From the department of what the heck are these guys thinking?
Isn't the nasty waste generated in this country -- some of which ends up in Perry County, Alabama -- enough for us to deal with?
Apparently not for Jo Bonner (R, AL-01) & Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06) who voted against the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act (HR 515) which -- thankfully! -- passed this week. The official GOP line for voting to accept the gently glowing foreign waste is they "think of it as jobs." At least they didn't say "good jobs" or "safe jobs."
All three Alabama Democrats -- Artur Davis (D, AL-07), Bobby Bright (BD, AL-02) and Parker Griffith (BD, AL-05) -- voted to keep the radioactive waste out of the United States. If one of them represents you, you might want to say thanks next time you see him.
Assets include stocks, bank accounts, rental properties and other income-producing holdings; liabilities are most frequently mortgages and other bank loans. Assets and liabilites are reported in broad ranges; this table uses the minimum of all reported ranges and subtracts liabilities from assets to produce a minimum net worth.
The Alabama delegation, from wealthiest to poorest:
Parker Griffith (D, AL-05)
Bobby Bright (D, AL-02)
Robert Aderholt (R, AL-04)
Mike Rogers (R, AL-03)
Jo Bonner (R, AL-01)
Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06)
Artur Davis (D, AL-07)
For perspective, the gap in minimum net worth between Bachus and Davis is more than half a million dollars. Davis is one of 34 members reporting a minimum net worth of zero or less.
As previously mentioned, the unemployment rate in Alabama hit 10.4% last month. That means people are staying out of work longer and their unemployment benefits are running out or in danger of running out. This week the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Extension Act of 2009 (sponsored by Rep. James McDermott (D, WA)) which will extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks for an estimated 37,000 Alabamians. The surprising thing in this vote is that it wasn't nearly as party line as I had expected.
In fact, only Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06) voted against extending unemployment benefits -- can you tell Shelby County is tied for lowest unemployment in the state? And you read that right -- both our Blue Dogs and three of the four Alabama Republicans voted in favor of it. This may well be an indication of how serious the economic pain is in this state and, usual kow-towing to business be damned, these guys are concerned that the 2010 election is likely to turn on pocketbook issues.
There was never much doubt that Artur Davis (D, AL-07) would support the measure -- unemployment is rampant in his district and his position on extending benefits has been consistently positive. He voted "Yes" on H.R. 3548 and said this about the Alabamians whose benefits would otherwise expire in December:
“They will view this 13 week extension of unemployment benefits as a lifeline. The extension of these benefits should also remind us of the plight of 5,500Alabamians who have been left without help because of our state’s refusal to draw down federal funds for part-time workers who have lost their jobs.”
Robert Aderholt voted in favor of an extension of unemployment benefits a year ago and against a similar bill in June of 2008. So did Bachus and Jo Bonner.
Davis voted in favor of both those earlier bills, as did Mike Rogers.
Unemployment benefits don't leave people much to spend on goods and services. That's why high unemployment is so unhealthy for the larger economy. Having the unemployment benefits run out altogether before the jobs market opens up is even worse -- then people are forced to take steps to stop spending entirely and the whole system spirals downward. I'm pleased that even most of the Republicans representing Alabama have finally figured out the basic principle that jobs are created when people can afford to spend money -- even if just on necessities like food and shelter.
(Reserve Monday, Democrats in 06! - promoted by julie)
The Over the Mountain Democrats advise us of Rep. Bachus' Town Hall on Health Care on Monday and urge all progressive citizens in the Birmingham area to make every effort to attend so that Congressman Bachus will hear from people who support reforming our broken health care system as well as the nay sayers screamers. And even if you absolutely can't attend (better have a really good excuse!) you can email questions to the Congressman's office. Please take the time to do this if you live in Rep. Bachus' district.
Dear Friends,
I want to invite you to attend a Town Hall Meeting on Health Care that I will be holding on Monday, August 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center in Birmingham.
The meeting is open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
A Town Hall is a uniquely American way for citizens to make their voices heard on a grass-roots level. This is your opportunity to express your views on the health care legislation under consideration in Congress. To view legislative resources on the health care debate including the bill pending in the House and my special health care message,click here.
You can ask your questions about health care reform at the meeting or submit questions prior to the event by emailing toBachusTownHall@mail.house.gov.
Whatever happened to "a vote against the Supplemental is a vote to withhold vital support from our troops in the field?" Apparently Alabama Republicans no longer care about funding for troops in the field since they all voted against the $80 billion in emergency war spending this week.
Alabama's congressional delegation voted along party lines when the House narrowly approved an emergency war-spending bill that provides $80 billion to maintain defense and intelligence activities in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of the year.
...
In the Alabama delegation, Democrats Rep. Artur Davis of Birmingham, Bobby Bright of Montgomery and Parker Griffith of Huntsville voted for the emergency spending bill. Votine "no" were Republicans Spencer Bachus of Birmingham, Robert Aderholt of Haleyville, Jo Bonner of Mobile and Mike Rogers of Saks.
This just proves once again that you can't spell hypocrisy without G-O-P. Trust me, the "G" is hiding in there somewhere. From The Hill:
For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as matters of national security and accused Democrats who voted against them of voting against the troops.
In 2005, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) went so far as to say sending troops into battle and not paying for it would be an “immoral thing to do.” And just last year, more House Republicans voted for the war supplemental bill than did Democrats, who opposed the legislation because it did little to wind down the military effort in Iraq.
So Alabama Republicans are now doing immoral things -- or things that were immoral just a couple of years ago. Why am I not surprised? It's all about political expediency.
Ranking Republican Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06) hasn't exactly been a tower of strength opposing Rep. Barney Frank's (D, MA-04) agenda on the House Financial Services Committee. The flailing continues as Bachus rolls out a new strategy of "empowering" his subcommittee ranking members. He's trying to make lemonade out of lemons if you ask me. Let's go step by step, emphasis mine.
Lawmakers and lobbyists say Bachus has been unable to go toe to toe with Frank, noting that a cadre of GOP leaders wanted to deny him the top spot on the committee following the 2008 elections.
And while Frank has been passing his committee bills on the House floor, Republicans have been grappling with how to respond to the financial crisis without embracing a large government remedy.
Amid the legislative frenzy, Bachus exasperated some Republicans by steering way off message, claiming there are 17 socialists in Congress.
Bachus hasn't put together an effective opposition, the GOP has no financial plan (this is the true root of their problem) and his party has the good sense to realize the McCarthy-esque socialist remarks were dumber than dirt. As a result ...
... Bachus was forced to relinquish some authority to the more conservative individuals on the committee ...
And Bachus was already on the outs with his Republican brethren ...
Conservatives in the party were livid last fall when Bachus ... appeared to support the original administration package — despite the fact that he had no authority to cut deals on behalf of the conference.
So they have forced Bachus to share his authority with more ideologically correct Republicans.
Since that time, a GOP lawmaker on the committee said that there has been a noticeable difference in the authority Bachus wields.
“Think of it as a chair — whereas before he was standing on his own four legs, he’s got three other legs under him now,” the source said.
If you've ever had a piece of furniture with more than four legs you know the extras are far more trouble than they're worth. I doubt this shared authority arrangement will work any better in for House Republicans than it does with chairs. I'm sure Barney Frank is resting easier now that his opposition is a seven-legged chair.
Our own Spencer Bachus' damned fool comment about "17 socialists in Congress" is still garnering nationwide attention. The Santa Fe New Mexican ran this excellent snarky piece in their Sunday edition. As far as I know, Bachus hasn't released his super top secret list of socialists, but the SFNM has some educated guesses.
There's the notorious You Know Who, from You Know Where; you know, the one who supports the federal income tax that New Mexico's former governor, Gary Johnson, was out on the Santa Fe Plaza protesting just last Wednesday.
Yessir, the income tax positively reeks of a famous old heresy: from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs. And who promoted that notion? None other than Karl Marx.
...
These are trying times — and Rep. Bachus, along with any number of commentators posing as political leaders, are certainly trying ...
Amen to that! Alabama is blessed with more than our share of trying bloviators posing as leaders.
Via King Cockfight, the 2009 Friends of the Cockfight Family Steely Dan Fan Club “Asshole(s) of the Year” Award goes to Mike Rogers (R, AL-03):
“We Cockfights believe that being a smoke-churning asshole is key to dignified political discourse,” said J. Eagle Cockfight II, a semi-retired conservative lobbyist, in announcing the award at the Mountain Brook Community Church — so that the local press and other undesirables would not know the location of his home.
“Mouthy assholes such as Mike Rogers exemplify the spirit of this award,” Eagle said. “Because how else are we to show the illicitly breeding, half-tarded lessers that their little ape-heads just aren’t thick and, more importantly, well-moneyed enough to participate in the political process?
“You did good work, Mikey.”
Hilarious. Competition for the Asshole of the Year award must have been stiff this season, what with Richard Shelby not having seen the President's birth certificate and Spencer Bachus with his super secret list of socialists (squirrelled away in his special, double naught, super secret agent safe, perhaps?) in Congress.
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I've taken some time this a.m. to watch the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises hearing on AIG's impact on the global economy.
On that Subcommittee is Alabama's own Spencer Bachus. In his opening statement Spencer gave us these pearls of wisdom regarding AIG and the various debacles at which it's at the heart:
"The failure to regulate; the failure of oversight by the Congress. We're to blame."
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.
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"The government has got to get more involved [in regulating companies like AIG]..."
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Where to begin?
Well, I'm glad that Mr. Bachus understands, that he finally "gets" that a "failure to regulate [Wall Street]" has lead to this. And I'm happy that he accepts, as a Member of Congress, his share of the blame for failing in his regulatory (or, better put, failing to craft and support solid, regulatory legislation) and oversight responsibilities. And I am pleasantly shocked that Mr. Bachus now says that the "goverment has to get more involved."
But, thing is, it's been Spencer Bachus and his Right Wing ilk that has for that past 2, 3 decades recited ad nauseum their sacred and talismanic mantra: "Let the market work."
Well, Spencer, the market's not only "worked", it's worked us over, no thanks to you and your lifetime aversion to solid, responsible regulation and oversight of Wall Street.
Here's what Spencer Bachus said in the summer of 2007 -- taking us Progressives to school regarding Wall Street regulation and oversight:
"Meanwhile, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing the same day in which the President's [read: W. Bush's] Working Group on Capital Markets reported on hedge funds and their systemic risks. Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama), noted in his opening speech that earlier this year 'the PWG endorsed an approach to hedge-fund regulation that relies primarily on market pressures and incentives to contain risk. The PWG concluded--correctly, in my view--that market discipline, together with statutory limitations restricting access to hedge funds to wealthy investors, can sufficiently mitigate industry risks. By emphasizing the importance of free market forces rather than the heavy hand of excessive government regulation, I believe that the PWG has struck the right balance in regulating the activities of these highly innovative investment vehicles.'"
Postscript -- Spencer doesn't want to "play the blame game", by the way. I bet he doesn't. If I ever again get pulled-over for speeding, I'm thinking I should tell the officer that he should let me go on my way and not to "play the blame game". That Congressman Bachus said so.
1. The LA Times came to Birmingham and the only people interesting enough to quote are a tourist from Pittsburg and a homeless man. Way to earn those big newspaper journalist bucks.
2.Spencer Bachus wants hearings on how Bernie Madoff made off with $50 billion of somebody else's money. That's fine and good, but isn't this a bit like closing the barn door after the whole herd escapes? Was Bachus proposing more oversight and regulation 5 or 10 or even 15 years ago when it might have prevented this sort of grandmonumentalginormous theft from investors?
3. God, or at least the Christian Broadcasting Network, is not on the side of labor unions. I read the article twice and found no mention of the roughly half a billion dollars Alabama taxpayers have given these foreign-owned companies to entice them to build plants in our state, but the author was honest enough to mention that "GM has 360,000 retirees. In America, Hyundai has zero." True. Do they mean to imply that GM would be immediately more competitive if God struck down those 360,000 GM retirees and got them off the books tomorrow? Or that Hyundai will never keep employees long enough for them to get pensions? Neither option is particularly Christian...
4. Foreign auto companies who came to Alabama for the tax breaks and cheap labor are doing great in the marketplace, right? Not so much, notwithstanding what our Senators tell us. Sales of Alabama made vehicles were down 53% in December. How does that compare to Big Three sales? Well, Chrysler sales were also down 53%, Ford's were down 32% and GM's dropped by 31%, same as Nissan. To reiterate, sales of made in Alabama vehicles are down exactly as much as sales of Chrysler vehicles, as of last month.
5. Newly elected Congressman Bobby Bright (being sworn in today) want's to eliminate cost of living raises for members of Congress and opposes any bailout for any organization or special interest out there. As long as he's taking a hard line, maybe he'd like to draw a really bright line and give up the taxpayer provided health insurance and pension benefits members of Congress receive, too. That's how the rest of us have to live, after all.
6. Speaking of how regular folks live, 65,000 more Alabamians needed food stamps to get by in 2008 than in 2007. That is 1 in 7 of us and the economic downturn, recession, depression or whatever they like to call it, is just getting cranked up.
8.Alabama farmers need broadband internet service. So do the rest of Alabama's rural residents. This is infrastructure development that will pay huge dividends in the future, especially in the least developed parts of Alabama. Bob Riley just selected a contractor to make broadband internet service available throughout the state. The $1.7 million cost will mostly be paid through federal grants. Your tax dollars at work, in a good way.
With virtually no exceptions, Republican members will continue insisting that the policies of shitting on the little guy are the only ones that they'll support, and Democratic members will continue to give these idiots serious thought and consideration in the futile hope that we can all just get along.
... You failed us and failed us and failed us. Collectively you're a bunch of irresponsible opportunistic whiny ether-sniffing assface sissypants bedwetters until such time that you prove through your deeds that you're not.
Dear members of the 111th Congress, please surprise me -- and finding your backbone only long enough to oppose President Obama's agenda is not the surprise I'm looking for.
“I have automobile plants in my district. They pay $25 to $35 per employee per hour,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. “I am sure that I am going to be asked, ‘Congressman, I work at Honda or Mercedes, I make $40 an hour; why are you going to take my taxpayer dollars and pay it to a company who pays their employees $75 an hour?’
And of course it is a fabrication. Jonathon Cohn has done the research and shares the real story on compensation for UAW rank and file.
Let's start with the fact that it's not $70 per hour in wages. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automative Research--who was my primary source for the figures you are about to read--average wages for workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors were just $28 per hour as of 2007. That works out to a little less than $60,000 a year in gross income--hardly outrageous, particularly when you consider the physical demands of automobile assembly work and the skills most workers must acquire over the course of their careers.
More important, and contrary to what you may have heard, the wages aren't that much bigger than what Honda, Toyota, and other foreign manufacturers pay employees in their U.S. factories. While we can't be sure precisely how much those workers make, because the companies don't make the information public, the best estimates suggests the corresponding 2007 figure for these "transplants"--as the foreign-owned factories are known--was somewhere between $20 and $26 per hour, and most likely around $24 or $25. That would put average worker's annual salary at $52,000 a year.
Alabama State Courthouse 300 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104 (334) 242-4590
OverallThoughts: There are apparently seven statewide judicial positions up for election in 2010 (as far as I can tell, and all the incumbents appear to be Republicans). As I understand it, there will be two positions on each appellate courts – Criminal Appeals and Civil Appeals – and three positions on the Supreme Court. It represents a peach opportunity for Alabama progressives to take a position.
However, this last time around, we ran four people – one for the Supreme Court, two for criminal appeals and one for civil appeals – and we got four damned goose eggs for our trouble. Granted, Paseur came the closest, but close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not elections.
Next time we are going to have to do something different.
The Republican campaign was both well funded and well organized. In 2010, we need to have our campaign one or the other. Well organized seems more accessible than being well funded.
Next time we need to have our judicial races coordinated, where they and their staff members work together in terms of campaign appearances, getting the word out, capitalizing on advantages and the like. Also, it seems likely the Republican’s will again organize a bus tour for their candidates. We don’t have to do that, but next time lets have some of ours go out and heckle them at some of their appearances.
Specifics and Speculations… (Continued) Congressional District 1:Jo Bonner (GOP) Josiah Robins (Jo) Bonner, Jr. (born November 19, 1959), has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003. He was unopposed in the 2008 race.
Alabama’s First Congressional District includes Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, Monroe, Escambia and parts of Drake counties. Traditionally the area and the district has been one of the most GOP-supportive areas in the country. He is not likely to be challenged during the Primary.
Thoughts: If we can arrange to get Vivian Figures to run for this seat – her home district – and then get great heaping gobs of campaign money, the race would cause ripples and get attention, which would force the Republicans to spend money. But the race will not be won by us. Is it probably not worth the time and effort to get the Republicans to spend their resources here. It is just an option. However, investing in the legal (i.e. eligible to vote) Latino population of Alabama (and many area in the Mobile Bay area) is probably a good idea.
Congressional District 2: Bobby Bright (Dem.) Bobby Neal Bright (born July 7, 1952) is the mayor of Montgomery and Congressman-elect. Bright received 143,997 votes to Love's 142,231 votes – a margin of 1,766 votes, or just over 0.6 percentage points.
Alabama’s Second Congressional District includes Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Pike and parts of Montgomery Counties. The congressional redistricting of 1990 did much to change the nature of this district and now the voting power of the Black Belt is outweighed by the population of the Wiregrass area.
Thoughts: Bright narrowly won – we need to remember that. In 2010 the Republicans will focus most of their attention on the Wiregrass areas as a means of attacking Bright. We can hold this seat, but we will have to fight to do that.
Congressional District 3:Mike Rogers (GOP): Michael Dennis (Mike) Rogers (born July 16, 1958), has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003. Knowlegis, a nonpartisan lobbying information firm, dropped Rogers from being ranked as the 138th most influential Representative to being 402nd in that category in 2006.
Alabama’s Third Congressional District includes Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, Talladega, Tallapoosa and parts of Montgomery and Coosa Counties. Politically, this was once home to populist white Democrats. However, Republicans took the seat over in 1997.
Thoughts: Rogers should have lost the 2008 election because he is an incompetent prick. Rogers was a recipient of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Rogers has not offered to return any of the $30,000 he received. Rogers said that DeLay is innocent until proven guilty, and that he would not return the money "while the judicial process runs its course.” If we are lucky, DeLay will be in jail and we can attack Rogers over this connection.This is one we can take, so let’s keep that in mind.
Congressional District 4: Robert Aderholt (GOP): Robert Brown Aderholt (born July 22, 1965) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997. In 2008, Aderholt theoretically ran against Nick Sparks in a race that was hypothetically contentious and totally not a waist of everyone’s time.
Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District includes Franklin, Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Walker, Winston, Cullman, Blount, Marshall, Etowah, DeKalb and parts of Morgan, Pickens Counties, as well as parts of the Decatur Metropolitan Area, and the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. While Democrats have a substantial majority in voter registration, most of them tend to be quite conservative on social issues.
Thoughts: If a progressive who is serious, and not entering the race on a damn lark, makes the run, then this one is doable. Aderholt voted in favor of CAFTA, which did tremendous damage to manufacturing industry within the district. If we attack him on that, then this one is possible.
Congressional District 5: Parker Griffith (Dem.) Dr. Parker Griffith (born August 6, 1942, in Shreveport, Louisiana) is a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 7th District since 2006 and the congressman-elect. He received his medical degree from the Louisiana State University Medical School. Griffith carried all but one of the district's seven counties, but only narrowly won Madison County, home to Huntsville.
Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District includes Colbert (Stephen tells me the "T" is silent), Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Jackson and parts of Morgan County. Liberal politics have become an increasingly hard sell, and the region has increasingly voted for Republican presidential candidates since the defeat of Jimmy Carter.
Thoughts: In 2010 the Republicans will do the same thing to Dr. Griffith they did in the 2008 race, just meaner and with more money in 2010. We can hold this seat too, but we will have to fight to do that.
Congressional District 6: Spencer Bachus (GOP): Spencer Thomas Bachus III (born December 28, 1947) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993. His is a difficult man to challenge in political circles because he is supported by the Bacchae.
Alabama's Fifth Congressional District includes Chilton, Bibb, Shelby and parts of St. Clair County, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Coosa counties. It forms a horse-shoe shaped area around Birmingham. A continual process of redistricting by state governments has seen the sixth district increasingly become one of the most Republican districts in the country.
Thoughts: Unless he is found to be a homosexual (in which case the Republicans will quickly abandon him) or a cannibal (in which case the Republicans will reluctantly abandon him), and he chooses to run again, then this will a hell of an uphill battle. Better to spend our resources on battles we have a better chance of winning.
Congressional District 7:Artur Davis (Dem.): Artur Genestre Davis (born October 9, 1967) is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, arts of Jefferson. Davis's name has been mentioned as a possible nominee for Attorney General in President-Elect Barack Obama's administration and as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2010. He was unopposed in the 2008 race.
Alabama's Seventh Congressional District includes Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry, Hale and parts of Jefferson (specifically, the Birmingham metropolitan area), Tuscaloosa, Clarke, and Pickens counties. The 7th district was created as a black-majority district in 1992.
Thoughts: By 2010 Davis will have made up his mind about what he is going to do, and so this seat is likely to become vacant. We need to work to make certain they are a competent and progressive person.
It should be obvious -- never give the opposition a pass -- but Democrats are still giving too many Republicans a free ride to reelection. But, you say, there's just no way any Democrat in the pipeline would stand much chance against Jo Bonner in AL-01 or Spencer Bachus in AL-06. So what? Winning isn't always the point.
If Spencer Bachus had an opponent this year, I doubt he'd be going to Aspen for a retreat at a McCain fundraiser's posh place, hobnobbing with August Busch III and Sheldon Adelson, 12th richest man in the world and founder of Freedom's Watch -- nice name for a smarmy organization, that.
The list of McCain’s “Trailblazers” and “Innovators” includes Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a senior McCain adviser; August A. Busch III of the Anheuser Busch Co.; Fred Smith, CEO of FedEx; and Ted Forstmann of Forstmann, Little & Co., which frequently holds conferences in Aspen.
Also included on the fundraisers list are Las Vegas moguls Stephen Wynn, CEO of Mirage Resorts Inc., and Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Politicians on the list include Utah Governor Jon Hunstman, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), and former Sens. Alfonse D’Amato and Phil Gramm....
Several of McCain’s top campaign aides — Charlie Black, Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt — are also expected to come to Aspen.
Reichert has received money before from both sides in the tanker fight. Boeing’s political action committee donated $7,000 to his campaign, and Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), who represents Mobile, kicked in $1,000, according to Federal Election Commission records.
You may remember that netroots candidate Darcy Burner is running against Reichert and it's expected to be a very close race. If we had tied Bonner down here, he wouldn't be helping her opponent in Washington.
Look at the big picture, y'all. Field a candidate in every race, from dogcatcher on up. It builds our bench and keeps the opposition honest.
Now, on to the roundup. Feel free to add your links and thoughts in the comments.
Corey Ealons joins the Obama campaign as communications director for African American media. Ealons was Rep.Artur Davis' deputy chief of staff and communications director.
Swingstate Project upgrades AL-02 race to "Lean Republican" saying Jay Love was "was battered heavily in a divisive primary." His pocketbook was battered too, since he spend $650,000 of his own money in that primary.
Holmes on Homes is just about my only television vice outside of an addiction to news programming. What's not to like? He steps in where the unscrupulous and incompetent have made a pig's breakfast and makes it right. Well, Mike Holmes is spending the summer in New Orleans. There is no bigger pig's breakfast in America than the one Bush and Congress have left in NOLA.
Are unemployment and efficient transportation really partisan issues? It's good to watch how our representatives are "representing" us in Washington, and since there's precious little reporting in the press of their actual votes, so we try to highlight some of them here. All too often, the Alabama delegation splits along party lines.
#1: Is extending unemployment benefits really a partisan issue? Just look at the map of unemployment rates in Alabama. You don't see full employment in Republican districts and high unemployment only in Democratic ones. Today House Democrats are trying to pass an extension of unemployment benefits.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time filings for unemployment benefits spiked upward in the latest week, hitting the highest level since late March, as the number of continuing jobless claims reached the highest level since early 2004.
The unemployment bill failed by three votes yesterday, in the face of Republican opposition. All Alabama Republicans except Mike Rogers (R, AL-03) voted against it. After yesterday's vote, DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen released the following statement:
"House Republican efforts to defend the status quo and protect George Bush's and John McCain's failed economic polices have reached a new low. Less than one week after the largest one-month jump in America's unemployment rate in two decades, House Republicans blocked passage of a bill to extend unemployment insurance to workers, who are struggling to find a new job in this slowing economy.
"This is a firm reminder that Republicans are absolutely comfortable with the status quo and are completely out of touch with the harsh economic realities facing American workers."
There is higher than average unemployment in Jo Bonner's district and in Terry Everett's and they voted "NO," so it isn't just a case of looking out for their own district and ignoring everyone else. What are they thinking?
Reducing demand for fossil fuels is a key part of reducing our dependence on imported oil. These guys need to know more about energy independence than just "let's drill in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge."
Call to action: If you are "represented" by one of these Repubs, please give him a call or email and ask him to really REPRESENT your views.
The Anniston Star had an excellent editorial this week -- as they often do --offering some advice for Alabama's incumbent Republicans before they face the voters in November:
Put aside your rigid ideology/party loyalty and promote a more progressive future for your state and the nation.
Of course, the Star's editors weren't born yesterday and don't actually expect the Republicans to follow their advice and embrace progressivism, no matter how smart that would be:
As they have in the past, Alabama's GOP congressmen will quite likely campaign this fall on their conservative bona fides, bragging on their desire for small government and low taxes.
While an excellent electoral political strategy, it has failed miserably as a method of leading Alabamians.
In a contradiction, these conservative congressmen have overseen the massive growth of the government, with budgets going up and government's power to intrude on the lives of citizens rising as well.
Really, go read this editoral. Do it now. We'll still be here when you get back. The piece lays out the failures of incumbent Republicans in unusual detail:
Rubber-stamped Bush's disastrous Iraq policies
Intervened in a family decision re: Terri Schiavo
Failed to achieve rational immigration reform
Chipped away at Constitutional Rights such as habeas corpus
Supported Bush's warrantless wiretapping program to spy on American citizens
Opposed a new and improved GI Bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.
Resisted improving health care for children in the form of S-CHIP
Voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007
Refused to consider equitable tax policies, thereby "heaping a huge financial burden on the shoulders of America's next generation"
Brought back a remarkable $1.71 in federal money for every $1 Alabama pays in federal taxes. Pork, anyone?
Tolerated the botched federal response to hurricane Katrina.
The Anniston Star is not alone in pointing out the failure of conservatism. Recently Newt Gingrich said "The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail"; NRCC chair Tom Cole (R, OK) said the problem is not the Republican campaign strategy, but the party itself; and Rep. Tom Davis (R, VA) said of his party, "if we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf." Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards -- he used to represent my sister's district in Oklahoma and is very conservative -- says Republicans have only themselves to blame:
Republican members of Congress are in trouble because they deserve to be. Because they yawned when a Republican president declared that he was free to disobey the law. Because they walked out of the House chambers rather than vote to enforce congressional subpoenas of administration officials. Because they acted like White House staff rather than as members of a separate and equal branch of government.
Will Alabama Republicans (Jeff Sessions (Sen.), Jo Bonner (AL-01),Mike Rogers (AL-03), Robert Aderholt (AL-04) and Spencer Bachus (AL-06), not to mention the Republican nominees in AL-02 and AL-05) do the smart thing and actually change their conservative spots between now and November? I doubt it. Conservative Republicans specialize in denying reality -- they've been doing it since they got elected. Fortunately, voters seem to have caught on to their scam.
The next post down is a statement from 4th District candidate Greg Warren taking incumbent Robert Aderholt to task for voting against the New GI Bill yesterday.
Representative Aderholt, who has never served a single day in uniform for our country, shows his lack of support for our hardworking military personnel by his vote in opposition of the New GI Bill. This is just another example of Representative Aderholt turning his back on the hardworking citizens of his own district and the nation. As a U. S. Navy veteran, I understand the need to stand behind and support our wonderful men and women in uniform.
Of course, Aderholt was not the only Alabama Republican to vote "NO" on the benefit package for returning veterans. In their usual lockstep fashion, ALL THE ALABAMA REPUBLICANS VOTED AGAINST IT. Although 32 Republicans voted in favor of the measure, Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner, Terry Everett and Mike Rogers joined Robert Aderholt in voting against expanded educational benefits for veterans.
This afternoon, the House of Representatives made history. By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers passed the landmark new GI Bill which will make college affordable to the more than 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
As President Roosevelt said when he signed the original GI Bill for veterans of World War II,
"[The GI Bill] gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down."
The House of Representatives renewed that promise. This is a tremendous and bipartisan commitment to our troops. We've seen enough bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism; today, we saw the real thing.
Bumper sticker and lapel pin patriotism ... we've let our Representatives get by with that for too darned long. It's time for a change. Let's send some real patriots to Washington in November, like Greg Warren in AL-04 and his counterparts in Alabama's 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts, too.
* Rieckhoff is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Executive Director and Founder of IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America) -- he knows what real patriotism looks like from the inside.
The House Republicans have taken leave of their senses -- and I mean totally lost it. From Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
And how did Alabama's "family values" Republican Congressmen vote? NO. Every single one of them -- Robert Aderholt, Spencer Bachus, Jo Bonner, Terry Everett and Mike Rogers -- voted "NO." Humbug on Mother's Day, from the GOP to you.
Let's be absolutely clear, they all initially voted in favor of the Motherhood resolution, but immediately turned around and voted to undo the original vote. That manuever is known as a "flip-flop" when a Democrat does it. It is usually completely ignored when Republicans do it. Partisan feeling is high in Congress these days but something is seriously wrong with Republican priorities when they play political games with a resolution commending mothers and Mother's Day. Will it be baseball and apple pie next?
Happy Mother's Day and many thanks to all the mothers and grandmothers out there from the folks at Left in Alabama and from Congressmen Bud Cramer and Artur Davis who are apparently the only members of Alabama's Congressional delegation with the good sense to appreciate Motherhood.
Are you old enough to remember the 1972 Miami Dolphins? Went 17-0 through the regular season, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Did it with a quarterback who threw fewer passes in an average game than the Pope makes during Midnight Mass. I mean a running game of such consistency that nobody could stop them. Score points by the bushel? NOT! Just had a defense so consistent that they didn’t need a bunch of points. CONSISTENCY!
Anybody notice this year’s Dolphins? Consistently awful! Managed to eke out one victory – largely undeserved- against a team almost as pathetic as they were. Awful on offense! Sieve-like on D! Never broke out of their level of incompetence. CONSISTENCY!
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Just look at the map of unemployment rates in Alabama. You don't see full employment in Republican districts and high unemployment only in Democratic ones. Today 
