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The Center for Disease Control issued a press release on 02/24/08 about the increased deaths and dangers of "the choking game."

At least 82 youth have died as a result of playing what has been called “the choking game,” according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in todays Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The choking game involves intentionally trying to choke oneself or another in an effort to obtain a brief euphoric state or “high.” Death or serious injury can result if strangulation is prolonged.

Eighty–seven percent of these deaths were among males, and most fatalities occurred among those 11 years to 16 years old; the average age was 13, the report said. Choking game deaths were identified in 31 states, it said.

CDC found that most of the deaths occurred when a child engaged in the choking game alone, and that most parents were unaware of the choking game prior to their childs death.

Link: CDC Press Release - February 14, 2008.

Chalicefire is a new blog published by myself and some of my colleagues at Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, NY. While I am prejudiced and biased, I think it's great and encourage you to visit and read it regularly.

http://chalicefire.blogspot.com

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While military spending has escalated in recent years and Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans in the 50s about the danger of the military/industrial complex, none of the candidates are seriously discussing this issue and all of them except Ralph Nader seem to favor military spending at record levels according to an article published on 02/21/08 on the Foreign Policy in Focus web site. Here is a snippet from that article:

One issue that will not be discussed in tonight's presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is our nation's burgeoning military budget. Earlier this month, the Bush administration announced a proposed military budget of $614 billion, not counting the full cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This represents the highest level of spending since World War II, even though our most dangerous adversary is a dispersed terrorist network measured in the tens of thousands, not a nuclear-armed Soviet Union whose armed forces were measured in the millions. If Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen have their way, these massive levels of spending will continue even after the end of the war in Iraq, with a "floor" on military spending of 4% of our Gross Domestic Product. Not only have the major presidential candidates been largely silent on these record expenditures, but they want to increase them. Barack Obama has said we will probably need to "bump up" the military budget in a new administration, and both he and Hillary Clinton have committed themselves to increasing the size of the armed forces by tens of thousands of troops. On the Republican side of the aisle, John McCain and Mike Huckabee are looking to spend even more than their Democratic counterparts.

To watch a 5 minute YouTube clip on Ralph Nader's position on the military budget click here. Ralph says that the military budget is not driven by defense considerations as much as by the corporate needs for profits obtained from selling weaponry to the U.S. government.

The Unitarian Universalist Association passed a resolution in 1979 encouraging congress to reduce our defense spending and reorder our national priorities.

The resolution says in part:

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1979 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges its members, churches and societies actively and persistently to work for change in federal spending priorities; that such efforts include, but not be limited to:

1. Establishment of workshops, seminars, and forums to bring to public attention the disastrous consequences of ever-increasing defense spending;
2. Organization of petition drives, letter-writing campaigns, etc., to the appropriate officials in the U.S. Congress and the administration; and
3. Where appropriate, direct non-violent political action; and
4. Our call upon the citizens of all nations to work for a similar reordering of their national priorities.

Link: Foreign Policy In Focus | Dems: What about the Military Budget?.

While I am currently favoring the candidacy of Ralph Nader, in the actual Presidential election, I am thinking that Barack Obama will be elected our next president. So I am disappointed to learn that Barack Obama is pro-death penalty. Bill Clinton executed a mentally retarded man during his run for President, Billy Ray Rector, and Hillary supported the death penalty during her campaign for U.S. Senator from New York. This support came after Republican Governor George Pataki re-instituted the death penalty in New York State after Democrat Governors Mario Cuomo and before him Hugh Carey had consistently vetoed the death penalty bills passed by the New York State legislature for the death penalty for almost two decades.

The death penalty is no deterent and since 1989 there have been over 200 post conviction DNA exonerations in the United States according to the Innocence Project.

Ralph Nader is the only honest and just candidate in this Presidential campaign who has a reasonable policy on the death penalty. He is against it as all other first world industrialized nations are.

The Unitarian Universalist Association has had a position against the death penalty since 1961.

Link: Abolish the Death Penalty: Barack Obama and the death penalty.

Ralph Nader has announced his candidacy for President of the United States on Meet The Press this morning, 02/24/08. He made a compelling case for a voice for the people and not the corporate interests. Of course, he can't win, but he can influence the debate, and his is a voice of truth and reality which must be heard by the American people if our democracy is to survive. Check out his website by clicking the link below.

Link: Ralph Nader for President in 2008.