SUSA's latest poll

Thanks to Robert Godfrey for the following details from SUSA's latest 50-state Bush poll:

• Seven states actually gave Bush higher approval ratings than disapproval: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, Nebraska, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Two were a wash.
• Forty-one states are turning against Bush... with thirty-five scoring a double-digit disapproval disparity.
• Interestingly, Ohio - the BIG Bush Swing State - gives him a 37% approval and a 61% disapproval rating.
• Also, check out the surprising sudden turnaround in Texas.
  

Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) Ohio is currently delivering a blistering attack in Congress against Republican efforts to maintain tax cuts for the wealthy while Medicare premiums have doubled over the past few years and Republicans plan further cuts in other benefits. He also recently announced a plan to run for Senate in Ohio... to campaign in the Democratic primary against Paul Hackett, the Iraq war veteran who almost won a seat in the House by running in a very strong Republican district of Ohio. Hackett, a former Marine is asking people to sign this pledge:

I pledge to only support candidates who:
1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq
2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline
3. Support our troops at home and abroad

Plan Columbia

Bill Anderson sends the following:

I saw an excellent presentation tonight, by a woman from Columbia. She is a human rights lawyer, and native Columbian. She was talking about "Plan Columbia", the drug war supported by the Columbian government, but funded and implemented by the United States government primarily through private corporations.

Military and Para-military operations are everywhere in Columbia. Tens of thousands of people have been "disappeared", assasinated, and murdered, by mercernary and guerrilla forces. Jets built by private corporations, but paid for by US taxpayers, are flown in, which spray herbacidal chemicals that are dangerous to humans, and are run out of airports built by private corporations, also financed by U.S. taxpayers. Native populations are forced to privatize their land, so that it can be bought by international investors and venture capitalists.

It was a very moving presentation, but there is no simple answer to the problems raised. The ultimate goal must be to end the military operations. The problem is, the United States government denies that it is a military action, since it is a part of the "War on Drugs."

An older gentleman also spoke, about his own experiences travelling to Columbia several times in the past few years, to see the situation for himself. When he went, he had to bring two letters from his US Senators telling any potential guerillas, para-military forces, or mercernaries, not to kill him and his wife.

More information can be found at these sites-

www.colombiasupport.net
www.witnessforpeace.org

Peace,

Bill