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RejectTheRebate.com
If you'd like to put your tax rebate
check in service to your community, join other citizens who
have pledged over $100,000 since mid July to
RejectTheRebate.com, a web site sponsored by United for a
Fair Economy, to fight President Bush's tax cut.
Through RejectTheRebate.com, a
growing number of Americans are donating to organizations
working for tax fairness, social service providers in their
communities, and other programs they fear will lack funding
due to the tax cuts.
Individuals of every income level
are expressing their objections to a tax policy which
delivers 38% of the planned $1.35 trillion in tax cuts to
the richest onepercent of Americans. In contrast, a full 60%
of Americans will receive only 15% of the tax cut benefits.
And the folks who need help the most -- the poor,
specifically single women and children &endash; will of
course get nothing.
United for a Fair Economy (UFE) is a
national non-profit organization thatspotlights the dangers
of growing inequality of income and wealth. UFE'sResponsible
Wealth project organized over 1,000 wealthy people to sign
theCall to Preserve the Estate Tax, including prominent
supporters such as BillGates, Sr., which helped delay estate
tax repeal until 2010.
Find out more:
http://www.RejectTheRebate.com
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Support the
passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
News from THE ERA CAMPAIGNER, Issue
#5, July 2001
WOMEN'S EQUALITY SUMMIT IN
WASHINGTON DC IN SEPTEMBER
The NCWO is sponsoring a major event
for September 24-25 in Washington DC: The Women's Equality
Summit and Congressional Action Day. A number of ERA
Campaign Network representatives and other ERA activists
plan to attend this event, which will be very important both
for the ERA and for other major issues relating to women's
rights in the current political climate.
For information on the event, and to
register, go to NCWO's website,
www.womensorganizations.org
Major Women's Organizations who have
re-affirmed their commitment to the passage of the
ERA:
- AAUW (American Association of
University Women): www.AAUW.org
- BPW/USA (Business and
Professional Women/USA): www.BPWUSA.org
- LWVUS (The League of Women
Voters): www.lwv.org
- NOW (the National Organization
for Women: www.NOW.org
- NWPC (the National Women's
Political Caucus): www.NWPC.org
To get involved, contact:
ERACampaign@aol.com
Website:
http://www.eracampaign.net
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US censured
twice by world community
In a special report in The
Guardian (London), Paul Brown reported on July 24th
about the signing of the Kyoto treaty on global warming.
"The world community of 186 states,
with the notable exception of the United States - the most
powerful and polluting country - adopted the Kyoto protocol
yesterday, an historic first step towards saving the planet
from the worst effects of global warming," Brown
said.
" It was a triumph for EU diplomacy,
and a slap in the face for President George Bush, who
repudiated the treaty as 'fatally flawed' in March,
expecting the rest of the world to follow. The deal makes
the US an environmental pariah and puts enormous pressure on
the White House to come up with its own promised proposals
to tackle climate change," reported Brown.
Perhaps the United States
government's "tough guy" stance is beginning to lose some of
its power to threaten and coerce other nations? Together
with a slap in the face from the U.N. early this summer, in
a decision that removed the U.S. from the Human Rights
Council, it appears that the world outside our borders is
delivering a wake up call. Perhaps our rude and belligerent
leaders will learn some humility. We can only look for a
change for the better.
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Beware the
"Terminator"
The bastards are at it again
RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation
International), in a news release on August 3rd reported
that the US Department of Agriculture has licensed the
notorious Terminator technology to its seed industry
partner, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL). Because of this
joint research project, the USDA and D&PL are now
co-owners of three patents on the technology. It genetically
modifies plants, which then produce sterile seeds that
cannot be re-used. D&PL has declared its intention to
commercialize Terminator seeds.
"USDA's decision to license
Terminator flies in the face of international public opinion
and betrays the public trust," said Hope Shand, Research
Director of RAFI. "Terminator technology has been
universally condemned by civil society; banned by
international agricultural research institutes, censured by
United Nations bodies, even shunned by Monsanto, and yet the
US government has officially sanctioned commercialization of
the technology by licensing it to one of the world's largest
seed companies."
"USDA's role in developing
Terminator seeds is a disgraceful example of corporate
welfare involving a technology that is bad for farmers,
dangerous for the environment and disastrous for world food
security," adds Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. Terminator is
universally opposed. Over 1.4 billion very poor farmers
worldwide depend on saving seeds to grow new crops each
year.
Said Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA's
Director of Sustainable Agriculture, and member of the
Biotech Advisory Committee, "USDA's promotion of Terminator
technology puts private profits above public good and the
rights of farmers everywhere."
Can the USDA play a role in both
developing and regulating this technology? Is it not a
blatant conflict of interest for the USDA to hold a
financial interest in the products it is supposed to
oversee? RAFI is asking these questi0ns.
RAFI is an international civil
society organization based in Canada dedicated to the
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and to the
socially responsible development of technologies useful to
rural societies.
Web: http://www.rafi.org
Contact: Hope Shand, RAFI:
hope@rafi.org or Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA:
msligh@rafiusa.org
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