The Blue State

Bill would require Congressional approval for war with Iran

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation this week that requires President Bush to seek Congressional authorization before going to war with Iran:

Standing behind him are liberal anti-war groups, which have expandedtheir focus on Iraq to include a drumbeat of protests against apotential war with neighboring Iran.

"Every day now, it seems that theconfrontational rhetoric between the United States and Iran escalates,"said Sen. Robert Byrd, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"President Bush needs to understand that theCongress will not be kept out of the loop while his administrationplots another march to war," said Byrd, D-W.Va.

The question is when Bush and Cheney disobey that order and go to war will Congress actually stand their ground for the first time since winning back majority in both houses last November?

Democratic House a failure -- except Henry Waxman

No Democrat in the House of Representatives deserves reelection in 2008 more than Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA).  When voters elected Democrats to end the war and investigate the Bush Administration, Waxman was one of the few lawmakers that listened and acted.  He chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

In the last few days, Waxman has worked overtime on the issue of contractors, and has the White House worried:

For months, Rep. Henry  A. Waxman, chairman of the House oversight committee, has been threatening, subpoenaing and just plain badgering Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice  to come before his panel to answer questions about the run-up to the Iraq  war, corruption and State Department  contracting.

Today, Rice will finally appear. But Waxman (D-Calif.) has not spentthe week on a victory lap. He has found time to produce evidenceaccusing State Department security contractor Blackwater Worldwide of tax evasion, to fire off a letter to Rice demandinginformation about alleged mismanagement of a $1 billion contract totrain Iraqi police , and to hold a hearing on uranium poisoning on Navajo land.

Waxman has become the Bush administration's worst nightmare: a Democratin the majority with subpoena power and the inclination to overturnrocks. But in Waxman the White House also faces an indefatigable capital veteran -- with a staff renownedfor its depth and experience -- who has been waiting for this for 14years.

Now that is called answering the call of fed up voters!

Pelosi can't think of any mistakes she made

I completely stand behind my call a few days ago for Nancy Pelosi to step down as House Speaker.  We need a sea change of younger leaders that are allowed into leadership positions.  Ranking party leaders based on seniority only rewards those entrenched in the quicksand of the Washington establishment.

Other than networking with shady people, when you are part of the Washington establishment you start acting above everyone else.  In fact, you begin to sound like George W. Bush.  This week, when asked by a reporter about her biggest mistake as House Speaker, Pelosi could not think of one:

“I don’t want to sound like I’ve made no mistakes. I’m confident Ihave. I just haven’t — you just put me under the spot here, and maybeI’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one,” hesaid.

I don't know about all of you -- but I want a House Speaker that constantly evaluates him or herself, and has the courage to admit mistakes.  A true leader has the humility to be his or her own critic.  If you can't think of any mistakes, then you certainly are not in a position to learn from them.

WA-08: The most exciting US House battle in 2008

Over the last two election cycles, the race in Washington state's 8th congressional district has been the most intriguing in the country, but has received relatively little national attention because it is all the way up in the Northwest. 

This district represents the front lines of the House election battles between the Democratic and Republican parties, which plays out during each even numbered year.  Like the state of Virginia as a whole, the 8th district is in the middle of a major sea change.  Many urban Democrats are moving out into the suburbs, turning what once was a Republican stronghold into a new battleground district.

The Republicans have won the last two elections there, but by smaller margins each time.  Incumbent Republican Dave Reichert has an uphill battle because his 2006 opponent, Democrat Darcy Burner, is running again.  This time her populist-driven campaign resources might put her over the top, enabling the Democrats to pick up yet another U.S. House seat. Rothenberg reports on her earnings::

Burner’s fundraising surely is much better this time. She is likely toshow $400,000 in the bank as of Sept. 30, almost four times what shehad on hand at the end of 2005. Burner and Reichert each spent justmore than $3 million in their previous race.

Because Burner was humbled by her loss in 2006, she is more real and outspoken -- exactly the type of leader the Democratic Party needs:

But in addition tobeing a more experienced candidate, Burner also is more outspoken.Indeed, she calls herself “more straightforward” in talking to voters,and that certainly includes her comments about some of the mostcontroversial issues of the day.

In one Web video this year,produced by the liberal blog OpenLeft, Burner uses language notnormally employed by candidates: “I’m Darcy Burner and I want to tellyou that the FISA bill that just got passed in the House completelysucks.” In that video and in another, she criticizes some in her ownparty for not standing up to the Bush administration.

This race is important not only because it will vindicate the opinion that there has been a national progressive trend since 2004, but also because Burner is a truly populist candidate.  She is an activist at heart -- especially on the issue of energy independence.  If we can get individuals like Burner into office and in House leadership positions, it will help make the Democrats more dependent on the grassroots, which include real people like you and me.

Here is a video of a virtual town hall meeting with Darcy Burner last month.

Nancy Pelosi needs to resign

Bloggers, progressive activists and others who gave their hard-earned money to the Democrats in 2006 were utterly shocked by what their House Speaker said on Sunday.  Each of us bought into the notion that Nancy Pelosi would have the courage to force the President to change direction in Iraq. 

Today there are at least 30,000 more US troops in Iraq than when Pelosi first took the gavel.  It is true that Democrats need 67 votes in the Senate to override a Bush veto.  But according to Pelosi, even if Bush's veto gets overridden, Democrats don't have the constitutional authority to end the war.

Unacceptable!

Voters, she told Fox News Sunday, “want it to end and they had expectations that Congress could end it.” 

But, she added, “You know we can’t without a presidential signature.”

Wrong!  If you override Bush's veto, he does not have to sign anything, and the war will be defunded.  Pelosi should know that.  One of two things are going on in Pelosi's head:

1. Either she does not understand the legislative process; or
2. She is giving up on her efforts to lead Congressional action to end the war.

In either case, Nancy Pelosi is not fit to be Speaker of the House.  We need a Speaker with courage, and who gives voters exactly what they asked for last November.  On the issue of Iraq, her tenure as Speaker has been a miserable failure.

No wonder Boehner wanted people from the NRCC fired

Just a few days after House Republican Leader John Boehner finally ended his demand to have a few people over at the National Republican Congressional Committee fired, the numbers are now public.

So how bad are the fundraising number?  Well, the NRCC is almost broke:

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) reported $1.6million in cash on hand and $4 million in debts as of Aug. 31. Thegroup helps bankroll House campaigns for GOP candidates.

Its counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,reported $22.1 million, more than 10 times its Republican counterpart. 

"If there's no money in the bank, it's going to be hard to takeseats away from the Democrats," said Massie Ritsch of the Center forResponsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based campaign finance watchdoggroup.

At the end of the second quarter, six of the eight Democratic presidential candidates had more cash on hand than the entire NRCC does right now.

Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require Insurance Companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached

Lifetime TV (I know "guys", Lifetime hates "us"...but this is a good cause) lays out this issue very well 'The Re-Introduction of The Bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act'.

This bill has been introduced during each Congressional session since 1997 (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005). Each time, unfortunately, the bill dies in committee. It has been submitted again during the current legislative session as "The Breast Cancer Protection Act of 2007"   

Lifetime does have an online petition (much like an email petition),   however, there is no way to verify signatures or prevent multiple   "signings". A more productive approach to getting this, or any   legislation passed would be for interested voters to contact their elected representatives   directly. Click the following links for contact information for SENATORS   and REPRESENTATIVES.

 

Those interested in tracking the progress of this latest attempt at   passage, can click HERE   for Senate action, and HERE   for the House version.

The above information came from HERE, and in my opinion does not dilute the importance or effectiveness of Lifetime's petition, it's additional "insurance" and "assurance" of getting the JOB done. Our elected officials are getting the best care available, yet when it comes to us "commoners", it's a crap shoot on the crap table of the insurance companies. 

Death by filibuster: DC voting rights bill killed in Senate

On Tuesday, the Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a resolution that would have granted Washington D.C. voting rights in the House of Representatives, and added one more seat in Utah.  The vote was 57-40, three votes shy of breaking a Republican filibuster:

The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah , which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.

The procedural vote effectively killed the best chance in decades towin the District a full-fledged House member. The city has been deniedvoting rights in Congress since 1801, making it the only major capitalcity in the world where citizens are denied a vote in the nation'srepresentative body of government.

Strangely, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) voted alongside the Republicans.  Chuck Hagel (R-NE) voted 'nay' as well, as did Larry Craig (R-MT), who returned to Capitol Hill for the first time following his temporary resignation in the wake of the public bathroom sex scandal.  Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) did not show up for the vote.

What kind of democracy are we, where our own capital has absolutely no say in federal law?  Situations like these explain why Democrats absolutely must pick up more Senate seats in 2008.

Murtha: Republicans will soon jump ship on the war

Anti-war Congressman John Murtha predicts that after the Republicans picks their nominee, the party will suddenly do a reversal and take a different stance on the war:

“As soon as the primaries are over,you’ll see Republicans start jumping ship,” Murtha said in remarks atthe National Press Club.   

Murthaalso predicted that, despite the unpopularity of Congress, Democratswill make broad gains in next year’s election because voters are upsetwith the war.

On the Democrats' bid to gain US House seats, Murtha is optimistic -- maybe too optimistic:

“People arefrustrated, but you’re going to see a big Democratic increase,” he toldreporters after his speech. “I think we’ll pick up 40 [to] 50 seats.”

40 to 50 seats?  I am an optimist, but that is pushing it a bit.  That means Democrats would have to win 40 seats that they weren't even able to win in 2006.  I would be happy with 20 seats.  Of course though, it is good to aim high, and I like to see that.

And you thought 2006 was a landslide

We have been taught over the years that all politics in local.  In 2006, however, the midterm elections became a national referendum on the party responsible for the Iraq war, corruption and mismanagement.  As political scientist Stuart Rothenberg notes, while the presidential election will be front and center, so too will be the race for majority in the US Senate.  22 of the 34 Senate seats up for grabs are Republican:

The National Republican Senatorial Committee starts out with threemigraines — New Hampshire and open seats in Colorado and Virginia. Bythe end of the year, Democratic candidates could be running ahead inballot tests in all three states.

Three other states whereRepublicans lead seem headed for tight races: Maine, Minnesota andOregon. All three states lean Democratic in presidential races, and theGOP’s weak national standing increases the risk for Sens. Susan Collins(Maine), Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.), each of whomwould likely win re-election comfortably in a neutral politicalenvironment.

In addition, the uncertainty about Nebraska, whereSen. Chuck Hagel is less than even money to run for re-election, andquestions about New Mexico and Alaska, where incumbents long assumed tobe safe have ethics clouds hanging over their heads, make a Democraticgain of five to seven seats a serious possibility next year.

The Democrats will face tough challenges in Louisiana and South Dakota.  If they can win those two, we are looking at the possibility of them picking up somewhere between three and nine Senate seats.  Nine additional seats would give the Democrats 59 total, which pretty much assures their being able to force cloture on every measure.  With a Democrat in the White House as well, so much could get done between 2009 and the end of 2010, when the next congressional elections are held.