Politics: Mukasey Confirmed

Senator Harkin
While Tom Harkin publicly rails against the confirmation of Mukasey as attorney-general, the four Democratic Presidential candidates who *can* do something about Mukasey - like ensuring the louse does not get confirmed - do squat.

Harkin said, according to a report in Raw Story:

"According to the last attorney general (Bush) was king, and maybe this one believes the same thing, he can do whatever he wants to," Harkin continued. "But even in 1215, the King of England was held to the standard of habeas corpus. I guess we want to turn the clock back to before the Magna Carta."

Raw Story has the video, for those who prefer to believe their own eyes and ears.

But Senator Harkin, why didn't you get on the phone and call Obama, Clinton, McCain, and others who have publicly spoken against the confirmation of Mukasey? Why didn't you ask them to show up and filibuster if necessary to keep Mukasey out?

According to Time Magazine,

Not voting were Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden of Delaware, Hillary Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Barack Obama of Illinois. All four had said they opposed Mukasey's nomination.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona also was absent, ... .

Republicans Lamar Alexander and John Cornyn were absent, but all other Republicans voted for Mukasey. Remember that if you have the slightest inkling of a conscience or respect for human rights or antipathy to torture.

These Democrats also voted for Mukasey:

Besides Schumer and Feinstein, Democrats voting to confirm Mukasey were: Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Of the Senate's two independents, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted for confirmation and Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted against.

Of course the LIEberwhore voted for Mukasey. He thinks that torture is something that is only done to Jews or white people. Everybody else can just join him in gobbling the Chimperor's knob.

Bunch of pathetic, spineless, hateful bastards.

Stumble It!

Politics: The Bush Dogs Must Go

Here we are in the middle of a mortgage meltdown, and the Democrats - some Democrats - are stepping up to the plate with solutions that will benefit the consumer and homeowner.

But, lo! What have we here? Why it's the Bush Dogs, the yellow-bellied bootlicking poodles of the Democratic party rolling over to make common cause with K Street lobbyists and big businesses and anti-consumer interests.


Open Left names them:

Lincoln Davis, John Tanner, Tim Mahoney, Jim Matheson, Alan Boyd, Jim Marshall, David Scott, Melissa Bean, Mike Ross, Baron Hill, Mike Thompson, Bart Gordon, Stephanie Herseth, Charlie Melancon, Dan Boren

These are the people we must get rid of if we are to have our country back. They are nothing more than weasels. They will not keep faith with the electorate. Matt Stoller of Open Left puts it best:

It's time to understand that Bush Dogs are part of a working conservative majority. They are not our friends, they are not our allies, they are political opponents who want to bail out wealthy investors and hurt people trapped in subprime mortgage markets. Politically, they are also the people hurting Democratic capacity to differentiate ourselves as populists and capture swing areas and exurban Republicans hurt by the housing meltdown.

... there is no strong grassroots movement in conservative districts on behalf of big banks. These people are simply whores for credit card companies and banking interests building profitable de facto debtors prisons.

He's right, you know. Nothing but a bunch of sleazy whores.

A cute dog takes on a Bush dog ... toy

Stumble It!

"We support the troops!" - HYPOCRITES

Walk the talk ... don't just talk the talk. But, ya know, politicians are really good at talking the talk -- especially Republicans. "We support the troops!" That's what so many of them say. And I'm gonna include regular folks too.

But how are we really supporting our troops?

• During consideration of the 2004 budget resolution, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) offered an amendment to provide an additional $1 billion for programs benefiting veterans. The added funds would have been used to boost medical and prosthetics research, speed the processing of veterans benefits, fund the construction, renovation, and maintenance of veterans hospitals, and ensure that veterans receive a proper burial. Currently 6.5 million veterans are enrolled in the veterans' affairs (VA) health care system and that number will likely grow as U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq begin to qualify for veterans benefits. Progressives support Dorgan's amendment because many U.S. soldiers are unable to afford quality health care. Forty-seven Democrats voted in support of Dorgan's amendment but the measure failed to attract a majority of Senators and was narrowly defeated by a 49-51 margin.
  
• Our soldiers are not provided with adequate body armor and armored vehicles.
  
• We have a Stop Loss Policy in place since 2002. The ongoing Stop Loss Policy pertains to soldiers in the National Guard and Army Reserve. This policy allows the Pentagon to keep soldiers whose enlistment is due to expire in order to maintain troop strength and unit integrity. In other words, if you signed up only for a year, the military can keep you in Iraq if they need you -- for several years. What part of indentured servitude don't you understand?
  
• And what about giving our troops some time off? Stressful, dangerous work needs time off, right? Otherwise one might experience some serious side effects. Nope. Last week the Republican "We Support the Troops" Senators voted that ... no, no, the troops don't need time off. Here's how the vote went:
  Grouped by Home State

  Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Shelby (R-AL), Nay
  Alaska:	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay	Stevens (R-AK), Nay
  Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Nay	McCain (R-AZ), Nay
  Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Yea	Pryor (D-AR), Yea
  California:	Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
  Colorado:	Allard (R-CO), Nay	Salazar (D-CO), Yea
  Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Yea	Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
  Delaware:	Biden (D-DE), Yea	Carper (D-DE), Yea
  Florida:	Martinez (R-FL), Nay	Nelson (D-FL), Yea
  Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Isakson (R-GA), Nay
  Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Yea	Inouye (D-HI), Yea
  Idaho:	Craig (R-ID), Nay	Crapo (R-ID), Nay
  Illinois:	Durbin (D-IL), Yea	Obama (D-IL), Yea
  Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Yea	Lugar (R-IN), Nay
  Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Harkin (D-IA), Yea
  Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting	Roberts (R-KS), Nay
  Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Nay	McConnell (R-KY), Nay
  Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Yea	Vitter (R-LA), Not Voting
  Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Yea	Snowe (R-ME), Yea
  Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Yea	Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
  Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Yea	Kerry (D-MA), Yea
  Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Yea	Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
  Minnesota:	Coleman (R-MN), Yea	Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
  Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Lott (R-MS), Nay
  Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Nay	McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
  Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Yea	Tester (D-MT), Yea
  Nebraska:	Hagel (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
  Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Nay	Reid (D-NV), Yea
  New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Nay	Sununu (R-NH), Yea
  New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea	Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
  New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Yea	Domenici (R-NM), Nay
  New York:	Clinton (D-NY), Yea	Schumer (D-NY), Yea
  North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Nay	Dole (R-NC), Nay
  North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Yea	Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
  Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Yea	Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
  Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
  Oregon:	Smith (R-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Yea
  Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Yea	Specter (R-PA), Nay
  Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Yea	Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
  South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Nay	Graham (R-SC), Nay
  South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting	Thune (R-SD), Nay
  Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Corker (R-TN), Nay
  Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
  Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Nay	Hatch (R-UT), Nay
  Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Yea	Sanders (I-VT), Yea
  Virginia:	Warner (R-VA), Yea	Webb (D-VA), Yea
  Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Murray (D-WA), Yea
  West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Yea	Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
  Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Yea	Kohl (D-WI), Yea
  Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Nay	Enzi (R-WY), Nay

source

Stumble It!