Muse in the Morning

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 11 April 2008 06:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Art LinkBleedingBleeding the ColorsI have bled blood redThree decades later thanI would have liked,aided by a surgeon's knife,but I have bled blood red.I've bled before,just not that color.It's the shadeI was missingin my world.I've bled the sickly[...]

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http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5923

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McCain is a "Natural Born" U.S. Citizen

post from Our Republic on 11 April 2008 05:24:00 AM. © Our Republic

Senators Patrick Leahy and Claire McCaskill introduced a non-binding resolution, S. 2678, stating that Sen. John McCain is a "natural born Citizen," as contemplated by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, and thereby eligible to serve as President. Article II, Section 1 specifically states that "No person except a natural born Citizen?shall be eligible to the Office of President." Senators Obama and Clinton are co-sponsors of the Leahy-McCaskill resolution.

In February, the New York Times raised the question of whether Sen. McCain satisfied the aforementioned constitutional prerequisite to become President. Sen. McCain was born in 1936 at the Coco Solo submarine base in the U.S.-run Panama Canal Zone while his father served as an officer in the Navy. If elected, McCain would be the first President born outside of the 50 states.

?There are powerful arguments that Senator McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,? said Professor Sarah H. Duggin of Catholic University. ?It is not a slam-dunk situation.?

While it may not be "a slam-dunk," it's a fairly easy layup. Congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790 to include within the definition of "natural born" "children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States." While the Constitution cannot be amended by legislative act, the Act is an authoritative expression of original intent seeing as the Constitution had been ratified just 2 years earlier.

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http://www.ourrepublicblog.com/2008/04/obama-and-clinton-mccain-natural-born.html

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Republican Public Officials Just Can't Handle a
Tape Recorder

post from Boyda Bloc on 11 April 2008 05:18:00 AM. © Boyda Bloc

They've been wheedling us for days, but we've successfully ignored TheKansasRepublican and their days of off-the-wall accusations that Congresswoman Nancy Boyda is sneaking around with a camcorder going all paparazzi on Lynn Jenkins.

We kid, of course, but not as much as we'd hope. Here's the gist of their actual complaint:

Nancy Boyda, who voted against FISA, is now paying for a "stalker" to follow Lynn Jenkins around and tape her every word. They'd like you to think he's taping her at the grocery store, probably.

This is very, very bad, and also hypocritical.

Oh, how to respond without being disrespectful...

OK, we'll start with the easy ones: Congresswoman Nancy Boyda isn't paying anyone to film anything at this point of the campaign (check the FEC reports yourselves). The tracker (yes, that's what the "stalker" is really called by people not trying to be incendiary) is paid for by the Kansas Democratic Party, and is a standard part of federal-level campaigning this day and age.

The fella from the KDP isn't following Lynn to the bathroom or getting in anyone's face...he's attending public events...the PUBLIC events of an ELECTED official running for a federal OFFICE. No elected official has any right- ever- to complain about being recorded at a public event.

The idea our State Treasurer is so secretive she doesn't want her potential constituents to know what she's saying, and that the Kansas Republican Party wants to keep it from us all, too, is one of the scariest things we've seen thus far in this race.

We can't really expect Republicans to be advocates for open government, though, can we?

Next, the Republicans, in their crazy rush to push out silly analysis, also left out the fact the KDP is also recording Jim Ryun at his events, too...they're ignoring that, but we aren't sure why. Too busy, probably.

Speaking of things the Republicans are ignoring: You can also ask Ryun or Jenkins or any staffer thereof...from what we've been told, they all know the "stalker" doesn't work for Boyda...but facts get in the way of quality spin.

In the end, the bit that's drawn a post out of us is that the Republican bloggers have the audacity to compare the recording of public events hosted by people wanting to be our representative in Congress to the federal government spying on American citizens. That's why they're calling Boyda a hypocrite, by the way- because she voted to prevent warrantless wiretaps of American citizens without oversight, but then recorders her opponents (which she isn't doing...oh, whatever...you get the picture).

That Republicans in Kansas are callous enough to compare taping public events to a federal government attempting to spy on Americans without a warrant is grossly inappropriate, but no one needs us to point that out- it's obvious to anyone other than Republican partisan hacks.

We will come back, in the end, to the fact this is just another occasion of Republicans lying when it can be proven that they are...and another example of exactly how desperate Republicans are to keep as much information as they can from the American people- and exactly how desperate they are to take down Congresswoman Boyda with baseless drivel.

Luckily, no one is listening to them.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BoydaBloc/~3/268443150/republican-public-officials
-just-cant.html

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Freaky Friday Open Thread

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 11 April 2008 05:15:00 AM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

"I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is
impossible to deny. Let's just say that global warming deniers
are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies
the past and the other denies the present and future."

Ellen Goodman
Born April 11, 1941

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http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=21522

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Vets Without Care: Boyda Says System is
Overloaded

post from Boyda Bloc on 11 April 2008 05:03:00 AM. © Boyda Bloc

A really heart-wrenching story ran in the Topeka Capitol-Journal about an Iraq War veteran who is simply not receiving the quality or level of care we should all expect our returning veterans to receive.

These stories aren't rare- quite the opposite of that, like Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's district representatives for military affairs said in the same article.

Two district representatives in U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda's Topeka office, Jefferson Lawson and Adam Stolte, said they hadn't heard about Sanders' case, but weren't surprised.

When Lawson was asked if the office received a lot of complaints from veterans about similar problems, he replied, "extremely."

He and Stolte can tell lots of horror stories, but they also try to put the complaints in perspective.

"People don't call us with good information," Stolte said.

So there is no way of knowing how many veterans receive good service, he said.

And, he said, almost every VA employee they deal with is well-intentioned. The problem is the system.

Lawson explained there are two divisions of the VA ? The Veterans Health Administration that provides the health care and the Veterans' Benefit Administration that sends out the checks to qualifying veterans.

"I can tell you from experience those two agencies do not talk to each other," Lawson said.

This is a horrible situation for our very bravest Americans to be in, and Boyda has already tried to address the problem, though we would probably not be out of line to say everyone knows more needs to be done.

Boyda blamed the problem on an overburdened system. She said Congress increased funding for the VA by $6.6 billion last year and by another $4.9 billion this year. More is needed, she said.

"This is the real cost of war," she said. "It's easy to wear a yellow ribbon. Veterans need real help. And that takes money."

We'll hope we can convince Republican members to vote their own rhetoric and treat our men and women in uniform with the respect they deserve.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BoydaBloc/~3/268400000/vets-without-care-boyda-say
s-system-is.html

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Early Bird Open Thread

post from Taylor Marsh on 11 April 2008 05:00:00 AM. © Taylor Marsh

Early Bird Open Thread Good morning, TM here (checking in while traveling). Right about now a pro-Clinton protest in New York is beginning in support of Hillary Clinton, and against media[...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27391

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Result driven Injustice

post from Firedoglake on 11 April 2008 04:56:55 AM. © Firedoglake

Sometimes the crime in is the asking...[...]

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http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/11/result-driven-injustice/

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More from Boyda on the Petraeus-Crocker
Testimoney

As reported by the Manhattan Mercury:

After hearing Gen. David Petraeus urge a continued commitment to Iraq Wednesday, Second District Rep. Nancy Boyda said she remains concerned about the impact that commitment is having on the military.
''In view of today's testimony, I remain deeply concerned about the impact of the Iraq war on our military readiness,'' she said. "Our troops are clearly strained by repeated 15-month deployments, and the Army is burning through supplies and equipment at an alarming rate.''
Boyda cited comments by Gen. George Casey, chief of staff of the Army, and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the effect that the military commitment is close to a ''red line'' beyond which it cannot be sustained. Citing comments by CIA chief Mike Hayden that the next 9-11 style attack would come from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, she worried about whether the U.S. can combat the growth of Al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Boyda noted that Hayden had described the situation along that border as presenting clear and present danger to Afghanistan, to Pakistan, and to the west in general and to the United States in particular.
''Gen. Petraeus' recommendations carry great weight,'' she said, adding, however, that ''as we move forward in Iraq, we must not lose sight of our highest goal, to protect America.''
President Bush adopted one of Boyda's recommendations today, saying he will instruct the Pentagon to impose 12-month rather than 15-month combat tours in Iraq. However Bush, echoing Petraeus, said he would not order additional troop drawdowns beyond July.
Petraeus told Congress that it's too early to talk about future drawdowns because the situation in Iraq remains fragile, and that while security has improved and Iraqi forces are shouldering more of the fight against extremists, Iraq still could descend again into chaos.

The article, of course, overstates the facts when they say President Bush adopted on of Boyda's recommendations: when he said he would impose a 12-month instead of 15-month combat tours in Iraq. Certainly that has been something Congresswoman Boyda has pushed, but she wasn't alone in that call- Democrats & Republicans alike have asked the President to let our men and women be home with their families as soon as possible.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BoydaBloc/~3/268383922/more-from-boyda-on-petraeus
-crocker.html

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President Petraeus, Chairman of Lunacy Bush

Yesterday our Chief Lunatic said that Acting President of the United States and Senior US Commander in Iraq David Petraeus could ?have all the time he needs? before reducing US troops in Iraq.

The Lunatic spoke at the White House to a small group including VP Dick Cheney, the secretaries of State and Defense and representatives of veterans? organizations. Bush defended the lives lost and the money spent on his unnecessary war in Iraq. He said that his ?surge? last year had averted potential defeat and that withdrawing troops would be catastrophic to American interests.

All of which, of course, only an insane man and his insane cohorts could claim.

American forces have been defeated in Iraq. And the entire Iraq operation from beginning to now (there is no end in sight) has been catastrophic to all American interests except Vice President Dick Cheney?s companies that profit from war and the consequences of war.

Bush said that Al Qaeda and Iran are the biggest threats facing the United States. He said, ?If we fail there, Al Qaeda would claim a propaganda victory of colossal proportions, and they could gain safe havens in Iraq from which to attack the United States, our friends and our allies,? he said. ?Iran would work to fill the vacuum in Iraq, and our failure would embolden its radical leaders and fuel their ambitions to dominate the region.?

The US has already failed in wiping out Al Qaeda and will continue to fail. And wiping out Iran is the success Bush and Cheney envision, which, of course has failed and will fail.

All of the failures feared by George W. Bush have already happened. The only way he can keep from acknowledging that his worst fears have come to pass is to keep stating that they will come to pass unless the war in Iraq goes on for the next 100 years.

Six more months. And then voters have to decide whether they want John McCain to prolong this madness or if they want it to stop.

Read The Full Article:
http://ratbangdiary.blogspot.com/2008/04/president-petraeus-chairman-of-lunacy.ht
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Old heroes never die; they just forget their band
of brothers

McCain deserves serious criticism for footdragging where leadership is needed. That more current Iraq War veterans support Obama should have clued him in.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2008/04/11/old-heroes-never-die-they-just
-forget-their-band-of-brothers/

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