Easter Lemming Liberal News

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A brief word about choices

David Van Os send me an editorial where Akwasi Evans wrote this:

When Bush entered office in 2000 the median household income was $49,158. Six years later it was $48,201. The median decrease for Whites was $745. It was $1,043 for Latinos, $1,381 for Asians, and $2,766 for Blacks.

In 2006, 24.3% of African Americans lived in poverty. The figure was 20.6% for Latinos, 10.1% for Asians and 8.2% for Whites.

Bush, like his hero Ronald Reagan, fiddled while corporate America initiated a scorch and burn campaign on the American people and their sense of security.

The war on minorities and workers has spread to the white middle class under Bush. We have almost half the population who thinks the economy is great and we need four more years of a Bush clone.

Krugman also notes this bad trend in another recent column:

L. B. J. declared his “War on Poverty” 44 years ago. Contrary to cynical legend, there actually was a large reduction in poverty over the next few years, especially among children, who saw their poverty rate fall from 23 percent in 1963 to 14 percent in 1969.

But progress stalled thereafter: American politics shifted to the right, attention shifted from the suffering of the poor to the alleged abuses of welfare queens driving Cadillacs, and the fight against poverty was largely abandoned.

In 2006, 17.4 percent of children in America lived below the poverty line, substantially more than in 1969. And even this measure probably understates the true depth of many children’s misery.

Work for change. The typical American life improves under Democratic leadership. Sure, the rich still get richer, but this spreads to workers seeing a bigger paycheck. The Republicans are worse for the economy as they target to improve the lives of millionaires forgetting that the average American drives the economic growth engine.

Democrats have even become better at slowing the growth of federal spending - 6.96% to 7.57%. And the legacy for our children - government debt increased $36 billion under Democrats annually, $190 billion under Republicans. The only thing Republicans in Congress are better at is bringing home the bacon as their richer districts saw much more government dollars showered on them even under a Democratic President.

John McCain: for the status quo; against hope.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Flash, Democratic voting over 10 times what it was four years ago

My bet looks pretty safe.

The CIA - Legacy of Ashes

The Yale fraternity club, the CIA, has been an astonishingly badly run and incompetent agency almost from the beginning. They were good at right-wing coups that did not advance our national interest but little else. The CIA graduates were often our secret government that has making our country worse for decades - IMHO. The last few decades they have been good for big secret intelligence contracts for friends of the families. Legacy of Ashes, available on sale at Amazon, explores The Firm.

Is the Central Intelligence Agency a bulwark of freedom against dangerous foes, or a malevolent conspiracy to spread American imperialism? A little of both, according to this absorbing study, but, the author concludes, it is mainly a reservoir of incompetence and delusions that serves no one's interests well. Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times correspondent Weiner musters extensive archival research and interviews with top-ranking insiders, including former CIA chiefs Richard Helms and Stansfield Turner, to present the agency's saga as an exercise in trying to change the world without bothering to understand it.

More wins for Obama

For some reason some people thought Wisconsin would be different but Obama rolls on.

The crowd of 17,000 in Houston goes nuts. Texas is going for Obama.

Team Hillary has fired their old ad team and is trying soft populism. That video ad is pretty good. I saw another one in a poll test that was too soft, too much light music, just waa-aa-ay too soft.

"I want to fight for you but I am not confrontational and will play soft music while going after my health care fund-raisers, trust me. Are you still awake?"

Bush hides more economic data

Bush shuts down highly-praised, award-winning, Economic Indicators web site. This is one of many government facts sites he has shut down because, as we know, truth has a liberal bias.

Just another example that we are on the way to a Zimbabwe economy!

Of course, the government economic data is mostly lies now, the CPI for example, and businesses and investors are paying money to get the data as it used to be published.

The People's Republic of Seabrook in exile drew my attention to this.

Watch Out For Spring Break, Democrats

If no decision is reached by a week after Texas votes, March 4, there is a six-week stretch with no primaries. Mississippi votes March 11 and then six empty weeks. Will Dean persuade Florida and Michigan to vote again legally to fill the gap?

If I was Howard Dean I would have one objective, making sure that the Florida and Michigan super-delegates, the leaders of the party in those states who thought they could ignore the rules, do not get seated. The Democratic voters should not be punished, the state party leaders should be.

What will the pundits do with their air time if there is no voting?

Can the Democratic selection be wrapped up before the Spring Break? That is possible with a Hillary Clinton loss. Right now it looks like Obama takes Texas even in the primary even if she is ahead in the polls. And the polls are showing an Obama surge in Texas. Texas and Ohio were supposed to be her firewalls.

Would Hillary make a better VP or Senate Majority Leader?

Early Texas Voting Starts Today

Here are early voting locations with dates and times for Harris County - PDF. Early voting is live now for local Texans after months of setting on the sidelines. Really many years since the Texas Democratic vote had influence. Now it can knock a candidate out of the race.

On March 4, you need to find your precinct location, not likely your usual location, to vote or to come back at 7 PM and caucus to get your candidate more votes. That info will be available here - but not yet - www.harrisvotes.org. Here are preliminary locations for southeast Harris County (SD11) - pdf.

228 delegates attending the national Democratic convention in Denver are up for grabs. Only 126 delegates will be assigned based on primary results by Texas Senate Districts. 67 are determined through a convention process. The rest are super delegates (too high) which are Democratic politicians.

You qualify to attend the caucus by voting in the Democratic primary.

You go to the precinct caucus election night March 4 that is assigned to your precinct and vote to choose delegates committed to a particular candidate, or uncommitted, to go to the senate district convention. Most times everyone who shows up at the precinct can then go to the senate district convention level which will be nearby. The same thing happens there but takes all day. Most times even all senate district level participants who want to can go on to the state convention in Austin. At the state convention the primary delegates based on the primary vote are chosen by the senate district attendees. Also chosen are the state delegates based on the number of supporters for each candidate who have shown up at the state convention. Four years ago the state convention was in Houston but this year it will be in Austin.

Caucuses are fun, try to attend. If you can't attend the precinct caucus but want to attend your senate district convention give the precinct judge or someone attending the precinct caucus a note saying you want to be a delegate or alternate. People can also introduce resolutions at the precinct convention, bring four copies at least.

Right now, Texas Polls show a dead heat among Democrats between Barack and Hillary.

"One reason the race appears to be tight is that Texas Democrats are having a hard time choosing between two attractive options," says CNN polling director Keating Holland.

"Likely Democratic primary voters would be equally happy if either candidate won the nomination, and they don't see a lot of difference between them on several top issues.

"Roughly a quarter of likely voters say they could change their minds in the next two weeks -- and not surprisingly, those people are splitting roughly equally between Clinton and Obama."

What's been happening locally - In Clear Lake, Obama supporters swarmed the mock caucus at Bay Area New Democrats, many not club members before. In conservative Pasadena, (Joe Horn), Area Five Democrats refused to hold a real mock caucus and some booed the Obama organizer. They had to be reminded that fellow Democrats are not the enemy, they will join together after the primary to battle the Democrats true enemies. (Correction - some booed.)

I have been reminded by true sons and daughters of the South that "My Mama wants Hillary Clinton and if you respect my Mama you'll vote for Hillary." I suppose the darkies need to step to the back of the line, again....

Paul Newman wants to speak to you

Vote for Rick Noriega and make Newman happy.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Texas Democratic Delegate Calculator

This only calculates the Texas Primary results. For the conventions and caucuses, you have to wait until May, although estimates will be available sooner. Remember, to really support your candidate vote in the primary and come back for the caucus. Caucuses are fun.

PS - want to earn $98 by working for democracy on election day? Sign up with an election judge, like me, to work the election. I still need a couple of workers.

How Over 50,000 LA Primary Votes Went Uncounted

"Our contention is that the ballot design is illegal, and that it is illegal not to count the votes," said Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign and former chairman of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign in California. ...

Not printing separate ballots for nonpartisans in each race cut the ballot variations by nearly half, saving money and making it easier on poll workers who hand them out. ...

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the Board of Supervisors was never told that the double-bubble design had disenfranchised voters in past primaries but has now directed Logan not to use it again.

"In a close election it could have influenced the outcome of the election, and it could have affected the nominee," Yaroslavsky said. "We have enough of a perception problem with our elections systems around the country without exacerbating them with this. People want their votes counted. They want all their votes counted."

Who knew? Who knows now?

Five years ago, and almost exactly a month before the US launched an invasion of Iraq, a tiny, practically defenseless nation that did nothing to our own, Howard Dean said these words, in a speech at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa:

"I firmly believe that the president is focusing our diplomats, our military, our intelligence agencies, and even our people on the wrong war, at the wrong time. .... Saddam Hussein must not have weapons of mass destruction. But particular weapons can be destroyed without an all-out war to impose a change of regimes. That is a much larger step, for which the case has not yet been made. .... Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms. ... I ask you to work for change - to stop the reckless policies of this Administration - because we need economic and foreign policies that reflect both the interests and the values of the American people. "
- Howard Dean, 17 February 2003

Now, after five years, one candidate is still an idiot. David Corn caught up with John McCain:

After the event ended, I asked McCain about his "hundred years" comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for "a thousand years" or "a million years," as far as he was concerned.

End the occupation, don't let McCain become president.

Home mortgage delinquencies getting worse

The WSJ provides us with an interactive map. Over 4% of home owners in the Houston area, considered one of the brighter spots in the housing market, are late with their mortgage payments. Worst market is Merced California with over 8% late.

What do the home builders propose to do about this? Apply for government welfare and not give any more money to politicians until they get it. They will become the largest "Welfare Cadillac" owner group in history.

John at BAND had spotted this.

Texas 2008 Round-Up #7

It's Monday, and that means it is time again for the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog round-up. This week's round-up is compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Burnt Orange Report is covering all kinds of races this week. In addition to their notable endorsement of Obama and analysis of how he can win and his Presidential primary poll numbers, Matt Glazer has reported that State Rep. Kino Flores has some ethics violation troubles, beyond the $50,000 he received from Craddick supporters.

Eye On Williamson has two posts on the upcoming Presidential Primary in Texas, Why I'm For Barack Obama and Barack can seal the deal in Williamson County. And locally, The Silly Season Is Upon Us - The WCGOP Machine Makes It's Choice.

TXsharon at Bluedaze, while not a football fan, reports on illegal gifts of SuperBowl tickets to Phil King and Michael Williams. Considering that the most recent pipeline explosion sent flames 600 -700 feet into the air, we need Railroad Commissioners without conflicts making decisions that will keep Texans safe.

WhosPlayin of WhosPlayin.com endorsed Obama for President and Aimlessness thinks Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia needs to go back to law school and get a refresher course on the U.S. Constitution. Talk about your "tortured" logic.

Musings endorses Hillary Clinton for President,citing her toughness, service, compassion, ability to work across the aisle and her solutions-oriented approach to governing as reasons why she is the choice for a new direction in Washington.

The Texas Cloverleaf digs up a report by the GAO that toll road public-private partnerships might not be the best thing for taxpayers. While at the same time, a new state rail system venture is brought back into the public spotlight in Texas.

The Texas Cloverleaf gets its hide chapped when the Dallas Morning News endorses the primary opponent of Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. The endorsement is destroyed in typical Cloverleaf fashion.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme wonders if James Leininger is giving up the fight for school vouchers, i.e. destroying public schools in favor a theocratic education. In any case, Leininger is distancing himself from Tom Craddick.

Off the Kuff looks at the yard sign primary in his neighborhood.

Team McBlogger has decided to swim against the tide and endorse Senator Hillary Clinton in the Presidential Primary. Then they compounded the good decision making with a trip to the href="http://www.mcblogger.com/archives/2008/02/live_from_hilla.html">opening of her Texas HQ in Austin to see Bill Clinton. You know, the guy who's married to the candidate. Apparently, a couple of thousand people also had the same idea.

At Half Empty, with Edwards gone, Hal has thrown his support to Barack Obama. And, after a day of sAfter much soul searching, thought and input from great bloggers across the nation, Refinish69 has decided to endorse Obama for President in 2008.eething anger, Hal at Half Empty asks this question of the Republican Party of Texas, who are acting as surrogates for the John Cornyn senatorial campaign: Are you sure you want a dog in this hunt?

After much soul searching, thought and input from great bloggers across the nation, Refinish69 has decided to endorse Obama for President in 2008.

Open Source Dem at Brains and Eggs has`part two of "Texas in Play."

BossKittyat BlueBloggin shows us that voting is still a major problem in this country considering Washington DC Has 10,000 Mystery Voters.

Jaye at Winding Road in Urban Area endorses Hillary Clinton for President.

John Coby's mom is for Hillary Clinton. "I can't remember when our country was in such a horrible situation considering the war in Iraq, our debt, our status in the world. My country is in trouble and I believe Hillary Clinton can begin to solve the problems beginning on day one."

Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Marissa Marquez in House District 77 has been trashing bloggers, and endorses Hillary Clinton for president.

Where was mine? I couldn't decide and then got busy deleting hundreds of emails and forgot. Check out the real race or freeing the Texas dildoes.

Operation Rogue Satellite: The Latest - Danger Room from Wired.com

Here is the latest info on Bush's $60 million test of our satellite shootdown capabilities.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Not everyone is a fan of Obama

Interesting attack article on Obama.

Follow the money. Obama’s presidential campaign has received nearly $5 million dollars from securities and investment firms and $866,000 from commercial banks through October of 2007. Obama’s top contributor so far is Goldman Sachs (provider of $369,078 to Obama), identified by Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) investigators as “a major proponent of privatizing Social Security as well as legislation that would essentially deregulate the investment banking/securities industry.” Eight of Obama’s top twenty election investors are securities and investment firms: Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros. (number 2 at $229,090), J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. (# 4 at $216,759), Citadel Investment Group (#7 at 4166,608), UBS AG ($146,150), UBS-America ($106,680), Morgan Stanley ($104,421), and Credit Suisse Group ($92,300). The last two firms are also known to be leading privatization advocates (Center for Responsive Politics 2007a).

Meanwhile, Obama’s presidential run has been “assisted” by more than $2 million from the health care sector and nearly $400,000 from the insurance industry through October of 2007 (Center for Responsive Politics 2007b). Obama received $708,000 from medical and insurance interests between 2001 and 2006 (Center for Responsive Politics 2007c). His wife Michelle, a fellow Harvard Law graduate, was until a recently a Vice President for Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, a position that paid her $273, 618 in 2006 (Sweet 2007).

And Obama’s sixth largest contributor is Exelon, the proud Chicago-based owner and operator of more nuclear power plants than any entity on earth (Center for Responsive Politics 2007a).

I am genuinely ambivalent about the two remaining Democratic candidates. I just think Obama is more likely to win, to help Democrats win, and will be a new good direction for our country. I worry about the corporate ties he tries to hide and his right-leaning statements on Social Security, health care, the bankruptcy bill, and other issues. You are not getting big policy differences between Hillary and Barack.

Is he about rhetoric or true beliefs? If it is true beliefs will his "toning down the partisan rancor" actually be a good thing or is he just too willing to compromise? When has he taken a hard stand on an issue? When has he valued principle over what was in it for his political career? Does he have enough experience and is he tempered?

My sister believes he is likely a deceitful, opportunist who will say good things in public while cutting deals in private. Isn't that a mark of some of our more effective politicians? But is this even correct? If it is correct, if, is that what we want in Washington, another LBJ cutting deals behind closed doors?

My heart still belongs to Edwards but of the remaining choices Barack Obama is better for the country and better for the Democrats than Hillary Clinton. I am not ambivalent that either would be better than the Republican candidates. I sometimes wonder if McCain will make it to the election without losing his cool on TV or having a heart attack. He's too old and even more duplicitous than Obama and Clinton.

Obama - 'Just Words?'

Why your Texas electric bills might be high

Houston KPRC 2 News found the Texas house member in charge of regulating electricity having a big fund raising party thrown for him by the Texas electric industry - video. Transcript - partial here:

King is the chairman of the Regulated Industries Committee that oversees legislation effecting electric companies and in a perfect position to help thousands of you who continue to call us about problems with your electric bills. But after repeated calls and e-mails to his Austin and Weatherford offices over several months, King never called us back.

Back to that party some 300 miles from King's North Texas district and the voters who elected him.

We found a veritable "who's who" of the energy industry donating anywhere from $250 to $5,000 to support King. Just to drop a few names -- Phillip Ricketts, former member of the PUC, now an attorney for a group of electric companies, and James Grace, James Barkley and David Searle, all energy attorneys with ties to CenterPoint.

"I think it's potentially a problem," said University of Houston Political Science professor Brandon Rottinghaus.

He says while this type of fundraising is not illegal, it should be top of mind for voters concerned about their electric bills.

"Consumers are going to have to make their own choices about what kinds of influences are being had there," said Rottinghaus.

It's no secret the lion's share of the money in King's campaign coffer comes from the electric industry. We told you in November that King received more than $80,000 from electric industry insiders. The latest reports show between August 2007 and the end of January, he's collected another $114,000 from people in the industry.

But it's not just cash.

CenterPoint's Rozzell also generously gave King two tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl in Houston. Campaign finance reports show Rozzell spent $876 on King and King's son during the game.

Of the two finalists for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Chronicle believes Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is best-qualified by life experience, skill and temperament to be the standard bearer for his party. In a conference call, Obama told the Chronicle editorial board that "more than any other candidate, I can bridge some of the partisan as well as racial and religious divides that have developed in this country that prevent us from getting things done."

Those who have viewed the numerous campaign debates know there's not much to separate Obama from his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Either could ably represent the Democratic Party. Both candidates favor ending the war in Iraq by withdrawing combat troops and initiating regional negotiations to stabilize the country. Both would press for dramatic strides toward providing all Americans with health insurance.

Both support a cap and trade system to begin reducing America's carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. Each promises to initiate multibillion-dollar efforts to promote conversion of the economy to clean energy technologies. They favor securing our borders, initiating comprehensive immigration reform and creating a path to earned legal status for those already here who are working and contributing to their communities.

However, there is a decisive difference. Obama vows to reach out to independents and Republicans with a message of inclusion and cooperation. He offers a historic opportunity to elevate national political dialogue to a higher ground. Those who insist on vitriol and obstructionism would be marginalized.

Interesting article on Hillary getting the old Democratic network in Texas supporting her. Would be inspiring if it wasn't their only expertise the last decade was in losing elections.

For McCain:

McCain closely resembles Reagan in at least this regard: Most Americans disagreed with one or more of Reagan's policies, yet they trusted his sincerity. The same can be said for McCain. His well-known disdain for popularity-seeking has won him the support of establishment Republicans, independents and swing voters.

McCain's reputation as a maverick is well-deserved, but voting one's conscience should not be regarded as radically unorthodox. McCain simply does not let party dogma interfere with effective policy-making....

Criticism from talk show hosts and other commentators that McCain is not sufficiently conservative to lead the party is baseless and absurd. McCain opposes the right to choose abortion; he is a hawk on Iraq; his long voting record consistently matches mainstream conservative thought; he opposes changing the Constitution for trivial reasons. Some critics fault McCain for opposing President Bush's income tax cuts, but McCain's opposition to the resulting runaway deficits is classically conservative.

Of all the candidates who sought the GOP presidential nomination this year, McCain is the most experienced and stands the best chance to attract the swing voters he needs to keep the White House in his party's control.

Seems typical centrist Chronicle.