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Chuck Hagel, one of the few left of a band of truly country-first Republicans, plans to endorse Joe Sestak for Senate in Pennsylvania. Before retiring at the end of the last Congress, Hagel had chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Republicans were in power. Conservative as he was, he was an intellectual interested in policy rather than simple political gain.
Country-first is what it came down for Hagel when he told the AP of his plans to endorse Sestak:
Hagel told The Associated Press on Monday that Sestak has demonstrated during his two terms in Congress that he puts the interests of the nation and his constituents ahead of his party.
"I think he's exactly what our country needs more of. I think he's what the Senate needs more of - courageous, independent thinking," Hagel said. "That's what the job is about. You are supposed to use your judgment."
Senator Bernie Sanders calls it what it is, fabulously wealthy families and their multinational corporations are hell-bent on destroying the middle class and determined to create an Oligarchy.
. . . While the middle class disappears and poverty increases the wealthiest people in our country are not only doing extremely well, they are using their wealth and political power to protect and expand their very privileged status at the expense of everyone else. This upper-crust of extremely wealthy families are hell-bent on destroying the democratic vision of a strong middle-class which has made the United States the envy of the world. In its place they are determined to create an oligarchy in which a small number of families control the economic and political life of our country.
. On the right-wing Alan Stock Show in June, Angle suggested that "a young girl raped by her father" deal with the "horrific situation" by making lemons into lemonade:
STOCK: What do you say then to a young girl, I am going to place it as he said it, when a young girl is raped by her father, let's say, and she is pregnant. How do you explain this to her in terms of wanting her to go through the process of having the baby?
ANGLE: I think that two wrongs don't make a right. And I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade. Well one girl in particular moved in with the adoptive parents of her child, and they both were adopted. Both of them grew up, one graduated from high school, the other had parents that loved her and she also graduated from high school. And I'll tell you the little girl who was born from that very poor situation came to me when she was 13 and said 'I know what you did thank you for saving my life.' So it is meaningful to me to err on the side of life.
Make Lemons into Lemonade. I remember that saying on a poster in one of my high school classrooms. So would Sharron Angle want to put this poster up in classrooms across American with a picture of a rape victim?
How do these right wingers come up with such garbage?
Alvin Greene - an unemployed vet mysteriously finds 10k and files for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate
And he actually beats Vic Rawl who had been campaigning.
Who is Alvin Greene is a great question. But who gave Alvin Greene the money to qualify is an even better question.
I agree with Congressman Clyburn who says
"There were some real shenanigans going on in the South Carolina primary," Mr. Clyburn said on a radio show. "I don't know if he was a Republican plant; he was someone's plant."
Who is Alvin Greene and Why is He Here and Who Sent him?
Blanche Lincoln held off Bill Halter last night but in having to do so probably assured herself an easy defeat in November.
Kos has a nice concise post-script about this race. I too have outgrown these so-called "moral victories".
No, I definitely do not think that the $10 million spent by labor was a waste. Halter came within approximately ten thousand votes of knocking off an establishment candidate. Arkansas, if I'm reading this correctly , has the lowest percentage of it's workforce that are union members in the entire country.
Much is going to be said and spun about this race during the 2010 election cycle. However, I think that the most important parts of this story have already been explained. We needed Bill Halter as the nominee if we had any chance to retain this seat. Nevertheless, I am proud that we got behind Bill Halter in this race.
Speaker Pelosi pulled a brilliant move at the end of the last weeks legislative session.
House Democrats are home for a long Memorial Day break with a gift-wrapped wedge issue delivered just in time for district campaigning. One of their final actions before adjourning late Friday was passing a measure that would strip tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas by a 215-204 vote.
On a vote to buck the Banksters and help out everybody except our financial wizards, the Senate passed the Dick Durbin Amendment to reform Debit fees with a whopping 64 votes. In even more unlikely anti bankster behavior, 17 GOP Senators voted FOR the bill.
As of the typing of this article, hell has yet to begun to freeze.
Voting in favor: 46 Democrats, 17 Republicans and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders [I, VT].
Voting against: 9 Democrats, 23 Republicans and Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT].
Good ole Joey Lieberman. He's with us on everything but the war and Barack Obama.
But this is a great win that will benefit everyone who isn't a MegaBank or n executive or a servant of them, and a win for everyone else, but, as always, politics make strange bedfellows.
I am reminded of the words of our founding father, Thomas Jefferson. 3/4ths of this Senate are not fit to polish his statue. The words this titan among men once said were . . .
"The bank mania... is raising up a moneyed aristocracy in our country which has already set the government at defiance, and although forced at length to yield a little on this first essay of their strength, their principles are unyielded and unyielding. These have taken deep root in the hearts of that class from which our legislators are drawn, and the sop to Cerberus from fable has become history. Their principles lay hold of the good, their pelf of the bad, and thus those whom the Constitution had placed as guards to its portals, are sophisticated or suborned from their duties."
The failure of the Kaufman-Brown Amendment 33-61 to end the Too Big To Fail banks that crashed our economy amounts to a second bailout in my opinion. The point of Government is NOT to protect the banks from the people. Our democracy is obviously broken when the banks OWN the Government.
The evil has been produced by the error of their sanction of this ruinous machinery of banks; and justice, wisdom, duty, all require that they should interpose and arrest it before the schemes of plunder and spoilation desolate the country."
--Thomas Jefferson to William C. Rives, 1819. ME 15:232
This is Thomas Jefferson telling America 200 years ago to regulate the banks and that the greed of the super rich would own our sorry asses if we ever let them, and for a long time they have, but now we know who they are.
And when push came to shove yesterday, 2/3rds of our House of Lords Senate shoved Main St America right under the Bus, a bus driven by the Super Rich and their vampire capitalism fueled Corporate persons.
So here is the ULTIMATE BRIBE, Senators help the banksters rob Americans and they'll help trick the fools into voting Senators into office with the money the banks just stole from them.
40 days from today - on May 18 - we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate. Even if you're not from either of these two states, these races impact Democrats across the country and, well, the entire country as a whole.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak will try to upset Republican-for-decades Arlen Specter.
In Arkansas, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will try to upset corporate lackey Blanche Lincoln.
These two races are tremendously important to defining who and what the Democratic Party is and what we will be fighting for.
If you can volunteer for these candidates (or encourage friends and family in Pennsylvania and Arkansas to do so), that would be amazing.
Of course, if you can help with a contribution to either or both via the Expand the Map! ActBlue page as soon as possible, it will make a big impact.
Polling shows that both Specter and Lincoln are at risk of - if not likely to - hand these Senate seats over to far-right-wing Republicans. (And, even if these two retain the seats, that's not much better on many key issues.)
Congressman Sestak and Lieutenant Governor Halter winning these primaries are critical to keeping these seats in truly Democratic hands. Your support can help make that happen! Please hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page right away to make a contribution - an investment in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party to pull out an old expression - and show your support.
Thanks SO much for any support you can provide. 40 Days.
Although I haven't gotten an answer from the Brunner campaign yet on the Patriot Act, I did have a conversation where I made sure that they were aware of my presence on Daily Kos. While I was doing some searching to complete my opposition research concerning Afghanistan, I came across some interesting and ultimately telling items concerning Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and the front page of Daily Kos also shows why former Congressman and Bush Trade Representative Rob Portman cannot be seriously considered a good candidate for Senate. I will save the those bits for last.
("great work again Curtis - you spurred a movement that got picked up by folks all across America - we got hits on major news networks for your work" by admin
(EDIT: All I did was pass this along, go Coug!) - promoted by Curtis Abbey)
Today's retirement announcement by Evan Bayh leaves a big opportunity in 2010. Bayh waited until the last minute to Brett Farve, so we're going to have to scramble to get the 500 signatures necessary to get a Dem on the ballot in Indiana.
You can join the draft Mellencamp movement on Facebook
I've got to hand it to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), he knocks it out of the park on this. Republicans with their phony deficit concerns want to put the blame of their failed Conservative policies on Democrats and President Obama. But the money quote is right here.
"I really don't like being lectured on deficits when you (Sen. Gregg) and many members of your party (Republicans) helped cause the situation we are in right now."
~snip~
"Please, please, spare the lectures on deficit reduction."
In the past year, thanks largely to the Recovery Act and other help from Congress in terms of direct infrastructure and other spending, targeted tax cuts and humongous aide to the states, the economy avoided a complete collapse and a second Great Depression. Thanks largely to that kind of spending, the job loss picture turned around to look like this:
So of course, the United States Senate, Masters of Mediocrity, decides it's time to slow things down a bit. Senate Democrats released a draft plan of their new jobs bill today, and it is rather disappointing. It is missing some pretty critical and important stuff. CNN reports on the genius Senate bill:
Good afternoon evening, Progressive Electorate readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
It is a serious scroll. Decided to table this before I heard about Sen. Shelby's R-AL little announcement. Always a few kinks to work out. But no hurry, #snowpocalypse is about to hit DC again.
Some of the Hill news that's fit to blog is over the fold...
(great diary - well written with needed information - promoted by admin)
You can throw a dart at the left-ideological blogosphere and if you aim it roughly for health care reform, chances are you are going to hit a post about how the Democratic party is violating its own platform with the Senate bill. Horror! Of course, you can look at the right wing lunatic blogosphere and they are screaming about Socialist Communist Kenyan (TM) takeover of health care reform. But I'm planning on examining the claims of this serious violation of the Democratic platform today. After all, Democrats are in power in the White House, the House and the Senate.
First let me introduce you to the 2008 Democratic National Platform. It divides each policy area into subsections. I am going to list them and assign points based on a rather simple idea: I wasn't at the platform discussions. I don't know what was given the most weight and what was given the least. So each goal under the main health care umbrella will get the same amount of points assigned, and each sub-goal within it will divide up those points equally. Sound fair? Ok. We'll find out how the Senate health care bill stacks up against those goals.
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