I ate the fried chicken breast and salad that Uncle Bud fixed for me, while listening to C-Span's replay of some of LBJ's taped phone calls. Uncle Bud suggested I listen to them to find out how a real politician worked. LBJ was Uncle Bud's favorite Democrat. Come to think of it, LBJ was damn near the only Democrat he admired. He loved the way the big Texan could overwhelm any opposition. "Listen carefully, and you can hear the toilet flush," Uncle Bud had said as he walked out the door. "The bastard's chewing out the Speaker of the House from the can! And I swear, when he flushes, he must be holding the receiver in the bowl, just so the Speaker knows where he's calling from!" I guess style is in the eyes, and ears, of the beholder, but I have to admit that McCormack seemed shaken by the flush, and his initial objections were swept away in the spiraling woosh. He promptly agreed to pass the latest Supplemental Funding Request for the Viet Nam War, and hung up. I think he was desperate to get off the the line before the President of the United States and the Leader of the Free World audibly sighed and zipped his pants with a grunt.
  A loud knock on the door interrupted my lesson in practical politics. I hit the mute and hollered, "C'mon in!" The door swung open and slammed against the wall. "The White Wonder!" boomed the bass voice of Freedom Fyter. His six foot, five inch frame filled the doorway.

A few times this year bloggers got the wild hair to start talking about the potential we have to bring more people to our government by making Congress more 2.0 friendly.

Stoller went off about the Franking Laws that are out of step with reality back in March and I've not stopped thinking about it since then. Well, in reality I had been thinking about it before that back when Obama's campaign announced that it would make the Chief Technology Officer a cabinet position.

One of Congress' many recent failures is that it has allowed the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to expand to meet the President's every new demand on Iraq. Since the Constitution empowers Congress with declaring war it is perfectly valid to say any use of soldiers in war without one is illegal, yet as a body it doesn't seem to care.

Several years ago, Major League Baseball came under scrutiny as reporters and fans became concerned about the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the game.

What was MLB's response?

In a nutshell: Don't worry, everything is fine, and we can police ourselves.  And yes, there may be a bad apple here or there, but trust us, we'll find them and keep it clean!

How did that go?

A little over two months ago I wrote that we may have been at "the moment newly-emboldened actors began a decisive push against an overreaching executive" (hat tip me) and a couple weeks after that "[o]ne way or another by the end of the year things will look very different" (ibid). I'm glad I hedged my bets on the first one, and my unfavorable scenario for the second seems the likeliest to come to pass. Congress looks like it will continue to be timid on war policy and oversight, and now appears to be complicit in torture.

On war policy, here was David Obey on October 1st

By Jason Miller

Thomas Paine's Corner

http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=436

“Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.”

–Winston Smith from George Orwell’s 1984

The progress being made in our 4 1/2 year war of terror on Iraq is phenomenal.

HOPE FLOATS

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act will be five years old on September 25th. Unfortunately, no one is celebrating because it is five years still in the making and not five years providing vital programs enhancing treatments and cures. I know. My family lives the life.

And our plan to nuke Iran is shaping up nicely too.

The collective power of the peace movement helped the Democrats take control of Congress and turn Nancy Pelosi from Minority leader into Madam Speaker. But in May the new Congress turned its back on the peace movement, granting Bush another $95 billion for war with no timetable for withdrawal. While the Speaker of the House herself voted against the war funding, she failed to put pressure on the conservative Democrats to form a united front against another blank check for war. She also failed to effectively use her power to decide what bills would come up for a vote. In the case of both the unrestricted war funding and the expanded FISA wiretapping, Pelosi had the ability to keep the bills off the floor but refused to do so.

Cross-posted at DailyKos.

No office in Pennsylvania politics has been quite as frustrating as that of State Attorney General. Ever since 1980, when the position became an elected one, the voters have never opted to send a Democrat to that seat. Even as Pennsylvania has, ever so slowly, turned a bluer shade of purple, giving its electoral votes to every Democratic Presidential nominee since 1992, and sending Democrats to the Governor's office, the State Auditor General and State Treasurer's offices, and one of the state's U.S. Senate seats, the State Attorney General's office has remained firmly in Republican hands.

David Swanson of AfterDowningStreet.org, PDA and Democrats.com writes: We've reached the impeachment moment for Vice President Dick Cheney. We are now at what Rev. Lennox Yearwood calls the lunch counter moment in the impeachment movement. We've pushed the cosponsor list for H. Res. 333 up to 14. Chairman John Conyers says that if we get 3 more he'll begin the impeachment proceedings. And many Congress Members must be recognizing that there is no other path available.

How long, Oh Lord? How long?

What have I done wrong? How have I offended Thee?

Why, why hast Thou given me this political representation? (continued)

Countdown: Signing Statements Weaken the Law

copyright © 2007 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org