Decider House Rules

Andrew Cohen's WaPo article White House Plays By Its Own Rules Again reinforces the message in a song lyric I'm working on which goes...

Some say that I am obstinate
And will not change my views
Some say that my advisors
Fear to tell me what is true
Some say I need to change the course
An' start bringing troops home soon
But (heh heh heh) decidin' is just
What I'm s'pposed to do

so..

STFU bloggers
And you generals an' admirals too
An' you pollsters need to give it up
'cause' I 'm just ignorin' you
And that goes for all you voters
I don’t care about your views
As long as I'm the President
I'll say S T F U

A Prayer for Jane Hamsher

I've spent the longest day trying to keep busy while virtually sitting in a virtual waiting room for news of Jane's surgery for breast cancer. Jane, as you may not know, is a blogger - but not just a blogger. She's a force of nature when it comes to articulating what the politicians are/aren't/should be doing for the benefit of Americans and their fellow inhabitants on this little green planet. I don't pray as much as I once did but Jane is definitely near the top of the list this day. Should any of the denizens of firedoglake wander into this blogger backwater, I hope this music (muzak?) I composed called "Pull Up a Chair" might help evoke a little peacefullness. Click on the icon above to start the player, then click on the play button.

Thoughts on 2006

As we come to the close of this year, here's a few thoughts I wanted to jot down.

In my humble opinion:

• George W. Bush has to be the worst President this nation has ever produced. Everything this nation has once stood for has been trashed by this President and his Republican Congressional enablers. We have become just another country rather than one that, until recently, has been a symbol of hope and freedom throughout the world. His administration's flagrant disregard of any statutory or constitutional limits on his power (see signing statements) and careless disregard of the rights of other human beings (see warrantless wiretaps, the Military Commissions Act and the casual outing of Valerie Plame) has seriously tarnished the ideals that my uncle, S/Sgt John E. Montgomery, died trying to preserve and advance. Warren G. Harding and Richard Nixon don't even come close.
  
• 2006 will be seen as the year political blogs (other than this one) became a serious force in influencing the opinions of the electorate. While original reporting is still going to be the domain of the mainstream media, I foresee the role of the talking head professional punditocracy beginning to decline.
  
• Youtube (and the level of broadband penetration that enables it to thrive) has been the biggest new technological advance of the year.
• The software that allows people like me to make multitrack recording in their basement keeps getting better and better. You can hear me "singing" (to use the term loosely) Will Santy Come to Shantytown with my computer generated harmony parts.
  
• I need to start work on my Broadway musical Wingnuts in Wingtips

Some Potential ActBlue Targets for '08

Here are Democratic congresscritters who voted...

• For the Military Commissions Act


• For the Bankruptcy bill (technically known as "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act")


• Against Net Neutrality (technically the "Markey of Massachusetts Amendment" to the "Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006"), and


• For Federal Government intervention in the Terry Schiavo case (technically known as "For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo")

Sanford Bishop (GA-2nd))

Dan Boren (OK-2nd)

Bud Cramer (AL-5th)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28th)

Lincoln Davis (TN-4th)

Chet Edwards (TX-17th)

Bob Etheridge (NC-2nd)

Tim Holden (PA-17th)

Mike McIntyre (NC-7th)

Charlie Melancon (LA-3rd)

Mike Michaud (ME-2nd)

David Scott (GA-13th)

John Tanner (TN-8th)

---

Due to how the vote was conducted, a number of dubious Dems missed the Schiavo vote.
Here's a list of those who voted...

• For the Military Commissions Act


• For the Bankruptcy bill (technically known as "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act")


• Against Net Neutrality (technically the "Markey of Massachusetts Amendment" to the "Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006"), and who


• Did not vote on Federal Government intervention in the Terry Schiavo case (technically known as "For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo")

Leonard Boswell (IA-3rd)

Allen Boyd (FL-2nd)

Artur Davis (AL-7th)

Dennis Moore (KS-3rd)

---

I recognize that some of these Congresscritters represent pretty red districts and there may not be much to be gained by financing a serious primary challenge. Moreover, there may not be a more progressive candidate willing to run in the primary. But some districts are probably more purple now than they were a year ago so it may be worthwhile to look at local races on '06 to see how things are trending. But "K Street coziness" still needs to be looked at and that may add some additional potential targets.

Dubious Dems

Here's a list of Democratic House members who voted in favor of both the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act and the Military Commissions Act. If I had some buckets of money to spend to finance a serious Democratic primary campaign, these are incumbents I'd look at first.

Robert Andrews (NJ-1st) *

Melissa Bean (IL-8th)

Sanford Bishop (GA-2nd))

Dan Boren (OK-2nd)

Leonard Boswell (IA-3rd) *

Allen Boyd (FL-2nd) *

Ben Chandler (KY-6th)

Bud Cramer (AL-5th)

Henry Cuellar (TX-28th)

Artur Davis (AL-7th) *

Lincoln Davis (TN-4th)

Chet Edwards (TX-17th)

Bob Etheridge (NC-2nd)

Harold Ford (TN-9th)

Bart Gordon (TN-6th) *

Stephanie Herseth (SD-At-Large)

Brian Higgins (NY-27th)

Tim Holden (PA-17th)

Jim Matheson (UT-2nd)

Mike McIntyre (NC-7th)

Charlie Melancon (LA-3rd)

Mike Michaud (ME-2nd)

Dennis Moore (KS-3rd) *

Collin Peterson (MN-7th) *

Earl Pomeroy (ND-At-Large)

Mike Ross (AR-4th)

John Salazar (CO-3rd) *

David Scott (GA-13th)

John Spratt (SC-5th) [gets props for voting against the Schiavo bill]

John Tanner (TN-8th)

Gene Taylor (MS-4th) *

Update: I did a check of the vote on the Terry Schiavo bill. Only one of the above representatives (John Spratt) voted against that law. Those listed with an asterisk simply did not vote on the Schaivo bill.

New Tune: "Pull Up a Chair"

The title is derived by the Saturday morning chats at the wonderful Firedoglake blog. This is just some instrumental music (muzak?) I assembled with the help of software. Click on the icon to bring up a pop-up music player (requires javascript) and then click on the play button. ;)

Keeping the "Lamont Score"

I posted this comment at Firedoglake on November 11th...

Personally, I’d like to see BlueAmerica use some of it’s influence to keep wayward Dems in line. Perhaps listing all Dems coming up for reelection in 2008 and giving them a “Lamont Score” based on degree of support for progressive causes, avoidance of K Street coziness, and perhaps one other measure. Those with low scores would be targeted for a primary challenge with funding from BlueAmerica. Of course there may not be a progressive candidate to take the incumbent on but the threat alone might induce some behavior modification.

The third measure mentioned above should be how well the politician avoided using his/her position to achieve some sort of sweetheart deal or in some other way reflecting poorly on the Democratic party.

It's too soon to pass judgment on a few high profile Dems who have recently been in the news for potential ethics issues so I won't mention any names other than Albert Wynn (D-MD) who should wake up and smell the coffee given how closely Donna Edwards came to defeating him in the Democratic primary. As I said before, I realize that there may not be a progressive candidate willing to take on a well established incumbent with a poor "Lamont score". But a politician with a poor "Lamont Score" should understand that he/she is being flagged for a primary challenge with funding support by ActBlue. The Lamont victory in the Connecticut primary and the Edwards near-victory in the Maryland primary should be sufficient to keep a few of these wavering Dems in line.

New Song: "I Blame Clinton"

A song for the Republican pundits out there. The words have been
placed in the public domain.

(v. 1)

Well Osama ain'’t been found
Iraq casualties abound
And I blame Clinton

That ol'’ deficits a mess
Coulter wears that same old dress
Well I blame Clinton

We got Foley’'s pedophile emails
Abrahamoff's goin’' to jail
Well blame it on Clinton

(v.2)
North Korea’'s got a nuke
Mid-terms look like a rebuke
And I blame Clinton

There'’s a bird flu on the loose
And Limbaugh’'s had some drug abuse
But I blame Clinton

If there'’s a brush fire or a quake
Or if I have a stomach ache
Then I blame Clinton

(instrumental verse)

(V.3)
Now the Taliban returns
And global warming's a concern
So I blame Clinton

Halliburton's got the dough
No bid contracts don’'t ya know
But I blame Clinton

It'’s been five years since he'’s gone
But everything that has gone wrong
Well I blame Clinton

Winning the War One New Slogan at a Time.

Credit goes to GSD at Firedoglake for the title. And to quote Christy Hardin Smith,

As for George Bush, well he'd like you to forget that the buck stops anywhere near him ever. ThinkProgress has put together a great clip compendium from the Bush Administration statements this past weekend and from this morning (from Dan Bartlett's truthiness appearance on CBS) that the Bush Administration has "never been a stay the course strategy." HA!

Sheesh. I predict that the word "benchmarks" will be the next term the administration will proclaim it never said. I don't know what it means when an administration is so self-delusional, but it can't be good.

I was thinking of commenting on Rush Limbaugh's commentary on Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease but I want to keep my dinner down.

Don't Know If There Are Any Dots To Connect But...

... here's some dates/places where a few characters in the Mark Foley saga have spent time at lobbyist expense from January 2000 through December 2005 (courtesy of American Public Media).

• J. Dennis Hastert
  • Ted Van Der Meid
  • Scott Palmer
  • Michael Stokke
  • Ron Bonjean
• John Shimkus
• Thomas Reynolds
• Rodney Alexander
  • Royal Alexander
• Mark Foley
  • Kirk Fordham
• Jim Kolbe

If you click on the link for the sponsor of any given junket, you can see which Congresscritters/staffers were in attendence. I'm thinking certain topics may have come up in the hotel lounge...

I Wish I Was Making This Up

From Firedoglake

Rush Limbaugh re-victimized Mark Foley's teenage victim today by using his name publicly, as did Matt Drudge. (Both Roger Simon and InstaCracker made sure the identity was widely disseminated by linking to the no-name wingnut blogger to whom the original dirty work was tasked.) Because it's not enough that their leaders are beating off online during national security votes, or that the GOP spent years covering the whole thing up — no, no they must do their part to harass, bully and intimidate anyone who threatens their authoritarian cult, even the young victims of sexual predators. Especially if there might be other kids thinking of stepping forward with similar stories (as three more now have). It's the manly thing to do, after all.

Listen to this on an empty stomach. (via Crooks and Liars).

Yeah, these brainiac high school juniors from politically connected Republican families are now being portrayed as a bunch of sleaze bags who "egged on" a 50-something Congressman. If I was the parent of a page (or former page) I'd be even more pissed than I already am. These Republican apologists simply have no shame. The pages will probably end up not mentioning their Congressional Page service on their resumes simply to avoid being asked a lot of stupid questions by moronic dittoheads. Disgusting isn't a strong enough word. Puketastic comes closer.

Drudge on Foley: Blame the Victims - Not the Louse in the House

This may be an all time low for Republican apologists. Crooks and Liars has the audio of Matt Drudge saying this:

And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I've seen what they're doing on YouTube and I've seen what they're doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You're not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven't got the whole story on this.

Well, I happen to have a son who is a high school sophomore who would be eligible to be a Congressional page next year. To get an idea of what one of these "beasts" look like, you can check out the next to last photo on this page. I'm sure his parents appreciated Mr. Drudge's characterization of Congressional pages. Sheesh. How low can you go?

Update: According to Wikipedia, I learned tonight that lice are also known as "fly babies". Seems like a good term for Boehner, Hastert, et al.

Speaking of Hastert, Glenn Greenwald is now reporting...

Drudge just put up a screaming headline, complete with the whole melodramatic multi-color siren bit, which reads:


WASHINGTON TIMES ON TUESDAY WILL CALL FOR SPEAKER HASTERT'S RESIGNATION, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE... DEVELOPING... 'House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once' -- Washington Times, October 3, 2006...


If Drudge (who last night was blaming the 16-year-old pages for Foley's conduct) and The Washington Times are now on the "Fire Hastert" train, it's hard to see him lasting more than a week. I actually think the best thing that could happen for Republicans would be for Hastert to resign sooner rather than later, although they then would be faced with the very serious problem that the next in line, Rep. Boehner, is quite implicated in all of this also. It seems like a safe bet that while the top level of the GOP House leadership is focused on saving themselves, the next level down is focused on which new jobs will be up for grabs.

Har tip to my wife for coming up withe the "louse in the house" phrase earlier this evening. We hereby place it in the public domain (assuming it's even necessary) if anyone has any reservations about reusing it.

GOP Ethics: Lewinsky Warrants Shouting But Foley Warrants Silence

How hypocritical can you get?

Re Clinton (h/t Dover Bitch at FDL)

Republicans were aghast at Clinton's behavior, with many saying it showed he had lied and abused his power.

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."

But when it comes to the sleazy online sexual solicitation of Congressional pages by the aforementioned Republican Congressman Mark Foley, well check out this video (courtesy of crooksandliars.com) and note the response by the Republicans to Nancy Pelosi's request for a roll call vote.

The 16 year old page in question worked for Republican Rep. Rodney Alexander of Louisiana and was the first Congressional person to recognize the inappropriateness of this. But does he report it to the folks in charge of ethics? Noooooo! Does he report it to the folks in charge of the Congressional Page School? Nooooo! He reports it to the person in charge of getting Republican Congresscritters reelected, Rep Tom Reynolds. Shows where his priorities are, eh?

So what does our defender of youth Mr. Reynolds do? Does he contact the ethics folks? Nooooo! Does he contact the Page School? Noooo!

(He) said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen's parents. Alexander told the Ruston Daily Leader, "We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem."

Then the Washington Post reported yesterday

The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley’s GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some “contact” between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him “we’re taking care of it.”

So it appears Alexender told Boehner and Boehner told Hastert. Anybody giving any thought to the safety of Congressional pages? Apparently not. Obviously "taking care of it" apparently doesn't include informing the (admitedly toothless) ethics committee or the (more blatantly obvious) Page School. See Firedoglake's analysis here. Hastert now claims he doesn't remember being told about it. Gee whiz, what would it take to make an impression on him?

What is painfully, indisputably clear (and I challenge anyone to provide evidence about this incident that proves me wrong) is that for the GOP getting reelected is more important than any other moral value. It trumps all others. This is a sad epilogue to an already sad week.

New York Times seems to have a reasonably good summary (as of 09/30/06) G.O.P. Leaders Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail. However, for some reason they don't bother to report that...

The emails include Foley discussing what a great body a teenage friend of the boy had, and asking the boy for a "pic" - or "picture" in America Online "pick up" vernacular.

See the email at Americablog and come to your own conclusion.

Ugh.

A Bright (but very dark) September Day

A Bright September Day

It happened in a hurry
That the rules were washed away
It was done with little notice
On a bright September day

"They hate us for our freedoms"
So due process we'll give up
Call them "enemy combatants"
And forever lock them up

(chorus)
They don't need to see the evidence
Or learn who turned them in
Interrogation methods
Set by Presidential whim
So forget habeus corpus
The Constitution too
Just say "enemy combatants"
And make them disappear from view

A self inflicted wound
Was administered that day
The terrorists made a nation
give it's principles away

So the patriots of yesteryear
who died for rights held dear
Had their sacrifice diminished
Because it was an election year

(bridge)
The use of fear is all it takes
To make a once great nation yield its place
And become one of those other states
Where folks vanish without a trace

(chorus)
You don't need to see the evidence
Or learn who turned you in
Interrogation methods
Set by Presidential whim
So forget habeus corpus
The Constitution too
If you're called "enemy combatant"
Your rights are gone - you're through

The steps along this process
and the use of fear this way
to keep some seats in Congress
on the next election day

Are aftershocks remaining
From another...
Bright September day

---

Once upon a time, America stood for something in the world and the protesters in Tiananmen Square chose a model of the Statue of Liberty as an important symbol of their protest.

It makes me heartsick to realize how severely our standing in the world has declined in the past five years. Can you envision something like that happening in a foreign country now? I doubt it could even happen in Great Britain or Canada. Now the pressures of a political campaign have led us to the point of abandoning our long-held moral principles in a rush to retroactively legalize what, under normal circumstances could be viewed as war crimes. Sickening.

But Glenn Greenwald lays out our choices for the way forward very clearly. It is essential that Democrats, despite their failings, win at least one house of Congress in November.

I wrote the above lyric yesterday while listening to C-Span2. I would have uploaded it last night but a tornado knocked out the power in my neighborhood. Luckily we didn't have any damage but some of my neighbors weren't so lucky. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported.

Comma, comma, DUMB (doobeedoo), dumdum

My answer to President Bush's dismissal of the war in Iraq a "just a comma".

BUSH: Yes, you see -- you see it on TV, and that's the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there's also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people. Twelve million people voted last December.

Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iran -- Iraq, it'll look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy.

Dumdum defined

Shorter Lieberman: “I’ve worked with Republicans to get us where we are today”

Joe, Joe, Joe. I hate to break it to ya, but your well intentioned "bi-partisanship" is being used by the Republicans solely for their own political purposes. What have you gotten out of it? What have they done for you besides helping bankroll your independent run? Do you really want to be associated with people like Mel Sembler?

Jeebus. You are just a useful tool to those folks.

I know being a US Senator is important to ya, but aren't those alarm bells ringing in th eback of your head? Where does it all end?

How Do Votes Disappear? A Diebold Tale

On yesterday's Mark Steiner show (on WYPR, Baltimore's NPR affiliate), there was a discussion about the problems Maryland experienced with electronic voting last week.

"Lee in Catonsville" (an election judge in Baltimore County) reported that the electronic poll books kept crashing.

"...something like every 63rd voter one of them would crash. And first it would be the first one, then it would be the second one, then it would be the third one, then it would be back over to the first one..."

But more alarming to me, was this

"We had a problem in my precinct - on the electronic poll books it showed that at the end of the day, all of them were in agreement, 829 people had checked in and been issued the voter access card to vote electronically on the touch screen machines. We counted the total votes on the touch screen machines and there were 822 people who had cast ballots on those machines. Did seven people who walked in, stood in line to wait, got an access card then walk out without voting? I seriously doubt that. And I have no idea what happened to those seven votes but that’s eight tenths of a percent of the votes in that precinct that just disappeared. And, you know, in a general election who’s going to know that all isn’t off one candidate…"

(my transcriptions above)

I’m wondering if the seven missing voters coincided with poll book crashes. If you want to suppress the vote in a precinct, maybe you can just arrange for the poll books to crash at a set interval.

There should, in my opinion be a forensic reenactment of the voting in this district using the same equipment. I am willing to give up a day’s work to go to the polling place and vote 829 times if need be.

You can listen to this Mark Steiner show (mp3) at http://tinyurl.com/nhrh3. The above call can be heard starting at about the 25:00 minute mark.

How Low Can You Go Joe Lieberman?

David Sirosa posed the question "Seriously folks, how low can you go? in response to the truly pathetic attack by Joe Lieberman's ex-spokesman Dan Gerstein on Ned Lamont's volunteering in an inner city public school. Basically Gerstein is saying (on behalf of Lieberman) that since Lamont only co-taught (as a volunteer) it's misleading to portray himself as a teacher.

He taught two periods on Monday's for the full school year for chrissakes! I know at least one substitute teacher who teaches less. Does that mean he can't call himself a teacher? Jeebus! I only typically play guitar once a week so I better stop calling myself a musician.

"Moppin' Up the Gumbo" (in the key of G)

This tune was written for the folks cleaning up the "toxic gumbo" in New Orleans after hurricaine Katrina.

lo-fi (dialup)
hi-fi (broadband)

Cool New Tune - "Have You Had Enough?"

Tom Maxwell (of the sorely missed Squirrel Nut Zippers) collaborated with Ken Mosher (also ex-SNZ) and Howie Klein (of Down With Tyranny) to put together this catchy tune. They enlisted the fantastic Rickie Lee Jones to do the vocals and Crooks and Liars has the mp3 for free download. Take a listen. You won't regret it.

Here's the lyric as posted in the comments at Firedoglake.com.

Have you had enough of hypocrisy?
Have you had enough of the spending spree?
Have you had enough?
Does it make you want to scream and shout?

Have you had enough of the rubber stamps?
Have you had enough of the wire taps?
If you’ve had enough, then it’s time to throw the rascals out!

We’ve let them take the test too long
They’ve gotten all the answers wrong
No plan, no shame, no oversight
Now’s the time to put it right!

Have you had enough, cause they’re all corrupt?
Have you had enough of being divvied up?
If you’ve had enough, then it’s time to throw the rascals out!

Well, do what’s right and spread the word
It’s time to make our voices heard
You cast your vote it don’t cost a dime
Sittin’ it out will be a crime

I’ve had enough, and it’s time to throw the rascals out!