NDN Blog

The image of Iran as an evil monolithic nation, dominated by radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has always been a flawed one, and much like his nemesis President Bush, his domestic political support is collapsing.  From the WSJ:

Many of Tehran's elite politicians and even clerics have long harbored concerns about Mr. Ahmadinejad, who ascended to the country's top political post from outside the traditional ruling circles. But the immense popularity he generated among Iran's poor and working-class voters kept many of his critics from speaking out or openly moving against his policies.

...a round of elections late last year -- for local municipal and village leaders as well as an important national consultative body -- has undermined Mr. Ahmadinejad's political momentum and unleashed a flood of public criticism and moves to clip his wings. Candidates whom Mr. Ahmadinejad supported fared poorly in the elections, while key adversaries re-established themselves as fixtures of the political scene.

In Tehran's city council, from which Mr. Ahmadinejad launched his campaign for president two years ago, his supporters went from a majority to a handful of seats. Meanwhile, Hashemi Rafsanjani, whom Mr. Ahmadinejad defeated in the presidential election two years ago, dominated the voting for seats on the Assembly of Experts, the body charged with choosing a new Supreme Leader when the 67-year-old Mr. Khamenei steps down or dies.

Since those public votes, a drumbeat of criticism against Mr. Ahmadinejad's administration has emerged from within Iran's Parliament and among some senior regime officials. The president even found himself confronted by a crowd of jeering students during an appearance at a Tehran university campus, with a video of the incident distributed on the Internet.

Al Franken announced today that he intends to leave Air America Radio and will give "serious consideration" to running for US Senate in his home state of Minnesota.  He thanked his 1.5 million listeners and expressed optimism for the future of Air America, following its purchase by the Green brothers, Mark, former NYC Public Advocate, and Stephen, a leading real estate developer. 

Al promised to make a decision on challenging Republican Norm Coleman soon, and hinted that he might announce on or before his final show on February 14th.

You can hear Al make the non-announcement announcement here.

The Saudi's new Ambassador to the United States is young, not a member of the royal family, an alumnus of the University of North Texas and Georgetown University, and couldn't be assuming his position at a more pivital moment for US-Saudi relations. 

Read more...

The President wants them gone and Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Dave Obey has steadfastly resisted pressure to allow them, so why is Congress still talking about earmarks? 

The Washington Post explains:

...Democrats now in charge of spending on Capitol Hill say they will not allow those narrow, special-interest provisions when they introduce a resolution this week to fund the federal government for the remaining eight months of the current fiscal year. Those unprecedented ground rules complicate an urgent matter, for unless Congress can agree on a new spending plan by Feb. 15, the government will shut down.

But what precisely is an earmark?

That question has been at the heart of passionate negotiations across the capital as lawmakers, federal agencies and lobbyists argue over what constitutes waste and what is legitimate spending.

The debate goes beyond semantics. The stakes are huge -- deciding how to spend $463 billion between now and Sept. 30 on thousands of programs run by local communities, states and federal agencies. While public debate on Capitol Hill has been dominated by the war in Iraq, closed-door arguments about what the federal government will fund this year have been nearly as intense.

Earmarks will probably return in FY 2008, but thanks to a campaign promise kept, they will have to be attached to a member's name.  Ending the practice of inserting anonymous earmarks into spending bills is an important first step in appropriations reform, and will help restore faith in Congress, as well as the budgeting process. 

The Washington Post reported Friday on the innovative efforts of Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly to bring greater transparency to state government through the use of the new tool of internet video.

Upset that Republicans are killing bills without recording the vote, a Democratic operative is trolling the halls of the State Capitol with a video camera to put Republicans on the defensive.

Last year, House Republican leaders implemented new rules that allow for a bill to be killed in a subcommittee, where formal votes are not usually taken. Democrats tried and failed last week to reverse the rule.

"We saw last election how [video] can be a powerful tool, so now we are helping bring sunshine and openness to the General Assembly," said Mark Bergman, a state Democratic Party spokesman.

Click below to watch the video of the House Commerce and Labor subcommitte holding a closed-door, unrecorded vote on the minimum wage bill:

The Senate took its first action on immigration yesterday, inserting an amendment into the minimum wage bill that would withhold federal contracts from companies that hire illegal immigrants.

The Senate, by a 94-0 vote Thursday, inserted a federal contracting ban for businesses that violate immigration laws into a bill that would raise the federal floor on hourly pay from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years. To become law, the Senate immigration provisions would have to be approved by House and Senate negotiators if and when they meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of minimum wage legislation. The House approved a minimum wage boost earlier this month.

Nowhere in Alexis de Tocqueville's classic portrait of early American civic life Democracy in America does the line "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great" appear.  But that doesn't stop politicians from quoting it, begining with Eisenhower and running all the way through current Republican candidate Sam Brownback.  Thanks to Tyler Hudson for pointing this out.  Read more on the history of this Franco-forgery here, and look at the third paragraph of the letter on the Brownback for President website for the uncredited lift.

Univeristy of Maryland Professor of Political Science, recent author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South and good friend of NDN Tom Schaller was on The Colbert Report.  Watch him on Colbert and at NDN's post-election event below.

Once again, the President is sending troops into battle without proper equiptment. 

The plight of the children of illegal immigrants is an important reminder why we continue to advocate and work for comprehensive immigration reform:

They can attend public schools through high school but often can't get the financial aid needed for college.

They can get emergency medical treatment but often can't get the preventive care to keep minor health issues from becoming full-blown problems.

And, under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent proposals, undocumented immigrant children would be given unprecedented access to healthcare but would lose long-term welfare benefits.

Such children often face a confusing thicket of public policies reflecting sympathy for their vulnerability and disapproval of their parents' illegal behavior...

For children like Thania Gomez, a 16-year-old from Los Angeles, passage of the measure would be a godsend. Last year, she said, she attended a scholarship fair in Los Angeles — only to be turned away because the aid was limited to legal residents.

"Everyone was getting a chance and I wasn't," said Thania, whose mother smuggled her over the border as an infant.

Her 20-year-old brother, Cesar, won acceptance to UC Berkeley two years ago. But he was ineligible for public financial aid and had to turn down the offer.

During a recent visit to the Gomezes' tidy Los Angeles apartment, all four family members spoke of the importance of hard work and education. Cesar and Thania's father, Felipe Gomez, who came here illegally in 1990, said his main motivation was to give his two children opportunities.