GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Wayne Sadberry is heading a drive...

...to purchase as a gift for Carey Cauley a painting on display at the African American Museum. He has raised $200 of the $400 needed. He would like to raise $100 from Democrats. If you are interested please send your contribution to Wayne Sadberry, African American Museum, 500 East Pruitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77803. Make the check payable to David Woods who is the artist. If you have questions call Wayne at 218-7634.





State science curriculum director resigns

The state's director of science curriculum has resigned after being accused of creating the appearance of bias against teaching intelligent design. Chris Comer, who has been the Texas Education Agency's director of science curriculum for more than nine years, offered her resignation this month. In documents obtained Wednesday through the Texas Public Information Act, agency officials said they recommended firing Comer for repeated acts of misconduct and insubordination. But Comer said she thinks political concerns about the teaching of creationism in schools were behind what she describes as a forced resignation. [ View Article ]





I have not checked this out. Let me know if it works. Maggie...

I've got something for you

For a few months, we've had Democratic Party "trackers" recording hundreds of hours of Republican candidates in the field. From event to event, we've got footage of some pretty revealing moments. Some are regular Americans putting a candidate on the spot with a tough question. Others are blatant contradictions. A lot of it is just the standard candidate stump speech.

The footage isn't high quality, but it's straight from the field -- and there is a lot of it. Since there's more than my team can realistically process, we've decided to throw it up on the web and put the Party's most powerful asset -- you -- to work.

As soon as a tracker leaves an event in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or wherever they're taping a Republican candidate, they'll head to a computer and upload it directly to a special section of Democrats.org called FlipperTV. That means you'll have a chance to go through the latest video the same time we do.

Nobody has ever done anything quite like this before, but with the Internet giving ordinary Americans like you access to the tools you need to change an election with the click of a mouse, we need to make sure you have everything you need to do just that. The video is yours -- you can just let us know what you find, or you can take it, re-mix it, add music, and make your very own ad out of it. It's up to you.

Take a look:

http://www.democrats.org/FlipperTV





Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him

By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; A01

In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama's biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.

Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama's stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.

Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a "Muslim plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802757_pf.html





Right judge for sex case investigation?

Rick Casey
Houston Chronicle
Nov. 27, 2007, 7:20PM

Chief Judge Edith Jones of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held a key position in the controversial disciplining of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent.

She heads the 19-member Judicial Council that voted to publicly reprimand Kent and to suspend him for four months in connection with what it called "sexual harassment" allegations by his former case manager.

She also led a three-judge committee that investigated the allegations and presented what amounts to a plea bargain negotiated with Kent and his lawyer to the full body.

Rusty Hardin, lawyer for complainant Cathy McBroom, has asked for a rehearing, suggesting that key witnesses were not interviewed and that more evidence needs to be considered.

A boss with pliers

As an investigator of sexual harassment claims, Jones cuts an unlikely figure. In court cases and public speeches, she has expressed little sympathy for women who file complaints.

Her most famous legal opinion came in 1989. Susan Waltman had filed a suit against International Paper Co. in Louisiana.

Waltman presented evidence that she suffered repeated harassment over a 2 1/2 -year period. It began with obscenities about her over the factory intercom.

A few months later, she said, a supervisor pinched her buttocks with pliers. He also tried to put his hands in her back pockets. He joined other male workers in suggestive comments.

Waltman said more than 30 pornographic notes were put in her locker. Sexual graffiti was frequently on the walls, including ones that included her name.

Gasps in the gallery

She said she reported incidents three times, with little effect. The last time a supervisor read the company's policy against sexual harassment at a shift meeting.

Waltman alleged that a few days later a co-worker fondled her breast and aimed a high-pressure hose between her legs.

A district court dismissed the case and Waltman appealed. At the hearing before a three-judge panel, Waltman's attorney said she "was subjected to virtually every type of sexual harassment imaginable."

You can write to Rick Casey at P.O. Box 4260, Houston, TX 77210, or e-mail him at rick.casey@chron.com.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/5333820.html





Poll shows voters shifting on foreign policy

From Reuters:
By Claudia Parsons

U.S. foreign policy since the September 11 attacks has created fundamental shifts in voters' views on international affairs that presidential candidates have yet to address, a pollster said on Wednesday.

Bill McInturff, who describes himself as a Republican pollster, teamed up with Democrat colleague Geoff Garin to conduct a new poll on U.S. voter attitudes to foreign policy ahead of the November 4, 2008 presidential election.

The poll published this month found 78 percent of voters believe America is less respected by other countries than in the past -- a finding McInturff linked to the Iraq war.

"There's broad consensus that America is less respected in the world and people think this is a major problem," he said.

The poll of 800 likely voters was commissioned by the U.N. Foundation, a group founded by billionaire Ted Turner to promote U.N. causes.

Excluding Iraq, terrorism was the top foreign issue for Republican primary voters and swing voters, while Democrats' top priority was improving U.S. relationships with other countries -- an issue that ranked third with swing voters.

The only issue common to all three categories was America's dependence on foreign oil -- a concern that McInturff said barely ranked in similar polls two or three years ago.

Republicans ranked hostile nations such as Iran and North Korea as their number two concern in foreign policy, while Democrats' second place issue was the environment.

"I'm not sure either party yet has figured out that the world has shifted underneath them in terms of the views of the electorate," McInturff told a briefing at the U.N. Foundation.

The poll showed voters had negative feelings for terms such as "going it alone" and "isolationism," and 86 percent of voters said working with major allies and through international organizations was a wiser strategy for achieving U.S. goals.

Within that framework, however, the poll showed what McInturff said was a surprising new category of "New Isolationists" -- moderate, liberal, younger people who voted Democratic at the last election, and who were turned off by the Iraq war as well as issues such as trade deals.

Around 14 percent of those polled fell into that category, while another 12 percent the pollsters dubbed "International Environmentalists." Both categories were largely Democrat.

On the Republican side, the pollsters said around 17 percent of all voters expressed attitudes that could be summarized as "Fortress America" and 16 percent "Reluctant Super Power." Another 33 percent were defined as "Average American," evenly split between leaning left and right.

Asked the most important attribute for a presidential candidate, the top answer across the board was "committed to keeping American strong and secure around the world."

(Full results of the poll can be seen at http://www.unfoundation.org)





Republicans Get Own Mixed Bag of Questions, Sans Snowman

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; A06

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Nov. 28 -- Aboard the cramped and chaotic CNN production truck Wednesday, a dozen producers and aides, led by Washington bureau chief David Bohrman, raced to stream 40 YouTube videos live to the Mahaffey Theater.

The tone of the night was set by the first video aired, a stinging tune called the "GOP Debate Song," uploaded by Chris Nandor, a computer programmer from Snohomish County, Wash.

"The Grand Old Party is looking for somebody who can lead, someone who is electable and adheres to our creed. Some say the group is not diverse, they're white, they're men," sang Nandor, a Republican. "Rudy's leading all the polls, but can he win the base? Mitt changed on abortion; history he can't erase. . . . McCain is loved by many and hated by the rest."

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, among others, looked none too pleased.

The format for the debate, in which YouTube collects the videos but CNN's political team decides which ones are aired, has been the subject of constant criticism in the blogosphere.

And like the first such debate, featuring the Democrats in July, this forum was as much about the questioners as the candidates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112900096_pf.html





Brazos County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 4568
Bryan Texas 77805
979-779-5600 Fax 979-779-5601

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman, Democrat, President of the United States of America