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Hey, Bob Barr, Why Do We Vote On Tuesday? (He Doesn't Know)
This month we've spent time with a member of Congress trying to move voting to the Weekend, and we've chatted with the Speaker of the House, who indicated she would support such legislation.
Last weekend at Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas, Libertarian presidential candidate and former U.S. Representative Bob Barr told Jacob Soboroff he doesn't know why it is we vote on Tuesday, but that he'd support voting on weekends to make voting more convenient.
Barr: "I'll tell you - we need to do something - and we need to do a lot of different things - and that may be one of the things we need to do. As President, I would sign such legislation."
For more:
http://whytuesday.org This month we've spent time with a member of Congress trying to move voting to the Weekend, and we've chatted with the Speaker of the ... more -
Bringing the overseas youth vote home
After reading about the large turnout of young voters in the primaries and caucuses in the U.S. this spring, I find it very exciting that young U.S. voters abroad are similarly engaged. Let's keep this momentum going until November at home and abroad!
After reading about the large turnout of young voters in the primaries and caucuses in the U.S. this spring, I find it very exciting t... more -
Gore and Pelosi Like Weekend Voting Idea
AUSTIN, TX - At the Netroots Nation conference, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore, and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett spoke with Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday? about the proposal currently in Congress to move Election Day to Saturday and Sunday.
Pelosi: "I think it's a great idea."
Gore: "Good idea, sounds like."
Steve Israel on "Why Tuesday?":
http://current.com/items/89113978_u_s_rep_why_vote_tues...
For more:
http://whytuesday.org AUSTIN, TX - At the Netroots Nation conference, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore, and U.S. Representat... more -
U.S. Rep: Why Vote Tuesday?
U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) sits down with Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday? in Washington, D.C., and becomes the first member of Congress to report as a Why Tuesday? correspondent!
Rep. Israel recently introduced the Weekend Voting Act into the House in an attempt to move election day from "the Tuesday after the first Monday in November," as it has been since 1845, to Saturday and Sunday.
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the same bill into the Senate earlier this year.
For more information:
http://whytuesday.org U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) sits down with Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday? in Washington, D.C., and becomes the first membe... more -
RECAPTURE THE FLAG
Corporate clows have highjacked the whitehouse and given YOUR money to their greedy cronies.
Time to take it back.
We The People believe in the Constitution, the rule of law and justice for all. We pledge to Recapture the Flag by demanding a President and Congress that:
*Ends torture, respects human rights and restores America’s reputation in the world.
*Respects the rule of law and fiercely challenges anyone who seeks to undermine the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
*Roots out corruption, special interest abuses and partisan prejudice in the administration of justice.
*Holds to account – without exception – anyone who breaks the law or violates the public trust.
*Protects personal freedom by rejecting warrantless spying and other affronts to individual liberty. Corporate clows have highjacked the whitehouse and given YOUR money to their greedy cronies. Time to take it back. ... more -
Germany plans to give vote to babies
Dozens of German politicians have tabled a new law to extend voting rights to babies, toddlers, children and teenagers.
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The Hotness Awards! Vote for your Favorite Anything!
The Frisky‘s first annual HOTNESS AWARDS is dedicated to honoring this year’s 20 hottest people, places, and things, as picked by YOU. So to get started, we want to hear your opinions on who and what are the ultimate in contemporary hotness. Check out the twenty award categories here, and send us your nominations. Pick who and whatever you want—there are no limits. We’ll announce the finalists later in July, at which time the voting will begin! Later today we’ll start showing you our own ballots—but don’t worry, our votes count as much as yours, we’re just here to give you some inspiration. Now get over there and start nominating! The Frisky‘s first annual HOTNESS AWARDS is dedicated to honoring this year’s 20 hottest people, places, and things, as picked by YOU.... more
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CALIFORNIA: Vote YES on Prop 2!
The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, an initiative that will appear on California's November 2008 ballot.
It is cruel and inhumane to confine animals in cages so small they can’t turn around or stretch their limbs. All animals deserve humane treatment, including those raised for food.
This has already been passed in various other states.
Vote YES on Prop #2 to protect animals from unacceptable abuse.
I worked very hard along with hundreds of other hard working volunteers to get enough signatures to get this on the ballot (over 800,000 signers!) so please help get this passed.
It's NOT about taking your meat away, it IS about humane treatment while they are alive.
I know not all of you are in California, but you probably know someone that is, so PLEASE forward this information!
VOTE YES ON PROP 2!
Thank you-
The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, an initiative that will appear on California's November 2008 ballot. ... more -
Marijuana initiative would allow pot sales at Ore. liquor stores
YouNewsTV™
Related Content
KATU Poll: What do you think of the idea?
Story Published: Jul 7, 2008 at 1:02 PM PDT
Story Updated: Jul 7, 2008 at 5:45 PM PDT
By KATU Staff Video SALEM, Ore. - Relax it and tax it.
That's the motto behind a new cannabis initiative that would allow Oregon's state-controlled liquor stores to legally sell marijuana to adults.
Initiative backers said their plan would send 90 percent of the proceeds from the state's sale of marijuana to Oregon's General Fund, which could lower Oregonians' state tax burden.
Smaller percentages would go to funding drug abuse education and treatment programs.
The initiative would also legalize the growing of hemp, a non-drug variant of cannabis that can be used to make industrial-strength fibers and bio-fuels.
Supporters claim that allowing cannabis cultivation and sales through state liquor stores would add $300 million in combined tax revenues and savings to Oregon's budget.
Paul Stanford of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act said the measure would also put a dent in illegal dealing of the weed.
"We want to take marijuana out of the hands of children and substance abusers, who control the market today, and put it in the hands of the state's liquor control commission and the age limit of 21 will be strictly enforced," Stanford said at a press briefing.
Supporters have two years to collect nearly 83,000 signatures to get the measure on the November ballot in 2010.
YouNewsTV™ Related Content KATU Poll: What do you think of the idea? Story Published: Jul 7, 2008 at 1:02 PM PDT ... more -
Celebrate your freedoms this fourth by fighting to keep them!
Sign this petition calling for impeachment and Congressman Kucinich will personally deliver it to your Congressperson!
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CA Republican's Don't Like The Idea Of 17-Year-Old Voters
A pair of Assembly bills designed to bring more young people into the voting booths are being fought by Republicans who worry that too many of those new voters will be liberal Democrats.
One of the measures would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to "preregister" to vote, while the other would allow 17-year-olds to vote in a primary election if they will be 18 by the date of the next general election. Both bills have prompted straight party-line votes, with no hint of GOP support.
While Democrats sponsoring the bills say they are merely good-government measures, studies show that their party would get a major election-day boost if more young voters cast ballots. A pair of Assembly bills designed to bring more young people into the voting booths are being fought by Republicans who worry that too... more -
Five Judicial Myths !!!
Despite what we hear today . . .
1. THE JUDICIARY IS NOT A CO-EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT
The legislative authority elected by the people necessarily predominates.
2. THE JUDICIARY IS NOT TO BE AN INDEPENDENT BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT
If the judges are made independent they will become a dangerous body.
3. THE JUDICIARY IS NOT THE SOLE BRANCH CAPABLE OF DETERMINING CONSTITUTIONALITY
The judges must interpret the laws; they ought not to be legislators.
4. FEDERAL JUDGES DO NOT HOLD LIFETIME APPOINTMENTS .
Federal judges may be removed by Congress for misbehavior
5. THE PURPOSE OF THE SUPREME COURT IS NOT TO PROTECT THE MINORITY FROM THE MAJORITY, AND CONGRESS IS A BETTER PROTECTOR OF MINORITY RIGHTS THAN IS THE JUDICIARY.
Congress is a better guardian of the people and the minority than are the courts who extended slavery in America for 70 years
Despite what we hear today . . . 1. THE JUDICIARY IS NOT A CO-EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT ... more -
Student charged with selling his vote! "You can buy my vote," Max P. Sanders say...
A felony that carries up to five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
I didn't even know something like this was in existence. After reading the article, there is a scarcely used state law from 1893 that "makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote."
Interesting!
What are your thoughts? A felony that carries up to five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. ... more -
Women: know your limits! 80 years after winning vote, women's rights dubbed more f...
Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/ writes in the New Statesman today that equal voting rights haven't meant equal power for women 80 years after women won the right to vote at the age of 21 (before that men could vote at age 21, but women had to wait until they were 30 - less chance of that pesky womanly irrationality setting in once you hit the big 3-0 apparently...)
In fact, the UK today could be considered a worse place for women than it was 80 years ago.
Rape convictions are down, the pay gap is barely closing, men are still all-powerful in media, business and politics, children are offered ever-narrower ideas of what it means to be a girl (pink and passive!) or boy (blue and bolshy!), there are more lap dancing clubs than rape crisis centres, women's bodies are open to everyone's scrutiny and everyone's criticism, and tens of thousands of women lose their job every year simply because they're pregnant.
Is it weird that this anniversary is getting more attention in the US press than in the UK? Except for the, um, Halifax Courier... http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/features/Eighty-years-a...
Are we royally screwed, ladies (and gentlemen)? Is real equality just a pipe dream? Or is it just not worth the effort?
Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/ writes in the New Statesman today that equal voting... more -
Did Obama Really Slash Welfare Rolls By 80% In Illinois ?
From factcheck.org
This ad says that Obama "passed a law to move people from welfare to work and slashed the rolls by 80 percent."
Actually, the Illinois law was a required follow-up to the 1996 federal welfare reform law worked out by President Clinton and the Republican Congress.
Welfare rolls did go down by nearly as much as the ad says, but Obama can't claim sole credit.
In this ad, all three pieces of legislation mentioned were passed in the Illinois Senate.
The first bill that's cited is the 1997 law that created the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program in Illinois. The ad claims Obama "passed a law to move people from welfare to work, slashed the rolls by 80 percent." That's going too far.
First, the law in question wasn't dreamed up out of thin air by its sponsors. It was the follow-up to the welfare reform act, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, that President Clinton signed on Aug. 26, 1996. That law gave states the ability to design their own welfare programs as long as they met certain federal requirements, including limits on how long recipients could get benefits. The bill that Obama cosponsored was Illinois' version.
And far from having "passed" the bill single-handedly, Obama was among five Senate sponsors of the measure, as we said previously. It was passed by both chambers of the Illinois Legislature and signed into law by the governor.
Welfare reform was successful in moving people off public assistance. There was about a 78 percent drop in the number of families receiving public assistance in Illinois between 1998 and 2006.
But we don't think Obama alone, or even Obama and the four other sponsors of the Illinois law, can take credit for all of this. It was the federal law, hammered out by Clinton and the Republican Congress, that set the wheels in motion and forced states to act. Nationwide, the number of families on welfare declined quite a bit as well, going from 3,146,870 in '98 to 1,805,900 in '06, a decrease of almost 43 percent.
Also, our friends at PolitiFact talked to an expert who said part of the steep drop in Illinois' numbers was due to other factors, such as a state bureaucracy that took an aggressive approach to ejecting people from the rolls, sometimes erroneously
A Passable Record
Just as in his earlier ad, Obama takes credit for passing "tax cuts for workers." Here, the announcer is talking about the Illinois earned income tax credit, which came into being in 2000. The bill doesn't contain Obama's name as an original sponsor, but according to The Associated Press, he was the linchpin of the effort but let Republicans, who held the Legislature and the governor's mansion, take the lead on it.
The third law Obama claims sole responsibility for is an expansion of Illinois' KidCare program, a low-cost health insurance program aimed at working families making too much to qualify for Medicaid. Obama did in fact sponsor the bill in 2003 that allowed families making up to 200 percent of the poverty level – rather than the previous 185 percent – to participate. When Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the bill on July 1, 2003, he said it would make 20,000 more children and 65,000 more adults immediately eligible for the program
From factcheck.org ... more -
Did Obama Really Work His Way Through College And Harvard Law School ?
Obama's Work Ethic
(From Factcheck.org) July 2, 2008
His new ad says he "worked his way" through college and law school. His campaign says he had two summer jobs.
Obama’s latest ad repeats an often-stated claim, saying he "worked his way through college and Harvard Law.” We know Obama took out loans to get himself through school. But the campaign provided information on just two jobs Obama had in those years, and they were both in the summer.
Obama's new ad, "Dignity," is largely a 30-second version of his last one, "Country I Love." It, too, will be airing in 18 states, according to the presumptive Democratic nominee's campaign.
The ad begins with the announcer telling us that Obama "worked his way through college and Harvard Law." Actually, Obama took out loans to get himself through college, as we heard in a 60-second ad his campaign began running last month. We don't know how much assistance his family provided.
But "worked his way" through college and law school? The only back-up the campaign provided for this claim was a quote from Obama's book "Dreams from My Father" having to do with a construction job he had one summer while he was in college, and an article mentioning his job as a summer associate one year at a big Chicago law firm. We asked campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor if Obama held jobs during the school year, or other summer jobs, but he said only, "He had the two jobs I told you about." Unless Obama had a good bit more employment than his spokesman was able to describe for us, it's a real stretch to claim he "worked his way" through school.
Obama's Work Ethic (From Factcheck.org) July 2, 2008 ... more -
Arizona Marriage Amendment Headed For Ballot !!!
All one needs to do is look at California to see why Arizona needs to have a constitutional amendment on marriage.’
Arizona voters will get another chance to define marriage in November, thanks to a 16-4 state Senate vote Friday. Two years ago, a more complex marriage-protection amendment failed at the polls by 2 percentage points.
This year's amendment states that "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."
Peter Gentala, general counsel for The Center for Arizona Policy Action, called the victory “tremendous news” for Arizona residents and their children.
“We know that when a child doesn’t have mom or dad in their lives, it puts them at risk,” he said. “In Arizona … the voters are going to have a chance to decide to reaffirm a law that’s fundamentally about the protection of children and about passing on strength and stability to the next generation.”
Brian Raum, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said California, which legalized same-sex “marriage” in May, proves that a state law is not enough to protect marriage.
“All one needs to do is look at California to see why Arizona needs to have a constitutional amendment on marriage,” he said. “This referendum gives Arizonans the opportunity to decide the future of marriage in Arizona.”
Polls show 65 percent of Arizonans support traditional marriage.
“We definitely think Arizonans are going to vote to reaffirm marriage,” Gentala said. “They understand that their vote is going to decide whether marriage will be protected in the future, and they don’t approve of politicians or judges deliberately depriving children of a mom or dad.”
All one needs to do is look at California to see why Arizona needs to have a constitutional amendment on marriage.’ ... more -
The Private Character Of John McCain
John McCain has been in the public eye almost his entire adult life. He's run numerous campaigns, served in Congress for 25 years, and is in his second run for the presidency.
Yet, there is so much of his life that remains largely unknown to the public.
How aware is the public that McCain has raised seven children? Or that he adopted his two oldest sons as small boys (children from his wife's prior marriage)? Or that he has raised a Bangladeshi girl with severe health problems adopted from Mother Theresa's orphanage? Or that his own sons have served in the military, including in Iraq?
It's widely known that McCain, a Navy pilot, was shot down, captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese for 5 and a half years - But few are aware that he refused early release until all the POWs captured before him were freed,.
Even fewer seem to know that those years were a fraction of a 22-year Navy career. Although broken and battered, after his release from Vietnamese captivity he went right back to the Navy, where he continued to serve for an additional eight years.
Anyone can talk about "supporting our troops"; the McCains serve. McCain's father and grandfather were respected American admirals. Of McCain's four sons, three have gone the military route. One was a Navy pilot like his father, one enlisted in the Marines at age 17 and recently completed a tour in Iraq, and one is completing his education at the Naval Academy (raising the strong possibility that, for the first time in half a century, the United States will have a president with a son at war).
Yet, likely because of those same values, McCain maintains a strict code of silence about his sons' military service, no matter how legitimate his pride or politically useful their military status. Through 2007, McCain was the strongest Senate advocate of vastly increasing troop levels in Iraq, strongly influencing the administration's wildly successful "surge" strategy.
Yet McCain never brought up his own son's service in some of the roughest areas of Iraq. His principled refusal of political advantage from his son's Iraq service extends to refusal even to be interviewed on the subject, or to introduce his son to campaign audiences.
Also little-known is the story of McCain's youngest child. As a result of a 1991 Cindy McCain visit to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, the McCains adopted an infant daughter dying from a host of health issues. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save the little girl's life, so the McCains, already the parents of six children, brought the child home to America, and paid for desperately needed surgeries and years of rehabilitation. That child is their teenage daughter Bridget.
So, it turns out that McCain, standard-bearer of the party constantly slandered as racist, has, without fanfare, raised as his own a Bengali daughter of color. But the character demonstrations regarding his daughter are even more impressive: during his 2000 presidential run, as he was on the verge of becoming the front-runner, rogue staffers of other candidates reportedly conducted a whisper campaign in South Carolina disparaging the McCains for having a "black baby." McCain chose to shield his child by ignoring the smear.
The contrast is consistent with McCain's internalizing the codes of honor and military conduct since his youth: the veneration of courage and resilience; the expectation of fidelity to principles of honor; the homage paid to Americans who sacrificed for their country; the nobility of service and sacrifice; the expectation that one would prove worthy of the country's trust; and the humility that comes from recognizing that there are causes and people greater than oneself. It is, in short, a contrast in character.
John McCain has been in the public eye almost his entire adult life. He's run numerous campaigns, served in Congress for 25 years, an... more -
Obey Obama
Some local street artists painted a 15' Obama mural designed by Shepard Fairey (ObeyGiant) in Houston Texas. I documented the painting from beginning to end... Some local street artists painted a 15' Obama mural designed by Shepard Fairey (ObeyGiant) in Houston Texas. I documented the painting... more
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San Francisco proposal for George W Bush sewage plant!!
SAN FRANCISCO: Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital, and a state, too. But President George W. Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.
From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.
The plan - hatched, naturally, in a bar - would place a vote on the November ballot to provide "an appropriate honor for a truly unique president."
Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye.
"Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs," said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. "So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history." SAN FRANCISCO: Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital, and a state, too. But President George W... more
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