REAL ID ACT

House and Senate members are currently negotiating a final bill funding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as providing aid to tsunami victims. The House has attached dangerous language to this "must-pass" bill that would grant the Secretary of Homeland Security unlimited powers which could not be challenged in any court. These powers would include the authority to suspend any law -- including environmental, civil rights and labor laws -- that the Secretary deems an obstacle to U.S. border security.

This legislation, called the REAL ID Act, must be stripped out in conference committee or it will surely become law, creating a terrible precedent for unchecked government power and threatening the safety of millions living in the U.S. or seeking asylum here.
Call today and tell your senator on the conference committee to strip the REAL ID Act language from the Iraq war appropriations bill (H.R. 1268).

Sen. Patty Murray
DC Phone: (202) 224-2621
District Phone: (206) 553-5545

When you call, ask for the staff member who handles appropriations issues. State your name, where you live, and a message such as:

"I strongly urge Senator _____ to ensure that the REAL ID Act is stripped from the Iraq war appropriations bill in conference committee and not included in a final bill."

Here are some talking points to reinforce your message:

The REAL ID Act would give the Secretary of Homeland Security unlimited powers not subject to judicial review, allowing the Secretary to trample our rights. Under the bill, the Secretary of Homeland Security would have authority to waive "all laws" -- including environmental, civil rights and labor laws -- that s/he determines would interfere with the construction of barriers and roads along our nation's borders. For example, if the Secretary decided it would be cheaper to hire children to construct a border fence, s/he could waive child labor laws to make it happen. These decisions could not be challenged in any court because the bill also exempts such decisions from judicial review.

The Act would deny asylum to people fleeing persecution in other countries. In one of the bill's most perverse twists, victims seeking asylum in the U.S. would have to obtain corroborating evidence of their persecution, such as documentation from the persecuting government. The bill would also give U.S. officials more power to deny asylum applications based on unproven or irrelevant information, and would prohibit U.S. courts from reviewing these discretionary judgments. This would effectively make asylum applicants completely dependent on the whims of officials at the Justice and Homeland Security departments.

The Act will force more immigrants into the shadows of society, harming the safety of immigrants and non-immigrants alike. The bill would require that states make driver's license applicants prove that they are in the U.S. legally and essentially turn motor-vehicle department employees into immigration agents. These new requirements could force many of the estimated 9 to 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to forego getting a driver's license or to obtain one fraudulently. As a result, many would also lack driver training and insurance, meaning more hazardous road conditions for all.

The REAL ID Act is a recipe for disaster, threatening the rights and safety of millions of Americans. Its sponsors clearly know it, or they wouldn't have been so devious as to attach it to a bill that those in our military and those recovering from natural disaster are counting on.
Were the REAL ID Act debated in Congress at length and as a stand-alone bill, there is little doubt it that large majorities would be outraged by its assault on checks and balances and immigrants to the U.S. Your call to your senator, and those made by your friends, are the last, best hope to awaken that outrage and defeat this deeply flawed legislation.

Please contact your senator today and forward this alert to friends and family members in the states listed to the right. Sound the alarm to make sure that the REAL ID Act doesn't sneak into our nation's laws and undermine our democratic principles.

Thank you,
Ralph G. Neas
President

Learn about other critical flaws in the REAL ID Act at:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17851

TAKE ACTION
Urge your U.S. Senator to work for the removal of the REAL ID Act from the final Iraq war appropriations bill now being negotiated in conference committee. The REAL ID Act would give the Secretary of Homeland Security vast new powers that would be beyond judicial review.

Sen. Patty Murray is on the conference committee and needs to hear from constituents like you. Please ask constituents of the other senators listed below to call, too.

Alabama
Senator Richard Shelby (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5744
Tuscaloosa: (205) 759-5047

Alaska
Senator Ted Stevens (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3004
Anchorage: (907) 271-5915

California
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3841
San Francisco: (415) 393-0707

Colorado
Senator Wayne Allard (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5941
Englewood: (303) 220-7414

Hawaii
Senator Daniel Inouye (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3934
Honolulu: (808) 541-2542

Idaho
Senator Larry Craig (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2752
Boise: (208) 342-7985

Illinois
Senator Richard Durbin (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2152
Chicago: (312) 353-4952

Iowa
Senator Tom Harkin (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3254
Des Moines: (515) 284-4574

Kansas
Senator Sam Brownback (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-6521
Topeka: (785) 233-2503

Kentucky
Senator Mitch McConnell (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2541
Louisville: (502) 582-6304

Louisiana
Senator Mary Landrieu (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5824
New Orleans: (504) 589-2427

Maryland
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-4654
Baltimore: (410) 962-4510

Mississippi
Senator Thad Cochran (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5054
Jackson: (601) 965-4459

Missouri
Senator Christopher Bond (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5721
Jefferson City: (573) 634-2488

Montana
Senator Conrad Burns (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2644
Billings: (406) 252-0550

Nevada
Senator Harry Reid (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3542
Las Vegas: (702) 388-5020

New Hampshire
Senator Judd Gregg (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3324
Concord: (603) 225-7115

New Mexico
Senator Pete Domenici (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-6621
Albuquerque: (505) 346-6791

North Dakota
Senator Byron Dorgan (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2551
Bismarck: (701) 250-4618

Ohio
Senator Mike DeWine (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2315
Columbus: (614) 469-5186

Pennsylvania
Senator Arlen Specter (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-4254
Philadelphia: (215) 597-7200

South Dakota
Senator Tim Johnson (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5842
Sioux Falls: (605) 332-8896

Texas
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5922
Dallas: (214) 361-3500

Utah
Senator Robert Bennett (R)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5444
Salt Lake City: (801) 524-5933

Vermont
Senator Patrick Leahy (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-4242
Burlington: (802) 863-2525

Washington
Senator Patty Murray (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-2621
Seattle: (206) 553-5545

West Virginia
Senator Robert Byrd (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-3954
Charleston: (304) 342-5855

Wisconsin
Senator Herbert Kohl (D)
DC Phone: (202) 224-5653
Milwaukee: (414) 297-4451

STUCK IN THE SPIN CYCLE

Below, the Co-Director of the Campaign for America's Future -- Robert Borosage -- responds to last night's Presidential press conference. Borosage slams the President for failing to lead on the economy and for continuing to drum up a false crisis on Social Security to push privatization -- which would only make matters worse. He also blasts Bush's disingenuous energy policy rhetoric, and outlines real progressive solutions to replace the billions in give-aways to oil, gas and nuclear producers with forward-looking investments in renewable energy.
Stay up-to-date on hard-hitting opinion and news like this -- get a FREE subscription to TomPaine.com's daily email news and opinion alerts today!

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Stuck In the Spin Cycleby Robert L. Borosage

With the economy slowing, wages stagnant, the Republican Congress stained by scandal and his poll numbers plummeting, George W. Bush called only the fourth press conference of his presidency to stanch the hemorrhaging. "I have a duty as the president," he said, "to define the problems facing the nation and to call upon people to act." What are those problems? Social Security benefits are too high and must be cut? Oil and gas subsidies are too low and must be raised? No wonder more and more Americans are beginning to think this president is part of the problem and not the solution.

The staggering failure of leadership was most apparent in what the president chose not to talk about -- the economy This economy is in trouble. Wages are not keeping up. Four years into the supposed recovery and Mr. Bush's plan has produced a net loss of private sector jobs. The dollar is falling but our trade deficits and foreign debt keep growing. We're borrowing over $2 billion a day, largely from China and Japan, to buy the goods they make with the jobs our corporations are taking there. This cannot be sustained.

Mr. Bush's answer for the economy? A stirring call for "legal reform" starting with passage of the asbestos bill, "an important reform in order to make sure that our economy continues to grow." He also called for keeping the tax cuts in place and continuing his feckless trade strategy by ratifying the Central American Free Trade Accord. This is a bad joke. CAFTA and asbestos reform do not address the perils facing our economy. The president is literally blind to this fundamental threat to this nation's security and prosperity. If his "duty as president" is to identify problems facing the nation and call people to act, his failure here is complete.

The president wasn't much better on the two subjects he did choose to address

On Social Security, the president offered a warmed-over stew of distortions and dodges. With the retirement of the baby boomers, America faces a serious, long-term fiscal challenge. But Social Security isn't the problem. Even if nothing is done, Social Security will meet the president's standard of paying out higher benefits in the future than are received today. Soaring Medicare and Medicaid costs are the major problem, an expression of our broken health care system. The president's only significant initiative in regard to this 'right now' crisis has been to make it worse -- passing a prescription drug bill that prohibited Medicare from negotiating a lower price for drugs, a multi-billion dollar payoff to drug companies and HMOs.

While Social Security isn't in crisis, the president's plan would create one. He disparages the Treasury bonds held by the Social Security Trust Fund as simply "file cabinets full of IOUs." Then he proposes issuing another $15 trillion of those IOUs over 40 years -- effectively tripling the national debt -- to pay for private accounts. The president describes this as a boon to younger workers. But they will end up paying the interest on that debt, while suffering deep cuts in their guaranteed benefits. The only certain results of the president's plan are more seniors in poverty and more debt for the nation.

On energy, the divide between the president's rhetoric and his program grows ever wider. He calls for a comprehensive energy strategy, but offers a program laden with subsidies to oil, gas and nuclear producers, largely cobbled together in secret meetings with oil and gas industry lobbyists run by Dick Cheney. The president calls for energy independence, but offers a program that leaves us more dependent on foreign oil.

Here the crisis is real. We desperately need a president who will summon the country to launch a crash program on energy independence. Invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Mobilize American science and technology to make certain that we capture the green markets of the future. The Apollo initiative for new energy and good jobs for America -- named after the John F. Kennedy-era Apollo program that put a man on the moon in 10 years after Kennedy issued the challenge to the country -- outlines a $30 billion a year, 10-year program that will produce three million new jobs here at home while freeing America from its dependence on Persian Gulf oil. It stands in stark contrast with the president's failure of vision and leadership.

Most Americans like George Bush. His party controls both houses of Congress. His right-wing allies have built the most effective propaganda machine in the history of American politics. His administration is more disciplined about message than any in memory. But now the wheels are falling off. Americans are sensibly alarmed about the direction of the country. And in last night's press conference, Mr. Bush demonstrated clearly that they have every reason to be so.


Through hard-hitting progressive news and opinion like this, TomPaine.com arms progressives for the war of ideas. Every day, TomPaine.com casts a wide net to bring you the smartest and most credible progressive insight, analysis and activism online.

Subscribe today to TomPaine.com's free e-news and opinion alerts!

http://www.ourfuture.org/tompaine_signup.cfm

Thank you so much for your interest and continued support.

Sincerely,
Alexandra Walker
Campaign for America's Future

From Senator Barbara Boxer

George Bush and the Senate Republican leadership continue to prop up John Bolton's nomination for UN Ambassador -- despite overwhelming evidence that Bolton is the absolute wrong choice for the job.

More than 20,000 people -- including you -- have already emailed the White House through my PAC for a Change website, calling on President Bush to replace John Bolton with a new UN nominee that all Americans can support.
But with the Senate out on recess next week, I need you to keep the pressure on the White House. We can't stop now.

Invite your friends to email George Bush and tell him to withdraw John Bolton's nomination now!

It's clear that the right-wing Republicans aren't going to back down on Bolton without a fight.
Just this week, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar scheduled a final committee vote on Bolton for May 12th, applying pressure on undecided Republican committee members by publicly vowing that they would confirm Bolton and move his nomination to the floor of the Senate.

And in a nationally televised press conference Thursday evening, President Bush reaffirmed his support of John Bolton, calling him a "blunt guy" who "can get the job done at the United Nations."

Well I think that a man like John Bolton who has shown nothing but contempt for the United Nations throughout his entire career, repeatedly abused and bullied subordinates, and attempted to pressure intelligence analysts to give him the answers he wants to hear is unfit to be America's chief representative at the United Nations.

If you agree, invite everyone you know to tell George Bush to send us a new UN nominee now!
Thanks so much for your support on this critical issue. At a time when our nation must focus on rebuilding relationships with our friends and allies around the world, America simply can't afford to have John Bolton representing us in such an important diplomatic post.

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer


P.S. If you haven't already done so, please let us know which Democratic Senator up for re-election in 2006 should receive the next $10,000 contribution from PAC for a Change -- cast your vote before our May 1st deadline!

Paid for by PAC for a Change, www.pacforachange.com, Treasurer Sim Farar, FEC#C00342048.Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Invite your friends and family to join Barbara Boxer's PAC for a Change today! Tell-a-friend!

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for PAC for a Change.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ??????????

On Wednesday the Senate Rules Committee considered S. 271, the sham campaign finance reform bill being railroaded by the Republicans.

The Republican's intent is clear. This bill is designed to cut off Democratic sources of campaign money, especially for grassroots voter registration and mobilization, while opening doors for corporate and trade association influence in our government.

So brazen are their intentions, in fact, their first item of business was to vote the bill out of committee before any discussion was permitted, despite Democratic objections! Republicans did, however, manage to pass an amendment offered by Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) to lift those pesky limits on corporations and trade association contributions. The bill now directly undermines the bipartisan campaign reform act of 2002, known as McCain-Feingold.

But for over a week now, ACTivists around the country have made thousands of phone calls and written tens of thousands of letters urging their Democratic Senators to protect the vital role of independent organizations and voices in the political process. The impact of your hard work is clear.

Democratic Senators Durbin, Dayton, Inouye, Byrd and Nelson all asked to be recorded "no" on the committee's procedural vote.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked that his name be removed as a co-sponsor of the bill. He also offered an amendment (which passed) to add a narrow "get out the vote" provision supporting and protecting robust citizen participation.

Thanks to the organizing efforts of progressives around the country, S. 271 emerged from the Senate mark-up in an amended form that will make it much more difficult for the Republican leadership to bring it to the floor for a vote.

In a statement yesterday, Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "The illegitimate process that brings this fatally flawed bill closer to the Senate floor should make it clear to McCain-Feingold supporters that Republicans see this bill as an opportunity to subvert that reform legislation to achieve partisan advantage, not as an opportunity to advance real reform."

Your work is paying off but the fight is far from over. If you haven't already, please write your Senators now. Tell them to protect your right to ACT.

For a more detailed and technical explanation of the amendments: http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/

And check out this article from yesterday's Washington Post, April 28, 2005:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/27/AR2005042702222.html

Thanks for all you do.

Harold Ickes, President Steve Rosenthal, CEOAmerica Coming Together


Contributions to ACT are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

Paid for by America Coming Together (888 16th Street, NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20006), and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Central Park Free Speech Lawsuit;

Central Park Free Speech Lawsuit;New York City's Free Speech Battle and Its National Impact;City's Attempt to Stealthily Enact New RegulationsRestricting Protest Exposed

Dear VoteNoWar.org member,

Across the country, police agencies, often working in joint action with federal law enforcement, have worked to obstruct and disrupt free speech activities and the mass assemblies of people taking to the streets to fight against war and for social justice. This movement has faced mass arrests and round-ups of political activists; brutality; abusive conditions of detention; denial of permits; political, racial and religious profiling and intelligence gathering; and disinformation campaigns. The people's struggle in the streets - their refusal to be silenced - coupled with the work of progressive attorneys will make the difference in defending free speech rights. This battle will be fought in the courts and in the streets, on the sidewalks, and in the parklands. VoteNoWar.org members have played a significant role in organizing and coming out for anti-war demonstrations across the country.

In New York, the City is now trying a new tactic - they are attempting to take away the very ground on which we stand to voice our opinions when we come together in mass assembly. They are trying to take away what is traditionally a public forum for free speech activities - Central Park. The attempt to banish mass assembly protest from Manhattan and exile it into the outer boroughs of New York is a prototype for what is being attempted in cities throughout the country. If they can succeed in New York City, a historic center for the progressive and union movement, the government and Corporate America feel they will be able to succeed elsewhere.

The National Council of Arab Americans and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition are currently in Federal District Court with a lawsuit brought by the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee to stop the city in its tracks and protect free speech rights. The Central Park litigation's Complaint and Memorandum of Law have been posted online and are available at www.JusticeOnline.org, the website of the attorneys at the Partnership for Civil Justice. To get low volume updates and breaking alerts on this fight and other important First Amendment and free speech litigation from the Partnership for Civil Justice, you can sign up here. The case is being litigated by constitutional rights attorneys Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo of PCJ and Carol Sobel, all also on behalf of NLG Mass Defense.

This lawsuit was initially brought last summer during the Republican National Convention when the City of New York denied the right of the Arab-American and Muslim communities and the anti-war movement to come together in solidarity on August 28 to stand up for civil rights and civil liberties on the Great Lawn of Central Park. This was the anniversary of the historic 1963 civil rights March on Washington. With ever shifting rationales, the City claimed that the renovated park and grass couldn't survive free speech, as opposed to corporate-sponsored concerts or opera music. The NCA and A.N.S.W.E.R. took the City to federal court to demand our constitutional rights. The City sought to force anti-war and civil rights activists to capitulate to their requirements that our speech be exiled out of Manhattan, where the RNC was meeting, or be shunted off to the sidelines in smaller numbers, but we said, "Our free speech rights are non-negotiable." The City, using different pretexts, also denied the right of United for Peace and Justice to hold a mass rally demonstration in Central Park's Great Lawn on August 29. As it was made explicit in the Court hearing on August 20, this lawsuit sought to defend of all those who sought to exercise the First Amendment right to protest in Central Park.

Since last summer, all groups that have sought to have mass protests in Central Park have been forced to take a back seat and have not been allowed on the Great Lawn. The government has tried to convince political activists that they should be happy to receive a corner of the park other than the Great Lawn and consider it a "victory." In addition to the unconstitutional denial of access to this important public space there is another plan at work - as soon as these last few areas are also renovated with big business dollars, they too will no longer be available to the people for mass public protest. This is the real story: the City intends to banish large scale protest from all of Central Park, the only area in Manhattan that can accommodate such protests, within the next few years.

Because we recognized the City's real plan and knew that this wasn't just about one protest or one day, we decided to continue this free speech lawsuit beyond the RNC.
Now, in response to this lawsuit and ongoing political struggle, Mayor Bloomberg, the City government, and corporate partners have been forced out of the shadows. Lacking a legal leg to stand on, the City is now speedily moving to ram through "new regulations" that will codify their effort to banish protest and formally restrict use of the Great Lawn. ("Keeping Great Crowds Off Central Park's Great Lawn," New York Times, April 27, 2005) They are now trying to cover their tracks by enacting these new regulations. This is a thinly veiled political maneuver to shield their contradictory legal and factual positions that have been thoroughly exposed by the litigation. Behind the smoke and mirrors the new regulations allow the corporations and big-money donors to essentially privatize this public forum, the largest area of park in Manhattan. Unless we stop them, free speech protest will be fundamentally negated in Central Park while this area, the scene of the largest mass protest in New York City history, will be set aside for preferential treatment and access to certain city-approved and corporate sponsored events.

The Central Park litigation, the Complaint and Memorandum of Law, are available at www.JusticeOnline.org, the website of our attorneys at the Partnership for Civil Justice. To get low volume updates and breaking alerts on this fight and other important First Amendment and free speech litigation from the Partnership for Civil Justice you can sign up here. The website of the National Council of Arab Americans is at www.Arab-American.net.

--All of us at VoteNoWar.org

Visit the VoteNoWar Resource Center today!

WEEK IN REVIEW

APRIL 29, 2005

DEMOCRATS UNITE IN THE FIGHT TO STOP PRIVATIZATION

This week, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (NV), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Democratic Members of Congress, and thousands of Americans around the country rallied with a unified voice on our concerns with President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. Organized by Americans United to Protect Social Security, rallies were held across the country on the first day of the Senate Finance Committee hearings on Social Security privatization.
"We stand united today to say that a privatization plan that cuts benefits, deepens our debt, and drains the Social Security trust fund is unworkable, unwise, and unacceptable to the American people," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA).
"The President's privatization plan would shift the risk of the stock market onto middle-class Americans. Democrats won't let a guaranteed benefit become a guaranteed gamble."
The Democratic leaders and Members of Congress signed a Declaration of Unity - and you can sign on as well! Discuss this unity pledge in your local Democratic organizations and speak to the media about your support for these important principles. Include the unity pledge in your letter to the editor or create a flyer to distribute in your community. YOU are the most effective messenger in your community and through your efforts the message of Democratic unity and commitment to strengthen Social Security for all Americans will get to the voters!
A Declaration of Unity: Protect Social Security, Stop Privatization
Social Security guarantees Americans that if they work hard, contribute, and play by the rules, they have earned the right to retire in dignity, and their families will be protected in the event of disability or death.
We are united in our commitment to strengthen Social Security, not privatize it.
We will work to improve the retirement security of all Americans and will oppose any scheme for deep benefit cuts or massive debt to fund risky private accounts.
Learn more here.
President Bush nor the Washington Republicans joined the American people at this rally. In fact on the day of the rally, President Bush rewarded none other than embattled GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay with a coveted trip aboard Air Force One. The taxpayers should wonder what they discussed during the ride - after all, they paid for the trip! DeLay's bewildering array of ethics violations and investigations into corruption? Or maybe Bush's need to save his sinking Social Security reform dogma that has yet to deliver a specific plan to the American people? Or maybe they worked on language for Bush's address to the nation this week. But when the President spoke on Thursday all he did was confirm he will pay for his risky privatization scheme by cutting the benefits of middle-class recipients. If that performance was supposed to put Bush's second term back on track, Americans are in for 3 1/2 years of great storytelling, but no real solutions to their problems.


REPUBLICAN BUDGETS DON'T MATCH THEIR RHETORIC

Democratic House leaders are succeeding in building support to oppose the oppressive Medicaid cuts in President Bush's proposed budget. Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) reports that a handful of Republicans have joined a united Democratic effort to oppose Medicaid cuts which would leave thousands of women and families unprepared to meet basic health care needs. And Senate Democrats led a similar effort earlier this month. That leaves Bush and Republican leaders with a choice - honor the voices of the people's representatives or use the secretive and closed-door budget 'conference' process to press on with the significant cuts in Medicaid.
Leader Nancy Pelosi reminds us that "cutting Medicaid funds will increase the number of low-income Americans who are uninsured to partially pay for $70 billion in tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. Many of these uninsured, poor Americans are children. I don't think it really is a statement of our values in our budget to cut health care for the poorest children in America to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. And yet at the end of the day, this budget will do all of that and increase our deficits."
We all know Republicans are successful in talking about moral values in public, yet not living out those values when making deals behind closed-doors. You can be the voice in your community that exposes this pattern of double-talk. How will each of us honor and represent our values?
Faith based leaders are joining Democrats to speak out against the Bush budget by asking Congress to reject Bush's current proposal and start over to form a budget that speaks to the values of faith, morals and justice.
A recent statement from five mainline Protestant denominations, the Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church, acknowledges the FY '06 Federal Budget, "continues to ask our nation's working poor to pay the cost of a prosperity in which they may never share. We believe this budget remains unjust. It does not adequately address the more than 36 million Americans living below the poverty line, 45 million without health insurance, or the 13 million hungry children. Worldwide it neither provides sufficient development assistance nor adequately addresses the Global AIDS pandemic."


STILL STANDING UP FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH

The Women's Vote Center celebrates the year anniversary of the March for Women's Lives with a salute to those fighting in every community for women's health - YOU!
One year ago this week on April 24, 2004, over one million of you came to Washington, DC to March for Women's Lives. And the Democratic National Committee was proud to carry the names of the 15,000 women and men who signed up as virtual marchers in our delegation. The need to focus on women's health continues - in your State Legislature, County Commission, City Council and, yes, in Congress. This week, we ask you to rededicate yourself to fight for quality women's health - through protection of Medicaid funding, fair and equitable women's health research, sexual education that is medically accurate, efforts to end violence against women and supporting the right to make personal and private reproductive choices with the health care provider of your choice.


DEMOCRATS TAKING THE LEAD

Governor Christine Gregoire was sworn in months ago in Washington State-- the Republican Secretary of State certified her victory, and she's been governing for over 100 days. Her race was close -- that's why, immediately after the election, an initial machine recount was conducted. Then, even though the Washington State Democratic Party had to pay for it (which they did with your help), a hand recount was conducted to make sure that every legal vote was protected and counted.
But guess what -- the Republican who lost the election still won't admit defeat. He's struggling to seize power and stay in the headlines by holding press conferences, running ads and filing junk lawsuits. He has even publicly released lists of people he thinks shouldn't have been allowed to vote and accused others of being convicted felons -- only to find that his lists contained registered, legal voters every time.
We're proud of Christine Gregoire, the former Attorney General and now one of six Democratic women Governors in the country. Let's join with the Democratic activists in Washington who continue daily work to beat back this assault on their elected governor. No one anticipated the Republicans would lose the election and mount a reckless and absurd campaign for months after the election. The state party needs resources to keep its team going -- to keep fighting back in public and in the courtroom. Please consider a contribution to help Christine Gregoire...so she can keep fighting for us!
https://secure.wa-democrats.org/contribute_dnc.php


WOMAN STATE LEGISLATOR FIGHTS IGNORANCE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Kudos to South Carolina state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D). Cobb-Hunter, also an advisory board member of the Women's Vote Center, sponsored legislation called Protect Our Women in Every Relationship, or POWER, to increase penalties for those repeat offenders that physically abuse their spouse and family. But a House Judiciary committee tabled the bill; on the same day they supported a bill to make cockfighting a felony.
One Republican in the South Carolina House, ignorant to the real and unacceptable circumstances women face who domestic violence situations, told a reporter he questioned why women stay with men who abuse them. Rep. John Altman (R) said "I don't know why anybody who gets beaten up goes back to being beaten up again." And following the committee's hearing, male lawmakers were overheard on a reporter's audiotape suggesting the bill should be called "Protect Our People in Every Relationship" which could be considered a good move...until the recorded voices went on to announce the new acronym would be called 'POPER.' A voice then pronounces the bill name as "Pop her" and another says 'Pop her again" which is followed by laughter.
Cobb-Hunter has not let the negative situation slow her fight to assist women in domestic violence situations. Using the media buzz created by the above statements, Cobb-Hunter has taken the lead to get commitments to move forward on the legislation, expecting a version of the bill to pass within weeks. Domestic violence is a growing issue for women and their families and we applaud our women state lawmakers who fight to raise the issue and keep women safe.


QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"You know, if President Bush was here, I would advise him as a friend and as an American that there are just three things you don't do. One, you don't spit against the wind. Two, you don't look under the lone ranger's mask. And three, you don't mess with our Social Security."
- Rep. Charlie Rangel, speaking at the Americans United to Protect Social Security, March 26, 2005

LETTER TO BAIRD AND SMITH

This is a letter that I wrote to the two congressmen who split Thurston Co., Wa. We need to continue to monitor our congressional leaders and let them know what they need to do in order to truly represent us. If they don't hear from us then they will have to make decisions on their own and we may not agree with them. Just recently we were able to get Adam Smith to reverse his position on the Banckruptcy Act, unfortunately we let Brian Baird slip through the cracks and he voted for it. Some people may feel that their representatives don't listen to them, but when enough of us speak out they do listen.................Thanks.......................Scott




Dear Congressman Baird & Congressman Smith,

Now is not the time to ride the fence and let the Republicans continue to control the debate and define what values are important to the American people. When asked the question if you supported Tom DeLay in regards to his ethics neither of you took a stand. What does that say to your constituents? What does that say about how you feel concerning the ethical conduct of your fellow members of congress? These are questions that will be asked by members of your respective districts. What will your answer to them be??????????????
Not taking a stand is tantamount to concurrence with his actions. Is this really the message we want to send out? Democrats are in need of re-defining ourselves and when our congressional members let such behavior as displayed by DeLay and Co. go by without comment then that is a definition in and of itself. We need congressional leaders who will stand up for Democratic principles and values and frame a definition of our party that fits with basic American ideals. When are we going to learn that political expediency will be the death of our party? When are we going to realize that Republicans are framing the definition of our party and we’re letting them do it? We are letting them do it by not defining it ourselves.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? 24 were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners: men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full and well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Not a single one of them would have hesitated to stand up and tell Tom DeLay to cease and desist his unpatriotic and despicable behavior.
Do either of you feel that you can truly walk the path that these brave souls laid down when you can’t take a stand against the unethical actions of Tom DeLay? When are Democrats going to reclaim the heritage of our party. Thomas Jefferson said “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” Now is the time for our Democratic legislators to call Republicans on every underhanded and unethical move that they make. Just because they have a majority in the House and Senate doesn’t mean that they can disregard the protocols of government. We need to remind them that patriotism is not the exclusive property of the Republican Party.
Ethics and personal honor are true American values and we must be willing to stand by them. This will be the redemption and re-definition of the Democratic Party. Tell your constituents, your fellow congressional members and the American people that Democrats will not tolerate such behavior from their leaders and that you will do everything in your power to remove Tom DeLay from the House. Thank you.

THE MEDIACRACY

SEAN HANNITY RIGS INTERVIEW
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/300125p-256914c.html

LLOYD GROVE, NY DAILY NEWS - On the March 31 installment of the shouting-head show [Hannity & Colmes], the guests included two of the late Terri Schiavo's former nurses, Trudy Capone and Carla Sauer Iyer, arguing that their patient wasn't brain-dead. Between commercials, according to an off-air audiotape obtained by investigative comedian Harry Shearer for last Sunday's episode of his weekly radio program, "Le Show," Hannity coached the women on exactly how to respond when liberal co-host Alan Colmes cross-examined them.
"Just say, 'I'm here to tell what I saw,'" Hannity can be heard instructing his guests. "No matter what the question, 'I'm here to tell you what I saw. I'm here to tell you what I saw.'"
Hannity adds helpfully: "Say, 'I'm not going to be distracted by silliness.' How's that? Does that help you? Look into that camera. Look at me when I'm talking."
On the air, Iyer performs beautifully. "I don't have any opinions or judgments. I was there," she declares
After the segment ends, Hannity gushes off the air to the nurses: "We got the points out. It's hard, this isn't easy. But you did great, both of you. Thank you, guys. Those nurses are powerful, aren't they?"

______________________________________________________________________________

MEDIA BIAS IS IN THE ADJECTIVES
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8525.htm

TED RALL - The American media uses repeated arbitrary labeling in its supposedly impartial coverage in a deliberate campaign to alter public perception. Americans were meant to feel less sympathy for an kidnapped Italian woman shot by U.S. soldiers manning a checkpoint in Iraq after the talking heads repeatedly referred to her as a "communist journalist." A Fox News reporter in the same story would never have been dubbed a "neo-fascist journalist." John McCain (R-AZ) might become president someday but "maverick senator John McCain" probably won't. Ralph Nader's name rarely appears in print without the unappealing word "gadfly" or a form of "crusading." Why not describe figures in the news using terms that aim for neutrality, like "Italian reporter" or "former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader"?
Labeling bias works to marginalize political outsiders while powerful elites receive their full honorifics. Howard Dean was antiwar firebrand Howard Dean but George W. Bush was never referred to as pro-war crusader George W. Bush. The press calls the founder of the Moral Majority "the Reverend Jerry Falwell," not "radical cleric Jerry Falwell." Even the word "cleric" implies foreignness to a xenophobic public; American religious leaders are the more familiar "ministers" rather than clerics. . .
Loaded labels are commonly used to influence the public's feelings about groups of people as well as individuals. Under Ronald Reagan the Afghan mujahedeen, who received CIA funding and weapons that they used to fight Soviet occupation forces, were called "freedom fighters." Iraqis who take up arms against U.S. occupation troops, on the other hand, are called "insurgents," a word that implies rebellion for its own sake. This was the same term used by the New York Times and other mainstream media to refer to anti-U.S. fighters in Vietnam during the 1960s. Only later, when the Vietnam War became unpopular, did American newspapers begin calling the former "insurgents" members of an infinitely more patriotic-sounding "resistance."
Editors and producers who value balance ought to establish a consistent policy--either negative smears or positive accolades for both sides. Anti-occupation forces should always be called insurgents, guerillas, etc., while pro-occupation troops are dubbed collaborators. Either that, or call them freedom fighters and government loyalists, respectively.
I too have been victimized by the idiotic practice of repeat labeling. "Controversial cartoonist Ted Rall" garners no fewer than 58 hits on Google. Care to guess the results for "patriotic cartoonist Ted Rall"?

______________________________________________________________________________

RIGHT WING COUP AT FEDERAL BROADCAST BOARD?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38692-2005Apr8.html?nav=rss_print/style

LISA DE MORAES, WASHINGTON POST - One of the things you learn as a cub reporter at the Podunk Independent is that when a company puts out a news release at 5 p.m. on a Friday, they're hoping the reporter already has left to get a head start on the weekend and won't see it until Monday. In other words, something big and unpleasant is up. Or, more usually, someone's out.
At 5 p.m. yesterday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that "after implementing the findings of the McKinsey study" (say what?), CPB President Kathleen Cox feels that it's a natural time for her to step aside and let the board conduct a search for her successor.
For the time being, CPB said, Ken Ferree will take over. A senior official for then-Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell, Ferree was named CPB's chief executive officer and executive vice president a mere three weeks ago. Cox has been CPB president since July 1. That would make it just about nine months that she has had the job. . .
Yesterday's announcement comes just three days after CPB appointed two ombudsmen to critique the work of public TV and radio. At the time, Cox told The Post's Paul Farhi that the appointments were part of an effort "to raise public broadcasting's ability to address [public] concerns about issues of journalism." She declined to say what, if any, journalistic issues have arisen recently, Farhi reported. . .
Jeff Chester, executive director of advocacy group Center for Digital Democracy, told The TV Column, "It's not a coincidence they bring in Ken Ferree and Cox's head rolls." He added, "The fact is she was basically an apolitical bureaucrat in an incredibly polarized agency."
Common Cause President Chellie Pingree said in a statement that naming Ferree even interim president "raises some serious concerns" because, Pingree said, "as Michael Powell's chief of the FCC's media bureau, Mr. Ferree seemed to be dismissive of the public interest obligations of broadcasters."
______________________________________________________________________________

BEFORE JOURNALISM WAS PURE . . .

In gratuitously setting their immutable standards for the rest of us, people like Tom Rosentiel of the Project for Ennui in Journalism seldom delve into the trade's history further than Watergate. It is occasionally useful, however, to go back to a time before journalism became just another item in some mega-corporation's product line - when journalists reminded us more of the wonders of the democracy than of the banality of bureaucracy.
For example, you could return to the late 18th century as Abbe Reynal was defending the accuracy of his work, Histoire des duex Indes, to seminal American journalist Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane - as told in HW Brand's 'The First American.'
Deane questioned Reynal for citing the story of Polly Baker who had allegedly been prosecuted in Massachusetts for having given birth to a bastard. There was no such law in Massachusetts, Deane pointed out.
Reynal insisted it was true at which point Franklin laughed and interjected, "I will tell you, Abbe, the origins of that story. When I was a printer and editor of a newspaper, we were sometimes slack of news and to amuse our customers I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes and fables, and fancies of my own. This of Polly Baker is a story of my making on one of these occasions."
The abbe replied gracefully, "Very well, doctor. I had rather relate your stories than other men's truths."
Today, Franklin would be condemned by the Poynters and the Rosentiels to that purgatory already crowded with the likes of Jason Blair and, who knows, we might still be without lightening rods, bifocal glasses or odometers.

DRUG BUSTS

ECSTASY COULD AID THE TERMINALLY ILL

LINDA MARSA, LA TIMES - People dying of incurable diseases are often crippled by depression, fear and anxiety. But the drugs that offer relief for those problems can be overly sedating, making patients mentally foggy. Within the next few months, a group of late-stage cancer patients will be given an illicit party drug to see if it can help them come to terms with their situation. That chemical is MDMA, better known as Ecstasy. "There are so few palliative care options for the terminally ill," says Dr. John H. Halpern, a psychiatrist who will be conducting this research at Harvard University's McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. "And there is anecdotal evidence that MDMA can help them resolve the anxieties they experience without doping them up on tranquilizers."
The study is part of a resurgence in research into the therapeutic uses of psychedelics for severe psychiatric ills that don't respond to traditional treatment. Because of the chemicals' profound ability to alter perception and mood, scientists hope they will melt the psychological barriers that prevent patients from getting better.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-lab11apr11,1,1341810.story

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MILITARY PLANES USED TO BRING IN DRUGS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4444285.stm

[As we pointed out in our coverage of the drug trade in Arkansas, the easiest way to bring drugs into this country is in a military plane. This is a rare case of someone being caught]

BBC - Two US military airmen are being held on charges of smuggling millions of dollars worth of Ecstasy into the country, federal officials have said. . . . Both men admitted during interviews to bringing the drugs from Germany on several occasions, the officials added. . . Around 290,000 Ecstasy pills in 28 large bags were found in the two men's luggage after their Air Force C-5A cargo aircraft arrived at the Stewart Air National Guard base in Newburgh, New York State. . . Sgt Fong admitted bringing drugs on three previous flights and being paid $10,000 each time.

ECOLOGY

TWO-THIRDS OF LAND IN OR NEAR NATIONAL WILDERNESS IS CONTROLLED BY OIL AND MINING INTERESTS
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2005/2005-04-13-06.asp

ENS - Oil and gas drilling and mining interests control land in or near more than two-thirds of national parks, forests and wilderness areas, a computer analysis of 1,855 taxpayer owned public properties in the West reveals. Over more than two years, millions of federal land use records in 13 states were analyzed by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington that uses information to protect human health and the environment.
"At current loss rates, within 20 years, mining and oil and gas industries will actively drill, mine, or otherwise control public lands inside or within five miles of every Western natural treasure, including all national parks and wilderness areas," the EWG determined in its report, "Losing Ground."
EWG analysts found that contrary to industry claims that conservationists have kept their activities out of public lands, petroleum and mining companies control public lands inside or within five miles of 69 percent of the 1,855 parks, wilderness areas, forests and other public treasures analyzed for this study.
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FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROSECUTIONS PLUMMET UNDER BUSH
http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/environ/65/

TRAC - Federal prosecutors have filed environmental charges against substantially fewer defendants during the administration of President Bush than they did during either of President Clinton's two terms, according to a unique new data base developed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Records on cases involving alleged criminal violations of any one of more than 1,400 federal environmental statutes were examined. Using these government data sources, TRAC identified 30,936 defendants targeted by investigatory agencies for alleged environmental violations during the Clinton-Bush years, including over 20,000 who were actually criminally prosecuted.
The contrast between the Clinton and Bush years is dramatic. From the first Clinton term (1993-1996) to the second (1997-2000), the number of all kinds of environmental prosecutions jumped by more than a quarter, 28%.
But a comparison of the second Clinton term (1997-2000) with the Bush years (2002-2004) shows the opposite, a drop of 23%.

ECONOMY

AMERICA SPENDS MORE ON HEALHCARE, GETS LESS
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/04/15/opinion/edkrug.html

PAUL KRUGMAN, NY TIMES - In 2002, the latest year for which comparable data are available, the United States spent $5,267 on health care for each man, woman and child. Of this, $2,364, or 45 percent, was government spending, mainly on Medicare and Medicaid. Canada spent $2,931 per person, of which $2,048 came from the government. France spent $2,736 per person, of which $2,080 was government spending. . .
U.S. health care is so expensive that our government spends more than the governments of other advanced countries, even though the private sector pays a far higher share of the bills than anywhere else. . .
Most Americans probably do not know that we have substantially lower life-expectancy and higher infant-mortality figures than other advanced countries. . . Social factors, notably America's high poverty rate, surely play a role. Still, it seems puzzling that we spend so much, with so little return.
A 2003 study published in Health Affairs [found] that the United States scores high on high-tech services - we have lots of MRIs - but on more prosaic measures, like the number of doctors' visits and number of days spent in hospitals, America is only average, or even below average. . .
Above all, a large part of America's health care spending goes into paperwork. A 2003 study in The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that administrative costs took 31 cents out of every dollar the United States spent on health care, compared with only 17 cents in Canada.
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WHY IT'S BETTER TO BE POOR IN NORWAY OR CANADA THAN IN THE U.S.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0414/p17s02-cogn.html

DAVID R. FRANCIS, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - Except for the citizens of a few tiny oil kingdoms and Luxembourg, Americans on average live better than anybody else. Germans? Forget it. Americans' standard of living is 30 percent higher. The British? The gap's even wider.
But if the United States is so rich, critics ask, how come its poor are poorer than almost anywhere else in the developed world?Consider Canada. Its median per capita gross domestic product is 19 percent below the median in the US. Nevertheless, the poorest 18 percent of Canadians remain better off, on average, than the poorest 18 percent of Americans.
The contrast is even starker in oil-rich Norway, where the poorest 38 percent of the people fare better, on average, than the poorest 38 percent of Americans, despite a lower median per capita GDP. The reason? America's woefully unequal distribution of income. . .
In a list of 30 prosperous nations, including smaller economies such as Taiwan and Israel, only Russia and Mexico have a greater maldistribution of income than the US.
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U.S. ALREADY MOVING TO FLAT TAX
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0414/p03s01-usgn.html

DAVID R. FRANCIS, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - Billionaires are paying not much more taxes, proportionately, than those Americans who are merely prosperous. It's a sign that, even without the formal adoption of a so-called "flat tax," America's tax system is getting flatter. . . Chalk up President Bush as not just a tax cutter but also a tax flattener. Under Mr. Bush and a Republican Congress, big tax cuts since 2001 have given major tax reductions to those wealthy individuals presumed, up to now, to be able to afford paying a bigger chunk of their income in taxes. By one measure of the federal, state, and local tax burden, just 3.4 percentage points separate the effective tax rate paid by the top 1 percent of earners from the other 99 percent of American households.
______________________________________________________________________________

HOW MOONSHINING CAN HELP YOU WITH THE FUEL CRISIS
http://www.flashnews.com/news/wfn1050414J12180.html

WIRELESS FLASH - Americans who want to fight back against high gas prices are taking a tip from moonshiners. That’s according to an unemployed Michigan ditch-digger who is using his time off to build personal home distilleries that let folks turn corn, potatoes or other starchy materials into ethanol – an alcohol that can be used to power cars. It’s basically the same process used to make moonshine, except you mix a little bit of gasoline in the final product so it will burn properly in an auto engine.
Inventor Paul Cavalloro’s Micro Fuel Plant can produce four gallons of fuel per day from 20 gallons of liquified apples, corn or other raw materials. . . Cavalloro says he’s had 36 orders for the stills since he started selling them for $250 a pop a few days ago, mostly to people in high gas price hubs like California.
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THE AMERICAN PAY CUT:

According to the Los Angeles Times, "For the first time in 14 years, the American workforce has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut." Corporate profits are high – the economy last year grew 4 percent, more than the 3 percent historical average. Companies didn't feel the need to pass along those profits with increased salaries, however. As a result, in the first two months of 2004, the growth in American wages fell behind the growth in inflation. Compounding the problem, while salaries remain flat, high housing costs, rising health insurance premiums and skyrocketing energy prices have all taken their toll on the finances of American workers, especially the working poor. "The squeeze is especially intense on the 47% of the workforce whose employers don't directly provide their health insurance. For lower-income workers, who are more likely to be uninsured, the falling value of their wages is even more serious because they're more likely to live paycheck to paycheck. And rising food and energy prices take a proportionately higher toll on the poor than on the rich."

Response from Senator Murray

Thank you for contacting me about the Employee Free Choice Act. I appreciate
hearing from you on this important issue.

I am a strong supporter of the rights of workers to organize and join or form
unions without fear of intimidation or retaliation. That is why I am an original
cosponsor of S. 1925, the Employee Free Choice Act. This bill will streamline
the process for recognition of organization efforts by the National Labor
Relations Board. It will also increase the penalties for employers who attempt
to block efforts of their employees to form unions.

Union members are part of the backbone of the U.S. labor force, and I will
continue to fight against anti-union efforts in the workplace and in the Senate.
As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee I will
closely scrutinize any legislation affecting organizing efforts that may come
before the committee.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this issue. Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator

RELIGION & ITS ALTERNATIVES

POPE SILENCED 100 THEOLOGIANS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A57560-2005Apr15?language=printer

ALAN COOPERMAN AND DANIEL WILLIAMS WASHINGTON POST - By some estimates, the Vatican silenced or reprimanded more than 100 Roman Catholic theologians during John Paul's 26-year reign.As 115 cardinals prepare to enter a conclave Monday to elect the next pope, dissidents are calling for a new openness and willingness to debate such topics as the ordination of women, condom use to fight HIV/AIDS and the morality of homosexuality.
"Suppression of thought, loss of ideas, closing down of discussion -- that's not an act of faith. That's not of the Holy Spirit," said Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun from Erie, Pa. "Unity is good, but it has a dark side."
Chittister is one of several critics of John Paul's legacy who have been brought to Rome by an international dissident network, We Are Church, in an effort to widen the pre-conclave debate. Feeling they are shut out of normal discourse with church leaders, they are holding a series of news conferences, hoping to have an impact through the media.
Their appeals for greater tolerance of dissent are echoed by theologians such as the Rev. Hans Kung of Germany and the Rev. Charles E. Curran of the United States, both of whom were stripped of authority to teach in Catholic universities under John Paul. Neither Kung nor Curran has come to Rome, but they are speaking out. "Many people are now hoping for a pope who will seriously free up the log-jam of reforms" and "have the courage to make a new start," Kung said in a statement.
Advocates for sex abuse victims, Catholic feminists and groups seeking a greater role for the laity in church governance are also calling for a pope who will allow more open debate. Giovanni Avena, editor of the Catholic lay newsletter Adista, said John Paul created a "medieval atmosphere" at the Vatican by emphasizing ritual for ordinary believers while restricting discussion on important issues to his inner circle. He said the decision to bar the College of Cardinals from talking to the media after John Paul's funeral exemplified this attitude.
"They let everyone watch the rituals. Then they forbid access to reality," said Avena, a priest who once worked to turn young people in Sicily against the mafia. "There is no real participation. That is why in Italy you have plazas full of people for this kind of spectacle, and empty churches. Dissidents are asking simply for citizenship to be restored to the people of the church, to the community of believers."

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FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES SOME RELIGIONS BETTER THAN OTHERS
http://tinyurl.com/c6n6h

MEREDITH BONNY, RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH TIMES-DISPATCH - The federal appeals court in Richmond ruled yesterday that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors can exclude a member of the Wiccan faith from giving invocations at county meetings. But Wiccan priestess Cynthia Simpson said she intends to renew her appeal in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "I'm eager to appeal," Simpson said. "The ACLU is eager to appeal. We still think we're right."
The Virginia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union came to aid Simpson's case after she was rejected from joining the list of eligible clergy who may be invited to say the prayer during supervisors' meetings. The county policy limits that list to religions that follow Judeo-Christian traditions.
Simpson's belief in Wicca holds among other things that the deity is not separate from humanity and the world but that human beings and everything in and on the Earth are divine. . .
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said yesterday that he was "shocked" by the appellate court's decision. Americans United backed the appeal of Simpson's case along with the ACLU."This is a terrible decision," he said. "It allows government officials to engage in rank discrimination against religious minorities that they don't approve of."
But the three-judge panel that decided the Simpson case noted that the list of eligible clergy is a broad cross section of the county's religious groups. That "made plain [the county] was not affiliated with any one specific faith by opening its doors to a wide pool of clergy. The Judeo-Christian tradition is, after all, not a single faith but an umbrella covering many faiths."
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LOOKS LIKE CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS DIDN'T GO TO THE FUNERAL
http://slate.msn.com/id/2116443/

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, SLATE - The God-given right of the papacy to make and enforce absolute judgments is not at all at stake. Popes may have been wrong on everything, but they were right in general. By the time the church apologizes for saying that condoms are worse than AIDS, or admits that it was complicit at best in the mass murder in Rwanda, another few generations will have died out. This is almost exactly the sort of stuff with which Communists and their fellow travelers once had to content themselves. There had indeed been "spots on Stalin's sun," as one hack so prettily phrased it. But the leading role of the party was still a sure thing. . .
Unbelievers are more merciful and understanding than believers, as well as more rational. We do not believe that the pope will face judgment or eternal punishment for the millions who will die needlessly from AIDS, or for his excusing and sheltering of those who committed the unpardonable sin of raping and torturing children, or for the countless people whose sex lives have been ruined by guilt and shame and who are taught to respect the body only when it is a lifeless cadaver like that of Terri Schiavo. For us, this day is only the interment of an elderly and querulous celibate, who came too late and who stayed too long, and whose primitive ideology did not permit him the true self-criticism that could have saved him, and others less innocent, from so many errors and crimes.
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Recovered history
POPE ATTACKS GAY AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050222/2005-02-22T201215Z_01_L22608092_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-POPE-BOOK-DC.html

PHILIP PULLELLA, REUTERS, FEB 2005 - Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in a new book. In "Memory and Identity," the Pope also calls abortion a "legal extermination" comparable to attempts to wipe out Jews and other groups in the 20th century. . .

OTHER NEWS

HOW INTERNET RADIO CAN CHANGE THE WORLD: AN ACTIVIST'S HANDBOOK
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=059534965X/progressiverevieA/

Author Eric Lee has pioneered the use of the Internet by unions around the globe, and the website he established in 1998, Labour Start, now appears in 19 languages and is used by thousands of activists every day. In early 2004, the author launched the first online labor radio station and this book tells what was involved in setting it up. It also delves into the history of Internet radio, revealing how what began as a radical project to reinvigorate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party was turned into a commercial success -- and yet remains a vital tool for activists. The book clearly explains both how to listen to Internet radio -- and how to set up your own station.
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HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
[Culled by James Taranto of Opinion Journal]

Japan Down for 4th Straight Day - CNN

Man Found Dead in Cemetery - News-Dispatch (Michigan City, IN)

Ruppersberger Forgoes Senate To Finish Up House Work - Washington Post

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best
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CHOCOLATE FIGHTS CANCER
http://gumc.georgetown.edu/communications/releases/release.cfm?ObjectID=4477
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BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD TIPPERS
http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?IDLink=1444898&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startribune.com%2Fstories%2F389%2F5350344.html
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WONDERFUL SLIDE SHOW OF PHOTOS HIDDEN IN THE SMITHSONIAN ARCHIVES
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/flash/photo/visitorsguide/2005-04-15_nmoah/index_frames.htm?startat=1&indexFile=visitorsguide_2005-04-15_nmoah

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BUSH REGIME HYPES 10,000 ARRESTS;
TV STATIONS USE GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA VIDEOS
40% OF ARRESTS ARE DRUG CASES
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/arr-a16.shtml

BILL VAN AUKEN, WORLD SOCIALIST - In a massive dragnet, US Marshals led more than 90 state, local and other federal police agencies last week in arresting over 10,000 people across the country on outstanding warrants, the Justice Department revealed Thursday. Code-named Operation Falcon, for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally, the unprecedented federally-coordinated mass arrests were staged for maximum political and media impact. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales used the operation as the subject of his first news conference since the confirmation of his controversial nomination.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, supplied the television networks government-shot action videotape of Marshals and local cops raiding homes and breaking down doors. The footage was aired on news programs, accompanied by commentary that uncritically parroted the claims made by the department. . .
The political purpose of the dragnet was underscored by the fact that law enforcement officials privately acknowledged that most of those arrested in the nationwide raids would have been picked up in any case in the course of normal police work.. . .

While US authorities highlighted the apprehension of 160 murder suspects and 550 sexual assault suspects, it appeared that by far the largest share of those arrested were minor drug offenders. Narcotics violations accounted for fully 4,300 out of the 10,340 arrests.
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RISK TAKING MEN DON'T DO WELL WITH WOMEN
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624955.400

NEW SCIENTIST - Whether it's driving too fast, bungee-jumping or reckless skateboarding, young men will try almost anything to be noticed by the opposite sex. But a study of attitudes to risk suggests that the only people impressed by their stunts are other men. Futile risk-taking might seem to have little going for it in Darwinian terms. So why were our rash ancestors not replaced by more cautious contemporaries?
One idea is that risk-takers are advertising their fitness to potential mates by showing off their strength and bravery. This fits with the fact that men in their prime reproductive years take more risks. To test this idea, William Farthing of the University of Maine in Orono surveyed 48 young men and 52 young women on their attitudes to risky scenarios. Men thought women would be impressed by pointless gambles, but women in fact preferred cautious men.

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Since 1950, the average new house has increased by 1,247 sq. ft. Meanwhile, the average household has shrunk by 1 person.

1 in 4 Americans want at least a 3-car garage.

88% of American commuters drive to work.

76% of those drivers commute alone.

Since 1982, 35 million acres - an area the equivalent of New York state—have been developed.
Americans spend more to power home audio and video equipment that is "off" but still plugged in than they do to power such devices while actually in use.

[Mother Jones]
http://www.motherjones.com/news/exhibit/2005/03/exhibit.html
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DINOSAUR EGGS FOUND WHOLE IN MOTHER'S BELLY
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7267
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IF SEX IS A COMMODITY, PUT IT IN A MALL
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_14-4-2005_pg9_3

DAILY TIMES, PAKISTAN - The Hungarian Interior Ministry looks set to allow prostitutes to tout for business in shopping malls, local media reported Tuesday. The ministry is thinking of allowing dedicated shopping centers where prostitutes could strike deals for sex as long as they move to a place of their own to carry out the transaction, the daily Nepszabadsag said.

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MEDIA INDICATORS
http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2005/04/media_meltdown.html
[From Cris Anderson on Long Tail]

FLAT TO DOWN TO WAY DOWN:
Music: sales last year were down 21% from their peak in 1999

Television: network TV's audience share has fallen by a third since 1985

Radio: listenership is at a 27-year low

Newspapers: circulation peaked in 1987, and the decline is accelerating

Magazines: total circulation peaked in 2000 and is now back to 1994 levels (but a few premier titles are bucking the trend!)

Books: sales growth is lagging the economy as whole

UP:
Movies: 2004 was another record year, both for theaters and DVDs Videogames: even in the last year of this generation of consoles, sales hit a new record

Web: online ads will grow 30% this year, breaking $10 billion (5.4% of all advertising)

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15% OF CELL PHONE USERS REPORT INTERRUPTING SEX FOR CALL http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?IDLink=1437237&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.consumeraffairs.com%2Fnews04%2F2005%2Fcell_sex.html

CONSUMER AFFAIRS - Fourteen percent of the world's cell phone users report that they have stopped in the middle of a sex act to answer a ringing wireless device, Ad Age reported. The highest incidence of cellular interruptus was found in Germany and Spain, where 22 percent of users interrupted sex to answer their cell phones; the lowest was in Italy, where only 7 percent reported doing so. In the U.S., the figure was 15 percent, the magazine said, citing a study conducted by BBDO Worldwide and Proximity Worldwide.

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FLORENCE REESE
http://athena.english.vt.edu/~appalach/writersM/protestsongs.html#reece

DEANA MARTIN - Born April 12, 1900, in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, Florence Reece, a social activist, poet and songwriter, grew up in a coal camp at Fork Ridge, Tenn. Florence met her husband-to-be, Sam Reece, at the young age of fifteen. . . Reece is perhaps best known for her song "Which Side are You On?," which soon became the anthem for the labor movement. The song was written in 1931 during a strike by the United Mine Workers of America. . . During this strike, the sheriff, J.H. Blair, led his gang of thugs on a violent rampage, beating and murdering union leaders. They found themselves at the Reece's home, where Reece was alone with the children. She held her ground, asking the sheriff, "What are you here for? You know there's nothing but a lot of little hungry children here." Then she somehow got word to her husband not to come home, while the sheriff and his thugs kept watch at he door. The men ransacked the house in search of Sam, to no avail. While Florence waited inside for her husband, she wrote the song on an old wall calendar, to the tune of "Lay the Lily Low".
About 1940, Pete Seeger, an "eager young college dropout wanting to learn union songs," learned the song from Tillman Cadle, a coal miner. In 1941 it was recorded by the Almanac Singers. This version made the song famous. The song continues to be sung at gatherings for labor workers and many other social causes throughout the world.

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MAINERS FIGHT TO SAVE THE PAY PHONE
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0411/p01s02-uspo.html?s=hns

SARA B MILLER, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - State Rep. Herbert Adams (D) of Portland has sponsored legislation to preserve or create "public interest payphones" in designated areas where a lack of phone access poses a risk to residents' safety, health, or welfare. His bill follows similar actions from Alaska to Indiana to save the venerated pay phone when it is deemed in the public's best interest to do so.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the number of pay phones in the US dropped to 1.5 million in 2003, down from 2.1 million five years earlier - as the number of cell phone users surged. In Maine during that same period, the number of pay phones declined by almost half, says Mr. Adams.
Yet not all Americans, especially older Americans, have cell phones or live in places where coverage is available or adequate. Not to mention the human factor: inadvertently leaving a phone at home or forgetting to recharge the battery.
For many, though, the fight boils down to a battle for equal access.
Even in this age of Black Berries and camera phones, of blinking and beeping pocket accessories of every stripe and sound, 6.5 percent of American households have no telephone. Many use pay phones as their primary means of communication. And supporters say that resisting the demise of the pay phone - even as cell phone coverage continues to expand and costs go down - is an attempt to close the gap between the technological "haves" and "have nots."
"Demand might be low, but the people that need pay phones really need them, and that's the point. That's why the state has to step in," says Wayne Jortner, senior counsel at the Maine Public Advocate's Office.
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FRENCH FILMMAKER FINED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT: ONE OF HIS CHARACTERS WHISTLED INTERNATIONALE
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/09/communist_hymn_is_in.html

BOING BOING - The Internationale is the hymn of the Fourth International Communist Party. . . It is quite a stirring anthem, and has been translated into dozens of languages, and is sung the world 'round. eirdly, this 19th century song is still in copyright in France, and a French filmmaker has just been fined about $1300 for letting a character in one of his films whistle the tune.The irony factor here is much deeper than, say, the irony surrounded JibJab's appropriation of Woody Guthrie's This Land. Guthrie was a socialist, sure, but the Internationale is a call to arms to abolish private property, eliminate international borders, and throw off your chains and rise up to smash the state. Hard to imagine that the long-dead creator of that song is having his wishes honored by French collecting societies shaking down people who make use of it for cash.

AP - The 19th-century revolutionary hymn was written by Eugene Pottier in 1871 and set to music by another Frenchman, Pierre Degeyter, in 1888. . . Under French law, "The Internationale" won't fall into the public domain until 2014 — 70 years of post-mortem protection plus extra time to cover the world war. Degeyter died in 1932. . . "[The film] hardly paid its own way, opening briefly in a single Paris theater and selling just 203 tickets, Le Monde reported.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050409/ap_on_re_eu/france_pricey_tune&e=3&ncid=
______________________________________________________________________________WORDS

BILL MAHER - It took almost a week, but they finally buried the pope. It would have been faster, but as of last month, no one dies now without permission of Congress.

Maria’s Monday Memo

Senator Maria Cantwell’s Weekly Update
for Washington State

Monday, April 25, 2005

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Restoring Privacy to Library and Bookstore Records

Our nation’s traditions demand a respect for the privacy of people’s personal effects. That’s why I am very concerned about provisions in the PATRIOT Act that compromise the privacy of bookstore proprietors, librarians and their customers. The SAFE Act, of which I am a cosponsor, is a reasonable fix to make sure we protect both our nation’s borders and our right to privacy. National security is the top concern, but it doesn’t have to come at the expense of our civil liberties. It’s time to reevaluate important parts of the PATRIOT Act. Law-abiding American citizens should not have to give up their freedoms for government investigations that have nothing to do with terrorism.

This past weekend, during a press conference at the Seattle Public Library, I called on the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on legislation designed to reign in the government’s powers to secretly investigate libraries, booksellers and their customers. The Security And Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act would roll back provisions of the PATRIOT Act that allow the federal government to confiscate the papers, electronic records and equipment of libraries and booksellers, as part of open-ended government investigations of American citizens. Instead, the SAFE Act would require government investigators to show a connection between the records they are seeking and a suspected terrorist or spy.

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House Energy Bill a Raw Deal for Washington State Taxpayers

Last week, the House of Representatives passed an energy bill that gives polluters a free ride, while local communities in Washington state and across the country are left to foot the bill for groundwater contamination. The bill contains liability protection for the producers of the chemical methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a pollutant and possible carcinogen. This favor does nothing to move America toward energy independence, but it will shift $29 billion in cleanup costs to local communities.

While only 6 percent of the bill’s tax incentives will benefit producers of alternative fuels, more than 90 percent will go to oil, gas, and other traditional energy producers. These are the same companies wracking up record profits while prices at American gas pumps soar.

A 21st Century energy policy should concentrate on alternative energy sources and renewable energy, and the House bill fails miserably. It’s a bad joke at the expense of American consumers and taxpayers – and the OPEC cartel will be laughing all the way to the bank. I will use my seat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to fight for a Senate energy bill that gets serious about addressing our nation’s energy challenges.

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Preserving Hanford’s Historic B Reactor

Last fall, the President signed into law legislation I supported with Rep. Doc Hastings of Pasco to preserve Hanford’s historic B Reactor. The B reactor was an important site of “Manhattan Project,” the World War II effort to develop and construct the first atomic bomb.

On Wednesday I urged Senate Appropriations leaders to fully fund the study to preserve Manhattan Project sites. Without this funding, the study won’t be complete, and the B reactor would not be preserved. Future generations should have the opportunity to understand the work of our nuclear veterans, their dedication to our country, and the difficult issues our country faced during the nuclear arms race era. The contributions to science and country made by former Hanford workers should not be forgotten.

This is an important issue for local leaders because the historic park would not only preserve an important historical marker that recognizes the sacrifices of our nation’s ‘nuclear veterans,’ but a preserved B reactor would be a major tourist attraction that could create jobs for residents of the Tri-Cities area. The B Reactor historical park enjoys strong local support, including from the B Reactor Museum Association, the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau, and the Atomic Heritage Foundation.


For more information, please visit my web site: http://cantwell.senate.gov

DAILY GRIST / EARTH WEEK COMPILATION

1.
Souuuueeeee!
House passes pork-laden energy bill

The House of Representatives approved broad energy legislation yesterday by a vote of 249 to 183. The 1,000-plus-page bill contains some $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, less than 5 percent of which go to clean energy or energy conservation. It contains a provision that would funnel $2 billion to deep-water oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. It would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It would allow "downwind" states to delay meeting air-quality standards until "upwind" states have met them. And it would protect from liability lawsuits the makers of MTBE, a fuel additive that has contaminated some 1,800 community water systems in 29 states, with projected clean-up costs of $29 billion. All of these measures, say critics, pad the pocketbooks of large political contributors but do next to nothing to solve the country's long-term energy problems or current high gas prices. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) was philosophical: "well, isn't something better than nothing?" The bill's fate in the Senate is uncertain, but a supportive Bush administration is optimistic.

straight to the source: The New York Times, Carl Hulse, 21 Apr 2005

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Justin Blum, 22 Apr 2005

straight to the source: USA Today, Associated Press, 21 Apr 2005


2.
You've Come a Long Way, Maybe
Stats on how far we've come (or haven't) since the first Earth Day

Since the first Earth Day 35 years ago, we've come a long way. How far? Well, we thought you'd ask, so we quantified it. OK, not exactly. But we did compile a bunch of engaging stats on various aspects of the environment from 1970 until now. Many things are better. Others, not so much.

new in Counter Culture: You've Come a Long Way, Maybe


3.
Oh, Right, I Knew We Were Forgetting Something!
Bush climate-change research won't research climate-change effects

According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the "more research" President Bush is always touting as his response to climate change is overlooking an area some might consider important -- namely, what effects global warming might have on people and the environment (oh, that!). In fact, the GAO report to be released today says that none of the 21 studies of climate change the administration plans to publish by 2007 will include assessments of its possible effects on agriculture, water, energy, or biological diversity (oh, those!). This is in violation of the 1990 Global Change Research Act, which requires the federal government to produce a report on the consequences of climate change every four years. Critics say the research program was deliberately jiggered to prevent it from generating alarming findings that might increase political pressure for action. But without accurate information, said the GAO, "it may be difficult for the Congress and others to use this information effectively as the basis for making decisions on climate policy." You think?

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 22 Apr 2005


4.
Ice Hassles
Antarctic glaciers rapidly melting

Wanna travel to Antarctica, but worried about all that ice? Worry no more. On the Antarctic Peninsula, a 1,200-mile-long mountain chain 600 miles south of Argentina, about 212 of the 244 glaciers are retreating, fast. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey studied photos and satellite data from the 1940s to 2001, concluding in the journal Science that, as temps have risen more than 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit on the peninsula since the 1950s, the glaciers that wrap the mountains there have been retreating at an average rate of about 164 feet a year. "Fifty years ago most glaciers were slowly growing in length," said BAS's Alison Cook, "but the pattern is now reversed and they're shrinking." So now the research team is worried about another problem if the glacial retreat continues apace: If bare rock is uncovered, it could attract invasive species to the continent. Happy Earth Day!

straight to the source: Nature, Michael Hopkin, 21 Apr 2005

straight to the source: New Scientist, Fred Pearce, 21 Apr 2005

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Bloomberg News Service, 22 Apr 2005


5.
Is That a Fat Lady We Hear Singing?
The era of cheap oil is coming to an end soon; duck!

Cheap oil is running out. A report from the U.S. Energy Department's Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves puts the problem in stark terms: "The disparity between increasing production and declining discoveries can only have one outcome: a practical supply limit will be reached and future supply to meet conventional oil demand will not be available." The exact moment when world oil production maxes out and begins its inexorable decline -- known as "peak oil" -- is the subject of wide disagreement. However, an emerging consensus places it some time between, um, last year and 2020. Problem is, most of the world's big governments aren't doing much of any prep to cushion the blow. Couple a production peak with rapidly rising demand from developing powerhouses like China and you've got a recipe for what analyst Colin Campbell calls "the decline of oil and all that depends on it." Take a look around -- that's your lifestyle.

straight to the source: The Guardian, John Vidal, 21 Apr 2005


6.
Dearth Day
Earth Day goings-on don't measure up to dark drama on Capitol Hill

As environmental defeats cascade down from Capitol Hill -- the pork-laden energy bill making its way through the House being just the latest -- Earth Day 2005 would seem like the perfect occasion for a revolt, not a celebration. But despite dogged digging, Muckraker uncovered no news of big, feisty protests. Most Earth Day activities this year seem to be light and local -- and a weak counterbalance to the planet-destroying forces running amok
.
new in Muckraker: Dearth Day
sign up: Receive word by email each time a new Muckraker column hits the scene


7.
Go, Go, Gadgets
Green gadgets and a hydrogen-powered rock band are getting noticed

In the past 35 years, there's been no shortage of inventive inventions aimed at reducing eco-footprints; we've come a long way from the old brick-in-the-toilet trick. Today's new refrigerators use about a third of the power as ones sold 30 years ago, and the U.S. government has plans to boost fridge efficiency an additional 30 percent by 2011. Tank-less water heaters offer steamy scrubs while consuming less energy. But being green isn't always about saving green. Organic furniture store owner Fred Shapiro says some 70 percent of his customer base consists of "cultural creatives" -- style-savvy consumers who are willing to spend more for eco-friendly options that also look good. Green options also sound good, say members of Rhode Island-based band Protium, who are claiming the mantle of the first hydrogen-powered rock band. The six-member group will be rocking three fuel-cell generators to power their guitars and amps during an Earth Day concert.

straight to the source: The Christian Science Monitor, Mark Clayton, 21 Apr 2005

straight to the source: Boston Herald, Jill Radsken, 21 Apr 2005


8.
Mine Sweeper
Former journalist rewarded for fight against Romanian gold mine

Stephanie Roth hadn't intended to make the leap from journalist to activist, but in witnessing widespread environmental problems she was inspired to help communities fight the forces of irresponsible development and degradation. She's made her biggest mark in Rosia Montana, Romania, where she now lives. In this ancient town, she has helped to organize large public protests against plans for a major gold-mining project that threatens homes, centuries-old churches, and the region's best water source. She shares her story with Grist this Earth Week as part of a series on Goldman Environmental Prize winners.

new in Main Dish: Mine Sweeper


9.
Rock the Bloat
Some conservatives getting uncomfortable with energy-bill pork

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, being a conservative meant favoring free markets and smaller, less intrusive federal government. A shrinking number of conservatives still cling to the old ways, and they are disturbed by the energy bill making its way through the House. Though Republican leaders promised to trim the bill down from the bloated version that was defeated in past years, a new analysis by the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense shows that lawmakers have added $35 billion to the bill's costs in the last three weeks, making for a total of $88.9 billion in subsidies for the oil, gas, nuclear, coal, and other industries over the next 10 years. Some question why oil and gas companies need subsidies at a time of historically high energy prices. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has offered an amendment that would strip the bill of what he calls "corporate welfare," saying, "When government decides what is a viable investment instead of the marketplace, you distort the market."

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Zachary Coile, 20 Apr 2005


10.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Iran using oil, natural gas resources to find fast friends

Much in the way the kid with the backyard swimming pool and the trampoline always manages to rustle up friends, Iran is turning to its oil and gas reserves to leverage alliances with influential Eastern nations -- and rather urgently, as it faces the threat of sanctions from the U.S. and Europe over its nuclear program. With oil prices rising and anxiety over oil supplies in fast-growing nations rising alongside, Iran's holdings -- 10 percent of the world's oil and the second-largest gas reserves -- give it increasing leverage. In addition to giving Japan better access to its oil last year, Iran has reached out to both China and India, two of the market's boomingest consumers, signing long-term supply deals. In an effort to lure its arch rival to the pool party, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, a senior adviser to Iran's oil ministries, offers this: "Security of supplies is our bread and butter. If the United States is looking for security of supplies, Iran is an inevitable partner."

straight to the source: The New York Times, Jad Mouawad, 19 Apr 2005


11.
EIA, EIA ... Oh
Greenhouse-gas limits affordable, study says; "Told ya so," E.U. replies

A new study by the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of the U.S. Energy Department, reveals that mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions would not significantly affect the country's economic growth through 2025. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the report contradicts the principal argument the Bush administration has used against imposing such limits. European Union representatives, meeting with senior officials in Washington this week, took the opportunity to say "nyah nyah" and "we told you so." The EIA estimated that placing caps on carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases in order to reduce emissions 7 percent from currently forecast 2025 levels would reduce the nation's gross domestic product by only one-tenth of 1 percent. To which a White House spokesflack replied, "Any reduction in U.S. GDP is serious, and would impact not only American businesses, but American families." Unlike, say, global warming.

straight to the source: The Mercury News, Associated Press, John Heilprin, 15 Apr 2005

straight to the source: Financial Times, Fiona Harvey, 19 Apr 2005


12.
The Best "Science" Money Can Buy
ExxonMobil plows millions into funding for 40 climate-skeptic groups

In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute outlined a strategy to sow the seeds of doubt about global-warming science "with Congress, the media, and other key audiences." "Victory will be achieved," read an API memo, "when ... recognition of uncertainty becomes part of the 'conventional wisdom.'" Since then, ExxonMobil -- one of API's leading members -- has been working valiantly in pursuit of that strategy, even as other oil, energy, and car companies bow out in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus or public pressure. From 2000 to 2003, Exxon funneled more than $8 million into a network of think tanks, quasi-journalistic media outlets, and civic and religious groups, to great effect. While peer-reviewed scientific journals contain virtually nothing that challenges the consensus on anthropogenic global warming, a flood of "reports," press releases, and op-ed columns has succeeded in creating the illusion of scientific controversy, seized on by sympathetic lawmakers like Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who calls global warming a "hoax" and -- whaddya know! -- also receives buckets of money from Exxon.

straight to the source: Mother Jones, Chris Mooney, May/Jun 2005


13.
A Matter of Great Export
Arctic Refuge oil could be sent overseas

A portentous U.S. commitment, sold with slogans about freedom and national security, that turns out to be all about the oil industry. No, not that one. We're talking about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling proponents cite the fact that the U.S. imports most of the oil it uses, thus leaving it dependent on some rather grumpy countries. Drilling in the refuge, they say, would ramp up domestic oil supply, Make America Safe, and Set America Free. Except, ahem, note the fine print: Turns out the oil sucked out from beneath the caribou may be exported out of the country. The 51-49 Senate vote that authorized the drilling carried no provision banning export, though the House energy bill might. In terms of the overall U.S. economy, particularly the oil industry, it doesn't much matter, as oil is a fungible commodity. But in terms of the much-ballyhooed national-security benefits, says Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), "the best solution is to get off of dependence on fossil fuels in general."

straight to the source: The Seattle Times, Warren Cornwall, 19 Apr 2005


14.
Ubiquity Is the Mother of Reinvention
Labeling and certification move beyond organic in U.S.

With the U.S. organics industry going mainstream, a coterie of anti-The-Man farmers are getting out, eschewing federally regulated "organic" certification and creating terms and systems of their own to address eco-friendly agricultural practices not covered by the federal regs. The Food Alliance has created a certification process that focuses on fair treatment of farm workers and preservation of wildlife habitat, while Demeter USA certifies farms as "biodynamic," meaning they function as intact ecosystems. Other labels like "local," "sustainable," and "beyond organic" are also spreading, though they aren't overseen by particular groups. California farmers Kristie and Rick Knoll have taken the naming game to a whole new level, inventing their own word for their unique farming practices: "tairwa," which translates loosely to "the essence of the land." Says Rick of their distaste for the "O" word: "We're trying to invent it all over again."

straight to the source: The Wall Street Journal, Katy McLaughlin, 19 Apr 2005 (access ain't free)

also in Grist: Label Dancing -- Eco-label watchdog Urvashi Rangan answers Grist's questions


15.
Here's a Solution. Now What Was Your Problem Again?
Bush administration pushes energy bill as solution to high gas prices

American citizens -- or "consumers," as they're known these days -- are irritated about high gas prices, and many of them blame President Bush, whose popularity has hit new lows. Of course, presidents are hardly responsible for short-term swings in commodity prices. Nevertheless, Bush is rising to his fake responsibility with a fake solution. On Saturday, in his weekly radio address, he expressed sympathy about gas prices and said the solution is for Congress to pass his energy bill, which would, in fact, do nothing to affect short-term gas prices. Most analysts say the best way to reduce gas prices is to reduce demand by raising the fuel efficiency of America's vehicles. But the House blocked an effort to do that last week. Instead, the energy bill contains massive subsidies and tax breaks for the coal, oil, and natural-gas industries, legal protections for manufacturers of groundwater-polluting fuel additive MTBE, and less than $500 million in tax incentives for renewable energy and fuel-efficiency efforts. A cure for whatever ails ya!

straight to the source: The New York Times, Richard W. Stevenson, 17 Apr 2005

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 18 Apr 2005

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, Deb Riechmann, 16 Apr 2005


16.
And By "Miscellaneous" We Mean "Nefarious"
Substantial changes to Clean Air Act slipped into energy bill

Buried deep in the energy bill, filed under "Miscellaneous," is a tiny bit of text that could affect the Clean Air Act in a big way. The provision, authored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, would allow "downwind" states like New York and other Northeastern states to postpone fulfillment of clean-air standards until offending "upwinders" clean up their act. If the energy bill becomes law, this provision would represent one of the most significant changes to the Clean Air Act in 15 years, and opponents say it could also undermine the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which sets power-plant emission limits for Eastern states. The U.S. EPA has not yet taken a position on the provision, but agency spokesperson John Millett showed a talent for pithy understatement when he said, "Some people think it's a good idea. Most don't."

straight to the source: The New York Times, Michael Janofsky, 16 Apr 2005


17.
Rice-A-Phony
China, Europe experiencing illegal GM crop introductions

Two delicious scandals are brewing over the illegal introduction of genetically modified crops -- rice in China and corn in Europe -- onto the open market. In China, Greenpeacers sounded the GM alarm after buying bags of an "anti-pest" variety of rice, sending them to biotech labs, and finding that some of the grains were genetically altered and thus illegal for sale in the country. Greenpeace has accused a group of "rogue scientists" of selling experimental varieties of GM rice in the province of Hubei. Meanwhile, British ports have begun refusing all imports of U.S. corn following an allegation that American farmers have been illegally exporting GM corn as animal feed to Europe for the past four years. The port-blocking move was prompted by the European Commission, which forced action on the issue after officials on both sides of the Atlantic tried to keep the scandal hush-hush.

straight to the source: The New York Times, David Barboza, 16 Apr 2005

straight to the source: The Independent, Geoffrey Lean, 17 Apr 2005