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: 33 0 106 4211

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

Happy Birthday To The AUMF 2007-10-11 10:39:00 The Daily Kos blogger smintheus didn’t forget that, on this day five years ago, the Senate approved the Authorization To Use Military Force against Iraq; there are no words I can summon to properly describe the resultant catastrophe that has since taken place. Instead, I will merely note the 23 prescient Senators who did the right thing by opposing it:Akaka (D-HI)Bingaman (D-NM)Boxer (D-CA)Byrd (D-WV)Chafee (R-RI)Conrad (D-ND)Corzine (D-NJ)Dayton (D-MN)Durbin (D-IL)Feingold (D-WI)Graham (D-FL)Inouye (D-HI)Jeffords (I-VT)Kennedy (D-MA)Leahy (D-VT)Levin (D-MI)Mikulski (D-MD)Murray (D-WA)Reed (D-RI)Sarbanes (D-MD)Stabenow (D-MI)Wellstone (D-MN)Wyden (D-OR)And as you can see, there is one notable missing from that list, and I want to comment on her actions related to that fateful vote.From here (7/27/2007)…(It may be significant that Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president, has called for the revocation of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force against ...

LMT And The Deer Hunters 2007-10-10 17:25:00 Local PA stuff coming up here…Columnist Kate Fratti of the Bucks County Courier Times weighs in here with more than a bit of an attitude about the proposed deer hunt for Lower Makefield Township to thin the population (no further information available at the moment). And in her column, she also takes the following shot at township residents who have complained about train horns in the dead of night and fire engine sirens at LMT supervisor meetings…Listen to them speak, and there's no mistaking these are important people around whom the planet should revolve. Arrogant people.In some cases I’m sure, but I would call that just a bit of a generalization.We know of people affected by the issues she’s noted, and we have a familiarity ourselves by varying degrees – you’re going to hear the train in most parts of this township as well as areas of Yardley borough, and I’m not sure how much can be done about that (I also know of people who have complained when the trucks arrived e ...

Welcome To Teh Awesome Romney Bros. Blog! 2007-10-10 16:11:00 Hey kids, you’re not going to believe the news! Why, the five sons of Willard Mitt Romney have, you know, like, started a blog and all that about how they’re going to serve their country by helping their dad get elected president and not by fighting in Iraq! Ripping!I mean, it’s got all kinds of cool, blog-like stuff, like photo IDs for each of them who are, like, going to actually post and all that, as well as photos of restaurants where they ate with other white bread Republicans like them who think it’s, like, so awesome that their dad is actually running for President!! And there’s plenty of pictures of happy conservatives everywhere, hangout out, riding in cars, watching movies – you know, stuff that all other Americans can do safely anytime and anywhere they want, you know, as opposed to serving in Iraq.And oh yeah, I almost forgot about the best part; photos of The Mitt Mobile! Like, the big van that all the Romneys can ride in all over so they can stop anytime they ...

More Standup Tragedy With Mike Huckabee 2007-10-10 14:38:00 Gosh, where’s Major Bowes’ hook when you need it, huh boys and girls?It seems that pretend Repug presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is trying to tickle our funny bones again and failing miserably, this time over the matter of killing yourself.I gotta hand it to you, Mike; I haven’t had this many laughs since my last tooth extraction.And here are more uproarious moments. Enjoy. ...

Mercy From The Executioner? 2007-10-10 13:53:00 According to this Yahoo News story, it seems that President Brainless has picked an interesting time to decide that this country is, after all, a member of a community of nations that should abide by international agreements and laws.There’s a lot going on here, so I’ll try to break it down as much as I can.Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican immigrant, was convicted of raping and murdering two adolescent girls and sentenced to death. However, Dubya is trying to stay his execution and review his case as well as the convictions of 50 other Mexican nationals because they were not offered access to Mexican consular officials after their arrests. This is out of deference to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (where, one day God willing, he will stand as a defendant along with Deadeye Dick Cheney and Rummy as accused war criminals). And The Supremes are scheduled to hear the case today.And as writer Massimo Calabresi notes trenchantly here…The raucous right is in an uproar, ...

Hoe Does It Feel To Get Played? 2007-10-10 11:44:00 Here is Hunter over at The Daily Kos on the continuing freeper outcry towards the family of 12-year-old Graeme Frost, the boy who spoke out on behalf of the Democrats about Dubya’s SCHIP veto…It's long past time for people to stop treating Fox-style, Malkin-style, Limbaugh-style conservatism as merely a "political" phenomenon. It may once have been, but it isn't now. As of this millennium, it's nothing but a hate movement with neckties. Protofascism with bright, patriotic logos. Stop treating it with anything but revulsion and disdain. Stop pretending for even a bare moment that they are anything more than thugs.And as I finished reading what Hunter said, I found myself wondering how these evangelicals and so-called “values voters” are dealing with the reality that Dubya has proven to be the self-serving, incompetent, unconscionable liar for which history will remember him always (with the Malkinites acting typically as the zealots acting in accordance with the dicta that co ...

I Think You're "De 'Ho," Larry 2007-10-10 07:44:00 Yep, I know I'm late again on another story, this one having to do with Larry Craig's induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame (so much snark, so little time).Well, here is a tribute to Senator "Wide Stance" for this recognition (and once again, thanks to Our Man Arlen Specter for convincing Craig not to resign).And bad luck there on not being able to withdraw your guilty plea, Larry - what a shame...not! ...

Tuesday Videos 2007-10-09 22:02:00 Live ("Operation Spirit," going back to 1991)......three rock icons coming up; Happy Birthday to Jackson Browne ("Late For The Sky," recorded on the program "Soundstage" from Chicago in 1976 - the video and audio is a little beat up, but I won't pass up a chance to link to this song)......John Entwistle of The Who would have been 63 today ("Substitute," from the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967 - you barely saw him, but they wouldn't have been The Who without him)......and John Lennon would have been 67 ("Working Class Hero"). ...

Tuesday PA Dem Wrapup 2007-10-09 17:14:00 This letter appeared today in the Bucks County Courier Times…Commendations to Congressman Patrick Murphy for being one of the first co-sponsors of House Resolution 282, which prevented the Postal Service from contracting out letter carrier work. In some cities, USPS was hiring private contractors, for low wages and no benefits, to deliver mail.The National Association of Letter Carriers could not reach a new contract with the USPS. Thanks to two pieces of legislation, including HR 282, USPS came back to the bargaining table. In our new agreement, there is a five-year moratorium on contracting out all city delivery routes, which includes communities like Bensalem and Levittown.Letter carriers are the eyes and ears of the communities they serve. Thanks to this legislation, your letter carrier will remain someone who you know and trust.Bill LuciniBristol Township, PAAnd this editorial appeared also…It's easy to criticize; it's a lot harder to offer positive solutions. And so we aske ...

Perino Punts On The Kurd “Turkey Shoot” 2007-10-09 16:16:00 More Bushco distortions and evasions coming up (from here)…MS. PERINO: Hello. I have nothing to start with, so --Q Is the United States concerned about Turkey's plans to conduct military operations in Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels?MS. PERINO: You're talking about the action they're discussing in their parliament today?Q Yes.MS. PERINO: Let me go back a couple steps. We have long been supportive of Turkey, to make sure they have what they need in order to stop terrorist activity in northern Iraq. And the Iraqi government is in agreement with that, as well. And on September 28th, the Turks and the Iraqis came together on an agreement to work together, cooperatively, against terrorism. We're supportive of those efforts. And I think it's hypothetically charged to talk about an incursion or an invasion, so I think I'll decline to comment on that.Leave it to Bushco to typically avoid the question in a preamble of sorts to its actual answer, and then huffily decline to give the an ...

Alphonso Jackson's House Of Cards 2007-10-09 15:45:00 At least I’ll say this much about Bushco; when it comes to cronyism, hubris and incompe- tence, they’re definitely “equal opportunity offenders.”With that in mind, here’s a story that appeared in the New York Times last Thursday (a little late on this, I know)…WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 — The Justice Department is investigating ties between Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson and a friend of Mr. Jackson’s who was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by him for rebuilding work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, federal officials said Thursday.The investigation, they said, centers in part on whether Mr. Jackson was fully truthful in Congressional testimony and in interviews with federal investigators when he said he had not steered housing contracts to friends and administration supporters.I really don’t know what to say about Jackson as I read this story (as well as rereading this prior post, and georgia10 has more here).I mean, we know Bushco is ...

"Clap" Hanson And Ramadi In Chaos 2007-10-09 13:36:00 I hadn’t heard from that noted classicist and war pornographer Victor Davis Hanson for a little while in the Bucks County Courier Times, and being a curious sort, I decided to find out what he was up to.Well, lo and behold, he’s still preaching “the gospel of the surge,” which “of course” is working as far as he’s concerned (in this NRO link – sorry to inflict this on you)……we might well be witnessing an historic change in Iraq that would have profound effects throughout the region. The Iraqis are just beginning to step up effectively to their own defense, and are reaching out to the Americans-rather than solely vice versa as was mostly true between 2003-6. The result is that in a once frightening place like Ramadi — declared “beyond repair” in 9/06 in a sober and carefully written Marine intelligence report — Marine casualties have plummeted, reconstruction is underway, and everyone seems to be a bit dazed about the sudden calm after the horrific past storm ...

Fall Labor Pains 2007-10-09 12:27:00 I’ve been reading about the decision by the Service Employees International Union not to endorse a particular Democratic candidate for the party’s nomination, and I keep trying to figure out how this is a positive development (for someone besides Hillary Clinton, I mean).True, the Edwards campaign will receive the support of “hundreds of thousands of SEIU members,” as spokesman Eric Schultz pointed out, which is bound to provide a shot in the arm, as it were, in terms of money, backers, and workers doing the nuts-and-bolts leg work for the campaign (and of course Barack Obama and Clinton herself will be helped out, as well as other Democratic candidates reaping benefits of varying degrees).But to dilute the clout of a single national endorsement for anyone dilutes the power of organized labor in general in the campaign, as far as I’m concerned.And for a bit of a history lesson on this, I went back to this article by Ryan Lizza of The New Republic from 2003 in which the SEIU t ...

Monday Videos 2007-10-08 22:18:00 October Project ("Bury My Lovely," something gothic and appropriate for a turn in the weather for these parts that should arrive shortly)......and happy belated birthday to singer/songwriter Don McLean, which I couldn't note last week because of the technical issues ("If We Try," from the "American Pie" heyday; this was always a sentimental favorite - I have no clue as to what is going on with this slide show, but it's still nice just to hear the song). ...

Our Corporate Media Tips Its Hand 2007-10-08 17:16:00 From the AP’s Nedra Pickler (here)…NEW HAMPTON, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken the lead among Democratic presidential candidates in an Iowa poll, an encouraging sign of progress toward overcoming a big hurdle in the race.(Oh, and by the way, here is Pickler in action taking a partisan shot at Barack Obama, and here is Pickler allowing Bill Donahue a soapbox from which he can slime Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen to the point where they decided to leave the John Edwards campaign, though Pickler didn’t bother to look into some of Donahue’s infamous remarks.)“An encouraging sign of progress,” huh? Well, at least Pickler didn’t write about Clinton’s “laugh,” which many other corporate media stooges are doing (I’m not going to say more about it; it truly isn’t worth it).Gee, I don’t know who edits copy over at the AP, but I can tell you that some of my journalism profs would have “ripped me a new one” if I’d handed in stuff like this, to say nothi ...