I guess I'm first?

First? New thresd already?

--Texascasey

yes you are and I am second.

"Thread!"

--Texascasey

HQ, we need a series revitalization of the grassroots. Start a campaign for spring to get everybody back in the fight to take this country back. It's been six months since the election and many people are still in the fetal position.

Also we need a national campaign to let other Americans know about DFA. The Sierra Club advertises. Why, oh why, can't we?

"Rent a Priest or Spiritual Advisor"

(AP)Pinellas, Fl.

It was reported today that the priests and spiritual advisors that worked for the Schindler's, are available to be spokesman for others who want their loved one exploited.

Their spokesman, wearing a rented monks cloth, said that since their time at the hospice was done, could move to any area of the U.S. with only a days notice.

Funds must be paid in advance, as well as 4 star hotel rooms and per diem for food.

All advisors come with their own script with the host only having to insert their "loved ones" name.

Said advisors are experienced in exploiting any issue and have congress people and legislators on retainer if needed.

Please email all requests to grieve4you@falwell.com.

Leaving now to go keep the Bastrop Democrats office open this afternoon. Bye!

--Texascasey

Vermonter wrote on March 31, 2005 12:40 PM:

[From the Who Cares? department...]

Ted Koppel leaving ABC News at end of year: Veteran news anchor has hosted ‘Nightline’ for 25 years
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7347335/
-------------

Ted Koppel produced a few good memories for me. I don't know if y'all saw or remember the exchange he had with his colleague, Charles Gibson, concerning the ground invasion of Iraq in late March 2003.

Apparently there was a big stink about whether the professional news media ought to show the dead corpses of GIs to the American public. Charles Gibson's position was that the photos shouldn't be broadcast. I guess the fear was that a family member might recognize one of the corpses. On the other hand, Ted's position was that they should. He stated that the media didn't have to take photos of the corpse's face but just the body. He said the media does that all the time....that it wasn't extraordinary.

I believe the reasoning for Ted's viewpoint was that these images needed to be broadcast to serve as a reminder of the harsh realities of war....also as a way to temper our desire to rush to war before exhausting all other means of diplomacy - as had happened with this current foreign policy disaster.

That particular exchange earned my respect.

lindab wrote on March 31, 2005 01:28 PM:
-----------------------------------------------

yes lindab,
I suppose the catholic church and priests have to start doing something to improve their image....I mean, lets be honest, their record the last few years has not been too stellar.......

The Pope, should have gone to iraq just before our attack..and became a human shield...I would have really respected that of him.........

Mike*in*Raleigh*NC wrote on March 31, 2005 01:33 PM:

everyone, I mean everyone is on retainer.

On my way to work this morning, I was driving in my car with the "Dean for America '08" bumper sticker on the back, listening to Moby's new CD, "Hotel," on the stereo, all of which made me think I was conforming to the demographic profile of the "extreme-left wing, liberal activist" as the phrase is coined by commentators on Fox who spit it out with such panache.

With apologies to Robert, this is a fine country, but what has come over our national identity? It was indeed with hysterical incredulity that my former incarnation, a 20 year-old Human Rights Party member was, metaphorically, rolling on the floor laughing his (my) ass off at this absurd turn of events. Today's mythical "Middle American" is yesterday's member of the John Birch Society.

from Sen. Byrd: inbox

An ill wind is blowing across this country. That wind blows the seeds of destruction and threatens to undermine the system of checks and balances described in the Constitution and the fundamental rights we hold dear. Our Constitution is the rock of our nation and has withstood every challenge for more than 200 years. But today, the Constitution is under attack and needs your help.


I carry a pocket-sized edition of the Constitution with me every where I go, whether I'm back home in West Virginia or speaking out on the Senate floor. Now you can too. You can download and print the DSCC's exclusive personal Constitution by clicking here:


http://www.dscc.org/constitution


Senate Republicans are ready to nuke debate in the Senate and stand the Senate rules on their head by severely restricting our right to filibuster these nominees. They want to change the rules in the middle of the game so they can force on us far right-wing judges, all in an effort to gag the world's greatest deliberative body.


We cannot let them do it. ....

Hello D F A Family.

LZ XRAY,

I won't disagree that Koppel has had moments of clarity...

But, more importantly...

I've tried unsuccessfully to incorporate two new punctuation marks into the American language...

The first is to repurpose the tilda (~) to indicate a paraphrase, like:

George Bush said: ~I'm really not very intellectually curious...~

The second is to use a mark to indicate a rhetorical interogative... So, instead of writing "Who Cares?" -- where the "?" causes the reader to mistakenly have a raised inflection at the end of the sentence -- I propose a new symbol...

But I don't know what it should be...

Any ideas?

Maybe a "()" or a "+" or...

(Mostly kidding, but if you can figure out a way for me to get rich with this, let me know...)

Zach

Are you reading any of rich's suggestions?

He would like more posts about the DFA staff.

(and I always enjoy pictures of smiling faces)

OK, opinions before I send this off. So, you all better get those fingers moving to let me know.

I'll be sending this to all my US Reps.

Dear _____________,

Now that we have proof the President is knowingly lying, I have decided that I will be sending you a daily reminder that we DO NOT want Social Security Privatizing.

Even with so many people not being exposed to what the President’s plan is, the people who have are speaking loud and clear that they do not want his proposed plan. Now we all know the President has to be aware of this fact, but yet he is hitting the campaign trail saying “his plan is starting to galvanize” with Americans. Are you kidding me? He is using a lie as propaganda. There is NO excuse for this.

So apparently this nonstop repeating is considered the norm, and it appears I will have to do the same. Therefore you can expect a daily reminder that WE, THE PEOPLE, DO NOT WANT SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZING.

I thank you for your time and attention.

a Howardly to casey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
casey wrote on March 31, 2005 01:30 PM:
Leaving now to go keep the Bastrop Democrats office open this afternoon. Bye!--Texascasey

Phil,

I've been unable to download from the dscc site, have you?

If so, how did they get it on one page? I borrowed the text from usconstitution.net and in 8 point type it takes six pages.

If GWB wants to "err on the side of life" then he should promptly be removed from office because as I see it he is far from ever being "on the side of life", ie, we can start with the war in Iraq, then we can go forward with all of his funding cuts for the poor and disabled in this country.....This nation needs to be reminded of his "erring on the side of life".....

>>Phil*from*Iowa. wrote on March 31, 2005 02:01 PM:

Zach

Are you reading any of rich's suggestions?

He would like more posts about the DFA staff.<<

What I requested this morning was bios of the current staff so we'd know their background. There are many new/unfamiliar names on the staff list.

rich

let them go back and check

tara probably noted it

you have had a lot of good suggestions while you have been filling in for Robert

www.swingstateproject.com has lots of interesting information about future elections. It tells who is running ads against TD.

Conrah Burns a Rep from Montana seems to be having some ethical problems too. He votes against the best interest of his state. Like voting against extending unemployment insurance extensions. He is a US Senator. His reelection in 2006 is in doubt. He may not run again. No Dem has entered the race as yet.

Phil*from*Iowa. wrote on March 31, 2005 02:13 PM

LOL

Rich

It is my opinion that any new staffer be required to read a weeks worth of every post over here in the peanut gallery to get a sense of where the support for DFA comes from.

Joining us occasionally too.

Anyone offerring constructive ideas and criticism like you do should be listened to.

After realizing yesterday that mule head big critter is plunging ahead on Social Security we do need to keep that at the top of the page for a while more.

March 31^st , 2005

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf
Scientific Analysis Suggests Presidential Vote Counts
May Have Been Altered
/Group of University Professors Urges Investigation of 2004 Election/

Officially, President Bush won November's election by 2.5%, yet exit
polls showed Kerry winning by 3%[1] <#_ftn1>. According to a report to
be released today by a group of university statisticians, the odds of a
discrepancy this large between the national exit poll and election
results happening by accident are close to 1 in a million.

In other words, by random chance alone, it could not have happened. But
it did.

Two alternatives remain. Either something was wrong with the exit
polling, or something was wrong with the vote count.

Exit polls have been used to verify the integrity of elections in the
Ukraine, in Latin America, in Germany, and elsewhere. Yet in November
2004, the U.S. exit poll discrepancy was much more than normal exit poll
error (and similar to that of the invalid Ukraine election.[2] <#_ftn2>)

In a recent survey of US members of the world's oldest and largest
computer society, The Association for Computing Machinery, 95% opposed
software driven un-auditable voting machines[3] <#_ftn3>, of the type
that now count at least 30% of U.S. votes. Today's electronic
vote-counting machines are not required to include basic safeguards that
would prevent and detect machine or human caused errors, be they
innocent or deliberate.[4] <#_ftn4>

The consortium that conducted the presidential exit polls,
Edison/Mitofsky, issued a report in January suggesting that the
discrepancy between election results and exit polls occurred because
Bush voters were more reticent than Kerry voters in response to pollsters.

The authors of this newly released scientific study "Analysis of the
2004 Presidential Election Poll Discrepancies" consider this "reluctant
Bush responder" hypothesis to be highly implausible, based on extensive
analysis of Edison/Mitofsky's exit poll data. They conclude, /“The
required pattern of exit poll participation by Kerry and Bush voters to
satisfy the exit poll data defies empirical experience and common sense
under any assumed scenario.”/

A state-by-state analysis of the discrepancy between exit polls and
official election results shows highly improbable skewing of the
election results, overwhelmingly biased towards the President.

The report concludes, “/We believe that the absence of any
statistically-plausible explanation for the discrepancy between
Edison/Mitofsky’s exit poll data and the official presidential vote
tally is an unanswered question of vital national importance that needs
thorough investigation./”

Ph.D. statisticians in America who have seen this group's preliminary
exit poll study have not refuted it. This new study is a much more
comprehensive an analysis of the exit poll discrepancies.

The report is available on-line:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_2004_Edison-Mitofsky.pdf

An executive summary of the report by is available at:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Exit_Polls_summary.pdf

*Contributors and Supporters of the Report include:*

*Josh Mitteldorf*, PhD - Temple University Statistics Department

*Steven F. Freeman*, PhD - Center for Organizational Dynamics,
University of Pennsylvania

*Brian Joiner*, PhD - Prof. of Statistics (ret) University of Wisconsin

*Frank Stenger*, PhD - Professor, School of Computing, University of Utah

*Richard G. Sheehan*, PhD -Professor, Department of Finance, University
of Notre Dame

*Paul F. Velleman*, PhD - Associate Prof., Department of Statistical
Sciences, Cornell University

*Victoria Lovegren*, PhD - Department of Mathematics, Case Western
Reserve University

*Campbell** B. Read*, PhD - Prof. Emeritus, Department of Statistical
Science, Southern Methodist University

*Jonathan Simon*, J.D., National Ballot Integrity Project

*Ron Baiman, *PhD* *– Institute of Government and Public Affairs,
University of Illinois at Chicago

AARP lost me as a member over Medicare, but they did a good job on the local newscasts countering Bush yesterday in Cedar rapids.

The funny part of his stop was the sea of white hair inside while he professed caring for young workers, and all the young people were lining the streets holding signs of protest.

Don't worry, young people get it too.

since the crazies are running this country and black is white and white is black, I would like to share a joke that my daughter sent me. take it as you wish.

Jim & Edna



>Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital.
>One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool,
>Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of
>the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him.
>She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.
>When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act
>she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital,
>as she now considered her to be mentally stable.
>When she went to tell Edna the news she said, "Edna, I have
>good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged; since

>you
>were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving
the
>life
>of another patient, I have concluded that your act displays sound
>mindedness.
>The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself right after
you
>saved him with his bathrobe belt in the bathroom. I am so
>sorry, but he 's dead."
>Edna replied "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry.
>How soon can I go home?"
>

JudyforDean,

That reminds me of the article about the Faith-Based Presidency, I think it was, that made a similar point...

That Bush is so insecure, in reality, that the yes-people are around him -- not because of loyalty -- but because he is so unsure of himself, he doesn't allow any opposing views in order to preserve his thin veneer of confidence.

Because, deep down, he's pretty sure he's probably wrong most of the time...

I wish I could remember exactly which article and what the point was, but it was similar... Unlike Bush, at least I admit what I don't know...

And as they say in the East... ~To know you don't know, means you know...~

As if anyone needed any more proof that Tom DeLay is a pr!ck, I just read this statment DeLay issued:

"Mrs. Schiavo's death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo's friends in this time of deep sorrow."

Check it out: Tom DeLay is threatening the judges, the doctors, and Michael Schiavo.

Phil*from*Iowa. wrote on March 31, 2005 02:42 PM:


AARP lost me as a member over Medicare, but they did a good job on the local newscasts countering Bush yesterday in Cedar rapids.
=============
If they have sincerely repented from their backsliding, I may forgive them.

After all, but for the wonders of hairdressing, I would be one of the white-haired crowd myself.

Speaking of jokes, my 11 year old niece says this one cracks up her 6th grade classmates...

Really...

--
Why did the woman get a Botox treatment?

So she could actually look surprised when Bush destroys the world.
--

Out of the mouths of babes...

Corinne Marasco wrote on March 31, 2005 02:50 PM:
"...
The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today.
..."

======================
Definitely a pri!ck! But the words can also be seen from our perspective as making sure that DeLay answers for HIS behavior. It would be very nice if that COULD happen today.

Richard Morrison, if you run again, you will have LOTS and LOTS of campaign contributors!

Rich:

I've always found you to be an eminently sensible poster, but here I'm going to have to agree with Holly J and others about Schiavo.

Both the sad, sad Schiavo case and the Jacko freak show are what Frank Rich aptly termed mediathons. Both dance (moonwalk? :) all over the same hot buttons that so agitate the radical right.

One is entirely politically relevant -- the other deserves not many words from the blog.

Don't get me wrong -- I am *personally* fascinated by the Michael Jackson trial -- in a shameful kind of way, sure. It tickles my black-humor funnybone and whets my appetite for gaping at human absurdity. Same reason I enjoy reading about The Darwin Awards :)

But the Shiavo case almost provoked a Constitutional crisis. When you have one of the most conservative justices on the Federal bench -- a man who ruled to ban selling sex toys in Alabama because "the state has an interest in discouraging the purient interest in autonomous orgasm" (heh, tell that to the pen|s pump judge -- a federal magistrate in Colorado just de-benched because you could hear squishy noises on the court transcript tapes that came from a pen|s pump under his robes he entertained himself with [speaking of The Darwin Awards] -- but I digress :) reaming out Bush and Congress for trampling on the Constitution and slandering the judges in the Schiavo case for practicing -- hah! -- "judicial activism" -- then what you have is an issue that speaks directly to the potential fragmentation of the GOP electoral coalition.

When you have "Terri's Law" evoking precisely the same penumbral-doctrine "substantive due process" that conservatives have been decrying for 30 years in Roe v Wade and Affirmative Action -- then Houston, we have a problem.

The problem of a president, congress and rightwing activists who have zero principles when they see a goal they'd like to attain. And you can thus use the same slippery-slope arguments against ends-justified moral reasoning they've been hurling in OUR faces for the last 30 years. This presents us with a magnificent and thoroughly relevant opportunity to re-frame the debate.

But the lessons from the Schiavo case run even deeper than this. What it illustrates so signally is that so-called "pro-life" conservatives value life in proportion to its *conceptuality*. Terri Schiavo was only "alive" in the most provisional sense -- her "life," therefore, becomes precious beyond all imagining or reasonable allocation of resources.

When a 23-year-old minority kid from the projects gets railroaded in a capital murder case because his PD was drunk, drastically overworked or otherwise incompetent -- oh, no. That guy *fries*. The appeals process is limited for a *reason*, you know. That guy was a *person*.

Terri Shiavo may have been "alive" -- but she lost her personhood 15 years ago with her cerebral cortex. Fetuses are likewise alive, and certainly "potential human life" whatever your religious beliefs or non-beliefs are about when human life starts -- but neither are they persons in the womb. They have no personal identity beyond their genetic structure. Not being a person = human life precious beyond all imagining or reasonable allocation of resources.

Being a person = provisionally valued existence, snuffable by the state in wars or capital punishment.

This is a wedge we can drive directly into Rick Santorum's bunghole :)

Bob

Rich, et al - I believe DFA is in the process of creating a staff and volunteer directory, with photos. (they mentioned it and took my photo when I was there a couple of weeks ago). I agree that:
1) all staff should read thru the blog now and then to get a feel for who we are and what we think
2) they should blog with us once in a while to stay connected to us.

I know they are very busy ALL the time, so please have patience with them!

Tom DeLay is a dangerous snake in the grass that threatens democracy.

Howard has asked that we not let him sidetrack us; but I think they are in an attack mode on privacy and this is a framing exercise for them.

While I'm sure a staff and volunteer directory with photos will be useful, I'd like to see HQ engage us on something more substantive.

MonicaSmith wrote on March 31, 2005 02:34 PM

In case you missed the point (these academic types tend to be a bit obtuse), the polling firm has so far refused to release it's raw data, so the experts can't come to a definitive conclusion where things went wrong. Somebody with subpoena power has to demand that they produce the date.
A congressional panel called by a member of the minority (Conyers, for example) does not have subpeona power, but the chairs of Congressional committees do. So, we need to work on those Republicans to do the right thing and get to the bottom of his matter. After all, any one of them could run affowl of these crooks (Chafee and Specter have both been targeted by the Club for Growth) and some Republicans may well be next.
Indeed, Specter, having been narrowly re-elected might well have enough honor to launch an investigation. Isn't he head of Judiciary now?

Phil*from*Iowa. wrote on March 31, 2005 02:56 PM

Actually, if you pay attention to Stephen Moore, "reforming" the judiciary is the third leg of their four legged stool. The repeated references to "frivolous lawsuits" are clearly aimed at the judges for the simple reason that no lawsuit goes foward unless a judge agrees that it has some merit. There's a first level review which may occur at the same time as the defendant's automatic filing of a motion to dismiss, but no entirely frivolous law-suit actually goes forward, although people are free to file any damned thing they want.
No, it's the judiciary that's the target and the reasoning is quite simple. The proponents of the relations between people being handed over to the "invisible hand" of the free market, perceive a system where events occur automatically and nobody is responsible for anything. So, of course, there isn't any reason to have any laws that hold people accountable for their actions and no need for any judges at all, nor for any law.
This isn't anarchy because it assumes that the "laws" of the market will take care of everything. Sort of a law of nature (like gravity) applied to the affairs of men. Everybody just gets to do whatever he wants.

Corinne Marasco wrote on March 31, 2005 03:01 PM:
----
agreed! ;)

WOW wrote on March 31, 2005 02:07 PM:
----
Well said. The 1500 dead American soldiers and all those innocent dead Iraqi's must mean nothing to GWB. Err on the side of life, indeed...

JudyforDean wrote on March 31, 2005 02:35 PM

AARP is not being entirely altruistic. The discovered, perhaps belatedly, that Bush's Social Raiders are after their membership. That's what USANext is aiming at. $12.50 a year may not look like a lot of money, but when you consider that names and addresses collected from web sites are going for $300 per thousand, plus a percentage of any revenue the list generates, people signing up and PAYING for a membership, are a gold mine.

AARP dropped the ball on Medicare and Medicaide because they thought that their insurance "products" would benefit from participating in the drug program. Then they discovered that the legislation is written to benefit the drug industry, not the middlemen.

USA stood for United Seniors Association. USANext is simply the next version. Sort of like DFA 2.0

That their advertising has been particularly disgusting is not surprising since the principals are the same as were involved with the Club for Growth.

Anyway, AARP may have been caught flat-footed and a little over-confident in the loyalty of their membership. But they aren't slime line the Club for Growth and USANext. The people who running the polling and doing the advertising for Club for Growth are former staffers of guess who?

If you guessed Tom DeLay you're right. Bet you didn't guess that Dan Quail's people and Paul Coverdell's are also involved.

I just got this e-mail from Leslie Byrne, who is a candidate for Lt.Gov in Virginia. The Do Not Call information is the highlight:

Dear Friend,

As you may know, I have been both a national and Virginia leader in establishing "Do Not Call" lists. I learned recently that in a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls on your cell phones.

You can go to http://www.donotcall.gov/ and register all of your numbers on the Do Not Call list.

Or call this number from your cell phone: 1-888-382-1222. It is the national Do Not Call list. It blocks your number for 5 years. You must call from your cell phone. You may want to distribute this information to your friends and family.


With your help, I will be a Lieutenant Governor who protects consumers from marketers invading your privacy. If you would like more consumer updates please register with our web site: http://www.lesliebyrne.org/. Also, while you are there if you can help me achieve our fundraising goal by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT - it would be greatly appreciated. Just click here: Donate Now.

Let us hear from you!

Kindest Regards,

Leslie Byrne

rmck1 wrote on March 31, 2005 02:54 PM

Well argued.

While I'm always happy to see Howard honored, I have a hard time digesting the fact that he's getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Task Force.

He's done so much yet there's so much more I know he'll do...

Monica:

Thanks :)

Bob

Hey did Seattle bloggers know this?

Governor Dean is going to Seattle - be there April 13! Please join Governor Dean for his very first Seattle event as DNC chair.

RSVP today!

Seattle Breakfast with Governor Dean
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
8:00 - 9:30 AM
VIP Reception (for hosts and VIPs): 7:30 AM
Columbia Tower Club
701 5th Avenue, 76th Floor
Seattle, WA

To join the host committee or to RSVP and pay by check, please contact Seth Rosenbloom at 202-488-5019 or by email.

Please contact Addy Gross if you are interested in joining the Chairman's Circle, a new DNC leadership group. The Chairman's Circle is open to individuals that contribute or raise $5,000. Addy can be reached at 202-863-7155 or by email.
1. Choose the number of tickets
$125 Ticket

$250 VIP Reception

$1,000 Host

I couldn't agree with you more bob.

In case anyone missed this:

As expected, the 24 executive directors of the World Bank unanimously voted Thursday to elect Paul Wolfowitz president.

Wolfowitz, 61, was nominated by U.S. President Bush to lead the 184-nation development bank. Critics of the appointment pointed to his role as a leading Bush administration proponent of the war in Iraq.

CNN reported

By JOHN HANSEN
President, Nebraska Farmers Union

As a recent New York Times article on ag subsidies clearly shows, family farm agriculture is now reaping the public perception and political backlash that the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Corn Growers Association, National Soybean Growers, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the U.S. based grain traders set us up for and created in 1996.

They transformed traditional farm programs from price supporting programs that forced the grain traders to pay up for grain commodities, which caused the cost of farm programs to be relatively low, and the majority of farm income to be realized through the cash market into income transfer programs that look, feel, and taste like welfare programs to most observers.

The fact that the actual structure is a "make up allowance" of sorts for lost market place value lost is seldom if ever recognized. The common perception becomes the reality, which is the current structure of farm programs is politically indefensible and fiscally vulnerable, just as Farmers Union said it was in the 1996 Farm Bill battle.

When we compare the 1996 value of the national production of six crops: Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Grain Sorghum, Rice, and Cotton for the years 1997 through 2003, farmers were paid an average of $14.6 billion less for their crops. That amounts to $102.45 billion less money the raw material processors paid farmers for their crops during the 1997-2003 period.

So, who are the primary beneficiaries of the "farm subsidies"? Not the family farmers who lost more market place value than they got in income transfers -- and produced most of their crops most years at below the USDA's Economic Research Service estimated cost of production. Not the consumers who did not pay proportionally less for the processed food products they bought. The food processors and food retailers.

They continue to steal raw material food production from farmers and ranchers for below full cost of production, with the help of our national farm and trade policy, which continues to be driven and supported by the food industry conglomerates with the political support of the very organizations that are supposed to be representing America's family farmers and ranchers.

What is worse, the very same set of big agribusiness players and their political supporters are now positioned to use the growing federal deficit and the direction of WTO negotiations to further carry out their self serving economic agenda to reduce and eliminate domestic income supports which are now called "subsidies". The new Congress leadership and the White House both support this agenda.

American farmers and ranchers are being fed to the U.S. based international corporate sharks by their own public officials, commodity organizations, and the American Farm Bureau Federation. Our traditional system of independent, farmer and rancher owned food and fiber production is being destroyed and dismantled in favor of the industrialized, top down corporate owned and controlled version of the failed former Soviet model.

In the last election, rural voters, just as the low self esteem victims of prolonged domestic abuse often do, once again helped their own abusers further beat and humiliate them.

John Hansen is president of the Nebraska Farmers Union

War News for Thursday, March 31, 2005

Bring ‘em on: One US soldier, two Iraqi civilians killed in Mosul car bomb attack.

Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed in Baghdad patrol ambush.

Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed by land mine near Qaim.

Bring ‘em on: Three Romanians, one US citizen taken hostage in Baghdad.

Bring ‘em on: Shiite pilgrims attacked by gunmen near Mahaweel.

Bring ‘em on: Shiite pilgrims attacked by gunmen near Latifiyah.

Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi soldier killed, 10 wounded in car bomb attack near Kirkuk.

Bring ‘em on: US convoy attacked by car bomb near Abu Ghraib.

Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqis killed in attack on police checkpoint near Mosul.

Bring ‘em on: Seven Iraqis killed in ambush of US patrol in Mosul.

Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police captain assassinated in Mosul.

Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi soldiers killed in car bomb attack near Samarra.

Bring ‘em on: Three Shiite pilgrims killed, 19 wounded by car bomb near Tikrit.

Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqi policemen wounded in car bomb ambush near Basra.

Mission accomplished? Yes the Whitehouse and the Pentagon are off the hook for bad intell. It was all the CIA and FBI faulty intell that got us in this war.
Give me a break here, please! The neocons and their Office of Special Plans wasn't even mentioned.
Control of the media has its advantages, that's for sure!

Franklin D R wrote on March 31, 2005 02:19 PM:


www.swingstateproject.com has lots of interesting information about future elections. It tells who is running ads against TD.

Conrah Burns a Rep from Montana seems to be having some ethical problems too. He votes against the best interest of his state.

That is our goal at Meetups is to unseat Conrad Burns. There are currently four good possible candidates on the Dem side to replace him.
Even the older school Repubs are mad at him.

Greetings bloggers:

I was on earlier about trying to get appointed to the County Assessors Position.

I just had an idea and wanted to run it by you for feedback.
I am asking influential people for letters of support that I can send on to the Central Committee, but also will be taking excerpts out of to send in a letter to all of the Precinct Committeemen.

Should I contact the current Assessor? Talk with him about my qualifications and ask if HE would endorse me?

What do you think?

khaliela wrote on March 31, 2005 04:29 PM:
You have nothing to lose and all to gain, go for it!

Notorious B.O.B...

Ended up not really being around last night, but will try to read your classical music spam...

I'm not very edumicated in that there genre, but I like to learn...

Take care, everyone...

Until another time...

The BFA Community: We Show Up (Still)

That's what I'm taking about baby, show us the manganello!

Last night Howard was at his Howardly best in Philadelphia. The place was packed and buzzing with excitement. We were energized and enthusiastic about Howard’s remarks even though we have read or heard much of them. Met a quite a few registered Republicans who like the message and the messenger. Howard looked good, relaxed and funny and totally accessible as always-smiled when I said “2012”. Many faces from Dean for America era now part of the DNC. Crowd responded to “staying on message” and elected Democrats being more “disciplined”. He clearly articulated that we all must be able to find common ground in this “Values” conversation, and not ridicule each other however illogical our thoughts and fears might sound. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and definitely got a boost about staying focused in doing my little bit in making this a truly compassionate world.

Vermonter:

***We Still Show Up***

That's pretty good.

Re: Arizona Border

Spread the rumor that all illegals crossing the border are not born again. Fundies will line up in mass at the border and scare the intelligent job seekers back to a more sane country.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Zack Manganello lover in SF (aka Tanner, I presume).

And yes, I do read the posts here on the blog as often as I can.

Let's take our country back!

I do not understand why the Radical Christian community allowed Terri Schiavo to die. They decided it was better to let Ms. Shaivo die to gain media attention than it was to bring in their miracle healers, Reverend Benny Hinn or the
Reverend Ernest Angley. I see these two gentlemen heal the ill and the disabled on TV all the time. Why couldn't a good Christian like Randall Terry use his influence to bring one of these ministers to Terri Schiavo's bedside?

If they could have only stopped posturing in front of the television cameras for a couple minutes to think this out, Ms. Shiavo could have walked out of that hospice and proclaimed the glory of a televangelist miracle!

rmck1 wrote on March 31, 2005 02:54 PM:
Hello Bob. Email space is easier to get back homethen phone lines so take a few moments here. Don’t know when I’ll get to answer however.
Frankly I don’t get what your rant is. I tried to check upthr