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Doug Drenkow is a writer, editor, webmaster, and producer. A fourth-generation Democrat, Doug has produced the political talk shows "Barry Gordon From Left Field," on radio, and "NewsRap with Barry Gordon," on cable TV, featuring top progressive guests in the nation. Having met his wife through the Internet, Doug is a big believer in the power of new media!
Doug Drenkow's progressive political commentaries have appeared in print, on radio and TV, and online -- as in OpEdNews, DailyKos, BuzzFlash, UPI, BBC, The Guardian, etc.
Saturday, February 25, 2006 Blogs are vital alternative media sources, by Carolyn Kay (3 comments)
There is a huge advantage in having many eyeballs patrolling the sources of information, many minds with many varieties of experience free to express their thoughts in an open forum - discussion that is not chosen and/or edited by people whose living may depend on not offending the powerful ... (Published in the Financial Times, of London)
Sunday, February 19, 2006 Barbara Boxer, Mark Crispin Miller, and others on Barry Gordon From Left Field! (3 comments)
Sen. Barbara Boxer, Mark Crispin Miller, and other great guests will be interviewed on Barry Gordon From Left Field, Sunday, Feb. 19, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on www.kcaaradio.com on the World Wide Web, and on KCAA 1050 AM in the Inland Empire of California. Listen in and phone in, and tell your family and friends to do likewise. Knowledge is power!
Saturday, February 11, 2006 Jason Leopold & Others Webcast on "Barry Gordon From Left Field"! (3 comments)
Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, guests on "Barry Gordon From Left Field" will include Jason Leopold, one of the top investigative reporters today, who will discuss his news-breaking article just published by Truthout.org, with hard-hitting revelations from Leopold's sources inside the CIA, NSC, and State Department on Cheney, Libby, and others in the CIA leak investigation;
The Rev. Dr. Davidson Loehr, minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Texas, and author of "America, Fascism, and God," who will provide refreshingly liberal views from a "heretical" religious perspective; and two couples who met through the Internet and who for Valentine's Day will discuss the risks and rewards of the hot cultural phenomenon of online dating. So catch the webcast, on www.kcaaradio.com, and call in, to 1-800-809-0802. Don't let the Right monopolize the airways!
Sunday, February 5, 2006 Today on "Barry Gordon From Left Field" Progressive Talk Radio (3 comments)
Update! Barry's guests today include Bob Barr, conservative activist and former Republican congressman from Georgia, who will discuss being "political bedfellows" with former Vice President Al Gore, in speaking out against the NSA wiretapping and other abuses of civil liberties by this administration; Corey Robin, author of "Fear: History of a Political Idea," who will talk about the use of fear to manipulate public opinion; and Demtric Collins, music producer, who will talk about his company's new hit CD "Doggie Dog World & Kitty Cat Kingdom," which teaches children to appreciate animal life. So catch the webcast, on www.kcaaradio.com, or the broadcast, in the Inland Empire of California, and call in, to 1-800-809-0802, each Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. PST to let the world know the Left is right!
Saturday, February 4, 2006 (Scathing, Vital) Lessons Learned from the Alito Fight (3 comments)
Final result is that the Democrats have been sorely outplayed. They have switched positions in the middle and criticized their own stance and their own voters. So, when the elections roll around, the Republicans say the Democrats are "flip-floppers" and "wafflers" and "weak." They convince the electorate to vote for them instead because they are strong and mean what they say.
Sunday, January 29, 2006 Waxman et al. Today on "Barry Gordon From Left Field": Progressive Talk Radio
Former president of SAG and candidate for Congress Barry Gordon hosts "Barry Gordon From Left Field" on progressive radio station KCAA 1050 AM, broadcast from the Inland Empire (the fast-growing area east of L.A.) and webcast on http://www.kcaaradio.com/, every Sunday from 2 to 5 pm PST.
Today's noted guests are: Rep. Henry Waxman, leading congressional Democrat, who will discuss healthcare and other issues; Quentin D. Young, MD, former physician to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson, Past President of the American Public Health Association, and Chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, who will also discuss healthcare issues; and Terrence Blanchard, jazz trumpeter, film composer, and current Grammy nominee, who will discuss the upcoming awards from The Recording Academy.
Listeners are encouraged to phone in. "It's a whole new ballgame!"
Sunday, January 22, 2006 Today on "Barry Gordon From Left Field": Progressive Talk Radio / Webcast
Former president of SAG and candidate for Congress Barry Gordon hosts "Barry Gordon From Left Field" on progressive radio station KCAA 1050 AM, broadcast from the Inland Empire (east of L.A.) and webcast on http://www.kcaaradio.com, every Sunday from 2 to 5 pm PST. Today's noted guests are Author David Heenan, who will discuss his newest book, "Flight Capital," about the "reverse brain drain" that is sending U.S.-educated foreigners and even U.S. citizens back to their ancestral homelands to build up their economies at the expense of our own economic well-being; Steven Gardner, lawyer for the Center for Science and the Public Interest, who will talk about their lawsuit against Viacom, owner of Nickelodeon, and Kellogg Corp., to stop the marketing of junk food to children; and Dianne Bates, entertainment journalist, who will report on the Sundance Film Festival and especially on the new political documentaries that have surfaced there. Listeners are encouraged to phone in ... and let the public know the Left is right!
Sunday, January 15, 2006 Today on "Barry Gordon From Left Field": Progressive Radio Talk Show
Former president of SAG and candidate for Congress Barry Gordon hosts "Barry Gordon From Left Field" on progressive radio station KCAA 1050 AM, broadcast from the Inland Empire (east of L.A.) and webcast on http://www.kcaaradio.com/, every Sunday from 2 to 5 pm PST.
Today's noted guests are Douglas Massey, professor from Princeton and author of what Barry believes is one of the most interesting and important books of 2005 -- "Return of the 'L' Word" (as in Liberal) -- and Stephen Farber, online critic for Movieline.com, who will talk about the awards shows and the films in contention for 2005.
Listeners are encouraged to phone in ... and let the public know the Left is right!
Sunday, January 8, 2006 New Progressive Radio Talk Show / Webcast: "Barry Gordon From Left Field"
Former president of SAG and candidate for Congress Barry Gordon brings his talk radio show "Barry Gordon From Left Field" to progressive radio station KCAA 1050 AM, broadcast from the Inland Empire (east of L.A.) and webcast on www.kcaaradio.com, every Sunday from 2 to 5 pm PST. Today's noted guests will discuss Ariel Sharon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bush's overreaching and constitutional history, and commitments vs. resolutions for the new year and the rest of your life. Listeners are encouraged to phone in ... and let the public know the Left is right!
Friday, December 30, 2005 "Is Wal-Mart Good For America": "Frontline" Documentary Rebroadcast
Low wages, poor benefits, and worker abuse are the hallmarks of Wal-Mart's business practices, and the retail giant is setting the example for companies all across America.
You can learn more about how Wal-Mart's policies send American jobs overseas by watching the rebroadcast of PBS's "Frontline" documentary, "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" on Tuesday, January 3.
Click here to check local listings to see when the one-hour special -- one of the highest-rated programs in "Frontline" history -- will air in your community.
In "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?", correspondent Hedrick Smith examines Wal-Mart as a global force changing the balance of power in the business world and leaving workers behind. You'll hear from an IBEW member who worked at television manufacturer Thomson Industries and see Rubbermaid's equipment auctioned off to Chinese buyers, illustrating how Wal-Mart's strong-arm tactics on suppliers to lower prices have driven jobs from once-solid American companies to low-wage operations overseas.
You can learn more about the program on Frontline's website. Don't miss it!
-- From UnionVoice.org
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Fascism then. Fascism now? (3 comments)
When people think of fascism, they imagine Rows of goose-stepping storm troopers and puffy-chested dictators. What they don't see is the economic and political process that leads to the nightmare.
Monday, November 28, 2005 "War Based on a Lie": A Letter to the Editor in "Stars & Stripes" (3 comments)
Weapons of mass destruction? I’m still looking for them, and if you find any give me a call so we can justify our presence in Iraq. We started the war based on a lie, and we’ll finish it based on a lie. I say this because I am currently serving with a logistics headquarters in the Anbar province, between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. I am not fooled by the constant fabrication of “democracy” and “freedom” touted by our leadership at home and overseas.
Saturday, November 26, 2005 Europe in Uproar Over CIA Operations (3 comments)
From Scandinavia to the tropical Canary Islands, the CIA's clandestine use of European soil and airspace for counter-terrorism missions is triggering outrage, parliamentary inquiries and a handful of criminal prosecutions.
Friday, November 25, 2005 Brownie, You're Doin' a Heck of a Job ... At Cashing In (3 comments)
Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, heavily criticized for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job. [WHO WANTS HIS ADVICE? WHO WOULD INVEST IN THIS COMPANY? WHO DOES HE STILL HAVE INSIDE ACCESS TO? WILL KATRINA SURVIVORS SHARE IN HIS PROFITS? THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY]
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 Thanksgiving, from the ground up (3 comments)
Every morsel on the table is a reminder of the value of the land and those who work it.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 GM Closures to Hit 12 Plants, 30,000 Jobs (3 comments)
UAW leaders blasted the latest cutbacks as "disappointing, unfair and unfortunate" and said the company's "continuing decline in market share is not the fault of workers or our communities."
"We have said consistently that General Motors cannot shrink itself to prosperity," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker said in a statement. The automaker needs to offer vehicles "that consumers find attractive, exciting and want to buy."
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Silver spoons and rusted wrenches (3 comments)
THE AMERICAN auto industry is dead. With General Motors announcing, days before Thanksgiving, 30,000 more layoffs and nine plant closings, the Rust Belt just got the final strike of the sledgehammer. When GM finally goes down for good, all the rusted remains of that region will crumble. ... Those born with silver spoons rarely come to the aid of those born with rusted wrenches. We're either going to continue the ridiculous trend of tax cuts that essentially pad the trust funds of the wealthy or we're going to reinvest in the region that helped the United States win its many wars and made us the world's sole economic superpower. Otherwise, this region will soon rust to dust and ash.
Thursday, November 17, 2005 Hawkish Dem Rep. John Murtha (PA) Calls for Immediate Pullout from Iraq, Blasts Cheney & Bush (3 comments)
"It is time for a change in direction," said Rep. John Murtha ... one of Congress' most hawkish Democrats. "Our military is suffering, the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region." ... Murtha, a Marine intelligence officer in Vietnam, angrily shot back at Cheney: "I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done." Referring to Bush, Murtha added: "I resent the fact, on Veterans Day, he criticized Democrats for criticizing them."
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Class Matters (3 comments)
Two months ago, in his prime-time address from New Orleans, President Bush called upon the nation to "rise above the legacy of inequality." He was joking, obviously. The president's congressional allies now propose to cut Medicaid, food stamps, free school lunches and child-care subsides. They do not propose to save money by undoing the tax cuts that have handed an average of $103,000 a year to people making over $1 million.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Faith and Conscience (3 comments)
President Bush's promises to double foreign aid to Africa and send more money to poor countries with effective governments aren't on track. Let's hope the president hasn't forgotten he made them.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Spoils Go to Party Most Apt to Adapt (3 comments)
Bush's top political goal has always been to mobilize a massive turnout of Republicans by pursuing an unapologetically polarizing agenda, even at the price of straining his relations with moderate voters. ... Bush has seen his approval rating among independent voters fall to an almost unimaginable 29%. ... One fissure [in the Democratic Party] is between those who want to aim at swing voters and those who want to emulate Bush with an agenda intended to excite their base. The more important disagreement is between those who want the party to promote its own ideas and those who want to stay low while Bush is struggling.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Venture of Warner Bros., AOL to Provide Old Television Shows a New Life Online (3 comments)
Time Warner Inc. plans to announce today that it will make more than 100 old television series — including "Falcon Crest," "Kung Fu" and the '70s sitcom that made John Travolta a star, "Welcome Back, Kotter" — available for free in the first major archive of TV shows on the Web.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 This isn't the real America, by Jimmy Carter (3 comments)
IN RECENT YEARS, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican.
These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights. Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Doing Unto Others as They Did Unto Us (3 comments)
How did American interrogation tactics after 9/11 come to include abuse rising to the level of torture? Much has been said about the illegality of these tactics, but the strategic error that led to their adoption has been overlooked. The Pentagon effectively signed off on a strategy that mimics Red Army methods. But those tactics were not only inhumane, they were ineffective. For Communist interrogators, truth was beside the point: their aim was to force compliance to the point of false confession.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Burn in hell, Mr. President (3 comments)
Polls show most Americans share my distrust of Bush. We all see him for what he is – a dishonest, opportunistic political beast who lets nothing stand in the way of his unbridled lust for power. He speaks of God at one moment and calls those who dare disagree with him “motherfuckers” the next. He has, without blinking an eye, sent more than 2,000 American military men and women, along with countless thousands of Iraqi civilians, to their deaths in a senseless invasion based on manufactured “evidence” and outright lies.
Then he has the gall to stand up on the day we set aside to honor those who served and continue to promote his lies and call those who see the truth traitors who aid the enemy.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Playing With Fire (3 comments)
Fewer than 200 of the approximately 500 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have filed petitions for habeas corpus hearings. They are not seeking trials, merely asking why they are being held. And according to government and military officials, an overwhelming majority should not have been taken prisoner in the first place. These men have been in isolation for nearly four years, subject to months of interrogation. Do they really have anything left to say?
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Bush Tries to Gag Critics in Veterans Day Speech (3 comments)
In his Veterans Day speech, Bush took the low road.
Responding to critics who charge him with manipulating intelligence and hoodwinking the American people into war, Bush said: “It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began.”
And then he set about rewriting it.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Right on the run (3 comments)
Unethical – in the polite, understated sense that Carlo Gambino was “unethical” – and incompetent. Those glaring Bush-administration qualities pretty much explain why Democrats walked away with all the goodies in Tuesday’s elections. Those are the qualities against which the electorate protested at the ballot box.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Frist Sells Soul To The Devil (3 comments)
On the way to work at his job on Capitol Hill, Sen. Bill FristÂ’s limo stopped at a traffic light, and the Devil opened the door and joined him on the back seat. ... Without batting an eyelid, Frist got into the Senate chamber and announced that the leaking to the Washington Post of the fact that the CIA had set up secret world-wide torture camps was a far more serious "crime" than the establishment of those very same camps. "There you go, Devil. You owe me ten grand."
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Democrats and the War (3 comments)
Everything that needs to be known is now known: The reasons the Bush Administration gave for the American war in Iraq were all falsehoods or deceptions, and every day the US occupation continues deepens the very problems it was supposed to solve. Therefore there can no longer be any doubt: The war--an unprovoked, unnecessary and unlawful invasion that has turned into a colonial-style occupation--is a moral and political catastrophe. As such it is a growing stain on the honor of every American who acquiesces, actively or passively, in its conduct and continuation.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Radioactive Bush (3 comments)
BushÂ’s unparalleled unpopularity gives ... [Democrats] the opportunity to really stand for something, like getting the troops out of Iraq, like boosting the minimum wage to a livable level, like providing universal health care and free college education, like alleviating poverty.
NowÂ’s the time for boldness.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Bush's Conservative Judge Harbors Libertarian Streak (3 comments)
Judge Alito's broad reading of the freedom of speech and press clauses of the First Amendment stands in contrast with his narrower interpretation of other constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and the Sixth Amendment's guarantees of fair trial rights for criminal defendants.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Democrats Losing Race For Funds (3 comments)
The Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean is losing the fundraising race against Republicans by nearly 2 to 1, a slow start that is stirring concern among strategists who worry that a cash shortage could hinder the party's competitiveness in next year's midterm elections. ... The explanation most offered by Dean allies for the sluggish start is that donors are tired of giving after watching Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) fail to deliver the White House.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument (3 comments)
President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence.
Neither assertion is wholly accurate.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Woes of Auto Parts Maker Threaten Wages (3 comments)
To the 3,800 plant workers of Lockport, a class war is underway in the auto industry. Many of them believe Delphi's bankruptcy was orchestrated by auto executives to permanently smash the pay scale of working people. There is a sense here that nobody is holding the people in top management accountable. ... if Delphi and its workers don't craft a deal on pay, pensions and benefits, a costly strike looms over the auto industry.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Group Trains Air Force Cadets to Proselytize (3 comments)
A private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets to evangelize among their peers. ... The organized evangelization effort has continued this year despite an outcry over alleged proselytizing at the academy that has prompted a Pentagon investigation, congressional hearings, a civil lawsuit and new Air Force guidelines on religion.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 U.S. Orders College to Drop Fellowships For Minorities (3 comments)
Federal prosecutors are threatening to sue Southern Illinois University over three scholarship programs aimed at women and minorities, calling them discriminatory. ... University spokeswoman Sue Davis said Friday that the programs have helped improve the school's diversity and are similar to those at other schools nationwide.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Strategists: Bush Comeback Will Be Tough (3 comments)
"Unless Bush and his advisers do something dramatic to reposition the administration and stop the slide in public approval, they're going to find they have very few friends who want to come to the White House, let alone friends who want them to come to their districts," Light said. "And that's about the worst possible position for a president to be in."
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Keep the Internet Free (3 comments)
Delegates from around the world will gather next week in Tunisia for what is known as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Few people are aware of WSIS's existence, its mission or the purpose of this conference. That is unfortunate, since the principal agenda item calls for a wholesale change in governance of the Internet that could lead to a significant setback for global freedom of information.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 In First for Africa, Woman Wins Election as President of Liberia (3 comments)
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist and former World Bank official who waged a fierce presidential campaign against the soccer star George Weah, emerged victorious on Friday in her quest to lead war-torn Liberia and become the first woman elected head of state in modern African history. [WHY ARE NO WOMEN PROMINENTLY MENTIONED AS SERIOUS CONTENDERS FOR PRESIDENT IN THE U.S.? SHAME ON US!]
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Centrist Democrats Provided Edge on Detainee Vote (3 comments)
"A foreign national who is captured and determined to be an enemy combatant in the world war on terrorism has no more right to a habeas corpus appeal to our courts than did a captured soldier of the Axis powers during World War II," Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, said in a statement.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Conservative Episcopalians Warn Church That It Must Change Course or Face Split (3 comments)
Conservative leaders of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and their Anglican counterparts from overseas intensified their warnings Friday about the possibility of a schism in the Anglican Communion if the Episcopal Church did not renounce the consecration of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Democrats Seek Documents on Abramoff and Bush Meeting (3 comments)
House Democratic leaders called on the White House on Friday to release documents showing whether a powerful Republican lobbyist [Jack Abramoff] had a role in arranging an Oval Office meeting last year between President Bush and the president of the West African nation of Gabon, whose government had been asked by the lobbyist to pay $9 million to help arrange such a meeting.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 'Faith talk' and Tammany Hall [Talk Values but Deliver the Goods] (3 comments)
People are inclined to trust the political judgments made by those who help them in times of need, and in this era of slashed government social programs — replaced in part by grants to "faith-based" providers — it's conservative evangelical ["mega"] churches that now play that role for many struggling Americans.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 Wal-Mart & Its Foes Turn to Religion (3 comments)
Wal-Mart has quietly reached out to church officials with invitations to visit its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to serve on leadership committees and to open a dialogue with the company.
Across the aisle, one of the company's chief foes, Wal-Mart Watch, this weekend is launching seven days of anti-Wal-Mart consciousness-raising at more than 200 churches, synagogues and mosques in 100 cities, where leaders have agreed to sermonize about what they see as moral problems with the company.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 U.S., N. Korea Stick to Their Positions in Nuclear Talks (3 comments)
Negotiators didn't expect to resolve the complex issues involved in only three days. Pyongyang and Washington remained far apart on major issues involving North Korea's nuclear weapons program following three days of six-party talks that concluded here Friday.
North Korea continued to insist that progress be made by the parties agreeing on "step-by-step measures" in which Pyongyang would be compensated at each juncture. ... The United States, on the other hand, has argued that the focus should be on a complete, verifiable dismantling of North Korea's weapons program.
Saturday, November 12, 2005 On Bush, the Dems, Jon Stewart, Hunter Thompson, Bill Moyers, and King (not Don); by John Cusack (3 comments)
Bush 2. How depressing, corrupt, unlawful and tragically absurd the administration's world view actually is...how low the moral bar has been lowered...and (though I know I'm capable of intellectually lazy notions of collective guilt) how complicit our silence as citizens is...Nixon, a true fiend, looks like a paragon of virtue next to the criminally incompetent robber barons now raiding the present and future. ... This is indeed a league of bastards -- these men are human scum.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Legacy of 42nd President Framed With Barbs at 43rd (3 comments)
Clinton talked at length about his legacy, making the case for his policies on balanced budgets, global peacemaking and even health care -- saying recent history has shown he was right to push for reform even if he made mistakes in the effort.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Oil's Bigwigs Enjoy a Rigged Market (3 comments)
Fundamentally, the energy market isn't really a market -- it is rigged by nationally run oil monopolies that dictate the supply and prices of crude oil, individually within their own borders and globally through the OPEC cartel. In that system, private firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron are mere price-takers. But they are also willing free-riders who benefit handsomely from the price-fixing of others.
Friday, November 11, 2005 His Image Tarnished, Bush Seeks to Restore Credibility (3 comments)
Faced with a bleak public mood about Iraq and stung by Democratic accusations that he led the nation into war on false pretenses, President Bush is beginning a new effort to shore up his credibility and cast his critics as hypocrites.
Friday, November 11, 2005 'Wake up, Democrats — it's a new day' (3 comments)
All across the nation, on a host of local issues, Americans demonstrated the polls are true: the Right is wrong for them. This is wonderful news for progressives of all stripes, but there is danger, too, and it's the same danger that has sunk the Left for the last decade: voters didn't vote for Democrats, they voted against Republicans.
If the Left wants to duplicate these results in 2006 and take back the Hill, it must respond to this victory not with conciliatory gee-whiz shuffling of feet, but with a full-out charge against the neoconservative agenda.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Is This the End of Bushism? (3 comments)
If we define Bushism as the political project of building a majority coalition, despite a commitment to unpopular policies, based on a superior cultural, national security, and leadership image among voters, that project is now failing.
Friday, November 11, 2005 The President Should Be Held Accountable, by Sen. Ted Kennedy (3 comments)
Earlier this week, several of our Republican colleagues came to the Senate floor and attempted to blame individual Democratic Senators for their errors in judgment about the war in Iraq. It was little more than a devious attempt to obscure the facts and take the focus off the real reason we went to war in Iraq. 150,000 American troops are bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq because ... in his march to war, President Bush exaggerated the threat to the American people. It was not subtle. It was not nuanced. It was pure, unadulterated fear-mongering, based on a devious strategy to convince the American people that Saddam's ability to provide nuclear weapons to al Qaeda justified immediate war.
Friday, November 11, 2005 For book, Carter takes off gloves (3 comments)
Outlining what he called a "profound and unprecedented change in basic American policies" under the Bush administration, Carter said the invasion of Iraq was a moral and political disaster, and has left the United States in more danger from terrorists than before.
Tax cuts for the wealthy and proposed spending cuts to social programs have demonstrated an "open and overt commitment to the rich at the expense of the poor," while the Bush administration has sacrificed the environment for business.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Lest We Forget on Veterans Day: The Cuts Proposed for Vets by George "AWOL" Bush (3 comments)
The Bush budget plan slashes benefits for veterans by eliminating funding for state programs that provide veterans with long-term care, more than doubling prescription drug co-payments for some veterans, and requiring them to pay an annual enrollment fee of $250. The Bush plan would also trim nursing home care by $351 million, which would eliminate approximately 5,000 beds in nursing homes run by the Veterans Administration.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Cost of Bush War of Lies: 15,477 Wounded Vets; 2060 Who Will Never Live to be Vets (3 comments)
10-Nov: Two more U-S soldiers and a Marine have been killed in Iraq. The soldiers died Thursday after being hit by small arms fire about 75 miles west of Baghdad. They were members of a U-S army unit detailed to the Second Marine Division in western Iraq. The Marine was killed yesterday by a roadside bomb. He was taking part in the latest U-S-led push in western Iraq known as Operation Steel Curtain. The goal is to wipe out insurgent strongholds and infiltration routes along the border with Syria.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Administration Uses Lax Dirty Bomb Clean-Up Standards to Justify Lax EPA Standards (3 comments)
"It's outrageous," said Daniel Hirsch, head of Committee to Bridge the Gap, a group that studies nuclear risk. "They are permitting much higher doses than are protective of the public, and appear to be doing so as part of an overall effort to relax public radiation protections."
Hirsch referred to a companion proposal, also controversial, that would relax or eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines on allowable radiation exposure from a wide variety of other sources, including nuclear power plants, dumpsites and even airport security devices.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Senate Approves Plan to Limit Detainee Access to Courts (3 comments)
The Senate endorsed a plan yesterday that would sharply limit suspected foreign terrorists' access to U.S. courts, an effort to overturn a landmark 2004 Supreme Court ruling that has allowed hundreds of detainees held by the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detentions.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Bush Aide Fires Back at Critics On Justification for War in Iraq (3 comments)
The White House went on the offensive in the debate over the Iraq war yesterday, insisting that U.S. intelligence had compiled a "very strong case" that Saddam Hussein harbored banned weapons and accusing congressional critics of hypocrisy because many of them voted for force three years ago.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Who Loves Freedom More? by Michael Kinsley (3 comments)
The Constitution is not supposed to be just an obstacle course for officials who are trying to get around it. It ought to inspire policy even when it doesn't impose policy. Ditto the Geneva Conventions. Why would you even want to be clever about reasons it might not apply here or there?
Friday, November 11, 2005 Bush Vigorously Attacks Iraq War Critics (3 comments)
President Bush forcefully attacked critics of the war in Iraq today, accusing them of trying to rewrite history and saying they are undercutting American forces on the front lines.
Friday, November 11, 2005 80% of Seniors Doubt Medicare Drug Benefit (3 comments)
Open enrollment starts in days, but only two in 10 plan to sign up, a survey says. Many appear confused about all the options. ... If doubts harden into disdain, that could force major changes to one of President Bush's most promoted domestic-policy accomplishments.
Friday, November 11, 2005 AP-Ipsos Poll: Most Americans Doubt Bush's Honesty (3 comments)
Almost six in 10 -- 57 percent -- said they do not think the Bush administration has high ethical standards and the same portion says President Bush is not honest. ... More than eight in 10, 82 percent, described Bush as "stubborn," with almost that many Republicans agreeing to that description.
Friday, November 11, 2005 FDA Issues Warning for Contraceptive Patch (3 comments)
Users of the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch are exposed to more estrogen than from birth control pills so are at higher risk of blood clots and other side effects, the Food and Drug Administration has warned.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Under Pressure from Right, FDA Suggests Warnings for Condoms (3 comments)
Against a background of pressure from social conservatives, the Food and Drug Administration is recommending a new series of labels for condoms, warning that they "greatly reduce, but do not eliminate" the risk of some sexually transmitted diseases.
Though little noticed by the general public, the issue of condom labeling has become another battleground in the nation's culture wars.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Some Abortion Foes Unsure About Alito (3 comments)
Some antiabortion groups are starting to wonder whether Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. is as strong an ally of their cause as opponents have depicted him.
Although he has been wholeheartedly embraced by most major conservative groups, those whose sole mission is to restrict and prohibit abortion have reservations about the latest Supreme Court nominee as they learn more about his record on the divisive issue.
Friday, November 11, 2005 Rove Says the Tide Is Running in Conservatives' Favor (3 comments)
Karl Rove ... denounced liberal judges Thursday for engaging in "judicial imperialism" and told conservative activists that reform of the federal judiciary was on the way, led by the Supreme Court's new chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr.
"The wind and tide are running in our favor," Rove said in a speech ... that also predicted Senate confirmation of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Friday, November 11, 2005 U.S. Trade Deficit Soars to Record Levels in September (3 comments)
The U.S. trade deficit ballooned to record high levels in September after exports — notably of aircraft — fell and imports surged, the Commerce Department reported today.
In other economic news, a widely watched gauge of consumer confidence strengthened this month and the government reported a slightly larger than expected rise in new unemployment claims.
Friday, November 11, 2005 House GOP leaders scuttle budget-cut vote (3 comments)
House Republican leaders scuttled a vote Thursday on a $51 billion budget-cut package in the face of a revolt by moderate lawmakers over cuts to Medicaid, food stamp and student loan programs.
Friday, November 11, 2005 ACLU, NAACP ask Congress to redo voter law (3 comments)
Civil rights activists argued Wednesday that a 2-year-old Supreme Court decision largely wiped out 40 years of progress minorities have made under the Voting Rights Act.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Oil and Grilling Don't Mix (3 comments)
Senators struck a note of populist outrage when they ordered oil executives to appear before the Energy and Commerce committees to explain high fuel prices and record company profits. ... But instead of calling oil executives on the carpet yesterday, senators gave them the red-carpet treatment. ... From the start, the ferocity of the questioning seemed to come in inverse proportion to the amount of industry funds a questioner had received.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Anti-Terror Measure Rejected in Britain (3 comments)
The House of Commons on Wednesday soundly defeated an anti-terrorism measure championed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, dealing him one of the most significant political setbacks of his eight years in office.
The lower house of Parliament voted 322 to 291 against a proposal to allow suspects in terrorism cases to be held for as many as 90 days without charge, up from the current 14. It was Blair's first loss in a major vote in that house since he took office in 1997.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 For GOP, 2006 Now Looms Much Larger (3 comments)
In a season of discontent for the White House, Tuesday's election results intensified Republican anxiety that next year's midterm contests could bring serious losses unless George W. Bush finds a way to turn around his presidency and shore up support among disaffected, moderate swing voters.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Congress May Limit Bush's Powers with Patriot Act (3 comments)
Congress edged closer yesterday to limiting some of the sweeping surveillance and search powers it granted to the federal government under the USA Patriot Act in 2001, including a provision that would allow judicial oversight of a central tool of the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. ... it would mark another significant setback for the weakened Bush administration as it battles the GOP-controlled Congress over the limits of its powers related to terrorism and the Iraq war.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Democrats Query Nominee On Ethics (3 comments)
Senate Democrats are pressing Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. about his rulings on cases that involved financial companies in which he had investments, a sign that ethics questions may play a role in his confirmation hearing.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 A Party Finds the Right Words (3 comments)
Tuesday's elections will be seen as a rebuke to Bush. But they may be more important as the moment Democrats finally figured out how to talk without embarrassment about God and the practical uses of government.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Kaine Puts Roads at Top of Agenda, Says Virginia GOP's Ads 'Backfired' (3 comments)
Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine (D) said yesterday that he will immediately begin a series of town hall meetings across Virginia to rally public support for a legislative battle next year over fixing the state's transportation problems.
A day after his victory over Republican Jerry W. Kilgore, Kaine savored the latest Democratic win in a state known for its fidelity to the GOP in recent years. At a morning news conference in Richmond, he declared that voters had rejected the Kilgore campaign's attacks on his record.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 An Important Indictment (3 comments)
The flailing Bush presidency continues to spin off new compelling story lines almost daily; yesterday it was torture, today it's Bush as electoral albatross. It's almost inevitable that the media will let some fall by the wayside.
But according to a new Pew Research Center poll, the recent indictment of senior White House aide Scooter Libby is a really big deal: Even more important to the country, for instance, than the 1998 charges that President Bill Clinton lied under oath about Monica Lewinsky. Those, of course, led to Clinton's impeachment.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 War, Spin, & A Little Bit of Everything (3 comments)
The spinmeisters, meanwhile, put out their predictable talking points after Tuesday's elections: Democrats saying their day is coming, Republicans saying the local races meant nothing. Had the outcome been reversed, the party messages would have flipped as well.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Ballot Measures Mostly Draw Scowls From Voters (3 comments)
In this off-year election, voters across the country defeated a range of ballot initiatives — lashing out at ideologically driven arguments and rejecting tax cuts in favor of putting money into infrastructure and education. ... "The issue agenda has shifted from the '90s and early 2000s, when the focus was on lower taxes and limiting government," he said. "Now we are spending most of our time figuring out how to meet essential services."
Because of this, "voters are being less ideologically driven —there is less real hostility to government," he said. "At the moment, I think voters are in a pragmatic middle ground."
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Abramoff Allegedly Scammed African President for Meeting with Bush (3 comments)
Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.
The African leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, met with President Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004, 10 months after Mr. Abramoff made the offer. There has been no evidence in the public record that Mr. Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon [notorious for human rights abuses].
Thursday, November 10, 2005 House Shelves Alaska Drilling in Budget Fight (3 comments)
House Republican leaders were forced to jettison a plan for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska on Wednesday night to save a sweeping spending bill, a concession that came one day after the party suffered significant election loses.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Amtrak Fires Its President in Dispute Over Future (3 comments)
Amtrak's board fired the company's president on Wednesday morning, widening a divide between the Bush administration and Congress over the future of the railroad.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Blaming the Messenger (3 comments)
The truth is that the damage is caused by the administration's underlying acts and policies, not by the news media's disclosures, which serve only to hold officials accountable for their actions. It is the secret camps themselves and the abuse and torture of prisoners that smear America's image and jeopardize Americans serving their country, not newspaper articles.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 The Return of Ahmad Chalabi (3 comments)
Mr. Chalabi's record as a double-dealer and unreliable source stretches back for decades. He has long been distrusted by those in the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency who know Iraq best. But during the crucial months that the Bush administration was planning the invasion and occupation, Mr. Chalabi became a favorite of pro-war Pentagon and White House officials, largely by telling them what they wanted to hear. It is alarming that the administration is still willing to reward him with such a high-ranking official audience.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Feel the Burn, Girlyman (3 comments)
In the aftermath of the California special election the headlines read, “SCHWARZENEGGER ROUTED”, a most welcome bulletin that for inspirational value ranks a close second to “COULTER DROWNS IN SEWAGE TREATMENT MISHAP”. Yet the most relevant factor is not that He Who Gropes has just been groped. It is the way in which he has been groped that serves as a template for liberal success.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Pat Robertson: Intelligent design rejection was a vote against God (3 comments)
On today's broadcast of "The 700 Club," Robertson told Dover [PA] residents, "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God." The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network explained, "You just voted God out of your city."
Thursday, November 10, 2005 Oil Company Execs Defend Profits to Senate, With an Assist by the Bush FTC (3 comments)
The head of the Federal Trade Commission said a federal price-gouging law "likely will do more harm than good."
"While no consumers like price increases, in fact, price increases lower demand and help make the shortage shorter-lived than it otherwise would have been," FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras told the hearing.
"That's an astounding theory of consumer protection," replied Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Deadly Explosions Rock Jordan Hotels (3 comments)
Explosions hit three hotels in the Jordanian capital Wednesday night, and at least 18 people were killed and 120 wounded.
A police official said the explosions indicated the involvement of al-Qaida, which has launched coordinated attacks on high-profile, Western targets in the past.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 CIA v. Cheney (3 comments)
Cheney's current situation has the makings of a Greek tragedy in the way he is about to self-destruct. The tragic flaw of overweening arrogance - the Greeks called it hubris - did not begin with Euripides. Nor will it end with the inexorably approaching demise of the vice president and other leaders of the current US administration.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 What America Exports: Paper, Waste and Jobs (3 comments)
In the 21st century the US economy has ceased to generate net new jobs in middle and upper middle class professions. This is a serious economic, social and political problem that receives no attention.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Willie Horton's Swift Boat Crashes In Virginia (3 comments)
Republican Jerry Kilgore's defeat in Virginia is not only a reflection of voter disillusionment with George W. Bush, who swooped in at the eleventh hour for a rally with the gubernatorial hopeful, it marks a stunning repudiation of the GOP's vaunted attack machine. Throughout the campaign, Kilgore avoided the issues Virginians cared about most -- transportation and education -- homing in instead on the character of his opponent, Tim Kaine. This time-tested Republican strategy proved to be a grave miscalculation.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 A Culture Of Lies (3 comments)
If the public had known what White House was planning: handing over public assets to its private benefactors, concentrating wealth and power to secure long-term partisan advantage, and mortgaging the country’s fiscal future and civil liberties to pull it off—we would have long ago seen angry torch-wielding mobs storming the castle.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Bush Suffers a Trifecta of Defeat in Off-Year Election (3 comments)
You can bet the already nervous Republicans who are Busheviks out of fear that Tom DeLay or Karl Rove will blow their knee caps off if they stray from the Politburo (White House) party line are now going to start breaking away out of fear that they will lose their 2006 elections.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Democratic Turncoat Turned Out (3 comments)
St. Paul [MN] A year after Mayor Randy Kelly publicly backed President Bush for re-election, voters here showed they hadn't forgotten -- and weren't in a forgiving mood.
Residents of this heavily Democratic city ousted Kelly, electing fellow Democrat and former Council member Chris Coleman by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 PA Evolved, But the World is Still Flat in Kansas (3 comments)
TOPEKA, Kan. — The state Board of Education approved curriculum standards Tuesday that question evolution and redefine science to include concepts other than natural explanations.
The board, in a 6-4 vote, recommended that schools teach the "considerable scientific and public controversy" surrounding the origin of life — a dispute most scientists contend exists only among creationists.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Centrist Senators Feel Assured on Abortion After Alito Visit (3 comments)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Alito told her he would respect precedent even if he disagreed with the original ruling ... Alito also met privately with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), who emerged from their discussion saying the veteran federal appeals judge had assured him that he considered Roe a precedent that "deserved great respect."
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 The Roots of the Riots in France (3 comments)
The young Muslims living ... outside Paris, Lyon and Marseilles are no less alienated than those living near Amsterdam, Barcelona and London. ... It is ... discrimination, not Islamic fervor, that is seen as sparking the riots. But will some of the fury be focused into jihad? ... these radicalized young people, like any European citizen, would be eligible for visa-free travel to the U.S.
