Global
With the federal minimum wage now 28 percent lower, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was fifty years ago, Senate Republicans are nonetheless threatening to filibuster its increase. This leaves the Democrats with a choice, which will set the tone for future legislation. They can cave to Republican demands to add questionable business tax breaks, a response Montana Democrat Max Baucus embraces. Or they can use their time, while the debate goes on, to highlight the fundamental issues at stake, hammering the Republicans with their opposition to this most modest step toward helping low-income working Americans. Ted Kennedy did this when he challenged the $200 billion of amendments offered in an attempt to derail the bill, and then asked "When does the greed stop?”
Our beloved sister Molly Ivins is fighting for her life against cancer, and all we can do is try to send her even a fraction of the brillliance, joy and love she has given us for so many incomparable years.
This genius daughter of Texas turmoil has stood alone for so long as a voice of clarity, wit, common sense and plain-spoken conscience that it’s hard to know even where to start.
Perhaps most important to remember is that she has not been just a writer. From her modest but gracious home in the heart of Austin, she has done anything but sit back and snipe with that unique penetrating wit of hers. She could have done it. She could have just gone to that keyboard every day, blown them all away, and built her national reputation from the sheer genius of an insulated ivory tower.
Perhaps most important to remember is that she has not been just a writer. From her modest but gracious home in the heart of Austin, she has done anything but sit back and snipe with that unique penetrating wit of hers. She could have done it. She could have just gone to that keyboard every day, blown them all away, and built her national reputation from the sheer genius of an insulated ivory tower.
"Don't be distracted
Don't turn away
Don't be overwhelmed
Don't be too busy
Don't delay...
Darfur can't wait."
Those are the powerful words of actress Meryl Streep, in a short video on Darfur.
Please click here Video to watch the video, and then sign a petition to US Special Envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, urging him to support the work of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Sudan and neighboring Chad.
Since 2003, violence, war, and disease have killed in excess of 200,000 people. Another 2 million – mostly women and children - have been forced to flee their homes.
In eastern Chad the UN Refugee Agency is providing more than 220,000 refugees with protection, shelter, medical care, and other basic assistance. But the dire humanitarian crisis is growing worse.
Don't turn away
Don't be overwhelmed
Don't be too busy
Don't delay...
Darfur can't wait."
Those are the powerful words of actress Meryl Streep, in a short video on Darfur.
Please click here Video to watch the video, and then sign a petition to US Special Envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, urging him to support the work of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Sudan and neighboring Chad.
Since 2003, violence, war, and disease have killed in excess of 200,000 people. Another 2 million – mostly women and children - have been forced to flee their homes.
In eastern Chad the UN Refugee Agency is providing more than 220,000 refugees with protection, shelter, medical care, and other basic assistance. But the dire humanitarian crisis is growing worse.
President Bush claimed in his State of the Union speech to have prevented four terrorist plots. Phew! It's a good thing to know that we tossed out our Bill of Rights for some actual REASON – I mean other than turning Iraq into a training ground for terrorism.
Except that we didn't.
1.-"We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast."
An October 8, 2005, LA Times story, headlined "Scope of Plots Bush Says Were Foiled Is Questioned," cited "several counter-terrorism officials" as saying that "the plot never progressed past the planning stages.... 'To take that and make it into a disrupted plot is just ludicrous,' said one senior FBI official….At most it was a plan that was stopped in its initial stages and was not an operational plot that had been disrupted by authorities."
Except that we didn't.
1.-"We stopped an al Qaeda plot to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building on the West Coast."
An October 8, 2005, LA Times story, headlined "Scope of Plots Bush Says Were Foiled Is Questioned," cited "several counter-terrorism officials" as saying that "the plot never progressed past the planning stages.... 'To take that and make it into a disrupted plot is just ludicrous,' said one senior FBI official….At most it was a plan that was stopped in its initial stages and was not an operational plot that had been disrupted by authorities."
The first felony convictions of two Cleveland poll workers stemming from Ohio's stolen 2004 election confirm that the official recount in that contested vote was, in the words of county prosecutors, "rigged." The question now is whether further prosecutions will reach higher up in the ranks of officials who may have been involved in illegalities throughout the rest of the state.
The convictions have come down in Cuyahoga County, where Democratic candidates traditionally run up huge majorities. Suspicious vote counts and other irregularities cut deeply into John Kerry's margins in 2004. Official vote counts gave the state---and thus the presidency---to George W. Bush by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million counted.
A statewide recount, paid for by the Green and Libertarian Parties, was marred in 87 of the state's 88 counties by the types of illegalities that led to this week's convictions. Only in Coshocton County was a full, manual recount performed.
The convictions have come down in Cuyahoga County, where Democratic candidates traditionally run up huge majorities. Suspicious vote counts and other irregularities cut deeply into John Kerry's margins in 2004. Official vote counts gave the state---and thus the presidency---to George W. Bush by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million counted.
A statewide recount, paid for by the Green and Libertarian Parties, was marred in 87 of the state's 88 counties by the types of illegalities that led to this week's convictions. Only in Coshocton County was a full, manual recount performed.
This country has learned to be afraid… of Dick Cheney. The number one reason a significant minority of Americans still hesitates to get behind impeachment of Bush is fear of Dick Cheney. This will remain the case even should Cheney die, I am convinced. Certainly it remains the case no matter how many times I explain the following six reasons why it's INSANE, but I'm going to try one more time.
January 27, 2007 – Washington, D.C.
America is a fundamentally good and great nation. As it evolves toward fulfilling its promise. It is better than our presidential leadership. The American people, nor the Congress, ever agreed to the global calamity and disaster.
Today we march for the soul of our nation, to preserve our nation’s honor. We march in protest against our government’s policy, mass action to change the course of our nation. The war in Iraq is causing a war on the poor at home. Money needed for the working poor, the aged and the young, are being sacrificed for this mis-adventure.
I was with Dr. King on his last birthday, January 15, 1968: his actions and agenda that day are instructive for us. He spent his morning sharing breakfast with his family. About 10am he came to church, dressed casually, building a multicultural coalition: Appalachian whites, Native Americans and Latinos from the Chavez group, Al Lowenstein and some Jewish allies from New York, Blacks from the Deep South and labor leaders…the focus was to end the War in Vietnam and End Poverty in America.
America is a fundamentally good and great nation. As it evolves toward fulfilling its promise. It is better than our presidential leadership. The American people, nor the Congress, ever agreed to the global calamity and disaster.
Today we march for the soul of our nation, to preserve our nation’s honor. We march in protest against our government’s policy, mass action to change the course of our nation. The war in Iraq is causing a war on the poor at home. Money needed for the working poor, the aged and the young, are being sacrificed for this mis-adventure.
I was with Dr. King on his last birthday, January 15, 1968: his actions and agenda that day are instructive for us. He spent his morning sharing breakfast with his family. About 10am he came to church, dressed casually, building a multicultural coalition: Appalachian whites, Native Americans and Latinos from the Chavez group, Al Lowenstein and some Jewish allies from New York, Blacks from the Deep South and labor leaders…the focus was to end the War in Vietnam and End Poverty in America.
I'm still waiting for Art Buchwald's next column.
If I had any decent sources in heaven I'd ask them to get me an interview with him, just to check in, see how the first week went and find out when he's going to start writing again. But he was the one with all the great sources - at the White House, the CIA, the Kremlin, wherever.
The official story is that Art died on Jan. 17 at age 81, of kidney failure. The unofficial story is that he was supposed to die a year ago but didn't, and became, in his own modest estimation, "the man who wouldn't die." In early 2006 he'd had a leg amputated following serious infection, and was suffering from acute kidney disease. The doctors recommended dialysis - for the rest of his life. Art said no way and checked into a hospice instead. There, something went horribly wrong.
If I had any decent sources in heaven I'd ask them to get me an interview with him, just to check in, see how the first week went and find out when he's going to start writing again. But he was the one with all the great sources - at the White House, the CIA, the Kremlin, wherever.
The official story is that Art died on Jan. 17 at age 81, of kidney failure. The unofficial story is that he was supposed to die a year ago but didn't, and became, in his own modest estimation, "the man who wouldn't die." In early 2006 he'd had a leg amputated following serious infection, and was suffering from acute kidney disease. The doctors recommended dialysis - for the rest of his life. Art said no way and checked into a hospice instead. There, something went horribly wrong.
Even in Democratic County, They Rigged To Avoid The Extra Work and Embarrassment that Finding Discrepancies Would Bring
THE BASIC NEWS:
The verdict is in on whether the November 2004 presidential election recount in Ohio was "illegally rigged {by election officials} in what was supposed to be a random sample recount in {order} to avoid a time-consuming hand count of all votes." http://wcpo.com/news/2007/local/01/23/oh_elections.html
Verdict: Two officials found Guilty of felony level negligent misconduct in elections. The lowest level manager of the three officials charged was acquitted on all counts.
The two convicted Election officials face terms of 6 to 18 months in prison. A third assistant manager was acquitted on all counts. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/165362...
THE BASIC NEWS:
The verdict is in on whether the November 2004 presidential election recount in Ohio was "illegally rigged {by election officials} in what was supposed to be a random sample recount in {order} to avoid a time-consuming hand count of all votes." http://wcpo.com/news/2007/local/01/23/oh_elections.html
Verdict: Two officials found Guilty of felony level negligent misconduct in elections. The lowest level manager of the three officials charged was acquitted on all counts.
The two convicted Election officials face terms of 6 to 18 months in prison. A third assistant manager was acquitted on all counts. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/165362...