progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital
In case Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid happen to come across this blog, I’d like to give them my feedback on their weekend FISA debacle. I’d like to, but I try to avoid using language like that on this site.
Yes, I’ve read that Pelosi wants to fix the bill before the six month expiration time. Predictably, any language that gives the Executive branch less than carte blanche will either be filibustered by Republicans in the Senate (while the Washington Post identifies this as Democratic obstructionism) or will be flipped the big cheney by the White House, who will then say that the Democrat Party loves terrorists and wants to marry them.
In six months Bushie will claim that if the law expires that means no restrictions exist on his ability to spy on political opponents (Yes, I know he says it’s to spy on terrorists. Personally, I don’t believe him. Just as Nixon justified using the CIA and FBI to spy on domestic critics in the name of national security, so will Bushie). Pelosi and Reid will explain that if they don’t cave like a spelunker on this one they’ll look weak on national security issues.
Isn’t this what’s all really about? The Democratic Party leaders are afraid of looking weak on issues of national security. They don’t care if the perception is correct. They don’t care that it’s at the price of weakening the basic rights of citizens.
Meanwhile, Bin Laden is in a cave somewhere on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan laughing his kidneys off.
[powered by WordPress.]
hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.
95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
If Obama is the nominee, Tonay said, McCain will be just fine with her. "In the end, I won't vote for Obama because I don't know who he is, and I don't trust him," she said. [Link]
Robert Reich, who went to Yale Law School with Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton and later served in the Clinton administration, called Hillary Clinton's attack on Obama "absurd,&q~ adding: "That carries guilt by association to a new level of absurdity. [Link]
Some speculate the Senator Clinton would want the spirit-killing Vice Presidency because she would be willing to wait for two terms so as to be the likely nominee in 2012. I believe that she could well contemplate this scenario. [Link]
A subsequent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that gas prices fell by 3 percent, meaning that only three fifths of the savings from reduced taxes was passed on to consumers. [Link]
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is filing a complaint with the IRS today challenging the conservative group Freedom's Watch status as a non-profit. [Link]
For Barbara, Hillary has become the screech on the blackboard. From First Lady to Lady Macbeth. [Link]
So what's changed? I asked Reich. "I saw the ads" — the negative man-on-street commercials that the Clinton campaign put up in Pennsylvania in the wake of Obama's bitter/cling comments a week ago — "and I was appalled, frankly. [Link]
Otherwise cites other (mostly right-wing) writers, adding a few words—or one word (usually heh, indeed, or ouch)—to denote approval. This style is, probably purposely, hard to engage. [Link]
Before you tie 'em, you have to lace 'em — and you can choose from among 43,200 perfectly legitimate ways to do it. [Link]
“He doesn’t have the appearance of a tax-and-spend liberal . . . but if the essence of being a tax-and-spend liberal is a lot of taxes and spending, that’s what he comes down to.” [Link]
Before an audience of liberal bloggers last fall, Hillary Clinton defended Washington’s advocate class. “A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They actually do,” she said. [Link]
As things currently stand, it appears that the 39 delegates from DC will include 19 Obama supporters and 14 Clinton supporters. The positions of the remaining 6 — the 4 undeclared DNC members and the 2 add-ons — are unknown. [Link]
But to understand what Obama is proposing, it's important to ask: What, exactly, is the mind-set that led to the war? What will it mean to end it? And what will take its place? [Link]
Clinton's prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or "the Family"), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to "spiritual war" on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship's only public ev [Link]
"It's quite clear that the Bush administration officials who were around in the 1970s are settling old scores now," said Tim Sparapani, senior legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. [Link]
Raelyn Campbell has a wild story. She bought a computer at Best Buy. It malfunctioned. She took it back to be repaired. They apparently lost it -- lied about it -- and lied about it -- and lied about it -- and then. . .lied about it. [Link]
When Feinstein pressed, Johnson admitted that "I don't know the answer to that," but offered he himself is working on it, determining "what are the next steps." [Link]
All of this might suggest that the new Executive Order was designed to prevent the IOB from re-emerging as an effective oversight body under a future president. [Link]
What about Congressman Darrell Issa of California? ("`Isa&quo~ means Jesus in Arabic). Former cabinet secretary Donna Shalala? (Shalala means "waterfall&~ in Arabic). [Link]
The filmmaker who won an Academy Award Sunday night for best documentary is next turning his attention to the Jack Abramoff scandal, including GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s role in investigating the affair. [Link]
27 queries. 0.464 seconds
August 6th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I’m beginning to come to the Arthur Silbur position, namely, that maybe the Democrats aren’t “rolling over” and that perhaps they see nothing wrong with warrantless surveillance of American citizens.
I hope I’m wrong, but something tells me that I’m not.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Sweet Jesus - she wants to fix the bill? I am so sick of Democrats who think that legislation can be fixed. Add this to NCLB, HAVA, Medicare Part D, the Barriers to Bankruptcy Bill, the MCA - what else?
I think Jamelle is right - the Dems don’t see anything wrong with any of the bills mentioned above or spying on American citizens. Worse still, the American people are on the same page. I swear to god, I’m about to give up. I’m going to learn a craft (maybe return to scrapbooking and quilting - I was good at those), do more yoga, settle down with some good novels and episodes of Alias and Buffy. Or maybe take up skateboarding?
I’m getting the idea that all of this activism stuff is just playing into the big kabuki organized to make us feel as if we’re participating in our government. I used to think that dropping out would be giving the bad guys what they wanted but now I’m thinking that it doesn’t matter no matter what we do - they get what they want.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Oh yeah - the mother of all “we can fix the bill” dodges: NAFTA. Gotta give the Big Dog his third-way due.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I’m still trying not to think about this too much, so right now all I can say is grrrrr, or whoever you do growling noises on the intertubes.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
You know, sometimes I feel like simply giving up too, and bothering myself with things that at least feel more productive (like learning how to play slap bass). But, I do think it’s possible for there to be change, it just has to come from the bottom up, as opposed to us relying on politicians.