Paul Harris, of the Observer, writes in the Guardian that Democrats dare to dream of recapturing the Bush heartland

The squat, bunker-like building in a south Topeka suburb does not look like a place to turn American politics on its head. Nor does Mark Parkinson, a tall, affable man, look too much like a revolutionary. But here, deep in the American heartland, are the warning signs of a political earthquake.
The two-storey office block is Parkinson's campaign headquarters as he runs as Democrat candidate for deputy governor. So far, so normal. Except that only a few weeks ago Parkinson was a Republican. In fact, he was Kansas Republican party chairman.

His defection to the Democrats sent shockwaves through a state deeply associated with the national Republican cause and the evangelical conservatives at its base. Nor was it just Parkinson's leave-taking that left Republicans spluttering with rage and talking of betrayal. It was that as he left Parkinson lambasted his former party's obsession with conservative and religious issues such as gay marriage, evolution and abortion.

Even Helen Thomas believes Democrats need to get a spine and stand up to the "Republican lite" DLC conservatives in our own party.  Sounding like one of our own, here at Daily Kos, Helen says Democrats need a new script:"

When are the Democrats going to get their act together?Surely, they are not going to let President Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, snooker them in the mid-term November election campaign as he did in the past two presidential elections.

What is he going to pull out of the hat? Soft on terrorism? Gay marriage? Flag burning? 9/11?

Are the Democrats going to be such easy prey again, neutralized by phony wedge issues and neglectful of the real issue, which is the administration's flagrant use of falsehoods to justify a war of choice?

The leaderless Democrats, speaking in a cacophony, are being outgunned by the conservatives and members of their own party representing the Democratic Leadership Council who are at heart "Republican lite."

Bush and Rove have done a better job of gaining control of the news cycles this last month and are starting to show benifits in their polls.  A just released CNN Poll reports that a  Majority wants Iraq pullout date set, poll finds  And support for how Bush is handling the war has increased 5% from my to 39%.  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A narrow majority of Americans -- 53 percent -- favors setting a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, with 47 percent saying the deadline should be in a year or less, according to a CNN poll released Friday.

The poll also showed Americans' approval of the way President Bush is handling the Iraq war is up 5 points from May's poll to 39 percent, while his disapproval rating fell 8 points, to 54 percent.

Senator pushes for revokation of Rove's security clearance And Henry Waxman is calling for a Congressional investigation of Rove's handling of classified information. (See update at bottom)Senator pushes for revokation of Rove's security clearance

Even though attorneys for Karl Rove have announced that he will not be facing charges relating to the outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) still wants to see Rove's security clearances revoked, according to a letter acquired by RAW STORY.

"The criminal investigation of Mr. Rove may be over, but serious questions remain about his misuse of classified information," Lautenberg said in a statement.

Rove, as "Official A" in the Libby indictment, is fingered in court filings as having disclosed Plame's name to reporters on multiple occasions.

 

In September 2000, the primary Neocon thinktank, Project for a New American Century, published a report Rebuilding America's Defenses outlining a blueprint for using the dominant American military power to "redesign" the middleeast with an invasion of Iraq to topple Saddham Hussein and plant military bases across the area as a centerpeices of the the plan.   Today the Washington Post suggests that the PNAC may be closing its doors as it sees its Mission Accomplished.

The doors may be closing shortly on the nine-year-old Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative think tank headed by William Kristol , former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle and now editor of the Weekly Standard, which is must reading for neocon cogitators and agitators.

The PNAC was short on staff -- having perhaps a half-dozen employees -- but very long on heavy hitters. The founders included Richard B. Cheney , Donald H. Rumsfeld , Paul D. Wolfowitz , Jeb Bush , I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , William J. Bennett, Zalmay Khalilzad and Quayle.

Debates about conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest have roiled universities for decades.

For example, when psychiatrists doing the research on treatment protocols for depression comparing talk therapies to medical interventions, or drug safety, turn out to have enormous undisclosed retainers from pharmaceutical companies, it creates a problem of at least the appearance that their research may not have been objective.

And in the field of journalism, Judy Miller, or Woodward did violate at least the appearance of conflict of interest standard by not disclosing their special arrangements giving them exclusive access to secret material in return for favorable press coverage for the Pentagon and White House.

(Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Based an article published by Lolligolli in Daily Kos, February 22, 2006.  Permission to reprint granted with citation. :-) )

Six score  and eighteen years ago, the American states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America saying that

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of minorities groups who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. Woman, people of color, minority ethnic groups and religions, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered,  the disabled, and many other groups were all given hope.  

Helen Thomas is such a wonderful national treasure.  What a lovable curmudgeon.  She gives the White House hell in her new book, WatchDogs Of Democracy, as is reported in an exlusive Raw Story expert from the book.  In new book, White House reporter Helen Thomas calls Bush press secretaries robots spouting nonsense Raw Story's investments in expanding staff and moving upscale seem to be paying off, as they bring us tantalizing tidbits from pages 36-37 and 52-56. The book will hit bookstores June 15. You'll have to go over to Raw Story, because this is such an exclusive, I have to obey fair use guidelines more strictly. But here's a couple paragraphs as an appetizer.

The Bush-2 spokesmen were predictable and Orwellian. They lived in fear that there would be a news leak, which made Bush apoplectic, not the first president with such a reaction. Fleischer and McClellan marched in lockstep in the most secretive administration in modern history.

As if my last report that pesticides are reducing average penis sizes was not alarming enough, we now receive further confirmation that the Bush Adminsitration and the chemical industry are engaging in an improper campaign to exert pressure on EPA scientists and government officials to cover-up the damage pesticides are doing to the growing nervous systems of fetuses, infants, and children.  Raw Story reports that EPA scientists say agency is 'besieged' by pesticide interests, and provides a link to an extraordinary press release by a coalition of EPA scientists, union workers, and public interest groups.

Environmental Protection Agency scientists complained that "Our colleagues in the pesticide program feel besieged by political pressure exerted by agency officials perceived to be too closely aligned with the pesticide industry and former EPA officials now representing the pesticide and agricultural community," wrote the scientists.  

Photo credit: attytood.com

Preventing an illegal and unnecessary war can be more effective and easier than trying to get out of one, once war is started. In this spirit, I am encouraged by the Raw Story report that Democrats in Congress are mounting opposition to a preemptive nuclear strick against Iran.  House Democrats plan hearings, write Bush on Iran strike A Congressional Hearing will be held today, at 3:00 PM, asking the question "Would war with Iran help or hurt US national security?" Democrats do not intend to be caught sitting out a debate on this next planned Bush war.  

Members of the House Democrats' Progressive Caucus are holding unofficial hearings and gathering signatures for a letter to President Bush, in hopes, they say, of attenuating the risk of nuclear confrontation.

The first unofficial meeting of Congress on the subject of a possible war with Iran is set to take place later this afternoon in the U.S. Capitol. At 3:00 pm, a group of Democratic Representatives plan to hold a hearing probing the question: "Would war with Iran help or hurt U.S. national security?"

RawStory is linking to MSNBC where David Shuster reports that "Karl Rove's legal team expects Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to announce a decision at any time."  MSNBC: Rove's legal team expects decision 'at any time'

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Welcome back to Hardball. In the CIA leak case against Vice President Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby, there are new documents tonight that are raising questions about the possible role of Cheney himself in the actions that led to the outing of a CIA operative. Libby has filed legal pleadings in court saying that he never saw a key document with the Vice President's handwriting on it. If Libby didn't see that document, who did?

Hardball correspondent David Shuster reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID SHUSTER, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former federal prosecutors say it's a position that increases the odds Vice President Cheney will be called as a prosecution witness in the perjury case against his former chief of staff Scooter Libby.

In a heart warming letter to the editor, in Quad Citians, Joyce Wiley, wishes for a Mother's Day when her GLBT children can receive equal protection under the law and marry the partner of their choice.
Mothers want equal protection for gay kids

Letters such as this make me wish our Democratic party leaders would speak in a more unified voice and demand equal protection under the law for all American citizens. But sadly, some prominent Democrats, such as Mark Warner (VA), oppose both civil unions, marriage equality, and other domestic partnership benefits for the GLBT, in a position that is well to the right of even many GOP political leaders, such as Rudy Giuliani and George Patacki, whom both support civil unions.

The right wing, GOP, has announced their intention to make the regressive, anti-GLBT Family Protection Act legislation a key theme in the November elections, and have proposals to do so in eleven states including Virginia. Will our party stand up and respond with a unified voice and as a champian for the GLBT on these issues?

Think Progress reports that David Corn, of The Nation, asked Karl Rove why "he fed White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan" a pack of lies for the last two years about his involvment in leaking Valerie Plame's identity. VIDEO: David Corn Confronts Rove On Lying About Plame Leak He should have asked if President Bush was in on these lies or did Rove lie to the President as well.   From Think Progress:

This morning, Karl Rove gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. During the question and answer session, David Corn of the Nation Magazine asked him why he fed White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan misinformation about his involvement in leaking Valerie Plame's identity. (Rove told McClellan that he was "not involved.") Rove refused to answer.

 
Think Progress is reporting that Chris Matthews appeared on the Imus in the morning show and said "It could be today-it could be next week."  And meanwhile Raw Data is reporting that Networks are camping out at the Fitzgerald Grand Jury Courthouse in response to a meeting scheduled by Patrick Fitzgerald with the Grand Jury but no "movement" is reported thus far.  

Matthews on Rove Indictment: 'It Could Be Today'

MSNBC's Chris Matthews appeared was on Don Imus' show this morning and said that Karl Rove could be indicted today.
Transcript:

MATTHEWS: If, however, something happens with Karl Rove, we're going to go to general quarters around here.

IMUS: What does that mean?

MATTHEWS: Meaning we will be taping probably on Saturday or late night because everything will change. Last time, when he picked up Scooter, when he nailed him 30 years of charges, that happened on 1:00 on a Friday. So we don't know when it might happen, if it's going happen.

IMUS: Are we expecting something with Karl Rove today?

Raw Story is reporting that Networks plan stakeout of Fitzgerald court Friday; No formal sign of indictment.

Reporters at the major cable television networks plan to be on the ground Friday outside a federal district court where the jury considering the fate of President Bush's senior adviser Karl Rove.  No formal indication has been given of Rove's status, though lawyers close to the case have said his fate is likely to be determined soon. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, is scheduled to meet with the grand jury in the case Friday.

The major networks plan to have reporters live on the ground, a senior reporter said.  Two White House reporters covering the case said they had not heard anything about new Rove developments, though they confirmed that the grand jury is scheduled to meet.

Cal Perry, of CNN reports that 17,500 US Soldiers have been wounded in Iraq'Life and death every day' for Iraq medics

In Iraq, roughly 17,500 U.S. troops have been wounded, and nearly 2,500 have been killed. The survival rate is significantly higher than in previous wars, and much credit goes to those working to save lives in places such as the 10th Combat Support Hospital.

"If you look at the overall death rate ... the case fatality rate is cut in half from Vietnam to now. And again I think that's due to better training, tactical combat casualty training," said Col. John Holcomb, the senior surgeon at the hospital.

I remember a long article a few month ago in USA about the higher ration of brain injuries in the Iraq War compared to the Vietnam War,  and three theories were advanced.

We believe our noble Democratic Party has strong core principles, values, and historic commitments to highly valued constituent voters such as woman, people of color, ethnic and religious minorities, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, retired, those without basic health care, veterans, and underdogs in our political system such as immigrants, and the gay, lesbian, transgendered communities.    

The Democratic and Republican parties have been locked and a five decades long battle between what rights are sacrosanct to the individual -- and what powers can be exercised by the state.  And what is the role of the Government in protecting individual rights and the common good.

The Democratic party has staked out the moral high ground in our commitments to the constitutionally based principles of the separation of church and state, the right to privacy, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the principles of full equality and protections of individual rights.
 

Until this latest conference of the Retro UFO Space Convention at the Intregration in the Mojave desert many of us have thought tin foil hats were our best protection against space aliens or Rovian NSA agents  trying to read our minds and discover our secret battleplans for our vast left wing conspiracy to instill progressive values into American voters before the 2006 elections.  But Bette Rinehart ,of the LA Times open our eyes  to the possibility that new, potentially more effective technologies, may  becomin available.  Foiling the Space Aliens.  

For two weeks I've been thinking about aluminum foil. The problem is that my thoughts should have been focused on tin foil because that, you see, is what purportedly provides the best shield against alien mind control. At least that's what I've read on the Internet.

This is not simply a matter of research. This weekend, I'll be chronicling in writing and on video the Retro UFO Space Convention at the Integratron in the Mojave Desert.