Global
WASHINGTON, DC— Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ron Paul (R-TX) today
introduced legislation to repeal the Iraq Use of Force Resolution
passed by Congress and signed into law by the President last fall.
Following is DeFazio’s statement:
“I heard no new evidence today from Secretary Powell’s address to the
United Nations, that would convince me that military action in Iraq is
necessary to improve security of Americans.
“Americans want the President to lay a clear case for immediate military action in Iraq, but the Administration’s message keeps changing- six months ago, their case hinged on regime change, three months ago it was Saddam thwarting inspections, three weeks ago it was possible possession of chemical weapons, today its tenuous terrorist links. If the case was clear, it would have been clear from day one.
“Americans want the President to lay a clear case for immediate military action in Iraq, but the Administration’s message keeps changing- six months ago, their case hinged on regime change, three months ago it was Saddam thwarting inspections, three weeks ago it was possible possession of chemical weapons, today its tenuous terrorist links. If the case was clear, it would have been clear from day one.
In the summer of 2000, the Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN) Ohio’s free care committee conducted a survey of the ten non-profit acute-care hospitals in Columbus. The results will appear in a report to be issued in December (check the uhcanohio website for a copy of the report). UHCAN Ohio has already met with administrators of several hospitals, all of whom indicated a willingness to collaborate with the community group on instituting improvements recommended in the report.
The group wanted to find out how easy it is for individuals to get information about free care. The concern was not that the hospitals aren’t providing free care, but rather that hospitals do not take steps necessary to inform patients and the public that free care is available to those in need. Thus, people are not seeking needed care because they don’t know – and can’t easily find out — about free care.
Free care is care provided by a hospital to low-income, uninsured people for which the hospital does not expect to be paid. For people who have no health insurance and little money, free care is often the only way they can get necessary medical treatment.
Amazon.com:
“Stupid White Men, Michael Moore’s screed against “Thief-in-Chief” George Bush’s power elite, hit No. 1 at Amazon.com within days of publication. Why? It’s as fulminating and crammed with infuriating facts as any right-wing bestseller, as irreverent as The Onion, and as noisily entertaining as a wrestling smackdown.”
Tom Paulin:
“It’s the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. Absolutely amazing satirical wit, great journalism, great research. It’s like Samson tearing down the mausoleum - wonderful Swiftean rage but a generosity at the same time. Extraordinary man - it’s a great book. It pulls the place apart.”
Bonnie Greer:
“Stupid White Men, Michael Moore’s screed against “Thief-in-Chief” George Bush’s power elite, hit No. 1 at Amazon.com within days of publication. Why? It’s as fulminating and crammed with infuriating facts as any right-wing bestseller, as irreverent as The Onion, and as noisily entertaining as a wrestling smackdown.”
Tom Paulin:
“It’s the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. Absolutely amazing satirical wit, great journalism, great research. It’s like Samson tearing down the mausoleum - wonderful Swiftean rage but a generosity at the same time. Extraordinary man - it’s a great book. It pulls the place apart.”
Bonnie Greer:
In my mind the basic tenet of
determining what is or is not ethical
behavior is, whether if placed in a similar circumstance one would feel that they were treated fairly and in a dignified manner. If I apply this micro-definition to the state of urban education in America it doesn't take the proverbial rocket scientist to figure out that ethics and equity has long been missing in action. The state of urban education is abysmal. The efforts to reform urban education across the country is meant (for the most part) with contempt and extreme resistance to change. The de-valuing of the urban child, in favor of the suburban and sometimes rural (if not Appalachian) is a malady that strikes at the heart of one of this nation's most valuable assets, its children.
One has to go back to the lesser Roman emperors of the second
century to find an imperial suzerain as dismal as Bush. Tuesday's speech was
surely the worst State of the Union address to Congress in the past 30
years, as the commander-in-chief stumbled through a thicket of brazen
fictions toward the proposed rendezvous with destiny on Feb. 5, the day
Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to make his way to the United
Nations to present the administration's latest "intelligence" confection on
the topic of Saddam's deceits.
If you want to get a taste of how these ramshackle "intelligence" reports are assembled, take a look at "Apparatus of Lies: Saddam's Disinformation and Propaganda, 1990-2003," recently issued by the White House and invoked Tuesday night by the 43rd president.
If you want to get a taste of how these ramshackle "intelligence" reports are assembled, take a look at "Apparatus of Lies: Saddam's Disinformation and Propaganda, 1990-2003," recently issued by the White House and invoked Tuesday night by the 43rd president.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The state of the union is that money talks and
public policy is sold to the highest bidder. Those who give money in
political contributions -- less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.S.
population gave 83 percent of all campaign contributions in the 2002
elections -- get back billions in tax breaks, subsidies and the right to
exploit public land at ridiculously low prices.
This system in turn costs ordinary Americans billions of dollars, not to mention the costs to health, safety and the environment, and the cost of not having enough money for good schools.
Public Campaign, the group working for public financing of political campaigns, has put together some of the salient information in the form of a poster, available at www.publiccampaign.org -- and perhaps the most depressing thing about it is the size of the payoffs for relatively small investments in political campaigns.
This system in turn costs ordinary Americans billions of dollars, not to mention the costs to health, safety and the environment, and the cost of not having enough money for good schools.
Public Campaign, the group working for public financing of political campaigns, has put together some of the salient information in the form of a poster, available at www.publiccampaign.org -- and perhaps the most depressing thing about it is the size of the payoffs for relatively small investments in political campaigns.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The state of the union is that money talks and
public policy is sold to the highest bidder. Those who give money in
political contributions -- less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.S.
population gave 83 percent of all campaign contributions in the 2002
elections -- get back billions in tax breaks, subsidies and the right to
exploit public land at ridiculously low prices.
This system in turn costs ordinary Americans billions of dollars, not to mention the costs to health, safety and the environment, and the cost of not having enough money for good schools.
Public Campaign, the group working for public financing of political campaigns, has put together some of the salient information in the form of a poster, available at www.publiccampaign.org -- and perhaps the most depressing thing about it is the size of the payoffs for relatively small investments in political campaigns.
This system in turn costs ordinary Americans billions of dollars, not to mention the costs to health, safety and the environment, and the cost of not having enough money for good schools.
Public Campaign, the group working for public financing of political campaigns, has put together some of the salient information in the form of a poster, available at www.publiccampaign.org -- and perhaps the most depressing thing about it is the size of the payoffs for relatively small investments in political campaigns.
I was in South Carolina to haul a 1968 22-foot Airstream back to
California behind my Ford 350 one-ton truck. Interstate 40 would have been a
logical route west, but out of respect for the late Patton, the bulldog
martyr to cop violence, I headed north from Knoxville, Tenn., into Kentucky.
Rolling out of Lexington, Ky., toward St. Louis at dusk, I could see
graceful horses nibbling at the snow-covered pastures as the sunset turned
the western sky red.
All the way across the Great Plains I listened to radio reports of the cold about to roll down out of Canada. There's nothing between you and the North Pole out there on the prairie. "Not even a tree to hide behind," as one 19th-century pioneer homemaker plaintively wrote home to her European mother as she and her family cowered in their sod cabin amidst the terrible blizzards of 1886 and 1887 that finished off the cattle boom and sent Teddy Roosevelt scuttling east from his ranch on the Little Missouri.
All the way across the Great Plains I listened to radio reports of the cold about to roll down out of Canada. There's nothing between you and the North Pole out there on the prairie. "Not even a tree to hide behind," as one 19th-century pioneer homemaker plaintively wrote home to her European mother as she and her family cowered in their sod cabin amidst the terrible blizzards of 1886 and 1887 that finished off the cattle boom and sent Teddy Roosevelt scuttling east from his ranch on the Little Missouri.
Freep Hero: Nancy Talanian and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Just before Christmas, Oakland, CA became the 20th municipality in the U.S. to pass a resolution prohibiting its employees from cooperating with federal officials who are utilizing the so-called Patriot Act to spy on city residents. Talanian runs the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. The organization website includes a “How To” manual for communities to pass anti-Patriot Act resolutions. Some other cities adopting the resolution are Denver, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz. Talanian’s heroic defense of the U.S. Constitution makes her a Freep hero, but also calls us to action. We need to make Columbus, Ohio a Bills of Rights “Safety Zone.” Let’s rein in Big Brother in the New Year.
The Free Press Salutes:
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Just before Christmas, Oakland, CA became the 20th municipality in the U.S. to pass a resolution prohibiting its employees from cooperating with federal officials who are utilizing the so-called Patriot Act to spy on city residents. Talanian runs the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. The organization website includes a “How To” manual for communities to pass anti-Patriot Act resolutions. Some other cities adopting the resolution are Denver, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz. Talanian’s heroic defense of the U.S. Constitution makes her a Freep hero, but also calls us to action. We need to make Columbus, Ohio a Bills of Rights “Safety Zone.” Let’s rein in Big Brother in the New Year.
The Free Press Salutes:
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Thirty-seven U.S. states have animal
cruelty laws that result in felony
convictions. My own state of Ohio does not. What does that tell us about the mentality of humans in the Buckeye State? Well, if the riots I heard about at OSU are any indication – all over a bunch of large men wrestling, grabbing and grinding each other over a football – then the future is bleak.
There are two identical bills in the Ohio legislature right now that would increase the penalties for animal cruelty, House Bill 480 and Senate Bill 221. S.B. 221 passed on December 10, 2002 and is awaiting the signature of Governor Bob “Serial Killer” Taft. I hope a man with so much human blood on his hands will find some compassion for innocent animals. It seems a passive-sounding group “The Ohio Association of Animal Owners” is putting up quite a fight against animal protection legislation in Ohio -- battling the “animal rights terrorists ,” as it were. Contact your state reps and senators and ask them to support the two bills.
There are two identical bills in the Ohio legislature right now that would increase the penalties for animal cruelty, House Bill 480 and Senate Bill 221. S.B. 221 passed on December 10, 2002 and is awaiting the signature of Governor Bob “Serial Killer” Taft. I hope a man with so much human blood on his hands will find some compassion for innocent animals. It seems a passive-sounding group “The Ohio Association of Animal Owners” is putting up quite a fight against animal protection legislation in Ohio -- battling the “animal rights terrorists ,” as it were. Contact your state reps and senators and ask them to support the two bills.