What Are We Waiting For?

This weekend, if you do nothing else, there are two vitally important things we hope you will take time to accomplish in order to stop the madness that seems to be bleeding the planet of peace, prosperity and natural resources:

1. Push for campaign finance reform in order to publicly fund elections. This will make it more likely that elected officials will work for US and not big corporate donors and lobbyists.
2. Demand an end to media consolidation. When only a few corporations are allowed to own the media, they control the information – and disinformation – we receive. Without full knowledge and understanding of the urgent issues of the day, we are unable to make informed decisions to solve our problems.
   

A short list of what we are facing today and why you need to get involved:

Looming Recession:

The news that 4,000 jobs were lost in the month of August -- the first outright decline in four years – a “stunning number” considering economists were forecasting a 100,000 gain -- sent stock markets reeling with the dollar falling to a 15-year low:

"The [U.S.] jobs data ... is simply horrific and fans the most pessimistic fears -- the housing market woes will undermine the U.S. consumer, push the U.S. economy into recession and drag down growth in much of the rest of the world."

Threats of war with Iran:

Six nuclear-armed stealthy advance cruise missiles (ACMs) were “inadvertently” flown on the wing pylons of a B-52 from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on August 30

“There is informed speculation that the movement of the nuclear weapons was leaked because the [Louisiana] air force base is a staging area for deployment to the Middle East.

The Pentagon recently drew up plans to hit 1200 targets inside Iran in a massive bombardment campaign aimed at destroying its military and overthrowing its government. The movement of the nuclear weapons may have been an alert to the public by disgruntled members of the military that such plans would include the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons.

The report that the weapons were transferred to Barksdale for "decommissioning" appears to be a cover story concocted by Pentagon spinmeisters, since any movement of nuclear weapons is treated as highly-classified information.”

Health Care Crisis:

Health care is very expensive in America. According to the National Coalition on Health Care, health care spending in the United States reached $2 trillion and was projected to reach $2.9 trillion in 2009. The country spends 4.3-times more money than what is spent on national defense. Nearly 47 million Americans are uninsured. Even with insurance, the cost of prescription drugs can put a strain on one's budget. A 2006 survey revealed one in four Americans report paying for medical care has been a problem for their family in the past year, and nearly 30 percent say a family member has put off getting medical care.

Global climate change is rapidly transforming the environment:

“Wildfires are flaring in Alaska, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. In Glacier National Park, where glacier numbers have fallen from 150 to 26 since 1850, the habitat of bighorn sheep, mountain goats and grizzly bears is vanishing.

Meanwhile, sea levels are rising around the low-lying Florida Keys and global warming is killing off the nation's trees. Spruce bark beetles are chewing their way through Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and the Chugach National Forest, while pine beetles are destroying red spruce woodlands. Non-native grasses have replaced native shrubs in the Mojave Desert, fuelling longer-lasting wildfires.”

Arctic sea ice had fallen to 4.75 million square miles — or 250,000 square miles below the previous record low of 5.05 million square miles in September 2005 and polar bears are expected to become extinct by the year 2050.

Obviously, there are many other crises that we could list here but for a lack of time and space we will stop at these.

Visit Stop Big Media to find out what you can do about media consolidation.

Learn about campaign finance reform and how you can make a difference.