Nor are Sen's Obama or Biden.

I would assume the initial Senate response to the Wall Street bailout plan is being crafted by these Senators. No?

A two day photo-op junket by Senator McCain would seem pointless, in that these folks have been working with - and have actually read - the Administration's proposals.

If he really wants to lobby fellow Republicans, his time may be better spent in reading the proposed actions, the Senate Committee's work to date and making some phone calls. Some staffer could walk him through a conference call set up, I'm sure.



Democrats

MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
TOM DASCHLE, SD
JOHN BREAUX, LA
KENT CONRAD, ND
BOB GRAHAM, FL
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, VT
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, NJ
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR

Republicans

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
FRANK H. MURKOWSKI, AK
DON NICKLES, OK
PHIL GRAMM, TX
TRENT LOTT, MS
FRED THOMPSON, TN
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
CRAIG THOMAS, WY

Either McCain is playing grandstand politics with the economic situation, dodging the debates for whatever reason, or both.

Canvassing for the Democratic ticket.

'Though I've had some qualms in the past about out of state folks canvassing for our candidates in other states, this one seems a good fit. I live in California, Nevada's our neighbor. Lots of people have roots in both states, we are all "far west" and share a lot of common concerns.

So I figured what the hey.

I'm going to Las Vegas.

This is one to win.

Here in Florida, less than two months before Election Day, I know you've all been hearing a lot about politics.

And we all know how important women will be in determining the outcome of this election. But as I stand here with all of you, I know this isn't just about politics for me. This is personal. Because I come here today not just as a candidate for President -- but as a son, a grandson, a husband and a father who's seen firsthand, throughout my life, the challenges so many women face every day in this country.

Growing up, I saw my mother struggle to put herself through school and raise me and my sister on her own. She once had to turn to food stamps, but thanks to student loans, scholarships and a lot of hard work, her kids could attend some of the best schools in the country.

I think women like her who work hard and pour everything they've got into their kids should be able to pay the bills and get ahead for a change - that's why I'm running for President.

I saw my grandmother, who helped raise me, work her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank. But I also saw her hit a glass ceiling, as men no more qualified than she was moved up the corporate ladder ahead of her.

I think women like her should be paid fairly and have the same chance to succeed as everyone else - that's why I'm running for President.

I've seen my wife, Michelle, the rock of the Obama family, juggling work and parenting with more skill and grace than anyone I know. But I've seen how it's torn at her. How sometimes, when she's with the girls, she's worrying about work - and when she's at work, she's worrying about the girls. It's a feeling I share every day -- especially these days, when I'm away so much, out on the campaign trail. And I think it should be a little easier for parents in this country to raise their kids and do their jobs -- that's why I'm running for President.

I know how hard the women of this country are working. I know the anxiety so many of you are feeling right now, as we stand in the midst of the most serious financial crisis of our time. We've seen three of America's five largest investment banks fail or be sold off in distress. Our housing market is in shambles, and Monday brought the worst losses on Wall Street since the day after September 11th.

Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many of you, it isn't really news at all. You've seen your home values falling, gas prices rising, and bills piling up month after month. So you're working longer hours, or working more than one job just to get by. And then there are the jobs you do once the workday ends. Jobs like paying the bills, buying the groceries, making the dinner, doing the laundry, enforcing the bedtimes - the jobs you don't get paid for, but that hold our families together. Jobs that still, even in the year 2008, too often fall to women.

So I know these are difficult days. But here's what I also know. I know we can steer ourselves out of this economic crisis. That's who we are. That's what we've always done as Americans. Our nation has faced difficult times before. And at each of those moments, we've risen to meet the challenge because we've never forgotten that fundamental truth - that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us.

But another thing I know is that we can't steer ourselves out of this crisis by heading in the same, disastrous direction. We can't change direction with a new driver who wants to follow the same old map. And that's what this election is all about.

Yesterday, my opponent, Senator McCain, gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it. This is a guy who's spent a quarter century in Washington. And after spending the entire campaign saying I haven't been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington's failures. I think it's pretty clear that Senator McCain is a little panicked, and that at this point, he is willing to say anything, do anything, change any position, violate any principle to try and win this election. And that is sad to see. That's not the politics we need.

So let's be clear.

There's only one candidate who - just this week - said a line he's repeated 16 times on this campaign - quote - "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

There's only one candidate who's called himself "fundamentally a deregulator" when deregulation is part of the problem. My opponent actually wrote in the current issue of a health care magazine - the current issue - quote - "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

So let me get this straight - he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street. Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's a good idea.

There's only one candidate whose choice for Treasury Secretary is a man who thinks we're in a "mental recession" and has called the United States of America a "nation of whiners."

There's only one candidate whose campaign is being run by seven of Washington's most powerful lobbyists.

And folks, it isn't me.

I don't take a dime from Washington lobbyists and special interests. They do not run my campaign. They will not run my White House. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States.

So when John McCain says that lobbyists "won't even get past the front gate" at his White House, my question is - who's going to stop them?

Those seven lobbyists?

His campaign manager?

The economic advisor, who got a $40 million golden parachute when she was fired as a CEO?

Or maybe the 26 advisors and fundraisers who lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

I mean, give me a break.

The same day my opponent attacked me for being associated with a Fannie Mae guy I've talked to for maybe 5 minutes in my entire life - the same day he did that - the head of the lobbying shop at Fannie Mae turned around and said wait a minute - "when I see photographs of Senator McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me."

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.


So when you hear John McCain talk about taking on the ol' boy network in Washington - know this, on the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.

At this defining moment, when the stakes could not be higher, we need real change - change that's more than just a slogan, change that actually makes a difference in people's lives. And that's the kind of change I'll bring to Washington when I'm President of the United States of America.

The other day, I laid out a few principals for a plan that would establish a real and permanent solution to our economic crisis. First, we have to make sure that whatever plan our government comes up with works not just for Wall Street, but for Main Street. We have to make sure it helps folks cope with rising prices, and sparks job creation, and helps homeowners stay in their homes. That's the kind of help folks need right now.

We also have to make sure that any plan we come up with is temporary and restores tough oversight and accountability on Wall Street. Third, I want to make sure that we're not rewarding some of the very CEOs who helped cause this mess. We're not going to stand for that.

But if we're serious about putting our economy on a firmer footing and lifting up our hardworking families, there are some additional changes we're going to have to make, as well.

Because it's an outrage that women are still making 77 cents for every dollar that men make in this country. Now, my opponent actually opposed legislation to help women get equal pay. Because, in his view, the reason women aren't being paid fairly isn't discrimination on the job - it's because they need more education and training.

That isn't change.

Change is finally closing that pay gap. It's unacceptable that women in this country are losing thousands of dollars each year - money you could use for gas or groceries or college tuition. This isn't just an economic issue for millions of American families - it's about our most fundamental values as a nation: that we treat people fairly, that we reward hard work, and there are no second class citizens in our workplaces. That's why I helped pass a law in Illinois to give 330,000 more women protection from paycheck discrimination. That's why I co-sponsored legislation in the U.S. Senate to make it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination. And that's why I won't give up until women in this country are paid what they've earned, and not a penny less. That's what change is.

Change isn't a President who thinks Roe vs. Wade is a flawed decision and whose party platform outlaws abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. Change is a President who will stand up for choice - who understands that five men on the Supreme Court don't know better than women and their doctors what's best for a woman's health. That's why I fought so hard in Illinois and in Washington to stop laws that would've restricted choice. That's why I'm committed to appointing judges who understand how law operates in our daily lives, judges who will uphold the values at the core of our Constitution. And that's why I will never back down in defending a woman's right to choose.


Change means refusing to accept an America where staying home with a new baby is treated as an unpaid vacation, and taking time off to take a sick parent to the hospital is a fireable offense. Change means making sure people have paid sick days and tax credits to help with childcare, and expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to help millions of people care for their kids and their parents and participate in school activities like parent-teacher conferences and assemblies. Because no matter what you do for a living, we can all agree that raising our kids and taking care of our families is the most important job we have.


Change means keeping the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. Under my plan, if you have health insurance, nothing changes for you, except that my plan will lower your health care costs. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

And I'll stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most. This is personal to me. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53. And I will never forget her lying in a hospital bed, in her final months, fighting with the insurance company over whether they'd cover her treatments because they claimed cancer was a pre-existing condition. That's wrong, it's not who we are, and we're going to put an end to it.

Change means having a Vice President who's spent his career working to improve women's lives. Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act so we'd finally treat domestic violence like the heinous crime that it is. And in case you were wondering, John McCain voted against that legislation. As someone who raised small kids on his own, and took the train home every night from Washington to Delaware to tuck those kids into bed, Joe Biden also knows firsthand what it means to juggle work and family. And you won't find a stronger champion for a woman's right to choose than Joe Biden. So I'm proud to have him by my side in this campaign.


Finally, change means building an economy that rewards work, creates jobs you can raise a family on, and gives each of us the chance to get ahead. And let me tell you, when it comes to the economic policies we'll pursue, Senator McCain and I couldn't be more different.

John McCain voted nineteen times against raising the minimum wage - I'll raise it.

He voted against Head Start, against hiring new teachers, against Pell Grants. I'll invest in early childhood education, and recruit an army of new teachers to our schools, and provide a $4,000 tuition tax credit to help make college affordable for any middle class student who's willing to serve their community or their country. You invest in America, America invests in you, and together, we'll move this country forward.

He wants to give tax breaks to oil companies and companies that ship jobs overseas - I want to give a tax break to 95% of all working families and create jobs here at home by investing in renewable energy. And don't be fooled by the tired old attacks my opponent is launching. He doesn't want you to know this, but under my plan, tax rates will actually be lower than they were under Ronald Reagan. If you make less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increase one single dime. Not one dime. In fact, I offer three times the tax relief for middle-class families as Senator McCain does - because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And I'll protect Social Security, while John McCain wants to privatize it. Without Social Security half of elderly women would be living in poverty - half. But if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week. Millions would've watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes. Millions of families would've been scrambling to figure out how to give their mothers and fathers, their grandmothers and grandfathers, the secure retirement that every American deserves. So I know Senator McCain is talking about a "casino culture" on Wall Street - but the fact is, he's the one who wants to gamble with your life savings.

So let's be clear, when I'm President, we're not going to gamble with Social Security. We're not going to gamble with your ability to retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. We're going to strengthen and protect Social Security so it's a safety net our families can count on -- today, tomorrow and always.


Florida, the stakes couldn't be higher. The choice couldn't be clearer. But still, we know that bringing the change we need won't be easy. We know we're up against a powerful, entrenched status quo in Washington that will say anything and do anything and fight with everything they've got to keep things just the way they are.

But I think we're up for the challenge. We always have been. That's why I'm standing here today. Because of what my mother and grandmother did for me - because of their hard work and sacrifice and unflagging love. That's why all of us are here today - because of the women who came before us. Women who reached for the ballot and raised families and traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in those boardrooms and courtrooms and battlefields and factory floors. Women like my friend Hillary Clinton who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so that my daughters - and all our sons and daughters - could dream a little bigger and reach a little higher.

Now it's our turn. It's our turn to make those sacrifices so the next generation doesn't have to. Our turn to open the doors of opportunity that our daughters and granddaughters will one day walk through. Our turn to fulfill the promise of this great nation that each of us - no matter what our background or where we come from - each of us has the chance to make it if we try.

That's what I think about whenever I get the chance to tuck my girls in at night. How I want them - and all our daughters - to have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievement, no goals beyond their reach. How I want them to have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could've imagined.

And I hope you'll join me. I hope you'll walk with me so that we can turn the page on the failed policies of the past. And if you'll make that commitment - if you'll knock on doors and make those calls and talk to your neighbors and give me your vote on November 4th, then together, we won't just win an election, we will transform this nation.

http://pol.moveon.org/lte /

Every election cycle, I spend a couple of hours each week in September, handing out registration forms, voting info, CA sample ballots when they get published, stamped envelopes for return, etc. at local homeless service centers.

Here in our CA county, the centers serve as an "address" for registration purposes, as well as a contact address for employment, housing, etc.

The people I meet routinely feel out of the loop and see voting as a waste of time.

I encourage them to read the info, and take the time to vote, though much of their day is spent on getting necessities.

Many are "rubber tire" homeless - live in their cars; others - on foot - regularly go by the local polling station. So it's not out of the question that they have the *opportunity* to vote.

I encourage them to take it.

The war of words has escalated, again, in the region following the very real war in Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Bushco will do little towards resolving the issues before they walk off stage. And, as reported today, is being accused by Putin of goading the Georgian conflict.

This will be on the foreign policy plate for Obama and Biden in January and is worth noting. Here are three articles posted in today's LBN forum, among others. - pinto

Russia wins backing from China
Source: News.com.au

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "united position'' of a summit of Central Asian nations would ``serve as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white.''

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Russia Proposes Plan to Counter NATO as EU Considers Sanctions
Source: Bloomberg

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed expanding a security alliance with China and Central Asia to counter NATO, as the European Union considered sanctions for its recognition of breakaway Georgian regions.

The alliance, known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ``has grown much stronger recently,'' Medvedev said today at a meeting in the Tajik capital Dushanbe. ``It's an authoritative organization that commands respect.'' The group has attracted interest from a number of countries and will consider adding new members, he said.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

US Mulls Scrapping Nuclear Pact With Russia
Source: Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The White House said Thursday that it was considering scrapping a US-Russia civilian nuclear cooperation pact in response to Moscow's actions in Georgia.

"I don't think there's anything to announce yet, but I know that that is under discussion," spokeswoman Dana Perino said when asked whether Washington might drop the May 6 accord over the conflict in the former Soviet republic.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

"I've got gum on my shoe."

It was 1970. Numbers were important then. SAT's, class ranking, and for some of us, our draft number.

We smoked our seven minute cigs by the wall and wondered at the odds. Joked and laid bets before we went back to class or cut out for the day.

Yet we all knew that one way 'tother, something was going to happen. Many older friends and classmates had already been drafted at this point in the war.

The lottery numbers came up. Mine was above the expected cut off for a call up.

It came in a cut and dried official notice. "This is to inform you..."

My number was 97 or so, I can't remember. But no matter. Anyone under 100 went. Geez, I almost made the cut.

I had a plan...

We lived in a 3 story house in those days. The "big house". First floor was open to all, our common rooms, a feasting and party space - 12 for pasta and wine was routine - as well as for the more mundane. Coffee, toast and local gossip.

It was a touchstone, in more ways than one. The third floor was our space. Shuttered in winter to conserve heat, but from spring to fall the kick back realm for us.

"I've got gum on my shoe" was born there.

**********************************************

Crazy Arthur and Clem were my brother's best friends then.

They were all three on their way to flunking out of U Mass. Clem was a tall, lanky black dude with a big afro. He carried joints in his hair and a big heart on his sleeve. Arthur was wiry. A very formal Jewish guy. He'd always call my mother Mrs. Ford. Hitchhiked at random. Went wherever the folks were going. Would show up in a few months with the same "Hello Mrs. Ford".

My ma would grin and say "Hello Arthur."

She loved him and Clem. They were a part of our family.

I still miss hashish and cocoa for breakfast. Fondly, no more no less.

Yet, to the point, we assumed the revolution. No doubt, there would be a sea change.

Looking back we were fools of a sort.

Ha! I still got drafted.

***************************************

I left this tale off for a while.... Memory is notoriously subjective, and I didn't want to mislead.

Yet experience is the same. It was what it was, regardless of my recounting. And rehashing some of this grows old. It's a good story, though. So I'll cut to the chase.

****************************************

There was one early train into Boston in those days. Ran through our mill towns, the Merrimack Valley blue collar immigrant towns, on down the up and coming suburbs, into North Station, Boston - and the Navy Yard.

I got on it.

There were a lot of us on draft call up that morning train. Kids. We were all persistently up beat.

We slid on to our service and whatever that held.

Did I mention that "I've got gum on my shoe" was a blanket answer? We used it among each other in the big house when the question didn't make sense, or was inappropriate. I carried it with me to that induction.

***********************************************

Boston Navy Yard was the cattle call locale for our local draft.

Anyone familiar with the process knows how it was. We were all numb. This was fairly late in the war and there was little hoopla left to cover the reality of the VietNam conflict.

I looked around and saw 30 draftees from Merrimack Valley environs weighing the future. From towns named for famous folks who came out on the losing end. Shakespearean echoes - Essex, Ipswich, Salisbury, Gloucester, Marlborough, Hampton, Methuen. I knew we were doomed.

It was just then I made a call I will have to live with for ever. I decided to have gum on my shoe.

You undressed, lined up, they asked you questions, filled out forms when you got drafted then.

I would only say, or write, one thing - "I've got gum on my shoe." They took me aside for a little talk. I said "I've got gum on my shoe." They asked again. "I've got gum on my shoe."

My papers were stamped 'Administrative Approval.'

************************************************

I got back in the line in my underwear. Went through the process. None of us seemed as animated as we were in the morning. This was obviously coming to a realistic conclusion.

At the end of it all, I got to a doc. He said, "Ford, you're 4F. Go home."

Took the same train back. It was empty, mid-day. They all went. I didn't. Some didn't come back.

Ever.

I think about it from time to time.

An interesting look at Iran today juxtaposed with it's Persian Empire history. There's more to it than the latest Ahmadenijad headline, the clerics' overarching role and the country's relationship with the West. The author also makes good note of Iran's Mossadegh period. - pinto


Photograph by Newsha Tavakolian

Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran
A glorious past inspires a conflicted nation.

By Marguerite Del Giudice

What's so striking about the ruins of Persepolis in southern Iran, an ancient capital of the Persian Empire that was burned down after being conquered by Alexander the Great, is the absence of violent imagery on what's left of its stone walls. Among the carvings there are soldiers, but they're not fighting; there are weapons, but they're not drawn. Mainly you see emblems suggesting that something humane went on here instead—people of different nations gathering peace­fully, bearing gifts, draping their hands amiably on one another's shoulders. In an era noted for its barbarity, Persepolis, it seems, was a relatively cosmopolitan place—and for many Iranians today its ruins are a breathtaking reminder of who their Persian ancestors were and what they did.

The recorded history of the country itself spans some 2,500 years, culminating in today's Islamic Republic of Iran, formed in 1979 after a revolution inspired in part by conservative clerics cast out the Western-backed shah. It's argu­ably the world's first modern constitutional theocracy and a grand experiment: Can a country be run effectively by holy men imposing an extreme version of Islam on a people soaked in such a rich Persian past?

Persia was a conquering empire but also regarded in some ways as one of the more glorious and benevolent civilizations of antiquity, and I wondered how strongly people might still identify with the part of their history that's illustrated in those surviving friezes. So I set out to explore what "Persian" means to Iranians, who at the time of my two visits last year were being shunned by the international community, their culture demonized in Western cinema, and their leaders cast, in an escalating war of words with Washington, D.C., as menacing would-be terrorists out to build the bomb.

You can't really separate out Iranian identity as one thing or another—broadly speaking, it's part Persian, part Islamic, and part Western, and the paradoxes all exist together. But there is a Persian identity that has nothing to do with Islam, which at the same time has blended with the culture of Islam (as evidenced by the Muslim call to prayer that booms from loudspeakers situated around Persepolis, a cue to visitors that they are not only in a Persian kingdom but also in an Islamic republic). This would be a story about those Iranians who still, at least in part, identify with their Persian roots. Perhaps some millennial spillover runs through the makeup of what is now one of the world's ticking hot spots. Are vestiges of the life-loving Persian nature (wine, love, poetry, song) woven into the fabric of abstinence, prayer, and fatalism often associated with Islam — like a secret computer program running quietly in the background?

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/08/...

There is, and always has been, a broad spectrum within the polar opposites of a simple "for" or "against". To argue that it's one or the other seems to simplify discussion to a point where there is, simply, no discussion.

And to distill discussion on national policy to a handful of red flag issues dismisses the big picture. Not that singular issues are unimportant, aren't key to our agenda, or that there is real passion around some - but the notion that we are as a whole moving to the right misses something, imo.

i.e., there have always been Democrats who don't favor abortion, yet support the rest of what we call Democratic ideals, and compromise with the majority to personal support choice. Hence, it's not pro-abortion or anti-abortion. It's pro-choice. An effective compromise for all concerned.

Same with any of the wedge issues so loved by the media and RW politicos in re: all things Democratic.

A personal example. I don't favor state imposition of the death penalty - at any time, in any case. And I realize there are many Democrats that differ. So be it. I'll continue to voice my opposition when it comes up and encourage we move away from the practice in our country.

Yet, I don't propose that be a standard that defines my participation in the party, politics in general or, for that matter, Democratic Underground.

In a larger sense, I really think political nuance, the shades of political thought, is making a come back.

Perhaps we are all recoiling from the extremism of the last eight years.

Not moving right, left or to the center - but to a rationality of politics that works.

Presidential politics has long been about symbols, sound bites and today's talking points. It is now as it ever was, only more so, I guess.

And, as always, the world and our future remain just over that next election, come what may in our internal political arenas. Yet we remain one of the enfranchised nations. It's worth remembering.

There is a world beyond American politics. That world increasingly includes stateless factions, disenfranchised, that see violence as a viable political tool. Maybe they see it as the only tool at hand, I don't know.

This I do know, though, to disregard their role in the world and our future is shortsighted to a fault.

The Bush Administration has failed miserably to address organized stateless violence. They have ignored the assets of established - and legal - systems to ferret out mobile networks. They have cast, and recast, their 'war on terror' in outdated global frameworks, complete with a front line and a victory.

This is not our conflict with fascism, as in Hitler's nationalistic, geographic state bound agenda. This isn't the Cold War with some of the same overtones. This isn't VietNam, with it's clear, local geographical agenda for political control of an area.

Invading Iraq was part and parcel of that old mindset. Their 'war on terror' *can't* be won in Iraq. Nor can it be won. The premise is wrong.

Terrorism as a political tool has an agenda. Someone in our government ought to start looking at it in that context, in my humble opinion. And it has an appropriate response.

It's not going to go away on a slogan or a sound bite. I truly hope our candidates remember that as we prepare to take back the White House.

"It could always be like this."

There it is, finally said out loud in this beautiful story of ill fated love.

Watching it play out you know it won't be, yet I found myself rooting for them to make it work. Resolve the complicated side stories of all the relationships and ride up country. It's the crux and the real catch of the movie, I think. You know it won't be.

The story's resolution - and there is a resolution - is bittersweet.

The whole look of the film was beautiful, the sets, the scenery and the pacing. I loved the characters - each clearly individual yet part of the whole story.

It seems as Ang Lee intended - a classic love story, set in the West, among two men. I thought he hit it right on the head, as did the cast.

And, anyone who has lost someone relates to the final scenes of Ennis with Jack's shirt and jacket. That rang true as well.

Made this today, was great -

1 can solid white Albacore
1 hard boiled egg, coarse chopped

1/2 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup sweet onion, diced

3 Tablespoons dry Chow Mein noodles

1 Teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 Teaspoon soy sauce
Mayonnaise

1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder, or less, to taste
2 Dash salt

Mix celery, onion, noodles, oil, and spices. Turn to coat well. Set aside (noodles will soften some).

Turn in chopped egg.

Turn in drained Albacore and just enough mayonnaise to bind well, no more.

Serve, room temp, open faced on toast. Top w/ lemon zest for that Food Channel touch.

Great with iced tea.

The disclosure of inappropriate, probably illegal, access of government passport files for Senators Obama and Clinton by the State Department highlights an insidious undercurrent in this Administration. It is the presumption that they are above the law, beyond basic ethics of professional conduct and unaccountable.

The information garnered was probably of little import. No matter. It's the attitude that's troubling.

From President Bush's signing statements on Congressional legislation, to Paul Bremer's colonial style reign in post Saddam Iraq, to then FEMA Director Brown's desertion during the Katrina disaster the message is clear. As long as the sound bites sell, we make our own rules and standards of conduct be damned.

Apparently mid-level State Department employees 'hacked' the passport files. And, to be fair, two have been fired. Yet the prevailing lack of standards represented at the higher echelons at the White House makes this kind of thing possible throughout the Administration. Not only possible, but probable.

That represents a culture of rogue lawlessness. Getting caught is more the problem than the behavior. And when caught - lie, misdirect, resign or commute judicial sentences.

Nixon's Watergate was well named "a cancer on the Presidency". The Bush Administration is a cancer on America.

We will be well done with it in '09.

This is not only an election for a new President. We stand the chance to turn the tide in Washington at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The undermining of our basic relationships with the federal bureaucracy began before this administration. It was fostered in the House and Senate under Republican control and has in the last eight years festered to the boil that is now our national politic. There must be an end to this. We need to lance the wounds - electorally, civilly - heal and move on.

Washington is crippled. Federal departments are either rife with partisan appointees, leaderless or staffed with inexperienced and inept hangers-on. Republicans, in historic numbers, are leaving the Congress. The exodus from this administration's staff alone ought to be a clear warning that they, and their leadership, are in trouble. Congress' Republican flight underlines the situation.

We stand a great chance to strike back, start forward, and regain this government for its basic principles. Let's not lose sight of that my friends.

Let's take back the Federal government the way they took it away, piece by piece.


(ed for clarity)

DNC Elects Standing Committee Leadership for 2008 Democratic National Convention

January 14, 2008

Appointments Reflect Strength, Diversity and Energy of Democratic Party

DENVER - The Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) unanimously elected DNC Chairman Howard Dean's nominations for the Chairs of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Standing Committees that are responsible for reviewing Convention business and formulating recommendations for consideration by Convention delegates. The Executive Committee's vote took place during the panel's recent meeting in Denver, site of the four-day Convention in August.

"The record turnout and enthusiasm we've seen for our Democratic candidates is a clear sign that Americans trust Democrats to bring much needed change to our country," said Governor Dean. "These outstanding leaders reflect the great strength, diversity and energy of the Democratic Party, and I'm confident their efforts will ensure our Convention in Denver is reflective of our shared values and our nominee's vision for America."

The elections included the Chairs and 25 Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) members of the three Convention Standing Committees: Credentials, Platform and Rules. Each committee has a total of 186 members. An additional 161 members elected by each of the states' and territories' Convention delegations will join Governor Dean's appointments to the committees later this spring.

http://www.demconvention.com/dnc-elects-st... /

For a list of and biographical information on the PLEO members from each Standing Committee, click here (pdf file):

http://www.demconvention.com/assets/mainas...