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RH Reality Check by Beverly McPhail, University of Houston Women’s Resource Center.

There are a multitude of excuses that women offer to rationalize their lack of political participation: We are tired. We are busy. We are working in our jobs and raising our families. There is laundry to be done, bills to be paid, and a project due at work. Politics is too messy. Or we are too busy surfing the web or watching reality television. Or this is about other women and not me.

However, such excuses are reminiscent of the famous statement attributed to Martin Niemoller about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power when, one by one, certain groups were selected for purging.

The text starts, “First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist . . . ”

The paraphrased version for Texas women today would read:

First they came for the women who needed abortions, and even though one in three women in the United States will have an abortion in her lifetime, I didn’t speak out because I didn’t think I think I would ever need one.

Then they came for poor women’s health care by shutting down the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which provided breast cancer screenings and pap smears for cervical cancer screening, and I didn’t speak out because I am not a poor woman.

Then they came for outspoken women who express their opinions on birth control mandates in preventive health care policy, like Georgetown University Law Center student Sandra Fluke, and I didn’t speak out because I was afraid I, too, would be branded a slut and a prostitute.

Then they came to take away women’s birth control (more than 99% of sexually active women aged 15-44 have used at least one contraceptive method reports the Guttmacher Institute) and I did not speak out because I am beyond childbearing years.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me….

What will it take for Texas women to use our voices and our votes to protect poor women’s health care, roll back restrictive and onerous abortion regulations, and gain back control of our bodies, our lives, and our daughters’ futures?

Read the full article @ RH Reality Check

Democratic Blog News

Republican Tea Party Presidential Candidates

First lets look at republican presidential debates.    There are too many to count with a never ending array of new faces in the number one position.    Mitt Romney has been running for the last 9 years and he was the front runner.    Donald Trump jumped in for a couple of weeks to promote his tv show and was the front runner.  

Herman Caine won the first debate and was the front runner.    Michelle Bachmann (as phoney a charcter as can be found on any circus midway) jumped in, won the Iowa straw poll and she was the front runner.   Rudy Guliani the  “911 Man” and former Mayor of New York is threatning to enter the race.    Rudy ran in 2008 and got one delegate.     With any luck he could double his prior numbers and maby be front runner for a day.

The republican primary has cut the number of candidates running to somewhere below 25 and there are only a  dozen or so yet to enter the race.      Oh John Huntsman is running.      I know I am forgetting 8 or 10 republicans running in the primary.

There are names I can barely remember like Gary Johnson the lets make pot legal candidate and Ron Paul the “Drugs and Prostitution and back to the Gold Standard” candidate.    And now we come to the “Cowboy Flake George W Bush want to be” Rick Perry who is scheduled to debut his act next week on Sept. 7th.    Poor President Obama was anxious to get started on his jobs plan but that might detract from the republican debate so John Boehner says no to the jobs plan and yes to the republican debate.     The President has to wait a day.   It’s the first time any congress has said NO to a Presidents request to address Congress.      Mitch McConnell said it straight and up front.      Republicans consider it job one to limit Obama to one term and they will block anything and lower the countries credit and bond rating to get it done.     The republican tea party will shut the government completely down without a seconds thought to injure Obama and they could not care less who else gets hurt.    Republicans will tell any lie and openly call the President a liar to make their dream happen.     Too bad the republican tea party won’t work to help unemployed Americans find jobs.

Off in the distance that demented half-wit from Alaska, Sarah Palin is looking for any chance to get some publicity and may drive her bus to the California debate.     Eric Cantor wants to delay helping hurricane victims while he and the tea party find some programs to cut to offset the FEMA costs.

God help us, These Dam Fool Republicans are destroying America to defeat Obama and keep him from a second term.

Republicans Decide Debate More Important Than Jobs.     “Limiting Obama to one term is more important than anything”    Mitch McConnell

President Obama has asked to address a joint session of Congress on September 7th  at 8 p.m. (ET) to outline his much-anticipated jobs plan, the exact same time that Republican Presidential candidates are scheduled to participate in a televised debate.   White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today that the timing was purely “coincidental.”

“The president committed to speaking next week after the Labor Day holiday and immediately upon Congress’s return, and there are a lot of factors that go into scheduling a speech before Congress, a joint session speech,”   Carney explained at today’s White House press briefing.    “There is no perfect time.”

“Obviously, one debate of many that’s on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have the speech at the time that we decided to have it,”   he added.

What’s the solution?     “There are many channels, there are many opportunities for people to watch the president, and obviously an opportunity for people to watch the debate, and I believe that, you know, the network involved here can decide how it wants to deal,” Carney said.

That network would be NBC, which now has to decide whether to air the debate, which is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., or the president’s remarks.     The debate, co-hosted by Politico, is slated to air live on MSNBC.

Asked if the White House was concerned that their timing would upset Nancy Reagan, Carney said only that  “the sponsors of the debate… control the timing of it.     They can make a decision based on how they want to handle this.”

As for the president’s choice of venue, Carney said that it is “appropriate”  for Obama to address Congress because lawmakers will need to work together to take the steps necessary to create jobs.

“It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work, and putting more money in the paychecks of the Middle Class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order. It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy, and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that,”   the president said in a letter of request to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“Our Nation faces unprecedented economic challenges, and millions of hardworking Americans continue to look for jobs.    As I have traveled across our country this summer and spoken with our fellow Americans, I have heard a consistent message:    Washington needs to put aside politics and start making decisions based on what is best for our country and not what is best for each of our parties in order to grow the economy and create jobs.    We must answer this call,”  the president wrote.

According to Carney, Boehner and Reid have not yet accepted the president’s request to address a joint session.

Check This Polling Data

The latest Pew Research Center report includes an enormous amount of polling data, much of pointing in familiar directions — the public is frustrated and deeply unhappy with nearly everyone and everything.     But if we look beyond the top-line results, there are some related details that matter quite a bit.

For example, mainstream support for the Republican Party is reaching new depths.     In the new poll, just 34% have a favorable opinion of the GOP.     This is the lowest level of popularity for either major party since the Pew Research Center began asking the question two decades ago.     The approval rating for congressional Republican leaders is down to just 22% — also the lowest ever recorded for either party.     (The Democratic Party isn’t winning any popularity contests, but with a 43% favorable rating, Dems have a large edge over Republicans.)

And what about President Obama?     The results here are pretty important, and should be of great interest to the White House.

The president’s overall approval rating has ticked down to 43%, but it’s the related details that are arguably more interesting.    Obama is perceived as a warm, trustworthy president, who’s well informed, communicates well, and cares about regular people.    His support has sharply dropped, however, in the “strong leader” and “able to get things done” categories, and the only subject area in which Obama has a majority support is combating terrorism.

Looking ahead, this gem is arguably the most important result of all:

In general, compromise polls extremely well, but not in this case — a plurality wants Obama to fight Republicans more, and that total is up sharply over the last few months.    What’s more, the number of self-identified Republicans who want Obama to stand up more to the GOP has roughly doubled since April.

Think about that:     a growing number of Republicans want Obama to stand up more to Republicans.

The question hanging over Obama’s political strategy has always been the endgame.   His obsession with seeming reasonable makes sense if he uses it as an asset to spend down at the end.   You do everything to show your willingness to compromise, and when the opposition refuses and refuses, finally you assail them for their fanaticism.    It’s harrowing to watch, because we don’t know until the last minute whether we’re witnessing a rope-a-dope strategy, or just a boxer being beaten to a pulp.

This raises the stakes in the upcoming speech on the White House’s economic agenda quite a bit, but it also sends a signal to the president about what the public wants to see:    be ready to fight the wildly unpopular Republican Party, rather than trying to satisfy their demands.

Here’s the big question.    Can Obama find his spine and Fight? 

John McCain may be talking tough about Libya these days, but back in 2009 he promised Muatassim Gadhafi—Moammar’s fifth son and his national security adviser—that he’d do what he could to help Libya obtain military supplies, particularly new aircraft, a cable released by WikiLeaks reveals.    McCain met with Gadhafi along with such Senate notables as Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Joe Lieberman, but the cable indicates that McCain did most of the talking.   John and his traveling buddy Lindsey are involved in many things and Joe Lieberman is never far away.   These guys are the Three Stooges of the US Senate.    

Liberman likes to pretend he is a Democrat except on issues and at election time.     Liberman supported McCain/Palin in the 2008 election.      After the election Obama let it slide and let Joe keep his committee’s and assignments.     

No Drama, No Discipline, No Spine Obama from the very moment he took office.

McCain stressed that Libya needed to fulfill its promise to give up its weapons of mass destruction, but he also described US-Libyan relations as strong, and thanked Libya for its counterterrorism cooperation.   But in a May interview, Lindsey Graham said the meeting led nowhere.   “We never did anything,” Lindsey said.   “We just like traveling together”.    “I didn’t feel comfortable pushing the Pentagon to provide military aircraft to Libya.
None of us did.”    “We were planning to go back a second time but John cancelled the trip because we didn’t get any good press for our efforts.”    “John McCain loves a war, any war.   He wants to appropriate money and give advice.   It’s all McCain lives for.”

  
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In Presidential Elections slightly more than 50% of the voters show at the polls, for off year elections even less vote.

The government of the United States is based on a written constitution, the shortest in the world in fact.   This constitution consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments.    From this document, the entire federal government was created.    It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time.    The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time.   It takes a long time to get the country back after you let it slip away.   You may never get it back.

Three Branches of Government

The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence.     At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme.    The three branches are:

•Legislative Branch – This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws.    Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

•Executive Branch – The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government.     The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.

•Judicial Branch – The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts.     Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional.   

Six Foundational Principles

The Constitution is built on six basic principles.     These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of US Government.

•Popular Sovereignty – This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people.    This belief stems from the concept of the social contract and the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens.     If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.

•Limited Government – Since the people give government its power, government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself.      It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.

•Separation of Powers – As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power.     Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.

•Checks and Balances – In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances.     Basically, each branch of government has a certain number of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful.    For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can
declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments. 

•Judicial Review – This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional.     This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

•Federalism – One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism.      This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation.     States also have powers reserved to them.     This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments.

Political Process

While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system.     Many countries have numerous political parties (groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government)
but the US exists under a two-party system.      The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties.      They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections.      We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the electoral system itself.

The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape.       It does mean that the two main parties work together to roadblock the formation of any third party.

Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal.     There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state.     Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state.    Voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections.   The lower the voter turnout the easier it is for other interests to control the government of the United States.    Most politicians from both of the major parties are are bought, sold and owned like farm animals.

Its your country and its your move.    Why Not Vote?

What is The Social Contract?

The idea of the social contract is one of the foundations of the American political system.    This is the belief that the state only exists to serve the will of the people, and they are the source of all political power enjoyed by the state.    In theory the people can choose to give or withhold this power.   When politicians are
bought sold and owned by powerful special interests the Social Contract is mangeled.

 The origin of the term social contract can be found in the writings of Plato.   However, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes expanded on the idea when he wrote Leviathan in response to the English Civil War.   In this book he wrote that in the earliest days there was no government.    Instead, those who were the strongest could take
control and use their power at any time over others.     Hobbes’ theory was that the people mutually agreed to create a state, only giving it enough power to provide protection of their well-being. However, in Hobbes’ theory, once the power was given to the state, the people then relinquished any right to that power.     In effect, that would be the price of the protection they sought.

Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke each took the social contract theory one step further.     Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right in which he explained that the
government is based on the idea of popular sovereignty.     Thus the will of the people as a whole gives power and direction to the state. John Locke also based his political writings on the idea of the social contract. He stressed the role of the individual.     He also believed that revolution was not just a right but an obligation if the state abused their given power.     Obviously these ideas had a huge impact on the Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

For the Social Contract to work the politicians you elect must work for you and not be controlled by the special interests.    A politician assures the rich he will forward their interest and protect them from the poor if they will give him money.   That same politician assures the poor he will look out for their interest and protect them from the rich if they will give him their votes.     With money from the rich and votes from the poor this politician spends 5 million dollars to win an office that pays him 4,000 a year and in two terms is a multi-millionaire. 
 
Its Your Country and Its Your Move.     As long as you neglect to vote someone else will pull the strings and run the country.

News From Virginia’s 22nd District

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Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) explains why he turned down a new, significantly larger MSNBC contract after hosting a prime-time show on the network that was beating CNN in the key demo ratings. Video after the jump…

Democratic Blog of Collin County – News

There’s a debate coming up on Monday night  at Hofstra University that includes all the New York governor candidates.  See Celeste Katz’s article below for info on the debate.

Please read Frank Lombardi’s interview with Barron in the NY Daily News  ”I’m In It To Win, Not To Spoil, Not To Entertain”. The Brooklyn Councilman had this to say about the Dem/Repub (although, Cuomo is also running on the NY Independence Party line) dynamic duo: “I’m saying Paladino is not going to win. He’s not going to win. He doesn’t have a chance of winning really. But Cuomo is hiding behind this loose cannon to neglect dealing substantively with our community. He’s hiding behind that…”

Here’s the latest on Monday’s big gubernatorial debate at Hofstra University, which is co-sponsored by Newsday and News12.

Your candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

• Charles Barron (Freedom Party)
• Andrew Cuomo (Democratic/Independence/and Working Families Parties)
• Kristin Davis (Anti-Prohibition Party)
• Howie Hawkins (Green Party)
• Jimmy McMillan (Rent is 2 Damn High Party)
• Carl Paladino (Republican/Conservative/Taxpayers Parties)
• Warren Redlich (Libertarian Party)

The 90-minute debate starts at 7 p.m. and will be telecast live and commercial-free on News 12 Long Island, News 12 Westchester, News 12 Hudson Valley, News 12 The Bronx, News 12 Brooklyn, Time Warner Cable’s NY1, NY1 Noticias (with Spanish interpretation) and YNN. The debate is also being made available to National Public Radio stations throughout New York State.

If you want to be there in person, 100 tickets are being made available to the general public through a random drawing at www.hofstra.edu/2010debate, so go there to register before Friday, October 15, at 9:00 a.m. (Ie., step on it!)

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Wooing Hearts and Minds in Land of Independents (By DEVLIN BARRETT, Wall Street Journal) In the state’s heated U.S. Senate race, Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Linda McMahon are locked in a bruising battle to win over Connecticut’s more than 900,000 unaffiliated voters, who outnumber about 800,000 registered Democrats and some 400,000 registered Republicans.
• Independent Voters Could Decide Congress ”American Voices”: Katie Couric Talks With Voters Seeking Political Compromise at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall (CBS News)
• The Rise of Middle-of-the-Road Radicals (By GERALD F. SEIB, Wall Street Journal)

IDAHO

• Independent candidate given rare opportunity to join Idaho gubernatorial debate (By Ben Botkin – Magic Valley Times-News) In round three, the Democratic challenger and Republican incumbent were joined by Jana Kemp, an independent candidate who had a rare opportunity to get the same level of public exposure that Republican and Democratic candidates routinely receive.

CALIFORNIA

• Maldonado for lieutenant governor (Long Beach Press Telegram) He’s smart, moderate and is one of the few legislators who’s single-handedly changed the broken political system in California by giving Prop. 14 a shot with voters.
• PROP 14, CALIFORNIA’S OPEN PRIMARY MEASURE, IS ALREADY BEGINNING TO EXERT ITS INFLUENCE (by Greg Lucas, CAIVN)
• June’s Prop 14 – A Threat to the Democratic Majority (By Paul Mitchell, California Progress Report)

NEW YORK

• Charles Barron On Monday’s Big Debate: “I’m In It To Win, Not To Spoil, Not To Entertain” (BY FRANK LOMBARDI, The Daily Politics by Celeste Katz, NY Daily News/Daily Politics) ”No, not that if things were equal. I’m saying Paladino is not going to win. He’s not going to win. He doesn’t have a chance of winning really. But Cuomo is hiding behind this loose cannon to neglect dealing substantively with our community. He’s hiding behind that. And that’s more dangerous because if Cuomo wins and we don’t make him held accountable, just by what he’s saying is dangerous.
• Green Party vs. Tea Party at Hofstra Gubernatorial Debate (Huffington Post, Alan Singer – Social studies educator at Hofstra University)
• Activist groups trying to reform dysfunctional Albany (Jill Terreri, Democrat and Chronicle) New players in the mix are a good thing, said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a group that has pushed for fair redistricting since 2005. “I think it reflects a growing feeling of New Yorkers that reform is necessary in Albany,” he said. “The more organizations and resources devoted to the fight for reform, the better. … People really want to see change.”
• Struggle For Power: Independents Could Tip Outcome Of Upstate Senate Race (By: Erin Billups, NY 1)

The Hankster