See where you stand politically

This is very interesting .............. see where you stand politically !!

You will be asked just 10 questions, and then it instantly tells you where you stand politically. It shows your position as a red dot on a "political map" so you'll see exactly where you score.
The most interesting thing about the Quiz is that it goes beyond the Democrat, Republican, Independent. The Quiz has gotten a lot of praise. The Washington Post said it has "gained respect as a valid measure of a person's political leanings." The Fraser Institute said it's "a fast, fun, and accurate assessment of a person's overall political views." Suite University said it is the "most concise and accurate political quiz out there."

Again, it's at: http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

See if you land where you think you are politically.

Jeb Bush Denies Nutrients to Poor Kids and Keeps Up the Reptile Republican Family Traditions

So you think may be the Republicans have it right with that "values thing?" You think maybe you should be voting with the Christian (read that Republican) side of the aisle? Unless you're white, rich and ruthless, you better rethink that decision?

Need proof to break through your religiously-based denial? here's some from John Hatch via the Information Clearing House. Here's just the start of his hard-hitting, pull the rose-colored-glasses off editorial, Black Pearl.



Dark Pearl

“We don’t torture.”—George W. Bush (Straussian ‘ignoble lie’)

“We don’t do body counts.”—Gen. Tommy Franks (Straussian ignoble truth)

By John S. Hatch

03/20/06 "ICH" -- -- I don’t believe in Jesus, but I’m starting to believe in the devil. What is it about neo-con, Reptile-Republican Fundamentalist Christian politicians in particular, that accounts for such breath-taking, sadistic, self-indulgent, unnecessary cruelty? How to explain it? Florida Governor Jeb Bush wants to trim the state budget so he can deliver $1.5 in tax cuts to his wealthy friends. How to go about it—auction off some Diebold voting machines? Execute fewer blacks (perhaps just temporarily exclude kids, the mentally handicapped, the mentally ill, or the demonstrably innocent)? No. He is actually denying high-nutrient formula to high-need, high-risk children, such as those with CP or those on dialysis who need to be fed through a stomach tube. Medicaid went from a more expensive version to one which cost $15 for six cans, to nothing. It was suggested that parents and caregivers ‘blenderize’ food and insert that down their sick kids’ tubes, something which most doctors argue is ineffective and dangerous. Maybe just send the kids to Guantanamo, where they know how to deal with picky eaters.

But really. Why would a Governor, a filthy rich guy, a member of the Bush Dynasty, perhaps the next American emperor, a Christian who wears his love o’ Jesus on his sleeve, why would such a man want to deny life-saving nutrients to sick and dying children at a real savings amounting to a virtual nullity, that is a negative number because as they get sicker as a result of his policy, children need more and more expensive medical intervention. Is this the same governor who became girlie-man hysterical over the case of the unfortunate Terri Schiavo who turned out to be deathly impervious to all his incantations and invocations and pious pronouncements about the sanctity of life? Turns out she was as brain dead as the last guy he ushered to the electric chair, just as all the not-so-girlie doctors said. It’s funny the life-and-death distinctions that the reptile republicans draw with such ease. Did I mention that the milk-denied feeding-tube kids happen to be dirt-Katrina poor? Maybe that’s a clue. At the same time as the Schiavo fiasco was unfolding, the exact opposite was taking place with regard to a little girl on a ventilator in another hospital. The insurance company wanted it shut off. The mother did not. Guess who won? And do you think the little girl was white, or black? Seems in Bushland if you’re white (with money) you have a right to life (even if you’re dead). If you’re black, and poor, you have a right to die. Harsh? Katrina, kachink.

Read the rest on Information Clearinghouse.

Tuition Tax Credit Vouchers not good

From Missouri ProVote (sorry the links don't work - visit the CityBlue website to look up the legistator's emails and phone numbers)

Join us as we struggle to bring attention to a huge danger to our public schools: Tuition Tax Credit Vouchers.

Late Monday, March 13, the Missouri House of Representatives passed House Bill 1783 out of committee; the bill creates Tuition Tax Credit Vouchers, which would drain $40 million dollars from public education and healthcare. The pro-voucher campaign is financed by out-of-state right wing billionaires who are heirs to the WalMart and AmWay fortunes. See the Missouri Citizen Education Report on All Children Matter for further information.

This bill, now named House Committee Subsitute for House Bill 1783 and 1479 (HCS HB 1783 and 1479), institutingTuition Tax Credit Vouchers could head to the floor as soon as Tuesday, March 28. Call your State Representative NOW and tell them to vote NO! Click here to find your Representative.

Missouri Progressive Vote is working with People for Public Schools, a wide coalition of pro-public education organizations. Click here to read a useful critique of the pro-voucher bill that was prepared by People for Public Schools.

To bring attention to the dangers of vouchers to public schools, rallies were held in St. Loius, Columbia, and Kansas City on March 21, 2006. A bus took ralliers from St. Louis down Interstate 70 to highlight the dangers of vouchers.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who got on the bus or came out to the rallies on Tuesday, March 21, 2006. The bus tour received press around the state. Click here for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article. Click here for the Columbia Missourian article. Click here for the Kansas City Star article. See Pro-Vote targeted candidate State Representative Judy Baker's strong opposition to vouchers here.

Deadly-force legislation a ‘mess,’ prosecutor says

from the Kansas City Star:

As the House last week debated whether to give Missourians more latitude to use deadly force against intruders, one county prosecutor warned about making a “real mess” of the law.
The warning came from Cape Girardeau County’s H. Morley Swingle, who sent a letter to Rep. Scott Lipke, a Republican from Jackson.
Swingle said the legislation wasn’t necessary and would “completely gum up Missouri’s established justification defenses.”
Under the bill, HB 1461, a person would be justified in using deadly force against someone who illegally entered, attempted to enter or remained in a home or vehicle without permission. The person who used deadly force would not be subject to criminal prosecution or liable for civil damages.
The bill’s supporters said current law required people to flee their homes if someone was breaking in. Swingle begged to differ.
“The people advocating these laws simply do not realize that the Missouri Criminal Code already provides a defense to a person who shoots a person he reasonably believes is burglarizing his home,” Swingle wrote to Lipke. “There is no duty to retreat. You can blast the hell out of someone you reasonably believe is trying to cross the threshold of your home to commit burglary or arson.”
Swingle’s criticism was for naught. The House passed the bill, which now goes to the Senate.
Sen. Chris Koster’s campaign to rein in Medicaid fraud is running into significant resistance from other Republicans.
Koster, of Harrisonville, brought his measure, SB 1210, to the Senate floor last week with dramatic examples of the need to stop fraud against Medicaid, which pays for health care for the poor. With losses totaling as much as $600 million a year, he pointed to a federal audit that discovered Missouri medical providers billed taxpayers 98,263 times for treating patients who were dead.
He said three St. Charles nursing homes were fined for inadequate staffing. The reason they weren’t caught sooner: The homes’ administrators routinely paid homeless people to wear staff uniforms and sit around the facilities, making it appear that the homes had enough employees.
Republicans quickly questioned whether the state should provide financial incentives for whistleblowers to report medical providers who steal from the state.
Sen. Luann Ridgeway, a Smithville Republican, said encouraging whistleblowers would lead to more lawsuits, which lawmakers tried to limit last year. Sen. Delbert Scott, a Lowry City Republican, said the law could force innocent medical providers to face lawsuits seeking to recoup the money.
Koster’s retort: “If I have $600 million walking out the door, I would put a lock on the door and wouldn’t begrudge the locksmith his fee.”
One lawmaker is sponsoring a measure that would make English the language “of all official proceedings in the state of Missouri.” The sponsor is Rep. Brian Nieves, a Union Republican who is Hispanic.
Nieves, who has Puerto Rican heritage, said he filed HB 1814 because nothing guarantees public proceedings must be held in English.
Nieves said his bill would not prevent use of interpreters in courts or prohibit government agencies from providing translations.
Before filing the bill, Nieves consulted a trusted Hispanic voice: his 85-year-old grandmother.
“She said it’s absolutely absurd that we do not already have something like this,” he said.

Presidential hopeful criticizes Bush at fundraiser

from the Kansas City Star:

Possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Mark Warner on Saturday charged that President Bush failed to ask Americans to “step up” after Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Campaigning in Kansas City for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, Warner said that on both occasions Bush should have capitalized on Americans’ willingness to sacrifice.
After Sept. 11, Bush could have moved the country toward a policy of energy independence, the Democrat said. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, he could have called on Americans to rebuild its infrastructure.
Instead, America got politics as usual, he said.
“What this president consistently has not done is never asked Americans to step up,” Warner told a $100-a-plate McCaskill fundraiser at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. McCaskill will face Republican incumbent Jim Talent.
Warner is one of the hot names in Democratic presidential politics based on his robust job-approval ratings after his single term as governor of heavily Republican Virginia. State law barred him from seeking a second term.
One of Warner’s big challenges was a massive budget shortfall. He dealt with that by cutting nearly $1 billion in spending and laying off 1,800 state workers. He then passed a major tax increase with bipartisan support.
Asked how he would transfer his Virginia experience to the nation, Warner said the prerequisite for a debate about finances is demonstrating that “you can cut, that you can save, that you can consolidate, that you can reform.”
That hasn’t happened in Washington, he said, and Warner blamed both parties.
Earlier, Warner appeared in St. Louis and Springfield, where more than 700 tickets were sold for Friday night’s Jackson Days banquet.

Missouri's Theocracy?

Joking with a new neighbor from Boston last night about crazy redstate/bluetown politics, he mentioned a rumor that Missouri was trying to make Christianity the "official" religion of the state. My initial reaction was incredulous sarcasm, haha no way, but then I did a little research - things in the legislature sure are suspiciously heading in the biblical direction. Here's what I found:

Missouri is one of three states considering bills regarding the Bible in schools. Late last month, Georgia lawmakers approved a measure that would financially reward schools that provide elective courses that use the Bible as the core textbook. Alabama legislators are eyeing a bill that would create an elective course known as "The Bible and its Influence" in all school districts.

The bill allows schools to offer classes in which the Bible is taught and gives local school boards the authority to dictate the context of biblical teachings. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, is swiftly making its way through the legislative process.

"I voted for it because it doesn't do anything," Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said. "It makes a certain segment of the population feel better, that's all it does. It's harmless."

[since when do we pass bills solely on whether it makes people "feel better"? And OMG who gets to choose the privileged few? Maybe a rhetorical questions...]

While schools already are allowed to teach about religions in a historical or literary context, some wonder whether Crowell's bill could do harm by singling out the Bible and not mentioning other religious texts.
Missouri House members last night overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment intended to ensure students can pray privately and voluntarily at public schools.
Supporters say the amendment generally would uphold court precedents about prayer in school. But they insist a specific state constitutional protection is needed to safeguard the freedom of religious expression found in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"I think faith is under constant attack," said House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, the lead sponsor of amendment.
The proposal will go before Missouri voters in November if it clears a final House vote and also passes the Senate before the legislative session ends May 12.

[Yeah, wah-wah, your faith is soooooo threatened. Keep using that fear excuse to justify your egocentric values and brainwashed beliefs]

Athiest California Attorney renews his fight against "under God" in allegiance pledge. No matter what the court decides this time, it is almost certain the case will be appealed again to the U.S. Supreme Court, which dismissed the previous suit on procedural grounds. That dismissal left the core issue of the pledge's constitutionality unsettled.

Worried that courts may rule against "under God," U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican, is sponsoring the proposed Pledge Protection Act, which already has nearly 200 co-sponsors, including several from Missouri and Kansas.
"The words "under God" are not just there for window dressing," Akin said in a phone interview, "but they address a central aspect of what America is all about: We believe there is a God, even though we don't agree on exactly what his name is. God grants basic rights to people and government's job is to protect those rights. That's why that phrase in our pledge is in need of defense."

[there it is again - that perverted mix of religion and government. Oh wait, I see some misogyny stirred in too!! Yummy!]

CA's Waxman Demands Bush and Henchmen Come Clean on Plame Scandal

If you've heard about Rep. Henry Wazman's letter to Bush requesting that Bush explain his actions in regards to outing an active duty, deep cover CIA agent then you might want to see the letter. Here's the link on TruthOut.org.

Last time I looked, betrayal of the Bush sort would be called treason. How about that old saw, "loose lips sink ships." In this case those loose Texas lips could sink a continent!

Thanks to Jeannette W. for sending me the link.

CounterSpin

Does your head reel when you hear the rightwingers throw around facts that just don't seem to fit together? Do you wonder where you an get some REAL facts, not the mass-produced ones you hear on Fox News or rightwing talk radio? Then this is for you.

Check out CounterSpin. A Project of The Old American Century (POAC), the POAC Counter-spin Site shows the pseudo facts from the right AND the reality.

Here's one example from Counterspin.

The talking point:
Congress and Senate received the same intelligence regarding Iraq before the war as the White house.

The facts:
Bush, Cabinet told on 9/21 that Iraq had no links to 9/11. Bush, Cabinet declined to share this info with Congress, America

Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel

The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East accuses Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence to go to war with Iraq

BTW, the links don't work here but go to the CounterSpin site for more thorough infomation and hotlinks.

Its always nice to have fact-based facts.