Yesterday, the Senate voted almost unanimously to throw out the Federal Communication Commission's new and flawed rule that would allow for more media consolidation. The 30-year-ban prohibited a single company from owning both the local newspaper and a television station. This rule protected diverse community voices. Despite overwhelming public opposition, the FCC voted to approve this giveaway to the media industry.
The resolution which passed the United States Senate sends a clear signal to the FCC. The resolution is now squarely in front of the House of Representatives. A strong signal from both Houses of Congress will make the FCC pause and reflect and perhaps reverse this bad decisioin. How will Bob Goodlatte vote? Needless to say, he needs guidance from his constituents. Visit Common Cause to learn more about the threat of media consolidation to our democracy and what you can do to help preserve a wide open and robust discussion of issues in the main stream media.
Riley "TippingPoint" Murray has a nice breakdown of the local blogosphere at Star City Harbinger. included is this nugget of information:
Chris Graham at Augusta Free Press does a little self-assessment on his loss in the recent Waynesboro City Council elections and then reports on his own "unopposed" run for Democratic Committee Chair in Waynesboro. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Chris at future 6th District events.
I always did like Chris......
A good time to say "Thanks for everything" to Marlana. She'll be missed.
This from the Sam Rasoul campaign:
Sam is busy this week going across the 6th district spreading his positive message. We hope you can join him at one of the many events the campaign is participating in. Your energy is a vital part of Sam's campaign to change congress!
I have no idea whom Obama will consider. Nor do I know for certain that Webb would consider an offer if made, although I believe that he might well.
And before I start, I will disclose that (a) I was on the edge of the group that persuaded him to run for the Senate (although I played little part in the actual persuasion; (b) before the primary I had a conversation with a key advisor that if Jim were to win the Senate seat he would be on people's VP list; (c) Some of what I am going to write here I have actually discussed with the Senator, and he did not cut me off; (d) I am not personally close with the Senator - there are things with which I disagree, but overall I consider him to have as much integrity and intelligence as any elected official I have ever known, and that combination by itself would be sufficient for me to strongly advocate his being considered for VP.
So if you care what I think, please keep reading below the fold. If you don't, if you have mentally rejected Jim Webb because (a) he was once a Republican, or (b) he voted the wrong way on some particular issue (FISA, Immigration, etc), or you think because of a headline on an article written decades ago he is a sexist, then I URGE you to keep reading because you really do not understand the man.
No surprise that this story has flown beneath MSM's radar. They are giving Johnny Mac a pass on his ties to sleazy lobbyists and crazy preachers.
Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport, two McCain campaign insiders, resigned after it was revealed their lobbying firm, DCI Group, represented Myanmar's junta in 2002. They were paid $348K.
Goodyear was never supposed to be the convention chair. He got the (temp, it turns out) job when it was disclosed that McCain's favorite, Paul Manafort, had lobbying ties to unsavory foreigners, like a Philippine dictator.
DCI has close ties to Exxon-Mobil and has worked for various cities and colleges seeking the very earmarks McCain "says" he'll eliminate.
Johnny Mac and his powerful lobbyist friends - think they are looking out for you?
For the third time in as many months, Democrats have picked up a House seat while kicking the GOP in their red gut. Mississippi District 1 is/was one of the reddest districts in the nation, giving Bush 62% of the vote in 2004. The special election was necessary when Rep. Roger Wicker was appointed to fill the Senate seat of Trent Lott. Wicker hadn't faced a serious challenge since he was elected in 1994. Part of the reason he was appointed to the Senate was the district was seen as a safe bet to return a Republican.
The GOP big dogs came howling through the district last week - on top of the NRCC spending $1.27 million (20% of their cash), they sent in the president, the VP, and Johnny Mac. Mrs. Bush made robo-calls.
In the end, Democrat Travis Childers, thumped Republican Greg Davis, 54 to 46 percent. Childers framed the race around local issues.
The Mississippi loss comes on top of GOP losses in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana. They sought to nationalize the campaigns (how dumb is that?) and spent more than $3 million. What have they learned: the GOP brand of Bush/Cheney/McBush is an Edsel.
The recent string of victories shows strong and hard working Democrats can win even in the reddest of districts.
Although Jim Webb has said he is "not particularly interested" in being Barack Obama's running mate, that's not stopping Roanoke County Clerk of Court Steve McGraw.
SCH: What prompted you to publicly support the idea that Jim Webb should be Senator Obama's first choice as a vice-presidential running mate?
McGRAW: This is not a new idea, and it has been discussed at great length on blogs and in the main stream news media for months, but I have given it much recent thought, so I posted this response today on the Raising Kaine blog:
I'm coming around to agreeing that Jim Webb should seriously consider the vice-presidential spot on an Obama ticket. I have no doubt that he is the best possible candidate to balance it out just as you have described, but my hesitancy to support such an idea has been grounded in the fear of losing Webb in the U. S. Senate. However, Democrats not winning the White House in November would be a much greater loss for the entire nation, and if Jim Webb would make the difference, then he should run for vice-president. I'm also in agreement that there are a number of excellent candidates who could take his place - and be re-elected - to the U. S. Senate from Virginia. As a recent Obama supporter, I've been increasingly impressed with him and have do doubt that he could be a great President . . . the Obama-Webb combination may just be the unbeatable ticket in November.
At a great blog called "That's My Congress", there is a story about Georgia Republican Paul Broun and his 'Sanctity of Human Life Act' (HR-4157) that is right on the money. Let's find out about the bill itself, shall we?
H.R. 4157, which Representative Broun refers to as the Sanctity of Human Life Act, might more accurately be entitled the Zygote Political Enfranchisement Act or the Anti-Fertility Act. The legislation has been written by Congressman Broun in order to define a human egg created in the United States from the moment of fertilization, through its development into a fetus ready to be born, as a complete person with full legal rights and constitutional protections equal to that of any other American citizen.
Under Broun's proposed law, this award of full legal protections to all fertilized eggs, even one created just one minute ago, would be given regardless of the ability of the fertilized egg to implant in a womb and grow to become a baby. H.R. 4157 states this very directly:
"the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood."
A fertilized egg must be given all the legal protections of a person, irrespective of health, function or disability? That means that even if a fertilized egg or blastula (a tiny hollow ball of human cells post-fertilization) is somehow determined to have a terrible genetic disease, it would nonetheless have to be given full medical treatment in order to make sure that it survived to be born. If that treatment was not given, its parents could be criminally charged with child abuse or neglect.
Terry McAuliffe, the Hillary Clinton advisor and cheerleader, (and unfortunately a VA superdelegate) has giggled silly once too often. What is he smokin'? Sunday, he was the enthusiastic fool on Meet the Press. Tonight on MSNBC, McAuliffe said that after the West Virginia primary, Hillary Clinton would deliver one of the greatest speeches of all time. Whew. Wow. Holy horse sh*t.
Keith Olberman had a great time punching McAuliffe's idiocy into outer orbit.
Will Hillary top the Gettysburg Address? Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream? FDR's First Inaugural? JFK's Inaugural? LBJ's Voting Rights Address? Or, Richard Nixon's Checkers. Can she top any of the great speeches found here or here or a number of other places will trump Hillary Clinton's speech tonight . . . unless . . . unless she endorses Barack Obama.
REARDAN, Washington (AP) -- Small service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon in the United States: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.
For many station owners -- who, because of a relatively small profit margin on gas, aren't raking in money even though gas prices are marching higher -- replacing the pumps altogether with electronic ones is just not an option.
"The new ones run between $10,000 and $15,000 apiece," Colville said. "It's an expense that's not worth it."
2008 Chevrolet Aveo5 SVM Invoice MSRP
$9,672 $10,235
You can get a new car cheaper than a new gas pump.
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