At least half a dozen leaders of the Republican Party have joined forces to create a new political group with the goal of organizing grass-roots support and raising funds ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to people familiar with the effort.
The organizational details of the group, expected to be called the American Action Network, are still being worked out, but it is expected to contain both a 501(c)3 and a 501(c)4 component. In simpler terms, a 501(c)3 can advocate on policy matters while a 501(c)4 is an election arm.
Republican leaders expected to be affiliated with the group include former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, Republican strategist Ed Gillespie, and Republican donor Fred Malek.
ThehippiesWingnuts, who had neverreally believed they were the wave of the future anyway, saw the election results as brutal confirmation of the futility of fighting the establishment on its own termsby stealing elections and voter suppression.
There had to be a whole new scene, they said, and the only way to do it was to make the big move - either figuratively or literally -
from
Berkeley to the Haight-Ashburycognitive dissonance to sheer lunacy, from pragmatism to mysticism, from politicspropaganda todope violence...
The thrust is no longer for
"changeobscene wealth" or "progress retrogression" or "revolutionblind obedience," but merely to escape enslave, to live on the farfar right perimeter of a world thatmight have beenthey do not understand. .
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The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a civil lawsuit filed by Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, against Bush administration officials who were responsible for leaking her covert CIA status to the media and attacking her husband for accusing the White House of twisting prewar Iraq intelligence.
The Supreme Court's rejection effectively brings the three-year-old case to a close. The Wilson's had sued Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Cheney's ex-chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage for violating their civil rights. Libby was convicted on four of five counts and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. President George W. Bush later commuted the sentence, sparing Libby jail time.
"The Wilsons and their counsel are disappointed by the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case, but more significantly, this is a setback for our democracy," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics [CREW] in Washington, an attorney representing the Wilsons. "This decision means that government officials can abuse their power for political purposes without fear of repercussion. Private citizens like the Wilsons, who see their careers destroyed and their lives placed in jeopardy by administration officials seeking to score political points and silence opposition, have no recourse."
Well if Talking Points were Rubles ... Some people would be king!
How to Stop Socialized Health Care Five arguments Republicans must make. By KARL ROVE - Wall Street Journal - JUNE 11, 2009
If Democrats enact a public-option health-insurance program, America is on the way to becoming a European-style welfare state. To prevent this from happening, there are five arguments Republicans must make.
The first is it's unnecessary. ...
But 1,300 companies sell health insurance plans. That's competition enough.
Second, a public option will undercut private insurers and pass the tab to taxpayers and health providers just as it does in existing government-run programs. ...
Third, government-run health insurance would crater the private insurance market, forcing most Americans onto the government plan. ...
Fourth, the public option is far too expensive. ...
Fifth, the public option puts government firmly in the middle of the relationship between patients and their doctors. ...
In case you haven't noticed, there is a Talking Point War, developing around the "validity" of the Public Option.
There is very much at stake in this inevitable War of Words -- not least of which is YOUR Future Health, Wealth, and peace of mind.
Of course, the forces of the Status Quo, will do everything within their Financial Power, to convince you that a non-profit "Public Option" in Health Care -- is against your best interests!That it is anti-American! ... That a Public Option is somehow an "inferior" product. (says who, btw?)
Just don't buy what their selling, because really it's someone else's "best interests" that those Talking Point warriors, really have in mind:
Beware of Big Business' next "Bait and Switch"!
(Whether it be some amorphous "co-op" idea, or some other shiny object, like promising to finally "play nicely now".)
Throughout much of last year's presidential campaign, and right on through the first weeks of Barack Obama's administration, the media has persistently peddled the falsehood that America is a center-right nation, politically and socially. Now Media Matters has published a study (full pdf here) that thoroughly debunks this notion, and they do it by using surveys and facts that realistically portray the ideological character of the country - something the media may want to check in to.
The Media Matters study is a comprehensive look at the American electorate. It covers virtually every one of the most debated subjects of public discourse: Size of government; health care; taxes; abortion; gay rights. It also examines the demographics of age, ethnicity, gender, and geography. And every case the evidence shows that America is a progressive, and yes, a center-left nation.
And nowhere is this more misunderstood than in the media...
Roland Burris spoke to Rod Blagojevich! Name a Politician in Illinois who hasn't? We all knew he was lying...but in the matter of lies...this was a tiny one.
Heck Bill Clinton lied too and he got Impeached!
George Bush lied....so what.
The difference was, "under oath"!
Bush testified, but not under oath, with no transcripts and with Cheney to help him out.
Congressman John Conyers has upped the ante, issuing a fresh, brand spankin' new subpoena for KKKarl Rove, requiring his appearance "to testify regarding his role in the Bush Administration's politicization of the Department of Justice, including the US Attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman."
Poor Karl, no friendly occupant in the White House to shelter him now. With negligible legal standing, it's looking as though he may actually have to show up and defend himself against charges of organized politicization of hirings and firings in the Justice Department.
Don Siegelman's fight for justice against the false charges made against him by elements in the Bush Administration reaches a critical point tomorrow. His appeal goes before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, 12/9/08. We hope the 11th Circuit will throw out the false charges against Siegelman and clear this good man.
But Don needs our help. He needs to raise another $30,000 toward his legal fees. Not only for Don, but the magnitude of this case and it's relation to the firings of attorneys across the country could blow the lid off the case for numerous Justice Department crimes of this past and passing administration.
Don Siegelman isn't just fighting for his freedom -- he's fighting for the integrity of our democracy. I hope you'll join me in supporting his legal defense fund today, before his appeal hearing tomorrow.
Sorry this will be a short but sweet essay, but it is too sweet not to post. Additional details can be found at The Brad Blog, but here's the main point:
The BRAD BLOG has learned that Mike Connell, the Republican IT guru whose company, GovTech Solutions, created Ohio's 2004 election results computer network appeared in federal court today, as compelled, and has been ordered to appear for his deposition on Monday, November 3, just 24 hours before Election Day 2008.
Just in time to put them on notice that they can't get away with it this election. And if it leads to a Rove subpoena - how sweet indeed.
I first learned about Jack Abramoff's successful plot to help Heather Wilson ambush and bleed dry my good friend, Richard Romero, in two separate New Mexico congressional elections while strolling with dengre down K Street. Both times, Abramoff employed a stealth PAC purportedly championing health care reform. By 2004, New Mexico's political aquifer flowed red.
I'm not the first person to learn about Abramoff from dengre. He's one of the brave few whose nocturnal obsession with vampires unearthed Washington's Empire of the Undead for the slumbering masses.
Dengre, aka Dennis Greenia, reminds me of Van Helsing. He wears rumpled plaid shirts and seems to sport a permanent case of bedhead. He talks about Abramoff all the time. I'm not sure if he sleeps.
Pink might be the new Black, Thursday might be the new Friday, and Joe The Plumber (JTP) might be the new Sarah Palin. In other words, yet another gigantic distraction. One with little political or economic substance. Exactly the kind of distraction that diverts us from the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, universal health care, AIG, the DJIA, Gitmo (remember Gitmo?), renditions and torture and empire and the gaping hole in your 401k. In other words, yet another gift from the sinister mind of Rove and the Traditional MediaTM. Put simply, who gives a damn about anything important when we can play around with bald headed JTP?
America has been stolen from us by our own filthy rich. My grasp of the dismal science of economics is simple and unsophisticated but I've spent far too much time among thieves not to know theft when I see it. In what is by far the biggest robbery in history, the 'haves and have mores' have taken not only all that we have, but all that we'll ever have. They have stolen the very future from our children and grandchildren. If we continue to take it lying down, we deserve what we get.
For the past two days, Don Siegelman been working in DC and meeting with Members of Congress, trying to build support to get the Karl Rove contempt citation up for a vote and trying to count votes for final passage.
On the day before leaving for Netroots Nation, I voted for Jim Martin for U.S. Senate in the July 15 General Primary Election here in Georgia.
At the polling place I was the only voter but there were a dozen or so poll workers. After voting (on one of those damned Diebold machines) I asked if I'd get a receipt. In lieu of one I was given a cute little sticker with a graphic of a Georgia Peach with 'I'm a Georgia Voter' printed on it. I laughed and said that makes me feel better...there were some chuckles.
I said I wanted a receipt for my vote. This is what they gave me.
Above the fold, two surreal videos. Below, a quick mention of some of the past week's pieces on ePluribus Media that you may not have seen and will probably find very interesting. Opening volley: Surreal Videos -- "The Googling" Part 1 and Part III:
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After the flip, a brief preview of some of the great pieces currently on ePluribus Media.
Milder reactions have emanated from the White House, ranging from being "puzzled", intimating that McClellan didn't write this book because it "doesn't sound like him, it sounds like a left-wing blogger", that this is an "out of body experience", that McClellan was "disgruntled", that "something dramatically has changed", that the editor "tweaked some things in the past few months" and "wrote a lot of it"...
...and on, and on, and on.
But the process of writing is sitting in front of a blank screen, staring into one's soul.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
Hunter S. Thompson revised 2009
I first learned about Jack Abramoff's successful plot to help Heather Wilson ambush and bleed dry my good friend, Richard Romero, in two separate New Mexico congressional elections while strolling with 
