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The Rick Smith Show

Unfortunately, free speech is not free. This is why we have launched the "960 Campaign."

Are you tired of the corporate, convoluted, confrontational media and their tabloid coverage of the news, especially the presidential candidates? Would like to hear what is really happening and have a voice? There is hope and a place you can find the truth: The Rick Smith Show.

For a donation of only $9.60 (feel free to move the decimal point), you can ensure that your progressive talk stays on the air. Go to our website: www.thericksmithshow.com  and click on Pay Pal.

The Rick Smith Show airs Saturday and Sunday, noon to 2 on WHYL 960 AM, stream it live and listen to past shows and podcasts from our website: www.thericksmithshow.com.  Radio of, for, and by, We the Working Class.

As Co-host of the show for almost 2 years, I am proud to bring you the "News Behind the News." We are looking forward to interviewing as many candidates as possible, especially local candidates. Be a part of this progressive movement. In return, I promise to provide you the best in "Edutainment."

Contact, Don LeVasseur

The idea being promoted by both John McCain and Hillary Clinton of canceling the federal gasoline tax for the summer is a terrible idea. It fails to address the real issue of runaway fuel prices. It has negative consequences for the safety of our roads and bridges. It is essentially a campaign stunt and distraction. The oil profiteers have already gobbled up any benefit consumers might gain from the cut far in advance of the proposed summer suspension.

Runaway fuel prices are largely the result of market manipulation by speculators and oil companies combined with a “nod and wink” approach to government regulation and law enforcement from the Bush Administration. We need serious government intervention instead of cosmetic window dressing. Read more...

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Our current list of national economic difficulties and governmental failures is a direct result of nearly 30 years of failed Republican policies. We are paying the price in many ways for our national love affair with slick, emotionally appealing Republican political rhetoric and candidates. We ignore the harsh reality behind the deceitful words.

Hillary Clinton should end her bid for the White House. Obama should offer her the Vice Presidency. Clinton should accept the offer. It would be a bitter pill for both to swallow but it is what both the Democratic Party and the American nation desperately needs. Neither Clinton nor Obama should place their personal ambition, pride or emotions ahead of the needs of the American people. Read more...

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to block the Bush Administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid benefits for the poor by $13 billion over the next 5 years.  Two-thirds of House Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for the bill which had 220 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle. 

The proposed Bush White House cuts were opposed by all 50 State Governors.  The final vote was 369 to 62.  Congressman Joe Pitts ever the champion of less government spending unless it goes into the pockets of wealthy corporations,  joined the 62 members of Congress who voted to preserve the cuts. The Democratic candidate running for Joe Pitts' seat is Bruce Slater.
Go to Bruce Slater's campaign website...

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The US Economy and the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars
by Charles M. Melchior, Chester County, Pennsylvania

While the tendency by many economic analysts and commentators has been to attribute the recent precipitous, persistent collapse on Wall Street largely to the sour housing market and housing mortgages given to sub-prime borrowers at variable and increasing interest rates, the strain of the Iraq War on the overall economy, as it added to the Federal Budget deficit and debt interest costs. has largely been ignored.  However, the rather panicky reactions of the Federal Reserve in the form of large, emergency interest rate cuts and the supposed stimulus packages of what some economists are calling too little, too late to the wrong recipients, plus talk of small possible troop reductions, may indicate some growing recognition of the severity of the overall economic crisis, raising new doubts, despite positive claims about the impact of the troop surge, about the wisdom of continuing this level of spending. Read more...

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The Lancaster Post published its first edition on Thursday, April 18th and the publishers believe it will provide Lancaster County with a credible alternative to the local monopoly press.

The Post is a free issues, arts, and entertainment weekly that will be distributed in every part of Lancaster County.

"We heard so many people complain about Lancaster Newspapers -- that its coverage was biased, that it was boring -- that we decided a little competition would be good for everyone," said Ron Harper, Jr. one of two publishers and editors. Read more...

Public Hearing on the Marriage Amendment
Tuesday, April 29th at 9am State Capital, Harrisburg Room 8E-A, East Wing

Harrisburg Rally to Stop the Marriage Amendment
The Value All Families Coalition presents The Rally for ALL Families.
May 5, 2008 at 1pm in the State Capital Rotunda.

Lobbying training will be at 11am in a location TBD.

For more information, contact Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, 215-731-1447 x10 or visit www.equalitypa.org

Republican Voters Who Are Tired of Joe Pitts can:

Many Republicans in the 16th Congressional district are so displeased with Joe Pitts voting record, that they intend to write-in Bruce A. Slater's name in the space provided for write-in under the Congressional race on the Republican ballot.

Make sure to use Bruce's full name with the initial "A".

Down load handouts to pass out to Republican voters at the polls on Tuesday and encourage Republicans to write-in Bruce A. Slater for Congress...

Why Vote for Bruce...

If you go online to find the positions of the two candidates for the 16th Congressional District, you'll find a stark differentiation between Bruce Slater and Joe Pitts. In fact, in several instances, Rep. Pitts has refused to complete surveys which would detail his views on critical issues. Do your homework! One site which contains issue statements by the candidates is Project Vote Smart. (Scroll down to the 16th Congressional District.)

An  “I’m Ready for Hillary” Party will be held in Elizabethtown on Saturday, April 19th at the home of Lois K. Herr from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. Lois invites friends who love Hillary AND those who are undecided. Refreshments will be served. The featured guest will be Kim Gandy, President, National NOW

Women’s rights activists know hsow important victory in Pennsylvania is to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Presidency and to our lives and future.  Kim Gandy, President of National NOW PAC, and other national and state NOW leaders are coming to Pennsylvania to meet with NOW members and feminist voters to tell personal and moving stories about working with Hillary Clinton on women’s rights issues and underscore our first-hand knowledge of her commitment to women and families and a better – more equal – world. 

The National NOW PAC has endorsed Hillary Clinton because she can deliver on DAY ONE and she is the strongest candidate to win in November – to fix our shattered economy – to resolve the housing and mortgage crisis – to develop a health care program that covers ALL Americans – to stand firm as a strong civil rights and women’s rights leader – to promote policies that help us juggle work and family - and she will work to bring our troops home from Iraq from day one.

Contact Lois K. Herr, herrlk@embarqmail.com 717-371-5721 cell.
1511 Hickory Run Court, Elizabethtown PA 17022                                View flyer...

Lois Herr was featured on Gary Baumgarten's PALTALK show yesterday, Monday, April 14th from 5 to 6 PM.  PALTALK is an online news program. Baumgarten is former radio bureau chief for CNN and is traveling in PA to talk with people about the primary election.

Lois, who is a Hillary delegate and on the Democratic primary ballot, promoted Hillary Clinton's candidacy and fielded question from a national audience. Contribute to Gary's blog Are Pennsylvania Voters Bitter About The Economy? On Paltalk, click here.

Many Republicans in the 16th Congressional district are so displeased with Joe Pitts voting record, that they intend to write-in Bruce A. Slater's name in the space provided for write-in under the Congressional race on the Republican ballot.

Make sure to use Bruce's full name with the initial "A".

Down load handouts to pass out to Republican voters at the polls on Tuesday and encourage Republicans to write-in Bruce A. Slater for Congress...

The Rainbow Rose Community is sponsoring a rally to Defeat Senate Bill 1250, the proposed Marriage Amendment which is currently being addressed in the Pennsylvania Senate.

The bill states, "No union other than a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage or the functional equivalent of marriage by the Commonwealth." The bill would prohibit the marriage or civil unions between same-sex couples.

The rally is scheduled for Sunday, April 27th from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster at 538 W. Chestnut Street.  Read more...

Clinton not trailing Obama enough to leave race
by Jay S. Jacobs

Calls for Sen. Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president are mostly based on the fact that Sen. Barack Obama is leading in the delegate count.

But Obama's estimated lead of 164 pledged delegates, when fairly analyzed, is not what it appears to be. Out of that margin, only 16 delegates were earned in primaries, while 148 delegates - fully 94 percent of his lead - were earned through caucuses.

That's an important distinction when you consider the disparity of voter representation between primary-elected and caucus-elected delegates.  Read more...

PA's Marriage Amendment Discriminates...
by Paul and Jo Ann Hentz

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that “No state shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Proponents of the Marriage Amendment to our state Constitution seek to deny a segment of our population equal protection of the law. But the Marriage Amendment does not protect the institution of marriage. It is designed to codify a narrow societal view of marriage which some find difficult to give up. Codifying these religious preferences will deny same-sex couples equal protection and therefore the amendment cannot be permitted and laws now on the books that prohibit same-sex marriage must be repealed.

Advocacy for denying same-sex couples the right to marry is an unconscionable act of discrimination. But more vile are those politicians who play the hate card to enrich their coffers by exploiting the prejudices of those who seek to force their own world view on the rest of us.

Advocates of the marriage amendment are akin to those who advocated for Jim Crow laws that denied Afro-Americans and others equal protection of the laws in the previous century. Our own history has taught us the consequences of discrimination. Discrimination begets prejudice, prejudice begets intolerance, which begets hatred, which begets murder. We as a nation have traveled down that path too often.

If our desire is to strengthen marriage and family, then the state must permit the marriage of  same-sex couples who seek to form a legal, social and emotional union. Like the rest of us, these families put down roots, support businesses, pay taxes, and contribute to the stability of our towns and institutions. There is no rational reason to deny them the right to marry.

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Comment by Charles Lane

The proponents of this amendment claim that allowing same sex marriage will undermine "traditional" marriage. This objection is made without presenting any proof of what it claims. Any half-way intelligent observer of the state of marriage in Pennsylvania and the USA today, must conclude that the real threats to traditional marriage are: poverty (lack of good-paying jobs and universal health care), an emphasis on materialism and having it all now, too much money and not enough compassion, and the bad example of celebrities. Allowing same sex marriage is not going to increase or reduce this sad trend; only a change of the national heart can do that.

Another claim by those who object to same sex marriage is that children growing up in such a union will be "influenced" or forced into homosexuality. Again, these people bring absolutely no proof to support their absurd contention. In fact, if such a study were made, the result would surely show that the rate of children raised in a same sex union who turn out to be homosexual would be no different that the rate of homosexual children raised in a traditional union.

Claims such as these are printed in our newspapers and spoken on radio and television every day, and no one seems able to call the speakers on it. We are a bunch of cowards, when we should be standing up and demanding that people be truthful in their claims.

From the Editor: Focus on What is Important...
by Lois K. Herr, Editor

Rather than talking about how Democrats becoming "unglued," as Terry Madonna said recently, let's talk about how excited Democrats are about having two great candidates in a Pennsylvania Presidential Primary.

Let's talk about new voters registered, voters who have changed parties to join us, and the overall re-surgence of the Democratic party here in Lancaster County.

Let's focus on how important it is to end the Iraq war, repair the economy, provide universal health care, educate our children, protect the rights of citizens, and provide equal opportunity.

I am confident we will unite behind the Democratic Candidate in November and change the direction of our Government.

We must.

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