Blood Boilin' in New York

Blood Boilin' in New York

This opinion is unfiltered and, as such, the viewpoints and opinions expressed by the writer are not necessarily in line with my own. What bothers the author, a Democrat, is the mindset that has spread in Washington, D.C. and into our local races - the mindset that says: "follow the money, not the voters."

BLOOD BOILIN' IN NEW YORK
By ANONYMOUS

As many of you know, we Democrats are getting ready for the '06 campaigns, but we have a few '05 campaigns to think about right now. One of these campaigns is the New York City mayoral race between millionaire and FORMER DEMOCRAT (until he ran) Michael Bloomberg and Freddy Ferrer, a nice and decent man around whom the party has unified in New York.

But there's always a catch. Enter Steven Rattner and the people like him.

Rattner, like Bloomberg, is also a millionaire. He's donated a lot of money to Democrats over the years, but suddenly he's decided to support Bloomberg in the race. An article in the New York Observer seems to say this is big news. Surely, it means Freddy Ferrer is faltering, the article alludes to.

So why is my blood boiling? If I've said it once, I'll say it a million times. Elections should never be coronations. Last time I checked, it's the voters that decide these things -- not how much money you have.

Now look, I don't have a problem with millionaires or their donations so long as the cause is right. What bothers me so much is this mindset that has spread in Washington and into our local races. It's the mindset that says: follow the money, not the voters.

Here's what we desperately need in this country: candidates who are good and smart enough to remember we're the real power brokers, and when our blood boils they had better listen up!

Well, Freddy Ferrer is listening. Now he needs our help.

It's a bad thing if Bloomberg wins -- bad for New York and bad for our party. He's cut funding for critical programs in New York while spending gobs of his personal fortune to gain support from folks. Ferrer has come so close to him in the polls because he's reached out and spoken up. Party labels aside, I know who I'd support judging just by how they run their campaigns.

And when Bloomberg was challenged to come to Harlem for a debate, Bloomberg declined ---through his spokesperson, of course! This guy is out of touch, friends.

So here's what we know. Bloomberg is a bad thing for New York. Freddy Ferrer is trying hard to win -- and win the right way. And things stink to high heaven if Rattner, the millionaire back-and-forth donor, represents the front lines of our party. He's doesn't.

We do.

A spokesperson for the Ferrer campaign said this:

"The Democratic Party is more united around Freddy Ferrer than the party has been around a candidate for more than a decade ..we can't speak for the people who Steve Rattner talks to at cocktail parties, but Democrats from Hillary Clinton to Eliot Spitzer to John Kerry know that Freddy Ferrer¹s fight...is compelling to those of us who believe in equality and prosperity for all, not just for some millionaires."

But I'll leave you instead with a quote from Mr. Rattner:

"I think slavery has been abolished in this country and I'm free to make a decision [on whom to support] on a case-by-case basis."

If Rattner thinks slavery was the last and only issue good Democrats care about, then he needs to find whatever subway route that ships him back to reality.

It's time to stand up for Freddy Ferrer [http://www.ferrer2005.com].

See:
The Plutocrats
Of Democrats
Go Bloomberg

In the New York Times, Patrick Healy reveals a partisan side to the NYC Mayor who does not like to appear as a partisan:

when it comes to donating money to politicians, Mr. Bloomberg's Republican bona fides are as good as they get, judging from his campaign finance records. As mayor, he gave $250,000 to the same Republican party-building effort that Representative Tom DeLay is now charged with using to launder political money. Mr. Bloomberg has also doled out thousands of dollars to politicians who are far more conservative than he is.

For Mr. Bloomberg, whose campaign slogan casts him as "a leader, not a politician," this pattern of giving may be the most partisan-driven aspect of his life in politics. In a city where Democratic registration far outweighs Republican, the mayor's financial ties to Republicans and President Bush are a source of concern to some allies, who worry that the donations will turn off liberal voters he needs.

Daily Tar Heel on John Edwards

Daily Tar Heel on John Edwards

The Daily Tar Heel talks up John Edwards and his upcoming college/university tour. (Sounds like I'm talking about a rock star - but that's how much respect the Tar Heelers have for their native son ;)

I have written about the upcoming Project Opportunity tour and I will link to it as soon as it appears on the One America site.

Don't miss Sen Edwards on Jon Stewart's Daily Show tonight. He'll be making a "special announcement."
*Update - Sen Edwards did a great job on the Daily Show, but I must have misunderstood Jon Stewart on the Oct 4th show. I thought he'd said there'd be an announcement tonight. Sorry for the false teaser.

Iraq Vets Are Running For Office

Iraq Vets Are Running For Office
Some are critical about Bush's course in Iraq

At Veterans for Common Sense, Kimberly Hefling writes about those who did not question their government, but loyally did their duty for their country. Now, a handful of veterans who are no strangers to the horrors of war are pursuing seats in the House of Representatives. They talk critically about the Bush administration and the Iraq war, yet they don't fit the typical anti-war/peacenik image. Unlike the Viet Nam era, the veterans of today have an advantage because Americans have a positive feeling about their soldiers.

What the Bush administration and the current RNC leadership did not anticipate was the continued support of and respect for American troops by the political left, combined with a handful of tough, honest, and vocal vets who would challenge the current GOP on their foreign policy and the failing course in Iraq.

"I'm not anti-war, I'm anti-failure," [Bryan Lenz] said. "We need to define what victory is and we need to set a plan to get there. You cannot stay the course if you do not set a course...."

"...They really want to help the Iraqi people and see the mission through, and they think we're losing because of stupid mistakes made at the senior leadership level," [Charles Sheehan-Miles] said.

John Edwards Apperance on Tavis Smiley

John Edwards Appearance
on Tavis Smiley

John Edwards appeared as a guest on Tavis Smiley's PBS show on October 3rd. He spoke about the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and about his work at the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Transcript here
Listen here

Sen. Edwards on Harriet Miers nomination:

I think it will be important to get some of the information and writings that she has done, whether in the White House or in other jobs that she has held in the past, so that we can get some sense about where she stands. Because right now, she is very much a blank slate. And I think it is also going to be really critical for the Senate, particularly the members of, my former colleagues on the Judiciary Committee..to be really vigorous in their questioning of her and make sure that she answers the questions.

Sen. Edwards Talks About the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

When I ran for President of the United States, myself, I made it a significant part of my campaign. You remember me talking about the two different Americas and one America for the privileged and one for everybody else. And a big part of that was the issue of poverty. And then when the election was over, you know, I had a choice like people always do, about what you want to spend your time doing.

And among all the choices, this was the thing I felt most strongly about. So I have helped start a poverty center, Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We have got some very good people, two terrific women right now who are working for me there. We are working together on this poverty center.

We have brought in scholars from the university campus. We are bringing in some of the best experts in the country to talk about their views on what the causes of poverty are, the root causes, what can be done to eliminate poverty, looking at it in a very practical, 21st century, forward-looking way. And – as I'm sure we are going to talk about, you know, we are doing lots of practical things. We're having summits to bring in some of the great experts in the country.

I'm going have a panel in November of some of the leading journalists whose have written about poverty, columnists and press reporters to talk about why the press has covered poverty the way it has in the past. Has that changed as a result of Katrina? How will it change in the future, what is the likelihood - the impact that will have on the psyche of the American people? But the real issue - I think, is this window of opportunity, post-hurricane Katrina, is open. The American people are paying attention. The question is, will that window stay open, or is it gonna close?

Left Behind - Bush Press Con

Left Behind - Bush Press Con
Featured today at Blogcritics.org

Presscon Transcript - Wa Po

As usual, I felt left out of George W. Bush's America this morning. Tuning in to his press conference (the first in four long months), I heard him kowtowing to Conservatives. It was all " don't worry - Harriet's good " all the time. We all know that Bush can push his agenda down our throats without the assistance of one Democrat, but he cannot get a lot done without the support of the Conservatives of whom he's tried to convince that he is one (while he spends like a drunken sailor). He publically swore to David Gregory that he's still proudly a conservative. He flatly refused to talk about the Valerie Plame leak or who he'd remove from office if/when the indictments came down from Patrick Fitzgerald.

When he had an opportunity to state that which he personally felt he could have done better in his response to Hurricane Katrina, his very first reaction was to point fingers toward State and Local governments. He boasted about the good job he did "getting $2000 to people" after the hurricane, and waxed endlessly about people taking in strangers (which has nothing to do with his own policies which seem to concentrate on rebuilding stuctures and have little to do with rebuilding actual lives.)

Bush took down the "beer-ah-cracy" a few pegs by highlighting the private sector as the "true engine for hope and opportunity." He proclaimed a resurgence in employment of construction workers (while he suspends Davis-Bacon; the rule which would have allowed/ensured those construction workers a decent wage). Local firms are being left behind as a result of no-bid contract crony-ism.

On Harriet Miers, Bush said "I know her heart and what she believes." That's good. The question is - why should we trust the guy who lied us into an unnecessary and disastrous war - and will we ever get to know anything substantial about Harriet before she's confirmed? We certainly didn't learn much about John Roberts. The crafty Roberts avoided every opportunity to look America directly in the eye and speak in a non-legalese fashion to answer the questions that truly matter. When Bush was asked if he would release documents that might help us get to know Harriet (without Bush claiming Executive privelege), Bush's first response was "Ah-heh!," the annoying guffaw that is code for "you've got to be f--king kidding."

Speaking about an unnecessary and disastrous war, Bush has gone back to the use of the term "global struggle" to accompany discussion of the "war on terror". As you may recall, he avoided the use of the term "global struggle" this past July, and now he's revisiting the phrase. Once again attempting to convince a doubting public, Bush insisted that Iraq was part of the war on terror, or what Gen John Abizaid referred to as a "larger global struggle." If you've recently become confused about the mixed-message headlines regarding when we'll start pulling troops out of Iraq, Bush wants you to know "WE'RE NOT LEAVING IRAQ" - a direct quote. I hope that clarifies the matter. (Ah-heh).

On Poverty and Race, Bush's presecription is Ownership and the private sector. He said that Ownership is "empowerfully healing." He substitutes policies that rebuild meaningful lives with policies that promote greed, competition, and materialism. In the same breath, he'll heap mighty praise upon faith-based groups for all they do. In other words, there is no room in government bureaucracy for social safety nets. As Paul Krugman said yesterday in his NYT column, Bush's mission in office is "to dismantle or at least shrink the federal social safety net, yet he must, as a matter of political necessity, provide aid to Katrina's victims. His problem is how to do that without legitimizing the very role of government he opposes."

Personally, one of the richest parts of the Press con was hearing Bush admit that he used his very own style of Affirmative Action in choosing the members of his own cabinet. Saying it was his "responsibility to reach out" and "elevate people," he waxed on and on about the worthiness of his choosing black folks to be on his team.

Bush showed a "joking" disdain for public polls, and if he pays no attention to the polls, as he says he doesn't, he may wish to do so now. He is so out of touch with the American public that it has hampered his ability to forward his agenda without his right-wing cronies in the House and Senate bullying it through.

When asked how much "political capital" he figured he had left, his first reponse was a loud "Heh -heh-heh," sounding more like Beavis and Butthead than Bountiful Bush.

He caused me to zone out and daydream about the good old days when he tediously droned on and on about the H51N virus. Zzzzzzzz.... I guess that's what you do when you're trying to kill time and avoid the hot topics. (And there are plenty of hot topics).

For any reader who thinks I am overly critical of this President, I'd like to conclude by telling you that I am looking at him without blinders. I have realized, for a long time now, that I have been politically left behind. Millions of good Americans realize they stand without hope for representation or successful promotion of policies that reflect one united America. President Bush is the figurehead of an extremely divided and ugly America, and I'm speaking to you today from the other side of a perfectly polarized country. Bush said nothing today to make me believe anything else.

Headlines

Headlines

Paul Hackett to run for Senate
Paul Hackett, the Iraq War veteran from Cincinnati who was hailed by national Democrats for his narrow loss this summer in a heavily Republican House district, has decided to challenge Mike DeWine for U.S. Senate in 2006.


DeLay Is Indicted Again in Texas; Money Laundering Is Charge
A grand jury in Texas issued a second indictment on Monday against Representative Tom DeLay, accusing the Texas Republican and two aides of money laundering in a $190,000 transaction that prosecutors have described as a violation of the state's ban on the use of corporate money in local election campaigns.
*Well, he's just an indictable boy...


Spitzer Leads in NYS Governor Race - Latest Poll
Battleground States Polls are out [Zogby]. Spitzer beats Pataki by 33.8 points.


Harry Reid suggested Harriet Miers as good pick for Supreme Court - would like to see someone who has not had judicial experience.
See the Raw Story report:

In a conference call held with liberal bloggers last week, Reid declared that he had told Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card that Miers was a good choice for the Court.

Times to Run Full Story on Judith Miller this week
The New York Times will carry what executive editor Bill Keller calls a full account of Judith Miller's involvement in the Plame case as early as this weekend, according to an article in the paper Tuesday. [Editor & Publisher]
* Recommended read: Outing Valerie Plame is the tape on the Watergate doors [Corrente]

Melancholy Abe

Melancholy Abe


photo credit: www.nationmaster.com

Abe Lincoln is looked at through the lens of his melancholy.
[Book Review, Lincoln's Melancholy, Wa Po]

"Spitzerism"

"Spitzerism"

Norm Scheiber (of TNR) has an interesting piece on 'the Spitz' - Eliot Spitzer - in the New York Times today. The term "spiterism" describes Spitzer's GOP-infuriating approach to prosecuting corporate wrongdoers. (Grover Norquist hates Spitzer's tactics, so he must be doing something right.) Sheiber suggests that Democrats could benefit, in a political sense, from watching Spitzer's tenacious toughness against the moral evils which surface on the dark side of business and fearlessly defending the social compact between ordinary people and large institutions like government and business.

Gene Sperling, the chief economic adviser in the Clinton White House, says that Spitzer grasps this distinction: "The key in the Spitzer message is. . .it's not a populist bashing for the sake of it.".........

"His advocacy on behalf of a growing and new class of investors could have wide applicability," says Howard Wolfson, a former Democratic Congressional strategist and an adviser to Hillary Clinton.........

"I think that if Spitzer is able to translate the particular work he did around risk associated with investment in the stock market. . .into a larger narrative for Democrats about risk in the 21st century" - not just stock-market risk but risk associated with pensions, health care, employment - that "could help forge the bond with the middle class that we've lost."

With the middle class feeling that their financial situation is less stable than ever before, Spitzer's emphasis on making companies more accountable makes them feel more secure. No one wants to see their life savings wiped out as a result of corporate greed and wrongdoing.

See Spitzer for New York 2006 - which is another blog which I write and maintain.
spitzer4ny2006.blogspot.com

Lake George Accident

Lake George Accident

The boat that capsized on Lake George (in the Adirondack region of NY State) today, drowning 21 elderly passengers, is here.

Playboy Features Political Bloggers

Playboy Features Political Bloggers

No sexy pictures - sorry! ;)

Judith Miller Updates

Judith Miller Updates

Jay Rosen on Judith Miller:
At the Huffington Post, Press Think's Jay Rosen says that "civil disobedience succeeds when there is clarity in purpose, cogency in argument, and transparency in action. None of which has been apparent in [NYT reporter Judith Miller's] decisons..."

_____________

WHIG may see a RICO charge per Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (and WaPo).

At Talk Left:

[Newsweek's] Michael Isikoff reports that Joseph Tate, Libby's lawyer, says Libby did not speak to Novak. Also, the call between Libby and Miller in jail was a four-way conference call with both their lawyers on the call.

Kos talks about some questions asked and comments made by George Stephanopoulos on today's ABC This Week. A source close to this told Stephanopoulos this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these White House discussions related to the Plame case. Did Bush and/or Cheney play a direct role?

Arianna Huffington recommends the exchange of letters between Scooter Libby, Judith Miller, their lawyers and Patrick Fitzgerald, available on this New York Times site.

Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?

Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?

[Yale Global] Associate professor F. Gregory Gause III of the University of Vermont explores the question of "Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?"

Gause analyses available data on terror incidence and regime types and concludes that "the data available do not show a strong relationship between democracy and an absence of or a reduction in terrorism ... there is no relationship between the incidence of terrorism in a given country and the degree of freedom enjoyed by its citizens."

He also quotes numerous surveys and other evidence showing that Arabs favor democracy, but are cynical of American attempts to promote democracy in the Arab world (such as through the Iraq war). He concludes that American policy to push democratic reforms in the Arab world will probably result in Islamist-led governments that are critical of the United States, and "is unlikely to have much effect on anti-American terrorism emanating from there."

A better approach, he suggests, would be for Washington to "focus on pushing Arab governments to make political space for liberal, secular, leftist, nationalist and other non-Islamist parties to set down roots and mobilize voters." He also sees the US focus on elections as the centerpiece of its democracy promotion strategy as "troubling," along with the "unjustified" confidence that Washington has in its ability to predict, and even direct, the course of politics in other countries, noting that its "hubris should have been crushed in Iraq."

Full text available at Yale Global online.

Karen Armstrong on Myth

Karen Armstrong on Myth

There is an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth avialable at The Australian.

Poverty In the News

Poverty In the News

Clarence Page is glad to hear people jawboning about poverty again. He says,

"We who have succeeded in life need to be divinely dissatisfied with tax breaks and other government policies that widen our rich-poor divide to a canyon resembling that of a Third World country."

The Center For American Progress has a brief compilation of excerpts from the Opinion pages of American newspapers about the issue of Poverty.


Bill Stamps of the Long Beach Press-Telegram is convinced that of the hundreds of bodies found in the aftermath of the Katrina flood, not one was a rich person - white or black.


Star Tribune Washington Bureau Chief David Westphal has a feature about Poverty today which begins by reminding us that the "searing images of New Orleans residents who were stranded by floodwaters because they had no means to flee Hurricane Katrina exposed an abiding truth about poverty in America." Although the recent rise in poverty occurred on Bush's watch, it's unclear to Westphal how much responsibility Bush will bear.

Economists say poverty's resurgence was almost certain to follow the economic recession that began two months after Bush took office, just as poverty rates rose after the recessions of the early 1980s and early 1990s...Further, the U.S. poverty picture remains well below historic averages because of dramatic gains during the 1990s.

Newsday's Martin C. Evans continues the discussion about the hurricanes which have pushed the plight of the poor into the nation's consciousness.

The poor are far less likely to own their own home, have access to credit or have property insurance, [said Carla Prater, associate director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center.] Tens of thousands of people in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama have lost furniture, clothes, cars and other belongings, and will have to start over from nothing, she said...."They don't have savings in the bank to fall back on. They don't have money to stay in a motel or rent an apartment until they get a job, so they end up in a shelter," Prater said. "They don't have health care so their teeth don't look so good when they go to get a job. It goes on and on and on."..Many of the victims of Katrina and Rita had virtually nothing even before the storms.

An excerpt from a letter to the editor of the Binghamton, NY Press & Sun Bulletin by Endicott, NY citizen Anton Wolfe:

The poor are becoming stronger in number, but weaker in power. The rich are becoming smaller in number, but greater in power. The poor are taught division, racial tension, rivalry among themselves. The rich know only of unity in their struggle to maintain their wealth....Destitution and despair do not discriminate based on religion or color. The rich discriminate only by the monetary line. War always divides the common people, always benefits the rich, always takes its greatest toll on the poor......Fight not the war of the rich; rather, fight the war of the poor. Overcome all differences to find the common ground of having nothing...

Tom Ashcraft of the Charlotte Observer wonders why the poor are still with us and is suggesting that we abandon some of our old thinking and consider new solutions. He recommends socially engineering Welfare to reward those who respond to government's encouragement of work and marriage. He leans toward increased dependence upon churches, synagogues, charitable and nonprofit organizations, individuals and corporations as a "voluntary charity" alternative to welfare. [My comment: Slippery slope/slippery slope/slippery slope.]

In Pensacola, Florida, citizens will soon conduct workshops, discussion panels and brainstorming sessions focusing on three areas -- faith, family and finances -- to try to come up with their own solutions to massive racial disparities in poverty, education, health care and quality of life.

In an appeal for support for the United Way, UW/Rhode Island President and CEO Anthony Mainone says,

The cost of housing has already outstripped the income of many in our state. Add to that dramatic increases in heating and transportation costs and you have a storm that will force more and more families into shelters. And we don't have enough shelters to provide safe haven to all of those needing it..... for an increasing number of our people the rain is falling in buckets and the wind is blowing hard. There are people right here in Rhode Island who live Katrina everyday. Their hope dwindles the longer we wait. The need is urgent and the time is now. We must be their hope. The cost of heat and housing will be front and center on United Way of Rhode Island's agenda this year and for years to come..."

The Fair

From the annual Buckwheat Harvest Festival in Penn Yan NY
These and all photos shown by Jude Nagurney Camwell

The Fair

I love the New York State Fair. The sights, the sounds, and the smells. Comedian Tom Kenny (who is the creator of Sponge Bob Squarepants) is from my own hometown of East Syracuse, N.Y. I saw him perform here at the Landmark Theater a few years back, and I recall a great joke he told about feeling like the most handsome man in the world when he walked the fairgrounds of another local fair, the East Syracuse Field Days. He looked around at his fellow fair-kind and realized he wasn't so bad after all. You certainly see a lot of ego-free characters at fairs. Odd folks - and I'm talking about the ones going to see the freak show, not the ones who are in it. Freak shows. There's a whole 'nother story altogether. Otis the Frog Boy had no arms to speak of, yet he could light a cigarette and flip it into his mouth and out again with it being still lit. How cool is that? Kids, don't try that at home.


This is me and Charlie Daniels at the New York State Fair

When I think of the New York State Fair, I think of the smell of fried dough and the wonderful scent of saugage, onions and peppers floating in the air from the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que stand. The Dinosaur is a favorite of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who visit the NY State fair every year without fail. After his first NY State Fair visit, then-President Bill Clinton said, "I come from a place where barbecue is not food; it is a way of life. It is a philosophy of human nature. I have rarely had any as good as this." (September 1, 2000).



I took this photo of a pair of feet and legs, and took home the Red ribbon at the New York State Fair a number of years ago.

Songwriter Chris Trapper of the Push Stars (Boston) wrote a song about fairs. Growing up in Buffalo, NY, I can't help but wonder if he wasn't inspired by the same New York state carnival scenes....

I've got cotton candy lips
Salt water taffy smile
I'm blowing all my money
But I'm going out in style
I start skipping down the street
'Cause I smell it in the air
Yeah I was, and I am, and I will always be a square
Meet me at the Fair..

The Shifting Ground

The Shifting Ground

There is an analogous relationship which can be derived from a view of the physical ground that shifted beneath the levees of New Orleans and the political ground which has shifted beneath the Republican party.

The Gulf coast was far more vulnerable than most people realized. The Republican party was far more vulnerable than cocky politicians thought when they believed that they would never collide with the consequences stemming from their perverted policies and practices.

Juan Cole on Dems and Iraq

Juan Cole on Dems and Iraq

I think you will be interested to read Professor Juan Cole's analysis and opinion about Democrats and the Iraq war.

Quotes from the article (Full text can be seen HERE [truthout.org]):

...The Democrats on the Hill may in some instances be anxious about criticizing the war because they had voted for it, and fear being tagged as inconsistent. But they have other options than silence. They could point out that they were misled by the Bush administration, which menaced them with visions of mushroom clouds from Iraqi nukes, visions that now seem likely to have been outright lies....

.....The potential of a strong antiwar stance striking a chord with the public has already been demonstrated by Paul Hackett. A Marine who recently served in Iraq, Hackett became a civilian and ran in August as a Democrat for Congress in Ohio's 2nd District, traditionally heavily Republican. He lambasted George W. Bush as a chicken hawk and said he should never have begun the Iraq war. Yet Hackett is no peacenik. He says, "I love the Marine Corps. I happen to think it's being misused in Iraq." He only narrowly lost the election, and the Democratic leadership is seriously thinking of putting him up for an Ohio Senate seat, according to the Hill.

Even Democrats who are not veterans of Iraq need to find the courage to speak out on the war if they are effectively to challenge the Republicans. Simply waiting around for things to get worse in Baghdad is a dangerous strategy, not so much because the situation is likely to improve any time soon but because the American people want real leadership on this issue and they know they are not getting it from Bush.

I couldn't agree more. Nothing turns me off, in a political sense, any more than when I hear prominent Democrats talking about purchasing more American blood and spending more American treasure for a failing venture of which we citizens were conned into. It's a poisoned war. The mission was never accomplished. If you ask any American what the mission was, I gurantee that you would get fifty different answers from each respective citizen. It's become the deadliest flip-flop in American history, and our President has led us into it. It is pathetic and unnerving to think that a Democrat would perpetuate this disaster, thinking that they're keeping themselves "electable." (Count the number of years now that they have lost American elections).

Americans need leaders who are brave enough to stick with convictions that fall in line with reality - and who can communicate the reasons for those convictions so the average citizen can understand, hope, and trust.

Listen to the Generals (courtesy of Mark Mazetti/LA Times). "The 149,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq are increasingly part of the problem." That is not what we've heard from Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton.

Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Neocon Michael Ledden is furious with whoever leaked the information about his friend Larry Franklin. Franklin is the former Pentagon Iran analyst who is expected to plead guilty to three charges of mishandling government secrets next week in a deal his lawyers hope will guarantee his wife at least half of his civil service pension. [NY Sun]

Jim Larson has given a thorough overview of the neocons who've worked directly with the Bush administration, and in that examination of neocons and how their tight ship has become a traitorous ship of fools, Larson says:

When Mr. Franklin approached Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee with classified information, they were already under surveillance by the FBI. Caught red-handed, Mr. Franklin began to cooperate with the FBI.

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Recognizing poverty in our own nation is an important step to fixing it, says anthropology student Meg Burd at the Rocky Mountain Collegian [Colorado State U]

Poverty often seems to be an issue swept under the rug...Poverty is present throughout the nation, and is not something we should ever let fade from our view.

See:
Winter Crisis Looms for the Poor in Iowa

Near-record-high gasoline prices, inevitable spikes in energy costs and out-of-state disasters pulling regular donations away from Iowa — these are the "indicators of doom" for the poor this winter, said Jerry McKim, who oversees the state's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. [Des Moines Register]

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

A doctor from Philadelphia who assisted in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina says:

"How can you spend a week helping a destitute father find shelter for his family, or a poor elderly woman manage her diabetes, and not come away with a feeling of urgency that things have to change? [..] And since it took Hurricane Katrina for many of us to realize that crushing poverty is alive and well in America - because we've stopped seeing the poverty in our own communities - maybe first-person volunteering in Louisiana would keep that realization fresh enough that we'd agitate for change back home....

If the problem is bad in New Orleans, you know it's probably just as bad in Philadelphia..." - Philadelphia Daily News