Readers should know that the above post is the text of a press release from Karen England, Executive Director of the Capitol Resource Institute (Tom McClintock is a member of the board) and a local coordinator for Yes on 8.

http://blog.tommcclintock.com/2008/10/10/charlie-brown%E2%80%99s-extreme-anti-marriage-support/

Karen England is the driving force behind Prop 8 in our area and her non-profit organization is a recipient of "donations" from one of McClintock's state campaign committees. So what you have in effect is a campaign finance violation (mixing state campaign money with federal) legitimized by laundering the money through a England's non-profit because McClintock's "donation" bought England's supportive press release as sure as God made little green apples. Here is what CRI does: "CRI's mission is to educate and strengthen families and we do that by working to influence public policy. It's imperative that citizens join with us in staying up to speed on current legislation affecting family values!"

Regular readers here will not recognize the name of the blog poster who is undoubetdly affiliated with the McClintock Campaign in some fashion.

As to the content of the blog one wonders whether Ms. England really wants to eliminate abotion or she is interested in having a wedge issue to pursue her overall conservative social agenda. The rate of abortions in the United States has fallen substantially in recent years. There is no proof that outlawing abortions will reduce the rate; instead it will go underground. The better solution for those of us who really want to see abortions decline is to attack the root causes of unwanted pregnancies, just like the only effective long-term policy against drug use is to eliminate the root causes.

But people like Karen England want no part of that. She just wants a wedge issue to drive conservatives to the polls over and over again.

On October 7, 2008, a spokesperson for the McClintock campaign named Bill George made a claim to the Sacramento Bee that McClintock had given $51,000 out of his state campaign account named 2010 (for future political office runs) to "charity." Those donations occurred before the September 30th Quarterly filing deadline.

At the time the McClintock campaign had received multiple warning letters from the Federal Elections Commission that his numbers for his July statement were showing more outlay than income and requesting an accounting explanation.

One of those so- called "charity" donations went to the Capitol Resource Institute, a so - called "issues advocacy group" which lobbies the public on politics, directed by one Karen England, here today using the pen name "Cameron Powers."

The Capitol Resource Institute has on its board Rep. John Doolittle, Tom McClintock the perpetual carpetbagging candidate, State Sen. Sam Aanestad, and perpetual Doolittle supporter and McClintock blogger Ken Campbell.

Federal Law prohibits state campaign accounts from being used by candidates for Federal elections.

There was another so- called "charity" donation that went to another one of McClintock's campaign advisors and regular spokepersons, and a third went to a charity that was founded by a former VP of Chevron Oil, which has just made another large PAC donation to the McClintock campaign.

This is not the first time McClintock has dipped into his state accounts, he did it earlier during the primary when he gave his CARE Republic group, which does email fundraising solicitations, another so - called "charity" donation.

The reason the Republican Party is using wedge issues in this campaign is to avoid having to follow Federal campaign donor finance limits. Political advocacy groups masquerading as charitable non profits do not have the same donation limits. By tapping into these state accounts, which most people don't realize are chock full of lobbyist money from things like beer distributors, tobacco companies, drug companies, mortgage finance companies, greedy real estate developers, health insurance companies that are fighting reform tooth and nail, etc, politicians can take money from the very people that are helping their families fall apart, and try to look noble and concerned doing it.

Every week thousands of Americans file for bankruptcy because of medical costs.

Over a million American families have lost their house to a foreclosure, with more on the way.

In this nation, right now, people who just lost their jobs are looking at their children and wondering how they will FEED them, let alone clothe and shelter them.

It is no secret that President Bush, before he had to admit the nation teeters on the brink of financial DISASTER, pointed to a high rate of home "ownership" under his reign that supposedly proved that the economy was "robust." Well, yes, if you are laughing all the way to the Swiss bank accounts with the ill gotten gains of an inflated housing market you used to finance an illicit foreign war, because your budget ran up a massive deficit, you had to have the collateral, and could pretend that people holding crap mortgages about to blow up in their faces was the sign of something. I refer to it as a sign of wickedness. The Bush crime family syndicate will always take care of Bush. Who takes care of the rest of us ?

It is difficult to convince the general population to continue to vote against their own self interest and well being, but it can be done by a skillful and cynical manipulation of public sentiment repeated every November by the so- called "family' values crowd.

So far this election, the Democrats have offered us a man named Charlie Brown, who has spent his life in public service first defending his country from military threat and now defending his country from the highway robbers masquerading as some sort of ersatz Civil War re- enactor crossed with a tent revivalist.

The Republicans have offered us a perpetual grifter who can't even vote for himself, and who doesn't even live in the district, who courts and solicits the support of blatant racists and bigots and swiftboaters, who have been posting garbage on the Placeropolis sites for months under various pseudonyms.

I am not a professional writer and was not paid to write this, but at least I live in the district and know that the people here can't afford another never seen and arrogant, do- nothing Congressman.

Miuwtant: While you are clearly not a professional writer, you are also clearly a hard-core liberal.

All of the Charlie Brown supporters are hard-core liberals. Amazing given his pretense of being a moderate or even a conservative Democrat!

Why are all of these liberals so hot for Charlie?

Recent quotes from "Yes on Prop 8" director, Karen England:

- "Every parent should have the assurance that their child will not be exposed Communist brainwashing in their classroom. In addition to approving such brainwashing, Democrat lawmakers also decided that children's safety is not as important as their radical political agenda. They rejected their chance to protect students from terrorists infiltrating their schools."

- "...apparently he [Gov. Schwarzenegger] doesn't want to be the governor of all the people -- just the gay, lesbian, transgender caucus people in California,"..."And he's going to force this on all of us, from north to south."

- "Parents should be outraged that California legislators want to allow Communists unfettered access to our children," stated England. "... their teaching will certainly include instruction on how to overthrow the Bill of Rights-especially the freedoms of speech and religion."

- “For California families, there is no other political issue this election as important as saving marriage.

- "the law bans discriminatory bias... having ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ [in school textbooks] promotes a discriminatory bias."

Yup. She's nuttier than squirrel sh!t.

Miuwtant __ in re: the name "Cameron Powers;" author Felice Picano observes:

"Cameron Powers' name went from "Cammy," which others most often used; to "Cameron of Sulleyville," a town not far from where Powers had grown up in Mississippi; to "Sulley," and, owing to some unknown youthful homosexual incident, to "Sulky" - with an occasional reference to "Miss Sulks" or "The Sulky-sultry One."

___

note: Felice Picano is a much translated and best-selling author of twenty books of fiction, poetry, memoirs and other nonfiction. His plays have been produced Off- Broadway, around the US and abroad. Considered a founder of gay literature, Picano started the Sea Horse Press and Gay Press of New York. His new novel, The Book of Lies (Alyson Press), comes out this fall.

Reactions to Karen's post reveal a key element of the Brown campaign: distraction. The more powerful the message, the more quickly they set about trying to change the subject.

Brown supporters are either irrationally obsessed with blogger's names (so much so that this reader sometimes thinks they should be on a therapist's couch instead of furiously typing away on a computer), or more likely this: they are desperately trying to deflect readers from the important issues voters face in the upcoming election.

Is it possible that there is more than person in the world named Cameron Powers? Yes.

We are seven days away from the most critical election of our lifetime. Focus.

To clarify, when I stated "Karen's post" in the above comment, I was referring to a letter written by Karen that I posted on my blog site. I am not Karen England, in fact I have never met her, or even spoken to her. I'm writing this to "head off at the pass" the multitude of distraction posts that will otherwise inevitably follow...

Hmmm...values...would those be the values of greed, selfishness, and deception? That's what I see when the word Republican appears. Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, among others, must be rolling in their graves with shame.

Wouldn't those "values" actually be your sectarian religious belief about when life begins or a fetus is "ensouled?" The Torah, for example, differs on when a fetus becomes fully human.

And wouldn't the issue of removing civil rights from a tiny despised minority be forcing sectarian fundamentalist religious law on a secular nation? We are mainstream Christians and have no problem with gays, just as Christ had no problem with them.

___

First they came for the homosexuals and I didn’t speak up

because I wasn’t a homosexual.

Then they came for the Muslims and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t Islamic.

Then they came for the political dissenters and I didn’t speak up,

because I didn't want to be a troublemaker.

Then they came for me;

but there was no one was left to speak up.

Christian Voters Being Had by Tom McClintock?

"The James Hartline Report has uncovered one of the biggest examples of hypocrisy in the history of California's Christian Conservative movement. It is by far one of the most insidious examples of a conservative values advocacy group using the 'homosexual agenda' issue as a rallying point for the Republican Party during an election year.

"The revelation from this investigation will be painful and it will be hurtful for many in the Christian communities of California, but it is a necessary casualty of a culture war where Christian voters are nothing more than voting prey for many Republican leaders who have no intention of ever legislating the Christian values that they promise to these unsuspecting lambs on the campaign trail."

Executive Director Karen England and her Capitol Resource Institute "have become a powerful force in articulating conservative issues in Sacramento and most families in California can be thankful for the hard work of the group. However, the James Hartline Report has discovered that CRI may be doing more damage to the cause of representing Christian values in the California state capitol than anyone could possibly have ever imagined. In fact, an upcoming event coordinated by CRI has revealed evidence of flat out deception by England's group.[...]"

"Why Karen England would have these types of advisers on the board of a Christian Conservative organization is baffling. "

"Unless, of course, the real motive of the organization is, in fact, not promoting Christian values in the state capitol, but rather the political leaders of the Republican Party who need the support of Christian voters to get elected."

(reprinted from James Hartline Report exclusive, 08-19-06)

Do any politicians serve on the Board of Directors of the Capitol Resource Institute? Well, yes. Sen. Tom McClintock and Rep. John Doolittle.

Also Rep. Barbara Alby (ret), Sen. Sam Aanestad, Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, Rep. Rick Keene, Sen. Tim Leslie (ret), Rep. Doug LaMalfa, Sen. George Runner, Rep. Karen Runner, and Sen. Mark Wyland. One more thing, CRI is a tax exempt organization.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED!