Howard is first -- he helped us win back Congress.

Yes, Dean is first.

But today I also want to do a shout-out to Justice Kennedy.

You can read his disquisition on the rule of law on the Hannah blog.

http://hannah.smith-family.com/archive/0...

Monica Smith
Sat, 12/09/06
7:28 am

.

.

The Constitution recognizes treaties as having equal weight as the Constitution itself and laws passed by Congress to apply it to specific issues.....

quote the part of The Constitution that says that or stop making this claim.  This is another "ICBM" claim...LOL

Robert

Like the troll....the South is becoming irrelevant.

Howard Dean and Jon Stewart are first.

Nasty trolls are last. 

PS: Sheri, Jon spells it J-O-N not JOHN. 

The Democrats won control of five state legislatures, all outside the South, and took more than 300 state legislative seats away from Republicans, 93 percent of them outside the South. As for the new Senate Republican caucus that chose Mississippi's Lott over Tennessee's Lamar Alexander to be deputy to Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, 17 of its 49 members come from the Confederacy proper, with another three from the old border states of Kentucky and Missouri, and two more from Oklahoma, which is southern but with more dust. In all, 45 percent of Republican senators come from the Greater South.

More problematic, so does most of the Republican message. Following the gospel according to Rove (fear not swing voters but pander to and mobilize thy base), George W. Bush and the Republican Congress, together or separately, had already blocked stem cell research, disparaged nonmilitary statecraft, exalted executive wartime power over constitutional niceties, campaigned repeatedly against gay rights, thrown public money at conservative churches and investigated the tax status of liberal ones. In the process, they alienated not just moderates but Western-state libertarians.

The one strategist who fundamentally predicted the new geography of partisan American politics is Tom Schaller, a University of Maryland political scientist whose book Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South appeared several months before November's elections. Schaller argued that the Democrats' growth would occur in the Northeast, the industrial Midwest, the Mountain West, and the Southwest -- areas where professionals, appalled by Republican Bible Beltery, were trending Democratic and where working-class whites voted their pocketbooks in a way that their Southern counterparts did not. Al Gore carried white voters outside the South, Schaller reminded us; even hapless John Kerry came close.

A friend of mine died suddenly I found out last night. Last week he was sitting around playing cards, laughing, doing just fine. Then, yesterday I believe he went into the hospital with what appeared to be a heart attack, had another one while at the hospital and died.

I am in shock.

I will do a write-up today on it after I attend the memorial.

He was a great progressive political activist. 

His name: David Kaler 

The one strategist who fundamentally predicted the new geography of partisan American politics is Tom Schaller...

This is actually pretty weak stuff.  The "old" pivot points are trying to divide Americans along partisan sectional politics.  That is, to use a frame "So Bush".

The pivot points that I believe will be successful in the 08 cycle is a campaign that goes past the red blue divide.

Howard's 50 state strategy at least in theory agrees with me.

Nameste Gong

Robert

Mr. Clinton for instance does not agree with it.

Robert

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Carter disputes Clintons book.................

I would bet my $ on Carter.............he is far more educated on the region than Clinton......and from an argument of morality, decency and fairness.........Carter is the undisputable champion.

_ FiReFoX!: wow, that's terrible, real sorry to hear that.

cChalfonte: while we need to continue the 50-state strategy, the Democratic Party's growth area is the west, particularly the Rocky Mountain states. They are concerned with environmental issues, particularly mining, air and water quality. The GOP has abandoned them on those issues.

I would not be at all surprised to see Colorado go blue in 2008. The time is right.

Sorry if this has been posted before, but this is important - please help spread the word and get this into more of the MSM:

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/12/08/cq_...

It reports on right-wing Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon making a speech on the Senate floor advocating a speedy withdrawal from Iraq - no ifs ands or buts. Keith O mentioned it on Countdown last night, but it's not getting the media play elsewhere that it deserves. From the article:

"Smith returned from the Thanksgiving recess having made up his mind that he could no longer be “a good soldier� and support the Bush administration policy on the war.

“As decisions were being made about Iraq, I wanted to send a call — from a corner that has been silent — to let leaders know I am sick of the status quo and there is a GOP ally pushing for change,� Smith said after he finished his speech."

Another thing: Don't write off the South. To his great credit Howard certainly hasn't. I think he understands that Dems in many southern states have multiple handicaps: decades of vastly inferior education funding; blatant suppression of alternative media; and the effective disenfranchisement of large segments of the African-American community by a racist criminal justice system - state laws administered unjustly over the years in order to jail and convict a disproportionate number of minority citizens, with the fact of conviction then being used to deprive them of voting rights forever.

These are significant obstacles, but with diligent effort they will be overcome.

I would bet my $ on Carter.............he is far more educated on the region than Clinton......

We have seen how well your money has "played" before...lol

The problem for Mr. Carter's statements is that unlike Mr. Clinton he WAS NOT IN THE ROOM over the statements he asserts.  No one who was in the room, American, Israeli are agreeing with him.  The PLA isnt talking.

None of the "formal" proposals or even the noted informal ones back up Mr. Carter's statements.

Another problem here Mike, you dont even know what the disagreements are over.

An informed public is essential to a Free Republic

Robert

Morning,

Quick post, then off to decorate for Storm Mountain Christmas party.  The prediction about the West seems accurate to me.  Larimer Country in Colorado is definitely going Democratic.  Not completely there yet, but as it becomes more urban, with better educated people, with more high tech, you definitely get a Democratic swing.  Ranchers and farmers are selling out to developers, which are a scurvy lot, by and large.  James Galvin, the author of The Meadow and a new book of poetry entitled X, has remarked that the developers are the new earth rapers, much like the mine owners, the railroads (love it that the railroads were given all the land for the tracks and then sold it for profit).  We have miles and miles of houses with no trees, ten feet between houses, all a similar design.  They look like barracks to me.  Of course, they've taken habitat from rapters, mammals, amphibians, etc.

Well, almost all literature tells us that it's greed that brings societies down, and guess what, we still don't seem to have taken that message to heart. Doesn't anyone recall that Beowulf died because he went after the dragon's gold????

BBL 

raptors, raptors, can't spell anymore.

This is the memorium a friend sent out today.

David Kaler, a PDA pioneer, former Arizona State Coordinator and spokesperson for PDA in Arizona, and chair of the first Tucson PDA meeting, died Friday, after two massive heart attacks.  He was was playing cards at friends’ home just last weekend, lively and loving until the end.  He was surrounded by friends who loved him when he died.  

David worked with the Culture of Peace Alliance to build a movement to create a City of Peace in Tucson.  He had been very active in the Kucinich campaign (state coordinator in 2004) and Department of Peace movement.  He gave many hours to the election integrity movement in Arizona, and to many political campaigns.  If David supported you, you had a friend indeed!  

In 2004, he had formed a statewide group, Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus, later putting it in the service of PDA national leadership to grow the progressive movement in Arizona.  His group later became the Arizona Progressive Council, when he generously transferred the name of his group to the Arizona in-party caucus, and until recently he was involved in forming progressive “conversation cafes” to have a place to move progressive ideas forward; he had been interested in forming a progressive think tank before his health failed.

Former Representative Ted Downing invites all who knew and loved David to come to a celebration of David's life tomorrow evening  (Sat. Dec. 9,  6pm).  Bring stories, maybe something that David wrote to you.... some food or drink to share with others around the fire pit.  Let's give David a good send off with our love.

We're working on the site. Stay with us!

COOOL! 

beautiful tribute to your friend Cheryl. I so hate losing the good ones.


Great Daily put Sheri thanks for posting it. good for a laugh on a winter morning.

NOT winter yet!  Winter comes as the light begins its come back. . . .  And of course Spring comes on Valentine's Day. . .

And Sheri, the plural of "monkey" is monkeys not monkey's. . . .  

Billions Later, Plan to Remake the Coast Guard Fleet Stumbles
By ERIC LIPTON

The initial venture has been canceled after hull cracks and engine failures made the first eight boats unseaworthy...

...Many retired Coast Guard officials, former company executives and government auditors fault that privatization model, saying it allowed the contractors at times to put their interests ahead of the Guard’s.

“This is the fleecing of America,” said Anthony D’Armiento, a systems engineer who has worked for Northrop and the Coast Guard on the project. “It is the worst contract arrangement I’ve seen in all my 20 plus years in naval engineering.”

Insufficient oversight by the Coast Guard resulted in the service buying some equipment it did not want and ignoring repeated warnings from its own engineers that the boats and ships were poorly designed and perhaps unsafe, the agency acknowledged. The Deepwater program’s few Congressional skeptics were outmatched by lawmakers who became enthusiastic supporters, mobilized by an aggressive lobbying campaign financed by Lockheed and Northrop....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/09s...

SNOW is the perfect name for 'em!!

maybe that shoulda been for 'im!!

 ... you get (git) the point! :+)

Thanks, but I cross-posted this from Crooks and Liars. The "monkey" isn't mine...but I corrected it.

An informed public is essential to a Free Republic

Robert

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Oh yes Robert, Ive been mentioning that for years.............its refreshing that defenders of the watchtowers of this country like you ar froma nation where a fair % of the populace cannot locate theor own country on a globe, distinguish between the nations said capitol and a state bearing the same name and located 3000 miles to the NW....................

I was curiously scanning my daughters history book the other day......the section on the mid east..........I found it very slanted, biased and technically wrong for the most part...you must have wrote it, becasue it followed the simpletonian Oler logic of good guys and bad guys........

Il be meeting with the Principal and Hitory teacher soon..............Ill be curious to see what actual course work eiher have taken on the middle east....................

Dont worry.........the US is slowly crawling out from the gutter if global ignorance..............slowly.

Michael Ellis
Sat, 12/09/06
12:13 pm

LOL

A suggestion would be that you care less about your daughters text books and try to inform yourself.

YOU are the one who made a statement about Carter v Clinton.  The problem is that you are spoon fed.

If what you here comes from someone whose opinions you like then that is "enough" for you and you dont bother to inform yourself further of the issue.  YOU DONT EVEN KNOW what the debate is between Carter and Clinton, and yet youare "putting your money" on something.

You of course are not the only one.  Pat in CO gave us a splendid example of being "spoon fed".  She thought she was coming to PUddle's defense, made up some "thing" and tried to make it sound warm and then....well only problem is that in her rush she had either not bothered to or completly misread the line of discussion.

For you to critize the education level of people "on the watchtowers", a place you will never be, when you dont have a clue about "where you are putting your money" other then the names of hte people you are putting it on...shows you are "spoon fed".

Remeber how many people here "hooked" over the "Rove is going to be indicted in 24 hours thing"?  Oh I think you were one of them.

LOL

"Kittles"...lol

Robert

great lte in our local paper, the daily press.

from our city comm. co chair, charlie.

says it all

I thought it might be good therapy for George Allen supporters to vent over the loss of their flawed candidate. However, now that they are attacking Jim Webb with selective editing and revisionist portrayals of his encounter with George W. Bush, I am compelled to challenge them. The only person who was boorish and confrontational was President Bush.

Lance Cpl. Jimmy Webb very recently escaped death in the hostile Anbar province in Iraq. (Unfortunately, three other young Marines died next to Webb.) Sen.-elect Jim Webb made the choice to not have his picture taken with Bush; it was Bush who searched out Webb. If you grant that the president's clumsy phrasing of "How's your boy?" was sincere, you must also grant that the polite "I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President" was equally sincere. With full knowledge of Webb's concern for the life of his son, Bush confronted Webb and impertinently shot back, "That's not what I asked. How's your boy?" This lack of empathy and tact demeaned only one person, Bush, and one office, that of the presidency. If the president's only parental concern is having his own Secret Service-protected children thrown out of Argentina for bad behavior, Bush's lack of understanding of the feelings of the father of a combat Marine is understandable. It may not be forgivable.
Charles F. Stanton

and that is what you get with jim webb folks, to the point.

to the point. I have known him since he started running. he is not a bull sh....er. he is a man fo policy and statesman.

you want bull crap then you get mccain.

hey puddle the lake behind our house is frozen. really cold here.

just got back from doing our annual event with the York Kiwanis Club. Breakfast with Santa - free breakfast and pictures with Santa.

This starts my christmas season.

cChalfonte: while we need to continue the 50-state strategy, the Democratic Party's growth area is the west, particularly the Rocky Mountain states. They are concerned with environmental issues, particularly mining, air and water quality. The GOP has abandoned them on those issues.

I would not be at all surprised to see Colorado go blue in 2008. The time is right.--

Bob, I agree.  I don't believe that Harold Meyerson is suggesting we abandon the 50-state strategy...he's just describing the impact of playing to your base (Rove) did to the Republicans given the changing demographic shifts and given who their base is.

Whither the South....I'm delighted:) 

23.

LOL Sheri

Basically, the Baker report says we should align with Sunnis and Kurds; the White House prefers Shiites.

The Baker report wants to bring Syria and Saudia Arabia into the pro-Sunni alliance; the White House wants to keep them away from Iraq. Everyone says there were no new ideas in the Baker report and that it was "cover" for the White House to do what it really wanted, but in fact this strategic shift is both a return to the 1980's alignment of interests and a huge change from the present situation.

The report doesn't provide cover for anything other than an utter reversal of direction and a repudiation of, among other people, the Secretary of State. Ms. Rice would have to resign if this report's advice were taken.

The report's biting criticism of current policy is meant to drive Rice from office and to install a new strategic director of foreign policy somewhere in the Administration.

It is meant to summon the influence of the Saudis to the White House councils. The report announces a kind of verbal battle for power within the Administration, and it is likely that heads will roll as a result. But whose?

Meanwhile, the real war appears to grow continually more serious. The situation is not only not stable, but is worse every day. Americans troops are in increasing danger, I fear, and Iraqis are wise to leave in droves, as dismal as that choice may be.

--Reed Hunt, TPM Cafe 

Hey Robert........if THIS is any example of your bravery on the watchtowers of freedom..may I suggest doing something better with your time................and the taxpayers fund this sort of crap? I hope the politicians see this stuff............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5PJNGqJYs

Sheri, thanks!  LOL, it do it all the time: I've gotten so paranoid about  's that I often do it's when I mean its. . .

lindab, must be.  My puddle hasn't even started, really.  Just a few frills of ice along the banks.  I can wait. . . .

michael, why even bother. this is hopeless.

33

Ditto. Sometimes I read what I wrote and cringe. I think on blogs it is easier to just put stuff out there with errors because we do it in such a hurry. It is not like in school or even on the job when you proof several times to make sure.

I always say it is good to have a few eyes look it over first but that is not always possible. 

puddle, me too!  Now when I write "opposed" I've been tempted to *correct* it to "oppossed".

Sheri, I bring a lot of foreign policy experts' writing here.  I have noted that many of them don't spell check their work. 

Mike-he's just trying to claw his way out of irrelevance.

He has become irrelevant here.   

It seems blindingly obvious to observe that the unresolved, permanently visible Israeli-Palestinian conflict fans the flames of jihadism across the region.

Yet this connection is rarely taken seriously, either as a matter of policy or in the public debate. The reluctance to do so is fed by the notion that “they hate us for what we are.” This mistaken assumption creates a monolithic “them” that doesn’t really exist (the fights within political Islam are often the fiercest). It also denies very real grievances that provoke anger and create fertile recruitment ground for radicals.

For Sunni al-Qaedists and Shiite Ahmedinajists alike, the Palestinian cause is a central rallying cry. Although extremists exploit the issue, it resonates far beyond the madrassa or the militia training camp. Of course, solving this conflict is not a panacea; not all hatred would instantly evaporate. But progress on the Israel-Palestine issue could be decisive in stabilizing the Middle East.

A reenergized political effort on the Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli front would also dramatically wrong-foot America’s adversaries in the region. Such a move would answer the calls of America’s moderate Arab allies and represent a first step towards repairing our damaged regional credibility. Indeed, it’s hard to see how the alliances necessary to attempt progress on Iraq and Iran can even be constructed without such reengagement and investment of political capital.

Unfortunately, however, the administration has wandered so far off course that nothing short of a policy reboot will work. On one Mideast journey during the Lebanon crisis this summer, Secretary Rice was forced to return to Washington in embarrassing dejection—she was unwelcome in any regional capital outside Jerusalem. Her return visit last month was derided in the Israeli and  Arab press alike as promising little and achieving even less.

Envoys have been dispatched sporadically (Gen. Anthony Zinni, Amb. John Wolf) but to little effect. Attempts to advance economic development have failed because they haven’t been matched with a political framework. The core issues of the conflict—land, borders, Jerusalem, security cooperation—were abandoned as too difficult and have now been exacerbated on the ground.

The administration’s repeated failure to take any initiative—when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas replaced Yassir Arafat, when the Saudis introduced their peace plan, when Ehud Olmert was elected on a platform of territorial withdrawal, when the Syrians called for a return to peace talks—ill-served both American and Israeli interests. Hence, the need for a commission.

 --Daniel Levy calling for a Baker Commission or Israel/Palestine

Levy is a senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and the Century Foundation and directs their respective Middle East and Peace initiatives. Levy formerly worked as an adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and as an official Israeli negotiator at Oslo under Rabin and at Taba under Barak. He was the lead Israeli drafter of the unofficial Geneva Initiative detailed peace plan.

Linda and chal,

I cant help but imagine that the actions of some of our own over there are breeding the future terrorists of  tomorrow.................that will remember and not forget.

Landmark Legislation Authorizing Nearly $1 Billion in Autism Funding Now Moves Back to the Senate for Prompt Action

PR Newswire (press release), NY
December 6, 2006

The Senate bill was sponsored by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT). The House version was brought to the House floor by Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX), Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. A companion bill was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswomen Mary Bono (R- CA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO). The bill has the support of all major autism advocacy groups.

The bill was originally passed in the Senate in August 2006. The House version differs slightly from the Senate version, directing funds for research to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, rather than directly to the National Institutes of Health. Senate passage of the revised bill is expected swiftly.

ABOUT AUTISM

Autism is a complex brain disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, and is often accompanied by extreme behavioral challenges. Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed in one in 166 children in the United States, affecting four times as many boys as girls. The diagnosis of autism has increased tenfold in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called autism a national public health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/storie...

Morning all!

I clicked on the link for the topic video and it looks like it's scrubbed.  Does anyone have another link. 

Dumb of comedy central to not let clips be shown.  All it does is increase their viewership.

are breeding the future terrorists of  tomorrow.................that will remember and not forget.  --

No doubt.  Not being able to forget -- a cultural norm "over there", is a key factor in their inability to move forward.  If you are fighting to avenge tribal differences that occurred over 1,000 years ago it's nearly impossible to move forward and join the family of nations today.

As the 109th Congress drew to a close, Sen. Gordon Smith took to the Senate floor and delivered a scathing indictment of President Bush’s policy in Iraq. Gordon said, “I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day.”

42.

You need to scroll down Crooks and Liars to the Jon Stewart show. It's still playing for me.

the parrot hasn't said a thing of substance for days

the ISG has his boss confounded  leaving the parrot confused

I love posts like this. I have one suggestion for Sheri.  Unless she made arrangements with Crooksandliars.com to directly link to the videos, the proper etiquette would be to send us over to that site for the link.  This way, we use their bandwidth, but aren't visiting their site, which isn't totally cool.

Methinks Sen Smith is afraid of losing his seat and well he should.  He is a putz clone through and through and will become a McCain clone should we be dumb enuf to vote for him.  Don't trust him at all and I intend to call and express that on Monday.  What is good about his speech is that it may wake up other putz clones (who are also gonna lose their seats). 

He needs to be voted out in 08.  Too little, too late, and his other policies are Draconian - wanting to ban legal medical marijuana, which has helped so many people with life-threatening diseases.

I saw that part of his speech.  It doesn't sound impassioned to me.  It sounded like a repug trying to hold onto power by saying the expedient thing.  He needs to remove the broomstick from his behind.  Really don't like that man's policies. 

What is it that Tony Snow has with parsley? I know he said "parse," but parsley is probably what he meant. You know, the stuff that has to be chopped fine to get the flavor out. LOL

BTW, it is a bit of a nuissance to have to refresh after hitting submit to register a comment. That's what I have to do with old Opera on a linux box.

Sen Smith also recanted his use of the word "criminal."  Either he's afraid or being too harsh on putz or afraid to tell the truth.  Either way,  he's gone.  IMO most of congress has indulged in criminal behavior or at the very least such poor judgment that most should retire in embarrassment.

47.

I don't know about you, but that's what I had to do. The link took me to their site and then I had to scroll down to get Jon. That was true on the new MAC Book and my old linux box.

I don't see anything new at the top of my comment box.  Fire, what cool message is it? What browser are you using.

Your friend contributed to the well being of our country and those he left behind should be proud of him. 

same here Monica the QT link sent me to Crooks and LIars but I am on a MAC book too.

Michael Ellis
Sat, 12/09/06
1:18 pm

An informed public is essential to a free Republic.  the problem is that well people like you comment on things which they dont know Jack (or Jane) about.  Just in recent memory for "you" there has been the aircraft carrier (LOL) and now we have the Carter/Clinton dustup which you seem to be 1) completly uninformed over but 2) ready to take sides just based on personalities. 

The problem with the extremes is completly uncritical thought.  They read "expert after expert" but ONLY those who reinforce their world view.   We have people here who post endless "expert" after "expert" but it is always from the same "background" and  we never hear what they think or what their analysis of the "expert" opinion is. 

There is nothing unique about this.  In the Runup to the war anyone was an expert who agreed with Cheney/Rummy etc but not so much if they disagreed with them. 

The Iraq Study group....the report is just way to "indepth" to be able to on one pass, one reading, come to any critical conclusion of it UNLESS you are willing to either one accept it carte blanche or reject it ALL based on the pre assumptions of what should be. 

The extremes (of which we have the far left represented here) are some of the dumbest people alive.  If a conclusion matches what they like then well "Rove is going to be indicted inside 24 hours" if they dont "He is a troll". 

YOu have made another statement that illustrates this..... cant help but imagine that the actions of some of our own over there are breeding the future terrorists of  tomorrow.................

do you realize how incredibly "thin" that statement is? 

Every action of "today" are the stuff that breed the "terrorist" of tomorrow.  BEcause in the future every Jane or Jack has the ability to sieze upon some alleged "sin" of the past and make it their personal statement of terror.  That is the constant in terror...and it exist to the earliest days of recorded history AND BEFORE.

Your statement is completly uncritical thought.  It is like the statement on the CV...you had to say something!

Anyway I would not worry so much about your daughters textbooks.  Spend more time worrying about how "YOU" form an opinion.  It is completly spoon fed.

Robert

Yes, the video links do take you to the website, which is probably due to a protection put in place by crooksandliars.com.  The two video link URLs, however, were intended to link directly to the videos, which isn't cool, but didn't work anyway.

I found it Monica.  Thanks for your help.

Sheri, I bring a lot of foreign policy experts' writing here.  I have noted that many of them don't spell check their work. 

Why bother.  ?  They are writing for blogs and who cares about that!  If I cared about it I would spell cheke.re. (grin) but why bother ....

Robert

the virginia state football championship is playing just down the street. hubby went. the one puddle calls a cutie. umm

phoebus is ahead by 6 in the 4th quarter.

phoebus, as in hampton , va.  the tidewater area has some of the best players in the state.

michael vick, marcu vick ( both minus the finger salute)

allen iverson ( another thug) anyway we have some.