Tuesday, August 30, 2005
The more I watch the news reports and follow along on blogs, the worse it seems to get. It’s just mind-numbing to see the devastation.
Here is a fairly comprehensive list of disaster relief organizations that need help in some form or another.
The Democratic Daily Blog » Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Info (Updated).
Technorati Tags: Hurricane+Katrina, Katrina, Hurricane, Disaster+Relief, Red+Cross
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Just passing on a new post by Kevin at The Washington Monthly, Political Animal, on “How To Win In Iraq”.
So why is it that large foreign occupiers practically never win counterinsurgencies? The British in Malaysia are the only large-scale example of success since WWII, and while they may provide lessons for success, it’s also the case that some of the tactics they used are simply not available to us. So what should we do?
Technorati Tags: Army, Iraq, military+objectives
Thursday, August 25, 2005
MoveOn.org has sent out an email alert about the vote to eliminate the Estate Tax during the next session of the Senate.
As soon as the Senate returns to Washington in September, they’ll be voting on the permanent elimination of the Estate Tax for the richest 2 percent of Americans.1 If the Estate Tax is repealed, millionaires will save close to $1 trillion dollars in the first ten years and that tax burden will shift to millions of ordinary Americans and future generations.2 The vote will be really close, Republican leaders are just one or two votes away.Responsible Democratic senators have been able to hold the line on the Estate Tax for some time, but now a few Democrats are starting to waver. They continue to feel heat from President Bush and the tax-cut lobby, but they haven’t heard from you. That’s why we’re launching an emergency petition to let the Senate know that we’re paying attention and are ready to hold them accountable. If we can gather 200,000 signatures by next week, we will deliver them to senators in key states.
You can learn more and sign the petition at http://www.political.moveon.org/estatetax/.
Technorati Tags: Estate+tax, Republicans, Democrats, MoveOn.org
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Via CNN.com.
Just in case you were starting to forget about the WMD intelligence meltdown, here is a little tidbit of a story coming out of CNN. A former top aide to Colin Powel has said that his involvement in Powell’s presentation to the UN on the weapons of mass destruction was “the lowest point” in his life.
“I wish I had not been involved in it,” says Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a longtime Powell adviser who served as his chief of staff from 2002 through 2005. “I look back on it, and I still say it was the lowest point in my life.”
CNN Presents is working on a new documentary called, “Dead Wrong — Inside an Intelligence Meltdown.”
The article goes on to say that, “Powell’s presentation initially came from a document he described as “sort of a Chinese menu” that was provided by the White House.”
It’s sickening that we went to war over this. There may have been many valid reasons for removing Saddam Hussein from power and we all agree the world is probably a better place without his regime, but lying to the American people to achieve the results is just disturbing. When will this administration be held accountable for the damage caused to this country and our reputation around the world, not to mention the thousands of dead military men and women who lost their lives for these lies.
Technorati Tags: Colin+Powell, WMD, weapons+of+mass+destruction, United+Nations, CNN, Secretary+of+State, Saddam+Hussein, The+White+House
Friday, August 19, 2005
The Political Animal at The Washington Monthly has posted an update on life at Camp Casey, the encampment of Cindy Sheehan and other supporters outside the Texas ranch of President Bush.
a lot of the guys there were Vietnam vets, while the rest were pretty middle-aged and wholesome, middle-class and earnest.
Read more at Political Animal.
Technorati Tags: Cindy+Sheehan, Camp+Casey, Anti-war+Protests
Thursday, August 18, 2005
I’ve been following along with the Cindy Sheehan story for a few weeks now. Cindy Sheehan is the mother of a solider killed in Iraq and she is camped outside President Bush’s Texas ranch waiting for a chance to speak with the President about the war and about what her son died for. She just wants to sit down and talk about it; to understand the cause and the mission. Wednesday night 1,627 vigils were held nationwide to support Cindy Sheehan and to protest the Iraq war. The events were organized by MoveOn.org.
One such event took place in Market Square, Exeter, New Hampshire. Today when I woke up, my email contained a link to the front page of The Portsmouth Herald where low-and-behold the main photograph was of my mother, sister and her two daughers carrying signs at the Exeter, NH vigil.
My mother is very passionate and outspoken about politics and appeared on the front page of the NH newspapers once before this past year when she was out sign-waving in support for Howard Dean.
You just gotta love New Hampshire politics!
Read the full story at Portsmouth Herald Local News: 140 gather in Market Square, Exeter to speak out against war.
Technorati Tags: NH, Cindy+Sheehan, Anti-war, protests, Exeter, New+Hampshire, Portsmouth+Herald, Crawford+Texas
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Via MSNBC.com.
Democratic bloggers say they are beginning to transform the way political campaigns are run, pointing to their recent success in raising more than $550,000 for Democratic congressional candidate Paul Hackett, a Marine veteran of the Iraq war, who came within 4,000 votes of defeating Republican Jean Schmidt two weeks ago in a special election in a heavily Republican district in Ohio.
I think it’s really just the rapid exchange of information. First it was electronic communication in the form of telemarketers, fax transmissions and email to supplement the traditional door-to-door and town meetings. Now it’s blogging. It’s just an extension of the way we communicate providing more people with a voice. I’m not sure it’s any sort of new revelation, just a greater use of an emerging technology.
It definitely helps raise campaign funds. Howard Dean proved that.
Read the full story at Via MSNBC.com.
Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, democrats, republicans, GOP, fundraising, political+blogs, political+candidates, elections, democratic+blogs
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Via Yahoo! News.
“President Bush said he could consider using force as a last resort to press Iran to give up its nuclear program.”
Do we realistically even have the option? Our military is so completely spread thin that we can barely maintain stability in Iraq.
It’s the small comments and subtle references like this that really provide a glimpse into the brain of this President. It seems so early in the diplomatic process for a President to even make such a reference, like he’s a line coach in a basketball game speculating on the second half. We are talking about life and death.
Every avalanche starts as a wee snowball.
Read the full article at Yahoo! News.
Technorati Tags: President+Bush, Iran, nuclear+program, European+Union, war, diplomacy
Friday, August 12, 2005
Via CNN.com.
President Bush’s motorcade passed by the group of protestors outside his Texas ranch on his way to a political fund-raiser. Cindy Sheehan, who started the protest, has been joined by more then 100 people.
Sheehan — whose son, Casey, was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year at age 24 — held a sign that read: “Why do you make time for donors and not for me?”
She’s right. The President owe’s her a visit. It’s the least he could do after sending her son off to die. He represents America and if he is too ashamed to meet with her or has nothing to say then he shouldn’t be sending our troops off to war in the first place. If he truly believes in his decision to invade Iraq then he should have no problem facing the music, standing proud as the Command-in-Chief, and listening to what Cindy has to say, while at the same time having sympathy and pride for those who have fallen. Of course he can’t meet with every American who wants to say something to him, but her son paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country and he is our President. For his cause and his decision, Casey Sheehan went off to war. No decision is greater for a President and he should be prepared to face it’s bloody aftermath.
Read the full article at Via CNN.com.
Technorati Tags: President+Bush, Crawford+Texas, Presidential+motorcade, anti-war+protestors, Casey+Sheehan, Cindy+Sheehan, political+fundraisers
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Via MSNBC.com.
Pennsylvania tax payers are fuming over a new pay raise that lawmakers voted in for themselves. The legislators increased their salaries ranging from 16 to 34 percent to at least $81,050, more then any state except California. They also found a loop-hole around a constitutional provision that barred them from collecting the salary increase during the current term.
Several lawmakers refused to accept the pay increase and more are jumping on the refusal-bandwagon as public pressure intensifies.
All the pressure is having some effect: As of Tuesday, nine lawmakers had declared changes of heart and said they wouldn’t accept the increase this term. But nearly 150 of the state’s 252 sitting lawmakers are sticking to their decision to immediately pocket the raise of at least $950 a month.
The law links the present and future salaries of top officials in state government to similar posts in the federal government. Legislators’ $81,050 base salary is 50 percent of a U.S. representative’s salary. State Supreme Court justices get the same $171,800 as a U.S. circuit judge.
The raises also mean fatter pensions for lawmakers — at least $10,000 more per year for those retiring in 2008 — on top of already generous benefits, including as much as $7,800 a year in vehicle expenses and more than $125 a day for lawmakers who live more than 50 miles from the capital.
Read the full article at MSNBC.com.
Technorati Tags: PA, Pennsylvania, State+Government, Public+sector+jobs, government+salary, state+legislature
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Via Moveon.org.
On April 4th last year, 24-year-old Army Specialist Casey Sheehan died in Iraq. This week, while President Bush vacations in Texas, Casey’s mother, Cindy Sheehan, sits vigil outside the president’s ranch. Cindy says that she won’t leave until President Bush meets with her to discuss the war—even if it means spending all of August there.
Cindy Sheehan was not an anti-war activist, but the loss of her son and the mounting evidence of deception by the Bush administration pushed her to speak out. While Cindy camps roadside in Texas, dozens of other military moms are flying to Texas to join her. Her story is starting to grab national attention, but Cindy needs our support.
Cindy simply wants to meet with the president to ask him to tell the truth about why her son died—and to stop using Casey’s and other soldiers’ deaths to justify continuing the war. But Cindy’s reflections on the war are also a reminder to all of us about the importance of getting involved:
“I shamefully and regretfully admit that before Casey was killed in Iraq I didn’t publicly speak out against the war. I didn’t shout out and say, “Stop. Stop this insane rush to an invasion that has no basis in reality. Don’t invade a country based on cherry-picked intelligence and despicable scare tactics. You don’t use our country’s precious lifeblood unless its absolutely necessary to defend America.” If I had broken the bonds of my slavery to silence sooner, would Casey still be alive? I don’t know.”
Cindy’s story is starting to grab national and international attention, creating a public relations problem for the White House. If we can help Cindy capture the focus of the country for even a couple of days we will sear into the memory of the public the image of the grieving mother—a morally pure reminder of the ultimate reason to end the war: the lost sons and daughters of moms everywhere.
Cindy has appeared on ABC, CNN, and FOX, and yesterday the lead editorial in The New York Times entitled “One Mother in Crawford” noted that “many Americans are with her, at least figuratively, at that dusty roadside in Crawford, expecting better answers.” With the White House press corps camped just a short distance away at Bush’s ranch, our newspaper ad will help prod them to pay attention to her.
Read more at:
Moveon.org
“One Mother in Crawford” Editorial, The New York Times, August 9, 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/opinion/09tue1.html
Video Testimonial by Cindy Sheehan from our friends at TrueMajority.
http://www.truemajority.org/GoldStar_web.mov
Technorati Tags: Moveon.org, President+Bush, Crawford+Texas, Army, Anti-war, protests, activists, peace+activists, white+house
Monday, August 8, 2005
MoveOn.org has started a new poster that is downloadable online. They report after a week and 17,740 entries from MoveOn members they decided on the winning poster in the Fire Karl Rove Slogan Contest. And the winner is…
“Loose Lips Deserve Pink Slips. Fire Karl Rove.”
They’ve designed a downloadable poster from the winning slogan. You can print it easily on a desktop printer (you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader).
http://political.moveon.org/firerove/poster.html?id=5876-4350126-tsKhT466WRlsRzxLO6eskw&t=6
Technorati Tags: Karl+Rove, CIA, Moveon.org
Entries (RSS)
Comments (RSS)
