Blog for America: “130,000 on Meetup!
Since the first one back in February, your meetings on the first Wednesday of every month have been the backbone of this campaign. Today you passed another milestone on the road to White House: 130,000 Meetup members.”
Archive for October, 2003
28
Oct
03
130K and Counting..
Bush Won’t Commit to Giving Classified Reports to 9/11 Panel: “President Bush declined today to commit the White House to turning over highly classified intelligence reports to the independent federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, despite public threats of a subpoena from the bipartisan panel.”
CNN.com – Senate approves pay increase for itself – Oct. 23, 2003: “WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted itself a pay raise for the fifth straight year, boosting the annual salary to about $158,000 in 2004.
The House also agreed last month to accept an increase in the annual cost-of-living allowance, which gives all members of Congress a boost of about 2.2 percent in their take-home pay starting in January.
Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wisconsin, who every year stands up against pay increases, said that with the economy still weak and many Americans finding it hard to make ends meet, it was ‘the wrong time for Congress to give itself a pay hike.’
‘This automatic stealth pay raise system is just wrong,’ he added. “
24
Oct
03
Juggernaut
Blog for America: “Pollster John Zogby: �This is stunning. Dean leads 43-20 among Democrats and 35 to 11 among Independents. He hits 40 among all age groups, union and non-union voters. His lead is 57-17 among self-described progressives, 50-20 among liberals, and 34-14 among moderates. Married voters give him a 38-13 edge and singles a 45-21 point lead. He holds huge leads among all education groups, among investors and non-investors, men and women. This qualifies as juggernaut status. Can he be stopped?�”
20
Oct
03
Starw Poll Anyone?
Sun-Sentinel: Florida news: “Howard Dean’s presidential campaign is quietly mobilizing for a show of force at Florida’s state Democratic Party convention despite calls by national party leaders for a boycott if a straw poll is taken.
Although a nonbinding “beauty contest,” the proposed straw poll would serve as the most striking measure of the candidates’ strength heading into the caucuses and primaries that begin Jan. 19.
Dean, a former Vermont governor, is the Democratic front-runner in fund raising and opinion polls in key primary states. An e-mail sent to his Florida supporters explains the process of delegate registration to the convention, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.
Only official delegates to the convention in early December — about 3,000 party activists — could vote in the straw ballot.
The Dean e-mail also tells supporters that a party straw poll 12 years ago ignited the Clinton campaign.
‘Bill Clinton in 1991, a governor from a small state, received a tremendous boost from Florida Democrats,’ the e-mail reads. ‘With our convention coming only six weeks before the first caucus and seven weeks before the first primary, Florida again has the opportunity to show the way.’
National party leaders and several of Dean’s eight rivals for the nomination have complained that the Florida straw poll would drain precious resources at a critical time.
The Democratic National Committee has asked each campaign to sign a letter to Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox promising to boycott the convention if a straw poll is held.
Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi said his candidate is interested in showing muscle at the Florida convention, with or without a straw poll.
‘We want to come make our case in Florida,’ Trippi said. ‘The Florida convention has always been a pivotal moment.’
Maddox said that he expects the state party’s central committee to vote next month to conduct the poll.”
Dean, Clark lead Democratic presidential hopefuls in Arizona: “Associated Press
Oct. 20, 2003 01:45 PM
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and retired Gen. Wesley Clark are atop the field of Democratic presidential candidates in the fight for Arizona, according to a poll released Monday.
The poll by the Behavior Research Center found 32 percent of participants identified as likely voters with a preference favored Dean. Twenty-four percent supported Clark.”
20
Oct
03
The Boondocks Suspended
New York Daily News – Home – Rush & Molloy: Ben Affleck engages in attack on Dubya: “Condoleezza Rice is a sticky subject at the Washington Post this week.
The paper has suspended ‘The Boondocks,’ a comic strip populated by cynical, politically aware African-American children, because of a series of jokes about the national security adviser’s personal life. (You can read the banned comic in this newspaper.)
On Tuesday, cartoonist Aaron McGruder had one of his young characters speculate: ‘Maybe if there was a man in the world who Condoleezza truly loved, she wouldn’t be so hell-bent to destroy it.’
A rep for the Post, which won’t be resuming the strip until Sunday, said: ‘We had no way of knowing whether Mr. McGruder’s assertion that Condoleezza Rice had no personal relationship was true or not.’
Rice’s office didn’t return a call yesterday.
The artist’s rep told us yesterday, ‘Not a single other paper in the nation chose to abort this week’s strip.’ “
New York Daily News – Home – Rush & Molloy: Ben Affleck engages in attack on Dubya: “Ben Affleck gives as good as he gets. The scorn that critics heaped on his movie ‘Gigli’ is nothing compared to the actor’s withering review of President Bush’s performance.
‘The Bush administration has continued to push a dangerous right-wing agenda which has included increasing encroachments on civil liberties, particularly with the questionable and aggressive use of the Patriot Act,’ Affleck fumed on Tuesday night when he accepted a Spirit of Liberty award from the People for the American Way, a liberal political action group, in L.A. “
Poll: Dems test well against Bush; president vulnerable on Iraq, economy: “Washington-AP — A new A-B-C News-Washington Post poll indicates nearly half of registered voters would support an unnamed Democrat over President Bush. Just 44 percent of those polled would support Bush.
The poll of one-thousand adults shows a significant drop in support for Bush since April, when he led such a Democratic candidate by 13 points.
In the latest poll, Bush trails among independents, moderates, elderly people, and women.
The numbers also indicate the president is vulnerable on the economy and Iraq.
Most poll participants — 59 percent– say the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable.
Among individual Democratic candidates, Howard Dean got the most support with 17 percent.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. “
ajc.com | News | Body armor delays leave GIs at risk: “Nearly one-quarter of the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq still have not been issued a new type of ceramic body armor strong enough to stop bullets fired from assault rifles.
Delays in funding, production and shipping mean it will be December before all troops in Iraq will have the vests, which were introduced four years ago, military officials said.
Congress approved $310 million in April to buy 300,000 more of the bulletproof vests, with 30,000 of them destined to complete outfitting of troops in Iraq. Of that money, however, only about $75 million has reached the Army office responsible for overseeing the vests’ manufacture and distribution, said David Nelson, an official in that office.
Angry members of Congress say up to 44,000 troops, significantly more than the Pentagon figure, lack the best vests. Relatives of some soldiers have resorted to buying body armor in the United States and shipping it to their loved ones in Iraq, congressional critics say.
The House version of an $86.7 billion Iraq-Afghanistan spending bill passed last week includes $251 million for body armor and for clearing unexploded munitions, although it is unclear whether additional money would speed up the process at this point.
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