I've been using this link to read NYT editorials: http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb/?p_action=explore&d_search_type=customized&
d_sources=spiked&d_place=NYTB&&f_clearSearch=yes&d_issuesearch=&p_product=NewsBa
nk&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=J69G5FBVMTEyNzEzNDYwNi40NzA4MTU6MToxMjpuY2RtaW51dGVtYW4
but today I can't access it without a password. So does anyone know if there are other backdoors we can use?
Howard Dean will be on MSNBC's Hardball tonight. Supposedly Mathews will ask him if the Dems stand for anything, and if there's anything they'll die for.
Some of things I wish he would talk about:
That the government in this country is to serve the people, not the other way around. With examples like:
Transparency in government
Govt documents paid for by the people should be available to the people.
Election reform and campaign finance reform
Reduce the suffering for people
Get out of Iraq
Get the hurricane victims back on their feet
Strengthen and protect Social Security
Universal health care
Improve education
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
and RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: September 15, 2005
"Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government and includes the direct involvement of Alphonso R. Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development."
If this is true, the billions of dollars involved give Rove complete scope to enrich himself and his cronies, and to fund all the rightwing media and think tanks he cares to, with our money.
Why couldn't we set up a network email system in which we could all be in touch with one another? Most of the mass communication processes I know about are one to the many processes like a news program put out from a single source and watched by many, or a political candidate or group does a mass emailing, or the many go to a single website to get information. Blogs seem to be an exception to this, but because comments and diaries disappear in a short time, continuity is lost.
There will be a couple of live forums on election reform on Cspan Monday morning. Here's a chance to see what's happening or at least what should be happening. In my opinion this is the most important issue facing us. If we have open and honest elections we can do anything, if we don't have open and honest elections, anything we do is wasted effort.
10:30 AM EDT
1:00 (est.) LIVE
Forum
Federal Election Reform
Commission on Federal Election Reform
Chellie Pingree , Common Cause
Gracia Hillman , U.S. Election Assistance Commission
The beginning and end of this live program may be earlier or later than the scheduled times.
11:45 AM EDT
1:00 (est.) LIVE
Forum
Integrity of Elections
Commission on Federal Election Reform
Barbara R. Arnwine , Lawyers Cmte. for Civil Rights under Law
John H. Fund , Wall Street Journal
ON CAPITOL HILL
McCain-Feingold & Bloggers
FEC Chairman Scott Thomas discusses a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, applying McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules to political blogs. The panel, composed of bloggers and Internet researchers, is sponsored by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus.
I see many diaries on the Shiavo issue, but none on Darfur where millions are suffering and dying. The following is an excerpt
from an interview of Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, who just returned from a trip to Sudan. It seems that things are starting to move on that front, but much, much more needs to be done.
A friend forwarded this to me in an email. There was no source given, so I don't know if these are the actual congressional retirement plans, but if they are, that's very interesting. Why should elected officials have a better retirement benefits than ordinary Americans. This is just another aspect of the career politician thing that needs to be looked into.
We just don't get it. We don't understand that the majority of American people do not support Bush and the Repubs. We don't seem to get it that they win the elections not because the American people vote them in, but because they control the voting process. Everybody (of our ilk) knows Gore won in 2000. Everyone knows that privately owned Republican companies own most of the voting machines. Everyone knows that there is no way to verify that Bush indeed won 270 electoral votes or 51% of the popular vote in November, but we go right along thinking that if we do something different in framing our values, or getting out the vote, or finding the right candidates and issues, or reinventing the Democrat Party, we will win in the next election. Get real.
