PSoTD

Shouldn't you at least have mentioned the Alito cloture and confirmation votes? Isn't it at least that important?

The light you carried shines brightly.

Going back to my earlier post...

The following states had two Democratic Party Senators that voted for closure yesterday:

Arkansas (2)
Hawaii (2)
North Dakota (2)
West Virginia (2)

I'm looking for some good, regularly updated liberal blogs from those states to keep on my blogroll. The theory is that liberal bloggers need to promote at least one voice and an eye for each state. Using leftyblogs, and a subjective standard that the blogger had to have posted about the cloture vote (regardless of viewpoint on the issue) as a timeliness/issue standard, I've come up with the following so far:

Arkansas - none

Hawaii -
The Online Magazine Known as Rob's Blog
Linkmeister

North Dakota -
The Flickertail Journal
Holding North Dakota's Breath Until It Turns Blue

West Virginia - none

Please peruse. And feel free to suggest blogs to review. This is in no way comprehensive at this point.

From eR:

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08) will be introducing legislation initiated by the Coaltion for Voting Integrity to push back the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) deadline past the 2006 primary season. This is legislation that counties all over the country have been begging for. This is legislation that helps the cases of Connecticut and New York, both of which have announced that they will not be HAVA-compliant anywhere near the deadline of the 2006 primaries.

During the meetings with Fitzpatrick and his staff one thing became abundantly clear to me: if this bill is going to pass in time to make a difference, it will only be because enough citizens from around the country call their Congressional reps in the Senate and the House to say that they want it to be law. We need you to pick up the phone again today and call your Senators and your Reps and tell them that Fitzpatrick's bill to extend the HAVA deadline past the primary must pass immediately. I don't have a number for it yet, but when I do, I'll post it. It's possible that the aide won't know what you're talking about. That's okay. This is all happening very fast. If you mention HAVA and Fitzpatrick, they'll get the message.

Robin's asking for help from the netroots on this legislation. If you're interested in knowing more about the issues for local government and HAVA, a simple Google News Search is pretty educational as well.

If liberal bloggers are really a growing political force in the Democratic Party, perhaps we need to work to spread some of that force out geographically. On the cloture vote, Democratic Senators from the following states voted for cloture:

Arkansas (2)
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Hawaii (2)
Louisiana
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
North Dakota (2)
South Dakota
Washington
West Virginia (2)
Wisconsin

Perhaps over the next year or so, the largest of the liberal blogger traffic hubs should seek quality liberal/progressive blogs in these states to promote and build visibility. National pressure is valuable, local pressure means voters.

Leftyblogs is a good starting point for reference. Unfortunately, the Reader Blogs listing at DailyKos is too dated to be of much value.

I don't quite agree with Jane to the level of how good the news of the efforts for the filibuster was (compared to the results), but it is progress to build upon, which is something we've been missing for years. I'm feeling better about yesterday - I can't put a happy face on it, but I do think that Kerry and others did step up, did put pressure on other Democrats, and now we have a scorecard of Democratic Senators with whom bloggers have made an impact with, and the rest that have yet to understand what the grassroots desires.

Susie:

I suggest those of you who have been giving money respond to the next direct-mail appeal by writing a short note: “Until the congressional Democrats get a spine, I will give only to those individuals on whom I can count to represent me.”

This might be the single most useful thing we can do. Because if all that money that was going to the DNC and the DSCC goes instead to the senators who listened to us, we strengthen their hand. If they’re sitting on a large pot of money, the wafflers will have to come around to get a piece.

Sure enough.

Maybe this opposition to Bush's spend and bend the Constitution idea is just completely wrongheaded in how we practice it. I'm not planning on becoming a conservative. But perhaps I should think about becoming a Republican. What if millions and millions of liberals left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party? Why, you ask? To force liberal viewpoints into their primaries and their non-competitive district elections, of course. If we can't get Democrats to do what we want, then maybe we ought to join the Republicans and get them to do it, or at least to quit doing what we don't like.

It is our vote to use as we see fit. We don't have to vote Republican. But perhaps we ought to register Republican. Perhaps, as liberals, we ought to start voting in stealth mode, supporting this candidate or that candidate while registering Republican and confusing both major parties as to our number and our intents. I don't know. How many millions of liberals, registering as Republicans across the nation, would it take to water down conservative efforts? What's to stop us from attending local Club meetings, espousing our liberal views, and then loudly proclaim that we are Republicans? As long as we believe what we believe, and espouse what we believe, who cares what political party label is attached to it? Does it even matter any more what the label says? What matters is what's on the inside.

Sometimes, I just don't have a clue how things are going to get any better for liberals. Perhaps, rather than trying to defeat the conservatives, we need to be assimilated by them. I don't give a shit about the party labels. But I care about results in governing. And I'm not getting any happier about the results.

whether the Senate Democrats can function as a party of intent about anything, whether we're any closer to such a party of intent, or if they're just a bunch of franchise owners.

I'm sure that within the next three years, this "authority" will be the loins from which controversy and dismay will be delivered.

Congress has granted unusual authority for the Pentagon to spend as much as $200 million of its own budget to aid foreign militaries, a break with the traditional practice of channeling foreign military assistance through the State Department.

The move, included in a little-noticed provision of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act passed last month, marks a legislative victory for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who pushed hard for the new powers to deal with emergency situations.

But it has drawn warnings from foreign policy specialists inside and outside the government, who say it could lead to growth of a separate military assistance effort not subject to the same constraints applied to foreign aid programs that are administered by the State Department. Such constraints are meant to ensure that aid recipients meet certain standards, including respect for human rights and protection of legitimate civilian authorities.

Does anyone doubt that this is going to be abused?

"This was the most heavily lobbied we've been by the Pentagon in the several years I've been here," one Senate staff member said. ``They really, really wanted this."

Bad, bad sense of foreboding about this...

The San Jose Mercury News:

To more effectively oppose Supreme Court nominees in the future, Democrats need to convince the public "their values are at stake" rather than use stalling tactics to try to thwart the president, said a senator who opposes Samuel Alito's confirmation.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., predicted on Sunday that an effort to try to block a final vote on Alito would fail on Monday. That would clear the way for Senate approval Tuesday of the federal appeals court judge picked to succeed the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Apparently for Obama, putting their money where their mouths are by pushing for filibuster doesn't count as an effort to convince the public that their values are at stake. I just don't see why the Democrats can't argue that they support the filibuster because of the values issue. Maybe it won't be successful. But if Obama believes that convincing is needed, then pissing on this effort as a tactic, rather than promoting it as a values-driven last-ditch effort, is pure politics and no values at all. What is the point of devaluing the fight before it happens? It's the "I told you we were gonna lose" told-ya-so gambit.

Well, too late. Senate Democrats lose, period, whether they wuss out or lose after a fight with a filibuster. They lose. It's a question of fighting or surrendering.

BTW, nice job, Obama, pissing on the concept of filibuster in the future. For anything. Way to walk into the Republicans hands on this. Any other small procedural tools of use to the minority Democrats you care to crap on? If so... please keep it to yourself.

It's money versus voters. It's time the Democrats have this fight. We're an electorate, not an advertising market.

Jeez. A Republican campaign manager for a Republican candidate for Governor calls the race of another Republican candidate for Governor into a debate, and Michelle Malkin still has to find a way to slime the left in her post. There's just no objective commentary from her on the news value of any story, it all has to fit into her propaganda product somehow. What a horrible tasting formula...

Monday is the birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born on January 30, 1882.

There was an article in the Lebanon Daily News earlier this week that contrasted Roosevelt with our current President's administration. It is of value to remember this contrast over the next week, not just in honor of Roosevelt's birthday, but as we listen to what Bush has to say in the State of the Union address, a description of the speech originally given by the same President Roosevelt.

In the midst of the Great Depression Franklin D. Roosevelt warned us that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now, when we are facing the threat of terrorism from radical Islamic fundamentalists, we are surrendering to fear and embracing it as our way of life. This pervasive fear will lead to the loss of what we fear most to lose — our democratic values.

Terror happens; some fear is justifiable. Osama bin Laden did not have to send his recent message for us to know that he is planning another attack. We know that as long as we are projecting force into the Arab world that al-Qaida will continue to attack.

It is time to question our fear. Vice President Dick Cheney, when defending government spying, said: “Either we are serious about fighting this war on terror or not.”

He meant it rhetorically. That is, he says we must be serious enough to give him more power. But we can take his question and get serious about our fear as an appropriate response to the actual threat.

The real question is: How much of what we treasure are we willing to give up to fight this war on terror?

We need to comfort those who are afraid of terrorists with Roosevelt's words. We have been attacked before in our country's history, and we will likely be attacked at some point again in the future. It happens to all countries. But we can't let the fear of attack define us, or else that will be what our country stands for in the 21st century. We need our liberties. We need our rights. We don't need to be focused on fear. Remember Roosevelt's words.

This will be telling on so many different fronts.

Frist's move came as Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was lobbying his Democratic colleagues to filibuster the Alito nomination — an uphill fight, given that none of the chamber's 55 Republicans have opposed his confirmation and three Democrats are on the record supporting it.

The biggest risk to the Democratic Party Senators would be if they fail to put a filibuster together at this point, but it is also the biggest potential gain. Most the world knows that the Democratic Senators currently are paper tigers, unable to hang together strong enough to stop anything, but populous enough to have their complaints heard (and subsequently ignored). This is a critical point with them, because their supporters - not their constituents, but Democrats in general - are now in a position to see whether these Senators can ever be what we want them to be - real tigers for change. Or, are they not even paper, but just imaginary tigers?

Bully for Kerry for pushing forward on this. Fie on the Senate Democrats who will oppose Alito but won't filibuster him - that's just political stance gibberish. Do Democrats have enough real tigers to make this work, or are Democrats infiltrated with enough imaginary ones that prevent them from ever taking the hard stand?

It's about time the decision became obvious.

Probably not, but Bamacrat has details.

What kind of freaking moron newspaper editor publishes this kind of slanderous shit about the political party of half the nation?

Why, it's the Sun-Sentinel.

It's one thing when readers are this simple. It's another when a publisher promotes their newspaper as the choice of such readers by printing the most ignorant tripe their readers can generate. It's a paean for stoogedom.

NTodd is right. Filibuster, you idiots.

Judge Tosses Daytona Beach Nudity Law

A federal judge struck down Daytona Beach's anti-nudity laws, saying they are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John Antoon decided Friday that Daytona Beach's laws prohibiting public nudity and nudity in places that sell alcohol violate the First and 14th amendments' protections of free speech and equal protection.

Play the quiz.

I have no idea of the accuracy of the headline, but it's guaranteed wildfire on the blogs...

Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst

Not much in the way of details on this preparation. Time to check out the nation's martial law provisions.

While looking into Bush's visit to Kansas State University, I discovered the University's College Republican web site. I think KSU's College Republicans have the best web site, and I particularly like the section called "Why I am right". It's a very complete answer.

PSoTD is in good company in the Most Deserving of Wider Recognition category of the Koufax awards. Too good of company, but it does provide me with some incentive to try to do even more in the upcoming year.

I'd be willing to bet a six-pack of Yuengling that if any reporter digs into this, they'll find the Republican Party all over the determination of attendance of this speech.

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Topeka, Kansas

Q Scott, how was the ticketing handled for today's event? How were they handed out?

MR. McCLELLAN: Through the university and through the base.

Q No Republican Party?

MR. McCLELLAN: We typically give to some of the congressional offices, so they may have had some -- but it would have been a relatively small number of tickets. Like I said, I think you're going to have some 6,000 students or so attending the event.

McClellan didn't say no. College Republicans involved? Who knows. Hey news media - Why not pester McClellan to actually answer the question?

DEBKAfile has a report that this may be what has caused the recent spate of helicopter downings in Iraq.

I don't know if you ever catch the Catholic League's President William Donohue on the talk shows, but he has a problem on those shows: he appears to be one of the most pompous, irritating, and mentally dulled people they can book. He delivers some of the most simplistic and flawed arguments on television. Maybe he isn't usually this way. But I've seen him on a variety of shows, and that personality inevitably blares through. And it also shines through his writing.

However, that's nothing compared to the problem the Catholic Church has had over the past 100 years - apparently Donohue was voted "one of the top 100 Catholics of the 20th century" (according to the Catholic League web site). Wow. Talk about bad centuries for a religion. All the Popes, all the archibishops and bishops and charity leaders and government leaders and everything else, and Donohue made the top 100? Ouch.

Update: Donohue came in 17th in the countdown of the 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005. He has some work to do yet.

This is the kind of thing that happens when humans, through government policy, forget about survival of our species and focus on the wealthy comfort of the species.

Today's question:

Which blogger would you most like to see run for public office - and which office?

Is it worth killing 18 innocent civilians to possibly get one bad guy?

Seems that Roy Blunt pissed off at least one conservative blogger in conference calls today, Dale Franks at Q and O Blog...

I would rather lick fire ants off a stick than see Roy Blunt as Majority Leader.

It's a must read. Interesting stuff, including...

Then, Rep. Blunt just outright pissed me off. He said words to the effect that, while he understood that many of us supported someone else, and he knew we'd be writing up the call later, he hoped we wouldn't write or do something that would jeopardize our ability to work together later, and since he was gonna win—already had the votes locked up, in fact—we would be dealing with him.

Seriously. Give it a read.

Oh, and by the way, this is an interesting process that the conservative bloggers put together for the candidates for House Majority Leader.

I don't have anything against Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. But I'm confused as to why he was selected to give the response to Bush's State of the Union address. He isn't a national leader. He isn't a national name. He hasn't done anything on a national scale. His political track record isn't extensive.

What was wrong with having plainspoken Jack Murtha? This better not be the Gary Locke disaster all over again... Does anyone remember what Locke had to say? Me neither...

I've been reading the shorthand version of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's plan to restructure of the diplomatic corps. First impressions - mixed bag.

First of all, the good: More people in trouble spots, and more people in large population countries, makes sense. Caveat - it's quality, not quantity, that matters most. Second caveat - if I were China or India or Lebanon, I would also be more suspicious that the increased presence was really just an excuse to seat more spies.

Good - Requiring fluency in two foreign languages in order to move up to the senior ranks of diplomats.

Good - spread the diplomat corps around to various high population areas, rather than lump them in fortresses.

Bad - Diplomats will not be promoted into the senior ranks unless they accept assignments in dangerous posts. I guess I just don't understand this requirement. Great diplomats can prevent places from becoming dangerous posts. No reward for that. I don't know, this seems like an unnecessary requirement for advancement.

I'm just waiting for the conservative moralists to have a comment on Salman Rushdie's theory about how much Islamic extremism is rooted in men's fear of women's sexuality. Somebody ask Ralph Reed or Pat Robertson or Bill Bennett, please. I want to hear the translation.

From yesterday at the White House:

Q There are allegations that we send people to Syria to be tortured.

MR. McCLELLAN: To Syria?

Q Yes. You've never heard of any allegation like that?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I've never heard that one. That's a new one.

Q To Syria? You haven't heard that?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's a new one.

Q Well, I can assure you it's been well-publicized.

MR. McCLELLAN: By bloggers?

McClellan actually tries to downplay the story by claiming it is the talk of bloggers, as if that diminishes the story. Maybe he thought that the paid journalists would laugh... What a moron.

Something you might not have expected to see at LewRockwell.com...

Former vice president Al Gore gave what I believe to be the most important political speech in my lifetime, and the New York Times, "the newspaper of record," did not report it. Not even excerpts.

The author? Paul Craig Roberts, former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Ron at Middle Earth Journal deserves the credit for the find.

This makes sense, and better than that, it inspires hope.

It looks like these three red states are prime for playing "Bush tag" - tagging all high ranking Republicans with their connections to Bush.

Yesterday's Survey USA 50 State Bush Approval/Disapproval Survey was interesting. Bush now has greater disapproval ratings than approval ratings in 19 of the states that went for Bush in 2004. It's over a 20 point difference in 04 Bush states Arkansas, Nevada, and Ohio - ugly.

What "technical problem" prevented Bob Barr from introducing Al Gore today?

To emphasize the bipartisan nature of Monday's event, organizers had planned to have former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia — one of the House managers during President Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial — introduce Gore via video link. But technical problems prevented Barr, a conservative critic of the NSA program and a frequent CNN contributor, from speaking.

Barr was going to introduce Gore via videolink? C'mon Barr, if you mean it, be there.

On this day in which we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have a wish. Just a wish. And that is, every news person in the country, as part of their preparation for their stories on this day, would honor Dr. King by reading a speech by him, and considering the meaning to each person and their industry. It could be any speech, but my preference would be his that he spoke on April 4, 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City. Here's an excerpt:

Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

King spoke of Vietnam that day, but much of his talk, about the need for reasonable people to shed the yoke of acceptance of propaganda, and truly question and then, if necessary, oppose what their government is doing, is as valid today. As he said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal."

All citizens ought to think of this. And this silence? The individuals within the news media ought to consider their own responsibilities of the silence and the sounds of opposition, and realize their own citizen responsibilities. It is a day to consider Martin Luther King's words, but it is well past time to honor their meaning.

BTW, a member of the news industry that is not silent: Jonathan Alter.

From US News:

He shocked former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle by beating him by just over 4,000 votes last year, repelled the administration's bid to shut down a key Air Force base back home in South Dakota, and is talked about as a possible 2008 vice presidential candidate for the GOP. But when he's got some free time, Sen. John Thune doesn't play big man on campus, hanging out with lobbyists and donors at Washington's Capital Grille. He watches TV-specifically Seinfeld reruns.

One thing that doesn't really seem to matter much to Republicans for VP selection is the "electoral math". Cheney is considered Wyoming. Quayle was Indiana. These aren't states that Republicans would have considered in play in those elections anyway. So I guess the possibility of a first term Senator from South Dakota in the Republican Party ought to be considered.

New Zogby Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Impeaching Bush for Wiretapping

We'll see how long - or if ever - the major news outlets cover this poll, and what should be several resulting stories.

That means CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, ABC, CBS, Chicago Tribune, LA Times....

Hmmm. Specter said the "I" word on ABC's This Week.

Nixon has Nixonian
Reagan has Reaganomics
Clinton got Clintonian or Cleni or Clintonesque

What should George W. Bush's word be?

I think he deserves, for his efforts in Iraq and in our own country:

Fubush

it's an acronym like fubar but instead it means

fucked up beyond United States' help

although I guess it could also stand for

fucked up begetting United States harm

But either way, it ain't a good thing.

The rightwing bloggers are all harping about a possible connection between the NSA tapping revelations and a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by individuals from the Middle East and Pakistan. Their point - to blame the news media and Democrats for tipping off the terrorists, and pushing them towards using technology that isn't trackable.

I wish they would learn to read the whole story.

"There's very little audit trail assigned to this phone. One can walk in, purchase it in cash, you don't have to put down a credit card, buy any amount of minutes to it, and you don't, frankly, know who bought this," said Jack Cloonan, a former FBI official who is now an ABC News consultant.

Law enforcement officials say the phones were used to detonate the bombs terrorists used in the Madrid train attacks in March 2004.

So this is already modus operandi for terrorists. They know about disposable phones.

And the Bush Administration has known about this as well, since March 2004. So here's really the big question:

What have they been doing to monitor purchasing of these phones since then? Have they required greater record keeping? What progress have we made in almost two years on the anonymity of buyers of disposable phones?

Yes, the surge in purchases might be worrisome. But if some of these rightwing bloggers would think more and fear less, we might be able to work together to solve some common problems, instead of just attacking those they fear (media and liberals). Fear, although a mighty powerful motivator, leads to some shallow and inept thinking.

Does John Yoo really believe that the president has the right to order a terrorism suspect's child to be tortured?

Sacramento may need to start thinking about more than just Doolittle losing a leadership position...

From the Sacramento Bee...

Momentum grew Thursday to open all leadership posts in the House of Representatives to election next month, moving Rep. John Doolittle closer to having to defend his position in the Republican leadership. At risk is more than Doolittle's position as secretary of the House Republican Conference, the lowest rung on the leadership ladder.

The clout the Roseville Republican has reaped from his leadership position has helped him deliver tens of millions of dollars to Sacramento and the Central and Northern California areas, for everything from transportation to flood control. In just one example, Doolittle was able to secure $71.6 million last year to widen Interstate 80 in his congressional district because of advantages accorded to Republican leaders.

"I think John Doolittle is real important to the region," said John Freshman, who lobbies for Sacramento interests in Washington. "Whatever happens is out of our hands, but it could be a big loss."

Similar sentiments were expressed Thursday by regional lawmakers who recognized a risk but were nonetheless advocating open House leadership elections in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

It is getting difficult to find a recent news article about Doolittle that doesn't mention Abramoff. Think Republican House leadership wants that reminder at the lowest rung?

From Richard Cohen of the Washington Post:

The only thing standing between Joe Biden and the presidency is his mouth.

I guess there is a lesson to learn with Bush - the less actual content you provide when speaking, the more likely Americans will nod and say okay.

But frankly, the Democratic Party will be in a horrible longterm position if it ever finds itself with Joe Biden as candidate for Presidency, and it's not about how he talks, but how "corporate" his positions are. He's toxic to a lot of liberals. If we're ever to get back to being a nation of people, we can't afford even serious consideration of Joe Biden as candidate for President.

Why do Bush backers think Bush can possibly bring Iraq's diverse political interests together to make a nation, when his experience over the past five years in the United States has been to accelerate the fracturing of America's political interests?

Polarizers can unite at the extremes, but that isn't a benefit for society...

Why don't Republicans ask themselves that question?

Check out the official House Majority Leader website. The site is stuck with Tom DeLay's name in a news story on the front, and the tech folks haven't figured out that they should take DeLay's name out of the title bar. But other than, he's stripped out.

For your enjoyment, feel free to look at the same site, March 24, 2005 style...

These practices should be abolished... period.

It sure pays to have friends on the San Francisco Airport Commission -- judging by the 169 politicians, business people, labor leaders, commissioners' relatives and society types blessed with "courtesy'' airport parking permits.

Hey, a bomb was left at a coffee shop. Obviously the work of liberals. No need to investigate anyone other than the left, per Michelle Malkin.

Does the conservative screed class all see life as a series of caricatures?

Apparently Ralph Reed is not as big of a somebody in Georgia as he thought. He didn't make Georgia Trend's 100 Most Influential Georgians for 2006...

BTW, I thought Ralph Reed had access to better web site developers than that...

Peaceful demonstrations. But perhaps centered near business headquarters, rather than political centers...

From the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute:

In November 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. and the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) met to discuss the direction of the movement following the passage of civil rights legislation, the emergence of Black Power, and the urban riots of the previous summer. SCLC decided to launch the Poor People's Campaign, a movement to broadly address economic inequalities with nonviolent direct action. The campaign was not launched until after King's 1968 assassination, however, and the absence of King's leadership was believed to have compromised the campaign's effectiveness. The Poor People's Campaign ended in June 1968 without making a significant impact on the nation's economic policies.

The idea for the Poor People's Campaign grew out of what King termed the "second phase" of the civil rights struggle. After the "first phase" had exposed the problems of segregation through nonviolence, King hoped to address what he called the "limitations to our achievements" with a second phase. In its ideo logy and style, the Poor People's Campaign demonstrated a merging of the first-phase tactics into second-phase goals. Through nonviolent direct action, King and SCLC hoped to focus the nation on economic inequality and poverty. The campaign also differed from previous SCLC campaigns in that it aimed to address the struggles of a cross-section of minority groups. "It must not be just black people," argued King, "it must be all poor people. We must include American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and even poor whites."

SCLC planned the Poor People's Campaign to be the most massive, widespread campaign of civil disobedience yet undertaken by a movement. They aimed to bring 1,500 protesters to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress and other governmental agencies for an "economic bill of rights." Specifically, the campaign requested a $30 billion anti-poverty package that would include a commitment to full emp loyment, a guaranteed annual income measure, and increased construction of low-income housing. Protest activities in Washington were to be supported by simultaneous demonstrations throughout the country. Despite division within SCLC over the campaign's feasibility, King embraced the campaign and traveled across the country speaking on poverty and conducted "people-to-people tours" to recruit participants.

After King’s assassination on 4 April 1968, the King family and SCLC leadership decided to go on with the campaign to honor King. On 12 May 1968 the first wave of demonstrators arrived in Washington, D.C. One week later, Resurrection City was built on the Washington Mall, a settlement of tents and shacks to house the protesters. Demonstrators were sent out to various federal agencies to protest and spread the message of the campaign. Although Ralph Abernathy had taken over as SCLC president fol lowing King's death, the campaign's leadership lacked the momentum that King might have provided. The combined setbacks of bad press, Robert Kennedy's assassination, and an overwhelming number of protesters (7,000 at its peak) further limited the campaign's effectiveness. Failing to force a response from legislators, the Poor People's Campaign closed camp on 19 June 1968.

Hey John Edwards - any thoughts about this?

Somebody covering the Georgia Lieutenant Governor race ought to ask Ralph Reed if he thinks John Cornyn called him a liar on Meet the Press yesterday. And if the answer is no - why not?

If not, maybe the AJC's blogger can do it.

What is up with the Americans for Nonsmokers Rights?

Jane has the details.

And this is just this week's example why Tim Russert is no longer prepared to moderate Meet the Press. What a lack of investigative skills...

Two incidents in the past week resulted in the deaths of 12 Americans each:

The Sago Mine accident
Black Hawk Crash Kills 12 in Iraq

Think about the amount of coverage that has occurred on the Sago incident, and witness the amount that will be given to the Black Hawk crash. The discrepancy in coverage of these two stories will be quite astounding. The biggest story that won't be covered by the news media is a consideration as to why there is such a discrepancy.

It appears that God has forsaken the people of North Carolina...

Congressman Tom Lantos is in Morocco this week. I suspect he'll leave with a better understanding of such Moroccan problems as:

Morocco must double job creation to 400,000 a year over the next 20 years to prevent mass unemployment that would threaten its stability.

11% of kids between the ages of 7 and 14 in Morocco work. There is a government effort to end the employment of domestic girls in that country. There are documented cases of girls of five working, continuously, up to 100 hours a week.

Most likely, Lantos will come back with from his visit to Morocco with more than just suggestions that more Americans visit Morocco. He's clearly concerned about child labor issues, and it will be interesting to see what comes from this trip when he returns.

Surprise! Peggy Noonan has decided that the Jack Abramoff problem is due to big government:

If the problem with government is that it is run by people and not, as James Madison put it, angels, the problem with big government is that it is run by a lot of people who are not angels. They can, together and in the aggregate, do much mischief. They can and inevitably will produce a great deal of injustice, corruption and heartlessness.

She then goes on to call Republicans to support the concept of small government.

I'm sorry, Peggy, but until you begin advocating that imcumbent Republicans ought to be voted out of office in favor of real conservatives, then these are just fluffy words. You want to get rid of big government? Getting rid of everyone involved in building big government is how I would think you'd want to start. Wasn't that your idea in past years for those pesky spendaholic Democrats? That would mean the Congress - all of Congress. That would mean the entirety of the Bush Administration. They've been at the helm the past five years. It isn't enough to say, hey, come back to the conservative philosophy. By your definition of conservativism, they aren't conservatives - only Republicans. You should be advocating their removal by their next election.

But... you won't. This is just pinball to you.

BTW... you know what else is big, isn't run by angels, can, together and in the aggregate, do much mischief; can and inevitably will produce a great deal of injustice, corruption and heartlessness?

Corporations.

Ooh, I got another one! Political Parties.

Where do you stand on those?

Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway recommends keeping a close eye on Representative Richard H. Baker, a Republican from suburban Baton Rouge. Either the Katrina disaster has changed his views on what free markets can do, or he's a problem waiting to happen for a New Orleans housing recovery plan.

Mamie Van Doren has a unique - and Mamiesque - perspective on the Abramoff scandal...

President Discusses Use and Reauthorization of USA PATRIOT Act:

And now, when it came time to renew the act, for partisan reasons, in my mind, people have not stepped up and have agreed that it's still necessary to protect the country.

There are so many things wrong with this statement that it is hard to find the most disturbing part of it. After a day of mulling it over, I've decided that what bothers me so much is that Bush has decided he no longer needs to hide how inadequate his thinking actually is. You would be hardpressed to find a location where such a simplistic intepretation of events would be accepted as reality, and yet, it is being accepted in the Oval Office.

From Yahoo!:

Several other prominent Republicans are now likely, because of their associations with Abramoff, to face more serious challenges in 2006 than had previously been expected. They include: House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, who collected more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff's firm and clients between 2001 and 2004 and in 2003 urged Interior Secretary Gail Norton to favor the lobbyist's clients in an Indian-gaming dispute

Time for you to power up the campaign for Congress, John Laesch!

ReddHedd is all over the Abramoff pleading.

I've been wondering about what appears to be the Republican response to this scandal, and how much of it will stick:

Blame Congress.

Take a look at the conservative blogs if you can stand it today. A lot of "Abramoff is crooked" admissions, along with the viewpoint that both Republicans and Democrats are involved.

I almost smell Rove on these blogs' talking points. Blame the institution, besmirch the institution, crap on the institution. Throw out the good with the bad. Repeat, repeat, repeat... it is not a Republican Party thing - it's a Congress thing.

I think we need to be on watch for any major news publication reporting that starts aligning this mantra into their coverage of Abramoff. Does the Emperor see a chance to gain power by destabilizing the Congress?

There's only two words you need to stifle the "blame Congress" crowd...

David Safavian

10,072 blog posts now listed on Technorati...

there were 8,885 posts on Christmas day.

I'm just getting in early.

"President Denny Hastert"

As of 1/2/06, there was only 219 results for this search on Google. Let's see what it looks like at the end of this year... Check out Hastert's bio. How can a guy with these kinds of interests NOT be in the White House?

Whenever he can find free time, Hastert enjoys attending wrestling meets, going fishing, restoring vintage automobiles, carving and painting duck decoys.

All he'd have to say is that he likes pie and he could be Hugh Neutron's father...

From MilitaryCity.com:

Support for President Bush and for the war in Iraq has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military’s professional core, according to the 2005 Military Times Poll.

Approval of the president’s Iraq policy fell 9 percentage points from 2004; a bare majority, 54 percent, now say they view his performance on Iraq as favorable. Support for his overall performance fell 11 points, to 60 percent, among active-duty readers of the Military Times newspapers. Though support both for President Bush and for the war in Iraq remains significantly higher than in the public as a whole, the drop is likely to add further fuel to the heated debate over Iraq policy. In 2003 and 2004, supporters of the war in Iraq pointed to high approval ratings in the Military Times Poll as a signal that military members were behind President Bush’s the president’s policy.

I would love to see a candidate for Congress, either a Democrat or Republican, make this a major part of their candidacy in 2006. I'm convinced that we're not going to get anywhere on the health insurance debate until members of Congress actually understand the issues as a consumer. I'm pretty sure they don't, and I'd love to see that ignorance come out in a campaign or two or all of them.

If I hear of any candidate with this kind of campaign plank, I'll promote the candidate.

Matt Stoller at MyDD says it is likely that Bush's approval ratings will go back to the mid 50s in the next few months. I don't buy it, but if it does happen, shame on us as a country, and shame on the news media for refusing to discuss Bush's time as President with context.

What would happen if a referendum on a state religion occurred in the United States?

From Norway:

A new survey shows that a majority of Norwegians want a referendum on the separation of church and state, and that there is also majority in favor of separation.

The Washington Post puts out their annual list for lemmingtopia. I'd like to suggest some changes:

Out in 2006:

Bob Woodward
The New York Times
Tim Russert
Chris Matthews
Bow Ties
Politicians Hired As Analysts
Republican Congress

In in 2006:

Smaller market newspapers
Bloggers
Use of leeches on Fox News
BBC News
George W. Bush pinatas
George W. Bush effigy kits

I mean, George W. Bush does this kind of stuff on a much larger, considerably more tragic scale, but...

Bloomington, IL - Roto-Rooter's Michael Woggon was sent to repair a toilet. Apparently a 3-year old at the residence had been training his GI Joes in deep-water rescue techniques. He sent one down the toilet and when it didn't come back he sent a few more in after it. When none of the Joes returned, the boy flushed several Matchbox cars to find them. Needless to say the GI Joes weren't exactly Navy SEAL material. Altogether, fifteen toys were recovered from the drainpipe.