Rep. Doolittle to retire from Congress

Rep. Doolittle to Announce Retirement From Congress Amid Lobbying Scandal Investigation

Republican Rep. John Doolittle of California, who is under investigation in a congressional lobbying scandal, said Thursday that he'll retire from Congress at the end of his current term.

...The development comes as Doolittle, in his ninth term, faced growing political pressure from fellow Republicans who considered him a liability because of his involvement, along with his wife, in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation. House Republicans, still smarting from losing control of Congress in 2006, are eager to put that ethics taint behind them and welcomed Doolittle's announcement.

...Doolittle came close to losing re-election in 2006 in one of the most conservative districts in California, and some in his own party believed he couldn't survive this time around.

...Party leaders pointedly declined to encourage Doolittle's re-election plans and his fundraising lagged.

...For months, Doolittle resisted suggestions that he retire, branding his GOP critics "weasels."

...Doolittle will be the latest in a string of House Republicans to announce their retirements, although most don't have his legal problems. Nearly 20 others are headed into voluntary retirement.

...The Abramoff investigation already has led to a dozen convictions, including a guilty plea from now imprisoned former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio.

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Republicans Call Bush's Bluff On War Funding Threats

This would be funny except it's not funny. Know what I mean? On the heels of Congress passing the largest Defense spending bill ever, Bush and his bots are crying "poor" and were threatening to "lay off" 200,000 Pentagon employees if Bush didn't get everything he asked for.

Well, the Republican lawmakers called his bluff.

But in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Virginia Republicans Tom Davis and Frank Wolf say the administration's threat is baseless, because the Pentagon has the authority to make shifts in its budget to avoid forcing employees to take leaves of absences.

...The letter -- also signed by Reps. Jim Moran, D-VA, Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-MD, Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, John Sarbanes, D-MD, and Elijah Cummings, D-MD -- comes less than a month after Congress passed a $459 billion defense spending bill. The Pentagon has "general transfer authority of $3.7 billion" and can also reallocate $8 billion of "excess working capital fund cash" to meet other budget, the letter states.

Citing this monetary flexibility, Rep. Moran labeled Gates' doomsday furlough proclamation an "old budget showdown tactic." Indeed, President Bush, himself, has been ramping up the rhetoric, repeatedly warning of severe damages to the Defense Department in the absence of an agreement on Iraq War funds.

"Given that the administration's threats were announced on the heels of Congress passing the largest defense spending bill ever, their cries of poor mouth raise a red flag the size of the North Pole," Moran said.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Experts Urge Congress to Cut Abstinence Only Funding

Ten top public health researchers urged Congressional leaders last week to cut funding for failed abstinence only programs. The letter, signed by researchers from universities like Columbia and Yale, as well as from the Guttmacher Institute, was sent to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It warned that abstinence only programs withhold "potentially life-saving information" about contraceptives and ignore the health needs of homosexual, bisexual and transgender youth, reports the Washington Times. Abstinence only programs also omit information on the use of condoms, which would aid in the prevention of spreading sexually transmitted diseases.

Abstinence only programs have come under increasing fire as studies reveal how ineffective they are. The US has spent about $1 billion on failed abstinence only programs in the past decade.

Many states, including New York, Maine and Pennsylvania, have rejected the matching federal abstinence only funds in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education. Virginia recently became the 14th state to do so, cutting the $275,000 from the state budget that is required to match federal abstinence-only funding.

Media Resources: Daily Women’s Health Policy Report 11/28/07; Washington Times 11/28/07; Feminist Daily Newswire 11/26/07

SEE ALSO:

Bush Pushes for More Abstinence Only Funding

President Bush is pushing for more funding for abstinence only programs even as a Congressional study shows they are ineffective. The US has spent about $1 billion on failed abstinence-only sex education programs over the past decade and President Bush proposes a 2008 budget of $204 million for such programs, reports Women’s eNews.

In fact, a November 7th study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy showed that programs that combine abstinence and contraception were most effective.

Many states are now rejecting the matching federal abstinence only funds in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education. Just this month, Virginia became the 14th state to do so, cutting the $275,000 from the state budget that is required to match federal abstinence-only funding.

Rove Confronted Over Iraq War Lie

Farther down here, you'll find the post about Karl Rove's insane claim that poor little President Bush never wanted to go to war with Iraq but that nasty mean old Congress forced him into it.

These delusions would be laugh-out-loud hysterically funny except it's the current lie being pushed by the lunatics running our country.

They really think America is living their delusion with them. That's scary.

From Nico Pitney:

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen called out Karl Rove for his false claim that Congress, not President Bush, had pushed for a speedy vote on the 2002 Iraq war resolution.

"Clearly things have not gone right in Iraq and you've tried to revise history," Van Hollen told Rove, demanding he "retract the outrageous statements you made."

Rove refused to back down, instead reading off a series of quotes by then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) that Rove claimed backed up his point. But as ThinkProgress documents, "None of the quotes that Rove used suggested Daschle was desperately trying to force a war authorization vote."

Van Hollen then laid down his trump card: a quote by former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer in today's Washington Post: "It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress. I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."

Read the rest of the confrontation here.

Rove Can't Claim "Executive Privilege" in U.S. Attorney Scandal

Looks like Rove and others in the Bushbot Gang are going to be on the hot seat:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate chairman acknowledged explicitly on Thursday that President Bush was not involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys last winter and therefore ruled illegal the president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff, John Bolten, and former adviser Karl Rove.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy directed Bolten, Rove, former White House political director Sara Taylor and her deputy, J. Scott Jennings, to comply "immediately" with their subpoenas for documents and information about the White House's role in the firings of U.S. attorneys.

"I hereby rule that those claims are not legally valid to excuse current and former White House employees from appearing, testifying and producing documents related to this investigation," Leahy wrote.

The ruling is a formality that clears the way for Leahy's panel to vote on whether to advance the citations to the full Senate.

The executive privilege claim "is surprising in light of the significant and uncontroverted evidence that the president had no involvement in these firings," Leahy, D-Vt., wrote in his ruling. "The president's lack of involvement in these firings — by his own account and that of many others — calls into question any claim of executive privilege."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

What's Karl Rove Been Smoking? Dude, you've gone totally batshit insane.

From Paul Abrams who reports on Rove's interview with Charlie Rose:

You are not going to believe this, well, actually you will... According to Karl Rove (on Charlie Rose), the Bush Administration did not want Congress to vote on the Iraq War resolution in the fall of 2002, because they thought it should not be done within the context of an election. Rove, you see, did not think the war vote should be "political".

Moreover, according to Rove, that "premature vote" led to many of the problems that cropped up in the Iraq War. Had Congress not pushed, he says, Bush could have spent more time assembling a coalition, and provided more time to the inspectors.

If you are like me, you have stopped reading/listening, and are rushing to get your anti-emetic.

It is worth remembering that the Senate in the fall of 2002 was controlled, barely, by Democrats. Get it? George Bush, we are being told, wanted to delay, wanted to hold back, wanted to take the time to build a coalition and let the inspectors finish their job, but that damn Congress just pushed him into it.

MORE...

This is actually scary. The lunatics running the country apparently, really are lunatics. Abso-fucking-lutely delusional. And very, very scary. This is the insanity that's deciding our fates. All of us.

Politics Navigator

Politics Navigator
By RICH MEISLIN
A selective guide to political sites on the Internet.

The Government
The White House
The House of Representatives
GOP.gov, from the House Republican Conference
The Speaker's News Page from the House Speaker's office
House Democrats
House Clerk's Office follows House proceedings
House Rules Committee has House rules, schedules and information on how Congress works
The Senate
Senate Republican Policy Committee
Senate Democratic Leadership
The Judiciary
Supreme Court
Federal District and Appeals Courts
Congressional Pictoral Directory Pictures of members of Congress in PDF format
Congress.org lets you find and send e-mail to federal, state and local officials.
FedWorld Information Services: Comprehensive guide to government databases
USA.gov provides access to government services for individuals, businesses and governments.
Federal Government Agencies, a clean, easy-to-use listing
Federal Web Navigator helps find government Web sites
National Governors Association
National Conference of State Legislatures
New York State Government Information Locator

Parties & Persuasions
Democratic National Committee
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
New Democrats Online from the Democratic Leadership Council
Republican National Committee
National Republican Congressional Committee
National Republican Senatorial Committee
State Republican parties and candidates
Libertarian Party
International Society for Individual Liberty Extensive collection of Libertarian links
Libertarian.org More about the persuasion than the party
Reform Party of Ross Perot fame
The Green Parties worldwide and Green Party of the United States
Democratic Socialists of America
Communist Party U.S.A.
Socialist Party U.S.A.
New Party
Natural Law Party
Constitution Party formerly United States Taxpayers Party
Turn Left was the home of liberalism on the Web, but is no longer updated
The Federalist Society Conservative and libertarian thought
The Christian Coalition
National Right to Life Committee
National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
Moving Ideas from a collection of liberal publications, think tanks and organizations (formerly Electronic Policy Network)
People for the American Way "Progressive" lobbying and activism (interesting information on the Religious Right in politics)
National Committee for an Effective Congress Political information, voting and finance data from "progressive" viewpoint
Campaign for America's Future advocates what it calls "progressive reform"
New Democrat Network supports "pro-growth, pro-family" Democrats
Democrats.com online community site for "progressive" Democrats
The Interfaith Alliance seeks to counter what it calls religious extremist influence in politics
American Israel Public Affairs Committee Pro-Israel lobby
The Feminist Majority
Emily's List Political network for pro-choice Democratic women
National Organization for Women
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Rifle Association
American Civil Liberties Union
The John Birch Society
The Concord Coalition aims to eliminate the budget deficit
NetAction highlights the Internet's potential as a tool for organizing and advocacy
AFL-CIO The labor perspective
MoveOn says its goal is to bring ordinary people back into politics
Political Information
The American Presidency a history of the office from Grolier Online
Ballot Access News follows efforts to get candidates on the ballot
Cato Institute libertarian think tank
Center for Public Integrity studies the impact of money on public policy
The Center for Voting and Democracy advocates proportional representation
Congressional
Guide A wealth of information on members and committees of the
105th Congress, from Capitol Advantage
Campaigns and Elections Election news and a political blog directory
CQ.com from Congressional Quarterly
Congressional roll calls from Congressional Observer Publications
Council on Foreign Relations tracks the candidates on foreign policy issues
DemocracyNet Information about and discussion of local elections and issues from the League of Women Voters
The Empire Page links to major news headlines on politics each day, emphasizing New York
Federal Election Commission data on campaign contributions
Follow the Money gives contribution information for state races
The Gallup Poll
Gotham Gazette New York City news and policy from Citizens Union
GovSpot Useful government information of all types
Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank InCongress collects information from interest groups on various issues before Congress

National Political Index links to varied political and government sites and services
OpenSecrets.org from The Center for Responsive Politics provides extensive campaign contribution information
Political Information searches 5,000 politics and policy web sites
PoliticalMoneyLine Federal Election Commission data in a more useful format
Political Science Resources an excellent international collection of links
Politics1 Information on parties, candidates and issues
PoliticsNY looks at New York politics and links to New York candidates' and officials' sites
Pollingreport.com tracks trends in public opinion from various sources
Project Vote Smart tracks candidates, officials and issues
Public Agenda provides research on major issues in a nonpartisan manner
self-gov.org offers a quick test of your political leanings
TownHall.com Conservative news and information
Voter and registration demographics from the Census Bureau
Vote.com from Dick Morris and friends lets people "vote" on public issues
Political Media & Commentary
The Atlantic Policy & Society from the Atlantic Online
C-Span Program schedules and TV/radio feeds
Commentary
eVote, with news and features, says it "keeps score in the Great Game of Politics."
Fast Politics links to political news from many sources
Foreign Policy The venerable magazine of international politics
The Hill Capitol Hill news
National Review Online
The New Republic Online
Roll Call Online Capitol Hill news
Salon politics
Slate, Microsoft's magazine of politics and culture
Public Opinion
RealClear Politics summarizes the latest political polls

News Organizations
ABC News
CBS News
The Los Angeles Times
Minnesota Poll from the Minneapolis Star Tribune
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The Washington Post

Private Organizations
Gallup Poll
Ipsos Market research, advertising research and public opinion
Kaiser Family Foundation
MORI Market research organization in Britain
Pew Research Center
PollingReport.com
Public Agenda Nonprofit public opinion and policy analysis organization founded by Daniel Yankelovich and Cyrus Vance
The Tarrance Group's Battleground Polls
Zogby International State Polls
Arkansas Arkansas Poll, University of Arkansas
California Field Poll
Connecticut Quinnipiac University Poll
Minnesota Poll Minneapolis Star Tribune
New Jersey Quinnipiac University Poll
New York Marist Institute for Public Opnion
New York Quinnipiac University Poll
Pennsylvania Quinnipiac University Poll

Academic Organizations
Council of European Social Science Data Archives
Member Archives
The Eagleton Poll at Rutgers
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
National Annenberg Election Survey from the University of Pennsylvania
Odum Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Program on International Policy Attitudes
Racial Attitudes in America from the University of Illinois at Chicago
Roper Center at the University of Connecticut

-->Maintained by Rich Meislin. Revised 3/29/07.

The Current Nancy Pelosi Hysteria

It's been obvious that the extreme uber-right-wing has been gunning for Nancy Pelosi even before last November 2006's elections. In fact, much of the shrieking hysteria I saw from the fanatical end of the right wing was that Republican power and the status quo must be preserved or else we will have *GASP!* Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House!

Ever since the Republicans' crushing defeat last November and the American public's repudiation of Bush war policy, the fanatics have had Pelosi in their gun sights and now they are in an orgasmic frenzy of masturbatory wish-fulfillment fantasy that their Number One target has committed some sort of transgression by taking seriously her obligation to represent the people of the United States.

I refer, of course, to Ms. Pelosi's U.S. Embassy arranged and supervised trip to Syria. Oh, you didn't know it was all handled by Bush administration representatives therefore, it couldn't possibly any infraction of the rules? Well. Now you know.

Sorry, Uber-Fanatics. Your balloon's been popped.

Here is my review of a related article I mischieviously placed on one of those uber-right-wing messageboards to be found in cyberspace:

I was impressed with this article for two reasons: The first being that, as a writer, I appreciate concise and effective writing skills in other writers so, entirely separate from any politics involved, I appreciate the logical and non-hysterical manner in which this article was put together. It is highly effective writing. I suspect that there are people who would actually shriek with rage against such a writing style if it was not also used to promote their personal brand of political zealotry but, like I said, the actual writing skill involved is separate from the politics. This article is pure reading pleasure simply for the technical writing skills of its author. As for the politics, the article's approach is minus all the huffing and puffing and shrieking and pontificating I've seen far too much of here at BP and elsewhere on the internet and so it comes across as a breath of fresh air. When I reference the lack of hysteria in this article, I also intend to refer to the hysteria to be found on both ends of the political spectrum. This writer is no zealot or at least, there is no trace of it in this particular piece. Some points made in the article: Republican congressman Jim Kolbe travelled to Iraq in the Summer of 2003 because he felt, as chairman of the House subcommittee that manages America’s foreign assistance programs, it was his solemn responsibility to be "on the ground" to assess the need for the billions of dollars he knew Bush would be asking for in spite of Bush and Rice's assurances the budget would not be that high. The Bush administration refused him entrance to Iraq at the Kuwaiti border. The reason given was that there was no means of providing for the security of non-military personnel. This, in spite of the numerous "embedded" reporters already travelling all over Iraq as well as numerous civilian contractors and their laborers who were also already inside Iraq. Kolbe "snuck in" by posing as a contract laborer and was able to accomplish his fact-finding mission. Kolbe's decision to oversee the spending in Iraq provides an excellent context for Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria. A major difference between the two trips is that Pelosi's itinerary in Syria was arranged by the American embassy and every contact she had with Syrian officials was supervised by Bush administration officials. This article reminds us that Congress is charged with some very heavy responsibilities that can't always be fulfilled by sitting behind a desk in Washington. As the author of this article puts it, "They need to get out and kick the tires." The article does give an example of how a member of Congress can and did cross the line into unacceptable usurpation of Executive branch powers. Pelosi’s predecessor, J. Dennis Hastert, conducted his own foreign policy apart from the Executive branch when it came to Colombia. He met with Columbian government representatives and sent his staff to Colombia to conduct business there. Unlike Pelosi, Hastert refused to allow United States government officials to oversee his contacts with the Columbian government even as he presented himself as a spokeperson for the United States government. Congress would conduct billions of dollars in arms negotiations with Colombia based on Hastert's foreign policy, not on White House foreign policy. Hastert insisted the funds be inserted into appropriations bills and it would be his staff that would secure transfer of the actual weapons to the government of Colombia. The Clinton administration did not seek any criminal or other investigation of Hastert's misconduct because Clinton's legislative priorities necessitated a working relationship with Congress and so they "looked the other way." This example of Hastert's aggregious behavior most definitely highlights the hypocrisy of political zealots who would skewer Pelosi for her U.S. embassy arranged visit to Syria. The article concludes that it is inappropriate for the White House or anyone else to interfere with the right of Congress to travel, ask questions, and be informed as to the serious decision making that our representatives must do. The article states, "After all, our nation’s actions in the Middle East carry a very big price tag that Congress, ultimately, must approve. Pelosi needs to know the facts on the ground." YOU CAN READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.