Drinking Liberally Meetings Moved to 1st and 3rd Mondays

Due to yet another scheduling conflict, DL participants have agreed to reschedule their regular Drinking Liberally Meetings to the 1st and 3rd Mondays.  We will continue to meet at the Urban Onion starting at 7:00 PM.

Our next meeting will be January 7th.  Please plan on joining us as part of your 2008!

Wexler Wants Hearings.com

If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so.  Here.  The effort is gaining steam -- Do your part today. 

 

MIAMI HERALD: Rep. Wexler calls for Cheney's impeachment

by Lesley Clarke

Echoes of Dennis Kucinich? A South Florida congressman called for impeachment hearings on the vice president.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Robert Wexler is taking on the Bush administration -- in cyberspace.

The Boca Raton Democrat has launched a website -- wexlerwantshearings.com -- and is gathering signatures calling for impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney.

''Our Constitution mandates that the House of Representatives hold presidents and vice presidents accountable when they commit high crimes,'' Wexler says in a video on the site, which suggests, among other things, that Cheney manipulated intelligence to boost the case for war against Iraq and was involved in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Within two days of posting, Wexler said he had surpassed his goal of 50,000 signatures and is aiming for 250,000. He's written an op-ed article with two fellow members of the House Judiciary committee, calling for hearings into whether Cheney violated the Constitution.

Though the push is, as Wexler acknowledges, a ''huge uphill battle,'' because House leadership has not been interested, the quest has made him a favorite of left-leaning activists.

''It's phenomenal. I think he's a very brave person to go against the Democratic leadership,'' said Diane Lawrence, a Kendall woman and member of the South Florida Impeachment Coalition, which began calling for impeachment hearings last August. ``He's gaining momentum, this is what people around the country were waiting for.''

Wexler, a veteran member of the House Judiciary Committee, hopes to deliver the signatures to the committee in January when Congress returns to Washington.

Wexler for Congress

AlterNet: America's Rich Citizens Can't Escape Our Poor Public Infrastructure

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed," is an expert on poverty in America.  In this post, she makes the point that even the ultra-rich can't get away from the poverty that they have helped to create. 

What this means is that even the very rich cannot escape into their own little bubble of purity and excellence, of “haute” this and “haute” that. Ride around in a limo and you still have to sit in traffic created by ordinary people who can’t afford to live near where they work. Fly in a private jet and you’re still dependent on archaic, underfinanced, systems of air traffic control. Travel first class on the Acela train and you still have to stare out at the rotting environs of Philadelphia and Newark. Oh, and you lobbied against higher taxes and regulations on business? Then think twice before you sink your teeth into that chocolate and gold dessert. The vermin are always with you.

AlterNet: America's Rich Citizens Can't Escape Our Poor Public Infrastructure

No Drinking Liberally Monday Night

Monday Night's Drinking Liberally meeting is canceled in commemoration of Veteran's Day.  Join us November 26th at a new location for the next exciting get together! 

Goodbye to All That

A fascinating article about Barack Obama by Andrew Sullivan in the Atlantic.  It offers a perspective of why Obama's candidacy, and if elected, his presidency, could move this country in a new, positive direction.  Sullivan believes that Obama  is the catalyst for finding, exploring, and bringing about common ground as a matter of principle.  Sullivan believes Obama could bring together varied interests within this country, and take this country to a place where it is viewed both as a leader and a partner on the global front.  

At its best, the Obama candidacy is about ending a war—not so much the war in Iraq, which now has a momentum that will propel the occupation into the next decade—but the war within America that has prevailed since Vietnam and that shows dangerous signs of intensifying, a nonviolent civil war that has crippled America at the very time the world needs it most. It is a war about war—and about culture and about religion and about race. And in that war, Obama—and Obama alone—offers the possibility of a truce.

Goodbye to All That

Talking Points Memo | Dean on Mukasey

John Dean has a few thoughts on the pending approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee of Judge Mukasey 's AG appointment.  I agree with him:

Since Judge Mukasey’s situation is not unlike that facing Elliot Richardson when he was appointed Attorney General during Watergate, why should not the Senate Judiciary Committee similarly make it a quid pro quo for his confirmation that he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate war crimes? Richardson was only confirmed when he agreed to appoint a special prosecutor, which, of course, he did. And when Nixon fired that prosecutor, Archibald Cox, it lead to his impeachment.

Before the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee completely cave-in to Bush, at minimum they should demand that Judge Mukasey appoint a special prosecutor to investigate if war crimes have been committed. If Mukasey refuses he should be rejected. This, indeed, should be a pre-condition to anyone filling the post of Attorney General under Bush.

If the Democrats in the Senate refuse to demand any such requirement, it will be act that should send chills down the spine of every thinking American.

Talking Points Memo | Dean on Mukasey

This is a sad time in American history.  And, unfortunately, congressional Democrats have to take much of the blame.  We all know and are saddened by what has happened in the Bush Administration.  But the fact that it is being ignored by our duly elected representatives is sadder still.

Demand Peace

"Before the terrifying prospects now available to humanity, we see even more clearly that peace is the only goal worth struggling for. This is no longer a prayer but a demand to be made by all peoples to their government -- a demand to choose definitively between hell and reason."

Albert Camus (French Resistance Newspaper Combat, August 8, 1945)

Fall 2002 ... Iraq. Fall 2007 ... Iran.

Don't let it happen again, America!

Shifting Targets: The Administration’s Plan for Iran
by Seymour M. Hersh
The New Yorker
October 8, 2007

“They’re moving everybody to the Iran desk,” one recently retired C.I.A. official said. “They’re dragging in a lot of analysts and ramping up everything. It’s just like the fall of 2002”—the months before the invasion of Iraq, when the Iraqi Operations Group became the most important in the agency. He added, “The guys now running the Iranian program have limited direct experience with Iran. In the event of an attack, how will the Iranians react? They will react, and the Administration has not thought it all the way through.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh

Say "No" To War With Iran

Speak Up, America ... NOW! Exercise your prerogative as citizens. Yell, shout, scream at Congress that war with Iran is not the answer. Your silence is your assent.

From Physicians for Social Responsibility:
http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=NoWarOnIran

Promoting a Diplomatic Solution to the Iran Crisis
Remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, aggressive posturing by the Bush Administration, and provocative legislation from Senators Kyl and Lieberman have again drawn the world’s attention to tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The absence of communication between the two grows more dangerous every day.

Instead of speaking at each other from the podium, U.S. and Iranian leaders should seize the opportunity to talk to each other. During the past year PSR has promoted diplomacy with Iran as the most responsible approach to this difficult situation.

PSR is working to use its medical voice to educate the public about the likely human consequences of a war with Iran. PSR produced a report entitled War is Not the Answer: The Medical and Public Health Consequences of Attacking Iran, which is being used by PSR chapters to educate Congressional representatives, the media and the public about the consequences of a military strike and the need for a diplomatic solution. Click here to view PSR’s work on Iran.

Al Gore, UN Panel Share Nobel for Peace - Technology on The Huffington Post

 This will be interesting over the next couple of weeks.  An immense amount of pressure will be put on Al Gore to run for the presidency.  Will he bite?

OSLO, Norway — Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change jointly won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for fighting it.

Gore, who won an Academy Award earlier this year for his film on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," had been widely tipped to win the prize.

He said that global warming was not a political issue but a worldwide crisis.

"We face a true planetary emergency. ... It is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity," he said. "It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level."

The win is also likely add further fuel to a burgeoning movement in the United States for Gore to run for president in 2008, which he has so far said he does not plan to do.

Al Gore, UN Panel Share Nobel for Peace - Technology on The Huffington Post

The Seattle Times: Postman on Politics

The S-CHIP fiasco:

I applaud the Governor for showing moral leadership on this issue.  Since Hillary was riotously dismissed in the  mid-90's over her health care proposal, no one--and I repeat NO ONE -- in a leadership position has been willing to take on the issue of accessible and affordable health care.  It's a disgrace to the country.

The beef I have about the republicans supporting the Bush veto is that they have had 10 years to put something on the table to get at least our nation's children access to health care--for most, it hasn't even crossed their minds to work the issue.  They had their chance, now it's time to do something.  Anything.  And get results.

As usual, I pose the question to Congressional Democratic Leadership:  Do you have what it takes to make something happen?  Is it finally time to take a stand and make something happen? 

At least our Governor has drawn a line in the sand -- I thank you!

Working across the aisle

Posted by David Postman at 03:52 PM

"This is not a political issue. This is an issue of getting children health care. We have to work together in order to make that happen in this country."
Gov. Christine Gregoire, Oct. 1, announcing a lawsuit against the federal government over implementation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

"The Republican party's opposition to children's health care is shameful and represents the fundamental difference in values that our next election will be fought over."
Gregoire, from a Sept. 18 fundraising appeal

The Seattle Times: Postman on Politics

Drinking Liberally Monday, October 8th....

Will be held at Warren Tryk's house, and not at the Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill. The time is 7:00 pm and is a BYOB and Bring your own food (appetizer recommended).

We will return to the TVB&G on October 22nd.

For directions, visit the Drinking Liberally meeting notification blog.

Solar Energy / Green Building Tour This Saturday

National Solar Energy & Green  Building Tour

Real Places for Real People

Self-Guided Tour in Thurston County

This Saturday, October 6^th

10:00 am – 4:00 pm

For Locations & Map Visit: http://www.solarwashington.org/tour/2007/OlympiaTour.htm

What is a Green Home?

• They use less energy and are more comfortable to live in.
• They use less water for every day use
• They have healthy, superior, indoor air quality
• They use our natural resources efficiently, by reducing waste, reusing products, and using products that contain recycled content, and
• Their landscapes requires less watering and chemicals, and a landscape that minimizes water run-off problems down stream.

A Green Built Home is Simply a Quality Built Home
That Will Retain Value into the Future !!!

The tour is sponsored locally by
SunSet Air, Scott Homes & Merrill Lynch

Drinking Liberally Monday, Sept. 10th, 7 pm

Please plan on joining us tomorrow night for another DL Olympia Style discussion. The Place and time is the same as always: 7 pm at the Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill.

There is no formal topic tomorrow night, just a discussion of current - or past events. Whatever you find interesting!

Press Esc has a rundown on a number of articles that you might --or might not have read about in the past couple of weeks. Pick one and we will talk about it.

Press Esc Community Based Reporting

The War President?

Let's see now....

The President proudly declares himself the "War President." However, the only institution in our country that has the power to declare war--Congress--has decline to do so.

Sure, they passed the "Patriot Act" but they haven't declared war.  Now our "war president" is rallying the troops for yet another skirmish in Iran.

The fact of the matter is that the "War President" is merely a "War President" for political advantage.  It's sad to think that more than half of the people in our country has fallen for it hook, line and sinker at one time or another.  Let's hope they don't take the bait once again.

Metafilter has some interesting dialogue on the current Iran missives:

"Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East" (PDF). A new study by two British scholars claims that the United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch a massive assault on Iran. This comes just in time for the post Labor Day product rollout.

Considering a war with Iran | MetaFilter

Obama offers hard truths to supporters - Yahoo! News

 Ah yes, the campaigning continues....but when exactly will the rubber hit the road?  According to the article, Obama is sending the message that he is not a "yes man."

WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has a habit of telling interest groups what they don't want to hear, even at the risk of alienating audiences critical to the prospects of a presidential candidate.

Not to be undone by his rivals, the Illinois senator has made remarks befitting the myriad of forums and debates he's attended, praising the work of unions, upholding Israel to Jewish groups and decrying President Bush's spending on education.

Obama offers hard truths to supporters - Yahoo! News

TPM: The Big Picture and Defining Hypocrisy

It's always good to seek out the larger lesson behind a political scandal. So in this case, it seems to be, If you're a Republican and you want to misbehave sexually, make sure it's with a chick.

Late Update: Also, make sure you've got a Democratic governor.

                                                            --By Josh Marshall, TPM

Talking Points Memo | The Big Picture

==============================================

And this from Wikipedia:

Defining hypocrisy

Merriam-Webster defines hypocrisy as "a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not."

Webster's New World Dictionary defines it thus: "A pretending to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not feel, especially a pretense of virtue, piety, etc." It defines hypocrite as follows: "a person who pretends to be what he is not, one who pretends to be better than he really is."

Since the root of the word comes from actors acting a part, the definition as laid out in dictionaries makes sense. It appears popular usage uses the word to mean something different from its dictionary definition.

Popularily, it is believed an act of hypocrisy has the aim to condemn another person or people, but not to condemn an act; when the critic makes verbal attacks or demands of punishment against perpetrators of the act that one practices oneself. The word hypocrisy is used to mean, simply put, the pot calling the kettle black. One is hard put to find dictionary support of that meaning.

Hypocrisy, then, consists of pretense, feigning, phoniness, being two-faced, insincerity. The theme of insincerity underlies the words of Jesus in the Christian Bible when he calls certain Pharisees to task for being hypocrites, i.e., insincere in their religious practices.

No Meeting on August 27th....

See you in September!

Topic for 8/13 Drinking Liberally get-together: Dems give Bush the right to keep spying on Americans so they can go on vacation

Meeting Time:  7:00 pm, Monday August 13th
Meeting Place:  Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill

So Let me get this right:  Congress votes to give Bush and Company the privilege of warrantless wiretapping, and gives the Attorney General (you know, the guy they want to impeach) and the Director of National Intelligence the authority to decide who in this country the US government will spy on.

I'm thinking we need to clean house again.  Anyone want to run for Congress?  Maybe the Senate?  By the say, does anyone know why Patty Murray didn't vote on this issue?

But I digress.....at Monday's meeting, among the things that I propose for discussion:  Do you think Congress is looking our for our best interest?  And by Congress, I mean Democratic members of Congress.  Are they in it just to get re-elected or are do they have a "higher vision?"  Is there anything we can do to influence decision making other than writing letters and getting canned replies back in return?

Want to learn more?

A detailed blog post on this issue, complete with congressional voting record on this subject, can be found at Pat's Daily Grind.

From AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: With FISA Law, Democrats Give Bush a Blank Check for Domestic Spying (link to full article below):

Responding to fear-mongering by the Bush administration, the Democrat-led Congress put its stamp of approval on the unconstitutional wiretapping of Americans. George W. Bush has perfected the art of ramming ill-considered legislation through Congress by hyping emergencies that don't exist. He did it with the USA Patriot Act, the authorization for the Iraq war, the Military Commissions Act, and now the "Protect America Act of 2007" which amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

FISA was enacted in 1978 in reaction to excesses of Richard Nixon and the FBI, who covertly spied on critics of administration policies. FISA set up a conservative system with judges who meet in secret and issue nearly every wiretapping order the administration requests.

But that wasn't good enough for Bush. In 2001, he secretly established his "Terrorist Surveillance Program," with which the National Security Agency has illegally spied on Americans. Instead of holding hearings and holding the executive accountable for his law-breaking, Congress capitulated once again to the White House's strong-arm tactics. As Congress was about to adjourn for its summer recess, Bush officials threatened to label anyone who opposed their new legislation as soft on terror. True to form, Congress -- including 16 Senate and 41 House Democrats -- caved.

The new law takes the power to authorize electronic surveillance out of the hands of a judge and places it in the hands of the attorney general (AG) and the director of national intelligence (DNI). FISA had required the government to convince a judge there was probable cause to believe the target of the surveillance was a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power. The law didn't apply to wiretaps of foreign nationals abroad. Its restrictions were triggered only when the surveillance targeted a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or when the surveillance was obtained from a wiretap physically located in the United States. The attorney general was required to certify that the communications to be monitored would be exclusively between foreign powers and there was no substantial likelihood a U.S. person would be overheard.

Under the new law, the attorney general and the director of national intelligence can authorize "surveillance directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside of the United States." The surveillance could take place inside the U.S., and there is no requirement of any connection with al-Qaeda, terrorism or criminal behavior. The requirement that the AG certify there is no substantial likelihood a U.S. person will be overheard has been eliminated.

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: With FISA Law, Democrats Give Bush a Blank Check for Domestic Spying

One million Iraqis killed | Press Esc

Whether this figure is accurate or not, it cannot be disputed that hundreds of thousands of Iraquis have lost their lives due to the US invasion.

And impeachment is off the table...... 

One million Iraqis have been killed in the violence caused by the US-led invasion of March 2003, an independent think tank estimated based on the study published in prestigious medical journal The Lancet and the online civilian casualty database Iraq Body Count.

Just Foreign Policy pointed out that since the last scientific estimate of 601,000 violent Iraqi deaths attributable to the U.S.-led invasion was made over a year ago, it necessarily does not include Iraqis who have been killed since then.

One million Iraqis killed | Press Esc

Ex-DOJ employees spar with administration - Lisa Lerer - Politico.com

I have found that the old adage, what goes around comes around most often comes true. Though our Congress seems unable--or unwilling-- to make the hard choices that must be made, fired DOJ'ers are doing the dirty work.

I especially like the quote about lawyers going postal.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales knows well the ways of sparring with the Senate Judiciary Committee, but increasingly he is facing an uncommon and more effective adversary: former Department of Justice career attorneys who are out to settle the score with Gonzales and the administration.
After months of scandal, firings and some testimony from Gonzales that many on Capitol Hill found wholly unsatisfying, these ex-Justice Department employees are taking a rare step and fighting back.

Former employees of the Civil Rights Division are channeling their workplace rage into lobbying force. The government lawyers say they were ignored, disrespected and kicked out by Bush appointees. The attorneys describe an increasingly partisan workplace, where political appointees intimidated career lawyers and undermined civil rights to push political agendas.

The Justice Department rejects the charges. "Many of the criticisms of the Civil Rights Division and its current and former employees are unfounded,” said Civil Rights Division spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson. “It is unfortunate that critics repeatedly ignore the division's strong record and resort to political and personal attacks."
But the ex-employees, now safely out of the administration, are undeterred and are increasingly speaking out in a clamor of congressional testimony, letters to committees, scathing op-eds and a whole lot of well-publicized trash talking.
For a government lawyer, it's the equivalent of going postal. "These are people who have spent their entire lives being loyal [to the department]," said Mark Agrast, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress focused on legal issues. "It goes against their grain to speak out."

Ex-DOJ employees spar with administration - Lisa Lerer - Politico.com

Hispanic Voter Shift Gives Hope To GOP, Democrats Still Hold An Edge, But Are Losing Ground Among Young And College-Educated Hispanic Voters - CBS News

Now, if I were Hispanic--which I'm not--why would I vote republican?  The republican party have done nothing but shown amazing prejudice against people from Hispanic heritage. 

(AP) Democrats hold an edge with Hispanics in national elections, but Latinos' growing tendency to register as independents and split their vote between parties is buoying Republican prospects for 2008.

Hispanic Voter Shift Gives Hope To GOP, Democrats Still Hold An Edge, But Are Losing Ground Among Young And College-Educated Hispanic Voters - CBS News

Another example:

A developmentally disabled Hispanic man was deported last may, and only recently found, returned to the US, and released to his family, reports the LA Times.  The story goes on to say that while the US government acknowledged the mistake, the government felt no obligation to help search for the man.

Unions Go Slow in Backing a Democrat - TIME

John Edwards had been expecting major endorsements from USA unions.  It hasn't happened.  And in the AFL-CIO Forum earlier this week, it was Dennis Kucinich that stole Edward's thunder.  This from Time Magazine, written prior to the Forum 

In a campaign season that has started earlier than ever, one powerful group trying not to get swept up in the heat of the moment is organized labor. As members of the largest U.S. umbrella union, the AFL-CIO, gather in Chicago for the launch of their presidential endorsement process, no immediate endorsements are expected. And that is causing particular angst for the Democratic candidate who has worked hardest for the union vote: John Edwards.

Unions Go Slow in Backing a Democrat - TIME

By the way, the Debate was scheduled for 4:00 Pacific Time.  That is the time for virtually all the other debates--I wonder what the debate organizers are thinking....that the Pacific Time zone folks don't vote?

Warrantless Surveillance: Taking Liberties

This weekend the Democratic Congress expanded the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) giving the Bush Administration power to tap international telephone calls and email messages of American citizens. Not concerned? Well maybe you ought to be. Here's what the Center for National Security Studies says about it:

The Center for National Security Studies strongly opposes the administration’s FISA bill, S. 1927, because it would permit the National Security Agency to acquire and analyze all international communications of Americans, without any meaningful judicial oversight. The administration legislation would allow the NSA warrantless access to virtually all international communications of Americans with anyone outside the US, so long as the government declared that the surveillance was directed at people, which includes foreigners and citizens, reasonably believed to be located outside the US, a definition that covers billions of people.

The administration rejected all reasonable efforts to require that such surveillance be focused on foreigners, be directed at terrorist targets or be limited to protecting against international terrorism. They also rejected efforts to include meaningful court review of the rights of individual Americans’ swept in or even an independent audit of the affect on the privacy of Americans.

This legislation would sunset or expire in six months. However, the sunset has an exception that would allow any directives by Attorney General Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence McConnell that commandeer access to US telephone and internet companies to remain in effect until their expiration (which is likely to be until the end of the administration since the directives can be issued for up to one year, so could be issued to last for the next six months and then reissued on the eve of the sunset, in January 2008, to remain in effect until this administration is finally over in January 2009).

For CNSS’ full analysis and information on the status of requested documents about surveillance of Americans please follow this link

Here's how Washington's Congressional delegation voted:

Nay	WA	Cantwell, Maria [D]
No Vote	WA	Murray, Patty [D]

Nay	WA-1	Inslee, Jay [D]
Nay	WA-2	Larsen, Rick [D]
Nay	WA-3	Baird, Brian [D]
Aye	WA-4	Hastings, Doc [R]
Aye	WA-5	McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [R]
Nay	WA-6	Dicks, Norman [D]
Nay	WA-7	McDermott, James [D]
Aye	WA-8	Reichert, Dave [R]
Nay	WA-9	Smith, Adam [D]

Source: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1927

Campaign Finance: Who's Giving, Who's Getting

Search who is getting how much and from where at this website, an extensive database for information on campaign finance.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/index.asp

"The President Cannot Ignore an Impeachment"

 The Nation has an opinion peace on Jay Inslee's attempt today to start a Gonzales impeachment proceeding in Congress. I've attached a snippet of the article, but the entire piece is a good read. 

After months of revelations about his ham-handed attempts to politicize investigations and prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys and sections of the Department of Justice he heads, after his repeated refusals to cooperate with Congress and his deliberate attempts to deceive the House and Senate judiciary committees, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has invited impeachment to an extent rarely seen in the long and sordid history of executive assaults on the rule of law.

And Congressman Jay Inslee is answering the invitation.

The Washington Democrat moved Tuesday to introduce a resolution that directs the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Inslee's initiative is a serious one, and he is in many senses precisely the right member of the House to be making this push.

As a former prosecutor, he is well acquainted with the requirements of the oath that all House members swear to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic." He is, as well, a member of the Democratic establishment in the House, a relatively moderate representative who is on good terms with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But, most significantly, he is a representative from a state with an active impeachment movement.

For more than a year, the Washington for Impeachment campaign has demanded that Congress act to hold members of the Bush-Cheney administration to account for their high crimes and misdemeanors. Inslee has heard those demands, loud and clear, and he recognizes their broad appeal. Thus, his move to open an impeachment inquiry is proceeding on the precise lines that the founders intended.

"The President Cannot Ignore an Impeachment"

I Don't Recall.....

"I don't recall" The quote of the month, er, year, I mean the last six years.. 

Cheney on Trip to Ashcroft's Hospital Bedside: "I Don't Recall"

TPMmuckraker July 31, 2007 4:52 PM

Health Care Reform: What Presidential Candidates Are Saying

From government and business subsidized universal coverage to a market-based laissez faire model, opinions among the 2008 presidential candidates on how to fix our health care system are diverse. Get a glimpse of what they're saying.

The Presidential Candidates on Health Care Presidential candidates in both parties are promising to overhaul the nation's health care system and cover more — if not all — of the nation's uninsured. In 2005, 44.8 million people — 15.3 percent of the population — were without health insurance, according to estimates released by the Census Bureau in March. The leading Democrats are competing among themselves over who has the better plan to control costs and approach universal coverage. The Republicans, for the most part, are promising to expand coverage without increasing the role of the federal government, and reduce cost through tax incentives. Most of the candidates have not presented a detailed outline of their health care plans, but here is what they have said so far.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/HEALTH_POSITIONS_2.html

Remembering the Iraq War Resolution Vote

This October will mark the fifth year since Congress passed the Iraq War Resolution (Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002). It seems like a good anniversary to refresh our memory about how Congress voted.

In the House of Representatives, a total of 296 votes were cast to pass the resolution (81 by Democrats). Votes against adoption were 133 (126 Democrats, 6 Republicans, and 1 Independent). Three members did not vote. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll455.xml#Y

In the Senate, 77 voted for passage (48 Republicans and 29 Democrats). There were 23 who voted against. All were Democrats with the exception of Sen. Chaffee (R-Rhode Island) and Sen. Jeffords (I-Vermont). http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00237

Here’s how the Senators and Representatives from Washington state voted:

Voting “nay” were: Sen. Patty Murray (D), Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA 3th), Jay Inslee (D-WA 1st), Rick Larsen (D - WA 2nd), and Jim McDermott (D-WA 7th).

Voting “yea” were: Sen. Maria Cantwell (D), Norman Dicks (D-WA 6th), Jennifer Dunn (R-WA 8th), Doc Hastings (R-WA 4th), George Nethercutt (R-WA 5th), and Adam Smith (D-WA 9th).

The question that has nagged me for the past five years is why so many Democrats voted for passage. Let’s remember that these votes were cast long after some members of Congress had raised serious questions as to the veracity of the information presented by the Bush Administration supporting passage of the resolution. So what happened to critical thinking? (I am neither excusing the Republicans who voted for passage nor suggesting that they possess lesser intellect, but we all know that the custom in the D.C. beltway is to vote with your own Party’s president.)

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) was memorable, doggedly challenging the Administration those many months leading up to October 2002, but he certainly was not the lone voice of dissent. There were others, both in the Senate and House of Representatives. Here’s a portion of Sen. Russ Feingold’s speech given from the Senate Floor on October 9, 2002 http://www.feingold.senate.gov/speeches/02/10/2002A10531.html

Now, after many more meetings and reading articles and attending briefings, listening to my colleagues' speeches, and especially listening to the President's speech in Cincinnati on Monday, Mr. President, I still don't believe that the President and the Administration have adequately answered the critical questions. They have not yet met the important burden to persuade Congress and the American people that we should invade Iraq at this time.

Both in terms of the justifications for an invasion and in terms of the mission and the plan for the invasion, Mr. President, the Administration's arguments just don't add up. They don't add up to a coherent basis for a new major war in the middle of our current challenging fight against the terrorism of al Qaeda and related organizations. Therefore, I cannot support the resolution for the use of force before us.

Doesn't it make you wonder how things would be today if those 29 Democratic Senators had voted against the resolution?

So I ask those Democrats in Congress who supported the resolution, “Just what were you thinking?”

Talking Points Memo | Cheney?

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo writes that the Vice President is really behind that hospital visit by Gonzales and Company to Ashcroft while he was under sedation: 

We've noted Sunday's NYT editorial endorsing the impeachment of Alberto Gonzales if Solicitor General and acting AG Paul Clement does not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales' alleged perjury before Congress. But a number of readers have pointed out this odd passage. The Times editorial rather blandly states that it was Vice President Cheney who ordered the nighttime visit to John Ashcroft's hospital room.

Talking Points Memo | Cheney?

Amazing--where have all the scruples gone?

Think Progress » Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales

Some of the Attorney General's biggest critics are republicans.... 

On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) refused to defend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against accusations that he may have perjured himself before Congress. “It’s very damaging…we badly need an attorney general who is above any question,” said Gingrich. He continued:

Both the president and country are better served if the attorney general is a figure of competence. Sadly, the current attorney general is not seen as any of those things. I think it’s a liability for the president. More importantly, it’s a liability for the United States of America.

Later in the show, host Chris Wallace revealed that no conservative would willingly defend Gonzales on Fox. “By the way, we invited White House officials and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend Attorney General Gonzales,” said Wallace. “We had no takers.”

Think Progress » Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales

G.O.P. Leaders Fight Expansion of Children’s Health Insurance - New York Times

G.O.P. Leaders Fight Expansion of Children’s Health Insurance - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, July 24 — Republican leaders of the House and Senate on Tuesday attacked proposals that call for a major expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to be financed with higher tobacco taxes.

“Republicans will fight these proposals,” said the House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio."

Shame, Shame, Shame! Denying health care to anywhere between 3.5 and 5 million children. Republicans are trying to stop this by saying it is a step towards a nationalized health care program. They had six years to come up with an effort that would work. They failed.

It's time to stop hurting our children, and get something done.

Complicity

Complicity. It is a word that describes the ulcer gnawing at my conscience. I felt its first twinge the day I watched in horror the televised air raid as our bombs lit Baghdad’s pre-dawn sky on March 20, 2003, the event that marked the beginning of the Bush Administration’s Operation Shock and Awe. I was neither shocked nor awed, only horrified as I imagined the fear and carnage that descended upon the streets of that ancient city as our weapons of mass destruction struck their targets one by one. There was a moment of surrealism, of disbelief that my government would actually invade another country without provocation. Iraq had caused us no harm and posed no imminent threat. This war was not even preemptive. There was no danger to preempt, at least none existed that some means short of an invasion could not have extirpated.

In the months preceding Shock and Awe, I observed with detached curiosity and amusement the Bush Administration’s clumsy slight of hands as it shuffled facts, seemingly mixing one deck of cards (al Qaeda) with another (Saddam Hussein). Clumsy because the Administration’s claims were contemporaneously refuted by reputable sources as being weak at best. The reports that contradicted the Administration’s claims were readily available to the public even though the mainstream media failed to put it into pablum for easy consumption. Surely, I thought, Congress with its almost unfettered access to a wealth of classified and unclassified information would demand that the Administration respond to these reports. I hoped against hope.

As the reality of Shock and Awe sank into me, the disbelief was replaced by outrage at Congress, other government officials who had the facts but didn’t speak out, the mainstream media for not living up to their responsibilities as our Fourth Estate, and the citizens who were paralyzed by fear into not questioning our government.

Yet through the heat of my outrage, I felt the first pangs of pain. I criticized others but what had I done as a citizen of the most powerful nation in the world? I stood aside and did little while my government plummeted into the abyss with devastating consequences. By not challenging the actions of my government by any and all legal means available to me, by that passivity I became complicit. I am an accomplice in my government’s immoral action that killed and wounded over 100,000 people, including our brave women and men in uniform, an action that is far from over.

Each time I see photographs of our dead soldiers being honored by the media, read about the plight of our wounded, see images of bloodied bodies of beautiful Iraqi children limp in the arms of their parents who are too bereft to do more than groan, I am overcome by such excruciating pain that I feel I must scream. Yet I know that that achieves nothing. Each day I spend paralyzed costs more lives, so I am moved to act now, to make my voice heard by my Congress. I intend to become a constant pain in its backside just as my complicity constantly gnaws at me. I come to this late, but there are still many more lives at stake.

It is my hope that each of you, as a citizen of a nation that many people around the world regard as the greatest experiment in democracy, will join me. Although trite from overuse, we must remember those wonderful words from our Constitution's preamble. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

We the people must make our voices heard by those who represent us in Congress. Write, email, and call them as often as you can and demand. Demand that they represent YOU. Whether you want them to end this immoral war or impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney for abuses of power including misleading this country into this disastrous war, make Congress listen to YOUR voice. They will try to paralyze you into silence by their excuses which are cloaked in political pragmatism, but do not listen because they are specious arguments. Do not let them think for you. Think for yourself. Remember the words Immanuel Kant wrote in 1787 describing enlightenment:

“Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding!”

“Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think, so long as I can pay; others will soon enough take the tiresome job over for me.”

Another case for Impeachment

Talking Points Memo | Impeachment?

As regular readers of this site know, I've always been against the movement to impeach President Bush. I take this position not because he hasn't done plenty to merit it. My reasons are practical. Minor reasons are that it's late in the president's term and that I think impeachment itself is toxic to our political system -- though it can be less toxic than the high officials thrown from office. My key reason, though, is that Congress at present can't even get to the relatively low threshold of votes required to force the president's hand on Iraq. So to use an analogy which for whatever reason springs readily to my mind at this point in my life, coming out for impeachment under present circumstances is like being so frustrated that you can't crawl that you come out for walking. In various ways it seems to elevate psychic satisfactions above progress on changing a series of policies that are doing daily and almost vast damage to our country. Find me seventeen Republican senators who are going to convict President Bush in a senate trial.

On balance, this is still my position. But in recent days, for the first time I think, I've seen new facts that make me wonder whether the calculus has changed. Or to put it another way, to question whether my position is still justifiable in the face of what's happening in front of our eyes.

I've made up my mind. Impeachment must be on the table. The precedents being set by this presidency is setting the stage for an evolution of our government that no one wants. If impeachment means that a liberal will lose the presidency, so be it. We must question authority. And we must restore our system of checks and balances. Write, call, scream, do whatever it takes to let our elected congressional representatives that they must look past their personal ambitions, and ask themselves what they can do for their country. It is time to take a stand.

Here we go again.....and again....

Rules Lay Out C.I.A.’s Tactics in Questioning - New York Times

WASHINGTON, July 20 — The White House said Friday that it had given the Central Intelligence Agency approval to resume its use of some severe interrogation methods for questioning terrorism suspects in secret prisons overseas.

I REALLY hope that there will be a media outcry over this....but I doubt it!!

Peggy Noonan dead on? What's the world coming to?

From DL Olympia regular Warren:

Peggy Noonan, who seemed to effectively give up on Bush’s presidency six weeks ago, during the immigration debate, wrote one of her less-annoying columns today.

In fact, she raises a good point about the president’s demeanor.

As I watched the news conference, it occurred to me that one of the things that might leave people feeling somewhat disoriented is the president’s seemingly effortless high spirits. He’s in a good mood. There was the usual teasing, the partly aggressive, partly joshing humor, the certitude. He doesn't seem to be suffering, which is jarring. Presidents in great enterprises that are going badly suffer: Lincoln, LBJ with his head in his hands. Why doesn't Mr. Bush? Every major domestic initiative of his second term has been ill thought through and ended in failure. His Iraq leadership has failed. His standing is lower than any previous president’s since polling began. He’s in a good mood. Discuss.

Is it defiance? Denial? Is it that he’s right and you're wrong, which is your problem? Is he faking a certain steely good cheer to show his foes from Washington to Baghdad that the American president is neither beaten nor bowed? Fair enough: Presidents can't sit around and moan. But it doesn't look like an act. People would feel better to know his lack of success sometimes gets to him. It gets to them.

You know, that’s true. This president has had more calamities, of greater consequence, than any president should be allowed. And yet, he brags about how well he sleeps, he takes more vacation time than any president in history, and he’s constantly smirking, as if he hasn't a care in the world.

The president has the weight of the world on his shoulders. How about showing some signs of stress?

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Will Ferrell as George W. Bush on 'Global Warmings'

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: "Will Ferrell as George W. Bush on 'Global Warmings' [VIDEO]
Posted by Adam Howard on July 14, 2007 at 2:35 AM."

This is another great satire on the President and his new focus on "global warmings." It's hilarious. Take a minute to watch

Nick Anderson: Feel Good, Inc.

Nick Anderson: Feel Good, Inc.

Houston Chronicle's Editorial Cartoonist Nick Anderson has come out with a great animation on the "feel good" presidency.

TPM: The REAL Reason?

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall July 2, 2007 09:35 PM:

"TPM Reader PT notes what many others have also flagged ...

I havent seen this noted but i think the reason for the commutation is that a pardon would mean that Libby was no longer exposed to criminal sanctions and thus had no Fifth Amendment privilege. As it stands he has a fine and probation at stake during the pendency of the appeal which inulates him ( and Bush and Cheney) from havaing to answer questions before Congress."

Makes sense. Now he is still insulated from testifying to Congress. Congress REALLY needs to act upon this. They need to find out the REAL reasons we invaded Iraq.

Another one for the list!

Shrub did it again!  Today, he commuted Scooter Libby's prison sentence.  In his commutation statement, Bush says the sentence was "excessive."

Interesting action for someone who holds the all-time record for executions held as governor.  The next question is "What's he hiding?"  I bet you know without being told!  But the answer is something to do with Ass-ets.

Just think, in just over a week, the Bush administration has exempted the Vice-President from being a part of the Executive branch of government, and exempting members of the executive branch from responding to subponeas.  How many laws have they broken in just one week?

Just will next week bring?  And will our so called Democratic-elected Congress take any kind of action.....As I said before, I doubt it!

The Washington Note: Cheney Plays Julius Caesar and Like Then Must be Stopped (Legally)

Steve Clemons, over at his blog, The Washington Note, notes:

It is clear now, in retrospect that Cheney has worked hard to write in the "Office of the Vice President" as a body with specific statutory authority that does not derive from the Presidency as his machinations on modifying Executive Orders on "Classified National Security Information."

Republicans and Democrats in Congress should be unifying now on all fronts to immediately contain the power of Cheney and his team if they in fact do not feel that there are any controls on them that should be acknowledged.

Bush was never a Julius Caesar type. Cheney, however, is.

The question is...will Democrats and Repubicans stop him?  Do they have the political will to do what is right?  Unfortunately, past history suggests no......let's see if they suprise us!

One person CAN make a difference

When nonvoters are asked why they don't participate in politics, the most common answer they give is that they don't think they can have any impact. The system's gamed, they say, broken, and lawmakers are only concerned about the interests of their cronies.

Thankfully, Andrew Bossie, a young grass-roots organizer, never came to believe that ordinary people are powerless. In 2005, Bossie, then a student at the University of Southern Maine, looked around and noticed that a generation of young people was having real problems affording the kind of education that most people see as vital to having a shot at the American dream. "The skyrocketing costs of tuition, books and living expenses was taking its toll not only on me, but also on my siblings, friends and peers," Bossie wrote in an e-mail exchange. "It was not uncommon to see a college dorm vacated mid-semester because a tuition bill couldn't be paid, or to find a seat once occupied by an eager student empty, because they simply could not afford to continue."

Nobody told Andrew Bossie that he couldn't do anything about the bleak post-graduation prospects so many of his fellow students faced, so he decided he would. "I had a crazy, hare-brained idea," Bossie told me in a phone interview. "And I started to have conversations with people who were politically active, and when I did that I saw that it generated a lot of excitement."

In an interesting alternet article, Bossie,  a college student, describes how he decided to go about and change something the way the system is suppose to work:  from the ground up, through volunteers dedicated to a cause, There were no paid signature gatherers, no high gloss commercials, just plain old hard work and determination, and a cause that rung true with both Maine residents and their legislature.  Congratulations to Bossie, who teaches us all that we can still make a difference!

Start Off the Day Right!!

From Drinking Liberally regular Warren:

Here's a tip on how to start each day with a positive outlook....

1.  Empty the Trash/Recycle Bin on your computer desktop.

2. Create a new folder on your desktop (right-click/new/folder).
3. Name it "George W. Bush"
4. Send it to the trash.
5. Empty the trash.

6. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to delete "George W. Bush?"
7. Firmly Click "Yes."
8. Feel better.

Works every time!

White House threatens veto of energy bill | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

White House threatens veto of energy bill | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday threatened to veto a broad energy conservation bill under consideration in the Senate, if lawmakers try to ban price gouging or swipe at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. As the Senate began what will likely be several days of debate on the energy package, the White House Office of Management and Budget took aim at a provision that would make price gouging at the gasoline pump a federal crime if the president declared a national energy emergency. More than two dozen states have price gouging laws, but federal law does not address the issue. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has pointed to the price gouging language as evidence the Democrat-controlled Senate is doing something about high gasoline prices. But the administration argues a price-gouging provision would do nothing to alleviate prices. Echoing oil industry arguments, the White House said price gouging language "could result in gasoline price controls and in some cases bring back long gas lines reminiscent of the 1970s." The sponsor of the language, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., contends: "A strong federal statute that says you are crossing the line is needed. I don't see why anybody would be concerned that we're prohibiting wrongdoing." A somewhat different price gouging bill has already passed the House. That measure also drew a veto threat. The Senate may also try to attach the "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels" or "NOPEC" provision.

Help me here.....The president will veto the energy bill because it would make price gouging a federal crime?  Let's see now, the president comes from a long line of oil interests among friends and family.  Doesn't this seem insane?  I wonder why the major news outlets isn't picking this one up?

Gerrymandering: June 11th's Drinking Liberally Olympia Meeting Topic

Hello all!

Hope your summer is going well!

I thought we might kick off tomorrow night's discussion around Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering, as you my know, happens when a congressional district boundaries are changed for political gain.

One of the most well known cases happened in 2003, when the Texas Republican controlled legislature changed the boundaries of the congressional districts to be even more Republican! If you recall, the Democrats in the Legislature took off--out of state--to prevent a vote. Tom DeLay sent US Marshalls' to find them and bring them back--which they did. The Redistricting Plan passed in the fall of 2003.

Gerrymandering is used whenever and wherever elections are held. In the age of computers, however, it has taken on a new life of its own; mapping and GIS programs allow for manipulation to occur once unimaginable.

On Monday, a game developed by students at the University of Southern California debuts on the web. It shows how easily Gerrymandering is used to solidify congressional offices for a partisan purpose. If you have time on Monday, you can play the game at http://www.redistrictinggame.org/.

For some general information on Gerrymandering, Wikipedia has an excellent article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

Hope to see you tomorrow night, 7:00, at the Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill!

It's game time--learn how the political game REALLY works!

Mike Musgrove - The New Political Games Make a Point - washingtonpost.com

Jonathan D. Aronson, a professor and political scientist at USC, is a little exasperated that Americans sometimes worry about the potential for voting-machine tampering when there may be a more fundamental -- though, perhaps, drier and harder-to-explain -- problem in how districts are drawn.

"My question was, why would you need to rig the voting machines if you'd already rigged the election by making seats safe?" he said. He took the issue to USC's game-design school to see whether it could build a game on the topic.

Find out how an election can be rigged and play the game at the game's website starting June 11th.

The making of a king?

AlterNet: Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?

Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, could Bush and Cheney use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration?

No...it couldn't happen, could it? Everyone should read Al Gore's new book, "Assault on Reason," or take an hour and watch him talk about his book with Charlie Rose. Of course, watching Al plays into his criticism that actually reading about an issue allows for a more informed republic....



.hmm....It can't happen here, eh?

'Til the End of Days

George Bush envisions an armed forces presence in Iraq similar to Korea. 

So blogs Josh Marshall in Talking Points Memo.  Like Korea?  We're still there!  Marshall notes that this is not about establishing democracy.  It's about controlling oil, notes one of his readers.

If this is true, It's about money.  It's about strengthening his, his families, and his oil network's financial position long after Bush leaves the White House. 

NASA just released a report warning that global warming will reach a tipping point in 10 years.  It's too late, the report claims, to do anything about it now.  So Oilman Bush might as well milk the oil economy for all it's worth and make a few bucks before life as our kids know it exists no more.  What a legacy to leave....

No Drinking Liberally Monday Night

Due to the Memorial Day Holiday, no Drinking Liberally meeting will be held Monday night, May 28th.

Join us at our next regularly scheduled meeting on June 11th.

The entire government has failed us on Iraq - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more
clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the
strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will
of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the
Democrats have managed only this:

• The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if not the worst
  president, then easily the most selfish, in our history—who happily
  blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as
  hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops
  their money”;
• The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans;
• The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the
  only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks
  for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about
  benchmarks for the Iraqi government.
• The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the
  Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the
  trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our
  brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq.

Keith Olbermann has once again hit the nail on the head. We've actually been betrayed by our Congressional delegation. They say that they have to compromise and let the Bush and company destroy themselves, thereby assuring that 2008 will be a Democratic Election Year.

At what cost? How many more of the men and women in our military -- and their wives and husbands, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, will be sacrificed for a political end?

We can't wait any more. We need to bring our soldiers home from Iraq. It must stop. Now.

John Edwards: Right (or should I say Left) on the Issues. It's time to pay the piper

John Edwards for President-A Strong Military for a New Century

Moving Beyond the "War on Terror"

“The core of this presidency has been a political doctrine that George Bush calls the ‘Global War on Terror.’ He has used this doctrine like a sledgehammer to justify the worst abuses and biggest mistakes of his administration, from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, to the war in Iraq. The worst thing about the Global War on Terror approach is that it has backfired—our military has been strained to the breaking point and the threat from terrorism has grown.”

“We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq American military that is mission-focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological pursuits. We need to recognize that we have far more powerful weapons available to us than just bombs, and we need to bring them to bear. We need to reengage the world with the full weight of our moral leadership.”

“What we need is not more slogans but a comprehensive strategy to deal with the complex challenge of both delivering justice and being just. Not hard power. Not soft power. Smart power.”

It's time. I've been waiting for a candidate to break out. John Edwards is more right than anyone else on the issues. He actually is willing to put it out there and tell us where he stands, where the other candidates are not. Congressional Democrats are selling out and giving Bush a blank check on the war. Edwards is calling them out. And he is challenging you, me, and our neighbors to up the level on the Iraq war. This memorial day.

Lives are at stake.

It's time. I'm sending $$ to the Edwards Campaign this week.

George Monbiot: "If We Don’t Deal with Climate Change We Condemn Hundreds of Millions of People to Death"

Amy Goodman over at Democracy Now has a transcript of a great interview with George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning

Global warming is being pushed as a major issue for next month's gathering of world leaders at the G8 summit in Germany. The Washington Post reported this week the Bush administration is trying to weaken the proposed climate change declaration. U.S. negotiators want to delete a pledge to limit the global temperature rise and cut emissions of greenhouse gas to half 1990 levels. The administration also wants to strike language that designates the U.N. as the appropriate forum for negotiating action on climate change.

Our next guest has done a detailed study into what it would practically take to heed the warnings on climate change and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gas. George Monbiot is a widely read columnist for the Guardian of London and a leading British campaigner for the environment. His latest book is called “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning.”

In the interview, and, I assume, his book, he talks about the need for the World's technologically advanced nations to "lead the way" for real actions that will result in a 60% reduction in green house gasses by 2030. 2030, he says, is the tipping point in which there is no reverse if fail. The countries who need to lead the way need to reduce their own GHG emissions by 90%, something that can be done.

Monbiot describes the lack of political will, especially in the United State at the Federal Level, as the one thing that is keeping the world from achieving this goal.

One action that he says is critical that particularly disturbs me, however, that he says needs to happen is a significant reduction in air travel. Let's face it, we live globally. We are all connected. In order for us to understand each other, we have to be with one another. It is only when we understand one another will society begin to move away from violence towards one another.

This reminds me that one of the paramount rules of the world is that whatever action we take will cause a reaction (positive, neutral, or negative) to occur as well, and it is something that we need to take great care to avoid creating even greater problems.

Fiction begets reality.....(NY Times: Subscription Required)

Gonzales Pressed Ailing Ashcroft on Spy Plan, Aide Says - New York Times

WASHINGTON, May 15 — On the night of March 10, 2004, a high-ranking Justice Department official rushed to a Washington hospital to prevent two White House aides from taking advantage of the critically ill Attorney General, John Ashcroft, the official testified today. One of those aides was Alberto R. Gonzales, who was then White House counsel and eventually succeeded Mr. Ashcroft as Attorney General. “I was very upset,” said James B. Comey, who was deputy Attorney General at the time, in his testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.” The hospital visit by Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr., who was then White House chief of staff, has been disclosed before, but never in such dramatic, personal detail. Mr. Comey’s account offered a rare and titillating glimpse of a Washington power struggle, complete with a late-night showdown in the White House after a dramatic encounter in a darkened hospital room — in short, elements of a potboiler paperback novel.

Egos, power struggles...these boys need to grow up...forget it, that will never happen!

Drinking Liberally Tomorrow Night, May 14th

Join us Monday Night, the 14th of May, at 7pm for another DL get-together, Oly style!  Come with your best bushie-related joke or story.  Be prepared to laugh, vent, console, and just have a good time!

$456 Billion Buys what?

What does $456 billion buy? - Boston.com

Including the $124.2 billion bill, the total cost of the Iraq war may reach $456 billion in September, according to the National Priorities Project, an organization that tracks public spending.

This link presents a slideshow on what $456 billion would buy for other things than killing and maiming. Can you think of others? I bet you can....

Bushies Behaving Badly: Slate Magazine

An illustrated guide to Republican scandals. - By Holly Allen, Christopher Beam, and Torie Bosch - Slate Magazine

Having a hard time keeping track of all 10,000 GOP scandals? Between fired U.S. attorneys, deleted RNC e-mails, sexually harassed pages, outed CIA agents, and tortured Iraqi prisoners—not to mention the warrantless wiretapping, plum defense contracts, and golf junkets to Scotland—you could be forgiven for losing track of which congressman or Bush administration flunky did which shady thing. Renzi—now, was that the guy with the skeezy land deal? Or the woman Paul Wolfowitz promoted?

Bill Moyers: I'll be watching TV again on Friday Nights

Bill Moyers Journal . Home | PBS

Bill Moyers has a new show on PBS. premiering last Friday night. His guests included Jon Stewart and Talking Points Memo Josh Marshall. Both interviews provided interesting perspective on the news and how people -- especially those of the younger set -- are obtaining their news. Moyers' website offers video of the show, a weblog, transcripts, etc.

For us liberals, Moyers provides fresh and interesting subject matter from a usually mundane medium.

"Don't Touch Me....." or how to shut one's eyes and put his hands over his ears...

The Blog | Laurie David and Sheryl Crow: Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus | The Huffington Post

Last night Thelma and Louise drove the bus off the cliff or at least into the White House Correspondents Dinner. The "highlight" of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove. How excited were we to have our first opportunity ever to talk directly to the Bush Administration about global warming. We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.

An interesting post by Laurie David and Sheryl Crow. 

Robert Reich on pills and guns

Robert Reich's Blog: Guns, Anti-Depressants, and the Massacre in Virginia

In the United States, if you are seriously depressed, you can purchase anti-depressive drugs like Prozac, but only if you have a prescription from a doctor. Anti-depressants are enormously beneficial to millions of people but they are also potentially dangerous if used improperly. So, you have to see a doctor and get an assessment before you can go to a drug store and purchase one.



But in the United States, in places like Virginia, a seriously depressed or deranged person can walk into a store and buy a semi-automatic handgun and a box of ammunition. All you need is two forms of identification. You don’t need permission from a doctor or counselor or anyone in the business of screening people to make sure they’re fit to have a gun.

Robert Reich nails this one.  Special interests are rampant.  Today, congress was not able to block a prescription medicine reform bill for medicaid.  Pharmaceuticals have spent millions donating to congressional races.  And people continue to die because of it.



It is a sad week in this country.

Drinking Liberally reaches 200 chapters nationwide

From our friends at the National Level...

What Our 200th Chapter Means

With the arrival of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, the Drinking Liberally
map has hit 200 chapters. And with your help
(http://livingliberally.org/4.21.07), we're ready to go so much
further.

While beer companies should rejoice that more Americans are promoting
democracy one pint at a time, it's the progressive movement that has
cause to celebrate: with every new social club, we're building a
community that energizes and expands Liberal America.

Drinking Liberally has never been about the "drinking" -- it's about
creating a welcoming environment in which newcomers can engage,
activists can connect, and everyone can make progressive politics part
of their every day lives. And that's taken different shapes around
the country.

- In Reading, PA, Drinking Liberally is about hosting 100 activists to
meet grassroot candidates before the '06 election
- In Gooding, ID, Drinking Liberally is about defending the word
"liberal" from libelous attacks in the local newspaper
- In Natchez, MS, Drinking Liberally is about finding a bar where
black and white patrons feel comfortable attending together
- In Louisville, KY, Drinking Liberally is about building a network
that pledged thousands of dollars to local public radio

It's fitting that our 200th outpost is the 11th group in Colorado, a
state that is now tied with Pennsylvania for the most chapters.
Colorado is the center of the rising progressive power of the Mountain
West. Its landscape is dotted with dynamic groups like Progress Now
and Progressive Majority and terrific websites like
ColoradoConfidential.com and SquareState.net, a network of progressive
leaders and organizations that are creating real change and serving as
models of political action for the rest of the country.

We are proud to have 11 chapters in Colorado. We're so proud that we
held our 2006 Drinking Liberally National Conference in Denver...and
led the way for the DNC to follow suit next summer.

This rapid and remarkable growth signals another reason for the
progressive movement to be proud. Drinking Liberally has grown as
much or more between election cycles, when activism traditionally
drops off. We are proving that a liberal identity can and will exist
for many Americans more than once every four years.

Up to this point, Drinking Liberally has been fueled by an amazing
network of volunteers -- as is true for our Laughing Liberally comedy
shows, Reading Liberally book tours, Screening Liberally film series,
Eating Liberally meals and Blogging Liberally special events. But
there is only so large a network can grow and only so long it can last
on such a foundation. We have reached 200 chapters as a loose-knit
operation...imagine what we could do with the resources to build a
strong, sustainable organization?

That's why we are excited about the Living Liberally Launch Party
(http://livingliberally.org/4.21.07), this Saturday, April 21st, in
New York City. Living Liberally is the hub that connects all of these
projects, and will make our network an even more valuable partner to
the progressive movement. We're raising the funds to build our
infrastructure, hire our first paid staff and take our next giant
steps forward.

If you want to celebrate our 200th chapter or just tip your hat to the
local group in your town, if you're impressed with how this network
has grown or trust where we plan on taking it next, please buy a
ticket to this Saturday's event
(http://livingliberally.org/4.21.07/ticket.html). Even if you cannot
attend, you can make a contribution
(http://livingliberally.org/4.21.07/sponsor.html) that will help make
200 a stepping stone to even greater achievements.

Welcome, Pagosa Springs. Thank you, everyone, for promoting democracy
one pint at a time.

Bush Grievances Against Liberal Ideals

At the 2nd March meeting of Drinking Liberally Olympia, members put together a list of grievances against the Bush Administration.  Some of these are illegal. Clearly. Others go against what we consider ethical behavior.  Still others that are actions that are hypocritical of what Bush says he stands for, but his actions speak very differently.  But virtually all them piss us off!!



We came up with 60 different grievances that evening.  Others have contributed since then.  We now have 85 items on the list and still counting.That is with no prior research, no thinking about it prior to the meeting.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  The list is in no particular order or priority. Here goes:

1. Suspend Habeas Corpus
2. Made travel to foreign countries more unpleasant for you and me
3. Made travel of foreign guests much more unpleasant to visit here
4. Stole 2000 election
5. "Compassionate Conservative" only compassionate depending on who you are (i.e., rich)
6. Intimidation of subordinates of those who are fired
7. Mixing political appointees vs. political appointives
8. Arsenic in Water
9. Katrina
10. Iraq
11. Mountaintop Removal
12. Valerie Plame
13. Patriot Act
14. Guantanamo
15. "Old Europe" (Estranging Allies)
16. The name "Homeland Security"
17. Disregarding Civil Liberties (Warrant less Searches)
    
    
18. Renditions
19. Torture
20. Tax Cut and Deficit Policy (i.e. De-tax and Spend Conservatives)
21. Invented "enemy combatant"
22. $9 Billion missing in Iraq
23. Refusal to fund stem cell research
24. Privatizing the military
25. Used hired mercenaries to go into New Orleans immediately after Katrina hit
26. 20,000 National Security Letters w/out warrant
27. Ignoring the Geneva Convention
28. Disregarding International Law
29. Disregarding National Law -- "I am the Decider"
30. $40 billion being spent on unfounded star wars technology
31. No Child Left Behind
32. Cutting financial aid for higher ed
33. Alienating our Gay Community
34. Pandering to the religious "right to life" sect through the Terry Schiavo case
35. Faith-based initiative
36. Lack of action and collaboration with the world community on Global Warming
37. Dick Cheney's secret energy policy written by energy companies for pure profit
38. Constant and Consistent Lying--Actions definitely do not support words (why do people keep believing him?)
39. Lied about "Weapons of Mass Destruction" to get us into an endless, bloody war that has resulted, at a minumum, several 10's of thousands dying, most likely resulting in 100's of thousands dying
    
    
40. Let Afghanistan "rot on the vine"
41. Neglecting Osama Bin Laden
42. Shutting EPA libraries down
43. Drilling in National Nature Preserves
44. Clearcutting
45. Stopping a clear path of scientific information to scientists and the general population
46. Putting a "chastity belt on lady justice"
47. J. Steven Griles, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior, indicted in the Abramoff Scandal
48. Curriculum developed in "No Child Left Behind" initiative directly benefits Neal Bush, George's brother (see http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/8/125556/7027)
49. Appoints Sam Fox as Ambassador of Belgium as a recess appointee after being rejected by the Congress
50. Environmental Degradation is acceptable
51. Ignoring the needs of our veterans and returning injured soldiers
52. Biggest Debt in human history left for our children and grand children
53. New Nuclear weapons
54. The "war president" is the "vacation president"
55. "grammar deficient"
56. Abstinence only funding
57. Abdicating on the middle east peace process
58. US Attorney Schedule
59. Clear Skies Initiative
60. "Healthy Forests" Initiative
61. Bush Administration's attempt to deny citizens the right to sue to enforce
    
    voting rights
62. January 2001 – suspends
    
    implementation of most of former President Clinton's late-term executive orders
    
    regarding the environment, including the "roadless rule" protecting 60 million
    
    acres of national forest, new standards for arsenic in drinking water, and a
    
    phased-in ban of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park.
    
    
63. February 2001 – cuts
    
    Interior Department funding for environmental policy enforcement by 7 percent.
    
    The Republican-controlled Senate introduces, for the first time, a bill that
    
    would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a proposal
    
    resurrected annually as part of Bush's energy policy.
    
    
64. March
    
    2001 – reverses a campaign pledge by announcing that he will not order mandatory
    
    reductions of carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's electrical
    
    plants.
    
    
65. March
    
    2001 – unilaterally withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol on global
    
    warming.
    
    
66. March
    
    2001 – nominates mining industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles for Interior deputy
    
    secretary.
    
    
67. April
    
    2001 – breaks another campaign pledge, abandoning plans to invest $100 million
    
    per year in rainforest conservation.
    
    
68. April
    
    2001 – nominates Bennett Raley – who once testified that the Endangered Species
    
    Act should be repealed – as assistant secretary for water and
    
    science.
    
    
69. April
    
    2001 – instructs the Interior Department to seek to limit citizen-initiated
    
    lawsuits involving the Endangered Species Act.
    
    
70. April
    
    2001 – Dick Cheney, heading up Bush’s hyper-secret energy task force, meets with
    
    Enron executives (pre-implosion) for advice.
    
    
71. May
    
    2001 – places a freeze on new proposals for expanding the national park
    
    system.
    
    
72. May
    
    2001 – nominates James Connaughton, notorious for his legal defense of General
    
    Electric in Superfund fights with the EPA, to be the chair of his Council on
    
    Environmental Quality.
    
    
73. May
    
    2001 – nominates Linda Fisher, former head of Monsanto's government affairs
    
    office, as second-in-command at the EPA.
    
    
74. May
    
    2001 – releases his energy plan, devised in secret by a task force headed by
    
    Darth Cheney.
    
    
75. June
    
    2001 – BRIGHT SPOT: Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords switches parties, throwing
    
    control of the Senate to the Democrats.
    
    
76. June
    
    2001 – nominates former timber lobbyist Mark Rey for Agriculture undersecretary
    
    for natural resources and environment.
    
    
77. June
    
    2001 – nominates William G. Myers, a former lobbyist for the National
    
    Cattlemen's Beef Association, as the Interior Department's new
    
    solicitor.
    
    
78. July
    
    2001 – announces the opening of 1.5 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil
    
    drilling – although distant from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's shorelines.
    
    
79. August 2001 – seeks to
    
    overturn a federal court order blocking oil and gas exploration off the
    
    California coast.
    
    
80. August 2001 – citing
    
    executive privilege, Bush refuses to respond to a letter from the GAO revealing
    
    with whom Vice President Darth Cheney met as chair of the energy task
    
    force.
    
    
81. August 2001 – the select
    
    intergovernmental committee on terrorism meets for the first time – for 25
    
    minutes.
    
    
82. September 2001 – after
    
    the abject failings of his administration to prevent 9/11, invokes global
    
    terrorism as excuse for increased coal mining and oil exploration in the US,
    
    combined with relaxed regulation and oversight – leading indirectly to the Sago
    
    disaster just over 4 years later.
    
    
83. October 2001 – rams the
    
    USA PATRIOT Act – it’s an acronym, remember? – through a compliant Congress,
    
    expanding the use of National Security Letters and the powers of the FISA Court,
    
    defining a new type of crime (“terrorism-related activity”), and replacing the
    
    “probable cause” language of the Fourth Amendment with the more malleable
    
    “reasonable suspicion.”
    
    
84. November 2001 – nominates
    
    Rebecca Watson – a member of the Board of Litigation of the Mountain States
    
    Legal Foundation and a lawyer who has represented the interests of the mining
    
    and logging industries – to serve as the Interior Department's assistant
    
    secretary for land and minerals management.
    
    
85. December 2001 -- grants
    
    initial approval to a set of administrative rules that would weaken the Clean
    
    Air Act by allowing coal-burning plants to bypass "new source review" pollution
    
    standards when upgrading their facilities.