independentsforkerry.org

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, head of the congressional pro-choice caucus, joined with Democrats around the country in criticizing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for vowing to “get rid” of funding for Planned Parenthood if he were elected in November.

“Mitt Romney’s declaration that he would ‘get rid of’ Planned Parenthood is yet another dangerous and reckless attempt to score points with the far right at the expense of the health of millions of women,” DeGette said in a release.

“Planned Parenthood provides critical and necessary health services like annual exams, cancer screenings, and family planning for three million women across this country, and in some places their clinics provide the only care for hundreds of miles…. So today it’s clear once again that Mr. Romney’s ideas are too extreme for our nation and the women of America will not stand idly by while he threatens their health care.”

Democrats seized on remarks Romney made during an interview with St. Louis TV station KDSK, mostly reacting to the idea that Romney was seeking to eliminate Planned Parenthood altogether. Yet, it seems clear from context, the candidate was talking about “getting rid of” federal funding for the organization. His language is ambiguous, however, and KDSK teased the story with a suggestive headline: “Mitt Romney: Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that.”

Romney was answering a question about which programs he would cut to reduce government spending.

“Of course you get rid of Obamacare, that’s the easy one, but there are others. Planned Parenthood, we’re gonna get rid of that. The subsidy for Amtrak, I would eliminate that. The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, both excellent programs, but we can’t afford to borrow money to pay for these things.”

In a call with Colorado reporters today, Obama for America Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter made reference to Romney’s remarks, characterizing them as part of a pattern that exposes Romney as a pandering candidate who is driving moderate voters farther away each day the GOP primary continues.

“He is trailing Obama by 18 percent among women and today he says he wants to get rid of Planned Parenthood,” she said. “Women in Colorado don’t share Romney’s vision of America.”

Last month, Colorado affiliates of the national breast cancer group Komen for the Cure made news for successfully pushing back against efforts by anti-abortion members of the national management team to end Komen funding for Planned Parenthood clinics here.

DeGette lauded the Colorado Komen leaders at the time and referred to those events in her release today.

“In recent weeks women have come together to stand up for Planned Parenthood and the important role it plays in their health and their community,” she said.

[Image: Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, C-Span screenshot ]

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The Colorado Independent

	Dennis, click here to tell Republican senators to stop trying to weaken laws against domestic violence and sexual assault. Republicans have decided it isn’t enough to try and defund Planned Parenthood and to prevent birth control from being covered by health insurance plans. Now they are attempting to weaken laws against domestic violence and sexual assault. The Violence Against Women Act was first passed in 1994, providing billions to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes perpetrated against women. It was most recently reauthorized in 2005 by unanimous consent in the Senate. It’s up for reauthorization again, but this time it received zero Republican votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Why? Because Republicans want to throw out provisions in the bill protecting victims who are LGBT or undocumented, slash funding for enforcement, and eliminate entirely “the Justice Department office devoted to administering the law and coordinating the nation’s response to domestic violence and sexual assaults.” I’m sure it’s all just a coincidence Republicans are going to the mat to weaken laws against domestic violence and sexual assault, to end funding for breast cancer screenings, and to keep health insurance plans from covering birth control. No war on women happening here. Click here to sign the petition telling Senate Republicans to stop trying to slash the Violence Against Women Act. We’ll deliver the signatures. Thanks for all you do, Laura Clawson, Daily Kos

The Democratic Republican

Stop SOPA PIPA Oppose SOPA PIPA attack on internet liberty. Call your elected officials, tell them you are their constituent, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA. Why? SOPA and PIPA would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed … Continue reading →
republican-elephant.com

To the silly people complaining about the “Attack on Christmas.” Since “Christ-mas” has nothing to do with a Christmas tree, or Santa, or black Friday, I think you guys need to get a grip on your own religion. Decorating a tree is a Pagan tradition.

It just bothers me that hypocrites constantly feel attacked about their beliefs but always have rationalizations about why they aren’t good Christians. They blame everyone else but themselves while they send xmas cards with Santa or Frosty on the the front. Any “Christian” who has let their child hunt for Easter eggs has participated in a pagan ritual that according to the bible are satans works and a sin.

They forget all about the guy on the cross when they are in Wal-Mart buying crap they don’t need then put themselves on the cross as martyrs for an over commercialized holiday.

On Easter we never say happy resurrection day. We hunt eggs, a Pagan ritual of fertility. Do right wing Christmas enthusiasts believe this is a left wing conspiracy too? No one is attacking your beliefs, they are helping you to find reality.

But go ahead and keep blaming the devil for declining congregations and rampant sin in an unjust world. Just keep telling yourself while you cower behind your plastic homage to a pagan induced ritual, that everyone else is at fault. While you, with your unjustified righteous indignation, pass though this Earth crowned in a store bought, unsanctioned halo bestowed upon you by a child molesting preacher.

Hypocrites.

The Democratic Republican

If you thought it was way too early for the start of the air war of attack ads in the 2012 presidential race, you would be wrong.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is hitting back against a new TV spot that its Republican counterpart says its airing in on cable and broadcast in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire.

The GOP acknowledges those states went for the Democratic presidential nominees in both the 2004 and 2008 elections, but believes the protracted economic pain going in the nation opens up new possibilities.

The ad is actually the second in recent days out of the Republican National Committee (RNC), part of a month-long “Change Direction” economic messaging campaign highlighting what it calls President Obama’s failed economic leadership.

THE AD CAN BE VIEWED HERE:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Democrats did not let the Republican attack go unanswered.

In a statement, the DNC notes that the RNC “is deep in debt and has enjoyed, at best, mediocre fundraising” this year.

“No one should be surprised that a Republican Party run by a Chairman who just this week said it would ‘not be the end of the world’ if the nation were to default on its debt for the first time would rather run negative ads than work to find solutions to get our fiscal house in order and create jobs,” says DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse. “While the President continues to fight to clean up a mess that was years in the making, the Republican Party and its candidates for president are playing politics with our economy and are fighting to protect the very budget-busting tax breaks and loopholes for oil companies, corporate jet owners, the wealthy and Wall Street that got us in to the current mess. Americans want solutions – and other than negative attacks and working to end Medicare and revive the failed policies of the last decade that nearly sank our economy – Republicans aren’t offering any.”

The DNC also offers a point-by-point rebuttal of the Republican ad, noting that Obama signed into law legislation that will help make the economy work better for middle class families. He signed credit card legislation that stopped credit card companies from unfairly raising rates. He signed Wall Street reform that protects consumers and reigns in some of the worst abuses that led to the 2008 financial meltdown. He signed student loan reform legislation that helps make college more affordable for students. And he signed health reform that extends coverage to 32 million more Americans.

The DNC also notes that the 2009 economic stimulus, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, cut taxes for 95 percent Of taxpayers, including low-income earners.

Further, although job-creation has slowed in recent months, the U.S. economy has created 2.2 million private-sector jobs over the past 16 months.

Scott Nance is the editor and publisher of the news site The Washington Current. He has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade.

The Democratic Daily

Bill would strip the ability of Tennessee teachers to effectively negotiate contracts

(Nashville) – The Tennessee House of Representatives passed an anti-teacher bill Wednesday that continues an effort to strip teachers of their ability to effectively negotiate for better classrooms for students and better working conditions for their profession.

“This bill is a dishonest effort to reach an agreement with the Senate that will destroy all rights of more than 52,000 Tennessee teachers to negotiate for better classrooms, wages and learning environments for Tennessee students,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory). “This is an attack on Tennessee teachers; nothing less.”

The anti-teacher bill, which is expected to pass the full Republican-controlled legislature in another form, will decrease the rights of teachers to effectively negotiate a contract covering their salary, benefits, working conditions, school safety, class size, planning time, time to teach, length of the school day, scheduling and other priorities.

“This is a political game; the Republican majority is calling it a ‘reform,’” Turner said. “They simply don’t want public education to exist in this state at all. This is a vote to take away our teachers’ ability to better their careers, their family life and most importantly the learning environment of Tennessee students.”

The bill will now head back to the Senate and subsequently a conference committee with the House. The conference committee is expected to fully strip the rights of teachers to better their careers and the learning environment for Tennessee students.

Opponents of the bill argued that the brightest college students will simply choose professions other than teaching, or move out of Tennessee.

“We’re asking all citizens, especially our teachers, their families and their friends to call the state legislature and ask their House and Senate members to vote against the final form of this bill.”

Members of the General Assembly may be reached at (615) 741-1100.

###

Final Vote on the Bill: 59-39

Ayes: David Alexander, Harry Brooks, Kevin Brooks, Sheila Butt, Joe Carr, Glen Casada, Jim Cobb, Jim Coley, Vince Dean, Vance Dennis, Bill Dunn, Linda Elam, Jimmy Eldridge, Joshua Evans, Jeremy Faison, Richard Floyd, John Forgety, Jim Gotto, Curtis Halford, Steve Hall, David Hawk, Ryan Haynes, Joey Hensley, Matthew Hill, Andy Holt, Julia Hurley, Curtis Johnson, Phillip Johnson, Kelly Keisling, Ron Lollar, Jon Lundberg, Debra Maggart, Pat Marsh, Judd Matheny, Jimmy Matlock, Gerald McCormick, Steve McDaniel, Steve McManus, Don Miller, Richard Montgomery, Frank Nicely, Mark Pody, Dennis Powers, John Ragan, Barrett Rich, Bill Sanderson, Charles Sargent, Cameron Sexton, Tony Shipley, Mike Sparks, Art Swann, Curry Todd, Eric Watson, Terri Lynn Weaver, Mark White, Ryan Williams, Tim Wirgau, Rick Womick.

Noes: Joe Armstrong, Eddie Bass, Tommie Brown, Scotty Campbell, Karen Camper, Barbara Cooper, Charles Curtiss, John DeBerry, Lois DeBerry, JoAnne Favors, Craig Fitzhugh, Dale Ford, Brenda Gilmore, G.A. Hardaway, Bill Harmon, Mike Harrison, Sherry Jones, Mike Kernell, Mike McDonald, Larry Miller, Gary Moore, Jimmy Naifeh, Gary Odom, Antonio Parkinson, Joe Pitts, Mary Pruitt, Bob Ramsey, Jeanne Richardson, Dennis Roach, Johnny Shaw, David Shepard, Janis Sontany, Mike Stewart, Charles Tidwell, Joe Towns, Jr., Johnnie Turner, Mike Turner, Kent Williams, John Mark Windle.

TN Democratic Party News

by R. Lee Wrights

BURNET, Texas (March 19) – After weeks of vacillation, uttering veiled threats that Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi must go while his key advisers made contradictory statements, President Obama has followed the example of his recent predecessors and decided that it is okay for the United States to attack another sovereign nation so long as the United Nations approves it. For an American president to initiate an attack on a nation that does not threaten us is despicable enough, but to justify such aggression by citing a United Nations resolution sets a dangerous precedent that threatens our very sovereignty.

Now the president has made an incredibly duplicitous statement on Libya, claiming that American leadership is essential in this situation and vowing that the United States would not stand “idly by while global peace and security is undermined.” In other words, we need some war so we can have peace. George Orwell, author of 1984, seems more like a prophet every day.

What hubris! A tyrant, who just a few weeks ago wasn’t even on the State Department’s radar, is now suddenly a threat to the world? Tyrants in other Middle East nations are shooting citizens who protest their oppression, but the United States says and does nothing. Why? Because the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in the area and we need the support of those tyrants in order to flex our muscles against another tyrant.

As President Obama spoke, you could almost hear echoes of the high-sounding, pretentious, but dishonest and false arguments expounded by his predecessors to justify American military action anywhere and everywhere. We’re not imposing our will, the president claims, we are just intervening to protect innocent civilians so they can decide their own fate. We will not use any force beyond that well-defined goal, and there will be no American troops on the ground.

The arguments are illogical, irrational and false to say the least. You cannot stop violence by committing violence. You don’t teach people it is wrong to kill people by killing people. A no fly-zone imposed using “all necessary measures” is an act of war and aggression, plain and simple.

Democrats and Republicans used to agree that any partisan debate over foreign policy should end at the nation’s shores. Now they seem to agree that any debate over foreign policy shouldn’t involve discussion of the U.S. Constitution. From the moment the people in Libya said they’ve had enough and rebelled against the tyrant whom the United States has either ignored or tolerated for 40 years, voices on both sides of the aisle were heard urging the president to send American troops to fight and die on yet another foreign shore.

Sen. John McCain, who should know about the dangers of flying over a hostile nation before fully suppressing its air defenses, was one of the leading voices calling for the United States to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. He was joined by Sen. John Kerry, who voted for the Iraq war before he voted against it (or was it the other way around).

All the while President Obama bobbed and weaved around the issue, even to the point of ignoring it completely in one of his weekly radio addresses. Finally, when Gadhafi was on the verge of destroying the rebels, the clumsy and inept United Nations Security Council stirred from its slumber to “authorize” members “to take all necessary measure” to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, enforce an arms embargo and freeze Libyan assets.

There are two things glaringly wrong with this view, as anyone who has even the remotest familiarity with the U.S. Constitution and American history could figure out, but which escapes most members of Congress and the president. First, the United States has no business initiating an attack on any other nation unless there is a declaration of war by the Congress. Second, Libya has not attacked us, nor does it threaten U.S. security or sovereignty. The conflict in Libya is a civil war, and anyone, especially anyone from the South, knows that civil wars are especially terrible and awful.

No resolution of the U.N. justifies violating the U.S. Constitution. Doing so sets the stage for U.N. sovereignty over the U.S. Any attack on Libya by U.S. forces, even those acting under the guise of this bogus document, would be a war of aggression since Libya has not threatened us. The Nuremberg Trials condemned such attacks as war crimes. We already have one ex-president fearful of traveling overseas afraid of being charged with war crimes; do we really want another such blot on our nation?

If the president orders U.S. forces to take such action he will be in clear violation of his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The Founders of our nation gave the war-making power to Congress for a very specific and real reason. They were all too familiar with a ruler who used claimed omnipotent powers to engage in endless military adventures overseas, bankrupting the nation and destroying the lives of its people.

As Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation wrote: “Our ancestors brought into existence a nation with no standing army, no militarism, and no empire, no Federal Reserve, no federal torture, no federal kidnapping, no war on terrorism, no CIA, no war on drugs, no foreign wars, no public schooling, no paper money, and no wars of aggression.

“They brought into existence a government based on limited powers expressly enumerated in the U.S Constitution, an economic system based on free-market principles, and a society deeply committed to the preservation of civil liberties and fundamental rights.

“The time has arrived for Americans to return to first principles.”

We must stop all war … and stop this war before it starts.

R. Lee Wrights is a longtime libertarian writer, political activist, a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party, and a past vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee. He is considering seeking the presidential nomination because he is determined that the Libertarian message in 2012 be a loud, clear and unequivocal call to stop all war. Wrights has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will go toward ballot access so that the stop all war message can be heard in all 50 states. Wrights, 52, is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. He was born in Winston Salem, N.C. and now lives in Texas.

Independent Political Report

So the Green Party of Canada has been in the media lately lamenting attack ads and how they affect democracy. Today the party came out with its own attack ad — attacking attack ads, LOL. Check it out.
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