An Agenda of Hope

Governor Dean lays it all out in The Hill today:

Americans of all political persuasions are tired of and worried about the culture of corruption that Republicans have brought to Washington and to so many statehouses around America. We will offer real ethics reform and election reform so that the Government Accountability Office can report in three years that we can have confidence in our voting machines.

We will offer a program for American jobs that stay in America and for energy independence that will create jobs and wean us off of foreign oil.

The only president to balance a budget in the past 37 years was a Democrat. We will do that again.

We will offer a real tax-reform program that helps the middle class pay for it by eliminating the shocking waste and giveaways the Republican Congress and president have added to the budget and subtracted from revenues in the past five years.

We will join the 36 other countries that manage to include all their citizens in their health-insurance systems while simultaneously balancing their budgets.

We will provide a strong public education system by avoiding bureaucratic federal mandates and taxpayer-funded puff pieces. We will rely on local control while requiring real standards that work nationally.

We will offer Americans real security. We all agree that 2006 must be a transition year in Iraq. While we may have different ideas about tactics and timing, it’s clear we must change course. The vision of strategic redeployment set forward by Brian Katulis and former Reagan Defense Department official Lawrence Korb offers a likely roadmap to success that we can coalesce around.

We will offer the American people a government that is honest in preparing for any deployment of American troops and honor their sacrifice when they come home.

Most important, we will talk about Democratic values, which are America’s values.

The vast majority of Americans believe it is immoral to lets kids go hungry. We agree. The other party cuts school lunches (they just can’t seem to leave that one alone.)

Americans believe it is immoral that not everyone has some kind of health insurance. We agree.

The vast majority of Americans believe that government overreaching into personal and family decisions is wrong. We agree.

Americans believe that it is immoral to leave huge debts to our children and grandchildren. We agree.

Americans believe that using issues to divide us as a country to win elections is bad for America. We will restore America’s sense of community.

Together, America can do better. And in 2006, the Democrats will lead America to do just that.

(emphasis mine)

Sing it Howard! Sing it loudly!

Happy Thanksgiving

Some holiday irony served to your screen from bluecorncomics.com
Click for the full size.

Jim Kolbe Retiring: Open House Seat in Tucson

This provides a big likelihood that the Democrats will add a pick-up to their tally for next year's congressional elections, Kolbe's district is definitely in the swing category.

From the Tucson Citizen

Veteran U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe - a southern Arizona political titan - will not seek re-election in 2006.

Kolbe, 63, an 11-term congressman announced his decision this afternoon after calling southern Arizona Republicans this morning and giving them the news.

Word of Kolbe's decision spread fast through local political circles and already one candidate - Democratic State Sen. Gabrielle Giffords - is preparing a bid to replace him.

Kolbe said he would have won had he run but is choosing not to seek 12th term for personal reasons.

Here's a link to Kolbe's statement.

Operation Yellow Feather: Day Three

Ladies, Gentlemen and Trolls:

I think it's safe to declare victory for Operation Yellow Feather's original objective. We have "Mean Jean" Schmidt on the run!

Schmidt, who sent Murtha a note of apology on Friday moments after her speech, said in a statement Tuesday that she never intended to attack Murtha personally.

"While I strongly disagree with his policy, neither Representative Bubp nor I ever wished to attack Congressman Murtha," she said. "I only take exception to his policy position."

Bubp said in a statement of his own Tuesday that his conversation with Schmidt "was based strictly on the proposal to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq and the consequences of such a proposal."

Schmidt declined during an interview on Cincinnati radio station WLW to discuss her fellow Republican's denial: "I was repeating words. I am not going to get into that debate."

Neither Schmidt nor Bubp returned calls left at their offices Tuesday.

Over the past three days, we have seen this protest spread like wildfire across the lefty blogosphere. Several large blog communities joined forces to say "Enough is Enough!" to the chicken hawks.

We will not take their hateful rhetoric any longer, and if it takes something snarky like a yellow feather to shut their holes, then so be it!

An update on the protest coalition and links to the downloads below the fold:

We have expanded our reach!

• Booman Tribune - diary on recommended list
• DailyKos - made the recommended list and jotter's High Impact Diary list
• ePluribus Media - frontpaged the diary
• MyDD - still on the recommended list
• Political Cortex - still on the recommended list
• My Left Wing - still on the recommended list
• AfterDowningStreet.org - newest member of the protest coalition, thx to jimstaro for sending them an email to invite

RenaRF's blog entry is also gathering comments, and my site received a decent amount of hits yesterday.

Great work, now the question is: where does all of this lead?

My suggestion is, keep a lookout for any outrageous behavior by local (or national) Chicken Hawks. Here's a prime example:

On the November 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Rush Limbaugh asserted that Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) -- who on November 17 called for the immediate redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq -- is "just the useful idiot of the moment."

Limbaugh added that people "portray [Murtha] as a former hawk," and asked: "What kind of serious hawk calls for withdrawals like this?" Limbaugh then added: "I don't think he ever has been a hawk ... in his career ... as a congressman."

(emphasis mine, through uncontrollable spitting, gagging and curses)

From the pill popper's web site:
(hat tip to XicanoPwr over at ePluribus)

YOU can call The Rush Limbaugh Show program line between 12 Noon and 3PM Eastern Time at: 1-800-282-2882

You can e-mail Rush at: rush@eibnet.com

You can fax Rush at: 212-445-3963

You can write Rush at:

The Rush Limbaugh Show
1270 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Please alert us at the Operation Yellow Feather Central Command if you have participated. Let's go hunting for some Chicken Hawks!

.pdf download list:

• Lost Your Chicken Hawk Feather?
  
• The Chicken Hawk Unit Patch
  
• The Classic Yellow Feather (Make sure to explain)
  
• The Ugly Chicken Hawk (Fill in the voice bubble)

Send these to your least-favorite chicken hawk. They deserve ever piece of hate mail they receive.

Crossposted at Booman Tribune and DailyKos

Day 2: Operation Yellow Feather

The Blogosphere-wide Protest is running full steam ahead. There have been several developments over the past 24 hours, BostonJoe gives us the rundown below the fold. But first, a progress report on the campaign so far:


Operation Yellow Feather

Personal Blog Entries:

• On the Left Tip - RenaRF
• Man Eegee - some guy I know, heh.
  

Blog Communities:

• Booman Tribune - intro diary frontpaged by Susanhu on Monday night
  
• DailyKos - top of the Recommended list, then remained through early Tuesday morning, now off the list
  
• My Left Wing - authored by Duke1676, on the Recommended list
  
• MyDD - top of the recommended list
  
• Political Cortex - top of the recommended list
  
• ePluribus Media - received invitation today (and promise of frontpaging)
  

Notes were sent to Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, Atrios and AMERICABlog.

Day Two, where next?

From BostonJoe:

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohip) is in deep political trouble because she called Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) a coward. And the progressive blogosphere has played a part in ensuring that she is held accountable for her remarks.

The Cincinnati Enquirer says she skipped two local appearances Monday. She is a true Chicken Hawk. Talk the talk. But when the going gets tough -- AWOL.

It appears now that there is a split between Schmidt and her source for the cowardly comments, state Rep. Danny Bubp. (R-Ohio). According to the Enquirer, Bubp is in full retreat:

Three days after Rep. Jean Schmidt was booed off the House floor for saying that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do," the Ohioan she quoted disputed the comments.

Danny Bubp, a freshman state representative who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, told The Enquirer that he never mentioned Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., by name when talking with Schmidt, and he would never call a fellow Marine a coward.

"The unfortunate thing about all of that is that her choice of words on the floor of the House - I don't know, she's a freshman, she had one minute.

"Unfortunately, they came out wrong," said Bubp, R-West Union.

It is time for accountability from the Chicken Hawks. Let's continue with Operation Yellow Feather today. This time, when you send your feathers and related Chicken Hawk memorabilia, please encourage Schmidt to make a public statement on her rift with Bubp. Did she just make up her slur against Murtha out of whole cloth? Or is Bubp now lying to save his own political skin? Let's have a joint press conference and find out.

Let's keep up the pressure! Here's the .pdf download list:

• Lost Your Chicken Hawk Feather?
  
• The Chicken Hawk Unit Patch
  
• The Classic Yellow Feather (Make sure to explain)
  
• The Ugly Chicken Hawk (Fill in the voice bubble)

Open Thread

Which type of sibling are you? Oldest, Middle, Youngest?

I'm all three at once, a.k.a. Only

Operation Yellow Feather

BostonJoe, a regular diarist over at Booman Tribune, has quickly organized a grassroots protest that will target a couple of the Chickenhawk Republicans who slandered Rep. Murtha's military service last week.

Operation Yellow Feather is in full swing!

Click this link for more information, including downloads for faxes or mailings you can send to Rep. Jean Schmidt and State Rep. Danny Bubp of Ohio.

It is time to stop this new era of McCarthyism where the Chickenhawks in power question the patriotism of any American who disagrees with the lies and horrendous leadership provided by the Bush War Council.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Please spread the word and let me know if you participated so I can alert BostonJoe and the rest of the BooActivists.

Excerpts from BostonJoe's diary below the fold...

In a effort to blunt the effect of Murtha's serious call for a withdrawal of the troops, Republicans hurriedly offered a sham Bill on the issue that had almost no support. During debate on the issue, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), a freshman Rep., called Murtha a coward:

A few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp, Ohio Representative from the 88th district in the House of Representatives. He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.

Schmidt's comments were heckled on the floor of our Congress, and she was forced to withdraw them from the record. But she and state Rep. Bubp deserve to know that we were watching, and that we won't stand for neo-McCarthyism, where heroic opponents of this flawed war are discredited as cowards and traitors.

You can help. Please print off one of the protest forms below and send them to the offices of Rep. Schmidt and Rep. Bubp. Take the time to write a personalized note on your form, explaining that the "chicken hawk" tactics of the Republican party will not be tolerated.
Let's bury their offices with "chicken hawk" feathers, so that the next time they feel like squawking in public, they will remember
that we are watching them.

Let's create a firestorm and support Operation Yellow Feather!

Crossposted at MyDD.com and Political Cortex.

This begs for a caption...

More on Priorities

Chris Kulczycki, a diarist at European Tribune, provides some facts on how the Bush War Council spends its money. Republican priorities in action.

Number of people that starve each day: 20,000 (from The Hunger Project)

1.2 billion suffer from obesity (GlobalIssues.org)

Number of people suffering from malnutrition to the point where their health, productivity and life expectancy are impaired: 852 million (UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

In the US, 40 to 50 percent of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten. (GlobalIssues.org)

Estimated cost to feed all the world's hungry and give them basic health care: $13 billion above current expenditure. (UN Development Program 1998)

Total estimated cost of Iraq war: about $700 billion (Institute for Policy Studies)

There are a lot more statistics at Chris' diary.

You'll note that I have added an Iraq War Cost counter to the sidebar, special thanks to Limelite for the inspiration.

Dick "Dick" Cheney Approved Torture

The Bush War Council is infamous for surrounding themselves with "Yes-Men/Women" and stifling or 86'ing dissenting viewpoints. Larry Wilkerson, former State Department advisor to Colin Powell, has been trashing the warmongers and showing the world that complete madness gripped the White House and led our nation down its current dark path.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.

"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."

At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."

Numerous low-level soldiers and other government personnel have taken the direct blame for incidents of torture in W's War on Terror. The truth is emerging that will hopefully someday lay the blame on the true culprits: Bush, Cheney and Abu Gonzales.

Our government has tortured in our name, we must scream "Enough is Enough" until we are assured that it has stopped. I have zero trust or confidence in this misAdministration, therefore I say:

Impeach the Fuckers.