Natural News:

Exposure to air pollution in the womb can significantly reduce a child's IQ, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health in New York and published in the journal Pediatrics.

I thought perhaps yesterday's example of British abolitionists' sugar boycott was a bit remote for Americans, so today I'd like to introduce a few consumers' boycotts closer to home.

First, the AP reported on April 5, 1960:

By David Swanson

Whenever I write about U.S. politics, people ask me "Don't you have any good news?" (Unless the Republicans are in power, in which case people ask me "Who are you going to vote for?") But I do have good news, boatloads of good news, if Americans want to hear it.

If a city or state next to yours were to achieve a dramatic breakthrough for democratic representation, environmental sustainability, healthcare, education, peace, or justice, wouldn't that be good news? Wouldn't you trumpet that news where you live and demand the same of your elected officials?

An organization of attorneys, journalists, and advocates today filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act requesting the long-suppressed report from the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) regarding the conduct of President Bush's top lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel who authored memos purporting to authorize torture and aggressive war.

The request, reproduced below along with a transmittal letter, asks for the OPR report that has long been promised by Attorney General Eric Holder, as well as an earlier OPR report completed during the last months of the Bush administration. The request also seeks the 10 page rebuttal of the 2008 report by then- Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Izvestia:

Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall’s Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him.

Some of the donors who have urged Mr. Ford to consider a run expressed alarm as Ms. Gillibrand, who as a congresswoman represented a conservative upstate district, has abandoned some of her previous positions on issues like gun control and immigration as she prepares to run statewide.

Wait, she's too far to the left?! Delicious!

The discussions between Mr. Ford and top Democratic donors reflect the dissatisfaction of some prominent party members with Ms. Gillibrand, who has yet to win over key constituencies, especially in New York City.

And who might these "key constituencies" be?

Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not. —Robert F. Kennedy

According to figures compiled by the America Society of Civil Engineers, a multi-year program of just repairing all existing U.S. infrastructure requires an additional $1.134 trillion dollars than already planned funding.

At 27,000 jobs created for every $1 billion, such a program spread over five years would directly create 6.124 million jobs.

The man who claimed to be the 11 Sep 01 strike "mastermind" will go to trial in New York, according to today's NYT. Steps toward keeping the promise to close Gitmo within a year appear to be continuing, despite delays caused by the uproar over what to do with detainees.

A photograph taken by the International Committee of the Red Cross of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed this year in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The detainee's family released the photo to a Web site, www.muslm.net.

The decision marks a milestone in the administration’s efforts to close the Guantánamo prison, something that President Obama announced shortly after taking office that he would do within a year, but that has proved difficult to achieve because of uncertainty about what to do with the detainees housed there.

Mr. Obama, asked about the decision in a news conference on his weeklong trip to Asia, declined to comment directly, but said that Mr. Mohammed would face justice.

“I’m absolutely convinced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice,” Mr. Obama said. “The American people insist on it, and my administration insists on it.”

Other detainees will face military trials. This is a small step toward

Group Pickets Health Care Provider in 9-city Protest
WellPoint locked the lobby doors and police stood on guard. The protest was peaceful but pointed -- with participants blaming the insurance companies for current problems and accusing the president of breaking his campaign promise to bring real reform.

Time to go to Jail; Civil Disobedience Campaign "Patients NOT Profits: Healthcare for All"

On September 29th in New York City, the Mobilization for Health Care for All is launching a campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care and puts insurance company bureaucrats between doctors and patients. We want the real "public option": improved Medicare for All, a national single payer plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.
Private insurance death panels are killing people every day and blocking real health care reform.

It's time for nonviolent civil disobedience to turn the tide.