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Liberty Belle's Journal
The ban on federal funds for abortions is based on a religious morality, not science and certainly not any concern for women’s health. Where’s the concern for a woman carrying a baby with no brain stem, or some other incurable condition?
If we are to allow women’s reproductive rights to be dictated by religious Christian extremists, then why not also allow the following:
Ban funds for vasectomies: These are birth control, and Catholics believe that’s a sin.
Prohibit money for Viagra: This encourages fornication, another sin. Accept impotence as God’s will.
No funds for implanting pig valves in human hearts: Muslims and Jews believe pigs are unclean creatures.
No circumcisions: Some religions don’t believe in this procedure, either.
No medical treatment for anybody at federal expense, since Christian Scientists don’t believe in medical care, period.
But let’s not stop there. How about cutting out funding for anything a religious or other minority doesn’t believe in – not just healthcare?
Quakers don’t believe in war. No more money for fighting them.
Hindus don’t believe in eating beef. No subsidies for the cattle industry.
The Amish don’t believe in mechanization. No money for government-run fleets of vehicles or Amtrak.
Church of Christ members believe dancing is sinful, along with music from instruments other than the human voice. Stop funding wickedness through the National Endowment for the Arts.
Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in celebrating holidays or birthdays. No more federal paid days off for Christmas, Thanksgiving, President’s Day, etc.
Deists believe the natural world is sacred. No more federal funds for destroying the earth - ban funds for logging, strip-mining, or anything that pollutes our holy earth.
Libertarians and neo-con Republicans believe public services should be privatized to save tax dollars. Stop funding firefighting, police protection, libraries and public schools.
Anarchists don’t believe in government. No more funding anything--not even salaries for Congress!
to prevent abuse or misuse by terrorists? http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/... Would appreciate more takers on this one -- we've had almost 20,000 reads on our story about San Diego's sheriff deploying sonic weapons at town hall forums, and only a few dozen people have taken the poll so far. (We definitely got the Sheriff's attention, after this story got picked up nationally in the mainstream media. They held a press conference to demonstration the non-weaponized features of the LRAD (long range acoustic device) and now state they have "disabled" the ear-splitting feature used to repel insurgents in Iraq and pirates on the high seas.
Read our blow-by-blow description of a conservative school board's special meeting on labor day to ban Obama's speech--and the public outrage that ensued: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/...  As a side note, our reporter and her husband have children in this district. Her husband was so appalled by the board's clear bias and censorship that I'm told he's considering a run for the board himself. They kept one of their children home to watch the speech (costing the district ADA money) but sent a second child who didn't want to spoil her perfect attendance record. There are racial and class overtones here in addition to partisan political ones -- and it's not surprising that the most vocal advocate for airing the speech is a very articulate African-American board member who was out-voted by whites - including one board member who expressed disdain at the idea that her own little darlings, who aren't from broken homes, should have to listen to a speech aimed at inspiring the disadvantaged. This terse exchange between white and black board members exemplifies the total disconnect here: “I’m thinking about my specific children listening to his speech,” Halgren shared, in a somewhat broken, emotional statement. “Children at seven or eight years old—they had no clue that was going on in the world. I consider myself very fortunate…to have an intact family, we had enough, we had parental support, we had everything we needed to raise our children, children from a very good family. But now you’re putting them in a room where there are words they don’t understand, stories they’re being told are about children that they don’t understand, that they can’t relate to.” Turner countered, “I don’t think it would be detrimental to our children in this district to sit though a 15-18 minute speech by the President of the United States. A lot of times when they have a lesson in school they don’t always ‘get it.’ That’s why the President’s giving the speech! The fact that some of it might go over their heads is no reason not to show it in the classrooms.” Full story: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/... Note: Our news website ( www.eastcountymagazine.org ) is really trying to build up an online community, so we'd really appreciate your comments at the bottom of the article. Be sure to click "post" after previewing. Thanks!
Only 34% say yes right now: www.cnn.com scroll down and poll is on the right.
Hi - I don't have TIVO but am hoping someone here can help.
I'm told that Olbermann named San Diego Police Dept (or SD Sheriff?) worst person of the week in his show tonight for pepper-spraying guests at Dem Congressional Candidate Francine Busby's fundraiser. (The cops allegedly were very rough in arresting a hostess with a shoulder injury, after responding to a noise complaint from a neighbor who complained of a Democratic demonstration. The cops made the arrest and roughed up guests even though it was only 9:30 pm - and noise regulations don't even kick in 'til 10 p.m.
Can anyone TIVO this and post to You Tube please?
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=poll2... Also see my article at East County Magazine linking Minutemen leaders arrested for murdering a child to groups operating in San Diego's East County: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/... You may also enjoy my smack-down of some Minutemen who tried to discredit the article (see their comments and my rebuttals); they even managed to tick off a Minutewoman who came to my defense and essentially called them liars.
MEMO TO ARNOLD: A SCRIPT TO SAVE KALEEFORNIA, NOT TERMINATE IT By Miriam Raftery Editor, East County Magazine June 3, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)—If California ever needed an action hero at the helm, it’s now. Instead, Arnold has taken the “girlie man” way out –balancing the budget on the backs of the poor by proposing to eliminate healthcare for children and welfare-to-work programs. He also wants to close 80% of state parks, release prisoners, and slash school spending. Granted, a grid-locked Legislature, Republicans who pale at the words “raise revenues,” Democrats who were split on ballot initiatives and fed-up voters who failed to pass them have left him few easy choices. But Arnold has one ace left in the hole: Star power. Here’s how he can use it to debut the most important road show of his career: “Save Kaleefornia.” 1. Ask your friends in Hollywood—yes, those limousine liberals---to host a “Save Kaleefornia” day. Donate all proceeds from movies shown statewide to a special “Save Kaleefornia” fund. 2. Invite movie stars, TV stars and sports celebrities to donate signed memorabilia for a giant “Save Kaleefornia” celebrity auction. 3. Get Bill Gates to organize an online “Save Kaleefornia” fundraising drive—starting by kicking in a hefty donation himself. 4. Urge the 100 wealthiest people in California to pay their fair share. Publish a list of their names... Please read my full editorial rant and post your comments here: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/... Then please use the link at the bottom of the story to send this to the Governator! If you really want to help Save Kaleefornia, forward this to a few zillion of your closest friends, too. Thanks from a lifelong Californian!
"No thanks. I like taxes. They pay for our firefighers, our police, our parks and our schools. In fact I think you should pay more of them." This wasn't my reply, but a business partner who was invited by a local Chamber of Commerce president. Bet she won't be inviting him to any more right winger protest rallies! 
In the GOP response to Obama's speech tonight, Louisiana Governor Jindahl lampooned the stimulus bill for including money for "volcano monitoring, whatever that is!" As a reporter who has interviewed a top volcano specialist before, and done some research on this topic, I feel compelled to enlightened the Governor, though it's shocking to think that the leader of a state drowned by Katrina due to inadequate government disaster monitoring would even need to be told why we ought to keep tabs on any natural disaster in the making. Apparently Gov. Jindal is unaware that a major volcanic erruption is about to occur near Anchorage, the capitol of Alaska. No doubt Sara Palin can see it out her window--and probably would like to know before it blows. You betcha! Details: Fears mount over Alaska volcano: http://www.blatherskite.com/index.php/2009... / Volcano Alert: Air Force Moves Alaska Planes to Washington: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/3878088... Then there's Yellowstone, which sits atop a "super volcano" that experts agree is working up to a major erruption, the likes of which we've never seen in America. A poison gas cloud from this one could kill people many miles away. Just last month, there was a flurry of earthquakes which could be precursors to an erruption: Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone volcano: http://www.physorg.com/news150810698.html Yellowstone Volcano: Is the “Beast” building to a violent tantrum? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20... That brings us to Hawaii, where just this week a new path of lava to the sea has developed. I'd think a state dependent on tourism would want to keep the boaters and hikers safe: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Has a New Lava Ocean Entry http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/volcano/... The volcano was just one of many examples of Jindahl's ignorance or worse, outright whoppers. Mother Jones nails him on it: Bobby Jindahl’s Stimulus Lies http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/02/bo... So does Factcheck: Factcheck.org: GOP Stimulus Myths http://www.factcheck.org/politics/gop_stim... In all fairness, Factcheck also called Obama on a point or two, but it pales in comparison with the stupidity and callousness toward human life displayed by Jindahl, who thinks keeping people safe from disasters should not be a proper role for government! Stimulus Bill Bravado: Obama claims the stimulus legislation will do all sorts of things. But there are no guarantees. http://www.factcheck.org/politics/stimulus...
A list of newspapers that they own is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Press The owner is David Black. More here: http://voiceofsandiego.org/cafesandiego / The Union-Tribune is notoriously right-wing conservative; the publisher once donated a million bucks to put elephant fireworks in the sky during the GOP convention here and they are extremely biased in their political coverage. I'd be very interested to know if the prospective new owner is liberal, conservative, or simply a straight-up journalist with no perceivable bias.
I'm working on an important investigative story but need to confirm what a source has told me. This relates to the So Cal fires. The trouble is that all the experts in this field work for the utilities and are all afraid to speak out. I need to find this type of expert at another utility in a different state, or locate a retired electrical relay protection engineer. If anyone here can help, please email me at editor@eastcountymagazine.org . Thanks.
Friends at DU: Fed up with media that excluded progressive voices and important issues, I wrote a grant proposal and started a new community publication in our region. Now I need your help! Our grant funds will run out soon, and we need to attract sponsors and advertisers. So far we've had over 365,000 hits to our site locally, but we need more to show we're competitive with other area media and have more "unique" site visitors. Please take a second to click on our website at www.eastcountymagazine.org ! (Clicking through to several articles is even better - and you can post comments!) We have a "politics" section and also cover events and other news in San Diego's East County. Our fledgling publication has been crediting with winning at least 2 important races for Democrats locally, including one City Council candidate, Marti Emerald, who used our article as a campaign door hanger! (We exposed ethical violations by her opponent) Our publication is nonpartisan, dedicated to making sure that ALL voices in our community are heard and that serious issues are not ignored. We've covered Blackwater, border wall issues, and other national issues with local impacts. Thanks a million for taking a second to click on www.eastcountymagazine.org to help assure that progressive views will continue to have a place in the media in America's 6th largest county!
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