Katrina Points Out Total Incompetence of Bush Administration

In a few days President Bush is expected to visit Louisiana and Mississippi, the Hurricane Katrina disaster area, where 7,000 National Guardsmen that could have been helping out in those two states are now in Iraq. http://tinyurl.com/dg4yo

Aiding in disaster relief is FEMA, the agency that the Bush Administration didn't feel needed total funding, while giving tax breaks to the rich.

As if that isn't enough, both newspapers and officials have warned the Bush Administration of a potential disaster in New Orleans if there were any more cuts in flood control projects for the city. http://tinyurl.com/bsttp

And now comes word gas prices are heading toward $4.00 after the Bush administration energy policy includes huge tax breaks for the oil industry. But never fear, the Bush administration is now releasing some government oil reserves to ease the situation. Can't sell gas at $4.00 a gallon if your oil buddies don't have any now, can you?

Katrina--Another Symptom of Failed Presidency?

George Bush doesn't believe in global warming because the oil companies told him not to. But our incompetent and ignorant president is not just leading us to disaster on foreign policy, but on issues that directly affect all Americans now and into the future. The author of the book that warns of future disaster from global climate change points out how it is not a stretch at all, that our nation's worst hurricane is another example of some subtle and not so subtle symptoms of global warming.
Before dismissing this as an exageration, check this out http://tinyurl.com/8p6e5

Annual ICDP Picnic on Sept. 8

It's a little more than a week away, but we may have a few more folks than last year. The Annual ICDP Potluck Picnic is at the same place, Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant on the west side of the city on M-20. Thursday, September 8 from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Bring your family and a dish to pass. The ICDP supplies the drinks, table service and hot dogs. The park has a new pavillion and playground and recently updated rest rooms. Now there is additional parking down by the river too. Another last minute reminder should be in your mailbox this week. Please follow the RSVP instructions in the mailer to make it easier to handle traffic and hot dogs. We will still go rain or shine since we have a very large pavillion.

Eric Takes on Republican War on Science

Eric Baerren is at his best again in this morning's Morning Sun in his column about the Republican war on science. It looks like Eric got an advance copy of Chris Mooney's book, "The Republican War on Science." His column can be accessed online here: http://tinyurl.com/8hnk6
More about the book can be found here: http://waronscience.com/home.php
Better turn the volume down.

Christians and Big OIl

The un-Christian remarks of Pat Robertson might make you wonder why he is in such a snit about a South American leader he thinks we should assasinate. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is no ordinary leader. He's a real threat to George W. Bush and his oil company buddies. Who says so? None other than the New York Daily News: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0825-30.htm

E.L. Doctorow on George W. Bush

E.L. Doctorow, who is one of America's most distinguished writers, has written the most superb piece I have ever seen written about our President. It first appeared in the East Hampton Star back on Sept. 9 and is making the rounds on the Internet and via e-mail. It came to me via Deanna Jo, one of the unsung heroines of the Democratic Party over in Montcalm County. She's like Montcalm County's Linda Mason. This Doctorow piece called "The Unfeeling President" rings so incredibly true because, like any good writer, Doctorow delves into the soul of his character.

By way of some background for those who don't know Doctorow:
Edgar Lawrence Doctorow occupies a central position in the history of American literature. He is generally considered to be among the most talented, ambitious, and admired novelists of the second half of the twentieth century. Doctorow has received the National Book Award, two National Book Critics Circle Awards, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Edith Wharton Citation for Fiction, the William Dean Howell Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the residentially conferred National Humanities Medal.

Doctorow was born in New York City on January 6, 1931. After graduating with honors from Kenyon College in 1952, he did graduate work at Columbia University and served in the U.S. Army. Doctorow was senior editor for New American Library from 1959 to 1964 and then served as editor in chief at Dial Press until 1969. Since then, he has devoted his time to writing and teaching. He holds the Glucksman Chair in American Letters at New York University and over the years has taught at several institutions, including Yale UniversityDrama School, PrincetonUniversity, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of California, Irvine.

So here is where to go to find this marvelous essay that begins with these words:
I fault this president for not knowing what death is.
And ends in these words:
He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.

Growing Discontent With Party Leadership

If you had been at the candlelight vigil last Wednesday night at the Wesley Center in Mount Pleasant for Cindy Sheahan you would have seen 40 people, mostly local Democrats who came together on short notice to express their anti-war sentiments. Our senior U.S. Senator Carl Levin, however, still clings to the belief that we cannot simply withdraw even though the President misled about Iraq and WMD.

But increasingly rank and file Democrats, many of whom know young men and women who are over there are asking simply to bring these kids home now. The disconnect between Americans and this war is growing. It would be shameful if the last folks who realize this war is over are our own Democratic elected officials.

The Washington Post today explores the difficulties we Democrats are facing in dealing with the war. http://tinyurl.com/7kdq8

Go Get Em, Mark

It was great to see our state party going after state Rep. Tim Moore the Republican S.O.B. just north of here who slandered his Democratic opponent worse than Bill Caul's Republican henchmen slandered Sharon Tillman around here last year. It seems Moore believes the taxpayers ought to fund his political campaigning with some cute little tricks to try to skirt Michigan laws that prevent lawmakers from politicking on the public's dime.

But Mark Brewer, our state party chair doesn't want Timmy to get away with it seeing that our Republican Attorney General decided to make an example of a couple Dem legislators on lesser offenses just a week ago. It's a top story at our state party site. Check it out: http://www.mi-democrats.com/moore.htm

Bill Caul Wasting Taxpayer's Money to Show Off

Unlike most other Republicans our local state representive, Sandy Caul's husband, actually showed up at the county fair. Of course, he didn't stay long but left behind Michigan state maps with his sticker on them. Did he pay for those maps so he could hand them out to impress the local taxpayers with his generosity? Did he pay for the copies of the Michigan Constitution with his Bill Caul stickers on them? What's next Bill? Gonna put a Bill Caul sticker on M-20?

It's Over For Bush and His War

At the county fair this week there were a number of people who expressed the same thought about George Bush -- he's on a downward spiral. He can't get smart Republicans to leave Social Security to the Wall Street wolves, he can't minimize the damage to his administration from Rovegate, he can't deal with a mother who lost her son in Iraq camping out at his vacation retreat and he's plummeting in the polls.

He also doesn't realize that most people now see him as the emperor who has no clothes. In a very thoughtful piece in this morning's New York Times, columnist Frank Rich elaborates on the president who doesn't know it's all over. http://tinyurl.com/7g5ca

Can One Person Make A Difference?

She is being called the "Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement" and a lot less flattering things from Republican media operatives who pass as journalists, but Cindy Sheahan, the mother of a son killed in the Iraq quagmire, is certainly bringing attention to the issue that won't go away.

By camping out at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, Cindy is doing something to hold our president accountable for the mess he has gotten us into. I like to believe that one dedicated person can make a difference.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Huffington Post, yet, perhaps you should check it out today. Today at the Huffington Post you will see more about Cindy Sheahan and what it means to care deeply not only about your children, but about your country.

Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Good Times With Mike at the Fair

The ICDP has 30 volunteers working the Isabella County Fair this year and the response has been phenomenal. While Republicans down the aisle have been mostly absent thus far during the fair, folks are flocking to the Democratic Pary booth to sign petitions to increase Michigan's minimum wage and to save Social Security.

Mike Huckleberry, chairman of the Montcalm County Dems, was on hand Wednesday night to meet and greet folks along with our volunteers. Mike, if you remember, ran for Congress last year against solidly entrenched Republican Congressman Dave Camp. A restaurant owner from Greenville, Mike says he wants to do it again and that he has learned a lot from his first ever election campaign.

Mike rose quickly to attention in 2004 as a result of an interview on Bill Moyers PBS TV show. On that show Mike spoke for millions of Americans who have been aggrieved by the economic policies that have caused huge losses of American manufacturing jobs.

Here's where you can find the transcript of that show -- http://tinyurl.com/9us69

Michigan Liberal...

Here is a site I have been at for a couple of weeks. Matt is trying to make MiLib the "dailykos of michigan politics".

In that vein, he has created a thread for each michigan congressional member. See Bill Caul's thread here.

Those with experience with Bill Caul can post a comment.

Countering Republican Lies

You have to give the Republicans their due. They know how to lie and manipulate. After spending billions on research and think tanks in the last 25 years, Republican spinmeisters have perfected their skills so well that Democratic campaigners and candidates are often left stammering in response.

George Lakoff has given us some ammunition and here is a bit more -- another way of understanding and responding to the Republican Nemesis. Check this out http://tinyurl.com/c9r5t

The Bad Guys Always Lose Eventually

Rob Boden, the young activist with the CMU College Dems who is doing a Lansing internship this summer, sends along this quote, which is a great reminder that despair s not the proper response everytime we see another abomination coming out of the White House.

"When I despair," said Mahatma Gandhi, "I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always."

Further Unraveling of the Bush Nightmare of "Terrorist" Prisoner Abuse

The Bush administration's brutal and unjust treatment of prisoners in the so-called war on terrorism is beginning to unravel on several fronts. Defenders of torture and prisoner abuse contend terrorists don't have any rights because they are not really prisoners of war. Now even key Republicans are saying enough is enough. But still there are the right wing fanatic legislators who claim, "These people are terrorists." But no proof is offered and the Bush administration clings to the belief they don't have to offer any and can hold people as long as they want to as long as they attach the label "terrorist" to them.

Now, John McCain, who hasn't had the courage to speak out before, finally says, "It's not about who they are. It's about who we are." McCain along with two other Republican Senators, John Warner and Lindsey Graham, have finally introduced legislation to halt prisoner abuse. It's about time. Bob Herbert of the N. Y Times enlightens us further http://tinyurl.com/bw2j2

Even military prosecutors who are suppossed to be tough on the accused are saying prisoners are being denied their rights even under the draconian system the Bush administration has set up to comply with court rulings that prisoners must have a hearing. Another N.Y. Times story uncovers the insanity behind the scenes the Bush administration doesn't want us to see. http://tinyurl.com/crmpc