Politics Blog

Looks like Chuckie is throwing in the towel:

“Sen Charles Schumer says there will be no filibuster of John Bolton’s nomination for ambassador to the United Nations.”

— Oak Leaf

I just read about the border incident in Korea and immediately thought of the reports that will now be required!!!

“North and South Korean troops along their heavily fortified border exchanged gunfire for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as ties between the two have soured.”

— Oak Leaf

Breaking News
Due to illness, Fidel Castro relinguishes his power to his brother:

HAVANA — Fidel Castro announced Monday night in a letter read by his secretary live on state television that due to illness he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defense minister.

What is known about Raul ?:

Unlike Fidel, Raúl has been a vocal communist since the beginning, and it is widely believed that he and Che were instrumental in pulling Fidel into the communist camp.

It was shortly after his trip to Moscow that the Soviet Union began to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, leading to what we now remember as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

During the war in the Sierra Maestra (1957-1958), Raúl was made comandante by his older brother and successfully opened a second, eastern front in the Sierra de Cristal Mountains in northern Oriente. It was at this time that his words and deeds gained him a reputation that even surpassed that of his older brother¹s for being “impetuous and violently anti-American” and for possessing a “killer instinct.”

Sounds like a DailyKos diarist to me!!

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Breaking News
Not sure what changed since the end of last week, but now the Israeli Security Council has approved a stronger ground offensive in Lebanon:

QANA, Lebanon — Israel approved plans to widen its ground offensive against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon early Tuesday. The country’s Security Cabinet also rejected calls for a cease-fire until an international peacekeeping force, preferably headed by NATO, was in place.

A participant, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon would resume “in full force” after the 48-hour suspension expires in another day.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

What does a Democrat have to say about discussing making English the official language of the United States?

“This is silly, what we are doing today.”

Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-Petaluma)

— Oak Leaf

Drudge is reporting some of the actions by the “innocent angels” at Guantanamo Bay:

“The prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay during the war on terror have attacked their military guards hundreds of times, turning broken toilet parts, utensils, radios and even a bloody lizard tail into makeshift weapons, Pentagon reports say.

Incident reports reviewed by The Associated Press indicate Military Police guards are routinely head-butted, spat upon and doused by “cocktails” of feces, urine, vomit and sperm collected in meal cups by the prisoners.

They’ve been repeatedly grabbed, punched or assaulted by prisoners who reach through the small “bean holes” used to deliver food and blankets through cell doors, the reports say. Serious assaults requiring medical attention, however, are rare, the reports indicate.

The detainee “reached under the face mask of an IRF (Initial Reaction Force) team member’s helmet and scratched his face, attempting to gouge his eyes,” states a May 27, 2005, report on an effort to remove a recalcitrant prisoner from his cell. “

Unfortunately, I am able to add from many friends that have served at the facility that action is seldom taken against the detainees because of a fear of media reporting in the United States.

Also I am constantly amazed that the media has never used the fact that “approximately 25 of those released (from GITMO) have been recaptured or killed when they took up arms again.” I can only guess that the media/democrats hate of Bush is less than their support of al Queda detainees.

UPDATE: “Stop the ACLU” ponders:

“These are the people the ACLU are trying their best to free. Much of the attacks on guards were from the advantage given to them from having items of comfort and privelage that we would have been accused of abuse if we didn’t provide. They are provided with fans to keep cool for example. Can you imagine what kind of dangerous things the wrong person could do with a fan blade and an innovative imagination?”

I will also add that these are the same individuals that Senators McCain, Grahem, Warner and Levin want to provide the same legal protection that is afforded to American Soldiers.

— Oak Leaf

From today’s New York Times:

The criminal charges against Mr. Garcia and his company were broughtby the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. The campaign has included at least five other federal indictments of business executives in Ohio and Kentucky and has sent payroll managers rushing to re-examine their workers’ papers and rethink plans for their work force.

It also created a new environment of fear in Ohio’s immigrant communities.

“It’s a very uneasy feeling,” said Sister Teresa Ann Wolf, a Roman Catholic nun who works with immigrant workers in Canton, Ohio. “People are afraid to leave the house to go to the store. They are afraid to come to church.”

It is an interesting piece. But to me, unconvincing. I still believe the political class as a whole is very unserious about this issue.

— The Ace

The Media in Florida, I just heard on local radio, is now reporting that the Republican Party of Florida advised Katherine Harris that the Party would not support her in the election.

UPDATE: The Gainesville Sun is reporting that the letter, which has been just released, was originally drafted on May 7, 2006.

Why would we see this letter coming out now? The only source could be the Republican Party of Florida or one of many former Harris Campaign workers. While not suggestive of the source, it is now looking like the primary may turn into a horse race:

Strategic Vision has one set of primary numbers showing Harris slippage:

“The poll was released Tuesday by Atlanta-based Strategic Vision, a Republican polling and consulting firm. It showed 45 percent of Republicans chose Harris as the Republican nominee, down from 48 percent a month ago.

But more revealing, said David Johnson, the firm’s chief executive, is that support for Orlando-area attorney Will McBride jumped from 6 percent to 22 percent in the past month, and the number of undecided voters went up significantly”

Mason Dixon is reporting:

“In the primary contest, Harris led the field of four with 36 percent, followed by Will McBride, 11 percent; LeRoy Collins Jr., 8 percent; and Peter Monroe, 2 percent, with 43 percent undecided.

The poll consisted of telephone interviews July 19-21 with 625 likely voters. The error margin was 4 percentage points.”

As this letter gains more attention in Florida, it is becoming very clear that if Will McBride wants to win the Prmary, he has it in his grasp. Florida voters are realizing that financial supporting harris is throwing good money at bad and her name on the ballot in November will not help the rest of the Republican ticket. I am not saying that McBride can defeat Nelson however, I am saying that he would create a unified base for the November election.

— Oak Leaf

BOSTON - Sen.
John Kerry on Monday will propose requiring all Americans to have health insurance by 2012, “with the federal government guaranteeing they have the means to afford it.
…
In a speech scheduled for midday Monday at Faneuil Hall in Boston, he will advocate creating a program to cover catastrophic cases so an employer providing insurance doesn’t have to pass the cost to his other workers, and offering Americans the ability to buy into the same insurance program used by federal workers, such as members of Congress.
…

Kerry will propose to pay for the program by repealing tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration that benefit those earning over $200,000 annually. He is not expected to immediately elaborate on how he would get his insurance mandate enacted into law.

Yes, even the AP felt the need to note that this is a plan without substance or a chance. I’m willing to hear people out on theories of universal care programs that don’t involve expanding the broken Medicare system, but this isn’t one of those plans. Seems to me this more directed at the 2008 primaries then anything else, could he be silly enough to run again?

— KnightHawk

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Supporters of Mexico’s leftist presidential candidate paralyzed the capital’s financial district with makeshift protest camps Monday, saying they won’t leave until the nation’s top electoral court rules on their demand for a recount of the disputed election.
…
Insurance company employee Camilo Perez was among thousands who parked blocks away and hiked to work in business suits or high heels. He said his regular 40-minute commute took two hours.

“They should do this some other way,” he said. “This is going to decrease the popularity of their fight.”

Mr. Perez, Obrador and his supporters are not intelligent enough to realize that threatening to shutdown the city and otherwise acting like children is not helping their cause.

— KnightHawk