Telecom Immunity

On February 12, 2008 the Senate approved a sweeping measure that would expand the government's clandestine surveillance powers, delivering a key victory to the White House by approving immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that cooperated with intelligence agencies in domestic spying after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Here is how the votes break out:

Supporting Immunity for Telecom Companies
Pres. George Bush (R)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) MI

Opposing Immunity
Sen. Carl Levin (D) MI
Sen. Barack Obama (D) IL

Not bothering to Vote
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) NY

Fortunately the Democrats in the House have more resolve. They seem willing to vote the courage of their convictions in opposition to immunity and in favor of personal freedom.

The Story of Stuff

Lee Trucks emailed me a video that I really love. It is about the product cycle. Yep, business and production. But it is also about "external costs". It is about environmental costs and social costs.

As Democrats we believe in the stewardship of this earth. We believe in caring about others. These are core Democratic values. They are core American values. This little video does a great job of putting everything in perspective.

I like this video. I hope you take time to watch it.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Pete Hoekstra is irresponsible

Pete Hoekstra is irresponsible. I don't know any other way to describe him. Americans can't trust Pete Hoekstra with their money. Pete has been US Rep for the 2nd Michigan district for many years. His record speaks for itself. Americans deserve better.

Pete Hoekstra has helped George Bush drive our country deeper and deeper into debt. In just the past seven years of the Bush adminstration Pete has supported new debt to the tune of $3,000,000,000. (Yes, that is billion!) When President Clinton left office we had established a pattern of balancing the budget.

How did we get going so far in the wrong direction? For one thing, we lost our system of checks and balances. Our founding fathers clearly saw the danger of an unchecked powerful executive and their fears were right on target. Our Congress has the responsibility of providing that check and balance. Instead a Republican Congress rubber stamped the excesses of President Bush and President Bush rubber stamped the excesses of a Republican Congress. Pete Hoekstra's failure to do his duty to his country has left American weaker. Americans deserve better.

How could Pete and his Republican friends get us into so much debt so fast. One way was that Pete made sure the millionaires got big tax breaks. We couldn't afford to take care of the millionaires and still balance the budget so the Republicans adopted a credit card mentality. Pete chose to take care of millionaires and leave the bill for our kids.

How could Pete and his friends take us so much deeper into debt so fast? Pete supported President Bush's mismanaged efforts in the war with Iraq. Prewar intelligence was bungled. Pete chaired the House Intelligence Committee. President Bush's arrogant go-it-alone policy sacrificed the opportunity for military and financial support from the rest of the world. Now we dump billions and billions into a war that has been so mismanaged that it may be lost.

What has Pete's irresponsibility cost Americans? We are now so deeply in debt that Republicans say we can't fund 911 Commission recommendations. We are so deeply into debt the Republicans say we can't afford after-school programs or college loans. Republicans say we can't afford health care for all Americans, or even for needy children and their families. Pete Hoekstra's irresponsibility has destroyed the American dream that each generation will make America a better place for the next generation. America deserves better.

The biggest disgrace of Republican fiscal mismanagement is ear marks. Republicans, operating without checks and balances, increased the number and amount of ear marks many many fold. They spent like drunken sailors, in the words of one Republican senator. Ear marks became paybacks to special interests who contributed money to the Republicans. If you didn't join the "pay to play" system the Republicans generally left you out in the cold. "Pay to Play" ear marks supported by Pete Hoekstra and the Republicans were a national disgrace. It was only after Americans demanded more responsible leadersip that a newly elected Democratic Congress brought ear marks under control. Pete Hoekstra failed us. Americans deserve better.

Americans have a chance for someone better in 2008. This year we will see a lively Democratic primary and a real challenge to Hoekstra's reign of irresponsibility. There are 3 candidates at the moment running in the Democratic primary: Scott Killips, Fred Johnson, and Kimon Kotos. They have different views and different strengths. It is time for MI-2 voters to study these candidates carefully. Look at their websites. Talk to them. And then get involved. Pete Hoekstra has failed us. Americans deserve better. Now is the time for change.

I want to encourage a discussion on fiscal responsibility in the federal government. I hope we get comments from voting Americans and from all of our candidates. Yes, I would even like to hear from Pete. Please add your comments.

Dan Scripps: Progressive Voice for a New Generation

As campaign season is upon us, we hear more and more speeches. We are told what we should believe. We are told what will fix all of our troubles by lifelong politicians. But one man has been spreading his message throughout Northwest Michigan for over 3 years now. One man who sees Michigan's best days ahead of us. That man is Dan Scripps.

Last night to a packed ballroom at the Best Western in Beulah, MI, Dan reminded myself and everyone in attendance why we continue to work so hard, year after year. When Dan Scripps speaks you can hear a pin drop. Everyone on the edge of their seats, listening intently to the future voice of our state government.

Every time I hear Dan Scripps speak, I have renewed hope for Democrats in Northern Michigan and the state. He brings a positive message of progress, change and prosperity. He brings a message of environmental stewardship to a region that base their economies on their surroundings. Dan speaks of the importance of "green" technology and power sources, not only for the impact to our environment, but also the boost it will lend to our economy and seemingly endless race to the very bottom of the unemployment ladder. Dan speaks about the underfunded school system and how proper attention to our educational system is what will serve as a base for the future of our state.

In 2006 Dan won 48% of the vote against incumbent David Palsrok in his first run for political office. In 2008 the 101st is an open seat. The republicans are scrambling to find someone to run and infighting is destroying their chances for a "credible" candidate. The 101st seat in the State House is crucial to both the region and the State of Michigan.

Dan Scripps is the hardest working candidate I have ever seen. He has true integrity, ideals, and a commitment to the people of Michigan. But Dan needs our help. The filing deadline is fast approaching and early money will be key to securing this seat in 2008. With our help, Dan can lead the way for a New Generation. A generation of Representatives that care about the people they serve. That care about the place we all work, live and raise not only our families, but future generations. Dan is a true Progressive voice fighting for all of us. Please visit Dan Scripp's website and find out how you can donate, volunteer, and contact Northern Michigan's Progressive Voice for a New Generation.

Central America Free Trade Agreement

Check out this excellent article of the Central America Free Trade Agreement. Thanks, Sally, for passing it on to me.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/10/19/no_cheers_for_cafta.php

Just Say NO to Kids

Today, my US Representative, Peter Hoekstra, voted no on the S-Chip veto override. For me this vote boils down to one thing - VALUES. It sure looks like Pete values Blackwater and the defense industry. He values President Bush, even when his mismanagement of the Iraq War kills our American service people every day. It is also clear that Pete values needy children much less.

Pete and his followers can come off being pretty pious at times. They talk a lot about Christian values. I hope he takes the time to reread the words of Jesus Christ. "What you do for the least of these, you do for me."

It is time for our Congressional leaders to do more than mouth words about values while their hand is out for special interest contributions. It is time for us to elect people with real values.

I'm impressed with Scott Killips.
www.killipsforcongress.com

Night of the Living Republicans

Democrats Bad - The Video "The Night of the Living Republicans"



http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1594107

Republicans and Global Warming

I found this survey information on Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/05/warming-13-percent/

National Journal has released a new “Congressional Insiders Poll,” which surveyed 113 members of Congress — 10 Senate Democrats, 48 House Democrats, 10 Senate Republicans, and 45 House Republicans — about their positions on global warming.

The results were startling. Only 13 percent of congressional Republicans say they believe that human activity is causing global warming, compared to 95 percent of congressional Democrats. Moreover, the number of Republicans who believe in human-induced global warming has actually dropped since April 2006, when the number was 23 percent.

Al Gore just won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with global warming. At the same time Republicans persist in their opposition to science.

I remember a time when the two parties debated ideas like the size of government and the role it plays in the lives of ordinary citizens. Now it seems the two parties debate whether science is real or not.

It is time to repent and be forgiven

When the first settlers came to this country we were ruled by a king. That king was responsible for running the entire British Empire. Blame for wrong doing fell on his shoulders.

The great American experiment changed the way we are governed. Now we rule ourselves. The power resides with the people. Mr. Bush says he is the Decider. But he says a lot of things that are not true. The truth is that we, the American people, are responsible for what America does. We, the people, are the Deciders.

Before I headed off to church this morning I sent some time enjoying coffee and reading the paper. It is a quieting, relaxing time, and a wonderful way to start Sunday morning. I read an article about Blackwater in the Traverse City Record Eagle. It was a first hand accounting of a reporter who was in Iraq and her experiences with Blackwater contractors. What started as a sense of security slowly deteriorated as she watched tough young men emerge into American cowboys, drinking, chasing women, and shooting civilians to “get the job done”. They are mercenaries operating without the code of conduct our military forces live by. Their ruthless and indiscriminate ways of operating causes terror and hatred among the people they came to save and protect.

The other thing that has been popping up in the news lately is torture sanctioned by the American government. Even while claiming Americans don’t torture, secret memos are coming to light that the Bush administration used to justify torture.
Tens years ago we could not have imagined our America, the country we love, being involved in torture, fielding a huge mercenary army living outside of normal rules of conduct, or America loosing the respect the world because of its new found preference for military invasion over diplomacy.

We are to blame. Not George Bush. Or Cheney. Not Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice or any of the others. They just work for us. We, the American people, must accept the blame.

Where is our outcry? Where is the relentless insistence that America will not torture and will not field mercenary forces? Where is the demand that America must act with honor and compassion even while we act to protect ourselves and our neighbors?

Isn’t it time that we repent and ask for forgiveness?

The Pres Primary Mess

Recent article from the Washington Post.

New Hampshire may move its primary up to Decemeber. Or it may stick to a date in early January. Gardner is still playing coy, though increasingly less so, with his open hints about December.In recent weeks, "What Is Bill Gardner Thinking?" has become the major political parlor game in presidential politics. He is, unfortunately, brilliantly obtuse. He has the gift of genial obfuscation. Exploring his thinking process is like trying to stab an olive with a plastic cocktail sword.Ask him a direct question -- and The Post did just that this week over the course of seven hours and a long drive in Gardner's Volvo from Concord to Keene and back, with dinner in between -- and he'll answer with a series of sentence fragments, digressions, anecdotes and ambiguities. His elusiveness is strategic: He wants to keep all his options open.The result is that professional political pundits scrutinize his words with Talmudic intensity. New Hampshire may be famously small-d democratic, a place where it seems as if every third person is in the state legislature, but Gardner is the state's answer to the chairman of the Federal Reserve: The political market can shudder from the impact of a single provocative verb.One person who may know what Gardner is thinking is Jim Splaine, who was along for the ride to Keene and back. Splaine, 60, is a Democratic state legislator who wrote the 1975 law giving the secretary of state power to set the primary date. Splaine also wrote subsequent amendments extending that power. During the ride, Gardner gave interviews by cellphone from the back seat while the reporter drove and Splaine gave the lowdown on New Hampshire politics."I talk about the unpredictability of the date and the person setting it as our secret weapon," Splaine said.Gardner sees it that way, too."Every time I answer, I limit," Gardner said. As in, limits his maneuverability."You're a coy guy," Splaine told him.Splaine has been pushing the Dec. 11 date on a blog called Blue Hampshire."A NH Primary on or around December 11th would encourage the Presidential candidates and their campaigns to spend intensive, quality time here for all of November into the first week or two of December. We could ask for nothing better for democracy than having some concentrated time with the candidates -- face to face, eye to eye, one-on-one, New Hampshire-style," he wrote earlier this week.It's impossible to know whether Splaine is out ahead of Gardner's thinking or is in fact channeling Gardner. At times they clearly echo each other, as when Splaine, in his blog item touting Dec. 11, says that an earlier date might allow a candidate who did poorly to regroup ("No state, whether Iowa or New Hampshire or any other, should be able to by itself render the knock-out punch to a candidate"). Gardner made several similar comments, including: "Certainly the process should not end here. And we don't want it to end here. This is just the beginning."A December primary might shock a lot of candidates and their staffers, as well as journalists, all of whom have been tromping around the country with the presumption that the actual voting will begin next year. The balloting has seemed a long way off -- but may actually be less than two months away.The uncertain date of the primary has befuddled not only the campaigns and the news media but also the hotels and restaurants and all the other supporting players in what has become a quadrennial political circus. Gardner said he will announce his decision soon after the Nov. 2 close of the filing period for presidential candidates. He said the state will need only about two weeks to print and distribute ballots. They don't have to have dates on them, he said.The belief earlier this year had been that Iowa would hold its caucuses on Jan. 14, followed by the Nevada caucuses Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 22. But in recent months that calendar has been scrambled as officials and party leaders in Michigan and Florida, covetous of a early role in the nominating process, voted to hold primaries in January. Gardner has been watching the maneuvering with a keen eye."I'm watching Michigan. I'm watching Nevada," he said.During the drive back from Keene, through a rainstorm that darkened the rolling hills of southwestern New Hampshire, Gardner and Splaine chewed over all the possible options.The law tells Gardner to put New Hampshire at least a week before any "similar election." This week, four Democrats pulled their names from the Michigan ballot, saying they would honor a pledge to campaign only in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina before the rush of primaries on Feb. 5. Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd kept their names on the ballot in Michigan but vowed not to campaign there. But the Republicans are competing and that's all that matters, Gardner said. New Hampshire would be no later than Jan. 8.Iowa is another issue. Gardner said he'd like to choose "a date that would allow Iowa to have its eight days." Here's where it gets really complicated.If New Hampshire goes Jan. 8, Iowa couldn't plausibly hold caucuses on New Year's Eve. There is talk that Iowa might hold caucuses on Jan. 3 or Jan. 5, but that would encroach dramatically on the time for candidates to decamp to New Hampshire and make the Granite State the center of the political cosmos.South Carolina Republicans, meanwhile, moved their primary to Jan. 19, which might uproot Nevada, Gardner said. Meanwhile, he said, there's Wyoming.Wyoming?Yes: Wyoming has some kind of delegate-selection caucus-primary thing scheduled for Jan. 5, Gardner said. He's not sure what to think of that.He talked about the news coverage out of Iowa, and Howard Dean's "scream," and how quickly Dean's campaign tanked. He indicated that if the votes are scheduled too closely, there's not enough time for people to digest what's happening."Is it right for me to put that into the equation?" he asked aloud.There remain more questions than answers.As Bill Gardner sat in the back seat of his Volvo, peering ahead at the rain-slicked country road and the enveloping darkness, he continued to talk of dates, and states, and his many options.And only he knew what he was really thinking.