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Congressman Dennis Kucinich said on Friday that he is working with Congressman Jim McGovern, a member of the Rules Committee, who has drafted a letter asking that the upcoming war supplemental be a clean vote not muddied by the inclusion of unrelated measures, such as aid to Haiti. I asked Kucinich if that request for a clean vote included a commitment by McGovern not to propose his own amendments, and Kucinich clearly did not know or did not want to speak for his colleague, but he expressed his own support for McGovern's exit timetable proposal. Kucinich said he expected the vote on $33 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan to come up in the next two weeks.
Kucinich is, thus far, the only member of Congress who, to my knowledge, has publicly urged his colleagues to vote No. I asked him if he would urge them to join him in publicly committing to vote No ahead of time and in urging others to do the same. Kucinich said he was writing letters urging them to vote No, but did not reply on the matter of urging them to go public and whip.
Kucinich is, thus far, the only member of Congress who, to my knowledge, has publicly urged his colleagues to vote No. I asked him if he would urge them to join him in publicly committing to vote No ahead of time and in urging others to do the same. Kucinich said he was writing letters urging them to vote No, but did not reply on the matter of urging them to go public and whip.
One faction of the Tea Party will gather on the mall in Washington, D.C., this week on Tax Day. They will rail against big government, intrusive regulations, taxes and spending.
On Monday, people across the country observed a moment of silence for the tragic loss of 29 lives at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va. The nation's worst mining disaster in over four decades took place at a mine that had been cited for literally hundreds of violations over the last year, including many serious ones.
Will we ever learn? Mining is an inherently dangerous occupation. According to the United Mine Workers of America, in the last century more than 100,000 miners were killed due to mine disasters. More than 100,000 died from black lung disease by breathing coal dust. Even today, a coal miner dies every six hours from black lung disease, and these numbers are rising again.
On Monday, people across the country observed a moment of silence for the tragic loss of 29 lives at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va. The nation's worst mining disaster in over four decades took place at a mine that had been cited for literally hundreds of violations over the last year, including many serious ones.
Will we ever learn? Mining is an inherently dangerous occupation. According to the United Mine Workers of America, in the last century more than 100,000 miners were killed due to mine disasters. More than 100,000 died from black lung disease by breathing coal dust. Even today, a coal miner dies every six hours from black lung disease, and these numbers are rising again.
Here's a popular "Letter to America" and a new reply from America below.
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
Li Changchun is often referred to as one of the most powerful men in China, in Asia and, increasingly, in the world. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee. On April 8, he awaited our arrival at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Between him and I stood a group of newspaper editors from throughout Asia, along with giant pillars, thick walls and a strict protocol that had to be followed to the letter, or to the number.
It was Tax Day in the Buckeye State, America's most consistent political barometer. A crowd of around 4000 protesters packed the Ohio Statehouse lawn. Is the self-proclaimed Tea Party movement a mere Republican Party-manufactured astro-turf organization or an authentic and autonomous grassroots populist crusade?
Well, they appear to be neither and both. The people are angry in the heartland and the thunder is almost all on the right.
There were the traditional April 15th anti-taxers and Libertarians and the usual rhetoric from the podium that we're being taxed to death. The "death tax" is emerging as a key issue in Ohio elections this year. Steve Stivers, Republican candidate for Congress in the 15th district has been hammering the issue hard in his race against Democratic Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. Speakers at the podium solicited signatures for a petition drive to outlaw Ohio's "death tax" or, as the state calls it, estate tax.
Well, they appear to be neither and both. The people are angry in the heartland and the thunder is almost all on the right.
There were the traditional April 15th anti-taxers and Libertarians and the usual rhetoric from the podium that we're being taxed to death. The "death tax" is emerging as a key issue in Ohio elections this year. Steve Stivers, Republican candidate for Congress in the 15th district has been hammering the issue hard in his race against Democratic Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. Speakers at the podium solicited signatures for a petition drive to outlaw Ohio's "death tax" or, as the state calls it, estate tax.
On Tax Day, Tea Party members from around the country will descend on the nation’s capitol to “protest big government and support lower taxes, less government and more freedom.” CODEPINK, a women-led peace group advocating an end to war and militarism, will be sending some representatives to begin a dialogue. While we come from the opposite end of the political spectrum and don’t support the goals and tactics of the Tea Party, there is an area where we are seeking common ground, i.e. endless wars and militarism.
As Tea Partiers express their anger at out-of-control government spending and soaring deficits, we will ask them to take a hard look at what is, by far, the biggest sinkhole of our tax dollars: Pentagon spending. With the Obama administration proposing the largest military budget ever, topping $700 billion not including war supplementals, the U.S. government is now spending almost as much on the military as the rest of the world combined.
Perhaps the Tea Party and peace folks—unlikely allies—can agree that one way to shrink big government is to rein in military spending. Here are some questions to get the conversation going:
Cannabis is an herb. It belongs to the same class of commonly used plants as Chamomile, Comfrey, and Coltsfoot, known as herbs, which have a long and distinguished history of industrial, medicinal, and recreational usage dating back to the earliest days of human history.
To pretend that cannabis is somehow different than these other plants is to make a major mistake in both classification and characterization.
Under the food supplement guidelines set by Senator Orrin Hatch, (See the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA)." the above named herbs, (Chamomile, Comferey, and Coltsfoot) are essentially unregulated.
Aside from routine safety and commercial regulations insuring that the proffered items are...
A...Unadulterated,
B...Properly labeled and advertised for what they are,
C...Safely packaged, processed, transported, and stored,
D...Properly taxed at the point of sale according to the routine business laws already in place for commercial transactions, (and I am NOT referring here to the institution of any of the so-called "Sin Tax" taxes such as are routinely applied to Tobacco and or Alcohol.)...
Under the food supplement guidelines set by Senator Orrin Hatch, (See the "Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA)." the above named herbs, (Chamomile, Comferey, and Coltsfoot) are essentially unregulated.
Aside from routine safety and commercial regulations insuring that the proffered items are...
A...Unadulterated,
B...Properly labeled and advertised for what they are,
C...Safely packaged, processed, transported, and stored,
D...Properly taxed at the point of sale according to the routine business laws already in place for commercial transactions, (and I am NOT referring here to the institution of any of the so-called "Sin Tax" taxes such as are routinely applied to Tobacco and or Alcohol.)...
BANGKOK, Thailand -- When Country Joe and The Fish performed their famous satirical protest song "Fixin' To Die" during the 1960s, they influenced many people to oppose America's disastrous Vietnam War.
Today, Barry "The Fish" Melton -- still a self-proclaimed "leftist" -- grimly predicts the U.S. is doomed to also lose its war in Afghanistan.
"I don't think we should be involved in Afghanistan, I think it is a waste of time and energy," Melton said in an interview on Saturday (April 3) when he arrived in Bangkok on his first visit to Southeast Asia.
"I've got to believe that whatever we are doing in Afghanistan will end up in failure, that it can't have an outcome that is particularly positive for anybody."
When Melton and "Country" Joe MacDonald created the San Francisco-based band, one of their most catchy and powerful songs had a vaudeville-style chorus which mockingly taunted:
"And it's one, two, three / What are we fighting for? / Don't ask me I don't give a damn / Next stop is Vietnam."
Gray-haired Melton now performs with other bands in California and Europe.
Gray-haired Melton now performs with other bands in California and Europe.