September 2007

Freedom Watch Radio Ad

ArchPundit September 7, 2007 0 Comment

ANNOUNCER:

American Heroes… presented by Freedom’s Watch. Iraq War Veteran Andrew Robinson was on his second tour of duty when he was wounded by an IED in June of 2006… Andrew lost the use of his legs.

ROBINSON:

I believe we’re making progress in the war in Iraq and stabilizing the country there… I would go back to Iraq if I could… It is that important because if Iraq is unstable then it will be a breeding ground for terrorists. Uh I’m proud to have been a Marine. To hear Congress talk about surrendering really makes me angry. We’re dealing with the safety of our country. It’s really important that we’re victorious.

ANNOUNCER:

Call your congressman and senator. Tell them surrender is not an option. Call them now at 1-877-222-8001… or visit our web site at www.freedomswatch.org. Tell your congressman and senator victory is America’s only choice.

ANNOUNCER 2:

Proudly paid for by Freedom’s Watch.

It has to suck for Mark Kirk to have your own Whitehouse running ads to keep you in line.

Daily Dolt

Daily Dolt: John Bambenek

ArchPundit September 6, 2007 1 Comment

John has been wanting one of these for a long time and I’ve always resisted, but now he has gone and done something so incredibly stupid, that he truly cannot be denied being today’s Daily Dolt:

The blogger who filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against Daily Kos says he may appeal Tuesday’s FEC ruling on the matter, which found the popular left-leaning site did not violate the Federal Election Campaign Act as charged. A lawyer for the blog, however, dismissed the claims as a fantasy.

“I’m not entirely surprised,” said John Bambenek, a research programmer at the University of Illinois who submitted the complaint, in a Wednesday interview with RAW STORY. “[The FEC] doesn’t want to get into all the drama of blogs.”

Yeah, that’s it–they don’t want drama. John got his ass kicked by having the complaint dismissed before any investigation his complaint was so weak. More

Reacting to the commission’s unanimous decision–which “found no reason to believe Kos Media, DailyKos.com, or Markos Moulitsas Zuniga violated federal campaign finance law”–Bambenek told RAW STORY that the FEC didn’t address his fundamental complaint.

“I asked a particular question and they answered a different one. They just ruled that blog posts don’t constitute a donation,” he said, acknowledging that the FEC had already given its opinion in 2006 as to whether favorable commentary about a candidate, published by an independent website, amounted to a campaign contribution.

“My question was: Can a political action committee avoid FEC disclosure rules simply by organizing online?” Bambenek continued. “What I did was ask about a group that self-identified as having the sole purpose of electing Democrats.”

Of course, this was all settled in the advisory opinion about Fired Up! The difference being if you are going to deal with writing and advocacy as a site, that’s not being a committee, but if you were to, say, buy advertisements advocating an issue elsewhere that would most likely be a committee. Not real hard to understand. Then again, no one has ever accused Bambenek of understanding simple concepts.
Worse, John is one of these guys who claims to understand the original intent of the Constitution, but apparently knows nothing of the context of the First Amendment when it was passed.

Papers at the time of the Constitution were largely partisan papers largely organized towards giving a Party an advantage. IOW, the First Amendment specifically protected the kind of journalism Bambenek is trying to call a political committee.

Illinois Congressional Races

Pera on Firedoglake This Saturday

ArchPundit September 6, 2007 0 Comment

Pera, candidate for IL-03, to join Firedoglake readers in online discussion

Mark Pera, the Democratic challenger in Illinois’ 3rd U.S. Congressional District, will be the featured guest during an online chat beginning at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday, Sept. 8 with progressive activist Howie Klein.

Pera is battling for the Congressional seat held by incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, a so-called “Bush Dog Democrat,” who has voted in lockstep with the Bush Administration on issues such as reproductive rights, stem cell research, the Iraq war and the environment.

The Illinois Democratic Primary is scheduled for Feb. 5.
Pera, of suburban Chicago, is an assistant Cook County state’s attorney. During his time with the State’s Attorney’s office, he has prosecuted cases against major industrial polluters in the Chicago area. He is also a school board president, a husband and a father of four.

Klein, who will host the chat, has been honored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for his work in the area of free speech. Klein also writes the political blog “Down With Tyranny!” The chat will be take place live at www.firedoglake.com.

To participate, just click onto www.firedoglake.com at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, click on the link and submit your question or comment to Mark Pera.

Pera said he hopes interested voters will take time to hear from the right kind of Democrat.

“We’re committed to reversing the damage done by the Bush Administration and the more complacent members of Congress. I’m happy to have this opportunity to discuss my platform and field your questions. It’s an honor to be asked to participate,” Pera said.

Lipinski has been called the “accidental Congressman” for the way his father’s political machinations allowed him to sidestep the 2004 Democratic Primary. After winning the primary former U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski retired and his son was selected as his replacement. Lipinski won the 2004 General Election in the traditionally Democratic-leaning district.

For more information on Mark Pera, please visit www.PERA08.com or call (847) 687-7579.

Fundie Fun

What You Can Do

ArchPundit September 6, 2007 7 Comments

If you are around Aurora:

On the Ground Sign up to volunteer locally http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mVbQSX7JNAsBqRJbMj_2fxYw_3d_3d

Pick up a sign to post in your yard.The signs say “This family supports Planned Parenthood.” Here’s where you can pick up your sign:

Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center

3051 E. New York Ave.,

Aurora, IL (at the corner of New York Ave. and Oakhurst St.)

Monday thru Thurs.: 12 pm to 2 pm & 5 pm to 7 pm

Friday & Saturday: 12 pm to 2 pm
Online Ribbon campaign: We are asking Planned Parenthood supporters in Illinois and across the country to stand with us by filling out a form to have a ribbon in their name tied outside the clinic in Aurora.

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/aurora1/b0809htr08

Donate to keep our doors open:

https://secure.ga0.org/02/aurora1/b0809htr08

I always try and be respectful of those readers who are pro-life and that will continue and I respect the position. However, this is a legal clinic being attacked by extremists who want to not just ban abortion, but eliminate contraception and sex education work that Planned Parenthood does also. Also feel free to place these on your blog or other site:

Fundie Fun

It’s About Contraception

ArchPundit September 6, 2007 1 Comment

I’ve made this point many times, but the ring leader of the Aurora protests has admitted it repeatedly.

Contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else”

Source: “Abortion foes’ new rallying point: Conservatives take on contraception,” Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune (Illinois), September 24, 2006

“I would like to outlaw contraception. … [C]ontraception is disgusting – people using each other for pleasure.”

Source: “Steinberg right on Bush,” Jeff Robertson, Chicago Sun Times, March 20, 2006

“Contraception is not the answer to this nation’s high abortion rate. On the contrary, flooding our society with contraceptives has only encouraged the kind of irresponsible sexual behavior and anti-child mentality that directly leads to abortion.”

Source: “Planned Parenthood Battles Scheidler over Contraception,” Pro-Life Action League, Christian NewsWire, October 23, 2006

“The issue of contraception is coming out of the closet and is becoming a major issue in the ongoing battle for souls.”

Source: Joe Scheidler, Action News Hotline, Wednesday 14 March – Thursday 15 March 2007 , http://www.prolifeaction.org/hotline/2007/0314.htm

He’s a direct action kind of guy:

Mar. 26, 1986 — Members of Pro Life Action Network (PLAN), a coalition co-founded by Scheidler and which Scheidler called the “pro-life mafia”, invade a clinic in Pensacola, FL. They throw the clinic administrator down the stairs, injure a NOW chapter president, and destroy medical equipment. The clinic is forced to close for days. According to NOW, “Joe Scheidler stands outside during the invasion, praising those who went in and taking credit for the mayhem.” (From the NOW website: http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/reproductive/scheidler-timeline.html)

As I mentioned when Keyes came to the state:

For example, in Delaware, Joseph Scheidler and three other large men illegally entered a clinic, trapping the clinic administrator inside. The men put the phones on hold ? effectively cutting her off from the outside world ? and told her they were there to “case the place.” This was shortly after several clinics had been bombed. In another incident, Scheidler went to Pensacola and met with John Burt and Joan Andrews. Together, they discussed and planned an event to take place at the Ladies Center.

The next day, while Scheidler was outside doing “P.R.” (he did not want to get arrested), Burt, Andrews and two others burst into the clinic, shoved the administrator to the floor and slammed an escort up against a wall. Then they went upstairs to wreck equipment.

Still more evidence of force and violence came as the jury heard from a doctor who had been stalked, her house surrounded, and her life threatened. She was also physically assaulted by Monica Miller and Matt Trewhella.

The jury also heard evidence of scores of blockades, which deprived people of access to the clinics, and where people were assaulted for daring to try to enter. One woman, who was going to see her doctor for postoperative surgery (surgery that in no way was related to abortion and that had been done to try and save her reproductive organs), was hit over the head with a picketer’s sign. And the jury heard more.

Aurora Apparently Thinks it Can Limit Medical Services to the Ones it Might Like

ArchPundit September 6, 2007 1 Comment

I have to say the kerfluffle over the new Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora is a bit bizarre when you look at the facts:

“Did we hope to avoid disruptive and potentially violent protests that might delay the opening of a facility greatly needed in DuPage and Kane counties? You bet we did,” Trombley said in the letter. “It should be obvious by now why we chose that course.”

Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area staff plan to open a full-service health center at 3051 E. New York St., in the DuPage County section of Aurora. Abortion services will be available.

“I’m not sure what he (Trombley) was hoping to accomplish” with the letter, Weisner told The Beacon News.

The City Council’s Planning and Development Committee approved the final plan for the health center on Nov. 16, 2006. The project did not require full council approval because the land already was zoned for medical office use. The owner was listed as Gemini Office Development LLC.

Planned Parenthood officials, applying under the names Planned Parenthood Association/Chicago Area and Gemini Office Development LLC, asked the Illinois Finance Authority Board in May for approval of the issuance of a type of bond to help fund construction and land acquisition costs of the Aurora health center.

From Planned Parenthood:

Aurora is a largely Hispanic and working class community, and Planned Parenthood saw a growing health care need:

Illinois ranked seventh-highest in 2005 for chlamydia rates and 11th-highest for gonorrhea, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Guttmacher Institute reports that among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Illinois ranks 46th in the availability of contraceptive services and supplies.

In Illinois, 1,558,620 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies

What no one seems to be pointing out is that abortion is about 10 percent of what Planned Parenthood does. Abortion is completely legal in the United States. Treating a clinic offering a completely legal medical option differently than another medical option means that a community would have to find some objective criteria based on zoning–and Aurora doesn’t have that ability right now.

Time for Dan Lipinski to Go Back To Academia

ArchPundit September 5, 2007 23 Comments

Dan Lipinski, Congressman IL-3

He’s supposedly a Democrat, but he certainly fails the small D definition when he originally got the position by his father putting a fake candidate, Ryan Chlada, into the Republican nomination and then after the elder Lipinski was renominated, he bowed out and had his son placed on the ballot to replace him.

Chlada was a Cicero town employee and ran a bar. And didn’t like the spotlight very much. He was even found by Fox Chicago for this newscast:

Download link (slow–working on improving it)

Lipinski went to Congress despite never having to seriously campaign. IL-3 is thought of as socially conservative with a lot of Reagan Democrats, but that simply isn’t the case anymore. In 2004, John Kerry got 59 percent of the vote. It is a liberal District now.

Most interesting then was his voting record. Despite being out of town for years, he was marked as having voted in person since 1990:

Until his dad crowned him a congressman, he spent 15 years out of town working at universities in North Carolina, Indiana and Tennessee. Somehow, while being a resident of other states, he managed to vote here, not by absentee ballot but in person. Election judges in his father’s 23rd Ward marked him present in every Chicago election since at least 1990, according to official records.

Oddly, Lipinski, can’t recall casting those votes. “I’m trying to think back to that time,” he told me. “I honestly cannot remember.”

Now, the voting records are, wait for it…, mysteriously missing.

Lipinski isn’t just a guy handed a Congressional seat, he’s a supposed Democrat with an incredibly reactionary record. His ACLU rating–one of the lowest Democrats outside of the South/border states. He has zeros from NARAL and Planned Parenthood.

So no family planning at all. Dandy. He and Costello were the only Illinois Democrats to get zeros–the rest? 100s. When the chance was there to vote for contraceptive use by those receiving money in other nations, he voted against it and he voted against funding Planned Parenthood under Title X–contraceptive funding.
From the Family Research Council–71 percent approval. To get that? He voted to remove the power of the Courts to review cases involving the Pledge of Allegiance. He voted against embryonic stem cell research. He voted to not allow those who win federal civil liberties cases related to religious cases to receive court fees. IOW, if you sued to protect your civil liberties and won in a religious liberties case, you could not be compensated for the costs incurred to enforce your rights.

He’s from a heavily Latino District–his rating from the the leading anti-immigrant group–60%. And that’s down from 71 percent and higher previously.

A big zero on the gay and lesbian measure from Progressive Punch

Drum Major Institute focusing on progressive policies for families, 50 percent.

And, of course, he voted to ignore the 4th Amendment and give one of the most corrupt and incompetent administrations ever the ability to listen to domestic phone calls without a search warrant.

Lipinski must go. He has a conservative agenda in a liberal district. He ignores his constituents including the 20 percent Latino population in IL-3 and he has little interest in actually being a democrat-small d intended.

Support Mark Pera in his bid to unseat Lipinski.

Donate Here.

Updated to eliminate two votes from his father that were listed in the Planned Parenthood vote ratings.

Illinois Congressional Races

Rock and a Hard Place

ArchPundit September 5, 2007 6 Comments

Mark Kirk gets visited by Freedom Watch’s radio commercials.

Very few details on the newest effort from the White House front group, but they have been targeting GOP moderates and wavering members with ads. They spent at least $5 million on the first wave of TV and have promised to spend $15 million. So far I’ve only confirmed they are on WBBM 780, but I bet more information will roll in soon.

So Mark Kirk can vote with the majority of his constituents who want out of Iraq, or the party base he relies upon to show up on election day. Maybe he needs some police officers to help insulate him.

Quick Update: Big buy–it was also on Channel 7 broadcast news.

Illinois Congressional Races

IL-14: The Panic Sets In

ArchPundit September 4, 2007 2 Comments

Dallas Ingemunson:

“But former Kendall County Republican Chairman Dallas Ingemunson said that to even assume the next 14th District representative is going to be a Republican is ‘an unwarranted assumption in this day and age.’

He cited the changing political landscape across the country, including voter dissatisfaction with the direction of the Iraq War, and said that while the basic makeup of voters in the 14th District may not have changed much since Hastert took office, the events surrounding the district have.”

Human Events:

The stumbling block for Oberweis is one conservatives frequently face in primaries for open offices: Another conservative is competing for votes on the right, so the one moderate GOPer could possibly emerge on top with a plurality of the votes. The other conservative is State Rep. Chris Lauzen, who first won his seat in 1992 as one of a group of legislators known on the right as “the Fab Five” for their opposition to key initiatives by moderate Republican Gov. (1990-2002) James Edgar. The lone moderate in the race is Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, who will be able to tap into considerable money through his contacts as a professional fundraiser for charities. While both Oberweis and Lauzen are strongly pro-life, for example, Burns will say only that he is “personally” opposed to abortion.

Whoever wins what is sure to be a bruising primary will not be home free next year. After holding Hastert to a career-low re-election percentage in ’06, Democrats are now gearing up for a major assault on his open district with likely nominee Bill Foster. A successful businessman and active civic leader, Foster has so far promised to spend $1 million of his own money on the primary and $1 million on the general election.

Washington Times

“Both parties are expected to fight hard for Mr. Hastert’s seat. Bill Foster, the likely Democratic nominee, has an impressive background as a businessman and a scientist that has resonated with voters in recently surveys.”

The Politico:

But a weak crop of Republican candidates could help the Democrats. One Illinois Republican operative called the likely GOP candidates seeking to succeed Hastert “unimpressive.”

The Adults are Back In Charge

Where is Ed Boland When You Need Him?

ArchPundit September 4, 2007 1 Comment

He’d never attack Iran would he?

Of course he would.

Congress needs to pass something like the Boland Amendment that any military attack on ~~Iraq~~ errr…Iran (updated) requires the explicit approval of Congress. Then when he does it anyway, impeach him.

No, I’m not kidding. Any Democrat who doesn’t stand up for this sort of thing ought to be defeated in the primaries. It’s hard to imagine how devastating such an attack would have on the world and would destroy the United States’ chance to recover from this miserable Presidency.

Freedom Watch Radio Ad

Daily Dolt: John Bambenek

Pera on Firedoglake This Saturday

What You Can Do

It’s About Contraception

Aurora Apparently Thinks it Can Limit Medical Services to the Ones it Might Like

Time for Dan Lipinski to Go Back To Academia

Rock and a Hard Place

IL-14: The Panic Sets In

Where is Ed Boland When You Need Him?

You Missed

Trump Campaign “Field”

Trying 2

Don’t Call It A Comeback

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