Be INFORMED

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Democratic Congress and It's Low Approval Ratings

DailyKos

Here are the results of six congressional job approval polls taken so far in June:

Newsweek (6/18-19): 25% approve; 63% disapprove
Gallup (6/11-14): 24% approve; 71% disapprove
NBC/WSJ (6/08-11): 23% approve; 64% disapprove
Quinnipiac (6/05-11): 23% approve; 66% disapprove
LA Times/Bloomberg (6/07-10): 27% approve; 65% disapprove
FOX News (6/05-6): 29% approve; 55% disapprove
ABC/Washington Post (5/29-6/1): 39% approve; 53% disapprove

  As we can all see, the citizens of this country aren't to happy with those Democrats that we hired back in November 2006 because thus far they have done nothing to end our involvement in Iraq and they still have yet to put the kids in the White House on restriction, time-out, whatever.

   They've done nothing but send some harshly worded letters to Bush and the rest of the crime syndicate and they've pretty much given the Bush boys more blank checks to go out and play war with.  Will someone please remind me of why we voted for these spineless wimps?

  Some comments for you from other Kos members.

Remember why we gave you the majority, Democrats

I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but on the off-chance that some staffers or even elected officials are reading this . . .

This is simple: we gave you the majority to provide a check on the outrageous abuses of power by the Bush administration that were enabled by a complacent Republican congress for all too long.

We all know Bush is going to veto everything you send to him. So. Keep. Sending. It. Back.

The majority of Americans are way ahead of you on all these issues: stem cell research, education, equal rights for everyone, protecting a woman's right to do with her body what she wants, stopping cronyism in its tracks, rebuilding the Gulf coast, and ENDING THE GODDAMN WAR.

Get a fucking pair, and stand up to Captain 26%. Democrats across the nation ran on two things: ending the war, and putting a check on the egregious abuses of power coming out of this nightmare of a White house. I don't know about the rest of DailyKos readers, but I sure as hell feel betrayed, and I am pissed off that you're not doing what you promised us you'd do. If you're so scared of Bush and his 26% approval rating, or Big Time and his single-digit approval rating, who are you not afraid of?

You want to know why we disapprove of the job you're doing? It's because you aren't doing what we put you there to do.

So just do it, as the saying goes, and restore our faith in the Democratic party.

by CleverNickName

Vetoes will happen, and it's o.k.

I agree that we expect there to be vetoes and we expect the Republicans to raise cain trying to gum up the works. While I think having a few accomplishments is a good thing, it's also very important to act as though the symbolism matters. By this I mean resending vetoed legislation; let Bush veto it a thousand times, that's part of our point. There is some legislation that needs to get through, but other things (including spending on Iraq) can be the subject of long and difficult fights. We want a fight. I think most Americans do at this point. Stand up, even if it isn't entirely successful. People are smart enough to see that the Republicans are being obstructive to progress, so press on and just do the right thing.

by poserp

   And my favorite comment:

They should try better tactic

Instead of doing traditional legislation, they should try to out maneuver republicans. (eg. flood Bush with so many small legislations he has to fight each one of those)

Make him sign 6-700 different bills all with different  amendments and combinations of crazy regulations.

See if he can catch up.

Shut down every single one of Bush adminstration tools that does not related to troop and public safety.

No more diplomacy, no more trade discussion, no more banking. friggin nothing. sink that administration.

No more Cheney.

They want to spy and create fourth branch of government. let htem pay out of their own money. Bush want to have lunch, make him pay for his own lunch.

shut the entire Bush mafia operation down.

by fugue

It Is Now Time for The Democrats to Impeach Vice Criminal Cheney

    This piece of shit has to go! Now! Most of you know that I am speaking  about the fact that Vice President Cheney has exempted his office from from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information. this is a presidential order that this crook is pretty much tossing aside and it would lead one to believe that this punk and his lower-level employees have many things to hide from the public.

  Cheney makes the claim that his office is not an "entity within the executive branch."  This is dastardly Dick up to his usual tricks once again. My question is this. If Cheney's office isn't part of the executive branch, then why are the taxpayers footing the bill for his salary, residence, trips and his Secret Service coverage. Tricky Dick needs to be forced to repay his income and all of the other bills that you and I have paid for this punk. He needs to move ( be removed ) from his residence and his limo needs to be parked, permanently. if Cheney is not part of the government, then we shouldn't be paying his sorry ass to be anywhere near the White House. The Congress has to begin impeachment proceedings against Cheney as there is no other choice now.

  The Gavel

June 21st, 2007 by Jesse Lee

From the Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

Vice President Exempts His Office from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information

Washington, D.C. — The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President’s position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President’s staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President’s executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: “I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. … [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials.”

* Letter from National Archives to the Attorney General (pdf)
* Second Letter from National Archives to the Vice President’s Office (pdf)
* First Letter from National Archives to the Vice President’s Office (pdf)
* Fact Sheet on the Vice President’s Efforts to Avoid Oversight and Accountability (pdf)

Chairman Waxman’s Letter to the Vice President (pdf)

   I would recommend that you read Chairman Waxman's letter to Cheney. It's an educational experience.

Rudy Giuliani Is An Ass

  Anyone who pays attention to the politics of the United states knows that Giuliani is nothing but an asshole, and a very good one at that. He's also one to put his money making above his job, as has been pointed out as of late with his getting fired from the Baker Commission for not showing up to do his job. I guess that he's more into ass-kissing and brown-nosing those big time donors than he is in doing what he was elected to do while being the mayor of NYC.

Kagro X over at Daily Kos has a rather insightful look at Mr.( ? ) Giuliani and his priorities.

How much of a prick is Rudy Giuliani?

by Kagro X
Thu Jun 21, 2007 at 04:24:08 PM PDT

How much of a prick is Rudy Giuliani? So much that he basically got fired from the Iraq Study Group by James Baker because he never went to any of the meetings.

And where was he instead? Cashing in on his 9/11 celebrity, giving motivational speeches for an organization called Life Win, Inc., which puts on "Get Motivated" (!) seminars all over the country.

You know the drill. Big stage show. Big music. Big lights. Big name celeb tells you to reach for your dreams. Big charge on your credit card.

How big? Big enough to pay Rudy a hundred grand per appearance (he did two while he was supposed to be at ISG meetings).

You know, for a war we got into (and an occupation we continue -- maybe for 50 years) because people like Giuliani told America Iraq was connected to the World Trade Center attack, you'd think the decent thing for Giuliani to do would be to drop his 9/11 grave robbing for a while and see what he could contribute to getting us the hell out of this mess. But then, Giuliani probably knew it was a lie right from the beginning, just like the rest of us.

Either way, I guess we have our answer as to what he can contribute: nothing. So that's what he did.

Keep that in mind, Republican America, next time Giuliani tells some swooning crowd how he felt the 9/11 attacks so much more deeply than the rest of us because he was mayor of the town that blew up because George Bush didn't read his PDBs. Rudy Giuliani has made his millions picking the pockets of the 9/11 dead.

And you just know this guy has the balls to tell crowds that he "felt a calling" to run for president, too. That wasn't God calling, Rudy. That was Baker, asking why your deadbeat ass wasn't showing up for work.

Guess that settles the "Who truly wears the mantle of George W. Bush" question, though, doesn't it?

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Tony Snow Describing Al Qaeda or The Bush Regime?

  Just browsing through the transcript of the White House press briefing from Tuesday and I ran across this  little piece of the question and answer session.

Q Let me just finish up, if I can. In Afghanistan -- you probably saw this video that was obtained by ABC, which was apparently suicide bombers. What does that say about what we've done in Afghanistan?

MR. SNOW: Well, first, we're looking at it. At this point, we don't have a definitive thing. It's not clear exactly what they're claiming, but we're reviewing it. But look, it's typical al Qaeda propaganda. Al Qaeda is also good at slick propaganda that encourages people to go out and blow themselves up. Notice that the leaders don't make that effort; instead what they do is they pick younger people and they send them off to die. They are good at manipulating the press. (  my emphasis ) They will continue to do what they can to try to destabilize that government. Again, it fits into what I was talking about, is the forces of radicalism and extremism.

  If you hadn't have read the beginning of this, you would think that this was someone talking about our fearless fighter pilot up in the White House, so far as leaders would be concerned. Replace al Qaeda with the White House and then there is no difference.

   Have you ever noticed how al Qaeda and the Bush administration are like evil twins. They both do the same thing only al Qaeda are terrorist and the Bush company uses mercenaries for its dirty work while our troops are stuck in the middle.

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2008 Iraq War Supplemental Resistance

Published on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

Break Time Is Over: Building Nonviolent Resistance to the 2008 Iraq War Supplemental

by Jeff Leys

On August 6, Congress begins its month long recess. August 6 also marks the start of Year 62 After Hiroshima-the one and only time that nuclear weapons were used. And it marks Year 17 After Iraq Sanctions, when the brutal economic sanctions regime against Iraq was first imposed by the international community.

On August 6, the Occupation Project will launch a reinvigorated campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience / civil resistance to end Iraq war funding. Office occupations-both legal and extralegal-will commence at the offices of Representatives and Senators who refuse to publicly pledge to vote against any additional funding of the Iraq war. Occupations will continue at least through the end of September. The Occupation Project will work in conjunction with campaigns organized by Declaration of Peace, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Grassroots America for Us and others.

The hottest weather of the year occurs in August. Let us commit to creating the hottest political weather: focused upon Congress to force an end to the Iraq war. Let us commit to forcing Congress to vote down the $145 billion being sought in supplemental spending to wage the Iraq - Afghanistan war through September of 2008. Let us commit to forcing Congress to force the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year.

Let us commit to using every nonviolent means at our disposal to defeat the Iraq war supplemental spending bill for 2008 and to bring every U.S. soldier home from Iraq by the end of this year.

Last fall, in Panora, Iowa social justice advocates discussed ways to bring the occupation of Iraq home to the offices of Representatives and Senators. The Occupation Project grew from these discussions. From February 5 through Tax Day, over 320 arrests occurred at the offices of 39 Representatives and Senators across the country. 15 of the 39 voted against the final Iraq war supplemental spending bill that Congress passed in May. 14 of the 15 who voted against the final bill had voted in favor of the Iraq war spending bill last year. Actions occurred at the offices of both Republicans and Democrats-challenging the reality that both parties are responsible for the ongoing war.

Meanwhile, sustained campaigns of office occupations that did not result in arrests took place in such diverse locations as Nashville, Tennessee (the birthplace of the Occupation Project); Huntsville, Alabama; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; and across the state of Minnesota. Social justice advocates entered the offices on a weekly basis (and, in the case of Sacramento, CA, on a daily basis) and occupied the offices, pressing the demand that the Representative or Senator commit to voting against any additional funding for the war.

These next three months are critical to ending the war in and occupation of Iraq. Through the end of July, Grassroots America for Us ( www.grassrootsamerica4us.org ) is organizing the Swarm on Congress, intensive and extensive lobbying on Capitol Hill. In August, we must turn up the heat on Representatives and Senators while they are in their home districts and states for the month long recess.

In early September, General Petraeus will report to Congress on the progress-or lack thereof-that is being made in Iraq. Shortly after, the House will vote on HR 2451 as an amendment to the Iraq - Afghanistan war supplemental spending bill. Next the House will vote on the final version of the $145 billion war supplemental for FY 2008, and send it to the Senate for consideration. It will be a one-two punch vote. It is entirely probable that the final version of the supplemental spending bill will not be publicly available until less than 24 hours prior to the vote (the final version of the supplemental passed in May was not publicly available until the morning of the vote).

H.R. 2451 (sponsored by David Obey and Jim McGovern) requires that the redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq begin within 90 days of enactment. The partial redeployment is to be completed by June 30, 2008.

HR 2451 will keep U.S. troops in Iraq to: protect the U.S. embassy and diplomatic personnel; protect U.S. forces remaining in Iraq; engage in “target special actions limited in duration and scope to killing or capturing members of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations with global reach”; and to train and equip the Iraqi Security Forces. Erik Leaver of the Institute for Policy Studies examined nearly identical language in March 2007 and concluded that it would allow for upwards of 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. troops to remain in Iraq. (http://ips-dc.org/iraq/supplemental.htm)

Our demand must remain clear: end all funding for the Iraq war and withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year. The language of HR 2451 is not sufficient.

And what of the argument that a vote against the $145 billion supplemental spending for 2008 will further endanger the well-being of U.S. troops currently deployed in Iraq? U.S. troops will not be in danger when the U.S. withdraws the troops from Iraq. $36 billion of this $145 billion will be for the procurement of ammunition, weapons systems and combat vehicles that will not be delivered to the military until 1 to 3 years has passed. The Army seeks $46 billion for “operations and maintenance” to fund its actions at current levels through September 30, 2008-a sure way to place U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens in further danger. (see “Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental Spending 2008″ at www.vcnv.org for an in-depth analysis of the 2008 war funding request).

Recall that the President is seeking $482 billion for the baseline military budget for 2008. That’s an 11 percent increase over the current year’s budget-and nearly 62% more than was spent on the military in 2001. The money is clearly available to safely and quickly withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year.

It is easy to be discouraged and lose heart after Congress passed the Iraq war bill in May. It is easy to be tempted to give up completely on the legislative process.

But giving up on the legislative process is, indeed, the easy route to take. It is the route that ensures that the Iraq war will continue as a war without end.

Instead, we should intensify our legal and extralegal lobbying efforts. We should recognize that nearly twice as many Representatives voted against the supplemental this year than last year and that, for the first time, Senators voted against an Iraq war supplemental spending bill because of their opposition to the war’s continuation (Arlen Specter voted against the supplemental in 2006 was because he did not believe it provided sufficient funds for a medical program). We should maintain pressure upon those Representatives and Senators who voted against the final war supplemental spending bill-working to ensure that they again vote against war funding this fall.

We should also recognize that the only way that this war will be ended is if we organize to exert sufficient pressure on Republicans and Democrats to force an end to war funding. With this in mind, we should recognize the tricks of the parliamentary trade and demand that David Obey and Nancy Pelosi do more to end the war. But we should also recognize that had Obey bottled up the war supplemental in committee or Pelosi refused to allow a floor vote, Jerry Lewis (as ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee) would have submitted his own version of a war supplemental and obtained 218 signatures on a discharge petition to force his version to be voted upon in the House.

Ending the war requires pressure on both Democrats and Republicans-both via legal lobbying and nonviolent civil disobedience / resistance.

Multiple efforts and allied campaigns are underway to force an end to the war in and occupation of Iraq. Become engaged with these efforts and organize locally.

· Join the efforts of the Swarm on Congress, an intensive and extensive lobbying effort in Washington, D.C. through the end of July initiated by Grassroots America for Us ( http://www.grassrootsamerica4us.org/Get_the_Votes.html)

· Organize local actions with the Occupation Project campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience / civil resistance / office occupations to demand that Representatives and Senators vote to end to all funding for the Iraq war. A reinvigorated campaign will be launched on August 6 to continue through the vote on war funding in September. Get involved at http://vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project. You can contact the Occupation Project via email at occupationproject@vcnv.org for suggestions and advice on how to organize a local Occupation Project campaign. Resources including voting records, legal information, etc. are available on this website.

· CODEPINK’s ( www.codepinkalert.org) work includes the Occupation Project and the Don’t Buy Bush’s War campaigns (among other critical work to end the war).

· Join the Declaration of Peace campaign efforts. DoP will be lobbying Representatives and Senators through the summer, culminating with a week of actions nationally during the critical week of September 14 to 21. Visit www.declarationofpeace.org

· Participate in the efforts of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) as it challenges the war in Iraq through nonviolent direct action. NCNR has organized actions at military recruiting centers, Congressional offices, the Pentagon and weapons manufacturers. Visit www.iraqpledge.org.

· Participate in the legislative network of United for Peace and Justice as well as its nonviolent direct action working group to force an end to the war. Visit www.unitedforpeace.org

Time is short to end funding for the Iraq war. And the costs are immeasurably high each day that the war continues. Much organizing work remains to be done.

Break time is over.

Jeff Leys is Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a national organizer with the Occupation Project campaign. He can be reached via email, jeffleys@vcnv.org.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Voters Not Happy With The Democrats. Is Anyone Except The Republicans?

  And is it any wonder? most of us put these men and women in the Congress to get the United States out of the Republican war in Iraq. Thus far though, the Democrats have done nothing even close to getting our troops home.

   According to Yahoo News, recent polls say that the Congress is  nearly at their lowest approval ratings in a decade with only one out of four Americans liking this group's efforts.

"I understand their disappointment," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "We raised the bar too high."

  Raised the bar to high? What a load of horseshit, Mr. Reid. The bar isn't high enough and it would seem that the Democrats still cannot find their balls or their convictions either.

Biden, seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said: "Voters are going to be mad with us until we end the war."

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi  said some Democrats understand "we can only do so much."

"Others are just very unhappy. I include myself among them," Pelosi, of California, told The New York Times.

  It would seem that Mrs. Pelosi isn't happy enough at this point in time. As far as that bullshit about they can only do so much, cut the fucking funding flat out and that will be all that is required. End of story, case closed. NEXT!

  It is getting pretty bad when the Republicans are now calling the Congress the " do- nothing Congress."  It isn't brought up that the Democrats can't do anything because the House and the Senate is still being held hostage by the Republican thugs in bed with the Bush clan. Then you throw in GOP'er Lieberman and it all turns to shit.

   Here is what the Republican strategy appears to be and why the Democrats can get nothing done.

"If Democrats fail to reverse course, the dynamics in the 2008 elections may shift significantly, allowing Republicans to run as the party of change ... only two years after Democrats successfully campaigned on that same theme," Senate Republican leaders told their ranks in a letter last week.

  This is what it is all about on both sides of the aisle. nothing but politics and who can make who look the worst before 2008 gets here. At the present time, the Repugnicans have the upper hand because the Democrats have no balls!!