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Take Action Against Bush in Weaponsgate!

The Bush Administration is desperately trying to contain the brewing controversy about its false statements regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. They lied to drive us into a war against a country that posed no threat, a war which has so far killed over 6000 Iraqi civilians (www.iraqbodycount.net) and over 200 American soldiers. Speak out now! Help keep this issue in the public spotlight.

Take Action:

Convince Governor Taft to veto HB 152

I need your help to convince Governor Taft to veto HB 152 , the bad megafarm bill! The Governor will make a decision about HB 152 in the next week. Please call the Governor's office, ask for Kate Bartter, and tell her that you strongly urge the Governor to veto HB 152 because:

  a.. Local governments should have the authority to prevent disease and nuisance from factory farms. If we erode that right in this case, where do we draw the line?
  b.. The amendment didn't receive anything like a fair hearing. The Senate held one public hearing, at which the amendment was offered and the House held no hearings before passing the bill
  c.. HB 152 establishes a terrible precedent -- if a polluter finally gets closed down due to environmental violations, the industry just changes the rules, rather than changing their behavior

Call the Governor at 614-466-3555 or 614-644-HELP. Please email Bryan Clark Bryan.Clark@sierraclub.org, Conservation Program Coordinator, Sierra Club (Ohio Chapter) after you make the call so that he can track our actions and keep a record of any feedback you receive.

John Ashcroft: Coming to a Town Near You?

On August 19th, Attorney General John Ashcroft will begin traveling to over a dozen U.S. cities to “set the record straight” about “mischaracterizations” of powers granted to the Justice Department under the USA Patriot Act. Ashcroft may also advocate for additional powers proposed by the so-called “Patriot Act II.”

ACT NOW! capwiz.com/voice4change/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=3142006

Common Cause has a long history of advocating for civil liberties. We continue to monitor the effects of the Patriot Act and its authorization of government intrusion into lives of average Americans. We believe that portions of Patriot Act violate the fundamental rights guaranteed to you under the Constitution.

Is “Big Brother” Here?

He could be. The USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress shortly after 9/11, grants the government new authority to investigate not just suspected terrorists, but you, your neighbor, and any other United States citizen or resident. For example:

1. The Act expands the government’s ability to look at your personal

Oppose exemptions to the Roadless Rule

Tell the Bush Administration you oppose their plans to exempt the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in Alaska from the Roadless Rule!

Public comment period extended to September 2nd!

This extension appears to be because the agency failed to provide timely response to those who requested more detailed information about plans to take the Tongass and Chugach out of the Roadless Rule.  

www.greenpeaceusa.org/index.fpl/10048/action_id/188.html

The Issue:

The Future Of Media in America Could Be Up To Ohio

Do you want the media to be controlled by a few huge companies?  The future of media could be up to you.  Urge Senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich to co-sponsor S.1046, a bill to overturn the FCC's new media ownership rules. Senators DeWine and Voinovich are part of a small number of Senators whose support is needed to ensure the passage of this important legislation in the Senate.

The new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules will allow one company to own a daily newspaper, as many as three television stations, and up to eight radio stations in some markets in Ohio.  This benefits the media giants at your expense.

We need your help.

1. Please sign the Ohio petition to encourage Senators DeWine and Voinovich to support the roll back of FCC rules that benefit only big media companies and negatively impact the diversity of voices in our democracy.  Click here: www.commoncause.org/action/petition_fccstate.cfm?state=OH

2. Please forward this message to people in your community and help make

Faith-based drug wars: Bush recruits religious youth groups as ground troops

Bush recruits religious youth groups as ground troops for the 'drug wars' What do advocating "religious hiring rights," a $4 billion workplace retraining bill, and the war on drugs have in common? The short answer: Bring on the faith-based organizations!

Although more than 30 months have passed since President Bush announced the centerpiece of his domestic agenda -- his faith-based initiative -- and no significant broader efforts to fund his initiative has emerged from Congress, the administration continues to move ahead on a number of fronts.

Bush's latest faith-based proposal involves enlisting religious youth groups in the war on drugs. According to the Washington Times, the administration recently printed 75,000 copies of a guidebook to the drug wars called "Pathways to Prevention: Guiding Youth to Wise Decisions." The 100-page pamphlet "seeks to teach youth leaders how to handle questions and concerns about substance abuse." In addition to the publication, there's a new Web site and an e-mail newsletter.

The new anti-drug project is built around three premises which are spelled out in a fact sheet titled "Marijuana and Kids: Faith":

Harvey Wasserman

Harvey Wasserman is an irresponsible journalistic hack at best. His uninformed and malicious viewpoints on the Bush Administration, nuclear power, and apparently the world in general need to be put in check. Could it be that too much indulgence of the psychedelic pharmaceuticals has left him out of touch? If not, it appears that his celebrity has clouded his judgment. The slippery slope fallacy that he attempts to spin in just about every recent article is getting old. There is plenty of separation between reality and the doom and gloom that he spews forth as the inevitable end to all things current. Maybe it is time to let him retire back to Montague Farm. With enough of his hot air, I am sure there would be no shortage of electricity for anything deemed necessary. By the way, that hot air is renewable resource in that when his time has past, the next naysayer can take up where he left off.

Founding  Father of Neocon Philosophy Leo Strauss and Jefferson's Impending Death

Even the national press has sounded the alarm about the "Straussians." The Bush administration, particularly its foreign policy team, has been and is still heavily influenced by neoconservative "intellectuals" who are themselves under the influence of the teachings of Leo Strauss. These include Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; Abram Shulsky of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, Richard Perle of the Pentagon advisory board, and Elliott Abrams of the National Security Council.

Strauss, a refugee from Nazi Germany, came to America in the late 1930s and was particularly interested in political philosophy and the study of tyranny. He taught at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s during the Cold War, when capitalism went on a global manic binge and liberalism died a silent death with its conversion to "liberal" capitalism (an oxymoran) and away from socialism (Death of the American Politic, BushWatch, August, 2003).

If Famous Journalists Became Honest Rappers

The “Bulworth” movie -- with Warren Beatty playing a senator who begins to speak disturbing truths in the form of rap lyrics -- caused quite a stir when it came out five years ago. At the time, I wondered aloud in a column about what might happen if leading journalists followed that fictional example.

     I’m biased, but it seems to me that some of my lyrics have stood the test of time. For instance:

     DAN RATHER: “I like to tell the public how it pains me so -- to be more superficial and keep racking up the dough.”

     COKIE ROBERTS: “Born and bred in the pundit patch, I utter easy notions with great dispatch. Every spectrum has a center, every player has a price. If you want to stick my neck out, I have to say no dice.”

     BRIT HUME: “I love to tell you all the news on Fox TV. My boss man Rupert Murdoch is cool as he can be. He pays me piles of money for tilting to the right. And if you sound progressive, you’ll really get a fight.”

     MARK SHIELDS, AL HUNT, ROBERT NOVAK and MARGARET CARLSON: “We’re on the show each week, but the jokes are not so funny. CNN dubbed us ‘The

Weathervanes for the wrong direction

AUSTIN, Texas -- When in the midst of a Blame Typhoon, with charges and counter-charges being hurled in all directions, I find it most useful to consult those two polar stars of utter wrongheadedness, Tom DeLay and The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

            Both good for a chuckle, and both perfect weathervanes for the wrong direction. When in doubt, Disagree with DeLay, And you'll be OK.

            The Journal, in addition to meretricious arguments, vast leaps over relevant stretches of fact and history, and an awesome ability to bend any reality to its preconceived ideological ends, also offers that touch of (SET ITAL) je ne sais quoi, (END ITAL) that ludicrous dogmatism that never fails to charm.

            A column about energy politics by George Mellon in Tuesday's Journal contained just the right mix of irrelevant argument (he's very upset that a bunch of nervous nellies want to shut down the Indian Point nuclear plant, as though this had anything to do with the frail, undercapitalized transmission grid that caused the blackout last week), expedient forgetfulness (uh, actually, OPEC had quite a bit to do

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