Great Job Everyone!
Dec 01, 11:12 AM CST
Congrats everyone. Jeff Fortenberry says he is going to give the $4,000 in campaign contributions he received from Duke Cunningham to the Lincoln People’s City Mission. You can read about it in this Omaha World Herald article.
I know several reporters who called Fortenberry’s office yesterday after getting our press release about the petition. They were asking him repeatedly if he was going to donate the money. Your efforts led to his donation to a worthy charity!
Even though Fortenberry complied with our request, there is still more to be done. He still has not given up the $20,000 in contributions from Tom Delay. Please continue to sign the petition and tell your friends to as well!
www.nebraskademocrats.org/dotherightthing
You made a difference yesterday. Not only did your actions bring attention to Fortenberry’s connection to the culture of corruption in the Republican Party, but it ended with the People’s City Mission receiving a plump donation just in time for the holidays.
For those of you who don’t know much about the mission, it is a homeless shelter that is filled to maximum capacity. One of my last stories as a reporter was at the Mission this summer. The Director told me requests to stay there were skyrocketing, in part due to an increase in the number of women and children leaving domestic abuse situations with nowhere else to go.
Because of you, those families in need will have a better holiday season. Great job!
– by amanda | Send this to a friend
— Linda J. Dageforde Dec 01, 02:12 PM CST #
Alito wrote that he saw no constitutional problem with a police officer shooting and killing an unarmed teenager who was fleeing after a $10 home burglary.
“I think the shooting [in this case] can be justified as reasonable,” Alito wrote in a 1984 memo to Justice Department officials.
Click on my name for Digby’s commentary and a link to the original article.
— Cowpunk Dec 04, 01:03 PM CST #
We listened to him for approximately 45 minutes. He covered things from prescription drugs, tourism, gambling, fighting chemical dependancy, and state spending.
His explanation against casino gambling was very well thought out and he made some good points. His reasoning basically outlined why casinos do more harm than good. He said 30% of casino income goes to Las Vegas. He also said that 5-6% of the addicted gamblers provide 50% of the casinos income. Casinos were described by him as a business that doesn’t produce any goods or services and is simply just a redistribution of wealth. He also asked the question of “If council bluffs has all this extra income from casinos, why have they raised taxes three times since they have been around?”
To get some tourism out west, he would like to develop a strategy to have more farm land be hunter friendly. Hunter friendly as in more birds and animals to hunt. Ideas such as not mowing certain areas and basically creating a better habitat for these animals to come around. Creating a good hunting environment to attract others from other states was his goal.
He pointed out that state spending increases about 7% a year, while the economy only grows 2-4%. He mentioned a tax increase that was passed awhile ago, that ‘they’ were going to get rid of once it wasnt needed, but instead they just worked the spending into the budget. He wants to save the state money in a few areas and try to generate it in others. He wants an audit system involving a private party taking place to make sure that state government is working efficiently.
(I dont know how state spending got up there, i thought we had “conservatives” running the show. I guess i was wrong. Then again if they are as fiscally conservative as our president…im not at all suprised)
He is for importing prescription drugs from canada. He voted FOR that initiative when it hit the house, even though it didnt pass.
Part of saving the state money is fighting chemical dependancy. His example included a person who was addicted to meth, and they put this individual in jail for 12-16 months. He said this causes a chain reaction in that it ruins the family, takes this person out of work affecting their household income, and costs the state $25,000 per addict per year to keep them in jail. He also said that a meth addict will commit 40-60 crimes per year to support their habit. He would like a treatment option that gets these individuals to check in a few times a week and subject themselves to drug testing. That way they are clean and can maintain a job, instead of being unemployed and in jail.
Anyway that is a very quick version of what he had to say.
— Jon Mehuron Dec 05, 12:29 PM CST #