Bob Herbert suggests how the Democrats can win the election in November.  It's a beautiful vision.  The only requirement to put his vision in place is that the major Democratic players remain grown-ups.

Scott Horton has been blogging the prosecution of Don Siegelman, former governor of Alabama, prominent Democrat in Alabama state politics, and currently an inmate in federal prison -- thanks to Karl Rove, who doesn't let his political enemies off easy.

Amy Goodman introduces the subject:

Jurors last year ruled that Governor Siegelman was bribed by HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy for a seat on the state health board. Prosecutors said Siegelman was bribed with $500,000 in contributions to his 1999 lottery campaign. Siegelman also was convicted on a separate obstruction of justice charge.

But critics say Siegelman is the target of a political witch hunt. The Justice Department has yet to comply with a request from Congress to release documents about the case. The House Judiciary Committee is gathering information about this prosecution and others that Democrats suspect were pursued for political reasons.

To find out more about Don Siegelman's fate at the hand of Karl Rove without much fuss you can read or hear Scott Horton's interview on Democracy Now here.

This blog was previously posted at Gail Jonas's blog, "Thinking Out Loud."  It's being reposted here in light of teacherken's diary (on the recommended list)about mountain top removal in Appalachia.  Griles is responsible for allowing this destructive practice to become widespread.

"This week  [March 25, 2007], the former No. 2 official in the Interior Department, Steven Griles, has admitted to lying. He is the 10th person -- and the second high-level Bush administration official to face criminal charges in the continuing Justice Department investigation into Abramoff's lobbying activities.

"I’ve kept my eye on Griles for years; he’s anathema to environmentalists. While in Interior Department, he continued to have ties to energy and mining companies that were once his lobbying clients, the same companies he was charged with overseeing.

"There’s a good description of why Griles is facing incarceration in the March 24 Washington Post, Ex-Official At Interior Hid His Ties to Abramoff.

"However, I offer you an exclusive story about Steven Griles from someone who worked for him, my friend, Janie, an attorney who now lives in Ukiah, California.

More below.

I think we should consider impeaching Dick Cheney as a first step.  The recent revelations in the Libby trial show that a lot of the prosecution’s case pointed to Cheney as the leaker-in-chief, and that he directed Libby and others to put out information to discredit Wilson (who was sent to Niger to investigate whether Niger in fact had attempted to sell uranium material to Iraq).

As part of the campaign to discredit Wilson, Cheney directed Libby to expose the secret that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, worked undercover as a weapons of mass destruction analyst at the CIA.  Exposing an undercover agent is a serious felony.

In the PBS-Frontline documentary, "The Dark Side," you see Cheney playing the lead role in assembling the false information that led us into the Iraq war.  The viewer is reminded of the dirty tricks leading to Watergate.

The Watergate chain of events is instructive.

    Today the New York Times lead editorial is about how states are making it harder to vote.  The editorial states in part:

    Florida bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts in the state.

    In Washington, a new law prevents people from voting if the secretary of state fails to match the information on their registration form with government databases.

    Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to require all voters to present a federally mandated photo ID. Even people who have been voting for years would need to get a new ID to vote in 2008.

   

You won the vote in 2004, but lost the election.  So, please do not beat up on yourself anymore for losing the election.  It wasn't your fault.   It was a done deal well before the election and any more unproductive self-flagellation is a waste of energy.  Here's what needs to be done:  [see below]

I received the following from fellow doubter and activist Dan Ashby (he's the activist; I'm a fellow doubter)and think it needs more exposure.  Hence my copying it to a Diary here.  I give Dan's contact info at the bottom.  He needs help.

Friday afternoon 11/4 a copy of the following letter was sent to the county central committee chairs of a major California political party.
The party, opposing most of the statewide initiatives on the November 8 ballot, invests all of its formidable resources in traditional GOTV tactics, apparently without thought to the possibility that they can outmobilize the voter base of their smaller political opposition and still lose the election--as indeed the national party did in 2004, 2002, and 2000.

Sometimes it takes a long time for a lesson to sink in, and even longer to begin asking the right questions. One such question might be: Who counts the votes?

This is the email that I received in response to my request that the Gov call up the National Guard and offer its services to Louisiana and Mississippi.

See below.

There is now a website that explains how to find lost pets and otherwise help out. Not having the right skills to do a real diary I can just put the link here. Anyone with the right skills is invited to fix or replace this diary. Petfinder is located at: http://www.petfinder.org/disaster/ "Overview: Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 am EST Most of the national rescue groups have now secured authorization to enter into the disaster areas to begin rescue operations and assist local agencies with providing emergency shelter to displaced animals." More from the Petfinder website below.