With great fanfare, Frist brought three major pieces of legislation to the Senate last Monday and all three of them were dead by the end of the week.

"To think with American consumers paying over 3 dollars for gas, with college tuition moving beyond the reach of many in the middle-class, with the Iraq war dead approaching 2,500, with immigration a security crisis unresolved, with our country’s deficit standing at 9 trillion dollars, with 46 million Americans lacking health care coverage, we are moving to bills that are unnecessary and go nowhere."

Leading Democrats tell the New York Times that it would be better if the party doesn't win in the fall --- and if it has the sad misfortune to do so, it would be better off not holding any investigations into the Bush administration.

Former State Committeeman and District Party Chairman Shaun Dale said today that winning is everything.

Ok, so Donna Brazile and Mike McCurry are working for the telcos in the net neutrality fight, Donna Shalala is screwing workers at her new perch at the University of Miami, David Brooks is praising Hillary Clinton's centrism as she holds fundraisers with Rupert Murdoch, Paul Begala is calling organizers nose-pickers, George Stephanopoulos is making millions in a boring establishment show at ABC News, and I've heard rumors that Joe Lockhart is sending around corporate-funded memos to the media saying that Democrats shouldn't tackle the Medicare RX fiasco.

What's going on here?

"We have to raise the issues," said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, who met Friday with General Hayden. "The American people expect someone to do it. Certainly the administration is not doing it. We are all they've got."

Lyle Lovett - Nobody Knows Me
Marly Karlzen - St. James Hotel
Roger Miller - Chug-A-Lug
Dan Montgomery - The Seventies
Rickie Lee Jones - Danny's All-Star Joint
Suzy Bogguss - Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
Elvis Presley - Little Sister
Curtis Mayfield - We're A Winner
Dixie Chicks - Hello Mr. Heartache
Mikey Spice - If You Don't Know Me By Now

Dole was asked about several individual races…

· WA: She spoke glowingly of McGavick, and noted ex-Green Panther Aaron Dixon's (G) challenge to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) as a complication for Dems.

For his first morning briefing as White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow decided to move the event back into the press secretary’s cozy West Wing office.

Complicating matters further, the event was first scheduled for 9 a.m., then officially postponed until 9:30 – and actually began at 9:15. That left many deadline-obsessed wire service reporters — as well as ordinary procrastinators — stuck in the hallway, unable to hear most of what was being said.

President Bush’s job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January.

Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say “things in the country are going in the right direction,” while 69% say “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.”

So what do we say yes to? What are our ideas?

How about starting with this: tell the American people the truth!

Then, full-on fire the incompetents!

Make America secure with energy independence.

Value work, not wealth, and make our tax code fair for the middle class and people struggling to join it.

Export products, not jobs.

Make health care accessible and affordable for all Americans.

Do something about global warming and, while we’re at it, clean up our lakes and rivers so people can fish and swim in the United States.

Set a deadline for Iraqis to run Iraq and bring our troops home.

It was Reichert who ultimately failed to properly discipline or fire deputies who had committed serious crimes and conduct violations… and as the latest P-I installment reveals today, his lax attitude towards bad cops has cost taxpayers millions. And yet still, Reichert refuses to talk to reporters.

Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.

The consultants and the pundits and others will tell you…that it is dangerous to let there be any real light between our position and the White House’s position, or else you’ll get called soft on terrorism. You already hear people saying that the Michael Hayden nomination will be a great opportunity for the White House to show the Democrats are soft on terrorism…

"Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."

I came out of the meeting convinced that Maria is wrong and I am right about Iraq.

But I also came out of the meeting convinced that where she is wrong has never made her more culpable than any other Democrat AND Republican who voted foolishly when even the dumbest old Veteran in Bay Center, Washington knew that Bush as a viable and effective president was lying through his teeth and had nothing but foolish, unjustifiable and unworthy reasons for taking this country down a road of military shame that would make this nation guilty of the ultimate humanitarian horrors

I also came out of the meeting convinced that Maria is in the right place at the right time. There are no other candidates out there of equal caliber. Those who have presented themselves have not demonstrated any knowledge of how to run, let alone how to lead, how to inspire and how to engender confidence that someone more competent should be at the wheel.

Our competent someone may have not chosen the best route regarding Iraq but she's headed in the right direction and - "it looks to me like ..... " she has the tools to help us get there and may surprise those of us who think she won't.

Nothing is as helpful as turning over the damn cover and reading the book.

"I would say the best moment was when I caught a 7 1/2-pound largemouth bass on my lake."

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we wouldn't be mired in a war based on false pretenses in which we have lost thousands of our brave men and women in uniform and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Perhaps we would not have had an energy policy drawn up in secret with oil company executives that has led to gas prices of more than three dollars per gallon.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we wouldn't have a prescription drug plan written by the pharmaceutical companies, that prohibits the government from negotiating for lower prices with the same drug companies, and that no one really understands.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we would know the extent to which our own government is spying on our phone calls, emails and other communications, contrary to the law of the land.

Let's see: Here's Atrios complaining about Mark Kleiman complaining about Atrios favorably linking to Digby complaining about Wonkette complaining about Peter Daou complaining about the media refusing to proclaim that Stephen Colbert was funny at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Is it possible that we're getting just a wee bit excessive in our meta-ness here?

Booker T. & The MG's - Hip Hug Her
Black Crowes - Hard To Handle
Beau Brummels - Laugh Laugh
Blasters - Border Radio
Beatles - Boys
Black 47 - Watch All The Days
Beach Boys - Let Him Run Wild
Blues Traveler - Run Around
Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys - Uncle Pen
Buddy Holly - True Love Ways

It's high time that Maria Cantwell took a look around and realized that her support of George W. Bush's costly war is having costly repercussions that are hurting her reelection campaign.

President Bush has not provided all the leadership necessary to build international support for stabilizing Iraq and getting the Iraqi troops trained.

The formation of the Iraqi government offers a new chance to succeed. But we need to set clear objectives and hold President Bush, Congress, U.S. military leaders and the Iraqis accountable for meeting them.

The president also needs to recognize that the U.S. cannot and should not rebuild Iraq alone. We can and should enlist international cooperation in that effort. Getting the rest of the world more involved in Iraqi reconstruction may cost Halliburton and others some contracts, but it will benefit Iraq while saving American taxpayers billions.

We will continue to support Maria Cantwell, but unless she changes her views on the administration's handling of the Iraq conflict, that support will be given reluctantly.

President Bush must act with urgency. He must provide the leadership necessary to make sure that 2006 is the year that the new Iraqi government succeeds and our troops can begin to come home. We must work harder to get that done and we must also develop a long-term strategy to curb our nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

Does anyone recall the history of the Anthem?

I just thought I would remind everyone.

You know.

How we were fighting the BRITISH in the War of 1812. And now we are fighting to preserve the National Anthem so it shoud be sung only in the language of that enemy we were fighting?

What Colbert was saying about the guy sitting a few feet away from him -- and I think this is what made so many people in that room uncomfortable -- was: Don't believe a word he says.

Here they were, holding a swanky party for themselves, and Colbert was essentially telling them that they've completely screwed up their number one job these past six years.

Should the liberal blogs, and the Democrats grassroots more generally, cut back on their criticism of the party until after the November elections? Or is there a role for criticism in making the party better and helping the election at the same time?

I think at some point we can hurt ourselves by helping create a public perception that our party has no message and is spineless. Then again, it's not like they need much help creating that perception - chicken and egg.

Here's some names for you to remember Denny: Dodge Caliber SE, Honda Fit Sport, Hyundai Accent GLS, Kia Rio5 SX, Missan Versa 1.8SL, Suzuki Reno and Toyota Yaris S. They range in price from $14,560 to $15,500 (with options such as antilock brakes). Highway mileage (what most commuters run) varies from 30 to 40 miles-per-gallon. City mileage varies from 23 to 34 miles-per-gallon (when using five or six-speed manual transmissions). More information is in the May 2006 Car and Driver.

Now if you, I and just half of American drove these kind of machines, instead of the 6,000 pounds of truckular jewelry many of us do, there'd be no need to even consider drilling in ANWR. And most likely, we'd never have gone into Iraq. Those are facts based on what we could do TODAY. We don't need to look to politicians to solve all our problems; although it is nice when they lead in the right direction.

As the little guy in the old Pogo cartoon said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

"...the Republicans are all tied together, the names we put forth, under the name of Jack Abramoff. And again, a criminal enterprise operating out of the Leader's office.

Mr. Jefferson is his own behavior, he is responsible for it. The Ethics Committee should investigate him."

Much has been made of the Democrats' lack of a coherent national message on Iraq, but the attitudes in Buckley suggest that in fact, a party made up of individual candidates with different takes on the war might actually be more likely to win.

...the national Democratic Party's vague official message on Iraq—that this should be a "year of transition"—actually synchs up quite nicely with what people here are feeling: a fatigue with the entire project, but a desire not to view it as an utter failure.

Senator Maria Cantwell will be talking about gas prices on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer tonight (KCTS 9 in Seattle, KBTC in Tacoma), opposite of one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents -- Rick Santorum - at 6:00 PM, PDT (Pacific Daylight Time).

Former Sen. John Danforth says a conservative push to ban gay marriage through a constitutional amendment is silly, calling it the latest example of how the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the GOP.

Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech Saturday night to the Log Cabin Republicans, which support gay rights. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided.

"Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human behavior; that was prohibition. That was such a flop that that was repealed 13 years later," Danforth said.

Referring to the marriage amendment, he added that perhaps at some point in history there was a constitutional amendment proposed that was "sillier than this one, but I don't know of one."

It is a concept which is contrary to basic Republican principles. As I understand, the basic concept of the Republican Party is to interpret the Constitution narrowly, not expansively, so that legislatures and especially state legislatures can work out over a period of time the social issues in our country. And not to have these evolving issues fixed and concrete in the Constitution of the United States, taken out of the hands of legislatures and turned over to the federal courts. So this amendment is contrary to what I understand to be a basic tenet of our party.

"...I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English, and they ought to learn to sing the National Anthem in English."

I think their new plan should be to send out $100 checks to everybody every time they look like clowns.

"Using his federal campaign account, his old presidential primary account and his e-mail list, Kerry has donated, raised or helped Democrats collect more than $7.5 million since November 2004."

"I don't think we need to change…"

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee
Rep. John Dingell, Ranking Member on the Energy and Commerce Committee
Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Committee
Rep. George Miller, Ranking Member on the Education and Workforce Committee
Rep. James L. Oberstar, Ranking Member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Rep. Barney Frank, Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee
Rep. Collin C. Peterson, Ranking Member on the Agriculture Committee
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member on the Homeland Security Committee
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, Ranking Member on the Rules Committee
Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark, Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee
Rep. Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member on the Commerce Health Subcommittee

The protesting from the balcony only increased with time with shouts of "ANN IS A RACIST" to even an immature, yet mildly amusing, call for "Show us your tits."

Ann addressed her supporters in the crowd with this statement. "You're men. You're heterosexuals. Take 'em out." She chided them further when they did not rise. Before you knew it there was about 25 students marching to the balcony to supposedly "take out" the protestors above. I saw a priest holding students back and deans and security warning the students to go back to their seats. Chaos erupted. Ann left after taking one question.

Yeah, New Orleans is fucked for the White House and its lackeys in Congress simply have no idea how to accomplish anything that doesn't involve blowing shit up, tearing shit down, or telling people to sit down and shut up.

The Beatles - Hold Me Tight
Kerri Powers - F-150
Rick Shea & Bradley Kearns - Trouble And Me
T. Rex - Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssinia
Rickie Lee Jones - Bye Bye Blackbird
Richard & Mimi Farina - Michael, Andrew & James
Dave Matthews - So Damn Lucky
Chris Daniels & The Kings - If I'd Only Taken You Dancing
Prince & Sheena Easton - U Got The Look
June Carter Cash - Wildwood Flower

"How's that project coming?"

MILITARY PAY: Hundreds of Battle-Injured GWOT Soldiers Have Struggled to Resolve Military Debts.

Thousands of soldiers have been injured or killed as a result of hostile fire since the initial deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq in October 2001. Battle-injured soldiers returning to the United States often face the daunting prospect of adjusting to their postwar lives. Many soldiers are faced with multiple surgeries and months of physical rehabilitation. Oftentimes, these soldiers have to reassess their career goals and seek training to accommodate their new physical limitations upon separation from military service. Because these battle-injured soldiers return to the United States before their unit's mobilization period ends, their duty status is not always appropriately updated and they encounter payroll problems related to the failure by the Army to adjust combat pay (entitlements such as hostile fire pay, hardship duty pay, and family separation pay)…

I’m encouraged by the vision of Howard Dean and his commitment to see the 50 State Strategy through, even as the Party elites fight him every step of the way.

The GOP WILL motivate its voters come November. They'll rail on abortion and gays and scary brown people crossing the southern border and how Democrats want to take their Bibles away. And their core supporters will turn out. And Democrats, unless they realize that they need to inspire, will find those huge gains will fail to materialize...

...DC Democrats are afraid to lead. They're afraid to inspire. They're afraid to offend. They're afraid to clearly state their core principles. They're simply afraid.

In short, you want to make the Democrats more progressive? Make yourself an indispensable part of Democratic success.

(Washington, D.C.)– Today, in the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Dave Reichert voted against an amendment that would have guaranteed 100% screening of America-bound cargo...The amendment Reichert opposed would have guaranteed within three years the only containers that can enter the U.S. from larger ports have been inspected for radiation and harmful materials. The amendment also calls for tamper-proof seals after inspection.

The Reichert record, via the DCCC:

Reichert Voted Against Increased Port Security. HR 1817, Roll Call #187, 5/18/05

Reichert Rubberstamped an Effort to Block Congressional Oversight on National Security. H Res 702, Vote #18, 3/2/06

Reichert Joins Republicans in Rejecting Efforts to Increase Port Review. House Appropriations Committee Markup, 3/8/06

Reichert Votes Against an Effort to Block the Potentially Harmful Dubai Ports Deal. HR 4167, Vote #21, 3/8/06

Reichert Voted Against $825 Million for Port Security. HR 4939 , Vote #56, 3/16/2006

Reichert Voted to Prevent Congress From Blocking Dubai Ports Deal. HR 4939, Vote #43, 3/15/2006

Reichert Joins Republicans in Rejecting Efforts to Increase Port Review. House Appropriations Committee Markup, 3/8/06

...I want to be clear about something: our troops have done everything we have asked them to do, and they have done it with courage and a willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the greater good that puts nearly all of the rest of us to shame in comparison.

We asked them to topple a brutal dictatorship, and they did it faster than anyone believed possible.

We asked them to secure the nation and make sure there were no weapons of mass destruction, and they did that.

We asked them to keep the peace while the Iraqis formed an interim government and negotiated a constitution, and they did that.

We asked them to hold back an increasingly violent insurgency while Iraqis held another election, and they did that.

And now, they are there waiting...

In addition to McGavick's disclosure reports not being on line yet, those of Mark Wilson, a Democrat running against Cantwell in the Democratic primary were not available. Wilson reported raising $11, 906 as of Dec 31, 2005. He spent it all except for $152.The FEC said they have not received a paper copy of his first quarter forms from the Senate.

Aaron Dixon, running as a Green Party candidate, did file his forms. He reported raising $11,906 in the first quarter and spent all of it except for $642. His funds came from a total of 4 contributors.

Seven months ago, I sponsored legislation that would make price-gouging a federal crime and strengthen the power of those who regulate the practices of big oil companies. Since I introduced this bill, the Bush administration and Republican Congress have fought our effort every step of the way.

Last week, this failure of Republican leadership became even more obvious as the price of oil hit an all time high. Yet again, the administration's response was to do nothing.
We have had to wait long enough. Today we must act.

Right now I am walking to the floor of the Senate and asking for an immediate up-or-down vote on my gas price-gouging bill. If we get Senate support today, we will have won a major energy policy victory.

Join me in calling for the immediate passage of my Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act.

"If you want to be energy independent…and if you want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and therefore improve our natural security situation, you can’t do it if you're a Republican…"

Ask a Republican why Iraq is a disaster? It's the CIA Media Democrats Iraqis General's fault. Ask why the Katrina response was bungled? It's NOAA Mayor Nagin victim Governor Blanco Army Corp of Engineer's fault. Why is the budget deficit at record levels? It's the tax code liberals telletubbies Al Gore retirees your fault.

…Democrats have had with Republicans."

BAGHDAD -- Last Nov. 13, U.S. soldiers found 173 incarcerated men, some of them emaciated and showing signs of torture, in a secret bunker in an Interior Ministry compound in central Baghdad. The soldiers immediately transferred the men to a separate detention facility to protect them from further abuse, the U.S. military reported.

Since then, there have been at least six joint U.S.-Iraqi inspections of detention centers, most of them run by Iraq's Shiite Muslim-dominated Interior Ministry. Two sources involved with the inspections, one Iraqi official and one U.S. official, said abuse of prisoners was found at all the sites visited through February. U.S. military authorities confirmed that signs of severe abuse were observed at two of the detention centers.