Two liberal giants passed away this week, and we note their passing fondly.

Robert F. Drinan, S.J., lately a professor of law at Georgetown University, and before that at Boston College Law School, of which he was also Dean. During the ten years between his Deanship at Boston College and joining the Georgetown Law Center faculty in 1981, he served in the United States Congress as a Representative from Massachusetts, where he was a member of various committees and the chair of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee. So far as I am aware, he was the only Roman Catholic priest ever to so serve.

Surge is the latest iteration of an old and discredited idea, that a strategic blunder can be made right by increasing the investment of time and treasure and blood.

In 1965, Tom Paxton wrote:

Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more,
To help save Viet Nam from Vietnamese."

Successive choruses increased that number to sixty and then a hundred thousand. (Read the full lyrics or listen to the song here:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/Vietimages/Audio/lbj-paxton.html

Two weeks and two days from now, we will elect a new Congress. How new is up to those who choose to get involved. Today, I have three points I'd like you to consider.

First, the landscape -- or rather, seascape, since some of the more sober independent analysts like Charlie Cook have been talking in terms of a potential tsunami. Polls, generic and head-to-head, across the country are suggesting that -- magic words of fantasy -- if the election were held today, the Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate. For some good reading on this, take a look at Charlie Cook's October 17 piece in the National Journal "The Blue Wave of the Future". http://www.cookpolitical.com/column/2006/101706.php.

Permit me to share with the reader of this blog the letter I have today submitted to the New York Times, on their tepid endorsement in Democratic Primary for New York's 19th Congressional District.

To the Westchester Editor:

I was surprised by your endorsement in the 19th Congressional District and misleading understatement of John Hall’s clearly superior credentials for the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Hall is the only candidate in this primary to have served in public office, running—and winning—in three elections.

When Mr. Hall saw a floundering school district, unable to pass its budgets, he was elected to the school board, so impressing his fellow board members that they elected him President. With Mr. Hall’s leadership, the Board solved its budget problems.

Just got this press release from the campaign of John Hall:

Poughkeepsie, NY - Congressional candidate John Hall came a step closer to winning the Democratic nomination in the race to unseat Republican Sue Kelly with a solid victory at last night's Dutchess County Democratic Convention. Hall got 3601 votes - 81% of the total.

"John Halls overwhelming supermajority tonight gives us the send-off to victory. John Hall is clearly the Hudson Valley candidate" said Joseph Ruggiero, chairman
of the Duchess County Democratic Committee. "It's time for Democrats to unite behind John Hall, the one true candidate to beat Sue Kelly."

Couldn't resist this essay by Kos:
The Libertarian Dem
by kos
Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 10:15:50 AM PDT
It's no secret that I look to the Mountain West for the future of the Democratic Party, people like Brian Schweitzer and Jon Tester. But I also look to candidates like Jim Webb in Virginia and Paul Hackett in Ohio.

And what is the common thread amongst these candidates?

They are all Libertarian Democrats.

Ack, the "L" word! But hear me out.

Traditional "libertarianism" holds that government is evil and thus must be minimized. Any and all government intrusion is bad. While practical libertarians (as opposed to those who waste their votes on the Libertarian Party) have traditionally aligned themselves with the Republicans, it's clear that the modern GOP has no qualms about trampling on personal liberties. Heck, it's become their raison d' etre.

The Cook Political Report is a well-respected, independent take on the status of political races. Tonight, Cook posted his latest ratings for the House of Representatives, and the movement he reports is stunning, foreshadowing a potentially major shift toward the Democrats.
He rates only one presently Democratic seat as highly vulnerable (he calls it a "tossup"), only ten presently Democratic seats (including the one tossup) as even competitive. Meanwhile, he sees eleven presently Republican seats as tossups, fully thirty six Republican seats as genuinely competitive, and another nineteen as potentially competitive. Six Republican seats in the New York delegation are rated as in play.

The latest in our series on the uncommon criminality of the current White House and its cronies.

On December 15, 2005, former Republican National Committee New England Political Director James Tobin was found GUILTY "on two counts of telephone harassment for his role in a plot to jam Democratic phone banks on Election Day 2002 in New Hampshire.".
Turns out that, as ABC News reported on April 11, 2006, Mr. Tobin was coordinating with the White House with dozens of phone calls over the same three day period that the illegal jamming was carried out. http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1829056 .

Democracy for Westchester has come to Mt. Vernon.

On April 4, from 6 to 7:45 pm, DFW will sponsor a free public forum at the Mt. Vernon Public Library (Community Room, 28 South First Street, Mount Vernon) on the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Act Rights of 1965 empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration and to make sure individual states do not suppress voting rights. For reasons of constitutionality, portions of the Act were made temporary. In 1982, the temporary provisions of that Act were extended for 25 years, but they are again set to expire. A federal commission has recommended renewal of the Act. Westchester residents may be unaware that Westchester County is one of only three counties in New York that are under a continuing federal injunction under this law, which suggests that we in Westchester ought to be more aware of this Act, and what it means to our community.

On Sunday, March 19, at 2 pm, in Yonkers at the Riverfront Library, Andrea Stewart-Cousins will kick off her campaign for the New York State Senate. On hand for the announcement Sunday will be Eliot Spitzer and David Patterson.

In 2004, Ms. Stewart-Cousins came within eighteen (18) votes of defeating long-term incumbent Nick Spano, a reminder that every vote must count, and every single volunteer hour in this local race can make a difference at the highest levels of state government.

What role should Democracy for Westchester play in this election? Your constructive comments are invited.