Public Transit Needs Support-Call for Nadler Amendment

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Wednesday January 28, 2009 · 10:20 AM PST

2009/01/28 · 10:20

The economic recovery package does not yet include as much support for public transprotation as many advocates hoped for. If we are going to reduce greenhouse gasses we need to get people out of their cars as well as weatherizing homes and building a smart grid. Without public transit improvements we won't be able to do that.

Rep. Nadler of New York has introduced an amendment that will be voted on today to add $3 billion for public transportation to the recovery package. This will bring funding up to the level reccomended by the House committee on Transportation. Please contact your house member as soon as possible to ask or their support for the Nadler amendment.

MA 5th District Candidates on Gulf Recovery Issues

bobvm

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Thursday August 30, 2007 · 8:26 PM PDT

2007/08/30 · 20:26

State Rep Jamie Eldridge and Niki Tsongas responded to a questionnaire on issues related to Gulf Coast Recovery prepared by a group of 5th District residents who have volunteered in Gulf recovery efforts and have been seeking ways to raise the visibility of the continuing needs of the Gulf Coast. Eleven people from Concord, Acton and Maynard Massachusetts signed the letter requesting that the candidates respond. Signers of the letter included committed supporter of both Eldridge and Tsongas and uncommitted people as well. Letters were sent by group organizer Kathy Clute to all of the Democratic candidates for the Massachusetts 5th Congressional District seat. Questionnaires were also sent to Republican and Independent candidates. To date only Tsongas and Eldridge have responded and here are their responses.

bobvm

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Wednesday May 02, 2007 · 8:35 PM PDT

2007/05/02 · 20:35

I just listened to Terry Gross's interview with George Tenet and was struck by Tenet's unwillingness to take responsibility for his actions. Terry Gross did a creditable job of asking Tenet the hard questions. Tenet went into tortured explanation after tortured explanation all of which seemed to revolve around his definition of himself as simply serving the policy makers not being a policy maker. If the Director of Central Intelligence is not a policy maker then the list is pretty short. I wished that Terry had replied that she did not find his answers believeable but I don't think that is her style. Tenet came off very badly all in all.

Provocative piece on Dem prospects from Real Clear Politics

bobvm

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Wednesday September 20, 2006 · 8:51 PM PDT

2006/09/20 · 20:51

Jay Cost has a piece at Real Clear Politcs that takes the Choccola/Donnelly race in Indiana's 2nd district as the starting point for an argument that Democrats will either do much better or significantly worse than the current consensus of a 14-20 seat pick-up in the House.

His argment is that eight seats in blueish districts
are no longer seen as top tier pick up opportunities but that a similar number seats which are more Republican (like In-02 which voted 56% for Bush in 04) are in contrast now very competitive. I'm not sure if his conclusions about the eight blue districts are correct though I know that recent polls for at least the New Hampshire races are not encouraging for the Democratic challengers.

His conclusion is that either Republicans will "come home" in these Red districts and limit Republican losses or that the playing field will expand and that Dem pickups will be significantly greater than current predictions putting back into play the eight seats in blue districts that seemingly are now safer for Republican incumbents.

Good column on Lamont-Lieberman race in Boston Globe

bobvm

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Friday August 04, 2006 · 4:30 AM PDT

2006/08/04 · 04:30

Scot Lehigh, on of the Boston Globe's political columnists and more of a centrist than a liberal, has a nice column on the op-ed page of today's Boston Globe titled, "An underwhelming spiel" which is notable for his critique of both Lieberman's message and the relative disorganization of Lieberman's campaign. He keys on Lieberman's unwillingness to address the Iraq war in his campaign appearances. He contrasts that with Lamont's crisp message and strong following. Another member of the MSM gets that it is not just about the war.

July 4th Musing on the Declaration of Independence

bobvm

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Tuesday July 04, 2006 · 4:31 AM PDT

2006/07/04 · 04:31

I just listened to National Public Radio's traditional July 4th reading of the Declaration of Independence. I was struck as I'm sure others were by how many of the grievances attributed to George 3rd by Jefferson and the signers could be seen to apply to our present administration in Washington.

To list a few; "He has refused his assent to laws wholesome and necessary for the public good"

"He has affected to render the military independent and superior to the Civil power"

"For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury"

"For tranporting us beyond the seas to be tried for pretended offenses" ( or not tried)

"Declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever"

All the President's Books: NY Times review essay

bobvm

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Thursday May 11, 2006 · 3:49 PM PDT

2006/05/11 · 15:49

Today NY Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani has a wonderful and lengthy review essay on what the recent spate of books about the Bush administration tell us about George Bush and his administration. Kakutani points out that the books, both those from critics and from friends and former members of the administration tell a remarkably consistent if frightening story about how Bush and his administration approach governing. Kakutani seems to have read every single relevant work from Seymour Hersh to Fred Barnes and draws themes from all of them. This is a tour de force that one might expect to find in the New York Review of Books or the New Yorker but rarely in the arts section of the Thursday Times. Read More

American death toll from Iraq war and Afghan war nears 9/11 toll

bobvm

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Friday March 10, 2006 · 1:54 PM PST

2006/03/10 · 13:54

I just did a little addition of the deaths listed on the Iraq casualties web site and compared that to the American death toll from September 11th listed in the Wikipedia entry. The total American death toll in Iraq as of today is two thousand four hundred and thirty two which includes 125 American contractors and 2307 members of the military. Two hundred and seventy seven American have died in Afghanistan so the total American deaths from the two wars are two thousand seven hundred and nine (2709). According to Wikipedia two thousand seven hundred and thirty eight Americans died as a result of the Sept. 11th attacks (2738). There were over also two hundred foreign nationals killed in addition to the 19 perpatrators on Sept.11th.

I'm not sure what the significance of this is but it seems worthy of note that nearly as many Americans have died in the Bush administration's "response" to September 11th as in the original attack. Of course I recognize that the human cost of the Iraq war long ago far exceeded that of Sept. 11th when Iraqi deaths are considered.

Deval Patrick Sweeping Dem Caucuses In Massachusetts

bobvm

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Saturday February 04, 2006 · 5:06 PM PST

2006/02/04 · 17:06

Deval Patrick, dubbed by the media as the underdog liberal candidate, appears to be the overwhelming winner of Democratic caucuses in Massachusetts today. The caucuses elect delagates to a June state Democratic convention and are seen as a test of strength for candidates. My own suburban Boston town of Acton saw a much larger than usual turnout and a sweep for the Deval Patrick slate. What was surprising was that there was no visible presence for the front runner, Attorney General Tom Reilly. Reports on the Blue Mass Group blog from around Eastern Massachusetts and a few from central and western Mass show Deval winning big in most places including towns on the South Shore that are not considered liberal strongholds. Boston appears to be a mixed bag with Patrick winning big in liberal Jamaica Plain but still getting a smattering of delegates in the more traditional East Boston ward. Read More

Report from a "Town Meeting" on the war in Iraq

bobvm

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Saturday December 03, 2005 · 8:31 PM PST

2005/12/03 · 20:31

This afternoon I attended a "town meeting" on the war in Iraq in Concord, Massachusetts. The meeting drew about three hundred folks from Concord and the surrounding towns in the 5th Congressional District northwest of Boston. The meeting was sponsored by our congressman, Marty Meehan. Meehan began the meeting with an opening statement on his own view of the war. He spoke about how much Murtha's recent actions have impacted him and the whole Congress.

Meehan is one of a few Massachusetts house members who supported the administration in the fall of 2003. I was very dissapointed in him then but he has changed his mind. He introduced legislation earlier this year calling for a timetable for withdrawal and today he said that he would support Murtha's resolution. Read More

Good piece by Attytood on the Neocon of Bill Keller

bobvm

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Sunday November 13, 2005 · 6:02 PM PST

2005/11/13 · 18:02

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News has a good piece on why Bill Keller of the NY Times has seemed so conflicted in his response to Judith Miller. Here is the url: http:/www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/ Bunch argues that as Scooter Libby was to Miller, so Paul Wolfowitz was to Bill Keller. Keller wrote a long admiring piece about Wolfowitz in 2002 or 2003 and apparently was favored with plenty of confidential whispers by Wolfowitz. Bunch points out that Keller was treating the neocons with kidgloves at the same time as others were begining to uncover the first layer of lies in mid 2003. Bunch calls for Keller's resignation. The Times is still being beaten on the CIA leak case by the WP. If we had the WPost's reporters and the Times colunists we would have one first rate newspaper.

Kerry Incoherent on Iraq in NPR interview

bobvm

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Wednesday October 26, 2005 · 6:23 PM PDT

2005/10/26 · 18:23

Tonight John Kerry was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered about his speech earlier today on Iraq. I did not hear the speech but the interview was another example of his inability to speak or think clearly about the war. He was given an opening by the interviewer to say the war was unwinnable but he persisted in the Friedmanesque position that Bush is doing the wrong thing but if only the US did what Kerry suggested ( put our troops in garrisons insteadd of patrolling, force the Iraqi's to "stand up") then we could stablize the country and bring the troops home in 14 months, maybe, except he says is not really calling for a withdrawal timetable but instead a plan or at that point I stopped trying to figure out what he meant. He is congetially incapable of expressing a clear position on this war.

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