Clean Elections

I think we would all probably agree that the only way to clean up politics is to get special interest money out of it. But HOW?

Last night I watched a special one-hour NOW on PBS. The show went into great detail about how "Clean Elections" legislation works at the state level in Arizona and Maine. It's a voluntary program that allows average people to run for state office and not be beholden to special interest money. It's 'voluntary' due to the fact that one of the more bone-headed Supreme Court decisions is that political contributions are "free speech", even from Big Money special interests seeking access and influence over legislation.

"Clean Elections" is also on the ballot in California this November as Proposition 89. It went from conception to the ballot in less than six months, and set a new record for the shortest amount of time ever to collect the necessary signatures for a ballot initiative. It may not pass, but I hope it does: if California does it, the most populous state (dammit!) in the nation, other states may follow. See Yes on 89.

If "Clean Elections" legislation becomes popular in enough states, it may be extended to Federal elections as well. A worthy goal, in MNSHO.

I like the idea. Hit the links and noodle around. The show itself is here. Many links, MP3, etc. Let us know what you think.

I was worried about NOW when Bill Moyers left, but David Brancacchio is doing a fine job.

Dave

Looks like it's a 'Dave Mejias Weekend' here at the Brain. The New York Times*:

For Congress In Nassau

October 22, 2006

Elections in the Third Congressional District, which covers half of Nassau County and a slice of Suffolk along the South Shore, are usually yawners, with Democrats meekly stepping up to be stomped upon by the Republican incumbent, Peter King. He has not had a close race since his first, in 1992.

This year might be different. The Democrat David Mejias, is waging a lively campaign, brandishing his credentials as a member of the Nassau County Legislature and seeking to ride what he says is a general wave of disgust with Washington, with Congress and with President Bush.

Mr. King is the last Republican standing in Long Island's Congressional delegation, and judging from his lonely pugilistic persona, he just might like it that way. Many voters warm to his belligerence, believing it denotes independence and truthfulness.

Those in its receiving end of his rhetorical bombardments are surely less charmed. He has blisteringly belittled many, from constituents criticizing Mr. Bush's Social Security plan to Catholic clergy members who condemned Mr. King's immigration bill and got a lecture in return about pedophile priests and an admonition to go to confession.

(The Times was also in Mr. King's cross hairs, for writing - treasonously, he says - about a secret terrorist-surveillance program.)

We do not support Mr. King, but not because he wants us in jail. Our decision has to do with temperament, effectiveness and differences on issues from taxes and Iraq to abortion and immigration.

Mr. King does not get everything wrong. As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mr. King has been a vocal defender of New York's interests in anti-terrorism funding. But he has also stood in zealous opposition to abortion rights and in support of Mr. Bush's harmful tax-cutting policies, and he has been an enabler of Mr. Bush's go-it-alone defiance of Congress, courts and the Constitution in waging the war on terrorism.

Mr. King also lost us with his singular devotion to hard-line immigration enforcement measures, particularly the bill he co-sponsored that would make felons of people giving charity to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Mejias is one of the few bright bulbs in the low-watt Nassau Legislature. He helped to create a bill of rights for domestic workers in Nassau, requiring that employers give them written statement of their rights under federal and state law. He has a good environmental record, particularly in efforts to preserve open space, and has been an important ally of County Executive Thomas Suozzi in restoring fiscal discipline to Nassau government. He promises to be a refreshing change in the Third District, and we endorse him.

*Via email from the Mejias campaign. I'll try to find a link later.

Update:

Peter King Watch has it.

"...reminiscent of a goat that had been struck between the eyes with a tire iron ..."

A double dose of Saturday snark. First a review of Destined for Destiny: The Unauthorized Autobiography of George W. Bush:

In Destined for Destiny, Dikkers joined with Peter Hilleren to "help" write Bush's "unauthorized autobiography" -- a description as impossible as Douglas Adam's five-book "trilogy" on hitchhiking the galaxy -- and lets the voice and comedy of WRA's George Walker Bush guide us on a satiric odyssey of the life of a man who will forever remain the epitome of "The Peter Principle."

Dikkers and Hilleren have a lot to work with, from Prescott's efforts to aid the Nazis in WWII to Bush's future presidential library. Add to that a running gag involving Jesus' personal involvement in Bush's every decision -- and the hilarious photo essay showing Jesus' involvement -- and this book will make you laugh out loud in quiet reading rooms and on crowded public transportation.

Excerpts:

On Barbara Bush:

"Apart from my mother, George H. W. Bush is the finest man I ever knew. My father met my mother at a debutante party when she was 30. He was immediately enchanted by her horse-like beauty, her forceful nature, and her immense stature."

On meeting Laura Bush:

"I was blessed with the good fortune of meeting a wonderful small-town Texas woman who had a dazed and clueless stare reminiscent of a goat that had been struck between the eyes with a tire iron -- a halting kind of beauty which every man desires in a woman."

I'm glad the authors found something funny to write about that pathetic little wimp.

Second, the tabloids' and MSM's treatment of the Bushes:

You won't read it on the front of the New York Times (although they were eager to place under a microscope every salacious inquiry into the marriage of the Clintons).

But you will find it blaring as the front-page stories of the tabloids read by Bush voters in the fly-over states.

National Examiner Cover - Bush Marriage Over!"Bush Marriage Over! Laura Erupts After Drinking Binge," is the cover story of the October 23, 2006, National Examiner.

Globe - Bush Divorce Deal"Bush Divorce Deal: Laura Wins, Condi Loses," is the "World Exclusive" that the Globe ran in a photo-filled cover on August 14, 2006.

You may want to patronizingly dismiss tabloids, but remember that they almost did Bill Clinton in, as the mainstream papers cribbed from them to run front-page stories on Bill and Hillary.

This time, the mainstream media is adopting a double-standard and avoiding the allegations that the tabloids are boldly making. But the point to remember here is that the real readers of these publications are, in large part, the people who normally have voted for Bush.

Many of them are religious, and they aren't going to look kindly on the charges of boozing and philandering by Bush. Not at all.

If you are wondering about what might hurt Bush the most in the red states -- and have a spillover effect on the Congressional races -- these covers from the National Examiner and Globe may have more impact than FoleyGate and the Iraq debacle.

Don't snicker. This is the kind of grass roots tar that sticks.

Who knows, it may even be true.

Sorry, BuzzFlash - I'm snickering, and it doesn't matter if it's true or not, though it would be icing on the cake if it was. It's hilarious on one level, but disturbing on this one: there are folks out there, Americans who vote, who think they can't print something if it isn't true. That's also the basis for the success of F** N**s. Hey, if it's on TV (other than the Librul Media of course) it has to be true or they couldn't say it. Scary. On the other hand, if it makes them less likely to vote for Repuglicans, it's good scary.

I'll admit to a childish glee at Mrs. G's childish glee when she discovers these juicy George/Laura headlines on the covers of those birdcage liners (is that cruelty to animals?) while we're in the supermarket checkout line on Saturdays. She doesn't touch them!

Further, in the good Progressive spirit of transparency and disclosure, I'll cop to reading those rags at my late Mother-in-law's house. She usually had a stack of 'em. Reading those things is like riding a moped: it's fun, but you don't want your friends to see you.

The one tabloid headline that I'm sorry I missed was in '46: "Bar Gives Birth To Alien Space Baby!"

[Welcome BuzzFlash readers, make yourselves da home. ~ Fixer]

OC GOP to Nguyen: Di-di mau!

Following up on my two earlier posts on the intimidation letter sent to Hispanic voters in Orange County CA, from AP.

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - Orange County Republican leaders on Thursday called for the withdrawal of a GOP congressional candidate they believe sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters with arrest.

Tan D. Nguyen denied knowing anything about the letter in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press but said he fired a campaign staffer who may have been responsible for it. Nguyen's attorney said his client had no intention of quitting.

County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh said that after speaking with state investigators and the company that distributed the mailer, he believes Nguyen had direct knowledge of the "obnoxious and reprehensible" letter. He told the AP that the party's executive committee voted unanimously to urge Nguyen to drop out of the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

"I learned information that allows me to draw the conclusion that not only was Mr. Nguyen's campaign involved in this, but that Mr. Nguyen was personally involved in expediting the mailer," Baugh said in a telephone interview.

Nguyen said he has fired an employee in his office who he believes might have used his campaign's voter data base to send the letter without his knowledge.

That's right out of the Repug playbook: When caught, blame a staffer.

"If it is proven that a candidate was responsible for this action, that candidate is clearly not fit to serve the people of California and should withdraw immediately from his or her race," California GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim said in a statement.

In an interview Thursday morning, Sanchez said she had never spoken to Nguyen because her campaign didn't see him as a threat to her re-election.

"If it is in fact this guy (who sent the letter), the most disgusting and saddest thing about it is that it comes from another immigrant," said Sanchez, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents and whose 1996 election signaled Orange County's increasing diversification. "These communities have spent years trying to get naturalized immigrants to vote."

Nguyen's campaign Web site says he was born in 1973 in Vietnam, where his family fled the Communist regime.

This is not the county's first dispute over alleged intimidation of Hispanic voters. In 1988, Republican Assembly candidate Curt Pringle posted uniformed "security guards" at 20 predominantly Hispanic voting places in Orange County.

Republicans said the guards were stationed to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots. Pringle and the county GOP paid $400,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit alleging intimidation of Hispanic voters.

I grew up in L.A. County, and Orange County, just to the south, became a joke when I was in my teens. It was always a Repuglican hotbed. Richard Nixon was born there, and they renamed their airport the "John Wayne Airport". There were always a lot of wealthy people there, and they elected people to look out for their interests. Hard-core right wingers.

I worked at motorcycle joints, a dealer and a distributor, in Orange County, but move there? No thanks! I commuted thirty miles from Burbank. Motorcycle jobs don't last, but mortgages do, and I didn't want to get stuck there.

With a big influx of Vietnamese, Koreans, and Latinos over the last thirty years, OC's political makeup has changed somewhat. I'm not exactly sure which demographic has had the most impact (inscrutable, them Orientals!) but the OC ain't quite as far right as it used to be.

It's still a joke.

October surprises ... revisited

I know Gord browses Truthout regularly and I got sent there via Maru this morning (while doing laundry left over from vacation ... oy). William Rivers Pitt on the Right's (in the form of dipshit Fred Barnes) salivating for a terror attack before election day:

...

The desperation is difficult to miss, yes, but sometimes it is astonishingly obvious. Take the following statement from Fred Barnes, executive editor for the right-wing whacko factory The Weekly Standard. Barnes, ever the optimist when it comes to permanent Republican control, warned the faithful in this week's edition to prepare for a total wipeout at the polls.

"Of course there's little time left for a major event to occur," wrote Barnes towards the end of his article, titled "How Bad Will It Be?" "The North Korean bomb test wasn't big enough to change the course of the campaign. So Republicans may have to rely on their two remaining assets: They have more money than the Democrats and a voter turnout operation second to none."

There it is, right there in black and white. "There's little time left for a major event to occur," wrote Barnes, who went on to lament that the GOP must fall back on their "two remaining assets." Ergo, a massive terrorist attack with huge casualties and the rise of total fear among the populace is an "asset" in the mind of Barnes, one that, sadly for Barnes, does not seem about to come to pass. After, all there is "little time left" for a bloodbath to come along and rescue the Republicans.

The worst part? Simple. The worst part is that few find it surprising anymore to see a Republican cheerleading for a devastating attack so as to maintain power in Congress. This from the "We Keep You Safe" party. Yes, the desperation is indeed there for all to see. [my emphases]

...

Notice the Repukes take for granted this 'major event' will happen in New York, or Boston, or Los Angeles, or San Francisco. I mean, they wouldn't nuke the 'base', would they? Or would Freddie and his butt-buddies volunteer to be at the next ground zero? Thanks for being so cavalier with our lives, assholes. These are Republican 'values'. Bloodthirsty motherfuckers.

November, people.

So they want polls ...

Froggy asked, in comments on the Mejias post below, what the polls say about the race. Heh ... found this Constituent Dynamics poll (.pdf MoE 2.9 - 3.1%) showing how tight the race really is. In a district once considered 'solid Republican', we have results from just before Tuesday's debate:

King 47%

Mejias 45%

I'd say it's a race.

Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America

Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.

Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?

Where there's smoke ...

There's usually fire. Seen at CorrenteWire:

...

I guess it's time to take bets. Anyone care to wager upon the final number of kiddie stalkers in the Republican party?

...

It seems Foley wasn't the only one. Gotta love them 'family values'.

November.

Dave

A dispatch from Mejias headquarters via email:

MINEOLA - In a press conference today, Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's 3rd Congressional District, proudly stood along side members of The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) and local elected officials to accept an endorsement from NJDC's Political Action Committee. Founded in 1990, The National Jewish Democratic Council is the national voice of Jewish Democrats, and the newly formed Long Island chapter is the only local representation of any national Jewish political organization.

...

Dave Mejias has turned this longshot race into a real battle. He's giving Peter King the fight of his political life and it's time for Long Islanders and those from out of state to step up. Peter King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, too sensitive a post for a delusional nutbag to hold. Support Dave in his fight to put King out to pasture.

Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America

Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.

Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?

And don't forget ...

Even when the news is shitty, there's always Cute Overload.

More "new" spin ...

I touched on this last night, citing Arianna's post. They've been spinning wildly for the last few days, the Chimp going so far as to make a reference to Tet, though for the last few years any similarity drawn between Iraq and Vietnam has been verboten. Cdr. Huber thinks it's because their planned October Surprise went into the dumper quickly.

...

I can't help but conclude that the increased deaths and frustration prior to the elections weren't expected. I suspect that the much-ballyhooed offensives in Ramadi and Baghdad were calculated to provide major successes in Iraq prior to the midterm elections, and now that they haven't, the likes of Caldwell are helping to reverse the spin in a way that will keep the ball in the GOP's court.

...

Personally, I think they have something else up their sleeves (Diebold notwithstanding) aside from some wishful thinking in Iraq. I'm sure somebody in the White House has enough grasp of reality to realize the situation in Iraq can nevermore be manipulated according to a political calendar.

I'm trying to pursuade the Mrs. not to go into the office until after Election Day if she can help it. I have this gut feeling these guys have too much to lose to pin their hopes on such a fluid situation in Iraq. Desperate men do deperate things when they know the end is near.

The United States Secret Service ...

Is in sorry shape. Was a time a lunatic like this wouldn't get within a half-mile of the President of the United States.

Quote of the Day

42 is supporting the troops by supporting their families:

...

So all you clueless boneheads with your yellow ribbons and empty "I support the troops!" bullshit slogans, well you can just stick all that into your butts. For those whose actions speak louder than words, kick some money to the Fisher House. That's supporting the troops and their families.

...

The "new" spin ...

Gord's girl looks at the way the Chimp is spinning the recent carnage in Iraq:

Here's the latest talking point from the Bush administration, explaining the surge in violence that has October on track to be the third deadliest month of the Iraq war: it's a campaign strategy. That's right, Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other -- and American soldiers -- in growing numbers because they are out to affect the '06 Elections.

...

So, regardless of how ineptly, corruptly, criminally, they have run the nation over the past 6 years, you should vote for them because the terrorists are trying to manipulate you. If you vote Dem, the terrorists win and the Baby Jesus will cry.

...

There you have it: Sunnis and Shiites are not killing each other over centuries-old religious conflicts; they're killing each other because they disagree about who should be Speaker of the House, Denny Hastert or Nancy Pelosi.

...

"Last throes", "turning a corner", "dead-enders", and now the "New Tet". Even the Jesus freaks ain't that gullible.

Voter warning linked to GOP campaign

The other day, I posted about a letter sent to Hispanic voters in Orange County CA, warning them that they they could go to jail just for voting. Well, the law is closin' in.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - State investigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to thousands of Orange County Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorney general said.

"We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

He declined to identify the specific campaign, citing the ongoing investigation. The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register both reported Thursday that the investigation appeared to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican who immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam as a child and is now challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (news, bio, voting record). Nguyen's Web site says he opposes illegal immigration.

Good. I hope they lock the sonofabitch up.

There are a lot of Vietnamese in Orange County. So many, in fact, that one of the freeway exit signs reads "Little Saigon". It appears that this particular Mr. Nguyen has successfully assimilated into the Repuglican way of doing things.

Ms. Sanchez is a favorite of mine for beating out long-serving Rethug Robert "B-1 Bob" Dornan several years ago. One of his lines was "Every lesbian spearchucker is hoping I get defeated." The guy was a real throwback, and red on the head like the dick on a dog to boot, and damn near as smart.

Like the Mafia, Only Dumber

William Rivers Pitt on the Repuglican criminal enterprise:

Josh Marshall, who runs the excellent blog Talking Points Memo, recently posted a reader's take on "The 5 Stages of Republican Scandal." As follows:

1. "I have not been informed of any investigation or that I am a target."

2. "I am cooperating fully, but this whole thing is a political ploy by the Democrats."

3. "I'm SHOCKED by the mistakes made by my subordinates."

4. "I'm deeply sorry for letting down my friends and family. I now recognize that I am an alcoholic. I will be entering rehab immediately, so I have no time for questions."

5. "Can I serve my time at Eglin Federal Penitentiary (aka Club Fed)?"

We have seen a fair amount of this already, and will soon see a lot more of it. The news media is all abuzz about Republican scandals, from Foley to Abramoff, but simply hearing about it from the television does not do the situation justice, if you'll pardon the bad pun. You have to see it all in one place to understand the depths to which the GOP has sunk.

Bear in mind, as you peruse the following roll call, that these guys are getting busted for this stuff while their party has absolute control over the House, the Senate, the White House and the Justice Department. Huffington Post columnist Stephen Elliot pegged it recently when he wrote, "The fact is if you control the Senate, the White House, and the courts, and you're still getting busted for bribery, stalking children, and money laundering, then something is really sick at the Republican core."

Indeed. Thus, without further ado and in no particular order .

Looong list follows. Heh.

Here's the best part: George W. Bush has officially declared that this is now National Character Counts Week. Seriously. You can't make this stuff up.

At the end of it, you have to think of this crew as being like the Mafia, only a lot dumber. Think about it. The Mafia's criminal enterprises operate under heavy scrutiny from local, state and federal officials, all of whom have subpoena power, not to mention the ability to tap phones and kick down doors.

The Republican criminal enterprise that is currently unraveling in all directions, on the other hand, operated virtually free from restraint or scrutiny. They own the government, from the Oval Office to the FBI to the Capitol Dome, and yet somehow they are managing to get busted left and right.

And, of course, the really serious criminal behavior - lying about weapons of mass destruction to initiate a war of conquest that has enriched White House allies while killing untold tens of thousands of people, including almost three thousand American soldiers, for starters - continues to operate with impunity.

For now. Rumor has it there is an election in November. Depending on how it shakes out, things might get really interesting after the New Year. These people above got nailed even though their allies are running the show. If that should change, several dozen varieties of Hell are likely to break loose.

That'd be the good kind of Hell, of course, the kind we deserve to eternally damn the Republicans.

"Your words are lies, Sir."

Keith Olbermann takes Bush to task over the Military Commission Act. Video and transcript. Today's 'must read'.

Your words are lies, Sir.

They are lies that imperil us all.

"One of the terrorists believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks," you told us yesterday, "said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America."

That terrorist, sir, could only hope.

Not his actions, nor the actions of a ceaseless line of terrorists (real or imagined), could measure up to what you have wrought.

Habeas corpus? Gone.

The Geneva Conventions? Optional.

The moral force we shined outwards to the world as an eternal beacon, and inwards at ourselves as an eternal protection? Snuffed out.

These things you have done, Mr. Bush, they would be "the beginning of the end of America."

And did it even occur to you once, sir - somewhere in amidst those eight separate, gruesome, intentional, terroristic invocations of the horrors of 9/11 - that with only a little further shift in this world we now know - just a touch more repudiation of all of that for which our patriots died -- did it ever occur to you once that in just 27 months and two days from now when you leave office, some irresponsible future president and a "competent tribunal" of lackeys would be entitled, by the actions of your own hand, to declare the status of "unlawful enemy combatant" for - and convene a Military Commission to try - not John Walker Lindh, but George Walker Bush?

I'll be proud to serve with Mr. Olbermann at Gitmo.

American wimps

I had something to say about this yesterday as I was driving to work but forgot in the interim*. It was a little drizzly, about 65 degrees, and I got up behind a school bus. I almost fell over when it stopped in front of a house. I saw a kid (teenager) hop out of a Lexus at the end of the driveway and take two steps to get on the bus. Before the bus pulled away, the mom put the car in gear, drove the hundred feet to the house, got out and went inside.

Let's see ...

#1 The schoolbus stops in front of your house.

#2 You could stay in your house until the bus comes and walk the hundred feet to the street from your front door.

#3 You choose to sit in a running car that drove you the hundred feet from your front door.

#4 Your mother, I presume or at least an adult female, is a willing participant in this behavior.

Are you fucking kidding me?

*The Penguin, blogging at Pauly's, reminded me of it. I'm going to work.

You know you're desperate ...

Or stupid, when you have Mike Tyson on the campaign trail with you.

In other words ...

If I find offensive the 'God is my Copilot' or 'My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter' signs or the stupid fish plastered on a customer's back bumper (let alone the 'W'-'04 sticker that's still there), if I don't like the huge cross or rosary beads hanging from the rearview mirror, or the St. Christopher medal bolted to the dashboard, I don't have to work on their car? Yeah, right, that would happen. Get over yourselves.

Does anybody believe ...

The release of this info isn't politically motivated?