ON SOYBEANS AND THE GOP BLUES

No news has surfaced so far on a potential Rove indictment. Either Mr. Leopold's sources were misinformed or Mr. Fitzgerald is taking his time.

THE STEPFORD WIFE SENATOR FROM THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS

I caught our Texas U.S. Senator (R of course) Kay Bailey Hutchison on Larry King Live last night. Our Senator was patently pathetic in that she exuded and extolled GOP politics instead of addressing head on an issue that is so crucial and extraordinarily important to our state's and national well-being: i.e., a comprehensive and realistic policy on energy. Naturally the Senator is the largest recipient of oil contributions among all members of the Senate and House but she has done zip, nada and rien to help ease the cost of fuel for Americans.

In my opinion, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison gets a F- on energy policy.

I mean, talk about a Stepford wife type Bush and Big Oil Supporter. I was both mortified and appalled when I saw Mrs. Hutchison blatantly pander to the big daddy CEO of Chevron, who was also a guest on Larry King Live last night. I cringed, friends, I cringed. Talk about sleazy, if not street walking tactics......and, worse, soul selling.....

Senator Hutchison oozed, gushed and celebrated Mr. Chevron's virtues in establishing some sort of "bio" soybean oil energy factory in "my home state of Texas in Galveston." This is a new twist. I haven't caught soybeans on any radar screen so far as being a viable alternative fuel source. Have you? And Galveston!? I do not believe soybeans are grown in Galveston, which is located on the Gulf coast and therefore has a very humid sub tropical climate.

I have sent out feelers on the soybean fuel possibility to the volunteers (who live across the state) for the Barbara Ann Radnofsky for U.S. Senate Campaign (BAR Campaign Site Here) and so far no one has heard about soybeans as an alternative source of energy, even those who live in parts of Texas that actually grow soybeans. I have also contacted a Ph.D geologist who works for an oil company in Houston about this matter and am waiting for his input.

I wonder if indeed soybeans are a viable derivative source of energy and if so, how long will it take to process it, how much will it cost and how will it impact our environment? Is this a possible reality or more GOP make believe and spin? Float the idea and then pull it after an election? Framing soybeans? I will let you know when I learn the answers to the questions. LS

MOVING ON TO THE GOP BLUES

HUNDREDS OF ABRAMOFF EMAILS TO SURFACE IN SAFAVIAN TRIAL. Found on Bloomberg, courtesy of The Huffington Post

Ought to make for some very interesting reading indeed. One no longer has to cast furtive glances at the tabloids while waiting in grocery story lines. There is better stuff waiting for you on line. LS

BLOOMBERG.COM "Abramoff E-Mails to Get First Courtroom Airing in Safavian Case"

Ken sent the piece below on the growing rebellion within the GOP ranks. By the way, I can no longer post entire pieces since I had my hands slapped for copyright violations recently. I was shocked, really, when I received the warning because I didn't think anyone outside a small group of family, friends and acquaintances read this blog. Guess I was wrong. LS

Excerpts:

In the Rocky Mountains, a registered Republican was so dissatisfied that he wrote a $26,700 check to the Democrats' Senate campaign committee.

In San Diego, Republicans worry that conservatives unhappy with the GOP candidate for a vacant House seat will stay home rather than vote in the June special election.

In Pennsylvania's primary last week, conservative Republicans unseated more than a dozen state legislators, in large part because critics believed the party establishment had abandoned GOP fiscal principles. "It's time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans," said John Eichelberger, a conservative who defeated the state Senate's GOP president.

That is a complaint increasingly heard across the country when conservatives outside Washington talk about the national GOP establishment.

"I voted for President Bush twice, but in my opinion we have no leadership in Washington from the president or the Congress," said Warren H. Ingram Jr., a Missouri libertarian.

Some Republicans are so discouraged by the direction of the country and the record of their party —including the growth of federal spending, turmoil in Iraq, and Bush's immigration policy — that they have begun wondering if Republicans might be better off losing control of Congress.

"Two years in the political wilderness would do us a lot of good," said one Republican member of Congress who asked not to be named because of his heretical view.

The L.A. TIMES "A Restive Base Throws the GOP Off Balance"

HOW THE GOP USES LANGUAGES TO SELL ITS AGENDA

This is a very long and scholarly article. It is well worth reading if you want to know how politicians use language to trick you. (Well, it is far more complex than that!) Seriously and most importantly, this article will help you gain a better grasp of the extraordinarily complex question of immigration and lobby reform. The piece also reveals how conservative politicians are more likely to use framing language to advance their ideology to voters. And/or misinform us. I found the piece on Buzz Flash.com.

Dr. George Lakoff is a Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute and a Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. I did not see a bio on Mr. Ferguson and therefore assume that perhaps he is one of Dr. Lakeoff's graduate students or research assistants. LS

Excerpt:

“Immigration reform” also evokes an issue-defining frame. Bush, in his speech, pointed out the problems that this frame defines. First, the Government has “not been in complete control of its borders.” Second, millions are able to “sneak across our border” seeking to make money. Finally, once here, illegal immigrants sometimes forge documents to get work, skirting labor laws, and deceiving employers who attempt to follow the law. They may take jobs away from legal immigrants and ordinary Americans, bear children who will be American citizens even in they are not, and use local services like schools and hospitals, which may cost a local government a great deal. This is his definition of the problem in the Immigration Reform frame.

This definition of the problem focuses entirely on the immigrants and the administrative agencies charged with overseeing immigration law. The reason is that these are the only roles present in the Immigration Problem Frame.

Bush’s “comprehensive solution” entirely concerns the immigrants, citizenship laws, and the border patrol. And, from the narrow problem identified by framing it as an “immigration problem,” Bush’s solution is comprehensive. He has at least addressed everything that counts as a problem in the immigration frame. But the real problem with the current situation runs broader and deeper. Consider the issue of Foreign Policy Reform, which focuses on two sub-issues:

How has US foreign policy placed, or kept, in power oppressive governments which people are forced to flee? What role have international trade agreements had in creating or exacerbating people’s urge to flee their homelands? If capital is going to freely cross borders, should people and labor be able to do so as well, going where globalization takes the jobs?

Such a framing of the problem would lead to a solution involving the Secretary of State, conversations with Mexico and other Central American countries, and a close examination of the promises of NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank to raise standards of living around the globe. It would inject into the globalization debate a concern for the migration and displacement of people, not simply globalization’s promise for profits. This is not addressed when the issue is defined as the “immigration problem.” Bush’s “comprehensive solution” does not address any of these concerns. The immigration problem, in this light, is actually a globalization problem.

BUZZ FLASH.COM GUEST CONTRIBUTION">THE FRAMING OF IMMIGRATION

BIG BROTHER IS LISTENING TO AND WATCHING YOU: AT&T WHISTLE BLOWER EVIDENCE UNCUT

Ken just sent this bombshell a few moments ago. LS

This is the evidence compiled by former AT&T technician Mark Klein on just how the NSA Domestic Surveillance Program works. -K

FROM WIRED NEWS.COM: AT&T WHISTLE-BLOWER'S EVIDENCE UNCUT

HOLY MACKERAL. ANOTHER BOMBSHELL SENT BY MY FRIEND KEN IN CALI. AND IT IS GOOD NEWS THIS TIME! LS

DEMOCRAT WINS ELECTION IN A HARD CORE REPUBLICAN DISTRICT OF PENNYSLVANIA THAT HASN’T HAD A DEMOCRAT ELECTED TO OFFICE FOR AN ENTIRE CENTURY.

Excerpt:

Chester ranks as one of the most invulnerable Republican counties in the Keystone State, historically perhaps the most invulnerable. Until recent years, Democrats were lucky even to find credible candidates for local office; election victories were rare. The Democratic nomination in most instances was a kamikaze mission; only the parting sake wine toast was missing.

But Tuesday in a special election to fill the vacant state Senate seat covering Chester and a part of neighboring Montgomery County, a Democrat, Andrew Dinniman, routed Carole Aichele, the Republican favorite who had been dubbed by local GOP leaders "a slam-dunk candidate."

THE STAR LEDGER.COM “FARMER: IN PENNSYLVANIA, AN OMINOUS SIGN SIGN FOR THE GOP