(cross-posted at Turn Maine Blue)

Stoke the woodstove, fill the kettle, and – quick before the power goes out – curl up with a great piece on Chellie Pingree over at Union Maine.  They call her a forceful advocate for working families and mention issues like corporate accountability, living wage, family and medical leave, keeping jobs in Maine, fair trade, and fair elections:

I really didn't know enough about the candidate until I read both her biography found here and her voting record found here. The record is impressive. The real measure of a candidate is not what they promise but who they are and what they have done. [...] Andy Stern should be hoping she wins.

Great news from the 2006 Maine Democratic Convention this weekend in Augusta!

Led by the Waldo County and South Portland Democratic Committees, delegates voted to call for Bush and Cheney's impeachment. The special resolution came at the end of a day of contentious wrangling over the platform, but what a great reward for our patience. The resolution calls on both the Maine legislature and our two representatives (Tom Allen and Mike Michaud, both D's) to demand that the U.S. House of Representatives investigate the high crimes and misdemeanors of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney and commence impeachment proceedings if warranted.

more below...

The Portland Press Herald reports that Senators Snowe and Collins are upset by Reid's parliamentary move:

I thought this deserved a letter to the editor.

Here's a logic poser for you, courtesy of Aravosis, from Luke in Australia:

While we're having our very own Reichstag moment over on the Senate floor, I thought today would be a good time to reaffirm my commitment to the ideals of democracy - you know, freedom, justice, liberty for all, stuff like that. And as I pondered, I saw that those ideals dovetailed neatly with another list I've been compiling for some time for use in a local letter-writing campaign. It's called Why I Am A Democrat, and I reproduce the list below. It's a pastiche of my own ideas, emails I've solicited from friends, diaries posted here, notes from who knows where. No doubt you'll recognize a phrase or two....

Did a search and didn't see a post on this; apologies if I'm repeating.)

There's a brilliant piece today over at the Santa Cruz Sentinel on the rise of "bully culture" in politics, entertainment, sports, and business. The snarling John Bolton. The swaggering Donald Trump. The sneering Darth Dick Cheney. Reality TV, American Idol, and Survivor. The screaming End Timers. The Republican Party as "spiritual home of the bully, where merry thugs like Tom Delay and Rick Santorum thrive like cockroaches in a junkie's kitchen."

And W?

(cross posted at The Alna Erratic)

To my fellow Mainers and other New Englanders:

Yes! A BuzzFlash editorial finally puts into words my hatred of Snowe, Collins, and Chafee. I am so tired of genuflecting at the altar of their "moderation" and "courageous votes." They are sitting in our seats, people! They put DeLay and Frist into power. They campaigned for Bush. They voted for the bankruptcy bill. They confirmed Abu Gonzales. So they're not frothing at the mouth like most of the Senate... they're still Republicans, and that's bad, okay?

Update [2005-3-7 12:52:3 by Alna Dem]: The deck of Tyranny, Bigotry, Want, and Fear!

This builds on comments in yesterday's New Contract on America diary and another one this morning about Social Security playing cards. I totally love the idea of a deck of cards illustrating (a mere) 52 villains in this administration. But with all due respect to this morning's diary author, I have to ask: Why limit it to Social Security? Love the idea, but let's make it broader.

We're talking about the whole Contract on America, the whole Crooked Deal... It would more worthwhile and much longer-lasting to do a complete "War on America" deck of cards. Fifty-two separate wars in four suits, each with its own general. And two jokers, of course: Bush and Rove.

And the four suits? FDR's Four Freedoms, translated by this administration into Tyranny, Bigotry, Want, and Fear....

I took the excellent advice of BetaCarbon (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/5/234617/8192) and wrote my GOP senators to warn them of the coming downfall of their party from corruption.  This is a great way to ask Republicans to do things that normal people would do as a matter of course -- you know, oppose torture, support truth and science, and so forth.

It so happens that I live in Maine and my senators are sane, but the anti-Gonzales letter I wrote could be used for any of the rightwings as long as they're not named Frist, Hastert, or Delay.

See what you think:

Hello?  I just got an email from the DNC talking about upcoming GOP plans, including "shifting the tax burden to working families."

Can someone clue them in about Lakoff, framing, "taxes as investment," and all that other good stuff we talk about here?  Or are we just talking to ourselves?

MyDD had a post the other day suggesting that the blog leaders get together and organize daily talking points.  (You can read it at http://www.mydd.com/story/2004/12/14/2541/8972). I think this is a good idea, since it will be a cold day in hell before our party leaders get around to it.

[First diary -- hope I'm doing this right.  Also, I searched the topic and didn't see anything, so I assume I'm not duplicating.]

NPR led the news today (Saturday 5pm) with Kerik's withdrawal from the Homeland Security post.  And the spin is, he had NANNY PROBLEMS -- and those tedious, America-hating Democrats were going to make a BIG DEAL out of it.  We would jeopardize America's security by keeping this fine appointee out of the job because he didn't pay SS tax on his illegal domestic.  No mention of his checkered past or other problems.  They quoted Rudy G. at nauseating length on the topic, but no one else.

Sorry, no link.  Am I the only person who heard and interpreted this story this way?  Any ideas what we should do about it?