Say Anything Blog

It looks like the steam is gone from the gun control debate. Why you ask? It is not because Democrats have won the fight. It is just the opposite- they have given up the fight. Democrats — scarred by past NRA campaigns — almost never talk about gun control anymore.

What effects will this have on the 08 Presidential campaign? Democrats should be thrilled with recent past election victories in the Senate. NRA-backed candidates in Pennsylvania, Montana, Missouri, Minnesota and Virginia all lost in 2006, even though the gun group spent more than $1 million on their races, according to federal election data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

To be sure, we have not heard the last from the powerful NRA, but they could very well be a victim of their own success. They have pounded the Democrats into submission so badly that I am reminded of an old saying: if you can’t beat them, join them.

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PaDUer
An interesting article about the R nominee for the President of the US..He certainly is a “sweetie”..How can his ex-wife Carol still support him?..

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children.

But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’ she says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce. ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.
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But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’

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With the eyes of the world focused on the upcoming Olympics in China, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is worried about the potential negative publicity the U.S. could receive if the Chinese government uses U.S. made security devices to break up potential protests over Tibetan independence.

The department is currently reviewing the security devices that are allowed to be exported to China. One of concern is the Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). The device, manufactured by American Technology Corp., sends out concentrated, 150 decibel [dB] high-energy acoustic waves that are painfully loud and can cause serious injury to the ear.

During fiscal 2007, LRAD orders were shipped to Australia, Singapore, Korea and China. Some U.S. police departments have also purchased it.

Theresa Harris, director of the World Organization for Human Rights U.S.A. summed it up well: “The U.S. Government is obligated under international law and federal statutes to prevent U.S. companies from exporting the tools of torture to police and security agencies that have a documented record of human rights violations.”

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In a report by Patrick Colburn, he states that there is a secret deal being negotiated
in Iraq that would keep U.S. troops in the country indefinitely. If it is successful, no matter
who wins the election in November, the troops would stay.

If true, Colburn believes that the accord will provoke a political crisis in the US. 
President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated.

Perhaps McCain’s ludicrous remark about 100 years in Iraq will come true.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control - Middle East, World - The Independent

A decision to resume importing U.S. beef by the South Korean government sparked a massive demonstration that shut down a 16 lane thoroughfare in the capital city of Seoul.

South Korea had stopped all imports of beef from the U.S. after their 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease.

The protest, a candle-lit vigil of 100,000, was preceded by more than a week of other protests against President Lee Myung-bak, who has seen a drastic decline in his popularity.

College student Ju Ha-na, 24, who took part in a head-shaving ceremony in protest with 19 others said that it was not just the beef deal, but that the government is anti-working people.

President Lee last week apologized for ignoring public health concerns and promised to restore the ban if there was a fresh outbreak of mad cow disease.

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Despite the negative publicity from the sexual abuse by priests which has justifiably outraged all, there is some good news I can share about my church: The Catholic Church in Africa has grown by 30 million in the last 7 years.

In the Americas and in Oceania their numbers grew by 8.4 percent and 7.6 percent respectively, while in Asia the number of faithful remained more or less stable.In Europe,growth was less than one percent.

Also, in my link, there is info on the growth of bishops and priests.

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While the tobacco industry continues to wreak havoc on the health of people throughout the world, I am happy to see that our United Nations has declared May 31st World No Tobacco Day.

Because most people start the habit before 18, this years focus is on on youth. Douglas Bettcher, Director of the agency’s Tobacco Free Initiative, says that the tobacco industry employs predatory marketing strategies to get young people hooked to their addictive drug.

In some areas of the world, especially in developing nations, some kids are hooked at the age of 10.

The U.N. called on governments to impose a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship to deter young people around the world from taking up smoking.

Countries who have taken up the ban show that consumption of tobacco has been reduced by 16 per cent.

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Congressional leaders and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama have successfully pressured the inspector general of the VA to start an investigation of an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs employee which ordered staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the purpose of saving money.

The e-mail, which was made public last week, was sent by Norma Perez, a psychologist at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas.

Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat who heads the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said of Perez: “I can’t believe that someone at that level position is doing this on her own. Somewhere in the hierarchy people are saying, ‘It’s costing us too much with these PTSD diagnoses. Cool it.’”

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I took some time to summarize an interesting article from Sojourners magazine entitled, “Where the Heart is.” It’s about SRI (socially responsible investing). SRI has skyrocketed in the last 25 years, going from a small industry in the 80’s to over $2 trillion today. Religious mutual funds alone are the fastest growing in the financial services industry.

It is not an entirely new idea. Throughout history there have been religious denominations struggling with moral problems of profiteering at the expense of others. In 1758, Quakers refused to except profits derived from the slave trade. And Methodists, too, have considered ethics in investing. In 1971, two Methodists launched Pax World Funds, which shunned weapons manufacturers as well as other vices and served as a harbinger of today’s SRI mutual funds.

Also a number of secularists groups have become involved with SRI. For example, Portfolio 21 invests only in companies that are “integrating environmental sustainability into their overall business strategies.” And The Women’s Equity Fund picks only companies that “advance the social and economic status of women in the workplace.”

Another, more aggressive approach to investing is shareholder activism, where investments are made in companies that need improvement, say, in areas of pollution management, workplace safety, or governance hindered by conflicts of interest.

Shareholder activism was born out of the anti apartheid campaign in the 80’s when denominational share holders were growing increasingly uncomfortable about owning companies with ties to apartheid in South Africa. Two lessons were learned: Lesson one: Shareholders can have a powerful voice for social justice within a company, especially if they speak together. Lesson two: That voice would have been much diminished if, perhaps for moral reasons, they had never owned the stock in the first place.

Shareholder activism has been on a steady rise over the years. One example of their success is getting Home Depot and OfficeMax to stop marketing products derived from endangered forests. Frank Coleman, executive vice president for Christian Brothers Investment Services, an asset manager for Catholic institutions sums up rhe importance of shareholder activism: “In order to work on [corporate policy issues], you’ve got to be a shareholder,” Coleman says, “because companies aren’t going to find time for people who don’t own their shares.”

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0805&article=080510
Where the Heart Is, Sojourners Magazine/May 2008

Summary of Article:

The billion tree campaign, which was launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in 2006 as a response to the threat of global warming, has been so successful that it was expanded on Tuesday to become a 7 billion tree campaign.

To date the initiative, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert II of Monaco, has broken every target set and has catalyzed tree planting in 155 countries.

The benefits from tree planting are many. Trees not only absorb carbon dioxide, but also play a crucial role in providing a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fiber, medicines and energy as well as soil fertility, water and biodiversity conservation.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme said the following: “The Billion Tree Campaign is UNEP’s call to the nearly seven billion people sharing our planet today to take simple, positive steps to protect our climate. It is a defining issue of our era that can only be tackled through individual and collective action. I am convinced that the new target will be met - one tree at a time.”
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-14-02.asp
Billion Tree Campaign Flowers Into Seven Billion Tree Campaign

The statistics for the New York City Police Department’s street interrogation practices are in, and they are not good: According to printed reports, between January 2006 and September 2007, NYPD officers stopped and frisked 867,617 New Yorkers – a rate of 1,360 every day, and a startling five times as many procedures as 2002. Almost 90 percent of those stopped were innocent.

The racial disparities are stark: police stopped 453,042 blacks and only 94,530 whites during that period.

It is certainly not statistics that are flattering to the department. That is probably the reason they gave them secretly to only the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at the University of Michigan. For months the NYCLU has requested the statistics without success, prompting them to file a lawsuit to get them in November.

Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU, stated that it’s disturbing that the NYPD will give the data to anyone outside of our city who asks for it, but will fight tooth and nail to keep the information from New Yorkers.

Summary of Article:

HB89, a Georgia bill that originally focused on allowing employees to keep guns in vehicles parked on corporate parking lots, has slipped through the legislature with a list of even more rights for gun owners: it allows concealed weapons to be carried in parks, on public transportation, and in booze-serving restaurants.

The new law, on which the governor has until mid May to make a decision , has caused a storm of protest urging him to veto it. City bus drivers, the Georgia Restaurant Association, dozens of political, business and community leaders, police officers, including police chief Richard Pennington have all expressed serious concerns about the bill.

Perdue, the governor, said Thursday he already has begun his analysis of the legislation, and promised a decision “soon.” But he left both supporters and opponents of HB 89 guessing.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/04/25/guns0425.html
Atlanta mayor, others call for gun bill veto | ajc.com

No, I am not talking about Neo-cons. The last place to look for a Neo-con is in the military. LOL!!!

This is exactly what you get when you wage an immoral war with no end in sight: View Link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7360157.stm
BBC NEWS | Americas | US military recruits more ex-cons

San Francisco city planners believe they have a solution to some of the problems with urban living, including the problem of urban pollution. The answer: the transit village, a term coined to describe high-density housing within easy walking distance of train and bus stops.

With the state setting goals to reduce carbon levels to 1990 levels by 2020, an essential tool is to emphasize compact growth patterns that make it easy for residents to leave their cars at home. James Corless, a planner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, says that If you don’t change land-use patterns so that people need their cars less, it’s harder to make an impact.

763 residential units have been added in Hayword, all within 2 blocks of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). One resident says that she hardly ever needs to drive, and another said that it is like a small town that is calm and convenient. Hopefully, more city planners will copy this creative approach San Fransisco is taking to improve urban life.

Summary of Article:

It looks as though Monsanto corporation is making attempts to prevent the labeling of milk sold to consumers which is produced without recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH). Monsanto produces and sells the synthetic hormone under the name Posilac, which is given to lactating cows to increase yields.

Monsanto contends that milk from cows treated with Posilac is safe and no different from milk from cows with naturally occurring hormones. They say labeling claims about hormones mislead consumers into thinking there is a difference in milk quality. Both Europe and Canada have banned the use of synthetic growth hormones, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave it the ok in 1993.

Many consumers appear to favor milk without Posilac, and this year Starbucks, Kraft, and Wal-Mart rolled out rBGH-free milk products. Eric Newman, a representative at Organic Valley, a cooperative that sells milk under the Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm labels, believes Wal-Mart’s decision to sell rBGH-free milk will be the death knell to synthetic growth hormone.

Look for strong state-level debate over labeling to continue. Pennsylvania, the 5th largest dairy state banned labeling claims in October 2007, but rescinded the ban after considerable consumer backlash.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0421/p13s01-sten.html
‘Hormone-free’ milk spurs labeling debate | csmonitor.com