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That was the request made by President Obama last night, asking all of us - the voting public - to call our representatives and ask them to use some common sense and compromise on the debt ceiling. (And before any of you get angry about how far right all of the compromises are, I agree with you. But I think going into national default has the potential to be a whole hell of a lot worse.)
I've actually been calling my representative's office for more than two weeks; it didn't take a crystal ball to foresee the Republicans are looking for the nearest cliff to drive us over.
And I should say that I didn't ask my representative to wake up and be reasonable, I told her - or at least I told the staffer who answered the phone.
This is an easy, but very important, thing to do. And here are the numbers:
So assuming the War Powers Resolution passes constitutional muster, the way for the Congress to get the American armed forces out of Libya is with a concurrent resolution, which is passed by both houses of Congress. That's important. The reason the War Powers Resolution calls for a concurrent resolution is precisely because it's considered and passed by the entire Congress, which is granted the power to declare war in the Constitution, not just with one house or the other, but the whole thing. Declarations of war, of course, are traditionally made using joint resolutions, which differ from concurrent resolutions in that they are signed by the president. But the War Powers Resolution is all about cutting the president out of the loop (which is why there are such serious constitutional questions about its validity), so naturally the preference was for a resolution passed by the entire Congress, but not dependent on the president's acquiescence.
Boehner's resolution is just a simple House resolution. It won't go to the Senate at all, and thus won't be expressing the voice of the Congress. In addition, there's the simple fact that Kucinich's resolution directs the president to remove U.S. forces from Libya, whereas Boehner's resolution merely demands a stack of reports and that certain documents be turned over to the House. In fact, Boehner's document reads much more like a House subpoena to the executive branch than any sort of direction to the president about what must happen regarding U.S. forces in Libya.
You're walking down the street, minding your own business when all of a sudden a well-dressed man in an expensive three-piece suit jumps out of an alley, whips a contract out of his pocket and yells "Give me all your money!" You're terrified of reading all the legalese and he's got a whole pack of lawyers and bankers and bought off government officials in his entourage, so you fork over all your cash and promise to make a monthly payment.
The well-dressed man in the three-piece suit starts to walk away and you think to yourself, "Hey, wait a minute! I just got robbed!" Angry, you storm after him, tap him on the shoulder and yell, "Hey, I just lost all my money!"
But this is when the well-dressed man in the three-piece suit shows his true criminal genius. "You're right!" he says, throwing you off guard. You hadn't expected him to agree with you and validate your anger. And he says it with such enthusiasm and charisma, and here is this very wealthy man who seems to identify with you on an emotional level. It feels good. "I can't believe all that you've lost! You've made sacrifices! You're down on your luck! That's not fair at all!"
WEST VIRGINIANS UNITE BEHIND ACCUSED WIKILEAKS
WHISTLEBLOWER AT STATE CAPITOL RALLY THURSDAY
CHARLESTON, W.Va.-West Virginians will gather in support of accused WikiLeaks whistle blower Pfc. Bradley Manning Thursday, December 23rd at 2PM at the Veterans Memorial at the State Capitol in Charleston. The rally aims to bring attention to the detained former U.S. Intelligence Analyst charged with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including eight criminal offenses and four non-criminal violations of Army regulations, involving the release of a classified video of a military operation filmed in Baghdad, Iraq in 2007, known on the web as "Collateral Murder," a classified PowerPoint presentation, and over 150,000 diplomatic cables from the U.S. Department of State. The event also calls upon the need for Congress to craft legislation for a more open, transparent and accountable government, a pledge made by President Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.
The rally will feature a few speakers and a petition will be in circulation.
Since September of this year, more than twenty cities in the U.S., Canada, and Australia have held rallies for Bradley Manning. In California, Berkeley City Council introduced a resolution that would have named Manning a hero. It was tabled due to the city council's inability to determine whether or not Manning is a hero or traitor.
"Bradley Manning had evidence of corruption and criminality within our government. Rather than keep his mouth shut, Manning showed tremendous courage and made this evidence public," said event organizer Brad Wood.
"Public workers in West Virginia have learned the hard way the importance of whistle blowing to governmental accountability and transparency," said Gordon Simmons, field organizer for West Virginia Public Workers Union, who will be speaking at the event.
"Workers from agencies as diverse as Environmental Protection to the Office of Technology to county health departments have been either told to keep silent on important matters of public policy or face retaliation, including being fired.
The penalty may be less than that faced by Bradley Manning, but the principle is the same. Corruption requires secrecy. Censorship is the enemy of democracy."
In an article published on "Wired.com" on June 10, 2010, featuring edited pieces of an online chat log from May 2010 between former hacker and convicted felon Adrian Lamo, and Manning, Manning stated he saw fifteen detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police for printing "anti-Iraqi literature."
Manning said he was instructed to investigate and find out who the bad guys were, and found out after having the literature read to him by an interpreter that it was a harmless scholarly critique against then Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, following the corruption trail within al-Maliki's cabinet.
Manning, according to the chat log, told the officer requesting the information the situation and the officer "didn't want to hear any of it" and told him to "shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding more detainees."
Manning stated that he found the video ["Collateral Murder"] of a United States Apache helicopter firing on civilians in New Baghdad from 2007, stored in a JAG officer's directory, which he found to be odd.
"It was just a bunch of guys getting shot up by a helicopter... no big deal... about two dozen more where that came from right... but something struck me as odd with the van thing."
Manning investigated what went on in the video from within, then read an article in the New York Times about the events that allegedly transpired the day the video was shot. Manning forwarded the video to WikiLeaks.
A total of 11 adults were killed, including two Reuters' employees, including 22 year old Reuters' photojournalist Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, 40 year old Saeed Chmagh. Two children, passengers in the van that arrived on the scene after the first bout of gunfire had ceased, were seriously injured when the Apache helicopter opened fire on their van.
Manning stated in the chat log that he hopes his actions will bring about "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms."
Lamo later turned Manning in to the Army.
Wood doesn't think people should look at Manning as a traitor to his country.
"Read the cables [on WikiLeaks] for yourselves. Government bureaucrats and their allies in the media are treating Bradley as a scapegoat," said Wood.
"Manning did not reveal defense secrets or troop positions. He exposed crimes and corruption."
Manning's 20-year-old friend Tyler Watkins told "Wired.com" on June 6, 2010, "He wanted to do the right thing."
"That was something I think he was struggling with."
Manning was arrested in late May of 2010.
If convicted, Manning faces up to 52 years in prison, dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and unspecified fines.
Manning is currently being held at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico, Virginia.
The event is scheduled to last for a little over an hour. People are encouraged to bring signs, take pictures, Tweet and blog about the event.
For more information on Bradley Manning, please visit www.bradleymanning.org.
I fear our disappointment with President Obama is taking us into dangerous territory. Our anger could, in the end, bring unintended consequences that we may long regret. We should reassess our goal in light of the political reality in our country. A strategic fight is not about what one wants, but rather it's about what's possible. Our plan must head us toward our goals, but with the full understanding that our struggle will be ongoing with predictable setbacks and defeats.
That Obama has not delivered on promises and expectations is a stinging betrayal of our dreams, but, the truth is, all presidents must govern within the brutal reality of politics. It involves chessboard strategy, tradeoffs, kiss-ups, and foxtrots with the foxes. It's true, many Obama decisions are 180 degree turnarounds, others less severe but feel like betrayals nonetheless. But, if we're honest, we'd have to admit that we share responsible for our disappointment. We failed to acknowledge in our more studied moments that reality cannot compete with dreams. No president can deliver dreams in a world such as ours. But that must not change our goal - just our mind-set.
I think we must allow Obama some room because I'm convinced he's our last best hope. I think he's closer to our convictions and goals than any electable candidate in the country. This is a center-right country - like it or not. The Right is employing every scheme and strategy to take out Obama. Do we want to join them? If we primary Obama, it can only weaken him further with absolutely NO hope of getting our candidate elected. We cannot be a party to that!
In his 2009 book Daybreak, David Swanson contends, "if we want to force the sort of changes we need... we are going to have to do a whole lot better, which will have to begin by thinking and acting a whole lot better."
We must organize, get in the trenches and fight. We must make our voices heard. We must convince others to join us because we're right. The President is persuaded by numbers and conviction. We cannot be seen as whining, latte-drinking lefties who, when things don't go their way, get in their Volvos and drive off to another gig.
We have record levels of poverty and inequality in America. Our armed fores are still engaged in two wars. Nearly fifty million people (myself included) are without health insurance. So what is the message that conservatives had for small town America this weekend via the right-wing small town media market that is Ogden publishing?
The more we learn about President Obama's childhood, the scarier he becomes.
That's the final line of "columnist" Ben Shapiro's opinion piece entitled "Barack Obama's Secret History." I first read it in the pages of the Wheeling Intelligencer, the "flagship" paper for Ogden Newspapers (in 39 cities) on Saturday morning. I'm sure it popped up in most of the other Ogden papers. And it's part of a concerted effort that has taken place since day one of the Obama presidency to portray him as "other" and "different" and "odd" and scary.
This was a pretty hard election for a lot of West Virginia Democrats. We were outspent, had mud thrown on our face by dirty political ads, and lost the longtime Democratic seat of Congressman Alan Mollohan. We didn't even put up a fight against Capito in the Second and, making matters worse, we lost six seats in the House of Delegates, including one of the most respected policy minds in state politics, Bill Wooton.
Strategies Moving Forward I would make three strategic suggestions for the WV Democratic Party moving forward. Brace yourself because this will probably piss some folks off ;)
This is the first report I have seen on the Memorial Service for the 29 miners who lost their lives. Huffington Post just put this up. Click here.
BECKLEY, W.Va. — They lived and they died pursuing the American Dream, working in dangerous conditions underground to help keep the lights on across the country, a somber President Barack Obama said Sunday in a eulogy to the workers who died in the worst mine accident in a generation.
The president told the families of the workers killed in the Upper Big Branch mine, about 35 miles from here, that the nation would honor their memories by improving safety in the mines.
Blackwaterdog has an excellent Diary with pictures at DailyKos that can be seen here.
C-Span has been running the videos from the Tea Party Convention in Nashville all night, and I started watching when I got up in the morning... and, believe me, this is scary stuff. I especially was taken by one Joseph Farah, who is the Founder, CEO and Editor In Chief of WorldNetDaily.
The move by President Obama to follow the ideas of Paul Volcker seems to push directly into the face of heretofore financial advisor Larry Summers.
Summers was not in favor of ANY of the things Volcker has brought into view. He did not want to regulate the banks. He did not want all things happening in the open. And he certainly didn't want to put any size restrictions on banks that become "Too big to fail."
So what will be Summera' position now? Certainly he can't be trusted with getting anywhere near the economy. And Bernanke is getting hit by Bernie Sanders who is standing in the way of his reappointment to the Fed. To quote Sanders:
"There is a growing understanding that our economy is in severe distress, a greater appreciation that people are disgusted with the never-ending greed on Wall Street, and a better recognition that we need a new direction at the Fed."
And underneath all of this is Geithner, who is trying to get Congress to do more TARP money... which they are now not likely to do.
This seems to call for a real turnover which would be in Obama's best interest... and might lead him back to his campaign promises.
I don't know if you get to read incoming e-mail. I doubt it, as I know the value of your time in running the country and still finding some room for your wife, children and dog. However, I would like to offer you a couple of points from my not-so-unique position as an unemployed American with two college degrees who worked on your campaign steadily for many months last year... and who is now getting more and more disappointed in your progress, or lack thereof.
This Tuesday Obama is supposed to announce his decision on troops and Afghanistan (the last guess I heard was 30,000 as opposed to the 40,000 the General asked for) and we will once again see our middle-east battle commitment increase.
But is there a reason why the President didn't turn the problem over to the State Department for a negotiated solution? Sherwood Ross in OpEdNews writes an extended article on why diplomacy wasn't even considered. here's a clip:
The vast majority of American's (75%) feel gays should be able to openly serve in the military. Obama campaigned on a promise to repeal current policy. Senior military commander's have said the policy is a bad one. What is Obama waiting for?
Via David Corn (guest-blogging at Mother Jones) comes news that Obama can repeal DADT with a simple five step process.
1. Signing an Executive Order banning further military separations based on DADT and sending a legislative proposal on DADT repeal to Congress.
2. Forming a presidential panel on how to implement the repeal
3. Repealing DADT in Congress and changing the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, or UCMS
4. Changing other necessary military guidelines to conform to the new policy
5. Following-up to ensure that the armed forces implement the policy changes
There's never a bad time to do the right thing. Obama should go ahead and sign that executive order.
Yes, you read it correctly. Currently, this story is the most recommended diary on dailykos.
Today, the Times-Observer of Warren, PA published a classified ad which read:
May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!
Now what do Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy have in common? Ah yes; they were all assassinated. You can see the ad for yourself in this PDF version of the applicable page.
Who owns the Warren Times-Observer? None other than Wheeling's own Ogden Nutting and his company Ogden Newspapers Inc. (ONI)
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