The Louisiana Legislature has passed through the lower house a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would dramatically alter the freedom of speech AND the establishment clause of the state constitution and challenge the US Constitution.

Our county Board of Supervisors voted to ignore the recommendation of their own planning commission against putting a truck stop next to our largest elementary school. I live in Washington County, VA. It's one of the more populous counties in this rural area of Virginia (50,000 or so residents). Concerned parents and local businesses began taking names on a petition against a truck stop at that location over a year ago. It's now over 800 signatures. Local residents organized to oppose the rezoning that would be required for a commercial development of this magnitude. The school board voted unanimously to recommend against placement of the truck stop by the school.

A bit over a year ago I posted a video on YouTube where I recounted my experience with the American Healthcare System when I cut my finger at work and was made by my employer to get the wound attended to at a nearby hospital in downtown Chicago. The visit to the ER resulted in my finger receiving one stitch and my employer's insurance company getting a bill for a bit more than $900. Soon afterward I caught John McCain trashing the Canadian Healthcare system.

There's a thought provoking article in the new Vanity Fair by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning economist, which evaluates what the current financial situation throughout the world means to America's position in it. It is worth reading and thinking about, since it lays most of the responsibility on a "free-market economy" as foisted on the world by a greedy and thoughtless Wall Street, which set very different standards for other countries than it adopted for the U.S.

cross posted at: www.campaignfreedom.org The main headline was innocuous enough: "Clarksburg Councilman Arrested." Okay, we thought, it's unfortunate, but elected officials all too often find themselves subject to the criminal justice system just like their constituents from every other walk of life. Maybe they had a few too many before hitting the road, had a domestic dispute or whatever. But what really caught our eye -- what we couldn't believe -- was the sub-headline: "Councilman Martin Shaffer was arrested for his role in producing a newsletter."

Adjusting for the time difference, the first round of the Iranian Presidential Election will be underway in about 40 hours. To recap the basics: There are four candidates, and if no one reaches 50% in the first round then there will be a runoff election between the first two on June 19th. There are a number of polls that mostly show a close race, but no one knows with any certainty who will win or if anyone really has a chance of reaching 50% in the first round.

We may again be looking at wonderful days when buying a new car instead of a used one is an extravagance, rather than the inverse being evidence you're poor or a tightwad. What will this mean for the American economy? More spending on better products and services, and more money for small business investments.

Native American artist, writer, and activist Leonard Peltier "" one of the most widely recognized political prisoners in the world "" has spent more than 33 years in some of the cruelest prisons in the United States, unjustly condemned to a double life sentence for the shooting death of two FBI agents in 1975. Peltier's parole hearing has finally been scheduled for July 27. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to continue to hold him in prison. Please write a letter to the Parole Board and sign a petition urging his release.

I'm generally not a big fan of the outrage police, but something recently hit a nerve for me. The American Society of Landscape Architects recently gave an award to a project by a major landscape architecture firm, CMG, called the Crack Garden. How can a major firm like CMG name an urban space the crack garden and how can the ASLA give it an award? Are they that insensitive or clueless?

The official story is that the $108 billion for the International Monetary Fund that the House leadership wants to attach to the war supplemental on Tuesday is "global stimulus," "foreign aid," "money for poor people in poor countries." Critics like Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research say this is a ruse, and that the money is intended to bail out European banks from their exposure in Eastern Europe.

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