Southern Liberal

These pathetic Democrats in Washington

2007-06-16T13:47:00.000-06:00

I am getting very disenchanted with most of these Democrats that we voted into majority last November. They promised to do a whole lot of things if we vote for them and they have delivered almost nothing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are the biggest waste of human flesh in Washington besides all of the Republicans. Pelosi gave us the BS about 100 hours and then delivered nothing. The only thing we actually got was a raise in minimum wage and President Bush promised he would sign it. Well, Harry Reid said "Not so fast" and nothing got done with it. As a matter of fact the only reason it was passed was it was tacked on to the War funding bill that President Bush prevailed on. So we have nothing to show for all of our votes that put the Democrats in majority, it seems to be politics as usual.

One step closer to getting out of Iraq

2007-03-25T07:23:00.000-06:00

This past week the Democrat led House of Representatives passed the War Spending bill that included provisions requiring troops to be brought home by the middle of 2008.

President Bush threatened to veto the bill despite it authorizing the money he requested to continue to fund his War in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reason he vowed to veto the bill is because it contained the provisions that required him to pull our troops out of Iraq.

This is ridiculous, we need to get our troops home and get them out of middle of the civil war in Iraq. The longer we stay the less likely the Iraqi government will feel the need to improve their own security and military forces to take over their own security. This way if they are given a dead line they will have no choice but to stepup their training of their own forces.

The one thing I don't agree with is the means that the leadership (Nancy Pelosi) used to get the votes for this bill; $20 billion of pork barrel spending to get enough Democrats to vote her way. I want the troops home really bad, but aren't we in a budget deficit situation already and this will only add to that deficit? That is the only negative I see with the bill, but alas, Bush already promised to veto the bill and there isn't enough support to override his veto.

So it lloks like back to the drawing board and comprises to get the spending bill passed that Bush will sign.

Two Democrat Presidential hopefuls crossed paths in Alabama

2007-03-04T22:16:00.000-06:00

Democrat Senators Hilary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were both in Selma, Alabama this morning celebrating the aniversary of a bloody Civil Rights Protest back in 1965.

Both candidates took advantage of the photo opportunities to help their bid for the 2008 Presidential Democrat Nomination. Hilary brought her not so secret weapon with her (husband Bill)and took advantage of his continued popularity among Democrats.

The March 7th, 1965 peaceful protest became known as Bloody Sunday, when billyclub wielding police attacked the peaceful protesters. The peaceful protest was organized to bring attention to the racist voting practices in the south against blacks.

Both candidates used the opportunity to claim that actions of the participants helped to pave the way for each of them have the opportunity to be running for President of the United States.

I am sure the voters in Alabama will take notice of their participation and it will help one of them come 2008.

Hilary Rodham Clinton is in for a fight

2007-02-24T21:42:00.000-06:00

If the early fundraising is any indication of things to come for the Democrat nomination, Hilary might just not be the leader very long. Relative new comer, Barack Obama is winning over some of the big money people. That will not bode well for Clinton who is expected to be a strong fundraiser and she expects to raise more than $100 million dollars.

Unfortunately for Hilary, Obama seems to be winning over the Hollywood elite and if he continues to win them over she just might not raise enough money to bankroll her run for the White House in 2008.

As far as I am concerned it couldn't happen to a better person. If she smart she would drop out and get behind Obama or Edwards and help them win the nomination.

Barack Obama makes it official; he is running in 2008

2007-02-13T04:10:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend the junior Senator from Illinois officially tossed his hat into the already very crowded ring for the Democrat nomination for President in 2008. The very charismatic Obama will face very stiff competition from the money raising machine in Hilary Rodham Clinton.

One of the advantages Obama will have over Clinton is that Obama never voted for the war in Iraq like Hilary did and that will come back to haunt her even in 2008. However, Obama's relative inexperience will be a barrier against Hilary who has been around the political block so to speak.

Obama won't have to fight an uphill battle against the issue of the War in Iraq, since he wasn't in Congress at the time of the vote to give Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq. As a matter of fact, one of the main reasons he won the Senate seat he holds now was because he campaigned on his stance against the War in Iraq.

Hopefully he won't concede to early to Clinton and sticks around for the whole fight and ultimately beats out Hilary for the Democrat nomination.

Is the media trying to generate a controversy?

2007-02-08T23:27:00.000-06:00

The media is making a mountain out of a mole hill over the request by Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi to have a military jet available to her to fly her nonstop to her home district of San Francisco.

The request isn't unusual since it became policy that the Speak of the House, who is third in line of succession to the Presidency would be afforded military transport back and forth to their home district. This policy went into effect follow 9/11 and has been used by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

It appears that the reason it even peaked the medias interest is because she requested a plane that could make the trip nonstop from Washington to San Francisco. To satisfy her request would require a military version of a 757 commercial jetliner.

To avoid any hint of misuse of the plane, some travel restrictions are placed on the use of the jet; family members can accompany the Speaker on the plane, but they would have to re-imburse the government at the regular commercial coach fare and the plane cannot be used by her to attend political functions.

It sure seem to me that the media is trying to make a big deal out of a non-issue and even the White House back her request for the plane.

Exxon Mobil is linked to a group seeking to debunk Global Warning

2007-02-02T22:18:00.000-06:00

It was reported that a think tank that lists Exxon Mobil as a contributor circulated a letter offering $10,000.00 to any scientist willing to debunk the recent report on Global Warming.

It wasn't very shocking to read that one of the biggest contributors to the causes of Global Warming would be linked to group that is trying to discredit all the scientific community that has spent years researching the effects of the rise in global temperatures and the suspected human causes.

First we find out that the Bush Administration is being suspected of pressuring scientists into downplaying the results of the study and now we see that Exxon Mobil may have been doing the same thing.

The same company that reported a record profit last year of over $39 billion dollars from the sales of oil, is trying to down play the reports results that burning of fossil fuels is a leading cause greenhouse gases.

If the Bush Administration would put more effort into creating an environmentally responsible Energy Policy as they do trying to debunk Global Warming, we would be much better off.

When is the Congress going to act?

2007-01-30T22:32:00.000-06:00

That is the question I would pose to our newly elected majority in the Congress. I keep hearing President Bush challenging the Congress to stop him from sending the 21,500 new troops into Iraq and yet all the Congress does is say they want to stop him.

Haven't they realized by now Bush will not change his mind no matter how much they threaten to stop him. They have to cut off funding and force him to bring the troops home now.

The horror in Iraq continues almost unabated and it doesn't show much signs of stopping or slowing down and the Bush administration doesn't have a plan that will actually work.

Something new

2007-01-28T20:43:00.000-06:00

I came across this on blog entry on Weird Cake blog and I thought it would be pretty cool to try it out, if you would like to check it out click on the link at the bottom of the entry.

In 1965 (the year you were born)

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara calls for a nationwide network of bomb shelters

Former leader of the Black Muslims, Malcolm X, is shot and killed in New York City

To protest voting rights discrimination, civil rights demonstrators begin a march for Selma to Montgomery with federal troop protection

The first commercial satellite, Early Bird, is launched into space by Nasa to transmit telephone and television signals

Voting Rights Act is signed into law

Riots by young blacks in the Watts area of Los Angeles begin, causing $200 million in damage

Hurricane Betsy claims 75 lives in southern Florida and Louisiana

United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address

Dr. Dre, Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr., Shania Twain, Moby, and Ben Stiller are born

Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series

Green Bay Packers win the NFL championship

Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup

The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews, is the top grossing film

Dune by Frank Herbert is published

The Beatles' Rubber Soul is released

"Satisfaction" by Rolling Stones is a top hit

The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing songs from their new album Help!

Sony introduces the Betamax, a home video tape recorder

Nearly all of NBC's programs are now broadcast in color

I Dream of Jeannie premieres

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

No Child Left Behind could claim another victim

2007-01-27T07:19:00.000-06:00

I received a link to this story in an email and I just had to write about it. I have been critic of the No Child Left Behind program that was created by Bush and the Republican led congress.

The story was about a middle school in Austin, Texas that was facing possible closing by the school district for failure to meet testing standards relating to No Child Left Behind.

The middle school is named Webb Middle School and it happens to be in a predominantly low income area in Austin and it also has a what they call a high turn over of residents. This high turnover of residence leads to a revolving door effect to the school. Because of the high turn over of students the school has failed to improve its standardized test scores over three years and according to the No Child Left Behind program the state can order the school district to close Webb Middle School or order alternative management for the school.

Here is the part of the story that makes me so angry as a parent of three school age kids; the school district want to close it down instead of fixing the problems.

More than 200 parents of students that attend Webb Middle School showed up at the middle school to voice their anger for the proposed closing of the school. A big part of their dismay with the plan is that the two schools that their kids will be bussed to are not any better (test scores wise)than Webb is. So it makes no sense to close down one school and send kids to other schools in the district that aren't much better than the one they are closing.

It seems to me that because Webb Middle School is in a predominently low income area they aren't concerned with fixing the problems that are causing the test scores to be low, instead they want to shut the school down and bus the kids across town to other middle schools in Austin.

As a parent I feel this is just an example of the school district reacting to the failed No Child Left Behind program forced on them by President Bush. The states and school districts say that it is an unfunded mandate and therefor it is impossible for them to implement. I agree with their assessment, however it is our kids all across the country that are suffering. I feel instead of just throwing up their collective hands they need to become more creative in how they make up for the lack of Federal dollars.

Bush stubbornly sticks to troop surge

2007-01-24T18:53:00.000-06:00

I almost avoided the State of Union Address altogether, but I thought I would catch the chimp at the podium making all kinds of excuses for my things aren't working in Iraq.

As usual he makes a bunch of grandious proposals like healthcare tax credits and pie in the sky ideas about cutting our dependency on foreign oil by drilling for more oil here in America.

I thought for sure Pelosi would have knock Bush over the head with the gavel when she was done calling the gallery to order before Bush started his speech.

Bush was almost to the point of begging for the Democrats and the American people to give him one more shot at salvaging his failed policies in Iraq. It didn't look like he was getting much support from the Democrat side of the gallery.

I think the Democrat Response to the President's State of the Union that was delivered By Freshman Virginia Senator Jim Webb was fantastic. He laid out the differences between the Democrats and the Repugs and basically said the Democrats in the majority aren't going to give the president much room over the next two years.

Hilary Clinton will run in 2008

2007-01-21T08:43:00.000-06:00

This had to be the most anticipated announcement in quite some time; Hilary Clinton will be running for President in 2008. She made it official on a website yesterday and it spread like wild fire.

I won't be one of those people fawning over her decision to run to represent me in the Presidential election. I don't think she has the experience needed to be President and for that reason alone I wouldn't vote for her. The other reason is she has no vision for our country other than she isn't a Republican. She voted for the war in Iraq and when it became unpopular she changed her stance on the war.

I will reserve my judgement on the other candidates until I can read where they stand on all of the issues and to see what their vision is for our country.

Democrat led House of Representatives carried through on the 100 hour pledge

2007-01-19T21:28:00.000-06:00

Nancy Pelosi has proven that her party could do a much better job at getting the things the American people were really interested in done than the Republicans could do. Her 100hour pledge was the cornerstone of the Democrats campaign strategy that appeared to payoff for them in the November elections.

I wasn't convinced that the Democrat controlled Congress would be able to make enough of a difference, but I may have been wrong. Two of the swiftly passed bills covered subjects that were hot button topics during the elections; raising federal minimum wage and the repealing the tax breaks for Big Oil.

The raise in minimum wage is a big victory for the working poor and the repealing of the tax break is seen as a way to stick it too Big Oil who were boasting of huge profits while we consumers were paying over $3.00 a gallon for gasoline.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Senate, where Harry Reid appears to be at odds with Pelosi over some of the provisions of the bills. Hopefully the two can work out their differences.

The Senate passes a resolution against President Bush's new Iraq policy

2007-01-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

It looks like the Democrat led Senate took President Bush up on his challenge today, by passing a resolution opposing Bush's planned to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 21,500.

The significant thing about the resolution was that Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, broke ranks with his party and signed on to the resolution. He said that he could not agree with the Presidents plan to send 21,500 more troops into Iraq and risk increasing bloodshed by our brave soldiers and marines.

Unfortunately, the vote was mostly symbolic and not binding, however it was done in hopes to stop the President from making another blunder in Iraq. It appears now the only way Congress will be able to stop Bush from sending more troops into harms way is by the House of Representatives to withhold funding.

When is Bush going to realize that the majority of the Amercian people believe he is incompetitant and had botched the War in Iraq. Now is the time to begin a phased withdrawl of our troops and not a surge of 21,500 troops.

President Bush is challenging Congress

2007-01-14T20:29:00.000-06:00

In an interview aired today from Camp David, President Bush basically challenged the Democrat controlled Congress to stop him from sending in 21,500 troops into Iraq.

He said that he wasn't going to let anyone tell him how to conduct the War in Iraq and that appeared to included the American people. According to the latest polls, an overwhelming percentage of the American people do not support his plan to send in anymore troops.

Hopefully the Congressional leadership can do something about it and fast. I feel that if Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid fail to do something about it, it will make it difficult for the Democrats have much chance in 2008 to win back the White House form the Republicans.

Blunder in Iraq, even Bush's own party is jumping ship

2007-01-12T17:50:00.000-06:00

We finally heard from the President regarding his promised change of direction in Iraq, but it didn't sound good to me. I was hoping that everything we heard in the news was wrong and that Bush would announce troop redeployment and we would finally see our troops coming home.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen and instead Bush announced that he was sending 21,000 more troops to Iraq. The only thing that will come of this is more flag draped coffins will be sent back on planes from Iraq. He continues to put all the blame on the Iraqi and yet he hasn't done much to impress upon the Iraqi government that we will jot be there forever and that they need to step up and protect themselves.

Congress has begun digging in their heels to try and stop the planned escalation in Iraq and even one of Bush's own party has come out publically and attacked the planned escalation of troop numbers; calling it a Blunder. Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican from Nebraska is against any surge in troop levels in Iraq.

US Senate and House Democrat leaders send a letter to President Bush

2007-01-08T22:24:00.000-06:00

In a letter that contained very scathing views on the Presidents handling of the War in Iraq, both Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House) and Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) spelled out their disapproval over the planned surge in US troops in Iraq. It has been reported that this is one of the things that President Bush’s new plan contains and he is expected to tell the American people about the plan sometime this week.

Even though the whole plan hasn’t officially been finalized, it has been leaked to the press that Bush plans to increase the number of US combat troops in Iraq by 20,000 in what is being called a “surge” in troop strength to help quell the amount of sectarian violence.

The letter is meant to push the President into reconsidering the additional troops, because they anticipate that if we increase the number of soldiers on the ground it will only increase the number of US deaths and not reduce the amount of violence.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this as a strong enough statement to the President and in fact I think Congress should threaten to withhold new funding for the war in Iraq to force the President to bring our troops home, now.

Nancy Pelosi makes history, but can she make a difference

2007-01-07T12:31:00.000-06:00

In a historic moment, Representative Nancy Pelosi (d) from San Francisco became the very first women Speaker of the House and second in line to the Presidency. This makes her the most powerful women in America and it also gives her party control in the House of Representatives. She promised to bring back civility and ethics to Washington and lets hope she can make it happen.

After bringing to an end to the 12 year run of Republican rule in Washington, we are going to expect the Democrats to carry through on there promises. They must prove that all of their promises were not empty just to get into power.

They must push President Bush on Iraq and get our troops home safely and make the changes necessary to cleanup all of the corruption in Washington thanks to the Republicans.

Invasion of your privacy

2007-01-04T22:21:00.000-06:00

It appears that one of those feared signing statements that President Bush decided that he has the power to do has found its way into a bill that appears to allow the government to read your mail without a warrant. According to a story I just read on MSNBC that is exactly what happened recently:

WASHINGTON - A statement attached to postal legislation by President Bush
last month may have opened the way for the government to open mail without a
warrant.
The White House denies any change in policy, but civil libertarians
are alarmed, saying the government has never publicly claimed that power
before.

Federal law has long required a search warrant to open first class mail
unless postal inspectors suspect it contains something dangerous, like a bomb or
a hazardous chemical, reports NBC News' Pete Williams. But in signing a postal
bill just before Christmas, President Bush said federal law also gives the
government authority to open the mail "for foreign intelligence
collection."

Wasn't it enough that Bush authorized illegal wiretaps and now he basically is going to allow the Feds to read our mail without a warrant. It seems El Shrubo wasn't satisfied with the NSA wiretaps, now he thinks it is ok to read our unopened mail. Everyone wants to be safe from terrorists, but we draw the line when the governments actions violate our privacy.

Where is this all going to end?

After running up a huge deficit, President Bush calls on Congress to cut spending

2007-01-03T17:54:00.000-06:00

“WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday he’ll submit a five-year budget
proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012 and called on Congress to
sharply cut back on costly pet projects hidden in spending bills.”

President Bush submitted his 5 year Budget Plan today and with it he says it will balance the Federal Budget by 2012. It seems to me that we heard this before and we are still faced with a huge deficit, which he caused.

The reason we are in the fiscal mess we are in now is because of Bush’s War and the Republican lead Congress has bankrupted the Treasury. The war has cost tax payers half a trillion dollars over the past 3 years and it looks like it will be over a trillion dollars before we finally pull our troops out.

That money could have gone to a lot better use; the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding in the Gulf Coast. Instead we just keep tossing money down a hole, all for the Middle East oil. President Bush needs to come to grips with the reality that he has failed the American people and he needs to resign.

This ridiculous 5 year plan calls on Congress to fix his fiscal irresponsibility’s over his 6 years in the White House and it also would set the tone for his replacement in 2008. Just simply asking the Congress to curb pet projects in spending bills is not going to fix our Federal Deficit, we need to raise taxes on the wealthy and curb spending.

After huge win in November, House Democrats look to restore integrity

2007-01-01T18:36:00.000-06:00

The Democrats are looking to take advantage of their opportunity to show the American People that they can and will change the direction in America. In a story I found on CNN one of those newly elected US Representative, Jerry McNerney of California said that the Democrats are going to make some big changes.

"In this election, the American people clearly called for change,"
Rep.-elect Jerry McNerney said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "As our
first responsibility in fulfilling the mandate of this critical election, House
Democrats will restore integrity and civility in Washington in order to earn the
public trust."
The effort to build that trust will include bans on gifts from
lobbyists, lobbyist-funded travel and use of corporate jets, McNerney
said.

That would definitely be a big change to way Washington has been operating while the Republicans have been in the majority.

3000 Dead soldiers, for what

2007-01-01T07:41:00.000-06:00

The new year brings more death in Iraq and the Bush Administration keeps saying we can win the War in Iraq. The death toll of American troops has reached 3000 and there is no end in sight. The daily sectarian violence that continues unabated doesn't point to anything that would give a reasonable person any reason to be optimistic.

Our troops deserve better than the rosy picture that the Bush Administration is trying to paint of the conditions on the ground in Iraq. We need a new direction in Iraq like the Democrats in Congress have been calling for, for months.

So how long do we have to wait and how many more US troops will die in this failed war before President Bush figures out a new direction that he keeps saying is coming.

Welcome to my world

2006-12-31T11:51:00.000-06:00

I am new to this blogging thing, so please bare with me while I get my feet wet. I am a transplanted Michigander living in central Oklahoma. I am a rabid sports fans and I love my OU Sooners. I plan to dedicate most of this blog to politics and social topics with a liberal slant.