Writing by Marq on Saturday, 4 of August , 2007 at 9:36 am
Once again the Democrats showed they have no balls what-so-ever, and just because George Bush said so, they went ahead and changed the rules so that Bush can spy on Americans with little or NO court . F*ck you Democrats! So what, George would not let you go on vacation so you handed him the right to screw the 4th Amendment, was vacation that important?
From the Washington Post (bolds are mine)
The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. Earlier in the day, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session into its scheduled summer recess if it did not approve the changes he wanted.
The legislation, which is expected to go before the House today, would expand the government’s authority to intercept without a court order the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States who are communicating with people overseas.
As currently written, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act already gives U.S. spies broad leeway to monitor the communications of foreign terrorism suspects, but the 30-year-old statute requires a warrant to monitor calls intercepted in the United States, regardless of where the calls begin or end.
Not any more, thanks to the Democrats old George can do what he wants to Americans, without any court looking out for us, all so Democrats could go on vacation? The kicker here is that the bill at least said that the American in question had to be suspected of terrorist links, but they even dropped that language, you can now be spied on without a warrant for anything Bush wants. You have failed the American people (again) Democrats, you have caved to an evil man doing evil things, and you sold Americans out for a vacation 2 times longer than most Americans ever see. For shame…
Technorati Tags: failed, FISC, Spy, Warrent, Wiretap
Category: I Spy, Breaking the Law, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Thursday, 26 of July , 2007 at 10:40 pm
Americans have more trust in the Democrats in 10 of 10, this must be crushing news to the American hating Republicans.
Rasmussen Reports new poll reports that Americans now trust the Democrats in “National Security”, moving ahead of the Republicans 42% to 40%. This means that the Democrats are considered more trusted on ALL 10 of the key issues Rasmussen tracks. (bolds are mine)
When it comes to National Security, Democrats are now trusted more by 42% of likely voters, Republicans by 40%. This means that Democrats now enjoy at least a nominal edge on all ten issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports to gauge voters’ trust of the two major parties.
In late June Democrats had the edge on nine of ten issues. At that time, the GOP had a single point advantage of the National Security issue.
Republicans had enjoyed an historic advantage on National Security for several decades but are burdened by the unpopular War in Iraq. Last year’s Dubai Ports debacle also hurt perceptions of the GOP on national security.
The others issues tracked are also very important, and Democrats poll higher than Republicans in all of them.
Immigration 40% to the GOP’s mear 30%, we beat them on Government Ethics and Corruption, the Economy, Taxes, Health Care, Social Security and more… All 10 the Democrats are more trusted than the Corrupt GOP.
Technorati Tags: National Security, Rasmussen
Category: Social Security, Issues, Taxes, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Monday, 18 of June , 2007 at 7:53 pm
Waxman is getting to the quick, White House starting to feel the pain. Bush is violating the Presidential Records act.
The findings so far
- The number of White House officials given RNC e-mail accounts is higher than previously disclosed. In March 2007, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said that only a “handful of officials” had RNC e-mail accounts. In later statements, her estimate rose to “50 over the course of the administration.” In fact, the Committee has learned from the RNC that at least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts. The officials with RNC e-mail accounts include Karl Rove, the President’s senior advisor; Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff; Ken Mehlman, the former White House Director of Political Affairs; and many other officials in the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Communications, and the Office of the Vice President.
- White House officials made extensive use of their RNC e-mail accounts. The RNC has preserved 140,216 e-mails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these e-mails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Other heavy users of RNC e-mail accounts include former White House Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 e-mails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 e-mails). These e-mail accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.
- There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials. In a deposition, Susan Ralston, Mr. Rove’s former executive assistant, testified that many of the White House officials for whom the RNC has no e-mail records were regular users of their RNC e-mail accounts. Although the RNC has preserved no e-mail records for Ken Mehlman, the former Director of Political Affairs, Ms. Ralston testified that Mr. Mehlman used his account “frequently, daily.” In addition, there are major gaps in the e-mail records of the 37 White House officials for whom the RNC did preserve e-mails. The RNC has preserved only 130 e-mails sent to Mr. Rove during President Bush’s first term and no e-mails sent by Mr. Rove prior to November 2003. For many other White House officials, the RNC has no e-mails from before the fall of 2006.
- There is evidence that the Office of White House Counsel under Alberto Gonzales may have known that White House officials were using RNC e-mail accounts for official business, but took no action to preserve these presidential records. In her deposition, Ms. Ralston testified that she searched Mr. Rove’s RNC e-mail account in response to an Enron-related investigation in 2001 and the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald later in the Administration. According to Ms. Ralston, the White House Counsel’s office knew about these e-mails because “all of the documents we collected were then turned over to the White House Counsel’s office.” There is no evidence, however, that White House Counsel Gonzales initiated any action to ensure the preservation of the e-mail records that were destroyed by the RNC.
No Tags
Category: Failed Presidency, Republican Culture of Corruption, Breaking the Law, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Monday, 4 of June , 2007 at 7:32 pm
I understand that in America we have the concept of “innocent until proven guilty,” or least we used to, but I think the Democrats need to separate themselves from the utterly corrupt Republican Party by dismissing Representative William Jefferson, Democrat from Louisiana, from the halls of Congress now. Today grand jury indicted Jeffersonon 16 counts, including racketeering, openly soliciting for bribes, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and violating several acts specifically in place to stop corruption in our government.
For the record, I believe that there is a special expectation from our representatives and senators, and while “innocent until proven guilty” is a wonderful concept that keeps innocent people out of prison while their fates are decided by a jury of their peers, I do not think it is asking too much of our representatives to be held to a higher standard.
in a world where there are no less than for Republicans currently under investigation for very much the same crimes, a multitude of Republicans in prison for very much the same crimes, it is the duty of the Democrats to show that they are holier than the Republican culture of corruption.
Technorati Tags: Democrats, expulsion from congress, indicted, Jefferson
Category: Issues, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Tuesday, 22 of May , 2007 at 2:58 pm
Rendering themselves utterly irrelevant after only a few months in power in Congress, the Democrats have handed Bush a stunning victory over the Iraq. They folded like a $2 chair. Democrats will fund the war with no benchmarks, no timetables, nothing… just a blank check! I am ashamed at the Democrats, it is a total failure of the American people.
From the Retuers
President George W. Bush won a battle over funding the Iraq war as congressional Democrats on Tuesday abandoned troop withdrawal efforts for now but pledged to fight with new legislation in July.
Senior congressional aides said a $100 billion war funding bill the U.S. Congress is trying to finish this week will not contain timetables for withdrawing most of the 147,000 U.S. troops from Iraq, as anti-war Democrats had hoped.
On May 1, Bush vetoed Congress’ first version of this year’s emergency war funds bill because it set an October 1 deadline for starting to pull out soldiers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record), a Maryland Democrat, said that finishing touches on a new bill were still being worked on with the White House.
But acknowledging the political realities of the Democrats’ narrow control of Congress and a White House occupied by a Republican, Hoyer told reporters, “The president has made it very clear he’s not going to sign timelines (for withdrawing troops). We can’t pass timelines over his veto.”
That will be a disappointment for many Democrats who think they won control of Congress in last November’s elections largely because voters wanted to see an end to the four-year-old war in Iraq.
Hoyer said Democrats will continue pushing for a “change in direction” in Iraq, where at least 3,420 U.S. soldiers have been killed and more than 34,000 wounded.
What a major kick in the teeth, You failed us Dems…
Technorati Tags: bush won, congressional democrats, irrelevant, vetoed congress, war in iraq
Category: Military, War on Terror, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Sunday, 22 of April , 2007 at 5:54 pm
This morning, Congresswomam Juanita Millender-McDonald, Democrat from CA dies to cancer. She will be missed.
From AP
Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., died early Sunday of cancer, an aide said. Millender-McDonald, who was 68, died at her home in Carson, Calif., said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen.
McQueen could provide no details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had. He said she had been receiving hospice care.
The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness.
She was in her seventh term representing a heavily Democratic Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach and parts of Los Angeles.
"California and the nation have lost a great friend and public servant," said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, who served with Millender-McDonald in the California state Legislature. "She was a champion for the consumer and fought injustice wherever she saw it. She always valued public service and served her state and nation with grace and honor."
Millender-McDonald is the second member of Congress to die this year of cancer. Republican Rep. Charles Norwood Jr. of Georgia died in February after battling cancer and lung disease.
Technorati Tags: CA, congresswoman, Millender McDonald
Category: Life in Bushs America, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Friday, 23 of March , 2007 at 11:25 am
The Republicans have so screwed over America, that Americans are screwing them. A new Pew Research Poll shows that American has rejected the conservative movement, in a big way. According to the report, “Increased public support for the social safety net, signs of growing public concern about income inequality, and a diminished appetite for assertive national security policies have improved the political landscape for the Democrats as the 2008 presidential campaign gets underway.” This is great news for the Democrats; maybe they will grow some spines.
Some of the data is stunning, Americans are less religious now than at the start of the “Republican Revolution” (1994) they are more tolerant of the Gays, and find a greater need for the government to take care of the least among us. Wow, tolerance and helping other, yah definitely a shift away from Republican “values”
What is real telling is this gap in those that identify themselves as Democratic vs Republicans; it almost looks like being a Republican is as unpopular as being a Nazi. This is what happens when the Republicans tell the American people to go stick it. When you become the party of the uber-right, you detest the middle-class, you despise the poor, you are hostel to the minorities and you pray to the corporations.
Technorati Tags: conservative movement, income inequality, minorities, national security policies, pew research poll, presidential campaign, republican revolution, republican values, social safety
Category: Failed Presidency, Right Wing Hypocrisy, Traitors in the White House, Democrats
Writing by Marq on Monday, 12 of February , 2007 at 9:48 am
I a not sure why the Republicans are doing their best to stand behind this lame duck president. The Republicans have done their best to stop all debate on Iraq, while saying they want to have the debate. Well debate means little or nothing to the house, and the Democrats are going to take the resolution to the floor, where it will win by a landslide.
From the Washington Post.
Democrats will file a nonbinding resolution against the Bush plan while Republicans will try to broaden the dispute and seed doubt in the Democratic approach. Although Senate Republicans were able to block debate on a resolution condemning Bush’s war policies last week, it will be much easier for Democrats in the House to bring a measure to the floor.
The GOP, whose members have conceded they are likely to lose, is treating the debate like a mini-political campaign, deploying a rapid-response team to counter Democrats’ statements, aggressively trying to get its leaders on television and radio, and creating a “resource center” off the House floor where members can fill their arms with maps, research material, videos or other visual aids to use during their floor time.
“We may lose the vote, but we’ll win the debate,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
While the GOP stalls to give Bush cover, Americans Soldiers Die.
I am starting to think that the home district is calling, and the pressure hurts:
“What we have now is a dispute in tactics,” said Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), who once supported the administration but is opposed to the troop increase. “This is a situation where we’ve been dealt a bad hand, where we’ve made a lot of mistakes, where we should have addressed the problems in Baghdad a long time ago, and now a surge on the scale the president has proposed is unlikely to move us forward.”
One House Republican close to the GOP leadership spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to be blunt. “This next week is going to be a very tough one for us to get through,” he said. “The Democrats know that. We can sit back and hope they overplay their hand, but I don’t think they will.”
Technorati Tags: bush plan, Democrat, democratic approach, House, lame duck president, landslide, Resolution, senate republicans, Votes, washington post
Category: Life in Bushs America, Failed Presidency, Failed Leadership, Republican Culture of Corruption, Democrats
Writing by on Tuesday, 23 of January , 2007 at 10:52 pm
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb
To the President's State of the Union Address
Good evening.
I'm Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown - an event that marked the first step in the long journey that has made us the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth.
It would not be possible in this short amount of time to actually rebut the President's message, nor would it be useful. Let me simply say that we in the Democratic Party hope that this administration is serious about improving education and healthcare for all Americans, and addressing such domestic priorities as restoring the vitality of New Orleans.
Further, this is the seventh time the President has mentioned energy independence in his state of the union message, but for the first time this exchange is taking place in a Congress led by the Democratic Party. We are looking for affirmative solutions that will strengthen our nation by freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil, and spurring a wave of entrepreneurial growth in the form of alternate energy programs. We look forward to working with the President and his party to bring about these changes.
There are two areas where our respective parties have largely stood in contradiction, and I want to take a few minutes to address them tonight. The first relates to how we see the health of our economy - how we measure it, and how we ensure that its benefits are properly shared among all Americans. The second regards our foreign policy - how we might bring the war in Iraq to a proper conclusion that will also allow us to continue to fight the war against international terrorism, and to address other strategic concerns that our country faces around the world.
When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.
Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world. Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.
In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy - that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.
And under the leadership of the new Democratic Congress, we are on our way to doing so. The House just passed a minimum wage increase, the first in ten years, and the Senate will soon follow. We've introduced a broad legislative package designed to regain the trust of the American people. We've established a tone of cooperation and consensus that extends beyond party lines. We're working to get the right things done, for the right people and for the right reasons.
With respect to foreign policy, this country has patiently endured a mismanaged war for nearly four years. Many, including myself, warned even before the war began that it was unnecessary, that it would take our energy and attention away from the larger war against terrorism, and that invading and occupying Iraq would leave us strategically vulnerable in the most violent and turbulent corner of the world.
I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift. He sent us the picture from Germany, as we waited for him, back here at home. When I was a small boy, I used to take the picture to bed with me every night, because for more than three years my father was deployed, unable to live with us full-time, serving overseas or in bases where there was no family housing. I still keep it, to remind me of the sacrifices that my mother and others had to make, over and over again, as my father gladly served our country. I was proud to follow in his footsteps, serving as a Marine in Vietnam. My brother did as well, serving as a Marine helicopter pilot. My son has joined the tradition, now serving as an infantry Marine in Iraq.
Like so many other Americans, today and throughout our history, we serve and have served, not for political reasons, but because we love our country. On the political issues - those matters of war and peace, and in some cases of life and death - we trusted the judgment of our national leaders. We hoped that they would be right, that they would measure with accuracy the value of our lives against the enormity of the national interest that might call upon us to go into harm's way.
We owed them our loyalty, as Americans, and we gave it. But they owed us - sound judgment, clear thinking, concern for our welfare, a guarantee that the threat to our country was equal to the price we might be called upon to pay in defending it.
The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others with great integrity and long experience in national security affairs. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable - and predicted - disarray that has followed.
The war's costs to our nation have been staggering. Financially. The damage to our reputation around the world. The lost opportunities to defeat the forces of international terrorism. And especially the precious blood of our citizens who have stepped forward to serve.
The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction. Not one step back from the war against international terrorism. Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq.
On both of these vital issues, our economy and our national security, it falls upon those of us in elected office to take action.
Regarding the economic imbalance in our country, I am reminded of the situation President Theodore Roosevelt faced in the early days of the 20th century. America was then, as now, drifting apart along class lines. The so-called robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth. The dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.
Roosevelt spoke strongly against these divisions. He told his fellow Republicans that they must set themselves "as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other." And he did something about it.
As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. "When comes the end?" asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.
These Presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.
Thank you for listening. And God bless America.
Technorati Tags: Democrats, Life in Bushs America, War on Terror
Category: Life in Bushs America, War on Terror, Democrats, Democrats
Writing by on Friday, 12 of January , 2007 at 1:14 pm
Once in a while I add a new blog to my feed. This is a blog that I think is worthy of just more than a blogroll, but to activly show you what is going on over there, so you will go and read. Today I add PunkAssBlog.com , I added them because of this post…
It must be difficult to be a famous woman. If you dont have children, youre an old maid with shriveled ovaries who has forsaken your godly purpose. If you have children and dont talk about them, youre a cold parent who puts her career ahead of her offspring. If youre like Nancy Pelosi, i.e. you have children and talk about them openly, youre holding your previously occupied uterus above the heads of jealous menfolk as a sign of your superiority.
Yes, with the ascendance of Speaker Pelosi, uterine envy is at an all-time high. Take a recent editorial by Family Security Matters Ben Shapiro, a Harvard Law School student whos clearly worked overtime to overcome the many inherent disadvantages associated with having a dick.
His piece opens by trashing Speaker Pelosi for bringing her grandkids to the stage during her opening remarks to the 110th Congress:
The media would hammer any Republican congresswoman who dragged her grandchildren with her to work; it would rightly be considered a political ploy with children as props.
You have to hand it to the Republicans, they practically invented cheap political ploys involving children. Just ask Tom Reynolds, who, you may recall, surrounded himself with children in an attempt to block questions regarding the Foley scandal.
It makes sense Pelosi would follow suit. Her grandkids helped her avoid. well, they made it easier for her to. I mean, without them there no one wouldve uh, assuming a ploy requires an objective, I guess Im not sure what you could accuse Pelosi of trying to achieve, other than maybe a schmaltzy Hallmark moment.
—— End Quote ——-
This post goes on and it is funny, and full of information.
Technorati Tags: Democrats, Life in Bushs America
Category: Life in Bushs America, Democrats
Writing by on Thursday, 4 of January , 2007 at 3:24 pm
One of the great things about America is that we transfer the power from one party to another with out a coup or war. In the history of the United States the outgoing Speaker of the House hands the gavel of the House over to the new incoming Speaker of the House, a celebration of the transfer of power. Well leave it to the bitter ass Republicans to sit out this 200 year tradition. Fat load Dennis Hastert could not get his fat ass out of his chair and climb the 4 steps to the podium and hand the gavel to Nancy Pelosi. He was in the room, he just refused to participate, that is how bitter he and the Republicans are. He forced the now Minority Leader John Boehner to do it for him.
Thank you Republicans for showing the Nation just how much you hate America, you will not even play along in the few parliamentary traditions we do have. Why do Republicans hate America? Why do they hate the Will of the People that pushed them out of Power?
So be it, The Democrats rule the house!
Technorati Tags: Democrats
Category: Democrats, Democrats
