The Liberal Patriot Blog

Congressional Votes

2007-11-09T13:34:00.001-05:00

Recent Senate Votes

Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 - Vote Passed (70-22, 8 Not Voting)

In a bipartisan effort, the Senate passed this $11.4 billion bill reauthorizing Amtrak for six years.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted NO......send e-mail or see bio

Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - Vote Passed (64-30, 6 Not Voting)

The Senate passed a new bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act - Vote Passed (334-80, 18 Not Voting)

This House bill is intended to update the government’s contracting programs targeting veteran and minority owned businesses.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Trade and Globalization Assistance Act - Vote Passed (264-157, 11 Not Voting)

On Wednesday the House passed this bill that reauthorizes and expands the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act - Vote Passed (244-166, 22 Not Voting)

This House bill would overhaul environmental standards applied to mining, finance abandoned mine site clean-up, and charge royalties for hardrock mines located on federal lands.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Wow

2007-11-02T14:09:00.000-04:00

from daily kos

Maybe he just has a wide stance...

2007-10-20T14:17:00.000-04:00

J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

from huffington post

A fork in the eye to all the radical zealots who had her books drummed out of librarys and schools. Thank you Ms. Rowling for introducing a generation of video children to the magic of reading and for showing even more that yes, people you respect and admire are sometimes gay. Deal with it.

Box Bloat

2007-10-09T12:47:00.000-04:00

The mission of Catalog Choice is to improve the efficiency of catalog distribution by reducing the number of repeat and unsolicited mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices.

We aim to accomplish this mission by providing this free service to consumers and businesses. Consumers can create a private account, indicating which catalogs they no longer wish to receive in the mail. Businesses can secure a merchant account to receive a list of consumers that no longer want to receive catalogs in the mail.

check them out

Nearly half of the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. Forests have effectively disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 have lost more than 90% of their forest cover.

If steps aren’t taken to protect them, rainforests around the world could disappear within 40 years.

Covering less than 2% of Earth’s surface, rainforests are home to more than half of the world’s plants and animals.

More than 1 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.

Deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution causing global climate change.

The production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than 3 million cars.

Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.

Americans want to cut off war funding [i.e. END THE WAR]

2007-10-03T10:19:00.000-04:00

Most Americans oppose fully funding President George W. Bush's $190 billion request to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while a majority supports expanding a children's health care program
he has threatened to veto, a Washington Post-ABC News poll shows.

....

Bush's approval rating stands at 33 percent, equal to his all-time low in this poll and just 29 percent approve of the job Congress is doing -- a 14-point drop since Democrats took control in January, the newspaper said.

.....

Only about 25 percent of Americans support the administration's $190 billion war funding request; 70 percent want the proposed allocation reduced, the Post said.

from reuters
Yet common political wisdom is "we just can't cut funding for the war". Why not? American's elected you to end the war. American's want funding cut. [American's want a national health care system.]

It ain't over...

2007-10-02T11:19:00.000-04:00

Why is it that people with a straight face say that Hillary already has this?

The Huffington Post has learned that Senator Barack Obama, D-IL, raised a total of $20 million during the third quarter fundraising period, $19 million of which can be used for the primary election.

.....

Obama's fundraising was aided by approximately 93,000 new donors who contributed to the campaign during the past three months. The decline in the money total was attributed to the traditionally slow fundraising months of July and August.

To date, the Obama campaign has raised more than $78 million, nearly $75 million of which is slated for the primary election. In addition, more than 350,000 people have donated to Obama since he announced his presidential candidacy.

from huffington post

The real news is the number of new donors. Those are people who never have donated before AND he can keep going back to.

Our Democratic Congress

2007-10-01T16:07:00.000-04:00

Iraq War Funding Authorized:

4 Years Under Republicans:

$380 Billion

1 Year Under Democrats

$300 Billion

from daily kos

Recent Votes

2007-09-25T11:26:00.001-04:00

Recent Senate Votes

Motion to Invoke Cloture: District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007 - Vote Rejected (57-42, 1 Not Voting)

The Senate failed to move forward with this bill that would create a new seat for the District of Columbia in the House of Representatives.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted NO......send e-mail or see bio

Levin Amendment: To provide for a reduction and transition of United States forces in Iraq - Vote Rejected (47-47, 6 Not Voting)

The Senate voted against setting a nine month deadline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted NO......send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007 - Vote Passed (348-72, 12 Not Voting)

The House easily passed this bill that will give the Federal Housing Administration the authority to assist struggling homeowners in making their mortgage payments.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act - Vote Passed (312-110, 10 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill that would help the insurance industry cover costs in the event of a terrorist attack.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007 - Vote Passed (267-151, 14 Not Voting)

The House passed a measure obliging airlines to change flight schedules if the airlines are worsening delays with too many peak hour flights at the most trafficked airports.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

why should god bless america?

2007-09-24T13:54:00.000-04:00

Those zany "values voters" LOL. Since it isn't a clever pun on Petraeus I guess it isn't new worthy.

Recent NH Votes

2007-09-11T14:40:00.001-04:00

Recent Senate Votes

Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, FY2008 - Vote Passed (92-1, 7 Not Voting)

Senate lawmakers passed this bill increasing medical assistance to veterans.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

State/Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, FY 2008 - Vote Passed (81-12, 7 Not Voting)

The Senate passed this measure that would provide $34 billion to fund foreign aid and U.S. diplomacy for the upcoming fiscal year.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 - Vote Agreed to (79-12, 9 Not Voting)

This bill will trim over $20 billion in federal subsidies to institutions that create student loans in order to increase financial aid to college students.

Sen. Judd Gregg voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act - Vote Passed (333-75, 24 Not Voting)

House lawmakers easily passed this bill re-authorizing housing assistance for Native Americans.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Patent Reform Act of 2007 - Vote Passed (220-175, 37 Not Voting)

The House passed this legislation that would revise patent laws.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted NO......send e-mail or see bio

College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 - Vote Passed (292-97, 43 Not Voting)

The House gave final approval to this bill that would cut over $20 billion in federal subsidies to institutions that create student loans in order to increase financial aid to college students.

Rep. Paul Hodes voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

NH Health Care Barons mudsling Hodes and Shea-Porter

2007-09-10T16:41:00.001-04:00

Nursing Home Industry Targets NH's Congressional Delegation

By Mark Bevis

story @ NHPR

oh and in case you missed this story..

Insurance Companies Kept $59 Million Due Medicare Consumers

Robert Pear reports for The New York Times, "Private insurance companies participating in Medicare have been allowed to keep tens of millions of dollars that should have gone to consumers, and the Bush administration did not properly audit the companies or try to recover money paid in error, Congressional investigators say in a new report."

from truthout.org

Cutting out the middle merchant

2007-09-10T16:29:00.000-04:00

On Friday, Congress "approved legislation yesterday that cuts more than $20 billion in government subsidies to institutions that make student loans, and uses most of that money to pay for increased financial aid for college students."

from CFAP

Backwash Economics

2007-09-10T16:21:00.000-04:00

Paul Krugman Where's My Trickle?

Paul Krugman writes for The New York Times: "The absence of any gains for workers in the years since the 2003 tax cut is a pretty convincing refutation of trickle-down theory. So is the fact that the economy had a much more convincing boom after Bill Clinton raised taxes on top brackets. It turns out that when you cut taxes on the rich, the rich pay less taxes; when you raise taxes on the rich, they pay more taxes - end of story."

from truthout.org

Union Endorsements for Edwards

2007-09-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

Over Labor Day Weekend, John was honored to receive the endorsements of two of the biggest unions in the country - the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America.

Combined with the support of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, John is now backed by more than 1.8 million union members and retirees - more than any other candidate in the race.

from John Edwards.com

Unions Matter

2007-09-04T17:20:00.000-04:00

Striking Steel
Solidarity Remembered
Temple University Press, 2000

The labor union is an underappreciated and easily misunderstood institution. It's underappreciated first because American culture depreciates all institutions as "bureaucracies" that stifle the natural goodness and spontaneous vitality of both "the individual" and that collected mass of individuals we call "the people." But of all of our institutions, none (with the exception of the armed forces) goes against the grain of our radical individualism like the union -- not just in its practice, but in its beliefs. Most people have little or no direct experience as a union member, and even members, particularly those who have to join the union as a condition of employment, have little to do with the union unless or until they have trouble. Most union members probably appreciate their union, if they do, like they appreciate the sewer system -- they're glad it's there, but they neither understand how it works nor are cognizant that it works until it malfunctions. Only those who directly experience the before and after of the union can properly appreciate it for what it is and what it does.

From the AFL-CIO, what are the concrete benefits of union jobs?

from Daily kos

Republicans skip Spanish-language Debate.

2007-08-30T15:14:00.000-04:00

As if Latinos needed more reason to swing heavily Democratic next year, how about this bit of Republican disrespect?

Univisión planned to air the first presidential debates in Spanish on Sept. 9 and 16, one for Democrats, the other for Republicans, trumpeting a national coming-out party for Hispanic voters.

Except Republican candidates aren't coming. Only Ariz. Sen. John McCain agreed to participate in the event at the University of Miami.

So much for Sept. 16.

''That date is off the table,'' university spokeswoman Bárbara Gutiérrez said Wednesday.

Democrats aren't passing up this chance to communicate with one of the nation's largest swing constituencies.

All eight Democratic candidates are slated to show up Sept. 9, and party leaders plan to highlight the contrast. The New Democratic Network, a nationwide political group, is planning news conferences and inviting Hispanic leaders, including Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, former Cabinet member Henry Cisneros and U.S. Rep. Luís Gutiérrez of Illinois.

More @ Daily Kos

Most of them already bails on the Cancer Forum.

You have to admit though, when you are completely beholden to Corporate Interests, it can be very hard to find time in your schedule.

Not-Gay Not-Larry-Craig News

2007-08-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

Bad Scary News

Members of an Iranian Energy Ministry delegation visiting Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi government were released Wednesday, a day after being arrested at their hotel by American troops and led away in handcuffs and blindfolds.

.....

Iraqi and Iranian officials said the Iranians were in Baghdad to help resolve Iraq’s power crisis. American officials said they were held after being stopped and searched at a checkpoint near their hotel because unauthorized weapons were found in their vehicles.

more @ NYTimes

Good News [You probably never heard about because the Corporate Media thinks it wont get ratings.]

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have now released 12 of the 19 South Korean hostages they have been holding for the past five weeks.

from ABC news via Rachel Maddow Show

BUMP: Take Action

2007-08-30T12:11:00.000-04:00

Katrina Information Network

http://www.katrinaaction.org

KATRINA ADDITIONAL FACTS – May 10, 2007

Number of teachers that Louisiana’s state-run Recovery School District was short for 2007: 70
Percent drop in enrollment of Louisiana state public colleges and universities from fall 2005 to fall 2006: 12
Damage sustained by local nonprofit health centers in Louisiana and Mississippi: $60 million
The number of adult inpatient psychiatric beds in post- Katrina New Orleans, compared to a pre-storm high of 234: 17
When New Orleans’ University Hospital reopened in November 2006, the number of its 575 pre-storm beds available: 85
Over 107,000 people have applied for aid under Louisiana’s “Road Home Program,” yet just over 630 closings have been held to date.
There are not adequate programs to help renters in Louisiana and Mississippi although they constituted nearly half of those displaced by Katrina. In New Orleans, average rents are up 45 percent from pre-Katrina levels.
Despite the region’s severe affordable housing crisis, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), which is in HUD receivership, plan to raze almost 5,000 public housing units in the city, even though they did not suffer significant storm damage.
The number of children is outstripping capacity, with students facing packed classrooms, few special-education services and a lack of books. This January, New Orleans public schools placed 300 students on waiting list because they had no room, sparking lawsuits by public education advocates.

Remember that hurricane......

2007-08-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

Many of those people are still without homes.... with the city left in shambles. Why isn't that on the news still? Guess it's not sexy enough.

Katrina Timeline from Hullabaloo

7AM CDT — KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]

7:30 AM CDT — BUSH ADMINISTRATION NOTIFIED OF THE LEVEE BREACH: The administration finds out that a levee in New Orleans was breached. On this day, 28 “government agencies, from local Louisiana parishes to the White House, [reported that] that New Orleans levees” were breached. [AP]

8AM CDT — MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE: “I’ve gotten reports this morning that there is already water coming over some of the levee systems. In the lower ninth ward, we’ve had one of our pumping stations to stop operating, so we will have significant flooding, it is just a matter of how much.” [NBC’s “Today Show”]

11:13 AM CDT - WHITE HOUSE CIRCULATES INTERNAL MEMO ABOUT LEVEE BREACH: “Flooding is significant throughout the region and a levee in New Orleans has reportedly been breached sending 6-8 feet of water throughout the 9th ward area of the city.” [AP]

MORNING — BROWN WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DEVASTATION OF KATRINA: In a briefing, Brown warned Bush, “This is, to put it mildly, the big one, I think.” He also voiced concerns that the government may not have the capacity to “respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe” and that the Superdome was ill-equipped to be a refuge of last resort. [AP]

MORNING — MAYFIELD WARNS BUSH ABOUT THE TOPPING OF THE LEVEES: In the same briefing, Max Mayfield, National Hurricane Center Director, warns, “This is a category 5 hurricane, very similar to Hurricane Andrew in the maximum intensity, but there’s a big big difference. This hurricane is much larger than Andrew ever was. I also want to make absolutely clear to everyone that the greatest potential for large loss of lives is still in the coastal areas from the storm surge. … I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.” [AP]

MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue [immigration], so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.” [White House]

MORNING — BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN [White House]

11AM CDT — MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE: “Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ‘this near catastrophic event’ but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ‘Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.’” [AP]

LATE MORNING — LEVEE BREACHED: “A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north.” [Times-Picayune]

11AM CDT — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [White House]

4:30PM CDT — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.” [White House]

8PM CDT — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.” [Editor & Publisher]

8PM CDT — GOV. BLANCO AGAIN REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM BUSH: “Mr. President, we need your help. We need everything you’ve got.” [Newsweek]

LATE PM — BUSH GOES TO BED WITHOUT ACTING ON BLANCO’S REQUESTS [Newsweek]

Complete Timeline @ thinkprogress

Day and Night....

2007-08-30T09:55:00.000-04:00

Edwards in Portsmouth, NH

First-tier Republicans skip cancer forum

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The biggest names in the GOP presidential primary — Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — skipped the first-ever forum on cancer sponsored by Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.

more @ thehill.com

Me Me Me First Madness.

2007-08-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

G.O.P. Plans Early-Primary Penalties

The Republican National Committee plans to penalize at least five states holding early primaries, including New Hampshire and Florida, by refusing to seat at least half of their delegates at the national convention in 2008, a party official said yesterday.

Much of the focus in the primary scheduling fight up to now has been on the Democratic National Committee’s moves to penalize Florida by not seating its convention delegates because of the state’s decision to move up its primary. But the Republican rules are just as stringent, and the national party said yesterday that it would not hesitate to enforce them.

more @ NYTimes

I mean to post about the DNC threats to Florida.

more on that here

Florida Dems threaten to sue DNC... /sigh

Florida Democrats wrote a letter to Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean Friday, threatening a lawsuit if the party penalizes them for moving their presidential primary.

more here

Republican = Scandal

2007-08-30T09:28:00.000-04:00

As The New York Times notes ... scandal has pursued them into 2007. “The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” says one Republican strategist.

So what's the tally this year so far? Well, there is, of course,

1) Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) and

2) Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) with their sex scandals (the attempted restroom tryst and numerous successful hotel room trysts, respectively).

3) Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and

4) Rep. Don Young (R-AK) are under investigation for their ties to the oil company Veco (though that's just the tip of the iceberg for Young).

5) Reps. Tom Feeney (R-FL) and

6) John Doolittle (R-CA) have found themselves the focus of a reinvigorated Abramoff investigation (though Abramoff is in prison, he's still busily cooperating).

7) Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) had his house raided.

8) The FBI is investigating Rep. Gary Miller's (R-CA) land deals.

9) Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) whose land deal with a businessman and campaign contributor became such a scandal that she finally just sold back the plot of land.

12) Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and

13) Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) ..... Both are facing ethics committee investigations for their calls last October to former U.S. attorney David Iglesias about his office's investigation of a state Democrat.)

A kind of bonus field of scandal has been campaign officials for the various Republican candidates and their various scandals.

And there are a couple holdovers from 2006, of course; scandal figures who've stuck around and managed to keep a relatively low profile.

10) Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is still apparently under federal investigation. And

11) Rep. Ken Calvert's (R-CA) land deals are still winning scrutiny.

more @ talking points memo

To good for him, in my opinion.

2007-08-30T09:23:00.000-04:00

After the Bush Library reportedly backed out of a portrait they had commissioned from British artist Jonathan Yeo, the 36-year-old artist went forward with one anyway, a collage created from fragments of 100 porn magazines.

Check out the unblurred work here.

from towleroad

Beyond the photo op....

2007-08-29T14:03:00.000-04:00

Rescue and recovery workers at ground zero have developed asthma at a rate that is 12 times what would be expected for adults, according to findings released yesterday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

from truthout.org

more of the forgotten.....

John Lynch cares about young people.

2007-08-29T13:54:00.000-04:00

Here in New Hampshire, we are working to make sure every child has access to quality, affordable health care. Just this year, we passed a budget that will allow us to provide affordable health insurance to another 10,000 children and expand our outreach efforts.

That is why I am so disturbed about rule changes that the Bush Administration proposed last week. [for more info on those rule changes see my post "George Bush doesn't care about young people"]

...

These proposed changes could negatively impact 2,000 kids currently enrolled in Healthy Kids. It also could jeopardize part of our efforts to enroll 10,000 additional children in the Healthy Kids program over the next three years

from Gov. Lynch

Find out more at www.nhhealthykids.org.

More about Lynch