Blog For Stover

Looks like John Shimkus is running from the voters again. It's one thing, Mr. Shimkus, to give interviews to symphathetic reporters. It's quite another to actually be accountable to the people who elected you. You should be ashamed.

Letter to the Editor - Collinsville Heral
Sunday, October 15, 2006 10:08 AM CDT

TO THE EDITOR:

Voter education is a hallmark of the League of Women Voters. Illinois voters have come to rely on the League to sponsor nonpartisan candidates' forums and debates, open to all, as an effective way to learn about the candidates and their platforms.

The League of Women Voters of Collinsville is disappointed that both Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville), incumbent candidate for the 112th District in the Illinois General Assembly, as well as John Shimkus (R-Collinsville), incumbent candidate for the 19th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, have decided not to appear in a forum sponsored by the LWV-C on Oct. 16 prior to the Nov. 7 general election.

Hoffman, who agreed on Sept.25 to attend, changed his mind two days later. His scheduler stated that Hoffman would not commit until he heard whether his opponent, Carol Kugler, would be allowed to speak unopposed.

John Shimkus' scheduler stated that "given what happened this weekend," referring to the news of the resignation of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's (R-Florida), Shimkus would probably not attend. He later said he would be out of town.
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One of the tenets of the League is "that democratic government depends upon the informed and active participation of its citizens." Both Shimkus' and Hoffman's decisions not to participate in the League's nonpartisan forum is a great loss for the voters of this community.

We hope that voters will see the importance of the information gained at these events and contact the candidates to encourage them to participate.

THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

Collinsville

And this one:

Candidates who actually attended forum should have been heard


Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:09 AM CDT

TO THE EDITOR:

The League of Women Voters recently held a forum for all current candidates. This is no easy task to present for the voters in this area, and due to bad weather, the attendance was not as expected. Worse still was the fact that two incumbent candidates refused to attend.

Our present federal representative for the 19th District, John Shimkus, was not there. His opponent, Danny Stover, was present but not allowed to speak because of League rules. Mr. Hoffman, our state representative was not present either, but his opponent, Carol Kugler, was there. I think we should let the people who show-up speak. Shame on Shimkus and Hoffman.

JACKIE PETERSEN

Collinsville

And here's another couple of letters from voters - one from a veteran and graduate of West Point...

TO THE EDITOR:

As a resident of U.S. Rep. John Shimkus' (R-Collinsville) hometown, and with two sons, both graduates of West Point, currently serving in Iraq, I felt compelled to share my thoughts concerning Shimkus' involvement in a situation that has been prominent in recent national news.

As graduates of the United States Military Academy, the congressman, as do my sons, wears a graduation ring with the inscription "duty, honor, country."

I find not honor, but flaw of character in the choices made by Shimkus as chairman of the committee overseeing young teenagers in the House Page Program. Although Shimkus was aware of previous questionable acts, he chose not to do the right thing.

Thoroughly investigating the improper predatory messages sent to current and past teenage pages and sharing this inappropriate disgusting behavior with the entire committee was his duty. Shimkus chose politics over family values when he chose to protect a prominent Republican Party fund-raiser, U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who represents a wealthy Florida district.

The duty of any adult, much less a military officer, congressman and parent, would be to protect the children from this disgusting, sick individual. Shimkus' actions, or lack of, have harmed innocent children and inflicted more damage to the Republican Party than sharing the truth by exposing a pedophile using his public office to prey on young impressionable boys.

What's unbelievable is that Foley, an Internet child predator, was appointed chair of the House caucus on missing and exploited children. That, according to news reports, the Republican House staff warned the page class of 2001-2002 to stay away from Foley shows that Shimkus knew or should have known that children were in danger.

Shimkus' flaw of character not only dishonored the country, state and district, but dishonors generations of that "Long Gray Line" of West Point graduates whose leadership reflect their duty, their honor and our country.

CHAS MAYFIELD

Collinsville

And this one:

Candidate Danny Stover deserves your vote


Sunday, October 15, 2006 10:08 AM CDT

TO THE EDITOR:

For Illinois voters in the 19th U.S. Congressional District, the choice is crystal clear:

Danny Stover is pro-stem cell research. John Shimkus is not.

Danny Stover is pro-increasing the minimum wage. John Shimkus is not.

Danny Stover would vote against tax cuts for billionaires. John Shimkus voted for them.

Danny Stover would vote against despoiling one of our last major animal habitats, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. John Shimkus voted instead to drill there, thus endangering its wildlife.

Danny Stover would vote for research to develop alternative fuel sources. John Shimkus voted instead to give tax breaks to giant oil companies, who have no reason to search for alternative fuel resources that would put them out of business.

Danny Stover would vote against salary increases for Congress until the minimum wage is increased. Shimkus has accepted $31,600 in raises for himself while voting against increasing the minimum wage for working families.

Danny Stover strongly supports our troops and believes they are performing valiantly. He does not support a mismanaged war. Shimkus supports Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld in the most disastrous blunder in U.S. foreign policy history.

Danny Stover would vote for working families and the middle class. John Shimkus has voted in lock-step with the Bush-Cheney-Rove agenda for the super-rich. That could explain why Shimkus has received more than $1 million in donations from the super-rich and corporations.

In the Drum Institute Report on Public Policy, Shimkus' 2005 voting record on middle-class issues got a grade of 'F'. Danny Stover's voting record would have gotten a grade of 'A.'

There is much more, all of which shows why the working families of the 19th U.S. Congressional District have no voice and no representation in Washington. John Shimkus does not reflect their values.

Keep these thoughts in mind as you enter the voting booth.

SUSAN PENSONEAU

Collinsville

If you go through the LTE's in the local papers, they're all for Stover, and yet the papers' editorial boards are endorsing Shimkus. The local establishment is doing everything it can to keep Shimkus in office, but if the mass quantity of letters to the editor and the massive numbers of people marching with Stover in the parades are any indication, there's genuine, grassroots energy in this campaign! People are excited, and working around the clock. We aren't going to let Shimkus coast into victory!

Are you?

Posted by M.B. at 11:20 PM | Permalink

"By his own admission the past four weeks have been difficult, troubling and frustrating for U.S. Rep. John Shimkus," says the Southern Illinoisan.

I would hope so. Following allegations that Representative Shimkus knew, long before any other member of Congress, even another member of the page board, that Foley was having inappropriate contact with pages, I would hope that his life has been a little bit more frustrating.

This is from another "Shimkus is such a nice guy" article in the district. Never mind that the Post Dispatch has endorsed Danny Stover in a glowing editorial.

From his interview (linked in the first paragraph of this post), one thing is even clearer than before - John Shimkus is not on the ball.

Like his genius answer to the comment that October has been a terribly deadly month in Iraq -

Noting that October has been one of the deadliest months this year in Iraq, Shimkus said he believes the increase is taking place "to affect our election."

"The signal we will send if we just leave is to say that we are not committed to democracy and freedom," he said.
...
I think we as a world, not only as a country, will be harmed exponentially more by allowing a failed state to arise in Iraq."

First of all, who's been saying "immediate withdrawal," because his opponent surely hasn't been? From Danny Stover's "Issues" page:

We need to support our troops, but that does not suggest that we must blindly follow a president that we disagree with.
…
We need to accomplish our mission with honor.

What about "accomplish our mission with honor" suggests "immediate withdrawal?" John Shimkus, once again, is mischaracterizing the nature of the argument.

Second of all – the people in Iraq are killing each other because they hate each other and have accepted a US-approved constitution that enhances discord between Shiites and Sunnis. They aren’t trying to affect our election. Do you really think the death squads are having a “Democrats for Congress” rally in Ramadi? It’s a ridiculous notion, a scare tactic straight from the Karl Rove handbook, to suggest that terrorists are hoping for a Democratic win.

Anyway, it is clear that Shimkus has no concept of the gravity of the situation in Iraq. For instance:

Shimkus also said he does not buy into the comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, noting that the latter was a country divided in half while in Iraq "one percent of a population of 25 million will do anything, blow themselves up for a cause. I would rather win than retreat."

Denying the fact that there's a civil war doesn't make it untrue. Sunnis, Shiites - sounds a lot like a "country divided in half" to me (not exactly half, as the Sunnis are a minority, but they're killing each other at a pretty high rate on both sides), not to mention the lack of a good exit strategy. No end in sight? People killing each other with American troops stuck in the middle? That doesn't sound familiar at all. And these aren’t just the terrorists going after loyal Iraqis – these are Iraqis killing each other, every single day, because of age-old political and religious grievances. Not your run-of-the-mill one sided terrorism – it’s a civil war.

A little less angering, but no less a misrepresentation, is Mr. Shimkus even mentioning the GOP energy bill that he helped draft and saying that it proves his record on alternative energy to be a positive one. Maybe if you knew nothing about the GOP energy bill, you'd think that he's telling the truth. The real truth of the bill? It gives billions to big oil corporations with very few, very weak stipulations for research and development. It doesn't come close to the grandly touted goal of making America "independent of foreign oil." It is ridiculous, and John Shimkus knows it.

There is honestly too much in this article to challenge everything, but I'll leave you with this:

It is estimated that 1000 Iraqis died this month (October). Over 120 Iraqi police officers are killed or wounded every day. Iraqi deaths by American soldiers in combat, however, has decreased significantly since the start of the war - Iraqis are killing Iraqis. There are death-squads going around the cities kidnapping people from their homes and work for the purpose of killing them, based upon their Shiite or Sunni affiliation. This is a civil war.

What's worse? A lot of reports that death squad militiamen wear police uniforms. There is no control.

Our policies have failed in Iraq. The Bush administration, and rubberstamps like John Shimkus who have no stomach for standing up to failed leadership, are to blame. It's time to hold them accountable.

PS - by "his constituents asked him to seek another term," he means his most important constituent, President Bush, who personally asked him to run this year. A picture's worth a thousand words...

Posted by M.B. at 8:34 PM | Permalink

Shimkus opponent's campaign gains momentum in wake of page scandal

Danny's getting noticed more, getting more money, and getting much busier - and the Belleville News Democrat seems to be doing a tremendous job of documenting it. Perhaps, being from Belleville, they aren't afraid of angering Rep. Shimkus as much as some of the other area papers. Take a look at this stuff:

Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other House leaders over how they handled the scandal surrounding sexually explicit electronic messages that Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent to teenage male pages.
....
....
"I heard the first report while I was in Chicago and the phone started ringing immediately and hasn't stopped since," Stover said. "I think a lot of people are pretty disgusted about what has taken place. We now have a lot of people volunteering to help, I have a dozen phone calls to return when I get back to the office."

Shimkus has said he's "very angry" over accusations that he did not do enough to protect the pages. He said he told Foley privately last fall to stay away from a page he had been e-mailing because the Louisiana teen's parents wanted the matter handled quietly.

hmmm...Shimkus is "very angry." Maybe he could've avoided that anger by acting on the information he was given in an appropriate manner.

I suppose my main issue is this: Isn't Shimkus a former educator? Why is it that something like a grown man requesting a picture of a 16 year old boy didn't raise gigantic, blood-red flags for the Congressman? Why did he not even try to make sure that Foley's relationships with these boys were merely "overly friendly?" How can he continue along now, asserting that he did absolutely nothing wrong? Is he an idiot, or just a bad liar?

Of course, Shimkus's word hasn't been all that trustworthy in the past, either. Remember that term-limit pledge - five terms, made in 1996, and here he is running for a sixth?

There's still a long road ahead, folks, and Shimkus is still sitting on an unspent million. Money is going to decide whether Stover's message of hope is heard at all throughout the district, or whether it gets buried. A scandal brought attention to this race, and it's gotta be issues that win it - and the only way to get the issues out is to spend some real cash. Please consider contributing to the campaign.

We're adding some fresh bloggers to the BlogForStover scene - be on the lookout for new faces and fresh ideas.

Posted by M.B. at 2:21 PM | Permalink

Money pours in to Shimkus challenger
By Adam Jadhav
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Oct. 04 2006

COLLINSVILLE

When congressional challenger Dan Stover went to bed Sunday night, his online
fundraising account was barely over $1,000.

Less than 48 hours later, as national headlines screamed sex scandal in
Congress, that amount had more than quadrupled.

Granted, that seems like a paltry amount, considering Stover faces Rep. John
Shimkus, R-Collinsville, who sits on a $1.1 million war chest. But Stover and
his supporters call it a glimmer of hope in a race that political
prognosticators had all but written off.

It was the classic challenger's scenario: an upset believed possible only with
help of a scandal. Now Shimkus - the clean-shaven West Point grad, former Army
Ranger and high school teacher - risks being caught in the fallout from the
debacle surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who abruptly resigned last
week after he was confronted with salacious electronic messages he reportedly
sent to a teenage congressional page.

Shimkus chairs the minor House board that oversees the page program.

Whether the incident significantly hurts Republicans will depend on how it
unfolds, political scientists and operatives said. But it has already breathed
life into the campaigns of some Democrats around the state and nation - Stover
in particular.

Realistically, Stover is fighting a lopsided battle, financially outgunned
almost 20-1 at midyear. A soft-spoken academic, college teacher and City
Council member from Centralia, Stover primarily hopes the scandal draws major
campaign contributions to help even the odds.

Shimkus has said that in 2005, he investigated a number of suspicious but not
sexual e-mails that Foley sent that year to a 16-year-old page. He confronted
Foley, ordered him to stop and let the matter go. In the process, he never
alerted the one Democratic member of the board.

Little else came of it until Friday, when Foley resigned amid media reports
detailing overtly sexual comments and queries in so-called instant messages -
online, one-on-one chats - that Foley had with a different boy page in 2003.

Democrats and Republicans alike are crying foul, wondering how it could happen.
Criminal and congressional investigations are under way.

"It so obviously looks like a cover-up," Stover said at a fundraiser Tuesday in
Collinsville. Awkward in front of cameras at news conference earlier in the
week, Stover stood more at ease, chatting with supporters on the patio of a
Mexican restaurant.

"I think it's indicative of (Republicans') arrogance," Stover said. "They no
longer feel responsible to voters."

Shimkus has said he knew only of the 2005 e-mails, and while they seemed odd,
they weren't cause for an inquisition. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,
also an Illinois Republican, has said - in spite of contrary claims from other
GOP representatives - that he didn't know of any concerns about Foley until
Friday's revelation.

Shimkus was unavailable for comment Tuesday, despite attempts to reach him at
his home, his office and on the road. His staff reiterated his previous
statements and dismissed the possibility of political side-effects.

But Shimkus does face a potential loss if social conservative voters, disgusted
by a teenage sex scandal, simply stay at home, said political strategist Joe
Gaylord, a key adviser to Newt Gingrich in 1994 when Gingrich engineered a huge
swing in favor of Republicans in congressional races.

"I know that it is very difficult to turn out angry voters in your favor,"
Gaylord said.

But Gaylord and others question whether Democrats can take advantage.

State Rep. Kurt Granberg, D-Carlyle, by Sunday had called on his challenger,
John Cavaletto, to essentially renounce Shimkus' endorsement of Cavaletto's
campaign.

State Democratic leaders said they'll wait and see how the scandal plays out,
according to party spokesman Steve Brown.

"We expect more of janitors and bus drivers and school playground monitors, let
alone a congressman," Brown said. "I hope (Shimkus) comes forward and answers
some questions."

At the national level, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired
by U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, could pony up advice, staff and press
releases. And it could convince politically affluent Democrats to donate or
raise money on Stover's behalf.

"We're keeping a close eye on the district," said committee spokeswoman Sarah
Feinberg. "This shows what we've been talking about all along - the Republicans
have been more concerned about their power and their politics."

Stover admits such support is a big "what-if." For now, he said, he's at least
generating more interest. Phone calls have poured in, and his campaign website
- www.stoverforcongress.com - has seen more traffic in the last two days than
it had all year.

"What we need is money," said Pam Gronemeyer, president of Downstate Democrats
for Change, a group that is backing Stover. "We can make a real race out of
this."
...

Posted by M.B. at 1:47 PM | Permalink

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/neighborhoods/stories.nsf/madisoncounty/news/story/BE909A1097E44A25862571FC007BF27B?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22stover%22


Stover blasts Shimkus over ‘investigation' of Foley e-mails
Harry Weiner
Of the Suburban Journals
Edwardsville Journal,Granite City Press Record
10/04/2006

The scandal involving former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida has quickly become a campaign issue involving Collinsville's John Shimkus.

Foley resigned Friday after the disclosure of e-mails he had sent to a former congressional page and suggestive instant messages he had sent to other pages.

Shimkus is chairman of the board that oversees the page program and was involved in an investigation last year into reports of improper e-mail between Foley and a former House page.

On Monday in Springfield, Danny Stover -- Shimkus' Democratic opponent in the November congressional election -- called for the congressman to resign immediately as chairman of the board of the House Page Program.

He cited "Shimkus' failure to investigate diligently allegations about Foley's inappropriate exchange of electronic mail and Internet messages with at least one former page."

"Rep. Shimkus was obviously the wrong choice to conduct an investigation a year ago," Stover said, adding that House Speaker Dennis Hastert's decision to ask Shimkus to investigate further is yet another error.

"Shimkus neglected his specific duties as chairman and appeared to be more concerned about politics than protecting the well-being of the victim identified in the current news reports," Stover said.

Shimkus, Hastert and Foley are all Republicans - a fact that has created a political storm across the country just a month before the election.

Shimkus has acknowledged investigating Foley's use of e-mail last year to correspond with a congressional page. In that e-mail, Foley had asked about the boy's well-being after Hurricane Katrina and requested a photograph.

Shimkus said Foley told him at that time that "he was simply acting as a mentor to this former House page and that nothing inappropriate had occurred." Shimkus said he and the House clerk told Foley to cease contact with the page.

"We also advised him to be especially mindful of his conduct with respect to current and former House Pages, and he assured us he would do so," Shimkus said in a statement. "I received no subsequent complaints about his behavior nor was I ever made aware of any additional e-mails."

Stover said he is concerned that Shimkus failed to conduct even a modest investigation of potentially serious wrongdoing. Instead he "simply accepted assurances of the accused that nothing inappropriate had taken place," Stover said.

He added that he believes Shimkus and other Republicans were involved in "an obvious cover-up … .. evidenced by Shimkus' admission that the sole Democratic member of the board, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), was not told of the e-mail exchanges until they became front-page news."

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin added his criticism of Republican handling of the situation on Monday.

"The fact of the matter is at the highest levels of the leadership in the House of Representatives, they have known for months that something awful was happening," Durbin, the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat, said Monday.

"What they did was to try to contain it or cover it up,'' he said. "They tried to protect themselves instead of trying to protect these pages, and now is the day of reckoning."

But Shimkus said he had no information before Friday about the seriousness of the e-mails.

"It has become clear to me today (Friday), based on information I only now have learned, that Congressman Foley was not honest about his conduct," Shimkus said. "As chairman of the House Page Board, I am working with the clerk to fully review this incident and determine what actions need to be taken."

Shimkus also pledged to work to safeguard the page program.

"The House Page Program has been an integral part of the House of Representatives for many decades," he said. "Preserving the integrity of the House Page Program is of utmost importance to me and to the House of Representatives, and we intend to uphold and protect its values and traditions."

Posted by M.B. at 1:43 PM | Permalink

John Shimkus and the rest of the Republican cover-up machine - you're on notice!

Posted by M.B. at 1:40 PM | Permalink

John Shimkus did nothing wrong?!

"I don't know of a single thing I would have done differently," Shimkus said in an interview with the editorial board of The State Journal-Register.

Let's review what we know about the scandal. According to the Washington Post, Shimkus and the Speaker were both informed in the fall of 2005, after a former page complained to his Congressional Sponsor, Rep. Rodney Alexander. The complaint indicated that, in email correspondence, Foley had asked what the boy wanted for his birthday, and that the now ex-Congressman had requested a photo.

Let's pause for a minute and review. The emails that Foley sent, and about which Shimkus was informed, included Foley asking what the boy wanted for his birthday, and requested a photo! That, in itself, is not necessarily indicative of a sexual predator, but doesn't it raise some red-flags?

It apparently raised some red flags for Shimkus. After being told of the emails, Shimnkus and the House Clerk approached Foley. They asked him what the emails were about. Foley apparently assured them that he wasn't crossing the line, that he was, in fact, only acting as a mentor.

Here's the critical part of the story: after this reassurance, Shimkus gave Foley a gentleman's warning to cease contact with the boy, and let the matter drop!

John Shimkus and Speaker Denny Hastert were informed of emails that were overly friendly. Whenever an adult in authority has "overly friendly" communications with an underage person, whether that be a teacher, a busdriver, a camp counselor, whatever, isn't it the responsibility of those in charge to make sure that no lines are being crossed? Doesn't the word "investigation" imply more than just asking the possible perpetrator what was going on?

John Shimkus, the Clerk of the House and Speaker Hastert made a collective decision not to pursue the matter any further - salutary neglect, so to speak - for partisan political purposes. How do we know it was partisan? Easy question, simple answer - John Shimkus wasn't the only one on the Page Board.

According to a statement by the Democratic member of the House Page Board, John Shimkus and the House Leadership kept this information from him until it had been seen on ABC News.

As the Democratic Member of the House Page Board, any statement by Mr. Reynolds or anyone else that the House Page Board ever investigated Mr. Foley is completely untrue.

I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House Page and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter.

The first and only meeting of the House Page Board on this matter occurred on Friday, September 29 at approximately 6 p.m., after the allegations about Mr. Foley had become public.

Dan Stover, Democratic Candidate from Shimkus's district, has called for Shimkus's resignation from the Page Board.

"Simply calling Mr. Foley and asking him if he'd done anything wrong and taking his word for it is not an investigation," Stover said at a Springfield news conference. "He should have demanded to see the e-mails and demanded to know if there were other such communications, looked into it further, and not taken him at his word."
...
"Shimkus appeared to be more concerned about politics than protecting the well-being of the victim identified in the current news report."

It's time for John Shimkus to take responsibility, for once, for his actions. Politics made Shimkus shy away from the issue of page safety. Politics caused him to fail in his duty as head of the page board. He should, he must, step down immediately from that position and hand it over to someone who cares more about protecting the high school students from sexual predators than about keeping political allies safely entrenched.

Posted by M.B. at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL 19) makes a big fuss about his pro-life views. When it comes to the unborn, Shimkus is against abortion, and opposes federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. On looking at the rest of his voting record, however, one might ask Mr. Shimkus why the already living don’t seem to count as much.

I’m talking, of course, about Darfur, the region of Sudan that has been, and is currently being, cleansed, raped, and otherwise genocidally abused, all practically with the approval of the Sudanese government.

Congress has taken several “actions” to help eliminate what Congress, the President, and the United Nations have labeled as genocide. Initially, Mr. Shimkus was a supporter of helping the people of Darfur. He cosponsored one of the first Congressional actions on the subject – The Darfur Genocide Accountability Act – and voted yes on the next bill (which is currently “stalled in conference committee”).

Shimkus showed early support for helping the people of Darfur, but when it came down to writing the checks, it seems his heart isn’t actually in it.

Two amendments came up in the process of Appropriations this year. The first, which Shimkus voted against, would have provided more and better funding for the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. The AU force is undermanned and excessively underfunded, and until a multi-national force arrives (both NATO and the United Nations haven’t budged), they are the only force likely to stop the dozens of murders and rapes that occur every day. Thankfully, despite Mr. Shimkus’s objection, the amendment passed.

The second amendment, which Shimkus again voted against, called for humanitarian aid to the people suffering from the affects of this genocide. The people of Darfur, spread throughout refugee camps both in the Sudan and in Chad, are starving, ill, and dying. Hunger is a tool of genocide, and it’s working faster than a thousand Janjaweeds could hope to work.

This measure failed, thanks, in part, to Congressman Shimkus.

The title of this post has to do with talking the talk but not walking the walk, as the popular saying goes. So you abstractly support efforts to stop genocide, but when it comes down to actually doing it, sending money or humanitarian aid, or helping support the fighters that are protecting the civilians in this region, you seem to have changed your mind.

Or perhaps Mr. Shimkus was never a supporter of this effort in the first place. Perhaps he wanted his name on a piece of paper urging help for the region, but doesn’t want to actively participate in this political hot-topic.

People are dying. They’re being killed. They’re being raped. They’re being systematically eliminated. I sure wish my Congressman would make the moral choice and help save lives, rather than vote down party lines.

Hopefully, more people in the IL-19 will wake up to this hypocrisy before November.

Posted by M.B. at 2:38 AM | Permalink

Danny Stover is making a direct bid for the youth vote. Yesterday, following in Evan Bayh's footsteps, Mr. Stover made his very own profile on Facebook, the popular networking website used mostly by College students, and by some high schools and businesses as well.

He states in the "About Me" section:

Students and young people across the nation are being written off by politicians and candidates. They'll say that young people are apathetic, that they don't vote, that it's too expensive to reach them. I do not believe any of these assertions - I know for a fact that my election and the success of progressive values rely upon the support and work of the students and young people in my district.

Stover is on the right track when it comes to communicating with young people. Studies show that, in order to reach the young voters, you have to bring the discussion to them, through their own forms of communication. Using facebook to reach college students and other young people may seem like a small step, but could pay off in big ways in November.

They also show that, when given as much information as possible, when included in every step of the process, when approached directly and openly on their turf, young people will get out the vote, and they'll vote for progressive values by a wide margin.

Dan understands the importance of the youth in his district, and feels strongly about reaching them and involving them in the campaign.

Join us on facebook, and see for yourself!

Posted by M.B. at 1:21 PM | Permalink

Listen to an interview Dan gave to the Quality News Network. Great stuff - very fiery. In it, he discusses that lousy bait and switch the Republicans played with the minimum wage and the estate tax, as well as other issues.

Posted by M.B. at 12:55 PM | Permalink

The President and Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL19) have almost always (more than 80% of the time) been on the same side of a debate. In the most recent national debate, Shimkus and President Bush seem to share a common cause – namely, no federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The President used his first veto on a bill which Congressman Shimkus voted against, a bill that would have, under strict guidelines, allowed federal funding for such life-saving research.

It is not every day that the American people see an issue misrepresented as much as this one has been. The president announced his veto in the presence of children born through in vitro fertilization, asserting that such actions would infringe on the right of an embryo to live and become the beautiful child sitting on the president’s lap.

The problem with this argument is that, in short, it is entirely untrue. Under the guidelines set in this bill, not a single child would be denied the right to live because of stem cell research. In fact, the bills calls for the federal funding of research only from embryo’s that are scheduled for destruction.

Stem cells are cells that have not specialized. They have not yet become heart cells or brain cells or lung cells or muscle cells. Scientists believe that they have incredible potential in the curing of such debilitating diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and some lines have shown significant usefulness in bone-marrow transplants for Leukemia patients. While adult stem-cells and cells from umbilical blood have been used, there is no argument in the scientific community that the most miracle-making potential lies in embryonic stem-cells.

Embryonic stem cells come from embryos created under laboratory conditions for the purpose of in vitro fertilization. Whenever IVF is pursued by potential parents, several embryos are created in order to produce one that has the potential to implant and grow into a child. The process thus creates embryos that are deemed unsuitable, and are scheduled for destruction.

If the President had signed this bill, scientists could have taken stem cells from those embryos with no life-creating potential, and given them life saving potential. Scientists could have grown and studied new and numerous lines of stem cells, and medical research could have taken unbelievable leaps.

Instead, those extra embryos created in every fertilization attempt will see no purpose other than destruction. Congressman Shimkus, in voting against this bill, and President Bush, in vetoing it, stand at odds with a vast majority of Americans when they stand at odds with the continuation of this lifesaving research. They also stand at odds with science, and the pursuit of miracle cures for people with spinal chord injuries, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Leukemia, and a host of other diseases.

Those who, like the President and Mr. Shimkus, fall on the wrong side of this issue, have been misrepresenting the facts, misleading the public, and, more importantly, misrepresenting the people who elected them.

Posted by M.B. at 12:39 AM | Permalink