Independents are just that.............Independent.

You said:

"I honestly think that what our country needs is some stability for a while, no major changesk, but some time to look back and reconsider where we are going now that Bush has been in office for two terms.  I finally see him doing some things that I like at the end of his term, but I didn't vote for him I voted for Gore. "

Could you tell us what good things Bush is doing now?  I must have missed them.

Carville and Matalin in Meet the Press Sunday.   TPM calls for NBC to disclose Carville's ties to the Clintons.   Shrum on MTP also.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1659

Thanksgiving with the Dodds report on the last thread. A nice afternoon, I hope they made the drive back to Des Moines OK, I'm sure the kids were sleeping after all that activity.  The football game was played in the snow and no one got hurt.

Monica, I asked them to forward the video response to the questions for you to put up on DFA-Link.

bbl

I racked my brain and came up with the only one good thing Bush has done, extend the the Marine Reserve around the outer Hawaiian Islands

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402455.html

Howard is first around here, and for that I am still thankful.

Lovely day up here in the High Sierra - dinner was wonderful - fully organic and just yummy. No internet in the rooms, just the lobby - so hope everyone had a lovely day. I'm heading to check out the full moon and the Milky Way. And we'll see if I find room for my "to go" dessert :)

Bush will do his first major good act as president on Jnauary 20. 2009 - if he leaves office without declaring martial law.

Independents are just that.............Independent.  

Yes. I like to think to be an independent myself. One not driven by ideology.
To be open minded. Open minded to what?
Anything that preserves my survival. Not the survival of some idea I might have.

That's why I'm leery of anyone who thinks that you can survive independently of anyone else.
If you know what I mean.~

Since I like to be indepentent it's hard for me to say anybody is first.
But I admit:
I wouldn't be here on this blog without Howard having initiated it to begin with.~

indepentent =  independent

I know you know that...

Hello Denise,

thank you for being!

Okay,
that's it for me for tonight. Thanks for letting me rant.

Good morning, BFA! Thanks, Denise, for properly "Howarding" this thread.

We all know that, no matter what posts may be on a thread first, Howard Dean is always first here. But having it stated is one of those comfortable *traditions* that I, for one, like to see.

It looks as if most are all tuckered out from Thanksgiving and other activities. Thanks for the Dodd report, Phil! I hope that he does better than the polls are predicting when people actually do caucus and vote.

sea: thanks for the Bohemian Project info.

***********
Eugene Robinson in today's WaPo with the results of a recent study that confirms what several of us already knew or suspected. The *American Dream* does not exist any more for all too many.

================
Tattered Dream
Who'll Tackle the Issue Of Upward Mobility?
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, November 23, 2007; A39

We're not who we think we are.

The American self-image is suffused with the golden glow of opportunity. We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable -- a place where brains, energy and ambition are what counts, not the circumstances of one's birth. But three new studies suggest that Horatio Alger doesn't live here anymore.

The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research initiative led by the Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Here's the finding that jumps out at me:

"The 'rags to riches' story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street. Only 6 percent of children born to parents with family income at the very bottom move to the very top."

That's right, just 6 percent of children born to parents who ranked in the bottom fifth of the sample, in terms of income, were able to bootstrap their way into the top fifth. Meanwhile, an incredible 42 percent of children born into that lowest quintile are still stuck at the bottom, having been unable to climb a single rung of the income ladder.

The study notes that even in Britain -- a nation we tend to think of as burdened with a hidebound, anachronistic class system -- children who are born poor have a better chance of moving up.

[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Despite what some may think, Iraq still has a VERY long way to go before things can be considered secure.

And, based on the recent British experience, the best thing that we can do for the country is to pull our military out of the cities.

If not out of the country altogether ...

===============
Bomb Strikes Baghdad, 13 Dead
By BUSHRA JUHI
The Associated Press
Friday, November 23, 2007; 2:43 AM

BAGHDAD -- A bomb exploded in a pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, Iraqi police said.

The blast occurred just before 9 a.m. at the al-Ghazl market, shattering the festive atmosphere as people strolled past the animal stalls.

It was the first attack against the popular weekly bazaar since a U.S.-Iraqi security plan aimed at quelling spiraling violence began in mid-February, underscoring warnings by senior American commanders that extremists still pose a threat to Iraq's security despite a downturn in violence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Dangers of the US becoming a theocracy are more real than we think and could become more concrete if any Republican ends up in the WH in 2009. All are madly courting the *God* vote and turning themselves inside-out to do it.

The actions here have a real agenda. Cash-strapped community leaders cannot afford not to listen since they don't have other options.

=================
November 23, 2007
In God's Name
Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES and ANDREW W. LEHREN

In Anchorage early in October, the doors opened onto a soaring white canvas dome with room for a soccer field and a 400-meter track. Its prime-time hours are already rented well into 2011.

Nearby is a cold-storage facility leased to Sysco, a giant food-distribution corporation, and beside it is a warehouse serving a local contractor and another food service company.

The entrepreneur behind these businesses is the ChangePoint ministry, a 4,000-member nondenominational Christian congregation that helped develop and finance the sports dome. It has a partnership with Sysco’s landlord and owns the warehouse.

The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.

“We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,” said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years.

Among the nation’s so-called megachurches — those usually Protestant congregations with average weekly attendance of 2,000 or more — ChangePoint’s appetite for expansion into many kinds of businesses is hardly unique. An analysis by The New York Times of the online public records of just over 1,300 of these giant churches shows that their business interests are as varied as basketball schools, aviation subsidiaries, investment partnerships and a limousine service.

[...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/busine...

Today's Krugman.

=================
November 23, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Banks Gone Wild
By PAUL KRUGMAN

“What were they smoking?” asks the cover of the current issue of Fortune magazine. Underneath the headline are photos of recently deposed Wall Street titans, captioned with the staggering sums they managed to lose.

The answer, of course, is that they were high on the usual drug — greed. And they were encouraged to make socially destructive decisions by a system of executive compensation that should have been reformed after the Enron and WorldCom scandals, but wasn’t.

In a direct sense, the carnage on Wall Street is all about the great housing slump.

This slump was both predictable and predicted. “These days,” I wrote in August 2005, “Americans make a living selling each other houses, paid for with money borrowed from the Chinese. Somehow, that doesn’t seem like a sustainable lifestyle.” It wasn’t.

[...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinio...

The NYT editorial page has a good and thoughtful editorial page about the immigration issue. This must be addressed fairly and sensibly, without adamant stands. Safety, health, national security and our nation's future depend on it.

For better or for worse ... and I personally think that it is for the better ... the US is a nation of immigrants (although the one group that IMO has the best footing to oppose this position are those native Americans whose ancestors beat most of ours here by several centuries). Each group has enriched our nation as a whole and we have all benefited. There are no easy answers to the current situation but the issues need to be addressed fairly and honestly. And no one is doing that.

The path to becoming legal should not be strewn with impossible or impractical obstacles. The people who should be sanctioned most are those who deliberately hire illegals so that they literally have a slave laborforce existing below the legal radar and governed and managed by fear.

Regularize the situations of those currently here. If nothing else, we can then reap the tax benefits. Work to improve the economy and human rights in originating nations. Work to set up humane and transparent transient worker programs. Surprising as it may seem to some, not everyone wants to live in the US. Many prefer to return to live with their families within their home cultures. But under the current situation, that is either extremely dangerous or practically impossible.

Look to see what other nations are doing. Europe is dealing with this problem with varying degrees of success. Use the international organizations to advise and assist; they all too often get stuck with the aftermath and putting the pieces together in any event.

Anyway, that's just my two bits.

And here's the NYT editorial ...

===============
November 23, 2007
Editorial
The Immigration Wilderness

The nation certainly sounds as if it’s in an angry place on immigration.

A major Senate reform bill collapsed in rancor in June, and every effort to revive innocuous bits of it, like a bill to legalize exemplary high school graduates, has been crushed. Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York hatched a plan to let illegal immigrants earn driver’s licenses — and steamrollered into the Valley of Death. Asked if she supported Mr. Spitzer, Senator Hillary Clinton tied herself in knots looking for the safest answer.

The Republican presidential candidates, meanwhile, are doggedly out-toughing one another — even Rudolph Giuliani, who once defended but now disowns the immigrants who pulled his hard-up city out of a ditch. A freshman Democratic representative, Heath Shuler of North Carolina, has submitted an enforcement bill bristling with border fencing and punishments. Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, for whom restricting immigration is the first, last and only issue, says he will not run again when his term expires next year. I have done all I can, he says, like some weary gunslinger covered in blood and dust.

[...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/opinio...

Hmm ... even our *special friend* is starting to look at us with other than friendly eyes.

==============
We fret over Europe, but the real threat to sovereignty has long been the US
Britain's biggest foreign influence is the one politicians don't dare debate: not immigration, not Brussels, but America
Linda Colley
Friday November 23, 2007
The Guardian

One knows something is important when the powers that be choose not to acknowledge it in public. Since 1945, Britain has been subject to at least three invasions. Two of these invasions have been massively discussed, and are widely viewed as having challenged and complicated understandings of what it means to be British. The empire came home, in that migrants from former overseas colonies settled here in large numbers, as they never had before the war; and Britain joined what is now the European Union, and became subject to interventions of different kinds emanating from Brussels.

The third post-1945 invasion was just as momentous, yet official and media silence about it is usually deafening. Since 1947, there have been US military bases in the UK: something that would have been unthinkable before 1939.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/...

Thoughts from our servicemen in Iraq, as recorded by a British embed ...

===================
'I believe in the war, but being here sucks'
In the latest installment of his embed diary, David Smith recalls a few of the sentiments expressed by US troops during his stay in Baghdad
David Smith in Baghdad
Friday November 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Here are some things I've been told, or have overheard, during my time with American soldiers in Iraq:

"I want to die at a fucking ripe old age, not as some twentysomething kid."

"I did two tours of Afghanistan and I had my doubts about why we were in Iraq. But now I'm here I can see the point of it. It's better than I thought."

"I don't know what we are doing here. It's what, over four years now, and we've still never been told."

"This is my second tour of Iraq. The first time it felt like an adventure. This time it just feels like a job."

"There are lots of different reasons why people join the army. There are guys who were in the military in the 80s who are coming back out of patriotism. I wanted to pay off my student debt. I discovered a fraternity I hadn't known since the college sports team, so I'm sticking with it."

"I joined the army at 19 and if I stay the course I'll be 39 when I get out. But I'm not going to re-enlist next time. There are other things I want to do with my life.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,33134...

Good morning, everybody

Welcome Miss Janie. I expect you'll soon notice that nothing much happens with your post. That you're starting to pay attention to what's going on is good.

Off to last thread to read Phil report. bbl

..I finally see him [Bush] doing some things that I like at the end of his term...

Another kidder.

I cannot say that this news is making me unhappy, especially since it is making my Aussie friends VERY happy. At long, long last ...

======================
Howard's end
A prosperous economy is unlikely to save Australia's long-serving prime minister from defeat at this weekend's election
November 22, 2007 3:00 PM

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Annabel Crabb has conjured a cutting ditty to describe the predicament facing the Australian prime minister, John Howard, in Saturday's elections. "Oh voters: if you really care/Elect a man who won't be there!/Vote for him on Saturday/It's guaranteed he'll go away."

The poem is a reference to Howard's Blair-like pledge to hand over the PM's job to his deputy, the treasurer Peter Costello, some time during his next term.

But as opinion polls unanimously indicate, the 68-year-old Liberal leader's descent into oblivion after 11 years at the top may come much sooner.

With the opposition Labor party of Kevin Rudd poised to sweep to power, Howard's wished-for fifth term looks like a wet dream. He may even lose his own seat of Bennelong, held for 33 years.

Like Woodrow Wilson and Margaret Thatcher, he has out-stayed his welcome, writes Tom Switzer in the Australian. "Howard's career is ending in failure ... It was not supposed to be like this."

Like the American conservatives who so admire him, Howard has resorted, in his last throes, to the politics of fear.

[...]
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simo...

Gotta agree with you, Susan! LOL

Hi and 'bye, Monica!

Well, my last was written AFTER Monica at 4:18, not before.

This blog is nothing if not eccentric and a bit surreal. But it's BFA in all its charm.

***************
Word from the world's largest undeclared concentration camp ...

===============
UN official says Israel's siege of Gaza breeds extremism and human suffering
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 23 November 2007

A senior United Nations official has issued an unprecedented appeal to British MPs to use their influence to try to alleviate the impact of "indiscriminate" and "illegal" Israeli sanctions in Gaza which display "profound inhumanity" and are "serving the agenda of extremists".

In one of the strongest attacks on recent Israeli strategy issued by a senior international official, John Ging, Gaza's director of operations for the refugee agency UNRWA, said that "crushing sanctions" imposed since the Israeli cabinet declared the Strip a "hostile entity" in September had contributed to "truly appalling living conditions."

Mr Ging said the measures had been justified as protection from what he fully acknowledged were rocket attacks "terrorising" the Israeli civilian population within range. The rockets have killed two people this year and injured 99 others. But citing cuts in fuel and planned cuts in electricity along with closures which have had "an atrocious" impact on Palestinian medical care, "destroyed" Gaza's economy and threatened already "Third World" water and sanitation, he told the Britain-Palestine group of MPs: "This presupposes that the civilian population are somehow more capable of stopping the rocket fire than the powerful military of the occupying power.

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/midd...

Interestingly, I keep pushing Monica down. Sorry about that, Monica.

*************
I am currently reading Thomas Laird's "The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama," in anticipation of a trip to China & Tibet early next spring. It will probably NOT be wise to carry the book with me.

And I will need a separate visa for Tibet.

===============
China furious at Dalai Lama plan to name successor
By Clifford Coonan, China Correspondent
Published: 23 November 2007

China has accused Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of violating the religious rituals and historical conventions of Tibetan Buddhism by suggesting he might appoint a successor before his death instead of relying on reincarnation.

Beijing's latest broadside against the Dalai Lama is a sign of heightening tensions between the central government and the man Tibetans see as a god-king. While reincarnation sounds like an esoteric concept to those of other belief systems, it is a deeply political issue in the isolated Himalayan enclave.

The Dalai Lama said Tibetans would not accept a successor who was selected by China after his death, prompting an angry response from Beijing. "The reincarnation of the living Buddha is a unique way of succession of Tibetan Buddhism and follows relatively complete religious rituals and historical conventions," said Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman . "Dalai's remarks obviously violated the religious rituals and historical conventions."

[...]
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia...

I did not have turkey yesterday, but it was by choice.

That this should be routinely happening in what was the greatest nation of the 20th century is appalling.

But I fear that it will be an increasing trend in the 21st.

====================
Published on Thursday, November 22, 2007 by The Independent/UK
Plight of the Huddled Masses: A Hard Time for Thanksgiving
by Leonard Doyle

Gertrude Winter, a char lady in her sixties who works at a government office, will have a turkey after all this Thanksgiving. At one stage yesterday, it seemed a close run thing. As she sat in the hallway of the Bread for the City charity a rumour swept the place that they were out of turkeys.

Agitated, another woman said: “The lady says there are no turkeys left, what are we going to do?” In fact the turkeys were already on their way from another warehouse and what might have degenerated into a mini-riot, reverted instead to the good-natured banter of strangers.

Thrown together by poverty and the pinched generosity of the United States, they waited to be interviewed to see if they were eligible for a free turkey and a bag of groceries. Mobile soup kitchens are keeping the homeless on the streets fed, but it is the working poor and those with young and old dependants who patiently line up at Bread for the City. Even with the help of government food stamps, most earn less than $7,000 (£3,400) a year, not nearly enough to survive on. They have long overcome the shame of queuing up every week in public for free food

“I used to come here all the time when my kids were growing up,” said Ms Winter, “and now I’m back because everything is so expensive out there”.

Today as millions of Americans sit down to their turkey dinners with all the trimmings, the safety net of hundreds of food banks and pantries that put food on the table of the nation’s poor is creaking and torn as a result of sharply reduced donations. From New England to California warehouses that should be groaning with surplus foodstuffs are going half empty.

[...]
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007...

It would be a good idea if we all started bombarding our Reps and Nancy to get these transcripts ... and NOW ... so that the impeachments can finally begin in earnest.

We were able to get DiFi to back down. Why not this?

And now gone for a time ...

=================
Regarding Patrick Fitzgerald

There is some confusion about why Patrick Fitzgerald has not released any of the FBI/grand jury investigation other than that used in the Libby trial. The reason is simple: he can't.

Patrick Fitzgerald does not have the authority to release any of the information that is not directly related to a person he has charged with a criminal offense. He has made that clear several times, including at the press conference held the day the Libby indictments were handed down, to his letter of response to democrats in congress after the Libby conviction.

The only exception would be in the context of a criminal trial. If, for example, a defense witness testified differently in the trial than s/he had in the grand jury investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald could then use the part of the earlier testimony to impeach their trial testimony.

There are parts of the Plame scandal investigation that the Department of Justice (but not Mr. Fitzgerald) could release to Congress. Several democrats have requested the DoJ do this. Thus far, the DoJ has simply refused the request.

Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney met with Mr. Fitzgerald in July, 2004, to discuss their knowledge of the Plame scandal, including what took place leading up to Valerie Plame being exposed, and the response to the DoJ investigation. Both Bush and Cheney opted to be accompanied by their personal attorneys. Both Bush and Cheney have access to the full transcript of their respective interviews with Mr. Fitzgerald. Either of them could release their transcript. The chances of this happening is zero, of course.

Congress does have the ability to gain access to the FBI/grand jury investigation records that have not been released in the Libby trial. They have to show that there is a reason to justify the court ruling to release the information. Case law in this area -- which those in Congress and their staffs are 100% fully aware of -- is clear.

The problem today isn't Patrick Fitzgerald. It's that Congress is not doing its job. The responsibility falls fully with them.

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

California Democratic Party Platform: http://www.cadem.org/site/c.jrLZK2PyHmF/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_p...

19. My LTE--

Muddled Immigration


You just know that when you can't come up with a logical definition of a problem, you're not going to be able to solve it. "Illegal immigration" is an oxymoron because "immigrant" is a legal designation. You can't have an illegal legal.

Calling people coming into the country without a permit "illegal migration" would make sense, but it would set the predicate that everyone's comings and goings need to be approved with a permit and that's not what liberty means.

You could call "illegal workers" a problem, but that would suggest that, if we're not to sink back into discrimination, everybody in the country has to have a permit to work. That's not what America is about either.

The driver's license suggestion was sunk by the fact that a permit to drive has nothing to do with where people live, even though any number of states have tried to make such a connection. Bureaucrats like to know how many people they have in their jurisdiction and the number of driver's licenses issued is a good approximation. But, the documentation actually does little to make the experience of driving a car, or being a passenger, for that matter, safer. Not to mention that visitors' international licenses are in regular use and who knows how long a visit should/could last.

That some employers discriminate against workers on the basis of where they think they were born is a problem that needs to be corrected because it's simply against the law, to which those who engage in commerce are obligated to adhere.

Finally,you don't stop discrimination by eliminating difference. You stop it with appropriate penalties.In the larger scheme of things, the effort to treat citizens and non-citizens differently is just the latest effort to define somebody, anybody, as not equal and able to be dumped on with impunity by everyone else.

Shame on us!

Monica

I hope you don't mind that when I was explaining to Jackie Dodd how DFA worked and is structured through DFA-Link that your name was the one I used  as the probable author of the post for the video of Chris talking about the need to restore the moral authority of the United States by returning to the rule of law, and defending the Constitution, And since Dodd is planning to filibuster the FISA Bill I told him about the ungoing values discussion here and the need for him to directly explain the under-lying basis for doing it. They will put it up on their web site with whatever langiage they want to surround the video with and you can taylor it for the DFA audience in your normal fashion and own words. HQ's needs to contact the Dodd campaign directly because Chris will be happy to repond directly to any official ongoing dialogue that they initiate.

one of things that really bug me about the media's treatment of the non "front runners" is that they don't allow for a candidate like Chris Dodd to say things that establish this dialogue about the direction the country is headed, the values he stands for, and how that would make him a good President to lead the country right now after Bush.

if the internet has any real value to the process it is to ground truth and fight out these battles of ideas

The Dodd family would wear well in the White House, and we had an enjoyable non-political event for them to get together and have some down time. But it is ever so important to get to what the candidate stands for, and how they would lead and Chris Dodd has some valuable things to say. 

It's stupid to rely on food banks and very inefficient.

One of the most offensive proposals to come out of Hillary Clinton's mouth, in my estimation, is the "cap and trade" proposal for polluting coal fired power plants which are going to be able to purchase permits to pollute via an auction and then the proceeds of the auction are to be given to poor people to pay the higher energy costs that will result.

This gives a whole new meaning to the assertion that "TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT."

Some Democrats, it would seem, just like to keep poor people around so they can do "good" things for them.

Anyway, now I've got to write up a diary on Representative Jane Harman and her
"Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007"

Morning, Phil

I sat with Jackie and the girls while they had melted cheese sandwiches. Jackie asked me about myself and took my answer that I do "nothing" as intended. One of Jackie's functions seems to be to vet people.

Perhaps one of the big differences between Dodd and the current occupant of the White House is that Dodd isn't paranoid and doesn't take what people do and say as a personal affront. So, he can deal with issues objectively. (That's not fair to Dodd, but I think the mental attitude of the Commander-in-Chief is critical. Bush Two thinking that everyone's out to get him is not good for the country).

If you just read the transcript of Bush Two's interview with Charlie Gibson, you'll see what I mean about personalizing his position. Bush Two feels like he's under siege. When he talks about being in the "klieg lights" of the press, it's one of the hardest parts of his job. Questions from the press are the equivalent of "incoming"--i.e. the weapons of an assault.

Miller stepping down as Ky. Democratic chairman

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — State Democratic Party Chairman Jonathan Miller is stepping down to take a job with the incoming administration of Governor-elect Steve Beshear. ... http://www.herald-dispatch.com/homepage/...

---

Beshear picks replacement for Miller: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...

---

Beshear's pick for party vice chair is Fort Mitchell's Smith

Democrat Steve Beshear's Nov. 6 victory in the governor's race is continuing to reverberate through Northern Kentucky.

Beshear, who defeated Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher and will be sworn into office Dec. 11, has recommended that Fort Mitchell resident Nathan Smith become the vice chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party.

Smith is believed to be the first Northern Kentucky Democrat to hold the post, which is a non-paid volunteer position.

Smith, 36, is expected to be officially named to the post Dec. 1 after a vote of the Democratic Party's Central Executive Committee. The vote is considered a formality given that the committee typically follows the recommendation of the governor-elect for the party's leadership. ... http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...

---
history lessons?

Kentucky Democratic Party, R.I.P.: http://kentuckyblog.blogspot.com/2005/01...

Chris Dodd is a lucky man with such a wife and kids, but as they were headed out the door to go back to Des Moines he put in his annual call to Ted Kennedy given the date. and I was reminded again what all we lost when JFK died, and how these two senior Senators shared that. Those are a couple of adorable kids and the demands of a leader are such that it takes a great deal of effort to spend time with the kids, and I am thinking of the images we were left with of John Kennedy and his.

yesterday was about family

the nature of our family is that there were quite  a few twenty somethings in attendance and an over heard conversation was Dodd telling about traveling up the Amazon after his Peace Corp tour when they were talking about different countries they had visited

next time I see him I want to hear more of that adventure

Presidential candidates are real people, and Bill Richardson is the guy you "want to have a beer with", but Chris Dodd sure was a positive addition to a "family" gathering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_p...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_pr...

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms...

Hi Monica, I'm back for a few minutes and saw your LTE.

**********
About driver's licenses, here's my own recent experience with becoming *regularized* in la Suisse.

In my previous incarnation, my employer handled all residence and work permit issues. Because of my employer's special status, I was able to use my MD driver's license here, so long as I renewed it as required, which I did. Interestingly, the only times that I was ever requested to produce it here was (a) when I purchased a vehicle and (b) just this week, when I exchanged my car license plates as part of the *regularization* process.

Now that I am *independent* and eligible for a residence/work permit of my own due to special arrangements with retirees from my employer's service and the special status that US citizens are accorded here in accordance with treaties concluded when the USG still had credibility (five uninterrupted years of legal residence, with some restrictions depending on the type of residence/work permit that was originally issued), I must also get a regular Swiss driver's license. I have completed all formalities and am simply waiting for it to arrive. I was allowed to retain my MD license, but it now has a little stamp on the back saying that it is no longer valid for driving in Switzerland.

Interestingly, a Swiss driver's license, once issued, has no expiration date, meaning that it will remain valid unless it is taken away from me, or I turn it in, or die, whichever occurs first. It is considered to have begun from the date of my last MD license renewal. I can have the date of issuance moved back even further than that if I write back to the state authorities to request the date of first issuance of the respective US driver's license.

It is never used as proof of identification. Its only use is to show the authorities that an individual met the requirements of a driving permit and for insurance purposes, so that those who have been driving longer with good driving records get a break on the premiums.

Our multipurpose use of driver's licenses in the US has led to this recent conundrum where unlicensed persons must drive (in part due to the very pitiful state of our public transportation system). Without plans such as that put forth by Spitzer (and then reneged upon), these unlicensed drivers will remain on the roads, thereby resulting in safety hazards to all.

We keep mixing up apples and oranges and coming out on the worst side of the bargain.

*************
Now really gone.

Monica

the Chris and Jackie "team" work together much like the Edwards, and you can't help but make that comparison

I hope you don't mind that since I knew you had connected at that level that I steered Jackie in your direction for the youtube link for DFA. I explained that it was a re-make of sorts of what he had said to DFA on the video clip his staff made for me. She was in on that effort the first time so I went with her. A Senator always has staff at hand, but you can't beat a spouse for a "go to" need when you want something done. 

34.

...is expected to be officially named to the post Dec. 1 after a vote of the Democratic Party's Central Executive Committee. The vote is considered a formality given that the committee typically follows the recommendation of the governor-elect for the party's leadership. ...

---

I find this "tradition" offensive and very damaging to not only the Democratic Party as a whole but to our democracy.

Every vote counts, period.

The Kentucky Democratic Party needs a lot of reform to it's bylaws. What a bunch of arrogant elitists.

The best tape might be a clip from his next speech on the Senate floor. Iowans won't hold it against him if he goes back to Washington to get something done (or in this case get something stopped).

He expressed regret that so much of the last seven years has been spent playing defense and stopping things instead of a positive agenda.

I hope all the tramping around in the fields didn't wear him out, I'm guessing the hunting was a good balance to all the food, but he has had knee replacement surgery and was feeling it a little while we were watching Green Bay (not that he's a Packer fan) and I was thinking about time on the airplane flying back and forth.

well that is it for the Dodd report

DFA will be hearing more as the video becomes available, but as is the howardly tradition we'll just do it here whether or not that ends works

bbl

N.H. Presidential Primary Set for Jan. 8
by BEVERLEY WANG (The Associated Press)

CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire set its earliest-ever presidential primary on Wednesday, deciding on Jan. 8 and claiming its traditional spot as the nation's first in a nomination season pushed almost to New Year's Day of the election year.

The decision ends months of speculation, including the possibility that the state might actually move its primary into December to keep its spot at the head of the line. Iowa, which chooses delegates with a caucus system, begins five days earlier on Jan. 3.

New Hampshire primaries often have shaped presidential contests , sometimes dramatically , for nearly a century. Next year's early date, less than seven weeks from now, resulted from states around the country scheduling their own early primaries and caucuses to attract candidates before the major party nominees are chosen. As a result, both the Democratic and Republican nominees are likely to be effectively known by Feb. 5, when 22 states vote, if not earlier. full article: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/ne...


With former New Hampshire first lady Cay Gregg at one side, and state Rep. Jim Splaine on the other, New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner announces January 8th, 2008 as the date for the state's earliest-in-the-nation presidential primary in during a news conference in Concord, N.H., Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)
see photo: http://media.philly.com/images/300*248/2fa05900-cfa8-4585-9d18-3a46661f5a24.jpg

http://kywomen.typepad.com/kentucky_wome...

Kentucky Women: Power, Passion and Politics

Democratic Party
November 21, 2007

Only in Northern Kentucky...
I have friends outside of the Northern KY region question me all of the time about how I can stand to be a Democrat in this area. Specifically, they talk about how mean and nasty the Democrats up here are.

I have never disagreed. It's unbelievable.

As a Democrat in Boone County, I have asked repeatedly to have my email address added so that I can receive updates about meetings, events, etc. That was over a year ago. The Boone County Democratic Club is not welcoming and doesn't embrace those of us who would like to get involved.

For the past couple of days I have received emails and phone calls from Frankfort friends about comments being left on Pat Crowley's political blog for the Kentucky Enquirer. My friends were using this opportunity to emphasize their point about how shameful and mean Democrats are up here.

The comments left on Crowley's blog are seemingly Campbell County Democrats attacking Kenton County Democrats, Democrats attacking other local Democrats, and honestly Democrats attacking anyone in their party they can think of!

I'm serious. I couldn't make this shit up. Take a look for yourself HERE. Talk about embarrassing! This is one of the most shameful things I have seen in all of my years involved in politics.

Here's just a taste of what's going on up here. The following are comments left on Crowley's blog...

11/20/2007 7:26 AM Anonymous said...

You're right Pat, you're not there day-to-day and you don't know what's going on. Beshear didn't win in Kenton County, Fletcher lost. There's a difference. Attendance at the Dem Club meetings and the women's club meetings have dropped dramatically since the first of the year. The women had elections in November and only 9 out of the 40 or so on the member list showed up. Last year we had 20 or more women & men attending our women's club meetings and the Dem club had 25-30 people at each of their meetings but that's not how it is anymore. Maybe it's just a coincidence but this drop in attendance started shortly after Jameson took over the Executive Committee.

The members have already spoken Pat.

Ex-Iraq commander says bring troops home

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, said this week he supports Democratic legislation that calls for most troops to come home within a year.

His comments come as welcomed ammunition for the Democratic-controlled Congress in its standoff with the White House on war spending. This month, the House passed a $50 billion bill that would pay for combat operations but sets the goal that combat end by Dec. 15, 2008. The White House threatened to veto the measure, and Senate Republicans blocked it from passing.


The Pentagon on Tuesday said that as many as 200,000 civilian employees and contractors will begin receiving layoff warnings by Christmas unless Congress approves a war spending bill that President Bush will sign.

"The improvements in security produced by the courage and blood of our troops have not been matched by a willingness on the part of Iraqi leaders to make the hard choices necessary to bring peace to their country," Sanchez said in remarks to be aired Saturday for the weekly Democratic radio address.

"There is no evidence that the Iraqis will choose to do so in the near future or that we have an ability to force that result," he said.

Sanchez added that the House bill "makes the proper preparation of our deploying troops a priority and requires the type of shift in their mission that will allow their numbers to be reduced substantially." ...full article: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOShd...

The Michigan Supreme Court saved the day on the calendar. The whole process should start a month later by my estimation but this field will not yield an early winner so the later states will get a chance to weigh in.

WHY THE MEDIA HATE RON PAUL AND DENNIS KUCINICH

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=46126

Say the names Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul to the average American and you'll often hear a snicker, a laugh, and most likely, some derogatory statement. But why is that?

It's not like Kucinich or Paul go around making bizarre comments, such as "the Constitution is just a piece of paper," or, "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family," or even, "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

No, neither Dennis Kucinich nor Ron Paul made any of those statements. Instead they get portrayed in the media as "crazy," "goofy," "reckless," or "a nutjob" for saying things like, "I think it's inconsistent to tell the American people that you oppose the war and, yet, you continue to vote to fund the war. Because every time you vote to fund the war, you're reauthorizing the war all over again" (Kucinich), or, "Cliches about supporting the troops are designed to distract from failed policies, policies promoted by powerful special interests that benefit from war, anything to steer the discussion away from the real reasons the war in Iraq will not end anytime soon" (Paul).

Which of those sound like the rantings of a crazy person? Which quote sounds reckless?

It is true that most American media go out of their way to intentionally deny air time to people like Kucinich and Paul. Before we discuss why, it's important to hear a few other quotes from these two "nutjobs." See if you can find an underlying theme to these quotes:

"Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers." (Paul)

"This is a struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party, which in too many cases has become so corporate and identified with corporate interests that you can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans." (Kucinich)

"I am absolutely opposed to a national ID card. This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about. The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don't need a national ID card." (Paul)

"Bush is going in the wrong way. And I dare say, that is what the strategy of his administration is, is just to wipe out government's purpose for any social and economic justice at all. And I'm going to take the country in an opposite direction than he's taking it." (Kucinich)

"When the federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans." (Paul)

"Everyone should have health insurance? I say everyone should have health care. I'm not selling insurance." (Kucinich)

"War is never economically beneficial except for those in position to profit from war expenditures." (Paul)

Did you notice a pattern? Both Paul and Kucinich are against the influence of lobbyists, war profiteers, deficit spending, and big government, to name just a few.

REPUBLICANS AND CORPORATE DEMOCRATS ARE FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE

sunlight,

Independent to me simply signifies ones own perosnal pride in him or herself.........never to be overreliant on any one person or persons, for IF that is allowed, whe that fateful day comes when one is alone you are basically incapable of taking care of yourself..at least while we are blessed with youth it is best not to become a burden to society or dependent upon others for your existence..................it is better to donate to a charity than to become a recipient of one IMO.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/sn...

We've caught the dirty tricksters on video.

As you know, California Counts -- a cabal of right-wing political operatives linked to Rudy Giuliani -- is working hard to steal the White House (again) in 2008. They want to fool California voters into changing the rules so Giuliani -- or some other regressive Republican presidential nominee -- can rob at least 20 Electoral College votes from California next November.

When Steven Attewell, an eagle-eyed member of the blog Daily Kos, alerted me that California Counts petition-gatherers at UC Santa Barbara were gathering signatures to help "children with cancer," I headed out to investigate.

And, sure enough, when I looked carefully at what they wanted me to sign, I noticed that "children with cancer" was just a sneaky tactic to get people to sign the so-called "Electoral College Reform Initiative" -- what we call the dirty trick initiative.

Now, Secretary of State Debra Bowen is considering whether to open an investigation -- if enough of us come forward with stories like what I saw at UCSB.

Click here to watch my YouTube video of the sneaky petitioners trying to trick college students. If you've seen a signature gatherer using sneaky tactics to obtain signatures for the Dirty Trick Initiative, please let us know and we will pass on the information to Secretary Bowen:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/67...

It's against the law to obscure or misrepresent petitions. Saying "I'm helping children with cancer" to get people to sign a petition about changing the Electoral College is just plain wrong -- and it might be illegal.

As Secretary Bowen's office told the Daily Nexus, the UCSB newspaper, they will open an investigation into the "California Counts" campaign if enough people come forward with information about wrongdoing:

"Secretary Bowen takes allegations of elections fraud seriously," [Bowen Press Secretary Kate] Folmar wrote. "She encourages anyone who has witnessed a violation of the California Elections Code to contact the Secretary of State's Fraud Investigations Unit. Potential violations brought to the fraud unit's attention are thoroughly investigated and referred for prosecution when there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing."

The Courage Campaign is in touch with the Secretary of State's Fraud Investigations Unit and will be passing on my video to aid in any potential investigation.

Send this YouTube to your friends and tell them to keep their eyes peeled for dirty tricksters when they go holiday shopping this weekend. If you encounter a petitioner trying to trick you with a line about "children with cancer," then click here to report when and where you saw the dirty tricksters:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/m/67...

Let's put these California Counts signature gatherers on notice and collect evidence for the Secretary of State to launch a formal investigation.

Thanks for taking the time to help us kill this dirty trick. Again.

Erik Love
Courage Campaign

P.S.: Keep up to date with all of the latest information about the dirty tricks initiative at:

http://www.nodirtytricks.com/

We've caught the dirty tricksters on video. 

new thread

The whole process should start a month later by my estimation but this field will not yield an early winner so the later states will get a chance to weigh in. 

It's impossible to predict if the cattle will stampede.