Call the Democratic Senators - Help citizens and embarrass the GOP at the same time!

Threaten to filibuster S. 3128!

I was thinking back to the DKos post I linked to yesterday: Daily Kos: Your Food Supply Is In DANGER, Because Congress Wants To Protect It

S. 3128 is the companion bill in the Senate to HR 4167, the National Uniformity for Food Act bill passed in the U.S. House. This bill would eliminate current state and local food safety and labeling regulations and preempt any future ones that aren't identical to federal ones. Members of the House put special interests before public interest when they approved H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act", with a vote of 283 to 139.

This is a power grab by the Federal government - it says that state's have NO SAY about the goods sold in their state.

By preventing this bill from passing the Democrats can help save our food supply from corporate interests, and reassert that the Democrats care about the citizens while the GOP does not. And it shines a spotlight on the fact that today's GOP has no interest in state's rights.

Call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 - ask the Democratic Senators to not only vote against the proposal but to threaten to filibuster if it looks close.

It isn't grandstanding - it is standing up for the citizens of America - it is standing up for state's rights.

- rob 4:41 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A political party punishes one of its own for his corrupt behavior.

The GOP could learn something - but they won't.

Democrats vote to remove Jefferson from committee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Democrats voted on Thursday to remove Rep. William Jefferson from a powerful committee while federal investigators weigh possible bribery charges against the Louisiana Democrat.
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"Passing judgment on your peers is very, very difficult, but it is necessary," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "I told all my colleagues -- anybody with $90,000 in the freezer, you have a problem at that point."

A Representative keeping money in the freezer - so silly - I thought they hid money in stoves.

- rob 4:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush supports the troops so much - he's thinking of getting all of them flashlights.

Fort Sam Houston behind on its utility bills

SAN ANTONIO -- Fort Sam Houston has received 1,300 utility service termination notices for delinquent bill payments, which officials blamed on a major budget shortfall.

CPS Energy warned commanders at the post to pay $4.2 million by Wednesday or risk losing power.
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"Who would imagine us not paying our bill?" said Col. Wendy Martinson, Fort Sam Houston's garrison commander. "I worry about it. I can't sleep at night."

The post, which trains medics, faces a $26 million budget shortfall this year — a problem that officials said is symptomatic of the financial woes facing posts worldwide.

What has Rummy and George down to the American military?

- rob 4:14 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Hilarious and scary interview of Rupublican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland from Wednesday night's Colbert Report

Thanks to Crooks and Liars you can see the interview in either WMP or QT. Go to the site for the links to the media files, click them and - if you are on a dial up - go downstairs and make a sandwich while it loads.

Crooks and Liars also gives these excerpts of the interview in nice rough transcript form:

Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.

Westmoreland: That's correct.

Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?

Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.
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Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?

Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all.

The guy co-sponsors a bill about the Ten Commandments and doesn't even know them. Priceless.

- rob 1:33 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bush's Favorite Author Leaving The White House

Michael J. Gerson, one of President Bush's most trusted advisers and the author of nearly all of his most famous public words over the past seven years, plans to step down in the next couple of weeks in a decision that colleagues believe will leave a hole in the White House at a critical period.

Bush's most famous public words????

• "Because he's hiding." —George W. Bush, responding to a reporter who asked why Osama bin Laden had not been caught, aboard Air Force One, Jan. 14, 2005
• "I speak plainly sometimes, but you've got to be mindful of the consequences of the words. So put that down. I don't know if you'd call that a confession, a regret, something." —George W. Bush, speaking to reporters, Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2005
• "It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005
• "I always jest to people, the Oval Office is the kind of place where people stand outside, they're getting ready to come in and tell me what for, and they walk in and get overwhelmed in the atmosphere, and they say, man, you're looking pretty." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 4, 2004
• "I have a record in office, as well. And all Americans have seen that record. September the 4th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget." —George W. Bush, Marlton, New Jersey, Oct. 18, 2004
• "The truth of that matter is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he were the president of the United States, and the world would be a lot better off." —George W. Bush, second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004
• "Let me put it to you bluntly. In a changing world, we want more people to have control over your own life." —George W. Bush, Annandale, Va, Aug. 9, 2004

I could go on - luckily someone already has: Bushisms - Adventures in George W. Bushspeak (where I stole all of these from). It has a collection of quotes for each year - funny, sad, and terrifying.

- rob 7:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The BRAD BLOG : EXPOSE: Security Breaches for 'Sleepover' Voting Machines Used in Busby/Bilbray Race Invalidated, Decertified Their Use in the Election!

The electronic Diebold voting systems used in the special run-off election last week for California's 50th U.S. House district were effectively 'decertified' and invalidated for use in the election after massive security breaches in the storage of those systems were sanctioned by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, The BRAD BLOG can now conclude.

Based on the review of several different very specific state and federal requirements, laws and provisions, the unsecured overnight storage of Diebold voting machines and their memory cards in poll workers houses, cars and garages in the days and weeks prior to the closely watched election between Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby violated several federal and state provisions which, if not followed, would revoke the certification of use for the voting systems in any California election.

In the wake of discussions yesterday with SD County Registrar Mikel Haas, who admitted to The BRAD BLOG that storage in poll workers' cars could not be considered secure, it has now become clear that several violations of certified provisions of use for Diebold voting machines -- which have been found and confirmed in the past several months to be highly tamperable by dozens of methods and by the company's own admissions -- occurred in last week's race.
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Adding fuel to the concerns of the incredibly cavalier statements about the security issues related to this matter by Registrar Haas (read on below) is the fact that just last week, two different elections in an Iowa Republican primary revealed that the popular incumbents -- who had both apparently "lost" their races after paper ballots were optically-scanned -- had in fact won their races after a subsequent manual hand-count revealed the scanners were programmed incorrectly. Those revelations, along with the details of CA-50 that we have been reporting here, have led non-partisan election watchdog organization VoteTrustUSA to join us in demanding that SD County prove their reported results are accurate by carrying out a full manual hand-count of all paper ballots and "paper trails" in the race.

I think it is time again to post this (angratitudeitude to the unknown artist who made this):

- rob 7:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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GOP - Corporate interests before stat rights

And Americans will get sicker because of it.

Daily Kos: Your Food Supply Is In DANGER, Because Congress Wants To Protect It

ACT NOW TO STOP THE "FOOD UNIFORMITY BILL" IN THE SENATE!

S. 3128 is the companion bill in the Senate to HR 4167, the National Uniformity for Food Act bill passed in the U.S. House. This bill would eliminate current state and local food safety and labeling regulations and pre-empt any future ones that aren't identical to federal ones. Members of the House put special interests before public interest when they approved H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act", with a vote of 283 to 139.

We still have a chance to stop this legislation in the Senate! Our Senators need to know we oppose any attempts to strip state's abilities to protect and inform their own citizens concerning food safety and labeling issues.

Please Contact Your Senators Now and Ask Them to Strongly Oppose S3128!

It's easy to call: Call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for the offices of your Senators.

The message is simple: Let them know you are looking to them to stand up for the rights of our local governments and citizens to protect our public health and food supply by opposing S3128.

Talking Points and Background Information

Reduction of food safety in many states: The "uniformity" to be achieved by this bill is in many instances the uniform absence of food safety regulation-a potential boon to the food industry. The bill requires all state food safety laws to be identical to the requirements of the Federal Food and Drug Administration.

And, since the states regulate many food safety issues not covered by the FDA, many laws will be voided and replaced with no law at all. While the bill would allow states to seek a nationwide warning from FDA, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government would spend at least $100 million to answer petitions for tougher state rules. Also, food industry lobbyists will be able to focus efforts against these regulations in one place-instead of working in all 50 states.

- rob 7:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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I remember reading this a while back, but I'm not sure I posted this:

Buy Low, Earmark Funds to Build Nearby Highway, Sell High

For years, Hastert has been pushing the construction of a highway called the Prairie Parkway in Illinois. He secured $207 million in earmarks to support the project. But what he didn't tell constituents was that he owned a huge plot of farmland just a few miles from where the road would run. And now that the project's gone through, the land has been tranferred to a real estate development firm with plans to build a 1,600 home community. The land has already improved in value by millions of dollars.

Our government has become a vehicle of the personal enrichment of politicians. Nothing more.

The Administration and Congress have in a mere matter of years created a culture of corruption that has greatly diminished the strength of America. Their greed is making America a banana republic, answerable not to the citizens but to corporations and trade associations.

The American dream for these folks is not the dream of hard working individual seeing the fruits of their labor with a home and a better life for their children.

The American dream for these folks is not the entrepreneur who creates companies, jobs, and even new industries single handedly via the sheer strength of their ideas.

No - to them America is a place where the goal is wealth - and the methods to get wealth are being born to it or lying and cheating to get it. The concept of honest hard work is a talking point - an idea the masses will eat up as the rich rewards only their own.

A fish rots from the head. Many in power now have talked about America in terms relecting back to the glory of Rome while all the while expediting the causes of its downfall - corruption, ineffectual leadership, and self absorption.

- rob 7:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Majority Leader Boehner's Confidential Strategy Memo For Thursday's Iraq Debate

To Summarize: 9/11 9/11 9/11 (repeat)

- rob 6:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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When in Cuban do as the Cubans
(or at least Castro)

Bush continues to prove that "Freedom is on the March" away from America - thanks George

UPDATE: Pentagon Orders U.S. Reporters to Exit Guantanamo

NEW YORK In the aftermath of the three suicides at the notorious Guantanamo prison facility in Cuba last Saturday, reporters with the Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald were ordered by the office of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to leave the island today.

- rob 1:20 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Too pathetic to summarize

The Diebold Machine Sleepovers at Poll Workers Houses

Is our democracy going to crumble due to the willful stupidity of our elections officials?

- rob 5:03 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Theft on the grandest Scale

From Stealing an election: NYT op ed: Kerry "almost certainly would have won Ohio"

In the 2004 presidential election, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) "almost certainly would have won Ohio if all of his votes had been counted, and if all of the eligible voters who tried to vote for him had been allowed to cast their ballots," writes columnist Bob Herbert for Monday's edition of The New York Times.
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No one has been able to prove that the election in Ohio was hijacked. But whenever it is closely scrutinized, the range of problems and dirty tricks that come to light is shocking. What's not shocking, of course, is that every glitch and every foul-up in Ohio, every arbitrary new rule and regulation, somehow favored Bush.

To old Fashioned stealing money: The Case of the Missing $21 Billion

During the days of the Nixon Watergate scandal investigation, reporter Bob Woodword was famously advised by his mysterious source, Deep Throat, to "follow the money" as a way of cracking the story.
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My bet for the place that needs the most following is the more than $9 billion that has gone missing without a trace in Iraq--as well as $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting.
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As word of massive corruption began to surface in 2003, Congress passed legislation creating an office of Inspector General, assuming that this new agency would monitor the spending on the occupation and reconstruction, and figure why all so much taxpayer money was disappearing, and why only minimal reconstruction was going on in destroyed Iraq, instead of a massive rebuilding program as intended. Bush named an old friend and supporter, Stuart Bowen, to the post--a move that should have put Congress on alert, given this administration's long history of putting cronies in positions of authority.

When the Coalition Provisional Authority was terminated in late 2004, with corruption still rampant and growing, Congress redefined Bowen's position as Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
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When the Boston Globe, this past April, broke the story that President Bush has been quietly setting aside over 750 acts passed by Congress, claiming he has the authority as "unitary executive" and as commander in chief to ignore such laws, it turned out that one of the laws the president chose to ignore was the one establishing the inspector general post for Iraq. What the president did was write a so-called signing statement on the side (unpublicized of course--though it was quietly posted on the White House website), saying that the new inspector general would have no authority to investigate any contracts or corruption issues involving the Pentagon.
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Bowen simply never mentioned to anyone that, courtesy of an unconstitutional order from the president, he was not doing the job that Congress had intended.
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When Thomas Gimble, the acting inspector general of the Pentagon, was asked in 2005 during a congressional hearing by Christopher Shays (R-CT), chair of the House government reform subcommittee, why the Pentagon had no audit team in Iraq to look for fraud, the facile Gimble replied that such a team was "not needed" because Congress had set up the special inspector general unit to do that. He conveniently didn't mention that the president had barred the special inspector general from investigating Pentagon scandals.

Bush - nothing but a thief.

- rob 5:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A government ignores a promise to its people

A government puts a developer's interests above its citizens

And the largest urban farm in American is destroyed.

Even local governments have forgotten that their very existence is based on the belief that they can serve the people.

Governments are nothing more then a collective bargaining entity for the communities they represent.

The community understands there are some tasks that they as a whole can do better then they can do on their own. Police, Fire Fighting, Education, Security, negotiations with other governments, etc. So we elect representatives to act in our behalf within these citizen created governments to do what we determine they should do. Like an insurance company spreads risk over all its subscribers, a government can spread services so that the rising tide helps all of society. The community understands that money from a rich area spent on a school in a poor area benefits both. It reduces crime, it creates a better workforce, it increases the tax base.

The government does only what its citizens allow it to do on their behalf.

This is not the case when developers use eminent domain for casinos or malls.

This is not the case when government contractors write the appropriation bills that get them money.

This is not the case when lobbyists write legislation to limit their contribution while receiving tax breaks unavailable to the citizens

This is not the case when LA Bulldozes farms they gave to its citizens.

The South Central Farm is currently under attack.

An early morning raid began this 5-hour long eviction that is still in process. Trees are being cut down, bulldozers are leveling the familiesÂ? food, hundreds of protesters are on site rallying with tears in their eyes as the nationÂ?s largest urban farm is destroyed before them. The L.A.P.D. is on tactical alert as fire ladders and cherry pickers are being brought in to remove the tree-sitters. The 350 families created this oasis 14 years ago in the wake of the 1992 uprising when this land was offered to the community by the then Mayor as a form of mitigation.

- rob 3:45 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Boo hoo hoo
i'm not being taught to be manly in school
boo hoo hoo
Wimp

Boys are being failed by our schools

A generation of boys is leaving school unable to cope in the modern world because lessons have become "feminised", according to a renowned academic.

They are falling behind in exams and the job market because teachers fail to nurture traditional male traits such as competitiveness and leadership.

Dr Tony Sewell said schools instead celebrate qualities more closely associated with girls such as methodical working and attentiveness in class.

Well according to this British paper things such as methodical working and attentiveness are not male traits.

Further proof George W. Bush is a man's man.

- rob 1:49 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Homeland Security accepts fake ID

Retired New York City policeman Bruce DeCell, who had arranged to meet with DHS officials last week to lobby for document security, told CNN he purposely used a forged version of identification that Mexican consulates in the United States issue to their nationals living here illegally.

Undocumented Mexicans can use the cards at banks and other institutions that accept them. The cards are not valid for entry into federal government buildings.
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DeCell said a friend in California bought him the fake Mexican card for $20.

"I sent him a passport-size photo and the spelling of my name, and he had the card made for me on the street," he said.

Days before his meeting with DHS officials, DeCell was asked to furnish his name, Social Security number and birth date, so they could be compared by security personnel to a valid form of picture identification. The building security accepted his matricula card, even though it listed a false date of birth, he said.

Life is so unfair, he gets through the security of the Department of Homeland Security with a fake ID, but poor Barbara Bush couldn't even get a drink with her fake ID.

- rob 1:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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via Daily Kos- a link to this awesome Garrison Keillor editorial.

NOTE TO REPUBLICANS: THE PARTY'S OVER

The iPod was not developed by Baptists in Waco. There may be a reason for this. Creative people thrive in a climate of openness and tolerance, since some great ideas start out sounding ridiculous. Creativity is a key to economic progress. Authoritarianism is stifling. I don't believe that Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard were gay, but what's important is: In San Francisco, it doesn't matter so much. When the cultural Sturmbannfuhrers try to marshal everyone into straight lines, it has consequences for the economic future of this country.

Meanwhile, the Current Occupant goes on impersonating a president. Somewhere in the quiet leafy recesses of the Bush family, somebody is thinking, "Wrong son. Should've tried the smart one." This one's eyes don't quite focus. Five years in office and he doesn't have a grip on it yet. You stand him up next to Tony Blair at a press conference and the comparison is not kind to Our Guy. Historians are starting to place him at or near the bottom of the list. And one of the basic assumptions of American culture is falling apart: the competence of Republicans.
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So here we are at an uneasy point in our history, mired in a costly war and getting nowhere, a supine Congress granting absolute power to a president who seems to get smaller and dimmer, and the best the Republicans can offer is San Franciscophobia? This is beyond pitiful. This is violently stupid.

It is painful to look at your father and realize the old man should not be allowed to manage his own money anymore. This is the discovery the country has made about the party in power. They are inept. The checkbook needs to be taken away. They will rant, they will screech, they will wave their canes at you and call you all sorts of names, but you have to do what you have to do.

- rob 4:57 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Another Day - Another Bush Success

Violent Crime Surges for First Time in 15 Years

Overall violent crime reports surged for the first time in 15 years in 2005, including a 5 percent increase in the District, according to preliminary FBI statistics released today.

The FBI's annual crime report shows increases in three of the four major categories of violent crime -- murder, robbery and assault -- contributing to an overall increase of 2.5 percent in violent offenses from 2004.

- rob 4:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Perhaps NASA can study Pork - why does bacon taste oh so good?

Pork threatens NASA plans: Congress' pet projects take $3 billion from budget

NASA must slash science, engineering and education programs to pay for billions of dollars in congressional pet projects, most of which have little to do with the agency's mission to explore space.

The price tag for politicians' "pork" has grown so large that NASA may have to delay the new spaceships and rockets needed to replace the space shuttles, to be retired in 2010.

My favorite pet project for NASA to spend its money on is "A website and laboratory for the Gulf of Main Aquarium."

Aquarium?

Did some politician see The Abyss and think extraterrestrial live lives in the ocean? Or maybe thanks to the movie Sphere this politician realizes that to study spacecraft of the future you have to go under water?

- rob 4:35 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Build a fence through lakes?

Border security along Lake Erie has leaks

Politicians are promising fences, cameras, and whatever else it takes to keep our southern neighbors from stealing chunks of the American Dream.

There they go, forgetting Ohio again. And we've got a big border right here.

Bill Strassberger, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman, offers to make amends and secure Lake Erie.

"We're going to drain it and put a fence across it," he quips.

The truth is, safety officers have beefed up the lake's security since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But they could hardly guard every dock around the clock.

Here's the truth about border security - even when we have border guards - this is who we send through:



From June, 2005:

Man With Chain Saw, Sword Is Let Into U.S.

BOSTON - On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States. [emphasis mine]

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.

There's some tight border security there. Well at least they took his chain saw.

- rob 11:51 AM - [PermaLink] -

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