The Congressional Silver Lining

So as you all know, the Congress enabled George Bush in the last two days to illegally (or not illegally anymore) wiretap American citizens to his cold dead heart's content. Over sixty Democrats decided to help the traitor-in-chief in his quest to destroy our liberties and our constitution. But there is a silver lining that a Republican Congress would not have provided.

From The LA Times:

WASHINGTON — Pushing to chart a new national energy policy, House Democrats on Saturday passed legislation that would require the nation's utilities to generate more electricity from clean-energy sources, such as the wind and the sun.

And in another indicator of the changed political landscape on Capitol Hill, they stripped the oil and gas industries of $16 billion in tax incentives and voted to apply those tax breaks to efforts to spur production of cleaner forms of energy.

The energy measures passed in a final burst of activity before lawmakers were to adjourn for their summer recess this weekend.

Now, this all depends on if the President signs this legislation and if he does, without a signing statement that says he doesn't have to follow the law Congress passed. What are the chances of that? Hmmmmm.

So is this a silver lining, or just a meatless, tasteless bone thrown to us by the Democrats in Congress? Our constitution is in shambles, our nation can be spied on at will without a care by dozens of Democrats who claim that our "security" is threatened if we do not give up our liberties. While Congress is on their pleasant summer break full of trips and fundraising events so that they can keep being re-elected, maybe they can pick up some reading material by Patrick Henry and be reminded what America is all about.

Clinton Loves Her Some Lobbyists

The Presidential forum here is was a few hours ago, but there are still some reverberations coming out of it. Gravel, Richardson, Dodd, Edwards, Clinton, Obama and Kucinich were there, so it had plenty of sparks. Though Clinton shocked us more than even Gravel could imagine doing.

From The Huffington Post:

Senator Clinton silenced a room of approximately one thousand progressive bloggers and activists Friday (actually it was today, Saturday) at the YearlyKos convention when she said, "Yes I will" continue to accept money from lobbyists because, lobbyists "represent real Americans."

Senator Clinton's admission came during a raucous debate over lobbyist donations that started with Senator John Edwards' challenge to Democrats and Republicans to stop accepting money from lobbyists. Senator Edwards had shouted earlier amid loud applause, "Your money is no good here, and we're not going to take it anymore." The Edwards campaign issued a press release right after the challenge, emphasizing that the Senator is the only presidential candidate who has not taken money from federal lobbyists or political action committees.

Senator Clinton's rivals were quick to jump on her admission. Senator Obama, whose campaign has returned lobbyists' money and committed to not accepting additional donations, said, "I disagree that lobbyists don't have disproportionate influence." They are spending money because "they have an agenda."

Senator Edwards asked the audience members to raise their hands if they have a Washington lobbyist working for them. Only three hands were seen.

Hillary tried to backpedal after Edwards and Obama lambasted her, but the damage was done. She said that people should look at her history and see that lobbyists do not influence her. I call bullshit. After championing health care reform in 1993 and 1994, she has been eerily silent on the issue. I wonder if that has anything to do with her being the second highest recipient of health care industry money in Washington?

I'm going to believe the all mighty dollar over her word on this one.

Minnesotans Are Mad

It has been three days since the disaster in Minneapolis. The impact of the I-35 bridge collapse was felt all over the country and the world, but not even close to how it hurts up in the Twin Cities. Much like New York City after September 11th, everyone feels pain for the victims. Yet when you lose a family member, a friend, a co-worker or anyone that you know personally due to the negligence of your government, sadness is going to be compounded by anger and a demand for accountability. Already, the anger levels are going up and according to Nick Coleman at the Star Tribune, its not a partisan issue.

From The Star-Tribune:

Both political parties have tried to govern on the cheap, and both have dithered and dallied and spent public wealth on stadiums while scrimping on the basics.

How ironic is it that tonight's scheduled groundbreaking for a new Twins ballpark has been postponed? Even the stadium barkers realize it is in poor taste to celebrate the spending of half a billion on ballparks when your bridges are falling down. Perhaps this is a sign of shame. If so, it is welcome. Shame is overdue.

At the federal level, the parsimony is worse, and so is the negligence. A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster.

And now, one has fallen, to our great sorrow, and people died losing a gamble they didn't even know they had taken. They believed someone was guarding the bridge.

What a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided. Our government has been neglecting the essentials that keep our society going. It makes you think about the times of the Roman Empire, when Romans were given games instead. Well that empire fell, and the structure that fell and killed several people this week is tragically symbolic.

Thermal Camera Proves Gov. Richardson Is Blue

He didn't go thermal in any political sense, just posing for a picture with me with my trusty MacBook here in Chicago.

Rudy's Health Care Hot-Air

Rudolph Giuliani is one of the top tier candidates for the Republican nomination because of one thing, 9/11. Yet to run for President one should have detailed policy positions for a whole host of different issues that are important to Americans. Health care is without a doubt an important concern for voters and Rudy is willing to talk about it, but only to bash Democrats, not to actually provide real answers to the problems that millions of people face, no matter if they are insured or not.

From The American Prospect:

I'm supposed to be writing about Rudy Giuliani's health care plan today. And I would, if Rudy Giuliani had a health care plan. But Rudy Giuliani doesn't have a health care plan. What he has is a pretext with which to attack the Democrats. Indeed, just about all you need to know about Giuliani's thoughtfulness on the issue can be summed up by the following: In the speech introducing and detailing his new health care proposal, Giuliani refers to the "Democrats" six times. "Single-payer" is said eight times. "Socialized medicine," or some variant thereof, makes nine appearances. "Uninsured" is never uttered -- not once.

But we'll get to the speech in a moment. First, it's worth wondering why anyone is even crediting Giuliani with a health care plan. The New York Times headlined their story "Giuliani Seeks to Transform U.S. Health Care Coverage," before telling us, in the tenth paragraph, that "Mr. Giuliani's speech offered very little in the way of specifics. He said his goal was to outline his 'vision,' with more details to come in the fall." I guess the headline "Giuliani Seeks to Transform One-Seventh of Economy, Couldn't Be Bothered to Offer Details on How" wasn't snappy enough?

Failure of the press aside, let's examine this "vision." What Giuliani offered is this: A tax exclusion of up to $15,000 for families, and $7,500 for individuals, to help pay for health care. What Giuliani is relying on is people reading those numbers -- $15,000 and $7,500 -- without noticing that they don't denote the amount of money he's offering them, but the amount of money he's not taxing them on. And when we plug it into my magical Rudy Translation Machine (constructed with the help of friendly neighborhood economist, Dean Baker), we can watch how $15,000 can easily become … zero.

Zero is the number on a scale of one to ten the amount of time Giuliani spends thinking about providing a real plan to fix our nation's health care crisis. The numbers he touts are misleading at best and most likely intentional distortions to make an appearance of having a plan. It seems he is more concerned about raising money from the industries that want to keep the status quo. In fact, he has raised almost a million dollars from health industries alone.

Expect more hot air out of his mouth, while his campaign bank account is fattened by corporate America that loves to hand him cold hard cash.

Sam Seder Takes His VideoCam To YearlyKos

My little digital camera takes videos, but not as good as an actual video camera, so I'll let Air America Radio's Sam Seder take you on a little tour here at YearlyKos.

Bloomberg/Nunn 08'?

The Bloomberg for President speculation got another dose yesterday when reports came out that former Senator Nunn (D-GA) met with the Mayor to talk politics. Being from Georgia, it would be a safe bet to assume they were not talking solely about New York.

From 1010 WINS:

"We've had conversations about frustration with the fact that the process is flawed,'' Nunn said of Bloomberg, who has sent mixed signals about a potential independent White House bid. "I've told him ... it may be time for some serious people to look at what I call a time-out and having people of good faith in the Democratic and Republican parties to come together and address the issues that the parties don't seem to want to address.''

"We have not discussed any kind of joint strategy,'' Nunn added in an interview with The Associated Press. "I have just had conversations with him.''

Nunn, 68, a moderate who earned a reputation for bipartisanship during four terms in the Senate, was frequently mentioned as a potential presidential or vice presidential candidate before he retired in 1996.

Although Nunn says he hasn't ruled out running for President by himself, he clearly does not have the star power that the Mayor of New York garners. Bloomberg might just be the horse that can carry Nunn back into politics with an Independent label. As his politics do not put him with most Democrats (call him a blue dog Dem at best), tacking on that "I" to his name would be a good way to re-brand himself.

Of course, no one from either camp would say anything definitive, so it is still a wait and see situation.

Bloomberg Relents To Photography And The First Amendment

In addition to freedom of speech, the freedom of expression is inherent in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Well the Mayor didn't think too highly of that freedom when his film office proposed restrictions and fines for people taking photos and films in the city. Needless to say, the new rules produced an outcry from the community demanding it be rescinded. The Mayor finally backed down today.

From The NYT CityRoom:

Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the film office, said the rules would be revised based on feedback the office has received over the past two months. A period for public comment, which was scheduled to end today, will be reopened for another 30-day period after the redrafted rules are published.

The city appears to be modifying its position — if not backing down entirely — as a result of a settlement from a recent lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The civil liberties group had threatened to a file a new suit over the proposed rules. (See the text of the proposal as a PDF.)

The mayor’s film office said in a statement:

By reflecting existing procedures in city rules, M.O.F.T.B. has endeavored to meet the challenge of identifying a threshold level of activity which necessitates a film permit, while at the same time substantially mirroring its current practices. The goal is to maintain a safe environment for the public, while balancing the needs of filmmakers whose work may have a significant impact on pedestrian or vehicular use of public space.

The carefully worded statement from the film office pretty much says, "sorry, nevermind." Of course when it comes to PR, signaling defeat requires a confusing statement that tries to make the film office look as good as possible. No matter how the city parses their words, this is a victory for photographers and filmmakers, New Yorkers and the First Amendment.

"I Don't Recall": A Republican Mantra

If it's good for Alberto Gonzales, then Dick Cheney can have selected memory too:

So I am Sitting Here At YearlyKos...

It is already the middle of the day here in Chicago, and after a speech by Gen. Wesley Clark, a talk with John Dean, Cenk Uyugr, Eric Massa and David Brock followed by a panel on framing with George Lakoff and Jeffrey Feldman (whew!); I am sitting in the ballroom listening to Andy Stern talking about the S.E.I.U., and the history and current state of unions. Needless to say, its has been a full day already and there is still much more to go.

That being said, this is hardly about a bunch of bloggers getting together in pajamas (I am wearing a dress shirt and slacks by the way). Bill O'Reilly and the ilk like him having been decrying what we are doing and anyone that dares support us. This is our second of many conventions and growing stronger. That makes people like Bill O very afraid. They want to hold on to their political power and its is beginning to fall out of their greasy, dirty hands. The media has been slow and coming with realizing what is going on here, but fortunately E.J. Dionne is.

From The Washington Post:

An Army veteran, a former Republican, and the son of a Salvadoran mother and a Greek father, Moulitsas, 35, created his Daily Kos Web site on May 26, 2002 -- "in those dark days," as his site puts it, "when an oppressive and war-crazed administration suppressed all dissent as unpatriotic and treasonous." Daily Kos took off because so many Democrats shared Moulitsas's view of the second President Bush.

Daily Kos is often described as liberal, but it is, more than anything, partisan. Its core assumption is that ideological conservatives made the Republican Party their vehicle and rallied in lock step against Democrats. The party of FDR and JFK needed to find the same discipline. The key litmus tests for Kos and his many allies in the blogosphere involve not long lists of issues developed by the American Civil Liberties Union or the AFL-CIO, but loyalty in standing up against Bush and doing what's necessary to build a Democratic majority.

And just as Limbaugh aroused passionate opposition on the left, so has Kos become the object of conservative rage. In the lead-up to Moulitsas's Chicago gathering, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, a right-wing showman who knows a threat when he sees one, has gone after Kos. "There's no question that the most vile stuff imaginable is posted on this hate site and others like it," O'Reilly said Tuesday.

There is a change going on in this country. Americans are understanding that the Republican party represents the past, with no ideas outside of trying to scare and manipulate our citizens from helping them to live better lives. They would rather fight endless wars and take away our liberties than make America a shining light in the world.

The people here at YearlyKos, the "kossacks" at home and all like-minded people are beginning to demand a change. We are here today to implement that change. Last year we helped to put the power of Congress into the hands of Democrats. It was a great start, but there is much more to do. Next year we will elect a new President, and it is our duty to ensure that our 44th President brings progressivism back to the forefront of American politics and ultimately its policies so that we can realize and see the change so many of us are hoping and dreaming of seeing, especially after so many dark years of Republican rule.

Dennis Gallagher, Do Not Pass Go

Well Councilman Gallagher won't be staying in jail anytime soon, but he was forced to turn himself in this morning to the authorities. A little over three hours ago, Dennis was booked for rape, assault and a criminal sex act.

The indictment is currently sealed, but expect it to be released later today. Basically the grand jury heard the story from each side in the case, and easily made the decision to let this go to trial.

He was smiling yesterday when he went to court, but I doubt there was any happy emotions from this indicted man today. Goodluck to the justice system in prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law. Dennis has no business representing his slice of Queens, though if he wants to run for cell block president, then go ahead by all means.

Chris Dodd Smacks Down O'Falafel

Cheers to Senator Dodd for bringing it to Bill O. Nothing brings a smile to my face like seeing his mug dragged in the (figurative) mud.

Here's the video, enjoy: