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Archive for December, 2004

The Year in Review and The Year to Come

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

I only started this weblog in August. And I have seen it grow beyond my imagination. I started it as a personal project, in the hopes of helping to cultivate my own political positions and philosophy. I had never really known about the blogging culture beyond my experiences using Blogger and LiveJournal as tools to keep a record or journal about my personal life.

However, after creating The Political Forecast (formerly Chris’s Political Forecast), I soon had my eyes opened to the liberal “blogosphere” (I’m still working on a new word–give me time). I found that I was not the only one out there with certain beliefs and positions who felt that blogging was a great way to articulate a political ideology. Unfortunately, I came to the seen a little bit late, considering that some of the better weblogs (such as Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo) have been around for a few years.

I soon found myself wrapped up in preparing for the college life and neglected to post regularly for a certain period of time (read: the month of September). After a lecture here at Drake by author Benjamin Barber, however, I came back to the blog with a renewed sense of urgency in helping the progressive cause and getting the liberal message back out into the cyber world. From then on, I became regularly engaged and posted multiple times a day.

I want to take this time to thank my contributor, Chase Nordengren, for keeping the mood light on here, especially when I go on some particular rants. Moreover, his commentary has been insightful and full of great writing. I hope he continues his posts–and maybe starts to do it more regularly. ;-)

I have just finished my first semester in college, and I’m loving it. While I’ve been busy studying, as well as partying, I’ve always made sure to keep up on the posting here at The Forecast, as well as keep updating the site with great links and other information for Democratic causes. I hope that as my college career continues, I’ll be able to keep the site going with its present energy level. I guess that can be my New Year’s Resolution–keep improving The Political Forecast and increasing its readership.

But finally, let’s get to the real year in review.

2004 has been full of lots of ups and downs for me and for all Americans. I’ve covered things from the 9/11 Commission Report to the unsubstantiated terror threats in the Northeast to the war in Iraq to the elections and their aftermath.

Democrats faced a tough challenge this year, going up against an incumbent war president. Defeating an incumbent at a time of war had been an impossible feat–and we hoped to make the impossible possible.

It didn’t happen. The fear-mongering on the right, the contradictions in the message of John Kerry, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the conservative media, and numerous other problems made a win so much harder for the good cause. The blame can’t all be placed on the right; some of it has to fall on the Democrats and the left. We ditched the South; our only effort to attempt to win the south was the selection of John Edwards as running mate for Kerry.

We never fought back against the untruthful allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans; when we did, it was too late. We made message mistakes, such as voting for the $87 billion before voting against it. We didn’t hammer away at the major mistakes this President has made and continues to make.

Overall, we just couldn’t defeat an incumbent war-time President. And there was little we could do about that fact.

Now, the sadness and grief for Democrats following the outcome of the 2004 election compares very little to the sadness and grief that the world faces from the devastation brought on by the SE Asian earthquake and resulting tsunamis.

Unfortunately, our President took his time in articulating a relief package and message to that part of the world–especially to the country with the most Muslims in the world. America could’ve had a chance to make amends with the Muslim world by immediately contributing large amounts of aid and support to nation with the most horrific devastation–Indonesia. A chance for improving relations was missed. Instead, the President stayed at home in Crawford and cleared his brush.

Granted, we have now begun the relief efforts that were originally needed. Still, we have missed the chance to truly reach out to the Muslim world. The future of the Middle East will be up for grabs in 2005. The situation in Iraq and the next events in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will determine the future of this destructive part of the world. And the United States of America will be a significant actor.

2005 promises to be a year full of surprises–both good and bad. I hope more good and bad. But I’m glad to know that people like Steve Clemmons and others in Washington will be fighting for a new foreign policy–one yanking the power away from the radical Neoconservative hawks who control it now. And I’m glad we’ve got a strong Democratic leader in Congress in the form of Harry Reid. I hope that the DNC will have a strong new chair soon; one that will lead us into the future politically. And with their help, a strong domestic agenda can take shape. An agenda that will fight back against the terrible plans that President Bush has set for Social Security and for tax reform and anything beyond.

My hopes and dreams are far and wide for 2005–for the future of America, for the future of the Democratic cause, and for the future of The Political Forecast. I hope you will join me in keeping your hopes and dreams far and wide as well. Our future is now, and our cause is righteous. America should be a beacon of hope, a lighthouse for the rest of the world.

I hope we can achieve these goals. And if not, I will be saddened but not defeated. Losing a battle doesn’t matter if you can win the war. And we will win the war.

US increases aid by 10 times

Published by

Chris Woods

December 31, 2004 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Wow…those stingy comments have really hit a nerve in the Bush Regime.

Aid goes from $35 million to $350 million! About damn time.

Justice Dept. redefines torture–again

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

The Washington Post tomorrow morning will report that the Justice Department has revised its definition on torture. From the Post:

“In a statement published on the department’s Web site, the head of its Office of Legal Counsel declared that “torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and international norms” and went on to reject a previous statement that only “organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death” constitute torture punishable by law.”

It took the Bush Regime until now to revise this definition, even though there had been strong public outcry since the old policy was announced in 2002.

Now that Alberto Gonzales is a public political appointee, the Justice Department has a little bit of a heart again. He was the original author of the policy that essentially allowed for torture of detainees. My guess is that in an effort to make his confirmation run a bit more smoothly, they changed the policy to get Senate Democrats to confirm him expediently.

This leaves me to assume that they’re done getting all the information out of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. Since they really don’t have any more constant sources of information flowing in (read: illegal detentions in these places) the Regime now finds that this point in time is ok to back to a standard definition of torture. I’m sure if the need ever arises again, we’ll change the definition back to its more harsh form.

What ethics?

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

UPDATE: Two Washington Post articles on the same topic from the December 31st issue.

“House to Consider Relaxing Its Rules“
“Lowering The Bar On Ethics?” (News Analysis)

And a follow-up New York Times article–Common Cause has criticized the House GOP for the efforts to lower the bar.

————————————————————————————————————————

Looks like the GOP are really worried about the unethical actions of a multitude of their members.

In an unprecedented step, House Republicans are planning on taking monumental steps to make ethics inquiries and investigations occur.

From tomorrow morning’s New York Times:

“A House leadership aide said a package of rules changes to be presented to the House when Congress convenes on Tuesday could include a plan that would require a majority vote of the ethics panel to pursue a formal investigation. Now, a deadlock on the panel, which is evenly split between parties, keeps a case pending. The possible change, the aide said, would mean that a tie vote would effectively dismiss the case.

The aide said the change would instill more bipartisanship in ethics cases. But Democrats and outside groups said the proposal would dilute an already weak ethics process.

It remained uncertain whether Representative Joel Hefley of Colorado, the current chairman of the panel, would stay in that post. A spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who would play a chief role in determining the appointment, said no decision had been made.

Many Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Mr. Hefley after the committee reports critical of Mr. DeLay were issued, saying he had allowed Democrats to score political points against Mr. DeLay for conduct that did not merit such scrutiny.

But the potential for change in the chairmanship has drawn fire from Democrats. “It is our responsibility to uphold a high ethical standard,” Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said in a statement Wednesday. “Removing a chair of the ethics committee for upholding that standard would be a stain on the House of Representatives.”

Democrats are planning to try next week to force a floor vote on a proposal requiring any member of either party’s leadership to step aside if indicted on a criminal charge. The move would reverse last month’s vote by Republicans, in a closed-door party meeting, to eliminate such a requirement for Republicans to protect Mr. DeLay should he be indicted in a campaign finance inquiry under way in Texas.”

Just what Americans need–another reason to dislike Congress.

We don’t like Congress because we find them slow and because we don’t think they do enough–or that they do too much. And now, when one of them makes an ethical violation, we’re making it even harder for them to face a punishment from their peers. What’s more, the GOP is planning on removing the chair of the Ethics committee–BECAUSE HE DID HIS JOB!

If they’re going to follow that logic, I guess that is why Bush and Rummy are both in still in office. They never did their jobs; matter of fact, they still haven’t. If they did, the RNC would have to remove them. Nothing like job stability for incompetence.

Tsunamis and Votes

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Keith Olbermann over at his MSNBC weblog “Bloggermann” double-tasks today as he discusses the “low” numbers of the death count from the tsunami in SE Asia, and then discusses the formal challenge to Ohio’s electoral vote that House members are proposing.

First, on the tsunami:

“It is now impossible to believe this was just three nights ago, the official death toll from the Christmas Tsunami in the Indian Ocean stood at only 24,000.

Now, the latest Reuters count, is 125,282. But according to Indonesia’s ambassador to Malaysia, three days from now, we may find it equally impossible to believe that this number was so low.

The State News Agency in Malaysia, Bernama, quotes Indonesia’s ambassador to Malaysia as saying today that three large communities in the Acheh province appear to have been totally destroyed— but are, as yet, inaccessible. “Aerial surveillance found the town of Meulaboh completely destroyed with only one building standing,” said Ambassador Drs H. Rusdihardjo.

Until Sunday morning, Meulaboh had 150,000 residents.”

There are other cities and towns in that area of Indonesia that have still not been searched yet at all because of limited fuel resources and the utter devastation of the area. One town of 76,000 people appears to be completely destroyed.

Olbermann also points out that European vacationers are already back on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand. That is disturbing.

***And on to the Votes***

Olbermann confirmed from Rep. John Conyers’ office this afternoon:

“[T]he office of Representative John Conyers of Michigan confirmed late this afternoon that he and several other Congressmen are planning to object— to formally challenge— the vote of the Ohio electors when the Electoral College ballots are opened before the joint session of Congress next Thursday.

Conyers says he is still seeking a Senator to join the House members— whom he does not name— and has written to each member of the Senate asking them to join him.”

US Code requires that there is at least one challenger in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and that any objection must be submitted to the President of the Senate (Dick Cheney) when he asks for objections when approving the vote.

Congress reconvenes on January 6th, at 1 PM to certify the vote. Stay tuned for that.

Full text of today’s letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) here.

Washington Post offers some more post-election analysis

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Today’s Washington Post features a fascinating article reviewing the 2004 election.

In what is probably the most outstanding feat, Democrats almost met President Bush and the Republicans in total spending for the election:

“In the most expensive presidential contest in the nation’s history, John F. Kerry and his Democratic supporters nearly matched President Bush and the Republicans, who outspent them by just $60 million, $1.14 billion to $1.08 billion.”

However, our problem was spending it.

As Josh Marshall points out, there are two expenditures that stand out:

“[T]he Swift Boat ads (we’ll have long memories too) and some much less conspicuous spending on a data-mining company that allowed them to vastly improve the targetting of their voter outreach.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do to control the Swift Boat ads–the right’s media machine (not just the MSM, but pundits, columnists, and talk radio as well) just had the better ability and access to spin the story the way the RNC wanted it spun.

And the Democrats reliance, or maybe simply the fact that there were more on left, on 527s and the new legislation that disallowed message coordination between the campaigns and the organizations left us with somewhat of a boggled message. The Republicans just didn’t rely on them as much, and that could’ve been part of their reasons for success.

As Marshall points out, it is indeed a “sobering, fascinating article.”

What do you do when you lose an election?

Published by

Chris Woods

December 30, 2004 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Evidentally, you ask for a whole new election.

What a dork. Congratulations on Ms. Gregoire for prevailing–legally.

Rob’s Dream

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Check out Rob’s Blog for his dream.

Here is a quick excerpt (he takes some inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.):

“I have a dream of a world where people are equals, regardless of the color of their skin or the god they pray to.

I have a dream of a world where, when disaster strikes, people say, “how can I help”, not “let someone else help, it’s not our problem.”

I have a dream of a world where all people have the basic needs of life met; food, shelter, medical care, and clothing.”

We ARE stingy

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

We are plain ’stingy’ when it comes to foreign aid.

New York Times editorial:

“The American aid figure for the current disaster is now $35 million, and we applaud Mr. Bush’s turnaround. But $35 million remains a miserly drop in the bucket, and is in keeping with the pitiful amount of the United States budget that we allocate for nonmilitary foreign aid. According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent.”

AARP launches ad war

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

According to tomorrow’s New York Times, the AARP is planning on spending $5 million on a two-week ad campaign to oppose President Bush’s plans to privatize Social Security.

From the Times:

“The organization, which played a huge role in the passage of Medicare drug legislation last year, said it was prepared to spend much more in the next two years to block the creation of private accounts financed with payroll tax revenues.

“This is our signature issue,” said Christine M. Donohoo, chief communications officer for AARP, which represents 36 million Americans 50 and older. “We will do what it takes.”

The full-page advertisements, to appear next week in more than 50 newspapers around the country, say the accounts would cause “Social Insecurity.”

“There are places in your retirement planning for risk,” the advertisements say, “but Social Security isn’t one of them.”

One advertisement shows a couple in their 40’s looking at the reader. “If we feel like gambling, we’ll play the slots,” the message says.

Another advertisement shows traders in the pit of a commodities exchange. “Winners and losers are stock market terms,” it says. “Do you really want them to become retirement terms?”"

Fabulous!

The AARP’s ad or marketing leader and his staff are geniuses for these ads. They are short, sweet, and directly to the point. Moreover, they all carry good images for the upcoming debate.

President Bush doesn’t have a war chest for this proposal–the opposition and fierce Democrats do. Let’s make sure we make our voices heard. Remember, most Americans probably won’t see much benefit from this plan. Furthermore, Americans don’t want the plan. Couple these facts with any of the problems that privatization causes and we can create a strong message and force for opposition.

Social Security and the war in Iraq

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Over at the Boston Globe, Peter Canellos has a great piece on the push for privatization and the push for war in Iraq.

From his piece:

“The link between the current economy and a Social Security deficit that will begin to strike benefits in decades is every bit as speculative and theoretical as the link between Hussein and the war on terrorism in late 2002. But few people in the political mainstream would dismiss the idea out of hand, and arguing that Bush’s predictions are a bit too dire seems unnecessary to most Democrats at this stage.”

I think he gets the point right on.

But if you don’t, check out Kevin Drum (writer of The Washingon Monthly’s blog “Political Animal”) and his post on the same article.

And if you like that stuff by Kevin, check out his op-ed in today’s LA Times on Social Security. Its a good one.

“Ten years ago Social Security trustees predicted that the system would become insolvent in 35 years, meaning 2029. Five years later they were still predicting that insolvency was 35 years away — doomsday had been postponed to 2034. Today, they’re predicting that insolvency is 38 years away, in 2042.”

Bush announces tsunami aid coalition

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

President Bush announced this morning that he was forming an international coalition to aid those affected by the tsunamis in SE Asia.

CNN’s report is here, the New York Times report (via AP for now) is here.

As Rob points out, this coalition better have more impact than Bush’s other coalition.

And my guess is that Bush’s advisors, probably Karen Hughes and Dan Bartlett, were beginning to get tired of all the bad press Bush had been getting. First from a UN spokesperson calling the original US aid of $15 million “stingy”, and secondly, this morning’s Washington Post article calling him insensitive. Bush didn’t like the ’stingy’ comment.

If only the MSM was this articulate about Bush and his lack of emotion for certain situations all the time.

Why the world hates America

Published by

Chris Woods

December 29, 2004 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments

Or at least most of the world hates us.

Rob Schumacher helped point me towards writing this post when he dicussed American attitudes towards disasters abroad. He recognized that a lot of major media outlets here in the US aren’t covering the story that much and are taking it pretty lightly.

From his post:

“Seems many Americans feel it’s not as newsworthy or worthy of their time or interest if it’s not in the US. I recognize that 9/11 was closer to home, but this tsunami is on the order of a world-changing event (it went so far as to affect the rotation of the planet). The death toll is estimated at over 63,000, which is enough people to fill an NFL size stadium, and many, many thousands more are missing, injured, and newly homeless.”

Point well taken.

Estimates today say that the total dead may reach 100,000. I realize that it would be impossible to cover this disaster story for 24 hours a day for the next week or so, like America did after 9/11. But they should devote more than just a few minutes of reporting with their international or SE Asia correspondent. Moreover, they need to show names, phone numbers, addresses, and website links to all the different aid organizations that are contributing relief for the victims of this horrific incident.

Finally, to the gist of my post. These are comments from people on multiple different blogs and discussion fora on why the US shouldn’t care. Please be as disgusted as I am:

Jordan Golson (website): “As for the news coverage, like it or not, American’s dying is BIG NEWS, other countries people dying, ESPECIALLY poor people, is not news. That’s just how it is.”
From a Yahoo! Message Board: “send $15 million in ICBMs to Muslims:
to finish off any Muslims who may still be alive in indonesia.
That’s the only money I want going to Muslims who want to kill us.”
Yahoo! again: “dead, bloated, rotting muslims: floating on shore line or washed on shore. is this a great sight or what? puts a spring in my step……..gonna be a great day”
Yahoo!: “It’s not my problem: I guess that makes me a moron. But maybe not as much a moron as our politicians who are competing with the EU to see who can send the most aid money to a terrorist haven governed by corrupt officials and overrun by militant separatist movements with suspected al-Qaeda ties. All the tear jerking scenes of devastation in Indonesia just makes me feel about as much sympathy as if it was just rats washed down a street sewer. It’s not my problem!”

ALL OF YOU WHO POSTED SHIT LIKE THAT ARE FUCKING INSANE!!!

I cannot understand how Americans can be so un-compassionate and uninformed. It doesn’t take much to realize that Americans contribute a great deal to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalists and their jihad against the West in their effort to save Islam. But these biased and false assertions only go to prove the point that Americans are ugly, elitist snobs. If they aren’t Christian and suffering, then we can’t help them. My god, who the hell are you to judge is someone is worthy of your help?

And the comparison that all Indonesians are al-Qaeda sympathizers is just beyond me.

Message to Ignoramuses: READ. BECOME EDUCATED ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ISLAM, AND TERRORISM. THEN MAKE RETARDED POSTS AND ASSERTIONS. IF THAT IS TOO HARD, FIND ANN COULTER AND HANG OUT WITH HER.

Montana solid for Democrats statewide

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2004 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

It seems the Democratic Party might have some good things going for it.

Montana, a usually solid red state, witnessed its governor, state senate, and state house all fall under the control of Democrats. The statewide Democratic control was made final today in a ruling by the Montana State Supreme Court, deciding that a state house race was, in fact, not a tie and thus awarding the seat to Democrat Jeanne Windham.

From the New York Times article detailing the decision and the resulting Democratic control:

“With its 6-to-1 order on Tuesday, the court put the House into a 50-50 tie, but state law mandates that the House speaker come from the party of the governor. Democrats acknowledged that their hold on power would be tenuous and far from the control Republicans exercised in the last few sessions, when they had a 2-to-1 margin in the House, and controlled the State Senate and governor’s office as well.”

Finally, some good news.

However, I don’t know if its overall good news for the state of Montana and for Democrats. The man who won governor is a very moderate Democrat, who ran with a Republican running mate for lt. governor. These are centrist Democrats–similar to some of the ones we saw during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

I’m not sure if this is overall where the Democratic party wants to be nationally, or even if it should try to be this way at all. But in states with traditional strong conservative majorities, I think its the way to go.

Compromising on issues near and dear to the hearts of values-voters and typical American moderates should be one of the new measures the Democratic party should take in 2006 and 2008 when looking to win in the South and in the rural West. Liberals and democrats don’t have to be equated to radical socialists or far left nutjobs, we need to fight for who were are. We aren’t centrists, but we aren’t radical either. We’re the party of progressives and those for change. We are the party for those Americans who need help and who are compassionate enough to share in the wonderful gifts that America has for each of its citizens.

That is the type of message that we need to get across. And with more and more of these red states becoming more and more urban and suburban, its time to cultivate their votes and bring them into the blue state column–the party they can trust to protect them, tell them the truth, and to be there when they need us.

Tsunami aid

Published by

Chris Woods

December 28, 2004 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I have been silent on the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Asia up until now. I’ve just been speechless and have had no idea what to say. ABC News puts the death toll above 50,000 people now. One third of the dead are suspected to be children. As the Drudge Report said over the weekend, “the world weeps for you.”

Thanks to Eric Alterman over at his MSNBC blog “Altercation” I now have a lot of links to send you to if you want to help or provide aid to those affected by this horrific natural disaster:

American Red Cross
Contributions should be sent to

International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013

For more information about donating, call 800-435-7669.
For information about friends or relatives who may have been affected, call 866-438-4636
Asia Relief
The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting donations of cash, nonperishable food, clothing and toys for victims in Sri Lanka.
Donations should be dropped off or mailed to

Asia Relief
19409 Olive Tree Way
Gaithersburg, MD 20879

Contact Rizwan Mowlana at 301-672-9355 for more information.
Association for India’s Development Inc.
The Maryland-based nonprofit organization is accepting cash donations to help relief work in India.
Contributions can be made on the Web at AidIndia.org or mailed to

AID Zone 3
P.O. Box 4801
Mountain View, Calif., 94040-0801,

with checks made payable to AID.
Contact Priya Ranjan at 301-422-4441 for more information.
Tsunami Relief Inc.
The Virginia-based nonprofit group has been set up to help victims in Sri Lanka.
Donors can call 703-934-6922 or mail checks payable to Tsunami Relief Inc. to

9302 Lee Hwy.
Fifth Floor
Fairfax, Va. 22031
B’nai B’rith International
Donations can be made online at BnaiBrith.org or mailed to

B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund
2020 K St. NW, Seventh Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
More information about donations to humanitarian organizations can be found on the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Web site, USAid.gov.
Donors can also call the Center for International Disaster Information at 703-276-1914.

I hope you all can give just a little bit. I’m trying to find a way. Being a poor college kid isn’t very conducive to being philanthropic, however, I ‘m trying.