Since the untimely demise of NewsTalk 950 AM WROC, the only progressive radio station in Monroe County, I have been thinking about alternative ways to get my daily fix of progressive talk. Well, I tried what stlo7 suggested.

Buffalo has a progressive radio station, WWKB 1520. I can’t get on my radio inside my home, but it comes through pretty clearly over my car radio. They have almost the same lineup as 950 had:

• Bill Press at 6-9 am
• Stephanie Miller at 9-Noon
• Ed Schultz at Noon-3pm
• Randi Rhodes at 3-7pm
• Leslie Marshall at 7-10pm
• Alan Colmes at 10pm-1am

I’ve been listening to Stephanie Miller to cheer me up almost every morning for the past few years when I drive to school. If you like progressive radio, AM 1520 is worth checking out.

Something unfortunate has happened: the two Democratic frontrunners to be the candidate for the 26th congressional district (Jon Powers and Jack Davis) have succeeded in beating up each other rather than beating up the Republican candidate, Chris Lee. I am afraid- and this is my own personal opinion, so take it for what it’s worth- that the primary campaign has gotten so negative, that neither of them will be able to win the district this November.

In particular, Jack Davis has not only smeared Jon Powers zealously and with passion. He has been able to smear himself beyond repair. He has single-handedly ruined any chance for the Democrats to retake this seat from the Republicans. It’s sad, but I feel that the only outcome now for either candidate is defeat as a result of the campaign that Davis has run. He has made a fool of himself many times over while completely alienating the people who were his strongest supporters in 2004 and 2006. The incessant negative campaign ads have seriously damaged Powers’ image as a fresh outsider similar to what Hillary Clinton did to Barack Obama. But in this case, we don’t have six months to unite the two campaigns and backtrack on all of the attacks so that we can create a united Democratic front for the fall campaign in the way that Hillary succeeded in convincing many of her strongest supporters to get behind Obama at the convention last week.

Most importantly, it appears likely that Davis will be running all the way even if he loses the Democratic primary. He bribed his way onto the Independence Party line and he created his very own “Save Jobs and Farms Party.” It is “Connecticut for Joe Lieberman” all over again, except this time, the possible loser of the Democratic primary can’t count on the support of a majority of Republicans simply because he is in favor of their foreign policies as Lieberman did in 2006.

I hope Jack Davis loses the primary next Tuesday and supports Jon Powers in the general election. I hope that with his support, residents of the 26th district send Jon Powers to Congress this November. But the actions of Jack Davis’s campaign these last few weeks have made that scenario very improbable, if not impossible. Thus, I personally have concluded that the campaign to replace Tom Reynolds in New York’s 26th district is over before it began.

There is trooper-gate, there is her unmarried pregnant daughter, there is the fact that she was the mayor of a city that is smaller than my neighborhood and a governor of the 47th smallest state, there is her inconsistency on the bridge to nowhere, there is the uncertainty about whether she can handle the constant media attention, there is a situation in which she barely knows the man on the top of the ticket who she is running with, there is her ties to indicted Senator Stevens, and to top it all off, some people see her selection as the VP candidate for what it is, a gimmick.

But, what I can no longer stomach is to see headlines in progressive blogs that are already declaring victory with more than two months to go before the election. Anything could happen in that time period.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility for the following to happen:

The media could drop the ball on her past record and instead beat the “maverick” narrative to death. She could be a great campaigner who connects with people, in particular moderate suburban women, on a gut level. She has a compelling life story that may win over some Hillary-supporters who care more about personality politics than they do about policies. Palin could also drive a lot of evangelicals and disaffected conservatives to the polls. She may give a fantastic speech at the RNC. Biden may turn off some undecided voters if he appears too tough on her in the debate (remember Rick Lazio). Keep in mind as well, she defeated popular former Governor Tony Knowles in 2006 in a close election.

The truth is this: we can still lose this election. A six-point lead is hardly enough of a cushion to just sleep through the next few months as though we have already won.

Sarah Palin may well crash and burn, as I hope she does. But to act as though she already has is the height of electoral irresponsibility. She may be the best thing that could have happened to the McCain campaign. Three days is hardly enough time to predict how she will hold up under the spotlight.

We still have two months to go. Instead of cracking open the champaign, canvass a neighborhood. Instead of throwing confetti, convince a friend who is on the fence to vote for Obama. Instead of droping balloons from the ceiling, take part in phone-banking. Instead of declaring victory, let us recognize that we can still lose this election.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENT.

Update:

Acting like we’ve already won (or that Palin has already fallen flat on her face) here, here, here, and here and here. And those are just from two websites. Also, I’ve included some links in the first paragraph.

As Hurricane Gustav roars through the Gulf of Mexico, we as residents of Upstate New York should be thankful that we are one of the very few parts of the country that is unlikely to be hit by a major natural disaster. Just think about all of the regions of this country that are under some threat of a natural disaster:

• hurricanes and tropical storms in the South
• flooding in the Midwest
• wildfires in the Southwest
• earthquakes on the Pacific Coast
• tornadoes in the Great Plains

Those are just a few of the disasters which cause loss of property and even lives. Keep that in mind next time you hear someone complaining about lake-effect precipitation.

David Flaum, a property developer from Brighton, is scheduled to speak to the Republican National Convention next week in St. Paul. He is the chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. From the D&C:

While Jewish voters are largely enrolled as Democrats nationally, some have turned to McCain because they have viewed him as stronger on Israel than Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

“David Flaum’s participation in the GOP convention program is another example of the high priority the GOP gives to the issues of importance to the Jewish community and another indicator of the continued inroads the GOP is making amongst Jewish voters,” said the group’s executive director, Matt Brooks.

“Continued inroads”? Are you kidding me? Of the 43 members of the House and Senate who are Jewish, only three of them are Republicans. That’s right, 93% of the Jewish members of Congress are Democrats. And with Arlen Specter possibly retiring in 2010, and Norm Coleman possibly being defeated this November, that number of Jewish Republicans in Congress may go as low as one within the next few years.

Being a Jew from Brighton myself, I can tell you from years of firsthand experience, the overwhelming majority of us are progressives, if not all-out Democrats. Have any of you ever driven around Brighton in the fall of an election year? There isn’t a Republican lawn-sign anywhere in sight. At the town hall meetings with Randy Kuhl, which have apparently been discontinued, no one has ever had anything positive to say to him.

Jewish voters supported Kerry in 2004 by nearly a 3-to-1 majority of 25% to 74%. And while Jewish Democrats largely supported Clinton in the primaries, it is another group that has quickly transitioned its support to Obama and we are now one of his strongest constituencies. Indeed, Obama is now far more popular among Jewish voters than even Joe Lieberman.

“Inroads”? More like out-roads.

A summary of Paterson’s speech

• Came out on stage with his wife and son- the NY delegation goes wild and won’t let him speak, he opens his speech with his usual humor, “Thank you, my time is up.”
• He talks about his blindness and his challenges throughout life in dealing with his disability
• Mentions Michelle’s speech last night and talks about the growing difficulties with the “American promise”
• “If McCain is the answer, then the question must be ridiculous.”
• “Let’s give ‘em [Republicans] four more months and then elect Barack Obama… because Barack Obama will restore prosperity and will make the changes we need to write a new chapter in the story of the promise of America. Thank you very much!”
• NY delegation chants “David, David!” as he exits the stage

Update: Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel of Harlem gave a stirring tribute to the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “…we will stop this dog-gone immoral war, and we will be able to say thank you Stephanie, thank you Democrats, thank you Senator Obama, thank you America, and thank you God for giving us this great opportunity!”

Three days ago, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report changed a few of their House race ratings. Included among these was the move of New York’s 19th congressional district, which is based around the lower Hudson River Valley, was moved from “Likely Democratic” to “Solid Democratic.” The district voted for Bush by a nine-point margin in 2004, but it ousted longtime Republican Congresswoman Sue Kelly in 2006 in favor of the Orleans rock band member John Hall. So according to Cook, Hall would have no trouble being re-elected if the election was held today.

The only two remaining Democratic incumbents whose seats remain competitive are Reps. Mike Arcuri of the 24th district around Utica and Kirsten Gillibrand of the 20th district around Saratoga. Both of them won districts which were previously held by Republicans and they both have a competitive edge over their opponents. Gillibrand is rated as “Leans Democratic” and Arcuri is rated as “Likely Democratic.”

If you’ve been keeping up with the news at all these past few days, I’m sure you’ve heard that Obama is by all accounts going to pick his running-mate by the end of the week. So I’m interested to know who you, the loyal readers of RT, want to see as Obama’s vice presidential candidate.

Who would be the best pick for New York state? Hillary Clinton probably, if for no other reasons than she has been our Senator for eight years and she is firmly planted in the state. But if the news accounts are correct, she is not really in contention.

So without any home-state politicians to cheer on in the veepstakes, I’m interested to know who you want and who you think will be chosen.

For a long time, I’ve wanted Obama to pick either Wesley Clark or Chuck Hagel. They both bring serious foreign policy credentials to the table and they would both nullify the McCain hero factor. Chuck Hagel would show plainly that Obama is not a business-as-usual politician and he could also be any effective bridge between a President Obama and moderate Republicans in Congress (specifically in the Senate). Although, I doubt that he’ll be picked because of his strong conservative stances on economic and social issues.

Gen. Wesley Clark would be a great choice because he isn’t really a Washington politician like McCain and his ilk, but he does have decades of experience in the military, and having been the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Forces during the conflict in Kosovo adds a lot of heft to Obama’s policy toward Russia and the former USSR satellite countries like Georgia. He is a strategic and holistic thinker, and there would be a great sigh of relief from the country at-large if and when he takes over for Dick Cheney. I also don’t think that Clark will be picked as the VP because of the controversy over what he said on Face the Nation a few weeks ago and because he ran what many thought was a lackluster presidential campaign in 2004.

And now, I turn to who I think Obama will pick as his running-mate: Joe Biden. He has plenty of experience on Capitol Hill and he is a feisty campaigner. Biden could attack McCain’s terrible policy positions in a way that Obama himself cannot. He can get down in the mud and throw it right back at the Republicans while allowing Obama to stay above the fray. He is very charismatic and his policies, while I disagree with some of them, are well thought out and he can articulate them effectively. But, he voted for the Iraq War Resolution in 2002 and he has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth.

So, now that you know what I think, I want to hear from you. Who do you want it be and who do you think it will be?

Siena College is out with their latest public opinion poll and it has many interesting results:

• Gov. Paterson still has strong favorability ratings at 59-16
• New Yorkers strongly support a property tax cap, 66-23, and a circuit breaker, 75-18
• Democrats remain ahead of Republicans in the State Senate, 42-47
• Obama has a higher favorability rating than Hillary Clinton: 54-34 vs. 51-43
• McCain continues to get a bounce off of his negative campaign ads, as Obama’s lead was cut from 13% (50-37) to 8% (47-39)

On June 23rd, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno said he wasn’t going to run for reelection. On the 24th, he said he was giving up his post as Majority Leader of the New York State Senate. On July 18th, he resigned from his seat in the State Senate. And on August 14th- less than two months after leaving his job as acting lieutenant governor- he became a registered lobbyist.

From Newsday.com:

Under state law, the 79-year-old is barred from lobbying the Legislature for two years. Bruno told the Times Union of Albany that he registered as a lobbyist because in his new role, he would be dealing with the heads of state agencies and the executive branch, which awards most state contracts.

The day of the New York congressional primaries is fast approaching. On September 9th, voters in about a half-dozen congressional districts around the state will pick their candidates for the 2008 general election.

• NY-6 (Queens): Rep. Gregory Meeks is running for his seventh term in Congress and he should have no problem defeating his primary opponent, Ruben Wills- who hasn’t reported any fund-raising figures to the FEC and doesn’t even have a website.
• NY-10 (Brooklyn): Rep. Edolphus Towns didn’t do very well in the 2006 primaries. He won a three-way race with just 47% of the vote and his closest opponent was just ten points behind at 37%. His only opponent this time is former MTV Real World star Kevin Powell. Even with the anti-incumbent vote consolidated this time, I would be surprised if Towns was unseated. However, a stunning upset isn’t out of the question.
• NY-13 (Staten Island): NYC Councilmen Mike McMahon is the endorsed candidate for the Dems, but Steve Harrison is also running. On the Republican side, there continues to be a jumbled four-way race with the endorsed candidate, Frank Powers, having died tragically and suddenly in June. With the Republican Party in chaos in this district, it is likely to be an easy pick-up for whoever wins the Democratic nod.
• NY-21 (Albany): Longtime Democratic Congressman Michael McNulty announced last year that he will be retiring in 2008. There is no obvious front runner in the five-way race on the Democratic side. But in this solidly Democratic seat, whoever wins the primary will have no trouble winning in November.
• NY-26 (western Monroe County): The only congressional primary in Monroe County, this race for the Democratic nomination promises to be one of the most exciting of the night. Businessman Jack Davis and Iraq War veteran Jon Powers are the two heavyweights, with Alice Kryzan likely to finish third. The winner will face off against Republican Chris Lee in what will be one of the pivotal House races this fall.

To recap: Two longtime incumbents from the New York City area are facing off against underdog challengers. Both parties will pick candidates in an open race in Staten Island. In the capital region, Democrats will decide on who will be McNulty’s likely successor. And Monroe County gets a big say in setting the stage for one of the most competitive congressional races in the country.

The days of cheap gasoline are gone and they are never coming back.

There. I said it. I wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last.

The truth is that oil is a finite resource. In the past century, humans have already used up a majority of the world’s oil and it is never coming back. Indeed, America has only about 2-3% of the world’s oil reserves and we consume a quarter of all the oil on the planet. Yet, many if not most Americans have swallowed whole the fantasy that we have our very own Saudi Arabian desert off the coast of Florida or in the northern slopes of Alaska that is just waiting to be tapped. It’s a lie.

But our leaders from both parties- especially the Republicans- seem to be under the illusion that they can do something about the price of gas. They can’t. Nobody can. The implication is that if we only drill more, we will have $2 gasoline by next Thursday. It won’t happen. The earliest any new oil drilling could take place is about ten years from now, and by then, the market will have adjusted the price and we would save absolutely nothing when it comes to gas prices. But rest assured, we will have added considerably to the environmental woes which we are already inflicting on the only planet we have for future generations.

This oil-drilling fairy tale was epitomized last month in a taxpayer funded mailer sent out by Randy Kuhl in which he offered his plan for lower gas prices. But once you add up all of the maximum “savings,” the price of a gallon of gas comes out to about negative $1.10. In the words of a famous New Zealand politician, this is all a bunch of “puffery and bovine scatology.”

We need both of our presidential candidates to actually address the reality of the gas prices debate. We need them to say what they know but won’t admit to the American public: $4/gallon gasoline is just the beginning. Things are only going to get tougher from here on out. That should be the context of the debate, rather than what we think we can do to make this crap called oil any cheaper.

Our oilman of a president told us years ago what has become painfully obvious: “America is addicted to oil.” And you know something has gone terribly wrong when the pusher is telling the addict that they’re taking too much.

We, as Americans and indeed as human beings, need to confront this reality head-on. We don’t need more temporary or non-solution solutions.

What we need- and have needed for decades- is an Apollo project to get America off of oil. Hell, if the Brazilians could do it, why can’t the most powerful and prestigious nation in the world do it too? We need to drastically increase fuel efficiency and eventually phaseout all of the gas consuming vehicles in the next few decades. And while we’re doing that, let’s invest billions of dollars in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and efficient and environmentally-friendly biofuels. It will have to happen: the oil is running out. The question isn’t if, but when.

As I said in the title, this debate would be funny if it weren’t so pitiful. I am sick of it, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Let’s demand that the media and our political leaders actually focus on real longterm solutions, not just more of the same short term ideas like more drilling, which will hurt this nation in the long run.

This is a follow-up on a post I wrote on Friday about the pitiful protesting tactics of the House Republican minority. A few of the ultra-firebrand-conservative backbenchers in the Republican minority have been going to the House floor, despite the fact that Congress is adjourned for its summer recess, and bashing Nancy Pelosi for not having a vote on releasing more public land for oil drilling. Apparently, even the White House thinks it’s a stupid idea.

From The Hill:

The White House has rejected calls from House Republicans that it convene a special session of Congress on energy, saying it wouldn’t make a difference.

House aides said that while the president can declare that Congress must sit for an emergency session, he cannot set the agenda - only the leadership of the majority party can do that.

Thanks to the American people, the Republicans will have to just fantasize about being the majority party for a long time to come.

In a post released earlier today by Rep. Louise Slaughter on the Huffington Post, she expressed her outrage that the Defense Department would not allow Kaye Whitley to testify on Thursday at a hearing on sexual assault in the military. Dr. Whitley is the Director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office at the Department of Defense, and she had been subpoenaed to testify.

Slaughter had this to say:

I am very disturbed by the DoD’s resistance to Congressional oversight on sexual assault. The DoD’s decision to keep Dr. Whitley from testifying undermines the progress the Pentagon has made in addressing sexual assault by suggesting that there is something to hide.

She has also introduced a comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with rape and sexual assault in the military:

For three Congresses, I have introduced the Military Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Act. This legislation will ensure greater protections for service members and their families if they become victims of sexual assault or domestic violence.

During the past twenty months, the Republican minority in the House of Representatives has shown time and time again how petty and childish they can be.

They did it again just yesterday when the Republican Minority Leader John Boehner offered a resolution to censure the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel, based on an article in the New York Times. It was such a sad attempt that over 60 Republicans either voted “present,” for the motion to kill the resolution, or didn’t show up to vote at all. The three Republicans from Monroe County- Walsh, Kuhl, and Reynolds- all voted against the motion to kill the resolution (in other words, they voted to censure Charlie Rangel).

Of course, the Republicans didn’t want to hold their own people accountable by censuring any of the dozens of congressional Republicans who are under investigation, indicted, or in the case of one Idaho senator, actually plead guilty to soliciting sex from an undercover officer. Instead, they tried to slime the reputation and end the political career of Congressman Rangel based on a newspaper article.

And while yesterday the Republican minority was intent on showing us how pitiful they are, today they were committed to telling us just how pathetically weak they have become. The House adjourned today for its usual summer recess, but Republicans decided to stick around for a few hours because they were upset that the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi didn’t hold a vote on releasing more land for Big Oil to drill on. Without getting into the debate of more drilling, here is what happened:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House, turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) called it a “new Boston Tea Party!”

Indeed, they are the new Floundering Fathers.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said he was “not leaving until we call this Congress back into session and vote for energy independence.”

He left at about five o’clock with everyone else. They barely made it six hours, let along five weeks. And as we all know, drilling does nothing to make us energy independent.

Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the dimly lit chamber is a “vision of the future by the Democrat Party: The lights are out, there’s no power, and the air conditioning is gonna go off soon.”

Hilarious. This coming from the same guy who lost three solidly Republican seats, including Speaker Hastert’s old district, in only the last few months. The National Republican Campaign Committee, for the first time in recent history, is far behind their Democratic counterparts in fund-raising. Tom Cole is such a horrible campaign chairman that it looks almost impossible for him to avoid the unprecedented this November: lose even more Republican districts after the “wave election” of 2006. In the truest sense of the word, Tom Cole is a loser.

The truth is, Republicans are still suffering withdrawal from their addiction to absolute power. They had better get used to it, because they are destined to be in the minority for a long time to come.