Our New National Emblem

Thanks to suebeehoneytree on Ed Schultz's message board.

Yet another crony up for a job she's not qualified for.

No it's not Miers, it's Ellen Sauerbrey. She's being nominated to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration

She unqualified for this position because:

1. she does not support women's reproductive and health rights
   
   
2. as Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women she has prioritized politics over the needs and rights of women


3. she would be responsible for working with the United Nations but has said that she is "not terribly interested in the UN because we don't see it as a friendly forum"


4. she has no experience with refugee protection


5. she has no experience with responding to complex humanitarian emergencies

source: Gender Health.org

Call your Senators if they are on the Foreign Relations Committee today if you live in AK, CA, CT, DE, FL, IL, IN, MA, MD, MN, NE, NH, OH, RI, TN, VA, or WI, or call both Senator Lugar's office (chair of the committee) and Senator Biden's office (ranking member on the committee).

Senators who review Sauerbrey's nomination will meet this week! (October 24th)

Go to genderhealth.org for more information


See also:

• http://www.unitedfamilies.org/ellen.asp
  
• http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/~/gd-051005-ellen-sauerbrey.xm
  
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/levey/bob0602.htm
  
• http://www.un.int/usa/02_027.htm
  
• http://www.us-mission.ch/press2001/sauerbrey.html
  
• http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/6712/


• http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/05/09/19/roberts.htm
  
  

GOP take on the mayor early

My husband and I were watch Law and Order Criminal Intent tonight when a political advertisement came on opposing Cranston Mayor, Stephen Lafferty. On first glance it's a pretty straight forward political attack add. In a small city of 80,000, Lafferty spent $15,000 in city money on surveillance cameras to catch city employees napping, raised taxes and the ad detailed some other problem which I can't remember now (but will edit in when I see the ad again).

Now the ad doesn't say whether it is targeting a possible mayoral re-election run in 2006 or for a possible senate run. One is actually left to assume it's to counter a possible mayoral re-election run. And that's when this ad takes a surreal quality. This attack ad is paid for by the National GOP Senate Committee.

Shot across the bow? Perhaps.


See also:
http://www.cranstonri.com/
http://mrliberal.mydd.com/story/2005/2/20/17228/3800
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/19/152911/878
http://www.providencephoenix.com/theater/top/documents/03696603.asp

Something about Eddy

Okay hokey title I know. Here's some links you might want to investigate:

General Wes Clark on his website WesPAC, is urging people to send an email to Members of Congress now to persuade the Pentagon to enforce fair play on Armed Forces Radio by honoring their promise to broadcast Ed Schultz's radio show! Put Ed Schultz on Armed Forces Radio!
(hat tip: http://www.wegoted.com)

Democracy Radio (Ed's radio affliation) has a petition:
"Join thousands of other Americans in demanding that our troops around the world be provided a balanced political perspective on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS)." Radio for the Troops

from Media Matters:

Rush Limbaugh still the only political radio show broadcast on American Forces Radio

Last year, with your help, Media Matters for America drew attention to right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh's presence as the sole political commentator on American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), a taxpayer-funded service that provides radio programming to American armed forces around the world. In the wake of Limbaugh's reckless and harmful endorsement of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, Media Matters called for AFRTS to remove Limbaugh from its broadcast schedule.

There is no way to truly provide "balance" to Limbaugh's hateful rhetoric, which ranges from calling people "feminazis" to saying "A Chavez is a Chavez. These people have always been a problem" to claiming that women "actually wish" to be sexually harassed. But AFRTS was set to take a step in the right direction by adding progressive radio host Ed Schultz to its broadcast schedule, beginning October 17.

However, AFRTS put those plans on hold at the last minute -- and now claims it never decided to add Schultz in the first place. Defense Department official Allison Barber personally announced the cancellation just three days after Schultz drew attention to Barber's role in a controversial scripted event President Bush held last week. Barber reportedly called Schultz's producer at home on the morning of the 17th with the news that Schultz would not be broadcast on AFR. The Defense Department's apparent decision to cancel Schultz means that Limbaugh will continue as the only political commentator on American Forces Radio and Television Service.

The brave members of our armed forces deserve an alternative to Rush Limbaugh