" They don’t really fear Nancy Pelosi all that much, for all of their screaming and yelling about her. What they really fear is having Henry Waxman in charge of the House Government Reform Committee. Waxman is a very passionate reformer, but he’s also a very passionate investigator, and they're troubled by the idea of the investigations he might launch. They are also very specifically frightened by the notion that Dave Obey will to take charge of Appropriations and restore the fraud investigation units there. And finally, there's no question at the House level, they're very afraid that John Conyers will take over Judiciary, for all the reasons that listeners to this show are well aware of.
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I am excited not about particularly the Democratic majority or Republican majority, something like that, I am excited about a change in the character of the opposition party. And if that happens, we're going to have a very different congress, a much more interesting congress. There are some folks who have a very good chance of getting elected and who have promised their constituents that they are going to Washington to do something about this war. If that happens, I think it’s going to be a much noisier congress and a congress that in many senses will return to what the founders of the republic intended, and that is an institution that checks and balances the executive branch in a way that this congress has not done."
* beeb:
"Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted an unnamed foreign ministry official as describing the military manoeuvres as dangerous and suspicious.
Reports say the US is to hold naval exercises at the end of October with Bahrain, Kuwait, France and Britain."
* jim webb will be 'on the ballot' in virginia. but his name won't be.
* ken:
"News accounts alone should have given Weldon pause about advocating for the Russian firm. The private briefing provided by Petrosyan offered even more incriminating information, making it incredibly hard to fathom what—other than his daughter's lucrative contract with the company—would have led the congressman to support ITERA in Washington."as i mentioned earlier, there are rumours that Weldon actually has a stake in ITERA.
* maguire on the stay-the-course unsloganeering:
"Oh, brother. Put another way, the Administration isn't simply going to keep beating their heads against a wall; they will look around for new walls against which to beat their heads. And if any trees or rocks appear to be suitable for head-beating, they may also be pressed into service. As part of our ongoing yet newly-announced flexibility, obviously.
With any luck, this rhetorical shift will be ignored rather than mocked and derided. But somehow, I'm not feeling lucky."
* markcrispinmiller via uranus:
"Even though this election could go either way, neither way will benefit the Democrats. Either the Republicans will steal their "re-election" on Election Day, just as they did two years ago, or they will slime their way to "victory" through force and fraud and strident propaganda, as they did after Election Day 2000. Whichever strategy they use, the only way to stop it is to face it, and then shout so long and loud about it that the people finally perceive, at last, that their suspicions are entirely just - and, this time, just say no."
6 comments:
No oversight on Iraq should be the campaign. That is the issue the Republican media scumbags will not deal with.
Soldiers faced bullets and bombs yet a bunch of assholes in Congress couldn't find the decency to question a sick, twisted, cynical occupation policy.
Pat Roberts is a very bad person.
I wouldn't be allowed to say so in most blog comments sections, because it wouldn't be considered civil or correct--and I don't mean to offend anyone--but these are the sorts of things the founding fathers considered "high crimes," and these are the sort of people they expect you and me, as patriots, to RUB OUT. It seems ugly and typically radical for me, but it was one of the weak points in the setup of our governmental form. While planting the seeds of a free society, the Constitution allows evil people to derail such things as checks and balances and due process by legitimate means, and it can go so far, so quietly, that insurrection can become the sole remedy. I fall short of advocating taking up arms, but once again assert we reached that point early in Bush's first term, are far past it now and will be running for our lives if an extreme repair isn't lawfully effected soon.
Uranus: I fall short of advocating taking up arms, but once again assert we reached that point early in Bush's first term, are far past it now and will be running for our lives if an extreme repair isn't lawfully effected soon.
yup, i agree w/all you said, Uranus but fuck 'lawfully,' fight fire w/fire. which, as i shall remind y'all for the millionth time, i was ready to do back in 12/2K. still ready, still waiting and fuck any 'high road' option. i mean, they've been shitting on US for six fucking years now. and forget about the over half a million dead Iraqi civilians and all the fuckups still going on over there.
people are too self-absorbed (some rightfully so, having families and such) to get together and at least quit paying their taxes--cut these fuckers off where it hurts.
like Prof. Marcus, i /do/ take it personally---again for the millionth time, i want my old interests back, secure in the knowledge that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are respected.
the crazies have taken over and most, most of whom don't delve deeper than corporate news, sit there and go 'duhhhhhhh.'
Rimone, you understand. I like that. It's true, and these cats haven't shown respect for the law or the country's established principles; so, is there any reason to think a lawful solution is even possible? The picture of the headstones below with the caption about 55 million considered "unpatriotic" makes me recall how I've believed that, with all their talk about how people who took exception to their policies were "traitors" and "aiding the enemy," I've believed since the start Bush wanted to cremate EVERYONE who voted, but not for him. A great many people in this town would be all for it, too. That's the kind of grim and hateful, inflammatory tack my local GOP has held for decades, and part of the reason for my short fuse. They keep pushing their story that life's a pit dogfight over a little scrap of meat--and my "different strokes" and "live and let live" version is "weak on terror." Yet, some people believe we should just shut up and mind our manners. I'm old and weary. But, I've been saying that since Nixon, when I was in high school.
Uranus: ...They keep pushing their story that life's a pit dogfight over a little scrap of meat--and my "different strokes" and "live and let live" version is "weak on terror...'
didn't Jesus say something about life being like a pit dogfight? since they've got their god on speed-dial, s/he and/or it must think they're correct.
said this before as well--i was never a proponent of violence but the last six years have destroyed the person i was, the person i had such enjoyment took such pride in becoming.
live and let live = weak on terror; they know the masses of dummies will lap that bullshit up and believe it so in my head it's OUR (collectively) fault as well.
i'm old and weary as well but i'll fight until the end of my life and if all i can say as i lie wherever dying is 'fuck those people,' well then, fuck those people.
I've been trying to figure out where I have to go to learn how to carve letters into granite, because I want to put up a monument at our family gravesite. I doubt a business would carve one with the slogan I have in mind. I've already told my dad (who turns 82 in December) that I wish to use the F word. He seemed a little alarmed, because I'm certain he knows that means there's a good chance he'll spend eternity beneath a monument which states, "fuck them fuckin' republicans." The way I see it, he's the last of my family, and when he finally banked enough dough to retire, he changed from progressive democrat to hard-line, radical republican extremist, so it's a favor I owe him.
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