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Industrial Hemp

June 24, 2005
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Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas and an obstetrician who has delivered over 6000 babies, is trying to deliver our farmers from a bureaucratic medievalism in Washington that keeps saying “No” to growing industrial hemp.Many farmers want to grow this 5000 year old long fiber plant that has been turned into thousands of products…

The Liberty Bill

June 17, 2005
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It was a simple idea with long arms and legs. It came to eighth grade teacher, Randy Wright in Ashland, Virginia during a night time dream. He related it to his students who agreed to take it forward as part of their civics class. They took the concept in early 1998 to their members of…

The Perfect Political Trap

June 10, 2005
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The horrific Republicans had another two weeks of victories over the hapless Democrats. After seven Republican and seven Democratic Senators forged the compromise that averted a showdown against the filibuster, the Republicans moved the confirmation of the worst nominees for the federal circuit courts of appeals which the Democrats had vigorously opposed before they were…

Solar Power

June 3, 2005
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One of my favorite publications–one that you may never have heard about–is the Co-op America Quarterly: Economic Actions for a Just Planet. The current issue is devoted to “The Promise of the Solar Future.” Co-op America brings together buyers and sellers who want products and services that are environmentally benign and made by companies and…

General Motors Cannonball

May 27, 2005
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Veteran Car and Driver Magazine editor, Brock Yates, used to lead the notorious Cannonball race across the U.S. non-stop wildly violating every speed limit with his competing buddies. In the Sixties, he would take out after my championing safer, more fuel-efficient and less polluting cars as undermining the auto industry through federal regulatory standards. Mind…

Democratic Offensive

May 19, 2005
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As President George W. Bush rushes around the country frantically trying to find acceptance of his exaggerated, deceptive and sometimes deliberately inaccurate (note his use of the word “bankrupt” ) plan for a social insecurity system, the pundits and the polls say he is not gaining traction. A large majority still opposes his proposals for…

Passing The Buck

May 14, 2005
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An astonishing message came forth on May 12, 2005 from ABC News political unit’s The Note. I shall quote verbatim from Mark Halperin and his associate editors: “We say with all the genuine apolitical and non-partisan human concern that we can muster that the death and carnage in Iraqis truly staggering. But we are sort…

The Future of Organized Labor

May 8, 2005
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With U.S. union membership down to only 8% of the workers in the corporate sector – the lowest in 90 years – a clash of unions is underway within the AFL-CIO over the future direction of organized labor. The unions challenging the leadership of President John J. Sweeney – the Service Employees International Union (SEIU),…

The Media and Bush

April 29, 2005
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Will just one regular White House reporter let out a scream after yet another managed Bush news conference? Not literally, of course. But substantively to protest this recurrent orchestrated theater between the President, his coaches and the reporters, that results in one giant ditto hour of what Bush has been saying every day on his…

Tearing down Democracy

April 24, 2005
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You would think that Bush-Cheney would be sensitive to avoiding the weakening of democracy in our country while going around the world with Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, hectoring other countries about their anti-democratic practices. After all, the moral authority to admonish comes from the power of example. Instead brazen hypocrisy prevails. Bush and Cheney…