The Progress Report 1/25/2005

[Guest guest]

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/atf/cf/%7B65464111-BB20-4C7D-B1C9-0B033DD3\

1B63%7D/mobile.htm

 

AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

www.progressreport.org

1/25/2005

 

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

 

The Assault on Liberty

 

Yesterday, President Bush addressed a gathering of tens of thousands

of people who want Roe v. Wade to be overturned and reaffirmed his

support for criminalizing abortion. Bush told the crowd they were

" making progress " toward their goal. The organizers of the rally,

March for Life, favor criminalizing abortion even in cases of rape and

incest. Bush's hostile views towards women's rights are of even

greater concern because he could " make several Supreme Court

appointments in his second term " who oppose Roe. If Roe v. Wade is

overturned, at least 21 states would quickly outlaw abortion. That's

why it's so important for progressives not to abandon their commitment

to reproductive rights.

 

BUSH'S AGGRESSIVE ANTI-WOMAN AGENDA: Bush's opposition to abortion is

more than just talk. The National Right to Life Committee heralded the

2003-2004 Congress as " the most successful ever for the pro-life

movement. " With the help of his right-wing allies in Congress, Bush

signed a number of laws which erode women's rights in the United

States. The new laws criminalize certain abortion procedures, define a

fetus at any stage of development as a person, and make it harder for

women to obtain abortions at publicly funded hospitals. Out of over

200 judges nominated to the federal bench by Bush, only two have

expressed any respect for abortion rights.

 

THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTIMIDATION: Now " lawmakers in Congress and

several states, meanwhile, are introducing the latest in a wave of

measures aimed at making it more daunting to obtain an abortion. " One

bill would require abortion providers to read a script telling women

20 weeks or more pregnant that an abortion could cause pain to their

fetus. Also under consideration: a bill that makes it a crime – even

for family members – to take a minor to another state for a legal

abortion.

 

PUTTING WOMEN'S HEALTH AT RISK: Criminalizing abortion won't end

abortion – it will just put women's health at risk. In 1930, " almost

2,700 women died from illegal abortions – and that's just the number

who had abortion recorded as their official cause of death. " In 1962,

" almost 1,600 women were treated for incomplete illegal abortions in

at Harlem Hospital. " Forty-three percent of all abortions worldwide

are performed in countries where abortion is illegal. According to the

World Health Organization, " 80,000 women around the world still die

each year of complications from illegal abortion. " Maybe that's why

Laura Bush opposes overturning Roe v. Wade.

 

COMMON GROUND – REDUCING UNWANTED PREGNANCIES: In a speech yesterday

at the New York State Capital, Sen. Hillary Clinton said, " There is an

opportunity for people of good faith to find common ground in this

debate – we should be able to agree that we want every child born in

this country to be wanted, cherished and loved. " The best way to

reduce the number of abortions is to help people out of poverty, get

them access to medical care – including family planning – and a

high-quality education. That is what happened during the 1990s, and

the abortion rate declined. According to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, during the Clinton years the abortion rate

fell by about 27 percent. Now that we have abandoned many of those

policies and poverty is back on the rise, the trend has reversed. A

new independent study by an ethics professor at Fuller Theological

Seminary finds that " contrary to popular assumption, abortion has

risen in the U.S. during George W. Bush's presidency. " And protecting

women's rights isn't about rejecting faith. The Rev. Debra W. Haffner

writes that " for more than fifty years, many religious leaders from

diverse denominations have affirmed the moral agency of women. "

 

BUSH PRAISES ANTI-ABORTION TACTICS: Bush praised abortion opponents

for " the civil way that you have engaged one of America's most

contentious issues. " But since 1982 " there have been 169 arsons and/or

bombings of abortion clinics. " The Pro-Life Action League, a group

affiliated with the march, supports " sidewalk counseling, " which

involves approaching " a woman about to enter an abortion clinic…in an

effort to talk her out of aborting the baby. "

 

WAR COSTS

 

The $200 Billion Boondoggle

 

You can't put a price on freedom, but the cost of waging an

ill-conceived and unnecessary war in Iraq is about to top $200

billion. The Bush administration is expected to announce today a

request for an $80 billion supplement, in addition to the " $25 billion

already appropriated for the fiscal year that began October 1st, " to

continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Bush

administration may not want to explain the soaring costs, it is only

fair that the numbers get a closer look.

 

BILLIONS MORE IN BACKDOOR SPENDING: What you see and what you don't:

Though the up-front cost of the war on Iraq is already an astounding

$200 billion, Gordon Adams, director of security policy studies at

George Washington University, recently revealed that " taxpayers are

spending twice as much on these wars. " In what he calls " back-door

budgeting for the wars, " Adams points to the " reduced training,

exercises and operating tempo, slowdowns in maintenance, [and] delays

on maintaining facilities " as ways that the Pentagon is getting around

paying for the bloated war. Other strategies appear to be not paying

soldiers what they are owed and deducting money for debts that do not

even exist. There is no shortage of cash, however, for questionable

contracts and corrupt and incompetent corporations.

 

THE NUMBERS IN PERSPECTIVE: Today's supplemental request will push the

amount spent on the so-called war on terror to over $280 billion since

the Sept. 11 attacks. When adjusted for inflation, this amount is

" nearly half the $613 billion the United States spent for World War

I. " Coincidentally timed with the supplemental announcement, the

Congressional Budget Office will be releasing a semi-annual report

that is a revision of last year's war costs projection, which revealed

" the 10-year costs of the wars [would be] $1.4 trillion at current

levels of operations. "

 

NEGLECT LEADS TO COSTLY OPIUM CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN: Though the

details of the budget are not yet available, " at least $780 million

would go to combat the drug trade in Afghanistan. " When the Bush

administration went gallivanting off to Iraq, it shifted its focus off

the reconstruction needed in Afghanistan, leaving the country free to

be carved up and taken advantage of by drug traders. In 2004, the

United Nations reported that " the opium trade accounted for more than

60 percent of [Afghanistan's] gross domestic product " and that the

country supplied " an estimated 87 percent of the world's opium. "

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly stated that the future of

his nation depends on the resolution of the opium problem, which has

now become " more dangerous than terrorism. " Apparently not learning

its lesson, the White House has spent " only a fraction of the $18.4

billion set aside for rebuilding Iraq. "

 

UNDER THE RADAR

 

GLOBAL WARMING – THE POINT OF NO RETURN: A new report co-published by

the Center for American Progress warns that global warming is quickly

approaching the point of no return, after which " widespread

agricultural failure, water shortages and major droughts, increased

disease, sea-level rise and the death of forests " will become

irreversible. The findings were a product of a taskforce co-chaired by

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Stephen Byers, a close confidant of

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called on world leaders " to

recognize that climate change is the single most important long-term

issue that the planet faces. " The task force urges G-8 countries " to

agree to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable

sources by 2025 and shift agricultural subsidies from food crops to

biofuels. "

 

ABUSE – THE DISEASE SPREADS: Apparently not content with simply

mistreating prisoners, officers in American detention centers have

been seriously abusing Iraqi civilians and the military has done

little to investigate these claims. According to documents released by

the American Civil Liberties Union, the rampant but previously

underreported abuse of civilian detainees in Iraq seemed to be " part

of a broader pattern of prisoner mistreatment, " contrary to the

repeated claims of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In fact,

one of the documents made a direct " reference to an order by President

George W Bush authorizing interrogation techniques such as sleep

deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and 'sensory

deprivation through the use of hoods, etc.' " And although Army

documents revealed that personnel admitted to abuse and mistreatment

of Iraqi detainees as well as civilians, they have yet to be " charged

with criminal conduct. " Apparently some of Bush's orders – like

" saying the military would punish all soldiers who abused or tortured

prisoners " – do not get followed.

 

SOCIAL SECURITY – PRIVATIZERS PUMMELED: The Republican chairman of the

House tax-writing committee has raised a political firestorm after

admitting he wants Congress to discuss whether Social Security

benefits should be tied to factors like gender, race, and employment.

Appearing " incoherent and off-message " on NBC's Meet the Press,

California Rep. Bill Thomas also voiced disagreement with President

Bush's assertion that Social Security is " in crisis, " increasing

doubts among conservatives about the future of their privatization

campaign. Stephen Moore, founder of the conservative Free Enterprise

Fund, tells the Washington Times that " Republicans are just all over

the map on Social Security " and that " the chance of getting reform

done this year is looking to be unlikely. " In another good sign for

pro-Social Security progressives, AARP chief William Novelli yesterday

announced that his organization is " dead set " against any proposal

that takes tax money out of Social Security to establish private accounts.

 

ENVIRO – DRILLING THE DESERT: Over the objections of New Mexico Gov.

Bill Richardson (D), the Bush administration announced a final plan

Monday for " expanding oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa, a rare

desert grassland and one of a handful of places in the western U.S.

where opposition to drilling had united ranchers, property rights

advocates, hunters and conservationists. " The plan, crafted by the

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), prohibits drilling on 124,000 acres,

but allows 141 exploratory wells and 84 producing wells on Chihuahuan

grassland in southern New Mexico. A broad coalition of sportsmen and

conservation groups had organized in recent months to oppose the plan,

focusing their concerns on groundwater, wildlife and the preservation

of grazing land. " More than 85 percent of public comments regarding

Otero Mesa favored no drilling. " New Mexico's attorney general,

Patricia A. Madrid, said the state would appeal the decision.

 

CIVIL RIGHTS – NATION BACKS D.C. REPRESENTATION: According to a

national survey due to be released today, " eight in 10 Americans

support congressional voting representation " for the District of

Columbia. The survey of 1,007 people " found that a majority of

respondents were unaware of the District's status. For example, 78

percent thought that D.C. residents have voting rights in Congress

equal to those of residents of the 50 states. " DC Vote, an advocacy

group founded in 1998, will meet today with Washington philanthropic

organizations to seek financial support for a national media campaign

" aimed at winning full representation in Congress for the District. "

The District now elects only a House delegate, who is permitted to

vote in committees but not on the floor.

 

DON'T MISS

 

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Billions Spent in Iraq, For What?

 

STATE PROGRESS: Sign up for American Progress's new newsletter

covering state and local issues.

 

DRUGS: New study shows 70 percent of Vioxx and Celebrex users would

have done just as well with traditional drugs.

 

ENVIRO: U.S. ranks 45th, behind Botswana and Bhutan, in 2005 index of

environmental sustainability.

 

HEALTH CARE: American Progress examines the moral dimensions of the

federal health care budget.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" I want to thank you, especially, for the civil way that you have

engaged one of America's most contentious issues. " – President Bush,

speaking to thousands of anti-abortion activists, 1/24/05

 

VERSUS

 

" Since 1982 there have been 169 arsons and/or bombings of abortion

clinics. " – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

 

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

In response to criticism of the millions of dollars that corporations

funneled into Bush's lavish inauguration last week, Rep. James Gibbons

(R-NV) retorted, " Anybody who is against that obviously must be a

communist. " His spokesperson continues to defend the comment.

 

© Copyright 2005 by American Progress Action Fund. All rights reserved.