Michael McDonald – I keep forgetting
This is one of the coolest tunes that I know. It has this underlying groove. This groove isn’t over powering like the funk of the time. It is laid back.
Bush Admin. "Keep your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…"
What does it say about us when we are so intent on bringing a Western-style democracy to Iraq that we will invade, depose their leader, destroy the infrastructure (with a lot of help from them, admittedly), and generally stir things up so badly that their country falls into a civil war.
But at the same time, we will let practically none of the refugees from that war-torn country come into our bastion of democracy?
According to a story I heard on NPR this morning, since 2003, the United States has only accepted 466 refugees from Iraq. That’s less than ten per month (or maybe it’s 13 per month, if they are counting since the end of 2003). Regardless, it’s pathetic.
But wait, you might say, we wouldn’t want to let just any Iraqi refugees into our country. Some of them could be agents saboteur, intent on bringing havoc to our shores. Well, we aren’t even letting in the Iraqis who have demonstrated their alliance to our troops by serving as interpreters or helping in other crucial roles. The door is equally slammed shut for this category of Iraqis, many of whom are seeking refuge because they’ve been subsequently targeted for reprisal violence.
To date, we’ve issued only 50 visas to people in this category.
I guess we’re not quite the warm, welcoming country that we like to picture ourselves as, are we?
keep politics out of medicine
Why does the Bush administration not turn its attention to world problems? Why do they, instead, meddle in matters of science and medicine?
This poser president uses his veto power for the first time to subdue research into stem cell therapy? That could really hurt a lot of people…this stem cell research.
Instead, it will be refined in other countries, and we are left with expertise in torturing and election fraud.
Another area under constant attack from the right wing is the Oregon law of “Assisted Suicide”. A terminally ill (less than 6 months) patient may be able to control the manner of his impending death. If found competent by two physicians, the patient’s doctor may give him a prescription for a lethal “cocktail”. Many patients never go on to use the cocktail — but they like to be able to have some measure of control over the way their life is going to end.
This law was voted in by Oregon voters, not once, but twice. That’s because the right wing has tried time and again to chisel away at this law. It’s always someone from the right wing, always from outside the state….who tries to save Oregonians from the right to control their life and death. How many more times do we have to fight off yet another attempt by the neocons to impose their will on the will of the people?
No replay of Terri Schiavo. Keep politicians out of science and medicine!!
Gabi