Pharmacology based on Phaith

Perhaps you've heard that the Commonwealth of Massachusets is working to increase access to the so-called 'morning after pill'.

Well, some pharmacists have decided that they are going to ignore medical science, the knowledge and training of doctors, and their own obligations under the law, and refuse to dispense the pill because they have 'moral and ethical problems' in dispensing the drug.

Funny, how they don't have a problem selling condoms, birth control pills, or even fertility drugs. I guess the hypocrisy only extends to abortions and things that are "against the laws of God and nature".

This is truly despicable and apalling, and I've just written my State Representative and asked him to draft a bill that would strip the license of any pharmacist that refused to dispense these drugs for that reason. It's truly a sad day that the pharmacists' industry has been hijacked by the Religious Right, and now they're planning on dispensing drugs and treatments based on faith, instead of science.

What's next? Insulin? Anti-Seizure medications?

If you truly want to be disgusted, you should check out the group that's behind this campaign, the Pharmacists for Life. It's nothing more than a front for the religious wingnuts that want to rule your life.




And in a related story, extra thanks are due the Bush administration for deputizing the entire CVS chain into the Drug Enforcement Agency. Better stock up on Sudafed now, because you'll have a hard time picking it up for those fall allergies!

Filibustering Hypocrisy

With the battle over Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees about to escalate, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday "If what Democrats are doing is wrong today, it won’t be right for Republicans to do the same thing tomorrow."

But history shows that Republicans did something similar to the Democrats' filibusters five years ago.

In 1999 and 2000, before he became majority leader, Frist was one of the Republican senators blocking President Clinton’s nominee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Richard Paez.

Frist and others repeatedly prevented a vote on the Paez nomination. In 1999, Frist and 52 other Republicans voted against a motion to proceed to a vote on Paez.

Six months later, Frist voted against cutting off extended debate — a filibuster — on the nomination.

Then he voted for a motion to postpone a vote on the nomination.

And finally on March 9, 2000, four years after Clinton nominated Paez to the appeals court, Frist was on the losing end of a 59-39 vote on the nomination itself.

There's an entire news story about this today on MSNBC.

President's younger brother served with then-cardinal on board of relatively unknown ecumenical foundation

BY KNUT ROYCE AND TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU

April 21, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Neil Bush, the president's controversial younger brother, six years ago joined the cardinal who this week became Pope Benedict XVI as a founding board member of a little known Swiss ecumenical foundation.

The charter members of the board were all well-known international religious figures, except for Bush and his close friend and business partner, Jamal Daniel, whose family has extensive holdings in the United States and Switzerland, public records show.

The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1999 to promote ecumenical understanding and publish original religious texts, said a foundation official.

Besides then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, founding board members included Rene-Samuel Sirat, the former chief rabbi of France; Jordan's Prince Hassan, a Muslim dedicated to religious dialogue; the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, another prominent Muslim; Olivier Fatio, director of the Institute of the History of the Reformation; and foundation president Metropolitan Damaskinos, a Greek Orthodox leader.

Gary Vachicouras, a theologian and foundation official in Geneva, would not explain in a telephone interview yesterday why Bush, who has no clear public connection to religious causes, was on the first board.

"He was interested at that particular time," said Vachicouras of Bush. But like some other initial board members, Bush is no longer involved, Vachicouras said. Ratzinger also left a few years ago and was replaced by Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who is responsible for ecumenical relations for the Vatican, said Vachicouras.

Still active is Daniel, a Syrian American who has family active in the Orthodox Church in Geneva, said Vachicouras. "This is an Orthodox lay person," he said.

Neither Bush, now president of the educational software company Ignite! Learning, based in Austin, Texas, nor Daniel returned calls for comment.

In his highly publicized divorce last year, Bush revealed he and Daniel are co-chairs of Texas-based Crest Investment Co., which pays him $60,000 a year for consulting. Recently, Crest Investment officials used Bush's name as a reference in cutting an exclusive deal with Texas officials on construction of a liquid natural gas storage facility that will guarantee Crest payments of at least $2 million a year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In the divorce proceedings, Bush also revealed that while he was in a hotel in Asia, women on at least three occasions came into his room and had sex with him. Daniel hosted Bush's second wedding at his home.

Daniel reportedly became acquainted with Bush in 1991, the year the federal Office of Thrift Supervision sanctioned Bush for having "multiple conflicts of interest" in his role as a director of Silverado Savings and Loan, a Colorado thrift whose failure cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. Bush paid $50,000 in a settlement.

The foundation, based at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Geneva, is listed by Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports as a management trust for purposes other than education, religion, charity or research. But Vachicouras said the designation must be a mistake of translation to English because the foundation is a private nonprofit established under Swiss law. He said the foundation is being "relaunched" on its mission to publish the original text of the Bible's Old Testament in Hebrew, its New Testament in Greek and the Quran in Arabic.

Fatio, who left the board three years ago, said the foundation "never had any money." Vachicouras declined to discuss finances.

He said, "We keep a low profile because that makes it easier to get work done."

Be afraid, be very afraid...

THE NEW POPE BENEDICT XVI

Neil Bush, Ratzinger co-founders

President's younger brother served with then-cardinal on board of relatively unknown ecumenical foundation

BY KNUT ROYCE AND TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU

April 21, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Neil Bush, the president's controversial younger brother, six years ago joined the cardinal who this week became Pope Benedict XVI as a founding board member of a little known Swiss ecumenical foundation.

The charter members of the board were all well-known international religious figures, except for Bush and his close friend and business partner, Jamal Daniel, whose family has extensive holdings in the United States and Switzerland, public records show.

The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1999 to promote ecumenical understanding and publish original religious texts, said a foundation official.

Besides then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, founding board members included Rene-Samuel Sirat, the former chief rabbi of France; Jordan's Prince Hassan, a Muslim dedicated to religious dialogue; the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, another prominent Muslim; Olivier Fatio, director of the Institute of the History of the Reformation; and foundation president Metropolitan Damaskinos, a Greek Orthodox leader.

Gary Vachicouras, a theologian and foundation official in Geneva, would not explain in a telephone interview yesterday why Bush, who has no clear public connection to religious causes, was on the first board.

"He was interested at that particular time," said Vachicouras of Bush. But like some other initial board members, Bush is no longer involved, Vachicouras said. Ratzinger also left a few years ago and was replaced by Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who is responsible for ecumenical relations for the Vatican, said Vachicouras.

Still active is Daniel, a Syrian American who has family active in the Orthodox Church in Geneva, said Vachicouras. "This is an Orthodox lay person," he said.

Neither Bush, now president of the educational software company Ignite! Learning, based in Austin, Texas, nor Daniel returned calls for comment.

In his highly publicized divorce last year, Bush revealed he and Daniel are co-chairs of Texas-based Crest Investment Co., which pays him $60,000 a year for consulting. Recently, Crest Investment officials used Bush's name as a reference in cutting an exclusive deal with Texas officials on construction of a liquid natural gas storage facility that will guarantee Crest payments of at least $2 million a year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In the divorce proceedings, Bush also revealed that while he was in a hotel in Asia, women on at least three occasions came into his room and had sex with him. Daniel hosted Bush's second wedding at his home.

Daniel reportedly became acquainted with Bush in 1991, the year the federal Office of Thrift Supervision sanctioned Bush for having "multiple conflicts of interest" in his role as a director of Silverado Savings and Loan, a Colorado thrift whose failure cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. Bush paid $50,000 in a settlement.

The foundation, based at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Geneva, is listed by Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports as a management trust for purposes other than education, religion, charity or research. But Vachicouras said the designation must be a mistake of translation to English because the foundation is a private nonprofit established under Swiss law. He said the foundation is being "relaunched" on its mission to publish the original text of the Bible's Old Testament in Hebrew, its New Testament in Greek and the Quran in Arabic.

Fatio, who left the board three years ago, said the foundation "never had any money." Vachicouras declined to discuss finances.

He said, "We keep a low profile because that makes it easier to get work done."

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?

Check it:

* Religious zealot as President

* Scientists having funding cut if their work isn't Christ-friendly

* Cult leader Reverend Moon doing lunch at the White House, after being crowned "King of America" by US Senators.

* National Parks stores being forced to sell books that claim The Grand Canyon was part of the Noah flood.

* Imax films that talk of evolution being banned from theaters across the south.

* Pharmacists refusing to fill contraception prescriptions - and government passing laws to allow them to do so.

* The entire framework of government meeting at 2am to pass unconstitutional laws designed to stop one vegetative woman from having her feeding tube removed.

* Money taken from NGO's who provide contraception

* Religious zealots attacking judges and threatening their lives

* Abortion clinic bombers on trial, while the groups they belong to are not considered terrorist organizations but animal rights and environmentalist groups are.

* Settlements across the land for priest-on-boy sodomy.

* 24/7 news coverage of John Paul II's death

* 24/7 news coverage of Terri Sciavo's death

* 24/7 news coverage of Pope Ratzo's promotion

* TV stations refusing to show Saving Private Ryan because of 'obscenity concerns'.

* A woman's naked back during a halftime break at a football game being cause for an FCC investigation

* The Senate Leader of the Republican Party appearing at a conference about how the nation's judges are 'activists' because they don't enforce religious doctrine or their doctrine as law.

* States taking millions of dollars from the feds in return for only teaching abstinence-related sex education in schools, despite the evidence that such things INCREASE the amount of teen sex going on.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY!

Many thanks to "Scoopster" at Air America Place for this rant!

The President's Tax Return

Our Friends at Citizens for Tax Justice have crunched the numbers for both the President's and Vice President's tax returns....

Did you ever wonder how much the president makes, and how much he pays in taxes? It's some pretty amazing reading.

President and Mrs. Bush reported $784,219 in total income on their tax return. They paid $207,307 in income tax, $28,846 less than under the pre-Bush tax law.

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney reported $2,173,892 in total income on their tax return. They paid $365,840 in income tax, $81,336 less than under the pre-Bush tax law.

In percentage terms, the Bushes paid 12% less in income tax due to the President's tax cuts...The Cheneys paid 18% less.


Nice work if you can get it, eh?

I miss my country

I miss my Country, by Victor Rozek

In my country there are no free speech zones. On this soil, speech is not fenced and cannot be arbitrarily quarantined for the convenience of those it may challenge or offend. The entire nation is a free speech zone, and the more unpopular the speech, the more fiercely it is defended. In my country the voices of dissent are honored and encouraged because they offer the best opportunity for popular opinion to mature and self-correct. Debate is invited and demanding questions are welcomed, since only those policies that withstand challenge and examination are ultimately embraced.

My nation has wise and honorable leaders who are unafraid to walk among their people. They engage in dialogue and do not fear respectful protest knowing there is nothing to learn from unquestioned agreement. Here, political audiences are not vetted and sworn to loyalty before they may stand in the presence of power.

In my country, compassion is a verb, not an adjective. Action, not rhetoric is compassion’s proof. Here, the weakest among us are not left to the incertitude of market forces or the unreliable promise of volunteers. We do not subject those with modest means to what we ourselves would not wish: that our welfare depend solely on erratic economic cycles or the availability of benevolent strangers.

In my country, we know that the market has no conscience and is not the final arbiter of human values. We understand that the function of regulation is to provide an ethical framework for the market, not to restrain investment, but to dissuade misrepresentation and theft.

In my country, "government" is not a dirty word. My government takes its constitutional responsibility to "Promote the General Welfare" seriously. Its priorities come from these inspired words which are both a measure and a standard for the choices we make. My country understands that attention to the common good is what makes civil society possible and just.

Truth is valued here and journalists are the keepers of the truth and are not for sale. They are the firewall which stands ready to challenge the secrets and lies of misused power and alert the citizenry. Propaganda is not tolerated in my country. It is something practiced in faraway places by fearful people lacking the wisdom and goodness to lead honorably. My government respects the grantors of its power–the people–and sees no need to lie, deceive, and misrepresent its policies and intentions. It does not fear transparency. In my country, back rooms are for storage, not the making of policy.

My country is not ideologically intransigent, but recognizes that everyone holds a piece of the truth. It heeds history’s lesson that those who wish to impose their beliefs on others are building the on-ramp to tyranny.

My country values its sacred honor and therefore honors its agreements and treaty obligations.

My government doesn’t spy on its citizens without cause and legal sanction.

My country is not populated by torturers, nor does it imprison people without charges or access to legal representation. The Bill of Rights is our state religion and there is nothing any group or nation can do to us that would cause us to abandon it.

My country does not wage war without provocation. If it must go to war it does so only with the greatest regret and reluctance borne of exhausting all of its considerable intellectual and moral resources in the attempt to resolve its differences peacefully. In my country, violence is the refuge of the unresourceful.

In the rare instance our soldiers are asked to fight and die, their families need not wonder whether they died for the good of the nation or for the whim of the government. Our causes are just, and other nations join us from conviction, not because they were bribed or bullied to take up our standard.

My country respects and lives in harmony with the environment. It knows that our well being, our economy, and ultimately our survival depend on functioning natural systems. My nation understands that the health of the external environment is a reflection of the health of our people and the appropriateness of our priorities. When nature tells us that our people are ailing and our priorities are misplaced, my nation is courageous enough to make necessary corrections.

In my country, policy and political favor are not purchasable. Corporations are not automatically granted eternal life and wholesale immunity. They are chartered by the people to provide specific products and services; they do not govern by paid proxy.

My country respects all religions and supports none. It understands that faith is, by definition, unproven and unprovable and therefore provides a poor foundation for secular governance. Ethical behavior is not a byproduct of religious belief, but a moment-by-moment choice available to everyone of all beliefs.

The cynics will say that the country I describe never existed. Perhaps. But I know with every cell and fiber in my being that it can exist because it dwells in my heart and in the hearts of millions like me. It seems as if I turned my back just for a moment, and in that moment of inattention my country has lost its way. It cries out now for the full and unrelenting dedication of those who still remember and value its promise.

I must look to myself first. If I have failed my country, I resolve to speak more clearly and act more assertively in defense of a nation I no longer see but I know exists. I will not forsake it to be defiled one outrage at a time. Silence is complicity, and I can be silent no more.

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight. And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- Justice William O. Douglas

In my country, darkness never has–and will not now–withstand the coming light.