Blue Hearts

Finally! It's been so long since we last spoke. I've had so many great communications from you all and I've been meaning to share them but life got in the way. So, here they are.

I've broken the blog into a few sections. First is humor. Second is general. Third is non-political. And Fourth is local/action. I hope this helps you skim through the blog more easily.

Before we get into it, we are set for our next Blue Hearts gathering. November 17th, 8:30 am at Indian Hills Country Club! Michelle Lahr from Heartland Democrats will be speaking to us about the great things they are doing and how we can be active in making a difference.

Hope to see you there and happy reading!
Kristin

I. Humor

A woman walks into a curio shop in San Francisco. Looking around at the exotica, she notices a very lifelike, life-sized bronze statue of a rat. It has no price tag, but is so striking she decides she must have it. She takes it to the owner: "How much for the bronze rat?"

"Twelve dollars for the rat, a hundred dollars for the story," says the owner. The woman gives the shop-owner twelve dollars.

" I'll just take the rat, you can keep the story."

As she walks down the street carrying his bronze rat, she notices that a few real rats have crawled out of alleys and sewers, and begun following her down the street. This is a bit disconcerting, so she begins walking a little faster. Within a couple blocks, the group of rats behind her grows to over a hundred, and they begin squealing. She starts to trot toward the Bay. She takes a nervous look around and sees that the rats now number in the thousands--maybe millions--and they are all squealing and coming toward her faster and faster. Terrified, she runs to the edge of the Bay, and throws the bronze rat as far out into the Bay as she can. Amazingly, the millions of rats all jump into the Bay after it and are all drowned.

The woman walks back to the curio shop. "Ah ha," says the owner, "I'll bet you have come back for the story?"

No," said the woman, "I came back to see if you have a bronze Republican."


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Ethics Test

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. No one else will know, so you won't be fooling anyone but yourself if you give anything but a truthful answer.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision. Remember, your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous. Please read slowly and thoughtfully, giving due consideration to each line.

Here's the situation:

You are in Florida; Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of Biblical proportions. You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.

Suddenly you see a man floundering in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer...somehow the man looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is. It's George W. Bush, President of the United States!! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under ...forever.

You have two options - you can save the life of G.W. Bush, or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

So here's the question, and please give an honest answer:

Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

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The US Postal Service has created a stamp with a picture of President George W. Bush to honor his first term achievements. In daily use it has been shown that the stamp is not sticking to envelopes. This has enraged the President, who demanded a full investigation.

After a month of testing, a special presidential commission has made the following three findings:

1) The stamp is in perfect order.
2) There is nothing wrong with the applied adhesive.
3) People are spitting on the wrong side.

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Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident' "OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands. Finally, the President looks up and asks..........'How many is a Brazillion ??!'



MOVING FROM HUMOR INTO THE SERIOUS REALM, HERE'S A GREAT ONE FOR US TO THINK ABOUT. K


October 17, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist
Get It Together, Democrats

By BOB HERBERT
A word of caution: Democrats should think twice before getting all giddy about the problems caving in on the Republicans and the prospects of regaining control of Congress in next year's elections.

For one thing, the Democrats' own house is hardly in order. While recent polls have shown growing disenchantment with President Bush and the G.O.P., there's no evidence that voters have suddenly become thrilled with the Democrats.

A survey taken by the Pew Research Center showed an abysmal 32 percent approval rating for Democratic leaders in Congress.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Congressional redistricting (anti-democratic in every sense of the word) has made it more difficult to oust incumbents. It would take a landslide of shocking proportions for the Democrats to win control of both houses of Congress next fall.

This is not to minimize the troubles facing the G.O.P. The party is in free fall. The war in Iraq has been a disaster and despite the vote on the constitution over the weekend there is no end in sight. The cronyism and incompetence of the Bush administration ("Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job") have become a national joke, a given.

Tom DeLay has been indicted. Bill Frist and his lawyers are answering subpoenas and preparing a defense for possible insider-trading charges. The White House is in a state of highest anxiety over the very real possibility that criminal charges will be brought against one or more of the most important people in the Bush administration. And conservatives have formed a circular firing squad over the Harriet Miers flap.

It's no wonder the Democrats are gleeful.

They should get over it, and get on with the very difficult business of convincing the public that Democrats would do a better job of governing a country that is already in deep trouble, and sinking deeper by the day.

It's not enough to tell voters how terrible the Republicans are. (Leave that to the left-leaning columnists.) What Democrats have to do is get over their timidity, look deep into their own souls, discover what they truly believe and then tell it like it is.

Give us something to latch onto. Where do we go from here?

A friend reminded me recently of the old political adage that all campaigns are a battle between hope and fear. Ever since Sept. 11 President Bush and the G.O.P. have been pushing the nation's fear buttons for all they're worth. The public is frightened, all right - about terror, about the consequences of the war in Iraq, about economic insecurity here at home, about the future of the United States. But there is no longer much confidence that President Bush and the Republicans are competent to deal with these tough issues.

What the Democrats have to do is get off their schadenfreude cloud and start the hard work of crafting a message of hope that they can deliver convincingly to the electorate - not just in the Congressional elections next year, but in local elections all over the country and the presidential election of 2008.

That is not happening at the moment. While Americans are turning increasingly against the war in Iraq, for example, the support for the war among major Democratic leaders seems nearly as staunch and as mindless as among Republicans. On that and other issues, Democrats are still agonizing over whether to say what they truly believe or try to present themselves as a somewhat lighter version of the G.O.P.

I wonder what Harry Truman would think about today's Democratic Party?

Democrats need to put together a serious proposal for withdrawal of American forces from Iraq over a reasonable (which means reasonably short) period of time, and couple that with a broader national security plan that focuses on Al Qaeda-type terrorism and domestic security.

Democrats need to tell the country the truth about taxes, about the benefits of investing in the nation's physical infrastructure, about the essential need to bolster public education from kindergarten through college, and about the shared sacrifices that will be necessary if anything approaching energy independence is to be achieved.

They need to be optimistic and hopeful as they deliver their message to the country, explaining that all of these things are doable, that they will strengthen the U.S. in the short term and create a better future for the next generation and the one after that.

Competence is essential, but it's not enough. The great voices of history have always been the voices of optimism and hope.


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REPUBLICANS USED TO TREAT PERJURY & OBSTRUCTION AS SERIOUS CRIMES

As new reports surface that Republicans may attack possible perjury or obstruction charges against White House officials in connection with the CIA leak case as legal technicalities, we thought it made sense to remind GOP Senators of their past comments on those "legal technicalities." In fact, when a Democrat was in the White House just a few short years ago, the
seriousness of perjury and obstruction was pretty much all Republicans would talk about. And just yesterday, former independent counsel Robert Ray said, "There is nothing more damaging to the proper administration of justice than efforts to undermine a legitimate law-enforcement inquiry."

A Reminder for Senate Republicans: What You Said About Perjury & Obstruction A Few Short Years Ago...

Sen. Frist: "There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors...Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor...The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice are public crimes threatening the administration of justice." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Kyl: "...there can be no doubt that perjurious, false, and misleading statements made under oath in federal court proceedings are indeed impeachable offenses...John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, said 'there is no crime more extensively pernicious to society' than perjury, precisely because it 'discolors and poisons the streams of justice.'" [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. DeWine: "Obstruction of justice and perjury strike at the very heart of our system of justice...Perjury is also a very serious crime...The judiciary is designed to be a mechanism for finding the truth-so that justice can be done. Perjury perverts the judiciary, turning it into a mechanism that accepts lies-so that injustice may prevail." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Talent: "Nobody else in a position of trust, not a CEO, not a labor union leader, not a principal of a school could do half of what the president has done and stay in office. I mean, who would have said a year ago that a president could perjure himself and obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses... and stay in office." [CNBC, "Hardball," 12/19/98]

Sen. McConnell: "I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors...Perjury and obstruction hammer away at the twin pillars of our legal system: truth and justice." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Voinovich: "As constitutional scholar Charles Cooper said, 'The crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice, like the crimes of treason and bribery, are quintessentially offenses against our system of government, visiting injury immediately on society itself.'" [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Hutchison: "The reason that I voted to remove him from office is because I think the overridding issue here is that truth will remain the standard for perjury and obstruction of justice in our criminal justice system and it must not be gray. It must not be muddy." [AP, 2/12/99]

Sen. Craig: "There is no question in my mind that perjury and obstruction of justice are the kind of public crimes that the Founders had in mind, and the House managers have demonstrated these crimes were committed by the president. As for the excuses being desperately sought by some to allow President Clinton to escape accountability, it seems to me that creating such loopholes would require tearing holes in the Constitution-something that cannot be justified to protect this president, or any president." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

Sen. Brownback: "Perjury and obstruction of justice are crimes against the state. Perjury goes directly against the truth-finding function of the judicial branch of government." [Congressional Record, 2/12/99]

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Published on Thursday, September 15, 2005 by the Wiscasset Newspaper (Maine)
Sugar for Sugar, Salt For Salt Go Down In The Flood Gonna Be Your Own Fault by Christopher Cooper

This won't take long. And it won't be much fun. But duty and decency demand that we do it. Sometimes you buy a cantaloupe because it looks good and you have enjoyed some fine ripe cantaloupes in your time, even though a buck and a half for a little melon that went three for a dollar within living memory seems pretty pricey. And you leave it on the kitchen counter for a few days, because it's a little green, but it softens and gets a better color so you slice it open, but it's mushy and rotten and smells like feet and tastes like vomit and you remember other, similar, corporate grocery chain cantaloupe experiences and vow as you heave the mess into the compost not to get fooled again.

Maybe you've bought a car. Reasonable mileage, no rust, convincing salesman who chatted you up about your hobbies, agreed with your prejudices, and made you feel you were a pretty clever guy for choosing this vehicle from his selection. But you couldn't keep it aligned, it ate tires, the brakes, exhaust system and radiator didn't survive the life of the payment book, and when you tried to sell it three years later every seventeen-year-old who looked at it was astute enough to reference the oil blown past the rear main seals as his reason for declining your "Best Offer Over $500 Dollars" prayer.

Some of you lady readers married men whose virtues are now no more apparent to you than they were pre-nuptually to your mothers, friends or even relatives of the groom himself. True, he was a successful inseminator but, sadly, the children look disturbingly like him. Of you, people say, "She could have done so much better." What were you thinking? What can you do?

Or let's say a whole country was riding a foaming crest of good times, new cars, low interest rates, affordable gas, electronic gadgets and a We're Number One world view that was maybe weak on history, geography and empathy, but sure did by God show the big stick to the heathen foreigners.

Such a people might toss a coin in a contest between a dorky, dull Democrat and an insipid dry drunk Texas fratboy Republican whose every and many failures had been rendered moot by family money and connections. They might not be paying much attention.

Then, let's say, some really nasty guys from a country larded up with ugly, corrupt fat cats blew a great big hole in a part of that country. Suppose the new president "rose to the occasion" by starting a war with another country in the same part of the world as the one where the bad guys came from, but which, for political and personal reasons and reasons having very much indeed to do with very valuable mineral resources and very profitable corporations and some other complicated considerations having to do with weapons sales, it was not convenient to invade because those particular rich foreigners were personal friends and business partners of that new chief executive.

And further (stay with me; I know it's a weird trip), imagine that just as it was made startlingly clear that pretty much everything this president had advanced as a reason for that war was a fabrication, a misdirection, a deliberate under- or over-statement (well, hell, yes, I guess just a pile of tremendous lies, really, if we need to use such an ugly word), imagine that he got re-elected despite his manifest incompetence and venality and smugness because the same Democrats who had advanced the very dull, unappealing candidate four years previously selected this time a cipher who ran against his own finest, most decent history and tried to seem more and more like the dull incumbent until, finally, some voters stuck with the dummy they knew, and some voted against the sad-sack they'd come to not respect, and the rigged Republican voting machines in two critical states made up the shortfall.

Now what if the best-studied, most carefully-observed, best-tracked, most predictable-coursed hurricane ever seen, and one of the biggest, wiped out a major coastal city that, had the president in question not been so intent upon "drowning government in a bathtub" and reducing the unwelcome sting of taxation upon the richest people and corporations he knew (outside of his friends in Saudi Arabia, I mean), might have received enough money to fortify its dikes and seawalls in the true spirit of "Homeland Security", and maybe every old lady trying to board an airplane could have been spared the burden of taking off her shoes. (OK, I know it doesn't cost much to humiliate old ladies, and I know the money saved wouldn't have been diverted to New Orleans, but great craziness must be recognized and ridiculed and, when it is public policy, repudiated, and that's what they pay me to do here.)

You've seen the pictures. Twenty per cent of the residents of New Orleans lacked the resources, the vehicles, the health, the money to evacuate ahead of the storm. Too old, too sick, too poor to save themselves, and mostly, given America's great secret still, all these years after we thought we'd equalized these things, even after the token Scalia wannabe on the Supreme Court and the sad yes-man who abandoned the Secretary of State job after the lies he told finally began to curdle on his lips, mostly black. Poor blacks. Indeed.

You've seen the Superdome, the convention center footage. You've heard the first-person accounts of scores of hurting, hungry homeless (poor, black) persons trying to cross a bridge to dry ground but ordered back by white officials with guns. You've seen the misery, the neglect, the abuse. So has the rest of the world.

We're Number One! Say it loud.

Is it time yet? Can we all just admit we made a stupid mistake? We weren't paying attention? We heard what we wanted to hear? We succumbed to slick advertising? The fruit was rotten; the car was a lemon; that bum was just piss-poor husband and father material and your momma was right.

Stay the course? What course? Our country, its citizens, its principles have been reduced, abused, worked-over, bled-out, violated and humiliated. Not by terrorists or foreign enemies or tsunamis or tornadoes or an angry god. We have rotted from within.

Blame the Republicans? Nah, they're just "protecting their base." Like helping like. It is the party of wealth and privilege.

Blame the Democrats? Sure, if you can distinguish 'em from the Republicans. It sure ain't the party of FDR any more. Or even Jack Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson or Jimmy Carter. I'll see your Tom DeLay and your Bill Frist and raise you a Joe Biden and a Joe Lieberman.

Blame the press for avoiding or killing any story that wasn't a press release from the Pentagon, the White House or the American Association of Yellow Ribbon Manufacturers. Blame our stars. Blame ourselves; we weren't paying attention; we didn't do the work democracy demands.

Do I exaggerate our desperate straits? The man at the top in his own words and by his own actions. Add the smirk and swagger yourself; you've seen it often enough. First response? Fly over on Air Force One; go play golf. Condi Rice shopped shoe boutiques. Dick Cheney bought a three million dollar vacation home. While you and I watched the Superdome and convention center fiascoes? Lunch with Al Greenspan. "Hurricane Katrina will represent a temporary setback for the U.S. Economy and the energy sector."

As WalMart water trucks, Red Cross workers, TV reporters and Canadian Mounted Police forces tended the stricken city while FEMA and the National Guard waited for orders that didn't come? "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." Days after we'd all heard testimony from the engineers and planners who'd repeatedly sounded the alarm about Category Five storms and Cat. Three levees: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

With hundred of thousands homeless, uncounted dead, the poorest among us hit the hardest: "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house-- the guy lost his entire house -- there's going to be fantastic house. I look forward to sitting on the porch." [Yes, rubbles, plural. I know it sounds stupid, but I got it right off the White House website. He's proud of it, for Christ's sake!]

There's more. You've seen it, heard it, been repulsed by it. But did you get this from his mom, the husband of one bad president, the mother of the worst one yet, a woman who you'll remember said she couldn't find the time to trouble her "beautiful mind" about Iraqi civilians we'd bombed to death by the tens of thousands? Of those who'd lost all they owned, including, in many cases, loved ones, to the flood and were now enjoying the hospitality of Texas shelters: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this [chuckle] is working very well for them."

Oh, those lucky, lucky homeless, sick people! What happy niggras we have here on our grand plantation. It makes a person feel dirty and disgusted and sick to his stomach. Don't you suppose a couple billion other people all over the world heard that chortle, you bloated, ignorant, overprivileged mother of a moron?

Hey, folks, things have gotten so bad that even the press is beginning to pay attention. Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan said at least fourteen times during two press briefings last week that now is not the time to "play the blame game." I say it's an excellent time, while the dead are still floating on the polluted tides and we are not yet distracted by the World's Series or the run-up to Christmas or another newly-discovered "Axis Of Terror" triumvirate.

Now, for pure, wholesome, refreshing local idiocy we have the Maine Republicans' brilliant plan to make us forget the screwing we're getting from Exxon by canceling the state gasoline tax for a few months and (this is really too perfect for me to have made up) forgiving the sales tax on home heating oil (struggling, low wage, two-job homeowners get ready for this!) for business use.

OK. I'm done. Gotta go wax the yacht and wind my Rolex. Jesus, I wish I could be homeless and eat some donated food in Texas while my wife rots in a drainage canal and my dogs starve to death on the balcony of our ruined home.

Chris Cooper writes an editorial page column, Fixtures And Forces And Friends for the Wiscasset [Maine] Newspaper. He lives in Alna, Maine; contact him at ckc2@prexar.com.

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.--Mark Twain


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Subject: The Most Incompetent Government in American History
Failure on Every Front
Impeach Bush Now, Before More Die
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

The raison d'etre of the Bush administration is war in the Middle East in order to protect America from terrorism and to insure America's oil supply. On both counts the Bush administration has failed catastrophically.

Bush's single-minded focus on the "war against terrorism" has compounded a natural disaster and turned it into the greatest calamity in American history. The US has lost its largest and most strategic port, thousands of lives, and 80% of one of America's most historic cities is under water.

If terrorists had achieved this result, it would rank as the greatest terrorist success in history.

Prior to 911, the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) in order to protect the strategic port, the refineries, and the large population.

However, after 2003 the flow of funds to SELA were diverted to the war in Iraq. During 2004 and 2005 the New Orleans Times-Picayune published nine articles citing New Orleans' loss of hurricane protection to the war in Iraq.

Every expert and newspapers as distant as Texas saw the New Orleans catastrophe coming. But President Bush and his insane government preferred war in Iraq to protecting Americans at home.

Bush's war left the Corps of Engineers only 20% of the funding to protect New Orleans from flooding from Lake Pontchartrain. On June 18, 2004, the Corps' project manager, Al Naomi, told the Times-Picayune: "the levees are sinking. If we don't get the money to raise them, we can't stay ahead of the settlement."

Despite the dire warnings delivered by the 2004 hurricane season, the Bush administration made deep budget cuts for flood control and hurricane funding for New Orleans. The US Senate, alarmed at the Bush administration's insanity, was planning to restore the funding for 2006. But now it is too late. Many multiples of the funding that would have saved the city now have to be spent to rescue it.

Not content with leaving New Orleans unprotected, it took the Bush administration five days to get the remnants of the National Guard not serving in Iraq, along with desperately needed food and water, to devastated New Orleans. This is the slowest emergency response by the US government in modern times. By the time the Bush administration could organize any resources for New Orleans, many more people had died and the city was in total chaos.

Despite the most dismal performance on record, Bush's Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, said on Thursday that the Bush administration has done a "magnificent job."

The on-the-scene mayor of New Orleans sees it differently: "They're feeding the people a line of bull, and they are spinning and people are dying."

"They're thinking small man, and this is a major, major deal."

It is a major deal, one that will affect Americans far beyond New Orleans. According to reports, 25% of our oil and gasoline comes through the New Orleans port and refineries, all out of commission. Needed goods cannot be imported, and exports will plummet, worsening an already disastrous deficit in the balance of trade.

The increased cost of gasoline will soak up consumers' disposable incomes, with dire effects on consumer spending. US economic growth will be siphoned off into higher energy costs. American lives far from New Orleans will be adversely affected.

The destruction of New Orleans is the responsibility of the most incompetent government in American history and perhaps in all history. Americans are rapidly learning that they were deceived by the superpower hubris. The powerful US military cannot successfully occupy Baghdad or control the road to the airport--and this against an insurgency based in only 20% of the Iraqi population. Bush's pointless war has left Washington so pressed for money that the federal government abandoned New Orleans to catastrophe.

The Bush administration is damned by its gross incompetence. Bush has squandered the lives and health of thousands of people. He has run through hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars. He has lost America's reputation and its allies. With barbaric torture and destruction of our civil liberty, he has stripped America of its inherent goodness and morality. And now Bush has lost America's largest port and 25 percent of its oil supply. Why? Because Bush started a gratuitous war egged on by a claque of crazy neoconservatives who have sacrificed America's interests to their insane agenda.

The neoconservatives have brought these disasters to all Americans, Democrat and Republican alike. Now they must he held accountable. Bush and his neoconservatives are guilty of criminal negligence and must be prosecuted.

What will it take for Americans to reestablish accountability in their government? Bush has got away with lies and an illegal war of aggression, with outing CIA agents, with war crimes against Iraqi civilians, with the horrors of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture centers, and now with the destruction of New Orleans.

What disaster will next spring from Bush's incompetence?

Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

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By Cecelie S. Berry


Sept. 30, 2005 | A baby is a baby is a baby -- or so it seems. The wonder of babies is that they are equally innocent, equally endowed. Not so black babies, if we are to believe family values advocate and former Education Secretary Bill Bennett. He made this pronouncement on his weekly radio show: "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime ... you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down." He then quickly backpedaled, stating that as "morally reprehensible" as this would be, it would, nevertheless, be effective.

As the editor of an anthology on motherhood by black women writers, I am often asked if all mothers aren't essentially alike. Many people want to believe that some human experiences transcend the boundaries of race and should be treated accordingly: Motherhood is motherhood. Can't we all just get along? I'm not altogether unsympathetic to that view, since, as a society, we hope to move toward seeing each other as equal human beings; our hopes, dreams and struggles as uniting and not dividing us.

Bennett's statement clearly shows why we are not there yet. Black babies come into the world burdened with the prejudice that they will become criminals, probably violent criminals, and that it would be better for America if their lives were cut short. His words give no thought to what it might cost America to lose these black babies -- to what leadership, what innovation, what artistry might be forgone. Every black mother must take note of the fact that this view is still extant; their children are considered by some to be a drag on the bright, boundless promise of America. To some, there is no upside in sustaining or investing in their lives.

Knowing this makes our lives as mothers fraught with worry and suspicion, a radically different experience from those of our white counterparts, no matter how criminally predisposed their babies may be. Criminal tendencies exist, according to Bennett, not in some black babies but in every black baby. Apparently, it would take the elimination of every black baby to decrease the crime rate. There is no succor then for those of us who are blessed with education and income: His words lead inescapably to the conclusion that every black baby is guilty before having taken his or her first, tentative steps in the world of polluting it. Bennett defines the problem of crime in America exclusively in terms of race, not of class or conditions, not of poverty or lack of opportunity; it is not, claims the advocate of traditional values, even a problem of moral choice, to be addressed through religious or ethical instruction. It is purely, simply a matter of race.

Bennett's comment is shocking but revealing, even timely. Until his dethroning for gambling addiction, Bennett was a poster child for the family values movement, which still has tremendous influence in the country and the current Bush administration. Though he should have been completely discredited by his personal failures -- no doubt the consequence of his "mistakes" rather than any genetic deficiency -- he still retains enough credibility to have a radio show, called "Morning in America." Regrettably, some people still listen to this man; you have to wonder how many of his followers remain in government, making policy decisions that impact African-Americans.

In a recent issue of the New Yorker, David Remnick explores the conspiracy theories that are circulating in the black community in the wake of disasters that have disproportionately affected them. Well, no wonder. When casual comments by white politicians reveal the extent of their racial biases -- and an intellectual fondness for genocidal notions -- grist is duly added to the mill. There has been among African-Americans a lurking suspicion that the family values movement is not about values but about how some groups, blacks in chief, are morally void, and therefore expendable. Is it any wonder that we postulate, when this view is popularized by conservative leaders, that it might help explain why inner-city schools remain segregated, underfunded breeding grounds for delinquency; why government policies make prisons a better investment than early education programs; why the death penalty, though embattled by DNA evidence, still remains unbowed in many states? And is it so surprising for us to ask whether the racist assumptions of Bennett and men like him were behind the federal government's dilatory rescue of the overwhelmingly black and poor residents of New Orleans?

Black Americans cannot afford to be naive about the far-reaching tentacles of racism in politics, but neither can white Americans. Of the relationship between aborting black children and decreasing crime, Bennett stated that "extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky." Tricky? The truth is that they are irresponsible and dangerous, a threat to the delicate fabric of racial tolerance that has been sewn in the last half-century and an undermining of America's greatest value: equality.


Cecelie S. Berry is a commentator for National Public Radio. She also has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times and New York Newsday.


"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt


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Subject: Do Military Recruiters Have Your Number?

Friends and Activists,

This is some serious stuff!!!

You may not know it, but under a little known provision of No Child Left Behind, public high schools must hand over personal information about students -- including minors -- to local military recruiters, or risk losing federal education funding. I think it's a real invasion of family privacy and local school control.

The good news is that I just found some great information and a useful online tool that makes it easy to "opt out" our children from these lists. Just go to: www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org

I encourage each of you to go to the website and read about what is happening to our kids in school!! If you click on "Opt Out" and put your zip code in, it will tell you the schools in your area and give you the address where to send letters. You can Opt Out your child, but even further than that, you can write a letter to your local school board and ask them to attach Opt Out forms to emergency cards, agendas, somewhere visible where parents will be aware that their child's PRIVATE, PERSONAL information is being given to these Military Recruiters!!!!

You can also help change the law that lets military recruiters prey on our minor children without parents' explicit permission. Rep. Mike Honda (D) CA, is sponsoring legislation to require parents to "Opt In" if they want their child's name, address, phone, and other personal info released to the Military. The bill is H.R. 551 and it is called the Student Privacy Protection Act. Please call or email your U.S. Congressperson and ask them to become a co-sponsor of this very important legislation! Please spread the word to your own lists and friends about www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org

Thanks for helping to protect our children!!

Peace!
Pamela : )

Nvwato hiyadv idehesdi (Let us live together in Peace)! (Cherokee)
"That which you do unto the least of these, you do unto me." Jesus (Matthew 25:40)
Evil can only prevail when good people do nothing.

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NON-POLITICAL ITEMS:

A NEW WAY OF CAR-JACKING (NOT A JOKE)

You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. Then you lock all your doors, start the engine and shift into REVERSE, and you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space and you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window.

So, you shift into PARK, unlock your doors and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the car-jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off! Your engine was running, (ladies would have their purse in the car) and they practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.

BE AWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

Just drive away and remove the paper that is stuck to your window later, and be thankful that you read this email.
Lieutenant Tony Bartolome
Bureau of Investigations
Florida Highway Patrol
P.O. Box 593527
Orlando, FL 32859

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Beginning this month (May '05) a new database will be available to the general public, free of charge, that displays your personal information (names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates).

The database is found at http://www.zabasearch.com/. I urge you to forward this email to family and friends. Check to see if your name and information is in their database. If so and you want it removed, send them an e-mail at info@zabasearch.com to request it be removed. I do not know how our names are appearing there, but I checked my own and a few other random ones, and they are all in this database!

After opting out by email, check back after a few days to make certain your information has been removed.

Displaying such information should be a crime.

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If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone on your cell phone.  Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button of your key fob (clicker), holding it near the phone on their end.  Your car doors will unlock.  Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.  Distance is no object.  You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk!).

Editor's Note * It works fine! We tried it out, and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!


LOCAL ISSUES/OPPORTUNITIES


THE HEARTLAND DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA (www.heartlanddemocrats.org) and THE JACKSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE

are pleased to present

The Victory Starts NOW: An Evening with George Lakoff, PhD
author of Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate
Also invited to speak: statewide & local electeds and ’06 candidates

When: November 12th, 7:30pm
Where: The Uptown Theater
Valentine Room
Cost: $35 ($25 HDA Members)
HDA Members also invited to stay for book signing after event!


Patron’s Party:
Private Reception with Dr. Lakoff
When: November 12th, 5:30pm
Where: The Uptown Theater
Cabaret Room
Cost: $100
(Includes autographed book and photo with the author;
Complimentary hors d'oeuvres, wine & beer)


SPONSORSHIPS ALSO AVAILABLE
for more information on tickets or sponsorships, contact Michele Lahr
mlahr@meridianstrat.com or 816.931.1005


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www.MissouriCures.com

October 11, 2005
Coalition Update
Missouri Citizens’ Initiative Filed Today

We wanted to share this breaking news with you immediately. The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures today launched our effort to seek voter approval of a state constitutional amendment designed to ensure that any stem cell research, therapies and cures permitted by federal law will continue to be allowed in Missouri.

The Initiative, which protects all types of stem cell research and cures, was filed this morning with the Missouri Secretary of State. Our Coalition will work to gather the nearly 150,000 voter signatures needed to place the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative on the November 2006 statewide ballot.


“Citizens’ Initiative Effort Launched to Protect Stem Cell Research and Cures In Missouri”

“A coalition of patient advocacy groups, medical organizations and concerned citizens today launched an effort to seek voter approval of a state constitutional amendment designed to ensure that any stem cell research, therapies and cures permitted by federal law will continue to be allowed in Missouri. The amendment, called the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, is the first state measure in the nation that would clearly protect the right of patients to have their diseases and injuries treated with any stem cell cures allowed by federal law.

The citizens’ initiative is a direct response to recent attempts by some Missouri politicians to pass legislation that would have made Missouri patients guilty of a felony crime for having their diseases and injuries treated with stem cells produced with a promising new technique called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). SCNT provides a way to use a patient’s own cell and a donated, unfertilized egg to produce stem cells that can turn into and regenerate any type of cell in the human body. Because these stem cells match the patient’s genetic makeup, the problem of immune system rejection and the need for finding a genetically matching donor are avoided.

Voter approval of the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative – by a simple majority vote – will prevent state-level bans of any type of stem cell research and cures allowed under federal law, including those involving adult stem cells and early, or embryonic, stem cells (ES cells) from the SCNT process and from leftover fertility clinic embryos that would otherwise be discarded. The measure will ensure that Missouri patients have access to any stem cell therapies and cures allowed in the U.S. and ensure that Missouri medical institutions can provide and help find those cures. It also creates ethical and safety guidelines for ES cell research conducted in Missouri. And, it resolves concerns about human cloning by strictly banning human reproductive cloning to create babies…”

A complete copy of the proposed measure and background information are available on our website at www.MissouriCures.com.

Patient Groups, Civic Leaders & Medical Experts Show Their Support…

We are pleased that many patient groups – including the American Diabetes Association , Christopher Reeve Foundation, Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (which represents more than 90 patient advocacy, disease and research organizations), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Parkinson’s Action Network – are already supporting our Initiative effort. We are also proud that a number of highly respected Missourians have stepped forward to serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of our campaign. They are: Sen. John C. Danforth, former U.S. Senator for Missouri and Episcopal priest; Dr. Michael R. DeBaun, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine and Director of the Sickle Cell Medical Treatment and Education Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital; Sen. Thomas Eagleton, former U.S. Senator for Missouri and former State Attorney General; Karen Pletz, J.D., President and CEO of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences; Dr. Hugh Stephenson, former Interim Dean and Chief of General Surgery at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and former President of the University of Missouri System Board of Curators; and James and Virginia Stowers, Co-Founders of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

You Can Help…

We urge you to learn more about the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative and to serve as a grassroots ambassador to your friends and neighbors by urging them to support this important measure. To place the measure on the November 2006 state ballot, we need to collect nearly 150,000 voter signatures. Please tell your friends, family and colleagues about our efforts…sign a petition, recruit new people to our Coalition, send a letter to the editor.

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November 8, 2005: The Jackson County Democratic Committee will hold its quarterly meeting at the KC Courthouse, 415 E. 12th Street, at 7:00 PM. Discussions will include the upcoming unity rally and date for Truman Days 2006.

November 12, 2005: The Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus Endowment & Education Fund & MAINStream Coalition are sponsoring Campaign School 2005 at Penn Valley Community College. Workshop topics include: Raising Money: Where to Find it & How to Ask for it, Issues Campaign Plan & Messaging, Campaign Plan & Budget and Grassroots Voter Contact among others. Cost for the Campaign School 2005 are WPC & MAINStream Member: $50.00, Non-members: $65.00, and Students: $35.00. Cocktail Party with Elected Officials Immediately Following Training. RSVP to tmorris@gkcwpc.org or call 816-531-9595 for more info.

November 12, 2005: An Evening with George Lakoff. The Heartland Democrats of America and the Jackson County Democratic Committee invite you to meet well known author and professor George Lakoff on Saturday, November 12 at the Uptown Theater at 7:30 PM for only $35. Patron and Sponsors for $100 are invited to a private reception with Professor Lakoff at 5:30. For more information, contact Michele Lahr at mlahr@meridianstrat.com or 816-931-1005.

December 8, 2005: The KC Pride Democratic Club will celebrate this year's accomplishments at their annual End of the Year Social and Meeting on December 8th at the Broadway Church at 7:00 p.m. This year's recipient of the Roger A. Gooden Award will also be announced. For information contact: admin@kcpridedemocrats.com.

December 2005. Get ready to celebrate the season in a Democratic way at "A Happy Holidays Democratic Party." We always get together for fund raisers or other events, so how about just a social get-together to celebrate the holiday season? Volunteers and ideas are needed to start working on this event. The Democratic Party is hopeful that all democratic elected officials, candidates, and all democratic groups will support this event by sponsoring, advertising, and attending. E-mail Phil LeVota at plevota@yahoo.com with questions or to volunteer!.
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Kudos to our friends in mid-Missouri at FiredUpMissouri.Com! Senator Jean Carnahan and Roy Temple have been telling the truth about the Republican controlled State Capitol and it seems that Governor Blunt is not too eager for people to hear the truth. Go to http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12810149.htm to read about it.

From the KC Star:

"Roy Temple, one-time chief of staff to Gov. Mel Carnahan and former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, said Blunt simply is bothered that someone is holding up a mirror to his actions.

Jean Carnahan said the site is aggressively critical because for too long Democrats sat back and took Republican criticism they assumed the public would find unfair. But Carnahan said she and Temple try not to cross the line into personal attacks and sometimes censor comments posted by readers."

Message to the Republican Party: "Sorry about finding a way to get the real story to the people. The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Keep up the good work FiredUpMissouri! All of our efforts are making a difference. People are recognizing that there are problems with the way that republicans govern. Problems with a war Iraq, problems helping people devastated by hurricanes, problems with the federal budget, problems with state governments reacting to working families.....I don't need to go on.......you get the picture. Keep up the good work!


No kidding, the headline in the Washington Post:

For GOP, Election Anxiety Mounts, Candidates Need Convincing for '06

Some excerpts from Charles Babington and Chris Cillizza's article:

Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects.

Prominent Republicans have passed up races in North Dakota and West Virginia, both GOP-leaning states with potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Earlier, Republican recruiters on Capitol Hill and at the White House failed to lure their first choices to run in Florida, Michigan and Vermont.

These setbacks have prompted grumbling. Some Republican operatives, including some who work closely with the White House, privately point to what they regard as a lackluster performance by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the group that heads fundraising and candidate recruitment for GOP senators.

But some strategists more sympathetic to Dole point the finger right back. With an unpopular war in Iraq, ethical controversies shadowing top Republicans in the House and Senate, and President Bush suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, the waters look less inviting to politicians deciding whether to plunge into an election bid. Additionally, some Capitol Hill operatives complain that preoccupied senior White House officials have been less engaged in candidate recruitment than they were for the 2002 and 2004 elections. These sources would speak only on background because of the sensitivity of partisan strategies.

No Republican who has opted out of a 2006 candidacy has publicly cited the level of support from national Republicans or the general political environment as a reason. Potential candidates have a variety of factors figuring into whether to make a race. Still, to some analysts, the decisions suggest deeper currents at work.

"Is it poor recruiting or a bad environment? Probably both," said Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the independent Cook Political Report.

A senior Republican familiar with the recruiting process agreed that the climate has shifted for the GOP because of a confluence of problems from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina and high gasoline prices: "Looking at polls from June or July and then looking at them now, the deterioration is really bad."

The GOP holds 55 Senate seats, but unless the political climate brightens considerably in the next few months, some strategists and analysts believe the next Senate may resemble the one after the 2002 election, when Republicans held the narrowest of majorities.

In part this is because Democrats have seemingly found their stride as Republicans are stumbling in the recruiting race. Since Sept. 1, Democrats have lured their preferred candidate, Missouri state Auditor Claire McCaskill, to take on freshman Sen. James M. Talent (R), and have done the same in Arizona, where former Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson, a wealthy developer, is poised to challenge two-term Sen. Jon Kyl.


It is the National Republican Senate Committee's fundraising that some GOP operatives find underwhelming. At the end of August, the NRSC had raised $25 million, just a little less than its counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But the DSCC has twice as much cash on hand, $16.7 million to the NRSC's $8.2 million! )Complete story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/09/AR2005100901332.html)

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That's the news straight from the Washington Post. Republicans themselves are recognizing the problems with their party's ability to govern and are convinced they willhave problems at the polls next year. And even though this is about the U.S. Senate, the message is clear. The Republican Party has squandered its opportunity to govern. People are seeing through the rhetoric and realizing that the Democratic Party is the party that knows how to govern with values, morals, and the philosophy that people matter. The times they are a changin'! Keep up the good work!

Phil LeVota
Chairman
Jackson County Democratic Committee

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Claire is hosting a "young" professional event. Young means you are no more than 15 years older than me (it will always be that way, too) and professional means you are not Dr. James Dobson. The event is on November 16th at 5:30 p.m. at The Levee.

Claire is going to win this thing. The early numbers show a statistical dead heat. Claire has some concrete on ideas on healthcare, energy and stem cell research. If interested, she can show you the map of the seven counties that Sen. Jean Carnahan won that she needs to pick up - she can almost tell you their name and address in that county, too. Additionally, the Republicans are killing themselves on lots of issues like cutting people off Medicaid and Medicare, $3.00 gas and criminalizing stem cell research.

Claire believes that a single egg frozen in a dish in a freezer is not the same as my two-year old son, Grant. This view is shared by 75% of Missourians, Sen. Jack Danforth (R) (the story in today's Star was about how Blunt has lost the endorsement from the Missouri Right to Life and Danforth said "if you run into a house on fire and there is a Petri dish and a 3 year old, who do you save?"), the 2 Billion Dollar endowment at Stowers in KC, a business group that is pushing a state-wide ballot initiative for November of 2006 and lots of Republicans. Lots of moderate, thinking, fiscal conservative Republicans, EXCEPT Jim Talent. Jim Talent sponsored a bill criminalizing stem cell research. Can you imagine Washington University's president and Jim Stowers in jail for doing research to help paralysis victims, Alzheimer's patients and other sick people?

Time is ripe for change in Missouri and D.C. The event on the 16th is easy on the pocket - $50, $100 or $2,400 (doubt many people pick that option). Please let me and Matt Lieberman (the guy on the cc line) know you are coming so we can buy lots of potato chips. Please help out early on. Thanks

Stephen Bough
Henning & Bough, P.C.
1044 Main, Suite 500
Kansas City, MO 64105
(816) 221-8442


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This is a perfect possibility for us. I know Alison has been working on getting this here. (Alison, please keep me posted. We should definitely have this as a Blue Heart event.) Thanks! K

Dear BuyBlue Supporters,
Screenings of Wal-Mart the Movie: The High Cost of Low Price are playing across the country the week of November 13-19. The movie's website starts out:

"Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop."
Here are six easy ways you can participate. Feel free to discuss others at our web site.

1. Reserve a spot for a screening in your area. It will be a great opportunity to meet interesting people right in your own hometown. It's the perfect setting to talk about BuyBlue. Most screenings are FREE, so bring a friend along and catch the show, just be sure to reserve your spot.

2. Wear your BuyBlue tee-shirt. If you don't have one yet, order now to get it in time for the show, proudly display how you shop according to your values.

3. Hand out literature. Show up early and stay late to hand out literature for BuyBlue that lets moviegoers know there is an easy way to be an informed consumer who puts their money where their values are. The pamphlet will be available soon for download on our web site. Just print up enough to cover the size of the venue, or however many you would like and pass them out; you will probably be surprised at the positive response you get.

4. Sign people up for BuyBlue updates. Collect e-mail addresses for the mailing list by bringing along a clipboard and a pen. You can enter the addresses you collect through our front page and each person will then get an e-mail asking them to confirm. This will make sure they get a reminder after the show to check us out.

5. Tell us about your plans. To help us out send us a note and tell us which event you will be attending and what you plan on doing (1, 2, 3 and/or 4). It will help us track how many venues we hit. Also, it'll let us know where we still can use people, especially in cities with more than one showing. After the show, we'll send you an e-mail to ask how things went and what you thought of the movie. You can also discuss the movie on our site.

6. Host your own viewing. If you are in an area without a showing you can look into hosting one, or just buy the movie to see it in the comfort of your own home. It looks like it will be a great documentary.

If you belong to a local grassroots progressive group this would be a great opportunity for everyone to get together, see a good movie and work for change.

Regards,

Raven Brooks
President and Chair, BuyBlue.org