Can you imagine what would happen if a Democratic Party HQ hung the American flag in a disrespectful way?  Can you imagine the howls from the Republicans?  Democrats would be labeled communists and traitors.  Hell, they’ve called us that over less.  But, as usual, the Republicans have no room to throw stones.  Especially if their Jonesboro HQ is any indicator:

That’s right, the American Flag outside the Republican HQ is touching the ground in that photo.

Now, to be fair, I drove by the headquarters this afternoon before posting and the problem was fixed, with another, much shorter flag hanging where the old one had been. But seriously, can you imagine if the shoe had been on the other foot? Do you think for a second that if Democrats had a flag drooping on the ground and Republicans had taken a picture of it that they wouldn’t be beating their chests in outrage and spreading it to everyone in earshot?

Apparently, Rick Crawford is far from being the Republican salvation in AR-01.  Rather, he’s just another Republican hypocrite.  Exhibit A:

The Democrat-Gazette reported this morning that deficit hawk Rick Crawford, the Republican candidate for 1st District Congress, declared personal bankruptcy in 1994 to dodge credit card and medical debts. (Of course he opposes health coverage help for the country’s lame and impoverished, too.)

Much is being made of what Crawford has said on his website:

If businesses in America spent money the way the federal government does, they would be in bankruptcy.  If people ran their personal finances the way Congress does, they would be in jail.

Never mind the fact that jailing people for debt is unconstitutional…but if we get into Crawford’s knowledge of the Constitution we’ll be here all day.  That said, what’s really striking to me is the fact that this guy’s debt largely centered around medical bills (and the credit card debt, which may or may not be related-I don’t know).  The funny thing is that there would be reason to sympathize with him IF he hadn’t made such a big deal out of opposing health care reform which will help Americans avoid a similar situation to Crawford, medical bills being the number one cause of bankruptcy in America.

So yeah, on Crawford’s two big issues, he just lost any ounce of credibility that he might have had.

The U.S. Senate is broken. With everything requiring 60 votes to begin and end debate, (without actual fillibusters happening mind you, just the threat of them) and with individual members able to place holds (secret or not) on nominees and legislation for any reason, it’s no wonder that nothing is getting done. The Senate, essentially, is where good legislation goes to die. That kind of obstruction was a big part of the reason why we drafted Halter to take on Senator Lincoln, besides her just being a crappy Senator. There is a big push to get some reform of the Senate rules come 2011, but there are still a lot of people standing in the way. Surprise surprise, one of them is our other crappy Senator, Mark Pryor.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said he recognizes his colleagues are frustrated over the failure to pass measures such as the Disclose Act, campaign legislation that fell three votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster Tuesday.

“I think as torturous as this place can be, the cloture rule and the filibuster is important to protect the rights of the minority,” he said. “My inclination is no.”

As precious as the rights of the minority party are (and yeah, when we were in the minority we fought to protect the fillibuster) Republicans and a few bad Democrats have taken the country hostage when we’re in the worst economy since the thirties. I know the Senate is supposed to operate on tradition and congeniality and all that bullshit like the country club it is, but frankly the country can’t afford that kind of patrician nonsense. It’s time to get rid of holds, and while we might not want to get rid of the fillibuster entirely, they should at least make them stand and read from the phone book rather than just threaten to do so.

As usual, Pryor has showed himself to be absolutely useless, even more so than our senior senator, who has at least committed to getting rid of secret holds. He’s an agent of conservative obstruction, plain and simple.

Today a federal judge issued an injunction against parts of Arizona’s racial profiling bill. The parts of the bill the judge froze:

Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070: Requires police to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they stop, detain, or arrest if they reasonably suspect the person is in the country illegally.

Section 3 of S.B. 1070: Criminalizes the the failure to apply for or carry immigration documents.

Portion of Section 5 of S.B. 1070: Criminalizes the solicitation, application for, or performance of work by an undocumented immigrant.

Section 6 of S.B. 1070: Authorizes the warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe the person has committed a public offense that makes the person “removable.”

Oh, and funny thing is, this is a judge who has been praised as an expert on the issue by the number two Republican in the Senate, Jon Kyle:

Well, there is one person in our state who’s a real expert on this in the judiciary, and that’s Judge Bolton. And because of her expertise and fairness, all of the contending interests from Arizona have been willing to place their concerns before her to be resolved, and she is right in the middle of this important litigation right now. They will be very sorry to see her leave in Maricopa County Superior Court bench. So, I have some mixed emotions in helping to nominate or to confirm Judge Bolton, but that’s how highly thought of she is.

So much for the “liberal activist” argument.

When the dust settles on this, mark my words, Arizona will have lost. This law is going to be found to be rightly found to be unconstitutional, and Governor Brewer and the Republicans are going to have dragged Arizona through an expensive bad publicity nightmare in order to demagogue an issue they think they can win on. (I think Arizona Latinos are going to have something else to say on the matter though.) That said, those willing to appeal to racial resentment and nativist sentiments in our own state, like the looney tunes at Secure Arkansas and Jim Keet (R-FL) should think twice before pursuing a similar bill in the next session. How many state legislators do you think will want to see Arkansas sued by the federal government and roasted nationally the way Arizona is now for endorsing racial profiling when we still haven’t recovered from all the damage that Orval Faubus did in Little Rock? Again, mark my words, Arizona is going to lose this fight. Arkansas doesn’t need to get involved in charging at racist and nativist windmills.

In my real job, as I have mentioned here before, I work for an organization called Wellstone Action.  Our mission is:

“Wellstone Action ignites leadership in people and power in communities to win change  in the progressive tradition of Paul and Sheila Wellstone.”

That is all nice and everything but what does it mean?  For WA it means that we go around the country and train people to work in three areas – the three areas that Paul as Senator said were the ways to create power and attain power – in creating good progressive public policy, working in building strong grassroots programs and in  the electoral political arena to both elect those people who will help implement that good public policy and hold those people accountable who are already elected.

Yesterday we released our annual report for 2009.  We usually print it and send it out but in an effort to be conscious of costs and washing paper we chose to only produce an online version.  It details all of the amazing work that has been done over the course of the last year.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

We do this work in a list of different programs; we have a program called the Sheila Wellstone Institute that works with survivors of domestic violence and abuse, the Native American Leadership Program which works with people in Indian country, Campus Camp Wellstone which focuses on students and a younger populations, Camp Wellstone which is our trademark program that serves people who want to work on campaigns, who want to run for office and community activists, The Movement Builders Project which partners with organizations long term to help with strategic planning and long term development, the Advanced Campaign Management School which is a week long program that trains people to run campaigns, and the Labor  Program which works with national partners to train union members to access their power in the political process (that’s the program I do the most work with).

I am done trumpetting our work.  I will end with this:  In 2009 we trained more than 9000 people and since we began we have trained more than 35,000 people;  The average age of one of our participants is 39; 56% of our participants make less than $40,000 a year. 

In case you don’t know why we call ourselves Wellstone Action and who Paul Wellstone was (or why you should care) I want to share this short video we have done to explain.  Paul was a teacher long before he was a US Senator, and Sheila was a strong advocate for women who had suffered from domestic violence. 

Paul Wellstone (Via YouTube)

Finally, I’m getting some of the pictures loaded that I took at Netroots Nation:

Me and Bill Halter.

With Alexi Giannoulias, who’s running for Obama’s senate seat in Illinois, and Darcy Burner, a netroots hero who ran for Congress a couple of times in Washington.  Probably the two most easy going, friendly, and down to earth politicians in the country.

Francine Busby, running for Congress in California.  She is a super sweet person.

Me, Laura, and Beth from Progressive PST (she set up the twitter account for the Draft Halter effort) with Kentucky AG Jack Conway, the only man standing in the way of Rand Paul.

Me with Roxanne Conlin, an incredibly smart and funny person who I’m convinced will beat Chuck Grassley in November.

Me with Congresswomen Dina Titus of Nevada and Donna Edwards of Maryland, left and right respectively.  Representative Edwards told me she was pulling hard for Joyce Elliott and might come to campaign for her!

Funny story on this one.  This guy was walking around wearing that cape and everyone was wondering why.  So, me being me, I chased him down and asked him.  He’s apparently involved with this outfit called “Trick or Vote” which is a fun themed GOTV effort that sends costumed “trick or voters” out on Halloween to canvass.  Think about it-it’s right before the election, it’s a time when people are expecting folks to knock on their doors, and it’s fun!

Me and an awesome Alabama activist I met in Vegas with Alan Grayson, the now famous “Congressman With Guts”.  There was a stampede down the hallway when we heard he was there.

The first panel.  Third from left-Bill Halter.  On the far right-Markos from Dailykos.

Our Southern Caucus, which we plan to grow the membership of.  There were three of us from Arkansas, including Bill who listened and shared ideas like he was just one of the group.  We also had members from North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Texas.  We’re committed to growing the caucus, and if you’re interested in going to Netroots Nation in Minneapolis next year, we’d love to have you join our ranks!

I will probably have more pics for you guys soon, though most of them will be attached to themed posts.  Stay tuned!

Monday night, the Craighead County Quorum Court decided that it was better to protect nepotism and encourage corruption than to show residents of the county that their government was open and honest.

The Craighead County Quorum Court voted 8-4 Monday against a proposed anti-nepotism ordinance that would outlaw the hiring of family members by direct supervisors.

Justices of the peace who opposed to the policy said the county hasn’t had problems in the past with nepotism and that the county “shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken.”

Best comment in that article right here-

“This is Craighead County, and we don’t have to follow other counties’ policies,” Justice of the Peace Jim Bryant said.

He’s right, Craighead County doesn’t have to have policies that protect against favoritism and corruption.  That stuff is for counties with good government.  Seriously, have you ever heard anything so asanine?  Thank you Mr. Bryant for that migraine inducing moment.

It truly is embarrassing that only four members of the Craighead County Quorum Court show any concern for protecting the tax payer dollar from corrupt practices.  There names- Kevin Hoke, Barbara Weinstock, Ken Stacks, and Fred Bowers.  As far as I’m concerned, they’re the only four who deserve reelection.

And the ones who voted in favor of protecting nepotism? Jim Bryant, Mike Cox, Mike Hawkins, Kenny Hendrix, Max Render, Terry Couch, Duane Harvey, and Ed Hill.  Oh, and outgoing County Judge Dale Haas didn’t sound too wild about the measure either…surprise, surprise.  (One JP, Mary Suiter, was absent due to illness.)

So, if you’re a Craighead County resident, here’s the contact info of all the JPs that voted no, courtesy of the Craighead County website:

District #3
Jim Bryant
2009 Magnolia
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-932-9506

District #4
Kenneth Hendrix
1400 Twin Oaks
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-972-0837

District #6
Max Render
3200 Moore Road
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-935-7031

District #8
Ed Hill
2207 Fox Meadow Lane
Jonesboro, AR 72404
Home-(870)-897-7900

District #10
Michael Hawkins
499 CR 360
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-932-3135

District #11
Duane Harvey
502 CR 702
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-932-5668
Work-(870)-935-2418

District #12
Terry Couch
4638 HWY 135 South
Caraway, AR 72419
Home-(870)-482-3996

District #13
Mike Cox
328 CR 408
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Cell Phone-(870)-530-0202

Why don’t you give them a call and tell them how you feel…Oh, and for good measure, here’s how you can send a letter to the Jonesboro Sun and let all the paper’s readers know what kind of county government they have.  But while you’re at it, don’t forget those that stood up for good government and responsible policies.  Call them and tell them to keep fighting and tell them that you have their backs.  And you should contact the absent member, Mary Suiter, and make sure she votes against nepotism the next time around.  (Remember, the paper didn’t specify the nature of her illness, so be extra respectful on that one.)  So, here’s the contact info for the good guys and the potential good guy Mrs. Suiter:

District #1
Ken Stacks
527 W. Washington
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Work phone-(870)-932-5530
Home phone-(870)-972-0303

District #2
Fred Bowers
801 French Street
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-972-6105

District #5
Barbara Weinstock
208 Wilkins
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-935-1117

District #7
Kevin Hoke
4008 Chapel Hill Drive
Jonesboro, AR 72404
Home-(870)-935-8647

District #9
Mary Suiter
2019 Pleasant Grove Rd.
Jonesboro, AR 72401
Home-(870)-935-7784

Again, if you’re a Craighead County resident, stand up for good government and tell your representatives on the Quorum Court that you don’t want your taxpayer money going towards nepotism.  And if they don’t listen a second time around, throw the bums out.

Sadly, the DISCLOSE Act, part of the remedy to Citizens United, has been held up by Senate Republicans.  Joe Lieberman, for some reason, had to miss the vote, though he plans to vote with the Democrats next time around, but the ball got left in Senator Olympia Snowe’s court, and she continued to prove that there is no such thing as a moderate Republican.  Basically, the DISCLOSE Act requires that companies and interests groups (with some exceptions that a few powerful interests, namely the NRA, got into the bill) to reveal their contributors, have CEOs stand by the ads their corporate PACs fund, and ban foreign money.  Somehow, apparently, requiring the people who put up ads like what we saw in the Senate race here to reveal who they are counts as silencing critics in the view of Minority Leader McConnell.

Free speech exists for the benefit of the people and for our democracy.  To put it simply, it guarantees the free flow of ideas that a free country needs to survive.  But if the Supreme Court is going to interpret the First Amendment to allow corporations to buy elections, then we should at least get to know who’s buying them.  Apparently, Republicans would rather let shadowy corporate contributors operate in secret-even foreign companies.  But hey, they are their base after all.

The Blue Hog Report again takes a hard look at Republican Secretary of State candidate Mark Martin.  This time though, the focus is on Martin’s intelligent design bill, where Martin attempts to dress religion up as science.  As usual, the Blue Hog duo does a great job explaining that Martin’s bill is unconstitutional, and that it’s not really science.  Sorry folks, but whether or not God/some other advanced being created the universe is not a matter of scientific debate as God’s existence, much less his/her/its role in creating the universe, can’t be scientifically tested.  As such, it belongs in the realm of theology and philosophy, not science.

That said, Martin, like everyone, can believe what he wants, and if he or anyone else wants their kids to learn about “intelligent design” that’s great.  Send them to church or have them open their Bibles to Genesis.  But keep it out of the public schools.  And sorry, but while a person can believe whatever they want, the facts will stay the same, and evolution I’m afraid is very much a fact.  Therein lies the problem.  Understanding evolution is very much at the heart of biology, medicine, horticulture, zoology, paleontology-you name it.  The folks that push intelligent design/creationism often frame their side of the debate as an issue of fairness to different views but the fact of the matter is that science isn’t about fairness, it’s about truth, and their own “theory” isn’t designed to present a balanced view, it’s designed to discredit scientific fact.  Imagine if Martin’s bill passed and became enacted into law.  We’d have a whole generation of Arkansas students coming out of high school even less prepared for college and the job market than they already are due to their lack of basic scientific understanding, something that would have a major impact on the economic development of the state.  We’re having a hard enough time moving this state into the 21st century as it is.  We don’t need the help of an extremist like Martin taking it back to the 19th.

Maybe we should have asked this question months back, but it’s become pretty apparent that the disgruntled conservative Democrat line Morrison laid claim to in the primary doesn’t hold water.  Today, the Republicans favorite “Democrat” since Zell Miller endorsed Mike Ross’s opponent.  (What’s her name again?)  Anyway, ever since the primary, Morrison has become a Tea Party and Republican favorite.  As I remember, before he ran he was a contributor to Asa back in ‘06.  So, you do the math.  I’ve got no proof or anything, I’m just drawing a logical conclusion.  The guy is a Republican, no matter what he chooses to run as.  So, how likely then is it that he was a plant in the senate race to make the waters dicey?  You tell me.  Somehow I doubt though that Mr. Morrison will be forthcoming on that, even if he gets tired of all the attention he’s enjoying.  (Yeah, fat chance on that one.)

So, when I arrived in Vegas last week I got an email forwarded to me that showed the teabaggers at Secure Arkansas to be up in arms over a little piece that KARK did about racism in the tea party.

KARK recently did a hit piece on the Arkansas Tea Party by trying to link the Tea Party to White Revolution guy Billy Roper. With no video of Roper at any Tea Party Events, KARK put a translucent picture of Roper and a Nazi flag over a picture of Tea Party activists at the Arkansas State Capitol.

The video on the examiner link below is about a real racist. Maybe KARK Channel 4 should do a story about La Raza and the Brown Berets instead of insinuating a story about the Arkansas Tea Party.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5433-Little-Rock-Immigration-Examiner~y2010m7d20-Arkansas-Tea-Party-Racist-Story

Okay, I’ll bite. First things first, KARK has the video up and, what do you know, there is no “translucent picture of Roper and a Nazi flag over a picture of Tea Party activists at the Arkansas State Capitol.” The picture they put up of Roper is in no way translucent and stands by itself. So, surprise surprise, the folks running Secure Arkansas lied about what was in the video. Know what’s even funnier? If you follow a link from the link they provide in the email has this little quote from Roper:

I was registered on a
Tea Party website as one of the organizers of Russellville Tea Parties
…over a year ago, but rather than try to compete with the other organizer
who was doing his own thing, I just started campaigning at them, and
others, across the state. Last July 4th, for example, we held an
anti-illegal immigration demonstration in front of the Pope County
Courthouse after attending the Tea Party there. I and nine supporters
attended the last one there, too, and passed out campaign fliers there.I
anticipate that many of the weaker individuals will try to disavow me
or protest that they aren’t racist, that says more about them than it
does me. You have a quote by Thomas Jefferson up, do you know what HIS
views on race were? The same as mine.”

So basically, Secure Arkansas and the rest of the teabaggers are saying that KARK had no proof that Roper ever appeared at their rallies, but they unwittingly provide a link to the man himself saying he was involved with them and campaigns at them! Do these guys realize just how foolish they look? Oh, and just for fun, the little disclaimer on Roper’s site describes him as “Pro-God, Pro-Guns, Pro-Guts” and “Against Illegal Immigration, Against Abortion, Against Gay Marriage”. Birds of a feather I guess.

Besides blasting La Raza, a Latino civil rights and advocacy organization with a horrible racist agenda that includes fighting childhood obesity and fighting for Wall Street Reform, and the Brown Berets, an obscure and tiny Black Panther like group in the email, the video that’s supposed to show “a real racist” is about Shirley Shirrod. And it’s written on the same day that it became obvious that Mrs. Shirrod was the victim of teabagger/Fox News based lies. The writer, Kenneth Wallis, hasn’t corrected the record as of yet. But judging from this quote, I don’t think we can expect to see any fact based posts coming from him anytime soon:

The NAACP was once a great organization that fought for civil rights against people like Hugo Black, Robert Byrd, and other democrat racist. Now the NAACP cries racist against any conservative person or movement while it gives a pass to any member of the left from Marion Berry, to Robert Byrd, to Black Panther Thugs. Shirley Sherrod, a faceless bureaucrat could have advanced in government like Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, and other socialist. Fortunately, video footage showed up on the unregulated internet of Sherrod bragging about her racism and bigotry to none other than the NAACP! Since you probably won’t see this on local TV news, so here’s some videos about that issue.

Yeah…wacky. And you notice, all the groups that the teabaggers single out as racists are groups like La Raza and the NAACP, not organizations like, I don’t know, the Ku Klux Klan, the Neo-Nazis, etc. Just saying.

Oh, and one more bit of fun. I got contacted by a reporter while I was in Vegas because, apparently, Jeannie Burlsworth, founder and chair of Secure Arkansas, reads my blog:

Burlsworth promised a “very interesting” 2011 legislative session, although she declined to say which lawmakers might support the group’s proposals. She quoted a liberal blog, Blue Arkansas, that said the group might be at work on a “radical profiling bill like the one in Arkansas.”
“Go for it,” said one woman in the audience. “Let’s go,” said someone else.
The blog’s July 17 posting actually read that a “racial profiling bill like the one in Arizona might come up,” according to a post by David MacAvoy.

Emphasis mine. So, Mrs. Burlsworth had to actually misquote me to avoid saying the word “racial” when talking to her group. You know, so that “Go for it!” response wasn’t recorded in that context. Heh. Well, Mrs. Burlsworth, if your reading, please, try to get quotes right. That kind of thing, much like being able to properly count petition signatures, could be very helpful to the folks at Secure Arkansas. Oh, and I’m glad to see that you’re looking forward to the next legislative session. We are too. And I promise you, we will be there for the fight, every step of the way.

Just made it back from Netroots in Vegas!  It was an awesome trip, and I really don’t know where to begin…

First off, I guess I should say that Bill Halter was there!  He spoke on a panel entitled why primaries matter, and he attended both the Southern and Labor caucuses.  Everyone there was really thrilled to meet him, and he seemed completely relaxed and looked like he was enjoying himself.  When people found out I was from Arkansas those that didn’t follow the blog immediately wanted to know who I had backed and what I thought about the outcome, and it was pretty clear that the divide amongst progressives between the hold your nose and vote crowd and the crowd that thinks some bad Democrats need to go down reaches beyond Arkansas and all across the country.  That said, everyone that met him absolutely loved Bill and said they hoped he’s not done with politics.

The first night, we got treated to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who’s a shining example of the kind of progressive minded politician we can elect here in Arkansas.  More on that at a later point.  The next day, there were tons of politicians from all over the country, from Alexi Giannoulias who’s running for Obama’s senate seat to Donna Edwards, the dynamic young representative from Maryland (who told me she was pulling hard for Joyce Elliott!).  By the way, if you get face time with Dustin McDaniel, you ought to call him “Uncle Dusty.”  According to Jack Conway, the Kentucky AG running for Senate standing between all of us and Rand Paul, that’s what the AG’s call him.

There was also a great moment that day between Harry Reid and and Lieutenant Dan Choi, who has now been dishonerably discharged  from the army for being openly gay.  Lieutenant Choi asked Reid to take his West Point ring and the senator refused, saying he hadn’t earned it.  Choi replied that he should keep it until Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed.  The two then met on the stage and hugged one another, with Reid promising to fight on for Choi and others like him.  What’s more, President Obama sent a surprise message to the netroots, encouraging us to keep holding him accountable.

Yesterday we closed out the convention with a lot of great speakers ranging from Tarryl Clark, the lady that is going to take down Crazy Michelle Bachmann to Senator Al Franken who was awesome!

More importantly, I got to meet a lot of great contacts that are going to be of tremendous use to what we’re trying to do here on the ground in Arkansas and who we might be able to be of some assistance to down the road.  We also made a commitment, those of us in the Southern caucus, to double the size of our membership and participation at the next Netroots Nation held in Minneapolis, and we’re going to be doing everything we can to get as many people from across the region to attend the next conference.

Netroots Nation and Vegas really changed my perspective on things.  The situation really isn’t as hopeless for the Democrats as the pundits are making them out to be, even if Arkansas itself is looking tough right now.  Beyond that, it really brought it home just how cocooned our little state is from the rest of the world and how that really isn’t a good thing.  The outside world is a big place that we get a very skewed view of here in Arkansas.  Part of bringing true, positive change to this state will be cracking through that shell and exposing Arkansans to the world beyond our borders.  That goes for progressive activists too, and Netroots Nation provides a wealth of information that can we can be putting to use and we should.  So, let’s brainstorm, and see how we can get as many Arkansans to the next Netroots Nation as possible.

Oh, and this won’t be my last Netroots post.  I have more to share with you guys…including pics!

Okay guys, I’m going to be speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation this Thursday so I’ll be out until Sunday/Monday.  In other words, blogging from me will be scarce or, more likely, nonexistent.  But, I’ll try to make it up to you guys by posting some photos when I get back.

Back in a few!

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, a group that goes after both corrupt Democrats and corrupt Republicans, as taken aim at Tim Griffin:

Mr. Griffin was a former aide to and protégé of notorious political operative Karl Rove. In the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Griffin was the research director of the RNC where he may have spearheaded Republican vote caging efforts, a legally questionable direct mail campaign to disenfranchise poor, minority and military voters.

Mr. Griffin was most prominently touched by scandal when he was picked to replace a U.S. Attorney in Arkansas who, despite being highly regarded, had been asked to resign.  Emails between the Justice Department and the White House revealed that despite his lack of prosecutorial experience, the selection of Mr. Griffin was personally important to Mr. Rove.  Knowing that he would never pass muster at a Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for an indefinite time period under a misused, emergency provision of the PATRIOT Act.

Mr. Griffin resigned effective June 1, 2007, after less than six months on the job and in the midst of an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into the political motivations behind the U.S. Attorney scandal.  

It’s an easy choice.  Elect a crook or a state legislator with a stellar track record who has served her constituents well.  (And FYI, that stellar state legislator needs to kick her campaign up a notch…a big notch.  Folks are starting to get nervous.)

Finally, over the objections of Republicans who would rather balance the budget on the backs of the poor than pay for (or do away with) tax cuts for the rich, Senate Democrats passed an extension of unemployment benefits (after foot dragging from the likes of some of the conservadems).  That’s a much welcome bit of relief for people suffering under the economy left by George Bush and co.