A Voice of Moderation

Great Article by President Clinton

2006-08-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

So today Cwech alerted me to an article in the NY Times that President Clinton wrote on Welfare Reform. I read it and like most other things that Clinton has done I thought it was great.

TEN years ago today I signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. By then I had long been committed to welfare reform. As a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980 and represented the National Governors Association in working with Congress and the Reagan administration to draft the welfare reform bill enacted in 1988. Yet when I ran for president in 1992, our system still was not working for the taxpayers or for those it was intended to help. In my first State of the Union address, I promised to “end welfare as we know it,” to make welfare a second chance, not a way of life, exactly the change most welfare recipients wanted it to be. Most Democrats and Republicans wanted to pass welfare legislation shifting the emphasis from dependence to empowerment. Because I had already given 45 states waivers to institute their own reform plans, we had a good idea of what would work. Still, there were philosophical gaps to bridge. The Republicans wanted to require able-bodied people to work, but were opposed to continuing the federal guarantees of food and medical care to their children and to spending enough on education, training, transportation and child care to enable people to go to work in lower-wage jobs without hurting their children. On Aug. 22, 1996, after vetoing two earlier versions, I signed welfare reform into law. At the time, I was widely criticized by liberals who thought the work requirements too harsh and conservatives who thought the work incentives too generous. Three members of my administration ultimately resigned in protest. Thankfully, a majority of both Democrats and Republicans voted for the bill because they thought we shouldn't be satisfied with a system that had led to intergenerational dependency. The last 10 years have shown that we did in fact end welfare, as we knew it, creating a new beginning for millions of Americans. In the past decade, welfare rolls have dropped substantially, from 12.2 million in 1996 to 4.5 million today. At the same time, caseloads declined by 54 percent. Sixty percent of mothers who left welfare found work, far surpassing predictions of experts. Through the Welfare to Work Partnership, which my administration started to speed the transition to employment, more than 20,000 businesses hired 1.1 million former welfare recipients. Welfare reform has proved a great success, and I am grateful to the Democrats and Republicans who had the courage to work together to take bold action.The success of welfare reform was bolstered by other anti-poverty initiatives, including the doubling of the earned-income tax credit in 1993 for lower-income workers; the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which included $3 billion to move long-term welfare recipients and low-income, noncustodial fathers into jobs; the Access to Jobs initiative, which helped communities create innovative transportation services to enable former welfare recipients and other low-income workers to get to their new jobs; and the welfare-to-work tax credit, which provided tax incentives to encourage businesses to hire long-term welfare recipients. I also signed into law the toughest child-support enforcement in history, doubling collections; an increase in the minimum wage in 1997; a doubling of federal financing for child care, helping parents look after 1.5 million children in 1998; and a near doubling of financing for Head Start programs. The results: child poverty dropped to 16.2 percent in 2000, the lowest rate since 1979, and in 2000, the percentage of Americans on welfare reached its lowest level in four decades. Overall, 100 times as many people moved out of poverty and into the middle class during our eight years as in the previous 12. Of course the booming economy helped, but the empowerment policies made a big difference.

Clinton then went on to say that one of the main reason this passed was because of bipartisanship and that in order for congress to be successful today bipartisanship must exist.

Regarding the politics of welfare reform, there is a great lesson to be learned, particularly in today’s hyper-partisan environment, where the Republican leadership forces bills through Congress without even a hint of bipartisanship. Simply put, welfare reform worked because we all worked together. The 1996 Welfare Act shows us how much we can achieve when both parties bring their best ideas to the negotiating table and focus on doing what is best for the country. The recent welfare reform amendments, largely Republican-only initiatives, cut back on states’ ability to devise their own programs. They also disallowed hours spent pursuing an education from counting against required weekly work hours. I doubt they will have the positive impact of the original legislation. We should address the inadequacies of the latest welfare reauthorization in a bipartisan manner, by giving states the flexibility to consider higher education as a category of “work,” and by doing more to help people get the education they need and the jobs they deserve. And perhaps even more than additional welfare reform, we need to raise the minimum wage, create more good jobs through a commitment to a clean energy future and enact tax and other policies to support families in work and child-rearing. Ten years ago, neither side got exactly what it had hoped for. While we compromised to reach an agreement, we never betrayed our principles and we passed a bill that worked and stood the test of time. This style of cooperative governing is anything but a sign of weakness. It is a measure of strength, deeply rooted in our Constitution and history, and essential to the better future that all Americans deserve, Republicans and Democrats alike.

I am glad I read it, President really knows how to run the country well and the Democrats should use him as an elder spokesman it will really help us as a party.

Bill Clinton is awesome!

Go, Ford, Go!

2006-08-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

So I am excited by the possibility of the Democrats taking back the Senate, House, or both this midterms and will be counting down the days till election days will anticipation. I think it will be easier to take back the Senate rather than the house seeing how we need to pick up 6 seats in the Senate and don’t really have any Democratic seats in danger while in the House we need to pick up 16 seats. (We need 218 and we have 202). My gut is telling me that we might get 10-12 but not 16. And seeing how my gut has been right on the last three presidential elections (not saying I supported Bush but I had a feeling he would win in 00 and 04, well I guess he didn’t really win in 2000 but that’s another diary) I got to go with it again. Now I would love to be wrong on this and see the Dems take back the House but I don’t think it will happen at this point. Now for the Senate we got 5 seats that look to be probable pickups: RI, PA, OH, MO, and MT. We then got 3 possible pickups in TN, NV, and VA. I think VA is going to be the hardest seat to pick up because Allen has so much more money raised than Webb =( but I think e got a good shot in TN and NV. Now I don’t know too much about the NV race except for that Jimmy Carter’s son is the Democrat running but the TN race has me excited.

I first saw Harold Ford when watching Crossfire some five years ago. I liked his charisma and way he talked about the issues. I thought he was a good guy to have in the party. I later learned that he was a centrist or conservative Democrat and learned his views on the following issues.

The Congressman who is running to replace retiring Bill Frist as Senator from Tennessee has voted to outlaw gay marriage and to repeal the estate tax, and wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning. He supports getting rid of the handgun ban in the nation's capital and says the Ten Commandments should be posted in courtrooms around his state. He favors school prayer, argues that more troops should have been sent to Iraq and wants to seal the border with Mexico. He likes to tell a story about the time he campaigned at a bar called the Little Rebel, which had a Confederate flag and a parking lot full of pickup trucks adorned with National Rifle Association bumper stickers. When he went inside, as he tells it, a woman at the bar greeted him with a hug and exclaimed, "Baby, we've been waiting to see you!"

Now as a moderate Democrat I do not agree with any of his views on the issues stated above but I think he is needed. TN is a pretty red state with Bush winning it in 200 with 14 percentage points. I think if a Democrat going to win there it needs to be a centrist one. As long as Ford is like Ben Nelson in the Senate and not like Joe Lieberman I think that will work fine. We are always going to have centrist Democrats in the party and as long as they are loyal to the party we should keep them in. Also Corker might have trouble getting out his Republican base and might count on support from the centrist Dems and independents to win one problem, Ford is a Centrist Democrat and if he can get the support of the liberals he will win. I hope that the liberals in TN come out for Ford because when there is a Democrat running and you don’t like them, vote against them in the primary but when it come to the general election vote for them. It’s like we said with Lamont we got to support the Democratic nominee. So I say once again Go, ford Go! I may disagree with you on a lot of issues but you are needed to win in TN and for a Democratic majority in the Senate. One last point I want to make is this I think Ford should be added to the wall of candidates we Kossacks support because he seems to fit the criteria of a Democrat who is in a competitive race in the House or Senate. Just a suggestion. Thanks for reading.

Principles of the Democratic Party

2006-07-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

So I come to discover in my time here on Daily Kos that while a large majority of people here are liberals most don’t mind moderate and conservative Democrats coming on to Daily Kos and posting their views as long as they have an open mind and stick to the principles of the Democratic Party. Now some of you may be wondering what these principles are and so I thought I would post the ones I think are the principles of the Democratic Party and if anybody has any more they want to add we please do and we’ll discuss them.

1. Democrats believe that government is not the problem but part of the solution. We feel that government regulation can stop companies from being corrupt. They look out for people who land in trouble and they make sure their citizens are being taken care of. This could include bills like the Brady Bill or Universal Health Care.

2. Democrats look out for the poor and disadvantaged. Throughout history the Democratic Party has been the party of the average Joe, they look out for him/her and make sure that they have the basic necessities that they need to survive. That why they don’t want the estate tax to be repealed, the bankruptcy bill passed, and President’s Bush tax cuts to be passed it places too much of the burden on the disadvantaged. They should also be pro-union.

3. Democrats are anti-segregation; one can’t be a good Democrat and believe in discrimination whether that is in civil rights for minorities or allowing gay marriage for homosexuals. Yes we used to have a racist heritage but that is in the past. The Democratic Party of today is one for everybody; rich or poor, gay or straight.

4. Democrats have to be pro-environment. They should realize that fossil fuels are hurting the environment and are finite and so alternative sources of energy must be found. They must oppose drilling in ANWR and other protected areas and realize that global warming is not a myth, does exist and is a problem.
Now these I think are the four main principles of the Democratic Party and these are the principles that Democrats must stick to in order to be good Democrats. Now some of you may be wondering about Abortion and I give you this example: there was this Democrat who was pro-gay rights, pro-environment, pro-union. Now we all can agree that this is a good Democrat but he pro-choice or pro-life. If you guess pro-choice that is incorrect the correct answer is pro-life, the politician is the late, great Governor of PA Bob Casey. Now yes the Democratic Party should stand up for a woman’s right to chose but that no reason why we can’t make room in the party for people who are pr-life they can be great Democrats too.

Where’s the Party Loyalty?

2006-07-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

So I was posting a comment on my friend/’s blog yesterday about how if any Democrat votes for the minimum wage increase bill that would not be too bright because, while I am all for increasing minimum wage, it would cut $268 billion over a ten year period to the estate tax. Before I went to bed yesterday I checked to see if there was any news and found out that the bill was passed 230-180, so there were 34 Democrats who voted for this bill.

I for one have defended Democrats who voted for the bankruptcy bill, the Patriotic Act, and CAFTA by saying that even thought I do not support those bills we cannot expect all Democrats to have 100% liberal voting records. However this vote has gone too far. This bill allows another tax cut for the rich while putting the burned on the poor and disadvantaged and the Democratic Party is the party of the poor and disadvantaged and for Democrats to turn to them and saw “screw you” is just wrong and sinful.

Now you may be asking yourself why I am so worked up over this issue and also asking yourself “ Hey SensibleDemocrat didn’t you used to support the estate tax? And I have to shamefully admit that that answer is yes. I used to think that no matter how much money you inherited that that money should come to you tax free as it had already been tax once. Let me just say I’ve seen the errors of my ways and moved on. I have learned that 99% of American families don’t pay the estate tax it only the wealthiest 1%. Also half of the revenue from the tax comes from just 2,900 super rich families. The revenue from the tax is at $ 1 Trillion over 10 years. Now that’s a lot of money that if lost could do the country a world of hurt that we do not need right now especially under the money management skills of the current president.

So if the Democrats are the party of the poor and disadvantaged then they should not support the repeal of the estate tax. It is not the right thing to do. I would like to point out that my representative Jay Inslee voted against this bill, which makes me happy. It seems that Inslee always votes the way I would on issues and I think he a great congressman. Anybody else have a representative like that?

I still believe in the system

2006-07-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

During my freshman year of collge I was participating in a RA training class and we where playing a game in which someone read a statement and we had to one side of the room or another depending if we agreeded with the statement or not. There was one statement of: I still believe in the US political system. I moved towarrds the agreeded side and a friend of mine, came over as well. He then made an interesting statement that most of the people on our side were Political Science Majors. I noticed that that was true and we both agreeded that the reason a lot of people were political science majors were because we still had faith in the system. We talked to the other majors in the department and this seemed to be the general consensus.

Now I am not saying the system is perfect I know it has it flaws, some major but I still thinks it works overall. I think the problem now is President Bush and his "I am the only important person" attitude. I do think that once he is out of office we see a significant improvement in the system. One of my political science professors told us that the parties dominated in cycles and that we were in a Republican cycle. Clinton was like Ike the opposition in a cycle dominated by the other side. Bush is like LBJ an unpopular President unwilling to admit his war is wrong. The Republican cycle, my prof said, would soon be over and I think he right. Come 2008 I think the Democrats take power for a while.
Now this bring me to my next topic the two party system. I have been the president of my college's Democrats club since my sophomore year. We always have interesting discussions and I keep wondering why a group of liberals keeps electing a moderate as their leader. At elast it crushes the sterotype that liberals are intolerant of other views. Now we get along great until we get to a issue we disagree on and one of those issues is the two party system. I think it works and it great, they do not. I think the two party system being stability to the country and we do not ahve to worry about extreme fringe parties popping up or colaitions breaking up. The same political professor that told me of the cyclical nature of politics told me that 90% of Americans were satisifed with the two party system and that was because America is a nation of moderates and that the two parties used to be moderate-left and moderate-right parties, that was until the GOP moved far right, so Americans were happy with this system. Now even thought the two parties were moderate parties there still were major differences between the two. The biggest one being that one of them cared about the poor and disadvantaged and the other was all about the individual. He also mentioned that the reason that voter turnout wasnt that high was because there was voter apathy going on. I thought about that and I guess that true. Ever since I turned 18 in 2003 I voted every Fall for some election or inititiave. For me I don't get voter apathy as I am a political junkie but I can see how some people can. Also he mentioned that people are not voting because they are satisifed with the way things are going and if vote when they are not satisfied. One other thing he mentioned was making voting mandatory which I thought was silly as manatory voting seems to be an contradiction in terms. It doesn't seem very democratic.
I know most of you will disagree with this and I respect that. We all have our own opinions. Thanks for taking the time to read it and hear me out.

WA Supreme Court To Vote on Gay Marriage Tomorrow

2006-07-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

So in the PI today there was an article on how the WA State Supreme Court will rule tomorrow on the issue of Gay Marriage and if it is legal. It should be on the website, WA SupremeCourt Website tomorrow at 8 AM. I hope it is allowed because the 14th Amendment guarentees equal rights for all citizens.

The state Supreme Court is set to announce tomorrow whether Washington will become the second state to let same-sex couples marry -- a controversial issue that's left people on both sides waiting more than a year for an answer.
In a case that some have called the court's most significant in years, justices could decide Washington's law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman is unconstitutional, opening the door for same-sex couples to tie the knot.
But attorneys for the same-sex couples -- whose case was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Northwest Women's Law Center and Lambda Legal -- say the law discriminates against loving couples.
They argued that keeping same-sex couples from marrying makes it more difficult for them to raise their children, though at the same time it accomplishes nothing for the kids who are being raised by a mother and a father.
The case was an appeal from two lawsuits, one in King County and one in Thurston County, filed by 19 same-sex couples raising the momentous social question of who can marry.
Justices must decide the fate of state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act. The law, passed by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers over Gov. Gary Locke's veto, defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Superior Court judges in both counties struck down the law banning same-sex marriage as unconstitutional in 2004.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...

Bill Clinton: Great American, Great President

2006-07-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

So I was surfing on Daily Kos the other day and I came across a dairy on how Bill Clinton was not a progressive. My first thought was well yeah isn't that known? But according to this dairy it was not. See as a moderate Democrat I see Bill Clinton as my political idol, who I see as the ultimate moderate Democrat. I not too big on seeing Democrats bashing on Clinton, I think it bad enough the right does it, but we have freedom of speech in this country so if you want to go for it, that's you call. But to me Clinton was a great president, top me in terms on all the Democratic President he ranks 5th behind FDR, Truman, Johnson, and Kennedy. I only really disagreed with a handful of his policies and in this diary I go into his policies and why I admire him so.

1. NAFTA So let me start right off by saying that I support free trade. I think free trade encourages the world to depend on one another and make it less likely for them to go to war. I not saying they won't go to war all at, but I think it less likely. So I was a support of NAFTA when it was signed and I continue to support it now for the most part. I do think we need to do something to add workers protection but don't blame Clinton for this problem, blame the PRI who was in power at this time. In 1994 when NAFTA was negotiated and signed by the 3 parties the United States pushed for some worker protections that the PRI did not want included (such as a minimum wage increase). Clinton didn't agree with this but didn't want the deal to die so he agreed to this. Bad move? Maybe, but hindsight 20/20. Clinton has said he regrets this part of NAFTA. But if you got anger at this still please direct it towards the PRI, as it was their idea.
2. Welfare ReformThe welfare reform bill retained the federal guarantee of medical and food aid, increased federal child-care assistance by 40% to $14 billion, had tougher child-supportment enforcement, and allowed states the ability to convert monthly welfare payments into wage subsidies as an incentive for employers to hire welfare recipients. It ended the federal guarantee of a fixed monthly benefit to welfare recipients and have a five year limit on welfare benefit. It was not a perfect bill because it cut food stamps on low-income legal immigrants but every bill has its flaws. This was a good bill because it gave welfare recipients a nudge to get off the program so they did not depend on it forever.
3. The Brady Bill and CrimeIn 2001 it was estimated that the Brady Bill had prevented 611,000 criminals from getting guns that pretty successful. Also Clinton put 100,000 more cops on the streets and crime went down every year in his presidency. Also he signed the Assault Weapons Ban, which was a very good idea.
4. Some of his other accomplishmentsReducing the federal deficit, Americorps, School-to-Work Program, A cease-fire in Northern Ireland, A Peace Agreement between Israel and Palestine, 22 million new jobs, and increased minimum wage.
5. Telecommunications ActOk, this was a bad idea, but hey what president is perfect?
6. DOMAAlso a bad idea but I heard this a defensive move to stop the momentum on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
7. Other thoughts about ClintonBill Clinton gave the party a victory when it really needed one. He was the first two-term president in a long time, which was great for the party. The reason that the Democrats candidates struggled before Clinton was not due to them being too liberal (they were actually somewhat moderate) but the fact that they didn't respond to negative campaigning about them, and so that really hurt them. Clinton has a rapid response team set up to deal with negative ads and this pushed them out of the way so the real issues of the day could be discussed. Al Gore lost in 2000 because he distanced himself from Clinton, and that hart him. If he didn't he would have picked up more votes and won with a convincing manner so the Supreme Court didn't have a chance to appoint Bush in 2000. In 2004 the Democrats realized that and every debate was a contest of who could be the most like Clinton. Don't blame Clinton for the Democrats current woes. I blame the leaders in congress who seem to don't have the spine to stand up to GWB. They have seemed to lost their message and the American people are not happy about that. In 2004 Kerry made the same mistake that previous Democrats candidates made, he respond to negative campaigning about him, he didn't have a clear message and he had all the charisma of a table. Bill Clinton is the elder statesman of this party, he a strong charismatic leader who isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes in.
8. One final thought even though Bill Clinton is great I won't be supporting Hillary Clinton in 2008. (Hey I'm a poet and I didn't know it!). That is if she evens decides to run. I want a strong moderate as my nominee and so my top choice seems to be Warner, I could even go with Feingold I just wished he had some executive experience. But Hillary will divide the party and that's not what we need.

Happy Birthday America

2006-07-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday America, to borrow a phrase from my friend Caitlin I'm glad you were born. I love the 4th of July because it a day for me to celebrate my country and remind me how lucky I am to be here. There is a lot of criticism of America, some of it warranted but i think even with that there is no county on this Earth better than the good ol'US of A. This really is the land of opportunity and I don't care what some people say the American dream does exist. My parents left India poor and now they are well off here. I heard some people say where my family stand economically we're in the top 10% of Americans incomes. I'm not saying the American Dream will work for everybody but it works for a lot of people. So Happy Birthday America, hope its a good one.

We are free

2006-07-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

We are not opressed by President Bush. We still have freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and many other freedoms. When those freedoms are gone then we won't be free. Abortion is still legal there is no prayer in school (although if kids want to pray on their own before class fine by me) and GWB did not push Gays back into the closet they were always in the closet, it seemed that gays were always unwelcome here in the US whether it be 1776 or 2006. That is sad don't get me wrong but it hasnt gotten worst for them. We are not opressed, check out the Freedom House rankings that rank the freedom of the countries of the world, the US is one of the most free countries around.

World Cup down to 4 teams

2006-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

So England is out and so is Brazil, that leaves Germany vs. Italy and France Vs. Portugal. I think France and Germany will win and then hopefully France can win it all. I am sure you all have heard of the right wing French politician Le Pen bashing the French team for having too many minorities and this would shut him up for a while.

How Democrats win the Flag Burning Debate

2006-06-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I been thinking how the Democrats could win this debate and I come up with a solution. Geroge Lackoff talked about frames and the right language and from what we know a majority of Americans fin flag burning to be morally rephensible so we should say this: flag burning to be morally rephensible but we will not support the ban as it a curb on free speech. Plain, simple and effective.

Two Party System

2006-06-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

When will the Greens, and other minor parties, realize this is a two party system and it will remain a two party system, if you want a parlimentary system there is always Canada or Europe. Actually not all of Europe the UK is also a first past the post country and they along with the US, are a strong and vibrant democracy. Plus this way we avoid the extreme parties here in the US such as the NAZI party.

Crashing the Gates

2006-06-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

So I decided that I really don’t like that term. It just doesn’t strike a chord with me. Its sounds like the liberals and progressives in the party want to take back control with force, which is something I am iffy about. My friend Corey made the statement that it isn’t a moderate-liberal thing it an establishment vs. the progressives but I got to say I disagree with you there Corey. To me the establishment is the moderates of the party, pragmatic politicians who know how to get things done and know compromise is everything in politics. Now those this mean I don’t think progressives/liberals can be pragmatic no that not the case. I am saying to be the establishment is the moderates of the party we the traditionalists, we not the boat rockers and we like it that way. I saw a diary on Daily Kos today. It was titled we are a threat to the establishment. The title alone threw me off, it sounded so vulgar. Then he talked about how a friend’s wife was running in this local race up in MD and apparently the establishment wasn’t happy. Later that night pellet gun bullets broke their window and they think it was the establishment. Now while that is a horrible thing that happened where is the proof the establishment was responsible the one or two people that pointed this out were troll rated apparently. Disgraceful. Now a really good book on how the Democrats can win again is Take it Back by Begala and Carville which has the main point of continue down this moderate road but don’t lose you spine. That is a message I like. The Democratic Party is a center-left party, a party of moderates. Just because the Republicans moved to the right doesn’t mean we got to move to the left. Let’s stay were we are, but also be welcoming to the liberals they are an important part of the party.
P.S I am kinda pissed today cause I read in the PI that the WA Senate race is in a dead heat, thanks to some on the left who have stopped supporting Cantwell because of a couple of votes. They could end up being responsible for another Republican in the Senate. Thanks guys.

Funny Joke

2006-06-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

So I cam up with this a little while ago and many people seem to find it funny. It about Al Gore's new movie An Inconvenient Truth.
"The only Inconvenient Truth is that Al Gore is still around"

Muslims Prayer Room in Seattle Schools

2006-06-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

So I read an article in the times how Muslim Students are given a room to pray in so they can pray to get in their 5 times aday.

In Shoreline, Muslim students are provided with an empty classroom for prayers and are usually allowed to miss class for their prayers. Shorewood High School senior Omar Sarhan said teachers sometimes suggest that students remain in class for particularly important assignments.
In the Edmonds School District, the issue of Muslim prayer has been raised at only one school, Edmonds-Woodway High, where two Muslim students are provided with prayer space to be used at the beginning or end of class periods.

Now a lot of Christian parents are complaing that this is unfair and I agree with them. If you let Muslims pray you must let Christians, Hindus, Jews, and anyother religion pray. Its only fair.

Comments on Kos

2006-06-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

I swear if I see one more comment that once the Democrats get the majority they need to get rid of conservative and moderate Democrats and replace them with progressives I'll be pissed. It unrealistic to think that way and a little hurtful, it not like we sit around thinking to get rid of liberals from the party.

YearlyKos Convention

2006-06-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I was at my brother's tennis match reading my favorite liberal paper, the New York Times. (As opposed to my favorite Conservative Paper the Wall Street Journal) when I noticed an article on YearlyKos. Now for those of you who don’t know what that is that is the yearly convention for Daily Kos, a liberal Blog which is very informative to read. I have been reading Daily Kos for a year now and it good to read to get the liberal viewpoint, sometimes some of the diaries seen over the top but overall I like visiting the site. Now there was a quote in the article that I am still thinking about. It was from Kos the founder of the site and it said, " Republicans can't govern, and Democrats can't get elected. It's our turn now." Now the first issue I had with this statement was the first part that Republicans can't govern, which I don't think it right to make a blanket statement about an entire party, but that not what I want to focus on we'll discuss that later. My main point of disagreement was the statement Democrats can't get elected, Its our turn now. Now it is true Democrats have struggles in recent elections but one has to look at the US history of elections. There seems to be pattern of parties having times of dominance, one party can't stay in control forever. The Democrats lost Congress in 1994 because they had gotten efficient and in some sense corrupt. It was time for a change and Republicans came to power. It took Democrats 40 years to get to that place and it seems it has only taken the GOP 12 years to do the same. Do I think the Democrats will win back Congress this fall, I have my doubts but I think we will make gains and in the next couple of elections should win enough seats to take back Congress. Also I remember reading from my book in the Presidency and other polls I looked at that the number of moderates seem to be growing. So the statement it our turn now seem to be incorrect. The Democratic Party is a party of moderates. Now that does not mean we don't welcome liberals, in fact we welcome them with open arms. We need them to do well. Just like they need us. Anyways that's all for now.

Good News out of Iraq

2006-06-08T08:39:00.002-07:00

Today the US Military with the help of Iraqi Officals killed terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an air raid. This is a good news for the US in the War on Terror as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the guy leading the insurgency in Iraq. President Bush was right justice has been served, and he deserves for his poll numbers to go up as his numbers have gone down when mistakes were made in Iraq so when something goes right his numbers should go up. I was thinking of posting this on Kos but something tells me that would be a bad idea.

Gay Marriage Amendment Fails

2006-06-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

So today the Senate failed to pass a cloture motion that would allow a vote on a gay marriage amendment to come to the floor. I felt that this would be the outcome today and was glad that the motion failed. I predicted a 50-50 vote and was glad to see that my prediction was nearly on the money. I do however have a few observations on the vote today as well as elections results from yesterday.

I was reading stories from all over the Internet about this victory for Democrats and I came across this quote by Senator Orrin Hatch in which he asked if the Democrats thought that people who supported the amendments were bigots and the answer to that question Senator is yes. There is not other way around it; you are treating gays like 2nd class citizens, which is a blatant disregard of the 14th Amendment. This is no different than denying blacks civil rights in the 1960s.
Senator David Vitter from LA said that this was the most important issue facing the US today. Oh really Senator what about rebuilding New Orleans a city that's in your own state. You would think that far more important.
Senator John McCain has shown once again who he is my favorite Republican senator as he voted against the cloture motion but personally opposed gay marriage. It's nice to see a politician who can put aside his personal views when he votes.
I noticed that Jon Tester beat John Morrison for the nomination last night and will face Senator Burns in the fall. I also noticed a lot of crashing the gate references and calls for the Democrats to be a party of progressives and as a moderate I think that we need to leave room in the party for both groups. After all the number of moderate democrats seems to be growing each year you can't just push them out. We both need each other to win.
I am sad that Francine Busby did not win the 50th but for being such a heavily Republican District she did very well.
Where was Cheney to talk against this amendment I thought he said it was a bad idea.
Proud to be a Democrat

New Axis of Evil

2006-06-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

So after watching the news recently I think President Bush has come up with a new axis of evil which consists of: terrorists, gays, and illegals. I think that Bush will use this new axis of evil to try to help the GOP do well in the mdterms, its all they have. However the American people are smart (among the smartest in the world) and will not fall for this.

Brilliance from Arkansas

2006-06-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

So we already know that brilliance from Arkansas was already know to happen (after all this was the state that gave us Bill Clinton) but now there is more, schools in Arkansas are telling parents if their kids are fat.

It’s been two years since Arkansas schools started sending letters home to parents with their kids’ report cards — letters telling them if their children were fat.
Plenty of parents weren’t happy. But a lot of them did something about it.
Suddenly there were more visits to the pediatrician for talks about weight problems. Fitness class attendance is up. Diet pill use by high-schoolers is down.

Nice way to help kids to lose weight, two thumbs up!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13086425/?GT1=8211

I'm Back

2006-06-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

So the school year is over and I have returned for another summer of blogging. Me and my moderate voice are back to debate some more so keep checking back for updates.

Alito Confirmed

2006-01-31T09:34:00.001-08:00

Judge Alito was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a 58-42 vote. My prediction was 58-42. So I got it right but not quite with the Senators who would vote yes or no.
The Democrats who voted yes: Conrad (ND), Byrd (WV), Johnson (SD), and Nelson (NE).
Republicans who voted No: Chafee (RI)
Props to Senator Chafee who stuck to his morals.

I am not against most strikes

2005-12-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

I recently posted a few comments in some diaries in which I was against the transit strike in New York City. Now many of you thought that I was against all strikes in general but that is not that case. I think strikes are a good too for some unions to use and if the teachers unions goes on strike I be right there behind them. However for certain unions it poses a danger to society if they go on strike because they jobs they do are essential to citizen safety. As Calvin Coolidge said when, as governor of Massachusetts, he ordered the end of the police strike because, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime”

1. Some of you may think I am an anti-progressive from a rich family but that is not the case. I come from a middle class family, my dad is a professor and my mom works at Microsoft. As to where /I stand politically I am in between liberal Democrats, such as yourself, and conservative Democrats, such as Senator Lieberman, so you could say I am moderate. While there are some issues where we might disagree, this one and the death penalty, I am sure we agree on many more than we disagree on such as Social Security, health care, and gun control

2. Let me be clear and say that I think this only applies to four groups, police, firemen, transit workers, and air traffic controllers. All four groups do jobs that are essential to public safety and if they go on strike the public is in danger.

3. I have heard stories from a friend in which they told me about police and firemen going on strike and in which the number of people who died in fires and the numbers of lootings increased when these groups were on strike.

So in conclusion I am not ant union and anti-strike and I know most of you will still disagree with me and that’s ok, difference of opinion is good. But keep in mind we’re all Democrats here and while we may disagree on a few issues I am sure we agree on a lot more.

Ewwwwwww

2005-12-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

So in Canada they have decided to make group sex, or swinger clubs legal.

From MSNBC:
Group sex among consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday as it lifted a ban on so-called “swingers” clubs.
In a ruling that radically changes the way courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the top court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.

So I guess that this is technically legal, but still like I said above ewww. I thought that Canada had a better moral fiber than that but oh well.

I need to take a shower.

To be a successful President one must have executive experience

2005-12-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking of the Presidency a lot lately and I think I know what it takes in order to be a successful President. I think that in order for one to be a successful President one must have had executive experience in the past. Now I know there are exceptions to the rule; Abraham Lincoln never had any executive experience and was a great President. On the other hand Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush both had executive experience and both are not good Presidents, Carter is a great humanitarian and did a lot after he left office but didn’t do much when he was in office. Having executive experience is good because it shows one how they should lead and it gives you leadership experience that legislative experience cannot give. I think this is why Governors and Vice-Presidents have an easier time getting elected that Senators and Representatives. Now let’s look at a list of potential 2008 nominees and beyond to see if they got what it takes:

2008:
1. Senator Hillary Clinton: Now I already have my doubts for Hillary, don’t get me wrong she was a great first lady and a great Senator but she polarizes the country and that is not what we need right now. Plus she doesn’t have any executive experience.

2. Joe Biden: Next!

3. Senator Russ Feingold: I find my admiration of Senator Fiengold growing more and more each day, but I feel that he needs some executive experience and so he is relatively young so he could run for Governor on Wisconsin in 2006 serve a term and be ready to run in 2012.

4. General Wesley Clark: My favorite potential candidate, while he may have not served in any political office before he was a general for a number of years which did give him plenty of executive experience. I also feel that in this day and age we need someone who is strong on National Security Issues and so Clark would be your man for the job. I know he is weak on domestic issues but if we can get someone to polish him up on these issues, possibly Bill Clinton but that doesn’t seem likely, it would be great.

5. Senator John Edwards: I feel the same way about Senator Edwards as I do about Senator Feingold. He also is relatively young and if he ran for Governor of North Carolina in 208 he should be ready for 2012.

6. Bill Richardson/ Evan Bayh/ Mark Warner: All of these guys are in the same group for me. They are all moderate Democrats with executive experience and all seems to be very charismatic.

7. Senator John Kerry: No, No, No, Hell No! Stick in the Senate your good there.

Beyond:
Senator Barack Obama: He is my favorite Senator right now and I really admire him. I think he should serve a term in the Senate. Then in 2010 run for governor of Illinois and serve a term and then in 2016 he be ready to run for President.

As for my 2008 order of preference (I don’t know if all of these guys will run but if they do here it is)

1. General Wesley Clark
2. Governor Evan Bayh
3. Governor Mark Warner
4. Governor Bill Richardson
5. Senator Russ Feingold
6. Senator John Edwards
7. Senator Hillary Clinton
8. Senator John Kerry
9. Senator Joe Biden

President Bush's Speech

2005-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

So I watched the President's speech today and I thought it wasn't very good, Bush gave no plan how to win in Iraq and he just kep repeating the same lines over and over that we have heard from him. The biggest issue that I had with this speech is that he still maintains the Saddam-Osama connection, this is just wrong and here is why:

Saddam was a secularist and when he was in power Iraq was a secular country. Osama is a fundamentalist and he does not like secular Muslims and so there were no ways that he and Saddam could have been buddies and it has been proven that they didn't like each other.

The only reason Bush now has for going to war in Iraq is that Saddam was a bad guy. No one is denying this but this cannot be a reason for going to war as there are a lot of tyrants in power, and we can't go after all of them. If that is now our foreign policy why not go into Saudi Arabia?

Also while Saddam might have used WMD's in the past against the Kurds in the past he did not have them now, or they would have been found. This has been proven by a CIA report done in 2004.

I am fearing more and more this is another Vietnam. Also I saw Senator Lindsey Ghrahm on CNN and he had a purple finger, did he vote when he was there, and if he did is that legal?

I was dead wrong

2005-09-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

President Bush and FEMA completly botched the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. I guess I felt this way because I am the eternal optmist but I was wrong, plain and simple.

New Chief Justice`

2005-09-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

I am pleased so far, while Roberts is a conservative he is a scholary and pragmatic conservative like Rehnquist and not a crazy one like Scalia. Now we need Alberto Gonzales (who is more moderate) to be named AJ and the court is the same before O'Connor retired.

Chief Justice Rehnquist dies

2005-09-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

So a sad day today as our Chief Justice William Rehnquist died because of thyriod cancer. For me the ideal situation to replace him would be to have Sandra Day O'Connor come back and replace him and have John Roberts replace her. I do not think this is very likely but one can always hope.

President Bush does care about helping out the victims

2005-09-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

So I was on MSNBC this morning and I came across this story Bush says relief efforts are not acceptable So apparently the President does realize that he needs to do more and he is doing it.
"Where it's not working right we are going to make it right," said Bush in Mobile. "We have a responsibility at federal; level to help save lives. That's the primary focus now."
So much for him not caring.

Hurricane Katrina Damages

2005-08-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to all those affect by this horrible event. What really makes me angry is these people who take this time to loot, what kind of sick monsters would do that in a time like this, it not like the police are not busy with other things now they got to waste their time on these idiots. They need to be caught, and thrown away for good.

The main problems with the Democratic Party today

2005-08-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

As a a Democrat I have seen serious cracks in party unity for a while now. This is one of the reasons why we cannot win right now is because we are too split as a national party. In this dairy of mine I will outline what i think are the issues that are causing the Democratic Party to be divided. These are isses that the party needs to solve before they can start thinking of winning again.

There is too much emphasis on the term moderate and liberal democrats. We have to start refering to ourselves as Democrats again and not bring attention to the different ideological stances. Look at the Republican Party, yes there are moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans but you don't usually see them refered to as that, they are usually refered to as Republicans. One thing that has to be done is for both moderate and liberal Democrats to see that they both are Democrats and neither one of them is more of a democrat than the other.

The Death Penalty is another major issue in the party. Some of us hate it and see it as barbaric and some of us see it as just punishment. So what we have to do is find a way for us to compromise on the issue and also don't talk about it as much.

Follow President Reagan's 11th commandment and not attack one another. We need to present a united front and if we do disagree do it in private.

Oh and one more thing, I believe that all Democrats should be proud of President Bill Clinton because he helped made the Democratic Party respectable agian and gave us a victory when we really needed it. I know some Democrats don't like him because he was a moderate and some of his policies were moderate but at the end of the day he was a Democrat.

Happy Birthday President Clinton

2005-08-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today is his 59th Birthday and I don't think I seen a better president in my 20 years, I don't think that he did one thing that I disagreeded with and here is a list of all his accomplishments for all to see the glory that is President Clinton:
Reducing the federal deficit, Americorps, School-to-Work Program, NAFTA, The Brady Bill, The Assault Weapons Ban, A cease-fire in Northern Ireland, A Peace Agreement between Israel and Palestine, 22 million new jobs, Welfare reform, and increased minimum wage, The Family an Medical Leave Act, Violent Crime control and Law Enforcement Act, Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

How the Democrats can win the framing war with the war on terror

2005-08-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Now one thing that makes me really angry is to see Republicans come out and say that Democrats don't care about the war on terror and don't support the military, this is absolutly BS. What the Republicans don't seem to grasp is that we Democrats are not against war we just feel that is has to be the absolute last resort. Democrats do support the war on terror we just realize that the war on terror has nothing to do with Iraq. We do support our troops and saying that by protesting the Iraq war we are hurting our troops is ignorance. So here is what we can do about it:
1.Launch a mass media campaign to get our point across so the American public no longer falls for the Republican lies.
2.Continue to protest the war in Iraq and make it clear why we are protesting it so the public finally understands that it has nothing to do with the war on terror. I think they might finally be getting it as as of a recent poll 62% of Americans thought we were mislead into war.

I may have been wrong about the DLC

2005-08-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

So recently it seems that the DLC won't call the Iraq War a mistake and they don't seem to want to work with liberal Democrats which is a mistake since if they don't the Democratic Party has no hope to be winning. I consider myself a moderate Democrat but I understand the need to work with liberals Democrats in order for the Democratic Party to win and the DLC does not seem to get that.

Bill Maher

2005-08-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

So Bill Maher, the comedian, was on Larrry King Live last night. Bill is a pretty funny guy and I like some his views on US politics. Here's what he said on the "Gay Agenda": "The Gay Agenda is Starbucks at 8, excercise at 9, and tanning salons at 10"
Funny Guy.

Capture of fugitive couple

2005-08-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

So by now I am sure that most of you have heard that the fugitive couple who shot and killed a prison guard in Tennessee have been captured This is good news that these criminals are now caught and hopefully they will receive the death penalty. This is why we have the death penalty for cop killers and for horrific crimes, we cannot coddle criminals we need to be hard on them.

Peter Jennings Dies

2005-08-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

So a sad day for journalism today as Peter Jennings dies from lung cancer at 67. He was one of my favorite news anchors and he was always seemed intelligent and well-spoken. He will be missed.

The arrogance of President Bush

2005-08-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

So today President Bush appointed John Bolton to be the UN Ambassador using a recess appointment while the Senate is out of town. So Bolton will be in the UN till January 2007. This is not what the US needs, we need to make multilateral alliances not create more problems between the US and the rest of the world. I don't think I ever seen a President more arrogrant than Bush. He really does think he has devine right to rule and I can't wait for January 20th, 2009

Senator Frist to back bill supporting Stem Cell Research

2005-07-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at news this morning and found this:
Senator Frist now backs Stem Cell Research Bill. This is a surprise and Tom Delay has already come out and treatened that this could hurt Senator Frist chances in 2008. I did not expect this from Frist.

Latest Poll numbers for President Bush

2005-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Quinnipiac Univ. 7/21-25. MoE 3.2% (May 25)
Bush approval ratings
Approve 41 (44)Disapprove 53 (50)

Keep in mind the president is in his last term so he might very well say "damn the poll numbers, I'll do what I want"

What the hell were we thinking??

2005-07-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

So on the Daily show last night they had a clip of Senator Kerry speaking, and one thought came to mind, What the hell were we thinking??. This guy is so boring and dull how did we nominate him. Oh well no use dwelling on the past.

Blue Dog Democrats

2005-07-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

Now Corey recently had a post out there that railed against Blue Dog Democrats, who only vote with the party 54% of the time. Now he proposed having more liberal Democrats challenging 8 of the worst Blue Dog Democrats so a "real democrat" could run in there place. Now I think that is a bad idea and here is why.
1. These 8 are from very red states or from a very red part of a state and being a conservative democrat helsps them win. If they were more liebral they would not win and that would be 8 more seats going to an already huge Republican majority.
2.While these Blue Dog Democrats only vote with the Democrats 54% of the time it is still a majority of the time.
The Democratic Party is a party with a lot of diverse ideas and it needs to be open all ideas.

Am I a Republican?

2005-07-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

I been debating this question all day, the reason for this is I been over at Daily Kos more and more the past couple of days and I realized that I don't really agree with most of the posters there on a variety of issues. I was raised as a Democrat and I believe Bill Clinton is the best politician and leader I have seen, bar none but some of my views (such as on the war on terror, and illegal immigration) are conservative. However there are several thing that I cannot support such as support President Bush or his tax cuts. I have been told by a few people that I seem more Republican than a Democrat and so its something to think about. I guess I should figure it out soon since I am the co-president of the Democrats Club at Linfield.

Senator John McCain

2005-07-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know this but I really like Senator John McCain. The reason for this is the fact that he is a moderate (Corey I know you disagree with this) here is why:
1. Many Republicans refer to him as a RINO.
2. He once fought against funding the construction of a new aircraft carrier saying the money should be spent on the 12,000 families of the enlisted who were on food stamps.
3. He is strongly against tobacco
4. He opposes the Bush tax cuts
5. He fights agianst pork barrel spending
6. Wants more legislation on health care and education
7. He was the ringleader of the Gang of 14 that stopped the nuclear option from passing into law.

If Senator McCain does deicide to run in 2008 I would have to seriously consider voting for him if he gets the nomination. It also depends who the Democrats nominate.

Thougher Rules for wartime detention

2005-07-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

Senator John McCain(R) and Senator Linsey Graham (R) are drafting a bill, in the Senate Armed Services Commmittee, that would take would take matters out of Donald Rumsfeld hands and create clear rules for wartime detention. This is to avoid incidends such as the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal. Senator McCain called the policy on the treatment of prisioners as a mess. I think that this is a good idea, and the bill is been drafted by two Republicans so one can't say that it more liberal properganda.

Initiative 343

2005-07-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

Initiative 343 has to do with not letting illegal immigrants vote or recieve public benefits and I don't think I have have a problem with it. As a child of immigrants I know how welcoming this country can be. However if you want to come to the US do it legally, if you can't come you can't come. Not everybody can get enter the US, we have laws for a reason.

Patriot Act Renewed

2005-07-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

I now many people are complaining about the Patriotic Act taking away civil liberties but
as my mom pointed out is it really hurt regular Americans if the FBI looks at your library records. If your not a terrorist why fear the Patriot Act. Look we are at war and in wartime some librerties are curbed, it been this way throughout US history, happened during the Civil War, WWII, and other wars.

Question about Daily Kos

2005-07-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Can someone explain to me why daily Kos has a person wait a week after signing up to make a dairy entry? It seems a bit excessive.

Straw Poll at Daily Kos

2005-07-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

So there was a straw Poll at Daily Kos for the 2008 Democratic Nomination and General Clark won again, maybe this guy has something to him, particually since he is a moderate and won a straw poll on a website mainly inhabitated by liberals.

New Supreme Court Justice

2005-07-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

The new justice will be U.S. Circuit Judge John Roberts Jr of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. I know that he is a solid conservative and I take the steps Senator Reid is taking and won't pre-judge him until I learn more. I think it would be foolish to filibuster, President Bush could have nominated someone more conservative.

New Supreme Court Justice

2005-07-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Will be announced tonight at 6 PM, I read this on CNN

Democratic Leadership Council(DLC)

2005-07-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

So I was over at Daily Kos and I discovered one thing: they really don't like the DLC. They see it as being Republican-lite and say it attacks the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, this is just not true. The DLC is a moderate organization that is made of of people that are proud to be Democrats but realize that Republicans are not evil and are Americans just like Democrats. It would seem that the DLC is more in touch with mainstram American views and what the liberal Democrats talk about is more in tune with the Green or Socialist parties. The DLC never attacked the liberals of the Democratic party all they have been saying is that they are too left wing for American politics. This is not Europe or Canada the middle of the political spectrum here is more to the right than it is in those countries. That being said we need to find a way to work with liberals because moderates need their support and they need us too.

Senator Evan Bayh

2005-07-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the Senator speak at a New Hampshire event on C-SPAN. He seemed very informed and very charismatic. He would be a good contender in 2008.

Top-Two Primary System ruled unconstitutional

2005-07-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

A U.S. District Court judge on Friday struck down Washington state's new "top two" primary system, approved by voters last fall, as unconstitutional, saying it infringed on the rights of political parties to pick their own nominees for office.

Good news, I always thought that this way of holding the primary was not fair.

I don't understand why the old primary system was made unconstitutional where one could vote for whomever they wanted to in the primary.

The 2006 Midterms

2005-07-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ok I realize its a bit early but here is what the Democrats can do do win in 2006.

1. Remember that one size does not fit all, instead of the DNC picking a game plan for all the congressional candidate and each candidate needs to figure out what they needs to do to win.
2. Stop taking about why we went into Iraq and focus on a plan to do start withdrawing the troops after we help train the Iraqi government officials and the Iraqi army. This is going to be the major issue for the 2006 Midterms so whichever party has the better plan will do better.
3. Certain people need to run in key races such as Ohio Congressman Brown in the Ohio senate race and Governor Mark Warner in the Virginia Senate Race.
3. Domestic issues are not going to be important to the American people for the midterms so don't focus on them.
So these are just a few points the Democrats should follow in 2006.

GOP and Black Voters

2005-07-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

The GOP is trying really hard to woo black voters. I don't know if they will be successful or not but the Demopcrats cannot take the black vote for granted. If we lose it the party will be screwed for a long time.

CIA Operative Debacle

2005-07-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

So apaprently there was a report in Britain, the Butler Report, that said that said"British intelligence on the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger was "credible". There was not conclusive evidence Iraq actually purchased the material, nor did the government make that claim." So if this is true then Joe Wilson needs top face some penalties for making up a lie. I don't think Karl Rove is going to get fired, he the President's top man and what he did was to tell a reporter that Wilson's wife was the one who sent him to Niger not the CIA. I said it before and I say it again. We need to stop talking about why we went into Iraq. We been in for over 2 years now and we need to focusing on doing the best job we can there. We cannot cut and run because that would be a cowardly act.

New Presidential Poll

2005-07-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Bush honesty rating drops to lowest point
NBC/WSJ poll: Iraq replaces jobs as most important American priority

Mark Murray
Political reporter
WASHINGTON - The last two weeks certainly have been eventful ones in America and across the globe: President Bush gave a prime-time speech on Iraq and attended a G-8 summit in Scotland; Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court (with perhaps another retirement on the way); and suicide bombers killed approximately 50 people in London. After these events, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Bush’s overall job rating has slipped and that his rating for being “honest and straightforward” has dropped to its lowest point.
Regarding Bush’s upcoming pick to replace O’Connor on the court, moreover, the poll shows that strong majorities believe Bush would be taking a step in the right direction if he appointed a woman and someone who supports references to God in public life. But a majority also thinks that Bush would take a wrong step if he chose someone who would vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
The survey, which was conducted from July 8-11 among 1,009 adults, and which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, finds that respondents, by a 49 percent-to-46 percent margin, disapprove of Bush’s job performance. That’s a drop from the last NBC/Journal poll in May, when 47 percent approved and 47 percent disapproved. In addition, the only time when Bush’s job rating has been worse was in June 2004, when 45 percent approved of his performance.
Furthermore, only 41 percent give Bush good marks for being “honest and straightforward” — his lowest ranking on this question since he became president. That’s a drop of nine percentage points since January, when a majority (50 percent to 36 percent) indicated that he was honest and straightforward. This finding comes at a time when the Bush administration is battling the perception that its rhetoric doesn’t match the realities in Iraq, and also allegations that chief political adviser Karl Rove leaked sensitive information about a CIA agent to a reporter. (The survey, however, was taken just before these allegations about Rove exploded into the current
“It’s a bad period for the president,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican Bill McInturff. Hart attributes Bush’s problems to “one part the economy, two parts Iraq, and one part everything else.” In fact, he is somewhat surprised that Bush’s ratings didn’t increase slightly after the London attacks. “I am sort of surprised we don’t see more a skew toward rallying around anti-terrorism.”
But McInturff sees Bush’s poll numbers as part of a broader indictment against all of Washington and politics as usual. “These are problematic numbers, but there are a lot of indications that the other option — the Democratic Party — is also in a much weaker position than it started the year.” He adds that the public’s negative attitude toward Washington could intensify if Democrats and Republicans begin battling over Bush’s eventual choice to replace O’Connor on the Supreme Court. “This is a very difficult climate to begin [that] conversation,” McInturff said.
Also according to the poll, the public ranks the war in Iraq as the top priority the federal government should address, followed by job creation and then homeland security. In January’s NBC/Journal poll, the economy ranked first — followed by Iraq and then homeland security.
On Bush’s upcoming pick for the Supreme Court, strong majorities believe Bush would be making a positive step if he appointed a justice who continues to allow references to God in public life (63 percent), who is a woman (60 percent), and who upholds affirmative action laws and policies (55 percent). However, 50 percent think Bush would be making a mistake if his choice changes the court’s balance on Roe v. Wade. “There are chunks of people who are certainly right-to-life who are willing to leave [Roe v. Wade] alone,” McInturff explained.
The poll also notes that 41 percent (vs. 30 percent) want Bush to appoint a strong conservative to the court, while a nearly equal proportion (40 percent to 25 percent) would like for him to take into consideration the views of secular and liberal groups.
Mark Murray covers politics for NBC News.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

How Moderate Muslimes should deal with the terrorists

2005-07-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

The moderate Muslims of the world need to be quicker and seem to be more sincere when condemn the terror attacks of al-qaeda. Otherwise the world is not going to believe that they do not support these terrorists.

Conference Call with Senator Harry Reid

2005-07-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

Today I had the opportunity to take place in a conference call with Senator Harry Reid on whats going on with the Sumpreme Court Nominee. It was a very interesting call and I really enjoyed it. Senator Reid is a great leader for the Democrats in the Senate.

NARAL

2005-07-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

NARAL is a pro-choice group that has these online ads out saying that we got to make sure President Bush doesn't appoint a judge who will overturn Roe vs. Wade. Now I think this is a little silly because if it doesn't matter who Bush will appoint the decision will not get overturned. I say this for 2 reasons.
1. The are enough pro Roe people on the court (Scouter, Breyer, Ginsburg, Stevens, and Kennedy).
2. Republicans are not stupid they know that if they make abortion illegal they will lose a lot of voters because there would be people who are satisfied now that abortion is illegal and will become apolitical. there are also those voters who are democrats but vote republican because of abortion. So if abortion is now illegal they go back to voting for the democrats. S
So that why abortion won't become illegal.

Error at Daily Kos

2005-07-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

Now for those of you who don't know what Daily Kos is, it is a left-wing blog that has new entries many times a day. I first started to read Daily Kos about a month ago. I enjoy reading the entries because they are intelligently written althought I don't always agree with what they say (such as corporations are evil). I was reading a post today and President Bush had said that Iraq had ties to 9/11. However I remember a BBC article from 203 in which the President denies Iraq having ties to 9/11. So just thought I would point that out.

The Democratic Party Platform

2005-07-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

The following is where I think the Democratic Party should stand on certain issues; what our platform should be on certain key issues.

Terrorism
Be a leader in the War on Terror but try not to go into any situation alone, always try to have multi-nation support.
Keep the Patriot Act in place but make it less restrictive on the civil liberties of Americans.

Abortion
Allow for abortions to be legal but have parental consent for abortions if the person is under 18.

Gay Rights
Allow gay couples to have Civil Unions but have the civil unions have the same rights as a a heterosexual couple receives.

Health Care
Make sure every American has access to basic health care but do not get rid of the private system and allow people who have the means to use it to use it.

More on the London Bombing

2005-07-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

One disturbing trend I've noticed is that some conservatives blame the bombing on liberals who protest this war and some liberals blame President Bush. Both of these arguments, the blame lies with al-queda and them alone. We need to stop attacking our fellow citizens.

London Bombing

2005-07-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

So there was a bombing in London today killing 40 people and injuring hundreds more. I hope the cowards who caused this bombing and caught and executed.

CIA operative case

2005-07-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

So apparently one of the journalists involved in the case won't give up the source so she is going to jail for being in contempt of court. I am sick and tired about hearing how the rights of these journalists have been violated. The revealed the name of a CIA operative which is a felony. They both should be in jail.

Health Care Reform

2005-07-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

So we need health care reform in the US. I think we should have a system like they have in Britain where everybody can afford health care because the government's helps out. Now we should still have private hospitals and the system we have now for the people who don't want to be on the government's health care plan.

New Supreme Court Justice

2005-07-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

The new justice hopefully will be Alberto Gonzales the current Attorney General. Now he is not perfect and he has made some mistakes but he is the most moderate guy that the President will consider so hopefully his close friendship with the President and the fact that he would be the first Latino on the court will get him to be the choice of the President.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

2005-07-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

So today Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement. I would have liked if she had stayed because she was an important swing vote but one has to wish her the best as she moves on. She would have made a great Chief Justice.

A Growing problem for the Democratic Party

2005-06-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

So recently I have observed that there seems to be a growing rift between moderate and liberal democrats. Both sides have hurled attacks at each other of hurting the party. The most recent example is the Howard Dean- Joe Biden duel. I think that if Democrats want to disagree with each other they should do it in private and not in public. Both sides need to realize that they need each other in order to win and if they don't come together then Republicans will remain in power for a long time.

Welfare Reform

2005-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Ok I wanted to start off my blog with something I have wanted to say for a while now. During his presidency many liberals thought that the welfare reform bill that he signed was forced on him by the republican congress and that he destroyed the welfare system. This is not true: it was one of his main goals during his 1992 campaign to have welfare reform and he made the system better not worst. The welfare reform bill retained the federal guarantee of medical and food aid, increased federal child-care assistance by 40% to $14 billion, had tougher child-supportment enforcement, and allowed states the ability to convert monthly welfare payments into wage subsidies as an incentive for employers to hire welfare recipients. It ended the federal guarantee of a fixed monthly benefit to welfare recipients and have a five year limit on welfare benefit. It was not a perfect bill because it cut food stamps on low-income legal immigrants but every bill has its flaws. This was a good bill because it gave welfare recipients a nudge to get off the program so they did not depend on it forever.