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Who Do We Vote For This Time Around?
A Letter from Michael Moore

01.02.08
Friends,

A new year has begun. And before we've had a chance to break our New Year's resolutions, we find ourselves with a little more than 24 hours before the good people of Iowa tell us whom they would like to replace the man who now occupies three countries and a white house.

Twice before, we have begun the process to stop this man, and twice we have failed. Eight years of our lives as Americans will have been lost, the world left in upheaval against us... and yet now, today, we hope against hope that our moment has finally arrived, that the amazingly powerful force of the Republican Party will somehow be halted. But we know that the Democrats are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and if there's a way to blow this election, they will find it and do it with gusto.

Do you feel the same as me? That the Democratic front-runners are a less-than-stellar group of candidates, and that none of them are the "slam dunk" we wish they were? Of course, there are wonderful things about each of them. Any one of them would be infinitely better than what we have now. Personally, Congressman Kucinich, more than any other candidate, shares the same positions that I have on the issues (although the UFO that picked ME up would only take me as far as Kalamazoo). But let's not waste time talking about Dennis. Even he is resigned to losing, with statements like the one he made yesterday to his supporters in Iowa to throw their support to Senator Obama as their "second choice."

So, it's Hillary, Obama, Edwards -- now what do we do?

Two months ago, Rolling Stone magazine asked me to do a cover story where I would ask the hard questions that no one was asking in one-on-one interviews with Senators Clinton, Obama and Edwards. "The Top Democrats Face Off with Michael Moore." The deal was that all three candidates had to agree to let me interview them or there was no story. Obama and Edwards agreed. Mrs. Clinton said no, and the cover story was thus killed.

Why would the love of my life, Hillary Clinton, not sit down to talk with me? What was she afraid of?

Those of you who are longtime readers of mine may remember that 11 years ago I wrote a chapter (in my first book) entitled, "My Forbidden Love for Hillary." I was fed up with the treatment she was getting, most of it boringly sexist, and I thought somebody should stand up for her. I later met her and she thanked me for referring to her as "one hot s***kicking feminist babe." I supported and contributed to her run for the U.S. Senate. I think she is a decent and smart person who loves this country, cares deeply about kids, and has put up with more crap than anyone I know of (other than me) from the Crazy Right. Her inauguration would be a thrilling sight, ending 218 years of white male rule in a country where 51% of its citizens are female and 64% are either female or people of color.

And yet, I am sad to say, nothing has disappointed me more than the disastrous, premeditated vote by Senator Hillary Clinton to send us to war in Iraq. I'm not only talking about her first vote that gave Mr. Bush his "authorization" to invade -- I'm talking about every single OTHER vote she then cast for the next four years, backing and funding Bush's illegal war, and doing so with verve. She never met a request from the White House for war authorization that she didn't like. Unlike the Kerrys and the Bidens who initially voted for authorization but later came to realize the folly of their decision, Mrs. Clinton continued to cast numerous votes for the war until last March -- four long years of pro-war votes, even after 70% of the American public had turned against the war. She has steadfastly refused to say that she was wrong about any of this, and she will not apologize for her culpability in America's worst-ever foreign policy disaster. All she can bring herself to say is that she was "misled" by "faulty intelligence."

Let's assume that's true. Do you want a President who is so easily misled? I wasn't "misled," and millions of others who took to the streets in February of 2003 weren't "misled" either. It was simply amazing that we knew the war was wrong when none of us had been briefed by the CIA, none of us were national security experts, and none of us had gone on a weapons inspection tour of Iraq. And yet... we knew we were being lied to! Let me ask those of you reading this letter: Were YOU "misled" -- or did you figure it out sometime between October of 2002 and March of 2007 that George W. Bush was up to something rotten? Twenty-three other senators were smart enough to figure it out and vote against the war from the get-go. Why wasn't Senator Clinton?

I have a theory: Hillary knows the sexist country we still live in and that one of the reasons the public, in the past, would never consider a woman as president is because she would also be commander in chief. The majority of Americans were concerned that a woman would not be as likely to go to war as a man (horror of horrors!). So, in order to placate that mindset, perhaps she believed she had to be as "tough" as a man, she had to be willing to push The Button if necessary, and give the generals whatever they wanted. If this is, in fact, what has motivated her pro-war votes, then this would truly make her a scary first-term president. If the U.S. is faced with some unforeseen threat in her first years, she knows that in order to get re-elected she'd better be ready to go all Maggie Thatcher on whoever sneezes in our direction. Do we want to risk this, hoping the world makes it in one piece to her second term?

I have not even touched on her other numerous -- and horrendous -- votes in the Senate, especially those that have made the middle class suffer even more (she voted for Bush's first bankruptcy bill, and she is now the leading recipient of payoff money -- I mean campaign contributions -- from the health care industry). I know a lot of you want to see her elected, and there is a very good chance that will happen. There will be plenty of time to vote for her in the general election if all the pollsters are correct. But in the primaries and caucuses, isn't this the time to vote for the person who most reflects the values and politics you hold dear? Can you, in good conscience, vote for someone who so energetically voted over and over and over again for the war in Iraq? Please give this serious consideration.

Now, on to the two candidates who did agree to do the interview with me...

Barack Obama is a good and inspiring man. What a breath of fresh air! There's no doubting his sincerity or his commitment to trying to straighten things out in this country. But who is he? I mean, other than a guy who gives a great speech? How much do any of us really know about him? I know he was against the war. How do I know that? He gave a speech before the war started. But since he joined the senate, he has voted for the funds for the war, while at the same time saying we should get out. He says he's for the little guy, but then he votes for a corporate-backed bill to make it harder for the little guy to file a class action suit when his kid swallows lead paint from a Chinese-made toy. In fact, Obama doesn't think Wall Street is a bad place. He wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health care plan -- the same companies who have created the mess in the first place. He's such a feel-good kinda guy, I get the sense that, if elected, the Republicans will eat him for breakfast. He won't even have time to make a good speech about it.

But this may be a bit harsh. Senator Obama has a big heart, and that heart is in the right place. Is he electable? Will more than 50% of America vote for him? We'd like to believe they would. We'd like to believe America has changed, wouldn't we? Obama lets us feel better about ourselves -- and as we look out the window at the guy snowplowing his driveway across the street, we want to believe he's changed, too. But are we dreaming?

And then there's John Edwards.

It's hard to get past the hair, isn't it? But once you do -- and recently I have chosen to try -- you find a man who is out to take on the wealthy and powerful who have made life so miserable for so many. A candidate who says things like this: "I absolutely believe to my soul that this corporate greed and corporate power has an ironclad hold on our democracy." Whoa. We haven't heard anyone talk like that in a while, at least not anyone who is near the top of the polls. I suspect this is why Edwards is doing so well in Iowa, even though he has nowhere near the stash of cash the other two have. He won't take the big checks from the corporate PACs, and he is alone among the top three candidates in agreeing to limit his spending and be publicly funded. He has said, point-blank, that he's going after the drug companies and the oil companies and anyone else who is messing with the American worker. The media clearly find him to be a threat, probably because he will go after their monopolistic power, too. This is Roosevelt/Truman kind of talk. That's why it's resonating with people in Iowa, even though he doesn't get the attention Obama and Hillary get -- and that lack of coverage may cost him the first place spot tomorrow night. After all, he is one of those white guys who's been running things for far too long.

And he voted for the war. But unlike Senator Clinton, he has stated quite forcefully that he was wrong. And he has remorse. Should he be forgiven? Did he learn his lesson? Like Hillary and Obama, he refused to promise in a September debate that there will be no U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of his first term in 2013. But this week in Iowa, he changed his mind. He went further than Clinton and Obama and said he'd have all the troops home in less than a year.

Edwards is the only one of the three front-runners who has a universal health care plan that will lead to the single-payer kind all other civilized countries have. His plan doesn't go as fast as I would like, but he is the only one who has correctly pointed out that the health insurance companies are the enemy and should not have a seat at the table.

I am not endorsing anyone at this point. This is simply how I feel in the first week of the process to replace George W. Bush. For months I've been wanting to ask the question, "Where are you, Al Gore?" You can only polish that Oscar for so long. And the Nobel was decided by Scandinavians! I don't blame you for not wanting to enter the viper pit again after you already won. But getting us to change out our incandescent light bulbs for some irritating fluorescent ones isn't going to save the world. All it's going to do is make us more agitated and jumpy and feeling like once we get home we haven't really left the office.

On second thought, would you even be willing to utter the words, "I absolutely believe to my soul that this corporate greed and corporate power has an ironclad hold on our democracy?" 'Cause the candidate who understands that, and who sees it as the root of all evil -- including the root of global warming -- is the President who may lead us to a place of sanity, justice and peace.

Yours,

Michael Moore (not an Iowa voter, but appreciative of any state that has a town named after a sofa)
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Ringing in the New Year with New Laws

New laws target text messaging, light bulbs, smoking, civil unions and bus safety.

DENVER - A host of new laws on topics ranging from allowing civil unions in New Hampshire to prohibiting text messaging while driving in Washington state become effective Jan. 1, 2008. The National Conference of State Legislatures found a host of state laws in 31 states ranging from controversial to clever that will become law on New Year's Day.

New Hampshire and Oregon will have new provisions regarding same sex couples. In Illinois, there will be a new law prohibiting smoking in public places while in California, smoking will not be allowed in a car when a minor is present.

Washington and Oregon will prohibit typing messages while driving. In Minnesota, bus cushions must meet new depths. Three states will issue license plates to veterans or family members of military personnel killed in combat. Illinois will allow pets to be included in protection orders. If you sell American flags in Minnesota, they will have to be made in the United States.
 
The minimum wage will rise in New Mexico, and homeowners in Illinois will have new protections to avert foreclosures. Airline passengers will have a bill of rights in New York state. And bad news if you are an old light bulb in Illinois or mercury in Minnesota, you will see new restrictions. Parents of a newborn in South Carolina will have to watch a video on the dangers of shaking a baby.
 
Below is a compilation of selected legislation, organized by issue, scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• Ohio will revise certain penalties in its Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law in order to meet recently enacted federal requirements of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. States have until mid-2009 to comply with the federal act. If not, they face a 10 percent reduction in federal crime funds. (Ohio 127th General Assembly, SB 10)
• Illinois will amend its Domestic Violence Act of 1986 to protect pets. Under the provision, the court can grant a petitioner exclusive care and custody of a pet or animal. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 9)
• If a child is at risk of being abused in Oregon, the state Department of Human Services will not have to gain written permission from the alleged abuser in order to run a criminal background check. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2179)

DRIVER'S LICENSES

• Alaska's driver's licenses and identification cards will be marked if a person is restricted from consuming alcoholic beverages as a result of a conviction or condition of probation or parole.  (Alaska 25th Legislature, HB 90)
• In an effort to reduce youth access to alcohol, drivers under the age of 21 in New Hampshire will have a driver's license that is vertical, compared to the horizontal version for those of the legal drinking age. (New Hampshire 94th General Court, HB 1581) 
  

PRIMARY ELECTIONS

• Come Jan. 1, California and Florida will be two additional states to host their primary or caucus on or before February 5, 2007. Click here for a complete list of states. (California Legislature, SB 513; Florida Legislature, HB 537)

ENVIRONMENT

• In order to reduce energy consumption, all buildings owned or leased by the state of Illinois that are larger than 1,000 square feet must use Energy Star-labeled light bulbs. Historic buildings that are listed on the Illinois Register of Historic Places are exempt from this requirement. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 1460)

• Several products sold in Minnesota must be mercury free. This includes stoves, barometers, cooking thermometers, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances. (Minnesota 85th Legislature, HB 1316) 

ETHICS

• Oregon has a sweeping government ethics bill that will limit officials to $50 gifts, provide stable funding for the Ethics Commission, increase penalties for ethics violations,

  and make financial disclosure forms filed by officials more accessible to the public and easier to understand. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, SB 10)  

HEALTH

• In South Carolina, hospitals must show new parents a video on the dangers of shaking infants and the importance of child CPR. This video must also be made available to all child care facilities and child care providers so they can include the video presentation in the training of the facility's caregivers. (South Carolina 117th General Assembly, SB 518)
• Insurance companies will have to include coverage for contraceptives if they provide benefits for other drugs in Oregon. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2700)

• The Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act in Utah sets guidelines for judges to use when children of immigrants, who legal status has changed, are at risk of abduction. Three other states (Colo., Kan., LA.) have enacted similar measures. (Utah Legislature, SB 35)

LABOR

• In Kentucky, a new law will allow spouses of miners who are killed in mine accidents, injured miners and miners who are otherwise affected by possible safety violations full intervention rights in disciplinary actions before the state Mine Safety Review Commission. (Kentucky 82nd General Assembly, HB 207)
• New Mexico will have a minimum wage increases in two phases.  Employers must pay $6.50 an hour with an increase to $7.50 an hour on Jan. 1, 2009. (New Mexico 48th Legislature, First Regular Session SB 324)
• American flags sold in Minnesota must be manufactured in the United States. (Minnesota 85th Regular Session, HB 122)

REAL ESTATE

• California and Colorado will require state-regulated banks and mortgage brokers to follow federal lending guidelines of non-traditional mortgages. Banks and lenders will have to evaluate a borrower's repayment ability and make sure the borrower understands the loan terms and risks before they are issued. (Colorado 66th General Assembly, SB 216 ; California Legislature, SB 385)
• A homeowner in Illinois will have the right to keep living in a mortgaged property during foreclosure, with exceptions. Renters also will be allowed to stay in a home that is being foreclosed for the length of the rental agreement or for 120 days as long as the tenant continues to pay rent. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, SB 258)
• A home seller in Texas must disclose whether the home was used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. (Texas 80th Legislature, HB 271)

SAME SEX MARRIAGES

• In New Hampshire, same sex couples may enter civil unions and have the same rights, responsibilities and obligations as married couples. (New Hampshire 94th General Court, HB 437)
• Oregon has new procedures for domestic partnership agreements among same-sex couples. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2007)

SMOKING

• Illinois will prohibit smoking in public places, places of employment, and governmental vehicles. "No Smoking" signs will also have to be posted in each public space and place of employment where smoking is prohibited. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, SB 500)
• In California, no one can smoke a pipe, cigar or cigarette in a car, whether in motion or at rest, if there is a minor inside. (California Legislature, SB 7)

STATE GOVERNMENT / REGULATION

• Each year, amusement rides in Minnesota will have to be inspected by a certified inspector. Additionally, ride owners and operators will make daily inspections of the rides and may enforce safety rules regarding the riders' behaviors. (Minnesota 85th Legislature, HB 1824)

TRANSPORTATION

• A New York state law will penalize airlines failing to provide adequate services to passengers trapped on the tarmac for more than three hours. (New York Legislature, SB 5050C)

• In Oregon, youth under the age of 18 will be banned from talking on a cell phone while driving. (Oregon 207th Legislative Assembly, HB 2872)

• In Minnesota, school bus seating must have a minimum cushion depth of 15 inches and a seat back height of at least 20 inches. (Minnesota 85th Regular Session, HB 2245)

• Drivers will not be allowed to read, write or send electronic messages while operating a motor vehicle in Washington state. (Washington's 60th First Regular Session, HG 1214)

VETERANS

• Montana will issue special military or veteran license plates for military personnel, veterans, or spouses. (Montana 60th Legislature, HB 274)
• Illinois and Iowa will issue a Gold Star license plates for residents who are the surviving widow, widower or parent of a person who served in the Armed Forces and was killed in combat. (Illinois 95th General Assembly, HB 167; Iowa 81st General Assembly, SB 586)

VOTING

• Colorado and Washington are among a number of states trying to streamline the voting process for American citizens and military personnel living overseas. (Colorado 66th General Assembly, SB 234; Washington 60th Legislature, HB 1528)
• Florida legislation includes a second wave of major election reform, including expanded absentee voting and paper audit trail of all electronic voting machines.  (Florida Legislature, HB 537)

In-Terror-gation, Cover-up and Distraction

12.26.07  Chris Stevenson - In a strange piece of irony, 2 days after an announcement that the sentencing for Jose Padilla was postponed due to a death in Judge Marcia Cooke’s family, the Central Intelligence Agency revealed that it destroyed videotapes of two terror suspects being “interrogated.” This may come as a surprise to some, but it’s not the first time the CIA has come clean on something years after the fact. From the outset it would seem that if all of us were just as honest towards those close to us as the CIA is towards the taxpaying citizens, the world might be a better place, right?  Wrong....more

The California Nurses Association cheering Michael Moore at a single-payer rally in Sacramento in June 2007. (AP photo)

International data have long been easily available; they show Americans spending more but slipping in rankings for life expectancy and other key health issues. But few news organizations pay attention—not even to our nearest neighbor—and commentators deluge the public with false, misleading punditry.

By Morton Mintz
mintzm@earthlink.net

Substantial mainstream reporting on single-payer health insurance should have been triggered—or so one might think—by a succession of studies over the years that establish that Canada's health-care system saves or improves large numbers of lives while not wasting money on administrative expenses and fat executive-pay packages. Almost without fail, Canada gets higher ratings than the U.S.

In 2000, for example, the World Health Organization examined and rated the health systems of 191 nations. The United States ranked 37th. Canada scored significantly better although it was not outstanding—it placed 30^th. But this study was only one of many that had Canada topping the U.S. (Click here and go to pages 152 to 155 in a PDF file for the rankings of all 191 countries.)

Between November 2002 and March 2003, the official statistics agencies of the United States and Canada did their first-ever joint survey of the health status, rates of illness, behavioral risk factors, use of health care, and access to health care. The survey included 3,505 Canadians and 5,183 U.S. residents. The results were analyzed by two associate professors of medicine at Harvard Medical School......more

ENVIRONMENT: Planetary Check-Up Starts With the Oceans
By Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov 27 (IPS) - If continents are the Earth's sturdy bones and the atmosphere its thin skin, then the oceans are its heart, circulatory system and blood. And despite the crucial role played by the oceans in the health of the planet, and to our own health and well-being, there is little monitoring of ocean health.

Once the oceans were too big and too deep to probe, measure and observe, but between satellites, undersea robots, electronically tagged fish and deep sea sensors, scientists now have the tools.

On Tuesday, high-level officials began meeting in Cape Town, South Africa to see if governments have the will to create a Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) -- a 10-year project to create a comprehensive monitoring system of what has been described as the last frontier.

"We have pathetically few measurements of the oceans relative to their importance to life on Earth and the extent to which we rely on them for energy, weather, food and recreation," said D. James Baker, former administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Humans are creatures of the land and do not fully understand that the seas create the conditions that make life possible. Seawater covers 71 percent of the planet, and we often think of oceans only in terms of beaches and fish, said Howard Roe, director emeritus of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, and past POGO chair.

"The oceans control the global climate and our weather," Roe told IPS.

Direct ocean temperature measurements from an array of 3,000 free-drifting "Argo buoys" provides crucial information that enables weather forecasters to make long range predictions, he said.

"Every successful El Nino prediction saves at least a billion dollars by allowing people to react in time," he noted.

Advance warnings of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 would have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars. A new system of 32 additional Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami stations are to be deployed in the Indian, Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans and would be part of POGO.

"A system for ocean observing and forecasting that covers the world's oceans and their major uses can reduce growing risks, protect human interests and monitor the health of our precious oceans," said Tony Haymet, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego and chair of POGO’s executive committee.

It would cost an estimated two to three billion dollars to create a stable network of satellites surveying vast extents of the surface of the oceans, along with fixed stations taking continuous measurements on the seafloor or as floats and buoys moored in the water column and at the surface. To supplement this, POGO would employ a fleet of small robot submarine ocean monitors and marine animals outfitted with tiny electronic tags that capture and transmit data about the environments they visit.

This marine data would be analysed and integrated with observations from the atmosphere and other sources, and then used in models to produce forecasts useful to the public and policy makers.

Over-fishing, pollution and climate change have spurred major scientific efforts to study oceans and marine life, resulting in enormous amounts of data from hundreds of different research centres. Even though there are clear connections, the fisheries experts aren't always talking to each other, let alone with the climate experts, said Jesse Ausubel, director of the Census of Marine Life Programme at the Sloan Foundation in New York.

"It's time for integrated ocean management," Ausubel said in an interview.

POGO doesn't require a new international institution, it can be a network of institutions that United Nations agencies coordinate, he said.

However, it will require long-term government financial support.

The proposed system is akin to monitoring equipment in the atmosphere that allowed the detection of the thinning ozone layer and the build-up of carbon dioxide. When complete, POGO will authoritatively diagnose and anticipate changing global ocean conditions.

"A continuous, integrated ocean observing system will return the investment many times over in safer maritime operations, storm damage mitigation, and conservation of living marine resources, as well as collecting the vital signs of the ocean that are needed to monitor climate change," said Haymet.

POGO is a major component of a 10-year effort by 71 nations in the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations to create a ground-based, ocean-drifting, air-borne and space-based Global Earth Observation System of Systems to monitor all of Earth’s environmental conditions.

"Government ministers can really make a difference in Cape Town by supporting POGO," said Ausubel.

There are massive changes happening in the oceans from the effects of over-fishing and climate change. And these have and will continue to have impacts on the land.

"A global ocean observing system with timely reports and forecasts can help us be prepared and adapt to these changes," he said.

Arab Nation Buys Stake in U.S. Bank

Walgreens opens store clinics

Orlando Business Journal

Take Care Health Systems, a Walgreens' subsidiary, recently opened its first four clinics in Orlando.

The company, which manages convenient care clinics in 11 states, plans to open two more before the end of the year and three are planned for 2008.

Take Care, which this week announced the opening of its 100th clinic, operates 102 clinics total and plans to have a total of 400 clinics in Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) drugstores by the end of 2008.

Take Care also has new clinics debuting in Miami, Tampa and Tucson with a goal of eventually creating a national network of accessible health care clinics.

Take Care Health Clinics are walk-in health care centers staffed by nationally-certified and licensed nurse practitioners and physician assistants who treat patients 18 months and older.

Ripostes to pro-growth alarmists

Health Bill to be paid for by Smokers
By CHARLES BABINGTON,
AP  Article submitted by reader S. Noel, Iowa
2007-09-30
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children's health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.

The program expansion passed by the House and Senate last week would be financed with a 156 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, taking it to $1 per pack from the current 39 cents. Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.

Democrats, who wrote the legislation and provided most of its votes, generally portray themselves as champions of the poor. They do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it to provide health insurance to millions of modest-income children.

All the better, they say, if higher cigarette taxes discourage smoking.

"I'm very happy that we're paying for this," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said in an interview Friday, noting that the plan would not add to the deficit. "The health of the children is extremely important," he said. "In the long run, maybe it'll stop people from smoking."

Congress probably will revisit the cigarette tax issue soon because President Bush has pledged to veto the proposed $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The decade-old program helps families buy medical coverage if their income is too high to qualify for Medicaid.

Bush has proposed a more modest growth for the program, and both political parties seem inclined to pay for it through a tax on an unpopular group, cigarette smokers.

By most measures, the average smoker is less privileged than the average nonsmoker. Nearly one-third of all U.S. adults living in poverty are smokers, compared with 23.5 percent of those above the poverty level, according to government statistics.

The American Heart Association reports that 35 percent of people with no more than 11 years of schooling are smokers. Those with 16 or more years of formal education smoke at a 12 percent rate.

Non-Hispanic black men smoke at slightly higher rates than do non-Hispanic white men. But the reverse is true among women.

The demographics of smoking and taxation received scant attention during last week's House and Senate debates, perhaps because many Democrats and Republicans agree that cigarettes are the best target for tax increase if the insurance program were to grow. A few lawmakers, however, took a swing.

"I know there is very little sympathy for smokers these days," Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said during the House debate. "But it is still a tax increase on the backs of the smokers. And in order to get enough money to pay for this, it would require 22 million new smokers."

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., defended putting the burden of expanded medical care on smokers.

"The tobacco tax is a great way to pay for it," he said, "because if you tax people who are smoking and they smoke less, then we have less health problems."

Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La., did not buy that logic. "To propose funding a growing program with a declining revenue source is, I would submit, irresponsible fiscal policy," he said.

If the federal cigarette tax nears $1 per pack, smokers in many states will pay hefty sums into government coffers unless they kick their habit. On top of the federal tax, New Jersey levies a $2.57 per pack tax on cigarettes, followed by Rhode Island at $2.46.

California is near the middle, at 87 cents a pack. Three states tax cigarettes at less than 30 cents per pack. South Carolina is the lowest at 7 cents.

Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, based in Richmond, Va., said a steep federal tax increase could accelerate the national decline in smoking to the point that the insurance would have to find other revenue sources.

The average U.S. price of a pack of cigarettes has risen by 80 cents since 1999, Phelps said, largely because of state tax increases. State and federal governments received more than $21 billion in cigarette excise taxes in the 2006 budget year, he said, "so we think this trend is unfair to adults who smoke and to retailers who sell tobacco products."

In Congress, these groups receive little sympathy. But some lawmakers say voters should know the details of the insurance program's proposed funding structure.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., who spoke against the bill in last week's debate, said: "The headline ought to read, 'Smokers in America to pay for middle-class welfare."'

Why Democrats Need to Be Proactive on ’08 Voter Schemes

9.19.07  Chris Stevenson - Don’t think that just because there’s not another Bush presently running for office that there won’t be anymore black voter purges. It appears to that quite a few of you still don’t actually believe this happened, after all, the mainstream media hasn’t focused on this. Perhaps in your mind it’s just one of those radical black conspiracy theories, but past documents and recent developments show that if you think this can’t happen with the Primary ’08 winner among the current crop of democratic candidates, then you are either being obstinate or ingenuous...read more

Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act
By LARRY NEUMEISTER,
AP
NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday in a ruling that defended the need for judicial oversight of laws and bashed Congress for passing a law that makes possible "far-reaching invasions of liberty."

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero immediately stayed the effect of his ruling, allowing the government time to appeal. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said: "We are reviewing the decision and considering our options at this time."

The ruling handed the American Civil Liberties Union a major victory in its challenge of the post-Sept. 11 law that gave broader investigative powers to law enforcement.

The ACLU had challenged the law on behalf of an Internet service provider, complaining that the law allowed the FBI to demand records without the kind of court supervision required for other government searches. Under the law, investigators can issue so-called national security letters to entities like Internet service providers and phone companies and demand customers' phone and Internet records.

In his ruling, Marrero said much more was at stake than questions about the national security letters.

He said Congress, in the original USA Patriot Act and less so in a 2005 revision, had essentially tried to legislate how the judiciary must review challenges to the law. If done to other bills, they ultimately could all "be styled to make the validation of the law foolproof."

Noting that the courthouse where he resides is several blocks from the fallen World Trade Center, the judge said the Constitution was designed so that the dangers of any given moment could never justify discarding fundamental individual liberties.

He said when "the judiciary lowers its guard on the Constitution, it opens the door to far-reaching invasions of liberty."

Regarding the national security letters, he said, Congress crossed its boundaries so dramatically that to let the law stand might turn an innocent legislative step into "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."

He said the ruling does not mean the FBI must obtain the approval of a court prior to ordering records be turned over, but rather must justify to a court the need for secrecy if the orders will last longer than a reasonable and brief period of time.

A March government report showed that the FBI issued about 8,500 national security letter, or NSL, requests in 2000, the year prior to passage of the USA Patriot Act. By 2003, the number of requests had risen to 39,000 and to 56,000 in 2004 before falling to 47,000 in 2005. The overwhelming majority of the requests sought telephone billing records information, telephone or e-mail subscriber information or electronic communication transactional records.

The judge said that through the NSLs, the government can unmask the identity of Internet users engaged in anonymous speech in online discussions, can obtain an itemized list of all e-mails sent and received by someone and can then seek information on those communicating with the individual.

"It may even be able to discover the web sites an individual has visited and queries submitted to search engines," the judge said.

Marrero's lengthy judicial opinion, akin to an eighth-grade civics lesson, described why the framers of the Constitution created three separate but equal branches of government and delegated to the judiciary to say what the law is and to protect the Constitution and the rights it gives citizens.

Marrero said the constitutional barriers against governmental abuse "may eventually collapse, with consequential diminution of the judiciary's function, and hence potential dire effects to individual freedoms."

In that event, he said, the judiciary could become "a mere mouthpiece of the legislature."

Marrero had ruled in 2004, on the initial version of the Patriot Act, that the letters violate the Constitution because they amounted to unreasonable search and seizure. He found free-speech violations in the nondisclosure requirement, which for example, disallowed an Internet service provider from telling customers their records were being turned over to the government.

After he ruled, Congress revised the Patriot Act in 2005, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed that Marrero review the law's constitutionality a second time.

Fix no-fault before law dies of neglect

(Article sent to VOF by reader, S. Noel) -Late progress on a fix to Florida's no-fault insurance law could allow lawmakers to resolve the issue at next month's special session before it expires and leaves millions of Florida motorists uncovered by insurance.

Hurricane insurance and tax reform have grabbed most of the attention this year, but in the background, another pocketbook issue that will affect almost every Florida resident is coming to a head. If you own a car in Florida , you most likely have PIP, or personal injury protection, insurance. As of Oct. 1, that will no longer be the case.

After four years of posturing and delay, it now appears lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate have fashioned a compromise that will clear the way for the topic to be added to the Legislature's Sept. 18 special session on budget cuts. Absent a new law, Florida's "no-fault" insurance law, which requires motorists to carry the $10,000 PIP insurance, will sunset with nothing to take its place but a crap shoot of higher health insurance premiums, costly and length legal battles with uninsured drivers and mounting costs for Florida hospitals already struggling to treat the uninsured or underinsured.

About four million of Florida 's 13 million motorists already carry the least amount of coverage legally allowed, the PIP policy. Another one million carry no car insurance at all. When the law expires, we can reasonably assume the number of uninsured motorists on Florida 's roadways will explode. The accidents won't end - nearly 270,000 in 2006 - just the insurance coverage for more than 230,000 injured drivers and passengers. Gov. Charlie Crist, who showed the willingness to stand up to the insurance lobby before the music from his inauguration even died down, has taken a hands-off approach to the no-fault issue. He has declined to call a special session, saying he would only if House and Senate leaders worked out a compromise proposal.

Rep. Paige Kreegel said this week a new House proposal that caps out-of-hospital coverage at $5,000, while leaving the hospital coverage at $10,000 seems to have gotten a "wink and a nod" from Senate leaders, clearing the way for it to be added to the special session.

The Legislature has had four years since the sunset was added to the no-fault law to revamp the program. One legislator suggested, the two houses and the special interests who have their ears are playing a game of chicken as the sunset approaches.

Unfortunately it will be Florida 's motorists whose goose will get cooked if lawmakers are unable to bridge the gap that divides them. Vehicle insurers argue that the law's expiration will allow them to reduce rates, between 15 to 17 percent. But, just as the state's hospital lobby has argued, insurers already have begun asking the state for rate increases to cover customers injured in wrecks.

Last year, PIP policies covered $278 million in accident-related medical care. With 20 percent of Floridians carrying no health care insurance, we agree with the hospitals that caring for accidents victims with no means to pay will be another straw on the sway-backed camel that is Florida 's broken health insurance system.

So what will happen when PIP dies of neglect? For starters, it's all about fault.

Law enforcement officers will now have to determine fault in all vehicle accidents. Once that is determined, the at-fault party's insurance company must cover the costs associated with all parties in the wreck. But if the at-fault driver carries no insurance, it guarantees lengthy and costly legal battles and the possibility of delayed treatment for injured motorists. Insurance companies will gladly sell motorists new coverage and it may be a good choice for some, but making coverage mandatory not only allowed insurers to spread out their risk, it gave them a captive market of customers.

We know the no-fault law was rife with fraud. But no law will be worse than a bad law. We don't do away with crime laws because crooks break them, we crack down on offenders. We urge the Legislature to defuse this ticking time bomb.

For sale: One state, everything must go  Click here for the Low Down on it all
By HOWARD TROXLER

Sign the Petition  

Wipe out 2,000 acres of wetlands in the Florida Panhandle to build an airport? Sure. We have to do it.   Otherwise, developers might miss a spot of the state. And we can't have that.

Here's what was striking about last week's approval of a $330-million airport northwest of Panama City : It felt like the year was around 1965, and a bunch of guys in horned-rimmed glasses were bragging about how they were going to Put Florida on the Map.

Florida 's governor, Charlie Crist, hailed the airport's approval because, he said, it will "attract new businesses and jobs to grow and diversify the local economy."  (Then Crist went out and appointed a couple more gator rasslers to the Florida Fish, Wildlife and Manatee-Eatin' Commission.)

Realtors predicted the airport would be just the thing for jump-starting the Panhandle's real estate market. "Once they start turning dirt," one declared, "we'll see things really rapidly escalate."

The St. Joe Co., the Panhandle's biggest developer, wanted this airport and is donating the land for it. Click here to read who is behind the paving over of Florida

As for Panama City 's old, waterfront airport - well, there are big plans for that land, too. They're going to preserve that waterfront for future generations.

Ha, ha! Just kidding. They're selling it to a developer from Pittsburgh . "It's a phenomenal site ... 12,500 feet of waterfront," he told a Pittsburgh paper last week. "You just don't find that kind of acreage in that area available."

No, you don't.

Here's my favorite part of this deal, besides the fact that federal and state taxpayers are paying for it. In return for destroying 2,000 acres of wetlands, St. Joe graciously promises not to destroy another 9,000 acres that lie nearby.

As opposed, one might ask, to what? What were they gonna do otherwise, burn it down? But the company president bragged about this deal protecting some of Mother Nature's "best work."

No matter. It is a done deal. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says so

As for why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has such a hatred for Florida and schemes for its destruction, I am not sure. Maybe it dates to the Civil War or something.

In darker hours, I fear that we are just kidding ourselves by worrying about the future of Florida at all. The future was decided a long time ago.

It consists of building something on every vacant piece of land in this state as long as there is a dollar to be made. No government can stand in the way. In fact, the chief purpose of government in Florida is to help the process along, under the fake name of "planning."

It's true in Hillsborough County , where developers got the County Commission to weaken wetlands protection in a vote on Thursday.

It's true in Pinellas, where the government tries to interpret the words "nature preserve" in an ever more creative fashion.

It's true in Pasco , fast on its way to becoming the County of Shopping Malls .

This is why the Hometown Democracy movement, which seeks direct voter control of growth in Florida , really is such an important battle. The locals, see, voted against that Panhandle airport.

It also explains why the forces of development are so afraid of Hometown Democracy, and will do whatever it takes to stop it. They have not finished paving Florida yet.

HELP SAVE WHAT'S LEFT OF FLORIDA...

LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth!
Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot
Please download and SIGN THE PETITION !
http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com
PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636.

Vick’s Dawgz (bipeds and otherwise)

8.10.07 - Don’t tell me. You were expecting to see footage of one of those pitt bulls driving Michael Vick down I-95 in a white SUV weren’t you?

Truth be told, those dogs don’t have driver’s licenses (Some may have learner’s permits). Somewhere in between the extremities of white-outrage and fanaticism and pro-black protectionism is the truth regarding whether or not NFL quarterback Michael Dwayne Vick had anything to do with the reported Pitt bull fighting ring that seems to have been a regular event in a house he owned in Virginia. Unfortunately we aren’t really going to know anything until the trial, and that’s a good thing...read more.

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE AND STATEMENTS GEORGE W. BUSH INVITES TO OUR WHITEHOUSE - "WE THE PEOPLE"
White House soirée, part deux: Beck, Bennett, Ingraham, Medved, and others met with Bush

August 3, 2007, Media Matters - In an August 1 blog entry on Townhall.com, syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote that "President Bush invited ten talk show hosts into the Oval Office for an hour of conversation today -- Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, Janet Parshall and me. This was an off-the-record conversation, and so I won't be quoting the president." Blogger (and Media Matters for America Web producer) Oliver Willis noted Hewitt's post, and Talkers Magazine's website published a photo of the group.

Several conservative talk radio show hosts reportedly met with President Bush in September 2006.

Below are examples of some noteworthy comments, previously documented by Media Matters, from several of President Bush's guests:

Glenn Beck

• On the June 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing an alleged Al Qaeda/Taliban training camp "graduation ceremony" shown on a tape obtained by ABCNews.com, Beck said: "I was surprised, because I really thought speaking at a suicide bomber graduation ceremony, I would just -- I -- maybe [former President] Jimmy Carter was booked and that's why he didn't speak at the commencement ceremony." Beck has also referred to Carter as a "waste of skin" and contrasted him with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who, Beck said, was not a "bigger waste of skin" because "[a]t least evil is using that skin."
  
  
• On the June 4 broadcast of his radio show, Beck said of the marriage of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Elizabeth Harper Kucinich: "How did that happen? ... You think it's dope?" Beck went on to speculate whether she was under the influence of "some sort of ... date rape drug," describing the drug he had in mind as "not powerful enough to actually knock you out, but it's powerful enough to, like, make you think that you're not standing next to Dennis Kucinich and making out with him." Beck continued: "I was thinking cyanide. That would be the only thing that would really dull the senses enough. Even then, your dead body would be like, 'Dennis Kucinich has his tongue in my mouth.' "
  
  
• On the May 10 edition of his radio show, Beck said that he "wouldn't vote for [Sen.] Joe Lieberman [I-CT] as president ... because of the way the Middle East would use it," but also asserted, "That's not saying the same thing as I wouldn't vote for a Jew for president." He did not explain the distinction he drew between asserting that he would not vote for Lieberman, who is Jewish, and asserting that he wouldn't vote for any Jew for president.
  
  
• On the April 30 edition of his radio show, Beck likened former Vice President Al Gore's fight against global warming to Adolf Hitler's use of eugenics as justification for exterminating 6 million European Jews. Beck stated: "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the United Nations running the world. That is the goal. Back in the 1930s, the goal was get rid of all of the Jews and have one global government." The Anti-Defamation League denounced Beck's remarks, saying they were part of "a troubling epidemic on the airwaves, where comparisons to Hitler and the Holocaust are becoming all-too facile."
  
  
• On the March 15 broadcast of his radio show, Beck referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as "the stereotypical bitch."
  
  
• On the February 12 broadcast of his radio show, Beck featured Philadelphia-based conservative radio host Dom Giordano, who claimed that "the mainstream media has dubbed [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)] to be African-American" and said, "If you start to, you know, delve around the edges, say, 'Wait a minute, isn't he mixed race? Weren't we told that last year?' Or whatever, biracial. Not allowed to say that anymore." Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white."
  
  
• Beck later attempted to clarify his comments to his executive producer and head writer, Steve Burguiere. Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" Beck also said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that."

• During an November 2006 interview with then-Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, Beck said: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies,' " a comment he later stated was "poorly worded" and "wish[ed]" he "could take back and rephrase."
  
  
• Beck warned that if "Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by "step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West."
  
  
• He has said that "[t]he Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians" and "[i]f they take over ... we're going to have to nuke the whole place."
  
  
• During a discussion of the "politically correct world we live in," Beck claimed that Braille on walls (used to identify rooms for blind people) "drives me out of my mind." He then said, "Just to piss them [blind people] off, I'm going to put in Braille on the coffee pot ... 'Pot is hot.' "

READ MORE FROM THE REST

University of Texas at Austin

Why do people have sex?

Researchers explore 237 reasons

7.31.07 AUSTIN, Texas—Many scientists assume people have sex for simple and straightforward reasons such as to experience sexual pleasure or to reproduce, but new research at The University of Texas at Austin reveals hundreds of varied and complex motivations that range from the spiritual to the vengeful.

After conducting one of the most comprehensive studies on why people have sex, psychology researchers David Buss and Cindy Meston uncovered 237 motivations, which appear in the August issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior.

People’s motivations ranged from the mundane (“I was bored”) to the spiritual (“I wanted to feel closer to God”) and from the altruistic (“I wanted the person to feel good about himself/herself”) to the manipulative (“I wanted to get a promotion”).

Some said they had sex to feel powerful, others to debase themselves. Some wanted to impress their friends, others to harm their enemies (“I wanted to break up a rival’s relationship”).

Buss and Meston conducted two studies. In the first, they asked more than 400 men and women to identify reasons people have sex. In the second, the researchers asked more than 1,500 undergraduate students about their experiences and attitudes.

The Texas psychologists identified four major factors and 13 sub-factors for why people have sex:

• Physical reasons such as to reduce stress (“It seemed like good exercise”), feel pleasure (“It’s exciting”), improve or expand experiences (“I was curious about sex”), and the physical desirability of their partner (“The person was a good dancer”).

• Goal-based reasons, including utilitarian or practical considerations (“I wanted to have a baby”), social status (“I wanted to be popular”) and revenge (“I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease”).

• Emotional reasons such as love and commitment (“I wanted to feel connected”) and expression (“I wanted to say ‘thank you’”).

• Insecurity-based reasons, including self-esteem (“I wanted the attention”), a feeling of duty or pressure (“My partner kept insisting”) and to guard a mate (“I wanted to keep my partner from straying”).

“Why people have sex is extremely important, but rarely studied,” Buss said. “Surprisingly, many scientists assume the answer is obvious, but people have different reasons for having sex, some of which are rather complex.”

Brown's ally urges US to rethink policy:
New British relationship with Mr Bush will be very different

THE first clear signs that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will reorder the nation's foreign policy have emerged, with one of his closest cabinet allies urging the US to change its priorities and saying a country's strength should no longer be measured by its destructive military power.

Douglas Alexander, the Trade and Development Secretary, made his speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, the first by a cabinet minister abroad since Mr Brown took power a fortnight ago.

In it he called for the US to rethink its foreign policy to recognise the virtues of so-called "soft power" and act through international institutions including the United Nations.

In what will be seen as an assertion of the importance of multilateralism, Mr Alexander said: "In the 20th century a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century strength should be measured by what we can build together. And so we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world."

He added: "We need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist, active and not passive, and driven by core values, consistently applied, not special interests."...read more

director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center Ousted

"I'm troubled by budget shortfalls in the weather agency, not to mention the failure to properly plan for replacing an aging weather satellite that gives forecasters valuable information," Nelson said in a statement. "The administration needs to fix this mess -- and, fix it now." - Bill Nelson

By Jim Loney

(Reuters) - The director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, a critical government agency that issues hurricane and tropical storm forecasts, was ousted on Monday after a staff mutiny.

Bill Proenza, who was appointed to the top hurricane job about six month ago, was embroiled in controversy after criticizing his Washington bosses for spending money on public relations while an aging weather satellite needed replacement.

After vowing not to be silenced, Proenza faced a revolt at the Miami hurricane center last week, when 23 staff members, about half the work force, issued a petition calling for him to resign.

They said Proenza had "poisoned the atmosphere" at the hurricane center, which also issues weather information widely used by countries throughout the Caribbean basin...read more

The Big Apple gets the Electronic Worm; and it's watching you!

By the end of this year, police officials say, more than 100 cameras will have begun monitoring cars moving through Lower Manhattan, the beginning phase of a London-style surveillance system that would be the first in the United States.

The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, as the plan is called, will resemble London’s so-called Ring of Steel, an extensive web of cameras and roadblocks designed to detect, track and deter terrorists. British officials said images captured by the cameras helped track suspects after the London subway bombings in 2005 and the car bomb plots last month.

If the program is fully financed, it will include not only license plate readers but also 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street, as well as a center staffed by the police and private security officers, and movable roadblocks...read more

Anti-Hometown Democracy Petition Launched

July 1, 2007

Contact:  Lesley Blackner, President
of Florida Hometown Democracy, Inc.
Phone:  (866)779-5513
Email:  flhometown@yahoo.com
www.floridahometowndemocracy.com

An effort to hijack the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment in the form of a competing petition was filed Friday, June 29 th by Floridians for Smarter Growth with the State Division of Elections, according to attorney Lesley Blackner.
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/initiatives/initdetail.asp?account=45282&seqnum=1

Blackner, who is president of the popular Florida Hometown Democracy campaign said, "I want to alert Florida voters to this new petition.  It should not be confused with the real one sponsored by Florida Hometown Democracy, which can be reviewed at www.floridahometowndemocracy.com.

It is a blatant attempt to confound and confuse the voting public....READ MORE

The 43rd president known not for his wisdom but for his outrageous and petulant abuse of power and his inability to understand the will of the American people.

Our fight for Independance is the Same as the Iraq War Now?

What the President wants us all to infer is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are just like the American Revolutionary War. It paints a nice picture, but it isn't the least bit true.

In Martinsburg, W.Va. President Bush equated the war in Iraq on Wednesday with the U.S. war for independence. Like those revolutionaries who "dropped their pitchforks and picked up their muskets to fight for liberty," Bush said that American soldiers also were fighting "a new and unprecedented war" to protect U.S. freedom.

What............? read more

What's Wrong with our Wildlife, Part II?

State and federal wildlife officials are investigating even more deaths of hundreds of seabirds turning up on the coasts of South Carolina (SC), Georgia (GA), and Florida (FL).

Wildlife biologists say more than 1000 shearwaters -- large, gull-like water birds that spend most of their lives far offshore until they nest -- have been found dead over the past 2 weeks on southeastern beaches. Officials remain uncertain about what's causing the mass casualties, but they say most of the birds recovered, seem to have died of dehydration and malnutrition during migration. "Most shearwater carcasses recovered in South Carolina appear to be those of juvenile birds," said Craig Watson, a wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Charleston. "A small percentage has been found alive. For some reason, these birds are dying, and most think it's due to starvation," he said. "Whatever the reason, this appears to be pretty significant; we just don't know how significant yet."...read more

Bush Pardons Libby, the rest of the Liars must eat Cake

With scarcely 18 months left of his presidency remaining and his approval ratings at their lowest level ever, Bush goes all out and pardons Lewis "Scooter" Libby from his sentence of 2.5 years in jail.

Libby was sentenced for lying to the FBI and prosecutors investigating how the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame was leaked to the press. In other words Libby was convicted of obstructing a federal investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity, which by the way, is a "federal crime". ..read more

BOSTON — RoboCops and robot soldiers got a little closer to reality last week as a maker of floor-cleaning automatons teamed with a stun-gun manufacturer to arm track-wheeled robots for the police and the Pentagon.

Bush-Congress Subpoena Fight Might Go to Court (Update1)

By Kim Chipman

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy says he's prepared to go to court if President

George W. Bush and his administration continue to resist subpoenas for information on the firing of federal prosecutors.

``If they don't cooperate, yes I'd go that far,'' Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said today on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program when asked whether he would seek a congressional vote on contempt citations if Bush refuses to comply with the requests for documents. Leahy is head of the Senate panel investigating the administration's firings of U.S. attorneys.

Should lawmakers seek to hold the Bush administration in contempt of Congress, it could move the dispute to the courts and spur a constitutional showdown between Bush and the Democratic-led Congress. Leahy said today that he hopes this can be avoided.

``I've been here for six administrations, Democratic and Republican,'' he said. ``They've always found a way to work out and get the information Congress is entitled to.''

The attitude at the current White House is that ``they are above the law,'' Leahy said. ``The president and vice president aren't above the law any more than you and I are.''

Lawmakers in the Senate and the House of Representatives are trying to determine whether the Bush administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys was carried out for improper political motives, such as to stymie probes of Republicans or prompt investigations of Democrats...read more

Ocean Iron Dumping Scheme 'Unacceptable'; Carbon Dioxide Absorption Could Trigger 'Domino Effect'

By Underwatertimes.com News Service
edited by Lorelei Jackson

Washington, D.C. (2007-06-27 11:57:29 EST) World Wildlife Fund today announced its opposition to a plan by Planktos, Inc. to dump iron dust in the open ocean west of the Galapagos Islands. The experiment seeks to induce phytoplankton blooms in the hopes that the microscopic marine plants will absorb carbon dioxide. The company is speculating on lucrative ways to combat climate change.

"There are much safer and proven ways of preventing or lowering carbon dioxide levels than dumping iron into the ocean," said Dr. Lara Hansen, chief scientist, WWF International Climate Change Program. "This kind of experimentation with disregard for marine life and the lives of people who rely on the sea is unacceptable."...read more

What's Wrong with our Wildlife?

Wed 20 Jun 2007

Source: Florida Today [edited]
www.floridatoday.com

Hundreds of dead seabirds washed ashore this week and dozens more were found dying on beaches spanning almost the entire Florida east coast.

No one knows why, but scientists suspect starvation. Frantic beachcombers dropped off about 130 greater shearwaters -- gull-like birds that prefer the open ocean -- to Brevard County rescue centers in the past 3 days. The die-off of birds ranged about 300 miles (about 483 km), from Hobe Sound in Martin County to South Ponte Vedra Beach in St. Johns County.

Scientists suspect recent winds and currents disrupted the birds' food fish supply. But they also plan tests to rule out algal toxins, bird flu, parasites, metals, and other common causes of seabird deaths.

"The preliminary findings indicate starvation," said Wendy Quigley, spokeswoman with the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. "We're basically seeing emaciated birds." ...read more

DEC detects Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia in dead fish found at Skaneateles Lake

unparalleled large-scale outbreaks of an originally unknown, but so-called "high fever" disease in China

Since its first appearance in the United States and Canada, PRRS has been known to be a serious swine disease associated with major economic losses worldwide [5], [6]. Moreover, typical PRRS is also called “blue ear” disease due to a representative symptom of the infected piglets (i.e., “blue ear”) [42]. Prior to this outbreak of PRRS, we were aware that Northern American (VR2332)-like PRRSVs, which include the HB-1, HB-2, and BJ-4 strains, exist in China [12], [43]. However, there is no evidence to suggest they have ever caused a large scale epidemic of PRRS with fatal cases among grown sows [12], [25], [43]...read more

It stands to reason that some religions have loose ends to tie up or they will eventually become their own apocalypse. Be judgmental all you want to, just bring your own skeletons.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society-as quietly as they could-just paid out their largest suit settlement ever. Of course this is the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witness faith. The JWs are not accustomed to doing this. Historically they are heaping hot coals on others religions for their wicked ways. Over the past few years a stark revelation has been unfolding about the various elders within some of their congregations and an even more disturbing truth about what they call their Governing Body. Cynthia Williams of Ch-4 News in West Nashville, TN reported that settlements were reached in more than a dozen (16) cases. “Settlements with a gag order attached?” Actually the award is going to 16 victims involving 9 cases, but you get the idea...read more

New Report: State of our Air, 2007
National Parks at a Turning Point
Air pollution has damaged many parks, counties and cities - and it could get much worse

Millions of Americans visit our national parks for clean air and healthy fun. Unfortunately, many could find "code red" air quality conditions and hazy skies.

Air pollution continues to affect nearly everything we value about America's national parks. It degrades habitat for the plants and animals that call the parks home, puts the health of park visitors and staff at risk, causes physical damage to symbols of our heritage, and mars the scenic horizons that reveal the grandeur of our land.

Clean air laws are helping the parks gradually recover from decades of pollution. But that could all change as the country is on the verge of a massive increase in the burning of coal, oil and natural gas to meet our growing energy needs.

Technologies exist to burn fossil fuels more cleanly, and renewable energy sources offer viable pollution-free alternatives, but our leaders must take action. The decisions they make today about what energy sources we develop, and how cleanly we use them, will affect our air and our parks for generations to come.

Our Cities

The State of the Air: 2007 report by the American Lung Association, finds that many Americans live in counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution. The report ranks the cities and counties with the dirtiest air, and provides county-by-county report cards on the two most pervasive air pollutants: particle pollution (more commonly called “soot”) and ozone (more commonly called “smog”). While air pollution is unsafe for everyone, some people are at increased risk because of their age or health situation. Those groups include people with asthma, adults over 65, children under 18, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD – chronic bronchitis and emphysema), people with cardiovascular disease, and those with diabetes.

With global warming looming on the horizon, air pollution and what we do about it are going to be priority's that should be set, and soon.

Large areas in the nation still have air pollution levels that hurt too many people. Scientists agree that the most widespread air pollutant, ozone smog, threatens public health at levels deemed to be safe just 10 years ago.

Congress requires the EPA to take specific steps to protect all Americans from those dangers. First step—strengthen the official limit on the amount of ozone smog in the air. Second step—help the states clean up pollution by requiring cleaner diesel engines and power plants.

And yet, according to the 2007 report the EPA failed to set safe levels for particle pollution again last year. Their last ozone standard action was in 1997.

In October 2006, 22 of the nation’s top scientists sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on ozone air pollution, commonly known as smog. What the scientists told the EPA could not be clearer. “[The 1997 ozone standard] needs to be substantially reduced to protect human health,” they wrote in an October 2006 letter, “particularly in sensitive subpopulations” such as children, people with lung disease and seniors. “There is no scientific justification for retaining the existing [standard].” To drive home the point, they repeated this statement several times.

The Clean Air Interstate Rule targets the problem of regional pollution, especially from sources that may be hundreds of miles upwind. Under this rule, these 28 states and the District of Columbia are directing power plants and other sources to clean up emissions that contribute to ozone and particle pollution. Power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide also contribute to pollution problems nearer to the plants, so cleaner smokestacks mean less harm to people living in a widespread geographic area, including our National Parks.

Through actions of the American Lung Association, the EPA is set to respond in 2008 to reset the standards to adapt to the present level of air pollution. 

The Clean Air Act CAIR, gives the states the responsibility for cleaning up and making sure pollution levels in each county stay under these limits.   The states draw up plans to cut pollution, working with the public, industries, businesses and local governments to find the best ways to remove pollution in their area. The Clean Air Interstate Rule targets the problem of regional pollution, especially from sources that may be hundreds of miles upwind. Under this rule, these 28 states and the District of Columbia are directing power plants and other sources to clean up emissions that contribute to ozone and particle pollution.

Power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide also contribute to pollution problems nearer to the plants, so cleaner smokestacks mean less harm to people living in a widespread geographic area. According to EPA, CAIR will help 450 counties in the eastern United States reduce ozone and particle pollution. EPA estimates that cleaning up these polluters will provide $85 billion to $100 billion in annual health benefits.

When the clean up is finished in 2015, EPA estimates that emissions of sulfur dioxide, which are major sources of particle pollution in the eastern states, will be 57 percent lower than in 2003. Emissions of nitrogen oxide, a key ingredient in ozone, are expected to be 61 percent lower than in 2003.11

Despite these benefits, EPA could have and should have required power plants to reduce even more pollution and to make those cuts sooner than 2015.

Several Northeastern states are considering adopting even more stringent requirements for their power plants in a program they call “CAIR Plus.”

The American Lung Association repeatedly urged EPA to use this opportunity to clean up even more pollution, more quickly. The American Lung Association also supports efforts in Congress to strengthen the Clean Air Act to further clean up these heavy polluters by requiring a “third step” of additional   emissions reductions to be achieved even faster than CAIR.

Act now to protect the health of you and your family by telling EPA to adopt tighter standards for air pollution.

The Conventional Wisdom

It should come as no surprise that conservative media figures repeat the myth that most Americans share their views. E ven when Democrats win, conservatives claim that their ideology is still dominant. On election night 2006, Fox News anchor Brit Hume acknowledged that Democrats were winning, but stressed that “from what we could see from all the polling and everything else, it remains a conservative country.”

He did not say what “polling and everything else” he was referring to.

Glenn Beck of CNN Headline News agreed, stating the following day that despite the Democratic victory, “the majority of Americans seem in favor of classically Republican points of view.”

But it was not just conservatives; in fact, they were simply repeating what they had heard mainstream journalists say for some time. “This is basically not a liberal country,” said John Harris, then of The Washington Post and now of The Politico, in May 2005. “It’s a conservative country.”

Previewing the Democrats’ prospects for victory three weeks before the 2006 election, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley asserted that Democrats have been “on the losing side of the values debate, the defense debate and, oh yes, the guns debate.” (Crowley presented no evidence that Democrats had been “on the losing side” of any of these debates.)

After the election, journalists found their explanation for the Democratic victory: they ran conservative candidates.

In truth, however, the Democratic class of 2006 was remarkably progressive.
Read the rest of the myth of "conservative America"

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