by Doris Cipolla

The Marriage Protection Amendment is tabled, but not dead. It wll emerge again. We need to be vigilant and alert to stop this direct assault to our Constitution.

Al Quaida could not have created a better weapon than the Marriage Protection Amendment to destroy our American democracy. The Marriage Amendment is much larger than a “gay issue.” The more serious matter is one of inserting prejudice and discrimination into our Commonwealth Constitution; moreover, amending a particular religious definition of marriage in our civil document is of grave concern.

The proponents of the Marriage Protection Amendment encourage its adoption to our constitution because twenty-seven other states have done so. Twenty-seven states have assaulted and violated a minority group of their citizens with discrimination and second-class status and Pennsylvania should follow suit? This kind of reasoning is frightening. Perhaps then “might does make right?”

On March 9. 2008, the Erie Peace Initiative held a peace rally to mark the 5th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. After the March, all US Congressional candidates for the PA-3 legislative district were invited to speak in a candidate forum at Cauley Auditorium in Erie PA. All four Democratic Party candidates and the Independent candidate attended. Republican incumbent Phil English did not attend. Video by Al Richardson.

PA ACLU sends letter requesting reasons why permission denied

The quadrennial presidential nomination propaganda fest indoctrinates and revives the naive, lazy person's self-delusion that all they have to do politically is get enough people to vote for the right candidates and the problems of the nation and world will be solved. Buzz-word copycatting “Change!

Jonathan Hutto is active duty U.S. Navy Seaman assigned to the Norfolk based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.

If you feel you have the right to know what is in your milk take a few minutes to call Governor Rendell’s Erie office at 878 5719 or the Harrisburg information line, 1 800 932 0784. Ask him to support your right to make a choice in what you consume by demanding milk labeling.

Many dairy farmers inject their cows with bovine growth hormone to boost milk production.

Recently I read “Twilight in the Desert,” a book about the advent of peak oil production in Saudi Arabia and watched two good documentaries from Netflix, “The End of Suburbia,” and “A Crude Awakening.” I'm persuaded in part by these items that nothing effective is going to be done to even slow down global warming. It's human nature to want a less laborious life and use our big brains to release chemical energy to produce products to make life “easier.” Neither China, nor India with their coal reserves, nor the U.S. will seriously slow use of these resources.