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Hope everyone saw the Bears win on Sunday! This is an open thread, talk amongst yourselves... [Update by Tracy]: I knew Christy was going to hijack the open thread for sports stuff, and ignore the truly important news of the week, which is that Tuesday is a big day! Huge! One we've been waiting all year for! Something way better than the SOTU - Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow morning bright and early! Discuss...

President Bush delivers his State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday, January 23. Already, Americans are looking ahead to the speech...and then reflecting back on previous promises made by the president at the "SOTU." And then shaking our heads. Turns out Bush has left a trail of broken promises following his previous SOTU's. SOTU 2003: President Bush Spoke of Providing All Americans with Affordable Health Care. "We must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need." But Health Care Premiums Have Increased by Over 80 Percent. (U.S. Census Bureau, 8/29/06) SOTU 2002: Bush Said Energy Must Be Made More Affordable. In 2002, President Bush said, "Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil." But Under Bush Prices Have Climbed. Heating Costs Have Increased 64 Percent. Gas Prices 86% Higher. That's but a small sample...you can read more here, here, and here. (Those are all .pdf's, champ) It's a little sad to read all the promises that were never meant to be kept. For a break from the seriousness, you can start a pool with your friends -- bet on who the special guests will be. Bet on what Harry Reid will be wearing. Bet on how many standing ovations the Republicans give Bush. But don't bother listening to the speech, because it's unlikely any of it will actually happen.

The Super Bowl is on February 4th...let's hope the Chicago Bears are there. This is an open thread.

Hope y'all are having a good one -- don't forget the Bears play tomorrow -- Go BEARS!! This is an open thread... [Update by Tracy]: Happy Birthday to Christy McConville!

Happy Birthday Tracy Russo! Use this as an open thread...

Hearings have begun on past and future costs of the war in Iraq, with House Budget Committee chairman John Spratt providing long-overdue oversight that would never happen with the old rubber stamp Republican Congress. Already, the hearings have yielded results. During Thursday's hearing, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England stated that Bush's latest request for over $100 billion would be the last time they would be using "emergency" appropriations that are supposed to be used for actual unforeseen emergencies. An editorial in the Denver Post condemned the irresponsible Bush budgeting and praised the Democratic Congress: Such emergency measures are properly used for unforeseeable disasters like Hurricane Katrina and were appropriate to pay the start-up costs of the war on terror in the wake of Sept. 11. But it's ludicrous to use the mechanism year after year to handle the costs of the ongoing deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. At Thursday's hearing, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told the Budget Committee that the president's upcoming $100 billion-plus emergency request for the 2007 budget year would be the last such request. The administration's budget request for 2008 - to be presented the same day as the supplemental request for the current year - will be accompanied by an estimate for the war's costs in that year, though the figure might be adjusted later, England said. [...] We applaud the efforts of Spratt and his colleagues to get a handle on the war's budgetary impact. If we can't even calculate the Iraq war's cost to the treasury, how can we even hope to measure its price in lives and America's standing in the world. The smoke-and-mirrors budgeting is an attempt to fund the war outside the normal federal budget, but no longer will the Bush administration be able to avoid scrutiny on these important issues. UPDATE: TPM Muckraker's Justin Rood reports that House Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman has invited the former head of the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority, Paul Bremer, to testify in early February about "how nearly $9 billion in reconstruction funds went missing -- or in audit-speak, was 'disbursed. . . without accountability.'"

For those of you who believe good will always prevail over evil, maybe you've got something there. Senate Republicans capitulated yesterday and passed new ethics rules in the Senate. That's right, even the GOP has to concede that the culture of corruption is over in Congress. The New York Times breaks it down: The Senate passed a broad overhaul of ethics, lobbying and earmark regulations yesterday after Democratic and Republican leaders broke a two-day logjam over GOP amendments. ... The bill (S 1) would ban senators and their staff from accepting meals, gifts and trips from lobbyists; prohibit senators from negotiating for private-sector jobs while still in office; create a point of order against bills that do not identify the sponsors of earmarks; establish a database of lobbyists' contacts and activities; and force lobbyists to certify that they have complied with the gift ban. Happy Friday everyone!

An Op/Ed in the New York Times this morning talks about the plight of teachers -- the one not seen on the silver screen. From the article: At the beginning of Ms. Swank's new movie, "Freedom Writers," her character, a teacher named Erin Gruwell, walks into her Long Beach, Calif., classroom, and the camera pans across the room to show us what we are supposed to believe is a terribly shabby learning environment. Any experienced educator will have already noted that not only does she have the right key to get into the room but, unlike the seventh-grade science teacher in my current school, she has a door to put the key into. The worst thing about Ms. Gruwell's classroom seems to be graffiti on the desks, and crooked blinds. I felt like shouting, Hey, at least you have blinds! My first classroom didn't, but it did have a family of pigeons living next to the window, whose pane was a cracked piece of plastic. During the winter, snowflakes blew in. The pigeons competed with the mice and cockroaches for the students' attention. The piece goes on to talk about the pressure placed on teachers -- they are called "incompetent and underqualified," and ignored when they ask for basic materials for their classrooms, or even a living wage for themselves. They are attacked over and over again while they try to do their job on the meager resources we've given them -- and don't even get me started on class sizes and special ed. "Freedom Writers," like all teacher movies this side of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," is presented as a celebration of teaching, but its message is that poor students need only love, idealism and martyrdom. I won't argue the need for more of the first two, but I'm always surprised at how, once a Ms. Gruwell wins over a class with clowning, tears, rewards and motivational speeches, there is nothing those kids can't do. It is as if all the previously insurmountable obstacles students face could be erased by a 10-minute pep talk or a fancy dinner. This trivializes not only the difficulties many real students must overcome, but also the hard-earned skill and tireless effort real teachers must use to help those students succeed.While we all want what's best for our kids, we need to make sure we're not attacking educators who want the same. To all my friends who are teachers -- you guys are my heroes.

It's Friday morning, and here is your open thread...

Let it all out here in our open thread...

Apparently MTV has passed on making a Real World style documentary on the four Democratic lawmakers living in a Washington DC row house on Capitol Hill. That hasn't discouraged the NY Times from writing an article about the situation. So, laugh it up: "I once had to pick up a mouse by the tail that Durbin refused to pick up," complained Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, referring to his roommate Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois. This characterization is not fair to Mr. Durbin, interjected another tenant in the Capitol Hill row house, Representative Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts. For starters, it overlooks Mr. Durbin’s gift for killing rats. "He will kill them with his bare hands," Mr. Delahunt marveled. The biggest news out of this article: Senator Chuck Schumer doesn't make his bed. For political news, read all about the first 100 hours of the House of Representatives under Democratic leadership.

Even haters can't help but admit that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats are getting things done. The NY Times calls the first 100 hours "a qualified success." A quick read of the article reveals the "qualified" related to just one thing, the pay-as-you-go rules. But on the whole, the article is pretty much exuberantly hopeful. More important in terms of substantive future legislation, the ability of the Democrats to win over significant numbers of Republicans on most votes signals the slim but enticing possibility of Democratic mastery over a demoralized Republican Party -- one that has thrived on polarized partisan warfare in recent years. If the new bipartisanship takes root, the prospects for health care legislation and immigration reform sharply improve. The following bills have passed the House, and will now go to the Senate and the White House on the path to becoming law:

• Ethics reform,
• An increase in the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years,
• Enactment of the 9-11 commission's recommendations,
• Expanded stem-cell research,
• Government negotiation of prices with prescription drug companies,
• Student loan interest rates cut in half,
• The elimination of billions in subsidies for big oil companies.

Now if the Chicago Bears could just get to and win the Super Bowl, this year would be off to a fantastic start.

Despite being voted out of power by an American public sick of corruption, the Senate Republicans don't seem to have learned their lesson. Yesterday, they voted against strengthening the body's ethics rules. Yup, the Republicans joined together to vote down being more accountable. From the Washington Post: Senate Republicans scuttled broad legislation last night to curtail lobbyists' influence and tighten congressional ethics rules, refusing to let the bill pass without a vote on an unrelated measure...But its [the ethics bill] unexpected collapse last night infuriated Democrats and the government watchdog groups that had been pushing it since the lobbying scandals that rocked the last Congress. Proponents charged that Republicans had used the spending-control measure as a ruse to thwart ethics rules they dared not defeat in a straight vote. Republicans are becoming a parody of themselves. As Gob used to say on Arrested Development - oh, come on!

Our new podcast is a conversation with activist and military mom Nita Martin. She is the mother of two Marines who have served multiple tours in Iraq. It's a reminder of the strains that the president's failed Iraq policy has placed on our already thinly stretched military and their families. You can listen here.

Good morning...this is an open thread. Update/News You Can Use: Bush Administration Flip Flops on Illegal Wiretapping: The Bush administration, in a surprise reversal, said on Wednesday that it had agreed to give a secret court jurisdiction over the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program and would end its practice of eavesdropping without warrants on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists. ... Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is expected to face hostile questioning on Thursday from the Senate Judiciary Committee on the program. Dems Address Energy Bill in the House Today: Newly empowered House Democrats are optimistic they can push through an energy package of $15 billion in fees, taxes and royalties on oil and gas companies to use to promote renewable fuels. Democratic Senate Takes a Stand on Iraq: The Senate set the stage on Wednesday for a direct clash with President Bush over the war, with two senior Democrats and a prominent Republican introducing a symbolic measure to declare that the administration’s plan to send additional troops to Iraq runs counter to the national interest. Bills on Climate Move to Spotlight in New Congress: Legislation to control global warming that once had a passionate but quixotic ring to it is now serious business. Congressional Democrats are increasingly determined to wrest control of the issue from the White House and impose the mandatory controls on carbon dioxide emissions that most smokestack industries have long opposed. Senate Republicans Block Ethics Reform: the proposals appeared dead for now after 46 Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a broad ethics and lobbying bill. Fifty Democrats and one Republican, Senator Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, supported going ahead with the vote, but under Senate rules, 65 votes were needed to prevail.

Vote and make sure everyone you know does too. Your vote is your voice. Make it heard today. If you encounter any problems voting, please call 1-888-DEM-VOTE. To find polling locations online, enter a zip code on this page. Make sure you click on the "View Your Polling Place Information" button and enter in correct street address as necessary. Remind people of their voting rights: 1. If you are a registered voter, do not leave your polling location without voting. Every registered voter is entitled to cast a provisional ballot. 2. If you are in line before the poll's closing time, you are entitled to vote. 3. You are entitled to view a sample ballot at the polling place before voting.

Call everyone you know to remind them tomorrow is Election Day. Make sure your friends and family know where to go to vote, and have allotted enough time to make the trip to the polling place and wait in line. To find polling locations online, enter a zip code on this page. Make sure you click on the "View Your Polling Place Information" button and enter in correct street address as necessary. Remind people of their voting rights: 1. If you are a registered voter, do not leave your polling location without voting. Every registered voter is entitled to cast a provisional ballot. 2. If you are in line before the poll's closing time, you are entitled to vote. 3. You are entitled to view a sample ballot at the polling place before voting.

Join a Sunday night get out the vote phone bank. Help your state party call voters in your area to remind them that Election Day is November 7. A campaign staple is the phone bank, where several volunteers gather to make calls from a single location, and record the results on call sheets. With the election so close, phone banks tonight will be used to remind Democratic voters to get out to vote on Tuesday. If you need help finding a local campaign, here are a few places to start: 1. State Democratic Party. Your state party can be helpful in connecting you with campaigns in your area. Find your state on this list, and give the state party a call at the number(s) listed. 2. Find local campaigns. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has contact information for state races in all states. 3. Contact your local campaign. Another place to check for a local Democratic Party office or Democratic campaign would be Google or the Yellow Pages.

You should be canvassing all weekend through your state party or local campaign. If you haven't made plans to get out the vote yet, call your state party and get out there. If you haven't been in touch with your state party, you can find their contact information on democrats.org. Go to the the Democrats.org Local page. Click on your state and find the state Democratic Party information at the bottom of the blue box with your state's information.

Call any friends who are still on the fence and make sure they will vote for Democrats on Election Day. Counter any specific areas of disagreement with facts about what Democrats will do. Here is an unofficial list of Democratic priorities. If you need more general information, you can find it on our agenda page. Below are seven of the positive changes Democrats plan to make: 1. Double the size of Special Forces to destroy Osama Bin Laden and terrorist networks like al Qaeda. 2. Implement the bipartisan 9/11 Commission proposal to secure America’s borders and ports and screen 100% of containers. 3. Prohibit the Congressional pay raise until the nation's minimum wage is raised. 4. Make college tuition deductible from taxes, permanently. Cut student loan interest rates. Expand Pell Grants. 5. Pass initiatives for energy-efficient technologies and domestic alternatives such as biofuels. 6. Fix the Medicare prescription drug program, putting seniors first by negotiating lower drug prices and ending wasteful giveaways to drug companies and HMOs. 7. Promote stem cell research that offers real hope to millions of American families who suffer from devastating diseases.