THE SINGLE-PAYER SOLUTION
As the media coverage of the Democratic presidential race continues to focus on lapel pins and pastors, America is ailing. As I travel around the country, I find people are angry and motivated.
by Amy Goodman
http://goto.rabble.ca/t?ctl=162C204:61067F3FB62EF511AD64176354A47DB860A0614370F1CFFE&
The latest information on future Iraq war funding is that Democratic House leadership is moving toward putting a “clean” Iraq war funding bill onto the floor of the House for an up-or-down vote that would provide the administration with $170 billion dollars for the remainder of this fiscal year (September 30) and into the next. This would make this supplemental the last Iraq war funding bill to hit the floor of the House and Senate before the November elections.
So far 50,000 of you have signed onto the open letter to Congressman John Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. This letter, coordinated by the Win Without War Coalition, calls for Chairman Murtha to “draft a new supplemental appropriations bill that will direct the president to immediately begin the orderly removal of all U.S troops from Iraq.” Your activism has been noticed, as earlier this week, the letter was quoted in a Washington Post story.
It now appears that the supplemental will come to the floor of the House during the week of May 5. With this in mind, the deadline for signatures on the open letter has been extended to next Thursday, May 1st. So you have one more week to add your name and gather other signatures for the Open Letter to Chairman Murtha on StandUpCongress.org.
Throughout this supplemental appropriations process, it is important to remember that Congress DOES have the power to change US policy in Iraq, but they are not going to do it without more direct pressure from their constituents. We look forward to partnering with you to apply as much direct pressure as possible.
NY SD -51
Barber Campaign: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date: April 22, 2008
Contact: Michael Blaine, 607-278-9910
In an Earth Day address at Hartwick College today, state Senate candidate
Don Barber (D-Caroline) declared that the time has come to confront climate
change in our region. Barber, a successful businessman and farmer, said,
“Everybody cares about what’s going to happen to their land, to their town,
to their children and grandchildren. They know the threats we face, and they
know we have to take action now.”
Barber sharply criticized eleven-term incumbent, Sen. Jim Seward
(R-Milford), for opposing numerous pro-environment bills in the 2007
legislative session. ”Unfortunately, Mr. Seward’s record on the environment
is more George Bush than Teddy Roosevelt,” Barber said. Pointing to the
incumbent’s Senate leadership role as Majority Whip, Barber went on to say,
“Right now the New York State Senate is where good environmental legislation
goes to die.”
Barber cited the Wetlands Protection Act, the Bottle Bill and the Burn
Barrel Bill as examples among many that the state Senate killed in committee
or never brought to the floor.
Declaring that he was “unashamedly passionate about our environment,” Barber
laid out a detailed plan to curb carbon emissions and develop a new
alternative energy economy. Conservation is a key element in Barber’s
pro-environment blueprint.
“Conservation has to be the topic at every dinner table, every cocktail
party, every conference, everywhere. When we put conservation into effect,
it will save us money and reduce greenhouse gases,” Barber remarked.
Barber believes that upstate New York will produce great quantities of
clean, renewable energy from a variety of sources. “In upstate New York we
can produce many renewable, sustainable energy sources: solar, wind, capture
methane, biomass ethanol-not food source ethanol-and in-stream hydro.”
Barber favors local control and ownership of energy projects. In a recent
profile, he pointed to his “community wind” initiative in the Town of
Caroline as an example.
“Don Barber’s race for the Senate is a key part of the Democrats’ strategy
to take the Senate in this election,” Campaign Manager Tarah Rowse said.
“With only a two-seat majority, the Republicans are barely clinging to
power, and the incumbent’s anti-environment record is coming out now. It’s
documented in the public record. He can’t deny it and keep his credibility.”
###
Donate
By Greg Mitchell
Even if it confirms what you have already sensed — you are no dummies — the details are truly damning and shocking. And it continues up to the present day…
A detailed expose of the undisclosed ties between television military analysts, the Pentagon, and defense contractors, this article is the kind of investigative journalism one used to expect from the NYTIMES.
This is worse than the analysts indulging in their natural bias for the war. The article sets forth a deliberate plan to mislead the American public by a concerted plan of psychological warfare.
As one would expect, the infamous Fox News was at the forefront of the deception; but the networks and cable news were also less then diligent in checking out what their so-called “military analysts” were up to.
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
In 1870, Unitarian activist, Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mothers Day Peace Proclamation, thus cementing her 12 year struggle to have the nation recognize the role of mothers in the public sphere. Howe’s Mothers Day is now a much loved civic celebration.
This year, return to Howe’s original intent for Mothers Day by working for peace. To learn more, please visit www.juliasvoice.org.
***
The above is from the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy Email News and Updates
666 11th Street NW, Suite 800 | Washington DC, 20001 | phone: 202.393.2255
email: socialjustice@uua.org | website: www.uua.org/socialjustice | fax: 202.393.2255
Hi Folks,
I just wanted to give you an update on the recent tumult at Air America. As you may have heard Randi Rhodes was suspended by Air America management for inappropriate language she used during a stand up comedy routine she performed at an affiliate function in San Francisco. I wouldn’t have done the bit she did, but I said on air that I didn’t think that based on the context of her comments, that the suspension was appropriate. Of course, management has the right to create and execute any policy they want.
After a week, Randi decided to quit Air America and move over to NovaM. Randi was Air America’s highest rated show by far and I think in many respects she was underappreciated by some of Air America’s management. Is she temperamental, free spoken, a goddess? Yes, of course. That’s what has made her a success in talk radio. Are those traits uncommon in the entertainment industry? All I know is that I have directed Gary Busey and Andy Dick – Randi Rhodes is not a problem child!
That said, Randi is gone, the 3-6pm slot is open and my Seder On Sunday contract is drawing to its end. I expect most affiliates will pickup Randi but 3-6 pm is a good time slot and some affiliates will be looking for a change. I’ve told Air America management I am interested (I suspect they already knew).
Will you support me getting back on the air five days a week?
Robert Greenwald, creator of OutFoxed and proprietor of BraveNewFilms has set up a petition, will it make a difference if Air America knows that folks want me on the air? I don’t know, but it might!
Sign the petition here!
Want to do more? Send pcollins@airamerica.com an email and let him know you’d like me on air 5 days a week!
In the meantime, I’ll update you as to what happens and what my plans are going forward and check outSamSederShow.com and don’t forget when Marc Maron returns in a week from Australia we resume Seder V. Maron .. see past episodes here.
Thanks
Sam
Mother Jones reports on Penn’s ouster:
Penn was (and still is) an unpopular figure. He was disliked by wide swaths of the progressive movement because he ran a multinational corporation that had its fingers in a lot of dirty pots. Burson-Marsteller and its many subsidaries have lobbied for and represented tobacco companies, oil companies, Union Carbide, and Blackwater, among other clients. Penn became a particulary easy target for criticism when it was revealed Burson-Marsteller specialized in busting unions.
Penn was no more liked within Hillaryland, for both personal and professional reasons. His imperious nature and unwillingness to accept responsibility for failure rubbed many Clinton loyalists the wrong way. His reliance on data and his insistence that the campaign need not “humanize” Clinton produced mounting criticism with each primary loss. Blind quotes from top Clinton aides criticizing Penn are usually an easy get for Washington’s top journalists.
JUSTICE DEP’T LEGAL MEMO TO DEFENSE DEP’T GENERAL COUNSEL ON MILITARY INTERROGATION TACTICS(U.S. Dept. of Justice, Wash., D.C.) -(Warning Large Document-5+megs)In a newly released March 13, 2003 memo, John C. Yoo, former Deputy Counsel in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, explained that the DOJ believed the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth and Eighth Amendments “do not extend to alien enemy combatants held abroad,” so that federal crimes of assault, maiming, and interstate stalking would not apply to military interrogators.
