Poll Says Utahns Favor War as Priority

This is scary……

Deseret Morning News

      A majority of Utahns say the war in Iraq should be the top priority for President Bush and Congress, according to a new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll.
     

Sixty-three percent of 416 residents in the statewide poll ranked the war in Iraq as a “very high priority,” pushing it ahead of four other issues, including the economy, Social Security, health care and immigration reform.
      The poll, which has a margin of error of 5 percent, asked respondents to rank the five issues on a 1-5 scale, with 1 meaning a very low priority and 5 being a very high priority for Bush to pursue.
      While Social Security had the lowest percentage of respondents ranking it as very high priority — 35 percent — it squeezed past immigration reform in overall importance. Immigration reform’s overall ranking dipped slightly because of the higher number of respondents — 7 percent — who ranked it as a very low priority.
      Economy and health-care reform ranked slightly higher on the priority list, with 40 percent of respondents listing health care as a very high priority and 37 percent ranking the economy very high.
      Only 4 percent of respondents gave the war in Iraq a very low priority.

Photo
Deseret Morning News graphic

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Invest in Peace – Be Green

My Sister Green in Georgia gave a speech at the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia this past weekend during the annual Close the School of Americas event:

Invest in Peace – Be Green
[This is my speech Sunday, November 19, 2006, at the gates of Ft. Benning at the School of Americas Watch vigil in Columbus, Georgia.]

Thank you!

Like you, I was encouraged by our nation’s recent dramatic rejection of the Bush administration, but in order to SHUT DOWN the School of Americas, we must go further. THE GREEN PARTY’S platform represents the historical imperative for the future because our platform and our positions are based on values and principles of HUMAN RIGHTS AND RESPECT for life.

This election was an ANTI WAR, PRO PEACE message from America. THE GREEN PARTY is the ONLY ANTI WAR, PRO PEACE party in our nation!

The election was a rejection of the War on Terrorism and a rejection of the so-called USA PATRIOT act and a rejection of torture. THE GREEN PARTY has joined You in demanding an END to the War on Terrorism and an END to the USA PATRIOT act. Say “NO” to Torture! SUPPORT PEACE!

Our nation is still finding her voice though. We know that Peace is more than just an absence of War. Peace is building a world where EVERYONE has access to food, shelter, schooling, and healthcare. PEACE is about building a world where conflict is resolved nonviolently, not with bombs or torture. PEACE is about a LIVING WAGE, not just a minimum wage. We know that working harder TOGETHER will help steer our nation’s voice forward. We can change our foreign policy to reflect a RESPECT AND VALUE for the fruits of all people’s labors. Say “NO!” to NAFTA and CAFTA. SUPPORT PEACE!

With the most recent reports on the projected military budget set to push the cost of the War on Terrorism past the cost of the Vietnam War, WE must speak with a united voice for PEACE, demanding that Congress De-fund Death, De-fund corporate handouts, and FUND LIFE: fund healthcare, fund education, fund clean air, clean water. Demand of your own congressional representative that they fund Life, not Death. Tell them that you heard about a DIFFERENT POLITICAL PARTY that values PEACE not War, LIFE not Death. We support PEACE in THE GREEN PARTY.

INVEST IN PEACE NOW. Invest in BUILDING THE POLITICAL POWER to SHUT DOWN THE SOA. Stop by our table 93. Connect with Greens in your state. JOIN OUR “CARD CARRYING GREEN” PROGRAM INVESTING IN PEACE, Green Party Peace. And go to GP dot ORG to find out more information.

With GREENS in elected offices across our nation and especially in Congress, you can have the leadership necessary to SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOL OF AMERICAS. Thank you.

Divine Strake for Thanksgiving

Divine Strake for Thanksgiving

When you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner this week, it may be a good occasion to contemplate how your Thanksgiving meal may play out next year. Close your eyes and imagine roast-turkey rubbed with butter and iridescent sage. Piping hot from the kitchen comes, oh my, grandma’s savory steamed topsoil with pureed plutonium and americium. Yum! Smell the lemon-poached chlorine. Or the tarragon-mustard phosgene! “Please pass the blue-cheese cesium-137 salad.” “Do you want more of the green beans with mushrooms, cream and strontium-90?” “Is that cranberry cobalt-60 compote?” “There’s no slow-sautéed europium-155 and turnips left. I didn’t get any!”

Interrupting this cacophony of sights and smells, Uncle Bob lets out another violent cough. “You should have a doctor look at that cough of yours,” nudges Aunt Mildred as she reaches for the spinach and neptunium-237 stuffing. “I did,” replies Uncle Bob, munching on an alpha-emitting onion-herb crescent roll. “And?” inquires Bob’s daughter, Meredith. “It’s…it’s my thyroid…I…ugh…Jeez. The doctor said it might be cancer.” Spoonfuls of cranberry sauce crash onto china plates. Forkfuls of half-eaten sweet potatoes slowly descend from salivating mouths. Diamond-cut goblets of red wine retreat to their place settings. Seated at the head of the table, grandma begins a silent prayer.

Sometime between this year’s Thanksgiving and gobble-fest 2007, turkey feed and cranberries, mushrooms and salads, and ginger and sage will be growing in soils with a few added ‘nutrients’: radioactivity from the Divine Strake test. The Pentagon agency in charge of the non-nuclear test recently admitted that the massive explosion planned for mid-2007 at the Nevada Test Site will expose downwinders to radioisotopes from contaminated soils at the test’s ground-zero. Their contention is that the exposure to downwinders will be, at worst, the equivalent to a mere fraction of one chest x-ray. That is probably true, if no one eats or breathes. The dust cloud formed from Divine Strake would carry alpha- and beta-emitting particles that, if inhaled or ingested, would make you wish you could exchange that internal radiation exposure, which can lead to cancer, auto-immune disease or genetic damage, for one-hundred X-rays. The Pentagon also forgot to mention that the 700-ton chemical explosion will create tons of carcinogenic gasses that, along with the radioactive dust, could get picked up by the jet stream and lightly dust wieners at hot dog stands in New York or Chicago.

So, when you reach for the spinach and artichoke stuffing this year, be thankful. Be thankful as you munch on your radiation-free dinner roll that you still have a chance to learn about the alphas, betas, and gammas of radiation, inform your friends, and urge your elected leaders in Washington to ensure that Divine Strake never happens, not next year, not with a different name, and not ever.

 

Mr. Kishner is a member of the Stop Divine Strake Coalition and founder of www.StopDivineStrake.com.

CANCEL THE DIVINE STRAKE! STOP WEAPONS TESTING ON ANY LAND! END NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION!

Holiday Gift Giving: A “Green” Christmas Guide

Eco Street has put out A Green Christmas Guide. I’ll be adding this to my Gift Giving Guide, along with other updated items I discover.

Here are items in this guide:

  • Christmas Survival Kit and Advent Calendar
  • Making your own Christmas wreaths, garlands and other decorations from recyclables
  • Christmas Tree alternatives
  • Gifts made from reducing, reusing, recycling
  • Carnival of the Green

    This week’s Carnival of the Green appears at the Organic Researcher.

    This week’s topics include:

  • sustainable tampons
  • disposing of left-over coffee grounds
  • top 10 Eco-Reasons to Buy Local Food
  • green home building
  • TreeHugger/7th Generation Video Contest
  • a local perspective on climate change
  • the military’s new hybrid vehicle
  • a green Christmas Guide
  • creation care vs. environmentalism
  • tails of squatting
  • globalization issues
  • 500 daily ways to save the planet

    Happy Reading!

  • Peace History

    November 20, 1816

     

    The term “scab” was first used in print by the Albany (N.Y.) Typographical Society.

     

    What is a Scab?


    read The Scab by Jack London

    November 20, 1945

    The International War Crimes Tribunal began in Nuremberg, Germany, and continued until October 1, 1946, establishing that military and political subordinates are responsible for their own actions even if ordered by their superiors.

    Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis were on trial for atrocities committed during World War II, ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. The Nuremberg Trials were conducted by judges from the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain.

    The Nuremberg defendants

    read more

    November 20, 1959

    The United Nations proclaimed “The Declaration of the Rights of the Child,” because “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”

    Read the text of the Declaration:

    November 20, 1987

    SANE (The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy) and FREEZE (the campaign to freeze all testing of nuclear weapons) merged at their first combined convention in Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the largest U.S. peace organization.

    read more

    More on Thanksgiving – Building Community

    Every student in my school is required to serve on one of the 11 committees that contributes to the school community in some way. I am the advisor of my school’s Social Committee. Our committee plans activities to promote a sense of community by bringing everyone together for fun activities such as dances, chocolate parties, talent shows, etc.

    For the second consecutive year, our committee is planning a Thanksgiving Feast for the entire school – all for free. Parents have donated all the food and today is the day we will all gather in our school kitchen to do the cooking. That part of it – the preparation – is part of the building of community. It’s so fun to come togethter – students, parents, and teachers – and engage in this activity. I have parents whose kids can’t help prepare this year who want to help anyway because they had so much fun last year.

    We are providing food items for everyone – vegans and meat-eaters; grocery-store bought items to homemade items and free range turkeys; pies made by the foods class.

    The feast is tomorrow and practically guaranteed to be a success (what teen doesn’t like food – especially free food?). Mostly because of the sharing that takes place – of food and conversation – with students, staff, and parents all together.

    Where does our food come from?

    As the traditional U.S. Thanksgiving holiday approaches, there are numerous articles and posts about food.

    I was pleasantly surprised today to see this headline in the Salt Lake Tribune:
    From farm to feast: How Healthful is your meal?

    The article delves into the different food movements and changing mindsets of consumers.

    A growing number of people are relying on different values to shape their meals, buying organic or locally grown produce whenever possible. They support local farmers and small, artisan producers of milk, cheese and bread, and share the bounty with family and friends. This “Slow Food” movement began in Italy 20 years ago in response to the opening of a McDonald’s in a historic section of Rome. Today, Slow Food has 80,000 members across the globe, including a group in Utah.
    Better flavor is just one of the reasons that “eat local” is one of Slow Food’s mantras.

    The article also gives local alternatives to Thanksgiving food items:

    A plate full of America

    Where in this country did all the fixings come from? Or maybe they just came from Utah.
    Canned pumpkin – Libby’s, Ohio
    Utah option: Pecan pie, from Thompson Family Pecan Farm, Hurricane

    Brussels sprouts – Various farms, California
    Utah option: Mushrooms from Mountainview Mushrooms, Fillmore

    Cranberries – Ocean Spray, Massachusetts
    Utah option: Apples from orchards in Santaquin, Payson and Orem

    Mashed potatoes – Eagle Eye, Idaho
    Utah option: Spuds from the neighbor

    Turkey Jenny-O, Minn.
    Utah options: Norbest turkey, Moroni; or hormone-free bird from Wight Family Farms, Weber County

    See other food alternatives to more conscious eating at these blogs:

  • Folk Food
  • Kalyn’s Kitchen
  • Veggie Friendly
  • Planet on a plate
  • Getting ready for the Utah legislative session

    I’ve updated my Politics Handbook (link is also at the bottom of left links sidebar).

    On that page is a link to 2007 Utah Legislative Session News.

    Here we go again……

    Looks like its time to revive the “Beavers and Buttars” comic:

    Duo take aim at gay-straight alliances

    By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
    Deseret Morning News

          At least one bill targeting gay-straight alliances in Utah public schools is expected to reappear in the 2007 Legislature.

    Image

    Chris Buttars
    Image

    Aaron Tilton

          Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who carried a bill last year, says another clubs bill will appear and, from his perspective, be “pretty much the same.”
          Meanwhile, Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, also says he’s working on a bill that would be similar to the legislation he carried last year.
          It was not immediately clear whether the two would work together.
          “There will be a bill run,” Tilton said. “It’s likely I will be the House sponsor.”
          Utah Pride Center executive director Valerie Larabee says the bills attack gay students but also could open a dialogue about the difficulties gay students may face in Utah public schools.
          “Teachers, administrators and counselors are dealing with a lot of different youth,” Larabee said. “In my view, there is a lack of understanding about the different populations they serve. Because of that, the school environment is not safe for many youths.”
          Tilton’s bill last year sought to warn parents that certain clubs could, if state law is violated, expose students to concepts including homosexual, heterosexual, transgender and transsexual themes, adult sexual molestation and abuse. A House committee debate centered on gay-straight alliances, of which there were believed to be 14 in Utah public schools.
          Buttars’ bill had attempted to let school boards deny club status to gay-straight alliances or others to “protect the physical, emotional, psychological or moral well-being of students and faculty” and other provisions.
          The clubs issue is touchy in Utah. In the mid-1990s, Salt Lake City School District banned all student clubs after a petition to form a gay-straight alliance at East High. It went through a federal lawsuit and ended up reinstating clubs before the dust settled years later.
          Federal law requires school boards to allow gay-straight alliances if they’re going to open the doors to other non-curriculum clubs.


    E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com