Maine Republican US Senator in tough re-election bid escorts Iraq reconstruction inspector on PR tour last week, including Bangor appearance; but her inaction on US corruption during 2003 to 2005 (with deadly consequences) while at the same time hammering at the old UN Oil-for-Food program reveals deep hypocrisy

I did see the notice in the newspaper for a talk featuring Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen that took place Thursday morning at Husson College in Bangor. Darn, wish I'd gone as I'd loved to have stirred up that show.

The fine Maine progressive/Democratic websites Collins Watch and Turn Maine Blue have noted the Collins/Bowen tour and this event. Gerald at Turn Maine Blue correctly terms Collin's PR effort with Bowen--successfully placing fluff in the Portland Press Herald--as "hypocrisy":

When I initially started writing about this heinous resolution last Thursday, I noted that Congress would be back that day. As mandated by the 20th Amendment, the Second Session of the 110th Congress did convene on January 3 -- just long enough to get in the all important Pledge of Allegiance and have a prayer, hoping for "an increase of faith" and "asking for a miracle." Then they adjourned until January 15. So, today being January 7, we now have eight days until Congress really comes back to make sure that every representative is aware of H. Res. 888, its goal to designate our country as a "Christian nation," and the outright lies about American history that it is based upon. I too, am "asking for a miracle" -- the defeat of H. Res. 888 -- something that would certainly, for many of us, restore "an increase of faith" in our Congress.

From Nataline Sarkisyan to Angela Dispenza to ten-year-old Preston, we all deserve the kind of care that Dick Cheney has.

Pre-existing condition?  No problem.  Guaranteed healthcare?  Of course.  Heartless insurance bureaucrats meddling in medical decisions?  No way.  A single standard of quality care?  Nothing less will do.  

But why just Cheney?  Why not everyone?

Want to sign up for it?

...cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association’s Breakroom Blog, as we organize for GUARANTEED healthcare on the single-payer model.

 We are delighted that politicians, bankers, and industry users look favorably upon our stranded wind relocalization plans. Ours are large scale industrial plants and thusly they get much assistance from all quarters. We'd like to see that same easy path available for those developing smaller projects.

  This is not the case today, as wind regulations here are as broken as our miserable health care system is. Paul Gipe, founder of Wind Works, has almost thirty years of advocacy in the field, is helping at the state level in many places, and we feel that now is the time for change in this area, so his is the first of our interviews this week.

We've had a lot of football fans down here lately.  Last week, it was the folks from University of Georgia and University of Hawaii, whose teams played in the Sugar Bowl.  It's New Orleans' turn for the BCS Championship this year, so this weekend, visitors who support Ohio State have been overwhelmed by locals and visitors alike who support the hometown heroes, the Tigers of Louisiana State University.  For the visitors staying in downtown or French Quarter hotels, there's not much evidence that anything as cataclysmic as the storm happened here.  Those who walk up Canal St. to Claiborne Ave. will see the old green Texaco building, with all its blown-out windows, or maybe they'll look back a block and see the empty housing project that's slated for demolition.  For most of the folks cruising the Quarter, the only Hurricane they'll encounter is in a big green cup from Pat O'Brien's.

This is the side of the Janus we show to the public.

I’ve been noticing an odd pattern here at DKos in regards to community members posing as US History professors with extensive knowledge of FDR – and ultimately engaging in historical revisionism.

FDR built consensus to pass the New Deal.  FDR did not demonize corporations.  FDR built a bi-partisan consensus for change.

Horse-hockey.

Clearly everyone knows these arguments have often been used in response to arguments about Senator’s Edwards and Obama’s differences in style/rhetoric when working for "change."

But clearly we all could use a refresher in FDR history.

For too long, the debates and reporters/pundits' questions on the news shows havesimply ignored the pressing realities of Global Warmingand Peak Oil and other energy/environmental issues. (Thus, What are they waiting for?) Amid all the problems of yesterday's Republican and Democratic debates, one must give Charlie Gibson for at least raising the issue with both the Republicans and Democratic candidates.

And, when it comes to the responses, it looks like the Democratic Party candidates are now in the position of trying to outbid each other for more aggressive responses to the challenges and the Republican candidates are mainly engaged in a process of proving whose head is further buried in the sand.

NOTE: Please see Energizing America: The E2 Solution Path -- The energy speech for the next President ....

You probably think this is huge, and you may wonder why you haven´t you heard about this.

This non binding Resolution was passed by the Mexican Congress asking President Calderon to re-negotiate a revised NAFTA. As of January 1st Mexico removed all of it´s tariffs from agricultural staples like corn, beans, and sugar cane. This means that millions of Mexican campesinos working small farms will have to compete with heavily subsidized imports from U.S. farmers. Many of these campesinos are among Mexico´s poorest people. In Mexico 35 million people live on $2.00 a day, and another 35 million people live on less than $7.00 a day.

The removal of these tariffs from agricultural staples threatens the livelihood of millions of Mexican campesinos.

With all the candidate diaries, anti-candidate diaries, and even anti-anti-candidate diaries, I though a "happy" story might be nice. Like an oasis in a desert of you are wrong and I am right posts.

Well it was easy to find a topic as I read through my RSS feeds this morning. It is about a cute little girl with multiple genetic and learning disabilities and the great power animals seem to have over all of us.

BTW: I also did some research on the topic and you might be surprised (or maybe not) that we're not doing a lot to address these health issues at the Federal level.

Walsch describes the process of searching for enlightenment:

We have not only been searching for Enlightenment, we have been searching as well for a definition of Enlightenment, because we can’t get to that destination until we know where we are going. And so the first step for most human beings has been to try to define what

Enlightenment is, or what it looks like, or feels like, or tastes like, or what it is like to experience that. And then, after we have that clear, after we know what our destination is, then we can try to figure out what would it take to get from where we are to where we want to be.

The Times Magazine has published an extensive article on problems with electronic voting. It's a net gain for the effort to restore verifiable public elections, and it's about time the issue got extensive treatment in big media.

Good as most of the Times piece is, it pushes a meme that needs to be smacked down immediately.

Lost in the excitement of the Iowa caucuses was another callous decision by the Bush administration to shred the healthcare safety net. The administration issued a guideline that prohibited individual states from expanding eligibility for Medicaid.  After the administration attacked the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) program to cover uninsured children in lower income households, states began to expand eligibility for Medicaid to deal with large numbers of uninsured children.  Now, the Bush administration has cut off their ability to do that. Societies that torture, wage war against defenseless countries, and refuse to care for their most vulnerable citizens are ones in advanced stages of decline.

Yes. You can cast your vote for a candidate in New Hampshire on Tuesday, even if you aren't registered to vote in the Granite State.

Mt. Washington Observatory is holding a Primary to see who will be it's new mascot, after Nin, weather cat extraordinaire retired in December.

In true New Hampshire fashion, we will rely on the voice of the people to decide who will rule Mount Washington.

The Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA)  is making hay with its decision to green the annual electronics show in Las Vegas.  With 140,000 attendees, the show's direct impact is at least 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions ... without counting the CO2 from 140,000 travelers.  Nor, the shipping of the show materials and other supplies for displays.   Yes, a very serious challenge.  According to a Washington Post article, CEA's chief executive, Gary Shapiro said

"It's pretty ambitious, considering we're larger than the Super Bowl and all the political conventions."

Now, based on the costs from the CarbonFund, assuming that there is no discount for mass scale, for $110,000 CEA will be able to make the show carbon neutral.

Guiltfree Las Vegas partying for a paltry price.

Really, is this greening or Greenwashing?

There are three reasons usually given for why the Democratic nominee should have a truly universal health care plan.  1) morality; "It is the right thing to do"), 2) Feasibility; It makes sure that everyone pays into the health care plan even when they’re not sick, and therefore prohibits some form of free riding, and 3) Economic; The plan will hopefully make our system more "efficient" by driving down administrative costs and pooling resources, and therefore ease the burden on businesses and consumers.  

All of these reasons are good ones.  Yet there is another that is rarely brought up.  Politics.