By Karl Menninger -- Psychiatrist

"Fears are educated into us and can, if we wish, be educated out."

A friend of mine asked me the other day, why at age 59 I am suddenly into politics, he doesn’t know that I have always been into politics, a freshman in high school I cheered for JFK, and celebrated when he won, and when he died post a portrait of him on the living room wall. But even before that, at my grandfathers knee I heard all about the vile republicans, and heard the “I hate Ike” more than I did the popular “I Like Ike”; he was a strong supporter of Paul Powell. His daughter in laws mother was a long time housekeeper for Paul and Daisy Powell.

I got to thinking, by golly the readers of WeDemocrats.com don’t know anything about me either, so here you go.

In the late 60’s I was an active member of the St. Louis Young Democrats organization, I managed a store for F.W. Woolworth at the time.

In Early 70’s I worked hard to get Charles “Chuck” Pangle elected to Illinois House from Kankakee County where I ran a business at the time. My brother-in-law was his campaign manager. It was an uphill battle, Pangle was first Democrat elected to County Treasurer in Kankakee County since civil war, we used that and the repeal of the requirement to have pickup trucks inspected as if they were commercial vehicles, we succeeded in grand style against George and Tom Ryan’s Republican Political Machine.

Back in Johnson County in 90’s we had a State’s Attorney who was the son of a former Illinois representative who had won previous election by 5 to 1, turned out he wasn’t the man for the job, we worked diligently sometimes door to door to get him out of office, and succeeded by reversing the previous election, this time in a republican county we won 4 to 1.

Then in 2004 we had another States Attorney who had high political ambitions, who didn’t have a clue about politics in Southern Illinois, and did many things that were out right shady, some say on verge of criminal, and again in a 80% republican county We Democrats defeated him and elected a political unknown by a 5 to 1 vote.

In 2006 our youngest son was sent to Iraq, where he still is, and I “HAD ENOUGH”, I decided to start WeDemocrats.com to do what I could to reverse our fortunes not only in Johnson County, but in Illinois and the Nation as a Whole.

We are participating in rallies, parades, fund raisers, and in general doing what we can to support Democratic candidates in Illinois. We have a Schedule that covers many areas of Southern Illinois between now and November 7th, from Massac County to Springfield, and from Golconda to Alton. We are not planning to run for office, both my wife and I are disabled and on Social Security, we can’t afford to donate money, but we can type and although we can’t march in parades we can hold up signs, and ride and throw candy.

Anyway Below is my thoughts on several topics, these are to say the least influenced by the teachings of the late Paul Simon, Senior Senator from this our Great State of Illinois.

This country is moving into the future without plan or purpose, its civic leaders who are too willing to take the path of least resistance.

We just tell people what they want to hear, we're being told by everyone that we can drift into becoming a better nation and having a better world -- and I don't believe that.

I am pointing the finger at major public institutions and fault the leadership of each for taking the easy way out, failing to challenge Americans to do what is needed to build a better society.

We lack leaders who are able and willing to tell the truth. If you want to improve your home, you have to be willing to sacrifice a little bit. If we want to improve our state, our nation or our world, we have to be willing to sacrifice. But we're not being given that message.

Case in point: President George W. Bush championed a major tax cut at the same time he led the U.S. into war. The result is an unprecedented federal deficit and an uncertain commitment to rebuilding Iraq.

For the first time in the nation's history, we've invaded another country, started a war and had a tax cut at the same time. Members of the armed forces are being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice, but the public is not being asked to pay the cost of the war -- right now, anyway.

That's the easy way out; that's pandering.

And it's not just a condition unique to the public sector. The problem is pervasive throughout major civic institutions -- schools, media, and even churches: There is kind of an invisible sign on the front of most churches that says, 'Do not disturb.' We need to be disturbed.

One of the things I got from parents, was a belief that you have to help people who are worse off than you are, I think all [major] religious faiths have stressed helping the poor.

Yet the call to serve the less fortunate is missing from too many churches, young people don't see the practice of faith as being relevant. I don't think that means they're not religious -- my guess is, they're just as religious as their parents or grandparents. But we haven't demonstrated that the structure is helpful, the religious community, has an obligation to provide the mechanism for people to help those in need. That makes the practice of faith relevant.
Washington is consumed by fundraising and finger pointing.

WeDemocrats.com work on "cutting-edge" issues – From how to provide safe drinking water in developing nations, to capital punishment, from the role of the armed forces in peacekeeping and nation-building, to the incarceration of the mentally ill, in addition to normal run of the mill issues, such as Social Security and Education.
A lot of people I have spoken to in the last few months, mainly at Democratic functions, say that George W. Bush isn’t very smart. That's inaccurate. Does he have limited background, for example, in foreign policy? You bet, but I have to add we have chosen, fairly regularly, presidents with very limited background in foreign policy.... That lack of background ends up costing us.

Now that we are in Iraq, we have no choice: We have to do everything we can to get it into shape.... We're going to have to pay attention to basics -- getting electricity to people [and] getting safe water.... We have an obligation [to rebuild Iraq] because we went in and helped destroy it. We just can't walk away from this now.

Speaking of basics, we each and everyone need to get back to the basics of citizenship, participate in campaigns, vote in elections, etc.

And that Rich is why I am “suddenly” into politics.

Vote Democratic in the Fall.

Ron McBride
WeDemocrats.com

Stover banks on Bush's slide for upset of Shimkus
by: Kankakee Voice

Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 12:02:04 PM CDT He's a Democrat taking on a five-term Republican Congressman and laughs that he's running with George Bush on his side. It's funny, but it might just be true.

Danny Stover, a Centralia City Councilman, is taking on Republican incumbent John Shimkus of Collinsville for the U.S. Representative seat of Illinois' 19th Congressional District.

Kankakee Voice :: Stover banks on Bush's slide for upset of Shimkus Stover doesn't have a lot of cash. He faces a 20-to-1 deficit in fundraising.

He doesn't have the name recognition of S-H-I-M-K-U-S.

But he does have a platform that is diametrically different than the one instituted by President Bush and touted by many Republicans.
To Stover, that distinction is priceless. In a mid-term election that might generate more Congressional turnover than any year since 1994, when Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" allowed Republicans to gain control of the House and Senate, Stover thinks he has more than an outside chance of pulling an upset.

"Bush has been a failure, and Shimkus has been his ally," Stover said. "I realize this is an uphill battle. But I know if I didn't (run), no one would."

Stover said his No. 1 reason for running is the ongoing war in Iraq, which to date has killed more than 2,600 U.S. soldiers and cost more than $300 billion.

"We missed the target by attacking Iraq," Stover said. "I don't have faith that we could ever turn that country into a Jeffersonian Democracy and I think our presence is a constant annoyance to that part of the world."

Shimkus voted in favor of the invasion of Iraq, a decision he still stands by today, said Steve Tomaszewski, Shimkus' spokesman.
"He believes that that we would be less safe if we were to leave Iraq now," Tomaszewski said. "That you would end up with another Afghanistan where there would be a region of Iraq that would be able to harbor and train terrorists and that would not benefit our county at all.

"He is of the opinion that we need to maintain the peace in Iraq and let the government establish itself."

Stover, 55, a retired professor of administration of justice and political science from Kaskaskia College, said he differs from the current administration's stance on healthcare, energy, stem cell research and living wages. He added that the outsourcing of jobs, the ineffective war on drugs and the federal debt is also high on his priority list of things he would like to change.

Remaining independent from Bush, whose approval rating is at an all-time low, seems to be in vogue these days. The recent Connecticut Democratic primary loss of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate, to political novice Edward Lamont signaled to many that public disapproval with the handling of the Iraq War is being reflected at the polls.

John Jackson, a visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said the Lieberman-Lamont race is part of a much bigger national picture.

"We're right on the edge of a tipping point, which could be significant enough for Republicans to lose either the House or the Senate, but probably not both," Jackson said. "The question becomes: Can a person like Danny Stover latch on to that discontent against Bush and the war in Iraq as well as fears and discontent of the loss of jobs to overseas, the price of gasoline and other domestic policies to make a change?"

Jackson points back to 1994, when Democrats lost their seats in House and Senate to Republicans which it has remained ever since because Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was able to nationalize the Republican appeal that year.

"The national picture is the crucial point in all of this," Jackson said. "It depends on whether or not the 'out' party can nationalize the campaign as opposed to the incumbent who always wants to localize the campaign. Sixty percent of the American people say Iraq is a mistake, the war was a mistake or the war was not worth fighting, so you can hardly say that is an extremist view."

While policy differences are half the battle, money is the next big issue. Lamont had his own money and he was able to tap into Connecticut sources that were very unhappy with Lieberman.

Stover does not have these deep pockets. At the end of the Federal Election Commission's reporting period on June 30, Shimkus had $1.2 million in cash on hand and $0 in debts. In contrast, Stover had $57,483 and owed $48,000 in debts. Shimkus' campaign war chest dwarfs Stover's nearly 20-to-1.

When Shimkus made a run for office in 1996, he pledged he would only serve six terms - meaning that 2006 would be Shimkus' last election cycle - possibly ending his reign in 2008. However, President Bush tapped Shimkus last year to ask him to reconsider his stance on term limits.
If elected, Stover said he wouldn't entertain a term limit pledge. "I think we have term limits," Stover said. "They're called elections."

For more information on Stover, visit his website.

And don't forget Vote Stover in November.

www.WeDemocrats.com

Sooner or later people have to start paying attention to the facts. ---->

John Shimkus – Talking the Talk but not Walking the Walk on Darfur
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. Vote Stover for Congress!
www.wedemocrats.com

By Louisa May Alcott, Author

"He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions."