VILAS, NC - The Billy Kennedy for Congress campaign today released its Top 10 finalists for the Critters for Kennedy photo contest. Voting begins at noon today on Kennedy's website and ends at 11:59 pm Thursday.
Anyone may vote for the winner. The supporter submitting the winning photo will receive a special Billy Kennedy for Congress prize pack.
"We've had a lot of fun with this contest, and it has generated a lot of excitement for our campaign," Kennedy said. "It also brought attention to a very serious issue."
One of Kennedy's supporters brought in a copy of HR 5092, a bill in the House which would ban the sale of animal "crush" videos. These horrific videos show shocking scenes of women in high heels crushing small animals to death with their feet for the sexual gratification of viewers.
More than 330 members of the House have signed on as co-sponsors to this legislation since it was introduced on April 21, but our incumbent Rep. Virginia Foxx isn't one of them.
In April, the United State Supreme Court struck down a 1999 federal law known as the Crush Act which banned the sale of crush videos, saying that the legislation was too broad and infringed on free speech rights. HR 5092, introduced after the ruling, amends the Crush Act to add certain protections for hunters and sportsmen.
Opponents of the original Crush Act argued that the legislation put hunters at risk of federal prosecution for the production and sale of videos involving hunting, fishing, trapping and other legal sports activities.
Hunters and other sportsmen are in support of the amendment, including the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, crediting the bill's author for tackling animal cruelty while preserving hunter's rights.
"No one supports malicious cruelty to animals of the sort depicted in these 'crush videos,' but we also want to be sure that legal activities like hunting are not blackballed by a law that is too vague," said Bill Horn, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance director of federal affairs. "We are glad that HR 5092 addresses legitimate animal cruelty issues without penalizing honest sportsmen."
Kennedy issued a challenge to incumbent Congresswoman Foxx to throw her support behind the bill.
"The critter contest started out as a fun way to get people involved in the political process," Kennedy said. "This bill both protects hunters and criminalizes this despicable animal cruelty."
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
New Brief: Virginia Foxx And Billy Kennedy Have Exactly Opposite Views On Corporate Dominance Of Election Finance
From: downwithtyranny.blogspot.com
Published: June 26, 2010
Yesterday we talked a little about the blatant way conservatives thumbed their noses at voters in regard to campaign finance. They just flat-out refuse to go along with even the most modest reforms. One of the most reform-minded Democratic candidates running for Congress this year, North Carolina farmer and carpenter Billy Kennedy, is vying for a seat currently held by one of Congress' most arrogant and stubborn relics of mindless corruption, Virginia Foxx. Needless to say, she voted against the DISCLOSE Act. Like many of the self-serving corporate shills on both sides of the aisle-- remember, Blue Dogs were as opposed to reform as Republicans-- Foxx was shrieking that reforming the system is "unconstitutional." I asked Billy for a guest post on how he sees it and why he differs so fiercely with such a "constitutional scholar" like Foxx.
"The case of Citizens United v FEC was heard by the Supreme Court back in January. When all was said and done, the Court ended up changing the law so that corporations can now spend as much as they like on political campaigns without even identifying themselves. That’s right-- average working people get the short end of the stick. Again.
So the US House has now just passed the “Disclose Act,” a law which will at least require that these corporations tell us who they are when they put their fancy, high-dollar commercials on TV that attack anyone who would dare come up against them. The “Disclose Act” could most certainly be better than it is. If we didn’t have so many politicians in Washington beholden to corporate interests, we’d surely have gotten a better bill in the end, but the bill is at least a start.
Even so, I wasn’t surprised to hear Rep. Virginia Foxx rail against the “Disclose Act” on WPTF radio Thursday. more...
Published: June 26, 2010
Yesterday we talked a little about the blatant way conservatives thumbed their noses at voters in regard to campaign finance. They just flat-out refuse to go along with even the most modest reforms. One of the most reform-minded Democratic candidates running for Congress this year, North Carolina farmer and carpenter Billy Kennedy, is vying for a seat currently held by one of Congress' most arrogant and stubborn relics of mindless corruption, Virginia Foxx. Needless to say, she voted against the DISCLOSE Act. Like many of the self-serving corporate shills on both sides of the aisle-- remember, Blue Dogs were as opposed to reform as Republicans-- Foxx was shrieking that reforming the system is "unconstitutional." I asked Billy for a guest post on how he sees it and why he differs so fiercely with such a "constitutional scholar" like Foxx.
"The case of Citizens United v FEC was heard by the Supreme Court back in January. When all was said and done, the Court ended up changing the law so that corporations can now spend as much as they like on political campaigns without even identifying themselves. That’s right-- average working people get the short end of the stick. Again.
So the US House has now just passed the “Disclose Act,” a law which will at least require that these corporations tell us who they are when they put their fancy, high-dollar commercials on TV that attack anyone who would dare come up against them. The “Disclose Act” could most certainly be better than it is. If we didn’t have so many politicians in Washington beholden to corporate interests, we’d surely have gotten a better bill in the end, but the bill is at least a start.
Even so, I wasn’t surprised to hear Rep. Virginia Foxx rail against the “Disclose Act” on WPTF radio Thursday. more...
Friday, June 18, 2010
A Day of Oily Apologies
From DownWithTyranny.blogspot.com
Published: June 17, 2010
Environmentally-conscious and energy-conscious Democrats had already been talking to the voters about how their approach drastically differs from the Republican approach. On Wednesday Billy Kennedy, the Blue America-endorsed candidate challenging reactionary corporate shill Virginia Foxx in western North Carolina came out swinging with a claim that Foxx shares the blame for the B.P. disaster. He hit all the relevant points that Americans should be assessing around this national catastrophe: more...
Published: June 17, 2010
Environmentally-conscious and energy-conscious Democrats had already been talking to the voters about how their approach drastically differs from the Republican approach. On Wednesday Billy Kennedy, the Blue America-endorsed candidate challenging reactionary corporate shill Virginia Foxx in western North Carolina came out swinging with a claim that Foxx shares the blame for the B.P. disaster. He hit all the relevant points that Americans should be assessing around this national catastrophe: more...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Billy Kennedy: "Virginia Foxx and Republicans in Congress Share Blame with BP in Disaster"
BETHEL, N.C. - Billy Kennedy, candidate for Congress from western North Carolina, issued the following statement after President Obama's Oval Office Address on the Gulf Oil Disaster:
"Last week in her town hall phone-in, Rep. Virginia Foxx said she didn't understand why President Obama didn't immediately send 'big ships' to the Gulf to sop up all the oil."
"The fact is there are 8,100 vessels responding to the Gulf oil disaster. The Congresswoman's understanding of this spill is simplistic, and her suggested solution is naïve."
"Livelihoods are lost, and a national treasure faces devastation. A government panel of scientists has now determined that the well is leaking as much as 2.52 million gallons a day. The oil continues to threaten not only Gulf shores but North Carolina shores and our way of life as well. The clean-up and recovery will take the commitment of generations and billions of dollars."
"Last week in her town hall phone-in, Rep. Virginia Foxx said she didn't understand why President Obama didn't immediately send 'big ships' to the Gulf to sop up all the oil."
"The fact is there are 8,100 vessels responding to the Gulf oil disaster. The Congresswoman's understanding of this spill is simplistic, and her suggested solution is naïve."
"Livelihoods are lost, and a national treasure faces devastation. A government panel of scientists has now determined that the well is leaking as much as 2.52 million gallons a day. The oil continues to threaten not only Gulf shores but North Carolina shores and our way of life as well. The clean-up and recovery will take the commitment of generations and billions of dollars."
"As more internal BP documents have become public, it is now crystal clear that BP made risky decisions leading to the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the spilling of tens of millions of gallons of crude oil over the lives and livelihood of Gulf Coast citizens."
"The bottom line is that BP engineers chose a faster, less safe design to save money, and Congress let them get away with it. The cheaper design saved BP $7 million to $10 million. As a result, we now have 11 lost lives and 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf each day all because a corporation cared more about profits than people and because politicians in Washington didn't have the courage to stand up for the people."
"The U.S. has some of the most relaxed regulations in the world on deep-water off-shore drilling. The AP reports that Canada requires energy companies to have plans for relief wells in place before drilling is approved. This is not the case in the U.S. The five largest oil companies raked in $289 billion in profits over the past three years but spent just $60 million on safety research and development, accident prevention and oil spill response planning over the same period."
"Currently, oil companies are only responsible for $75 million in damages resulting from a spill. Congress must eliminate that cap immediately."
"Campaign finance reports show that the top 16 recipients of oil and gas industry money are Republicans. Incumbent Virginia Foxx has accepted more than $52,000 in contributions from the oil and gas lobby since she went to Washington. She and her Republican cohorts have received $11.6 million since 1990."
"BP must pay any and all damages. This disaster has taken away the ability of thousands of Gulf Coast citizens to make a living, and we must get BP out of the claims process. We must make sure that fishermen, hotel owners, restaurateurs and others have a fast, efficient, and transparent claims process to regain their livelihoods.
"But even in the wake of this national disaster, there is hope and possibility. The American people have stood strong in the face of serious challenges before, and we can do it again."
"It has now become a matter of national security that we explore our options for cleaner energy that will not only protect our environment but that will bring much needed, good-paying jobs to our communities as well."
"If we commit ourselves to a goal of energy independence, we will ensure a better life for our children and for their children as well. We owe them, and ourselves, nothing less. We have an opportunity at hand. We have the technology to use clean and renewable energies. We just have to find in ourselves the commitment to make it happen. I have faith we can if we elect leaders in Congress who will stand up to lobbyists and corporations."
"The bottom line is that BP engineers chose a faster, less safe design to save money, and Congress let them get away with it. The cheaper design saved BP $7 million to $10 million. As a result, we now have 11 lost lives and 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf each day all because a corporation cared more about profits than people and because politicians in Washington didn't have the courage to stand up for the people."
"The U.S. has some of the most relaxed regulations in the world on deep-water off-shore drilling. The AP reports that Canada requires energy companies to have plans for relief wells in place before drilling is approved. This is not the case in the U.S. The five largest oil companies raked in $289 billion in profits over the past three years but spent just $60 million on safety research and development, accident prevention and oil spill response planning over the same period."
"Currently, oil companies are only responsible for $75 million in damages resulting from a spill. Congress must eliminate that cap immediately."
"Campaign finance reports show that the top 16 recipients of oil and gas industry money are Republicans. Incumbent Virginia Foxx has accepted more than $52,000 in contributions from the oil and gas lobby since she went to Washington. She and her Republican cohorts have received $11.6 million since 1990."
"BP must pay any and all damages. This disaster has taken away the ability of thousands of Gulf Coast citizens to make a living, and we must get BP out of the claims process. We must make sure that fishermen, hotel owners, restaurateurs and others have a fast, efficient, and transparent claims process to regain their livelihoods.
"But even in the wake of this national disaster, there is hope and possibility. The American people have stood strong in the face of serious challenges before, and we can do it again."
"It has now become a matter of national security that we explore our options for cleaner energy that will not only protect our environment but that will bring much needed, good-paying jobs to our communities as well."
"If we commit ourselves to a goal of energy independence, we will ensure a better life for our children and for their children as well. We owe them, and ourselves, nothing less. We have an opportunity at hand. We have the technology to use clean and renewable energies. We just have to find in ourselves the commitment to make it happen. I have faith we can if we elect leaders in Congress who will stand up to lobbyists and corporations."
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Billy Kennedy Weighs In on Foxx's Call-In Featured on Keith Olbermann
BETHEL, NC (June 10, 2010) -- When Keith Olbermann showcased Rep. Virginia Foxx in his "Worst Person in the World" segment on his Wednesday night program, he wasn't the only one taking notice of Foxx's phone-in town hall meeting, an event sponsored by a partisan political organization.
On Thursday Billy Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 5th district, weighed in as well. "I thought the caller Mary was right on," said Kennedy. "She said she felt politicians were making a career and a killing off their Washington careers and that 'They should go up there to serve and then go back to their regular jobs.'"
"Virginia Foxx has had her chance to make things better for the people of the 5th district, and she has failed," continued Kennedy. "While she has used her Washington connections to pad her campaign coffers and her personal fortunes, the people back home get nothing but meaningless sound bites from her. We still have no jobs and few prospects. It's time to replace the professional politicians in Washington with real working people who understand and will pay attention to the needs of their constituents instead of using the public trust for personal gain."
Foxx is seeking a fourth term in the House of Representatives. "The people of North Carolina's fifth district really have a very simple choice to make this November. They can re-elect an incumbent professional politician who has done nothing whatsoever for them or they can send a regular working man to Washington who'll spend his time doing everything in his power to bring good-paying jobs back to our communities."
Some of the callers expressed their frustrations with federal immigration policy. Foxx agreed with those frustrations, but offered no solutions. "I'm as frustrated as anyone with Washington's apparent unwillingness to tackle this issue. But Rep. Foxx is as guilty as the rest of them up there in Washington for stoking the issue but doing nothing at all to address it," said Kennedy.
"As an independent contractor, I am well aware of how it feels to have to compete against cheap labor. More than once, I have come out on the short end of that stick." Kennedy continued, "We must find a way to hold employers fully accountable for hiring illegal workers, and we must strictly enforce the current immigration laws."
Kennedy says Foxx is using this issue to fuel fears and turn workers against each other while her votes indicate she's clearly on the side of those looking to make money by paying low wages to illegal immigrants. "Foxx has repeatedly sponsored bills to make it easier for employers to hire illegal laborers, including voting against funding a program to deny driver's licenses to illegal aliens," said Kennedy. "She's all talk and no action."
"Let's face it. Employers who break the law by hiring illegal workers are taking advantage of a broken system. These practices hurt all working people. As long as we, the working people of Western North Carolina, don't address the issue of low wages and too few jobs, we are just bickering about the issue instead of finding solutions to solve it."
On Thursday Billy Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 5th district, weighed in as well. "I thought the caller Mary was right on," said Kennedy. "She said she felt politicians were making a career and a killing off their Washington careers and that 'They should go up there to serve and then go back to their regular jobs.'"
"Virginia Foxx has had her chance to make things better for the people of the 5th district, and she has failed," continued Kennedy. "While she has used her Washington connections to pad her campaign coffers and her personal fortunes, the people back home get nothing but meaningless sound bites from her. We still have no jobs and few prospects. It's time to replace the professional politicians in Washington with real working people who understand and will pay attention to the needs of their constituents instead of using the public trust for personal gain."
Foxx is seeking a fourth term in the House of Representatives. "The people of North Carolina's fifth district really have a very simple choice to make this November. They can re-elect an incumbent professional politician who has done nothing whatsoever for them or they can send a regular working man to Washington who'll spend his time doing everything in his power to bring good-paying jobs back to our communities."
Some of the callers expressed their frustrations with federal immigration policy. Foxx agreed with those frustrations, but offered no solutions. "I'm as frustrated as anyone with Washington's apparent unwillingness to tackle this issue. But Rep. Foxx is as guilty as the rest of them up there in Washington for stoking the issue but doing nothing at all to address it," said Kennedy.
"As an independent contractor, I am well aware of how it feels to have to compete against cheap labor. More than once, I have come out on the short end of that stick." Kennedy continued, "We must find a way to hold employers fully accountable for hiring illegal workers, and we must strictly enforce the current immigration laws."
Kennedy says Foxx is using this issue to fuel fears and turn workers against each other while her votes indicate she's clearly on the side of those looking to make money by paying low wages to illegal immigrants. "Foxx has repeatedly sponsored bills to make it easier for employers to hire illegal laborers, including voting against funding a program to deny driver's licenses to illegal aliens," said Kennedy. "She's all talk and no action."
"Let's face it. Employers who break the law by hiring illegal workers are taking advantage of a broken system. These practices hurt all working people. As long as we, the working people of Western North Carolina, don't address the issue of low wages and too few jobs, we are just bickering about the issue instead of finding solutions to solve it."
Kennedy Campaign Announces 'Critters for Kennedy' Contest
BETHEL, NC -- Billy Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 5th district, has announced a "Critters for Kennedy" online contest.
The "Critters for Kennedy" photo contest is an opportunity to showcase your pets in the act of announcing their support for Billy Kennedy for Congress.
The contest started today at 10:30 am. Entering is easy. Visit the "Critters for Kennedy" web page.
Upon completing the registration form, each entrant will receive an email with a link and instructions for how to submit their photo.
Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, June 16th. The top 10 entrants will be posted on our website and voting follows for the best entry.
The winning picture gets a Kennedy for Congress Campaign Prize Pack, and will be featured on the campaign's website.
The "Critters for Kennedy" photo contest is an opportunity to showcase your pets in the act of announcing their support for Billy Kennedy for Congress.
The contest started today at 10:30 am. Entering is easy. Visit the "Critters for Kennedy" web page.
Upon completing the registration form, each entrant will receive an email with a link and instructions for how to submit their photo.
Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, June 16th. The top 10 entrants will be posted on our website and voting follows for the best entry.
The winning picture gets a Kennedy for Congress Campaign Prize Pack, and will be featured on the campaign's website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
