Dear Congresswoman Pelosi:
I am outraged that, in your capacity as Speaker and in collaboration with Minority Leader Boehner, you have selected former Congressman and CIA Director Porter Goss to co-chair Congress’ new Ethics Referral Committee. Porter Goss’s tenure at the CIA was marked by the indictment of his hand-picked underling Dusty Foggo and the destruction of torture evidence by Jose Rodriguez.
It is inexplicable why you would choose a man who, under a non-corrupt Justice Department, would already have been indicted, convicted, and imprisoned for his and his underlings’ shenanigans at the CIA. I am shocked. This makes me wonder what you and your colleagues are covering up for Porter Goss, and what he, in his capacity as Intelligence Chair and CIA Director, knows about your complicity in the unwarranted eavesdropping and torture regimes.
This is a shocking appointment. In a culture other than Washington’s insular courtier system, Porter Goss would be shunned. Your appointment of him speaks very poorly of your Speakership.
Thank you, I think, for your service to California and the United States of America.
Sincerely, Teddy Partridge
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Another joke brought to us by more (& not better) Dems, I’m sad to say. Nancy laughs at us again.
Where do I cosign?
Anyone may contact Nancy Pelosi in her capacity as Speaker here
I’m afraid that the Speaker has lost her way
in the Foggo of Whores.
LOL!
lmao!
Teddy are you sure you didn’t get this from The Onion?
Who is up to run against her? There has to be a better Dem to unseat her sorry behind.
The idea that Porter Goss is returning to Capitol Hill in any capacity is awful and, frankly, frightening. Is he there to be Cheney’s enforcer after Barnacle leaves the Vice Presidency? Is he bringing his NSA files on all the ‘critters to the Ethics Committee offices? Are the Gosslings — his jackbooted thugs who ran the CIA into the ground at his behest — staffing this new Committee?
Lotsa questions, Congresswoman. I’d like some answers, please.
The blogs need to call what have what it is – fascism control by corporations, which have acquired wealth and therefore power by the perverse capitalist system.
When you get your knickers in a twist of this politician or that one, you fail to see that the entire structure of this society is so corrupt that it DOES need more than an Obama CHANGE, it needs a radical revolution.
This means that everything we believe needs to be re examined.
We can’t go on populating the planet as if it has an infinite carrying capacity. We can’t consume fossil fuels as if they are as renewable as sunlight. We can’t keep destroying the environment which is the habitat which sustains all living things.
We can’t have an economic system based on debt, value added and the pursuit of wealth and the worship of private property and privilege.
The momentum of what we have created in the industrial age is not going to be stopped with a democratic congress or executive. It’s not going to change with a collapsed economy or an energy collapse.
The world can only change when it is sustainable and there are too many mouths to feed NOW Too many consumers. Too many polluters. Too many people.
Nancy is either a Repub in (a not so good) disguise or they have incriminating photos of her on file. What was she thinking?
Fantastic letter, Teddy.
Sent the following to Nancy just now:
Hi Teddy!
Dang, I could not get on this site last night or all morning. So finally.
It might be time to upgrade servers or something cuz it seems as if about a quarter of the time I cannot connect here.
What is Nancy smoking?
It is a cynical, horrid choice. But in hindsight entirely predictable.
Nancy has a lock on the Democratic party in San Francisco. No one will ever oppose her from within. I fully expect that if her seat ever turns over, it will be to a Green candidate.
In the meantime, Cindy Sheehan hopes to send Pelosi a message. Perhaps she already has. John Nichols, of the Nation, says last week’s hearings never would have happened without Cindy’s general election challenge to Pelosi.
Teddy, you advocate. Pelosi leads. I thought you understood this.
At this point, I think we all could use a little humor at Frank Luntz’ and Fox News’ expense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFL-LubDF9c
You have to hand it to pissed off Libertarians, they stomp on the BS.
- Tom
I’ve decided that the “real” Nancy Pelosi has been abducted and has been replaced with a Stepford Pelosi look alike. I think “it” is a robot. “It” just keeps saying over and over….”impeachment is off the table” and “we don’t have the votes”…and “it” keeps doing strange things like letting FISA go through, and appointing Goss…stuff like that…
“It” is all wild-eyed and jerky in “its” movements…and “it” blinks too much when “it” is interviewed.
Excellent letter Teddy. I’m prouda ya, yet I can see an aide in her office opening this and reading it, then either wad it up and file 13 it, or hit the delete button.
In my repeated communications with Dear Speaker since 2006, I get the distinct impression that these things go nowhere. I think her big brown eyes never cross a single character/letter in anything I write to her. I think actually listening to the people is below her, as she is convinced that we could not possibly understand or comprehend all that she is doing and why.
She says it’s “all for the children”. I think she is referring to those too little to read or write, cause she sure isn’t interested in the adults in this country.
LOL! LS.
Perfect.
Thanks, ES!
Nancy doesn’t brag about this appointment on her website, and I haven’t gotten a SpeakerGram email about it, so I have to imagine she isn’t proud of this decision. If the ‘roots make some noise, maybe we can keep Goss off Capitol Hill.
For those who want to take a stroll down memory lane,
here is the roll call vote on Goss’ confirmation as DCI.
Hillary got this one right, while the Beltway consensus said that Goss was a Serious, Sensible Centrist.
There are a few people running against her. One of them is Cindi Sheehan but they don’t have a chance. IMO, Pelosi and bush are one in the same.
*nods with wide eyed comprehension*
You have a trial even when you don’t know how the jury wil vote because you need to present the evidence and presume that they are smart enough to convict or acquit based on te facts.
We don’t want a stacked jury. We want a trial.
Teddy, I used that, with this last line added:
I think that when congresscritters get called to meetings at the WH, Darth has a stack of folders there for Shrub to point to, and a page with excerpts of phone calls and e-mails that would be extremely embarassing, if not incriminating, if they became public, and that Shrub (and Darth, if he’s present) hint broadly that non-cooperation will result in Things Becoming Public. Blackmail, or maybe extortion, but nothing that’s likely to stand up in court.
I’ve always found that honey works better than vinegar, Teddy.
But, I guess that depends on what ones agenda is.
Maybe you’ll succeed just fine with that , maybe you already have.
Still, if one wants to influence someone else in the positive, they can always consider the honey.
I absolutely love free will.
Thanks for a great letter, Teddy. Your doing this reminds me that I never sent Pelosi a link to my protest during her visit to Netroots Nation. Think I’ll use your link and send it to her along with my disgust at the Goss appointment. She really couldn’t be doing a worse job and I look forward to seeing her in the dock at The Hague alongside Bush and Cheney.
I used to think that it was to simple an idea, but with everything the so called dem leadership has done I am starting to agree that bush has something big on alot of them.
There is no influencing Pelosi by the people. She is being influenced from within….and if you ask me…I think her facial and body language exhibit…”fear”.
Remember Pelosi’s comments that we don’t know the half of it and we only know the tip of the iceberg….
Madame Speaker,
I’m having a difficult time deciding whether I’m more surprised or disappointed to learn of your complicity in selecting former Congressman, CIA Director and Bush co-conspirator Porter Goss to co-chair Congress’ new Ethics Referral Committee. I’m certain that “alarmed” and “horrified” are right up there as well. Presumably Congressman Duke Cunningham’s incarceration is all that prevented him from attaining this lofty position.
I’d like to state for the record, Madame Speaker that the only thing standing between you and the title “My Most-Disappointing California Elected Official” is Senator Dianne Feinstein…
I shed real tears of joy watching you receive the gavel… I now weep for the misplaced faith and trust I and millions of other Democrats gifted you… and make no mistake, Madame Speaker. Our faith and trust were gifts, gifts to which you have sadly proven to assign little or no value.
Sincerely,
ThatSinger
Beverly Hills (by way of Marin County)
You are assuming that they have a different agenda. All think of the USA and her system as numero uno. All worship wealth creation, competition, property rights, empire on one level or the other. They are not blackmailed… they are capitalists pigs really. Call a spade a spade.
I would be happy to see your proposed alternative! We have very few opportunities for honey here in California’s Eighth, as Pelosi’s unannounced visits and press conferences have replaced her town hall meetings.
I’m all about the honey, actually, and I don’t think today’s letter is terribly vinegar-y. But I’d love to see your ideas. Seriously, all approaches are valid, and some folks may want to emulate yours.
Teddy
your letter is dead solid perfect – aw that just once I could write one so succinct.
PJEvans and Teddy,
I often think about the blackmail idea – just what is it so shameful ? and why so many of them to be cowed by it ?!?!?
shorter cbl – it doesn’t add up and maybe they’re just clinically weak, but then again, what are the odds such a concentration of moral weakness would occur ?
ironic – in that just with their gamemanship on Iraq alone – giving Bush more than he asked for so as to sweep it off the table in time for the election – makes them guilty of human sacrifice (our military)
Pelosi can’t or won’t put impeachment on the table and then appoints Porter Goss to the Ethics Referral Committee. What is this all about? Does Rep. Boehner have some pictures of her that we don’t know about? This doesn’t make any sense unless there is some juicy video that Boehner is hiding.
Yeah, I remember that. And, so. Does she have something to Fear?
Maybe so. In which case, what does this letter do to move things forward?
I’m just not convinced that the oh so pedantic put down is going to illuminate or change a heart.
I may be wrong. I may be right. But, I think a kind heart is a place to start.
Then why not be a republic? Why stand in front of everyone saying one thing and doing another? Pelosi has changed before our eyes, she used to be a good legislator. With all due respect your explantion doesn’t explain what has happened with her.
Wasn’t it Porter Goss who was supplying the limos for the republicans at the Watergate Hotel at the parties where they had male & female prostitutes available to them while they were gambling?
Or was that another sicko repuke at the CIA?
My problem is that she is the one person in the world in the best position to bring the atrocities of the Bush Administration to an end. Because she refuses to act, in my book she becomes just as guilty as those committing the crimes. I also shed tears of joy when she took the gavel, but I would like to think that even in the face of blackmail or threatened murder, I would have the courage to stand up to these thugs and end their crimes. Our country may not survive until the next administration, so I see no use for honey at this point.
I’m happy that you allow for all approaches to be valid. Whew!
And, I acknowledge that you, living in her ward, have a more serious voice than mine. I don’t have a letter for Nancy.
Have at it.
Again, what ever works for you is fine by me.
I have my own opinion on what works.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..20677.html
http://firedoglake.com/2006/05/05/hookers/
Just. Wow.
I’m thinking there are lots of nervous politicians from the past eight years. All this time they thought they were being tough on terror in the eyes of their friends & colleagues, thought they were sneaky enough to protect all the avenues so it wouldn’t lead back to themselves, but what actually happened is the American people haven’t forgotten, know what they’ve done, and will continue to remind all of them for the rest of their lives. Ha ha. I’m glad I don’t have to go through life with that kind of guilt.
she is the one person in the world
C’mon.
Who are the Manchurian candidates?
I have always wondered whether Cheney has files on many GOPs — you’ll recall the very wide net Bush cast when he was searching for a Veep candidate in 2000. A search led by Cheney. Since then, of course, they have at their fingertips all the surveillance tools of the modern technological police state.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the ‘critter him/herself who is targetted, and whose indiscretions (sexual, financial, associative) are used for blackmail or coercive purposes. Every family has one member whose activities the family would rather not have come to light — and many ‘critters have donors whose activities they would probably prefer remain under wraps.
So — there’s lots of ways to coerce someone without it necessarily being a naughty Pam/Tommy on-the-houseboat type of video directly involving the member of Congress. Lots of ways.
Book Salon upstairs with author Barbara Ehrenreich
In defense of Pelosi, she successfully managed to stand up to Bush over Iraq and got the war funded to only the middle of next year.
With the help of Steny Hoyer, she forced Bush to accept a compromise on FISA which stunned even Cheney.
When she was briefed on Bush’s torture program, she was quick to exercise her version of oversight of it. Indeed this oversight might have continued indefinitely if her role had not become public.
As for taking impeachment off the table, this was entirely reasonable. If she had left it on the table, the children might have gotten hold of it. And who knows what might have happened.
I don’t understand those who think that she has been ineffective. I think she accomplished exactly what she wanted to. She had been an excellent Speaker. Ask any Republican.
I don’t think anything really HAS happened to her. I think that she was a corporatist all along but has less power to wield and less ability to show her allegiance to the powers that be.
It’s damn hard to get a lot of power and push back against the machine, so they morph into a “player”. But that only is because they WERE one, but with no real power so they can appear to be something different.
Denis is made to look like to buffoon by the media and his colleagues and will never get any real power.
I believe you refer to Dusty Foggo, Porter Goss’s hand-picked Executive Officer at the CIA, and the head of his strike force that cause so many retirements, the Gosslings. But it’s never been proven that Goss was not involved in the parties, no.
Dear Congresswoman Pelosi,
I concede that you had to choose a Republican representative for the Ethics Referral Committee, but could you not have chosen someone less tainted by ethics scandals? Perhaps Joseph Lieberman would suffice as the Republican representative.
Do I need any /s tags?
I think you are right. All you have to know and believe is that you are at their mercy as X was.. and look what happened to him and they fall in line. Intimidation but not outright blackmail.
agreed kiddo
Congressional ethics is an oxymoron
Is there no level of hell that NancyWhorePants won’t descend into to appear like some kind of bi-partisan (whatever the fuck that means) whore?
Seriously, what goes through that little millionaire mind of her when she thinks of the Republic and the people who depend on her alleged judgement, contempt for the “average American”? Disgust that she has to actually stand for re-election and not just get reappointed?
First woman speaker? Feh! Worst of either gender and that’s saying a lot.
I agree with you, Hugh, on all fronts. She’s done more good than bad, but it’s the bad stuff that makes most everyone scratch their head in astonishment. Personally, I’m not going to give up on the Democratic Party and run for the hills. It’s the responsibility of the people of her district to kick her ass out of office. Until then, we’re stuck with her. It could be worse….Joe Lieberman could be playing double-duty in the House & Senate (not possible I know…said for the image). ;-)
Pelosi’s power in California was as a fundraiser. In 1986, when Sala Burton became too ill to continue in her husband’s seat in Congress, there was a special election, won by Nancy by a handful of votes. It’s a safe Democratic seat, as our leaders in Congress should always have.
But her actions since becoming Speaker hearken back to her fundraising days: more about the donors than the voters.
Kinda makes one nostalgic for the good old days of J. Edgar Hoover
Hey, KayinMaine where are you drop me an email @usndemvetathotm***dotcom…I’m stuck in scenic Portland this weekend.
Maybe we should send Ms. Nancy a can of sardines to show her we think her appointment of Porter Goss stinks?
I’m thinking at this point we have to resort to doing shit like this. Emails/faxes/letters seems to fall on deaf ears.
Wow! Okay. ;-) Nice weather we’re having, huh?
I can see why GOP honchos would have told Boehner to put Goss’ name up for a committee that promises to be a danger to all Republicans. As the party in power for the past eight years, it’s had the most opportunity to foul its own nest. But Goss is such a stick-in-the-eye nominee — for the committee, its work, and the notion of accountability to the public — that Pelosi’s acceptance of it is astounding.
Either she considers the nominees, and hence the committee, of no importance, or she actively wants to derail that work while pretending to do the opposite.
The Bush administration is built around such subterfuges. Ms. Pelosi and the Democrats are in for a big surprise if they think continuing that form of maladministration will win them anything but continuing, heated friction, distraction, and the loss if important seats in both houses.
For those who worry that by defeating Nancy at the ballot box this fall, we will be stuck with Steny Hoyer or Rahm Emanuel, there’s an interesting historical anomaly to consider: the Speaker needn’t be an elected member of the House.
I wonder if Nancy’s defeat this fall (a fantasy, but still) might lead to a rebellious House caucus choosing someone outside their own realm, someone who represents people-powered politics, someone untainted by the Capitol Hill corporate donor scandals.
Maybe Al Gore?
Jo, I sent you an email. Does your email start with “jo fish” or is it just what you provided (which is where I sent it)?
I don’t think it’s blackmail. Politicians like Pelosi aren’t coerced into doing what they do. They do it because they want to and think they can sell it to or hide it from the
rubesvoters. No, if there is any pressure it is more along the lines of losing a nice office or perks or access to fundraisers. For more senior members, it can be losing a Chairmanship or in Pelosi’s case the Speakership. The House and Senate have their own little cultures, and often we react to what goes on there as if it has some reference to us when in truth it’s about an exclusive club whose rules are largely unknown to us.Ah, I was being ironic.
It’s unfortunate that the first woman speaker of the House will also be seen as the worst speaker of the House. She didn’t rise to the level necessary in a time of great peril to the Constitution and the American people. She is complicit and corrupted by the courtesan system in Washington. Citizens can only hope that Cindy Sheehan will pull the upset of the new century and defeat her.
Al Gore would be fantastic, but I’m thinking they would appoint Nancy Pelosi back in there! LOL How sad and obvious of their intentions would that be? Wow. *shaking head*
I was being serious. ;-)
Not around here.
an exclusive club whose rules are largely unknown to us.
You mean like tip of the iceberg, like LS said a bit ago? If feels like that to me. But, then again, that’s me.
My take is that we have been “had” yet again. She has already stated that Steny Hoyer will replace her and Rahm Emanuel will run for Obama’s Seat in the Senate. With the DNC firmly situated in Chicago there will be no beltway interference.
quote from Tagean Goddard on Jun 6th 2008
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is reported to be privately talking about Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, as the next senator from Illinois if Sen. Barack Obama wins the presidential election,” according to Robert Novak.
“The same source said Pelosi indicated that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer would be her eventual successor as speaker, even though she opposed his election to the second-ranking leadership position. Emanuel has been widely mentioned as the speaker of the next decade.”
Republicans and Democrats, despite party labels, see themselves as members of the patrician class. They share more in common than they share with the plebians, serfs or “just plain folks.” The patricians will always put their interests, financial or otherwise, above the interests of everyone else despite their lofty and often misleading rhetoric. People of California should be ashamed for electing a snake oil saleswoman and ultimately an enemy of the Constitution and the people.
Either she has lost it or they have something on her that would destroy her. It is beyond my comprehension. Nothing logical explains her taking “impeachment” off the table. As such, she needs to be replaced. Yes, along with the spineless others which include Conyers, Reid, Waxman and all the others who don’t really understand how malignant Bush’s reign has been.
Given his track record, I’m not sure I’d trust much of anything coming out of Novakula’s column/mouth.
Why would a reputable Dem leak anything to Novak? There’s probably a lot of self serving messages being sent by that piece of info.
teddy, Teddy, Teddy, (((TEDDY!)))
There’s a whole lot of going along to get along. It is a culture where the crud tends to rise to the top not sink to the bottom.
“oh what a tangled web we weave when first we conspire to deceive”
The only Democrat I can imagine leaking anything to Novak, coincidentally, is Rahm Emanuel.
Hi Loo Hoo!
Lotsa talk lately many places about Issa. His name came up, I think over at OpenLeft yesterday, in an open thread asking for nominations of most-hated GOP. Many Lieberman nominations, of course, but Issa was mentioned several times as well.
How goes the Hamilton campaign?
(I’m declaring this a semi-open thread for Book Salon refugees)
This is just stupid. It sounds like a story Rahm planted with Novak. Pelosi’s ability to influence Illinois politics is less than zero. Heck, she can’t even influence events that much in her own Caucus let alone the House. Add in our whacko likely to be indicted Governor Rod Blagojevich and who knows who he would appoint? I doubt even he knows. That said, it would not surprise me in the least that Rahm was angling for the job.
I was so disgusted by Pelosi’s dodging at Netroots Nation, I scribbled a sign and held it up:”Actions Not Buzzwords.” But Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I never expected an action like appointing Goss to anything. I am embarassed by this party.
It is the gratuitous nature of the actions which is so hard to take. Congress could have passed a simple extension of the Protect America Act or allowed the attempts to modify FISA to lapse until next year. Instead they passed the egregiously bad FISA Amendments Act. Same thing with the Ethics panel. That has been languishing since the Democrats took over in January 2007. They could just as easily let it languish a little bit longer and done something more constructive about it next year. Instead Pelosi signs off on another one of these corrupt “dirty” Republican ideologues.
The idea that we don’t have two parties but just one, the Money Party has been around. It certainly explains why Democrats so often vote like Republicans. Maybe what we need is to start a Good Government Party.
Not my words but those of Taegan Goddard
“Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire” It was posted on his site on June 6th as noted in my post.
Please check the facts before you dismiss something as “stupid”
Yeah, she’s to busy draining the swamp….
McCain’s son resigns from bank board……..
http://www.lvrj.com/breaking_news/25941494.html
Oh, please, please, please, if we’re very good pups?
Can you get any of the big unions to follow? What about the black caucus?
I agree the story was probably planted with Novak, but I also think the DNC being relocated to Chicago to “centralize the campain” smacks of some DNC manipulating, this would include Rahm Emanuel, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. I agree with you that we are seeing the one party system at work.
I don’t think Hugh was calling you stupid, or your report, but the report itself as transmitted to Novak and repeated by Goddard. Stupid, as in unlikely to be true.
I didn’t mean to imply that none of the stuff isn’t big. I’m pretty sure some of them have some real skeletons in their file drawers. Or in their secret government dossiers in that man-sized safe or that Undisclosed Location. (There have to be drugs, alcohol and hookers somewhere in there.)
At the time of the Kennedy assassination, Porter Goss was part of Op40, a CIA murder squad that worked in Latin America. He worked out of the US embassy in Mexico City. He is on first name basis with Felix Rodriguez, the man who hunted down Che and who was most likely recruited into the CIA by George Bush Sr before the Bay of Pigs (see Rodriguez’s book, Shadow Warrior). Goss was either recruited by Bush Sr or Ted Shackley.
There is blood on this man’s hands going back almost 50 years. One can only believe that he was appointed to this position to whitewash whatever investigations do arise.
Pelosi should be among one of the first people indicted under the war crimes statutes we have in this country for her complicity with this criminal administration.
WORST
SPEAKER
EVER!
Who is she paying off? What does the CIA have on her or her family? Does this relate to the reasons she let FISA go through as it did and why she took impeachment off the table?
Well said Teddy!
Pelosi is complicit in the policy to use torture in the name of the American people. She is a war criminal, plain and simple.
I laugh at you people saying “honey not vinegar.”
“Oh, please Mrs. Pelosi, please don’t be a Republican.”
The time to get angry, nasty, down and dirty is here.
If you want to get the attention of Nancy P. and associates, plan and be prepared to implement a work stoppage (or strike if you will), until these and other questions are spoken to and – this is important – resolutions to the questions be undertaken, if appropriate (meaning the question relates to a fixable problem, vs a statement of principles which might not have a specific resolution).
Stop the capital market and action is quick. The timing both as conditions for starting the stoppage and it’s length are important as well, to avoid any backlash. (I could see the repubs yelling that work stoppage would create further job losses – maybe so, but loss of thosejobs would likely occur anyway, through downsizing in the current economy, so let us demand something for our possible or actual job loss)
As Speaker Of The House, Miss Nancy has stepped beyond the sanctity of SF politics.
She’s viled, and despised, coast to coast by liberals, progressives, and MANY small group special interest folks.
My question is Teddy, can she withstand the anger and disgust thrown her way nationally?
And a follow up is, when will the Democratic Party FUCKING HAVE TO throw her under the bus, as the criticism and ANGER builds to no apparent end, on a national level?
Thanks in advance . . .
Of COURSE he does.
They are all guilty and complicit of every thing Bush has done!
That was obvious as soon as Pelosi was voted in as Speaker and took Impeachment off the table. . .
This has been another simple answer to a simple question.
Why anyone would still ask that question is beyond me.
The question should be, what do we Do about all this crap?