December 2006

For the second year in a row, a civil rights leader tops the list of the 10 Most Eulogized People Online, according to Legacy.com, the Internet's leading memorial Web site. Full release

"With millions of Americans visiting with friends and loved ones this season, it's more important than ever to embrace defensive-driving strategies," said Ken Underwood, president of the National Safety Commission. "Adopting a safety-conscious driving ethic can help ensure we'll all reach our holiday destinations safely." Full release

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on state and national GOP leaders to repudiate anti Muslim remarks made by a Republican congressman in Virginia. In a recent letter to constituents, Rep. Virgil Goode slammed the planned use of a Quran for the ceremonial swearing-in of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. (No religious texts of any kind are used for the official swearing-in ceremony.) Goode also decried the growth of the American Muslim community and expressed concern that "many more Muslims" may be elected to public office. Full release

A new nationwide public opinion survey by Terror Free Tomorrow of Nigeria reveals a country deeply divided along religious lines. Nigerian Christians are decidedly pro-American and pro-Western, while the views of their Muslim compatriots are diametrically opposed, reflecting the prevalent anti-American view found elsewhere in the Muslim world. Full release

Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), a national organization of over 3,100 families opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military, has members across the country who are suffering this holiday season with pain, tears and fear rather than holiday cheer. Full release

Ward Connerly, Chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) and the American Civil Rights Coalition (ACRC) plans exploratory committees to ban affirmative action programs in several states with state ballot initiatives, according to the Council for Education ("Council"). Full release

At a State Department's briefing on its new strategy on global Internet freedom, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today praised the agency for taking a first step to promote Internet freedom and announced that he plans to reintroduce the "Global Online Freedom Act" to expand the government's efforts to promote free expression and a free flow of information on the Internet in every country. Full release

A Financial Times (FT)/Harris Poll conducted among adults in the United States and in five European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Spain) shows that Americans are more likely than Europeans to believe in any form of God or Supreme Being (73%). Of the European adults surveyed, Italians are the most likely to express this belief (62%) and, in contrast, the French are the least likely (27%). Full release

Following is a release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Mahmudiyah Takes Pride in Market Renovation By Norris Jones, Gulf Region Central District: One of the top priorities for the mayor of Mahmudiyah is rebuilding his city's downtown market. "It's the heart of our community," Muayid Fadhil said. "We are going to build a new market as a memorial to those innocent men, women and children who have been killed there. It will tell the insurgents we will never give up, they cannot stop us." Full release

The following are remarks by President Bush in a press conference this morning: Indian Treaty Room10 a.m. EST: "We have an obligation to ensure our military is capable of sustaining this war over the long haul, and in erforming the many tasks that we ask of them. I'm inclined to believe that we need to increase in the permanent size of both the United States Army and the United States Marines. I've asked Secretary Gates to determine how such an increase could take place and report back to me as quickly as possible." Full release

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on comments today by President Bush on the size of the military and the war in Iraq. "It is heartening to see that President Bush has reversed his position, rejected the failed Rumsfeld doctrine, and heeded Democratic calls to increase the size of the military. Unfortunately, it is troubling to see that he still does not understand the need for urgent change in Iraq." Full release

Millions of Medicaid patients' easy access to their life-sustaining drugs may ultimately be destroyed, if the Bush administration succeeds in reducing payments to pharmacies for generic drugs. The Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN) urges the administration to rethink this move. Full release

To declare the world's forest reserves and hydrographic basins as a humanity world heritage and elevate to the category of crime any damage caused to them is the proposal that the journalist and USLatin Magazine Editor Samuel Sales Saraiva presented to the United Nations. Full release

The huge consumption of electricity as a result of the large quantity of electrical goods the Iraqi people are buying with their increasing prosperity, combined with the sabotage of power lines, have contributed to Iraq's challenge of keeping up with electrical demands. Despite those obstacles, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has made significant progress in improving electrical production and distributing power equitably throughout the country. Full release

With the Pentagon's new quarterly report further underlining the need for change in Iraq, the incoming Senate Leadership today repeated their call for President Bush to follow the roadmap set down by Democrats and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and bring an end to America's open-ended commitment in Iraq. Full release

More than five years after 9/11, the federal government has still not come to grips with key issues in transportation security and emergency communications, according to articles in the Winter 2007 edition of Issues in Science and Technology. Full release

With violent crime rates reaching a 15 year record high according to new FBI figures and most prisoners testing positive for drugs, the new Congress must expand drug treatment in prisons, said Bob Weiner, former spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "The failure of federal, state, and local governments to provide treatment to the prison drug abusing population is a disproportionately large factor in the nation's new crime wave. It's a missed target." Full release

MoveOn.org Political Action will run a full-page ad in the New York Times on Tuesday, calling for a re- vote in Florida's 13th Congressional District race. Electronic voting machines appear to have lost 18,000 votes -- votes almost certain to change the outcome of this close House race. The voting machines used in Florida don't keep paper records, so there's no way to recount the votes short of a new election. Full release

Nuclear power is the one source of energy that can generate massive amounts of electricity without producing any air pollution or greenhouse gases. And by sharing advanced civilian nuclear technology, we will help our friend, India, meet its growing demand for energy and lower emissions at the same time. Full release

Consumer advocates called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to remove recently appointed Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer after revealing an antagonistic and highly charged 2002 memo written by Dunmoyer when he was California's top insurance lobbyist. The "Insurance Industry of California Strategic Plan: 2003-2010" document reveals Dunmoyer's hostile and punishing attitude toward civil servants at the Department of Insurance and his tactics for punishing "anti-insurer" government employees and politicians. Full release

Truth Wins Out (TWO) released an exclusive video today featuring celebrated New York University educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, Ph.D, who upbraided Focus on the Family leader, James C. Dobson, for misrepresenting her research in a guest column he wrote in last week's issue of Time Magazine. The exclusive Truth Wins Out video can be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NHdSVknB5Q. Full release

The International Center for Terrorism Studies at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies and the Homeland Security Policy Institute at The George Washington University cordially invite you to a special international seminar on "Strategic Outlook: Terrorism, War, and the Roadmap to Reconciliation, Stability and Peace." Full release

Concerns over the direction of Iran's nuclear program continue to mount. In response, The Century Foundation has commissioned a number of expert papers and convened a set of meetings to assess realistically the issues, risks and opportunities at hand. Full release

America's Second Harvest - The Nation's Food Bank Network today issued a call for help asking Americans to donate funds, food or time to ensure none of their neighbors go hungry. Donations are down by 9 percent in 2006 and America's Second Harvest's Network of more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations are feeling the pinch as they work to provide nutritious meals for the more than 35 million people in this country who don't know where their next meal will come from. Full release

"Judge Fogel's ruling comes at a time when numerous states across the country are encountering significant legal challenges to the constitutionality of their respective lethal injection methods. Earlier today, in the wake of a horribly botched execution, Florida Governor Jeb Bush created a commission on administration of lethal injection to examine the constitutionality of that state's lethal injection protocol." Full release

"Madness Against Malaria," a unique international fundraising event based on the March Madness basketball tournament, was commended for its efforts by First Lady Laura Bush during her speech at the White House Summit on Malaria on December 14, 2006. Specifically, Mrs. Bush cited the campaign as an example of how the power of the Internet could be creatively harnessed to fight malaria. Full release

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined 33 leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim national organizations in calling on U.S. President George W. Bush to make peace in the Middle East a "top priority" for his administration. The National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East released a joint statement Dec. 14, titled "Arab-Israeli-Palestinian Peace: From Crisis to Hope" and sent a letter requesting a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Full release

Responding to the electronic voting machine failures that marred the 2006 elections, 34 non-partisan election reform organizations launched a new campaign today urging Congress to enact legislation requiring a paper ballot for every vote cast. They expect this grassroots campaign to have broad public support and generate thousands of emails to the incoming Congress. Full release

In a report released today, The Fund for Peace (FfP) urges serious consideration of managed partition of Iraq as a viable option to avoid the continuing descent into violent disintegration of that county. The report contends that better training of Iraqi troops and more robust regional diplomacy, as the Iraq Study Group recommended, will not work without a new political solution. Full release

The Iranian regime's just-concluded Holocaust denial conference -- in which a rouge's gallery of the world's leading Holocaust deniers, anti-Semites and racists took part -- was an attempt by Tehran to position itself as "the new nexus for Holocaust denial in the Muslim world." According to a report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the participation of racists such as David Duke, former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and other notorious Western anti-Semites shows that Iran is intent both on embracing the hateful ideology of Holocaust denial, and giving credibility to the deniers themselves. Full release

Admiral John Eisold, Attending Physician of the United States Capitol said, "Subsequent to his admission to George Washington University Hospital yesterday, Sen. Tim Johnson was found to have had an intracerebral bleed caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation. He underwent successful surgery to evacuate the blood and stabilize the malformation. The Senator is recovering without complication in the critical care unit at George Washington University Hospital. It is premature to determine whether further surgery will be required or to assess any long term prognosis."

Barbara Johnson, wife of Sen. Johnson, said, "The Johnson family is encouraged and optimistic. They are grateful for the prayers and good wishes of friends, supporters and South Dakotans. "They are especially grateful for the work of the doctors and all medical personnel and GWU hospital." Full release

Over the past 10 years, more than 50 young people aged 30 and under were violently murdered by assailants who targeted them because they did not fit stereotypes for masculinity or femininity. The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today released the groundbreaking human rights report "50 Under 30: Masculinity and the War on America's Youth" documenting this tide of murderous violence and the key demographics of its victims and their assailants. Full release

http://www.DraftObama.org, a grassroots movement supporting a presidential run by Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), unveiled their first TV ad today. The ad, to run early next week in New Hampshire and Washington D.C., highlights Obama's potential to lead this country in a new direction and demonstrates the movement's growing strength. It is the first paid media buy by any Democratic organization this presidential election cycle. Full release

THE PRESIDENT: I've just concluded a very productive meeting with the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Pete Pace, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice President. I thank these men who wear our uniform for a very candid and fruitful discussion about the -- about how to secure this country, and how to win a war that we now find ourselves in. We spent a lot of time talking about a new way forward in Iraq, to help the Iraqi government confront and defeat the enemies of a free Iraq. Full release

Outgoing Massachusetts Republican Governor and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sealed the deal today on his hypocritical efforts to use the immigration debate to pander to extremists in his political party. Despite his own use of a company that relies on undocumented workers to maintain his lawn, Romney signed a controversial agreement with federal officials to allow Massachusetts state police to arrest people for violating federal immigration laws. Full release

"Planned Parenthood is shrinking," said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League. "Though it still operates the nation's largest chain of abortion facilities, Americans are rejecting Planned Parenthood and its agenda as more and more of its clinics are closing across the United States." American Life League's exclusive new study shows that the number of Planned Parenthood "health" clinics has plummeted to its lowest total in almost 20 years. Full release

The Center for Justice & Democracy (CJ&D) today called the American Tort Reform Association's "Judicial Hellholes 2006" report attacking judges in several regions around the country, "vicious and undemocratic, not to mention dishonest and ungrounded." In its report released today, ATRA launches a ferocious attack on fair and independent judges based on the apparent views of its members that include polluters, tobacco companies, and the insurance industry, among other industries. Full release

In a case that cuts right at the heart of the First Amendment, a US Army prosecutor has indicated he intends to subpoena Truthout Executive Director Marc Ash, a Truthout reporter, and two of the nonprofit news organization's regular contributors, to authenticate news reports they produced and edited earlier this year that quoted an Army officer criticizing President Bush and the White House's rationale for the Iraq War. Full release

A broad coalition of major religious, scientific and citizen organizations, joined by leading scholars with decades of military, nuclear research or governmental experience, will announce their opposition to the Bush administration's "Complex 2030" plan to rebuild the U.S. nuclear weapons complex in order to develop and produce thousands of new nuclear warheads. The announcement will be made at a press conference on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. in the Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club. Full release

Concerned that George W. Bush may commit the same "Read My Lips" debacle that his father did in signing a tax-hike law, 41 groups spanning virtually the entire conservative movement today urged the President to avoid any Social Security reform deals that would violate his pledge to oppose tax increases. In response to recent reports that the administration is considering such increases, the 350,000 member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) organized the letter to persuade President Bush to renew that pledge. Full release

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on news today that President Bush has pushed off announcing a new Iraq strategy until after the new year.

"It has been six weeks since the American people demanded change in Iraq. In that time Iraq has descended further toward all-out civil war and all the President has done is fire Donald Rumsfeld and conduct a listening tour. Waiting and delaying on Iraq serves no one's interests." Full release

As the year draws to a close, ever increasing media coverage has secured the Iraq War's standing as 2006's story of the year. Nevertheless, a report issued by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) a nationally recognized think tank, provides a more in-depth and nuanced examination of the politics and policy in 2006, suggests that other "wars" being fought in America had a equally dramatic impact on lives of average Americans and on the election outcomes. Full release

A statement by Nobel laureates and other leading scientists calling for the restoration of scientific integrity to federal policy making has now been signed by 10,600 scientists from all 50 states, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The announcement came as the scientists group released an "A to Z" guide that documents dozens of recent allegations involving censorship and political interference in federal science. Full release

Allbritton Communications today announced that Roger Simon, an award-winning political columnist and best-selling author, is joining its new, multimedia political news venture. Simon will write a regular column on presidential politics and help anchor the soon-to-be-named venture's coverage of the 2008 campaign for the White House. Full release

Trust for America's Health (TFAH) today released the fourth annual "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Disease, Disasters and Bioterrorism," which found that five years after the Sept. 11 and anthrax tragedies, emergency health preparedness is still inadequate in America. Full release

Flanked by 100 members of Southeast Queens clergy and civic leaders, Sixth Congressional District Representative Gregory W. Meeks, New York State Assembly Member Vivian Cook, New York City Council Member Tom White, Bishop Lester Williams of the Community Church of Christ (pastor for Sean Bell's family), Bishop Erskine Williams of New Seasons Family Worship Center (pastor for the Benefield and Guzman families), and attorneys Sanford Rubinstein and Charlie King, held a press conference today at the Robert Ross Johnson Family Life Center in Saint Albans, announcing a "proactive agenda" in reaction to the police shooting of Sean Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield last month. Full release

Two new public opinion research studies being released today from the nonpartisan "Facing Up to the Nation's Finances" Initiative conclude that the public has little difficulty understanding the magnitude of the fiscal challenge facing the nation and is willing to consider tough tradeoffs to address the growing national debt. But their support for program cuts, reforms or tax increases comes with one key condition: finding ways to increase trust that their leaders will spend their money responsibly and for the purposes intended. Full release

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today announced that, subject to the approval of the Steering Committee and of the Caucus, Senator Bill Nelson will join the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 110th Congress. Nelson fills a seat previously held by Senator Carl Levin, who as incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman will continue to participate in the work of the Intelligence Committee as an ex officio member of the committee. The change was suggested by Senator Levin because of the increased demands on his time now that he will be chairman of both the Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the 110th Congress. Full release

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum today strongly denounced the conference on the Holocaust being held in Tehran on December 11 and 12, 2006. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council Chairman Fred S. Zeidman stated, "This conference deserves worldwide condemnation. It will serve as nothing more than an international platform for Holocaust denial, which is just another form of antisemitism." Full release

A Capitol Hill hearing conducted Dec. 13 and 14 by the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves will focus on legislative proposals to increase the responsibilities of the National Guard, expand the role of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, create a separate budget for National Guard training and equipment, and make other changes in the Guard's current role and status. Full release

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