the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog: 04/03/2005

Friday, April 08, 2005

"A Living Will" for ya and it's free

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and

body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.

Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood

ethically challenged politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if

their lives depended on it.

If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a

cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such

a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my other half, children and

attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

Under no circumstances shall the hypocritical members of the Legislature

(State or Federal) enact a special law to keep me on life-support

machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn

business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future

of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.

Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case.

I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for

their run for the presidency, it is my wish that they play politics with

someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace.

I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails

to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these

people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on

my behalf. They should mind their own business, too.

If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a

political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make

his or her existence a living hell.

_____________________
Signature

DATE__________

__________________
Signature of Witness

DATE__________

MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

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Thursday, April 07, 2005

Stronger Conflict of Interest Policies Urged for EPA, NIH

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) need to strengthen their conflict of interest policies in order to address the potential for industry influence on government-led research and development (R&D) projects.

The report examines how American Chemistry Council (ACC) financial donations to EPA and NIH research projects may pose a conflict of public and private interests. The GAO investigation focuses on studies that examine the health effects of chemical exposure, and are partially funded by the ACC. The GAO report found that funding by the ACC could potentially influence regulatory rules that are based on the studies.

The ACC is an industry trade group that represents several chemical manufacturing companies. It has funded 17 NIH proposals and 2 EPA-related projects. [1]

The GAO report noted that neither the NIH nor the EPA had "specific policies requiring officials to evaluate or manage potential conflicts of interest when they entered into the ACC arrangements." [2]

However, both agencies and the ACC reported to the GAO that despite the lack of a formal evaluation policy, they believe agency officials are able to manage the ACC arrangements through normal research processes.

The GAO disputed the agencies' faith in these processes, noting that "because the agencies' research management processes are not designed to address conflict of interest issues, they are not a substitute for formal evaluation of such conflicts." [3]

Although ACC contributions to the EPA and NIH are legal, the GAO report suggests that the current system provides inadequate assurance that these contributions will not present a conflict of interest. The report's final recommendation was that the agencies develop formal policies to manage potential conflicts.

In a response to the report, EPA spokeswoman Suzanne Ackerman said EPA will review it, but did not say whether the agency would actually follow its recommendations. Ackerman said the agency already has a "strict, rigorous, and transparent process for ensuring our research agreements and grants meet the highest ethical standards." [4]

###

SOURCES:
[1] GAO Report, Apr. 1, 2005.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] "Agencies need conflict-of-interest policies -- GAO report," Greenwire, Apr. 4, 2005.

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Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Check this out for yourself

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Greg Palast

Investigative journalist Palast here collects his best work, which appeared in British and American publications. He exposes corruption worldwide, and his targets include the WTO, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, Tony Blair`s administration, Exxon, Pfizer, Hillary Clinton, and the IMF.

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Man Sells Device That Blocks Fox News

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

By EMILY FREDRIX, Associated Press Writer

It's not that Sam Kimery objects to the views expressed on Fox News. The creator of the "Fox Blocker" contends the channel is not news at all. Kimery figures he's sold about 100 of the little silver bits of metal that screw into the back of most televisions, allowing people to filter Fox News from their sets, since its August debut.

The Tulsa, Okla., resident also has received thousands of e-mails, both angry and complimentary — as well as a few death threats.

"Apparently the making of terroristic threats against those who don't share your views is a high art form among a certain core audience," said Kimery, 45.

Formerly a registered Republican, even a precinct captain, Kimery became an independent in the 1990s when he said the state party stopped taking input from its everyday members.

Kimery now contends Fox News' top-level management dictates a conservative journalistic bias, that inaccuracies are never retracted, and what winds up on the air is more opinion than news. "I might as well be reading tabloids out of the grocery store," he says. "Anything to get a rise out of the viewer and to reinforce certain retrograde notions."

A Fox spokeswoman at the station's New York headquarters said the channel's ratings speak for themselves. For the first three months of this year, Fox has been averaging 1.62 million viewers in prime-time, compared with CNN's 805,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Kimery's motives go deeper than preventing people from watching the channel, which he acknowledges can be done without the Blocker. But he likens his device to burning a draft card, a tangible example of disagreement.

And he's taking this message to the network's advertisers. After buying the $8.95 device online, would-be blockers are shown a letter that they can send to advertisers via the Fox Blocker site.

"The point is not to block the channel or block free speech but to raise awareness," said Kimery, who works in the tech industry.

Kimery doesn't use the device himself; his remote is programmed to only a half-dozen channels. Plus he occasionally feels the need to tune into Fox News for something "especially heinous."

Business could pick up since the blocker was alluded to in a recent episode of the ABC drama "Boston Legal." The show's original script mentioned Fox News, but ABC had the references removed.

The boisterous conversations on Fox News may be why the station is so popular, said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media watchdog group. And despite a perception that Fox leans to the right, Felling said, that doesn't mean people who lean left should tune out.

"It's tough to engage in an argument when you're not participating in it," Felling said. "It's just one more layer in the wall that the right and the left are building in between each other."

Fox Blocker: http://www.foxblocker.com

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Colorado Landowners Lose Crucial Battle to Oil and Gas Industry

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Private landowners in Colorado lost a controversial legal battle to the oil and gas industry last week. At issue was a bill that would have given private landowners more say in dealing with oil and gas companies drilling on their land.

The bill aimed to ensure fair negotiations between landowners and oil companies in order to address conflicts between landowners and oil and gas companies over "split-estates:" when one person owns the surface land, but another owns the resources beneath it. Currently, federal rules are in industry's favor as they grant priority to mineral or resource owners.

Adding an increased sense of urgency to the matter, loosened regulations and weakened public health laws have enabled a dramatic boost in oil and gas drilling throughout the Rocky Mountain States over the past four years.

Earlier this year Wyoming passed a law similar to the Colorado bill that died in the Colorado Legislature. The law requires oil and gas companies to notify landowners prior to drilling, and calls for mineral property owners to enter into good-faith negotiations to reach agreement on reclamation of disturbed areas and payment for damages.

Although nine other states have established surface owner protection laws, Colorado allows oil and gas companies to enter private property without permission from the landowner, where they can set up industrial equipment, emit air pollution, and occupy acres of private land without negotiating with the landowner. [2]

Environmental damage incurred by this process has infuriated landowners all over the state and brought together an unusual coalition of homeowners, environmentalists and farmers.

Jared Fiel of the Colorado Corn Growers Association, a group that strongly supported the bill, described how such damage has harmed corn farms: "Waste water from oil wells seeps into an area where we grow our crops, which can interrupt the entire process," Fiel said. "Sometimes an oil company will show up during harvest time and place a pump right in the middle of your field with no warning."

Such instances are increasingly leading to disputes between farmers and oil companies. They eventually reach the Oil and Gas Commission, which according to Fiel, "generally favors industry."

To back up his claim, Fiel described one case where an oil company built a pump on the land of two corn farmers in Eaton, Colorado. "A realtor said that the pump decreased their property value by $20,000, but the oil company only paid them $2,000 for the use of their land," said Fiel. "When the case went to the oil and gas commission, they said, well, that sounds fair to us."

The Oil and Gas Commission isn't the only place industry has been able to flex its power. Rep. Kathleen Curry, who drafted the Colorado bill, told BushGreenwatch that oil and gas interest groups intensely lobbied state legislators. "The industry lobby launched a massive e-mail and telephone campaign throughout the state," said Curry. "The industry also called hundreds of constituents in all 11 Committee members' districts, telling them that if 1219 passed, their gas bill would immediately sky-rocket."

###

CORRECTION
An article in BushGreenwatch on March 31 misstated the date of the reintroduction of Senator Jon Corzine's Chemical Security Act. The bill is schedule to be reintroduced as soon as a week. Take action on this issue through OMBwatch.

###

SOURCES:
[1] BushGreenwatch, Oct. 27, 2004.
[2] Colorado Landowners press release, Mar. 30, 2005.

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Abolish the IRS???

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

The Tax Plan To Kill K Street
by George Will

The power to tax involves, as Chief Justice John Marshall said, the power to destroy. So does the power of tax reform, which is one reason why Rep. John Linder, a Georgia Republican, has a 133-page bill to replace 55,000 pages of tax rules.

His bill would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the many billions of tax forms it sends out and receives. He would erase the federal income tax system — personal and corporate income taxes, the regressive payroll tax and self-employment tax, capital gains, gift and estate taxes, the alternative minimum tax, and the earned-income tax credit — and replace all that with a 23 percent national sales tax on personal consumption. That would not only sensitize consumers to the cost of government with every purchase, it would destroy K Street.

"K Street" is shorthand for Washington's lawyer-lobbyist complex. It exists to continually complicate and defend the tax code, which is a cornucopia from which the political class pours benefits on constituencies. If the income tax were replaced — Linder had better repeal the 16th Amendment, to make sure the income tax stays gone — everyone and all businesses would pay their taxes through economic choices, and K Street's intellectual capital, which consists of knowing how to game the tax code, would be radically depreciated.

Under his bill, he says, all goods, imported and domestic, would be treated equally at the checkout counter, and all taxpayers — including upward of 50 million foreign visitors annually — would pay "as much as they choose, when they choose, by how they choose to spend." And his bill untaxes the poor by including an advance monthly rebate for every household equal to the sales tax on consumption of essential goods and services, as calculated by the government, up to the annually adjusted poverty level.

Today the percentage of taxpayers who rely on professional tax preparers is at an all-time high. The 67 percent of tax filers who do not itemize may think they avoid compliance costs, which include nagging uncertainty about whether one has properly complied with a tax code about the meaning of which experts differ. But everyone pays the cost of the tax system's huge drag on the economy.

Linder says Americans spend 7 billion hours a year filling out IRS forms and at least that much calculating the tax implications of business decisions. Economic growth suffers, because corporate boards waste huge amounts of time on such calculations rather than making economically rational allocations of resources. Money saved on compliance costs would fund job creation.

Corporations do not pay payroll and income taxes and compliance costs; they collect them from consumers through prices. So the 23 percent consumption tax would allow taxpayers to stop paying the huge embedded cost of corporate taxation. Linder says the director of the Congressional Budget Office told him it costs individuals and businesses about $500 billion to remit $2 trillion to Washington. And studies show that it costs the average small business $724 to collect and remit $100.

In 1945 corporations paid more than one-third of the government's revenue. Now they pay only 11 percent, because corporations, especially multinationals, are voluntary taxpayers. In a world increasingly without borders that block capital movements, corporations pay where the burden is lowest. Linder says $6 trillion in offshore accounts would have an incentive to come home under his plan.

Furthermore, by ending payroll and corporate taxes, the United States would become the only nation selling goods with no tax component — such as Europe's value-added tax — in their prices. With no taxes on capital and labor, multinationals would, Linder thinks, stampede to locate here, which would be an incentive for other nations to emulate America. "This," Linder says, "would unleash freedom around the globe."

Critics argue that ending the income tax, with its deductibility of charitable contributions, would depress giving. Linder says: Piffle. In 1980, when the top personal income tax rate was 70 percent, a huge incentive for giving, individual charitable contributions were $40.7 billion. In 1986 the top rate was reduced to 28 percent, and by 1988 charitable giving was $86.7 billion. The lesson, says Linder, is that we give more money when we have more money.

When Speaker Dennis Hastert published a book last year, he was startled to find that interviewers were most interested in talking about Linder's bill, which then had 54 co-sponsors. This year Hastert added Linder to the Ways and Means Committee. Linder cheerfully says his bill would reduce Ways and Means to "a B committee" by ending the political fun of making the tax code ever more baroque for the benefit of K Street's clients. Bliss.

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Now here is some real new news

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

WASHINGTON (AP) The State Department will require passports for Americans re-entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, Panama and Bermuda, government officials have told The Associated Press.

THIS IS HOW WELL YOUR GOVERMENT DOES IT'S WORK. WHAT YEAR WAS 9/11 IN AGAIN?

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Monday, April 04, 2005

$82 billion more for Iraq: Demand an exit strategy.

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Congress has barely debated the war in Iraq or its aftermath since it voted to authorize the use of force in October 2002. Now, the Bush administration is skipping the normal budget process to ask for an additional $82 billion to fund the American presence in Iraq. Among the big-ticket items, a $600 million embassy and some 14 "enduring" bases.[1] Those bases, and the absence of an exit strategy, will worsen, not improve the situation in Iraq.

And, remember the last $87 billion Congress authorized for the war: a whopping $9 billion of it is missing because of corrupt contracting.[2] We must root out the corporate corruption that has undercut the rebuilding efforts and lost billions of taxpayers' money.

As it considers another $82 billion for Iraq, Congress needs to insist that America has an exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline, that we do not construct permanent bases in Iraq and that we end war profiteering by corporations. Please sign our petition urging Congress to act today.

http://www.moveonpac.org/iraq?id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

So far we've spent at least $200 billion invading, policing and now trying to rebuild Iraq. There are more than 150,000 U.S. troops there, yet the situation continues to worsen. In February of this year there was an average of 70 attacks per day by insurgents. A year ago, the average number of attacks per day was 14. Similarly, the number of insurgents has more than tripled over the last year.[3]

Things haven't been improving much for Iraqis health and welfare, either. They have, on average, only 8 hours of electricity per day. Unemployment is between 28 and 40 percent. More than 700,000 children have dropped out of school and malnutrition rates among children in Iraq have nearly doubled since Saddam was in power.[4] And, in January the National Intelligence Council confirmed that Iraq is now a breeding ground for terrorists.[5]

Many of the challenges we face in Iraq are because our posture is one of a permanent presence. The lack of an exit strategy and the construction of permanent bases are provocative signals to Iraqis, implying an occupation that could last for generations.

War profiteering by dozens of firms in Iraq is draining the reconstruction effort. One firm, Custer Battles, was paid approximately $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport, even though no planes flew during the contract term.[6]

While all of this is going on Congress remains silent on the war, refusing to debate its conduct or how to exit the country.

Please sign our petition. Insist that Congress does its job.

http://www.moveonpac.org/iraq?id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

Congress needs to hear from you.

Thanks for all you do.

--Tom Matzzie and the MoveOn PAC Team
Monday, April 4th, 2005

P.S. Here is a helpful resource.

Iraq by the Numbers, Center for American Progress, March 18, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=678&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

Footnotes:

1. 14 'enduring bases' set in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2004
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=679&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

2. Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds, CNN, January 31, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=680&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

3. Iraq Index, The Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

4. Iraq Index, The Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

5. Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground, The Washington Post, January 14, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=681&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

6. Lawmakers Told About Contract Abuse in Iraq, The Washington Post, February 15, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=682&id=5311-5459864-N6zJP1oOnlAz5W.hjhQ_jQ

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the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Friday, April 08, 2005

"A Living Will" for ya and it's free

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Stronger Conflict of Interest Policies Urged for EPA, NIH

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Check this out for yourself

Man Sells Device That Blocks Fox News

Colorado Landowners Lose Crucial Battle to Oil and Gas Industry

Abolish the IRS???

Now here is some real new news

Monday, April 04, 2005

$82 billion more for Iraq: Demand an exit strategy.

Agree or not, talking it over is better...

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Hillary Open

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