EVDems Blog
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Um, I thought we were at war:

President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion next year from two fighter aircraft programs.

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Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 - the current number of slots it is allowed - to 188,000, the number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.

Army leaders have already said they are taking a similar approach to shrinking the National Guard, which the Army is proposing to cut from its authorized level of 350,000 soldiers to 333,000, the number now on National Guard rolls.

Now I’m not going to weigh in on the fighter craft issue, since it involves some money juggling that might get our Air Force more F-22s in the long run. Considering the problems in Iraq and the shortages of manpower displayed by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I have to ask…what are they thinking?!?

Or, as one blogger said on AMERICAblog:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Because you can’t recruit (oh, I wonder why?) your answer is to CUT the size of the military at a time war? WTF!! Tax cuts stay, we don’t need more money in a time of war!

Of course, this could be overreacting. After all, no less of an American than Tom “the Hammer” DeLay (indictments? what indictments?) maintained a vital perspective on this issue:

DeLay also said it was Congress’ duty in a time of war to significantly cut taxes. “Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes,” he said.

And thus we clearly see the face of the modern GOP. Nothing is more important than reducing the tax “burden” of the rich. Not security, not stability, not liberty, not justice, not even the centerpiece of their party platform for the past several years, the “War on Terror.” Then again, I suppose this represents Bush “staying the course” on his relationship with the National Guard.

The Blue Phoenix
It’s time to rise

Thank you Senator Feinstein!

The last two days have been amazing.

Early Thursday afternoon, we broke the news that Senator John Kerry would lead a filibuster against Judge Sam Alito if he could get 41 Senators to sustain the filibuster. Three hours later, CNN confirmed our story.

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But even as Karl Rove was doing his dirty work, progressive activists like you were calling your Senators urging them to support John Kerry’s filibuster.

And one by one, Democratic Senators began to turn around.

http://democrats.com/alito-48

At the start of the day, only Dick Durbin and Debbie Stabenow supported Kerry and Kennedy. Just before noon, Hillary Clinton’s office called to say she supported us. Then Harry Reid came on board, along with Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Ron Wyden, Chris Dodd, and (I think) Chuck Schumer.

Most importantly, we even picked up Dianne Feinstein, who just yesterday said she opposed a filibuster.

Bold type theirs, italics mine.

This is simply amazing news. Senator Feinstein has really come through after some initial, disappointing opposition to the Alito filibuster, and I believe she deserves our praise for her willingness to oppose this radical transformation of the Supreme Court. Bravo.

Update: Senator Feinstein makes the statement on her own site.

The Blue Phoenix
It’s time to rise

Greetings, and welcome to the East Valley Democratic Club’s blog. Here, we fight for our basic rights and liberties in the face of an increasingly authoritarian administration in Washington and the vapid Governator here at home.

Fighting words? You bet. We are your father’s Democrats — two-fisted, passionate, and ready to stand up for what we believe in. Formed around a core of activists united by the Dean candidacy, we have taken his call to the “Democratic wing of the Democratic party” (originally coined by Paul Wellstone) to heart. Setting triangulation and appeasement aside, we intend to let America know what we stand for and what we believe in, no apologies, no regrets. It’s time to stop giving plum government positions to corporate lobbyists and incompetent cronies. It’s time to end unilateral wars that distract us from America’s real enemies and put the focus back on the murderers who want us dead. It’s time to return our attention to a badly abused environment before it turns against us. It’s time to stop shoveling money at the obscenely rich and restore hope to the people who do the work in this country. It’s time to put an end to torture and illegal spying — violations of the fundamental principles America was founded on — and restore our republic’s good name. In short, it’s time to restore liberty and justice for all.

Read the rest…