Completely Unnecessary

At least one ward of the Mormon church is activating against Illinois’ HB 2234, which would provide civil unions in the state (h/t Paul). Such unions would be available to hetero and homosexual couples, ad would provide the same rights and responsibilities as marriage.

An email sent around to ward members encouraged them to call state legislators because the bill would, ‘create grounds for rewriting all social mores,’ amongst other evils.

The bill passed out of committee yesterday despite the church’s input.

As they recommend, however, it’s a good idea to call your legislators and express your support for HB 2234.

While you’re at it, also tell them to support HB 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act.

The bill mandates that state and sub-governmental agencies cannot deny women contraception or abortions before fetal viability (with an exception for the health of the mother); ensures funding for reproductive health for low-income/medicaid patients; and mandates that public schools provide medically-accurate comprehensive sex ed.

All lovely things.

You can find your state legislators here.

In national news, after Vitter’s amendment to block Title X money to Planned Parenthood, Sen. DeMint offered an amendment that would block a rule re-allowing pharmaceutical companies to provide low-cost birth control to universities and health clinics. DeMint complained it was an ‘earmark’, despite the fact that it offered no money from the federal government, just re-allowed companies to offer cheap bc at their own cost.

The Wicker amendment sought to limit US funding to the UN Population Fund, which provides family planning for women around the world. Republicans continue to argue that the UNPFA provides funds for coercive abortion in China, when even Bush’s own investigators found that it does no such thing. Wicker’s amendment was defeated.

Ugh.

I mean, yay, but ugh that we have to keep having these kind of debates over legal medications and family planning programs that reduce abortions. Hard to argue that pro-life Republicans are really interested in preventing abortions.

In international sad news that really has nothing to do with any of this, Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai was injured and his wife killed in a car wreck today.

The truck driver that hit their car (in the middle of a convoy) said he fell asleep whilst driving.

The MDC will investigate independently, especially after their videographer, who rushed to the scene, was arrested and his camera confiscated.

My heart goes out to Tsvangiai, who continues to stand strong after a year of unbelievable tragedy.

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As I mentioned yesterday, turnout is expected to be low for the IL-05 primary, but this is absurd.

I just voted, and, as of 1:30pm (5.5 hours before the polls close), I was the fifth person to vote in my precinct.

If Ward 1 voters aren’t turning out, this election is going to be decided by an extremely small number of people.

If you haven’t voted and are thinking about skipping it - please go out there. There are no lines, so you’ll be in and out.

Think of the voter calculus - I just made sure my candidate got at least 20% of the vote in my precinct (provided no one else votes).

You can diminish my personal power by visiting your polling place. Please do so; it might go to my head.

God, thinking about the amount of money spent on this race for this sort of turnout is sort of appalling.

Thoughts on choosing a ballot - Jeremy might kill me, but if you’re a liberal thinking of pulling a Green ballot, you might want to think twice.

The election for IL-05 will almost certainly be decided by this winner-takes-all Democratic primary.

If you have strong feelings for (or, perhaps more importantly, against) one of the contenders in the Democratic field, you can most effectively wield your vote in the Democratic primary.

You can still vote for the Green in the general, when the Green Party might have a chance of taking down a weaker Democrat in what is sure to be another low-turnout election.

For the record - I’m not suggesting crossing party lines to try to take out another party. I’m suggesting that lefty voters think about using their vote for someone they can live with if the Democrats win the special election. The most progressive candidates in the Democratic field do not have the clout of the three frontrunners, and will be weaker Democrats on April 7th. (They will probably still win, however.)

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Can I just take a moment to say how important it is for voters to turn out for this primary?

Turnout is expected to be very low - and with Fritchey, Feigenholtz and Quigley set to split the Democratic field, economist Charlie Wheelan or labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan could slip in with enough support.

While the fields are not as large in the Republican and Green Party primaries, every vote will definitely count, whichever ballot you choose.

(Speaking of which, there have been some problems in recent elections with Green Party ballots being ‘unavailable’ or placed out of sight/off the judges’ table. If you’re a Green, make sure to get your proper ballot; they should at all polling places.

And all fair-minded voters should have a check to make sure that their judges are providing equal opportunities to all parties. You can ask even if you’re not taking a Green ballot.)

For the record, I’m supporting Charlie Wheelan. He’s a economics and public policy prof down at U of C. As such, he’s a political outsider in Chicago (yay!), as well as one of the most progressive/lefty Democrats in the field.

If you’re still making up your mind, I suggest having a look at his website. If you’ve already made up your mind, great!

Voting info:

Check your registration, Chicago residents and suburban Cook County residents. If your status is ‘Inactive’ call 312.269.7936 to resolve the issue and be prepared to bring your driver’s license to the polling place.

Polls are open tomorrow, March 3rd, from 6am until 7pm. You must vote at your polling place, not at the early voting sites. Your polling place listed on your voter card or you can check online.

If you are in line at 7pm, you must be allowed to vote. Do not be turned away. If your workday spans the entirety of open polling times, your employer must give you two hours off to vote.

Various Chicago voting nonsense: If you have voted in your polling place before and are in the signature book (a white slip with your signature on the left side) - you are not required to show ID. It’s always a good thing to bring along in case of a canvas challenge, but - as a voter - you are allowed to speak to other voters and to question a judge who asks for ID from a voter in the book with a white slip.

During the 2008 election, my judge insisted on seeing ID and then yelled at me when I refused. We had to call the BoE, but the argument continued, with her loudly abusing me the entire time I voted. It was a miserable experience for me, but I know the law and was helped by good BoE employees.

It may sound like a minor issue, but many lower-income and older residents don’t have IDs (and may not return to vote if turned away by ignorant/poorly trained/corrupt election judges). It is illegal for election judges to require white-slip voters to produce ID. If you see abuse, please bring it (politely) to the attention of the judge. If they respond poorly, stick to your guns and call the BoE. It is your right as a voter. And it’s your vote.

While we’re talking about proper voting procedures - this is the proper order of things at the polling place.

1. Your give your name and your application should be located in the book.
2. You sign your application.
3. It is checked against your signature in the book (white slips).
4. Your application is then removed, exchanged for a ballot, and placed on the spindle.

You should NOT be given your application before your signature is checked. You should NOT have to ‘check in’ with a partisan pollwatcher beforehand. Partisan pollwatchers should NOT be sitting at the table with election judges.

Report any and all irregularities to the Board of Elections (312.269.7870/312-269-7900).

Happy voting!

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Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old American reporter, has been arrested in Iran on charges of ‘illegal’ reporting and is being detained in an undisclosed location.

Scary stuff, but perhaps some key facts from Saberi’s distinguished resume can help assuage our fears.

A former Miss North Dakota, who’s been working in Iran as a freelance reporter, is being detained in undisclosed location there.

And that’s the actual lede from the story running on MediaBistro’s TVNewser.

We don’t learn until the second paragraph that Saberi has ‘reported for NPR, “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer”, and Fox News Channel, among others as the [three-year] Tehran bureau chief for Feature Story News.’

But I can’t just blame MediaBistro (though delivering it to my inbox made an impression), as a number of news orgs have decided that Ms Saberi’s 12-year-old pageantry trumps her professional resume.

The original NPR story doesn’t mention the 1997 Miss North Dakota win until the seventh par and as part of her biography. Yet every other iteration I’ve found of the original story leads with this pretty irrelevant piece of information.

To give MediaBistro its due, at least they included a useful headline with her current profession: ‘American Reporter Detained in Iran’. North Dakota’s KFYR and Radio Free Europe cut right to the chase with, ‘Former Miss Dakota Arrested/Detained in Iran,’ respectively.

But perhaps it’s all NPR’s fault for posting her winning pageant photo in the first place, since it keeps popping up.

It appears that Saberi was initially arrested for buying a bottle of wine (which may or may not have been an excuse for the arrest), and is now being held for news gathering after her journalist credentials were revoked by the country in 2006. Iran is now discussing her detainment with the press, which is an improvement.

National and international news orgs have also found more pictures of Ms Saberi, which possibly accounts for the decreasing importance of her pageant title.

Yet, somehow I don’t think a male freelancer arrested in Iran (where, coincidentally, he was also finishing up his Masters in Iranian studies and international relations, as well as completing a book on Iranian culture) would be described as ‘Former All-State Quarterback’ by multiple news outlets.

I sincerely hope Ms Saberi is allowed to return to her studies soon.

And let her example serve as a reminder to women everywhere: burn every picture from your pageant/cheerleading/whatever days if you plan on being in the public sphere in any way, as they will almost assuredly appear in every story about you, no matter how irrelevant to the subject matter.

(I just hope no one ever gets a hold of my Academic Decathlon Swimsuit Competition photos! Embarrassing!)

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Here’s the direct mail I got today from Mike Quigley, one of the candidates in the Democratic primary to fill the seat of Honorable Vacancy - IL05.

Um, it just me or does Quigley’s ad seem strikingly (some might say ‘actionably’) similar to Geico’s dollar bill ad?

Except for the quality of the image - Quigley’s ad looks like they took photos of Thin Mints and someone got a bit munchy on the Feigenholtz - I’d say Team Quigley is one googly eye away from a lawsuit.

And see, it sucks that now my attention has been drawn to this ad because I really like Mike Quigley - I think he’s more useful on the Cook County Board, but I like him.

But now, I’ve opened up the advert, so now I have to show you the most redonk photo of Blagojevich ever - not surprisingly directly next to Feigenholtz, Fritchey and Todd Stroger.

The man is many things, but he’s not that orange. Incredibly, my camera has actually improved its color and tone - the original provides a greater jack o’lantern effect.

There are also two missing commas in this sentence:

Sara Feigenholtz and John Fritchey voted for Rod Blagojevich’s sales tax hike that [sic] combined with Todd Stroger’s tax hike [sic] made Chicago’s sales tax the HIGHEST IN THE NATION.

(Yes, yes, I know. Who am I to cast the first grammar stone? But, seriously, I proof things I write for money.)

Given all the political circuses as of late, I, for one, am looking forward to the March 3rd primary.

And - provided Geico is not aggressively litigious - to Mike Quigley’s continued excellent work on the Cook County Board. (Sorry, Mike.)

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You go away for a couple of days and everyone’s all up in your fake-ish Senator demanding explanations about what he did or did not promise to do for your ex-governor.

Jeez, people are pushy! Let’s let the man tell it, shall we?

I mean, can you all imagine what’s going on now, when the secretary of state wouldn’t sign the petition? And we had to try to deal with all that…And (had) to hire all these lawyers. And they were looking at all the law and doing all this research. This is all going on and so we can be prepared to go to court in case they didn’t seat us…So we went out on Jan. 15, and we stayed in Washington because I was sworn in. And guess what? I had to vote that evening. At 4:30 or 5 o’clock, I had to cast my first vote in the Senate.

With all that going on, it would be easy to forget to mention that you’d met with a host of Blagojevich’s fundraisers and tried to raise money for him.

It would be equally easy to imply, under oath, that you’d done no such thing.

It’s clear that Burris’ appointment is a path of least resistance to 2010, when Alexi Giannoulias - currently getting some foreign policy chops with Dick Durbin in Greece - can take over. Madigan gets the statehouse… and scene.

So whilst Harry Reid ‘hope[s Burris] didn’t try to avoid or mislead anyone’, we have renewed sentiment that Burris is unfit for the job, now with editorials calling for his resignation.

God, it’s, like, what’s the point? Illinois can’t afford another special election. And who the hell would even want this albatross of a truncated term? Better to save your pennies and mount a co-Giannoulias challenge to the weakened Burris.

This nonsense made the Kentucky papers today. I sort of thought when I came back to the US people would stop asking me, “Seriously, what is up with your [insert name of political office]?’

So wrong.

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I am a dork because I get excited about pieces of legislation.

The Prevention First Act - introduced in both the US House (H.R.463) and Senate (S.21) - is giddily awesome and covers everything from emergency contraception and comprehensive sex ed to assistance for rape survivors and funds for positive life education.

Things like this are why I heart my Democratic Congress (today):

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any information concerning the use of a contraceptive provided through any federally funded sex education, family life education, abstinence education, comprehensive health education, or character education program shall be medically accurate and shall include health benefits and failure rates relating to the use of such contraceptive.

No more ‘condoms have tiny holes’ if you wants the federal dollars, friends.

Hospitals receiving federal funding would be required to provide free EC to victims of sexual assault as well as providing them with the medically accurate information that EC does not cause abortion.

Also:

Use of Funds- Funds received by an entity as a grant under this section shall be used for programs that–

`(1) replicate or substantially incorporate the elements of one or more teenage pregnancy prevention programs that have been proven (on the basis of rigorous scientific research) to delay sexual intercourse or sexual activity, increase condom or contraceptive use without increasing sexual activity, or reduce teenage pregnancy;
…
`(f) Relation to Abstinence-Only Programs- Funds under this section are not intended for use by abstinence-only education programs…

Which is redundant since abstinence-only programs are not scientifically shown to significantly delay sexual activity (much less to promote safe sexual activity), but I like to see Congress covering its bases.

What else? Ah yes, funding can go to a program that:

(1) is age-appropriate and medically accurate;

(2) does not teach or promote religion;

(3) teaches that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases;

(4) stresses the value of abstinence while not ignoring those young people who have had or are having sexual intercourse;

(5) provides information about the health benefits and side effects of all contraceptives and barrier methods as a means to prevent pregnancy and reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS;

(6) encourages family communication between parent and child about sexuality;

(7) teaches young people the skills to make responsible decisions about sexuality, including how to avoid unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual advances; and

(8) teaches young people how alcohol and drug use can effect responsible decision making.

States can also receive money for programs that teach positive male sexuality and preventative domestic/partner violence techniques, amongst other things.

I’m pretty much over the moon about these bills (before they are inevitably stripped of everything meaningful).

Have a gander at the House bill and the Senate bill.

If you like what you read, contact your Rep about H.R.463 and your Senators about S.21. Make sure to note that you are a constituent and specifically ask them to support the bill.

I’ve already called Burris and Durbin, though ‘The Honorable Vacancy - IL05‘ was not available. (Click the link; that was the actual output for my query.)

Links:
Louise Slaughter Seeking To Destroy America Through Accurate Sex Education [Jezebel]

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I just watched this week’s LOST on ABC’s website. While it’s no Hulu (love!), it is nice to be able to watch them online.

ABC has prominent commercials - most of which are ABC-based - but I’m not sure that their outside advertisers are getting their money’s worth.

***Spoilers***

The most recent episode is entitled “This Place Is Death”. Perhaps not that auspicious for advertisers from the outset, but it is really all in the timing.

The lead out for the Act II commercial break saw an ashen and profusely-bleeding Charlotte plead with Jin not to let Sun come back to the island. They go to commercial on the obviously sick woman wildly screaming, “THIS PLACE IS DEATH!”

The commercial run directly after?

Tourism Hawaii.

Because why not? Why not run an ad for the real-life location of LOST’s death island?

I mean, I don’t think an ad for an island you have to fly to is a good fit for the show in general, though I understand Hawaii’s desire to capitalize on the beauty of the locations shown week after week.

But perhaps the Act II break would have been better spent viewing that grating Desperate Housewives primer again.

I will note, however, my satisfaction in seeing three weeks’ worth of promises regarding Charlotte finally come to fruition. Amen.

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…and a nation mourns.

I actively don’t care about Michael Phelps’ smoking marijuana.

(You can tell because I’m writing a blog post about it. As you are no doubt painfully aware, I never write about anything of substance.)

Seriously, have we nothing else to worry about? Economic collapse, perhaps? Multiple, horrible wars, hmmm?

The NYT today devoted several prominent links to a story about a 23-year-old smoking pot, including an analysis of how Phelps’ disciplinary action should have been handled.

Is there no real news because everyone is just too sad?

Because here’s something wretched if you want it:

A WOMAN suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers [in Iraq] has confessed to organising their rapes so she could later convince them that martyrdom was the only way to escape the shame.

And meanwhile, Kellogg will come sniffing back around their champion as soon as the smoke clears (too soon?), and ‘rich, white American male engages in recreational drug use’ will continue to baffle me as a multiple day news item.

ps - While I usually make a point of linking to things I talk about, I broke the links to the NYT’s coverage; no pageviews for this ’story’ from me.

Not that you guys are very clicky anyway. (It’s as though I pointlessly rehash things you already knew about…)

pps- Um, thanks for no one telling me I’d spelled ‘athlete’ wrong for an entire week.

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So deep is my loathing of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger that I read this article thinking, ‘Yep, I’d vote for him. Vote for him. Never heard of him, but I’d vote for him.’

Former Chicago Public School CEO Paul Vallas is considering challenging Stroger as a Republican in 2010.

“I really believe that it’s almost impossible to run as an independent or as a reform candidate through the Democratic Party,” Vallas said. “At the end of the day, if you’re going to be a reform candidate, particularly in Cook County…it becomes more realistic and more practical to run as a Republican.”

Well, it seems as though Vallas could consider a third party or running as an independent, but his point about the Democratic Party in the county is well-taken. He does have the name recognition to run on an alternative ticket, though he may benefit from what little structure there is to the CC Republican Party.

It’ll be freaking (though unfathomably) difficult to beat Stroger in the primary because he’s got money and (unbelievable to the point of making me pull my hair out) support from sectors of the city (notably 8th Ward).

Claypool’s pondering another crack at Stroger in the primary, but he’d just about seal his fate as a guy who can’t win elections if he loses the primary a second time.

Here’s what Stroger (largely mediated through the Tribune) had to say about his potential challengers.

Stroger contended Vallas, whose family still lives in Palos Heights, has been working in New Orleans and “doesn’t know any of the things we have done.” He also accused Claypool of being an obstructionist.

Honey, everyone knows the ‘things [you] have done’; everyone hates them.

Ugh, every time I see/hear from him I just want to scream, ‘Exist somewhere else!’

Though, to be fair, since the Tribune is running a countdown until his primary on their Ed page, it’s hard to know if they’re choosing the cringe-worthiest of the quotes.

I went to a forum last night on reforming corruption in Illinois. It’s difficult to know where to start, I know, but getting some of the cash out of this race - in addition to some serious electoral reform - would be one of the top items on my list.

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