This Friday, telephone your U.S. senators to urge their support for the Whistleblower Act amendments legislation.  (The Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121, will connect you with your Senator.)

The legislation is in danger of dying if Congress doesn't pass it before they go home for the election.  But, several Senators reportedly are blocking a final vote on the bill with secret holds.

Several senators reportedly are using "secret holds" to block passage of anti-corruption legislation that activists, concerned citizens and more enlightened members of Congress have been working for eight years to pass into law. The identities of the stonewallers are uncertain, but suspects include eight Republicans and the Senate Minority Leader (names provided below the fold.

A bipartisan group of Senate offices has agreed on a reconciliation bill that they are hoping to pass and send to the House of Representatives for final passage. The bill is critical to restoring integrity and fiscal responsibility in our federal government and previous votes indicate that the bill would pass with flying colors - but only if it could be presented for a vote before Congress leaves at the end of the week.

(cross-posted, with permission from Deep Harm at Daily Kos)

Look carefully at these people.  Each did something extraordinary.  Something rare.  Something wonderful.

And our government is never going to let them forget it.

It is, or should be by now, plainly evident to most observers that the current crop of Republicans will run the kind of Rovian sleazoid campaign that has worked so well for them in the past.

They will co opt the message of the Democrats at every opportunity and swift boat anyone who gets in their way. They will, as in the past, use the politics of personal destruction, of sneer and smear, a style that has become a necessity in modern Republican strategy as it so purely reflects the mentality and ethos of a sizable and increasing fraction of their base.

The party that has come to reflect the endemic racism, sexism, religious intolerance, and the rapidly widening schism between economic classes in this country has nowhere else to turn. They have become directors of a noisy, and potentially dangerous lynch mob. A criminal mob acting to serve the interests of an out of control business culture and an irrational priesthood that sees the face of God in its own self righteousness.

Republicans dare not run on their party's record of governance over the last eight years. The record is abysmal and they know it. As much as possible that record will be kept in the dark dank shadows with the sordid history of the modern Republican Party. It will be hidden in that shameful place where they will store Bush, Cheney, their denial of health care to America's children, denial of decent wages to America's workers, our terribly fractured economy, serious unemployment, two misguided and mismanaged wars and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocents.

One of the highlights of this week was a slapdown of a Texas Republican by a Wisconsin Democrat in the House during a debate over funding the Iraq Quagmire. Check out the video. It is wonderful to watch.

Another wonderful video is Chris Matthews, not someone I generally like, slamming a Republican for making references to Neville Chamberlain without having a clue of the real history. Parroting lame talking points is no longer working for the Republicans. Their gross ignorance is showing and even conservative talk show hosts are getting irritated by it.

This week, May 12-16, the International Association of Whistleblowers will hold a conference in Washington, D.C. to publicly describe the challenges they faced in bringing to light corruption and abuses of power by the federal government, its contractors and the medical community.

The event is free, and the public is invited to attend. The schedule of events (including times and locations) is available on the IAW website. Even organizers say you can disregard the registration fee requested on the registration form.  Below, is a summary of the schedule along with details that are not available on the event  website.

This week's newsletter focuses a little more on simply winning as Democrats and a little less on primaries within the Democratic Party than my recent newsletters, but it is time we start focusing on winning the Senate and Presidency. I do still refer to the need for progressives to win primaries, and once again draw people's attention to my Progressive Primary Act Blue Site. Hope you guys can help in these primaries as well as in the Senate races I highlight. But mostly, this weeks newsletter directly confront's John McCain as the candidate who promises us nothing but more war, more recession, more inflation.

The year is such a big one for politics. I am amazed how many people are extra involved. One friend describes it as "Democrat fever," and is finding that people are eagerly digging deeper than usual to win. And there are already payoffs.

One of the most important things to happen this last week was Kofi Annan has finally gotten the battling factions in Kenya to sign a peace agreement. I was watching a segment on Current TV about the situation in Kenya and it was really worrisome. Some thought it could turn into another Rwanda, though others felt Kenya would pull itself together before it sank that low. But the truth is, one of Africa's more stable nations nearly collapsed into a bloody civil war. Kofi Annan has for now eased the crisis and could deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The chaos in Kenya had a personal connection for me because some of my loans through Kiva were in the areas of Kenya where the fighting was taking place. As I write here, the situation there was really bad and many of the businesses I loaned to in Kenya may no longer exist.

Lots more below the fold!

For those who are focused on Congress, you might be surprised to learn that Alaska may be among our best shots at picking up one Senate and one House seat. Keep an eye on Alaska. Republican corruption has been exploding, with four State level politicians arrested, some pleading guilty. One Alaska Senator and their single House Rep are also  implicated. This gives us a great shot at winning the state. Alaska may turn blue this year if we pay some attention to it.

On a personal note, I have a new scientific paper coming out in the Journal of Cell Biology. This comes from work I did more than two years ago! My current work is going slower, but overall looks promising. I hope to write up my current work within a year.

This week I discuss the Bush family's endorsement of John McCain, re-enforcing my assertion that McCain offers nothing but a Third Bush term. I also discuss Republican corruption in Alaska and voting irregularities in NYC. And I continue to highlight local events in all the states where I have had a good number of readers. I also highlight some peace rallies, alternative energy events and impeachment events around the nation. Don't forget to visit an advertiser or two and if you want more, please visit Culture Kitchen.

"When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil."~~- Thomas Jefferson

Each new year ushers in a myriad of "Top Ten" lists -- 10 best things, 10 worst things, things we need to do, things we did but shouldn't have -- and this year, even a hilarious list of WTF? things popped up.  I'll admit I'm not as well organized as those who progress in 10-step increments.  My problem is narrowing the atrocities down to 10 -- and then narrowing those 10 down to a single year.  I'm confident I could compile a really neat list if I could decide which in the tangle of loathsome assaults should be Number One.

In Nigeria Police Force, corruption is prevalent, and hampers the nation's quest for a true democracy, a just society and sustainable development The Shame of the Nigeria Police Force

Recently, I was involved in getting prosecuted a man who raped a ten-year-old girl in in Imo state in Southern Nigeria. In the course of this, I visited several police stations in Southeastern Nigeria where I met, interacted and encountered various police officers.  And I must say that I was deeply shocked and disappointed by what I saw-by what I noticed going on at the police stations in the name of police work.

In this piece I will share with you some of my experiences and insights, and hope that the Nigerian government would find them useful in its efforts to fight corruption and enthrone the rule of law in the country.      

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. So I have bene doing this almost exactly three years. And boy are my arms tired! (sorry!) Having organized protests against the Republican Convention, I found I had a core of activists who needed some encouragement after Bush "won" re-"election". My carefully thought out suggestions as to where we could go from that defeat led to this more-or-less weekly newsletter.

This week I discuss the corruption and pedophilia...yes, pedophilia...that is rampant in the Republican Party. I discuss why Rudy Giuliani should reject Pat Robertson's endorsement...and if he doesn't he should be held accountable for the fanatical extremism of Robertson. I also cover election results and some local events in many states. Don't forget to visit an advertiser or two and if you want more, please visit Culture Kitchen.

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. After much pressure from readers, this email newsletter is now going the blog route. I update the blog once a week focusing on both national issues and issues of interest to particular regions or states. In general, NYC, California, New Jersey, Virginia and the Midwest get special attention simply because those are the areas where I seem to have the most readers. However, these days I am too busy to give each region the attention I used to. As my readership on Daily Gotham and Culture Kitchen goes up, I have to spend more time on those sites. So this newsletter is fading a bit. I hope it is still usefull to you, though.

This week I talk about corruption in government, focus on a Sierra Club action targeting Home Depot and Fox News, energy solutions and I focus on some local goings on in New York, Florida and New Jersey.

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. After much pressure from readers, this email newsletter is now going the blog route. I update the blog once a week focusing on both national issues and issues of interest to particular regions or states. In general, NYC, California, New Jersey, Virginia and the Midwest get special attention simply because those are the areas where I seem to have the most readers.

This week I discuss the Democratic fumble in Congress, yet another example of Republican Corruption (in Kentucky), discuss American Muslims (something to shit our pants over or well-integrated and hard-working Americans) and present some interesting aspects of unemployment figures. If you visit my blog, PLEASE don't forget to click on an advertiser or two since that helps me keep the blog going. It really makes a difference! As usual I also highlight local events and organizations for several states. And, if you want more political and social discussions, please check out our offerings on Culture Kitchen.

As a result of a misguided and poorly planned U.S. invasion, Iraq is mired in brutal civil warfare with no end in sight. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress would have us believe that the invasion was worthwhile because it brought democratic government to the nation.  But, U.S. officials have incessantly meddled in Iraq's internal affairs, with the result that Iraq is now considered the third most corrupt nation in the world, ranking 160 out of the 163 countries measured for integrity in a study just released by Transparency International.