Meet one of the New Progressive Patriots Corp Member

[acmejack]

To say I am deeply disappointed with Russ is a serious understatement! WTF is up with this? Talk about undercutting us! Anyway meet AJ:

"My name is AJ Jongewaard. As was everyone who wrote before, I am very excited about being a member of the Patriot Corps. I possess a MN driver's license but have lived in many locations including Fargo, ND, Hudson, WI, Brussles Belgium and Fort Worth, TX.

In December, 2005 I graduated from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX with a BA in International Relations and a couple minors (French and Interdisciplinary Studies). While in school I did a lot of advocacy work for issues such as increasing voter awareness and promoting a living wage. In 2005 I was a member of "Frogs for Kinky", a grassroots campaign for TX Independent Gubernatorial candidate and author, Kinky Friedman. Most of my work with Kinky consisted of petitioning to ensure that his name would make the ballot, and raising awareness throughout the campus and local community for 'Kinky '06'."

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/patriot-corps/meet-the-patriot-corps.html

[acmejack]

1. I found a contact number for the Progressive Patriots Fund

It is 608.831.1308. I called and asked some very pointed questions. The fellow on the other end was caught flat footed, I gave him my contact information and presently awaiting them to contact me with some sort of explanation.

[Czolgosz]

3. You can email to russ@ progressivepatriotsfund.com.

[Czolgosz]

2. Dear Sen. Feingold:

I was disappointed to read about the twenty "activists" who make up your 2006 Patriot Corps organized by your Progressive Patriot Fund.

One of your activists brags that he worked on "a grassroots campaign for TX Independent Gubernatorial candidate and author, Kinky Friedman ... petitioning to ensure that his name would make the ballot, and raising awareness throughout the campus and local community for 'Kinky '06'."

Richard "Kinky" Friedman is reactionary, bigoted, dishonest, antagonistic to the religious freedoms secured by the First Amendment, and not even remotely progressive. That your activist would brag about his connection with this campaign speaks ill of both his judgment and the selection process your Progressive Patriot Fund employed.

Friedman recently discussed his reactionary views on immigration with a reporter for the El Paso Times. Friedman said Mexico should face what he calls the "Israeli discount," and he insisted our immigration policy should be "ruthless." Here is what else the El Paso Times reports:

"He said he supports groups such as the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps because they draw attention to problems on the border. Asked about his own strategy for securing the border, Friedman said, 'I'm not sure. I don't have a plan.' He said he would appoint people who care about the state to develop a plan based on his motto: 'Remember the Alamo.' Border safety has deteriorated, Friedman said, because politicians are too afraid to offend Hispanics and get tough on the Mexican government."

Even the spokesman for out far-right governor reacted with dismay to Friedman's willingness to align himself with the ironically named "Minutemen" vigilantes: "Wow. That kind of rhetoric is irresponsible."

Previously, Friedman has described his immigration plan as follows:

"When I talk about the five Mexican generals, people think I’m joking but I’m dead serious. I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general. Every time a person crosses illegally, we subtract $5,000 from the trust fund."

Friedman has appeared on Bill O'Reilly's program where he touted a Berlin-wall style border fence (and Friedman managed to insult the President of Mexico as an added insult):

FRIEDMAN: Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence.
O'REILLY: Well, don't count on help from Mr. Fox because he's getting so much money from this illegal immigration back there.
FRIEDMAN: That's true.

Friedman promised the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he would take "a harder line on immigration" than any of the other candidates, and he insulted Tejano protesters marching in favor of immigration reform by saying that they were "half playing hooky."
Just as Friedman brags, he is clearly not "afraid of offending Hispanics" – or Black voters, for that matter.

Last November, Friedman appeared on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" where Friedman explained his view that criminals should be punished by locking them in prison and making them "listen to a Negro talking to himself"? When the host of that show asked if Friedman's statement was perhaps a little racist, Friedman replied that "Negro is a charming word."

These statements echo Friedman's earlier comments when he last unsuccessfully ran for office openly as a Republican. Friedman vowed he was leaving "that worthless tar baby that is politics."

Friedman's xenophobic views on immigration are no worse than his support for the Iraq War. Friedman spoke with Ruminator magazine about his support for Bush's Middle East foreign policy:

QUESTION: So does this idea of the honorable cowboy have anything to do with why you threw your support behind President Bush in this last election? You did, didn’t you?
FRIEDMAN: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn’t vote for him the first time.
QUESTION: Who did you vote for in 2000?
FRIEDMAN: I voted for Gore then. I was conflicted. . .but I was not for Bush that time. Since then, though, we’ve become friends. And that’s what’s changed things.
QUESTION: So it’s your friendship with him that’s changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
FRIEDMAN: Well, actually, I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy. On domestic issues, I’m more in line with the Democrats. I basically think he played a poor hand well after September 11. What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think.

Friedman's statement that he voted for Al Gore gives the impression that Friedman is at least somewhat bi-partisan. Interestingly, Friedman's voting records confirm that he is not telling the truth when he falsely bolsters this phony impression of bi-partisanship because Friedman did not vote in any election for over a decade before he went to the ballot box in 2004 to cast his vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket. These same voting records confirm that Friedman also lied about voting for Ann Richards in 1994 and voting against the marital discrimination amendment to the Texas Constitution in 2005. Friedman has repeatedly lied about voting for progressive candidates and causes, but his votes for reactionary candidates were actually cast. When confronted with the evidence of his voting record, Friedman weakly replied "my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's."

Friedman's views on the First Amendment's establishment clause are equally reactionary. Friedman has often campaigned on his promise that "I am going to see non-denominational prayer and the Ten Commandments put back in the schools." Clearly, either Friedman is ignorant of the laws prohibiting non-denominational public school prayer or he is bent on embroiling the Texas in litigation to enforce the First Amendment's establishment clause. Likewise, either Friedman is ignorant of the fact that the Hebrew, Protestant, and Catholic faiths all follow different versions of the Ten Commandments (not to mention people of other faiths and atheists who disbelieve in any version of these religious commandments) or Friedman has failed to disclose which faith's version of the Ten Commandments he intends to post in public school classrooms.

We progressive voters in Texas would be grateful if you revised your Progressive Patriot Fund website to correct the false impression that Friedman is anything more than an anti-progressive, xenophobic, bigoted, dishonest reactionary.

The least that you could do is add our progressive Texas Democratic Party Candidate Chris Bell to your list of Progressive Patriot: Governors. In addition to Chris Bell's critical role in bring down Tom DeLay's empire of corruption, Chris Bell has the AFL-CIO and League of Conservation Voters endorsements, a 100% pro-peace voting record from SANE, a 100% pro-choice rating from NARAL, and a perfectly progressive immigration record from FAIR, and he co-sponsored the Permanent Partners Immigration Act.

Please make amends over this issue.

[cosmik debris]

4. The page you linked to is down now

I wonder if they took the hint?

[Why Syzygy]

5. CRAP!

I haven't read this whole post yet, but do people realize that Kinky's backers are street people?
I had a neighbor who was a dui FELON who put a Kinky sticker on his door. He can't even VOTE!

I hope this fever is limited to Austin and doesn't spread. It is upsetting. We need LEADERSHIP.
Wanna see a clown? Go to a comedy club. Not in my state capitol.