The Liberal Patriot Blog
 The Liberal Patriot Blog is dedicated to collecting and sharing information about National and State [New Hampshire] Political Action, News, and Events.

Friday, December 23, 2005

GOP parenting triumphs again


Scions of the GOP

A judge told two 19-year-olds arrested for firing a BB gun from a moving car and hitting two pedestrians last August that their lawyers “worked a miracle.”

George P. Dirth of Bedford and Thaddeus Duprey of Concord had their charges reduced in Concord District Court yesterday and were ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. District Court Judge Gerard Boyle noted a similar incident involving two St. Anselm College varsity football players last April had a much different outcome....

...Dirth’s and Duprey’s charges were reduced from misdemeanor reckless conduct to a violation, which was placed on file without a finding for nine months.

Dirth is the son of Randy Dirth, a former Williams-Sonoma executive and founder of Gourmet Giftmail, a mail order company. Duprey is the son of former Republican State Chairman and real estate developer Steve Duprey and Susan Duprey, president of the law firm of Devine Millimet & Branch.


Now, there's a suprise. The other kids are facing jail time. GOP Definition of personal responsibility: something for other people's kids.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

God Bless the TWU!!!

NYC Transit Union Moves to Return to Work

NEW YORK - Transit union leaders agreed that the city's subway and bus strike should end while talks resume, a mediator said Thursday in an announcement that brought hope to a city paralyzed by the three-day walkout.
...

....Yves Desrmeaux, 47, a Manhattan parking lot attendant who lives in Brooklyn.

"Traffic was dense coming over the Manhattan Bridge," he said. "It (the strike) has really made a significant difference. But the transit workers work hard. I hope the MTA gives them something to make them happy this Christmas."

from yahoo news

I have been following this story on the Mark Riley Show and at the News Blog. The TWU are hard working people who deserve BETTER!!!

"In a WWRL poll, 71% of respondents blamed the MTA and only 14% blamed the transit worker". The is a great story about Workers having the courage to DEMAND respect!!!


Read more here

Let's hope...

Earlier this week, we saw Democrats lose the crucial budget vote in the House, in part, because not all of their Members showed up to actually vote. It raised serious questions about whether the party is serious about actually regaining the majority. But today there is hope - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is preparing to take a dramatic step that could send the GOP's draconian budget cuts down to defeat.

Pelosi's press release spells it out:

"The Senate passed its immoral budget by a narrow margin of 51 to 50, with Vice President Dick Cheney breaking the tie. Because Democrats forced several changes to the budget bill, it now must come back to the House to be voted on again. Pelosi will not allow approval by unanimous consent and will request a recorded vote."

Pelosi's statement in her release makes it clear why this is important:

"Democrats believe this Republican bill has the wrong priorities. That is why we will request a recorded vote where all Members return to Washington to make clear their values to the America people. Democrats will work with our allies to fight for a budget that represents the values and needs of all Americans."

This is basically an unprecedented move - Democrats have long just rolled over and allowed these "unanimous consent" agreements to pass, but now they are putting their foot down. Pelosi is saying enough is enough - no more budgets that takes billions out of health care and puts it into new tax cuts for the very wealthy.

Let's hope every single Democrat shows up for this vote, and puts this bill down to defeat.

from sirotablog

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

You're a mean one... Mr. Grinch!

Four days before Christmas, the U.S. Senate votes 51-50 in favor of a brutal budget package that cuts funding for health care, student loans, child support enforcement, foster care funding, and other programs by $40 billion over the next five years. Details here.

from thinkprogress


Tentative victory on Arctic Refuge

A vote to end debate on the 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill (where Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens stuck the drilling amendment) just failed, 56-44. Hotline’s On Call: “It now returns to conference, where members will likely strip the ANWR plank from the text and resubmit it for a vote.”

from thinkprogress

So for those of you not following this... the defense appropriations bill is up for a vote... added to it is funding for avian flu and katrina victims.... ALSO ADDED is drilling in the ANWR......



Top 50 most Popular Governors

SUSA has its latest 50-state rankings. Here are the approval/disapproval ratings for governors up for re-election in 2006:

  1. Rell (CT-R) 77/16
  2. Rounds (SD-R) 73/19
  3. Lynch (NH-D) 69/21
  4. Douglas (VT-R) 65/26
  5. Heineman (NE-R) 63/24
  6. Freudenthal (WY-D) 65/27
  7. Napolitano (AZ-D) 64/33
  8. Richardson (NM-D) 62/31
  9. Henry (OK-D) 62/31
  10. Lingle (HI-R) 62/32
  11. Sebelius (KS-D) 62/33
  12. Purdue (GA-R) 60/33
  13. Pawlenty (MN-R) 59/35
  14. Bredesen (TN-D) 57/37
  15. Carcieri (RI-R) 56/39
  16. Riley (AL-R) 52/41
  17. Ehrlich (MD-R) 49/43
  18. Doyle (WI-D) 48/44
  19. Rendell (PA-D) 49/46
  20. Sanford (SC-R) 47/44
  21. Perry (TX-R) 46/48
  22. Kulongoski (OR-D) 43/48
  23. Blagojevich (IL-D) 41/53
  24. Granholm (MI-D) 41/54
  25. Baldacci (ME-D) 36/59
  26. Schwarzenegger (CA-R) 34/63
  27. Murkowski (AK-R) 27/69

The interesting thing about any such list is seeing how many popular Democratic governors preside over red states, and how many popular Republican governors preside over blue states.

from daily kos

The most interesting thing to me is that Lynch is SO popular yet he has used his "political capital" for NOTHING! He has not done one single controversial thing. He doesn't support Gay marriage OR an income tax.... what's Lynch's latest proposal?..... Raising the age kids can drop out of school from 16 to 18.... OOOOOooooooooh, way to serve the people.... So when can we expect that Lynch will actually DO anything for us... next term? This seems to me just to be a vanity governorship... he just wants to be and remain popular....


Press takes orders from King George


Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller met with President Bush on December 6 to discuss the story about National Security Agency eavesdropping. Bush pleaded with the two men not to run the story. Bush's main concern was the story, which depicts him as law-breaker. The President was not at all concerned the disclosures would compromise national security. The story shows that Bush clearly authorized the N.S.A. to engage in illegal spying on Americans everywhere. The story proves Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.


from air america homepage


Good News?

Dental hygienists will have a reason to smile if a bill proposed for the upcoming state legislative session passes.

from stateline.org

Monday, December 19, 2005

Tired of the war on Christmas? Check out this commentary. WARNING - it's not for the faint of heart - bad language and rude suggestions aplenty. link to site

well said...


Merry Xmas....

We've heard a lot lately from the Bush administration about how the economy is supposedly doing so well for so many Americans - happy talk that ignores the fact that workers' real wages have decreased since President Bush was first elected. But a new USA Today story goes a long way in explaining why the White House thinks everything is A.O.K.

As Greg Farrell reports, CEO pay is skyrocketing as never before - both at companies that are doing well, and companies that are losing money. Whereas workers are regularly told to accept draconian pay cuts when the company faces financial trouble (think Delphi), CEO and top executives at these same companies are rolling in cash.

In a confidential letter written by major pension funds and obtained by the paper, we learn "that CEO pay at many companies in the Russell 3000 index (representing 99% of the U.S. stock market) bore no relation to how well those companies performed." Here's more:

"At 60 of the worst-performing companies in that group, which lost $769 billion in market value over the past five years, the aggregate pay for the top five executives of those 60 companies over the same period was $12 billion. In other words, since January of 2000, some 300 executives who were responsible for more than three-quarters of a trillion dollars in shareholder value vanishing were rewarded by their shareholders with salary, bonuses and stock options worth $12 billion. That averages out to $40 million for each of those companies' top five executives over the five-year period, or $8 million per executive per year."

full article @ sirota blog

Idiot Boy Speaks,,,,

Bush has repeatedly claimed that “as Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” Tonight he said:

At this time last year, there were only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions ready for combat. Now, there are more than 125 Iraqi combat battalions fighting the enemy … more than 50 are taking the lead … and we have transferred more than a dozen military bases to Iraqi control.

If that’s true, why are there still 153,000 American troops in Iraq, as many as there have ever been? Why can’t 125 battalions replace a single American soldier?

from thinkprogress

Good Fucking Question!!!


How do you spell relief? I-M-P-E-A-C-H-M-E-N-T

From his radio address this morning:

This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends, and allies. Yesterday, the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports after being improperly provided to news organizations. …I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks

Bush claimed it was consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution. Many experts disagree.

from thinkprogress

Like you can't read stoned..... yawn~



The National Assessment of Adult Literacy given in 2003 by the Department of Education shows a sharp decline in English literacy among U.S. college graduates. 40 percent of the nation's college graduates scored at the proficient level when the test was last administered in 1992. 31 percent of the graduates demonstrated those high-level skills after taking the 2003 test. There were 26.4 million college graduates. Click here to read more.

from air america homepage

Media Whore Watch

Last week, The New York Times reported that it knew the government had been illegally spying on Americans since 2002. The newspaper refused to publish the story for approximately 2 years. Times officials said their reason for holding the story was national security. Republican Senator John Cornyn is frustrated with the newspaper. He believes the release of the story was tied to the author's new book "State of WAR: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration". The paper should have revealed the truth about the government's illegal activity, but did not because of a marketing campaign.

from air america homepage

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?