point I was making is that it is tiring to see people attack one of the few that has been vocal about this war from the start and scream WARMONGER because of the IWR. Kerry didn't start ANYTHING. He didn't give Bush NOTHING. Bush was going to invade without the vote.

I am sorry, but I am just sick of people bashing the vocal critics of the Iraq war while all those other so called Pro-IWR and Anti-IWR voters have been silent.

I am sick of people using the IWR vote as an Anti-War indiciator. And you notice that people can't answer what the Anti-IWR senators have done to end the war. Nope, they just berate Kerry over the IWR. Yes, mistakes were made, and Kerry has apologized for his vote and is working to help end the war.

That's my problem with all of this.

Posted by: Indie Liberal at May 26, 2007 05:02 PM

I saw a common bumper sticker the other day; it said, "Choose Life".

O boy! Did I ever want to jump out of my car and yell at the driver that this war based on lies, this occupation, and this continued obstruction by Bush and the blue/yellow dogs and the yellow-livered Republicans was not chosing life either.

War is not Pro-Life.

And neither is this surge, this occupation, and the stalling that is being promoted by these folks.

Guess you can call that sticker rage instead of sticker shock.

No more blood for oil.

We're tired of hearing negative comments about Kerry over and over again. I say the only person who can ever be critical of him must be someone who walked in his shoes every single long day of the '04 campaign. Until any one person has spent as much time and effort and energy to accomplish everything that JK has, their criticism is worth nothing. IMHO.

We KNOW the challenges we face. We KNOW how overwhelming it can all seem. But we focus on discussing things, then affecting what we can. We have discussed the Kerry thing too many times before and now it is OVER. FIMO.

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at May 26, 2007 03:30 PM

Agree 100%

You want to bash Bush (much easier stuff). I

List of impeachment resolutions in cities
+ passed
~ pending
- failed

City/Town Councils

Albany (VT) (News) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Alburquerque (NM) (News) [ ~ ] 1/30/07

Amherst (MA) (News and Text) [+] 11/1/2006

Arcata (CA) City Council (News,Text) [+] 1/7/06
Bakersfield (VT) [ T ]

Berkeley (CA)(News1, News2, News3, News4, News5) [+]
Bethel (VT) (News )[ ~ ] 2/11/07

Brattleboro (VT) Town Hall ( News1, News2, Text) [+] 3/21/06
Bristol (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/2007

Brookfield (VT) Town Hall (Five Towns) [+] 3/8/06
Brookline (MA)(News,News&Text, News) [+] 5/30/2006

Brookline (VT) (News )[ ~ ] 2/11/07

Burke (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Calais (VT) (News, News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Carrboro (NC) (Text) [+] 3/14/06
Champaign (IL) (Vote Tally) [ - ] 11/08/06

Cheshire (MA) (News) [ - ] 05/19/07

Craftsbury (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Chapel Hill (NC) (News) [+] 5/8/06
Detroit (MI) (News, News, News, News & Resolution Text) [ + ] 05/16/07

Dover (VT) (News) [ R ] 1/30/07

Dummerston (VT) Town Hall (Five Towns, News) [ + ] 3/5/07 [+]
East Montpelier (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Enosburgh (VT) [ T ]

Fairfax (CA) (News) [+] 7/6/2006

Franklin (VT) (News) [ R ] 1/31/2007

Grafton (VT) (News , News, News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Great Barrington (MA) (News, News) [ + ] 5/14/07

Greensboro (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07)

Guilford (VT) (News, News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Hanover (NH) Town Meeting (News) [+] 5/9/06
Hartland (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Jamaica (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Jericho (VT) (News, News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Johnson (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Lake Station (IN) City Council (News) [-] 4/8/06
Lanesborough (MA) (News, News) [ + ] 5/8/07

Lee (MA) (News) [ ~ ] 5/10/07">News, News) [ - ] 5/10/07

Leverett (MA) (News) [ + ] 4/28/07

Londonderry (VT) (News) [ R ] 2007

Marlboro (VT) Town Hall (Five Towns, News) [ + ] 3/5/07, [+] 3/8/06
Marshfield (VT) (News ) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Marshfield (WI) (News) [ ~ ] 1/1/07

Middlebury (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Middlesex (VT) (News ) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Montpelier (VT) (News) [+]
Montgomery (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Moretown (VT) (News) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Morristown (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Nederland (CO) Board of Trustees (News 1, 2, 3) [-] 4/9/06
Newbury (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Newfane (VT) Town Hall (News 1, 2, 3,
4) [ + ] 3/5/07, [+] 3/8/06
New London (CT) (News, News) [ ~ ] 2/2/07

New Paltz (NY) [+] 7/2006

Northampton (MA) (News, News) [ + ]

Nyack (NY) (News, News, News, Text, Website) [ + ] !Unanimously! 04/12/07

Oberlin (OH) (News, News, News, News, News, Audio Report) [ + ] 5/21/07

Olympia, WA (News1, News2) [+]

Pawlett (VT) (News )[ ~ ] 2/11/07

Peru (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Pittsville, (WI) [-]
Plainfield (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Plattsburg (NY) City Council (News,Text) [+] 4/7/06
Plymouth (VT) (News ) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Putney (VT) Town Hall (Five Towns, News) [ + ] 3/5/07 [+] 3/8/06
Racine (WI) (News) [ ~ ] 9/11/06

Raleigh (NC) (Text) [ ~ ] 11/09/06

Richmond (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Rochester (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07)

Rockingham (VT) Town Hall (News,Text) [+] 4/7/06
Roxbury (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Rupert (VT) (News ) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

San Francisco (CA) City Council (News1, SF Board of Supervisors Impeachment Votes Cast and Text) [+] 2/28/2006
Santa Barbara (CA) (News, News, News, News, Text)[~]

Santa Cruz (CA) City Council Rumsfeld (Text)[+]6/8/04
Santa Cruz (CA) City Council (Bush) [+] 2003 & again in 2/06
Santa Monica (CA) City Council News [ ~ ] 3/22/07

Sebastopol (CA) (News, News)

Sheldon (VT) [ T ]

Shutesbury (MA) (News) [ + ] 5/11/07

Springfield (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Stamford (VT) (News ) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Stannard (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Stockbridge (MA) (News) [ + ] 5/21/07

Stoughton (WI) (News, News, News, News) [ - ] 4/3/07

Sunderland (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Townshend (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Tunbridge (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Urbana, IL (Text) [+]
Vershire (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Walden (VT) (News) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Warren (VT) (News) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Wells (VT) (News) [ ~ ] 2/11/07

Wendell (MA) (News) [+] 12/6/2006

Westminster (VT) (News , News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Whately (NH) Need details; can you supply them? [ + ] 04/27/07

Wilmington (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

Wisconsin Rapids, WI (News)[-]
Woodbury (VT) (News) [ + ] 3/5/07

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Whoops - that was for impeaching Cheney (not Bush)

Ralph, for the record, I have no problem with Hillary "voting" for the resolution. I have a problem with her attitude and actions later, as when challenged by her constitutents like myself, over her continued support of the war.

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I have a problem with ALL of the above on Hillary's part; her initial vote, her support of the war, her lack of over-sight of the war, her lack of courage in addressing the problems arising out of the Iraq issue - the constant lying by the Bushies etc... (If anyone in Congress in 2003 should have known of the tricks of the PNAC neo-cons and what they did with Bill Clinton in 1998, it would be uber-insider, former first lady Hillary.)

Hillary is a No-Go for me. I cannot vote for her in good conscience, if she is nominated by the Dems . I agree with the late Molly Ivins on this point 100%. Hillary just doesn't cut it....

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 05:35 PM

RalphH,

Hillary will sell her soul to the devil to win. Even CNN commented on that. (In talking about all the $$$ she's raked in so far.)

And thanks for the list of the Cheney impeachment info.

I find myself chuckling at myself, because do you remember the list of Republicans who so proudly leaked that they told Bush his stubborness was hurting them? Well, everyday since that story, I have been calling all of them. My words are the same.

"Instead of telling Bush in private, use your vote and your voice and your name to make the most nonpartisan decision of your tenure. Put your name on the Impeach Cheney bill. Sitting and telling Bush in private and leaking to the press is nothing but politics and it hurts Americans. Put your words and name into real action and finally help Americans!"

Haven't been reading the DCP in quite awhile now- I've been busy with local campaigning for John Edwards and other things, but I just came back this afternoon and immediately found more Hillary Bashing going on.
I don't want Hillary Clinton to be our candidate either, because I don't believe she can win. But I also don't think it does any good of Democrats to sit around bashing her for her vote over the Iraqi war, way back in '02 or '03, whenever it was. My concern is that she's flip-flopped on it ONLY RECENTLY, and that was my concern about JK during the last election. Had he done exactly what JE has done- apologized for his vote and said he was wrong, either during or before that election, we wouldn't have the imbecile in chief in charge today. Yes, I know a lot of people on here were mods on the JK blog, and there are still tender toes to step on here- too tender, which is why I stopped posting on here several months ago. But right now, John Kerry is no longer a candidate. What we have to worry about right now is what happened a couple of days ago- once again, our party failed the American people in it's first test as a majority in Congress. We were weak- we were AFRAID of being called against the troops, or against the war, afraid of George W Bush calling us names over the Memorial Day Weekend. WE are a party of the gutless- I'm beginning to believe that. Unless our party grows some cajones at some point in the next few months, we will NOT win the White House back next year. We no longer need to defend our votes for the war, we no longer need to be justifying why we didn't know the truth, why we trusted the president or Colin Powell or anyone else. We need to say, we screwed up, and now we're gonna change things. That vote this week did NOTHING to increase the country's faith in our party. The only way to stop this war is to take the money away from the administration, and then if they send our troops to war unprepared, God help them, but it's their responsibility. The American people know that- they've FINALLY stopped being so stupid about the IRAQ situation, and someone in the Democratic leadership needs to notice that.
Otherwise, more and more kids will die every single day for nothing at all, and we'll be doomed to hearing the vote of Americans in 2008 who will say , once again, "At least I know where the Republicans stand."
To me, Edwards is the only answer we have. Hillary won't win, and Obama has actually been going DOWN in the polls lately.
I just can't see why everyone on here is busy arguing about John Kerry. It's time to choose a candidate and go to work. And Kerry isn't a candidate. Neither, by the way, is Al Gore.

House Minority Leader John Boehner is putting up many of his speeches from the House floor on to You Tube. Here is the speech where he starts to choke up at the end. Many people will see this and believe that Boehner is telling the truth and being sincere......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie8F1eREpnI

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Boehner Speech on Dem Plan to Ration Troop Funds, 5/10/07
04:57
From: JohnBoehner
Views: 97
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Boehner Speech Supporting President's Veto of Surrender Bill
04:53
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Boehner Speech on Democrats' Surrender Bill, 4/25/07
06:03
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Democrats' "First Step" in Cutting Off Funding for Troops
01:57
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Boehner Speech on Dems' "Slow-Bleed" Strategy - 3/23/07
09:59
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One Minute Speech - 5/24/07 - Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA)
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House GOP to Dems: Finish Your Work, Before Recess
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Congressman Blunt Floor Speech 05.24.07
03:10
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Iraq Troop Surge Debate : John Boehner [ 1 of 2 ] - proSurge
06:41
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Iraq Troop Surge Debate : John Boehner [ 2 of 2 ] - proSurge
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This video of the protestors at Amhurst College (reaction to them giving Card an 'honorary degree') needs to happen everywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp4MYii7MqA

Plus, it's great to see Gonzalez getting protested at his reunions.

We need to follow them everywhere they go and protest.

Posted by: Ralpheh at May 26, 2007 07:03 PM

Good point. If anyone has an account or knows someone who has an account there, they should post rebuttals about Boehners corruption and support of Foley.

AND link GV's peace videos in the comments.

Linda,

Kerry DID apologize. I don't know why people continue to make a big deal out of who apologized first. I don't like it when people dump on Kerry just to promote Edwards. You're right, he is no longer a candidate, but that doesn't mean we should bash non candidates just to promote those running.

Hilarious video:

"WHO IS IN CHINA, CONDI?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hvc8_SRWgM

Linda,

As I said, there may very well be reasons that we don't know but the people in Washington do know, hence their vote.

This isn't a simple yes and no game of go fish.
It's a very complex and complicated chess game. When dealing with the Rovians and the neocons, people just simply have to think two or three moves ahead.

I don't like to bash Dems either, but I saw Hillary clapping like a madwoman when Bush gave his state of the union address after invading Iraq. It was politically correct to do so at that time. Needless to say I have seen her change positions as political neccesity seems to "dictate".

However, I am NEVER voting Republican again, so I will vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is, even if it's with my nose plugged.

If the establishment and big money wasn't so keen to get Hillary back in there (which seems suspicious to me), I don't think she would stand a chance.

I know we have to discuss who to vote for as the time grows ever near, and how to do it without giving the Rovians talking points is beyond me.

needs to happen everywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp4MYii7MqA

Plus, it's great to see Gonzalez getting protested at his reunions.

We need to follow them everywhere they go and protest.

Posted by: sparrow at May 26, 2007 07:06 PM

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What a great protest at Amherst....

The Dems are very lucky in this sense: Bush/Cheney/Rice are producing, with their wars and their lies, a new generation of Non-Republican young people. All of the division, controversy, and protests (with the help of excellent satirists
like Stewart, Colbert, Maher etc..) are giving young people the beginnings of a political education. Hopefully we can woo them into the Dem/liberal camp...

On C-Span they were talking about the new Gore book "Assault on Reason" and some young people are reading it - they want to find out what all the buzz is about....

Cheney is evil

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002145.php

Cheney Attempting to Constrain Bush's Choices on Iran Conflict: Staff Engaged in Insubordination Against President Bush
Steve Clemons

snip//

But this is worrisome. The person in the Bush administration who most wants a hot conflict with Iran is Vice President Cheney. The person in Iran who most wants a conflict is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force would be big winners in a conflict as well -- as the political support that both have inside Iran has been flagging.

Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.

The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).

This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle East nations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf -- which just became significantly larger -- as