Healthy Toys

By Peter Rothberg

For the second straight year, HealthyToys.org is highlighting test results for more than 1,500 toys and children's products. Researchers at the Ecology Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit, tested more than 1,500 popular children's toys for lead, cadmium, arsenic, PVC and other harmful chemicals in time for this year's holiday shopping season. The results are sobering: One in three toys tested were found to contain "medium" or "high" levels of chemicals of concern.

Lead was detected in 20 percent of the toys tested this year. In fact, lead levels in some of the products were well above the 600 parts-per-million (ppm) federal recall standard used for lead paint, and will exceed the US legal limit in February, according to the new Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulations. Levels of lead in many toys were significantly above the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended ceiling of 40 ppm of lead in children's products. (Children's jewelry remains the most contaminated product category, maintaining its spot at the top of HealthyToys.org's "worst" list.)

The site's utility allows ease of use for busy parents and children's advocates. Type in "Dora," and several varieties of toys appear. Click on a specific toy, and up pop product ratings based on test results for lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic and mercury. The ratings range from low- to high-risk. A primer on the hazards of each substance and a breakdown of which components were tested lets consumers evaluate the risk.

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December 15, 2008

The Grinch as Hero

By Peter Rothberg

My blogging has been off lately as I've been recuperating from my first-ever bout of food poisoning. Nasty thing. If you're ever so unlucky, check here.

But I'm healthy now and find myself suddenly confronted with holiday shopping so I've decided to embrace the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood's Guide to Commercial-Free Holidays.

Not that I'd play grinch to my two little kids but there is something about the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression that makes this season's rampant commercialism seem more off-key than usual. (Concerns about the economy are so great that experts predict far less spending on presents this year. Reports indicate, however, that spending on advertising will not reflect the downturn.)

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December 9, 2008

World AIDS Day

By Peter Rothberg

Despite the dramatic costs that the AIDS virus is still exacting, many people have the mistaken impression that the epidemic has been virtually conquered in the US and is now just a scourge of poor nations abroad.

Today -- the 20th anniversary of the first World AIDS Day -- is a good time to check the numbers, usefully compiled by the Think Progress blog.

AIDS is the number one killer for black women between the ages of 25 and 34.

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December 1, 2008

Power Shift 2009

By Peter Rothberg

In November of 2007 the Energy Action Coalition brought together more than 6,000 young activists for the first ever national youth conference to solve the climate crisis. Watch highlights from the historic and inspiring Power Shift.

This February 27, the movement is re-convening in Washington, DC for three days of training, strategy and action. More than 10,000 activists are expected for Power Shift 2009. Find out about and register for the conference and support Energy Action, a youth-led coalition of 48 organizations across the US and Canada, which has been instrumental in galvanizing youth action to save the planet.

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November 25, 2008

Block Bush's Pardons

By Peter Rothberg

Our friends at Democrats.com have launched a campaign in support of Rep. Jerry Nadler's H.Res. 1531. The New York City Congressman and Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties' bill demands that President Bush refrain from issuing any pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his Administration during the final 90 days of office.

The Resolution, which aims to prevent undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the President's unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants, is a sensible legal remedy to an administration that widelyabused its power.

Beyond preventing pre-emptive pardons, the Resolution also recommends the establishment of a special commission or select committee to investigate the potentially illegal activities of senior Bush Administration officials and also calls for the next Attorney General to appoint an independent counsel to investigate and prosecute any crimes.

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November 24, 2008

Take the Joe Lieberman Pledge

By Peter Rothberg

As my colleague John Nichols reports, to the surprise of few on Capitol Hill -- but to the disappointment of many beyond the beltway -- Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will retain his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Homeland Security Committee and his place in the Democratic Caucus. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he "feels good" about the decision and won't "apologize to anyone for what we did today."

Lieberman thus gets away with his full-throated endorsement of John McCain, his long-standing alliance with the Bush Administration on foreign-policy and his public skepticism regarding Barack Obama's fitness for the presidency.

Or does he?

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November 18, 2008

No to Lawrence Summers

By Peter Rothberg

President-elect Obama rightly spoke often on the campaign trail about the perils of deregulation and trade agreements that do not include worker and environmental protections.

The deregulation of our financial institutions has led to our current economic crisis, and it is critical that the next Treasury Secretary discontinue the failed policies of both the Clinton and Bush administrations, a legacy of deregulation of financial markets and trade agreements that dramatically slant toward corporate interests.

Given all this, as Mark Ames asks in a new Nation.com article, and in light of all of the corruption and cronyism that have marked the career of Bill Clinton's last Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, why is Obama considering him for a repeat performance? Please sign The Nation's new petition, inspired by a similar campaign started by the invaluable blog OpenLeft, asking Obama's transition team to end the consideration and take Summers off the list.

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November 11, 2008

Pushing Obama

By Peter Rothberg

As talk turns to whom the new President will appoint to his cabinet and what tasks they'll immediately turn themselves to in the first 100 days, a stirring new video from our friends at the Campaign for America's Future reminds us what is possible.

As scholar Anthony Badger wrote in his history of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days in office were marked by a frenzy of legislation -- sixteen pieces in all -- that reshaped and redefined the role of government. President-elect Obama would do well to be as ambitious but he needs to be pushed. Much, if not all, of FDR's programs wouldn't have been possible without strong pressure from organized movements of people. Obama needs that same kind of pressure. The movements are out there. Join one today.

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November 10, 2008

Voters Reject Abortion Bans in South Dakota, Colorado.

By Peter Rothberg

More Good News From Last Night:

In the last few months I wrote about calls to action against two draconian state referendums intended to deprive women of their legally-guaranteed reproductive choices. Many of you responded and we won in both Colorado and South Dakota!

In the newly blue state of Colorado, voters resoundingly rejected by a three to one margin a ballot initiative that would have eliminated a woman's ability to make personal, private decisions about her health care by granting legal rights to a fertilized egg. It could have banned all abortions and been used to block stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, among other reproductive health services. It could even have prevented doctors from providing lifesaving care to a woman if the medical treatment needed could harm a fertilized egg. Amendment 48 was a darling of social conservatives and it got crushed.

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November 5, 2008

Where To Party

By Peter Rothberg

Far be it from me to jinx things but I'm not superstitious, reports are that efforts to protect voting rights are working, and the early exit polls, as imperfect as exit polling may be, look good for the Democrats.

So I think it's high time to recommend some places where progressives may well be partying tonight. The nationwide Living Liberally network's WhereDoIGoOnElectionNight.com has details on election night party spots, from the Grandview Cafe in Columbus, Ohio to Gentle Ben's in Tucson, Arizona to Spencer's Stadium Tavern in Indianapolis, Indiana to the Greek Cusina in Portland, Oregon to the Publick House in Columbia, South Carolina.

We gathered for the primaries. We turned the debates into communal spectacles. Now, it's Game Seven -- don't watch it alone. With more than three hundred Drinking Liberally chapters across the country, most of you should be able to find a gathering without venturing too far afield. If not, help spur the economy and turn your local watering hole into a de facto Living Liberally party.

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November 4, 2008