This week I want to return to an earlier target: Senator Conrad Burns of Montana. I will review his corruption in a minute, but first, the reason why I want to return to him is because Senator Burns just spearheaded an effort to ALLOW PESTICIDE TESTING ON HUMANS! Here is a


Daily Kos diary on the subject.

In short, Barbara Boxer first spearheaded an effort to BAN pesticide testing on humans and this was approved by the Senate. Burns countered with an amendment ALLOWING human testing of pesticides to continue but instructing the EPA to study if it's being conducted ethically and whether the benefits outweigh the risks to volunteers. WHAT??? This is a continuation of what I have commented on before (and maybe need to review again) that the Republicans are trying to poison Americans! From Bush telling the EPA to lie about the toxicity of the smoke from the WTC (leading to severe illness in many NY firefighters) to trying to lower arsenic standards for drinking water, to testing pesticides in humans, the Republicans want to poison Americans! Let me remind you that pesticides are generally neurotoxins. They are neurotoxins in people, but the lethal dose is much higher in humans than in insects, so we can use them. But testing an unknown neurotoxin in humans is seriously unethical!

So Senator Burns (R-MT) wants to allow human testing of poisons. Let's remember who Burns is.

U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) has broken his 1995 pledge not to seek re-election in 2006 and has now been tied to the expanding scandal surrounding GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

"[A] Western-state Democratic leader is demanding an investigation into how the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe got a $3 million federal education grant from a program originally intended to benefit only poor Tribes. Bob Ream, the chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, formally requested a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into how former Saginaw Chippewa lobbyist Jack Abramoff might have improperly influenced Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., the chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"Is it a coincidence that Mr. Abramoff, his associates and wealthy Tribal clients made $137,000 in campaign contributions to Sen. Burns' soft-money corporation prior to the appropriation? Ream said. "Is it a coincidence that Mr. Abramoff and his team arranged for Sen. Burns' chief of staff and an appropriations staffer to take a private jet to New Orleans for a trip to the Super Bowl?"

See also: This article.

Let's get this guy! First off, let's get those letters to the editor rolling. Write a letter complaining about Burns' connection with the Abramoff scandals and his support of testing poisonous materials on humans. Point out that both corruption and using humans as lab rats are considered immoral by most Americans and it is disgusting that this man is a Senator.

It is my understanding that a couple of Democrats are gearing up to run against Burns, so I can't point you to a specific candidate, but I can point you to Frontier PAC, an excellent, new organization that is targeting Burns as well as other Western state races.

And let's not forget the extremely successful, of late, Democratic Party of Montana. They swept on the state level in 2004 and have been an excellent example of populist politics. Give them support in honor of the people that Conrad Burns is poisoning with pesticides.

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