Rather than just do the petition, I decided it was time to take action.

It is time to hold the President accountable. He promised the American people that he'd fire whoever leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent. Now that we know the leaker was, at least in part, Karl Rove; it is time for the President to keep his word.

http://www.RovesPinkSlip.com

I have started a campaign to send along our own pink slips to Karl Rove because the President refuses to do it himself.  If the White House ends up knee deep in pink paper, perhaps the President will finally give Mr. Rove the legitimate pink slip he so greatly deserves.

Continued Reading in the Extended Entry.

President Bush spoke tonight and his silence was deafening. If anyone was surprised... if anyone was shocked to see their Commander-In-Chief so divorced from reality, they really haven't been paying much attention. But day by day more Americans are seeing the light.

Each day they see the news... More casualties. More wounded. Billions of dollars lost or wasted. Congress cutting off veterans benefits. New memos discovered detailing White House plans to invade Iraq using manipulated or manufactured evidence. The list goes on and on.

http://www.IraqPhaseOut.com

Its no surprise that more than 50% of Americans now believe they were lied to in the run to war. Its also no surprise that more than 50% of Americans no longer support the war in Iraq and want our troops home.

The time has come for Congress to pass H.J.Res. 55 which calls on the President to develop and implement a plan for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.

I realize it is late but I wanted to get this out to the blogs and grassroots as soon as possible. As some of you may know I serve as the Ranking Democrat on the House Rules Committee... well tonight Republicans on the committee (Chairman Dreier & Reps. Hastings of Washington, Capito, Cole, Bishop and Gingrey) voted against taking care of a serious budget shortfall that the Bush Administration recently announced has opened up in our country's veterans' health care system.

For those you that don't know, last week, the Bush Administration acknowledged that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs another one billion dollars this year to cover the health care needs of our country's veterans, including approximately 86,000 new Iraq and Afghanistan vets.

During World War II, Harry Truman established what became known as the Truman Commission which consisted of a group of dedicated public servants who were committed to examining all financial and military transactions related to the war effort. Their work served to expose and eliminate any waste, mismanagement, or corruption which put our troops in harms way.

To date $9 billion, and counting, has been lost or wasted in Iraq. I’m demanding that Congress create a Truman Commission to audit all financial & military transactions related to the war so we can finally get to the bottom of this horrible situation.

Please join my call for accountability in Iraq by signing the petition at:

http://www.IraqAudit.com

-LMS

I just wanted to make sure everyone here knows that tomorrow Rep. Conyers and I will participating in an online chat for the DCCC. Be sure to stop by and ask any questions you may have... you can also just hang out and watch the chat if you can't think of anything to say. Be sure to tell your friends, this is my first online chat and I'm very excited about it. I've included more information in the extended entry.

-LMS

This was sent out via email by the DCCC:

I am thrilled to invite you to participate in an online conversation with two of our great Democratic leaders in the House: Representative John Conyers of Michigan and Representative Louise Slaughter of New York. My greatest motivation in coming on as Executive Director here at the DCCC was that I would get to work on behalf of a Democratic caucus that fights tirelessly in defense of the American people and our cherished values. No Democratic Members personify this better than the two who have volunteered to chat with you.

This is a release put out by my staff this afternoon... enjoy.

-LMS

FACT CHECK:
DeLay Misrepresents the Facts...Again

Democrats Voted Against 1997 Ethics Bill because of DeLay Supported Amendments which Weakened Ethics Rules

Washington, DC - On the Floor today, DeLay accused Cardin and Hoyer of voting against the 1997 Ethics package. In fact, most Democrats (147) did vote against final passage. However, that was not because they opposed the Task Force Product, as DeLay incorrectly suggested, but rather because of an amendment that was adopted on the House Floor that was at odds with the Task Force bill, an amendment designed to weaken the ethics rules by prohibiting outside groups from filing ethics complaints against Members of Congress. It should come as no surprise that Mr. DeLay supported that amendment. This is an explanation of what actually happened in 1997:

The Members of the Bipartisan Task Force on Ethics passed, on a nearly unanimous basis, a package of ethics reforms that were then referred to the Rules Committee for eventual Floor consideration. An agreement was reached by the Task Force that no amendments would be allowed to this package unless both the Task Force Chairman Livingston and Co-Chair Cardin agreed on allowing the amendments (This agreement is noted in the Congressional Record, September 18, 1997 H7538).

Sorry for posting twice in one day but this very important issue was just brought to my attention and I felt the need to respond and inform everyone here about this startling turn of events.

- LMS

Pentagon Announces "No Action" On Sexual Assault Problem at Air Force Academy
Pentagon to Congress: Issue Too Complex/Tradeoffs Necessary
Rep. Slaughter Outraged Over Announcement

Washington, DC - The following are excerpts from a response letter released yesterday by Acting Secretary of the Air Force Mr. Peter Teets:

"The Acting Secretary of the Air Force has reviewed the Department of Defense Inspector General's (DoD/IG's) report and the Fowler report on sexual assault problems at the AF Academy. After considering all the facts and weighing all the interests at stake, the Acting Secretary found that no administrative action is warranted against those officers identified in those reports as bearing some responsibility for Academy's sexual assault problems.

I wanted to make sure everyone here at Democrats.com was aware of this important piece of legislation I am co-sponsoring. If passed and signed into law the "Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act" could very well protect each and every one of us in the years to come. Please take a moment to read my recent press release on the issue and this recent story from UPI. This issue, while not politically hot right now, should be closely followed by all privacy rights advocates and I hope you will follow the issue closely as a blog community.

-LMS

UPI News 03/24/05:
Genetic Testing Spurs Orwellian Fears

PRESS RELEASE
Rep. Slaughter Introduces Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, today, with a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress introduced legislation which seeks to prohibit improper use of genetic information for workforce and insurance decisions.