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INDEX
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Marriage Discrimination Amendment
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The War in
Iraq
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Bin Laden and War
on Terror
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The CIA Leak Scandal
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The Supreme Court
-
High Gas Prices
Why is the
Marriage Constitutional Amendment Nonsense?
The Texas Legislature failed Texans and did not solve real
problems, such as school finance, property tax reform and health
insurance for all Texas children. Instead, they focused on
Nonsense like sexy cheerleading and this amendment that is
discriminatory, hateful and divisive.
The proposed Constitutional Amendment would use the Texas Bill
of Rights to deny rights to some Texans. The Bill of Rights is a
sacred document that for more than one hundred years was used to
afford rights to all Texans. It is Nonsense to change it to deny
rights to some Texans.
Civil marriages between same-sex couples are already prohibited
in Texas, and civil marriages and civil unions from other states
or other countries are not recognized in Texas.
Even if you oppose civil marriage for same-sex couples, the
Constitutional Amendment also prohibits civil unions and
domestic partnerships and may impact common law marriages.
By depriving same-sex couples access to civil marriages, civil
unions and domestic partnerships, some Texas families lose the
right to protect their loved ones in many of the important areas
of life: medical decisions, inheritance, property, parental
rights and more. Protecting your family is a fundamental right.
The Constitutional Amendment is wrong.
THE WAR
IN IRAQ
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President Bush has utterly failed in his responsibility
as Commander-in-Chief. He sent our troops to war without
the proper equipment, based on flawed, inaccurate
intelligence and no plan for success. Too many lives are
being lost and too little progress is being made because
of this President’s failures as costs continue to
escalate and Iraq becomes the international training
ground of choice for terrorists. Our troops, our allies
and the American people deserve better.
-
The
President can’t make up for the mistakes that led us to
war in Iraq. But he can stop ignoring the facts,
ignoring the experts and ignoring the legitimate
concerns of the American people.
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He
needs to answer the question that every American is
struggling to answer: What is our plan to succeed in
Iraq and at what point can our troops begin to return
home? And he needs to do that sooner rather than later,
because our troops aren’t getting what they deserve from
this Administration.
BIN LADEN AND THE
WAR ON TERROR
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It’s
been four years since Osama bin Laden orchestrated the
devastating attack of September 11, 2001, yet he still
remains at large. There are regular reports that Bin
Laden and his Al Qaeda followers are continuing to plan
terror operations against American targets. And we now
know that there was no link between 9/11 and the war in
Iraq.
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And
while we don’t know why the Bush Adminstration has been
unable to find Bin Laden, we do know that there is much
to be done right here at home to ensure we keep
Americans safe. That’s why Democrats were the first to
advocate for the creation of a Department of Homeland
Security. Democrats were the first to suggest the
formation of the 9/11 Commission to examine where
American intelligence activities went wrong and what can
be done to fix it. Democrats have also been the
strongest advocates of fully funding for first
responders and homeland security including the
Transportation Security Administration, port security
and chemical/nuclear plant security.
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In the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we see that the Bush
administration has failed to make us safer, but instead
left us with questions about whether our government is
prepared to deal with the aftermath of a large-scale
incident. Four years later, haven’t we learned the
lessons of 9/11?
THE CIA LEAK SCANDAL
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The improper and possibly illegal disclosure of CIA
operative Valerie Plame’s identity represents a serious
breach of American national security. Plame spent her
career building an international network of contacts to
gather intelligence and prevent the proliferation of WMD
to rogue nations.
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White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and VP
Cheney’s Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby have
acknowledged outing Plame to members of the media in an
effort to intimidate her husband and silence his
criticism of the White House’s handling of the sensitive
intelligence data in the run-up to the war in Iraq. This
is a classic smear tactic of the Bush White House.
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When the scandal first erupted, President Bush vowed to
fire anyone involved in the outing of Valerie Plame, but
he has failed to keep his promise and fire Libby and
Rove. When will the president stop protecting his
political allies and put our national security ahead of
politics as usual?
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The White House should abandon their political
stonewalling tactics and give honest answers to the
numerous legitimate questions raised about how Plame’s
identity was disclosed and whether senior aides, in
addition to Libby and Rove were involved. Will the
president keep his word, or is this just more hollow
rhetoric from a President who is more interested in
protecting his political operatives than his CIA
operatives.
The Supreme Court
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The United States Senate has a constitutional
responsibility to thoroughly evaluate Supreme Court
nominees and determine whether or not they would use
their lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to be an
advocate for Americans’ personal freedoms or an activist
for an ideological agenda.
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The lifetime appointment of a Supreme Court Justice has
significant ramification for the future of America and
it’s time for the White to treat this process with the
respect it deserves by cooperating with the Senate as
they fulfill their constitutional responsibility.
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It is critical that the Bush administration treat this
process with the dignity it deserves. This appointee
will help determine the direction of our country for
generations to come. The Supreme Court must remain
committed and able to protect the rights and freedoms of
every American and not roll back the progress that has
been made.
HIGH
GAS PRICES
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As a
candidate for President in 2000, then-Texas Gov. George
W. Bush criticized the Clinton-Gore administration for
not having a comprehensive energy policy, but under
President Bush gas prices have skyrocketed.
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Bush,
a former oil executive, promised that, as President, he
would “jawbone” OPEC to convince them to increase supply
and lower prices. For too long, the American people have
seen skyrocketing gas prices, oil companies reaping
record profits, while ordinary Americans struggle to pay
their bills—yet the President has seemingly looked the
other way. Now it’s time for the President to step up
and put the needs of the American people ahead of
profits for his pals in big oil.
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