I was just push-polled by Conrad Appel. A representative of Western Research just called, asked some voting history and demographic questions, and then started with some increasingly negative questions about Polly Thomas. The first was related to her taking a handgun out of her purse and “waving it around” at a meeting to prove she is tough on crime. The second accused her of corruption; something about taking bribes and the school board. (?)
Way to be honest and straightforward, Mr. Appel. You just lost my vote. We have enough sneaky, underhanded politicians in Baton Rouge; we don’t need to add you to their number.
Now here is a surprise. Now NOW does not want a woman elected to high office.
Not Every Woman Supports Women’s Rights August 29, 2008
Statement of NOW PAC Chair Kim Gandy on the Selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s Vice Presidential Pick
By the way, Kim Gandy is from New Orleans Louisiana.
Sen. John McCain’s choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.
A cynical effort?
She was one of the top two reform governors that McCain was considering. The other being Bobby Jindal
Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women’s rights, just like John McCain.
Women’s rights? Such as: The right to vote? YES. The right to hold high office? YES. Just exactly what women’s rights is she against?
The fact that Palin is a mother of five who has a 4-month-old baby, a woman who is juggling work and family responsibilities, will speak to many women. But will Palin speak FOR women? Based on her record and her stated positions, the answer is clearly No.
And what positions would those be?
In a gubernatorial debate, Palin stated emphatically that her opposition to abortion was so great, so total, that even if her teenage daughter was impregnated by a rapist, she would “choose life” — meaning apparently that she would not permit her daughter to have an abortion.
Curious, I though now was ‘pro-choice’. As in ‘Please support NOW’s work to pass the Freedom of Choice Act’. That the decision was so important, women have the right to choose.
Yet when this woman makes her choice, and chooses to have her baby, they are dissapointed?
It seems that NOW is not being honest about their position.
Palin also had to withdraw her appointment of a top public safety commissioner who had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, although Palin had been warned about his background through letters by the sexual harassment complainant.
That is their other top complaint? That is extremely weak. Palin is a very popular governor in Alaska. She has worked to clean up corruption in that state.
What McCain does not understand is that women supported Hillary Clinton not just because she was a woman, but because she was a champion on their issues. They will surely not find Sarah Palin to be an advocate for women.
Or perhaps just not a champion for NOW?
Sen. Joe Biden is the VP candidate who appeals to women, with his authorship and championing of landmark domestic violence legislation, support for pay equity, and advocacy for women around the world.
ROFLOL. We are now all Alice living in Wonderland now.
Finally, as the chair of NOW’s Political Action Committee, I am frequently asked whether NOW supports women candidates just because they are women. This gives me an opportunity to once again answer that question with an emphatic ‘No.’ We recognize the importance of having women’s rights supporters at every level but, like Sarah Palin, not every woman supports women’s rights.
Indeed! Clearly NOW does not support women’s rights.
###
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906
Well, at least they only gave her one minute and thirty seven seconds to speak.
This is a terrible speech.
What an embarrassment this person is to our state. Even Nagin or Blanco would have been a better choice of speakers. It is a pity they would not, could not let Governor Bobby Jindal speak instead.
The text of her speech.
Mary Landrieu from the Great State of Louisiana.
Well, at least she got her name right.
It has been 3 long years, since hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the failure of the federal levee system devastated New Orleans, the region and the Gulf Coast.
The FEDERAL levee system? The FEDERAL levee system! The FEDERAL levee system !!!
She admits and takes no responsibility or blame for this disaster upon her self at all !!! She has been our Senator for a long time before this storm struck. She is as culpable as anyone in the Government.
When I moved to this area 24 years ago, I looked at the FEMA flood maps for possible hurricanes. New Orleans either remained unflooded or under twenty foot of water. The breakpoint was for Cat. 3 hurricanes. For storms less than that category, the city remained dry. For storms above that category it was flooded. For Cat. 3 storms, the outcome depended on the particular storm.
That was why when we woke up Saturday morning to face a Cat. 5 storm bearing down on the city, we immediately hightailed it to the emergency shelters in Monroe. The levees were not designed for a storm of this magnitude.
The Bush White House and the Republican leadership and FEMA showed up not just late but wholly unprepared.
Our Federal representative, Bobby Jindal, certainly showed up. That is why he is the Governor of Louisiana today.
Ahem, now who was our Senior Senator during this time period? Where was she hiding?
America deserves a FEMA that works.
We certainly do.
We also deserve representatives that work and don’t just posture. Bobby Jindal certainly rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Don’t remember Landrieu doing much at all.
A FEMA that understands the best ways to leverage the private sector and the robust non-profit community. A FEMA that will help us rebuild our communities with respect; dignity; and determination.
Huh?
I was very impressed many aspects of FEMA’s response. The Coast Guard response in particular was spectacular. It is time we all started re-evaluating what happened from a less emotional. standpoint.
I was very unimpressed with the response of the state government. I was also unimpressed with the response of the local governments.
Where is her demand that the “Road Home” program start to work?
America deserves a president who is willing to lead. Who will cut through the red tape and serve the people not the bureaucracy. And a president who will stand with mayors and governors and not against them to get the job done.
President Bush responded very quickly to this disaster. He called the Governor and the Mayor and got them to declare the first ever mandatory evacuation for New Orleans. On the day before the storm, Governor Blanco said this at the Mayor’s press conference declaring a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.
‘GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: Thank you, Mayor. I want to reiterate what the mayor has said. This is a very dangerous time. Just before we walked into this room, President Bush called and told me to share with all of you that he is very concerned about the citizens. He is concerned about the impact that this hurricane would have on our people. And he asked me to please ensure that there would be a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.”
*
That is the hope of the people of America and that is the promise of Barak Obama.
Barak has promise but he has never been in a position to respond to any major emergency. We simply do not know how he will handle or respond to an emergency of this magnitude. How about giving us Bobby Jindal instead?
God bless our efforts to recover and God bless Louisiana.
Obviously, we’re not doing a lot of posting right now - for my part, I have some real-life issues that are sharply limiting the time available to me for politics. Hopefully that will change soon. There’s also just less to write about, since the lege is not in session.
In the meantime, please do use the forums to keep in touch with each other. We had some spam postings at one point, including porn spam, but I’ve removed those and taken measures to stop that from happening again. (Thanks again to those who notified me so promptly by email about those.)
One of the measures to prevent it from happening again is that all new accounts have to be activated by hand. If you don’t already have a forum account and you want one, go ahead and register, but ALSO send me an email so I know you’re a human and not a spam bot - then I will activate your account. My email is admin@legewatch.com.
Well, one of our (NOT SO) illustrious state senators had a very bad weekend.
State Sen. Derrick Shepherd was released early Sunday morning after being arrested Saturday night, accused of punching his ex-girlfriend and stealing her cellular phone and $100, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office reported. (link)
Ask, and you shall receive. I wished that Governor Jindal would break out his veto pen, and he finally did:
He thusly axed 258 items to the tune of $16 million (and said indirect savings were $27 million more), over ten times what he excised from the supplemental bill and about double the number from the last 12 budget bills combined. This in and of itself perhaps tells us there hasn’t been a lot of good prioritizing in past budgets.
It’s amusing to watch leges flip out over the loss of their pet projects. Or it would be, if it weren’t sad that so many worthy projects are now unfunded. But the core problem here is not that Jindal has vetoed them. It’s that the legislature, and whoever runs these projects, did not see to it that they were appropriately funded to begin with.
The veto session is held 40 days after the session ended. So by my count, NOON on the Fortieth day is Saturday August 2nd, 2008.
The declaration from each legislator that such a session is not needed must be received before Monday, July 28th.
On another subject, Louisiana will be hosting the National Conference of State Legislators in New Orleans at the Morial center from July 22, 2008 to July 26th, 2008. So we can probably find most of our legislators partying down there on the week before the session starts should they hold one.
Missed your chance to order your Greedy Gator Legislator shirt? I’ve had quite a few emails and phone calls from people who are wearing their shirts and keep getting asked where they got them. We sold out of our first big batch but I’ve made arrangements with F&D Sales to continue making the shirts - we just need to order them in batches of at least 36.
So if you would like to pre-order, just email me at admin@legewatch.com with your contact info, along with the sizes and number of shirts you want.click here.
The tee shirts are Gildan 100% preshrunk 6.1 oz. heavyweight cotton, seamless collar, double needle stitched, taped shoulder to shoulder. The cost is $16.95 (for all sizes - Small, Medium, Large, XL, 2XL, 3XL) including taxes. DO NOT EMAIL ME YOUR BILLING INFO. When we’ve got enough shirts for an order, I’ll contact you and tell you where to make a payment online and place the order. Thanks!
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Are you mad as hell and don't want to take it anymore? While a recall is nearly impossible, we may be able to get a few out that way, and we can certainly see to it that the rest are not re-elected and do not benefit from the rest of their time in office.
Forget the "base pay" - that's a joke. In terms of real compensation, our legislators are VERY well cared for. Per diems, full time assistants, office allowances, and more... See for yourself!
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