McCain "Not Running Away from Bush"

So says USA Today.

So many jokes, so little time....but, good to know.

And, McCain finds nothing illegal about the Bush administration's wiretapping, so says the New York Times. So, in a McCain administration, law abiding citizens can expect to have their international phone calls and email monitored by the federal government without notice and without a warrant.

And, you're thinking of voting for John McCain? Better think again.

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Cheney's Law

Thanks for the link, Rachel. If you missed the PBS special, Cheney's Law, tonight, you can, and you should, watch it here. The special is about how Cheney systematically move forward his agenda of enhancing the powers of the executive branch of government. If you care at all about the balance of powers, this is a must-see.

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SCHIP Could Come Down to Marshall's Vote

I know you're probably sick of hearing about SCHIP, Jim Marshall and the vote to override next week, but you're just going to have to bear with me for a few more days. The vote to override is expected to be on October 18th-this Thursday. In the senate, we have the necessary votes to override Bush's veto, and in the House the margin is expected to be razor thin-maybe just one vote. Marshall's vote.

So, if you haven't, and even if you have, please, sign the petition, send him an email, call him and toss in some coins to help BlogPAC run the ad.

As Flack has said:

People from all across the country will be focused on Rep. Marshall and the choice he makes. We need to be focused on changing his mind. There are many ways you can choose to be heard.

1) You can throw a few dollars to Blue America, who will be running a powerful ad in the Telegraph next week.
2) Sign the petition
3) Write him an email - jim.marshall@mail.house.gov
4) Call his office, and tell him to vote to override the veto.
Phone: (202) 225-6531Fax: (202) 225-3013Phone: (478) 464-0255Fax: (478) 464-0277

The final call will rest with Jim, but next week is your chance to make one too.

I'm not sure this vote is what Marshall wanted to become famous for, but, so be it. I can't remember the last time so many different 'forces' have acted in concert in an effort to convince members of Congress to do the right thing. I don't know what will happen, but I bet if there were a national ballot on this legislation it would win the overwhelming support of the American people. I know Jim Marshall believes that providing access to health care to the children of the working poor is the right thing to do, a fact that makes his vote harder to stomach. I'm hoping that Marshall will ignore his consultants and listen to his head, his heart, his constituents-and do the right thing.

Marshall's failure to support this bipartisan legislation designed to continue and expand access to health care for children of the working poor (how controversial can that really be?) has drawn attention from Georgia and national blogs as well as the msm. Nationally, democrats now see Marshall as the guy who failed to support children's health care, but he has an opportunity to be the hero instead of the goat. A vote to override from Marshall would undoubtedly take the cover from others who would then follow his lead.

This can so be his moment. Come on, Jim. Do the right thing.

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Poll: Bush Alliance Drag on Marshall?

From the war in Iraq to SCHIP, Jim Marshall has often "stood with the President" and against his Democratic base. Now, based on some of the information in a new poll, I'm wondering whether Marshall's loyalty to the President may actually hurt him in his district.

A recent poll, conducted by Frederick Polls and Paid for by Altria Corporate Services, Inc., (read push poll from the tobacco industry) indicates that Marshall is very popular in the district-more popular than Bush. Of 400 polled, 49% of respondents thought that Bush was doing an "excellent" or "good" job, while a full 70% said that they had either a very positive or somewhat positive view of Marshall. Add to that the fact that Georgians overwhelmingly favor PeachCare and SCHIP-programs that are more popular than either Bush or Marshall, and it becomes clear that Marshall may just have hitched his wagon to the wrong pony in this fight.

I was actually one of the 400 people in the 8th congressional district who got this push (shove) poll, paid for by the tobacco industry and focused on the plan to increase the cigarette tax in order to pay for the SCHIP. The tobacco industry has spent millions of dollars opposing the SCHIP legislation. We need to tell Marshall to side with Georgia's children in the battle-not with the President, not with Big Insurance and not with Big Tobacco.

So, once more, let's tell Marshall: Vote to Override.

You can sign an online petition here.

Or, drop him an email here:E-mail: jim.marshall@mail.house.gov

Or, call or fax him here:

Phone: (202) 225-6531

Fax: (202) 225-3013

Phone: (478) 464-0255

Fax: (478) 464-0277

If he won't, then tell him to explain it to the children

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Marshall: "Supporting the President's Position on SCHIP"

Doug Moore, Marshall's spokesperson, was quoted tonight on 13 WMAZ regarding Marshall's SCHIP vote. Moore said that Congressman Marshall supports the President's position on SCHIP. That's the money quote.

Thanks for clarifying the reason for Jim's vote, Doug.

Kos, and other sources are saying that four of the eight Democrats who voted 'no' on the bill will vote to override and there is a hope that as many as four Republicans are ready to join them.
Forget about Jack, Jim. We already have. Do the right thing-vote to override. Help send Jim Marshall a message: support Georgia's children, not George Bush.

This does matter. If you have a blog please post this. If you have not done so yet, please let Marshall hear from you.

Here, again, is the contact information:

Let's fill his email box. What do you say?

You can sign an online petition here.

Or, drop him an email here:E-mail: jim.marshall@mail.house.gov

Or, call or fax him here:

Phone: (202) 225-6531
Fax: (202) 225-3013
Phone: (478) 464-0255
Fax: (478) 464-0277

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I'd Like a Little Leadership With My Coffee, Please...

This could be Jim Marshall's moment-if he will step up to the plate and stand up to the President. Before I got out of bed this morning, I picked up my blackberry to read the headlines. (Yes, I really am that addicted.) The first two, taken together, pretty much sums up how many Georgians are feeling about Bush's veto of SCHIP:

1) Bush veto threatens PeachCare funding (AJC) 2. Ga. plans execution this month (AJC)

Further down the list, there was this:

Marshall could feel heat to override Bush veto (Macon Telegraph)

Marshall has been getting a good bit of pressure via Georgia's progressive blogs this morning, and now the AJC has noticed. Galloway and company opine that Marshall is unlikely to switch his vote, and that pushing Kucinich is a better option. That's probably true, but unfortunately, a vote from Kucinich get us one vote, but Marshall could bring others along with him. If Jim Marshall can vote against the President, in his district, so can others of of the 29 needed to override the veto. That's why Marshall's vote is vital.

This does matter. If you have a blog please post this. If you have not done so yet, please let Marshall hear from you. Here, again, is the contact information:

Let's fill his email box. What do you say?

You can sign an online petition here.
Or, drop him an email here:E-mail: jim.marshall@mail.house.gov
Or, call or fax him here:Phone: (202) 225-6531
Fax: (202) 225-3013
Phone: (478) 464-0255Fax: (478) 464-0277

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Cleaning Up Before the General

The exits of Rove and Gonzoles may have Democrats cheering, but this is nothing more than a little Fall cleaning, designed to gussy up the White House in time for next year's elections. And it's working. While Bush and the War in Iraq are still hugely unpopular, both are out-done by a Congress displaying a favorability rating of 18%. We need to remember that the GOP knows how to win elections. They know about the short attention span of voters and that how things appear is-when it comes to elections-more important than how things are. They're cleaning house. What are we going to do to get out own house in order before 2008?

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We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing

On May 9th, with the stoke of a pen, President Bush granted the office of the President nearly dictatorial powers, apparently with out the check of Congress, in the event of an national emergency. And who decides that such an emergency exists? The President, of course. This directive was signed without fanfare or battleship backdrops. This unprecedented power grab by the President did not even merit a press release. And, the Language Czar who coined phrases like "The Patriot Act" and "Islamofascist" must be on talk show circuit, because the directive is simply known as NSPD-51/HSPD-20.

Under the existing National Emergency Act, the President may declare such an emergency, but he or she is required to transmit that declaration immediately to Congress and publish the same in the Federal Register. Congress is empowered to "modify, rescind or render dormant such delegated emergency authority." This new directive appears to supersede the National Emergency Act, and creates a new "National Continuity Coordinator" under the office of president. Read more at WorldNetDaily.


This makes George Orwell look like an optimist.

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Let Me Give You Five Million Reasons...

Up to five million emails, including those sought by the CIA leak case prosecutor, are missing from the White House server. CNN actually said that MAYBE the White House was hiding something. You think?

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The Broken Egg Problem

Today, Jim Lehrer interviewed President Bush about Iraq policy, and the transcript is well worth reading. Unfortunately, it only underscores the fact that Bush's Iraq policy makes absolutely no sense. Consider this exchange:

MR. LEHRER: Is there a little bit of a broken egg problem here, Mr. President, that there is instability and there is violence in Iraq - sectarian violence, Iraqis killing other Iraqis, and now the United States helped create the broken egg and now says, okay, Iraqis, it's your problem. You put the egg back together, and if you don't do it quickly and you don't do it well, then we'll get the hell out.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah, you know, that's an interesting question. I don't quite view it as the broken egg; I view it as the cracked egg --

MR. LEHRER: Cracked egg?

PRESIDENT BUSH: -- that - where we still have a chance to move beyond the broken egg. And I thought long and hard about the decision, Jim. Obviously it's a big decision for this theater in the war on terror, and you know, if I didn't believe we could keep the egg from fully cracking, I wouldn't ask 21,000 kids - additional kids to go into Iraq to reinforce those troops that are there.

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The Bush Team Must've Written This

Our vet gave us some medicated shampoo for our new kitten, Gracie. Just as Bush's "new way forward" speech was written by people who have never fought a war, the directions on the shampoo were written by folks who have never had a cat!

Here's the what we're to do:

1) Completely wet the cat.
2) Thoroughly lather the cat.
3) Leave the lather on for ten minutes, and
4) Do not allow the cat to lick itself while lathered.
5) Rinse thoroughly.

Any volunteers?

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Sacrifice?

Can we just vote now?

According to the BBC, in a few days, Bush will address the nation and tell us that he wants to send more troops, 20,000 or more troops, to Iraq. The mission, dubbed "surge and accelerate" would send troops into Iraq, not to train Iraqi military or police, but instead to secure Baghdad. In the face of evaporating public will for prosecution of this war, in the face of the 3,000th American casualty and 1000 Iraqi deaths every month, Bush will ask the nation to "sacrifice."

When did Bush learn about sacrifice? When he was ducking his own military service?

How can someone who has never known sacrifice ask this of a nation? The troops serving in Iraq know sacrifice. The families of the dead and wounded soldiers know sacrifice. The Iraqi people know sacrifice. Bush? He has grown up in the lap of luxury and has now appropriated the riches of this nation and the lives of our soldiers, and for what? To line the pockets of those who profit from this war. He is ignoring the will of the American people and the advice of his own military commanders. He is not behaving like a President. He is behaving like a tyrant with the most powerful military in the world at his disposal. He is the madman driving the streetcar, and Congress must pull the brake.

If this does not drive the American people into the streets, what will?

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Neo-Cons Belong on the Endangered Species List

Without flinching, today, the Bush administration recommended placing polar bears on the endangered species list. That's sort of like a arsonist installing a smoke detector isn't it?

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