UPDATES
2001 - 2005
Dec 14 2005
"Did you know trophy hunters can write off their canned hunts and big game safaris at taxpayers' expense?
As reported in a front-page expose in The Washington Post, wealthy hunters have been killing a few "extra" animals, donating the trophies to pseudo-museums, inflating the value of these trophies and then taking a huge tax deduction for their "charitable" contribution (to "museums" that are sometimes in someone's basement or even abandoned railroad cars).
The scam is so blatant it's simply shocking; tax deductions are engineered by questionable trophy appraisers who advertise with slogans like "Hunt For Free," "Hunting in a Tight Money Economy," and "7 Secrets of Tax Deductible Hunting."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has tightened up the part of the current tax code that deals with charitable donations to solve this problem. His changes are part of a massive "tax reconciliation" bill, which passed the Senate November 18. The House passed a different version of the tax bill December 8 that did not address the taxidermy tax scam. Urge your U.S. Senators and Representative to make sure the final bill ends this tax scam immediately!
Every year, tens of thousands of wild animals are killed solely for their trophy value-including rare and endangered animals around the world. I am opposed to this pointless killing and disturbed that some trophy hunters have found a way to finance their expeditions by duping the IRS and American taxpayers. Please do all that you can to stop this abuse of taxpayer funds.
His changes are part of a massive "tax reconciliation" bill, which passed the Senate November 18. The House passed a different version of the tax bill December 8 that did not address the taxidermy tax scam. Now, the bill must be reconciled, so we need your help urging Congress to make sure the final bill ends this tax scam. "
10/26/05- Michael D. Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, released the following statement:
"Today, President George W. Bush added a sad item to his legacy. He became the first President in American history to take action to immunize a specific class of businesses from virtually all civil liability. It is left to a future President, or the courts, to undo this act."
"All Americans now have a little less protection from wrongdoing than we had before, and a little less freedom to seek justice. We are all less safe from the dangers posed by irresponsible gun companies. We are all diminished by this craven act."
Fri, 16 Dec 2005
"Want to help animals while surfing the web? Here’s a quick, effortless way to do it! GoodSearch is an Internet search engine with a unique social mission. It enables you to fund charities or schools through the simple act of searching the Internet. The company was founded by a brother and sister team who lost their mom to cancer and wanted to find an easy way for people to support their favorite causes. Powered by Yahoo, GoodSearch can be used like any other search engine, but each time you use it, money is generated for your favorite cause(s). If you’d like to support us in our efforts to spread compassion and help animals raised for food, simply type “Farm Animal Reform Movement” for your charity of choice. The animals will thank you! " Visit www.GoodSearch.com to find out more about it!
December 18, 2005
No matter how bad it gets for Republicans; no matter how blatantly corrupt they've become; no matter how miserably they seem to fail at almost every turn, their main rallying cry is that the Democrats are no better because they don't have a solid, unified platform. Well, I think the Democrats have a sure-fire winner in playing the morality card. Let's drill it home to America that the Busheviks are the most unethical, corrupt administration in modern history. In an effort to win back the House in 2006, let's remind Americans of the Bushies' 2000 campaign promise "to restore honesty and integrity" to Washington, and of all the moral and ethical transgressions and criminal behavior that followed instead. We can relentlessly remind voters of the various scandals that have rocked and socked the GOP, including:
1-The indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
2-The SEC investigation of Senate Majority Bill Frist
3-The obstruction/perjury/false statements indictment of Cheney Chief Scooter Libby
4-The wire fraud/conspiracy indictment of top GOP lobbyist and crony Jack Abramson
5-The conspiracy indictment of Abramoff partner and DeLay aide Michael Scanlon
6-The bribery indictment of California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham
7-The criminal indictment of Ohio Gov. Bob Taft
8-The ongoing Federal investigation (and hopefully soon-to-be indictment) of Bush guru Karl Rove in the CIA leak case
9-Bush's disastrous appointment of crony Michael "Brownie" Brown to head FEMA
10-Halliburton's no-bid contracts windfall, and VP Cheney's profiting from it
11-The Armstrong Williams paid propaganda campaign for No Child Left Behind
12-The Pentagon pay-for-positive-Iraq news propaganda scheme
13-The Geneva Convention violations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
14-The willful misuse and manipulation of pre-war intelligence to justify the war
15-Bush's authorization of illegal NSA spying on American citizens
And keep in mind, this is just the short list. Kind of makes Bill Clinton's lapses in Oval Office morality seem quite benign by comparison, no?
Research in Italy Turns Up a New Form of Mad Cow Disease
February 17, 2004
A new form of mad cow disease has been found in Italy, according to a study released yesterday, and scientists believe that it may be the cause of some cases of human brain-wasting disease. While the strain has been found in only two Italian cows, both apparently healthy, scientists in Europe and the United States said it should provide new impetus in Washington for the Department of Agriculture to adopt the more sensitive rapid tests used in Europe because it may not show up in those used in the United States. Along with the Italian study, there have been recent reports of unusual types of mad cow disease in France and Japan, and scientists say the discovery of new forms suggests that many cases of ''sporadic'' human disease -- by far the most common kind, responsible for about 300 deaths a year in the United States -- are not spontaneous at all, but come from eating animals.
The brain-destroying diseases involve prions -- misfolded proteins that are believed somehow to induce other proteins to fold incorrectly, leaving patches of useless debris and holes that turn brains to sponge. The study, by a team from universities in Turin, Verona, Brescia and Milan, was edited by Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, who won a 1997 Nobel Prize for his prion work. It appears this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Two American experts not involved in the study said the findings were sobering. Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti, director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University, called the report ''very convincing.'' Dr. Paul Brown, a prion expert at the National Institutes of Health, said it ''opens the possibility of a second strain of the agent in circulation -- and that's probably not good news.''
Current American testing focuses only on finding the prion that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and ''variant'' Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
But the disease found in two aged dairy cows in Italy is so different that its discoverers gave it a new name, bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy, or BASE, because it forms amyloid plaques in the brain -- round, dark clumps of sticky protein junk.
''We don't know if this disease is passed to humans,'' said Dr. Salvatore Monaco, a neurologist at the G. B. Rossi Polyclinic in Verona and an author of the study. ''But it is very similar to a subtype that causes sporadic C.J.D. in humans.''
In the past, some people with cases diagnosed as sporadic have said they ate squirrel brains, pig brains or raw meat, but no link to a different prion was established, said Dr. Michael C. Hansen, who studies prion diseases for Consumers Union. Recently, he said, a new prion strain closely related to a French strain of scrapie, a sheep disease, was found in a French cow.
Both the Italian cows, one 15 years old and one 11, appeared healthy. Their unusual strain was discovered only because Italy tests all cattle over 30 months old slaughtered for human food. By last August, it had tested 1.6 million and found 103 that tested positive for prions.
Finding a new strain in apparently healthy cattle ''suggests that all surveillance should be like we do in Italy,'' Dr. Monaco said.
Many American prion experts concur. The United States now plans to test only 40,000 cows this year, focusing on those too sick to walk, and using an immunohistochemistry test that takes about eight days and is ''much less sensitive,'' Dr. Gambetti said, than tests used in Europe that take only hours.
Besides forming plaques, the strain differs in that it appears in much older cattle. Most cows with the well-known strain die before they are 10. Also, the new prions collect in different parts of the brain -- the olfactory bulb and thalamus, rather than the brain stem. The two cows also had relatively fewer ''holes.''
Those characteristics resemble the ones found in about 30 percent of humans who have the sporadic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
In the United States, about one person per million develops and dies of the sporadic form each year, meaning that there are usually about 300 cases in the country. (For unknown reasons, Italy has nearly two cases per million; Switzerland has about three.)
Only one person in the United States has had variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, the human form of mad cow disease, which was first described in the 1990's and has killed about 150 Europeans; she grew up in Britain and was probably infected there.
Most sporadic cases are among the elderly, while in Britain the variant form struck many people under 30. Victims of both rapidly develop staggering, memory loss and dementia, fall into comas and die. Dr. Brown said the discovery did not suggest that many humans were suffering from undiagnosed illness. If that was the case, he said, the number of sporadic cases found in Britain since 1994 should have shot up; they have not. The sporadic form has been assumed to arise spontaneously because there has been no other obvious cause, said Dr. Laura Manuelidis, a Yale neuropathologist who studies the disease.
But human cases from several countries produce different symptoms when injected into susceptible mice, showing that there are several human strains. Dr. Manuelidis is skeptical of the conventional wisdom that prions, which contain no DNA or RNA, can transmit infections. She believes that a slow-acting virus, not yet discovered, may be the cause. To make her point that such infections may have been crossing species well before mad cows created a scandal in Britain a decade ago, she read from an old report she has posted on her office door.
It is from an 1883 issue of the Medical Veterinary Review: A veterinarian named Serraet from southwest France describes a cow he saw die of the symptoms of scrapie, which had then been known in sheep for 100 years: itching, nervousness, partial paralysis and, ultimately, coma.
Dr. Serraet ends with a suggestion: ''I would advise the managers of cattle abattoirs to sell the meat only to lower-class butcher shops.''
Fri, 16 Dec 2005
For years, dermatologists have agreed that milk and dairy products are linked to teenage acne, but they haven’t been able to pin down the reason. Earlier studies have pointed to hormones and bioactive molecules in milk. Now Dr. Harvey Arbesman, a dermatologist at the University at Buffalo, suspects iodine is the culprit. His theory was recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Arbesman explains that "various studies have shown there is a significant level of iodine in milk in several countries, including the U.S., Britain, Denmark, Norway and Italy." Dairy farmers give cows iodine-fortified feed to prevent infection, and use sanitizing iodine solutions on cows' udders and milking equipment. Dr. Arbesman remarks, "I've advised my acne patients for years to decrease their dairy intake.” Healthy milk alternatives include plant-based beverages such as soy, rice, and nut milk.
Source: Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine -
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine.
Date: 2005-01-19
A new scientific review shows that high blood pressure can be reduced with diet changes, especially a vegetarian diet. The new report analyzes the results of published studies and concludes that vegetarian populations have lower rates of hypertension, “the silent killer.” This report, authored by nutritionist Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is the lead article in the January issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition Reviews.
Included in the analysis are studies published in top journals such as The Lancet and The Journal of the American Medical Association. In addition to the population trends, these studies show that individual patients also experience the blood pressure-lowering effect of a vegetarian diet.
Vegetarians tend to be slimmer, on average, and that is one reason their blood pressure is often in the healthy range. Other mechanisms include vegetarians’ higher intake of potassium as well as the tendency of plant-based foods to modulate blood viscosity. As blood pressure is lowered, vegetarian populations experience a reduced risk of stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure
“Many people fear the side effects of blood pressure-lowering drugs, along with the expense. Our analysis of 80 scientific studies suggests that a vegetarian diet may be a simple, drug-free treatment for the ‘silent killer,’” says Dr. Berkow, lead author of the study. “My advice to people at risk for hypertension is to substitute a veggie burger for a hamburger tonight and have pasta marinara without the meatballs tomorrow. After about six weeks of such simple changes you might see your blood pressure—and your body weight—begin to drop.” Because high blood pressure is dangerous, the researchers caution that individuals should see their doctors and assess whether diet alone is sufficient, or whether drugs are also needed.
Drs. Berkow and Barnard summarized their findings in the article this way:
Randomized clinical trials have shown that BP [blood pressure] is lowered when animal products are replaced with vegetable products in both normotensives and hypertensives. The beneficial expected consequences of a reduction in BP include a reduction in major coronary events. Vegetarians have been shown to have a lower incidence of coronary heart disease (30), ischemic heart disease and a reduced risk of ischemic heart disease-related death compared to non-vegetarians.
For a copy of the new paper published in Nutrition Reviews or an interview with one of the authors, please contact Jeanne S. McVey at 202-686-2210, ext. 316, or 415-509-1833.
Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical research studies, opposes unethical human experimentation, and promotes alternatives to animal research.
I suggest everyone go out and buy carbon dioxide detectors. A neighbor, right down the street, had to evacuate her home until the untility company rectified the problem. This is a deadly dangerous issue. I just odered 2 Carbon Dioxide detectrs from Homedepot. They sell a bunch of them, and they are affordable. Following is a recent article, from a local paper, not related to my neighbor's situaiton.
Along with Carbon Dioxide, Radon is a big issue also.
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | December 15, 2005
Three adults and three children, including a 5-month-old, were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning yesterday after the potentially deadly odorless gas filled a Dorchester house. A Boston Fire Department spokesman said officials had been alerted by staff at Boston Medical Center after an adult and a child from the house went to the hospital. Deborah Barboza, 26, said she and her 7-year-old daughter, Deja Cheeks, had been suffering from headaches and sleeplessness off an on for week. Yesterday morning, her daughter awoke at 6 a.m. complaining of dizziness, she said.''If I'd fallen back asleep, there was a chance I wouldn't have woken up," Barboza said. Boston Emergency Medical Service and fire officials were dispatched to the home at 52 Nelson St. at about 8:30 a.m. Carbon monoxide testers reported an unacceptable level of gas when firefighters arrived, said a Boston EMS spokesman, Christopher Stratton. All natural gas appliances were then shut off, and the windows were opened to allow the gas to escape. Fire officials said they did not know what had caused the gas to fill the home. Calls to the city's Inspectional Services Department, which also responded to the scene, were not returned yesterday. Cheeks was treated in a hyperbaric chamber at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and was released. Barboza and four other family members were also treated and released. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills about 300 people annually in the United States. An Ashland family almost succumbed to the gas this month because of a faulty furnace.
Under a law passed after a 7-year-old Plymouth girl died of carbon monoxide poisoning in January, the state requires most homes to have carbon monoxide detectors by March 31. But as fuel costs rise this winter, fire officials say the problem probably will grow as residents turn to alternative heat sources to save money. Exposure to carbon monoxide can cause flu-like symptoms and can be fatal. Massachusetts fire departments responded to 2,844 carbon monoxide calls in 2004, according to the state Department of Fire Services.
Broccoli Sprouts, Cabbage, Ginkgo Biloba And Garlic: A Grocery List For Cancer Prevention Source: American Association for Cancer Research Date: Oct. 31, 2005 Five studies presented today during the American Association for Cancer Research's 4th Annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Baltimore, MD, add to the arsenal of research that shows adding certain vegetables and herbs to the diet can prevent or, in some cases, halt the growth of cancer. ...and it shows that the addition of these foods to the diet can reap benefits at any stage of life. Read more
12/2005
"On October 1, 2005, Florida became a more dangerous place. That's when the Shoot First Law goes into effect, giving the people of Florida the right to use deadly force as a first resort when they feel threatened, even in a public place. But the Shoot First doctrine isn't just staying in Florida — it's about to become a national disgrace. In a country where thousands die needlessly every year in gun accidents and violent confrontations, this law is an enormous step backwards in civic responsibility and public safety. What's more, it envisions a society in which fear and distrust are the rule, and reason and responsibility are an endangered species. If you live in Florida, or plan on visiting Florida, get the facts on the Shoot First Law. Know when you're safe, and how to avoid misunderstandings. Learn about when the people of Florida can shoot to kill... and when they think they can. Tell Governor Bush he made a mistake. The people of Florida deserve better than to be gunned down by the short-tempered and trigger-happy. They deserve better than to have the law put into the hands of private citizens. Tell your governor that deadly force is not a game, and isn't something to be taken lightly and that taking a human life should never be our first choice."
Thu, 08 Dec 2005
"House and Senate negotiators have struck a deal on reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act, leaving many of the bill's worst provisions intact.
Before leaving for recess, several senators were threatening to filibuster this legislation if it contained these provisions. Let's call on them to
If passed:
… the Justice Department will retain the authority to investigate American citizens without judicial oversight, a power that is invoked
more than 30,000 times each year.
… the government will still be able to search individuals' private property without notifying them.
… authorities will still be able to search citizens' library records, medical records, school records, and financial records virtually unchecked
by the judiciary.
The Senate has an opportunity to take a stand for one of Americans' most cherished traditions --the right to be free from government intrusion.
Manufacturing Fake News
Dec 2 2005
"Under Bush administration directives, at least 20 federal agencies have produced and distributed scores of "video news releases" out of a $254 million slush fund set up to manufacture taxpayer-funded propaganda. These bogus and deceptive stories have been broadcast on TV stations nationwide without any acknowledgment that they were prepared by the government rather than local journalists. The segments — which trumpeted administration “successes,” promoted its controversial line on issues like overhauling Medicare, and featured Americans "thanking" Bush — have been repeatedly labeled "covert propaganda" by investigators at the Government Accountability Office."
Complete Article Below;
"The Bush administration has mounted a widespread effort to produce “video news releases,” or VNRs, which are broadcast as real news to millions of unsuspecting Americans. At least 20 federal agencies have distributed this propaganda. The White House has spent more than twice any other administration to create counterfeit news. In 2004 alone, the Bush administration spent $90 million on PR contracts, drawn from a $254 million taxpayer slush fund set up to manufacture White House-friendly propaganda.
Thus far, four separate Government Accountability Office investigations have found the White House violated laws that prohibit government use of taxpayer money to spread “covert propaganda” without attribution. Objectionable activities include a video news release where PR flack Karen Ryan gives the Bush tutoring program “an A-plus”; and commissioned newspaper articles that praised the Education Department’s role in promoting “science literacy.” Readers were never informed of the government’s role in placing the article, which appeared in numerous small newspapers around the country.
The GAO’s pronouncements against un-attributed propaganda have gone unheeded. Press officers for several of the federal agencies in question recently told The New York Times that disclosure requirements did not apply to government-made television news segments, which they insisted are “factual, politically neutral and useful to viewers.” On September 30, the GAO correctly shot down that sophistry, saying that pre-packaged government news is inherently not factual because “the essential fact of attribution is missing.”
While some in Congress have taken up the call for more investigation, they have yet to look beyond isolated incidents. As more evidence comes to light we’re able to assemble a case against this administration that goes much further, involving a systemic campaign to covertly manufacture news and manipulate public opinion in favor of presidential policies." SOURCE: The Free Press E-Activist Network which consists of thousands of individuals like yourself who choose to receive occasional emails regarding pressing media reform matters. The E-Activist List won't clog your inbox; there are rarely more than three messages a month.
Senate Raises - versus - The Poor of America
So I hear on the radio that the senate gave themselves a $3,100 raise, taking it from the food stamps and medicaid programs.
This was done at 11:59pm, on Friday November 18th, right before they took their two week vacation. My blood boiled when I heard this, and I plan on asking those in the senate in my state, what the heck is going on. The minimum wage hasn't been raised in years, meaning the average person making minimum wage makes about $10,0000 a year, thats a little more than three times the senate's lates raise.
"Budget and Taxes - Wed, 23 Nov 2005 "For some time, right-wing congressional leaders have been unable to get the votes they needed to pass the House budget reconciliation package. Unfortunately, with arm twisting at a fever pitch and only minor tweaks to Food Stamp and Medicaid funding, they succeeded in passing this draconian proposal just after 1:30 am on Friday, November 18 by a vote of 217-215."
November 17 2005 email alert
In a last-minute maneuver excluding Democrats, Republicans negotiated a version of the USA PATRIOT Act that removed the modest reforms to protect civil liberties included in the Senate version.
The version that the House and Senate will now vote on:
…continues to allow the Justice Department to authorize the investigation of American citizens without judicial oversight, a power that the Washington Post reports is invoked more than 30,000 times each year.
…excludes reforms on section 213 sneak and peek provision, allowing the government to search individuals' private property
without notifying them.
…permits authorities to search citizens' financial, medical, library, school and other records without judicial oversight.
Oct 20 2005
The Pentagon sent a letter to a liberal radio talk show host, stating that he will not have time on the radio station our troops listen too, after it was planned for a year that he would. This is a tax paid radio broadcast and has, at this time, all conservative hosts. I wonder why this is, no I don't really. Folks, we are headed for self-destruction. I told people this when I was 12 years old. Human beings just have a history or destroying themselves, involved is always war, money and religion, which are all basically the same thing to me. Here are some links to articles on this talk radio host Ed Schults so you can read for yourself that I am not lieing;
October 2005
September 2005
"More than 1 in 6 babies born are exposed to dangerously high levels of mercury in the womb. Yet when states like California take it upon themselves to warn the public, the FDA joins with the fishing industry to force them to stop. Mercury is a toxic contaminant that is showing up in dangerously high concentrations in the fish we eat, and is know to cause nervous system and brain damage in developing fetuses, infants, and young children. We deserve to know what's in our food. Currently California requires warning signs to be posted in areas where fish is being sold, to let consumers know what the mercury risks are in the fish they might buy. But the FDA, in spite of their mission to protect the safety of America's food supply, has joined a lawsuit with tuna companies to fight these warnings."
September 2005
"Instead of embracing good jobs for the recently displaced, President Bush’s first major act in the Gulf Coast recovery effort was to suspend a law that requires federal contractors to pay workers a decent wage. Please take a moment to demand that this recovery effort put people first – and reject efforts to exploit this tragedy to line the pockets of corporate elites. Please, write your member of Congress and insist that decent family wages and employing the victims of Katrina be the bedrock of the Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts. President Bush's first major act in the recovery effort was to suspend a law that requires federal contractors to pay workers a decent wage. And, at the same time, his administration signed no-bid contracts that will give billions to multi-national corporations like Halliburton without any guarantee that they will hire displaced people to rebuild their own communities."
September 2 2005
"The International Agency for Research on Cancer, the U.N.'s cancer research agency, has officially classified combined estrogen-progestogen Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) as "carcinogenic to humans." The agency reclassified the drug from "possibly carcinogenic" to "carcinogenic" after a thorough review of recently published research on HRT. Combined estrogen-progestogen HRT is marketed under the brand name "Prempro," part of the Premarin family of products manufactured by the pharmaceutical behemoth, Wyeth-Ayerst."
Wed Aug 3, 2005
"Doctors have been concerned that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) could
be transmitted by contaminated surgical equipment, since standard sterilizing procedures
do not destroy the abnormal prion proteins that cause the illness......There is a particular
concern about vCJD because the infectious prion is found in the lymphoid tissue of the body. Health officials fear it could be spread through surgical equipment used on the spleen
or tonsils and through blood transfusions.....Unlike viruses and bacteria, prion proteins are
resistant to high temperatures and stick very strongly to metal surfaces."
"In August 2005, USDA called for a voluntary recall of 900,000 pounds of
hamburger tainted with E. coli. But the agency won't tell consumers which
retailers may be selling this meat. Even if meat or poultry has been identified as potentially contaminated, the USDA does not have the authority to mandate a recall of the meat or to require the meat producers and processors to come forward once their products are proven to be contaminated. Shockingly, the USDA has a policy of keeping the names of retailers selling potentially contaminated meat secret from the public. Whose side is the USDA on?! This secrecy threatens our health. Send a message to the USDA urging them to adopt a rule to allow information on tainted meat and poultry to be shared with the public."
8/7/2005
"Scientists agree that putting antibiotics in animal feed contributes to the crisis of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans." The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of the United States antibiotics use is as a food additive to concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO). More then half of those antibiotics are the same as those used to treat human illness.
8/3/2005
"There is also a possibility that bird flu could spread to the European Union as (infected) wild birds from China may have been in contact in Russia with birds that will fly on to the Netherlands, France and elsewhere," the unnamed official said. "North America is not safe either, as some birds from Russia fly there, too."
10/15/04
"Here's a shocking fact: more Americans die each year from hospital-acquired infections than from auto accidents and homicides combined. In fact, an estimated 90,000 people die every year from hospital-acquired infections, yet hospitals still don't have to disclose their rates of infection! Hospitals don't even have to report their infection rates to the regulators who are responsible for making sure they meet basic standards."
"Sign a petition to make more information available to consumers about our local hospital's infection control practices. Hospital-acquired infections cause about 90,000 deaths each year, and many of these could be prevented with better infection control practices. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, will send the petition and our signatures to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This agency recently announced that it would start releasing more information to the public, but then withdrew the proposal under pressure from the medical community. This federal agency is there to serve us, taxpayers and consumers, not just the industry it regulates!
10/15/04
"Tobacco interests have given more than $28 million in political donations since 1997. It's no wonder that tobacco products remain virtually unregulated, and every day in America,
2,000 more kids become addicted to tobacco."
Mice Test Mislead MS Researchers
February 26 2004
"University of Sydney researchers report that multiple sclerosis (MS) may be due to the death of brain cells that produce the myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells - not attacks from the patient's immune system as previously indicated by animal studies. The first hypothesis was largely based on perceived similarities between MS and an artificially induced condition in animals called Experimental Allergic Encephalitis. Neurology experts say the animal model was so inappropriate that it delayed progress in MS research. New human studies may now provide the breakthrough that MS patients have been waiting for."
Printed in 'Good Medicine' Published by
Arsenic in Chicken
2004
"Arsenic levels detected in young chickens measured up to four times greater than previously recognized, according to research from the National Institute of Health, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Arsenic is added to animal feed to control intestinal parasites. In humans, chronic arsenic exposure is linked to skin, respiratory,
and bladder cancers. "
May 27 2003
May 6 2003
April 20 2003
April 16th 2003 - Present
May - 14 2003
"21 to 31 million people in the United States were uninsured for the entire year of 1998, about 60 million people a year go without insurance for atleast part of the year" - The Congressional Budget Office - a nonpartisan budget analysis arm of congress.
May 7 2003
"If the projected deficit for 2003 is accurate, President Bush will have added a half a trillion dollars to the national
debt in just two years,
in contrast to the $250 billion surplus projected during the Clinton years. Thats literally a ton of money that will not be available
for your parents' healthcare; it will not be available for your healthcare; it will not be available for your childrens' social security;
it will not be available for their college subsidy; it will not be available to fight crime; it will not be available for medical research;
it will not be available for public education; it will not be available for disaster relief; it will be available for "homeland security"....but how many tens of billions of dollars will somehow become available to rebuild Iraq?"
April 2003
"A huge banner adorns the entrance to Union Station in Washington, D.C announcing 41 million Americans are unisured." Source; 'Hepatitis Alert, published by 'Hepatitis Foundation International'
By The Associated Press
09.01.01
EATONTON, Ga. — The Secret Service has questioned a middle Georgia man whose bumper stickers say "hell with Bush" and call the president a "two-faced murderer."
And it's not the first time 58-year-old Jesse Ethredge's opinion of the commander in chief has landed him in trouble with authorities.
Ethredge's truck features a cartoon child urinating on the word "Republicans." The bumper stickers read: "Don't U blame me," "Thief, Liar, Two Faced Murderer Geo W. Bush" and "Hell with Bush and all damn Republicans.
"
The Secret Service paid him a visit last week, asking what the stickers meant.
"They asked me a bunch of questions, like if he was to come into my driveway, what would I tell him," Ethredge said. "I said I'd tell him to get out as fast as he come in it. They wanted to see if I was a danger to him."
Putnam County Sheriff Detective Lee Wilson said Ethredge cooperated during the Secret Service interview.
"Although he didn't have a lot of use for Bush, he didn't have any intentions of causing him physical harm," Wilson said. "As far as the sheriff's office is concerned, it's a closed matter."
Ethredge, who will retire next week after 34 years as a civilian employee at Robins Air Force Base, says he was just expressing his feelings.
He said the same thing more than a decade ago, when a similar slogan on the same camper shell took aim at Bush's father, who was president at the time. The sign then said, "Read my lips hell with Geo. Bush."
He drove the sign onto the base April 5, 1990, and was charged with "provoking speech on a truck." The ticket was dismissed.
Base officials had first complained about Ethredge's stickers in 1984 when former President Reagan visited Macon. The sticker said, "To Hell With Reagan."
In October 1991, Ethredge received a letter from Col. Robert Hail, who was deputy base commander at Robins, instructing him not to come onto the base with "bumper stickers or other similar paraphernalia which would embarrass or disparage the Commander in Chief."
Ethredge took the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where he lost his appeal. The lawsuit ended there, said Gerry Weber, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney handling the case.
"Just within the context of a military base, people's free-speech rights are as restricted or potentially more restricted than inmates in a jail," Weber said.
And as for his opinion of the second President Bush, Ethredge says the bumper sticker stays.
"This has been going on for about 10 years," Ethredge said. "I handled it all the way to the 11th (Circuit). They aren't going to dictate what I put on my truck. I imagine you'll see 'em on there until he's out of office."
