Progressive Wednesday

156.

On Wednesday May 30, we wrote about the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Since that day 156 servicemen and servicewomen have lost their lives.

So what can you do?

We'd like you to take three minutes out of your day and call your representative in Congress. They've only got a two-year shelf-life so you're guaranteed that they'll be a little more concerned about losing their sweet gig than your Senators. If you're not sure who your representative is, first go to the U.S. Postal Service to find your full 9-digit zip code, then head on over to Project Vote Smart and find out the name of your lucky representative. If you click on their name, you'll find their contact information.

And what would we like you to tell them? Here’s a little script to make your life that much easier:

I'm a registered voter in Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] district. Every day [he/she] doesn’t introduce or sign onto legislation mandating a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] is telling me overtly, not tacitly, that [he/she] approves of our occupation of Iraq. This was a so-called “war– built on lies and waged without regard for innocent lives with a staggering price tag to taxpayers like me. If Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] hopes to receive my vote in two years, [he/she] will promptly propose new legislation that will de-authorize our obscene occupation of Iraq. Congress authorized the invasion under the War Powers Act and that authorization can be revoked. Representative [Congressperson's Name] should not wait and let more American soldiers and innocent Iraqis die.

That’s it. That’s one thing we can all do to try to bring our valiant and victimized troops home.

You Say You Want A (Receipt) Revolution

Two weeks ago, we asked you to sign the petition by the Union of Concerned Scientists asking Congress to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It worked in the Senate, who passed an energy bill last week that, among other things, raised the average fuel efficiency of cars and SUVs from 27mpg to 35mpg by the year 2020.

Congresswoman, Diane Feinstein has put the effects of the bill in terms we can understand. With the new guidelines, our nation would:

• Save between 2.0 and 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, nearly the amount of oil imported today from the Persian Gulf.
• Achieve up to 18 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from anticipated levels, or the equivalent of taking 60 million cars off the road in one year.
• Save consumers $79-98 billion at the pump, based on a $3.00 gas price.

The bill now goes to the House, the less deliberative body, whose members have closer ties to those in their community, given that they represent fewer people. In that light, the Union of Concerned Scientists have come up with something a little different for sharing your concerns with your representative. They have started a campaign asking you and I to send our gas receipts to our representatives.

This is a brilliant way to make your concern known to your most personal of elected federal officials. It gives them a sense of reality; it says, “This is what I have to pay to fill my tank. This is how I spend my hard-earned dough. I want that tank to go further.– You can get more information on the program, including your representative's information and short messages too send in along with your receipts by clicking this sentence.

I am not encouraging people to wait for the government to fix this problem, however. The next time you are in the market for a vehicle, check out the list of most fuel-efficient cars on the market and start paying a little more attention to the mileage on the window. In the meantime, here is a handy list of ways to reduce the gas mileage on the vehicle that is sitting in your driveway right now. Let's start doing them today. Do them for the environment, national security, and for your own pocketbook.

A traffic jam on the Information Superhighway

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act into law, establishing the system of high-speed roads to go between the states. The idea had begun in 1921 and had been hatched from a need for quicker deployment and movement for our nation's military, to boost the automobile business, to make it easier. In other words, our federal government had the foresight and the usefulness to spend a little money in order to improve our country.

Those same benefits could be, and to some extent have been, greatly enhanced again today by another highway system: the Information Superhighway. As the Care2 Campaign so eloquently put it:

High speed Internet means more than smooth web videos or fast downloads. Advanced high capacity communications networks can increase democratic and civic participation, improve the delivery of health care, education, job training, public safety and other vital services.

The problem is that, like with so many other things, the United States lags behind the rest of the developed world. We pay much higher prices for Internet services that offer half the speed and reliability of those in other nations, and many rural areas around the US of A don't even have access, regardless of how much they would be willing to pay.

The Care2 Campaign has put together a petition to tell Congress to get off their 9,600 bps-asses and catch up to the rest of the world. It is vital that these services be available to every American if we are to keep pace with the rest of the world. They have almost 11,000 electronic “John Hancocks,– but that's still short of their goal of 15,000.

So, if you have a high-speed Internet connection, zoom on over to the petition's website. If you don't, then definitely dial your way to the site; it's you who stands to benefit the most. Well, you and every American who needs better health care, a more level global business playing field, a better education for their children– ¦ you get the idea.

Photo taken by this traveler.