The Liberal Doomsayer My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but as far as I'm concerned, neither major party is perfect. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 66 0 60 4272

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

Killed With The Stroke Of A Pen 2007-10-17 22:46:00 As Prof. Marcus noted earlier, a year ago today, Dubya signed the Military Commissions Act into law.And by the way, presumptive new AG Michael Mukasey will consider the Act to be completely enforceable.I'm afraid it will take courage in a Democratic congress to undo this horror that I definitely don't see in this one, but hopefully, another one some day. ...

More With Diane And Steve 2007-10-17 17:11:00 The following two letters appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times today…The recent letter about increased professional fees in Lower Makefield in 2006 couldn’t have been further off the mark. Those increases in 2006 were a result of new ordinances addressing storm water management, noise restrictions, environment protection and a study of ways to prevent flooding along the Delaware River (Lower Makefield was the only town along the river to undertake such a study to help its residents).In the previous year – under the GOP majority – attorneys’ fees in Lower Makefield were also over budget. Curiously, (Andy) Raffle, a Republican committeeman who delights in attacking the board’s Democratic majority and whose frustration rises with each new success of that majority, neglected to mention that fact.But Raffle’s most glaring omission was his failure to acknowledge that the Democrats also held the line on property taxes after two straight years of Republican tax increases.As ...

The "I-Man" In The Barnyard 2007-10-17 16:01:00 I really went back and forth about saying anything concerning the pending return to the airwaves of Don Imus, but I finally caved for a couple of reasons.First, it sounds like his new sponsor will be reaching rural communities primarily in this country; it’s really a win-win, because RFD-TV is looking for a big name to add to its roster (stands for “rural free delivery,” not the ‘60s sitcom with Andy Griffith, Goober, Aunt Bea, and Emmett the Fix-It guy forever trying to mend a toaster) and Imus gets an audience automatically receptive to his crude, racist rants.(On a related note, by the way, isn’t it funny how this turn has transpired for Imus, especially since he once lampooned people who will now be his chief audience?)Second (as noted here by Media Matters, the people doing God’s work), pretend liberal Alan Colmes said that the descriptions of the Rutgers women’s basketball team by Imus and producer Bernard McGuirk last April constituted “satire” as opposed to le ...

Antonin Scalia Is Right 2007-10-17 15:25:00 According to this Philadelphia Inquirer story…"The bottom line is that the Catholic faith seems to me to have little effect on my work as a judge," (Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) declared.I should note that Scalia spoke at Villanova University last night, hence the news story (though given Scalia’s propensity for secrecy on these occasions, I’m surprised reporter David O’Reilly was even allowed to do his job).And I should also add that I agree with Scalia; the Catholic faith that I was taught appears to be nowhere in sight when you look at his rulings.He obviously doesn’t want to be a steward of the earth, as noted in this prior post where he rendered a rather restrictive interpretation of the Clean Water Act that allowed for pollution in “channels through which water flows intermittently or channels that provide drainage for rainfall.”He didn’t care about simple decency, to say nothing of Christian compassion, in the case of James Stone, an 81-year-old retired ...

Lou Dobbs Is All Wet on UNCLOS 2007-10-17 12:35:00 I really have to wonder about the motives behind Lou Dobbs.His opinion column today gives the reader the implication that he’s going to chastise Dubya for his utter nightmare of a presidency, and Dobbs does this for the first few paragraphs.However, after blaming the Democrats for “seeking passage of the disastrous immigration reform legislation” (I know I have no hope whatsoever of trying to convince Dobbs and his like-minded brethren that there was a lot that was good in the measure, such as providing a path to citizenship for the illegals, thus acknowledging the reality that they’re here to stay), Dobbs then laments that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will once more hear arguments about the Law Of The Sea TreatyThis is what Dobbs tells us about the treaty (which, of course, was rejected by The Sainted Ronnie R and encouraged by that baaad, Monica-Whatsername-cheating Bill Clinton)…The Law of the Sea Treaty would undermine our national sovereignty and act as a back ...

Patrick Takes Out The Trash 2007-10-17 12:00:00 Today’s Bucks County Courier Times tells us that Patrick Murphy, working with Bensalem, PA solicitor Joseph Pizzo, is trying to pass the Clean Railroads Act which would close a long-existing loophole in federal law that “(allows) rail companies to run roughshod over state and local laws and the will of a community,” as Patrick stated in the Courier Times article here.Patrick has actually been fighting the planned waste transfer station in Bensalem that would be allowed under the loophole for some time, as noted here where he stated his opposition in July along with State Rep. Joe DiGirolamo and Bensalem Mayor Gene DiGirolamo (both Repugs, by the way - sorry the link is flaky).The loophole in question was an oversight from the Interstate Commerce Commission Act of 1995, and in addition to Patrick, Dem House Rep. Joseph Pallone of New Jersey is trying to pass the Clean Railroads Act for much the same reasons as Patrick (noted here, with Pallone receiving help from Sens. Frank Laute ...

Tell George Where To Go, Joe 2007-10-17 10:24:00 I don’t know if I’ll be able to get this post out in time before anything happens, and I should have said something before now, but New York Yankees manager Joe Torre should tell George Steinbrenner what he can do with his threats about Torre losing his job.Joe Torre is a legend in major league baseball, having played and managed in the game for over 40 years. As a player, he was a National League All Star from 1963 to 1967, playing both catcher and third base in his career. In 1971 (as noted here by Wikipedia), he led the NL in two triple crown categories - RBIs (137) and batting average (.363) - as well as in hits (230) and total bases (352). He was also 2nd in the NL in on base percentage (.421), 3rd in slugging percentage (.555), doubles (34), and intentional walks (20), and 5th in runs (97) and triples (8). Batting cleanup all season, he hit .413 in games that were late and close. He was named the NL's Most Valuable Player, as well as Major League Player of The Year by both T ...

Tuesday Videos 2007-10-16 22:11:00 The Hold Steady ("Hot Soft Light")......Happy Birthday to Michael Balzary (aka Flea) of The Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Dani California" - great song and a funny video). ...

Watch It And Weep, Bancroft Family 2007-10-16 22:04:00 Over time, Rupert Murdoch is going to do something like this to your once-precious Wall Street Journal (sad for the truly well-done reporting, but hilarious given the corpo-fascist editorial page - from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films)... ...

The Old Gray Lady Nods Off Again 2007-10-16 21:37:00 Hey, New York Times, did you know that John Edwards won the endorsement of ten state councils of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) yesterday, numbering about a million people? I mean, you must have, right?After all, as Greg Sargent notes here, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and CNBC all reported stories about it....Well, did you?...(Never mind, I think it's time for another nap. ..)And besides, our media doesn't like John Edwards, as we know; how silly of me to forget. ...

Pryce Isn't Totally Right, BoBo 2007-10-16 17:10:00 Before I say another word, I should point out that, according to David Brooks of the New York Times in his column today, Ohio Repug Rep. Deborah Pryce lost her 9-year-old daughter to cancer in 1999. I am genuinely sorry for her loss, and I'll respect that, though I must provide some clarifications about Pryce's service that are missing in Brooks' column.The former editor for The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard spends a good bit of this column lamenting the sad state of political affairs in this country generally with its "me-ism" (probably a trite observation at this point), but aside from Pryce's laughable notion that somehow, people like Denny Hastert could actually be worth admiration, I'd like to point out the following about her legislative history in the House (from here)..Pryce has been criticized by environmental organizations for what they see as a pattern of anti-environment votes, such as her support for legislation to make the EPA a cabinet department, to e ...

The One That Got Away 2007-10-16 11:22:00 Gee, wasn’t it just a few months ago when the preznit and his family met with our ol’ buddy Vlad Putin in Kennebunkport discussing the missile defense shield while fishing for a 20-foot striped bass (here)?Well, it sounds like Putin is now telling us to back off about attacking Iran and trying to get “a piece of the action” from Caspian Sea oil projects (discussing these issues while meeting with figurehead leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Putin is right about attacking Iran, though).And as far as this so-called “missile defense shield” is concerned, that will never be anything but a pipe dream continually pursued by any Repug president (and God willing, we won’t see any more for a good while after this one – remember Ronnie Baby and SDI here?).Given this turn in our relationship with the soon-to-be Russian prime minister (and is it completely off the hypocrisy scale for Bushco and Our Gal Condi Rice to lecture Vlad on human rights, given that we’re responsible for this?) ...

The Inky Descends Into SCHIP Wingnuttia 2007-10-16 10:04:00 (With more than a little help from David Espo and the AP here, I should add…)So let’s start with the lede, shall we?WASHINGTON - Shrugging off a barrage of political attacks, House Republicans are on track to hand President Bush a victory this week by upholding his veto of legislation that would expand children's health coverage.This is right out of fantasyland. A universally unpopular president vetoed a universally popular program to provide health insurance for our kids, aided and abetted in no small part by ideologically sympathetic politicians and media loudmouths (and yes, I acknowledge that, at this point, the veto may hold in the House). That is a victory?Rep. Rob Bishop called the vetoed bill a "dumb idea" for relying on higher tobacco taxes to pay for insuring children, a provision he said would create a need for new smokers.And Rep. Chris Cannon said that while he agreed with (Utah Repug Sen. Orrin) Hatch on one point, they part company on another. "This is a profoundly ...

37 GOP Scandals in 4.5 Minutes 2007-10-15 20:23:00 Just came across this at Brave New Films - enjoy (if that's the right word; don't blink, or you'll miss a couple). ...

Another "Win" For Privatization 2007-10-15 17:01:00 I’m going to overlook the fact that this Philadelphia Daily News article was written by the utterly despicable Stu Bykofsky, because what matters is the story he uncovered.It turns out that Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia applied in January of this year to receive our critically wounded military personnel for treatment, and their application was accepted in April (they applied to Health Net Federal Services and not the Veterans Administration directly; Health Net is – you guessed it – a contractor).However, to date, Magee has yet to receive a patient for treatment (the hospital was rated 16th of all facilities of its type throughout the country by U.S. News and World Report).As Bykofsky tells us…I don't want to make this political, but Dr. Bruce M. Gans, chief medical officer of Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, says the VA system "has been actively dismantled over the last dozen years due to cost-cutting moves," resulting in "serious limitations" to the woun ...