Waterlogged Maine expects more rain
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006
The powerful storm that spawned deadly tornadoes in the South was expected to drench an already soggy Maine with another inch or two of rain before moving out this morning to make way for a warm day and maybe even some sunshine.Emergency and municipal officials braced for the possibility of scattered flooding during the heaviest rainfall, but predicted southern Maine's rivers should be able to handle the runoff. A flood watch was in effect for most of western and central Maine through this evening.The storm, even before it arrived, wreaked havoc on local flight schedules, canceling some flights from the mid-Atlantic states into Portland International Jetport and delaying others."It's been nasty," said Janice Barter, whose son Trent was delayed on his trip from Portland to visit his brother at Arizona State University. Her son's 3:30 p.m. flight didn't leave until almost 7 p.m. "The attendants were doing their best to reschedule people. There's nothing they can do about the weather, but it's discouraging," Barter said.By Thursday night, airlines were scurrying to re-book passengers, but Portland still could experience delays this morning, airport officials said.The powerful storm pounded Southeastern states Wednesday before starting to move up the East Coast on Thursday.But it began to lose some of its punch as it veered toward Maine. The cool, marine air of the Maine coast was expected to calm it further, reducing the chance of thunderstorms."We're not looking for any severe weather, as far as tornadoes or anything like that," said Art Lester, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Gray.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/061117weather.html
Report: Boost college funding
By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006
SOUTH PORTLAND - Maine should invest millions of dollars in its underfunded community-college system because the state has a significant shortage of skilled workers in most industries, yet the colleges are at or near capacity in many programs, according to a task force report released Thursday.Noting that Maine has the smallest community-college system in the nation -- based on the percentage of the adult population served -- the task force says the state should spend an extra $20.3 million a year to boost enrollment initially from 13,000 to 17,000 students. The report also calls for "a major capital improvements bond issue" for building upgrades and, possibly, new construction.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/061117colleges.html
City lauded as site of pharmacy school
By JOSIE HUANG, Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006
The University of New England announced plans Thursday to house its new College of Pharmacy on its Portland campus, saying proximity to multiple hospitals and biotechnology businesses would secure internships and other opportunities for students.UNE President Danielle Ripich said locating the new school in Maine's largest city also will attract the faculty members it needs to recruit in time for a 2008 launch."I think Portland is a very attractive site," said Ripich, who has fast-tracked the pharmacy school proposal since becoming president in July. "I have already had unsolicited letters of interest from very solid faculty members."The decision to site the pharmacy school at the former Westbrook College campus, which UNE acquired a decade ago, came after months of deliberation. Biddeford, home to UNE's main campus and osteopathic medical school, was the second choice, followed by Camden.The selection of a site brings UNE up to speed with Husson College, which said less than a month ago that it will open a pharmacy school in Bangor in the same time frame.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/061117une.html
A trial to beat Broadway
By Bill Nemitz
Friday, November 17, 2006TO: Jury Clerk, Cumberland County Superior Court.FROM: Prospective Juror No. 1RE: Sign me up.That's right. When they seat the jury for Tom Connolly's guerrilla-theater trial sometime next spring, I'll be first in line.Why? Because I want a good seat, that's why.This, after all, will be the best show to hit the Cumberland County Courthouse since David "The Dogman" Koplow single-handedly beat a "pooper-scooper" rap back in 1984.(Dogman's winning argument against a charge that he was not properly equipped to clean up after his eight dogs: "I can use my hands.")Now, I know there are some who predict Connolly will never go to trial for dressing up like Osama bin Laden, complete with a toy AK-47, and protesting the Taxpayer Bill of Rights along Interstate 295 on Halloween morning.In fact, District Attorney Stephanie Anderson made it clear on Thursday that she hopes this whole mess can be settled before a jury is seated.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/nemitz/061117nemitz.html
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT: FOREIGN LABOR
Friday, November 17, 2006
SUNDAY, SEPT. 24, 2006 Proponents of the foreign labor system say it is vital to the American economy, but critics and government auditors worry that the program's shortcomings could harm U.S. workers and national security.Rubber-stamp bureaucracyThe federal system that allows skilled foreigners to work in the United States may be failing to protect Americans from unfair competition and could even pose national security risks.
Some workers never stepped foot in MaineMany started with companies that used a Maine address to help them pursue green cards.
MONDAY, SEPT. 25, 2006 Dozens of small high-tech staffing companies opened shop in Maine and other rural states in 2004 and 2005, filing immigration papers to get green cards for skilled foreigners that outweighed what local officials felt was actual demand.Gaming the system?State labor specialists expressed concern about high-tech staffing companies but federal officials did little to follow up on those issues.
Holders of visas often picked over U.S. workersAgencies offering high-tech jobs don't want candidates who can grow into a job, some say.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26, 2006 Government auditors refer to the U.S. Department of Labor's role in the H1B visa system as a "rubber stamp" and suggested taking the department out of the process entirely.Invitation to fraudThe Department of Labor's screening of applicants for U.S. jobs is so flawed that there might as well be no screening at all.
Local company finds foreigners fill a labor needTwo hard-to-find computer specialists trained in India lend their expertise to Wright Express.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/immigration/
Racist fliers spark public outrage
By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006
Neville Knowles came to Maine in 1952 and found acceptance, but he also found bigotry.On Thursday, in a pained voice, the veteran civil rights activist told a gathering at the Deering High School library that the distribution of racist fliers in the surrounding Portland neighborhood shows the problem persists."This is 2006 and we are still grappling with this kind of situation. Why?" he asked. "It's time we get to the root of it and start digging it up."More than two dozen city, civic and student leaders gathered with neighborhood residents Thursday to express their outrage about the fliers, which apparently were downloaded from a neo-Nazi Web site. It's unclear how extensive the distribution was, though several residents reported seeing them on trees or finding them on their car windshields.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/061117meeting.html
Postal reform efforts likely to end at dead letter office
By BART JANSEN, Washington D.C. Correspondent Friday, November 17, 2006
WASHINGTON - Congress appears unlikely to reform the U.S. Postal Service this year or in the foreseeable future, blocking one of Sen. Susan Collins' legislative priorities.The goal of reform proponents such as Collins, R-Maine, is to make the post office more competitive with the Internet and premium shippers such as FedEx by reducing its reliance on rate increases for stamps.But Collins, chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, said opposition to compromise legislation in September left little hope for action when Congress finishes for the year in December. "I am not optimistic that we are going to be able to resolve this," Collins said. "We had a very good agreement worked out at the end of September that was derailed at the last second."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/061117postalreform.html
Question of the day
By JUSTIN ELLIS, Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006
Staff photo by John Patriquin Sadie Cross, left, Caitlin Chasse, Ella LeBlanc and Keegan Beardsley-Dow make Thanksgiving turkeys in Rosalie Mosher's kindergarten class on Wednesday. Three-fourths of incoming Gorham kindergartners' parents favor all-day kindergarten. GORHAM - A half-day of school may become a thing of the past for youngsters here, as the School Committee considers switching to all-day kindergarten.Gorham would join a growing number of schools around Maine and across the country by establishing full-day kindergarten. Educators say the move could boost literacy and other skills in young children and help socialize them for later grades. But some parents worry that a longer schedule could prove overwhelming to young students.The School Committee plans to examine all of those issues before voting on a proposal in the next several months.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/061117kindergarten.html
Michael Moore Today
US plans last big push in Iraq
Strategy document calls for extra 20,000 troops, aid for Iraqi army and regional summit
By Simon Tisdall / Guardian
President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers, according to sources familiar with the administration's internal deliberations.
Mr Bush's refusal to give ground, coming in the teeth of growing calls in the US and Britain for a radical rethink or a swift exit, is having a decisive impact on the policy review being conducted by the Iraq Study Group chaired by Bush family loyalist James Baker, the sources said.
Although the panel's work is not complete, its recommendations are expected to be built around a four-point "victory strategy" developed by Pentagon officials advising the group. The strategy, along with other related proposals, is being circulated in draft form and has been discussed in separate closed sessions with Mr Baker and the vice-president Dick Cheney, an Iraq war hawk.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8371
A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives ...by Michael Moore
To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,
I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.
Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.
Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.
2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.
3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.
4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.
6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.
7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.
8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.
10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.
11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.
12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.
I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=201
"Real Time with Bill Mayer"
Don't miss our Real Time with Bill Maher season finale, Friday at 11 pm – with actor Richard Dreyfuss, activist/musician Tom Morello and correspondent Dana Priest. Plus, via satellite, newsman Dan Rather, and television legend and People for the American Way founder Norman Lear.
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/
Clean Sweep, Now Bring Our Children Home!
For the first time in a long time I slept through the night. I was proud of America.
Spc. Robert Stillwell & Pfc. Steven Sirko
I was on the phone part of the night with Summer Lipford, a Gold Star Mother. We were watching the results come in and sharing our joy over the phone. We expressed many expletives at the demise of the ones responsible for what happened to our children. It is bittersweet. The vote can not change what has happened to our children, but it is the beginning of an end to this madness. So another mother does not spend her nights sleepless crying for her child. We are grateful for this. We are grateful our children were on your mind as you went to the polls.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=768
Senator calls UN climate meeting "brainwashing"
By Deborah Zabarenko / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate's most vocal global warming skeptic, James Inhofe, on Thursday dismissed a U.N. meeting on climate change as "a brainwashing session."
Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who will step down as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee in January, told a news conference, "The idea that the science (on global warming) is settled is altogether wrong."
A majority of scientists, many in the U.S. government, accept that global warming is spurred by human actions and the emission of greenhouse gases. President George W. Bush said as much in July at a summit of industrialized nations.
Inhofe said he acknowledged that the planet is warming but disputed those who attribute it to human activity and the emission of greenhouse gases. Instead, he blamed climate change on natural cycles.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8372
Warm weather wrecks bears' winter slumber
MOSCOW, Nov 15 (Reuters Life!) - Insomniac bears are roaming the forests of southwestern Siberia scaring local people as the weather stays too warm for the animals to fall into their usual winter slumber.
The furry mammals escape harsh winters by going to sleep in October-November for around six months, but in the snowless Kemerovo region where the weather is unseasonably warm, bears have no desire yet to hibernate.
"Due to weather conditions, bears didn't go into the winter sleep in time," said Tatiana Maslova, chief expert at a regional environmental agency in the city of Kemerovo, about 3,500 km (2,190 miles) southeast of Moscow.
"Our teams are making sure there is no damage to farming and to local residents," she told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that every patch of land is watched by a specially assigned inspector.
To survive the prolonged winter rest, bears have to put on extra body fat -- up to 180 kg (396 pounds) -- and so spend the preceding months devouring as much food as they can find.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8376
Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry
By Elizabeth Williamson / Washington Post
The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."
Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.
Mark Nord, the lead author of the report, said "hungry" is "not a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured in the food security survey." Nord, a USDA sociologist, said, "We don't have a measure of that condition."
The USDA said that 12 percent of Americans -- 35 million people -- could not put food on the table at least part of last year. Eleven million of them reported going hungry at times. Beginning this year, the USDA has determined "very low food security" to be a more scientifically palatable description for that group.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8378
Report: Hunger has more than doubled in low-income areas
By April Simpson, Globe Staff November 15, 2006
Between 2002 and 2005, hunger more than doubled in lowincome communities across Massachusetts because of poverty and the high cost of living, a local advocacy group told state lawmakers yesterday.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail Breaking News Alerts Project Bread said that hunger has risen to 18 percent, from 8 percent three years ago, posing a public health concern because it can lead to obesity and diabetes.
"Hunger in Massachusetts is not caused by a food shortage," said Andrew Schiff , the group's assistant director. "We have plenty of food for everyone. The problem is the combination of poverty and the high cost of living."
Schiff said statewide statistics tend to overlook pockets of poverty. In those 35 cities and towns with higher concentrations of hunger -- including Boston, Lynn, Springfield, and Worcester -- its prevalence is six times greater than the state average and one out of every three children lives in a family that struggles to provide food, the report states.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/15/report_hunger_has_more_than_doubled_in_low_income_areas/
Hunger still widespreadThe Times 4.6 hours ago
Oregon’s rising economy hasn’t lifted all citizens from the depths of poverty. Despite the good news this week that Oregon’s unemployment rate is at its lowest level in six years, thousands upon thousands of people in this state are still without adequate supplies of food in their cupboards. Readers of The Times can help their neighbors in need by filling the grocery bags included in today’s newspaper. The food that’s donated will be delivered to the Oregon Food Bank, whose mission it is to make certain that no one in this state goes hungry.
The intractability of hunger has been painfully evident during the most recent economic recovery, and statistics from the food bank may help explain why. The food bank’s 2006 Hunger Factors Survey shows that hunger isn’t declining with the unemployment rate because most of the new jobs being created are at the lower end of the pay scale. In addition, these jobs typically don’t come with full medical benefits, so families are spending a greater portion of their incomes on health care. The high cost of fuel and housing also is consuming a larger percentage of family income.
http://www.tigardtimes.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=116371157720759200
Farmers in Dire Straights
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily / Inter Press Service
BAGHDAD, Nov 16 - Despite the Iraqi prime minister's optimism for the agricultural sector, the farmers who are struggling to survive tell another story.
In an address to Iraqi politicians this week, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki praised his government's performance in agriculture. Maliki highlighted the new state-supported crop prices, through which farmers would receive subsidies and encouragement to continue growing their crops -- but he did not mention how much the price supports would be.
"The prime minister seems not to be aware of the real problems we are facing here," Haji Jassim, a farmer from the rural Al-Jazeera area near Ramadi, told IPS. Speaking from a relative's home in Baghdad, he added, "What he is talking about would have been good if prices were the only problem, but someone should explain to him the other obstacles we are facing."
Jassim said that one of the main problems is lack of manpower, "since most of our young men who were not killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops are in jail or missing."
The frustrated farmer added that obstacles like lack of electricity, fuel and security in the field and "dozens of others, should be known to the man who claims to be our supporter."
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2003, the government purchased crops from farmers in order to encourage them to continue planting. In this way, the government guaranteed that farmers would sell their crops, regardless of how bad the market was under the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations in 1990.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8379
Soldier describes genesis of rape plan
By Ryan Lenz / Associated Press
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - A soldier who pleaded guilty to conspiring to rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and kill her family described how he was approached by a fellow soldier with the plan to carry out the attack.
Spc. James P. Barker, one of four U.S. soldiers accused in the March 12 rape and killings, pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to testify against the others. He will avoid the death penalty, said his attorney, David Sheldon.
Barker told military judge Lt. Col. Richard Anderson that 21-year-old former Army private Steve Green approached him with a plan to attack the family as they drank whiskey purchased from Iraqi soldiers.
"He brought it up to me and asked me what I thought about it," Barker said. "By the time we started changing clothes, it was more or less a nonverbal agreement that we were going to go along with what we were discussing."
The plea agreement calls for Barker to serve at least life in prison. Anderson was expected to decide in a hearing Thursday whether Barker should be allowed to seek parole.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8377
Idaho town asks residents to own guns
By Jesse Harlan Alderman / Associated Press
GREENLEAF, Idaho - After seeing the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, a city councilor in this tiny Idaho town founded by pacifist Quakers came up with a novel idea.
Ordinance 208, passed by the City Council on Tuesday, asks Greenleaf's 862 residents who do not object on religious or other grounds to keep a gun at home in case they are overrun by refugees from the Gulf Coast.
"This is not an 'it'll never happen here kind of thing,'" said Steven Jett, the ordinance's sponsor. "We could get refugees."
In this town about 35 miles west of Boise near the Oregon line — where an estimated 80 percent of the adults already own guns — the proposal hardly caused a stir: It went through weeks of public hearings and drew only mild criticism from the pastor of the town's Quaker meeting house.
But in the six weeks since Jett first introduced the ordinance, national media have flocked to the story.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8375
C.I.A. Tells of Bush’s Directive on the Handling of Detainees
By David Johnston / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged for the first time the existence of two classified documents, including a directive signed by President Bush, that have guided the agency’s interrogation and detention of terror suspects.
The C.I.A. referred to the documents in a letter sent Friday from the agency’s associate general counsel, John L. McPherson, to lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The contents of the documents were not revealed, but one of them is “a directive signed by President Bush granting the C.I.A. the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees,” the A.C.L.U. said, based on its review of published accounts.
The second document, according to the group, is a Justice Department legal analysis “specifying interrogation methods that the C.I.A. may use against top Al Qaeda members.”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8369
The Cheney Observer
I am not sure how the Jewish nation entered into this except to say, the writer wasn't aware of the munitions that were gotten by Iraqi forces illegally and through the demise of the Iraqi Central Forces through abandonment on a regular basis. AWOL is the way the USA military classifies it.
It's interesting to realize Cooper is former CIA? Really, Anderson? Filming action by government operatives is easy for you then. I was wondering what the love affair was with CNN, now it's obvious, ties to secrets the government has and access besides. That is why it dove head first into 'security issues' - thought they could make a big splash.
I see.
Well, I guess Aaron knew long ago he didn't have ties to the government and the handwriting was on the wall so to speak. You know it's a darn shame the way CNN became part of the government rather than an agency for people who really care about corruption and power. It will be interesting to see if Cooper can dig the dirt on the Democrats now, he certainly didn't do anything to hurt the Republicans.Israeli Snipers Killing U.S. Troops in Iraq?
Anderson Cooper of CNN showed this video
(without the rifle info) of snipers killing U.S. troops in Iraq on his October 18, 2006 show. CNN says it obtained the video from a “representative” of an unnamed “insurgent leader.” Bear in mind that Anderson Cooper used [yea, ‘used to work’ haha]] to work for the CIA.
Richard Wilson’s hypothesis: Israeli soldiers and/or Mossad agents are killing our soldiers in Iraq in order to enrage American troops so that the slaughter continues.
Proof: At the very beginning of this video clip, you see a rifle with a video camera attached to it. This weapon is made by the Rafael company, an Israeli arms manufacturer, that also makes IEDs. If you watch the video all the way through, it explains how this rifle works. CNN stated that the camera used to film these shootings was not a mounted rifle camera. But as you watch the video, you see that with each shot fired, the camera recoils. That would only happen if it were mounted on the rifle. Why is this significant? Because this kind of rifle-camera is extremely sophisticated and not available to your average Iraqi insurgent. I mean, it’s not exactly an easily obtainable Saturday night special! Something this sophisticated points to Mossad.
Mossad is a master at false flag operations, e.g., Oklahoma City, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the July 7, 2005 London bombings, the 9-11 attacks in New York, the assassination of the Prime Minister in Beirut, the stoking of Muslim riots in France last year, the bombing of the Hassan al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, etc.
http://www.truthring.org/?p=2729
And will the spin ever end. You know these news outfits that like Republicans over Democrats need to realize the nation made a decision to change. If they don't want to go there, they don't have to, but, they won't be received well or with respect. I believe the media and politicians are still treating the electorate as if they are still idiots and can be 'handled.' I don't recall Walter Cronkit every attempting to 'handle' his viewer or readers so much as just informing them with facts. There is always an underlying doctrine of trust and truth that people rely on and look for in news reporting, I would encourage everyone to build on that rather than trying to manipulate it.
Yoest made contradictory statements about public support for marriage bans -- both were wrong
Summary: On CNN, the Family Research Council's Charmaine Yoest falsely claimed that "every single time" a marriage initiative has appeared on the ballot, "it's passed with over 70 percent of the popular vote." The statement is wrong for two reasons. First, a same-sex marriage ban failed in Arizona in the midterm elections. Second, all of those that did pass did not get 70-percent support -- only two did. Yoest also falsely claimed that those that passed did so "resoundingly."
On the November 14 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Charmaine Yoest, vice president for communications at the Family Research Council, falsely claimed that "every single time there's been a marriage initiative on the ballot across this country, it's passed with over 70 percent of the popular vote." In fact, according to CNN, in 2006 alone, ballot initiatives banning marriage rights for same-sex couples passed by over 70 percent of the popular vote in only two states -- Tennessee (81 percent in favor to 19 percent opposed) and South Carolina (78 percent in favor to 22 percent opposed) -- of the eight in which they were on the ballot. Moreover, it is not true that "every single" initiative passed -- the Arizona initiative failed altogether (51 percent to 49 percent).
Yoest appeared to acknowledge the failure of the marriage initiative in Arizona immediately before making her claim about the level of support "every single" initiative received, saying that "[s]even out of eight of the ballot initiatives on marriage in this last election passed resoundingly." She did not explain or reconcile her reversal. And even that statement -- that those that passed did so "resoundingly" -- was false.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150018
A Long Way Down
By Art BuchwaldThursday, November 16, 2006; Page C03
I was walking down K Street three days after the election. I noticed several people leaning out windows.
I asked a fireman standing on the sidewalk what was going on. He said, "They are all Republican lobbyists, and now that the election is over they're jumping out of the windows."
I said, "I thought Republican lobbyists had safety nets."
"Some do and some don't. The lobbyists have been in their offices so long they never thought that someday the Democrats would push them out."
I said, "None of us thought that the lobbyists would take the election so hard."
The fireman replied, "It was their living. Companies paid large fortunes to have one of those guys, who are now jumping out the window, lobby for them."
I said, "Well, if they're jumping, who's taking their places?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111600441.html
Lobbyist Abramoff starts jail sentence
JTA
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff has started his six-year jail term. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to bribery charges, but his sentence was delayed until Wednesday so he could assist federal authorities investigating lawmakers and administration officials alleged to have taken his bribes.
An Orthodox Jew who allegedly diverted fraudulently obtained funds to favored Jewish charities, Abramoff sent his final e-mail to friends before dawn, when he left home to report to the prison.
"I have learned more lessons in the past three years than I have my whole life," he wrote, "and I am hoping that my family and I can see the good in G-d's plan for us during these times, and gain strength from it."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378418000&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Voters Demand End to Abramoff Era
I don't find myself agreeing with Washington, D.C.-based lobbyists on money in politics very often, let alone with the head of their trade association. But Paul Miller, the president of the American League of Lobbyists, hit the nail on the head when he told the Associated Press this weekend, "Let's not place the entire blame on lobbyists, so you can have a press conference, and then call us the next day and ask for campaign contributions."
Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly argued that they are poised to break the link between lobbyists and lawmaking, but the real issue is breaking the link between lobbyists' money, especially the money they direct from their clients, and lawmaking.
The Democrats have proposed new House rules to get rid of meals and gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers, and some additional oversight on ethics. Don't get me wrong: It's all good. A ban on meals from lobbyists, for example, is a fine first step, and all Americans should see them as positive, though modest, moves.
http://www.alternet.org/story/44353/
US Spy Chief Warns of Long Commitment in Afghanistan
The head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says it will take many years and billions of dollars to stabilize Afghanistan. And another official, the top U.S. military intelligence officer, adds that while the Taleban has sustained losses, it is still able to mount operations against Afghan and coalition forces.
CIA Director Michael Hayden gestures while testifying on Capitol Hill, Nov. 15, 2006 In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA chief General Michael Hayden said Afghanistan will need sustained international help over an extended period to put the Kabul government on a solid footing to provide for its people.
"If you ask my view, it will take at least a decade and it will cost billions of dollars,” he said. “And I'll add one more time that the Afghan government will not be able to do it alone. The capacity of the government needs to be strengthened to deliver basic services to the population. And, of course, that begins with security."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-11-15-voa78.cfm
Abramoff in with Dems? Former Colleagues Say No
By Paul Kiel - November 16, 2006, 2:32 PM "Abramoff Reports to Prison; Officials Focus on Reid, Others," was the headline of an ABC story yesterday reporting that Jack Abramoff, the convicted lobbyist, was dishing dirt on a handful of Democratic senators, Harry Reid (D-NV) in particular.
"Abramoff has offered testimony [to investigators] about his contacts with 'six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators,'" ABC News reported, citing "sources close to the federal investigation." One "source close to the investigation" told ABC that $30,000 in contributions to Reid from Abramoff's tribal clients "were no accident and were in fact requested by Reid."
The report was surprising, particularly given that in the thousands of pages of Abramoff's emails, billing records and other documents released over the past two years, there's little evidence that the Republican lobbyist or his team worked very hard to persuade Democratic lawmakers to support their clients, legally or illegally.
Curious to learn more, we called a number of Abramoff's former colleagues from his heyday at the Greenberg Traurig lobby firm to see how the story struck them.
"Jack has not met eight Democrats in Washington," one lobbyist told us.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001997.php
Suit Filed In Scholarship Funding for Disabled, Foster Children
ARIZONA- Arizona's two new publicly funded scholarship programs are being defended from legal attack by the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter. The programs are designed to help especially vulnerable students-those with disabilities and those in foster care-secure quality educational opportunities in private schools.
A coalition of special interest groups have filed their legal challenge, skipping the trial court and asking for a resolution of the case by the Arizona Supreme Court.
"This is an unprecedented and unconscionable effort to block educational opportunities for our most vulnerable children," said Tim Keller, executive director of the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter, which will intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of parents who wish to use the new scholarship programs. "We will vigorously defend both programs and work to vindicate the rights of parents to secure a quality education that meets their children's needs."
Never before have scholarship programs benefiting special needs students been challenged in court. Arizona's $2.5 million program follows in the footsteps of successful programs in Florida (now serving more than 16,000 children) and Utah and a scholarship program for children with autism in Ohio. Research and experience show that special needs children in particular benefit from securing individualized educational environments that best suit their needs. Arizona's groundbreaking $2.5 million scholarship program for students who have been in foster care-the first of its kind in the nation-is designed to help students who often fall very far behind in school because of the disruptions to their lives, according to researchers.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/111506ArizonaFunding.html
Glenn Beck (CNN), neo-Stalinist
Want to see your fair, "mainstream" media at work? Wonder what happened to the old, namby-pamby "innocent until proved guilty" shtick?
Go watch this (via Media Matters, h/t Eschaton) at CNN, in which Glenn Beck, speaking to congressman-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), who just happens to be a Muslim, says:
"I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " Beck added: "I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way." I am sorry, but in the good old days they fought duels over stuff like that. Even though Beck first asked if he could "have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect", there is no justifcation for this utter crap. Could he have gotten away with something like this, even under the label of political incorrectness?
http://scatablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/glenn-beck-cnn-neo-stalinist.html
CNN's Beck to first-ever Muslim congressman:
"[W]hat I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies' "On the November 14 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck interviewed Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), who became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress on November 7, and asked Ellison if he could "have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I play the cards up on the table." After Ellison agreed, Beck said: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " Beck added: "I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."
As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck previously warned that if "Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by "step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West" and declared that "Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time" rather than "lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head" will face dire consequences.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150004
Halliburton unit K-B-R debuts, rising from IPO price
HOUSTON I-P-O shares in Houston-based K-B-R today rose 22 percent to close at 20 dollars and 75 cents on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company earlier set a price of 17 dollars for the initial public offering.
Analysts say to understand K-B-R's successful debut -- look no further than its prospects for building more energy and petrochemical facilities around the world.
K-B-R netted nearly 445 (M) million dollars -- after fees -- by selling 27-point-eight (M) million shares in the I-P-O.
Houston-based Halliburton retained an 83 percent stake in the company.
http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=5694234
Supply data boosts energy sector to higher close
Halliburton Co. surges ahead of KBR Inc public offeringPrintE-mailDisable live quotesRSSDigg itDel.icio.usRelated Blog Posts & ArticlesBy Jasmina Kelemen, MarketWatchLast Update: 4:51 PM ET Nov 15, 2006
HOUSTON (MarketWatch) -- Oil and gas shares finished higher Wednesday after U.S. government data showed steep declines among gasoline and distillate supplies.The Amex Oil Index (XOI : amex oil index News , chart, profile, moreLast: 1,148.29-29.26-2.48%HAL32.51, -1.04, -3.1%) led the gainers, adding 4.6% to $33.55. Halliburton now expects the initial public offering for its KBR Inc. to be priced Wednesday night after a one-day delay to recirculate its IPO prospectus. This puts the KBR spin-off on track to make its stock market debut on Thursday. Calyon Securities praised the spin-off, shrugging off a disclosure from the company that it could lose a contract to maintain nuclear submarines in the U.K. because of a dispute with the British government over the IPO. "We continue to see significant value at KBR, and believe investors should remain focused on the energy and chemical unit's bright growth prospects in the liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids gas monetization markets," Calyon Securities said. Jasmina Kelemen is a MarketWatch reporter based in Houston.K-B-R is the engineering, services and construction unit of Halliburton,
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?siteid=mktw&guid=%7BD7D84006-90D8-41A1-950A-70F8CB2E85C0%7D
Halliburton outlook positive, was stable-Moody's
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said it changed its rating outlook for Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to positive from stable, citing the company's initial public offering of its KBR Inc. (KBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unit.
Shares of KBR, Halliburton's controversial engineering and military-services contract unit, rose more than 23 percent in their market debut on Thursday. For details, see [ID:nN16322212].
Halliburton holds a 'Baa1' senior long-term debt rating from Moody's, the third lowest investment grade rating.
A positive outlook means Moody's is likely to raise Halliburton's rating over the next 12 to 18 months.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-11-16T164918Z_01_N16406241_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-HALLIBURTON-MOODYS.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
KKR, Carlyle, 11 Others Accused of Rigging Buyouts (Update6)
By David Glovin and Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Carlyle Group and most other major U.S. buyout firms were accused in a shareholder lawsuit of illegally conspiring to drive down the prices they paid when taking companies private.
The suit was filed in Manhattan federal court by investors who claim they were shortchanged because the firms violated antitrust laws when they teamed up to make leveraged buyouts such as the $33 billion takeover of hospital chain HCA Inc., the largest LBO ever. The complaint seeks class-action status.
``Investors in the target company are deprived of the full economic value of their holdings and `squeezed out' at artificially low valuations,'' the suit says.
Private-equity firms, which have announced a record $425 billion of LBOs this year, are already the target of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into possible antitrust behavior. They've also come under fire in Europe and the U.S. for burying the companies they buy in debt while recouping their costs with dividends.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abj7g.LNjE9U&refer=home
Holders sue private equity firms over deals
By Anna DriverReutersWednesday, November 15, 2006; 3:28 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shareholders filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against 13 private equity firms that alleges their investments were hurt when the buyout firms violated antitrust laws by conspiring to fix deal prices.
The lawsuit names big private equity firms, including the Carlyle Group, Texas Pacific Group Ventures Inc.
It claims the plaintiffs "were paid less for their equity shares that they sold to the private equity defendants and their co-conspirators than they would have been paid under conditions of free and open competition."
The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, cites news reports of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice "into potential collusion by large buyout firms."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501009.html
CIA PROBLEMS FOR BUSH?
Thursday, November 16, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com
President Bush's questionable policy dealings regarding the CIA are coming under increased scrutiny with a Democratic congress looming. The administration is fighting several lawsuits aimed at shedding more light on these dealings.
Recently, the administration asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Valerie Plame, former CIA operative, against Vice President Cheney and others accused of outing Plame as an agent, according to Reuters. The lawsuit, filed in July, names Karl Rove, Lewis Libby, Dick Cheney, and Richard Armitage. Justice Department lawyers said in their request that Cheney and other high-level officials have immunity because of their official positions. The request cites a Supreme Court decision that ruled officers of the Executive Branch are protected from personal liability in lawsuits that arise as a result of their official positions.
While Plame lawsuit hangs in the balance, the CIA acknowledged the existence Friday of two memos governing aggressive detention and interrogation policies for terrorism suspects, according to The Washington Post. One was sent from the Justice Department and the other from President Bush. The CIA, however, says the documents are so sensitive that no part of either can be released publicly.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit two years ago under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records related to U.S. interrogation and detention policies. The lawsuit has resulted in the release of 100,000 pages of documents. Other records have not been released and the existence of some has only been revealed in media reports. – JS
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=26565
Public to get a look at Libby documents
MSNBC 11-16-06Posted on 11/16/2006 11:04:12 PM PST by STARWISEFor the past few months all the public could know about the goings on during numerous closed-door hearings in Courtroom #16 were from one-line court filings indicating the proceedings were dealing with requests from I Lewis "Scooter" Libby - Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff - to include classified materials in his defense of perjury and obstructions charges in the CIA leak trial.Next month all that will change. Judge Walton will give the public a peek at the issues he has had to rule on concerning the thousands of classified document in question.(snip)...... but both the prosecutors and defense attorneys were mum on exactly what was going on. All the public knew from the filings was that it was a tense courtroom drama that was unfolding inside.The judge, in a ruling, acknowledged that he has been forced by law to keep the public out. He writes, "While this Court has strived to make the proceedings in this action as transparent as possible, because the defendant seeks to introduce at trial evidence that is currently classified, this Court has been required to close to the public may proceedings and seal a substantial number of pleadings."In today’ ruling, Walton ordered the CIA and Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to begin a review of classified court filings and transcripts of closed hearings related to requests by I Libby, who is seeking to introduce certain classified documents at trial.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1740111/posts
U.S. Lawyers: Libby May Have Disclosed Iraq Secrets
By JOSH GERSTEINStaff Reporter of the SunNovember 17, 2006A former White House aide, I. Lewis Libby, may have disclosed conclusions from a highly classified government report on Iraq to journalists before the report was declassified by President Bush, federal prosecutors said in a new court filing.Mr. Libby resigned as chief of staff to Vice President Cheney when he was indicted last year on obstruction of justice and perjury charges in connection with an investigation into the leak of the identity of a CIA official, Valerie Plame.The special prosecutor who oversaw the probe, Patrick Fitzgerald, has not charged Mr. Libby or anyone else for participating in the leak. It emerged recently that the first public account of Ms. Plame's employment, in a 2003 column by Robert Novak, was triggered by comments from a State Department official, Richard Armitage.Attorneys for Mr. Libby have asked that the prosecution be precluded from arguing at trial that Mr. Libby acted improperly or illegally when he discussed a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq with the press. The issue ties into the criminal case because in some of the conversations about the estimate, Mr. Libby is alleged to have mentioned Ms. Plame or answered a question about her.
http://www.nysun.com/article/43724
The Architect's Faulty Specs
Rove believed in his metrics. He miscalculated. How did Bush's guru get the numbers so wrong?Charles Ommanney / Contact for NewsweekChecking the Numbers: Rove thought the GOP would hold onBy Richard WolffeNewsweekNov. 20, 2006 issue - President Bush knew he was in for a rough night. As he settled down in front of the TV in the White House residence to watch the election results, the numbers were already grim. By 8 p.m., long before the polls closed out west, Bush realized it was over. "It looks like this is going to be a rout," he lamented to a handful of aides.Downstairs in the West Wing, Karl Rove wasn't ready to concede anything. The president's political architect believed the GOP could hold on to slender majorities in the House and the Senate. He had history on his side: in 2004 he refused to believe the early exit polls while everyone else was resigned to defeat. This time he was convinced his numbers would come through again. But even Rove's optimism finally cracked when he took a gloomy call from an old friend working for Rep. Clay Shaw in Florida. Shaw won re-election two years ago by a 28-point margin; last week he was heading to a four-point defeat. At 11:01 p.m., Rove made the long walk to the residence. "We're losing the House," he told Bush. The president let out a long sigh and went to bed.How did the man they call Bush's brain get it so wrong?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15675318/site/newsweek/
One Last Thing
Election Day's numbers reveal political landscapeBy Jonathan Lastfor the InquirerElections are clarifying moments when the rhetoric and theory of politics are stripped away and concrete facts, in the form of vote totals, are exposed for all to see. This week's election clarified a number of things. What follows are a few of them, in descending order of importance.Was there a Democratic wave? Yes. Nationally speaking, it wasn't a realigning election. Essentially, the country is still evenly divided. But a wave election is one in which incumbents who would normally win handily are suddenly defeated. As I predicted in September, Indiana's 2d, 8th and 9th districts and Pennsylvania's 6th, 7th and 8th were the bellwethers. Democrats took five of these six reasonably conservative Republican seats. Look around the map, and you find races such as the Iowa 2d, where Democrat Dave Loebsack came from nowhere to defeat 15-term incumbent Rep. Jim Leach. Or the Kansas 2d, where Democrat Nancy Boyda sprinted past Republican incumbent Jim Ryun. How big was the wave? In 2004, Ryun beat Boyda 56 percent to 41 percent.The wave crested in Virginia, too, where George Allen ran 8 points behind the state's Marriage Amendment on his way to defeat. (Welcome to the real America, senator!) The amendment banning gay marriage passed comfortably. Allen supported it; Jim Webb opposed it.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/sunday_review/15989189.htm
By Rove's math, loss by GOP adds up to some marginal factors
By PETER BAKER Washington Post11/12/2006
WASHINGTON - For a man still climbing out of the rubble, Karl Rove seemed in his usual unflappable mood. He roamed his windowless West Wing office decorated with four Abraham Lincoln portraits, joking with his staff, stuffing copies of the Iliad and the Odyssey into his bag and signing the last paperwork of the day. The Architect, as President Bush once called him, has a theory for why the building fell down. "Get me the one-pager!" he cried out to an aide, who promptly delivered a single sheet of paper that has been updated almost hourly since the midterm elections with a series of statistics and historical facts explaining that the "thumping" Bush took was not such a thumping after all. The theory is this: The building's infrastructure is actually quite sound. Bad luck and seasonal shifts in the winds - complacent candidates combined with an ill-timed congressional page scandal involving former Rep. Mark A. Foley of Florida - blew out the walls. But the foundation is fine: "The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to re-emerge in the majority in 2008." Rove's brand of politics aims to sharpen differences with the opposition, energize the conservative base and micro-target voters to pick off selected parts of the other side's constituency. As he has in past elections, he designed a strategy this year to paint Democrats as weak on national security and terrorism, the "party of cut and run."
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061112/1008873.asp
Clinton Previews Democrats Agressive New Agenda
November 13, 2006
Following last week's big win for the Democrats, Senator Hillary Clinton previewed an aggressive new national agenda while speaking in Midtown Monday. Clinton says Democrats are calling for new policies on energy, taxes, Medicare, education and Social Security. She also said President Bush missed crucial opportunities to unite the country and had harsh words for his top strategist. "After 9/11, the president could have united our country and been re-elected by 65, 70 percent of the vote. And that was not the road they chose. Karl Rove's theory is you just take your base and you expand your base, and you basically just roll over everybody who gets in your way," she said. "And what happened in this election, again getting back to evidence and performance, is people gave them a report card and the report card was, 'you are not meeting our expectations.' " Clinton also said she still hasn't made a decision about a run for the White House in 2008, but she did say now that Election Day has past, she will think about it.
November 13, 2006
Elephant Autopsy
Filed under: Bush Administration, Karl Rove, Republican Party — maha @ 10:54 pm
Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press reports that Sen.
Mel Martinez of Florida will replace Ken Mehlman as chair of the Republican National Committee.
Martinez started slowly in the Senate where he was embarrassed by a one-page unsigned memo that originated in his office.
Written by a Martinez aide and disavowed by Senate Republicans, the memo laid out the political benefits to getting involved in the fate of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman whose end-of-life battle became a rallying cry for conservatives.“This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue,” said the memo. Its author resigned.A quick cruise around the rightie blogs tells me “the base” is way underwhelmed.
They’re pissed because Martinez, who immigrated from Cuba in 1962, is a moderate on immigration. Allahpundit:Hot Air commenters agree: it’s an awful pick, transparently aimed at appealing to pro-amnesty Hispanic voters. If the GOP goes ahead and puts Boehner and Blunt back in place in the minority leadership, you’re looking at a very dire electoral situation in 2008.
John Aravosis of AMERICAblog:
It’s probably no surprise that the GOP chose someone anti-gay after rumors had swirled for years about the exact sexual orientation of outgoing RNC chair Ken Mehlman
(Mehlman publicly avoided the question for years).
But even more interesting is that a top staffer on Martinez’s Senate campaign, Kirk Fordham, was also the former chief of staff to child sex predator ex-congressman Mark Foley. Foley represented Florida in the House.
Martinez represents Florida in the Senate.I’m just saying…I’m saying the Republicans are flapping around like a headless chicken. And who is in charge these days, anyway? President Bush is still, I assume, the official head of the party, but he’s a head that few seem to be following at the moment. Even the VRWC media machine is abandoning him.
The Bush cult of personality appears to be evaporating rapidly, which is a good thing. But the Republicans have invested everything in Bush for the past six years, and now their investment is deflating like a failed soufflé. What are they going to do?
More post-election commentary — Chuck Todd writes,When a political party gets shellacked, the intra-party feud becomes dominated by the base, not the moderates. The base will swear, in this case, that the party needed more true-blue conservatives running, or that it should have been more conservative in its congressional governance. And then these losses would have been avoided.
http://www.mahablog.com/2006/11/13/elephant-autopsy/
Pissing in the Liberal Punchbowl -- Again: The Democratic Conga Line in the American House of Lords
by Joe Bageant
www.dissidentvoice.org
November 14, 2006 “Saw the talking heads today, speaking the priestly tongue. Saw them nodding seriously, using words like 'gravitas' and a few others that originated in the bosom of Americana. Heard one of the newly elected basically state that things would be business as usual, don't expect a lot of changes. Rather scornfully and testily the idea of impeaching W was dismissed. Well, why the hell not? No answer, just the satisfied, mildly contemptuous smile. Oh, yes, and there'll be a lot of 'bipartisan' things going on.”--
Key Bugle, internet denizen, retired army sergeantDemocrats are dancing around the head of Donald Rumsfeld like a scene from Lord of the Flies, heating up the tar buckets and plucking the goose in eager, nay, wild anticipation. Personally, I love the smell of tar and feathers in the morning and am quite willing to march on the White House as we speak. I like revenge as well as the next guy. But I also consider myself a compassionate man, one perfectly willing to let Bush's cabinet choose whether they wanna play the mommy or the daddy in the Big House, then move on to the real problems, such as the fact that a gallon of Old Grandad is nearly 50 bucks here in Virginia, or the fact that we are still a nation of people, half of whom were happy to elect a bunch of war criminals -- TWICE! -- and still are.Ah, but lo and beshit, the Democrats have rescued us. If you can call running around like chickens with their heads up their asses while the Republicans did what they always do -- get caught stealing the national silverware, while bombing the hell out of some miserable piece of dirt as a distraction, thereby self-destructing in 12 years as usual, but getting obscenely rich in the process.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov06/Bageant14.htm
Gerrymandering Only Good When Your Party Is The One In Power!
Several background news stories coming on the heals of the 2006 midterms point out the significant gains in the number of seats won by democrats within different state governments across the country. The stories point to the advantage that these new gains play in future redistricting of congressional and legislative districts, within a particular state, and how it could work as an advantage for the party at the state level in future elections. The premise, of many of these reports being, that democrats would redistrict or “gerrymander” to strengthen the likelihood of a congressional or legislative district containing more voters favorable to democrat ideas and candidates and reducing the likelihood of the voters, within the new districts, voting for a republican or independent.
http://artistdogboy.blogspot.com/2006/11/gerrymandering-only-good-when-your.html
One NationMassachussetts Liberal.
The Left Coast. Red State, Blue state… Whatever happened to the United States? One of the things I found most confounding about the former Republican majority was the willingness to turn one region against another. While such a divided strategy did wonders for politicans in times past and Republicans in recent history, is there much good or sense to it now? I don’t believe so.
The typical vision people have of Texans is typically false. Texans, by a wide margin, are urban. Eight out of ten, as a matter of fact. The TRMPAC strategy, which got Tom DeLay indicted and replaced by a Democrat, infamously extended different districts out in all directions from cities, quartering liberal Austin, creating a district that extended from Beaumont to Houston, and another nicknamed "The District That Ate Houston", which surrounds the east of Houston and then extends out on another one of the typical 100 mi plus ribbons.
http://www.watchblog.com/democrats/archives/004459.html
Bush hails Senate passage of nuke deal
Friday, November 17, 2006 06:49:47 amThe US Senate debates the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement on Friday (November 17, India time) US President George W. Bush has hailed the Senate passage of a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India, saying it would bring the country into the "non-proliferation mainstream."
"As India's economy continues to grow, this partnership will help India meet its energy needs without increasing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” President Bush said.
The US Senate on Thursday (November 16, Washington DC) approved long-stalled legislation that moves toward opening the door to US India nuclear cooperation for the first time in three decades.
The vote was 85 to 12 after the Republican-controlled Senate defeated a handful of amendments, including the Feingold and the Boxer amendments that would have wrecked the deal, forced renegotiation or made the implementation stage quite difficult.
In the marathon debate lasting over 10 hours, the US Senate took up 6 proposed amendments to the Indo-US Nuclear deal. The Senate rejected all but one amendment – the latter proposed by Democratic Senator Barack Obama limiting supplies of nuclear fuel to India as per its requirements.
http://www.timesnow.tv/Sections/World/Bush_hails_Senate_passage_of_nuke_deal/articleshow/461558.cms
VOLPAC Voter Survey: Senator Frist Prioritizes
If you want to influence the agenda of this lame duck Congress and help current Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist choose the issues that he will focus his Presidential 2008 campaign....take a second and let your priorities be known in this survey.
http://trumanstake.blogspot.com/2006/11/volpac-voter-survey-senator-frist.html
Background checks for staff in portsMinister hopes to foil terrorists
Screening too limited: SenatorNov. 17, 2006. 01:00 AMMONTREAL—Background checks of port workers are being phased in across Canada to help prevent terrorist attacks, the federal government announced.Marine workers who have access to restricted areas and who perform "certain duties" will need security clearance, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said yesterday.The background checks will apply also to marine pilots, wharf operators, security personnel and seafarers. They will undergo a criminal check, a CSIS security assessment and a check of the applicant's immigration and citizenship status."What we want ... is to make sure that we do not permit somebody who is a known terrorist, or somebody who has some sort of a known association with a terrorist group, to have that kind of authorization to go into these areas," said Cannon.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1163717412447&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467
UMass set to make good on pay hikes
Thursday, November 16, 2006By FRED CONTRADAf
contrada@repub.com
AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts has vowed to give back what Gov. W. Mitt Romney has taken away by funding $14.6 million in retroactive pay increases for its employees out of its own reserves, if necessary.
The money for the pay increases was supposed to have come from the state but was part of $425 million that Romney cut last week, using his emergency fiscal powers. Romney said his action was necessary to balance the $25.7 billion state budget.
Democrats have called it a political move by the Republican governor to burnish his conservative resume for a possible presidential run.
http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1163668769263470.xml&coll=1
Wind farm players read political tea leavesBy Craig Salters/
csalters@cnc.com
Thursday, November 16, 2006 - Updated: 03:46 PM EST
While last week’s election clearly established the state’s next governor - for those readers still thawing out from a cryogenic freeze, the winner was Deval Patrick - it didn’t establish what’s best for Nantucket Sound, according to opponents of a wind farm proposed for the area. "This election was not a referendum on Cape Wind," said Charles Vinick, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a leading critic of Cape Wind Associates’ plan to construct 130 wind turbines in the Sound. Vinick said Patrick, the first gubernatorial candidate to support the wind farm publicly, enjoyed strong support from the entire state and didn’t ride the coattails of just one issue to victory.
http://www2.townonline.com/barnstable/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=617196
Mitt Romney to attend anti-marriage equality rally
Thursday, November 16, 2006
On his knees for the 2008 fundie vote, outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will appear at a rally at the State House to demand that the legislature vote on a marriage amendment initiative.
The likely GOP prez candidate is of the mind that civil rights should be determined at the ballot box, and hasn't gotten the memo sent by voters (who just elected a governor, Deval Patrick, who supports marriage equality). Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the fight won't be over until the people vote.
"Legislators made a serious miscalculation," he said. "Their action strikes at the very heart of democracy. No matter how you may feel about the marriage issue, people have a right to participate in their own government."
Arline Isaacson of the Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus said Romney is using a rally for a lost cause to boost his prospects with conservatives as he weighs a presidential run.
"We're done, we won, it's over," Isaacson said. "No one wants this to continue except for the zealots on the other side and Romney because it helps his race." Romney can't force the legislature back intp session, so this is another PR stunt. You folks in Massachusetts have to be glad this clown is leaving. Too bad he'll be foisting himself on the rest of us.
Also:* More bad news for Mitt as he sucks up to the fundies
http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/11/mitt-romney-to-attend-anti-marriage.html
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