I at first found Mike Huckabee to be an interesting character, as a possible bright point in the dismal lineup of presidential candidates. Unfortunately, his character did not bear up well when I looked at him further, and I’m sorry to see that some bloggers like Rod Dreher still think he’s a viable politician or sign of a genuine movement. This post is to show evidence that Mr. Huckabee would be a poor president.
Join me in supporting the Five for Freedom initiative, headed up by former Google employee and newly-minted American citizen, Vijay Boyapati.
Recently I highlighted a grassroots effort to make Pittsburgh's government more open to public scrutiny – or return it to that state, as the case happens to be. Sadly, that effort has met with failure.
"Pittsburghers won't have a chance to vote for an 'open government' referendum on Nov. 8, but they will be able to vote for the referendum's creator — longtime activist and Squirrel Hill resident David Tessitor."
"Tessitor, former head of Pittsburghers for Open Government, is running for mayor as an independent candidate."
….
"The referendum needed 8,493 signatures to get on the November ballot, and a group of 100 volunteers managed to collect about half that number over the last seven weeks, Tessitor said."
I'm less than impressed for a few reasons. 1) A non-Democrat hasn't a chance in hell of getting elected in this yellow dog city. 2) He's a complete unknown. 3) If his campaign is as disorganized as the Open Pittsburgh petition effort, he'll still be an unknown on election day.
Expanding on #3, take a look at the Open Pittsburgh website. The news page hasn't been updated since the site was created. I'm also skeptical that only around 4,000 people in the city care about this issue enough to would be willing to at least put a referendum on the ballot. Surely more people could have been reached with a more organized and enthusiastic effort. I don't mean to totally trash the effort. I still agree with the proposed referendum. I just think that Tessitor could have learned a few lessons from Bob Brigham and Tim Tagaris or perhaps Grassfire.org.
"He said Pittsburghers for Open Government will conduct a new signature campaign either during the winter or next summer."
When they do, I'll let you folks know. I'll help spread the word however I can.
Cut-and-Paste
Propaganda Infiltrates Opinion Pages
By Paul Farhi
Reader, beware! Some of America’s newspapers have become
unwitting conduits for campaign propaganda. Thanks to some nifty Internet technology, the campaigns of President Bush and John F. Kerry are making it easy for their supporters to pass off the campaigns’ talking points as just another concerned citizen’s opinion. Pro-Bush or pro-Kerry letters bearing identical language are flooding letters-to-the-editor columns.
When I attended the United for Peace and Justice anti-war rally in Pittsburgh at the beginning of ’03, I was annoyed and frustrated by the horrendous mission creep there. I was there to stop what I felt was an unjust war (we can argue that point later) and intrusive laws that threatened liberty in the name of patriotism and national security, not support abortion on demand. One minute I was cheering an anti-war speaker and the next I was listening to a feminazi rail on about a woman’s right to end a life choose.
It seems that Catholic Peace Fellowship has had similar experiences with UFPJ and wants no more. They’ve severed ties over UFPJ’s participation in the "March for Women’s Lives" and I can’t blame them.
"United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 800 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to oppose our government’s policy of permanent warfare and empire-building."
And that has what to do with abortion?!? I like what CPF said about this.
"No one has the right to choose life or death for another; to assume such power has always been recognized as the ultimate form of oppression"
….
"Nowhere in [UFPJ’s statement of purpose, the Unity Statement] is there mention of ‘reproductive rights’ or the ‘freedom’ to choose to kill."
By the way, these are the same yahoos who demand no barriers/pens, free water, free transportation, and monetary compensation for their march at the GOP convention.