i L i n d . n e t

Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie is one of 71 representatives who signed a letter to President Bush (cc to Nancy Pelosi) pledging not to vote for further war funding without a plan to get U.S. troops out of Iraq before the 2008 election, according to the OpenCongress.org blog.

The war funding debate will be taken up again in September, but this time a critical mass of Representative who strongly oppose the war are the first ones out with the threats. Seventy Representatives sent a letter to President Bush (copied to Pelosi) on Thursday to inform him that they will refuse to vote for any war funds unless a withdrawal plan for U.S. troops is included.

It’s unclear exactly what this means for the debate in September. Will there be a veto-proof majority to force Bush to accept a withdrawal timeline along with the funding? Will there be enough Representatives willing to vote for a “clean” bill as a follow up to a veto like happened with the supplemental? Today’s letter certainly indicates that Congressional opposition to the war is growing in both conviction and numbers, but we’ll have to wait and see if the trend continues, accelerates, or slows down by the time the vote actually takes place before we know what it means for the war.

Sean McLaughlin says “Hawaii’s consumers are well served” by committee approval of a U.S. Senate bill introduced by Senator Inouye calling for “more complete and meaningful information regarding deployment, availability and use of broadband services in this country.”

Inouye’s bill “would create online maps that allow consumers to search high-speed Internet services at the census-block level”, according to a detailed review of the issue by Megan Tady.

The New York Times today carries a “must read” profile of an Army reserve intelligence officer who has become a key critic of policies at the Guantanamo Detention Center. This follows an earlier story at TPMMuckraker.com last month.

I noted this entry from an SPJ blog about a Good Magazine project, which looks like an interesting experiment both in substance and structure.

They’re back for the annual pilgrimage seeking those little silvery delicacies of summer, the oama, which appear around this time of year. Kaaawa is one of the spots where groups like this one will spend time over the next month, poles and nets in hand, seeking these critters. Just click for a larger version.