2007 Was Deadliest Year for US Troops

2007: The year was the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed.

Something to Think About as We Approach the Primaries

If Fox News Had Always Existed

Dems Fund More War

Reading headlines like this is getting old...

Southwestern Illinois Networking Group

Presentation:
“Rules of the Game: An Overview of the Presidential Nominating Process.”
Dr. Barb Brown, Dept. of Political Science, SIUC, and 12th CD
Democratic State Central Committeewoman.

Start: 01/05/2008 - 9:30am
End: 01/05/2008 - 12:00pm
Cost: free
Group: Democratic Women (SWING)Southwestern Illinois Networking Group
Address: IBEW Local 309, 2000A Mall Street, Rte. 157, Collinsville, Illinois 62234

More Information is available here.

Open Letter to the Green Party Candidate for IL-12

Hi Rodger,
I saw your letter in the Belleville News Democrat today, and would like to pass on a couple of thoughts. First of all, I admire the goals of the Green Party, as do most progressive Democrats. There are many of us that feel that the two party system leaves us with too little diversity in our political system. However, I would, point out that in the absence of instant run off voting, it is impossible to get third parties on the ballot with out completely throwing elections to a minority party. Republicans use third parties, such as the Green Party, as a means for dividing the progressive votes to get their candidates elected. In some cases they even provide funding for Green Party candidates to win elections with out the support of the majority of voters.
Jerry Costello has an incredibly progressive voting record. He consistently votes in the best interest of the working people of Southern Illinois and the environment. Clearly the progressive agenda would be much better served by focusing collective energy on elections such as IL-19, where John Shimkus is currently serving serving as the congressional representative. He has been a rubber stamp for the worst president we have had in the history of our nation. (Coincidently, Bush was able to challenge the elections in Florida and eventually get appointed President precisely because the Green Party was able to divide the vote in the 2000 presidential elections) There are many other issues that should be considered much higher priority when compared to trying to unseat Rep. Costello. For Example:

- Getting corporate money out of elections with public funding

- Incorporate instant run off voting into elections

- Better regulate the media so it is not so completely unbalanced

- Start a third party for the evangelical Christians

- Start a third party that runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-homosexual, anti-corporation platform

- Get rid of electronic voting machines

- Raise awareness of the Republican practice of voter caging

- Focus on preventing right wing zealots from getting elected rather then running against progressive Democrats

I wish you luck in your campaign for 2008, and should you choose to join the Democrats in the struggle to get our country back, I am sure that you would be welcome to join us!

Best Regards,
Chuck

Bush Nears a Victory Over Spying Powers

December 17, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The Senate appears poised to hand the White House another victory with a measure that would make permanent an expansion of government spy powers and shield phone companies from liability for assisting government eavesdropping.

This Youtube video seems to be pretty appropriate today...




Update: Sen. Dodd was able to stop this awful telecom legislation. What a great example he is for the Democrats! Tell them what you think:


www.ChrisDodd.com

And to support the other Democrat with a spine:

www.WexlerWantsHearings.com

Shimkus Votes Against Ban on Torture

Who can't get behind a little torture during the holiday season!



House Passes Ban On Waterboarding

Shimkus and 198 of his closest friends voted against it. The actual vote count can be found here. How can these guys possibly get re-elected??

Update: There will be no ban on torture. Lindsay Graham doesn't want a ban on it. That's odd, one single Senator can block this legislation, but the entire Democratic majority in the Senate can not seem to block the bill that gives telecoms immunity from spying on us. I am having a hard time understanding why our nationally elected Democrats think we will continue to support them....

Dollar in the Tank?? No Problem, Make Some New Currency!

Perino: I Didn't Know What The Cuban Missile Crisis Was

This is truly astonishing... It hard to believe someone this astoundingly ignorant could be in a position of power... And this happened the same week we found out the Intel community estimates Iran's nuke program ended in 2003 and Bush's CIA is racing to destroy evidence of war crimes. There is no end to this stream of corruption and incompetence. I wanted to hear more about all of these amazing stories, so I turned on CNN. All they were talking about were some naked guys shopping for skittles and a weird long eared mouse that was filmed in the desert.

H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007

There has been quite a bit of chatter in the blogosphere about HR 1955, widely referred to as "the thought crime bill". Most objections to the bill point out that it is using the guise of security from terrorism to lead us one step closer to fascism. Many on both the right and the left of the isle have pointed this out. Surprisingly, it passed in the house 404-6 and will be moving on to the Senate. One of the few Congressmen to vote against this awful piece of legislation (which you can read here) was our own Rep. Costello. Here is the map that depicts the congressional districts that voted against the bill:



Thanks to Rep. Costello for voting against this despite the fact that he was in a very small minority, right along side Rep. Dennis Kucinich. It takes a lot of courage to vote your conscious, instead of following the rest of the party blindly. If we could just get him to sign on to impeach Dick Cheney......