Twittering the Recount in Minnesota

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 23:33:39 PM CST

Right now the focus has been on access to rejected absentee ballots. You can go to The Uptake and follow the recount minute to minute and ballot to ballot.

I will say that this is citizen journalism at its best. We can all wonder what would have happened in 2004 had we had such an outlet to monitor the events in Florida.

So it's my understanding that Coleman's lead shrunk from 215 votes to 136 votes with something like 46 percent of the ballots being recounted.  I'm sure that with this small a margin we will see numerous challenges.  

My Thoughts on a Progressive Agenda

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 22:31:56 PM CST

I never want this to become a reactionary blog. Hence, that is exactly why I am pushing for great candidates who will work for a better health care system and to change the way our country thinks about energy.

My reasons for not supporting a Wall Street Bailout or a Big Three Bailout center on the legislation failing to reign in corporate excesses. I understand that auto workers will lose their jobs and the entire economy will suffer.  

Minnesota Recount - Glad I don't have that Job (MN-Senate)

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 18:47:08 PM CST

They provide a link to the State Statute on how to judge the ballots.

Perhaps I've made a mistake when voting before, but I wonder how difficult is it to color in the bubble. I've got about a million questions after viewing these ballots.   Are people this incompetent? Did that many adults huff paint when they were children? Do people do this stuff on purpose?

Does this make the case for electronic voting?

How's Obama doing with his cabinet picks?

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 18:09:10 PM CST

Here are some of the picks I'm familiar with

Rahm Emanuel - Chief of Staff; While not an official member of the Cabinet he will be very much involved in all decisions; and he is a general badass

Eric Holder - Attorney General ; Deputy Attorney General under Clinton; top legal advisor on campaign and helped vet the Vice-Presidential Candidates; very experienced and well respected across the aisle.

Tom Daschle - Secretary of Human and Health Services - former Senator and a perennial Washington insider; but he knows the legislative process and this gives a strong message that Obama is serious about getting health care plan through Congress

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano - Department of Homeland Security;  She's got experience with Border State security and immigration issues. She's got impeccable credentials for this position and appears to be highly competent. Something we didn't see in the Bush Administration.

I'm not going to mention any others yet because we haven't gotten any solid confirmations.

I think we've got a great cabinet so far. Let's see what else we come up with.  

Imperial Sugar CEO Defends Sugar Saxby Shambles (GA-Sen)

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 17:20:57 PM CST

Imperial Sugar Co. CEO John Sheptor defended the conduct of Saxby Chambliss on Wednesday, saying the U.S. senator from Georgia has "behaved appropriately with character and integrity at all times."

The comments came after Imperial Sugar executives and workers broke ground on a new packaging warehouse at the Port Wentworth plant, damaged in the Feb. 7 explosions and fire that killed 14 workers and injured scores more.

Chambliss, a Republican in the midst of a re-election campaign against Democrat Jim Martin, is resisting an order to give evidence in a lawsuit by families of victims killed or hurt in the refinery disaster.

Savannah attorney Mark Tate, who issued the subpoena, has said Chambliss tried to talk some of Tate's clients out of suing Imperial Sugar in the months that followed the tragedy.

Chambliss has said he is not only immune from such demands to testify, he is prohibited - a contention that Tate and others have challenged.

Chambliss supporters say the demand for the senator's testimony is politically driven. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made an issue of Chambliss' treatment of a whistle-blower at a July hearing that examined the causes of the refinery explosion.I

First of all this immunity is crap and does not apply to non-legislative activities.

Of course the Imperial Sugar PAC gave Saxby Chambliss $1,000 in 2008.

And John Sheptor the CEO gave the PAC $2,000 of course.

Click here for More from a diary I did a few months ago.

We neeeeed your help. Please do what you can and drop a couple of bucks to Jim Martin.

Waxman replaces Dingell and a good thread on the Auto Bailout

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 10:04:55 AM CST

Here is a great thread with an interesting discussion on the auto bailout : Letter to Senator Shelby (Left in Alabama).

I'm still a little torn, but my mind overtakes my heart. I fail to see where anything would insure that this does anymore than just keep the auto manufacturers afloat for a small period of time.

I understand that there would be some union concessions. However, I still have not the foggiest idea of what the corporate excess controls will be and what concessions the executives will give away.

Eric Holder - Well Respected on Both Sides of the Aisle

by: admin

Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 00:47:18 AM CST

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the attorney general nomination will be reviewed. Sessions backed Holder for the deputy AG job under Clinton, and he doesn't recall any "serious problems" with his performance.

"I think he has the potential to get Republican support," Sessions said. "I hope nothing comes up that would be a difficulty for him."

Sessions has been one of the most reliably conservative voices in the U.S. Senate. That will be even more true starting in January with such conservatives like Elizabeth Dole and possibly Saxby Chamblis missing from the next Congress.

I would say that Sessions certainly leaves the door open at the end of his quote. However, Sessions seems to be a man of his word. Of everything critical that has been said of Jeff Session and his performance, I've never heard that he is not a straight shooter.

I've heard some criticism of Holder as being a Clintonista.Yes, Holder was deputy Atorney General under Janet Reno in the Clinton administration.  Well, he was also appointed to the D.C. bench by Ronald Reagan. Furthermore, Holder supported Obama despite only knowing him for four years. So keep in mind that this is not an Obama Chicago homeboy.

So for now, I'm giving an A to Obama on this pick.  

One Major Reason I'm Opposed to the Auto Bailout

by: admin

Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 21:49:25 PM CST

One Congressman's comments

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

Black Vote Down in Georgia Runoff Early Voting - Wake up CAll

by: admin

Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 13:10:04 PM CST

While this news is not a deal breaker for our chances in Georgia, it means we've got to work harder. We have just had two days of early voting in Georgia and those numbers are not promising as reported by the AJC .

This should not be a damper but rather a wake up call that we need to volunteer in person if we are close by, help with phone calls if you are far away and donate donate donate if you can.

Please help me reach my goal of turning Georgia Peach to Blue.

Auto Industry Bailout? or - Let it Collapse?

by: admin

Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 12:15:14 PM CST

I do believe that we should do more to force a bailout to restructure policy on making American vehicles more energy efficient. While a number of environmental and energy efficiency groups are lobbying Congress, we are not sure if that will be part of a plan. I think any bailout plan without making vehicles more energy efficient and promoting the use of alternative fuels should be consider unconscionable.

I also have more concerns for the Big 3 auto workers losing their jobs than I did for Wall Street executives. Now that's not to say that layoffs would not occur to secretarial staff and entry level workers on Wall Street. But I think that as we've seen, executive pay and compensation needs more attention on Wall Street.

I think so many hardworking Americans in already suffering economies would be laid off with little potential for employment. That is not just intuition but I think the Big 3 have presented some pretty convincing arguments that the detriment to auto workers would be great.

But even more convincing than the Big Three arguments may be what I read this morning from Alabama Senator Richard Shelby. I think he make a great point about the Big Three not being able to compete at any point against the foreign company manufacturers.

Regardless of how you feel about this issue of American owned manufacturers versus foreign owned manufacturers, it would be intellectually dishonest to say that Shelby's not right on point. I believe we would again be throwing good money after bad unless we can insure that we make some serious changes.  

Buckley (Libertarian) endorses Martin (GA-Sen) in runoff sort of

by: admin

Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 10:27:25 AM CST

However, based on some remarks Buckley made to Senate Guru , it appears that he favors Martin.

Senate Guru: Do you believe that Saxby Chambliss' position on the Wall Street bailout has been fiscally responsible?

Allen Buckley: Something needed to be done, but I wouldn't have voted for the bail-out bill. No, I don't think his position was fiscally responsible.

Senate Guru: Speaking as a Libertarian, which remaining candidate do you think would be more proactive in restoring the civil liberties of Georgians and acting appropriately in response to the Bush Administration's practice of wiretapping Americans' phones without warrants?

Allen Buckley: Jim Martin.

This from the AJC

Now, Buckley confirmed making the comments above. But the Smyrna attorney and CPA also said this in an e-mail:

"Those are my answers. I believe Martin would be better with respect to civil liberties. It's hard to believe he could be worse than Chambliss on fiscal matters, but he could be so."

If you can indict a ham sandwich you can indict Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales

by: admin

Wed Nov 19, 2008 at 00:21:59 AM CST

So while you might be excited that a Texas grand jury indicted Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales today, the fact is that it doesn't mean a hill of beans.

The indictment stems from Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group -- an investment management company that reportedly has interests in the prison companies in charge of the detention centers, according to The Associated Press. It also charges Gonzales halted an investigation into abuse at the detention centers while he was attorney general.

Well this appears to be the last stand of Juan Angel Guerra, District Attorney of Willacy County, Texas. Guerra was voted out of office in his March primary.

I will predict that this indictment will never amount to more than what it is an indictment. While Dick Cheney might be guilty of something, a jury probably won't find him guilty of this.  

The Progressive Electorate Pontificates

by: admin

Tue Nov 18, 2008 at 20:45:37 PM CST

What else is going on today you might ask. Well let me tell you what else is going on in the world.

Hillary Clinton and the SOS

by: admin

Tue Nov 18, 2008 at 09:39:21 AM CST

While this idea or selection seems to be popular with the media and even Henry Kissinger, I believe that it might bode for disaster with an Obama administration. Members of the Obama team are already more than upset at the idea of turning over such an important role in the government back over to the Clintons.

Furthermore, Joe Biden's role will be more in the realm of foreign policy advice and I can see him almost being a de facto Secretary of State. I think that would potentially put Biden and Clinton at odds on a number of issues.

While, I value the leadership skills of HRC, I'm of the opinion that an Obama-Biden-Clinton team may look better on paper (a paper napkin kind of idea) than something that would be etched in the anals of bad Obama decisions.

With so many safer choices, I think Obama would be well advised not to keep his enemies that close. She's close enough in the Senate.

Obama you are a big basketball fan. If you were Phil Jackson would you want Kobe and Shaq back together. Too much personality to make good chemistry right?

Should Artur Davis run for Alabama Governor in 2010?

by: admin

Mon Nov 17, 2008 at 19:51:54 PM CST

Last week I wrote a story in detail on the possibility of Davis running for Governor .

I think this is a discussion that is going to last until the minute Davis makes a decision and then some.

After reading Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority, I will go out on a limb and say that white rural democrats and independents will not as much be motivated by race as they will by whether Davis resonates with a populist message.