My Left Vote

It's time to cut the spin and speak out about what our vote for Democrats meant.

The Left and Right, including Bush, have been busy spinning what the Democratic wins in congress mean, and what the People want. Some say the vote was about Iraq. Some note the importance of domestic issues. Some say the vote was against Bush. Some say the vote was for checks and balances. Some say it was a vote against corruption. Some say the vote was about the Foley scandal. Some say it was about change. Some say the vote was a sign that the People do not have the "stomach" for war. Some say only conservative Democratic candidates won; some note that more liberal Republicans lost. Some say the new Democratic congress should have started impeachment hearings last week, because Americans want it. Some say the Democrats should have fixed Iraq last week. Some say the Democrats, who will be sworn in on January 3, 2007, should focus on the job of congress--providing responsible oversight.

I have decided I can speak for myself better than anyone else, because afterall, my own interests are not clouded by political aspirations. I intend to engage in a letter writing campaign to explain to the new Democratic Leadership exactly what my vote meant, and exactly what I expect them to do. I invite anyone who is so included to Jump in with me. Here are some tools:

Congress.org provides sample letters to congress, what's currenlty on the congressional agenda, and lots of other useful information. It also includes a handy "Take Action" tool that returns the names and contact information for your local officials. You can even have your representatives votes sent to you weekly by email.

Helpful information on writing letters to congress is available here. The Physicians for Human Rights site provides guidance for contacting elected officials, also.

Contact information for the current congress is listed here. (Information for 110th congress will be available after it is sworn in on January 03, 2007.)

A useful tool for looking up bills is provided here.

And to whom will I announce the meaning of my vote? Behold the new Democratic Senate Leadership, for starters:

• Robert C. Byrd, President Pro Tem
• Dick Durbin, Assistant Majority Leader
  
• Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chair of the Conference
  
• Patty Murray, Secretary of the Conference
  
• Charles E. Schumer, Chairman of Campaign Committee
  
• Byron L. Dorgan, Chairman of Policy Committee
  
• Debbie Stabenow, Chair of Steering and Outreach Committee
  
• Jeff Bingaman, Chairman of Committee Outreach
  
• Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice Chair of Committee Outreach
  
• Blanche L. Lincoln, Chair of Rural Outreach
  
• Barbara Boxer, Chief Deputy Whip
  
• Thomas R. Carper, Deputy Whip
  
• Bill Nelson, Deputy Whip
  
• Russell D. Feingold, Deputy Whip
  
• Nancy Erickson, Secretary of the Senate
  
• Terrance Gainer, Sergeant at Arms

After that, I'll focus on Senate committee chairs and members, and then on to the House of Representatives:

• Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker
  
• Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Majority Leader
• Jim Clyburn (D-SC), Majority Whip
• Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Caucus Chair
• John Larson (D-CT), Vice-Caucus Chair
  

And just what was my Democratic vote about? With so much work ahead for the new Congress, I hate to burden them with interpreting my vote. I will rid them of this burden to allow them more time to work for the People and will state my intention directly. For the record, this is what my vote meant:

• I expect Congress to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I want torture stopped, habeas corpus restored, and the Patriot Act revised.
• I expect Election Reform, with verifiable ballots; the cornerstone of Democracy deserves it.
• I expect the illegal occupation of Iraq to end, forthwith.
  
• I expect a complete audit and accountability for all spending in Iraq.
  
• I expect illegal wiretapping to end. Any invasion of privacy should comply with existing law and, at bare minimum, involve oversight.
  
• I expect the tax "breaks" favoring America's most wealthy to end.
• I expect Congress to uphold the separation of Church and State.
  
• I expect oversight, accountability, and full disclosure of all elected officials who stand to personally benefit from their own policy decisions.
  
• I expect investigations of the administrations Energy Task Force and its use of intelligence leading to the Iraq war, for starters.
  

I've written letters before, but never quite like I plan to now. My aim is to make it perfectly clear that I intend to hold the Democratic Congress responsible for providing true oversight, functioning on behalf of my interests, and defending our Constitution. Please, feel free to Jump in.

Most Patriotic Thing

Well, the election dust is settling and the triumvirate fog is lifting. Trepidation has given way to elation. There is jubilation across the nation. Nonetheless, may we remember that in many ways our work has just begun, because...

And don't think for a minute that we will let up because of a shift in power. There is much to correct, starting with that dynamic duo: Election Reform and dissolution of the War Crimes Protection Act.

I would like this picture even more if it read "Democratic" or "Patriotic" instead of "American"—more inclusive of our friends and neighbours across the globe who are celebrating with us.

I hope you're taking your vitamins progressive friends, because we have work to do.

The Great Leap

Get Your Bragg On!

I discovered Billy Bragg this year. I still don't quite understand how I had missed him. So much outrage; so little time...

Anyway, back in 1988 Bragg released Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

The Great Leap refers to a period of rapid cultural change and advancement in the course of human evolution—sort of like the monolith-to-bones-to-weapons moment from the Arthur C. Clarke novel and Stanely Kubric film, 2001: A Space Oddity. And back in 1988, Billy Bragg was waiting for it (lyrics):

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment
So he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her
But he thinks that he should warn her
That the third world is just around the corner

In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That Dr. Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell
At the first hurdle

In the cheese pavilion, and the only noise I hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I'm looking for the great leap forwards

Jumble sales are organised
And pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While youre waiting for the great leap forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?

Here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist, I want to be on it

It's a mighty long way down rock n roll
From top of the pops to drawing the dole

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality, so give me some room

So join the struggle while you may
The revolution is just a t-shirt away
Waiting for the great leap forwards
(Bragg's TV debut on Letterman, 1988)

But times have changed, and so have the lyrics. Rumsfeld makes it in by name, as does YouTube. Great statement about patriots after the performance, also.

This is a song that makes me happy and sad at the same time. It laments being stuck in failed policies, stuck in a political quagmire, stuck somewhere in the course of human evolution, waiting. It also revels in hope for the future and the possibility of tomorrow. It delights in the struggle; it frolics in progressive optimism while wading through the muck of the morass of the moment. I choose to have hope, otherwise there is no reason to work for or expect a better world.

It's somehow fitting that Bush, who doesn't believe in evolution, is content "staying the course", and wouldn't recognize the Great Leap if it crept up on him from behind.

And me? I'll just stay active as I continue to wait.

GOP: The Great Oversight "Pass"

Or, the Nefarious Relationship Between Audits and Taxes

In their desperation, the GOP is telling everyone that if they vote for Democrats, the wicked Democrats will raise taxes. (According to Bush, Democrats are genetically disposed to raising taxes. I didn't know that Bush believed in or understood Genetics.)

This argument is laughable, in a tragic sort of way. Putting aside for a moment the fact that Bush's tax cuts have makedly favored the wealithiest of America's wealthy (some even say that Bush has presided of the largest transfer of wealth from to working to the upper class in the history of the nation, but who am I to blog without supporting links...), consider what has happened to Bush's employees who identified government waste and corruption in Iraq:

Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

Mr. Bowen’s office has inspected and audited taxpayer-financed projects like [a] prison in Nasiriya, Iraq.

And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip.

Our GOP congress has fired the unit that identified bribery, conspiracy, shoddy construction, and failure to track weapons in the war-for-profit battle zone of Iraq...because the GOP is dedicated to keeping taxes low...except when doing so interferes with their friends' profits.

This is called fiscal irresponsibility, and American taxpayers are paying for it. And we are paying for this fiscal irresponsibility under the leadership of the President Who Made Things up and the Congress that Couldn't Say No.

Oversight. It's their worst nightmare, and they refuse to provide it.
And to think, it's been said that there is nothing the GOP won't do.

Ride the Democratic Wave...

Grab your beach chairs and binoculars, friends, because it looks like the GOP is headed for a major WIPEOUT:

And they seem to know it. But they're not ready to throw in their beach towels just yet; catch their newly crafted defeat spin:

Stricken with anxiety as the polls continue to indicate a Democratic resurgence, certain Republicans have already started spouting justifications and explanations. No matter what happens on Election Day, they say, the results must not be taken at face value—because liberal Democrats can prevail only by pretending to be right-wing Republicans.

Among the first to test this excuse in recent days was Laura Ingraham, the hard-line radio and TV talker who insisted that the defeat of Republican candidates would somehow represent a triumph of her ideology. What she told CNN’s Larry King on Oct. 30 is worth examining, if only because we will surely hear more of the same in the days to come—and because those same claims are already surfacing in The New York Times...Its only defect is that it evaporates instantly upon closer inspection. (More...)

Very creative. Yet, despite the desperately spinning GOP, it looks like there is going to be a BLUE DAWN in America:

That is, of course, unless the election is hacked, which would lead to unrest, civil disobedience, and an investigation, the likes of which we've seldom seen:

No, I'm not dead certain of a Democratic takeover, but I feel the wave and it looks like a big one. I've always enjoyed a big Blue wave. Must be the SoCal progressive in me hanging (ten) out.

Kerry Botched a Joke...

...Bush Botched a War. And we have been paying for his mistakes with the blood of America's children, which has been running in the streets alongside the blood of Iraqi civilians--about 650,000 of them.

But let's do step back and put this in perspective, shall we? Compare Kerry's bungle (presented and disected by Keith Olbermann) to the words of the Commander in Chief and his chosen staff, which in contrast to the words of Senator Kerry, actually have caused irreparable and tangible harm to our troops:

• "Bring 'em on." -President George Bush [CNN]
• "...weeks rather than months." -Vice President Dick Cheney [Washington Post]
• "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." -Vice President Dick Cheney [Washington Post]
• "They want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein, and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that." -Vice President Dick Cheney Washington Post]
• "The campaign will be unlike any we have ever seen in the history of warfare, with breathtaking precision, almost eye-watering speed, persistence, agility and lethality." -Vice Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. naval forces in the Gulf [Washington Post]
• "It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." -Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [Washington Post]
• "Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder." -Former Pentagon Chairman Richard Perle [Washington Post]
• "I don't know anyone who thought this would be a war without resistance." - Former Pentagon Chairman Richard Perle (after the war began) [Washington Post]
• "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." -President George Bush [Whitehouse.gov]
• "I have a special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks, and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States: America is grateful for a job well done." -President George Bush (being careful to use the troops as shields in this praise of Rumsfeld and Franks) [Whitehouse.gov]
• "It's very important for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course." -President George Bush [US Department of Defense]
• "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [Washington Post]
• And let's not overlook this Bush laugh riot [WH Correspondents' Dinner, 2004].

Oh, just for fun, shall we now take a look at the GOP take on Clinton's humanitarian, UN-approved involvement in Bosnia:

• "You can support the troops but not the president." --Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
• "Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years." --Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
• "Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?" --Sean Hannity, Fox News,
• "[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy." --Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
• "If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy." --Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
• "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area." --Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
• "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." --Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

Oh, you can just smell the GOP outrage against the injustice of deploying troops to bring humanitarian aid to Bosnia, with international support no less, and the righteous indignation over the poor strategic planning in Bosnia, where not one U.S. soldier died. The odor you smell, by the way, is that of virulent hypocricy and false patriotism mingled together in a morality vacuum chamber.

Bush recently revealed that controlling the oil fields was his reason for attacking and occupying Iraq. Recall that Cheney's Energy Taskforce, convened before we attacked Iraq, involved Iraq oil field maps. Any day now, the deal will be cut on control of Iraq's oil fields, involving the usual suspects (Bush's oil cabal). It's wrong to make money on other people's blood.

I ask but one question: Who needs to apologize to the troops?

I know how history will answer.

Related Posts:
Republicans Cut Deal and Run?
Oil History Lesson
Kerry Swiftboat Redux