On Tuesday night, Republicans in the Senate had to pick a side: They were either with the American people or with President Bush.

They chose Bush. They blocked a key vote to end the war. And we're going to make them pay for that choice.

As senators go home for August break, our partners at Americans Against Escalation in Iraq have put together the biggest campaign since the beginning of the war. It's called Iraq Summer, and it's going to present the Republicans with another choice: End the war, or face political extinction.

Iraq Summer hit the ground a few weeks ago. 90 organizers—including Iraq vets and military families—are busy building strong networks on the ground, organizing events and putting up hard-hitting advertising.

It's really important to keep this organizing going all the way through August. So we're aiming to raise $250,000 for AAEI and MoveOn's Iraq Summer campaign by the end of this week. Can you chip in $25 to turn up the heat on pro-war politicians—and make sure they pay in their home states for voting to keep the war going?

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/iraqsummer.html

If we want to end the war, we need to make it politically impossible for Republicans to stay the course.

And that's exactly what Iraq Summer is doing. Iraq Summer organizers are showing up at town hall meetings and asking tough questions, holding rallies, and training local volunteers on working with the media.

    * In Maine the Iraq Summer team kicked off its efforts with a rally in the beginning of July. Since then, Iraq Summer and MoveOn members have kept up constant pressure—pushing Senator Snowe over the edge.1 She recently signed on as a co-sponsor of the Levin-Reed Amendment to bring most of our troops home by April.
    * In Kentucky they staged a protest outside of a speech given by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a few weeks ago and made the local news—proving that voters in Kentucky want our troops home.2 Soon after, they launched a major ad campaign in Kentucky against him. 3 His approval ratings continue to plummet.
    * Last week in New Hampshire, Iraq Summer organized a letter delivery to Senator Sununu's office and added to the pressure he's been feeling on the war. They made the local news last week and then were at it again this week, helping out with our citizen counter-filibuster.4

And the field directors are a truly dedicated and impressive bunch.

    * Susan D. is a field director in Iowa. She's the mother of an Iraq war veteran and speaks passionately about the toll that this war is taking on families across the country.
    * Jackie R. is a field director in New Mexico. She's dedicating all her energy to ending the war. Jackie comes from a conservative Cuban family and will be working in Latino communities to put real pressure on Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici to make sure they do more than complain about the war—they vote to end it.
    * Joshua L. is an Iraq veteran and he's leading our work in Illinois. He's concentrating on making sure Representatives LaHood, Johnson and Kirk start voting with their constituents to end the war. He's already been making waves at town hall meetings.5

Can you chip in $25 to help MoveOn and Iraq Summer run the biggest campaign in history to end the war?

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/iraqsummer.html

Thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Tom, Eli, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Lori Gay cannot join a union: "I am in charge of the pencil," she laments.  Lori is a registered nurse at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, where she estimates she spends about 10 minutes a day filling out an assignment sheet for the next shift of nurses.  But that's enough for her employer to say that she is a "supervisor," which makes her ineligible to join a union.

Lori is not alone.  She is one of potentially millions of workers whose right to join a union was stripped away last year in a court decision granting companies leeway to reclassify workers with even minimal supervisory duties as "supervisors."

Thankfully, there's a bill in Congress that will stop this 'supervisor scam.'   Please write to your members of Congress now and ask them to co-sponsor the RESPECT Act:

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/respect_act

Under U.S. labor law, "supervisors" are not allowed to join unions. So reclassifying workers is a quick and easy way for companies to stop union organizing drives.  It's also a cheap trick: this 'title change' does NOT come with a raise or more responsibilities.

With this policy, the Bush-appointed majority of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has robbed workers in nearly every industry of their right to form or join a union.  Nurses, quality control inspectors, and retail employees are just some of the potentially millions affected who need unions to secure better working conditions.

It's disheartening that the very agency that is supposed to protect a worker's basic right to form a union took away those rights.  Only Congress has the power to restore them.

Please write to your members of Congress now!

The RESPECT Act (H.R. 1644 and S. 969) corrects the NLRB's flawed decision by clarifying the meaning of the term "supervisor." Only Congress can close this loophole to protect workers.

Workers like Lori deserve protection under the law and a say in their working conditions.  Please write to your Representative and Senators now and ask them to give workers a little respect and restore their rights!

http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/respect_act

Thanks for all that you do for workers' rights.

Liz Cattaneo
American Rights at Work
www.americanrightsatwork.org

Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona’s testimony has once again highlighted the extent to which the Bush administration suppresses and manipulates science to fit their narrow ideological view. Whether it’s stem cell research, global warming, the Plan B contraceptive, or abstinence-only education, they consistently put appeasing their extremist, fringe base over the interests of the country at large. CNN’s Christine Romans details the many battles in Bush’s War on Science.

TONY SNOW: But nobody, as far as I could tell, was, “muzzling” him. But on the other hand, there is certainly nothing scandalous about saying to somebody who was a presidential appointee, you should advocate the President’s policies.

Download 1

Download 2

BOXER: Yeah. I mean, you left out a bunch of things — spying on citizens without a warrant, going around FISA, on and on. Look, I have always said it should be on the table. Ed, I’ve always said it. I was on a book tour and I ran into John Dean of Watergate fame. He was on the book tour that I was on, for his book. And it was right after we discovered that the administration was spying on our people without a warrant. And he just said, he looked at me and basically just said, as far as he could see, unless there was some explanation for this, this was impeachable.

I’ve always said that you need to keep it on the table, and you need to look at these things, because now people are dying because of this administration. That’s the truth. And they won’t change course. They are ignoring the Congress. They keep signing these signing statements which mean that he’s decided not to enforce the law. This is as close as we’ve ever come to a dictatorship. When you have a situation where Congress is stepped on, that means the American people are stepped on. So I don’t think you can take anything off the table. Because in fact the Constitution doesn’t permit us to take these things off the table…

Click here for mp3

Click here for transcript

1. "It's more about the sizzle than the steak."
2. "Eating here could make you sick."
3. "Our markups are ridiculous."
4. "Big Brother is watching you . . . eat."
5. "There's something fishy about our seafood."
6. "Reservation? What reservation?"
7. "Our specials are anything but."
8. "There's no such thing as too much butter."
9. "Nice tip -- too bad your waiter won't get it."
10. "Never go out to eat on a Monday."

 

What does all that mean? Click here to read more.

Today in his press conference, a reporter asked President Bush why he is “so resistant” to a “change of course in Iraq,” even though that’s what the American public is “clamoring for.” Bush dismissed the reporter’s question, stating that he isn’t surprised “that there is deep concern amongst our people,” but ascribed it to “war fatigue.” “It’s affecting our psychology. I’ve said this before. I understand that.”

Click here to watch

Yes, George, we know your psychology has been affected!

What exactly does the "Executive Office of the President" do with several billions of dollars a year? It jumped from 386 million up to 3.3+ BILLION from 2003 to 2004, then up to nearly 7.7 BILLION in 2005. It then drops, but really. BILLIONS??

You'll need to use the scroll bar below the picture to scroll to the right.

From AP

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Thursday acknowledged publicly for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has "run its course."

"And now we're going to move on," Bush said in a White House news conference.

The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, had been convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA-leak case.

Bush would not directly address answer a question about whether he is disappointed in the White House officials who leaked Plame's name.

"I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person," Bush said. "I've often thought about what would have happened if that person had come forth and said, 'I did it.' Would we have had this endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But, so, it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House. It's run its course and now we're going to move on."

He also defended the decision to commute Libby's sentence. "The Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision," Bush said.

CNN's Gupta Lied- Speaker a Republican insurance shill:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001

Bush Administration Goes After SiCKO:
http://michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9778

Michael Moore Faces U.S. Treasury Probe:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_on_en_mo/film_michael_moore;_ylt=AlWpvuX2xd3J4gT56m0dm_TMWM0F

Filmmaker Michael Moore Under Investigation:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18590557/

Michael Moore accuses US government of harassment:
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Michael_Moore_accuses_US_government_06112007.html

Moore responds:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/print.php?id=10017

Moore accuses CNN of libel:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Moore_accuses_CNN_of_libel_0710.html


*fixed your youtube code
-Eric

SiCKO on Michael Moore's site:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/

SiCKO Trailer:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/trailer/

SiCKO Factual Backup:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/checkup/

CNN Dumped Michael Moore for Paris Hilton:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/25/king-paris-moore/

CNN: Facts check out:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/06/28/sicko.fact.check/index.html#

NPR's review:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11285514&ps=bb2#11291249

Fox News review:
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,273875,00.html

Insurance Companies respond:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/30/BUGOPQOIJT1.DTL

Presidential Candidates taking money from Medical Lobby:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/sickos-for-sale/candidates/

I haven't seen much here about Michael Moore's SiCKO on SacForums yet, so I'll share some links & resources I've found recently. Please add to it if I missed anything. This is an important topic, regardless of how people feel about Moore, so please keep it on topic.

Yea, I'm sure Pelosi is shaking in her Jimmy Choos

Good news, but this is taking so long that we'll be worrying about who to impeach next by the time this goes anywhere.