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8月8日
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Today George Bush chose political posturing over human life, denying hope to millions of Americans, their families and loved ones who are affected by debilitating diseases.
He used his first-ever veto to stop the discovery of new cures for diseases like juvenile diabetes, leukemia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and many others. More than 70% of Americans from every walk of life -- whether in the faith community, the science lab, the hospital or at the bedside of a sick relative -- and majorities in both chambers of Congress disagree, but that didn't stop him.
The bill he vetoed wasn't a sweeping change -- it was a small, practical measure that would have made a big difference for medical research based on sound science. But the consequences are sweeping: the proposed law would have allowed research on excess embryos generated during processes like fertility treatments -- embryos that would otherwise simply be discarded.
Now is the time to speak out. Send a message to your representatives letting them know that you support cure discovery now:
http://www.democrats.org/curediscovery
If George Bush truly believed his rhetoric about stem cells, he would do something about the processes that create the excess embryos in the first place. But he won't. They will continue to go unused (his spokesman limply calls it a "tragedy"), and cures will continue to be beyond our reach.
Bush may not be willing to choose cure discovery over his right-wing base, but the vast majority of Americans support cure research.
Even after his veto, Democrats in Congress will continue to keep the pressure on to get more votes. If Republicans refuse to join the cause and override Bush's veto, it will have to be decided at the ballot box in November. Democrats will continue to fight to keep this hope for the discovery of new cures alive.
The Congress and the rest of the country are paying attention right now, and we have to seize this moment to build the coalition of support for cure discovery. Please add your name to the list of supporters and we'll send your message to your representatives:
http://www.democrats.org/curediscovery
As a medical doctor I'm offended at the political meddling in potentially life-saving research. All of our families could be touched by hope found through stem cell research: from juvenile diabetes to Alzheimer's, it offers the opportunity for new cures. Yet this important research has been dwindling because of restrictions put in place by Bush five years ago.
That's half a decade we have lost. How much longer will those suffering and their families have to wait?
People can disagree in good faith on this issue, but Bush's extraordinary action doesn't meet that threshold -- it smacks of political calculation. The opportunity to save lives of people with debilitating diseases, and to reduce suffering for them and their families, requires that a president respect the will of the people and the Congress.
Join the cause supporting cure discovery:
http://www.democrats.org/curediscovery
History will judge this veto as a sad political calculation.
Just a few votes stand in the way. With your support we'll get them -- either now, or in the new Democratic Congress you elect in November.
When we do, we will restore hope through life-saving research and cure discovery.
Thank you.
Governor Howard Dean, M.D. |
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It has changed around here to say the least. I don't have time today to write my own blog so am posting my letter from Gov. Dean.
If we don't change things, we are really heading down the tubes. 7月12日 This atrocity of an administration that tries to impugn the patriotism of those who do not follow their views!
Well, guess what? It isn't working for them anymore. Most Americans, not to mention Europeans, don't believe Bush or his admistration is ethical or even competent. I don't know why it took them so long, but I'm glad that they are seeing the light. Even John Dean doesn't belong to the few followers of the Republican cult. And surely, unless you are rich, you don't belong either.
The following is part of a newsletter I received from Senator Robert C. Byrd:
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If the history of republics present and past teaches one consistent lesson, surely it is this: Tyranny rarely arrives on the scene in a sudden dramatic moment that stirs the hearts of all patriots, and liberties are never usurped in a single outrageous act that arouses the public's ire.
Instead, freedoms disappear slowly, fading away under cover of night, disguised by false patriotism cloaked in the rhetoric of crisis. One by one, they disappear -- each blow at liberty a seemingly reasonable step -- until suddenly all is lost, and the time for citizens to rise up has fled.
That is why liberty has always demanded vigilance. That is why it has always been the duty of patriots to speak out against the slightest encroachment.
And that is why, in half a century of service to my country, I have never been more concerned about the integrity of our Constitution than I am today.
In scarcely five years, the Bush Administration has managed to imperil Constitutional freedoms that no demagogue in the two centuries before him has been able to disturb.
The Bush team pressed the nation into an aggressive, unprovoked war on pretenses that were not simply false but utterly fictitious. Historians will surely record the Administration of George W. Bush as one of the most arrogant Administrations in history -- one that has browbeat Congress into blind submission and rejected Constitutional limits on executive authority.
Imagine the revulsion with which our Founders would look upon an Administration that asserts the right to spy inside the homes of American citizens with nary a check or balance in sight... save for two words -- "trust me." The eventual consequences of such hubris should send a cold shiver up the spines of patriots everywhere.
The genius of the Founders was to entrust a nation's liberties to the care of laws, not of men. And so they created an institution insulated from the political passions of the moment, which they hoped would check an overreaching president.
That institution is the United States Senate. For nearly 50 years -- more than one-fifth of the life of our republic -- I have been proud, and privileged, to be a United States Senator.
I refuse to dishonor my service in the Senate by exchanging my oath to uphold the Constitution for obsequious obedience to any president.
I spoke out against the war President Bush was so determined to fight in Iraq. I voted against reauthorizing the outrageously misnamed and badly flawed "USA PATRIOT Act." And under no circumstances shall I ever support an indiscriminate program of domestic spying.
Support freedom -- Support Robert C. Byrd
I know these positions do not come without a political price. History teaches us another lesson: Those who would diminish freedom smile in public while hiring hatchet-men to do their work behind the scenes. And President Bush has the most ruthless political operative in America today: Karl Rove.
Mr. Rove has personally identified me as a target for defeat in this fall's elections. The Republican Party has recruited a wealthy industrialist who has even hired the man responsible for the vicious Swift Boat attacks against Senator Kerry in the 2004 election -- evidence that there will be a rough road ahead in my campaign.
This is a White House that does not cotton to criticism. I expect every distortion for which this Administration has become infamous. But I am resolute. The Constitution means more to me than any campaign.
Besides, I have in my corner allies on whose support neither George W. Bush nor Karl Rove will ever be able to call: the Constitution of the United States and freedom-loving patriots like you who are willing to take a stand in its defense.
I know from your support of my campaign that you are among them. Now, as the campaign shifts into high gear, I need your help more than ever.
Support liberty -- Support Robert C. Byrd
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 | 6月7日 I subscribe to the WesPac newsletter. In it today was the following I wanted to share.
Below is the article in its entirety, provided by Time:
Rules of Engagement
PHILIP CAPUTO
Incidents like this are not just likely; they're inevitable in insurgencies. They happened in Vietnam and even to the British, who committed atrocities during the American Revolution. They happen because one of the things an insurgent does is attack the counterinsurgent's state of mind. The insurgent makes the counterinsurgent feel constantly insecure, constantly scared and constantly unaware of who or where the enemy is. The guy fighting the insurgent often feels lost in a hostile sea.
One of the reasons I wrote the Vietnam memoir A Rumor of War was to show how that kind of war can bring out a psychopathic streak in men of otherwise normal behavior and impulses. When a soldier is fighting guerrillas, he can often feel like a helpless victim. I imagine that must be especially true in Iraq with these roadside bombs. After a while, that's got to bring out a killer instinct in even the best troops. And soldiers in combat get very close to one another. That's one of the saving graces of battle, but it can work against you if the loss of a beloved comrade drives a soldier to go over the edge and seek revenge.
A former Marine lieutenant, Caputo is the author most recently of the novel Acts of Faith
GARY SOLIS
Some battlefield acts are so clearly contrary to the training and ethos of Marines and all service members that they remain unacceptable in any circumstance. A basic law of war is that noncombatants may never be purposely targeted. Today's Marine is better educated, better trained and better led than ever before. Marines of all ranks are aware of the standards of battlefield conduct. Yet there apparently was a disregard of those standards by a very few. Even in a combat zone, one can commit murder, and Haditha looks like such a case.
But never forget the thousands of Marines, many on their third and fourth tours, whose conduct on this most treacherous of battlefields has been not just honorable, but selfless and heroic. And even if proved, Haditha is no My Lai, with its victims in the hundreds, attendant sexual crimes, direct officer involvement and high-level cover-up by a dozen officers, including colonels and generals.
A lawyer and former Marine lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam, Solis has taught courses in the law of war at West Point and Georgetown University
REUEL MARC GERECHT
To their credit, modern Western democracies feel shame in combat more profoundly than other countries. We have done terrible things--in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and now, it strongly appears, in Haditha in Iraq. These dark moments--indiscriminately bombarding German civilians in World War II, mowing down Vietnamese peasants at My Lai--do not necessarily diminish the rightness of the cause for which we fight. For Americans, in whom isolationism runs deep, it is perhaps reflexive to feel revulsion and want to withdraw from conflicts and commitments where young Americans can do evil things.
Truth be told, however, if American forces were more aggressively engaged in a real counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq--where our primary objective would be to secure Iraqis and their homes from insurgent and sectarian threat--we would have seen more American abuses. Successful counterinsurgencies are always ugly and morally challenging. What is so sad in Iraq is that the civilian losses caused by the U.S. are not compensated by a larger American military effort to secure the country from holy warriors, insurgents and sectarian militiamen who live to slaughter innocent civilians and Iraq's chance for a more humane, democratic future. President Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and their General John Abizaid, not any Marines at Haditha who ran amuck, are responsible for this far darker tragedy.
A former Middle East specialist at the CIA, Gerecht is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington
WESLEY CLARK
If the Haditha reports are true, there can be no excuse. Not stress. Not anger. Not frustration. But this incident raises more disturbing questions. Have there been other such incidents? Does it indicate progressive decay in the standards of discipline in our forces? On top of Abu Ghraib, what moral authority do our forces retain? Can we recover our standing in the eyes of the Iraqis? And what will the ramifications of this incident be for U.S. power worldwide?
In war, terrible fears and passions are unleashed, with often unpredictable consequences. But military leaders know this--and they are charged with accomplishing the mission and protecting the troops, all without sacrificing our values. They'll do their best, even to accomplish the impossible. It's up to our political leaders to task them and give them the resources and to know and respect our limitations. And so Haditha must be a clear warning to the politicos: the window for effective U.S. action is almost closed; don't break our forces trying to salvage a failing mission when we've got more to do elsewhere.
Clark, a retired four-star general and former NATO commander, heads the political-action committee WesPAC
5月23日 FUBAR: America's Right-wing nightmare~With completely unfair and unbalanced analysis, authors Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill take readers on a whirlwind tour of what's left of the United States, exposing the truth about the Right's blueprint for total domination -- over your money, your mind, your sex life, and even your place in the afterlife (yes, they have a plan for that, too).
Along the way, they'll answer your most pressing questions, like:
- I'm gay-hating, gay Republican...how much should I hate myself?
- Do I need to own my own congressman, or is a rental or time share okay?
- Is New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's mustache, in fact, the sign of the Beast?
- I thought we ran the media. What happened?
Available May 23rd everywhere. And just remember: every time someone purchases "FUBAR," a conservative soils themselves.
That's reason enough for me!
Lynn 4月19日 Its been a while since I paid attention to my blog. There is so much to write about I can't get anything coherent to come out. I think this country has what it deserves, although I am not happy to be part of it. To think we elected a president for his morals. Morals? What a shame we spent so much money impeaching a president for lying about a blow job. Just think about that. They said, if he lies about that he will lie to the country about other things. How stupid was that? The current president needs one so we can finally be rid of him. He lies every time he opens his mouth and we let him get away with it. We let him tell us "I am the decider" or "I am your education president" or whatever else he decides to talk down to us about. I think he thought we was crowned "King George". My son said that he felt stupid-er just listening to one of his speeches. But what we need to do now is figure out how we can be smarter about electing a president. I hope someone steps up to the forefront that has a grasp of what needs to be done and how to do it. Otherwise, the sheeples will elect another "moralist" and we will all be going down the middle class tubes quickly and without a clue as to how we got there. 4月6日 I am definitely against a budget plan that would cut major services for poor and middle class families in order to fund the tax breaks for the rich. Not to mention how it would increase our deficit.
The new reverse Robin Hood budget proposal would:
- Cut $167 billion dollars over 5 years from vital domestic services, including health care, education, and family services
- Give away $228 billion dollars in tax breaks, mostly to the very rich
- Drive up the federal deficit by another $254 billion dollar
This is just wrong~ Let your congressman hear your voice. I just contacted Congressman Mark Foley. 3月16日 George W. Bush needs to be ashamed. Ashamed for his attack on what is left of our country's natural heritage. All this, due to his mismanagement of the budget, the war in Iraq, his solution is to sell off our public lands....
These lands are not his to sell!!! They belong to us!!! As the American people, we should all be outraged about his latest exhibition of arrogance and his complete lack of understanding for what makes this country "beautiful". I guess nothing is sacred. What are the freedoms we are fighting so hard to protect if we are selling off everything from "sea to shining sea?". 3月9日 As we were leaving the golf course yesterday we caught the last part of the Al Franken show. He played a clip of Bill O'Reilly hanging up on a caller who said something he didn't like (nothing new there). But then he ranted about when you call FOX and say something untoward, they have your number and you can look for a couple of people from FOX to knock on your door and boy will you be sorry you called. They would teach you a lesson...... Where does this man get his nerve? I know FOX is just an extension of the right but you would think even they would consider this faaaar out. It only makes them look worse. I mean, come on. I am sooo shaking in my boots. 3月6日 Not a lot to scream about today- don't have the time or the lungs for one thing~LOL, but a little something is sticking in my craw. The fact that Bush has to make a trip to Crawford, TX to vote, since the person in charge of that failed to file his absentee ballot. The incompetency thrives... but now we have to pay to fly him on Air Force One, to vote in a highly contested Republican race. Doesn't it figure?
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