Global
The exit of Bush from the White House is already anticipated in the Arab region with sighs of relief. But what is ahead under the next US president; more of the same, regardless of who wins, or change?
True, Obama has promised some degree of withdrawal from Iraq and a level of communication with Iran. But even these promises are ambiguous and can be easily modified to fit political interests and lobby pressures at any time. Any military redeployment in Iraq would, now we are told, be matched with greater military build up in Afghanistan, a sign that the militant mentality that motivated the war hawks in the Bush administration is yet to change; the valuable lesson that bombs don't bring peace, yet to be heeded.
True, Obama has promised some degree of withdrawal from Iraq and a level of communication with Iran. But even these promises are ambiguous and can be easily modified to fit political interests and lobby pressures at any time. Any military redeployment in Iraq would, now we are told, be matched with greater military build up in Afghanistan, a sign that the militant mentality that motivated the war hawks in the Bush administration is yet to change; the valuable lesson that bombs don't bring peace, yet to be heeded.
Dear Dr. Barnard,
In the early 1990s, the Food and Drug Administration reviewed a very flawed study funded by Monsanto, the sole manufacturer of the genetically engineered bovine growth-hormone rBGH. If you want to know just how flawed that study actually was, read the detailed reports from the University of Vermont. It is clear from their report they feel pretty bad about being duped into complicity with Monsanto and how such a flawed study could be used to support a product causing such clear problems in animals -- over 15 different problems in fact -- from increased rates of painful mastitis (and subsequent overuse of antibiotics to control it, thereby contributing to the ever increasing problem of human antibiotic resistance), to higher rates of teratogenic defects in offspring of injected cows. Better still, read any of the reports from the scientists of the European Union who unanimously rejected the use of rBGH due to concerns over exactly these animal health concerns, as well as a growing body of human health concerns.
In the early 1990s, the Food and Drug Administration reviewed a very flawed study funded by Monsanto, the sole manufacturer of the genetically engineered bovine growth-hormone rBGH. If you want to know just how flawed that study actually was, read the detailed reports from the University of Vermont. It is clear from their report they feel pretty bad about being duped into complicity with Monsanto and how such a flawed study could be used to support a product causing such clear problems in animals -- over 15 different problems in fact -- from increased rates of painful mastitis (and subsequent overuse of antibiotics to control it, thereby contributing to the ever increasing problem of human antibiotic resistance), to higher rates of teratogenic defects in offspring of injected cows. Better still, read any of the reports from the scientists of the European Union who unanimously rejected the use of rBGH due to concerns over exactly these animal health concerns, as well as a growing body of human health concerns.
The ever-weakening economy is driving millions of Americans into the ranks
of the country’s highly exploited part-time workers.
Part-timers, generally paid less than full-timers, granted fewer benefits and otherwise treated as second-class workers, have long been a significant part of the workforce. Combined with temporary workers, they’ve made up almost one-fourth of the workforce in some recent years.
Many of the part-timers are women, most of them working to help support their families. Many have no choice but to take part-time jobs because full-time jobs or facilities where they can leave their children for care throughout the workday are not available.
But whether or not they would prefer full-time jobs, all the workers obviously would prefer to be raised from their second-class status. In many places, for instance, part-timers are paid less than full-time workers doing exactly the same jobs. And fewer than half of the part-timers have employer-paid health insurance or pensions.
Part-timers, generally paid less than full-timers, granted fewer benefits and otherwise treated as second-class workers, have long been a significant part of the workforce. Combined with temporary workers, they’ve made up almost one-fourth of the workforce in some recent years.
Many of the part-timers are women, most of them working to help support their families. Many have no choice but to take part-time jobs because full-time jobs or facilities where they can leave their children for care throughout the workday are not available.
But whether or not they would prefer full-time jobs, all the workers obviously would prefer to be raised from their second-class status. In many places, for instance, part-timers are paid less than full-time workers doing exactly the same jobs. And fewer than half of the part-timers have employer-paid health insurance or pensions.
Hate-mongering against alleged “leftist 1960s terrorists” now fills the days of anti-Obama rage for the Rovian bloviator battalion.
Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, Baby Boom professors, social workers , etc, are front and center for the hateful blatherings of the usual GOP flunkies all cowering at the prospect of an African-American president.
But there were, indeed, three 1960s terrorists whose murderous, planet-killing rampage continues to poison this nation. They tower above all others. Their names: William Westmoreland, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
This unholy trinity killed outright more than 55,000 Americans and several million southeast Asians---most of them innocent civilians---while bombing, strafing and spewing horrific toxic chemicals onto countless of square miles of previously pristine jungle. Their Agent Orange caused tens of thousands of deaths and deformities that still carry through the generations.
No single terror act in the history of the United States even remotely compares to the lethal psychosis that created and was then furthered by the Vietnam War.
Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, Baby Boom professors, social workers , etc, are front and center for the hateful blatherings of the usual GOP flunkies all cowering at the prospect of an African-American president.
But there were, indeed, three 1960s terrorists whose murderous, planet-killing rampage continues to poison this nation. They tower above all others. Their names: William Westmoreland, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
This unholy trinity killed outright more than 55,000 Americans and several million southeast Asians---most of them innocent civilians---while bombing, strafing and spewing horrific toxic chemicals onto countless of square miles of previously pristine jungle. Their Agent Orange caused tens of thousands of deaths and deformities that still carry through the generations.
No single terror act in the history of the United States even remotely compares to the lethal psychosis that created and was then furthered by the Vietnam War.
(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 Billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:
The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?
As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion in war costs and $227 Billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The real budget deficit is therefore $789 Billion.
Under accounting trickery that would probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail, the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund--and spent on anything and everything except Social Security payments--is not counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49 Trillion National Debt.
It's way past time for Washington politicians to have their own Sarbanes-Oxley.
The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?
As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion in war costs and $227 Billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.
The real budget deficit is therefore $789 Billion.
Under accounting trickery that would probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail, the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund--and spent on anything and everything except Social Security payments--is not counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49 Trillion National Debt.
It's way past time for Washington politicians to have their own Sarbanes-Oxley.
Ted Stevens has been the primary driver in the futile effort to destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Now, he is under indictment.
This should come as no surprise to those familiar with the issue, and how brazenly Stevens has spewed lies to destroy the last 5 percent of the North Slope of Alaska, when oil companies already have access to 95 percent of it, as well as most of the Arctic Ocean. More than the fact that just a tiny amount of oil is under the refuge must have been motivating his lust for destruction, and now we have proof: he was bought off by Big Oil.
In my first personal encounter with Stevens, I had just flown out of the Arctic Refuge in a small bush plane, having stayed with the Gwich'in people, boated down the Porcupine River and then backpacked with a group from North Carolina in the refuge. Stevens had called a public meeting in Kaktovik where he expected the support of the Inupiat people. They presented him with a petition of 60 signatures from the village with a population of 212 requesting the protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness.
This should come as no surprise to those familiar with the issue, and how brazenly Stevens has spewed lies to destroy the last 5 percent of the North Slope of Alaska, when oil companies already have access to 95 percent of it, as well as most of the Arctic Ocean. More than the fact that just a tiny amount of oil is under the refuge must have been motivating his lust for destruction, and now we have proof: he was bought off by Big Oil.
In my first personal encounter with Stevens, I had just flown out of the Arctic Refuge in a small bush plane, having stayed with the Gwich'in people, boated down the Porcupine River and then backpacked with a group from North Carolina in the refuge. Stevens had called a public meeting in Kaktovik where he expected the support of the Inupiat people. They presented him with a petition of 60 signatures from the village with a population of 212 requesting the protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as wilderness.
"Health care." In media and politics, the phrase has become a cliche
that easily slides into rhetoric and wonkery. The tweaking Washington debate
runs parallel to the bottom line of corporate health care. While government
officials talk, the principle of health care as a human right goes begging.
Routinely, two contexts -- the macro and the personal -- obscure each other. Numbers may represent people, but people are anything but numbers. Paper, computer screens, claim forms and spreadsheets keep flattening humanity into commodity. But, of course, no one you love can ever be understood as a statistic.
What’s in place is a profit-driven system of health care with devastating effects on human beings. Even the most illuminating stats tend to become glib, abstracting calibration of damage to lives in the United States, where at any moment 47 million people are uninsured and another 50 million are badly under-insured.
Routinely, two contexts -- the macro and the personal -- obscure each other. Numbers may represent people, but people are anything but numbers. Paper, computer screens, claim forms and spreadsheets keep flattening humanity into commodity. But, of course, no one you love can ever be understood as a statistic.
What’s in place is a profit-driven system of health care with devastating effects on human beings. Even the most illuminating stats tend to become glib, abstracting calibration of damage to lives in the United States, where at any moment 47 million people are uninsured and another 50 million are badly under-insured.
In its last months in office, the Bush administration is proposing new rules that could discourage doctors and health-care companies from providing birth control to women who need it! The regulation blurs the distinction between abortion and birth control and could even threaten good state laws that protect women's access to contraception. Tell Congress that they need to do everything they can to stop this regulation.
Take Action
"Birth Control - It's Prevention!" The new rule would allow doctors and health-care companies to deny women birth control. NARAL Pro-Choice America helped break this story in the media and, with your help, we can stop this attack on birth control in its tracks.
Purchase your "Birth Control - It's Prevention!" pack of pills for $10! When you contribute, we will send your symbolic pill pack to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - which is where this egregious rule has surfaced.
Take Action
"Birth Control - It's Prevention!" The new rule would allow doctors and health-care companies to deny women birth control. NARAL Pro-Choice America helped break this story in the media and, with your help, we can stop this attack on birth control in its tracks.
Purchase your "Birth Control - It's Prevention!" pack of pills for $10! When you contribute, we will send your symbolic pill pack to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - which is where this egregious rule has surfaced.
Last Friday one of two things indisputably happened. Either a dozen senior Congress members and several well-known expert witnesses went certifiably and collectively insane, or charges of the most extreme executive abuses of power ever heard in the history of this nation were backed up by overwhelming evidence during a six-hour hearing of the House Judiciary Committee focused on the possible need to impeach the President and the Vice President. Either way, a nation with a public communications system worthy of a democracy would have learned the news.