Now everyone knows that it is not polite to intrude on people in their private moments. The problem is that big brother doesn’t seem to know that peeking into people’s private communication is wrong and it should be illegal. Unfortunately President Bush wants to continue to grant immunity to telecommunications companies in the name of the so called ‘war on terror’ which in actuality is a war on the American people and the telecommunications infrastructure is the front line in the gradual diminishment of civil rights that Congress has permitted in recent years.

We need representatives in Washington DC who support protecting Americans instead of distrusting us. As a candidate for federal office I support legislation to abolish the Department of Homeland Security, that Orwellian agency constructed in the days after 9-11, which has crafted the war on the American people and their rights since. I support the elimination of FISA loopholes and the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the return of all detainees to their countries of origin. I believe that the American people deserve full and open disclosure on all activities related to government spying conducted against her citizens. Finally, I support the elimination of discreet, undocumented funding of the Central Intelligence agency.

Our rights are not negotiable. Telecommunication companies have violated those rights and have broken the law in order to appease a corrupt and power hungry administration that is willing to throw out Habeus Corpus, the right to privacy and international law in a reckless drive down the road to never-never land. Corporations must be held accountable and the President and his cronies must be called to account for violating our basic constitutional rights. Unfortunately, Senator Obama has been a disappointment on this issue and has refused to honor his commitment to filibuster this legislation. As a result, we are once again adrift without a rudder, a captain, a ship or an engine, being dragged along by the tides of fear.

It is time to reject the efforts of George Bush and anyone else who wants to grant retroactive immunity to corporations that spy on Americans. Congress has proven itself to be too weak-kneed to stand up to the fear mongers, but there is a new line of candidates running for office who are not so willing to roll over and play dumb. Treason is not patriotic. We all know that the government spying on us is wrong, and that any agency or corporation that assists in breaking into our most intimate communications is not behaving in a democratic fashion. The new reality is that our privacy is being compromised until we roll back FISA protections and strip immunity for corporations that spy on Americans.

For more information on this issue please visit: http://www.usalone.com/no_following_orders.php

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

According to a recent report from the Center 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 [Sexually Transmitted Disease] 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.

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 neo-liberal 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.

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.

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.

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 back door 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.

Chris Lugo is a candidate for the US Senate from Tennessee running on a platform of Peace.

On March 15, 2008, the sacrifices of those affected by the conflict in Iraq during the past five years will be honored. Support and sympathy will be expressed for the members of the U.S. armed forces, their families and the people of Iraq.

Citizens will gather at noon Saturday, March 15 at the Amphitheater at the Bicentennial Mall at 600 James Robertson Parkway in downtown Nashville. There will be speakers - most of them veterans and their families, and music - all expressing hope for peace in the future. The program will end on an upbeat note, with a performance by the men’s choral group “Nashville in Harmony”.

At 3PM, veterans, military family members and others will carry a large canvas, bearing the names of Tennesseans killed in Iraq, up the hill to the War Memorial Plaza. The 93 names will be symbolically added to the names of those Tennesseans who have died in previous conflicts. This event, titled “Steps to Peace”, will express the hope that there will be no further casualties to memorialize.

There is continued controversy over the most honorable and responsible way for the United States to wind up its military operations in Iraq. But 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 and resources and the reconstruction of their nation.

“Our attitude towards this conflict mirrors the mood of the season”, said Jane Steinfels Hussain, a member of the Nashville Peace Coalition. “There are springtime cultural traditions throughout the world, mourning death but looking forward to new life and hoping for a better future.” “We are not blind to the death and suffering caused by this conflict. We do
not pretend that everything has gone well. But we express our hope for a more peaceful world in the future and our determination to work for the wellbeing of all.”

Sponsored by the Nashville Peace Coalition, a project of the Nashville Peace & Justice Center.

Congress passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act in 1976 to address health disparities between Native Americans and the rest of the populace. Since 1992, when the act was last reauthorized, the U.S. health care delivery system has been revolutionized, while the Indian health care system has not.

This bill lays the foundation for program change, including shifts from acute care to prevention and the provision of mental health services for children. It addresses health crises such as diabetes, youth suicide, and drug addiction that have escalated among native peoples in the past 15 years. It facilitates greater input to program operation from the local tribal level and enhances recruitment and retention of health professionals in facilities serving native populations.

As a candidate for the US Senate I believe it is vitally important that the United States consider major health care initiatives to improve the quality of life for all Americans. I also believe it is important that the Senate take steps to honor the health care needs of the first Americans by passing the Indian Health Care Improvement Reauthorization Bill.

About the Indian health care improvement act

Issue

The Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), Public Law 94-437, expired on September 30, 2000, and was extended through 2001 in anticipation that Congress would consider the reauthorization proposals pending in Congress. Since 2001, the Congress has held hearings on the reauthorization proposals. While there have been various versions of the bill considered by the Congress since that time, the work on reauthorization of the IHCIA has not been completed.

Background

The IHCIA is considered to be the cornerstone legal authority for the provision of health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. This authority builds upon the Snyder Act of 1921, which is the basic and first legislative authority for Congress to appropriate funds specifically for health care provided by the IHS. The IHCIA of 1976 was enacted into law based upon findings that the health status of Indians ranked far below that of the general population. The Act declared that it was this Nation’s policy to elevate the health status of the Indian population to a level at parity with the general U.S. population. Since its first passage in 1976, the Act has been reauthorized four times.

Situation

During late 1998 and 1999, the IHS actively consulted with Indian country on amendments to the existing Act to provide tribal and urban Indian health programs with the programmatic and administrative capabilities to provide high quality health care to their constituents. A National Steering Committee (NSC) on the reauthorization of the IHCIA was established in the summer of 1999 to review the recommendations received during the consultation process, to reconcile differences in the recommendations from the various areas of Indian country, and then to complete a legislative draft that reflected the final recommendations. In October of 1999, the NSC forwarded their legislative proposal to the leadership of the Executive and Legislative Branches, as well as to tribal governments and urban Indian health programs. The House Committee on Resources and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs both introduced legislation almost identical to the NSC draft. Both chambers have held hearings on the reauthorization proposals since 2000 and both reported the reauthorization bills out of committee on September 22, 2004. During the second session of the 108th Congress, the IHS and the Department worked with the congressional committees to resolve areas of concern with the pending legislative proposals. Time ran out before a bill could be finalized that would address the Department’s concerns. A reauthorization proposal, S. 1057, was reintroduced in the Senate in the 109th Congress and was favorably reported with amendments by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on October 27, 2005. The IHS and Department have been working with the Senate committee staff in order to ascertain the impact of the bill and to develop an Administration position on the proposal.

Options/Plans

By the end of the 109th Congress, the IHS and the Department had testified at 11 hearings on the reauthorization of the IHCIA. Work will continue on Senate reauthorization bill in the 110th Congress. It is anticipated that re-introduction of a bill will occur in the in the 110th Congress. Tribal governments and urban Indian health program leaders will continue to push for passage of the reauthorization legislation.

For Additional information

For referral to the appropriate spokesperson, contact the IHS Public Affairs Staff at 301-443-3593.

As America slides into a recession many victims of the mortgage crisis will find themselves homeless, hidden victims of the subprime loan fallout. The fact is that homelessness can happen to anyone, children, working adults, veterans and even entire families.

I believe that we as Americans have the collective will to end homelessness in America by strengthening the social safety net and making sure that no one falls through the cracks. At the federal level there are many proposals available that would provide a seamless web to catch those who have fallen on hard times and insure that in the future no one is found sleeping under a bridge or frozen to death in the middle of the winter for lack of adequate housing.

For starters the federal government could look closely at how we define homelessness to include individuals and families who are living in motels, hotels and campgrounds as well as people who are sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar situation. Such persons, who may be considered as “at risk homeless” often suffer the same drastic loss of quality of life and economic hardship as more traditional categories of homelessness.

Then we could find a way to support the financing of permanent housing. We can do this at the federal level by providing vouchers to those who are currently sitting on waiting lists and transfer permanent housing contracts to help fill the currently unmet needs of those seeking housing vouchers. To fund this appropriation and provide housing for most of those who are seeking housing right now but can’t get it would only cost about three billion dollars, which is less than two percent of the funds appropriated to fight the war in Iraq last year.

After we have done this we could increase funding for the emergency shelters. These shelters, which are in every large town in America, provide a vital service to the homeless by offering temporary emergency housing, medical care and social services as well as job placement and mental health counseling. The shelter system is the bottom line safety net for persons experiencing homelessness. As such, national set-asides of funds should be made specifically to provide more beds and secure funding streams for the emergency shelters.

Finally, we can takes steps to make certain that homelessness never happens to those who are most vulnerable to this condition by investing in homelessness prevention programs. These programs look at the rural poor and urban poor, identifying and providing solutions to those most vulnerable to losing their homes. Through USDA assistance grants and HUD financing we can move in a positive direction to ensure that almost no one slips through the cracks again.

So let’s invest in our country by fully funding programs designed to end homelessness in America. In addition we should take steps as a country to decriminalize the condition of homelessness. Homelessness is most often a circumstance and not a choice. We will not make it easier for those who ended up on the streets to get back on track if we give them fines, threats, and put them in jail. This only adds to the trauma and helps to perpetuate the cycle of hopelessness and victimization that so many homeless fall into. Instead, let’s treat the homeless as our brothers and sisters, fully deserving of the dignity and respect we can offer by supporting programs which will help them to get off the streets and into permanent housing.

The crackdown on undocumented workers has taken a frightening turn in the past several months. Perhaps the most heinous expression of this crackdown is the fear that it has instilled in immigrant women. Many women have reported to confidential sources that they have been raped, beaten and abused, but are unwilling to call the police to report the crimes committed against them.  Their fear is based on the sobering reality that when they call the police, they are often times  arrested and deported because they lacked proper immigration documents, even though they are victims of a crime.

Unfortunately for immigrants, the police have turned into agents of enforcement for issues of citizenship, and men, women and children are being arrested and incarcerated because they lack documentation.  This is a direct result of the right wing immigrant bashing ideologues who have gained power at the hands of the most vulnerable members of our society.

Here in Nashville we are deporting children, without their parents, after detaining them and holding them for undetermined lengths of time.  When these children arrive in their countries of origin, they are lost in a world they are unfamiliar with.  Many of these children do not speak Spanish and have never been to their countries of origin, except for the circumstance of having been born there.

Families are also being torn apart as the reverse of this situation is happening.  Parents are taken into custody by federal agents, often while at work in farm fields or in a factory.  Their children come home to find that their parents have disappeared, without any communication or information as to their whereabouts.  Many of these children do not fall under the custody of the state.  Indeed, many times the government does not even know of their existence because parents are afraid of their children being deported as well.  They fear their children will be sent to a country where they face a lifetime of poverty and misery.

Fathers are being taken from their families by the police. They are taken into custody for minor traffic infractions such as speeding or driving with a burned out taillight, and then held in custody for lack of proper documentation and deported.  this is an especially difficult hardship leaving families without their primary wage earner and with little hope of ever seeing their fathers again. This is the situation which the right wing ideologues in this country have created for the people who build our houses, mow our yards, pick our vegetables, and make our garments.

If there was ever a situation which called for justice, this is it. If there was ever a time for us to do for the least of our brothers and sisters this is the time.  Immigrant workers are not criminals. They are hard working people who love their families and love their adopted country.  They are willing to do jobs that no one else is willing to do and to work their way up the ladder the way all newly arrived immigrants have done since the founding of this country.  Let us never forget that we are all descended from immigrants.  Some of us came here willingly, others came here under duress and force but now we are all free to partake in the American dream.  Let’s give our newest generation of immigrants the same chance.

American’s are highly skeptical about the notion of progress in Iraq, with only 11% polling responding that they are “pleased” with the results of the war. Yet Americans seem resigned to the fact that US troops are going to remain in Iraq. The simple fact is that the United States cannot afford to continue this war. In addition to the complete lack of international support for Bush’s folly, the middle class can no longer afford to pay for the war. The national debt is at an all time high of $9.1 trillion dollars and Congress has appropriated another $580 billion dollars in military spending, far in excess of the actual amount of appropriations needed to defend the national security .

The United States Senate has sent a message to the American people, that they do not care about them or about their future. By voting in line with the President the Senate has showed that what it cares about most are defense appropriations and handing out thousands of spending contracts. This makes sense in light of the fact that the Senate is composed mostly of millionaires, as almost 50% of the Senate is in this category, while in the US population as whole only about 1% are millionaires. The investment interest of the current class of Senators is heavily weighted towards money and much less toward people or the American interest.

Then there is the military . . .

According to a recent poll from the Center for American Progress, the Bush administration is doing a remarkably poor job of helping out veterans and their families. Military families have turned sharply against the Bush administration, with only 35% responding favorably when asked if their needs were being met. The Senate does not have a clear direction for the war in Iraq and it is relying on the Bush administration for leadership on this war that the President has unilaterally led us into. What the Senate should be doing is exercising leadership of its own, by rejecting the Omnibus Spending Bill, reducing federal spending for the war in Iraq, and bringing our troops home.

By spending another $70 billion dollars on a failed war, we are only prolonging the inevitable withdrawal. Although Americans feel ambiguous about their responsibilities to the Iraqi people, the Iraqi people do not feel nearly so ambiguous. They want the troops out and they want their country returned. We have bombed their country, killed their people, created two million refugees and polluted their country with depleted uranium, and still the Senate thinks we should stay the course and that we are making progress.

It is time to end the war and bring the troops home. Tennessee deserves progressive leadership and deserves a candidate who will stand up for common sense and not for private contractors and military appropriations. We have lost to many good men and women, created too much devastation and human misery because of our narrow sighted actions in the middle east. It is time for us to face up to our mistakes and begin to reconcile ourselves with the international community. It is time to begin reducing our national debt, reducing our military spending and stepping out of the post cold-war mentality of the neo-cons. It is time to bring the troops home now!

The UFPJ support helps put an additional national spotlight on what many consider the Agent Orange of this generation of wars, with depleted uranium munitions used in Iraq and the Gulf region, in the Balkans during the Clinton administration, likely in Afghanistan, and possibly in Lebanon. The munitions have been widely tested throughout the U.S. mainland, in Hawaii, and in the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as well, leaving radioactive and toxic contamination in all testing and manufacturing regions, with little cleanup effort underway except in a couple of areas identified as Superfund sites.

Linda Modica, lead Tennessee coordinator, Angela Helwig of Georgia Peace & Justice and Chris Lugo of the Nashville Peace Coalition outlined what plans have been put in place thus far, including a rally in downtown Jonesborough, a march to and musical presence at Aerojet Ordnance - remaining U.S.producer of DU weapons cores, music and speakers in Jonesborough itself, and efforts to mobilize support.

Major Doug Rokke, military whistleblower who headed up Gulf War 1 attempts to cleanup DU munitions in Iraq and later demanded their use be terminated, will be a key speaker. Also addressing the rally will be a representative from Vieques. Lugo has been in contact with Rokke and the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques to help secure their presence in Jonesborough.

Angela Helwig has contacted the Iraq Veterans Against the War chapter in Atlanta for a speaker while UFPJ and Linda Modica has contacted the Gulf War Veterans Against the War and the NAACP as well. Linda is also an NAACP member. Musicians including Animal Nation, the group present at the Chattanooga Iraq war anniversary rally two years ago, have been invited to participate.

Meanwhile, Christian Peacemaker Teams will have its third stop DU delegation in Jonesborough, from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4, in its continued campaign against DU munitions, which will include team members from the U.S., Canada, Ghana and Nepal. Their presence overlaps the Oct. 27 event.

As a sidenote, Cliff Kindy, who has been key organizer for the CPT Jonesborough delegations, will be returning to Iraq in October with three other CPT members to restore the CPT presence there, suspended after four CPT members were kidnapped and Tom Fox was killed in Iraq while another team member died in a vehicle accident there.

For more information on depleted uranium munitions, visit:
http://du-blog.wildclearing.com
Wes * Eileen Rehberg, Ph.Ds.
www.wildclearing.com

The Iraqi hydrocarbon law, if approved by Iraqi awmakers, will provide lucrative profits for U.S. energy corporations by placing up to 2/3 of Iraqi oil resources under foreign control, said Liz Arnone, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “The U.S. government, whether led by Democrats or Republicans, will be committed to protecting American energy company operations and investments in Iraq by keeping U.S. troops there.”

Greens noted that passage of the law will aggravate Iraqi and regional anger over the U.S. invasion, which has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians (as well as over 3,100 U.S. troops), destroyed Iraqi infrastructure, and ignited a sectarian civil war.

“Iraqis should be allowed to decide how their resources will be used, without the pressure of the U.S. occupation and demands from the Bush Administration,” said Katey Culver, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and co-chiar of the Green Party of Tennessee. “The hydrocarbon law amounts to legalized pillage by a foreign country, and that’s how Iraqis will interpret it.”

The Green Party has called for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and has urged Congress to cut off funding for the war to compel President Bush to order the safe return of American service personnel.

The Iraqi oil law proves that ‘blood for oil’ was a major reason for the Iraq War all along. It demonstrates that President Bush didn’t invade Iraq because of claims about WMDs, conspiracy between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, liberation and democracy for the Iraqi people, or other reasons that have proved fraudulent,” - Green Party co-chair Jim Coplen

Major points on the Iraqi hydrocarbon law and extended U.S. military presence in Iraq:

The Iraqi hydrocarbon law, which was drafted with the help of BearingPoint, a U.S. consultancy firm, provides ‘production-sharing agreements’ (PSAs) allowing major Western energy companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, ChevronTexaco, and BP to sign deals of up to 30 years to extract Iraq’s oil. The PSAs will allow Iraq to retain legal ownership of its oil, but will ensure major profits for non-Iraqi companies that invest in infrastructure and operation of the wells, pipelines and refineries. Iraq will be the only major Middle Eastern oil producing nation whose oil production is controlled by foreign rather than state-owned companies. The hydrocarbon law will turn Iraq into an oil spigot for western nations, rather than a resource that benefits Iraqis. The drafting process was secretive; few Iraqi officials were allowed to read the text, until it was leaked over the Internet. The law was approved by the Iraqi cabinet on February 26 and now heads to the Iraqi Parliament, which is under heavy pressure from the U.S. to pass it.

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4020
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0228-05.htm http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2132574.ece

U.S. control over oil from the Persian Gulf region has been a stated goal since the late 1990s of the Project for the New American Century, a think tank whose membership has formed the core of Bush Administration, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Zalmay M. Khalilzad. The Project recommended waging war on Iraq to assert such control.

http://www.newamericancentury.org
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/022203A.htm
http://www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm

Michael Hirsh, in Newsweek, reports that while Democratic and Republican presidential contenders and Congress members are talking about timetables for withdrawal of U.S. troops, Gen. David Petraeus’ ’surge’ plan will commit the U.S. to a longer occupation that may last ten years. According to a Reuters report, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on February 27 that the U.S. may maintain a military presence in Iraq for a “prolonged period,” comparable to U.S. bases in Germany and South Korea.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17282867/site/newsweek/
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27242217.htm

For More Information:

Green Party News Center

“Troop Surge + Oil Grab by U.S. Firms = War Without End” - Green Party press release, (January 10, 2007)

The bill, which was signed into law tuesday morning, was vigorously protested by civil liberties organizations around the country. In Washington DC there was a vigil and in front of the White House on the Lafayette Park side. The vigil had been planned by the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture and by the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) International, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), PeaceAction Montgomery, The Shalom Center, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and World Can’t Wait DC Chapter.

Green Party Candidate Chris Lugo condemned the bill, which he said condones torture and suspends Habeus rights for Americans. ” Essentially we are condoning torture, not just of our suspected enemies, but also of ourselves. We have stepped into an Orwellian nightmare where the politbureau will allow people to be tortured by our agents,” Lugo said, “There is a human face to these people, to both the torturer and the tortured. We are creating an entire generation of victims and perpetrators. This can’t lead to anything good. But it is worse than that, this represents a profound stain upon our national character. As long as we allow torture, we are not free - every American is complicit in the suffering we are about to impose.”

The new law does not prohibit the government from using “alternative interrogation techniques” that include sleep deprivation, extreme cold, personal degradation, waterboarding (simulated drowning), “temporary” disablement, and psychological disorientation. The new law grants George Bush the sole authority to decide what torture is. Abu Ghraib and the secret renditions were horrible. But to take the next step and write such practices into law is even worse — qualitatively worse.

Our government has officially shredded constitutional promises of basic and fundamental rights to due process — taking a huge step towards replacing the rule of law with the arbitrary rule of men. The new law will give the president the right to hold people indefinitely without charging them, and without review from the courts, nullifying habeas corpus rights. Congress has now passed legislation that denies defendants the right to see evidence used against them, and allows the use of “evidence” gained through torture. It forbids anyone to invoke the Geneva Conventions in any civil case or habeas corpus proceedings undertaken against the U.S. government, and, according to some experts, it may also forbid this in criminal cases.

As a candidate for US Senate, Green Party candidate Chris Lugo pledges that if elected he would work to reverse this legislation, “Our government already holds 14,000 people overseas without charges,” Lugo contends, “Now we have dramatically expanded the scope of who the government can detain to include people anywhere in the world including US citizens. The president just signed a document which gives him the right to declare anyone an ‘unlawful enemy combatant’ at the executive’s discretion. This is a fundamental rewriting of the law which will incur the contempt and hatred of people from around the globe. I would not have voted for this legislation and I promise that I will work with my utmost strength to declare this legislation unconstitutional.”

Chris Lugo is the Green Party of Tennessee Candidate for US Senate
He can be reached at 615-593-0304 or chris4senate@gmail.com
or at www.chris4senate.com

The League of Women voters has scheduled a debate between Democrat Harold Ford Jr. and Republican Bob Corker on October 28th in candidate Chris Lugo’s home town of Nashville. The Green Party of Tennessee has been fielding candidates for office since 1996. The National Green Party has been in existence for almost three decades and has elected officials in over 250 positions nationally and is running hundreds of candidates this year. In Tennessee, the Green Party is fielding candidates in two Congressional races as well as the Gubenatorial and Senate races.

“The voters deserve a chance to hear from the candidates. This public forum is an opportunity for Vanderbilt University and CBS News as well as the League of Women Voters to live up to the promise of the Constitution of the United States. We cannot have fair elections if the candidates are excluded. ”

Unlike Corker or Ford, Green Party of Tennessee Candidate Chris Lugo represents a clear distinction for Tennessee Voters. Chris Lugo supports and immediate withdrawal of armed forces from Iraq and supports other liberal issues which the Democratic Party of Tennessee has abandoned, such as Civil Rights for Gays and Lesbians. Additionally, Lugo has not resorted to immigrant bashing or fear mongering as part of his campaign this season. “I stand fully behind the rights of immigrants. I believe they deserve the dignity and respect that they have earned as persons who have come to this country to work and to live the American dream.”

Other issues which the Democrats and Republicans have avoided this campaign season, such as protection of First Amendment Rights and Universal Health Care are part of Lugo’s platform. Chris Lugo is the only candidate running for office in the Senate campaign who supports implementing universal health care to address the needs of Tennessee’s 600,000 uninsured, including over 300,000 who were kicked off of Tenncare this year.

“I will debate Harold Ford Jr on Meet the Press. I will debate Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker in Chattanooga. I will debate them in Nashville. I am ready to show that there is a choice for voters in Tennessee this election season. Americans are tired of the war in Iraq. They want a quick and speedy end to the war. Tennesseans want health care, they want a clean environment, they want a politician who will address the environmental crisis of global warming. Tennesseans want a candidate who will look to the future, and will provide real solutions to the problems we are facing.”

Contact: Chris Lugo for US Senate
9 Music Sq So #164
Nashville, TN 37230
chris4senate@gmail.com
www.chris4senate.com
615-593-0304