Yo Teddy, Try Winning in November Without Us

BY TAYLOR MARSH I was on a plane coming back from D.C. when this blew up. Finally, Rahm Emanuel snapped back at Kennedy’s classless remark. It’s about time somebody did. -??I[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27655

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The Last Live "Seder on Sunday"

Today at 4 PM ET will be the final live "Seder of Sunday" broadcast. Sam posts that there is still a chance he will take over Air America's 3 PM ET slot, and regardless, is still committed to remaining in liberal talk radio. To that end, there is still time to tell Air America to return Sam to its daily lineup.

So today will also be the final on-air installment of the Weekend Watchdog, but have no fear, because the Watchdog will remain on patrol at the Campaign for America's Future blog.

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Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open ThreadFrom Yahoo News Top Stories1 Boat carrying Myanmar aid sinks; toll climbs beyond 28,000Associated Press20 minutes agoYANGON, Myanmar - A Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for cyclone victims sank Sunday,[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/288233733/showDiary.do

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A House GOP leader says McCain will be a third
Bush term

Good luck with that.

BLITZER: When it comes to domestic economic issues, what is the major difference between President Bush's policies, what he wants to do, and what John McCain would do if he were president?

BLUNT: Well, I think what John McCain wants to do is continue these pro-growth tax policies that our friends on the other side have been talking...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But that's what President Bush wants to do too.

BLUNT: And there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that.

BLITZER: So it would be in effect a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies?

BLUNT: It would be. I think it would be. And I think that's a good thing.

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Tax Exemption Without Limitation - Now
That’s Christianity

The gall of the religious right never ceases to amaze. Time and again, they demonstrate that hypocrisy is an essential element of their ideology. While many of these zealots frequently demonstrate their willingness to preach one thing and do another, their latest endeavor seems determined to take it to a whole new level.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocate for the right wing, is calling on churches to voice their positions on political candidates en masse on September 28th in order to create the grounds to challenge the constitutionality of the current tax code. As it now stands, the IRS guidelines prohibit churches from directly endorsing or rejecting political candidates in order to maintain their tax exempt status. The ADF wants to overturn the provision on the grounds that it circumvents their First Amendment rights and is therefore unconstitutional.

From The Washington Post:

The Alliance Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will ask the clergy to deliver a sermon about specific candidates Sept. 28. If the action triggers an IRS investigation, the legal group will sue to overturn the federal rules, which were enacted in 1954.

Under the IRS code, churches can distribute voter guides, run voter registration drives, hold forums on public policy and invite politicians to speak at their congregations.

However, they cannot endorse a candidate, and their political activity cannot be biased for or against a candidate, directly or indirectly.

The Alliance Defense Fund said Friday that the regulations amount to an unconstitutional limit on free speech and government intrusion into religion.

From WorldNetDaily:

“Churches have for too long feared the loss of tax exempt status arising from speech in the pulpit addressing candidates for office,” the ADF’s white paper on the campaign confirmed. “Rather than risk confrontation, pastors have self-censored their speech, ignoring blatant immorality in government and foregoing the opportunities to praise moral government leaders.

“ADF believes that IRS restrictions on religious expression from the pulpit, whenever the IRS characterizes it as ‘political,’ is unconstitutional. After 50 years of threats and intimidation, churches should confront the IRS directly and reclaim the expressive rights guaranteed to them in the United States Constitution,” the group said.

“The intimidation of churches by leftist groups using the IRS has grown to a point that ADF has no choice but to respond,” said Erik Stanley, senior counsel for the ADF. “The number of threats being reported to ADF is growing because of the aggressive campaign to unlawfully silence the church.

Where to begin. First, I doubt the courts would rule in favor of the ADF since churches have always had the option to forego their tax exempt status. The bottom line - they elect their tax status knowing the conditions. I personally believe they shouldn’t be tax exempt and it wouldn’t surprise me if this misguided effort opens the door to discussing that possibility.

Beyond that, the dividing line between church and state is a complex matter that has been addressed numerous times by the courts. I suspect that the ADF believes that the shift to the right in the Supreme Court under the Bush administration may be to their benefit. Regardless, there is ample precedent that would need to be ignored in order for ADF to prevail.

Setting aside the legal argument, I want to focus on some of the inconsistent positions that emanate from the religious right…positions that lead me and many others to decry their penchant for hypocrisy. Two issues jump off the page.

The first is federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush and his supporters have argued that the government shouldn’t provide funding for such research. Their rationale for their objections is predicated upon ethical concerns that have their origin in religious doctrine. At the same time, he and those who support the ban on federal funding loudly note that they aren’t preventing state and private funding for this research.

Hence the inconsistency is revealed. On the one hand, the religious right believes that it is appropriate for the president to deny funding for research that could assist numerous Americans that have no religious objections to embryonic stem cell research on the basis that those in favor of the research can still conduct the research…just without the endorsement (funding) of the federal government. In other words, no ones rights are being denied so long as the research is allowed to proceed. If you favor it, fund it privately…but your federal government isn’t going to use your money to do so.

On the other hand, those who endorse the logic in the above argument believe the federal government shouldn’t be allowed to prohibit churches from engaging in partisan politicking in exchange for granting them an exemption from taxation. Where does that leave us? Well, it says that those individuals with religious beliefs want the government to forego funding research that conflicts with their religious beliefs while also allowing them to use the pulpits of the churches they support to influence the outcome of elections…without those churches ever being required to pay taxation. If that isn’t wanting to have it both ways, what is?

Contrast that with the secular citizen who pays taxes and wants the government to fund research that might save lives and one begins to see the absurdity of the system these religious demagogues favor. Truth be told, many of these religious organizations have already established “arms length” political entities that circumvent the IRS codes. Anyone who doubts their aspirations for the establishment of a theocracy ought to think again. The ADF directive is simply the next step in a well-crafted agenda.

The second item that illuminates the inconsistency in the rationale of the religious right is gay marriage. Proponents of measures to ban same-sex marriages contend that same-sex couples can achieve many of the same benefits that are afforded to married couples by utilizing the appropriate legal documentation. Of course they fail to mention that the lion’s share of benefits cannot be achieved through any means…especially those that relate to taxation.

At the same time, they argue that the preservation of the institution of marriage and it’s religious connotations is reasonable so long as the government isn’t preventing gays from forming the relationships they choose. In other words, it’s reasonable to restrict marriage to one man and one woman so long as the government allows gays to form the relationships they choose. The bottom line message to gays - you elect your tax status knowing the conditions.

When gays assert that this is an unfair system, the religious right is the first to cite those objections as evidence of the militant homosexual agenda and the desire of gays to force society to accept and embrace their alternative lifestyle.

Again, we begin to see the inconsistency. On the one hand, the religious right argues that the government has no obligation to recognize same-sex unions…and those who enter into them do so knowing the precedent conditions. You want a gay spouse, you don’t benefit from the advantageous tax status afforded to recognized marriages. On the other hand, they want the government to recognize religious doctrine in determining whose marriages will receive beneficial treatment while also wanting their churches to receive preferential tax status absent conditions…conditions that are simply intended to uphold the separation of church and state.

Similar arguments can be made with regards to the religious right’s positions on a number of issues. This includes a woman’s right to have an abortion and the rights of an individual or their family members to make end of life decisions. Time and again, the religious right seeks to insert and impose their beliefs on those who do not share them while simultaneously asking the government to adopt a laissez-faire mentality with regards to monitoring the separation of church and state.

I find it amusing that those who routinely point out that the spiritual realm supersedes all else spend so much of their time in the pursuit of all things political and material. Then again, the newly emerging prosperity theology suggests that the attainment of success (wealth and worldly measures) is undoubtedly evidence that one is appropriately aligned with the Lord.

Silly me…why on earth would I conclude that any of the above positions are hypocritical. I just pray that God will help me abandon rational and reasoned thought in favor of the fabrications that come with faith. I need to accept that the teachings of Jesus Christ have nothing to do with today’s Christianity. Maybe that’s why the religious right insists that everyone has to be born again, eh?

Image courtesy of TBogg

Cross-posted at Thought Theater

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It's Not Personal, It's Politics

Scott Lemieux misunderstands politics imo. I know he misunderstands my argument for a Unity Ticket.

He writes that "some people in the Clinton Hackosphere [meaning me, thanks for the kind words Scott] are trying to set up the argument that a decision by Obama to choose anybody but Clinton must be motivated by personal animus, because there simply can't be any rational argument . . . against it." Um no, I assume that, unlike people like Scott Lemieux, there are enough mature adults in the Obama camp who will make a rational mature decision on this issue. It so happens that the signals I am seeing are that the decision they seem to be approaching is a very bad one that is NOT directed at unifying the Party. I think that would be wrong. I think party unity is the most important criteria now. Apparently Scott Lemieux does not care about the unity issue. Or perhaps Scott Lemieux thinks Ted Kennedy's statement was helpful and unifying. On that, we would disagree.

More . . .

Hey Scott, we get it - for you, anyone who disagrees with you is a "hack." Actually addressing the argument presented? Not necessary. Just insult not only Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton's supporters, but anyone who says or writes something that SCOTT LEMIEUX does not agree with!! Yes, personal animus is NOT a part of the Lemieux calculus. Not at all. Sheesh.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

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Picher Oklahoma Has Died

Once upon a time Picher, Oklahoma was a thriving lead and zinc mining town of 20,000. My Dad was raised there in the 20’s and 30’s. Well, we know the health effects of lead now, which they likely didn’t know in Picher’s heyday. They figured it out later, the contaminated groundwater, ruined soil, etc. The townn shrank quite a bit lately. It became a Superfund site a while back, along with 40 square miles of nearby land in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Here’s a bit of the story from the AP wire’s story:

People are leaving, escaping the reality of life in one of the worst environmental nightmares in the country. A voluntary federal buyout is hastening the exodus.

This is a town’s last stand.

“Ol’ Picher is just like the rest of us, she’s 90 years old and on her last legs,” says Orval “Hoppy” Ray, who worked the mines in the 1940s and runs a drafty pool hall in town.

Ray reveals the stubbornness that comes with 82 years of living: He and dozens of other holdouts will not leave, even when there is no city water or police department. No matter how much he’s offered for his property, his place will remain open until he’s dead.

“I don’t think the lights will ever go out,” Ray says, but there’s something in his voice that leaves room for doubt.

His birthplace is the center of the Tar Creek Superfund site, a 40-square-mile area that also takes in portions of Missouri and Kansas.

I suppose I should note that I’ve got a lithograph on the steps leading up to this loft office of mine depicting Tar Creek. That small tributary runs through much of Ottawa County, OK, and even ran near the house we lived in during the 60’s. Even back then in the 60’s when we’d visit my grandfather in Picher, before he moved to greener pastures in Kansas, the town of Picher was a poverty-stricken place even the mining companies had abandoned. Dad knew how rough it was there — he would hardly let us out of the car.
Today’s odd coincidence? My wife and I hosted her parents for the weekend. On a trip to the New Jersey shore I told a story about how my Dad used to drive 15 miles out of the way to fill up his gas tank. That was back in the 60’s, well before any of us knew the land he drove on was to become such an environmental nightmare.

Why is this interesting? Why is it timely? Yesterday 7 people died in Picher, OK. A tornado came trough town and sent over 150 people to the hospital as well. This is a town devastated by losing all of its history. The High School? Long since closed. The Century Theater? Gone. The mines? Gone. 97% of the population? Gone. Now nature has taken care of the rest. Picher, Oklahoma is no more. It lost its last stand.

In Picher, some homes were reduced to their foundations, others lost several walls. In one home, the tornado knocked down a bedroom wall, but left clothes hanging neatly in a closet.

“People were just wandering up and down the streets. Some had blood on them, some were dazed,” Keheley said.

A Best Western hotel sign was blown miles before coming to rest against a post. At one home, a basketball hoop planted in concrete had its metal support twisted so the rim hung only about 3 feet above ground.

Broken glass was strewn around the inside of 30-year-old Michael Richardson’s home, but a wrapped Mother’s Day gift and a laptop computer were left unscathed on the kitchen counter.

Frank Geasland, Ottawa County’s emergency manager said, a government-sponsored buyout of homes in the town left some residences vacant, and this may have prevented a greater loss of life.

The National Weather Service sent out a tornado warning at 5:26 p.m., 13 minutes before the tornado hit Picher, said David Jankowski, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Tulsa. Tornado sirens warned residents to take shelter.

The twister was the deadliest in Oklahoma since a May 3, 1999 twister that killed 44 people in the Oklahoma City area.

The National Weather Service estimated that at least eight tornadoes had been spawned in Oklahoma along six storm tracks. Three teams were dispatched to assess damage, meteorologist Steve Amburn said.

It is odd. Somehow I feel as if I’ve lost some moorings with this news. It is my father’s childhood hometown, not mine, that was wiped off the face of the earth yesterday, and though my father is seven years dead, nearly, I find it like a piece of the past is missing.

Hey, never fear. President Bush says his government will help make life right for the remaining souls in Picher, OK.

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Thank you Cabarrus County!

After recuperating from several weeks of lack of sleep, with 2 or 3 hour long nights being very common, it is an absolute pleasure for me to use My 100th post to thank all the voters in Cabarrus County for giving Barack Obama a victory in My own County.

With the odds stacked up against us in this County, we managed to pull out a victory thanks to the very hard and dedicated work of dozens of volunteers. The demographics in Cabarrus County working against us, with a relatively small African-American population and a majority of older Democrats, the Obama campaign predicted we would lose here by 2%. Instead, thanks to staff and so many volunteers, we won by 4%.

We won, thanks to all those days of door-to-door canvassing, making calls, distributing fliers and door hangers, giving rides to the polls and putting up yard signs. It was hard work, but it paid off and I'm sure I speak for all the other local volunteers when I say that we very eagerly look forward to the fall to start doing it all over again.
It was very inspiring to witness the enthusiasm and spirit that drives all our volunteers on a scale I haven't witnessed in a political campaign before.

We won this battle, even though some people stubbornly refuse to admit it, but the war will be won in November.

After this Primary victory we're not hibernating, but we keep organizing and building upon this success to prepare for the big battle in November. So join our group and be a part of history.

Trust me, come this fall, Cabarrus County is in for a surprise.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.lefton49.com/2008/05/thank-you-cabarrus-county.html

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The Democratic Wave Since 2004--Rasmussen
Tracking

First the Republicans began losing voters, then, only quite recently the Democrats began gaining[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/288225982/showDiary.do

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Cost of veterans care to rise, despite decline in
total number of vets.

The AP reports that despite a decline in total veterans “as soldiers from World War II and Korea die,” the government “expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today’s $29 billion,” according to internal documents. The VA “concedes the bill could be much higher” as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars go on:

Inflation accounts for a big chunk of the increase. But even when the VA factors out inflation, the compensation for disabled veterans would still grow from $29 billion to $33 billion in today’s dollars ? a more than 10 percent increase. And the department acknowledges the estimate could rise by 30 percent.

Earlier this year, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz predicted that a “lifetime health-care and counseling for veterans” from Iraq and Afghanistan could in part push the total cost of the wars to $5 trillion to $7 trillion, far higher than current expectations.

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