The Washington Post
Brian Faler
August 11, 2005

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has been camped outside President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Tex., took her antiwar protest to the Internet yesterday, joining a conference call with bloggers around the country, along with a stray congresswoman.

Sheehan, who has been demanding an audience with the president, told the bloggers that she has felt intimidated by the Secret Service, has been awakened in the middle of the night by thunderstorms and has a sore throat. But, Sheehan said, she has no plans to end her vigil until Bush meets with her to discuss the war, he goes back to the White House or she is arrested.

"This is going to be a very, very long haul," Sheehan said, in a call hosted by Democratic strategist and Internet guru Joe Trippi. Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's presidential campaign, urged the bloggers to write about her protest on their individual sites. The liberal online advocacy group MoveOn.org is also taking up Sheehan's cause, soliciting signatures for a petition in support of her cause and announcing plans to run an ad in the local paper, the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Many of the bloggers on the call gushed over her protest ("We love you, Cindy") while Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) also chimed in to express her support.

Sheehan, who earlier this week described her protest on the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, complained that the mainstream news media have not paid enough attention to her cause -- although she was interviewed Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition" -- and asked the bloggers for their support. "If we didn't have the Internet, none of us would really know what was truly going on," she said. "This is something that can't be ignored."

The Illinois Congressional delegation says their efforts have paid off in the form of millions of highway and transit dollars for road, rail and bridge projects.

Those efforts include funding for significant projects in Skokie and Evanston, officials said.

Congress approved a new $286.4 billion federal transportation package last week that also includes authorization for future funding of the Skokie Swift extension project, which would create stops at Oakton Street and Old Orchard Road.

Illinois scored big in this federal transportation legislation. It stands to get $1.23 billion per year in the new legislation, a boost of $300 million from the previous legislation in which Illinois received $927 million.

"This is a long-awaited and welcome bipartisan bill," said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th. "For (this area), enactment means resurfaced and safer roads, new bicycle and walking paths, expanded el service and shorter commutes."

Schakowsky promised that her constituents will notice "a real difference" when the projects are completed.

"This transportation bill funds preservation and beautification efforts in residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors in my district and will put people to work in new jobs on transportation projects throughout Illinois and the country. The bill will make automobiles safer by offering new protections to reduce accidents and protect children and crash victims."

Although money was not specifically earmarked for the Skokie Swift extension project, the bill includes important authorization for future funding.

Schakowsky spokesman Jon Samuels said this was "an important first and necessary step" to allow for future funding. He said Schakowsky will work closely with the CTA and Mayor George Van Dusen to make sure the project moves forward.

In March, the village learned it will receive a federal grant of about $417,000 to help pay for the design of the downtown Oakton Street station for the Skokie Swift.

The grant comes from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement program and is administered by the Chicago Area Transportation Study.

Building an el stop on Oakton Street has become a major project for Skokie following the sale of the 28-acre Pfizer Pharmaceuticals property to developer Forest City, which is creating a life sciences research park. The Skokie Swift station would be located next to the property and would be ideal for employees coming to and leaving work.

The CTA has supported both the Oakton station and the extension of the line even if it has not committed funding, officials say. A letter from CTA President Frank Kruesi released by the village states, "By extending (the Skokie Swift) north, and providing infill stations, the CTA will make better use of existing service capacity and provide expanded reverse commute opportunities."

Brad Hahn, spokesman for U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, R-14th, said cooperation among members of the state's Congressional delegation was the key.

"The Illinois delegation didn't fare so well in 1998. The delegation made a commitment to do better this time. Speaker Hastert led the efforts to reach across the aisle to ensure the rate of return is better," Hahn said.

The state will now need to come up with matching dollars to ensure that Illinois gets the federal funding. The new funding formula could double the state's responsibility to 40 percent. Previously, the federal government would fund 80 percent of the project cost and states were responsible for 20 percent.

Jim Reilly, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees CTA, Metra and Pace, said the state will need to come up with $500 million a year to match and that won't be easy.

"The Congressional delegation did a magnificent job. Now it's our turn. We're a long way from having a plan to present to the Legislature, and it'll be 18 months before we do. It will have to include a tax of some sort. It's not magic. We need the revenues. The state itself is having budgetary problems," he said.

Some 20 speakers addressed the Human Services Committee, with all but one urging aldermen to move forward on the resolution.

 The lone dissenter questioned the timing of the issue, rather than sentiments expressed against continued U.S. involvement.

 Bonnie Wilson, president of the Democratic Party of Evanston, presented committee members with a proposed resolution endorsed by a collection of local groups.

 The 20-clause proposal states "that the City Council of Evanston, on behalf of its citizens, urges the United States government to commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel and all private security forces from Iraq to prevent further casualties, both American and Iraqi, resulting from a misguided and unjustified war."

 Besides the city's Democratic party, groups endorsing the proposal include Evanston Neighbors for Peace, the North Suburban Peace Initiative, the Evanston Mennonite Church, Lake Street Church, Women in Black and CodePink-Women for Peace. The city's Human Relations Commission also supports the resolution.

 In urging approval, speakers cited the basis on which the war was initiated.

 "The military action began with deceptions and lies -- there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction," said Autumn Franger, speaking on behalf of the Lake Street Church on Peace and Justice Committee. "There were no al-Qaida cells in Iraq. Both of these arguments were used to keep the voters from questioning military involvement in Iraq."

 Other speakers called on committee members to remember lessons of the past.

 Dickelle Fonda, representing Peace Now, said she was a college student at the time of the Vietnam War protests, and kept a sign in her window tallying the number of deaths in that conflict.

 "For the past year I have had another sign, this time in front yard of my home in Evanston," she told committee members. "Today it reads 15,000-42,000 wounded, 1,790 American and 100,000-plus Iraqi lives lost. I update it weekly.

 Good conscience

 She said that "in good conscience," she doesn't want her lawn sign "to look like my sign from 35 years ago before I speak out and take action."

 The speakers also asked the committee to consider the toll on the current and future generations, including the psychic injuries that result from involvement in an unjust conflict.

 As a result of the "so-called justice that had to be done after 9/11," said Anya Cordell, a resident of Skokie-Evanston. "We are creating more Timothy McVeighs. We are creating an endless cycle of things that undermine everything we care about in life," she said.

 The local level is an important place to start such a movement, because of the impact felt by Evanston and other communities, other speakers said.

 Committee members voted 4-1 in favor of backing a resolution, directing staff to work with the material submitted in drafting supportive language.

 Alderman Steven J. Bernstein, 4th Ward, predicted that council support is a given, noting that aldermen previously supported a resolution urging the U.S. not to initiate the war at the onset.

 On the other hand, "Evanston is an island," he said, noting that U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, of Evanston had opposed the war from the start.

WASHINGTON - For hire: more than 1,000 U.S.-trained former soldiers and police officers from Colombia. Combat-hardened, experienced in fighting insurgents and ready for duty in Iraq.

This eye-popping advertisement recently appeared on an Iraq jobs website, posted by an American entrepreneur who hopes to supply security forces for U.S. contractors in Iraq and elsewhere.

If hired, the Colombians would join a swelling population of heavily armed private military forces working in Iraq and other global hot spots. They also would join a growing corps of workers from the developing world who are seeking higher wages in dangerous jobs, what some critics say is a troubling result of efforts by the United States to ''outsource'' its operations in Iraq and other countries.

In a telephone interview from Colombia, the entrepreneur, Jeffrey Shippy, said he saw a booming global demand for his ''private army'' and a lucrative business opportunity in recruiting Colombians.

Shippy, who formerly worked for DynCorp International, a major U.S. security contractor, said the Colombians were willing to work for $2,500 to $5,000 a month, compared with perhaps $10,000 or more for Americans.

But where Shippy sees opportunity, others see trouble.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, worries that U.S. government contractors are hiring thousands of impoverished former military personnel, with no public scrutiny, little accountability and large hidden costs to taxpayers.

The United States has spent more than $4 billion since 2000 on Plan Colombia, a counterterrorism and counternarcotics program that includes training and support for the Colombian police and military. In June, Congress moved toward approval of an additional $734.5 million in aid to the Andean region in 2006, most of it for Colombia.

''We're training foreign nationals . . . who then take that training and market it to private companies, who pay them three or four times as much as we're paying soldiers,'' Schakowsky said.

''American taxpayers are paying for the training of those Colombian soldiers,'' she said. ``When they leave to take more lucrative jobs, perhaps with an American military contractor . . . they take that training with them. So then we're paying to train that person's replacement. And then we're paying the bill to the private military contractors.''

An estimated 20,000 Iraqis and about 6,000 non-Iraqis work in private security in Iraq, said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group representing the burgeoning industry.

Security accounts for as much as 25 percent of reconstruction costs in Iraq, eating a substantial portion of an $18.4-billion rebuilding package funded by the United States.

Fijians, Ukrainians, South Africans, Nepalese and Serbs reportedly are on the job in Iraq. Peter W. Singer of the Brookings Institution, author of a book on the private military industry, said veterans of Latin American conflicts, including Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, also had turned up.

'What we've done in Iraq is assemble a true `coalition of the billing,' '' Singer said, playing off President Bush's description of the U.S.-led alliance of nations with a troop presence in Iraq as a ``coalition of the willing.''

There are no reliable figures on the number of guards from Colombia or other countries. According to Shippy, private military experts and news reports, North Carolina-based Blackwater USA has sent 120 Colombians to Iraq.

The reports are difficult to verify because many large companies, including DynCorp, which is based in Texas and operates in 40 countries, have policies against speaking to the media.

Shippy, an Air Force veteran whose work for private military contractors has included stints in Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Iraq, extolled the Colombians' virtues.

''These forces have been fighting terrorists the last 41 years,'' he wrote in his Web posting seeking work. ``These troops have been trained by the U.S. Navy SEALs and the U.S. [Drug Enforcement Administration] to conduct counterdrug/counterterror ops in the jungles and rivers of Colombia.''

The Colombians would join the lucrative private military industry in Iraq even as the U.S.-funded war against drug traffickers continues to rage in their homeland. Experts are divided on the effect that would have on U.S. national interests. ''It's not necessarily self-defeating, but it's not optimal,'' Singer said.

Pioneer Press
Kathy Routliffe
June 16th, 2005


Lincolnwood kids may grumble about teachers, tough homework assignments and the sorrow of days spent in the classroom. But Linda Keegstra's fifth-grade class at Rutledge Hall know children elsewhere in the world would give anything they had to live through those problems.

They read about the plight of child workers around the world, particularly children of migrant workers across the United States. When they learned how the children work hard and often dangerous hours in farm fields and elsewhere, how they rarely get the chance to stay in school, they became incensed. What could they do about it, Keegstra said her students asked.

Their outrage and questions eventually led U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-9th, to their classroom, and into a lively June 2 question-and-answer session about the situation, Keegstra said Monday.

Students first learned about child labor during social studies classes earlier this year, but they didn't become truly upset about the issue until late March or early April when they read further about it in a news article.

"There's a little magazine called Time For Kids, and the article was about migrant labor and kids," Keegstra remembered.

Her fifth-graders were incredulous, the veteran teacher said. Many of them had just turned 11, and were outraged that children their age could be denied an education and forced into hard physical labor.

"They were saying 'How can they do this?' They went to the Internet and did more research and became so upset," Keegstra said.

Rachel Prale was one of Keegstra's students.

"I was really shocked about how much (migrant workers' children) had to work, and all the problems they face, like having no education, or good food," she said.

The magazine article suggested that children could write local political representatives about the issue, and her students asked Keegstra for advice. And Keegstra told them they could write to Schakowsky's office, since her 9th District includes Lincolnwood.

The boys and girls were young, but already exhibited some rather adult skepticism about the result of any letter-writing campaign. They asked Keegstra if they'd get any answer from Schakowsky, and then if any answer they got might not simply be a form letter. She told them she believed they'd get some type of answer, but acknowledged it might not be a personal response.

Armed with that, the students composed their missives -- some of them, initially at least, very caustic. Keegstra said she had to remind her truly indignant charges that Schakowsky was not responsible for the state of child labor: "After that, they toned down what they were saying."

Not that the youngsters lost any of their fervor for justice, as they see it, for their migrant compatriots. Prale was blunt this week when she said, "I think that Iraqi war money going to all those bombs and machine guns, that could go to the children that are working in the fields."

Others took a more gentle tack. One girl told Schakowsky in her letter that knowing children her age couldn't get a good education because they had to work to help their families survive 'hurt her heart,' Keegstra said. The girl went on to say she wanted to do something even though she was just a little girl herself.

Several weeks passed. Then two weeks ago Keegstra answered her phone to find a Schakowsky aide asking if the representative could drop by her class for a visit.

Days before Schakowsky came to their class, Keegstra and the students reviewed the issues and compiled questions they wanted to present her. And, to their surprise, they also received written responses -- none of them form letters -- from Schakowsky. Even so, when Schakowsky entered the room June 2, many of her usually loquacious pupils were silent.

"We went over what we wanted to talk about; health issues, working conditions, the fact that kids wouldn't get very far if they couldn't stay in school and get an education," Keegstra said. "And they are not shy. But in the beginning they were awed because here was a big politician talking to them."

Prale said she hadn't expected a visit, adding "It was kind of cool to meet a real representative."

Schakowsky visited with the students for about 25 minutes, speaking first and then asking for questions. Keegstra said her students were impressed when the 9th District. Democrat took notes, admitted that she didn't know the answers to some questions, and would try to find them out.

"I think one of our best questions was, 'How are you going to take action?'," Prale remembered. She said she was going to talk to people and I think she really meant it."

Schakowsky asked the class how they might solve child labor and education problems, and they first suggested increasing the minimum wage. Then they told her about a canceled federal program which paid migrant worker parents to help keep their children in school.

"She was impressed that they knew something that she didn't know about," Keegstra said. Schakowsky also promised to keep class members up to date on any migrant-related legislative issues in Washington.

Her students might have been jaundiced about the political process before this experience, "but when (Schakowsky) responded, when she came and talked to them, they were really blown away. I think it let them know that people in the system can listen," Keegstra said.

Reuters (ABC-7)
Roz Varon
April 27, 2005

The popular I-Go car sharing program is expanding to the suburbs. Evanston is the first location outside Chicago to jump onboard.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) today spoke in support of H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would lift restrictions on and provide federal funding for this breakthrough research.  Before the House voted to pass H.R. 810, Congresswoman Schakowsky urged her colleagues to pass the bill and fund embryonic stem cell research in order to provide relief for the 128 million Americans who suffer from diseases which may be cured or abated by stem cell research.

The full text of Congresswoman Schakowsky’s floor statement is below:

“Mr. Speaker, I stand today in strong support of H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.  While the debate over whether federal funds should be used for research has demonstrated itself to be an extremely controversial subject here in Washington, it is clear that a majority of Americans strongly supports embryonic stem cell research.  They want the federal government to fund research that is critical for some 128 million Americans who suffer from juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, spinal cord injury, ALS, and other diseases.

Stem cell research is a medical issue; one that should and does transcend political lines and instead focus on human lives.  One such life is that of Clara Livingston, a nine-year old girl with diabetes.  During her testimony last week in a hearing in Chicago, Clara said, “There are things I don’t like about diabetes.  I have to put a one inch needle into my skin to connect my insulin pump.  I don’t like pricks or shots.  I don’t like having high blood sugar and not being able to eat.  I don’t like going low and fainting.”  She continued, “I would like to find a cure because finding a cure will help make America and the rest of the world not worry about diabetes.” 

Most scientists agree that embryonic stem cell research offers the greatest hope to patients like Clara.  There are limitations on the usefulness of adult stem cells when compared to embryonic stem cells.  For example, there are no adult stem cells in the pancreas.  That means that adult stem cell research will be inadequate in helping Clara or any other patient who are hoping for a cure for diabetes. 

While it is important to continue working with adult stem cells, it is vital to fund the research using embryonic stem cells.  We do a grave disservice to millions of children and adults living with serious illness, as well as the millions who will develop these conditions in the future, by prohibiting promising research.
 
This bill would lift the arbitrary restrictions and permit funding of cell lines regardless of when they were created.  Federal funding guidelines assure that research will meet ethical standards and allow advancements to be made as quickly as possible.  As Dr. Steven Teitelbaum of Washington University in St. Louis said, “This is not a contest between adult and embryonic stem cells.  This is a contest between us as a society and disease.

I urge my colleagues to vote ‘yes’ on this bipartisan legislation, H.R. 810.”

Arkansas News Bureau
Alison Vekshin
April 27th, 2005

Five congressional lawmakers on Tuesday called for a Mothers' Day boycott of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., charging the retailer shortchanges salaries, benefits and promotions for female workers.

"When it comes to the treatment of its women employees, Wal-Mart's low prices come at a cost," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said at a Capitol Hill news conference also attended by an organized labor official and a former Miss America.

Standing before an 8-foot, yellow Mother's Day card reading "Love mom, not Wal-Mart," the lawmakers helped launch a campaign asking Americans to boycott Wal-Mart for their Mother's Day purchases.

They said they planned to mail the card to Wal-Mart chief executive officer Lee Scott.

"My children and grandchildren won't be shopping for gifts for me at Wal-Mart," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

Because Wal-Mart's wages are so low, its workers qualify for public assistance and are being subsidized by the American taxpayer, Schakowsky charged.

Other lawmakers who criticized Wal-Mart at the event were California Democrats George Miller, Linda Sanchez, and Hilda Solis.

A Wal-Mart official responded the criticism is unfounded.

"Wal-Mart does not tolerate discrimination of any kind," spokesman Dan Fogleman said.

"There are hundreds of thousands of women who have wonderful stories to tell about our company and what it has meant to them in terms of their career," he said. "Isolated complaints that may arise from more than 3,000 stores doesn't change that fact."

More than 40 percent of Wal-Mart's managers are women, Fogleman noted.

A class-action, gender-discrimination lawsuit pending against Wal-Mart charges the Bentonville-based retail giant discriminates against women in promotions and wages.

The case was filed in San Francisco in June 2001 on behalf of about 1.6 million current and former female employees who have worked at Wal-Mart since December 1998.

"Wal-Mart is the nation's largest employer of women," said Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive director of the AFL-CIO. "But unfortunately they are being treated without dignity and respect."

About 700,000 women work at Wal-Mart, the lawmakers noted.

"A lot of times these women don't have a voice," said former Miss America Carolyn Sapp, who launched www.walmartversuswomen.com. "They love this company, but they don't like how they are treated."

DeLauro and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., introduced legislation Tuesday to fix the pay gap between men and women by creating a training program to help women strengthen their negotiation skills and require the Labor Department to boost outreach and training to employers.

NBC 5 Chicago
April 14th, 2005

A clause that some credit card companies are inserting into their terms of agreement might not get noticed by consumers who sign up, but if it kicks in, they won't be able to miss the numbers.

Send that check for the newspaper a little late, get a day behind on medical debt or fall back on paying your water bill, and some credit card companies will make you pay them -- even though your late payments had nothing to do with their bill, Target 5's Lisa Parker reported.

Karen Patton stumbled upon the practice, known as a "universal default" clause, while doing something few consumers take the time to do -- reading the fine print.

"I'm one of those strange people that will sit there and try to read through it," she said.

The universal default tactic is being used by more and more credit card companies.

"That's what set alarms off in my head: I thought, 'How could they increase my rate if a payment is late to a totally different company?'" she asked.

In Patton's case, the clause read:

"Each time you default under any Providian account agreement ... or are reported delinquent on an account with any other creditor, the APRs ... may increase up to 29.99 percent."

Patton said she can't see how the clause could be fair.

"Maybe it's not my fault -- maybe the mail is late or something else happened -- or the company didn't process it in a timely way, which I've had happen," Patton said. "How in the world can they have the right to change my rate for something that happened to a totally different company?"

A recent consumer group study found 44 percent of credit card issuers use universal default policies to boost interest rates.

Another consumer group sued Discover over the practice, alleging the nation's largest credit card provider used universal default to "siphon thousands of extra dollars from each account holder in the form of bogus fees and improperly levied finance charges."

Parker said consumers' inability to find anyone to take a stand on the issue proves frustrating for many.

State authorities like the Illinois Attorney General's Office say they would love to stop the practice, but only the states where credit card companies are incorporated have any real power over them.

"(Consumers) say to us, 'I pay this credit card timely, why should it make any difference what I do in another credit arena?'" said Deborah Hagan, who works with the attorney general. "The consumers to whom I've spoken feel it is very unfair."

It's widely assumed that credit card companies set up shop in states like South Dakota, Nevada and Delaware because those states' laws offer no usury cap on interest rates, and the states reportedly have little or no interest in taking on the powerful credit card industry.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky isn't shying away. The Illinois congresswoman is co-sponsoring a bill to stop universal default and other abusive lending practices.

"They can scour your credit report every month, looking for some reason to go ahead and raise your rates," Schakowsky said. "And when they put a little notice on your bill, saying that it's been doubled, for example, they don't have to tell you why."

Credit card companies defend universal default as their way of covering risk. If consumers start to fail on any of their debts, that can be the beginning of the slide toward bankruptcy, the companies claim. By jacking up the rate, the companies say they may recover some of the debt.

But some consumers say the tactic just completes a vicious cycle.

"You feel there's nowhere to go," Patton said. "And all of a sudden, I'm caught in the middle of this monolithic entity and I have no power as a consumer," Patton said.

The consumer group that sued Discover over universal default said that the credit card company has agreed to take the clause out of its agreements. Target 5 asked Discover for comment, but it did not return calls.

A spokesman for the banking industry confirmed that a number of credit card companies are expected to stop using universal default, but the man would not say if the stoppage was a direct result of threatened legal action.

But the promised stoppage could be a result of consumer outrage, Parker said.

United Press International
Al Swanson
March 25th, 2005

Consumers are growing more concerned about the safety of products -- from cribs, strollers and baby carriers to toys like yo-yo water balls -- that are marketed for use by young children.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has been protecting consumers since 1973 and has jurisdiction over more than 15,000 kinds of products. Last year, federal product safety regulators issued 87 recalls of children's products -- more than 156 million individual items, Kids In Danger, a non-profit child advocacy group, said in its annual report.

Toys accounted for 42 percent of 2004 recalls, sports and athletic equipment 20 percent, clothing 16 percent, nursery products 14 percent and furniture 9 percent.

The biggest recall of the year was for 150 million toy necklaces made in India. They sold for about 50 cents each in vending machines and posed a lead-poisoning hazard to young children.

The second largest recall was of 1 million children's toy rings also made in India and sold in vending machines for 25 cents to 75 cents each that also had excessive levels of lead.

Old Navy recalled 666,000 sets of children's zipped outwear made in Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines because the plastic zipper can detach posing a choking hazard to children.

Eight companies recalled more than one product.

Graco Children's Products Inc. of Exton, Pa., the nation's largest maker of children's products, had the most reported injuries. The company was fined a record $4 million this week for failing to report defects in 16 products -- more than 12 million units -- from high chairs to strollers in a timely manner to the CPSC.

Graco recalled 1.2 million U.S.-made Toddler Beds Tuesday after 77 children were injured by limbs slipping between slats in guard rails and the footboard. Thirteen children suffered broken arms or legs, one a broken foot and 55 others had sprains, bruises and scratches.

The recalled baby beds were sold at discount, juvenile and department stores from February 1994 through March 2001 for $50 to $70.

Literally millions of products and toys previously recalled are still out there posing danger to children, said the Kids In Danger study, "Hazards of Child's Play: Children's Product Recalls in 2004."

Only seven states have laws banning use of recalled products in childcare facilities.

"How many more reports must be released about dangerous children's products before Congress responds? How many more recalls must be issued before Congress strengthens federal regulations so that dangerous children's products never make it into our homes, childcare centers, and pre-schools in the first place?" Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., asked at a Chicago news conference.

Schakowsky advocates creation of a national seal of approval on child products. She plans to reintroduce the Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act, legislation that would demonstrate children's products had been independently tested and met required national safety standards.

Congress had hearings on child product safety last year but failed to enact any changes in mandatory safety standards.

Schakowsky said legislation passed 24 years ago prohibits the Consumer Product Safety Commission from establishing mandatory standards for most products.

"It is clear that the current regimen does not work. It leaves our children in danger. Children's products are tested in our own homes, with our children and grandchildren as test dummies," she said. "The cost of those tests can be a panicked child, bruised fingers, a near-strangulation, fractured skulls, or a dead child. My legislation would guarantee that no swing, baby carrier or crib is sold without first being tested and meeting national safety standards."

The risk of bodily injury was the most common hazard posed by children's products in 2004 and was responsible for 39 recalls.

Graco recalled 140,000 Travel-Lite Swings after 128 incidents and injuries. A handle on the swing can move out of position striking a child's head, and the 3-point seat belt failed to sufficiently restrict the child's movement to prevent them from falling forward.

Kids In Danger Executive Director Nancy Cowles said a year-old Canadian boy was killed in a Graco Pack N' Play playpen last week when his neck was caught in its removable changing table and rim.

Graco and CPSC issued a warning label on the playpen in 2003 but the product was not recalled.

"Unintended injuries are the leading cause of death for children under the age of 4, and many of these deaths are a result of unsafe products," Schakowsky said. "Congress has a moral obligation to protect the life of every child because a child who is injured, disabled or dies as a result of an untested, unsafe product is a one child too many."

Kids In Danger said the story on child product safety had not changed since it began reporting on children's product recalls in 2002: with repeat offenders, clear violations of federal regulations on choking hazards, injuries and deaths from products brought to market without adequate testing. The report recommended increasing CPSC staff and funding, lifting a cap on fines for violations of manufacturer's self-reporting requirements to encourage compliance, and including product registration cards for the purpose of notifying consumers when a product is found defective or is recalled.

The group, founded in 1998 by a couple whose 16-month-old son was killed by a portable crib, said when millions of anything is sold it is virtually impossible to retrieve and warned children should not be guinea pigs.

Ask Lisa Lipin, a Skokie, Ill., mother whose young son almost strangled while playing with a yo-yo water ball toy.

"Let's think about the 100-plus children who have died in their bathtubs while sitting in a bath seat. Let's think about the many children who have died in cribs and playpens that collapsed. Let's think about the nearly 400 children who have been injured in the past two years by a cheap toy known as the yo-yo water ball, and let us pray that a child does not die of strangulation while playing with this toy," she wrote recently in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Daily Variety
William Triplett
February 10, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Despite several concerns expressed about the legislation, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a bill that dramatically increases broadcast indecency penalties.

The Broadcast Indecency Enforcement Act of 2005 -- introduced just two weeks ago by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and co-sponsored by committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) along with John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) -- hikes maximum fines from $32,500 to $500,000 per infraction, allows fining individual performers for a first offense and calls for revoking licenses of repeat offenders.

Bill also encourages broadcasters to reinstate a family hour and draft a voluntary code of conduct.

Upton introduced essentially the same bill in the previous Congress, where it gained enough bipartisan support to be passed 49-1 in committee. But attempts to attach legislation curbing media consolidation helped scuttle it.

No attempts to attach such legislation occurred during Wednesday's 46-2 vote, though several members said the committee ought to have considered doing so.

Only two amendments were offered, both by Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who decried a "chilling effect" the first-offense fines against performers would have on artistic expression.

Currently, the Federal Communications Commission can fine artists only after it issues a warning for a first offense. Bill raises fines from $11,000 to $500,000. Schakowsky's amendments sought to strike the hike as well as restore the first-offense warning.

Describing her amendments, Schakowsky referred to singer Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl halftime show-exposed "nipple," wryly interrupting herself to ask the chairman, "Am I allowed to say that?"

The committee rejected both amendments.

The lone dissenter on the previous version of the bill, Schakowsky was joined this time by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in voting no.

Waxman, too, cited concerns about a possible negative impact on artistic expression. "I don't like censorship," he said. "Or the impact of self-censorship."

Other members who voted to approve the bill nevertheless cited concerns such as:

The legislation should also apply to cable and satellite television as well as satellite radio.

The issue of violence on broadcast TV should be considered. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) said children's exposure to violence "may be more dangerous than a glimpse of the female anatomy."

The government's definition of indecency is vague and confusing and should be clarified.

Rather than offer an amendment, Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) asked Barton and Upton if they are amenable to consider updating the FCC's indecency definitions. Both said they are.

The Center for Creative Voices in Media released a statement expressing "deep regret" that the committee had passed the legislation.

"Rather than increasing fines for broadcasters, and imposing fines on creative artists, our nation's policymakers should deal with the problem of objectionable programming by addressing one of its root causes -- media concentration," the statement said. "They should also address one of the principal reasons consumers and parents are unable to avoid objectionable programming -- again, media concentration."

The Phoenix
Natasha Wasinski
March 2, 2005

Professors, students and concerned citizens packed three rooms in the 25 E. Pearson Building Monday morning for a town hall meeting. Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky discussed President George Bush's plans to privatize Social Security.

The discussion and presentation, titled "Guaranteeing and Strengthening Social Security for All Generations," highlighted the flaws in Bush's privatization proposal and stressed the urgency for citizens to take action and defend Social Security benefits for future generations. The event was hosted by Schakowsky's office.

The meeting included a panel and a slideshow presentation in Kasbeer Hall. However, due to the the large turnout the audience overflowed into the Rubloff Auditorium and another room on the first floor of the building to watch the presentation on a TV monitor. After the discussion, Durbin, Obama and Schakowsky each made an appearance in the other rooms.

Durbin, the current Democratic whip in the Senate, opened the forum by explaining the motivation to create the Social Security program.

"Seventy years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt saw that senior Americans [had] reached a point where they couldn't live in dignity," Durbin said.

Durbin said that before the creation of Social Security, if seniors did not move in with their families, they were forced to move into federally-funded housing, which put the burden of their support on the rest of the nation. Durbin said President Roosevelt created the Social Security program because he believed that as a nation we could do a better job of accommodating the elderly.

Obama agrees that Americans should still have responsibility for one another today.

"Our vision has been that we all have a stake in each other," Obama said. "[Social Security] is a simple yet profound program [and] without it there will be a few winners and a whole lot of losers."

Durbin stated that due to Social Security and Medicare, fewer seniors today are living in poverty. He added that people live longer nowadays and seniors are more independent than ever before.

Durbin also explained that Social Security is not used only to benefit retirees: One-third of the program supports people who are disabled as well as survivors of deceased family members.

One woman in the audience spoke on behalf of disabled citizens. The woman, who has been disabled since the age of eight, said that without Social Security she and others who are disabled would be living on the streets.

"Seventy-five percent of the disabled cannot or do not work," she said. "There is an inherent message [in the Social Security program]: We care about each other."

While both senators and Schakowsky agreed there is a financing problem with Social Security, they said Bush's privatization proposal is not the answer.

Obama downplayed the portrayal of Social Security as a program in crisis and instead labeled it as under "strain."

If the current program is not changed, Social Security benefits will fall short by 25 percent in 2042, a gap Obama said can be fixed as easily as increasing the cap on payroll taxes or rolling back President Bush's tax cuts. Other solutions include slowly increasing the retirement age, which was done previously in the 1990s.

Both senators also expressed concerns about the United States' debt, which future generations will have to pay back, and the government's current practice of borrowing between $3-5 trillion from Japan, Taiwan, China and Korea.

Obama pointed out that Democrats are willing to look at a whole range of options, but he stressed the idea that a priv