Recent Senate Votes

Confirmation of Janice R. Brown to be U.S. Circuit Judge - Vote Confirmed (56-43, 1 Not Voting) The Senate confirmed California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Sen. Judd Gregg voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Confirmation of William H. Pryor to be U.S. Circuit Judge - Vote Confirmed (53-45, 2 Not Voting) The Senate confirmed William H. Pryor to the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals. Sen. Judd Gregg voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Sen. John Sununu voted YES......send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Agriculture Appropriations Act, FY2006 - Vote Passed (408-18, 7 Not Voting) The House passed this $99.6 billion bill funding the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration for the 2006 fiscal year. Rep. Charles Bass voted NO......send e-mail or see bio Withdrawing from the World Trade Organization - Vote Failed (86-338, 1 Present, 8 Not Voting) The House rejected this resolution calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the World Trade Organization. Rep. Charles Bass voted NO......send e-mail or see bio WOW look at these set of votes. It's been an incedible week for New Hampshire's FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR RIGHT WING politions in Washington!

GOP Senators to Propose New Tack On Social Security By Charles Babington

Living With Social Security: Small Dreams and Safety Nets By JOHN LELAND and JODI WILGOREN

Poll Finds Broad Pessimism on Social Security Payments By ROBIN TONER and MARJORIE CONNELLY

We have such FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR RIGHT WING SENATORS in this state. Look at the people who have signed on to the resolution so far, Republicans from Idaho, Utah, and Iowa. But not EITHER of Our senators. They are on the same level of conservatism as senators from Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee.

I was wrong about NH being the only state that has both senators not signing on as co-sponsors. New Hampshire shares this distinction with Mississippi. Aren’t we proud. Now if only we had a movie about our state like “Mississippi Burning”, we could really hold our heads high.

Orrin Hatch (R-UT) signs onto anti-lynching resolution
by John in DC - 6/17/2005 01:29:00 PM

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) - (202) 224-4944
Robert Bennett (R-UT) - (202) 224-5444
Thad Cochran (R-MS) - (202) 224-5054
John Cornyn (R-TX) - (202) 224-2934
Michael Crapo (R-ID) - (202) 224-6142
Michael Enzi (R-WY) - (202) 224-3424
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) - (202) 224-3744
Judd Gregg (R-NH) - (202) 224-3324
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) - (202) 224-5251
Kay Hutchison (R-TX) - (202) 224-5922
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) - (202) 224-4521
Trent Lott (R-MS) - (202) 224-6253
Richard Shelby (R-AL) - (202) 224-5744
Gordon Smith (R-OR) - (202) 224-3753
John Sununu (R-NH) - (202) 224-2841
Craig Thomas (R-WY) - (202) 224-6441

Please call the holdouts and ask why they're opposed to making a strong statement against lynching.

From America Blog http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/06/orrin-hatch-r-ut-signs-onto-anti.html

Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, has been awarded a $30 million dollar contract to build a new prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

from C4AP

LAUER: "But when you stood on the floor and you said, 'She does respond', are you at all worried that you led some senators…"
FRIST: "No, I never said, she responded."

- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in an interview on the Today Show with Matt Lauer, 6/16/05

VERSUS

"I have looked at the video footage. Based on the footage provided to me, which was part of the facts of the case, she does respond."
-- Sen. Bill Frist on the Senate floor, 3/17/05

from C4AP

There are a couple stories in the headlines today that outline just how bad the business plans are that corporations pay the legislature to push through. The Bio-Energy C+D waste burning debacle in the Concord Monitor allows some insight into how a company can get away with crapping toxic waste into our air. Nice.

Another look at a probe to the failed leadership of Obstructionist Benson and this States confused Righty legislature, along with Administrative Service Commish Don Hill in the Nashua Telegraph, outlines poor supervision, planning, monitoring and just plain lousy leadership in the States self-insured plan.

Finally, the STATUS. My fave!!! Lots of money flowing through the hands of our money grabbing, special interest lobby loving, bigots in our New Hampshire Federal delegation. Also included are Kelly Ayotte in protecting her job...er, boss...er, States best interests. Hey remember Bill Clinton and Travelgate investigators star snitch, rat fink Betty Tamposi??? Well she is still our Guvnahs favorite everything and is back and primed to step up to a spot that Ray Burton is none too pleased with her appointment. You go Councilor Burton. See you in the 2010 cycle.

That's today in a nutshell. I'll be out for a few days but stay tuned. Politics does not sleep.

RISE UP!!!

AP - 22 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb attack killed five U.S. Marines, and gunfire killed an American sailor in a western Iraqi town, the U.S. military said Thursday.

from Yahoo News

Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a renowned heart surgeon before becoming Senate majority leader, argued that Florida doctors had erred in saying Terri Schiavo is in a “persistent vegetative state.”

“I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office,” he said in a lengthy speech in which he quoted medical texts and standards. “She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli.”

Sen. Frist wasn’t the only member of Congress with a medical degree to claim she was responding to visual stimuli. Here’s Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL):

“That woman is not in a vegetative state,” he said this week, challenging media reports that claimed she was. “She responds to verbal stimuli, she attempts to vocalize, she tracks with her eyes, she emotes, she attempts to kiss her father.”

“As a doctor,” Weldon said, “I would never pull her tube out.”

Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin concluded that…Terry Shivos brain was “profoundly atrophied” nearly half the size of a normal brain– and that the damage was “irreversable.” He also says, “The vision centers of her brain were dead” – meaning she was blind.

From Think Progress Blog Post 1 & Post 2

I don’t know which is worse having these guys as Senators or the prospect that they might re-enter the medical profession if they are not re-elected.

Fred Jackson, news director of American Family Radio, called the historic win by Los Angeles' first Hispanic mayor "a direct result of what's been going on with illegal immigration," warning that Latino mayors would be popping up all over the nation.

from C4AP

With a plate of chicken as a prop, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) made the argument that Americans can know that Guantanamo detainees are being treated well by simply looking at the menu of their meals.

from C4AP

In a win for community and independent media, the Supreme Court "let stand an appeals court ruling that limits the number of television stations, radio stations and newspapers a media company can own in a single market.

from C4AP

In a huge display of leadership and bi-partisanship, INDIE Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders managed to foil a Bush promise to veto. A Sanders Patriot Act amendment against the FBI and Justice Department provision from seeking library records and book store purchases without a warrant is a dead issue. In a 238-187 vote, the House showed Bush where the privacy buck stops. As Sirota reports..."What's amazing is how many Republicans defied the White House's veto threat to side with almost every Democrat to pass this measure. It shows that if Democrats are willing to show some guts and not be intimidated by the Bush administration's bullying tactics, they can win the day." and..."[I]t is interesting to note how this issue proves the effectiveness of political hardball. Too often, Democrats shy away from trying to enforce party discipline and from really going after the GOP. It's a product of being a little too comfortable in the minority."

The Bollucks Brothers , they being Bass and Bradley, voted with the Bush lock step losers and again show their lust for consolidating their own power and expound on their cowardice to stand up to the party leadership. Tragic. I expected nothing less...or actually nothing more. This Sanders guy is nothing nice. Find more at Sirota blog...
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=82337ABD-9B55-7515-33FFDF5FFB7133A9 and

http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/06/proof-that-political-hardball-works.html

RISE UP!!!

This is just the kind of thing that makes folks stay home during election day but is precisely why we should get more people out to fix hings. The Righty Senate gutted the HB616 Education funding bill after assuring the Governor of their support. The State wide property tax and all the metrics that go along with the old funding propgram are still, pretty much in affect. The lower House voted 269-96 to concur with the Senate and the "newly polished" old ed funding package. Word from the floor is this is a horrible bill for the entire State althought the North Country and other prime area get some much valued pork. In a political move to try and cast doubt on Lynch leadership (I thought that is my job) 2 Senators pulled support form the House and Lynch administration plans to reconfigure and target aid to the neediest towns and more fairly distribute the blood sweat and tears from the already overburden property tax payer. Tragic.

More news from the general State budget fight between the Senate and possibly concurring lower House, now going on in the Granite Block House, is the gaff of the all too mighty and powerful Righty Majority Cowards and their taking from certain line items to certain State agencies and padding the general fund while not creating any legitimate savings or new revenue anywhere. Pet projects and programs (tar geted district campaign aid)get more while HHS and other critical services, so assailed by the Righty solons, are getting gutted. Again, tragic. More on these tasty chunks of taxing and budgeting strichnine as it happens. PEACE!!!

From Sirotablog:

Sen. Joe Biden (D) is continuing his self-serving, arrogant and conceited attack on DNC Chairman Howard Dean, this time telling Don Imus that "The Democratic chairman does not speak for me, an elected United States senator. No party official speaks for me anytime, anyplace, under any circumstances. And I think the rhetoric is counter-productive."

All good Democrats and progressives should make a deal with Biden: he can continue stabbing his own party in the back with impunity for his own self-promotion, and say his party doesn't speak for him. In exchange, Biden should agree to never, ever claim to speak for Democrats.

Read more here

In a special election in Hillsboro County to fill the seat left by resigned Righty obstructionist Larry Elliot a few months back, Gil Shattuck handily beat RRR-Walter Morse with a runaway 664-501 finish. Congratulations Gil and good luck. Lucky for the Left side of the aisle and judging from all the publicity the State party gave you, I am quite sure they will claim this victory for and by themselves. Good for you Gil.

Here are the 20 Senators who
1) refused to co-sponsor the anti-lynching resolution passed yesterday, and
2) refused a roll-call vote so they'd have to put their name on the resolution.

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
19 Republicans and 1 Democrat, a real wall of shame.

more info at Daily Kos

BOTH OF OUR SENATORS! The ONLY state with both senators not co-sponsoring. Does anyone else want to hear more BS from the state democrat party about how this state is turning blue. Two hardcore right wing extremist senators representing us. A little piece of UTAH right here in New England.

Update:
by kos
Tue Jun 14th, 2005 at 13:59:32 PDT

I just heard that Kent Conrad added his name today to the anti-lynching resolution passed yesterday, making the holdouts an all-GOP cast.

This is one piece you 11 regular readers want to check out. DFNH has an action alert for all the Deaniacs in the room. Check out the names of the Dean bashers and adjust your campaign check books accordingly. Now... RISE UP!!!

The Kerry amendment to the CAFTA debacle has failed in Committee but only slightly. It seems the Dems stuck together here and you can see an expanded version of my blerbage at Sirotablog
Maybe we have some teamwork on the other side of the aisle??? PEACE

The leader of a conservative Christian lobby group suggesst that gays should be required to wear warning labels. I have a good idea how about making them wear pink triangles?
Don't thank me, it was Hilter's idea.

Read more here

See more amazing pictures here:

http://www.utterwonder.com/archives/2005/06/fashion_highs_a.php

The recent votes at the State and Federal level continue to prove the Righty agenda is to dissolve workers rights and to break the back of the confused, befuddled working class that continue to blindly vote "R" at the polls and be disenfranchised and margenalized into oblivion. The HJR 27 (resolution), sponsored by Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Ron Paul, very R-Texas, asking Congress to withdraw the US from, and not renew the damaging collaboration in the WTO. The vote was a mesmerizing 86-338 to kill the proposal and to keep the United States in the corporate shill, bureaucrat top heavy managed, World Trade Organization. Among other things, this WTO will allow for corporations to seek any damages and remedies and remineration "it" desires but provides little, if any, redress for workers rights and environmental protections . Our New Hampshire Congressional delegation has voted in lock step with their bosses to help pay off some campaign contributions. Thanks Charlie and Jeb. Money well spent and pols firmly bought.

At the State level, the un-Patriotic, Corporate Shill, Senate voted to table the HCR8. A sister resolution to the Federal proposal with primary sponsor Paul Ingbretson, very R-Haverhill. This resolution called for a moratorium on new international trade alliances and a review of existing compacts to insure proper beneficial wording to support the best interest of New Hampshire and United States workers. Actually in a last ditch effort to save this proposal, a motion was made to table and look at the issue later in the session. Well, the session ends in 2 weeks and the Feds have shown their lack of respect and concern for their constituencies. Nice.

Finally, in a strange twist, Massachusetts DINO John Kerry is playing politics with a parliamentary move to force a vote on the CAFTA trade debacle today. This will at least put on record the sellouts to the American working class people and show how many Federal Senate level solons are actually drawing a covert (or not) paycheck from the corporate world. This CAFTA is also conglomerate sponsored and lobbied and provides plenty of room for litigation on the top but no provisions for labor grievances or working conditions. This doesn't even begin to broach the impending devastation to the environment provided to corporate interests in the CAFTA. Nice. Tragic. RISE UP!!!

I just got this little gem from Jackson head Righty basher Susan B. I haven't checked the whole web site out yet but this story is great. Here's the story from "Make Them Accountable.com's" David Podvin, on how the Dems are still refusing to admit 1) their failed strategy and planning of anything except to lose, and secondly), their stalwart, undying support of the Righty Majority Cowards. Thanks Susan B. See you at the next progressive strategy session.

RISE UP!!!

So.. The same mainstream media that didn't bother to tell anyone that Bush had pre-decided to go to war and was just going through the motions with the UN and congress [because saying that wouldn't be polite... or fair and balanced].. NOW.. is saying.. hey everyone knew Bush was planning to go to war no matter what, this is old news. NO, NOT EVERY DOES!!!

Atrios nails it with this post on Eschaton:

Drum writes:

Was the Iraq war a foregone conclusion by early 2002? Of course it was. These new memos provide further evidence of that, but I'm not sure there's anyone who really doubted it in the first place.

Look, this is just bullshit. There are two sets of people here. One consists of inside the beltways types and assorted news junkies and the other consists of The Amerkin Public. The former knew the Iraq war was a foregone conclusion by early 2002, but didn't bother to tell the Amerkin Public. They still haven't. I knew the dance with the UN was bullshit and I tried to point it out, but my blog is not all powerful. The American press did not bother to tell people. And, now, they still don't want to bother to tell people.

from Atrios

A hot issue this past week has been the HB517, Construction and Demolition waste burning moratorium by several existing and proposed plants here in the Granite State. This bill, penned by primary sponsor Representative Christine Hamm, D-Hopkinton, has strong bi-partisan support and went through the lower House with a resounding voice vote. Previously it had passed the House Environmental and Agriculture Committee with an OTP of 15-3. Subsequently it passed the Senate Energy and Economic Development Committee with an OTP then on the Senate floor 17-7. Senator John- dump and burn- Gallus was among the losing minority in trying to allow our air to continue to be the dumping ground (?) for toxic, noxious waste. This HB517 proposal calls for a committee to look into, among other things, problems with air quality resulting from burning C+D in plants around the state and downwind, and effects to waterways. The Governor has applauded this moratorium and similar forward protections and future planning efforts for cleaner air and water. Bio-Energy is one of the primary opponents on this and other clean air and water measures.

Our Vermont neighbors know this is only a temporary delay in the inevitable plant openings and C+D burning and have taken up their own studies for traffic impacts to their local roads due to the influx of heavy trucking through communities such as Brattleboro, Guildhall and others. Gallus has refused to vote for clean air, clean water, clean environment of any kind and keeps his mouth where his money is, the special interest lobby wallet. Tragic. Boyce, Clegg, Johnson, Kenney, Morse and Roberge were among the other 7 toxic waste proponents and anti-clean environment supporters... How long can you hold your breath?

Another bill to keep track of in the next session is HB634 waste bill. This includes solid waste dumping and land fills requirements. Representative Scott Merrick has assured us of constant updates to developments in this bill. GET ACTIVE!!!

From Think Progress:

On the Washington Post Op-Ed page this morning, Michael Kinsley – an editor at the LA Times – dismisses the controversy over the Downing Street Minutes as the product of an “overhang of extremists” in “the blogosphere.”

Kinsley discounts the Minutes because they were based on meetings by the head of British foreign intelligence (known as C) “in Washington.” As a result, the Minutes recount the conclusions of “people other than Bush” and aren’t worth our attention. But even Kinsley admits that C may have been meeting with “actual administration decision makers.” (Why would the head of British foreign intelligence brief Tony Blair – as Kinsley suggests is likely – about meetings with “freelance chatterboxes”?)

If “actual administration decision makers” were telling the head of British intelligence in July 2002 that war in Iraq was inevitable and the “intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy” isn’t that an important story? Shouldn’t the media and Congress investigate?

LA Times is a good paper and Kinsley is usually pretty progressive but just recently he came on the Al Franken Show and argued IN FAVOR of the nuclear option.