Human Rights

Update: Still no word from McIntyre or Etheridge. Please call them and see if we can get them to take a position on the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169.) Thanks!

The Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169) would reverse the Bush Administration’s 2002 decision that the toxic “waste” created by mountaintop removal could be defined as “fill material,” and recklessly dumped into our water ways. This practice has already destroyed over 1200 miles of American headwater streams, and eliminated access to safe, clean potable water for many communities. The CWPA (HR 2169) currently has 107 co-sponsors, and a lot of momentum. But we need more to get out of committee and onto the floor.

We have 5 of 7 Democrats from NC onboard, and we need to know if Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre are “wit’ us” or “ginst us” on HR 2169. Please ask.

If you have a moment, please see if your Congressman is a co-sponsor, and take a moment to call Etheridge (202-225-2731) and McIntyre (202-225-2731), politely but forcefully asking that they co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169), and take a stand against mountaintop removal.

A quick report on our NC Dems and mountaintop removal below…

I am sick and tired of people dumping on Muslim people like it's open season year round with no bag limit. The people in this picture were among many Muslims last Saturday in Research Triangle Park raising money for Multiple Sclerosis research. They weren't killing infidels, they weren't stopping to pray, they weren't waving copies of the Koran. They were walking to help find a cure for a debilitating disease. I didn't see any "crusaders" at the fundraising walk. Now if we could just find a cure for mass psychosis.

I’m sure most readers will recall the incident where passengers on a US Airways plane identified 6 Muslim imams as exhibiting “suspicious behavior” causing the airlines to hold the imams for questioning upon their arrival in Minneapolis, Minnesota last November. See story here.

Due to this incident the Muslim imams filed a lawsuit against US Airways and “John Does” passengers in which among other issues they demanded the passengers who had reported them be identified.

The Democrats have been hyping the incident and the lawsuit as evidence of American Muslims accusations of Islamophobia.

Thursday Republican Representative Peter T. King, (New York) ranking Republican member on the House Homeland Security Committee offered the motion that all Americans including airline passengers must be protected against lawsuits if they are to be encouraged to report suspicious behavior and possibly prevent a terrorists attack such as the one on the World Trade Centers September 11, 2001.

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing


click to enlarge

Says the Guardian...
Well, actually the Guardian quote The Joseph Rountree Foundation which celebrates the 200th anniversary of outlawing slavery in the UK with a report on modern slavery in the UK. In conjunction with The University of Hull they find slavery is not abolished, only moved to a different venue.

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson


click to enlarge

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson


click to enlarge

Cross-posted at the Brock Log.

I join Atrios in commending Ms. Slaughter for her speech on the House floor today.

It is a reality made all the more egregious by the historic importance of this moment.

We are at a crossroads today, and I fear that we will not by judged kindly by future Americans for what my Republican friends want us to do today.

This bill sends a clear message to both our friends and our enemies about what kind of people we are.