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From Tusk & Talon:

Just Got High Speed At Home

Posted at February 29, 2008 at 10:31 pm

Excerpt:

Well 56k dial up was soooo 1998. I finally upgraded to an 8 Meg DSL line. Maybe it will inspire me to blog more. Then again I could end up wasting all my time watching stupid Youtube videos that make me laugh until my sides hurt like this one. Yeah. That’s probably what I’ll do.

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Hillary Clinton has a new ad that can simply be labeled as fear mongering…

Barack Obama responds by saying the president needs to be someone who had the judgement to oppose the Iraq War from the start.

No related posts

Categories: Dems, Century of the Common Iowan, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama | Comments Off

From Century of the Common Iowan:

But they might not want to break the law in the future

Posted at February 29, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Excerpt:

That is the reason George Bush gave for granting telecom immunity at a press conference this morning.

You can’t expect the phone companies to participate if they feel that they are going to be sued… How can you listen to the enemy if the phone companies aren’t going to participate with you?

This article from the Economist responds to this claim…

How are you going to listen? Well, presumably by way of lawful court orders or emergency certifications, as authorised under the old FISA statute, and now also on the independent authority of the attorney-general and director of national intelligence even without a court order, assuming some version of those expanded powers eventually passes. When surveillance is conducted pursuant to the law, there is no question of whether telecom firms will “cooperate” or “participate”, like children at day camp. They will comply, and they will do it because they are required to.

The worry about “participation” makes sense only if you anticipate asking these companies to turn over information outside the law, without a court order or any statutory authority. But that is precisely why we have laws establishing penalties for unauthorised data disclosure: To deter them from helping the government to circumvent the law. If you think they should help the government circumvent the law, then it seems you ought to stop poncing about with ad hoc amnesties and simply do away with the data disclosure statues, at least as they apply to information sharing with intelligence agencies.

Better Buy Your Hummer Now
Catching a break
Is this the future you really want?
Expect a couple more posts
Rinse, Wash, Repeat
Economic Populism is the Democratic Party of the Future
Tuition increases possible as universities discuss budget shortfall

Categories: Dems, Century of the Common Iowan, Domestic Spying, FISA | Comments Off

From Century of the Common Iowan:

NAFTA and Immigration

Posted at February 29, 2008 at 8:19 am

Excerpt:

A forgotten aspect of NAFTA is its affect on immigration. This story from the NY Times back in 2003 takes a look at this…

The more than $10 billion that American taxpayers give corn farmers every year in agricultural subsidies has helped destroy the livelihoods of millions of small Mexican farmers, according to a report to be released on Wednesday.

Prepared in advance of critical trade talks next month, the report by Oxfam International argues that the subsidies given American corn farmers allow them to sell their grain at prices far below what it costs to produce. That has led to cheap American corn flooding the Mexican market and pushing the poorest Mexican farmers out of business, the report said.

‘’There is a direct link between government agricultural policies in the U.S. and rural misery in Mexico,'’ according to the report entitled, ‘’Dumping Without Borders: How U.S. agricultural policies are destroying the livelihoods of Mexican corn farmers.'’

Mexico, the birthplace of corn, opened its borders to American corn exports after signing the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. Within a year, corn imports from the United States doubled and today nearly one-third of the corn used in Mexico is imported from the United States. The United States is the biggest exporter of corn in the world and the biggest exporter of corn to Mexico.

The report said the price of Mexican corn has fallen more than 70 percent since Nafta took effect, severely reducing the incomes of the 15 million Mexicans who depend on corn for their livelihood.

Many of the Mexican families in Marshalltown were farmers in one rural area in Mexico. Farming is no longer a viable option to make a living and they are left without many options except to move their families and they chose to come to the United States.

The United States can do as many raids and build as many border fences as we want, but we will not come up with a solution to the immigration issue unless the problem with dumping corn in Mexico is solved.

Immigration Con Artists
Clinton Laughs About NAFTA
Is Hillary a Fair Trader?
Still in the Dark and Follow Up on the Immigration Summit
One Year After the Immigration Raids
Immigration Activists Trying To Block ICE Agreements
Tancredo Blasts Rivals in Ames

Categories: Dems, Century of the Common Iowan, Immigration, Trade | Comments Off

From The Real Sporer:

Move America Forward-Boycott Berkley

Posted at February 28, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Excerpt:

TRS readers are, no doubt, familiar with the attack the city of Berkley, California launched on USMC recruiters. Nothing more than the voices and faces of the Berkeley City Council is necessary to conclude that the Berkely City Council does, indeed, de…

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The Iowa legislature is poised to pass a ban on smoking – which governor Butterburger is itching to sign – that will ban smoking in all sorts of Iowa “public” places including bars, restaurants, casinos and VFW halls. Now, ignore if you will, the private property rights the owners of these places used to have to determine what legal activities they will allow in their establishments and ignore

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We came across this great article about the President by Bob Geldof. Remember, Geldof is a liberal critic of conservatism.After reading this article, and reflecting on George W. Bush’s direct and personal salvation of millions of Africans, and the ep…

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We all know that W is a huge baseball fan. This morning’s press conference at the White House provided the President with an opportunity to hit a home run.The entire transcript will be available at the White House website and we won’t repeat the en…

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The American Prospect takes a look at possible VP’s for Obama. The two names that came up the most in the discussion were Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and Joe Biden of Delaware. I think both would be excellent, with a slight edge going to Webb. Biden is a Washington insider and Webb is less connected to DC, while still bringing foreign policy experience (the same could be said for Bill Richardson).

There are a lot of Clinton supporters listed (Ted Strickland, Wesley Clark, Tom Vilsack, Evan Bayh, and Ed Rendell) and I would think if Obama names a Clinton supporter as VP then it would probably be Hillary herself.

The most intriguing name listed was Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. He is a solid progressive and could help turn Montana, Nevada, and Colorado blue.

The most interesting long shot was former Colorado Senator Gary Hart, who has a long resume on foreign policy and terrorism, but would bring some monkey business to the campaign trail.

After Chris Dodd endorsed Obama yesterday, I was surprised his name wasn’t even on the list. Matt Browner-Hamlin, who worked for Dodd’s Presidential campaign, takes a look at a possible Obama-Dodd ticket.