Brother Teabag

By 3rd Way

There are a handful of things the Democratic party hopefully learned last night; don't go on vacation during a drastically abbreviated campaign, don't field a candidate opposed to campaigning in the cold in a January election, make sure the candidate learns who the most famous stars are on the most popular local sports teams, make sure the people campaigning with the candidate know what the candidate's name is and don't offend a huge population of a certain religious denomination by telling them they shouldn't work in emergency rooms.

But the main thing that should stick in their minds is that the American people were serious last November when they voted for change. If the Democrats can't bring change, free themselves from special interests and get something done they will be beaten by opposing politicians that claim they can bring change. The populace wants a change in the status quo, and in extreme times people will side with anyone promising it. Just like Brother Malcolm articulated long ago:

“You’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change. People in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change and a better world has to be built and the only way it’s going to be built is with extreme methods. And I for one will join in with anyone, I don’t care what color you are, as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth. Thank you.”

–Malcolm X

With that said, anyone expecting meaningful, people-empowering change from the contemporary incarnation of the GOP should prepare to be bamboozled.

What's a Senate to Do?

By Keith Schmitz

With the vote today in the Senate over the FISA bill, Bush is holding the war on terror that he so cherishes as a hostage over telcom immunity. In other words, look the other way when the Bush administration sucks the life out of the 4th amendment.

If this free pass passes today this will be the triumph of telcom cash being poured into many pockets, knowing that they will be let off for a crime they may have committed, but we are not supposed to know what it is.

Every one knows that unless this measure is passed, there will be no way for this country to find out who in the Bush administration ordered possible illegal wire taps. It's like Al Capone running the courts in Chicago.

One shouldn't care which political party is perpetrating a crime, but that a crime could have been perpetrated. Isn't this what the rule of law is all about?

When a Senator raises the right hand, isn't protecting the Constitution supposed to be somewhere in the job description? Just asking.

Smell the Sizzle -- Senate Grills EPA Official

By Keith Schmitz

One of the legacies of the Bush Administration has been a total disrespect for science. As we all know, the facts have a liberal bias.

Tonight on C-Span viewers watched the Democratic half of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee query George Gray, EPA Research & Development Assistant Administration about the administration's policy towards scientists and science at the EPA, and its shortcomings in both environmental and people protection.

Fortunately for him the GOP members lovingly fed him marshmallows.

This hapless man had to defend:

• The rejection by EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson of 1,700 peer-reviewed scientific studies and the unanimous recommendations of its own advisory committees when he set the new ozone standard.

• The forced resignation of EPA regional administrator Mary Gade, who had been investigating dioxin contamination in Michigan by Dow Chemical.

• Closed meetings with the White House Office of Management and Budget and other government agencies when the EPA considers the risks from toxic chemicals. Democratic senators said the closed meetings were an opportunity for interference from government officials and industry groups.

• And the most disturbing --The Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group, surveyed some 5,500 EPA scientists last year and found the agency was "under siege from political pressures," Francesca Grifo, a senior scientist with the group, told the Senate panel. She said 1,586 scientists completed the surveys, and 889 of them said they'd experienced at least one incident of political interference in the past five years.

Gee, maybe the next Democratic administration should appoint Jane Fonda Secretary of Defense.