That's So Senate!

"Let's see, the economy is going into the toilet, global warming is coming, we've got an unpopular war going on with no end in sight -- let's condemn a piece of advertising!"

Meanwhile, take down an amendment that would make sure the troops have an equal amount of time at home as they have in the field while replacing it with an amendment that says you support the troops, but don't want to actually have to do anything that would demonstrate that support.

And remember, if you restore habeus corpus, the terrorists have access to a right that's been fundamental in all civilized societies since the Magna Carta.

I wish MoveOn did a full-page ad of Bogs Diamond from SHAWSHANK with the words, "You'll swallow what we GIVE you to swallow."

Everytime you put one of those magnetic stickers on your car, a soldier gets a metaphorical hug. Going home and seeing a reminder of what you're fighting for before suffering a permanent mental breakdown would be great, but the stickers are nice too.

OFFENSIVE! APOLOGIZE!!!! Why do you hate our troops?

And the Democratic 'leaders' aren't much better. They've got some calling for an end to funding, and some, like Biden (and sometimes Obama) advancing the meme that an end to funding is a literal abandonment of the troops (as in, out in the desert, with no water or bullets).

This smells of Karl Rove, it's such a fucking non-story. How many people saw the ad? Shit, I haven't even seen it yet.

This whole thing is ridiculous and repulsive but I do like the response the head Move On guy had to Bush's "disgusting" remark:

I wonder if Hillary would ever use this vote against Obama ...

Isn't all this furor giving the ad more validity than if they'd simply ignored it?

I love, love, love that the Republicans put the kibosh on legislation designed to slow down the grinding away of your military because they don't want to demean soldiers. The way Republicans defend the occupation of Iraq by arguing that ending it will hurt the soldiers' feelings must be some sort of long-term piece of performance art. It's gotta be.

Not wanting to find out if your prisoners are guilty of something or not makes no sense to me. I don't understand Republicans.

It's like, as long as the cage door is locked, the people who *believe* in the power of the cage can feel safe. They don't want to know if there actually is anything in the cage or not, because if it turns out to be empty, then suddenly all that "safety" they had in their pocket evaporates, and they can't breathe anymore.

I've already e-mailed one of our illustrious senators that voted "nay" (the other didn't vote for some reason, but I'm sure he would've voted the same way) and asked, "Can you explain to me why you decided not to support the Constitution and voted against the re-instatement of Habeas Corpus?"

this is his reasoning for why he didn't vote which, surprisingly - as it's coming from the mouth of a politician, i'd have to agree with.:

And here's the "no-response" response:

So basically, I'm not answering your question.

Congress Quietly Approves Billions More for Iraq War
By John Nichols
The Nation

Friday 28 September 2007

The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion - from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion - and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq.

Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.

Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed - probably in November - the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.

The move was backed by every senator who cast a vote, save one.

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, the maverick Democrat who has led the fight to end the war and bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, was on the losing end of the 94-1 vote. (The five senators who did not vote, all presidential candidates who are more involved in campaigning than governing, were Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Republicans John McCain and Sam Brownback.)

Said Feingold, "I am disappointed that we are about to begin the 2008 fiscal year without having enacted any of the appropriations bills for that year. I am even more disappointed that we voted on a continuing resolution that provides tens of billions of dollars to continue the misguided war in Iraq but does not include any language to bring that war to a close. We need to keep the federal government operating and make sure our brave troops get all the equipment and supplies they need, but we should not be giving the President a blank check to continue a war that is hurting our national security."

In the House, the continuing resolution passed by a vote of 404 to 14, with 14 other members not voting.

The "no" votes in the House, all cast by anti-war members, came from one Republican, Ron Paul of Texas, and 13 Democrats: Oregon's Earl Blumenauer, Missouri's William Clay, Minnesota's Keith Ellison, California's Bob Filner, Massachusetts' Barney Frank, New York's Maurice Hinchey, Ohio's Dennis Kucinich, Washington's Jim McDermott, New Jersey's Donald Payne, California's Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Diane Watson and Lynn Woolsey.

That means that, of the 2008 presidential candidates, only Republican Paul and Democrat Kucinich voted against giving the Bush administration a dramatic - if not particularly well publicized - infusion of new money for the war.

"Each year this war is getting more and more costly - both in the amount of money spent and in the number of lives lost. Now this Congress is providing more funds so the administration can continue down a path of destruction and chaos," said Kucinich, who noted the essential role of House and Senate Democratic leaders, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in passing the continuing resolution. "The Democratic leadership in Congress needs to take a stand against this President and say they will not give him any more money. That is the only way to end this war and bring our troops home."

From The Nation.