The Lloyd House Virtual Salon: January 2006

Our Salon blog is a promising interactive site: http:lloydhouse.blogspot.com . Without joining anything, you can respond to the current Weekly. Also we have a Yahoo Group. See the end of this email for details. ellen

Salon Weekly

~ In 4 Color Coded Sections:

Table Notes
Announcements (this week sent out separately yesterday)
Articles
Books, Reviews, Magazines

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Section One: Table Notes

The Most Explosive tablediscussion since the controversy over rules about using the "n" word tookplace Monday. Is there a limit to how freely we feel we can express ourselvesat the table given that I, Ellen, take voluminous notes which are publishedin this extremely porous medium? How damaging would it be to our individualand group spirits to bow to fears of potential government surveillance? Howdamaging to the considerable interest the Weekly attracts from ourmore than 500 readers? We could leave out the attribution of comments tospecific names, but this diminishes the personal touch which is part of ourcharm, as well as being repugnant as surrendering to vague fears. On theother hand, Alan pointed out that in the former East Germany fully 30% ofthe country was engaged in spying on and informing about the other 70%, andthis was just a few years ago.
Someone sent me a forwarded jingoist/militarist email this week showing photos of beleaguered American troopsexperiencing hardship conditions in Iraq. The message was "Support our troops". The implied message was, "Don't criticize the administration because thesesoldiers are over there suffering for us." The nation becomes increasinglypolarized. On the point of being confirmed to the Supreme Court (if theSenate agrees) is Alito who has made it a crusade of his for years to rollback many Warren court decisions including Roe v. Wade (making abortion legal). For myself, I am ready to sacrifice my comfort, my money, even ultimatelymy life for the ideal of government "for, of, and by the people", but I surelywould want my sacrifice to "count" and would not want to fritter it awaycarelessly.
We voted, and decided we would delete the entire questionablediscussion from the published rendition of the Table Notes this week, andfocus our attention on this puzzle next week. Come help us figure it out. Also, please send me your thoughts about 1 ) how significant it feelsto you, the reader who does not appear in the room, to know who was present? 2) How significant it is to you, in terms of your interest in the Weekly to know which of the salonistas said which comment in the Table Notes? 3)Do you know any way to publish the Table Notes that would not be open tothe scrutiny of any interested party with appropriate internet scanning software? 4) What you think about the Weekly in general, what you think its value is in our community, and how you might solve this problem?

So... here, for the first time, is an expurgated version of the Table Notes:

At the Table on Monday, _1/23/06_:Shari Able, Mira Rodwan, Mike Murphy, Janet Kalven, Gary Weiss, Robyn Repasky,Dallas Fish, Marvin Kraus, Gerry Kraus, Vlasta Molak, David Rosenberg, EllenBierhorst. Jennifer Leake, Kerry Conte, Chad Benjamin Potter, Alan Bern, Steve Sunderland, (Welcome Kerry!)

Topics Nominated:

Mike has brought 10 new books for the lending library. Illusions and Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach, Nicholas Kristoph and Cheryl Wu Dung China Wakes, struggle for the soul of a rising power. Travelog.
Lasagna Gardening: a new layering system for bountiful gardens no weeding no tilling by Patricia Lanza.
Sorrows of Empire by Johnson.
America¹s Secret War the inside struggle by Geo. Friedman. Pro empire.
Freedom from Fear by Kyi, a bermese woman, 1991. Under house arrest 20 years.
Collapse, how societies choose to fail or succeed by Jared Diamond of ³Guns Germs and Steel² fame.
Street Reclaiming, creating livable streets and vibrant communities by David Engwicht.

Song: ³The Greenwood Tree² round (our best number)
Preamble read by David Rosenberg.

Julie Murray, dropped off Xerox cc on city Link. in West End.
Gerry: Mallory had a letter in the Herald saying it is good, would encourage econ. devel.
Chad Benjl: by moving the welfare facilities out of OTR it would encoragedevelopment of middle class housing in the down town area.
Marvin: ... Laurel Homes has been rebuilt; beautiful. Low income and market housing combo. Ezzard Chas. Dr. Behind City Hall.
And relocate social service facilities to the West End. Also transitionalhousing, like for ex prisoners etc. I would not want it in my neighborhood. I do not believe you should concentrate all services in one place. Thesolution is dilution. am opposed to City Link because it is a concentration.
Gerry: I believe in self determination. Most of the peoplewho live in the West End and Dayton St. Historic dis. are strongly opposedto it. If I lived in OTR I would probably be in favor of it because it wouldremove some of the negative elements.
Mike: if concentratingservices in one place a bad idea, what would be better? You said dilutionis the solution. Can you describe?
Marvin: let¹s make this a topic.

Chad Benj:state of Oh has a solar panel rebate program. Multi family up to 500,000. One family get $25,000 rebate. Grant applications will be accepted startingFeb 1. Also have grants for businesses. See ohio.gov. First Solar in Toledoone of the top ten mfgrs. in the world. (see lnk to a web site for thisunder Announcements )

David: do you mean a photo voltaic cell?
Chad Benj: yes.

Mira: any body recognize? we were offered a truce from Osama, and Bush said no.

David: from the Guardianthe U of Chicago measuring the carb. dioxied to produce our food. You savemore by becoming a vegan than by buying a hybrid car.

Gerry: Finalize the salon button. Mock up.
Kurtvonnegut has a new book. Interviewed. Asked if any of his predictionsactually happened? He said yes. Everything has come to pass.
Mira Cinti has 11th worst air quality in the US. Cinergy is the big offender.

TOPICS

Alan: 60 min last night on the Canada oil sands.
Gary Jarred Diamond. Collapse.
City Links
Osama¹s truce offer
Canadian oil sands

Discussion:

MiraAl Jezeera put out the word. Was accompanied by threat of another hit onthe US in planning. I believe it said if we stop interfearing with Muslimlands ... the word truce was mentioned. If we got out, he wouldn¹t strike. I¹m not sure. Bush said, ³We don¹t negotiate with terrorists.²
Alan:I know just a little. I noticed there was a conspicuous lack of good reportingof the details on this story ... hard to find on the web, but it is there. Said Œwe are preparing another bad strike, but we are prepared to offera truce if US will exit Muslim lands.¹ My reading is that it was like theplre election aplpeal last year. ŒWe have nothing against the people ofthe US, our quarrel is with the gov¹t.² Bush¹s popularity went up afterthis.

Steve an Islamic scholar perspective: before a Muslimstarts a jihad they must offer truce to the enemy. So this could be sucha thing.

Mike: they quoted Saladin as having offered truces. The Turkish Ottoman ruler who drove crusaders out of Jerusalem.

Gary:the text of Bin Laden¹s statement is on the NY Times web site. Osama doesn¹twrite for us in America but for his power base ... and to the liberals inthis country.

Alan It is a difficult emotional problem...parallel with the Israel situation. Israel has to negotiate with peoplewho have been responsible for terrorist acts. Incredible emotional response. ... If I had lost someobody in 911 it would be difficult for me to wantus to accept Osama¹s offer.

... Some have claimed that the government deliberately failed to respond militarily during the 911 attack ...

Gerry I did a lot of research on Pearl Harbor. Conspiracy theory. ... some claimed that Roosevelt was complicit in order to get the country ready to declare war.

... likeyhood of a conspiracy discussed.

Alanif I were president ... Bin Laden makes a truce offer ... how do you react. It is not an easy decision. It is a difficult emotional problem... is therea parallel with the Israel situation?

... arguments for conspiracy presented in the New Pearl Harbor and The war on Truth.

Alan I believe they have decided that the voice on the tape is really Osama Bin Laden.

Steve: these collusion theories ... We do not know who to trust about importantinformation that comes to us? The question is ³Is anything in the Times,the Post credible?² We don¹t have an Ed. R. Murrow. Mike Wallace ... allthese people are in the pockets of war profiteering corps.
The NY Times sat on the wiretap story for a year! They had it before the election.
The importance of the Salon is the hearing of the theories; nothing seemsbeyond possibility. We need to wonder about all these possibilities.

... consider all possibilities arising from Bin Laden's offer.

... is the conspiracy theory paranoia?

Marvinyou realize everything that happens is important. You just don¹t know whichand when... so don¹t forget anything. When you try to remember something,just say to y ourself, ³retrieve². And then you wait. Be patient. It works.

...the Warsaw ghetto resistance. They were so desperate, they did "suicidemissions", the whole thing was a "suicide mission" and yet we generally applaudtheir resistance. Could people who sacrifice themselves because they feelpowerless in the face of Global Corporatizatin, could they be seen in a similarlight?

Jennifer: don¹t have black and white thinking. Maybe if you look in shades of gray.

Mira: what shall it harm us to talk at a truce table? Wouldn¹t it say something , to agree to talk? Always a value in talking.

Chad BenjaminProblem is that we are given this simplistic view; goes back to Greek andJudeo thinking. Against us or for us. How can you say ³well fuck it² withoutbeing called the other. ...

Gerry recommend movie ³lookingfor comedy in the Muslim world². Depending on where you are coming from,your humor is different. Everybody has a right and a wrong. I agree withMira, what could it harm to come to the table?

Gary thereis a l ot wrong with the table ... really important battle ... the wholeintelligent design thing. It is a farce but it got too important. Peopleare saying everybody should be able to make their point. Nonesense! Myemotional reaction is that Osama isn¹t worth talking to.
Osama is notgoing to preserve Krogers for me; but Bush will. there are those who don'twant to hear this. We are married to a lifestyle, we depend on it in wayswe are not aware of even. ... Arrogant to deny that stuff. If I have tochoose between Osama and George, at least George wants to keep me alive. To my knowledge.
..........................................
Ellen : sometimes sharing a common enemy can create strange bedfellows.

Gerrythings don¹t change unless they get horrible. The mines of W. Va... it tooktwo trajedies before they think safety in the mines. It took Bho Pal beforethey thought to crqack down on pollutants. .... Why can¹t we go to thetable and find out what he has to say? Diane Rheem today, about who runsthe country. The big corps. who pay the lobbyists. No real legislativeactivity for at least 20 years. Same at Cin. City Hall. We thought Malloryis going to save the city; today he asks for 10k raise on his aids salaries. Leslie Ghiz says NO. This was Our candidate!

Steve I thinkAlan¹s is powerful point. What do we do with justice when wrapped in violence? Easy to condemn it when it is naked, but when violence wrapped in justiceit poses a major problem. Real question is how avoid being hopeless. Bendourselves someway not to lose hope in the American Dream that has givenus so much. Affluence, education, etc. Considering that we have been benificiariesof capitolism ...
Search for roots in our own lives. Say that we believeif people are giving safety and food and etc. they will act well. Deprivethem of that, and we act badly. ...
What gives me hope is that we struggleon in affection, friendship, for a way of thinking about what will rekindlethe spirit of hope. Yes, Mallory is a disappointment. I hope he will findhis way. What will give us hope?

Alan I like what y ou said. Makes me think one thing we have here in US is an assumption that therewill be happy endings. This not the view of most of the world. Even theGreeks believed in necessary trajedy. Some profound meaning of life comesout of tragedy sometimes. So live together with tragedy. I am saying thisbecause... exodus story, Moses doesn¹t get to go into Promised Land. Peoplesometimes have to take actions that then disqualify them for the happy ending.

I have known many holocaust survivors. Many say, ³I could see you live in Germany, Alan; but for me it would be impossible.²

.... things published online could conceivably bring down repression....

Steve I want to honor Alan and his thought. I want to say something, but I don¹t want to drag anyone in jail.

Gerry I have no problem having my name associated with that idea.

Marvin:everybody expresses their way of dealing with what we all have to deal within our lives. For some, black and white works. Others ... gray. For others,indifference. Others want to worry to death. You do whatever works foryou. But if you listen to what other people are saying, you might get someideas. It is good we all listen to each other.

VOTE: 8 for printing the table notes,
3 for not
(further discussion, not recorded.)

Group Decision: withold the entire discussion because of the censorship issue.

Once we start guarding what we say, we have lost it.
but once it goes out on the internet, it is in the ear of anyone who wants to know.

Hugs to all,

Ellen

Section Two: Announcements

As you have seen, the Weeklywas delayed a day, owing to the need to expurgate the table notes. That'swhy I sent the Annoucements out yesterday separately. However, there isone I want now to publish:

Dr. Catherine Roma isbeing honored as I write this morning, for 20 years as music minister forSt. John's Unitarian Church. This is a top secret surprise celebration,else I would have told you about it. Are you, like me, really grateful forthe important impact of Cathy's work in our city over these last 20+ years? You might send her an email at < CaRoma@fusenet.com>and tell her. (Be sure to use a subject line that indicates why you arewriting so she won't think it spam if she doesn't recognize your name. )
Cathy has been a one-woman apostle for heart in our city. Not onlyhas she built a wonderful choir and taken on impressive musical endeavorswith the St. John's choir (like the Carmen Burana, etc. etc.) and hostedthe St. John's Music Series each year, but she created Muse, the CincinnatiWomen's Choir in 1984 (http://musechoir.org/ ),and led it to become a leader among women's choirs in the country, and shecreated and leads the Martin Luther King Chorale, 160 voices singing eachyear at Music Hall for the MLK day celebration. All that work for the MLKperformance she does as a free gift to our city. Cathy teaches music atWilmington College and at the Wilmington College extension program at WarrenCorrectional program where she organized Umoja, a chorus of men inmates whosing spiritual music that inspires themselves and thousands of others acrossthe country through their excellent CDs. http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:fURuUaxpzdgJ:www.wosu.org/about/MediaRoom/PDFs/OhioArtsAlive2005New.pdf+umoja+men%27s+Warren+Correctional&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4&lr=lang_en You can buy a CD through Cathy, and proceeds benefit charitable causespicked by the men. Cathy is an amazing musician, a dynamic and powerfuldirector for voices and orchestras, a missionary for new musical compositionsin many genres, and... she uses all this to lift up the human spirit.

In traditional eastern European Jewish Hassidic mythology it was believedthat the Holy One sustains the world and forgives our human failings becauseof the presence in each generation of the Lamed Vav Tzadikim, the thirtysix-holy persons: modest people, often hidden inconspicuously in the society,whose wisdom, spirit, and love for their fellows merits our highest gratitudeand admiration. That's the way I feel about Cathy Roma. I hope she seesthis in the Weekly (she's a reader, I am honored to say) and that you will also reach out to her. She brings us so much light!

Ellen Bierhorst

Section Three: Articles

Paul Hackett stands firm for the equal rights for Gays
Howard Konicov says Important for us to work hard for Hackett in May 1 Senate Primary race
Wickipedia article on Hackett
Ted Birnberg, salonista in BeerSheva, Israel sends in this... heartening.
Barbara Boxer on Samuel Alito's nomination for the Supreme Court
Elizabeth Motter sends Wash Post "knock your sox off" article about lobbying scandals

1/28 Paul Hackett stands firm for the American rights of Gays

From: Paul Hackett <Info@HackettForOhio.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:55:22 -0500
To: Ellen Bierhorst <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
Subject: I said it. I meant it.

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Dear Ellen,

Last week the Columbus Dispatch published a column about my candidacy that said, in part, the following:

"Askedto define being pro-gay rights, Hackett said anybody who tries to deny homosexualsthe same rights, including marriage, as every other citizen is un-American.Are you saying, he was asked, that the 62 percent of Ohioans who voted inNovember 2004 to constitutionally deny same-sex marriages are un-American?

"Ifwhat they believe is that we're going to have a scale on judging which Americanshave equal rights, yeah, that's un-American. They've got to accept that.It's absolutely un-American." Columbus Dispatch (01/15/06)

http://www.hackettforohio.com/istand <http://www.hackettforohio.com/page/m/8zm75bxsirk/8D1FA5>

It wasn't long until the Republican attack machine came after medemanding an apology. They called what I said "hate speech." The RepublicanParty was up to its old tricks again, using fear to silence opposition. Theyexpected me to back down like too many Democrats have in the past.

My response?

I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it. Equal justice under the law forall regardless of who they are and how they were born is fundamental to ourAmerican spirit and our American freedoms. Any person or group that arguesthat the law should not apply equally to all Americans is, frankly, un-American.

http://www.hackettforohio.com/istand <http://www.hackettforohio.com/page/m/8zm75bxsirk/8D1FA5>

The Republican Party has been hijacked by religious fanatics, whoare out of touch with mainstream America. Think of the recent comments byPat Robertson a religious fanatic by any measure - that the United Statesshould assassinate a democratically elected leader in Venezuela, and thatAriel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment because Sharon wished to tradeland for peace.

It was about time someone called it like it is.

If there is one thing the Republicans fear it's a fighting Democrat who won'tback down when push comes to shove. They rely on fear and intimidation todivide Americans. I believe that those who would use religion and politicsto divide rather than unite Americans should be ashamed.

http://www.hackettforohio.com/istand<http://www.hackettforohio.com/page/m/8zm75bxsirk/8D1FA5>

I will continue to stand up to these extremists who have hijackedthe Republican Party and want to divide the country, but I need you by myside to do so. Show the Republican Party that you will not tolerate the extremistbehavior of the religious right.

Use the link below to sign a pledgeof support. I need to know that you stand with me. I need to know thatI can count on you to amplify our message of change. Let the Republicanattack machine know you've had enough and refuse to be beaten into submissionthis time.

http://www.hackettforohio.com/istand <http://www.hackettforohio.com/page/m/8zm75bxsirk/8D1FA5>

I hope I can count on your continued support. Together, we can fight back AND win in 2006.

Sincerely,

Paul Hackett

PAID FOR AND AUTHORIZED BY HACKETT FOR SENATE
Contributions to Hackett for Senate are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.
This email was sent to: ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com To unsubscribe, go to:http://www.HackettForOhio.com/unsubscribe <http://www.hackettforohio.com/page/m/8zm75bxsirk/FKMYWM>

1/28
Howard Konicov says Important to Work Hard for Hackett in May 1 Primary for Senate Nomination
Ellen,

I thought you might some valid points yesterday. I did not have a lot of time to discuss them however.

Politics is the art of building consensus. At the end of the day, unless your coalition has 50+% of voters on election
day you loose. There are interesting trade offs between 2 party and multi-partysystems. Multi party systems, like the Israeli Kennesset more closely alignwith their electorate, but then have to form coalitions to be the governingparty in parliment. Two party sytems do that before the election with themost effective being the majority party.

The Republicans have managedto stitch together an unlikely aliance between high income americans andreligous fundemantalists. An unholy alliance if there ever was one. Republicancandidates are subjected to this litmus test in their primaries, a processthat propagates more fundementalism. If the Democratic Party wants to win,the way to do that is in the political center. Mike Dewine, was one ofthe deciding votes yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committe to forwardJudge Alito's nomination to the full Senate. Absent a fillibuster, he willbe confirmed, which will be a historical marker on the far rights abilityto roll back this country's law to the stone ages.

I don't thinkSharrod Brown will be able to beat Dewine. He will beat Hackett though inthe Democratic primaries unless we put together a pronounced get out thevote campaign for the May 2'nd primaries. Hacket is ahead of Dewine in thepolls and will be a strong contender in November. There are no other viablethird party candidates. And so I am going to do what I can to effect hischances.

You all need to help. I need to recruit volunteers and I need to raise money. Any assistance would be welcome.

Sincerely,

Howard M. Konicov

MSES/MPA

1/28
Howard Konicov, talented young activist / environmentalist and son of Spencerand Beverly, is working hard to get Paul Hacket nominated as the Dem. candidatefor DeWine's senate seat. He said that Hackett is beating DeWine in thepolls today! But the other guy that Dem. Party people want to nominate isnot. I said I didn't know much about Hackett, having not much track record,and here he is going for the US Senate?! Howard said, he's a lot betterthan DeWine! Right.
Here's the Wickipedia article n Hackett:

From: Howard Konicov <hkonicov@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 10:43:32 -0500
To: Ellen Bierhorst <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
Subject: Fwd: Paul Hackett's bio from Wikipedia (online encyclopedia)

Paul Hackett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jumpto: navigation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#column-one>, search <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#searchInput>
Paul Hackett in Iraq <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq> .
Paul Lewis Hackett III (born March 30 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_30> , 1962<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962> ) is a trial lawyer andveteran of the Iraq War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War> who unsuccessfully sought election to the United States Congress <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress> from the Second District <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Second_Congressional_District_Election%2C_2005> of Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio> ( map <http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/congdist/OH02_109.pdf> ) in the August 2 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> , special election.Hackett, a Democrat <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Democratic_Party> , narrowly lost to Republican <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Republican_Party> Jean Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt> , a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_House_of_Representatives> , providing the best showing in the usually solidly Republican district by any Democrat since the 1974 election <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._House_election%2C_1974>. Hackett's campaign attracted national attention and substantial expenditures by both parties. It was viewed by some observers as the first round of the 2006 elections <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._House_election%2C_2006> . In October 2005, Hackett said he would seek the Democratic nominationin 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006> to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Senator> Mike DeWine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine> .
Contents

2 On Milford council <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#On_Milford_council>
3 Enters the race for Congress <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#Enters_the_race_for_Congress>
3.1 Special primary election <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#Special_primary_election>
3.2 Special general election <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#Special_general_election>
3.3 Hackett critical of Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#Hackett_critical_of_Schmidt>
3.4 National attention on the race<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#National_attention_on_the_race>
3.5 General Election Results <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#General_Election_Results>
3.6 Reaction to the results <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#Reaction_to_the_results>
4 2006 U.S. Senate race <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#2006_U.S._Senate_race>
5 See also <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#See_also>
6External links <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#External_links>
7 References <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett#References>
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=1> ]
Background
Paul Hackett, his wife, Suzanne, and their three children.
Hackett, who The New York Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times> said was six foot four and "garrulous, profane, and quick with a barked retort or a mischievous joke" was born in Cleveland, Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland%2C_Ohio> , the son of Paul and Beth Hackett, who lived at the time in Gates Mills <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Mills%2C_Ohio> . Whenan infant, his family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach%2C_Florida> , where his father worked for the Pratt and Whitney <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_and_Whitney> aircraft engine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_engine> company. Before Hackett started school, his family returned to Ohio when his father took a job with the General Electric Company <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_Company> 's aircraft engine division in Evendale <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evendale%2C_Ohio> , a Cincinnati suburb. Hackett lived in Wyoming <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming%2C_Ohio> , Montgomery <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery%2C_Ohio> , and Indian Hill <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Hill%2C_Ohio> and attended the Seven Hills School <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seven_Hills_School&action=edit> and Indian Hill <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indian_Hill_Exempted_Village_School_District%2C_Hamilton_County%2C_Ohio&action=edit> High School.

He has a B.A. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.A.> from Case Western Reserve University <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Western_Reserve_University> and a J.D. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.D.> from theMarshall College of Law at Cleveland State University <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_State_University> . Hackett also attended American University <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University> in Washington, DC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%2C_DC> , studying under the university's Washington Semester program in Journalism. Hackett was admitted to the Ohio bar on November 7 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_7> , 1988 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988> and practiceslaw in downtown Cincinnati with the Hackett Law Office, which he openedin 1994 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994> .

Hackett saw active duty in the Corps <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps> from 1989 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989> to 1992 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992> , and then joined the Select Marine Corps Reserve <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Reserves> . In 2004, he volunteered for active duty in the Iraq War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War> , spending seven months as a civil affairs officer with the 4th Civil Affairs Group of the 1st Marine Division <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Marine_Division> . He was assigned to Ramadi <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadi> and supported the Fallujah <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah> campaign and reconstruction efforts there. On 12 October <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_12> 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004> , a convoy underhis command was hit by two roadside bombs, but Hackett was uninjured. Hereturned to Ohio in early 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> .

Hackett is married to Suzanne C. Hackett. They have three children, Grace (born circa 1997 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997> ), Seamus (born circa 2001 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001> ), and Liam (born circa 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004> ). The family lives in Indian Hill <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Hill%2C_Ohio> , a wealthy Cincinnati <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati%2C_Ohio> suburb, in a home along the Little Miami River <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miami_River> built in 1802 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1802> .
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=2> ]
On Milford council
Hackett was elected to the city council of Milford, Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford%2C_Ohio> , a city in Clermont <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clermont_County%2C_Ohio> and Hamilton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_County%2C_Ohio> Counties, in 1995 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995> to replace Chris Imbus, who was recalled from office by a vote of 410 to 86. In the recall election on May 2 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2> , he defeated businessman Jacques E. Smith by a vote of 388 to 81. On the Milford council, he opposed efforts to rezone a parcel of land in orderto retain the Milford post office <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_office> within the city limits. He resigned from the council in September 1998<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998> to devote more time to his family and his law practice and was replacedon the council by James Gradolf. When Hackett purchased a home in IndianHill in 2000 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000> , the purchase made The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> 's column of most expensive real-estate transactions in the area.
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=3> ]
Enters the race for Congress
More information on the election can be found at Ohio Second Congressional District Election, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Second_Congressional_District_Election%2C_2005> .
The State of Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio>, showing the Second District.
Detailed Map of Ohio's Second Congressional District.
Hackett decided to run for Congress because "with all that this country hasgiven me, I felt it wasn't right for me to be enjoying life in Indian Hillwhen Marines were fighting and dying in Iraq," he told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . Hackett told the Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> his friend Mike Brautigan, who met him at the airport upon his return, had told him Rob Portman <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman> , congressman since 1993 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993> , was resigning to become United States Trade Representative <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Trade_Representative> and Hackett should run for his seat. Hackett decided to enter the race before reaching home.
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=4> ]
Special primary election
In his bid for Congress, Hackett was endorsed by the county Democratic parties in four of the seven counties in the district, those in Brown <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_County%2C_Ohio> , Clermont <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clermont_County%2C_Ohio> , Hamilton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_County%2C_Ohio> , and Pike <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_County%2C_Ohio> Counties. Party leaders chose to support him rather than Charles W. Sanders <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Sanders> , the only black candidate in either primary and the Democratic nomineein 1998 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998> , 2000 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000> , 2002 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002> , and 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004> . Timothy Burke, chairman of the party in Hamilton County, said "The blunt reality is that Charles Sanders can't win the 2nd District seat." DavidAltman, a Cincinnati attorney who was on the party central committee, wasalso skeptical of Sanders, telling The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> "I don't think he has a snowball's chances of winning."

Many were angered by the endorsement. Todd Portune, the first Democrat electedto the Hamilton County Commission in decades, told The Post "That's not the Democratic Party I'm a part of," saying the party should remainneutral. Victoria Wells Wulsin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Wells_Wulsin> , a doctor from Indian Hill who ran a charity helping AIDS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS> patients in Africa <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa> also seeking the nomination, was dismayed by the Hamilton County endorsement. "It smacks of weapons of mass destruction <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction> ," she told The Post.

Other candidates running were Jeff Sinnard <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sinnard> , a civil engineer from Anderson Township <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Township%2C_Hamilton_County%2C_Ohio> , and the most conservative Democrat; James John Parker <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_John_Parker> , a hospital administrator from Pike County <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_County%2C_Ohio> ; and Arthur Stanley Katz <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Stanley_Katz> , a lawyer originally from New York City <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City> who had retired to Mason <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason%2C_Ohio> , who ran as a write-in candidate.

Hackett was also endorsedby labor unions <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions> : the United Auto Workers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Auto_Workers> , the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Brotherhood_of_Electrical_Workers> and the Greater Cincinnati Building and Construction Trades Council.

The Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> ,a Democratic paper, endorsed Hackett in the Democratic primary, calling himan "articulate, down-to-earth exponent of moderate Democratic views." TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>, a paper with a Republican editorial position, also endorsed Hackettin the primary. The paper editorialized "he is not an ideologue, but someonewilling to listen to different points of view and to act on the basis ofwhat he believes will best serve his constituents." The paper also calledattention to his leading a recall against members of the Milford city counciland "his ability to take charge of a situation, whether it is a dysfunctionallocal government in Ohio, or setting up the basics of a civil governmentin a city in Iraq."

Hackett told The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> that the Iraq War has not been worth the price. "We need to develop anexit strategy and execute it. That strategy must commit 100% of our effortsto training the 140,000 Iraqi soldiers to do the jobs that the United Statesis doing now. We cannot again falsely declare victory." Hackett also toldThe Enquirer he was the best candidate because of his service in Iraq <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq>.

Hackett won the Democratic nomination with over half the votein unofficial results. A total of 13,927 ballots were cast representing 3.05%of the 456,795 registered voters in the district and 23.4% of the 59,538ballots cast in both primaries.
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=5> ]
Special general election
Jean Schmidt<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt>, the Republican nominee for Congress
Hackett faced Republican nomineeJean Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt> in the August 2 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>, special election. Schmidt, a former schoolteacher described by The New York Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times> as "small, wiry, and intense, she exudes seriousness", had been a township trustee in northwestern Clermont County's populous Miami Township <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miami_Township%2C_Clermont_County%2C_Ohio&action=edit> for eleven years before four years in the Ohio House of Representatives <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_House_of_Representatives> .

The district was a Republican one. In 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004> , 64 percent of the vote in the presidential election went to George W. Bush <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush> . Rob Portman<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Portman> never got lessthan 70 percent of the vote in his campaigns, no Democrat had got more than38 percent since Thomas A. Luken <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Luken> 's narrow loss to Willis D. Gradison <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_D._Gradison> in 1974 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974> , and no Democrathad won the district in a regular general election since John J. Gilligan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Gilligan> in 1964 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964> . (Luken held the seat in 1974 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974> after winning a special election to replace William J. Keating <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Keating> , who resigned, but lost the November election for a full term.) Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report said the Second District was the fifty-seventh most Republican in America.

John Green, a political science <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science> professor at the University of Akron <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Akron> in northeast Ohio told USA Today <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today> "It's a real steep uphill climb for him. It is such a Republican district." Jane S. Anderson <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jane_S._Anderson&action=edit> , an adjunct professor of political science <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science> at the University of Cincinnati <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cincinnati> who has unsuccessfully run for the Cincinnati city council and the OhioHouse <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_House> as a Democrat, told the Associated Press <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press> It's definitely worth it to the Democrats to put in the effort if only to keep the party energized. Even if Paul Hackett loses, it is very important for the party for him to do well. It could be seen as a sign of opportunities for Democrats in other GOP strongholds.

Hackett was undaunted bythe Republican composition of the district, claiming: No single party ownsthis district. It's not a Republican district, it's not a Democratic district.It's actually the seat of the citizens of the Second District. They deservean opportunity to make an informed decision as to who will represent themin Washington, D.C. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%2C_D.C.>

Martin Gottlieb, editor of the Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> editorial page, wrote a Republican landslide in the district was "a self-fulfillingprophecy": It is so overwhelmingly Republican that Democrats typically don'tmake a real effort as a party. A candidate puts himself up, but generallyit's somebody who has no political strengths and gets no financial contributionsor volunteer help to speak of. The campaign gets little attention. And theprophecy gets fulfilled.
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=6> ]
Hackett critical of Schmidt
Hackett criticized Jean Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt> as a "rubber stamp" for Ohio Governor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Ohio> Bob Taft <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Taft> 's "failed policies" and said she would continue in that role for GeorgeW. Bush <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush> if elected. At their debate at Chatfield College, he said "If you thinkAmerica is on the right track and we need more of the same, I'm not yourcandidate" and asked "Are you better off today than you were five yearsago?", echoing Ronald Reagan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan> 's question in his debate with Jimmy Carter <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter> in 1980 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980> . "Rubber stamp" was Hackett's catchphrase throughout the campaign. Hackett even appeared in front of the Hathaway Rubber Stamp store in downtown Cincinnati on July 27 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27> to emphasize the point.

"If you think America needs another career politician steeped in a culture of corruption <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_corruption> who does as she's told and toes the line on failed policies, then I'm not your candidate," he wrote in a guest column for The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . Hackett hammered on Schmidt's ethics. When she denied she knew or ever met Thomas Noe <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Noe> , atthe center of the Coingate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coingate> scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ohio_Bureau_of_Workers_Compensation&action=edit> , Hackett produced minutes from a meeting of the Ohio Board of Regents <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ohio_Board_of_Regents&action=edit> that showed Schmidt had indeed met with Noe, once a regent.

He laid out his positions in that Postcolumn: I'm for limiting government. I'm for fiscal responsibility. I'm for a strong national defense. I'm for fair trade <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade> . This means I don't need Washington to tell me how to live my personallife of worship my God. And I don't need Washington to dictate what decisionsmy wife can make with her doctor any more than I need Washington to tellme what guns I keep in my gun safe. I fought for Iraq <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq> 's freedom, not to come back and have a government tell me I can't havemy freedom because the world is too dangerous. Our freedoms are what makeAmerica great and desirable to the rest of the world and any governmentthat wants to take away its people's freedoms under the pretense of nationalsecurity is what makes the world more dangerous.

Hackett was highly critical of his opponent's record. On June 12 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_12> , he went to Nicola's Ristorante on Sycamore Street in Cincinnati <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati> 's Over-the-Rhine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-Rhine> neighborhood to call attention to Schmidt other members of the Ohio General Assembly <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_General_Assembly> having accepted dinner there and Cincinnati Bengals <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Bengals> tickets from a lobbyist for pharmaceutical company Chiron <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiron> , Richard B. Colby, on October 24 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_24> , 2004 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004> and failing toreport the gifts on their financial disclosure statements. (The others wereRepresentatives Jim Raussen <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Raussen&action=edit> of Springdale <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springdale%2C_Ohio> , Michelle G. Schneider <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michelle_G._Schneider&action=edit> of Madeira <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira%2C_Ohio> , and Diana M. Fessler <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diana_M._Fessler&action=edit> of New Carlisle <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Carlisle%2C_Ohio> .) "What will she do in Washington when she's around real big money?" Hackett asked.

The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> ran a front page story on July 2 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2>reporting on the candidates financial disclosure statements that revealedboth were millionaires. Hackett was worth between $650,000 and $1,600,000,while Schmidt was worth between $1,700,000 and $6,800,000, most of her wealthin the form of a real estate company owned with her three siblings, RTJJ,LLC. (These figures did not include the value of either's home. The HamiltonCounty Auditor valued Hackett's home on five acres at $552,800 and the ClermontCounty Auditor valued Schmidt's home on two-thirds of an acre at $138,510.)

Hackett told The Enquirer, "I'm a self-made guy. I didn'tinherit it. I didn't marry for it. What you see is what I made in the lastdecade." The paper noted the median household income in the district was$46,813. Schmidt used her own wealth in the campaign. She told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> the week before the election she put $200,000 of her money in the campaign that she had planned to use to buy a condominium <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condominium> in Florida <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida> .

Hackett was a strong advocate for the Second Amendment <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment> , but nevertheless lost the endorsement of the National Rifle Association <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association> to Jean Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt> . Hackett, a long-time NRA member and holder of a concealed carry <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry> permit, told The Enquirer "I don't know what I have to do. I've goneagainst the grain in the Democratic party. There isn't a bigger gun enthusiastthan me." (A spokesman for the NRA said the endorsement was based on Schmidt'svoting record in the Ohio House <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_House>and that Hackett, having only served on a city council, did not have thevoting record Schmidt did.) Schmidt also won the endorsements of the FraternalOrder of Police <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police>. The FOP's Keith Fangman criticized Hackett: "He has a track record of filingfrivolous and malicious lawsuits against law enforcement officers in ClermontCounty <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clermont_County%2C_Ohio>," said Fangman because Hackett had represented a plaintiff in a suit againsta Clermont County police officer. "That's what lawyers do," Hackett toldThe Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> . "We're not in the business of filing lawsuits we know are frivolous or malicious.

Both candidates talked of the environment. Hackett paddled down the OhioRiver <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River> to call attention to its condition. Schmidt called for reducing America's dependence on foreign oil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil> by increasing use of ethanol <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol> and drilling in Alaska <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska> 's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_National_Wildlife_Refuge> . Hackett opposed drilling in ANWR.

The candidates participated in only two debates. The first was held on July 7 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_7> at Chatfield College <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chatfield_College&action=edit> in St. Martin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%2C_Ohio> in Brown County <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_County%2C_Ohio> , moderated by Jack Atherton of WXIX-TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXIX-TV> , the Fox Network <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Network> affiliate in Cincinnati. Hackett told the audience his opponent was "a rubber stamp for failed policies" and "if you think America is on the right track and we need more of the same, I'm not your candidate." The second debatewas held July 26 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_26> at the Ohio Valley Career and Technical School in West Union <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Union%2C_Ohio> in Adams County <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_County%2C_Ohio> . Howard Wilkinson of The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> said Hackett in the second debate was "trying to paint Schmidt as a Taft-Bush robot." The two also made joint appearances on WCET-TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCET-TV> 's Forum on July 28 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_28> and WKRC-TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKRC-TV>'s Newsmakers on July 31 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_31> .

Hackett held campaign rallies in Waverly <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly%2C_Ohio> in the far eastern end of the district on July 11 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_11> ; in Loveland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveland%2C_Ohio> on July 19 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_19> ; Mariemont <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariemont%2C_Ohio> on July 20 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20> ; and Lebanon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon%2C_Ohio> , the northernmost part of the district, on July 21 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_21> . Hackett arrived at many events on his Harley-Davidson <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson> motorcycle <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle> .
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=7> ]
National attention on the race
Hackett attracted national attention to what had always been considered a safe Republican district. The New York Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times> ran a front-page story on him and articles appeared in USA Today <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today> and The Washington Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post> . USA Today <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today> wrote"if Democrats could design a dream candidate to capitalize on national distressabout the war in Iraq, he would look a lot like the tall, telegenic MarineReserve major who finished a seven-month tour of Iraq in March."

Schmidt made the Iraq War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War> an issue in the race. She declared on WCET-TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCET-TV> 's Forum that "9/11 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11> was a wakeup call. We lost our innocence" and praised the Bush foreign policy. "The foundation of democracy that has been planted in Afghanistan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan> and Iraq <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq> ", she said, has inspired reforms in Saudi Arabia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia> , Syria <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria> , Lebanon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon> , and elsewhere. Schmidt always appeared in public with a button in herlapel containing a photograph of Matt Maupin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Maupin> , the only prisoner of war <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war> of the Iraq campaign. Hackett did not mince words about Iraq or President Bush. He told The New York Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times> Bushwas "a chicken hawk" for pursuing the war after having avoided military servicein the Vietnam War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War>. The Times also quoted him as saying Bush was "the greatest threatto America." Hackett in the West Union debate contrasted what President Bushhad said in the 2000 presidential debates to current events. "Guess whatfolks? We're nation-building!"

On July 19 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_19> , Democraticcampaign operative James Carville <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carville> appeared at a fund-raiser for Hackett in downtown Cincinnati that raised $100,000. On July 21 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_21> , Max Cleland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Cleland> , formerly a United States Senator <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senator> from Georgia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28U.S._state%29> , campaigned for Hackett at a rally in Blue Ash <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ash%2C_Ohio> . John Glenn <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn> ,the astronaut who later represented Ohio in the United States Senate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate> , sent out an e-mail asking Democrats to volunteer for Hackett, and Glenn campaigned with him on July 30 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_30> in Cincinnati. Retired general and presidential candidate Wesley Clark <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Clark> also endorsed Hackett. Hackett also received campaign contributions from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the United Auto Workers, Cincinnati Bengals <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Bengals> owner Mike Brown <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Brown> , and talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer> .

Democratic National Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Committee> chairman Howard Dean <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dean> sent out an e-mail appeal for Hackett which, combined with work by bloggers, helped raise over $475,000 in online contributions for Hackett, making him the first Democratic nominee in the Second District in years who could afford television advertisements. Hackett's ad began with a clip of President George W. Bush <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush> speaking to troops at Fort Bragg <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bragg> , North Carolina <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina> , on June 28 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_28> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> , "There is no higher calling than service in our armed forces." Hackett's commercial then noted his service in the Marine Corps. The Washington Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post> noted the commercial "avoids any hint that the lawyer is a Democrat." Republicans were displeased. The Republican National Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committee> 's lawyers wrote him saying the commercial deceived the public with "thefalse impression the President has endorsed your candidacy." Robert T. Bennett<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Bennett> , chairman of the Ohio Republican Party <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Republican_Party> , told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> the commercials were "a blatant effort to dupe voters."

The National Republican Congressional Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican_Congressional_Committee> , the official Republican Party body that helps candidates for the United States House of Representatives <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives> , announced on July 28 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_28> it was spending $265,000 for television ads in the Cincinnati market, covering the western part of the district, and $250,000 for ads in the Huntington, West Virginia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington%2C_West_Virginia> , market, covering the eastern half. Carl Forti told The Cincinnati Enquirer<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> "we decided to bury him" after Hackett told USA Today <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today> ,in a story published that morning, "I don't like the son-of-a-bitch thatlives in the White House <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House> but I'd put my life on the line for him." Forti said the NRCC had "no concernthat she will lose. She will not lose."

The NRCC ran commercials noting Hackett had voted for tax increases while on the Milford council and quoting his statement on his website that he would be "happy" to pay higher taxes. The full quotation, in regards to raising the cap of $90,000 that Social Security <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_%28United_States%29> payroll taxes <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll_tax> are levied on was I for one would be paying more in Social Security taxes, but I'd be happy to. Why? Because we've all made a commitment to pass ona better America to our children. Our parents kept their word to us, andwe have the same obligation. This pledge is a cornerstone of the Americanway of life. Those of us who have enjoyed success have a duty to uphold thiscommitment to our future generations.

The NRCC was silent about Schmidt'sown votes to raise taxes, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Congressional_Campaign_Committee> , the NRCC's counterpart, was not. The DCCC responded with commercials noting that Schmidt had voted to raise the sales tax <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax> by 20 percent and the excise tax <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excise_tax> on gasoline <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline> by 30 percent when she was in the legislature. A mailing to voters by the DCCC reiterated these statements under the headline "Who Voted for the Taft Sales Tax Increase‹the Largest in Ohio History?" and asked "can we trustJean Schmidt to protect middle-class families in Washington?"

The CoalitionOpposed to Additional Spending and Taxes [1] <http://www.gocoast.org/> , a Cincinnati-based group founded by Tom Brinkman <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brinkman> (who lost the GOP primary to Schmidt), began running ads in the last week of July urging voters to skip the election. COAST's president, Jim Urling, told The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> that this might help elect Hackett, but "we think it will be easier toremove a Democrat next year than an incumbent Republican posing as a conservative."

In the general election, the Democratic Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> endorsed Hackett. The Daily Newssaid Schmidt's attacks on Senators R. Michael DeWine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine> and George V. Voinovich <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Voinovich> were "remarkably classless" and "seemed to be saying that voters who like legislators who exercise occasional independence from their party shouldnot vote for her." The Daily News said Hackett was "not your classicsuburban liberal" and urged "voter[s] looking for something beyond a conventionalpolitical background" to support him. The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> alsoendorsed Hackett. It noted Schmidt is the latest in a line of "Republicanpatricians" and "likely to be a dependable vote for the Bush administration"whereas Hackett is a gust of fresh air. If we had to put a label on him,it would be Libertarian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian> Democrat. He says what he thinks and doesn't seem to have much use for theorthodoxy or the partisanship of either party.

The CincinnatiEnquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>, a Republican paper, wrote Hackett is an attractive candidate with many qualities to admire . . . bright, personable and charismatic, with an aura of leadership. That he put a comfortable career on hold and put himselfat great risk to serve his country merits our respect and thanks . . . Butsome of the positions he's staked seem simplistic and not terribly wellthought-out. He says the entire Patriot Act <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act> should be rejected‹even those provisions that actually have enhanced Americans' civil liberties <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_liberties> . He dismisses No Child Left Behind <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind> as " Orwellian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell> ." He derides Bush's tax cuts, despite growing evidence they have helpedthe economy.

Ultimately, the paper did not endorse Hackett. "The2nd District will get a capable representative no matter which candidateprevails Tuesday. But it should get more local bang for its electoral buckif it sends Jean Schmidt to Washington," wrote the editors.
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=8> ]
General Election Results
Hackett ultimatelylost by a narrow margin, only 3.5 percent, the best showing of any Democratin the district since 1974 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974> . These were the final certified numbers as reported on the Ohio Secretary of State <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Secretary_of_State> 's website <http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/ElectionsVoter/results2005.aspx?Section=1036> Candidate Party Adams Brown Clermont Hamilton Pike Scioto Warren Totals

Jean Schmidt Republican 1,905 3,117 17,437 25,369 1,561 2,659 7,623 59,671Paul Hackett Democratic 2,158 3,969 12,544 24,105 2,675 4,959 5,476 55,886
James J. Condit, Jr. (write in) 0 3 3 7 0 0 2 15
James E. Constable, Jr. (write in) 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 4
[edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=9> ]
Reaction to the results
Howard Wilkinson wrote in The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> the morning after the election "the fact that Paul Hackett made it avery close election is nothing short of astounding . . . com[ing] close topulling off a monumental political upset." Hackett won in the eastern, ruralcounties of Pike, Scioto, Brown, and Adams, while Schmidt won in the populouswestern counties of Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren. The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> editorializedHackett's success in the eastern counties was in part from "the increasinglydesperate struggle in rural areas to provide enough decent jobs for thosewho want them."

Following the election, many Democrats hailed theelection as showing the weakness of Ohio's Republican party, which has beenin control of Ohio state government for a decade, and public unhappinesswith President Bush's policies. Hamilton County Democratic chairman TimothyBurke was delighted. "Paul was very critical of this president in a districtthat Bush carried easily last November, yet she barely hung on to win. There'sa clear signal in that," he told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> on election night. The Clermont County Democratic chairman, Dave Lane, told the Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> "Here we are in the reddest of red districts and it was very, very close."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Senatorial_Campaign_Committee> claimed in a press release Hackett's strong showing meant trouble for Senator DeWine's re-election campaign in 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006> , especially since his son R. Patrick DeWine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_DeWine> had lost the Republican primary for the seat. "If Ohio is a bellwether state for next year's midterm elections, things don't look too good for the Republicans", claimed the DSCC. Republicans said the election meant nothing of the sort. "There is no correlation between what happens in a special election, where turnout is very low and you have circumstances that just aren't comparable to an election that happens on an Election Day in an election year," Brian Nick of the National Republican Senatorial Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican_Senatorial_Committee> told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .

TheColumbus Dispatch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Columbus_Dispatch>referred to "the trauma of barely winning a Congressional district longdominated by Republicans" and quoted an anonymous source in the Republicanparty claiming "there is not a tougher environment in the country than Ohioright now. There is kind of a meltdown happening." Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report told the Dispatch"Ohio becomes the microcosm for the debate Democrats are trying to have nationally" and Democrats would argue in future campaigns "'See what happens when one party rules too long, see what happens with corruption and insider influence.'" Her boss, Charlie Cook <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlie_Cook&action=edit> , told The Los Angeles Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_Times> Hackett's "rubber stamp" charge had resonated with Ohio voters.

Peter W. Bronson, a conservative columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> , wrote "Hackett's surprising finish was less a repudiation of Bush thana repudiation of Ohio Governor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Ohio> Bob Taft <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Taft> , whose name is now officially radioactive <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive> poison <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison> ." Bronson admitted Hackett "ran a strong campaign" but said he did so well only because of "the ugly primary" on the Republican side, fears that Schmidt was "another Taft RINO <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RINO> " (i.e. "Republican in name only"), and apathy by Republican voters, notdissatisfaction with Bush or Republicans in general.

John Nichols of the Madison Capital Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Madison_Capital_Times&action=edit> in Wisconsin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin> sawit differently. "The district had been so radically gerrymandered <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymander> by Republican governors and legislators that it was all but unrecognizable that a Democrat could ever be competitive there" and Hackett, "a smart telegenic Iraq war veteran," had been "swift-boated" in the final days of the campaign by Republican operatives and "right-wing talk hosts" such as Rush Limbaugh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh> .

Mark Steyn <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Steyn>, a conservative columnist who writes for National Review <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review> magazine, wrote in the Irish Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Times> "Paul Hackett was like a fast-forward version of the John Kerry <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry> campaign" who "artfully neglected to mention the candidate was a Democrat." Steyn claimed any Democrat efforts to present Hackett's run as a successfor the party were absurd.

Hackett told The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> he stood by his criticisms of George W. Bush <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush> : Meant it, said it, stand by it. I'd say it again. For every vote I mayhave lost because of it. I probably picked up one or two.

One voterturned off was veteran Arthur Smith of Loveland <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveland%2C_Ohio> , whose letter to the editor in The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> on August 5 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_5> , said Hackett attempted to fool the voters by masking the stench of hisliberalism, using President Bush and the uniform of the military as a deodorant. . . I voted for the tax-raising Schmidt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt> but had to hold my nose to do it. I figured it was the lesser of the two evils.

Jerome Armstrong <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Armstrong> stated in Tom Paine <http://tompaine.com/> that the returns tapped into the growing movement within the DemocraticParty <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29> willing to take the Republicans <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29> head on about the direction of this nation.
[ edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=10> ]
2006 U.S. Senate race
Hackett on October24 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_24>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>, announced he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbentUnited States Senator <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senator> Mike DeWine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine> after rejecting a second run against Schmidt. Sherrod Brown <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrod_Brown> , a congressman from northern Ohio and two-term Ohio Secretary of State <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Secretary_of_State> , had rejected efforts by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Senatorial_Campaign_Committee> to recruit him to the race in the summer of 2005 and had on August 17 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_17> publicly declared he would not run. But after Hackett's announcement, Brown changed his mind and declared he would run, angering Hackett who claimed Brown had promised him he would stay out of the race, a claim Brown denies.

One issue Hackett faces in his campaign is the status of his Marine Corps Reserve unit, which may deploy back to Iraq during the campaign. Hackett has said he expected to return to Iraq in 2006. [2] <http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/elizabeth_auster/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1127554730276460.xml&coll=2>
[ edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=11> ]
See also
Ohio Second Congressional District Election, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Second_Congressional_District_Election%2C_2005>
Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 2nd District <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Results%2C_U.S._Representative_from_Ohio%2C_2nd_District>
Ohio U.S. Senate election, 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_U.S._Senate_election%2C_2006>
[ edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=12> ]
External links
Paul Hackett for Congress <http://hackettforcongress.com/>
League of Women Voters page on the Congressional race <http://www.smartvoter.org/2005/06/14/oh/hm/congress.html>
Hackett forOhio <http://www.hackettforohio.com/> - Senate campaign website
Hackett Law Offices <http://www.hackettlaw.com/>
[ edit <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Hackett&action=edit&section=13> ]
References
Jerome Armstrong. "More Hackett Jobs" Tom Paine <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Paine_%28magazine%29&action=edit> .August 3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . (Armstrong argues that Hackett's success can be replicated) [3] <http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050803/more_hackett_jobs.php>
Elizabeth Auster. "Attorney staying in race to replace DeWine in Senate." The Plain Dealer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plain_Dealer> . October 15 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_15> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A6. (Hackett on Sherrod Brown <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrod_Brown> )
"A bellwether again". (Editorial) The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . 16A. (Hackett's success in rural areas)
"Best Democrat in 2nd race is Paul Hackett". (Editorial) Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .June 3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_3>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A12. (Endorsement)
Peter Bronson. "OK, Hackett's a veteran--and . . . ?" The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> . August 4 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_4>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. C11. (Bronson on why Hackett did so well)
Ronald Brownstein. "All political eyes again turn to Ohio". TheLos Angeles Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los_Angeles_Times>. August 4 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_4>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 8. (Charlie Cook's remark)
Lawrence Budd. "Hackett hopes duty in Iraq gives him edge in contests: Democrat seeks seat that was held by Rob Portman". Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .July 25 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_25>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. B4. (Friend suggests he run)
Lawrence Budd. "Schmidt prevails in race for 2nd District seat." Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .August 3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A4. (Dave Lane's comments)
"Choosing Portman's successor". (Editorial.) The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . June 15 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_15> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A14. (Calls for a good clean campaign) [4] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050615/EDIT/506150323/1003>
Michael Collins. "Dems: DeWine in trouble". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . August 6 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_6> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . [5] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050806/EDIT/508060303/1003>
Lisa Cornwell. "Democrats See Opportunity With Hackett". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .June 16 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_16>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A20. (Why him and not Sanders)
James Dao. "A Veteran of Iraq Running in Ohio Is Harsh On Bush". The New York Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times> .July 27 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A1. (Hackett profiled)
Brian Faler. "After Iraq, Marine Plans New Campaign". The Washington Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post> .July 21 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_21>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A6. (Brief profile).
Martin Gottlieb. "Hackett tests 2nd's Republicanism". Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .July 29 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_29>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A10.
Paul Hackett. "Hackett: No Rubber Stamp". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .July 23 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_23>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A13. (States views in an opinion piece)
"Hackett offers 2nd District fresher voice". (Editorial). Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .July 27 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A8. (Endorsement of Hackett)
Barry M. Horstman. "County Democrats endorse Hackett". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . May 27 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_27> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A4. (Hamilton County Democratic party endorses Hackett over other primary candidates) [6] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050527/NEWS01/505270353/-1/BACK01>
Barry M. Horstman. "Debate shows sharp divide". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . July 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_8> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A12. (First debate at Chatfield College) [7] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/NEWS01/507080353>
Barry M. Horstman. "Hackett on attack in race: He sets sights on Schmidt". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . June 24 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_24> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . [8] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050624/NEWS01/506240347>
Barry M. Horstman. "The Democrats". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . June 10 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_10> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A1. (Profile of race and the candidates) [9] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/NEWS01/506100344/-1/BACK01>
Barry M. Horstman. "A race of a different sort". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .July 30 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_30>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A1. (Bennett's quote, Hackett approached at airport, Schmidt's condo money)
Barry M. Horstman. "Schmidt wins in a squeaker." The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .August 3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 1A.
"Lawyer to Vie for 2nd District Seat". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .May 9 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_9>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A9. (Announces run)
Molly Linn. "Candidate puts focus on personal freedoms". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . July 23 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_23> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A8. (Hackett's views on abortion, gun control) [10] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050723/NEWS01/507230343/-1/all>
Troy Lyle. "Hackett calls for an Ohio River cleanup". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . July 1 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A10. (Environmental views of the candidates) [11] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050701/NEWS01/507010372/-1/all>
Bill Nichols. "Democratic candidates tout Iraq war experience". USA Today <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Today> . July 28 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_28> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . [12] <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-27-dems-iraq-vets_x.htm>
John Nichols. "Ohio Vote Should Light Fire Under Dems." Madison Capital Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Madison_Capital_Times&action=edit> . (Madison, Wisconsin). August 4 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_4>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 12A.
"Paul L. Hackett III". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. June 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_8>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. C2. (Profile)
Len Penix. "Council to vote on developer's plan." The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .October 16 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_16>, 1997 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997>. 2. (Post office rezoning)
Len Penix. "Milford OKs zone change in effort to keep post office". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .November 27 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_27>, 1997 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997>. 4.
Len Penix. "Voters boot Milford council member from office". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .May 3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_3>, 1995 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995>. A8. (Hackett elected)
"Priciest Homes". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. February 6 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_6> , 2000 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000> . C4. (Purchases home) [13] <http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/02/06/fin_tristates_priciest.html>
Jonathan Riskind. "Narrow Victory Underscores GOP's Rocky Road in Ohio". TheColumbus Dispatch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Columbus_Dispatch>. August 7 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_7>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 5B. (Amy Walter and anonymous quotes, "trauma")
Malia Rulon. "Schmidt, Hackett don't see own wealth as issue". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 2 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A1. [14] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050702/NEWS01/507020387/1056/rss02>
Bill Schneider <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Schneider&action=edit> . "Netroots activism arrives". CNN <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN> .com. August 5 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_5> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . (Effort on the internet and blogs to promote his campaign and raise money) [15] <http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/05/bloggers/index.html>
"Schmidt for Congress: Republican offers better experience, fit for 2nd District." (Editorial). TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 31 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_31> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . E1. [16] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050731/EDIT03/507310314>
"2nd District Candidates". The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> . May 29 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_29>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. C2. (Profiles of all the candidates)
Dan Sewell. "Iraq vet bids for Congress: Marine underdog in Ohio special election". Journal-Gazette(Fort Wayne, Indiana <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wayne%2C_Indiana>). July 22 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_22>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 10A.
Jim Siegel. "Four Face Ethics Probe: Lawmakers didn't report football tickets, dinner from biotech firm, inspector says". TheColumbus Dispatch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Columbus_Dispatch>. July 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_8> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . 1B. . [17] <http://www.dispatch.com/topstory.php?story=dispatch/2005/07/08/20050708-B1-00.html>
Bill Sloat and Stephen Koff. "Cleveland-born man vying to be first Iraq war vet in Congress". The Plain Dealer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plain_Dealer> .July 18 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_18>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. A1.
"A special election". (Editorial). The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> . July 26 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_26> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . A12. (Endorses Hackett) [18] <http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/EDIT/507260326/1003> [19] <http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS02/507260388/1014>
Mark Steyn <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Steyn>. "Bush is running rings around Democrats, who get flabbier by the week."Irish Times <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Times> .August 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_8>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. 9.
"Vacant Seat". The Cincinnati Post <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Post> .September 17 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_17>, 1998 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998>. 16A. (Hackett resigns from Milford council)
Jessica Wehrman. "GOP winner Schmidt sticks to schedule: Outdistances high-profile foes in crowded field." Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .June 16 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_16>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. B1. (Primary results, 57th most GOP district)
Jessica Wehrman. "GOP's Schmidt has more cash than foe Hackett: Leads Democrat in 2nd District money race". Dayton Daily News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Daily_News> .July 23 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_23>, 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005>. B4. (Finance reports filed with the FEC)
Howard Wilkinson. "Anti-tax group, liberal PAC airing 'don't vote' message". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 29 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_29> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . B2. [20] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050729/NEWS01/507290394/-1/all>
Howard Wilkinson. "Boehner endorses McEwen in 2nd". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. June 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_8> , 2005<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . C2. (Hackett's endorsements)[21] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050608/NEWS01/506080389/1056>
Howard Wilkinson. "Debate shows differences". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 8 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_8> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . B1. [22] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/NEWS01/507080390>
Howard Wilkinson. "Dems hope new guy has better chance". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. May 26 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_26> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . C3. (Burke says Sanders can't win, Democrats to endorse Hackett) [23]<http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050526/NEWS01/505260340/-1/newselection>
Howard Wilkinson. "Ex-Sen. Cleland lauds fellow veteran Hackett". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 22 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_22> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . [24] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050722/NEWS01/507220378/1056>
Howard Wilkinson. "FOP decries Hackett suit, endorses rival". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 28 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_28> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . [25] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050728/NEWS01/507280350/-1/all>
Howard Wilkinson."Gun-toting Hackett still can't win NRA <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRA> endorsement". The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> . July 13 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_13> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . C2. [26] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050713/NEWS01/507130364/1056>
Howard Wilkinson. "Hackett stepes up with ads, prominent campaigners". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 20 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . C2. [27] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050720/NEWS01/507200331/1056>
Howard Wilkinson and Malia Rulon. "Money pouring into race: National parties pay attention". The Cincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer> . July 29 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_29> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . B1. [28] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050729/NEWS01/507290393/-1/all>
Howard Wilkinson. "Sense of duty, purpose drive Hackett". TheCincinnati Enquirer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cincinnati_Enquirer>. July 24 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_24> , 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> . E1, E5. [29] <http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/EDIT03/507240353/-1/all>
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hackett"
Categories <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Categories&article=Paul_Hackett> : American lawyers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_lawyers> | Cincinnatians <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Cincinnatians> | Hamilton County, Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Hamilton_County%2C_Ohio> | Living people <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Living_people> | Ohio politicians <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ohio_politicians> | People from Florida <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_from_Florida> | People from Ohio <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:People_from_Ohio> | United States Senate candidates <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_Senate_candidates> | U.S. Marine Corps officers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:U.S._Marine_Corps_officers> | Veterans' organizations opposed to the Iraq war and/or George Bush <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Veterans%27_organizations_opposed_to_the_Iraq_war_and/or_George_Bush> | 1962 births <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1962_births>
1/28
From Ted Birnberg, salonista in Israel:

Shalom (where there is no Shalom).....

If anyone over there still wonders what happened to "the quality of mercy" in

Israel, the following may be of interest. It comes from an occasional update emailed by the

Rabbis for Human Rights Group, which

includes activist and courageous clergy who

go regularly to the territories of Palestinian Arabs:

PLOWINGAND PLANTING: Thousands of Olive trees, the source of income of hundredsof Palestinian families were uprooted and destroyed with evil intent, andthere is no judgment and no judge. On Tu B¹shvat we will go planting outof responsibility and hope, and call together :

³Do not destroy for [it] is a tree, a person² (Deuteronomy 20:19)

On Monday, Tu B¹shvat, [Biblically based "Arbor Day" in the Holy Land] 2/13/05, at 9:00, we will go for a day of planting and study in the Occupied Territoriesand in Israel. Transportation will leave from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Inaddition to RHR, participants currently include: The New Israel Fund, IsraeliReligious Action Center, The Kibbutz Movement, Bina

1/28
Barbara Boxer on Samuel Alito

From: "PAC for a Change" <info@pacforachange.com>
Reply-To: notice-reply-wnu88sg2r53ndtt@ga4.org
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 19:58:58 GMT
To: "Ellen Bierhorst" <ellenbierhorst@lloydhouse.com>
Subject: Senator Boxer's statement on Samuel Alito

Dear Ellen,

Wethought you may be interested in reading the text of a speech that SenatorBoxer delivered yesterday, laying out her opposition to the nomination ofJudge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Today, I am announcing my opposition to the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.

According to Article II of the Constitution, justices of the Supreme Courtmay not be appointed by the president without the advice and consent of theUnited States Senate. So it is our solemn duty to consider each nominationcarefully, keeping in mind the interests of the American people. And thisnomination is particularly crucial because the stakes have rarely been sohigh.

First, consider the context in which this nomination comesbefore us. The seat that Judge Alito has been nominated for is now held byJustice Sandra Day O'Connor, who came to the Court in 1981.

Foryears, Justice O'Connor has provided the tie-breaking vote and a commonsensevoice of reason in some of the most important cases to come before the Court,including a woman's right to choose, civil rights, and freedom of religion.

Second, consider the tumultuous political climate in our nation.President Bush understood that in 2000 when he promised to govern from thecenter, and be "a uniter, not a divider." Sadly, this nomination shows thathe has forgotten that promise because it is notnfrom the center and it isnot uniting the nation.

The right thing to do would have beento give us a justice in the mold of Justice O'Connor, and that is what thepresident should have done.

Let me be clear: I do not deny JudgeAlito's judicial qualifications. He has been a government lawyer and judgefor more than 20 years and the American Bar Association rated him well qualified.He is an intelligent and capable person. His family should be proud of himand all Americans should be proud that the American dream was there for theAlito family.

But after reviewing the hearing record and therecord of his statements, writings and rulings over the past 24 years, Iam convinced that Judge Alito is the wrong person for this job.

I am deeply concerned about how Justice Alito will impact the ability ofother families to live the American dream -- to be assured of privacy intheir homes and their personal lives, to be secure in their neighborhoods,to have fair treatment in the workplace, and to have confidence that thepower of the executive branch will be checked.

As I reviewed Judge Alito's record, I asked whether he will vote to preserve fundamental American liberties and values --

WillJustice Alito vote to uphold Congress' constitutional power to pass lawsto protect Americans' health, safety, and welfare? Judge Alito's recordsays NO.

In the 1996 Rybar case, Judge Alito voted to strikedown the federal ban on the transfer or possession of machine guns becausehe believed it exceeded Congress' power under the Commerce Clause. His ThirdCircuit colleagues sharply criticized his dissent and said that it ran counterto "a basic tenet of the constitutional separation of powers." And JudgeAlito's extremist view has been rejected by six other circuit courts andthe Supreme Court. Judge Alito stood alone and failed to protect our families.

In a case concerning worker protection, Judge Alito was again inthe minority when he said that federal mine health and safety standards didnot apply to a coal processing site. He tried to explain it as just a "technicalissue of interpretation." I fear for the safety of our workers if Judge Alito'snarrow, technical reading of the law should ever prevail.

WillJustice Alito vote to protect the right to privacy, especially a woman'sreproductive freedom? Judge Alito's record says NO.

We haveall heard about Judge Alito's 1985 job application, in which he wrote thatthe constitution does not protect the right of a woman to choose. He wasgiven the chance to disavow that position during the hearings -- and he refusedto do so. He had the chance to say, as Judge Roberts did, that Roe v. Wadeis settled law, and he refused.

He had the chance to explain hisdissent in the Casey decision, in which he argued that the Pennsylvania spousalnotification requirement was not an undue burden on a woman seeking an abortionbecause it would affect only a small number of women, but he refused to backaway from his position. The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, found the provisionto be unconstitutional, and Justice O'Connor, co-writing for the Court, criticizedthe faulty analysis supported by Judge Alito, saying that "the analysis doesnot end with the one percent of women" affected... "it begins there."

To my mind, Judge Alito's ominous statements and narrow-minded reasoningclearly signal a hostility to women's rights, and portend a move back towardthe dark days when abortion was illegal in many states, and many women diedas a result. In the 21st century, it is astounding that a Supreme Court nomineewould not view Roe v. Wade as settled law when its fundamental principle-- a woman's right to choose -- has been reaffirmed many times since it wasdecided.

Will Justice Alito vote to protect Americans from unconstitutional searches? Judge Alito's record says NO.

In Doe v. Groody in 2004, he said a police strip search of a 10-year-oldgirl was lawful, even though their search warrant didn't name her. JudgeAlito said that even if the warrant did not actually authorize the searchof the girl, "a reasonable police officer could certainly have read the warrantas doing so..." This casual attitude toward one of our most basic constitutionalguarantees -- the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches --is almost shocking. As Judge Alito's own Third Circuit Court said regardingwarrants, "a particular description is the touchstone of the Fourth Amendment."We certainly do not need Supreme Court justices who do not understand thisfundamental constitutional protection.

Will Justice Alito vote to let citizens stop companies from polluting their communities? Judge Alito's record says NO.

In the Magnesium Elektron case, Judge Alito voted to make it harder for citizensto sue for toxic emissions that violate the Clean Water Act. Fortunately,in another case several years later, the Supreme Court rejected the ThirdCircuit and Alito's narrow reading of the law. Judge Alito doesn't seem tocare about a landmark environmental law.

Will Justice Alitovote to let working women and men have their day in court against employerswho discriminate against them? Judge Alito's record says NO.

In 1997, in the Bray case, Judge Alito was the only judge on the Third Circuitto say that a hotel employee claiming racial discrimination could not takeher case to a jury.

In the Sheridan case, a female employee suedfor discrimination, alleging that after she complained about incidents ofsexual harassment, she was demoted and marginalized to the point that shewas forced to quit. By a vote of 10 to 1, the Third Circuit found for theplaintiff.

Guess who was the one? Only Judge Alito thought theemployee should have to show that discrimination was the "determinative cause"of the employer's action. Using his standard would make it almost impossiblefor a woman claiming discrimination in the workplace to get to trial.

Finally,will Justice Alito be independent from the executive branch that appointedhim, and be a vote against power grabs by the president? Judge Alito's recordsays NO.

As a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, he authoreda memo suggesting a new way for the president to encroach on Congress' lawmakingpowers. He said that when the president signs a law, he should make a statementabout the law, giving it his own interpretation, whether it was consistentwith what Congress had written or not. He wrote that this would "get in thelast word on questions of interpretation" of the law. In the hearings, JudgeAlito refused to back away from this memo.

When asked whetherhe believed the president could invade another country, in the absence ofan imminent threat, without first getting the approval of the American people,of Congress, Judge Alito refused to rule it out.

When asked if the president had the power to authorize someone to engage in torture, Alito refused to answer.

The Administration is now asserting vast powers, including spying on Americancitizens without seeking warrants -- in clear violation of the Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Act -- violating international treaties, and ignoring laws thatban torture. We need justices who will put a check on such overreachingby the executive, not rubberstamp it. Judge Alito's record and his answersat the hearings raise very serious doubts about his commitment to being astrong check on an 'imperial president.'

In addition to thesesubstantive matters, I remain concerned about Judge Alito's answers regardinghis membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton and his failure to recusehimself from the Vanguard case, which he had promised to do.

Duringthe hearings, we all felt great compassion for Mrs. Alito when she becameemotional in reaction to the tough questions her husband faced in the JudiciaryCommittee. Everyone in politics knows how hard it is for families when aloved one is asked tough questions. It is part of a difficult process, andwhoever said politics is not for the faint of heart was right.

Emotions have run high during this process. That's understandable. But Iwish the press have focused more on the tears of those who will be affectedif Judge Alito becomes Justice Alito and his out-of-the mainstream viewsprevail.

I worry about the tears of a worker who, having failedto get a promotion because of discrimination, is denied the opportunity topursue her claim in court.

I worry about the tears of amentally ill woman who is forced by law to tell her husband that she wantsto terminate her pregnancy and is afraid that he will leave her or stop supportingher.

I worry about the tears of a young girl who is strip searched in her own home by police who have no valid warrant.

Iworry about the tears of a mentally retarded man, who has been brutally assaultedin his workplace, when his claim of workplace harassment is dismissed bythe court simply because his lawyer failed to file a well written brief onhis behalf.

These are real cases in which Judge Alito has spoken.

Fortunately, he did not prevail in these cases. But if he goes to the SupremeCourt, he will have a much more powerful voice -- a radical voice that willreplace a voice of moderation and balance.

Perhaps the mostimportant statement Judge Alito made during the entire hearing process waswhen he told the Judiciary Committee that he expects to be the same kindof justice on the Supreme Court as he has been a judge on the Circuit Court.

That is precisely the problem. As a judge, Samuel Alitoseemed to approach his cases with an analytical coldness that reflected noconcern for the human consequences of his reasoning.

Listen towhat he said about a case involving an African-American man convicted ofmurder by an all white jury in a courtroom where the prosecutors had eliminatedall African-American jurors in many previous murder trials as well.

Judge Alito dismissed this evidence of racial bias and said that the jurymakeup was no more relevant than the fact that left-handers have won fiveof the last six presidential elections. When asked about this analogy duringthe hearings, he said it "went to the issue of statistics... (which) is abranch of mathematics, and there are ways to analyze statistics so that youdraw sound conclusions from them..."

That response wouldhave been appropriate for a college math professor, but it is deeply troublingfrom a potential Supreme Court justice.

As the great jurist andSupreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote in 1881, "The lifeof the law has not been logic; it has been experience... The law embodiesthe story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannotbe dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a bookof mathematics."

What Holmes meant is that the law is a livingthing, that those who interpret it must do so with wisdom and humanity, andwith an understanding of the consequences of their judgments for the livesof the people they affect.

It is with deep regret that I concludethat Judge Alito's judicial philosophy lacks this wisdom, humanity and moderation.He is simply too far out of the mainstream in his thinking. His opinionsdemonstrate neither the independence of mind nor the depth of heart thatI believe we need in our Supreme Court justices, particularly at this crucialtime in our nation's history.

That is why I will oppose this nomination.
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1/28
Salonista Elizabeth Motter sends this:

A knock-your-socks-off editorial regarding a mud-slinging over
controversial details regarding the Abramoff scandal published in the
Washington Post:

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2006/01/wapo-hazel-shocked-to-discover.html

Section Four: Books, Reviews, Magazines

2/28
Mike Murphy book review

Ever wondered what lies behind the religions we are familiar with? Consider, then, Paul Von Ward¹s ³Gods, Genes & Consciousness: Nonhuman Intervention in Human History.² Below is a brief review I posted with Amazon.com last summer. I would addthat our subsequent history since that Œintervention¹ is one of dealing withpost-traumatic stress syndrome. The good news is: Recovery is now happening! --Mike Murphy

A World-View Shaking 'Copernicus', July 13, 2005
"Gods, Genes & Consciousness" is the most amazing and satisfying bookI've read since Walsch's "Conversations" series. I smile and shake my headin wonderment every time I sit down and read or re-read any part. Von Wardhas managed a Herculean task of assimilating and organizing mountains ofscholarly information from dozens of areas and half a dozen millennia, andthen has gracefully expressed, with scientific reasonableness, the most 'Copernican'ideas of our time: We are indeed the children of the gods, and the gods areETs, a rainbow range of ETs from caring to controlling. There is somethingeven Pogo-esque here: We have met the gods, and they are us. At least, we'rein the same family. Truly world-view shaking, paradigm shaking, orthodoxyshaking. In that mind-stretching class that includes Velikovsky and Sitchin,Von Ward is at the head of that class.

The Lloyd House Salon (usually about 15 people) Meets Mondays at 5:45,
EVERY MONDAY, 52 WEEKS/YEAR come hell or high water, as my mother used to say.

We of the Lloyd House Salon gather in a spirit of
respect, sympathy and compassion for one another
in order to exchange ideas for our mutual pleasure and enlightenment.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Our Salon blog is a promising interactive site: http:lloydhouse.blogspot.com
Interactive Yahoo Salon group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LloydHouseSalon
We have 45 members as of 7/05.
For Pot Luck procedures including food suggestions, mission and history visit
http://home.fuse.net/ellenbierhorst/Potluck.html .

You are invited also to visit the Lloyd House website: http://www.lloydhouse.com

> To unsubscribe from the Lloyd House Potluck Salon list, send a REPLY message
> to me and in the SUBJECT line type in "unsub potluck #". In the place of #
> type in the numeral that follows the subject line of my Weekly email. It
> will be 1,2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. This tells me which sub-list your name is on so I can
> delete it. Thanks! ellen bierhorst

The Lloyd House Virtual Salon

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Weekly 1/28/06 - 5

TOPICS

Rabbis for Human Rights Group, which