In the November election, 35 US Senate seats will be contested. In five states, the incumbent Senator is retiring (all five are Republican) guaranteeing a new, first-time US Senator in Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico, Idaho and Nebraska. Let's meet the potential new Senators to see what we can look forward to.

Chris Dodd put a "hold" on the latest FISA bill in the Senate this week. This bill was yet another sell out to the administration in a long line of sell-outs and cave-ins by the Democrats. I was ecstatic to see someone stepped up to fight it and stop this capitulation in its tracks. And that someone was Senator Chris Dodd.

So, today I have a little more hope in America. We explain exactly what happened below:



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1. Well, to start, Congress gave Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) $1.5 billion dollars to build two bridges to absolutely nowhere. After two years, the citizens of Alaska stopped one of them and Sen. Stevens is now subject of an FBI investigation targeting public corruption. (1) (2)

Related Video: Daily Show October 10th 2005.

2. Right in the middle of this major war, Congress decided to give away hundreds of billions in tax cuts to major corporations. Isn't war supposed to be a time of sacrifice? Guess the big guys are too busy making money to sacrifice. (1) (2)

Related Video: Bush Press Conference September 20th 2007.

3. Speaking of sacrifice, Congress continued its special retirement system where just five years of service gets you full retirement with benefits at age 62. Sweet! Where can we get that deal? (1)

Related Video: This one was a little more difficult to find a video for, so while searching I found this Lemieux video from when he returned from retirement, my seach ended here. Hockey fans will appreciate this, others will skip.

4. One day Congress was feeling so powerful it decided to trash the great protection against unlawful imprisonment, the writ of habeas corpus. This dates back 800 years to the Magna Carta. You can now be arrested without a charge, denied a lawyer, and held indefinitely. They said it's just for terrorists but they lied. As a special bonus, those torture techniques for terrorists can also be used on U.S. citizens. More of that globalism business. Taser alert! (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Related Video: Keith Olbermann comments on the loss of habeas corpus. October 2006.

5. But let's be fair, the U.S. Senate did take a firm stand on Iraq just recently. They took the time to vote 72 to 25 to condemn an anti war group for criticizing the testimony of one of the few generals who actually supports the war. At the same time they gave billions more to continue in Iraq. Attack an ad, fund a war. It's Congress in action. (1) (2)

Related Video: Cenk from the Young Turks comments, September 21st 2007.

6. As if nuking a newspaper ad wasn't enough, Congress gave recently embarrassed Sen. Vitter, (R-LA), a big fat check for his pet project – "a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties." (1) (2)

Related Video: Penn and Teller Bullshit - Creationism er..Intelligent Design.

7.Meanwhile, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) got a 56 vote Senate majority to guarantee U.S. troops sufficient rest and leave to recover from the hardships of the Iraq war. But it needed 60 votes to pass! "It's a congressional thing, we wouldn't understand." (1) (2) (3)

Related Video:Youtube Video from Septeber 18th 2007 of Jim Webb making his case.

8.Congress made sure that seniors continue to pay top dollar for their medicine by refusing, that's right, refusing to let Medicare officials negotiate bulk discounts from big drug companies (Big Pharma). Why wouldn't they want seniors to get up to 60% off for vital medicines? Got me. (1) (2)

Related Video: Simpsons smuggling cheap pharmaceuticals from Canada.

9.Congress might be getting a little worried about us, the citizens. They passed a bill allowing the government to spy on our phone conversations and emails without a warrant "just because they say so." All it takes is the Attorney General and one intelligence official to say so and you're bugged. You'll never know it. They wouldn't want to upset us, would they? (1) (2) (3) (4)

Related Video: HBO Real Time NSA spoof, March 2006.

10.Not satisfied with screwing the seniors, the soldiers, and just about all U.S. citizens, Congress is now out to get the world by blocking any real action on global warming. Congress must be smarter than just about every scientist in the world. They're the "Brains." (1) (2) (3) (4)

Related Video: Global Warming will probably continue to be part of the political discussions in all countries. Here is a CBC report from Sept. 24th 2007.

Reprinted with permission from opednews.org, videos were added by myself for those who enjoy moving pictures.

I can understand why a fella like Cenk could get pretty frustrated with the recent vote to condemn the moveon.org advertisement. The irony I would like to point out is that this was an advertisement for moveon.org - read it again - an advertisement.

Thanks to Congress putting Moveon.org in the spotlight there are no less then 5,000 articles about moveon.org today on the Google. What does that do to a website's traffic? Not bad, eh?
How about Donations? After the condemnation...

And then came the donations. By midnight, over 12,000 people had donated $500,000-more than we've raised any day this year-.

Either way, Moveon.org defended the advertisement earlier in the month on MSNBC. The Video below.

When the Democrats took over Congress, Americans believed that the war may finally come to an end. After nine months not much has changed, except for the birth of the Reid/Pelosi inauguration night love child, as Stewart illustrates in the video below.

The Congress currently has an approval rating of 11%. Barely anybody is supporting them, and you just have to look at developments from this week to find out why.

1. Democrats attempted to pass a bill that would allow troops (who have now been fighting for over six years) equal time away from the battle. Although the majority of the senate approved the bill (56-44) it was blocked by Republicans. If it had passed, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would have asked the President to veto it.

2. Democrats have been trying to Restore Habeus Corpus, an ancient western law that allows those detained to defend themselves that was revoked in America in 2006. Were they able to restore it? Nope. Although the move to restore got the majority of votes, it was blocked by Republicans. If you look like a terrorist and smell like a terrorist, then you're probably a terrorist. No chance to argue.

3. Moveon.org published an advertisement in the New York Times that questioned David Petraeus, an American General whose information about the war contradicts many independent sources. The importance of condemning the advertisement was so important that it passed with no problem.

To each their own I guess, but it certainly looks bizarre on paper.

The video below is from the Daily Show where Jon touches on the weakness of the Democratic Congress. Oh, he also confirms that Nelson Mandela is, in fact, alive.

When I see what happened this week in the United States Senate, I despair of democracy. It almost makes you wonder if this great experiment in self rule might not work. I know that through these windbags we call senators we are eventually going to get to the will of the people, but it is a slow, ugly and infuriating process.

This week instead of passing any meaningful legislation about Iraq -- whether it's to stay or to go, whether it's to change strategy or to stay the course -- our senators did absolutely nothing. To be fair to the Democrats, who I am usually so hard on, they had moments where they tried to do the right thing, like the Webb amendment that would have given our troops the rest they have earned. But the Republicans wouldn't have it. They filibustered every single bill, except one.

So, what was that one magical bill that captured their imagination and caused them to finally spring into action? It was a vote to condemn an ad! A newspaper ad! It makes you despair of democracy. What a terrible waste of time, and more importantly, what an insult to our troops and the American people that they would waste their energy on this kind of trashy political theater instead of finding a way to bring a decent and humane resolution to the Iraq War.

And, as always, the media went right along. Is there any right-wing talking point that the media will not trumpet as if it is the most important thing in the world? What a bunch of hopeless suckers. But that fight is for another day (if you want to see what I thought of the ad itself and the media coverage of the ad, watch this). The video below shows you how I feel about this useless, senseless Senate vote on the Moveon ad. If you think my writing sounds angry, wait till you get a load of how I really feel:



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David Vitter held a press conference and it's too bad he didn't apologize. Instead he wants you to feel sorry for him.
Tucker Carlson of MSNBC sympathizes with the Vitters, believing they are victims during this media circus.

I just heard about this David Vitter Sex Scandal, and I find it truly fascinating and pretty complicated. Basically, the guy's phone number was on some hookers "list"; he was outed; and he admitted he "sinned." Sounds like he's a religious fellow, so I assume he committed adultery... Probably a good time to resign, especially since he is a Chairman for Rudy's Presidential campaign.

A story in The Guardian explains that these clown protesters were from Operation Save America/Operation Rescue. They wanted to interrupt the first ever Hindu prayer in the Senate. Harry Reid had invited Rajan Zed to do the traditional morning prayer in the Senate as a way of reaching out to other faiths. And these extremist Christians thought, "God forbid!"

The protesters' point was that Hinduism is not mono-theistic and that the Senate was putting other Gods before their God. Their point is both laughably bad and perfectly sensible at the same time.

I have been warning for some time now that the Democrats are pushing too slowly and cautiously to get us out of Iraq. And that at some point the Republicans would try to outflank them and pretend that they got us out of Iraq. That movement has now begun with several high profile Republicans getting ready to pull the plug on this Iraqi misadventure. Now, what's going to be the Democratic response? I hope it's not more of the tepid, lukewarm approach we've been getting so far.

The leading bill among the Democrats is the Levin-Reid bill that says we should begin withdrawal in April, 2008 -- and only if the president agrees. That's an awful bill. That allows the president to continue to get his way pretty much until the end of his administration, against the wishes of most of the Democrats, a huge majority of the American population and now even many Republicans.

They need to scrap that approach and get much tougher, much quicker. Otherwise, the Republicans in Congress will say they got us out of Iraq, and they might even be right.

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There is a difference between how the right-wing views the press and the rest of us view the press. The radical right-wing is so divorced from reality, they think the facts that the press bring readers is made up. They claim that they do not believe the mainstream press at all, except for all the times they quote them of course.

When the New York Times quotes the US commanders on the ground in Iraq or the insurgents, they are not making it up. Those American generals and those Iraqi fighters actually said those quotes. You might not like some of the results of that reporting, but it is essentially true.

The problem that we have with the press (when I say "we," I mean people who are centrists but are now called liberals because they believe in science and the US constitution) is that they needlessly buy into Republican talking points that subtly but importantly shade the truth.

The Nation - June 7th

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an important bill to restore habeas corpus, the sacrosanct Constitutional right to challenge government detention in court, by a vote of eleven to eight.

Habeas corpus was revoked by last year's Military Commissions Act, which has been assailed as unconstitutional and un-American by leaders across the political spectrum. Today's habeas bill was backed by the Judiciary Committee's Democratic Chairman, Patrick Leahy, and its Republican Ranking Member, Arlen Specter. "The drive to restore this fundamental right has come from both sides of the aisle," said Sharon Bradford, an attorney at the bipartisan Constitution Project, in response to today's vote. "Restoring America's commitment to the rule of law is not a partisan cause; it is a patriotic one," she added.

I remember when Olbermann reported it's loss back in October 2006.

Read here to find out more about why US withdrawal/redeployment out of Iraq will inevitably start in the fall. It is impossible for George Bush to continue his disastrous policies in Iraq without the help of the Congressional Republicans. And it is now exceedingly clear that support will no longer be there in the fall of this year.

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Yesterday, I described in general terms the immigration reform deal reached by the administration, liberal Democrats led by Ted Kennedy, and Republicans like Senator Kyl who previously had resisted the administration's quest for "comprehensive" reform in favor of an approach that focused on enforcement of existing laws. I also explained briefly why I oppose the resulting bill (you can find more on the subject here).

The political fall-out of the deal also deserves comment. The most interesting short-term speculation concerns John McCain, who has long favored this kind of deal and, indeed, proposed something like the current legislation in conjunction with Ted Kennedy in the last Congress. The McCain campaign has been making some progress among conservative Republicans. Will the immigration deal halt that progress? I believe that it will, and may in fact reverse it.

The controversy surrounding this legislation has also raised new questions about McCain's temperament. As we describe on Power Line, McCain erupted during a closed-door meeting when conservative Senator John Cornyn pushed to make sure the legislation contained streamlined procedures for deporting illegal aliens. McCain reportedly tried to banish Cornyn from the room. When Cornyn responded that McCain was out of line, particularly since he had been absent from discussions for months as he conducted his presidential campaign, McCain responded ""F*** you! I know what is going on here. I know more about immigration than anybody in this room!"

McCain also apparently has been one of those leading the charge to limit debate on the legislation. The bill is approximately 300 pages long, and was not released until this weekend. Yet its supporters hope to confine debate to less than one week. I'm pretty sure they will not succeed in this, but their effort to rush through a bill this complex and this important tells us something about quality of the legislation and the anti-democratic tendencies of its proponents, including (and, I suggest, especially) John McCain.

Conservatives should keep in mind McCain's conduct and his views as they consider the Republican presidential field.

Politicians from both parties have reached a deal on immigration reform. For several years, the Bush administration has been pushing for comprehensive reform which would combine additional measures to secure our borders, a program to bring in "guest workers" to help out certain big businesses, and path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are here now. Liberal Democrats like Ted Kennedy have been on board, willing to agree to supposed tougher enforcment and an assist to business in order to get their way on what is in effect amnesty for illegals.

Until this year, House Republicans stood in the way of this package. But with the shift in control, this was no longer a problem. Suddenly, the Bush administration and the liberal Democrats just needed 60 votes in the Senate which translates, more or less, to nine Republican Senators.

The breakthrough came when Senator Kyl and other former hardliners on immigration flipped last week. The basic deal, as I understand it, is as follows. First the 12 million or so illegal aliens already here plus any who can sneak in during the next few months will become legal once they step forward and identify themselves. Meanwhile, various measures designed to toughen enforcement will commence -- more fence building, more border patrol personnel, and so forth. Next, the guest worker program goes into effect. Finally, the former illegals get a path to becoming ciitzens. However, this happens (in theory at least) only if certain enforcement "triggers" are met. As I understand it, if the government hasn't built a certain amount of fencing, hired a ceratain amount of personne etc, then the "path to citizenship" provisions don't kick in.

I'm opposed to this deal. It grants the immediate benefit of legalization to millions of illegal immigrants and provides only the promise of enhanced enforcement. It further awards the lawbreaking former illegals by giving them a path to citizenship. It's true that this is supposed to occur only if the "triggers" are satisfied. However, I have little faith that the triggers are particularly meaningful or, in any case, that they won't be waived. If, as the legislation assumes, "amnety" for illegals is appropriate only in an environment in which we've effectively secured our border, then all forms of forgiveness towards illegals should wait until such time that effective enforcement -- not fences and more bureuacrats, but concrete results -- is a reality.