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Feb 2006
"What's wrong with this picture? Clearly, the federal deficit continues to grow at an unsustainable pace even while the president spurs Congress for still more tax cuts. Worse, the few economies Congress has sanctioned have come out of the hides of the poor, the sick and students struggling to get an education.
The latest $70 billion Bush is seeking to underwrite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is only the latest installment in a struggle that has already cost $250 billion since the invasion of Iraq. The bill for natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina has already passed $42 billion - but the costs imposed by the political disaster known as the Medicare prescription drug benefit is much higher, now priced at $720 billion over 10 years.
One reason Medicare drug costs are out of control is because Congress bowed to demands of drug companies and prohibited Medicare from negotiating quantity discounts. The Veterans Administration already saves taxpayers billions by negotiating just such discounts.
A similar solicitude for wealthy special interests at the expense of the public came in the budget passed by House Republicans 216-214 Wednesday, without a single Democratic vote in support. It included cuts in student loans and Medicaid benefits. As passed by the Senate, the bill would have forced insurance companies and drug manufacturers to absorb some of those cuts. But lobbyists howled in protest and the House quickly shifted the burden of budget cuts back to taxpayers in the form of higher co-payments.
While the cuts enacted by the House will prove painful to students and the poor, their estimated $39 billion in savings over five years was barely half the $70 billion in new tax cuts ladled out by the Senate Thursday. The Senate action did include a necessary and overdue provision to keep the Alternative Minimum Tax from biting deeply into middle-class budgets. But it was also festooned with lagniappes for investors, such as a two-year extension of the 15 percent rate on dividends and capital gains.
Congress won't even pretend to balance the budget."
Will our Futures hold a Nazi-like leader, a police state, where we are unable to speak our minds, voice our opinions? Those who speak out against Bush run the risk of being labeled a terrorist then havie the FBI open a file on them. We just need to look back into the government's activities during the Vietnam War? Here are some examples of censorship in action;
"In 1942, a group of university students in Munich set out to do what few Germans had dared - defy Hitler. They knew from the start that were they to be caught, it would mean certain death, and yet they acted anyway. Calling themselves the "White Rose", they set out to try to build up some sort of popular resistance to the Nazi regime by distributing leaflets throughout Germany urging Germans to resist by any means........The Nazis are known primarily for their slaughter of the Jews in Europe. However, they also crushed anyone daring to voice any sort of opposition to their regime, including "pure-blooded" Germans." ~ Read More Here
"Bush's Obstruction of History.....Bush's decree allows former presidents and their heirs to bar the release of documents for almost any reason."
"The Bush administration has imposed heavy secrecy and censorship measures on the testimony of retired Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, when he takes the stand later this month at the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic." ~ Read More Here
"Bush appointees censor scientists at government agencies." ~ Read More Here
"A new California National Guard intelligence unit meant to help local law enforcement deal with terrorist threats tracked a recent protest co-sponsored by the Davis chapter of Code Pink: Women for Peace." ~ Read More Here
By DOUG THOMPSON
Feb 22, 2006
Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting.
Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited "visible signs" of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.
According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.
We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting "accident" and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the "one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.
"This was a South Texas hunt," says one White House aide. "Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it."
One agent at the scene has been placed on administrative leave and another requested reassignment this week. A memo reportedly written by one agent has been destroyed, sources said Wednesday afternoon.
Cheney has a long history of alcohol abuse, including two convictions of driving under the influence when he was younger. Doctors tell me that someone like Cheney, who is taking blood thinners because of his history of heart attacks, could get legally drunk now after consuming just one drink.
If Cheney was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, he could be guilty of a felony under Texas law and the shooting, ruled an accident by a compliant Kenedy County Sheriff, would be a prosecutable offense.
But we will never know for sure because the owners of the Armstrong Ranch, where the shooting occurred, barred the sheriff's department from the property on the day of the shooting and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III agreed to wait until the next day to send deputies in to talk to those involved.
Sheriff's Captain Charles Kirk says he went to the Armstrong Ranch immediately after the shooting was reported on Saturday, February 11 but both he and a game warden were not allowed on the 50,000-acre property. He called Salinas who told him to forget about it and return to the station.
"I told him don't worry about it. I'll make a call," Salinas said. The sheriff claims he called another deputy who moonlights at the Armstrong ranch, said he was told it was "just an accident" and made the decision to wait until Sunday to investigate.
"We've known these people for years. They are honest and wouldn't call us, telling us a lie," Salinas said.
Like all elected officials in Kenedy County, Salinas owes his job to the backing and financial support of Katherine Armstrong, owner of the ranch and the county's largest employer.
"The Armstrongs rule Kenedy County like a fiefdom," says a former employee.
Secret Service officials also took possession of all tests on Whittington's blood at the hospitals where he was treated for his wounds. When asked if a blood alcohol test had been performed on Whittington, the doctors who treated him at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi or the hospital in Kingsville refused to answer. One admits privately he was ordered by the Secret Service to "never discuss the case with the press."
It's a sure bet that is a private doctor who treated the victim of Cheney's reckless and drunken actions can't talk to the public then any evidence that shows the Vice President drunk as a skunk will never see the light of day.
Nine people have been arrested in eastern Tibet for participating in a campaign to save endangered wildlife. Chinese authorities have recently cracked down on Tibetans for burning endangered animal skins and furs -- part of a campaign to promote wildlife protection and stop the illegal trade in endangered species. The detentions occurred after a public bonfire at the Kirti monastery in Amdo (northeast region of Tibet). The Dalai Lama appealed to Tibetans to stop wearing furs and clothing made from endangered animals last month at the Kalachakra initiation in Southern India. The religious ceremony was attended by an estimated 10,000 Tibetans from Tibet. Environmental organizations have expressed concern in recent years about an increase in the illegal trafficking of endangered animal skins between India and Tibet. Please support Tibetans' campaign to promote wildlife protection. Send the letter below now to your congressional representative, asking him/her to pressure the Chinese government for the release of the nine people arrested at Kirti monastery.
Three nuns and two monks have been imprisoned in Tibet for protesting the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and calling for Tibetan independence. Tibet Watch has just confirmed that two of the nuns, Tadrin Tsomo and Choekyi Drolma and one of the monks, Dargye Gyatso were all sentenced to three years imprisonment for distributing and posting protest fliers. The third nun, Yonten Drolma and another monk, Jamyang Samdrub, were both sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment. All five were arrested in May 2005 in Labrang County, Kham (south west region of Tibet). Please send the letter below to China's Minister of Justice, Zhang Fusen, calling for their unconditional release.
Here is another one of my threads that seem to humor those who call be a socialist. If we dont care about the Seniors, what will people think of us when we become seniors. Helping them helps us. Helping them helps everyone. The Bush Administration released its fiscal year 2007 budget which slashed Medicare by $36 billion over the next five years and $105 billion over the next ten years. Tell the Congress to protect seniors from these harmful Medicare cuts. The proposed cuts will slash spending for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and ambulance services. Other parts of the proposed budget call for increasing Medicare premiums for certain beneficiaries. Unfortunately for seniors, while the proposed budget slashes Medicare funding it protects rich special interests, leaving intact the $10 billion Medicare slush fund for HMOs. Additionally, while planning cuts in Medicare the White House snuck $700 billion for privatization of Social Security in his budget. This is the same privatization plan Congress dumped the last time it was presented, in part because of our letters of outrage. We must once again stop this reckless agenda the White House is putting forward, and must tell Congress to put our seniors ahead of big industry donors. Sign the petition and tell Congress to Protect our Seniors from Billions In Harmful Medicare Cuts!
The U.S. Department of the Interior is considering changing "administrative" boundaries for states in the Gulf of Mexico and as a result weakening Florida's protections against offshore oil drilling. With the new boundaries, drilling as close as 125 miles off the coast of Florida would be possible!
A spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), called the move "a thinly veiled act" by which the Bush administration "appears to be moving rapidly to open a huge portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida to oil drilling." Each drilling platform could legally dump 90,000 tons of heavy metals, muds, and toxic chemicals into our waters. This pollution would cause health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life. Opening our shores to drilling would only put our beaches and coastal waters at great environmental risk for a small, short-term supply of gas. We can do better! If our cars and trucks got an average of a couple more miles per gallon, we'd save more oil than exists off the entire coast of Florida! Sign the petition below to tell Gov. Bush and our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill and start pushing sensible choices like better gas mileage and clean energy!
The Bush Administration is trying to weaken the definition of the dolphin-safe label on tuna cans and pouches despite broad bipartisan public support for the program. The proposed changes to this successful program would allow tuna caught using the harmful practice of chasing and setting nets on dolphins to be labeled "dolphin-safe.” This policy has the potential to devastate dolphin populations, especially three dolphin populations in the Eastern Pacific -- the northeastern offshore spotted, the eastern spinner, and the coastal spotted – which have all seen their numbers plummet as a result of dolphin-deadly fishing practices. Other Marine Wildlife Is In Jeopardy! Scientists worldwide recognize that large-scale industrial fishing techniques -- such as purse-seining, longlining, and drift-netting -- are devastating our oceans and the countless wildlife species that live within them. Dolphins, endangered sea turtles, sharks, sea birds and other marine wildlife are all falling victim to the nets and lines of tuna fishermen and the pressure of overfishing, especially in the Pacific Ocean. (Visit Save Dolphins.org for more information) Sea Turtles in Trouble: Sea turtles, abundant throughout the world's oceans for millennia, are being killed when they become entangled in fishing gear or caught as bycatch in fishing nets. All eight of the world's sea turtle species are now listed as threatened with extinction. Within the last decade, the Eastern Pacific populations of the critically endangered leatherback turtle have declined by 78%. Sharks in Danger: Sharks, due to their low birth rate, slow maturation and growth patterns, and naturally small populations, are extremely vulnerable to pressures from fisheries and human exploitation. Pacific populations of Angel Sharks, Lemon Sharks, and Blue Sharks, to name a few, are all facing grave dangers from overfishing practices. (Visit savesharks.org for more information). We need your help in convincing the Bush Administration to finally demonstrate leadership position on these issues at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and elsewhere. We cannot sit by passively as our dolphin-safe tuna label is rendered meaningless and our ocean resources are destroyed by overfishing. Sign Now! Once you have signed, tell your friends about this imminent threat to these magnificent marine mammals!
Every year, Japanese fishermen, with the support of the Japanese government, slaughter thousands of dolphins in a brutal manner. And now Japan plans to extend the hunt to include humpback whales! This practice is killing magnificent, feeling animals, and endangering dolphin and whale populations. Furthermore, this hunt is also hurting the people of Japan. Dolphin and whale dolphin meat sold to the Japanese public contains high levels of toxic heavy metals and organochlorines. Demand that Japanese law end this brutal slaughter of intelligent
President Bush has just approved extensive gas drilling in the main U.S. nesting beach for the most endangered sea turtle in the world, with only about 3,000 to 5,000 adults remaining. The National Park Service just approved the drilling without formally consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The drilling trucks could crush nests or pack down the sand so that hatchlings are unable to emerge from nests. Even the vibrations from rumbling trucks can increase the likelihood of embryonic damage or mortality, according to the species' official "Sea Turtle Recovery Plan." The park offers the longest undeveloped barrier beach in the world. Park Service approval for a third drilling permit is likely soon, despite the use of the island by the Kemp's ridley sea turtle every spring for nesting. Send a letter to President Bush, telling him that his inability to protect such endangered creatures in need will affect your vote this year.
Right now the Interior Department is working to legalize commercial exploitation of endangered species, undermining the spirit of the 30-year old Endangered Species Act. If we don't act quickly, it will be LEGAL to: Hunt endangered species in the U.S. Import trophy heads and parts from endangered species Import endangered animal skins for fur coats Import as much African elephant ivory as they wish. In exchange, hunters, importers, and fur clothing manufacturers only have to pay a nominal fee in the name of conservation. We must stop this threat to endangered species.
Governor Murkowski’s reinstatement of aerial wolf hunting in Alaska has already resulted in the the death of too many wolf mothers, fathers and pups! Help stop the slaughter, Sign this petition demanding that Governor Murkowski halt the killing. Aerial hunting allows private hunters with permits to gun down wolves from helicopters or planes; or run the wolves to exhaustion in the deep snow – then land and shoot these helpless animals! This practice is barbaric, ruthless, and intolerable. In an effort to mollify disgruntled hunting interests which claim wolves are reducing moose and caribou herds, Murkowski has legalized this reprehensible threat to wolves. But wolves often remove the sick, weak, inferior and old members of caribou and moose herds, which actually strengthens those gene pools over time. It is time for the Governor to do the right thing - stop the slaughter.
It's too barbaric to imagine, but it happens – all too often. Fishermen catch a shark, slice off its fins, and then, cast it back into the water to bleed a slow, painful death. What’s worse, this practice has accelerated in recent years, driven by increased consumer demand for shark fin soup across Asia, where it is considered a delicacy. Shark finning is pushing the species dangerously close to extinction. Recent studies show the shark population has declined roughly 90% since the 1950s, with exploitation worsening in recent years. But the oceans cannot thrive without predator species -- indeed, sharks play a critical role in maintaining the health of our marine ecosystems. But there’s reason for hope. Just last month, the 63 nations that comprise the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) approved a binding U.S. proposal to ban shark finning in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. This is a big step forward, as it’s the first time there has been a coordinated, multilateral effort to ban this cruel practice on the open seas. We must not lose momentum – urge U.S. officials to pursue a global ban on shark finning and an end to this barbaric practice, which continues at alarming and unsustainable rates in the Pacific Ocean and other international waters. Learn more about the destructive practice of shark finning.
ExxonMobil continues to do everything it can to feed America's oil and gas addiction - like refusing to invest in renewable energy resources and lobbying to drill in our nation's most spectacular wilderness areas. That's why we think it's time that consumers demanded greater corporate responsibility from ExxonMobil. Tell ExxonMobil's CEO that you that you won't purchase its gas until it cleans up its act!
The international demand for bear body parts has put a price tag on the head of every wild bear. Bear gall bile is especially sought after and is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), shampoos, teas and wines. Bears in the U.S. are at great risk, as poachers have discovered that foreign markets, where bear stocks are dwindling, are willing to pay a high price for gall bladders, paws and other parts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 40,000 bears are hunted legally each year in North America. Along with this, an additional 40,000 are killed illegally each year, while poachers go virtually unpunished. Most consumers are unaware that bear bile products can now be found in most major U.S. cities. The problem is significantly more severe in Asia. In China, bears are “farmed” and milked daily for their bile through a surgically implanted drain. The procedure is extremely painful and conditions are deplorable. The U.S. government must do its part to stop the cycle of exploitation by safeguarding American species from the illegal trade of bear parts and bringing about a commitment from China to phase out bear farming over the next four years, before the Olympic torch shines over Beijing in 2008. Don't let this tragedy continue. Urge the U.S. government to make the Bear Protection Act a priority in Congress and use its influence in support of bears around the world.
In addition to smuggling bear parts from the US, China is keeping over 9,000 bears in cages to be milked for their bile that is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. These cages are so small that the bears can't even turn around. It is one of the worst forms of animal cruelty. Click here to see how you can make a difference to the bears in China.
Yet when states take it upon themselves to warn women about the mercury contamination in seafood, the Food and Drug Administration joins the fishing industry to make them stop. Tell the FDA to stop acting fishy and put the interest of mothers and babies ahead of the fishing industry!
On December 20, 2005, the EPA proposed new rules to limit particle pollution in outdoor air that fall short of their obligation to the American people. EPA Administrator Johnson, in spite of thousands of studies showing how dangerous particles are, proposed standards weaker than those recommended by scientists. Sign on to this petition to the EPA and protest these new, weaker rules.
Often in his speeches, President Bush stresses the dangers of terrorist attacks – using the “War on Terror” as a justification for the biggest increase in military expenditures since the Cold War. But to sustain the exorbitant $28 billion dollar increase he has proposed this year, Bush is placing an undue burden on Americans. Some of his most notable cuts affect our nation’s children by slashing funding for public education. Take action!
Think about this; For the cost of one F-22 fighter jet, we could build 31 new elementary schools. Instead of buying two aircraft carriers, we could hire 65,000 new teachers. For the amount spent on ballistic missile defense, nearly 6 million children could be receiving health care.
The message it clear: by crippling public education and social services to funnel more money into the Pentagon, Bush's budget will not secure the future of our nation.
All parents should be worried about a bill in Congress to create federal Association Health Plans (AHPs). Under this new system of healthcare, many critical benefits, such as pre-natal care, immunizations and maternity care could be dropped by these new AHPs, even if they are required by state laws. And AHPs will be able to deny access to your trusted family doctor or OB-GYN.
Take action: Send a letter to your Senators now.
Help out a stop to the far right's anti-birth control agenda!
More and more women are being denied their doctor-prescribed birth control pills across the country. That's why a bipartisan group of pro-choice members of Congress have introduced the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act (ALPhA), a bill to ensure that women can get their birth control prescriptions filled - without intimidation, inconvenience, or delay.
Blue Diamond operates the world's largest almond processing plant and produces almonds for our snacks, cereal, and candy. They also have run a self-described "aggressive union-avoidance campaign" against their workers who are simply trying to form a union to improve their wages and working conditions. But when workers stood up to exercise their rights, Blue Diamond came down hard on them. Already three pro-union workers have been fired! Blue Diamond workers need our help to urge the company to play fair and rehire the fired workers. Please write a letter to Blue Diamond's CEO today!
For 30 years, General Electric dumped more than 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River from their Hudson Falls and Fort Edward plants. More PCBs were used at these two facilities than at any other location nationwide, and the Hudson River remains the largest PCB Superfund site in the United States. PCBs are so dangerous to human health and the environment that their manufacturing was banned in 1977. They are suspected of causing cancer, and have been shown to have effects on neurological, hormonal, and reproductive systems of animals and humans at very low levels. PCBs do not degrade in the environment; they persist for decades and they spread far from where they were originally dumped.
Victoria's Secret, while priding itself on revealing clothing wear, is not so eager to reveal a most scandalous secret, the company annually mails 395 million catalogs printed predominately on virgin paper from North America's Boreal Forest as well as other endangered forests.
That’s more than one million catalogs made from ancient forests sent out daily! North America's Boreal Forest encircling the far North latitudes acts like our planet's green guardian; it plays a vital role in keeping our air clean, slowing climate change, and it produces more freshwater than any other system in the world. And yet, while it is one of the last of the great ancient forests still standing, it is still being logged, and fast. Over two acres of trees are plowed down every minute, many of which simply end up as catalogs in a landfill. Sign this petition to urge Victoria’s Secret to stop supporting the destruction of our endangered forests.
The Bush administration recently announced its proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forests and public lands to raise money for the federal treasury. The land sales could total more than $1 billion and would be the largest sale of forestland in decades. Forest Service officials say the sales are needed to raise $800 million over the next five years to pay for schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called the plan a “terrible idea based on a misguided sense of priorities.” While increasing military funding by 6.9%, the Bush administration cut education spending by 3.8% in this FY2007 budget. And now it wants to sell our natural heritage to pick up the slack? Selling public land to pay down the deficit would be a shortsighted and irresponsible shift in federal land-management policy. The monetary gains would be temporary, but the land would be gone forever. There are better ways to fund public schooling.
The public has until late March to comment on the sales. Sign the petition below to urge your congressional representatives to oppose this reckless effort.
Who Controls Your Borders?
U.S.A. ~ First sodomy conviction: In November 1624, Richard Cornish, accused of making "improper" advances toward another man, was arrested and tried for breaking the Colony of Virginia's sodomy law (1610). Despite a lack of any real evidence, Cornish was ultimately hanged. He was the first person convicted of sodomy in the United States." SOURCE: The Trial of Richard Cornish, 1624, Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. ~ SOURCE: Advocate.com
IRAN ~ Iran Hangs Gays to Please God. Iran's crackdown on gays drew worldwide protests (except in the United States) after the hanging for "homosexual acts" of two teenagers--one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17--on July 19 (2005) in the city of Mashad.
This Thursday, February 23, 2006, is Ignite’s first annual National Day of Action! Igniters all around the country have been working for weeks on exciting activities that will give our members of Congress one message, loud and clear: Give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the ability to regulate tobacco, one of the only consumable products not regulated by the agency. The FDA regulates macaroni and cheese, for example, but can't do anything to make cigarettes less harmful. Isn't this ridiculous?
When people learn that millions of innocent animals are beaten, boiled, hanged, and electrocuted for their fur every year ... when they learn that every fur coat, lining, trim, or fur cat toy represents the intense suffering of several dozen animals? and when they learn that furriers intentionally mislabel fur as not taken from dogs and cats or as fake ... then every decent human being will want to go FUR-FREE.
By signing the pledge ( link below ) and encouraging your friends and family to do so as well—you'll be sending a powerful message not only to the fur industry, but also to designers, retailers, and others who directly profit from the suffering caused by this cruel industry.
Won't you please help us reach our goal of 75,000 pledges by March 5?
Diane Wilson was recently sentenced to 120 days in a Victoria, Texas, county jail for hanging a banner from the tower of Dow Chemical's Seadrift facility in August 2002. The chemical tower she climbed was the same type associated with a 1991 Dow plant explosion in Seadrift that killed one worker, injured 34 others, with "shrapnel the size of cars" launched into the surrounding community. Newspapers reported that Dow self audits had been warning for twenty years that an accident like that was bound to happen. And it was not the first time.
Although Diane climbed that tower after exhausting all possible avenues of trying to stop the toxic contamination of her beloved Texas Gulf where she had fished shrimp for so many years, another reason for that tower climb was to highlight another Dow accident that happened over twenty years ago. The banner she hung off that tower read, "Dow - Responsible for Bhopal" In Bhopal, India, over 20,000 people died in 1984 when Union Carbide, now Dow Chemical, neglected their facilities and precipitated the worst industrial "accident" the world has ever known. These same companies operate facilities in Texas. Take action now! Tell Texas Governor Rick Perry to enforce toxics laws against Dow Chemical Corporation.
Right now, the Bush administration is proposing a harmful new policy that would exempt many destructive activities on millions of acres of publiclands from environmental review and public input. These rule changes would allow unsustainable grazing and harmful logging practices to pollute streams and watersheds, as well as certain types of oil and gas exploration to tear up sensitive lands all across the West, without any analysis about potential environmental impacts of these activities. We cannot let the Bureau of Land Management throw away these safeguards that ensure our public lands are protected from harmful actions. Please, tell the agency and the Bush administration to keep environmental review and public participation as vital parts of how our public lands are managed.
For more than 30 years, the Clean Water Act has provided critical protections for our streams, lakes, wetlands, beaches, and other waters we depend on for safe drinking water, habitat for fish and wildlife, and recreational opportunities. But long-standing federal protections for these waters are now in jeopardy. Developers, the oil industry, and other polluters are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to radically restrict the types of waters subject to the Clean Water Act. While we await the court’s decision, there is already a bill in Congress that could restore protections for any waters placed at risk of pollution or destruction. Please ask your Senators and Representative to protect our waters for future generations by co-sponsoring the “Clean Water Authority Restoration Act” today!
Hepatitis C affects approximately 170 million individuals worldwide. Following acute infection, the virus persists in many patients and a minority of patients develops chronic disease. Chronic hepatitis can progress slowly over many decades to chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis, ultimately leading to end-stage liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. Approximately 20% of patients who develop cirrhosis will get cancer. It takes approximately 20 years to develop cirrhosis and 25-30 years to develop cancer. It is rare to develop hepatocellular carcinoma without cirrhosis. The U.S. is witnessing an increase in hepatitis C infection similar to the increase observed in Japan 50 years ago. Hepatitis C-associated hepatocellular cancer is increasing in incidence, while cancers related to alcohol and hepatitis B are remaining constant. There will be an expected 3-fold increase in hepatitis C-associated liver cancer over the next 20 years. Current treatment for hepatitis C consists of interferon alfa plus ribovarin; however, the response rate to interferon and ribovarin is only 50%.
Tibetans, their supporters, and Google users worldwide are outraged by Google's recent decision to join hands with the Chinese government in its propaganda efforts.Google has custom built a web search platform that blocks access to unbiased information about Tibet, human rights and other topics sensitive to Beijing. In doing so, Google isn't just helping the Chinese authorities by censoring "sensitive topics," it is enabling the Chinese government's propaganda by returning search results tailored to Beijing's repressive policies. For example, searching on "Dalai Lama" will only bring results portraying him as a "splittist."
Under China's totalitarian regime, the internet is a critical tool for Chinese citizens and Tibetans to improve their political situation. Google has become an active partner in the Chinese government's efforts to repress their own citizens along with Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong practitioners, and anyone else standing up to Chinese authorities and demanding human rights and self-determination.Please speak out against Google's actions by sending the letter below and forwarding the new Google logo (brought to you by SFT) to your friends and family.
Tibetans, their supporters, and internet users worldwide are outraged by Yahoo!, Microsoft and Cisco System's decision to join hands with the Chinese Government in its crackdown on freedom of information. In doing so, these companies are not only helping the Chinese government by censoring politically "sensitive topics", but they are also enabling China's propaganda by returning search results tailored to Beijing's repressive policies and, in some cases, assisting in the unjust arrest and detention of internet activists. Last April, Shi Tao, a 37 year-old journalist and activist, was sentenced to ten years in prison after Yahoo! gave the Chinese authorities his user information.
Under the Chinese totalitarian regime, the Internet is a critical tool for Chinese and Tibetans to improve their political situation. Yahoo!, Microsoft and Cisco have become active partners in the Chinese government's efforts to repress their own citizens along with Tibetans, Uighurs, Falun Gong practitioners, and anyone else standing up to Chinese authorities and demanding human rights and self-determination.
Please speak out against the action of these companies by sending the letter below and forwarding it onto friends and family.
It was only recently I realized if you replace the words “homosexual,” “gay” and “lesbian” in these sermons with “nigger,” “wetback” and “chink,” you’d have the transcript of a 21st century Ku Klux Klan meeting. Homophobia is 21st century racism, much like the original racism still thriving in every corner of this country. Cult-like in their zeal and hypocritical in their faith, the religious leaders who preach this way are the worst kind of enablers and instigators. Two hundred years ago, they’d be championing the gospel of slavery. One hundred years ago, they’d be pioneering the poll tax. Fifty years ago, they’d be justifying the sanctity of burning crosses. In the same sentence, these discriminating acolytes can speak about the love of Jesus and describe homosexuals in the most hateful terms. They are charlatans. And they are theological hacks. And they are not alone.
This year the administration’s request cuts the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund by 57%, from $691,000 to $297,000, despite the fact that less than a third of the proposals received were funded!!! Instead of cutbacks, these funds need to be increased, particularly since these species face increasing threats from poaching, habitat destruction and civil unrest. The multinational species conservation funds were established in 1990 to help conserve some of the world’s most threatened and magnificent creatures. These relatively small but critical programs have grown annually by small increments because they can demonstrate significant success. Last year Congress approved a modest increase for the five mammal and reptile programs to $6.5 million and the neotropical migratory bird fund to $4 million. The President’s new budget cuts the funding to $8.2 million for fiscal year 2007, a steep cut of 22%. In fiscal year 2006, Congress appropriated $691,000 for marine turtles. Please take action today! Tell your Senators and Representative to do all they can to increase funding for these vitally important endangered species conservation programs.
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln experienced bouts of despair so profound that friends were concerned he might commit suicide.
Ulysses S. Grant, the general under Lincoln who later rose to the presidency, often avoided social occasions and retreated into alcohol.
All told, almost half of American presidents from 1789 to 1974 had suffered from a mental illness at some point in life, according to a recent analysis of biographical sources by psychiatrists at Duke University Medical Center. And more than half of those presidents, the study found, struggled with their symptoms — most often depression — while in office.
What is hopeful about this is that it is evidence that people can suffer from depression or other mental problems and still function at a presidential level, if not at their best," said Dr. Jonathan Davidson, who, along with Dr. Kathryn Connor and Dr. Marvin Swartz, cataloged symptoms from presidential papers and biographies, and identified those disabling enough to qualify as disorders. They reported their findings in the current issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, ( "The world's oldest independent scientific monthly in the field of human behavior. Articles cover theory, etiology, therapy, and research methods." ~ Google )
The authors acknowledge the hazards and uncertainties of diagnosing from such a distance. But the lifetime rate of mental illness they found in these 37 presidents is identical to that found in some surveys of the American population. In some cases, they included problems not usually thought of as mental disorders: William Howard Taft, the 27th president, for example, suffered from difficulty breathing while asleep — most likely because of a disorder known as sleep apnea — and often dozed off during important meetings.
In most cases the disorders recall the men: the indefatigable Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson showed symptoms of the manic energy that characterizes bipolar disorder; Richard Nixon drank heavily through the Watergate period; and Calvin Coolidge plunged into a pit of depression after his teenage son died of an infection.
The report also serves as a caution against judging troubled souls too early. "To contemporaries well acquainted with Madison, Hayes, Grant and Wilson," the authors write, "it must have appeared that, as young men, these individuals were doing very little with their lives.
Across the United States, 118 cement plants in 38 states spew a continuous stream of toxic pollutants into the air we breathe. As they
burn coal to produce cement, the kilns in these plants also release huge amounts of toxic hydrogen chloride or hydrochloric acid (HCl)
Site includes details of national water programs, online library, etc." ~ Google ) estimates that these cement kilns also known as cement
plants emit more than 15,000 tons of HCl into our air each year.
HCl is irritating and corrosive to any tissue it contacts. It can cause health problems ranging from throat irritation to swelling and spasm of
the throat and lung tissues, leading to suffocation and even death. Children may be more vulnerable to hydrochloric acid because of the
smaller diameter of their airways.
In December 2005, the EPA announced a proposed rule governing emissions of hazardous air pollutants. The proposal is too weak because it
includes no limits on hydrochloric acid pollution from coal-fired cement-making facilities. Send your letter today to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, urging him to comply with the Clean Air Act and protect Americans from toxic air pollution from cement plants.
The long, narrow barrier islands that make up Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina are a dynamic ecosystem constantly being eroded by Atlantic storms that redeposit sand to such an extent that the islands actually move over time. The National Park Service is entrusted with providing recreational opportunities while providing unwavering protection for this unique ecosystem.
But like a series of Atlantic storms, the political appointees at the Interior Department are slowly eroding the preservation of our national parks. Recently, the National Park Service proposed a rule that would once again allow the use of jetskis at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
The agency’s own studies have shown that jetskis impact air and water quality, natural sounds, wildlife and visitor safety and enjoyment of Cape Lookout. Eighty-nine percent of the public favors a complete ban of jetskis, while historically jetski users have constituted a mere one percent of visitors at the seashore. The Interior Department is risking the unique resources of the seashore and the safety and enjoyment of visitors to satisfy the jetski industry and a smattering of riders.
Under the USA PATRIOT Act, federal agents can gain access to your bookstore, library, and publisher records even if you are not suspected of involvement in terrorism or any criminal activity — and you will never hear a word about it.
Last year, more than 200,000 Americans signed petitions urging Congress to restore protections for reader privacy that were eliminated by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. We were heard! The House of Representatives nearly prohibited bookstore and library searches under Section 215.
Section 215 was scheduled to expire on December 21, 2005, but many in Congress want to make it permanent. The book community opposes re-authorizing Section 215 unless it includes safeguards that protect the privacy of our reading records.
Mark A. Peterson
The real legacy of "Boston Judges"
In his recent call for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage, President Bush declared to the American people that "the union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, . . . honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith." He warned that "marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots" without dire social consequences, and he placed much of the blame for the current threat on "activist judges." Without a constitutional amendment, "every state would be forced to recognize any relationship that judges in Boston . . . choose to call a marriage." The president’s supporters have echoed his sentiments in countless op-ed pieces and letters to the editor, upholding the sanctity of marriage and its unchanging traditions in the face of challenges by gay-marriage advocates.
The outcry against gay marriage rests on the assumption that marriage is a "natural" institution rooted in timeless religious and cultural practices. But President Bush and his supporters have got their history wrong, at least with respect to religion, government, and marriage in Massachusetts. The Puritan colonists who founded Massachusetts might not have welcomed same-sex households, but they were not afraid to use the power of government to redefine marriage. And they surely would have agreed with today’s gay-marriage advocates that the state and its concern for fairness, not the church and its concern for sanctity, should govern the social rules for joining two people in perpetual union.
The English Puritans who founded Massachusetts in 1630 formed a society as committed to religion as any in history. But for them, marriage was a civil union, a contract, not a sacred rite. In early Massachusetts, weddings were performed by civil magistrates rather than clergymen. They took place in private homes, not in church buildings. No one wore white or walked down the aisle. Even later, when it became customary for ministers to preside at weddings (still held in private homes), the clergy’s authority was granted by the state, not the church.
Massachusetts’ founders insisted on civil unions, not as a reluctant compromise with the state, but as a direct outgrowth of their religious beliefs. Puritans were dissenters from the Church of England, which like the Catholic Church treated marriage as a sacrament. In England, the king was "defender of the faith," bishops sat in the House of Lords, and the Church of England had legal authority over all religious matters, including marriage. Puritans strongly opposed this system. They wanted to adhere strictly to the Bible in shaping their forms of worship, but as they read it, the New Testament offered no precedent for bishops, ecclesiastical courts, and royal control over religion. What’s more, they held that the Bible sanctioned only baptism and communion as sacraments, since these were the only sacraments that Jesus took part in himself.
Marriage remained important to Puritans (it was often used as a metaphor for the divine love between believers and God), but they wanted to remove it from the realm of sacred authority, leaving only the sacraments under church control. This radical change was impossible to achieve in England, where the unified church and state used its power to persecute dissenters. But when they migrated to Massachusetts, the Puritan founders were free to shape their new society according to their beliefs. As a result, Massachusetts had no bishops, no ecclesiastical courts. The state regulated all aspects of the marriage process, from "publishing the banns"–an announcement of the intent to marry that was an early predecessor to the marriage license–to the marriage ceremony, the giving of dowries, property and inheritance rights, and in rare cases, divorce.
Early Boston’s Puritans would not have sanctioned gay marriage, because they would not have had the conceptual categories to make sense of the idea. They condemned and occasionally punished homosexual behavior as a sin, a deviation from the procreative function of sexuality. But in this light, homosexual behavior was not categorically different in their eyes from other forms of sexual transgression, from premarital sex to masturbation. Sexual behavior was something a person did, an action of the moment, not a form of identity or a defining characteristic of a person’s nature. Race, by contrast, was a category that New England’s Puritans often did regard as a form of identity, a defining characteristic that separated Europeans from Africans or Native Americans. In this respect, they were no different from most people of that era. And yet Puritans like Samuel Sewall, a judge on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and author of the first antislavery pamphlet in America, abhorred the laws barring interracial marriage. He fought to grant legal recognition to the marriages of slaves and free people of color. Sewall stands at the beginning of a proud tradition in which Massachusetts judges used the court’s power to decide cases in favor of equal rights for all. In Sewall’s view, all people "are the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the Brethren and Sisters of the Last Adam, and the Offspring of God; They ought to be treated with a Respect agreeable."
Massachusetts history reminds us that what we commonly call marriage today was initially, and quite deliberately, constructed as a form of civil union. Although marriage was a fundamental aspect of these highly religious people’s lives and the foundational element of their social order, its regulation was separate from the church. The Puritan founders understood marriage as a social institution that needed adjustment according to changing circumstances, and they left the state to do this important work.
In every region of colonial North America, devout believers fought over how to define true religion, and where to draw the line between church and state. In some of the smaller and initially more homogeneous colonies like Massachusetts and Connecticut, religious uniformity was enforced by the state. But taken collectively, no single religion in colonial America ever had the power to decide for everyone, everywhere, what was sacred. As a practical matter, the traditional practice of state-enforced religious uniformity proved to be unworkable in the new American republic. It was this de facto diversity that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution enshrined in federal law.
Different religious communities have long maintained different standards governing who can marry, whether interfaith marriages are permissible, what the obligations of marriage entail, and when or if divorces can be granted. We should not forget that the English Reformation began in 1529 with a conflict between Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII over whether Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon could be annulled. Henry said yes, Clement said no, and in that dispute a new religious tradition, with new ways of defining the relationship between church and state, was born. The idea of legalized homosexual marriage is no doubt innovative. Some religious traditions reject it, while others support it. But the same was true of past adjustments to the legal definition of marriage, such as the recognition of interracial marriage. The traditions pioneered by Boston judges–a legacy that removed marriage from church control–have made these legal adjustments to social changes possible. A policy wherein all marriages are considered as civil unions would be consistent with America’s strongest traditions regarding civil liberties, equal rights, the separation of church and state, and the freedom of religion.
On the history of marriage in the North American colonies and the United States see;
Nancy F. Cott, 'Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation' (Cambridge, 2000)
Richard Godbeer, 'Sexual Revolution in Early America' (Baltimore, 2002)
Ann Marie Plane, 'Colonial Intimacies: Indian Marriage in Early New England' (Ithaca, 2000)
Roger S. Thompson, 'Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in a Massachusetts County, 1649-1699' (Amherst, 1986)
'
'Amici Curiae Brief' of the Professors of the History of Marriage, Families, and the Law, filed in the case of Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E. 2d 941 (2003).
By Larry Rambousek
On Jan. 30, Tim Eyman filed measures to repeal House Bill 2661, which would add "sexual orientation and gender expression or identity" to existing law banning discrimination in housing, employment and financial matters.
In a Feb. 1 editorial response, "Eyman Branches Out," The Columbian, comparing HB 2661 to civil rights, criticized these efforts saying, "Maybe Washington can become ... a 1950s Mississippi of the north when it comes to minority rights."
Evidence of that condition would include homosexuals' homes and churches bombed; gays routinely brutalized; gay leaders assassinated; officials attacking gays with fire hoses and police dogs; and laws demanding that homosexuals attend separate schools, use separate bathrooms, drink from separate fountains and pass literacy tests to register to vote.
The Columbian knows that these acts aren't happening. Instead, the newspaper's editorial employed the strategy Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen recommended in their 1989 book of "gay revolution" strategies; that "in any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector."
Victims? In October 2004, then gubernatorial candidate Chris Gregoire listed cities, counties, and "major Washington-based businesses" that have "brought sexual orientation under the umbrella of their human rights ordinances." Others agreed.
Homosexuals wield great political power through powerful advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU. The state Legislature has four openly gay members. Homosexuals have higher than average incomes, are better educated and more likely to hold professional or managerial positions. Discrimination lawsuits are extremely rare in states with such HB 2661-like ordinances.
'Invalid argument'
Supporters hide these facts by hijacking civil rights language, comparing sexual orientation to race. But as Colin Powell stated to then-Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, "Skin color is a benign, nonbehavioral characteristic. Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics. The comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument."
The civil rights movement stood upon just laws. "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in the eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." Those who have a visceral reaction to those words should take pause, for they belong to Martin Luther King Jr. Denying those words rejects the very foundation upon which King and the civil rights movement stood.
King recognized that man's dignity derives from the creator's design. One's character, not skin color, reveals God's image. This same voice tells us the creator designed the sexual organs for the opposite sex. When used otherwise, the eternal and natural law is violated.
HB 2661 forces one to associate with someone who willingly violates this natural law rather than allowing both parties the liberty to associate with others of like conscience. It forces upon society a "human law that is not rooted in the eternal law and natural law" thereby rejecting the civil rights movement's very foundations. As Rep. Jim Moeller stated, this law will have little affect in gays' lives but will allow them to "hold [their] heads up a little higher."
Self-esteem over true rights. Tyranny over liberty. That is the foundation upon which The Columbian chooses to stand.
Numerous allegations of torture committed by agents of the United States government have been reported since President Bush declared the "war on terror" in 2001. It's time for the torture to end. Sign our petition and ask the President to tell the truth about our country’s acts of torture at home and abroad.
Amnesty International is concerned by the practice of “extraordinary renditions” in which the United States is sending individuals for interrogation to countries with a record of torture. While US laws prohibit these types of transfers, the US Government is reported to have sent or been complicit in sending individuals to countries such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, and Egypt – countries the US has criticized for practicing torture.
Discharging troops under the Pentagon's policy on gays cost $363.8 million over 10 years, almost double what the government concluded a year ago, a private report says.
The report, to be released Tuesday by a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission, questioned the methodology the Government Accountability Office used when it estimated that the financial impact of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was at least $190.5 million.
"It builds on the previous findings and paints a more complete picture of the costs," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who has proposed legislation that would repeal the policy.
Congress approved the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in 1993 during the Clinton administration. It allows gays and lesbians to serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps as long as they abstain from homosexual activity and do not disclose their sexual orientation.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has represented service members who left the military under the policy, estimates the Pentagon has discharged more than 10,000 service members for homosexuality since "don't ask, don't tell" went into effect in 1994. The number of discharges has gone down in recent years.
In February 2005, the GAO said the financial impact could not be completely estimated because the government does not collect financial information specific to each individual's case.
Cautioning that the figures may be too low, the GAO said the federal government spent at least $95.4 million to recruit and $95.1 million to train replacements from 1994 through 2003 for the 9,488 troops discharged during that period because of the policy.
The university study said the GAO erred by emphasizing the expense of replacing those who were discharged because of the policy without taking into account the value the military lost from the departures.
So, the commission focused on the estimated value the military lost from each person discharged. The report detailed costs of $79.3 million for recruiting enlisted service members, $252.4 million for training them, $17.8 million for training officers and $14.3 million for "separation travel" once a service member is discharged.
Commission members include former Defense Secretary William Perry, a member of the Clinton administration, and Lawrence Korb, a former assistant defense secretary during the Reagan administration, as well as professors from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Gay marriage and civil partnerships are good for the health of lesbians and gay men, researchers said Tuesday in London.
In addition, scientists said, the United Kingdom's new civil partnership laws will help tackle discrimination and prejudice across the country.
The study, conducted by the University College London and published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, says that legal recognition for same-sex couples will directly affect physical and mental health.
"Civil partnerships are likely to break down some of the prejudice and promote greater understanding, including among staff working in the health service," said Professor Michael King, who co-wrote the article.
"Legal civil partnerships could increase the stability of same-sex relationships and minimize the social exclusion to which gay and lesbian people are often subjected," King said.
The report comes after a renewed focus on health in gay rights groups.
Last week, the nonprofit rights group Stonewall issued a preliminary warning that lesbians were being ignored and discriminated against by the National Health Service after it conducted a survey in Brighton. Some campaigners say this prejudice is dangerous in light of the higher risks of breast cancer, heart disease and obesity that lesbians face.
On Tuesday, a Stonewall official said legal recognition would make lives easier for thousands of lesbian and gay people.
"There is the issue of prejudice and hassle that people can encounter in their everyday lives," the organization's Andy Forrest said. "With the rights these partnerships have, this will be reduced.
Did you know that Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retail pharmacy, has been denying millions of American women the chance to
prevent unintendedpregnancy? It's true. The store has refused to stock the “morning-after pill" or Plan B, a medically approved birth control
option for women.
Now, three Massachusetts women have filed an anti- discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts has j
oined them. Plan B is highly effective in preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, contraceptive failure, or sexual
assault. It was approved by the FDA in 1999 as a safe and effective back-up birth control method, yet Wal-Mart refuses to carry or distribute the prescription in its stores.
Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott seems to think he knows more about a woman's health than the gynecologists, doctors, and government agencies who approved Plan B over six years ago. Make your voice heard now. Tell Lee Scott and Wal-Mart's Board of Directors that it should never be their place to decide what medications women may or may not take. Ask Wal-Mart to stop discriminating against women and to make the health and rights of all their customers a top priority.
The Canadian government will quickly realize the economic impact of a fisheries boycott is too high a price to pay for the seal hunt. You can sign the pledge and learn more about the boycott at: www.protectseals.org.
Help end the largest marine mammal hunt on the planet. The Canadian government is allowing fishermen to kill 975,000 harp seals in the waters east of Newfoundland and Labrador between 2003 and 2006. The seals will be killed for their fur, meat, and oil, although there are few markets for these products.
Harp seals are killed by being clubbedd or shot and are usually between 12 days - 12 weeks old. Once the ice melts, the sealers use rifles to kill the seals, although most animals are only wounded before being hooked and dragged onto the ship.
Once a baby seal starts to molt even a part of its white coat, the Canadian government allows hunters to kill the pups by clubbing them. A few years ago, an independent, international team of veterinarians observed the hunt and examined the corpses of skinned seals and found evidence that up to 40 percent of the seals had been skinned while still able to feel pain.
The government claims the hunt will not have a harmful affect on seal populations. However, the last time the seal catches were this high, the population dropped by more than half over a 20 year period. The Canadian government tries to justify its support of the seal hunt by blaming the collapse of the North American population of cod. However Canada's own scientific data does not support this claim. Over-fishing, not seals, is responsible for the depletion of the North Atlantic cod stock.
Sealing, which only occurs for a few months a year, is not a profitable way to for fisherman to make a living. Individual sealers only bring in about $3,338/year (not including the costs paid for use of the boats on which they work). The Canadian government has spent approximately $20 million in subsidies between 1995 and 2001. While most Canadians are against the seal hunt, their government is spending their money to keep this cruel and wasteful industry running.
Last week, thousands of mourners waited for hours in freezing rain at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church and the state capitol rotunda to pay their respects to the "first lady of the civil rights movement," Coretta Scott King, who died on Jan. 30. P
