Several pro-choice senators plan to repeal President Bush’s “global gag rule,” which blocks U.S. funds from going to any overseas health clinic if it uses its own, private, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, give referrals, or even take a public pro-choice position.
Take action now and urge your senators to vote to repeal the global gag rule – just click here.
Help ensure that women around the world aren’t denied critical health services because of bad Bush policies!
Commemorating the troops at a 2005 vigil in Columbia.
I’m John Bruhns and I served in Baghdad as an army sergeant for the first year of the war. Within my first days there, I realized that so much of what I had been told—about weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11—was just White House spin to sell the war.
I’m seeing the same thing all over again now. Even with this being the bloodiest summer for US troops in Iraq, even with Iraqi casualties running at twice the pace of last year, and even with 15 of 18 of President Bush’s own benchmarks unmet, the White House is at it again. They’re telling us that black is white, up is down, and things in Iraq are going just great thanks to the troop “surge.”
This month Congress is going to vote on war policy for the next year—and Bush is hoping all this “progress” talk will scare Congress away from voting for withdrawal. We can’t let that happen. Almost 4,000 US troops have died. We’ve spent half a trillion dollars in Iraq. Every day you turn on the news and more people are killed. We need Congress to stand up and fight to bring our troops home this fall.
I need your help to make sure that happens. Can you sign this petition demanding that Congress begin a fully funded redeployment and start bringing our troops home from Iraq immediately? I’ll deliver your comments to Congress myself next week. Clicking here will add your name.
I left Iraq on Feb. 27, 2004, and from what I hear from my friends who are still there—many on their third or fourth deployments—it’s worse now than ever before. The “surge” was a failure and it’s time to draw down our troops.
This president can’t be trusted, his policy is reckless and it’s more and more dangerous every day.
Here’s what’s happened in Iraq since the escalation went into effect.
Violence has gone up in Iraq. This summer is on track to be one of the bloodiest summers for Iraqis and U.S. troops, with nearly twice as many U.S. troops killed this July than the previous July. 1
The surge has not created political stability. The central premise of the surge was that it would increase political stability. Two years after Sunnis were brought into the political transition, a Sunni bloc withdrew from the government. This week’s original Government Accountability Office report showed that 15 out of 18 of Bush’s own political benchmarks remain unmet.
We’ve poured weapons into Iraq’s civil war. Another GAO report earlier this summer showed that the Pentagon lost track of nearly 200,000 weapons given to Iraqis. We distribute weapons and then they disappear and we don’t know what happens to them. What we do know is that violence increases—both among Iraqi sectarian groups and against American troops.
Ethnic cleansing is happening in Baghdad. The once Sunni dominated city is now dominated by Shiites. Here is a quote from the most recent Newsweek: “When Gen. David Petraeus goes before Congress next week to report on the progress of the surge, he may cite a decline in insurgent attacks in Baghdad as one marker of success. In fact, part of the reason behind the decline is how far the Shiite militias’ cleansing of Baghdad has progressed: they’ve essentially won.”
As an Iraq war veteran I felt so much relief after the November of 2006 election—I felt like we would finally end this mess and start bringing our troops home from Iraq. I’ve been let down a lot over this last year and I want to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Congress has the power to force redeployment and they have to use that power this fall. Nothing is more important to me than making sure we start bringing all our troops home—and I need your help to make sure that’s what happens.
Please sign the petition today.
Thanks for all you do.
John Bruhns, former US Army Infantry Sergeant.
Sept. 5, 2007
Was anybody really shocked to hear that anti-gay US Sen. Larry Craig was arrested for soliciting sex from a man in a public restroom recently? Since this incident became news Sen. Craig has continuously denied that he is guilty of soliciting sex in public and vociferously denied that he is gay…again!
Hopefully, some day Sen. Craig will discover that there is no sin in being gay; the sin is in living a lie and lacking integrity. It may come as a surprise to some, but it takes far more honesty and integrity to live one’s life openly as a gay man or a lesbian than it does to live one’s life as a heterosexual. There is no social cost or threat to living one’s life as a heterosexual if that is in fact who you are. Openly gay and lesbian people risk everything they have every day of their lives just to be who they are and to love who they love. Sen. Craig simply never had the guts to do this and he has now been exposed as the fraud and the hypocrite that he is.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of this brand of politician who, as proof of their own moral superiority, would gladly legislate away whatever can be taken from gay and lesbian Americans, while at the same time pleasuring themselves with the T-room trade and who knows what other hypocrisies.
But here is a truth worth taking to heart as we watch Sen. Craig’s life of lies unravel…ANY openly gay or lesbian person who lives his or her life with honesty and integrity is by definition morally superior to Larry Craig. They are in fact morally superior to ANY closeted anti-gay politician who lies to his constituency, his family, his friends and most importantly to himself while doing egregious harm to the lives of gay and lesbian Americans.
Craig’s bathroom arrest pales by comparison to the more fundamental sin and disgrace of the closeted gay politician who spends a lifetime using his closet as a sniper’s nest against the LGBT community. The closet often protects these hypocrites from public scorn, but it cannot shield them from living in mortal fear that they will ultimately suffer the same fate as Larry Craig…as every last one of them should!
No doubt our remaining senators of this stripe will support Senator Craig’s resignation.
Charlie Smith, Charleston
Excellent news from Public Campaign:
Things are looking very good for the New Jersey Clean Elections pilot program. A high rate of participation in the three eligible districts (15 of 20 candidates have opted in), coupled with good press coverage, support from the governor, and positive feedback from the candidates signals the potential to not only continue the pilot program, but expand it to more districts and eventually take Clean Elections statewide.
“With the positive results already being achieved by this year’s program, what once was thought of as a lofty goal is coming closer to becoming a historic reality,†said leading supporter Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. (D).
Conventional wisdom says that the American public is fundamentally conservative – hostile to government, in favor of unregulated markets, at peace with inequality, wanting a foreign policy based on the projection of military power, and traditional in its social values.
But as a June report by Media Matters demonstrates, that picture is fundamentally false. Media perceptions and past Republican electoral successes notwithstanding, Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they’re growing more progressive all the time.
This report gathers together years of public opinion data from unimpeachably nonpartisan sources to show that on issue after issue, the majority of Americans hold progressive positions. And this is true not only of specific policy proposals, but of the fundamental perspectives and approaches that Americans bring to bear on issues.
Nor is the progressive majority merely a product of the current political moment. On a broad array of issues, particularly social issues, American opinion has grown more and more progressive over the past few decades. In contrast, it is difficult to find an issue on which the public has grown steadily more conservative over the last 10, 20, or 30 years.
The Ticking Clock on Pay Discrimination
By Barbara Arnwine
Look around your office. Do you know what your co-workers are really being paid? Probably not. A recent survey found that only 10 percent of companies have pay openness policies. And if you were paid less by your employer simply because you are female how long do you think it would take to find out? Probably not until you’ve been working there a long time, maybe years.
That is exactly what happened to Lilly Ledbetter. Her employer, Goodyear, kept compensation information confidential and it wasn’t until decades after the fact she found out that she was being paid less. By the time of her retirement, she was paid $3,727 monthly, while the lowest paid male doing the same job was paid $4,286. Taking her employer to court, a jury found that she received raises less frequently than her male colleagues because of her gender.
The jury awarded her damages for this intentional discrimination, but on appeal to the Supreme Court earlier this year, a majority tossed out the award because Ms. Ledbetter failed to file her claim within 180 days of her employer’s discriminatory decisions – decisions she didn’t have reason to suspect until long after they were made.
Sens. DeMint and Graham: How in good conscience can you do this to our troops?
By Bobby Muller, Veterans for America
I have a fundamental question for you two – a really simple basic question. One that every American should be asking themselves right now as you – and the rest of our Senators – get ready to return from your month-long break.
When the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that our troops were at their breaking point, when the Department of Defense reported that our current deployment policies are compounding the wounds of war, causing mental health problems among our troops to skyrocket, and that one of the primary causes was our current policy of deploying troops back to Iraq and Afghanistan without adequate dwell time at home, why didn’t you do something about it?
How can you not support a policy where soldiers are deployed for 15 months in Iraq and then receive at least equal time stationed stateside to rest, train, and then fight again? (And at least three times that much at home if they are from the Guard or Reserve.)
Well guess what? You aren’t alone. Back in July before you took your summer break, a lot of United States Senators voted against this fundamental act of fairness by voting against the Webb-Hagel Amendment. (See a press conference where I spoke up for this bill before the vote.)
This came today from longtime Network friend Harriet Johnson, a Charleston lawyer and writer who is a nationally recognized activist. She’s also a hero in her home state. She is one of the Network’s past Thunder and Lightning Award winners, an annual tradition of honoring our best and brightest. Her law practice works primarily on securing benefits and civil rights claims for people with disabilities. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine and to the disability press, and is the author of the books Too Late to Die Young and Accidents of Nature.
*************
Friends, colleagues, and comrades: I just got my MDA patient magazine, and there in the middle was a full-color spread with Jerry Lewis’s picture and caption “Yup, it’s that time again.”
Yup, it is that time again. Time for the 17th annual telethon protest in Charleston.
So please join me in downtown Charleston on Labor Day morning to let people know that there are two sides to the telethon. Sure, the money does some good, but at a great price. The telethon continues to reinforce harmful stereotypes about disability, especially neuromuscular disease. MDA continues to put children on the air and tell the world that they are dying, when the truth is that they are also living, and some of them may live long enough to get that letter from AARP.
MDA also continues to employ a notorious disability bigot as its spokesman. Jerry has never apologized for calling us “half persons,” or for saying that disabled kids are “mistakes who came out wrong,” to name just two of many insults. He justifies this by saying he raises a lot of money. But other charities raise money and do good without insulting the people they are supposed to help.
Beyond that, the telethon protest is a chance to remind the public that we shouldn’t have to beg for flu shots and wheelchairs. Everyone, disabled or not, should have such basic needs met.
We gather at 10 a.m. and pass out leaflets for a couple of hours with a police permit. The tourists are generally curious and often supportive. Following the protests, lunch is on me. RSVP 843-722-0178 to find out where. HARRIET
PS: We finish in time for you to go to the ILA Labor Day picnic and then come back downtown for the 7 p.m. Labor Day program at the College of Charleston School of Business (organized by one of our favorite historians, George Hopkins). This will be a great lead-in to a series of eclectic programs sponsored by the Social Justice Project throughout the year – including an Oct. 3 appearance by Laura Hershey.
Hope to see you soon!
Harriet Johnson
hmjohnson1@earthlink.net
And you should too.
Yesterday an overflow crowd turned out for the Network’s matinee screening of SICKO, Michael Moore’s newest documentary. The film takes the pulse of this country’s health care system, and the prognosis looks grim. But, if our crowd was any indication, the masses are ripe for change. Even with extra folding chairs set up in the aisles, the Nickelodeon Theater had to turn away people who wanted to see the film and talk about it afterward with organizers of a new group, South Carolinians for Universal Health Care.
It was a surprisingly responsive audience for Columbia, usually a reserved lot in public spaces. They laughed. They cried. They shook their heads. They muttered things under their breath. And when it was over, many of them signed on to a public effort to advocate from the grassroots for a more humane health care system.
The film is funny, frightening and, in the end, hopeful. See it if you can. If not, at least check out Michael Moore’s web site.
And if you want to get on board the campaign for universal health care in South Carolina, email us at network@scpronet.com.
Our thanks to our discussion panelists Lynn Bailey, a health economist for South Carolinians for Universal Health Care, Dr. Sam Baker, health policy professor at USC, and to Columbia radio host Frank Knapp for facilitating.
Becci Robbins
(From left) Frank Knapp, Lynn Bailey and Dr. Sam Baker.
From the Aug. 22 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Here’s [caller] in Lake Orion, Michigan. Thank you for calling. Great to have you on the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. It’s great to talk to you. I talked to you once before. I’ve been listening to you for a couple of years now, and I think I’m getting brighter, but there’s a lot to be learned. I know I’m no expert in foreign affairs, but what really confuses me about the liberals is the hypocrisy when they talk about how we have no reason to be in Iraq and helping those people, but yet everybody wants us to go to Darfur. I mean, aren’t we going to end up in a quagmire there? I mean, isn’t it — I don’t understand. Can you enlighten me on this?
LIMBAUGH: Yeah. This is — you’re not going to believe this, but it’s very simple. And the sooner you believe it, and the sooner you let this truth permeate the boundaries you have that tell you this is just simply not possible, the better you will understand Democrats in everything. You are right. They want to get us out of Iraq, but they can’t wait to get us into Darfur.
CALLER: Right.
LIMBAUGH: There are two reasons. What color is the skin of the people in Darfur?
CALLER: Uh, yeah.
LIMBAUGH: It’s black. And who do the Democrats really need to keep voting for them? If they lose a significant percentage of this voting bloc, they’re in trouble.
CALLER: Yes. Yes. The black population.
LIMBAUGH: Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing.
CALLER: It’s just — I can’t believe it’s really that simple.
LIMBAUGH: Well, see, I knew you couldn’t believe it. But here’s the — here’s one that’s even going to be harder to believe and it is even more truthful. Could you tell me what vital national interest, [caller], is at stake in Darfur?
CALLER: Um, I don’t know.
LIMBAUGH: Nothing. Zilch, zero, nada. Darfur is not attacking us. Darfur has not said they want to attack us. So they will — same thing — Clinton sent the U.S. military off to Bosnia. No U.S. national interest at stake. The liberals will use the military as a “meals on wheels” program. They’ll send them out to help with tsunami victims. But you put the military — you put the military in a position of defending U.S. national interest, and that’s when Democrats and the liberals oppose it. And —
CALLER: Right. Terrorists have attacked us and our oil supply comes from, you know, Iraq and Iran and the Middle East, and yet that’s not worth defending.
LIMBAUGH: Right. That’s exactly right. You’ve got it. You’ve got it. Now you just have to believe your own instincts from here on out.
***************************
Get your Rush voodoo doll here.
