The Tea Party’s right Angle in NV

The NV Tea Party Angle, eliminate the EPA and Social Security

The New York Times
By BRIAN STELTER
28, 2010

In Nevada, Running for Senate and From Cameras

RENO — There is a game in Nevada called “Where’s Sharron Angle?” that the press is tired of playing.

Ms. Angle, a Nevada Senate candidate and Tea Party darling, has steadfastly refused to talk to reporters here, leading to some unusually aggressive behavior by local television stations. In a segment fit for TMZ, one intrepid reporter chased her on foot outside a restaurant this month, repeatedly asking why she had once said that “if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies.” She ignored the questioner and tried to outpace him, in a video clip replayed across the state.

In her silence, Ms. Angle has exposed a fault line in political journalism. Candidates typically live and die by television exposure, with interviews supplementing the usual barrage of advertisements. But in local races across the country, there are fewer reporters asking questions on behalf of voters, and there are more media alternatives than ever, including talk radio and Facebook.

Still, Ms. Angle is quickly discovering that there is no better way to wake up a sleepy TV news crew than to refuse an interview request — or 10 requests, or 20.

“I can’t remember a time that we’ve ever had trouble with interviews,” said Mary Beth Farrell, the news director at KRNV, the local NBC affiliate. “Especially with people running for office — they usually beat our door down.”

After weeks of private rejections, KRNV last Monday publicly called on Ms. Angle to explain her positions to Nevada voters, an unprecedented step by the station, Ms. Farrell said. A day later, apparently coincidentally, she agreed to a single TV interview, to be broadcast on Tuesday.

In a state where reporters say they can knock at the Governor’s Mansion and say hello, people are wondering whether Ms. Angle’s “no comments” — except to friendly radio hosts — are indicative of something bigger. The reporters said they suspect that Ms. Angle, who has said that the Environmental Protection Agency should be eliminated and that Social Security should be “transitioned out,” is afraid of running into the same interview buzz saw as Rand Paul’s Senate campaign did in Kentucky.

Mr. Paul, another Tea Party favorite, was widely criticized for his views on civil rights after an appearance on MSNBC last month, leading him to cancel an appearance on “Meet the Press,” the gold standard of political TV interviews. (Since that, though, local stations in Kentucky have had access to Mr. Paul, said Mark Neerman, the news director at WHAS in Louisville.)

“One bad moment can derail an entire campaign,” said Mark Macias, a former producer for New York, Miami and Phoenix stations and the author of “Beat the Press,” who pointed to the bad press accumulated by Sarah Palin when she was interviewed in the 2008 presidential campaign. Now out of office, Ms. Palin may be a role model of sorts for subverting the news media; she now rarely gives interviews, except to Fox News, which pays her to be a contributor.

Ms. Angle, a local Republican legislator, was friendlier to the press back when she was deemed a long shot in the Senate race, according to reporters who have known her for years. But that changed after she was enthroned as the Tea Party’s choice to challenge Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, this fall. A week before the June 8 primary, her spokesman, Jerry Stacy, was quoted as saying, “She’s not interested in meeting up with any media or anything.”

Ms. Angle’s campaign strategy — if it is indeed a strategy; a spokesman did not respond to a request for comment — is representative of a pick-and-choose media landscape. Since the primary victory, she has showed up on Fox News and sat down with several conservative radio hosts, including Bill Manders of KOH, the dominant talk station in Reno. “She answers every question I ask her,” Mr. Manders said, although he said he had advised her to give more interviews.

At the moment, said Anjeanette Damon, a longtime political reporter for The Reno Gazette-Journal who recently moved to The Las Vegas Sun, “she is just talking to the base, people who are going to start sending her money.” Jason Pasco, the news director at KTVN, the CBS affiliate in Reno, called that tactic a “disservice to our viewers,” some of whom have been calling local stations and asking questions about Ms. Angle’s views. He speculated that Internet outlets like YouTube and Twitter, which allow for unfettered connections between candidates and voters, had emboldened her campaign.

“Maybe they think they can hit the people they want to hit directly,” he said. “I don’t think that hits the undecided voters though.”

Republican officials have said that reporters will hear from Ms. Angle in due time, once she builds up her campaign staff. Mr. Macias said, “If she’s not answering all the questions, it’s probably because she doesn’t have the answers yet.”

In the meantime, Mr. Reid’s campaign has made Ms. Angle’s silence a campaign issue, and the state Democratic committee has designed a Web site showing her in an underground bunker, hiding from a camera crew.

Mr. Manders, who displays a bumper sticker on his radio studio switchboard that says, “Elect anyone but Harry Reid,” said Mr. Reid was actually the one who “runs and hides,” having granted only three interviews to him in seven years. But local news executives scoff at the comparison, saying Mr. Reid and his staff had worked to demonstrate that he was not ignoring his home state.

“He may still dodge questions, but at least you can see him do it,” Mr. Pasco said.

As for the reporter in the restaurant parking lot, Nathan Baca of KLAS in Las Vegas, he says he was called “an idiot” by an Angle campaign aide after trying to interview her. Her campaign later denied that, saying, “the official in-state spokesman was not at the event.”

Jon Ralston, the political columnist who will interview Ms. Angle this week on his television show, “Face to Face,” had talked on the air about the problems getting hold of her. On one broadcast he mentioned that her spokesman’s voice mailbox was full.

When the spokesman called back, he told Mr. Ralston that they wanted the “toughest in the business” to interview her.

“Flattering, perhaps,” Mr. Ralston said last week, “but it’s also possible they were advised to get it over with on June 29 to mitigate any fallout. The election is still four-plus months away.”

Personal Comment: Sharron Angle is a Sarah Palin wannabe complete with interview gaffs and far right views who if elected would isolate Nevada from the rest of the country. While campaigning at least she won’t be able to give that she can see Russia from her home as a reason to be elected to high public office.

Religious fundamentalists and ‘Personhood’

STI protection a latex condom

News from the Birth Control Wars – Pt. II

The Las Vegas Sun
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 1:27 p.m.

Nevada court hears ‘personhood’ measure appeal

Proponents of a ballot initiative to reshape Nevada abortion law asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to focus on the eight words that they said clearly define their goal.

"The term 'person' applies to every human being," Personhood Nevada leader Olaf Vancura said afterward, using the same eight words outside the state high court that are the focus of his group's appeal. He wants to be allowed to collect signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

In court, an American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada lawyer told the seven justices that voters wouldn't know that amending the Nevada Constitution to define "personhood" as beginning at conception would let advocates advance efforts to ban abortions, restrict common forms of birth control and affect end-of-life questions.

"These are hot-button, critical issues," ACLU attorney Lee Rowland said, urging the state's only appellate court to uphold a lower court ruling in January that the initiative is vague and violates state law limiting ballot questions to one subject.

"There needs to be some information in there that lets the voters know what's going on," Rowland said.

Justices appeared skeptical of overruling the lower court based on Personhood Nevada lawyer Michael Peters' argument that the lower court judge erred in examining anything more than the legality of the wording.

Justice James Hardesty asked Peters if there was a difference between considering the constitutionality of the proposed initiative and determining whether it "impacts other provisions in our laws beyond the stated purpose of the initiative."

"You're limited in looking at, in this case, the eight operative words in determining the single subject," Peters responded. "It's an 'on-its-face' analysis."

"Does this fully inform the voters, ultimately, as to what they're voting on, what they're amending in the Constitution?" Justice Michael Douglas asked. "Or is it so open-ended that they're not sure what the meaning is?"

Peters told Douglas, the first black justice on the Nevada Supreme Court, that the initiative aimed to extend civil rights to a person at conception.

"In essence you're asking us to define when life begins," Douglas said. "Does it do that? Is it clear in all cases?"

"It does define human beings and when life begins," Peters responded.

More than 50 people ranging from right-to-life advocates to Planned Parenthood representatives filled the courtroom gallery for the oral arguments in Las Vegas.

A day earlier, another branch of the national organization Personhood USA gained enough signatures to put an anti-abortion proposal on the Mississippi ballot in 2011.

A similar proposal goes before Colorado voters this fall, and Personhood USA leader Keith Mason said signatures were being gathered for constitutional amendments in Missouri, California, Florida and Montana. Mason tallied about 40 states in which the organization was working toward changing laws.

Rowland urged the Nevada high court to consider the effects of eight words "that are only fleshed out and that only have meaning once you read the description of effects."

"So your argument is that the sentence encompasses more than a single subject?" asked Hardesty, who posed most of the questions during the 30-minute hearing.

"Absolutely," Rowland replied. "Allowing it to go through simply because of its brevity, I think, poses a very real danger to the citizens of Nevada, which is that the initiative process starts to be used for vague, semantic and theoretical ideas."

Personal comment: “Amending the Nevada Constitution to define "personhood" as beginning at conception would let advocates advance efforts to ban abortions, restrict common forms of birth control and affect end-of-life questions.” More right-wing-nuts at work!

If ‘personhood’ is defined as beginning at conception will that mean that the 20 to 30% of the fertilized eggs that aren’t implanted or that are spontaneously aborted (miscarried) many of which a woman is unaware of will require funerals? If so, how will anyone know? Will Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, James Dobson or other men of that persuasion (the Conception Cops) be checking every woman’s required pregnancy test to see who conceived? Additionally ‘personhood’ would set the stage to promote the erroneous claim by radical conservatives that hormonal birth control is an abortifacient!



DA's sex Ed warning befuddles Wis. teachers, kids
Associated Press
By Todd Richmond, April 9, 2010

MAUSTON, Wis. – Mike Taake has taught sex education for 30 years, and he says he knows what doesn't work: just telling kids to wait.

The Mauston High School health teacher has used abstinence-only and comprehensive curriculums, and he said students need all the information they can get about sex to make the best choices. But teaching them about contraceptives could land him and other teachers in court.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth last month sent a letter to area school districts warning that health teachers who tell students how to put on a condom or take birth-control pills could face criminal charges. The warning has befuddled teachers, school administrators and parents in Southworth's poor, rural county.

"Seems like a step back in time," Taake said of Southworth's logic.

Southworth, a Republican and a Christian evangelical, took issue with a law Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed in February requiring schools that teach sexual education to adopt a comprehensive approach.

Southworth warned that teaching a student how to properly use contraceptives would be contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months behind bars and a $10,000 fine. He said it would be promoting sex among minors, who are not legally allowed to have sex in Wisconsin.

"It puts the school kind of in the middle between two sides, between the government and state telling us what should be taught and what people think should not be taught," said Scott Lenz, a health teacher in the New Lisbon School District. He said he would teach contraceptive use if he got the approval of his school board.

Southworth said he doesn't want to drag teachers into court but feels he was ethically responsible for warning them of the new law's potential consequences. He urged the school districts to refrain from offering sex education courses until the Legislature repeals the law.

"Listen, there's a real problem with the law," he said. "I didn't pick the fight. The Legislature dumped it in my lap."

Southworth didn't cite evidence in his letter showing that teaching someone to use contraceptives makes them more likely to have sex. But in an interview Thursday, he pointed to Milwaukee Public Schools, which teach a comprehensive sex education curriculum but still struggle with high teen pregnancy rates. Sex education experts, however, say many social factors influence teens' decisions to have sex, including lack of parental supervision and poverty.

Janine Geske, a Marquette University law professor and former state Supreme Court justice, said she didn't understand Southworth's legal logic. She said that if he tried to prosecute a teacher for adhering to guidelines approved by the Legislature and governor, the case would likely be dismissed.

"To be frank, I can't follow exactly what he's trying to get at," Geske said. "If a teacher is educating a student pursuant to state law ... I don't see how under any examination (that) could be criminal."

The state Legislative Council, a group of attorneys that provides legal advice to state lawmakers, issued a statement Friday saying it also believes teachers who follow the state guidelines would be safe from prosecution.

In Wisconsin, children under age 17 who have sex with each other can be prosecuted as juveniles. Seventeen-year-olds who have sex with one another can be convicted as adults of a misdemeanor.

Wisconsin schools aren't required to teach sex education. But under the new law, which was backed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, schools that do must teach a range of topics, including the benefits of abstinence, the proper use of contraceptives, how to make responsible decisions and the criminal penalties for underage sex. Parents can choose to keep their children out of the classes.

Juneau County lies in the woods and bluffs about halfway between Madison, the state capital, and the Minnesota border. The teen birth rate here in 2008 was nearly 34 per every 1,000 births compared with the state rate of nearly 31 per 1,000, according to a report last year by the county and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The county is about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Voters narrowly backed former President George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 elections, but sided with President Barack Obama in 2008.

Southworth says he's not trying to bolster his reputation as a social conservative for a potential run for higher office, his stance has proved popular with anti-abortion groups.
Matt Sande, the legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, which opposes the new law, said every district attorney in Wisconsin should follow Southworth's lead.

"We commend him for his courage, his frankness in exposing the consequences of this irresponsible new law," Sande said. "If I were a district administrator, I would want to know the impact."

And Janet McCauley, a speech teacher in the Mauston district, said she thinks the new sex education guidelines promote "sexual curiosity" and that Southworth's warning was necessary.

"This is dangerous to our young people. I just think the whole bill wasn't thought out enough."

But many parents said they were befuddled by Southworth's warning.

Audrey Jensen, whose 16-year-old daughter, Justina, is a sophomore at Mauston High School, said Southworth is trying to censor what students learn, usurping the role of parents. Children will have sex regardless, she said, and they need all the information they can get.

"I think he's actually a little unrealistic," said Jensen, 47. "Obviously he doesn't remember being a teenager."

Mauston High School quarterback Brady Nelson, 16, said sex education doesn't encourage teens to do it and Southworth should leave health teachers alone.

"It teaches you more about the bad side of it than the good," he said. "You're not going to learn any other way. You can't really charge a teacher for teaching us about the ways of life."

Taake said he intends to teach contraceptive use and isn't worried about being prosecuted.
"It's not just teaching them how birth control works. It's everything else that goes with it," he said. "To arrest me for teaching correct birth control and the student makes the wrong decision and gets pregnant, that's not my decision."

Personal comment: “Southworth, a Republican and a Christian evangelical” is undoubtedly attempting to burnish his conservative credentials with the intention of a career in politics. In the process he is trying to limit the effectiveness of his communities Sex Ed program by throwing up legal straw men and that’s a huge shame. It’s this sort of thinking that has kept the unintended pregnancy rate in the U.S. so high. Religious narrow-mindedness gives organized religion a very bad name.