Rep. Lois Frankel tapped by Dems to recruit women to run for Congress

by George Bennett | February 25th, 2013



Freshman U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, has been named by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., as one of two leaders of a new Democratic effort to recruit more female candidates.
Frankel and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, will head up the “Women LEAD” campaign, which aims to “recruit more female candidates, protect women’s rights, expand their opportunities and stop the Republican War on Women.”
“The facts are clear: When women vote, Democrats win. Bringing even more Democratic women into the political process is a winning formula for our party,” said DCCC Chairman Israel. He called Frankel and Pingree “trailblazing women.”
Said Frankel: “As Democrats, we are determined to make life better for the women of this country, and we will work hard every day to pass legislation that matters to women. We will fight efforts to turn back the clock on women and families. We’ll build on our successful recruiting efforts and look to expand our ranks of women who can lead this country.”

Source: http://www.postonpolitics.com

How the sequester affects YOU

Organizing for Action
Prepare yourself for job layoffs, reduced access to early education, slower emergency response, slashed health care, and more people living on the street.

This Friday is the final deadline for congressional Republicans to stop disastrous automatic spending cuts (known as the "sequester") that will hurt everyday Americans -- including you.

These budget cuts will take a sledgehammer to the budget, and indiscriminately cut critical programs vital to economic growth and middle class families.

If Congress fails to act, we'd see budget cuts pretty much across the board to critical services that teachers, first responders, seniors, children, and our men and women in uniform rely on every day.

It sounds bad because it is. And with all these cuts on the line, why are congressional Republicans refusing to budge?

Because to do so, they'd have to close tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, oil companies, vacation homes, and private jet owners. I'm not kidding.

It's on each of us to speak up. Share what these budget cuts could mean to you -- or someone you know -- today. Congress needs to hear it. 

President Obama has offered a balanced plan to reduce our deficit, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share so that we can protect programs that are incredibly important for working and middle-class Americans.

But congressional Republicans so far are refusing to compromise.

Here are some of the consequences if Congress fails to act by Friday:

-- 10,000 teachers would be laid off, $400 million would be cut from Head Start, the program that makes sure at-risk preschoolers are ready for kindergarten, and 70,000 kids would be kicked out of the early-education program completely. 

-- The budget for firemen and other first responders to react when natural disasters strike would be cut by $35 million.

-- Nutrition programs that help make sure seniors don't go hungry would be cut by $43 million.

-- A program that helps provide housing for the formerly homeless, including many veterans, would be shuttered, putting them at risk of going back on the street.

-- A number of programs that help the most vulnerable families and children would be slashed -- including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children dropping 600,000 women alone.

Right now, each of us has a responsibility to step up and make sure Congress hears our voices. 

Whether you'd be directly affected by these sequester cuts, or whether they'd affect a senior, veteran, or teacher you know, please share what they mean to you:

http://my.barackobama.com/Share-Your-Sequester-Story

Let's keep the pressure on congressional Republicans to do the right thing.

Suspect in David Rivera Campaign-Finance Scandal To Be Charged Friday With Federal Crimes


By Marc Caputo, Miami Herald

A former candidate under FBI investigation with former U.S. Rep David Rivera is scheduled to be charged Friday with federal crimes over his campaign finances, sources tell The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.


Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz ID Theft Event


Are you a victim of Identity Theft?

Would you like to protect yourself from becoming a victim of Identity Theft?

Please join
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

And experts from the Federal Trade Commission
Internal Revenue Service
and
Broward Sheriff’s Office

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
6:30pm
Southwest Regional Library
16835 Sheridan Street
Pembroke Pines

Please see attached flyer and feel free to forward to your contacts

Jodi Bock Davidson, District Director
Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, FL-23
10100 Pines Boulevard
Pembroke Pines, FL 33026

Re Elect Ron Mills Broward Democrats Area Leader


Fort Lauderdale – Ron Mills, Broward Democrats Area  leader serving Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach, announced his campaign for reelection to the post.  The election, to be held February 18, 2013, is open to precinct committeepersons from Fort Lauderdale,Dania Beach.Mills was elected in 2007.  


If reelected, Mills plans to focus on building the Democratic Party in Broward, as well as zero in on electing Democrats at all levels in 2014, especially Governor.  He will continue registering Democrats in Area2, fill all remaining precinct committee slots, with the help of district and precinct leaders; facilitate better tools for district and precinct leaders; hold online town hall meetings; improve canvassing and phone banking methods; aggressively focus on Vote By Mail drives; and help local Democratic clubs grow their memberships.

Please Vote for Ron Mills
Thank You For Your Service,
--  
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Judge Hurley Surprised By Story About His Dad



posted at BrowardBeat.com 
BY SAM FIELDS

Too many people take important stories to the grave without sharing them with family and friends.
My father was in the NYPD.  And while he told me a lot of funny cop stories it was only because my grandmother had kept the front page of a 1946 edition of the Long Island Press that I learned that, while off duty at the movies with my mother, he happened on a robbery/homicide that led to a car chase though the streets of Queens and him shooting it out and capturing the bad guys.
I’m lucky that my Dad was still alive when I learned about his heroism so that we could talk about.
Unfortunately, Broward Judge John “Jay” Hurley Jr. did not find out about the incredible thing the senior John Hurley had done and what it meant to other veterans until after his Pop died.
You probably have seen Judge Hurley.  That’s because he is on TV almost daily as the judge those arrested first appear before.

Jay Hurley, on left, is frequently on TV.

 Watch Everyday at http://judgejayhurley.com/ 

What Judge Hurley did know was that his Dad was in the Army Air Corp where he flew bombers over  Germany.  When he went back to the U.S., he trained other pilots.  After the war he spent a career flying for 
All that and more were recounted at a memorial service.
Jay and his siblings spoke about Pop.
But a big surprise came when an elderly Black gentleman got up and asked to speak.
His name was Thaddeus Hamilton, a retired lieutenant colonel, and here is the story he told:
During the war he had been a Redtail also known as a Tuskegee Airman.
He was carrying a framed photo of the Tuskegee airmen, signed by the remaining members.
The WWII military was as Jim Crow as a Mississippi public school.  If that wasn’t bad enough,  the Redtails were  trained in Alabama and forced to endure all the indignities of racial segregation on-and-off the base.
Like the Southern so-called “Colored Schools” that got used books and supplies, the Redtails got secondhand equipment including planes.
How’s this for the ultimate insult?
During the war Alabama was the home to 16,000 German POW’s.  Many were trustees who earned a few bucks doing odd jobs.
The Germans were permitted to go into town where they were welcomed in restaurants and movie houses.  Meanwhile, African-American soldiers, who were fighting and dying fighting these same German soldiers, couldn’t go in those same restaurants and movie houses.
White Air Corps pilots saw themselves as the cream of the military crop. For many, the idea that blacks could or would do their job was both insulting and downright threatening. 
It was in that atmosphere that White flight instructors stayed clear of training “Negro” pilots.
The exception was Captain John Hurley, the judge’s father.  He was the lead pilot trainer for the Tuskegee airmen.
Hurley had been a bomber pilot who, unscathed, had dodged Nazi flak in dozens of missions over Germany.
Make no bones about it, working with the Redtails meant a different kind of flak that now came from White American fly boys. In many respects it had to be more difficult than bombing Hamburg since it was a choice that ran counter to the “groupthink” of the 1940’s military.
Colonel Hamilton, and the few remaining Redtails, never forgot.
Hamilton’s heartfelt thanks to his former trainer, Hurley, astounded the judge.  Jay Hurley never knew how much impact his Pop had on those airmen. He never knew how his Dad had affected lives and was touched by history.
It’s a shame that Judge Hurley only first heard about at his Dad’s memorial service.  It’s the kind of a story that brings a smile to your face and tears to your eyes.  His great regret is that he never had a chance to share the story with “Pop”.
XXXXX
John Hurley’s obit from Georgia:

John James (J.J.) Hurley
Valdosta Daily Times (GA) -
— John James (J.J.) Hurley, 96, of Valdosta and formerly of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida died suddenly at his home on Friday, October 26, 2012. He was born in Washington D.C. on January 18, 1916 to the late John and Winifred Hurley. J.J was an aviation pioneer. He was a veteran of WWII and served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps and was the last surviving member of the 41B Squadron. Through his leadership and the collective training of other pilots, he was instrumental in the success and accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen having been the lead pilot trainer for the historic group. He also trained the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during this time. He was discharged as a Lt. Colonel when the war ended and went to work as a pilot with Delta Airlines. He flew for Delta for thirty years until he retired. He was the airline’s oldest living original captains. Following his tenure with Delta he became the director for Mackey Airlines. He loved golfing, fishing and boating. He was a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Ft. Lauderdale.

A Message From Congressman Ted Deutch


Ted Deutch
Dear Friend,

I have long argued that Washington’s fixation over the long-term budget deficit and neglect for our ongoing jobs crisis is endangering our economic recovery. As you may be aware, President Obama has already signed into law $1.4 trillion in spending cuts and raised over $600 billion in new revenue by allowing some tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. Yet scheduled to begin on March is sequestration - an additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts mandated to take place if Congress fails to adopt a balanced, bipartisan plan for deficit reduction.

Economists from across the political spectrum agree that sequestration’s cuts-only approach to deficit reduction could force our economy back into recession. The cuts mandated by sequestration will mean fewer jobs in every area of our economy – from food inspection and homeland security to public education and scientific research. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the first $85 billion round of spending cuts slated for March would eliminate nearly 690,000 jobs by the end of 2013.

We must begin to view our deficit problem as a jobs problem. As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms in a recent report, sequestration’s massive cuts will fail to reduce the deficit in the long-term because they will subdue growth and shrink our economy in the short-term.  I am committed to replacing sequestration with a responsible plan that ends giveaways to special interests, closes offshore tax havens, and creates a tax code that ensures businesses of all sizes compete on a level playing field. At the same time, we must create jobs by initiating high-impact infrastructure projects, expanding support for cutting-edge medical research, and pursuing other investments proven to boost economic growth.

The decisions made in the coming weeks about our budget are of great consequence to Florida’s economy. I will continue to argue for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that protects hundreds of thousands of jobs and puts all of America’s families first.

Kind regards, 

Ted Deutch