Big lies from Big Oil
By Tim Wheeler
The proposal by President Bush and Sen. John McCain to lift the federal ban on offshore oil drilling will do nothing to reduce gasoline prices but will risk permanent damage to the coastal waters and marine wildlife, according to environmentalists and energy experts.
Bush made the proposal June 19. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, earlier made the same proposal to open the way for drilling off the coasts of Alaska, California, Florida and other states where a ban on the practice has been in effect. They claimed pumping offshore crude will provide relief for motorists hammered with gasoline prices zooming toward $5 per gallon.
Tim Hamilton, president of the Automotive United Trade Association (AUTO), a group of 600 independent gas station owners in Washington State, told the World Bush’s proposal is just another giveaway to the Big Oil profiteers.
“Herein lies the Big Lie: That you can drill in the arctic, drill in offshore coastal waters and it will lower the price at the pump,” Hamilton said. “It is a Big Lie because Big Oil already has leases offshore and in Alaska that they are not drilling now.” The real aim of Bush’s proposal, he said, “is to get these leases signed and sealed now while they have the friendliest president in American history in the White House. These are resources that belong to the American people. This is a war between a handful of oil companies and the American people.”
In 2006, Hamilton wrote a report, “Why Gasoline Prices are Headed for $3.50 At the Pump.” Now, he said, gas prices are headed toward $5 per gallon with retailers getting only a miniscule 16 cents per gallon. The winner, he said, “is an illegal, immoral cartel whose only concern is maximum profits.”
Democratic lawmakers convened a Capitol Hill news conference June 19 to unveil their “use it or lose it” bill to force oil companies to either drill for oil on the 68 million acres of lands they already lease from the federal government or lose those leases. Speaking in Las Vegas June 24 Obama strongly endorsed the legislation.
Melanie Duchin, a Greenpeace campaigner in Anchorage, Alaska, told the World in a telephone interview, “The Bush administration refuses to do the math. We burn 24 percent of the world’s oil yet we only have three percent of the world’s oil reserves. Even if we drilled every last drop of oil in this country, we could never drill our way to lower gasoline prices. This is just smoke and mirrors to line the pockets of the oil companies.”
The Greenpeace web site features photos of Duchin helping in the cleanup from the shipwreck of a Malaysian freighter that fouled a pristine stretch of the Alaskan shoreline with thousands of gallons of oil.
Duchin helped spearhead the drive that forced the Interior Department to declare the polar bear “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. It was a step forward, but short of a victory, she said. The polar bear should be designated as “endangered,” she said.
Duchin decried the plight of Arctic wildlife as the permafrost melts, the ice sheet and glaciers retreat, and forests are decimated by the spruce beetle. Entire villages of the native peoples of Alaska are swallowed by rising sea levels, she said.
“This is an issue of environmental justice. Poor people and people of color bear a disproportionate share of the burden from global climate change. We are at ground zero in a global war.”
The answer, she said is shifting to renewable forms of energy like wind and solar power. Sierra Club President Carl Pope responded by announcing his organization’s endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama at a June 19 news conference in Cleveland. Pope and Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, stood together in front of a giant wind turbine at the joint news conference. Pope said they believe Obama “will put America on the path to a clean energy economy that will create and keep millions of jobs, spur innovation and opportunity, make us a more secure nation and help us solve global warming.” Gerard said the USWA and the Sierra Club “are standing together in support of Barack Obama because we all share the common goal of putting America back to work by building a clean energy economy.”
The Sierra Club began running a radio ad across Ohio blasting McCain. “Fact is, John McCain opposes requiring the use of more wind and solar power to generate electricity,” the announcer says. “He argued against incentives for the clean energy industry while demanding billions in subsidies for nuclear power and refusing to impose windfall profits taxes on Big Oil.”
Earlier, the Sierra Club blasted the Bush-McCain offshore drilling scheme. “The truth is that drilling our coasts will not solve our energy problems,” Pope said. “An offshore spill off the coast of Virginia would impact beaches, marine life, and tourism in New Jersey. Lifting the ban would do nothing to reduce gas prices for the average American family. It would take a decade to bring new leases into production and then they would only line the coffers of the oil industry which raked in tens of billions of dollars in record profits last year.”
Monday, June 30, 2008
Big lies from Big Oil
High crimes charge leveled at Bush, Cheney
High crimes charge leveled at Bush, Cheney
By Rick Nagin
Efforts to impeach and even prosecute President Bush are gaining wider support as anger mounts over his administration’s disregard for the Constitution and what many see as its continuing gross negligence and criminal behavior.
After Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) introduced 35 articles of impeachment in Congress June 9, their offices were flooded with calls from people throughout the country asking what they can do to help.
Kucinich started a petition on his web site (www.kucinich.us) to collect one million signatures asking members of Congress to back the measure, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee headed by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).
Within days Veterans for Peace presented Conyers with 23,000 signatures on their own petition asking for impeachment hearings.
Respected voices in the legal community have voiced support for impeachment and urged that the issues raised involved not be dropped. Jonathan Turley, noted Constitutional law professor at George Washington University, said on Keith Olberman’s “Countdown” June 10 that there is a “real crisis” and many experts in the field were “quite worried” that the Democratic leadership in the House continues to insist that impeachment is “off the table” in the face of “clear presidential crimes.”
The crimes cited by Kucinich include lying to promote and wage an illegal war in Iraq, illegal surveillance and detention, torture and destruction of evidence.
This record was driven home by the release June 18 of a report by the Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights. The group examined 11 men who had been freed without charges after being held for three years in the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo, Cuba, and found that they had been systematically subjected to torture including waterboarding, beatings, electric shocks and sexual assault.
In the preface to the report, retired Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who previously investigated the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the U.S. military prison Abu Ghraib, stated “there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
“Having led the Army’s investigation at Abu Ghraib,” Kucinich said, “Gen. Taguba is an authoritative voice on the administration’s rogue policies and systematic use of torture. His words remind us once again why Congress must act to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.”
While no action has been taken in response to previous articles of impeachment he filed against Cheney, Kucinich has vowed that, if Congress fails to act on the resolution against Bush, he will return in 30 days with more articles of impeachment.
CNN commentator Jack Cafferty has also called on Congress to act and said that failure to do so in light of such overwhelming evidence “boggles the mind.”
A call for even more serious action has come from Vincent Bugliosi, former Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney and author of a recent best-selling book, “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted 21 murder cases, charged that, by taking the nation to war under false pretenses, Bush is guilty under the law of the murder of the more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq.
In an interview with Democracy Now! June 13 Bugliosi said his book documents facts that Bush had been clearly told by the CIA that Iraq posed no threat to U.S. security and that Bush had made clear to British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Charges that Bush misled the nation about the reasons for invading Iraq were also made in the recent report of the Senate Intelligence Committee and by Bush’s former press secretary, Scott McClellan.
Virtually all opinion polls now show that two-thirds of the American people disapprove of the job Bush has done and it appears that more and more people are no longer afraid to speak out and demand an accounting for his actions in office.
Disputing claims that there is not enough time to conduct impeachment proceedings before Bush leaves office next January, Kucinich told Democracy Now!
“George Bush has enough time to bomb Iran on another pretext. He has enough time to continue policies of torture. He has enough time to continue policies of eavesdropping and wiretapping.
“We don’t have enough time. We can’t spend any more time temporizing, while the Constitution, the United States laws, international laws, are being shredded.”
Too many children left behind, groups say
Too many children left behind, groups say
By Rosita Johnson
Two new national groups, the Task Force for A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education and the Education Equality Project, have denounced the No Child Left Behind Law as a failure and called for a new course for education that will bring about equal opportunity and educational excellence for the neediest students.
A June ad in the New York Times and Washington Post submitted by the task force group calls on policy makers to replace the No Child Left Behind Law with a program that can really close the achievement gap. The 60 signers are prominent leaders in education, health, civil rights, religion, social policy and government and represent different political views.
Helen Ladd, professor of public policy studies at Duke University and Tom Payzant, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a former Boston Schools superintendent and U.S. assistant secretary of education, are two of the group’s co-chairs. Others connected with the task force include Julian Bond, Janet Reno, Diane Ravitch, Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, Joycelyn Elders, Linda Darling-Hammond and Richard Rothstein – all well known public figures.
The task force states that five decades of research documents a powerful association between social and economic disadvantage and low achievement. Its position is that school improvement strategies by themselves, though absolutely necessary, cannot close the achievement gap between underachieving, disadvantaged students and those who succeed academically. Reducing social and economic disadvantages, the group says, can increase achievement.
Pedro Noguera, another task force co-chair and executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Affairs and a New York University sociology professor said, “After six years, it is clear that No Child Left Behind has not succeeded in improving the quality of education available to America’s neediest children. This task force is united around the need for a more comprehensive approach to federal policy that specifically responds to the needs of children and schools in low income areas.”
“Schools can’t do it alone,” said Ladd, adding, “Accountability is a pillar of our education system, but schools need the support of the community both before children arrive at school and during their school years.”
“The task force is calling for a partnership and a sturdier bridge across schools, public health and social services,” said Payzant. “When we ensure our children’s most basic needs, then we can apply the highest of standards to all of our students.”
The group’s specific proposals include:
• Continued school improvement efforts by reducing class size, hiring high quality teachers in hard-to-staff schools, improving teacher and school leadership training and by providing college preparatory curriculum to all students with special attention to recent immigrants.
• Developmentally appropriate and high quality early childhood, pre-school and kindergarten care and education.
• Routine pediatric, dental, hearing and vision care for all infants, toddlers and school children and full service health clinics in schools.
• Improving the quality of students’ out-of-school time and increased investment in longer school days, after-school programs, summer programs and school-to-work programs with demonstrated track records of success.
“We urge policymakers to embrace this broader, bolder approach to education and enable all our children to pursue the American dream,” the ad reads.
The Education Equality Project recently held a press conference at which New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton joined prominent educators and lawmakers in strongly criticizing public schools in the United States for shortchanging poor Black and Latino students.
The group called the achievement gap between white students and Black and Latino students the nation’s most pressing civil rights issue. Unfortunately, the group cited teachers’ union contracts as one of the major contributors to the achievement gap.
Washington D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee noted that in her city, children who attend schools in affluent neighborhoods get a “wildly different” education than students in the same school system who live in poorer neighborhoods but she too bought into the idea that teachers’ unions bear part of the blame.
Randy Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, actively supports the efforts of the task force group but has been critical of the anti-union approach taken by the Education Equality Project, which has criticized even the Obama campaign for not being strong enough on education. Obama has called for many of the things the task force says are important, but unlike the other group, he has also called for good pay and benefits for teachers who staff the public schools. Weingarten has said she welcomes Sharpton’s involvement in education struggles but has questioned why he would ally himself with the New York City schools chancellor against teachers, especially since the chancellor does not have a reputation as a fighter for public education.
EDITORIAL: Talk to Iran
EDITORIAL: Talk to Iran
By PWW/NM editorial board
Earlier this month, members of Congress joined a wide range of groups in a “Time to Talk to Iran” event on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers say they are being inundated by a “drumbeat of war” from “neo-con”-type groups.
“We hear the same people who supported a disastrous war in Iraq now steadily beating the drum for war with Iran,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said at the June 10 event. “We have been down this road before.”
In January, Lee introduced the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008, which calls for appointment of a high-level envoy to conduct direct, unconditional, bilateral negotiations with Iran. The bill, HR 5056, has 14 co-sponsors and languishes in a House committee.
Unfortunately, too many lawmakers appear to be succumbing to the lobbyists for war.
The Iran Sanctions Act of 2008, introduced by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, would tighten and expand sanctions on Iran. It is so drastic it is even opposed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
H. Con. Res. 362, introduced by Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.), and a companion Senate measure, S. Res. 580 introduced by Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, would impose harsh new sanctions on Iran. Some warn these could set the stage for a naval blockade of Iran.
Some supporters insist that the measures specifically say they should not be construed as authorizing the use of force.
But haven’t we been there before?
The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran, which includes groups across the political spectrum, warns that increasing unilateral sanctions are “provocative actions” that increase the danger of war.
Phil Giraldi, a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist who writes for The American Conservative magazine and for Antiwar.com, commented, “The Bush administration has refused to negotiate outstanding issues unless Iran, as a precondition, surrenders on many key points, a tactic designed to guarantee that no talks will take place. The danger that a new war in the Middle East will begin either by accident or by design is growing. It is time to begin serious negotiations, before it is too late.”
Members of Congress need to hear from the silent pro-peace majority. Call your senators and representative today. Tell them: dialogue with Iran, not threats and war.
EDITORIAL: FISA filibuster
EDITORIAL: FISA filibuster
By PWW/NM editorial board
The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved by a vote of 293-129 a compromise bill reauthorizing warrantless electronic spying on the American people under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). About 50 Democrats joined the Republicans in approving the disappointing compromise authored by House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer.
The new version of the FISA surveillance bill makes clear that the president cannot simply authorize spying on Americans — electronic surveillance may only be conducted with authorization through FISA and the criminal wiretap law. But the new bill extends from 72 hours to a full week the period in which surveillance can be conducted while awaiting FISA court approval. It also authorizes wholesale “bulk” monitoring of e-mails and phone calls. It provides retroactive immunity for AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications giants, who face a flood of lawsuits by victims of the spying charging them with collaboration in a program that violates the Fourth Amendment guarantee against “illegal search and seizure.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement charging that the House-passed bill “fails to hold the Bush-Cheney administration accountable for its illegal wiretapping program.”
Leahy added, “I will oppose this new FISA bill when the Senate votes on it next week.” Congress, he added, must do everything possible to protect the people from Bush’s “callous disregard for the rule of law.”
Some Democrats think this deal is smart election-year politics that will immunize them from attacks by the Republican right that they are “soft” on terrorism. But the outpouring of voters so far this year indicates that people are looking for candidates who will stand and fight in defense of democratic rights and the rule of law.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will vote against the FISA bill. Democrats Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin vow to stage a filibuster to block the bill because of their outrage at the blanket immunity for the telecoms. Barbara Boxer (California) and Ron Wyden (Oregon) say they will support the filibuster. Urge your senators to oppose this bill. It makes far too many concessions to Bush-Cheney spying.
Plan Bush-McCain no bajará precio de gasolina
Plan Bush-McCain no bajará precio de gasolina
Por Tim Wheeler
La propuesta del presidente Bush y el senador John McCain de revocar las prohibiciones en contra de explotar yacimientos de petróleo en la costa no hará nada para bajar el precio del combustible pero sí causará daños permanente a la costa y la vida silvestre marítima, de acuerdo a ambientalistas y expertos energéticos.
Bush hizo la propuesta el junio 19. McCain, presunto candidato republicano, hizo la misma propuesta anterior para la explotación en las costas dea Alaska, California, Florida y otros estados.
Tim Hamilton, presidente de Automotive United Trade Association (AUTO), que representa a 600 gasolineras independiente en el estado de Washington, nos dijo que la propuesta es un regalo a las corporaciones de petróleo. “Aquí está la mentira: que si uno explota el Ártico y la costa baja el precio de la gasolina”. Hamilton siguió, “Es una gran mentira porque las grandes corporaciones ya están explotando los yacimientos ahora”. La meta verdadera de la propuesta es otorgarle más contratos a las petroleras “ahora que tiene el presidente más amistoso [a la petroleras] de la historia norteamericana”, dijo.
En el 2006, Hamilton escribió un reporte titulado, “Por qué el precio de gasolina va llegar a $3,50 el galón”. Ahora dice que el preció está en camino a $5. El que gana en esto “es un cartel ilegal, inmoral cuya única preocupación es su beneficio máximo”.
Melanie Duchin, del grupo ambientalista Greenpeace an Anchorage, Alaska, dijo, “El gobierno Bush se niega hacer la matemática. Quemamos 24 por ciento del petróleo mundial y solo tenemos tres por ciento de las reservas. Aunque saquemos todo el petróleo hasta la última gota, nunca podremos bajar el precio de la gasolina. Esto son trucos para beneficiar a las petroleras”.
Duchin ayudó dirigir la campaña que declarara el oso polar una especie en amenazada con la extinción.
Ella habló del peligro a la vida silvestre del Ártico mientras el permahielo, la capa de hielo y los glaciares se derriten y los bosques caen víctimas a escarabajos. Aldeas completas de los pueblos originarios de Alaska se los está tragando el mar, ella dijo.
“Esto es una cuestión de justicia ambiental. La gente pobre y los de color tienen una carga desproporcionada de los males por los cambios climáticos globales. Estamos en el punto cero de una guerra global”.La solución, dijo ella, es cambiar a formas renovables de energía como solar y viento.
El presidente del Club Sierra, Carl Pope, respondió anunciando que su organización está apoyando a Barack Obama para la presidencia. Pope dijo que él cree que Obama pondrá al país en un “sendero hacia una economía de energía limpia que creará y mantendrá a millones de empleos, animará la innovación y la oportunidad, hacernos una nación más segura y ayudarnos encontrar soluciones al calentamiento global”.
Anterior el Club Sierra había criticado al plan de explotación costanera. “La verdad es que explotar los yacimientos en la costa no va a resolver nuestros problemas de energía”, dijo Pope. “Un derrame en la costa de Virginia causaría impacto en las playas, vida marítima, y el turismo en Nueva Jersey. Levantar al prohibiciones no haría nada para reducir el precio de la gasolina para la familia típica norteamericana”.
Monday, June 23, 2008
George Carlin Dies at 71
From the Associated Press:
Acerbic standup comedian and satirist George Carlin, whose staunch defense of free speech in his most famous routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” led to a key Supreme Court ruling on obscenity, has died.
Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. He was 71.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Barack Obama - Father's Day Speech
One of the great things that separates Obama from other politicians is his willingness to take controversial issues head-on. In his speech on Father's Day, Obama criticizes the absentee father and their impact on families, especially in the African-American community. As with his speech on racism, Obama is both eloquent and blunt; he lays out the issue in simple terms, speaking from experience and without political spin.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tim Russert
Midwest floods - help needed, but not just Band-Aids
Looking at the unbelievable photos of the floods in Iowa and Wisconsin, you have to wonder about such extreme weather events. The Capital Times, based near some of the worst of the Wisconsin flooding, posted a thoughtful editorial yesterday, saying,
Floods are characterized as natural disasters.
But what man does defines the extent of the disaster.
They list a number of steps on the local, state and federal level that everyone should think about. Read the whole editorial here.
And here's a pretty startling video showing the flooding near Lake Delton, Wis.:
Thursday, June 12, 2008
McCain out of step with women
Listen to the Center for American Progress' conversation on John McCain, women voters and issues. Exposes that John McCain is NOT a moderate.
http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20037/dia/John/06-11-08%20McCain%20Record%20on%20Women%20with%20Emilys%20List%20and%20Rep.%20DWS.mp3
Here's an interesting report on the same topic:
But there is something that really turns me off to a title that says: "Not What Women Want" and it's written by two guys! The subtitle "Impact of John McCain's Policy on America's Women" is much better.
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/womens_paper.pdf
McCain and racism
In this election talk, a very small but loud portion of the self-defined left want to pit race vs. gender or paint the Clinton vote as racist, which I do not think it is. Meanwhile McCain gets a pass. What's his stance on racism? women's equality? Considering he has used anti-Asian epithets during his first run for the GOP nomination and was then forced to apologize, the conversation should focus on the bigger picture.
Here's a thoughtful blog on the matter:
http://mixedraceamerica.blogspot.com/2008/03/calling-on-mccain-to-talk-about-race.html
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Best videos of the primary season
Now that the primary season is over(thank god!) I wanted to share the most popular viral videos of the primary campaign season. This is in no order of preference; however i will say that my 2 favorites are "The Empire Strikes Barack" and "I got a crush on Hillary" if you know of others or want to share your thoughts on these please comment. Also coming soon i will share the best McCain spoofs i like.
Vote Different
The Empire strikes Barack
Hillary and Bill spoof the Sopranos ending
"I Got a Crush...On Hillary" (take that obama girl!)
"I Got a Crush...On Obama" By Obama Girl
Call in TODAY: 'Time to Talk With Iran'
A very broad coalition called Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran is holding a national call-in to Congress for diplomacy - TODAY. Get info here.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Fox Ambushes Bill Moyers
At the National Conference for Media Reform 2008. Fox personality Bill O'Reilly producer, Porter Barry ambushes PBS Bill Moyers to pepper him with questions regarding his political affiliations and his "refusal" to appear on O'Reily's show. Moyers disputes Fox's "facts."
Biggest political rally in History!
There are very little comparisons to be made here. A report of 75,000 in Oregon rally for Obama. This is a record. The closest in contemporary memory is FDR. But he didn't attract such crowds until he was an incumbent. This is a first and a record for a first time candidacy for the presidency. Check out the arial shots of this crowd!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Hillary talks unity
A letter from Hillary to her supporters:
I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold
an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my
campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged
and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign.
keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.
On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my
support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought
campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama
are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and
the Republicans.
I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support
Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend
to deliver on that promise.
When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting
into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans
who need a voice in the White House.
I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up
for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that
promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.
I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the
party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before
us too important to do otherwise.
I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a
better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the
commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will
always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.
In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with
hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am
touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.
I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank
you.
Sincerely,
Hillary
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Iraq's children 'among the most miserable in the world'
The Iraqi Women's League has started a new campaign demanding that Iraq's government and parliament take action to protect Iraq's children. 
The danger which threatens Iraq's childhood, in its present and future, has become greater than ever before. The devastation inflicted on children by the wars and militarization of society by the dictatorship, was further aggravated by occupation. As a result of war and terrorism, in addition to the intensified struggle among the forces fighting over power and wealth, the suffering of children has been exacerbated on all levels. ...
Poverty has forced families to make their children leave school and seek food in waste dumps, work as street vendors or turn into beggars. Children toiling to earn a living has become a commonplace scene in the streets of Iraq. Under these tragic conditions, children are subjected to murder, kidnapping and rape, in addition to being exploited in acts of terrorism. ...
400 children become orphans every day ...
The overall tragic situation of children in Iraq makes them among the most miserable children in the world. ...
Read more here.
And an Iraqi writer in Baghdad reports:
Recent statistics ... reveal that the number of orphaned Iraqi children has reached 4-5 million and that there are some 500,000 street children. ...
A further study conducted for the UNDP [United Nations Development Program] by the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, found that “acute malnutrition among Iraqi children has almost doubled since the US invasion despite UN efforts.” The study based on a survey of 22,000 Iraqi homes said that approximately 400,000 Iraqi children now suffer from malnutrition and said that acute malnutrition has increased to 7.7 percent since March 2003 for those aged between six months and five years.
The horrible legacy of the war based on lies.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
McCarthy Light
Here is a blog called No-Bama. This person has posted a long list of links "showing" Obama's communist and socialist history.
Obama's Communist and Socialist Roots
I actually read a post on a news site yesterday that stated, "Obama takes his marching orders from the CPUSA!"
Enjoy for an easy laugh.