"...six years of backlog to clean up"

My Left Nutmeg on minority party rights, and a response to Bush's WSJ bullshit piece.

In 2004 Minority Leader Pelosi proposed to the GOP leadership a Minority Bill of Rights. The Speaker of the House didn't even bother to respond to her letter. Now that the House has changed sides, three members of the GOP Leadership have proposed that she now honor the request she made two years ago.

The correct response is for the New Speaker of the House to agree to the Minority Bill of Rights that will go into effect exactly TWO YEARS from the request, as that's how long they made her and the Democrat minority wait before they even bothered to respond.

So, on Jan 2, 2008 the Minority Bill of Rights for the House will become effective. If it was a good idea for the GOP to wait two years before they began to think it is a good idea, it's a good idea to wait two years before implementing it.

Pretty damn generous, to my way of thinking.

For six years the GOP has controlled all the Federal Government. The result, a culture of corruption where every vote was for sale to the special interests. Homeland security that said that checking on 10% of the cargo entering our country was okay. No investigations into fraud, waste and abuse. A blank cheque on spending like a drunken sailor with money that we don't have. No bid contracts to favored corporations. And most of all, a destruction of the middle class, which has been shrinking for the last six years, not growing. More people having less. That's what six years of the GOP running both branches have done to America. Well, get ready sir, for all that is about to change.

CHEQUE? Ain't there a "Nutmeg State" up around Canada somewhere?

The concept of "working together" is an odd one. Do you really want the Democrats to treat your fellow Republicans the way that we were treated for the last six years? I am sure that they don't. In the House they are demanding a Bill of Rights, just as we did two years ago. Two years ago the Speaker of the House didn't even respond to our request. We were ignored. We were not allowed on commitees. We were refused rooms for investigations, We had no supeona power. We were treated like we didn't exist. We were not able to even offer amendments to bills. Do you remember how a vote was left open for hours so that the GOP leadership could arm twist the votes that they needed to pass a bill you wanted? Rules be damned, and the same with a minority voice. Well Mr. President, do you think the GOP members of the house would like to be treated the same way that they treated us? The way the Executive treated us?

Now you want a two way street where before you were more than happy to run over us and leave us and the over half of America that we represent unrepresented. I'm sure it would be understandable if we were a bit upset, as the American people are, they showed that to you and us at the polls.

Have you been asleap for the last six years? Where do you get off saying that the minority party has a strong say in the form bills take? For the last six years the minority party has been locked out of having any say in the form that bills take. We haven't been able to even offer amendments to the bills presented in the House. As for bringing up bills of our own to the floor, hell had a better chance of freezing over.

The writer makes many good points. Go read.

Fuck bipartisanship, at least for a while. We want revenge on these Repug bastards, as bad and intolerant as that sounds. The pols can't say that out loud, but I can. Mrs. Pelosi can signal that the Repugs can have a say by wearing ice skates in the House.

Update:

A rough draft of Bush's WSJ op-ed has been found. Chortle!

White House Postponing Loss of Iraq, Biden Says

Say what you will about Joe Biden, sometimes even a blind pig finds a truffle. WaPo:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.

"I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy -- literally, not figuratively."

Biden said that Vice President Cheney and former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "are really smart guys who made a very, very, very, very bad bet, and it blew up in their faces. Now, what do they do with it? I think they have concluded they can't fix it, so how do you keep it stitched together without it completely unraveling?"

It is completely unraveled, but one thing they could do is make apologies in suicide notes and leave a place for someone who might be able to do something. Like admit a bad idea has failed as it should have and was destined to do in the first place, that we've lost, and get the fuck out of Iraq.

It's up to all of us

Go read Molly Ivins.

The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck -- so it's up to us. You and me, Bubba.

I don't know why Bush is just standing there like a frozen rabbit, but it's time we found out. The fact is WE have to do something about it. This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped NOW.

Here she cites several examples of what went wrong and promises to do more in each column.

We need to cut through all this smoke and mirrors and come up with an exit strategy, forthwith. The Democrats have yet to offer a cohesive plan to get us out of this mess. Of course, it's not their fault -- but the fact is we need leaders who are grown-ups and who are willing to try to fix it. Bush has ignored the actual grown-ups from the Iraq Study Group and the generals and all other experts who are nearly unanimous in the opinion that more troops will not help.

So, like I said, it's up to you and me, Bubba. We need to make sure that the new Congress curbs executive power, which has been so misused, and asserts its own power to make this situation change. Now.

Now.

It's not a game ...

Now, I generally don't follow, read, or quote Right wing blogs. They're idiots, period, and I don't give their rantings serious tought. It's as if they're playing a game with our nation's future. I guess the role-playing computer games weren't gratifying enough so they began to play with real life, all the while taking money and favors from the Right Wing Noise Machine.

That said, I do pay attention to them when they manage to really fuck something up. The 'Veronica' to Ann Coulter's 'Betty', Michelle Malkin and a bunch of her no-dick male cohorts have created a scandal (there was no scandal to begin with) to try to smear the Associated Press (something AP can do well enough on its own). In their zeal to remain relevant, they might just have put the life of a source in the Iraqi Police, and his family, in mortal danger.

Look, idiots. I don't give shit what you say on your blogs. They're yours and this is still America and you can say what you damn well please. My problem with you is when your words and actions get people killed. Especially innocent people. Especially for some non-existant 'scandal' you create to justify your own existence.

I hope you can sleep well at night.

Quote of the Day

"I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing differently than I believe, as long as they don't impose their religion on me or my government," says Ms. [Lori Lipman] Brown, a former Nevada state senator [and current Director of Secular Coalition of America].

An interesting article for me being I have a big problem with people (especially the government) telling me what to believe.

Great thanks to Blondie for the link.

Nyuk! Nyuk!

Cursor

Appearing on "Countdown," (Rep. Barney) Frank told Keith Olbermann that "when the Republican administration of George Bush tells me not to use legislation to make political statements, it's kind of like being accused of being silly by the Three Stooges."

And then what?

WSJ on the escalation in Iraq:

The administration's high-level deliberations about the size and duration of any potential surge have taken on added significance because both opponents and supporters of the war agree that U.S. influence in Iraq is rapidly diminishing. As Iraq confronts a civil war and a faltering political process, adding more U.S. forces could well be the administration's final real opportunity to stabilize the country.

"If we surge and it doesn't work, it's hard to imagine what we do after that," Mr. Kagan says. "But we're already in a very bad spot, and if we don't do anything defeat is imminent."

More American deaths to try in vain to save Bush's legacy by postponing the inevitable.

His 'legacy' is already etched in stone: a failed evil fantasy.

It's Official

EssEffChron

(01-04) 10:43 PST Washington -- The U.S. House of Representatives, for the first time in its 218-year history dating to the beginnings of the American republic, elected a woman Speaker today when it chose Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco to lead the chamber.

Pelosi, upon her election about 10:30 a.m. (PST) today, became the first Californian and the first San Franciscan to head the 435-member lower house of Congress.

The 66-year-old Pelosi was elected by a 233-to-202 vote on party lines that became a foregone conclusion after Democrats rolled to victory in last November's midterm congressional election that swept aside 12 years of Republican control in the House.

I just happened to catch the results of the vote on TV as they were announced. They cut to L'il Fat Denny. He looked like he'd just noticed he was sucking on a turd instead of a lollipop. Ha!

OK, Nancy, congrats and all that shit. Party it up 'til tomorrow. You (we) earned it.

Then get to work. Crack the whip. Do your 100-hour social programs deal.

Then end Bush's criminal occupation of Iraq. Remember I5: Investigation, Indictment, Impeachment, Incarceration and Inhangthesonsabitchez.

Miers bails out

LATimes

Harriet Miers, President Bush's failed Supreme Court nominee and longtime adviser, on Thursday submitted her resignation as White House counsel.

Snow said Miers' departure did not signal the beginning of an exodus of senior officials after six bruising years at the White House. Asked if other officials were poised to go, Snow said, "I'm aware of none and anticipate none."

Heh. He gets paid to know nothing and anticipate nothing, and then lie about it.

The White House needs to make room for a phalanx of criminal (apt description, no?) lawyers anyway.

This is just too easy, but I have these lovely visions of a buncha swimming rats and a sinking ship...

The balloon goes up!

Stolen en toto from Colonel Murtha himself at Arianna's place.

I will be recommending to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that we begin extensive hearings starting on January 17, 2007 that will address accountability, military readiness, intelligence oversight and the activities of private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will be demanding substantive answers to questions that have gone unanswered for far too long.

The war in Iraq and its effect on our military and our nation's future remains the most crucial issue facing the new Congress. I will be will be recommending an aggressive pursuit of action that will allow us to reduce our military presence in Iraq at the soonest practicable date.

I've been waiting to hear this going on 4 years. A hearty welcome to the 110th Congress who take their seats today. Congratulations especially to Speaker of the House (God, it's good to say that) Pelosi.

Off to work ...

It continues ...

The Right Wing Noise Machine and its bought-and-paid-for press. I heard something like this last night when I had Wolfie on:

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

...

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

...

So it's not, 'let's see what the Dems will do for the people', or 'the Dems have a robust agenda to turn around this nation's slide under the Rethugs'. No. It's 'the Dems are a buncha meanies because they're not bipartisan'.

Know what? Fuck you assholes.

We've had 6 years of the Rethugs' version of 'bipartisanship' and look what it's got us. We're laughingstock in the world community, our economy is teetering on the brink, we're engaged in an endless 'War on Terra', the last Congress was one of the most corrupt in history, and we've managed to destroy a nation that was relatively peaceful and terrorist-free.

And you 'journalists' are worried the Rethugs might not have a say in crafting legislation in the new Congress? I say keep 'em out of the process until this nation is running correctly again. I'm sorry, but if I have a guy in the shop who wrecks more shit than he fixes, well ... he's out the door at the soonest before he costs me more money.

If we have a political party whose recent track record has been one of utter failure, they should be kept out of the process until they complete remedial Lawmaking 101. Do they have Legislating for Dummies out yet?

Look, I believe in bipartisanship. I believe the more viewpoints you consider, the more informed decisions you make. I don't believe the Dems should pull what the Rethugs have over the last few years; tit-for-tat isn't the answer but until the Chimp is out of the White House, I would limit congressional Rethugs' power greatly. They've proven they can't be trusted to look out for anyone's interest but their own and that of their campaign contributors.

They've proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

They've proven, since Nixon's time, that their motto is 'Party before Country'. Gerry Ford did when he pardoned Nixon not 'for the good of the nation' but for the good of the Republican Party. The same crew has been around since then. Had Nixon gone to trial, I'd venture to say many of the players in the WH today would have slinked off into obscurity back then. Either that or done jail time. Cheney and Rummy are ubiquitous in every Rethug administration from Nixon to Dubya and all the minor players have gotten steady employment since. It's time for a thorough housecleaning at 1600 and the Rethugs in Congress should have no power until all the investigations are over.

We can't afford it, on many levels. We can't afford bipartisanship until we fix the United States.

Great thanks to Digby for the link. Go read his post on this too.

Oh Man,Tee Hee

Be sure to read the comments too, I'll wait.....

Well played Representative Ellison,well played.

Then there's this. Not so much funny as it is just plain spoiled brat. Tom Price is my rep,yay. What a cheezy little tick on a weasel. This is the kind of representation my neighbors don't seem to mind. As long as the tax cuts keep coming and the gas is below three bucks a gallon no one seems to give a shit. I hate the suburbs.

Avalanche

BooMan in the wake of Olbermann's 'Special Comment':

I could go and find dozens of links to back up what I am about to say, but I'm feeling lazy. So, I'll just say it.

The country has finally turned on George W. Bush. The country is in a very bad and testy mood. At the extreme, tonight's Special Comment on Keith Olbermann's Countdown was the most blistering indictment of a sitting President in the history of broadcast television. I have never seen anything like it. It violated every law of Higher Broderism. It even passed into raw conspiracy theory at points. In different and more stable times, a rant like Olbermann's would mark the swift end of his career. But our nation has entered into a new stage. Olbermann will pay no price for his outburst because even though it was extreme, it was an extremism that has now entered the boundaries of acceptable discourse. The country has no more use for George W. Bush and it has no will to rally to his defense.

The overriding mood of the nation is that we should take away the car keys. And that is the genius of democracy. We may be easily scared and led astray, but as long as we protect our institutions we will always eventually correct our mistakes. The country senses that we cannot wait until 2009 to take away the keys. Congress knows it. Our allies know it. The country stands ready to overthrow this administration and redeem our system of government (my em). I have called the logic of impeachment 'inexorable', and it is.

The President's decision to escalate the Iraq War and call for sacrifice is going to start an avalanche. And no one can stop an avalanche.

Avalanches are sometimes started by loud noises. Let's keep yelling.

Quote of the Day

Related to Gord's post on Olbermann's testicles early this morning, Steve Gilliard:

...

His daughters whore around Argentina and he thinks no one notices? He wants some poor kid from Wal Mart to do another tour?[*]

...

Bush and his friends. He should take those fat, cheetos eating fucks at the think tanks and ship their asses overseas. Let Cliff May run a convoy and have Max Boot drive. Let Goldberg man the .50.

Let those useless motherfuckers sacrifice more than their filthy fucking mouths. Let them do what they ask of others and then denigrate.

...

*If there's one thing I remember my dad bitching about during the Vietnam days was how many college kids got deferrments. While he was a defense contractor and made a good living from Grumman's and Republic Aircraft's contracts, he realized the injustice that was being perpetrated. The kids who couldn't afford college got drafted, the kids who weren't 'privileged' enough to know a congressman or senator went too. My father was a stubborn old Brit whose every waking minute was spent chasing a buck, but even he got what was going on 40 years ago. Shit ain't changed yet.

Dubya's Berlin

[Disclaimer - This is a flagrant Godwin's Law violation but I've been doing it for 2 1/2 years and I'll continue to do so. The similarities between the Chimp and Hitler are too great.]

Via Blondie from DU:

...

Although there have been numerous comparisons over the last few years of Bush vs. Hitler, one cannot avoid the similarities between the two in their final days. Depleted armies, lost wars, generals in revolt and a desperate cling to an unrealistic hope of resuscitating misguided ideologies are just a few of the parallels shared by these two figures. Sadly, neither leader was able to recognize the irony of their respective falls being a result of those ideologies to which they so strictly embraced.

To be fair, there are no invading armies outside Bush's White House bunker (although the 110th Congress may be seen as such) and DeeCeeVille is not ablaze and in complete chaos. However, Baghdad is George Dubya's Berlin and even though he could see the death and destruction and hopelessness his actions have caused - if he chose to - he still continues to hunker down and wait for some kind of miracle that will save that which cannot be saved. Bush is still in his bunker mentality as the weapons he and his administration used against the world and the American people begin to lose their effectiveness. Here are just a few examples of those depleting armaments.

...

Except that Hitler had quite a few early successes. Everything the Chimp has touched has gone to shit.

And just an aside before I run out the door. I thank God every day my mother didn't live long enough to experience the Bush Presidency. Growing up when Hitler came to power, being a nurse in the German Army, being an American prisoner of war, and despising Hitler with every ounce of her being, as well as being a tough broad, she would have tried to storm the White House single-handedly and they would have tossed her in Gitmo. Mom was a naturalized and proud American citizen and raised me to cherish the rights and freedoms we have here. The things she told me about, the warning signs she'd recognized in hindsight from when Hitler came to power, she would have recognized right away from the Chimp. I did. It was my motivation to begin blogging. Rest easy, ma, we're on it.

KO slaps the shit outta the Chimp

Go see Keith Olbermann take Bush to the woodshed over his new propaganda word "Sacrifice" at Crooks and Liars. K.O. must hafta get his pants cut special for a #10 sack. Good on yer, Keith.

It's all about the whining ...

It's what the Rethugs do best. Whine about this, whine about that; they've had control of the country for six years and have yet to do anything worthwhile. Now they're whining about being in the minority and the 110th hasn't even been seated yet. Digby chronicles:

...

They are fully back in minority victimhood mode without missing a beat. And there is a sense of gleeful excitement about the whole thing --- "heh, heh, I just hope I live long enough to see what that horrible woman is going to do to this country."* If you mention Iraq, they shrug their shoulders and start babbling about John Kerry and the draft dodging Clinton. Some lament that the Democrats wouldn't let us win it (we should have "glassed 'em.") For the most part, they seem absolutely thrilled to be in the minority and they are already doing the only thing they have ever really been good at --- carping about Democrats from the sidelines.

...

If they'd put as much energy into running shit properly as they did running off at the mouth, things would actually work and we wouldn't be a laughingstock. It's gonna get worse as time goes on, you know. I'm getting a migrane just thinking about it. They remind me of the guys who think they know cars. They talk a good line but after they're done 'fixing' their car, it comes to me on the hook with a box of parts in the trunk to do it right.

Retirement travel

To start off the new year in a positive manner, I spent a little time this morning reviewing my retirement travel plans. The thought of cruises to far away lands, this time not in uniform, captured my imagination. Everything was going along swell until I clicked on "budget". This came up:

Young Republicans want to help!

Continuing ...

The Crazy Turk, Cenk Uygur (whom I love) picks up where I left off yesterday, but he takes on the hardcore Jesus freaks:

...

There are also numbers that showed how well the public is attuned to the current political and economic climate, with eighty percent predicting an increase in the minimum wage and ninety percent predicting higher gas prices.

But there is one number that stands out among the rest as absolutely unbelievable. Twenty-five percent of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth in 2007. TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT! IN 2007!

These people are nuts. There's no polite way of saying it. If I sound superior, too bad. Sanity has its advantages.

...

Time to get a grip. Jesus ain't coming back to 'kiss it and make it better'. We're on our own and it's up to us to make a better world for ourselves, not just for the Christians but for everyone. Quit waiting for someone or something to do it for you; you'll be waiting a long goddamned time.