Liberty and Justice for All!

Governor Jindal signed a bill into law that returns the federal elections to an open primary system. Both parties did not like the law, which is consistent with their push to enact the law that closed the primaries in the first place.

However, this law is great for voters because it allows them to support who they actually want in the primary and then they can vote against the lesser of two evils in the runoff if their desired candidate does not make it. It also requires incumbents (as well as everyone else) to get 50%+1 of the vote to be elected. This is how it should be.

I may not agree with Bobby Jindal on much. However, I applaud him for signing this particular bill. Good Job!

I guess Tim Tebow was so impatient to be seen in the Superbowl that he couldn’t wait to get drafted and take his team there. Apparently, he will be staring in a commercial sponsored by Focus on your own damned the Family. Word has it that Tim will be reading a thank you note to his mother for not aborting her pregnancy when she fell ill (even though her doctors told her that it was dangerous to remain pregnant).

Now, that decision was her choice to make and she was free to either take that risk or not because of Roe v Wade. Women’s rights groups are taking the angle that CBS should not be helping to promote a group that they feel is anti-woman and anti-gay. I would take a different approach though. The choice to have an abortion is one that I will never have to face and it is a choice that I would not wish on anyone. Women who have to make that decision are likely having a hard enough time of it as it is, they do not need people telling them what choice they should make… pro or con.

The only people that should be giving advice on a medical procedure, unsolicited, are doctors. Any other advice on abortion should be given when requested only. And to encourage women to not obtain abortions when their lives are in danger is absolutely and 100% irresponsible!  Imagine a woman who is given false hope of life from a Superbowl commercial. She goes against her doctors recommendations and decides to not abort her pregnancy. She then dies because Tebow thanked Mommy and her family (perhaps her other children) have to go on without her… all because some extremist conservatives decided that it was a good idea to guilt women into the choice that was not best for them or their families.

Instead of calling for the commercial to be pulled, perhaps a counter-commercial should be aired to confront this one instead. A commercial both proclaiming the support of the ability of Tim Tebow’s mother to make that choice and showing how irresponsible it is for people without medical degrees to be convincing sick people to not get treatment.

Bill Jefferson lost tonight and I say good riddance. I am happy that the majority of the voters in this election stood up and voted against him.

Unfortunately for Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district, we now have what will most likely be a lame duck one term member of the minority party Congressman who will likely be ineffective in getting anything more accomplished for Louisiana then Bill Jefferson had done. I hope I am wrong. I hope Joseph Cao will be able to build bridges across the aisle and work with his fellow Congressmen to get needed help for this community. I hope that Joseph Cao will not be the RNC and FRC puppet and will instead be a pragmatist and work to help pass some of the items that Democrats will want as a trade off for getting us things that Southeast Louisiana needs.

I will say that I got “this is going to be a low turnout election” calls all day today. I got two from Jim Tucker, one from Harry Connick, and one from Helena Moreno (who did not go as far as to endorse Cao while the others did). So the GOP was going full swing for Cao. Which makes me worry that he will be too beholden to the party to be an independent thinker who will cross bridges and get things done. However, I hope Cao proves me wrong.

I called in to the Jeff Crouere show on AM 990 this morning and was the first to ask Joseph Cao a question about being endorsed by the Family Research Council. The FRC is an organization was founded by James Dobson and is currently run by Tony Perkins. They support banning gay marriage and restricting abortions (even to the point of restricting access to the Morning After Pill (not an abortion pill, btw)).

So this is why I balked at the idea of voting for Cao. So when I had the opportunity to ask him three questions I asked him:

A) Did you actively seek the endorsement of the FRC?

B) Do you accept the endorsement of the FRC?

C) Do you agree with the ideals of the FRC?

He answered the first answer truthfully. However, on the other two questions, he danced around the answer by saying how he does support the family and many people in this area support families. Well, that argument is like saying “I am a patriot so of course I support the Patriot Act”. And because he answered like a typical politician, and did not reject the extremist conservative ideals of the FRC I am happy that when it came to early voting that I cast my vote for Malik Rahim.

Malik is someone who had problems with the law previously. However, he picked himself up and used his previous life experiences to better himself and help others. He supports coastal restoration, access to healthcare, and moving to support policies to make America Greener. I am confident that he will be more likely than Cao to work with the majority party on issues that are vital for Louisiana while being another voice for equal rights.

Update:  On the Jeff Crouere show, Joseph Cao had stated that he is not running a negative campaign. Well, I got two mailers in the mail that said otherwise. Of course, they did not come from Joseph Cao’s campaign account. They came from the Louisiana Republican Party and the NRCC. So technically they are not “approved” by him.

The fliers go further than just a simple statement of fact. They go as far as to start name calling. That is the difference between a campaign that states facts about an opponent and a negative campaign.

And I believe one of the fliers has a serious flaw on it. The flier from the NRCC has a statement on it stating who it was paid for and that it was not endorsed by any candidate or committee. The Louisiana Republican Party flier states who it was paid for by, but lacks a statement about not being endorsed by the candidate. And according to FEC guidelines, it seems that such a statement is required.

A little while ago I made a post showing that the Scalise campaign had no understanding about polling data. Seems like someone learned a lesson, and someone is scared.

Now we see the true colors of Steve Scalise. He now resorts to the tactics of racism in an attempt to rally the remnants of the “Duke Vote” in order to keep a firm hold to whatever power he has gained.

Notice, the clip he uses from Rev. Wright includes his statement of “God damn America for treating its citizens….”. Maybe Scalise needs to go back and study a little bit of history. It wasn’t that long ago where this country as a whole treated black people like second class citizens (and even that is being too giving to the racist attitudes our country once held). It is an unfortunate fact that there are people in Louisiana’s First Congressional District who look upon those times as “the good old days”. Are we to be surprised that someone who lived through those times would be a bit angry? (Of course, it didn’t make Rev. Wright too angry so that he wouldn’t serve his country in the military).

I am not going to sit here and say that I can even begin to understand what it must be like for a black person to have lived back then, or what it must be like today to deal with  the lingering issues of racism that still exist (especially in the south). I am also not going to sit here and defend Rev. Wright for everything he has said and done. What I can do is try and understand WHY he might feel that way… something I doubt Steve Scalise or many of his supporters have ever bothered to do.

But what does make me happy is that ads like this are not run unless the candidate feels like he is in trouble. So the fact that Scalise spent money on this ad proves that Scalise is in trouble in this election, more than he would like to admit.

Scalise lacked the integrity to stand up for what he believed in in 2004 when he dropped out of that race. He continues to show that he lacks the integrity to represent this district in Congress. No wonder why he is called the “mistake by the lake”.

Showing that Steve Scalise will go to any lengths to win an election, he is having Dick Cheney come down to speak at a private fundraiser today. (You know, Dick Cheney, perhaps the most unpopular Vice President in history).

But maybe there will be a plus side… maybe Vice President Cheney can explain to Scalise how polling works.

Update: Here is a picture of Scalise with the Emperor himself. Scalise makes some strange facial expressions. Perhaps Cheney offered to take him hunting.

The T-P reports that contributors got a picture with Cheney. I didn’t think vampires showed up in film.

As today’s party primaries come to a close, the focus on the First Congressional District race (a seat I once ran for with Steve Scalise until he chickened out of the 2004 election) is pointing to a poll released by the Jim Harlan campaign.

It seems like the Jim Harlan campaign, who has spent a  lot of money (far more than any Democrat recently), has pulled within 11 points of Steve Scalise. Jason Hebert, a spokesperson for Steve Scalise, said this:

Why should anyone believe these numbers?

Why? Let’s see. First and foremost, if you are trying to make money as a credible pollster, you better use appropriate polling methods and give good results. I doubt the Kitchen’s Group (who conducted the Harlan poll) wants to be the subject of criticism because of flawed polling data.

Then you have other reasons. Harlan has spent a lot more money than Scaise has on this election. He has paid for advertising during political shows (like the debates) and may have effectively convinced some voters that Steve Scalise is not right for LA01.

Finally, even though Harlan has a D behind his name, he has been very vocal about being pro-life and pro-second amendment.  And perhaps this is the kind of Democrat that the plurality of Democrats in the 1st Congressional District have been waiting for.

And if Steve Scalise doesn’t understand polling and how spending money in an election campaign can be effective, then perhaps Steve Scalise doesn’t quite have what it takes to be the Congressman for Louisiana’s First District.

Since we passed a gay marriage ban that does not recognize the legal relationship created by legal gay marriages in other states, the American Political Science Association is considering a ban on holding events in New Orleans and cancelling an already scheduled event here planned for 2012.  

One of the arguments made is that if one of the associations gay members fell ill, his/her partner would be unable to make medical decisions for him/her because the law would not recognize the legal authority for him/her to do so. Others in the article disagree and believe they are taking the argument too far. However, if I was in a situation where I had doubts as to whether the law would allow my spouse to make medical decisions for me, would I really want to risk travelling to that state?

Mark Vail, an assistant professor at Tulane, called Pinello’s argument about health care “at best, overblown.” Vail said there is little risk of a circumstance arising that would jeopardize the members’ civil rights. He added that the law leading to the amendment did not originate in New Orleans and passed here by a small margin.

Notice the “little risk” and not “no risk”. And why does the fact that this bill only passed by a small margin make any difference? So what, we are supposed to be happy that just over half of the people who voted here support the law? People should be happy that New Orleans, while less intolerant than the rest of Louisiana, is still intolerant when it comes to civil rights for gay people? Mr. Vail’s argument is flawed and I am shocked that Tulane would have someone teaching political science who would make such a flawed political argument. That doesn’t say much for the department.

“We feel that the fears expressed by Mr. Pinello really, fundamentally misunderstand what New Orleans is about,” Vail said. “We think that its incredibly unfair to punish New Orleans.”

Mr. Pinello is not making a statement about what New Orleans is about. He is making a statement about the legal climate in Louisiana for homosexuals. Perhaps Mr. Vail should work on changing the law that is unfair to people who are GLBT instead of complaining that one convention is refusing to come here because a super-majority of the people who voted feel that gay people are second class citizens.

Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her organization has been in touch with the political science association to assure its members that New Orleans would be welcoming to gay members of the group.

I’m sure that New Orleans would welcome in any group that brings money in. This is not the concern here. Perhaps Mary Beth could get on the phone to the A.G. and determine whether the concerns raised are valid and if a partner in a homosexual relationship would be unable to give consent to a medical procedure for his/her partner based on current Louisiana law.

“I hear time and again that New Orleans is gay-friendly,” Pinello said. “I simply don’t understand what the basis of that is. To say that a street fair makes the city gay friendly is turning to the worst stereotypes of gays and lesbians. I think that’s offensive.”

I couldn’t agree more. If half the city voted against gay marriages, that doesn’t speak to highly of the city and its willingness to accept gay people as equal.

The California Supreme Court just struck down the gay marriage ban! Now there are two states where gay people are not treated as second class citizens.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in striking down the ban.

Absolutely right. Of course, the California GHEL plan on striking back.

A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is attempting to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine laws banning gay marriage in the state constitution.

I hope they fail. The tyranny of the majority should not get to treat people like second class citizens. PERIOD. If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t have one. It is really just that simple.

Avman is on a roll over at Louisiana Conservative. See, he tries to spin the Cazayoux robocall issue into an issue of racism. He also grasps for straws (yet again), by attacking ”Act Blue” for being “biased” in this election. However, according to the Act Blue website:

Contributions made via the ActBlue website are just like contributions through other means (e.g. on a candidate’s web site, through the mail, at a fundraiser). ActBlue just helps deliver your contribution to the candidate.

So there you go. The fact that more funds came from Act Blue means that Cazayoux had more supporters. Call me crazy but it seems to me that if someone has more supporters they tend to win elections. Perhaps Avman should not comment on things he does not know about. He then continues to assert racism by stating:

With friends like the Democrat party, minorities don’t need a KKK. Who needs the KKK when you’ve got the DNC? No wonder why minorities feel so oppressed, trusting guys like these Democrats?

Yeah, because the KKK tends to support Democrats.. right? That is why David Duke ran for Governor as a Democrat, right?  OH YEAH, thats right. He ran as a Republican! Many former “states rights southern Democrats” left the party after the Democratic party picked up the mantle of civil rights. Nixon and Reagan used the “southern strategy” to target the racists in order to win. But if Avman wants to make the rest of us laugh while trying to equate the DNC with the KKK, he is free to make a fool of himself.

Avman aslo gives us this gem:

Michael Jackson ought to run as an independent, Darrell Glasper should stick to his guns, and the Democrat party really needs to quit taking black people for granted.

He is 1/3 right. Darrell Glasper should refrain from saying that his messages are supported by a candidate if they are not. Michael Jackson, if he runs as an independent, could help the Republicans win in the fall. (No wonder why Avman wants that to happen). I do feel that the Democratic voters in LA06 are smarter than Avman gives them credit for. They will realize that voting against the Democrat will be cutting off their noses to spite their faces since it would allow the Republican to win.

However, Avman is right in that Democrats definitely should not take any members of their party for granted. I do think that some members of our party do take certain voting blocks for granted. We need to make sure that we are loyal to those who bring us to the dance.