Hastert "Took Care Of" Foley's Pageboy Problem

Denny, Denny, Denny...

From Talking Points Memo:

Majority Leader Boehner hangs Hastert out to dry ...

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it."

It was not immediately clear what actions Hastert took. His spokesman had said earlier that the speaker did not know of the sexually charged e-mails between Foley and the boy.

That's from the Post. See the rest here.

UPDATE October 1 - Tribune: "House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office was alerted in the fall of 2005 that a questionable email exchange had occurred between former Rep. Mark Foley, the Republican member of Congress who resigned Friday, and a teenage page. An internal inquiry was made, and closed."

It's past time for someone other than Denny Hastert to be in charge of the House of Representatives.

Mia Culpa

Had I know about Florida Republican Mark Foley's... uh... interests, I would have awarded him the title of Creepiest Man Running for Congress.

But now that Foley has resigned in disgrace from Congress and his race f0r reelection, Pete "Just Disgusting" Roskam moves back into first place.

Congratulations!

State of Chaos

Bob Woodward's new book on the Bush Administration's Iraq fiasco, State of Denial, has been probed by the New York Times, the Washington Post and CBS News, but Kevin Drumm of Washington Monthly sums it up best:

Powell didn't get along with Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld didn't get along with Rice, Cheney didn't get along with anyone, the war was going to hell the entire time, and Bush was sleeping through the whole thing. Cheers!

And Peter Roskam wants us to vote to stay this course in November?

Update: Here are 21 Questions and Answers to help you decide if we should continue to stay the course set out by the Republican Party.

Neck and Neck

From Congressional Quarterly:

Illinois 6: Goodwin Simon Victoria Research poll shows a dead heat, with both Democrat Tammy Duckworth and Republican Peter Roskam standing at 41 percent

Note to 6th District progressives who, like me, are still very bitter and quite angry about the events of the past primary season: The degree of your participation will likely have decisive effect on the outcome of this election.

Of course, it's up to you to decide what that outcome should be.

Peter Roskam: Worst Person in the 6th District

Did I already say Creepy Pete's cut and run allegation has gone nationwide?



Just checking.

The Bush Administration's Road to 9-11

Up until now the question has been, "If someone else had been President, how would he have reacted to the 9-11 attacks?"

But a review of the facts suggests that perhaps the proper question is: "If someone else had been President, would he have prevented the 9-11 attacks?"



I don't know much, but I am pretty sure that a President Gore would have taken Richard Clarke's phone calls.

Roskam's Cut and Running-Off at the Mouth is Going Nationwide

Nationally syndicated columnist Molly Ivins addresses Roskam's cut and run allegations:

Oh dear. I'm sure he didn't mean it. In Illinois' 6th Congressional District, long represented by Henry Hyde, Republican candidate Peter Roskam accused his Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth of planning to "cut and run" on Iraq.

Duckworth is a former Army major and chopper pilot, who lost both legs in Iraq after her helicopter got hit by an RPG. "I just could not believe he would say that to me," said Duckworth, who walks on artificial legs and uses a cane. Every election cycle produces some wincers, but how do you apologize for that one?

Of course the answer is that Creepy Pete hasn't even tried to apologize for what he said. Instead he is doing his level best to cut and run from his statement.

Roskam Supporters Cut and Run from Comments About Roskam's Cut and Run Comments?

NW Burbs -- I suspect that's a pseudonym -- reports that the pro-Pete forces know that the Creepster's absurd "cut and run" mischaracterization of Maj. Duckworth was a big mistake and they are now trying to smother its discussion:

Background: Dave Diersen (a DuPage GOP operative) culls news clippings, letters to the editor and video and podcast links for a little Illinois Review ditty he likes to call GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips. Today's Daily Clips included a link to the Scott Fornek he-said/she-said piece on Roskam's cutandrun quip.

I put up a post in response to this article, which Diersen promptly deleted for reasons sadly known only to him. I've since reposted it, but am quite certain in his radical righty rage he'll just delete again.

Anyway, here's my post in response to Roskam and McLaughingstock's claim that Roskam never said Major Duckworth wanted to cut and run:

Regarding the Sun-Times story "Duckworth camp: 'Cut and run' crude; Roskam team: He never said that of her Iraq stance"

Folks, you can listen to the tape of the WBBM debate.

Peter Roskam said "The 6th Congressional District is not a cut-and-run district. It is not a timetable district."

He may not of said she advocated "cut and run" but that is clearly what he is implying.

Of course, according to the Illinois state GOP leaving Iraq sooner rather than later is a (quote) "principled" stance. The GOP sent out a mailer saying 8th District candidate Bill Scheurer is "principled" for wanting to leave Iraq ASAP.

Maybe Roskam needs to get in touch with the GOP to get the latest talking points accurately.

I can't help but think that the Roskam camp might not be stumbling down the stretch so much if they had participated in a primary campaign rather than using their massive war-chest to bully the moderate Republicans off the ballot.

By The Company You Keep

From The Beachwood Reporter's [Wednesday] Papers:

On one side of the [foie gras] debate: Mahatma Gandhi, Pope Benedict XVI, St. Francis of Assisi, the Prophet Muhammed, and, by the way, Paul Harvey.

On the other side: Ald. Bernie Stone, Ald. Burt Natarus, and Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Just sayin'.

I'll admit it, dear reader -- I don't know you that well.

But if you're not reading The Beachwood Reporter every day, I know you're not as smart as you could should be.

The Prophecies of Old Bull Lee

"Now, boys, you won't see this operation performed very often and there's a reason for that... You see it has absolutely no medical value. No one knows what the purpose of it originally was or if it had a purpose at all. Personally I think it was a pure artistic creation from the beginning.

"Just as a bull fighter with his skill and knowledge extricates himself from danger he has himself invoked, so in this operation the surgeon deliberately endangers his patient, and then, with incredible speed and celerity, rescues him from death at the last possible split second..."

-- Dr. Benway

"To stress or emphasize."

"Perruque En Vinyle Pour Enfants"

"But Mom, I don't wanna be Rod Blagojevich for Halloween!"

"I told you -- it's a Superman Vinyl Wig. Now shut up and smile for the camera."

Esquire: 6th Dist = America

"So where exactly are we as a country?" asks Joshua Green of Esquire magazine. "The answer lies in the suburbs surrounding Chicago's O'Hare Airport, which happens to be Illinois's sixth congressional district and the site of a steel-cage showdown that, as much as any race this fall, is a bellwether for where our national politics are headed."

You can see the whole thing in the October issue of Esquire -- featuring the dreamy Brad Pitt -- or you can read the copy in the Memory Attic.

Mob Ties for Bonzo?

In his Tribune review of the book Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers, Hillel Levin recounts an often forgotten chapter in Ronald Reagan's rise to power:

Producers also got squeezed by the stars in front of the cameras, especially those managed by Jules Stein and Lew Wasserman of MCA, Hollywood's first powerhouse talent agency. Back in Chicago when Stein started the firm as Music Corporation of America, he was booking area bands and using a "union racketeer" to throw stink bombs in nightclubs that wouldn't take his acts. He was supposedly a silent partner with Outfit bosses in the hot spots where his bands played, and according to Russo, he would continue to blur the line between ownership and union influence throughout his career.

Later, when Wasserman client Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild, he helped push through a waiver permitting MCA to be the only agency that could also produce programs for the burgeoning TV industry. This competitive edge helped Stein and Wasserman gain control of Universal Pictures and create Hollywood's first multimedia behemoth. In return for the SAG waiver, Russo asserts, Wasserman secretly cut Reagan into production deals (counter to SAG rules) and helped transform him into the ubiquitous TV presence that launched his political career.

And then it was on to illegal weapons sales to Islamic Republic of Iran.

At Home or Abroad -- Torture Simply Doesn't Work

From your Chicago Sun-Times:

A man who confessed to a crime he didn't commit after allegedly being handcuffed to a wall for five days by Chicago police has won a new trial ***

Lopez sued police detectives in federal court last year after claiming he confessed to a 2000 murder because he suffered abuse by detectives. ***

Chicago Police officers arrested Lopez in 2000 for the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy. They arrested him without a warrant based on one eyewitness identification.

Lopez claimed that while in custody he was handcuffed to a wall for five days, denied bathroom breaks, punched in the face and only given food once. He then confessed. But the details of his confession didn't match details of the crime. The real culprit was later caught and Lopez was set free.

So a man falsely confesses to murdering a 12-year old boy after being cuffed and punched -- and I'm still supposed to believe that the Bush Administration is getting useful, truthful information from waterboarding?

Update 9/26/06 - Molly Ivins weighs in on American torture:

The safe position is, "Torture doesn't work."

Well, actually, it works to this extent -- anybody can be tortured into telling anything that's true and anything that's not true. The more people are tortured, the more they make up to please the torturer. Then the torturer has to figure out when the vic started lying.

And if the prisoner being tortured really doesn't know anything -- only seven of the hundreds of prisoners at Gitmo have ever been charged with anything -- the lying begins almost immediately.

Creepy Pete: How Gigolo Can You Go?

Eric Krol of the Daily Herald lays out some history on Creepy Pete Roskam, a man he describes as "a politician who sometimes comes across as poured from the old 'Leave It to Beaver,' Eddie Haskell mold."

The first plot was The Sir Thomas More Justice League:

[A] campaign fund-raising scheme devised by Salvi and Roskam in the mid-’90s to capitalize on their planned votes against limits on pain-and-suffering damages in civil lawsuits. ***

To some, promising to vote a certain way while simultaneously soliciting campaign checks looked an awful lot like selling your vote.

But that piece of legislative entrepreneurship paled in comparison to this:

The other Roskam wheeler-dealer example comes courtesy of Salvi’s failed 1998 bid for secretary of state.

Roskam asked the Illinois comptroller’s office for a list of the names and addresses of more than 3,600 secretary of state employees. “I just wanted to look at the list to find out about the nature of the office,” Roskam claimed to the Chicago Tribune in 1998.

But Roskam also admitted he gave the list to the Salvi campaign, of which he was chairman. Team Salvi used the list to send numbered $50 campaign fund-raising tickets to secretary of state employees. The numbering made it easy for Salvi to track which employees ponied up and which employees didn’t. One ethics watchdog at the time blasted the move as “classic Illinois political prostitution with a twist.”

And so the choice for the 6th District is clear: An Iraq war veteran or a George Ryan-style political wheeler-dealer.

Unitary Executive

From Mark Evanier, comics writer and constitutional scholar:

Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked if it isn't true that it's the Supreme Court that's supposed to decide if something is constitutional. His reply was as follows...

No, as a matter of fact, the president has an obligation to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. That is an obligation that presidents have enacted through signing statements going back to Jefferson. So, while the Supreme Court can be an arbiter of the Constitution, the fact is the President is the one, the only person who, by the Constitution, is given the responsibility to preserve, protect, and defend that document, so it is perfectly consistent with presidential authority under the Constitution itself.

Ergo, when the Supreme Court — in its role as "an arbiter" of the constitution — ruled unanimously against Richard Nixon on the Watergate matter, Nixon should have said, "Well, thank you for your opinion but you're wrong" and ignored them.

And when they ruled against Bill Clinton on the Paula Jones matter, he should have issued a signing statement or otherwise overruled them.

If and when they rule against George W. Bush, it will mean he's right and they're wrong.

Yeah, I think that's how our nation is supposed to work.

That's Incredible!

One remarkable aspect of the Thursday raid of Cook County offices by the G-men has not received the attention it deserves. From you Chicago Sun-Times:

"Step away from the computers," one of the 25 FBI agents who massed at the county's Human Resources Department told employees. The agents arrived at 9 a.m. and stayed long past dark poring through records, taking some with them.

Who would have guessed that one could find Cook County employees at their workstations at nine o'clock in the morning?

The Principled Mr. Hyde

"Henry Hyde stood by his principles [during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton] and eloquently demanded that the laws be followed."
--House Speaker Dennis Hastert

"I did not know he was married. He portrayed himself as a single person, and I didn't bother to check or anything like that."
-- Cherie Soskin, Hyde's former mistress

"Hyde called it a 'youthful indiscretion,' like it was just a fling or something. What a laugh. My mother said it was a long-term relationship."
-- Cherie Soskin's daughter

"He had an affair with a young woman with three children. At least the president didn't do that."
-- Fred Snodgrass, Soskin's husband at the time of Hyde's affair

T-Minus Fifteen: Obama Speech at Georgetown (Updated)

Sen. Barack Obama is giving a speech from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. at 11:30 (CST) this morning.

Air America Radio (WCPT 850 AM in Chicagoland) will be carrying it live.

You can listen to the stream here or here

Update 9/22: You can watch the speech or read the transcript here.

Your Crumbling Democracy Quiz

Here is a four-question quiz created using your Chicago Tribune. See if you can fill in the blanks:

In the dead of night and without firing a shot, A's military overthrew popularly elected B on Tuesday after mounting criticism that he has undermined democracy. *** Many analysts have said that with B in power, peace in C was unlikely. *** [H]e alienated the urban middle class, intellectuals and pro-democracy activists. They began street demonstrations late last year, charging B with abuse of power, corruption and emasculation of the country's democratic institutions, including what was once one of D's freest presses.

The correct answers are:
A. Thailand
B. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
C. the south
D. Asia

Sadly, the answers "United States of America", "George W. Bush", "Iraq" and "the world" also score partial credit.

Get Some Perspective

In your Chicago Sun-Times, Neil Steinberg tries to help those preoccupied with violent Islamists get a grip:

This is only a clash of civilizations if viewed from a mountain cave or a basement bunker. Take away the very lucky -- for them -- stroke of 9/11, the harm Islamic fundamentalism has inflicted on the West over the past 10 years is fairly minimal, and certainly not something that demands we baby-sit bloody sectarian strife in Iraq until the warring mullahs somehow morph into Jeffersonian democrats.

Just how minimal is "fairly minimal"?

This color-coded panic alert chart from Wired News should give you an idea:



Yes, you read that right.

You are far more likely to be killed by a hernia than by al-Qaida.

Maybe instead of gutting our Constitution in exchange for a diaphanous sense of security, Americans should remember to lift with their legs.

But Not in the Eyes of Chicago Aldermen

"The cruelty inflicted on animals in the production of foie gras is unspeakable. It is undeniably disgusting in the eyes of God and in the eyes of any civilized person." -- Rabbi Asher Lopatin

Baby Steps

In your Chicago Sun-Times, Neil Steinberg sets aside his well-worn broad brush:

You'll notice I say "some Muslims" and "part of the Islamic world." I'm going to try to always do that from now on. Because hatred is contagious -- you tend to become the monster you fight, as Nietzsche pointed out. So, just because a few howling despots paint the West as an undifferentiated mass of evil, doesn't mean we have to return the favor. That's playing their game and, as they will discover (sadly for us, in about 300 years) it's a losing game.

As images of outraged Muslims burning churches in the Middle East are broadcast in our living rooms, we need to remember that for every masked guy firing a Kalashnikov into the air, there are 1,000 others selling dates in Basra and driving cabs on Devon Avenue and treating patients at Swedish Covenant Hospital.

But nevertheless, I trust that Neil's next column will contain something that will leave me nigh apoplectic.

Update - From September 20, 2006:

But remember we're not talking about Muslims in Northbrook, we're talking about imams in Egypt, who have yet to learn that you can still be a good tea-drinking Muslim and buy your tea at Starbucks.

Not "Quaint"

Yes another damn video blog.



And this one features a damn conservative Republican!

But, just as even a broken clock is right twice a day, even a Republican can be right once in a while.

And a clock, when it is right, is absolutely right. Just so, Sen. Graham is absolutely right in his thoughtful and principled defense of the Geneva Conventions.

What Your Auto Says About You

click image

GOP Has Given Up On Immigration

From the Washington Post:

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) noted that the unfavorable political landscape leaves GOP leaders little choice but to fight it out on defense and terrorism.

"People aren't paying attention to the economy. We've given up on immigration. We need to send people home with some significant accomplishments, and we have no other choice," LaHood said. "We have no other issue."

Ray's loose lips certainly put the NRCC's immigration obsession in perspective.

"I value traditional marriage so much I've had three!"

Tom Roeser, perhaps inadvertently, reminds us of the absurdity of the notion that Republican party is defending the "sanctity of marriage":

Now consider this: of the likely Republican candidates running, here is the wife total: John McCain (2); Rudy Giuliani (3); Newt Gingrich (3) and George Allen (2). Only [Mitt] Romney has had the same wife.

Boy, the gay-homosexuals must have been working overtime to undermine the sanctity of all of those GOP marriages.

Bush Plan for Midterms: Don't Stop Lying

On Friday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its report concluding there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

According to the report, “a CIA assessment in October 2005 concluded that Hussein’s government ‘did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates.’” Hussein actually tried to capture Zarqawi.

But does the White House let mere facts get in the way of The Big Lie? Hell no!

This morning on Meet the Press, Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly cited Zarqawi as the link between pre-war Iraq and al-Qaeda. When Tim Russert mentioned the Senate Intelligence Committee report, Cheney said he “hadn’t seen it.”

And on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated the false assertion that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had a relationship before the 2003 invasion, despite the recent Senate Intelligence Report that found U.S. intelligence analysts strongly dispute that claim. When Rice claimed that the Senate Intelligence Report was new, Chris Wallace pointed out, a Defense Intelligence Agency report from Feb. 2002 — before the U.S. invasion — also concluded that Iraq and Al Qaeda had no relationship: “Iraq is unlikely to have provided bin Laden any useful CB, that’s chemical or biological, knowledge or assistance.”

Rice said she did not remember seeing that report.

Think Progress has got it covered.

Chicago Magic

After almost four years in Chicago, I'm getting ready to take myself back to the west coast. How do you say goodbye to a whole city? The City of Layered Clothing. The City of Mind Your Own Business. The City of Get Used To It.
-- Nomy Lamm

In the September/October issue of Punk Planet, Nomy Lamm shares a personal Top Ten Most Magical Places in Chicago.

10. The Music Box Theater
Goodbye to the too-small theater seats, the red velvet curtains and gold detailing, the live organist, the pinlight stars and the projections of clouds that drift across the ceiling. For all its decadence, somehow it always feels kind of stifled and unsure of itself. Maybe I have high standards when it comes to turn-of-the-century vaudeville theaters, but how can a 100-year-old haunted movie theater survive in a neighborhood full of yuppies?

I never saw or felt the ghost of the old proprietor but I took comfort in the legend of his presence, and imagined he was wringing his hands at the hoards of blond ponytails, and feeling relieved at an accordian-playing freak (me) moving in downstairs from the palm reader across the street.

I hate to see anyone who really gets our city leave it, but I feel certain that Lamm will spread the gospel of Chicago:

I believe in what I can feel, sense and experience. This reality is so often discounted, by ourselves, by television, by friends and family, by teachers, by... by...

Goodbye Chicago. I believe in you.

Rumsfeld: No Need for a Post-War Plan in Iraq

From the Daily Press (VA):

Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan.

Rumsfeld did replace Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff in 2003, after Shinseki told Congress that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to secure post-war Iraq.

Obama: TCB

From Lynn Sweet of your Chicago Sun-Times:

The freshman Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) acknowledging the heaps of attention he gets, joked when he keynoted the Gridiron Club dinner last March, "When I actually do something, we'll let you know.''

Obama is poised to pass his first bill, which may actually become a law, co-sponsored with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ill.), mandating listing of federal contracts and grants be available on a searchable internet database.

Is that the Foul Stench of Karl Rove that I Smell?

From the December 12, 1999 edition of the Dallas Morning News, entitled "Rivals again fault Bush over rumors":

The fallout over apparent attempts to smear GOP presidential contender John McCain has prompted comparisons with a similar dispute in Gov. George W. Bush's political past. In recent weeks, the Bush campaign has been accused of - and has denied - spreading rumors that Mr. McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Several Senate Republicans, among them party leaders who favor Mr. Bush for president, have been identified in published reports as being responsible for privately pushing the allegations. Also, James B. Stockdale, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran as Ross Perot's running mate in 1992, said he got a call from a friend close to the Bush campaign soliciting comments on Mr. McCain's 'weakness.'

Has Creepy Pete Roskam now borrowed the "Smear the Vet" page from the playbook of Mr. Bush and Mr. Rove?

From Creepy Pete's website:



McCain "Unstable"... Duckworth "Unhinged"...

I'd dismiss it as a coincidence -- if Karl Rove weren't known for his "Attack Their Strengths" campaign strategy.

And the GOP have repeatedly executed Rove's plan as a "Slander Their Service" strategy against combat veterans -- first against John McCain, then against Max Cleland, then against John Kerry, and now against Major Tammy Duckworth.

The election season must be upon us, because Creepy Pete has launched his Swiftboats.

Roskam Priorities v. 6th District Priorities

There is a saying among liberals: A Budget is a Moral Document.

A budget can open a window through which values are revealed. It can show what is fair, just and important.

It seems a campaign website can be such a moral document as well:



"Health Care... coming soon."

Maybe he'll have a health care plan for 6th District families by election day, maybe he wont.

But don't worry -- I'm sure that if Rubberstamp Roskam gets to Congress, the healthcare needs of the families in the 6th District will be a top priority!

hat tip: Republicans for Duckworth

Update 13SEP06

Mr. Wurf wonders why Pete can't get his act together:

If a professional politician like Peter Roskam with over $2 million raised to date cannot put his issue positions up for an entire primary season and then, with less than 60 days until the general election, cannot put his issue positions up on a website for at least the better part of a week, a task that would not likely take me more than an hour to post (generously), then he cannot "govern" his campaign.

And if Peter Roskam fails to govern his campaign - if he fails to communicate in a basic way with residents in the 6th Congressional District, failing to address the issues that matter - how can they trust him to serve them in congress? It's a basic failure - a lack of governing ability despite enormous resources.

Obama's Government Transparency Bill -- NOT a Big Truck

From the Hill:

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has lifted his hold on a government-
transparency bill days after an online grassroots campaign revealed him as the senator raising questions, one of the bill’s chief sponsors said yesterday.

John Hart, spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), said Stevens’ office had informed Coburn that the hold was no more. Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are the chief sponsors of the measure, which would set up a free and public online database of all contracts and grants given out by the government.

Stevens, through a spokesman, said the hold was never anonymous and it was lifted “now that [Coburn] has ceased blocking several Commerce Committee with his secret hold.

Stevens' spokesman declined to explain what the Senator thinks "anonymous" means, but it's clear that Sen. Stevens' skull is filled with nothing but "tangled up tubes."

Before You Blame Clinton

CNN -- July 30, 1996

Maj. Tammy Duckworth on Creepy Pete Roskam

Although Maj. Duckworth and I disagree on some issues, it turns out we agree on Creepy Pete Roskam.

On Roskam and choice:

If an adult woman were raped, [Roskam] wouldn’t trust her to make a decision.

On Roskam and stem-cell research:

He’s trumping science with ideology and that shouldn’t happen, especially when people’s lives are at stake.

On Roskam and changing the constitution to ban gay marriage:

Our Constitution is just fine, thank you very much.

Creepy Pete makes it just too damn easy for those of us who voted for Christine Cegelis to support Major Tammy Duckworth.

About the Fruits of Your Labor

"We ought to make the tax relief permanent. I like it when people are working for a living, have more after-tax money in their pocket." -- George W. Bush

A map showing the change in median income by state since George W. Bush and his tax cuts for the rich came to Washington:



From the Detroit Free Press:

Democrats say the tax reductions have mainly benefited the wealthy and have contributed to a widening of the income gap.

They also contend the economic expansion has failed to help most workers, who have seen meager pay increases even as they face surging costs for essentials like gasoline and healthcare.

The income of U.S. households, adjusted for inflation, rose 1.1 percent to $46,326 in 2005, according to a Census Bureau report released last week. Despite the increase, income was down 0.5 percent compared with 2001, the year Bush took office.

And that is the economic legacy that Mr. Bush wants to make permanent with his tax cuts.

Major Duckworth Opposes Amnesty; GOP Lies; Sun Rises in East

Maj. Duckworth's mailer (courtesy of the 6th District's ambassador to Bollywood) makes any further rebuttal of the NRCC pieces unnecessary.

So -- as a one-time member of the National Guard -- here is my quick two-cents on the idea of sending National Guard members to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border: Don't.

Yep, We're Still Getting Our War On

The Bottle Rockets - "Nancy Sinatra"


In this performance in Germany, America's best Rock and Roll band pay tribute to Frank Sinatra's finest piece of work.

Is This Not the Very Picture(s) of Appeasing Middle Eastern Totalitarianism?

Can someone please explain how anyone can believe that either



Donald Rumsfeld (left, with Saddam Hussein)



or George W. Bush (left, with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia) have the crediblity necessary to lecture Americans -- any Americans -- about appeasing totalitarianism in the Middle East.

Rubber Stamp Roskam

From the Associated Press:

The answers were so good, Republican candidates wanted to use them as their own. The embarrassment was at least seven did.

Republicans in House races copied their party's talking points and included parts of the answers as their own for an AARP survey. The answers related to Medicare, Social Security, insurance plans and retirement.

Candidates in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, South Carolina and Texas all submitted the sometimes word-for-word responses, which originated with the National Republican Congressional Committee. ***

Among the candidates who used the borrowed language were Andrea Zinga and Peter Roskam, both running in Illinois, Jeff Lamberti in Iowa, Chuck Blasdel in Ohio and Max Burns in Georgia.

"According to these NRCC talking points, I'll be my own man in Washington."