Hadley on Pressing Forward to Failure - Pincus Propaganda

Hadley's response to the reporter's question:(paraphrased)

"I agree, I was spinning, so let me try and spin it completely another way: Please let the preznit continue to press on towards failure... It's our last-best chance to fail!"

Ok... Maybe you should watch the Video and get the real quotes...

"One of the things you should conclude from this NIE is the best plan is to have this plan succeed."

What plan? Stay the fuckin' course? Puhleeeese... That is all the ESCALATION/surge really is.

And of course in the WaPo, Pincus and DeYoung lie the BIG LIE:

In a discussion of whether Iraq has reached a state of civil war, the 90-page classified NIE comes to no conclusion and holds out prospects of improvement.

Let's take another look at the declassified version of the NIE to compare:

*The Intelligence Community judges that the term “civil war” does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qa’ida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence. Nonetheless, the term “civil war” accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population displacements.

snip

*Nevertheless, even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation in the time frame of this Estimate.

Yeah... I think the NIE says Pincus is lying. I gave up reading the Pincus propaganda after I got to his second graph lie. It's like reading the thoughts of Bush, Lieberman or St. McCain. There is no point to it since they are all insane or liars or both.

The Rovian spin machine is cranking it up a notch.... We had better be ready to fight back.

[update] Billy-Willy Kristol seeps up from the Daily Muck:

When decadent neoconservatives lose political battles over the war, the results aren't pretty. The byline here reads Bill Kristol, but the words could very well have come from Shakespeare's Richard III (like, say, Act V, Scene IV):

John Warner of Virginia, Gordon Smith of Oregon, and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine are the four Republican senators (in addition to Nebraska's Chuck Hagel) currently signed on to the Democrats' anti-surge, anti-Petraeus, anti-troops, and anti-victory resolution.

That's right: a nonbinding anti-surge resolution is an act against the troops.

Oh, and there's more. Kristol threatens dire political consequences to all anti-surge GOP senators...

It is another full-court press from all of the usual ass-kissing Bush hacks...

Iraq NIE

Below are the Key Judgements of the NIE (at least the declasified version taken from the PDF that was released) and it is obvious that it does not paint a pretty picture. Of note is that while it mentions the influence of Iran, they also make it clear that Iran's influence is the negligible when you look at the overall picture of chaos.

I am including the "Explanation of Estimative Language" at the bottom of this so that you can get a clearer picture of what they mean to say with their specific choice of wording. Also, all emphasis and formatting is NOT mine, and is included as originally in the report.

-------------

Key Judgments

Iraqi society’s growing polarization, the persistent weakness of the security forces and the state in general, and all sides’ ready recourse to violence are collectively driving an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism. Unless efforts to reverse these conditions show measurable progress during the term of this Estimate, the coming 12 to 18 months, we assess that the overall security situation will continue to deteriorate at rates comparable to the latter part of 2006. If strengthened Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), more loyal to the government and supported by Coalition forces, are able to reduce levels of violence and establish more effective security for Iraq’s population, Iraqi leaders could have an opportunity to begin the process of political compromise necessary for longer term stability, political progress, and economic recovery.

• Nevertheless, even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation in the time frame of this Estimate.

The challenges confronting Iraqis are daunting, and multiple factors are driving the current trajectory of the country’s security and political evolution.

• Decades of subordination to Sunni political, social, and economic domination have made the Shia deeply insecure about their hold on power. This insecurity leads the Shia to mistrust US efforts to reconcile Iraqi sects and reinforces their unwillingness to engage with the Sunnis on a variety of issues, including adjusting the structure of Iraq’s federal system, reining in Shia militias, and easing de-Bathification.

• Many Sunni Arabs remain unwilling to accept their minority status, believe the central government is illegitimate and incompetent, and are convinced that Shia dominance will increase Iranian influence over Iraq, in ways that erode the state’s Arab character and increase Sunni repression.

• The absence of unifying leaders among the Arab Sunni or Shia with the capacity to speak for or exert control over their confessional groups limits prospects for reconciliation. The Kurds remain willing to participate in Iraqi state building but reluctant to surrender any of the gains in autonomy they have achieved.

• The Kurds are moving systematically to increase their control of Kirkuk to guarantee annexation of all or most of the city and province into the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after the constitutionally mandated referendum scheduled to occur no later than 31 December 2007. Arab groups in Kirkuk continue to resist violently what they see as Kurdish encroachment.

• Despite real improvements, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF)—particularly the Iraqi police—will be hard pressed in the next 12-18 months to execute significantly increased security responsibilities, and particularly to operate independently against Shia militias with success. Sectarian divisions erode the dependability of many units, many are hampered by personnel and equipment shortfalls, and a number of Iraqi units have refused to serve outside of the areas where they were recruited.

• Extremists—most notably the Sunni jihadist group al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) and Shia oppositionist Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM)—continue to act as very effective accelerators for what has become a self-sustaining inter-sectarian struggle between Shia and Sunnis.

• Significant population displacement, both within Iraq and the movement of Iraqis into neighboring countries, indicates the hardening of ethno-sectarian divisions, diminishes Iraq’s professional and entrepreneurial classes, and strains the capacities of the countries to which they have relocated. The UN estimates over a million Iraqis are now in Syria and Jordan.

The Intelligence Community judges that the term “civil war” does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qa’ida and Sunni insurgent attacks on Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence. Nonetheless, the term “civil war” accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population displacements.

Coalition capabilities, including force levels, resources, and operations, remain an essential stabilizing element in Iraq. If Coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during the term of this Estimate, we judge that this almost certainly would lead to a significant increase in the scale and scope of sectarian conflict in Iraq, intensify Sunni resistance to the Iraqi Government, and have adverse consequences for national reconciliation.

• If such a rapid withdrawal were to take place, we judge that the ISF would be unlikely to survive as a non-sectarian national institution; neighboring countries—invited by Iraqi factions or unilaterally—might intervene openly in the conflict; massive civilian casualties and forced population displacement would be probable; AQI would attempt to use parts of the country—particularly al-Anbar province—to plan increased attacks in and outside of Iraq; and spiraling violence and political disarray in Iraq, along with Kurdish moves to control Kirkuk and strengthen autonomy, could prompt Turkey to launch a military incursion.

A number of identifiable developments could help to reverse the negative trends driving Iraq’s current trajectory. They include:

• Broader Sunni acceptance of the current political structure and federalism to begin to reduce one of the major sources of Iraq’s instability.

• Significant concessions by Shia and Kurds to create space for Sunni acceptance of federalism.

• A bottom-up approach—deputizing, resourcing, and working more directly with neighborhood watch groups and establishing grievance committees—to help mend frayed relationships between tribal and religious groups, which have been mobilized into communal warfare over the past three years.

A key enabler for all of these steps would be stronger Iraqi leadership, which could enhance the positive impact of all the above developments.

Iraq’s neighbors influence, and are influenced by, events within Iraq, but the involvement of these outside actors is not likely to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability because of the self-sustaining character of Iraq’s internal sectarian dynamics. Nonetheless, Iranian lethal support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants clearly intensifies the conflict in Iraq. Syria continues to provide safehaven for expatriate Iraqi Bathists and to take less than adequate measures to stop the flow of foreign jihadists into Iraq.

• For key Sunni regimes, intense communal warfare, Shia gains in Iraq, and Iran’s assertive role have heightened fears of regional instability and unrest and contributed to a growing polarization between Iran and Syria on the one hand and other Middle East governments on the other. But traditional regional rivalries, deepening ethnic and sectarian violence in Iraq over the past year, persistent anti-Americanism in the region, anti-Shia prejudice among Arab states, and fears of being perceived by their publics as abandoning their Sunni co-religionists in Iraq have constrained Arab states’ willingness to engage politically and economically with the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad and led them to consider unilateral support to Sunni groups.

• Turkey does not want Iraq to disintegrate and is determined to eliminate the safehaven in northern Iraq of the Kurdistan People’s Congress (KGK, formerly PKK)—a Turkish Kurdish terrorist group.

A number of identifiable internal security and political triggering events, including sustained mass sectarian killings, assassination of major religious and political leaders, and a complete Sunni defection from the government have the potential to convulse severely Iraq’s security environment. Should these events take place, they could spark an abrupt increase in communal and insurgent violence and shift Iraq’s trajectory from gradual decline to rapid deterioration with grave humanitarian, political, and security consequences. Three prospective security paths might then emerge:

• Chaos Leading to Partition. With a rapid deterioration in the capacity of Iraq’s central government to function, security services and other aspects of sovereignty would collapse. Resulting widespread fighting could produce de facto partition, dividing Iraq into three mutually antagonistic parts. Collapse of this magnitude would generate fierce violence for at least several years, ranging well beyond the time frame of this Estimate, before settling into a partially stable end-state.

• Emergence of a Shia Strongman. Instead of a disintegrating central government producing partition, a security implosion could lead Iraq’s potentially most powerful group, the Shia, to assert its latent strength.

• Anarchic Fragmentation of Power. The emergence of a checkered pattern of local control would present the greatest potential for instability, mixing extreme ethno-sectarian violence with debilitating intra-group clashes.

------------------------

What We Mean When We Say:
An Explanation of Estimative Language

When we use words such as “we judge” or “we assess”—terms we use synonymously—as well as “we estimate,” “likely” or “indicate,” we are trying to convey an analytical assessment or judgment. These assessments, which are based on incomplete or at times fragmentary information are not a fact, proof, or knowledge. Some analytical judgments are based directly on collected information; others rest on previous judgments, which serve as building blocks. In either type of judgment, we do not have “evidence” that shows something to be a fact or that definitively links two items or issues.

Intelligence judgments pertaining to likelihood are intended to reflect the Community’s sense of the probability of a development or event. Assigning precise numerical ratings to such judgments would imply more rigor than we intend. The chart below provides a rough idea of the relationship of terms to each other.



We do not intend the term “unlikely” to imply an event will not happen. We use “probably” and “likely” to indicate there is a greater than even chance. We use words such as “we cannot dismiss,” “we cannot rule out,” and “we cannot discount” to reflect an unlikely—or even remote—event whose consequences are such it warrants mentioning. Words such as “may be” and “suggest” are used to reflect situations in which we are unable to assess the likelihood generally because relevant information is nonexistent, sketchy, or fragmented.

In addition to using words within a judgment to convey degrees of likelihood, we also ascribe “high,” “moderate,” or “low” confidence levels based on the scope and quality of information supporting our judgments.

• “High confidence” generally indicates our judgments are based on high-quality information and/or the nature of the issue makes it possible to render a solid judgment.

• “Moderate confidence” generally means the information is interpreted in various ways, we have alternative views, or the information is credible and plausible but not corroborated sufficiently to warrant a higher level of confidence.

• “Low confidence” generally means the information is scant, questionable, or very fragmented and it is difficult to make solid analytic inferences, or we have significant concerns or problems with the sources.

A Moment of Clarity

A moment of clarity, if you are one of those Bush-Lieberman-McCain clones that refuse to accept the reality of the situation, from former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski's prepared testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The war in Iraq is a historic, strategic, and moral calamity.”

“If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq,” Brzezinski cautioned, “the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large. … It is obvious by now that the American national interest calls for a significant change of direction.”

Ya don't say? Anyone that supports the axis of weasels' (Bush, Lieberman, McCain, AEI) continuence of failed policy in Iraq is playing right into the terrorists' hands... These idiots need to be removed from office and/or prosecuted for their criminal negligence.

Lincoln Group - Funding the Insurgents?

Ok... Who or what, exactly, are "Sunni Religious Scholars":

Lincoln Group - SourceWatch:
"Hiring Sunni Religious Scholars, Working with AEI's Michael Rubin

The New York Times reported January 2, 2006, that the Lincoln Group 'has been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda works ... [T]he company's ties to religious leaders and dozens of other prominent Iraqis is aimed also at enabling it to exercise influence in Iraqi communities on behalf of clients, including the military. ... Lincoln has also turned to American scholars and political consultants for advice on the content of the propaganda campaign in Iraq, records indicate. Michael Rubin, a Middle East scholar at the American Enterprise Institute ... said he had reviewed materials produced by the company.' [24] Rubin was political adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority (Baghdad), 2003-2004, following two years (2002-2004) as staff assistant on Iran and Iraq in the Office of Special Plans in the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

Can you read "Fundementalist Clerics"... And why the fuck would the Lincoln propoganda team have been funding these "Sunni Religious Scholars" (a plan supported by AEI) when many of these "Scholars" are the ones that are the most responsible for all of the exploding Iraqis everywhere?

Are they trying to feed the fire and tilt Iraq further into the chaos of Civil War? Just WTF kindof crack are these assholes smoking?

Sell propaganda to the US government to help spread peace in Iraq... Meanwhile fund the insurgents that help create more chaos there.... Sell more propaganda to the US government to help spread peace in Iraq... Meanwhile fund the insurgents that help create more chaos there...

Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat.

Without heroes like the Lincoln group the Shia wouldn't have such a well funded insurgency to to attempt to ethnically cleanse.

And, right now, Mr. Bush and his insane clown posse is trying to spin to you that it is Iran that is supporting much of the chaos?

But even our feeble knowledge here at TPM is enough to tell us that when we start hearing catch-alls like 'Iranian-trained' for anything that happened in southern Iraq, we're dealing with meaninglessly vague words meant to bamboozle and hoodwink. Remember too this incident occurred in Karbala, where the Badr Brigade is headquartered.

To be clear, I'm not saying the Badr Brigade was behind this, only that in the context of paramilitaries in southern Iraq, 'Iranian-trained' is a meaninglessly broad category.

Really? Spin, Spin, Spin! What a fuckin' racket...

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

I smell an early House election campaign in California

Hypocrisy in action in CA-42:

Gary Miller (not to be confused with George Miller, D, CA-7) was first elected to the House in 1998. In 2006, he ran for election unopposed. His growing seniority has garnered him an appointment as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Investigations on the House Financial Services Committee. (And under investigation as a tax cheat! Yikes!!)

snip

LUCRATIVE LAND DEAL
Dennis Hastert cleared a cool million for land he sold for a highway development he slipped into an earmark. And the Pombo family in California apparently benefitted from a similar highway related deal. So this kind of thing is not unheard of. But Miller’s real estate windfall was an order of magnitude greater than Hastert’s. A cool ten million! CREW filed a IRS complaint against the Congressman last summer:

In 2002, Rep. Miller sold 165 acres to the city of Monrovia, California, making a profit of approximately $10 million. In 2004, Rep. Miller reinvested the proceeds of the sale in land and building purchases in Fontana, California, and Rancho Cucamonga, California. Rep. Miller again claimed IRC 1033 exemption when he sold some of his Fontana land and building acquisitions in April and June of 2005. He used proceeds from this sale to purchase additional land in Fontana, which he subsequently sold to the city in 2006 for $50,000 more than his original purchase price.

So, ten million profit in a land deal. And federal earmarks for improvements that increased the property value. This has been business-as-usual for entirely too many Republicans in Tom Delay's short-lived "Permanenet Majority." Sigh.

The Democratic party out west might want to start think about lining up a candidate for this one ASAP... Whether Miller manages to hang around until 2008 or not, the campaign is on. The sooner there is a candidate to oppose him the better. Get that "name/face recognition" spinning in the media now.

As a side note: I may not write much the next couple of days... I am trying to do a bit of research to help out ePluribusMedia and it involves WAY TOO MUCH reading! lol

One possible source of Krayeske's illegal treatment

I am not saying that this is how Ken Krayeske ended up on "THE LIST" but it is definately a possibility.

FBI turns to broad new wiretap method:
"The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.

Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.

Such a technique is broader and potentially more intrusive than the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system, later renamed DCS1000. It raises concerns similar to those stirred by widespread Internet monitoring that the National Security Agency is said to have done, according to documents that have surfaced in one federal lawsuit, and may stretch the bounds of what's legally permissible."

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Carnivore:

Carnivore Redux:
In late 1999, Corn-Revere, a partner at the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, had been fighting on EarthLink's behalf to keep a government surveillance device off the company's network. A short while later, though, a federal magistrate judge sided with the FBI against the Atlanta-based Internet provider.

Worried about the privacy impact, Corn-Revere revealed the existence of Carnivore in testimony before a House of Representatives subcommittee on April 6, 2000. "They were using a technology called Etherpeek, which was off the shelf," Corn-Revere told me last Friday. "When we challenged it, they said, 'We're not using that. That would be wrong. We have our own software developed. It's called Carnivore.'" (Etherpeek is a Windows surveillance utility from WildPackets that can decode protocols used with e-mail, Web browsing and instant messaging.)

Now history is repeating itself. A flurry of press reports this month noted that the FBI has ceased using Carnivore, which had been renamed DCS1000. But not all of them mentioned that the government is hardly calling a halt to Internet wiretaps--instead, it's simply buying its surveillance tools from private companies again.

A review of the government's self-reported wiretap statistics from 2000 to 2003, the most recent data available, shows that the total number of "electronic" wiretaps has stayed between 4 percent and 8 percent of all reported wiretaps each year. (In 2003, for instance, there were 1,442 reported non-terrorism wiretaps in total that intercepted 4.3 million communications or conversations.)

snip

...those numbers don't include "pen register" and "trap and trace" devices, which tend to be about five to six times as popular as traditional wiretaps. Those awkward names, which hail from the days of analog phone taps, refer to capturing only the addresses of Web sites visited and the IDs of e-mail and instant-messaging correspondents rather than the complete content of the communication.

Translated: The concept of Carnivore isn't going away. If anything, police surveillance of the Internet is increasing over time.

There is a possibility that this sort of software is what may have brought Krayeske to the FBI and CTIC's attention since it would track and find sources of comments on Blogs. IMHO it is highly likely.

If this sort of illegal surveillance is what brought Krayeske to their attention, it still would not explain the human error of actually taking anything Krayeske has said, written, or done in the past as a sign that he should be on "The List"... Anyone that actually read the full comments refered to as reasons for the abuse of his rights would see that he is just a photo-journalist/blogger/peaceful political activist.

Are there any CT politicians that could ask for the original source of these Federal agencies monitoring Ken Krayeke? My guess is that question will lead back to software controlled "wiretaps" that are inherrantly illegal because of the wide net they cast in surveillance of the internet without any probable cause.

Given the subject matter of this diary... They are probably reading this! What a fuckin' waste of taxpayers' money.

You are what you eat?

Is this a case of "you are what you eat" or was the author making a political statement after the fact?



The book was written by the White House pastry chef. The author wrote the book before being hired to work at the White House so they must have hired the chef based on his ability to cater to the current White House occupants' needs...

Revolution in DC - Out of Iraq

out of Iraq and into
PEACE!

America Wants Congress to Cut Bush Off

A Newsweek poll that is up at the moment:

Should Congress try to stop President Bush from deploying more U.S. troops in Iraq? 32622 responses
	Yes 80%
	No 16%
	Not sure 4.1%

America seems to want Congress to cut Bush off...

C-Ya! Wouldn't wanna B-Ya!

The longer the GOP talking point clown is gone the better off the NewsTimes readers will be:

News Times Live Online Editor: "(Political reporter/blogger Fred Lucas, by the way, moved onto greener pastures. He's covering the feds down in Washington, D.C. His blog is on hiatus for the moment.)"

Fred Lucas has to be one of the worst abusers of the written word in the local area. As long as he is gone it frees up a lot of Blogging time that was previously wasted correcting his second rate Rovian spin.

It is safe to assume that Lucas is in Washington to get his lips closer to the Bush ass that continuously refills his koolaide dispenser. Suck it up Freddie! But you are already full of it.

This is THE Healthcare Plan YOU Have Asked For

The United States National Health Insurance Act

H.R. 676

("Expanded & Improved Medicare For All")

*introduced by Reps. John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and Donna Christensen

"National health insurance is not only the best answer,

it is the only answer to eliminating health disparities."

Representative John Conyers, Jr., State of the Black Union 2005

Via SarahLee's dKos diary:

If you want to read the bill, H.R. 676, just go to Thomas.gov, click in Conyers' name and scroll down to 676 - right now it says that the bill has not yet been received from the GPO.

NEW CO-SPONSORS LIST:


(Three are not yet listed yet, so I am not sure who they are).

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 1/24/2007


Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/24/2007


Rep Carson, Julia [IN-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 1/24/2007


Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/24/2007

Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/24/2007


Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/24/2007


Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/24/2007


Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 1/24/2007


Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 1/24/2007


Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 1/24/2007


Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/24/2007


Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/24/2007


Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 1/24/2007


Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 1/24/2007


Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/24/2007


Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] - 1/24/2007


Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/24/2007


Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/24/2007

Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/24/2007


Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 1/24/2007


Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 1/24/2007


Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 1/24/2007


Rep McNulty, Michael R. [NY-21] - 1/24/2007


Rep Meehan, Martin T. [MA-5] - 1/24/2007


Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 1/24/2007


Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 1/24/2007


Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 1/24/2007


Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 1/24/2007


Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] - 1/24/2007


Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 1/24/2007


Rep Scott, Robert C. [VA-3] - 1/24/2007


Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 1/24/2007


Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/24/2007


Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9] - 1/24/2007

Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 1/24/2007


Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/24/2007


Rep Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4] - 1/24/2007

HMMM? I believe that there may be some CT Reps missing from that list...

Write Your Rep... <<< :)

(x-posted at MLN)

Kennedy Tears the Corrupt Ones a New One

Kennedy tears the corrupt Republicans a new one over their refusal to allow a vote on minimum wage.



Via C&l:

What is it with Republicans and their refusal to help the working class?

"Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

U.S. Military Spied on Hundreds of Antiwar Demonstrattions

Just waiting for that next Ken Krayeske moment:

U.S. Military Spied on Hundreds of Antiwar Demos:
"At least 186 antiwar protests in the United States have been monitored by the Pentagon's domestic surveillance program, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which also found that the Defense Department collected more than 2,800 reports involving Americans in a single anti-terrorism database.

snip

"It cannot be an accident or coincidence that nearly 200 antiwar protests ended up in a Pentagon threat database," Ann Beeson, associate legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement. "This unchecked surveillance is part of a broad pattern of the Bush administration using 'national security' as an excuse to run roughshod over the privacy and free speech rights of Americans."

The internal Defense Department documents show it is monitoring the activities of a wide swath of peace groups, including Veterans for Peace,
Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Code Pink, the American Friends Service Committee, the War Resisters League, and the umbrella group United for Peace and Justice, which is spearheading what organizers hope will be a massive march on Washington this Saturday.

This Ken Krayeske moment was brought to you by your Constitution hating republicans everywhere, in conjunction with our highly paranoid Governor Jodi Rell.

I wouldn't be surprised if some quaint wiretapping or mail opening was involved in this repeated Constitutional rape of Americans' rights...

Bill Moyers, the respected TV journalist, analyzes the threats to constitutional government posed by an illegitimate network operating from within the government but using secrecy to set itself up outside of the government / peoples oversight. All this back in 1987. This documentary gives a fascinating overview of what has actually happened in the last 50 years regarding the CIA and the Cold War (including Iran, Guatamala, Cuba, Vietnam and Chile). The foundation for the massive push towards greater secrecy in government going on today.

Not like anyone really cares, right? Right? Well... Not anyone that is Republican.

Building a Better Community (continued)

I am stealing a comment made by liza in a MyDD diary that explains what everyone on the left needs to do more of, and more often:

Repugs look at blogs, more so than static sites, as real estate. Linking to one another creates a tightly knit community and lowers the barrier for locking sites in with their message. It works brilliantly for framing attacks and going for the kill.

Look at how from Drudge and the Freeper site information is passed down at lighting speed into the red blogosphere. Once you have 10-15 sites hitting the same topic, Google does it's job. And if those 10-15 sites happen to be repugblogs, then they've won.

This is not rocket science. This is the law of links and Google ranking. That blue bloggers don't get it begs the question, why are they doing this in the first place. Do get a book deal and then bail? If this is really a movement, then we have to think tactically. How do you do so?

-- encourage building not just blogs but community blogs with platforms like Drupal, CivicSpace or Scoop. There is great potential in those MySQL databases.

-- Link and link generously. If possible, run an RSS aggregator on your site and invite people to add their feeds; making it easy for people to comment on other networked blogger's posts.

-- use the "nofollow" tag only sparingly; maybe for the sites you're fisking

-- METAs & FOAF still work. Use it.

-- Categories are a good thing. Use them widely. Tag, tag and tag some more. And if possible, ecourage the use of folksonomies in your blogs, diaries and comments. And allow live links on your comments as well.

-- Then link, quote and link some more.

It's not rocket science. It's just good blog networking.

I challenge every single one of you on the left to try and increase the visability of everyone else on the left by using the basic rule of LINKING. And I mean gratuitous links. Any reason you can find to link, in any post, to any site on "OUR SIDE" that you can find.

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.

So link... Link often. To diaries on your own blog, diaries on your friends' blogs, diaries from everyone on the entire left side of the Blogosphere. And consider expanding your Blogroll when you come across any site that is covering similar issues that you want to see pushed up in search results.

As far as Tagging and the words you use to link: Try and chose many varieties of words over time and it will draw more, and different readers in. Also use certain key words repetitively to make sites "look" more authoritative to search engines. IE: This Joe Lieberman link just helped make MLN an authority on Joe lieberman. Or this Krayeske link just helped make ConnecticutBLOG an authority on all things Krayeske. Easy, eh? You might be surprised at just how many visits this fucking link might send to a site... Now multiply this effect by a dozen links and they become even more relevant in searches on those subjects.

The words you choose to link (and tag) with can be just as important as where those links end up on on the other end.

There are a lot of lessons and tips that can be shared, but linking and tags are the first, and easiest, for everyone to begin to use. And we all need to use these weapons if we are going to beat the right in the Google War.

NPR’s Rehm: Delayed Iraq NIE Will Undermine Case For Escalation

Think Progress explains the NIE delay:

NPR’s Rehm:
Delayed Iraq NIE Will Undermine Case For Escalation:
"Yesterday, NPR host Diane Rehm may have revealed why the NIE remains so politically sensitive. On her national radio show, Rehm said:

It’s my understanding that the National Intelligence Estimate…is going to suggest that adding troops is the wrong way to go, that it’s not going to improve the situation.

Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and the House and Senate intelligence committee chairmen wrote President Bush “urging prompt completion of a national intelligence estimate (NIE) on Iraq first requested by Congress six months ago.” Read the full letter HERE."

Well, Golly gee! I wonder what Joe Neocon Lieberman and his partner in crime John Sleepyhead McCain have to say about this?

The Judiciary Committee is "Up and Running" - John Conyers

A Little message courtesy of the Chairman of the Judidciary Committee:

We are Up and Running | Rep. John Conyers :
"I am pleased to report that the Judiciary Committee held its first organizational meeting today and we are up and running. It was the first Committee activity in which I was the Chair and I felt humbled and honored by the experience.

We also announced our first hearing, an oversight hearing, a week from today at 10:15a entitled: 'Presidential Signing Statements under the Bush Administration: A Threat to Checks and Balances and the Rule of Law?'
I am looking forward to it."

Impeach!
Sorry... Just practicing! :)

TWO OHIO ELECTION OFFICIALS CONVICTED FOR RIGGING 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT!

If only...

The BRAD BLOG : TWO OHIO ELECTION OFFICIALS CONVICTED FOR RIGGING 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT!:

Will be Questioned by Special Prosecutor Before Sentencing to Learn if Higher Ups Involved"

If only Kerry had done what he said he was going to do and make sure every vote was counted... My wife and myself gave him money specifically for that purpose, and he turned his back on the millions of us that just wanted to be sure that EVERY FUCKING VOTE WAS COUNTED CORRECTLY AND LEGALLY!

Instead it was left to the Green Party and the Libertarian party and their limited resources raised on the internet to do what Kerry and the Democratic party should have been doing with full force and using all of that 15 million bucks he was given for this specific purpose.

I may be an unafiliated "little i" indie... But I know there are a lot of Democratic party members and supporters that are just as pissed as I am about shit like this.

The Activist Weather Forecast

The weekend weather and activity report for those of you that may be going to Washington for the weekend. Via Afterdowiningstreet.org:

The Weather Channel is predicting 48 degrees for Saturday, and the National Weather Service is saying 50 degrees!! No rain, no winds ... the weather should be great for the Jan. 27th mobilization.

We'll be gathering on the National Mall for the pre-march rally from 11 am to 1 pm. Because there might be some precipitation in Washington, DC, before Saturday, there is a possibility that the Mall could be a little muddy. With that in mind, we suggest you wear boots, or at least bring an extra pair of socks.

It's terrific that the weather will be good, but we'll be raising a storm of protest on Saturday. In addition to the massive numbers of people coming from literally every corner of the country, here are some of the folks who will be speaking at the rally:

• Mayor Rocky Anderson, Salt Lake City
• Moriah Arnold, 12-year-old sixth-grader from Harvard, MA
• Carlos Arredondo, Gold Star Families for Peace
• Medea Benjamin, founder of CodePink
• Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
• Eve Ensler, playwright
• Jane Fonda, actress, author
• Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women
• Danny Glover, actor/activist
• Reverend Graylon Hagler, Plymouth Congregational Church, Washington, DC
• Reverend Jesse Jackson, RainbowPUSH Coalition
• Jonathon Hutto, active-duty member of the U.S. Navy
• Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
• Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun Magazine
• Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
• Tim Robbins, actor/activist
• Susan Sarandon, actor/activist
• Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq
• Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
• Ann Wright, retired Army Colonel, former State Dept. diplomat

What You Should Bring to Washington

• Signs and banners -- and be sure to include your city or organization
• Noise-makers -- let's be loud!
• Copies of the petition to Congress signed by people who can't make the trip.
• White roses to leave as part of a memorial we'll be creating.
• Shoes, especially children's shoes, for the CodePink "Walk in Their Shoes" Installation

There are other activities throughout the weekend -- including our Congressional Lobby Day on Monday -- so if you can stay in town that would be wonderful!

See you on the streets of Washington as we send our message to Congress: It's time to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home!!

I wish I could go! But I can't... :(

Punch Drunk President

Nearly 6 years in and Bush started to look a little punch drunk from everyone attacking his futile and infantile policies...


A little political humor that I wanted to put up during the elections but never really had the time for. Hope you enjoyed this little Bush flashback!

Spocko, Disney, ABC and Throwing The First Punch!

Via Crooks and liars:
Crooks and Liars:

"USA Today:

In a dispute between the 'new media' of the Internet and the 'old media' of broadcasting, liberal bloggers and conservative talk-radio hosts are accusing each other of trampling the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech.

[..]Some advertisers, including Bank of America and MasterCard, have deserted KSFO since an anonymous media critic identifying himself online as Spocko began posting recordings of the station's 'Hot Talk' hosts. Spocko and some of his readers have been e-mailing the audio to KSFO advertisers since 2005, asking the companies whether they want to be associated with the controversial rhetoric.

[..](EFF attorney Matt) Zimmerman says Spocko's rights are in more peril than the station's. "ABC/Disney tried to use the legal process to silence a critic who was actually amplifying their speech," he says. "Spocko was doing exactly what the First Amendment is designed to do - promote this marketplace of ideas.""

We tried to warn these ABC/Disney ding-dongs that if it was a war on free speech they wanted, it was a war on free speech they would get.

We also warned them would reserve the right to make satirical political comments on their warped POV by showing their cherished Disney characters doing all kinds of mean and nasty things like the KSFO hosts have suggested... Or we could just make shit up. It would be real fun to make a video of one of their animated characters, say, beating up on a kid:



OH WAIT! We don't have to make shit like that up...

And the fun is just begining. heh

Hagel: Go sell shoes!

Senator Hagel comments on those that get squeamish about how to oppose the failed bush Iraq policies. ctblogger had the YouTube video that I was looking for of Hagel up already:

This morning in his opening statements before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) said:
"This is a very real, responsible addressing of the most divisive issue in this country since Vietnam. Yes, sure, it’s tough. Absolutely. And I think all 100 senators ought to be on the line on this.

What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why were you elected?

If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business. But is it any tougher, us having to take a tough vote, express ourselves and have the courage to step up on what we’re asking our young men and women to do?

I don’t think so.

When I hear, on both sides of this argument, impugning motives and patriotism to our country, not only is it offensive and disgusting but it debases the whole system of our country and who we are.

My goodness. Can’t we debate the most critical issue of our time, out front, in front of the American people?

The expect it. Are we so weak, we can’t do that?

I don’t think so. Like always, the American people are far ahead of us sitting here, far ahead of us. Because we’re concerned about politics. We’re concerned about our position. We’re concerned about our next election.

So we tinker. So we figure out wordsmithing. So should we oppose the president or just not support the president?

Different languages: disagree with the president ; that’s not as harsh as oppose the president.

But you know what, the American people have got this sorted out. They always have. They’re not conflicted with the nuances of life. They understand what’s going on. What we are proposing here — and everyone will have an opportunity to voice their opinion, present their amendments, make their case, as they should.

It’s the strength of who we are, the fabric of our society.

But we owe it to those men and women that we continue to send in that grinder."

The Senate needs to get tough with the failed and irresponsible Bush administration. Hagel is breath of fresh air compared to the Republican politics of the past.

Sleep-Walking Through the Bush Presidency

Or, in this case, sleeping through a Bush speech:





Sen. John McCain: The epitome of a Bush league escalation cheerleader that has been asleep at the wheel for a about six years now. Oh yeah... And Joe Lieberman is a typical bush cheerleader too.

Half-Assin' It The Schumer Way

Chuckie Schumer puts out a half an idea he calls the "50% Solution" in a plan that has very little substance to those goals that are outlined.

That’s the point of the second part of the book — “The 50% Solution” — which presents eleven concrete goals, to be achieved within ten years, that are a promise to the middle class. For each goal, there are novel and detailed solutions and a discussion of why I am convinced they are critical to our country’s future. You can look at the 50% Solution HERE.

As for your education goals: Why do you give just science and math teachers stipends? All teachers should be encouraged to give the best all around education to students. Not to mention that you won’t make the unions very happy if you go around them in providing bonuses to some and not to others.

There is merit to some of the ideas, but come back with a book when it is substantiated with real world applicable solutions. Much like Jon Swift... I haven't read the book, but many of the stated goals are unrealistic or not practical.

With some due respect, Sen. Schumer, and as far as a plan to Positively win back America, for now I’d stick to the “50 State Strategy” over a half-assed “50% Solution.”

How Democrats can and will win in every state, every county, and every precinct.

The Democratic Party is committed to winning elections at every level in every region of the country, and we're getting started right now with a massive effort to fund organizers on the ground in every state.

The ultimate goal? An active, effective group of Democrats organized in every single precinct in the country. Here's what we're doing to get there:

1. The Democratic Party is hiring organizers chosen by the state parties in every state -- experienced local activists who know their communities.
2. We bring those organizers together for summits where they can learn from each other the best practices for getting organized to win elections.
3. Armed with the knowledge they've shared with each other, Democratic organizers return to the states and recruit and train leaders at the local level.
4. Those local leaders recruit more leaders and volunteers until every single precinct in their area has a trained, effective organization of Democrats dedicated to winning votes for Democrats.

Don't Poke The Bear!

I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy. Democrats have strong moral values. Frankly, my moral values are offended by some of the things I hear on programs like "Rush Limbaugh," and we don't have to put up with that.
Howard Dean

The way we're going to win elections in this country is not to become Republican lite. The way we're going to win elections in this country is to stand up for what we believe in.
Howard Dean

I am glad that I could come to Conecticut and in a few short years inspire all of you to become active in a state that was seemingly sleep-walking through their political lives.

OK... So it had nothing to do with me! :) BUT, still, I am glad to see more people becoming pro-active in politics, as opposed to remaining in the more reactionary Blogosphere.

CT Bob:
It was less than a year ago that my interest in the political process evolved me from a happy-go-lucky "spectator" to a committed "participant".

snip

During the tumultuous 2006 campaign, I became aware that Democracy is best served when people get involved. So I started attending DTC meetings and got to know many of the members. Last night I was voted onto my town's DTC unanimously (which, when there are vacant uncontested seats, is pretty much a given...but then again, with me you never know).

This recent reawakening of the slumbering giant called "We The People" might help bring the dreams of the JFK and MLK types back to the frontal lobes of political reality.

The Frontal lobes have been found to play a part in impulse control, judgment, language, memory, motor function, problem solving, sexual behavior, socialization and spontaneity. The Frontal lobes assist in planning, coordinating, controlling and executing behavior. People that have damaged frontal lobes may experience problems with these aspects of cognitive function, being at times impulsive; impaired in their ability to plan and execute complex sequences of actions; perhaps persisting with one course of action or pattern of behavior when a change would be appropriate.

Yes... It is most certainly an appropriate time for a change in America. The reckless beahviour resulting in the failing Bush administartions' "New Way Forward" to "Stay the course!" is symptomatic of this persisting fact.

America desperately needs new leaders, young and old, to help change the course it has been following in its somnumbulic trance of political apathy. Bush's legacy may very well end up being that he poked the bear and woke it from its deep sleep. Or is that just Scooter Libby's novel fantasy?

At age ten the madam put the child in a cage with a bear trained to couple with young girls so the girls would be frigid and not fall in love with their patrons. They fed her through the bars and aroused the bear with a stick when it seemed to lose interest. ("The Apprentice" written by: I. "can fuck the deer" Lewis Libby)

America is definately ready to change the course after six years of repeated GOP hypocrisies.

Hypocrisy is a value that I think has been embraced by the Republican Party. We get lectured by people all day long about moral values by people who have their own moral shortcomings.
Howard Dean

We need to go everywhere. There is not one county in this state, I don't care how far west you go, that doesn't have Democrats. We have to be proud of who we are.
Howard Dean

Yes, leaders like Dean and Lamont inspired many to become pro-active BUT the incompetent Bush administration is partly responsible for this reawakening as well: They poked the fuckin' bear. And the reality is that it is a VERY LIBERAL bear that has awoken across this LIBERAL state AND across this LIBERAL country. Good for you Bob! Good for Connecticut and the nation too!

Where Do YOUR Congress Critters Stand on Escalation?

Do you know who is in the BIPARTISAN CAMP and who stands out like a sore thumb?

Rep. John Larson (D, CT-1)

“The rally, organized by Connecticut Opposes the War, a single-issue coalition of political, religious, community and labor organizations, focused on two themes: the Iraq war’s continuing cost in lives, money and American ideals and the need for the new Congress to say no more, particularly to Bush’s recently announced plan to send about 20,000 more troops to Iraq. … ‘What we need to do is escalate diplomacy in the [Mideast] region,’ Larson told the crowd.” [Link]

Rep. Joe Courtney (D, CT-2)

“U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who won his first term by defeating Republican Rob Simmons in November, criticized the president’s plan and said adding more troops is not the answer to stopping the sectarian violence.” [Link]

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D, CT-3)

“I have opposed this war from the outset, and I have cosponsored legislation opposing an escalation of the Iraq war.” [Link]

Rep. Christopher Shays (R, CT-4)

U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays said yesterday it would be a ‘huge mistake’ to send more American troops to Iraq if that country’s government ‘doesn’t do the heavy lifting it has to do.’ [Link]

Rep. Christopher Murphy (D, CT-5)

No opinion given YET!

Sen. Chris Dodd (D, CT)

“I believe it will be a mistake for us at this juncture to be adding more troops. … I don’t see any mission associated with this. It sounds to me like a tactic in search of a strategy.” [Link]

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I, CT)

“I applaud the President for rejecting the fatalism of failure and pursuing a new course to achieve success in Iraq.”...“Tonight, the President did not take the easy path, but he took the correct and courageous course.” [Link]

Interesting that the primary sore loser stands out like sore thumb...

We need to get an official response from Chris Murphy on this!