Just caught a short local report from NBC 2 in Fort Myers Fla

Check in there every now and than as one of my sisters, and her family, live in the area, just to see what's happening.

The report was titled: Honoring vets through a new GI bill

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:

Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Denver) will participate in a live 30-minute Q&A with Colorado Confidential readers on Friday, May 9 at 11 a.m. MDT.

DeGette will take your questions on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, her third attempt to pass this landmark legislation following two vetoes by President Bush.

Read the congresswoman's comments from her dKos diary posted yesterday below the fold.

Let's see, what's the most crucial issue facing the Democratic Party right now?

Is it Obama vs. Clinton?  No.

Is it the problem of Joe Lieberman?  No.

The Democrats need to start countering the distortions the GOP and their operatives are putting out there.  This is what this site is supposed to do; counter the Right Wing Noise Machine, not take jabs at each other.

So, are you ready to help?

If so, join me below the fold.....

Where is the leadership? Where are our leaders? Why aren't there any leaders?

How many times have you heard those questions being asked in your life...especially around here.

I've heard "leadership" being thrown around a lot. In a matter of fifteen minutes, I've heard different people make contridictory arguments as to what constitutes leadership;

1.) Someone who stands up for what the people want
2.) Someone who stands up for what's right even when the people are against it.

Well, aren't those contriictions?

I'm beginning to think what Americans want isn't leadership, they want people who think the way they think and do what they want to do, prioritized the way they want them to be. Can we really have leaders if what we're looking for is 300 million different types of leadership. Can Americans really be "led?"

From the pens of the editors of the astonishing Wall Street Journal this day:

The Democrats' slow judicial roll follows their misuse of the filibuster when they were in the minority during the first Bush term. It's also an abuse of the Constitution, which gives the President the responsibility of selecting judges while the Senate has an obligation to vote up or down.

Who is abusing the U.S. Constitution?  The filibuster?

Pardon a break from the candidate diaries...

The House has passed the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act!

I'd urge everyone to click on the link to learn more about the act and continue to read the Wellstone Action site to find out what else needs to be done to make sure this becomes law.

Rawstory is reporting that Republican have staged a walk out because the Democrats put theContempt Of Congress charges on floor, instead of FISA.

I know we get excited and then let down. But you still have to pray that one day the Democrats will stop caring about what the Republicans say, and grow a spine. Be willing to take a little bad press for the right reasons. Harriet Miers, and John Bolton, should be in jail until they testify before Congress. The president has not asserted executive privilege, he just says they won't testify.

Yeah, I know, he's pro-war, 100 years in Iraq, more war, so this should be easy, right?

I don't think so.

McCain's rise in polls and his road to frontrunner status has everything to do with the situation in Iraq becoming less dire in the eyes of millions of Americans. Now mr. "straight talk" war hero who became George W. Bush and Karl Rove's first political victim of the decade is going to face off against a woman half the country hates or a young man who's only been around for about four years.

But not for the reason we may think. I think we kossacks need to respond to what the Los Angeles Times claims is the reason the Democrats couldn't end the war this year.

We would say it's because they gave Bush whatever he wanted. We say it's because they capitulated to the Republicans at every turn, but the LA Times? They say Democrats failed to end the war because they weren't bipartisan enough.

Day three in our five-part series on the most-overlooked stories of the FISA debate.

Yesterday, Senator Russ Feingold penned a Kos diary discussing the strengths of the Senate Judiciary Committee's FISA bill, and gives a rundown of flaws of the lesser Intelligence Committee FISA bill. He couldn't have been more spot-on.

Rep. Diana Degette (D-Denver) has started reaching out on YouTube, and has released a video titled "A New Day in America."

If you are feeling saturated by negative ads, snarkiness, and primary candidate campaign messages, you might want to take a look at this run down of the accomplishments of the Democratic congressional majority.

Over the jump is part of a comment that Rep. Degette made at the Colorado blog SquareState.net

This week marks the beginning of the second session of the 110th Congress.  Before we get back though, I wanted to take a moment to review 2007.  We had some great victories as well as some tough defeats and though I’m frustrated by what we didn’t complete, I’m proud of the significant things we accomplished.

Check out my video here.

The issue thus far flying well under the radar and unreported in any large scale concerns the majority status of the next Congress. The Democratic-led 110th Congress has been largely ineffective, has passed modest reforms, and above all has failed in its elected purpose, which was to pull our troops out of Iraq. Would a Democratic victory in the Presidential race translate to the preservation of its status as party in charge of both legislative bodies? Could it add substantial gains beyond its precarious one-seat Senate margin and less-than-overwhelming majority in the House? Or, will its strategy of conceding to President Bush the majority of his demands prove to be its ultimate undoing?

Happy New Year!

At the end of a difficult year for Democrats both here and in Congress, they actually scored a victory in the final moments of 2007 that was left unreported; buried by Times Square and the upcoming Iowa Caucus.

President Bush signed into law, grudgingly, a bill that countered his administration's long tradition of secrecy since 9/11.

2007 started with such promise - there would be "big changes" - or so we were told.  And on some levels (mainly personal), it has delivered - I still have my job (and it is better than at the beginning of the year), YKos was great, I have a baby on the way....but in the world of politics and around the world, things don’t look as rosy as we may have thought back when a new Congress took session.  Some of this is the fault of Democratic leadership, a lot of this is the fault of Bush and the republican party, or the corporate media, or the fault of nobody.  But, a lot did go on this past year, and all I can say is that I hope 2008 holds out more in terms of delivery and less in terms of broken promises, frustration, disappointment, bewilderment and lowered expectations.

The 3,000th US military death in Iraq was just before the new year.  There were promises of a "new Congress in town" and a change of direction in Iraq.  Another close to $200 billion was approved during the year for "continuing operations" with absolutely no real change in direction.  The "surge" has been an absolute failure - a reduction in deaths due to sectarian cleansing and voluntary temporary stop in violence by al Sadr’s militia with no political benchmarks met is no success in any way.  

This year started with great promise for Congressional Democrats and ended with wimper. The past week alone has seen tactical victories for Bush and the republicans on Iraq, SCHIP expansion, energy, and very nearly telecom immunity as part of the FISA revision.  Likewise, the issue of impeachment has been brushed aside despite extremely serious allegations against Bush and Cheney.  During this magical season, what will Santa do for the Dems?  Gift them or lump them?