treehugger

Mutant Grass taking over Portland

2006-08-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

Ok, so maybe it's not quite that dire, yet. Environmental activists have been preaching the dangers of genetically engineered crops for years, with little effect on the giant money making agribusiness corporations. Perhaps today's news of a herbicide resistant grass growing in the wild in Portland will lend credence to the cause.

Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses is growing in the wild, posing one of the first threats of agricultural biotechnology escaping from the farm in the United States, a new study says.

Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses. But the modified grass could spread that resistance to the wild, becoming a nuisance itself, scientists say.

...Such resistance could force land managers and government agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, which relies heavily on Roundup, to switch to "nastier" herbicides to control grasses and weeds, Ellstrand said.

Although, the Mission Tortilla mishap (when genetically modified corn, not fit for human consumption, was used to make tortillas sold all over Texas) did little to dent the pervasive growth of agribusiness. African Killer Bees are also a bi-product of genetically engineered crops, but the public seems to be woefully unaware or unconcerned with the threat agribusiness can pose.

Darfur Peace Deal?

2006-05-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

It appears that the rebel groups have found the new peace deal acceptable. The plan would call for the rebel groups to be integrated into Sudanese security forces.

The negotiator said the draft called for a minimum of 4,000 rebels to be integrated into Sudan's armed forces and another 1,000 in the police force. In addition, 3,000 rebels would be given training and education to prepare them for civilian life.

The peace accord is not yet final, but it's a step towards peace in a volatile conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced and scarred more than 2 million people.

African Union mediators have often expressed frustration at the seeming unwillingness of either side to compromise or adhere to a cease-fire declared in April 2004.

African Union spokesman Nouredine Mezni said African mediators had made "titanic efforts" to produce the draft proposal and any changes would have to be negotiated by other parties.

The U.S. and British officials appeared to step into that breach. They were sent to Abuja, the Nigerian capital where the talks are taking place, after thousands of Americans including several legislators protested over the weekend to demand an end to the slaughter in Darfur.

Another reminder that it takes people who refuse to be silenced to create any real movement in this country. Lets hope that the peace accord will stick and the violence will end.

Darfur Protestors Arrested, Including Congressmen

2006-04-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

Hope you are all planning on attending a rally in the coming week to support an end to the Genocide. From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five members of the U.S. Congress were arrested at the Sudanese Embassy on Friday to protest violence in that country's Darfur region.
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The lawmakers, all Democrats, were Reps. Tom Lantos of California, James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, James Moran of Virginia, and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

A few members of the Save Darfur Coalition also were arrested from the gathering of about 50 demonstrators, a spokeswoman for the coalition said.

Those arrested were taken to a police station and released about two hours later after paying $50 fines.

The lawmakers intended their arrests to draw attention to the Darfur conflict that the United States calls a genocide, McGovern said.

The protest came before a planned Sunday rally on the National Mall sponsored by the coalition, which comprises about 160 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. Sunday is the deadline for talks aimed at settling the three-year conflict in Darfur.

U.N. and U.S. officials have accused the Sudanese government of arming marauding Arab militias, who have raped, pillaged, and killed tens of thousands in Darfur, [actually hundreds of thousands!] and driven into squalid camps some 2 million villagers. Sudan has denied the charge.

"I don't think any human being can listen to the testimony of the people who have fled, and see the savagery that is going on there and not feel compelled to do something," McGovern said in a telephone interview after his release.

The lawmakers had been told they could not trespass on the embassy property. They made their statements off the property, then stood on the embassy steps.

The lawmakers did not heed police warnings, and "were arrested one by one," Lantos' spokeswoman Lynne Weil said.

"After the Holocaust, the world declared that never again would we stand by and let genocide take place. And yet the slaughter in Darfur continues," Lantos, a survivor of the Holocaust, said in a statement.

Rally for Darfur

2006-04-27T14:51:00.001-05:00

Save Darfur and the Genocide Prevention Network, along with a lot of other groups, will be marching in DC this Sunday. There will also be rallies all across the US, see if there is one in your state here. Here's a letter from Barack Obama with more details:

I am writing to draw your attention to the deteriorating crisis in Darfur, Sudan, and to urge you to press the Bush Administration, Congress, and key international actors to step up their efforts to stop the killing. Since the fighting began in 2003, the Khartoum government and its proxy militia have killed more than 400,000 Darfurians, and displaced another two million. Every day that the conflict continues, more women are raped, more families are massacred, more children are orphaned. President Bush has said that the slaughter constitutes "genocide," and he is right.

I will fly to Washington, DC this Sunday, April 30, to participate in the "Save Darfur Rally" on the National Mall. I will join Elie Wiesel, George Clooney, Congressman Frank Wolf, and others from 2pm to 4:30 pm, between 3rd and 4th Streets in front of the U.S. Capitol.

On May 1st, a rally will be held in Chicago at 4:30pm at Federal Plaza, at the intersection of Dearborn and Adams. At the website, www.SaveDarfur.org, you can find the location of companion rallies in other American cities, as well as the tangible steps we should ask the Bush administration to take.

An unprecedented anti-genocide movement has begun to gather force in the United States. And together, we can make a difference by making our voices heard.

Americans of all religious, national, and political backgrounds are going to join together to send a powerful signal to the victims of genocide - and to their tormentors - that Americans care. I hope you will join in this historic effort to show that Americans will not be bystanders to genocide.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama

Chad will not force Darfur Refugees to leave

2006-04-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Chad broke off all relations with the Sudanese government last week and threatened to forcibly remove some 200,000 refugees if the International community didn't step up to do more about the crisis in Darfur and the rebels that are also trying to destabilize his government. While the International community has not stepped up to do anything more about the crisis in Darfur or the violence spilling into Chad, Chad's President Derby has promised the UN that his country will allow the refugees to remain. Although the refugees are being allowed to remain in Chad, Chad has closed it's borders with Sudan.

Closing the borders with Sudan will block the distribution of needed humanitarian aide to an estimated 400,000 at refugee camps in Sudan. Derby has expressed his growing concern over the ability to protect the border region and said they will no longer be able to shelter refugees if the international community can not end the crisis by June.

Urgent Action is needed. The US House bill on Darfur has been sent to the Senate, which has referred it to the Committee on Foreign Relations. For a list of all the Senators on the Foreign Relations committee, click here. We can start calling the committee and urge them to get a move on it! Majority Phone: (202) 224-4651
Minority Phone: (202) 224-3953

Pres. Authorized Leak

2006-04-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

It appears that Bush likes it when things are leaked to the media, at least things he approved. When his secret spying on Americans was leaked to the media he went off about how they were endangering the nation, but when it comes to pre-war intelligence it's leaks away.

Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

...But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

The authorization came as the Bush administration faced mounting criticism about its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main reason the president and his aides had given for justifying the invasion of Iraq.- AP

US House taking action on Darfur

2006-03-30T11:28:00.000-06:00

I just got an email from my Rep. detailing her ideas on stopping the genocide in Darfur and wanted to pass the info along. The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), will be voted on as soon as next week. The bill will appoint a U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, provide $514 million for security and humanitarian assistance and urge NATO and the UN to send forces. Look your congressman or woman up and send them an email, call them, or mail them a letter urging them to support the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (House Resolution 3127/Senate Resolution 1462).

The Darfur crisis is expanding. Two hundred thousand refugees have crossed the border into Chad, attracting the attention of the Janjaweed militia across the border. A domestic conflict is becoming international.

African Union leaders told our delegation that their 7,000 troops cannot provide security in a territory the size of France and they need double that number, though the Brookings Institution estimates that it will take at least 20,000 AU troops to secure the region. The budget for the African Union's Mission in Sudan will run out by the end of March.

The United States must urge the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution giving AU troops the backing of the United Nations. Additionally, the United States should encourage NATO to deploy a peacekeeping force to Darfur. The security of the civilian population depends on it. - read the full article at the Chicago Sun Times

Iraq: 3 years down 3 more to go?

2006-03-21T13:16:00.001-06:00

How Long will we be in Iraq? President Bush said today that there may still be troops in Iraq when he leaves office in three years. While Bush continues his pr tour to raise support for the war, the 2,319 American servicemember was killed in Iraq today. Bush continues to skirt the issue of withdrawal, saying "That will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

Furthermore, the Bush administration refuses to acknowledge that a civil war is emerging in Iraq, even with more than 1,000 Iraqis killed since the bombing last month of a Shiite shrine (including 39 just yesterday). With grizzly discoveries of tortured, blindfolded corpses occurring almost daily in Iraq, former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared, "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."

After the much touted elections in Iraq, no government has yet been formed. Despite all of the growing problems with no end in sight, Bush remains "optimistic" saying "We've got a strategy for victory, and we're making progress." Really? What exactly is our strategy in Iraq? Stay the Course?

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
--Winston Churchill

It's time for a new strategy.

Darfur - You CAN do something today

2006-03-17T11:42:00.000-06:00

Human Rights First has put together a petition calling for a dedicated UN Diplomat to work for peace in Darfur. Sign the petition and stand up for the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 people who have been murdered and over 2 million who have been subjected to violence, rape and forced to flee their homes. More on this over at the Coalition for Darfur.

Darfur in the News - Rape as a Weapon of War

2006-03-14T10:58:00.000-06:00

I was watching the Today show this morning and was delightfully surprised to see they are addressing the crisis in Darfur. They had an expert on this morning discussing one of the tactics being used in the war, the use of gang rape as a weapon.

Two hundred Senate and House staffers held their breath as Suad Mansour, a native of Darfur now working for the group Darfur Peace and Development, shared the story of eight women who were raped and abducted by members of a government-backed Janjaweed militia while collecting firewood one night. The militiamen told the women, who included a 9-year-old girl, that they were to be their wives. The women were found in the militia’s compound two days later by African Union peacekeepers and taken to a hospital where the young girl later died. When their families tried to speak out, they were threatened into silence by the government.

Stories like this are all too common in Darfur, where rape is the signature crime of the genocide. The UN has said that rape is used as a “systematic weapon of war.” Attacks are not isolated crimes of opportunity but part of a deliberate campaign to destroy the social fabric of the entire community. Women face rape not only during Janjaweed attacks on their homes, but even after they reach the relative safety of the displaced-persons camps. In the camps, where women make up 80% of the inhabitants, they face rape every time they venture out in search of water or firewood.

...Rape is used as a weapon in Darfur to destroy the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of not only women but also their families and friends. Dr. Reeves noted that the UN Genocide Convention “specifies, among other genocidal acts: ‘Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,’ and, ‘Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.’” He stated that the “systematic” and “racialized” nature of sexual violence by the militias “compel[s] the conclusion that sexual violence against women is genocidal in nature.”

Haroun noted that “[t]he abuse of women in Darfur has continued to reach the highest levels. Rapes are so violent some women are left physically destroyed or even die. Women are attacked on a daily basis. They are attacked when they are alone or in groups. The hospitals are full of rape victims that are in unbelievable shape and many now have sexual transmitted diseases. And they are considered lucky because they didn’t die.”

The assault on women occurs within an atmosphere of complete impunity for their assailants. A report by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) indicates that 81% of rapes perpetrated by the Janjaweed militias occur with government military personnel present. (Rather than address the systematic violence described in the report, the Sudanese government simply arrested the MSF workers who released it.) Nor can victims expect justice after the fact; women who report that they have been raped often face not only ostracism but also reprisal by the authorities. - Genocide Intervention Network

The Today show sent Ann Curry to Chad to bring coverage of the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and the violence spilling into neighboring Chad. If you have a moment, take a look at her photo journals.

If you are not aware of what is happening in Darfur, the report offers a basic explination of the atrocities.

The Latest on Darfur

2006-03-03T14:06:00.000-06:00

The US Senate voted unanimously on a resolution urging Pres. Bush to take action on Darfur. They are urging him to push NATO to take action and the UN Security Council to provide peacekeeping forces. The UN has already started planning for sending 7,000 troops.

This all sounds well and good, but it seems to be too little and way overdue. I'm inclined to think it's an election year maneuver instead of a genuine effort by congress to address a bloody genocide that we have sat back and watched as an estimated thousands of people have been murdered and over 2 million displaced and subjected to rape and violence. Why am I so skeptical about this? To begin with, this same "unanimous" congress failed to give the Sec. Of State the money she begged for to fund actions in Darfur. On top of the fact that Pres. Bush has already urged the UN and NATO to send peacekeepers, this is hardly a novel move from the congress. If anything, it's the US congress that has been dragging the US response to Darfur.

Also, consider that the UN has been working on sanctions for over a year and are still deadlocked because of countries with oil interests in Sudan holding out. With China increasing it's economic power in Africa, including sending tanks and bombs to the Sudanese government fueling the genocide in Darfur, it's hard to see anything coming out of the UN security council that will stop the violence.

Sanctions face resistance from Russia and China, which have strong economic ties to Sudan. But they will be essential to ending the chaos in Darfur. Peace talks will never be productive against a backdrop of violence, plunder and suffering.

The promise of peacekeepers could prove to be empty too. The UN still has to persuade nations to contribute troops to such a force. The U.S., which has difficult missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, is likely to provide backup support but not frontline peacekeeping troops for Darfur.

The U.S., which holds the temporary presidency of the Security Council this month, has succeeded in bringing Darfur to the top of the agenda. Millions of displaced civilians, mostly farmers, are living in refugee camps. They are not likely to return to their land in time for the next planting season, almost assuring a famine. Thousands already have died of disease and malnutrition. Foreign money to feed and shelter the refugees is drying up and increased violence in recent weeks has forced more than 100 aid workers to evacuate. As the situation becomes more desperate, even more are likely to take up arms.

Add to all of this the emerging threat coming out of Darfur - Al Qaeda. That's right, the terrorist group that brought you 9/11 has threatened the top UN Envoy in the region and any troops from outside of Africa. "We are strongly opposed to any foreign intervention in Sudan, and Darfur will be a graveyard for any foreign troops venturing to enter," warned the President of Sudan.

We need real action and real funding - not just lip service from a congress who would rather feed their own pork bellies than stop a genocide.

Anti-Family Values

2006-02-09T22:47:00.000-06:00

Among the many disturbing cuts being proposed by the Bush administration for the next budget, I was aghast at their most recent social security cut. They plan on cutting some survivor benefits for surviving partners, widows and widowers, and surviving children of social security beneficiaries. My grandmother's sole income after my grandfather passed was her survivor benefits from his social security, which was abysmally small to begin with.

What surprises me even more, as much as Bush and the Republicans like to count the family values religious right on their side, I think maybe they forgot to consult them on this one. Think about it, this is a group that encourages women to stay at home and raise the children, if they can. This means that the women who are stay-at-home moms, or domestic engineers, earn no income and do not pay into social security and have none to withdrawal. When their spouses die - and a woman's lifespan in on average 5 years longer than a man's- they will get less under Bush's plan. And if we've learned anything from Bush's years in office, they love to cut funding for programs until they no longer work and then use the fact that they no longer work to justify cutting their very existence. Of course this doesn't really affect the upper-class, it will adversely affect the poor who largely depend on social security for survival in retirement.

Also interesting, the stop in payments to surviving children would be linked to school attendance. I wonder, how many 16 and 17 year olds who find themselves without a guardian stay in school and how many get a job and later a GED?

On another note, it's hard to imagine a more fitting example of "say one thing, do another" politics than Bush's recent announcement of a competitiveness initiative. After announcing in his State of the Union address that he would fund education and train our youth so we can be more competitive in the world, his budget proposal calls for cutting student loans.

And to keep America competitive, one commitment is necessary above all: We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity. Our greatest advantage in the world has always been our educated, hardworking, ambitious people -- and we're going to keep that edge.

I suppose he plans on better educating the richest portion of Americans who can afford to pay the skyrocketing costs of a college education and leave the rest of the country to serve him and his buddies freedom fries. After all, the service industry will be one of their few alternatives, since he even plans on cutting vo-tech education budgets as well. Oh so competitive.

State of DisUnion

2006-02-01T11:32:00.000-06:00

Haven't had much time to blog lately, I've been side tracked on my latest muscial project but I will get back to blogging regularly soon.

I had to comment on all the hubub about people being arrested last night trying to attend the State of the Union Republican Propaganda Love Fest. Cindy Sheehan, who had a ticket to the event, was arrested for wearing a t-shirt that read "2245 Dead. How many more?" The news originally reported that she refused to cover it up and was arrested, but according to her she was never told she could not wear it or to cover up but simply hauled away after she sat down. Another interesting tid-bit, they also removed the wife of a Republican Representative for wearing a t-shirt with "support our troops" on it - but they didn't arrest her.

I don't see why they arrested Cindy Sheehan and not the other lady, they should have just removed both of them or neither. Although, my honest first thought was who wears a t-shirt to the state of the union address? You'd think they would have a dress code for an event like that anyway that would prevent anyone from wearing a t-shirt? no?

Although I didn't watch the state of the union address, (I see no point in putting myself through that amount of aggrevation anymore) I did find the new clip of all the democrats standing and cheering when Bush said congress didn't pass his social security plan a riot. Love it.

Bush Oblivious to the Economy

2006-01-20T17:24:00.000-06:00

so much news - so little time to post, but here's a bit I couldn't resist:

Today the Bush Administration sent it's officials out to tout how great the US economy is doing. Interesting, considering today also marked the biggest stock market drop in three years. That's a far cry from Treasury Secretary John Snow's claim that "By virtue of every index of economic performance, we're going the right way." In apparent contradiction to reality, "U.S. stocks tumbled to their biggest loss in nearly three years on Friday as oil prices surged to four-month highs, and downbeat earnings from Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Co. signaled a slowing economy."(emphasis added)

Darfur - Send a Letter to Bush

2006-01-12T12:03:00.000-06:00

The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has started a campaign to send letters to Bush calling for action on the Darfur genocide. I have no idea how I got on their email list, but it is a great resource. Please take action today, let's have Bush's mailbox overflowing!

Government to cheat consumers out of Hybrid tax credits

2006-01-11T16:40:00.000-06:00

It seems the congress once again out one past the American people by having the EPA push a proposal that is little more than a thinly veiled item from lobbyists' wish lists. Starting with 2008 models the proposal would drop the fuel economy rating 10 to 20 percent for city driving and 5 to 15 percent in highway driving. But here's the real scoop:

Gas-electric hybrids would be more affected, with ratings for city driving decreasing an average of 20 percent to 30 percent. Those models are due to appear in showrooms in the fall of 2007.

The EPA's new fuel-economy estimates, the first revision in 20 years, include vehicle-specific data from tests to reflect more accurately high-speed driving, rapid acceleration, use of air conditioning and cold temperatures, the agency said.

Odd isn't it? Do regular cars get better fuel efficiency than hybrids? Ask anyone with a hybrid, no they don't. But with the EPA's new estimates you would think they were a lot closer to even. Also suspect, the EPA hasn't revised standards in 20 years and suddenly decided that it was time to revise them now? Oh that's right, they reviewed the standards because it was included in Bush's energy bill that was passed last year.

Also interesting, the energy bill of 2005 gave a tax credit to hybrid vehicle buyers based on what? That's right, fuel economy!!

Hybrid sales only represent 2% of the auto industry revenues so it seems hardly likely that it's the auto industry that lobbied congress and the administration for this. No, my bet would be on the oil industry. After all, if you get better gas mileage you'll buy less gas and they won't have another year of record profits. When you look at the figures, companies like Exxon's profits grew by 42% in just the last quarter of 2005! Ridiculously record profits.

Money over Health

2006-01-09T16:57:00.000-06:00

I couldn't help but comment on an article in today's USA Today "Next frontier in heart disease: Undoing it." In the article, USA Today accurately portrays the perspective of the major pharmaceutical companies' spin doctors (aka public relations people). Having been one myself, it's fairly easy to spot. But what makes this article outrageous is that there is already scientific proof on reversing heart disease. It's been done, it's been repeated and there are people out there who can testify to it. Just read Dr. Dean Ornish's book, the McDougall plan, and T. Collin Campbell's latest The China Study. We have found a way to reverse heart disease people, it's not a new frontier.

Of course the USA TODAY article doesn't mention any of these discoveries. And why is that? That's right, they are achieved through diet. After all, how much money are you going to make off of people by telling them to do things like eat whole grains, don't eat fat and don't eat processed foods. And *gasp* go vegan or at least vegetarian. Not nearly as much as Pfizer, Bruin Pharmaceuticals, or any drug company stands to make off a magic pill that would allow you to continue all of your bad health habits without having to worry. Much like the recent proliferation of hang-over cures like Chaser that supposedly will let you drink all you want and not get a hang-over. Of course they don't work. If you drink too much bad stuff you will get sick, if you eat too much bad stuff you will get sick. Simple rules that we're spending millions of dollars to find "cures" for that will allow us to continue our bad habits without suffering the consequences. But why isn't that message being reinforced by our society and our government health organizations? Simple - Money. Yes, that's right, money.

"The next frontier" also is probably the richest potential market in medicine. Seventy million people in the USA alone have heart disease. Heart disease is the nation's leading killer; it accounts for 900,000 heart attacks and strokes each year, the American Heart Association says.

Drugs that lower cholesterol and other blood fats are the world's biggest sellers, with nearly $27 billion in sales in 2004, up 12% from the year before, according to the firm IMS Health, which tracks the drug industry. Lipitor leads the pack; it had sales of more than $10 billion and growth of 14% in 2004.

That would be a lot of money for the pharmaceutical industry to lose if people started getting better, wouldn't it?

Also of interest is that the reporter from the USA TODAY piece, Steven Sternberg, also wrote a scathing piece about Doctors getting kick-backs from pharmaceutical companies for giving out prescriptions. Check out the 1993 story at Mother Jones. For further info on this subject, I highly recommend Toxic Sludge is Good for You and Trust Us, We're Experts.

UN Pulling out of Darfur

2006-01-05T15:41:00.000-06:00

Bad news for the people of Darfur. Although the UN has declared what is occurring in Darfur a Genocide, they are being forced to evacuate most of their staff because of the escalating violence. The United States also called what is occurring in Darfur a genocide and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested increased funds for the state department to aid in Darfur. However, the US Congress rejected her plea and did not allocate additional funding for Darfur.

Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.

U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.

How far we've come from the oft repeated "Never Again."

Even worse, the violence threatens to pour over into Chad as rebels on both sides of the Chad/Sudan border are making raids.

Several rebel groups last week said they were banding together to topple Chadian President Idriss Deby.

Deby accuses the Sudanese government in Khartoum of backing them and has urged the United Nations to take over Darfur's administration. Khartoum denies any involvement.

The decision to restrict staffing "does not mean there will be an overall evacuation," U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"Essential life-saving humanitarian services delivered by the U.N. will continue, and the mission will monitor the situation and carry out a fresh security assessment of the area in the next two to three weeks," Dujarric said.

The move was "due to the increased instability in the affected areas, including a buildup of forces on ether side of the Sudan-Chad border, with increased potential for armed conflict," he said.

The border tensions have further complicated a debilitating civil war that has raged in Darfur since February 2003, pitting Sudanese rebels against government forces.

Tens of thousands have been killed and 2 million have left their homes for camps in Sudan and Chad to flee the fighting.

The area now hosts one of the world's largest humanitarian operations, with more than 11,000 aid workers struggling to feed, clothe and shelter inhabitants.

The Sudanese rebels began fighting to pressure the Arab-dominated central government to respond to the needs of Darfur's villagers. U.N. officials say Khartoum then armed Arab militias to fight the rebels, and that the militias launched a campaign of rape, killing and looting that continues to this day.

So Please, write your representative or senator today and urge them to fund the peace keeping missions in Darfur.

Not sure what to say? Take a look at Sen. Barack Obama's letter that was printed in the Washington Post:

It is essential that the Bush administration shift its approach to confront the new and mounting challenges. Only the United States, working in concert with key nations, has the leverage and resources to persuade Khartoum to change its ways:

First, the administration must help transform the African Union protection force into a sizable, effective multinational force.

In the near term, Washington must pressure Khartoum to allow more advisers from Western nations to embed within the African Union's mission so they support intelligence, logistics and communications. It must work with other nations to provide military assets to African Union forces, such as attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers, so they can respond immediately to attacks. And it must urge the African Union to be more aggressive in protecting civilians. More important, Washington must immediately spearhead efforts to create a larger multinational force. The African Union has begun discussions with the United Nations about folding itself into a follow-on U.N. mission, but because of the West's reluctance to offend African sensibilities, all parties seem resigned to muddling along. It has become clear that a U.N.- or NATO-led force is required, and the administration must use diplomacy to override Chinese and Sudanese opposition to such a force and persuade outside troops to join it.

Second, the administration must keep up the pressure on the rebels to unite their negotiating positions, and it must enlist Sudan's allies to increase the pressure on Khartoum to share power and resources.

Third, the United States and other nations must place additional pressure on key nations -- Chad, Eritrea and Libya -- to stop playing a destructive role in the conflict.

Fourth, the administration needs to place its weight behind the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which would impose targeted sanctions on the leading perpetrators of the genocide.

The Bush administration has helped reduce suffering in Darfur, but the situation is dangerously adrift. And when the history of this tragedy is written, nobody will remember how many times officials visited the region or how much humanitarian aid was delivered. They will only remember the death toll.

Good News for Women

2005-12-20T17:07:00.000-06:00

With so much going on right now, it seems the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act(VAWA) slipped through the cracks. The good news is that it was reauthorized and strengthened. For the first time ever, assistance will be provided not only for rape prevention and education but for actual victims. The bill also allows victims of abuse to break a lease to flee their abusers and expands access to transitional housing. The VAWA was also authorized with a section explaining all programs are gender neutral, so it covers all victims of abuse and sexual violence, men and women.

Spotlight on Darfur

2005-12-17T10:46:00.000-06:00

Catez over on Allthings2all is hosting a Chrismtas Spotlight on Darfur. It's really well worth taking a look at. The collection highlights the writings of a diverse group of bloggers from all over the world, conservatives, liberals and everything inbetween coming together to raise awareness about the atrocities occuring in Darfur and bring the world to action.

Bush Still Confused On Why We Invaded Iraq

2005-12-15T17:31:00.000-06:00

Today and much of Yesterday, papers all over the world printed the story that Bush is taking responsibility for Iraq. While he has finally stepped up to the plate and said that even though there was faulty intelligence the ultimate decision was his. But if you read it more closely, he can't even remember why he made the decision to take us in there to begin with, or at least what he "said" the reason was at the time.

But he [Bush] said, "My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision" because he was deemed a threat and that regardless, "We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of a brutal dictator."

We supposedly invaded Iraq to strip them of the WMDs they were hiding and keep them from falling in the hands of terrorists. Or at least, that's what Bush was saying at the time:

"The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities." - from Bush's address to the Nation, March 19, 2003.

There are many many more texts where he refers to the WMDs as the reason for entering Iraq :

"America is determined to enforce the demands of the United Nations Security Council by confronting the grave and growing danger of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. This dictator will not be allowed to intimidate and blackmail the civilized world, or to supply his terrible weapons to terrorist groups, who would not hesitate to use them against us. The safety of the American people depends on ending this threat." President's Radio Address, March 1, 2003.

At least he took half of FDR's advice, admit you're wrong and then try something else. We're still waiting for him to try something else...anything else. Instead, stay the course - which is not a plan at all, it's just something you do when you have no other options.

Proof Coming out about CIA's Not so Secret Prisons

2005-12-13T16:21:00.000-06:00

Extraordinary Rendition cover-up finally beginning to unravel:

PARIS (Reuters) - A month-old investigation has reinforced allegations the CIA ran a network of secret prisons in Europe, abducted prisoners and transferred them between countries, a European human rights investigator said on Tuesday.

Swiss senator Dick Marty, who is looking into the scandal for the 46-nation Council of Europe human rights watchdog, criticised the United States for failing to come clean over the allegations.

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise with Rice refusing to "confirm or deny" the secret prisons and Cheney lobbying congress to exempt the CIA from McCain's anti-torture legislation.

Bush uses more Fuzzy Math - How do we get out of Iraq?

2005-12-12T14:39:00.000-06:00

In a speech today, Bush estimated that only 30,000 Iraqis have died since we invaded Iraq. "I would say 30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis," the president said. "We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq."

This must be more of Bush's fuzzy math, because he "misunderestimated" the fatalities by about 70,000. The study, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, estimated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US invaded Iraq. "The researchers called their estimate conservative because they excluded deaths in Fallujah."

Also interesting were the results of a poll or Iraqi citizens that found "More than two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the presence of troops from the United States and its coalition partners and less than half, 44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine and other media partners."

All of this has had me thinking recently on how exactly we can get out of Iraq without making the situation worse there. Everyone seems to offer criticism and want us to pull out right away, but how do we feasibly leave this mess we created?

In considering the current realities in Iraq, I keep hearkening back to the lessons we learned from World War II and the Marshall Plan. Now that was a plan to "win the peace." Not only did it rebuild Germany and Japan, but helped shape them into the economic powerhouses they are today. One of the key elements was that it put the German people to work, rebuilding Germany. Iraq has a mind-boggling unemployment rate estimatedbetween 27 percent and 40 percent. By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate during the Great Depression peaked at around 25 percent. And what is the only job we seem to be offering them? Police officers or military personnel? One of the most dangerous positions around.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out people who don't have a job and means to support their family are not the happiest people around. You can look at the statistics of any city in the US and the areas with the highest unemployment are the areas with the highest crime rates. So how do we curve the violence and improve the image of the US? Give the Iraq people jobs - not just soldiers or policemen. We need to stop outsourcing the rebuilding of Iraq to Haliburton and other American companies that are making millions off of American taxpayers, and give the Iraq people a chance to rebuild their own country.

Until Iraq has a rebuilt economic base and a lower unemployment rate, the violence will continue and the US will be stuck there with continuing casualties. I think we should take a look back at what FDR once said "Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something. "
"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." -FDR

Please, feel free to leave your own thoughts on improving the situation in Iraq. There certainly haven't been any plans coming out of the government, perhaps it is time for "we the people" to lead.

Clinton Calls out Bush on Kyoto

2005-12-09T14:47:00.000-06:00

President Clinton called out the false assertions by Bush & Co. saying, "the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to fight global warming would damage the U.S. economy." Speaking at the UN Climate Conference, Clinton urged that creating energy saving technology would in fact strengthen the economy.

"There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities," said Clinton, whose address was interrupted repeatedly by enthusiastic applause. "We are uncertain about how deep and the time of arrival of the consequences, but we are quite clear they will not be good."

It's hard to believe that Bush can get away with saying that reducing emissions will harm our economy but creating new treaties like CAFTA, that will only encourage companies to take production (and jobs) outside the US where they can pay people less, will create new jobs and improve the economy? Sure, it'll create new jobs--in Guatemala. What Bush really means is that it'll lower the profits of his oil company friends, record profits. Instead of aiding conservation and reducing emissions, we're subsidizing energy company's drilling, and if Bush gets his way, we'll soon be subsidizing their quest to make more oil refineries. All this to companies who are making record profits while price gouging the American public.

Not unsurprisingly, the Bush administration attempts to throw the environment a bone by pointing out that the government is spending a whopping $3 billion a year on "research and development of energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts to combat climate change." Woo-who - $3 billion a year. We are spending $6 billion a month in Iraq. The 2006 military spending request is $441.6 Billion, with an additional $49.1 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And where in the world is all of this funding for our military going anyway when many reservists and active duty soldiers alike still don't have body armor? It certainly is not going to veteran's services to take care of the over 10,000 soldiers that were wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan. As a matter of fact that funding is being cut. Maybe we should stop subsidizing the oil companies and use that money to support our veterans in the way they were promised when they signed up to begin with.

I'm starting to feel more and more that the Onion's humorous piece on the vanishing middle class is perhaps more prophetic than satirical:

National Museum Of The Middle Class Opens In Schaumburg, IL
SCHAUMBURG, ILÂThe Museum of the Middle Class, featuring historical and anthropological exhibits addressing the socioeconomic category that once existed between the upper and lower classes, opened to the public Monday.

...
Others among the 99 percent of U.S. citizens who make less than $28,000 per year shared Chavez's sense of disbelief.

"Frankly, I think they're selling us a load of baloney," said laid-off textile worker Elsie Johnson, who visited the museum Tuesday with her five asthmatic children. "They expect us to believe the government used to help pay for college? Come on. The funniest exhibit I saw was 'Visiting The Family Doctor.' Imagine being able to choose your own doctor and see him without a four-hour wait in the emergency room. Gimme a friggin' break!"

World AIDS Day

2005-12-02T17:14:00.000-06:00

Ok, it was actually yesterday but the whole point is to raise awareness, not just to remember the epidemic for one day. While the epidemic continues to grow, some progress has been made in treating it and finding a cure. Sadly, society (or at least some societies) seem to be ebbing into a more conservative and repressive environment and limiting education on AIDS and condom use. Find out more about HIV and AIDS and what you can do to protect yourself and help those affected here.

On a lighter note, Buenos Aires residents awoke on World AIDS day to see one of their landmarks covered with a giant condom. Rather humorous if you ask me. For some reason it reminds me of this little jingle they had in England when I was younger about AIDS:

AIDS kills
So Don't be Silly
Wear a Condom
On your Willy

Leave it to the English to come up with a kids' song about AIDS right? They had one about Bubonic plague too. Somehow I doubt the jingle will find it's way into the South African version of Sesame Street that features an HIV+ Muppett.