Tom Houghton Declares His Candidacy In PA-16-- A Seat Held By Right-Winger Joe Pitts

This afternoon, Democrat Tom Houghton announced his candidacy for the 16th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, challenging incumbent right-wing Republican Joe Pitts, who we're very familiar with from the Aryanna Strader campaign in 2012. Once again, Steve Israel is forcing the DCCC to ignore this very winnable (R+4) southeast Pennsylvania seat that President Obama won in 2008. And Tom has also been an electoral winner in this area. A former Township Supervisor in his community of London Grove and a former State representative in Pennsylvania’s 13th legislative District., he was the first Democrat elected to the London Grove Board of Supervisors and the first Democrat to represent the 13th District.

Currently, Tom is a self-employed attorney. He lives in London Grove Township with Danelle, his wife of twenty years and their two children, Ben, age 10, and Marley, age 14. He believes that it is the job of elected officials to work together to find reasonable, common sense solutions to the problems we face and create opportunities for the people they represent. Tom says that he “wants to go to bed every night knowing that he did all he could to make life better for the American people.”

Building a better life is something Tom knows about. He was raised by a single mother who was a waitress. He told us that the family finances were tight and that there were times when they had to get by with no electricity. Like many of us, Tom was able to work his way through school because society invested in him through strong public schools, federal student loans and a multitude of other programs and opportunities that conservatives are taking out of the equation for current working class kids. Tom told us that the opportunities afforded to him allowed him to build a life where he is able to provide for his family, and he wants to make sure that all American families have that same opportunity to work hard and build a better life. He believes that politics in Washington have become too radical and polarized and that the government shutdown was the last straw. It was then that he decided to run for the 16th Congressional seat.

In his career as an elected official, Tom has always worked in a bipartisan fashion to represent the needs of all of his constituents. Tom sees compromise as being fundamental to effective government. Tom is running as a candidate who can get results for the voters on the 16th District. I asked Tom to write a guest post for today focusing on two hot button issues in Pennsylvania, fracking and gun ownership because I believe that how he proposes dealing with these two very difficult issues, shows what kind of a congressman he will be when he beats Pitts. You can read more about him here on his campaign website. This is what he had to say in response to our questions about 2 issues many Pennsylvania Democrats in red-leaning areas prefer to avoid.

Fracking And Guns
-by Tom Houghton

Just like our nation, Pennsylvania faces a lot of important issues. As a former Township Supervisor and State Representative, and now as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, I am in a unique position to see how these issues affect people, communities and government at many levels.

As an elected official, I have always worked diligently to represent the priorities of all of those whom I represent. In my experience, people want elected officials who support common sense good government. They want their elected representatives to work together to write and pass laws that make sense and that make their lives better. At the heart of most successful legislation is compromise.

Unfortunately, compromise has become synonymous with treason in some circles. Those elected officials who feel this way are doing a grave disservice to their constituents, even the constituents who agree with them. The concept of compromising, where appropriate, is what makes our representative democracy work. As we have seen, if we give up on this fundamental principle of compromise the result is gridlock, government shutdowns and the threat of economic collapse. I firmly believe that this is not what the American people want.

Two issues that are of concern to voters everywhere, and perhaps particularly to voters in the 16th District, are responsible gun ownership and the growth of the natural gas industry via the relatively new technology known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

I would like to address those issues today. Although they may seem unrelated, they both boil down to the same core principles-- responsibility and compromise.

In Pennsylvania, you can barely pick up a newspaper or watch a newscast without hearing about natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation. Much of this geological feature lies deep under Pennsylvania. The Marcellus Shale contains some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Until fairly recently, these gas reserves lay too deep beneath the surface of the earth to extract in a way that was economical. The advent of the technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has changed that. Fracking has caused a boom in natural gas in Pennsylvania, just as it has in many places throughout the country with similar geologic formations. If handled responsibly, fracking could represent tremendous economic opportunity for our people, greater energy independence for our nation and the bridge to the clean energy future we all want.

In Pennsylvania, the natural gas boom has brought economic growth and lower energy prices, as well as a great deal of controversy over an environmentally responsible approach to this new industry. As a State Representative, I supported legislation that addressed these issues by putting in place environmental safeguards and enacting an appropriate severance tax on the value of the natural gas extracted in Pennsylvania. The severance tax I supported would have allowed Pennsylvania to maximize the economic opportunity the growth of the natural gas industry represented.

This legislation was the result of compromise on these important issues. I was proud to support legislation that was responsible and protected our land, air and water while at the same time embracing the economic opportunities represented by the proliferation of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. I knew that this legislation represented the priorities of my community and the people I represented, and that it was what was best for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, that legislation failed. In the time since, Pennsylvania adopted the controversial Act 13. This law failed to properly address any of the issues associated with fracking. Act 13 does not contain appropriate environmental safeguards at the state level, and even went so far as to remove local control over drilling activity through zoning. Thankfully, this provision of the law was recently struck down by Pennsylvania courts. In addition, Act 13 did not impose a severance tax, opting instead for an “impact fee,” which is only a fraction of the severance tax imposed by every other natural gas producing state in the country.

I have always been an environmentalist. I first became involved in politics to protect and preserve my township’s agricultural zone. When I ran for State Representative, I was the number one state-wide endorsement of the PA League of Conservation Voters. As an elected official, I have consistently and unfailingly voted to protect and conserve our environment.

I recognize the enormous financial opportunity that the gas boom represents, not just in Pennsylvania, but throughout the nation. I recognize that we must seize this opportunity, while also ensuring that we have water that is safe to drink, air that is safe to breathe and an overall clean and healthy environment. This must be our number one priority.

I support allowing natural gas drilling to continue, but doing so in a way that protects our environment and maximizes the economic impact for Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania taxpayers. Pennsylvania’s current approach to the gas industry is a lopsided approach that favors drillers at the expense of taxpayers, the economy and the environment.

First, we must establish environmental regulations, and a regulatory apparatus that ensures best practices for natural gas drilling and minimizes the risk to the environment as much as possible. In addition, I support enacting a real severance tax, like the severance taxes in other gas producing states. The lack of a severance tax on the industry has cost Pennsylvania taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to date, according to estimates by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

In a state where we have seen massive cuts to public education, human services, economic development programs and, remarkably, environmental regulation and protection, it is unacceptable to simply walk away from this huge stream of revenue due to the pressure of gas industry lobbyists.

A real severance tax would not substantially limit the growth of the natural gas industry. It would provide resources that Pennsylvania desperately needs to invest in creating greater opportunities for our families, lessening the burden on taxpayers and strengthening environmental regulation needed to deal with the explosion in the gas industry itself.

I believe that all of those affected by fracking, whether in Pennsylvania or elsewhere, can agree that a common sense approach to gas drilling, an approach that protects the environment, creates jobs, embraces economic opportunities and still allows the gas industry to flourish and contribute to U.S. energy independence, is the best approach to serve everyone.

This is the approach I supported as a State Representative, and it is the approach that I still support today. Fracking isn’t going away anytime soon, and it is an important issue that we must address because it will have an impact on everyone in one way or another. If we want to deal with this issue responsibly, we must work together and compromise to find an approach that benefits everyone.

Like fracking, gun violence is an issue that has been in the news a lot recently. Unfortunately, it has been in the news far too much. Recent tragedies throughout our country have made gun safety and responsible gun ownership issues of imminent importance. Every week, sometimes every day, it seems like we see another shooting at a school, or a mall or some other public place splashed across the headlines. I share in the frustration that everyone shares, and I know that something must be done to address these senseless tragedies before another innocent life is lost.

As these issues have taken center stage in our public discourse, they have also opened up deep divides in our culture. However, it doesn’t need to be that way. Advocates on both sides of the issue want what is best for our communities. Although they come from drastically different points of view, I think there is a lot of common ground on which we can agree, and that common ground forms the foundation for gun laws which will make us all safer and more secure.

Let me start by saying that I support the Second Amendment. I believe that the Constitution of the United States guarantees Americans the right to own guns. This is not a new position for me. I have long been an advocate for protecting Second Amendment rights. As a State Representative, I received a score of B from the NRA for my positions on legislation pertaining to gun ownership.

For many citizens throughout the country, being a sportsman is a way of life. For others, gun ownership represents safety and security, and for others, gun collecting is a hobby that brings them a lot of pleasure and pride. I support those individuals, and I stand behind their right to own firearms.

Compromise is fundamental to addressing the issue of responsible gun ownership. Our inability to compromise on this issue not only threatens our safety, it imperils our second amendment right to own guns. Each day that we fail to address the problems with our existing laws is another day where dangerous individuals, those whom we have already agreed have no business owning guns, have the opportunity to take innocent lives. These are lives that could be saved, and it is inexcusable that we do not act to do so. On the other side of the argument, gridlock on this issue has lead many gun control advocates to call for an outright ban on guns. They adhere to the argument that if we can’t own guns responsibly, we shouldn’t own guns at all. Neither of these alternatives is acceptable in my view, and it is not acceptable to the majority of Americans who rightfully expect their elected officials to work together and compromise on important issues like responsible gun ownership.

I agree with groups like Americans for Responsible Solutions, who support reasonable and responsible gun laws, while standing behind the right to own guns. ARS has pointed out many of the flaws in our existing background check system. These problems significantly damage the ability of this law which is in place to make us all safer.

Federal law already requires licensed gun retailers to perform background checks on those seeking to purchase a firearm via the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The purpose of the NICS is to prevent dangerous individuals, from convicted criminals to those with serious mental illness, from purchasing firearms. This program has successfully prevented over 1.7 million persons who are prohibited from owning a firearm, from purchasing a gun. I support our existing background check requirement. However, there are problems with the law, and the NICS itself, that seriously impede its efficacy.

While licensed retailers must perform background checks, private sellers are exempt from the background check requirement. This provision of the law, known as the “gun show loophole” provides relatively easy access to guns for those whom we have already agreed should be prohibited from owning a firearm. In order for our background check system to be an effective means for protecting our safety, it must be universal.

The “gun show loophole” is not the only problem with our background check system. The NICS is missing millions of pertinent records that should be in the system to identify prohibited gun purchasers. The gaps in the NICS are the result of insufficient reporting by state and federal agencies. This situation must be remedied and the records in the NICS must be up to date and complete to make sure that no dangerous individuals are allowed to legally purchase guns because they have simply fallen through the cracks.

In addition to making the NICS more effective, we must address the issue of gun trafficking by empowering law enforcement to deal with those who are facilitating the illegal traffic in guns. Currently, a very small percentage of licensed gun dealers are responsible for the majority of guns recovered in criminal investigations. These offenders must be stopped, and we must give law enforcement the tools they need to stop them. At the same time, we must stiffen penalties for these gun traffickers if we want laws against gun trafficking to have a real impact on the illegal gun trade.

After addressing the issue of effectively keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals, we must address the issue of what kinds of firearms and ammunition clips are responsible and reasonable for people to own.

I support a ban on assault weapons, as well as a ban on high capacity magazines. The majority of American gun owners own guns for the purposes of sport shooting, hunting and personal defense. Assault weapons and high capacity magazines are not necessary, nor particularly well suited to any of these activities.

On the other hand, assault weapons are involved in up to seven percent of homicides, as the Harvard University institute of Politics points out. The shooters in mass shootings, such as James Holmes in Aurora, have used assault weapons to devastating effect. These weapons allow criminals, like Holmes, to do significantly more damage in a limited amount of time than that which would have been possible without assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Even former Vice president Dick Cheney has come out in support of limiting high capacity magazines.

Banning these “weapons of mass destruction” will keep our families and communities safe. In addition, this will allow police officers to do their job-- the job of protecting us, more safely. Again, According to the Harvard University Institute of Politics, since the expiration of the assault Weapons Ban in 2004, there has been a substantial increase in police deaths as a result of gunshot wounds.

I know that many will criticize me on the issue of limiting access to assault weapons and high capacity magazines, or banning them altogether. I do not support these measures because I want to abridge the rights of American citizens. I support these fixes because I believe in keeping our communities, our families and especially our children safe, while respecting our constitutionally protected right to own guns.

As an advocate for common sense responsible gun ownership legislation, I do not seek to limit our second amendment rights but to protect them. I believe that only by taking steps to ensure responsible gun ownership, we can preserve the right to own guns in the long run.

On both of these issues-- responsible gun ownership and a thoughtful approach to the harvesting of our natural resources-- I believe that the majority of Americans fundamentally agree. It is time for those voices, the voices of reason, compassion and compromise, to prevail. If I am elected to serve the residents of the 16th Congressional District, I promise to be a voice for reasonable, responsible solutions to the contentious issues we all face together.

Joe Pitts And Grover... Sittin' In A Tree

We'll be learning a lot more about how Joe Pitts males America a worse place this year

In our post from Tuesday discussing the benefits that some congressional candidates reap for staying committed to changing Washington through running for office a second time, we also mentioned another type of commitment... like the one to Grover Norquist that so many Republican House members just can’t seem to shake.

One of those members in particular has been caught red-handed in trying to kiss up to Grover and he did it while in the well of Congress just so he made sure it was on the record.

Anti-Choice zealot Joe Pitts (R-PA) decided to give remarks on the floor regarding his opposition to a provision of the Affordable Care Act called the Medical Loss Ratio. The basics of the MLR are that it requires insurance companies to use a minimum of 80% of the premiums you pay toward actual direct care for patients when they need it. And if they are caught not meeting those minimum standards, they are penalized, or as Grover kowtowers would term it, they are taxed.

This takes us back to a debate during the recent election in which Democrat and endorsed Blue America PAC candidate, Aryanna Strader was allowed to ask Mr. Pitts any question she wanted within the topic of health care. The event was sponsored by the local Rotary Club chapter and was held on October 23. The entire debate, question-by-question on the Lancaster Online website, is embedded in such a way that they don’t provide us an embed code to post here, but if you click on “Question #2: Health Care” at the link you will be able to hear the full exchange between Strader and Pitts.

But pay attention to the 3:30 mark. This is where Aryanna poses her question to Pitts, asking him whether or not he supported Medical Loss Ratio. Of course, in front of a room full of local voters who would love nothing more than to make sure insurance companies are forced to pay for services if they are sick or need an operation, Pitts tells them he is supportive of the MLR.

Then, post-election and 37 days removed from the Rotary Club debate, Pitts must have gotten a call from Grover who called him out. And without resistance, Pitts marched his way down on the floor to give remarks now denouncing the MLR. And to make is point, Pitts posted his remarks straight to his congressional YouTube channel:



There is certainly something to be said for members of Congress who bend over so far to save their personal best interest that they can actually see it.

John McCain Should Retire-- His Only Remaining Role Is Inciting Bitter Obstructionism Among His Party's Pathetic Extremists

McCain and his closeted South Carolina sidekick Lindsey Graham may have started it but Republicans are showing their instinctive hatred for women and for African Americans by jumping on the preposterous notion that Ambassador Susan Rice is unqualified to be Secretary of State. 97 bigoted extremists in the House, led by South Carolina racist Jeff Duncan, have sent Obama a letter demanding he not appoint Rice. Did any non-racists sign the letter? Not that we could find; here's the list. Let us know if you find a non-racist on it:

Jeff Duncan* (R-SC)
Michael McCaul (R-TX)
Tim Huelskamp* (R-Koch)
Lynn Westmoreland* (R-GA)
Joe Pitts (R-PA)
Steve Pearce* (R-NM)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
John Culberson* (R-TX)
Jeff Landry* (R-LA)
Blake Farenthold* (R-TX)
Joe "You Lie!" Wilson* (R-SC)
Steve Southerland (R-FL)
Paul Broun* (R-John Birch Society)
Phil Gingrey* (R-GA)
Dan Lungren (R-CA)
Frank Lucas (R-OK)
Dan Burton* (R-IN)
Steve King* (R-IA)
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Stephen Fincher* (R-TN)
Renee Ellmers (R-NC)
Ted Poe* (R-TX)
Tom Marino (R-PA)

Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Todd Rokita (R-IN)
Joe Barton* (R-TX)
Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)
Michele Bachmann* (R-MN)
John Carter* (R-TX)
Phil Roe* (R-TN)
Larry Bucshon (R-IN)
Vicky Hartzler* (R-MO)
David McKinley* (R-WV)
John Fleming* (R-LA)
Louie Gohmert* (R-TX)
Mick Mulvaney* (R-SC)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Bill Huizenger (R-MI)
Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Mike Pompeo (R-Koch)
John Mica (R-FL)
Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Kenny Marchant* (R-TX)
Rob Bishop* (R-UT)
Jeff Denham (R-CA)
Jim Jordan (R-OH)
David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Tom Graves* (R-GA)
Tom Price* (R-GA)
Dennis Ross* (R-GA)
Steven Palazzo* (R-MS)
Billy Long (R-MO)
James Lankford (R-OK)
Tim Walberg (R-MI)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Trent Franks* (R-AZ)
Bill Posey (R-FL)
Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
Bill Flores (R-TX)
Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY)
Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Doug Lamborn* (R-CO)
Candice Miller (R-MI)
Roscoe Bartlett* (R-MD)
Michael Burgess* (R-TX)
Rich Nugent* (R-FL)
Bill Johnson (R-OH)
Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Tom Cole (R-OK)
Chip Cravaack (R-MN)
Allen West* (R-FL)
Trey Gowdy (R-SC)
Ralph Hall* (R-TX)
Bob Gibbs (R-OH)
Nan Hayworth (R-NY)
Diane Black (R-TN)
Tim Scott* (R-SC)
Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
Steve Scalise* (R-LA)
Quico Canseco (R-TX)
Don Young (R-AK)
Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)
Lamar Smith* (R-TX)
Sue Myrick* (R-NC)
Cynthia Lummis* (R-WY)
Lynn Jenkins* (R-KS)
Michael Turner (R-OH)
John Campbell (R-CA)
Connie Mack (R-FL)
Sandy Adams* (R-FL)
Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
Cory Gardner (R-CO)
Tim Griffin (R-AR)
Lord Charles Boustany (R-LA)

Of the 97, just over half, 49, are Representatives from former Confederate states and many are still not reconciled to equality for African-Americans. The ones who were defeated for reelection this year or are retiring are italicized. The vast majority of the Members on this list having voting records that indicate they are adamantly opposed to equality for women. The ladies and gentlemen with asterisks next to their names are members of Michele Bachmann's crackpot Tea Party Caucus.

One of the first to sign the letter was misogynistic zealot Joe Pitts. We asked his 2012 opponent Aryanna Strader, who we expect to run against him in 2014, what she made of Pitts' participation in the anti-Susan Rice jihad by the Far Right. “If one thing is clear it is that Congressman Pitts has learned nothing with regard to how information and orders are passed down through the chain-of-command,” said Aryanna Strader. “As an Army veteran, I know that when dealing with intelligence, you have to carry out your mission with the best information available. With that, for Joe Pitts to glom onto what is nothing more than a bitter political stunt demonstrates yet another severe lapse in judgment on his part.”

Congressional women have taken to the airwaves and I saw my own Congresswoman, Karen Bass, on MSNBC this morning denouncing this stunt as vociferously as Aryanna. And Democratic Whip, Jim Clyburn, the highest ranking African-American in the House pointed out that the racist Republicans aren't fooling anyone with their use of code words. From an interview on CNN this morning:

You know, these are code words. We heard them during the campaign. During this recent campaign, we heard [Romney surrogate John] Sununu calling our President ‘lazy,’ ‘incompetent.’ These kinds of terms that those of us, especially those of us that who were born and raised in the South, we’ve been hearing these little words and phrases all of our lives. And we get insulted by them. Susan Rice is as competent as anyone you will find. And to place that word on her causes problems with people like Marcia Fudge and it certainly causes a problem with me. I don’t like those words. Say that she was wrong for doing it, but don’t call her incompetent.

Of course, if they just said what she did was wrong, they'd still be making fools of themselves, as an editorial in yesterday's NY Times pointed out.

The more it becomes clear that Susan Rice, the United Nations Ambassador, did not knowingly deceive the American public about the Benghazi consulate attack, the more Republicans accuse her of having done so. Most recently, 97 members of the House wrote to President Obama opposing her possible nomination as secretary of state since she had “propagated a falsehood.”

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have been banging this drum since the election. Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham are threatening a filibuster if Mr. Obama nominates Ms. Rice when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton steps down.

...As U.N. ambassador, Ms. Rice had no direct involvement in the Benghazi mess, before or during the attacks. Do Republicans hostile to her think she should have gone rogue and simply ignored her approved talking points? And let’s keep things in perspective: Ms. Rice was trying to explain an event that had already taken place; she wasn’t disseminating inaccurate information to justify a future invasion, like Colin Powell did at the United Nations in 2003.

The letter from the 97 House members says that Ms. Rice’s comments did “irreparable damage to her credibility both at home and around the world.” That’s rather audacious. Where were these defenders of American credibility when George W. Bush misled Americans about Iraq, or withheld vital information about electronic eavesdropping, indefinite detention and torture?

I have no idea if Mr. Obama really wants to nominate Ms. Rice. But if he does, he shouldn’t give into extortion by Republicans, and especially Republican House members, who have no say over who gets appointed to secretary of state or any other job.

Corporate Shill Steve Israel Blocks Progressive Democrats Aryanna Strader And Syed Taj

In 2008 McCain beat Obama 51-48% in Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district. That district has been significantly altered by the Republican state legislature-- but they weren't looking out for longtime right-wing Congressman Joe Pitts. Under the new boundaries, which jettisoned some of the rural red areas and added solid blue Reading, Obama would have beat McCain 50-49%. What an opportunity for a House pick-up!

But that isn't how DCCC boss Steve Israel sees it. Described-- admiringly-- by Nancy Pelosi as "reptilian," Israel decided to commit DCCC money to backing reactionary Blue Dogs who are virulently anti-Choice and antigay and pro-corporate New Dems in districts Obama lost by wide margins rather than backing progressives in districts that Obama won. Aryanna Strader is not a Steve Israel type of candidate. She's a straight shooter and a reform-oriented progressive who has no interest in the kind of rampant corruption that reptiles like Steve Israel thrive on. The DCCC has ignored the race, entirely and worked hard to demoralize Strader (and other progressives around the country). But Strader, an Iraq War vet, isn't easily demoralized and she's buckled down, ignoring the DCCC and concentrating on voters in southeast Pennsylvania. Gigantically out-funded by Pitts, a notorious corporate whore-- exactly like Steve Israel-- Aryanna has run a grassroots campaign and has garnered significant support in the district, including a fulsome endorsement from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, the district's #1 newspaper. So, while Steve Israel was busy doing the reptilian things that Pelosi so admires-- and that will guarantee Boehner another two years as Speaker, this is, in part, what people in PA-16 are reading this week:

After initially vowing not to serve beyond a fifth term, Pitts is now seeking an eighth term in Congress. He argues that his growing seniority gives him leverage in Congress to help constituents in the district.

Pitts favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He laments the lack of bipartisanship in Congress, yet he has voted with his party 95 percent of the time.

He opposes the Affordable Care Act, which has become an issue given that Pitts' biggest campaign contributors include Big Pharma, health insurers and health professionals.

His Democratic opponent, Aryanna Strader, is a software consultant and a veteran of the Iraq war.

She has run her campaign on a shoestring. She said that 80 percent of her campaign contributions have come from individuals.

Although she does not agree with all aspects of the Affordable Care Act, she would work to improve rather than repeal it.

Strader believes the president is correct to push for alternative energy sources and favors tax cuts for small business.

...Pitts deserves credit for his constituent service. But each year in Congress he has leaned further to the right. And his decision not to participate in a debate with all three challengers should raise concerns among voters.

Strader's first run for office will likely end in defeat. But she has struck a chord with voters. She expressed herself forcefully in the lone local debate with Pitts. She did the same when she debated Bednarski and Murphy.

She has our support in this election.

It probably wouldn't end in defeat if Steve Israel-- who as a founder of the transpartisan Center Aisle Caucus which vowed not to campaign against other members, regardless of party-- could also say "she has our support in this election."

Blue America has a mobile billboard, pictured above, traversing the highways and towns of the sprawling 16th district every day. Today it's spending half the day in and around Willow Street and half the day in Millersville. Tomorrow and Tuesday are all about Lancaster and Sunday and Monday, it's Reading all day, both days.

There are so many progressives where the DCCC hands-off posture is handing the districts to heinous Republicans. We've written a lot about how Steve Israel helps protect GOP leaders and senior committee chairmen, like Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Buck McKeon. One race that-- if not for a Muslim-unfriendly Steve Israel-- would be a slam-dunk for Democrats in the Detroit suburbs. MI-11 is a district Obama won handily in 2008 (54-45%) and whose incumbent, Thaddeus McCotter was recently caught committing election fraud and was forced to resign to stay out of prison. The psychotic teabagger who was challenging him in the primary, reindeer rancher Kerry Bentivolio, is now favored to win because Israel decided to starve the Democrat, Dr. Syed Taj, of funds. Even under the new boundaries, originally drawn by the GOP-dominated Michigan legislature to shore up McCotter, the district still leans blue and Obama would have beaten McCain 50-48%. This is a winnable district... if we had a competent DCCC chairman, instead of a reptile. This is what Israel is saddling Congress with:

The brother of Kerry Bentivolio says the Michigan congressional candidate, who's favored to win on Tuesday, is “mentally unbalanced” and could end up in jail.

"I've never met anyone in my life who is conniving and dishonest as this guy," Phillip Bentivolio said, according to the Michigan Information and Research Service. "He's my brother so it's hard to talk about this, but I believe that if he gets elected, he'll eventually serve time in prison."

...Kerry Bentivolio is a Santa Claus impersonator and reindeer farmer. He made headlines after old court documents surfaced quoting him saying he had a “problem figuring out which one I really am, Santa Claus or Kerry Bentivolio.”  He’s running against Democrat Syad Taj.

Philip Bentivolio said that in 1992, he helped his brother build houses in Arkansas and Kerry owed him $20,000. This month he told Kerry he would go to the media with the story if he did not get paid, and Kerry then said he called the FBI and the Little Rock Police Department.

“He told them that I told them that if he didn't send me money, I was going to kill myself," Phillip Bentivolio said. "I couldn't believe it."

Kerry Bentivolio said that his brother has “serious mental issues” and that the FBI was looking into his brother’s request for repayment 20 years after the fact.

Instead Israel is chasing a host of hopeless Blue Dogs in districts that have no interest in electing Democrats. And most of his candidates-- even if elected, would be nearly as dependable to vote against progressive legislation as the Republicans they're running against. Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's worst mistake ever.

Billboards In Rural Wisconsin

During primary season, Blue America fracking billboards in northeastern Pennsylvania helped end the disgraceful career of corrupt Blue Dog Tim Holden. Right now, just south of there we have a couple of sleek mobile billboards driving all around Reading, Lancaster, Ephrata, Coatesville, Elizabethtown, Millersville, Mt. Joy, Lititz and everywhere else in PA-16, where Aryanna Strader is putting up a valiant fight against bigot and anti-Choice fanatic Joe Pitts. And on the West Coast, we have a pair of billboards driving all over Santa Clarita, the Antelope Valley and Simi Valley helping make sure voters know that Lee Rogers is closing in on corrupt warmonger Buck McKeon. The DCCC has refused to help either Strader or Rogers, although President Obama won both districts in 2008 and is expected to win both again this year. Blue America is stepping in for them. Video:



But our biggest single billboard of 2012 is the one on for Rob Zerban just south of the Milwaukee Airport at the Ryan Road Exit on the I-94. We had it up last spring and we just put it up again for the final month of the campaign. It's the single most viewed billboard in the state-- and the most costly. Everyone driving between Kenosha and Racine and Milwaukee passes it. And that's the most populated part of Wisconsin's first congressional district. West of there, it's more rural. And we had a strategy for that too. We have ads in dozens of shoppers and weeklies and we have a Burma Shave style billboard campaign on the smaller roads around Janesville and in the less populated parts of the district. Your contributions here, here and here helped us do it. Thank you. Here are some of the photos:

And, yes, there are dozens more.

A Special Thanks To Clear Channel

Clear Channel functions as a part of the Republican political machine. In the past they have rejected Blue America radio ads for the flimsiest of excuses and this cycle their billboard division told us flatly that they don't care what kind of message we have, they flat out refuse to run any billboards in Santa Clarita, where they own all the good billboard locations, against Republican Buck McKeon or for Democrat Lee Rogers. So why am I thanking them? If they hadn't turned down our billboards-- which we needed to go along with our extensive radio campaign in the district-- I would never have complained to Alan Grayson and he would never have explained to me how much more cost effective it is to use a mobile billboard.

It sounded whack to me at first-- like something out of Spanish Harlem when I was growing up in New York. But mobile billboards have come a long way since then-- they're sleek, clean and even back-lit-- and when we looked into it we realized we would be reaching far more people in the district and for a lot less money. So this week we have our two sided mobile billboard prowling 8 hours a day, 7 days a week in Simi Valley, all over the Santa Clarita Valley, in Lancaster, Palmdale and all places in between.



And we wound up using some of the money we saved to rent a mobile billboard for the race in PA-16, a district Obama won in 2008 and will win again in November, which pits Aryanna Strader against hopeless reactionary shithead Joe Pitts, Congress' most misogynistic member (yes, worse than even Todd Akin). We take over the truck as soon as Billboards2Go is finished running a project CBS' Rachael Ray Show featuring Tyra Banks giving a makeover to one of the audience members. If you'd like to pitch in and help Blue America's independent efforts to defeat the worst Republicans and replace them with great progressives... we have a page for that. And aside from helping Lee Rogers and Aryanna Strader replace Buck McKeon and Joe Pitts, we're also flooding WI-01 with... communication, to help Rob Zerban beat Paul Ryan in his own congressional seat.

Joe Pitts-- An Existential Threat To The United States And Why He Must Be Defeated... Why We Must Defeat Him

Stupak-Pitts... one down, one to go

At 2pm (EST)-- 11 here on the West Coast-- Blue America will formally endorse an extraordinary progressive Democrat running for Congress in southeastern Pennsylvania, Aryanna Strader. Karoli will be hosting the live blogging session with Aryanna at Crooks and Liars and Karoli's perspective primarily covers why Blue America is so excited about Aryanna as a person and a leader. To help DWT readers understand exactly who Aryanna is up against, we asked Anne Enke (AnneofCarversville.com) to give us an idea of who, exactly Joe Pitts is. Anne is a Fortune 100 women's lifestyle and product design consultant and a key executive of Victoria's Secret for 10 years. Within weeks, Anne will launch her new GlamTribale.com jewelry collection, with 5% of revenues earmarked to support Planned Parenthood PA and another 5% to buy sanitary napkins for African girls who have none. Anne intends to build a
nonpartisan network of women and men dedicated to electing prochoice women to Congress. She recently moved to Philadelphia from New York City. Please visit Anne Enke’s Spittin’ Out the Pitts Campaign on Facebook: http:// www.facebook.com/pages/Spittin-Out-The-Pitts/343245912415214/ What follows is her story, an essential part of America's story-- much more than just a report of who and what Joe Pitts is.

When PA 16th district Representative Joe Pitts became the head of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health after the 2010 mid-term elections, some American women knew we were in for a rough ride.

Congressman Joe Pitts has been an anti-abortion advocate for decades and an avowed foe of Planned Parenthood. The only form of sex education Pitts will endorse is the failed program of abstinence. And of course, Pitts is anti-gay marriage.

Finding a Voice, Taking a Stand

In the fall of 2009, American women and the men in our lives certainly took our right to contraception and other reproductive health services for granted.

Yes, the anti-abortion debate swirled constantly around us. The tone was shifting but still not in a truly frightening way. My group was being called murderers of countless innocent children for having used an IUD as my favored method of birth control.

The voices that had stalked me for a year in the 70s, threats marking me for death and putting me in police protection for a year in Buffalo, New York, grew more pronounced. In the late 70s, I walked away from a career in journalism after decapitated animals, bloody knives and my hanging rope arrived daily.

When my masked stalker finally flew across the windshield of my car on a cold fall night, I fought for my life, gunning the accelerator in self-survival mode. Sobbing on the phone to the now well-known and very supportive lieutenant of my police department, I explained that I didn’t know if my pro-life stalker was dead or alive in the parking lot.

My crime? As an American woman in a free country, I did not understand supporting the Supreme Court Roe decision on a TV panel would put my life at risk.

Luckily, I am talented in business and was able to redirect my career, once I understood that being a journalist who agreed with Supreme Court decisions was reason to kill me. I was young then.

Rationally and perhaps arrogantly, I did not believe then or now, that my life is equal to that of a fertilized egg.

In the fall of 2009, I was more involved trying to end the barbaric flogging of 40,000 women a year in Sudan for wearing loose-fitting gabardine trousers, than to seriously worry about the United States banning birth control.

My focus changed abruptly as the cold, autumn weather moved into Manhattan.

Hijacking the Affordable Care Act

I heard the word ‘incubator’ uttered by Bart Stupak when referencing some technical mumbo around the amendment proposed by the C Street Democrat and his Republican partner Joe Pitts to the Affordable Care Act.

The said incubator wasn’t some life-saving machine for a baby born prematurely. The incubator under discussion was part of Mitt Romney’s shiny objects discussion. The mama machine was a living, breathing, average American woman for whom having a baby should be a major life decision.

The incubator was an American female citizen who votes. She was my sister, your daughter, the woman you love deeply, my best friend, and your mom.

Listening to American women citizens being referred to as incubators on the steps of the nation’s capitol, I felt for the first time to be a nonperson in my own country.

As a nonperson, I made the decision to reengage in the political process and tough journalism, at whatever the cost to myself.

I’m supporting Democratic candidate Aryanna Strader in her bid to unseat Republican Joe Pitts in the 16th district of Pennsylvania, because I believe in personhood for American women, men and children.

Knowing in advance that I will be criticized, it is time to say on behalf of millions of American women, that my life is not equal to that of a fertilized egg.

The very idea that Joe Pitts wants to give a multi-cell egg the same legal status as me terrifies me-- and not because I an un-American.

Up to Our Eyeball in Vaginal Probes

As American women, we are up to our eyeballs in vaginal probes, ultrasound legislation, and state mandates on exactly how our faces will be positioned to watch the ultrasound.

Our lives are details in the fine print. If we don’t like the government taking physical control of our heads and vaginas, we can close our eyes, suggested Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett. Or we can leave this country. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Republicans would call this physical takeover of women’s bodies fascism in another country. In America they call it divine-right nation patriotism, an obligation to obey a higher calling than city, state and federal laws and Supreme

Court decisions.

Joe Pitts works for God first, the people second and he will tell you that in no uncertain terms.

When Joe Pitts introduced HR 358 “Protect Life Act” in the fall of 2011, it was promptly renamed the “Let Women Die” bill, because it allowed hospitals that receive federal funds to turn away a woman suffering a miscarriage and requiring an abortion to save her life.

In a country where our Republican-led Supreme Court, ruled that women have a right to privacy that gives them access to contraception and early abortion, Joe Pitts HR 358 “Protect Life Act” sought to turn back this law further.

Presently, a woman suffering a miscarriage must be transferred to another hospital by a Catholic hospital that refuses to help her.

In one out of six hospitals in America-- health institutions now run by the Catholic bishops-- a grown woman with three kids and a loving husband would not be transferred to another hospital to save her life under HR 358. The bishops consider that act enabling an abortion for which punishment is hell.

The mother’s life meant nothing except condolences and prayers for her family’s healing in HR 358. Better a mourning husband and three kids with no mother, than an aborted fetus, is the Catholic Church’s position.

In less dramatic circumstances, a woman can’t have her tubes tied after giving birth, as a permanent form of birth control in these same Catholic hospitals. It is not her body to control, but rather that of God and the Catholic bishops.

Joe Pitts and his HR 358 bill reaffirmed the obvious to growing numbers of American women. The reality is that American women who are preoccupied with family, jobs and making the mortgage payment in a dreadful economy must now deal with government intervention into the very physicality of our bodies.

Stand here. Spread your legs. Shut up, woman. You have no rights; we’re focused on your fetus. This is now the American way in our Republican House of Representatives.

The man Joe Pitts, who chairs the committee that governs the life of every woman in America, is not focused on women’s health. He is focused on projecting your fertilized eggs. For the life of me, I don’t understand how-- in good faith-- laws are being written in this country that allow women to die, with the full knowledge that her fetus can’t survive without her.

A Measly 3% of Women

Pushing back against a chorus of outraged American citizens, the Joe Pitts crowd protested that only 3% of abortions in America are really and truly to save the life of the mother.

Let me share the same information with you through another lens. Guttmacher Institute estimates about 1.2 million annual abortions in America.

Can you imagine any other piece of legislation in Congress like Joe Pitts’ HR 351 that would slough off the deaths of 40,000 American women each year by denying them a legal, life-saving procedure in our hospitals?

Don’t tell American women with functioning brains that there is no Republican-led war on women-- with Joe Pitts at the front of the parade.

How many women dying in America’s emergency rooms are too many for the Joe Pitts crowd to say “Wow, guys. Maybe if it’s 50,000 women at risk, we should pull back. “ Would 75,000 women influence Joe Pitts? 100,000 women a year?”

Do American women need to take a reality check that we incubators with serious health problems are just collateral damage on your road to a theocracy?

Sanctity of Whose Life?

Do not talk to me about sanctity of life, because you are not focused on mine, as a living and breathing citizen of this country. These egregious anti-personhood for women laws wear no political label and apply to Republican, Democratic and Independent women alike.

I say that American women deserve a representative who supports our right to live in a state of safe guarantees of being treated in American hospitals. She is entitled to a happy, sexually fulfilled marriage that doesn’t require her to keep an aspirin between her legs at night, for fear of getting pregnant.

Whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, it’s time to stand for personhood for women as a higher priority than the alleged federal and state rights of fertilized eggs and zygotes-- a concept totally rejected by a Republican US Supreme Court four decades ago.

Next Up: Contraception

If you think only abortion rights are at stake, think again my friends. Pitts is committed to ending women’s rights to most hormonal contraception. In a Pitts world, you’re on the rhythm method – and I honestly don’t know if he seeks to regulate that aspect of the martial union or not.

Joe Pitts is a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act HR374, introduced on January 20, 2011, a bill that strikes at the heart of legal contraception.

You may know it as a personhood bill and you should be shaking in your sneakers over this legislation, also. Mitt Romney supports this bill.

In the midst of a really serious recession in America, where women and especially young, unmarried women should be having fewer babies or none at all, Joe Pitts wants to remove all impediments to pregnancy.

Incubators don’t decide when they want to have a baby. They provide life support 24 hours a day.

Joe Pitts wants to define life’s beginning as the moment when a human egg is fertilized, and seeks to do it under the 14th amendment, putting his vision of human rights directly opposed to the current legal interpretation of the 14th amendment. Women now have certain rights over their own bodies including birth control, as part of judicial interpretation of the 14th amendment.

It gets worse.

Utah’s Miscarriage Is A Felony Bill

Personhood bills make the state the enforcer of women’s bodies all through their pregnancy with potentially devastating consequences.

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate in February 2010 made it a crime-- a felony-- for a woman to have a miscarriage, as a result of “reckless behavior.” Lawyers agreed that a pregnant woman could be prosecuted for not wearing rubber-sole shoes on a rainy day, if she slipped, fell and suffered a miscarriage.

A courageous Republican governor refused to sign the Utah bill, knowing there weren’t enough votes for an override. Joe Pitts would support that bill.

South Dakota’s Justifiable Homicide Law

In South Dakota, a bill was introduced to make it justifiable homicide for one family to kill another one, in the act of abetting an abortion. It would be legal for a man to kill his wife, if she took their 15-year-old daughter to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota to get an abortion. Joe Pitts would support that bill, which was withdrawn after bloggers like myself went into a digital orbit of
screams.

The Joe Pitts crowd talks about how America has changed and they long for the good old Ozzie & Harriet days when everyone knew their place.

I agree that America has changed, but in a different way.

Increasingly women are being hunted all over America, as if we are not persons, not citizens with our own right to life.

The Silencing of Independent-Thinking American Women

Last week in Michigan, an elected representative, Lisa Brown, was silenced and called out of order for asking government to stay our of her vagina, when the word “vagina” is used in the legislation three times. Lisa Brown lost her right to free speech. It’s not on the record, but Joe Pitts probably supports that action-- and Michigan’s most restrictive to women’s rights legislation in the country.

Last weekend in Virginia, the newly-formed, financially successful Women’s Strike Force, founded by Republican Katherine Waddell as a bipartisan coalition to support pro-choice candidates in Virginia, was not allowed to sponsor a table at the state Republican convention. Organizers said the application was never received.

By now, American women know where we stand with the Joe Pitts crowd.

Bearing Dead Fetuses in Georgia

A few months ago, women were compared to cows in Atlanta, as a smarty-pants legislator explained that requiring a woman to carry a dead fetus until it aborted naturally was no different than what he witnessed on his own farm. Nature isn’t always fair but God never gives women a burden that we can’t bear.

The utter dehumanization of woman’s physical beings, with the state of Georgia’s demand that she carry a dead fetus in her body was abhorrent, frightening and disgusting to most American women.

The nightmare that women have witnessed in America in the last two years is only beginning.

My challenge isn’t that we wake up to what might happen to women in this country. I challenge all of us to believe that this bad dream will only escalate, as America grinds to a bureaucratic, political battle standoff that demands the unthinkable: return America to the 50s in order to execute God’s grand plan.

Whether the majority of American citizens want to live this way is inconsequential.

The people’s rights, and specifically women’s rights are not the concern of the Joe Pitts crowd. Lancaster district 16’s representative openly admits that he is a steward of the unborn, a greater priority than his own constituency.

Is Joe Pitts a Theocrat?

Being a responsible writer, I will say that there is no clear answer to this question.

There is no doubt that Joe Pitts is committed to ending abortion rights in America and he is prepared to sacrifice a large number of American women’s lives to achieve that goal.

Whether Joe Pitts-- like avowed dominionists Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Rick Perry-- believes in an American theocracy with the Bible being the source of law and order is unknown.

Since the late 1970s, Joe Pitts is a core member of The Family, a highly-- secretive elite Christian organization that consists of men in power worldwide.

Jeff Sharlet, called by Ann Coulter one of the stupidest journalists in America, lived in one of the Fellowship Foundation’s properties in Virginia and wrote the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.

The anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-free market ideology of The Family operates according to what they call “totalitarianism for Christ,” says Sharlet.

The group’s organization reflects standard right-wing fundamentalist politics; and its leaders praise Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot for the way they demanded complete loyalty.

There are no evident denials of this assertion by Sharlet about The Family but rather efforts to create context. Stalin and Hitler are extolled because of their abilities to persuade the general populace to follow their beliefs. These guys are admired for running a tight ship.

Family members who are willing to speak-- and that’s not many-- stress that the powerful people associated with The Family come from different faiths and are believers in the power of prayer.

I read Sharlet’s book earlier this week and it is a major who’s who of movers and shakers in the world. The assertions of regular prayer groups at the Pentagon and the Department of Defense are undisputed facts.

It was the job of Joe Pitts to turn that Republican-focused organization around, introducing family values and an anti-women’s rights agenda into The Family’s sphere of consideration.

I’m compelled to admit that Hillary Clinton has ties to The Family, and I would be remiss not to point out that fact.

Given the Secretary of State’s recent critique that American extremists like Joe Pitts are out to control women, I can’t honestly say that her associations with The Family have dampened her fight for women’s rights.

In Clinton’s words:

Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they all seem to. It doesn't matter what country they're in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress, they want to control how we act, they even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies.

Yes, it is hard to believe but even here at home we have to stand up for women's rights and reject efforts to marginalize any one of us because America needs to set an example for the entire world.

Daily Beast writer Lisa Miller agrees that The Family invites criticism because they maintain a closely guarded database of membership, issue no cards, and collect no official dues. When a journalist asked Michigan’s Bart Stupak about his connections to The Family and living at C Street, he replied “We don’t like to talk about that.”

Values Action Team

On arrival in Congress, Joe Pitts became chairman of the Values Action Team (VAT), a subgroup of the Republican Study Committee dedicated to coordinating legislation with the Christian right.

Tom DeLay organized the VAT after Focus on the Family founder James Dobson threatened to lead a walkout of religious organizations from the Republican party over its lack of action on curtailing abortion, school prayer, restricting gay rights, and school voucher aid.

After a federal judge ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Chester County courthouse in 2002, Congressman Pitts issued a statement saying “I think that religion and the Ten Commandments in particular should have a role in our public life.”

Pitts supported the Ten Commandments Defense Act HR 2045, which sought to return all rights to display the 10 Commandments on public buildings to the states.

In 2009 Pitts joined a friend of the court brief filed by Pat Robertson’s American Center of Law and Justice that recognized “the undeniable truth that our freedoms come from a source higher than the state.”

On the face of it, no individual position taken by Joe Pitts condemns my worst fears about him-- that he is a theocrat. He has me terrorized enough without my making up stories about him.

These unfolding, unsettling revelations about Pitts and his determination to let thousands of American women die unattended in America’s emergency rooms if their lives are in danger comes within the larger context of religion in American politics.

Religion and American Politics

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that in 1996 Americans were united with 42% of Republicans and Independents, and 44% of Democrats saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of politics.

In a March 2012 poll, 44% of Republicans still embraced that view, while 60% of Democrats and 58% of Independents say that churches are too involved in American politics.

51% of the Pew-surveyed public says that religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party, while the same poll found that only 41% believe secular liberals have too much control over the Democratic Party.

Another recent Pew Research report cites a plummeting decline in the belief in science among social conservatives, and we’re not only talking about evolution versus creationism.

Joe Pitts and “Christian Reconstructionism”

When one of my advisers on writing this essay about Joe Pitts sent me to his last-minute, cancelled appearance at a November 2002 conference on “Christian Reconstructionism,” I was stupefied.

“Christian Reconstructionism” seeks to impose Biblical law on America.

Did Joe Pitts just accidentally agree to take the podium because he was charged by his Values Action Team mission to outreach with all religious conservatives?

Did Joe Pitts not do his investigative homework or were Christian Reconstructionists well known to him as friends?

The Congressman suffered a terrible embarrassment a few weeks ago, with a belated response from his office to questions about Israeli-Palestinian relations.

The form letter from Joe Pitts’ office told his constituent:

"With the global war against terrorism, it is now incumbent on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasir Arafat to clamp down on Palestinian extremists that have perpetuated violence and to restart a peace process that has collapsed.”

Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about foreign affairs knows that Arafat has been dead for eight years and Sharon has been in a coma for six.

Is lack of attention to detail the reason why Joe Pitts had accepted an invitation to speak at a conference of the National Reform Association in Ephrata, Pa?

Adherents of this religious-political agenda favor establishing a rigid “Christian Reconstructionism” religious state in America. This form of theocracy is one of the most radical forms of Dominionism-- which says that Christians have a God-- given right to rule all earthly institutions in every nation of the world.

Republican candidates Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry embrace Dominionism. Christian right leader Ralph Reed has denounced it. Mike Huckabee is very closely linked to the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

Pitts bowed out as a speaker at the November 2002 event, only after Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked him if he really wanted to lend credibility to a group that “advocates extreme polities that run counter to our Constitution and the American way of life.”

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn was referring to the fact that one of Christian Reconstructionism’s chief advocates Rev. William Einwechter argued in a 1999 article that juvenile delinquents should be stoned to death. Another speaker at the event, Gary DeMar, asserted in a 1987 book that gay people, abortion doctors and people who seek abortions should be executed.

According to these religious beliefs the inflexible anti-abortion Joe Pitts was prepared to stand at the Ephrata, Pa event with a group embracing the execution of one in three Catholic women-- if the law was retroactive-- or almost 10 percent of American women.

This is not the view of men who believe in personhood for American women.

Isn’t it a bit chilling that Rev. Lynn was the one to persuade Joe Pitts to cancel his speaking engagement with the Einwechter-DeMar crowd with a public challenge?

On the subject of stoning American citizens, Daily Beast writer Michelle Goldberg wrote in January 2012 about Ron Paul’s Christian Reconstructionist Roots, which he doesn’t openly discuss.

This entire conversation seems preposterous-- except that once state legislatures are telling American women that we must bring a dead fetus in our body to term, anything is possible in America. All bets are off, and I don’t recognize the country I grew up in-– a town of 1000 people in Minnesota.

Stoning is Reconstructionists’ preferred method of execution because it is both biblical and fiscally responsible. Rocks are, in Christian Reconstructionist leader Gary North’s words, “cheap, plentiful, and convenient.”

Finding a True Spirit of Justice

2002 was the year that George Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered that curtains be draped over the naked breast of Spirit of Justice.

Lady Justice was commissioned in 1933 from sculptor C Paul Jennewein, along with the bare-chested, male counterpart Majesty of Law who was not curtained.

Many progressives and independents raised their eyebrows in 2002, mocking the irony of Ashcroft’s order to cover up the Spirit of Justice-– at the US Department of Justice.

Today John Ashcroft teaches Constitutional Law at televangelist Pat Robertson’s Regent University School of Law.

It’s the job of leaders like John Ashcroft to raise the academic credentials of the institution once rated a fourth-tier school by US News & World Report.

Every war needs revolutionary patriots and the law students of Regent University are deeply committed to a makeover for America.

Yes, John Ashcroft is another core member in The Family, writes Jeff Sharlet. John Ashcroft and Joe Pitts are long-time close friends, according to numerous Google citations.


Aryanna Strader: Estrogen Meets Testosterone

Why must the vast majority of Americans who believe there is too much religion in politics gamble with the future of women’s lives in a political environment that puts fertilized eggs on a higher list of respect than our own lives?

It’s my goal to shift PA’s 16th Congressional Race between Joe Pitts and Aryanna Strader into the national limelight, asking you to contribute to her campaign.

Only a comparatively small group of PA voters will decide the fate of millions of American women this November.

I respect the complexity of picking a candidate that truly represents the hearts and minds of this beautiful countryside and hardworking farmers and patriotic American families.

To better understand Aryanna’s community of voters, I will be meeting many of you on July 22 at Lancaster’s Food and Spirits Festival. My business partner and I will showcase a collection of ‘Spittin Out the Pitts’ Jewelry, created in support of Aryanna Strader’s candidacy and fundraising efforts.

There is no confusion about Democratic candidate Aryanna Strader. She does not belong to secret societies and wouldn’t be invited to join The Family. I doubt we will find her in Uganda, fomenting the execution of homosexuals, an action well-documented against evangelical ministers believed to be associated with The Family.

Aryanna Strader is a dream woman candidate, one of the most focused, goal-oriented, self-disciplined people I’ve met in a very long time. My own focus has been largely job creation and entrepreneurial success in America. But I know a great political candidate when I meet one.

The youngest of 10 children in a poor family, Aryanna rose above her roots to become a highly-decorated Iraqi veteran with strong support from Lancaster County’s Quaker community.

Aryanna is happily married with two children Donovan and Camryn, an MBA-credentialed wife and business partner to husband Dan Strader, and mom to their Shetland Sheepdog Brownie.

Did I tell you that Aryanna Strader is 29 years old? Quite frankly, the woman makes me dizzy. Aryanna is-- well-- magical, and a magnificent, earnest representative of the people of the 16th district.

Imagine PA’s conservative 16th district delivering the youngest member ever elected to the House of Representatives-- and a woman at that!! You will rewrite the history books.

Donors Needed

We are grateful that Blue America has chosen to elevate Aryanna’s visibility in her critical race to unseat Joe Pitts this November.

Many of my readers are Republicans and Independents, not only progressive Democrats. I consider myself to be an Independent and have been a registered Republican many years of my life. There is no place for women like me in today’s Republican party.

My appeal is to women and men across America to help fund Aryanna Strader’s race.

If you intend to vote for Mitt Romney but identity with the Republican women and men of Texas who are on record saying they will fund Planned Parenthood, rather than let Rick Perry shut down the organization, I ask you to contribute to Aryanna Strader’s campaign.

Defeating Joe Pitts will send a strong message to the Republican party about America’s priorities. Controlling women’s bodies should not be at the top of America’s to do list.

There is no reasoning with the far right wing, no compromise as in the years of the Hyde Amendment. Republican Joe Pitts has given me no choice but to become a maverick for American women.

Join our Spittin’ Sisters campaign to send Aryanna Strader where she belongs: the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.