Month: May 2008

Found at McClatchy:

Bush wants $600 million for Iraq police; but cuts aid to U.S. cops

— At the same time the Bush administration has been pushing for deep cuts in a popular crime-fighting program for states and cities, the White House has been fighting for approval of $603 million for the Iraqi police.

The White House earlier this year proposed slashing the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which helps local law enforcement officials deal with violent crime and serious offenders, to $200 million in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

In 2002, the year before the Iraq war, the program received $900 million.

When Will This Country WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read the rest at link.

Joe Lieberman has a unique way of clarifying what is wrong with any organization he belongs to or any policy position he espouses. It’s remarkable. A close look at Lieberman is exactly like a close look under a log…there’s a lot more going on there than you suspected, and none of it is pretty.

I’ve never really taken the idea of beating Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the general election very seriously. None of our strongest challengers agreed to run against him and he has more money than God. With Obama as the Democrat’s presidential nominee, I figure Kentucky will go strongly for McCain. But McConnell is still in trouble:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Kentucky Senate race shows Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford with a five percentage point lead over long-time Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. The poll, conducted just two days after Lunsford won the Democratic nomination, shows the challenger with 49% of the vote while McConnell earns 44%…

…just 67% of McCain voters currently plan to vote for McConnell. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of McCain voters say they will split the ticket and vote for Lunsford.

Sen. McConnell responded by releasing numbers from his own internal poll that show him up 50-39. Either way, McConnell is not safe. And if McConnell is not safe then it is probably safe to say that Lamar Alexander isn’t safe, either. It’s increasingly likely that the Dems will have over 10 competitive Senate races on election day. Here’s a list, in descending order of competitiveness.

1. Open- Virginia
2. Open- New Mexico
3. Sununu- New Hampshire
4. Open- Colorado
5. Stevens- Alaska
6. Wicker- Mississippi
7. Coleman- Minnesota
8. Dole- North Carolina
9. G. Smith- Oregon
10. McConnell- Kentucky
11. Collins- Maine
12. Cornyn- Texas
13. Open- Idaho
14. P. Roberts- Kansas
15. Inhofe- Oklahoma
16. Open- Nebraska
17. Alexander- Tennessee
18. Chambliss- Georgia
19. Graham- South Carolina
20. Barrasso- Wyoming
21. Sessions- Alabama
22. Cochran- Mississippi
23. Enzi- Wyoming

I think the first twelve races will be competitive. I think the top 17 races have the potential to be competitive. And Georgia, listed at 18, could become competitive of Jim Martin wins the primary on the Democratic side.

Max Blumenthal recently alerted The Nation readers that Joe Lieberman To Headline Pastor Hagee’s Upcoming Summit.

In spite of McCain’s apparent rejection of the apocalyptic preacher John Hagee, it is reported that his ally Joe Lieberman is scheduled to headline Hagee’s upcoming Washington summit. Since Lieberman has been McCain’s shadow throughout his presidential campaign, one has to wonder whether McCain actually did give up on Hagee, or whether a wink-wink relationship now exists between McCain and the Religious Right through Joe Lieberman’s continued advocacy.

As for Lieberman, anyone who uses terms such as “a preemptive military strike against Iran” cannot be abandoned. As the representative of the right wing Israeli Likud party in the US Senate, Lieberman’s own drum beating against Iran has been relentless. Joe has not withdrawn to date and it is unlikely that he will.
Here is a summary of Max Blumenthal’s report:

May 27, 2008

Senator Joseph Lieberman is scheduled to headline Pastor John Hagee’s 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit this July 22. In accepting Hagee’s invitation, Lieberman became the most senior elected representative confirmed to appear at the annual gala. Last year, when Lieberman spoke at Hagee’s summit, he compared the Texas televangelist to the biblical prophet Moses, dubbing him “an Ish Elochim,” or “a man of God.” Unless he rescinds his pledge to appear at this year’s summit, Lieberman can be expected to deliver another soul-stirring tribute.

Hagee’s vitriolic condemnation of Catholicism, his jeremiad declaring Hurricane Katrina divine punishment for New Orleans’ hosting of a “homosexual rally,” and his generally disturbing apocalyptic theology became national news last February when John McCain accepted his endorsement in a widely publicized ceremony.

While initially resisting pressure to reject Hagee’s endorsement, McCain finally ended his relationship with Hagee when a sermon by the preacher describing the Holocaust as the will of God registered on the mainstream media’s radar.

In truth, Hagee stated in no uncertain terms that Hitler was an agent of God, a “hunter” of Jews, which ultimately spurred the birth of Israel. Israel, for course, is where all Jews will then convert to Christianity presumably in some sort of end-times Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza choreographed by Hagee.

Rosner, the Israeli newspaper Ha’artez DC correspondent, said this about the McCain-Lieberman relationship in late February:

Israeli experts on American politics said in recent weeks that a campaign between Obama and McCain will place Israel at center stage and will require extreme caution on the part of Israel. McCain is hoping to attract Jewish American votes, both because of his many years of support for Israel, and also as a result of the endorsement he received from Senator Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman is often mentioned as a possible member of the McCain administration, possibly as secretary of defense.

Secretary of Defense? That’s what it says.

Still, how can Joe Lieberman be expected to give up the centerpiece of Israeli Middle East policy: a US attack on Iran, which Hagee advocates. Joe will show.

I’ve been busy with errands today. What’d I miss?

As I contemplate the way Americans come to conclusions about candidates that effect their votes (our recent primary in West Virginia, for instance, with a predominance of non-college educated people many of whom believe Barack Obama to be a Muslim), I get increasingly worried about how the next administration will handle the economy or the war or anything else.

I guess I am most worried that people will vote for a candidate, say McCain, because they believe a certain set of lies and misrepresentations which he seems to come out with every day.

The Gallup organization just published this on their web site:

Four out of Five Americans Know Earth Revolves Around Sun
Probing a more universal measure of knowledge, Gallup also asked the following basic science question, which has been used to indicate the level of public knowledge in two European countries in recent years: “As far as you know, does the earth revolve around the sun or does the sun revolve around the earth?” In the new poll, about four out of five Americans (79%) correctly respond that the earth revolves around the sun, while 18% say it is the other way around. These results are comparable to those found in Germany when a similar question was asked there in 1996; in response to that poll, 74% of Germans gave the correct answer, while 16% thought the sun revolved around the earth, and 10% said they didn’t know. When the question was asked in Great Britain that same year, 67% answered correctly, 19% answered incorrectly, and 14% didn’t know.

Frankly, 18% of Americans thinking the sun revolves around the earth is a huge number, given the fact that we have known that the opposite is true for at least three centuries.

If even the most basic items of educational knowledge escape close to 1 out of 5 Americans, how can a government of by and for the people be established and still be sensible and able to make the changes we need?

Under The LobsterScope

Bumped up so you don’t forget to call now that the long holiday is over. Steven D

Some Phone Numbers for you:

Howard Dean
Chair
Dem. Nat’l Committee: 202-863-8000

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House: (202) 225-0100

Harry Reid
Senate Maj. Leader: (202) 224-3542

Steny Hoyer
House Maj. Leader: (202) 225-3130

I’ll leave the talking to you. Besides, I think we all know what needs to be said to these luminaries, don’t we?

Update [2008-5-24 10:26:20 by Steven D]: For now their voicemail boxes all appear full. Thanks to good BooTrib members in this thread, there is more contact info below the fold.
Email addresses for uncommitted delegates:

Howard Dean (deanh@dnc.org); Rolands Martin (roland@rolandsmartin.com);
budmail@mail.house.gov; gabrielle.giffords@mail.house.gov;
sf.nancy@mail.house.gov; mcnerneyinfo@mail.house.gov;
mike.honda@mail.house.gov; samfarr@mail.house.gov;
congressmanjimcosta@mail.house.gov; bob.filner@mail.house.gov;
susan.davis@mail.house.gov; mark.udall@mail.house.gov;
john.salazar@mail.house.gov; james.marshall@mail.house.gov;
rahm.emanuel@mail.house.gov; nancy.boyda@mail.house.gov;
dennis.moore@mail.house.gov; william.jefferson@mail.house.gov;
charlie.melancon@mail.house.gov; don.cazayoux@mail.house.gov;
michael.michaud@mail.house.gov; rep.sarbanes@mail.house.gov;
steny.hoyer@mail.house.gov; john.olver@mail.house.gov;
niki.tsongas@mail.house.gov; john.tierney@mail.house.gov;
edward.markey@mail.house.gov; collin.peterson@mail.house.gov;
gene.taylor@mail.house.gov; travis.childers@mail.house.gov;
rush.holt@mail.house.gov; bob.etheridge@mail.house.gov;
congmcintyre@mail.house.gov; tom.udall@mail.house.gov;
charlie.wilson@mail.house.gov; rep.kaptur@mail.house.gov;
zack.space@mail.house.gov; dennis.kucinich@mail.house.gov;
dan.boren@mail.house.gov; robert.a.brady@mail.house.gov;
jason.altmire@mail.house.gov; rep.doyle@mail.house.gov;
john.spratt@mail.house.gov; jclyburn@mail.house.gov;
lincoln.davis@mail.house.gov; bart.gordon@mail.house.gov;
nick.lampson@mail.house.gov; jim.matheson@mail.house.gov;
alan.mollohan@mail.house.gov; senator@ksalazar.senate.gov;
senator@jbiden.senate.gov; senator@tcarper.senate.gov;
senator_harkin@exchange.senate.gov; webform@landrieu.senate.gov;
senator@cardin.senate.gov; webmail@baucus-iq.senate.gov;
senator@tester.senate.gov; webmail@reid-iq.senate.gov;
webmail@lautenberg-iq.senate.gov; senator@brown.senate.gov;
senator@rwyden.senate.gov; senator@reed.senate.gov; senator@webb.senate.gov;
webmail@kohl-iq.senate.gov

Contact email link for DNC:
http://www.democrats.org/page/s/contactissues

Contact email link for Pelosi:
http://www.speaker.gov/contact/

Contact email link for Pelosi:
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/

Link to other Dem Leaders’ websites:
http://democrats.senate.gov/leadership/

Fax nos.

DNC: (202) 863-8063
Pelosi: (202) 225-8259
Reid: (202) 224-7327

Today my third novel, CodeSpell, is coming out from Penguin’s Ace division. It’s a great day for me. It’s also a very hard one. In mid-March my grandmother, Phyllis Neese, died. She had a huge role in raising me and in my becoming a science fiction and fantasy author. She was my grandmother, she was my friend, and she was one of my biggest fans. Not having her here today to see the book hurts. She was born in 1924 and she was a grand old lady on many levels.
She was the first woman to go to the tech school where she learned to repair radio equipment. She was a single mother in an era when that was even harder than it is now. She went from a rural beginning in an era before the advent of the transistor to a computer test equipment technician. She lived through a lot of hard times, both personally and with this country but she was never bitter. She embraced change her whole life and she worked hard to stay current.

Nixon made her into a yellow dog Democrat, and she made me into one too. I know one of the things she was most looking forward to these last few years was the departure of George Bush from the White House. Unfortunately she didn’t live to see it, though she did take enormous satisfaction from the 2006 election.

She was also looking forward with great anticipation to the publication of CodeSpell and the sequel that will follow next year. She was a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy and she passed that love of genre on to my mother and the both of them passed it along to me. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother and grandmother reading the Lord of the Rings to me, or Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and I know that I wouldn’t be where I am now without that.

One of her big regrets over the last two years was not having been well enough to attend any of my readings or signings and I know she would dearly have loved to be here today and to hold the book in her hands. I’ve tried to write about how I feel about her death a couple of times but it’s hurt too much. Too be honest, it hurts too much this time too, but I refuse to let this day go by without acknowledging how much this book and all of my writing owes to her, how much I owe her.

Thank you, Grandma.
I miss you, especially today,

Kelly McCullough

CodeSpell (reviews)
Cybermancy
WebMage

State Rep. Rick Noriega provides a flavor of what it will feel like to support President Bush’s veto of the GI Bill in the Houston Chronicle:

Unfortunately, my opponent, Sen. John Cornyn, failed to stand up for our troops. Cornyn was one of only 22 senators to vote against the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, continuing his history of turning his back on veterans. Adding insult to injury, Cornyn went so far as to condone and encourage a presidential veto of the bill. Webb’s GI Bill passed with the support of 75 senators, including Texas’ senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Texas needs two senators fighting for our veterans and our families. It is reprehensible that Cornyn supports keeping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but refuses to provide for our soldiers once they return home. As a public servant, as a soldier and as a Texan, I am ashamed of Cornyn’s continued efforts to deny our troops the benefits they earned defending the United States.

Sen. Cornyn argues that financing higher education for veterans would encourage soldiers to leave the military to attend college. The notion that we should limit benefits to force our troops to stay in the military is morally repugnant. The knowledge I gained while attending college is instrumental in the work I do as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army National Guard. I believe that higher education should be a reality for any American who wants it, and I am disheartened by Cornyn’s desire to deny this valuable right to the honorable men and women of the armed forces. A stronger GI Bill will help military recruitment, attracting America’s most capable and gifted volunteers to the military during a time when we need more troops than ever…

We call these young men and women the “next greatest generation,” and given the opportunity to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, I will do everything in my power to make sure they are treated that way.

Sens. Alexander, Cochran, Enzi, Graham, McConnell, and Sessions are the other Republicans up for re-election this year that voted against the bill. Sens. Alexander and McConnell may live to regret it.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

click to enlarge
Howard Dean was of course correct when he said America was really shades of maroon. His 50 State Strategy was specifically designed to nudged the maroon in all states a few shades closer to blue… and I believe that is working.

All across the spectrum we see this happening. The long string of losses for Republicans in special elections I think is a sign of things to come.

So things were looking up for the election, especially when a state like Iowa elects a Black man named Hussein to the Iowa Caucus. Earthquake. My friends, that was a tectonic shattering quake.

Then, as if we were all kissed on the mouth, the Libertarian Party up and elects Bob Barr as their Presidential nominee. Barr, if you remember, is the guy who tried to get soldiers practicing Wicca kicked out of the military among a plethora of wrong-headed nonsense. One of the LP delegation took the stage after the first ballot and schooled the crowd about what it says about them when they have someone like Barr as their top of the ticket, “what is wrong with us?”

After the sixth ballot, Barr won. Yes, I watched the whole thing on CSPAN – with absolute attention paid to the TV. For PoliGeeks like me, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Barr will do nothing but help progressives in the 2008 general election. The Repubs that are not in love with McCain will have another place to punch their ballot and thank God for it.

Hell, I am going to put a Bob Barr ad on my website! Cause if this was a kiss in the mouth to progressives, baby, I am Frenching!

SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper – a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads – highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville.

I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?)

This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America.

So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter.

candorcomment@sfchronicle.com

or

David Wiegand
Executive Datebook Editor
The San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103