Progress Now Action

Cross-posted with permission from Joe.My.God

The young man who last Sunday shot and killed two people at a youth ministry training center, then killed two more and himself at Colorado's New Life Church (Ted Haggard's former home), was a cast out from the youth ministry, probably because he failed their attempts to make him "ex-gay".   Read More »

Last week, I met Betsy Markey here in Fort Collins. Betsy is running for U.S. Congress in Congressional District 4 (CD4) -- the seat currently held by Marilyn Musgrave. Angie Paccione is again also running for the same seat, so a primary between Angie and Betsy is quite likely.

Many of us supported Angie quite vigorously with both time and money in 2006. While I love Angie, her passion, and agree with her on many of her positions, I've come to the conclusion that in CD4, Betsy has a far better chance of beating Marilyn Musgrave in the general election. Angie didn't do a good job of addressing the bankruptcy issue and frankly in a heavily rural Republican district an unmarried woman from the Bronx is starting at a disadvantage. In 2006, Angie didn't do nearly as well as she needed in Boulder, Weld, or Larimer counties to overcome the heavily Republican vote on the Eastern Plains. I believe that Angie would do well to run in a more diverse and liberal district such as CD1 or CD2.

 On the other hand, Betsy Markey, is a married mother of three. She has worked for Sen. Ken Salazar as his Regional Director for the north central and high plains region of Colorado for the past two years. This position has allowed her to meet folks all over CD4, help them with their day to day problems, and for them to get to know her. Betsy has also started her own companies, worked for the State Dept., and Congress. You can read more about Betsy at her website (http://markeyforcongress.com/drupal/about_betsy).

More below the fold... 

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I'd just like to start a discussion with this post. My core question is how do we as Democrats / progressives, "deploy" our limited resources best within the confines of campaign finance law? In my Park Hill neighborhood, each election season we get pummeled with cavasers from the party, campaigns, and numerous 527 groups. Besides getting a bit old, most of the folks are preaching to the choir, as it is rare to find a Republican yard sign. Would it be reasonable to focus 527 / grassroots volunteers on more republican areas and allow the party & individual campaigns to focus on more traditional "lean-dem" neighborhoods? Think of this as taking the 50 State strategy to a neighborhood level. Lets not throw-away entire neighborhoods / communities.   Read More »

In 1215 the Magna Carta was introduced which provided a number of groundbreaking (for that time) provisions. One was the concept of "due process" for every person brought before a court in a legal action. Later, the writ of habeas corpus was introduced in 1305 by King Edward I. It became part of the English Common Law and was eventually inherited into the US legal system.

Yesterday, both houses of Congress voted to approve a measure that:

* Allows Pres. Bush to determine who is a "enemy combatant".
* Allows Pres. Bush to determine what is & isn't torture.
* Redefines Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, retroactively.
* Denies enemy combatants habeas corpus protections.

In one day the Republicans with help from a very few Democrats, disolved 701 years worth of legal protections. This was done against the public admonisments of the various members of the service's JAGs, Collin Powell, and many others.

Today I am ashamed that this has happened with so little opposition. I am sad for our country. The US has always been the "shining light" on the hill for civil liberties. Our place on that hill was an intragal part of our security. We are now walking down the path of dictators (or should that be "deciders"?) and will be far less secure than any time in our past.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjimann Franklin

I'm completely disgusted at the latest antics by Shrub. I bet H. W. is about ready to have a heart attack. Since when did it become appropriate to feel up another head of state? I guess after giving Joe Lieberman a kiss, giving German Chancellor Merkel a quick massage would seem quite normal.

How do you apologize to an entire country?

... win Warner's Map Changers contest.

Please go to Link and vote for Bill. He is currently down by 60 votes. Come on Colorado, we can't let a bunch of Texans win!

Bill Winter has dropped out of the top five in Mark Warner's Map Changers contest. Bill is a great guy running for Tom Tancredo's seat in CD 6. You can help Bill with nothing more that a few clicks of the mouse. Please consider going to http://winterforcongress.com, clicking on the MapChanger's graphic, signing up, and voting for Bill!

Via NPR this morning, Rove's lawyer has been notified that Rove will likely not be charged. My first thought was that there was more than passing coincidence with a story about a milliped that has 666 legs. ;-)

BTW Jason Leopold can kiss our collective a**es! Wonder when, if ever we'll see a retraction?

Great work by our military!

It should be remembered when Bush tries to take credit for *getting* al-Zarqawi, that before the Iraq war not only did Bush have an opportunity to kill him, Zarqawi was nothing. Bush and his war made Zarqawi. All of the people (U.S. soldiers, journalists and Iraqi citizens) who died at the hands of Zarqawi, should be laid at the feet of Pres. Bush. Killing Zarqawi goes into the category of cleaning up a mess he created.

Its time we stopped just commenting on the *Swiftboating* of Gore & "An Inconvienent Truth" and started calling on the idiots to put up or shutup. My thoughts run the gamut from boycotting the major oil companies (Exxon, Texaco, etc.) while buying from smaller companies not involved in the misinformation campaign to airing counter commercials. IMHO, we should also consider starting a letter-to-the-editor & blogging campaign to get the word out.

Any other ideas out there?

If we can find a way to stop this tactic, then we can remove a major weapon in the Repug's arsenal.

This weekend, I was in Midland, Texas for my niece's graduation from high school. I drove down Friday, with a "Had Enough? croneys, incompetance, corruption, & lies" bumper sticker (thanks to the Bill Winter campaign) pasted on the back of my car.

When I reached Dalhart, a white-haired guy in his 1960's era Ford pick-up was pulling up next to me at a light. He stopped at the back of my car and read the sticker, then pulled up next to me - glaring. All I could do was just chuckle. I bet he hadn't been subjected to an alternate opinion in quite a while. I'm guessing that his thoughts went elsewhere pretty soon tho, as it was 100 degrees from Raton Pass on and in the ninties until early the next morning. While 100 degree temperatures are not unusual for Texas, they are in unusual this early in the year, a fact that my dad & brother both commented upon.

When I reached the outskirts of Midland, I was "welcomed" by a huge oversized billboard "Welcome to Midland, Texas, hometown of President George W. & Laura Bush!". The letters were eight feet high. That sign is where my bumper sticker REALLY needed to be pasted. :-)

The graduation was thankfully in an enclosed arena, instead of the football stadium where mine had been 30 years earlier. There were 558 graduates from MHS and with a last name of Wolf we had to wait through all but 13 of them. While we were waiting, a guy with the last name of Bush walked across the stage and someone yelled "You ACTUALLY made it!". It was the only *negative* comment that I heard throughout the graduation. Again I found myself chuckling at the expense of a Bush.

The panhandle of Texas has been hit with the brush fires and the high cost of gas. I believe that there would be some receptive ears to alternate views, if they were presented in a friendly manner. From comments by various family members, (who have been diehard Bush supporters) cracks are beginning to show in Bush's support even in his *hometown*.

I believe Howard Dean is on the right track in establishing infrastructure in all 50 states. The people in West & North Texas have only heard Republican BS propaganda for the past 20 years or more. Those people need to hear other voices.

I love the Dixie Chicks and Natalie Maines most of all. CNN has a story how their honesty and opinions of Bush are hurting their current album promotion. From the CNN article, discussing Natalie...

Now that she's truly notorious, having told a London audience in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas," Maines has one regret: the apology she offered George W. Bush at the onset of her infamy. "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the president," says Maines. "But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

They have a new album coming out - "Taking the Long Way" (May 23rd). The first single is "Not Ready to Make Nice" and fits with the sentiment from her quote above.

You can pre-order the album on iTunes for $9.99. Let's show Natalie support for really speaking truth to power or put your money where her mouth is! :-)

Salon, Think Progress, and others are reporting that this morning Karl Rove met with Fitzgerald and will be testifying before the Grand Jury for a 5th time. I can hardly contain the joyful, tingling excitement of the thought of Rove being indicted. Like many others, I'd so love to see Rove frog-marched out of the White House!

Annn-ttiiicccc-iiii-pATION! :-)

Update: Jason Leopold has a post

Politically, I might hope that Pres. Bush continues to be stubborn and not replace Rumsfeld, but as the most recent General says, the price for the mistakes by Rumsfeld is being paid with blood, and that is untenable. The constant drip of Generals speaking out against Rumsfeld & the conduct of the war goes directly to the Republican's (once) perceived advantage in relations with the military.

Polilically, if we had one or two generals speaking out each week until the fall, the result would be that the Republicans would end up losing the military advantage that they have used so well. It is hard for me to "wish* for this scenario, because every week brings us 3 - 7 more soldier deaths.

The only *counter* that comes to mind is that if military use is de-politicized, then maybe we could have more reasonable discussions regarding it use in the future.

I just saw the latest CNN/Gallup poll, which puts Bush's approval rating at 32%. Will we hear 28 percent next week? :-)

Here is an idea that I'd be interested in seeing bandied about. How about an issue - pedia (think Wikipedia). Living part-time in FtC with a roommate who hasn't a clue about current issues got me pondering how people in his situation could find a resource that would help lay the groundwork for ANY given political issue / topic. Blogs are great for discussing the topic of the day, but during a campaign issues of all kinds come into play and it would be great if we had a resource that has some level of openness to comment and correction and provides pro / con views, arguments, and counter-arguments. This might be a good resource for canidates and anyone else involved in political debate.

I know that I spend an amazing amount of time reading from a variety of news and political opinion sources. If we're going to ever move from the current situation where only those who have the time to "follow everything" really have a grasp of what is going on, to one where anyone can come up to speed on any given topic, then we need to provide resources that aren't available today.

A Wiki coupled with Search and RSS could provide people with current changes on an array of topics and provide the resources to do further investigation.

Each issue would have its own page and would follow a pre-defined template that covers naming, describing the issue and its audience. Arguments pro and con would be provided as well. What I envision, is a process like what has taken Wikipedia to a level of completeness and accuracy that rivals traditional encyclapedias. That is broad-based community input of issues that are of interest to the contributors. Vandalism could be reduced by requiring registration (which ProgessNow already has implemented).

What do you think?

Salon.com's War Room has a great new post - From "To Hell With Them" hawks to "Christians for Torture". Here is a sample:

Now Andrew Sullivan introduces us to another new tribe in the big tent: Christians for Torture. Crunching the numbers on a recent Pew poll, Sullivan discovers that 57 percent of the people who describe themselves as "secular" say that torture is either never or rarely justified. Only 49 percent of white Protestants and only 42 percent of Roman Catholics are similarly torture-averse. "In other words," Sullivan says, "if you are an American Christian, you are more likely to support torture than if you are an atheist or agnostic." Sullivan -- who has been grappling of late with his own feelings of "shame and sorrow" for errors along the way to Iraq -- calls Christians for Torture "a new constituency" and "another part of the Bush legacy."

I guess when you have failth that your beliefs trump everyone else's, it is not much of a jump to believe that you can treat "the others" however you wish.

We should be asking all of the other Demorcatic Senators to appologize for not supporting Sen. Feingold in the face of the Republican attacks. Much of the polling is clearly on our side, why can't they find the backbone to stand up to the jerks?

I got a call from a pollster tonight, the questions were very heavily focused on school vouchers and ended asking the choice for gov between Beauprez & Ritter. I don't know that it "exactly" would fit the profile of a push poll, but it came darn close.

I frequently read Joe.my.god blog. Today, he's got a very relevant post. Check it out here.