Call It A Comeback
Reports raising $750,000 in the relatively short time he’s been in the race. While Illinois only reports twice a year right now, Claypool has only been in the race for about 3 months so this is especially amazing.
There’s not much else to say, other than he’s put the call time in from what I understand and some of those haggard pictures of him from the spring are from long days of fundraising and lots of nos. It should pick up and apparently has been lately, but the reality is he’ll be less well funded than Kirk. It’s going to be a tough race, but with help from DC (the DSCC should be going to the donors telling them it’s safe given recent polling) and continuing his call time, it’s still a race at least.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYdVXDYnV-c[/youtube]
When Jennifer became pregnant with the twins, we had a minor scare that it was a molar pregnancy because one of the doctors made a mistake trying to do a quickie ultrasound. He was incredibly apologetic, and truly a great doctor so all was forgiven especially since we were then in shock that we were having twins. Molar pregnancies usually are handled with a DNC and if things go really badly, chemotherapy.
This is a case of a different condition and obviously turns out to be one that does not work out. It’s heartbreaking to think of the woman being screamed at as she enters a building to end a pregnancy of a fetus with zero chance of being brought to term.
Yesterday was the second worst day of my life.
The first was when I heard the radiologist tell us that there was a major birth defect with the baby. I have always lived my life believing everyone is entitled to their opinion. Our country was founded on freedom and I have always taken pride in my ability to speak my mind and voice my opinion. I also take special pride in my freedom, because I know how quickly it can be taken from us. Hearing the stories from my two best friends who have fought for our freedom, I will be forever grateful for them and the millions of other men and women who have given me that freedom.
Back to yesterday, there was nothing worse in the world as the protesters telling me that I am killing my unborn baby. REALLY?!?! Are you sure its me killing my unborn baby and not an ultra rare birth defect?? Then the signs saying “God is Pro-Life.” Seriously, if he is pro life then why am I carrying a child that is dying inside me? Or my personal favorite, which was “Take my hand, not my life.” I would love to. But instead I have to sit in a chair staring at these assholes telling me how I should feel and what I should be thinking.
As I looked around I saw many women with their sisters, friends and boyfriends with the same look as I had: FEAR! We all were there for one reason or another but we were all taunted by these strangers who think they know what is best for us. How do perfect strangers know how we feel? As I entered the building I never had such hatred for those people. I wanted to go across the street and tell the ones who just yelled to me that I was killing my unborn child that it was the other way around. The baby was killing me.
Regardless, they have no idea what is going on. But as far as they are concerned I was killing an unwanted pregnancy.
As I looked around the waiting room the only thing I wanted to do was to go over and tell each one of those women that those assholes outside have no idea what they are going through and have no idea that these people are good people. As I woke up, the women who were upstairs are now next to me and I realized that these women are educated. There was a nurse, an executive, and myself a manager.
We were all there for a different reason but no one knows what the reason is. So who is to judge? The people who were yelling at me and the other women definitely have no right to judge us.
As I walked in and they yelled at me and made me feel ashamed I wanted to run and never come back. But I can’t run I have to be here. I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of but they made me feel that way. It got me to thinking that if I feel like that how do the other women feel? How many young women have they scared off from getting help from birth control to counseling about their reproductive health? I wanted to help all the women who were scared off by the judgmental idiots carrying signs. Even if it was just one woman.
While there are some complications to the health of the mother for the particular condition (Sirenomelia) it is not life threatening to the mother. Bill Brady would make the abortion above illegal even though the fetus had no kidneys or bladder and would not survive.
Bill Brady wants to control women’s uteruses because he thinks he knows better. I’m confident he doesn’t.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco George Steinbrenner is still dead.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ynzOehRMQs[/youtube]
Personal PAC, Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic Governor’s Association is filling up the inbox.
This commercial is quite good. As the Dad of twin daughters, this tugged at me more than most political ads do–given I’m pretty jaded about such things. These things do matter. And as much of a doofus as Pat Quinn is, it’s important.
Apparently people are trying to sell him as pro-choice, but he was recommended by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life and the loony Eagle Forum.
Pro-choice credentials questioned in race for IL 10th Congressional District
Chicago, IL – Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA), the political arm of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, made clear that there is only one pro-choice candidate running in the Illinois 10th Congressional District: Dan Seals.
“Dan Seals was endorsed by PPIA because he recognizes the importance of standing up for women’s reproductive health in Washington. He unequivocally supports a woman’s right to choose and believes that all women should have access to comprehensive reproductive health care,” said PPIA spokesperson Beth Kanter.
Seals’ opponent, Republican nominee Robert Dold, chose not to fill out a PPIA questionnaire to be considered for endorsement and he declined an invitation to be interviewed by the board. Mr. Dold, however, has been endorsed by the right-wing Eagle Forum and recommended by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.
The contrast between the two candidates is stark. While Dan Seals supported President Obama’s health care reform legislation and the inclusion of the full range of reproductive health care in the health care reform legislation, Dold “denounced” the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Seals will fight to make sure that our youth is taught comprehensive, medically accurate, age appropriate sex education in our schools. He will stand up to make sure that Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land and is not undermined by pernicious legislation that tries to chip away at women’s rights. And Dan Seals will be a leader to make sure that low-income women are able to receive the reproductive health care services they need to stay healthy.
“Dan Seals will be a champion for women’s health issues in Congress, and PPIA will be working hard to ensure his victory this November,” said Kanter.
Personal PAC is hitting him hard on his anti-abortion views with a new flyer.
Usually such things are not the best in discussing nuanced policy, but the nice thing about Bill Brady? No nuances–he just thinks your uterus belongs to the state.
Let me make the point though that is really important. This isn’t just about abortion, it’s about contraception. Bill Brady voted to allow insurance companies to not cover contraceptives while they do cover Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs.
He also was against the rule and voted to overturn the regulation requiring pharmacies that sell contraceptives to actually sell those contraceptives regardless of whether an individual pharmacist is opposed to them. No word on how he feels about Christian Science pharmacists.
Many nice people I know and respect are against abortion and I respect, but disagree with them. However, Bill Brady is backed by the ‘pro-life’ movement that isn’t just against abortion, but sex and anything that goes along with it that isn’t strictly pro-creation.
Want evidence? Let me share with you my favorite press release of the last few months:
CHICAGO, IL, June 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – To mark the day the U.S Food and Drug Administration first approved the birth control pill 50 years ago, the Pro-Life Action League is encouraging pro-life activists across the nation to speak out against contraception.
“Contraception has radically altered sexual behavior in our culture and ultimately leads to more abortion, not less,” said Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League. “We want to empower pro-life activists to confidently articulate the case against contraception, especially as we remember the day it was first approved for use in America.”
In a press release the Pro-Life Action League outlined a number of points that it said would equip pro-life activists with the information they need to speak out against contraception.
Those points include:
– The mentality of contraception opposes life. The unborn child is not seen as the natural consequence of sex but as a “mistake” to be avoided. When a woman does become pregnant, this mentality predisposes her to abort.
– Contraception encourages risky sexual behavior, contributing to the 19 million Americans who become infected with sexually transmitted diseases every year, according to the Center for Disease Control.
– No form of birth control is 100% fail proof. Consider this – even when the birth control pill is taken exactly as prescribed, 116,000 women still become pregnant every year. What happens to these 116,000 babies?
– Just like birth control, condoms are not the answer. In fact, a comprehensive study by the Consortium of State Physicians Resource Councils found that as the use of condoms has increased, so has the rate of out-of-wedlock births.
“When the FDA approved the pill for contraceptive use in 1960, a chain of events was set in motion that led straight to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that struck down laws protecting unborn babies in all fifty states. History has proved that – far from reducing the need for abortion – contraception only increases abortion,” said Scheidler. “We hope to educate more people about birth control and all forms of contraception and help them communicate this opposition more clearly.”
The movement isn’t about abortion, it’s about regulating sex.
I wrote about the bogus attack on one of Alexi’s advisors back on June 17th, the Sun Times joins in today:
Just when you thought Mark Kirk couldn’t be more disingenuous.
The Republican Senate candidate who tried to pass off a series of exaggerations in his military record as honest errors now is smearing his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, with a blatantly misleading TV ad that links him to the Gulf oil spill.
In the ad, Kirk disapprovingly calls a top Giannoulias aide “a longtime BP lobbyist,” right after showing images of an oil-slicked bird and the gushing Deepwater Horizon rig.
It is true that the aide, Endy Zemenides, was a registered lobbyist for the BP/Bovis Global Alliance.
But it is also true that there’s a world of difference between working on landscaping and zoning issues for BP gas stations in the Chicago area, as Zemenides did, and lobbying Congress on behalf of the multinational corporation blamed for the disaster in the Gulf — even if Kirk professes to see no difference.
When challenged Monday on the fairness of the ad, Kirk said: “A BP lobbyist is a BP lobbyist.”
Right.
And what do we call a candidate who thinks the voters are too stupid to see the truth for what it is?
Insulting.
Appearing in the NY TImes Fashion & Style section ain’t gonna do it.
REPRESENTATIVE AARON SCHOCK is explaining, again, why his torso seems to keep going viral.
First, there was the photo of him in a red bathing suit, posted on the gossip site TMZ.com. “Abtastic,” bloggers enthused.
Then, there was the picture of Mr. Schock, a Republican congressman from Illinois, in a pink-checked shirt, turquoise belt and white jeans at a White House picnic. According to the blogosphere, the image was “jamming up the gay staff listserv” on Capitol Hill.
“Obviously, it was what I thought was a sporty outfit,” Mr. Schock said of his picnic attire. “It was probably a little too bright, in retrospect.”
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As for his personal life, Mr. Schock is single and opposed to gay marriage, and he has told reporters that he is not gay. In the interview in his office, he mentioned a former girlfriend. He also said that while he is passionate about all issues, the social ones are “not what compelled me to run for office.”
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So, how did he feel about joining the ranks of Liza Minnelli and Lady Gaga as a gay icon, albeit for the Washington set?
He was quick to dismiss the frenzy, saying the pictures were just a distraction. As for those who admire his physique, “If they’re in my district, I’ll take votes wherever I can get them,” he said. “Who knew I could get this much attention with my shirt on?”
And he is happy to offer up the back story behind the TMZ photo, which shows him reclining with legs splayed in swim trunks by a pool, showing off glistening washboard abs. “It’s a funny story,” Mr. Schock said, and began to tell it.
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But the best?
And back in Peoria, well-meaning constituents are eager to play matchmaker.
“Good supporters who have single daughters say, ‘Hey, you need to take my daughter out,’ ” Mr. Schock said. “And it’s awkward.”
Yes, I’m sure it is.
Pat Quinn gives out raises of up to 20 percent for staff.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises topping 20 percent to his staff at a time when he’s promising $1.4 billion in spending cuts because of the fiscal crisis. An Associated Press analysis of documents shows Quinn has given 43 salary increases averaging 11.4 percent since he became governor.
They include a $24,000 bump to the man overseeing state spending. Budget Director David Vaught got a 20 percent raise — to $144,000 — when he was promoted in October.
Can anyone play this game?
Via Capitol Fax
ArchPundit