ProgressOhio

...until you consider the origins of Mother's Day.

Julia Ward Howe, who penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic, also authored a mothers' Declaration calling on women to oppose war, and worked to get recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace. Says Code Pink: "Were she alive today, Julia probably would have told her kids to dispense with the roses and chocolates, and instead join her in an anti-war rally. Yes, Julia Ward Howe was a peacenik."

[Howe] saw some of the worst effects of the [civil] war -- not only the death and disease which killed and maimed the soldiers. She worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides of the war, and realized that the effects of the war go beyond the killing of soldiers in battle. She also saw the economic devastation of the Civil War, the economic crises that followed the war, the restructuring of the economies of both North and South.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe took on a new issue and a new cause….She called in 1870 for women to rise up and oppose war in all its forms. She wanted women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, and commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts. She issued a Declaration, hoping to gather together women in a congress of action.

Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but her effort was carried on by Anna Jarvis, who had organized women during the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and then toward reconciliation of Union and Confederate neighbors.

Jarvis’ daughter, of the same name, then took up the campaign for Mother’s Day. After the custom spread to 45 states, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day in 1914.

Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Maybe Pryce, Schmidt, Tiberi, Chabot, Boehner, Regula, LaTourette, Hobson, and Turner have a thing against moms. But YOU can make this Mother's Day a Mother's Day For Peace.

Help CodePink help Iraqi refugee moms here.

Send a MomsRising Mother's Day card and tell the presidential candidates to fight for family-friendly policies. here.

Oh and don't forget to call the Congressional Switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 to give the above members of Congress a piece of your mind about H.R. 1113.

Do you have another suggestion for honoring Julia Ward Howe's Mothers' Declaration? Are you a mom working for peace? Leave a comment below.

We received this today from our friends at ACORN: 

Project Vote Statement on Supreme Court Hearing of Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board

On Wednesday, January 9, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board. The case is about the constitutionality of Indiana's law requiring voters to show government issued photo identification before casting their ballots. Crawford plaintiffs argue that Indiana's strict photo identification requirements disenfranchise minorities and are unconstitutional. A federal appellate judge has written that the law likely burdens those "low on the income ladder." Donna Massey, Project Vote Board Member and supporter of voting rights, issued this statement:

"With Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board, the Supreme Court has an opportunity to strike down a law that has no purpose other than to suppress the votes of minority and low-income Indianans. According to Census data, fewer than half of eligible minority and low-income Americans voted in 2006.  Our democracy works best when all voters can easily register and voice their choice on Election Day. Americans have a right to vote, even if they don't have a photo ID.

"Strict photo ID laws for voters are really about denying certain Americans of their right to vote. Research shows that young, poor, minority and elderly voters are more likely to lack photographic identification. A University of Washington study, for example, found that in Indiana 22 percent of African American voters lack proper identification compared to 16 percent of white voters. Twenty-one percent of voters earning less than $40,000 a year lack the necessary ID compared to just 13 percent of those earning more than $40,000. The only reason politicians support these laws is to give their party an advantage over the other.

"Requiring voters to show photo ID is just one of many hurdles partisans put up to make it more difficult for certain people to vote.  Too many minority voters are met at their polling places with long lines, partisan challengers, faulty equipment and needlessly strict ID requirements. The right to vote has been under assault for the past eight years by partisans who put winning their interests above the right to vote.

"Strict photo ID laws are a solution in search of a problem. There is no evidence of widespread fraudulent voting in this country. Indiana even acknowledged that there hasn't been a single case of voter impersonation in the state's history. Americans take voting seriously and do not misrepresent themselves at the polls, so politicians shouldn't misrepresent the facts to justify unnecessarily strict photo ID laws for voters.

"As the country's premiere nonpartisan voter registration organization, Project Vote wants to make sure that the Americans we help register to vote can vote and have their votes counted on Election Day. Nothing should come between Americans and their right to vote."

It's time Ohio began rewarding the new generation of military veterans by providing them bonuses, much the way it gave back to veterans dating to World War I, State Treasurer Richard Cordray wrote in a letter delivered Monday to state legislators.

Cordray seeks a ballot issue that would ask voters to amend the state constitution to allow the state to issue bonds to pay for the bonuses. The state would pay about $106 million in bonuses to veterans of the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan wars if the Legislature and voters approve the idea, Cordray said. Ohio traditionally has used the ballot to pay such bonuses and they would cost taxpayers nothing.

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Massachusetts are among the states offering bonuses to veterans who served in the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. New Hampshire offered bonuses to Gulf War veterans.

CORDRAY’S PROPOSAL:

• Up to $1,000 for military personnel who served in the Persian Gulf War and in current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan

• Up to $500 to those serving elsewhere during the same timeframes

• $5,000 to families of those killed in action, in addition to other allowable benefits

"While modest, these benefits recognize the service of our war veterans and help with their transition back to civilian life," Cordray said.

Click here to express your support for Cordray's proposal and for Ohio's veterans.

“Ohio’s tradition of honoring the sacrifices of soldiers who served during periods of major conflicts defines our state’s history as well as its geography,” Cordray noted. Veterans have been rewarded through land grants, relief for their families, and voter-approved bond amendments:

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: Large tracts of the Northwest Territory, which later became the state of Ohio, were districts reserved to compensate veterans. This practice continued from 1776 through 1855.

CIVIL WAR: In 1862, a state property tax was levied to create a fund “for the relief of the necessities of the families of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates.”

WORLD WARS I & II, KOREAN AND VIETNAM WARS: Ohio issued bonds through separate voter-approved amendments to the state’s constitution in order to provide compensation to its veterans.

Under Cordray's plan, the Legislature would decide whether to put the amendment on the ballot next year. If lawmakers decline, Cordray could circulate petitions seeking voter signatures to place the amendment on the ballot.

Rep. Peter Ujvagi, a Toledo Democrat and advocate of veterans' issues, on Tuesday began looking for co-sponsors of a resolution that would authorize the amendment for the ballot.

While Americans remain divided by the Iraq war, the bonus program offers Ohioans a chance to weigh in on how returning veterans are treated, Cordray said. "This is very much Ohio's tradition. I'd like to believe this generation has the same commitment that previous generations have had," he said.

Click here to express your support for Cordray's proposal and for Ohio's veterans.

To read the full text of the proposed amendment, a cost analysis, and background on previous veterans’ ballot issues and military bonuses in Ohio, go to www.ohiotreasurer.gov

Progress Ohio sent out an email Monday that reminded our members to vote. We also asked you to tell us about your election day experience: how long did it take you to vote? What identification did you show? Did you vote by mail or on a machine? 

The stories are in. We received responses from all over the state – Hamilton, Cuyahoga, Montgomery, Coshocton, and Belmont Counties, just to name a few. Voting experiences were diverse, ranging from reports that "voting was flawless," to reports of machine failure, to observations that the law passed by the Ohio legislature last year is illegal and creates more problems than it solves.

We have forwarded all the reports (names, addresses and email addresses removed) to the Secretary of State's Voting Rights Institute. We've also sent them to the Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS), a joint project of the Lawyer's Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, and People For The American Way.

There were many reports that voting went smoothly – there were no lines and the machines worked fine. Those who said they voted early or by mail were unanimously positive about their experience. 

Franklin County:

Great! I voted last weekend via absentee ballot and it works out for me just fine. My wife had not voted for over 30 years. She has now voted in every election since the absentee ballot became available without having to state a reason.

Seneca County:

The last time I voted in person at the polling place was in 2004.  It is so much more convenient to vote an absentee ballot.  No lines, no bad weather, and plenty of time to think about your choices.  My husband and I both vote by mail. 

One Cuyahoga county polling place did not open on time, and as a result at least one voter left without voting:

I arrived at the voting location at 6:22 am.  I was not allowed to come into the warm area in the entrance of the library until 6:28 am.  Then I waited and waited.  It was 6:52 am when I made the decision to leave and not vote since I was already going to be late for work. 

I thought there were going to be contingency plans in place to ensure that people can vote.  Last year's experience was an opportunity to learn lessons.  Obviously, this is being ignored.

If you want people to vote - do what you say - open the polls at the time you specify. 

Facility problems were also an issue: 

Hamilton County:

Very few signs. Would have been hard to find If I hadn't voted there before.

Thick cloud of cigarette smoke to walk through to enter polling place because of employees smoking in doorway. Inside of building was smokey, too.

No voting booths -- had to sit at a table with no privacy to fill out optical scan ballots.

Franklin County:

 

Actually, because we are NOW Voting at the Aladdin Shrine Center, 3850 Stelzer Rd., Columbus, OH 43219 there were no problems.  However, since we had to enter towards the BACK of the building, the marked DISABILITY PARKING is ONLY TOWARDS the very FRONT of this building! It's VERY NICE not to vote in a building that smells like a FLOOD!

 

 

Other voters reported machine malfunction:

Cuyahoga County:

My brother and I arrived at the polling location at 6:25 am. There were a few people ahead of us. There was a good feeling in the air. That changed when I and several other people at my precinct had difficulty or were unable to vote due to bad card reads. The polling place volunteer put the card in the reader several times, I and several other people would take the card to the voting machine and it would pop out saying bad read or dead card.

It was going on 6:45 am when the polling place volunteer walked over to another precinct in the voting hall and had to use one of their cards.

There were 4 cards they tried and 3 of them were "dead" according to the machine and volunteer.

Cuyahoga County:

 

Touch screen. no paper trail. I stopped, told worker and was directed to another machine.  Hope machine was corrected or shutdown.

 

Voters presented utility bills, driver’s licenses, and bank statements at the polls due to the new (as of 2006) requirement that all voters show ID at the polls. One Clermont voter commented: 

 

I heard many comments on needing voter ID, no one seemed happy about that.  One poll worker, the one in charge of precinct B at Pierce Township replied "Don't you remember all of the complaints about Ohio in '04, this is the solution."  I'm not sure anyone believed that was the case!

 

Lucas County:

I did have to present an Ohio driver's license and then voted on a computerized machine from Diebold.We did not receive a copy of our voting record but were able to view it.I vocalized my belief in the illegality of requiring voter ID as well as not providing the voter with a paper trail,all for naught I am sure.

Franklin County:

I brought 3 forms of ID this year because of last year's problems. And it was a good thing I did. A pollworker rejected my driver's license because it had my old address. I knew she was in the wrong, but I didn't feel like arguing. I showed her a current utility bill. Voters who either weren't as prepared as me, or who didn't know the ins and outs of Ohio Revised Code Section 3505.18 like I do, might have been disenfranchised today. Even if we all agreed that ID should be required at the polls (and we don't!), it's a bad law - complicated and confusing to both pollworkers and voters. I can't wait to elect a new state legislature in '08 and overturn House Bill 3!

 We also asked members to tell us why they vote:

Franklin County:

I voted because local elections are very important as they decide issues that affect a person every day such as quality of education, trash pickup, etc.

 

Stark County:

 

Well, "of course" one votes.  Like, I want a different form of government?  NOT !!

 

Almost everyone who voted in person yesterday noted that there were very few people voting yesterday.  While the short (or non-existent) lines helped make election day go smoothly for many voters, one Belmont County voter commented:

 

I voted around 5:00 this evening and was expecting to wait in line because of people voting after they got off work.  I got right in--no problems and no lines.  One of the poll workers told me that I was the youngest person he'd seen all day (I'm 21 and polls close in two hours ).  How sad.

 

Please keep the stories coming! Click here to let us know how Election Day 2007 went for you. To be part of the public dialogue, please feel free to leave a comment below.

If our democracy is sacred, why is politics such a dirty word?

Because power trumps principle, and fear buys votes. 

It’s a sad truth.  Power corrupts.  Not overtly, but in a seeping quiet shadow of dimming light. Most folks of influence begin with a pure heart, but they quickly learn the efficacy of the art of hate.  

The Attack ads we endure prior to each election are beyond shameful.  Political media “experts” spend millions of dollars, crafting demonic images of their opponents.  They Photoshop faces in dark shadow, play ominous music, use devilish voice-overs, and twist even the most innocent statements into apocalyptic terms.  No one likes these tactics.  Candidates hate them as much as the voters. But the fact is they work.  Psychologist Carl Jung taught “fear is the greatest of all motivators.”  People will move away from what they fear much faster than they will reach out for what the desire.   Its human nature and the power elite knows it.  

We must fight the fear.  We must reject the cries for hate used to buy our votes.  

Religious institutions also have a long sordid history of using hate and persecution to grow their membership, fill their coffers, and wield political power.  Powerful preachers use the pulpit to strike fear in our hearts, crying “The End is Near!” It might be the end of the church, the end of our way of life, the end of biblical prophesy, or even aliens riding by on comets.   The “What” we are to fear constantly changes, but the message remains the same. They know if we buy into this perception of attack, we will join their ranks and fight. And when we do, they remain on their thrones.  

Here in Ohio folks are all in a stew over illegal immigration these days.  Excuse me?  When I walk down the street I see nothing but white folks in Dockers pushing strollers to the mall.  If not for the giant propaganda machine of the far-right-elite-power-structure, this would be a non issue in this part of the country.  It is a function of fabricated hysteria designed to buy votes with the currency of fear and hate.  Why can’t people see that? 

Lady Liberty is a symbol and beacon of light to the world.  She represents all that is good and right in the structure of our government. She represents the ideal that a melting pot of people made up of different cultures and religions can in fact, live together in peace and harmony.

What a beautiful concept.

This principle is our gift to the world, and the standard we must learn to live by.   But alas, we struggle.  With each generation, we lose sight of the lessons of the past. With each decade we face the same old prejudices again and again.

Saturdays Dispatch featured an editorial by yours truely.  I am pleased as punch to see The Dispatch publish progressive opinion.  If you get the chance, thank them.

 And for those of you who missed it, heres the complete text:

 George F. Will’s editorial of Monday June 11, “Fearing the facts, Democrats shun their usual rhetoric on the economy” was a real humdinger.  He tossed around numbers like a half-drunk poly-sci student trying to impress a bunch of girls in a bar.

 Well.  I may be “just a middle class mom” but I know a shell game when I see one.  His hoodwinking punditry for Bush-enomics omits one tiny little detail.  The fact is our federal government reported a 214 billion dollar deficit last year compared to the $236 billion dollar surplus we had when Clinton left office.

By comparing the borrowing habits of the two parties over the years, it is clear the big spenders in Washington are the Republicans. During the past half century, Republican presidents have increased the national debt an average of 9.7% per year while Democrat presidents have kept their spending to a tight fisted 3.2% per year.  Republicans consistently out borrow and out spend Democrats three to one, while telling us they are doing just the opposite. 

 

Will sarcastically mimics his critic’s complaints that “wealth is not being distributed in accordance with the laws of God or Nature or liberalism or something.”  When the fact is, GOP control makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.  Will doesn’t think we should care about that.  The truth is during the Clinton administration more middle class Americans became millionaires than at any other time in our countries history.  That’s the American Dream folks, and what we should be voting for.

 

Clinton did this while reducing our debt by $114 billion dollars during his term.  He had a straight forward, down home policy on money management.  If you cut taxes, you make a corresponding spending cut - Pay as you go.  The same way I manage my budget at home.  In my house we don’t spend more than we earn.  Period.  I don’t go on million dollar shopping sprees like a con man with a credit card, and then explain it by saying I am boosting our family net worth by passing the bill off on my kids.  That’s crazy.  This Republican policy of Paris Hilton money management is nothing but supply side voodoo for the rich.  It will leave our children with massive debt and destroy the middle class.  It is not a legacy I am willing to live with, and neither should you.

In Mondays Dispatch, Washington Post Columnist George F. Will wrote a scathing editorial denouncing democratic economic policy.  He tells us the economy did not grow during early part of the Bush presidency because "He inherited the debris of the 1990's irrational exuberances."  He goes on to throw out all sorts of numbers to solidify his position that Democrats are "economic hypochondriacs" while defending the wisdom of Bushonomics.

I politely beg to differ.

Below is the article I sent to The Columbus Dispatch in response. Feel free to forward or share as you see fit:  

The Paris Hilton School of Economic Policy 

George F. Will’s editorial of Monday June 11, “Fearing the facts, Democrats shun their usual rhetoric on the economy” was a real humdinger.  He tossed around numbers like a half-drunk poly-sci student trying to impress a bunch of girls in a bar. 

Well.  I may be “just a middle class mom” but I know a shell game when I see one.  His hoodwinking punditry for Bush-enomics omits one tiny little detail.  The fact is our federal government reported a 214 billion dollar deficit last year compared to the $236 billion dollar surplus we had when Clinton left office.   

By comparing the borrowing habits of the two parties over the years, it is clear the big spenders in Washington are the Republicans. During the past half century, Republican presidents have increased the national debt an average of 9.7% per year while Democrat presidents have kept their spending to a tight fisted 3.2% per year.  Republicans consistently out borrow and out spend Democrats three to one, while telling us they are doing just the opposite.   

Will sarcastically mimics his critic’s complaints that “wealth is not being distributed in accordance with the laws of God or Nature or liberalism or something.”  When the fact is, GOP control makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.  Will doesn’t think we should care about that.  The truth is during the Clinton administration more middle class Americans became millionaires than at any other time in our countries history.  That’s the American Dream folks, and what we should be voting for. 

Clinton did this while reducing our debt by $114 billion dollars during his term.  He had a straight forward, down home policy on money management.  If you cut taxes, you make a corresponding spending cut - Pay as you go.  The same way I manage my budget at home. 

In my house we don’t spend more than we earn.  Period.  I don’t go on million dollar shopping sprees like a con man with a credit card, and then explain it by saying I am boosting our family net worth by passing the bill off on my kids.  That’s crazy.  This Republican policy of Paris Hilton money management is nothing but supply side voodoo for the rich.  It will leave our children with massive debt and destroy the middle class. 

It is not a legacy I am willing to live with, and neither should you.  

Mrs. Kelley L. Wenzlaff

Powell, Ohio

www.momforthehouse.com