Guantanamo releases

Not the first shocking story of its kind. Detainees never charged and some sent back to worse places; others they want to dump anywhere but no country wants them.

So, in thinking outside the box, I sent an email to cubanews editor suggesting as a humanitarian gesture, Cuba might take some …

Biodun @ 109

I hope someday this century, a competent historian will look back at the Bush administration and ask: “What the f*ck was that all about? How did Bush and Cheney get elected?”

mmmm. Nader is an egotistical idiot?
and not enough of my fellow Dems took the time to VOTE!! We out number the GOP so there is NO excuse for this…betcha vote in 08…

Didja know that in Florida 2000 it was Sequoia ( who make electronic voting systems ) who produced the paper ballots which produced hanging chads because they used the wrong weight of paper and they intentionally misaligned the perforations, so the little chad wouldn’t fall out, just hang?

Sorry for the longish sentence.

Well, didja?

I hadn’t even heard of that until the last month.

Not so surprising the company had a direct relationship with Jeb Bush!

At that time the company was based in Ireland, but was purchased later by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Go to

http://www.bradblog.com

for all your voting fairness and accuracy stories.

Matt Stoller says that Darcy Burner’s primary opponent has dropped out. Woohooo!!!!!!

WOW, now that’s what I call a powerful campaigning.

Of course, this means all the money she can raise won’t be wasted on the primary race and can pile up to be used against her general election opponent — if they dare to show their face!

Of course at the time of his Military Commissions vote we heard from Christy that that’s how the game has to be played and we need to rally behind “our” Democrats.

out of what you quoted above? Especially as I said all of that in the immediate aftermath of the vote when we were all still trying to chase down clarifications from all of the people who stupidly voted for the MCA? Did you entirely ignore the part where I said that I was pissed as hell? Why, yes you did. Did you also ignore the part where I said we’d expect explanations and that there would be consequences if they were inadequate — such as, in Sherrod’s case, removing him from Blue America altogether? Why, don’t see that acknowledged either.

The political reality for every single member of Congress is that they have to vote not only their own conscience, but that of their elected constituency. That’s the truth of it. But nowhere there do I say “rally round Sherrod” — what I say is inform yourself, demand accountability, and watc me do the same. Which, last I checked, is exactly what we did in the days that followed.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 60

CMike at 58 — Oh really? You heard that from me? Where, exactly? Give me a link…

I’ll find the thread I’m referring to and post the link here later today. I don’t have the time to do it right now.

I’m having a little trouble using the Firedoglake archive and I haven’t found the thread I’m looking for but I think the following will do.

Truth and Patriots
by Christy Hardin Smith

Larry [@82] says:
September 28th, 2006 at 8:53 am

Yesterday both Sherrod Brown and Harold Ford voted YES on the torture bill.

Both are democrats…supposedly.

How Pathetic.

***************
Nancy at Starlight News

For me, we reach the Rubicon this week. A Democratic political party that won’t stand up and be counted against torture is not a party that I want to be associated with, regardless of how evil the alternative. I think opposing torture is a political winner. But even if I am wrong, and standing up against torture will cost the Democrats the majority, then…..
SO BE IT, they should do it anyway.

Anyone in Congress who isn’t willing to risk their seat to oppose torture I don’t want in power regardless of what party they are in. If a Democrat doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing on an issue this basic and fundamental, then they are a treasonous coward, and most certainly unworthy of their congressional seat. We should make any Democrat who gives the GOP bipartisan cover for this abomination the “Joe Lieberman” of every future election they enter. If they aren’t smart enough to see that doing the right thing here is a long term political winner for the party, even if they are worried it might cost them their job in the short run, then they are more committed to their own power than American principles, and to hell with them.
******************

I’m with her. How about you?

Larry

Christy Hardin Smith View this users Facebook profile [@86] says:
September 28th, 2006 at 8:56 am

Larry at 82 — I agree with the sentiment on the bill, but you forget that an elected representative has to represent not just his or her own conscience, but also the sentiments of his or her district as well. And that is a very tough balancing act for some. It’s not a vote I would have been comfortable casting — but I’d suggest asking both men about why they cast it rather than immediately marking them as null — I know I’ll be asking for explanations from a whole lot of folks in the days to come on this.

Larry [@108] says:
September 28th, 2006 at 9:08 am

Christy @86

Sorry, but I strongly disagree. Their first and primary overarching duty is to America… to protect and defend the constitution..

That said, I am now donning my asbestos suit.

Larry

Christy Hardin Smith View this users Facebook profile says:
September 28th, 2006 at 9:13 am

LOL Larry at 107 [sic]— my heart agrees with you, but my head says that it is a balance. Look at Al Gore, Sr.’s vote on the Vietnam War — he got out ahead of his constituents on the vote. I believe he was right to do so, but that’s because I agreed with him (in hindsight, because at the time I was barely out of diapers, if that…). But his constituents did not and voted his moderate voice out of the Senate.

Some things are worth standing up for, no matter the consequences. But you have to weight out both the short and long term consequences on the vote in order to determine where it falls for you — and for each person, that is going to be different. Is this vote on a torture bill more or less important than being able to influence the composition of the US Supreme Court and its rulings for more than one generation to come? Is it more important than the need to provide desperately needed oversight and accountability of the Bush Administration’s actions? Each elected official has to answer that for him or herself. And each constituent has to vote for or against them based on the calling of their conscience.

[my emphasis below]

Christy Hardin Smith [@ 138] View this users Facebook profile says:
September 28th, 2006 at 9:30 am

Hugh at 130 — Lieberman sits in a Senate seat in one of the bluest states in the nation. The sentiments of his constituency are clearly against this bill. If he voted for it, that would rightly be questioned as both a vote that is against his professed personal beliefs and against the wishes of his constituency.

But Ohio and Tennessee are different constituencies altogether, and require different analysis. Pretending otherwise is naive, at best, and you know it. I know that the moral argument is against this bill — I believe I have said so — REPEATEDLY FOR QUITE SOME TIME — here on this blog. But that does not mean that I can countenance writing someone off entirely without looking at ALL of the factors that went into their vote. That is not how a republic works, nor should it. And we pretend otherwise to our own and our party’s long-term peril.

This is not beanbag. This has enormous implications legally and politically on a whole lot of levels. I’m pissed as hell that this has even gotten this far, and I think that is clear — but I am also not going to cede any victory on any level to the GOP and Karl Rove just because I’m pissed. Fuck them for putting this nation in this position in the first place — and I will be doing my damndest to make certain, in every sense of the word, that the GOP regrets this. Period.

And now Sen. Sherrod Brown (D, all hail-OH) is going to lead us forward.

Ryan Alexander @ 47

thank you for calling this to our attention. We have fixed this issue and the petition now directs you to the correct thank you page.

-Ryan

Should those of us who signed it earlier do so again, or did the signatures themselves go to the correct list?

you all signed the correct petition… the thank you page was just pointed the wrong way.

Steve-AR @ 116

It was/is the “Silverado” son also of Asian hooker fame, IIRC.

There were two Bush boys involved in the S&L scandal…Jeb was partners with a contractor in Miami who received a loan from an S&L there that was later defaulted on.

But Neil was more directly involved as a board member of Silverado S&L.

johnSwifty @ 111

I remember when one of his brothers was going in with Babs to make an ‘edjamacation machine’ to roll into classrooms that had failed the no child left behind requirements and perform a fixification on the offending kidlins. I can’t remember if it was the brother who did the Savings and Loan scandal or the one who ran security for Dulles Airport right before 9/11.

Anyway, maybe GW could help out designing some of the curriculum for the edjamacation. You know, kind of like hiring a hacker to find the holes in your security.

It was/is the “Silverado” son also of Asian hooker fame, IIRC.

There were two Bush boys involved in the S&L scandal…Jeb was partners with a contractor in Miami who received a loan from an S&L there that was later defaulted on.

Biodun @ 109

I hope someday this century, a competent historian will look back at the Bush administration and ask: “What the f*ck was that all about? How did Bush and Cheney get elected?”

Please line up again: “competent historian” and your question. You can have one or the other, not both. ;-)

With the scrubbing that has probably taken place during this administration it will take a magician instead of a historian to uncover what has happened in the US since 1981 when Reagan and Poppy took office.

The GOP loves to point to Sandy Berger’s conviction for removing records from the Archives, but I’m willing to bet my house that more documents have been destroyed during the Bush years, all of them Poppy’s included, than have been destroyed in the history of the republic.

One hint at how that would be done….records pertaining to Prescott Bush’s early days in government were destroyed by burning because the archives needed the space. So everything that was either good or bad about Poppy’s poppy was burned.

Anyone from this administration should have to go to the sergeant-at-arms in the Senate to get the key for the National Archives and should be accompanied by a monitorm but that would be like closing the barn door after the horse got out.

“You can push that along by signing this petition for Sen. Harkin.”

Other than serving as a data base for soliciting donations I’m not sure what the purpose of those (petitions) are!?

And this is what has become of the Democratic Party…a solicitation to sign a petition is viewed as a tool to shake the trees for shekels.

BTW, I agree wholeheartedly.