CNN Debate Review

I loved the format. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but then neither were the candidates. The format was such a refreshing break from the same old journalist prepared questions. It put real citizen in the debate. I felt it made the candidates answer a bit more honestly. I hope this format continues.

What I didn’t like was way too much time spent with Hillary, Obama and Edwards. Sometimes it’s nice to involve the others just to stir things up.

Hillary: Seemed relaxed, to the point. I hate to admit it but I think she came out on top; Still not jazzed about her;

Obama: Convinced me on a few points like the separations of church and state and lobbyist out of the energy and health care discussions. I’m not crazy about his health care bill since it’s not universal;

Edwards: I have to give him credit for being honest about his personal struggle with gay marriage. Hopefully Elizabeth can get him there. I did like his health care plan being universal. I thought his video was the best of all the candidates.

Biden: He didn’t seem as irritating as I expected him to be. He did however; want to bring most of his answers back to Iraq. He seemed a bit dismissive at times but I guess that’s Joe.

Richardson: I was shocked that he didn’t bring up his resume. You know I can’t recall anything remarkable or different that Richardson said.

Kucinich: Loved his immediate pull out from Iraq. Interesting that he wasn’t given enough time on health care since he authored a very good universal plan.

Dodd: Nothing remarkable. I thought he screwed up when he answered that as President he wouldn’t work for minimum wage because he has kids to put through school. I think he missed the point of struggling America; and

Gravel: He seemed to spend most of his time going after the other candidates instead of using his very few opportunities to make his case.

The GOP is next up on this format and that should be interesting since they can’t connect with the public.

Democratic Debate; My Opinion

Tonight CNN & YouTube will host the democratic debate, 7:00 p.m. EST. Personally I’m looking forward to this format; debates have become too scripted for me. The candidates won’t see the questions before hand. They won’t have scripted answers. The candidates will actually have to think off the top of their heads.  I’m sure their spin doctors are already going into shock.

Here’s what I think: 

Hillary: She won’t fare well in this format, she to much of a control freak.  I also think she’ll stray from the original question;

Obama and Edwards: These two love the net and know how to connect they’ll do fine;

Biden: He won’t shut up so what every the question is it will get lost in all his opining and pontificating; 

Dodd: I’m not sure about him, he never seem to get enough attention to even know if he’s still breathing at the podium; 

Gravel:  Well he speaks his mind all the time so this should be fun. Providing Anderson gives him more than one question;

Kucinich: He seems to stay on point so we might see him answers the question actually asked; and

Richardson: He tries to always come across as “Mr. Deep concern compassion”, so I think it will be a love fest for him and the camera as he tries to focus on whomever sent the video. It could be embarrassing.

DeFazio Denied Access To Post-Attack Continuity Plans

I find this very bothersome, when member of the House Committee on Homeland Security is denied access to review the Bush plan of government continuity after an attack. Maybe DeFazio was denied access because the plan doesn’t include protection of you and me but only protection for the Bush government.

DeFazio requested the document review because his constituents were worried that there was a conspiracy in the governments plan. What would every make anyone think that the Bush administration would be up to no good?

This administration stonewalls everything. They will hold a press conference and say “its political grandstanding by the democrats” or some other BS GOP line. 

As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure “bubbleroom” in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents.

On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED.

“I just can’t believe they’re going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,” DeFazio said.

Homeland Security Committee staffers told his office that the White House initially approved his request, but it was later quashed. DeFazio doesn’t know who did it or why.

“We’re talking about the continuity of the government of the United States of America,” DeFazio said. “I would think that would be relevant to any member of Congress, let alone a member of the Homeland Security Committee.”

Bush administration spokesman Trey Bohn declined to say why DeFazio was denied access: “We do not comment through the press on the process that this access entails. It is important to keep in mind that much of the information related to the continuity of government is highly sensitive.”

Norm Ornstein, a legal scholar who studies government continuity at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he “cannot think of one good reason” to deny access to a member of Congress who serves on the Homeland Security Committee.

“I find it inexplicable and probably reflective of the usual knee-jerk overextension of executive power that we see from this White House,” Ornstein said.

This is the first time DeFazio has been denied access to documents. DeFazio has asked Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to help him access the documents.

“Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right,” DeFazio said.

Pelosi Promises Contempt Charge For Harriet Miers

SF Chronicle

• Congress this week will take the next step to force the Bush administration to hand over information about the dismissal of U.S. attorneys and the politicization of the Justice Department, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday.

• The House Judiciary Committee will bring contempt of Congress charges against the administration this week, said the San Francisco Democrat. She did not specify who the subject of the action would be, but Pelosi spokesman, Brendan Daly, said later it would be former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who defied a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to appear.

• “They have disregarded the call of Congress for information about their politicizing the Department of Justice. We can document that. Those are actual facts and we will bring the contempt of Congress forth,” said Pelosi, who spoke with reporters at a San Francisco workshop for people who want to become U.S. citizens.

• Congress has for months been seeking information about which administration officials were involved in the dismissals of the attorneys. The White House, however, has claimed “executive privilege” for many of those requests, meaning the executive branch is free from oversight of the legislative and judiciary branches of the government in those instances. A House judiciary subcommittee has voted to reject such reasoning.

• Contempt of Congress is defined by federal law as action that obstructs the work of Congress, including investigations. If both the White House and Congress stick to these positions, the matter could become a constitutional question for the courts to decide.

On Impeachment of Bush 

Notice in Pelosi’s statement  she doesn’t address Cheney. I think the veep is on the table. With Cheney out of the way Bush won’t know what to do.

• Pelosi also reiterated Saturday that she would not engage in what would perhaps be the biggest confrontation possible with the White House — seeking the impeachment of Bush over the Iraq war.

• The speaker said she had “no hesitation” criticizing the president about his handling of the war, but said there were more important priorities for lawmakers — such as health care and creating jobs — than the divisive pursuit of impeachment.

• “Look, it’s hard enough for us to end the war. I don’t know how we would be successful in impeaching the president,” Pelosi said.

• She did note that calls for the president’s removal are not coming just from San Francisco.

• “I’m not unsympathetic to the concern people have — I hear it all over the country. People here have said to me, ‘Well, people on the left want the president to be impeached.’ I hear it across the board across the country. It’s not just the left,” Pelosi said.

If Congress brings us the head of Cheney, I could very well look past Bush. For Bush will be lost without the puppet master.

Injured Iraq War Veterans Sue VA

Veterans denied health care, is an absolute disgrace! To me there is no excuse that the VA can possibly give to defend their complete lack of incompetence and responsibility to veterans.

This administration and the GOP could give a rat’s ass about the soldiers. They will send them into harms way and them turn their backs on them. There is no follow through, no caring, no responsibility for the damage that they’ve done or continue to do.

• Frustrated by delays in health care, a coalition of injured Iraq war veterans is accusing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.

• The class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad change in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that VA has failed warriors on several fronts — from providing prompt disability benefits, to adding staff to reduce wait times for medical care to boosting services for post-traumatic stress disorder.

• The lawsuit also accuses VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying out benefits.

Pre-existing, are you freaking kidding me. Do you thing that might backfire on the VA and the Pentagon? If you know someone has PTSD before you send them into war, why in the hell would you send them to war. The logic of this government is beyond explanation. It’s all about the almighty dollar.

• “Unless systemic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the costs to these veterans, their families, and our nation will be incalculable, including broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in drug abuse and alcoholism, and crushing burdens on the health care delivery system,” the complaint states.

• Today, the VA’s backlog of disability payments is now between 400,000 and 600,000, with delays of up to 177 days to process an initial claim and an average of 657 days to process an appeal. Several congressional committees and a presidential commission are now studying ways to improve care.

Studying the problem; how long does it take to know that the VA doesn’t work? It hasn’t work for years. Viet Nam vets are still fighting them, just ask any vet living on the street. The Dole- Shalala committee seems to be dragging their feet. Remember the committee that Bush created to get to the bottom of the VA problems. Bush is very good at creating shit and then doing nothing about it. Hell, why don’t we just have a VA Czar, Bush loves having those around. We seem to have more Czar than Russia ever did.

• “While steps can and will be taken in the political arena, responsibility for action lies with the agency itself,” said Melissa W. Kasnitz, managing attorney for Disability Rights Advocates, in a telephone interview. Her group is teaming up with a major law firm, Morrison & Foerster, to represent the veterans.

• “We don’t believe the problems will be fixed by the VA if we wait for them,” she said. “In the meantime, it is veterans who risk their lives for our country who are suffering the consequences.”

• The lawsuit cites violations of the Constitution and federal law, which mandates at least two years of health care to injured veterans.

This administration will go down in history as being the worst violators of the U.S. Constitution. At least you have to give them credit for being consistent in the destruction of this country on more than one front.

Of course when the discussion of bringing the troops home comes up again, Bush, the GOP and all their blind supporters will say they support the troops. To steal Mitch McConnell’s line “it’s political theater”. If they truly supported the troops we would not see class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs.