Playground Politics In The Seventh

Written by admin on February 14, 2008 – 12:37 am -

The Indy right wing blog machine is on fire (examples: here, here, here, here and here) because Andre Carson, candidate for the 7th district, had a scheduling conflict and missed a community forum. The ensuing drama that unfolded is nothing short of 4th grade playground politics.

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, the most blatant of shit stirrers, titled his post “CARSON SKIPS OUT ON EASTSIDE FORUM” and said:

Apparently someone in the Andre Carson camp isn’t too keen on sharing the stage tonight with Republican Jon Elrod and Libertarian Sean Shepard.

Showing an obvious bias, Shabazz uses an inflammatory title that isn’t even remotely factual. Shabazz might benefit from an explanation of the difference between “skipping out” (which implies intent, and no warning) and “scheduling conflict” (of which there is no intent, and notice is given). According to the Indy Star:

Brad Klopfenstein, a former executive director of the state Libertarian Party, coordinated the event at Arlington Heights Baptist Church on the Eastside. Klopfenstein said Carson’s campaign agreed to appear several weeks ago but called about noon Tuesday to cancel because of a scheduling conflict.

When one “skips out” on rent, they don’t call and say “I ain’t payin’ “, they just don’t pay. You can call it a screwup , or a scheduling conflict, but it’s complete spin (see also:falsehood) to call it a “skip out”. Read more »


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Posted in 7th District, Indiana Democratic Party, Jon Elrod | 9 Comments »

Remember Indiana’s Witch Hunt?

Written by admin on January 31, 2008 – 7:55 am -

It looks as if the homophobic bigots at the Indiana State House have been defeated for another year. There seems to be some ego clashing between marriage equality advocates in the state, and frankly I’m sick of it.

While it looks to be true that the amendment is defeated for another year, there is so much more to do TODAY! Has everyone forgotten about Senator Patricia Miller? Have We forgotten Indiana’s Witch Hunt?

 

For the uninformed, I’ll let Marla Stevens of Bilerico Project explain:

Indiana State Senator Patricia L. Miller is a longtime homohater-in-denial, one of the “some of my best friends are…” kind and a leader of Indiana’s overpopulated AIDS Hall of Shame who, among other offenses, ignored the constitutionally required things like criminal intent or criminal negligence that make a crime a crime and championed criminalizing HIV transmission even when due diligence to practice safer sex was undertaken and the sex was between consenting adults (ask me later about the related rubber tree story), supported reinstatement of sodomy laws for consenting adults as well as all the usual antigay family laws and more, and tried again and again, by hamstringing and irrationally penalizing mental health professionals, to protect abusive parents not just from the consequences of the recovered memories of their victims but from their children even getting the chance to recover them, and on and on in her long career in a protected district — all while being the legislative version of a cash cow for doctors and dentists and hospitals and nursing homes and carrying enough water for the wingnut fringe that, if she’d been in a race with the Army Corps of Engineers to empty NOLA, she’d have won.

In her personal life, she’s become more and more active in her anti-queer zealotry, most notably as the executive director of the Indiana-based national Confessing Movement of the United Methodist Church and getting wackier in the process even as she’s continued to win more than she loses. She’s regularly threatened splitting her church (cynically even trying bribe and buyout options to encourage pro-gay clergy and congregations to leave), pushed the worst lies of the so-called “reparative therapists” as justification for her bigotry, and gotten more and more shrilly rabid as the culture has slowly moved in the opposite direction from hers. Not content with despoiling her own church, she’s applied her legislative skills to spread her message to other denominations as an architect of the The Association for Church Renewal. And, typically, this wife of a Gideon bible pushing dentist has increased her personal public profile and power at every step along the way.

She also authored Orwellian legislation that would have required governmental “authorization” for any kind assisted reproduction ( such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation or egg donation). Women would have had to file for a “petition for parentage”, with approval being based on marital status. Anyone that violated the law, would have been guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

In a time of great need for diversity of health care options, Miller shills for the health care industry, protecting hospitals before the needs of mothers. Laura McPhee of Nuvo explains:

There are approximately 100 licensed nurse-midwives in the state of Indiana, and more than 95 percent work in hospitals or birthing centers where the average cost of delivering a child is $6,400. There are approximately 50 certified professional midwives working illegally in the state; most are hired by couples who want to have their child at home.

House Bill 1237 seeks to establish a state midwifery license board and set qualifications for a certified professional midwife (CPM) to practice in non-hospital settings. The current bill has been introduced in a similar form annually since 1993. It has passed the House of Representatives twice; and it has consistently had the support of Republicans and Democrats alike. This year’s version is authored by Rep. Peggy Welch (D), who is herself a nurse, and has the support of Rep. Tim Brown (R), a physician by profession and chair of the House Public Health Committee.

But one state senator doesn’t want midwives without nursing degrees practicing in Indiana, and she has used her power in the state senate to prevent that from happening for more than a decade.

Sen. Patricia Miller (R) of Indianapolis is a nurse and the chair of the Senate Public Health Committee. Year after year, she has prevented the bill from receiving a hearing in her committee, essentially killing the legislation herself before it ever receives a vote on the Senate floor.

Why she does this is obvious once you look at her campaign finance statements (from 2004): Read more »


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Posted in 32nd District, Indiana Democratic Party, Patricia Miller | No Comments »

Oh No, Mr. Bil!

Written by admin on January 17, 2008 – 2:10 am -

andrewon.gifSomething is rotten in Indianapolis, and I think it’s sour grapes. Recently Bil Browning, my editor at Bilerico Project, wrote about some suspicious goings on at Saturday’s special Democratic caucus to select a candidate for Indiana’s 7th Congressional district (The district is having a special election due to the death of the 7th’s Representative, Julia Carson).

Browning said:

Some of the events surrounding Saturday’s special Democratic caucus to elect the candidate for Indiana’s 7th Congressional District seat after the death of Rep. Julia Carson seem a little off. Julia’s grandson, Andre Carson, won the 8-way election on the first round of voting - a grand political coup for someone who’s never ran in an election against an opponent and whose only political background is being appointed to the City-County Council for a couple of months. I’m not one for a conspiracy theory, but usually where there is smoke there’s fire and there is a lot of smoke blowing around Indy right now. I’m not saying I have all of the answers, but I have lots of questions. It’s not clear if this election was fixed or botched or both, but something just isn’t right. Follow me after the jump and make your own conclusion.

I was also at the slating event but my perspective was a bit different. I don’t believe the election was fixed. I actually thought that the election was carried out with precision and skill (considering such an event hadn’t taken place in a very long time). It “felt” political to me, but that isn’t surprising considering the event. Read more »


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Posted in 7th District, Democratic Party, Indiana Democratic Party | 1 Comment »