Rep. "Bill Thomas... broke down in tears on the House floor [Thursday] as he confessed to a hushed assemblage that he summoned the Capitol police on Friday not only to restore order, but also to break up a meeting of Democrats... But the remarks, though warmly received, did little to satisfy Democrats' complaints about the ill treatment they say they suffer at the hands of Republicans, and it was clear within minutes that the fracas had hardly ended. 'I thought that Mr. Thomas's emotional apology answered some of the questions that we had, but not all,' Ms. Pelosi told reporters. While saying she sympathized with Mr. Thomas and accepted his apology, she added, 'That's not the end of it.'... Ms. Pelosi, who complained that [Thomas] 'sat silently on Friday while his colleagues misrepresented the facts,' said she was pressing the House leadership to make the police report public, and was demanding that the pension bill be sent back to the committee for a new hearing." You GO, Nancy!

"No one can recall a committee chairman ever calling in the police to preempt fisticuffs between colleagues or to evict members from a meeting room - the two competing versions of the events of July 18. But there is ample precedent for how such a flashpoint can be amplified into a rallying cry to take back power. Ever since the 2002 elections, Democrats have struggled for a unifying message to rally their troops, at least on Capitol Hill. The war and the economy didn't do it fully; too much division within Democratic ranks. But abuse of majority power is something all minority Democrats can agree on, and Friday's events opened a new opportunity to amplify what they believe is a valid complaint... There is precedent for scoring political points over such a move: The most recent is when Republicans staged a walkout in January 1985, after House Democrats refused to seat GOP challenger Richard McIntyre of Indiana... 'It was a turning point for Republicans,' says Larry Sabato."

"'Today, some of the most senior Democrats in Congress said, 'we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it any more,'' said Rep. Rangel. 'The House Republicans have gone well beyond the powers of the majority party. They can enact legislation because they have the votes and set the terms of debate. But I don't care how big the majority is, they have no right to threaten members of Congress with police action.' 'As it stands, the Republicans have a slim majority and yet they have a long history of trying to suppress the rights of Democratic members to be heard, to be given fair notice of what we are asked to vote on, and to express our views. We Democrats represent almost half the population and yet we are forced to hold sit-ins. Then, they call the cops! The idea that a member of Congress would call the Capitol Police on other members performing their Constitutional duties is deplorable." You GO, Charlie!

PentaPost reports, "The House of Representatives erupted into open warfare today when Democrats stormed out of a Ways and Means Committee session and the panel's chairman called in the Capitol Police. The day began with a fairly ordinary procedural fight over [a] pension bill. Committee Democrats complained that the Republican majority had not given them enough time to review a substitute bill that they had received shortly before midnight Thursday. Most of the Democrats then moved to a nearby library to plot strategy after they demanded that Republicans read the legislation line by line. Infuriated, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) instructed the Capitol Police to remove the Democrats from the ornate library... After the one remaining Ways and Means Democrat got in a spat with a GOP committee member, Thomas dispensed with the reading of the bill altogether and pushed through the legislation, without a single Democratic vote." Finally - Dems fighting back!

Helen Dewar writes, "Behind the Senate's long-running impasse over the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada is a broader struggle over Bush's aggressive exercise of power on Capitol Hill, which has emboldened Republicans, enraged Democrats and prompted a bitter confrontation between them. This broader concern helps explain why the fight has been so fierce and why the test of wills is unlikely to end with the confirmation, rejection or indefinite delay of Estrada's nomination... The key dispute has centered on Democrats' complaints that Estrada exemplifies an attempt by Bush to 'pack' the federal courts with conservatives... [and] a seething frustration among many Democrats over what they regard as Bush's cavalier treatment of the GOP-controlled Congress... 'One of the reasons we [Democrats] have held together on Estrada is the feeling that there is such arrogance toward Congress' said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y). 'It's unified, strengthened and energized us.'"

"Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)., is undeterred. He has formed a group of 'progressive' Senate Democrats that he hopes will help craft a bolder, more aggressive agenda than the one the party took to voters before last November's election. 'With the Republican monopoly on Congress and the White House, our voice is needed now more than ever,' Durbin said in an interview Thursday. 'We think there's power behind our ideas.' So far, the group has only about a half-dozen members, including Sens. Jon Corzine (NJ), Edward Kennedy (MA) and Russ Feingold (WI)... In the aftermath of the November elections, when the Democrats lost control of the Senate and failed for the fourth consecutive election to regain the House, many Democrats said it was time for a new strategy. As Durbin put it, '[Bush] swamped us. He grabbed the microphone and the message, and we were left behind. What we are trying to do is focus on an agenda and an approach that will help define the differences between the two parties.' "

Speaking to Congress on 3-20-02, Rep. Pete Stark delivered a stinging denunciation of GOP plans to block debate of the budget. "Mr. Chairman, there are some of us who remember this world in the 1930s, when Hitler suspended the Bundestag to promulgate conservative ideology and not let people speak. It is a shame that the Republicans in the House, Mr. Chairman, have taken up that same ideology and are denying a chance for debate and open discussion of a budget. It does smack of fascism; and it is too bad, because the American people will recognize that and understand that in a free economy, and in a free country that created programs like Social Security and Medicare and special education and aid for dependent children and aid for people who are unable to care for themselves, for the disabled, that to deny them care is obscene... The overwhelming desire of the Republican Party is to destroy programs in the Federal Government, except those few intended for the very wealthy."

An aggressive progressive knows (s)he is making a difference when the corporate media starts attacking. The Washington Post tries to trash Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), but the worst thing they can say about him is that he writes a lot of letters to corrupt Republicans - a crime with which we were previously unfamiliar. What else has this despicable (to the Post) Democrat done? "He has fought for, among other causes, tougher clean-air and water standards, more funding for AIDS research and harsher measures against tobacco companies." That sounds pretty darn good to us! You go, Henry!

"There was a large underground explosion in American politics last week... The big bang was a surge of rage and a rising sense of betrayal among Democrats. It was detonated by President [sic] Bush's budget and the administration's open strategy of using [Bush's] war popularity to push a starkly conservative agenda on domestic issues. Democrats see their own support for Bush's approach to terrorism being repaid by a brazen effort to strip the federal Treasury of resources for a generation and to create a permanent tilt in American politics toward the right... The great Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections came in part because Republicans in Congress... tired of what they saw as the brazen, highhanded uses of power by the Democrats. Republicans were deeply and genuinely angry, and they transformed their anger into unity and triumph. [Bush's] domestic policies are now brewing exactly that kind of anger among Democrats." So writes the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne.

"House Democrats chose California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as their new minority whip today, making her the highest-ranking woman in congressional history. Pelosi, who defeated 11-term Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer 118 to 95, vowed to showcase her colleagues as part of the party's effort to reclaim the majority in 2002. 'We made history, and now we have to make progress,' Pelosi said in a press conference after the election. The rivalry between Hoyer and Pelosi for whip, the leader responsible for rounding up the needed votes to pass legislation, sparked an internal debate about the future of the Democratic Party. Hoyer campaigned as a moderate who could help the party win in swing districts, while Pelosi argued her election and emphasis on rank-and-file members would convey a message of diversity to American voters."

Congressional Democrats seem to be responding to the terrorist attack by caving in to whatever the rightwingers want. So far they have helped sell out several civil liberty protections. They have approved without any dissent the right of Bush to select a guilty party and go after them in any way he sees fit. And they slipped through the approval of John Negroponte as UN ambassador, a man who was accused of tolerating terrorist activities in Central America. They are allowing the tragedy to be used as an excuse to suspend their judgment and their ideals. We say, if you want to honor those who fell in the Sept. 11 disaster, do so by preventing their deaths from being used as an excuse to dismantle the America they loved.

As July drew to a close and Senate Democrats settled into their newly acquired committee chairmanships, lawmakers launched a barrage of requests for information from the Bush administration on everything from the makings of its energy policy to a Justice Department decision on gun control. "The Senate has gone from being relatively compliant to constantly on the prowl," said Larry Sabato, governmental studies director at the University of Virginia. "The president had a six-month dream vacation. That's over now." Rep. Henry Waxman's spokesman, Phil Schiliro said. "We have raised perfectly legitimate questions and in trying to avoid answering these questions, the administration has raised 'the politics of personal destruction' as a shield" - a bogus shield that won't work.

"Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan said on Tuesday he will begin a probe on the increase in fuel prices once he becomes chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations... Levin accused oil companies of gouging consumers at the pump as the firms have collectively racked up billions of dollars in record quarterly profits. 'The oil companies need to explain why gas prices have increased so dramatically given that there has been no comparable increase in the per barrel cost of oil to them,' he said.

When George W. Bush stole the election, the New York Times was utterly silent. When Republicans like Trent Lott and Tom DeLay pushed Congress over the right edge of the earth, the New York Times barely said boo. But now that Democrats control the Senate, the Times is red-baiting Democrats like Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, and Ernest Hollings. Why? Because they "worry New Democrats." What a riot! Where were these "New Democrats" on the $1.6 Trillion Tax Giveaway? They were leading the charge for more! When it comes to Congressional priorities, the "New Democrats" have no credibility - and neither does the New York Times.

"US Representative John Joseph Moakley, the dean of the New England House delegation and a legislator's legislator on Capitol Hill, died of leukemia [Monday] at Bethesda Naval Hospital outside Washington, D.C. He was 74. The South Boston Democrat, who was universally known as ''Joe,'' was among the last of a breed: the down-to-earth pol from Massachusetts who walked the corridors of congressional power with the easy familiarity - and bluff authority - of a cop on the beat."

Although Democrats barely control the Senate, they don't control the House or the White House - so little of their legislation is likely to pass. But they do have the power to hold hearings and issue subpoenas. Writing in TomPaine.com, David Corn offers a number of suggestions: energy price-gouging, prescription price-gouging, Republican fundraising and influence-peddling, Bush's AWOL, Florida's false felon purge, etc. Will they be accused of playing "politics"? Of course! But if Democrats are afraid of "politics", then we demand a refund of all of our POLITICAL contributions.

TJ Walker has a few more good suggestions for Senate investigations. "How about four weeks of publicly televised hearings investigating the Arkansas Project featuring Hillary Clinton grilling Richard Mellon Scaife and Ted Olson day after day after day? The Senate should subpoena ever last White House aide to find out who erroneously put out information that the Clinton Administration vandalized the White House last January. Next, how about investigating whether Rush Limbaugh’s radio show is an illegal $50 million campaign contribution to the Republican Party?" TJ also has some pointed thoughts about retiring Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL).

On May 23, all 50 Republican Senators voted for the $5.5 TRILLION tax giveaway to the rich, enough to guarantee its passage (with Cheney's help). But so did 12 Democrats - Blanche Lincoln (AR), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Max Cleland (GA), Zell Miller (GA), John Breaux (LA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Jean Carnahan (MO), Max Baucus (MT), Ben Nelson (NE), Robert Torricelli (NJ), Tim Johnson (SD), and Herbert Kohl (WI). This was the most horrendous vote in 20 years, and these Democrats need to be held accountable BY THEIR DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUENTS. If you are from one of these states, we urge you to join your statewide chapter of Democrats.com and coordinate a letter-writing campaign to your Senator, and plan an open and widely-publicized meeting for Democrats on his or her next visit back to your state. Who do these Democrats think elected them???

When Democrats take control of the Senate, they will first pass the bipartisan education bill. Next is the patients' bill of rights, which Republicans will try to block with a filibuster. Then: a minimum wage increase, a prescription drug benefit as part of Medicare and energy initiatives excluding drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but including conservation measures and some relief for California; election law reforms and leaning on the House to pass campaign finance legislation, privacy initiatives and modest gun control measures. They will almost certainly block further tax cuts, except modest breaks for small businesses to help ease the burden of a minimum wage increase. They are also likely to balk at antiabortion legislation.

We've always been puzzled by James Jeffords, a man whose record shows sincere concern for the environment and whose home state has been inching in a more progressive direction in recent years. How could such a man tolerate the "new Republican" party with its one-dimensional, anti-nature, anti-poor gang mentality? We are relieved to hear he's at least wrestling within his soul over the issue. We pray his soul - the part that cares for the environment and his less fortunate fellow humans - will win out. And, Jeffords would offer the Dems a sound anchorman.

"Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.) threatened to slash the spending projects of lawmakers who broke ranks to support President [sic] Bush's $1.35 trillion tax-cut plan... Byrd, who favors using the bulk of the projected budget surpluses to pay down the debt and fund domestic spending programs, [wants to] to cut out these Senators' pet projects." Byrd said, "For non-defense programs, the level provided in the budget conference is $5.5 billion below what is necessary just to keep pace with inflation. That leaves no resources for increases that every Senator recognizes is necessary." Democrats are particularly mad at Max Baucus (MT) and Max Cleland (GA), who are up for re-election in 2002 and think they will win by selling out Democrats and cozying up to be Republicans. It's a losing strategy! As Harry Truman said, "give the people a choice between a Republican and a Republican and they will vote for the Republican every time" - the real one.

The Republicans and the Wall Street Journal are screaming like stuck pigs because the Democrats are threatening to employ the same hardball tactics invented by the Republicans in their all our war against President Clinton. Well, it's about time. What do you think avoiding a complete roadblock of judicial appointments is worth to the Bush Administration? If they get their judges we ought to demand a little justice to go along with them.

Rep. James A. Traficant (OH), who is listed as a Democrat but regularly attacks the party and votes with the Republicans, was indicted on 10 counts of tax evasion, bribery and obstruction of justice by a federal grand jury investigating public corruption in northeastern Ohio. Traficant, 59, has long predicted that he would be indicted and pledged on the House floor last year that he would "fight like a junkyard dog" against the Justice Department's corruption investigation.

"Democrats say Bush's symbolic gestures haven't been supported by actual cooperation. They angrily complained that the president has visited their home states to pressure individual senators to support his budget and tax plan, which in the end received near party-line votes. Increasingly combative Democrats are airing a harsh television ad criticizing Bush for pro-business regulatory moves; it features a young girl asking for more arsenic in her water and a boy asking for salmonella on his sandwich. 'Instead of working with Democrats, this president has pursued a my-way-or-the-highway agenda that includes no consultations, no negotiations, no collaboration and no compromise,' House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) complained at a news conference last week, describing as a "disappointment" Bush's first 100 days. 'He has frozen us out of deliberations on the budget and tax cuts, sending a message that he is uninterested in consensus and unwilling to meet us halfway.'" You tell 'em, Dick!

What does a long-time community activist from Chicago, now a Congressman, have to say about the Bush regime and what Democrats need to do to rise up and advance progressive causes? Danny Davis, from Illinois' 7th Congressional District has quite a bit on his mind. "If you want to win--I’m not talking about winning an election or winning on an issue; but if you want to help America become the America that it’s never been and yet must be... I think America has the potential of doing a much better job than what we’ve done. So that’s worth the fight and worth the effort. That’s worth remaining involved."

Renegade Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) sounds more like Bart Simpson than a US Senator: "I'm not a maker of deals. I'm a breaker of deals." Does Miller have anything constructive to offer America?

Tom Daschle has surprised Washington pundits by helping to hold Senate Democrats together for a number of key votes, including campaign finance reform and a smaller tax cut. As a result, Daschle is now considered the Democratic leader in Washington, and a possible Presidential candidate in 2004.

The Dems are finding their lungs at last! This week, Rep. David Bonior (D-MI), House second-in-command, told a radio audience that Shrub's environmental policy amounts to treating corporate polluters "to an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of environmental giveaways." Bonior pointed out that while retaining Clinton's lead regulations, Bush has still failed to release an EPA report underscoring the cancer dangers of dioxin.

RANGEL & Staff, A Clear, (But Not Very Pretty,) Picture of The GOP Budget: "This is a ruse - a sucker punch designed to attract Americans wary of a big tax cut..." PATRICK LEAHY, on Campaign Finance: "Rallies have been mounted in cities and towns from coast to coast..." NANCY PELOSI, to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao: "In another attack on American working families, the Bush Administration has eliminated important tools to protect workers from injury..." HILLARY CLINTON, Navigating the Bureaucratic HMO Maze: "This legislation will help patients understand and protect their rights..."

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Democratic Floor Whip, began as a grassroots consumer advocate and has stayed true to her roots. In a button-down world of political caution and calculated positions, she's a breath of fresh air and a tonic to Democrats longing to put up the good fight on behalf of principles and justice. Buzzflash talked with Congresswoman Schakowsky about a variety of issues of interest to Democrats, Progressives and Independents. If you're yearning for an elected official who's out there battling for core values and principles, then read on.

Tom Daschle on Bush's OK to arsenic: "It is one of the most stunning examples of indifference to public health in America in the last quarter-century." - - - Charlie Rangel on the tax cut: "...the Republicans give millions of American families no tax cut at all."- - -Nancy Pelosi on global warming : "if there was ever a doubt, it has been erased. President Bush is doing the bidding of his friends in the coal, oil, and gas industries." Read more from Democratic leaders on truthout.com

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) on making every vote count ... John Conyers (D-MI) on the equal protection of voting rights ... Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) on voters turned away at the polls ... Reps. Robert Wexler (D-FL), Betty McCollum (D-MN), and Bill Luther (D-MN) on Bush's CO2 surprise ... Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) on HIV/AIDS ... read the latest reports from the Congressional battlefront on Truthout.com.

Hey, isn't this guy from the heart of Gore country? I mean New Jersey ain't Mississippi or Nebraska, one of the hardcore red states. So why is Torricelli being such a Quisling. Is it his strategy to avoid a Federal indictment? That's just speculation of course.

"Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's labor secretary, declared in The Washington Post that the Democrats are "an ex-party" that has "expired and gone to meet its maker." Who would argue? The party that won the popular vote on Nov. 7 stands for little and has no evident leaders. In the Senate, the best the Democrats can come up with for a political strategy is a death watch." So writes Frank Rich in the New York Times.

When asked about "sleeping" Democrats," Tom Daschle took full responsibility. "It's my fault. I have pounded on my people to stay focused on taxes and budget, not to [detour] into other issues. If we can break through on that, other things will fall into place." Sorry, Tom, all of the other things are going to hell - the environment, labor rights, women's rights, consumer protections, and gun control - and the Republicans haven't even begun to fight!

Here's what several progressive Democratic members of Congress told Truthout. Maxine Waters (D-CA) says "The recent revelations in Florida around the presidential election this past November, 7th. certainly do raise serious questions about, whether or not we really do have the right to vote." Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says, "With his [dissent], Justice Stevens challenged the Court and the country to restore confidence in our democratic system." Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) asks, "In looking back at this election in its entirety, we can ask ourselves the following question: which is a greater threat to 'one person, one vote' - a rickety Votomatic machine, or the hundreds of millions of dollars of special interest money pouring into campaigns?"

Following Republican moves to force unacceptable right-wing legislation through the House, Democratic leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) declared bipartisanship is over. "Gephardt said the passage of a bankruptcy bill, an expected House vote on Thursday on the first component of President Bush's tax cut, and what Democrats see as a hastily scheduled vote on the ergonomics rule indicated the White House was no longer demonstrating a desire to work together with Democrats," according to CNN. Gephardt cited the ergonomics rule in particular: "This is the biggest heist of a special interest in the history of the Congress," he continued. "This is breathtaking. This takes your breath away - that they would come in here in one week, in two days, and rip this thing out that took 10 years to do the scientific work to find out what ought to be done."

Only one third of the House went to the bi-partisan retreat, after House Republican leaders rammed a $1 trillion tax bill through the House without hearings or debate. Rep. Dick Gephardt said this would be his last retreat because "bipartisanship is over — not that it ever began." Another Democrat did not bother giving a good excuse. "I need to walk the dog," he said. "That's all the excuse [the Republicans] deserve."

"So it finally took the House and Senate partisan line vote against more stringent regulations on repetitive motion injuries for House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt to finally wake up from his self-induced coma and proclaim the 'end of bipartisanship.' Unfortunately, Gephardt's virtuous outrage comes a little too late in the game." So writes P.J. McIlvaine.

"Whether it be the 'Ashcroft Eight', or the sixteen Democratic House and seven Senate members who supported rolling back workplace protections this past week, I simply don't understand what it is that these shallow minded marionettes aren't getting. Why continue in the Democratic Party if you don't support it, or its policies?" So writes Dane Cobb, the Mountain Monk.

Awhile back, we posted a Chicago Sun-Times article about a Congresswoman who ain't afraid to take on Dubya and tell it like it is. Now New York magazine touts this Chicago Congresswoman. And they have a few nice things to say about Democrats.com to boot!

Yes, there are progressive Democrats in Congress who speak the truth about Dubya. Take Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, for example. She describes herself as "one very crabby progressive Democrat" these days. We like them crabby, Jan. It sure beats "bipartisan."

"This whole notion that we're not fighting [Bush] is journalistic bullshit," according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). But if Congressional Democrats have a battle plan, Salon's Jake Tapper sure couldn't find it. No matter how far to the right Bush goes, Democrats are unwilling to "stay and fight", as Al Gore declared during the campaign. And it only undermines the Democrats when DLC president Bruce Reed says "we didn't win the election." Earth to Bruce - Gore Got More!!!

Led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), 18 members of the Congressional Black Caucus have written to Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, and other key Democrats to protest the exclusion of blacks from Democratic strategizing. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) described his frustration in trying to persuade the Gore campaign to run on the successful record of the Clinton-Gore administration. "I went up and told him what I thought needed to happen and, my Lord, what a colossal problem that was," Clyburn said. "And they just did the opposite to what I thought needed to be done." We hear you, Jim!

House Republican leaders have undermined efforts at bipartisanship on a range of issues, including a commission on Election Reform, committee jurisdiction over higher education, and testimony on energy policy. "It may be a new happy face, but it's the same old Republican Congress," said Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR).

Democratic Congressional leaders, particularly Senator Daschle, keep emphasizing how important it is for the Dems to be "bipartisan" and "civil." Of course, those words often come off sounding like the Dems have nothing left to lose. But they have everything to gain by putting up a fight for principle and justice. Try it on for size Tom and Dick (Gephardt), you'll see that it will cleanse your soul and make you feel like men again.

"And why shouldn't the conservatives be happy with Bush? They control the Justice Department, from top to bottom. They are running our environmental policy. They have a right-to-lifer heading the Department of Health and Human Services. And of course, the oil companies are running our energy policy. Not to mention having Cheney installed as our de facto president. A pretty good deal all around for the right wing. What's more, they have seen the Bush regime act like a seasoned lion tamer, cracking his whip and forcing Democrats back into the corner of their cage."

DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe delivered a closed-door pep talk on Thursday to Senate Democrats. McAuliffe said he told them of changes and a commitment at the DNC designed to help Democrats win control of the Senate and House of Representatives in 2002. "It's not my job to be bipartisan," he said. "I'm the chairman of the DNC. My job is to raise the issues. Bush ran as a compassionate conservative, but now that he is in office, the compassion is gone and we are seeing a conservative agenda that we are up to fighting," he said. Right on, Terry!

Democratic Leaders Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) unveiled the Democratic plan for the projected surplus of $2.7 trillion, which excludes the Medicare and Social Security surpluses. The Democratic plan splits the surplus three ways: $900 billion apiece over 10 years for a) tax cuts, b) debt reduction and c) Social Security/Medicare investments and spending for education, prescription drug benefits, the military and other programs.

16-term Rep. Joe Moakley (D-MA), announced to a Boston audience that he is battling life-threatening cancer. "I started in this business years ago as a bread-and-butter Democrat, and I stand before you today as a bread-and-butter Democrat," he said to rousing applause. He is proudest, he said, of his work implicating the El Salvador military in the murder of six Jesuit priests in 1989, cutting off US military aid, and accelerating an end to the country's civil war. He vowed to fight as long as he can for what he believes in, including prescription drug coverage and a stabilization of Medicare funding "with that money GW [Bush] wants to give out in tax breaks." We're praying for you, Joe. Send your cards to 235 CHOB, Washington, DC 20515

Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) voted for John Ashcroft and is co-sponsoring Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut with Phil Gramm (R-TX). He likes Bush's voucher plan as well. Is he a lost cause? You decide.

Buzzflash.com and Democrats.com contributing writer PJ McIlvaine is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore.

Congressional Democrats continue to fawn over the man who stole the White House from us. For the first time in history, Congressional Democrats will shmooze with a Republican Unpresident.

What was the bargain that Tom Daschle struck to get an even split in the Senate Committees? Now it has become clearer that it was perhaps a deal with the Devil. Democrats and Independents everywhere are outraged. Here is a letter from one of them to Tom Daschle:"Dear Senator Daschle, I viewed your website and am pleased to know that you had such a fine time at the inauguration of our 43rd president, who received fewer votes than your party's candidate. Your statement that Bush's cabinet choices would be confirmed because..."This was easy work as President Bush has done an excellent job with his cabinet selections." You consider Norton and Ashcroft, who stand for everything the Democrats oppose, are excellent choices? Because of you and the other insignificant little weenies who call themselves Democrats, I am changing my registration to "Independent." No wonder the Republicans always win the war of public relations and the "spin." You Democrats who call yourselves "leaders" are too spooked by your own shadows to stand up for what is right--even though your position is supported by the majority of Americans." See Tom Daschle's Love Note to Bush at http://www.senate.gov/~daschle/.

What was the bargain that Tom Daschle struck to get an even split in the Senate Committees? Now it has become clear that it was a Judas act of betrayal, a deal with the Devil. Democrats and Independents everywhere are outraged. Here is a letter from one of them to Tom Daschle:"Dear Senator Daschle, I viewed your website and am pleased to know that you had such a fine time at the inauguration of our 43rd president, who received fewer votes than your party's candidate. Your statement that Bush's cabinet choices would be confirmed because..."This was easy work as President Bush has done an excellent job with his cabinet selections." You consider Norton and Ashcroft, who stand for everything the Democrats oppose, are excellent choices? Because of you and the other insignificant little weenies who call themselves Democrats, I am changing my registration to "Independent." No wonder the Republicans always win the war of public relations and the "spin." You Democrats who call yourselves "leaders" are too spooked by your own shadows to stand up for what is right--even though your position is supported by the majority of Americans."

Can the "liberal" Democratic Senators finally show that they can match the conservatives' conviction to their cause? Whatever you say about the right wing, they consistently display a deranged passion for their cause. The Democrats, however, are too often concerned about playing by the rules and acting polite. Take Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), who seems to have had a political lobotomy. Senator Feingold has stated that Ashcroft is just fine with him -- and that Bush deserves to appoint his own cabinet. Is the man a fool, desirous of some political favor from Bush, or just milktoast? How about all of the above. How about if the Democrats don't stop playing nice-nice, Ashcroft will be confirmed and let loose a reign of terror with America's justice system.

Well, a lot of engergized Democrats and Independents are going to begin looking at alternative leadership to replace the weak-kneed Democrats, who don't have the strength to stand up against an administration hell-bent on rolling back the clock on civil liberties, civil rights, choice, gay issues, gun control and the like. Don't the Democrats in Congress understand that Bush has no mandate, that he lost the popular vote? Well, if they can't get the message, they may find themselves replaced by Democrats and Independents who understand the "C" word. It's called courage.

BuzzFlash got your attention, didn't they! Well, Bush hasn't appointed Duke, he has appointed his spiritual first cousin Ashcroft. Faced with a holier-than-thou attorney who lied several times over the course of three days of testimony, the Democrats (with the exception of Kennedy, Leahy and Durbin) performed in their usual stumbling Hamlet fashion. Ashcroft generously offered them the opportunity to catch him in his prevaricating, but the ever-congenial Democrats chose not to avail themselves of the offer.

It's not every day that the lead paragraph of the lead story in the New York Times cites the "angry and energized liberal wing" of the Democratic Party. That's US folks - Senate Democrats are feeling the heat from our calls! The article continues: "So energized are the Democrats' core voters and liberal interest groups that Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the party leader in the Senate — the Democrats' most fortified redoubt — said in an interview that his greatest challenge may be 'artificially high expectations of what we might be able to do under such circumstances.'" What's "artifically high" about expecting 40 of the 50 Democrats we elected to support filibusters on the issues Democrats care about, like Ashcroft? Here's our message to the Senate Democrats: we've only just begun to fight!

Minutes before the historic challenge to the Florida electors from 14 brave Members of Congress, we met with Congressman Hastings to strategize. In this interview, including several audio segments, Hastings talks about his frustrations and his hopes for a newly energized progressive opposition to Bush.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER with the Democrats? They are rolling over in a blissful haze of bipartisanship, while George W. Bush appoints a hard-right Cabinet and pursues a hard-line program. It's like a country after a bloodless coup d'etat. Daily life goes on. The tame media makes soothing noises. Rituals of democracy endure. The out-party simulates opposition, toothlessly. But this is no banana republic, where genuine opposition leaders are shot and crusading newspaper publishers disappear. The election may have been stolen, but our civil liberties are intact. And the opposition party won the popular vote and gained seats in Congress. So are the Democrats on Prozac, or what?" So writes Robert Kuttner, Co-editor of "The American Prospect," in the Boston Globe.