Dear fellow members of Unity08,

One of our principles at the outset of this audacious project was transparency and openness. Too often in our recent political history, what you see is not what you get.

For this reason, we are writing you today to lay out the current status of Unity08 and possible paths going forward.

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And so reluctantly, especially given the volatility of the present situation, we're forced to scale back - not cease - our operations and suspend our ballot access project. Our website will become less interactive (it takes staff to answer hundreds of e-mails a day) and we can't in good faith make the $5 million commitment necessary to make a serious start on ballot access.

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Robert Bingham
Angus King
Peter Ackerman
Zach Clayton
Lindsay Ullman
Board of Directors, Unity08

Notice some names missing?

I woke up this morning to eight inches of new snow outside my Vermont home. As I proceeded with my usual routine in clearing it out, I started daydreaming about whatever was on my mind. Since my Nebraska Huskers (mercifully) did not go bowling this year, college football has not been in the forefront of my thoughts. I am a John Edwards supporter, so I wondered how big his victory would be, and what the naysayers would say about his impressive win.

House GOP leader John Boehner (R-OH) called Republican defectors in the Senate "Wimps", in a private meeting yesterday (Wednesday) with rank-and-file Republicans.

Story: GOP unity fraying on Iraq war

With both houses of Congress debating war-related legislation, lawmakers awaited the Bush administration's assessment Thursday of political, economic and military progress made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

The report comes at a time when sharp divisions over the next course in the nearly 4 1/2-year-old war have frayed Republican unity on Capitol Hill, not to mention civility.

"Wimps," House GOP leader John Boehner called Republican defectors in the Senate — a growing breed as public opinion polls chart ever-deepening opposition to the war and a climbing U.S. casualty count 16 months before the 2008 elections.

I'm sure that most of you have seen this meme of a story going around, telling the story of hard working Republicans being victimized by lazy Democrats. Recently it started making the rounds in my family via emails. This really got me pissed off, so I sent out an updated 2007 version.

As I watch the primary season leading up to the 2008 presidential elections, I am appalled by the fund raising primary that is going on now. It seems that votes are being cast with donation money before a single American has even cast the first ballot in a caucus or primary.

In the past many nations had a poll tax in place, so only the people who could afford to vote could vote. This lead to mass disenfranchisement of many voters. In 1964 poll taxes were banned in the United States by the passing of the 24th Amendment.

Amendment XXIV

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

On March 29, 2007 the Senate passed HR 1591 into law by the count of 51-47, with Enzi (R-WY) and Johnson (D-SD) not voting. As expected Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supported the bill, and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) did not. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) crossed over and voted with the Democrats.

President Bush just made this recess appointment, after withdrawing it earlier.

Bush Withdraws Belgium Ambassador Nominee

President Bush on Wednesday withdrew the ambassadorial nomination of businessman Sam Fox after Democrats denounced Fox for giving money to a controversial conservative group that undermined Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Kerry, D-Mass., had criticized Fox because of a $50,000 contribution that Fox made in 2004 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

This is just wrong, and I knew something like this would happen during Congress' vacation.

With the upcoming demise of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez regarding the politically motivated firings of eight Prosecutors, I'd like to see more heat applied to him and the Bush misadministration regarding the USA Patriot Act.

Knowing that it won't go away on its own, it will require Congress to revoke or modify it to a more civil liberty friendly bill. Since Executive cooperation will also be important, I'm very interested in how the top Democratic presidential contenders might address this during their presidency. That will effect which candidates I will vote for.

I believe for the most part that economics are the real reason behind wars, and once an economicy conflict is inevitable, he powers to be sell that war by pumping up other hatreds like race, religion, etc.

While perusing international news sites, I came across this gem from IRNA (Iranian News Agency).

EU says Iran free to sell oil in any currency
A spokesperson for the European Commission declined Wednesday to comment on media reports that Iran has started replacing dollar with euro in majority of its crude oil exchanges in the last several months.

"I have no comment. This would be a free decision for a government or company to use a particular currency than its own for invoicing the products that it sells," said EU spokesperson for economic affairs Amelia Torres.

She was replying to a question on the issue by a reporter during the daily Commission news conference in Brussels.

"It is not something we encourage or discourage. We leave it to the markets and the forces in the market," added Torres.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste who made political mistakes in the past. I can not make the claim of being a life-long Democrat, or even a long term one. My past view of the Democrats was that they were as corrupt as or more corrupt than the Republicans, and with a more acceptable social and bsiness agenda than the Republicans. But in hindsight, I was looking at the DLC wing of the party, which I must admit, I would still a very hard time supporting.

This last election cycle I voted straight Democrat, volunteered with that local GOTV effort, and had convinced many friends, neighbors, strangers and family members to vote in a similar manner. And for the past few years I had been the administrator of a left-leaning message board at WorldCrossing. But enough about me.

The Ohio State University has completed its 12 game schedule, is 12-0, and unanimous #1 in the Major Polls and the BCS. The Buckeyes will be in the Fiesta Bowl, but who will they play?

Here is a list of the potential candidates:

Michigan
Southern California
Notre Dame
Florida
Arkansas

Relations between Venezuela and the United State took another step backward today. Predident Chavez has accused the US of threatening his nation with an invasion, attemting a coup, and with spying on it. Now we have another potential crisis, as Venezuelan authorities seized what may have been an American diplomatic package.

With all the talk of civil war in Iraq between various militias, Warlords in Afghanistan and Somalia with their private armies, and the Israeli conflict with Hamas and Hizballah... and US troops being spread out too thin, I did some research on the private armies used by the USA.

I am by no means an expert on this. When I am not an expert on a topic that I want to know about, and also want to raise the general awareness, I present the info I do have then try to participate in a discussion by attracting those with more expertise than myself. I had done that with a past diary, and was criticized for not drawing a conclusion. OK, my very clear conclusion is that private armies under the control of the president worries me greatly, and I believe that we need much more congressional oversight, as well as a strong UN oversight.

Like most people I heard that Hizballah was responsible for the bombing that killed 241 American servicemen. But I decided to look a bit further into the story to learn more about what happened. My research is not nearly complete, but I thought that I would share what I have found to date. I would appreciate further insight in the comment section.

Thank you.

This is my first diary, and I am writing it about a subject that I can no longer restrain myself from shouting about. I see Israel's invasion of Lebanon as a play right out of the US playbook, and some Democrats are playing Rumsfield Republicans.