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Check Out Alan Grayson's new ad! (D-FL CD08)

ddeclue — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:59:04 -0400

Fellow Democrats:

Just in case you haven’t seen Alan’s new ad on TV yet, you can check it out on-line at the DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/25/155020/561/340/556978

I actually saw it for the first time on TV the other night and I thought it was really an eye-catching ad in which Alan talks about just how much money has gone missing in Iraq and how he has been working to recover tax dollars through his whistleblower lawsuits for waste fraud and abuse. I thought the ad had a lot of energy and avoided the usual political clichés that voters tune out.

Please be sure to leave a comment and please be sure to tell your friends.

Thanks,

Doug D.

DuPage Blue Fest

ktsalzano — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:09:20 -0400

Biggest Democratic Event Ever In DuPage

WHAT: DUPAGE BLUE FEST
A Family Fun Day

WHEN: SAT., JULY 19th, 2008 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

WHERE: At Arabian Knights Farms

6526 Clarendon Hills Rd.

Willowbrook IL

Support a Progressive Candidate!

ghost122 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:19:18 -0400

Born in 1963 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Rebecca Schneider grew up in rural western Pennsylvania in a middle class neighborhood. Rebecca graduated from Mars High School in 1982 and Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. During the course of attending College and working two, sometimes three jobs to pay her way, she set the course of her career when she began working in the library and currently works as a Library Supervisor for Arizona State University.

Rebecca has a long history of working within and with government entities to achieve success for the organizations and communities by which she has been employed. She has experience managing budgets as well as personnel as part of her management of a Maricopa County Branch Library in addition to her current supervisory position at ASU. Schneider brought together business, government and private foundation groups to raise the funds necessary to build a new library building in Sun Lakes, Arizona. She will use those same skills to bridge the aisle in Congress and foster relationships that will enact legislation that doesn't undermine our Constitutional rights while providing true security to our nation.

In her own words:

Our government has been broken by those who have been in power these past eight years. We have lost many of our constitutional rights and we have lost our way in the world. This is completely unacceptable, and it is my passion and my calling to restore what has been stolen. WE, the people, should be watching our government. They should NOT be watching us. While they were watching us, they were not watching our economy, our infrastructure, our security, our children's health and education, our ports and chemical plants, our energy production and certainly not our environment. They’ve neglected our internal welfare while they were pretending to be concerned about our nation.

Mr. Flake has gone unopposed in his past two elections. With your help, we can make sure that this time around he has a run for his money! Let's at least be able to offer District #6, and by extension, all of Arizona and the United States, a choice. A progressive choice!!

We must demand a strong America that offers broad prosperity to all its citizens, a better future for YOU and all of us. We require a more effective government without all the waste and terrible planning. We must have mutual responsibility between government, the people and business for the betterment of this nation. I want to encourage an economy that doesn't neglect the worker and focus solely on big gains for the CEOs and shareholders. We need a strong voice in Congress that will stand up to partisan bullying and do what is right. I will be that voice.

I am dedicated to improving all our lives by creating an environment of hope and unity. I promise to work tirelessly to affect positive change in the world around us and to work with the citizens of Congressional District #6...YOU...to create a community, a state, a nation that serves us all. I will not waiver in the conviction that we can create a better world for all citizens now and for the future.

I pledge to do everything in my power to return our government and our nation to the people; to restore our rights as promised by our Constitution; to renew our standing in the world by demonstrating the strength and goodness America has always stood for; to LISTEN to the people and enlist everyone’s help in transforming the country into one we can be proud of again. I will endeavor to bring dignity and fiscal responsibility back to Washington. We will have a healthy, vibrant nation once again where there are opportunities to achieve the American Dream for all instead of the few.

Help build that dream for yourselves by electing me to be your Representative in Congress. The time for the old way of doing things is past. It is time we, the people, took charge of our government, instead of special interests and big corporations remaining in control. Now is the time for the power of the people to shout from the rooftops, “WE are in charge!”. Permitting me to be your voice is a great step towards that freedom! We CAN bring back our dignity, our prosperity, our innovation and our American Dream. Join me, won’t you, in making it a reality. Truly, the time is NOW!!

Please check out my website at: www.schneider2008.com Then, make a donation of $20, $50, $100 or more to help me defeat Mr. Flake: the same Mr. Flake who never brings our fair share of our tax monies back to our district; the same Mr. Flake who has voted over and over again to undermine or take away our Constitutional rights; the same Mr. Flake who has supported George Bush for 8 years, yet has voted against helping our troops and our children.

If the status quo of borrow and spend, war and rising healthcare costs isn’t what you want anymore, please give your support NOW so that we have a true choice for change in November.

Thank you!!

Rebecca

Senate Intelligence Committee findings on falsified Intelligence leading to Iraq War released

John Healy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:37:24 -0400

Press Release of Intelligence Committee Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence -- Two Bipartisan Reports Detail Administration Misstatements on Prewar Iraq Intelligence, and Inappropriate Intelligence Activities by Pentagon Policy Office -- Contact: Wendy Morigi (202) 224-6101 Thursday, June 5, 2008 Washington, DC -- The Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, and a bipartisan majority of the Committee (10-5), today unveiled the final two sections of its Phase II report on prewar intelligence. The first report details Administration prewar statements that, on numerous occasions, misrepresented the intelligence and the threat from Iraq. The second report details inappropriate, sensitive intelligence activities conducted by the DoD’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department. "Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence," Rockefeller said. "In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed." "It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa’ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. To accomplish this, top Administration officials made repeated statements that falsely linked Iraq and al Qa’ida as a single threat and insinuated that Iraq played a role in 9/11. Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses. "There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate. "These reports represent the final chapter in our oversight of prewar intelligence. They complete the story of mistakes and failures – both by the Intelligence Community and the Administration – in the lead up to the war. Fundamentally, these reports are about transparency and holding our government accountable, and making sure these mistakes never happen again," Rockefeller added. The Committee’s report cites several conclusions in which the Administration’s public statements were NOT supported by the intelligence. They include: Ø Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa’ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa’ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence. Ø Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information. Ø Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products. Ø Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq’s chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community’s uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing. Ø The Secretary of Defense’s statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information. Ø The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed. Additionally, the Committee issued a report on the Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. The report found that the clandestine meetings between Pentagon officials and Iranians in Rome and Paris were inappropriate and mishandled from beginning to end. Deputy National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz failed to keep the Intelligence Community and the State Department appropriately informed about the meetings. The involvement of Manucher Ghobanifer and Michael Ledeen in the meetings was inappropriate. Potentially important information collected during the meetings was withheld from intelligence agencies by Pentagon officials. Finally, senior Defense Department officials cut short internal investigations of the meetings and failed to implement the recommendations of their own counterintelligence experts. Today’s reports are the culmination of efforts that began in March 2003, when, as Vice Chairman, Senator Rockefeller initially requested an investigation into the origin of the fraudulent Niger documents. In June 2003, he was joined by all Democrats on the Committee in pushing for a full investigation into prewar intelligence, which was eventually expanded by the Committee in February 2004 to include the five phase II tasks. The Committee released its first report on July 9, 2004, which focused primarily on the Intelligence Community’s prewar assessments of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs and links to terrorism. Those findings helped lay the foundation for some of the intelligence reforms enacted into law in late 2004. In September 2006, the Committee completed and publicly released two sections of Phase II: The Use by the Intelligence Community of Information Provided by the Iraqi National Congress; and Postwar Findings About Iraq’s WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments. In May 2007, the Committee released the third section of Phase II: Prewar Intelligence Assessments About Postwar Iraq. Separately, in early 2007, the Pentagon Inspector General released its own report on the intelligence activities conducted by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and also concluded that those activities were inappropriate. ###

Oil exploration and alternative Energy

kenbear1948 — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:55:26 -0400

We need to start drilling for oil in every known place we can find it!! We are slaves to the oil producing countries literally. The time is now people because it will take five to ten years to get the oil we drill for today to go online. Drill threw the white house if we need to. The next thing we need to do is build more refineries and start converting coal to fuel. This problem is not going to go away any it’s going to kill us. The country’s we get our oil from could care less they only care about our MONEY PEOPLE they don’t even like us! There taking about oil going up to $200.00 a BARRAL eight to ten dollars a gallon of gas! That would destroy the US economy, shut down the air lines and probably put the US in a Depression like the world has never seen before. The sadist thing of all do you think anyone would come to our rescue? You think we would get any aid? Do we even have any friends that could help us? If you think we do then who are they?

contact the Atlanta Journal Constitution about torture

davosil — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:42:02 -0400

Bush confeses to war crimes!!

George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of torture:

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4635175&page=1

http://act.truemajorityaction.org/p/7002/condipetition?petition_KEY=51

Write the AJC and/or your local paper and demand the kind of front page coverage this story deserves. This administration has committed a laundry list of impeachable offenses and destroyed our Country and it's values in the process. Enough is enough!!! Even though there are only 9 more months of this disgusting Presidency left, if we don't at least get impeachment on the table - and Bush & Cheney are allowed to walk away scot free - we will have completely undermined argueably the most powerful and important gift the Founders gave us in the Constitution. What future President would ever fear the consequences of committing any crime knowing that Bush and Cheney were never held accountable??

Dr. Martin Luther King famously said of the Vietnam War, "A time comes when silence is betrayal."

When our President and Vice President personally approve torture, that time is now.

new member of this blog

bwiz42 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:38:06 -0400

This saturday is the selection of candidates for county offices. I'm planning on being present - Barry Dossenko PS the submission date is apr 15 08 for this message

Democratic War Cry for Fall 2008

oldetoys — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:40:20 -0400

National War cry for the Democrats for the November elections 2008 regardless of who the candidate will be:

"VOTE FOR CHANGE NOT GEORGE W. McCAIN"

Obama on McCain’s (Do nothing) Economics

kwahlf — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:44:41 -0400

and Obama's solutions.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBhQS

Barack Obama on Senator McCain’s Economics
Mar 26th, 2008 at 2:11 pm EDT

John McCain has said that he doesn’t understand the economy as well as he should, and yesterday he proved it in the speech he gave about the housing crisis…

He said that the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen. In his entire speech, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief to the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who were forced to foreclose on their dream over the last few months – not one.

We’ve been down this road before. It’s the road that George Bush has taken for the last eight years. It’s the idea that government has no role at all in solving the challenges facing working families – that all we can do is hand out tax breaks for the wealthiest few and let the chips fall where they may. And whether the rest of America is struggling with rising tuition or skyrocketing health care costs; plant closings or crumbling schools, the answer is always the same: “You’re on your own.”

Well we can’t afford another four years of Bush economics. If there’s one thing this crisis has taught us, it’s that we can’t have a thriving Wall Street and a crumbling Main street, because we’re all connected. Our economy has to be the rising tide that lifts all boats, and that’s why I’ll take immediate action as President to help struggling homeowners. We’ll help families and lenders rework existing subprime loans into affordable long-term fixed loans and create a foreclosure prevention fund to help keep Americans in their homes. We’ll provide a mortgage tax credit to give homeowners relief, we’re going to crack down on mortgage fraud and predatory lenders so that this doesn’t happen again. John McCain may call helping struggling homeowners pandering, but I don’t think the families in North Carolina who are losing their homes would see it that way. I think they expect their President to fight for them, and that’s what I intend to do when I am President of the United States of America.