Great post, Christy. Did this get Saturday news dumped?
Sitting here in Chicago airport waiting for a delayed flight back to Portland. Bit of a long wait, it's great to have some internet connection
jane hamsher |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:01 am | #
Friday night dumped, I think. The AP wire story, the Specter hearing announcement and the impeachment story all hit the wires late last night. Asshats. Although perhaps, if there is enough cajones from whomever gets scheduled on the Sunday talking head shows, we'll get a mention of it tomorrow. Am trying to hunt up the guest list as I type...
ReddHedd |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:03 am | #
Re sending a lovely thank you card to:
Helen Thomas
Hearst Newspapers
1850 K St NW # 1000
Washington, DC 20006
Anyone else in?
siun | 03.22.06 - 12:02 pm
I just sent one. Thanks for the good idea. Finally a FEW hardy souls are speaking the truth loudly. We need to thank them and, very important, identify and encourage the next wave to step forward.
Re Katrina: Connecticut is where many of the big insurance companies are HQ'd. You don't suppose that Liebermann...nah.
Guys we need to think of some way of pinning this to him.
Why doesn't a Republican zealot just put forth a motion to disband any and all committees charged with congressional oversight of the executive branch? At least THAT would be honest! The hypocrisy of those who impeached Bill Clinton while singing the refrain of "No Man, not even the President, is Above the Law" is disgustingly on display by every boot-licking, scared s**tless, Republican lawmaker (lawBREAKER). And speaking of s**t, the Dems had better get their's together (poop-in-a-group) before our beloved country is flushed down the crapper by Georgie the Monopalegic Duck!
Randron |
03.25.06 - 9:06 am | #
i'm on board. i'm not at home just now, but when i get back monday i'll make sure to have at least a post a day up over at Corrente. i'm sure my blogmates will be on this as well.
i confess: i have low hopes for the hearings. it is a big step, but so far, congressional types have been nothing if not disappointing and milquetoast. they seem not to mind at all that they are inexorably being turned into rubber stamping puppets. why should they, when i'm sure that some of the say, the missing 2 trillion the DoD can't account for has ended up in their pockets? that's not even taking into account the benefits they receive for being whores for big corporations...
chicago dyke |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:06 am | #
Ergregious -- I think you're probably onto something there, but how to substantiate it? Anyone know where to dig, or what to dig for? It would be lovely to have some facts to hand to Lamont...
dannyboy |
03.25.06 - 9:07 am | #
Angie -- yep, it's on deck for later today. Pulled it last night and have been doing a bit of research as I could this morning. (Mercifully, it appears that certain small people may actually take a nap this afternoon, so I'll be able to finish my reading on it, she says hopefully.)
ReddHedd |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:09 am | #
with massive expenses from Katrina, you can be damn sure the insurance companies were working all their connections in DC -- I have long accepted that there was a pact with the Devil on Lieberman: he'd vote liberal on social issues but always backup the insurance/financial corporations ...
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:09 am | #
Remember how those fat-faced maggots loved waving their rubber flip-flops at the rePuke convention?
Shall we wave out-sized rubber stamps at gatherings this year?
slightly off-topic: I think there'd be a terrific market for t-shirts that read:
My party embarasses me, too.
bbuster |
03.25.06 - 9:14 am | #
Christy -- on an earlier thread I suggested a possible tactic in linking all of the cases of "we are above the law," including the likelihood of warrantless physical searches (tacitly admitted by Gonzalez' statements to the Surveillance Committee, the DoJ authorizations for torture/rendition/etc and the later signing statement wrt to the anti-torture statute, and the signing statement wrt to ignoring anti-Patriot Act requirements to monitor and report back to Congress on FBI surveillance methods -- in addition to the NSA FISA violations.
Specter has said he wants to hold a quick hearing on the FISA issue and not let Feingold" spout off" on this. It's divide and conquer, even from those who profess to be concerned about the NSA failure to follow FISA.
I think the effort should be to broaden the hearing/investigation into all of the ways the Administration is refusing to follow the law and claiming it is above the law. The more related issues we can link, the more support we can muster. And we need to get the broader theme into the press, starting with KO and Dobbs, who is now tyring to start the political wave for other reasons (immigration, port security, etc).
scarecrow |
03.25.06 - 9:19 am | #
We must reeplace them Rubberstamplicans! They dont know thar jobs ... of ifn they do know em, they jes aint gut the courage to do em!
buddy don |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:20 am | #
for the hitherto august WaPoo to even publish an article about impeaching Bush means the flood waters are lapping at the top of the reactionaries levee ... let's keep the storm winds roiling!
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:22 am | #
let me restate for the record: I am not Joe Wilson but a non-womanizing Wilson living in my zipcode of 46201 (yes, I inhaled too)
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:25 am | #
Mornin' Buddy Don,How you bin?
Bustednuckles |
03.25.06 - 9:27 am | #
People were talking over on Aravosis last night about Chimpy's latest eff-you re Patriot Act - no different from that on FISA, i.e. you're a cute little congress but I'll do whatever I damn well please and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
And the question kept being - what can be done to stop him? What if the congress impeached and convicted him? Wouldn't he just blow that off too, since his "wartime" powers are deemed subject to no oversight? And what if even his packed courts right up to SCOTUS upheld the conviction and told him to get the fuck out of the White House and he said, sorry I'm not subject to your review either and how many battalions you got? And in the meantime had started another war or LHOP another terra attack?
Even if we did have a congress worth the name, we may be in for a lot bigger trouble with this junta than anybody wants to imagine. I'm starting to wonder if anything will dislodge them short of Argentina-style economic disaster and massive general strikes.
Sharkbabe |
03.25.06 - 9:27 am | #
Wilson, you are cracking me up, man.
ReddHedd |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:27 am | #
Redd, Jane, Pach, et al,
Bush has generated over 500 signing statements since he took office. We only know about a handful of them. What would you have to do to find out about the rest of them? Are they available under the FOIA? I would think if a list could be generate of all of them it would help the Congress grow a spine to see just how irrelevant they are to this Whitehouse.
Is this worth persuing?
Rubber Soul |
03.25.06 - 9:30 am | #
here's some info on the judge in the AIPAC case...hopefully some of this will lead somewhere interesting. if anyone knows a good site for checking out the histories and political affiliations of judges, i'd be grateful.
after reading that nice diary at DKos where he mentions reading FDL, I figure I should offer that disclaimer lest some assume I was the real Joe Wilson using a nom-de-plame ... ooops PLUME
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:32 am | #
Christy, Jane, etc.:
I posted the Preznit's "signing statement" for the Patriot Act.
I am stunned. Here is this law which is blatantly unconstitutional, infringes on our Const. rights in an unprecedented way, and YET HE GOES TO THE TROUBLE TO SAY, BTW, I'M NOT GOING TO FOLLOW EVEN IT.
It was his law after all.
tom chicago |
03.25.06 - 9:33 am | #
I think that is what is coming down the pike. Witness the larger than usual anti-immigration protests.
Someone posted recently about being a long time veteran and how he was so livid at the entire administration he only had profanities.
As the gas prices head north for the summer and the housing market continues to cool off and Wall St. continues to run the market up in the morning and then sell off in the afternoon, making money, money, money ....people are nearing a lid blowing. The moe they hear the war is just dandy and the economy is rip-roarin' the more that sows the seeds of discontent.
The war, Barbara Antoinette, the arrogrance and the greed. Even old Charlie Sheen is a sign that the magic that was once spun to placate the masses is missing now. Now people will even question whether 9/11 was an inside game. That is not the speculation of a sedated and happy populace. The fact that it is now getting legs--whether credible or incredible..says a lot.
Republicans like Unle Lou Dobbs, kevin Phillips, Larry Wilkerson, Sandra Day O'Connor......they are all aware of what is going on and they are talking because they are frightened for our nation, just as we are.
Look at how fast the unravelling of young Ben Domenech happened? I bet that there would have been a longer wait and see period not too long ago. Also the leftwing blogosphere is the new watchdog.......
The jig is up. Maybe this final spying outrage will be the snapper?
As the old Russian proverb goes "Pray, but keep swimming ashore."
-GSD
Granite State Destroyer |
03.25.06 - 9:39 am | #
Why did he want the Patriot Act if he wasn't going to follow it?
Is it cuz he wants to PICK and CHOOSE which provisions he likes and will follow and those he will ignore?
This is called BREAKING THE LAW and we saw this in Nixon, etc.
Ditto for the FISA violations. Find me one lawyer who thinks that's legal.
tom chicago |
03.25.06 - 9:39 am | #
Jane
I woulda jumped on the Blue Line to buy you a cuppajoe.
Hope this means all is well with your mother.
mack |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:39 am | #
Oh yeah. I would also like to thank Chimpy and Yesmen for rekindling the Cold War.
Heckuva job.
-GSD
Granite State Destroyer |
03.25.06 - 9:43 am | #
Lets not "let Feingold spout off"
Let's have ALL our senators (at least those "paying attention" spouting off.
Obama's staff pointed me to a very nice statement when I dropped by the Chicago office yesterday. too bad the only way to see it as of yet is to drop by his office...
Let's make some more noise - and get our congresscritters off the fence NOW. Before the SCOTUS is further stacked and they find they have approved their own irrelevance.
mack |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:44 am | #
Ooh - bbuster, I like that - waving rubber stamps. Question is, WHERE do we wave them for maximum effect?
And yes, let's all send some love to Helen Thomas.
tejanarusa |
03.25.06 - 9:45 am | #
oh, and btw - Paul Revere was just a bothersome troublemaker.
let's follow his example as well.
there's a nice PBS cartoon whose name escapes me which repeats this meme
mack |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:45 am | #
the Charlie Sheean thing isnt about him whatsoever -- its about the Corporate Media being willing to report that some people doubt the 9/11 orthodoxy. Personally, I think the official story is substantially correct but folk are beginning to feel uncomfortable with the uses 9/11 has been made of by the current Bush Administration. There's an unease about the direction the USA was taken after 9/11 -- questioning 9/11 itself is a symptom... reporting on that questioning is yet another symptom !
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:46 am | #
This is why I wonder about the other 500+ signing statements.
see comment above; Rubber Soul | 03.25.06 - 9:30 am |
I really think this needs some investigation. I have no legal background so I don't know how to go about finding out but I would be glad to help if someone could guide me.
Rubber Soul |
03.25.06 - 9:46 am | #
GSD - I feel (I think I hope) some of that too - hope you're right
Now people will even question whether 9/11 was an inside game.
Oh baby, give it to me... :)
Sharkbabe |
03.25.06 - 9:46 am | #
dannyboy - I missed your post to me on the last thread. I apologize. I have some family things to tend to this particular Saturday.
If you are interested in our action plans at BlueNC I have linked to the site on my homepage. It is not my blog, but one I do write for. It's a great group of people. We have also started a blog network with a few well known blogs (Pam's House Blend, Scrutiny Hooligans) and then..um..a few others that aren't so well known. All are NC blogs. That was started just a few weeks ago and we plan blog and media swarms via our little google group to keep it out of view of the opposition. This way when we pick an issue - this month it was the sale of our national forest land - we can catch everyone by surprise.
Sometimes we are responding to the news and other times we hope we will create the furor that will get an issue noticed. We are new at this and I'm the only one with absolutely zero credentials in anything. I think of myself as the big mouth. I'm good at it - the mouthy part.
Lance, the blog tech/owner has put together a "take action" section that provides instant access to email addys of our federal/state reps and senators and access to most major media sources in our state. He is constantly improving this to make it easier for people to take action.
If you or anyone else has suggestions for more effective action plans, or if you want me to email you ours...or you just want to copy them each week, please feel free. Thanks for your comment and I apologize for taking up so much space here to tell you about it. Betsy
B. Muse/Southern Dem |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:46 am | #
From Greenwald:" The special and unique competence of the executive"...
Well we always knew Bush thought he was special.
If the president cannot give up inherent powers( Carter) then the Congress cannot give up its' power either. Time to go get the handcuffs so Bush Cheney and Gonzalez can find out how special they really are. They seem to think their shit don't stink, while the rest of the world has to walk around with face masks to get near them.
emel |
03.25.06 - 9:47 am | #
sharkbabe
the president would need the support of the military and law enforcement for the ultimate effu you describe
he has pissed off both
mack |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:47 am | #
Afghan Christian Convert: Should the U.S. get involved or stay out of it? * 14956 responses
Get involved
38%
Stay out
62% http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080...3080261/
#survey
Just following Tom -- Chicago's comment, ClusterBush is all about "cherry-picking." Bush/Rove/Cheney decide when and what laws they will follow, what classified "pre-war" intelligence they will leak, and which of amendment in the Bill of Rights they will ignore. 4th Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. " Not so much.
John Casper |
03.25.06 - 9:48 am | #
*ilson46201 --
wwwwwwwwwwww
Let me know when you run out. I have more.
Christy -- just wondering: why shouldn't one show up next Friday with a pitchfork? I have yet to hear a credible argument about why we're not all in jail for demonstrating in front of the WH and/or Capitol Building. Or at least those of us w/out little peanuts to worry about.
There are people risking their lives and freedom all over the planet, to gain what once took for granted but fear we are losing (or have already lost). Last week, people in a former Soviet republic were in the streets because they thought their elections were stolen; today they're being held and some of them tortured in Soviet era prisons. Why do we assume we can avoid this?
The fact that you mentioned this at all shows how close we are to confronting these questions.
But this week, we'll continue to make calls, and visits, and faxes.
"Once more onto the keyboard."
scarecrow |
03.25.06 - 9:48 am | #
I know this is crude but someone needs to order up 600+ rubber stamps that say this- Bush cock is tasty- and mail one to each congressperson and senator. It they don't get what position they are in when will they.
k |
03.25.06 - 9:50 am | #
I read that Greenwald post earlier this AM and was thoroughly disgusted and left feeling extremely helpless.
I have been doing everything I can, emails, letters, educating my own social work networks about the issues....Yet...the Rubberstamp Coverup Committees continue to support the "I am a King" form of gov't that Bushco insists is inherently based in the constitution. All the while Bushco continues to shove laws he creates or chooses to enforce up the rest of the world's asses. Then, most democrats (not Russ) are too busy deciding which way the wind is blowing, ever fearful of being labelled a traitor, unpatriotic and/or a coward, yet their very paralysis and keeping quiet essentially makes all of those labels become self-fufilling prophecies...Dissent is patriotic people!
Hanyway.....Don't even get me started on "news" media ...they are for the most part useless too and also a big part of the problem. Again whether it's by their own choice or by sheer cowardice that is still up for debate and is applicable dependent on the organization.
I don't have the answers...and am just venting....but want to thank you for offering this forum, insight and safe haven..But what can be done....I feel like we are running out of options and time. I won't stop, but how can we get the country and people who can make a difference.... to wake the hell up!!!
my too sense |
03.25.06 - 9:52 am | #
I'm such a Yello* Dog Democrat that I actually stole myself that key bet*een Q and E off my ow*n keyboard ! Call me an extremist!
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:54 am | #
"I know this is crude but someone needs to order up 600+ rubber stamps that say this- Bush cock is tasty."
Mmm...tastes like broccoli.
-GSD
Granite State Destroyer |
03.25.06 - 9:54 am | #
Joementum and insurance companies....isnt that what the asbestoes legislation was all about.
how did he vote on that?
peterboy |
03.25.06 - 9:56 am | #
that double-U that mistakenly appeared in my comment? let me pull a Domenech and blame the editors here !
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:57 am | #
Scarecrow -- I've been wondering what a grassroots movement of sending rubber stamps to every member of Congress might do. *g* But I'm not certain how that would work in terms of mail security in the post-anthrax mailroom. I just itch to do something -- but it is tough to do so with a peanut in tow. So I've been wracking my brain about other steps I could take -- other than what I do here every day.
ReddHedd |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 9:57 am | #
as I recall: Hill mail goes thru X-rays for inspection and heat-treatment for sterilization -- the soft rubber on rubberstamps *ould be destroyed...
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:00 am | #
"left feeling extremely helpless"
Wapooh had an article about IMPEACHING Bush on their Front Page, above the fold. As *ilson opinied above, it's progress. Back in January the Wapooh polling hack, I mean expert, Richard Morin, said he wouldn't poll impeachment.
"Republican Congressman Predicts Bush Impeachment"
Says US close to dictatorship http://www.prisonplanet.com/
arti...impeachment.htm
This article is back from early March, so it's not new, but it's also a sign that Bush is getting hammered in his base. Newsweek polling on Feingold's Censure resolution had 20% of Republican's SUPPORTING censure.
John Casper |
03.25.06 - 10:02 am | #
Redd -- anyone have a good photoshop pic of a "Rubber Stamp" that conveys the message? We could add some "polite" text, then fax them to our Congress critters, and also sent them to everyone, post them everywhere, staple them to every telephone pole. Right next to a picture of Bush torturing the Constitution.
*ilson46201 -- you are so qerty.
scarecrow |
03.25.06 - 10:05 am | #
If the Preznit has unlimited capability to protect the USA, why hasn't he done a better job of it? Why does the 9/11 Commission give him Ds and Fs? Why are only 1-4% of incoming containers opened? Why are none screened for radioactivity, except in the Bahamas by Hong Kong-based port operators? Again, if his powers cannot be limited by Congress, why get the AUMF in the first place? Why submit, or then be bound by, a federal budget?
Unitary Executive = Statism
If the Preznit can order detention, torture, and electronic and physical searches without involving any Court, why are there any terrorists still among us? If the Preznit can order me to remove my shoes before boarding a plane and if he can stop all BART trains because some whack-job hears someone say "that movie bombed" during the morning commute, why can't he do a better job of protecting me?
If he is the Daddy Preznit, why is all of 'merica still so fearful? And why can I still walk to the corner and illegally hire undocumented workers to paint my foyer for $4 an hour? Why does Daddy Preznit, whose powers are unfettered and unlimited, still complain about Congress (or in even-numbered years, Democrats in Congress)?
If he's going to make Protecting Me his primary job descriptor, he'd better start doing a better job of it.
TeddySanFran |
03.25.06 - 10:05 am | #
via Atrios, Sunday am asshats:
Meet the Press hosts Sec/State Condoleezza Rice and a roundtable of Washington Post's David Broder, New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller, Cook Report's Charlie Cook, and Wall Street Journal's John Harwood.
Face the Nation hosts NSA Stephen Hadley and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
This Week hosts Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) and a roundtable of George Will, Fareed Zakaria and Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel.
Fox News Sunday hosts Rice and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).
Late Edition hosts Rice and Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Pat Roberts (R-KS).
TeddySanFran |
03.25.06 - 10:07 am | #
Also, check out Icasualties.org.
Iraq is boiling pot of ethnic tensions that is overlapping the top of the pan.
I saw yesterday how it was compared to Lebanon and that is what it is reminding me of more and more.
The latest was a large scale battle invovling Sunnis and Moqtada Al Sadr's Mahdi Army. Yep, Somalia and Lebanon all wrapped up in a dusty slice of oil soaked Syrian bread.
Even when Bush brings in ringers it backfires. If anyone say Matthews with that "military family"..it was a disgrace. He was a PR man and said that Bush was being attacked for his 'Christian beliefs'.
Now the poor American Christians are finding out the 200 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan for a new and improved Taliban.
Also, the reports that General Peter Pan Pace came out with a big "whoa nellie" on war with Iran tells a lot too. Murtha is right and the military is getting ground into the desert sands.
Bush is heading for a huge cliff and even if he wants to become President for Life, he has burned too many bridges and can't pull it off.
That still leaves America in a world of shit...but it also leaves Bush on a helicopter waving the double victory signs as he heads for Tel Aviv, Argentina won't take him, sometime in the future.
-GSD
Granite State Destroyer |
03.25.06 - 10:07 am | #
Ron Paul money quote:
Asked if the US was heading into a dictatorship, Paul responded,
"It's getting close to it, it's called usurpation of power and it's done in many ways with Congress just going along because they're sound asleep and this certainly is an attack on our Constitution and on our freedoms."
-GSD
Paul is the canary in the coalmine for much of libertarian America.
Granite State Destroyer |
03.25.06 - 10:10 am | #
buddy don! Always good to see you here.
Mack -- thanks, I had no idea I was going to be here so long.
My mom is home from the hospital, doing well, thanks much.
my too sense -- that's a big problem. We'll be doing something this week toward adressing it, not sure what yet but we're working on it.
jane hamsher |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:13 am | #
The fact that there is a hearing at all is a huge step forward in terms
of making this Administration take responsibility for their illegal actions. More and more Americans are wondering when and if there is any accountability…and you have all had a lot to do with bringing this issue front and center over the last few weeks, so thanks so much for all your efforts.
we need a financial angel to broadcast these hearings in broadcast tv, and we need the event promoted like a star wars movie
that's what we need RIGHT NOW
me to me |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:17 am | #
To throw this aside is to declare a pseudo-dictatorship
Why are you hedging your language? I don't see no pseudo, sister.
John |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:21 am | #
buddy don, thanks for the tip (on your web site) about "World Without Sound," great tune, great lyrics, don't know how I missed it.
John Casper |
03.25.06 - 10:23 am | #
We need pictures to convey any of following themes (e.g.):
Bush as lawless
Bush as indifferent
Bush as incompetent
Bush/Cheney as liars, or torturers
Bush/Cheney/Roberts as "Big Brother"
Congress as spineless cowards
Congress as rubber stamp
Republicans as corrupt
NOLA drowing as FEMA watches
etc.
Pick just a few, then post/send them everywhere. The netroots can do this.
scarecrow |
03.25.06 - 10:23 am | #
Personally, I think the official story is substantially correct but folk are beginning to feel uncomfortable with the uses 9/11 has been made of by the current Bush Administration
right after 9/11 my buddy remarked "they are going to wire it all down" and of course i recognized the truth of this, and hell, who doesn't want them to do a better job of tracking the "terrists", but even my paranoid self never thought they'd go so far.
you don't need to be a lawyer, or even a psychologist to know the lying and obfuscating are covering some greivous crimes.
on the other hand, after the TORTURE i never thought they'd get reelected. and i bet they didn't.
just adding my 2 cents. jane and christy, great blog, read it every day.
charley |
03.25.06 - 10:26 am | #
BTW, it's my understanding the the New Mexico Democratic Party convention is on record this weekend as calling for impeachment. What about your states?
John |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:27 am | #
If you don't know about the Mennonites, they are the real thing. Close to Amish, living simply but in the modern world.
My boss was a Mennonite and I had several friends growing up in the midwest. Salt of the earth.
egregious | 03.25.06 - 8:21 am | # (From the last thread.)
My grandparents on my mothers side were Mennonites. My father, a Catholic, used to drive them to church, and often attended services with them.
One day, not long after he lost his job, my dad returned from the church to discover that someone had slipped some bills into the pocket of his suitjacket. He knew it was the pastor, who had been a little extra-huggy during the after-service handshake session that morning.
More help came later from the pastor and parishoners of the church. No one ever mentioned my father's situation, and the help was always given in a way that made it impossible and unnecessary to refuse.
The thing about Mennonites, though, is you never want to get stuck behind one of car-driving variety. They seem to feel the sacrifice to modernity is lessened by driving at horse-and-buggy speed.
BullGoose |
03.25.06 - 10:28 am | #
In case you missed it....
Spending Measure Not a Law, Suit Says
Senate, House Versions Are Different
....For anyone who took fifth-grade social studies or sang "I'm Just a Bill," how legislation turns to law always seemed pretty simple: The House passes a bill, the Senate passes the same bill, the president signs it.
"He signed ya, Bill -- now you're a law," shouts the cartoon lawmaker on "Schoolhouse Rock" as Bill acknowledges the cheers.
PROPOSED LINE-ITEM VETO LEGISLATION WOULD INVITE ABUSE BY EXECUTIVE BRANCH:
President Could Continue Withholding Funds After Congress Voted to Release Them http://www.cbpp.org/3-23-06bud.htm
RDD |
03.25.06 - 10:28 am | #
So, since it's obvious that the ends justify the means in BushTalk I'd like a little more exploration into just what the ends are in BushWorld? We lose approx 4,000 innocents to a terrorist attack and those 4,000 become the grease on the Bush wheels to hold a nation of 300 million hostage while systematically undermining America's strength of government, while taking the lives of tens of thousands Iraqis and thousands of more innocent American soldiers' lives and limbs. Just what is Bush's end game here that justifies in his sick mind the breaking of what took so many generations to build? He's standing on his little hill screaming, Come and get me, Impeach me.
mainsailset |
03.25.06 - 10:28 am | #
Today's Washington Post has an article about how the "impeachment" conversation is starting to take hold around the country. Let me suggest that we can take an important role in helping this conversation grow. I think we should make an effort to post comments in public forums around the country, and to talk about it openly. We should make a list of objective reasons why Bush's continued presidency does long-term damage to the country. In my experience, everyday folks respond to those kinds of neutral evaluative standards.
DC |
03.25.06 - 10:34 am | #
"Once more onto the keyboard."
Byootiful, Scarecrow. My sentiments eggzackly.
John |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:35 am | #
new thread- new residents
*ilson46201 |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 10:36 am | #
scarecrow | 03.25.06 - 10:23 am
IMO if Rove were working for us, he would pick one, the most extreme, grahpic, eg. the torture/NOLA drownings/2,300? dead in Iraq, and SATURATE the markets we could win in November with it. Again if it were Rove, he would get one of his not-for-profit, Tom Delay, sub-human, but calling themselves Xtian, groups to buy the media time. It wouldn't be directly traceable back to the GOP.
John Casper |
03.25.06 - 10:36 am | #
Ewdd, *ilson, Scarecrow -- I think instead of text, we should focus on graphics -- Rubber Stamp Republicans with (or inside) a picture of a rubber stamp. Or being stamped by said stamp. I see it at sort of like a 45 degree angle, the kind of font that says military or prison or something like that.
And I see a stealth campaign -- cut-and-pasted into various blogs, and everywhere else possible both online and off.
THEN, when attention has been gotten, the meme changes to Rubber Stamp *Congress* and the Dems get the message.
dannyboy |
03.25.06 - 10:41 am | #
This Week hosts ..... and Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel.
TeddySanFran | 03.25.06 - 10:07 am | #
Thanks Teddy - TiVo is set. She *killed* the last time she was on - driving dagger after dagger while smiling sweetly and presenting as the embodiment (sp?) of decorum...
I seem to recall an odd-colored smoke rolling out from under George Will's hairpiece last time Katrina V showed up ....
George will freak - wonder how Fareed will react?
jayt |
03.25.06 - 10:42 am | #
John Casper -- okay, if I only get one, it would be a big picture of Rove's smiley smirking face. The top of the page would say something like, "After five years of . . . [list five outrages], this man thinks he can still scare you into supporting Bush."
At the bottom: "Send Rove and his neocon friends a message: It's time to clean house.
Vote Democrat this November"
scarecrow |
03.25.06 - 10:44 am | #
I think "Bush cock is tasty" is unnecessarily crude even if the sentiment behind it is heartfelt.
Putting "Rubberstamped" on rubber stamps and sending them to the Congress would say the same thing and would be something that could be sent to the media with at least a hope of getting picked up. The other would have no hope in hell. And that is the point, isn't it?
I'll bet if someone took the reigns to organize and posted a diary here and at dKos, there would be plenty of people who would help pay for the stamps and work a media campaign .
Bionic |
03.25.06 - 10:44 am | #
Once again, the key question for any elected representative, Democrat or Republican:
What is your plan to restore Constitutional government in the United States?
And if they don't have a plan, they are not the representative for you.
And if they don't even get the question, they are even less the representative for you.
lambert strether |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 11:04 am | #
Unless people can do something pretty soon maybe it will be time to change the name of the United States and just have a ceremony and bury that "fucking piece of paper," the constitution.
For a new name perhaps the United Soviet Elitist Union or The United Final and Finest Reich.
Instead of the hand over the heart or military style salute perhaps the Bush Finger accompanied by a Cheney style "Fuck You," as the new Evil Empire's salute to the rest of the world and most of its own inhabitants (or prisoners - is there a difference?).
There used to be a joke about Latin American elections "one bullet = one vote," eventually it will come to that if the government of the Founding Fathers continues to be disassembled and things continue to become ever more feudal. At some point the people will take back from the coporate elite what they have been stealing from most of the planet's population. During the French Revolution the guillotine proved handy for curing greed.
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
John Kenneth Galbraithe (Canadian)
theExile |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 11:07 am | #
Never having seen the word "unitary" very often until recently, thought I'd look it up.
This definition is interesting:
unitary - characterized by or constituting a form of government in which power is held by one central authority; "a unitary as opposed to a federal form of government"
"As opposed to..."
So much for the form of government we've had up till now.
Bush and Cheney aren't just ignoring the Constitution; they're going full bukkake on it.
ZakAttack |
03.25.06 - 11:08 am | #
Great post Christy. I think that a nation where the citizens are subject to judge-free willy-nilly search and seizure is not pseudo-dictatorship but an actual one. The right to be left alone is the foundation of what makes you feel like a free citizen. How many of us now calling friends in Europe or even accross the country are watching what we say lest we find ourselves in no-fly lists? It may be unjustified but it is the perception that we are not fully free citizens anymore that is relevant. Freedom is a state of mind much more than a matter of law.
Hopefully things will change as people get more involved. Granite State Destryoer makes a good point that the half-life of wingnuts in the media (WAPO BoxTurtle Ben) and elsewhere (NASA PR guy, FEMA Brown) has taken a precipitous drop lately because people are watching and want to clean house. I have this feeling that the vacuum of leadership in Congress and in the media is resulting in the explosive growth of oversight by bloggers. Nature abhors a vacuum after all. In the end the wingnuts will find that oversight by the masses a lot less pleasant than oversight by congressional committee.
Already in the military front changes seem to be happenning. Maureen Dowd implies that the military seems to have effectively conducted a coup d'etat against imconpetent civilian leadership and Rummy is now sunk in place old uncle style. The permanent bureaucracy may be reading the 2006 electoral tea leaves and may getting ready to neuter the Bush cronys sprinkled throughout the government. The next few months will tell an interesting tale.
counterintel |
03.25.06 - 11:09 am | #
Bionic @ 03.25.06 - 10:44 am - I think a better stamp would be It's OK. Whatever, or some clever vartiation of that theme. They either don't care or they're too afraid. Either way, this phrase covers it.
Cujo359 |
03.25.06 - 11:25 am | #
counterintel | 03.25.06 - 11:09 am
Very nice observations. We are way past the theorictical and/or virtual dictator stage. The NeoConJobs crossed their Rubicon a while back. I think things started turning against them, oh, right around the Idles Of March this year.
Can't wait to see who stars in the role of Brutus.
Gentleman Jim |
03.25.06 - 11:52 am | #
I've shuffled my brain this morning enough, still can't deal an answer. Bush's 'signing statement' - some call it addendum - was attached to the updated Patriot Act AFTER he signed it. Doesn't that alter it? Doesn't it have go back to Congress as a different bill thus starting the process all over?
felicity smith |
03.25.06 - 12:16 pm | #
I don't have the answers...and am just venting....but want to thank you for offering this forum, insight and safe haven..But what can be done....I feel like we are running out of options and time.
I DO have the answers. Ok, answer, singular, but y'all aren't ready to hear it yet. Depending on how the midterms go, and how the Congress behaves post-election, will determine whether or not my answer is required and whether or not y'all are truly ready to hear it.
Things keep on the way they are and my answer will become fait accompli regardless of whether you or anyone else is "ready" for it. Sometimes things just take on a life of their own, ya know?
Palildoris |
03.25.06 - 12:20 pm | #
Cujo359
It's okay. Whatever. is more clever, granted, but saying Rubberstamped is more obvious.
I think with that crowd obvious works better than clever.
I like the question posed by lambert strether
What is your plan to restore Constitutional government in the United States?
And his/her idea
And if they don't have a plan, they are not the representative for you.
And if they don't even get the question, they are even less the representative for you.
A letter saying something along those lines that adds if they can't respond in a substantive, constructive way to then just use the provided stamp from now on, combined with a PR campaign so that people knew such stamps would be going out, could be quite effective IMO.
Even better if people could somehow order them for their reps and the reps got multiple copies and rubber stamps.
Maybe a sticker with a graphic that appeared to be rubberstamped might be more doable.
Bionic |
03.25.06 - 12:30 pm | #
John Casper,
Thanks for those links above about calls for republican calls for chimpeachment.
Jane and or Christy,
I appreciate your responses to me, and I wasn't really looking directly at you both for answers to the problems. I want you to know that I already appreciate all that you have done in not only providing this insightful forum, but for informing, speaking out, and organizing activities for all of us. If anything you have helped me keep my sanity...and the fact there are thousands of people out here that feel the same way is extremely comforting.
As to the rubberstamp campaign idea...I like it...how bout a graphic of one with the word rubberstamp superimposed onto a piece of paper that is cutout in the shape of a toilet that has the constitution written on it? Because everyday is rubberstamp day? Banners, billboards....I dunno....just brainstorming. I'm certainly no creative genius....but something has to spark debate/ conversation about the seriousness of Bushco's "we don't need no stinkin constitution or laws" actions.
my too sense |
03.25.06 - 12:40 pm | #
Wrote this yesterday on a Kos Thread here. Andy, Selise and I went to see our senators. Andy was going to write up the report and post it on a thread here, but in the mean time, here's what I wrote then:
Three of us inspired by FDL
went to Kennedy's and Kerry's offices today to talk about censure. They were nice and polite at Teddy's office and gave us an intern to talk to and she got quite an ear full from us. We talked about BEING the grass roots and needing to be heard. We talked about the IL-06 and what a fiasco that was for the big dem machine. We talked about lots of stuff. Three blog readers/writers—one minister, one medical researcher and one physics prof. from Harvard—none of us slouches and none of us twenty-somethings who sit in our pajamas and play with our laptops.
I mentioned the call I got a couple of weeks ago from the DCCC or DSCC, I couldn't remember which. I told the caller who of corse wanted money that I was no longer contributing to the party apparatus, I was targeting my donations through the blogs to candidates that had backbone. It seems that that is the only way we can get their attention.
The Kennedy line so far is that he is looking into action that would be more meaningful than a symbolic gesture like censure. We said we didn't care, we just need to see someone stand up and call W on his lies and illegal activity.
On the whole, a good experience and I'm sure the intern learned a few things. We also got the card of her boss to whom we will send further correspondence.
So from there, we went to Kerry's office. We didn't get past the security guard in the building lobby. Obviously Kerry doesn't give a shit about what his constituents care about.
So what else is new?
I would add that the Boston Globe picking up the story on the Patriot Act "disclaimer" signing statement even got the attention of the intern—she had read it before we got there. So I think there is another level of red flags waving that I hope the d's notice in front of their faces.
We actually talked with the intern about our fears of what it would take for us all to take to the streets violently—we were so angry about what's going on. Ultimately though the largest voice we seem to have is when we get called and asked by the DSCC and DCCC to give money, we tell them over and over again that we are not giving them any more money, instead we are choosing to give through the blogs to candidates who stand for something.
RevDeb |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 12:58 pm | #
So from there, we went to Kerry's office. We didn't get past the security guard in the building lobby.
That speaks very LOUD volumes. He has no right to NOT see his constituents. He isn't in a privileged position without accountability. His job description is as an elected representative. If he refuses to see and speak to the people he represents, then by definition he is NOT a valid representative. He needs to be fired and sent back home.
I mentioned the call I got a couple of weeks ago from the DCCC or DSCC, I couldn't remember which. I told the caller who of corse wanted money that I was no longer contributing to the party apparatus
Heh. I got "the call" from the DSCC last evening. I told the roboton on the other end that I don't donate to the DSCC or DCCC any longer because none of them DO anything to even try to stop Bush. I then hung up. Hopefully they will get the hint and never EVER call back. I'm not giving (except to individual candidates who are demonstrably vertebrates.
Palildoris |
03.25.06 - 1:10 pm | #
Palildoris,
Rather than hanging up, it's better for us if you (and all of us) tell them that you are donating through the blogs. It gets their attention and gives us more leverage so that they might start listening to us . . . at least I would hope that would get their attention!
RevDeb |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 1:38 pm | #
thanks RevDeb for sharing our experience in boston yesterday.... the best part (for me) was getting to meet two FDLers face-to-face.
just one disagreement/clarification - the taking it to the street conversation (which i think i started) was about how important it is for congress to protect the democratic and constutional institutional structures. they give us a way to participate in our own government, to have a voice and work out our political disagreements within a common constitutional framework we all agree to abide by.... what happens if we loose that? how are citizens to participate? do we see a return of the politics of the street? no one wants it to come that. (we don't need another kent state or birmingham church bombing).
i did not suggest that any of us would take to the streets violently - and i certainly will NOT. my personal take is that i am willing to risk personal injury in nonviolent resistance but i am not willing to harm another.
selise |
03.25.06 - 1:38 pm | #
Selise,
Point well taken. Didn't mean to imply that we wanted to take to the streets. We stated that we DIDN'T want it to come to that. But we also said that our frustration is palpable. It is a scary time for all of us who care about this country, the constitution, and what it is supposed to stand for.
The other question comes to whether or not any of them really do give a shit or are they just content to keep their jobs and do the bidding of the corporations? It's a question that I have trouble wrapping my head around because I want so much for them to be committed to doing the work of the people who elected them.
How high does the threat to all that this country stands for have to go before something breaks?
RevDeb |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 1:44 pm | #
Palidoris - regarding our reception at kerry's office. i wasn't even able to leave the letter i'd written.... that did surprise me.
i'll just second what RevDeb said regarding donations.... let them know why you've decided not to give them money and why and where your money is now going.
selise |
03.25.06 - 1:46 pm | #
RevDeb - i don't think there is any way for us to know what motivates politicians. i think we have to just pay attention to their actions... if they do the work of the people who elected them - that is good enough for me.
if we try to find politicians to believe in, we may end up getting hoodwinked - just as many republicans have by george bush.
selise |
03.25.06 - 1:54 pm | #
A few more Paul Wellstones would sure be nice right about now.
RevDeb |
Homepage |
03.25.06 - 2:27 pm | #
The administration reminds me of a schoolyard kid. He wants to make up the rules as he goes and whenever asked he proposes to go by the old rules and always has a hand behind his back with his fingers crossed. Whenever he gets the ball he proceeds to make up the rules again. childish yet effective- the game cannot go on with his behavior. Now if Congress and the Courts could just get this. And I wish the DC establishment would learn to laugh the DOJ rationalization machine right off the field. It seems to me that their 'reasons' cannot even be seriously entertained and debating it is pointless- it is a power grab and the rationalizations are just hot air in a bag of balloons.
emel |
03.25.06 - 2:41 pm | #
I don't know if anyone has posted this yet, but this is a great link about the "unitary exectutive".
From findlaw
" Prominent among those in the movement to preserve presidential power and champion the unitary executive doctrine were the founding members of
"the Federalist Society, nearly all of whom worked in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan White Houses.
The unitary executive doctrine arises out of a theory called "departmentalism," or "coordinate construction." According to legal scholars Christopher Yoo, Steven Calabresi, and Anthony Colangelo,
":
Of course they are nixon/reagan retreads who are not the strict constructionists they purport to be. This theory is legal bunk . It has no place in this country, it is not what we are about.
emel |
03.25.06 - 9:49 pm | #
The capacity of lawyers to believe that the law has any objective relevance is an endless source of wonder.
As one who spent some time in Spain in the early 70s and later knew quite a few people who fled Chile after Pinochet's 9/11 coup (karma is a bitch), I can attest that while many people knew what was coming and took steps to leave before they were arrested, tortured and disappeared, lawyers were the ones who expressed shock, surprise and indignation all the way to their unmarked graves.
I strongly recommend reading this article:
THE JUDICIARY UNDER THE DICTATORSHIP if you'd like to see how even the best of laws can be made to serve a tyranny.
America will never be the same during our (my) lifetime, and that's why we left. (I'd be remiss if I didn't plug my wife's book, OVER HERE: AN AMERICAN EXPAT IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, which is now available on amazon )
Lupin |
03.26.06 - 12:41 am | #
Bush is a renegade president.
He has told Congress, including the Republicans, to go screw themselves.
He will decide what is the "law of the land" or what isn't.
And he doesn't need any damned judicial oversight either.
Bush is a renegade president.
Bush shouldn't just be censured, he MUST be impeached...and thrown in jail...preferably in the New Orleans area.
For all the faults of Richard Nixon, he never struck me as an out-of-control, renegade president...even though he leaned that way.
Bush, however, is a renegade president committed to destroying our democracy, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Bush MUST be impeached for the safety of our democracy and the future democracy we bequeath our children and grandchildren.
That's all there is to it.
The Oracle |
03.26.06 - 9:35 am | #
