Got a Beef With a CT Dem? I do...

Via Kos at the big orange cat herd:

Let's not forget this from Ellen Tauscher and her friends:

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker:

We write to encourage you to bring bankruptcy reform legislation to the House floor as soon as the Senate completes its consideration of the bill. The New Democrat Coalition has backed common sense bankruptcy reform in the past and helped in passing the bankruptcy reform bill by overwhelming margins in the House of Representatives during the 108th Congress.

Over the last several years, we have worked to advance reasonable and balanced legislation that would require individuals who have the ability to repay their debts to do so, while preserving the important safety net of bankruptcy under Chapter 7 for those who truly need it. We believe that responsible bankruptcy reform embodies the New Democrat principle of personal responsibility, while at the same time adding important new consumer protections such as requiring enhanced credit card disclosure information and encouraging participation in consumer credit counseling.

It is our hope that the House of Representatives will consider this important piece of legislation in an expedited manner. We stand ready to work with you and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass bankruptcy reform into law.

Sincerely,

Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Artur Davis
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. John Larson <<<<
Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Rep. Dennis Moore
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Joe Crowley
Rep. Jay Israel
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Diane Hooley
Rep. Melissa Bean
Rep. Jim Davis
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Rep Ed Case
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Shelley Berkeley
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

When we criticized this crowd, they whined and cried that they were being attacked for being "centrists", refusing to explain how gifting the credit card industry in this manner was "centrist".

That's because the legislation wasn't "centrist". It was corporatist at the expense of American consumers.

Well, Representative Larson... Are you proud of this? Sirota was right, and you and your money party friends selling out Americans to the credit card industry were all wrong. There is a long list of right wingers up there.

Watcha gonna do about it? Did anyone in the Democratic party really think Lieberman would be the end of it?

Elect Real Democrats officially launches
By Met00

Well, today was the formal launch of Elect Real Democrats.

In CT there is one DLC Democrat in the House (Larson). But for those of you who live in "safe" districts, there are any number of other DLC and Blue Dog Democrats for you to consider helping when a progressive Democrat comes along to challenge them.

The interactive map was fun to make and I hope that everyone likes the way it works.

As always, any input that anyone from MLN has is always welcome.

Also, the power of this type of campaign is the power of you telling others about it. Since I personally hate the psuedo-spam from "tell a friend" pages, I have begged in my tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show member progressive Democrat way that you help by letting others know about the site and what we are trying to accomplish.

Before we can help Dr. Dean and his 50-State effort, we have to clean up our own house so we can have a chance to really help the working men and women of America.

I am not a Democratic party member, but this is a better idea than the status quo...

What's the problem CPL Matt Sanchez?

"Wow, who knew a little award and a couple of pictures would get me all this attention? Death threats, hate mail and plenty of people who want to be my "friend"--and it's not even 4 pm!!!" - CPL Matt Sanchez, CPAC honoree

What is the problem?

Is it Matt's service in the Marines?




Nope. He can still be proud of that, regardless of what the right wing will now say about him (and until the military gives him the boot, AND THEY WILL. Even from the Reserves.)

Is it because both Hannity and O'Reilly championed Matt's cause at Columbia Universtiy?




Nope. But this is partly why CPAC made him a TOP honoree last week.

Is it Matt's association with GOP candidates?




Nope. GOP politicians love guys like Matt. Lots of guys like Matt...

Is it because of Matt's short-lived enamoured support from radical right wing pundit-wannabees like Malkin?




Well, not really...

Is it Matt's show of support from noted gay-basher and all-around-hater Ann Coulter?




UMMMM? Ya, that and the fact that Matt is a gay porn star known as Rod Majors:




And... Matt is a male escort as well. <<<(WARNING!!! Nudity in that link.) The Jeff Gannon story all over again.

Michelle Malkin is on top of the story after learning the truth about her former hero, and even answers her own question before asking it:

It's only a matter of time before the MSM goes nuts with the story. Report on the everyday progress in Iraq? Forget it. Sex, homosexuals, and the GOP? Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage a la Foley, Gannon, and Haggard.

Should CPAC organizers be embarrassed if the rumors about his alleged porn star past are true? Well, yes. Next time, they should do more extensive background research before handing out an honor with Jeane Kirkpatrick's name on it.

snip

I guess we'll see who the real bigots--on both sides of the aisle--are now.
(You can find the link for the bigot Malkin here...)

Here is the problem Matt Sanchez:
It doesn't take her more than a few paragraphs to say something really, really stupid and hypocritical. Malkin has Matt going from hero to zero, and all because Malkin and most of her, and Coulter's, CPAC ilk are bigots.

As for Malkin's reports on progress in Iraq?

Here it is: More bombs are going off, more bullets are flying, and more Americans and Iraqis are needlessly dying today because of what semi-epsilon-moron-minuses like Malkin call progress.

H/T to Matt Browner-Hamlin at Emboldened.

One GIANT Leap Towards Media Credibility

Face the facts. At least I wish the MSM would. Arthur Silber at Once Upon a Time:

Greg Mitchell discusses the recent coverage of administration claims about Iran's purported actions in Iraq, and then notes this development:

This made made me reflect on one night last month, just after the Gordon and Baghdad briefing articles, when an e-mailed memo arrived in my inbox. At least one news editor had seen enough.

That night, the first part of the PBS Frontline series on the media was aired, with distressing reminders of newspapers' complicity in the Iraq invasion. It showed Bob Woodward on Larry King's CNN show back then saying there was "almost zero" chance WMD would not be found in Iraq. In a new interview, Judith Miller said she did nothing wrong in her reporting back then, even if the reporting itself was wrong.

A few minutes after that, the e-mail landed in my "new messages" box.

It came from KSFR, a public radio station in Santa Fe, N.M. I don't know anything about the station, although I have been to Santa Fe a couple of times. It seems that the surge in "unnamed officials" had finally pushed News Director Bill Dupuy to take action. He wrote that "until further notice, it is the policy of KSFR's news department to ignore and not repeat any wire service or nationally published story" about Iran, North Korea, and other sensitive foreign areas if it quotes an "unnamed" U.S. official.

"What we have suspected and talked about at length before is now becoming clear. 'High administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity,' 'Usually reliable Washington sources,' and others of the like were behind the publicity that added credibility to the need to go to war against Afghanistan and Iraq.

"This is a small news department with a small reach. We cannot research these stories ourselves. But we can take steps not to compromise our integrity. We should not dutifully parrot whatever comes out of Washington, on the wire or by whatever means, no matter how intriguing and urgent it sounds, when the source is unnamed. I am also calling on our colleagues in other local news departments -- broadcast and print -- to take the same professional approach."

Very, very well done, Mr. Dupuy. Exceptionally well done, and please allow me to extend my deep gratitude.

And that, my friends, is how you fight the bastards.

I second that well done! All those in favour of media credibility say "Aye!"

Something like this would not solve all of the problems that are currently embeded in much of the MSM's chronically sycophantic stucture, but it would leave them with articles that are more honestly sourced and less likely to be filled with propaganda. (H/T C&L)

Too bad that more smaller papers don't just tune out those unconfirmed sources on Iran forwarded by the press services. The world would likely be a better and safer place if they did.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby - GUILTY on 4 counts

Justice has been served. Now... Will bush finally fire pardon scooter or will he just leave it to cheney to shoot him?

Emptywheel via Firedoglake:

"The Libby verdict is in:

Count I: GUILTY

Count II: GUILTY

Count III: NOT GUILTY

Count IV: GUILTY

Count V: GUILTY

Fitzgerald has asked for a couple of minutes with Ted Wells.

We will not know anything about potential appeals until after sentencing in June."

As far as appeals? There is nothing appealing about a Neocon, nevermind a guilty Neocon. (Aren't all Neocons guilty anyways?)

And if bush wants to pardon this guilty, lying, sack of dirty neocon trash, just be sure he knows that he was part of the treasonous cabal that outed an entire NETWORK of CIA spies working on nucular counter-proliferation duties.

Bush is already the WORST PRESIDENT EVER... Does he really want to add "Friend of the traitors" to his list of failures too? He might want to think twice about giving a pardon to scooter. It just won't look too good in his presidential library, IF he can ever find somewhere that is willing to stoop so low as to host one for him.

Just an update on doing the time:

Scooter faces up to 30 years in prison for his crimes.

update deux:

News Corpse (Via CT Bob) has Fox spinning a doozy of a lie on the guilty verdict...

update trois: ctblogger has a bunch of videos up on Libby.

DLC loses tax exempt status

Scarce over at MLN digs up a real zinger:

DLC loses tax exempt status:
"Via Forbes (subscription only):

In a previously unreported action, the Internal Revenue Service has revoked the DLC's tax exemption on the grounds that it primarily benefited a private group-Democrats, and particularly 'New Democrats' running for or holding office-rather than the community at large. The DLC has sued in federal court to overturn the decision..."

Go read the entire diary because, proving they are right-wingnuts, the story only gets better as the DLC makes their arguments for tax exempt status.

LOL!

Ned Lamont Interview

CT Bob and Spazeboy have another CT Blogging media original reporting effort up today. Go check out their exclusive interview with Ned Lamont:

Via CT Bob:

"Here's the entire in-depth interview with Ned from last Friday. Spazeboy and I ask questions about the campaign, about the current administration, and about the future. The interview runs about 33 minutes, and concludes with a unique "free association" session."

While you out surfing you might also want to check out ctblogger's video on the Bloggers forum held in Hartford. Connecticut Bloggers are pioneering in real media efforts, ESPECIALLY in the area of video Blogging.

Bush, NOLA & The National Guard: Building on Failures

ConnecticutBLOG takes a long hard look at Bush's failures in New Orleans:

"In honor of President Bush's photo-op in New Orleans today, it's my honor to re-post these oldie but goodie video clips.

...but first, a look at Bush's screw-ups."

Read the rest here...

You would think that he would take preparedness for disasters a little more seriously considering how many he has presided over and created, but a quick look at the National Guard foretells the probablity of more failure:

Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

Considering the National Guard are our traditional frontline providers, and lifeline, in national emergencies you can understand why all Americans should be concerned with this. There wasn't enough available personel and equipment to provide releif during the tragic Katrinadisaster , but if there is a disaster down there right now it will be only worse:

From Virginia and the District of Columbia to Indiana and New Mexico, National Guard units lack thousands of trucks, Humvees, generators, radios, night-vision goggles and other gear that would be critical for responding to a major disaster, terrorist attack or other domestic emergency, according to state Guard officials.

The equipment shortage extends to Gulf Coast states such as Louisiana and Mississippi -- devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina -- where Guard units have only a fraction of what they would need to respond to another large-scale disaster.

The Louisiana Guard, its gear depleted by Iraq and Katrina, is short of Humvees and trucks such as high-water vehicles critical for a major evacuation. "We are really concerned about vehicles," said Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, a spokesman for the Louisiana Guard. "We would have enough for a small-scale issue . . . maybe a Category 1 tropical storm we could handle -- an event that doesn't involve massive flooding or massive search and rescue," he said. But for bigger disasters, Louisiana would need help from other states.

Last time Louisiana needed help and there just wasn't enough soldiers and equipment to provide relief. Not to mention that Bush just didn't show any of that compassionate conservatism he lies about all the time. Bush just didn't give a fuck about certain people in need. And things are only going to get worse and worse as long as we continue to follow Bush's failed policies.




Impeachment isn't harsh enough punishment for Bush and his failed policies...