http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3648/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

Die US-Umweltbehörde will auf Druck der Chemiekonzerne ein unter der Clinton-Präsidentschaft erlassenes Moratorium mit einer umstrittenen Regelung beenden, die auch Tests mit Kindern zulässt.

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/r4/artikel/21/21389/1.html

Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111905Z.shtml

Pentagon investigators have referred allegations of abuse in how the Halliburton Company was awarded a contract for work in Iraq to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111905Y.shtml

IF YOU WANT THE TROOPS HOME WE MUST SUPPORT "TROOPS HOME" CANDIDATES

We put a call out to all candidates who want to win, and Steve Young, fighting for the people in normally conservative Orange County, CA, in a special house election coming up Dec. 6, took us up on our offer to create action pages for him on his own campaign site. With the emergence now of John Murtha as a sane voice on the need to extricate ourselves from the quagmire in Iraq, Steve Young is another strong voice for doing what must be done. Won't you visit his site and submit the action page below to help support his issues-based campaign?

ACTION PAGE:
http://www.steveyoungforcongress.com/petitions/troopshome.htm

We are told that people from all over the country can help with the campaign, as they will be doing virtual phone banks. But especially if you are in Southern California, you can make a real impact by helping to get out the vote in this last test election before 2006. If Steve wins or makes a strong showing in this red district, it will have great influence on other congresspeople who are not yet listening to the voice of the people.

STATEMENT OF THE STEVE YOUNG CAMPAIGN

With the December 6, 2005 California 48th District General Election just around the corner, Steve Young needs your help. As you may recall, Steve is running on the Democratic ticket against John Campbell (a Republican) to fill the vacancy created when Christopher Cox accepted an appointment by President Bush to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

One of Steve's trademark initiatives is to support America's veterans and end the war in Iraq. Steve's first act in Congress would be to help other Democrats to force a Bill onto the floor increasing VA medical funding so that all veterans get health insurance and keep VA Hospitals open so all eligible veterans can be treated promptly. He would ensure we support our troops by making sure all veterans who fought for their country have health insurance that means something!

One of his campaign motto's is: "Leave No Veteran Behind . . . Enough is Enough!" Help Steve Young take back this Congressional seat by contributing or volunteering (you can help even if you’re not in the district) at www.steveyoungforcongress.com.

Steve Young is a progressive candidate doing the unthinkable, running a competitive race with a chance to win a Congressional seat in Orange County, the bastion of Republicanism just south of Los Angeles. The special election is set for December 6th and he needs your help urgently. You can contribute online at his website.

Randi Rhodes interviewed Steve the other day and called him "a Democrat with ideas!" and asked for America to get behind him.

We're asking you to take the next step. It's easy and critical to make sure we turn out the vote for Steve on Election Day. Please choose the method you feel you can best help from the list below:

If you live within the 48th District, go to the campaign website; print a copy of the "vote-by-mail" application; complete the form return it to the indicated address. The Campaign Team will hand deliver your application to the State Registrar's office and afterwards you will receive an official ballot to vote via regular postal mail. This is your chance to conveniently speak up and make your vote count. The web address is http://steveyoungforcongress.com

Contribute $5-$10-$25 to Steve Young's campaign to build up a last minute media blitz. Same web address, http://steveyoungforcongress.com

If you live outside the District, forward this email to at least 10 of your friends.

With only a few weeks left before Election Day, this is a great opportunity for everyone in our family to pitch in to help our friend, Steve Young. Democrats across the nation are rallying to Steve Young's side in the campaign's final weeks, and with your active participation, he/we can win this election.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

Powered by The People's Email Network Copyright 2005, Patent pending, All rights reserved

Controversy surrounding the leak of a CIA operative's identity showed no signs of abating Thursday, dashing any hopes White House officials had that the investigation was nearing an end. A group of former intelligence officers urged President Bush not to pardon anyone convicted of leaking Valerie Plame's name to reporters and to pull security clearances of any White House officials implicated in the investigation.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111805E.shtml

John W. Dean: Beyond politics is patriotism: Patriotic Americans want to see you not only prosecute those who compromised and endangered Valerie Plame Wilson, but also force the administration to clean house with respect to those who did, which you can accomplish through appropriate civil action. As one who does know something about the way Washington works, I hope you will actually use the plenary powers you have been granted to implement what I understood to be the announced policy of the Department of Justice for which you work - a zero tolerance policy for leaks.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111805D.shtml

To buy influence at the White House, GOP operative Jack Abramoff gave $500,000 in tribal loot to a Gale Norton pal, Italia Federici, who heads an "environmental" nonprofit.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111805C.shtml

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will present evidence next week to a grand jury of his two-year-old investigation into the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson in the hopes of securing criminal indictments against an undetermined number of senior Bush administration officials for their roles in the leak.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111805A.shtml

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill by a razor-thin 217-215 margin in the pre-dawn hours this morning.

Thanks to the millions of messages from people like you, and thanks to a principled stand by representatives on both sides of the aisle, the House was forced last week to strip a provision from the budget bill that would have opened the 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain of America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to sprawling oil development. The success of this bipartisan effort clearly demonstrates that the House is a dead-end for the drilling lobby's back-door plan to drill the Arctic Refuge.

A strong group of centrist Republican members have made it clear that they will oppose the bill if it includes drilling provisions, and Democrats have been unanimously opposed to the bill. It is anyone's guess what (if anything) will emerge out of the closed-door conference, but it is clear that any bill that includes Arctic Refuge drilling will run into a brick wall.

Still A Bad Bill

Although the House bill does not include provisions to drill the Arctic Refuge, it does contain a provision that could lead to the sale of millions of acres of public lands.

The provision would allow the sale of existing and future mining claims on public lands, National Forest lands, and lands in our National Parks, even if the purchaser never intends to mine the claims. A conservative estimate of the provision's reach is some 4.5 million acres of public lands, including more than 600 "unpatented" mining claims in National Park units. Claimants would not even have to prove that their claims contain mineral deposits before they can purchase the rights to the land.

It is wrong to use the reconciliation bill to force through a provision that could lead to the privatization of millions of acres of public lands.

What's Next

Both houses of Congress are scheduled to recess today for Thanksgiving. The House will return on December 6th and the Senate on December 12th. This means that the heavy work of resolving the remaining appropriations conferences will not be taken up until the Senate is back the week of December 12th.

Given the dramatic differences between the two versions, and the controversial nature of many of the provisions, the conference negotiations could last for weeks, if not months. We will continue to alert you to how you can help us remove these controversial provisions and protect the Arctic Refuge from the final reconciliation package.

For More Information

About the House bill:
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20051118.cfm

About mining claims on national lands:
http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Documents/upload/Factsheet-MiningClaimsInNationalParkSystemUnits-Nov2005.pdf

The Wilderness Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving American wilderness. Our mission is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water, wildlife, beauty, and opportunity for recreation and renewal provided by pristine forests, rivers, deserts, and mountains. As a subscriber to WildAlert, you join more than 300,000 Wilderness Society members and supporters in our efforts to protect and restore America's wild places.

http://www.wilderness.org

1615 M St, NW
Washington, DC 20036
1.800.THE.WILD
action@tws.org