score one for howard!!!

87. Michael Ellis

Well, looks like Biden has the nomination and Presidency locked up with this major critical move
=============

LOL Morning Mike, was reading in my book this morning that in 1948 most of the intelligensia and middle class Palestinian leaders of Palestine left the country, reminds me of Iraq.

It was explaining why there was so little political activism and legal challenge for the first 30 years or so among Israeli "Arabs" who are virtually second-class citizens, and are more like permanent residents - all they really get out of the deal is a passport and voting rights, which don't really help because it is like a liberal Democrat voting in a State where only conservative Republican can run. When they tilt a close election, their influence is challenged as "illegal"

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22544...
last thread

fyi, local North Shore MA, special election to replace dem US Rep Martin Meehan's vacant seat (he left this past July to become chancelor at UMass Lowell) is for tonight between dem Nikki Tsongas (wife of the late Senator and presidential candidate Paul) and repub Jim Ogonowski   (brother of one of the pilots killed on 9/11 as the plane slammed into the WTC towers):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts%27s_5th_congressional_district

Massachusetts Congressional District 5 is a congressional district in northeastern Massachusetts. It contains the city of Lowell. It was most recently represented by Martin T. Meehan, who has served the district since 1993. The district's Congressional seat is currently vacant, with a special electon called to fill it on October 16, 2007.

...

The district currently contains the following municipalities:

In Essex County:

In Middlesex County

In Worcester County:

FRED from OR
Tue, 10/16/07
3:03 pm
__________________________________________________________________________

Yeah..some PM silly humour.....things heating up now in the ME with Russia and Iran.......interesting counterbalance to the US and its puppet..................someone is gonna make a mistake though from either or both sides, then we will REALLY see some action then...........

 Biden's plan to divide Iraq into three federal regions is a more responsible plan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

other than the Senate vote for it was a thumb in one or Turkey's eyes and now the House stuck one in the other with the genocide vote, historians will look to the spread of a regional war as having been Congress provoking Turkey, and here we all thought it was about Iran

issue the gas rationing coupons, and call up the draft, here we go

6. Phil Specht

other than the Senate vote for it was a thumb in one or Turkey's eyes
===============

I don't know, Phil, maybe it was time for the Congress to stick it to Turkey, to put them on notice that they'll be no special treatment if they screw with the Kurdish State of Iraq.

With regard to the Biden plan, hearing that "Iraqis don't need us to tell them how to form a government..." I've been inclined to agree, until this morning.

I started reading a book about Palestinians living in Israel. Most of the middle class, leaders and intellectuals left in 1948, like they did in Iraq. It made the remaining Palestinians extremely docile and unable to protest many of the human rights abuses against them, because they were not educated enough to understand the legal process.

I think you can see the parallels with Iraq and why they may need some sincerely well-intentioned educated progressive Americans or Europeans, or Middle Easterners, to help them break the sectarian gridlock and help them form a better government, especially a Federation, which is probably a novel idea in the region.

14 year old eye witness to boot camp beating talked to the Miami Herald last year.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1584

GAO report on boot camp abuses October 10 2007...read it and weep.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1583

Erik Prince, CEO Chairman of Blackwater, Interview with Charlie Rose last night for the hour, on streaming video

http://www.charlierose.com/home

Tonight on Charlie Rose

A conversation with Mark Penn chief strategist for Hillary Clinton

http://www.charlierose.com/home

Also tonite on Charlie Rose

Samantha Power

Samantha Power is a journalist, writer, and professor. She is currently affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From 1993 to 1996, she covered the Yugoslav wars for "U.S. News & World Report", "The Boston Globe", "The Economist", and "The New Republic". She is a scholar of foreign policy especially as it relates to human rights, genocide, and AIDS. Her book "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide", won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2003.

Power spent 2005-06 working in the office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama as a foreign policy fellow. She has been involved with efforts to increase media attention about the Darfur conflict in Sudan.

Source-Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Po...

http://www.charlierose.com/home

Primaries in 2008 are our best opportunity to make sure that real Democrats will represent us in Congress - and also locally.

The Democratic Party seems destined to capture a sizable majority of both houses of Congress. Let's make sure they are NOT Democrats who embarass our country.

A,AA,IISVGTBHAF.

*******************************************************

Is Oganowski's stump speech akin to Rudy "Gentleman Fascist" Giuliani's speeches - which for many months were a game to see how many times he could say "9/11" .

Now that the media has pronounced Hillary Clinton the presumed Dem candidate - he repeats "Hillary" as often as possible.

on cnn, jc watts, a repug, just pointed out that edwards is "the only" presidential candidate that has put out an education policy???

On the way to PillowLand, I'm afraid, but TIME has a good piece on Putin and how he's quite riled up with us ... as we certainly would be with him if the shoe were on the other foot.

And Monica, yes, in my book, your theories about the ultimate preoocupations being with Russia and China are right on. Why is it that a woman (an intelligent one, to be sure!) in New Hampshire *gets* it while our so-called pros in Congress do not? Certainly, the *talking heads* either do not or they have simply been paid to spout the putzCo talking points.

Stupid putz, stupid prick, and most stupid Condi. Russia was supposed to be the area of her *expertise.* Some *expertise!*

How poorly we have been served by this sorry lot.

A good night to all!

========================
Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
The Point of Putin's Tehran Trip
By Tony Karon

That Russian President Vladimir Putin is hopping mad with Washington has been obvious for some time now. In a speech in Munich last July, he lambasted the U.S. for its "unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions," claiming that "the United States has overstepped its national borders in every way" and slamming its "greater and greater disdain" for international law. Enraged by U.S. moves to station a missile defense system on his doorstep, Putin withdrew Russia from a Cold War-era treaty governing the size of conventional military forces in Europe, and ordered its old turbo-prop Bear bombers out of mothballs to fly nuclear patrols along old Cold War frontiers. Last week in Russia, he made the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense wait 45 minutes for him before delivering them a tongue-lashing over the missile defense plan. Another jab follows on Tuesday, when Putin becomes the first occupant of the Kremlin since Stalin to visit Tehran, a capital Washington would very much prefer to keep isolated. The Russian leader's message is plain: If the U.S. continues, as he sees it, to tread on Russia's toes, Russia has little interest in helping Washington achieve its strategic goals.

Putin arrives in Iran at a moment when the U.S. and its key European allies are pushing for a new round of sanctions aimed at persuading Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment. But the likelihood of the U.N. Security Council approving new sanctions right now appears remote, given the veto power of China and Russia — both of whom differ substantially with the West on the nature of the problem with Iran, and on how to deal with it.

Nor are the differences merely tactical: Russia agrees that Iran has, in some of its activities, failed to meet the transparency requirements of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is the basis for the Security Council demand that it suspend enrichment until it can clear up questions raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and restore confidence in its intentions. But the IAEA and Tehran have agreed to a "work plan" and timetable for Iran to resolve the outstanding questions, which is why further U.N. action has been tabled pending the outcome of that process.

[...]
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816...

Back for a sec to post yet another truly great Nance Greggs rant.

For the fella who is as unlike Al Gore in every possible way that he can be.

Now really gone!

====================
And the Non-Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Is ...

Hey, George:

I understand that you, along with some of your party members and your dwindling supporters, are truly disappointed that your own efforts in the area of promoting peace throughout the world have again gone unrecognized by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

I thought I would take the time to explain to you, as best I can, why you have been passed over yet again.

You see, George, your chances of ever winning a Nobel Peace Prize are slim to none – and here’s why:

They don’t award Nobels to cheats, men who only attain their position through the use of hackable electronic voting machines, expunging eligible voters from the rolls, and engaging in caging to prevent minorities from exercising their rights as citizens.

They don’t award Nobels to liars, men in positions of trust who fabricate, cherry-pick or skew intelligence in order to launch an unnecessary war based on the greed of the few who stand to benefit financially from such a conflict.

They don’t award Nobels to warmongers, who invade sovereign nations on the premise of liberating people who, after all is said and done, wind up living in worse conditions than they did under a regime that is replaced with more violence, destruction and death than existed previous to their so-called liberation.

They don’t award Nobels to torturers, even if they obfuscate their conduct with creative language like enhanced interrogation techniques. The Committee especially frowns on the torture of innocents, like women and children, who are made to suffer pain and humiliation, or even death.

[...]
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...

The Democratic Party seems destined to capture a sizable majority of both houses of Congress. Let's make sure they are NOT Democrats who embarass our country.

It's very possible that the "NOT Democrats" will drag the whole party down with them, in spite of the pathetic weakness of the GOP.

In the race to the bottom, which party will get there first? 

12.

thanks for the heads up Fred I'm just starting on her book, and for an insight into Hillaryland Penn is the best window

I might like Hillary if  NOT Democrats like Penn didn't advise her

Primaries in 2008 are our best opportunity to make sure that real Democrats will represent us in Congress - and also locally.

I don't get around to other political blogs as much as I once did, but I've seen little interest in reforming the Democratic Party through primary challenges.  Too many still think no more deeply than, "Beat Republicans".

But if it's going to happen beyond a smattering of challengers funded and supported willy-nilly, the blogs and orgs and are going to have to put together an organized plan and effort to do it. But, unfortunately, time has about run out for it with no signs of serious activity in that direction.

Hopefully someone will point out how wrong I am and cheer me up.

A taxista today told me that South America is far enuf away to feel the direct hits when the bombs start dropping.  We'd been talking about Putin in Iran. 

It's just unbelievable unless Anni's thoughts are correct and Pelosi's trying to starve the war.  Actually, maybe the dems and Turkey are in agreement about this and are using the genocide as an excuse.

And why is the subject of talks between a$$hole and the Dalai Lama so secret?  What does a fundi idiot have in common with a Buddhist to begin with?  How can the Dalai Lama, supposedly a lover of peace, even stand to be in the same room with him? 

Absolutely nothing makes sense, and we on the blog could run this country better.  Is this suicide on a massive scale?  Is this country committing suicide along with genocide?

I'll look into the auctioning off of votes...but isn't this basically what happens in IA?  Deals made, votes promised, status quo maintained so that the fix remains in?  If IA goes for Clinton, there could be only two reasons:

Stupid voters............bought off voters. Please let me know if there's a third.  

ABC 

donna

your Congresswoman was stumping for Obama and my brother spent an hour with her in a small group and was pretty impressed

Hope, not Snark.

Howdy from Chicagoland :-)

Phil, donna's Congresswoman is pretty impressive, wish IL-10th had someone like her.

::waving:: atcha David!

12. Thanks for the head's up on Charlie Rose, will try to catch it.

A primary challenger raising $100,000 a quarter is for real, but you are right, it is pretty late in the game to gin one up.

You pick 'em off where you can, Sitka.

Maine hopes to send Chellie Pingree & Rep. Tom Allen to the Senate & House (neither are DLC Bluedogs).

NH will lose Sununu; and CT will hopefully vote in Himes. 

Hope alone won't cut it. And snarking is at least sign of awareness.

Had the pleasure of dining w/ Donna last night ~ always good to see good friends :-D

Stupid voters............bought off voters. Please let me know if there's a third.  

~~~~~~~~~~~

A large field of pretty good candidates dividing up the support many ways.

Here's how I think progressive dems could be elected.  Start talking about the republican authoritarian/punishing govenment we have..compare it to stern and punishing fathers many people grew up with...hit the Midwest hard with this theme.  Make it an emotional issue since many people, tho they might not be able to think for themselves when it comes to voting, will not want to be reminded  that their bossy and/or punishing fathers are like bush.   Compare Abu Ghraib to child abuse.  Compare the  family in the BH to the alcoholic families that abound all over the country.

IMO we need to keep using the words, "The republicans are authoritarians who punish people.  (follow with many examples) compassionate governents do not torture people, not spy on them.

Tell the gd truth fer crisis sake!  typo intentional.

If it weren't for the *fix,* (and the media is part of it) Dodd would be way out in front in IA

Firsties must go, altho it may be too late.   

A person's snark-ometer works best when it's kept at a moderate frequency.

Hi Thankful

since donna in evanston is the name on the blog and Jan Schkowsky is from Evanston I just made an assumption, wasn't she for Dean last time?

Tsongas is indeed a netroots candidate (MA-4).

 Hope she wins today.

Hi, Thankful--I'm at home now (was gone all weekend). 

You pick 'em off where you can, Sitka.

A lot more could be picked off with planning and organization. The effort for Ned Lamont was broad and deep, but it was a lone one. Maybe there were some other Dem incumbents challenged. But if so I didn't know about it -- which means neither did a lot of others.

there is a plethorea of moderate candidates and no Feingold so I'm going with edwards but I could understand other choices

the winner that emerges will be everyone's second choice, a distinction Trippi never grasped

Frontline is airing Cheney's Law here tonight.

A person's snark-ometer works best when it's kept at a moderate frequency.

That goes for cheerlead-o-meters too.

Who sets the calibration is always the question. 

33. Phil, yep, you got it. I believe Jan supported Dean but am not positive of that.

Hi mainefem :-)

If it weren't for the *fix,* (and the media is part of it) Dodd would be way out in front in IA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richardson, Biden, Dodd, and Edwards played the same venue in our county seat.

all drew similar sized crowds Biden was the only one who gave a speech, the others spent their time answering questions

this county will go Obama,Edwards, and then probably Hillary based on the effort by staffers

A lot of Dem candidates that emerged in 2006 were promoted by folks from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. That trend will continue in 2008 - and many of us are prepared to primary against Republicrats in order to clean out the Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party. In fact, there will be many primaries across America that will present challengers that hold one important distinction from their opponents - they favor defending the Constitution through the process of impeachment.

YOU HAVE THE POWER!!!

yyyyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

somebody say cheerleader?

bbl

Just because Bush was a cheerleader in college, does that make it an ignoble position ?

I too can understand other choices, Phil, but what I can't understand is why so many are even considering Clinton.   I don't consider Clinton or Obama moderate dems, but rather, bush/oil/war  repugs.   This befuddles my already befuddled mind and I'm so disheartened that we don't have a progressive champion up front. 

 "the winner that emerges will be everyone's second choice, a distinction Trippi never grasped."

This sounds like bush's black is white world.  And I don't grasp the concept of caucus either.  To me, it sounds coniving, manipulative, complicated and totally necessary for the *fix* to win. 

42. 43. ♥'s to the positive, constructive, we have the power kind of 'cheerleading' ~ one foot forward at a time.

Head over to Firedoglake more often, Sitka.

Blue America '08 has a great list of progressive Dems (they keep tabs on roll call votes, too--anyone who's ben online more than a yr. should be able to vet their own candidates).

ActBlue has a delete button, 'ya know?!

Here's one report about Randi:

• Digg This!
• del.icio.us

The blogosphere was abuzz Tuesday with reports that the host of a liberal talk-radio show was the victim of an apparent street crime Sunday night, leading another of the network's hosts to speculate that she was targeted by "the right wing" for her political views

Randi Rhodes, whose program airs on Air America weekdays from 3-6 p.m. ET, claims she was walking down the street near her Manhattan home around 8 p.m. when she was struck and found herself face down on the pavement, her lawyer, Robert Gaulin, told FOXNews.com.

"We don't know whether there was a deliberate intention aimed at her or whether it was an accident... she was pretty much, she was hurt badly when she fell and her face hit the ground," Gaulin said, adding that people on the street came to her aid.

Talking Radio, a blog that follows Air America's programming, reported that another host at the liberal network, Jon Elliott, told listeners of his show Monday night that Rhodes had been attacked near Park Avenue and 39th Street.

According to the blog, Elliott then said, "This does not appear to me to be a standard grab-the- money-and-run mugging," and, "Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own?" Elliot also suggested that the act might have been meant to intimidate left-wing radio, the blog reported.

There even was a report that Rhodes had lost several teeth in the alleged attack.

The report spread quickly Tuesday over the blogosphere, with the Google blog search showing hundreds of posts on the subject.

As of Tuesday morning, however, New York City Police told FOXNews.com that they had no record of any attack in the area that Elliott mentioned — Park Avenue and 39th Street — and that Rhodes did not file a report of the incident with police.

"We have no record of her making any complaints whatsoever ... as far back as my computer goes," a police spokesman said. He said the records went back roughly 25 years.

The police spokesman, who asked not to be identified because of department policy, said that police "do not investigate things that are unreported," but encouraged Rhodes to report the incident if she would like police to investigate the matter.

In a brief statement posted on its Web site Tuesday, Air America said Rhodes "experienced an unfortunate incident hindering her from hosting the show. The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded."

Air America said replacement hosts will continue to fill in for Rhodes as she recuperates.

An Air America employee, who was not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified, confirmed the reports that Rhodes had been attacked, and said "it was not a hate crime."

The source said that Rhodes had been in contact with several employees at Air America, and Rhodes told them she had suffered chipped teeth from the attack, and would be seeing a dentist.

Rhodes was not hospitalized. The source said the attack was not sexual in nature. It was not clear if Rhodes had been robbed by her attacker.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,302316,00.html 

Maura is p/t field consultant for Jim Himes.

Hallmark has some great movies so tonight I'm going to watch one from England about Niels Bohr and Heisenberg during WW11.  They may have been on opposing sides, altho they were great friends and colleagues.  Should be good.

I rather be dancing!

House aides visiting racetrack
advised to get immunized

...Staff who organized the trips advised the NASCAR-bound aides to get a range of vaccines before attending -- hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza.

Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican from Concord, NC, took umbrage when he heard about it.

"I have never heard of immunizations for domestic travel, and as the representative for Concord, N.C., I feel compelled to ask why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown," Hayes said in an Oct. 5 letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chairs the Homeland Security panel...

http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/31403...

Time for me to go to dinner, people here trying to put a few pounds back on me, lol.

♥'s to all

Kindness is free!

Vladimir Putin issued a veiled warning Tuesday against any attack on Iran as he began the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Tehran in six decades _ a mission reflecting Russian-Iranian efforts to curb U.S. influence.

 Since the Democrats have already caved in to AIPAC and Bush, good for Putin!

Gore would rather do service to his country by remaining at a safe distance from the Grand Guignol presidency, preferring instead to pass the time more efficiently and with far more credibility as a private citizen.

Good decision Al!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-weber/go-time_b_68620.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/the-prowar-undertow-of-t_b_68660.html

One of the most unusual aspects of the current Blackwater scandal is that it places recent killings of Iraqi civilians front-and-center even though the killers were Americans. This angle is outside the customary media frame that focuses on what Iraqis are doing to each other and presents Americans -- whether in military uniform or in contractor mode -- as well-meaning heroes who sometimes become victims of dire circumstances.

Many members of Congress, like quite a few journalists, have hopped on the anti-Blackwater bandwagon with rhetoric that bemoans how the company is making it more difficult for the U.S. government to succeed in Iraq. But the American war effort has continued to deepen the horrors inside that country. And Washington's priorities have clearly placed the value of oil way above the value of human life. So why should we want the U.S. government to succeed in Iraq?

Unless the deadly arrogance of Blackwater and its financiers in the U.S. government is placed in a broader perspective on the U.S. war effort as a whole, the vilification of the firm could distract from challenging the overall presence of American forces in Iraq and the air war that continues to escalate outside the American media's viewfinder.

The current Blackwater scandal should help us to understand the dynamics that routinely set in when occupiers -- whether privatized mercenaries or uniformed soldiers -- rely on massive violence against the population they claim to be helping.

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10162007.html

As a result of Bush's invasion of Iraq, more than one million Iraqis have died, and several millions are displaced persons. The Iraqi death toll and the millions of uprooted Iraqis match the Armenian deaths and deportations. If one is a genocide, so is the other.

It is true that most of the Iraqi deaths have resulted from Iraqis killing one another. But it was Bush's destruction of the secular Iraqi state that unleashed the sectarian strife.

Moreover, American troops in Iraq have killed more civilians than insurgents. The US military in Iraq has fallen for every bit of disinformation fed to it by Al Qaeda personnel posing as "informants" and by Sunnis setting up Shi'ites and Shi'ites setting up Sunnis. As a result, American bombs and missiles have blown up weddings, funerals, kids playing soccer, and people shopping in bazaars and sleeping in their homes.

Not to be outdone, Bush's private Waffen SS known as Blackwater Security has taken to gunning Iraqi civilians down in the streets. How do Blackwater and Custer Battles killers escape the "unlawful combatant" designation?

One can only marvel at the insouciance of the US Congress to the current Iraqi Genocide while condemning Turkey for one that happened 90 years ago.

MORE PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10162007.html

Americans are so full of themselves that they are blind to their extraordinary hypocrisy.

The US government has broken every agreement with Russia by withdrawing from the anti-ballistic missile treaty, pushing NATO to Russia's borders, conniving to place missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, and buying governments in former Soviet republics and installing US military bases therein.

When Russian President Putin finally has enough and protests, the US Secretary of State blames Putin for being difficult and restarting the cold war.

Few Americans realize it, but they take the cake.

International polls show that the rest of the world regard the US and Israel as the greatest dangers to world peace. Americans claim that they are fighting wars against terrorism, but it is US and Israeli terrorism that worries everyone else. The rest of the world knows that the wars are about US and Israeli hegemony and that the US and Israel are prepared to engage in whatever acts of terror are necessary to achieve hegemony.

That is the bare fact.

When the US dollar loses its reserve currency status, the US empire will come to an abrupt end. Sooner or later the rest of the world will realize this and, in an act of self-protection, dethrone the dollar.

China probably will wait until sfter the Olympics to bail out on the dollar (and Wal-Mart).

DUBYA'S FAVORITE DEMOCRATIC LAWN JOCKEYS

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=43900

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) -- the top Democratic leaders from each of their respective chambers of Congress -- are drawing fire for a pair of recent radio appearances in which they reiterated their opposition to pursuing the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

In an interview Oct. 9 with nationally syndicated liberal radio host Ed Schultz, Pelosi defended previous statements in which she had promised that "impeachment was off the table."

Late Friday, Schultz told RAW STORY that the speaker's unwillingness to realistically discuss the impeachment option -- or even to entertain a theoretical scenario in which it might merit real consideration -- was tantamount to giving President Bush a "license to do whatever he wants to do."

"I think the Democratic leadership has signaled to the American people that there is no set of facts, no turn of events that would rise to the level of impeachment," Schultz said, adding that he thought the party's leaders had "pretty much given up."

"Our callers are extremely passionate about the truth," he continued. "They're extremely passionate about the Constitution, and poor Democrats feel like the leadership is letting them down."

For those Democratic voters who believed a majority in Congress might have greased the wheels for possible action on impeachment, another recent interview with top Senate Majority Lead Harry Reid did little to kindle hope.

In a recent Q&A with left-leaning host Christiane Brown of Reno's KJFK radio, Reid dismissed the notion as a "waste of time" that would succeed only in handing the White House to Vice President Dick Cheney.

""Well, I respectfully suggest to anyone that suggests impeachment," the senator replied, "that it's a very foolish idea."

Brown, however, who shot back on-air that "respectfully, I disagree and I know there are a lot of people that do," told RAW STORY that she couldn't grasp Reid's "strange thinking."

"It just seems to me that they've already made their mind up that impeachment isn't an option," she said of Reid and other Democrats, like Pelosi, that brush off even the notion of impeachment.

"We just hear a lot of excuses all the time," Brown said, citing Reid's insistence on her program that the trappings of an impeachment would be an unneeded distraction that served little effective purpose in the waning days of Bush's final term.

"None of these arguments stand up," she continued. "You have to do what's right...I think Americans want to see some accountability, and we're now being told that we're foolish to even consider it. It seems like [Congress] is looking for every reason not to get rid of this president."

Even after impeachment against President Bill Clinton, a very unpopular impeachment Swanson points out, Republicans lost fewer seats in the 2000 election than historical norms for a six-term congressional majority.

"They held onto both houses and the White House," he said. "Democrats should be thankful to suffer that kind of fate."

Schultz enthusiastically agrees. He believes that looming election concerns are powering much of the reluctance among House and Senate leadership.

"It's all about '08," he said. "They want the White House. They can't turn the country around unless they have the White House. They're serious about change, they're concerned about the country, but they think it would divide the country's future if impeachment were brought. And they're not willing to roll those dice."

Our only hope is Al.  Do you disagree, Huron?

Living here is looking better and better.  I now have a good acupuncturist and that's a start.

Yes, indeedy, the folks here refer to his royal hiney as   "ass es ino."  And in general, people know and like Gore.

Somebody please ask the *front runners* if they intend to rescind some of the awful things - like the war powers act and the patriot act. To my knowledge , no one has ever talked about that.  I'd like to know if they've ever read the Bill of Rights.

ABC

Gore/?

We need a national poll.  How many indies and dems will NOTvote for Clinton? 

How many indies and dems will NOTvote for Clinton?

Once my vote is definitely in or out of a politician's pocket they have no reason to care what I think. So I won't say.

Our only hope is Al.

Without him we'll just have to keep working from the bottom up. 

Let's freep this poll

Did Al Gore deserve to win the Nobel Peace Prize?

theleafchronicle.com

A Clarksville, TN newspaper 

Maybe I will. 

Our only hope is Al.  Do you disagree, Huron?

Nope. I just don't think he'll run. To paraphrase, "I don't have the time for this bullshit"

Good news from Mass fro Nikki Tsongas !!!

Three of 195 precincts reporting . . .

Kurt Hayes (Independent)  55 1%
Patrick Murphy (Independent)  78 2%
Jim Ogonowski (Republican)  1,913  38%
Kevin Thompson  (Constitution Party)  7  0%
Nicola Tsongas (Democrat)  3,009  59%
Precincts Reporting - 6 out of 195 - 3%

Uspecial election in MA-05

\.S. Congressional District Special ElectionNicola Tsongas (Democrat)  3,009  59%

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14301627/detail.html

oops...

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/14301627/detail.html

Kurt Hayes (Independent)4831%Patrick Murphy (Independent)9882%Jim Ogonowski (Republican)29,10551%Kevin Thompson  (Constitution Party)1880%Nicola Tsongas (Democrat)26,45446%Precincts Reporting - 96 out of 195 - 49%

Huron, I'm surprised at you, letting folks think that was the article.


"How About it Al?"


"...However:

What if, even in the face of all those complicit in the Bush Hijacking of America and who still sport their smug rictuses, who still swagger under the delusion of a globus americana, who still cling to their bully tactics, who still bear smug witness to the debacles in New orleans, Afghanistan and Iraq, and who are still unable to face their own inadequacy...

What if, despite the years of failure under a Republican dominated congress; despite the failure of deeply flawed Orwellian programs like No Child Left Behind and Clear Skies; despite the string of humiliations involving boisterously Republican paragons of virtue and morality caught with their wallets open and their pants down; despite the monumental and morale-crippling outsourcing of American jobs; despite the accumulation of jaw-dropping debt under this administration's crony-riddled stewardship; despite the blatant war profiteering: despite the manipulation of our most cherished constitutional guarantees; despite earning the enmity of the world--what if Al still declared for another try at it?

Aside from the step down in stature, income and perks, he'd have his hands full. He'd have to burn the midnight ethanol and make lemonade from the bitterest batch of lemons this nation's seen for some time. He'd have the pressure of worldwide expectations on his shoulders. He'd be in the crosshairs of Blackwater's Swiftboat Division 24 hours a day, an assault that would make Shock and Awe look like an Pepsi spill at a Mentos concession.

And even knowing full well that the Bush administration and its legion of loyal apologists/goosesteppers won't stop until they've totally scuttled the raft we all cling to, knowing full well that The Guy You Wanna Have A Beer With has slipped us a gi-normous Mickey Finn and while our vision blurs is turning our pockets out, opening the trap door behind us and is about to push us in, Big Al could just do it.

And then the American myth might be reinvigorated and revived. And hope might be rekindled. And the nation discarded by the smirking divider might be gathered together by the heralded uniter. And America might be what it once was and so needs to be again.

Like for global warming -- it's go time.

Whattaya, say, Al?"


Answer: I say YES! Time for a COOL change.


Gallup Poll Al Gore's favorable numbers with Democrats are 79.


Algore.org, has just commissioned Zogby to do their own poll, asking the question IF AL GORE RUNS.....



I

It's funny, I actually handed out a button to a passerby who saw my t-shirt today as I was exiting the City building. Yelling as she walked by "I love Al Gore". Some friends said, does that happen alot? LOL

And then she said, "oh, by the way, as long as you have them out.... my brother and .... love Al too, can I have one for them?

When I went to the store afterwards... .."so, any news yet?" When I told him about the policy videos Al Gore uploaded to current.com 2 days ago, even HE got excited and said, "well, that is definitely something, please keep me posted".

Just a warning. I just took a sip of bourbon. I'm leaving it soak on my boo boos, then swollowing. The pain is consuming me today, or at least this afternoon.

__________________________

linda b, being he searched you out that way, I would definitely follow mprov suggestion and contact the police.

I had some folks in Cinci send me some letters, too because they print full name and town( to make it easier for them to find you) you live. I questioned the paper, but they wouldn't do anything about privacy. I did get a bit concerned when one many sent me a couple letters, but I couldn't do anything without name and address, so I just saved the letters.

Linda - good for you!  I hope you'll be happy to hear we're working our behinds off here in California and are out in force collecting signatures to get President Gore on the primary ballot.  If there are any Californians out there reading this now, please go to california4gore.org and VOLUNTEER!

I agree the current.com videos are verrrrry interesting. 

seashell, what the pundits aren't telling you is how many folks are not engaged in this election. And too, when they tout the numbers for the front runners in Iowa, they don't share with you that those numbers are only from 1/3 the Caucus goers...that 2/3 of them are ... UNDECIDED.

Our media has become nothing bought their Corporations marketing tool and doing their own push polling. Will they change?

new thread.

Susan, yes, you all are kicking! Cali 4 Gore is awesome and has some great folks.

I was going to be working on ours, but they changed the release date of the forms to November 3, from October 8...as of now. They are having problems finding caucus locations, so that may be delayed even more. I hope not.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22598#comments

new thread 

Patrick Murphy (Independent)

 Jim Ogonowski (Republican)

Kevin Thompson  (Constitution Party)

Nicola Tsongas (Democrat)