American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

This is a repost but the cartoon is priceless set this creep straight.

Senator Larry Craig - famous for misbehaving in a different kind of stall - is using stall tactics on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

His threat to hold up Senate consideration of the bill (S.311 by Sens. Landrieu and Ensign) is putting thousands of horses in danger of ruthless killer buyers who want to buy horses at auction and haul them to Mexico or Canada for a gruesome demise.

Tell your Senator to Stop the Larry Craig Stall.

Please do it today: Click HERE and send your Senator a message.

And please forward this email to 10 of your horse-loving friends, asking them to do the same.

Thanks for all you do to protect horses.

Soraya Gheissari

Executive Director

National Horse Protection League

The National Horse Protection League is an online community dedicated to making every horse a wanted horse. Our mission is simple: to protect horses and help owners who can no longer care for their animals find a humane and loving alternative to cruel death or abandonment. Visit www.horse-protection.org and find out how you can show your love of horses.

The Debate Last Night - by For Profit Media

When Corporate America (the powers that be) took the debates from the League of Women Voters - they delivered a death blow to our democracy.

Some of the issues Corporate America and their talking head hacks didn't want you to think about last night are as follows;

Electric cars, mountain top removal, global warming, overfishing, pollution leading to cancer, pesticides and run off polluting the food chain and putting people out of work and at risk, overpopulation, desertification of the planet, the collapse of the Bee Colonies (it sounds minor but it has a huge impact on our food supply and the cost of that food supply), the mortgage crisis, the tax payer BAILOUT of Bear Sterns, the impeachable offenses of the Bush administration, the fire in Cheney's record room. The tax cuts for the uber wealthy, becoming permanent or not, the deficit, the trade imbalance, the interest on the deficit, THE WAR, veteran benefits, Walter Reed Hospital Conditions, Health Care, Education, the root cause of violence. The erosion of Separation of Church and State. The widening divide between rich and poor, the over taxed middle class, gasoline prices, energy sources clean energy vs. dirty energy...the budget, the budget, the budget!

No one seriously considering the candidates gets their news from corporate sponsored television or newspaper. Reporters might want to ask or write about the larger issues but questions of profit and who your boss is, who you are working for, and what are their interest play a HUGE factor in the information you get from these profit driven sources.

Certainly the tabloid issues, gotchas mis steps (and lies) need to be mentioned at some point but two hours devoted to non-core issues is just diversionary. There are bigger issues at stake that will have a real impact on the actual function and performance of our government bodies.

Who are Obama's financial contributers, who are Hilary's. Why are they taking money from these people? Are they going to work for them or the American people?

When a major political financial contributor, player and entity owns the media - you won't get those questions.

The only way to address this problem is to legislate that a non-profit organize and hold the debates. Take money out of the equation and we will get a return to the issues and a return to Democracy.

The powers that be do not want an informed citizenry. They can't pull the wool over our eyes and pocket our tax dollars if we know what they are doing behind closed doors and trying to extract through hidden or unheralded legislation.

Where was Ralph Nader he would have addressed the issues? But because the powers that be control the media - you won't see Ralph get any air time...
...and that's the way it is and unless we the people make a huge noise and take the debates back from the profiteers and their corporations they hide behind that's the way it will always be...good night and good luck!

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes, Everywhere!

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

Fight Tax Abuse Links
Freedom Works
Tax Revolt
National Tax Payers Union

Elitists Republicans, Democrats and their Corporate Friends Thank You For Your Taxes Paid Today!

While the uber millionaires running for office toss around the word elitist - I thought a reality check might be in order. The people running our country, the status quo are the elitist. There has been no recessionary impact on high end condos, high end yachts and high end cars. Meanwhile there is a tax on everything and an enormous amount of money headed for Washington today. The greedy are fighting like cats and dogs for that money and something like the rule of law will not deter them in their pursuit. Meanwhile these corporations and their representatives don't clean up after themselves, and our food chain is polluted and cancer is rampant and the mountains are being pushed into the river beds. They are destroying your planet for a quick buck and they don't care because they have enough money to move away from the pollution, but what they don't realize is there is no escaping the environment, a poisoned food chain and spoiled air and water. It's in their bodies as well. They are too ignorant to realize it.

The following are quotes - reposted from Ralph Nader's site:

I hope that we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
- Thomas Jefferson

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
- Abraham Lincoln

Big business is not dangerous because it is big, but because its bigness is an unwholesome inflation created by privileges and exemptions which it ought not to enjoy.
- Woodrow Wilson

The citizens of the United States must control the mighty commercial forces which they themselves called into being.
- Theodore Roosevelt

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
- Dwight Eisenhower

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves - and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.
- Thomas Jefferson

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Civics Quiz

Which of the following candidates for President of the United States best reflects values expressed above?

a) John McCain
b) Hillary Clinton
c) Barack Obama
d) Ralph Nader

The answer?

d) Ralph Nader

As the Democrats bicker over the meaning of bitterness, Ralph Nader is traveling to all 50 states to challenge head-on the abusive, corrupting, corrosive corporate power that is undermining our democracy.

Ralph would definitely battle Congress and Corporate America on our behalf. It might be time to try something completely different - check out Mr. Nader's website and take a long look at his credentials and intentions as well as his past actions. The time is now.

The Real John McCain 10 Things You Should Know

This is a repost from MoveOn.org

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.¹

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."²

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.³

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."⁴

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.⁵

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.⁶

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."⁷

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.⁸

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."⁹

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.¹⁰

^{_________________________________________}

Sources:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council^® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/