Terrorism vs. Human Needs – Priorities

The latest news in the “War on Terrorism” is the NSA Phone Records Confiscation. The reason being given for this invasion of privacy is that it is necessary to combat the war on terrorism. Sadly, many Americans feel that it is o.k. for this violation of rights to occur in the name of “protecting” U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks.

Even more sad is that there are more people who die each year from lack of health care than from terroists attacks. Approximtately three times more people in the United States die each year as a result of not being able to obtain the necessary health care than died in the single terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Septebmer 11, 2001.

The Citizens Healthcare Report, a government initiated working group to study and report on health care in America, acknowledges that Health care services are not available to everyone, and millions of Americans can’t afford to pay for health care services even when they are available, and these problems are getting worse.

So are we more at risk of dying from disease and malnutirition…….or from terrorist attacks?
The answer is obvious.

While the regime that is currently at the helm of running the United States focuses most of our money and efforts on combating terrorism and degrading our civil liberties, more and more people are suffering and dying as a result of not being able to access much needed services to sustain a quality of life. Basic human needs are a right outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the U.S. is a signatory.

Watch who you call……

The latest news on the issue of phone records being turned over. Of course the Bushites are claiming that this is all within the realms of what they are allowed to do.

The good news is that Qwest, the western U.S. phone service provider, has not complied:
Qwest praised for rejecting NSA’s request

Here is this claim in an article on ABC News:
Surveillance Is Broadly Acceptable to Public

More News

  • NSA Has Massive Database of Americans’ Phone Calls – Common Dreams – has a Q&A link to The NSA record collection program
    “It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added.

  • Furor over phone records: Newspaper says 3 firms gave call lists to NSA – Deseret News
  • U.S. use of phone records assailed: Outrage rises in Congress over program – Detroit Free Press
    Nation Split on NSA Records Collection – Washington Post

  • NSA has your phone records; ‘trust us’ isn’t good enough – USA Today
  • More news Here
  • Today in history

    May 12

    1968
    The Poor People’s Campaign, organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began when contingents of the poor, mainly from the south, began pitching tents in a “Resurrection City” near the Lincoln Memorial. It was dismantled by police on June 24.

    1975
    Gonzalo Arias chains himself to Spanish gate in protest of closure of Spain/Gibraltar frontier.
    1985
    Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as the first woman rabbi in the Conservative Jewish movement.

    Stop the Divine Strake Vigil and Press Conference

    Tonight members of Utah groups participating in the May 28 action at the Nevada Test Site, along with other citizens, joined in a vigil to voice opposition to the Divine Strake Test being held next month at the test site. Channel 4 ABC News showed up and interviewed a few of the participants and filmed sign-holders and the Radical Cheerleaders.

    Here are some photos:



    Continue reading

    World Car Free Days

    National Geographic has come out with Car-Free Days Bring Quiet to Communities, Advocates Say. “Car-Free Days” are going to be held throughout the world on September 22. Additionally, cities around the world are holding their own “car-free days”.

    Blast safe? NOT!!!

    While accounts and rumors of a delay in the Divine Strake Test are being circulated, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wants pledge that the test will be “safe”, and Rep Jim Matheson (D-Utah)is “satisfied” with a delay.

    It seems that Greens are among the few demanding that there BE NO TEST AT ALL.

    Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has an article on the hazards of such a test/blast.

    An environmental consultant who has studied the Nevada Test Site says there is likely radioactive contamination at the location where the Pentagon plans to conduct a major explosives test, potentially dispersing the contaminants.

    But Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which operates the Nevada Test Site, said extensive tests have shown the Divine Strake test site is not contaminated.

    Like, I really believe the Defense Department.

    Enough “stuff” already. Nevada Test site experiments are NOT SAFE! There is no reason for our elected officials to be even waivering on this! This is another example of our politicians holding out instead of making a concrete statement and decision. DEMAND A CANCELLATION.

    STOP THE DIVINE STRAKE!

    Other articles in today’s news

  • Divine Strake blast postponed: Test won’t happen for at least three weeks, agencies acknowledge – The Spectrum
  • U.S. Gov’t Postpones “Divine Strake” Test – KBCI 2, Boise, Idaho
  • Divine Strake – OpEd from OpEdNews.com
  • Mushroom Cloud Blast In Nevada Postponed – AllHeadlineNews
  • U.S. postpones Nevada test blast – Political Gateway
  • Today in history

    May 11

    1894</b.
    Beginning of Pullman Railroad Strike, Chicago, Illinois. The largest industrial strike to date in US history, eventually broken by federal government troops.

    1973
    Charges against former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the release of the Pentagon Papers (a comprehensive classified study of the origins and conduct of the Vietnam War) were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, citing government misconduct.

    1975
    80,000 turned out in New York City’s Central Park to celebrate the end of the Vietnam War.

    1996
    March against black on black violence, Birmingham, England.

    Cost of the War in Iraq – entire U.S.
    Cost of the War in Iraq – See the cost in your community (drop down menu)
    Iraq Body Count

    Stop the Divine Strake Blogswarm – next Tuesday

    Action Alert for ALL Bloggers:

    I am organizing a STOP THE DIVINE STRAKE blogswarm for Tuesday, May 16th. I hope you all will participate in an effort to stop this test.

    STOP THE DIVINE STRAKE!

    Why I’m Green – Continued

    Whenever I find myself feeling really uptight about politics and frustrated over Greens seemingly pitting other Greens against each other, I go for a long walk or bike ride if I can – to clear my head and think a little. Tonight was one such occasion. I went for a long bike ride, first to run an errand and then for a ride along the river.

    Lately it has become obvious, and very likely, to me that there are greens outside the party to which I belong pitting greens within the party to which I belong against each other. It’s being done subtly and via discreet communications, but it’s happening. Locally….and nationally. Text and words from blogs and emails and other forms of communication are being twisted and sent to other people with commentary that results in uproars. I just can’t believe that people actually spend their time thinking of ways to put so much negativity into the political atmosphere. It’s really, really sad. And worse yet, it’s not green at all to be engaging in this type of activity.

    So I have to remind myself why I’m green from time to time.

    Since my March 5th why I’m green post, I have learned that I will be a grandmother. This has strengthened my resolve to push green values in my living and my life’s platform for living. Why I’m green has a greater, renewed statement for me. Suddenly my lineage is going to be extended. Suddenly, I feel stronger about the statements I make. Suddenly I realize that I don’t have to put up with petty BS and don’t have to be hesitant to stand up to it. Suddenly I connect with my own grandmother’s courage and resolve. Suddenly I realize more than ever that what I do now really will make a difference – even if it isn’t noticed for several generations.

    I remind myself that the values of Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Non-violence, Decentralization, Community-based, Economics, Feminism, Diversity, Responsibility, Future Focus are what I strive for in my life and in my activism. The earth….and my grandchild…..depend on it.

    No one can ever take that away from me – regardless of how hard they try.