I will not be able to liveblog this morning but I wanted to share this with you.  On Sunday afternoon I had a diary entitled They were warned and did nothing, tying together various issues where the Bush administration was warned yet failed to take proper action.  Even though the diary had a quote from General Wesley Clark that mentioned the growing threats in Iran and North Korea as a direct result of President Bush's poor leadership, I did not expect such sudden confirmation from the Korean peninsula.

It is now clear that North Korea has detonated a nuclear device. What is also clear is that this development has dramatic and dire implications with respect to the security situation in the Pacific. During my 24-year career in the Navy, I had the opportunity to serve several tours in the Pacific Fleet, so I have had some opportunity to study these issues first hand. Although I am no longer privy to the classified intelligence briefings, from watching CNN and other news sources, a number of things become immediately apparent.

This week marks a sad and tragic anniversary for the United States of America.  One year ago this week, starting in the early morning hours of the 30th of August, I sat down and wrote out what I thought was the beginnings of a plan that would help this Nation move towards a more rapid recovery from the Gulf Coast devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.  You can read those thoughts in a diary I posted here.

I did not and do not join in blaming the Bush Administration and the Rubber Stamp Congress for the formation and land fall of Hurricane Katrina, but I will never forgive this Administration and their puppets in Congress for failing to act on their word and for refusing to convene a true bipartisan commission to bring to light all that went wrong with the local, state and federal response to one of the most deadly and costly natural disasters in the nation's history.

Back to the Middle East, failed trade policy, and a crushing blow to the hopes and dreams of the 29th Congressional District of New York

Every week I try to look around the world, the Nation, and my Congressional district and see what truly hot topics there are and I get forced back into the black hole of American resources that is the Middle East.  This week we watched as Lebanon and the Northern Israeli border exploded into open warfare with the unprovoked attack by Hezbollah forces into Israel's sovereign territory and the subsequent murdering of Israeli military forces and the kidnapping of two members of the Israeli Army.  There was no justification for this attack and if such an event had happened here in the United States the cry for swift, complete, and total retaliation would have been overwhelming.  Despite its popularity, such a cry for action would have been justified.

Florida is important. It is the state that sent Bush to the White House (with a detour through the Supreme Court). There is hope that this election will turn Florida more blue than red - let's say a royal purple at least! Six veterans are running for U.S. Congress in Florida and they need our help. This Sunday we are spotlighting the first three of those races.

Crossposted at dKos

In this election the issues that are local are also national, and the grassroots and the netroots are inextricably bound together by the desire to preserve our constitution and put America back on course. So this issue like so many others affects not only my district, but Americans all across our great land.

GOP Kills Measure to Raise Minimum Wage

This week I want to talk about the minimum wage. Last year, my opponent, Randy "Rubberstamp" Kuhl, voted with President Bush 85% of the time and with the GOP Leadership 93% of the time. And to prove his devotion to his overlords, just days ago Randy Kuhl rubberstamped the GOP move to kill a Democratic measure that would have raised the minimums wage that the Republican leaders in Congress have blocked for the last nine years. The Democratic bill would have raised the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three steps over the next two years. The minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation, is actually at the lowest level in 50 years. The GOP killed the measure and Randy Kuhl agreed that our working people do not need a decent minimum wage.

The Fourth of July is a day when we collectively celebrate the birth of the United States.  Independence Day is a uniquely American Holiday.  It marks our battle and subsequent victory over foreign oppressors, but more importantly, it marks the birth of a fledgling experiment - one we call Democracy.  As such, politicians should use this day to set aside partisan politics for the sake of a higher, more unifying celebration.  And so I will join that call - with a slight twist.

I have come to believe that the single most patriotic act that most Americans can do in their lifetimes is to vote.  While the blogs are filled with page after page of thoughtful pieces about democracy under assault or the meaninglessness of participating in an election because the other side will steal votes - I reject the idea that going to the polls is a lost cause.  In fact, I'm counting on just the opposite.

The Problem: One of the happiest results that came out of the Texas Primary was the win by Fighting Dem Vet Ted Ankrum in TX-10 who led the poll in a field of four. But Ted had a problem. Ted polled the most votes in the primary against 3 other candidates by doing his job in on the ground campaigning, but he faced a runoff (held on April 4/11/06) against another vet, Paul Foreman who is a published author. An analysis of the primary votes showed that Ted did well in the urban areas of Austin and Houston, but fared less well in the rural red counties that ran in a strip between Austin and Houston in the gerrymandered district. Since Ted had been endorsed by all the Dem organizations and by the newspapers, it was clear that it was name recognition in these areas where the folks just did not listen to the radio or read newspapers.

One week ago I had the honor and pleasure of addressing the Yearly Kos convention as part of a three member panel of netroots endorsed candidates who traveled to Nevada to connect with, thank, and reach out to the growing movement of netroots activists.  This week we focused on the more traditional voter outreach that connects me with the voters of the 29th Congressional district.  

Every year, in a growing measure of popularity, the summer boating season kicks off on Seneca Lake with the Waterfront Festival and its highlight event - the Cardboard Boat Regatta.   A few months ago I challenged the staff to come up with a plan that would help us build voter outreach and connect us with as many of the 10,000 people as possible who travel from all over this region to enjoy the wildly popular summer kick-off event.