Blue Hearts

Hello All,

We're three days from the election and what are you doing to make a difference? Most of you are in Kansas and Missouri where there are critical races that are incredibly close. You can phone bank, canvass, or do visibility at a minimum. There are probably other jobs out there.

In KC, please call Richard or Weldon at 816-561-2575. They will get you plugged right in!!! The time is now. We can't wait any longer!!! PLEASE, talk to your friends. Convert an on-the-fence voter. It's going to take us all working to get it done. I truly believe we can make a difference in these races and, thus, make a difference in our country. Do you?

Kristin


HUMOR
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Monument Fund

Dear Friends and Relatives:

I have the distinguished honor of being on the committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument to George W. Bush. We originally wanted to put him on Mt. Rushmore until we discovered there was not enough room for two more faces. We then decided to erect a statue of George in the Washington, DC Hall Of Fame. We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be placed. It was not proper to place it beside the statue of George Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Richard Nixon, who never told the truth, since George could never tell the difference. We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He left not knowing where he was going, and when he got there he did not know where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been, decimated the well being of the majority of the population while he was there, and did it all on someone else's money.

Thank you,
George W. Bush Monument Committee

P.S. We have raised $1.35 so far.

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OK. This is not really funny, but it's done in a funny way.

Scared about kids' health care?

We know you're probably busy preparing for your Halloween party or trick-or-treat rounds--so are we! But we also think this is a good time to remind all Americans about the dangers that Halloween holds for uninsured children.

For example:

Uninsured kids are five times more likely than their insured peers to speak with a deep, sinister voice, projectile-vomit pea soup, and use religious icons in an inappropriate manner. It should be noted that health insurance typically doesn’t cover exorcisms—even with referrals. [1]

Uninsured teens (ages 13-17) are ten times less likely than their insured peers to survive attacks by masked, axe-wielding maniacs during summer trips to the lake. Survival rates goes down by 10% if teens decide to investigate by themselves that "strange noise" coming from the woods. [2]

Uninsured kids are three times less likely than their insured peers to survive a mass attack by reanimated zombies with their brains intact. Incidentally, children who’ve had their brains at least partially eaten by zombies are less likely to do well in school than their peers. [3]

We can all agree that these are frightening statistics--almost as frightening as getting fruit instead of candy in your bag of treats. What better day than Halloween to raise your voice in a blood-curdling scream on behalf of health insurance for all kids? Before you get into your costume, take a moment to send our petition to all your ghoulish friends:

It's imperative that we take action on children's health care. All over America, vampires are sharpening their fangs tonight, hoping to prey on vulnerable, uninsured children. Werewolves are lurking in the dark, looking to turn our uninsured teens into teen wolves. Blair witches lie in wait, ready to pounce on our uninsured kids with their bad camera work and poor production values. Can you take a moment to send our petition to all your friends?

Send this petition to your friends--or we'll suck your bloooood!
(Haven't signed yet? Click here!)

All kidding aside, the state of children's health care is truly scary. With 9 million children lacking health insurance, and trends pointing in the wrong direction, it's clear we have a crisis in our hands. So before you head out trick-or-treating, take a few seconds to send our petition to your friends and give our kids a treat that won’t rot their teeth--the treat of health care!

We hope you have a safe and happy Halloween with your children or those you love!

Luis Hestres
eAdvocacy Coordinator, Campaign for Children’s Health Care

References:

1. The Exorcist (1973); Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977); The Exorcist III (1990); Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

2. Friday the 13th (1980); Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981); Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982); Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984); Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985); Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986); Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988); Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989); Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993); Jason X (2002); Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

3. Night of the Living Dead (1968); Dawn of the Dead (1978); Day of the Dead (1985); Shaun of the Dead (2004); Land of the Dead (2005)

Campaign for Children's Health Care
P.O. Box 34143
Washington, DC 20043
Phone: 202-879-0299
info@childrenshealthcampaign.org

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GENERAL
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If this doesn't make you want to get out and knock on doors or make calls, I don't know what will. K


Courtesy of the Tillman family

By Kevin Tillman

Copyright Kevin Tillman

Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in the summer of 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after.

It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice ... until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground. Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.

Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

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Here's a link to Countdown with Keith Olberman. A new Blue Heart sent this. I have been listening to him a lot lately via "you tube". It's nice to know there is someone out there who really gets it! Everytime he speaks, I thank God for him. Please peruse his webpage to see what important comments he has to make.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

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Op-Ed Contributor
Margaret Sanger's Obscenity

By GLORIA FELDT
Published: October 15, 2006

WHEN you tour the Lower East Side Tenement Museum's restoration at 97 Orchard Street, you walk through the experience of the immigrants who arrived in waves at the turn of the 20th century, often to live five or six to a tiny room. According to the 1900 census, the 18 wives in the Orchard Street building had given birth to 111 children altogether, of whom 67 were then alive.

A 40 percent infant and child mortality rate sounds shocking now. Back then it was the norm. Maternal mortality was 99 percent higher than it is today; 40 percent of those deaths were caused by infection, of which half resulted from illegal or self-induced abortion. Birth control was to revolutionize women's health. But it would take a social revolution to get there.

In 1912, Margaret Sanger was a nurse serving poor Lower East Side women like Sadie Sachs, a mother of three who had been warned that another pregnancy would kill her. When Sadie asked her doctor how to prevent pregnancy, he told her to tell her husband to sleep on the roof. Pregnant again, Sadie self-induced an abortion, contracted an infection and died.

Sanger began to address women's lack of information about birth control by writing a sex education column called "What Every Girl Should Know" for The Call, a socialist newspaper. But in 1914, a warrant was issued for Sanger's arrest. She stood accused of violating the Comstock law, which made it a crime to circulate "obscenity" through the mail.

Passed in 1873 in response to pressure from a crusader named Anthony Comstock, the law defined information about contraception or abortion as obscenity. Comstock boasted that he destroyed hundreds of tons of "lewd and lascivious material," including 60,000 "obscene rubber articles," otherwise known as condoms.

In place of Sanger's column, The Call ran an empty box that read: "What Every Girl Should Know - nothing, by order of the United States Post Office!" Never intimidated, Sanger published "The Woman Rebel," a periodical intended to challenge Comstock laws directly. She then fled to Europe, where she visited a birth control clinic in the Netherlands and began to envision setting up a network of clinics throughout the United States.

By the time she returned to America, public opinion was swinging her way, and she sensed the time was right for action. On Oct. 16, 1916, Sanger opened America's first birth control clinic in the Brownsville district of Brooklyn. Her sister, Ethel Byrne, was the nurse; it would be some time before they could get a doctor to join the effort. Handbills in English, Yiddish and Italian advertised the clinic throughout the neighborhood.

The police closed that clinic 10 days and 464 patients later. But Sanger, who would go on to establish the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, had founded something much larger than a clinic: she ignited a movement for women's reproductive freedom.

During the 20th century, this movement won such decisive victories that today many people cannot believe they could ever be reversed: birth control and then abortion were made legal; better contraceptive methods, like the pill, were developed; and the government started financing family planning for low-income women. Today, more than 90 percent of Americans have used birth control.

When Sanger opened her clinic, women wouldn't get the vote for four more years. And yet the debates of her day over suffrage and contraception sound strikingly familiar to modern ears. Would such policies promote women's equality or destroy the family? Would they advance justice or spread promiscuity? Where was the line between medical care and pornography? The answers, then as now, depend on your views about women, sex and power.

The current struggle over birth control, abortion and sex education make clear that courageous actions like Sanger's are as necessary now as they were 90 years ago. For if anyone doubts that women's reproductive freedom has been crucial to American progress, I recommend a short walk through the lives of the women of 97 Orchard Street.

Gloria Feldt, the author of "The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back," is a former president of Planned Parenthood.

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"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost."
- Rev. D. James Kennedy

They are in our nation's capital. They are in Missouri. They are in Kansas City. They are everywhere. Click here to watch DefCon's short movie about the religious right's assault on science and freedom.

http://www.defconamerica.org/evergreen_taf.html

Then, pass it on to your friends.

Sincerely,
Clark, Jessica, and the rest of the DefCon team

© 2006 DefCon: Campaign to Defend the Constitution
info@defconamerica.org

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I checked on snopes.com and this is real.

JURY DUTY SCAM

Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call.

Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS.

In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator.

If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit car numbers. Give out any of this information and bingo!

Your identity just got stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states. This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

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Will the Karl Rove Myth Survive the Midterms?
Moderates in Kansas Decide They're Not in GOP Anymore
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A01


WICHITA -- Paul Morrison, a career prosecutor who specializes in putting killers behind bars, has the bulletproof résumé and the rugged looks of a law-and-order Republican, which is what he was until last year. That was when he announced he would run for attorney general -- as a Democrat.

He is now running neck-and-neck with Republican Phill Kline, an iconic social conservative who made headlines by seeking the names of abortion-clinic patients and vowing to defend science-teaching standards that challenge Darwinian evolution. What's more, Morrison is raising money faster than Kline and pulling more cash from Republicans than Democrats.

Mark Parkinson, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, is running as a Democrat to be Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's lieutenant. Eight other former Republicans are running as Democrats in Kansas.

Nor is Morrison alone. In a state that voted nearly 2 to 1 for President Bush in 2004, nine former Republicans will be on the November ballot as Democrats. Among them is Mark Parkinson, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, who changed parties to run for lieutenant governor with the popular Democratic governor, Kathleen Sebelius.

"I'd reached a breaking point," Parkinson said, preparing for a rally in Wichita alongside Sebelius. "I want to work on relevant issues and not on a lot of things that don't matter."

The Kansas developments coincide with efforts by Democrats across the country to capture moderate Republican and independent voters dismayed with partisan bickering from both parties, particularly from the Republican right. The spirit of the attempted Democratic comeback in Kansas, set by Sebelius, is a search for the workable political center.

Though yet untested in the election booth, the Democratic developments in Kansas reflect polls in many parts of the country. As elsewhere, Democrats and moderate Republicans say they are frustrated with policies and practices they trace to Republican leadership, including the Iraq war, ballooning government spending, ethics violations and the influence of social conservatives.

A long-standing split among Kansas Republicans has deepened in recent years. One fresh sign came from the Johnson County Sun, which said it would endorse virtually the entire Democratic ticket, including Morrison and Parkinson, after endorsing fewer than a dozen Democrats in the past half-century.

"So what in the world has happened?" publisher Steve Rose asked in a recent column. "The Republican Party has changed, and it has changed monumentally. You almost cannot be a victorious traditional Republican candidate with mainstream values in Johnson County or in Kansas anymore." Ron Freeman, executive director of the Kansas GOP, called the migrating candidates -- Parkinson, Morrison and seven state House candidates, including one party-switching incumbent -- "a simple case of political opportunism."

"It's really more about them than it is about the party," Freeman said. "They obviously feel the Democratic Party is weak enough that, without any history in the party, they can be front-runners in the party."

Republicans control three-quarters of the state Senate and two-thirds of the House. The state has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since the 1930s, although voters have been more willing to put Democrats in the governor's mansion. Rep. Dennis Moore became the lone Kansas Democrat in Congress in 1998 by appealing to crossover moderates -- the heart of this year's strategy.

Democrats consider it significant that 58 GOP incumbents in the state House drew Democratic opposition this year, compared with 39 in 2004. In the September primary, moderates mobilized to carry two Board of Education seats held by conservatives who had embarrassed many Kansans by endorsing a fundamentalist-Christian critique of evolution.

The recruiter-in-chief is Sebelius, who persuaded Republican Cessna executive John E. Moore to switch parties in 2002 and run to be her lieutenant governor.

"These are people who felt banished," Sebelius said in an interview before crowing to Democratic campaign workers: "We have some remarkable conversions. My favorite kind of revival is going to a place where someone says, 'I've been a Republican all my life, and I've seen the light.' " Sebelius, who has a solid lead over Republican challenger Jim Barnett, is the daughter-in-law of a Republican former member of Congress, and she likes to say the first Republican she converted was her husband. She has shown, notably in debates over school funding and the state budget, that she can negotiate compromises acceptable to both parties. Kansas has had a balanced budget for four straight years after six years of deficits.

This year, with Moore stepping aside, Sebelius recruited Parkinson, who views himself as squarely in the mainstream, talking up fiscal responsibility and a favorable business climate. He favors embryonic stem cell research, a woman's right to choose abortion and the teaching of evolution as settled scientific theory.

It was also the governor who sold Morrison on the attorney general's race. "She said what I'd been thinking for three years," Morrison said.

In a Morrison radio ad, John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" introduces the Johnson County district attorney as "one of the toughest prosecutors Kansas has ever seen" and names two of Morrison's best-known murder cases. Walsh asserts, in a dig at Kline, that after 26 years as a prosecutor, Morrison has the "right priorities."

Kline is a confident politician who has buoyed the Republican right and disturbed his opponents. He drafted a law restricting late-term abortion and won a recent Supreme Court case reinstating the death penalty. His most controversial moves were subpoenaing the medical records of more than 80 women and girls who received abortions in 2003 and seeking to require health workers to report the sexual activities of girls under 16.

"The office has become much more political under his leadership," Morrison said in an interview in his Olathe office. Morrison says his political hero is former U.S. senator John C. Danforth, the Missourian who recently published a rebuke of the GOP that contends the national party is beholden to the Christian right.

"Most Kansas Republicans are fairly moderate," Morrison said. "They're like most Kansas Democrats."

Kline spokeswoman Sherriene Jones denied Morrison's contention that the Kansas GOP has moved too far to the right: "The Republican Party reflects Kansas values, reflects loyalty and reflects family," she said. "It's Mr. Morrison who has changed."

The Democratic National Committee is spending money and sending staff to Kansas as part of Chairman Howard Dean's much-debated 50-state strategy of extending the party's influence in unlikely places. The DNC will not reveal its spending or the size of the staff, but a spokesman said the infusion permits a statewide organizing effort not possible before.

With Sebelius and Parkinson so far ahead in the gubernatorial race, attention has shifted to the competition for attorney general, considered too close to call. As Parkinson, who describes Morrison as his best friend, puts it, "It's going to say a whole lot about what the state of Kansas is right now."

Whatever happens, Kansas State University political scientist Joseph A. Aistrup said, the duel between Republican moderates and conservatives will no doubt continue. He said the party switchers represent a "temporary setback" for the state GOP.

"The cultural conservatives have lost before, and they just keep on coming back," Aistrup said. "They don't pick up their marbles and go home."

Permission to Republish
© 2006 The Washington Post Company


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LOCAL
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OK. Remember when Laura Ziegler came to our meeting where Claire McCaskill spoke last year? The story has been completed and ran on Wednesday, 11-1-06. Here's the link.


Blue Activists in Red States

KANSAS CTIY(2006-11-01) Several grass roots groups established after the 2004 elections are trying to get Democrats elected in traditionally Republican areas of Kansas and Missouri...

http://publicbroadcasting.net/kcur/news/content/989741.html


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From a friend of mine. K

My mom (from Des Moines) called earlier tonight. One of my parents’ neighbors is taking off from work next week, along with about 200 others from her church, to travel to Missouri to volunteer for the MORepublicans and would my mom pick up her mail and papers during her absence? Suddenly, my mom’s schedule became awfully full next week and she told our neighbor she is too busy to take it on ~so there~

Our opponents won’t let up; we can’t either. Your smile, your voice, a direct contact, generates the strongest initiative/encouragement for uncertain or leaning voters to get to the pollls and vote with us, especially in the waning days of the election.

The AP announced that the US just lost its 97th soldier in Iraq for October; a horrid reminder of some of the stakes in this election. If Claire wins, we win. If we take Missouri on November 8, it’s our first step to the blue in 2008, to the White House and the Governor’s Mansion. Please match the logistics below to your schedule. Your time spent will fly by but make a sustained impact. Thank you.


PHONE BANKS
(you’ll call previously id’ed names, using the campaign’s script)**
Pls call and confirm phone times and space prior to your arrival. Someone will escort you to your car after your shift if you have concerns.

1) Cleaver office
3600 Broadway, KCMO 64111
816-561-2575
Staff: Tom Asimos 214-793-9411

2) Midtown
3901 Main Street, Suite 200, KCMO 64111
Staff: Weldon Kennedy 774-249-3668

3) Independence Project Victory office
308 Maple, Independence, MO 65101
Staff: Lora Bagley 816-252-0906

4) Raytown Project Victory Office
6614 Blue Bridge Blvd, Raytown, MO 64133
Staff: Terri Barr 816-820-4071

VOLUNTEER CANVASS (targeted doors)**
You will partner up with friends, have a script and plenty of info.

Midtown, Contact: Emily Knowlin – 254-977-2077
SGB Communications (Scott Burnett’s Office), 4235 Baltimore, KCMO/816-561-4141

NE Kansas City/City Market, Contact: Rich Capparell 570-436-5592
Brick Building @922 East 5th Street, Kansas City, MO 64111/816-309-3686

KC South, Contact: Eric Yingling 508-246-1064
IBEW 124, 301 East 103rd Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64114/816-942-7500

Raytown, Contact: Eric Kratty 913-558-3570
Raytown Project Victory Office, 6614 Blue Ridge Blvd, Raytown, MO/816-356-1659

Lee Summit/Grandview, Contact: Brien Belko -913-744-5860
Fire Fighters Hall, 322 Douglas, Lee Summit, MO

N.E. Jackson/Independence, Contact: Nathan Waddell 816-876-4794
Store Front Office, 204 Maple, Independence, MO 64050/816-252-0906

**I wish I could answer your questions, but I can’t do so very well. For the sake of your own patience, to confirm or have your questions answered, pls contact the folks whose numbers correspond with the sites listed or:
KC Canvass Contact: Corey Dukes 913-226-4731
E. Jack Canvass Contact: Tom Perez-Lopez 703-822-3991

If you get no satisfaction, pls do let me know and I will follow up.


Friday night: RealClearPolitics Latest Poll Average: Talent 47.3% McCaskill 46%
(http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/charts/?poll_id=12)

Pls take a moment and check out how the incumbent has served us to date.
(http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Jim_Talent.htm) – for instance:

· Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
· Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. (Mar 2006)
· Voted NO on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25. (Mar 2005)
· Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
· Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007. (Jun 2006)
· Voted NO on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)

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On Nov. 7, Vote YES on 2

Here's the real scoop on Amendment 2, the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.

YES on 2 ensures that all Missourians will have the same access as other Americans to future stem cell treatments that could provide cures for diabetes, Parkinson’s, cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injury, ALS and many other devastating diseases and injuries.

YES on 2 protects the right of Missouri doctors and medical researchers to provide and help develop stem cell cures that could save your life or the life of someone you love.

YES on 2 will ensure that decisions about medical treatments involving stem cells will be made by doctors, patients and their families – not by the politicians in Jefferson City.

That’s why Blue Hearts has joined with more than 100 patient, medical, faith and civic organizations – and 60,000 Missouri citizens – to strongly urge a YES vote on 2.

I urge our Missouri supporters to get out and vote YES on 2 on November 7th, to find cures and save lives.
For more information about this important initiative, log on to www.MissouriCures.com.
Thank you.
Kristin

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From: Deb Schneider
Subject: TBW Blue Alert
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:34:51 -0500


Regarding Phill Kline's recent advertisement that is meant to attack Paul Morrison¹s strengths, reputation, integrity and family. The best response to this malicious attack on Paul is to vote on November7th.

But in the meantime, when you see this horrible ad, call your local television station and leave a comment. Tell them that as a viewer you choose not to watch that station unless they pull Kline's sexual harassment ad.

In the television business, stations DO LISTEN to their viewers, especially women who drive the advertising revenue. Address your comments to the General Manager:

KCTV - 913-677-5555 - Kansas City
WDAF- 816-753-4567
KSHB - 816-753-4141
KMBC - 816-221-9999

Talking Points for Your Letters & Calls:

* Phill Kline¹s latest TV ads are not only misleading and untrue, but seek to deceive Kansans through bottom feeding gutter tactics never before seen in Kansas.
* Our Attorney General has proven once again that he is completely void of a moral compass.
* Kline is polluting our airwaves with his false, sleazy, desperate ads -- and, on November 7th, Kansans will welcome the opportunity to take out th trash.

* Paul Morrison has dedicated his entire adult life to keeping Kansas families safe. He has locked up some of Kansas¹ most notorious criminals.
* Paul Morrison has gained the vast majority of his support from Kansans all across the state because he knows how to keep people safe.
* Former Republican Attorney Generals Bob Stephan and, Phill Kline's own predecessor, Carla Stovall have endorsed Paul Morrison.
* Kansans know that Paul Morrison has the right priorities to be Kansas' Attorney General.

_______________
Love this!!! K


³As a citizen, you have a choice between two different paths.

One path is easy. When you turn on the TV or open the newspaper and hear
about all the trouble in the world you could walk away from the stories
about Iraq or poverty or violence or joblessness or hopelessness.

Just turn it off and tune out. That would be the easiest thing in the world
to do. There will be pundits and politicians who will tell you that it's
someone else's fault and someone else's problem to fix.

I am not one of them.

There is a second path. This one is more difficult. It asks more of you. It
asks you to not just pursue your own individual dreams, but to help perfect
our collective dream as a nation. It asks you to realize there is more to
life than being rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. It asks
you to recognize that there are people out there who need you.²

Barack Obama
10.25.06

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Please note, this has election information!!! K

State Rep John P Burnett Newsletter
Minimum Wage Issue - Proposition B
October 2006

Propostion B, the minimum wage raise issue, has not been getting much press. I have compiled information on the issue and present it here. From the financial reports filed by both sides on this issue it appears unlikely that any ads will be run in the next 16 days. So, if you have an interest here it is:
• Proposition B asks voters to change Missouri law to raise the state’s standard minimum wage to $6.50 an hour effective Jan. 1, 2007. On Jan. 1 of each subsequent year, starting in 2008, the wage would automatically be adjusted annually for inflation based on changes in the Consumer Price Index.
• The state’s minimum wage has remained at $5.15 an hour since 1997 – the year of the last adjustment in the federal minimum wage. A full-time worker earning the current minimum wage earns $10,712 a year, or $206 a week. Adjusted for inflation, a worker today must make $6.27 an hour to have the same purchasing power that $5.15 an hour provided in 1997, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Proposition B was placed on the Nov. 7 ballot via initiative petition by a group called Give Missourians a Raise. The measure is similar to HB 1433 sponsored by state Rep. John Bowman, D-St. Louis. Bowman’s bill was part of House Democrats’ Moving Missouri Forward legislative agenda for 2006.
• The official ballot language prepared by the Secretary of State’s Office for Proposition B says: “Shall Missouri Statutes be amended to increase the state minimum wage rate to $6.50 per hour, or to the level of the federal minimum wage if that is higher, and thereafter adjust the state minimum wage annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index?”
• The “fair ballot” summary that follows the ballot language says: “A ‘yes’ vote will amend Missouri statutes to increase the state minimum wage rate to $6.50 per hour, or to the level of the federal minimum wage, whichever is higher. Every year thereafter, the minimum wage rate will be adjusted based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. “A ‘no’ vote will not increase or set a state minimum wage rate. “This measure will have no impact on taxes.”
• Twenty-three states, including neighboring Illinois and Arkansas, plus the District of Columbia have or soon will have minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.
• Washington state has the nation’s highest minimum wage at $7.63 an hour. • Including approved increases that have yet to take effect, at least 16 states (plus D.C.) will have higher minimum wages than the $6.50 per hour proposed in Missouri.
• According to a poll of likely voters commissioned by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and conducted by Research 2000 of Rockville, Md., 68 percent supported Proposition B, while 20 percent opposed it with 12 percent undecided. The poll had 3.5 percent margin of error. It was published Sept. 2.
• Supporters say an increase in the minimum wage is long overdue and necessary to help low-wage workers to be able to provide for themselves and their families. In addition to helping workers currently earning under $6.50, they say it will also boost wages for those earning above that amount, as raising the minimum wage tends to increase wages across the board. • Higher wages will stimulate Missouri’s economy, supporters say, since workers will have more disposable income to spend on goods and services. Increased consumer spending will also boost state and local sales tax collections, while workers will also pay more in state income tax if they are earning more. • As most minimum wage jobs are in service industries, such as restaurants, that rely on having a nearby customer base, supporters say there is no cause to fear a higher minimum wage will drive jobs to other states.• The group Give Missourians a Raise is leading the campaign for passage. As of its October campaign finance disclosure report, it had raised $601,166.
• Opponents say raising the minimum wage will impose a financial hardship on small businesses, increase prices for consumers and cost the state jobs. Wages are best determined by the free market, they argue. • The opposition is being led by a group called Save Our State’s Jobs. Members include Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri Restaurant Association, the Missouri Retailers Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses of Missouri, the Missouri Grocers Association and the Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association. • According to its October campaign finance disclosure report, the group had raised $76,850. • After all that: Gov. Matt Blunt opposes Proposition B. “I think it would be harmful to job growth and economic development in the state,” Blunt told The Associated Press in a story published Aug. 11.

email: john@johnpburnett.com
web: http://www.johnpburnett.com

State Rep John P Burnett | 3418 Gladstone Blvd | Kansas City | MO | 64123

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KC AFSC Peace and Justice Alerts

Educate Yourself. Share your knowledge. Take Action!

Contribute. Volunteer. Spread the word!
Contact us and mail your tax deductible contribution to:
American Friends Service Committee
4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO 64110
(816) 931-5256

So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Peacemakers,

The President is no longer calling for us to “stay the course” but U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians are still dying and suffering. Over 200 active duty U.S. service persons have called for “prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq.” The war in Iraq is losing support but it is far from over and the culture of violence and motivation of war profiteers is still strong.

What is needed is for us to strengthen the culture of peace and to expand the vision of a peaceful world. This could be a world in which poverty and hunger is eliminated; cooperation and the rule of law upheld; health sustainable economies are grow and new renewable technologies flourish; and investments in peacemaking and mutual security multiply while the arms industry shrinks. Changing the course to real security is possible.

Thanks for your efforts to stop the war and end the death and suffering.

Please keep up the pressure on Congress. Make your rejection of war and support of the culture of peace a constant part of your lives – visible in your actions, letters to editors, conversations with friends and co-workers…

Ira Harritt
KC AFSC / KC Iraq Task Force
816 931-5256

Below are links to several articles of interest.
- U.S. troops on active duty call for Iraq withdrawal
- Torture And The Nation's Soul
- No War with Iran!
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U.S. troops on active duty call for Iraq withdrawal
Wed Oct 25, 1:50 PM ET
More than 200 active duty U.S. armed service members, fed up with the war in Iraq, have joined an unusual protest calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, organizers said on Wednesday.
The campaign, called the Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq, is the first of its kind in the Iraq war and takes advantage of Defense Department rules allowing active duty troops to express personal opinions to members of Congress without fear of retaliation, organizers said.
"As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the “," states the appeal posted on the campaign's Web site at www.appealforredress.org.
"Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home," it adds.
The Web site allows service members to sign the appeal that will be presented to members of Congress. Organizers said the number of signatories has climbed from 65 to 219 since the appeal was posted a few days ago and Wednesday when it was publicly launched. (More > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061025/us_nm/iraq_usa_campaign_dc_1&printer=1 )

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Published on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 by Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Torture And The Nation's Soul
by Rev. Kathleen McTigue and Rabbi Donna Berman

In our various communities of faith we most often think about the soul in singular terms, residing within each one of us and beloved of God. But what about the idea that a nation, too, might have a soul, the place from which our basic decency arises?
If we think of the soul only as an individual matter, then questions of moral choice become focused only on the personal level. We tend to forget that we can go astray not only in our small and solitary ways, but in large and collective ones as well. We do not live in isolation but in community. As a whole people, we are capable of immoral decisions and grievous acts. In a democracy, where we as citizens have the privilege of choosing our own leaders, this truth is particularly relevant. The grave errors of which we are capable as a whole nation are the ones that must urgently compel our attention today.
(More > http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1025-24.htm )
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No War with Iran!
As unbelievable as it seems, with a national election only weeks away, our sources in Washington continue to warn that the Bush Administration is making preparations for a military strike against Iran.
We learned last month about the orders for the USS Eisenhower, a nuclear aircraft carrier, to proceed to the Persian Gulf. Now within the past week we have learned that minesweepers are being sent there as well. This is an even more ominous sign, since such ships would not normally accompany a strike force on routine deployments. Credible sources such as Seymour Hirsh and Daniel Ellsberg have written about this threat, and reporters and editors from publications such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are beginning to echo those warnings.
Accordingly, we cannot wait any longer to prevent a calamitous and unprovoked attack against Iran. (More > http://democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/Peaceact/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=358 )
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COMMENTARY:

Help plan and implement anti-war and peace education, organizing and advocacy actions!

Come to the next meeting of the KC Iraq Task Force is on Tuesday, November 28 at 6:30pm (note special dates) at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO.

Help will plan:
- Demonstrations at Sen. Talent and McCaskill’s campaign offices;
- Promotion of Missouri and Kansas Eyes Wide Open State Exhibits;
- November Peace Vigil or actions
- and other actions.

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Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity

Peace and Justice Teach-ins will be on a break. For up to date information go to: http://peaceandjusticecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/

November 11, Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. A Faithful Response:Conscientious Objection or Military Service Workshop at Messiah Church of the Brethren, 1925 Hardesty, Kansas City, MO 64127

November 14, Tuesday, 11:30a.m. - 1:30p.m., GKC Interfaith Council's Table of Faiths luncheon, at the Westin Crown Center Hotel. www.kcinterfaith.org

November 16 & 17, Activism for Human Rights Conference, Kauffman Foundation Conference Center, 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110. Addressing U.N. Conventions on Rights of the Child and Discrimination Against Women www.kcglobalconcepts.org

EVERY Sunday: Iraq Peace Vigil, 4pm, JC Nichols Fountain, 47th & Main, Streets, Kansas City, MO http://www.kciraqtaskforce.org/

EVERY TUESDAY: Join this Peace Demonstration Every Tuesday between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' - Carol (schwartzkatz@mail.carrollsweb.com).
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Calling All Advocates of Children and Women:

We invite you to take advantage of a discounted fee and register today for the 4th biennial conference on
Activism for Human Rights Conference
CRC (U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child)
CEDAW (U.N. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)

Kauffman Foundation Conference Center
4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110

Thursday Evening, November 16th, 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Non-Profit Networking & Appetizer Buffet

Vivian Stromberg speaking on "Women and Girls' Empowerment in their Quest for Human Rights"

Friday, November 17th, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Dr. Cynthia Price-Cohen, "Children's Rights--Is America Out of Step with the Rest of the World?"

Margot Kidder, Actress and Activist -- "Resources in Support of Human Rights"

In addition there are several dynamic interactive workshops scheduled. Young people are very much a part of the planning, implementation, and success of this conference.
Concurrent Sessions (each session offered twice)
Session 1: Children and Women of Meth
Session 2 : Trafficking of Women and Children
Session 3: Poverty and Hunger
Session 4: Juvenile Justice and Incarceration of Women

Visit our web site for complete conference information and Registration form www.kcglobalconcepts.org

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Hello, I am inviting you to the second annual Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council's Table of Faiths luncheon,
Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:30a.m. - 1:30p.m.at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in downtown Kansas City.

( Go to www.kcinterfaith.org to find out more and how to register to attend.)

I’m sending you this email as co-chair of this event with my personal endorsement.

This luncheon will be a gathering of individuals who believe in creating the most inviting community for people of all faiths.

Mayor Kay Barnes of Kansas City; Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks of Kansas City; Board Chair Ben Craig of Metcalf Bank; and Mayor Peggy Dunn of Leawood have graciously agreed to be the honorary chairs for this luncheon. (See below).

We are thrilled to announce that our honorees for this year's celebration are Don and Adele Hall and Ed Chasteen. Don Hall is Chairman of Hallmark Cards and Chairman of the Hall Family Foundation. Adele Hall is an active community volunteer. Ed Chasteen, founder of Hatebusters, developed a unique pluralism curriculum at William Jewell College.

Specifically, I’m sending you this email with three requests:
1. Please join us. First, we simply want you to be a part of this special afternoon.
2. Please spread the word to your friends, colleagues, congregation and corporation. Please forward this email with the attachments to everyone you think might want to attend.
3. Please consider being a sponsor. Get a group of liked minded people together.

I believe there is tremendous power in this simple idea -- together we are working towards making our community open to people of all faiths.

Please print out the reply card on the website, fill it in and mail it with you payment or credit card info to,
Table of Faiths
C/o of Caroline McKnight
5259 W. 121st St.
Overland Park, KS 66209

Mahnaz

PS. You can go to the website www.kcinterfaith.org to find out more registration information and see pictures of last year’s event where over 650 people attended!

Mahnaz Shabbir
Shabbir Advisors
www.shabbiradvisors.com
mahnaz@shabbiradvisors.com
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EYES WIDE OPEN: Kansas / Missouri

Eyes Wide Open (EWO) is a national multi-media exhibit that provides a moving view of the costs of war. AFSC staff and KC Iraq Task Force volunteers are currently creating an EWO exhibit for Kansas and Missouri.

Eyes Wide Open: Kansas and Missouri localizes the national exhibit with a focus on the human and economic impact of the war and occupation on Missourians and Kansans. The exhibit includes one pair of boots for each Missouri and Kansas soldier killed in Iraq; 50 pairs of civilian shoes representing Iraqis killed in the war and occupation; a display depicting the cost of the war to KS and MO taxpayers; and pictures of Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers.

YOU CAN HELP!
We need used children’s’ men’s’ and women’s’ shoes to represent Iraqi civilians who have died. Bring pairs of shoes to donate to the exhibit to AFSC / Iraq Task Force Events or call 816 931-5256 for information.

Do you know of a congregation, library, school or other location which would like to display the Missouri or Kansas Eyes Wide Open Exhibits?
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The information and events described in AFSC Peace and Justice Alerts are intended to educate and assist members of our community in becoming active in working for a more just and peaceful world. Inclusion of a listing does not necessarily imply that AFSC KC agrees with all points of view that will be represented at the event.

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service.Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

Ira Harritt
Kansas City Program
American Friends Service Committee
4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO 64110
(816) 931-5256
Fax (816) 561-5033

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Michelle Goldberg author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Sunday, November 12 | Brunch 9:30 am| Program 10:30-11:30 am
Reservations required by November 3, 2006 $12 per person

Jewish Community Center
5801 W. 115th St., OP KS

Goldberg’s lecture will introduce you to the leaders behind the rise of Christian extremism in America, and give you a how-to guide for preserving religious and civil liberties against the religious right.

Goldberg will be available after the presentation to sign copies of her book.

“Michelle Goldberg has done the impossible. She's written a serious, scathing, eye-opening expose of the ongoing takeover of our country by rightwing Christians– and somehow managed to make it witty, funny, and humane… Unfortunately, it's all true – things are even worse than you thought.”

–Katha Pollitt, columnist, The Nation

“Michelle Goldberg takes us on an eye-opening journey through the Christian right grass- roots, from the evolution battles in Dover, Pennsylvania to Roy’s Rock in Alabama and beyond. ..Kingdom Coming offers a stark warning that our democracy is under attack from within.”

–Esther Kaplan, author of With God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right

Cosponsored by Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee and Mainstream Voices of Faith: Energized Neighbors United for Faith & Freedom

________________________________________________________

Reservation Form:

JEWISH BOOK FAIR REGISTRATION FORM FOR BRUNCH WITH MICHELLE GOLDBERG
November 12, 2006 / $12 per person
Brunch 9:30 am / Program 10:30 - 11:30 am
Jewish Community Center
913-327-8040 (fax)
913-327-8000
Reservations (payable to JCC) must be received by 11/3/06
Name(s) __________________________________________________
Address _______________________ City _________ Zip _________
Phone # Home ( ) _____________________________________
Work/alternate # ( ) ____________________________________
Number of tickets ________@ $12 per person
e-mail: _____________________________________
Seating will be available on a fi rst come fi rst serve basis.
Tables will be reserved for those that request seating by organization.
Organization table seating requested with:___________________
Check enclosed $_____ Total Credit Card __MC __Visa __Discover
Card # __________________________________ Expiration date: ________
Return to Jewish Community Center, by Nov. 3, 2006
5801 W. 115th Street, Suite 101, Overland Park, KS 66211
Acct. #201-6200

Michelle Goldberg
a senior political reporter for Salon.com, has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. She's worked as a columnist for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and for Shift Magazine, and her work has appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, The New Republic online, Newsday and other newspapers nationwide. She has also served as an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at New York University. Kingdom Coming is her first book.

For more information about this event, please contact Steve Berman at 913-327-4646

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Please join, our next State Senator Jolie Justus, and our next State Representative Mike Talboy and Jackson County Legislator Scott Burnett in the historical and revitalized Crossroads District to celebrate and raise money for Cathy Jolly, Candidate for Kansas City City Council 6th District At-Large

November 16, 2006
Pi Gallery
419 E. 18th St.
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Paid for by Committee to Elect Cathy Jolly,
Harry Groff Treasurer

# posted by Blue Hearts @ 10:18 AM