MY OPENING
THOUGHTS
BY Floyd Bowman
Publisher
"OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS."
JULY 16, 2013.
Last week I posted
an article about the slaughtering of horses.
It told of dismemberment while the horse was still alive. It told of more things that are just
horrific. I have to tell you folks,
with my age comes more emotional upset easily. This, along with other things that are
happening to the wonderful and beautiful animals that God has put on this
earth, are really getting to me. I
just can't stand to hear about all this and be so limited as what I can do
about it.
There is another
article this week telling that the approval of applications for horse
slaughtering plants have been delayed. That is good news, but it needs to be backed
up by grassroots people like you and me, to get to our legislators and tell
them that we want this stopped. The
article follows.
Update: U.S. Horse Slaughter on Hold…for
Now
By
The American Society of the
Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals
July
12, 2013
We recently told you that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved
applications for horse slaughter inspections at Valley Meat Company LLC in Roswell, New Mexico,
and Responsible Transportation in Sigourney,
Iowa. The USDA is likely to
also grant horse slaughter inspections at Rains Natural Meats plant in Gallatin, Missouri,
in the coming days.
This week we learned that no horse slaughter plants will
be granted inspections until at least July 29 as a result of a lawsuit filed
against the USDA by several animal welfare organizations.
This lawsuit buys critical
time for our horses. The Agriculture Appropriations bills, which contain
language that would prevent horse slaughter in the U.S., are expected to pass in the
coming months.
We are seeing building
momentum for the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act,
which would prevent the slaughter of horses in the U.S., end the current
export of American horses for slaughter abroad and protect consumers from
unknowingly ingesting toxic horse meat.
~~~
PROGRESSIVE
VOTERS OF AMERICA
Dear
Floyd,
Thank you very much for the help that you provided me in my recent
re-election campaign as Vermont’s
senator. With your support we were
able to mount a vigorous grass-roots campaign and win a strong victory last
November.
As the longest serving Independent in the history of the U.S. Congress I want
to take this opportunity to tell you about some of the issues I’ve been
focusing on since my re-election. I
also want to discuss with you my plans for the future and how we can best
work together to address the huge policy and political crises our nation
faces. As we go forward, our simple and straightforward demand must be that
Congress and the White House start responding to the needs of ordinary
Americans -- not the big money interests.
You know as well as I what’s going on in our country today. The rich get
richer while the middle-class continues to disappear. The multi-national
corporations enjoy record-breaking profits, while unemployment remains
sky-high and more and more Americans slip into poverty. And, as a result of
the disastrous Citizens United
Supreme Court decision the billionaire class has gained even more political
power while, at the same time, right-wing governors are making it harder for
low-income people to vote.
There is only one way we can turn this economic and political disaster
around. And that is by helping to create
a strong grass-roots movement in all 50 states, and by working hard to elect
progressive candidates at the local, state and national level.
That is what my leadership PAC, the Progressive Voters of America, is trying to do. There
is no shortage of billionaires willing to bankroll extreme right-wing
candidates. We have to respond. I am asking now for your help to expand this effort.
It will take a concerted, long-term commitment to bring our message to all
corners of the country. Please support our progressive grass-roots movement and
donate as generously as possible today.
Now, let me tell you about some of the issues I am working on in the
Senate. At the same time, let me make it clear that far too often there
is a resounding lack of support for these and other efforts which protect the
interests of the middle class. That is why we desperately need more
progressives, not just in the Senate, but in every level of government.
Social Security: As the
founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus I have played a leadership
role in preventing cuts to Social Security -- the bedrock of our social
safety net. Sadly, President Obama has joined virtually every Republican,
some Democrats and almost all Wall Street CEOs in support of a so-called
“chained CPI” which would make significant reductions in Social Security
COLAs for seniors and disabled veterans. In my view, we must not balance the
budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our country. We must not
cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Tax Reform: At a time when the United States has the most unequal
distribution of wealth and income of any major country, I have introduced and
sponsored several pieces of legislation which would ask the rich and
corporate America
to start paying their fair share of taxes. One bill that I wrote would end
the ability of corporate America to stash hundreds of billions of dollars in
tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and elsewhere, and avoid paying
taxes on their profits.
Wall Street: I am also a
co-sponsor of legislation that would impose a Wall Street financial
transaction tax on the sale of derivatives, credit default swaps and large
amounts of stock. Wall Street greed, illegal behavior and speculation
helped drive this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great
Depression. With Wall Street speculators today making huge profits, while
continuing to endanger the stability of the world’s financial system, they
must begin paying their fair share of taxes. With the six major Wall
Street financial institutions larger today than they were before they were
bailed out, having assets equivalent to two-thirds of our GDP, I have also
introduced legislation to break up these huge financial entities.
Jobs: Despite what you may
read in the newspapers, real unemployment today is not 7.6 percent. Counting
those people who are working part-time or who have given up looking for work,
real unemployment is over 14 percent and even higher for young people and
people of color. We need a major jobs program to put our people back to work.
As part of the recently passed Immigration Reform Bill I was able to get an
amendment included which would create a 2 year jobs program for more than
400,000 young people. This is a start, but much, much more needs to be done.
I am actively supporting legislation which would rebuild our crumbling
infrastructure -- roads, bridges, rail, water plants, wastewater systems,
airports, schools. Investing in our infrastructure would not only make America
more productive, it would create millions of jobs.
Global Warming: As a
member of both of the environmental and energy committees I am fighting hard
to address the planetary crisis of global warming. Along with Senator Barbara
Boxer, Chair of the Environmental Committee, I introduced the most sweeping
global warming legislation in congressional history. This bill would impose a
tax on carbon, make massive investments in energy efficiency and sustainable
energy and protect those who might be hit with higher fuel bills. This bill,
by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel, would also create a
significant number of new jobs.
Civil Liberties: As one of the few
members of Congress to have consistently voted against the USA Patriot Act, I am going to do
everything in my power to end the attacks we have seen against our civil
liberties and constitutional rights. In my view it is absurd, and
unconstitutional, for the government of the United States to track virtually
every phone call made in this country. That is not what “freedom” and
“liberty” are about. I have introduced legislation which would amend Section
215 of the USA Patriot Act to make sure that the intelligence agencies go
after those who wish to harm our country, not keep tabs on the 99.99 percent
of Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism.
Civil Rights: In recent years we
have made some real progress in expanding gay rights. As someone who voted
against DOMA when I was a member of the House, I was very pleased that the
Supreme Court recently overturned that very bad law. I am proud that Vermont has been a
leader on gay rights and I intend to continue fighting for equal rights for
all Americans -- regardless of sexual orientation, gender, disability or
country of origin. And that includes voting rights!
We must also be mindful that a full-scale attack is underway in a number of
conservative states to deny women the right to choose and to defund women’s
health organizations like Planned Parenthood. Women have fought too hard for too long to
see basic rights they have secured taken away from them. Congress must stand tall in defending
women’s rights.
I have given you a brief overview of some
of the issues that I have been working on in the Senate. Now, let me say a
few words about politics -- how we get to where we want to be -- and how we
can elect people at all levels of government who represent the needs of
ordinary Americans, not the top 1 percent.
As you know the Republican Party, once a moderate-conservative
party, has become a right-wing extremist party. With the help of the
Koch brothers and their other corporate sponsors, Republicans in Congress are
now trying to roll back virtually every piece of legislation passed in the
last 80 years which protects the needs of working families. Whether it is
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, nutrition, child care, tax
policy, women’s rights or workers’ rights, the main function of Congressional
Republicans is to protect the interests of the wealthy and powerful against
the middle class. They have also
become an anti-science party -- rejecting the research of virtually the
entire scientific community regarding the planetary crisis of global warming.
Poll after poll tells us that today’s Republican ideology -- tax breaks for
billionaires and massive cuts to important social programs -- is way out of
touch with what the American people want. And yet, Republicans stand likely to retain
control over the U.S.
House in 2014, have a chance to become a majority in the U.S. Senate and are doing well in
state elections. Why is that? How
is it that a party with such an extremist ideology has not been relegated to
marginal status in American political life?
All of which brings me to the Democrats. While
the Republicans have moved from a center-right party to a right-wing
extremist party, the Democrats have also moved to the right -- going from
being a center-left party to a centrist party. This means that while they attempt
to address the needs of trade unions, seniors, low income Americans,
environmentalists, women, students, minorities and the gay community, they
also pay a great deal of attention to Wall Street, the wealthy, corporate
America and their big campaign contributors. Needless to say, these competing forces have
irreconcilable differences.
In my view, the great crisis of
American politics today is the demoralization of the American people and
their belief that virtually no one in Washington
is fighting for the collapsing middle-class. In 2009, after eight disastrous years of
George W. Bush as president, the Democrats controlled the White House and had
large majorities in the House and Senate. Where was the simple, straight-forward
legislation that took on the insurance companies and provided health care to
all, that ended Wall Street domination of our economy, that created the many
millions of jobs we desperately needed, that made college affordable, that
allowed America to become the world leader in reversing global warming? Where was the political offensive which made
clear to all Americans that the Democrats were fighting for working families
while the Republicans were the party of Wall Street and the big money
interests?
Now, in 2013, the Democrats control the White House and the Senate but it
appears to many Americans that the Republicans determine the agenda. Why hasn’t there been a major effort to
overturn Citizens United and
move toward public funding of elections? Why has almost all of the recent emphasis
been on deficit reduction, rather than creating the millions of jobs we
desperately need? Why is anybody in the Democratic Party (least of all
the President) talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for
disabled veterans? Where is the
outrage regarding the massive NSA surveillance practices recently revealed?
Clearly, what is needed right now is a massive grass-roots movement which
fights for the needs of working families and which elects progressives at the
national, state and local level. We should not accept the conventional wisdom
of a red state/blue state America.
There
is no state in this country which is not heavily populated by working
families. And they all need strong and
effective representation to stand up to the billionaire class which dominates
our economic and political life.
Please help me work with Americans all over this country in helping to build
a progressive movement which elects strong candidates, at every level of
government, who are prepared to change our national priorities and fight for
working people. Please
donate to Progressive Voters of America today.
Please tell us about progressive
candidates in your state or community that we should be working with.
These are tough times for our country. Let’s go forward together. Thanks for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Senator Bernie Sanders
P.S. Your early support of Progressive
Voters of America
is critical to electing a more progressive Congress and electing progressive
candidates at all levels of government. Please donate as generously as possible today.
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