Shaking head.

First let's look at exactly what was proposed:

The measure -- sponsored by Obey, Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, and Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts -- would require low- and middle-income taxpayers to add 2 percent to their tax bill, while higher-income taxpayers would add 12 to 15 percent, Obey said.

Top Democrats propose war surtax

According to a Hardball report just minutes ago from Tim Russert, President Bush will "call for a permanent security pact with Iraqi Government".

He will say that US troops will remain in Iraq forever.

Bush is a "temp".  People should keep that in mind.  Of course, he doesn't seem to think of himself as a temp.  He is supposed to leave office in 16 months and he is making a "forever" committment in Iraq.

Russert also noted that if Webb's bill limiting the time that military personnel can serve in country, Bush says he'll just call up more National Guard and Reserves.

Since we've all been so interested in examining the purity of each of our Democratic candidates lately, I thought it might be a valuable exercize to engage in a little self reflection.  Our leading candidates have of late been subjected to questions like, "Is he Black enough?"; "Is she woman enough to be tough enough; and byt the way did you notice that she has clevage?"; and "Can he really care about poverty if he got an expensive haircut?"

So I am going to confess my sins against Democratic purity to you all below the fold...

Senator Leahy has responded to the news today that Karl Rove plans to resign from his White House post.

Rove ignored Leahy's subpoena for documents and testimony which set an August 2nd deadline for Rove's response.

Leahy offers Rove a little weather forecast as Rove prepares for his White House exit: Cloudy

Full statement from Leahy below the fold...

Update: kfred has live blogging II here: http://www.dailykos.com/...

Hi all live blogging the debate.

A special shout out to all the good union production folks working on the event.  I love my union crews.  

The usual suspects will be present and our friend Keith Olbermann is the moderator.

The debate is on MSNBC.

No photos and try to add content and attribution to comments for those who can't watch live.

Please post your transcripts where ever you like in this diary.

Link to the live feed on the internets: http://video.msn.com/...

Done.  I am done.

Democracy is dead in America.

Dead.

Sounds cliche, but it is not cliche.  It is dead.

These idiots in Congress and specifically in the House right this very moment keep pretending that they are engaging in something related to democracy, but in fact they are NOT.

They are all liars, crooks and thieves who for whatever reason that I could care less about have decided to destroy our democracy.  I could give a shit about their motivations here.  I want to make that clear.

They are scum of the lowest order regardless of their motivations.  They are fools of the highest order.  ALL OF THEM.

GO TO LIVEBLOG XIV Here: http://www.dailykos.com/...

Debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill which requires redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment.

Harry Reid has requsted a simple majority vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.

Reed is "Jack Reed" of Rhode Island a Democrat and Levin is "Carl Levin" of Michigan also as it happens is a Democrat.  Worth noting as it is the Republicans who refuse to budge on our troop deployments.

Text of the amendment is here: S. 2766

The Republicans are filibustering and Harry Reid says that they have to actually debate in this filibuster rather than simply voting on cloture to quash the effort to get an up or down simple majority vote.

So thirty hours of debate is the order of the day, night and day again.

The Democratic Party won tonight.

I was proud of my party tonight.  I was proud of the showing of all of the candidates on the stage in New Hampshire tonight.

I saw a solidarity in this party that I have not seen since I was probably eleven years old.  There was something more cohesive about the messages that all of the candidates were offering that has been missing for years.  It wasn't a debate of folks who were lock-step raising their hands mindlessly like Republicans.  It was a debate of folks who wouldn't raise their hands just because Wolf Blitzer (or any other media pundit) commanded that they do so.

They ALL questioned authority tonight.  They all questioned conventional wisdom and they all stuck together for the most part when one took the lead in questioning conventional wisdom.  They are THINKING!!!!!!  Yay!

I know about rat poison because a crazy goat hearder killed my dog with it.  Mr. R was in many ways the perfect dog.  We found him as a stray at about six months.  He like other stray dogs that survive that long had an incredibly affable disposition.  He loved everyone and every creature.  He just wanted to play.  He was the kind of dog that wanted to make friends with every single one of earth's creatures he met.  At one party I turned around to find him with his head in the baby stroller that was hosting some our good friends' six month old.  I immediately thought, "Oh God, I hope he isn't eating the baby."  I rushed toward them to make sure everything was okay and found the two of them licking and laughing.  The would dog lick the baby's face and the baby laughed and the dog encouraged by the baby's happy response licked again - again the giggles and laughter from the baby - it was very cool.  It was a heart-breakingly sweet exchange.

Okay - this story goes into the "You're Fucking Kidding Me" file.  Sorry for the profanity, but you'll have to live with it.

The lead story on 60 Minutes tonight filed by Scott Pelley is about how the internet is responsible for the attempt on Vice President Dick Cheney's life when he was in Afghanistan last week.

The story IGNORES the fact that the Bush Administration has completely ignored Al Qaeda since they invaded Iraq.  He is at this moment suggesting that - gasp - horrors - "posting videos" is contributing to terrorism.

Pelley claims that the immediacy of the internets is compromising national security.

Jim Bunning KY-Sen has kicked off today's special Saturday session in the Senate by asserting that the Republicans have not tried to stifle the debate on Iraq.  He contends that they don't want to vote on this "meaningless" resolution because it won't end the war.

The Republicans have the floor and it should be interesting.

Won't you join me in recording the highlights?

The live debate is being aired on CSPAN2.

For those who may have missed seeing Pelosi's swearing in as the Speaker of the House of Representatives today, I have posted the full text of the advance copy below the fold.

I was very proud to watch this event today.  I was especially proud of Speaker Pelosi's emphasis on representing all Americans.  We haven't seen that for a while in our government leadership.  Our government is on its way to becoming ours again folks.  I must admit that it made me teary eyed watching the rebirth of our democracy.

Let's hear it for Speaker Pelosi and the 110th Congress of the United States of America.

Make the jump to hear from Speaker Pelosi.

The George W. Bush aka "The Titanic" is full steam ahead.

About a year ago they started rearranging the deck chairs as they chanted "Stay the Course."

Iraq was unimagineably screwed up then and now in 2006 has deteriorated to the point where almost everyone in America can agree that it is a FIASCO.  The Republicans headed by their leader George W. Bush say, "Stay the Course."

Hurricane Katrina came along and while Americans drowned, waited for rescue and tried to find bodies in the storm rubble our President Bush was on vacation and when asked why he didn't cut it short he replied by saying, "Stay the Course!"  No he didn't say that, but he really did.  He partied with John McCain on his birthday complete with cake and a photo-op and played the guitar while Americans were left waiting for rescue.  Bush Stayed the Course.

I am watching MSNBC's Hardball.  Andrea Mitchell is covering Bob Woodward's new book State of Denial.  In the context of discussing the White House effort to discredit Woodward's reporting, Andrea Mitchell held up a document that she said was the "President's Talking Points for a Secret NSC (National Security Council) Meeting" that took place just before the United States invaded Iraq.

Okay so...

Why would the President of the United States of American need a "talking points" memo for a National Security Meeting?

A briefing memo sure - of course that might be something he would need, but a talking points memo to talk with his own staff members?  WTF?

Mitchell then reported that Bush's contribution to the discussion was "Kick some ass!"

BushCo is as we speak working its way towards its greatest victory since this administration was foisted upon us by the Supreme Court in 2000.  The torture act that will pass tonight and likely be signed by the President tomorrow has yielded the unchecked power to point his finger at anyone he pleases and call them an "enemy combatant" and they will then effectively disappear for as long as Bush wants.  While they are disappeared they can also be tortured in whatever manner the President so chooses.

You say, "Hey, I'm not doing anything wrong so I've got nothing to worry about!"  Well, enjoy your delusion while it lasts.  It is one thing to have people listening to your phone calls for no reason at all, but I want you to know that being incarcerated is a much greater inconvenience.  Being tortured is generally painful and unpleasant.  

David Frum was on the ironically named "Reliable Sources" on CNN hosted by Howard Kurtz and Frum called the Daily Kos anti-Semitic twice this morning.

And if we're going to talk about anti-Semitism on the campaign trail in 2006, I think people should be reading the comment section at the Daily Kos, where you will see it rich and bold and vivid.  LINK

Of course, the discussion was about George Allen's response to the debate question this week regarding Allen's Jewish lineage where he attacked the reporter who asked by accusing her of casting "aspersions" on him.  In my little world, recognizing that someone is Jewish is not an aspersion.  In Allen's ever shrinking world he understands it to be an "aspersion" because he knows what I know.

As BushCo spins Common Article III and pundits and others debate "what if" scenarios of US paramilitary troops being captured in Iran, I am left with a cold feeling that we are being lead into an ambush.

President Bush today insisted that all he wants to do is "clarify" Common Article III of the Geneva Convention.  Bush insisted vehemently that it was too "vague".  He insisted that "yound CIA" officers won't break the law and they need to know exactly what they cannot do.  Re-read the last sentence because it is very important, nay critical to this debate.  

Ted Koppel's real documentary, "The Price of Security" is on The Discovery Channel Right now.  It started at 8pm Eastern time.  

Koppel's focus so far has been on torture with numerous interviews and documents supporting serious tresspasses by the Bush Administration.

I am way too tired to write a long thing here, but I wanted to let people know that so far this documentary is focusing on really important questions and issues.

One interviewee said to Koppel that he might torture someone if he thought that there might be a bomb that would go off within hours or minutes, but that he would never want that individual choice to be made legal. He further stated that he would gladly take the punishment even if he turned out to be a hero.  He echoes my sentiments about torture.

Also Koppel actually has advertisers!  Geico just ran an ad.

This is one documentary that the authoritarian wingnuts want NO ONE to see.