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Here we go again another company jumps on anti bandwagon. It appears Scotts Miricle Grow will fire all and any employee who smokes.This follows last week where the City of Washington DC and Chicago make it illegal to smoke. DC Mayor says he will not support anti smoking but the way it was passed,he can't overide it. New Jersey a few weeks ago is coming on strong to not allow smoking in every bar and restuarant but the casinos(too strong a lobby) Well where is the [ansy ACLU on this one to try to help us who smoke out ? Or is all they care about the lonley crack head immigrant?  My bet Scotts tries to fire Chuck the crack fiend from thier staff the ACLU would be all over it suing. Ohh lets all coddle a guy who uses illegal drugs that would be wrong to fire him. Lets cry about smoking costs of healthcare but not whine that Chuck the crakepipe smoker is costing them just as much if not more with the treatment they have to put him thru to quit too. Who is some company to tell me I can't use a legal substance in my home while I am off duty. Do I try to stop that fat CEO from chomping on Cigars and eating Prime Rib while he is on his way to a bypass (average cost of bypass is about 250,000 ) I know my father had one but he used the best guy in country so maybe it is a touch less. My point these wingnuts need to be stopped ,they are out there where the busses don't run. Came home from the market without all thier groceries,ooppps sorry I made fun of mental patients I better watch out for the ACLU. BTW who pays for those shrinks for the nutballs that work at Scotts? GO smoke a Marlboro if you want .

The trial of Saddam Hussein by an Iraqi court, on highly specific charges of relating to mass murder in 1982 (and thus prior to the full scale western re-engagement with Iraq, which predominated for the rest of the 1980s) is from the US point of view a carefully constructed exercise in damage limitation.

The Bush administration's rejection of the International Criminal Court has been portrayed as a means of preventing US soldiers facing war crimes charges. It is also paying dividends in this case, in keeping "interfering" liberal European lawyers off the pitch, and thus the more unsavoury aspects of US foreign policy out of the full glare of the western media. On the surface a local trial for local people, it is taking place in the Green Zone under a US military occupation of Iraq.

The last thing the neo-conservatives want is Donald Rumsfeld's "loans and weapons" meetings with Saddam Hussein (when in 1983-84 as Reagan's special envoy, his job was to reintegrate Iraq into the US fold for policing the Middle East region) open to new scrutiny.

The smart lie of Bush junior's war on Iraq, that America the brave altruistically took on Saddam the evil, remains intact as long as western complicity in aiding and abetting Saddam during the years of his worst crimes remains off record. With only the unheeded courthouse ramblings of the former dictator himself, living up to his allotted role of entirely unreliable witness, to challenge the official narrative, US Perception Management Inc will score a much needed victory in the information war that remains essential to its Iraq mission.

The Saddam trial, configured as pantomime for western audiences, will thus only prolong the utter disaster of the US's fifty-year history of covert and overt meddling in Iraq.

I want “Merry Christmas” put back everywhere. If you keep Christ in Christmas you will likely have “Happy Holi-days.” This whole situation is so ridiculous, who has the right to tell me that I can’t say Merry Christmas? Where are my rights? We already have enough holidays that are strictly for the well being of businesses, Boss’s Day, Secretary’s Day, etc. We don’t need business or government telling us what kind of greetings we MUST use. I am saying Merry Christmas, big and loud to everyone I see.

During September of this year, the American Legion Organization asked Congress to amend a law to stop the American Civil Liberties Union from using our courts to destroy American values at taxpayer expense.

The American Legion is in full support of the Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 and House Rule 2679 sponsored by Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind. The legislation would amend the Civil Rights Attorney Fees Act to withdraw the authority of judges to award attorney fees to the ACLU, or anyone else.

The courts are awarding the ACLU millions of dollars in taxpayer-paid attorney fees awards. While the law was written with good intentions – to ensure legitimate victims of civil rights violations could obtain representation – it has been exploited by the ACLU. The threat of these judge–ordered fees has terrorized elected officials into surrendering to the ACLU’s demands

The latest attack by the ACLU has recently taken place in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals where it was ordered that the cross honoring World War I veterans in the Mojave National Preserve, be removed or destroyed because the memorial contained an inscription of “For God and Country” which was placed there by veterans of World War I in 1919

It is conceivable that if the ACLU continues to be successful in eliminating “God” from anything to do either directly or indirectly with all governing bodies of this country, then at some point in the future, it will be illegal for witnesses to swear upon the Bible before giving testimony in our courts!

On Nov. 28, President Bush addressed the contentious topic of illegal immigration in a speech he made in Arizona. Bush tried to appease the conservative wing of the Republican Party by exaggerating all the bills he has signed, supposedly meant to stem the flood of illegal immigrants entering America via our border with Mexico.

Bush also detailed a "guest worker program" that would allow illegal immigrants to work in the United States for two consecutive three-year periods before they would have to return to their home country. Further scrutiny of Bush's guest worker initiative makes it clear the scheme will not work as it is being sold to the American people.

First of all, it is pie-in-the-sky logic to believe those who are in this country illegally will sign up for such a program. And, if they did, it boggles the mind to expect them to return to Mexico for one year after the six-year period is concluded and then register again for the program.

Also, there is the question of what will happen–;to all the children who will be born in the U.S. to these guest workers during their temporary stay. These children will be American citizens. Will their parents be expected to remove them from schools and the country of their birth for a year, and what will stop illegal immigrants for filing for citizenship while they are here claiming guest worker status?

Bush knows this program is only meant to satisfy big business by continuing the flow of cheap labor. In reality, Bush's plan is nothing more than amnesty - no matter which way you slice it.

While George W. Bush has been touting good news on the economy, the picture is not quite so rosy, especially in the long term. The Boston Globe reports that recent economic growth is not "merely a lucky accident." According to the Globe, Bush's enormous military and security spending, and two of the largest tax cuts in the nation's history are likely to result in "short-term growth and long-term damage." The Globe describes the economic policies of the Bush administration as a "crude and destructive cocktail of stimulants." Even if the recent positive economic signals temporarily take hold, "the administration's policies will weaken the economy over time, fall particularly harshly on its working middle- and low- income citizens, and fail to prepare the nation for a century of far more intense global competition."

In early October, Congress considered a $140 billion dollar tax bill that would provide a tax break to 276 large companies and special interest groups. Instead of using this money to help national financial worries, Congress has decided to give tax breaks to the rich and powerful. As Doug Thompson explains, this "corporate tax reform bill" is more like a "welfare program for big business." A few specific examples include provisions for the following corporations: Starbucks, NASCAR, Carnival Cruise Lines and Home Depot. Thompson claims that many members of Congress, representatives and senators alike, only care about "the golden rule." That is, "he who has the gold, makes the rules."

The Bush administration's budget for the 2006 fiscal year will cut non-defense discretionary spending, including education, veteran's health care, law enforcement, and environmental protections. In all, President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget plan calls for elimination of or drastic cuts from 154 programs. Funding for the Iraq war, however, was recently increased. A House subcommittee approved an initial $45 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, two weeks after Congress approved $82 billion for this year's costs of the conflicts. Although President Bush argues that it is too early to request money for the wars during the 2006 budget year, which started Oct. 1, with no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, war costs are certain and many lawmakers are reluctant to wait for his request.