Notice: The 
Devoter.com Archives: December 2006
Sun Dec 31, 2006
Sat Dec 30, 2006
A Tough Year for Republicans
2006 was not a good year to be from the right. It seemed like everything bad that could have happened did. The war is a mess, despite Democrats freezing bribe money, the “culture of corruption” was successfully marketed and bought by the voters, Congressman Mark Foley was exposed as a sexual predator. The president and party leader chose blind loyalty to his cabinet and let his party sink in the midterm elections.
Fri Dec 29, 2006
Riverbend: End of Another Year...
The 'untouchables' of US science. When George Bush banned embryonic stem cell funding, he effectively put these researchers into quarantine.
Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees.
President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq, then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.
Thu Dec 28, 2006
Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said that he is a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, promising "a grass roots, ground-up campaign where we ask people to take action."
Wed Dec 27, 2006
Bush Could Usher in a Very Dangerous New Year: Intelligence sources say President Bush -- along with Israel's Ehud Olmert and the UK's Tony Blair -- are weighing the possibility of Israeli-led attacks on Syria and Iran in early 2007, with the United States providing logistical back-up.
On a September Sunday in 1974, President Gerald Ford told the nation it was time to "shut and seal this book" of Watergate by pardoning his predecessor, Richard Nixon.
Tue Dec 26, 2006
Sen. Joseph Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he will fight President Bush if the administration decides to send more U.S. troops to Iraq.
Mon Dec 25, 2006
The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.
Sun Dec 24, 2006
The White House is expected to announce a reconstruction package for Iraq as part of a plan for a "surge" of up to 30,000 troops into Baghdad when President George W Bush unveils America's new strategy next month.
Sat Dec 23, 2006
There's one certainty for the Capitol's most liberal lawmakers now that Democrats will control Congress: They won't have to meet in the basement anymore.
Fri Dec 22, 2006
Congressman Robin Hayes says we will win in Iraq by "spreading the message of Jesus Christ" there. “Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior.”
America is ready to elect a black president, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Thu Dec 21, 2006
"No tengo futuro." -- Governor Jeb Bush
Nearly two out of three U.S. voters received the much-despised prerecorded "robo-calls" from political candidates during the past election.
A Republican congressman has told constituents that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow the lead of a recently elected lawmaker who plans to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in.
US political darling Barack Obama has received enthusiastic support for a possible 2008 presidential bid -- except from fellow African-Americans, a group many believed would be among his staunchest backers.
"Obama did not -- does not -- share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves," wrote African-American newspaper columnist Stanley Crouch last month in an article entitled "Barack Obama -- Not Black Like Me."
Post-traumatic futility disorder: Disillusionment with war is an overlooked psychological liability on the battlefield, experts say -- and could lead to higher rates of PTSD among U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
Wed Dec 20, 2006
DraftObama.org has started airing TV ads in New Hampshire and DC to try to show Barack Obama that he has enough support to run for the Presidency in 2008.
The chairman of the Federal Election Commission yesterday predicted that 2008 will produce the first $1 billion presidential race and that the $500 million that each party's candidate will need to compete will severely limit the field of contenders.
New Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an unannounced trip to the battlefront, discussed a possible infusion of more U.S. troops into Iraq with American commanders but said he has made no decisions.
Tue Dec 19, 2006
Iraqi Women's Bodies Are Battlefields for War Vendettas: The United States' so-called "liberation" of Iraqi women has made them less free than they were under the Baathist regime, with abduction, rape, and "honor" killings now a daily reality.
Arizona Senator John McCain crushes both Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and General Wesley Clark in hypothetical Election 2008 Presidential match-ups.
Mon Dec 18, 2006
The former secretary of state Colin Powell said that badly overstretched U.S. forces in Iraq were losing the war there and that a temporary U.S. troop surge probably would not help.
A recently appointed member of the Pennsylvania gaming board was a longtime critic of gambling when he was a legislator but he has won thousands of dollars at casinos.
Sun Dec 17, 2006
The terrorist you've never heard of: Unlike alleged al-Qaida terrorist Jose Padilla, right-wing "dirty bomber" Demetrius Crocker was investigated and prosecuted the old-fashioned constitutional way.
Will This Damn Administration Ever Learn?
In light of today's news that Condoleeza Rice will ignore the Iraq Study Group recommendations to engage in dialogue with Syria and Iran, I've given up all hope that the Bush Administration possesses the tools to do anything good for America.
Newt Gingrich suggested he might not run for president in 2008 if a rival has all but locked up the Republican nomination by next fall.
The Bush administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to overrule a federal judge and allow the White House to keep secret any records of visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and office.
To make the visitor records public would be an "unprecedented intrusion into the daily operations of the vice presidency," the Justice Department argued in a 57-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Sat Dec 16, 2006
The word "macaca," used by outgoing Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia to describe a Democratic activist of Indian descent who was trailing his campaign, was named the most politically incorrect word of the year on Friday by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage.
President Bush said that his administration will outline a series of changes that would clamp down on the common Capitol Hill practice of slipping pet projects into spending bills.
Fri Dec 15, 2006
Negotiators from the United States and North Korea will sit down with other regional powers for the first time in 13 months to determine the nuclear fate of the peninsula, with the North's first atomic weapons test adding pressure for elusive results.
Thu Dec 14, 2006
Iraq Study Group Report: Light on Realism
Coming from a group of supposed realists, the Iraq Study Group Report instead appears to be a fine utopian wish list. Unfortunately, the United States needed much more than a wish list to be released last week by the committee chaired by Baker and Hamilton.
E.P.A. Library Closures Could Threaten Public Health. Congress needs to act now to reverse the E.P.A.'s closing of tax-payer funded libraries, which contain potentially life-saving information about our environment.
Subpoena Silliness: The feds overplay their hand against the ACLU.
The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy.
Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi said that she will create a new congressional panel to examine the administration's intelligence budget and to make sure the money is being spent properly.
Sen. John McCain said that America should deploy 15,000 to 30,000 more troops to Iraq to control its sectarian violence, and give moderate Iraqi politicians the stability they need to take the country in the right direction.
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) is having brain surgery. If unable to return to office, his replacement will be appointed by Republican Governor Mike Rounds.
Wed Dec 13, 2006
Conservatives concerned about inconsistencies in Republican Mitt Romney's record on gay marriage and abortion said Tuesday the Massachusetts governor has some explaining to do.
President Bush has decided the general direction he wants to take U.S. policy on Iraq and has asked his staff to work out the details as he wraps up a highly public review of the war and its aims.
Tue Dec 12, 2006
Al Gore... Oscar nominee?
President Bush, about to wrap up a rushed weeklong effort to arrive at a new course for Iraq, now is likely to lay out his plan to the nation after Christmas
Are there communists among us?
Mon Dec 11, 2006
Millions of commercial Web sites and personal blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000, if a new proposal in the U.S. Senate came into law.
tomdelay.com -- "A tribute to the 75-minute period where tom delay actually received feedback from America. The experiment has now ended, but, this blog has taken a snap-shot, just for you..."
Ronald Reagan once famously sounded the call to "win one for the Gipper." Now, potential Republican presidential candidates are hoping that the Gipper will help win one for them.
Sun Dec 10, 2006
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in a runoff election, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation.
Word of the year: Truthiness
Sat Dec 09, 2006
President Bush spoke about parts of the Iraq Study Group report that mirror his policies -- but he ignored the sections that criticize his administration's handling of the war. "The group declared that such a withdrawal would `almost certainly produce greater sectarian violence' and lead to `a significant power vacuum, greater human suffering, regional destabilization and a threat to the global economy.'"
In its last hours of GOP control, Congress passed a raft of bills big and small, most significantly a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.
Fri Dec 08, 2006
Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said they intend to try.
President Bush pledged to consider the ideas of congressional leaders as he searches for a new strategy for the unpopular Iraq war... or maybe not.
Thu Dec 07, 2006
The surging violence in Iraq has created what is becoming the biggest refugee crisis in the world, a humanitarian group said today (PDF).
Conservative leaders voiced dismay at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples.
Wed Dec 06, 2006
One year after Katrina, the government is still squandering tens of millions of dollars in wasted disaster aid, including $17 million in bogus rental payments to people who had already received free trailers and apartments.
The United States faces a "grave and deteriorating" situation after three years of war in Iraq, a high-level commission warned bluntly on Wednesday, recommending enhanced diplomacy to stabilize the country and hopefully permit the withdrawal of most combat troops by early 2008.
Tue Dec 05, 2006
President George W. Bush, facing growing public discontent over the Iraq war, admitted his parents are worried about him but insisted he rarely talks policy with his father.
Mon Dec 04, 2006
President Bush is deciding whether to lift a ban on oil and gas drilling in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay, home to endangered whales and sea lions and the world's largest sockeye salmon run.
Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his recess appointment expires soon.
Sun Dec 03, 2006
When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
The Supreme Court entered into a free-speech dispute involving a high school student suspended over a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner. Attorney Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who investigated President Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, is representing the school board.
Millions of entrepreneurs, teachers and parents with kids in college have a financial stake in whether Congress, in the dying hours of Republican rule, revives tax breaks that expired 11 months ago.
Democratic jockeying for the White House in 2008 intensified with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh taking the first official step toward a run and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gauging support among fellow New York lawmakers.
Sat Dec 02, 2006
No Pandering Here: Virginia Senator-elect Jim Webb is the rare Washington figure who doesn't suck up to power.
Democrats turned to an evangelical Christian to give their weekly radio address on Saturday, citing a desire to avoid partisanship after last month's elections that gave them control of Congress.
Fri Dec 01, 2006
New GOP Attack On Obama: His Middle Name is "Hussein!"
In the space of barely a minute, John Kerry's political life took an abrupt turn. There's before The Joke, when the Massachusetts senator appeared to be well on his way toward making a political comeback, laying the groundwork for a White House bid despite losing the 2004 presidential election. Then there's after The Joke, when even fellow Democrats and former supporters question whether Kerry is still politically viable.
The Bush administration is unlikely to allow the incoming Democratic majority in Congress to learn details about its domestic spying program and interrogation policy.
