Kucinich on Impeaching Bush

Kucinich announces that he will
introduce articles of impeachment in the
House against bush on January 28th.

Harry Reid Has Got To Go!

Josh Marshall on the upcoming FISA vote that Senator Chris Dodd plans to filibuster:

The handwriting has been on the wall for some time, but it now seems certain that Senate Democrats will pass a new FISA bill that contains retroactive immunity for telecoms, shielding them from lawsuits over their cooperation with the Bush Administration in its far-reaching warrantless wiretapping program.

Via Glen Greenwald:

Harry Reid -- who has (a) done more than any other individual to ensure that Bush's demands for telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping powers will be met in full and (b) allowed the Republicans all year to block virtually every bill without having to bother to actually filibuster -- went to the Senate floor yesterday and, with the scripted assistance of Mitch McConnell and Pat Leahy, warned Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold and others that they would be selfishly wreaking havoc on the schedules of their fellow Senators (making them work over the weekend, ruining their planned "retreat," and even preventing them from going to Davos!) if they bothered everyone with their annoying, pointless little filibuster.

To do so, Reid announced that, unlike for the multiple filibusters from Republican colleagues, he would actually force Dodd and company to engage in a real filibuster. This is what Reid said:

[I]f people think they are going to talk this to death, we are going to be in here all night. This is not something we are going to have a silent filibuster on. If someone wants to filibuster this bill, they are going to do it in the openness of the Senate.

That is what Democrats have been urging Reid to do to the filibustering Republicans all year -- in order to dramatize their obstructionism -- but he has refused to make them actually filibuster anything, generously agreeing instead that every bill requires 60 votes. Instead, he reserves such punishment only for the members of his own caucus trying to take a stand for the rule of law and the Constitution, those who are trying finally to bring some accountability to this administration.

As I noted in my post yesterday, Reid had the audacity to send his spokesman, Jim Manley, to falsely claim to the New York Times that "Senator Reid intends to do everything he can to strip immunity from the bill" -- even though the exact opposite is true. Reid is engaged in at least as much maneuvering to ensure that Bush and Cheney get what they want here as McConnell would be willing to do if he were the Majority Leader.

This is beyond ridiculous, and Harry Reid needs to give up the Senate gavel or be stripped of this position by the rest of the party. This is not simply about retroactive immunity for telcoms that acted illegally... This is about a criminal offense and treasonous act that bush confessed to in front of millions of television viewers.

This assault on The Constitution and the Bill of Rights by politicians across the political spectrum must be stopped if democracy and freedom are to survive in the USA.

Chris Dodd prepares for the inevitable showdown:

Speaking to reporters today, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) said that he would again filibuster any bill that a provision in it granting retroactive immunity to the telecoms -- or as he put it, "use every tool at my disposal as a Senator" to stop it. So if you were wondering whether anything has changed since Dodd dropped out of the presidential race, nothing has.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter to President Bush today to ask that he support an extension to the existing surveillance bill -- which seems very unlikely to happen. That letter's below.

Go Dodd! Feingold too! And any of the other Senators that understand what this country is really about...

[update] From Nicole Bell at Crooks and Liars:

Unbelievable. So much for doing the people’s work. I’ll echo John last night and say this is an opportunity for the Democratic candidates to show some leadership, since Reid is obviously not going to. Clinton, Obama, Edwards? Where are you? This is a no-brainer to stand up for the American people.

As angry as I am at this news (and trust me, it’s a good thing John doesn’t like swearing in posts, because I’ve got some words for Harry that would make a sailor blush), and as much as I encourage you to contact Harry Reid, I would also ask that you take a deep breath before doing so

I have one word for Harry Reid:

PRIMARY

If the people don't chase you out of Washington, DC with pitchforks in hand before then?

The 935 Things I Hate About You

Most people would call it propaganda:

A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

A war by the bush administration on the American people:

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

snip

Bush led with 259 false statements, 231 about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 28 about Iraq's links to al-Qaida, the study found. That was second only to Powell's 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq and al-Qaida.

They've killed hundreds of thousands of people in an illegal invasion and occupation and it was all a pack of lies...

Shorter Bolton: "Israel Should Act Dumber Than USA"

Everyone's favorite pet neocon, Whiskers the wacko walrus, does a craptacular job spewing pure persian bushit while simultaneously balancing bush's recently NIE-neutered warmongering balls on his nose:

"One can say with some assurance that in the next year the use of force by the United States is highly unlikely," Bolton told AFP on the sidelines of the Herzliya conference on the balance of Israel's national security.

"That increases the pressure on Israel in that period of time... if it feels Iran is on the verge of acquiring that capability, it brings the decision point home to use force," he said.

"ARF! ARF! ARF!""Bushies balls are this BIG!"

Unfortunately for the world, you get "more war" cheerleading from undisclosed Israeli sourcing:

Reacting to Bolton, a “senior Israeli security official” told Agence France-Presse that “one should listen very closely to what Bolton has to say.”

But Israel would have to be as dumb as a box of republican rocks to listen to Bolton's barking at the moon. And America ain't joining you in your three ring circus of propaganda, illegal wars and repeated stupidity:

During his trip to Israel this week for the the Herzliya Conference, Bolton has ratcheted up his criticisms of the report, saying on Sunday that the “illegitimate politicization” of the NIE was “a quasi-coup by the intelligence services.”

An amazing amount of projection there, as anyone in their right mind considers the NIE a cutting off at the knees of the coup by the neoconservative warmongering idiots like Bolton and the illegitimate and extremely politicized bush government.

Karl Rove is coming to a CT school near you...

An excerpt from a Masthead Editorial in The News, Choate's school paper in Wallingford, Connecticut:

Rove in '08: We Think Not

The News deeply objects to the appointment of Mr. Rove to speak this June. At Commencement two years ago on June 4, 2006, Headmaster Shanahan asked graduating seniors to think of their responsibilities to themselves, and to others. He lamented how “responsibility to others and for oneself has been all but forgotten in certain circles.” Mr. Shanahan alluded to various public figures who have been exposed for scandalous activities, noting that in spite of their lack of ethics and sense of responsibility they were all found to be “not guilty.” At that Commencement Mr. Shanahan posed a very important and pressing question: “How can so many moral, ethical and legal laws be broken and still no one is guilty, no one assumes public responsibility for having chosen to do wrong?”

It is ironic that the man who issued those words two years ago has chosen a commencement speaker who has gained infamy in many circles for less-than-ethical decisions and actions.Thus far, Mr. Rove has not been indicted for any major crimes. But, many would argue that he is as culpable for the compromised situation the country finds itself in as any other figure of the Bush administration.

snip

Helping to send the U.S. to war in Iraq is not the only thing Mr. Rove is infamous for. For example, he has acknowledged being a source for an article that disclosed the identity of former C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame (although he did not use her name in conversation). However, the point of this article is not to recount a long list of unethical decisions. Mr. Rove would be a very interesting speaker, and having him give a Special Program address could make sense. However, he is unfit to deliver our graduation address. The point of the graduation ceremonies is to celebrate the seniors and the unforgettable time they have spent at Choate and to bring the community together around the climactic moment on the school calendar. Instead, we will be deeply divided. A graduation speaker should inspire us. More importantly, he should represent the values of the school and serve as a role model for the graduates as they enter the adult world. Rove does neither of those two things.

What kind of message does hosting Mr. Rove send to the student body? Do we wish to condone his behavior? It would seem that students are being told that the ends justify the means. The News urges Mr. Shanahan to reconsider his decision. While it is gracious of Mr. Rove to offer his services as Commencement speaker, The News asks that the school kindly reject the offer.

In another article from their school paper:

Karl Rove is widely believed to have been instrumental in the current administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq. He chaired the White House Iraq Group, which, according to CNN and Newsweek, was created with the objective of publicizing the threat posed to the U.S. by Saddam Hussein prior to the Iraq War.

Additionally, Mr. Rove has been accused of leaking the identity of undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plume, in retaliation for her husband’s op-ed piece in The New York Times that criticized the evidence that the Bush Administration cited as justification for the War in Iraq. Rove has also been accused of corruption and conflicts of interest in cases where he helped shape administration policies on energy while holding stock in energy companies such as Enron.

Although Rove was never formally indicted on any charge, there is widespread anger towards the school administration’s decision to invite Karl Rove to speak on campus. “Beyond the fact that his being a widely believed Federal criminal stands against most of the principles that we claim have on campus, it is more than disappointing that the decision was made with so little consultation of other members of the Choate community and that Mr. Shanahan chose to invite such a divisive figure to say the least,” observed an angry Alessio Manti ‘08, a member of the graduating class.

Obviously, they have been paying attention to politics in their school. Though, they might want to note that outing Valery Plame, likely, had less to do with retribution against her husband, Ambassador Wilson, for his actions on the Niger documents than it does with stolen state secrets, nuclear secrets, being sold on the black market and the outfit that would have been investigating this issue, Brewster Jennings and Associates:

Edmonds had told this newspaper that members of the Turkish political and diplomatic community in the US had been actively acquiring nuclear secrets. They often acted as a conduit, she said, for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, because they attracted less suspicion.

She claimed corrupt government officials helped the network, and venues such as the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington were used as drop-off points.

The anonymous letter names a high-level government official who was allegedly secretly recorded speaking to an official at the Turkish embassy between August and December 2001.

It claims the government official warned a Turkish member of the network that they should not deal with a company called Brewster Jennings because it was a CIA front company investigating the nuclear black market. The official’s warning came two years before Brewster Jennings was publicly outed when one of its staff, Valerie Plame, was revealed to be a CIA agent in a case that became a cause célèbre in the US.

But, at least those kids at Choate appear to be on the right track in life, knowing right from wrong, and acting on this knowledge in an ethical manner. For those of you unfamiliar with recent developments in the Plame case, here are some more thoughts to chew on... Some more of Karl Rove's criminal Conservative buddies.

Cue Right Wing Heads Simultaneously Exploding Across the US

Where did all of these rocks come from?

Remnants of Republicans hearing about the latest from the McCain Silly Walk Express, of course! Via ctblogger, Keith Olbermann speculates on McCain/Lieberman for 2008...



ctblogger says to "Get your Dump Joe buttons ready."

Personally? I think Republicans are too greedy to share all of those rocks in their heads with the rest of us. Even so, they already aren't too happy about the prehistoric presidential nominee being in the lead based on the promise of a 100 year occupation of Iraq, and they aren't about to trade a bunch of rocks to add Joe neocon Lieberman to that lead-lined ticket... Even if it would be enough excitement to make David Broder wet himself in glee, Republicans will not do this because it would crack the Republican base even more than it it already is.

They aren't really fighting to win an election in 2008... They are fighting amongst themselves trying to decide how AND if they can keep their base together with this pitiful crop of GOP candidates.

Not Just No...

But... HELL NO!

Last December, Republicans in Congress introduced a resolution noting the significance of Christmas and the Christian faith, which eventually passed, blurring the lines between church and state — and they’re at it again, attempting to rewrite American history and further the lie that America is a Christian nation. Via Secular Coalition for America:

Jan. 11 - Flush with last year’s success in passing H.Res. 847, “Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian Faith,” Christian nationalists — those who would have the United States be governed as a Christian theocracy — are pushing H.Res. 888, another resolution which promotes a false and distorted Christian nation reinterpretation of our history. Generally, we do not take action regarding resolutions because they are ceremonial in nature and express the non-binding opinion of one chamber. They do not have the force of law. Read on…

Contact your Representatives and tell them to say "NO!" to H. Res. 888.

Where is the US media on this one?

Video via Lukery:



What? Doesn't the US media know how to report on the big stories anymore?

-- Guest BRAD BLOG Op-Ed by Daniel Ellsberg

For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts.

For the last two weeks --- one could say, for years --- the major American media have been guilty of ignoring entirely the allegations of the courageous and highly credible source Sibel Edmonds, quoted in the London Times on January 6, 2008 in a front-page story that was front-page news in much of the rest of the world but was not reported in a single American newspaper or network. It is up to readers to demand that this culpable silent treatment end.

Just as important, there must be pressure by the public on Congressional committee chairpersons, in particular Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Patrick Leahy. Both have been sitting for years on classified, sworn testimony by Edmonds --- as she revealed in the Times' new story on Sunday --- along with documentation, in their possession, confirming parts of her account. Pressure must be brought for them to hold public hearings to investigate her accusations of widespread criminal activities, over several administrations, that endanger national security. They should call for open testimony under oath by Edmonds --- as she has urged for five years --- and by other FBI officials she has named to them, as cited anonymously in the first Times' story.

And this is the time for those who have so far creditably leaked to the Times of London to come forward, accepting personal risks, to offer their testimony --- and new documents --- both to the Congress and to the American press. I would say to them: Don't do what I did and waste months of precious time trying to get Congressional committees to act as they should in the absence of journalistic pressure. Do your best to inform the American public directly, first, through the major American media.

Continue reading this op-ed at BradBlog...

Lukery has some info on Sibel's gallery of rogues that he posted about a couple of weeks ago:

Over at Sibel's website, she has published "Sibel Edmonds’ State Secrets Privilege Gallery" - twenty one photos of people.

Sibel doesn't say anything about the photos - or the people in the photos - but we can reasonably presume that they are the 21 guilty people in her case.

Sibel has broken the photos into three different groups.

The first group contains current and former Pentagon and State Department officials.

Go on... You know you are curious! Could there be prominent neoconservative and republican names like Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Eric Edelman, Marc Grossman, Brent Scowcroft, Larry Franklin, Dennis Hastert, Dan Burton, Tom Lantos and Roy Blunt involved in these treasonous activities? Who knows?

One year and BUSH IS GONE!

Via Think Progress:

Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report reminds us that “after seven painful years, the Bush presidency will end exactly one year from today.”

What a difference a year can make, eh? Of course, we could still shorten his time in office if some Dems would grow a spine...

IMPEACH
The dream that spines are made of!

Swift Reactions to Me?

Surprisingly, the most reasonable conservative Blogger on the intertubes, and an A-lister by any standards, actually knows my name?

Stephen Herron at Drinking Liberally in New Milford reminds us that February 3 is the first anniversary of Blogroll Amnesty Day, which was once one of the darkest days in the blogosphere, but has now been turned into a celebration of the power of smaller blogs. If you are celebrating this day on your blog, send us a link and we'll post it here and send it out to other blogs who are writing about it. Blue Gal, Barefoot Bum, Mike the Mad Biologist, The S.N.A.F.U. Principle and House of the Rising Sons are just a few of the many blogs that plan to celebrate the weekend of February 1 to 3. And skippy and Pharyngula remind us that some blogs, including this one, celebrate Blogroll Amnesty Day all year round. Blogroll us and we'll blogroll you.

Thankfully, and due to his reasonable nature, I do not have to worry about him being some kind of Conservative terrorist coming after me to enact, with all the rabidity of some mindless Michelle Malkin or Freeper inspired act of terror, some retribution for being a -shudder- liberal. Jon Swift is just interested in participating in Blogroll Amnesty Day Celebrations. Some Blogs that appear to be interested in participating in Blogroll Amnesty Day Celebrations may have some minor stipulations on your inclusion to their Blogrolls, such as Pharyngula:

Finally, with some trepidation, I'm also making this an Open Enrollment thread. Do you want to be on the Pharyngula blogroll? It's easy. First, you need a blog with an RSS feed (I do all my blog browsing with a newsreader, so that's an absolute requirement). Second, you need to give me a link to your blog in a comment here. And finally, you have to pass a test demonstrating that you actually read Pharyngula: name your favorite commenter. (That's a cunning way to get more votes in the Molly nominations.)

Reading and voting? I have been known to do that! Others are taking the Skippy and Jon Swift inspired road, like Barefoot Bum:

My blogroll is always open, but in the spirit of the times, I'm actively soliciting reciprocal links. Link to me and (assuming you don't offend my delicate sensibilities) I'll add your blog to my blogroll. Post a comment to this thread telling me about it. I'll also actually link to you in the body of a post, so you'll get that heady Technorati boost.

I cannot be too offensive since I do bath regularly. Other Bloggers, like myself or Blue Gal, may be trying to find a way to take what might be considered a bit of a negative for some Bloggers and turning it into something that is a positive for everyone:

February 3 is the anniversary of the notorious Blogroll Amnesty Day. It is evolving, quite rightly it seems to me, from a vitriolic attack on A-listers into something more celebratory of us B-C-D-and-DD-list blogs.

We'll be celebrating the small blogosphere that day somehow and suggestions as to how to do so are most welcome.

As small as some of us may be, there is strength in numbers. But for whatever reasons you might have, I encourage you to participate in this with the many Blogs that are doing what they can to help build a better Blogtopia. (y! sctp) Even if only to claim that you are doing some work:

jon swift and skippy have been working together (that is to say, jon has been working and skippy has been together) to spread the word throughout blogtopia and yes, we coined that phrase, that national blogroll amnesty day & blogroll bloodbath anniversary remembrance day is fast approaching (feb. 3...tho we intend to celebrate all weekend long).

To show how hard I work, I will cut'n'paste my policy on Blogrolling from a previous post here:

If I am on your Blogroll and you notice that you are not on mine, tell me! I will fix it. Heck... Add me to yours and I will add you to mine. Just drop a note in comments here.

Just make sure to note your Blog's name and link in the comments anywhere on this Blog so I am not sitting around wondering whom to thank and link to... :)

Previously Brewed in New Milford:

Celebrating Blogroll Amnesty Day!

It is a little early but Mike the Mad Biologist brings back an idea that skippy the bush kangaroo and Jon Swift got a lot of people involved in last February after January's link assault by some "A list" Bloggers:

"Speaking of Jon Swift, the start of 2008 seems like a good time to have another Blogroll Amnesty Day. If you're not on my blogroll, and I'm on yours, leave me a link below and I'll add you (note: racists, creationists, and flat-out weirdos won't be accepted). Instructions below the fold.

Please put your blog name on one line, and the url on the second line, like so:

Mike the Mad Biologist
http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/

or give me a line of html code, like so:

Mike the Mad Biologist

Thanks!"

Same goes for this Blog. If I am on your Blogroll and you notice that you are not on mine, tell me! I will fix it. Heck... Add me to yours and I will add you to mine. Just drop a note in comments here.

For me, it doesn't matter whether you are covering local Connecticut stuff, national politics, and or pretty much anything else. And if you click around you should be able to get a link from Mike, John Swift and skippy as well as from here! Four Blogroll links just for being astute enough to add 4 links from your Blogroll... Does it get any better or easier than that?

Some ideas are worth repeating over and over again. It is all about building a better Blogtopia! (y!sctp) I was re-repeating the mantra to left leaning people to "Link Damnit!" in a piece on the "Blog Link Meta Backlash" around the time all of that stuff was going down:

(Here I am with another "Link Damnit!" moment...)

Skippy hops along in Jon Swift's "Liberal Linking Policy" footsteps:

skippy the bush kangaroo:
we got yer 'amnesty' right here

"and who are we to limit political discourse diversity? what's going on here? it's as if the major blogs are trying to emulate the democrats in washington who suddenly forget about their constituents.

(ok, it's not. our metaphors suck tonight. but we're pissed. so cut us some slack.)

ergo, we here at skippy are planning to retaliate by offering real blog amnesty. and here's how it goes:

many smaller blogs link to skippy for one or more of a few reasons: out of politeness, out of a hope that we might notice them and link back, or simply out of the imitation of what it takes to make a good blog. it's the second reason that interests us (we really should have put it as the last reason to be more clear with sentence structure (on the other hand, using less parenthetical phrases in a paragraph would go a long way towards grammatical clarity (too late now))).

to wit: any blog that has linked to skippy and has not received a reciprocal blogroll link will now be included on our roll! all you have to do is notify us in our comments section or email us, and we will happily include you! that will show those big shot elitists too good for the little guy blogs! ha!"

At a time when the bigger Blogs need to be doing more to help build the left community some are, and some aren't. I find it ironic that I posted just last week on Chris Bowers argument that we need to link more effectively:

If everyone on the left works a little harder on this we can turn the tides on on the Google Wars and win. We have already made a lot of inroads since this 2004 picture:

The graphs represent the aggregate linkage going on leading up to the 2004 election. Reds (them) are the Republican bloggers, and Blues (us) are the Democratic bloggers. The full expanation of the graphs particulars are on page 9 of the PDF paper. Basically, the first graph connects dots (blogs) when there is strong linkage between them (+25 during the period), the second one where there is less stronger linkage (+5), and they've a 3rd map that includes all linkage that I've not included.

Between blogs then (not taking into consideration that diaries on #8DailyKos and #17MyDD serve to allow massive coordiantion and spreading of message), there's just a lot more coordination through linking among Republican than there has been with Democratic bloggers, at least on the surface of particular URL's. The other interesting thing I noted was that the blog by George Bush's campaign didn't even make the top 40-- now that's pitiful.

We were less coordinated in '04. But in '06 we did little things a little better. I am sure the more recent graphs would look a lot better. But you know that we can still keep on improving on this.

Remember that every time you link to any site you are, over time, creating a kind of GOOGLEBOMB effect on that site when it comes to site rankings, search results, etc.. Tagging and choice of words that are used to link are important in these cumulitive effects as well.

Now this week... Brilliant at Breakfast has the scoop on how MyDD has become an apologist for those attempting to cut out the links that we need to build the Left:

Shorter Chris Bowers

"We innovate more than you, we hired people to help us, and because we did that there is no place for you lone bloggers anymore -- because WE decide who makes it and who doesn't."

Oh, you really have to read this self-congratulatory drivel to believe it. It's truly amazing to see one blogger fellating the entire Big Name Blogosphere in one post, while at the same time consigning the rest of us to the ranks of the MySpacers.

Kool Kidz Klub indeed.

It's funny how Bowers uses a quote by Jeffrey Feldman to illustrate his point, because as I've mentioned before, I had a very nice conversation about blogging just last week with Mr. Feldman, who seems to be in no way a blog snob. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is at least one Big Name Blogger who isn't puffed up with his own self-importance.

But with Kos and Atrios making a big show about "culling the blogroll", and Chris Bowers playing "Mine's Bigger" with the rest of the blogosphere, is this really what it's come to? Is this the Revenge of the Nerds come to fruition? Is this the guys who DIDN'T get laid on prom night finally staking their claim to coolness?

If so, are we going to sit by and take it? Are we going to just toil away while guys like Atrios and Kos and Chris Bowers define the rules and brand the rest of us as useless?

What an amazing flip-flop-contortion there Bowers... This leaves me wondering just how committed he really is to the cause.

Jon Swift puts it all in perspective:

I adopted this policy in a spirit of both self-interest and altruism. In the blogosphere links are like capital. By offering links to others, others would be more inclined to offer links to me. But I am also very grateful to those who helped me out by throwing a link my way or adding me to their blogroll when I was just starting out. Now that I am a Large Mammal, according the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem, I have tried to return the favor by helping out those further down the food chain.

Links are capital! It is the foundation of bringing views from fellow bloggers out of obscurity and into the top of search engine results. And just how much does it cost any blogger to spend some of this valuable capital?

ZIP. Zilch. Zero dollars.

Not even one penny to use the most effective marketing tool that Blogtopia has to offer.

All you have to do is put a few seconds into the act of cut'n'paste into your Blogroll or into a post... And you make a huge difference for everyone in our fight.

As ctblogger commented in an earlier MLN diary of mine on building a better community:

We should all work together to fight the good progressive fight and not be so critical in terms of other people's sites. I read CTBlue, Ed's Daily Rant, CT Local Politics, and the watch sites everyday and I learn something new from all of those guys which I incorporate into my site and that's the way it should be. Learn something from me and I learn something from you.

2006 is going to be a HUGE election year and Connecticut will be ground zero in terms of who controls Congress (2nd, 4th 5th district races). The faster we can all work to get this site up to full-speed, the more national attention it will receive.

He also called me out for not having links to his sites... Which I quickly fixed. lol

2006 is behind us but there are still a lot of common causes that we all share, and we can all help each other in achieving our goals. Linking is the first, easiest AND cheapest way to start.

For more background on all of this: Boston Joe has a Meta diary up x-posted at BooTrib and at MLW covering a bit more of this Meta discussion in a thoughtful way. Both have generated a lot of comments. I usually hate Meta... But this topic is the foundation of what Blogging is all about.

We can do better than we have been doing. And if we keep building on what we already have our numbers (and the fact that we deal in reality) will easily overcome the right wing echo chamber's lies and propaganda.

Start the new year off kicking Blogtopia (y!sctp) up a notch! BAM!

Polling Connecticut on Presidential Candidates

The Hartford Courant has some numbers up from a poll conducted by the Center For Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut:

McCain's rise is a dramatic turn in a state where former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite last fall before fading in the early decision states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan.

After being widely written off last year, McCain now is preferred by 39 percent of Republicans, compared with 16 percent for Giuliani and 11 percent for former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, according to the poll by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.

In the Democratic race, Clinton is favored by 41 percent of Democrats, compared with 27 percent for Barack Obama and 9 percent for John Edwards. One in five Democrats is undecided, an audience Obama is trying to reach with television ads that began Saturday.

You can head over there to get a breakdown of the poll, from the Hartford Courant's Mark Pazniokas.

Iraq by the numbers

Another pissed off veteran, Farnsworth68 at One Pissed Off Veteran, with some stats for you:

Total American dead in the Iraq Illegal Occupation: 2500 2513 2532 2540 2546 2558 2571 2585 2597 2605 2619 2641 2710 2737 2758 2788 2809 2826 2865 2888 2906 2959 3006 3018 3025 3067 3087 3118 3132 3151 3166 3189 3210 3233 3245 3266 3299 3316 3337 3358 3387 3409 3444 3504 3519 3546 3577 3592 3611 3631 3683 3705 3725 3738 3760 3780 3795 3823 3830 3838 3845 3866 3875 3881 3886 3891 3896 3908 3921 3926

Total coalition forces dead: 307
Total Iraqi Dead: 700,000+

You don't hear too much in the media about how we are approaching 4000 dead American kids in this illegal invasion and occupation. And you rarely ever hear anything about the deaths of Iraqis.

Its election time...
Not like these things are important, eh?

These numbers just don't sound good to those flag-pin wearing news boobs when they try to shape the view of the electorate in their push to keep control of the White House in an establishment candidates' control.

Happy talk about the change, that they report on with all of the skills of stenographer in full-tilt propaganda mode, which can even come from Republicans that still support the failed bush agenda of endless war and the only front-runners allowed on the Democratic party side, according to these fantastic analysts in the media with their surreal script, are the ones that toe the Iraq happy talk line.

Obama Takes Nevada in Soap Opera Twist

Hillary Clinton wins the vote count:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, capturing strong support from women voters and adding a fresh boost of momentum to her campaign as the Democratic presidential race heads to South Carolina, where she is engaged in a fierce battle with her rival, Senator Barack Obama.

snip

The New York senator had 51 percent of the vote to Mr. Obama’s 45 percent, with just over 90 percent of the state’s caucuses reporting. John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, faded to a distant third place with 4 percent of the vote.

But Barack Obama wins the delegate count:

Barack Obama released an official statement celebrating a delegate victory. "We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled," he said.

A current estimate of the national convention delegate count is below, though not all precincts have fully reported.

District 1 Clinton 3, Obama 3

District 2 (Washoe) Clinton 1, Obama 2

District 2 (Rural) Clinton 0, Obama 1

District 2 (Clark) Clinton 1, Obama 1

District 3 (Clark) Clinton 2, Obama 2

At-Large Clinton 2, Obama 1

PLEO Clinton 3, Obama 3

Hillary wins the vote.
Barack wins the delegates.
Or did he really?

Obama partisans don't heart Hillary too much because of tactics, Hillary partisans don't heart Obama trying to get some Edwards love, and Edwards wins a fund raising Bomb but bombs in the Nevada vote. And I am guessing you haven't even thought about adding Super Delegates in the mix yet?

Confused? You won't be after this episode of Soap...



[update] HuffPo is reporting that AP releases that had originally given Hillary Clinton the edge in delegates have flipped the count in Barack Obama's favor in their story:

As Plouffe cast doubt on the accuracy of the caucus results, he also claimed electoral victory. Senator Obama, he argued, actually wound up winning more delegates (13) than Clinton (12).

"On one very important measure, we had a slight lead," said Plouffe. "Just as important as the number is why that is: we showed real strength statewide."

The Associated Press was reporting the numbers flipped, but an AP official on the conference call suggested that Obama's campaign could be right. [Update: The AP has changed its count to reflect a delegate win for Obama, 13-12.]

A Comment on the New Hampshire Recount

I pulled this comment that I felt was well worth sharing from an MLN diary covering a lot of the issues with recounts and the results in New Hampshire:

• A good audit costs about $.26-$.50 per vote cast
  
  
• An Election costs $3.00+per vote
  
  
• Candidates spend $millions of our money on elections
  
  
• The cost of the wrong candidate being elected can be $trillions and thousands of lives.
  
  
• The value of integrity and confidence in elections: Priceless.

because Connecticut voters count: CTVotersCount.org

Recounts can be somewhat expensive, though a pittance compared to the overall cost of the elections, but the real value of them can not be measured in dollars and cents.

NH Recount - 5th Ward Way Off After Hand Count

As the hand recount begins at Dennis Kucinich's request, The Brad Blog was going through recount results as they were coming in:

As mentioned earlier today, NH SoS Bill Gardner told WMUR in NH that "We did nine of the 12 wards in Manchester, and a lot of the votes were exactly the same...Some went up by a vote or two." He didn't, of course, note that a lot of the vote counts (most of them) were off by 5 or more.

And now, the rest of the numbers from the rest of the Manchester wards are coming on. And get a load of Ward 5:

	Diebold Result	Hand Count
CLINTON	683	619
EDWARDS	255	217
OBAMA	404	365

All of the other candidates seem to have lost votes as well. No clue who received them instead...

From another of his posts, and after media reports that "a lot of the votes were exactly the same":

But many more vote counts were not at all the same, ranging anywhere from 5 to 8 votes off in regular cases, across almost all candidates.

And before you say that's no big deal, we'll remind you that in 2004, had just 6 votes per precinct been registered in Ohio for John Kerry instead of George W. Bush, we'd have a different person sitting in the White House right now.

So far, this is not looking very pretty. Not in retrospect, nor in looking forward...

For Media, Blogging Is Making a Difference

In shaping everyone's views, including Journalists according to Googit:

Picked up from Jerry Johnson, head of strategic planning at Brodeur, news of a survey finding that blogs are having a significant impact on journalist's story ideas, angles and insights.

• Over 75% of reporters see blogs as helpful in giving them story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue.
• 70% of reporters check a blog list on a regular basis.
• 21% of reporters spend over an hour per day reading blogs.
• 57% of reporters read blogs at least two to three times a week.

Journalists are also increasingly active participants in the blogosphere.

• 28% of reporters have their own blogs.
• 16% have their own social networking page.
• 48% say they are "lurkers" – reading blogs but rarely commenting.

The survey is part of an ongoing research project by Brodeur in conjunction with Marketwire to understand the impact that social media and blogs are having on traditional news delivery. The survey was conducted among a random sample of North American reporters and editors. You may obtain a copy of the survey here .

So... You are all, likely, having a bigger impact than you might think. But why do I get the feeling more of them read farrr right wing fanatics Blogs?

"The problem is that moderate conservative candidates, and ones that are somewhat authoritarian to boot, have been labeled as "Liberals" for so long by the corporate owned MSM it has skewered the views of the American people to accept candidates that are far more conservative than many of the American people really are.

IOW: People have been conditioned to reject candidates that would better represent their own views through years of propaganda.

This is a direct result of the MSM's incompetence in addressing real issues and, instead, sticking to their scripts of Horse Races, Manipulation of Polling Popularity Contests, Who Smells the Best, The Prettiest Face, Masculintity, The Money Game, Crying Games and a myriad of other exercises in avoidance and misdirection from the real issues that are truly important and could do a lot to shape your support based on what is actually best for you, the voter.

Information is the best weapon you have to fight this propaganda:

Click on Pic to Enlarge

So it is left up to you to seek out the important information, at least, until the media finally meets our demands that they AND the candidates address the issues honestly.

The short version of this post?

"Media: Do. Your. Job."

Because We The People are getting tired of doing all of the heavy lifting."

I can only hope a journalist reads this and actually gets the point... lol

Canada Puts U.S. on Torture Watch List

This cannot be all that surprising since at the end of November Canadian Courts tossed out a “refugee/immigration” treaty with the US based, partially, on the courts recognition of the fact that the US tortures prisoners.

Via BuzzFlash and from CTV News:

Canada puts U.S. on torture watch list

Omar Khadr's lawyers say they can't understand why Canada is not doing more to help their client in light of new evidence that Ottawa has put the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on a watch list for torture.

Khadr -- a Canadian citizen who was just 15-years-old when he was captured in Afghanistan more than five years ago and taken to Guantanamo -- has claimed that he has been tortured at the prison. Now, CTV News has obtained documents that put Guantanamo Bay on a torture watch list.

Khadr's U.S. military lawyer says the new documents contradict Harper's assurances that his client is receiving fair treatment.

snip

Canada's new focus on torture was ordered by the inquiry into Maher Arar's nightmare in Syria. U.S. authorities sent Arar -- a Canadian of Syrian ancestory -- to Syria after he made a brief stopover in New York in 2002. They wrongly accused him of having links to terrorism in large part because of information provided by the RCMP.

Arar was sent to a Syrian prison where he was tortured for nearly a year. An inquiry into the Arar affair ordered a new focus on torture, and CTV News has learned that, as part of a "torture awareness workshop," diplomats are now being told where to watch for abuse.

Specific places noted for torture on their list include:

• Syria
• Iran
• Afghanistan
• China
• United States
• Guantanamo Bay
• Israel

Notable is the fact that more than half of the places specifically cited in a training manual for Canadian diplomats, Afghanistan, GITMO, the United States and even the Syrian prison Arar was sent to under the US rendition (kidnapping?) program, are torture havens all under the direct control of... The United States.

Here is a CTV News video on the story.
And another video report here.

In November, the Canadian Courts had cited torture as one of the reasons to ditch a treaty with the US on refugee immigration:

Canadian Courts on American Torture Policies:

The Canadian courts don't seem to think too highly of the American torture of prisoners:

The Federal Court of Canada Thursday struck down a refugee agreement [judgment, PDF] between Canada and the US, noting that the US does not meet international refugee protection requirements or respect international conventions against torture. Justice Michael Phelan essentially nullified the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement , which barred foreign refugees who first arrived in the US from seeking refugee status in Canada and vice versa. Phelan noted that the US has not been compliant with the Refugee Convention or the UN Convention Against Torture. The court also held that the agreement discriminates against refugees based on how they first arrived in Canada and thus violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms .

The nullification of the agreement will likely result in Canada processing thousands more refugees each year. The US and Canadian governments have until January 14 to file an appeal. CTV News has more. [The National Post] has additional coverage.

This ought to make the crowd that wrapped themselves in faded flags feel pretty good about what they have accomplished under the criminal bush administration. This is the world view of America that you have created and supported.

Washington State Democratic Central Committee Passed Bush-Cheney Impeachment Resolution

Resolution Pertaining to Investigation and Impeachment Proceedings for George Bush and Dick Cheney

WHEREAS, there are already known and admitted illegal and impeachable actions on the part of George W. Bush, some examples being, in broad outline:

a) unlawful wire-tapping of American citizens,
b) deliberate manipulation of intelligence reports for the purpose of starting a war,
c) deliberate violations of international treaties pertaining to acts of war,
d) deliberate violations of international treaties pertaining to prisoners of war,
e) deliberate violations of constitutional rights provided in the Bill of Rights;

and... continue reading

Yeah... Impeach them.

Our politicians have gone beyond simply being embarrassing and should be considered criminal if they are not doing everything they can to stop this.

[update] For video links and h/t jimstaro at ePluribus Media for video.