Lebanon Democratic Blog

When you were in school did you ever wonder why you had to learn all that history? Rick Barber, a Republican candidate for Congress in Alabama, is a perfect example of why history is important. He has a video on his campaign site which attempts to connect his campaign to the Founders of this country. Apparently, Mr. Barber was not paying attention in history class. Of course is he went to school in Alabama who know what he might have been taught about American history.

Barber’s video has him talking to three actors playing President Washington, Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. He rails against the IRS, progressive income tax, and tyrannical government repressing small business. He calls Sam Adams a brewer and Washington a distiller—obviously they would understand his point of view.

Leave aside the fact that Samuel Adams was not a brewer (for a time he worked in his family’s malt business). Mr Barber has been watching to many TV commercials for Sam Adams Beer.

He is correct that George Washington had a distillery. Most plantations and large farms in early America has one. The ad has the Washington character saying “Gather your armies,” when Barber asks them “Are you with me?”

Where Mr. Barber goes off the track is he assumes Washington would rise up in rebellion if the government taxed small businesses. If you payed attention in history class you know exactly what Washington would do, in fact what he did, when distillers resisted paying taxes to the central government.

In 1794 the federal government needed revenue and imposed a tax on distilled spirits. The farmers in western Pennsylvania and other places resisted the tax. It was called the Whiskey Rebellion. What did President Washington do? He sent the Army to suppress the rebellion and arrest rebels. It was the only time in American history when the President lead troops in the field.

Unfortunately for Mr. Barber if President Washington said “raise your armies” it would be to crush the tax rebellion not to support it. If you do not know history you make stupid statements where the facts are well known. It would be less embarrassing if he had not raised the issue of taxes on distilleries.

Of course, Mr Barber says his commercial is misunderstood. “They need to not look so deep into things,” Barber said, “It’s definitely not an inciteful call to arms.” Maybe it isn’t, but if you are going to claim the Founders support your cause make sure history is on your side.

I am glad to report the Democratic voters of Pennsylvania made their wishes known on May 18th, 2010. Despite Senator Specter being supported by all the leaders of the Democratic Party at both the federal and state level, he lost to Joe Sestak. The Primary was marred by attack ads by Senator Specter on Joe Sestak’s naval career and record in the House of Representatives.

Joe Sestak is a retired Navy Vice Admiral. He is the highest ranking military officer to ever serve in Congress. The attack on Admiral Sestak backfired. It angered most veterans so much that they worked hard for Sestak.

Senator Specter turned Democrat solely because he would lose the Republican Primary to Pat Toomey. He had a reputation for bucking the Republicans. However, his voting record endeared him to few voters of either party. In the end, his change of party to save only one job, his own, did not work.

This is the third installment of my blog posts about Senator Specter’s “No Show Joe” advertisement. I had to do some research for this one.

Senator Specter claims Representative Joe Sestak missed 127 votes. I can neither confirm nor deny that statement. Unlike Senator Specter, I do not have the staff and the direct access to the database of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to count the votes. All I could do was go to the web site of the Clerk of the House of Representative and check the votes on the few specific days the ad listed.

I checked and printed the roll call for every vote on those days unless Senator Specter listed a specific bill for a date. I came up with 29 votes which I could identify in this manner.

Of the 29 votes 11 were unanimous votes.
Near unanimous votes were 11. I defined near unanimous as any vote where 5 or fewer House Members voted against a bill or resolution.
There were 9 votes where a bill or resolution was contested but passed.
There were 2 votes for bills or motions which failed.

First let me take the two votes which failed. One was a motion to adjourn the House. It failed mainly because most Democrats voted against adjournment.

The other vote which failed was on a more important issue. On January 18, 2009 there was a series of votes on the budget for the Departments of Commerce and Justice and for related agencies,most of the votes were on amendments. The vote which failed to pass the total Ayes was 165 and Noes 245. But please note 236 of the Noes were Democrats.

Among the Unanimous Votes were such vital issues as a resolution to “Commend the Real Salt Lake soccer club for winning the 2009 Major League Soccer Cup.” Another unanimous vote was a resolution for the “Korean War Veterans Recognition Act.” That vote was 421 to 0. Do not misunderstand I am a Korean War veteran myself but this was a symbolic resolution with no real world impact. Finally, there was a 423 to 0 vote “Recognizing the historical and national significance of the many contributions of John William Heismen to the sport of football.”

Not one of the votes which Senator Specter listed would have been changed if Representative Sestak would have been present and voting. Are there votes which would have been changed if Representative Sestak had voted? I do not know because the Senator gives no information. I do not even know what period of time the 127 votes refers to.

Senator Specter has a staff and access to the database of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. If there are votes of real importance, not things like recognizing National Dairy Month another one I did not list above, provide me with the dates and bill number. Without more information I have to assume this saying Joe Sestak missed 127 votes is just another smear on the reputation of an honorable man.

HuffingtonPost reports yet anther ethics complaint against Sarah Palin. Andree McLeod, obtained obtained emails and records through a Freedom of Information request for the period after Palin was named Vice-Presidential candidate. The records indicate Palin’s staff used state resources for political purposes during the period.

While the ethics complaint may be interesting, it is just another charge against an official who resigned to avoid impeachment. The real story to me is the subject of the emails and messages going between Palin’s staff and the McCain campaign. Bill McAllister, a communications aide to the governor, sent an email to the McCain campaign asking for guidance about what Palin’s position should be on abortion and sex education.

I need to verify what’s being said on the governor’s behalf regarding two social issues," McAllister writes. "On abortion, she is pro-life, but does she oppose exceptions for rape and incest? On sex education, does she favor an abstinence-only approach or does she allow for contraceptives? [Emphasis added]

The email does not ask what position the campaign wants Palin to take. It asks what her position is. This seems to indicate that even Palin’s aides did not know what her position was on hot button social issues. Or they were willing to say anything the campaign wanted them to say about issues on which the candidate had already spoken. An even more troubling implication is that Sarah Palin is willing to say anything to get elected.

I was glad to hear that HR 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act had passed in the House of Representatives. However, I was very disappointed to learn that Tim Holden had voted against the bill.

I would suggest that you concider doing what I did. Go to Tim’s web site. Send an email using the form. In addition to expressing your reaction, ask what would have to change for him to vote for the bill if it passes in the Senate. Do not just criticize ask what we can do to change his mind. What would Tim Holden need from Senators Specter and Casey?

The Vice-President has admitted publicly that he was involved in the decision to use torture. For this he should be prosecuted for war crimes. I suspect if he was facing life in prison Cheney would turn on George W Bush in a heart beat.

He claims the CIA came to him for guidance on what tactics could be used. I am convinced the truth is even more sordid. Why would the CIA come to Richard Cheney if they wanted to know what tactics they could legally use? (more…)

We all understand the historical urgency and imperative of holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their grave crimes against our own country and all of humanity.

And we haven’t got a lot of time to move on the particular action in this alert so please go to the Obama change site TODAY (voting closes 12/31 at midnight), where there is already a question calling for a special prosecutor, and

1. Sign in at http://change.gov/openforquestions
2. Search for “Fitzgerald”
3. This will display several similar questions, so look carefully for “Bob Fertik” (who started the question)
4. Look right for the checkbox, mouseover it so it goes from white to dark, then click to cast your vote

And let’s all vote for the SAME question (don’t start another new one) and demonstrate to our new incoming administration that letting the crimes of the past slide without retribution is NOT an option. (more…)

December 17, 2008

Dear Volunteer,

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens. We are one nation.

The United States is once again at a crossroads and that is why the President-elect hopes to use the occasion of his Inauguration to rally our nation to commit to service in our communities. We are asking for your organization’s participation in meeting this challenge.

In 1994, Congress transformed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into a national day of community service to further commemorate a man who lived his life in service to others. As a tribute to that legacy and the very real needs of our nation, the President-elect and Vice President-elect will launch a national organizing effort on the eve of their Inauguration to engage Americans in service. This national day of service will fall on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19, 2009 and, unlike past calls to service, President-elect Obama will ask Americans to do more than just offer a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods. He will ask all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. Never has it been more important to come together in shared purpose to tackle the common challenges we face.

The call will go to all Americans to organize service projects and join others at events in their communities. As the Co-chairs of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, we invite you and your organization to join other Americans to organize service projects in your communities. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will offer Americans a new website to help promote your events and for Americans to make their commitments, build communities, find opportunities to serve and share their results. These can be events that orient people to your organization’s work, engage people in direct service, or bring people together to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and how they can commit to becoming more engaged citizens. To submit a service event that you will help organize, please go to http://www.pic2009.org/page/s/DS1

We have a great opportunity to set the tone for the next four years and I know you will rise to the challenge. Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,
William M. Daley
Patrick Ryan
Penny Pritzker
Julianna Smoot
John W. Rogers, Jr.

The following letter was received by John Rose.

John –

You helped build the most powerful and effective grassroots movement in America.

Now, you’re helping to define how this movement will support President-elect Obama’s agenda and continue to bring the change we need.

The more voices that are part of this process, the better the results will be.

And so far, the response has been remarkable — 550,000 people completed the online supporter survey. And this past weekend, supporters organized more than 4,000 Change is Coming house meetings in 2,000 cities across all 50 states.

Take an inside look at a house meeting in Virginia. Watch the video, see photos from meetings all across the country, and share your feedback.

Supporters like you are deciding how this movement will go forward. And your dedication is incredible.

House meetings were held in 2,000 cities. In Florida there were 302 events across the state. In Pennsylvania there were 165, and Ohio had 160.

From these meetings, survey responses, and thousands of conversations on My.BarackObama and email, your ideas about the future of this organization are taking shape.

Here are a few things you shared in the survey:

• House meetings were the primary way supporters got involved in the campaign
• People are excited to volunteer around a number of top issues, including education, the environment, health care, poverty, and the economy
• 86 percent of respondents feel it’s important to help Barack’s administration pass legislation through grassroots support
• 68 percent feel it’s important to help elect state and local candidates who share the same vision for our country
• And a staggering 10 percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in running for elected office

This feedback is essential to our next steps, because this movement is fueled by your ideas and your passion.

Watch the house meetings video and get involved by taking the survey or hosting a meeting of your own:

http://my.barackobama.com/meetingvideo

Between now and Barack’s inauguration, we’ll continue to collect your ideas and feedback.

After the inauguration, we should be able to announce a clear plan for the future of this movement — a plan determined by you.

Thanks for being a part of this journey to bring about change in the years to come,

David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

This post originally appeared in Crooks and Liars

By Cernig Tuesday Dec 09, 2008 7:00pm

What Donald Rumsfield failed to mention when he famously said that America had to “go to war with the army it has” in response to criticisms from soldiers about a lack of armor is that the US went to war with the army it couldn’t be bothered upgrading.

(more…)