Leave Nancy Pelosi (The FRACK) Alone!

Look, I can understand the desire to peek under every nook and cranny of the Torture issue and to no hold anyone, even prominent Democrats, above scrutiny - but being fair-minded and even handed is not what is going on here.

This is a Diversion!

Nancy Pelosi did not Torture Anyone.

Nancy Pelosi did not devise a series of polices designed to circumvent Geneva, the War Crimes Act and the Torture Act.

Nancy Pelosi did not agree that anyone should be tortured.

Nancy Pelosi is not now making the argument that Torture isn't Torture and that Water-boarding is legal.

Regardless of who told her what, and when she was told, all the above remains true. The people we should be focusing on are STILL Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury, Gonzales, Cheney, Bush and THIS GUY!

Q: And waterboarding is or is not torture?

HOEKSTRA: There is a wide range of waterboarding. I’m telling you, that I know waterboarding was used, Shep. I’m not mincing words. I’m saying that I believe the techniques used in 2002, in 2003, which included waterboarding in a specific format that I’m aware of how they used it, that I believe that was consistent with U.S. law.

Think about the Republican position as exposed here by Hoekstra and Cheney. They all say - "Waterboarding is Legal".

Worst case scenario then is that if Nancy was briefed on Water-boarding they also Told Her It Was Legal.

Also recall, at the time this briefing took place, Hoekstra Porter Goss was the Chairman of the Intellegence Committee, so he should have been told everything - and probably more - than Pelosi. If she's guilty of inaction for being told something was "Legal" - so is he.

The briefings of Congress are not done to gain their "approval", notifying Congress is done to allow them a better picture in which to handle current and future legislation.

If a member of Congress disagrees with something they hear in a classified briefing there are only two things they can do and not go to jail - write a letter to the Administration (which Jane Harmon did) and try and change the Law (which Nancy and the House did when they passed legislation to make the CIA abide by the Army Field Manual).

Bush Vetoed that Bill.

Republicans want to distract us from the truth, they want to go after Bill Clinton for Rendition in 1998, they want to Eric Holder for being in the DOJ under Clinton. They want to ignore the fact that the only thing that most people inside the Bush Administration who did "Stand Up" to oppose this policy did were write letters and memos - like William Howard Taft IV (pdf) and Phillip Zelikow at the State Dept and John Bellinger at NSA.

They don't want to admit that those letters were IGNORED - just like Harmon's - and in some cases they were systematically destroyed.

They want to pretend that capable interrogators who can actually get information quickly and within the law like Ali Soufan and Matthew Alexander - don't exist, but they do.



Nancy Pelosi is NOT the problem here. I do think that efforts should be taken to establish a method to handle Classified Crimes, but baring that - there really wasn't much more she could do no matter *WHAT* they told her.

Before we get lost in the weeds on this we need to first start with examining the people who knowingly committed falsehoods and lies (Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury, Cheney) - to implement an illegal policy. Those people are still at it, don't let them take our eyes off the ball.

Vyan

P.S. No, I don't think the "Speech and Debate" clause would protect announcing this information on the floor since it has an exception for "Treason and Felonies" which is what revealing classified information is under 18 USC 798!.

Quick Truths

Quick Truths from Thinkprogress:

Breaking: Senate approves Iraq withdrawal bill.

“The Senate on Thursday narrowly passed legislation ordering U.S. troops to begin coming home from Iraq by Oct. 1. The vote was 51-46. The House on Wednesday passed the same war spending bill, and President Bush next week is expected to receive, and swiftly reject, the legislation. The veto could fall on the fourth anniversary of the president’s Iraq ‘victory’ speech, which is Tuesday.”

UPDATE: AMERICAblog has video of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) remarks HERE.

UPDATE II: A case of the pot calling the kettle black — the “White House warns of a ‘P.R. stunt.’” Dana Perino said, “If it is the case that they withheld money for the troops in order to try to play some ridiculous P.R. stunt, that is the height of cynicism.” 1:23 pm

Buying The War.

You can watch Bill Moyers’ full documentary HERE. Glenn Greenwald writes:

If you didn’t watch Bill Moyers’ documentary last night regarding the joint, coordinated behavior of our government and its media in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I can’t recommend it highly enough. […]

One of the most important points came at the end. The institutional decay which Moyers chronicles is not merely a matter of historical interest. Instead, it continues to shape our mainstream political dialogue every bit as much as it did back in 2002 and 2003. The people who committed the journalistic crimes Moyers so potently documents do not think they are guilty of anything — ask them and they will tell you — and as a result, they have not changed their behavior in the slightest.

28 percent: President Bush’s approval rating in a new Harris survey, the lowest of his
presidency.

“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a congressional committee” and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order. “I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter,” she told reporters.

“White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity,” the White House acknowledged yesterday.

“The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay,” proposing “new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases.”

“The White House has turned over to a House committee about 200 pages of documents” related to a suspicious contract it had with a company owned by Brent Wilkes, who pleaded guilty to bribing former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA).

Vyan

The Disease of Willful Ignorance

Who? Who do you serve? For whose empire and for whose whims?
Is your honor just violins? Craven cowards. Armchair warriors, you will serve them well - from "Servitude" by Fishbone

Willful Ignorance.

Rarely have a I heard a more appropriate description.

The [House Ethics] committee concluded that other people preferred to remain willfully ignorant — to protect Mr. Foley’s secret homosexuality, to avoid partisan embarrassment or for other political reasons.

Yet still, notice that these people can't see the forest or the trees.

Mark Foley was not "secretly homosexual" - his preference for males was well known in his home district in Florida - Mark Foley was a secret pedophile.

But most importantly, he's not the person who been putting our children's health and safety extreme risk for the past 4 years and remained willfully ignorant of the consequences - not hardly.
Way back during the 2004 Presidential debate, I used to have a Republican friend (actually I used to have several, but that's a long story) and we used to debate issues and public policy on a message group.

He of course supported the reelection of President Bush, I supported Kerry. We argued over Kerry's service record, I stated that he was clearly an experienced leader and war hero with two purples hearts, a bronze and silver star. He thought Kerry was a fraud based on the information provided by the Smearboat Liars.

I challenged him on the facts.

Why didn't any of the documentation support the Swiftboaters? Why does everyone on his boat still support him? Why is it they can claim Kerry somehow Doctered the After-Action report even though it was signed by someone else? How can they continue to make these claims without any proof what-so-ever?

His response?

It's what I choose to believe.

That people, is Willful Ignorance.

It's like a disease, a plague that infects the Conservative Movement. You can't be a legitimate Conservative unless you're capable to picking and choosing what to believe among a set of neutral facts, regardless of their relative validity. Conservativism can not exists without Willful Ignorance.

Case in point, Juan Williams losing it with Bill Kristol and Brit Hume this morning on Fox News Sunday.

After enduring years of posturing on Iraq by Fox’s Brit Hume and the National Review’s Bill Kristol on the Fox News Sunday roundtable, Jaun Williams reached his limit. This morning, Williams said, “What do you imagine that there's an American Administration that's just going to laydown or run away? Sometimes I just want to scream. You guys have been going on since this thing began.”

Williams noted that Hume and Kristol “don’t give credit to people, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Barbara Lee,...who said from the start this is a mistake. You put them down.” Instead, “now it’s everybody’s a surrender monkey or impatient or squeamish or weak. Why can't you guys say that there's a real problem in Iraq?”

Willful Ignorance.

President Bush thinks he'll be rememberd like Harry Truman.

Bush began his talk [with congressional leaders] by comparing himself to President Harry S Truman, who launched the Truman Doctrine to fight communism, got bogged down in the Korean War and left office unpopular.

Bush said that “in years to come they realized he was right and then his doctrine became the standard for America,” recalled Senate Majority Whip-elect Richard Durbin, D-Ill. “He’s trying to position himself in history and to justify those who continue to stand by him, saying sometimes if you’re right you’re unpopular, and be prepared for criticism.”

Durbin said he challenged Bush’s analogy, reminding him that Truman had the NATO alliance behind him and negotiated with his enemies at the United Nations. Durbin said that’s what the Iraq Study Group is recommending that Bush do now - work more with allies and negotiate with adversaries on Iraq.

Bush, Durbin said, “reacted very strongly. He got very animated in his response” and emphasized that he is “the commander in chief.”

Willful Ignorance.

The Rumsfeld Book Club.

At a Pentagon townhall meeting today, outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said he began reading books about the U.S. Civil War, but “turned away from that” because he “there were so many people killed and wounded, and they were all Americans.” Rumsfeld said he began reading books about World War II instead.

Yeah, Civil Wars are sad stories - just like the one currently going on in Iraq.

Before the election you had Karl Rove and "The Math". How'd that work out for ya Turd Blossom?

Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens (R-AK): The Internet is a Series of Tubes.

There was James Inhofe (R-OK) former head of the Senate Environmental Committee who called climate change “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,”

Rick Sanitorium and James Hoekstra (R) who still think we found WMD's in Iraq, and that publishing the classified documents recovered from Saddam's Regime - including plans for a Nuclear device - was a good idea.

Lynn Cheney who says "We got through Katrina".

We did? Who the hell is this "We" kemosabe? The Gult Coast is still pretty much fracked in my Reality.

And lastly Dick "Shooter" Cheney who still believes that the Iraq Insurgency is in it's last throes.

All of it Willful Ignorance.

It's a very clear pattern of behavior. It's not that these people are lying, they a deliberately keeping themselves in the dark about things that challenge their preconceived worldview. They simply choose to believe something else. Something other than the facts.

But the best example of this comes to us via the Foley Report, which itself is an act of Willful Ignorance:

The report’s authors were clearly more concerned about protecting the members of the House than the young men and women under their charge in the page program. And they made absolutely no effort to define the high standard of behavior that should be required of all members of Congress and their staffs.

The report concludes that evidence of Mr. Foley’s “creepy” interest in young male pages dated back to 1999. One woman who worked with the pages took to shadowing Mr. Foley when he was around them. The report makes clear that Mr. Foley’s misconduct became known to an ever-widening circle of his colleagues and their aides, including Speaker Dennis Hastert. But no one made any serious attempt to stop Mr. Foley or reveal his misdeeds. A few urged him to cut it out, for political reasons, but did not follow up.

So Hastert knew something was up with Foley. Boehner knew. Kolbe knew. Reynolds knew. Shimkus knew. And they all did nothing.

Meanwhile - despite the rabid flailings of Patrick McHenry (R-NC) - Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emmanuel didn't know. Democrats involved in the page board were specifically kept in the dark for political reasons.

After Foley resigned, Shimkus told another Republican member of the Page Board — Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia — why he never informed the Democratic member of the board, Rep. Dale Kildee (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, about Foley.

Shimkus said, 'Dale's a nice guy, but he's a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion."

Hmm, ya think?

What's even more sad and disturbing is the likelyhood that these people think they're actually smarter than the rest of us. They think they have privy to some hidden truth, that the unwashed masses who tend to follow the prevailing winds of "commonly accepted fact" are the ones who are to be pitied. To paraphrase Adam Savage from Mythbusters:

"[They] reject our reality and substitute their own".

You see, to them - we're the stupid ones. We're the "Koolaid drinkers" - we're the lemming-like followers, the "Defeato-crats" with our Global Warming "fearmongering".

How Fracked-up is that?

Although those of us in the Reality-based Community have reason to rejoice now the sun has finally set on the 109th Congress - there are still strong reasons to remain vigilant and outspoken. The House Ethics committees complete and abject failure to hold anyone - anyone - accountable for clear and obvious negligence in protecting our sons and daughters in their care is inexcusable.

It's simply "Political as Usual" - and that simply can't be allowed to stand. We can't let it. And we won't.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Neo-Conservatism is a Pathological Plague that must be stamped out, like Nazism and Stalinism. So dust of your pitchforks and torches people - we still got a whole lotta hell raising to do.

The Willfully Ignorant Class had best run for the shelter in the highest parapet - because trust me, we're coming for you with Subpeona's under our arms, and they won't be inserted gently.

Vyan

Raw Story: Dems going BIG on Oversight

Uh oh, I think Bushgov is in deep deep trouble...

Democrats are "thinking big" on Bush oversight, according to a Capitol Hill newspaper.

"Senate Democrats’ plans to significantly beef up the chamber’s oversight of the Bush administration will go well beyond intelligence-gathering activities and President Bush’s prosecution of the Iraq War to include investigations into the Medicare program, alleged censorship of scientists, climate change and potential manipulation of energy markets, according to aides and lobbyists," John Stanton reports for Roll Call.

So we're finally going to ask what the "F" is up with Dick Cheney's secret meeting with Energy Companies just before the California Rolling Blackouts? We're finally to get that lying weasal Abu Gonzales under oath?

Hallu-fraking-lujah!

But, I wonder and worry, if this just might be too much of a good thing?

As I've noted previously the Wing-Nuts and Neo-Con/Artists are salivating like an overheated dog at the prospects of "Libruls Run Amok" in the Congress.

They're already framing Speaker Pelosi as a "Shrew" and "Wicked Witch of the West".

In her New York Post column -- "Call Her 'Nancy Shrew'?" -- also addressing Pelosi's handling of the Hoyer/Murtha contest, Orin-Eilbeck wrote: "Forget 'The Devil Wears Prada['] the hot show in Washington is 'The Shrew Adores Armani.' In just a few short days, House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has turned into a caricature of the shrill, petty woman boss."

Then you've got O'Leilly on Nov 9th.

Now the unintended consequence of the power shift in D.C. is that some Democrats will try to impose a secular-progressive agenda on the country.

First, there will be an attempt to raise taxes — Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel will lead that.

Second, new speaker, Nancy Pelosi, will encourage investigations of the Bush administration, seeking to create a scandal which would help the Democrat presidential nominee in 2008.

But that could backfire on the Democrats as most Americans do not want Mr. Bush attacked. They want to see if the Democrats can do better. They do not want to see their government ripped apart in a time of war.

I'll say again what I said before.

"Create a Scandal?" Democrats don't have to "make up a scandal" - they have a all you can eat buffet of scandals laid out right in front of them.

However -- I will with heavy heart and a lump in my throat admit one. true. fact. We shouldn't try to eat the entire buffet all in one sitting!

That's just plain gluttony.

All of these issues should be looked at, the Congress should absolutely perform oversight. The Senate still hasn't finished Phase II of the original WMD investigation. We have multiple sets of Downing Street Memos that still haven't been addressed. We got Torture. We got Illegal Surveillance. We got Katrina and it's aftermath. We're still missing that pesky Habeas Corpus thingy ("I knew I saw it on the countertop just last week...") The people who vowed to "Restore Honor and Integrity the the White House" have instead repeatedly had shoplifters, hookers, pedophiles and not-so-closeted gay drug-addict homophobe preachers in the White House, not to mention the Watergate Hotel and the Congress.

There's serious work here that needs a-doin.

But still - O'Reilly. Actually. Said. Something. True.

(Cue the Shock and Awe Musical montage - with the obligatory FEAR Font!)

IMO if we go hog-wild like a bunch of teenages girls on spring break with way too many video cameras around we'll most likely find we just lined up in a circular firing squad.

I believe strongly that this is why Speaker Pelosi has taken Impeachment "Off the Table". What Democrats do now that they've regained power in Congress can not be seen as payback or a witchhunt. We could spend the next decade investigating all the things that BushCo have totally fracked up, and in all likelyhood we probably will.

Congressional Dems have to do their jobs, they have to do it well - and they have to do them smart - or we'll be crying in our latte's about yet another Stealth Wing-Nut President (like McCain - shiver) in '08.

We have to be in this for the long-haul, not just the quick win.

Or is it just me that feels that way?

Vyan

The Perfect Shit Storm

Has it finally arrived? Has Foleygate created the moment many of us have long waited for? No, not for a 50-plus old hypocrit Congress critter to be caught cyber fondling our youth.

The Perfect Shit Storm for Republicans in the Midterm Elections?

I'm not usually one to gloat at someone elses misfortune - but seeing as misfortune has nothing to do with this rapidly metastiziig scandal par excellance that was wrought from hubris, cronyism and cowardice - I'm gloating big time.

I had hoped that not finding any WMD's would be the breaking point. Or Katrina. Or Libby. Abramoff. Guckert. Cunningham. Safavian. Allen. Dusty Fogo and the Hookers? But it looks like Foleygate just might be it.

You know it's bad when they have to sneak Karl Rove's assistant out the kitty door in the dead of the night - and hardly anyone notices. Almost.

Even though the primary source for this story has been a Registered Republican since being able to vote - in response to the scandal Tom Delay's hand-picked House Speaker Dennis Hastert (and his enablers such as Rush Limbaugh and Drudge) have tried to blame Democrats, ABC, Gays, George Soros and even the Pages themselves.

Limbaugh:

Back in these days you could call Sears and order a refrigerator on the phone. I had a teacher living up the street and it was the biggest thrill in the world to just call and order a refrigerator and watch Sears deliver it to an unsuspecting teacher and his wife, and far stranger things than that. But we always picked out adults that we just thought were odd or weird, and it would be fun to make fun of them, and I don't think kids today are any different...

But you know as well as I do that young kids make fun of gay people. They make fun of the way they talk; they make fun of the way some of them walk and so forth. Who knows what the word around town about fellow Foley was. Who knows? We all know that young people gay bash. Young people do a lot of stuff. They don't have the maturity to understand this kind of stuff...

I tell you, folks, you've got this page out there; you probably have a bunch of pages laughing and making fun of Foley and the way he comes on to them, and he's gay and so forth, so they egg him on and so forth....

All this proves to me is that when Limbaugh was a kid, he was a abusive xenophobic asshole. Then again, not much has really changed for him since then has it?

They've tried to claim that Hastert acted quickly to have Foley resign, when the truth is that Foley had already resigned before the ABC report even aired.

And the News Media have even helped Hastert and crew get their disinformation message out there with their tried and market tested "he said/she said" reporting style which gives equal weigh to competing arguements even when one side is nothing more than a big bag of male cow feces.

CNN Reported the "Hastert took responsibility" line, without pointing out that he's actually done nothing of the kind.

Chris Matthews pimped the Democrat C-O-N-spiracy meme without question.

Despite all this though, the core message seems to be getting through.

Following the ABC revelations that self-styled child protector Mark Foley (R-FL) has instead been a child-predator, targeting former Congressional pages - the GOP has been in complete freefall and are taking a brass-knuckle beating in the polls.

But the worse numbers aren't at Newsweek - they're at Polling Report where it shows.

Congressional House Dems lead Reps by 15% (54 to 39) according to the latest Time Poll (10/3).

But the picture painted by the job trend numbers are much worse.

78% of respondants have heard of the Foley Scandal.

64% think the Republican Leadership tried to cover it up.

Although 68% said it made no difference, 24% said they would be less like to vote for the Republican candidate as a direct result of Foleygate, while just %4 said the reverse. That's a 21-point drop - one which is also reflected in reports that White Evangelical support of the GOP has dropped from 78% to 57%. Coincidence? I think not.

The Jury is still out however, on whether Speaker Haster should (39%) or should not (38%) resign.

What is clear however is that he's become Republican Kryptonite. Internal polling reported by Fox News indicates that the already likely Democratic take-over of the House might jump from 20-seats to 50 as a result of Hastert's failures of leadership. Fundraising engagements with Hastert have been cancelled by everyone but the one person with a higher particle-per-billion geiger rating than Hastert's own - President Bush who has just crashed landed at 33% again (Newsweek 10/5).

The irony of this pairing of last resort should be lost on noone.

The Republican pattern shown by Hastert of refusing to recognize clear warnings (Rice), claiming you didn't know and should have been told (Ashcroft, Rumsfeld), ignoring the facts even after the evidence in incontravertable (Cheney), then turning around and blaming people who had nothing to do with it - even making up imaginary strawmen enemies to rail against (Bush) should be crystal clear by now.

This has been the Neo-Con modis operandi since long before the invasion of Iraq. It's what we've seen over and over again. If the core of the poll bloodbath we're seeing now isn't simply tied to Foley's ignoble exit from Congress, but rather to the long-standing refusal of Congressional and White House Republicans to do their freaking jobs - we just might have a serious sea change in the offing.

Just think : a week and a half ago, Dennis Hastert was accusing Democrats of wanting to coddle the "most treacherous people in the world". Well, look who's coddling who now?

With Sen John Warner's "We need to change course" proclaimation laying a sledge hammer to the entire Karl "Cut and Run" Rove strategem - that Perfect Storm just might be arriving on November both in the House and the Senate, and hopefully it'll stick around for - oh - a decade or so.

It's going to take at least that long to clean up the mess Republicans have made of our Country.

Vyan

Truth 2 Power - Blog - Radio - Shirts - Books and Cds

It's too bad Patrick Kennedy didn't just shoot a lawyer in the face

From Democratic Underground

Because if he had, I don't think MSM would be so obsessed with the possibility that "preferential treatment" might have occurred at the time of the accident. If he had only shot a lawyer in the face, we wouldn't hear any discussion on TV about the possibility that he might have been drunk at the time of the accident. No discussion of how suspicious that no blood test was taken at the time of the accident.

No, if he had only blasted his hunting buddy's face off, we would have more time to spend on Patrick Fitzgerald meeting with Judge Walton on the Plame case. We might see top of the hour coverage on Porter Goss' resignation and the suspicious timing of it in connection with the intelligence link to the Watergate hooker scandal. Because it's not as if MSM would dare employ a double standard. Right?

I think we've all known for quite some time that there's a double-standard in the corporate media. Conservatives have been complaining, well - whining really, for decades about the "Liberal Media Bias". Exactly what that so-called bias ever entailed other than a failure to parrot some of their more psychotic double-speak like "cutting taxes raises revenue" and "providing poor people with food is bad for them" was never made clear.

But those days are long gone.

Now we have Paula Zhan on what used to be known as the Clinton News Network asking Ray McGovern what his "axe to grind" with Secretary Rumsfeld is? Stephen Colbert wasn't fall down on the floor funny - he was Rude, accoring to Richard Cohen. And we have Katie Couric practically frothing at the mouth when DNC Chairman Howard Dean (accurately) told her that the Jack Abramoff situation is "A Republican Scandal".

Sometimes the greatest media lapses are in what they don't ask, rather than in what they do. As noted by the DU poster, they were very quick to ask "why didn't Patrick Kennedy get a sobriety test?" but never did they really ask "why didn't Dick Cheney get a sobriety test - and why did he evade the police for 14 hours after shooting a man in the face?" Or better yet, why hasn't Dick Cheney recognized his obvious problem, as has Kennedy who admits he couldn't even recall the events of the previous night, and immediately checked himself into Whittington's Annonymous?

Any man who isn't satisfied after he shoots the first 50 pen-raised Quayle - then mistakes a 6-foot tall 70 year-old man for an 18-inch bird - clearly has a problem. The first step to recovery is admitting it.

I think we all understand that this kind of bias is the case, that progressive issues are rarely going to get a fair shake on Network or Cable News except on Olbermann, Daily Show or through the Colbert looking-glass. That's the deal, we know it.

We understand that the Washington Post hired, then very quickly fired a right-wing plagarist for "balance" and their so-called "Ombudsman" Deborah Howell still doesn't get it - so why should we be surprised when the News went Patrick Kennedy Mushuggah the other day?

Porter Goss retires as CIA director after less than two years amid indications and rumors that he's connected to Hookergate? Only to be replaced by Gen. Michael I-can-tap-you-if-I-want-to Hayden?

Ah, but none of that is a real story - because a KENNEDY got into a FENDER-BENDER!!!! See - his headlight is cracked, that's NEWS Baybee!

It's long past time we realized qualifies as News in this country.

Britney Spears barefoot in a Gas Station Restroom? News!!

Abortions and unwanted pregnancies rising among poor women due to lack of access to contraception? NOT News.

Is Tom Cruise about to jump on another couch and bitch-slap Matt Laurer again? Film at 11!

Jack Abramoff connected to Saipan Sweatshops? NOT News.

Anna Nicole Smith at the Supreme Court - Anna Nicole Smith at the Supreme Court!! News

Is Karl Rove about to be Indicted? NOT News.

American Idol!! News!

The President decides to ignore over 750 laws as he signs them? NOT News.

See it's easy, once you know the rules. The only odd thing is even with this incredibly lame reporting going on -- the President's approval ratings are in the toilet and circling the bowl. [Ap - 33%, CBS - 33%, USA Today - 34%, Fox - 38%?!]

Just imagine where the Republican Congress and President would be if the media was actually doing their jobs?

Most likely Answer: Out of a job and soon to be Impeached as of November.

What's your fantasy of how the Press should be behaving these days?

Vyan

Time to Start Playing Offense

By the time of, or at least soon after the State of the Union, Democrats -- not just the party, but we the rank and file - need to realize it's time to stop playing Defense and start playing Offense.

Simply complaining endlessly about the failings and foibles of the Bush Administration isn't enough (Although it's fun and theraputic). We also, vitally, need to point out how and why our path and philosophy is better. Some of this is obvious - Curruption and Lies:Bad, Honesty:Good - but on some issues we still need some work (Taxation, Governments Role in our lives, Being comfortable in our own faith, Support nearly for unlimited Abortion).

Well past the point where we made everyone understand who we really and where we stand rather than let Bully O'Reilly's repeatedly define us as the Far-Left Secular-Progressives who with to put porn in your homss 24/7, take God out of your lives, and homosexualize your teenagers.

We'll never get Bush's true poll numbers down to just those who actually believe in the policies he implements - as opposed to the policies he exposes - to finally show up as the 12-15% of hard-core bat-crazed wing-nuts that they are.

We have to realize that what we have staring us in the face - is a completely golden oppurtunity to completely repudiate the policies and practicies of the neo-conservative movement and set them back for decades, if not completely run them out of politics.

I know that seems like a tall order, but bear with me. The truth is the neo-cons who currently control the Republican party are hell-bent on self-destruction. They're like deeply addicted power-junkies who don't know when or how to restrain themselves. Just look at Jack Abramoff's behavior - openly scorning his own clients with epithets and insults in email, after email. Everyday we hear about another scandal, another hotbed of curruption and incompetence.

• The Bush Administration failed to head the numerous warnings, and crunch the intelligence to prevent 9-11.
• Osama Bin Laden got away at Tora Bora.
• Koran Desecration, Humiliation, Stress positions and Waterboarding at Guantanemo Bay. One prisoner, al-Libi, claims under duress that Iraq still has Nuclear aims - he's Wrong.
• We go to War with Iraq, but all the WMD and Nuclear intelligence, our justification for going to war, is all Wrong.
• We didn't have enough troops to secure the nation allowing a deadly Iraqi insurgency to grow and spread, we still don't properly equip them with proper armor or helmets - if they try to equip themselves they get threatened, and we've cut their benefits while locking them into perpetual service with "Stop-loss" policies. All the Pentagon's expectations and plans are just plain Wrong.
• Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff "Scooter" Libby Indicted, Rove implicated in Plame Affair.
• Abu Graib gets Gitmo-ized, and photos of prisons in humiliating poses and stress positions begin to appear. Repubs claim it was just "frat styled hazing" on the night shift - they're Wrong.
• Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Indicted for Money Laundering.
• $8.8 Billion just plain disappears in Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority.
• 2000 U.S. Soldiers dead since "Mission Accomplished", 50,000 wounded. Another estimated 100,000 Iraqi casualties, President Bush only admits to 30,000.
  
• Secret Detention Centers and the Extraordinary Rendition program.
• Terry Schiavo gets her own personal Congressional Legislation and a Grandstanding Red-Eye flight by the President to sign it. Republican Heart surgeon and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist gives her a video diagnosis, "She seems responsive to light". She dies anyway as per her wishes, and the autopsy shows that she was blind.
• The levees break in New Orleans - Bush remains on vacation and in avoidance of Cindy Sheehan.
• Republican Congressman "Duke" Cunningham pleads guilty to bribery.
• Republican Lobbyists Mike Scanlon and Jack Abramoff plead guilty to bribery of Congressmen. Tom Delay and Bob Ney implicated. Repubs and Corporate Media try to implicate Dems also, but they're Wrong.
• The NSA has been spying on American's without a warrant for over four years and causing the FBI to be flooded with makeshift busy-work instead of focusing on legitimate threats. Bush Admin claims they could've stopped 9-11 if they'd already been doing this, except that they were and they are still Wrong.
  

And just in the last couple days you also have.

• Halliburton allowed our troops to drink contaminated water in Iraq, meanwhile $Millions of rebuilding funds were lost and squandered,
• The White House was specifically informed that the levees could fail before Katrina hit, and did nothing.

Just look around, these guys are crashing and burning all on their own steam. Democrats have had almost nothing to do with any of it. Yes, a few voted for the Iraq War - but that was based on intelligence that the Bush Administation gave them, and it was Wrong. The blame belongs where on the people who provided the information, not those who were duped by it.

Yet, there are those who simply refuse to believe all the above. They live in a world of pseudo-reality, swamped by denial and self-deception. They know and suspect the truth, but can't bring themselves to admit it -like a junkie who can't put down the Fundie/Wingnut crack-pipe. They get bogged down in semantics - "How can you say Bush lied", and we get bogged down with them - arguing irrelevancies.

Truth is, it doesn't matter whether Bush lied or not - he was Wrong, and that's the point. We can't afford a President who makes this many bone-head mistakes and is wrong this often, deliberate or not. If he lied, well then he simply knew he was wrong, so he's a bastard - but if he didn't, he was just plain ignorant now wasn't he? Just which is really worse? I vote being a bastard is better than being a deluded dumb-ass, but maybe that's just me.

Bush personally shouldn't be the target anyway IMO, he's a lame duck President. The target needs to be the Bush Administration as a non-functioning organization, Cheney, Rove and all of Bush's political appointees like Brownie need to be the target - and of course their lackeys in Congress.

What people need to know, is just what Dems will do about all this?

Can we Dems seriously give them - particularly those who continue to support the President and Republican Party against their own best interests - a sense that we won't make the kinds of gross (deliberate?) mistakes that the Bush administration has made? Sadly, probably not.

But that doesn't mean we can't get there. People, we have some work to do. It's not enough just to let the Repubs implode if people fail to recognize that all the above is a direct result of the Republican Philosophy of Government - which is a Government that Doesn't Work. Their main campaign arguement since Ronald Reagan has been that "Government can't solve your problems, Government is the problem", and they've worked long and hard to make sure that axiom is true. Right now, with Repubs in charge - They are the problem.

We need to hang that sound bite around their neck like a scarlet letter. Their government doesn't work - but Dems in power have and will make Government limited, but effective.

We have to stop running away from Monica, and learn to crow about the great things we've already accomplished. A Democratic President Balanced the U.S. Budget, reduced the size of government by 15% while preventing drastic unneccesary cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. A Democratic President and Administration, brought peace to Northern Ireland, ended the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo saving the lives of Millions from Ethnic Cleansing, and at the same time prevented al-Qaeda Jihadist from starting an anti-American insurgency in the region. (Now that, was a noble cause^tm). A Democratic Administration prevented the Millenium Bomb Plot, the attempted bombing of LAX, the Lincoln Tunnel and the Holland Tunnel. A Democratic Administration caught Aldridge Ames, caught Eric Robert Rudolph and executed Timothy McVeigh.

We have to make it clear that the Democratic vision is one that isn't for unneccesary government intrusion into our personal lives or the operation of our businesses without due and probable cause. We have to learn some consistency on this - it shouldn't matter if it's guns or pornagraphy. People have an equal freedom to own either, as long as they show the personally responsibility [yes, that's right - Steal those soundbytes and turn them around] not to let either fall into the wrong hands or be used irresponsibly. It should be about what you do and how it impacts those around you - not what you possess.

Our primary objective has to be election reform and accountability. We can't have a government "by and of the people" if we can't verify what the people actually voted for. At the moment this needs to be a state-level initiative, as various states have begun to test and challenge the security of Diebold and other automatically voting equipment. WIthout this, we have nothing.

Our secondary objective needs to be a revamping of our tax policy. Dems are also being accused of "taxing and spending", when the truth is that Republicans are Super-spending (with the debt approaching $8 Trillion) and tax-shifting the burden from us onto our children, and their children. A tax-cut doesn't really cut anything if all it does is explode the defecit, rather it simply forces those same taxes to be paid years later with interest.

Government isn't a surrogate Mommy or Daddy - but it can and should be a tool to help us get back up when we fall down as a result of medical problems, natural disasters or other tragedies. The axiom should be that government provides a platform where the strong can pool their resources and help those who need aid the most, simply because if they don't - no one else can without the neccesary resources.

Dems needs to allay the fears of Conservatives - No, not cynically shift to the right DLC style - but make it clear that they have a plan to address the deficit and welfare of America in new and innovative ways such as John Kerry campaign suggestion of a tax credit to businesses who provide for American jobs rather than overseas jobs.

I think this idea should be expanded and ceased upon.

Rather than simply rollback the Bush Tax cuts and thereby "raising taxes" (although the truth is that a full rollback would simply put the taxes back where they were when we were running surpluses) another idea would be to offer public service tax credits.

A Public service tax credit should be available anytime that an individual or corporation chooses to spend money to meet public service goals, for example television stations that provide for campaign ads to candidates free of charge (thereby removing the need to develop complex campaign finance laws and schemes to catch people who try to "game the system" like Abramoff and co.), or provide for books, materials and facilities donated to public schools, or add more employees to your health-care rolls. etc. The point being that the more that private citizens and companies do to take care of themselves and each other -- the less government has to spend doing it for them. Conservatives like to crow that people always know better than government. Well, sure sometimes they do - and sometimes they don't. Either way government taxes should NOT disable them from trying to do the best they can on their own before it the guvmint comes in afterward to pick of the left-over peices for all those who are -- to borrow a phrase - left behind. Public Service Tax Credits should be offered as an alternative to a straight repeal of the Bush Tax-Cuts.

Under this plan It's possible that the overall tax burden might go down even further than Bush's cuts if enough people and companies embrace the credit option, the end goal is on eliminating the need for government spending by having as many people as possible able to stand on their own without government assistance. This strategy would completely destroy the old "Tax and Spend Liberal" canard.

We also need to re-address not just tax issues, but moral ones. Issues of faith and values. A recent episode of West Wing contained a scene where the Ambassador stated the following to the American representative...

With "Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happiness". All the aspirations of your people are financial - not ethical.

And the chilling truth of that statement was palpable. We equate the "greatness" of America not with our character or values, but with or individual financial circumstances. The size of our SUV and the strength of our economy. Dems certainly need to take this bull by the horns.

It goes without saying that bribery, corruption and cronyism are wrong. But it also needs to be said that abortion is great moral issue as well, and that we Dems certainly do not celebrate in the destruction of human life. Rather, we must seek policy which supports personal ethics that make abortion unneccesary. We must support comprehensive sex education,since almost 90% of teens indoctrinated into abstinence-only programs break their vows and have unprotected sex within 18 months (since they are discouraged and withheld knowledge of effective contraception). Abstinence is a good choice - but so is Safe-sex. Our foster system care needs to be serious reformed. Adoption should be cheaper and far more open. We should encourage the formation of extended families for child care, as well as family support from the corporate world as well such as on-site day care. Our schools need deep and serious reform using innovation rather than rote test teaching..

Being "Pro-Choice" need to include all the choices, all of the positive things that people can say "Yes" too, rather than simply say "No" to an embryo.

There are just a couple examples of what we need to allow people to be able to comfortably say "Yes" to the Democratic party, rather than simply say "No" to Repubs. Those that only say "No" are likely to sit-out the 2006 mid-term or even the 2008 elections, and we need them - we need them on our side if we're going to save this country from itself.

We need them as part of the Reality-based community, not neccesarily as Democrats - True Conservatism can function within our reality, I firmly believe this is true, but they still need to be in the same reality as the rest of us to start with.

The Conservative movement has been hijacked by Neo-cons, who are just exploiting the "wackos" with anti-Liberal rhetoric. Just remember, A Balanced Budget Amendment was included in the GOP's Contract on America a decade ago. Where did those Conservatives go? Just think, if the Neo-cons can pull all this crap, fail at so much of it this badly and still not be held accountable, just what will stop them from going even further next time?

Vyan

Buying Power

The following is a spread sheet that documents each and every Congressman and the financial and voting relationship to Tom DeLay. As I said before in Dangling DeLay, the ethics problems plauguing Delay are not just his alone - they hang around the neck of the Republican Congress like a dead albatros, particularly as the MSM finally begins to notice the truly shocking allegations of DeLay's connections to the Saipan Sex-Trade and Sweat Shops.

DeLay Ranking List –Top 25– –Full List–

Rank	Full Name	State	District	Party	$ From DeLay (ARMPAC)	$ to DeLay (legal defense fund)	Vote %	DeLay Rankings
1	Tom Feeney	FL	24	R	$10,000	$5,000	97.42%	8.95
2	Bob Beauprez	CO	7	R	$20,000	$1,000	96.41%	8.93
3	Jim Ryun	KS	2	R	$31,777	$1,000	95.73%	8.91
4	Dave Weldon	FL	15	R	$13,569	$6,000	94.75%	8.90
5	Jim Gerlach	PA	6	R	$20,000	$2,000	90.16%	8.80
6	John Carter	TX	31	R	$20,000	$5,000	98.71%	7.97
7	Eric Cantor	VA	7	R	$15,000	$1,000	98.23%	7.96
8	Jo Bonner	AL	1	R	$10,000	$5,000	97.56%	7.95
8	Phil Gingrey	GA	11	R	$20,000	$5,000	97.37%	7.95
10	Pete Sessions	TX	32	R	$21,644	$5,000	96.83%	7.94
10	Todd Akin	MO	2	R	$15,000	$1,000	96.93%	7.94
10	Devin Gerald Nunes	CA	21	R	$10,000	$5,000	97.06%	7.94
13	Tom Cole	OK	4	R	$15,000	$5,000	96.63%	7.93
14	Mike Rogers	AL	3	R	$14,500	$5,000	95.98%	7.92
15	Henry Bonilla	TX	23	R	$12,942	$15,000	93.85%	7.88
16	Robert B Aderholt	AL	4	R	$19,571	$1,000	93.66%	7.87
17	Tom Tancredo	CO	6	R	$28,439	$1,000	92.36%	7.85
18	Jon Porter	NV	3	R	$25,000	$5,000	91.50%	7.83
19	Mark Green	WI	8	R	$29,414	$1,000	91.13%	7.82
20	Rob Simmons	CT	2	R	$29,500	$1,000	80.68%	7.61
21	Chris Chocola	IN	2	R	$30,000	$2,500	97.81%	7.46
21	John Culberson	TX	7	R	$5,000	$5,000	97.91%	7.46
23	Jeb Hensarling	TX	5	R	$20,000	$5,000	96.90%	7.44
24	Roy Blunt	MO	7	R	$1,019	$20,000	96.25%	7.43
25	Howard P McKeon	CA	25	R	$20	$5,000	95.35%	7.41
26	Lamar Smith	TX	21	R	$20	$10,000	94.80%	7.40
27	Bill Thomas	CA	22	R	$20	$5,000	91.05%	7.32
28	James T Walsh	NY	25	R	$20	$1,000	83.62%	7.17
29	Kenny Ewell Marchant	TX	24	R	$10,000	$5,000	98.88%	6.98
30	Gary Miller	CA	42	R	$11,017	$5,000	97.28%	6.95
30	Gresham Barrett	SC	3	R	$10,000	$5,000	97.25%	6.95
30	Michael Burgess	TX	26	R	$15,000	$5,000	97.63%	6.95
30	Steven A King	IA	5	R	$15,000	$1,000	97.50%	6.95
34	Mike Pence	IN	6	R	$19,865	$1,000	97.10%	6.94
35	Joe Wilson	SC	2	R	$10,000	$5,000	96.64%	6.93
36	Mike Rogers	MI	8	R	$20,000	$5,000	95.86%	6.92
36	Marilyn Musgrave	CO	4	R	$20,000	$0	96.11%	6.92
36	Jeff Miller	FL	1	R	$10,000	$5,000	95.86%	6.92
36	Kevin Brady	TX	8	R	$10,000	$0	95.83%	6.92
40	Trent Franks	AZ	2	R	$20,000	$0	95.72%	6.91
40	Mario Diaz-Balart	FL	25	R	$10,000	$5,000	95.42%	6.91
42	J D Hayworth	AZ	5	R	$15,765	$1,000	95.10%	6.90
42	Charles Pickering Jr	MS	3	R	$11,565	$1,000	95.13%	6.90
42	Todd Tiahrt	KS	4	R	$10,071	$10,000	95.14%	6.90
45	Ginny Brown-Waite	FL	5	R	$20,000	$1,000	94.38%	6.89
45	Robin Hayes	NC	8	R	$37,722	$1,000	94.69%	6.89
47	Anne M Northup	KY	3	R	$32,000	$0	94.24%	6.88
48	C L Otter	ID	1	R	$15,000	$500	92.89%	6.86
49	Paul Ryan	WI	1	R	$25,390	$1,000	92.26%	6.85
50	Walter B Jones Jr	NC	3	R	$11,373	$500	90.04%	6.80
51	E Clay Shaw Jr	FL	22	R	$30,020	$5,000	89.26%	6.79
52	Charles Bass	NH	2	R	$14,233	$1,000	86.75%	6.74
53	Steven C LaTourette	OH	14	R	$13,573	$1,000	86.73%	6.73
54	Marsha Blackburn	TN	7	R	$5,000	$5,000	97.49%	6.45
55	Darrell Issa	CA	49	R	$2,500	$5,000	95.83%	6.42
56	Frank D Lucas	OK	3	R	$5,020	$1,000	95.32%	6.41
56	George Radanovich	CA	19	R	$7,047	$5,000	95.39%	6.41
58	Kay Granger	TX	12	R	$4,982	$5,000	94.89%	6.40
58	Wally Herger	CA	2	R	$1,105	$6,000	94.75%	6.40
60	Randy Cunningham	CA	50	R	$20	$1,000	93.91%	6.38
61	Mark E Souder	IN	3	R	$5,014	$1,000	92.41%	6.35
62	Dana Rohrabacher	CA	46	R	$8,583	$5,000	90.95%	6.32
63	Jerry Lewis	CA	41	R	$20	$5,000	89.73%	6.29
64	Ralph Regula	OH	16	R	$573	$5,000	86.35%	6.23
65	Lynn A Westmoreland	GA	8	R	$15,000	$0	98.77%	5.98
65	Michael E Sodrel	IN	9	R	$10,000	$0	98.88%	5.98
67	John Kline	MN	2	R	$30,000	$0	98.07%	5.96
67	Adam H Putnam	FL	12	R	$15,000	$0	97.83%	5.96
69	Scott Garrett	NJ	5	R	$15,000	$0	96.26%	5.93
69	John Boozman	AR	3	R	$15,000	$0	96.54%	5.93
71	Melissa Hart	PA	4	R	$15,000	$0	96.11%	5.92
72	Barbara Cubin	WY	1	R	$22,520	$0	95.31%	5.91
73	Dave Reichert	WA	8	R	$10,000	$0	95.24%	5.90
73	Sam Graves	MO	6	R	$30,000	$0	94.85%	5.90
75	Thad McCotter	MI	11	R	$20,000	$0	94.34%	5.89
76	Christopher Cox	CA	48	R	$20	$5,000	93.97%	5.88
77	Roscoe G Bartlett	MD	6	R	$10,020	$0	93.56%	5.87
78	Don Sherwood	PA	10	R	$14,855	$0	93.14%	5.86
79	Rick Renzi	AZ	1	R	$20,000	$0	92.58%	5.85
80	Vito Fossella	NY	13	R	$10,000	$0	92.04%	5.84
81	Mike Ferguson	NJ	7	R	$42,403	$0	89.01%	5.78
82	Jim Saxton	NJ	3	R	$10,006	$0	84.85%	5.70
83	Sue Kelly	NY	19	R	$12,020	$0	81.82%	5.64
84	Katherine Harris	FL	13	R	$20,000	$0	96.76%	5.44
84	Randy Neugebauer	TX	19	R	$15,000	$0	97.03%	5.44
86	J Randy Forbes	VA	4	R	$30,000	$0	96.14%	5.42
87	John T Doolittle	CA	4	R	$4,375	$10,000	95.32%	5.41
87	Sam Johnson	TX	3	R	$545	$6,000	95.33%	5.41
89	Dan Burton	IN	5	R	$20	$6,000	94.66%	5.39
89	Ralph M Hall	TX	4	R	$10,000	$0	94.28%	5.39
89	Ken Calvert	CA	44	R	$1,020	$5,000	94.72%	5.39
92	David Dreier	CA	26	R	$20	$5,000	94.23%	5.38
93	Spencer Bachus	AL	6	R	$1,166	$14,000	93.41%	5.37
93	Duncan Hunter	CA	52	R	$6	$6,000	93.47%	5.37
95	Jack Kingston	GA	1	R	$1,130	$1,000	92.63%	5.35
95	Cliff Stearns	FL	6	R	$20	$5,000	92.52%	5.35
95	Elton Gallegly	CA	24	R	$20	$5,000	92.60%	5.35
95	Richard Pombo	CA	11	R	$5,020	$5,000	92.67%	5.35
99	Jerry Weller	IL	11	R	$4,520	$0	91.87%	5.34
99	Rob Portman (resigned)	OH	2	R	$20	$5,000	92.25%	5.34
101	Jo Ann Emerson	MO	8	R	$1,000	$1,000	91.05%	5.32
102	Deborah Pryce	OH	15	R	$20	$1,000	90.58%	5.31
102	Hal Rogers	KY	5	R	$6	$5,000	90.72%	5.31
104	Mary Bono	CA	45	R	$8,500	$5,000	89.46%	5.29
104	Dave Hobson	OH	7	R	$20	$1,000	89.56%	5.29
106	Don Young	AK	1	R	$1,592	$0	88.95%	5.28
107	Paul E Gillmor	OH	5	R	$20	$2,000	86.37%	5.23
108	John J Duncan Jr	TN	2	R	$20	$5,000	86.08%	5.22
109	Geoff Davis	KY	4	R	$20,000	$0	100.00%	5.00
110	Jeffrey Lane Fortenberry	NE	1	R	$10,000	$0	98.86%	4.98
110	Mike Conaway	TX	11	R	$10,000	$0	98.88%	4.98
110	John R Kuhl Jr	NY	29	R	$10,000	$0	98.85%	4.98
110	Tom Price	GA	6	R	$10,000	$0	98.88%	4.98
114	John Sullivan	OK	1	R	$10,000	$0	97.98%	4.96
114	Patrick McHenry	NC	10	R	$10,000	$0	97.75%	4.96
116	Louis B Gohmert Jr	TX	1	R	$10,000	$0	97.67%	4.95
116	Charles W Boustany Jr	LA	7	R	$15,000	$0	97.67%	4.95
116	Virginia Foxx	NC	5	R	$10,000	$0	97.73%	4.95
116	Ric Keller	FL	8	R	$20,000	$0	97.32%	4.95
116	Dan Lungren	CA	3	R	$10,000	$0	97.73%	4.95
121	Steve Pearce	NM	2	R	$20,000	$0	96.32%	4.93
121	Connie Mack	FL	14	R	$10,000	$0	96.63%	4.93
121	Michael McCaul	TX	10	R	$10,000	$0	96.63%	4.93
124	Roger Wicker	MS	1	R	$14,526	$0	96.06%	4.92
125	Chris Cannon	UT	3	R	$10,500	$0	95.73%	4.91
125	Denny Rehberg	MT	1	R	$14,500	$0	95.37%	4.91
125	Mark Kennedy	MN	6	R	$29,500	$0	95.65%	4.91
125	Michael R Turner	OH	3	R	$20,000	$0	95.27%	4.91
125	Candice S Miller	MI	10	R	$20,000	$0	95.55%	4.91
125	Charles W Norwood	GA	9	R	$13,822	$0	95.26%	4.91
131	Joe Knollenberg	MI	9	R	$10,192	$0	94.55%	4.89
131	Tim Murphy	PA	18	R	$10,000	$0	94.64%	4.89
133	Lee Terry	NE	2	R	$13,308	$0	93.84%	4.88
133	Tom Latham	IA	4	R	$26,085	$0	94.08%	4.88
135	Charles Wieder Dent	PA	15	R	$10,000	$0	93.26%	4.87
136	John M Shimkus	IL	19	R	$16,934	$0	92.85%	4.86
137	Bill Shuster	PA	9	R	$15,000	$0	92.52%	4.85
138	Kenny Hulshof	MO	9	R	$14,964	$0	92.14%	4.84
138	Howard Coble	NC	6	R	$6	$0	91.82%	4.84
140	Ed Whitfield	KY	1	R	$13,014	$0	91.39%	4.83
141	Jim Nussle	IA	1	R	$15,020	$0	91.16%	4.82
141	Steve Chabot	OH	1	R	$21,224	$0	91.02%	4.82
143	Shelley Moore Capito	WV	2	R	$38,500	$0	90.57%	4.81
143	Jeb Bradley	NH	1	R	$15,000	$0	90.60%	4.81
143	Bob Ney	OH	18	R	$24,492	$0	90.33%	4.81
146	Heather Wilson	NM	1	R	$36,959	$0	88.32%	4.77
147	Timothy V Johnson	IL	15	R	$25,000	$0	82.98%	4.66
148	Nancy L Johnson	CT	5	R	$10,020	$0	73.41%	4.47
149	Ander Crenshaw	FL	4	R	$1,000	$0	97.48%	4.45
150	Henry Brown	SC	1	R	$5,000	$0	97.13%	4.44
151	John Boehner	OH	8	R	$20	$0	95.99%	4.42
152	Joe Pitts	PA	16	R	$624	$0	95.66%	4.41
153	Sherwood Boehlert	NY	24	R	$10,020	$0	70.14%	4.40
154	John L Mica	FL	7	R	$5,020	$0	94.21%	4.38
154	Dennis Hastert	IL	14	R	$20	$0	94.15%	4.38
156	Joe Barton	TX	6	R	$20	$0	93.39%	4.37
157	Jim McCrery	LA	4	R	$20	$0	93.08%	4.36
158	Dave Camp	MI	4	R	$225	$0	91.16%	4.32
159	Bob Inglis	SC	4	R	$14	$0	90.37%	4.31
160	John E Sweeney	NY	20	R	$4,915	$0	90.09%	4.30
161	Pete King	NY	3	R	$20	$0	88.33%	4.27
162	Michael G Fitzpatrick	PA	8	R	$5,000	$0	84.27%	4.19
162	Tom Petri	WI	6	R	$1,295	$0	84.33%	4.19
164	Frank A LoBiondo	NJ	2	R	$5,692	$0	81.32%	4.13
165	Wayne T Gilchrest	MD	1	R	$5,020	$0	79.65%	4.09
166	Ron Paul	TX	14	R	$6,000	$0	74.51%	3.99
167	Tom Reynolds	NY	26	R	$1,500	$0	94.55%	3.89
167	John Shadegg	AZ	3	R	$4,520	$0	94.72%	3.89
169	Vernon J Ehlers	MI	3	R	$20	$0	82.51%	3.65
170	Ted Poe	TX	2	R	$5,000	$0	98.88%	3.48
171	Bobby Jindal	LA	1	R	$5,000	$0	97.73%	3.45
171	Cathy McMorris	WA	5	R	$5,000	$0	97.73%	3.45
173	Doc Hastings	WA	4	R	$5,930	$0	96.84%	3.44
174	Rob Bishop	UT	1	R	$5,000	$0	96.70%	3.43
174	Thelma Drake	VA	2	R	$5,000	$0	96.63%	3.43
176	Mac Thornberry	TX	13	R	$14	$0	95.77%	3.42
177	John Linder	GA	7	R	$20	$0	95.70%	3.41
177	Patrick J Tiberi	OH	12	R	$9,000	$0	95.40%	3.41
179	Sue Myrick	NC	9	R	$3,520	$0	95.09%	3.40
179	Mike Simpson	ID	2	R	$6,171	$0	94.79%	3.40
179	Ron Lewis	KY	2	R	$2,144	$0	95.21%	3.40
182	Richard Baker	LA	6	R	$5,014	$0	94.69%	3.39
182	Steve Buyer	IN	4	R	$873	$0	94.55%	3.39
184	Nathan Deal	GA	10	R	$3,245	$0	93.85%	3.38
184	John E Peterson	PA	5	R	$603	$0	93.97%	3.38
184	Bill Jenkins	TN	1	R	$1,000	$0	94.22%	3.38
184	Ernest J Istook	OK	5	R	$20	$0	94.13%	3.38
184	Terry Everett	AL	2	R	$6,020	$0	93.94%	3.38
189	Greg Walden	OR	2	R	$5,342	$0	93.34%	3.37
189	Charles H Taylor	NC	11	R	$6,130	$0	93.35%	3.37
189	Bob Goodlatte	VA	6	R	$20	$0	93.55%	3.37
192	Jo Ann Davis	VA	1	R	$5,000	$0	93.14%	3.36
192	Don Manzullo	IL	16	R	$20	$0	93.11%	3.36
194	Jim Gibbons	NV	2	R	$3,602	$0	92.28%	3.35
195	Michael G Oxley	OH	4	R	$20	$0	92.24%	3.34
195	Gil Gutknecht	MN	1	R	$5,778	$0	92.11%	3.34
195	Zach Wamp	TN	3	R	$20	$0	91.85%	3.34
198	Virgil H Goode Jr	VA	5	R	$5,000	$0	91.70%	3.33
198	Ed Royce	CA	40	R	$20	$0	91.64%	3.33
198	John Hostettler	IN	8	R	$20	$0	91.63%	3.33
201	Michael Bilirakis	FL	9	R	$20	$0	90.81%	3.32
201	Henry J Hyde	IL	6	R	$20	$0	90.78%	3.32
203	Jerry Moran	KS	1	R	$1,000	$0	90.31%	3.31
203	Joel Hefley	CO	5	R	$20	$0	90.74%	3.31
203	Peter Hoekstra	MI	2	R	$20	$0	90.46%	3.31
206	Jeff Flake	AZ	6	R	$5,000	$0	89.98%	3.30
206	C W Bill Young	FL	10	R	$20	$0	90.19%	3.30
208	John M McHugh	NY	23	R	$20	$0	88.37%	3.27
209	Mark Foley	FL	16	R	$8,531	$0	87.76%	3.26
209	F James Sensenbrenner Jr	WI	5	R	$20	$0	87.86%	3.26
209	Judy Biggert	IL	13	R	$1,764	$0	88.11%	3.26
209	Ray LaHood	IL	18	R	$14	$0	88.25%	3.26
213	Phil English	PA	3	R	$9,036	$0	87.42%	3.25
214	Jim Kolbe	AZ	8	R	$5,026	$0	86.71%	3.23
215	Tom Davis	VA	11	R	$4,520	$0	86.19%	3.22
216	Lincoln Diaz-Balart	FL	21	R	$20	$0	84.99%	3.20
217	Curt Weldon	PA	7	R	$1,020	$0	84.32%	3.19
218	Rodney Frelinghuysen	NJ	11	R	$4,520	$0	84.16%	3.18
218	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	FL	18	R	$20	$0	83.96%	3.18
220	Fred Upton	MI	6	R	$20	$0	82.15%	3.14
221	Jim Ramstad	MN	3	R	$20	$0	79.19%	3.08
222	Michael N Castle	DE	1	R	$20	$0	78.36%	3.07
223	Chris Smith	NJ	4	R	$20	$0	77.99%	3.06
224	Jim Leach	IA	2	R	$20	$0	71.06%	2.92
225	Christopher Shays	CT	4	R	$20	$0	68.64%	2.87
226	Rodney Alexander	LA	5	R	$5,000	$0	47.57%	2.45
227	Joe Schwarz	MI	7	R	$0	$0	95.51%	1.91
228	Tom Osborne	NE	3	R	$0	$0	93.10%	1.86
229	Todd Platts	PA	19	R	$0	$0	89.05%	1.78
230	Frank R Wolf	VA	10	R	$0	$0	88.34%	1.77
231	Mark Kirk	IL	10	R	$0	$0	86.13%	1.72
232	Gene Taylor	MS	4	D	$0	$0	52.84%	1.06
233	Dan Boren	OK	2	D	$0	$0	51.69%	1.03
234	Charles J Melancon	LA	3	D	$0	$0	45.45%	0.91
235	Henry Cuellar	TX	28	D	$0	$0	44.94%	0.90
236	Collin C Peterson	MN	7	D	$0	$0	42.26%	0.85
236	Bud Cramer	AL	5	D	$0	$0	42.72%	0.85
238	Ike Skelton	MO	4	D	$0	$0	41.75%	0.83
239	Mike McIntyre	NC	7	D	$0	$0	40.45%	0.81
240	John Tanner	TN	8	D	$0	$0	38.18%	0.76
241	Allen Boyd	FL	2	D	$0	$0	37.10%	0.74
242	Jim Matheson	UT	2	D	$0	$0	36.05%	0.72
243	Lincoln Davis	TN	4	D	$0	$0	35.53%	0.71
244	Tim Holden	PA	17	D	$0	$0	34.90%	0.70
244	Jim Marshall	GA	3	D	$0	$0	34.92%	0.70
246	Betty McCollum	MN	4	D	$0	$0	9.44%	0.69
247	John P Murtha	PA	12	D	$0	$0	33.59%	0.67
247	Solomon P Ortiz	TX	27	D	$0	$0	33.71%	0.67
247	Jim Costa	CA	20	D	$0	$0	33.33%	0.67
250	Leonard L Boswell	IA	3	D	$0	$0	32.25%	0.65
251	Bart Gordon	TN	6	D	$0	$0	31.81%	0.64
251	Marion Berry	AR	1	D	$0	$0	32.16%	0.64
251	Chet Edwards	TX	17	D	$0	$0	32.16%	0.64
254	Jim Cooper	TN	5	D	$0	$0	31.13%	0.62
254	Alan B Mollohan	WV	1	D	$0	$0	30.92%	0.62
256	John Tony Salazar	CO	3	D	$0	$0	30.68%	0.61
257	Mike Ross	AR	4	D	$0	$0	30.00%	0.60
257	David Scott	GA	13	D	$0	$0	29.78%	0.60
259	Ben Chandler	KY	6	D	$0	$0	29.72%	0.59
260	Jerry F Costello	IL	12	D	$0	$0	28.95%	0.58
260	Stephanie Herseth	SD	1	D	$0	$0	28.79%	0.58
260	Mike Doyle	PA	14	D	$0	$0	28.79%	0.58
263	Sanford D Bishop Jr	GA	2	D	$0	$0	28.16%	0.56
264	Earl Pomeroy	ND	1	D	$0	$0	26.91%	0.54
265	Dennis Moore	KS	3	D	$0	$0	26.24%	0.52
266	Nick Rahall	WV	3	D	$0	$0	25.40%	0.51
266	Adam Smith	WA	9	D	$0	$0	25.69%	0.51
266	Dennis Cardoza	CA	18	D	$0	$0	25.25%	0.51
269	Rick Boucher	VA	9	D	$0	$0	25.13%	0.50
269	Silvestre Reyes	TX	16	D	$0	$0	24.96%	0.50
269	Vic Snyder	AR	2	D	$0	$0	24.87%	0.50
269	Daniel William Lipinski	IL	3	D	$0	$0	25.00%	0.50
269	Bob Etheridge	NC	2	D	$0	$0	24.90%	0.50
274	John M Spratt Jr	SC	5	D	$0	$0	24.49%	0.49
274	Paul E Kanjorski	PA	11	D	$0	$0	24.29%	0.49
276	Jane Harman	CA	36	D	$0	$0	23.98%	0.48
276	Jim Davis	FL	11	D	$0	$0	24.08%	0.48
276	John Barrow	GA	12	D	$0	$0	23.86%	0.48
279	Gene Green	TX	29	D	$0	$0	23.48%	0.47
280	Ed Case	HI	2	D	$0	$0	23.03%	0.46
281	Robert E Andrews	NJ	1	D	$0	$0	22.60%	0.45
281	Jim Moran	VA	8	D	$0	$0	22.51%	0.45
281	Melissa Luburich Bean	IL	8	D	$0	$0	22.47%	0.45
284	Ruben Hinojosa	TX	15	D	$0	$0	22.20%	0.44
284	Bart Stupak	MI	1	D	$0	$0	21.99%	0.44
286	Al Green	TX	9	D	$0	$0	21.35%	0.43
286	Artur Davis	AL	7	D	$0	$0	21.34%	0.43
286	Ellen Tauscher	CA	10	D	$0	$0	21.52%	0.43
286	Carolyn McCarthy	NY	4	D	$0	$0	21.63%	0.43
290	Michael R McNulty	NY	21	D	$0	$0	20.86%	0.42
290	Ron Kind	WI	3	D	$0	$0	20.94%	0.42
290	Norm Dicks	WA	6	D	$0	$0	21.24%	0.42
293	Steve Israel	NY	2	D	$0	$0	20.43%	0.41
294	Bill Pascrell Jr	NJ	8	D	$0	$0	20.11%	0.40
294	Joe Baca	CA	43	D	$0	$0	19.93%	0.40
294	Darlene Hooley	OR	5	D	$0	$0	19.87%	0.40
297	Harold E Ford Jr	TN	9	D	$0	$0	19.33%	0.39
297	Dutch Ruppersberger	MD	2	D	$0	$0	19.54%	0.39
297	Shelley Berkley	NV	1	D	$0	$0	19.26%	0.39
300	David Price	NC	4	D	$0	$0	19.01%	0.38
300	Pete Visclosky	IN	1	D	$0	$0	19.09%	0.38
300	Ted Strickland	OH	6	D	$0	$0	18.80%	0.38
300	Rick Larsen	WA	2	D	$0	$0	19.04%	0.38
304	Dale E Kildee	MI	5	D	$0	$0	18.73%	0.37
304	Marcy Kaptur	OH	9	D	$0	$0	18.60%	0.37
304	David Wu	OR	1	D	$0	$0	18.54%	0.37
307	Charlie A Gonzalez	TX	20	D	$0	$0	18.13%	0.36
307	Steven R Rothman	NJ	9	D	$0	$0	17.77%	0.36
307	Steny H Hoyer	MD	5	D	$0	$0	18.15%	0.36
310	Brad Sherman	CA	27	D	$0	$0	17.65%	0.35
310	Jay R Inslee	WA	1	D	$0	$0	17.47%	0.35
310	Ben Cardin	MD	3	D	$0	$0	17.54%	0.35
313	Mike Michaud	ME	2	D	$0	$0	17.17%	0.34
313	Brian Baird	WA	3	D	$0	$0	16.82%	0.34
313	Loretta Sanchez	CA	47	D	$0	$0	17.00%	0.34
313	Mike Thompson	CA	1	D	$0	$0	17.09%	0.34
317	Robert Menendez	NJ	13	D	$0	$0	16.48%	0.33
318	Frank Pallone Jr	NJ	6	D	$0	$0	16.07%	0.32
318	Joseph Crowley	NY	7	D	$0	$0	16.17%	0.32
318	Adam Schiff	CA	29	D	$0	$0	16.07%	0.32
318	John D Dingell	MI	15	D	$0	$0	16.17%	0.32
318	Albert R Wynn	MD	4	D	$0	$0	16.01%	0.32
323	Emanuel Cleaver II	MO	5	D	$0	$0	15.66%	0.31
323	Susan A Davis	CA	53	D	$0	$0	15.49%	0.31
323	Robert Wexler	FL	19	D	$0	$0	15.68%	0.31
326	Ed Pastor	AZ	4	D	$0	$0	15.08%	0.30
326	William J Jefferson	LA	2	D	$0	$0	14.79%	0.30
326	Jim Langevin	RI	2	D	$0	$0	15.23%	0.30
326	Stephen F Lynch	MA	9	D	$0	$0	15.06%	0.30
330	Dennis J Kucinich	OH	10	D	$0	$0	14.28%	0.29
330	Sander Levin	MI	12	D	$0	$0	14.68%	0.29
330	Lois Capps	CA	23	D	$0	$0	14.58%	0.29
333	Kendrick B Meek	FL	17	D	$0	$0	13.99%	0.28
333	James L Oberstar	MN	8	D	$0	$0	13.95%	0.28
333	Corrine Brown	FL	3	D	$0	$0	13.99%	0.28
333	Patrick J Kennedy	RI	1	D	$0	$0	14.08%	0.28
333	G K Butterfield	NC	1	D	$0	$0	13.92%	0.28
333	Zoe Lofgren	CA	16	D	$0	$0	13.79%	0.28
339	Brad Miller	NC	13	D	$0	$0	13.60%	0.27
339	Richard E Neal	MA	2	D	$0	$0	13.56%	0.27
339	James E Clyburn	SC	6	D	$0	$0	13.28%	0.27
339	Neil Abercrombie	HI	1	D	$0	$0	13.71%	0.27
339	Allyson Schwartz	PA	13	D	$0	$0	13.48%	0.27
339	Robert C Scott	VA	3	D	$0	$0	13.34%	0.27
339	Eddie Bernice Johnson	TX	30	D	$0	$0	13.59%	0.27
339	Bennie G Thompson	MS	2	D	$0	$0	13.45%	0.27
339	Tom Allen	ME	1	D	$0	$0	13.25%	0.27
348	Marty Meehan	MA	5	D	$0	$0	12.84%	0.26
348	David R Obey	WI	7	D	$0	$0	13.05%	0.26
348	Robert A Brady	PA	1	D	$0	$0	12.75%	0.26
348	Sheila Jackson Lee	TX	18	D	$0	$0	13.02%	0.26
348	Lloyd Doggett	TX	25	D	$0	$0	13.02%	0.26
348	Tom Lantos	CA	12	D	$0	$0	13.02%	0.26
348	John B Larson	CT	1	D	$0	$0	13.16%	0.26
348	Anna Eshoo	CA	14	D	$0	$0	12.83%	0.26
348	Carolyn B Maloney	NY	14	D	$0	$0	13.09%	0.26
348	Earl Blumenauer	OR	3	D	$0	$0	13.07%	0.26
358	Russ Carnahan	MO	3	D	$0	$0	12.36%	0.25
358	Brian M Higgins	NY	27	D	$0	$0	12.50%	0.25
358	Howard L Berman	CA	28	D	$0	$0	12.43%	0.25
358	Peter DeFazio	OR	4	D	$0	$0	12.48%	0.25
358	Mark Udall	CO	2	D	$0	$0	12.55%	0.25
358	Nita M Lowey	NY	18	D	$0	$0	12.41%	0.25
364	Gregory W Meeks	NY	6	D	$0	$0	11.93%	0.24
364	Tim Ryan	OH	17	D	$0	$0	11.76%	0.24
364	Elijah E Cummings	MD	7	D	$0	$0	11.88%	0.24
364	Rush Holt	NJ	12	D	$0	$0	11.95%	0.24
364	Tom Udall	NM	3	D	$0	$0	12.01%	0.24
364	Timothy H Bishop	NY	1	D	$0	$0	11.99%	0.24
364	Eliot L Engel	NY	17	D	$0	$0	11.93%	0.24
364	Gary Ackerman	NY	5	D	$0	$0	11.87%	0.24
372	Juanita Millender-McDonald	CA	37	D	$0	$0	11.31%	0.23
372	Martin Olav Sabo	MN	5	D	$0	$0	11.47%	0.23
372	Rosa L DeLauro	CT	3	D	$0	$0	11.74%	0.23
375	Anthony D Weiner	NY	9	D	$0	$0	10.76%	0.22
375	Sam Farr	CA	17	D	$0	$0	10.81%	0.22
377	Julia Carson	IN	7	D	$0	$0	10.31%	0.21
377	Grace Napolitano	CA	38	D	$0	$0	10.48%	0.21
377	Diana DeGette	CO	1	D	$0	$0	10.41%	0.21
377	Sherrod Brown	OH	13	D	$0	$0	10.50%	0.21
377	Rahm Emanuel	IL	5	D	$0	$0	10.54%	0.21
382	Alcee L Hastings	FL	23	D	$0	$0	10.17%	0.20
382	Louise M Slaughter	NY	28	D	$0	$0	9.86%	0.20
382	Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick	MI	13	D	$0	$0	9.83%	0.20
385	Edolphus Towns	NY	10	D	$0	$0	9.59%	0.19
385	Chris Van Hollen	MD	8	D	$0	$0	9.50%	0.19
385	Lane Evans	IL	17	D	$0	$0	9.69%	0.19
388	Cynthia A McKinney	GA	4	D	$0	$0	9.04%	0.18
388	Luis V Gutierrez	IL	4	D	$0	$0	9.20%	0.18
388	Charles B Rangel	NY	15	D	$0	$0	9.04%	0.18
388	Debbie Wasserman Schultz	FL	20	D	$0	$0	8.99%	0.18
388	Jose E Serrano	NY	16	D	$0	$0	9.24%	0.18
388	Chaka Fattah	PA	2	D	$0	$0	8.80%	0.18
394	Barney Frank	MA	4	D	$0	$0	8.58%	0.17
394	William L Clay Jr	MO	1	D	$0	$0	8.60%	0.17
394	Bobby L Rush	IL	1	D	$0	$0	8.25%	0.17
394	Bernie Sanders	VT	1	I	$0	$0	8.37%	0.17
394	Bill Delahunt	MA	10	D	$0	$0	8.35%	0.17
399	Gwendolynne Moore	WI	4	D	$0	$0	8.14%	0.16
399	Lucille Roybal-Allard	CA	34	D	$0	$0	7.94%	0.16
399	Danny K Davis	IL	7	D	$0	$0	8.14%	0.16
399	Melvin L Watt	NC	12	D	$0	$0	8.23%	0.16
399	Henry A Waxman	CA	30	D	$0	$0	7.95%	0.16
404	James P McGovern	MA	3	D	$0	$0	7.61%	0.15
404	Edward J Markey	MA	7	D	$0	$0	7.30%	0.15
406	George Miller	CA	7	D	$0	$0	6.92%	0.14
406	Jerrold Nadler	NY	8	D	$0	$0	6.98%	0.14
406	Nancy Pelosi	CA	8	D	$0	$0	7.25%	0.14
406	Xavier Becerra	CA	31	D	$0	$0	6.99%	0.14
406	Mike Honda	CA	15	D	$0	$0	6.88%	0.14
406	Jesse Jackson Jr	IL	2	D	$0	$0	7.06%	0.14
406	Stephanie Tubbs Jones	OH	11	D	$0	$0	7.23%	0.14
406	John F Tierney	MA	6	D	$0	$0	7.01%	0.14
414	Jim McDermott	WA	7	D	$0	$0	6.25%	0.13
414	Maurice Hinchey	NY	22	D	$0	$0	6.49%	0.13
414	Nydia M Velazquez	NY	12	D	$0	$0	6.63%	0.13
414	Maxine Waters	CA	35	D	$0	$0	6.64%	0.13
414	Diane E Watson	CA	33	D	$0	$0	6.33%	0.13
414	John Lewis	GA	5	D	$0	$0	6.28%	0.13
420	Bob Filner	CA	51	D	$0	$0	5.99%	0.12
420	John W Olver	MA	1	D	$0	$0	6.16%	0.12
420	Major R Owens	NY	11	D	$0	$0	5.94%	0.12
420	Pete Stark	CA	13	D	$0	$0	5.77%	0.12
420	Lynn Woolsey	CA	6	D	$0	$0	6.04%	0.12
420	Michael E Capuano	MA	8	D	$0	$0	6.13%	0.12
426	Donald M Payne	NJ	10	D	$0	$0	5.57%	0.11
426	John Conyers Jr	MI	14	D	$0	$0	5.46%	0.11
426	Tammy Baldwin	WI	2	D	$0	$0	5.58%	0.11
426	Doris Matsui	CA	5	D	$0	$0	5.66%	0.11
430	Hilda L Solis	CA	32	D	$0	$0	4.80%	0.10
431	Linda Sanchez	CA	39	D	$0	$0	4.22%	0.08
431	Jan Schakowsky	IL	9	D	$0	$0	4.09%	0.08
431	Barbara Lee	CA	9	D	$0	$0	4.18%	0.08
434	Raul M Grijalva	AZ	7	D	$0	$0	2.92%	0.06