This is an important website.  Please, just go there to see how they are treating workers here in America.  And help if you can.  I have written letters to the company and also to my congressmen.  If we want the middle class back, here is a good place to start.  Our middle class is shrinkng because good manufacturing jobs are going overseas.  But we can build a new middle class.  Our middle class was created by unions that created better working conditions, safety, wages and an environment for change.  Its what is needed today.  Please help!!

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.

Dean's List
By Dan Gilgoff
U.S. News & World Report
July 24, 2006 issue

DIAMONDHEAD, MISS.--Here's what the front line of Howard Dean's revolution looks like: two dozen senior citizens seated inside this gated community's clubhouse listening intently as operatives from the state Democratic Party pitch them on becoming precinct captains. A rep named Jay Parmley approaches an oversize easel and flips to a page showing John Kerry's share of the 2004 presidential vote here in Hancock County. "28%" is scrawled in magic marker. "Kind of scary," Parmley says.

But he flips the page to show former Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's share of the vote here in his unsuccessful 2003 re-election bid: "43%." The discrepancy, Parmley explains, shows that the better Mississippians know a Democrat, the more likely they are to vote for him. Which is why he's here recruiting precinct captains. If Democrats can define themselves on a "neighbor to neighbor" basis, Parmley says, their candidates can win again, even here, in a red county in a red state.

If that doesn't sound revolutionary, consider this: Mississippi's Democratic Party hasn't trained precinct captains for more than a decade. Until recently, the state party consisted of a single full-time staffer. In 2004, the Democratic National Committee invested so little here that activists shelled out thousands of their own dollars to print up Kerry yard signs. That all changed last summer, when newly elected DNC Chairman Howard Dean began rolling out his "50-State Strategy," a multimillion-dollar program to rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up. Over the past year, the DNC has hired and trained four staffers for virtually every state party in the nation--nearly 200 workers in all--to be field organizers, press secretaries, and technology specialists, even in places where the party hasn't been competitive for decades. "It's a huge shift," Dean tells U.S. News. "Since 1968, campaigns have been about TV and candidates, which works for 10 months out of the four-year cycle. With party structure on the ground, you campaign for four years."

The strategy is also a reaction to the past two presidential cycles, when the shrinking number of battleground states the Democratic nominee was competing in left no room for error. Both elections were arguably determined by a single state: Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Says Dean: "We've gotten to the point where we're almost not a national party." [...]

The promise and peril of Dean's plan come into sharp relief in the Magnolia State, where neither this year's U.S. Senate race nor the four House races are considered competitive. And while Democrats enjoyed more-or-less single-party status here for the hundred years following the Civil War, Republicans now hold the state's two Senate seats, the governor's mansion, and most other statewide offices. The last Democratic presidential nominee to win the state was Jimmy Carter, in 1976. But Dean argues that such failures are the result of the national party's having packed up and left red states. "Nobody stands up and says, 'Here's why I'm a Democrat,'" he says. "That's why right-wingers have managed to brand us in unattractive ways. To be branded right, you need real people on the ground." [...]

Two field representatives have recruited captains in more than 500 precincts so far, along with volunteers for phone banks and canvassing. "I've been trying to contact the party since I moved back here in 1992," says Harold Terry, 43, a Jackson native who volunteered last week at a phone bank. "Someone finally got back to me three weeks ago."

The new DNC hires tell similar stories. Rita Royals is a 57-year-old former rape crisis counselor who paid to print her own Kerry signs in 2004. That same year, DeMiktric Biggs, a student at Jackson State University, sent a county-by-county voter analysis to almost everyone on the state Democratic committee--and never got a reply. Now, the party is using his work to plan its ground game.

As the 2006 election nears, the precinct captains whom Royals and Biggs are training will be put to work leveraging the DNC's updated voter file--improved since technical glitches stymied many state parties' get-out-the-vote efforts in 2004. Of course, with President Bush winning Mississippi with nearly 60 percent of the vote, the Democratic Party isn't expecting dramatic results anytime soon. "The Republicans had 30 years to put themselves in the position they're in," says Dean. "To think we're going to turn the party around in four is wrong."

You can read the whole article here:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060716/24dems.htm

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:

 

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

This Saturday, July 1st, students and parents across the nation are going to be hit with rising interest rates on college loans. Congress has simply stood by and allowed student loan interest rates to rise dramatically, while making parent loans even more expensive. The conservative leadership has refused even to allow a vote on the Miller-Durbin bill, which would slash interest rates in half on new loans.

This is unacceptable. It's time to put Congress on notice. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper today and let your Representative know that it's time they act in the interest of their constituents, not the special interests.

While Congress continues to ignore the growing need for affordable education, students and parents everywhere are going further and further into debt, creating a burden that is often unsustainable. As Gregory, a student at UCLA states:

"In addition to working, I STILL have to take out loans and find other ways to fund my education. My first year alone, my parents and I took out $11,000 in loans and who knows what my financial situation will be the rest of my years here at UCLA."

Despite the thousands of stories just like Gregory's, conservative leadership continually refuses to take action – and sadly, it is not a one--time occurrence. The maximum Pell Grant has been frozen for four years and the conservative controlled Congress has failed to extend the college tuition tax deduction, instead opting for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

We need to put a stop to these skewed priorities of Congress. With the student and parent interest rate jump happening this Saturday, it's more crucial now than ever before to make our voices heard. Please write a letter to the editor today asking the politicians in Washington to match their rhetoric with action by making college affordable.

The failure of the current administration to make college affordable for all qualified students not only impacts the hundreds of thousands of individuals priced out of a college education annually, it also weakens our economic competitiveness.

It's time to put an end to the lip-service of President Bush and his allies in Congress. It's time to take a stand and make college affordable for all.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Robert Borosage, Co-Director

Campaign for America's Future

I know I have not been keeping up with my space, but its been a pretty busy summer for me so far.  I'm going to try real hard to keep up.  I am still active in my e-activism and will continue to do so as well.  Thanks for bearing with me.

 

 

I just sent a message to Al Gore, who's been attacked in his efforts to raise the issue of global warming.  So far, right-wing talkers have compared him to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist, and one likened Gore's pursuit of solutions to global warming to Adolf Hitler's pursuit of genocide.

Tell him thank you and that he should keep fighting here:

 

Thanks,

 

Lynn

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

 

Did You Know...
Out of 802 respondents, 88% said Part D will influence how they vote in November, according to a recent poll posted on www.retiredamericans.org.  Visit the site to cast your vote on the new estate tax poll.

Become part of a progressive grassroots movement! Join the Alliance: www.retiredamericans.org/join

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

Recovery from drug addiction presents some daunting challenges even under the best of circumstances.  It is an even more difficult task for those whose fight it under public scrutiny.  So, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. and conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh are in the same boat.   Both suffer addiction to pain killers have put them in trouble and in the limelight.  But there is where the similarity ends.  Sen. Kennedy has been admirably open about his addiction and has spoken about it in hopes of bringing mental illness and substance abuse to the public awareness to encourage others to get the help they need.  Rush, on the other hand, once told his listeners that drug users should be jailed.  This, of course, was before he was "caught".  Admit to his addiction and the fact that one never really gets "unaddicted"?  Not Limbaugh.  He still insists he was not doctor shopping and is only in treatment because it excuses his doctor shopping.  He can sure whine, saying he was the victim of a "fishing expedition".  Poor baby.  While Kennedy demonstrates his accountability, Limbaugh is in denial.

 

I have not had the time to write a blog of late.  Hopefully that will change soon.  In the meantime, I will continue to read my favorites and cheer them on. 

Lynn

Waiting for Opening Day
by smintheus
Tue Apr 18, 2006 at 10:15:26 PM PDT

Last Saturday was Opening Day for fishermen in Pennsylvania. In some ways it was typical, if a little warmer than normal. Our newspapers were stolen from our paperbox around dawn, as happens every year on Opening Day. But you have no interest in that. The reason this year was memorable was the conversation my wife and I had with some conservatives we've known for a few years.
On Friday, one of my neighbors put on an all-night party by the banks of our stream. Like every year, he invited people on the road and friends from around the Lehigh Valley. Almost to a person they're conservatives, although I reckon a few are political Independents; fairly ordinary out-doors types. My wife and I don't fish, and this gang is always slightly bemused that we go down to hang out with them for a few hours. For one thing, we had those 'Kerry' signs two years ago.
This year something was up. Conversation rarely turns to anything serious, much less politics, at these parties. Yet that was virtually the only topic this year, for two whole hours. And, boy, it doesn't look good for George Bush in this slice of red America.
My neighbor remains a Bush loyalist, a Fox-News-watching, talking-point-spouting, die-hard disciple of the fighting-them-over-there-so-you-know-the-rest school. Whether they were old and outmoded, or thoroughly up to date talking points, he had them in his grip and wasn't letting go. But I was astounded to see that he was all alone now in supporting Bush and the Iraq War.

Worse, he was cut down point by point by others. The rebuttals were sharp, dismissive, and uncompromising. And, mostly, they weren't coming from me. No, his friends were cutting him down (while my wife methodically shot holes in his "facts"). In all that time, I heard nothing good said about either the administration or the Iraq War from anybody else. The mood toward both was pretty grim and angry, all the more striking in this drunken, convivial setting.
I also was a little surprised to see that everybody, including my neighbor, wanted to know what I thought about DC politics and the war. I was able to tell them about quite a few things they hadn't heard of (none of them gets their news on-line), and the more I told them, the more they wanted to hear more. A few minutes after I began ticking off some little-reported facts about the manipulation of intelligence before the war, I noticed that several people seated around the campfire were leaning forward in their chairs trying to catch every bit of it.
Sure, there's still a huge gap in awareness out there, about things we might take as common knowledge. But there's also a huge yearning to know, and to understand how things have gone so badly wrong.
Nobody at this party, except of course my neighbor, was anything but deeply pessimistic about the future of the Iraq war. One guy said flat out that our troops have lost the battle for hearts and minds by mistreating Iraqis, and not one person contradicted him.
Asked whether there was any way to prevent total chaos in Iraq, I said the only remotely plausible solutions were to withdraw quickly or to send in twice or three times as many troops. The reaction to my statements were rather interesting. At first a few people objected that a troop withdrawal would cause civil war, but they quickly admitted that the civil war already was going on anyway. I was even more surprised to hear that nobody thought sending more troops to Iraq was going to work at all. Even my neighbor was committed to the position that no further troops were necessary (since he maintains that we're winning the war already).
If this middle-of-the-night crowd, waiting for Opening Day, is any indication, there's plenty of opportunity for the Democrats to swamp the GOP in elections this year. Bush & Co. are seen as both incompetent and dishonest.
The main obstacle I see was voiced by the man sitting next to me, who (though he knows a good deal about the lies of the administration) said that he tries more and more just to ignore the news because it's so depressing. "You really can't do anything to fix things," he said, "besides voting I mean."
Democrats had better work to ensure that utter pessimism, the ultimate GOP weapon, does not decide the election this fall. If voters conclude that the government is run by hopeless incompetents, and there's nothing that ordinary citizens can do about it, the truly disaffected might just skip voting entirely. And so will our wrecking crew retain its death grip on the body politic for another two years.

 

I have sooo not been on here for a couple of weeks and I haven't even been checking on my fellow bloggers.  I was afraid to read things that would tweak me and make me think, make me get angry, etc.  I can't hold my tongue any longer, and finally have some time to spend.  I heard someone say today that our soldiers that are going over to Iraq to fight, should think about what they are fighting for.  They should pay allegiance to the Constitution and not any particular President (especially this one me thinks).  ~ ~

Now what is getting me cranked today is listening to Bush say we need the guest workers to do the work Americans won't do.  I am so sick of this statement by all Republicans, corporations, and  businesses.  What we want as Americans is to make a decent wage~a living wage.  I have nothing against the Mexicans that come over here, they are fighting the poverty of their country.  However, as they come, they bring with them the poverty they are escaping.  They lower our wage scales and eventually we will have the same problem that they are fighting over there.  We need to help see that Mexico treats their workers better, pay their workers better.  They should be sanctioned by us, so they have more incentive to do better.  As it is, we wink and nod and their rich get richer and their poor get poorer, and our country is heading in that direction..as we cater to corporate America instead of paying attention to our middle class and poor.  Enough said.  Now I am going to check out my fellow bloggers and hope they haven't quit coming by to see what the hell I am ranting about these days.