David Cicilline wins Patrick Kennedy's seat in Congress!

Here's the happy moment from the Democratic victory fest last night at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence. All of us who worked so hard were of course delighted with this result:

The thrill of victory

Well our hard work paid off in David Cicilline's primary election victory yesterday. Yet, even though he is now the designated Democratic heir to Patrick Kennedy's seat in Rhode Island's first Congressional district, he still must face a Republican opponent with limitless money. Having been in politics for a while, Mayor Cicilline will be vulnerable to "anti-establishment" attacks. That these attacks are funded by billionaires won't be noticed by everyone. Nonetheless, I have great confidence that David Cicilline will prevail, and I look forward to seeing him do good things in Congress. I should also acknowledge the valiant efforts of the David Segal campaign in this race. Segal is a true progressive, who will certainly gain higher office eventually, if he continues to work hard in Rhode Island's State House. Hopefully his supporters (and those of Anthony Gemma and Bill Lynch) will see the importance of rallying behind David Cicilline in November!

Pelosi does the right thing

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi deserves a lot of credit today for calling the House back from vacation, to vote on a bill that would restore some Federal aid to the states. Much of the money would go towards medical assistance and schools. Will this federal aid allow states to help more uninsured folks receive medical care? Will school districts be able to repair facilities, buy new equipment, or rehire laid-off teachers? Sadly, the answer is no. In most states this federal aid will only partly cover the gaps created by drastic cuts in state budgets. Wages and benefits have already been cut. Teachers and firefighters have already lost their jobs. People who need medical assistance have already been turned away. All that this aid would accomplish would be to give states a chance to pause in this latest round of cuts, before further erosion in their revenues forces still more cuts in the near future.

Within hours of Pelosi’s call to action, Republicans started to whine. How dare she demand that Congress make an effort to prevent even worse devastation in an already ravaged country? The measure that will go the House is fully paid for, it will not add to the deficit. Indeed the Senate Republican filibuster was only broken after Democrats were forced to make cuts in the SNAP (Food Stamps) program. Yet Republicans still complained that the increased taxes in the law would be bad for business and hurt job creation. But what are these job killing tax hikes? Nothing that would remotely influence a business to refrain from creating U.S. jobs. Rather, the measure calls for closing a loophole that allowed companies to evade U.S. taxes through manipulating foreign tax credits. Companies that behave in such an unpatriotic fashion have already busted unions, cut wages and benefits, and outsourced as many jobs as possible to low-wage countries. They had no plans to create any good new jobs in the U.S. Losing this tax dodge will only spur them to dream up more shady ways to jack up their profits.

Let's hope this little step in the right direction signals a more active Congress in the future!

Back in the saddle

The last time we appeared, here in this little corner of the blogosphere, Barack Obama had just been acknowledged as the Democratic choice for President by the other leading candidates. While the country is justifiably relieved to be rid of Bush, Cheney et al., the current administration faces huge challenges and will struggle to find its footing as long as the economy continues to languish. Locally, Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided to retire from the U.S. Congress. While Patrick never achieved the titanic stature of his father Ted, he served Rhode Island well and we will miss his good efforts in Washington. His tireless advocacy for the mentally ill will be one of his most cherished legacies.

The Democrats have endorsed Mayor David Cicilline (pictured above) to serve as the new congressman from Rhode Island. One of his primary opponents, State Rep. David Segal, is also well-liked by local progressives and seems like a good person. Yet I've chosen to work on behalf of Mayor David Cicilline's congressional campaign. Why? He simply has more substantial experience and political maturity. He seems ready to work hard for results without losing sight of his core liberal principles.

Unimpeachable Logic

Leonard Jaffee has meticulously laid out a compelling case for impeaching our Vice-President. The most important point in his analysis is that the decision to impeach can be taken solely by the House and Senate, without constraints from the Judicial Branch.

"Still, for the House and Senate, the Supreme Court's inclination is irrelevant. The Supreme Court does not determine the meaning of "high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The House and Senate do. Their determinations are not subject to judicial review or limited by judicial precedent or any statute. Even if Cheney's coercions are not technical federal or state-law crimes, they were high Crimes and Misdemeanors. They perverted Cheney's office monstrously and harmed, hugely, our Republic."

Now the real question is: why shouldn't we impeach Dick Cheney? With a 28% approval rating, the general public won't shed any tears to see him on the hotseat. Those Rethugs in the House and Senate who may defend him will do so at considerable political cost.

The Awful Truth

Well, it's official, folks. The wheels have come off the Neocon bus. Long habits of contempt for the rule of law have led the Executive and the Cheney branches of our national government to openly defy the legislative branch. Rather than work together with the duly elected representatives of the American Republic to restore the badly shaken faith of most citizens in the good will of their government, Cheney and his faithful lapdog lil'Bush are telling the House and Senate to "go f@#* themselves."

Laurie Kellman reports from Washington, D.C. for The Associated Press:

"The Senate subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday, demanding documents and elevating the confrontation with President Bush over the administration's warrant-free eavesdropping on Americans.
Separately, the Senate Judiciary Committee also is summoning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to discuss the program and an array of other matters that have cost a half-dozen top Justice Department officials their jobs, committee chairman Patrick Leahy announced.
Leahy, D-Vt., raised questions about previous testimony by one of Bush's appeals court nominees and said he wouldn't let such matters pass.
"If there have been lies told to us, we'll refer it to the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney for whatever legal action they think is appropriate," Leahy told reporters. He did just that Wednesday, referring questions about testimony by former White House aide Brett Kavanaugh, who now sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The escalation is part of the Democrats' effort to hold the administration to account for the way it has conducted the war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The subpoenas extend the probe into the private sector, demanding among other things documents on any agreements that telecommunications companies made to cooperate with the surveillance program.
The White House contends that its search for would-be terrorists is legal, necessary and effective pointing out frequently that there have been no further attacks on American soil. Administration officials say they have given classified information such as details about the eavesdropping program, which is now under court supervision to the intelligence committees of both houses of Congress.
Echoing its response to previous congressional subpoenas to former administration officials Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor, the White House gave no indication that it would comply with the new ones.
"We're aware of the committee's action and will respond appropriately," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "It's unfortunate that congressional Democrats continue to choose the route of confrontation."
In fact, the Judiciary Committee's three most senior Republicans Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, former chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa sided with Democrats on the 13-3 vote last week to give Leahy the power to issue the subpoenas.
The showdown between the White House and Congress could land in federal court.
Also named in subpoenas signed by Leahy were the Justice Department and the National Security Council. The four parties the White House, Cheney's office, the Justice Department and the National Security Council have until July 18 to comply, Leahy said. He added that, like House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., he would consider pursuing contempt citations against those who refuse.
Gonzales, in Spokane, Wash., on Wednesday to discuss gang issues with local officials, said he had not seen the subpoena documents and could not comment on them directly.
"There are competing institutional interests," Gonzales said.
The Judiciary committees have issued the subpoenas as part of a look at how much influence the White House exerts over the Justice Department and its chief, Gonzales.
The probe, in its sixth month, began with an investigation into whether administration officials ordered the firings of eight federal prosecutors for political reasons. The Judiciary committees subpoenaed Miers, one-time White House legal counsel, and Taylor, a former political director, though they have yet to testify.
Now, with senators of both parties concerned about the constitutionality of the administration's efforts to root out terrorism suspects in the United States, the committee has shifted to the broader question of Gonzales' stewardship of Justice.
The issue concerning Kavanaugh, a former White House staff secretary, is whether he misled the Senate panel during his confirmation hearing last year about how much he was involved in crafting the administration's policy on enemy combatants.
The Bush administration secretly launched the eavesdropping program, run by the National Security Agency, in 2001 to monitor international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people the government suspected of having terrorist links. The program, which the administration said did not require investigators to seek warrants before conducting surveillance, was revealed in December 2005.
After the program was challenged in court, Bush put it under the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established in 1978. The president still claims the power to order warrantless spying.
The subpoenas seek a wide array of documents from the Sept. 11 attacks to the present. Among them are any that include analysis or opinions from Justice, NSA, the Defense Department, the White House, or "any entity within the executive branch" on the legality of the electronic surveillance program.
Debate continues over whether the program violates people's civil liberties. The administration has gone to great lengths to keep it running.
Interest was raised by vivid testimony last month by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about the extent of the White House's effort to override the Justice Department's objections to the program in 2004.
Comey told the Judiciary Committee that Gonzales, then-White House counsel, tried to persuade Attorney General John Ashcroft to reverse course and recertify the program. At the time, Ashcroft lay in intensive care, recovering form gall bladder surgery.
Ashcroft refused, as did Comey, who temporarily held the power of the attorney general's office during his boss' illness.
The White House recertified the program unilaterally. Ashcroft, Comey, FBI Director Robert Mueller and their staffs prepared to resign. Bush ultimately relented and made changes the Justice officials had demanded, and the agency eventually recertified it.
Fratto defended the surveillance program as "lawful" and "limited."
"It's specifically designed to be effective without infringing Americans' civil liberties," Fratto said. "The program is classified for a reason its purpose is to track down and stop terrorist planning. We remain steadfast in our commitment to keeping Americans safe from an enemy determined to use any means possible including the latest in technology to attack us."

Too bad these aspiring tyrants in the Cheney-Bush administration feel they have to keep Americans safe from allowing their own elected representative to get the full truth.