Democrats Introduce McCainpedia

From Democrats.org

Today we're launching McCainpedia, the latest online tools designed to provide greater access to information and resources. McCainpedia is an electronic encyclopedia that provides the opportunity for anyone, anywhere to review the raw facts and research of John McCain's record and then use it or share it in any way they choose.

By visiting http://www.mccainpedia.org, you're a mouse-click away from our research on John McCain. You can easily find and share information on a specific issue or use the data to create flyers, blog posts, or YouTube videos. McCainpedia follows FlipperTV, a unique online video tool launched in November of 2007 that allows users to watch, download, and use video taken by Democratic trackers of John McCain from the campaign trail. We've now incorporated FlipperTV directly into McCainpedia.

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Minimum Wage Goes Up Today

From the NYT

The minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade. It ends the longest period without an increase since the federal minimum wage was enacted in 1938. The last previous increase came in September 1997. Legislation signed in May increases the wage 70 cents each summer until 2009, when it will reach $7.25 an hour. Government figures show about 1.7 million people earned $5.15 or less per hour in 2006. A person working 40 hours a week at the current minimum wage of $5.15 makes about $10,700 a year. A raise to $5.85 an hour would increase that to $12,168 a year before taxes. An increase to $7.25 would raise that to just over $15,000 a year.

Rep. Weiner: The "Republic Party"

(02/08/07)As previously noted, the factually and intellectually challenged "republic party" has a history of mispronouncing The Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party". Of course, we're talking about a "republic party" that supports intelligent design, attacking a country that didn't attack your own, and the countless other issues that proves the "republic party" is a cult of brain dead sheeple.

Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) repeatedly used the term "republic party" on the house floor. Kos and Hullabaloo noted Rep. Weiner's brilliant oration.

(02/10/07)Updated. Here is the video. Weiner is simply brilliant.

Time for Biden to Resign

We all remember a few months back when Joe Biden had this to say about "Indians":

"You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."

Well, ole Biden has struck again. This time in an interview with The New York Observer, Biden makes what can be construed as a racist comment while attacking his would-be opponents in the 2008 Presidential race:

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

The article goes on to quote Biden referring to Hillary Clinton's plan for Iraq as a "disaster," while saying about John Edward's plan, "I don't think John Edwards knows what the heck he is talking about."

This coming from the man that wants to partitian Iraq.

These comments present two problems:

1) In a political climate where Democrats need to band together to win the very important 2008 election, Biden is already trashing his opponents which will do nothing to strengthen the party.

2) The comment regarding Obama can be construed as racist, and gives the right a new talking point for which to attack him with and through association, all Democrats as well.

I think it's time for ole Joe to go.

Joe Biden Enters Presidential Race

I couldn't be happier about Sen. Joe Biden officially joining the field for the 2008 Democratic presidential bid. I think Joe Biden is a great man, patriot, and American. He will have his work cut out for himself running against the perceived Democratic "heavy weights" like Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. Nonetheless, if he can raise enough money and effectively spread his pro-American/Democratic message, I believe America will embrace this great politician. Good Luck, Joe!

White House Manipulates SOTU Web Transcript

Once again the White House revisionists have manipulated history. As noted by Media Matters for America, the prepared text of Bush's SOTU speech did feature the phrase, "Democratic majority," but instead Bush actually congratulated what he called the "Democrat majority". Now the White House website's "official transcript" of the SOTU speech has been changed from "Democratic" to "Democrat".

Here are snapshots (here and here) of the original transcript from State of the Union.com and the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access (U.S. Government Printing Office), respectively. Compare them to the now revised White House transcript, here (snapshot) and here (snapshot).

From Media Matters:

"The ungrammatical conversion of the noun "Democrat" to an adjective was the brainchild of Republican partisans, presumably an attempt to deny the opposing party the claim to being "democratic."

This is not the first time the White House has revised history in such an Orwellian fashion. See here, here, and here for more examples.

Al Franken Seeks Advice for Possible Senate Run

"Senator Al Franken", now wouldn't that just piss off O'Reilly like we have never seen before? I would pay to see that O'Reilly implosion. Good Luck, Al!

From the AP:

Al Franken has reached out to Democratic lawmakers from Minnesota in recent days, seeking advice on a possible Senate run against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman next year.

House Democrats at 34 hours: 5 bills down and 1 to go

The 109th-do-nothing Congress is behind us and now the new and much improved (and motivated) Democratic-controlled 110th Congress is making progress. Five bills have been passed and one more is on tap as House Democrats sprint through their list of promises, not even in sight of the 100 hours set aside for that goal. From the AP:

About seven more hours ticked away Wednesday on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 100-hour clock for passing each item on an agenda that Democrats told voters they would enact after sweeping to victory in November.

It has taken just over 34 hours to pass the first five bills (my emphasis), including a measure approved Wednesday to lower interest rates on some student loans.

The items passed so far would:

* make the government negotiate for lower Medicare prescription drug prices. It passed last Friday.

* expand federally funded stem cell research. It passed Jan. 11.

* raise the federal minimum wage. It passed Jan. 10.

* seek to bolster terrorism-fighting efforts. It passed Jan. 9.

* change rules governing ethics, lobbying and the budget. These changes were passed on Jan. 4-5.

Cargo Tests Positive for Explosives in Port of Miami

CNN is currently reporting that cargo in the Port of Miami has tested positive for C-4 Plastique. This comes just one day after 3 suspicious individuals were detained shortly at the very same port:

"Officials initially said that the three men were caught trying to slip past a security checkpoint in a cargo truck on Sunday and that the driver had said he was alone. Federal investigators and a bomb squad were called in, and authorities eventually determined the freight was harmless.

Even though Miami-Dade Police said the problem was a miscommunication, driver Amar Al Hadad, 28, was still charged with resisting an officer without violence, and his passengers, Hussain Al Hadad, 24, and Hassan El Sayed, 20, were charged with trespassing."

Most charges were subsequentlly dropped against the three.

One of the 9/11 Commission's largest suggestions was to increase funding for port security, which the GOP has consistently refused to do.

Thank god for the Democratically-controlled Congress:

"We'll go them one better on port security, where we have even tougher proposals to screen 100 percent of the containers long before they reach U.S. shores" - Nancy Pelosi, 12/2006.

Just one more check in the "Democrats were right" column.

Former DNC Chair Bashes Kerry

Terry McAuliffe, the former Chair of the DNC, claims in his new book that Kerry's presidential run was "one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics." McAuliffe's book, "What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals," goes on sale Jan. 23. More from Yahoo!:

McAuliffe criticizes the 2004 campaign that he was responsible for defending but ultimately lost to what he describes as a more organized Republican machine. McAuliffe calls the Kerry campaign gun-shy, distracted and incompetent.

McAuliffe said Kerry's camp was so afraid of offending swing voters that it didn't defend his record or criticize Bush. He said he was muzzled by Kerry's aides from assailing Bush's military record.

When Bush said in an interview on the first day that he didn't think the U.S. could win the war on terror, Kerry did not respond. The Massachusetts senator was windsurfing off Nantucket, unaware of the president's comments.

McAuliffe said he was "flabbergasted" to learn after the election that Kerry had $15 million left that he could have spent in the final push. "It was gross incompetence to hoard that money when the race was bound to be so close," McAuliffe said.

Kerry is no doubt an easy target for the right (and left) to attack. However, the right's obsession with Kerry is approaching some sort of clinical manifestation of a mental disorder.

Now, I admit I am sick and tired of the Kerry bashing (if you couldn't tell), but it's still refreshing to know that Democrats are not afraid to criticize their own. The right believes this is an imbalance or in-fighting. The right is not accustomed to dissent within the ranks. They get their talking-points and their little troopers/sheeple fall in line.

On the contrary, the left and their large tent allows for a wider range of opinions and stances. With that, the left is tolerant to dissent within ranks. This is just another example of why it's great to be Democrat, a leftist, a liberal, and a progressive. Digby sums it up nicely:

"I am a liberal because it is the political philosophy of freedom and equality. And I am a progressive because it is the political path to a better future. And I am a Democrat because it is the political party that believes in freedom, equality and progress."

Democratic Congress Could Mean More Money and More Oversight for NIH

Since 2003, Bush and the Republican-led Congress have cut funding for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), by 12%. But, Joe Finkelstein writes, "the NIH will have friends in high places when Democrats take over control the House and Senate...but how generous lawmakers can be is unclear with tight budgets curbing spending for the near future. From the latest issue of the JNCI:

After a 5-year period when the budget doubled, funding for the institutes has foundered for the past few years under a Republican-controlled Congress. What small increases the NIH has seen have been largely wiped out by government-wide budget cuts and the rising cost of research. When the 110th Congress convenes in January, the new Democratic leadership is expected to shift the legislative agenda and funding priorities. They are also expected to take up NIH reauthorization legislation, which would bump up the budget goals and probably include provisions designed to encourage cross-institute collaboration.

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