Global
Last week, President Obama sent his FY2010 budget request to Congress and, as expected, included in it $2.775 billion in military aid for Israel, an increase of $225 million from this year's budget.
The budget request now goes to the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs for hearings and "mark-ups".This request for an increase in military aid to Israel comes despite the fact that Israel consistently misuses U.S. weapons in violation of the Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts.
During the Bush Administration, Israel killed more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians who took no part in hostilities, including more than 1,000 children.During its December-January war on the Gaza Strip alone, Israel killed nearly 1,200 Palestinian non-combatants.
Especially during this acute economic crisis, is this how you want Congress to spend your taxes? If not, then take action below.
In sacred remembrance of all those we have killed, and are continuing to kill . . .
The flag waves, the heart stirs, the music rends the air. Memorial Day 2009. I stood at a bubbling fountain in downtown Chicago and listened to speakers from Vietnam Veterans Against the War — speakers with hard-earned and grown-up attitudes about war — apologize for the wars still going on today and plead for awareness that they must stop, that we must learn how little they solve and how long they linger, and that only in committing ourselves to the end of all wars can we honor the dead. Then, toward the end of the small, solemn gathering, the passing of Zak Wachtendonk was mourned.
“Zak’s name will never be on the memorial, but he died in Vietnam just as surely as my nephew did,” said Barry Romo, who earlier had talked about the death of his relative.
Romo’s comment opens up the select world of this day’s honorees in a way that has left me disturbed in wave after wave of overwhelming remorse.
The flag waves, the heart stirs, the music rends the air. Memorial Day 2009. I stood at a bubbling fountain in downtown Chicago and listened to speakers from Vietnam Veterans Against the War — speakers with hard-earned and grown-up attitudes about war — apologize for the wars still going on today and plead for awareness that they must stop, that we must learn how little they solve and how long they linger, and that only in committing ourselves to the end of all wars can we honor the dead. Then, toward the end of the small, solemn gathering, the passing of Zak Wachtendonk was mourned.
“Zak’s name will never be on the memorial, but he died in Vietnam just as surely as my nephew did,” said Barry Romo, who earlier had talked about the death of his relative.
Romo’s comment opens up the select world of this day’s honorees in a way that has left me disturbed in wave after wave of overwhelming remorse.
At a critical moment for health care reform in the United States, The National Economic & Social Rights Initiative has published an in-depth assessment of single payer proposals, finding that a single payer system goes further towards meeting key human rights principles than market-based plans.
The question of whether national leaders will consider a single payer system as an option for health care reform has become a question of basic democracy. Despite most Americans supporting a single payer solution, the Obama Administration and congressional leaders have denied it consideration. Key stakeholders such as health care professionals, patients and single payer advocates have been excluded from hearings regarding health reform, prompting courageous civil disobedience actions by health care advocates. One of the protesters at the recent Senate Finance Hearings, Dr Margaret Flowers of PNHP Maryland, said: “We have entered a new phase in the movement for health care as a human right: acts of civil disobedience. It is time to directly challenge corporate interests. History has shown that in order to gain human rights, we must be willing to speak out and risk arrest”.
The question of whether national leaders will consider a single payer system as an option for health care reform has become a question of basic democracy. Despite most Americans supporting a single payer solution, the Obama Administration and congressional leaders have denied it consideration. Key stakeholders such as health care professionals, patients and single payer advocates have been excluded from hearings regarding health reform, prompting courageous civil disobedience actions by health care advocates. One of the protesters at the recent Senate Finance Hearings, Dr Margaret Flowers of PNHP Maryland, said: “We have entered a new phase in the movement for health care as a human right: acts of civil disobedience. It is time to directly challenge corporate interests. History has shown that in order to gain human rights, we must be willing to speak out and risk arrest”.
The California Supreme Court had an opportunity Tuesday to do the right thing and overturn the thinly-passed Proposition 8 gay-marriage ban which the state's Homophobes voted into law through a ballot referendum last November. To no one's shock or surprise, they upheld the controversial decision, even as many other states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York have moved to legalize such unions. Clearly, not everything progressive originates in The Golden State. This time, California can bask in its regressiveness (Prop 8 was an answer to an earlier Supreme Court ruling last May to allow same-sex marriages). So, "the will of the people" wins, and logic, fairness and tolerance loses.
On May 19th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."[1] They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."
The Ohio State University is once again trying to stop the OSU Hempfest from happening. This time they have tried to intimidate their own students by first saying we needed to put a $10,000 deposit down UP FRONT if we wanted to have the festival this year. We called their bluff, and they were forced to lower their demand to $5,000. We are up against the wall this year, and we need to raise $5,000 or the festival WILL NOT HAPPEN. We are asking students to donate between $5-10. If there are just 500 students that can pledge $10 each, the festival will be saved.
Donations can be made directly to SSDP on the Main Oval every Tuesday and Friday until the day of the festival from 10AM-4PM. You can also write a check and mail it to 83 West 9th Ave., Apt #2.
Donations can be made directly to SSDP on the Main Oval every Tuesday and Friday until the day of the festival from 10AM-4PM. You can also write a check and mail it to 83 West 9th Ave., Apt #2.
We hear it all the time. Nuclear reactors produce 80% of the electricity in France. Their reactors are “safe” and that means the U.S. should build new reactors.
This is the sound byte. But are reactors truly “safe” as advertised? After studying the facts, the answer is an emphatic “no.”
In France, politics has overwhelmed science in defining “safe.” For nearly 30 years after French reactors began operating, not one medical journal article was published on cancer rates near reactors. Intimidated by the power of the nuclear industry, French health officials didn’t dare look for dirty laundry, even though over 100 radioactive chemicals – the same in atomic bomb fallout - were routinely being released into the air and water.
This is the sound byte. But are reactors truly “safe” as advertised? After studying the facts, the answer is an emphatic “no.”
In France, politics has overwhelmed science in defining “safe.” For nearly 30 years after French reactors began operating, not one medical journal article was published on cancer rates near reactors. Intimidated by the power of the nuclear industry, French health officials didn’t dare look for dirty laundry, even though over 100 radioactive chemicals – the same in atomic bomb fallout - were routinely being released into the air and water.
The noble vision of a Solartopian green-powered Earth is at last upon us.
Our eco-future is defined by the four Great Green Truths: we have a global crisis, it has a solution, the solution is winnable, and winning requires a "middle path" of action that is both non-violent and non-stop.
There are technological solutions to the crisis, but they demand political action. Together they comprise the Eight Green Steps to a sustainable world:
1.BAN WASTE AND WAR: Nothing may be produced that cannot be fully recycled or that will not completely bio-degrade. This includes weapons whose sole purpose is death and destruction, and whose manufacture and use must be ended by a global community that knows war to be the ultimate act of ecological suicide.
2.MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION: From energy to building materials, food to fiber, water to paper, our resources must be preserved. Our unsustainable consumption and wasteful industries must be made appropriate and efficient, starting with a reborn mass transit system and complete preservation of all remaining virgin land and waters.
Our eco-future is defined by the four Great Green Truths: we have a global crisis, it has a solution, the solution is winnable, and winning requires a "middle path" of action that is both non-violent and non-stop.
There are technological solutions to the crisis, but they demand political action. Together they comprise the Eight Green Steps to a sustainable world:
1.BAN WASTE AND WAR: Nothing may be produced that cannot be fully recycled or that will not completely bio-degrade. This includes weapons whose sole purpose is death and destruction, and whose manufacture and use must be ended by a global community that knows war to be the ultimate act of ecological suicide.
2.MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION: From energy to building materials, food to fiber, water to paper, our resources must be preserved. Our unsustainable consumption and wasteful industries must be made appropriate and efficient, starting with a reborn mass transit system and complete preservation of all remaining virgin land and waters.
President Obama could soon have the power to regulate dangerous greenhouse gases himself should Congress fail to do what’s necessary. It’s up to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and YOU to decide.
Here’s the deal: The EPA has concluded that there is overwhelming evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels endanger our health and welfare -- which means that by law they have the ability to regulate those emissions under the Clean Air Act. But, before they make a final decision they’re giving the public a chance to comment. Make sure that the EPA knows how you feel by submitting a comment today.
Tell the EPA to give President Obama the power to rescue the climate.
These comments really do make a difference. The more people who tell the EPA to finalize these findings the better chance we have of giving President Obama the tools he needs to be a leader on global warming. It really is that simple.
Here’s the deal: The EPA has concluded that there is overwhelming evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels endanger our health and welfare -- which means that by law they have the ability to regulate those emissions under the Clean Air Act. But, before they make a final decision they’re giving the public a chance to comment. Make sure that the EPA knows how you feel by submitting a comment today.
Tell the EPA to give President Obama the power to rescue the climate.
These comments really do make a difference. The more people who tell the EPA to finalize these findings the better chance we have of giving President Obama the tools he needs to be a leader on global warming. It really is that simple.