Supreme Court Vacancy Expected Soon (join PFAW to fight)

Dear Tribe,

Here is an e-mail I received from PFAW (people for the American Way).  Check them out if you have not already.  They are a coalition of people working to keep the government honest in matters of Church state separation.

I am including the whole e-mail it has activist opportunities to fight the appointment of an extremist judge on the supreme court.  If you are not aware, Justice O’Connor is expected to announce her retirement next week.

Supreme Court Vacancy Expected Soon

Click here to sign up!
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M69617608145037716014865

Get ready with People For the American Way!

There is much at stake should Justice William Rehnquist or one of his colleagues on the Supreme Court step down at the end of the term next week.

As you know, many of the rights and liberties we hold dear have been upheld by close, sharply-split rulings.  A new justice – whether a young ideologue in step with Rehnquist or someone even further to the right – could be key in tipping the Court towards total right-wing control in the future.

[Take a look at PFAW Foundation’s Courting Disaster  to get an idea of just how many of our rights and liberties are hanging by a thread in the Supreme Court.]

Right now, before any vacancy is announced, it is too soon to know the exact nature of the battle ahead – or if there will even be a battle.  But we need to organize.

Many of you signed up to participate in our cell phone text-message initiative, or Mass Immediate Response (MIR), to be used when Bill Frist launched the “nuclear option.”  As you well know, the “option” was not launched and we didn’t get a chance to utilize this exciting technology.

We want to use MIR throughout the upcoming Supreme Court battle.  If the President chooses confrontation over consultation and consensus, there are going to be many opportunities that demand immediate calls to Senators, the media and other targets, based on your location.  MIR will also allow us to slowly roll out calls to our targets, keeping a steady pressure over the course of a day or a week.

Click here to join this exciting campaign
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M69618288145037716014865

Because we promised those who signed up that we would not use your numbers for any reason other than the “nuclear option,” we need you to sign up again to take part in MIR for Supreme Court campaigns.  Even if you didn’t sign up for MIR in the “nuclear option” campaign, sign up now for the Court.  Again, we will use your cell number only to send you alerts on the Supreme Court, and you can drop out at any time.

You should expect a confirmation alert over the phone within a few hours of signing up.  Once you receive your message hit replay and text, “ok” and you’re done.  If you have any questions about the MIR system, please visit our MIR FAQ page  on our website.

Once you have signed up, tell your friends, family and coworkers to do the same.  How the battle over the Supreme Court turns out could determine what this nation is like for decades to come.  (Not to mention, imagine how cool it would be to get a text message and have to say to your companions: “Excuse me, I must place an urgent call to my Senator.”)

Sign up here

If you or your friends don’t feel comfortable using text messaging or giving out your cell phone number, please recruit to our campaign as many activists as possible to receive old-fashioned email alerts.  To do so, just send emails to your friends with your best pitch, directing them to this URL:  http://pfaw.kintera.org/SC_Prep

Together, let’s save the Court.

Thank you,
Ralph G. Neas

Links:

MIR Sign Up: pfaw.kintera.org/MobileResponse
MIR FAQ: www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=18754
Courting Disaster: www.CourtingDisaster.org
Sign up friends for email:  pfaw.kintera.org/SC_Prep

Billions in Cash stolen from Iraqi people

and put into our treasury.  Just before the tranfer of power back to Iraqis we were told by the UN that the money should be back to the Iraqi people.  Instead it was given to Mercenaries in Iraq.  

This is amazing, the bush administration defied the U.N. who told US to pay the money to Iraqi people, for jobs etc….

Instead the bush administration took the cash right from the treasury on big pallets, transfered it to Iraq and doled it out to contractors with duffle bags from the back of a truck.

Sorry if this has been diaried, I looked but did not see it.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062205X.shtml

 US Was Big Spender in Days before Iraq Handover
    By Sue Pleming
    Reuters

    Wednesday 22 June 2005

    Cash was loaded onto giant pallets for shipment by plane to Iraq, and paid out to contractors who carried it away in duffel bags.

    The United States handed out nearly $20 billion of Iraq’s funds, with a rush to spend billions in the final days before transferring power to the Iraqis nearly a year ago, a report said on Tuesday.

    A report by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said in the week before the hand-over on June 28, 2004, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority ordered the urgent delivery of more than $4 billion in Iraqi funds from the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York.

    One single shipment amounted to $2.4 billion — the largest movement of cash in the bank’s history, said Waxman.

    Most of these funds came from frozen and seized assets and from the Development Fund for Iraq, which succeeded the U.N.’s oil-for-food program. After the U.S. invasion, the U.N. directed this money should be used by the CPA for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

    Cash was loaded onto giant pallets for shipment by plane to Iraq, and paid out to contractors who carried it away in duffel bags.

    The report, released at a House of Representatives committee hearing, said despite the huge amount of money, there was little U.S. scrutiny in how these assets were managed.

    “The disbursement of these funds was characterized by significant waste, fraud and abuse,” said Waxman.

    An audit by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said U.S. auditors could not account for nearly $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds and the United States had not provided adequate controls for this money.

    “The CPA’s management of Iraqi money was an important responsibility that, in my view, required more diligent accountability, pursuant to its assigned mandate, than we found,” said chief inspector Stuart Bowen in testimony.

*More at above link*

Action alert from Voters Unite (regarding voting machines)

Dear fellow bloggers, even if Verified voting is not your big issue, it is important that we trust our voting process.  Please take a few minutes to read and respond to this e-mail I received.

Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Voters!

Two important action items need your attention.

1) RIGHT NOW. Email C-SPAN at events@c-span.org and request that they cover the Senate Rules and Administration Committee Hearing on Voter Verification in the Federal Elections Process.

http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2005/062105_hearing.htm

Tuesday, June 21, 2004
10:00 a.m. (ET)
SR-301, Russell Senate Office Building

This is the first time the topic of vvpat has had a formal hearing in Congress!!
Scheduled witnesses include David Dill,  Jim Dickson, Ted Selker, and Connie McCormack.

2) THIS WEEK. Ask your county election director a question.  
This summer county, state, and national elections officials will be heading to Hollywood and Beverly Hills to enjoy four days of fun and sun sponsored, in part, by their friends at Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S. Yes, that’s right. Diebold is co-sponsoring the “Welcome Reception”; ES&S is co-sponsoring the “Graduation Luncheon and Awards Ceremony” and Sequoia is co-sponsoring a Thursday evening dinner and dance.

This gathering is NOT a weekend or even a long weekend. This gathering is done during the work week while those officials are being paid by their counties or states, that is, the tax payer. So while they are on the clock, being paid by us, they will be enjoying the hospitality of the voting machine vendors who will be plying them with misinformation and free meals, snacks, and drink.

The list of speakers at this event is stunning in its absurdity. There is no one to speak the truth about voter verified paper ballots. Instead our elections officials who attend will get to hear from ousted Palm Beach Director of Elections Theresa LePore. Attendees will get to hear about “Challenged Elections and Recounts” from the King County, Washington Auditor whose county’s elections were woefully mismanaged in November.

Many states have made it illegal for any elected official or employee to receive ANY gifts from vendors. Are any employees of your county elections office, or your county elections director, going to attend this corporate sponsored gathering? Send them an email asking. Let them know you think it’s a conflict of interest.  Include their bosses, county commissioners, and/or state elections directors, in the email so everyone knows what will be going on. Let the media know that this event is a potential ethics problem.

The schedule of events is below.

Thanks,
~ The VotersUnite.Org team
————————————————–
**Tentative SCHEDULE OF EVENTS**

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

8:00-9:00 Class Registration–(Separate Registration For Classes Required)

9:00-4:30 Class #11– History I  Instructor:  Steve Brown, Ph.D.
    Class #12–History II Instructor: Robert Montjoy, Ph.D.
    Class #14–Crisis Management in Voter Registration and Elections
                         Instructor:  Keenan Grenell, Ph.D.
    Class #18–Conflict Management in Voter Registration and Elections
                         Instructor:  Christa Slaton, Ph.D.

12:00-1:30–Lunch (Students only)

Wednesday, August 10, 2005
8:00- 11:00– Courses #11, #12, #14 and #18 Continued
1:00-5:00 Committee Meetings Others TBA
1:00-5:00 Educational Exhibit Area Open
3:00-4:00 Elections Legislative Committee
4:00-8:00 Registration Desk Open
6:00-7:30 Welcome Reception
            Co-Sponsored by: Diebold Election Systems

Thursday, August 11, 2005  
8:00-5:00 Registration Desk Open
8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast
8:00-5:00 Educational Exhibit Area Open

9:00-9:30 Welcome/Announcements
            *Conny McCormack,
                        Los Angeles County Registrar-Clerk-Recorder
            *Doug Lewis, CERA,
                        Executive Director, The Election Center
            *Ernest Hawkins,
                        CERA, Program Chair, The Election Center

9:30-10:30– Help America Vote Act
            Guidelines for Voting System Standards
            *Commissioner Ray Martinez,
                        Election Assistance Commission (invited)
            *Someone from NIST (TBA)

10:30-11:00– Educational Exhibits/Break

11:00-12:00– Election Assistance Commission
            Discussion of Projects and Activities
            *Commissioner Ray Martinez,
                          Election Assistance Commission (invited)

12:00-12:30–National Voter Registration and Elections News
            *Dick Smolka, Publisher, Election Administration Reports

12:30-2:00– No-host lunch

2:00-2:05 Ethical Dilemma Presentation
            *Debra Blanton, CERA,
             Chair Standards and Ethics, The Election Center

2:05-3:30 Professional Practices Presentations “and the winner is…”
            *Janis Womack, CERA,
                        Best Practices Chair, The Election Center

3:30-4:00 Educational Exhibits/Break

4:00-4:30 Voter Registration and Elections Legislation
            *Beverly Kaufman, CERA
            *Ron Chaney
            Co Chairs, The Election Center’s Legislative Committee

4:30-5:30 Educational Exhibits

7:00-10:00– Dinner/dance
            Co-Sponsored by:   Sequoia Voting Systems

Friday, August 12, 2005
8:00-3:00 Registration Desk Open
8:00-12:00–Educational Exhibit Area Open
8:30-9:00 –Continental Breakfast

9:00-10:15–Concurrent Discussion Groups
Breakout #1–Ethical Dilemma Discussion
            *Debra Blanton, CERA, Chair Standards and Ethics,
            The Election Center
Breakout #2–Election Reform Task Report
            *Kevin Kennedy, CERA, Executive Director,
            Wisconsin Board of Elections
Breakout #3–Vote Centers
            *Scott Doyle, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder
Breakout #4–Challenged Elections and Recounts
            *Dean Logan, CERA, King County Elections Director

10:15-10:45–Educational Exhibits/Break
10:45-12:30–Concurrent Discussion Groups
Breakout #1–State Certification Programs
            *Tom Wilkey, Former Executive Director, New York State
            Board of Elections
Breakout #2– Provisional Ballots
             *Keith Cunningham, Allen County Director of Elections
Breakout #3–Early (Advance) Voting        
            *Kathy Rogers, CERA, Georgia Director of Elections
Breakout #4– Outreach
            *Theresa LePore, Former Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections

12:30-2:30 — Graduation Luncheon and Awards Ceremony
            Sponsored by:  ES &S

2:30-4:45 Concurrent Discussion Groups
Breakout #1– Using Statewide Voter Data Bases
            *Brian Mouty, Colorado HAVA Project Manager
Breakout #2– How to Become a Certified Elections
            Registration Administrator (CERA)
            *TBA
Breakout #3–Voter Registration “Bounty Hunters”
            *Patricia Hollarn,
                        CERA, Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections
Breakout #4– Providing for Independent Voting for Blind Voters
            and those with Disabilities
            *Jill Lavine, CERA, Sacramento County Registrar of Voters

Please see this diary IMMEDIATE ACTION

I hope you don’t think I sounded alarmist.  But the time to do this particular task is running out.

Juno has been posting at kos about some trade unionists from Iraq who are here to make connections with american unionist and gain some support.
During their visit Juno would very much like to give them a CD full of messages from americans like us who support labor and support them.
Please go to this thread at kos and recommend it:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/19/161350/999

Then go to this thread and leave a message for the visiting Iraqi trade unionist. They are here despite the fact that the occupation is likely to be unfriendly to unions.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/18/15317/2112

Are there any other photographers here?

I am not terribly talented but I do get a lot of pleasure fron it.  I got to the idea to do this diary because I didn’t want to just insert my photography into a painting  thread.  I have taken lots of different kinds of pictures but the only ones I ever tried to make money on were the head shots.

This is a friend of mine who was/is an actor/singer/dancer. One of the nicest people I have ever worked with. We met when his SO was directing a production of NINE that I was in. Jeff noticed I had two left feet and he helped me out. (Sometime I will tell you about how I utterly f’ed up on stage and became Michael and Jeff’s favorite party story.)



This next shot is the statue that faces the Viet Nam war memorial. I found it very moving.

This last was supposed to look like an old water color of some fruit. I didn’t quite get what I was looking for. But it is still one of my favorites.


 

I Don’t Remember Her Name

I think she had one of those names that a certain type of women (the type for which life has always been way too hard and way too poor) give their daughter’s, the prettiest name they can think of such as Chantelle or Velvet. I’ll call her Velvet.  Like her mother she was tiny, a washed out blond with impossibly fragile bones and a soft apologetic way of speaking.

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Velvet talked funny.  She had this nasal monotone sound that grated on the nerves of the other kids in her 4th grade class. Her clothes all seemed to be slightly gray no matter what color they might have started out. She certainly wasn’t the bright blond, tall, athletic, brave and outspoken extrovert I fancied myself to be.  She was an okay kid; she just didn’t register much in my field of vision. I came from a family of extroverts where we all vied for attention or to get a word in edgewise. If you didn’t demand my attention you probably didn’t get it.

Velvet lived with her mother above a decrepit bar in the center of town.  The bar was next to my friend Maria’s house and I remember that a few years later a biker gang showed up and drank there for several hours.  It was exciting because Maria’s mother sat out on the porch, talking in Italian and just waiting for them to cause trouble from which she could then protect us.  

Across the street was the broken down VFW building where all my friends went to take ballet class.  I never did, I guess my parents couldn’t afford the lessons or didn’t want to be bothered to take me.  I asked once or twice and then gave up until a few years later when I went to a class in the city.  Our fortunes must have changed.

 I am sure Velvet didn’t take ballet at that time either.  I am sure it was because her mother couldn’t afford the price.

The funny thing is that she is part of one of my most vivid memories of childhood and except for this one incident I have no real memories of her in class or in social situations.  I think she belonged to my Girl Scout troop.  I think her mom was in charge of cookies and milk at least one week, which would be one week’s more time and attention than my mother was able to give us.  I think she was a very average student, what my step father would call “not too bright”.

One day in spring there was a mob of kids chasing Velvet on the playground.  There must have been about 15 of them.  I don’t know what started “it”, that mob behavior.  Maybe Velvet asked for her turn on the swings or accidentally hit some one with her jump rope.  All I know is I became part of that mob and when we finally ran her down and had her on the ground I made fun of the size of her feet.  I grabbed her foot and I remember making some loud joke about how tiny her shoes were.  I remember that her shoe was orange patent leather.

I also remember Velvet sobbing one word, “no” over and over.

We never got in trouble for that incident.  Maybe it was because we didn’t hurt her physically.  Or maybe no one noticed because it happened so quickly, like a flash fire.  Maybe Violet’s mother never spoke up or maybe Violet protected us and said nothing happened.  I guess in terms of a hundred kids on the playground daily, that four minutes was nothing.  But I have remembered it for almost 40 years.

I’ve thought of her occasionally.  I remember that little mob on the playground with a great deal of shame.  After years of meeting all kinds of people I realize now that Velvet had/has a hearing loss.  She talked exactly like all the hearing impaired people I have ever met. I know that at the time she did not have a hearing aid.  

Sometime during the summer Velvet and her mother moved away.

What you don’t understand about Pro-choice women II

The diary was getting long and hard to open. It was suggested to me that I repost it as part II.  In the interest of those having a hard time opening the diary…here it is.
_________________

I originally posted this at dkos.  It got almost 1000 responses and stayed at the top of the recommend list for awhile.  I was amazed at the response and most of the people who jumped in and agreed with me were men and women (particularly women) who wanted other people to understand, we are here.  We aren’t giving back our rights without a fight.  

I realize it reads a little “in your face”, but the response I got leads me to believe that most women are sick of giving in and conceeding our position just so that the next Northern european male can get elected.

I got many e-mails telling me that the thread would not open on dial up browser.  So I thought I would post it here and perhaps with fewer members people can read and discuss in leasure.

 What you don’t understand about pro-choice women and the Democratic party:  There are more of us than you.

What does that mean?  It means that if you put 100 democrats in a room there would be more pro-choice women than anyone else.  I am not sure what the exact numbers are but I am going to guess we’d be more than half the people in the room.

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Diaries :: TeresaInPa’s diary :: :: Trackback ::

Yes, African American voters and homosexual voters are more loyal by percentage than women in general, but they are a much smaller constituency and more of them are pro-choice women too.

Everyday on dkos, I read about “single issue pro-choice voters” and it is never a compliment.  There are even a lot of women here who use the term with derision.  But when one of the says “I am a pro-cboice woman but….” I know that they are actually anti-choice people playing a game.

 Their arguments usually go something like this:  I am pro-choice but I also care about unemployment heathcare etc…. to which I say “so what? We’ve run out of pro-choice democrats who also support those issues?”

Pro-choice may be a single issue but it is also the 1000 lb gorilla and if women would stop being so spineless when it comes to sticking up for ourselves there would be no question about placating the fetal obsession of some voters to win back the votes of the 15 white guy swing voters who give a shit about abortion.

We aren’t losing white guys because of abortion rights.  We’re losing them because we run candidates who can’t spit out a simple sentence and tell people where they stand in a believable manner.

This idea that we have to run anti-choice candidates in states like Pa and RI so that we can win (THE POLLS THE POLLS) when all evidence suggests that, at least in Pa, on a statewide level, PRO-CHOICE candidates WIN, is nothing more than political manipulation by the senate campaign  commitee who want to appease the anti-choice minority in the party.

What they ignore is the fact that there are indeed swing voters in Pa.  They are pro-choice republican women.  They vote for pro-choice democrats all the time.  But they aren’t going to swing their vote for an anti-choice DEMOCRAT.  They have no reason to do so.

Santorum does not win in Pa because he is anti-choice or against gay rights.  He wins because he is a fiscal conservative. If that weren’t the case how do you explain Arlen Spector, Ed Rendell, Governor Ridge?

If Howard Dean were to run for office in Pa against Santorum he’d kick his ass all the way to 2012 and again to 2018. Why?  Because he can talk fiscal conservative with authority and he’s not seen as anti-gun.

Pro-choice is the only rational moderate postion.  It means you can’t chose pregnancy for me and I can’t chose abortion for you, even if I do think you have too many kids and the world is over populated.

 It means you can’t chose pregnancy and motherhood for me and I can’t chose involuntary sterilization for you so that women don’t have to worry about being made criminals or forced to look at fetal portraits or wait 24 hours or beg a judge or sit through a lecture, or be an incuabator for a wealthier woman who can’t or won’t get pregnant but wants a nice white baby and not one of the thousands of minority babies growing up in foster care.

On another thread some one asked this:

Maybe you could explain (3.86 / 15)

Since you understand this post so well, help me clarify the following.

Why are THESE points true and valid:

1. The right to privacy is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.

   2. Equality under the law is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.

   3. A woman’s right to choose flows logically from both the right to privacy and the concept of equality under the law.

And yet THIS point, in Kos’ world, is utter horseshit:

A woman’s right to choose is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.

Maybe you could help me understand the distinction, because I am sure not getting it.

To which I replied this:

It is the difference of having a penis (none / 0)

If one has a penis then one’s fundamental rights are more fundamental than the rights of those without a penis.  If you do not have a penis then your fundamental rights are negotiable depending on whether people with penises can win elections.

Think I am kidding?  No I am not. There is sexism in the democratic party just as there is in the republican party.  It is just as strong and it is all about men, who hold the power if not the majority, being uncomfortable in a party that more and more doesn’t look like them.  They don’t just want democrats to win, they want white males to win and if not white males, then at least males.  When women get power in this party in proportion to our numbers, there are going to be as many women as men in congress, the senate, the whitehouse, the political organizations and that is a scary picture to people who want to be alligned with power and have been socialized from a young age to think that mean’s “person with penis”.

I am not accusing all men, in fact I am not accusing most.  I know that often sexism is not intentional.  But lots of men will claim they are not sexist when they most certainly are.  Even some women are anti women’s rights because they chose to allign themselves with the “don’t rock the boat and we will let you hang with the guys” contingent.

In addition, get the hell over NARAL, they don’t exist to get democrats elected.  The answer to the argument that women’s rights will be protected when democrats are in power, and therefor NARAL cut their own throat, falls flat while the party is annointing anti-choice candidates.  NARAL endorses incumbants because they have proven loyalty to their issue.  The minute NARAL stops being non-partisan is when they actually cut their own throat.  I am sure that if democrats in DE run a pro-choice candidate they  have a good chance to win. But for several election cycles, just like here in Pa, they have run republican lite candidates.

In regards to the polls in PA (and RI)….. nice try Schumer.  We know that polls are meaningless this far out. Most of the people who voted have no idea  who Casey is or what he stands for.  They recognize his name and they know he isn’t Santorum.

My prediction is that Casey will lose and if he should happen to win, women lose.

The reason Hoefful didn’t beat Spector is because Spector is pro-choice and has the endorsement of the teachers Union.  Still if the party had really gotten behind Hoeffel he might have won. If the party would get behind a pro-choice democrat against Santorum, the way they are going to get behind Casey, that candidate would also win.

So insult me and minimize me and call me nasty names to try to bully me(one issue voter) but you can’t make me vote for anti-choice candidates anymore than you can make black voters vote for pro-slavery canidates.

I don’t have to, I am the majority and pro-choice candidates of every stripe are in plentiful supply in my party.

Transformative politics is not for sissies (X-posted at dkos)

Here are a couple of good pieces about Dean.

*Transformative politics is not for sissies*.

If you’re to really change political trends, and put bottom rail on top for a generation, you can’t be gentle about it.

You can’t cajole. You can’t seduce. You have to go right for the throat. And you have to be ready for the whole of the old order to come down on you for it.

So let’s be clear about this right now. Love him or hate him, Howard Dean is a master politician.

 

more diary

He’s not really a liberal, you know. He’s what used to be called a Rockefeller Republican, back in the day. He believes that budgets should be balanced, that alliances should be negotiated, that science should be respected, and that it’s possible for government to make life better for people if it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

He made it work in Vermont. He ran to the right of other Democrats there. He balanced budgets. He dealt amicably with Republicans. For his pains he was often called a sell-out by environmentalists, by the state’s left, even by its gay community.

He’s still the same man, but today Rockefeller Republicanism is called extreme liberalism. He’s only on the left because the center has shifted radically to the right. Our assumptions today are far to the right of those our parents held. Most people today believe government is their enemy. Most people are skeptical about science. Most people don’t care about budgets. This is reflected in their choices right down the line, from President to school board.

So how do you effect change?

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And this article at Commondreams

Dean Just Told Them The Truth and They Thought It Was Hell

By Thom Hartmann

This morning I called the Democratic National Committee to tell them that I support Howard Dean’s modern-day version of Harry Truman’s dictum that, “I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”

Timid and fearful Democrats are trembling on national television as they beg Dr. Dean to stop pointing out the hypocricy and misinformation efforts of Republicans in office and Conservatives in the media.

“He doesn’t speak for me,” they say, apparently longing for the days when their spokesman was taking big checks from multinational corporations, signing corporate-friendly trade deals, and defending sex scandals.

The simple truth is that corporate interests have hijacked our nation, theocrats want to take us back to the days of the Salem Witch Trials (with gays playing the part of witches), and the “stars” in the corporate “mainstream” media have been so terrified by Bush administration threats of loss of access (which could then lead to the loss of their own 6- and 7-figure income jobs) that they perpetuate administration lies and tremble at the thought of actually asking a tough follow-up question when Bush prevaricates.

Howard Dean points out these uncomfortable truths. And, like the little boy who said that the Emperor had no clothes, those entrenched in the status quo are trying to hush him up.

But the status quo is bankrupting our families, gutting the middle class, putting a bulls-eye on American soldiers and tourists around the world, devastating our environment and our children’s future.

Given that this nation is only one of a half-dozen or so mature democracies still stuck with a system of government (lacking proportional representation or IRV) that requires a two-party system to operate properly, it’s critical that progressives infiltrate and take over the Democratic Party. After all, it was started by radical progressives like Thomas Jefferson, and reached its greatest electoral victories in the 20th Century when Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted an unabashedly progressive agenda.

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Some one has to lead.

I should mention that I found both articles at WWW.peopleforchange.net where Madfloridian is a great sorce for all things Howard Dean.

What you don’t understand about Pro-choice women (from dkos)

I originally posted this at dkos.  It got almost 1000 responses and stayed at the top of the recommend list for awhile.  I was amazed at the response and most of the people who jumped in and agreed with me were men and women (particularly women) who wanted other people to understand, we are here.  We aren’t giving back our rights without a fight.  
I realize it reads a little “in your face”, but the response I got leads me to believe that most women are sick of giving in and conceeding our position just so that the next Northern european male can get elected.
I got many e-mails telling me that the thread would not open on dial up browser.  So I thought I would post it here and perhaps with fewer members people can read and discuss in leasure.
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 What you don’t understand about pro-choice women and the Democratic party:  There are more of us than you.

What does that mean?  It means that if you put 100 democrats in a room there would be more pro-choice women than anyone else.  I am not sure what the exact numbers are but I am going to guess we’d be more than half the people in the room.

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Yes, African American voters and homosexual voters are more loyal by percentage than women in general, but they are a much smaller constituency and more of them are pro-choice women too.

Everyday on dkos, I read about “single issue pro-choice voters” and it is never a compliment.  There are even a lot of women here who use the term with derision.  But when one of the says “I am a pro-cboice woman but….” I know that they are actually anti-choice people playing a game.

 Their arguments usually go something like this:  I am pro-choice but I also care about unemployment heathcare etc…. to which I say “so what? We’ve run out of pro-choice democrats who also support those issues?”

Pro-choice may be a single issue but it is also the 1000 lb gorilla and if women would stop being so spineless when it comes to sticking up for ourselves there would be no question about placating the fetal obsession of some voters to win back the votes of the 15 white guy swing voters who give a shit about abortion.

We aren’t losing white guys because of abortion rights.  We’re losing them because we run candidates who can’t spit out a simple sentence and tell people where they stand in a believable manner.

This idea that we have to run anti-choice candidates in states like Pa and RI so that we can win (THE POLLS THE POLLS) when all evidence suggests that, at least in Pa, on a statewide level, PRO-CHOICE candidates WIN, is nothing more than political manipulation by the senate campaign  commitee who want to appease the anti-choice minority in the party.

What they ignore is the fact that there are indeed swing voters in Pa.  They are pro-choice republican women.  They vote for pro-choice democrats all the time.  But they aren’t going to swing their vote for an anti-choice DEMOCRAT.  They have no reason to do so.

Santorum does not win in Pa because he is anti-choice or against gay rights.  He wins because he is a fiscal conservative. If that weren’t the case how do you explain Arlen Spector, Ed Rendell, Governor Ridge?

If Howard Dean were to run for office in Pa against Santorum he’d kick his ass all the way to 2012 and again to 2018. Why?  Because he can talk fiscal conservative with authority and he’s not seen as anti-gun.

Pro-choice is the only rational moderate postion.  It means you can’t chose pregnancy for me and I can’t chose abortion for you, even if I do think you have too many kids and the world is over populated.

 It means you can’t chose pregnancy and motherhood for me and I can’t chose involuntary sterilization for you so that women don’t have to worry about being made criminals or forced to look at fetal portraits or wait 24 hours or beg a judge or sit through a lecture, or be an incuabator for a wealthier woman who can’t or won’t get pregnant but wants a nice white baby and not one of the thousands of minority babies growing up in foster care.

On another thread some one asked this:

Maybe you could explain (3.86 / 15)

Since you understand this post so well, help me clarify the following.

Why are THESE points true and valid:

1. The right to privacy is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.

   2. Equality under the law is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.
   3. A woman’s right to choose flows logically from both the right to privacy and the concept of equality under the law.

And yet THIS point, in Kos’ world, is utter horseshit:

A woman’s right to choose is a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party.

Maybe you could help me understand the distinction, because I am sure not getting it.

To which I replied this:

It is the difference of having a penis (none / 0)

If one has a penis then one’s fundamental rights are more fundamental than the rights of those without a penis.  If you do not have a penis then your fundamental rights are negotiable depending on whether people with penises can win elections.

Think I am kidding?  No I am not. There is sexism in the democratic party just as there is in the republican party.  It is just as strong and it is all about men, who hold the power if not the majority, being uncomfortable in a party that more and more doesn’t look like them.  They don’t just want democrats to win, they want white males to win and if not white males, then at least males.  When women get power in this party in proportion to our numbers, there are going to be as many women as men in congress, the senate, the whitehouse, the political organizations and that is a scary picture to people who want to be alligned with power and have been socialized from a young age to think that mean’s “person with penis”.

I am not accusing all men, in fact I am not accusing most.  I know that often sexism is not intentional.  But lots of men will claim they are not sexist when they most certainly are.  Even some women are anti women’s rights because they chose to allign themselves with the “don’t rock the boat and we will let you hang with the guys” contingent.

In addition, get the hell over NARAL, they don’t exist to get democrats elected.  The answer to the argument that women’s rights will be protected when democrats are in power, and therefor NARAL cut their own throat, falls flat while the party is annointing anti-choice candidates.  NARAL endorses incumbants because they have proven loyalty to their issue.  The minute NARAL stops being non-partisan is when they actually cut their own throat.  I am sure that if democrats in DE run a pro-choice candidate they  have a good chance to win. But for several election cycles, just like here in Pa, they have run republican lite candidates.

In regards to the polls in PA (and RI)….. nice try Schumer.  We know that polls are meaningless this far out. Most of the people who voted have no idea  who Casey is or what he stands for.  They recognize his name and they know he isn’t Santorum.

My prediction is that Casey will lose and if he should happen to win, women lose.

The reason Hoefful didn’t beat Spector is because Spector is pro-choice and has the endorsement of the teachers Union.  Still if the party had really gotten behind Hoeffel he might have won. If the party would get behind a pro-choice democrat against Santorum, the way they are going to get behind Casey, that candidate would also win.

So insult me and minimize me and call me nasty names to try to bully me(one issue voter) but you can’t make me vote for anti-choice candidates anymore than you can make black voters vote for pro-slavery canidates.

I don’t have to, I am the majority and pro-choice candidates of every stripe are in plentiful supply in my party.