Texas leading women back...to the back alley

Texas, not content with leading the nation in state sponsored murder of undesirables convicted of heinous crimes, is now leading the US in leading women seeking abortions back to the back alley. In the last four years Texas abortion restrictions have closed or will close 38 abortion providers, leaving just six to handle the 75,000 Texas women seeking abortions yearly. The last 41 years since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision brought a dramatic drop in unsafe back alley abortions that sent thousands of women to hospitals for complications and left hundreds dead. Now Texas reproductive health care workers note a spike in abortions caused by use of unsafe black market drugs, botched illegal abortions and even women falling down stairs or having their partners punch their stomachs out of sheer desperation. Compounding this trail of tears, Texas funding cuts have closed 76 clinics providing birth control services, causing more unwanted pregnancies and swelling the parade to the back alley. Around the nation, nearly 300 anti abortion bills are pending in conservative state legislatures. They can all look to Texas for inspiration in the never ending conservative war against women. Maybe the Lone Star State should change the state motto from "Friendship" to "Deep In The Hate of Texas".

Is second Ft. Hood shooting tip of iceberg

We should not be surprised over a second mass killing by a serviceman at Ft Hood, TX. It's a wonder we don't hear more about the daily events of suicide, murder and other untoward actions committed by serviceman damaged in body and mind by our senseless, failed and criminal wars in the Middle East. The latest shooter, Ivan Lopez, served in the Iraq war... and was being treated at Ft Hood for anxiety, depression and possible Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his war service. The potential number of ticking time bombs courtesy of a rogue presidency that covered up its own negligence and failures surrounding the September 11 attacks by launching wars of revenge, is staggering. Approximately 800,000 of the 2,300,000 military who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have or will be diagnosed with PTSD; 437,000 have suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and 161,000 will be diagnosed with both. Those numbers would still be horrendous if the wars that inflicted them were just and necessary, but coming from illegal, immoral and criminal wars is beyond our poor powers of reason and justification. But they are not beyond our duty to provide both proper care of the damaged and justice to those who needlessly saddled them with a lifetime of sorrow. While the Iraq war ended December 31, 2011, and the Afghan war will mercifully end that same date this year, the perpetrators are still at large. Former President George W. Bush is at least shedding real tears as he spends time comforting some of his servicemen victims. Former VP Dick Cheney babbles endlessly on immoral news shows giving him airtime to brag about doing torture again if he had the chance, and hinting at bombing Iran. Donald Rumsfeld, former Defense Secretary, alluded to the bi-racial president having less smarts than a trained ape. Former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice got a fat speaking fee to tell Evangelicals right here in Chicagoland how thrilled she was by national service. No US soldiers died in Afghanistan in March, only the third month in 152 that has happened. Beginning in 2015, no new serviceman will be forced to serve our mis-adventures of conquest and ruin. But the Statute of Limitations for war crimes will never run out on the Fab Four who made this all possible. What are we waiting for?

Milton Township (Illinois) refused to consider our petition to get an advisory question supporting a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision placed on the November ballot in Milton Township. Below is our petition advisory question and statement made at the April 1st Milton Township Board meeting protesting the Township's illegal action in refusing to consider our petition at their Annual Meeting scheduled for April 8.

Petition Advisory Question: Shall the U.S. Constitution be amended to clearly state that the rights of persons protected by the U.S. Constitution are the rights of natural persons and not those of corporations other artificial entities, and that money is not speech within the meaning of the First Amendment?

Statement protesting Milton Township Board action to ignore our petition:

I’m Walt Zlotow, a resident of Milton Township. I’m one of 26 Milton Township residents who signed a petition, in accordance with Illinois law, to have an advisory question of public policy put before the Milton Township Board at their annual meeting. I was shocked when the Township Board determined they would not consider our petition at their annual meeting. In listened to audio of the petition portion of the March 11 meeting and was dismayed to hear how frivolously the Board dismissed our petition. Essentially, Supervisor Heidorn suggested the petition was a silly, advisory only motion not worthy of Township consideration, and that the Township was not bound by state law to consider it. Case closed. Gentlemen, many in this state feel township government is obsolete and should be abolished. Yet township government is close to its residents and provides good, responsive services to them in its limited governmental role. You should welcome, not deny, efforts by your residents to utilize township government to promote important matters of public policy. Our petition does not automatically go on the November ballot to be voted on by the entire township. It would need to be presented at the annual board meeting, be debated, then approved by a majority of the township residents present. What is wrong with that? What are you afraid of? It is, we submit, the essence of good local governance. It is, we submit, a way that township government can be more relevant and more responsive to the needs of its residents. I urge you to reconsider your short sighted dismissal of our important question of public policy. Thank you.

Kirk, Rauner lower bar for cruel, heartless public servants

In a nation of many cruel, heartless public servants, we Illinoisans don't have to look far to find two of the worst: Senator Mark Kirk and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner. They combined forces Monday to blast the Affordable Care Act because it's extending Medicaid to the 400,000 Illinois residents too poor to qualify for ACA s...ubsidies to buy private health insurance but previously not eligible for Medicaid until Uncle Sam stepped in with ACA Medicaid expansion. This is double the number of sign ups expected. Gov. Quinn signed this Medicaid expansion last July, stating, "we believe access to quality health care is a fundamental right and we proudly embrace the Affordable Care Act.”

This Medicaid expansion, one of the key components of the ACA providing relief to tens of millions without health care, is a fabulous deal for the states. The Fed pays 100% of this expansion for the first three years and 90% thereafter. Twenty-four of the aforementioned cruel, heartless public servants, all red state governors, have turned down this expansion to score political points with the "destroy Obama" crowd on the backs, very lives in fact, of the medically uninsured. Yet, Kirk and Rauner rolled out their "Chicken Little The Sky Is Falling" routine whining that its terrible we let people get help to improve their lives, and possibly a full life, because Uncle Sam might someday decide they can no longer afford to pay their guaranteed 90% share and saddle the states with the expense. Kirk and Rauner tout it's better that life's health care losers suffer catastrophic health and death than take a chance Illinois will get sandbagged by the Fed five or ten years down the road.

Senator Kirk's opposition to Medicaid expansion is particularly offensive. Beneficiary of million dollar plus Congresscare insurance which saved his life and returned him to the Senate after a devastating stroke, Kirk has dedicated his remaining time in office to denying life saving health insurance to as many needy folks as possible. Last year he told CBS 60 Minutes that we just don't have the money to cover these folks while failing to acknowledge his endless support for trillion dollar criminal wars. Now he tag teams with Rauner to demonize Medicaid expansion just a day before the ACA's success was enshrined in our social fabric with 7.1 signups.

Billionaire Bruce Rauner, rich enough to set up an entire medical center for his extended family's needs, offered his typical double talk when it comes to the public welfare. While trashing Medicaid, he refused to commit to rolling back eligibility requirements in Illinois, saying more investigation of fraud needs to be conducted. This is typical Rauner duplicity, just like his boasting to GOP fat cats he'd roll Illinois' minimum wage back to the Federal level, then, when called out on his gaffe, saying he was actually for raising it....once all his conditions for economic improvement in Illinois were met.

Both Kirk and Rauner should get off the public stage. Kirk should spend the rest of his Senate tenure traveling to the 24 states to counsel the cruel Republican governors keeping 4.8 million folks off Medicaid which will result in over 15,000 needless health related deaths in the next year. And Rauner? He needs to realize Illinois is not ready for a governor rich enough to buy the Governor's Mansion, but utterly bankrupt when it comes to comprehending the real needs of the hard working folk who are the backbone of Illinois.

Mr. President: How about sanctioning the neocons?

America's chest thumping protests and silly sanctions against Russia for protecting its national interests in Crimea from a US-EU engineered coup in Ukraine would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. Mainstream Media might totally erase this coup of a democratically elected Ukraine government from the narrative, but decent Americans shouldn't if they want the US to withdraw from the precipice of a wholly manufactured and unnecessary crisis. Just like we lobbied for years to overthrow the duly elected government of Syria by encouraging and funding rebels seeking its overthrow while pretending Syrian President Assad was solely responsible for civil war atrocities, America hides its duplicity exasperating the Ukraine crisis so it can demonize Russia for doing what the US would do in a heartbeat if Russia interfered in our backyard.

Instead of sanctioning Russia, the president should sanction the neocons at the National Endowment for Democracy, (NED) which functions as a shadow governmental agency to undermine foreign governments Uncle Sam doesn't like. The NED was created in 1983 by President Reagan to advance Reagan's Cold War aims, and though now totally obsolete, continues to get $100 million yearly to entice Russia's neighbors to join the West and turn against Russia. They do this by claiming to promote "democracy" which is anything but. The NED, with Obama administration approval, stirred up the pro West, anti-Russian folks in the Ukraine to thwart an economic deal the duly elected Ukraine president was about to conclude with Russia which led to the illegal coup. Just six months before the coup, NED president Carl Gershman, blatantly opined in the neocon run Washington Post that "Ukraine is the biggest prize" and has backed up that assertion by funding 65 "pro democracy" projects there.

The majority of Americans don't want the US to restart the Cold War, give billion dollar loan guarantees to Russia's neighbors when that money is needed right here to rebuild a crumbling America, and demonize a Russian leader who helped us avert war with both Syria and Iran. The President should listen to the people and common sense in cancelling NED's $100 million dollar New Cold War Slush Fund. On a personal level he should cancel the presidential subscription to the Washington Post.