Dems trying to close "Do Not Call" list loophole

This is the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans created this expiration, the Dems are closing it:

Congress took the first steps Tuesday to ensure that people who registered for the national Do Not Call list won't be inundated next year with telemarketing calls at dinnertime.

At separate House and Senate committee sessions, lawmakers passed legislation that makes most of the 145 million phone numbers on the list permanent by eliminating a five-year expiration date established by the Federal Trade Commission, which administers the program.

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Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 11/02/07

Another week. More preposterousness to report.

This week the GOP's collective daddy got some bad news. It turns out, as you can see below, a NY City Councilman, who runs a Committee that has words like "investigations" and "oversight" in it, wants questions answered after watching the Brave New Films film exposing Rudy Giuliani's robo-failures in protecting firefighters leading up to 9/11 (Rudy's legally changed middle name).

It is not Rudy's fault, mind you. Much as with Bush and the memo "Bin Laden Determined To Strike Within The U.S," Rudy couldn't be bothered to read the memo that said firefighters had dangerously inadequate radios. In 1990. Before he got the no-bid contract Motorola radios for them. That weren't tested. And Failed. So he gave them back their old faulty radios. Which they had to use on 9/11.

Now I understand why Republicans like Rudy. He's a pathological liar. Also, he's dada to neoconservatives who are scared of a few things (although they have yet to notice his version of a papa is more like Chevy Chase in the Vacation movies). You know, like unknown terrorists, progressive ideas, undercover cops, Austin Powers, baggy pants, falafels, Queer As Folk, large dogs, accepting their sexuality, balanced budgets, Rush Limbaugh's penis pills and scurvy, among others.

But now they may have to actually find out the truth about Rudy too. Does the Lord have no mercy?

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Democratic Senators, Schumer and Feinstein, cave on Mukasey. Endorse Torture.

Late this afternoon, via Talking Points Memo, we got the news we all basically expected. Democratic Senators are caving on the nomination of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General.

Chuck Schumer (NY) and Dianne Feinstein (CA), both on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are the culprits.

It's despicable, but, unfortunately, not unexpected.

This is a big one. The issue is torture. TORTURE. Bush wants to torture. He wants another Attorney General who will let him torture. And, key Democrats just enabled him -- AGAIN.

Coincidentally, just as this news broke, I was working on a post linking to Dan Froomkin's column from today. Basically, Bush knew the Democrats would cave. THEY ALWAYS DO.

Dan Froomkin gets Bush better than most people on the Hill do.

President Bush yesterday asserted that he would never nominate anyone for attorney general who would be willing to state that waterboarding is torture -- so, if the Senate doesn't approve Michael Mukasey, "that would guarantee that America would have no attorney general during this time of war."

There is, of course, no attorney general right now because Bush's last choice spectacularly self-destructed. And many members of Bush's own party are quite comfortable stating that waterboarding is torture. It's not exactly a controversial position, seeing as waterboarding has been an iconic form of torture since the Spanish Inquisition.

But it's not Bush's style to back down, especially when a key element of his radical and unprecedented expansion of executive power is at stake.

Instead, Bush has learned that the higher he ratchets up the rhetoric, especially if he can accuse his critics of being weak on terror, the more likely Congressional Democrats are to fold. He's simply counting on that happening again.

Bush who is so wrong about so many things, was right on this one. Bush knew he'd win on Mukasey.

Froomkin is so right. Bush just expected the Democrats to fold. It's a political game of chicken for him. He just made a few references to terrorism and waited. Didn't take long.

Can't wait to read the statements from Schumer and Feinstein. They'll be rife with angst. They'll talk about doing what's best for the country. Blah, blah, blah. Heard that speech from the Dems. way too many times. And, we'll hear it way too many times in the future. Read More......

Donna Edwards (A Better Democrat) or Al Wynn (D-Comcast)

It's day 3 of the online fundraiser for Donna Edwards. After reading today's post, everyone who cares about access to the internet and curtailing Comcast will want Donna in Congress.

Last week, John wrote a post about Comcast's abuse of its power. In September, the Washington Post reported that Comcast has been cutting off service to customers for allegedly using too much service without telling them how much was too much. Yesterday, Save The Internet.com filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to rein in Comcast.

It's important to understand why Comcast feels like it can act this way -- with impunity. One reasons is because almost NO ONE stands up to them. Certainly not Al Wynn who might as well be the lobbyist for Comcast on the Hill. We will probably NEVER hear Rep. Al Wynn criticize Comcast. Last year, Wynn was one of the co-sponsors of H.R. 5252, which was THE anti-net neutrality bill pushed by the telecom industry. This year, he already got his campaign contribution from Comcast. Because Wynn is on the Energy and Commerce Committee, he could be a champion of consumers -- but he's not. He sides with industry.

This is another reason we need Donna Edwards in Congress. She knows whose side she is on, which you can see in this new video (Donna has a bit of laryngitis):


Every contribution made to Donna's campaign sends the message that we want better Democrats. Every contribution matters so, if you can give, donate $5, $10, $20 to her campaign. ActBlue makes it easy.

And, remember, Donna will be posting on AMERICAblog tomorrow afternoon and sticking around to answer questions. That's one good thing about blogging -- you can do it even with laryngitis. Read More......

Dems squash Stephen Colbert from getting on SC ballot

Interesting question: Who does Colbert hurt more, take more votes from, Dems or Republicans? Read More......

Great video for Tom Allen from Maine College Democrats

Okay, admittedly I'm biased, but this is a great video prepared by the Maine College Democrats for their convention tomorrow. This is how they're introducing Congressman Tom Allen who is running for U.S. Senate against the incumbent GOP Bush lackey, Susan Collins:

With talent, activism and creativity like this on our side, Susan Collins is in big trouble. Read More......

Romney raised business taxes by $300 million in Massachusetts

And he's the far-right's favorite, the total lying fake. Read More......

There is no consumer product safety in the Bush administration. You're on your own.

Okay, after almost seven years of the Bush administration's contempt for the American people, nothing should really surprise us. The Bush posse not only thrown away the concept of consumer safety, they handed it to the industries they're supposed to regulate.

Lead in toys and all those other consumer safety scandals start to actually make sense after you read the Washington Post's article about the leaders of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Under Bush, you're not safer in any aspect of your life:

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Notable among the trips -- commonly described by officials as "gift travel" -- was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The $11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia.

The CPSC says that at the time, the group had no pending regulatory requests. But since then the fireworks group has urged the commission to adopt its safety standards, an idea that is still pending, according to an organization newsletter.

Consumer groups and lawmakers intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall dangerous products.

Government-wide travel regulations state that officials from agencies such as the CPSC should not accept money for travel from nonfederal sources if the payments "would cause a reasonable person . . . to question the integrity of agency programs or operations."

The problem being there is no "reasonable person" in the Bush administration. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Okay, okay. Let's get it started. Read More......