US postpones first Guantanamo war crimes trial

A military judge on Friday postponed the first war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, saying he wants to wait until the Supreme Court makes its highly anticipated ruling on the right of detainees to challenge their confinement in civil courts.

Navy Capt. Keith Allred ruled the trial for Osama bin Laden’s former driver should be delayed seven weeks, until July 21, in case the Supreme Court ruling affects his case. He scheduled pretrial hearings to begin a week earlier.

A Supreme Court ruling is expected by June 30.”AP

And of course it’s only a mere coincidence that after witnesses attested the timing of the trials was political in nature, they will now postponed and occur even closer to the US election in November. Mere coincidence, I tell you.

Clinton likens herself to Rocky

“‘Let me tell you something,’ she told labor leaders firmly in Philadelphia. ‘When it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up.’” NY Times

Of course Rocky also lost in the original movie.

Dean: Dems will seat Fla. delegates if Obama says it’s ok

“Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Wednesday the party was committed to seating Florida’s delegates at this summer’s convention as long as any agreement is supported by the party’s two presidential contenders.” AP

Florida knew the rules established by the Democratic National Committee: Have the primary on the date you want (too early) and we will not seat your delegates.

Pretty simple to understand, isn’t it? You’d think Even politicians in Floridaland should be able to grasp that.

Now the DNC caves in and tells Florida that even though they went against all the rules laid out, they will be seated and get to vote as long as Obama says it’s ok. (We all know Hillary will not have a problem with it because she “won” Florida.)

If Obama now says “no” to the FL delegates he will likely lose quite a number of FL superdelegates who previously said they’d support him. How could they vote for him if he disses their entire state?

If he says “yes” he may get some superdelegates, but will also mostly lose his lead because Hillary will be getting more than he does.

In essence the Democratic Committee not only said their own rules aren’t important, they also made a race that’s too close even closer.

Wow, that’s stupid.

Not only that, it’s precisely what the DNC vowed to prevent.

John Kerry is only 3 1/2 years late

I have to admit, I didn’t expect reading a story about how President Musharraf says he will bow to the election results in Pakistan and go quietly was going to make me laugh out loud. But the Times just gave me the giggles by first enumerating how truly remarkable this is, then following up with this paragraph that contains the first quote in the story. Who did they choose to quote, you ask?

Mr. Musharraf was “accepting of the reality of the election,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in Islamabad, the capital, after he and two other American senators met with Mr. Musharraf. NY Times

Here’s what made me laugh: John Kerry telling us that a hated leader is about to leave office because of the “reality of the election.” And it’s only 3 1/2 year late.

It’s either that, or John Kerry is now the guy you quote when someone looses an election against all odds.

Clinton, Obama in dead heat ahead of big vote

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a near dead heat two days before the biggest presidential voting so far while John McCain tried to nail down the Republican nomination for the White House. Reuters

The problem with this is that while the Republican primaries work on a “winner takes all” principle as far as the delegates are concerned while the Democratic ones don’t. If McCain should win in a state by just 1 vote he will have ALL the states’ delegates. But Obama and Clinton do not get all the state’s delegates but only as many as they gained percent in the state.

As a result of this Obama and Clinton may keep very close to each other up until, or even including, the convention, while the Republicans already have effectively picked their candidate.

Grateful Dead to reunite for Obama campaign

The Grateful Dead, the San Francisco cult rock band that has played at political events since the 1960s, will reunite on Monday for the first time in four years to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a spokesman said on Friday.

(…) ‘They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in order to lend support to Senator Obama leading into the crucial ‘Super-Tuesday’ series of primaries held on Tuesday, February 5th,’ the band said in a statement. Reuters

congress overturns presidential veto first time in century

Congress. We help you water your lawn.

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects. The vote was 79-14 to pass the bill.Senate overrides Bush water projects veto - Politics - MSNBC.com

To bad congressional powers can’t be used on on something worthwhile like war spending, or healthcare for poor children or rebuilding New Orleans. Because that would just be insane.

Mukasey nomination as AG goes ahead

Mukasey did not answer questions on what he considers torture so Democrats said they would block his nomination as new US Attorney General. Makes complete sense to me as it was a straight forward, yet incredibly important issue and he simply refused to answer important questions on the subject. There is no way in hell I’d trust a guy like that. But then this:

Judiciary Committee endorses AG nomination on 11-8 vote

Despite the criticism they have heaped onto President Bush’s attorney general nominee over the past few weeks, Democrats appear to lack the gumption necessary to do everything possible to prevent Michael Mukasey from becoming the country’s top cop. The Raw Story

If only the Democrats had a majority in the House and Senate (they do). Then they could stop being such fucking douchebags and finally stand up to an administration that has been in the minority since 2004. Seriously, what are they doing?

Kucinich

I think this is going to be a serious test of the Democratic Party. We were put in power because people expected a new direction in Iraq. It goes without saying that they expect greater transparency and oversight, but they also expect us to do something to bring the troops home. Now, if Congress goes ahead under Democratic leadership and votes to approve what some are now estimating as an additional $160 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the total for the fiscal year to $230 billion, the Democratic Congress will have bought George Bush’s war. Now, who would buy a used war from this administration?

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaking to Truthdig.

US State department official: US ‘cannot stay course’ in Iraq

The US is not winning in Iraq and will not be able to stay the course in the long-term, a US state department insider has said.

Former intelligence official Wayne White told the BBC that violence in Iraq was “getting worse”.

A senior US state department official earlier said that the US has shown “arrogance and stupidity” in Iraq.

(…)”The effort can’t be sustained over the long haul, and so we can’t stay a course, I think, that requires years and years more.”

He said: “We’re not winning. It’s apparent.

“I checked with almost a dozen sources in Baghdad in just the last 24 hours,” Mr White said. “Every single one of them answered the question as to whether the violence was lessening, or getting worse, with - ‘worse’.”
BBC

Many thanks to the soon to be ex-state department official Wayne White. Join the Ellsberg club.

Election tampering evident in Ohio, reform needed

For most Americans, the Presidential Election of 2004 is old news, but a group under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee has spent the past five months investigating allegations of foul play in the state of Ohio. The state provided the deciding electoral votes in a very close election, making the report?s findings troubling, if not damning.

Rather than being dismissed as partisan sour grapes, as has been the case, the report is yet one more warning sign that America?s democratic process is in serious trouble.

The report, released yesterday, paints a damning picture: More than one-fourth of the voters in Ohio had trouble voting.

Such claims range from excessive delays for black voters ? who, on average, spent 52 minutes waiting compared to the white voter?s average of 18 minutes. Intimidation tactics, such as ?unlawful requests for identification,? were also reported by 16 percent of black voters. Ohio law requires only first-time voters to provide ID, but while just 7 percent of Ohio voters were newly registered, 67 percent of two different groups ? black males and voters under the age of 30 ? were asked to show ID. Only 5 percent of aggregate white voters claimed intimidation by such tactics.

Due to such practices, only 19 percent of black voters said they had confidence their vote was counted, while among white voters that confidence was 71 percent.

Leading up to the election, a legal battle ensued over whether either party was allowed to have representatives present that would be allowed to question voters. The Republican Party had been planning to pay 3,600 poll workers $100 each and drive them into heavily Democratic precincts to question individual voters? right to vote, The New York Times reported.
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Executive Order 13292

The Bush administration is still stonewalling on information concerning John Bolton. Democrat Sen. have been asking for records pertaining his actions/service in the State Department. These requests have been issued months ago when the nomination process first started and are the main reason why Democrats and a fair number of Republican Senators are blocking the confirmation vote.

I’d like to remind President Bush of his Executive Order 13292:

In no case shall information be classified in order to: (1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency.

George W. Bush, Executive Order 13292, March 25, 2003. link

So what’s the holdup?

The DeLay effect

Mike Allen at the Washington Post reports Republicans are having concerns over the lack of ethics the party has been exhibiting lately.

After enlarging their majority in the past two elections, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members’ travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year’s midterm races.

In what Republican strategists call “the DeLay effect,” questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders’ troubles. Washington Post

I’ve been saying this for about a year now: The GOP is painting itself into a corner to advance short-term goals. I would have been very surprised if at least some GOP members weren’t aware of this.

The interesting thing will be how the GOP is planning to turn this trend around, if at all, and how Democrats will respond to or use it in next year’s midterm election.

Al Gore lambasts GOP over filibuster phase-out

Former Vice President Al Gore (Which also made him President of the U.S. Senate.) lambasts Republicans for attempting to phase out the filibuster:

Wading into the political fight that has roiled the Senate, the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate and former Tennessee senator warned that altering rules that have served the nation for 230 years would result in a breakdown in the separation of powers.

“What makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for one-party domination of all three branches of government,” Gore said of the GOP in a speech. “They seek nothing less than absolute power.” AP

He’s right. The problem is of course that Republicans don’t seem to care about such long-term effects lately. As long as short-term goals can be achieved they are willing to take their chances.

This will come back to bite them. As the Washington Post poll (link) and changing opinion about President Bush’s honesty on Iraq (link) I posted the other day indicate, the GOP is the party that is out of step with the mainstream, at least with their latest decisions of phasing out the filibuster, privatization of Social Security and the laws drawn up to gain political capital from the Schiavo case. It all backfired, ticking up exactly those voters the GOP intended to charm.

Keep it up. Right now the only party that seems to be able to wrangle the power away from the GOP is the GOP itself. And the last few months they have been pretty good at it.

Wait till the Bolton confirmation turns really nasty and the DeLay ethics hearings start. Some of the mud will just have to stick.

WaPo poll: two thirds of americans oppose change of fillibuster

Pretty interesting poll conducted by the Washington Post here.

Most notably roughly 2/3 oppose the change of the filibuster rule. But opposition for a privatization of Social Security also seems on the rise.

Filibusters needed to make voice of minority heard

The Republican majority in Congress is contemplating getting rid of filibusters to ensure a smoother confirmation process for judicial nominees and other individuals who need confirmation by the Senate. But such an action should be weighed very carefully; it is, after all, possible that those who now scream to get rid of filibusters may have to rely on them in the future, as Republicans may again find themselves in the minority some day.

Critics claim that the process is nothing more than a humongous waste of time, as the tactic is usually employed by the party holding a minority. This, they claim, impinges the majority from doing the job they were elected to perform.

But what is easily forgotten, especially in a time when Republicans hold comfortable majorities in both houses of Congress as well as the presidency, is that the minority was also democratically elected and deserves a means for representation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is leading the charge of making nominees exempt to the filibuster rule. Sunday, Frist lobbied a group of conservatives to support ending the practice, which he claims is aimed against people of faith.

Once again, the Republican majority claims that only their party represents religious people. This claim cannot be made, as no party has a monopoly on faith, a term that often defies definition.
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Congress’ chiming in on Schiavo will backfire

One thing I did not include in today’s edit is that in their zeal to be ethically pompous, Congress ticked off those voters they attempted to impress.

From Maureen Dowd’s column today:

A CBS News poll yesterday found that 82 percent of the public was opposed to Congress and the president intervening in this case; 74 percent thought it was all about politics. (link)

Similarly listed St. Pete Times columnist Howard Troxler lists some of the responses he got via voicemail and email. He says he received an impressive response from 1,085 via email, of which only 40 sided with Congress.

One example:

I must be feeling the emotions that Ronald Reagan felt when the Democratic Party “left him.” I have been a conservative Republican all my life but now I feel that I’m being left behind by my party and even by all of those conservative radio talk hosts.

As a Goldwater Republican I’m saddened at this garbage that the Bush boys are pulling off right now. This could lead to tens of thousands of these battles for no good purpose. My son is profoundly handicapped … I have guardianship and would be very upset if someone came in and told me how to care for my son. It’s MY call, not some jerk in Washington. (link)

Keep it coming. The Republican party is slowly but surely painting itself into a corner.

political iPod

Just for giggles:

The Bushes are aware of this, said Laura Bush’s press secretary, Gordon Johndroe. “There is a certain expectation that the president and first lady be consumers of American culture. They know people are interested in what movies they see and what music they listen to.”

The president has owned the personal accessory of the moment for some time, said Johndroe. He’s loaded his iPod with his favorite country singers: George Jones, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson. He also listens to Aaron Neville, Creedence and Van Morrison. AP

Kerry’s kids as well as Edward’s all have iPods as well. I asked.

I just hope they don’t have such crap on it. Maybe John Kerry would like the new iPod Shuffle’s watertight case? You know, he could take it windsurfing and stuff. Not to mention the snowboarding jacket with built in remote… Now there’s a commercial waiting to happen.

Bush unfiltered, but not unopposed

If the many critics that have left the Bush administration over the years can be trusted, President George W. Bush hates nothing more than criticism. He is said to take any open discourse with him as disloyalty, which is probably his greatest weakness. For the State of the Union Address he delivered Wednesday night to the U.S. Congress, he must have hoped to have a captive audience, but he was in for a surprise.

During his speech he touched on many topics, several of which had been expected. Changes to Social Security were laid out, as was foreign policy.

Some of the topics addressed bore some surprises, most notably when Bush mentioned Iran and when members of Congress shouted ?Not true!? when he said Social Security was heading for bankruptcy.

Bush stated the Social Security funds were running out as more individuals take benefits out of the system than pay into it. But the prognosis that the funds will run out by 2042 ? the prediction members of Congress disputed ? was based on models that project a very bleak future for the U.S. economy.

As others, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have noted, this cannot go in line with other predictions Bush makes at the same time without contradictions arising.

Bush claims the U.S. economy is the strongest it has been in years. And why wouldn?t he? Any such statements are bound to raise approval ratings and give him much-needed political capital.

Yet, while projections for the existing Social Security system are based on a bleak outlook, Bush also claims the ?personal retirement accounts? he is proposing (carefully avoiding the word ?privatization,? as it did not test well) will work out beautifully. Their models, however, are based on a very optimistic outlook that contradicts those used for the existing system.
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Law to ban government from funding propaganda needed

Citizens should be able to trust both the media and their government. Even if this may not always be the case, in the past citizens could hope that one of the two entities would check on the other. But when both join forces ? knowingly or not ? a problem emerges that needs to be addressed before propaganda and straight news reporting merge beyond recognition. A law that proposes to formally make such government funded propaganda illegal is therefore needed.

In some instances, reporting has already been merged with government-funded propaganda, rendering it unrecognizable to viewers and readers.
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Zell Miller joining Fox News Channel

U.S. Sen. Zell Miller will be joining Fox News Channel as a contributor next month, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Tuesday. The irreverent “Democrat” is also joining a law firm, though he’s not a lawyer, in a somewhat curious career move. Blue Lemur

Why not rebrand the Fox “News” Channel as Conservative Comedy Channel? It’s one as far as I am concerned.

A watchdog four years in the making

Complaining that Republicans have failed to oversee how billions of dollars of taxpayer money is being spent, Senate Democrats said Monday that they would begin holding oversight hearings of their own, even though they are in the minority and have no subpoena power to compel the testimony of government officials.

“The Congressional watchdog remains fast asleep, and we intend to wake it up,” Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, who is chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, said at a news briefing. NY Times

I applaud the newfound drive of the Democratic party, yet would would like to humbly pose this question: What the fuck did you guys wait for? Why did it take four years for this to happen? The biggest deficit in U.S. history wasn’t enough reason to do this? Did you have to lose an election first to get it?

But I’m glad somebody is finally getting it. Oppositions are there to oppose. Hence the name.

Dean and the Democrats

Rumors are abound that Howard Dean is going to try taking the lead at the Democratic Party. Seems like things may get a little clearer Wednesday. From an email the former Dean campaign just sent out:

Governor Dean will lay out a vision for the future of the Democratic Party this Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern in Washington, D.C.

He will outline not just a direction for our party, but a concrete destination: a party built from the ground up.

That means a party powered by millions of small donors, not millionaires. It means a party that speaks plainly and commits to concrete outcomes that affect real people. And it means a party that competes in every single race, for every single vote, in all fifty states.

You can watch live video of the speech on Wednesday morning at the Democracy for America web site:

www.democracyforamerica.com

Be sure to join us for the live webcast on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern. Thank you.

Thank you,

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democracy for America

What else could it be? Dean got some cool new pants and wants to show them to the nation?

So far I like what I hear.