Here in Brooklyn, we've been feeling the economic crisis at a personal level...

Between the cuts to MTA services, health care programs and public education; along with increased costs of living at every level,like a $20 increase in monthly MTA passes and a 5-8% increase in gas/electric bills, it can get tough for families on my block to make it through paycheck to paycheck.

This won't be a very popular political philosophy, but I'm going to give it a try anyway:  politics is about friendship.

You'll hear that politics is about backstabbing, about being in it for yourself, about trusting nobody.  That all may be true...in right-wing politics.  But in progressive politics, we need an approach that mirrors our values:  that we're better off when we're in it together than when we're on our own, that shared victories are our victories, the belief that bonds of trust and respect will lead to deeper connections that can rebuild society and change the world.

At least that's my belief.  And based on their actions last week, it looks like House and Senate Democrats aren't ready to practice my kind of politics.

No, I'm not talking about their failures to restore habeas corpus, ensure troop readiness or set a timeline for withdrawal.  Nor am I talking about some of the victories -- increased higher ed funds, hate crime legislation or the expansion of SCHIP -- all of which deserve praise.

But when half of the Dems in the Senate decided last week to censure the progressive advocates MoveOn (and the House followed by a larger margin this week), they revealed a lot about how they treat their "friends."

For most of this country's history, when senators wanted to single-handedly steamroll a bill they didn't like, they had to be a lot more dedicated than they do now. Taking advantage of the senate tradition of allowing unlimited debate, a single senator could "filibuster" for as long humanly possible in hopes of running out the clock and getting the bill's supporters to give up and move on. Arguably the most famous such incident was arch-segregationist Strom Thurmond's filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (a precursor to the more famous 1964 edition), in which he read from, among other things, a Charleston, S.C. phone directory for over 24 hours straight. It's hard to imagine a senator doing that over any kind of legislation today (let alone something, you know, important like the Civil Rights Act).

The first ever Hindu prayer in the U.S. senate was interrupted by 3 "protesters" shouting prayers and making a ruckus. They were removed by an officer and charged. I think the term protester is too nice for morons like this.

Full video here.

Also don't forget to go to savetheinternet.com to voice your support for Net Neutrality. Only 3 days are left till the FCC decides the fate of the internet!

Following the Republicans' block of Senate's no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday (53-38, 7 short of the 60 needed), President W. offered this; "They can have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to make the determination about who serves in my government."

My hometown was in the news today for a little scuffle that went down in the State Senate during recess of the last day in session...

A Republican Senator hit a Democratic Senator during an argument over an election reform bill... But it sounded more like a fight during recess on the last day of school.

As anticipation builds for the "first hundred hours" of the new congress, the news is actually pretty slow.  Unless of course you like to hear about Hillary Clinton calling people who call people for her to call to discuss whether or not she is calling people about thinking about maybe running for President.  

New "Be Somewhat Truthful" Strategy Works for White House

In a move that surprised Senators from both sides of the aisle, Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates was somewhat truthful while being questioned by the Senate Armed Services Committee today.  Gates acknowledged that the US is not winning the war in Iraq.  This new White House tactic must be part of a new "shock and awe" political strategy.  Either way, it worked and Democratic Senators voted unanimously to send his nomination to the full Senate.  

NY TIMES

Bayh Announces Run for (Vice) President

Bayh, who has been touted as a VP pick for every Presidential nominee since 2000, submitted the paper work today for a Presidential bid.  Bayh will most likely pull votes from his identical twin John Edwards.  Unfortunately for Bayh, Edwards has name recognition and has actually been doing stuff to run for President.  Bayh's entrance into the race is a signal that he is out for the VP nod.  NY Times Blog

With only two weeks to Election Day problems with voting machines have already started popping up, and in close races none-the-less.  

Today, officials in Virginia announced that electronic ballot machines are flawed and won't contain the entire name of Democratic candidate Jim Webb when voters are instructed to confirm their vote.  The ballot will simply have the candidate's first name.  

I've said it before, and I will say it again, I am not a conspiracy theorist...BUT, the reason election officials gave for the glitch is that his name is too long.  JIM WEBB, are you kidding me?  If two one syllable names won't fit on the page, maybe you should explore bigger ballot pages.  

Okay, okay, so the problem doesn't just affect Jim Webb.  Other down-ballot candidates will also have their names cut off in the confirmation ballot as well.  So, go ahead and disregard my non-conspiracy-theory theory.

More....

Hello, Ni Hau, Bonjour, Hola, Salve! My name is Ben Wells and I am a YP4 Fellow at Southern Methodist University in the hot and humid state of Texas. Forgive my late arrival to this blog, I promise I do have a good excuse. I have had the amazing fortune of studying abroad in China for a little under a month now, but I'm back in good ol' Mei Guo (or the USA as we call it).

Originally I was going to write about Chinese student activism and involvement that I gathered from my limited exposure in China but that will have to wait for another post. After surfing the web this afternoon I came across a little nugget that was too good to pass up. Apparently the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has released a document stating that the AP had incorrectly stated the accuracy of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in this article. After reading this I was upset to say the least. To understand why you must first know something about me - I adore Carl Sagan and his guarded philosophy of skepticism used to weed out pseudo (and junk) science. The annoyingly diverse and long running political debate on global warming is enough to get any adoring Sagan fanboy's knickers in a twist.

Tuesday, Jun 13, PFAW and YP4 staff and interns attended a forum at Demos on Immigration and Voting Rights. After remarks by Demos president Miles Rapoport, panelists Ron Hayduk and Tamar Jacoby

laid out two remarkably different positions.

Say what you want about the Senate immigration bill. I was struck by the meta-level questions that immigration and non-citizen voting raise.