Doug Tudor recently received some national media exposure for opposing the Democratic compromise on FISA.  Tudor's statement:

"On five occasions during my Navy career, I raised my hand and affirmed 'to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.' Members of Congress take a similar oath. I believe that those members who voted in favor of HR 6304 did so in violation of their oath of office. I would have voted against this bill."

Blue America rewarded him with a donation.  But Tudor needs more help, as he is running against Telco donation magnet and Republican elitist Adam Putnam (Putnam received $12,500 from the telecoms this year).  But it's time to get the word out about Doug Tudor and give him the netroots support he needs.

Howie Klein wrote a good article in the Huffington Post today, introducing Doug Tudor to the online community.  Doug is a family man, a 20+ year Navy veteran running against Tom DeLay crony Adam Putnam, of dubious anti-Pelosi fame.

Doug retired from the Navy for the sole purpose of running for office in this seat.  His wife is in the air force, and his family is living off just her salary for now.  Doug is a solid candidate, but is a family man just like us, so he needs grassroots support to help his campaign along.

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I think it's safe to say that most of us on here are liberals.  But let's face it: this ain't a representative sample of the country.  According to Rasmussen, we only make up 25% of the electorate at most...only 8% of which call themselves "very liberal" (which is half the number that consider themselves "very conservative".

To top it off, we are coming off possibly the most fringe right-wing authoritarian government in our nation's history.  The mood of the electorate is changing, but attitudes of the electorate in general make the neuronal response time of a brontosaurus look like an Intel Quad Core.  We have to face it: we were asleep at the wheel, and we lost badly.  And we are still paying for those losses.  But we have to take them in stride, and remember "Never Again".  Never again will we grow complacent and apathetic in regards to our government.  But this does not mean abandoning progress, incomplete though it may be.

***Please Recommend this diary if you want to support a Fighting Dem and stick it to a Bush lackey!

Dear Daily Kos community,

I present to you an introduction to Doug Tudor, your Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives, FL-12.  In case you are wondering, the seat is currently inhabited by the (Bush) Bully's little helper, Adam Putnam.  Putnam basically exists...how do I put this nicely...to cater to the Bush Administration's needs, no matter how humiliating and subservient they may be.

Tudor is a retired Master Chief Yeoman from the United States Navy, and his wife is serving active duty as an Air Force Technical Sergeant.  For more on Doug Tudor's military bio, visit here.

Tonight, I was at the Polk County DEC meeting.  I moved down here to central Florida four months ago for a job.  I wanted to immediately lend my time, money and talents to help getting Democrats elected in this state -- a state long beset by Republican extremism and big-business pandering.  But having spent the last 4 years in Chicago, I was used to a different type of Democratic party, and one especially fond of Obama.  But I was surprised.

The Polk County Democratic party is run by mostly older women (much older and wiser than my 27 year old rookie self).  After the meeting, a few of the more important members and I went out to eat.  But I am glad I got to know these kinds of Democrats.  I know a woman at work who has been involved in the Democratic Party here in Florida for decades, and she was kind enough to invite me along.

These women were all Hillary supporters -- all of them.  They were also very anti-Dean due to the Florida primary fiasco.  They felt belittled and abandoned by the national Democratic party.  They wanted their delegates seated, and they wanted their votes to count.  And all they got were flippant responses from the DNC.

I know Hugo Chavez is a controversial topic even on sites like Daily Kos, but I see the two sides going at it as unequal.  One side repeats only unsubstantiated talking points, innuendo, and rumors.  The other side has been studying the situation for a long time, and has a deep and comprehensive understanding of the Venezuelan situation.  This article, and the link within it to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, should give people a basic understanding of the Venezuelan economy in the last 10 years, and give a proper context to the lies being spread about Venezuela and it's popular president, Hugo Chavez.

crossposted at: Someone Took in These Pants...

This is somewhat of a wedge issue among Democrats and Republicans as it crosses party lines.  Racist Republicans don't want people of other races flocking across the border into "their" country, and liberals believe that anyone of any nationality or race should have the chance at a good life in America.  Meanwhile, corporatist conservatives enjoy the cheap labor that lines their pockets with green, and Democratic leaning unions oppose the labor-busting effects of letting in cheap immigrant workers who will work for under the minimum wage.

By ERIC SCHMITT and CAROLYN MARSHALL
Published: March 19, 2006
As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.

I think the more risky move would be kissing up to an extremely unpopular president who is still scrambling to come up with one realistic reason as to why he is not a criminal.  Why is falling in line with Bush considered a solid political play anymore?  Are we that cowardly that we believe the Republicans' empty threats?  We need to frame the debate on this quickly, or our opportunity to stand strong will vanish.  Quite frankly, supporting Bush is far more extreme than calling for his censure.  And that is precisely what I intended to point out in my letter to the Chicago Tribune below.

Russ Feingold, through his Progressive Patriots Fund PAC website, is hosting an online listening session just like he does all throughout Wisconsin.

You can sign up here for the text-based chat session if you wish.  Feingold is usually very straightforward, and this will probably be interesting.  It is scheduled for Friday (tomorrow) at 10:30 EST.  I have a job interview at 10 central, so I won't be able to attend, but hopefully other bloggers will be able to ask some great questions.

Feingold is the most corageous, honest, plain-spoken, no-bullshit politician around.  And I hope his support continues to grow as a presidential hopeful in 2008.  Feingold already has tremendous support from the netroots.  If you want more information about how to support a Feingold run for President in 2008, you can visit this site!

crossposted at: Someone Took In These Pants...

Survey USA has released Bush's new 50 state approval ratings taken on February 6th.  Bush has a positive approval rating on only 10 states.  He is under 60% even in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.  His nationwide approval rating is 40%, and this poll was taken before the Dick Cheney fiasco.  Props to Rhode Island, where Bush's approval rating is only 25%!

The most important things to note is Bush's approval rating in states where Democrats have a chance to win over a Senate seat.  Our five best chances of a pickup are (in order of probability that we take them back) Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, Montana, and Missouri.  Pennsylvania is almost a lock for a Democratic pickup, as Rick Santorum trails Democratic challenger Bob Casey by double digits already.  Bush has a 36% approval rating in Pennsylvania.

We now know that the quote that had been removed is accurate, since Cheney admitted today to having beer at the lunch before the hunt.  So MSNBC including it in their story in the first place was not a mistake, not some hacker or rogue element of MSNBC's staff putting it in there for fun.  But now the missing paragraph has been put back in.

In a recorded, on-the-record phone call with NBC News, Armstrong said that beer may have been available at lunch that day. "If someone wants to help themselves to a beer," she said, "they may, but I did not see anyone do that," Armstrong says. She says she was not sure if there were beers in the coolers but wasn't ready to rule it out: "There may be a beer or two in there, but remember not everyone in the party was shooting," she told NBC News.

breaking at: Someone Took In These Pants... UPDATE!! Screenshots found!!

According to this post at Democratic Underground, there was a quote from the ranch owner in this MSNBC story stating:

Armstrong also told NBC News that she does not believe alcohol was involved in the accident. She says she believes no one that day was drinking, although she says there may have been beer available during a picnic lunch that preceded the incident. "There may be a beer or two in there," she said...

crossposted at: Someone Took in These Pants...

We all know what we are losing in the Iraq war.  We are losing our precious soldiers.  With 2,200+ dead, 16,000+ wounded, and countless others coming back with mental disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, we are losing a good segment of our young men, and the sanity of their families.

We lost our credibility as a nation.  The lies that brought us into war have shot down the "America is a great peacemaking nation" image that was so valuable to us.  Muslims nations, who before the war, didn't necessarily hate America a whole lot, now disapprove of America almost totally.

More about where the money is going below the fold...

crossposted at: Someone Took In These Pants...

As a Bush voter in 2000, ex-Marine, and one of the most knowledgeable weapons inspectors on Iraq, Scott Ritter has no partisan reasons to slander George Bush.  But he accurately predicted the George W. Bush misinformation campaign about the Iraq WMD situation before the war even started in this book.  Well, it wasn't really a prediction...it was more of simply informing us before it happened that Bush was a liar hell-bent on starting a regional crusade for oil in the Middle East.  Of course, the "liberal media" gave it next to zero coverage.

Here is video of Cornyn stumbling all over himself and using the "Scalito" moniker.  Watch it and laugh your ass off!

Thanks to DU and Can o' Fun for the video.

The Globe is misleading its readers when it states "Known as a top Washington lobbyist, Abramoff had vast influence and gave generously to Democrats and Republicans alike..."  This excerpt goes on to imply that Harry Reid is somehow involved in wrongdoing as well.  If the Globe writer Michael Kranish would have bothered to check the FEC's own website, he would have realized that Abramoff did not donate a dime to Democrats.  But apparently backing up baseless claims with reality and fact is beyond the scope of a journalist these days.

You can contact Kranish at: m_kranish@globe.com

But despite all this, the right-wing media licks Bush's nuts every step of the way. In reality, there is no responsibility...there is no right and left. There is just corrupt and more corrupt in Washington, and Bush and the Republicans have just taken it to the next level. They have blazed new trails in regards to misinforming the public. They have forged new paths in regards to cronyism in government.