No, we don't give passes on things like this. nm

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• Is anyone really surprised - Patterson

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AUGUSTA – Gov. John E. Baldacci today signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom.

“I have followed closely the debate on this issue. I have listened to both sides, as they have presented their arguments during the public hearing and on the floor of the Maine Senate and the House of Representatives. I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully,”  Baldacci said in a release. “I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste.”

“I appreciate the tone brought to this debate by both sides of the issue,” Baldacci said. “This is an emotional issue that touches deeply many of our most important ideals and traditions. There are good, earnest and honest people on both sides of the question.”

“In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,” Baldacci said. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”

“Article I in the Maine Constitution states that ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of that person’s civil rights or be discriminated against.’”

“This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of Church and State,” Baldacci said.

“It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government.”

but she should move the ethics investigation to Harry Reid next:

REID'S LAST KNOWN NATIONAL MEDIA APPEARANCE: October 18^th Trying To Explain His Ethical Issues. Sen. Reid: I bought a piece of land, sold it six years later. Everything was reported. It was all transparent. (CNN's Newsroom, 10/18/06)

[H]arry Reid Has Been Using Campaign Donations Instead Of His Personal Money To Pay Christmas Bonuses For The Support Staff At The Ritz-Carlton ... Federal Election Law Bars Candidates From Converting Political Donations For Personal Use. (John Solomon, Reid Used Campaign Money For Christmas Bonuses At Personal Condo, The Associated Press, 10/16/06)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 — The Senate gave final approval on Thursday to a health insurance bill for 10 million children, clearing the measure for President Bush, who said he would veto it.

The 67-29 vote followed a series of speeches by Republican senators supporting the bill and urging Mr. Bush to reconsider his veto threat.

Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, one of 18 Republicans who voted for the bill, said the White House had shown “little if any willingness to come to the negotiating table.”

Republican opponents of the bill, like Senators Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and John Cornyn of Texas, said it would be a big step toward socialized medicine, would shift people from private insurance to a public program and would allow coverage for illegal immigrants and children in high-income families.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said it was “intellectually dishonest” to make such “outlandish accusations.”

Mr. Bush has said the bill would move toward “government-run health care for every American.”

Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said those fears were unfounded.

“What will move our country toward socialized medicine is not this bill, which focuses on poor children, but the lack of action to allow people in need to have access to private affordable health care,” Mr. Corker said.

The bill would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover nearly four million uninsured children, in addition to the 6.6 million already enrolled. It would provide $60 billion over the next five years, $35 billion more than the current spending and $30 billion more than the president proposed.

Mr. Bush has not shown a willingness to compromise. But he may come under pressure so from Republican lawmakers who do not like being portrayed as hostile to children’s interests.

Democrats have selected Graeme Frost, 12, of Baltimore, to deliver their Saturday radio address. He will appeal to the president to sign the bill.

On Monday, the Service Employees International Union will rally outside the White House, and children will deliver petitions urging approval of the bill.

The child health program was born in 1997 from collaboration between Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.

On Thursday, Mr. Hatch said that “it pains me” that Mr. Bush has not worked with Congress to renew the program. Some people in the administration “have been slow to recognize the realities of the new Congress,” where Democrats have a majority, Mr. Hatch said.

The bill has support from AARP, the big lobby for older Americans; the American Medical Association; America’s Health Insurance Plans, the lobby for insurers; and governors from both parties.

In the House, the bill was approved on Tuesday, 265 to 159, with support from 45 Republicans. The House Republican whip, Roy Blunt of Missouri, said he was confident that the veto would be upheld. A two-thirds majority in both chambers would be needed to override the veto.

The bill would increase tobacco taxes, with the levy on cigarettes increasing to $1 a pack from the current 39 cents. It would require states to cover dental services for children and would increase coverage of mental health services in many states.

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said: “Our Democratic colleagues have taken Schip hostage, and what they want in exchange is Republican support for government-run health care., courtesy of Washington .”

Immediate Release

The Interfaith Alliance

September 22, 2005

Contact: Jon Niven or Don Parker 202.639.6370

House Passes Bill Allowing Government-Funded Religious Discrimination

Washington, September 22 – Today, The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment and a bill to allow government-funded religious discrimination

The School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123), a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Head Start program, was passed 48-0 in committee. However, during floor debate Thursday, Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-LA) added an amendment allowing Head Start providers to exercise religious discrimination in choosing teachers and volunteers. As a result, the final vote on the bill (231-184) was stripped of the unanimous, bipartisan support displayed in committee.

The Interfaith Alliance is very disappointed in the members of Congress who insist on reacting to one crisis by beginning another one, said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of The Interfaith Alliance. The Boustany amendment is a prime example of political opportunists taking advantage of a national tragedy to institute policies that are unconstitutional and have been previously rejected by the Congress.

The Interfaith Alliance was joined by more than 50 organizations in opposition to the bill's passage if it contained the Boustany amendment. The National Head Start Association, which represents more than 2.5 million children and families, program staff and volunteers that comprise the Head Start and Early Head Start community, came out against the entire bill if the Boustany Amendment was attached saying:

In spite of its positive provisions, if HR 2123 contains a religious discrimination amendment, we must reluctantly oppose the bill.

This amendment will subsidize religious discrimination with tax dollars, turning back civil rights protections that currently apply to nearly 200,000 Head Start teachers and over 1.4 million parent volunteers.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the levees protecting religious liberty are being breached, and the wall between church and state is cracking, Gaddy said. If those in Congress who seek to repeal religious liberty safeguards are successful, thousands of children, teachers and parent volunteers who have dedicated themselves to this program could find themselves no longer welcome at religiously-affiliated Head Start programs because they are of a different faith than the sponsoring organization.

The Senate passed a similar bill, but without the Boustany amendment, so the House version will now go to a House-Senate conference committee. Members of The Interfaith Alliance will urge Senators to strip the bill of the Boustany amendment in conference.

Initiated in 1965 in the wake of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, Head Start has been widely recognized as one of the most successful government programs ever created. It has provided early childhood education and development programs that have helped millions of low-income families overcome inequities for more than forty years.

Bush should be grateful for this (even though he will probably ignore it, as usual), as the day may come when HE faces charges as a war criminal, and he would demand and be entitled to the same due process under the law.

Senate Armed Services Committee defies Bush; Passes its own terrorism tribunal bill

09/14/2006 @ 3:41 pm

Filed by RAW STORY

The Senate Armed Services Committee defied President Bush today by passing its own terrorism tribunal bill to protect the rights of terror detainees.

Four of the 13 Republicans on the panel joined the 11 Democrats to pass their version of the measure, rejecting Bush's proposal to bar defendants from seeing classified evidence prosecutors may want to use in court, reports Bloomberg News.

The four Republicans acted against the White House today only a few hours after the president paid a rare visit to Capitol Hill in order to personally lobby House members to support his plan.

President Bush visited Capitol Hill Thursday where he conferred behind closed doors with House Republicans on legislation to give the government more power to spy on, imprison and interrogate terrorism suspects, reported the Associated Press earlier today.

Bush told reporters later at the White House that he would resist any bill that does not enable this program to go forward with legal clarity.

The bill passed by the Senate panel had been drafted by Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey O. Graham, and Chairman John Warner. Senator Susan M. Collins was the fourth Republican to vote for the bill.

Voting 15-9, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved the bill they said would provide suspects more legal rights than Bush wanted and resisted his attempt to more narrowly define the Geneva Conventions' standards for humane treatment of prisoners, reports Reuters.

Earlier today, former Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote a letter to Republican Senator John McCain (video link), supporting his opposition to the president's plan which would redefine the legal definitions in Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism, Powell wrote McCain. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.

REPUBLICANS

John Warner (Virginia) Chairman

John McCain (Arizona) James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma) Pat Roberts (Kansas) Jeff Sessions (Alabama) Susan M. Collins (Maine) John Ensign (Nevada) James M. Talent (Missouri) Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina) Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina) John Cornyn (Texas) John Thune (South Dakota)

DEMOCRATS

Carl Levin (Michigan) Ranking Member

Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts) Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia) Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut) Jack Reed (Rhode Island) Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii) Bill Nelson (Florida) E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska) Mark Dayton (Minnesota) Evan Bayh (Indiana) Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)

1:  His approval rating as I write this has now decreased to 29%.  (However, by the time you read this, it may be even lower yet.  He is most definitely *a work in progress,* and the number of Americans who are waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee is increasing at a rapid rate.

2.  The fact that the government has been tracking phone calls of hundreds of millions of Americans may be nothing more than a political *parking ticket* compared to what we might discover next week.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/5/12/19380/1332

NSA Whistleblower: There's More, People Are Going To Be Shocked

by georgia10

Fri May 12, 2006 at 04:38:00 PM PDT

From the subscription-only Congress Daily, Chris Strohm reports that NSA whistleblower Russell Tice will make some on bombshell revelations on Capitol Hill next week:

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens. Russell Tice, who worked on what are known as special access programs, has wanted to meet in a closed session with members of Congress and their staff since President Bush announced in December that he had secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a court order.  In an interview late Thursday, Tice said the Senate Armed Services Committee finally asked him to meet next week in a secure facility on Capitol Hill.

Tice was fired from the NSA last May. He said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden, who has been nominated to become director of the CIA. Tice said one of his co-workers personally informed Hayden that illegal and unconstitutional activity was occurring. [...] I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe, Tice said. I hope that they¹ll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn't exist right now. [...]

Tice said his information is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program that Bush  acknowledged in December and from news accounts this week that the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans. It's an angle that you haven't heard about yet, he said.

1. My eyes watching Scooter's conviction..  2.  Valerie Plame, the person who knows her situation best.  3. Patrick Fitzgerald.  Now there's a guy with a high IQ that was not manufactured by professional fact fixers.

Can someone explain what those things are outside the RNC.  I understand wanting to protest and you hold a sign up showing your viewpoint and maybe you yell out something you believe in, but I can't understant what those things are that are wearing masks, being dragged away, having to be hosed down by the police.

What a nonsense and insane world they must live in.  I'm all for freedom speech, but this is beyond my understanding. 

Also - don't they have jobs?  Do their employers allow them to take time off work to go do this and get arrested?  I want that job.  HA HA

You do not have the right to call someone ignorant just because they interpret those quotes as racist.  If you don't think they are racist, fine.....after all we are all entitled to our own opinions.  If you can't handle people having a different opinion than your own, don't bother reading or posting on the board.  Calling people names does not prove your point. 

Obviously there are other people on the board other than the original poster who feel those quotes were racist.  I have always thought Obama and his wife were racist and these quotes are just more proof of that.

posting for discussion.  they are recycling the old attacks about flag pins and trying to provoke silly discussions to distract from the precipitous plunge of the McClain campaign in the face of the wall street debacle.

turned around and said about Obama.  The lack of his experience.  He has never run anything.  He has consistetly voted present instead of making an executive decision of yes or no.  He has only been in the senate for 4 years and has spent more money on pork and earmarks in those 4 years than McCain has his whole political career.  Palin got rid of the personal jet the prior governor had.  She has made her state a success and she has given money back to her constituents.  She has the highest approval rating as governor.  You care about the money the RNC spent of Palin's clothes which will be given to charity and you don't comment about the millions and millions of dollars that Obama has spent during his campaign....not to mention the 2 million dollar shindig they are planning in Chicago during election...who is paying for that?  you bring up troopergate with Palin and yet you refuse to see Obama on committees with terrorists who gave money to radical groups.  All the money that Obama raised for educational purposes didn't improve the schools in his district at all.  The housing that was in his area for community organizer....especially the ones owned by Rezko were so bad that people had no heat during the Chicago winters.  The same Rezko who he had sketchy dealings with in order to buy his mansion for way less than what it is worth.  Obama the same man who attended church for 20 years where  the preacher did nothing but preach about how America sucks because it was run by whitey and blacks should take over.  Not to forget his cousin in Kenya who Obama campaigned for and gave money to and when his cousin lost the election....his followers rioted and killed innocent people.  Obama campaigned for him when he visited kenya.  What has Obama run successfully?  The housing in his district were not up to snuff.  The school he pledged to help with the committee he was on did not improve.  Are you not seeing a pattern here.

So go spout your BS somewhere else because this person, who has done her research, isn't listening.  Obama has many more sketchy things in his life than Palin and he has just as little experience.....and he is running for president....NOT VP. 

To me there are 2 glaring problems with this (besides the fact that she can't care for that many children)

1.  She is supposed to be on workers comp for her back, but she can carry a pregnancy of octuplets?  I would think workers comp would be investigating that.  It's one thing to have a bad back and accidentally get pregnant, but this was intentional.

2.  I think she's a certifiable nut, but isn't she majoring in psychology? 

factor into the car industry crisis.  First off, unions, in my opinion, are the bane of the car industry.  States that force unionization show a lower number of production, lower number of job growth, etc.  The states that do not force unions have a higher rating in production and job growth.  When the economy was booming, the unions didn't help but they weren't running business into the ground.  Now that the economy sucks....the unions are sucking the life out of the car industry. 

Next we have Americans buying foreign cars.  Not only does that send money to other countries but it is hurting American auto makers, etc.

Then you have the legacy costs that, just like the unions, were okay during a good economy but are now sucking the life out of the car industry.  To allow people to retire at 50 and then receive that kind of pension is insane.  They shouldn't be letting people retire that early....unless their health doesn't allow them to work.

Then you have the CEOs making huge amounts of money and other higher ups who are making millions to do absolutely nothing.

Now our economy stinks and people can't afford to buy cars and the ones who can are too afraid because the car industry is struggling as well as they are also scared of their own finances if this gets worse. 

All in all....we have succesfully killed the car industry.  Dealerships are closing doors like crazy.  Dealerships go a whole day with no traffic on the lot.  People are losing jobs left and right.  Factories are closing.  People are forced to take a week off each month, etc.  It is truly scary and we have greed to thank for this whole thing.  Greed in government.....greed in the unions.......and greed in CEOs, etc.

that will have to change and happen before I give much praise to the current administration.  As for Nasdaq going up....that is great but we will all have to wait and see if it stays up.

No matter what rhetoric you preach or how much kool-aid you drink, the fact of the matter is common sense.....you can't spend and borrow your way out of debt.  The current administration is making a huge mistake spending all of this money

Obama says he wants better education and yet he does away with vouchers and the teachers union does nothing but keep bad teachers employed.  You cannot let the teachers union control things and make education better at the same time....it just won't happen.  If we held teachers accountable and fired them for poor performance, the teacher's union would scream and shout. 

He wants national healthcare.  Who wants the government to decide how long people live and whether or not they should receive treatment or not?  Who wants government to tell you what procedures you can have done and when you can have them no matter how urgent your need is? 

He wants bigger government.  I don't want everything controlled by government.  That gives them too much power and they obviously are too greedy to handle such empowerment wisely for the sake of the American people. 

So what if the market is up.....whooptee do.  There are still so many things that Obama wants to do that I cannot agree with.  There are still too many crooked things going on in Washington with Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Tim Geithner, Pelosi, etc. 

For once I want a president and politicians to actually do things that are best for the American people.  Not what is best for the executives who gave them money for their campaign but the American people who work hard everyday and are struggling right now.  I'm tired of having a president in office who is being pulled by puppet strings. 

1.  I believe she meant that Glenn Beck had a heart for the soldiers.   Which he does. 

2.  There are a whole lot of us in the deep end with her.  And we like it here.   

1.  I understand your insecurity about having a president who can't think for himself as we've just been through 8 years of that.  However, this one actually has a mind of his own.  Imagine that.  Now that's what really scares you.  He thinks for himself and isn't swayed by the ridiculous temper tantrums of the party of NO.

2.  You are correct in saying that other countries didn't know what Bush would do next, he!!, WE didn't know what Bush would do next.  Kind of like the way we look at North Korea and Iran  --- we call them rogue nations, but when we do it, it's supposed to be the right thing to do?  Get real.

3.  Yes, I laugh at what you guys try to pass off as facts because the rationale for most of the statements on this board (which are usually just repeats from Fixed Noise) are absolutely comical.  Heads up...here comes Beck with a gas can!  I wonder how long it will take before they put him in a padded cell?

War Crimes Even Helen Keller Could See
By Mickey Z.

In a textbook example of whitewashing, if today's America knows Helen Keller (1880-1968) at all, it's the easy-to-digest image portrayed in the 1962 film, 'The Miracle Worker.' Brave deaf and blind girl 'overcomes' all obstacles to inspire everyone she meets. 'The Helen Keller with whom most people are familiar is a stereotypical sexless paragon who was able to overcome deaf-blindness and work tirelessly to promote charities and organizations associated with other blind and deaf-blind individuals,' writes Sally Rosenthal in Ragged Edge.

But, in 1909, Helen Keller became a socialist. Soon after, she emerged as a vocal supporter of the working class and traveled the nation to voice her opposition to war. 'How can our rulers claim they are fighting to make the world safe for democracy,' she asked, 'while here in the U.S. Negroes may be massacred and their property burned?' Of course, as a woman with disabilities, she was patronized by the same mainstream media that previously championed her as a heroine. The editors of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote: 'Her mistakes spring out of the manifest limitations of her development.'

Keller minced no words in her responses...one of which appeared in newspapers across America: 'So long as I confine my activities to social services and the blind, the newspapers compliment me extravagantly, calling me an 'arch-priest of the sightless' and 'wonder woman'. But when I discuss poverty and the industrial system under which we live that is a different matter.'

As the militaristic frenzy spread across America, Keller appeared at New York City's Carnegie Hall on January 5, 1916. 'I have a word to say to my good friends, the editors, and others who are moved to pity me,' she said. 'Some people are grieved because they imagine I am in the hands of unscrupulous persons who lead me astray and persuade me to espouse unpopular causes and make me the mouthpiece of their propaganda. Now, let it be understood once and for all that I do not want their pity; I would not change places with one of them. I know what I am talking about. My sources of information are as good and reliable as anybody else's. I have papers and magazines from England, France, Germany and Austria that I can read myself. Not all the editors I have met can do that. Quite a number of them have to take their French and German second hand. No, I will not disparage the editors. They are an overworked, misunderstood class. Let them remember, though, that if I cannot see the fire at the end of their cigarettes, neither can they thread a needle in the dark. All I ask, gentlemen, is a fair field and no favor. I have entered the fight against preparedness and against the economic system under which we live. It is to be a fight to the finish, and I ask no quarter.'

Keller's critique of the government propaganda campaign to stir up Americans to support U.S. intervention in the war remains more germane than ever. 'Every modern war has had its root in exploitation' Keller said. 'The Civil War was fought to decide whether the slaveholders of the South or the capitalists of the North should exploit the West. The Spanish-American War decided that the United States should exploit Cuba and the Philippines. The South African War decided that the British should exploit the diamond mines. The Russo-Japanese War decided that Japan should exploit Korea. The present war is to decide who shall exploit the Balkans, Turkey, Persia, Egypt, India, China, Africa. And we are whetting our sword to scare the victors into sharing the spoils with us. Now, the workers are not interested in the spoils; they will not get any of them anyway.'

She urged workers-the ones who do the fighting and dying-to strike at the heart of America's drive toward war. 'Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought,' she declared. 'Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings. Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.'

Excerpted from the soon-to-be-released '50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism.' 

Not me.  My theory is that gt is a person who doesn't have any power over anyone and comes to this board to be some kind of faux dictator.  It's really pretty sad and she's almost single-handedly shut down any meaningful conversations with her hateful pukings.

I'm not scared by gt one bit.  I've figured her out.  She's really a very pitiful hate filled person who wouldn't have been allowed to stay on the board in the old format.

If Congressional elections were held today, would you vote for a Democratic or Republican candidate?   * 51129 responses
	Democrat 81%
	Republican 15%
	Not sure 4%

First, that Scarborough can criticize Bush, as well as compliment him.  He can do both, unlike you.  If he sees something wrong, he has the courage to say it; however, he is still a conservative and he still supports Bush.  As I said before, he just doesn't *blindly* support him, and he has the ability to be objective.

The second thing it proves is the CON method of doing things is to silence and disparage those who have the audacity to exert their (so far) constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech.

Scarborough is a respectable man.  He loves America and he respects the Constitution.  Unlike your *God Bush,* who thinks the Constitution is only a *piece of paper.*  The fact that you so aggressively defend someone so obviously devoid of morals and ethics tells me way more than I want to know about you.  People like you give me the heebie-jeebies, and I'd just rather associate myself with your kind of people, so I won't be responding to you any more. 

You really do belong on the CON board, you know.  Your nastiness and constant harassment of people on this board is getting old, is incredibly distasteful and just might wind up being brought to the moderator's attention if it continues.