The Texas Blue: Blogs

Mayors File Suit Over Border Fence

Patrick M McLeod — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:28:24 -0600

The border fence, that Republican idea that decreases in popularity the closer you get to the actual border, runs up against another barrier:

A group of Texas border mayors and business leaders says the federal government did not properly negotiate with landowners or inform them of their rights when surveying property for the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

The Texas Border Coalition plans to argue in a federal lawsuit that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff abused private property rights of property owners. Coalition spokeswoman Julie Hillrichs said the lawsuit will be filed Friday in Washington.

"Despite attempts to try to negotiate with DHS and Customs and Border Patrol, they refused to do so," Hillrichs said. "We don't want to file this suit, but this was the last resort."

O'Reilly Gets a Nod from the Spin Zone

Curtis Rochelle — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:28:37 -0600

Think Progress pointed out some interesting opinions in the Pentagon's documents on their military analyst program. In these documents, the Pentagon praised conservative pundits, including Bill O'Reilly, Charles Krauthammer, and Michelle Malkin, as being good sources for their analysts to look at. Considering what they were saying, the Pentagon seems to have an interesting definition of "thoughtful commentary." Check out some examples at the link.

Is Supporting the Troops Too Expensive?

Curtis Rochelle — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:49:18 -0600

Veteran's affairs workers were told to avoid diagnosing veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to an internal memo.

VoteVets.org and CREW obtained the memo, in which a psychologist working on the department's PTSD program suggested that staff members should instead try to diagnose them with the less severe Adjustment Disorder, which would make them ineligible for up to $2,527 a month in disability compensation.

The Department of Veteran's Affairs has repudiated the memo.

Republicans Stumble Over Talking Points

Curtis Rochelle — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:00:08 -0600

Two members of the Right embarrased themselves on live TV yesterday, when their carefully constructed arguments collapsed under simple factual inquiry. It was bad news for Republicans, but good news for Democrats and anyone who likes really funny YouTube videos.

First, the House voted to reject war funding, thanks to a Republican majority that sat out the vote to protest what they saw as "pork." Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, demanded that Rep. John Culberson (R-Houston) name one piece of pork in the bill. Culberson tried to squirm his way out of specifics, but Obey wouldn't let him off. Hilarity ensued.

On the Bush v. Obama front, conservative radio host Kevin James received a sound upbraiding on Hardball yesterday. Chris Matthews asked James a simple question about former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, but James wouldn't be "boxed in" to a straight answer — namely because he didn't have one. Again, hilarity.

News Roundup, 5/16/08: Diplomacy's For Wimps With Names Like Neville

George Nassar — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:34:55 -0600

I used to think of the Knesset as the body where Anwar Sadat brought his plea for peace in the Middle East — a place of diplomacy. Leave it to Bush to leave a dark mark upon it for me.

President Bush spoke yesterday before the Knesset, Israel's national legislature, on the 60th anniversary of Israel's establishment. What better time to politicize the event to make for an opportunity to insult Democrats and throw diplomacy under the bus?

"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,' " Bush said. "We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

The comment was quickly pinned as being an attack toward Sen. Barack Obama, though White House officials said he was referring to "a number of people" like President Carter and past UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Sure, he did. And he surely didn't know that McCain would seize that opportunity to also attack Sen. Obama. (Which he did, of course.) No word yet on whether the "false comfort of appeasement" applies to Reagan's negotiations with Iran during his presidency. Or to recent efforts over the past few years by Israel to negotiate with Syria, Egypt, and Jordan.

You may or may not know that Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, fled to seek asylum in the U.S. after nearly four dozen of his commission's staff were killed. Well, we let him in, apparently. But we didn't do much else for him — including give him any sort of legal status to be in the country, without which it is a bit hard to find a job. We are repaying the widely-commended head of an agency which discovered rampant corruption in the Iraqi government with destitution as an illegal immigrant. So it's apparently not only our troops that the White House cares nothing about once they return to the United States.

At least we seem to have done one thing right yesterday — the White House has finally disavowed Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi "informer" that gave us wave after wave of bad information about Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq. You would think the wildly incorrect claims he made would've been enough to discredit him in the eyes of his administration. But Chalabi remained in their good graces until just recently — not because of the bad info he gave, but because he is suspected of having unauthorized ties with Iran. "I am shocked — SHOCKED — to find gambling in here!"

In brighter news, the California Supreme Court yesterday ruled unconstitutional a law that prohibited gay marriage, even if it provided the alternative of civil unions. In that piece, you can find a link to Glenn Greenwald's column breaking down what the decision means for California and America.

Predatory lending is about to take a hit in Ohio, as the Ohio legislature gets ready to pass a bill (which the governor has indicated he will sign) limiting percentage yields on short-term loans to less than a tenth of what they currently are, making those lenders consider leaving the state.

Grace has an On The Record with James Schico, Democratic candidate for county commissioner in Ellis County, and Josh interviews Noriega online coordinator Karl-Thomas Musselman in this week's Who's Blue. As always, thanks for reading.

Hunting Predatory Lending

George Nassar — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:34:01 -0600

The first real blow against predatory short-term lenders in the United States looks like it may be coming from Ohio.

Prime Minister's Questions Comes To The U.S.?

Patrick M McLeod — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:02:51 -0600

Earlier today in a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, Senator John McCain stated that he would like to take a page from the British tradition of having the Prime Minister hold question and answer sessions in the House of Commons and hold Q & A sessions with both houses of Congress.

One of my guilty pleasures while Tony Blair was Prime Minister was tuning in to C-SPAN on tape delay every Sunday evening to catch that week's installment of Prime Minister's Questions. I'm not much a fan of the tape delay with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, though.

California Overrules Ban on Gay Marriage

George Nassar — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:53:19 -0600

The California Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision today that a law prohibiting gay marriage was unconstitutional, even if it allowed for "civil unions." Glenn Greenwald explains in the link how the decision fit the laws and constitution of the state of California, how it represents the will of the people, and what it means for California and the rest of America.

Chalabi Cozy No More? Say It Ain't So!

Patrick M McLeod — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:08:55 -0600

Per Think Progress, apparently the Bush administration has called it quits with shady neocon favorite Ahmed Chalabi. The reason? Unauthorized contacts with the government of Iran.

You don't have to be an area expert on Iran and Iraq to know that Chalabi was going to cozy back up to the folks in Tehran sooner or later. He has already had shady dealings with both the government of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

President Bush, Meet Reductio Ad Hitlerum

Patrick M McLeod — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:11:18 -0600

Never let it be said that President Bush mocks civility and then rests on his laurels. Hot on the heels of discussing his great sacrifice in the Global War On Terror (giving up golf), President Bush rolled out Godwin's Law in a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament:

In a speech before the Knesset, Bush compared calls to talk with unnamed terrorist groups as a "foolish delusion" that was suggested before World War II.

"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,' " Bush said. "We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Former President Jimmy Carter recently wrapped up a trip to the Middle East, which included talks with leaders of Hamas -- an Islamic militant group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Carter hoped to persuade Hamas to negotiate with Israel in an attempt to reach a broader Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Hamas has not been included in peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, under President Mahmoud Abbas, who control the West Bank. Israel and the United States refuse to negotiate with Hamas until it renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Ah, yes. Robust diplomacy is now nothing more than appeasement.

It is pretty clear that the President wasn't speaking merely out of historical interest (as if that was possible). This was a shot directed at former President Carter and Senator Barack Obama, one that the Straight Talk Express was all too eager to pick up while at the same time conveniently deleting the Reagan administration's Iran negotiations from history.

On a closing note, that unnamed Senator President Bush mentions was from Idaho.

And he was a Republican.