Yay!!

Especially now that Weiner's gone, this is great news:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- WFTV learned on Monday that former U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson is running for office again.

On Monday, Grayson said he doesn't plan to do anything different. He said he's running again because of all the people who have reached out and asked him to. Grayson already raised nearly $100,000 in donations before filing his paperwork on Monday.

"We need somebody who's gonna stick up for what's right. Somebody with guts," Grayson said.

During Grayson's last campaign an ad referred to his opponent, Daniel Webster, as Taliban Dan. Grayson lost his District 8 Congressional seat to Webster after a highly controversial campaign. And Grayson's take on the Republican health care plan caught national attention.

"Republican plan: don't get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly," said Grayson on the floor of Congress..

Looking back, Grayson said he has no regrets about his campaign.

"What went wrong with my campaign, and Democratic campaigns all over the country, is that Democrats didn't vote," said Grayson.

Grayson said he's proud of his track record, from jobs, to helping Central Florida's housing crisis.

"When I started, there were 3,000 families every month losing their homes in Orange County. We got that number down to 1,500," said Grayson.

Grayson said his approach this time around depends on the circumstances, but for the sake of supporters who sent him donations before he announced he's running again, he said he has no plans to hold back.

"We're fighting for our survival. We're fighting for our jobs, our homes. We're fighting for Social Security and Medicare," said Grayson.

Grayson may not be running for his old seat with redistricting under way right now, he may end up running for a newly created seat for Orlando. It's still to early to know who he will be running against.

At least there'll be ONE actual Democrat in the House.

UPDATE: Grayson's announcement e-mail:

I’m in.  I’m running for Congress.


I’m running because I  promised Charlaina and Rick that I would.   Charlaina called me a few weeks ago, from the hospital.  She told me that her husband, Rick, was suffering from multiple organ failure – lungs, kidneys and liver.

Rick was 56 years old.  That’s three years older than me.

Rick was a veteran.   But the Veterans Administration wasn’t covering his hospital bills.

Rick had had a bad liver  since he was 30, when he contracted hepatitis.  No insurance company would go  near him.


Every day Rick survived, his  family owed several thousand dollars more to hospitals and doctors.  And  they had no way to pay it.

I told Charlaina how sorry I  was.  And I told her that I wasn’t in  Congress anymore, so I wasn’t sure how I could help.

She said: “You can run again.”

“You are the only person who ever cared about people like us.  Rick wants people in Congress who can’t be  bought and sold.  Rick wants you to run again.”

A dying man wants me to run  for Congress.  What exactly could I say?

I promised that I would run.

Rick died on June 30, 2011,  at 5:55 p.m.

I’m keeping my promise.   I’m in.

For the four million people in Florida who can’t see a  doctor when they are sick, and  the fifty million nationwide, I’m in.

For the 70% of all homeowners  in Orlando who owe more than they own on their home, and the 25% nationwide who  are “underwater,” and feel like they  are drowning, I’m in.

For the six million Americans who haven’t worked in  six months and are seeing their  benefits running out, for the eight million more who are unemployed, and for  the eight million on top of that who can find only part-time work, I’m in.

For the millions of parents  who have absolutely no idea how to  pay for a college education for their children, I’m in.

And for everyone who is  appalled by the prospect that we may cut Social Security and Medicare benefits  as we spend more than $150 billion a  year on three unnecessary wars and almost  $100 billion a year on the Bush tax cuts for the rich, I’m in.


I’m in.  And  I’m going to need your help.  Are you in?

Click here to contribute to my campaign

The only Democrat I will give money to in this election cycle

And it sure looks like he's running:

Now who looks like the raving lunatic here? (Hint: It isn't Grayson.)

Since when does the desire to have a job make you an unreasonable money-grubber who wants a pony and a baseball team?

The Daily Weiner

My Congressional Hero (at least until Grayson wins again):

More Democratic Congressional Awesomeness

And on the other side of the "powerful delivery" spectrum, we have Rep. Joe Crowley:

(h/t)

Millions of kids all over the country whose last name is "Weiner" owe a debt of gratitude to this guy

Thanks to Rep. Anthony Weiner for single-handedly changing the connotation of the name "Weiner" to mean "badass."

And more music blogging

Rep. Donna Edwards lays some Jack White on the Republicans:

...and the source:

Friday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said

Today's honoree: Sen. Patty Murray, who shows the weakass, spineless Democrats she works with how you frame an issue:

Money quote:

...there are those in the house who are willing to shut down the government, take people's paychecks away from them, because they want to deny women access to health care in this country.

See, Democrats? It's that simple. Now, are you going to sacrifice cervical cancer screening and mammograms and in many cases, women's primary health care, on the altar of "bipartisanship"?

I'm afraid we already know the answer.

When They Were Democrats

Via Driftglass, Mario Cuomo's 1984 Democratic National Convention keynote speech:

It's hard to add to that, but Drifty did it masterfully:

For all the good it will do, this is a reminder that some of us know damn -- and will never stop Saying Out Loud -- the ugly truth that you dare not ever admit in public: that the Movement you spent so many years helping to build was born corrupt and raised by monsters.

That you were warned at every step along the way that teetering on the edge of a fascist abyss with giggling, Bible-thumping sociopaths trying to shove us over the edge is exactly where your grotesque cult of Thatcher and Reagan would land us.

And now that we are all squatting in the ruins of the culture your Movement destroyed, how will you atone?

Thursday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said

Today's honoree: Rep. Anthony Weiner, for reaching across the aisle and giving kudos to the Republicans for at long last voting to free us from Tom and Ray Magliozzi:

Because after all, isn't that the most important thing that Americans care about?

I'll go Weiner one better. I'll congratulate the Republicans for their efforts to free us from these people:

And this guy:

And oh yeah...this dirty fucking hippie too:

...who plays dirty fucking hippie music like this:

Because in a country where companies refuse to hire the already-laid-off, where people over 50 are told they have to work till they're 70 in jobs that don't exist and young people out of college can't find jobs either; where states are requiring that religious dogma be taught as science and that everyone must have a gun and that 11-year-olds who were gang raped were asking for it, and where the thing that precipitated today's vote to defund NPR was demonstrated to be a fake by a site owned by none other than Glenn Fucking Beck, the most important thing in the world, what Americans went to the polls for in 2010 and voted for these clowns to do, was to get rid of NPR.

Honorable mention: The Great Driftglass, who pointed me to Weiner's awesome video.

Money quote:

Debate and reason do not work, because Conservatism is no longer operationally a political philosophy, and the GOP is no longer a political party. They are cults, and no self-respecting cult junior assistant copy-boy who is gunning for a promotion to the Cult Home Office ever made it into cult middle management by saying, "Whoopsie! Looks like we got this one wrong! Maybe the infidels are right this time and we need to rethink the Glorious and Infallible words of our Foundational Dogma."

Thursday Anthony Weiner Blogging

Because we are going to post videos of His Awesomeness in action whenever we find them:

(via ABL)

Alan Grayson may be gone, but Anthony Weiner is still fighting the good fight

I wish I had him instead of Scott the Wingnut Hypocrite Garrett as my Congressman:

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone

I know. But the denizens of Florida's 8th district, when their theocratic new Congressman votes to screw them over ten ways to Sunday, are going to miss this guy:

Hey, Florida 8th District Schmucks! You're going to miss this guy before it's all over

One mo' time:

With Alan Grayson leaving, Dennis Kucinich may be the last bastion of sanity in the House

Dennis Kucinich plans to do what he can to smack down Darrell Issa if he can become the Ranking Member on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

Dear Colleague,

Perhaps the most crucial vote you will cast in the reorganization of the 112th Congress involves the Ranking Member position of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This is because the presumptive Chair of the full Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, has already made wild and unsubstantiated charges which threaten to tum the principal oversight committee of the House into a witch hunt.

In just the past week, he has indicated a telling enthusiasm for a broad probe into the $700 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act program. He has equated it with “walking around money.” As you know, that is political slang for money off the books and under the table. He made this unsubstantiated claim in the context of promising hundreds of investigative hearings into the present Administration, calling President Obama “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times.” I immediately sent Mr. Issa a letter (attached) calling for him to produce the evidence for such charges or to retract his statement.

Mr. Issa, through his eagerness to make unsubstantiated charges and to draw conclusions in advance of evidence, reveals a lack of restraint and basic fairness. This conduct in the Chairman of the Committee will degrade Congress’ oversight credibility and undermine the institution of the House through a lack of restraint in the use of subpoena power.

We cannot simply stand by idly and hope that such a reckless approach to the use of the power of the Chair will not happen, especially since it is not only being promised, but demonstrated by the person who will hold the gavel.

It is a matter of the highest importance that any intemperate use of the power of the Chair be challenged at every turn. Accordingly, I have decided to step forward as a candidate for Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In that capacity, here is my pledge to you and our fellow members ofthe House:

1. Zero tolerance for smears and innuendo. Every single statement by Chairman Issa which is lacking in respect for the process of oversight, every unsubstantiated allegation or any publically pronounced assumption which lacks basic fairness will be promptly challenged.


2. I will encourage a team approach on the Committee which will tap the talents of all members to actively participate in responding to any abllse of process.


3. All members will receive weekly updates of oversight activities to be able to provide input.


4. Cooperation with Chairman Issa when, and only when, he proceeds in an even-handed manner which demonstrates basic fairness and respect for due process.

In the past two Congresses, the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, which I chaired, held over sixty hearings and heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses. We received testimony from Democratic and Republican administrations alike, proceeding in a deliberate and methodical manner, through thorough questioning of witnesses.

As Chairman, I worked closely with the Obama Administration. As a result of my advocacy and the multiple hearings that my Subcommittee held on foreclosure prevention, the Treasury Department created a $15 billion nationwide principle reduction program for “underwater” borrowers and now will allow flexibility in the use of federal foreclosure prevention funds by state housing agencies so that they’ can hire foreclosure prevention counselors.

Aggressive and thorough oversight is never to be feared. It is a goal. Now, with the change in the leadership of the Committee, we must be ready to preserve that goal tirelessly, courageously and unstintingly. That is the only way we can defend the integrity of congressional oversight from becoming an abusive power.

I ask for your consideration and your vote for Ranking Member of the full Committee.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich
Chair, Domestic Policy Subcommittee
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

More here.

I want to be a producer....

Ever want to be a producer? Now you can; not of a Broadway show, but of a documentary film about Alan Grayson:

Help the directors keep filming until the election here.

Democrat With Balls

We forget sometimes what it looks like. THIS is how you deal with Republican thugs:

And this was Anthony Weiner arguing for health care for 9/11 workers last March:

President Obama, take notice. THIS is how it's done.

More like this, please

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI):

This is what a fighting Democrat looks like

And they thought Al Franken was just a clown.

Alan Grayson shows you don't need bankster money when your message works

It's well-known that unlike Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans who are taking bank bribes to filibuster financial reform (thus making the world safe for the kind of financial chicanery that nearly brought down the world economy in 2008), Alan Grayson doesn't suck up to bankers and corporate interests.

So where does Grayson's money come from, and how did he generate over $800,000 in campaign contributions last quarter? Well, 93% of it comes from about 25,000 individual donors -- an average of $32 per donation:

The often-polarizing Orlando Democrat expects to report raising $803,000 in the first three months of 2010, a haul that will likely eclipse what all his Republican opponents have raised combined and leave him with $1.5 million in cash-on-hand. It's also enough to outpace nearly every other member of Congress for the second quarter in a row.

[snip]

During the last quarter of 2009, Grayson raised $861,297, a total exceeded among congressional incumbents only by the $890,387 reported by U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., according to the Federal Election Commission. Berman, a staunch defender of Hollywood interests, is heavily backed by TV, music and movie donors.

But instead of tapping media interests for money, Grayson uses them to promote his brand of progressive pugilism. Grayson made a national splash in a House floor speech last fall, sarcastically blasting Republicans for a health-care reform plan that he said amounts to urging Americans to "die quickly."

He made more waves recently by taking on a Mount Dora doctor who put a sign on his office door urging Obama supporters to "seek urologic care elsewhere."

Grayson is also a brutal critic of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. A staunch defender of health-care reform, he's filed a so-called "public option" bill that would allow all residents to buy into Medicare.

All this, plus regular appearances on left-leaning TV talk shows, has enabled Grayson to build a nationwide base of small contributors. A March 27 Internet "money bomb" appeal netted roughly $470,000; a similar Nov. 3 event netted about $514,000.

Grayson's camp said the latest totals reflect nearly 25,000 individual givers, who account for 93 percent of his donations. The average gift, he said, is $32, with more than half of his total coming via the Internet.

Yes, Grayson is a self-made multimillionaire, but that hasn't stopped other candidates with huge financial resources (*cough* John McCain *cough*) from sucking up to corporate interests, promising action in exchange for cash.

Grayson's message ought to be boilerplate for any Democrat (I'm talking to you, Mr. Obama) who is looking for middle class mainstream Republican votes. You don't get the votes of non-crazy Republicans by moving further to the right, you get votes by telling the truth and by believing passionately in something. That Grayson is beloved by the liberal netroots AND is simultaneously the top choice among Republicans in his district ought to tell you something.

The comedian vs. KBR: Guess who won

Best. Senator. EVAH:

A significant test case in the Supreme Court on the legal rules that govern military contractors’ liability for employee misconduct in war zones has now ended, without any action by the Justices. In an order now shown on the Court’s docket, the Court dismissed the case of KBR Technical Services, et al., v. Jones (09-864). This was done March 11 under the Court’s Rule 46, which allows parties to agree to end a pending case; no explanation is given for such dismissals. (The petition is here, and the brief in opposition is here.)

The case has drawn heavy publicity, and led to action by Congress to limit defense contractors’ legal rights toward their workers, because it involves claims of gang rape and serious injury of a female worker for KBR (a Halliburton Co. subsidiary) in employee housing in the so-called “Green Zone” in Baghdad, Iraq. The case now is headed for trial in federal court, currently scheduled to begin in Houston on May 16 of next year. Pretrial motions are due there in February.

>The former KBR employee is Jamie Leigh Jones, whose lawsuit contends that, three days after arriving in Iraq in July 2005, she was sexually assaulted in company barracks in Baghdad. Here is the way the Fifth Circuit Court described her claims: “Jones alleges that, following a social gathering outside her barracks, at which alcohol had been consumed, she was drugged, beaten, and gang-raped by several Halliburton/KBR employees in her barracks bedrooom.” She also claims that, after the attack, her supervisors placed her “under armed guard in a container.” After she was freed, and returned to the U.S., she complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and it confirmed the assault.

Initially, she sought to have her legal claims sent to arbitration but, with a new lawyer, filed her lawsuit in federal court. KBR then sought to send the entire dispute to arbitration, noting that, as an employee, Jones had agreed to arbitrate workplace disputes. A federal judge allowed some issues to go to arbitration, but ruled that others had to be tried in court. The Fifth Circuit agreed, leading KBR to file its petition in the Supreme Court in January.

The petition accused Jones of going “to great lengths to sensationalize her allegations against the KBR Defendants in the media, before the courts, and before Congress.” The reference to congressional action was to the so-called “Franken Amendment,” named for its chief sponsor, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken. That provision, a direct response to Jones’ claims, bars some Pentagon contractors from receiving federal funds if they seek to enforce arbitration of claims against them involving sexual assault or harassment.

KBR insisted in its Supreme Court filing that “the legislation does not affect this case.” Jones’ lawyers, in opposing Supreme Court review, argued that the reach of the Franken Amendment remains unresolved. That, apparently, will be one of the issues that will be explored further as the case goes forward in federal District Court.

The KBR petition, limited to the arbitration question, argued that the Fifth Circuit had adopted “a narrow construction of standard arbitration language to exclude sexual assault claims,” setting up a conflict with other federal appeals courts and state supreme courts, and breaching the strong federal policy in favor of arbitration. Jones’ lawyers responded that the Fifth Circuit was right in concluding that her sexual assault claims were not related to her employment, and thus were outside the arbitration obligation. KBR had not filed a reply brief by the time the question of dismissing its petition arose.

KBR’s lead lawyer on the petition, Washington attorney Stephen R. Kinnaird of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker, on Monday declined a request for comment on the dismissal. Heather L. Brown, communications director for KBR Inc., in Houston, issued this statement: “KBR’s decision to withdraw its petition from the Supreme Court was related to the Franken amendment. It is our belief that the language of the amendment is very broad and vague. As a result, KBR did not want to risk being in violation of the amendment, so the company withdrew its petition.”

THAT, my friends, is what happens when Democrats stand up for what's right instead of who's powerful.