The Demo-rats ought to be ashamed of themselves to even remotely consider passing this travesty when the Hitler wannabe only has 8 months left. But it is typical, as they have been the biggest, most adept enablers of Bush's power since 2001. From the Bush $1.3 trillion tax cuts, to the "Patriot" Act, to the Iraq War resolution, to the Military Commissions Act, the Demo-dweebs have never failed to help Bush when it might expedite their lust for power- and they lack the deep intelligence to make a solid case against these horrific laws.

But it is much too easy to crumple and bow, in order not to be faced with the repukes' caterwauling of being "weak on national security" - when they have a D-candidate who might win. Much easier to bow and scrape and destroy citizen liberties than to make a compelling case for NOT voting this abomination.

Dems are fucking pathetic, and it is no wonder people can still consider voting Nader, or opting out. If the Dems had just one ball between them this wouldn't happen.

Add on to that Obie's willingness to do business tax cuts (as reported in the Wall Street Journal two days ago) and now his refusal of public financing, and you have an idea why so many aren't ready to do the 'lesser of two evils' thing yet again.

BREAKING NEWS: House passes $162 billion war spending bill without withdrawal timetables

Can FISA be far behind?

Can somebody get me a drink?

And some valium?

Time and again she has proven beyond any reasonable doubt (in my mind at least) that she's simply not intellectually up to the task of grasping the weighty issues that as Speaker she has been tasked to contend with. She literally does not understand issues like FISA or continued funding for the war, in terms of their larger and longer-term implications. Oh, she understands the politics of such bills quite well (at least, from the perspective of a typically hypercautious post-New Deal center-left Democrat who WILL NOT FIGHT). But she clearly does not understand, or give any indication that she wants or thinks that she needs to understand, the substance, as opposed to the politics and optics, of these bills. I have listened to literally dozens of her speeches, interviews and discussions on such issues over the past few years, and to say that I am profoundly underwhelmed by her intellectual capabilities or understanding of these issues is a huge understatement. Let me put this simply: She does not have a clue as to what she's talking about, and is just flailing about with incoherent nonsense that no one buys.

She is simply not up to the task of being Speaker--literally, in her case, in terms of the literal definition of the word. Not that Hoyer would be any better, of course. In fact, I think he'd be far worse. I happen to believe that she wants to do the right thing, but is simply too clueless and gutless to actually DO the right thing. Hoyer, though, while appearing to be much smarter than her, is also less principled than her, just your typical back room dealing corrupt moral midget of a politician who could care less about what's right, and only cares about what's right for him and his people. But Pelosi is Speaker, not him, and it's HER job, not his, to understand these issues and do the right thing by them. She does not, and is not. I can imagine that she was picked for the job because she was seen as the perfect frontperson for the Hoyer faction in the party, which was the one that actually controlled it. I.e. a seemingly liberal, progressive Democrat, fronting for a bunch of right of center corporatists, neolibs, war hawks, and your everyday garden variety pork barrel corrupt politicians (not the first time that a clueless noncompoop was chosen to front for a nefarious back room power base to better "sell" its true agenda).

We need, fairly soon, a rebellion within the party to oust Pelosi and Hoyer, and replace them with actual fighting liberals. I suppose that this might be wishful thinking right now, but I see no reason to believe that we're going to get any better results out of these assorted idiots and crooks. They are part of the ineffectual and/or corrupt post-New Deal generation of Dems, and it's time for them to be shoved aside, to make way for a return to FDR and LBJ-style liberals and fighters. What a useless and corrupt bunch of idiots and hypocrites we have right now.

... as I couldn't get through to his Senate office (strangely, his mailbox is full).

I spoke to a lovely gentleman who recited, practically word for word, the same thing I've now heard about six times today ... "When Senator Obama is President, there will be no more illegal spying, etc., etc., etc."

Sigh.

Johnathan Turley and Keith Olbermann were spot on in their discussion about this awful bill.

I'm a bit late to the party so forgive me if I'm bringing up something already covered. I'm not a lawyer but there's no way this can be constitutional is there? A corporation is legally said to be a person (individual), How can a president order an individual to break the law?

....now, slowly, just breathe into the bag a few times... that's it. Few more times... you will be fine. Okay, here is the thing: if Congress passes a law saying something is legal, it’s legal. Got it? He never broke the law. What he did was legal, and now a Democratically controlled Congress agrees. Done deal, get over it. And, every wonder why Bush smiles a lot these days? It’s because his legacy will be huge… Consider: Bush has: (1) Kept the country 100% safe for over 6 years now, (2) defeated Al Qaeda, (3) defeated the Taliban, (4) freed 30 million people, (4) won the war in Iraq, (5) started a democracy right next door to Iran which ultimately will cause the downfall of the Mullahs in Iran... all, while presiding over an economy that has stayed out of recession for almost 7 years. Yes my friends on the left, history works in funny ways…. Okay, here is the bag again… breathe…