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The Daily Muck
Senator and presidential contender Chris Dodd's (D-CT) threat to filibuster a bill giving immunity to telecom companies that helped the government surveil Americans prevailed Monday, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to postpone the vote on the measure until after the winter recess. The bill would have freed telecoms like AT&T and Verizon from 40-odd lawsuits pending against them in federal court. (Washington Post)
Mike Huckabee, author of the 1988 book Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence, is facing new scrutiny over allegations that one of his sons was “involved in the hanging of a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp in 1998.” At the time, many people called for an investigation of the incident but the director of Arkansas's state police told Newsweek that then Governor Huckabee's chief of staff and personal lawyer pressured him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor's request. (Newsweek)
During his leadership of Bain Capital, Mitt Romney helped investors utilize shell companies in two offshore tax havens to avoid paying their share of U.S. taxes. While the candidate received no personal tax benefits, his tax scheme, which included opening a company in Bermuda that had no office or staff, helped attract billions more investment dollars and increased his personal profits. (LA Times)
A Pentagon report expected today "will accuse Iran of continuing to funnel weapons and training personnel into Iraq." This assertion will fuel controversy (sub. req.) over the role of Iran in supporting violence and instability in Iraq. The report will also note a decline in violence in Iraq, but "note that Iraq's political environment remains unsettled." (Wall Street Journal)
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is accused of weakening his own ethics panel by revising rules so that “a review panel can only consider matters referred to it by two of the department's top officials.” The move surprised and disappointed critics because it follows a “series of ethics violations at the department, including the conviction of former Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison for lying to senators in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.” (Star Tribune)
Senate Democrats are delicately exploring ways to replace Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee because he may not be physically strong enough for the job. There is “broad discontent” among committee members about Byrd’s management and inability to get important fiscal work completed. (Politico)
A massive new spending bill, all 3,565 pages, is being stuffed full of pork for the holidays. In the Homeland Security section legislators have included 115 new earmarks worth $117 million that are intended to help a few vulnerable Democrats. (The Hill)
In the wake of the scandalous Abramoff golf outing to Scotland, new ethics rules have restricted free travel for members of Congress. However, significant loopholes allow “groups with foreign policy agendas” to jet lawmakers around the globe. Organizations promoting Israel, China and Turkey, all of whom have been “mired in human rights and trade controversies,” were among the biggest trip sponsors this year. (Politico)
Comments (9)
jim wrote on December 18, 2007 10:17 AM:he just didn't hang the dog, he stoned it, slit its stomach and then hung it.
here wrote on December 18, 2007 10:43 AM:Regarding telecom immunity:
The democrats should be advocating treble damages for telecoms who are found to have violated citizens' rights on behalf of the government.
Then, in the spirit of bipartisanship, they can compromise with the administration which wants telecom immunity and agree to not have any language either way in the bill.
It would be so bipartisan Lieberman would co-sponsor it.
The democratic leadership just doesn't seem to have any idea how this works.
Michael Lafferty wrote on December 18, 2007 11:15 AM:Damn, I'll bet that Reverend Huckabee is real proud of that boy: an Eagle Scout and a real southern gentleman!
And, that Newsweek photograph? Nice. Isn't that a booking photo from the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office, shot after the incident with the loaded weapon in his luggage at the Little Rock airport earlier this year?
And the Governor is worried about environmentalists despoiling the cozy little Christian fantasy land he lives in? He is beginning to look, frankly, like more of a 'whack job' that Representative Paul. Where do the Republicans come up with these characters?
danger wrote on December 18, 2007 2:21 PM:Michael -
You think that's funny, he equates environmentalism to pornography in his 1998 book.
Actually, that's so unbelievably twisted that I think he's correct. Can't go wrong being a freeloving hippy!
danger wrote on December 18, 2007 2:26 PM:Nevermind, the site I was referencing about a 1998 book of his was wrong, it's really 1988's Kids who Kill that's mentioned above. Check out the Mother Jones review of the book, it;s
danger wrote on December 18, 2007 2:27 PM:Nevermind, the site I was referencing about a 1998 book of his was wrong, it's really 1988's Kids who Kill that's mentioned above. Check out the Mother Jones review of the book, it's very morbid.
Roberta wrote on December 18, 2007 2:31 PM:I was telling a friend about Reid's backing down on the telecom vote (at least for the moment), which I believe was helped by the support Chris Dodd received through Firedoglake and other blogs--an immediate response impossible in years past. There were hundreds of notes of support or long thought pieces he could read during filibuster that appeared on Firedoglake's blog entry for Dodd within a matter of hours.
She responded, "Do you mean the Internet might bring back our democracy?" That's a wonderful, succinct way to look at what many of us are doing and what more of us can do.
The subject in every item in today's Daily Muck can be affected through our participation. MSM not revealing the troubling aspects of candidates strongly enough or concentrating too much on trivialities? Let them know. Need to keep pressure on Congress to get us out of Iraq, stop their corruption, and use their power effectively? Let them know.
A few emails can be dismissed. Hundreds--or thousands--of emails can make their recipients very nervous or strengthen their resolve to take difficult action in the face of peer pressure. In either case, changes can be made.
Bitch sessions on TPMm are great, because opinions can develop into plans of action, but we've all got to take those extra steps.
The Internet CAN get our democracy back.
SPENCER wrote on December 18, 2007 7:53 PM:I don't remember the last time a Senator successfully blocked a bill and got another one passed by unanimous consent (Sudan Divestment ) IN ONE DAY!
If Dodd doesn't win the nomination, which is likely, he should be Majority Leader.
watercarrier4diogenes wrote on December 18, 2007 10:35 PM:You're absolutel spot-on right, Roberta. It's happening right here, right now and the green curtain our current political Wizards of Oz have been hiding behind, Dem and Rethug alike, has been yanked aside. Make that 'shredded'.
The fact that no one could really see what they were doing (thanks, MSM, for helping them out there) until now, is the ONLY reason they've been getting away with it for as long as they have.