Democratic agenda for their first week in power begins to emerge

We'll have plenty of time to ruminate over the specifics of the Democratic plan. But, it's actually good to see the Democratic leaders talking confidently about the agenda they'll implement when they achieve control of the House:

House Democrats have formulated a plan of action for their first week in control. Their leaders said a Democratic House would quickly vote to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997. It would roll back a provision in the Republicans' Medicare prescription drug benefit that prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from negotiating prices for drugs offered under the program.

It would vote to fully implement the recommendations of the bipartisan panel convened to shore up homeland security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Democratic leaders said.

And it would reinstate lapsed rules that say any tax cuts or spending increases have to be offset by spending cuts or tax increases to prevent the federal deficit from growing.

Seriously, when was the last time anyone saw a headline with the words "Confident Democrats." They're playing to win. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Disco Saturday night! Read the rest of this post...

Newly released DeLay/Abramoff emails undermine DeLay's spin

They are a lying dirty bunch. An email exchange, which the AP got, involves not only DeLay and Abramoff, but Abramoff's former assistant, Susan Ralston, who now works for Karl Rove in the White House. The conniving among this crowd showed no bounds. DeLay's story about his relationship with Abramoff and the free trip to Scotland is contradicted by what the DeLay and Abramoff teams were saying at the time. So, someone's been lying. What a surprise:

DeLay has steadfastly maintained he believed that the center paid for the trip as he reported.

The e-mails show that when DeLay's office began preparing the required disclosure reports for the free trip, his aides asked Abramoff's lobbying firm for the cost figures instead of the GOP group.

"Our financial disclosure forms from the England/Scotland trip are due tomorrow afternoon. ... I would appreciate if you would send me your information," a DeLay aide wrote Abramoff's firm.

The e-mails show Abramoff's team provided then-DeLay chief of staff Susan Hirschmann a final cost figure of $75,600 for the weeklong European trip taken by DeLay; his wife, Christine; Hirschmann; Hirschmann's husband; and Rudy.

The e-mails stated DeLay's office could attribute the figures to "the final bookkeeping efforts" by the GOP group. Despite the figure from Abramoff, DeLay's report to Congress put the cost lower, at just over $70,000.

Ralston wrote she had a follow-up conversation with DeLay's office. Hirschmann wanted "a name" of someone at the GOP group who would attest to paying for the trip and was concerned whether the center's executive director, Amy Ridenour, knew about the costs.

"She (Hirschmann) just wants to make sure that if someone starts asking questions that Amy Ridenour knows about these s," Ralston wrote.

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Gee, five guys were taken off a plane for being suspicious. I'm not even going to link. This comes withint 24 hours of Gossgate, I just don't buy it. Could be something real, but I just don't believe it. I refuse to believe anything this administration says or does any more. They lie. Pretty much always. Rumsfeld lied AGAIN the other day about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - said he never said he knew where they were - too bad there's video. Cheney does the same thing - he never said there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda - again, too bad there's video of him doing just that.

These guys are pathological liars and the media continues to give them a pass, going back for more and more without any increase in skepticism.

The big one might come some day, again, and no one will believe the warnings, and they'll be justified in not believing, because George Bush and his entire administration is based on lies. At some point it's better and safer to just tune them off and take our chances. Listening to them will, only lead you down a path of more and more incompetence and destruction. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqis cheers crash of British helicopter

Yes, they're finally greeting us in the streets with cheers. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were right. Read the rest of this post...

Gobbledygook and nonsense

That's what a federal judge called the Bush Administration's argument for wiretapping Internet phone calls:

"Your argument makes no sense," U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission, Jacob Lewis. "When you go back to the office, have a big chuckle. I'm not missing this. This is ridiculous. Counsel!"

At another point in the hearing, Edwards told the FCC's lawyer that his arguments were "gobbledygook" and "nonsense."

Those words could apply to just about every policy put forward by Bush. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Running to the coffee shop. Read the rest of this post...

Bush thinks he's commander in chief of World War III (no, really)

I saw this story last night, but could only find one source for it, in India, so I didn't trust it. It's now on Yahoo News, it's for real.

US President George W. Bush said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III."

This kind of rhetoric provides a window into Bush's mind, and it's extremely disturbing. Bush has constantly talked about how God has given him messages, including to invade the Middle East. Now apparently God wanted America to get involved in World War III.

What Bush fails to appreciate is that World War III has always been a metaphor for doomsday, the end of the world. It's not some quaint phrase that brings back the glorious memories of our victory in World War II (days which weren't that quaint, by the way). Bush should know better than to invoke global war. Then again, that's assuming he didn't intend to suggest exactly what he said - that he's leading the battle of the end of times.

We have an incompetent joke as a president. Read the rest of this post...

The Watergate Hooker Scandal - is it a gay hooker scandal?

Not that there's anything wrong with gay hookers, but it certainly adds another layer of spice to the story if family values Republicans are busy cavorting with gay hookers in the Watergate. Especially when they're planning in three weeks time to yet again vote to bash gays in the US Constitution.

This Kos diary has the goods. And what it reports about the former Human Rights Campaign head accidentally outing Randy Duke Cunningham is true - I remember when she did it. It was new. It also adds a fascinating angle to this story, in these times of holier-than-thou right-wing theocracy in America.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this post...

It's good to be the king dictator

Obviously being a dictator pays pretty well these days. Castro was furious last year when he made the list so he's going to go ballistic this year, showing up with a cool $900 million. There were always rumors of Arafat owning a small fortune as well though Castro's fortune is hardly chump change. I've never understood how these so-called leaders of poor nations could sleep at night with such luxury while their people lived so poorly. It's no wonder they work so hard to keep people looking elsewhere or else they would take notice of the discrepancy between words and action. Even Dear Leader in the US does the same to a degree but at least the US is not listed among the poorest in the world.

One of the other lowlights on the list is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea who was recently invited by Condi to the White House where he was praised. This charming fellow has a cool $600 million fortune while his country ranks among the poorest 10% in the world.

The so-called communist president of Angola is another great guy who is swimming in cash while his people live in absolute poverty and escape to poor neighboring countries in hopes of finding arable land or fishing rights that haven't been sold off. Angola is a US preferred trading partner, elevated to that status under Bush for reasons which no doubt have nothing to do with its oil reserves. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

No one gets fired in the Bush Administration for incompetence. There wouldn't be anyone left if that was the standard.

Anything going on? Read the rest of this post...

Blair's "last throw of the dice" - major cabinet reshuffle

And to think Jack and Condi just had such a successful tour together. I had assumed John Prescott would be gone after the messy story of his affair went public but instead, Blair's pro-war supporter was axed. Lots of changes in the Blair team and he seems to have targeted anyone who may have been reaching out to Gordon Brown, who will eventually replace the has-been PM.

Uhhh, Tony...it's you that people don't like. It's you who they want to see move on the most. Read the rest of this post...

April new payroll numbers low

Forecasts for new payrolls were around 200,000 but the numbers were only 138,000, well under the 150,000 per month average of new entrants in the jobs market. I wonder what Greenspan now thinks about the high cost of fuel, which he so often told us would not impact the economy. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

I'm off to bed Read the rest of this post...