the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Saturday, April 03, 2004

REVERSING PLEDGE, BUSH LETS OPEC BILK AMERICANS

As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush
pledged to use his
"political capital" to influence OPEC when gas
prices soared, saying that
during a crisis, a president, "ought to get on the
phone with the OPEC
cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your
spigots" (1). But with gas
prices soaring in the United States (2), newspapers
report the White House
now says the president refuses to "personally lobby
oil cartel leaders to
change their minds" (3).

With the president refusing to do anything about
the situation, OPEC opted
this week to cut supply to further inflate gas
prices and bilk American
consumers (4). While Saudi Arabia's ambassador told
the White House
yesterday that his country supposedly opposed
higher oil prices, the
president's refusal to use his close relations with
the Saudi government
gave the Saudis a pass to support the OPEC
production cut (5). Despite the
Saudi effort to keep American energy prices high -
and despite their ties to
terror groups (6) - the President continues to
insist that the Saudi Arabia
is "our friend" (7).

During his term, the president has pursued other
policies that help enrich
the oil industry, which has given him more than $3
million since 2000 (8).
For instance, his tax legislation actually created
a massive tax incentive
for consumers to purchase gas-guzzling SUVs over
fuel efficient hybrid cars
(9). Meanwhile, the first budget President Bush
introduced after taking
office tried to cut 37%, (almost $200 million), out
of federal research on
renewable energy and energy efficiency programs
(10).

Sources:
1. "OPEC to cut back despite high prices",
Washington Times, 04/01/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26079.
2. "Surging Gas Prices Pump Up Political Debate"
Los Angeles Times,
03/31/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26080.
3. "Bush Refuses to Lean on Oil Cartel" Miami
Herald, 04/01/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26081.
4. "OPEC cut to oil output likely to keep prices
near record levels", Dallas
Morning News, 04/01/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26082.
5. "Saudi envoy plays nice with White House on oil
supply", USA Today,
04/02/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26083.
6. "The Saudi Connection", US News and World
Report, 12/15/2003,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26084.
7. President Bush Vows to Bring Terrorists to
Justice, 05/15/2003,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26085.
8. OpenSecrets.Org,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26086.
9. "SUV, truck owners get a big tax break", Detroit
News, 12/18/2002,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26087.
10. "Proposed Bush Budget Cuts Renewables and
Energy Efficiency Programs",
Resources for the Future, 04/11/2001,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=26088.

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".

send comments via Email to me, D

Friday, April 02, 2004

Is there anyone we can like? Maybe, Maybe not

From a friend of mine, She won't enter directly, so I copy her emails in for all to see...

John Kerry, man of the common folk.... he understands your pain,
really... trust him - lol, yeah - right

The many homes of Democrat Presidential candiate,
John F. Kerry.

Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania (Assessed value: $3.7
million)

Ketchum, Idaho ski getaway/vacation home (Assessed
value: $4.916 million)

Washington, D.C - Georgetown area (assessment: $4.7
million)

Nantucket, Massachusetts waterfront retreat on
Brant Point (Assessed value:
$9.18 million)

Boston, Massachusetts - Beacon Hill home (Assessed
value: $6.9)

oh, and he sold this estate in Italy to activist
actor George Clooney, just
before announcing his running for president. I
guess he thought it might
not sit well with the common man. ($7.8 million)

other foreign property ownership by John Kerry is
unknown... because he
denied repeated requests for this information.

These are the people we'll get till we make them do something about how Money get to them. Down with PACs and the money that the Bussiness world gaves to our Public Servants.

send comments via Email to me, D

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Environmental Pioneer Decries Bush Environmental Damage

A major new book explains why global efforts have failed to curb the world's most serious environmental threats -- and lays a large share of the blame at the feet of the Bush Administration.

"I think the biggest problem we have in facing these issues is the lack of U.S. leadership. In fact, what we've had is negative leadership," said longtime environmental leader Gus Speth, author of Red Sky at Morning. Now dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Speth offers eight approaches that can deter global environmental deterioration, as well as an analysis of why most efforts thus far have failed.

One of the pioneers of the modern environmental movement, Speth was co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental advisor to President Jimmy Carter, founder of the environmental think tank World Resources Institute, and CEO of the UN Development Programme.

Speth described to BushGreenwatch a pattern of obstructionist policies throughout the Bush tenure that have impeded global efforts to address pressing environmental issues such as climate change, renewable energy development, fossil fuel emissions, population measures and depletion of the ozone layer.

Rather than join with European nations to forge agreements on how nations can reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, combat global warming, thwart further depletion of the ozone layer or reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, the Bush administration has chosen policies that curry favor with industry, Speth said.

"I think they've been more concerned about their own future from the outset," he said, "their own political future, rather than the public's future and our country's future. In my judgment this is really reprehensible."

Specifically, Speth criticized the Bush administration for:

Backing out of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce man's contribution to global climate change, and breaking "his own campaign commitment to a bill that would have regulated carbon dioxide emissions," a major contributor to global warming.
Opposing multinational efforts to reach goals on renewable energy development at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Attempting to water down an international treaty to strictly limit or eliminate exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and "dragging its feet" on getting the treaty ratified.
Opposing legislation put forward by Senators McCain and Lieberman that would establish a federal goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Blocking support for international population program measures because of pressure from the right to life movement.
Seeking massive exemptions from a successful international treaty to reduce production of methyl bromide (a potent ozone-depleting chemical). This would reverse U.S. progress on the problem, and has caused international anger.
Perhaps the most egregious acts of the Bush Administration have been in the area of U.S. energy policy and the failure to support the Kyoto Protocol, Speth said. Not only did the U.S. pull out of this historic agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but doing so has delayed Russian ratification, and will likely deter European nations from participating in the latter phases of the treaty, he said.

"This is huge in historic terms," said Speth. "We are rapidly losing our chance to prevent extremely serious and costly climate disruption. We haven't acted on this problem, and the U.S. is the biggest culprit. If we don't tackle this problem now we will reap very serious consequences."

send comments via Email to me, D

Al Franken hits the AIR TODAY for Liberal America

Get ready for a new concept in talk radio: liberals. A new company, Air America Radio, said Wednesday it will go live March 31 @ noon in the nation's FIVE largest markets, including the Bay Area, with an unprecedented left- leaning, round-the-clock talk radio network, featuring outspoken comedians Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher. The show name may be called "The O'Franken Factor"

New York - WLIB 1190 AM
Los Angelis - KBLA 1580 AM
Chicago - WNTD 950 AM
PORTLAND, OR - KPOJ 620 AM
Inland Empie, CA - KCAA 1050 AM
San Francisco - Coming Soon
XM Satellite Radio Channel 167
Steaming on the web at www.airamericaradio.com/ Set up to play on Real Player more than anything else.
And just added today (3-31-04) at the website Minneapois MN - WMNN 1330 AM

I've added the AirAmericaRadio.com link to the link list to the left for ya...

Air America's program lineup will be broadcast live on the East Coast, and tape delayed on the West Coast. Franken's show -- called "The O'Franken Factor" in a deliberate tweak at Fox News rival Bill O'Reilly -- will air from 11 AM to 2 p.m. (east coast times), while Garofalo's "The Majority Report" will run from 8 to 11 p.m. The shows will be repeated between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., the only hours when Air America won't have original programming.

Franken had great success last year when Fox News Channel sued him over the phrase "fair and balanced," and the resulting media attention helped make a best-seller out of his book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." That experience led him to claim Wednesday, "We're going to be baiting (O'Reilly) as much as we can."

Jack Swanson, a self-proclaimed "screaming liberal" who started conservative talk station KSFO (560 AM) in San Francisco, said Air America is going about its business all wrong. "I don't think anybody's going to notice they're there," said Swanson, operations manager for talk stations KSFO and KGO (810 AM), owned by the Walt Disney Co.
In addition, he said, "I don't think there's a demand for it. ... (Air America's backers) are influential wealthy Democrats. It's a charity in a strange kind of way."

Swanson said Air America would need to spend $2 million on advertising in San Francisco alone in its first year to attract a sufficient audience.
Some have questioned whether liberals can succeed at all in the realm of talk radio. Conservatives, the argument goes, see the world in black and white, and offer more-entertaining points of view, while liberals tend to debate shades of gray and put audiences to sleep. In addition, corporate advertisers may favor conservative hosts who are friendlier to their points of view.

"If you're promoting SUVs, you're more likely to get an SUV commercial than if you're bashing them. That's pretty elementary," said Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, a liberal who had a talk show for several years on Pacifica Radio, including Berkeley's KPFA (94.1 FM). "The fact of the matter is, the liberal in American terms is offering correctives to capitalism, whereas the conservatives are singing the praises of capitalism, unfettered and unabashed and unapologetic. So, right there you have an order of magnitude difference in terms of corporate favorability."
Some liberals have had success in local markets, such as Miami's Randi Rhodes, who will be joining Air America. In addition, while some people say the failure of shows like one hosted by Jim Hightower of Texas prove that there's no market for left-wing talk, Hightower contends that his radio show was canceled not for lack of ratings, but because Disney bought ABC, which syndicated the program.

"My populist viewpoint didn't fit Disney's agenda," Hightower said.
Others in the radio business see some potential for Air America. Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, said, "Talk radio works best when it serves people who feel disenfranchised. Maybe now with a conservative president, a conservative government and the war, maybe the time is right for someone to be critical of the president."

Michael Jeary, president of the New York advertising agency Della Femina Rothschild Jeary and Partners, said the demand for a liberal point of view could attract an audience, and for advertisers, "it's going to be all about the ratings."
He said the station would naturally attract "green products," and should scoop up a good share of this year's copious political advertising dollars.
Contributor: Dan Fost of sfchronicle.com through www.sfgate.com
END

With those remarks, "It's going to be great", me.

send comments via Email to me, D

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Troubled Waters: Bush Team Works to Weaken Clean Water Protections

Between January 2002 and June 2003, more than 3,700 facilities across the U.S. violated their Clean Water Act permits for discharging pollutants into the nation's waters, according to a new study from U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG). Some facilities exceeded their permits repeatedly, and for multiple pollutants. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has weakened both protections and enforcement under the Act, putting public health at risk.

The report, "Troubled Waters: An analysis of Clean Water Act compliance, January 2002-June 2003," details extensive violations of the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA). USPIRG notes that in the 18-month period covered in the report,

35 facilities exceeded their permits during every reporting period.
436 major facilities exceeded their CWA permit limits for at least 10 of 18 reporting periods.
There were more than 32,000 total violations of CWA permits.
On average, facilities that exceeded their permits had violations in excess of six times the amount of allowed pollution discharge.
Meanwhile the Bush Administration has persistently worked to weaken protections for America's waterways, resisted clean-up of dirty waters, and undercut enforcement of the CWA.

In January 2003, the Bush Administration announced an intended rule change that would exclude numerous waterways from protection under the Act, including 20 million acres of wetlands, comprising 20% of all wetlands in the contiguous 48 states. Simultaneously the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers instructed staff to stop enforcing the CWA in "isolated" waterways such as small streams and non-navigable ponds. Responding to an angry outcry from the environmental community, EPA announced in December, 2003 that it would not go forward with the rule change. However, agency staff must now apply for "formal project-specific approval" to protect these waters. Formerly, mining companies, developers, and other polluters had to apply for exemptions under the CWA.

Last November the Bush Administration issued a draft of revised guidelines for sewage treatment by publicly owned facilities. The changes would allow these plants to divert filtered sewage from secondary, biological treatments and mix it with fully treated wastewater before discharge. The risks to public health from this relaxed guideline could include increased outbreaks of pfisteria, giardia, and hepatitis A.

The Bush Administration's proposed EPA funding for fiscal year 2005 slashes over $600 million from the agency's budget, reducing the agency's ability to monitor and enforce federal clean water laws. The proposed budget also reduces by 37% funds made available to states for improvement of wastewater treatment facilities.

"At a time when our leaders should be working with the states to address this illegal pollution and make all of our waterways fishable and swimmable, the Bush Administration suggested, proposed, or enacted numerous policies that would weaken the Clean Water Act and threaten the future of America's rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans," writes USPIRG's Alison Cassady.[1]

###

TAKE ACTION
Email your U.S. Representative and ask them to protectect U.S. waters from polluters by supporting the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.

send comments via Email to me, D

Join the Roadtrip for Ralph!?

There's less than 11 days to go get Ralph on the ballot in George Bush's backyard (better known as Texas)!
We're looking for volunteers to come to Texas by plane, train or automobile (or boat or scooter or on horseback!) to help us collect signatures. Dozens of folks have made the journey and are currently hard at work ... but we need dozens more to get the job done. If you'd like to join the Roadtrip as one of our volunteers, click here or if you'd like to hear more, keep reading.

46% of Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq "as quick as possible." Ralph Nader has a three-point proposal to bring our troops home within six months. Bush and Kerry support sending more troops. One important way you can help bring an end to our involvement in Iraq is by volunteering to collect signatures. (To read more about Ralph's proposal, click here).

If you're ready to volunteer to collect signatures in Texas to get Ralph Nader on the state's ballot, click here. If you need more information, keep reading.

Want to help break the lock that the entrenched two-parties have on our elections? Want to expand the election debate to include issues the party machines don't want on the docket? Want to help knock down the anti-democratic hurdles placed in front of political "outsiders?" Then now is the time to come to Texas and help put Ralph Nader on the ballot. Click here for more details. Or, if you live in Texas and want to download a petition form and start collecting signatures right away, click here.

If you can't join us in person, please consider a donation to sponsor someone else in their journey to bring true democracy to this election. Our goal is to raise $20,000 by May 10th . With your help, we can do it! Click here to Contribute.

Finally, if you know people in Texas family, friends, relatives, co-workers, business associates give them a call and let them know they can make a difference! You can forward this email or send them a link to the Texas Ballot Access page to help them get started. We need the help of committed people like you!

And finally, as always, thank you for your support.

As always, we need your help to make this campaign happen! You can make a difference:
Contribute!
Get Involved! -- take a Roadtrip For Ralph!
Petition in Texas.

send comments via Email to me, D

Ralph Nader CNN's Crossfire

Ralph on Crossfire, Tues. March 30

Ralph Nader will appear on CNN's Crossfire, on
Tuesday March 30 between 4:30 and 5:00 PM EST.

send comments via Email to me, D

Monday, March 29, 2004

Bush Continues Push for Anti-Environment Circuit Court Nominee

The U.S. Senate will vote later this week on whether to give a lifetime seat on the federal bench -- with substantial influence over environmental laws affecting 485 million acres of public land in Alaska and the American West -- to a man judged barely qualified for the position by the American Bar Association (ABA).

Despite opposition from members of the California State Legislature and more than 70 legal scholars and professors, President Bush is urging the Senate to confirm William Myers, his former chief attorney for the Department of Interior, to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. The ABA gave Myers its lowest possible rating, with only a "slim majority" finding him "qualified." More than a third rated him "unqualified" and no one rated him "well qualified."[1]

Myers' nomination has generated opposition from more than 160 environmental, Native American, civil rights, labor, disability rights, women's rights and other organizations, many of whom "have never before opposed a judicial nominee by any President," said Sugameli.

"There is no good reason why any Senator should support Myers" nomination and lots of reasons why Senators should exercise their advise and consent duty to just say no to Myers, who has the most anti-environmental and most anti-tribal record of any of President Bush's appeals court nominees," Glenn Sugameli, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice told BushGreenwatch.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, members of the California Legislature said Myers appeared to be "a singularly poor choice" for the bench and urged her to "do all [she] can to ensure he is not confirmed."

"Mr. Myers is neither qualified to serve on the Ninth Circuit nor has he demonstrated the ability to be fair and impartial as an appellate judge," the letter states. "Throughout his career he has single-mindedly worked to advance the interests of grazing and mining industries at the expense of the environment and acted against the interests and rights of Native Americans and tribal governments. His record as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior indicates that if confirmed, he would be a threat to California's strong environmental laws."[2]

Opponents have criticized Myers for helping to weaken protections for endangered species and public lands, for helping to tilt Administration policies in favor of extractive industries and for loosening protections against overgrazing public lands. Myers is a former lobbyist for the National Mining Association and a former executive director of the Public Lands Council, a trade association that promotes the interests of ranchers who graze sheep and cattle on public lands.

He angered Native Americans when, as chief attorney for the U.S. Department of the Interior, he reversed his predecessor's opinion to clear the way for a cyanide heap-leach gold mine in California that could cause irreparable harm to an important spiritual site for the Quechan Indian Tribe. He has also been the subject of two ethics investigations while serving at Interior.

###

TAKE ACTION
Oppose Myers' nomination on Earthjustice's website.

###

SOURCES:
[1] Sign-on Letter to Chairman Orrin Hatch, Committee on the Judiciary, US Senate, from Richard L. Abel, Connell Professor of Law, UCLA, et. al.
[2] Letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the California Legislature, Mar. 15, 2004.

send comments via Email to me, D

From Barbra Streisand's blog

The Myth of Bush as Hero" ...Barbra Streisand's blog

Posted on March 29, 2004
Finally ... finally we can talk about what's really going on. Rather than accept the myth that 9/11 turned President Bush into a "hero" ... former counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke has bravely spoken out to tell us the real story - that Bush did not treat terrorism as an urgent issue. And that going to war in Iraq, in addition to tragically costing us so many lives, has diverted money and resources away from where they should have been focused - on dismantling al Qaeda and strengthening our homeland security.

We now know that the Bush White House never made counterterrorism a priority leading up to September 11th. In fact, on April 30, 2001, the new administration released the government's annual report on terrorism, with a noted change: extensive mention of bin Laden, which previous terrorism reports contained, had been left out. A Bush State Department Official reportedly told CNN at that time that the U.S. government under Clinton had made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden.

In fact, Bush never even held a cabinet level meeting devoted to terrorism until the week before the attack. While FBI agents were fielding concerns about non-citizens in flight school uninterested in learning how to land planes, and the CIA was aware that potential terrorists had entered the United States, because terrorism was not a priority in the high levels of the federal government these discussions were never elevated to a place where the information could be shared across departments, where the appropriate people would have an opportunity to connect the dots...

Here is a brief timeline (much of the information is from the Center for American Progress) of some of the more egregious warnings of looming terrorism that Bush overlooked as he spent the first eight months in office planning tax cuts for the wealthy, devising a way to invade Iraq, and taking long vacations out at his ranch in Crawford, Texas:

1) A 1999 report prepared by the Library of Congress for the National Intelligence Council specifically theorized that al Qaeda could fly airplanes into buildings - so we know that the scope of the attack was not entirely beyond anyone's imagination.

2) In early 2001, a surge of al Qaeda activity and plans for attacks against American "interests" were noted, including by Israeli intelligence agencies.

3) Also in early 2001, the Bush administration departed from Clinton's policy of tracking money to terrorist organizations. (Was Bush trying to protect the Saudi royal family?)

4) In July 2001, U.S. and Italian officials were warned that al Qaeda may use planes as missiles at a Genoa summit of industrialized nations.

5) On August 6, 2001, while on vacation in Crawford, the president received a one and a half page briefing advising him that al Qaeda was capable of a major strike against the U.S., and that the plot could include the hijacking of American airplanes. And then what did the president do with this important information? He went fishing - bringing new meaning to the phrase, "Gone Fishin'"!

6) In July, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped flying on commercial airlines because of a "threat assessment."

7) Newsweek has reported that on September 10th, 2001, a number of Pentagon officials canceled travel plans for the next morning due to security concerns, and "that as many as 10 to 12 warnings" were issued before 9/11 - "more than two of the warnings specifically mentioned the possibility of hijackings."

8) Also on September 10th (as I posted in a statement on November 21, 2002), Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected the FBI's request for a $58 million increase for their counterterrorism budget to pay for 149 new counterterrorism field agents, 200 intelligence analysts and 54 additional translators. He did that despite the fact, discovered later by a Congressional investigation, that the FBI had only one analyst monitoring al Qaeda and a severe shortage of Arabic translators.

Soon after September 11th, Condoleezza Rice said, "I don't think anyone could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center." And now Bush says, "Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America, to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people." Did he really say this? I heard it on the radio but I couldn't believe my own ears. Indeed, the scope of the horror of 9/11 is beyond the realm of what even the most savvy threat assessors may have thought possible.

However ... as the brief timeline above shows, THE PRESIDENT WAS REPEATEDLY WARNED that al Qaeda was planning some sort of attack, and that the attack may involve airplanes. So these are my questions:

-WHY DIDN'T OUR GOVERNMENT DO MORE TO BEEF UP SECURITY AT AIRPORTS AND ON AIRPLANES?

-WHY WEREN'T WARNINGS ISSUED TO THOSE ENTRUSTED TO PROTECT OUR FLIGHT SECURITY?

-ISN'T LEADERSHIP ABOUT ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY, ANTICIPATING THE UNFATHOMABLE, HEEDING WARNINGS AND FIRMLY ACTING UPON THEM?

-WHEN THE PRESIDENT RECEIVED A MEMO THAT HIJACKINGS OF AMERICAN PLANES MIGHT OCCUR, SHOULDN'T HE HAVE IMMEDIATELY TAKEN ACTION?

I DO BELIEVE THAT EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN THAT TRULY CARES ABOUT THIS COUNTRY, AND LEARNS THE FACTS, WOULD HAVE TO SERIOUSLY ASK THESE QUESTIONS ... AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IN NOVEMBER!
END

send comments via Email to me, D

Bush Continues Push for Anti-Environment Circuit Court Nominee

March 29, 2004

The U.S. Senate will vote later this week on whether to give a lifetime seat on the federal bench -- with substantial influence over environmental laws affecting 485 million acres of public land in Alaska and the American West -- to a man judged barely qualified for the position by the American Bar Association (ABA).

Despite opposition from members of the California State Legislature and more than 70 legal scholars and professors, President Bush is urging the Senate to confirm William Myers, his former chief attorney for the Department of Interior, to the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. The ABA gave Myers its lowest possible rating, with only a "slim majority" finding him "qualified." More than a third rated him "unqualified" and no one rated him "well qualified."[1]

Myers' nomination has generated opposition from more than 160 environmental, Native American, civil rights, labor, disability rights, women's rights and other organizations, many of whom "have never before opposed a judicial nominee by any President," said Sugameli.

"There is no good reason why any Senator should support Myers" nomination and lots of reasons why Senators should exercise their advise and consent duty to just say no to Myers, who has the most anti-environmental and most anti-tribal record of any of President Bush's appeals court nominees," Glenn Sugameli, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice told BushGreenwatch.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, members of the California Legislature said Myers appeared to be "a singularly poor choice" for the bench and urged her to "do all [she] can to ensure he is not confirmed."

"Mr. Myers is neither qualified to serve on the Ninth Circuit nor has he demonstrated the ability to be fair and impartial as an appellate judge," the letter states. "Throughout his career he has single-mindedly worked to advance the interests of grazing and mining industries at the expense of the environment and acted against the interests and rights of Native Americans and tribal governments. His record as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior indicates that if confirmed, he would be a threat to California's strong environmental laws."[2]

Opponents have criticized Myers for helping to weaken protections for endangered species and public lands, for helping to tilt Administration policies in favor of extractive industries and for loosening protections against overgrazing public lands. Myers is a former lobbyist for the National Mining Association and a former executive director of the Public Lands Council, a trade association that promotes the interests of ranchers who graze sheep and cattle on public lands.

He angered Native Americans when, as chief attorney for the U.S. Department of the Interior, he reversed his predecessor's opinion to clear the way for a cyanide heap-leach gold mine in California that could cause irreparable harm to an important spiritual site for the Quechan Indian Tribe. He has also been the subject of two ethics investigations while serving at Interior.

###

TAKE ACTION
Oppose Myers' nomination on Earthjustice's website.

###

SOURCES:
[1] Sign-on Letter to Chairman Orrin Hatch, Committee on the Judiciary, US Senate, from Richard L. Abel, Connell Professor of Law, UCLA, et. al.
[2] Letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the California Legislature, Mar. 15, 2004.

send comments via Email to me, D

The Corporate Paymasters and the Parties and other items

Both The Democratic Party, and the Rep. Party and thier Pres. Administration in varying extremes, are putting the interests of their corporate paymasters before the interests of the people.

Corporations should not be given equal rights with humans
A national debate is needed regarding the necessity to reverse the dicta in the 1886 Supreme Court Case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad that first awarded the corporation constitutional status as a person and in subsequent decision. Corporations are not human beings, they do not vote; they are artificial entities which should be subordinated to the rights of human beings There can be no equal justice under the law if General Motors or Exxon has all the rights of humans plus all the privileges and immunities to concentrate enormous power and escape responsibility in ways unavailable to the wealthiest of real people.
A Ralph Nader statement.

Even if you will NEVER vote for Nader go read what he has to say. You may find that what he is talking of is something that you'd want to hear your "GUY" talk to.

Some of his other thoughts:

Wants to make health care universally available
We need to get the insurance companies out of administering health care, increase patient choice, expand coverage and save money. The United States spends far more on health care per capita than any other country in the world, but more than 45 million Americans have no health insurance. A single-payer program, with full medical coverage, should provide health care that provides comprehensive benefits with quality care and cost controls to all Americans throughout their lives.

Wants to create jobs by investing in America's future, invest in Americans
Since January 2001, 2.7 million jobs have been lost and more than 75% of those jobs have been high wage, high productivity manufacturing jobs. Overall 5.6% of Americans are unemployed while 10.5% of African Americans are unemployed. Unemployment among Latinos is nearly 30 per cent higher than January 20, 2001. By requiring equitable trade, investing in urgently needed local labor-intensive public works (infrastructure improvements), creating a new renewable energy efficiency policy; by fully funding education and redirecting large bureaucratic and fraudulent health expenditures toward preventive health care we can reverse this trend and create millions of new jobs.

See what your guy has to say. More subjects at Naders website www.votenader.org

send comments via Email to me, D

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Bush gaves new meaning to "stumping"

March 25, 2004 | Back Issues « previous |
New Bush Rollbacks Endanger Northwest Salmon Industry, Forests

More stumps and fewer salmon are on the Pacific Northwest's horizon. On Tuesday, the Bush Administration announced rule changes that end the "Survey and Manage" standard that has helped protect old-growth forests for the past 10 years, as well as hundreds of rare and endangered species. The administration also weakened provisions of a rule designed to protect vulnerable streams and salmon from damage due to logging.[1]

As described in the March 5 BushGreenwatch, the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan's "Survey and Manage" standard required the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to "look before logging" -- to survey public lands for sensitive plants, fungi and fauna native to northwest forests. The need to protect these species, which serve as indicators of forest health, has often reduced or canceled logging of old-growth forests.

Now, forest managers will decide on a case-by-case basis whether protection is important. The rule changes will affect 5.5 million acres of forests on public lands.[2]

"The Bush Administration is making it easier to cut old-growth trees for an industry that will fund its reelection campaign," said Jeremy Hall of the Oregon Natural Resources Council Action in Eugene. "The industry donated more than $1 million dollars to the President and his party and the payback is logging trucks loaded with our biggest trees."[3]

Also on Tuesday, the administration announced that individual timber sales would no longer be required to meet all the protections for stream and watershed health established by the Northwest Forest Plan's Aquatic Conservation Strategy. Instead of monitoring the effects of logging on a site-by-site basis, agency managers will instead assess entire watersheds, which can range in size from 30 to 150 square miles.[4]

Damage to streams and salmon will be impossible to judge on such a large scale until it is too late, according to Glenn Spain, Northwest Regional Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Under the old rules you're supposed to assess the impact of a timber sale based on the particular characteristics of the site -- such as slope and stream conditions. You're supposed to know what you're doing," Spain told BushGreenwatch.

"Under the new rules, there will be no connections made between the logging on the ground and the effect on the salmon. They don't have to know what they're doing, or mitigate impact," said Spain. "It's a don't-know, don't find-out policy that institutionalizes scientific ignorance."

"I'm a registered Republican, but I did not vote for a rollback in the fundamental protections of public resources that support sustainable industries, such as fishing," Spain added. "We have tens of thousands of family-wage jobs at risk. The fishing industry is worth one billion dollars in the Pacific Northwest, and over $150 billion nationwide. No fish, no fishermen, no fishing jobs."

###

SOURCES:
[1] Earthjustice press release, Mar. 23, 2004.
[2] "Key rules are eased to boost logging," The Oregonian, Mar. 24, 2004.
[3] Earthjustice Press Release, op. cit.
[4] The Oregonian, op. cit.
END

Contributor: http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/. They have a news letter.

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Bush Supports Outsourcing!!!

March 17, 2004 | Daily Mislead.org Archive
Powell Admits Bush Supports Outsourcing

Last month, President Bush strongly endorsed the loss of U.S. jobs to foreign labor markets, personally signing a report that touted overseas outsourcing despite more than 8 million Americans being out of work. After the public reacted with outrage, the White House tried to back off its endorsement of outsourcing, with the president reassuring America that he is concerned about "people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas" and saying that "we need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home." However, as the controversy subsides, the president is apparently endorsing outsourcing once again.

Specifically, the president has deployed Secretary of State Colin Powell to India "to assure Indians that the Bush administration would not try to halt the outsourcing of high-technology jobs to their country." The admission came despite a new study showing that up to 14 million American jobs could be lost to outsourcing in the coming years. Instead of endorsing congressional action to prevent such a tide of lost jobs,"the White House endorsed Mr. Powell's comments" that outsourcing is just "a natural effect" that cannot be stemmed.

The president's support for outsourcing is less puzzling when considering who is funding his campaign. As an earlier Daily Mislead9 report showed, the president's campaign pocketed more than $440,000 and his party more than $3.6 million from the companies that are most exploiting outsourcing to ship U.S. jobs overseas.

Sources:
"Bush Econ Advisor: Outsourcing OK," CBSNews.com, 2/13/04.
"Exporting American Jobs: Bush Adviser's Comments Ignite Firestorm, Bring Attention to Trend," ABCNews.com, 2/13/04.
"Employment Situation Summary," Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3/5/04.
"Bush adviser backs off pro-outsourcing comment," CNN, 2/13/04.
"Presidential Speech," WhiteHouse.gov, 2/12/04.
"Powell Reassures India on Technology Jobs," New York Times, 3/17/04.
"Outsourcing Hits Close to Home for Workers in Northwest Ohio," Miami Herald, 3/14/04.
"Senate votes to stop outsourcing," BBC News, 3/5/04.
Daily Mislead, 3/10/04.
END

Contributor: http://www.misleader.org/

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Focus on Bin Laden "A Mistake" & KNOW to Bush as far back as April of 2001

White House, 4/01:

A previously forgotten report from April 2001 (four months before 9/11) shows that the Bush Administration officially declared it "a mistake" to focus "so much energy on Osama bin Laden." The report directly contradicts the White House's continued assertion that fighting terrorism was its "top priority" before the 9/11 attacks1.

Specifically, on April 30, 2001, CNN reported that the Bush Administration's release of the government's annual terrorism report contained a serious change: "there was no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden" as there had been in previous years. When asked why the Administration had reduced the focus, "a senior Bush State Department official told CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden."2.

The move to downgrade the fight against Al Qaeda before 9/11 was not the only instance where the Administration ignored repeated warnings that an Al Qaeda attack was imminent3. Specifically, the Associated Press reported in 2002 that "President Bush's national security leadership met formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks yet terrorism was the topic during only two of those sessions"4. Meanwhile, Newsweek has reported that internal government documents show that the Bush Administration moved to "de-emphasize" counterterrorism prior to 9/115. When "FBI officials sought to add hundreds more counterintelligence agents" to deal with the problem, "they got shot down" by the White House.

Sources:
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, 03/22/2004.
CNN, 04/30/2001.
Bush Was Warned of Hijackings Before 9/11; Lawmakers Want Public Inquiry, ABC News, 05/16/2002.
"Top security advisers met just twice on terrorism before Sept. 11 attacks", Detroit News, 07/01/2002.
Freedom of Information Center, 05/27/2002.

Contributed by http://www.misleader.org/

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LEFT BEHIND! Some 25,000 Texas children to lose heath care.

Children's Health Insurance Program COULD DROP NONPAYING FAMILIES

ASSOCIATED PRESS March 26, 2004

AUSTIN (AP) - About 25,000 Texas children from low-income families could lose health coverage because their families have fallen behind on premium payments, a spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services Commission said.

The state asked families five months ago to pay more for the Children's Health Insurance Program. The premium hike was one of several tightening measures that have helped shrink the program in response to budget cuts.

Kristie Zamrazil, spokeswoman for the commission, said the state has extended a temporary grace period for the families and no coverage has been cut off for failure to pay premiums.

She declined to say how long the grace period would last.

The program, which enrolled more than a half-million children last summer, covered 388,281 as of March 1. Enrollment has decreased by 119,000 children since Sept. 1, when budget cuts and several new rules took effect.

The commission inserted fliers in many families' January and February premium billings warning that nonpayment would prompt policy termination.

Fast-declining enrollment in CHIP has sparked protests from opponents of cuts and tighter enrollment and eligibility rules. The new rules were imposed as the Legislature and governor grappled with a $9.9 billion budget shortfall.

Commission officials hoped for better compliance so they could avoid knocking more children off the program, said Patti Everitt, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund of Texas.

"If children are without health insurance, the costs shift to local communities, and they understand that is the reality of cuts to CHIP," Zamrazil said in Friday's editions of the Dallas Morning News.

With the higher premiums, health plan executives warn that the state risks reversing some of its savings. They predict that costs per insured child will go up if the state removes the 25,000 children with past-due accounts, about 6 percent of enrollees.

Affected families have incomes between 100 percent and 150 percent of the federal poverty level or for a family of four, annual income of $18,850 to $28,275.

The commission's delay in cutting children from the program angered Republican Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler.

"The notice shouldn't have been sent out in the first place if it wasn't going to be enforced," Berman said.

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said Republicans such as Berman complained last year about families making $35,000 or $40,000 a year qualifying for CHIP.

"But who's suffering? The people who make the least money who are eligible for the CHIP program," Coleman said. "The new policy is cruel and mean."

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2004 END

SO, HOW WILL THIS READ AFTER HE'S BEEN OUR PRESDENT AND NOT JUST TEXAS' GOVENOR?

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Friday, March 26, 2004

Demand that Condi Rice come clean

Suddenly, a lot of doubt surrounds National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's assertions about 9/11. Many of her statements have recently been
contradicted by other key officials and by news reports.

Americans have a right to know the truth about what
the White House did to prevent 9/11. Yet Rice is
refusing to testify in public before the bipartisan
commission investigating the attacks.

Please call the White House now, and demand that
Rice testify in public:

The White House
202-456-1112

Then, please call your Senators and Representative,
and ask them also to
demand that Condoleezza Rice and other top
administration officials testify
in public before the 9/11 commission.

You can reach them at:

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 202-224-3841

Senator Barbara Boxer
Phone: 202-224-3553

Congressman Richard W. Pombo
Phone: 202-225-1947

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Telling the Truth = Getting fired Per Bush

March 12, 2004 | Daily Mislead.org Archive
Bush Threatened to Fire Official for Telling Truth

During this time of record deficits, President Bush promised the country that his drug-industry backed Medicare bill would cost $395 billion.1 But just weeks after he signed the bill into law, his own budget office admitted that the bill would actually cost well over $500 billion.2 And today a new report shows that the President knew that the bill cost more than he had claimed, and yet he deliberately hid the information from the public until the legislation was already signed into law.

As revealed in an exclusive Knight-Ridder report, the White House threatened to fire its own top Medicare actuary "if he told lawmakers about a series of Bush administration cost estimates" that priced the bill at more than $500 billion.3 At the time, conservative Republicans had "vowed to vote against the Medicare drug bill if it cost more than $400 billion." This means that the president deliberately misled members of his own party on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry that pushed the bill and has been a top contributor to his campaign.4 As Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) said, "I think a lot of people probably would have reconsidered" voting for the bill had they not been deliberately misled by the White House.

At Knight-Ridder's website you can see the full text of the 6/26/03 email that Medicare's top actuary Richard S. Foster sent to colleagues informing them of the White House threat.5

Sources:
"Federal Deficit Hits Record $374B", CBS News, 10/20/2003.
"Medicare drug plan balloons", Washington Times, 01/29/2004.
"Bush administration ordered Medicare plan cost estimates withheld", Knight Ridder, 03/11/2004.
Open Secrets.Org.
"E-mail from Richard S. Foster, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services", Knight Ridder, 03/11/2004.
END
Contributor: http://www.misleader.org/. They have a news letter via email.

send comments via Email to me, D

Thursday, March 25, 2004

An OP/ED from USA Today - Fighting words: 'Under God'

The Pledge of Allegiance didn't start out to be a political or religious icon, much less the cultural lightning rod that was put before the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) on Wednesday.

Yet the failure to acknowledge these more humble roots, and stay true to them, undermines the pledge's original purpose of uniting the nation.

The Pledge of Allegiance - originally directed simply to "my flag" - was written in 1892 as a contribution to the widely read magazine The Youth's Companion as part of its observance of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' "discovery" of America.

Though a Baptist minister wrote the words, he didn't make any religious reference. "Under God" was added by Congress 62 years later as a Cold War political symbol that contrasted with "godless communism."

Before and since, this modest affirmation of patriotic ideals has been used as a weapon in wars by believers and atheists attacking each other - and by believers attacking fellow believers. Opportunistic politicians also have used the pledge repeatedly to challenge opponents' patriotism and faith.

Ironically, to win the case he argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the atheist dad challenging the invocation of the words "under God" in a public school classroom has to exaggerate the phrase's religious importance. And, his challengers, who say they are defending the place of religion in American life, have to minimize the pledge's religious value.

The disputed two words can survive constitutionally only if the justices are convinced that the phrase is effectively meaningless: what courts previously have dismissed as "ceremonial deism" that lacks significant religious content. That's the rationale given in deflecting attacks on the motto "In God we trust" and other generic religious references in public life.

The irony helps explain why some prominent mainstream religious scholars filed briefs in the case opposing the use of the words "under God." They believe it trivializes faith or "takes the Lord's name in vain" - a violation of the Ten Commandments.

Even before "under God" was added, the pledge was used to justify persecution of members of religious sects who refuse to say it, such as Jehovah's Witnesses. They believe that paying homage to a flag places another deity before God.

Sadly, what started out as a proclamation of one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, also has become a source of intense division.

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Wednesday, March 24, 2004

As long as you kept sending your $ they'll kept spending it...

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that
ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA
scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in
zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface including glass and at
temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 C.

The Russians used a pencil.

Enjoy paying your taxes--they're due again.

And what we'll we get from that investment, nothing, well maybe not NOTHING. We'll be able to buy one someday after your goverment sells the rights to manufacture it to some Corp. It's our money and it's our Pen. Think about it!

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Monday, March 22, 2004

Ex-Terrorism Adviser Richard A. Clarke on U.S. Officials.

A man who has worked from Reagon till and including Bush Jr., who is doing his daddy's 2nd term.

By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer - WASHINGTON - Richard A. Clarke's commentary on top government leaders, from his new book, "Against All Enemies."

_President Bush: Clarke blames Bush for doing a "terrible job" fighting terrorism. Says "the critique of him as a dumb, lazy rich kid was somewhat off the mark," but that Bush looks for "the simple solution, the bumper-sticker description of the problem."

_President Clinton: Clarke says he was "beyond mad" over Clinton's lack of discretion that led to his impeachment, but generally praises Clinton as a charismatic, sharp thinker who couldn't get CIA, Pentagon and FBI to deal with terrorism issues. Says Clinton's approval of missile attacks against Iraq over the assassination attempt during Bush's father's presidency deterred Saddam Hussein from future terrorism against America.

_Vice President Dick Cheney: Clarke describes Cheney as quiet and calm but radically conservative. Says Cheney believes U.S. could handle Iraq alone and "everyone else is just more trouble than they are worth." Blames Cheney for failing to speak out about the threat of al-Qaida during senior White House meetings.

THE REST OF THE STORY

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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the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Saturday, April 03, 2004

REVERSING PLEDGE, BUSH LETS OPEC BILK AMERICANS

Friday, April 02, 2004

Is there anyone we can like? Maybe, Maybe not

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Environmental Pioneer Decries Bush Environmental Damage

Al Franken hits the AIR TODAY for Liberal America

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Troubled Waters: Bush Team Works to Weaken Clean Water Protections

Join the Roadtrip for Ralph!?

Ralph Nader CNN's Crossfire

Monday, March 29, 2004

Bush Continues Push for Anti-Environment Circuit Court Nominee

From Barbra Streisand's blog

Bush Continues Push for Anti-Environment Circuit Court Nominee

The Corporate Paymasters and the Parties and other items

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Bush gaves new meaning to "stumping"

Bush Supports Outsourcing!!!

Focus on Bin Laden "A Mistake" & KNOW to Bush as far back as April of 2001

LEFT BEHIND! Some 25,000 Texas children to lose heath care.

Friday, March 26, 2004

Demand that Condi Rice come clean

Telling the Truth = Getting fired Per Bush

Thursday, March 25, 2004

An OP/ED from USA Today - Fighting words: 'Under God'

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

As long as you kept sending your $ they'll kept spending it...

Monday, March 22, 2004

Ex-Terrorism Adviser Richard A. Clarke on U.S. Officials.

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

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Hillary Open

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