General Release 6.23.08
Now is the Time to Extend Unemployment Benefits
America is in the midst of a recession largely attributable to the economic policies of the Bush administration and the Republican party. As a result of this recession, millions of hard working Americans have been put out of work. Almost every family in this country has been touched by the current recession. On top of this consumers are being forced to pay record high gas prices and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes due to foreclosure. Now is not the time to cut tax paying American citizens off of their unemployment benefits.
Since the beginning of this year nearly 325,000 people have lost their jobs and the unemployment rate is rising. As of May the unemployment rate stands at 5.5%, up nine percent just since April. With the cost of gas, food and medicine many families are suffering. As a candidate for federal office I support House Resolution 5749, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, which will provide an additional thirteen weeks of extended unemployment benefits in most states. This means that 3.8 million citizens will continue to receive benefits through March of 2009.
I fully support the intentions of this legislation and would support companion legislation in the US Senate if elected to public office. It is only the first step towards a clear path out of the current economic recession, but it is a sign to the American people that our representatives and those candidates who are running for office believe that the government is there to serve the people. We know that families are suffering right now under the high cost of food, medicine, fuel, housing and other basic goods.
The reason that we are in this economic crisis is clear. The Bush tax cuts which provided tax breaks for billionaires and wall street bailouts have broken the back of the American treasury. Hundreds of billions of dollars thrown down a hole in Iraq has not helped the situation any further and the mushrooming federal deficit, which currently stands at nine trillion dollars, have all played their role in the current situation. It is clear that what is needed are policies and legislation which supports working families and puts Americans to work.
Now is not the time to take away unemployment benefits for people who have worked hard and contributed. The cost of extended these benefits is just a sliver of the billions we are wasting on death and destruction in Iraq. Let's reinvest in America and let' start by investing in the American people. By doing so we will ensure a more secure and prosperous future for everyone.
For more information on HR 5749 please visit: http://acorn.org/?12383
General Release 6.17.08
Abstinence Only is Government Censorship
According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least one in four teenage girls nationwide have a sexually transmitted disease. Clearly abstinence only school programs do not deter young people from sexual activity, but in fact this direction actually deters young adults from access to information that they need to make responsible and safe choices. We must act immediately to withdraw funding for this program and allow teachers to present sensible sexual education curriculum.
As a candidate for federal office I believe that young people must be presented with all the facts available to them. Instead of relying on religious rhetoric and the value system of a fundamentalist minority, I believe that we must look clearly at human behavior as biological fact. The school system is not an avenue for proselytizing about various belief systems. Sexual activity is a fact of life, much like any other human activity and young people need to know the facts before it is too late.
Abstinence only until marriage curricula is censorship, pure and simple. Any school program that withholds scientifically valid information does not present young people with the full range of options they will actually face in life. This is a betrayal to the trust of our students who will carry the scars of misinformation with them their entire lives, both physically and psychologically. We must present them with all the information that they need to know at an appropriate age when they need to know it.
Seven years after abstinence only education was introduced into the school curriculum, many people are still not aware of the damaging affects that it is having on our young adults. The legislation uses the federal government to teach that abstinence is the only definite way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Additionally the curriculum teaches that monogamous relationships within the context of marriage are the standard value system and anything else could be damaging, both psychologically and physically. School systems that have agreed to teach abstinence receive significant grants from the federal government via their state.
The problem with abstinence only education is that it isn't real. It isn't grounded in science or in fact. What we know is that the average teenager will become sexually active before they leave high school regardless of what the government tells them they should do. Educators who teach abstinence only know that it doesn't work but they teach it anyway. So what they are really teaching is morality, which is the whole point of the legislation.
Withholding information from young people can be harmful. What our high school and junior high students need is comprehensive sexual education classes that are presented the way that they were intended to be taught. Our young people are worth the investment and telling them the truth about sex is the best bet to minimize the impact of the choices they are going to make. By fully educating our students about the risks of STD's including HIV and the risk of pregnancy, and by presenting them with the range of contraception choices available to them along with the basic facts about human sexuality we are giving them the best tools to go into the world prepared.
By investing in comprehensive sexual education we can redirect the federal budget toward sensible priorities. The cost to taxpayers of abstinence only has been estimated to be as high as $500 million dollars when considering matching state funds. By eliminating abstinence only curricula we will also save public health dollars by providing reliable information which can help prevent costly misinformed decisions among sexually active teenagers. If elected to office I will work to see that Congressional appropriations regarding abstinence only education is brought before the public for hearings and debate and that the appropriations process does not automatically qualify for funding each year without review. It is the best decision for students and their future.
General Release 6.11.08
Let’s Keep Space for Peace
In 1989 the world stood still as the Berlin Wall fell and massive protests erupted in the Soviet Union. The whole world was watching as ordinary Russian people lay down in front of tanks, risking their lives in the name of freedom. In the resulting months, dramatic changes redrew maps throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The new hopes of an entire generation were born and the US had won the cold war.
A generation later the United States is still fighting the cold war, drawing Europe into a dangerous new arms race. The National Missile Defense Program is quietly making its way through Congress generating funding, research and development dollars in order to ensure that Ronald Reagan's vision of the ultimate deterrent remains a fixed goal of national defense objectives. The NMD is a pork barrel project for defense contractors who just can't seem to find anything useful to do with their research facilities and our billions of taxpayer dollars. It seems the old axiom is true, cold warriors never die, they just fade away into the background and keep on making policy.
The NMD, otherwise known as Star Wars, involves the production of a new generation of weapons designed to shoot down nuclear weapons in outer space. As the thinking goes, this ‘defense shield’ would provide a deterrent to nuclear weapons and thus give the United States a strategic advantage against any enemy. There are several problems with the NMD, and the US Senate should not allocate one dollar in research and development for Star Wars. As a candidate for federal office I will vigorously fight any attempt to bring weapons into space or develop at Strategic Defense Initiative.
My reasons for opposing the NMD are as follows: First of all, the program violates international law. A key component of NMD involves deploying weapons in space in violation of international treaties signed by the United States and ratified by the United Nations banning weapons of mass destruction in space, the development of space for military purposes and the promotion of space for strategic national objectives. My second reason for objecting to military funding for NMD is that the project will further erode relationships between the United States and Europe and will force Russia and China to respond in kind with counter development and spark a new global arms race.
The plan for NMD also involves the installation of military bases across the planet and the development of an entire new generation of weapons. One of the first steps would be the creation of radar systems and bases for interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe. The people of Europe have spoken loudly and clearly and they do not want new US military bases on their soil. They do not want NMD technology or facilities and have protested against the involvement of their parliaments or the ratification of treaties of agreement between the US and various countries in Eastern Europe, notably the Czech Republic and Poland.
The gift of peace was ours for the taking. At the end of the cold war the it seemed like United States had won the peace. In spite of the extreme costs of detente and weapons development and massive military budgets, there was a possibility for a new vision for US foreign policy. Unfortunately our leaders have betrayed us and after eighteen years the pressure is building. The reality is that we won the war but lost the peace as our cold warrior administrators continued to push the buttons of foreign policy throughout successive presidential administrations.
It has been a long time coming, but it is still possible to win the peace we could have claimed nearly a generation ago. Defunding the National Missile Defense project would send a clear message to Eastern Europe, Russia and China that the United States does not intend to draw the world into another nuclear arms race. Instead of investing in war, let us invest in peace. We do not have any more nuclear superpowers threatening our imminent destruction. After eighteen years we are the only threat remaining to global security. It is time to take a step away from the nuclear precipice and toward real steps for peace by dismantling our weapons of mass destruction and honor our obligations as signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
General Release 6.05.08
Close the School of the Americas
The School of the Americas is a military training facility in Columbus, Georgia that trains military forces from Latin America in techniques of torture and counterinsurgency. This facility is taxpayer funded and has hosted more than sixty thousand soldiers since it was opened in 1946. The SOA, which was renamed a few years ago to the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security and Cooperation, is known around the world for the role that it has played as an institution for training soldiers in techniques of torture.
Soldiers who have attended the School of the Americas have been indicted and identified with brutal military repressions, targeted violence across Central America and South America. As a candidate for federal office, I support legislation to close the School of the Americas because graduates of the SOA have been involved in the violation of human rights.
There have been several efforts to raise awareness regarding the SOA over the past years, including the recently passed House Resolution 5658. The House Resolution, which was part of the National Defense Re-Authorization Act for 2009, requires that the names, rank, country of origin and dates of attendance be made public for graduates and instructors of the school.
Graduates of the SOA have been involved in crimes and atrocities across Latin America. Many of these individuals have been identified and we are about to learn the identities of hundreds of graduates who went on to rape, torture and even kill the thousands of people who were disappeared in Central America in the 1980's and beyond. The Pentagon is afraid when the leaders of these death squads and human rights abusers are made public, then the public may turn against the SOA/WHINSEC.
The fact of the matter is that the general public has been against the School of the Americas for years, ever since it was revealed that six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter were brutally murdered by graduates of the SOA. Then we learned that several nuns who were working in Central America were brutally raped and murdered by graduates of the SOA. Then the public learned that an entire village of 900 civilians was massacred by death squads trained in Columbus, Georgia. The public was outraged, and every year now, more than 20,000 people come to the gates of Fort Benning in November to call for Congress to close the School of the Assassins.
At a time when the United States is having serious problems with credibility in the eyes of the international community, closing the SOA/WHINSEC would go a long way toward restoring trust, security and cooperation around the world. The army, elected officials and the general public know that graduates of the SOA have included some of the worst human rights abusers in the global South. Closing this institution would send a clear message to Latin America and to our critics around the world that we are serious about restoring our international reputation.
General Release 6.02.08
Cuba Libre
There is a country just ninety miles from the shores of the United States that I have never been to. The Republic of Cuba is the home of my grandmother and countless uncles, aunts and cousins scattered throughout Florida and points north. I am not allowed to travel to Cuba because there is an economic embargo on that country which has been in place for almost fifty years. If I do travel to Cuba I risk being fined $7,500 by my government for stepping feet on the native soil of my relations.
Cuba is about the size of my own state of Tennessee and at eleven million people it is close in terms of population. Originally a Spanish colony, Cuba declared its independence in 1868. In 1959 there was a popular revolution that put Fidel Castro into power and Cuba has been a socialist country since that date. The people of Cuba come from a melting pot of cultures and traditions. My own family was typical of many European immigrants who came to this area in the nineteenth century. Looking for opportunities and better living conditions abroad, they immigrated to the new world with hopes and dreams.
In the United States, there is a policy that governs the behavior of our country toward all matters hemispheric. It is called the Monroe Doctrine and what it means is that the US is the supreme power, the law of the land, and anyone in this hemisphere who thinks otherwise will learn to behave. This is the essence of the current embargo on Cuba, which began last century during the Kennedy administration. Cuba has always been subject to the Monroe Doctrine and has always suffered the impact of neo-colonial expressions of power by the US and corporate interests, along with most of the Caribbean and Latin America,.
Although the US assisted Cuba in gaining its freedom from Spain in 1902, the reality was that Cuba was trading Spain for America which invested heavily in Cuban production, especially in the raw products of sugar and tobacco. US companies owned most of the Cuban sugar industry and held majority control in most Cuban industries. By 1959, Cuba was known as a playground for the rich, where the mob could operate without interference and women were for sale to the highest bidders. Drugs flowed freely through Cuba and most of the population lived in poverty and ignorance.
The Cuban revolution was a small miracle in Western history. A band of twenty or so revolutionaries taking on an entire army, building resistance and popular support through a guerilla movement in the jungle mountains and eventually taking the entire country and pushing out the corporate and military interests of the most powerful nation on earth. They instituted a series of land reforms, housing reforms, education reforms and health reforms. Today the Cuban people are definitely better educated than they were before the revolution. They have universal health care in Cuba today and the tools of industry are in the hands of the government and not in the hands of foreign investment firms.
Although the revolution did eventually raise the standard of living of the entire population, Cuba is a mixed success and the people have paid a heavy price. I have met many people who have fled from Cuba. My own extended family left Cuba in the 1960's when conditions were clearly on the way downhill. Cubans have been imprisoned for crimes against the revolution such as practicing religious beliefs, criticizing the government or attempting to leave the country. The bitter truth of a communist revolution is that it is a boring dictatorship. The claims of revolutionary politics are fantastical and the denial of individual liberty is too great a price to pay. Clipping the wings of freedom in the name of the people is just an abuse of state power and the record of history shows the results.
It is time to lift the economic embargo on Cuba. The United States has no business imposing its collective will on an entire country. The embargo has created victims of two generations of Cubans and has only served to reinforce the power of the dictatorship and consolidation of a failing government. What is needed is fair and open trade between the United States and Cuba and retention of the positive aspects of the revolution such as universal health care, education and land reform. We can learn a lot from the people of Cuba such as how to live with less and how to give our people more, and the Cuban people can benefit from trade relations with the United States.
The US embargo of Cuba is a relic of the cold war era, but it is in place because of the deeper history of US relations to Latin America and the Caribbean. The Cuban people have been defiant in the face of a fifty year embargo and have struggled to survive but they have persisted. The embargo has been condemned by leaders as diverse as George P. Shultz, Pope John Paul II and the United Nations, which has declared that the embargo is a violation of international law. As a candidate for federal office, I believe that it is time to allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba without the threat civil penalties and fines and I believe that it is time to end the economic and trade embargo on Cuba. It's the right thing to do, for us and for them.
General Release 5.26.08
Not One More Child Killed
There is a bill in the US Senate right now that deserves our support. Senate Bill 594, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, currently has twenty-one sponsors in the Senate. This bill would ban the use of cluster bombs, which injure thousands of innocent people each year. Unfortunately the Pentagon and Department of Defense officials have fought the effort to outlaw these weapons. Their reasoning is difficult to understand given the sobering reality that almost thirty percent of the bomblets released in each bomb fail to explode initially, leaving a deadly legacy for future generations of children to discover. The Middle East is filled with children who have lost arms and legs to unexploded cluster bombs. This is not the legacy of freedom and democracy we wish to leave the people of Iraq.
As a candidate for federal office, I support passage of Senate Bill 594 and would make this a priority if elected to office. In the meantime, it is important to pressure the US Senate to pass this bill now, before one more innocent child is killed or maimed for life due to our reckless foreign policy. On the international level, some eighty-two nations have supported resolutions to ban the use of cluster bombs. The United States still insists on the effectiveness of these weapons and refuses to join the international movement to ban this weapon, in spite of the fact that cluster bombs are one of the most deadly weapons facing our own troops. Unexploded bomblets remain a real threat to US troops long after they have been dropped on their intended targets.
Although they are a threat to our soldiers serving overseas, the biggest threat that cluster bombs pose is to civilians who remain in the areas of conflict long after the fighting has subsided. Unexploded cluster bombs scatter across large tracts of land, turning the areas bombed into defacto land mine zones. According to the American Friends Service Committee, ninety eight percent of the casualties of cluster bombs have been civilians. The United States manufactures these weapons and private manufacturing companies profit from the use of these weapons, which are largely inaccurate and indiscriminate in whom they kill. The time has come for the United States to join the international community in banning these inhumane weapons.
Senate Bill 594 would prevent the US military from using cluster bombs on civilian populations and it would prevent the export of cluster bombs for use in residential areas. Finally the bill would restrict all use and export of cluster bombs by the government. This bill would go a long way toward preventing unintended deaths and injuries to children and adults. The reality of cluster bombs is that long after the war is over, non-combatants are still being killed because of our current policies. In Lebanon, for instance, US produced cluster bombs were used by Israel in 2006. These bombs killed 285 people during the conflict, which ended that same year. In the two years since that time an additional 250 people have been killed in Lebanon by unexploded cluster bombs, nearly as many as were killed during the conflict itself. Additionally, there remains an estimated one million unexploded US produced cluster bombs, which continue to pose a threat to civilians in Lebanon.
Now is the time for he United States to begin to work to restore the trust of the international community. We must withdraw our troops from areas of occupation, and we need to remove our military forces from Iraq. We should clean up the mess that we have made of that country, including clearing landmines and civilian neighborhoods, which have been contaminated with unexploded cluster bombs and depleted uranium. Passage of Senate Bill 594 will send a clear message to the people of Iraq and the surrounding region that we really do care about international human rights and the well being of their children.
to learn more about the campaign to stop cluster bombs visit:
http://www.fcnl.org/weapons/clusterlanding/clusters_landing9.htm
http://www.clusterprocess.org/
General Release 5.24.08
In Memory of One Million Iraqi Dead
In 2006, the Lancet did a scientific study in which they estimated that the number of Iraqis who have died since the beginning of the US occupation in 2003 was greater than 600,000 people. This figure included the results of sectarian violence, revenge killings, suicide bombings and deaths at the hands of soldiers and occupying forces. That number alone is a staggering figure, but now, only two years later the estimate of dead has increased to almost one million. On this Memorial Day, as we gather to remember our loved ones who have died in war let us include the men, women and children who have died in Iraq.
In a recent survey conducted in Iraq by Opinion Research Business it was found that twenty percent of Iraqi households had at least one family member who had died in their family as a result of the conflict, rather than due to natural occurrences. In addition to the grief and loss caused by these deaths, many Iraqi households have also lost their primary source of support as men have been killed, recruited into militias, imprisoned or have fled Iraq. Now is the time to call for an international war crimes tribunal against the Bush administration for crimes against humanity.
The West does not receive much information about real conditions on the ground in Iraq. Ever since the beginning of the occupation, news and information has been heavily censored and as a result the actual conditions of the Iraqi people is difficult to gauge. The Pentagon has stopped counting the numbers of civilians killed in battle operations and does not keep track of individuals killed as a result of sectarian violence, suicide bombings, revenge killings or disappearances.
What we do know about Iraq is terrifying. Iraq is a country that is occupied by nearly three hundred thousands soldiers and private contractors. Two million Iraqis have fled the country, seeking asylum in neighboring countries since the war began. At least 42,000 Iraqi men have been detained in military prisons operated by the United States under suspicion of being insurgents. We do not know how many of those men have been release, how many have been tortured and how many have died. Normal law does not exist in Iraq. The military can enter any household at any time for any reason. Men can be detained on the street and held in custody without notice to extended family. Private security contractors are given a license to kill with immunity.
One million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of this occupation. On this Memorial Day, let us remember the dead. Regardless of whether they were killed in the line of duty or are victims of war, each one has a name, a mother, a history, and an identity. These men, women and children did not deserve what was done in the name of freedom and democracy. Only we have the power to stop this senseless violence. We must call on Congress to bring the troops home now, and in November we must sweep out the Bush administration and every member of the House and Senate who voted for war.
Saddam Hussein was brought before a court and tried for the massacres that he committed, yet there has been no such human rights tribunal to try President Bush for crimes against humanity. Bush continues to insist on the righteousness of his cause, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. The President be must called to account for his reckless decision which has destroyed an entire nation and resulted in so much death and suffering. On this Memorial Day, let us learn from the lessons of the past and make choices that will insure peace and justice for future generations.
to learn more about Iraqi civilian deaths please visit:
www.iraqbodycount.org
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq
General Release 5.22.08
What Has He Done For You Lately?
We all know that Lamar Alexander is a fixture in Washington DC politics, but what has he done for you lately? In a recent interview with the Cookeville Herald Citizen, Senator Lamar Alexander said that we are not in a recession in Tennessee. He said that recession is "a technical word" and that technically we are not in a recession. Speaking to the graduating class of Tennessee Tech Alexander said that there are some big challenges ahead but that we are currently only in an "economic slowdown." Alexander said that something needs to be done but I am wondering what the good Senator from Tennessee intends to do. If you examine his voting record, it is clear that the policy decisions that Alexander has favored are part of the reason we are in this recession in the first place.
For starters, let's look at the Senator's record on the war in Iraq. The war, which has cost us some $700 billion dollars and has cost the state of Tennessee directly some ten billion dollars in taxpayer expenditures for the war effort, means that there are less dollars available in the federal budget for education and alternative energy development and it means that there is more federal debt. Alexander voted for the original war and since then he has voted for every expenditure that has come before the Senate to extend funding for the war. He has voted against pulling troops out of Iraq when the opportunity has arisen.
Lamar has voted for the most destabilizing foreign policy expenditure in recent memory. Experts agree that the biggest reason for high oil prices in the global market is because of instability and uncertainty in the Middle East. Investor confidence has been greatly shaken by US activities in the Middle East and has driven down the value of the dollar in relation to other major international currencies. As a candidate for federal office, I support an immediate withdrawal of US armed forces from Iraq. I have spoken out clearly and directly on the issue of the war and my opposition to the current misadventure. If we had not invaded Iraq, the international marketplace would have greater confidence in the American economy and the global markets would not be reacting with so much fear and uncertainty to current market conditions.
Now let's look at taxes. Senator Alexander supports a flat income tax. He supports reducing the tax rates that wealthy people pay to 15% while at the same time he supports expensive, taxpayer funded military ventures. A flat income tax means that rich people will pay less and poor people will pay more. Flat taxes are already inherently unequal in terms of revenue and the response of a flat tax by state and local municipalities will be to simply increase sales taxes and other income generating revenues which will disproportionately affect the poor. Lamar also voted to cut taxes on capital gains and dividends. Lamar has made it clear where his interests lay, and it isn't with the working people of this country.
The record of Senator Alexander’s votes means we have a higher federal deficit because Lamar doesn't believe that rich people should pay their fair share. It also means less opportunity for working class people to get ahead which only drives them further into poverty. As a candidate for federal office, I believe that we need to roll back the Bush tax cuts. Corporations and the wealthy need to pay their fair share. They are members of this country, the same as everyone else. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy.
Now let's look at Alexander's record with regard to working people. I've already talked about how a flat tax will end up costing working people more money in the long run. Less federal revenue means more toll roads, privatization of public services and higher local, municipal and state taxes to pick up the extra needed revenue. These aspects alone will reduce the standard of living for the middle class, but if we continue to support the policies of Alexander, we will find that standard of living even further eroded.
Alexander has supported fundamental dismantling of one of the most important social safety nets our country has created, the Social Security System. Now why Alexander would be against a federal program that provides support and resources to our senior citizens is beyond me, but if it is any indication of where he stands, Lamar was given a big fat zero by the Alliance for Retired Americans for his anti-senior voting record. Social Security works, and in spite of the Republican scare tactics, the program isn't going broke. If we were to privatize social security, then there is a guarantee that the poorest Americans will have nothing when they retire and the whole purpose of the program will have been rendered meaningless. As a candidate for federal office I fully support the Social Security program and commend it as one of the most successful government programs of the twentieth century for ensuring quality of life into old age.
There are so many other ways that we could look at Alexander's record which show that he votes against the interests of working people and for the interests of the wealthy and corporations. Since Tennessee is mostly made up of working people, I wonder who Alexander's decisions are going to work for. It is time for progressive leadership in Tennessee. Time to restore the minimum wage to a living wage with annual increases to adjust for cost of living. It is time to support universal single payer health care to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and it is time to use the federal government as an agency for lifting up working people rather than letting the market drag them down.
We can make it out of this recession and make this country into a nation that works for everyone, but we have to follow sound federal policies in order to make this a reality. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy and ask the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. It is time to strike down anti-union legislation that increases profits for investors by reducing labor costs, shipping jobs overseas and turning our manufacturing base into a Walmart service economy. It is time to make sure that education is funded as a priority and defense is secondary in terms of budget allocation to the health and well-being of children and families. As a candidate for the US Senate in Tennessee I believe that these are the policies that will insure a modest national prosperity for all.
Now is the Time to Extend Unemployment Benefits
America is in the midst of a recession largely attributable to the economic policies of the Bush administration and the Republican party. As a result of this recession, millions of hard working Americans have been put out of work. Almost every family in this country has been touched by the current recession. On top of this consumers are being forced to pay record high gas prices and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes due to foreclosure. Now is not the time to cut tax paying American citizens off of their unemployment benefits.
Since the beginning of this year nearly 325,000 people have lost their jobs and the unemployment rate is rising. As of May the unemployment rate stands at 5.5%, up nine percent just since April. With the cost of gas, food and medicine many families are suffering. As a candidate for federal office I support House Resolution 5749, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, which will provide an additional thirteen weeks of extended unemployment benefits in most states. This means that 3.8 million citizens will continue to receive benefits through March of 2009.
I fully support the intentions of this legislation and would support companion legislation in the US Senate if elected to public office. It is only the first step towards a clear path out of the current economic recession, but it is a sign to the American people that our representatives and those candidates who are running for office believe that the government is there to serve the people. We know that families are suffering right now under the high cost of food, medicine, fuel, housing and other basic goods.
The reason that we are in this economic crisis is clear. The Bush tax cuts which provided tax breaks for billionaires and wall street bailouts have broken the back of the American treasury. Hundreds of billions of dollars thrown down a hole in Iraq has not helped the situation any further and the mushrooming federal deficit, which currently stands at nine trillion dollars, have all played their role in the current situation. It is clear that what is needed are policies and legislation which supports working families and puts Americans to work.
Now is not the time to take away unemployment benefits for people who have worked hard and contributed. The cost of extended these benefits is just a sliver of the billions we are wasting on death and destruction in Iraq. Let's reinvest in America and let' start by investing in the American people. By doing so we will ensure a more secure and prosperous future for everyone.
For more information on HR 5749 please visit: http://acorn.org/?12383
General Release 6.17.08
Abstinence Only is Government Censorship
According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least one in four teenage girls nationwide have a sexually transmitted disease. Clearly abstinence only school programs do not deter young people from sexual activity, but in fact this direction actually deters young adults from access to information that they need to make responsible and safe choices. We must act immediately to withdraw funding for this program and allow teachers to present sensible sexual education curriculum.
As a candidate for federal office I believe that young people must be presented with all the facts available to them. Instead of relying on religious rhetoric and the value system of a fundamentalist minority, I believe that we must look clearly at human behavior as biological fact. The school system is not an avenue for proselytizing about various belief systems. Sexual activity is a fact of life, much like any other human activity and young people need to know the facts before it is too late.
Abstinence only until marriage curricula is censorship, pure and simple. Any school program that withholds scientifically valid information does not present young people with the full range of options they will actually face in life. This is a betrayal to the trust of our students who will carry the scars of misinformation with them their entire lives, both physically and psychologically. We must present them with all the information that they need to know at an appropriate age when they need to know it.
Seven years after abstinence only education was introduced into the school curriculum, many people are still not aware of the damaging affects that it is having on our young adults. The legislation uses the federal government to teach that abstinence is the only definite way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Additionally the curriculum teaches that monogamous relationships within the context of marriage are the standard value system and anything else could be damaging, both psychologically and physically. School systems that have agreed to teach abstinence receive significant grants from the federal government via their state.
The problem with abstinence only education is that it isn't real. It isn't grounded in science or in fact. What we know is that the average teenager will become sexually active before they leave high school regardless of what the government tells them they should do. Educators who teach abstinence only know that it doesn't work but they teach it anyway. So what they are really teaching is morality, which is the whole point of the legislation.
Withholding information from young people can be harmful. What our high school and junior high students need is comprehensive sexual education classes that are presented the way that they were intended to be taught. Our young people are worth the investment and telling them the truth about sex is the best bet to minimize the impact of the choices they are going to make. By fully educating our students about the risks of STD's including HIV and the risk of pregnancy, and by presenting them with the range of contraception choices available to them along with the basic facts about human sexuality we are giving them the best tools to go into the world prepared.
By investing in comprehensive sexual education we can redirect the federal budget toward sensible priorities. The cost to taxpayers of abstinence only has been estimated to be as high as $500 million dollars when considering matching state funds. By eliminating abstinence only curricula we will also save public health dollars by providing reliable information which can help prevent costly misinformed decisions among sexually active teenagers. If elected to office I will work to see that Congressional appropriations regarding abstinence only education is brought before the public for hearings and debate and that the appropriations process does not automatically qualify for funding each year without review. It is the best decision for students and their future.
General Release 6.11.08
Let’s Keep Space for Peace
In 1989 the world stood still as the Berlin Wall fell and massive protests erupted in the Soviet Union. The whole world was watching as ordinary Russian people lay down in front of tanks, risking their lives in the name of freedom. In the resulting months, dramatic changes redrew maps throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The new hopes of an entire generation were born and the US had won the cold war.
A generation later the United States is still fighting the cold war, drawing Europe into a dangerous new arms race. The National Missile Defense Program is quietly making its way through Congress generating funding, research and development dollars in order to ensure that Ronald Reagan's vision of the ultimate deterrent remains a fixed goal of national defense objectives. The NMD is a pork barrel project for defense contractors who just can't seem to find anything useful to do with their research facilities and our billions of taxpayer dollars. It seems the old axiom is true, cold warriors never die, they just fade away into the background and keep on making policy.
The NMD, otherwise known as Star Wars, involves the production of a new generation of weapons designed to shoot down nuclear weapons in outer space. As the thinking goes, this ‘defense shield’ would provide a deterrent to nuclear weapons and thus give the United States a strategic advantage against any enemy. There are several problems with the NMD, and the US Senate should not allocate one dollar in research and development for Star Wars. As a candidate for federal office I will vigorously fight any attempt to bring weapons into space or develop at Strategic Defense Initiative.
My reasons for opposing the NMD are as follows: First of all, the program violates international law. A key component of NMD involves deploying weapons in space in violation of international treaties signed by the United States and ratified by the United Nations banning weapons of mass destruction in space, the development of space for military purposes and the promotion of space for strategic national objectives. My second reason for objecting to military funding for NMD is that the project will further erode relationships between the United States and Europe and will force Russia and China to respond in kind with counter development and spark a new global arms race.
The plan for NMD also involves the installation of military bases across the planet and the development of an entire new generation of weapons. One of the first steps would be the creation of radar systems and bases for interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe. The people of Europe have spoken loudly and clearly and they do not want new US military bases on their soil. They do not want NMD technology or facilities and have protested against the involvement of their parliaments or the ratification of treaties of agreement between the US and various countries in Eastern Europe, notably the Czech Republic and Poland.
The gift of peace was ours for the taking. At the end of the cold war the it seemed like United States had won the peace. In spite of the extreme costs of detente and weapons development and massive military budgets, there was a possibility for a new vision for US foreign policy. Unfortunately our leaders have betrayed us and after eighteen years the pressure is building. The reality is that we won the war but lost the peace as our cold warrior administrators continued to push the buttons of foreign policy throughout successive presidential administrations.
It has been a long time coming, but it is still possible to win the peace we could have claimed nearly a generation ago. Defunding the National Missile Defense project would send a clear message to Eastern Europe, Russia and China that the United States does not intend to draw the world into another nuclear arms race. Instead of investing in war, let us invest in peace. We do not have any more nuclear superpowers threatening our imminent destruction. After eighteen years we are the only threat remaining to global security. It is time to take a step away from the nuclear precipice and toward real steps for peace by dismantling our weapons of mass destruction and honor our obligations as signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
General Release 6.05.08
Close the School of the Americas
The School of the Americas is a military training facility in Columbus, Georgia that trains military forces from Latin America in techniques of torture and counterinsurgency. This facility is taxpayer funded and has hosted more than sixty thousand soldiers since it was opened in 1946. The SOA, which was renamed a few years ago to the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security and Cooperation, is known around the world for the role that it has played as an institution for training soldiers in techniques of torture.
Soldiers who have attended the School of the Americas have been indicted and identified with brutal military repressions, targeted violence across Central America and South America. As a candidate for federal office, I support legislation to close the School of the Americas because graduates of the SOA have been involved in the violation of human rights.
There have been several efforts to raise awareness regarding the SOA over the past years, including the recently passed House Resolution 5658. The House Resolution, which was part of the National Defense Re-Authorization Act for 2009, requires that the names, rank, country of origin and dates of attendance be made public for graduates and instructors of the school.
Graduates of the SOA have been involved in crimes and atrocities across Latin America. Many of these individuals have been identified and we are about to learn the identities of hundreds of graduates who went on to rape, torture and even kill the thousands of people who were disappeared in Central America in the 1980's and beyond. The Pentagon is afraid when the leaders of these death squads and human rights abusers are made public, then the public may turn against the SOA/WHINSEC.
The fact of the matter is that the general public has been against the School of the Americas for years, ever since it was revealed that six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter were brutally murdered by graduates of the SOA. Then we learned that several nuns who were working in Central America were brutally raped and murdered by graduates of the SOA. Then the public learned that an entire village of 900 civilians was massacred by death squads trained in Columbus, Georgia. The public was outraged, and every year now, more than 20,000 people come to the gates of Fort Benning in November to call for Congress to close the School of the Assassins.
At a time when the United States is having serious problems with credibility in the eyes of the international community, closing the SOA/WHINSEC would go a long way toward restoring trust, security and cooperation around the world. The army, elected officials and the general public know that graduates of the SOA have included some of the worst human rights abusers in the global South. Closing this institution would send a clear message to Latin America and to our critics around the world that we are serious about restoring our international reputation.
General Release 6.02.08
Cuba Libre
There is a country just ninety miles from the shores of the United States that I have never been to. The Republic of Cuba is the home of my grandmother and countless uncles, aunts and cousins scattered throughout Florida and points north. I am not allowed to travel to Cuba because there is an economic embargo on that country which has been in place for almost fifty years. If I do travel to Cuba I risk being fined $7,500 by my government for stepping feet on the native soil of my relations.
Cuba is about the size of my own state of Tennessee and at eleven million people it is close in terms of population. Originally a Spanish colony, Cuba declared its independence in 1868. In 1959 there was a popular revolution that put Fidel Castro into power and Cuba has been a socialist country since that date. The people of Cuba come from a melting pot of cultures and traditions. My own family was typical of many European immigrants who came to this area in the nineteenth century. Looking for opportunities and better living conditions abroad, they immigrated to the new world with hopes and dreams.
In the United States, there is a policy that governs the behavior of our country toward all matters hemispheric. It is called the Monroe Doctrine and what it means is that the US is the supreme power, the law of the land, and anyone in this hemisphere who thinks otherwise will learn to behave. This is the essence of the current embargo on Cuba, which began last century during the Kennedy administration. Cuba has always been subject to the Monroe Doctrine and has always suffered the impact of neo-colonial expressions of power by the US and corporate interests, along with most of the Caribbean and Latin America,.
Although the US assisted Cuba in gaining its freedom from Spain in 1902, the reality was that Cuba was trading Spain for America which invested heavily in Cuban production, especially in the raw products of sugar and tobacco. US companies owned most of the Cuban sugar industry and held majority control in most Cuban industries. By 1959, Cuba was known as a playground for the rich, where the mob could operate without interference and women were for sale to the highest bidders. Drugs flowed freely through Cuba and most of the population lived in poverty and ignorance.
The Cuban revolution was a small miracle in Western history. A band of twenty or so revolutionaries taking on an entire army, building resistance and popular support through a guerilla movement in the jungle mountains and eventually taking the entire country and pushing out the corporate and military interests of the most powerful nation on earth. They instituted a series of land reforms, housing reforms, education reforms and health reforms. Today the Cuban people are definitely better educated than they were before the revolution. They have universal health care in Cuba today and the tools of industry are in the hands of the government and not in the hands of foreign investment firms.
Although the revolution did eventually raise the standard of living of the entire population, Cuba is a mixed success and the people have paid a heavy price. I have met many people who have fled from Cuba. My own extended family left Cuba in the 1960's when conditions were clearly on the way downhill. Cubans have been imprisoned for crimes against the revolution such as practicing religious beliefs, criticizing the government or attempting to leave the country. The bitter truth of a communist revolution is that it is a boring dictatorship. The claims of revolutionary politics are fantastical and the denial of individual liberty is too great a price to pay. Clipping the wings of freedom in the name of the people is just an abuse of state power and the record of history shows the results.
It is time to lift the economic embargo on Cuba. The United States has no business imposing its collective will on an entire country. The embargo has created victims of two generations of Cubans and has only served to reinforce the power of the dictatorship and consolidation of a failing government. What is needed is fair and open trade between the United States and Cuba and retention of the positive aspects of the revolution such as universal health care, education and land reform. We can learn a lot from the people of Cuba such as how to live with less and how to give our people more, and the Cuban people can benefit from trade relations with the United States.
The US embargo of Cuba is a relic of the cold war era, but it is in place because of the deeper history of US relations to Latin America and the Caribbean. The Cuban people have been defiant in the face of a fifty year embargo and have struggled to survive but they have persisted. The embargo has been condemned by leaders as diverse as George P. Shultz, Pope John Paul II and the United Nations, which has declared that the embargo is a violation of international law. As a candidate for federal office, I believe that it is time to allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba without the threat civil penalties and fines and I believe that it is time to end the economic and trade embargo on Cuba. It's the right thing to do, for us and for them.
General Release 5.26.08
Not One More Child Killed
There is a bill in the US Senate right now that deserves our support. Senate Bill 594, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, currently has twenty-one sponsors in the Senate. This bill would ban the use of cluster bombs, which injure thousands of innocent people each year. Unfortunately the Pentagon and Department of Defense officials have fought the effort to outlaw these weapons. Their reasoning is difficult to understand given the sobering reality that almost thirty percent of the bomblets released in each bomb fail to explode initially, leaving a deadly legacy for future generations of children to discover. The Middle East is filled with children who have lost arms and legs to unexploded cluster bombs. This is not the legacy of freedom and democracy we wish to leave the people of Iraq.
As a candidate for federal office, I support passage of Senate Bill 594 and would make this a priority if elected to office. In the meantime, it is important to pressure the US Senate to pass this bill now, before one more innocent child is killed or maimed for life due to our reckless foreign policy. On the international level, some eighty-two nations have supported resolutions to ban the use of cluster bombs. The United States still insists on the effectiveness of these weapons and refuses to join the international movement to ban this weapon, in spite of the fact that cluster bombs are one of the most deadly weapons facing our own troops. Unexploded bomblets remain a real threat to US troops long after they have been dropped on their intended targets.
Although they are a threat to our soldiers serving overseas, the biggest threat that cluster bombs pose is to civilians who remain in the areas of conflict long after the fighting has subsided. Unexploded cluster bombs scatter across large tracts of land, turning the areas bombed into defacto land mine zones. According to the American Friends Service Committee, ninety eight percent of the casualties of cluster bombs have been civilians. The United States manufactures these weapons and private manufacturing companies profit from the use of these weapons, which are largely inaccurate and indiscriminate in whom they kill. The time has come for the United States to join the international community in banning these inhumane weapons.
Senate Bill 594 would prevent the US military from using cluster bombs on civilian populations and it would prevent the export of cluster bombs for use in residential areas. Finally the bill would restrict all use and export of cluster bombs by the government. This bill would go a long way toward preventing unintended deaths and injuries to children and adults. The reality of cluster bombs is that long after the war is over, non-combatants are still being killed because of our current policies. In Lebanon, for instance, US produced cluster bombs were used by Israel in 2006. These bombs killed 285 people during the conflict, which ended that same year. In the two years since that time an additional 250 people have been killed in Lebanon by unexploded cluster bombs, nearly as many as were killed during the conflict itself. Additionally, there remains an estimated one million unexploded US produced cluster bombs, which continue to pose a threat to civilians in Lebanon.
Now is the time for he United States to begin to work to restore the trust of the international community. We must withdraw our troops from areas of occupation, and we need to remove our military forces from Iraq. We should clean up the mess that we have made of that country, including clearing landmines and civilian neighborhoods, which have been contaminated with unexploded cluster bombs and depleted uranium. Passage of Senate Bill 594 will send a clear message to the people of Iraq and the surrounding region that we really do care about international human rights and the well being of their children.
to learn more about the campaign to stop cluster bombs visit:
http://www.fcnl.org/weapons/clusterlanding/clusters_landing9.htm
http://www.clusterprocess.org/
General Release 5.24.08
In Memory of One Million Iraqi Dead
In 2006, the Lancet did a scientific study in which they estimated that the number of Iraqis who have died since the beginning of the US occupation in 2003 was greater than 600,000 people. This figure included the results of sectarian violence, revenge killings, suicide bombings and deaths at the hands of soldiers and occupying forces. That number alone is a staggering figure, but now, only two years later the estimate of dead has increased to almost one million. On this Memorial Day, as we gather to remember our loved ones who have died in war let us include the men, women and children who have died in Iraq.
In a recent survey conducted in Iraq by Opinion Research Business it was found that twenty percent of Iraqi households had at least one family member who had died in their family as a result of the conflict, rather than due to natural occurrences. In addition to the grief and loss caused by these deaths, many Iraqi households have also lost their primary source of support as men have been killed, recruited into militias, imprisoned or have fled Iraq. Now is the time to call for an international war crimes tribunal against the Bush administration for crimes against humanity.
The West does not receive much information about real conditions on the ground in Iraq. Ever since the beginning of the occupation, news and information has been heavily censored and as a result the actual conditions of the Iraqi people is difficult to gauge. The Pentagon has stopped counting the numbers of civilians killed in battle operations and does not keep track of individuals killed as a result of sectarian violence, suicide bombings, revenge killings or disappearances.
What we do know about Iraq is terrifying. Iraq is a country that is occupied by nearly three hundred thousands soldiers and private contractors. Two million Iraqis have fled the country, seeking asylum in neighboring countries since the war began. At least 42,000 Iraqi men have been detained in military prisons operated by the United States under suspicion of being insurgents. We do not know how many of those men have been release, how many have been tortured and how many have died. Normal law does not exist in Iraq. The military can enter any household at any time for any reason. Men can be detained on the street and held in custody without notice to extended family. Private security contractors are given a license to kill with immunity.
One million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of this occupation. On this Memorial Day, let us remember the dead. Regardless of whether they were killed in the line of duty or are victims of war, each one has a name, a mother, a history, and an identity. These men, women and children did not deserve what was done in the name of freedom and democracy. Only we have the power to stop this senseless violence. We must call on Congress to bring the troops home now, and in November we must sweep out the Bush administration and every member of the House and Senate who voted for war.
Saddam Hussein was brought before a court and tried for the massacres that he committed, yet there has been no such human rights tribunal to try President Bush for crimes against humanity. Bush continues to insist on the righteousness of his cause, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. The President be must called to account for his reckless decision which has destroyed an entire nation and resulted in so much death and suffering. On this Memorial Day, let us learn from the lessons of the past and make choices that will insure peace and justice for future generations.
to learn more about Iraqi civilian deaths please visit:
www.iraqbodycount.org
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq
General Release 5.22.08
What Has He Done For You Lately?
We all know that Lamar Alexander is a fixture in Washington DC politics, but what has he done for you lately? In a recent interview with the Cookeville Herald Citizen, Senator Lamar Alexander said that we are not in a recession in Tennessee. He said that recession is "a technical word" and that technically we are not in a recession. Speaking to the graduating class of Tennessee Tech Alexander said that there are some big challenges ahead but that we are currently only in an "economic slowdown." Alexander said that something needs to be done but I am wondering what the good Senator from Tennessee intends to do. If you examine his voting record, it is clear that the policy decisions that Alexander has favored are part of the reason we are in this recession in the first place.
For starters, let's look at the Senator's record on the war in Iraq. The war, which has cost us some $700 billion dollars and has cost the state of Tennessee directly some ten billion dollars in taxpayer expenditures for the war effort, means that there are less dollars available in the federal budget for education and alternative energy development and it means that there is more federal debt. Alexander voted for the original war and since then he has voted for every expenditure that has come before the Senate to extend funding for the war. He has voted against pulling troops out of Iraq when the opportunity has arisen.
Lamar has voted for the most destabilizing foreign policy expenditure in recent memory. Experts agree that the biggest reason for high oil prices in the global market is because of instability and uncertainty in the Middle East. Investor confidence has been greatly shaken by US activities in the Middle East and has driven down the value of the dollar in relation to other major international currencies. As a candidate for federal office, I support an immediate withdrawal of US armed forces from Iraq. I have spoken out clearly and directly on the issue of the war and my opposition to the current misadventure. If we had not invaded Iraq, the international marketplace would have greater confidence in the American economy and the global markets would not be reacting with so much fear and uncertainty to current market conditions.
Now let's look at taxes. Senator Alexander supports a flat income tax. He supports reducing the tax rates that wealthy people pay to 15% while at the same time he supports expensive, taxpayer funded military ventures. A flat income tax means that rich people will pay less and poor people will pay more. Flat taxes are already inherently unequal in terms of revenue and the response of a flat tax by state and local municipalities will be to simply increase sales taxes and other income generating revenues which will disproportionately affect the poor. Lamar also voted to cut taxes on capital gains and dividends. Lamar has made it clear where his interests lay, and it isn't with the working people of this country.
The record of Senator Alexander’s votes means we have a higher federal deficit because Lamar doesn't believe that rich people should pay their fair share. It also means less opportunity for working class people to get ahead which only drives them further into poverty. As a candidate for federal office, I believe that we need to roll back the Bush tax cuts. Corporations and the wealthy need to pay their fair share. They are members of this country, the same as everyone else. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy.
Now let's look at Alexander's record with regard to working people. I've already talked about how a flat tax will end up costing working people more money in the long run. Less federal revenue means more toll roads, privatization of public services and higher local, municipal and state taxes to pick up the extra needed revenue. These aspects alone will reduce the standard of living for the middle class, but if we continue to support the policies of Alexander, we will find that standard of living even further eroded.
Alexander has supported fundamental dismantling of one of the most important social safety nets our country has created, the Social Security System. Now why Alexander would be against a federal program that provides support and resources to our senior citizens is beyond me, but if it is any indication of where he stands, Lamar was given a big fat zero by the Alliance for Retired Americans for his anti-senior voting record. Social Security works, and in spite of the Republican scare tactics, the program isn't going broke. If we were to privatize social security, then there is a guarantee that the poorest Americans will have nothing when they retire and the whole purpose of the program will have been rendered meaningless. As a candidate for federal office I fully support the Social Security program and commend it as one of the most successful government programs of the twentieth century for ensuring quality of life into old age.
There are so many other ways that we could look at Alexander's record which show that he votes against the interests of working people and for the interests of the wealthy and corporations. Since Tennessee is mostly made up of working people, I wonder who Alexander's decisions are going to work for. It is time for progressive leadership in Tennessee. Time to restore the minimum wage to a living wage with annual increases to adjust for cost of living. It is time to support universal single payer health care to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and it is time to use the federal government as an agency for lifting up working people rather than letting the market drag them down.
We can make it out of this recession and make this country into a nation that works for everyone, but we have to follow sound federal policies in order to make this a reality. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy and ask the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. It is time to strike down anti-union legislation that increases profits for investors by reducing labor costs, shipping jobs overseas and turning our manufacturing base into a Walmart service economy. It is time to make sure that education is funded as a priority and defense is secondary in terms of budget allocation to the health and well-being of children and families. As a candidate for the US Senate in Tennessee I believe that these are the policies that will insure a modest national prosperity for all.
General Release 5.19.08
Now Is the Time to Stop Funding the War
This year, the United States government is scheduled to spend more than $622 billion dollars on the military budget, which includes an additional $171 billion dollars for the occupation of Iraq. In comparison, the US will only spend $56 billion dollars this year on education and only $3.4 billion on energy development. At the current rate of spending it will take 183 years of alternative energy development to match one year of spending on the war in Iraq, and eleven years of funding education for our children will still not match even one year of spending on this war. We have seriously misplaced our priorities, and it driving us further into debt, an estimated $9.357 trillion dollars this year.
The US Senate has an opportunity to begin to turn the clock backwards this week, in the name of our children and the future of our country. Last week the House passed a bill which would create a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, limit the ability of the CIA to torture prisoners and increase domestic spending on budgetary priorities that need our attention here at home such as universal health care, which would cost an estimated $169 billion dollars to provide coverage to the remaining 47 million Americans who currently lack health care coverage. For an additional $58 billion dollars we could provide access to universal higher education for all students who want to go to college.
The Democrats are on a swing, and that is better than having the Republicans at bat, but the truth is that they are just more graceful at striking out. The Senate is considering legislation that would add an additional $168 billion dollars to the US federal debt to fund an additional year of bombers, tanks, military bases, cluster bombs, hummers, and blackhawk helicopters for the military in Iraq. What we need to do in the US Senate is stop funding for the war in Iraq right now. As a candidate for federal office I would make it my first priority to stop all military funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Right now ever American in this country holds a liability of $30,777 which we owe to various banks, investment firms and foreign governments who have bought the promisory notes which our government has issued with the promise of payback at some future date. Over fifty percent of that debt is owed specifically on military spending for the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, the first war in Iraq, military expenditures in over 140 countries and even debt that is owed on the wars in Vietnam and Korea that have not yet been fully paid. Our debt load is enormous and it is the symbolic albatross around the neck of our children.
As long as we continue to vote for Democrats and Republicans who are bought and paid for by lobbyists, corporations and country clubs we will continue to get what they pay for which is more war, more military spending, higher gas prices and declining competitiveness in the global market place. I urge you to write to your Senator and tell them to vote no on more money for war and in November to vote for candidates who care more about education and health care than Halliburton and warfare. In Tennessee, the choice is clear. You can vote for the Republican, Senator Lamar Alexander who will spend another $168 billion dollars of your children's future, or you can vote for the Democrats, who have funded the war to the tune of some $700 billion dollars to date, or you can vote for peace by supporting candidates who will stop funding the war and bring the troops home now.
General Release 5.15.08
Restoring Credibility Through International Cooperation
When I was a senior in high school I participated in the model united nations program. As thousands of students do each year, I chose a country to represent as part of the student program. In my case I chose Norway, the home of my mother's ancestors. I was very excited to receive mailings from the Norwegian embassy, which I diligently researched in order to accurately represent my country of choice. Sitting in our high school library we passed resolutions to abide by strategic arms control and non-proliferation issues.
It has been more than twenty years since I participated in that program as a high school student, and in that time a lot has changed in the world. The cold war ended with the fall of communism in eastern Europe, the economic engines of southeast Asia and China have changed the playing field in global politics, free trade agreements have devastated the American economy and global awareness has become focused on the dangers of greenhouse gas warming of the planet.
Some things stay the same though, from one decade to the next. Men and women still fall in love, the birds sing and the bees buzz, the rain falls and the wind blows, and the United States fails to pay its dues to the United Nations, year after year, to the tune of some $2.8 billion dollars. According to the United Nation Association of the USA, the U.S. owed $633 million in arrears to UN peacekeeping alone and this number is estimated to increase by between $250 million to $1 billion over the course of 2008.
The right wing yak machine loves to discuss the ineffectiveness of the United Nations on talk radio. Day after day, week after week, the public is bombarded by arguments against international cooperation and peacemaking. In the meantime, the Bush administration follows a unilateral approach with regards to foreign policy. As a result of these twin towers of ignorance and power, the United States is now perceived internationally as a rogue superpower, willing and able to ignore international agreements and national sovereignty in the name of fanatical patriotism and war profiteering.
The United States still has a role to play in the United Nations, but only if we elect representatives who will respect the historic role that the UN plays as an agency of first resort for all agreements international. Whether it is peacekeeping, refugee assistance, development, food aide, nutrition, global health, disarmament, weapons inspection, disease prevention, global education or family planning, there is a UN program available to deal with that situation. The United Nations is an integral element of global peacemaking and development.
As a candidate for federal office I support full funding of the United Nations and associated programs. I believe this is the right thing to do, not just for the international community, but also for the United States. I firmly believe that the way to restore US credibility in the international community is by fully paying our dues and supporting the UN in their role as an agency of international cooperation.
General Release 5.12.08
Workers Rights Are Human Rights
We use them all the time - our firefighters, police offices and emergency medical service personnel. Hardly a day goes by that we don't come into contact either directly or indirectly with these hard working public servants. When we have traffic accidents or emergencies at home or at work these public servants are the first on the scene in our communities. Often risking their own safety in order to serve the public good, these employees of our cities, states and municipalities deserve to have collective bargaining rights.
The problem is that tens of thousands of these public safety officers do not have the right to negotiate with their employers, often leaving our firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel without a voice at work. There is a remedy to this situation - it is called the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, or Senate Bill 2123. This bill would go a long way toward remedying a situation that has become unacceptable. It would allow public safety officers the collective bargaining rights they deserve, including the right of public safety officers to bargain over wages, hours and working conditions.
The bill would also provide a dispute resolution mechanism for when there is not agreement between management and labor and it would provide the enforcement of contracts through state courts. The problem is that there are many states that do not offer our public safety personnel minimum bargaining rights. In these states it is very difficult for public servants to organize and ultimately we pay the price. A workforce that does not have the right to organize is less productive and has lower self-esteem on the job.
Our public safety is worth the investment. As a candidate for the US Senate I do not believe we should cut corners when it comes to the needs of our public servants. That is why I support Senate Bill 2123 and would work to pass it into law if elected to the US Senate. This bill already has broad bipartisan support and its companion bill was passed in the US House recently. We owe it to our public safety employees to ensure that they have collective bargaining rights. So let's give them the voice that they deserve.
General Release 5.09.08
Americans Need Real Solutions to the Housing Crisis
America faces a housing crisis that it has not seen the likes of since the great depression. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes due to the mortgage crisis in the past year and more are at risk if we don't act now. That is why the US Senate must support some version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which passed this past week in the US House. This legislation, which is on its way to the Senate next week has been threatened with veto by President Bush.
As usual, the President is wrong. The President has said that he would veto the legislation if it comes to his desk because he doesn't believe that certain types of people should be rewarded for their bad decisions. What the President means is that poor people shouldn't be protected from predatory lenders and that the government shouldn't have any regulatory responsibilities when it comes to mortgage lenders.
The fact is that this housing crisis could have been avoided. It is the result of twenty-five years of federal deregulation across the board combined with a speculative investment industry gone haywire. A rational person would conclude that after seeing so many foreclosures, maybe there is something wrong with the system. But when it comes to the role of the free market and the responsibilities of the government to legislate for the common good, the Republicans just don't get it. Their belief is that the free market is always the best solution to every problem. Just this week, House Representative Marcia Blackburn of Tennessee said that the foreclosure legislation would "provide a safety net for irresponsibility."
Tennessee's Republican constituency wants to live in the good old days when the poor people knew their place and didn't try to do anything irresponsible like own a home or expect a living wage. Their response to this legislation clearly shows the misdirection of the Bush administration and his Republican supporters. In contrast to that is the message of the progressive left in this country, which has real solutions to the housing crisis, some of which are contained in the legislation currently making its way to the US Senate and some of which is not included. As Americans on the verge of a grave financial crisis, it is important to get a grip on why we are in this situation. It is in large part due to the deregulatory nature of federal policy, which has been encouraged by twenty-five years of conservative and neoliberal administrations.
In a deregulated free market without proper government oversight, poor people are victimized by predatory lenders and cannot count on the government to provide regulatory oversight. This is at the root of the mortgage crisis and the federal government has an ethical responsibility to step in now and attempt to remedy the damage that it could have avoided by placing stricter limits on what lenders can and cannot do in order to get a poor person to sign on to a mortgage.
But in order to really address the root of the housing crisis, the federal government must take steps to address the root causes of poverty, unemployment, low wages and homeless in America. We must take steps now to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage, which is about $10.50 an hour plus benefits. We must invest in job training and invest in our education system to ensure that all Americans have a chance to attend college. We must invest in affordable housing for all Americans. Finally, we need to invest in quality, affordable, single payer health care.
I believe that we can build a community where all Americans can live with hope. If we stop investing hundreds of billions of dollars on war and violence and invest in our domestic infrastructure, we can begin to rebuild this country. We must begin by paying Americans a wage that a family can reasonably expect to live on. We must ask those who have received the most benefit from our system to give the most by rolling back the Bush tax cuts. We must use the government as an agency of good and regulate the more ruthless elements of a free market. If we fail then we must ensure that the government is there, as a safety net, to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.
General Release 5.06.08
Green Party of Tennessee Nominates Lugo for Senate
Nashville, TN: The Green Party of Tennessee has nominated Chris Lugo as their candidate for US Senate in Tennessee this year at their state nominating convention in Nashville held Saturday. Lugo said that he was excited to be representing the most progressive political party in the state of Tennessee, "The Green Party is the most progressive party in the state, and I am glad to be representing them as a candidate for federal office. My views about the environment, the war, health care and education are highly compatible with the ten key values of the Green Party. I hope to represent them well as a candidate and to promote the cause of peace through my campaign."
Lugo had originally been seeking the Democratic nomination in January and was the first to register with the state, but then dropped out of the Democratic nominating process in March, citing strong differences in basic values, "Originally I had considered running as a Democrat. There was no one running because the Governor had scared off all of the front-runners and I felt like this was a good opportunity to promote the peace issue, which I have been advocating for since the spring of 2002. But after actively campaigning as a Democrat for several months I got the sense that the Democrats and myself were not on the same page. I wish the Democrats well and I hope that they come up with a clear anti-war policy this year."
The Green Party has had a long history as an advocate for peace and justice and has issued numerous releases opposing the war in Iraq as well as US intervention in Afghanistan and has condemned the detention of prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay and has spoken out clearly against torture, "The Green Party is really the conscience of this country. They have been working for peace and against war for a long time now. The Democrats voted for the war in Iraq and have voted for every funding appropriation that has come to the Senate since that day."
The US Senate is currently considering extending funding for the war in Iraq with another appropriation of $178 billion dollars for the ongoing occupation of Iraq, "The democrats are dragging their feet on this one and they have been so disappointing since they came to power in 2006. I am glad that they are calling for a troop withdrawal as part of their proposal, but the fact is they are going to vote for spending for billions more for the war. This is the Democrats bait and switch and it isn't the first time they have called for troop withdrawals sometime down the road while voting to spend billions more for war right now."
The Green Party has also been the strong party on environmental issues for over twenty five years, having brought the issues of global warming, public transportation, alternative energy, the oil crisis, the food crisis, corporate agribusiness and species extinction to the public's attention long before being Green was considered fashionable. "Nowadays we have Green Drinks and Green commerce and Carbon credits and people are taking global warming seriously. It looks like everyone is going Green and we have been doing it for over twenty-five years. We are the Green Party and the public is going to need the collective wisdom that this party has developed from its twenty five year commitment to environmental sustainability."
Lugo favors weaning the public off of oil and moving toward a sustainable energy infrastructure. "If you look at my platform you will see that I have been talking about alternatives to oil since I began this campaign. It is clear that the current oil crisis is being driven by tensions in the Middle east and investment speculation in energy commodities. I support legislation to require that big oil begin to invest in sustainable energy. The billions of dollars that are currently being driven into the pockets of investors needs to go into research and development to find alternatives to oil and coal."
The Green Party of Tennessee, which held its nominating convention in Nashville on Saturday, also endorsed John Miglietta, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tennessee State University, as their candidate for the Fifth Congressional District. Miglietta, who is an officer with the Green Party of Middle Tennessee, will be challenging Jim Cooper for the House Seat, which covers most of Davidson County and the surrounding area. "I am happy to have John as a running mate and will be actively campaigning with him when I am in the middle Tennessee area. I also hope to debate the candidates for US Senate who are running this year, including Libertarian candidate Daniel Lewis, Republican incumbent Lamar Alexander and other candidates on the ballot. I believe the voters deserve the opportunity to hear from all the voices in the US Senate race this year and hope the press and civic organizations will allow the opportunity for democracy to be practiced as it was intended."
Chris Lugo will be on the ballot on November 4th, 2008 in the US Senate general election in Tennessee. For more information please visit www.chris4senate.us
General Release 5.01.08
There Is Power in a Union
May 1st marks the international worker's holiday known as May Day, which commemorates the fight for the eight-hour work day. The day was chosen in memory of the Haymarket incident in Chicago in 1886 to honor the struggles of striking workers and the very real threats to their health, safety and even lives that workers have undertake when choosing to exercise the right to organize and form unions.
The right to organize and join a union is a fundamental right, which must be preserved and maintained if we are to keep our nation strong. Unions built this nation and built the standard of living that all Americans today enjoy. With the help of trade unions in the United States, workers were able to gain new rights such as the forty-hour work week, worker's pensions, compensation for injury obtained on the job, and living wages.
Without unions we would look more like the developing world, where workers have few rights, face hazardous job conditions and receive little compensation for their employment. We would not have the strength and innovation that our economy has without the contribution of our workers and we would not have a healthy and inspired workforce without our unions.
Unfortunately union membership rests at 18% of the current labor force, making unions seemingly irrelevant to a vast majority of the workforce. The reasons for this trend, which is historical and long term, are complex. Union membership has declined from its historical highs during the middle of the twentieth century. As workers transitioned out of factory blue collar jobs into the corporate work force union membership was seen as a product of a bygone era, not useful in the corporate culture most middle class workers found themselves in during the post-war era.
In addition to the worker transition from the factory to the boardroom, union-busting strategies became more sophisticated and more pressing. Unions have been painted with a broad brush by the right wing propaganda mill as corrupt, a danger to the business climate, a threat to corporate profits, and a danger to international competitiveness. The trend in the free trade era has been a race to the bottom for wages, labor costs and worker health and safety conditions.
The free trade agreements of the 1980's and 1990's have ensured that an entire generation of Americans will once again have to fight for their rights if they want to have decent working conditions. The same is true of the working class of the developing world, who have been impacted by the same development trends which have affected American workers.
That is why unions matter. They matter because the fundamental reality of the working class is that corporations will always seek to maximize profits. The investing class will always seek the highest profit possible for their investors, and they will always seek to reduce labor costs, which are usually their biggest expenditure. Whether it is exporting hi-tech jobs to India or importing sub-standard goods from sweatshops in China or encouraging low wage immigrant workers to compete with trade jobs in the construction industry, the strategy is the same around the globe.
Unions represent working class solidarity. Regardless of whether you work in a corporate office or a factory or on a farm, there is a union for you. Unions are good not just for workers but they are also good for investors. Unions build strength and pride in a workplace and ensure that workers have a sense of safety and security in their occupation.
As a candidate for federal office I support the right of workers to organize in all occupations. I support the increase of the minimum wage to at least $10.50 an hour plus benefits. I support universal single payer health care for all Americans. I support the withdrawal of the United States from Treaties of Obligation such as NAFTA, CAFTA and the FTAA, which have driven down wages around the world while boosting corporate profits. I support full funding for government agencies designed to protect worker's health and safety.
It has been a long time since those workers stood in the streets of Chicago organizing for basic rights. History has shown us that the right to organize and form unions lifts the boat of all Americans. Unions are a win-win strategy for workers and managers. With unions we have better working conditions, better health and safety conditions, better wages for our workers and increased profits for investors. So let's make America strong and support the right to organize for all Americans.
General Release 4.28.08
Global Ghost Town: Oil Crisis Requires New Vision
There is a crisis happening on a global scale, and we here in the United States of America have a moral responsibility to take action to help alleviate global food prices and ensure that millions of people do not suffer the ill effects of hunger and possibly even starvation. We are all complaining about the high cost of oil these days and how it is impinging on our budget, but in the developing world this is having extreme consequences. The stark reality is that three billion people on the planet earth live on less than $2 a day, and a good portion of that money goes specifically to the purchase of basic food grains to survive. As a result of the skyrocketing price of oil, the price of food grains has risen due to commercial production costs and transportation to as much as $800 a ton for rice which has led to food riots in the developing world.
The reasons for high oil prices are complex, and due to many factors, but we can take steps now to deal with the global oil crisis and help people in the developing world avoid a worsening food crisis. One of the principal factors in the current oil crisis is directly related to the US invasion of Iraq. The war in Iraq, which administration officials believed would lead to democracy and stability has instead resulted in civil war and prolonged military expenditures. The financial uncertainty in the marketplace regarding the instability in the middle east has driven oil prices even higher and the worsening Federal debt, greatly impacted by the hundreds of billions of unpaid dollars committed to the war effort has made the dollar less attractive to global investors, driving down the value of the dollar in relation to global currencies and discouraging investment.
With President Bush refusing to reduce troop commitments below 140,000 and Congress seemingly unable to limit the power of the executive branch to spend money we do not have on a war we do not need, the global markets are losing faith in the security of the dollar and the American economy generally. This situation has been further complicated by the credit crisis which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and displaced as many Americans who are having to scramble for someplace to live. The credit crisis, which was permitted to go on for far too long due to the lack of oversight and failure to enact basic regulatory responsibilities, is another factor contributing to the weakening American dollar globally and lack of faith in the American economy generally.
Then there is the lack of any long-term vision or reasonable central planning in regard to domestic infrastructure and planning for the utilization of limited resources. This is a long-term problem, which is fundamentally an aspect of free trade policies and decades of deregulation and faith in a free market policy to solve all problems. In order to get a grip on the reality of an entire domestic economy that has been oriented toward free market economics imagine the situation of a western gold mining town in the nineteenth century. Many of these boom and bust economies were based on the immediate availability of a limited resource which brought immediate corporate investment, short term economic gain and left long term environmental disasters. In addition, when the gold ran out, almost every gold mining town became a ghost town.
This is the reality of the current oil economy. Regardless of how you look at it is that we are investing in a short-term resource which took millions of years to develop and which we are now burning through in less than a century. If we would like to avoid looking like a global ghost town we must begin to take realistic steps now. The federal government is the only collective entity, which has the infrastructure and collective wisdom to deal with this looming crisis for which we have not to this date made any effective steps toward resolving.
As a candidate for federal office I support investment in the alternative energy infrastructure. We have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in a war we cannot win and in the meantime oil corporations are making record profits at the expense of the working people in this country. I say let's take away their profits by investing in something they cannot profit from. The sun is an unlimited source of energy and the wind is always blowing. Why are we letting the oil companies and their investors get rich while at the same time we are warming the earth with devastating consequences? It is because we have continued to let the powers that be make decisions in Washington which are always in the interest of free market profits without consequences. What we need is to reign in the free market ideology which has driven us to this precipice and begin to use the long term wisdom of a federal government that is looking out for the basic needs of working class people, the environment and the health and well being of everyone on this planet.
When we begin to treat the oil crisis like the problem that it really is and begin to take realistic steps to find ways to power our automobiles, heat our homes, produce our food and generate our electricity the people of the developing world will thank us. We have had one of the strongest economies in the world and we are resourceful and ingenious nation, always up for the challenges that face us. I have faith that we can make the right decisions, but we must take the right steps. We must move away from a free market ideology with respect to energy and specifically oil and look toward government investment in the alternative energy infrastructure. We need to end the war in Iraq and stop acting like there are no consequences for spending hundreds of billions of dollars that we don't actually have. We need to balance the federal budget and restore faith in the economy for the global investment class. We need to address the housing crisis in this country with stronger regulation and no corporate bailouts for Wall Street investment firms that have profited at the expense of the poor. We need to take a second look at how we do our cities and ask if unlimited sprawl is really the best idea for urban development. But most of all, we need to elect representatives to Washington DC and to all levels of government who are going to have a long-term vision and will vote for policies that are in the best interest of our country.
General Release 4.17.08
No Draft. No way.
My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He was an officer in ROTC in 1968 while he was in college and went to Vietnam as a Lieutenant the year I was born. My father felt an obligation to his country and a duty to serve when called. I was born in a snowstorm in rural Minnesota while my father was halfway around the world in the jungles of Vietnam. I am proud of my father and his service to my country. When I was a teenager, going to private Catholic school, I was approached by military recruiters. I was encouraged to join the military and to enlist in the ROTC program, much like my father had been. For whatever reason, I declined. I was not yet a peace activist like I became after the first gulf war, but something in my instincts told me that I could not serve in the military the way my father had served.
In 1990, while I was enrolled at the University of Minnesota, George Bush Sr. began beating the drums of war. I was enrolled in the selective service program at that time in order to get student loans to go to college. I remember clearly the night the bombs began to drop in Iraq for the first time. I was living in the student district of Minneapolis and there had been anti-war activity on campus leading up to the invasion. Students were busy organizing against the campus military center, sometimes called the stockade, holding demonstrations and putting anti-war material in front of the recruiting and training center.
The night of the first bombing and initial invasion in 1991 I witnessed something I had never seen before, a spontaneous anti-war demonstration. Demonstrators began marching from the University district and marched, without a permit, into downtown Minneapolis and over to the uptown district, several thousand people marching a distance of five or six miles. Something about that demonstration vitalized me and helped me to commit to a path of peace. I knew at the time, based on my religious convictions, that I could not kill another human being in the name of my country, no matter what the reason. Although I am no longer a person of faith, I still retain the same conviction to this day and remain a pacifist and committed to the path of non-violence.
I joined the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors at that time and met with a Quaker counselor from the American Friends Service Committee. I decided at that point in my life to begin to serve the path of peace.
My story is only one story of many paths to adulthood. Besides having deep respect for my father and his choices in life, we have something in common, we both had the opportunity to choose how to serve our country. This choice, which has been a mainstay of American life since shortly after the Vietnam war, has never been under greater threat than it is right now. Our military forces are taxed to exhaustion, and a backdoor draft of sort already exists with our national guard reserve. President Bush has chosen to keep one hundred forty thousand troops in Iraq in addition to the thousands already serving in Afghanistan and the hundreds of thousands serving in over one hundred and twenty countries around the world.
Nearly every person in the military today is there because they were able to choose to serve. Regardless of how one feels about the process of military recruitment, the targeting of poor and minority communities, even recruiting persons who are not yet citizens of this country in order to serve, the alternative to this is far worse. I do believe that we need to scale down the size of our military. We cannot afford the extreme financial burden that this military is costing us, both in current expenditures and obligations we have on past expenditures such as debt from previous military expenses which is as yet unpaid and the financial obligations that we have to the health and welfare of our nation's veterans.
There has been talk in the military of reintroducing the draft. It is argued that we cannot afford to keep going the way we are. There has even been speculation that the very reason that our national reserve forces are being taxed to their limits is to reintroduce the draft as a socially acceptable resolution to the current crisis in Iraq. Our military forces are broken. They are being taxed to their limits, but the solution is not the reintroduction of a draft. This war in Iraq was based on lies and manipulation. There is nothing honorable about recruiting unwitting young men in order to support the lies and misdeeds of the current administration.
The solution to the crisis in Iraq is to bring the troops home now. Our national guard has served the country well. They have answered the call to serve, in spite of the betrayals of the current administration, and it is time to bring them home. Then it is time to let our military heal from the current round of conflict. We need a peacetime administration that is focused on using alternatives to violence and warfare in order to solve international conflicts. We need elected representatives who are committed to the path of peace and who are more concerned about the economic crisis at home.
I am still proud of my father and everything he has done. I am also proud of my friends who have chosen not to serve in the military. I am proud of the peace activists I know who have chosen to serve their country and the world to promote the cause of peace. I believe that there can be reconciliation and understanding between these two very different communities, each choosing to serve in the way they believe is best. The act of choosing is one of the most important rites of transitioning into adult life. Don't our children deserve the opportunity to explore all the alternatives that life has to offer them, in education, in job training, in community service? We don't need another draft. What we need is a new outlook on our government.
We need a government that is dedicated to the idea that serving the people is the highest priority. A draft will only reinforce the idea that Americans are cannon fodder for greedy warmongers who can't make good foreign policy decisions and then need to sacrifice American lives in order to cover for their terrible decisions. Instead of investing more money in war let's invest it in peace. Let's make sure that every American graduates from high school. Let's take the money that we would spend on guns and spend that money on health care. Let's take the money that we would spend on military bases halfway around the world and spend that money on our own domestic infrastructure. Let's take the money that we would spend on bombs and spend that money on social security. Finally, let's take the money that we would spend on training our young men and women to be soldiers and instead spend that money on training them to be teachers, doctors and engineers.
We can lift this nation out of poverty. We can find alternatives to warfare and violence. We can solve our international problems without invading foreign countries and occupying them. We can have peace and security at home without resorting to a draft. It is time for us to take the steps towards peace that we have been waiting to take. It is time to look at real solutions to the economic crisis facing this country. It is time to restore the honor and dignity that is the soul of this nation. I believe we can do this. All we need is the leadership and the representation to make the right decisions in Washington DC. Let's take the first steps toward becoming the people that we deserve to be by resisting talk of a draft and instead let’s bring the troops home now.
General Release 4.15.08
Fair Elections Now
There is a scar on the constitution that is deep and growing. That scar is bleeding money and the bigger the wound gets the more the money flows out. Our society is fundamentally rooted in the concept of representational government, but the simple reality of current election financing ensures that those being represented are the wealthy and powerful, excluding the vast majority of Americans from a seat at the table. What is needed to stitch the wounds of the constitution is a medical kit complete with the surgical tools that will remove the abscess of 'government to the highest bidder'. The Fair Elections Now Act, which is currently under consideration in the Senate, will help to restore a sense of balance and propriety to an election process that has been sold out to the private interests of a privileged minority of the electorate.
In March 2007, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced the Fair Elections Now Act (S. 1285), legislation that would bring full public financing of elections to the Senate. According to the website, Fair Elections Now, this legislation is modeled on the successful public financing systems in place in seven states and two cities. Under these programs, candidates who give up all private donations receive full public funding for their campaigns once they reach a threshold amount in small contributions, and when Fair Elections candidates are outspent by their privately financed opponents or attacked by independent expenditures, they receive additional funds to maintain a level playing field.
The need for fair elections has never been greater. This act would help to build confidence in a process which has been losing public confidence in recent years by allowing qualified candidates to receive public financing instead of receiving money from lobbyists. Americans growing distrust of Washington politics is in large part due to the influence of special interests on the decision making process. The Fair Elections Now Act would provide a voluntary alternative for candidates to free them from a system of campaign fundraising that forces candidates to pay more attention to country club fundraisers and corporate lobbyists than any other group. This has skewed the process of representation in Washington DC and undermined public confidence in our elected leaders.
By providing a voluntary system for candidates to opt out of the dirty money rat race, the Fair Elections Act will ensure that public dollars go to work for ordinary, everyday Americans. Because the process is voluntary, those candidates who are addicted to private, big money dollars can continue to feed their never ending appetite without pushing other candidates out of the running. Those who choose to participate would qualify by showing they can raise small contributions from a set number of state residents based on the population of the state. Once they have demonstrated their viability as a candidate they would be eligible for Fair Elections funds. During the course of the campaign season candidates would receive higher funding if non-participating opponents receive funds in excess of the allocations provided by the Fair Election system. Participants would also receive vouchers for purchasing airtime and would receive a 20 percent discount below the lowest unit cost on all advertising purchased near the end of the primary and during the general election campaign.
The Fair Elections Act is an idea whose time has come. With Senate candidates needing to earn an average of $13,000 a day from the day they are elected until the day of the next election, six years later, it is no surprise that a majority of those in the Senate today are millionaires. You practically have to be a millionaire in today's political climate in order to get to Washington DC. Is it no surprise that at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are risking foreclosure and homelessness, politicians seem to be more concerned with bailing out Wall Street investment firms with taxpayer dollars? It is time to protect our constitution from the undue influence of a wealthy minority who have compromised and weakened our democratic process. It is time to restore dignity and trust to the Congress by ensuring that the most qualified candidates are elected to public office rather than those with the most private money. We can heal the scars which have been created by decades of abuse and restore confidence and fair play to our representative government. Together we can renew the sense that our constitution is of the people, by the people and for the people.
General Release 4.10.08
Imagining a World Without Nuclear Weapons
It has been almost forty years since the United States signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and now is the time to begin to live up to the spirit of that treaty. The NPT has been signed by 189 nations and was intended as a framework to move the world toward both the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the eventual dismantlement of weapons of mass destruction. In our time, these instruments of genocide and apocalypse have hung over our heads like an angel of death, haunting the vast majority of our foreign policy decisions and at times pushing the planet to the edge of nuclear war.
It has been a long time since anyone felt the conscious threat of global thermonuclear war like the kind of visions of destruction that seemed to capture popular consciousness in the 1980's, but the reality of those weapons and their threat still looms large over foreign policy decisions, and now is the time to begin to take concrete steps toward dismantlement and destruction, before it is too late. Right now, while our world is at relative peace regarding global threats to security, right now, while the United States has the will and the leadership, right now, while the generation which dedicated itself to peace and social justice has the vision and the determination, right now is the time to dismantle our own weapons of mass destruction.
This may seem like a dangerous idea to some. Many Americans cannot imagine a world without nuclear weapons. I myself know that many people feel that our only real security lies in this superior construction of Armageddon, but the fact is that we are the greatest threat to world security right now. In spite of our ideals, in spite of the spirit of our democratic tradition, there is nothing democratic, there is no message of freedom in our collection of weapons of mass destruction. Just like a drug addict who needs his fix, we still crave the power that comes from the threat and fear that these weapons generate.
There are no words to honestly describe our condition. We stand at a moment in history that is generally unique. We have never before faced a time when our cleverness and our own skills as a society can lead to our complete undoing. This is the reality that these weapons generate. They are instruments not of democracy, but of tyranny. They are not agents of peace, but rather agents of total destruction and we have a moral obligation to dismantle these weapons of destruction and live up to the spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that we signed almost forty years ago.
We can live in a world of peace, if we take concrete steps now to live up to our better selves. It is possible to resolve international conflicts without threatening to completely destroy other cultures, other peoples. We have the collective intelligence to create a more meaningful future for ourselves and our future generations. By investing in our domestic infrastructure, by supporting fair trade policies, by creating universal health care, by offering meaningful access to education at all levels in our society, by investing in alternative energy and moving away from our addiction to oil, by supporting the international community, by investing in programs to support the global south, by divesting in war and violence as the only solution to international conflict and by dismantling our weapons of mass destruction we can move toward the kind of world that Martin Luther King Jr. imagined nearly forty years ago.
Forty years after the NPT is only two generations. Let's not wait even one more before we rid ourselves of these instruments of global genocide. If you care about peace and want to make a statement that will be heard by people around the world then I would like to encourage you to come to Oak Ridge, Tennessee this Sunday, April 13th for the twentieth anniversary of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance public demonstration for peace. Oak Ridge is the home of the only atomic bombs ever used on a human population. Constructed between 1942-45, the bombs manufactured in Eastern Tennessee were used to killed tens of thousands of civilians in 1945. Since that time Oak Ridge has continued to play an instrumental role in the production and maintenance of America's nuclear weapons complex.
On April 13th hundreds of people will gather in Oak Ridge to march to the gates of the Y-12 facility and call for an end to the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction. They will also call for a plan to clean up the oak ridge environment, which has been polluted by decades of abuse and a plan for dismantling our nuclear weapons infrastructure. Some people may feel so strongly about this event that they will engage in non-violent civil disobedience to express their concern for humanity and our children's future. Others will protest in a law abiding fashion but with no less intent and concern for the future generations of this planet. I hope you can join us. For more information please visit the website www.stopthebombs.org.
Upcoming Events: If you are in the Oak Ridge area on Saturday night, April 12th at 8 PM you are invited to 447 East Drive, Oak Ridge for a meet the candidate event. I will be on hand to answer questions on various issues and meet voters and supporters. Food and refreshments will be provided. I will also be at the Oak Ridge Earth Day Celebration, which takes place between 12 and 5 PM on Saturday.
General Release 4.4.08
Veterans Deserve Quality Health Care
Our military veterans have served the nation honorably, and deserve the best treatment we can give them. Regardless of how one feels about the current policy of the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq, our veterans deserve our respect and gratitude for their service to the country. They chose to serve out of a sense of obligation, duty and often times a desire to improve their circumstances in life. The current war in Iraq has produced a high rate of disabled veterans who have been injured and wounded in the line of duty. This is in large part due to the advancement in treating combat related injuries in the field and the speed at whcih the wounded are moved out of the field of service to hospitals and critical care units.
In the United States, of our nation's 25 million veterans, about ten percent are currently considered disabled. That is about 2.5 million people who have served the country, been wounded either in combat or in the the line of duty and are currently dependent on the care of the TRICARE system for their health care benefits. In addition there are almost ten million retired veterans in this country receiving retirement benefits. We are currently spending about sixty billion dollars a year on veteran's benefits for all of our nation's veterans and twenty billion for our nation's wounded and disabled veterans.
When our servicemembers are recruited to join the military, they are made the promise of health care for life, and benefits for themselves and their families in exchange for answering the call to serve our country. These health care benefits are earned not only through the promise that we have made them as a nation, but also through the suppression in their pay and the intangibles represented by "total military compensation" which is the pormise of retirement benefits being available to the military and their families.
Last year, a task force on the future of military health care began looking at the situation of military retirees, who are increasingly being called upon to pay for more of their benefits. These benefits have been earned through their tours of duty and their service to our country, and it is up to us, as taxpayers, to honor that promise that has been made to our service members. This trust has been broken and veterans are concerned. Perhaps the most outrageous request coming from the Pentagon has been the call for increasing the enrollment fees in both TRICARE and TRICARE FOR LIFE, which is the primary system by which veteran's receive their military health benefits.
This situation needs to be addressed. We cannot leave our nation's veterans hanging on the edge. Many of our veterans are homeless and living in the streets. Others are living on marginal incomes and in poverty. This is not the promise we made our young men and women made when they answered the call to serve our country. These increases in the cost of health care are a burden that many cannot afford to pay, and we cannot afford to betray the trust of those who have served. It is time to bring the troops home from Iraq and stop funnelling hundreds of billions of dollars into an illegal war that is draining our nation's treasury. It is time to remember the promises that were made to those who came to the defense of our country and to give the military health system the funding priority that it needs.
General Release 4.01.08
No More Secret Governments
I am proud to be an American, but I am ashamed of what the government is doing in my name. We are living in a country that openly discusses torture as acceptable government policy, which debates whether or not to grant immunity to corporations that spy on Americans, that invades foreign countries in violation of international law and that grants huge profits to private corporations which hire mercenaries to kill innocent women and children with immunity in foreign countries. How did we end up on this path of secrecy, torture, foreign invasion and war profiteering?
I believe that we took the first steps towards a secret government in 2001 with the passage of Executive Order 13233 which allows current and previous presidents to withhold documents and records without explanation indefinitely. This unprecedented expansion of power stands in direct opposition to the Freedom of Information Act and the US Constitution. Presidential records should be the property of the public and our right to know should be fundamental right of the people and not the president.
Executive Order 13233 states that presidential records may be withheld from the general public, including Freedom of Infomation Act requests, for decisions that are related to war, diplomacy, national security, legal advice, presidential communications, and the deliberative process of a president and his advisors. These types of communications are considered to be "presidential privileges" and not subject to open public scrutiny or public disclosure. This means that unless Congress acts, we may never know exactly how this administration decided to torture innocent civilians, how they decided it was acceptable to spy on Americans, or how they decided to give billions of dollars to war profiteering corporations.
This means we cannot decide if the President violated the law or if members of his administration knowingly violated the law. It is important, if we are to be a dignified nation, an honorable nation, to know how our elected representatives and their advisors came to make decisions which reflect the body politic. We live in an open society, and the decisions that our representatives make reflect upon us all. This is why it is vital to know what our representatives are thinking and what they are doing. If we don't, then we might as well admit that there is a secret government, unaccountable, acting without our consent.
In America, the government belongs to the people. Inherent in our system of self-government is the idea that the People have the right to know what our government and government officials are doing and to hold them accountable for their actions. Americans want to know why the Bush administration thinks it is acceptable to spy on her own citizens. We want to know who fabricated the weapons of mass destruction myth that was the agency of war in Iraq. These decisions have cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars, and more tragically, thousands of American lives. Thomas Jefferson once said that information is the currency of democracy. That is why it is time to overturn Executive Order 13233 and restore dignity and trust to the American people.
I am proud to be an American, but I am ashamed of what the government is doing in my name. We are living in a country that openly discusses torture as acceptable government policy, which debates whether or not to grant immunity to corporations that spy on Americans, that invades foreign countries in violation of international law and that grants huge profits to private corporations which hire mercenaries to kill innocent women and children with immunity in foreign countries. How did we end up on this path of secrecy, torture, foreign invasion and war profiteering?
I believe that we took the first steps towards a secret government in 2001 with the passage of Executive Order 13233 which allows current and previous presidents to withhold documents and records without explanation indefinitely. This unprecedented expansion of power stands in direct opposition to the Freedom of Information Act and the US Constitution. Presidential records should be the property of the public and our right to know should be fundamental right of the people and not the president.
Executive Order 13233 states that presidential records may be withheld from the general public, including Freedom of Infomation Act requests, for decisions that are related to war, diplomacy, national security, legal advice, presidential communications, and the deliberative process of a president and his advisors. These types of communications are considered to be "presidential privileges" and not subject to open public scrutiny or public disclosure. This means that unless Congress acts, we may never know exactly how this administration decided to torture innocent civilians, how they decided it was acceptable to spy on Americans, or how they decided to give billions of dollars to war profiteering corporations.
This means we cannot decide if the President violated the law or if members of his administration knowingly violated the law. It is important, if we are to be a dignified nation, an honorable nation, to know how our elected representatives and their advisors came to make decisions which reflect the body politic. We live in an open society, and the decisions that our representatives make reflect upon us all. This is why it is vital to know what our representatives are thinking and what they are doing. If we don't, then we might as well admit that there is a secret government, unaccountable, acting without our consent.
In America, the government belongs to the people. Inherent in our system of self-government is the idea that the People have the right to know what our government and government officials are doing and to hold them accountable for their actions. Americans want to know why the Bush administration thinks it is acceptable to spy on her own citizens. We want to know who fabricated the weapons of mass destruction myth that was the agency of war in Iraq. These decisions have cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars, and more tragically, thousands of American lives. Thomas Jefferson once said that information is the currency of democracy. That is why it is time to overturn Executive Order 13233 and restore dignity and trust to the American people.
General Release 3.28.08
Tibetan Crackdown Demands an International Response
In the United States we take for granted freedoms and privileges which people around the world are struggling to attain for themselves. Among these freedoms is the right of assembly, the right to the exercise of free speech, the freedom of travel and the right to self-determination. These freedoms were hard won through the struggle for equal rights, which is continuing to this day.
These freedoms that we have are not perfect, and the history of our exercise in democracy is not perfect. A simple examination of the legacy of racism and slavery provides a clear example of the denial of these freedoms almost to this day. The treatment of native americans, immigrants, women, people of color and other minorities clearly illustrates that the rights and privileges enshrined in our constitution and body of law are not guaranteed, but must be fought for, often in the face of years or even decades of difficult, painful struggle. In spite of this analysis, the fact is that there is a path to self-determination and human rights. We as a nation are at our best when we are promoting human rights and basic democratic freedoms.
In March, there was an event that happened halfway around the world, which is beginning to awaken international consciousness. High on the plain of the Indian subcontinent on the tallest elevated plateau in the world on some of the most beautiful land on earth a deeply spiritual nation called Tibet asserted its right to freedom, to self determination, to autonomy and to basic democratic rights. Tibet has been an occupied nation for nearly half a century. Annexed by China during the reign of Mao, Tibet has suffered numerous and grievous human rights abuses during the occupation by China. Tens of thousands of Tibetans have been killed. Thousands have been jailed and disappeared. The government of Tibet has been sent into exile and the spiritual center of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, has lived in exile for most of his life.
Here in the United States we benefit to a large extent from our relations with China, and it is time for us to call in some favors. China has benefited from its economic relationship with the west, which is driving its economic rebirth and steps toward modernization and development. This growth is driven by cheap goods, massive industrialization, international trade agreements and economic liberalization. In spite of this economic liberalization, China is still riddled with the contradictions of centralized state control and the basic denial of human rights, which comes out of the framework of centralized state control.
In the United States we have a moral responsibility to speak out for the people who cannot speak for themselves. Right now, the people of Tibet are suffering terribly for wanting their basic human rights. They want to worship in a manner suitable to their culture. They want the freedom of assembly and the right to free speech. They want political autonomy from China. They want to live free from the fear of being tortured and imprisoned for expressing dissent. We have a responsibility to listen to these thousands of monks and ordinary citizens calling for freedom.
As a candidate for federal office, I would like to urge you to take steps to let China know that the people of Tibet deserve basic human rights. If China does not call off its troops, release prisoners who have been imprisoned simply for expressing their desire for freedom, reinstate the Dalai Lama as the cultural and spiritual leader of Tibet, and grant Tibet autonomy within China, then we will not buy products made in China.
I would encourage you to look at where the next cheap product you buy is made, and if it is made in China, then I would encourage you not to buy it, until China grants Tibet basic human rights. Additionally, as a federal candidate I support a boycott of official US participation in the 2008 Olympics. The people of Tibet have spoken, and it is time for us to listen. Through non-violent methods we have the tools and resources to pressure China to move into the twenty first century. China is enthusiastic to show the world her material progress. It is up to us to help nudge China toward democratic progress as well.
If you are in Nashville I would like to encourage you to attend a rally for human rights in Tibet this Sunday, March 30th at 1pm at the Nashville Courthouse. The rally, entitled “One Human Race,” is a response to recent reports of violence in Tibet that began on March 10th – a day known to Tibetans as Uprising Day, when the country revolted in 1959 against the Chinese invasion of 1950. News reports have suggested that the violence in Tibetan and Chinese provinces comes at a time when China is working expeditiously to portray a clean image for the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing.
But the social unrest paints a different picture, calling the world’s attention to a brutal decades-long history of Chinese rule in Tibet, in which approximately 1.3 million Tibetans (1/5th of the population) have died due to violence and starvation. Nashville’s “One Human Race” rally will emphasize the need for basic human rights in Tibet, and a negotiated settlement between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders that will result in a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people. The rally will also call for dignity, justice and equality for all people in all lands.
“One Human Race” will gather together Nashville-area artists, activists, and educators to rally for religious and cultural freedom in Tibet and beyond. Speakers from various faith communities will unite together to share stories and poems by Tibetan exiles, and call for social justice. Activities will include meditation, prayer, information-exchange, art for kids and adults, dance and music. Parking will be available on the street and in the Courthouse garage (free on Sundays). This event is supported by Project Giving Justice, Tropic Heat Studios, Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, Homeless Power Project and members of the Nashville Peace Coalition and Peace and Justice Center.
Following the rally, THE CRY OF THE SNOW LION, a film about Tibet, will be shown on Sunday, March 30 at 7PM at Cafe Outloud, 1707 Church St., Nashville. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Ngawang Losel.
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/onehumanracejustice, onehumanrace.justice@gmail.com, (615) 469-2584 (Office) or (615) 512-0161 (Dan Beck/cell)
In the United States we take for granted freedoms and privileges which people around the world are struggling to attain for themselves. Among these freedoms is the right of assembly, the right to the exercise of free speech, the freedom of travel and the right to self-determination. These freedoms were hard won through the struggle for equal rights, which is continuing to this day.
These freedoms that we have are not perfect, and the history of our exercise in democracy is not perfect. A simple examination of the legacy of racism and slavery provides a clear example of the denial of these freedoms almost to this day. The treatment of native americans, immigrants, women, people of color and other minorities clearly illustrates that the rights and privileges enshrined in our constitution and body of law are not guaranteed, but must be fought for, often in the face of years or even decades of difficult, painful struggle. In spite of this analysis, the fact is that there is a path to self-determination and human rights. We as a nation are at our best when we are promoting human rights and basic democratic freedoms.
In March, there was an event that happened halfway around the world, which is beginning to awaken international consciousness. High on the plain of the Indian subcontinent on the tallest elevated plateau in the world on some of the most beautiful land on earth a deeply spiritual nation called Tibet asserted its right to freedom, to self determination, to autonomy and to basic democratic rights. Tibet has been an occupied nation for nearly half a century. Annexed by China during the reign of Mao, Tibet has suffered numerous and grievous human rights abuses during the occupation by China. Tens of thousands of Tibetans have been killed. Thousands have been jailed and disappeared. The government of Tibet has been sent into exile and the spiritual center of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, has lived in exile for most of his life.
Here in the United States we benefit to a large extent from our relations with China, and it is time for us to call in some favors. China has benefited from its economic relationship with the west, which is driving its economic rebirth and steps toward modernization and development. This growth is driven by cheap goods, massive industrialization, international trade agreements and economic liberalization. In spite of this economic liberalization, China is still riddled with the contradictions of centralized state control and the basic denial of human rights, which comes out of the framework of centralized state control.
In the United States we have a moral responsibility to speak out for the people who cannot speak for themselves. Right now, the people of Tibet are suffering terribly for wanting their basic human rights. They want to worship in a manner suitable to their culture. They want the freedom of assembly and the right to free speech. They want political autonomy from China. They want to live free from the fear of being tortured and imprisoned for expressing dissent. We have a responsibility to listen to these thousands of monks and ordinary citizens calling for freedom.
As a candidate for federal office, I would like to urge you to take steps to let China know that the people of Tibet deserve basic human rights. If China does not call off its troops, release prisoners who have been imprisoned simply for expressing their desire for freedom, reinstate the Dalai Lama as the cultural and spiritual leader of Tibet, and grant Tibet autonomy within China, then we will not buy products made in China.
I would encourage you to look at where the next cheap product you buy is made, and if it is made in China, then I would encourage you not to buy it, until China grants Tibet basic human rights. Additionally, as a federal candidate I support a boycott of official US participation in the 2008 Olympics. The people of Tibet have spoken, and it is time for us to listen. Through non-violent methods we have the tools and resources to pressure China to move into the twenty first century. China is enthusiastic to show the world her material progress. It is up to us to help nudge China toward democratic progress as well.
If you are in Nashville I would like to encourage you to attend a rally for human rights in Tibet this Sunday, March 30th at 1pm at the Nashville Courthouse. The rally, entitled “One Human Race,” is a response to recent reports of violence in Tibet that began on March 10th – a day known to Tibetans as Uprising Day, when the country revolted in 1959 against the Chinese invasion of 1950. News reports have suggested that the violence in Tibetan and Chinese provinces comes at a time when China is working expeditiously to portray a clean image for the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing.
But the social unrest paints a different picture, calling the world’s attention to a brutal decades-long history of Chinese rule in Tibet, in which approximately 1.3 million Tibetans (1/5th of the population) have died due to violence and starvation. Nashville’s “One Human Race” rally will emphasize the need for basic human rights in Tibet, and a negotiated settlement between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders that will result in a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people. The rally will also call for dignity, justice and equality for all people in all lands.
“One Human Race” will gather together Nashville-area artists, activists, and educators to rally for religious and cultural freedom in Tibet and beyond. Speakers from various faith communities will unite together to share stories and poems by Tibetan exiles, and call for social justice. Activities will include meditation, prayer, information-exchange, art for kids and adults, dance and music. Parking will be available on the street and in the Courthouse garage (free on Sundays). This event is supported by Project Giving Justice, Tropic Heat Studios, Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, Homeless Power Project and members of the Nashville Peace Coalition and Peace and Justice Center.
Following the rally, THE CRY OF THE SNOW LION, a film about Tibet, will be shown on Sunday, March 30 at 7PM at Cafe Outloud, 1707 Church St., Nashville. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Ngawang Losel.
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/onehumanracejustice, onehumanrace.justice@gmail.com, (615) 469-2584 (Office) or (615) 512-0161 (Dan Beck/cell)
General Release 3.26.08
Women Deserve the Right to Choose
The federally protected right for women to choose to have an abortion is facing the greatest threat to its continued existence since it was implemented in 1973. History shows that women's rights to the autonomy of their bodies and their right to privacy is fundamental to women's progress. States are attempting to do an end run around the federal government by passing anti-choice legislation in lieu of expectant Supreme Court decisions regarding federal protections for women. According to the Feminist Majority, nine states may have anti-abortion measures on the ballot this November. These so-called "personhood initiatives" threaten not only abortion, but also certain methods of birth control.
Last year the Freedom of Choice Act was introduced into the US Senate, this act states that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. This is the type of legislation that is necessary in order to ensure that women's rights are protected in this society. With a politically stacked Supreme Court leaning toward invalidating Roe with decisions such as the abortion ban in Gonzales vs. Carhart, it is clear that the Supreme Court does not care about the health and safety of women.
This is why the federally protected right for women to choose must remain a federal right. This is why it matters who you elect to federal office. The current anti-woman policies have been the direct result of years of ideologically driven legislation dictated by neo-conservative ideology which is rooted in archaic principles regarding the role and status of women as child-bearers and homemakers. The recent anti-abortion ruling in Gonzales vs. Carhart already puts the health and safety of women at risk, and this is only the beginning if we do not elect representatives who will uphold the rights of women. The right to a safe and legal abortion is being chipped away and it is essential to act now to preserve women's rights and women's lives.
I believe that a woman's right to choose is a fundamental right of women, therefore, as a candidate I promise that I will work to do everything in my power to keep abortion safe and legal for all women, not just those in 'safe states' where abortion would be kept legal. Additionally, I will work to ensure that abortion remain a federal right, and that poor women have access to federal dollars in the event of need which is a right many women have not had access to for many years. I will also support affirmative action and equal opportunity for women at all levels of employment, both in government and in the private economy.
Women Deserve the Right to Choose
The federally protected right for women to choose to have an abortion is facing the greatest threat to its continued existence since it was implemented in 1973. History shows that women's rights to the autonomy of their bodies and their right to privacy is fundamental to women's progress. States are attempting to do an end run around the federal government by passing anti-choice legislation in lieu of expectant Supreme Court decisions regarding federal protections for women. According to the Feminist Majority, nine states may have anti-abortion measures on the ballot this November. These so-called "personhood initiatives" threaten not only abortion, but also certain methods of birth control.
Last year the Freedom of Choice Act was introduced into the US Senate, this act states that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman. This is the type of legislation that is necessary in order to ensure that women's rights are protected in this society. With a politically stacked Supreme Court leaning toward invalidating Roe with decisions such as the abortion ban in Gonzales vs. Carhart, it is clear that the Supreme Court does not care about the health and safety of women.
This is why the federally protected right for women to choose must remain a federal right. This is why it matters who you elect to federal office. The current anti-woman policies have been the direct result of years of ideologically driven legislation dictated by neo-conservative ideology which is rooted in archaic principles regarding the role and status of women as child-bearers and homemakers. The recent anti-abortion ruling in Gonzales vs. Carhart already puts the health and safety of women at risk, and this is only the beginning if we do not elect representatives who will uphold the rights of women. The right to a safe and legal abortion is being chipped away and it is essential to act now to preserve women's rights and women's lives.
I believe that a woman's right to choose is a fundamental right of women, therefore, as a candidate I promise that I will work to do everything in my power to keep abortion safe and legal for all women, not just those in 'safe states' where abortion would be kept legal. Additionally, I will work to ensure that abortion remain a federal right, and that poor women have access to federal dollars in the event of need which is a right many women have not had access to for many years. I will also support affirmative action and equal opportunity for women at all levels of employment, both in government and in the private economy.
General Release 3.24.08
Vigil Marking the 4,000th US Soldier Killed in Iraq
Nashville, TN: On Sunday, March 23rd the grim milestone of 4,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq was reached when four US soldiers were killed by an IED in Baghdad. In memory of this event I will be joining members of the Nashville Peace Coalition in front of the Federal Building on Monday, March 24th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm to remember the all those killed in the war, including an estimated 89,000 Iraqis according to the website Iraq Body Count, although the truth is that no one knows exactly how many Iraqis have been killed and some estimates are as are as high as 600,000 to 1.1 million people.
I have participated in vigils to mark the milestone of every 1,000 US soldiers killed on three occassions since the start of the Iraqi occupation and have also helped to organize vigils and demonstrations to call for an end to the war in Iraq and a withdrawal of US armed forces. As a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition I recently participated in three events to mark the five year anniversary of the war in Iraq, including a protest on the visit of President Bush to Opryland on March 11th, a peace rally at Bicentennial Mall on March 15th and a street protest coordinated by Moveon.org on the actual anniversary of the start of the war on March 19th.
It is particularly sad that we have been so busy these past two weeks. I wish that our actions alone could bring an end to this war but it is going to take the concerted will of the Congress to reverse the terrible decision of the Bush administration to lead us to war. We must elect people who will speak out for peace and against war. As a candidate for federal office I support a federal level department of peace and nonviolence. I support a drastic reduction in the military budget and an immediate withdrawal of all US armed forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems particularly sad that we have reached this milestone. I had hoped that it wouldn't come, but it has and I am going to be standing in front of the federal building to memorialize this occassion along with other concerned citizens of middle Tennessee.
I am proud to be a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition which has been working diligently for seven years to promote alternatives to violence, war and occupation. The peace coalition is made of representatives of Veterans for Peace, the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, Peace Roots Alliance as well as supporters of the Democratic party, the Green Party and members of various faith traditions all working together for peace. As a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition I will not be standing on the street on Monday to make a political statement. Instead I will be standing in vigil, remembering those who have been killed, both American and Iraqi and calling for congress to bring the troops home now.
Nashville, TN: On Sunday, March 23rd the grim milestone of 4,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq was reached when four US soldiers were killed by an IED in Baghdad. In memory of this event I will be joining members of the Nashville Peace Coalition in front of the Federal Building on Monday, March 24th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm to remember the all those killed in the war, including an estimated 89,000 Iraqis according to the website Iraq Body Count, although the truth is that no one knows exactly how many Iraqis have been killed and some estimates are as are as high as 600,000 to 1.1 million people.
I have participated in vigils to mark the milestone of every 1,000 US soldiers killed on three occassions since the start of the Iraqi occupation and have also helped to organize vigils and demonstrations to call for an end to the war in Iraq and a withdrawal of US armed forces. As a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition I recently participated in three events to mark the five year anniversary of the war in Iraq, including a protest on the visit of President Bush to Opryland on March 11th, a peace rally at Bicentennial Mall on March 15th and a street protest coordinated by Moveon.org on the actual anniversary of the start of the war on March 19th.
It is particularly sad that we have been so busy these past two weeks. I wish that our actions alone could bring an end to this war but it is going to take the concerted will of the Congress to reverse the terrible decision of the Bush administration to lead us to war. We must elect people who will speak out for peace and against war. As a candidate for federal office I support a federal level department of peace and nonviolence. I support a drastic reduction in the military budget and an immediate withdrawal of all US armed forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems particularly sad that we have reached this milestone. I had hoped that it wouldn't come, but it has and I am going to be standing in front of the federal building to memorialize this occassion along with other concerned citizens of middle Tennessee.
I am proud to be a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition which has been working diligently for seven years to promote alternatives to violence, war and occupation. The peace coalition is made of representatives of Veterans for Peace, the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, Peace Roots Alliance as well as supporters of the Democratic party, the Green Party and members of various faith traditions all working together for peace. As a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition I will not be standing on the street on Monday to make a political statement. Instead I will be standing in vigil, remembering those who have been killed, both American and Iraqi and calling for congress to bring the troops home now.
from Progressive Nashville
March 21, 2008
Lugo out; says Democrats not ready to leave Iraq
March 21, 2008
Lugo out; says Democrats not ready to leave Iraq
Chris Lugo is leaving the race for U.S. Senate as a Democrat and says he will try to re-enter on the Green ticket or as an independent.
Lugo says his primary issue in the campaign has been to end the occupation of Iraq, but he doesn't believe the Democratic Party is behind that goal.
"Personally I think the Democrats are in a better position to do some good than the Republicans, but I don't think the Democrats are ready yet to do the right thing. I had hoped that by running I might help push the dialogue on the peace issue, but the Democrats didn't really seem to be interested. So I am going to go back to my roots as a progressive and seek the nomination of the Green Party which has a stronger position on the issue of peace and a generally more progressive platform all round," Lugo said in a release.
Lugo also says he would welcome a debate that includes him, Democratic candidate Bob Tuke and incumbent Republican Lamar Alexander.
"I look forward to an opportunity to debate Tuke or Alexander on issues like universal single payer health care, bringing the troops home now, reducing the military budget, dismantling weapons of mass destruction or taking significant steps right now to reduce global warming. I think Tennesseans deserve the opportunity to hear from all the candidates and then cast their vote once they have made the most informed decisions possible," Lugo said.
Chris Lugo deserves respect for his showing so far in this campaign. A long-time Green candidate, he entered the Democratic race when no one else seemed interested in challenging Alexander. Lugo's willingness to force Alexander to deal with the Democratic position is commendable.
With Tuke now in the race, Lugo's chances as a Democrat are much more limited and returning to his Green Party roots makes political sense. It also gives him the chance to continue to press the issues he feels are important.
The two party stranglehold on this country can only be mitigated if others stand up and challenge the comfortable system they have created. Lugo and the hundreds of candidates around the country that make the sacrifice against seemingly impossible odds deserve our attention and our respect.
-- Jim Grinstead
General Release 3.21.08
Peace Candidate Chris Lugo Withdraws from Democratic Primary Race
Declares Intention to Run Independent or Green Party
Nashville, TN: US Senate candidate Chris Lugo has announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy from the democratic primary race August 7th in Tennessee and will instead run as an independent candidate or seek the green party nomination at their convention May 3rd in Nashville. Calling his campaign a referendum on the war, Lugo said that the democrats are sitting on the fence and he didn't think that continuing to run as a democrat would be a good fit for his campaign. "I am running for office because I want to end the war in Iraq. It is time to bring the troops home and acknowledge the terrible injustice that we have caused. It is time to stop rationalizing our wasteful military spending and abuse of the national trust in the name of a war that never should have happened. We have lost too many good people with no clear objective. We are basically repeating the mistakes of Vietnam."
Lugo said that after running as a democrat for three months his sense was that they are not ready to end the war. "Personally I think the democrats are in a better position to do some good than the republicans, but I don't think the democrats are ready yet to do the right thing. I had hoped that by running I might help push the dialogue on the peace issue, but the democrats didn't really seem to be interested. So I am going to go back to my roots as a progressive and seek the nomination of the green party which has a stronger position on the issue of peace and a generally more progressive platform all around."
According to a recent poll, about 47% of Americans say that the we should stay the course in Iraq, citing the need to stay and take care of the situation that has been created by ongoing US occupation. In contrast, Lugo feels that the troops should be withdrawn immediately. "I was listening to General Abizaid speak this week at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He was talking about our need to protect America by being in Iraq. This is the basic problem. We are not protecting America by occupying Iraq. Iraq did not attack the United States. We attacked them. If anything we have made ourselves more insecure by occupying Iraq. We have created wounds that will take generations to heal. We have made enemies who will not forget us in their lifetime."
Citing a lack of interest in the peace issue within the democratic party, Lugo said that he was going in a different direction. "I am all for dialogue and debate on the issues, but it seems clear to me that the democratic party is not on board regarding this issue. For me the war is a moral issue of profound significance. I don't think that we can remain in Iraq and consider ourselves to be a moral nation or a righteous country. We have already violated international law and basic decency by attacking a country that was significantly weaker than us and occupying it with no clear mandate. I don't think the democratic party in Tennessee sees this issue the same way I do."
Lugo said that he wishes democratic frontrunner Bob Tuke all the best and looks forward to an opportunity to debate him and Lamar Alexander during the election season. "I have filed my papers as an independent candidate and will seek the green party nomination. I look forward to an opportunity to debate Tuke or Alexander on issues like universal single payer health care, bringing the troops home now, reducing the military budget, dismantling weapons of mass destruction or taking significant steps right now to reduce global warming. I think Tennesseans deserve the opportunity to hear from all the candidates and then cast their vote once they have made the most informed decisions possible."
Declares Intention to Run Independent or Green Party
Nashville, TN: US Senate candidate Chris Lugo has announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy from the democratic primary race August 7th in Tennessee and will instead run as an independent candidate or seek the green party nomination at their convention May 3rd in Nashville. Calling his campaign a referendum on the war, Lugo said that the democrats are sitting on the fence and he didn't think that continuing to run as a democrat would be a good fit for his campaign. "I am running for office because I want to end the war in Iraq. It is time to bring the troops home and acknowledge the terrible injustice that we have caused. It is time to stop rationalizing our wasteful military spending and abuse of the national trust in the name of a war that never should have happened. We have lost too many good people with no clear objective. We are basically repeating the mistakes of Vietnam."
Lugo said that after running as a democrat for three months his sense was that they are not ready to end the war. "Personally I think the democrats are in a better position to do some good than the republicans, but I don't think the democrats are ready yet to do the right thing. I had hoped that by running I might help push the dialogue on the peace issue, but the democrats didn't really seem to be interested. So I am going to go back to my roots as a progressive and seek the nomination of the green party which has a stronger position on the issue of peace and a generally more progressive platform all around."
According to a recent poll, about 47% of Americans say that the we should stay the course in Iraq, citing the need to stay and take care of the situation that has been created by ongoing US occupation. In contrast, Lugo feels that the troops should be withdrawn immediately. "I was listening to General Abizaid speak this week at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He was talking about our need to protect America by being in Iraq. This is the basic problem. We are not protecting America by occupying Iraq. Iraq did not attack the United States. We attacked them. If anything we have made ourselves more insecure by occupying Iraq. We have created wounds that will take generations to heal. We have made enemies who will not forget us in their lifetime."
Citing a lack of interest in the peace issue within the democratic party, Lugo said that he was going in a different direction. "I am all for dialogue and debate on the issues, but it seems clear to me that the democratic party is not on board regarding this issue. For me the war is a moral issue of profound significance. I don't think that we can remain in Iraq and consider ourselves to be a moral nation or a righteous country. We have already violated international law and basic decency by attacking a country that was significantly weaker than us and occupying it with no clear mandate. I don't think the democratic party in Tennessee sees this issue the same way I do."
Lugo said that he wishes democratic frontrunner Bob Tuke all the best and looks forward to an opportunity to debate him and Lamar Alexander during the election season. "I have filed my papers as an independent candidate and will seek the green party nomination. I look forward to an opportunity to debate Tuke or Alexander on issues like universal single payer health care, bringing the troops home now, reducing the military budget, dismantling weapons of mass destruction or taking significant steps right now to reduce global warming. I think Tennesseans deserve the opportunity to hear from all the candidates and then cast their vote once they have made the most informed decisions possible."
from Chattanooga Pulse
The March 22 peace march marks fifth anniversary of Iraq war
By Janis Hashe
March 19, 2008
Have Americans “forgotten” the war in Iraq?
A new poll from the Pew Research Center documents a considerable drop in public awareness, showing that awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. At the time of the poll, just 28 percent of adults were able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. (As of March 10, the Department of Defense had confirmed the deaths of 3,974 U.S. military personnel in Iraq.)
In August 2007, 54 percent correctly identified the fatality level at that time (about 3,500 deaths). In previous polls going back to the spring of 2004, about half of respondents could correctly estimate the number of U.S. fatalities around the time of the survey. Additionally, according to statistics compiled by the online site The Huffington Post, over the last seven months there has been an 80 percent reduction in the amount of media coverage devoted to the war. Bad economic news and the presidential campaign have caused most Americans to almost forget the war, said local peace activist and Vietnam vet Terry Stulce.
On March 22, a peace march and rally will use the slogan, “Remembering the Falling, the Fallen and the Forgotten” to put the war back on the front burner, as it reminds people of the war fifth anniversary. Stulce, one of the march’s organizers said, “People have pushed the daily ugliness of the war to the back of their minds.” Contrasting the media coverage of the Vietnam war, in which he served as a Marine, with current news reporting on the Iraq war, he said, “It’s been cleaned up and sanitized. You don’t see body bags, you don’t see the people who have been maimed and injured.”
The march will also acknowledge “the immense suffering of the Iraqi people,” he said. “Generations of families have been shattered. The economy is in a shambles. The unemployment rate is 40 percent, and yet our leaders are stuck on ‘no go.’” Stulce cited statistics saying “79 percent of Iraqis want us out of their country. Group think has led to the idea that we can be the solution in their country, completely ignoring the thousands of years of volatile history that have led up to it. We can’t be the solution and we are now part of the problem.”
Not everyone shares these views, including some in the field. In a Washington Post editorial, three soldiers were quoted criticizing the anti-war movement.
Twenty-one-year-old junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson was frustrated about war skepticism and said that critics “should come over and see what it’s like firsthand before criticizing.You may support or say we support the troops, but, so you’re not supporting what they do, what they’re here sweating for, what we bleed for, what we die for. It just don’t make sense to me,” Johnson said.
Staff Sergeant Manuel Sahagun, on his second tour in Iraq, said, “One thing I don’t like is when people back home say they support the troops, but they don’t support the war. If they’re going to support us, support us all the way.” And Specialist Peter Manna said, “If they don’t think we’re doing a good job, everything that we’ve done here is all in vain.”
Conservative columnist William Kristol, writing in the Weekly Standard about peace activist Cindy Sheehan said, “It’s unclear that Sheehan was particularly interested in ‘supporting the troops’—unless one means by that lamenting the fate of the troops as victims. The fact that relatively few soldiers see themselves as victims, the fact that few families understand their loved ones’ service and sacrifices in that light—that didn’t matter. What mattered to the left was that it was dangerous politically not to ‘support the troops.’ Of course the antiwar left hated what the troops were doing, fighting the enemy in Iraq, and they hated the troops’ goal, victory in Iraq. So ‘supporting the troops’ meant feeling sorry for them, or pretending to—something antiwar politicians and media did with great hand-wringing and hoopla.”
(The Pulse contacted the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post for opinions on the peace march but was courteously told, “No comment.”)
Said Stulce, “I never want a U.S. soldier to be killed or wounded in a cause that is totally without value.”
Rally speakers include former MP and peace activist
Sgt. Herb Reed, who served both in Vietnam and Iraq, will speak on his experience as a military police investigator who has since been diagnosed as having been exposed to depleted uranium, which is contained in munitions currently in use in Iraq. According to Sgt. Reed, military authorities continue to refuse to acknowledge the effects of this exposure on both troops and the Iraqi civilian population. “When we first returned, we reported our ailments, which in my case included constant fatigue, and a growth on my neck that turned out to be a tumor on my thyroid gland,” he said. “What I saw at Walter Reed and Fort Dix, veterans being ignored and not treated, turned me into an anti-war activist.
“My son always wanted to be just like me and follow me into the military. Knowing what I now know, the lies that led us into this war, the way our soldiers are treated, I would never let him go into the military.”
Another speaker will be Chris Lugo, currently running as a contender for the Democrats’ pick to oppose Sen. Lamar Alexander in the November 2008. An active member and supporter of the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, he is also involved in the Nashville Peace Coalition, an organization dedicated to ending the war in Iraq.
from Clarksville Online
Five years at war doesn’t go unnoticed in Nashville Peace and Justice groups
By Debbie Boen | March 19, 2008 |
On March 15th, the sacrifices of those affected by the conflict in Iraq during the past five years was honored at the Ampitheater at Bicentennial Mall in Downtown Nashville. The event include strong expressions of support and sympathy for the members of the U.S. armed forces, their families and the people of Iraq.
A carload of Clarksville area people dropped in on the Peace protest in Nashville on Saturday, March 15, noon-3p.m. The event reflected on five years of war in Iraq and offered a large slate of speakers and performers organized by Nashville Peace and Justice Center. The rally was well-attended despite the drizzle that we had until around 2 p.m. when the sky let down its forces on us.
Chris Lugo was the first face I recognized. He never misses a Nashville peace protest, but instead of organizing the protest or writing about it for Independent media, now he is asking for our vote in the U.S. Senate race. Lugo said he’s gone back to being green, the Green Party. He’s always had serious “green” issues and is committed to working for basic human rights. He’s stepped up to the plate to take responsibility for how we run things and he’s out promoting change. http://www.chris4senate.org/
At 3:00 pm, veterans, military family members and others were scheduled to carry a large canvas, bearing the names of Tennesseans killed in Iraq, up the hill to the War Memorial Plaza . The 93 names were to be symbolically added to the names of those Tennesseans who died in previous conflicts. This event, titled, “Steps to Peace,” expresses the hope that here will be no further casualties to memorialize.
A huge group of SDS MTSU (Students for a Democratic Society) said that they were familiar with the SDS group at Clarksville’s Austin Peay, but while Peay was loud last semester, MTSU SDS just got loud this semester. Rain didn’t stop them from waving flags and signs and saying hello to every one of us. (Writers note: I originally said this group was from Vanderbilt. Jase wrote and let me know they were from MTSU! He also told me that there is a Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro) article about them that was on Michael Moore’s webstie for a bit. Envy is not a good color on me. You guys rock!)
We ran into some familiar Veterans for Peace faces. This time we exchanged a few numbers and I asked some for stories to be published. We’ve seen these faces since we started in this movement.
Americans are united in mourning for the fallen and sympathizing with their families. They are impatiently waiting for all the members of our armed forces currently serving in Iraq to come home safe and sound. Citizens insist that the veterans of this conflict must receive all necessary assistance to regain their physical and mental health and to readjust to civilian life. And they are determined that the suffering should not be in vain- that the people of Iraq should attain self-rule, the fruits of their labor, resources, and reconstruction of their nation.
On March 17, 2008 the war statistics are as follows:
U.S. military killed in Iraq: 3,988
U.S. military wounded: 29,395
Iraqi civilians killed: 82,199 - 89,710
The Cost of the war is about $10 Billion a month. Roughly $333 Million per day. About $4,000 each second.
The event was sponsored by Nashville Peace & Justice Center, 4732 West Longdale Drive Nashville, TN 37211 (615) 333-5700 at info@nashvillepeacejustice.orgwww.nashvillepeacejustice.org |
By Janis Hashe
March 19, 2008
Have Americans “forgotten” the war in Iraq?
A new poll from the Pew Research Center documents a considerable drop in public awareness, showing that awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. At the time of the poll, just 28 percent of adults were able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. (As of March 10, the Department of Defense had confirmed the deaths of 3,974 U.S. military personnel in Iraq.)
In August 2007, 54 percent correctly identified the fatality level at that time (about 3,500 deaths). In previous polls going back to the spring of 2004, about half of respondents could correctly estimate the number of U.S. fatalities around the time of the survey. Additionally, according to statistics compiled by the online site The Huffington Post, over the last seven months there has been an 80 percent reduction in the amount of media coverage devoted to the war. Bad economic news and the presidential campaign have caused most Americans to almost forget the war, said local peace activist and Vietnam vet Terry Stulce.
On March 22, a peace march and rally will use the slogan, “Remembering the Falling, the Fallen and the Forgotten” to put the war back on the front burner, as it reminds people of the war fifth anniversary. Stulce, one of the march’s organizers said, “People have pushed the daily ugliness of the war to the back of their minds.” Contrasting the media coverage of the Vietnam war, in which he served as a Marine, with current news reporting on the Iraq war, he said, “It’s been cleaned up and sanitized. You don’t see body bags, you don’t see the people who have been maimed and injured.”
The march will also acknowledge “the immense suffering of the Iraqi people,” he said. “Generations of families have been shattered. The economy is in a shambles. The unemployment rate is 40 percent, and yet our leaders are stuck on ‘no go.’” Stulce cited statistics saying “79 percent of Iraqis want us out of their country. Group think has led to the idea that we can be the solution in their country, completely ignoring the thousands of years of volatile history that have led up to it. We can’t be the solution and we are now part of the problem.”
Not everyone shares these views, including some in the field. In a Washington Post editorial, three soldiers were quoted criticizing the anti-war movement.
Twenty-one-year-old junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson was frustrated about war skepticism and said that critics “should come over and see what it’s like firsthand before criticizing.You may support or say we support the troops, but, so you’re not supporting what they do, what they’re here sweating for, what we bleed for, what we die for. It just don’t make sense to me,” Johnson said.
Staff Sergeant Manuel Sahagun, on his second tour in Iraq, said, “One thing I don’t like is when people back home say they support the troops, but they don’t support the war. If they’re going to support us, support us all the way.” And Specialist Peter Manna said, “If they don’t think we’re doing a good job, everything that we’ve done here is all in vain.”
Conservative columnist William Kristol, writing in the Weekly Standard about peace activist Cindy Sheehan said, “It’s unclear that Sheehan was particularly interested in ‘supporting the troops’—unless one means by that lamenting the fate of the troops as victims. The fact that relatively few soldiers see themselves as victims, the fact that few families understand their loved ones’ service and sacrifices in that light—that didn’t matter. What mattered to the left was that it was dangerous politically not to ‘support the troops.’ Of course the antiwar left hated what the troops were doing, fighting the enemy in Iraq, and they hated the troops’ goal, victory in Iraq. So ‘supporting the troops’ meant feeling sorry for them, or pretending to—something antiwar politicians and media did with great hand-wringing and hoopla.”
(The Pulse contacted the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post for opinions on the peace march but was courteously told, “No comment.”)
Said Stulce, “I never want a U.S. soldier to be killed or wounded in a cause that is totally without value.”
Rally speakers include former MP and peace activist
Sgt. Herb Reed, who served both in Vietnam and Iraq, will speak on his experience as a military police investigator who has since been diagnosed as having been exposed to depleted uranium, which is contained in munitions currently in use in Iraq. According to Sgt. Reed, military authorities continue to refuse to acknowledge the effects of this exposure on both troops and the Iraqi civilian population. “When we first returned, we reported our ailments, which in my case included constant fatigue, and a growth on my neck that turned out to be a tumor on my thyroid gland,” he said. “What I saw at Walter Reed and Fort Dix, veterans being ignored and not treated, turned me into an anti-war activist.
“My son always wanted to be just like me and follow me into the military. Knowing what I now know, the lies that led us into this war, the way our soldiers are treated, I would never let him go into the military.”
Another speaker will be Chris Lugo, currently running as a contender for the Democrats’ pick to oppose Sen. Lamar Alexander in the November 2008. An active member and supporter of the Nashville Peace and Justice Center, he is also involved in the Nashville Peace Coalition, an organization dedicated to ending the war in Iraq.
from Clarksville Online
Five years at war doesn’t go unnoticed in Nashville Peace and Justice groups
By Debbie Boen | March 19, 2008 |
On March 15th, the sacrifices of those affected by the conflict in Iraq during the past five years was honored at the Ampitheater at Bicentennial Mall in Downtown Nashville. The event include strong expressions of support and sympathy for the members of the U.S. armed forces, their families and the people of Iraq.
A carload of Clarksville area people dropped in on the Peace protest in Nashville on Saturday, March 15, noon-3p.m. The event reflected on five years of war in Iraq and offered a large slate of speakers and performers organized by Nashville Peace and Justice Center. The rally was well-attended despite the drizzle that we had until around 2 p.m. when the sky let down its forces on us.
Chris Lugo was the first face I recognized. He never misses a Nashville peace protest, but instead of organizing the protest or writing about it for Independent media, now he is asking for our vote in the U.S. Senate race. Lugo said he’s gone back to being green, the Green Party. He’s always had serious “green” issues and is committed to working for basic human rights. He’s stepped up to the plate to take responsibility for how we run things and he’s out promoting change. http://www.chris4senate.org/
At 3:00 pm, veterans, military family members and others were scheduled to carry a large canvas, bearing the names of Tennesseans killed in Iraq, up the hill to the War Memorial Plaza . The 93 names were to be symbolically added to the names of those Tennesseans who died in previous conflicts. This event, titled, “Steps to Peace,” expresses the hope that here will be no further casualties to memorialize.
A huge group of SDS MTSU (Students for a Democratic Society) said that they were familiar with the SDS group at Clarksville’s Austin Peay, but while Peay was loud last semester, MTSU SDS just got loud this semester. Rain didn’t stop them from waving flags and signs and saying hello to every one of us. (Writers note: I originally said this group was from Vanderbilt. Jase wrote and let me know they were from MTSU! He also told me that there is a Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro) article about them that was on Michael Moore’s webstie for a bit. Envy is not a good color on me. You guys rock!)
We ran into some familiar Veterans for Peace faces. This time we exchanged a few numbers and I asked some for stories to be published. We’ve seen these faces since we started in this movement.
Americans are united in mourning for the fallen and sympathizing with their families. They are impatiently waiting for all the members of our armed forces currently serving in Iraq to come home safe and sound. Citizens insist that the veterans of this conflict must receive all necessary assistance to regain their physical and mental health and to readjust to civilian life. And they are determined that the suffering should not be in vain- that the people of Iraq should attain self-rule, the fruits of their labor, resources, and reconstruction of their nation.
On March 17, 2008 the war statistics are as follows:
U.S. military killed in Iraq: 3,988
U.S. military wounded: 29,395
Iraqi civilians killed: 82,199 - 89,710
The Cost of the war is about $10 Billion a month. Roughly $333 Million per day. About $4,000 each second.
The event was sponsored by Nashville Peace & Justice Center, 4732 West Longdale Drive Nashville, TN 37211 (615) 333-5700 at info@nashvillepeacejustice.orgwww.nashvillepeacejustice.org |
General Release 3.18.08
Let's Bring the Troops Home Now
In a recent poll, a sobering 47% of Americans said that we should stay the course in Iraq, reasoning that now that our troops are there, we need to stay. Most responded by saying that if we pull out it will be a disaster for the Iraqi people. Americans feel this way in spite of the facts regarding the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The truth is that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis want Americans out of Iraq now. The security that we are providing in Iraq is mostly for our own service members. Most of the tax dollars that we spend on Iraqi security goes to protecting convoy lines, building and supplying military bases and paying for resources that we are expending funds on specifically because we are there.
March 19th marks the fifth anniversary of the ongoing occupation of Iraq. It has been nearly as long since president Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier with the words 'mission accomplished' boldly printed on a banner behind him. Since that time nearly 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq and tens of thousands have been injured. No one knows exactly how many Iraqis have been killed. Some estimates are as low as 100,000 and some estimates are as high as 600,000 people. What we do know is that we have turned Iraq into a living hell where people get blown to bits while trying to go shopping, get shot by private contractors while driving down the street, get tortured by American military personnel after being caught up in security sweeps and watch neighbor kill neighbor over sectarian concerns bubbling from below the surface of extreme poverty, suffering and trauma.
The Iraqi war is a shameful war and one of the worst policy decisions of the contemporary era. As the United States teeters on the brink of depression and watches its currency value plummet we continue to waste our national treasury on a war that was based on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction that never existed. It is time for Americans to come to terms with the reality of what we have done. Those who supported the war and voted for it followed the foolish emotionalism generated by the current administration after the traumatic experience of the Sept. 11th attacks. It is time for us to admit that the war was really an act of vengance, a blind lashing out at some Arab nation as retribution for the lives lost in 2001.
The Bush administration understood the pain and the anger of the American people, and chose to manipulate us for the economic advantage of a few private corporations who have received the lion's share of contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The President has betrayed the trust of the American people, the armed services and the international community. Opposition to the continuation of the war has become a moral issue. Shortly after the American invasion of Iraq, in a rare admission of dissent in the American public, the President said you are either with the ‘us’ or you are with the terrorists. In hindsight, it is clear that Bush and his cronies are the ones who are at odds with the American people and the democratic traditions of this nation.
The Iraqi war will be remembered as the defining international conflict of the first decade of the 21st century. The verdict is already out on this occupation and we are the losers. We have lost our honor. We unilaterally attacked a nation which had not attacked us and had not declared war on us. We imprisoned their citizens and tortured them. We dropped bombs on their houses and murdered their children. We spent hundreds of billions of dollars and accepted the lies of our President and his administration. We have lost our soul as a nation. It is time to restore our fallen honor and reconcile ourselves to the evil that we have done out of fear and a desire for retribution. Only then can we begin to truly live up to the promise of what our nation can be. It is time to bring the troops home and end the occupation of Iraq.
In a recent poll, a sobering 47% of Americans said that we should stay the course in Iraq, reasoning that now that our troops are there, we need to stay. Most responded by saying that if we pull out it will be a disaster for the Iraqi people. Americans feel this way in spite of the facts regarding the ongoing occupation of Iraq. The truth is that an overwhelming majority of Iraqis want Americans out of Iraq now. The security that we are providing in Iraq is mostly for our own service members. Most of the tax dollars that we spend on Iraqi security goes to protecting convoy lines, building and supplying military bases and paying for resources that we are expending funds on specifically because we are there.
March 19th marks the fifth anniversary of the ongoing occupation of Iraq. It has been nearly as long since president Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier with the words 'mission accomplished' boldly printed on a banner behind him. Since that time nearly 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq and tens of thousands have been injured. No one knows exactly how many Iraqis have been killed. Some estimates are as low as 100,000 and some estimates are as high as 600,000 people. What we do know is that we have turned Iraq into a living hell where people get blown to bits while trying to go shopping, get shot by private contractors while driving down the street, get tortured by American military personnel after being caught up in security sweeps and watch neighbor kill neighbor over sectarian concerns bubbling from below the surface of extreme poverty, suffering and trauma.
The Iraqi war is a shameful war and one of the worst policy decisions of the contemporary era. As the United States teeters on the brink of depression and watches its currency value plummet we continue to waste our national treasury on a war that was based on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction that never existed. It is time for Americans to come to terms with the reality of what we have done. Those who supported the war and voted for it followed the foolish emotionalism generated by the current administration after the traumatic experience of the Sept. 11th attacks. It is time for us to admit that the war was really an act of vengance, a blind lashing out at some Arab nation as retribution for the lives lost in 2001.
The Bush administration understood the pain and the anger of the American people, and chose to manipulate us for the economic advantage of a few private corporations who have received the lion's share of contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The President has betrayed the trust of the American people, the armed services and the international community. Opposition to the continuation of the war has become a moral issue. Shortly after the American invasion of Iraq, in a rare admission of dissent in the American public, the President said you are either with the ‘us’ or you are with the terrorists. In hindsight, it is clear that Bush and his cronies are the ones who are at odds with the American people and the democratic traditions of this nation.
The Iraqi war will be remembered as the defining international conflict of the first decade of the 21st century. The verdict is already out on this occupation and we are the losers. We have lost our honor. We unilaterally attacked a nation which had not attacked us and had not declared war on us. We imprisoned their citizens and tortured them. We dropped bombs on their houses and murdered their children. We spent hundreds of billions of dollars and accepted the lies of our President and his administration. We have lost our soul as a nation. It is time to restore our fallen honor and reconcile ourselves to the evil that we have done out of fear and a desire for retribution. Only then can we begin to truly live up to the promise of what our nation can be. It is time to bring the troops home and end the occupation of Iraq.
General Release 3.13.08
Now is the Time for a Department of Peace
America has lost her moral compass in the world. In the face of Hidatha, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, people around the world are calling on the United States to cease and desist in Iraq. We are facing a grave moral crisis in this country. We have lost our way and it is time for us to return to the great democratic principles that are the true spirit of this nation. It is time for us as a nation to face up to the responsibilities we have. We must stop making war on people who have not attacked us. We must apologize to those we have harmed and make restitution and we must work internationally towards peace.
That is why I am supporting legislation to establish a Federal Level Department of Peace and Nonviolence. The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will facilitate the most cutting edge ways to wage peace. From nonviolent communication skills, to conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building, the Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for diminishing violence in our country and in our world. As a member of the President’s cabinet, the Secretary of Peace will provide the President; the State Department; the Departments of Defense, Education and Justice with greatly expanded problem solving options. The Department of Peace will also provide support for state and local government to address issues of domestic violence.
The Department of Peace would research and analyze foreign policy and recommend to the President ways to address the root causes of war. A Peace Academy, on par with the Military Academies, would train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict resolution techniques and approaches. The Department would also provide expert advice to the President when diffusing or dealing with international crises.
Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing new policies that address issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, and cultural and racial violence. Statistics reveal that each year, medical expenses from domestic violence alone total at least $3 to $5 billion. Businesses forfeit another $100 million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity due to domestic violence. Teaching violence prevention and mediation to America’s school children is just one of the many ways a U.S. Department of Peace would reduce violence in our homes and schools.
The idea of a Department of Peace is not new. In fact it dates back to 1792 and it has been proposed numerous times over the course of this nation's history. Currently, no other federal agency or department looks at the root causes of violence or provides the President with counsel. There is an urgent need for a Department of Peace. Nuclear proliferation creates the critical need to interrupt the current cycles of violence internationally and domestically, criminal and domestic violence places intense financial pressures on the city, county and state government.
We need a Department of Peace in order to provide new, proactive approaches to violence reduction both domestically and internationally. Our traditional political problem solving methods focus primarily on addressing symptoms of violence, such as imprisonment for offenders and engagement in armed conflict. The United States should be as effective in addressing the sources of violence as we are in addressing its symptoms. A Department of Peace will reduce international and domestic violence, it will help to build peace making efforts among conflicting communities both here and abroad and it will support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence. Peace belongs to all of us, so let's make it part of every aspect of our lives, including how we think, how we act, and how we govern.
America has lost her moral compass in the world. In the face of Hidatha, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, people around the world are calling on the United States to cease and desist in Iraq. We are facing a grave moral crisis in this country. We have lost our way and it is time for us to return to the great democratic principles that are the true spirit of this nation. It is time for us as a nation to face up to the responsibilities we have. We must stop making war on people who have not attacked us. We must apologize to those we have harmed and make restitution and we must work internationally towards peace.
That is why I am supporting legislation to establish a Federal Level Department of Peace and Nonviolence. The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will facilitate the most cutting edge ways to wage peace. From nonviolent communication skills, to conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building, the Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for diminishing violence in our country and in our world. As a member of the President’s cabinet, the Secretary of Peace will provide the President; the State Department; the Departments of Defense, Education and Justice with greatly expanded problem solving options. The Department of Peace will also provide support for state and local government to address issues of domestic violence.
The Department of Peace would research and analyze foreign policy and recommend to the President ways to address the root causes of war. A Peace Academy, on par with the Military Academies, would train civilian peacekeepers and the military in the latest nonviolent conflict resolution techniques and approaches. The Department would also provide expert advice to the President when diffusing or dealing with international crises.
Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing new policies that address issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, and cultural and racial violence. Statistics reveal that each year, medical expenses from domestic violence alone total at least $3 to $5 billion. Businesses forfeit another $100 million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity due to domestic violence. Teaching violence prevention and mediation to America’s school children is just one of the many ways a U.S. Department of Peace would reduce violence in our homes and schools.
The idea of a Department of Peace is not new. In fact it dates back to 1792 and it has been proposed numerous times over the course of this nation's history. Currently, no other federal agency or department looks at the root causes of violence or provides the President with counsel. There is an urgent need for a Department of Peace. Nuclear proliferation creates the critical need to interrupt the current cycles of violence internationally and domestically, criminal and domestic violence places intense financial pressures on the city, county and state government.
We need a Department of Peace in order to provide new, proactive approaches to violence reduction both domestically and internationally. Our traditional political problem solving methods focus primarily on addressing symptoms of violence, such as imprisonment for offenders and engagement in armed conflict. The United States should be as effective in addressing the sources of violence as we are in addressing its symptoms. A Department of Peace will reduce international and domestic violence, it will help to build peace making efforts among conflicting communities both here and abroad and it will support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence. Peace belongs to all of us, so let's make it part of every aspect of our lives, including how we think, how we act, and how we govern.