Boy, this is scary. First I agree with liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on immigration. Now, I agree with conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks ("Immigrants to Be Proud Of") on the same subject. What next, will I start agreeing with conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer ("Assimilation Nation") on immigration as well? Whoops, too late!Anyway, here are some excerpts from Brooks' column, with which I agree 100%:
...the exclusionists are wrong when they say the current wave of immigration is tearing our social fabric. The facts show that the recent rise in immigration hasn't been accompanied by social breakdown, but by social repair. As immigration has surged, violent crime has fallen by 57 percent. Teen pregnancies and abortion rates have declined by a third. Teenagers are having fewer sexual partners and losing their virginity later. Teen suicide rates have dropped. The divorce rate for young people is on the way down.[...]
My second argument is that the immigrants themselves are like a booster shot of traditional morality injected into the body politic. Immigrants work hard. They build community groups. They have traditional ideas about family structure, and they work heroically to make them a reality.
[...]
My third argument is that good values lead to success, and that immigrants' long-term contributions more than compensate for the short-term strains they cause...
So over the long haul, today's immigrants succeed. By the second generation, most immigrant families are middle class and paying taxes that more than make up for the costs of the first generation. By the third generation, 90 percent speak English fluently and 50 percent marry non-Latinos.
My fourth argument is that government should be at least as virtuous as the immigrants themselves. Right now (as under Bill Frist's legislation), government pushes immigrants into a chaotic underground world.
Brooks concludes, with a question that all the immigrant bashers out there should ask themselves: "As we contemplate America's moral fiber, do the real threats come from immigrants, or are some people merely blaming them for sins that are already here?"
Good work, Mr. Brooks. I hope to be agreeing with you again, sometime soon. You wouldn't be ready to support censure, now, would you? Ha.
P.S. Check this out for a bizarre, right-wing view of Arlington students protesting proposed Federal immigration restrictions. Irony alert: the blogger criticizes Arlington Public Schools - one of the best school districts in the country, by far - yet her own writing is riddled with malapropisms, grammatical errors, and punctuation mistakes. Could it be that she is just envious of Arlington students and their superior writing skills?
P.P.S. From my good friend Maura Keaney comes this:
By the way, from my own experience teaching in Arlington, I can say that my students who were 'illegal immigrants' - that is, brought to Arlington by their parents who entered the country illegally - were on the whole the most respectful, appreciative, hardworking, and dedicated group out of all my students. Often their skills were way behind their peers, since they had very little or very substandard formal schooling in the past. But compared with some of their very wealthy American-born peers, who were often lazy, unprepared, disrespectful, and had a really nasty sense of entitlement, those kids who some Republicans want to exclude from public education entirely were the best students to teach.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_06_12.php#005835
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_06_12.php#005833
And i'm thinking we are going to have atleast one more hurricane at the U.S. before there is no more hurricanes, for this year.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x403238
Next year will be the political hurricane. Hope we get alot of democrats for seats in congress, so we can finally get out of war.
In the case of both, it's just early name ID. When the die-hard partisans start voting in primaries in early 2008, I bet you it won't be either of them.
to help McCain it makes sense to help you guys make Allen sweat
Allen to me = Hillary for you
or as they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend
In history books they only write down the good things the president does. And for Bush it would be two sentences.
Even little things like synchronizing traffic lights. This is something that only the government can control. It's something i hope Tim Kaine spends a little money on.
Thanks.
"Candy Cane Davis"
[e]xpressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas, Kwanza, Hannuka, etc., etc....should be protected.
Would anyone vote against it?
Many conservative are not being correct in their analysis.
It was NOT because Kilgore was a squishy liberal..as Gilmore and Bolling think.
Come on folks! Don't buy into the propaganda! We've had two Democrats in a row elected to the Governor's Mansion.
They key is you have to campaign everywhere. One thing is certain, if you don't show up and ask a Virginian for their vote, you are unlikely to receive it.
Kerry pulled out of Virginia way too soon in 2004. Leslie Byrne didn't spend enough time outside of her NOVA stronghold. Whoever runs for Allen's senate seat will have to challenge everywhere.
If anyone out there is listening and is interested in being a U.S. Senator from Virginia consider this: 2006 is the year to run. You have absolutely nothing to lose if you are serious about pursuing a Senate seat, and here's why: you have a better chance of defeating Allen than you think.
The Republican Party nationally is poised to implode over a series of scandals and a lot of that mud is going to land on George Allen. He will be more vulnerable in 2006 than he will ever be again. Secondly, even if you run against Allen and lose, you will nevertheless gain so much name recognition that you will be well placed to run for John Warner's seat in 2008.
The "buzz" on the street is that John Warner will not run again in 2008. He's been a fantastic senator for our state, but Warner will be 81 in 2008, and he's probably getting sick of trying to rein in the wing-nuts in his own party. If he does decline to run for re-election, there will be no incumbent, and you will start this race with an advantage in terms of name recognition because of your 2006 race against Allen.
So get off the fence and run, because 2006 is the best opportunity a Democrat has had in more than a decade.
Take the poll here:
http://cgi.doonesbury.com/cgi-bin/view_poll.cgi
Wouldn't it be sweet justice if the war on Christmas boomeranged to become "The war on stupid legislators who waste time on make-believe wars"?
President Bush has admitted he secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without ever seeking court approval. Famed constitutional attorney Martin Garbus and former intelligence officer, Christopher Pyle both say it is an impeachable offense.
First of all it specifically breaks a law passed in 1978. It's also against a Supreme Court rulling US vs. Nixon that ended in the impeachment of another president.
The argument Nixon made didn't work and neither does this.
Furthermore, the so-called War powers that Bush claims don't apply because CONGRESS NEVER DECLARED WAR.
See, Congress approved the use of force, condtingent btw on a dozen different provisions that Mr. Bush wrecklessly disregarded. Congress did not declare War.
The sick and stupid thing about this is that after 9/11 the US population would have done anything Bush wanted if he'd just leveled with them. He didn't. He lied again and again and again and now he's coming back and saying "Trust me." The time for trust was lost sometime between WMD, Flawed Intelligence, Abu Gahrib, Scooter Libby, Valerie plame and the Secret CIA Prisons.
No more trust. No more time. No more lies.
We won't and can't know whether Bush had the NSA bug anyone who fell outside of the classification of "Terrorist". It'll take an act of congress to sub poena those records.
And a citizen cannot sue unless he can show specific damage. If, however, a citizen can show specific damage or if the information was shared with anyone outside of national security, Bush would not only be impeachable but also would be fair game for any of a number of felonious criminal charges.
As this thing unfolds, there's no limit to the damage Bush could sustain. He's already admitted it, now it's just a matter what he's admitted to.
What it does constitute is a hearing by Congress to stand up and say "hey this isn't right!"
That is why our system has checks and balances. When the executive branch goes too far another branch should stand up and stop them. If congress says enough is enough and he continues... THAT is impeachable. Just like how having sex with an intern isn't impeachable, but lying about it under oath is a different story.
If, in my opinion, snipers should get the keys to the city, does it matter? Killing innocent people is illegal.
The only opinions, in truth, that could have some bearing on this would be 8 guys and a lady in long robes: The Supreme Court.
It's obvious that this is both illegal, unconstitutional, and really dangerous to the cause of American freedoms.
Hamilton's Ghost is screaming in pain today.
" . . .like many of you, I am digesting the news that President Bush has ordered a U.S. intelligence agency to spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant or showing probable cause. I am not a Constitutional law attorney (I'm a tax attorney), but this sounds to me like a clear violation of the fourth amendment.
President Bush has tried to justify his actions based on his belief that it was his responsibility to protect the United States from another attack that could kill "thousands." In doing so, he has violated his oath to uphold our Consitution. I do not believe that we should give into fear. I do not believe we should give up our freedoms in order to purchase some additional margin of safety. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of U.S. servicemen and women have died or suffered terrible wounds to purchase and protect the rights we enjoy under the U.S. Constitution.
It is my belief that the only moral position we as Americans can take is to maintain our freedom against all threats, foreign and domestic. If that means we must risk additional terrorist attacks, then so be it. To do anything else would be an infamous betrayal of the sacrifices our nation's patriots have been making since April 19, 1775, when the minutemen of Lexington and Concord challenged tyranny against impossible odds.
Can we do any less?"
And, while shamelessly replying to my own post:
" . . . FISA has always allowed domestic wiretaps with oversight from the secret court. It even allows the government to tap for up to 72 hours without a warrant in an emergency, so long as the government goes before the court and explains its reasoning and obtains a warrent retroactively.
This is pretty tolerant, but even so, it was too much for George W. Bush. He insists on throwing out all Constitutional precedent on wiretapping. George W. Bush believes that he should be President, legislator and judiciary. Congress should take heed: in a dictatorship the legislature is as irrelevant as the judiciary."
If you want to explore creationism, God has blessed America with the freedom for you to do so. When we mistake faith for science we destroy faith, we destroy science, and ultimately we destroy America.
Today is a landmark day for the religious faithful in America. This is the first true defeat to those who would foul the divine with the merely mundane in the interest of a political power grab.
My prayers are answered.
National Religion
how telling...
http://www.outsourcecongress.org/video/0_WKMG_20030216.wmv
In the following video Harris Miller is interviewed (at about 3:34 into the video) http://www.outsourcecongress.org/video/0_WKMG_20030217.wmv
He's interviewed here too; at 3:45
http://www.outsourcecongress.org/video/WKMG_Tuesday_20030218_2.wmv
He says "those people that when the music stops in the musical chairs game; they end up without a seat they have to lash out at foreign workers " yet we're told to either quit or stay on and train our foreign replacements(his replacements.)
More videos regarding H-1b and L-1 replacement visas can be found here http://www.outsourcecongress.org/video/
http://www.Zazona.com
http://www.HireAmericaCitizens.org
http://www.TORAW.org
http://www.h1b.info
http://www.NoMoreH1b.com
Harris Miller lobbies for foreign replacement workers on H-1b and L-1 temporary "guestworker" visas.
I am one of approximately 20 American tech workers that were ordered by corporate mgmt to train our foreign replacement workers. Visit http://www.OutsourceCongress.org/ to see the media reports on our replacement.
This would be foreign visa holders on Harris Miller's H-1b and L-1 visas, the visas he lobbies for because; as he puts it 'there aren't enough Americans like me working in technology.'
But, I spent 5 months training 3 Tata India(one of Harris' supporting companies) employees so I could be dumped from the workforce. By now, the Americans have been replaced. Our Lake Mary, FL office is full of replacement workers from India. They continue to work in the same desks, using the same phones, doing the same work as we did.
This is what Harris Miller has lobbies Congress for.
These visas aren't just for tech workers. See how these visas are targeted to virtually every industry. http://zazona.com/ShameH1B/
This race is winnable, Allen does not have a lock. The dems just need a good candidate
Say NO to the political bosses. We have the internet infrastructure to do fundraising and recruit volunteers. Obviously, we need to get everyone on board ASAP. I am tired of losing. How about you?
I do know that he has no chance of defeating George Allen and won't even cause Allen to break a sweat. We don't need a place-holder on the ballot; we need a winner.
We want James Webb. He'll shove George Allen's soft teeth down his whining throat.
http://www.techsunite.org/news/techind/itaa_bet.cfm
"My offer to ITAA and MDC stands [Market Decisions Corporation conducts workforce studies for the ITAA]: I'll wager $1000 that your study is flawed, and that there will not be over 1,000,000 new IT jobs created in 2003, with 500,000 going unfilled. Are either of you willing to back your studies and press releases?" Berry wrote in an email dated several weeks after the study came out.
Not only did ITAA President Harris Miller not have the backbone to take the wager, his organization would not even defend their own study in the press.
Miller's anti-American agenda over the past several years has been to destroy the job market for U.S. tech workers by lobbying for increases in cheap foreign labor.
As Senator, citizens of Virginia can that expect Miller will continue to sell them out to corporate interests, and there is no evidence that Miller has evolved a backbone in the past four years.
If Virginans are seeking a Senator who will lobby to flood their state with cheap foreign labor and consider immigration attorneys as his primary constituents, then Miller is their man.
Mr. Kim Berry
President, the Programmers Guild
xenophobia means "A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign". None of the comments on this page showed fear or contemption for foreigners.
They did, however, point out specific events that have been repeated over and over which are shutting Americans out of IT work in our own country.
This country was founded on the democratic ideals that everyone should be given a fair shot at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you read what the comments are saying, you will see that Harris Miller's lobbying efforts have resulted in reducing American's chances to work in the fields they have trained in.
Trying to shut down discussions about the history of the H1B visa program because it makes you feel uncomfortable is very dangerous, because it hides the truth of what is happening.
It is like the misstatement that this country is made of immigrants. I sure hope you don't live in Viriginia and believe that!
The true history of this country is repeating itself again with mass immigration. And as before, people and cultures are being tossed aside and forgotten in the name of economic progress.
In a true democratic country, discussion around this would be welcomed.
He is rapidly anti-worker. I always hoped I would have a chance to pay Miller back for lobbying against American IT workers and thank God that chance has come. He pressured Congress to raise the H1-B visa cap, and effectively gave pink slips to 500,000 IT workers --a number that is now growing.
If you are a true Democrat, you will oppose this man. He stands against our principles and represents what is best for business. When the interests of America and Business diverge, he sticks with business and turns his back on America.
You can contact me anytime for more information on why Miller is bad for America.
-Roy Lawson
Board Member
Programmers Guild
roy@programmersguild.org
Stop using your xenophobic sites and for once, I know its hard, give Indian immigrants some credit for the technological boom in this country.
It is your xenophobia that has kept Asians out of the Democratic party for long and even Hispanics are leaving the party en masse.
Until the world economy is re-aligned, major shifts will continue. America is a country of immigrants.
Silicon Valley is now in India thanks in large part to the efforts of Harris Miller.
http://www.channelingreality.com/Cards/harris_miller.htm
Choose ANYBODY.... pick up a bum off the street and they would be better than Harris Miller.
If Virginians want more foreign workers and more companies offshoring American jobs to India and China and a host of other countries, Miller is your man.
If you need a phony study or a number of phony studies done, Miller is your man. He is very experienced at this.
It's my personal opinion Miller would trade his mother for another foreign worker. I would not trust him.
If Miller is the D, here's my prediction:
George Allen (R): 54%
Harris Miller (D): 45%
Others: 1%
TPM CAFÉ: “Politics, Ideas and Lots of Caffeineâ€
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/6/23532/17147:
"The vendor community doesn't like it. "We oppose the idea of a voter-verified paper trail," says Harris Miller, president of the trade group Information Technology Association of America. Introducing paper into the mix, he says, defeats the improved efficiency and reliability e-voting promises. "There was never a golden age when paper ballots were accurately counted," Miller says. Adding paper to e-voting will only make the process of administering elections more costly and time-consuming without improving accuracy, opponents assert.
Huh? WTF? I know there may have been problems in the past with voting systems, but shouldn't we be striving to do better?"
------ ------- ------- ------- -------
In case the party didn't notice, the A.G. race recount never happened. Nobody could open, look at or evaluate the Diebold, AVS (Winvote), ESS, etc. machines. We were screwed, big time. Miller was the lobbyist for the Diebolds of the world--coming up with an attack strategy against "critics" to help boost the sagging vendors.
He is an enemy of free and fair elections in the past.
Is the US Senate the reward for this?
Surely we can and will do much better.
Regarding outsourcing, if he's clealry on record for this, forget it in much of No VA. Many tech professionals know what this means--loss of income, loss of jobs.
I'd say Webb deserves a very serious look.
Plus I saw him speak. He lacks any real charisma, or maybe he just projects the accurate image. He won't do, unless we want to lose.
I do live in virginia and I DEFINITELY appreciate the contribution of asian americans. The contribution of vietnameese Pho alone is a testament to the benefits of immigration. As a libertarian who leans democratic, it is really dissapointing to see democrats just as eager to jump on the anti-immigrant train.
Of course, I'm biased because I'm descendent from Irish and Polish immigrants so I will always be in favor of allowing hardworking immigrants to come to our country and to contribute to our wealth.
Its especially weird to see people doubting the benefits of immigration in NOVA where incomes skyrocketed in a large part due to the high tech economy that warner helped cultivate. Hopefully for the democrats, people like these wont annoy us so much that theyll lose our votes.
[Harris Miller's] firm helped farmers to bring in "temporary" agricultural workers from Mexico. These farmers wanted to undercut gains that Cesar Chavez and UFW had made. This boosted the profits of Miller's agribusiness clients. Harris painted such pictures as "fields full of crops, just lying there, rotting in the sun because of the 'crisis' of a 'shortage' of farm workers." This was a prelude to using the same strategies for an organization that Harris founded in the late 1980s, the ITAA, which is a lobbying organization that represents "high tech" firms. He merely substituted the category of scientist and engineer that was in highest demand for the agricultural worker. He has become very wealthy from the new "high-tech bracero" program.
This bum is a Democrat?
As the long-time head of the ITAA lobby, Miller has adopted and advanced the most extreme and deceitful positions in support of outsourcing American middle class “high tech†information technology jobs.
Far from being a “businessman†or man of the people, Miller is part and parcel of the vast corrupt corporate domination at the heart of the anti-democratic special-interest driven politics of Washington.
Miller is one of the staunch defenders and strongest proponents of the corporate worker replacement programs -- the “Non-Immigrant Visa†(NIV) H-1b and L-1 visa programs.
In his role at the ITAA Miller has sought massive expansion of these programs and quite successfully convinced Congress to regularly raise the caps while spreading lies about the "need" for hundreds of thousands of foreign high tech workers due to fabricated "shortages".
These programs, far from alleviating a “skills shortage†in the U.S., have been used as American worker replacement programs facilitating the offshore outsourcing and "insourcing replacement" of hundreds of thousands of American high tech sector jobs.
Contrary to ITAA propaganda, these are/were not the jobs of the priviliged elite. Many of these jobs paid no more than a middle/upper middle income. It's not the problem of a bunch of elitist Silicon Valley engineers...
Not surprisingly, Miller is one of the most despised and hated men in America among people opposed to outsourcing and worker replacement programs in the high tech sector. Dr. Norm Matloff, professor of computer science at U.C. Davis, a self-described Democrat, has written so much critical material about Miller that it could fill volumes!
My own initial article about the declining opportunities for Americans in IT (“Lost Your Job Yet?†at www.computerworld.com See http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,92150,00.html) was written in direct response to a release by Miller and the ITAA.
Many of the formerly middle class American workers who have felt the blow of outsourcing/NIV in the tech sector have a visceral hatred of Miller and groups such as the ITAA. They’ve ruined lives and corrupted our government…
Miller epitomises the rot and corruption inside the Democratic Party which has basically prostituted the party...
I don’t know James Webb’s views on free trade/outsourcing but I know enough about Miller to be utterly disgusted.
"It is quite sad to see some of the Democrats talking about H1B visas and Indians as criminals or job thiefs."
Umm, try again.
"So many of these new technologies you see now, like hotmail.com, were created by H1B Indian workers working here."
Umm, try again.
In my opinion Harris Miller has almost single handedly decimated the ranks of American software engineers, and he has _never_ had to defend or even _explain_ any of the statements or wild projections he has made before Congress.
One cannot put it more clearly than this -
angry_engineer Says:
"Miller epitomises the rot and corruption inside the Democratic Party which has basically prostituted the party…"
Actually maybe one of us should do a preemptive attack like he did on Iraq and beat him to the punch. I'll take one for the team...
I am the new King. Bow down to me!
Your 11:01 point and question were well-posed and well-taken. I confess that I am not a lawyer, so sometimes the legal nuances are a little, well, nuanced for me. However, when I read the bit (below) from a case decided in 2002 by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, I can't help but think that there is at least some reason to believe that the President had the authority to do what he did. If it turned out that the President was applying Presidential authority to persecute his political enemies or to protect himself from being discovered in the act of other crimes, then I'd be asking you for a hand up onto the impeachment bandwagon. Here's the relevant bit of the FISA decision (courtesy John Hinderaker):
"The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. It was incumbent upon the court, therefore, to determine the boundaries of that constitutional authority in the case before it. We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President’s constitutional power. "
Again, I'm not claiming to know the whole story -- I just think there's plenty of justification for giving the benefit of the doubt, rather than scrambling to sell seats at the impeachment hearings.
As I said, the 11:01 comment/question were coherent and cogent. The King bit is just a wee bit silly, though, IMNSHO.
He earns approval from 79% of Republicans, 25% of Democrats, and 38% of those not affiliated with either major political party."
Another letter in that day's Courier-Journal included "I would like to end by saying: Thank you, President Bush, for looking out for my freedoms and the safety of my family and me."
The Roanoke Times also has plenty of "Impeach. Bush. Now." letters. I expect that the writers have to speak in one-word sentences to avoid bursting blood vessels in their heads brought on by advanced Bush Derangement Syndrome.
What I can't figure out is why these folks can't be bothered to investigate the reality of the situation, which is that previous presidents have invoked the same authority to carry out essentially the same actions, and courts have upheld that authority time after time.
The whole point of FISA is to maintain the checks and balances that our entire governmental system is built upon while not slowing down the FBI, NSA, CIA with beauracracy. It's a very clever system that's been in place for 30 some years.
The only reason I can think of that Bush is against it is that it removes the paper trail of who is being wiretapped. Why do you think he's against using FISA?
Wonkette has improved upon the phrase Fitzsmas, calling the expectancy of the Abramoff plea "Abramoffukah."
This a totally different scandal, therefore, we must exploit an entirely different tradition.
In 2002 lefty blogosphere was totally outnumbered by rightwing blogosphere, both in number of blogs and readers. Didn't get bigger than Right Wing blogospehre until the summer of 2004.
The General Assembly will offer the Virginia Democratic bloggers a new opportunity to server readers. Keep the faith.
Timothy: We talked about changing the name, but the consensus was that everyone knew "Raising Kaine" so we should keep it. If we were Arizona, I'd definitely change the name, although that woudn't be very original I suppose... :)
Seriously, though, we're hoping to switch over to more of a "Scoop"-like format, hopefully in the near future, at which point we'll be much more open to people writing "diaries" - just like on Daily Kos. Right now, we're having a few growing pains...but I'm hoping that those get resolved.
As far as the smaller Virginia Dem/Progressive blogs are concerned, I would encourage them to keep doin' their thing but also to crosspost on Raising Kaine when we get our Scoop-style site up and running. Thanks.
I refuse to look at the visitor logs for my own blog, because I don't want to get obsessed with how many readers I have each day.
If you were to quit tomorrow the rest of the RK crew and I would step in and make it happen. RK wouldn't be half as good, but it would continue.
With you or without you, RK will live. Without you it wouldn't be great, but it would serve.
JC: You're right about Rush. Also, I would argue that conservatives are drawn more to "ditto"-like conformity, combined with ANGER, of course! Democrats seem to tend more towards analysis and discussion, although they're certainly angry too at Bush and the right-wing radicals who are destroying the country. Not as much lockstep and "ditto-ism" among the "reality based community" (Dems), as far as I can tell...
Lowell:
Comparing Progressive blogs to Conservative blogs is comparing apples to oranges.
Keep in mind that most hard core Conservatives cut their teeth on Rush Limaugh and his ilk. They often seem to use blogs as an alternative-counter media, to create their own reality.
Progressives can turn on CNN and get a decent version of reality, so the purpose of Progressive blogs seems to be to discuss reality and shine additional light on issues that concern us.
Now, that being said, I do think we need to do more to build readership. I'm still learning in that regard.
New elections are coming, and readership will climb because of that. Moreover, and I have alluded to this before, you woould be surprised who reads our blogs. Yes, our core readership is small when compared with Boing! Boing!, but our readers include newspaper editiors, political reporters, officeholders, candidates, and top staffers. Quality over quantity.
You may want to make adjustments for work-life balance, but RK should definitely stay on as the flagship progressive blog in Virginia.
summercat: Thanks, that means a lot.
Dan: Your passion is amazing...now if we could just get a few thousand more of you in this country, we'd have a freakin' Progressive revolution!
Alice: Thanks for the encouragement, even though we disagree politically in many ways...
J.C.: Perhaps you're right about the readership. The question is, why aren't we seeing the same pattern with the Conservative blogs. Are Dems less focused, less obsessed with this stuff? Do they need to be in order to consistently defeat the right wing?
Mike: Thanks, your comment means a great deal to me. Just to reciprocate, I certainly wouldn't wish the Republican blogs to go away...I just want to kick their butts!! Ha ha.
Sam: Yeah, drank too much eggnog yesterday...still working it off. Don't tell your parents! :)
He showed much stronger than Kaine in many western counties, and with the funding of a US Senate race he would bring a strong message to every household. He would motivate many now apathetic voters to his side, and sway many who "voted for the Republican because of habit."
He is a progressive on core issues but is pragmatic and non-ideological on the hot button/devisive topics. He is a man for all Virginians.
Draft C. Deeds!!!
(Although if he doesn't run- I am with Webb)
PLEASE!
Refuse To Lose aka Commit Yourself To Winning
At some point, I would be happy to help organize a public dicussion between Mr. Webb and Harris Miller in the Mount Vernon area.
If Webb keeps ditzing around ("I wanna be coaxed. Love me unreservedly!") even he will be behind the power curve, too late to mount an effective campaign. Unless, of course, he already has all the moneymen and campaign monkeys lined up, and just isn't telling us.
What I question is his attitudes regarding public education. He had some comments in the book regarding the failure of public education that I do not believe are reflective of what is going on in Virginia's schools. Virginia's schools are making remarkable strides, and the achievement of Virginia's students surpass the nation's average in every category.
I'd like to hear more from him on this topic.
Robley Jones
RobleyJ@aol.com
Importantly, Webb has the courage to speak plainly and to stick to his core beliefs, even when they are not popular or "politically correct."
No more Kerry's!!
Kerry greatly disappointed by not responding to the "swift boating" (unfortunately, now a part of the American lexicon) of him. Jim Webb is a "man who went.†(Silver Star, two Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts). This stands in marked contrast to Allen. Therefore, when Allen plays "tough guy", we counter with a tougher-smarter-more accomplished, former Republican who turned on the "Bush-Rove Hate Machine.â€
In 1994, Webb stepped up and delivered an impassioned denunciation of the cynical attacks by Oliver North in his campaign against Chuck Robb, the seat that Allen later won. There is some very sweet irony in the fact that Webb stands poised to run and WIN that very same seat next year.
Our nation cries out for men of courage and conviction to lead us from the darkness that is the Bush-Cheney era. I strongly encourage all to promote Jim Webb to step forward and take on one of the Bush-Cheney gang's consistent parrots, George Allen. Virginia deserves better than the craven rants of a failed governor who ascended to the Senate with the vigorous assistance of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and their ilk.
Go to his website and explore, I believe you will conclude he has the right stuff to WIN and that is what it's all about. Just let them try and "swift boat" Webb, he might just challenge them to step outside!
Forget "politically correct" let's WIN! You might not always agree with Webb, I don't either, but there will be no nuance with Webb and he will "give as good as he gets."
http://www.jameswebb.com/
(And Lowell -- which of Ben's comments did you think was "hilarious"? I'm mystified.)
“It would have been easy for David Marsden to never help me; he doesn’t even live in my district! But he not only worked the polls for me—he traveled into my district to distribute my sample ballots in two precincts! His efforts helped me carry the Braddock District in my last campaign!â€
Cuccinelli is actually elated to have Democrat operatives pick up one of his former faithful volunteers to represent them in the General Assembly.
“I represent over 80 percent of this Delegate district, and have been a top statewide target for the Virginia Democratic Party and Governor Warner,†Cuccinelli said. “For Democratic activists to honor my record in this way was a rare surprise.â€
A word about Dave. People can change. The Republicans have left a lot of people behind the last several years. Dave is a good guy. I think he'll come through for us.
I'm all for recruiting former Republicans to run for office. Anybody who has seen the light is good with me.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/28/1655/0100
ALL of bagman Abramoff's money went to the Republican machine, only Republicans, and nobody but Republicans.
qed
However, I don't want to harm Jim Moran's health. I just want to make him do a stupid dance the next time he is on the Colbert Report. Does that cost extra?
On Star Trek aliens made Kirk and Spock do a jig, with their arms hanging loose like in Riverdance. Spock was actually a spirited dancer, Kirk was not so good.
If you could contact the person who makes the VooDoo dolls and ask for this power I would really appreciate it.
Jim Moran VooDoo Dolls! Five bucks, guaranteed Santaria. All you need is this doll and you can do anything you want to it. Bite the head off a chicken and you can drive a stake through Jim Moran's head. Gut a live brook trout and you'll be able to burn this doll and make Jim Moran blister.
Any takers?
Anyone...?
Their ally Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) introduced a bill in the House to recognize those same Indian tribes. In a 6/24/04 article in the Falls Church News-Press, Moran stated:
"In an effort to address these past wrongs by giving the Virginia tribes the recognition they deserve, I have introduced the 'Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act.' This bill would fully restore the six Virginia Indian tribes heritage, and provide the legal protections and financial obligations that the current 562 federally recognized tribes receive."
What Moran doesn't mention is that this federal recognition for the tribes would grant them the right to operate casinos.
If Republicans John Warner and George Allen acted suspiciously in seeking to recognize these six tribes, then so did Democrat Jim Moran. Let's criticize all three.
So was Abramoff pushing the recognition of Virginia Indian tribes? Were the Virginia tribes his clients?
Were you asserting a link between the Virginia Indian tribes and Abramoff?
If you are then so much the better. We will nail Moran on that because Moran introduced the House legislation to recognize those Virginia tribes.
But as far as I know there is unfortunately no evidence that Abramoff was pushing the recognition of the tribes.
Of course I think that the recognition of the Virginia tribes is crooked. Moran is in it up to his armpits, and this recognition will lead to casino gambling and lots of money for someone, perhaps for Friends of Jim.
But I didn't know that Abramoff was involved. Is he? Maybe other crooks were involved but Abramoff was not.
I had thought that the point that you were making was that the John Warner/George Allen bill to recognize the Virginia Indian tribes was suspicious, not that Abramoff specifically was behind it.
For that reason it is very relevant that Moran introduced the same bill in the House to recognize Virginia Indian tribes that John Warner and Allen introduced in the Senate. And if you criticize John Warner and George Allen for this legislation in the Senate then you ought to criticize Jim Moran for it in the House.
THE CAROLINE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE
December 26, 2005
Dear Voter:
The big statewide election of 2005 is over, and thanks to you, Caroline County went solidly Democratic, but we have some new business to attend to.
With the election of State Senator Bill Bolling as Lieutenant Governor, his seat in the General Assembly’s 4th Senate District, which includes Caroline County, will be vacant and must be filled in a special election to be held on January 3, 2006.
Your Caroline County Democratic Committee is pleased that Roger Cavendish, a longtime Caroline resident, self-made local businessman and generous Democratic supporter, has stepped forward as a candidate to fill that vacancy.
“It’s time for a Democratic senator who will support our newly elected Democratic Governor as he pursues his plans for transportation, education and building a better future for all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia,†Roger said shortly after Tim Kaine’s victory in the November election to succeed Gov. Mark R. Warner.
We hope you will join us in supporting Roger in what will be a short but intense campaign against a career Republican politician being bankrolled by state and national GOP sources.
The campaign is going well so far. Roger is receiving support not only from Democrats but from Independent voters and independent-thinking Republicans looking for a state senator who is willing and able to devote his time and energy to serving the citizens of Caroline County.
CONCERNS OF THE 4TH DISTRICT
“I’m neither a lawyer nor a career politician,†Roger said in announcing his campaign in front of the Caroline County Courthouse in Bowling Green.
“My pledge to each of you is that I will fully represent your interests and not my own, that I will not accept money from lobbyists and that I will devote whatever time it takes to resolving the challenges facing residents of the 4th District.â€
As a businessman, father and grandfather, Roger is concerned about the manner in which state funds for education, roads, public safety and other essential needs are consistently allocated to more populated areas of Virginia, while rural areas are underfunded.
 He would seek to provide Caroline and other localities with the tools needed to manage the pressures of rapid growth, such as the right to impose impact fees and the right to reject subdivisions for which adequate services are not available.
.
RURAL ROOTS
Roger was born in the rural community of Gauley Bridge, W.Va., in 1950. He graduated from high school there, then served for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, attaining the rank of sergeant.
Upon leaving the Marines, Roger embarked on what would become a successful career in the construction industry, starting literally at the bottom as an apprentice brick mason and rising through the ranks to become president and co-owner of Phoenix Masonry Inc., a leading regional contractor based in Fredericksburg.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
Roger and his former wife have a son, Chad, and three grandchildren on whom Roger dotes: Mason, 8, Audrey, 6, and Ethan, 4.
His “family†also includes a small herd of buffalo consisting of “Charlie†the Bull Leader and “Cutie Pie,†“Sweetie Pie†and “Honey Pie,†all lovingly named by the grandchildren.
Roger has served as President of Lee Hill Estates Homeowners’ Association and as President of Westlake Forest Homeowners’ Association. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Caroline County Rotary Club and the Virginia Masonry Association.
Roger’s campaign is off and running, but more assistance from all of us in the form of immediate financial contributions and volunteer efforts is vitally needed.
There are many ways to help. Please join us by contributing in any way you can in the few days remaining before the January 3 special election. And, of course, we urge you to cast your vote and to persuade friends and family and neighbors to do the same.
If Caroline Democrats pull together as we did in the November elections, we can elect a candidate committed to represent the interests of ALL citizens in the 4th State Senate District.
Sincerely,
THE CAROLINE COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
BE SURE to vote on January 3 at your usual polling place
SEND your contribution to Roger G. Cavendish Campaign Committee
18063 O’Brien Court, Milford, VA 22514
CALL Roger at (804) 633-1682 with questions, concerns or to offer any help you can
E-MAIL Roger at buffaloroger6@aol.com
PAID FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY THE CAVENDISH FOR SENATE CAMPAIGN
Ariel did a great job the last few years. However, it is too bad that he did not watch his weight. He might have stayed healthy and in office another five years.
"...Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.
"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America,'" Robertson told viewers of his long-running television show, "The 700 Club."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/05/robertson.sharon/
Yes, Lowell, I and friends have shared that view as well. His illness and inevitable disappearance from the stage of government leaves a terrible situation even worse. I shudder to think that Bibi will take the helm.
But I'd welcome Mr Webb or any other Democratic candidates with wide open arms this time around. We need every viable opportunity we can get to retake control of the senate or house.
Corey: Robertson is certifiable. What else is new?
Either Virginia, the very home of America's freedoms, is a welcoming home to all its residents, or it is a land of bigotry and intolerance. Already, Virginia has some of the most-hateful-to-gays-and-lesbians laws in the country, and we will see more of the same (including a constitutional amendment seeking to perpetuate hardships for same-sex couples) UNLESS and UNTIL decent streight people stand up and say no to Bob Marshall and the other hatemongers.
The Republican Party of Virginia and throughout the country is using homophobia to win extremist voters. And they're getting away with it because most heterosexuals -- Democrats and well as Republicans -- tolerate this intolerance.
Virginia has a chance to say no to hatred this year. Will you straight readers of Raising Kaine and other blogs help? Or will you, too, be silent?
Deploying his deep pockets, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) throws the annual holiday party for his committee staff. Some committees in Congress have their staff members cover the costs of their holiday party.
But House Government “Reform†Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) has come up a more creative arrangement. Lobbyists and defense contractors threw the annual holiday party for the Committee which, coincidentally, oversees federal agency contracting. Here's the invite.
Who needs Santa Claus when contractors have Chairman Tom Davis to thank for opening up the government’s coffers! By our calculation following the House gift rules, each of the nine sponsors could spend up to $450 per staff or member of Congress. That’s quite a party!!!
The December 15, 2005 bash was held in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building and was sponsored by:
-- McGuire Woods Consulting which employs former Tom Davis staffer Barnaby Harkins. Harkins worked for Davis for four years, “specifically focused on education, federal procurement and appropriations.†Harkins lobbies for one of the largest foreign-owned defense contractors, shipping giant Maersk. In addition, one of the firm's clients is defense contractor Northrup Grumman Mission Systems.
-- Patton Boggs, which, in 2005, retained Peter Sirh, the former Staff Director for Davis’ House Government Reform Committee and former Chief of Staff to Davis. Sirh helped Patton Boggs rake in a hefty $260,000 lobbying fee from MCI in the first six months of 2005, in part to “Assist MCI with contract issues relating to specific government contracts…†MCI is competing for a $20 billion telecommunications contract which has been a pet project of Tom Davis. Committee staff members strenuously deny that Davis has a hand in choosing who gets the contract but a recent article suggested that contractors think otherwise.
Sirh’s access to Tom Davis was a hot commodity for Patton Boggs. While there, Sirh also lobbied for:
the DC government ($140,000 in fees in Jan-June, 2005)
Defense contractor ADS ($20,000 in fees from Jan-June, 2005)
Defense contractor DDL Omni Engineering ($20,000 in fees from Jan-June 2005)
PriceWaterhouseCoopers ($100,000 in fees from Jan-June 2005)
-- Innovative Defense Strategies, where Peter Sirh also worked in 2005, also sponsored the party. It’s an awfully strange coincidence that the firm gave a $5,000 political contribution to Tom Davis’ wife in 2003, although Jeanmarie Devolites and Tom weren’t married at that point.
--PodestaMatton which lobbied on behalf of the government’s #1 defense contractor, behemoth Lockheed Martin ($140,000 in fees from Jan-June 2005) as well as the Native American Contractors Association ($100,000 in fees from Jan-June, 2005). Hey, whatever happened to the Committee’s investigation into abuses in Native American contracting?
--Defense contractor BearingPoint which reported a whopping $500,000 in lobbying expenses in 2005 (that’s a lot of Christmas parties!) including on “Govt. Contracting issues.†BearingPoint (previously KPMG) has supported Tom Davis’ annual legislative goody bag of contractor favors (known in shorthand as SARA and ASIA), some provisions of which he has succeeded in attaching to Defense Authorization bills.
--Holland and Knight which openly brags about joining in a “drafting summit… with members of industry†held by Davis’ staff to draft that contractor legislation.
--Defense contractor General Dynamics, which opened a production facility in Tom Davis’ district a few years back. At the time, Davis bragged of playing “a pivotal role in bringing the project to Northern Virginia.â€
PS Another possible meaning of "Lowell" is "little beloved one." Now, what does "Timothy" mean? Aren't names fun? Ha ha.
James Webb, may lack the money of Harris, but he brings to bear something few can, Naval Academy grad, Secretary of the Navy, the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts in Vietnam; has a JD from Georgetown University; has written six best-selling novels; has even won an Emmy Award as a journalist.
Moreover, he strongly denounced Ollie North in the 1994 campaign won by Chuck Robb. Also, he denounced the "swift boaters", if only Kerry had done the same!
We are in Virginia and ties to the military, genuine war hero, and the ability to "really handle a shotgun" are strengths that no NOVA businessman can hope to match.
Finally, his oratory skills are matched by few (certainly not Allen) and he will take no crap from Allen or any of the “Bush-Rove Hate Machine†operatives. This is a man of substance, integrity and guts, and he is the man best positioned to take out Allen. Webb can go into rural areas and “talk the talk, and walk the walk†Can Harris hope to do that!?
http://www.draftjameswebb.com/
KC
If he's in, it'll be because he knows it's right. If he's out, it'll be because he knows it's not right for him to run at this time.
Webb's decision will be made as all of his decisions are, through wise deliberation and courage.
expediency be damned!
Given his law and sociology background, fairly obvious assignments.
I'm glad Delegate Englin got the committees he wanted, and great job trying to block this silly constitutional amendment.
Who says HWI and P&E are unimportant? HWI was my top choice, and I asked for P&E assuming it was a long shot for a minority freshman, so I'm very happy with my assignments. HWI will give me a great opportunity to fight to improve our health care system and make sure children, the poor, and the elderly get the services they need. P&E deals with, among other things, constitutional amendments and redistricting. I led the charge in P&E today against the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, civil unions, and private contracts approximating marriage. We lost, but I'll keep fighting.
David
Is that why they are in such disgrace in our state?
In Virginia, my understanding is that Rules, Finance and Appropriations are extremely powerful, with Education, Transportation, and Courts of Justice being "biggies" as well. Again, that doesn't mean the other committees don't do important work, just that they generally have less clout than the top ones mentioned above.
Anyway, congratulations on being sworn in as Delegate, and for your Committee assignments. I am sure you will do great work and will make us all proud that we campaigned for you!
You say:
"Or, here’s another version for those who feel more positively about Iran’s President Ahmedinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei, and LESS positively about 'Emperor Dubya.'"
I say:
Believe me, you don't have to love Iran's current leadership to loathe America's current leadership!
So best of luck, David, and kick some butt in Richmond!
Lowell
PS Say "hi" to my good friend "Sideshow Bob" Marshall for me.
Given that redistricting in recent years has made so many, many districts so very, very safely Republican, it may be hard to upseat any but the most unsavory corrupt Republicans. So greater "D" votes may mean only that some/many Democratic incumbents get reelected by wider margins, and that few seats actually change sides.
All the more reason why we all need to work our butts off these next 10 months!
Right now we still have four congressional candidates missing in action. The dedline to announce is April 14th.
Tick, tick, tick . . .
Companies also use GLBT benefits and protections as a means of competition for employees. When one company in an industry adds things like domestic partner benefits, other companies in the industry add them just to keep up and attract more (and better) employees.
It just makes good business sense. It opens up your potential hiring pool to a larger group and helps you find better talent.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug05/soc.gender.dea.html
This is consistent with my real life experience. People who are happy and secure don't go after people who happen to be different in some way.
I read large portions of that book for a paper I wrote on Southern politics. Great for some political perspective.
Torridjoe: As far as I know, Tim Kaine has always been very favorable to equal protection under the law for ALL Virginians. Anyway, my understanding is that this amendment isn't veto-able. I could be wrong on that, though...does anyone know for sure?
Or it could just be that she felt that her husband was being bullied and she broke down in tears.
Either way, I think people will be more feeling towards Mrs. Alito, and it would be prudent for the Democrats in the Senate to be reasonable in finalizing the confirmation. They do not need to vote for him, but they are the ones that will face the most scutiny following the Alito hearings.
Thanks for blogging the event. Those of us four-plus hours away appreciate you're doing this for us. I'd have loved to be able to go, though.
As far as the 2000 election is concerned, this has been looked at in great depth and two things are obvious: 1) Gore won the popular vote; 2) Gore almost certainly would have won Florida if every vote had been counted properly. But keep trying to change the subject, it's what Republicans do best (since there's so much they need to change the subject FROM).
As far as the "Big Lie" is concerned, Republicans are the masters at this since they have no positive achievements to talk about. And, by the way, mentioning Nazi leader Goebbels means you just lost this argument per Godwin's Law ("once such a comparison [to Nazis] is made, the thread is over and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.").
In August through Dec. 2004, Al Gore made several very courageous speeches, which (unfortunately) many in our party ignored. It was another illustration that when the going gets tough, we can count on Gore to lead. While our current elected party leaders seem to be spinningtheir wheels, here Gore is now saying what needed to be said. Besides the fact that he showed he can win (by actually winning in 2000), he has the leadership we need both now and in 2008. I don't know that he's interesting in running. But, I think he should run.
Government costs a hell of a lot and it's the super rich who benefit the most. A huge military defends the interests of the super rich, most. The legal system is overwhelmingly used to promote the economic interests of the super rich. Roads, schools, infrastructure, all most benefit the super rich.
But they want a free ride on the backs of the proud working poor and the middle class.
The rich didn't make themselves rich. American infrastructure made it possible for you to benefit the most, and you owe the most to America.
Enough is enough. Greed, ignorance, and hate are not American values, they are only the values of what Pew calls "Enterprisers" and what I call ingrates.
Remember that and you finally understand today's republican party.
Josh: You got it - the "birth tax lobby" believes in the super rich and screw everyone else. A friend of mine once called the Republican Party the "I've got mine so f*** you" Party. How true.
Let see .... they've strengthen institutional careerism across the state & federal bureaucracy, elevated cronyism to a high art, hardwired lobbyist into the government decision making process (the new 4th branch of Government) and delivered Big Government and Super sized Deficeits ..... Now come on man .... what's wrong with that??
I suspect Mr. Webb ....and anybody else who cares (Harris Miller) sees this and has to gauge how do you go about defeating the incumbant ... NO SMALL TASK. The odds are against you.
So I complement Mr. Miller for being Brave ..... and I look forward to Mr. Webb's formal announcement. The head wound (games) is self inflicted..... because with Mr. Miller we see a valient but losing struggle .... with undeclared Webb we instinctively see a KNOCK OUT BLOW.
Don't lose faith .... remain positive .... the trend (survey) is very positive !!!
Dontcha know that rational, transit-oriented development isn't "family friendly?" It's so much better for the offspring to be trapped out in a cul-de-sac somewhere, totally dependent on the obligatory stay-at-home mom to drive them to pre-approved activities where their nascent, conservative little brains won't be challenged with too much contradictory information.
Speaking of which, we have a pretty chilling analysis of Mick's "support" for education here.
If Webb wants to run, he needs to get around the state and start lining up support ASAP, because very soon Miller and the DSCC will have sucked all the oxygen ($$=political oxygen) out of the room.
RUN JAMES RUN!
-Alec
My thought on the NYT piece is pretty simple. At the heart of the piece was a story about Sen. Bob Kerry & Vietnam. Kerry is retired from the Senate and holds a President's position at an old small college / university in New York City. Is somewhat newly married. Anyhow Webb's friend is there somewhat friendly turf. It's been carried by other websites pretty well.
Also, does anyone know about statements Allen has made regarding Murtha or other veterans critical of the war? I would love to see them.
In many ways, it's much like when Barak Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Prior to the speech, there were a whole lot of concerned assumptions over what the little known politician would say. Those assumptions were mostly wrong--and a star ascended.
Tim Kaine now has the chance to become the next star. To us here in Virginia--we know how he has unified our state over even the most problematic issues. It will be really exciting to see what he comes out with regarding national issues!
It's like besmirching the record executive who was stupid enough to sign the unknown Elvis!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0689878451/002-8256616-6433647?v=glance&n=283155
And Tango Makes Three, the story of two male penguins who raise a penguin chick as a couple. It's one of my favorite children's books.
;)
I loved "March of the Penguins", btw.
That would have helped virulent anti-gay pastor Lonnie Latham who was recently arrested in a gay sex sting in Tulsa.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb329600.htm
http://www.queerday.com/2006/jan/10/homophobic_pastor_lonnie_latham_arrested_in_gay_hotel_sting.html
A message to Virginia Lawmakers from... guess who:
How will you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the grain of dust out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the bit of wood in your eye? O false one! first take the wood out of your eye and then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your brother's eye. (BBE)
And, besides all that, Kaine's is looking at what is politically possible. One step at a time, folks. The longest journey begins with but a single step... forward.
At first, all the comments in a Hullabaloo were anti-Kaine until...the Virginia cavalry arrived.
Ain't no way we're gonna let people besmirch our governor.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/digby/113776823943285762/
Also, this is a bit off topic, but I guess my connection is the justification for inaction thought -- some interesting points from a recent Molly Ivins piece -- I don't agree with them all but in general I think she's right on this one:
MOLLY IVINS RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2006, AND THEREAFTER AUSTIN, Texas --- I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges. The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief. If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it. In 1968, Gene McCarthy was the little boy who said out loud, "Look, the emperor isn't wearing any clothes." Bobby Kennedy -- rough, tough Bobby Kennedy -- didn't do it. Just this quiet man trained by Benedictines who liked to quote poetry. What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes. The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF? I listen to people like Rahm Emanuel superciliously explaining elementary politics to us clueless naifs outside the Beltway ("First, you have to win elections"). Can't you even read the damn polls? Here's a prize example by someone named Barry Casselman, who writes, "There is an invisible civil war in the Democratic Party, and it is between those who are attempting to satisfy the defeatist and pacifist left base of the party and those who are attempting to prepare the party for successful elections in 2006 and 2008." This supposedly pits Howard Dean, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, emboldened by "a string of bad new from the Middle East ... into calling for premature retreat from Iraq," versus those pragmatic folk like Steny Hoyer, Rahm Emmanuel, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman. Oh come on, people -- get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war -- from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily. You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking. I'm telling you right now, Tom DeLay is going to lose in his district. If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to OWN the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely. Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. I'm serious as a stroke about this -- that is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, electoral reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up, or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town. Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news." Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can. To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
Originally Published on Friday January 20, 2006
The religious right doesn't seem to understand the mutual consent issue. In fact they would see our attitudes as moral relativism. In other words, they only seem to understand rigid rules from which no deviation is permitted -- no thinking -- no situational ethics. If you read someone like Chuck Colson and other religious right opinion leaders you'll see them villifying those concepts.
I don't understand brains that work that way. I do know that such rigid thinking denies freedom of choice to others -and I see that as a great moral crime --- but apparently they think that lack of human freedom is a virtue. (The fact that they pick and choose which Old Testament and New Testament precepts to follow is a whole other topic. Oh yes, the New Testamant too -- like the easygoing attitude so many of them over unjust wars.) A
Any idea why some brains work that way, i.e., brains unable to distinguish shades of gray? Brains unable to accept that different viewpoints may be valid? It may be that one generation after another hard wires their kids to think that way and they really don't know any better. I do think one reason so many send their kids to private school or homeschool them is to keep them from growing into thinking, discerning adults. Maybe it's all just based on fear -- fear of change, fear of difficult thinking, fear that their whole system of religious belief is a house of cards. I don't know.
Won't it be interesting, whenever he calls anyone a "fudgepacker" (as Mr. Young is want to do) that I can say over 40% of heterosexuals are, in fact, "fudgepackers" as well??
The only hope for conversion among the wingnuts is that they will get to know more homosexual people. And that more of the sick and sad fear mongers who are gay themselves, but push anti-gay agendas, will be outed.
Read this and see if you still side with the Pat Robertson cabal:
- Even though the boy would shake and wet himself, his father, Ronnie Paris Jr., would box with the 3-year-old, slapping him in the head until he cried because he didn't want his son to grow up to be ``a sissy,'' the boy's mother testified Monday.
More here.
--
(from http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bibl.htm )
The whole website is pretty good, laying out the contrasting positions on a number of current religious topics.
1. The standard nuclear family: Genesis 2:24 describes how a man leaves his family of origin, joins with a woman, consummates the marriage and lives as a couple. There were quite a few differences between the customs and laws of contemporary North Americans and of ancient Israelites. In ancient Israel: Inter-faith marriages were theoretically forbidden. However, they were sometimes formed.
Children of inter-faith marriages were considered illegitimate.
Marriages were generally arranged by family or friends; they did not result from a gradually evolving, loving relationship that developed during a period of courtship.
A bride who had been presented as a virgin and who could not be proven to be one was stoned to death by the men of her village. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21) There appears to have been no similar penalty for men who engaged in consensual pre-marital sexual activity.
2. Polygyny marriage: A man would leave his family of origin and join with his first wife. Then, as finances allowed, he would marry as many additional women as he desired. The new wives would join the man and his other wives in an already established household. Polygyny was practiced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, until the practice was suspended, a least temporarily, in the late 19th century. It is still practiced by separated fundamentalist Mormon groups which have been excommunicated from the main church.
There are many references to polygynous marriages in the Bible: Lamech, in Genesis 4:19, became the first known polygynist. He had two wives.
Subsequent men in polygynous relationships included: Esau with 3 wives;
Jacob: 2;
Ashur: 2;
Gideon: many;
Elkanah: 2;
David: many;
Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth;
Rehaboam: 3;
Abijah: 14.
Jehoram, Joash, Ahab, Jeholachin and Belshazzar also had multiple wives.
From the historical record, it is known that Herod the Great (73 to 4 BCE) had nine wives.
We have been unable to find references to polyandrous marriages in the Bible -- unions involving one woman and more than one man. It is unlikely that many existed because of the distinctly inferior status given to women; they were often treated as property in the Hebrew Scriptures.
3. Levirate Marriage: The name of this type of marriage is derived from the Latin word "levir," which means "brother-in-law." This involved a woman who was widowed without having borne a son. She would be required to leave her home, marry her brother-in-law, live with him, and engage in sexual relations. If there were feelings of attraction and love between the woman and her new husband, this arrangement could be quite agreeable to both. Otherwise, the woman would have to endure what was essentially serial rapes with her former brother-in-law as perpetrator. Their first-born son was considered to be sired by the deceased husband. In Genesis 38:6-10, Tamar's husband Er was killed by God for unspecified sinful behavior. Er's brother, Onan, was then required by custom to marry Tamar. Not wanting to have a child who would not be consider his, he engaged in an elementary (and quite unreliable) method of birth control: coitis interruptus. God appears to have given a very high priority to the levirate marriage obligation. Being very displeased with Onan's behavior, God killed him as well. Ruth 4 reveals that a man would be required to enter into a levirate marriage not only with his late brother's widow, but with a widow to whom he was the closest living relative.
4. A man, a woman and her property -- a female slave: As described in Genesis 16, Sarah and Abram were infertile. Sarah owned Hagar, a female slave who apparently had been purchased earlier in Egypt. Because Hagar was Sarah's property, she could dispose of her as she wished. Sarah gave Hagar to Abram as a type of wife, so that Abram would have an heir. Presumably, the arrangement to marry and engage in sexual activity was done without the consent of Hagar, who had such a low status in the society of the day that she was required to submit to what she probably felt were serial rapes by Abram. Hagar conceived and bore a son, Ishmael. This type of marriage had some points of similarity to polygamous marriage, as described above. However, Hagar's status as a human slave in a plural marriage with two free individuals makes it sufficiently different to warrant separate treatment here.
5. A man, one or more wives, and some concubines: A man could keep numerous concubines, in addition to one or more wives. These women held an even lower status than a wife. As implied in Genesis 21:10, a concubine could be dismissed when no longer wanted. According to Smith's Bible Dictionary, "A concubine would generally be either (1) a Hebrew girl bought...[from] her father; (2) a Gentile captive taken in war; (3) a foreign slave bought; or (4) a Canaanitish woman, bond or free." 1 They would probably be brought into an already-established household. Abraham had two concubines; Gideon: at least 1; Nahor: 1; Jacob: 1; Eliphaz: 1; Gideon: 1; Caleb: 2; Manassah: 1; Saul: 1; David: at least 10; Rehoboam: 60; Solomon: 300!; an unidentified Levite: 1; Belshazzar: more than 1.
6. A male soldier and a female prisoner of war: Numbers 31:1-18 describes how army of the ancient Israelites killed every adult Midianite male in battle. Moses then ordered the slaughter in cold blood of most of the captives, including all of the male children who numbered about 32,000. Only the lives of 32,000 women - all virgins -- were spared. Some of the latter were given to the priests as slaves. Most were taken by the Israeli soldiers as captives of war. Deuteronomy 21:11-14 describes how each captive woman would shave her head, pare her nails, be left alone to mourn the loss of her families, friends, and freedom. After a full month has passed, they would be required to submit to their owners sexually, as a wife. It is conceivable that in a few cases, a love bond might have formed between the soldier and his captive(s). However, in most cases we can assume that the woman had to submit sexually against her will; that is, she was raped.
7. A male rapist and his victim: Deuteronomy 22:28-29 requires that a female virgin who is not engaged to be married and who has been raped must marry her attacker, no matter what her feelings were towards the rapist. A man could become married by simply sexually attacking a woman that appealed to him, and paying his father-in-law 50 shekels of silver. There is one disadvantage of this approach: he was not allowed to subsequently divorce her.
8. A male and female slave: Exodus 21:4 indicates that a slave owner could assign one of his female slaves to one of his male slaves as a wife. There is no indication that women were consulted during this type of transaction. The arrangement would probably involve rape in most cases. In the times of the Hebrew Scriptures, Israelite women who were sold into slavery by their fathers were slaves forever. Men, and women who became slaves by another route, were limited to serving as slaves for seven years. When a male slave left his owner, the marriage would normally be terminated; his wife would stay behind, with any children that she had. He could elect to stay a slave if he wished.
I haven't read deeply into the work, but the late Yale historian John Boswell wrote a controversial book called "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality : Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century" which argued that wholesale intolerance against homosexuality was not prevalent in early Christianity. (People are still arguing about the book 25 years later, a sign that it must be pretty good.) I started reading it a couple of years ago but it's really dry. Nonetheless, I've just ordered a copy from Amazon.
You're right on target about the Old Testament making moral judgments that are unacceptable in modern society. Leviticus in particular is atrocious. For example, women were considered property. God allegedly told Moses that it was okay to kill your children if they cursed you. (At least the writers of Leviticus so claim.) Moses personally ordered death by stoning to someone who "blasphemed God." (So much for religious dissent.) Some translations of the Old Testament say "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's slaves . . .". The language has been prettied up for modern consumption as "property" and we honor the language by putting it on courthouse lawns.
One of my favorite OT stories is about "holy" Elisha, who replaced Elijah, and worked the miracle of parting the Jordan. The following is in 2 Kings 2:23---
"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and harassed him, chanting, "Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!"
24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths.
25 From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria."
This is the junk people think of as divinely inspired literature. Sorry. Try me again in another millenium.
In honor of all the Va. conservative blogs who are undoubtedly frothing about the Maryland court decision, I offer this original poem:
Friends say, dear sheep, our love is wrong
But that never gets me down
I’ll never stop from seeing you
On the bleatin’ side of town.
This is important work, Lowell. Keep it up. Expose the religious right for what it is. And, I'm sorry to say (being an ex-Republican) that the bigots among the Southern Democrats all seem to have flown over to the GOP over the years.
Don't for get all the problems homosexual already face. Like depession and discrimination. And I don't see why they should ban gay marriage, it's not like they choose to be that why.
This isn't chump change, especially when one adds up the savings state wide. And what would I do with the mythical $30 return? Probably spend it, largely in-state, which would generate added sales tax revenues.
The political folks will say raising the state income tax rate is a recipe for non-election, but has anyone considered explaining to the voters why it's better to raise deductible taxes?
The Va. marginal tax structure tops out at $17,000. Why not just add a step at some higher increment and increase the rate from 5.75 to 6%?
Next, what's wrong with raising the cigarette tax again? It's still one of the lowest nationwide. (Yes, I know the political arguments, but the current low rate is ridiculous.)
I do support higher fines for chronically bad drivers. DUI fines should be very high also. How low are speeding fines? Remember Chris Craddock and all his tickets, several of which were for speeding? His last was for reckless driving, going 24 mph over the limit. He paid a paltry fine of $95 (plus $57 in court costs.)
Thats all I have to say.
Oh, and I see you're an "intelligent design" man as well, since you don't "believe" that humans are animals. Pick up any biology book and it will set you straight (no pun intended).
Step away from the grape kool-aid now.
Assuming that person was "immigrated" illegally, no. Can you figure out why? Can you figure out what fundamental American concept is discounted by what you support?
If you have the childlike policy that anyone who comes here is entitled to all or nearly all the same rights as citizens, then you've just declared open borders. Millions more will come here.
Regarding discounted college educations for illegal aliens, put on your thinking caps. Think about it for a few minutes to a few hours and try to come up with one of that plan's enormous, anti-American downsides. I'll leave that as a test.
To me it boils down to this
Enforce the law or don't enforce the law. None of this wishywashy halfway stuff.
BTW, many GOP businessmen support getting all the cheap labor (and additional consumers)they can into this country and oppose these anti-immigration efforts. The national GOP is badly split on the issue.
I also think that skin color plays a part here. The Va. GOP largely houses what's left of the old Southern bigotry groups. If these were Englishmen or Scandinavians?
Viva Lefty Blogs! Viva Raising Kaine!
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) does not have to sign the resolution for it to be placed on the ballot. While he could veto a separate bill that specifically calls for the referendum, his press secretary Delacey Skinner said he will not do so."The governor's position is that a marriage is between one man and one woman," Skinner said. She added that he does share concerns with proponents that the amendment as drafted is so broadly drawn that it could impair some contracts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012501329.html
VIRGINIANS OF ALL STRIPES, it is time to fight this filth at the ballot box. We're going to need money, and lots of it.
Virginia General Assembly: Gay Marriage Bill Attacked by Creigh Deeds and Mitch Van Yahres"State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds blasted Republican legislators Tuesday for a “mean-spirited and unnecessary†bill banning gay marriage and legal contracts between unmarried partners.
But illustrating the complexity of the controversial issue, Deeds acknowledged that he had voted for a modified version of the measure, which awaits the governor’s signature.
“I tried to look at the bill as a lawyer,†said Deeds, who opposes gay marriage. “I don’t think it changes anything in Virginia law.â€
Deeds, D-Bath County, and Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, who voted against the House bill, drew cheers from a 100-strong crowd Tuesday night at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church. Equality Virginia, a statewide lobbying group for gay rights, organized the reception.
“Rob Bell has to be confronted,†Charlottesville Democrat Van Yahres said of the Albemarle County GOP delegate, who voted for House Bill 751. “And not just once. You can’t let up.â€
Dels. Steve Landes and Watkins M. Abbitt Jr., the former a Republican and the latter an independent, also voted for the House bill, Van Yahres said, and should be confronted along with Bell.
Deeds also decried the state Republicans’ social agenda: “[They] want to get into your bedroom and tell you what to do and what not to do. Gay rights becomes the whipping boy.â€
The bill, which now awaits the governor’s signature, bars recognition of same-sex marriages, civil unions or legal contracts such as wills between non-married partners. It was passed with a veto-proof margin this session.
Deeds voted for a different version of the Senate bill, to which Warner added amendments limiting its impact on legal contracts. The amendments failed.
House of Representatives candidate Al Weed, the father of a lesbian daughter, told the crowd that he worries about the “breakdown†of the wall between church and state through the Bush administration’s efforts.
“Biblically informed bigotry is bigotry,†said Weed, the Democratic opponent of Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount.
Mark Usry, a local representative for Equality Virginia, previously known as Virginians for Justice, said the group will sponsor a lawsuit challenging the bill and asked attendees to donate money.
But Deeds and Van Yahres called on the crowd to go further, to make themselves heard.
“They’re going to keep on after you as long as they can,†Deeds said. “You need to be in people’s faces all over the place.â€" (Kate Andrews, The Daily Progress, May 5, 2004)
Contact Kate Andrews at (434) 978-7261 or kandrews@dailyprogress.com.
I was in Paula Miller's office when we printed out the results of the vote that day. I was surprised because Sen. Yvonne Miller (my senator) actually voted against it this year. We were somewhat less surprised that Deeds didn't.
I knocked on doors for the coordinated campaign. I was even a recount observer for Deeds. I couldn't believe he had the gall to stand on those stairs with the rest of those who voted against the Affirmation of Marriage Act and wave. He was the only elected official whos hand I did not shake.
This referendum is nothing more than a tool to motivate ultra "religious" people to the polls for this (repressive) issue so that republican will get votes by default.
America- moving backwards to the future.
Now...
Jefferson weeps.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+coh+18.2-279+408741
Lock'em up. Or is that just for the commoners?
But he is too dumb to see that.
Now, please explain why your hero Bush is siding with a group dedicated to destroying Israel? And please explain how a terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of innocent civilians is in any way, shape, or form comparable to MoveOn.org, a peaceful, liberal U.S. political group? Utterly bizarre.
I've said this from the beginning regarding Iraq. Saddam wasn't a threat, he was powerless, and he provided stability and didn't ally with Iran completely like it looks the new Iraq democracy will.
We've created a monster.
Sometimes a militant dictator is a good thing.
It's like that guy who said he was going to commit suicide if Kerry lost.. bollocks!
If you want to move make big changes, it won't be done outside the 2 party system. The Democratic party can most certainly be moved, and we're just the kind of people who make that kind of thing happen.
Closer to home, in the Virginia Senate race, it appears that Miller cares little about an auditable paper trail. BTW, though this is no-doubt heresy, it's important to note that Mark Warner didn't care much about it either. A new book (entitled "Fooled Again") takes on voter fraud in Ohio. And the appeasers on verified voting in our own ranks have given it all away for the forseeable future...unless Dems act with clarity and conviction now. I think it's long past time we expect more courage from our representatives. If this isn't the time to show it, then when is?
Then come back and fight.
What does this mean for the State Senate?
Congrats to Herring!
I disagree with David, I don't at all think he sounded cocky! I actually think he sounded confident. (Which we should be). However, I don't think he went into the over-confident territory.
Kaine, made excellent points in relating what has been done in VA to what could/should be done for the nation.
Bravo Tim!
So if you want to see it, just click on the link:
You see a video scream, click on "More Video", then on "Va Gov Kaine Gives Domocratic Responce"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=globetop
Davis, Wolf, Goode, and Drake have all been fine examples of how corrupt the Republican Party has become. Let's bring them down!
You're right Kevin. Let's add Virgil Goode to the list too.
This at least takes some of the sting out of Alito's confirmation.
The trend is clear. We have the advantage up here.
Let's keep it up.
Each seat closer is one more seat closer to making Virginia Blue. I'm so proud of you guys! :-)
For right now, lets focus on 2006. I know that there's a difference between federal and state elections but let's try and bounce Davis and Wolf this year!
Herring won unless Stalon can get about 75% of the rest of the votes. So Stalon might have a chance.
I told you so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dispute
The situation in Cyprus is different from that in Iraq. But consider the cases of Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Vietnam, Korea -- those of you better versed in history than I am can find dozens of cases in which blood shed is not forgiven until one side wins completely. Iraqis should kiss and make up, forget all the murders, forget the loss in wealth, power, influence to other groups.
Miracles do happen, as in South Africa. Do we have individuals of the stature and greatness of Mandela or Tutu in Iraq?
If we pull out of Iraq it will be said that heroic Muslims checked the world's only superpower. When we pulled out of Vietnam, it was said heroic Communists checked the world's only superpower. Not long afterward, Vietnam was fighting China. Later they did humanity a favor by eliminating Pol Pot, also a Communist. Once we are out, Iraqis are not going to look favorably on Al Queda elements that have been murdering Iraqi women and children. A temporary apparent boost for the terrorist approach will be dissolved by a Muslim stuggle to solve their internal conflicts.
If we could stay in Iraq for 41 years, as long as the UN has been in Cyprus, we might prevent a terrible bloodletting. Perhaps that would be the moral course, but I don't think it's politically possible.
We are gambling with the lives of your young people by staying. Leaving is hard, hard, agonizing. Maybe that's why so many don't seem to be talking about terrible truths such as: a young man with his legs blown off, blood pouring out of his mouth, eyes glazing.
Amen Brother! It starts now, let's do it.
"Iraqis are not going to look favorably on Al Queda elements that have been murdering Iraqi women and children. A temporary apparent boost for the terrorist approach will be dissolved by a Muslim stuggle to solve their internal conflicts."
The Hebrew Bible makes no claims about whether the United States can enforce its own laws against illegal immigration.
I am in favor of enforcing immigration laws when they are wise, and repealing them when not.
It seems to me that the current system benefits wealthy people who employ illegal aliens. That is who the illegal immigration is for the benefit of.
It is not tolerated in order to benefit the illegal immigrants themselves. Pul-leeze.
On the same note, a similar bill passed the House last year but was killed in the Senate.
Unfortunately, I believe the goal isn't necessarily to get the bill passed. The goal is to stir up racial tensions and get the hard-core conservative base motivated and to win the next election. Consequently, the bills supporters may be rooting for it not to pass so they can bitch and moan through the next election and then start the process all over again next session. It's not as if there are pressing issues :).
Y'all deserve your ignorant children. According to Newsweek, After 3rd grade Boys in American might as well drop dead for all the use education is going to do them.
Y'all deserve your decaying roads. How do you thing these things get built?
Is there no end to the perfidity of the enormously wealthy in this nation?
I'm ashamed of the greed in this nation, I thought Virginia was better than this.
I've been wrong before. I guess you can't go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American people and now you can't go wrong overestimating the Greed of the American people.
I'm gonna be sick...
As a compromise maybe you could exempt monies that an individual has already paid taxes on (income, capital gains, dividends)
Kaine might realize that he doesn't have the votes(I don't know what the vote range was)
i am not a HOD member yet. give me 8-10 years and who knows. I have posted in another topic that i will post under my full name from now on because i have been confused with Adam Sharp who also posts here.
In addition to the basic point that it's regressive -- a break for the rich that will be paid for by cuts to the poor -- it would seem to work against the "fiscally sound" message Kaine has tried hard to build.
Lost in this debate are the benefits to our country of maintaining an estate tax. Originally passed in 1916, the estate tax was a fundamentally American response to the excesses of the Gilded Age. Populist reformers labored for the three decades before 1916 to pass federal income and estate taxes in order to shift the tax burden, mostly in the form of nineteenth-century tariff duties and excise taxes, off of Midwestern and Southern farm states and onto the wealthy Northeastern states. But underlying the movement for an estate tax was a recognition that too much concentrated wealth and power was putting our democracy at risk. We had fought a revolution to reject hereditary political and economic power--and the dizzying inequalities of the Gilded Age violated a fundamental American ideal of equality of opportunity.We are now in a second Gilded Age. Instead of taking steps that would strengthen our democracy, we're heading backward to the wealth inequalities of a century ago. We need to preserve the estate tax in states and at the federal level for exactly the reason it is under assault. In a democracy, we should be offended when the power of concentrated wealth brazenly attempts to shape the terms of policy debate and dictate the rules of our society.
In all honesty that would be a HUGE win for the Democrats. Think about it. If Kaine can successfuly clean up the roads in VA it'll impress 6,999,129 people. Kaine will get that victory not the Republicans. In return the Republicans are impressing the remaining 871 people in the state.
Regarding the # of people affected, it's miniscule - 871 estates in FY 2005, out of 7.1 million people in Virginia. Assuming that 10 people per estate are affected, which is a highly generous assumption, that would mean 8,710 people affected out of 7.1 million Virginians, or 0.1%. In other words, 99.9% of Virginians are NOT affected by this tax. However, the loss of $120 million per year will hurt every single Virginian, particularly the middle class and the poor.
We can be reasonable and raise the floor of when this tax kicks in, or exempt real property but abolishing the estate tax is just plain stupid.
So what is it people of Hanover are you against the death penalty or in favor of killing children along with everyone else?
HB 859 Death penalty; persons not eligible for parole or good conduct allowance.
Frank D. Hargrove, Sr.
Summary as introduced:
Crimes; death penalty. Abolishes the death penalty for all Class 1 felonies committed on or after July 1, 2006.
He knows it won't pass, so what is his purpose of entering this bill for the past 6 years?
Senator Kennedy will take care of all the other issues if he becomes Chairman of the Health, Education Labor & Pension Committee. Remember the world does not spin around Virginia. That poor man from Colorado has to get reelected and whomever the poor soul from Ohio is when that person wins that seat.
Mr Webb's resume alone will get him a seat on the Senate Intelligence committee as well as the Foreign Relations committee. I would like him on Armed Services but I Believe our best interests are guaranteed there if a certain person is the ranking minority member. Remember he looses his chairmanship soon but he will not loose his seniority.
A Webb candidicy will expose the money changers in the temple even if he doesn't win.
We do not speak for Mr. Webb. Everything we've put out or highlighted comes from Mr. Webb's personal website, http://www.jameswebb.com.
Every person involved in this is a Democratic activist. I am sorry we did not come out at the beginning and identify ourselves. I guess it was another one of those internet phenoms. We are committed to doing what is best for the Democratic Party.
Go to http://www.vetpac.org or http://bandofbrothers2006.org and find out about the national movement sweeping America.
Thanks,
Lee Diamond
I do have a prediction, however. Based on what James Webb has already published (especially his Purple Heartbreakers op-ed in the NYT), once he articulates the positions you've asked about ZB, I predict you'll be motivated to vote for him in the Dem primary and certainly in the general v. Allen.
You'll have to come back and let me know if I'm right.
Josh
- the employment non-discrimination act
- open service by gays and lesbians in the military
- the local law enforcement act
- abortion rights
- raising the minimum wage
- drilling in ANWR
- school vouchers
- seperation of church and state
- Presidential wiretaps without a warrant
- universal health care
- the right of the Senate to filibuster judicial nominations
- liability reform for asbestos companies
- renewal of the assault weapons ban
Heck, I'd settle for one or two of these questions being answered.
Frankly, I don't care who gets in the race at this point, it's way too late for anyone--we should have a big frontrunner up and running already, but we don't. So, given that, let's have a good competition of ideas and let the DEmocratic primary voters decide. The winner will get TONS of money and support from all Democrats across the state, because if Santorum is beatable in PA, so is Allen in VA.
Doug: Definitely, Allen is beatable. He never really ran a tough race against a determined candidate with the broad appeal of a Jim Webb. This is going to be interesting...if I were Allen I'd be a bit worried.
ZB: This will all start coming out after Webb makes an announcement. Stay tuned.
Dannyboy: Exactly. Listen to Webb and decide if he impresses you as much as he has impressed so many grassroots activists and respected Democrats like former Sen. Bob Kerrey.
First droopy drawers. Now this. Shame on him
People have different conflicting motives for everything they do. some are completely off the wall as in this article but, as long as the result is the righting of a wrong and mean of achieving their goal is ethical and legal(should have pointed this out above sorry) then the motive is not of concern to me at least until it leads to things like Iraq (extreme example), or censorship ext. In areas where the motive is being applied to the detriment of society I will be the first point it out.
I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree, however, on if motivation means anything as long as a "right" is done in the end.
In scientific terms, a “theory†is a plausible general principle
that definition means unproven by using the word "plausible." I didn't say it means unproven assumption, I interpret it as an unproven idea.
"So you’d bet they guy who claimed that atomic structure should be described as a theory in a science book?"
this brings up a good point. Some things should be reevaluated as to weather or not results of work based on theories prove them to be fact(ex. many aspects of atomic theory).
No. all the information we have come up with after that is not also a theory. we know atomic structures exist it is still theory because we don't fully understand how it works.
they are the smartest people in the world. but unless they prove what they say, then it will remain theory. In the article it was a web designer not a scientist.
In my eyes if a wrong is righted then the motivation is irrelevant. even if the creationists are appeased the result is still the correct representation of "big bang theory."
Saying "Just a theory" down plays the importance of theoretical science. evolution is a theory, an important theory, but still a theory. evolution is a theory because many aspects of it are unproveable. If you believe in a "loose form of ID"(i do as well) then you must recognize that there are flaws in evolutionary theory. the fact that it has flaws doesn't discredit the entire theory it just needs tweaking same goes for ID and all other theories.
You are right bush would set up as theocratic monarchy if we let him. I personally feel the pre-bush gov. has been disrespectful to religion across the board. bush has made the right to public religious expression worse by favoring one over the rest. Its like Bushes Faith Based Initiative. the idea i support, the motivation and method of application i do not. bush wants it and applies it for Christians and is creating more disrespect and discrimination in the process. If Democrats controlled the program, it would truly give all religions charities' equal and fair access to competitive funding.
In scientific terms, a "theory" is a plausible general principle NOT an unproved assumption per se. Unfortunately, the American education system does not teach the scientific method in grammar school, children actually graduate from high school never having performed an experiment or having been taught to think through a scientific problem. Received wisdom, as stated in the Bible as interpreted by certain religious leaders, is the ultimate authority for far too many Americans today, and on far too many topics beyond the scope of religion (in my opinion).
No wonder foreigners want to get into our Universities but NOT our lower level schools. We will no longer be able to compete in the coming global systems if we continue this assinine anti-science thinking... it is the mind set displayed by the know-nothings Bush has salted throughout the government that worries me, not the specifics of what they arbitrarily say about evolution, contraception, Big Bang or anything else.
Great God Almighty, wake up, folks! Isn't the universe itself wondrous enough if you're looking to prove God's handiwork with a sense of wonder? Science and the scientific method every day give us something new to wonder at, often something that turns previous "knowledge" on its head. That's exciting revelation of God at work, if you care to look, and are inclined to think that way.
Thanks for the link, Lowell.
I don't know how the universe originated (fairies flew out of a sock with pixy dust, space is full of dust. why not?), but I have reservations about the Big Bang Theory. According to the theory, the universe started with a fight of sorts between matter (something) and anti-matter (nothing) that ended with an explosion. the idea that something got into a fight with nothing and won thus creating the universe is a little shaky to me. I am not saying the theory is wrong, but it is a theory because it is not proven and should be written as such no matter how accepted it is.
Just to be clear, I am not supporting or detracting from the theories of big bang, evolution, or intelligent design for that matter. I am just saying that as an unproven scientific idea, the Big Bang Theory and all other theories should always be presented as a theory never as fact.
Read the whole statement, and you'll see that the kid (I say kid because he's only 5 years older than me) wants to leave room for design by a creater as an option.
Now, I consider myself a religious person. But creationism? The world is NOT 6000 years old, it's nearly 6 billion. Evolution and the Big Bang have much more evidence than intelligent design or creationism, which rely mostly upon faith. Not to step on anybody's beliefs, you want to be a creationist, go ahead. But it's religious, not scientific. NASA does science, not religion.
Another example: requiring employers to provide a safe work environment, or health insurance, raises their costs and theoretically could reduce their demand for labor. However, I wouldn't oppose those things because they have overriding benefits. The bottom line is that you've got to look at the whole picture....
Also, I would raise the topic of "externalities" - costs and other bad stuff (pollution) not captured by standard economics or the market. For instance, if maintaining low minimum wages harms social cohesion, or increases crime, or simply shifts the burden of providing nutritional, housing and health care assistance to local, state, or federal governments, then that's an "externality" from the market's point of view. Yet it is still a cost. Even more complicated, how do you measure the "cost" of morality. In other words, some things are "right" to do even if economic theory says they are not "optimal" or whatever...
Economic Info
Part of the reason minimum wage has to be set by an outside entity (the government)is because low wage businesses that would be willing to pay employees properly are unable to because it will put them at a competitive disadvantage to those reaping benefits at the expense of their employees livelihood. By the Government setting minimum wages, businesses are able to pay livable wages and be on equal competitive ground in that respect. Employees will be happy, willing to work harder, and employers don't have to cut wages to be competitive with other similar businesses. Businesses can use profits for improvements, promotion, and anything else business related without worrying about being undermined by others lowering wages to increase profits giving them a bigger pot to dip from at the employees expense.
It is a shame that it has to be written law for employers to pay properly but that is the facts of life.
And by the way, even by Bushes Tax Cut logic, that is how economics works. When you put more money in peoples pockets they can buy more. Bush just puts it in the wrong pockets. A rise in minimum wage will in turn increase tax rev. and business profits because more money will be circulating, especially in rural areas. But most importantly it will increase quality of life/opportunity for gain.
By the way I know this from growing up with a mom who worked for minimum wage. while raising the wage doesn't alleviate poverty completely, it does make things a little better for those living in it. A dollar or two an hour would have made a world of difference. your logic doesn't work when talking to someone who lived it.
I think a better answer economically would be to index wages to inflation and update that number every 3 to 6 months. If the minimum wage was dynamic, prices wouldn't react as quickly to subtle raises in the wage rate over time.
This isn't to say that there shouldn't be an initial real wage increase, since the minimum wage now IS sickeningly unlivable, but it really isn't a long term fix unless the wage rate is indexed to the rate of inflation.
Think about it like this. When the minimum wage was increased to $5.15 an hour, $5.15 had a greater value than it does now. With the wage increase, however, people suddenly had more money to spend.
More money means a sudden increase in aggregate demand which = increased prices...blah blah blah...
You get the picture...God i'm so glad i paid attention in Econ class...
The Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia is meeting this weekend in Richmond to decide whether to nominate a Senate candidate by Primary or Convention. If a primary is the chosen method of nomination it would be held on the second Tuesday in June (June 13, 2006)
P.S. Mark Warner said earlier in they year that he wouldn't endorse any candidate until after a primary. Let's see if he holds to that.
Webb said his campaign will also focus on ways to help middle- and low-income families and "restoring the traditional role of Congress" by checking the growth of presidential authority since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Lots to cheer today.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1594552
James Webb on ABC news, considered a real contender for George Allen!
Steve Jarding, who managed former governor Mark R. Warner's campaign in 2001, said he had met with Webb several times in the past few weeks."He's fearless and a tremendously exciting candidate," Jarding said. "I'm unbelievably impressed with him. He's got the perfect profile to run against George Allen."
Jarding said Webb's story -- a decorated Republican veteran turned Democrat -- is compelling enough to help Democrats defeat Allen.
"This is Ronald Reagan's secretary of the Navy saying, 'The Democratic Party is closer to my ideals,' " Jarding said. "This is the genuine, real deal."
I guess my new mission is to Draft Steve Jarding to beg Webb to let him run the campaign! Ha!
James Webb for Senate, 2006!
Okay, now that sappy crap is over. Let's get to winning this thing? Any idea when Webb will start working on a staff? Also, make sure you guys keep us updated on where our boy is heading until he gets his own website up.
I don't know what my voice did to convince him, but I am guessing my voice along with those others who contacted him directly, via DraftJameswebb.com, etc. had comething to do with it. A true grassroots effort!!
Thanks James Webb. Now we have a race.
First, thanks to everyone for the congratulations. I appreciate it, but as Howard Park points out, now the hard work really begins. Webb will need everyone's help if we want him to defeat that fake cowboy, corrupt chickehawk named George Allen. Let's do it!!!
Second, I know everyone is curious about Webb's positions on the issues. I don't mean to speak in riddles, but I will have to let the candidate speak for himself. All I can say is that I am very comfortable with him, as are Josh, Lee, and the others - Corey, Rob, Tony, etc. - who have been helping on the "draft." Over the next few weeks, I fully expect that you will see why we have been so enthusiastic.
Finally, I agree with Conaway Haskins, who writes of the Webb candidacy's "Ramifications Beyond Virginia." Conaway points out that the "growing power of Internet-based movements to influence political variables and even candidates...could become difference-makers in the South, a region without hegemonic traditional media outlets." And Conaway concludes with this fascinating paragraph:
what could be the most fascinating aspect of the Webb candidacy is its potential to shift the racial politics of the former states of the Confederacy. In a 2004 Wall Street Journal article, Webb posited a politically-potent theory about uniting the South’s two major cultural groups. He says, "in fact the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
Getting excited yet? I know I am! Go Webb!!
I have heard Miller speak in person and was impressed with HOW he conducted himself, but not all that impressed with WHAT he had to say.
I hope he and Webb engage with total respect for each other, and keep it fair and issue-oriented. There's no place in our party primary for personal tear-downs or falsehoods. Let's leave that for the GOP.
Webb has them worried!!!
By the way, Dumb has been banned for trolling. I'll leave his commment up, though, so people can see what we're dealing with here...
Lowell you should be flattered that Dumby is going after you with falsehoods. You've got someone worried!
Such hostility!
Liberty means viewpoints that don't match yours.
I cannot wait for Webb to show the public his antisocial, bridge-burning, odd personality. He has you fooled.
I give Webb 90 days. Hackett will lose his primary, and so will Webb.
Oh, and you are a fool for supporting a neoconservative (AEI) as a "democrat."
Moron.
Scott County and Gate City have a lot more to offer than the Kilgores.
We have 6 Democratic members out of 7 on the Board of Supervisors, the 8th wonder of the world (Natural Tunnel State Park) and a very active and growing Democratic base.
A good Democrat can persuade Scott County voters. Rick Boucher has carried every precinct in the county for the last 3 congressional elections. Please ask Mr. Webb to contact us. I'm already getting calls from Mr. Miller. And let's face it both are largely unknown quantities in SWVA.
Minority Senate Republicans
Majority Leader Reid.
SWVA may be the Republican Hot Bed of VA, but there is a strong group of determined Democrats here and I am going to push Hard for Mr. Webb. A lot of work to be done but this could be an opportunity to make SWVA a little Bluer.
By the way, if you met Webb, I strongly doubt you would think he had a "weird personality." After meeting with im for 5 hours total, I can report that he is friendly, down-to-earth, smart, thoughtful, and not stuffy at all. In other words, he's a great guy with whom you'd definitely want to have a beer, shoot some pool, and talk about Jacksonian Democracy vs. Teddy Roosevelt Progressivism. Not necessarily in that order. :)
Then again, maybe the man has other plans.
Either way, I don't care if he's got the personality of Dick Cheney. So long as he gives us a good shot to get rid of Allen, I'm happy.
I am glad that James Webb decided to fight what will be a hard fight. Miller has no chance against Webb, but even having him on the ticket is bad for Democrats. He does not share Democratic ideals and would try and hijack the party with his support of offshoring and temporary guest workers (cheap labor) program.
I am not against immigrants or global trade. There are ways to fix the H1-B program that will prevent Americans from being displaced and foreign workers from being abused - both of which currently occur.
There are things you can do that aren't overly "protectionist" that can help keep jobs in the USA while not harming global trade. I hope James Webb will at least listen to our side and hear us out, so that he knows what he is up against in the form of Harris Miller.
What's wrong with this? Most of the time, nothing. I know the YD's at Virginia Tech Google Bombed to make sure that a bunch of sites like "The Real Jerry Kilgore" were put higher on the Google list. You know when you type in "Miserable failure" in google and you search, you get George W. Bush's biography? Google bombing is responsible for that (Republican retaliators tried to do the same thing with Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter, but there aren't enough. And it's just not funny the second time around). But Raising Kaine has direct connection to the Webb movement, and having our own guys do something with that kind of reputation might be kind of sketch.
Do it for fun all you want, but let's not officially connect RK or Webb with that kind of stuff, eh?
There's nothing wrong with putting a link on your homepage.
Students should not be punished because their parents entered this country illegally.
Well technically unless the students were born in the United States, they themselves entered illegally in violation of the law. Though I will concede that as minors their parents are more responsible for that violation of law than the child, and as such the responsiblity for any hardships should be placed squarely at the feet of their parents.
I am not at all in favor of rewarding those who break the law, and allowing in state tuition for illegals creates an incentive for those already here and those considering breaking our laws to come here, to continue to do so.
Additionally there are issues regarding the availablity of financial aid that I have not heard addressed.
For example, two equally qualified students, both are immigrants from mexico, one is here legally and one is illegal. Who gets the grant or scholarship aid? and who gets stuck with college loans and work study?
Don't we have a responsiblity first to those poor and working class who are here legally?
I wouldn't mind this more lenient approach to the issues of illegal immigration (or even a guest worker program) if something substantial were being done to encourage and/or facilitate the badly need reforms in mexican government that would enable their people to earn a living their.
Raising Kaine wrote:
I ask you, how much more are you willing to pay for just about everything - food, landscaping services, childcare - than you were previousl? How willing are you to see important sectors of our economy grind to a screeching halt?
No individual worker benefits from the suppressed wages that illegal immigrant labor causes. The higher wages everyone would be earning would offset any increases in the prices of various goods and services. Our economy would not grind to a halt.
Raising Kaine wrote:
Sen. Hanger has had a change of heart - ENCOURAGING illegal immigrants to seeks U.S. citizenship and to integrate into the great U.S. “melting pot†instead of bashing them and their kids.
Outside of allowing them to gain further education how does this facilitate U.S. citizen ship? Currently there is no way for someone here illegally to apply for U.S. citizenship. The simple fact that they are here illegally automatically disqualifies them from citizenship.
Even if they do graduate from college what sort of jobs can they get? They have no documentation, no right to work papers. So now what have you done?
You've graduated an highly skilled illegal immigrant with no right to work documentation who might end up competing with you for a high skill high wage job, and by the simple fact that if an employer were willing to hire them, they wouldn't have to pay them what they'd have to pay someone who was here legally. So since they would be paying them less that would directly contribute to your high skilled high wage job paying you less.
Now what do you do?
On the other hand, those who are bound and determined to use this divisive non-issue as a partisan wedge have handed us all the material we need to expose their cynicism, dishonesty and cruelty for years to come. Way to go, boys and girls!
It's certainly a tough issue for people from both sides of the debate. I enjoyed reading all of your posts.
Lowell
1) Many of these students and their families have already applied to legalize their status, but some applications have taken as long as 14 years to be processed and resolved. See the example of Brian Marroquin published by the Washington Post on September 25, 2004. Brian even had a valid work permit and was denied admission by two Virginia public universities, at the urging of then-Attorney General Jerry Kilgore.
Most immigrants now waiting in line would love having to wait for only one year.
2) Virginia colleges and universities don't understand the complexities of immigration law and have wrongfully denied admission or in-state tuition to many immigrants who are lawfully present in the United States. They don't understand that it is possible to be in the United States lawfully even without a visa (for example, having been granted asylum, or Temporary Protected Status, or by having properly filed an application for adjustment of status).
3) The bill that was adopted by the Senate Education Committee requires that the student or their families have paid taxes in Virginia for at least three years. This is three times the period required from everyone else. If these kids and their families are Virginia taxpayers, why shouldn't they enjoy the benefits designed for Virginia taxpayers?
4) Finally, having seen the devastation of civil war in El Salvador, where I served in the Army for several years in the 1980's, I do not blame the parents who decided to save their lives and the lives of their children by coming to the United States. But regardless of how one feels about the parents, I don't see how anyone can blame their children for that decision.
Luis Parada
Question: "Why haven't they applied for citizenship before now?"
Answer: Before an alien can apply for naturalization, to become a U.S. citizen, the alien must first be a Legal Permanent Resident. And for an alien to become a Legal Premanent Resident, there must be a mechanism in immigration law that will allow him/her to apply to achieve the LPR status. Unfortunately for the vast majority of undocumented or as uninformed people often call them, "illegal" aliens, there is no mechanism they can use, no form they can file that will allow them to take the first step towards becoming a Legal Permanent Residence, much less a USC. Therefore, citizenship is not so much as a blip on their radar scopes. So, when you say an alien is "illegal" and then ask why that "illegal alien" has not filed for citizenship, you display a total ignorance of the subject matter. Couple that stupidity with your profound "illegal is illegal" remark, you now simply look like a clown.
Perhaps in the future, you will research your topic before voicing,)or as is in this case) posting illadvised comments.
I have long looked at American politics as a system containing only one organized monolythic party, the GOP. Then there is everyone else...the democrats. So the dems are a big tent indeed.
My whole adult life I have shied away from party label and yet with Bush et al. defining the GOP, and people like Warner, Kaine, Deeds, and Webb defining the party in VA. I think I may find a place under this broadening umbrella.
The right track back for the Democratic party and the Right Track Back for America.
We've had 5 years of religious extremism, Fanatical Imperial Presidential power, a cowtowed press, coercive ignorance, and cronyist greet. What's it gotten us? Worldwide Violent Extremism, perpetual war, the end of the social contract in America, and a New Heredetary Aristocracy in America.
yes... that's right in AMERICA.
Freedom-loving Americans of all stripes know that it is time to return to American Greatness. How? American politics must change. As the intransigence of every bushist position exposes, the Republican party is INCAPABLE OF UNDERGOING THE CRITICAL CHANGE NECESSARY TO REGAIN AMERICAN GREATNESS FOR THE WELL-BEING OF THE WORLD.
This can only happen through the Democratic party, because the Democrats are the only ones capable of taking a good long hard look at themselves and making the change necessary.
For Commonwealth and Country, James Webb will show us the way.
Spread Webb's message and hearts will change.
On that note, I am keeping the Virginia section of Campaign Underground (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x1733) up to date and I need websites for the following people. Let me know if you can help.
-Harris Miller (Senate)
-Shawn O'Donnell (1st district)
-Carl Stephen Wolfe II (1st)
-Bern Ewert (5th)
I also see that we have no Dems running against Forbes (4th), Goodlatte (6th), and Cantor (7th). Is this correct? Thanks for your help!
-Alec
As for Kellam, expect a website soon. If you're really impatient, you can go to www.repk.com, which was his web page for his latest re-election to Commisioner of the Revenue at the Beach (the GOP was too afraid to run somebody against him and give him any publicity). Again, the site really only deals with Commisioner stuff, but it may help you get a feel for the guy.
Well now that Ashe is out of the Second District, we all need to support Phil Kellam in his quest to take out that hack Thelma Drake. Kellam for Congress! Webb for Senate!
I don't know if Ashe is dropping out, but it would seem logical, I guess. If there's a primary, he'll have A LOT less money than Kellam (check the FEC website). If it's a convention...well, a lot of the powers that be in VA Beach want Kellam to run, so there's little chance for victory there.
I like Ashe, but winning comes first. Plus, Phil is a classical Centrist Democrat, just the kind of Democrat that the 2nd District likes to put in office (a la Owen Pickett). Kellam for Congress!
If he can maintain the energy and discipline he will be "under the dome" in November!
/vic
Talk him up, volunteer in his campaign, make a contribution.
Andy Hurst. Something Different. Something Better.
www.hurstforcongress.com
This makes ABSOLUTELY no sense. What, people who use roads but are anal enough to have the time and determination to submit receipts to DMV for their $75 check shouldn't share the burden of paying for the roads? This makes no sense!
The original revenue streams proposed that included extra fees on insurance and registration, as well as increased car sales tax and "bad driver fees" made MUCH more sense, and are not obfuscated by some ridiculous proposal to allow certain people to get a rebate. Who thinks up this garbage?
Keep it simple, stupid!
RE: The posting above. I wonder...since many parking lots are private property (many are) it would seem to me that the gun possesion rules would be dictated by the owner of the lot...(If you believe in sanctity of private property). "A man's home (property) is his castle," right? I seem to recall at least from movies and history books that bars/saloons have frequently banned guns entering a premises. Does not the same hold true today?
As far as the cop's death. A freak tragedy!! (During my gun training it was hammered home not to leave guns lying around loaded. Never leave guns loaded!!! This death was caused by an improperly stored (i.e. loaded) firearm. Thus, the gun owner was at fault and responsible not the gun. (I would imagine manslaughter charges will be braught.)
....I certainly never leave my guns loaded!!
RE: he posting above. I wonder...since many parking lots are private property (many are) it would seem to me that the gun possesion rules would be dictated by the owner of the lot...(if you believe in sanctity of private property . "A man's home (property) is his castle," right? I seem to recall at least from movies and history books that bars/saloons have frequently banned guns entering a premises. Does not the same hold true today?
As far as the cop's death. A freak tragedy!! (During my gun training it was hammered home not to leave guns lying around loaded. Never leave guns loaded!!! This death was caused by an improperly stored (i.e. loaded) firearm. Thus, the gun owner was at fault and responsible not the gun. (I would imagine manslaughter charges will be braught.)
....I certainly never leave my guns loaded!!
I fully expect these pseudo-macho airheads to re-institute dueling so we can all enjoy the romantic Old West right here at home. Makes sense when you have a wannabe John Wayne in the Oval office, and a Ready-Fire-Aim Vice-president in his undisclosed location.
From my calculations, the Webb campaign has only 4 months to do serious campaigning (that is if Webb wins the primary), and that's not a whole lot of time. He has to roll the ball soon.
Oh, and what can out-of-state people like me do to help, apart from sending financial support? Any suggestions?
This guy begins swinging the machete around and deliberately trying to get my attention. He'd strike it on the ground after flailing it a bit and then look over at me. He did this some 5 or 6 times. I "ignored" him, but kept a sharp eye on him. He was drunk, or high, or something.
I kept watch over him and thankfully I had my H&K USP .40 caliber on me. Fortunately I did not have to use my weapon, but I was glad I had it with me and have carried it faithfully ever since.
I'd rather have a gun and not need it then need a gun and not have it.
I'm new here. I also signed up for the draftsite as Neo.
I'm just excited about James Webb and would be very happy to help in any way I can.
From my calculations, the Webb campaign has only 4 months to do serious campaigning (that is if Webb wins the primary), and that's not a whole lot. He has to roll the ball soon.
Oh, and what can out-of-state people like me do to help, apart from sending financial support? Any suggestions?
Hopefully, we will hear something from his campaign this week.
Are you guys sure you want this guy representing you in the Senate?
John, Jim Webb is his own man. He doesn't have to be Paul Hackett to impress anyone.
About Webb being a Democrat now, tell me, why would anyone looking at the Republican agenda this decade or so be proud of being called a Republican? Personally, I would be ashamed.
We welcome every candidate with a conscience and love for this country into the Democratic Party, whether they're new, old, born-again, saw-the-light, you name it.
Yeah, I'm impatient and I'm growing frustrated a bit. If the Webb campaign wants to keep people excited about his candidacy, why not give some hints here and there of his plans - at least keep your supporters updated through the campaign website, but we get ZIP. Nadda.
Something tangible needs to be seen this week. And for you insiders, let the Webb campaign folks know we are ready to work hard for him, but we need to know what's going. The absolute silence doesn't help.
1) Gun laws will only affect those willing to abide by them. Criminals don't follow laws (that's why they're criminals) so making new gun laws only restricts those who are already law-abiding citizens.
2) Most people seem to have the mistaken idea that the police will come and save them. The reality is that the courts have upheld that the police have no obligation to come to your aid and are not liable in cases where "911" was called and nobody showed up. The courts have upheld that the police's job is to protect teh community as a whole; however, individual security rests with the person.
3) The thing that criminals fear more than the police are armed would-be victims.
4) Cars kill more people every DAY than guns, yet nobody is crying for better driver education in this country, which would save more lives than getting rid of every gun in America.
5) It requires a fairly substantial amount of checking to be able to get a gun in VA, (private sales excluded), so those with restraining orders, history of mental illness, felonies, domestic violence convictions and accusations, cannot even possess a gun, let alone buy one.
Restricting people's ability to have a gun in their car so they may protect themselves to and from work is just plain ignorant.
By the way, we did very well today at the parade - many petition signatures and lots of positive feedback on a Webb candidacy. Sure, people want to know more about him, but that's just because they find him intriguing and because they see him as the only possible hope of defeating George Allen.
How was the Parade? Was Webb there? No? Why?
I heard Harris Miller was there. Harris spoke with lots of folks, I heard.
So where was Webb? Has there been a Webb sighting recently? Do we need to send a search party?
You wrote, "I believe that by saying I was an American first, a Virginian second, and a Democrat third, I was trying to indicate this was exactly the same stance James Webb takes. I think there are dozens of reasons a Republican would have become a Democrat over the last six years. I feel fully confident Webb will choose one over the coming days."
Problem is, the public has not ever heard James Webb stating, "American first, a Virginian second, and a Democrat third," let alone state this convincingly.
And sure, there have been many Republicans and Republican-leaning Americans who recently turned to the Democratic Party. HOWEVER, given James Webb's 30 year history of partisanship against Democrats and Democratic principles—and then, suddenly, announce to WaPost on a Monday that he is a Democrat and then on the proceeding Thursday file papers with the FEC to register his candidacy as a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate is, well, odd.
Frankly, if I knew James Webb personally for 10 years, then maybe I would feel better about this issue. However, Webb’s candidacy as a ‘Democrat’ is too much of a real leap of faith for me to commit to volunteer hours and financial support for a former Republican who became a 'Democrat' on a Monday and a 'Democratic Candidate' on a Thursday. Again, James Webb has a lot of explaining to do, and convincingly.
I missed that Washington Times article. Thanks.
I've read it a few times, and I wonder how James Webb will honestly answer to such a statement, given that it was made right after 9-11, our history with the FISA program, and today's issue(s) of domestic spying without FISA.
Mr. Webb: "What do you think of FISA, and what did you mean when you were interviewed by the Washington Times in October 2001?"
Mr. Webb: "Do you believe in domestic spying without judicial oversight?"
Kerry's leadership of Vietnam Veterans Against the War is not only fair game; it speaks to legitimate issues of loyalty, and his actions at that time are the true core of this dispute. For most veterans it was not that Kerry was against the war, but that he used his military credentials to denigrate the service of a whole generation of veterans. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War was a very small, highly radical organization. Their stories of atrocious conduct, repeated in lurid detail by Kerry before the Congress, represented not the typical experience of the American soldier, but its ugly extreme. That the articulate, urbane Kerry would validate such allegations helped to make life hell for many Vietnam veterans, for a very long time.
Despite all this, Webb criticized the Swift Boat attacks against Kerry in 2004, saying: "If the young John Kerry were so able to manipulate the Navy's system that he unfairly collected five decorations, the system itself has no credibility, and all awards become meaningless."
Webb also has condemned the "ugly insinuations" "against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha."
As far as the Scots-Irish are concerned, you might want to read Webb's Parade Magazine piece. Webb analyzes his people, the Scots-Irish, as a complex "study in wild contrasts." For instance:
His legacy is stained because he became the dominant culture in the South, whose economic system was based on slavery. No matter that the English aristocrats of Tidewater were slavery's originators and principal beneficiaries or that the typical Scots-Irish yeoman had no slaves.
On Bill Clinton, Webb was no fan of Clinton's regarding military matters, probably because Clinton dodged the draft. On the other hand, Webb writes in his recent article, "Purple Heartbreakers":
The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats.
In other words, Webb is consistent in lacking respect for those who denigrate military service or shirk their duty, including both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
As far as "Star Wars" is concerned, I'm not sure where you found that but I'd be curious to know.
On "Don't Ask/Don't Tell," I don't agree with it personally but it's Bill Clinton's policy and Congress hasn't repealed it in 12 years now. Also, as far as I can tell, Kerry was for it before he was against it. At least I think so. Who knows.
Last point: I believe it's an oversimplification of what Webb has written to say that he "loves the confederacy." However, like many Americans with ancestors who fought on the side of the South in the Civil War, Webb is proud of their service. In addition, Webb notes that "In 1860 fewer than five percent of the people in the South owned slaves, and fewer than twenty percent were involved with slavery in any capacity." Webb's views on this issue are complex, as are those of many Americans, and I recommend that everyone read his speech on the subject in its entirety.
The bottom line is that Webb is a complex and fascinating man, definitely not "politically correct" at times, but someone who I personally find extremely refreshing. No bullshit or hypocrisy with James Webb, that's for sure; he just lays it out there and lets the chips fall where they may. I admire that, even if I don't agree with him on every single issue.
Of course, I don't agree with Harris Miller (Bush tax cuts, voter verified audit trails), Tim Kaine (estate tax) or Mark Warner (capital punishment) on every single issue either. In fact, I STRONGLY disagree with them on several (see above). But that doesn't prevent me from supporting them over Jerry Kilgore or George Allen. In this case, James Webb is by far the strongest potential candidate against Allen, and I agree with him on far more than I disagree. That's enough for me.
The Washington Times
October 05, 2001, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: PART A; NATION; INSIDE THE RING; Pg. A9
BYLINE: Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough; THE WASHINGTON TIMES
James Webb, a Vietnam combat veteran and former Navy secretary, has a strategic plan for stopping future terror attacks. It includes reinvigorated spycraft, tough diplomacy and the big stick.
In an interview, Mr. Webb says the first step is to stop looking at terror acts, such as the Sept. 11 catastrophe, as just a crime scene.
"I think we made a grave mistake for more than 20 years in attempting to categorize these sorts of incidents as mere crimes," Mr. Webb says. "Certainly, you can bring criminal actions when you bring people to justice. But these are clearly, from their perspective, acts of war. And they have been since Ayatollah Khomeini took over in Iran. Elements of the Islamic fundamentalist movement have considered themselves to be in a state of war with us."
Mr. Webb's plan of action: "At the end of this, we need two things. One is, we need to have a sophisticated and effective intelligence apparatus reinstituted in this country. I think you can do that without compromising individual liberties. I think really what has happened is we, in many ways, have become paralyzed by a lot of the political-correctness debates and by the movements in the mid-1970s to take apart a lot of our intelligence functioning, domestically and overseas. At the end of this, we need to have an apparatus that is free to do the job it wasn't able to do in this incident.
I mean, come on!!!
Sigh.
You wrote: "But if your decisions are based on his lack of partisan red meat, then shame on you. You have put the Democratic party dogma ahead of our national interests."
The odd idea of James Webb as a 'Democratic' Senator is not due to a lack of partisan red meat, but rather for episodes of red meat partisanship against Democrats, Democratic leaders, and Democratic leaders in general over the past three decades. This is an important issue that James Webb should address in full; every Democrat in Virginia should deserve an explanation of why he is "suddenly" a 'Democrat' after years of being a non-Democrat.
You also wrote: "I am an American first, a Virginian second, and a Democrat third." Funny, Harris Miller said that EXACT statement last Friday on WTOP. I know Harris, and I know he will follow this principle.
So I'll respectfully ask you, Matt -- Will James Webb profess the same principle as a Democratic Senatorial candidate, and will he adhere to this principle if elected?
In other words, will he hold 'Democrat' as third, or will it be 'Republican' or 'non-Democrat' or 'something'? This is an honest question that James Webb must answer convincingly.
In one of those stories about him supporting George Allen, Webb said he was upset that Robb's voting had cancelled out Warners vote in the Senate too many times. So, I ask again: Is this the guy you want to work for, vote for and call your senator.
Right now, I don't. I would like Webb to start explaining himself.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1431
(with a (-) after 'irc' and before 'online')
I have many questions on Webb, too.
Full disclosure: In early January, I chose to support and contribute to Harris Miller. I know Harris to be a kind, intelligent, and descent man. I am also a Veteran (enlisted and officer), so I respect James Webb. That said, after searching Lexis-Nexis, EBSCO, and Factiva on Webb, I found some disturbing quotes. Here is a flavor:
…(Webb) respects (Chuck) Robb's service…"But it really depends on what you do with that service. I look at George McGovern," Webb said, referring to the Democratic candidate who lost to President Nixon in a landslide in 1972. "He won a Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II, and I wouldn't have voted for him if you put a gun to my head."
--From AP article, November 2, 2000, during a press conference with George Allen in Norfolk, VA (Webb endorsed Allen for Senate at this meeting).
And this one:
TAE: Speaking of the top, what do you think of Bill Clinton?
Mr. Webb: I cannot conjure up an ounce of respect for Bill Clinton when it comes to the military. Every time I see him salute a Marine, it infuriates me. I don’t even think Bill Clinton cares one iota about what happens in a military unit.
--From the very conservative American Enterprise Institute magazine, March/April 1997 issue.
By the way, James Webb has had a lot if interaction with the AEI over the years, which is disturbing in itself. To know more about AEI, go here: http://rightweb.irconline.org/profile/1431
James Webb is certainly entitled to his opinion, but now that he is a ‘Democrat’, how is he going to explain these quotes (and others) to the long-time Democratic activists who presumably will work on the front lines for him this fall? And how will we know that James Webb will be a good Democrat in the Senate, respecting the Party’s platform and getting along with the Democratic Senators and Representatives. The worst thing Virginia needs is to elect a Senator who may inevitably alienate himself from party leadership, thereby possibly hurting all Virginians--regardless of political affiliation.
James Webb has a lot of explaining to do as a new ‘Democrat’ at the age of 60. He has spent 40+years of his life a non-Democrat, and he has never made a supportive campaign contribution (at least above $200, as recorded by fec.org) to a national Democratic candidate. James Webb did not take a position during the campaigns of Tim Kaine or Mark Warner, and has never made a supportive campaign contribution to a Virginian Democratic candidate (according to vpap.org).
This is not an exotic feature; most blogs have it. Hope you can make it so. Thanks for all the great content.
There is also a large schism in the Grand Ole Party, as anti-development forces in the party attempt to divorce traditional and moral values from the pro-growth grasp on the party.
The current leadership of the Loudoun County Republican Committee has grasped God in one arm, and developers in the other and decreed that if you cast out one, you need to cast out both.
I support the moral beliefs, but I deal with those at a State level, not a county level. Most of the Republicans who bailed from the party to embrace a Governor and two district representatives here did so because that was the lesser of two evils....with only Mick Staton and Dick Black being worse than putting in two controlled growth advocates from the Democratic side of the aisle.
At two public input meetings before the low density decision for Loudoun, speakers in support of that plan outnumbered speakers for a high density plan in numbers that translated very close to five to one. In more public input since then, the numbers have reflected a very similar pattern.
What this means to any politician in any race that directly has bearing on Loudoun County development is that less of it means you can go to the front of the line, and if you still want to push for high density, and string out hearings on implimentation of it, you can sit this one out.
The curve isn't quite complete yet. Four members of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors are yet to be voted out. Three are definitely out, and one is a wait and see, because he recently voted for the low density development plan after he voted against it. I personally think he wanted to keep his wrench in the works, but his vote towards a low density plan may play well with some who do not realize what he's really after.
Mick Staton has already gotten a taste of what awaits him in that election by losing to Mr. Herring.
Mr. Snow and Mr. Delgaudio will most probably meet similar defeats. Mr. Tullock is still a tossup, because he has switched positions and caused confusion of his stance on the issues.
Dubai is the most liberal, modern, city (not country like some congressmen alledge) in the Middle East. This company, nor the government of Dubai has done anything against US security interests. In fact, Dubai is the biggest liberty port in the world for US sailors. Dubai is also the finance center for the Middle East, so to say they have links to 9/11 is like saying Bill Gates has monetary links to Wall Street.
I was most astonished to see that some Congressmen said that this outcry has nothing to do with DP World being an Arab company, 'if any foreign nation bought it we would do this.' These Congressmen are so uninformed that they didn't noticed these ports have been operated by a British Company for years.
Even if none of this was true, no one has shown yet how this company operating these ports would compromise US security. Congress, Democrats and Republicans are using this as a political play. There are no merits to their objections and they are wasting time and money that could be better spent talking about something that actually matters.
Nevertheless, here is globalisation at work, and here is more evidence that the United States, bent on conspicuous consumption and living far beyond its means, has no way to pay for its continued profligate life style but to sell of American assets and otherwise lose control of its own economnic destiny.
Yes, the Dubai consortium, a state-owned concern (STATE-owned? Isn't that, er, socialism?), is buying from a British firm, so it's now second tier globalisation. Remember the Chinese tried to buy Conoco? Wait 'til some Indian outfit buys, say, the New York Stock Exchange. Or the White House. They have to do somethig with all those dollars they've accummulated from America's huge trade deficit, and they desperately want to replace depreciating dollars with real assets. We soon will no longer own our own country.
The more you read about the UAE port security scandal, the more it becomes patently obvious this is about far more than just one deal with one company or one country. The harsh reaction from the Bush administration to the proposal to rescind the deal should be a red flag. This administration is unquestionably the most corporate-controlled administration in recent history, meaning its reactions are usually tied directly to the reactions of Corporate America. And the fact that the White House is ignoring its own security experts and reacting so negatively to Congress's opposition to the deal means this cuts to the much deeper issue of global trade policy - an issue that trumps all others for Big Money interests, even post-9/11 security.
Money is all that matters. Proof positive. Democrats MUST force this veto.
Democrats... force this veto!
I have to disagree with Ben and his myths about AUE. The AUE has supported terrorist in the past, and they are still in support of them, now.
America's premier expert on Islamic terrorism, Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, recently told MSNBC's Rita Cosby that "Hamas couriers as late as last year ... were sent to the West Bank or Gaza [who] came in with UAE cash. So there is still a problem of terrorist supporting operations."
On July 27, 2005, the Palestinian Information Center carried a public HAMAS statement thanking the UAE for it's "unstinting support." The statement said: "We highly appreciate his highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan (UAE president) in particular and the UAE people and government in general for their limitless support...that contributed more to consolidating our people's resoluteness in the face of the Israeli occupation".
These are facts that cannot be debunked or ignored. But with this said, I am in favor of the 45 day review and hope that we can allow the AUE/ Dubai Co. to show they are not a supporter of terrorist organizations. Or, otherwise we will have to go back to this President's words on terrorism,
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
I hope the AUE had gone forward, but time will tell.
Q Jordon
ROFL!!!
Keep it up, guys!
Could There Be More Behind the Port Dispute?, from NPR: "Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr says the quarrel about port operations is a case of globalization meets xenophobia."
I'm not xenophobic, and I oppose the sale of port management operations to a company from the United Arab Emirates. The question for me is not whether the country involved is from the Middle East, as President Bush mentioned, or whether the company has played by the rules or not....
It reminded me of something I wrote about the act of coveting a few years ago for STYLE Weekly. A link to it is in my last SLANTblog post, "Coveting and Rage."
What happens then, of course, if these comments don't get deleted, is that someone comments back explaining why the first commenter is a waste of oxygen. Commenter #2 replies again, and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Anyways, great post. It's a good reminder for people to just chill out sometimes.
Is this our future in Virginia? It's already happening. Look at Gate City & Appalachia. Both of the voting scandals appear to be evolving into law enforcement scandals. And what is the General Assembly doing about it. Bills to allow the Sheriff and Police chief to do openly what they have been doing for years.
Bribing and intimidating the least among us to vote for their chosen candidates. (or maybe $7 and a bag of pork rinds will do the trick)
Is this the reason that buying votes is still a misdemeanor in Virginia?
As Mr. Branscome, Special Prosecutor in the Gate City case, asked why would someone go to such lengths to win a job that pays $200 a month? My reply Mr. Branscome, Can you say kickbacks. Politcal Patronage? Jobs to be awarded or lost?
We are in need of massive election reform, but I don't see us getting it from the present bunch in Richmond or D.C.
But I love the attitude Josh!
Even winning the states won't be enough. We have to win by a sizable margin, 4 or 5% at least.
Willis: True, so let's win by 4%-5% then! :)
Dannyboy: So, Josh is going to make a monkey out of you in the end? :)
Truth is beautiful.
Also, Rabbi Michael Lerner's journal Tikkun is a worth read. Although I don't subscribe, I pick up a copy faairly often at the newsstand. You can also check out the website here: http://www.tikkun.org/ Most articles appear here as well. He has written this journal to be broadly applicable for progressive people of many faiths. I am a Christian, but have long looked forward to reading commentary by Rabbi Lerner. And he has an excellent listserv. I add here that I have had trouble getting my emails from Tikkun because of aggresssive spam blocking by my internet provider(s). But the website suffices.
There needs to be a dialog on values in this nation. The right is up there all day and all night. Meanwhile the left is silent. If you've got a debate and only one podium has an orator, don't blame the crowd for being swayed.
Every Democrat, Liberal, and Progressive in America needs to get comfortable prefacing each and every sentence with the words: "I believe" or even better "We Strongly Believe."
Get in the game. The right is raping the world. You owe it to humanity to take up this fight.
For those of you seeking to expand your outlook spiritually, I cannot recommend Elaine Pagels highly enough, though she may lead you to conclude (as I did) that a lot of the scriptures are fiction. She's an award winning prof from Princeton, who once won a McArthur Foundation genius award.
Her most amazing work is Beyond Belief, the Secret Gospel of Thomas. There's a summary here --
http://southerncrossreview.org/29/pagels.htm
Basically, the early Christian church leaders chose to brand as heretical anything that emphasized salvation through the internal rather than the external, and church leaders ordered the supression and destruction of any other materials. (This is common knowledge among university theologians -- there are quite a few scholars out there who have written about the so-called Gnostic movement and the Nag Hammadi discoveries of many banned texts in the 1940s.)
The discoveries of the ancient texts have given scholars a much different picture of early Christianity. In short, there were diverse philosophies until intellectual supression set in.
Your local pastor doesn't tell you this stuff because he's interested in peddling a line of orthodoxy, whereas the Gnostics (as I understand them) were advocating thinking for yourself.
The Wash Post religion page this Saturday announced another found text, the Gospel of Judas, is being translated and will be released soon. (No one knows the contents -- speculation is that Judas is seen as an instrument of God, to carry out Biblical prophecy.)
You can also expand your horizons by googling "Bible" and contradictions or inconsistencies. You'll find lots of compilations of gross errors and inconsistencies in the texts. Not just the primitive science, but, e.g., conflicting stories of many major religious events. (Paul, for example, couldn't keep his story straight about his conversion.) Thomas Jefferson realized all this and came up with a much shorter New Testament that excluded the problematic stuff. A large group of university theologians called The Jesus Seminar has published lots of material on what the consensus view is on what in the New Testament is made up, what Jesus probably or certainly said, and what was fabricated. Reading Pagels and a few others will enable you to understand why certain fabrications were made. Briefly, one take is that the church had to make the new religion more attractive because Christ's prediction of the end of the world didn't happen, so they started adding all these popular pagan myths (virgin birth, divinity of the prophet).
For a really well written and humorous Biblical analysis(though tragic from another viewpoint)pick up Mencken's Treatise on the Gods. 80 years ago he was coming to some of the same ocnclusions as the Jesus Seminar scholars. You can't beat Mencken for sheer power of the language.
Phew.
I couldn't agree more with Josh.
I'm not a religious man at all, but that's not what the debate should be about.
The buzzword is 'values', and the right is smart to link values and religion, and the left accepts this premise at our peril.
I continue to malign the fact that the Democratic Party has allowed the GOP to plant their flag on the lush political soil of values, fiscal responsibility (HA!), and national security, leaving us mumbling incoherently about education and health care (which the right will also steal from us soon - another post).
I despise Karl Rove's politics, but if I were a CEO, he'd be my first interview for Chief Marketing Officer.
The Republican Party in America is a stronger brand than Coke, or Nike.
Everyone knows what they stand for, who they are.
And the three things I mentioned are core to that strategy, despite the fact that these are things that shouldn't be partisan issues, they're just tenets of good government, no matter who's running it.
Lead with integrity and compassion.
Spend the people's money wisely and effectively.
Ensure the safety of your citizenry.
How is it possible that we've allowed the Republican Party to convince American voters that they're the only ones who can do this?
PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY'VE FAILED SPECTACULARLY AT ALL THREE????
Come on, Jim Webb.
hahaha
My kind of post. Politics with religion.
(2) Also, where were you last Tuesday night? It was the first time Congress had voted in two weeks, and you weren't there!
(3) Have you ever allowed John Murtha or someone other than you to vote on your behalf in Congress?
(4) Would you like to punch me?
(5) What would it take to get you to hit me?
(6) Isn't it true that you are a thrice-married, Jew-baiting, compulsive-futures-gambling incompetent corrupt oaf? (duck!)
Moran has a formula response for such questions designed to avoid answering. He will describe what other people think about I-66 widening, and discuss whether it will happen and under what conditions.
The question I am asking is whether he, James P. Moran, supports or opposes the $28 million federal earmark for I-66 widening in the last transportation funding bill.
In light of this, and the fact that a Virginia Congressman recently lost his job because of his perceived sexual orientation---what do you think it would take for the Republican members of our Virginia Delegation to support passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to ban such discrimination nationally?
Please describe how you plan to impact congress as a member of the minority party. Additionally, what would you do if you were a member of the party in power?
Let's remember, Mr. Moran is our congressman we're going to offer Mr. Moran respectful questions, since he's been kind enough to spare us some time.
Johnathan Mark, you've had your fun, now let some other people post some questions we might actually ask.
With the BRAC realignment, Arlington will be losing many of its defense jobs, and Ft. Belvoir will experience a huge population explosion and traffic nightmare.
1.) What sort of "new" Arlington do you forsee?
2.) What is being done, on a federal level, to ease the transition to Ft. Belvoir, both in Arlington and in Fairfax?
Seriously, I hope that you will ask him my suggested question about whether he supports the federal funding for I-66 widening in Arlington. It is a very important question.
Also, Moran's bill to remove tariffs on Sri Lankan textiles sold at Wal-Mart is equally important. It relates to CAFTA/NAFTA and a proposed Western hemisphere free trade zone which Moran has said that he supports.
Moran's positions on trade and I-66 widening are unpopular. He would prefer that you not ask him about these subjects. But that is why you should ask him.
Will it harm US workers to remove tariffs on imports from extremely low-wage countries such as Sri Lanka?
Eileen: I met Kellam at the JJ Dinner and thought he was very personable. This guy's a winner, no doubt about it!
I'd expect the site to become more informative as the campaign progresses. Right now, both candidates are just raising money and warming up. They'll start throwing fists soon enough.
I agree with brianna in that she should see the signs of her inelectability, but I think her ego will trump that in the end.
I doubt I'd be getting e-mails on her behalf from James Carville and Paul Begala for donations to a Senate campaign I can't even vote for (I'm not exactly what you would call a major donor).
But I also don't think McCain's road is an easy one, either. Bush isn't the issue. McCain has stood by the President in the tough times, but the President's a non-issue by '08. The party machine (and base, as mentioned) has some problems with McCain, similar to the (unfounded) concerns about James Webb now on the left - the base thinks he can win, but they're afraid they're not getting the "real" thing.
I'd love to see Warner, but his one-job resume is a bit thin. Granted, it was a great 4 years here, but that'll be an issue.
If you can get to Alexandria tomorrow, come out and support James Webb!
Onward to Victory,
William
As far as Webb's campaign team is concerned, I'm sure you are aware that Steve Jarding and Dave "Mudcat" Saunders are involved. Besides that, I'll let the Webb campaign make their own announcements regarding their excellent new campaign manager, etc.
So when are any offical announcements coming out of the campaign? It was supposed to be this week as Lowell said.
In any case, Webb seems to be on the move now, and this is good news.
This is going to be fantastic.
This train is ready to leave the station. ALL ABOARD!!!
CLASSIC!! It was so true!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest.
Here's the mouthpiece of the so called "family values" Republican party, and what's on there?
Family Guy.
cops.
24.
Remember:
How to Marry a Millionaire.
Didn't they get hit with a huge citation for showing strippers in some Las Vegas expose'.
The thing is that sex itself isn't bad, it's presented in this hateful and voilent way, by the very network that most vocally and iconoclastically defends the Radical Right wing of the Republican party.
When does irony become hypocrisy?
Democrac(Josh - 4/4/2006 11:33:18 PM)
Democracy dies when people turn on their TV sets
I love that quote!
Make is so!
Whenever he's down this way, I'll be there bright and early!
One thing I wonder, does anybody have a good picture of him (the one you all posted is good, but I had to look at it a second to verify it was him. A really good one would be helpful for bloggers to use in posts)?
PS I was a big-time Clark supporter and I believe Josh was a Dean man.
Dan: Every member of the AYD had an opportunity to meet Webb yesterday; why weren't any of them there?
The real goal is to take out Allen, and one of these guys is going to do it.
I don't know who might do such a thing :)
I can only imagine.
PS-See, everybody from all different parts of the spectrum can come together for Webb (I was for Edwards.)!
Gas to get to the St. Patrick's Parade..$20.00
Signs, Stickers, Banners...$200.00
Advertising for your oponent without knowing it...Priceless.
Some things (like Senate seats) money can't buy. For everything else...well, you know the rest.
:)
what a stupid comment in WaPo -- people blog for all sorts of reasons, and who the hell cares how influential some guy thinks you are? there are a lot of talented people out there who don't give a damn who reads their spiels because, guess what, there's a difference between keeping a diary that you know only you will read and writing your thoughts down where someone else might be affected by them. just because "28.7 million" people blog doesn't mean all of them can't spell definately..........
that kind of thinking really pisses me off -- who f-ing cares what kind of impact a blog makes. if people read it and they like the stuff they read then they might come back. if you tailor what you write just so that you stir up controversy or only to make a name for yourself, then your writing is not genuine and i'd call bullshit.
i'm not saying raising kaine is like that (because you guys are great and I read this site a lot). Instead I'm just calling out this WaPo commenter because s/he's a freaking idiot. I say the more the merrier -- if your writing is good enough and people like you then great; if not then you should still be proud of what you put out there because that's the only point to doing all this (or else we'd all just be keeping diaries.)
but that bit about definitely was pretty funny. anyone ever see that harriet miers blog during that whole song-and-dance nomination? hilarious!
;-)
Non-Richmonders writing for "Richmond Democrat?"
