From AP via San Diego Union-Tribune:
Graveyard shift deemed 'probable' cancer cause
By Maria Cheng
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 30, 2007
LONDON – Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a “probable” cause of cancer.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Tito Montes worked a night shift at San Diego Bail Bonds. Scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the body's biological clock.
It is a surprising step that validates a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose workday starts after dark.
Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen.
The higher cancer rates don't prove that working overnight can cause cancer. There may be other factors common among graveyard shift workers that raise their cancer risk.
However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body's biological clock. The hormone melatonin, which can suppress tumor development, is normally produced at night.
Scientists believe having lower melatonin levels can raise the risk of developing cancer. Light shuts down melatonin production, so people working in artificial light at night may have lower melatonin levels.
Melatonin can be taken as a supplement, but experts don't recommend it long-term, because that could suppress the body's ability to produce it naturally.
SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
Nadiyah Simpson dispatched taxi cabs last night at Lindbergh Field. Nearly 20 percent of the working population in developed nations works the graveyard shift.
If the graveyard shift theory eventually proves correct, millions of people worldwide could be affected. Experts estimate that nearly 20 percent of the working population in developed countries work night shifts.
Among the first to spot the night shift-cancer connection was Richard Stevens, a cancer epidemiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 1987, Stevens published a paper suggesting a link between light at night and breast cancer.
At the time, he was trying to figure out why breast cancer incidence had suddenly shot up starting in the 1930s in industrialized societies, where nighttime work was considered a hallmark of progress. Most scientists were bewildered by his proposal.
But in recent years, several studies have found that women working at night over many years were indeed more prone to breast cancer. Also, animals that have their light-dark schedules switched develop more cancerous tumors and die earlier.
Some research also suggests that men working at night may have a higher rate of prostate cancer.
Because these studies mostly focused on nurses and airline crews, bigger studies in different populations are needed to confirm or disprove the findings.
There are still plenty of skeptics. And to put the risk in perspective, the “probable carcinogen” tag means that the link between overnight work and cancer is merely plausible.
Among the long list of agents that are listed as “known” carcinogens are alcoholic beverages and birth control pills. Such lists say nothing about exposure amount or length of time or how likely they are to cause cancer.
The American Cancer Society Web site notes that carcinogens do not always cause cancer. The cancer society doesn't make its own assessments of possible cancer-causing agents, but relies on analyses by the IARC and a U.S. agency.
Still, many doubters of the night shift link may be won over by the IARC's analysis, which is to be published in the December issue of the journal Lancet Oncology.
“The indications are positive,” said Vincent Cogliano, who heads up the agency's carcinogen classifications unit. “There was enough of a pattern in people who do shift work to recognize that there's an increase in cancer, but we can't rule out the possibility of other factors.”
Joe Raffa, director of San Diego County Cancer Navigator, which provides information about cancer and local services, said of the study: “It's certainly more validation that cancer is environmental. That makes sense.” His organization is a clearinghouse of information about the disease for patients, health providers and the general public.
Sleep deprivation may be another factor in cancer risk. People who work at night are not usually able to completely reverse their day and night cycles.
“Night-shift people tend to be day-shift people who are trying to stay awake at night,” said Mark Rea, director of the Light Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, who is not connected with the IARC analysis.
Not getting enough sleep makes your immune system vulnerable to attack, and less able to fight off potentially cancerous cells.
Confusing your body's natural rhythm can also lead to a breakdown of other essential tasks. “Timing is very important,” Rea said. Certain processes like cell division and DNA repair happen at regular times.
Even worse than working an overnight shift is flipping between daytime and overnight work.
“The problem is re-setting your body's clock,” said Aaron Blair, of the United States' National Cancer Institute, who chaired a recent IARC meeting on shift work. “If you worked at night and stayed on it, that would be less disruptive than constantly changing shifts.”
Anyone whose light and dark schedule is often disrupted – including frequent long-haul travelers or insomniacs – could theoretically face the same increased cancer risk, Stevens said.
It was unclear how the findings might affect late-shift workers in San Diego.
Bill Nemec, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association, said that while the city pays a differential to officers who work the overnight shift, research linking such work to higher cancer rates “certainly could impact our negotiations down the road.”
He said the police union has usually focused more on the physical demands of working the graveyard shift and its impact on officers' quality of life and job alertness in negotiating the differential.
Health concerns tied to night shift work have never surfaced in contract negotiations between United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals and the hospitals where the union's members work, said union spokeswoman Laureen Lazarovici of Pomona.
“There are nurses and other types of working people who prefer the overnight shift because it gives them flexibility in their family lives that 9-to-5 people don't have,” Lazarovici said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Staff writers Cheryl Clark, Bruce V. Bigelow and Keith Darcé contributed to this report.
Wrap...
Friday, November 30, 2007
From Facebook to Coulter wants to replace Perino...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
The social networking site Facebook has "modified a controversial service that broadcast details of its users' online activities outside the site to their friends, following complaints about its privacy implications." Facebook will now give greater control to users over what information they want advertised. MoveOn, which had mounted an online campaign to pressure Facebook to change its policy, said the policy could be a "huge step in the right direction."
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's moderate position on immigration compared to the stances of his rivals is causing anger in right-wing circles. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of the conservative group NumbersUSA.
"Without a serious effort at national conciliation, American troops are just holding down the lid on a pressure cooker. Iraq's rival militias, the insurgents, the bitter sectarian resentments and the meddling neighbors haven't gone anywhere," writes The New York Times in an editorial today.
51 percent: College students who say "where a candidate stands on the environment would be very important to their vote," according to a survey conducted by American University students.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) stated unequivocally that he would move to impeach President Bush if the administration bombs Iran without congressional approval. "The President has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran and if he does, as foreign relations committee chairman, I will move to impeach," he said.
A New York Times analysis found that "Medicare spends billions of dollars each year on products and services that are available at far lower prices from retail pharmacies and online stores." For example, Medicare spends more than double the drugstore price on oxygen tanks.
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) acknowledged that the surge, which he had firmly criticized, "has led to military successes. But he also warned repeatedly that the Iraqis were not doing enough to capitalize on those gains. 'I think the surge is working but that's only one element. It's working because of the increase in troops,' he said, 'but the thing that has to happen is that the Iraqis have to do this themselves.'"
A new report by the Department of Labor Inspector General finds that 87 percent of the funds handed out by the Department's Employment and Training Administration in the past six years were through "sole-source grants," meaning $271 million in federal funds were awarded without any competition.
And finally: Ann Coulter suggests she should be the new White House press secretary. "She told a crowd gathered at the National Press Club for the National Journalism Center's 30th anniversary that she deserves" to be White House press secretary for the last six months of Bush's presidency. "I'm sure she would find it to be a fascinating experience," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
Wrap...
Think Fast...
The social networking site Facebook has "modified a controversial service that broadcast details of its users' online activities outside the site to their friends, following complaints about its privacy implications." Facebook will now give greater control to users over what information they want advertised. MoveOn, which had mounted an online campaign to pressure Facebook to change its policy, said the policy could be a "huge step in the right direction."
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's moderate position on immigration compared to the stances of his rivals is causing anger in right-wing circles. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of the conservative group NumbersUSA.
"Without a serious effort at national conciliation, American troops are just holding down the lid on a pressure cooker. Iraq's rival militias, the insurgents, the bitter sectarian resentments and the meddling neighbors haven't gone anywhere," writes The New York Times in an editorial today.
51 percent: College students who say "where a candidate stands on the environment would be very important to their vote," according to a survey conducted by American University students.
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) stated unequivocally that he would move to impeach President Bush if the administration bombs Iran without congressional approval. "The President has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran and if he does, as foreign relations committee chairman, I will move to impeach," he said.
A New York Times analysis found that "Medicare spends billions of dollars each year on products and services that are available at far lower prices from retail pharmacies and online stores." For example, Medicare spends more than double the drugstore price on oxygen tanks.
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) acknowledged that the surge, which he had firmly criticized, "has led to military successes. But he also warned repeatedly that the Iraqis were not doing enough to capitalize on those gains. 'I think the surge is working but that's only one element. It's working because of the increase in troops,' he said, 'but the thing that has to happen is that the Iraqis have to do this themselves.'"
A new report by the Department of Labor Inspector General finds that 87 percent of the funds handed out by the Department's Employment and Training Administration in the past six years were through "sole-source grants," meaning $271 million in federal funds were awarded without any competition.
And finally: Ann Coulter suggests she should be the new White House press secretary. "She told a crowd gathered at the National Press Club for the National Journalism Center's 30th anniversary that she deserves" to be White House press secretary for the last six months of Bush's presidency. "I'm sure she would find it to be a fascinating experience," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
Wrap...
Blue Dog Dems: Don't help 'em...
From David Sirota:
Conservative, Or Just Plain Corrupt?
By David Sirota
Creators Syndicate, 11/30/07
Through their ethics scandals, Republicans in Washington long ago
began making the word "conservative" synonymous with the term
"corrupt." Surprisingly, though, it is a group of Democrats that is
cementing this definitional conversion for good.
In the midst of the housing crisis, a cadre of self-described
"conservative" Democrats called the Blue Dog Coalition is demanding
congressional leaders delay legislation designed to help people
trapped in high-interest loans stay in their homes and avoid
foreclosure. The bill, House Resolution 3609, allows judges to
ameliorate the terms of abusive "subprime" mortgages. Rep. Brad
Miller, D-N.C., is championing it -- a gutsy move for a lawmaker
whose state domiciles major lenders.
The Blue Dogs say they oppose Miller's initiative out of concern for
the integrity of the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill -- a telling justification.
To read the full nationally syndicated newspaper column, go to:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/conservative-or-just-plain-corrupt.html
{http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota.htmlUnder}
Wrap...
Conservative, Or Just Plain Corrupt?
By David Sirota
Creators Syndicate, 11/30/07
Through their ethics scandals, Republicans in Washington long ago
began making the word "conservative" synonymous with the term
"corrupt." Surprisingly, though, it is a group of Democrats that is
cementing this definitional conversion for good.
In the midst of the housing crisis, a cadre of self-described
"conservative" Democrats called the Blue Dog Coalition is demanding
congressional leaders delay legislation designed to help people
trapped in high-interest loans stay in their homes and avoid
foreclosure. The bill, House Resolution 3609, allows judges to
ameliorate the terms of abusive "subprime" mortgages. Rep. Brad
Miller, D-N.C., is championing it -- a gutsy move for a lawmaker
whose state domiciles major lenders.
The Blue Dogs say they oppose Miller's initiative out of concern for
the integrity of the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill -- a telling justification.
To read the full nationally syndicated newspaper column, go to:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/conservative-or-just-plain-corrupt.html
{http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota.htmlUnder}
Wrap...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Blackwater & Potrero...nose to nose and not happy...
From:http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,331413897-110878,00.html
US security firm runs into new trouble - and this time it's closer to home
Rural community opposes expansion by company at centre of Iraq allegations
Dan Glaister in Potrero, California
Friday November 30, 2007
Guardian UK
Randel Parks pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his cowboy boots. "I've been here 30 years," he said, staring at the ground, "and I've spent most of my adult life working on this property, turning it into my piece of paradise. I'll be damned if I'm going to let them spoil it."
A mile away, around a bend in the mountain road that runs past Parks's property, his new neighbours spread a map out on the ground to discuss plans for the 325-hectare (800-acre) site they are in the process of buying. "There will be eight 100-yd carbine ranges here, and three 50-yd pistol ranges here. And we'll have a 10,000-sq ft armoury and a bunkhouse for 360 students over here."
Welcome to Blackwater West, the latest expansion from the company that dominates private security operations in Iraq. Last month Blackwater's chief executive, Erik Prince, appeared before Congress to defend the company's role in the alleged shootings of unarmed civilians. This week, reports alleged that it had turned a blind eye to the use of steroids among its employees.
Now the company is looking to expand domestically. So it has come to the border hamlet of Potrero, population 850. Eight miles from Mexico and 40 miles inland from San Diego, Potrero has found itself at the centre of a controversy.
But it is a dispute that goes beyond the rights and wrongs of a large company intent on developing farmland. Opponents fear that it will be the first step towards Blackwater moving in on the potentially lucrative and politically sensitive job of patrolling the US-Mexico border. While Congress has authorised increased recruitment for the Border Patrol, the federal agency that polices the border, many have asked how it is going to be paid for and who is going to do the training. Enter Blackwater West.
"We're here by happenstance," said Brian Bonfiglio, Blackwater West's vice-president. Bonfiglio, who was previously in charge of security for Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, was dispatched a year ago from the company's base in North Carolina to oversee the expansion west. "We're a training company. This site was not chosen because of its proximity to the border. The Border Patrol has not approached us and we're not chasing Border Patrol contracts. If the government said here's a contract we want you to bid on, I can't say what the company would do."
Bonfiglio may not be able to say, but the company's president did. In his book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, journalist Jeremy Scahill recounts company president Gary Jackson's May 2005 appearance before the House homeland security committee. "Just as the private sector has responded in moving mail and packages around the world more efficiently," Jackson told the committee, "so too can Blackwater respond to the customs' and Border Patrol's emerging and compelling training needs."
The first salvo against Blackwater's plans comes on December 11, when a recall election - called as a result of a petition by residents - will be held to replace the majority of the Potrero planning group. The group has been criticised for unanimously approving Blackwater's application to build a training facility on a dilapidated chicken farm. Set in 824 acres, the valley that would be Blackwater West is surrounded by low brush and hills. The land includes part of the Cleveland national forest, although Blackwater says it will not use any of the forest land on its property.
Approval was given last December before all but a handful of residents were aware of the plans. Once details emerged, some locals decided to act. "A lot of my neighbours were of the opinion that you couldn't do anything about it," said Parks. "But as time went by I found out that we had some supporters. Now there are more people who aren't afraid to come out and speak."
Rather than being upset about the controversy surrounding Blackwater, most opponents are more concerned about the potential loss of their rural way of life. "When we first moved here in 1977 we didn't have any neighbours," said Cathey Ramsey. Sitting in the town's only shop, the 94 Cafe and general store, she listed her objections: "My concerns are water, wildlife, traffic, noise, all the firing ranges."
Her son, William Crawley, who is standing for election to the planning group, said: "I want to make a change. The group has been neglectful of its duties."
Outside the landscape is charred, the result of the fires that raged across southern California in October. At Barrett lake, alongside tents set up for the 17 Potrero households who lost their homes in fires, stand three Blackwater trailers. "They were the first ones here," said Brenda Wise. "Blackwater called up and gave us everything we needed. If their centre had been in place when the fire started maybe we wouldn't have had fires at all." Wise, who is standing as a pro-Blackwater candidate in the planning group election, said: "I'm sorely offended by groups hiring protesters and trying to take over the community for their own political gain."
The protesters she referred to are the 200 or more people who attended a rally against the development held on Parks's land. Those behind the rally deny that anybody was paid to attend.
A smaller, counter rally was held on a neighbouring property belonging to Shirley Reider and her husband. "To me it's a matter of patriotism," said Reider. "Blackwater has done a lot for our country. Every organisation, even the marines, gets a bad apple now and then, but you deal with that. We should be thankful that we have patriotic Americans who'll defend us."
Jan Hedlun, who was elected to the planning group this year and is the only current member to oppose Blackwater's arrival in Potrero, has other concerns. "I didn't move out here to live next to a shooting range and driving track," she said. "I came out for peace and quiet and for my health. This facility doesn't belong in our rural community."
She added: "There's a cronyistic dynasty among the current power structure and then there's everyone else. All of a sudden this has dropped in our lap, and the power structure isn't listening to what the people want."
Should the planning group be replaced with officials more sympathetic to the opponents of Blackwater, it is not certain that the development would be stopped. The planning group offers advice to the county planning department. The project could still go ahead.
"I like this place so much," said Parks, standing in his garden, which is decorated with animal skulls and cart wheels. "I don't think I'd ever pack up and move on."
Blackwater
Founded 1997 by former navy Seals Erik Prince and Al Clark
Mission: "To support security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere"
First government contract in February 2000
Trains more than 40,000 people a year at its base in North Carolina
$1bn five-year contract to protect US officials in conflict zones and US embassy in Baghdad
Four staff were lynched in Falluja in 2004
Involved in 195 shooting incidents between 2005 and September 2007, when licence to operate in Iraq was revoked by Iraq government following shooting of 17 Iraqis
In October Prince testified before congressional committee investigating Blackwater. Company is being investigated by FBI
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Wrap...
US security firm runs into new trouble - and this time it's closer to home
Rural community opposes expansion by company at centre of Iraq allegations
Dan Glaister in Potrero, California
Friday November 30, 2007
Guardian UK
Randel Parks pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his cowboy boots. "I've been here 30 years," he said, staring at the ground, "and I've spent most of my adult life working on this property, turning it into my piece of paradise. I'll be damned if I'm going to let them spoil it."
A mile away, around a bend in the mountain road that runs past Parks's property, his new neighbours spread a map out on the ground to discuss plans for the 325-hectare (800-acre) site they are in the process of buying. "There will be eight 100-yd carbine ranges here, and three 50-yd pistol ranges here. And we'll have a 10,000-sq ft armoury and a bunkhouse for 360 students over here."
Welcome to Blackwater West, the latest expansion from the company that dominates private security operations in Iraq. Last month Blackwater's chief executive, Erik Prince, appeared before Congress to defend the company's role in the alleged shootings of unarmed civilians. This week, reports alleged that it had turned a blind eye to the use of steroids among its employees.
Now the company is looking to expand domestically. So it has come to the border hamlet of Potrero, population 850. Eight miles from Mexico and 40 miles inland from San Diego, Potrero has found itself at the centre of a controversy.
But it is a dispute that goes beyond the rights and wrongs of a large company intent on developing farmland. Opponents fear that it will be the first step towards Blackwater moving in on the potentially lucrative and politically sensitive job of patrolling the US-Mexico border. While Congress has authorised increased recruitment for the Border Patrol, the federal agency that polices the border, many have asked how it is going to be paid for and who is going to do the training. Enter Blackwater West.
"We're here by happenstance," said Brian Bonfiglio, Blackwater West's vice-president. Bonfiglio, who was previously in charge of security for Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, was dispatched a year ago from the company's base in North Carolina to oversee the expansion west. "We're a training company. This site was not chosen because of its proximity to the border. The Border Patrol has not approached us and we're not chasing Border Patrol contracts. If the government said here's a contract we want you to bid on, I can't say what the company would do."
Bonfiglio may not be able to say, but the company's president did. In his book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, journalist Jeremy Scahill recounts company president Gary Jackson's May 2005 appearance before the House homeland security committee. "Just as the private sector has responded in moving mail and packages around the world more efficiently," Jackson told the committee, "so too can Blackwater respond to the customs' and Border Patrol's emerging and compelling training needs."
The first salvo against Blackwater's plans comes on December 11, when a recall election - called as a result of a petition by residents - will be held to replace the majority of the Potrero planning group. The group has been criticised for unanimously approving Blackwater's application to build a training facility on a dilapidated chicken farm. Set in 824 acres, the valley that would be Blackwater West is surrounded by low brush and hills. The land includes part of the Cleveland national forest, although Blackwater says it will not use any of the forest land on its property.
Approval was given last December before all but a handful of residents were aware of the plans. Once details emerged, some locals decided to act. "A lot of my neighbours were of the opinion that you couldn't do anything about it," said Parks. "But as time went by I found out that we had some supporters. Now there are more people who aren't afraid to come out and speak."
Rather than being upset about the controversy surrounding Blackwater, most opponents are more concerned about the potential loss of their rural way of life. "When we first moved here in 1977 we didn't have any neighbours," said Cathey Ramsey. Sitting in the town's only shop, the 94 Cafe and general store, she listed her objections: "My concerns are water, wildlife, traffic, noise, all the firing ranges."
Her son, William Crawley, who is standing for election to the planning group, said: "I want to make a change. The group has been neglectful of its duties."
Outside the landscape is charred, the result of the fires that raged across southern California in October. At Barrett lake, alongside tents set up for the 17 Potrero households who lost their homes in fires, stand three Blackwater trailers. "They were the first ones here," said Brenda Wise. "Blackwater called up and gave us everything we needed. If their centre had been in place when the fire started maybe we wouldn't have had fires at all." Wise, who is standing as a pro-Blackwater candidate in the planning group election, said: "I'm sorely offended by groups hiring protesters and trying to take over the community for their own political gain."
The protesters she referred to are the 200 or more people who attended a rally against the development held on Parks's land. Those behind the rally deny that anybody was paid to attend.
A smaller, counter rally was held on a neighbouring property belonging to Shirley Reider and her husband. "To me it's a matter of patriotism," said Reider. "Blackwater has done a lot for our country. Every organisation, even the marines, gets a bad apple now and then, but you deal with that. We should be thankful that we have patriotic Americans who'll defend us."
Jan Hedlun, who was elected to the planning group this year and is the only current member to oppose Blackwater's arrival in Potrero, has other concerns. "I didn't move out here to live next to a shooting range and driving track," she said. "I came out for peace and quiet and for my health. This facility doesn't belong in our rural community."
She added: "There's a cronyistic dynasty among the current power structure and then there's everyone else. All of a sudden this has dropped in our lap, and the power structure isn't listening to what the people want."
Should the planning group be replaced with officials more sympathetic to the opponents of Blackwater, it is not certain that the development would be stopped. The planning group offers advice to the county planning department. The project could still go ahead.
"I like this place so much," said Parks, standing in his garden, which is decorated with animal skulls and cart wheels. "I don't think I'd ever pack up and move on."
Blackwater
Founded 1997 by former navy Seals Erik Prince and Al Clark
Mission: "To support security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere"
First government contract in February 2000
Trains more than 40,000 people a year at its base in North Carolina
$1bn five-year contract to protect US officials in conflict zones and US embassy in Baghdad
Four staff were lynched in Falluja in 2004
Involved in 195 shooting incidents between 2005 and September 2007, when licence to operate in Iraq was revoked by Iraq government following shooting of 17 Iraqis
In October Prince testified before congressional committee investigating Blackwater. Company is being investigated by FBI
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Wrap...
Iraq...You dare call it progress?
From Information Clearing House:
The Myths of Military Progress
By Ron Jacobs
Making occupation and calling it peace. Killing fewer and calling it progress. Rotating troops and calling it a withdrawal. Setting up new death squads and calling them allies. Lowering standards and calling it opening new opportunities.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18791.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
The Myths of Military Progress
By Ron Jacobs
Making occupation and calling it peace. Killing fewer and calling it progress. Rotating troops and calling it a withdrawal. Setting up new death squads and calling them allies. Lowering standards and calling it opening new opportunities.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18791.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
One Film and some neat books on the way....
From Publishers Lunch Weekly:
FICTION/DEBUT:
Joyce Lebra's THE SCENT OF SAKE, about a 19th century Japanese woman who overcomes tremendous obstacles to build a sake empire and a family dynasty at a time when women were forbidden to do business, to Carrie Feron at William Morrow, at auction, by Natasha Kern at Natasha Kern Literary Agency (World).
GENERAL/OTHER:
Director of the Brown Creative Writing department Brian Evenson's FUGUE-STATE, a new collection of short stories (including the O.Henry award winner "Mudder Tongue"), to Chris Fischbach at Coffee House Press, by Matt McGowan at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency (US).
FILM:
Michael Cordy's forthcoming adventure thriller novel, THE SOURCE, pitched as a modern quest novel in the style of Jules Verne or H. Rider Haggard, optioned to Ollie Madden at Warner Bros. with screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldman's Weed Road attached to produce, by Nick Harris at Rabineau Wachter Sanford & Harris, on behalf of Patrick Walsh at Conville & Walsh.
US rights are still available. Buyers have included Bill Scott-Kerr at Bantam UK; Editions Cherche-Midi in France; Heyne in Germany; Edizioni Nord in Italy; Planeta in Spain; Quixote in Portugal; Opus in Israel; and Amber in Poland.
nick@rwshagency.com
patrick@convilleandwalsh.com
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
London Times foreign affairs columnist Bronwen Maddox's IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA, on why the world would be worse off without America, to Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown, for publication in 2008, by Ed Victor at Ed Victor Ltd..
Author of the award-wining BICYCLE: The History, David Herlihy's THE LOST CYCLIST: The Untold Story of Frank Lenz's Ill-Fated Around the World Journey, the tragic yet inspiring tale of a 19th adventurer's solo circumnavigation of the globe via bicycle, traveling west from New York City across America, through Asia, and ending in Turkey where he disappears and is presumably murdered, featuring Lenz's stunning photographs which survived the journey, to George Hodgman at Houghton Mifflin, by Scott Waxman at the Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson's WINNER-TAKE-ALL-POLITICS: How Government Created the Super-Rich and the Super-Rich Captured Government, the story of the rise of hyper-inequality in America and how it really happened, to Dedi Felman at Simon & Schuster, by Sydelle Kramer of the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency.
Author of the 1995 Bancroft Prize winning LOCAL PEOPLE: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi, John Dittmer's THE GOOD DOCTORS: The Medical Committee for Human Rights, Race, and the Politics of Health Care in America, the story of the idealistic doctors who came to Mississippi to provide care in the 1964 Freedom Summer workers and went on to a broader struggle against the injustices and racism in the health care system, to Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury Press, by Carol Mann of the Carol Mann Agency.
MEMOIR:
Harold Evans's PAPERCHASE, a memoir of his newspaper days by the former Random House publisher and editor of the Times of London, to Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown, for publication in 2009, by Ed Victor at Ed Victor Ltd.
Lucy Knisley's graphic travelogue FRENCH MILK, about her six-week stay with her mother in a quirky little flat in Paris's fifth arrondissement, where both celebrate milestone birthdays as they soak up all the sights, sounds, and tastes of a Paris straight out of central casting, to Amanda Patten at Touchstone Fireside, in a nice deal, by Holly Bemiss at the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency (world).
SPORTS:
Mets announcer and former pitcher Ron Darling's RON DARLING: The Art of Pitching, a how-to guide, to Knopf, by Mel Berger at William Morris Agency.
Wrap...
FICTION/DEBUT:
Joyce Lebra's THE SCENT OF SAKE, about a 19th century Japanese woman who overcomes tremendous obstacles to build a sake empire and a family dynasty at a time when women were forbidden to do business, to Carrie Feron at William Morrow, at auction, by Natasha Kern at Natasha Kern Literary Agency (World).
GENERAL/OTHER:
Director of the Brown Creative Writing department Brian Evenson's FUGUE-STATE, a new collection of short stories (including the O.Henry award winner "Mudder Tongue"), to Chris Fischbach at Coffee House Press, by Matt McGowan at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency (US).
FILM:
Michael Cordy's forthcoming adventure thriller novel, THE SOURCE, pitched as a modern quest novel in the style of Jules Verne or H. Rider Haggard, optioned to Ollie Madden at Warner Bros. with screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldman's Weed Road attached to produce, by Nick Harris at Rabineau Wachter Sanford & Harris, on behalf of Patrick Walsh at Conville & Walsh.
US rights are still available. Buyers have included Bill Scott-Kerr at Bantam UK; Editions Cherche-Midi in France; Heyne in Germany; Edizioni Nord in Italy; Planeta in Spain; Quixote in Portugal; Opus in Israel; and Amber in Poland.
nick@rwshagency.com
patrick@convilleandwalsh.com
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
London Times foreign affairs columnist Bronwen Maddox's IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA, on why the world would be worse off without America, to Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown, for publication in 2008, by Ed Victor at Ed Victor Ltd..
Author of the award-wining BICYCLE: The History, David Herlihy's THE LOST CYCLIST: The Untold Story of Frank Lenz's Ill-Fated Around the World Journey, the tragic yet inspiring tale of a 19th adventurer's solo circumnavigation of the globe via bicycle, traveling west from New York City across America, through Asia, and ending in Turkey where he disappears and is presumably murdered, featuring Lenz's stunning photographs which survived the journey, to George Hodgman at Houghton Mifflin, by Scott Waxman at the Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson's WINNER-TAKE-ALL-POLITICS: How Government Created the Super-Rich and the Super-Rich Captured Government, the story of the rise of hyper-inequality in America and how it really happened, to Dedi Felman at Simon & Schuster, by Sydelle Kramer of the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency.
Author of the 1995 Bancroft Prize winning LOCAL PEOPLE: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi, John Dittmer's THE GOOD DOCTORS: The Medical Committee for Human Rights, Race, and the Politics of Health Care in America, the story of the idealistic doctors who came to Mississippi to provide care in the 1964 Freedom Summer workers and went on to a broader struggle against the injustices and racism in the health care system, to Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury Press, by Carol Mann of the Carol Mann Agency.
MEMOIR:
Harold Evans's PAPERCHASE, a memoir of his newspaper days by the former Random House publisher and editor of the Times of London, to Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown, for publication in 2009, by Ed Victor at Ed Victor Ltd.
Lucy Knisley's graphic travelogue FRENCH MILK, about her six-week stay with her mother in a quirky little flat in Paris's fifth arrondissement, where both celebrate milestone birthdays as they soak up all the sights, sounds, and tastes of a Paris straight out of central casting, to Amanda Patten at Touchstone Fireside, in a nice deal, by Holly Bemiss at the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency (world).
SPORTS:
Mets announcer and former pitcher Ron Darling's RON DARLING: The Art of Pitching, a how-to guide, to Knopf, by Mel Berger at William Morris Agency.
Wrap...
From Bring Troops Home to Singing Senators...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
Despite increased public optimism due to the recent downturn in violence in Iraq, a new Pew Research poll finds that President Bush "remains as unpopular as ever" and "the public remains just as committed to bringing U.S. troops home."
Al Hubbard, the chairman of President Bush's National Economic Council, is submitting his resignation today. He departs at a time when the White House is struggling "with a mortgage crisis that has sparked foreclosures, declining home prices and concern about prospects for recession."
Congressional Democrats will focus on the economy next week in an effort to address public fears about an approaching recession. "House leaders have discussed holding an economic summit and are poised to bring a long-awaited energy bill to the House floor next week."
Following "a lobbying blitzkrieg," the Federal Communications Commission handed "a significant, though not total, victory" to the cable industry yesterday with a compromise that will postpone for months the question of expanding "the agency's regulatory authority over" the industry.
In a new report, the United Nations warns that "progress toward prosperity" will be reversed in the world's poorest regions unless rich countries begin "curbing emissions linked to global warming" while also helping poorer ones transition to renewable energy sources.
"Some of the Army's best captains are getting out of the war in Iraq. They are tired of long deployments and the strain on their families. But in hopes of getting captains to re-enlist for another three years, the military is offering a $35,000 bonus."
"The Department of Veterans Affairs fell farther behind this year in its attempts to give veterans timely decisions on their disability claims, new records show." Furthermore, "the VA put a positive spin on many of its numbers, and in two instances provided Congress with incorrect or incomplete figures," according to McClatchy.
A Saudi court has agreed to review the case of a girl who was sentenced to jail time and flogging "after being gang raped by seven men." The Saudi Justice Ministry had earlier accused her of being an "adulteress who invited the attack." The victim explained what happened to ABC News.
"Federal wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered species" made by President Bush's controversial Interior Department appointee Julie MacDonald, who quit after criticisms that she "routinely questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other field staffers."
And finally: With the resignation of Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) is the last member "left standing" in the Singing Senators barbershop quartet, which previously included Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and John Ashcroft (R-MO). The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes, "It's the biggest musical breakup since the legendary Ben E. King left the Drifters."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
Despite increased public optimism due to the recent downturn in violence in Iraq, a new Pew Research poll finds that President Bush "remains as unpopular as ever" and "the public remains just as committed to bringing U.S. troops home."
Al Hubbard, the chairman of President Bush's National Economic Council, is submitting his resignation today. He departs at a time when the White House is struggling "with a mortgage crisis that has sparked foreclosures, declining home prices and concern about prospects for recession."
Congressional Democrats will focus on the economy next week in an effort to address public fears about an approaching recession. "House leaders have discussed holding an economic summit and are poised to bring a long-awaited energy bill to the House floor next week."
Following "a lobbying blitzkrieg," the Federal Communications Commission handed "a significant, though not total, victory" to the cable industry yesterday with a compromise that will postpone for months the question of expanding "the agency's regulatory authority over" the industry.
In a new report, the United Nations warns that "progress toward prosperity" will be reversed in the world's poorest regions unless rich countries begin "curbing emissions linked to global warming" while also helping poorer ones transition to renewable energy sources.
"Some of the Army's best captains are getting out of the war in Iraq. They are tired of long deployments and the strain on their families. But in hopes of getting captains to re-enlist for another three years, the military is offering a $35,000 bonus."
"The Department of Veterans Affairs fell farther behind this year in its attempts to give veterans timely decisions on their disability claims, new records show." Furthermore, "the VA put a positive spin on many of its numbers, and in two instances provided Congress with incorrect or incomplete figures," according to McClatchy.
A Saudi court has agreed to review the case of a girl who was sentenced to jail time and flogging "after being gang raped by seven men." The Saudi Justice Ministry had earlier accused her of being an "adulteress who invited the attack." The victim explained what happened to ABC News.
"Federal wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered species" made by President Bush's controversial Interior Department appointee Julie MacDonald, who quit after criticisms that she "routinely questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other field staffers."
And finally: With the resignation of Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) is the last member "left standing" in the Singing Senators barbershop quartet, which previously included Sens. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and John Ashcroft (R-MO). The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes, "It's the biggest musical breakup since the legendary Ben E. King left the Drifters."
Wrap...
Outsourcing and destruction...of Rove's records...
From truthout.org:
Rove Investigator Destroyed Computer Records
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112807R.shtml
The Wall Street Journal's John R. Wilke reports: "The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Rove Investigator Destroyed Computer Records
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112807R.shtml
The Wall Street Journal's John R. Wilke reports: "The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
the "Decider" will no doubt decide Who...
From Secrecy News:
EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ASSET SEIZURE CASTS A WIDE NET
Last July, President Bush issued a broadly-worded executive order
authorizing the government to seize the assets of "any person" who
threatens the stability of Iraq and, more controversially, any person
who provides assistance to such a person.
The scope, objectives and precedents of the order -- Executive Order
13,438, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten
Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" -- were examined in a new report from
the Congressional Research Service.
"The broad language of this executive order has been the subject of a
degree of criticism as potentially reaching beyond insurgents in Iraq
to third parties, such as U.S. citizens, who may unknowingly be
providing support for the insurgency," the CRS report noted, citing
prior accounts in the Washington Post, TPM Muckraker, and elsewhere.
In fact, the potential application of the order appears to be
technically unlimited since it includes a recursive clause that has no
defined endpoint.
Thus, section 1(b) of the Order states that any person who provides
goods or services to a person whose actions are proscribed under
section 1(a) is himself subject to section 1(a). But then, anyone who
provides similar support to that person could likewise be swept up in
the expansive terms of the order. And so on, without end.
In practice, the application of the order will be defined by
implementing regulations to be issued by the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, which will also prepare an initial
list of blocked individuals and organizations. Those have still not
been published.
A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News.
See "Executive Order 13,438: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who
Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq," November 16, 2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34254.pdf
The text of executive order 13,438 is here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-13438.htm
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ASSET SEIZURE CASTS A WIDE NET
Last July, President Bush issued a broadly-worded executive order
authorizing the government to seize the assets of "any person" who
threatens the stability of Iraq and, more controversially, any person
who provides assistance to such a person.
The scope, objectives and precedents of the order -- Executive Order
13,438, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten
Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" -- were examined in a new report from
the Congressional Research Service.
"The broad language of this executive order has been the subject of a
degree of criticism as potentially reaching beyond insurgents in Iraq
to third parties, such as U.S. citizens, who may unknowingly be
providing support for the insurgency," the CRS report noted, citing
prior accounts in the Washington Post, TPM Muckraker, and elsewhere.
In fact, the potential application of the order appears to be
technically unlimited since it includes a recursive clause that has no
defined endpoint.
Thus, section 1(b) of the Order states that any person who provides
goods or services to a person whose actions are proscribed under
section 1(a) is himself subject to section 1(a). But then, anyone who
provides similar support to that person could likewise be swept up in
the expansive terms of the order. And so on, without end.
In practice, the application of the order will be defined by
implementing regulations to be issued by the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, which will also prepare an initial
list of blocked individuals and organizations. Those have still not
been published.
A copy of the new CRS report was obtained by Secrecy News.
See "Executive Order 13,438: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who
Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq," November 16, 2007:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34254.pdf
The text of executive order 13,438 is here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-13438.htm
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Kucinich stands tall...then and now...
From Information Clearing House:
Dennis Kucinich
By Gore Vidal
In October 2002 he opposed the notion of a war then being debated. For those of us at home and in harm's way from disease, he co-wrote HR 676, a bill that would insure all of us within Medicare, just as if we were citizens of a truly civilized nation.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18790.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Dennis Kucinich
By Gore Vidal
In October 2002 he opposed the notion of a war then being debated. For those of us at home and in harm's way from disease, he co-wrote HR 676, a bill that would insure all of us within Medicare, just as if we were citizens of a truly civilized nation.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18790.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Major disappointment: Pelosi...
From Information Clearing House:
Impeach Cheney, Bush and Pelosi!
By Ted Lang
It is Pelosi who now represents Cheney-Bush's most powerful and effective enabler and supporter. Pelosi is now a vital part of the Cheney-Bush crime machine. She is an accessory before, during and after the fact. And she assuredly supports the AIPAC/Cheney-Bush crime machine's intended and unwarranted, unconstitutional invasion of Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18786.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Impeach Cheney, Bush and Pelosi!
By Ted Lang
It is Pelosi who now represents Cheney-Bush's most powerful and effective enabler and supporter. Pelosi is now a vital part of the Cheney-Bush crime machine. She is an accessory before, during and after the fact. And she assuredly supports the AIPAC/Cheney-Bush crime machine's intended and unwarranted, unconstitutional invasion of Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18786.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Chinese students fascinated with American voting...
From In These Times :
Views > November 22, 2007 > Web Only
Talking American Democracy in China
By Mike Levy
The ‘08 election results are in.
According to my friends, who received an informal presidential straw poll from me in my capacity as a volunteer teacher in China, Barack Obama is the winner. He is a crushing, massive winner, earning almost five times more votes than the second place Democratic finishers, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Kucinich, and ten times more votes than the leading Republican (John McCain) and the leading independents (a tie—at one vote apiece— between Ralph Nader and Steven Colbert).
I held this incredibly unscientific straw poll to help a group of my most politically interested students understand a little bit more about American democracy. These students—all English majors at Guizhou University, the largest school in China’s poorest province—represent a broad spectrum of Chinese society. Some are from tiny peasant villages with parents earning less than $100 a month. Others are children of China’s growing urban kleptocracy, rich even by American standards. A few of them actively circumvent the Great Firewall of China to access political blogs and newspapers that the Chinese government attempts to block. Many check CNN.com, or BBC online news. One regularly checks davidsirota.com, then comes to me with vocabulary questions (“What does it mean for Bush to be ‘out of his mind’?”).
These students have been asking me for months who will become President in 2008. I’ve been feeding them data from national polls, but this information strikes them as impersonal and unenlightening. They want to feel a more personal connection to American politics. With this in mind, I sent a mass e-mail to about 100 of my friends back home, hoping to show the students a small slice of American-style democracy.
Chinese-style democracy offers an interesting contrast to our own system in that it is almost entirely undemocratic. Chinese democracy does not involve much voting, awareness of how the government works, information about politics, or what I like to call “facts.” The Chinese government nevertheless claims to be democratic, and many of my Chinese friends will agree that this is true.
America certainly ain’t perfect, and by most reasonable analyses it has gone Anikan Skywalker on the rest of the world, self-righteously slaughtering its way towards the Dark Side. But Americans know who is running for office. We have access to voting records and information about campaign contributions. We can watch debates. We at least have the option of thinking deeply about our government.
Chinese do not have these options. The government simply is. Most Chinese don’t think about it beyond that fact. I was therefore extremely happy to bring the political thoughts of my American friends into my Chinese classroom. This was a chance to show my students what democracy looks like.
———————
Class began with a summary of the results of the straw poll. Obama cruised to victory, with Hillary Clinton in a distant second and Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and John Edwards pulling in handfuls of votes. Five percent of my straw poll voters were undecided at this early point in the primary process. Ninety percent of my straw poll voters voted Democratic (which I made clear was more a comment on whose company I enjoy, rather than a reflection of American demographics).
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3432/talking_american_democracy_in_china/
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Views > November 22, 2007 > Web Only
Talking American Democracy in China
By Mike Levy
The ‘08 election results are in.
According to my friends, who received an informal presidential straw poll from me in my capacity as a volunteer teacher in China, Barack Obama is the winner. He is a crushing, massive winner, earning almost five times more votes than the second place Democratic finishers, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Kucinich, and ten times more votes than the leading Republican (John McCain) and the leading independents (a tie—at one vote apiece— between Ralph Nader and Steven Colbert).
I held this incredibly unscientific straw poll to help a group of my most politically interested students understand a little bit more about American democracy. These students—all English majors at Guizhou University, the largest school in China’s poorest province—represent a broad spectrum of Chinese society. Some are from tiny peasant villages with parents earning less than $100 a month. Others are children of China’s growing urban kleptocracy, rich even by American standards. A few of them actively circumvent the Great Firewall of China to access political blogs and newspapers that the Chinese government attempts to block. Many check CNN.com, or BBC online news. One regularly checks davidsirota.com, then comes to me with vocabulary questions (“What does it mean for Bush to be ‘out of his mind’?”).
These students have been asking me for months who will become President in 2008. I’ve been feeding them data from national polls, but this information strikes them as impersonal and unenlightening. They want to feel a more personal connection to American politics. With this in mind, I sent a mass e-mail to about 100 of my friends back home, hoping to show the students a small slice of American-style democracy.
Chinese-style democracy offers an interesting contrast to our own system in that it is almost entirely undemocratic. Chinese democracy does not involve much voting, awareness of how the government works, information about politics, or what I like to call “facts.” The Chinese government nevertheless claims to be democratic, and many of my Chinese friends will agree that this is true.
America certainly ain’t perfect, and by most reasonable analyses it has gone Anikan Skywalker on the rest of the world, self-righteously slaughtering its way towards the Dark Side. But Americans know who is running for office. We have access to voting records and information about campaign contributions. We can watch debates. We at least have the option of thinking deeply about our government.
Chinese do not have these options. The government simply is. Most Chinese don’t think about it beyond that fact. I was therefore extremely happy to bring the political thoughts of my American friends into my Chinese classroom. This was a chance to show my students what democracy looks like.
———————
Class began with a summary of the results of the straw poll. Obama cruised to victory, with Hillary Clinton in a distant second and Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and John Edwards pulling in handfuls of votes. Five percent of my straw poll voters were undecided at this early point in the primary process. Ninety percent of my straw poll voters voted Democratic (which I made clear was more a comment on whose company I enjoy, rather than a reflection of American demographics).
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3432/talking_american_democracy_in_china/
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Faith just ain't gonna get it....
From Wall St Journal via San Diego Union Tribune :
Method of treating cobra bites draws contention in India
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 27, 2007
MUSHARI, India – A five-foot monocled cobra slithered through a throng of barefoot children one afternoon recently. Not even the toddlers recoiled in fear.
“We sleep with the snakes, we eat with the snakes, we live with the snakes here,” shouted 14-year-old Chinmoy Mahji proudly. “We are not scared.”
Talk about a snake pit. The deadly serpents are everywhere in Mushari and its three adjoining villages, set amid muddy ponds and rice fields on the hot Bengali plains northwest of Calcutta.
Samir Chatterjee, a school headmaster, says that according to his census, more than 3,000 cobras live in Choto Pashla, one of the three hamlets that abut Mushari. “Whenever I lie down in my bed, a cobra will just slide on top of me, without hurting me,” boasts Narottom Sain, a Mushari village leader.
While Sain has yet to be bitten, many others are not so lucky. The area's chief Hindu priest, Shyamal Chakraborty, says that several villagers are attacked by cobras every month.
What to do when that happens is a matter of contention here, as India's ancient ways and taboos clash with slowly encroaching modernity. Snakebites are a serious problem in India: According to estimates cited by the World Health Organization, serpent attacks kill as many as 50,000 Indians each year.
Compounding the problem is the widespread belief in the snakes' divine powers, and a religious prohibition on harming the deadly reptiles. The cobra, in particular, occupies a hallowed place in the Hindu religion.
According to legend widely believed here in Mushari, the monocled cobras – black serpents with a clear circle on their hoods – first settled in the area in 911, on the orders of the snake goddess Manasa.
The reptiles, one of a number of cobra species that live in India, are revered as incarnations of gods. Only Brahmins – members of Hinduism's priestly caste – are allowed to touch them. With the cult attracting thousands of pilgrims, Mushari's priests are eager to maintain their authority.
“If you don't visit the doctor and just come to us, the bite will be cured in two, three days,” explains Chakraborty's son Nayan, a saffron-clad priest, as he plays with a hissing cobra on the village square. “We tell people that if you don't listen to god and go to a hospital, it's at your own risk.”
These religious taboos – and faith in the priests' magical powers – are slowly beginning to crumble. Facing the prospect of death after a bite, some villagers are opting for more conventional medicine. One such snakebite victim is Malati Dhara, a young woman who was attacked by a cobra as she watered her garden last year.
At first, Dhara tried to follow the old custom. She called on Chakraborty, the chief priest, and spent the first hours after the bite applying mud and chanting. Feeling her body go rigid, Dhara asked to be rushed to the nearest hospital. There, she was injected with a broad-spectrum anti-venom.
“A cobra is highly neurotoxic, and no one will survive without the antidote if the poison is properly injected,” says Indranil Banerjee, the emergency medical officer at the Burdwan hospital. “I see this often. After being treated by witch doctors, people come here too late and just die.”
Dhara's near-death experience – and rapid recovery after the antidote – dented somewhat the priestly authority in the area. Other villagers have since gone to the hospital with snakebites.
Still, the age-old taboos aren't quite dead. Dhara's mother-in-law, stepped into a crowd to break up the conversation about the snakes. “We have to follow our traditions and go to the priests when the snakes bite,” she insisted. “Their rituals are the only cure.”
Wrap....
Method of treating cobra bites draws contention in India
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 27, 2007
MUSHARI, India – A five-foot monocled cobra slithered through a throng of barefoot children one afternoon recently. Not even the toddlers recoiled in fear.
“We sleep with the snakes, we eat with the snakes, we live with the snakes here,” shouted 14-year-old Chinmoy Mahji proudly. “We are not scared.”
Talk about a snake pit. The deadly serpents are everywhere in Mushari and its three adjoining villages, set amid muddy ponds and rice fields on the hot Bengali plains northwest of Calcutta.
Samir Chatterjee, a school headmaster, says that according to his census, more than 3,000 cobras live in Choto Pashla, one of the three hamlets that abut Mushari. “Whenever I lie down in my bed, a cobra will just slide on top of me, without hurting me,” boasts Narottom Sain, a Mushari village leader.
While Sain has yet to be bitten, many others are not so lucky. The area's chief Hindu priest, Shyamal Chakraborty, says that several villagers are attacked by cobras every month.
What to do when that happens is a matter of contention here, as India's ancient ways and taboos clash with slowly encroaching modernity. Snakebites are a serious problem in India: According to estimates cited by the World Health Organization, serpent attacks kill as many as 50,000 Indians each year.
Compounding the problem is the widespread belief in the snakes' divine powers, and a religious prohibition on harming the deadly reptiles. The cobra, in particular, occupies a hallowed place in the Hindu religion.
According to legend widely believed here in Mushari, the monocled cobras – black serpents with a clear circle on their hoods – first settled in the area in 911, on the orders of the snake goddess Manasa.
The reptiles, one of a number of cobra species that live in India, are revered as incarnations of gods. Only Brahmins – members of Hinduism's priestly caste – are allowed to touch them. With the cult attracting thousands of pilgrims, Mushari's priests are eager to maintain their authority.
“If you don't visit the doctor and just come to us, the bite will be cured in two, three days,” explains Chakraborty's son Nayan, a saffron-clad priest, as he plays with a hissing cobra on the village square. “We tell people that if you don't listen to god and go to a hospital, it's at your own risk.”
These religious taboos – and faith in the priests' magical powers – are slowly beginning to crumble. Facing the prospect of death after a bite, some villagers are opting for more conventional medicine. One such snakebite victim is Malati Dhara, a young woman who was attacked by a cobra as she watered her garden last year.
At first, Dhara tried to follow the old custom. She called on Chakraborty, the chief priest, and spent the first hours after the bite applying mud and chanting. Feeling her body go rigid, Dhara asked to be rushed to the nearest hospital. There, she was injected with a broad-spectrum anti-venom.
“A cobra is highly neurotoxic, and no one will survive without the antidote if the poison is properly injected,” says Indranil Banerjee, the emergency medical officer at the Burdwan hospital. “I see this often. After being treated by witch doctors, people come here too late and just die.”
Dhara's near-death experience – and rapid recovery after the antidote – dented somewhat the priestly authority in the area. Other villagers have since gone to the hospital with snakebites.
Still, the age-old taboos aren't quite dead. Dhara's mother-in-law, stepped into a crowd to break up the conversation about the snakes. “We have to follow our traditions and go to the priests when the snakes bite,” she insisted. “Their rituals are the only cure.”
Wrap....
From Bush hit 'n run to Chavez: Hopeless romantic...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
While President Bush is attending a Mideast conference in Annapolis this morning, "he won't remain there for long." He "plans to head back to the White House after delivering his opening speech to the diplomats and dignitaries at the U.S. Naval Academy." White House aides said he wasn't planning to offer new American proposals to resolve the conflict.
The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens recalls that when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Syrian President Bashar Assad back in April, "President Bush denounced her for sending 'mixed signals' that 'lead the Assad government to believe they are part of the mainstream of the international community, when in fact they are a state sponsor of terror.'" Today, Assad will sit with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Annapolis.
At least 1.4 million homeowners will lose their properties to foreclosure in 2008, while "the property value of U.S. homes will fall by $1.2 trillion," says a new report by the the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City. The report predicts "deep economic impact from ongoing housing market problems."
In an attempt to put to rest concerns over his ignorance about FISA reform legislation, Time magazine columnist Joe Klein writes, "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right." Salon's Glenn Greenwald responds by noting "the extreme lack of professionalism and corruption required" for Klein to say he "isn't interested in bothering to find out (and isn't even capable of determining) if anything he wrote was accurate."
USA Today's DeWayne Wikham writes, "While there is still little evidence to suggest that Bush was knowingly involved in this coverup [of the Plame outing], the evidence against Cheney is piling up. ... This trail of lies and deception has put Cheney on the same path that led to Nixon’s impeachment."
"Corporate backers of next year's Olympic Games in China have done little or nothing to pressure Beijing to use its influence to end the genocide in Darfur," according to a new report. "The corporate Olympic sponsors are engaged in a form of silent complicity with the Chinese government in its support of the genocide," the report's author, Ellen Freudenheim, said.
The lawyer for Brent Wilkes, the contractor convicted of bribing former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, has asked a federal judge to approve subpoenas for journalists from NBC News, AP, and the Wall Street Journal who reported on the scandal. He wants them "to reveal how they obtained secret information relating to the federal investigation."
The Politico writes of Sen. Trent Lott's (R-MS) lucrative lobbying career prospects. "A near-certain scenario has him teaming up with his son, lobbyist Chester Lott, founder of Lott & Associates. Another, still fluid, idea is partnering with former Louisiana Democratic Sen. John Breaux, who is said to be mulling a departure from the lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs."
And finally: Attention singles! Foreign Policy magazine has put together a list of the "most eligible world leaders." Topping the list is French president Nicholas Sarkozy, who is "always the center of attention." Also making the cut: Condoleezza Rice ("the most powerful woman in the world"), Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck ("Prince Charming"), Michelle Bachelet ("tough, smart, and ambitious"), and Hugo Chavez ("a hopeless romantic").
Wrap...
Think Fast...
While President Bush is attending a Mideast conference in Annapolis this morning, "he won't remain there for long." He "plans to head back to the White House after delivering his opening speech to the diplomats and dignitaries at the U.S. Naval Academy." White House aides said he wasn't planning to offer new American proposals to resolve the conflict.
The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens recalls that when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Syrian President Bashar Assad back in April, "President Bush denounced her for sending 'mixed signals' that 'lead the Assad government to believe they are part of the mainstream of the international community, when in fact they are a state sponsor of terror.'" Today, Assad will sit with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Annapolis.
At least 1.4 million homeowners will lose their properties to foreclosure in 2008, while "the property value of U.S. homes will fall by $1.2 trillion," says a new report by the the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City. The report predicts "deep economic impact from ongoing housing market problems."
In an attempt to put to rest concerns over his ignorance about FISA reform legislation, Time magazine columnist Joe Klein writes, "I have neither the time nor legal background to figure out who's right." Salon's Glenn Greenwald responds by noting "the extreme lack of professionalism and corruption required" for Klein to say he "isn't interested in bothering to find out (and isn't even capable of determining) if anything he wrote was accurate."
USA Today's DeWayne Wikham writes, "While there is still little evidence to suggest that Bush was knowingly involved in this coverup [of the Plame outing], the evidence against Cheney is piling up. ... This trail of lies and deception has put Cheney on the same path that led to Nixon’s impeachment."
"Corporate backers of next year's Olympic Games in China have done little or nothing to pressure Beijing to use its influence to end the genocide in Darfur," according to a new report. "The corporate Olympic sponsors are engaged in a form of silent complicity with the Chinese government in its support of the genocide," the report's author, Ellen Freudenheim, said.
The lawyer for Brent Wilkes, the contractor convicted of bribing former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, has asked a federal judge to approve subpoenas for journalists from NBC News, AP, and the Wall Street Journal who reported on the scandal. He wants them "to reveal how they obtained secret information relating to the federal investigation."
The Politico writes of Sen. Trent Lott's (R-MS) lucrative lobbying career prospects. "A near-certain scenario has him teaming up with his son, lobbyist Chester Lott, founder of Lott & Associates. Another, still fluid, idea is partnering with former Louisiana Democratic Sen. John Breaux, who is said to be mulling a departure from the lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs."
And finally: Attention singles! Foreign Policy magazine has put together a list of the "most eligible world leaders." Topping the list is French president Nicholas Sarkozy, who is "always the center of attention." Also making the cut: Condoleezza Rice ("the most powerful woman in the world"), Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck ("Prince Charming"), Michelle Bachelet ("tough, smart, and ambitious"), and Hugo Chavez ("a hopeless romantic").
Wrap...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Excellent reporter in Iraq: Dahr Jamail....
From Tom Dispatch:
Tomdispatch:
Dahr Jamail, How to Control the Story, Pentagon-style
Acts matter. Here's how Dahr Jamail, a young mountain guide and volunteer rescue ranger in Alaska (who did freelance writing in the "off-season") describes his rash decision, back in 2003, to cover George W. Bush's Iraq War in person: "I decided that the one thing I could do was go to Baghdad to report on the occupation myself. I saved some money, bought a laptop, a camera, and a plane ticket, and, armed with information gleaned via some connections made over the Internet, headed for the Middle East." That was it. The next thing he knew he was driving through the Iraqi desert from Amman, Jordan, toward Baghdad and directly into the unknown. He had few contacts; no media organization to back him; no hotel/office with private guards to return to at night; no embedded place among American forces for protection; not even, on arrival in Baghdad, any place to write for.
Call that a shot in the dark. The result? A singularly remarkable running account of what Iraq actually felt like, of what life for Iraqi civilians actually was like after the shock-and-awe onslaught of March 2003 devolved into the endless occupation/catastrophe we all know so well. Jamail, who has written regularly for Tomdispatch these last years, has now published a book on his time on (and always very close to) the ground in Iraq, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. Unnerving as it is to come, once again, upon the real face of the American occupation, largely seen through Iraqi eyes, Jamail's new book is also a gripping adventure to read, the odyssey of a neophyte becoming a journalist under the pressure of events.
In reviewing the book for Mother Jones magazine, Nick Turse recently wrote:
"I suspect Jamail's account will prove an enduring document of what really happened during the chaotic years of occupation, and how it transformed ordinary Iraqis. To paraphrase one of the Vietnam War's finest correspondents, Gloria Emerson, writing about Jonathan Schell's exceptional accounts of that conflict: If, years from now, Americans are willing to read any books about the war, this one should be among them. It tells everything."
Don't miss it -- or Jamail's latest below. Tom
Iraq Has Only Militants, No Civilians
"Tactical Perception Management" in Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
"Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him." -- Colonel Potter, M*A*S*H
http://www.tomdispatch.com:80/post/174866/tomdispatch_dahr_jamail_how_to_control_the_story_pentagon_style
[Use link above to continue reading}
Wrap...
Tomdispatch:
Dahr Jamail, How to Control the Story, Pentagon-style
Acts matter. Here's how Dahr Jamail, a young mountain guide and volunteer rescue ranger in Alaska (who did freelance writing in the "off-season") describes his rash decision, back in 2003, to cover George W. Bush's Iraq War in person: "I decided that the one thing I could do was go to Baghdad to report on the occupation myself. I saved some money, bought a laptop, a camera, and a plane ticket, and, armed with information gleaned via some connections made over the Internet, headed for the Middle East." That was it. The next thing he knew he was driving through the Iraqi desert from Amman, Jordan, toward Baghdad and directly into the unknown. He had few contacts; no media organization to back him; no hotel/office with private guards to return to at night; no embedded place among American forces for protection; not even, on arrival in Baghdad, any place to write for.
Call that a shot in the dark. The result? A singularly remarkable running account of what Iraq actually felt like, of what life for Iraqi civilians actually was like after the shock-and-awe onslaught of March 2003 devolved into the endless occupation/catastrophe we all know so well. Jamail, who has written regularly for Tomdispatch these last years, has now published a book on his time on (and always very close to) the ground in Iraq, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. Unnerving as it is to come, once again, upon the real face of the American occupation, largely seen through Iraqi eyes, Jamail's new book is also a gripping adventure to read, the odyssey of a neophyte becoming a journalist under the pressure of events.
In reviewing the book for Mother Jones magazine, Nick Turse recently wrote:
"I suspect Jamail's account will prove an enduring document of what really happened during the chaotic years of occupation, and how it transformed ordinary Iraqis. To paraphrase one of the Vietnam War's finest correspondents, Gloria Emerson, writing about Jonathan Schell's exceptional accounts of that conflict: If, years from now, Americans are willing to read any books about the war, this one should be among them. It tells everything."
Don't miss it -- or Jamail's latest below. Tom
Iraq Has Only Militants, No Civilians
"Tactical Perception Management" in Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
"Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him." -- Colonel Potter, M*A*S*H
http://www.tomdispatch.com:80/post/174866/tomdispatch_dahr_jamail_how_to_control_the_story_pentagon_style
[Use link above to continue reading}
Wrap...
Senate Intel Committee will get oversight....
From Secrecy News:
INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT DEFLECTED BY APPROPRIATORS
The efficacy of intelligence oversight in the Senate has been
repeatedly undermined by procedural hurdles that enable the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee to overrule actions taken by the Senate
Intelligence Committee, Senators complained earlier this month. To
remedy this concern, a new bill has been introduced that would transfer
budget appropriations authority to the Intelligence Committee.
This year, the Senate Intelligence Committee presented "four major
oversight initiatives in its [authorization] bill," said Sen.
Christopher S. Bond (R-MO) at a Committee hearing on November 13. But
in each case, "actions by the appropriations committee were completely
dissimilar."
A Memorandum of Agreement between the Committees that was supposed to
improve coordination between the authorizers and the appropriators has
failed in every significant respect, he said.
In a written statement, Sen. Bond referred obliquely to several
attempted actions by the Intelligence Committee that had been
overridden by appropriators to the detriment of national policy.
For example, because of resistance from appropriators, "It took until
recent time to end a program that, at the least, should have been
terminated a few years ago. Unfortunately, all told, the loss to the
taxpayers is astronomical, in the billions of dollars." This appears to
be a reference to the Future Imagery Architecture program.
See Senator Bond's November 13 statement here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/111307bond.pdf
Related statements and testimony from the SSCI hearing on intelligence
oversight are here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/index.html
The proposed Senate Resolution 375 that would grant appropriation
authority to the Intelligence Committee is here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/sres375.html
The recent decision to declassify the annual budget of the National
Intelligence Program now makes it possible to remove the intelligence
budget from concealment in the defense budget and to appropriate it
independently, thereby strengthening oversight and accountability.
For this and other reasons, budget declassification is the most
important involuntary public disclosure of intelligence information at
least since declassification of the August 6, 2001 President's Daily
Brief item "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
But significantly, the intelligence oversight committees, which have
been criticized for ineffective leadership on several controversial
policy fronts, did not play a leading role in intelligence budget
disclosure either.
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT DEFLECTED BY APPROPRIATORS
The efficacy of intelligence oversight in the Senate has been
repeatedly undermined by procedural hurdles that enable the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee to overrule actions taken by the Senate
Intelligence Committee, Senators complained earlier this month. To
remedy this concern, a new bill has been introduced that would transfer
budget appropriations authority to the Intelligence Committee.
This year, the Senate Intelligence Committee presented "four major
oversight initiatives in its [authorization] bill," said Sen.
Christopher S. Bond (R-MO) at a Committee hearing on November 13. But
in each case, "actions by the appropriations committee were completely
dissimilar."
A Memorandum of Agreement between the Committees that was supposed to
improve coordination between the authorizers and the appropriators has
failed in every significant respect, he said.
In a written statement, Sen. Bond referred obliquely to several
attempted actions by the Intelligence Committee that had been
overridden by appropriators to the detriment of national policy.
For example, because of resistance from appropriators, "It took until
recent time to end a program that, at the least, should have been
terminated a few years ago. Unfortunately, all told, the loss to the
taxpayers is astronomical, in the billions of dollars." This appears to
be a reference to the Future Imagery Architecture program.
See Senator Bond's November 13 statement here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/111307bond.pdf
Related statements and testimony from the SSCI hearing on intelligence
oversight are here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/index.html
The proposed Senate Resolution 375 that would grant appropriation
authority to the Intelligence Committee is here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/sres375.html
The recent decision to declassify the annual budget of the National
Intelligence Program now makes it possible to remove the intelligence
budget from concealment in the defense budget and to appropriate it
independently, thereby strengthening oversight and accountability.
For this and other reasons, budget declassification is the most
important involuntary public disclosure of intelligence information at
least since declassification of the August 6, 2001 President's Daily
Brief item "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
But significantly, the intelligence oversight committees, which have
been criticized for ineffective leadership on several controversial
policy fronts, did not play a leading role in intelligence budget
disclosure either.
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Middle East..Bush trips...to ...Partridge in Pear Tree...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
Seven years into President Bush's term, the administration is today hosting a Middle East conference. Bush has never visited Israel as president, and has made just four visits to the region -- three times to Iraq. In contrast, President Clinton "traveled to the Middle East seven times, all but one visit focused on the peace process in one form or another."
Leading military officials say they hope that "the next major assessment [of the Iraq war] early next year would not place as much emphasis on the views of Gen. David H. Petraeus," in an attempt to avoid "relentless focus on the opinion of a single commander."
Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers today warns in a Financial Times op-ed that even if "necessary changes in policy are implemented, the odds now favour a US recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis." There is also the potential that "adverse impacts will be felt for the rest of this decade and beyond."
Demonstrating how private security companies "operate in a lawless void in Iraq," the Washington Post has revealed that "guards employed by Unity Resources Group" were involved in a "previously undisclosed" shooting in Baghdad in June.
"The Northern Hemisphere is the warmest this year since record-keeping started 127 years ago, according to the National Climatic Data Center."
"Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry said a girl who it sentenced to jail time and flogging after being gang raped by seven men was an adulteress who invited the attack because at the time she was partially dressed in a parked car with her lover." The Bush administration has refused to condemn the Saudi court's ruling.
And finally: Last week was Black Friday, but it's doubtful that most Americans bought their true loves the gifts in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It would now cost "$78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, repeatedly on each day as the song suggests." The price "is up 4 percent from $75,122 last year."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
Seven years into President Bush's term, the administration is today hosting a Middle East conference. Bush has never visited Israel as president, and has made just four visits to the region -- three times to Iraq. In contrast, President Clinton "traveled to the Middle East seven times, all but one visit focused on the peace process in one form or another."
Leading military officials say they hope that "the next major assessment [of the Iraq war] early next year would not place as much emphasis on the views of Gen. David H. Petraeus," in an attempt to avoid "relentless focus on the opinion of a single commander."
Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers today warns in a Financial Times op-ed that even if "necessary changes in policy are implemented, the odds now favour a US recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis." There is also the potential that "adverse impacts will be felt for the rest of this decade and beyond."
Demonstrating how private security companies "operate in a lawless void in Iraq," the Washington Post has revealed that "guards employed by Unity Resources Group" were involved in a "previously undisclosed" shooting in Baghdad in June.
"The Northern Hemisphere is the warmest this year since record-keeping started 127 years ago, according to the National Climatic Data Center."
"Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry said a girl who it sentenced to jail time and flogging after being gang raped by seven men was an adulteress who invited the attack because at the time she was partially dressed in a parked car with her lover." The Bush administration has refused to condemn the Saudi court's ruling.
And finally: Last week was Black Friday, but it's doubtful that most Americans bought their true loves the gifts in the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It would now cost "$78,100 to buy the 364 items, from a single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, repeatedly on each day as the song suggests." The price "is up 4 percent from $75,122 last year."
Wrap...
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Pity the GOP...they can't raise enough money....
From The NY Times :
Short of Money, G.O.P. Enlists Rich Candidates
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials say they are recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend millions of their own money to finance their Congressional races.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/us/politics/26recruit.html?hp
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Short of Money, G.O.P. Enlists Rich Candidates
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials say they are recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend millions of their own money to finance their Congressional races.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/us/politics/26recruit.html?hp
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Bilbray's "Unattended Mailbox"....
From Congressman Brian Bilbray's (R-CA) Unattended Mailbox:
Thank you very much for taking the time to email me regarding your
concerns. Due to the large volume of messages I receive daily it is
impossible for me to reply immediately. Be assured that I appreciate all
your comments and will reply as quickly as possible.
As the new Chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus (IRC) I am vigorously
fighting any grant of amnesty to illegal aliens. As part of the original
Republican Revolution in the 1990s, we achieved a balanced Federal budget
and had a $155 billion surplus. Today, I work to restore our balanced
budget and to bring back fiscal conservatism and responsible spending to
Congress. We did it once, and we can do it again with your support.
Also, I believe it is critical that we give our troops the support and
resources they need while defending our freedom and liberty around the
globe. They can help us prevail in the Global War on Terror, but only if
we do not fail them here at home.
Again, thank you for contacting me. If you have any questions, please
feel free to call me or my office at (202) 225-0508.
Sincerely,
Brian P. Bilbray
Member of Congress
Note: I'll be more than glad to get rid of this guy in 2008.
Wrap...
Thank you very much for taking the time to email me regarding your
concerns. Due to the large volume of messages I receive daily it is
impossible for me to reply immediately. Be assured that I appreciate all
your comments and will reply as quickly as possible.
As the new Chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus (IRC) I am vigorously
fighting any grant of amnesty to illegal aliens. As part of the original
Republican Revolution in the 1990s, we achieved a balanced Federal budget
and had a $155 billion surplus. Today, I work to restore our balanced
budget and to bring back fiscal conservatism and responsible spending to
Congress. We did it once, and we can do it again with your support.
Also, I believe it is critical that we give our troops the support and
resources they need while defending our freedom and liberty around the
globe. They can help us prevail in the Global War on Terror, but only if
we do not fail them here at home.
Again, thank you for contacting me. If you have any questions, please
feel free to call me or my office at (202) 225-0508.
Sincerely,
Brian P. Bilbray
Member of Congress
Note: I'll be more than glad to get rid of this guy in 2008.
Wrap...
We, the People....are being abused....
From truthout.org:
Thom Hartmann | Whatever Happened to "We the People"?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112407F.shtml
An excerpt from Thom Hartmann's new book, "Cracking the Code," Berrett-Koehler Publishing, says, "As Americans, the most important part of our social identity is our role as citizens. To be a citizen means to be part of, and a de-fender of, the commons of our nation. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the streets we drive on, the schools that we use, the departments that protect us - these are all the physical commons. And there are also the cultural commons - the stories we tell ourselves, our histories, our religions, and our notions of ourselves.
And there are the commons of our power systems (in the majority of American communities), our health-care system (stolen from us and privatized over the past twenty-five years, our hospitals in particular used to be mostly nonprofit or run by mostly city or county governments), and the electronic commons of our radio and TV spectrum and the Internet."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Thom Hartmann | Whatever Happened to "We the People"?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112407F.shtml
An excerpt from Thom Hartmann's new book, "Cracking the Code," Berrett-Koehler Publishing, says, "As Americans, the most important part of our social identity is our role as citizens. To be a citizen means to be part of, and a de-fender of, the commons of our nation. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the streets we drive on, the schools that we use, the departments that protect us - these are all the physical commons. And there are also the cultural commons - the stories we tell ourselves, our histories, our religions, and our notions of ourselves.
And there are the commons of our power systems (in the majority of American communities), our health-care system (stolen from us and privatized over the past twenty-five years, our hospitals in particular used to be mostly nonprofit or run by mostly city or county governments), and the electronic commons of our radio and TV spectrum and the Internet."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
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