Mike Stark's blog

There has been remarkably little talk of the Supreme Court and the extreme views of McCain/Palin. Palin, a 72 y/o heartbeat away from the Presidency, opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest. McCain has espoused a more moderate position - he'd allow abortion in those cases - but the difference is academic. After all, they'd both appoint Supreme Court justices that would overturn Roe.

http://womensissues.about.com/od/thepoliticalarena/a/GenderVoting.htm

• In 2004, 60.1% of women and 56.3% of men voted.
  That's 67.3 million women and 58.5 million men - a difference of 8.8 million.
• In 2000, 56.2% of women and 53.1% of men voted.
  That's 59.3 million women and 51.5 million men - a difference of 7.8 million.
• In 1996, 55.5% of women and 52.8% of men voted.
  That's 56.1 million women amd 48.9 million men - a difference of 7.2 million

From a 2005 Pew Poll:
Abortion is a major issue for those at either end of the political spectrum, but it also is viewed as very important by younger women. Roughly three-quarters (76%) of women under age 50 rate abortion as a very important issue for the court; far fewer males in that age group (58%) see abortion as a high priority. Women under age 50 also are far more likely than older women to attach great importance to possible court rulings on abortion.

With these facts in mind, we asked CartWrightDale to create this ad for us:

We hope you'll help us pay for it... The funds we raise will, of course, determine the extent of our buy. That said, our goal is to air this nationally - at least one time - on The View.

We at BlogPAC.com do our best to represent the progressive blogosphere. Of course, not everyone is going to agree with our conception of what it means to represent something as big and multi-faceted as "the progressive blogosphere," but each of us are as deeply invested and embedded in online politics as we can be.

Something we've identified as a constant irritant is our collective inability to get our message picked up by the old media.

Well, when SaysMe.TV came along, we didn't waste any time wringing our hands over whether or not we should use the tool. I personally contacted their CEO, created an ad and contracted to run it in Minneapolis during the RNC.

Kestrel9000 does the narrating.

Mike Stark here: This is another of John Javna's Hero series. We awarded $1,000 to Amanda for her courage in the face of an irresponsible media; standing up to Bill Donohue's lackies on the fringe Fox network, and then, soon afterwards, in the more mainstream media took guts.

We'll have another story to tell soon. Please look out for it.

In the meantime, as I said in this diary, it is you and your donations that make it possible for us to make these awards. Please continue supporting your own by donating to BlogPac's ActBlue page.

This is the third in a weekly series of articles, written by John Javna, that will appear on BlogPAC.org, recognizing unsung heroes of the progressive movement — ordinary people who are working tirelessly to make America a better place. If you have suggestions about people who deserve more recognition for their work as progressive activists, please contact us at fighttheright@opendoor.com.

BLOGPAC NETROOTS HERO #3: LANE HUDSON

Ever wish you could single-handedly deliver a knockout blow to the right-wing, like a political Rocky?

This is the second in a weekly series of articles, written by John Javna, that will appear on BlogPAC.org, recognizing unsung heroes of the progressive movement — ordinary people who are working tirelessly to make America a better place. If you have suggestions about people who deserve more recognition for their work as progressive activists, please contact us at fighttheright-at-opendoor-dot-com.

Cliff Schecter (www.cliffschecter.com)
A Progressive Pundit

Think about it: The Right has dozens of hard-ass TV pundits—Buchanan, Coulter, Malkin, and so on. But who do we have? Sure, a few mainstream Democrats show up regularly on talk-TV, but where are the attack-dog progressives—the ones who’ll throw right-wingers’ bullshit right back in their faces? The ones who say what YOU’D want to say?

This is the first in a weekly series of articles, written by John Javna, that will appear on BlogPAC.org, recognizing unsung heroes of the progressive movement—ordinary people who are working tirelessly to make America a better place. If you have suggestions about people who deserve more recognition for their work as progressive activists, please contact us at
fighttheright-at-opendoor-dot-com.

In the late 1990s, Raven Brooks was a member of Texas A&M University’s elite Cadet Corps—a four-year military program similar to West Point. “I wasn’t very politically aware at that time in my life,” he explains. “I would have said I was a Republican, because growing up in Texas, in a conservative family, that’s all I knew....but I didn’t really agree with my parents—or my classmates—on many topics.”