Democrats

Obama, don't follow McCain into the mud

mr_twist — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:02:14 -0400

Please help unite
Obama supporters in rejecting McCain’s
negative campaign style. We must clean up politics if things are ever to get
better. We have a chance to be so much more than the same old attack politics,
but Obama must hear the voices of his supporters on this.

Please read the message to Obama on the following blog and
help spread it to others.

http://manyhands.blogspot.com/

Senator Barack Obama,

I realize that you have already endured
much since the start of your campaign for the presidency. Along with
the grueling schedules, lack of sleep, and time away from your family,
you have had to deal with being the target of racial slurs, hateful jokes, untrue attacks on your faith, and even slander against your loved ones. All of us who support your bid for president and many of those who do not condemn such unethical political trash.

I call upon you to recognize in these difficult times that the Obama campaign belongs to its supporters. It belongs to all of us. We want to support what we have seen in you. Maybe it was something we read in one of your books, a rousing speech
you made at a huge rally, or a small commitment you expressed in a more
personal setting. Regardless, we all found something to believe in that
we share. We found a hope for something better in the potential that
you contain and in what we have seen from your best moments. Do not
forget this. Even when you falter you must still be committed to the
steady course of something new, something positive, and something which
makes you capable of inspiring and leading millions.

This needs
to be said in light of McCain deciding recently that there is only one
way for him to defeat you: by drawing you into his mud. Unable to rally
the enthusiasm and hope that you stir in people McCain has decided
instead to take the low road and lash out
at you for inspiring so many to believe in and work for change in their
country. These are McCain's politics, do not let them become yours. Our
country does not need a second McCain campaign, we need something
different, something new, and something better.

I am not asking you to be soft and avoid holding people accountable, asking tough questions, or defending yourself from lies.
I am asking you to not be drawn into the negative campaigning that your
opponent so wishes to see you engage in. There is a difference between
hard politics and dirty politics. Do not become a mudslinger instead of
a "hope monger". Many of us want something different and you are our
best hope for that. Please Sen. Obama, do not walk into the politics of
anger and spite.

--- One of your inspired supporters

Check Out Alan Grayson's new ad! (D-FL CD08)

ddeclue — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:59:04 -0400

Fellow Democrats:

Just in case you haven’t seen Alan’s new ad on TV yet, you can check it out on-line at the DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/25/155020/561/340/556978

I actually saw it for the first time on TV the other night and I thought it was really an eye-catching ad in which Alan talks about just how much money has gone missing in Iraq and how he has been working to recover tax dollars through his whistleblower lawsuits for waste fraud and abuse. I thought the ad had a lot of energy and avoided the usual political clichés that voters tune out.

Please be sure to leave a comment and please be sure to tell your friends.

Thanks,

Doug D.

Support a Progressive Candidate!

ghost122 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:19:18 -0400

Born in 1963 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Rebecca Schneider grew up in rural western Pennsylvania in a middle class neighborhood. Rebecca graduated from Mars High School in 1982 and Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. During the course of attending College and working two, sometimes three jobs to pay her way, she set the course of her career when she began working in the library and currently works as a Library Supervisor for Arizona State University.

Rebecca has a long history of working within and with government entities to achieve success for the organizations and communities by which she has been employed. She has experience managing budgets as well as personnel as part of her management of a Maricopa County Branch Library in addition to her current supervisory position at ASU. Schneider brought together business, government and private foundation groups to raise the funds necessary to build a new library building in Sun Lakes, Arizona. She will use those same skills to bridge the aisle in Congress and foster relationships that will enact legislation that doesn't undermine our Constitutional rights while providing true security to our nation.

In her own words:

Our government has been broken by those who have been in power these past eight years. We have lost many of our constitutional rights and we have lost our way in the world. This is completely unacceptable, and it is my passion and my calling to restore what has been stolen. WE, the people, should be watching our government. They should NOT be watching us. While they were watching us, they were not watching our economy, our infrastructure, our security, our children's health and education, our ports and chemical plants, our energy production and certainly not our environment. They’ve neglected our internal welfare while they were pretending to be concerned about our nation.

Mr. Flake has gone unopposed in his past two elections. With your help, we can make sure that this time around he has a run for his money! Let's at least be able to offer District #6, and by extension, all of Arizona and the United States, a choice. A progressive choice!!

We must demand a strong America that offers broad prosperity to all its citizens, a better future for YOU and all of us. We require a more effective government without all the waste and terrible planning. We must have mutual responsibility between government, the people and business for the betterment of this nation. I want to encourage an economy that doesn't neglect the worker and focus solely on big gains for the CEOs and shareholders. We need a strong voice in Congress that will stand up to partisan bullying and do what is right. I will be that voice.

I am dedicated to improving all our lives by creating an environment of hope and unity. I promise to work tirelessly to affect positive change in the world around us and to work with the citizens of Congressional District #6...YOU...to create a community, a state, a nation that serves us all. I will not waiver in the conviction that we can create a better world for all citizens now and for the future.

I pledge to do everything in my power to return our government and our nation to the people; to restore our rights as promised by our Constitution; to renew our standing in the world by demonstrating the strength and goodness America has always stood for; to LISTEN to the people and enlist everyone’s help in transforming the country into one we can be proud of again. I will endeavor to bring dignity and fiscal responsibility back to Washington. We will have a healthy, vibrant nation once again where there are opportunities to achieve the American Dream for all instead of the few.

Help build that dream for yourselves by electing me to be your Representative in Congress. The time for the old way of doing things is past. It is time we, the people, took charge of our government, instead of special interests and big corporations remaining in control. Now is the time for the power of the people to shout from the rooftops, “WE are in charge!”. Permitting me to be your voice is a great step towards that freedom! We CAN bring back our dignity, our prosperity, our innovation and our American Dream. Join me, won’t you, in making it a reality. Truly, the time is NOW!!

Please check out my website at: www.schneider2008.com Then, make a donation of $20, $50, $100 or more to help me defeat Mr. Flake: the same Mr. Flake who never brings our fair share of our tax monies back to our district; the same Mr. Flake who has voted over and over again to undermine or take away our Constitutional rights; the same Mr. Flake who has supported George Bush for 8 years, yet has voted against helping our troops and our children.

If the status quo of borrow and spend, war and rising healthcare costs isn’t what you want anymore, please give your support NOW so that we have a true choice for change in November.

Thank you!!

Rebecca

DEMS UNITE!

redhed67 — Wed, 28 May 2008 07:18:17 -0400

Well, as we all know, election season is once again upon us. Our choices are, as always, a great source of controversy and strife among the American people. This is understandable as not every candidate fits our ideals of the perfect President.

However, I've noticed some very disturbing trends among voters and, most glaringly, the Democrats. Frankly, it's appalling. I can't get through a blog or a chat room without seeing Democrats at each other's throats, each bashing the views and private lives of one another's pick as the Dem candidate.

You know what, people?? Knock it off. I'm not particularly wild about Hillary nor Obama either, to be honest... but all have a common goal here. That goal is to do everything we can to keep the GOP out of the White House.

Haven't the GOP done enough damage already? For the past 7 years, we've been subjected to two recessions, the invasion of a sovereign country with no violent designs on us, over 935 lies from this administration ABOUT IRAQ ALONE, and the blatant trampling of our civil rights such as our privacy with the warrantless surveillance and with free speech with arrests of peacful protestors and even people whose only "crime" was merely wearing an anti-war or anti-Bush T-shirt.

John McCain has stated that he plans on continuing our occupation of Iraq. He has also stated that he not only wants us to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but is already planning on attacking Iran, as he so playfully reiterated in his rousing rendition of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" titled "Bomb Bomb Iran."

Obama and Hillary's ideas are really not so different from one another. They have similiar ideas on health care, Iraq, national security in general, etc. There are subtle nuances that make their plans slightly different but when it comes down to it, one is really just as good as the other.

It's bothersome that people are saying things like "Hillary is a warmonger"... or "Obama is a Muslim sympathizer." These same lines that Rightwingers were using against the two of them just a few short months ago and the Dems were scolding them for, the Dems are now using. I, personally, never chose a particular party with which to label myself. I consider myself an Independent even though I never formally even declared myself as such... and this is why. Both sides seem to go off the deep end when elections come up and I am so disappointed that Dems have allowed themselved to stoop to the level of "The Righties."

I don't like any party spreading lies and innuendo about any candidate, whether he or she be Republican or Democrat. It's juvenile and ignorant. I don't approve of McCain's policies but I'm not going to perpetuate the rumor that he committed treason while in the service. I have no proof that he did. On the same token, I won't perpetuate the rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist sympathizer. We have more than ample evidence that he is not.

Let's think about that particular rumor for a moment. George W. Bush has been more in the pocket of Muslim terrorist sympathizers than anyone else. Despite the fact that the Saudis not only have an appalling track record on human rights but they're also funding terrorists and helping to fund the insurgency which is killing our soldiers... Bush calls them "friend." Not only that but he's also given them weapons which are in turn being used against our troops in Iraq.

Same with Pakistan who has openly harbored Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden for a couple of decades. Then there's Uzbekistan, a nation with a record of committing unspeakable atrocities against its citizens...again, Bush calls them "friend."

So to say anything about Obama is not only stupid but incredibly hypocritical if you're Bush supporter. If you're a Dem, it's insincere and ridiculous. We need to pull together in these elections this year and vote for whomever the Dem nominee turns out to be, even if we have to hold out collective noses to do it. I know I will. If a GOP president gets in again, I would hate to look back and know that my missing vote helped to get him in.

So come on... remember that common goal we have to do something good for this country and keep the GOP out.

VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE!!!
_________________
Don't blame this mess on me... I'm an Independent!

Politician Caught Using Prostitute!

Bob Fertik — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:43:56 -0400

Senator David Vitter is a rightwing Republican from Louisiana who consistently voted against abortion and gay rights and campaigned on a strict puritanical religious-right platform. Remember this?

In early July 2007, Vitter's phone number was included in a published list of phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, a company owned and run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the "D.C. Madam", which is accused by the U.S. government of being a prostitution service. Hustler magazine identified the phone number and contacted Vitter's office to ask about his connection to Palfrey... Phone records show that Vitter's number was called by Palfrey's service five times, the first on October 12, 1999, and the last on February 27, 2001. Two calls were placed while House roll call votes were in progress.

So did the Corporate Media, the political establishment, and the Religious Right demand Vitter's resignation? Of course not.

So why are they all demanding Gov. Spitzer's resignation?

As for the legal implications,

On November 13, 2007, the attorney for Palfrey served Vitter with a subpoena to force him to testify at a November 28, 2007 hearing about whether an act of prostitution occurred with a Palfrey escort and when. The following week, the judge in the case canceled the hearing. Palfrey's attorney indicated he planned to subpoena Vitter to testify at her 2008 criminal trial.

We'll be carefully watching how the Corporate Media covers this case - and how the Justice Department prosecutes it. And if Spitzer gets harsher treatment than Vitter, we'll raise holy hell.

Update 1: Jane Hamsher asks all the right questions:

1. Why would the bank tell the IRS and not Spitzer himself if there was a suspicious transfer? Spitzer is a longtime client, a rich guy and the governor. We're talking thousands of dollars here, not millions. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that they spotted a "suspicious transfer" made by the governor, and that this is how things began. It's possible it was just ordinary paperwork the bank had to file with the government whenever some particular flag was raised, but if that's the case, why did the DoJ go to DefCon 3?

2. What is a USA doing prosecuting a prostitution case? This isn't normally what the feds spend their time with.

3. Mike Garcia is a Chertoff crony. Sources familiar with the investigation say that he sent a prosecution memo to DC two months ago asking for authority to indict a public figure (Spitzer). Which means they had their case made long before the wire tap of February 13. Why did they then include this line from that conversation in the complaint?

LEWIS continued that from what she had been told "he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe -- you know -- I mean that...very basic things...."Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that...I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex?...You know what I mean."

This salacious detail does not seem like it's necessary to make their case, and appears to be added for no other purpose than to destroy Spitzer's career.

4. How did Spitzer's name get leaked to the media, and who did it? Didn't happen to Dave Vitter.

5. Why did Mike Bloomberg suddenly start talking about running for governor recently? And why did he give $500,000 to Joe Bruno? He's good buddies with Mike Mukasey. What did he know and how did he know it?

6. The Mann Act? Are you kidding?

7. Spitzer's been in the line of fire of the GOP hit squad for a while. Roger Stone, Roger Stone, Roger Stone.

Please support Donna Edwards for Congress in the 4th District

Donna Edwards for Congress — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:46:35 -0500

Donna Edwards is running to unseat DINO Albert Wynn in Maryland's 4th district. Donna brings her strong commitment to progress and experience needed to get things done.Donna Edwards represents the principles for which we all want to believe America still stands. Get involved with this, YOUR campaign for congress: http://donnaedwardsforcongress.com/node/173

About Donna: A Military Upbringing

One of six children raised in a military family, Donna traveled throughout our country and the world. She learned to appreciate and to listen, to make true friends, and to hold close to her family. In her words, "I had to be versatile and I couldn't be shy ... and wherever we went, we met wonderful people."

Donna's father, John Edwards, was in the Air Force and his oldest son, John, signed up at the age of 18 along with his high school friends. It was the height of the Vietnam "conflict," and Donna was a pre-teen. She vividly recalls the tragic sight of those who served and died in Vietnam making their long journey home to the United States.

Through these experiences, Donna came to appreciate the sacrifices of military service and the value of friends and families.

When it was her time to graduate high school, she was offered the opportunity to join the Air Force Academy in the first class to admit women. In the end, Donna chose to return to her birth state, North Carolina, and attend Wake Forest University, where she was one of only six African American women in her class. Donna studied English and Spanish and dated a football player, Derek Coleman. After graduation, she and Derek married and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland.

From Rocket Science to Superior Court

As a young professional, Donna worked for Lockheed Corporation at Goddard Space Flight Center with the Spacelab program, helping translate into readable English the work being done by "rocket scientists" and engineers.

After the devastating explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, Donna decided it was time to go back to school, and she chose Franklin Pierce Law School in New Hampshire. At Franklin Pierce, Donna developed her love of law for the public interest.

In the third year of law school, Donna and Derek had a son, Jared. Juggling two households, they settled in Fort Washington, Maryland, while Donna clerked for a D.C. Superior Court Judge.

Lessons from her Parents: Give Back

Donna's father died when Jared was just six months old and before her graduation from law school. Donna says, "He was my heart. My Dad was so proud that I would be graduating and he was especially proud to be introduced to his only grandson."

Donna remembers that last year with her Dad as filled with some of the best conversations, games of Scrabble, and political discussions (passions he passed on to her) that the two ever had.

Donna also came to appreciate her mother even more. "She had to move six children every 18 months, and she never complained. My mother always sees the bright spot and the best in people. I like to think that my Mom's optimism rubs off on me."

Donna says of her parents, "My parents taught me to be a person and to be a parent. I learned the importance of giving something back to your community and your country from them."

Becoming a Champion of the Public

Donna came to realize that she would not be happy unless she used her law degree as a public interest advocate.

Against Domestic Violence

She co-founded and served as the first executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and though not a victim herself, she realized that battered women had no legal or political support. Donna received national recognition as she led in the successful fight to pass the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, providing comprehensive funding to shelter and services for victims of domestic violence and their children.

For Campaign Finance Reform

Donna also entered the national media spotlight after the House banking scandal, as she led efforts to reform our campaign finance system and lobbying laws, first with Public Citizen and then as the executive director for the Center for a New Democracy.

For Public Health and Well-Being

She created a successful national effort to force pharmaceutical companies to open markets for generic anti-arthritic medications, and in 2003, in her own community, she started a grassroots campaign against a multi-billion dollar development plan in order to improve the quality of life in existing neighborhoods, to protect the natural environment, and to bring quality services and jobs to the area. Donna negotiated a deal to bring more than $200 million to the community, while also safeguarding the local air, water, land and wildlife.

Since 2000, Donna has served as the executive director for The Arca Foundation in Washington, D.C. She has gained national prominence as a strategist and creator of innovative efforts to

Support "living wage" campaigns
Ensure the independence of the federal judiciary
End capital punishment
Protect Social Security, and
Support labor and human rights internationally

She has led efforts to bring millions of dollars to programs that make a difference in the lives of working families and to hold our government accountable.

Running for Congress

When Jared recently decided on a college, Donna decided it was time to become a member of the institution whose policies she has worked so hard to change, the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I want to represent Maryland's 4th Congressional District because I believe I represent the hopes and values that are the core of the Democratic Party — for workers, for families, for our country. I believe that we need to return the voices of ordinary people to the Democratic Party."

Why Oust Albert Wynn?

Donna is challenging Representative Albert Wynn, whom she supported when he first ran in 1992, but who has cast several prominent votes in support of the Bush Administration. Albert Wynn was one of only a few members of the Congressional Black Caucus to support the resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq as well as all subsequent spending. He has led efforts to bring casinos to the district.

He voted to:

Pass the Republican energy bill
Weaken the Endangered Species Act
Drill for oil in Alaska's protected land
Give billions of dollars in tax breaks to the oil and gas companies

permanently repeal the estate tax -->

He sided with the Republicans and the pharmaceutical companies on drug policy, the credit card companies on the bankruptcy bill, and just recently, he joined the telecommunications industry in supporting privatizing the Internet. The money his campaign has received reveals these new alliances.

"We haven't left Albert Wynn," says Donna. "He's left us, and I can no longer stand on the sidelines. I want to stand up for what is right and what is in the best interests of our district and our country. It's what my father did for me, and what I have to do for my son Jared and his generation."

Get involved with this, YOUR campaign for congress: http://donnaedwardsforcongress.com/node/173

Impeachment Is In The Air - It's Everywhere

CactusPat — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 02:47:14 -0400

Like Bob said "impeachment is in the air", it's everywhere. It's in DC, and on the TV. It's in the news and on the blogs. It's in state legislatures and cities and towns across this land. And everywhere you go it's on the minds and flowing off the lips of Americans from coast to coast. Including at least three Presidential candidates (so far) - Dennis Kucinich, Chuck Hagel and Chris Dodd. Wolfie and Cafferty on CNN, plus 'Bow-tie Boy' Tucker Carlson with John Bonifaz on MSNBC, and Steven Colbert on the Colbert report... (more)

Here's a snip of Wolfie's transcript where Sen. Dodd puts impeachment back on the table...

...BLITZER: Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska, has caused somewhat of a stir in an interview in Esquire magazine raising the impeachment word involving President Bush. I'll read to you from the Esquire interview.

"The president says, I don't care. He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him and before this is over you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes."

Where do you stand on the issue of impeachment and President Bush?

DODD: Well, I listened to Bill Cohen, your previous guest. I think he sort of expressed my views on this. I don't want to see us jump to this right now. It seems to me this is getting ahead of ourselves. There have been calls already. Various people have raised that as a suggestion here.

I'd rather see us try and resolve some of these outstanding issues we have here. We have got an awful lot of issues at home and abroad to try and work our way through. At this point here I wouldn't go that far. Others have raised those concerns but I'm not there at all yet, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, but I -- what I'm hearing is you're not completely ruling it out.

DODD: Well, again, you never want to rule those things out, but it seems we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I thought Bill Cohen explained it pretty well here. We have got a lot of issues to grapple with here. The American public are wondering when we can get beyond the 51-49 divide in this country.

We need to sort of work through -- we have a lot of issues at home and abroad that require much more cooperation. I've been down this road. I spent -- that foolish effort to impeach Bill Clinton, that took so much time and effort here, I would be very cautious about jumping to that procedure here of impeachment having been through it once already.

BLITZER: Senator Chris Dodd is a Democratic presidential candidate. Senator, thanks for coming in.

DODD: Thank you, Wolf.....

...BLITZER: They used to be just whispers, quiet conversations about impeaching the president, but now as we just saw, they're getting a little bit louder. And you're going to be surprised who is doing some of the talking. CNN's Carol Costello joining us once again in New York.

What are you hearing, Carol?

COSTELLO: Well, Wolf, sounding just like a politician. He's not calling for it or suggesting it, but Chuck Hagel did drop the I-word. Keep in mind he is a Republican. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): More calls to impeach Bush, they're coming from lawmakers in more than half a dozen states. The mayor of Salt Lake City, a Democrat in solidly red Utah, was one of the first to jump on board.

And now, although he's not calling for it, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel did say in Esquire magazine: "Before this is over, you may see calls for his impeachment."

The issue? What Senator Hagel and some other critics see is President Bush's arrogance and disregard for Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM ABC NEWS "THIS WEEK,")

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NE), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Any president who says I don't care or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else, or I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed, if a president really believes that, then there are -- what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: And you think that would be appropriate in this case?

HAGEL: This is not a monarchy.(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Though there are times when Mr. Bush's outlook seems downright royal.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I'm the decider.

COSTELLO: But decisions people may disagree with doesn't make a president impeachable.

Reality check.

JONATHAN TURLEY, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW EXPERT: The framers did not want a president impeached because he simply is a bad president or he does bad things or stupid things. But once the president starts to violate federal law, then he gets into a realm of impeachable offenses.

COSTELLO: Turley says it is not an impeachable offense to, as the president's toughest critics charge, mislead the American people into war with Iraq. Or, as another presidential hopeful claims, to threaten another country, like Iran.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, in a statement from his Web site on YouTube...

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's illegal to threaten aggressive war against another nation. Iran has no ability to attack us. And they do not have the intention to attack the United States.

COSTELLO: Reality check.

TURLEY: If the president were to truly ignore Congress, if Congress put restrictions, for example, on money, then we would be getting in to dangerous territory.

COSTELLO: To sum it up, the only way President Bush can be impeached is if he violates the law.(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And the Constitution makes it clear, you can dislike a president all you want, but the only way a president can be impeached is if he is found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you, Carol, for that....

Be The Participatory DEMOCRACY That Brings Our Troops Home

thepen — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:03:01 -0400

Tell The Senate To Go FURTHER Than The House In Stopping the Iraq Occupation/War

Call your members of Congress now toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

If there is any good news to come out of the House last week, it is that the headlines read that the Democrats are standing up to Bush, even though they still aren't doing so nearly sufficiently. And for his own part Bush painted himself further into the rapidly shrinking corner with an another angry veto threat. Barbara Lee, the sponsor of a TRUE "end the war" amendment was pragmatic afterwards, recognizing that she might have only gotten 100 votes for her measure, even if that vote had been allowed by Pelosi. Why? The answer is self-evident. They need to hear from MORE of us.

Now as debate shifts to the Senate the difference between how many votes we can get to support a proposed 120 day start for withdrawal, or not, is how many of us will pick up the phone right now, call our senators at one of these toll-free numbers, 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803, and then follow that up with a message in writing. Indeed, we could have had the Lee amendment passed already if only more of us were ringing those phones. Polls show that 90% of Democrats say they want the war to end. But it is not enough to only say it to pollsters. Are 90% or us calling on the phone? Why not? The call is free!

We made OUR calls last week. How about you? Are you calling all of your members of Congress on an ongoing basis, once a week as part of your regular activist routine, to tell them again, and again, that is time to end the horrific madness in Iraq? We know that Bush is not going to stop trying to use his bully pulpit to make a least one statement a week, to try to bully us all in the other direction. Where Harry Truman once said, "The buck stops here," Bush keeps demanding, "Just give me the war bucks."

We can't just hold our breaths waiting for our elected politicians to show "leadership". For the vast majority it's never going to happen without our voices continuously prodding them. In fact, we don't even need any leaders. All we need are REPRESENTATIVES, and we have enough of those right now, who will respond to their constituents' calls, and vote accordingly. But unless we ARE calling, and incessantly, we cannot expect the result to happen on its own.

The aspiring presidential candidates we hear talking on the stump so early, do they actually want to END the Iraq war, or do they just want to CAMPAIGN on ending the war? There's a pretty big difference. For truly, those who are senators have the power this very instant to end the war. They must stand up to Bush NOW, not just let him play defiantly loose cannon for another two years. But they aren't going to really do it without constant pressure from we the people.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

And if matters were not urgent enough, while all this is going on there has already been a serious border incident with Iran. 15 British soldiers were captured by the Iranians, after venturing into a DISPUTED border area of open water. Leaving aside the issue of what they thought they were doing in known questionable waters, if they had been American soldiers the bombs might be raining down on Tehran right now, blowing the gates of hell entirely off their hinges in Iraq. We are that dangerously close to total Armageddon.

The wackos in Iran want war because they have evidence from Iraq that they no longer have anything to fear from American military power. The wackos in the White House want war because they are too high on the fumes of their own arrogant belligerence to know better. Only we the people can stop them by bombarding our representatives with our messages, by speaking out now to bring the troops home immediately, if not sooner.

Our military in Iraq has become nothing but a provocation, the greatest obstacle to achieving any kind of political settlement there, and the greatest threat to our own national security. Every day the risk grows of another incident that Bush will try to use as an excuse to unleash whatever dogs of war remain. That's what he wants, his deliberate plan, what he likely sees as his only remaining personal salvation, at the expense of own utter destruction as a country.

Please make your calls and send your emails today. Talk to all your friends and neighbors. Forward them this email. Encourage them to do the same. Our lives and our future depend on the number of messages we can generate every week from now on.

Tell Congress To Support The Kucinich IMPERATIVE For Impeachment

thepen — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:59:24 -0400

Minutes ago the U.S. Senate AGAIN failed to exercise meaningful oversight for the national suicide which is our policy in Iraq. It is by now abundantly clear that the Republican caucus is determined to go down with the Bush presidency, and take our military and our country with them while they do nothing. Instead, a bipartisan cattle stampede of senators approved two "we don't hate the troops" resolutions, nothing but vain puffery, swearing to take "no action" about this or that. We don't in the slightest care about what action Congress is NOT going to take, we want to know is what they ARE going to do to reverse the insanity of current policy.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/impeachment_now3.php

On the occasion of the guilty verdicts against Scooter Libby, Howard Dean was quoted as saying we would have a new president "soon enough." If he is talking about the 2008 election that is NOT soon enough, not even close. Day by day, ever more outrageous scandals and abuses of power spew forth from the White House, as we now learn that they have been so corrupted beyond redemption by their power grabs, that they even used the U.S. attorneys themselves for nakedly partisan witch hunts, to try to influence our elections, and fired all who would not bend under their political dictate.

And what was Bush's response when called on this monumental affront not just to the checks in our government, but also to the independency of our very justice system? "What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the Congress," he said. In Bush's mind there are no policy mistakes, let alone policy crimes. In his world there are only SPIN mistakes, when we the people aren't quite stupid enough to buy their criminal hypocrisies. We hear admissions that "mistakes were made," as if mistakes somehow made themselves. But even where there is verbal responsibility taken, there is NEVER actual accountability. The sacrificial fall guys will reluctantly resign, but NEVER is there a price paid by the core perpetrators for their conduct.

The Bush presidency is one of false appearances, phony and disingenuous words of compassion and democracy, while the true underlying agenda is the embezzlement of our national treasury, and even those of other sovereign countries, on behalf of their biggest campaign contributors, who then remorselessly relocate to evade taxes on their ill-gotten profits. The Bush presidency is to create wars out of whole cloth, to demonize not only their critics but entire innocent populations, first Iraq, then Lebanon, now Iran. It is a mission to exacerbate terrorism to the maximum extent possible, while ignoring its actual roots causes and laying off pursuing its ringleaders, at the mortal peril of our true national security. And it is not going to STOP in any respect until the day that Bush is lawfully removed from office.

It was not enough that president Bush should pack our courts with radical ideologue judges, one of whom just this week presumed to overturn two centuries of 2nd amendment case law, to let the NRA rewrite our very Constitution. No, even the choice of cases to bring to court they must warp so that only Democrats could ever be prosecuted for any crime, despite the fact that most of the wrongdoing they were actually finding was by Republicans. How their talking head cronies howled after the Libby verdicts that it was just a political prosecution. Their new rule of law is that it's against the law to prosecute Republicans, no matter what the crime, and that any attempt to do so is by definition a political vendetta. And if the Libby trial exposed anything, it was that Cheney was the king culprit.

And hanging over everything is the preemptively declared threat of a presidential veto of any attempt, no matter how timid, to confront these high crimes. And that is why we have concluded that Dennis Kucinich is speaking the essential truth. We have long known that Bush was planning an illegal war of aggression against Iran. Shame on the leadership of the House for the sudden demise, without even a vote, of the provision in the war supplemental appropriations bill to preclude an attack on Iran without express congressional consent. Let there be a vote so we can know which members of Congress think it's OK for the president to launch horrific and disastrous new wars without even a peep from them.

What Kucinich so clearly understands in his call for impeachment is that all these things are mere symptoms of the foundational problem, the cowardice of members of Congress as they run away from actually restraining the abuse of executive power. What are non-binding resolutions except avoidance of actually challenging the policy issue? What are bills that write into themselves exceptions if the president takes "responsibility" for them? Is the role of Congress to be relegated to courteously writing the president's signing statements for him?

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/impeachment_now3.php

Bush loves to lecture the American people on the lessons of 9/11. There was only one lesson to be learned from 9/11 . . . that we had the WRONG president.

And in five years since there are still too many who have not learned that critical lesson, which failure is the reason New Orleans was left to sink by a guitar strumming photo-op president, which failure is the reason even the administration drafted Patriot Act has been abused to conduct massive illegal surveillance of innocent American citizens. That failure is the reason torture of those even suspected of being our enemies has become official U.S. policy, in utter defiance of all norms of international law and civilized decency.

That failure is the reason our entire intelligence operation against weapons of mass destruction, the life long specialty of Valerie Plame, was sabotaged and jeopardized to try to gain cheap political advantage. Or was it to keep concealed even more heinous acts of treason. That failure is the reason our military is still pursuing a fool's mission in Iraq, chasing an enemy who is not there in any significant numbers. We face nothing but two more years of such disasters and outrages every minute that George Bush, Dick Cheney and their pod people remain in any office of authority.

So what if Gonzales bites the dust. He is just one more water-carrier. He would already have been long gone had not Bush PERSONALLY intervened to quash investigation into the abuse of administration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, when that first came to partial light. We have a president and vice president for whom obstruction of justice is just another burglar tool in their black bag, as they rob the balance of powers in our Constitution. Let the subpoenas now issuing in the U.S. attorney scandal lead to door of the oval office, where the trail surely does directly lead.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/impeachment_now3.php

And let us renew again and again our call for Congress to impeach ALL those who have harmed we the people so grievously, and to prosecute those impeachments at the most mercifully swift speed.

Democrats, Don't Be A Bunch Of Pussies

CactusPat — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:15:40 -0500

Democrats, don't be a bunch of pussies, make it rain subpoenas!

What if "lonelygirl15" hadn't just been a corporate "viral" marketing dealie? What if it had been a real attempt to personify the collective voice and wisdom of the interwebnettubes? We thought: "what would she say? If she only said stuff, y'know, that we liked?" Who knows, maybe she'd bust out and sing.... Democrats don't be a bunch of Pussies...

Performed by Nyima Funk, Josh Funk, Andy Cobb Additional vocals by Marc Evan Jackson

Music by Josh Funk

Director of Photography - Mark Kienlen

Asst Director -- Rima Yazbeck

Written and Directed by Andy Cobb

(For the longer links, you'll have to copy and paste them into your browser...youtube's weird like that).

For more on McCain and Abramoff, check here: http://wampum.wabanaki.net/...

For some recent history of the militarism of Lieberman and McCain, see http://www.firedoglake.com/...

If you're unfamiliar with the cultural herpes that was lonelygirl15, you can rub unprotected against its exposed sores here: http://www.youtube.com/...

It bears saying, having dropped the names of several Progressive websites here, that we're unaffiliated with those sites. Frankly, they are terribly serious people who will probably find our little impeachment carol more than a little juvenile. But if you're interested in Progressive politics, try: www.dailykos.com, www.crooksandliars.com, and www.americablog.com.

You saw it here on www.democrats.com!

Impeach Bush and Cheney NOW!!!