news aggregator

March 20, 2006

18:43
In the last half hour, the halls and offices here at Cegelis headquarters have been swarmed with volunteers.  There are more than a dozen groups out all across the district working the get-out-the-vote angle, smiling and working into a bitter wind. Gonna be a long, good night.  Oh…and there’s a rumor of snow in tomorrow’s forecast.  Cross [...]
Categories: Blogs
18:21
Electronic Voting Booths To Make Election Debut Tuesday Is First Election Without Punch Card Ballots Mike Parker, CBS2 News (CBS) CHICAGO Tuesday’s primary elections in Illinois will mark a first. For the first time since they were introduced, there will be no punch card ballots. CBS 2’s Mike Parker reports that when Illinois voters turn up at the polls Tuesday, [...]
Categories: Blogs
17:51
President Bush on Monday cited progress in stabilizing an insurgent stronghold in northern Iraq, saying he has “confidence in our strategy” of bringing peace to the country.
Categories: News
17:11
Just got word that the anchor of the local CBS news affiliate out here referred to Tammy Duckworth as “Tammy-come-lately” during their 5pm broadcast tonight, a clear reference to the fact that Duckworth does not even live in the district she hopes to represent. Pretty funny stuff…
Categories: Blogs
17:02

Bush sees progress in Iraq, despite lack of support

President Bush spoke today in Cleveland, saying that, despite Americans' dismayal with the war in Iraq, he sees signs of progress. "The situation on the ground remains tense," Bush told an audience at the City Club of Cleveland. "In the face of continued reports about killings and reprisals, I understand how some Americans have had their confidence shaken. Others look at the violence they see each night on their television screens, and they wonder how I can remain so optimistic about the prospects of success in Iraq. They wonder what I see that they don't." Couldn't have been said better! We've been wondering this too.

Rumsfeld's analogy wrong

Former top officials of two previous presidential administrations, one Democractic and the other Republican, disagreed with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's characterization of what would happen if the US were to pull-out of Iraq. "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis," Rumsfeld wrote Sunday in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post.

Katrina death toll still rising

Two more bodies were uncovered in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward yesterday, casualties from Hurricane Katrina. So far, Louisiana has reported 1,100 hurricane-related deaths. 231 lives were claimed in Mississippi. The latest bodies were found in a collapsed house while rubble was being cleared.

—Meredith Adams

Categories: Blogs
15:33
I arrived at the Christine Cegelis headquarters a couple of hours ago after a mercifully uneventful flight from Boston.  This place is absolutely buzzing with activity; volunteers are coming in, receiving marching orders, and heading back out to pound the pavement.  The phones are ringing all over the place, and the campaign strategists are flying [...]
Categories: Blogs
13:59
Marchers protesting the Iraq war tried to deliver a mock coffin to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq war.
Categories: News
13:58
The "largest" air assault in Iraq was nothing of the sort.

Categories: Blogs
13:09
Defense Secretary's crackpot theories panned by Kissinger, Brzezinski,as retired general writes: "Mr. Rumsfeld must step down."

Categories: Blogs
13:00
The problem isn't that this war may not be winnable. The problem is that this war is wrong, and must be stopped.
Source: AlterNet
Categories: News
12:41
Anja Tranovich and Rachel Corbett profile a delegation of Iraqi women who are traveling the country in an effort to convey the grim realities of the US occupation.

Categories: News
12:00
The failed senator and former attorney general now works on K Street. "Let the Earnings Soar" is his next hit song.
Source: AlterNet
Categories: News
12:00
News: This time young people are opposing an ill-conceived new employment law that the French government is pushing to boost ratings before elections next year.
Source: AlterNet
Categories: News
11:15

The beginning of this year brought chaos for many seniors as they felt the ramifications of the poorly designed program known as Medicare Part D, which allows private companies to design and sell insurance plans offering prescription drug coverage. The program began on January 1, and was marked with the usual incompetence one can expect from Republicans and the Bush Administration.

Last week, President Bush apathetically described the program's inception as "interesting," and said that this program, which contained errors that left large numbers of seniors at least temporarily denied coverage, was a "good deal" for seniors and taxpayers.

Democrats, who foresaw the program's problems and voted overwhelmingly against its creation, plan to hold Republicans accountable for the program's flaws in elections later this year. Generally, Democrats favor benefits provided directly by the government, rather than through private companies.

The President urged seniors to sign up for this program which, according to him, "makes a lot of sense." He couldn't have put it better. It makes perfect sense that the Bush Administration, in its typical fashion, has ignored the needs of low-income and middle-class Americans to line the pockets of big business.

The White House projects that Medicare spending in 2006 will be 20% lower than was estimated last year.

—Meredith Adams

Categories: Blogs
10:39
In a case tied to the Whitewater investigations, the Supreme Court refused Monday to consider an appeal by former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to withdraw his 1998 guilty plea to tax conspiracy.
Categories: News
10:00
Bradley leads an underdog brigade that says, "Believe the hype!" Plus: A Sweet 16 thoughts on the NCAA Tournament's first four days.
Source: Salon.com
Categories: News
09:31
The list of reasons for such a Commission keeps on growing.

Categories: Blogs
08:39

IRAQ: Picking Up The Pieces

Categories: News
07:44

Chris Heldenbrand is an organizer of Democracy for Oklahoma City.

RAISE OKLAHOMA, an initiative petition campaign to put a raise in the minimum wage on the November ballot in Oklahoma, was officially formed Saturday, March 11, by a coalition of concerned groups and individuals in Oklahoma City.

Seventeen other states have instituted state minimum wage laws, with legislation in Michigan reaching the governor's desk just last week, which would make that state the eighteenth. It has been almost nine years since the last raise in the Federal minimum wage.

The three Democracy For America groups in Oklahoma are spearheading the organizational drive, but other groups have signed on to fully support the effort, such as the United Auto Workers, League of United Latin American Citizens, INDN's List, the Oklahoma Democratic Party, and county Democratic parties. Other groups have been contacted and their support is forthcoming.

The draft petition, the language of which has not yet been approved by the Attorney General and Secretary of State, calls for the minimum wage to be raised one dollar the first year, one dollar the second year, then thereafter the raises will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index and US government-formulated inflation indices.

The signature drive will begin immediately upon approval of the petition language. A base amount of approximately 107,000 signatures is required, but a goal of at least 140,000 has been set. Time is short, but a comprehensive strategy is in place to achieve the goal within the limited time frame.

RAISE OKLAHOMA PAC has been formed to provide the committee structure for the effort.

I want to urge all interested groups and individuals to volunteer some time to make this effort successful. Contact me at [email protected] or call me at 405-313-1050 for information.

I know everyone on this board realizes the political benefits that can accrue for Democrats with this issue, but the truth is, we are doing it simply because the working poor of Oklahoma deserve to live with dignity, and support their families with the basics of decent food, clothing, shelter and health care. You can debate the timing, you can bemoan the imaginary job losses, and you can lament the ten-cent rise in your Burger King Whopper, but the time for a raise is way overdue. And if not now, when? If not us, who?

Please help us with this effort. There are many ways to pitch in. We'll raise the standard of living in Oklahoma, and stimulate the consumer spending necessary to a healthy economy. If we do nothing else in our lifetimes, we will have made a significant contribution to our state with this.

But let's not stop there. This is just the beginning.

—Chris Heldenbrand

Categories: Blogs
07:30
New twist in "South Park"/Scientology scuffle. Paris back with Paris. Plus: Is Laura Bush trying to kill the president?
Source: Salon.com
Categories: News