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Posted by vicki at 01:25 PM | Comments (1)

Ivy Forum

Please join us for lunch to hear Expectations for the Democratic Majority

Congressman-elect John Yarmuth

11:30 a.m., Wednesday, December 15

Vincenzo’s Restaurant

150 South Fifth Street, Louisville, Kentucky

Cost: $15 per person

All reservations must be paid in advance by check or credit card. E-mail your reservations to: todd.higgerson@aya.yale.edu Include the names of those covered and whether you are paying by check or credit card. By check: After e-mailing your reservations, make your check payable to Yale in Kentucky, Inc., and mail it with a printed copy of your reservation e-mail to Todd Higgerson, Chrysalis Ventures, LLC, 101 South Fifth Street, Suite 1650, Louisville, KY 40202-3122. By credit card via PayPal: After e-mailing your reservations, you will receive an e-mail invoice you can pay securely with your credit card, even if you do not have a PayPal account.

Reservation deadline: TBA

The Ivy Forum is a gathering of Louisville area university alumni associations formed to sponsor speakers on topics of public interest.

Posted by vicki at 12:40 PM

Bu$h is murderously stubborn when it comes to Iraq. Only a sociopath would condem civilians and military to death out of unbending pride. The latest from The New York Times

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 30 — President Bush today proclaimed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki "the right guy for Iraq," and said the two had agreed to speed the turnover of security responsibility from American to Iraqi forces. But Mr. Bush dismissed a reported decision by an independent bipartisan panel to call for a gradual withdrawal of troops.

President Bush met with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq today in Amman, Jordan.
"I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq," the president said during a joint news conference with Mr. Maliki, referring to the panel's reports that are expected next week. "We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done so long as the government wants us there."

Posted by vicki at 12:22 PM | Comments (1)

Hahahahahahaha. Maybe Hollywood should come up with a sitcom called, "Everyone Hates Bu$hie" I got this from Talkingpointsmemo.com via The Hill

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t.

Posted by vicki at 09:20 PM

OMG. Bu$h was abruptly stood up by Prime Minister Maliki today. It doesn't get more humiliating than that. Here is CNN's take on this smackdown

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- President Bush's high-profile meeting with Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday was postponed after disclosure of U.S. doubts about the Iraqi prime minister's capabilities and a political boycott in Baghdad protesting his attendance.

Instead of two days of talks, Bush and al-Maliki will have breakfast and a single meeting followed by a news conference on Thursday morning, the White House said.

The abrupt change was an almost unheard-of development in the high-level diplomatic circles of a U.S. president, a king and a prime minister. There were conflicting explanations about what happened.(Watch what's at stake for Bush Video)

Bush had been scheduled to meet in a three-way session with al-Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday night, and had rearranged his schedule to be in Amman for both days for talks aimed at reducing the spiral of violence in Iraq.

The last-minute cancellation was not announced until Bush had already come to Raghadan Palace and posed for photographs alone with the king.

Posted by vicki at 09:06 PM

Heck of a job, Bu$hie. I wish Colin Powell, the talking heads and that tiny band of Bu$h supporters would just shut the hell up and stop pretending there is any way out of the mess Bu$hCo has made of Iraq. Bu$h is despised the world over and has disgraced the U.S. like no other. Jim Baker's laughable "Iraq Study Group" is a tragic joke. Here's the latest progress on the ground in Iraq

52 bodies found in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Police in Baghdad on Wednesday said they found 52 bullet-riddled bodies across the capital.

Most of them were found on the west side of the Tigris River, which has a mostly Sunni population. However, it is not known if the slain people were Sunnis, Shiites or both.

Dumped bodies are a common mode of sectarian killings, and many slain people are found shot and tortured every day in Baghdad. --From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq (Posted 1:49 p.m.)
Al-Maliki skips dinner with Bush, Jordanian leader

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Jordan on Wednesday and met with Jordan's King Abdullah. However, he skipped a dinner with President Bush and Abdullah, and is to meet with the president on Thursday, said Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett.

Because that bilateral meeting was held, it was decided that a three-way meeting was not required, Bartlett said.

It had been reported that Bush-al-Maliki meetings -- focusing on the out-of-control security situation across Iraq -- would start Wednesday.

Posted by vicki at 02:00 PM

What do you think? Dear Leader Lacy, from New Albany made it for us. Woo Hoo! Thanks Lacy.

Posted by vicki at 08:48 PM | Comments (2)

My stinking head hurts. You have to go to the "underground," AKA blogs to get the dirt on the dangerous ReThugs who are masquerading as Democrats. This is why Mrs. Pelosi is correct to reject Harmon from virtually any leadership post: Here's a sample

If Democrats are looking for a chief intelligence overseer who will be strong on constitutional protections and intel analysis that "gets it right," these quotes indicate they may want to look beyond "the best Republican in the Democratic party," as Harman has called herself. Harman on-the-record quotes are legion, likely owing in no small part to her love of the spotlight (and the microphone). We've put a few we dug up together with those already unearthed. Heard a good Harman quote? Send it along.

Jeepers! Stop this crank.

A sample: On Colin Powell's U.N. speech: "I happen to know that our intelligence agencies made absolutely certain that it was totally accurate, and that anything put out there had been reviewed 100 times to make sure it was accurate." (Fox News, Big Story with John Gibson, 2/6/03)

On Saddam Hussein's WMDs: "There's a strong intelligence case that Iraq has not destroyed its weapons of mass destruction and is building the capability to use them." (Washington Post, 1/30/03)

She is not worthy.

Posted by vicki at 10:50 PM | Comments (2)

Our brave, proud (hahahahahaha) media have taken the stand that reality will make a brief appearence in their presence as they announce the obvious: Iraq is (and has been for quite some time) in a state of CIVIL WAR They will pride themselves for their bravery and independence.

They have as much blood on their hands as the politicians they gave cover to as Bu$h launched his idiotic, dangerous neocon plan to "remake the Middle East" based on a wing and a prayer.

Now that NBC, Newsweek, CNN and the Los Angeles Times have decided that the civil war in Iraq should actually be called a civil war, the way is open for the MSM to call more things by their true names, rather than their Orwell names. What's the worst that could happen to the media -- Tony Snow has a hissy fit?

Read the HuffPo article here. *Sigh*

Posted by vicki at 10:04 PM | Comments (2)

As any one watching the Sunday talk shows or listening to the media bobbleheads recently knows, Nancy Pelosi doesn't like Rep. Jane Harman. Not only that, but Pelosi is frequently accused of being so petty toward Harman that their little cat fight may keep Harman from chairing the Intelligence Committee. As The New Republic notes

In the debate over which Democrat should lead the House Intelligence Committe, Alcee Hastings has endured a lot of well-deserved scrutiny lately. But it's only fair to note that Jane Harman wasn't exactly a lantern in the darkness in the runup to the Iraq war:

"There's a strong intelligence case that Iraq has not destroyed its weapons of mass destruction and is building the capability to use them," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House intelligence committee. "There's a growing al Qaeda presence in Iraq, and I think the case can be made that there is a growing affiliation" between Baghdad and terrorist groups.

Growing al Qaeda presence? I knew that Harman supported the war. I hadn't realized quite how much bad intel she swallowed whole.

or this:

Harman has swallowed much more than just "bad intel" on Iraq. For instance, when it was revealed that the President was eavesdropping on Americans without warrants -- i.e. , in violation of the law -- Harman immediately became, far and away, the most prominent and vocal Democratic defender of the President's law-breaking, enabling Time Magazine to say this on January 3, 2006 -- just two weeks after the Times reported on the law-breaking, when impressions were still forming among Americans as to how grave of a scandal this was:

G.O.P. strategists argue that Democrats have little leeway to attack on the issue because it could make them look weak on national security and because some of their leaders were briefed about the National Security Agency (NSA) no-warrant surveillance before it became public knowledge.

Some key Democrats even defend it. Says California's Jane Harman, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee: "I believe the program is essential to U.S. national security and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities."

Our miserable, disgraceful media is still playing political games instead of informing the public.

Posted by vicki at 04:21 PM

Hahahahahahahaha. What a nut case. I found this on AOL.com. Whew!

DENVER (Nov. 26) - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Homeowners association president Bob Kearns ordered the five architectural control committee members to require the wreath's removal. When they refused, concluding it was merely a seasonal symbol, Kearns fired them.

Posted by vicki at 10:58 AM | Comments (1)

Good gawd. Nothing is sacred in this corrupt WH. Bu$hCo, with republican backing, has begun closing off the Environmental Protection Agency's research libraries. Their own scientists are forbidden access.

Closing the EPA libraries is the perfect symbol to characterize the methods of the Bush administration. Since 2000, the Republicans have cemented their reputation as ushers of a new dark age. They have sought to shroud the light of science by closing libraries and by suppressing scientific reports. They have gagged their own scientists and persecuted whistleblowers. They have cloaked government in secrecy, a prime example being Dick Cheney's secret meetings with oil companies to draft an industry-friendly national energy policy. But that era is now winding down.

Read it and weep.

Posted by vicki at 11:51 AM

Jeepers H. Christmas. This WH is out of control. The death toll rises throughout the Middle East and there is STILL no exit plan and certainly no plan to even stabilize the situation in Iraq. Bu$hCo has broken so many laws it's hard to sort them all out. My head hurts.

Read this in THe Nation

The Bush Administration has refused to seriously investigate the abuses that have taken place under Rumsfeld's command, so CCR has had to go to Germany to do it. Why Germany? The complaint is being filed under the Code of Crimes against International Law, enacted by Germany in compliance with the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court in 2002, which Germany ratified.

The CCIL provides for "universal jurisdiction" for war crimes, crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity. It enables the German Federal Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes constituting a violation of the CCIL, irrespective of the location of the defendant or plaintiff, the place where the crime was carried out, or the nationality of the persons involved.

The German Prosecutor has discretion to decide whether to initiate an investigation. CCR is urging people to write to her so she knows that people around the world support this effort. Please urge the German Prosecutor to open an investigation into this case. CCR has a good letter you can send along with contact info. (Note that all letters are in both German and English with German appearing first.)

Crikey! We really, really need accountability.

Posted by vicki at 09:15 PM

Damn George Bu$h, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the Neocons to hell. CNN is reporting that 144 civilians were killed by 6 coordinated car bombs in the last few hours. Screw the "Iraq Study (sic) Group," Biden's partition plan and all the rest. It's over. This complete FUBAR is beyond fixing. The Bu$h regime has blown up the Middle East beyond anyone's wildest dream.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgent attacks in Iraq killed 3,709 civilians last month, making October the deadliest month since the war began in 2003, according to U.N. figures.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq, which issues bimonthly human rights reports on the war-torn country, came out with its findings for September and October on Wednesday.

September had 3,345 civilian deaths -- which, along with October, would bring to 7,054 the number of violent deaths during the two-month period, according to the U.N. tally.

Baghdad alone had no less than 4,985 deaths, "most of them as a result of gunshot wounds," said the U.N. Assistance Mission, using figures provided by the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Read more about Mission Accomplished at www.cnn.com My head hurts.

Posted by vicki at 11:13 AM

Whew! You really cannot make this s**t UP! Maria sent me the link to the Smirking Chimp site where this article came from. You'll want to click on the link to Sy Hersh's article in the New Yorker and feel like Halloween came a little late this year.

Seymour Hersh is reporting in The New Yorker that Dick Cheney is in the middle of advocating a military strike on Iran. This could start a war with no foreseeable end. The US versus the whole Muslim world. Is there anything more dangerous in the world? Osama bin Laden would love to start a war like this, but he doesn't have the capacity.

Cheney does.

As Hersh and others point out, this is not a done deal. There are other forces inside the White House who are battling the Vice President over the tiny battleground that is George Bush's mind. But the fact that Cheney is waging this fight and would attack Iran if he had his way clearly makes him the most dangerous man on earth.

Can we really take take 2 more years of this? Impeach the bastards, for the good of the world.

Posted by vicki at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)

Ivy Forum

Please join us for lunch to hear Expectations for the Democratic Majority

Congressman-elect John Yarmuth

11:30 a.m., Wednesday, December 6

Vincenzo’s Restaurant

150 South Fifth Street, Louisville, Kentucky

Cost: $15 per person

All reservations must be paid in advance by check or credit card. E-mail your reservations to: todd.higgerson@aya.yale.edu Include the names of those covered and whether you are paying by check or credit card. By check: After e-mailing your reservations, make your check payable to Yale in Kentucky, Inc., and mail it with a printed copy of your reservation e-mail to Todd Higgerson, Chrysalis Ventures, LLC, 101 South Fifth Street, Suite 1650, Louisville, KY 40202-3122. By credit card via PayPal: After e-mailing your reservations, you will receive an e-mail invoice you can pay securely with your credit card, even if you do not have a PayPal account.

Reservation deadline: 5 p.m. Friday, December 1, 2006

The Ivy Forum is a gathering of Louisville area university alumni associations formed to sponsor speakers on topics of public interest.

Posted by vicki at 07:03 PM

Well, well. Holy Joe Loserman finally met his match in Marshall Wittmann. Wittmann knows better than anyone what it means to take a radical stand for...nothing. He's for sale to the highest bidder, Just like odious Joe. From the New York Times:

— Senator Joseph I. Lieberman announced Tuesday that he had hired a new spokesman, which is not in itself that noteworthy, except that the said spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, is one of the great career vagabonds, ideological contortionists and political pontificators ever to inflict himself on a city full of them.

To say that Mr. Wittmann defies classification is like saying Paris Hilton defies modesty. But in his peripatetic soul, he is a Washington Original, a man without a political country going to work for a senator without a political party.

Mr. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat of Connecticut who was re-elected as an independent and calls himself an “Independent Democrat,” has not ruled out becoming a Republican.

Mr. Wittmann, meanwhile, is a Trotskyite turned Zionist turned Reaganite turned bipartisan irritant turned pretty much everything in between — including chief lobbyist for the Christian Coalition, the only Jew who has ever held that position.

Let's hope Democrats pick up more Senate seats in '08 and tell Joe to take a hike.

Posted by vicki at 12:44 PM

Keith does it again! On "Countdown" last night, (channel 45 at 8:00) Olberman delivered another withering deconstruction of Bu$h's idiotic statements in Vietnam. Full transcript and video at Crooks And Liars site here

Posted by vicki at 09:41 AM

Hahahahahaha. That great, swaggering ass of Neocon war lust- Ken Adelman- has no place to hide. The ttile of this (always excellent) Harpers Magazine says it all.
Click here

Ken Adelman: A Rat Abandons a Ship of Fools

“Embittered Insiders Turn Against Bush,” was the headline of a front-page Washington Post story yesterday that detailed how former Iraq hawks have broken with the Bush Administration over the war. Exhibit A was Ken Adelman, a onetime Reagan Administration official and “onetime member of the Iraq war brain trust,” who has fallen out with Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, and who told the Post that “the President is ultimately responsible” for the “debacle” in Iraq.

Adelman's hypocrisy is stunning. In 2002 it was he who famously predicted that American forces would enjoy “a cakewalk” in Iraq, and during the run-up to the invasion he derided war critics for their stupidity and naiveté. “There's always the chicken littles, running around and saying 'oh my God, it's terrible,'” he said on Hardball, six days before the war began, when asked about the possibility that things might not go as smoothly as he and his fellow-hawks had predicted.

Posted by vicki at 08:48 AM

Who ordered agents into the field to spy and collect data on Peace groups? Thanks to the ACLU, we may find out.

Military Documents Hold Tips on Antiwar Activities Times article here

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.
[. . .]
Mr. Baur was responding to the latest batch of documents produced by the military under a Freedom of Information Act request brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. The A.C.L.U. planned to release the documents publicly on Tuesday, and officials with the group said they would push for Democrats, newly empowered in Congress, to hold formal hearings about the Talon database.

Posted by vicki at 08:29 AM

Hoo, boy! If you thought Tom DeLay was a horse's ass, get a load of his temp replacement. This nut has all of a few weeks to "serve" as his replacement before the new Congress takes over. A Democrat won the seat. The Huston Chronicle has the scoop.

Six days ago, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs stood on the House floor, basking in the applause of colleagues who welcomed the 109th Congress' newest — and final — member.

Refusing to be hemmed in by a term that spans only a few weeks, the Houston Republican vowed to accomplish much: help cut taxes, fix a broken immigration system and battle terrorism.

But in less than a week, her star has been badly tarnished by an odd series of actions, and she's been lampooned on Web sites, talk radio and in gossip columns.

And it gets better:

Rumors flew on Capitol Hill and in Texas political circles as people tried to guess what could have prompted seven veteran congressional aides to walk out en masse just days after their service to Sekula-Gibbs began.

Was it any displeasure or unrealistic expectations from the congresswoman about President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney not attending a reception she hosted Tuesday or the fact that she didn't get invited to a White House dinner for freshmen joining Congress in January? Disagreements with staff over how well she was briefed so she could cast her first votes Monday night, shortly after taking the oath of office from Speaker Dennis Hastert? Or a request that her staff draft an immigration bill even before she'd taken office so she could introduce it on her first day?

Hahahahahahahahahahaha Delusions of grandure.

Posted by vicki at 09:08 AM

Good old Rev. Todd is flying above the fray, once again. Check out this sermon: Hildegard von Bingen
A Woman Before Her Time Then click here to read the entire Sermon here:

Most of us start out this way, setting aside our own calling in order to fit in and get along. We spend the first half of our life working within the system in order to establish ourselves, with a successful career and home life. But our innermost truth remains with us throughout this process waiting for us to realize there must be more to life than being a cog in the wheel. This increasing sense of dissatisfaction with our lives, this awareness that we have left something unfinished and unfulfilled, usually comes at midlife, correlating with the Fall season, during which we begin letting go of the habits and truths we once held as absolute. Fall prepares us for the necessity of Winter, when our hair will thin and turn white like snow. The Winter rest, nature’s Sabbath, restores the energy necessary for the renewal that comes in Spring. But before we can get there, we must Fall, we must learn to let go. Fall is a period of transformation, when our lives change, sometimes by the sudden loss of a successful career, a long-term relationship, or, as in Hildegard’s case, an unexpected illness. We usually refer to these experiences as “a midlife crisis,” but, just as leafs change their colors in the Fall, they are more an opportunity for transformation and awakening. “When I was forty-two years and seven months old,” Hildegard wrote, “a burning light of tremendous brightness coming from heaven poured into my entire mind. Like a flame that does not burn but enkindles, it inflamed my entire heart and my entire breast, just like the sun that warms an object with its rays.”

I love Liberalls!

Posted by vicki at 12:38 AM

Remember this? It is now showing this weekend. Derek has the details on his blog. Fieldtrip anyone?

One of the Big Three networks is reporting on a new Documentery out this past weekend titled, "Jesus Camp." This camp aims to radicalize youths for Jesus. They speak in tounges and worship pictures of GW Bu$h. OY! The rise of fundamentalist religious zealots of every stripe should be a concern to us all.

They manipulate their members through fear, propaganda and political radicalism. Here's a snip, but you can check out the whole story here

Sept. 17, 2006 An in-your-face documentary out this weekend is raising eyebrows, raising hackles and raising questions about evangelizing to young people.

Speaking in tongues, weeping for salvation, praying for an end to abortion and worshipping a picture of President Bush these are some of the activities at Pastor Becky Fischer's Bible camp in North Dakota, "Kids on Fire," subject of the provocative new documentary, "Jesus Camp."

"I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places," Fisher said. "Because, excuse me, we have the truth."

"A lot of people die for God," one camper said, "and they're not afraid."
"We're kinda being trained to be warriors," said another, "only in a funner way."

The film has caused a split among evangelicals. Some say it's designed to demonize. Others have embraced it, including Fischer, who's helping promote the film. "I never felt at any point that I was exploited," Fischer said. I think there is a push right now in a lot of evangelical churches to definitely keep the teenagers and keep the children in the faith," said Heidi Ewing, co-director of "Jesus Camp." "And this is one version of that attempt."

Posted by vicki at 06:31 PM

Big Time thanks to Lee for this little gem. While you were sleeping, Bu$hCo thought they'd invade your reproductive RIGHTS. Again. From the WaPo

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women." [editorial comment: DROP DEAD, loser]

Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said yesterday.

Keroack, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will advise Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy. He will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons."

Quack! Quack! Quack! You really cannot make this UP. Seriously, we can not let this stand.

Posted by vicki at 11:14 PM

Like Jazz? Great pizza? Your Nirvana is here:

Paul and I will be performing our jazz repertoire at Clifton's again this Sunday evening, November 19th at 7:00 p.m.

Take a friend to see/hear Lucy and Paul.

www.bickett-davisduo.com or click and enjoy the show.

Posted by vicki at 01:37 PM

Did my vote count? Hard to say. One thing is for sure; the republican party approves of voting machines without an audit or paper trail. These machines are largely used in states with Republicans Governors and Secretaries of State in charge of voting. It doesn't get more anti-democratic than that. Throw the bums out! From the New York Times

Last week’s elections provided a lot of disturbing news about the reliability of electronic voting — starting, naturally, with Florida. In a Congressional race there between Vern Buchanan, a Republican, and Christine Jennings, a Democrat, the machines in Sarasota County reported that more than 18,000 people, or one in eight, did not choose either candidate. That “undervote” of nearly 13 percent is hard to believe, given that only about 2.5 percent of absentee voters did not vote in that race. If there was a glitch, it may have made all the difference. Ms. Jennings trails Mr. Buchanan by about 400 votes.

The serious questions about the Buchanan- Jennings race only add to the high level of mistrust that many people already feel about electronic voting. More than half of the states, including California, New York, Ohio and Illinois, now require that electronic voting machines produce voter-verified paper records, which help ensure that votes are properly recorded. But Congress has resisted all appeals to pass a law that would ensure that electronic voting is honest and accurate across the nation. [my bold]

Fortunately, that may be about to change. With the Democrats now in control of both houses, there is an excellent chance of passing tough electronic voting legislation.

That is an outrage. Let's hope the wave that swept this current gang of crooks out of office in '06 continues.

Posted by vicki at 08:03 AM

I was watching CNN tonight and Wolf Blitzer showed a clip of James Carville ripping into DNC Chairman, Howard Dean for "losing 20 seats" for the DCCC. What the.... So I checked www.dailykos.com and found the real truth of the matter. Read it and shake your head in wonder.

Is Carville is carrying Emanuel's water on this one? I don't know for sure, but I do know that the rest of the Dem Party establishment has credited Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy for the great success of this cycle. Senator Schumer said so himself in a comment in his diary today:

Friday night I was on the Bill Maher show and talked about what a great job Dean has been doing at the DNC. The DNC helped out at a crucial time financially and organizationally that helped put us over the top.

Chuck Schumer hasn't run around to every traditional media outlet to pat himself on the back and hog all the credit for this victory, when our victories in the Senate were incredible. We all knew we'd take the House, but how many really thought we could swing six Senate seats? Schumer's leadership in this achievement was critical, but he graciously acknowledges all contributions to the effort.

This year we won because we are smart, committed to a common cause, determined, and indefatigable. The diversity of our new Democratic majority shows that we have a big tent. From Ben Cardin to Amy Klobuchar to Bob Casey to Bernie Sanders, to Jon Tester and James Webb, our candidates were energetic campaigners, and will now be exceptional members of the Senate.

Carville is a fool to bash a major player in his own party a week after a successful election. He's mad as a hatter, I tell ya. He's giving Dems a bad name by being ungreatful for the millions of dollars Dean raised and the GOTV Dean got from an energized grassroots. That kind of sucks.

Posted by vicki at 07:48 PM

DLer Mike F. sent me this. He found it on that dirty hippie, Michael Moore's site. You can see how hateful and destructive the positions he advocates are by the following snip. The list is long so be sure to read to the end. The best is saved for last. More here

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

Isn't "love thy neighbor" a major CHRISTIAN tennent? It's been MIA in the GOP for as long as I can remember.

Posted by vicki at 07:27 PM

We're trying to keep books and DVDs people are anxious to read in stock and reunite some of the older titles with their owners. If there's a book you want to read, we'll try to locate a copy for you. Drop a line in the comment section.

Posted by vicki at 07:48 PM

I really don't get it. Jack Murtha is a hardcore conservative Democrat who is often at odds with his party, has major ethical problems, is pro NRA and anti-reproductive rights for women. So why is Mrs. Pelosi backing him? Here's a snip from The Nation: click here

Murtha, according to Sloan, [Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] was also instrumental in undermining the House ethics committee. In the late 1990s, he successfully pushed (with other legislators) to change the committee's rules to prevent it from accepting ethics complaints from parties outside Congress. He also pressed Democratic leaders to name Representative Alan Mollohan of West Virginia the senior Democrat of the ethics committee. Mollohan has had his own ethics troubles--which have forced him off the ethics committee--and is a member of CREW's Top (or Bottom) 20. (See here.) "Murtha really doesn't like the ethics committee," says Sloan, speculating this may be due to Murtha's involvement in the Abscam bribery scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s. (The ethics committee chose not to file charges against Murtha, after which the panel's special counsel resigned in protest.) "Murtha seems like a bad choice from our perspective," Sloan said.

The fight to be Pelosi's No. 2 has its odd dynamics. Hoyer is regarded as a centrist sort of Democrat. He's no virgin when it comes to the institutional corruptions of House, readily hitting up corporate interests for campaign cash. But Hoyer has not been accused of ethical violations. Though Murtha advocates a get-out-of-Iraq-now position, he is a hawkish conservative who has attacked Hoyer for being too liberal.

UPDATE! Hoyer wins 149 to 86. Who are the 86 (how appropriate) who voted for corruption?

Posted by vicki at 10:33 AM

There is something really sick about the unholy alliance between evangelical Christians and warmongering Israelis. Both Sharon and now Olmert have shown a careless disregard for human life in the name of "security" Sound familiar? Read more

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — As Israeli bombs fell on Lebanon for a second week last July, the Rev. John Hagee of San Antonio arrived in Washington with 3,500 evangelicals for the first annual conference of his newly founded organization, Christians United For Israel.

At a dinner addressed by the Israeli ambassador, a handful of Republican senators and the chairman of the Republican Party, Mr. Hagee read greetings from President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and dispatched the crowd with a message for their representatives in Congress. Tell them “to let Israel do their job” of destroying the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, Mr. Hagee said.

He called the conflict “a battle between good and evil” and said support for Israel was “God’s foreign policy.”

The next day he took the same message to the White House.

Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president’s support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second coming. Many on the left, in turn, fear that such theology may influence decisions the administration makes toward Israel and the Middle East.

Administration officials say that the meeting with Mr. Hagee was a courtesy for a political ally and that evangelical theology has no effect on policy making. But the alliance of Israel, its evangelical Christian supporters and President Bush has never been closer or more potent.

Posted by vicki at 07:51 AM

Sweet! Someone in the horrible misadministration needs to be held accountable. Read the rest here.

On Nov. 10, Time magazine plugged this week's issue by releasing an exclusive story: Preparations are being made in Germany to bring war crimes charges against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Lost in the hubbub of news about the suit, Rumsfeld's resignation and calls from some conservatives to pull U.S. soldiers out of Germany in response is what is perhaps the most interesting element of Time's story. Former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the general once charged with running the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, will be testifying against Rumsfeld.

The abuse of prisoners has long been portrayed by the administration as the antics of a few lone soldiers and the failure of command staff on the ground -- including Karpinski -- to rein in their troops, but Karpinski will reportedly tell a different story.

Time reports that Karpinski has issued a written statement about her testimony; in it, she says that "it was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld."

Posted by vicki at 01:01 PM

Hoo, boy! This Congress will die of old age before they get to the bottom of all the corruption, deception and mismanagement of the Bu$h/Cheney regime. At long last, oversight!

LOS ANGELES - The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.

There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in
Iraq and on homeland security, political interference in regulatory decisions by the
Environmental Protection Agency and the
Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of war profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything," Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. "The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose."

Henry is gonna be a busy man.

Posted by vicki at 11:27 AM

Flying Saucers
Todd F. Eklof's Weird & Wonderful Theory of Molecular Space Travel
by
Todd F. Eklof
October 29, 2006 Click here for your Sunday Sermon Go to Church in your PJ's.

Posted by vicki at 01:57 AM

Hahahahahahahahaha. This is prolly the funniest thing I've ever read in a newspaper.

DENVER -- There will be prayer, and perhaps the laying on of hands. There will be counseling and a confession. And there will be advice, confrontation and rebuke from "godly men" appointed to oversee the spiritual "restoration" of the Rev. Ted Haggard.

Sweet Baby Jeepers, you just cannot make this UP! Read the HIGH-larious tale here: What are these people smoking?

Posted by vicki at 08:58 AM

Thanks to Jeff for bringing something very sweet! to our DL Par Tay on Thursday.

Posted by vicki at 08:27 AM

OK, this is WAY under the radar of our intrepid press corp, but still! Wake the hell UP, America! We have provably hackable voting machines with virtually no audit trail in place in some of the most corrupt States in the Union. Florida leads the way, natch. Jebby knows a thing or two about stealing an election. Every single poll showed Katherine Harris losing by about 30% points, yet she now finds herself in a re-count vote? WTF? Pitchforks and torches, Peeps! This is totally un-American and unacceptable.

Read it here and demand a recount.

My head hurts.

Posted by vicki at 10:24 PM

It's always a pleasure to post a Derek rant.

What Upsets Me About The Recent Election

While I was quite happy to attend John Yarmuth's election (and victory) party on Tuesday evening, and while it is encouraging to see such local progress reflected in the nationwide tide of Democratic victories, there are still a few things about this week's election results that are troubling to me.

For instance, Bob Corker defeated the Democratic candidate Harold Ford, Jr. in the Tennessee Senate race. Shame on the non (or disgruntled) Republicans in that state who didn't turn out to vote for Ford. But what is more upsetting is that so many people would vote for Corker, considering that he is known to have been involved in shady land deals where protected wetlands were sold to Wal*Mart. Yes, Wal*Mart. How anybody could vote for somebody who would sell such an important natural resource, to Wal*Mart, is beyond me. Furthermore, Corker is known to be willfully ignorant in the face of the scientific evidence regarding global warming. That such a candidate didn't result in an additional victory for Democrats is astonishing.

WORD! Read the rest here

Good stuff, Mr. D!

Posted by vicki at 02:14 PM | Comments (1)

Go here and vote Currently, 87% say yes.

Posted by vicki at 02:00 PM | Comments (1)

Jon just sent me some interesting statistics from election night to share:

There are interesting statistics that debunk many myths about democratic voters.

Higher incomes are split almost evenly between dems and repubs as an example. Since dems represented 54 % of all voters they have much more diversity and represent the majority of voters in most segments. For example they have a majority of high school dropouts through post grads.

Also they are a majority in the east, west, midwest, and they are only 10% less in the south.

Here is your most likely repub voter: white, male, age 45 to 59, college grad, protestant, family income 75 to 100k, from the south.

Most typical dem; white, female, age 45 to 59, some college or college grad, income 50k to 75k, protestant, from the midwest.

One more thing, with all the evangelical focus on gay rights only 3 % of voters
claim to be gay, as we know the evangelicals are looking for a weak group to attack.

Just my thoughts.

Posted by vicki at 03:45 PM | Comments (2)

Corruption and politics have been constant bedfellows since its inception. Yet the 109th Congress has distinguished itself as the most sleazy, corrupt, sanctimonious, self-interested gang of crooks in US history. The voters have spoken and thrown the bums OUT. Buh bye, Senator Man-On-Dog Santorum! Later, Krazy Curt Weldon! You're outta here, Macaca Allen. So many sleaze bags are toast, finally. I like the way the New York Times types this morning.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, spent much of the campaign season vowing that if her party took control in January, the first order of business on day one would be ethics reform. It was a smart selling point to a country sick of Republican abuses. It looks even smarter now that the Democrats have won.

Ms. Pelosi and her party will face endless challenges in the new year, notably the need to figure out exactly what they want to pressure the president to do about Iraq. But the absolute top priority has to be coming up with a way to save the party from itself. The House Democrats are perfectly capable of replicating the Republicans’ fall from grace. They need to throw up protections right away, while they are most conscious of the dangers and least prey to temptation.

Many of the Republicans who took control in 1994 saw themselves as reformers from the heartland. But their leaders soon convinced themselves that the Democrats were a force so evil that any effort was justified in keeping them at bay. To do that, they made lobbyists a regular part of the government as they traded perpetual access for campaign re-election money. They created an extraordinarily efficient system for running the House, in which even moderate Republicans were iced out of the decision-making process. Enamored with their own sense of virtue, they shut down the ethics process.

Ms. Pelosi has an excellent agenda that includes imposing an effective ban on all gifts from lobbyists — including free rides on corporate jets — and publicly disclosing the secret “earmarks” that get inserted into legislation on behalf of special interests before they’re passed into law. Those are both critical ideas that would indeed need to be passed on the first day, while the Democrats are filled with fervor and not totally focused on what they’re giving up.

Amen! Now get cracking! Read more here

Posted by vicki at 12:02 PM | Comments (2)

My brother, Blake, sent me this. It is HIGH-larious! Let's recap: Former disgraced Wingnut Republican, John Ashcroft, failed to win election to a dead man. Then Bu$h rewarded his failure by appointing him Attorney General. He scared people. Shortly after being hospitalized for pancreatitis, he abruptly resigned. Now we have "Abu Gonsales" running the mad house of Attorney General. Here is a live Republican who can't win a race against a dead woman. Another chapter of You cannot make this S**t UP!

Dead woman wins county commissioner's race S.D. candidate gets 100 votes; official says voters knew she was deceased

PIERRE, S.D. - A woman who died two months ago won a county commissioner's race in Jerauld County on Tuesday.

Democrat Marie Steichen, of Woonsocket, got 100 votes, defeating incumbent Republican Merlin Feistner, of Woonsocket, who had 64 votes.

Jerauld County Auditor Cindy Peterson said she believes the county board will have to meet to appoint a replacement for Steichen. Peterson said she'll check with the state's attorney to be sure that's the process.

Peterson said voters knew Steichen had died.
"They just had a chance to make a change, and we respect their opinion."

Let the Eagle Soar!"

Posted by vicki at 11:11 PM

The great "Decider" announced at his presser today that he was just supporting Rummy and the Big Dick till the end of his term because of election politics. Translation: "I lied straight to your faces and you bought it again, Rubes!" Translation II: "I saw the election results and fired that bastard on the spot to CMA."

I was trying to remember Gates' tenure and did a Freudian Google search where I typed in William Gates. Seems I was confusing William Casey (scary former CIA director) and Robert Gates. Here's a little refresher on his brief tenure under 41, brought to you by the ultra-conservative National Review in 1991

PRESIDENT BUSH has named Robert Gates, currently his deputy for National Security Affairs, to be his new Director of Central Intelligence. While the nominee is expected to be confirmed in the end, opponents are expected to raise a substantial fuss about Gates's involvement (when he was William Casey's deputy director at CIA) in the Iran-Contra affair.

And then there is this little item from the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Former CIA Director Robert Gates -- who is replacing Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary -- has an interesting connection to the state's startup community.

For a short period in 2001, Gates served on the board of a Puyallup company called Advanced Biometrics Inc. that claimed to be developing handprint identification systems. It is a part of Gates' resume that he probably wants to forget.

I have a big file on Advanced Biometrics, primarily because the state investigated the founder of the company for allegedly defrauding investors. Former employees also sued the startup in federal court in Tacoma, alleging that it failed to pay workers. (The case was dismissed in August 2002).

I covered the company's troubles in 2002 as did The Tacoma News Tribune. Ken Hatch, a prominent former Seattle television executive who sat on the board of Advanced Biometrics, told me in 2002 that the situation was "messy."

Gates resigned from the board before the state's investigation, stepping down in the fall of 2001. He was on the board for less than a year.
Posted by John Cook at November 8, 2006 12:18 p.m.

In otherwords, bidness as usual for the Bu$h cabal.

Posted by vicki at 09:39 PM

Amazing! Virtually invisible to the media, the contest between an entrenched ultra conservative, Northup, VS an unabashed Liberal, John Yarmuth, went down to the wire with victory going to the Liberal. This contest was basiclaly written off by every pundit and crystal ball gazer. My question is, why? This is a Liberal town which voted for Clinton, Gore and Kerry. Anne Northup has been an aberration in our voting history in Louisville. Thanks (no thanks!) to her unwavering support for Bu$h and the disastrous war he waged on Iraq, people began looking more closely at her voting record and recoiled. She ran a sleazy campaign, had the power of incumbency and ran a very good GOTV effort, but it was no match for the passion Liberals felt for getting our town and our country back from the corrupt, incompetent and Constitution shredding GOP. It's that simple.

Posted by vicki at 11:15 AM | Comments (3)

The filthy dirty GOP is using voter intimidation, false and misleading robo calls, minority intimidation and more. Here are just a few sleazy, illegal ways the ReThuglicans are trying to hold onto their stranglehold on power.

"The FBI is looking into possible voter intimidation in Virginia's hard-fought U.S. Senate contest between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The intimidation -- including threats of arrest -- appeared to be concentrated in heavily Democratic areas. MSNBC has more, available at ThinkProgress.

Here's a recording of an alleged suppression call, via Tapped.

And in Yuma Arizona:

Nina Perales, a senior poll-watcher for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said that three men are approaching Latino voters and videotaping them on their way to vote at a polling place in Tucson's Iglesia Bautista precinct.

"As voters are coming out of their cars and walking up towards their polls, one person is videotaping the voter as he walks towards the polling place," she said. Then another person, wearing an American flag bandana and a shirt with the image of a badge ironed or embroidered on it, approaches with a clipboard to talk to the voter. "While the clipboard person is. . .talking to [the voter], the cameraperson comes up and starts videotaping their face," Perales said.

As this happens, the third man -- with a gun visible in a sideholster -- stands next to the voter. According to Perales, he is wearing a shirt with an American flag on it, and camouflage shorts.

The men only approach Latino voters, she said, and noted they have been doing so since early this morning.

Perales' group has contacted the Department of Justice and the FBI. The Feds have asked her group to keep an eye on the situation.
Read more of these un-American tactics on the TPMuckraker

Posted by vicki at 04:27 PM | Comments (1)

Hoo, Boy! This takes the cake! It's getting tougher and tougher to vote all the time.

A poll worker at the United Auto Workers hall on Fern Valley Road was arrested after he was accused of assaulting a voter, said Lt. Col. Carl Yates, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriffs’ Office.

“That about tops off the day,” McCraney said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Posted by vicki at 02:18 PM | Comments (1)

This Courier-Journal site is an excellent resource for voters. It's a comprehensive site for getting information on candidates, their voting records, who contributes to their campaigns and just about anything you can think of. There is also information on judges and an assortment of obscure (Justice of the Peace, DMV, PVA, etc.) candidates for office you can research.

This site is also highly recommended (thanks, Eric!) to help you Vote Intelligently

Vote smart! Be informed!

For poll locations or to report ANY voting irregularities, call 1-888-336-8683 Need a ride to vote? call 589-1999 Hell, I'll drive you myself!

Board of Elections--573 7100 Attorney General Fraud Hotline !-800-328-8683

Posted by vicki at 06:44 AM

But that's not all! So does the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Times. Here's a snip:

Military Times editorial:
‘Rumsfeld must go’

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld —

Saying Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large, a Military Times editorial calls on President Bush to fire him.

Published in the Nov. 13 issue of Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times, on newsstands Monday, the editorial says it is time for the president “to face the hard bruising truth.”

“His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt,” the newspapers say.

In a statement released on Saturday, Department of Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman said that “the new ‘chorus of criticism’ noted by the editorials is actually old news and does not include commanders in the field, who remain committed to the mission….The assertion, without evidence, that senior military officers are ‘toeing the line’ is an insult to their judgment and integrity.”

Read the editorial here

Posted by vicki at 02:10 PM | Comments (1)

Click Here For The World''s Strongest Dad.

Posted by vicki at 08:25 AM | Comments (1)

Crikey! I may have to murder my TV.

Charley Gibson was on "This Week" desperately spinning the GOP line that Bu$h is rising in the polls (he found the only one in the country that put the great "decider" at 40% approval) and cautions viewers that Dems may be overplaying their hands. Amazingly, considering the news this week that the U.S. "lost" hundreds of thousands of weapons in Iraq which are surely being used to kill our military personnel, the "Big Dick" Cheney got the top slot on that pathetic show to pimp his dark views on Terra! Terra! Terra! without challenge. The "Snarl-in-Chief" was given an unfettered opportunity to advance his draconian views only to be "balanced" by a brief interview with Howard Dean in an aggressive exchange with Stephanopolis.

As predicted days ago on www.talkingpointsmemo.com Saddam was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging, just in time for the Sunday talk shows. Sweet! My head hurts.

Had Enough? Do more than vote!

Posted by vicki at 09:01 AM | Comments (2)

Well, isn't that special. How many more gay bashing, closeted wingnuts are out there? It will be interesting to see how the GOP (Gay Old Party) tap dances around this one. Never underestimate their capacity for hypocrisy. More here really must read stuff

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 3) - The president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, has given up his post while a church panel investigates allegations he paid a man for sex.

Rev. Haggard denied Mike Jones' charges and said, "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."

The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the 30 million-member association Thursday after being accused of paying the man for monthly trysts over the past three years.

Haggard, a married father of five, denied the allegations, but also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church pending an investigation. . .

"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity," he said in a statement. "I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date. In the interim, I will seek both spiritual advice and guidance."

Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the New Life Church and the pastor's niece, said a four-member church panel will investigate the allegations. The board has the authority to discipline Haggard, including removing him from ministry work.

The acting senior pastor at New Life, Ross Parsley, told KKTV-TV of Colorado Springs that Haggard admitted that some of the accusations were true.

"I just know that there has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed but there is an admission of some guilt," Parsley told the station.

Posted by vicki at 08:59 AM | Comments (4)

Enough about John Kerry already! I'm disgusted beyond measure that Bu$h and our so called Liberal media has made a mountain out of a mole hill. Kerry is not on any ballot in the country, yet the media has pounded him ad nauseum over a botched (and lame attempt at) joke in a throw away speech. This is right up there with missing white women. It takes pure, unmitigated gall for Bu$h and his cabal of chicken hawks to demand an apology for supposedly insulting the troops. His announcement yesterday that Rummy and Big Dick were doing a "heck of a job" and would remain in his mis-administration until the end of his term said it all. After all the screeching by the wingnuts, it takes a sensable KY girl to boil it all down. This is her letter in today's Times:

Re “As Vote Nears, Stances on War Set Off Sparks” (front page, Nov. 1):

After hearing and reading Senator John Kerry’s so-called insult to our military men and women, I needed a moment to understand what the flap is all about. Then I remembered the scope of the Republican spin machine.

This administration has consistently lowballed the intelligence of the American people, and the Republican Party seems optimistic that this latest uproar will drown out the tolling of the bells. Let’s hope that the American voters can see through the smoke.

Yes, Senator Kerry referred to the need to make the most of one’s education (study hard, do the homework, make an effort to be smart) to avoid getting stuck in disastrous situations like Iraq.

He was clearly speaking about George W. Bush.

Karen Ristau
Lexington, Ky., Nov. 1, 2006

Posted by vicki at 10:38 AM

Adam Conner, from the Nationally famous blog, MyDD (which we link to) is in town covering local politics in Louisville, Southern IN and Ohio. Someone who is a fan of the MYDD and Atrios blogs put him in contact with me (and our blog) and I filled him in on the local political scene and gave him some people to contact. Read his post on the Yarmuth campaign and other observations here. Keep checking in on his and the DL Louisville blog for more. I like the way Adam types! Thanks for the attention to our town, Adam.

Golf with Saddam" and "Love on the Rocks"

by Adam Conner, Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 06:16:20 PM EST

I'm blogging live from the office of John Yarmuth in Kentucky's Third District in Louisville and the vibe here is really cool. There has been surprisingly little attention paid to the "blogger" who has randomly shown up in their office, borrowed an internet connection, and setup shop.

I'm watching the Louisville local news now and the commercial breaks give new meaning to the word "oversaturation" when it comes to political ads. With 4 competitive congressional races in the Louisville media market, KY-02 (Weaver vs. Lewis), KY-03 (Yarmuth vs. Northup), KY-04 (Lucas vs. Davis), and IN-09 (Hill vs. Sondrel). All of the candidates, plus the DCCC and RNCC, not to mention all of the ads for local candidates, and it's hard to breakthrough it all.

Luckily the Yarmuth campaign has been running some great ads to help break through the clutter. I liked this ad in particular (which reminds me a bit of the Lamont wang chung ad):

The campaign has also setup a great website called "Northup Exposure" (http://www.northupexposure.com) with a series of web ads highlighting Northup's... ahem..."accomplishments". This web ad is great and is the reason why the song "Love on the Rocks" floats out randomly from around the office.

The campaign manager, Jason Burke, who wins extra points in my book for wearing his flip-flops in rainy forty-degree weather, spoke with me for a bit about the race and I'll blog about that later, but for now I'm off to a Labor 2006 Union Rally.

Posted by vicki at 09:18 PM

Crikey! Looks like Sen. Allen is running the worst, most out of control campaign in the country. It's one thing to try and disrupt a heckler, but to assault him in this manner? Whew! See the video here: "Did you spit on your ex-wife?" here's how the WaPo describes the incedent.

A Democratic activist who verbally confronted U.S. Sen. George Allen at a campaign rally in Charlottesville yesterday was shoved, put into a headlock and thrown against a window by three men wearing Allen stickers, according to a widely disseminated video of the incident.

W. Michael Stark, who identified himself in an e-mail after the incident as a University of Virginia law student, yelled a question at Allen (R) about whether he had ever spit on his first wife, an unsubstantiated charge that has been circulating on liberal blogs on the Internet. Allen supporters hauled him away from the senator as television cameras rolled. . .

Charlottesville Police Lt. Gary Pleasants said Stark reported the incident yesterday and indicated that he wanted to press assault charges against the men. Pleasants said police are investigating and trying to determine the names of the Allen staffers involved.

"We will find out who the people are, give him the information and he can go to the magistrate and try to obtain a warrant for them," Pleasants said.

Posted by vicki at 09:19 AM | Comments (1)