... because if they haven't done anything wrong, why do they need to be shielded from crimes that haven't been committed?
Of course, they did. Spy on us, that is. All of us. All of e-mail, our phone calls, everything. Everybody. You, me, your mother, every single American, every single phone call you made, every single e-mail you sent or received.
Chris Dodd has a nifty little tool you can use to see which Senators are for, against, or wavering:
Most haven't decided, so a call today would really be helpful. I called Senator Box Turtle's office, but since he has never represented my views in any way in the past six years, I also called Sen. Leahy.
I told his staffer that since I had no representation in the US Senate, if he would be so kind as to represent me (and all Texas Democratic voters, and several thousand independents and maybe even a few Republicans) by opposing the FISA law granting retroactive immunity to AT&T, et. al. for the blanket spying they did on us.
I was on the phone for ten minutes for anyone in Sen. Schumer's office before I hung up.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Welcome to Houston, Mr. President
Cheney in Dallas last week, Bush in Houston and San Antonio today. You think they're worried about their little box turtle? As political uber-guru Richard Murray noted: "I hope they can raise some money, that's about all they can do for Cornyn."
And as our beloved Pretzledent prepares to do that little fund-raising event here this evening for his bestest buddy in the US Senate, we're going to do a little raising of our own.
And you can join Democracy for America, Wes Clark, John Kerry and many more in giving Dubya a poke in the eye with a $50,000 stick.
The Rick Noriega Express is rolling again today; jump on board. More from my blogsista Share.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The Democrat Party vs. the Democratic Party
I'm officially ready to adopt the Republican terminology of denigration to those who have chosen to wear the label proudly. I'm not going to call them Blue Dogs or moderates or conservative Dems any longer. They are Democrats.
They are not Democratic.
The distinctions have been demonstrated several times just this week, brought into sharp focus by the conduct of Democrats and Democratics regarding the attorney general's imminent confirmation in the Senate and the vote to impeach the vice-president yesterday in the House.
See if you can predict where this goes:
Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are Democrats; Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy are Democratic. Steny Hoyer's definitely a Democrat. Dennis Kucinich is obviously a member of the Democratic Party.
Hillary Clinton? Democrat. John Edwards? Democratic.
Democrats kow-tow, appease, relent, capitulate, quaver, acquiesce, give in, and give up. They vote to fund the war in Iraq, they vote for torture, for wiretapping, for immunity for wiretappers, and against S-CHIP and impeaching Cheney.
Democratics do not.
Members of the Democratic Party stand for the people against the powerful. Democrats take a poll to figure out where they stand. Democratics want campaign finance reform, as in publicly funded elections; Democrats crowd up to the corporate trough to suck swill right alongside their conservative swine-brothers.
The thing is that some Democrats are occasionally Democratic, but you nearly never find a Democratic going Democrat. It's a matter of principle that no poll, no lobbyist, no check in any amount can influence. And the other thing is that a Democrat is capable of being made into -- or back into -- a member of the Democratic Party, essentially because of that knack they have of being easily influenced.
I'm only supporting and voting for the Democratic Party from now on.
They are not Democratic.
The distinctions have been demonstrated several times just this week, brought into sharp focus by the conduct of Democrats and Democratics regarding the attorney general's imminent confirmation in the Senate and the vote to impeach the vice-president yesterday in the House.
See if you can predict where this goes:
Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are Democrats; Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy are Democratic. Steny Hoyer's definitely a Democrat. Dennis Kucinich is obviously a member of the Democratic Party.
Hillary Clinton? Democrat. John Edwards? Democratic.
Democrats kow-tow, appease, relent, capitulate, quaver, acquiesce, give in, and give up. They vote to fund the war in Iraq, they vote for torture, for wiretapping, for immunity for wiretappers, and against S-CHIP and impeaching Cheney.
Democratics do not.
Members of the Democratic Party stand for the people against the powerful. Democrats take a poll to figure out where they stand. Democratics want campaign finance reform, as in publicly funded elections; Democrats crowd up to the corporate trough to suck swill right alongside their conservative swine-brothers.
The thing is that some Democrats are occasionally Democratic, but you nearly never find a Democratic going Democrat. It's a matter of principle that no poll, no lobbyist, no check in any amount can influence. And the other thing is that a Democrat is capable of being made into -- or back into -- a member of the Democratic Party, essentially because of that knack they have of being easily influenced.
I'm only supporting and voting for the Democratic Party from now on.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Mukasey, Musharraf, and more bloggerrhea
The two items of national and global concern that emerged over the past week were the Democratic capitulation on the attorney general-designate and the political crisis in Pakistan. Both left me apoplectic. So let me just point to the snark and the precision analysis of others ...
-- CodePink demonstrates waterboarding to Dianne Feinstein as she enters the CNN building Sunday past for her turn on Late Edition. Keith Olbermann again put the wood to Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, the Democrats, etc., over the reasons for Mukasey's prevarication: because someone is going to have to try them for war crimes, it just isn't going to be anybody currently in charge.
-- Musharraf is nothing more than a tin-pot dictator imposing Chinese-style crackdowns on the judiciary, the media, and the people of his country. But he's Bush's boy -- or more to the point, Cheney's puppet, so "American" support to the tune of a billion dollars a year will continue.
Hey, Pakistan has both nuclear weapons and Osama bin Laden hiding nearby, right?
-- Following on my earlier post which alluded to the rise of Ron Paul and the particular strain of conservatism he appeals to, the man set a fund-raising record yesterday: $4.3 million. That was in part due to the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was believed to be the inspiration for the character in the film "V for Vendetta", which tells a story of blowing up a neofascist regime in order to start government over fresh.
And I thought that was Howard Dean's job. Oh well, I'm certain Hillary Clinton won't do anything remotely meeting that description ...
-- House Judiciary chairman John Conyers has asked the Bush adminstration's lawyer, Fred Fielding, nine times to cooperate with the investigation into the US attorneys scandal. Yesterday he filed criminal contempt of Congress citations against former White House counsel Harriet Myers and current chief of staff Josh Bolton.
--Today is Election Day and in Texas we have constitutional amendments to vote on, and in Houston a mayor and city council and several bond issues to decide. I'll be doing my regular gig down at the Central Counting Office and missing all the good election night parties.
Vote if you already haven't and hoist a frosty for me.
-- CodePink demonstrates waterboarding to Dianne Feinstein as she enters the CNN building Sunday past for her turn on Late Edition. Keith Olbermann again put the wood to Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, the Democrats, etc., over the reasons for Mukasey's prevarication: because someone is going to have to try them for war crimes, it just isn't going to be anybody currently in charge.
-- Musharraf is nothing more than a tin-pot dictator imposing Chinese-style crackdowns on the judiciary, the media, and the people of his country. But he's Bush's boy -- or more to the point, Cheney's puppet, so "American" support to the tune of a billion dollars a year will continue.
Hey, Pakistan has both nuclear weapons and Osama bin Laden hiding nearby, right?
-- Following on my earlier post which alluded to the rise of Ron Paul and the particular strain of conservatism he appeals to, the man set a fund-raising record yesterday: $4.3 million. That was in part due to the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was believed to be the inspiration for the character in the film "V for Vendetta", which tells a story of blowing up a neofascist regime in order to start government over fresh.
And I thought that was Howard Dean's job. Oh well, I'm certain Hillary Clinton won't do anything remotely meeting that description ...
-- House Judiciary chairman John Conyers has asked the Bush adminstration's lawyer, Fred Fielding, nine times to cooperate with the investigation into the US attorneys scandal. Yesterday he filed criminal contempt of Congress citations against former White House counsel Harriet Myers and current chief of staff Josh Bolton.
--Today is Election Day and in Texas we have constitutional amendments to vote on, and in Houston a mayor and city council and several bond issues to decide. I'll be doing my regular gig down at the Central Counting Office and missing all the good election night parties.
Vote if you already haven't and hoist a frosty for me.
Monday, November 05, 2007
The Weekly Wrangle
Before we get to this week's edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's Texas Blog Round-Up, we want to encourage all of our readers to vote for two member blogs in the 2007 Weblog Awards: cast a ballot for Three Wise Men here and The Agonist here.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the final installment of Trinity Trickery and implores Dallas residents to vote yes on Prop 1 on November 6th!
At Bluedaze we learn from TXsharon that the FWISD participates in a web of deceit with Barnett Shale producers and how the school district helps spread oil company propaganda at the expense of education.
Hal and some friends attended Nick Lampson's (TX-22) NCLB town hall meeting this past week and reports from Half Empty.
Bill Howell of Stoutdemblog links to the firestorm over Barack Obama's knowing use of a homophobe as emcee of a campaign rally in I Love A Tirade.
Are you upset about the enthusiasm of some in Congress for an AG that thinks torture is OK and views constitutional checks and balances as 'quaint'? So is McBlogger.
Off the Kuff looks at the fate of the Astrodome now that the Texans and the Rodeo have come out against a plan to redevelop it as a hotel/convention center.
North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad tells us a Halloween horror story about global warming deniers Fred Singer, Don Erler, and their ilk in Planet Purgatory Parts One and Two.
Would you feel honored if a city named a street after you? What if the street was broken into non-continuous segments and wound its way through backwater sidestreets of town? What if no one even knew where the street was? Well, that's how Lubbock has "honored" Cesar Chavez, notes Blue 19th.
Over at Texas Kaos, there's a report on Texans giving Darth Cheney a well deserved reception up in Dallas. Succinctly put, Don't Iraq Iran!
David Van Os has an opposing viewpoint of several of the constitutional amendments on Tuesday's ballot, and shares it at Brains and Eggs.
Over at Three Wise Men, Nat Wu analyzes the situation in Africa, particularly renewed talk of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, while Xanthippas takes on Scott Horton's view that being "grown-up" Democrat when it comes to foreign policy is giving Bush what he asks for.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that if screwing the middle class was a Congressional sex scandal, Texas' GOP congress critters would be making serious headlines.
NYTexan at BlueBloggin explores Bush's endless veto pen and his continued disregard for the Katrina victims.
WCNews at Eye on Williamson asks why every former Bush administration official from Texas is always rumored to running for public office in Texas in The Definition of Insanity.
This week's episode of TheTexas Blue's Who's Blue interview series features former Texas attorney general Jim Mattox, who shares his observations on Texas campaigns throughout his career and how the national mood may affect the coming election cycle.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the final installment of Trinity Trickery and implores Dallas residents to vote yes on Prop 1 on November 6th!
At Bluedaze we learn from TXsharon that the FWISD participates in a web of deceit with Barnett Shale producers and how the school district helps spread oil company propaganda at the expense of education.
Hal and some friends attended Nick Lampson's (TX-22) NCLB town hall meeting this past week and reports from Half Empty.
Bill Howell of Stoutdemblog links to the firestorm over Barack Obama's knowing use of a homophobe as emcee of a campaign rally in I Love A Tirade.
Are you upset about the enthusiasm of some in Congress for an AG that thinks torture is OK and views constitutional checks and balances as 'quaint'? So is McBlogger.
Off the Kuff looks at the fate of the Astrodome now that the Texans and the Rodeo have come out against a plan to redevelop it as a hotel/convention center.
North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad tells us a Halloween horror story about global warming deniers Fred Singer, Don Erler, and their ilk in Planet Purgatory Parts One and Two.
Would you feel honored if a city named a street after you? What if the street was broken into non-continuous segments and wound its way through backwater sidestreets of town? What if no one even knew where the street was? Well, that's how Lubbock has "honored" Cesar Chavez, notes Blue 19th.
Over at Texas Kaos, there's a report on Texans giving Darth Cheney a well deserved reception up in Dallas. Succinctly put, Don't Iraq Iran!
David Van Os has an opposing viewpoint of several of the constitutional amendments on Tuesday's ballot, and shares it at Brains and Eggs.
Over at Three Wise Men, Nat Wu analyzes the situation in Africa, particularly renewed talk of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, while Xanthippas takes on Scott Horton's view that being "grown-up" Democrat when it comes to foreign policy is giving Bush what he asks for.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that if screwing the middle class was a Congressional sex scandal, Texas' GOP congress critters would be making serious headlines.
NYTexan at BlueBloggin explores Bush's endless veto pen and his continued disregard for the Katrina victims.
WCNews at Eye on Williamson asks why every former Bush administration official from Texas is always rumored to running for public office in Texas in The Definition of Insanity.
This week's episode of TheTexas Blue's Who's Blue interview series features former Texas attorney general Jim Mattox, who shares his observations on Texas campaigns throughout his career and how the national mood may affect the coming election cycle.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
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