MOMocrats™

Florida State Legislature Threatens to Cut Library Funding

The Florida State Legislature's House and Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Conference Committee has recommended that the state cut $21.2 million from its budget by eliminating all state funding for public libraries.

During a time when more and more people affected by the recession are using public libraries to provide books and free educational activities for their children, access the internet to search for jobs, and borrow books to research a new career or study for standardized tests as preparation for going back to school, the last thing citizens of any state need is for several of their local public libraries to cut hours or shut down.

But according to the Florida Library Association, that is precisely what will happen in Florida if the state legislature proceeds with this plan. That's why the FLA is asking Florida residents to take action to save Florida's public libraries by contacting their local representatives, Florida Governor Charlie Crist ([email protected]) and the media to let the Florida legislature know how losing public libraries would impact the people of Florida.

Hey, Florida: If you're looking for ways to save money, you might want to start with the salaries of the people who want to cut off kids' access to free books.

H/T Neil Gaiman. Yes, that one.

Virginia's "Party of NO" Strikes Again

I really wanted to title this post "Virginia Republicans have their heads up their asses."  Today, Virginia's Republican controlled House voted 53-46 against changing the unemployment standards in Virginia to permit $125 million in federal stimulus money for laid off Virginia workers.

That's right. Even though Virginia has a Democrat as governor and two Democratic U.S. Senators, our legislature is still controlled by Republicans. Virginia has state elections on "off" years. We will elect a new Governor this year, a new House, and a nice new chunk of the Senate. Can you guess what Democrats are focusing on in Virginia right now? Yes, the "Party of No" is in our sights.

Governor Kaine spoke emotionally about the highly contentious vote and it's a video worth watching. Kaine has it right. This vote shouldn't have been about taking an ideological stand against federal spending. It should have been about the people in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This vote explains why so many of us in Virginia will do whatever we can to ensure that we get as many as possible of those 53 Republicans out of office over the next 2 years.

Stephanie also blogs at Lawyer Mama, VB Dems, and Raising Moran.

Dear Democrats: On AIG, Quit Gnashing Your Teeth. Start Doing Your Jobs.

No, seriously.

I've seen you on TV this week, outragedly expressing your outrage about the outrageous outrage that is the outrageous AIG bonus payout.

All that outrage sure makes for good populist theater. But that's what it is, isn't it? Theater.

Because the fact is, you should have seen this coming.

Bush, Paulson and Bernanke may have been the ones behind the notorious TARP Part One, the taxpayer-funded bailout that handed out no-strings-attached cash to failing financial firms like a lonely grandma passing out Halloween candy. The application for the Bush version of TARP required less information from floundering banks that had publicly admitted risky behavior than I, as a fairly responsible private citizen, would have to provide in order to secure a Victoria's Secret credit card.  

A Boy Who Grew Up in Guantanamo

When Mohammed was 14, he dreamed of becoming a doctor. 

To study medicine, Mohammed knew he would need to learn English, and learn how to use a computer. But he couldn't go to school to learn those things in the country where he lived. Born in Chad, but living now with his family as an immigrant in Saudi Arabia, he'd been denied access to secondary school, because he was not a Saudi citizen. He spent his days selling religious souvenirs to pilgrims traveling through his neighborhood on their way to visit Mecca. This helped support his struggling immigrant family. But it was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

So one day, he traveled to the Chad embassy, determined to acquire a passport that would allow him to move to Pakistan and attend classes there. He was told that a minor child would not be allowed such documentation, but, for a fee . . .

500 Saudi riyals later, fourteen-year-old Mohammed el Gharani left the embassy with a passport saying that he was 20 years old.

Mohammed spent a month in Pakistan trying to find a good school with an opening for a serious foreign student. While he was waiting for a vacancy, he made some local friends, and found a mosque where he could worship. One day, in October, while he was praying at the mosque, it was suddenly surrounded by a team of armed men. Police. Everyone inside was arrested.

After days of beatings and torture by his captors, fourteen-year-old Mohammed el Gharani was sold for $5,000 to American authorities, who were offering cash bounties for "al-Qaeda suspects." He was shipped to a U.S. detention center in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Is that voter suppression or intimidation in Texas early voting?

It started early yesterday with a seemingly innocuous twitter message I received from a friend, someone who is an attorney and politically active.

My friend wrote, "is there a new law requiring scanning driver's license before you vote to make sure it matches voters id?"

That question indicated to me a potential problem on possibly five levels. If it was happening at the polls, it meant we had a situation that needed investigating. So I pulled on my Sherlock Holmes hat, and hit the phone, keyboard and pavement. I was surprised by what I found.

I found a potentially serious issue: possible voter suppression.

Another one for the pie-in-the-face campaign: Michele Bachmann

By now you've heard this shockingly McCarthyist vitriol spewed by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann? Let's investigate the (democratic, liberal) anti-American members of congress?!?! Let's continue to spread untruths about Obama because the McCain campaign doesn't have any real solutions for this country. BTDT, Michele. She deserves a whipped cream pie right to kisser, but until then, censure will just have to do.

Where are the smart Republican women? I am so tired of the dumb ones.

UPDATE:  Over $120,000 in donations have poured in for Bachmann's congressional opponent El Tinklenberg (D) in the 24 hours since she made her assinine statements. He is in a tight but winnable race. If you'd like to take a stand against stupidity and donate to Tinklenberg's campaign, click here.

Has the Violence We've Feared Already Begun?

On October 17th, Joe Killian, a reporter for the Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record, was assaulted by a McCain-Palin supporter at a Palin rally.

While covering the rally at Elon University along with fellow News & Record reporter Mark Binker, Killian saw that about a dozen apparent Obama supporters had spread themselves throughout the crowd. In his blog entry about the incident, he writes:

As Palin got into her speech they began chants of “Obama” and screamed out rebuttals to the points in her speech. This angered some in the crowd — some responding with cursing, others chanting “U.S.A.” and “NObama” to drown them out. Eventually the cops came and escorted them off of the baseball field.

Intrigued by the incident, Killian went looking for the Obama supporters to ask about their reasons for attending the rally. He found one who was willing to be interviewed. Killian writes:

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

“Hey, hey,” I said. “I’m trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?”

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

This is not the first time the press have been threatened or harassed at a Palin rally.

Andy Martin's "Obama Research Team" seeking the "Lost Obama" in Honolulu [File under: Acts of sheer and utter desperation]

My mother, Obama Mama of the highest order, political activist, and Hawaii resident, alerted me yesterday to the fact that that bigot Andy Martin and his team of dirt diggers are about to touch down in Honolulu. Their mission? To try and dig up dirt on Obama's teen years in Hawaii.  From PR-inside.com:

(NEW YORK)(September 23, 2008) Andy Martin has an invitation for those who want to join in the effort to research and investigate the "Lost Obama." "Join me in Hawaii." Martin will lead a research team in Hawaii October 15-22.

"We have a plethora of leads for Obama in Hawaii, and we have numerous stories with a Hawaii angle," says Martin. "We have been forced to do the job the mainstream media refuse to do. The Internet rules!

"ContrarianCommentary.com is making available free participation in this research expedition. We are not collecting a penny from anyone. People who want to join us and share the research effort can make their own travel arrangements and hotel accomodations in Hawaii.

"We will link up on October 15th, and break up on the 22nd. We will have a full week to do in-depth investigation and reporting.

"It is strange that the media have ignored Obama's Hawaii years. How many stories have you seen on his formative period? Virtually none. Obama was not shaped by Chicago; he pitched up there as an adult. 'Barry O' was shaped by his unconventional family in Hawaii.

I don't know about you but I am already laughing.

If "Palin knows more about energy than anyone in the US" we're officially...past tense of that word that starts with f.

At a town hall meeting yesterday, a concerned voter asked that great energy expert, Sarah Palin, whether it was true that 75% of Alaska's oil was shipped overseas. Her answer?

No, "It's not 75%...because Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially."

Hm.

Justice Department Expands FBI Surveillance Powers

While you were distracted by gripping front-page headlines on the epic global financial crisis sweeping world markets, you may have missed this little story:

On Friday October 3rd, the U.S. Justice Department, under the guidance of Attorney General Michael Mukasey, issued a new set of guidelines for the FBI, officially and explicitly granting the agency the power to conduct surveillance on American citizens without any evidence or proof of wrongdoing, and without the need for warrants or court supervision, for up to 30 days. Under these new guidelines, all that is required for the FBI to begin spying on an American citizen is suspicion of a threat. From the Justice Department document (emphases mine):

Assessments, authorized by Subpart A of this Part, require an authorized purpose but not any particular factual predication. For example, to carry out its central mission of preventing the commission of terrorist acts against the United States and its people, the FBI must proactively draw on available sources of information to identify terrorist threats and activities. It cannot be content to wait for leads to come in through the actions of others, but rather must be vigilant in detecting terrorist activities to the full extent permitted by law, with an eye towards early intervention and prevention of acts of terrorism before they occur. Likewise, in the exercise of its protective functions, the FBI is not constrained to wait until information is received indicating that a particular event, activity, or facility has drawn the attention of those who would threaten the national security. Rather, the FBI must take the initiative to secure and protect activities and entities whose character may make them attractive targets for terrorism or espionage.

According to legal experts at the ACLU, the new guidelines also give FBI agents implicit permission to use race, ethnicity or religion as a basis for targeting American citizens and American organizations for investigation.

So what constitutes a "threat" worthy of investigation under these guidelines?