A bill to offer quota- and duty-free import of whole garments from Nepal has been floundering in the Senate since last summer. It was introduced by Sen. Feinstein, but then the Sentor put on hold ostensibly because Nepal delivered 18 Tibetan refugees to the UN High Commission on Human Rights. However, there were also suspicions that the Texas company Panda Energy may have used political connections (which it has aplenty) to block the bill due to a contract dispute with the Nepali government regarding a hydroelectric facility. (I've been researching Panda and it looks a lot like a little Enron. Things don't add up all over the place.)

But the most important thing is that this trade bill would provide income for about 100,000 poor people in Nepal who could definitely benefit from being able to sell handcrafted clothing. Yes, labor practices are not kosher across the board in Nepal, but the overall effect would be good for a lot of people, in this time of war and poverty in the Himalayan kingdom.

Please take just a few minutes to write to Sen. Feinstein. She wants to pass the bill, but she needs some nudging.

Write to Sen. Feinstein here:

http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html

or better yet call her office at (415) 393-0707...

Sample letter:

Dear Sen. Feinstein:

I am writing to inquire about your plans regarding the trade bill for Nepal, to promote economic stability for this war-torn and very poor country.

I hope that the bill will move forward in the Senate. I was very troubled to read news reports that it would not be passed in the Senate. I hope very much that it at least comes to a vote.

Please do your best to bring the bill before the Senate. It would cost the U.S. very little in lost tariff revenue, and yet it would benefit

over 100,000 workers in Nepal at a much greater rate because of increased trade.

At this time, Nepal needs all the help it can get. People are very industrious, and they want to work and raise their incomes. They need the opportunity which is currently granted to nations of Africa, to be able to market their handcrafted garments in the U.S.

If the bill passes, I will even help to develop worker co-ops in Nepal to benefit garment producers directly.

I have been involved in grassroots development in Nepal for years, and I urge that this bill at least gets to the floor of the Senate.

Please let me know the status of the bill.

Thank you for your time.

Sage Radachowsky

Boston, USA

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Read more about the legislation here:

http://feinstein.senate.gov/03Releases/r-nepal.htm

Write Feinstein a letter? She never reads letters from the public. She only reads Ashcroft memo's. She sold out a long time ago.

To expect a disgusting piece of human filth like her to do anything to help anyone is absurd.

She helped rail road our friend Sherman into prison.

She is a supporter of the dictatorship.

Raise the fist

Why would you want Sherman anywhere else except in prison? For our safety? For his own protection?

I could buy Guantanamo as an alternative.

But we don't want assholes like Sherman walking around on the loose.

He got caught in a bad situation. He just linked to a website with information that was controversial, but is sold at most big bookstores, and on hundreds of websites. I have seen more detailed, intentionally destructive information at survivalist bookstores.

They went after him because of how he dressed, who he associated with, and his political views.

As for Feinstein - she was moderately conservative even when she was mayor of San Francisco. She's all about the $$$.

Mr Austin was not as innocent as you think. He really advocated violence against authority and from my personal, online, conversation with him after his trial but before his prison term was set he was very agressive, he did not restrain himself or tone down his language. He was advised by me to "shut the f*uk up" while his punishment was being decided...

Did he?......

Nope!!!!

So he got what he got.

That is not the act of a sane individual.

The saying, "he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day"

Well Sherman continued fighting when he was nailed cold and what happened?.... he got a year time out.

By innocent, I don't mean that he did nothing that the state would find objectionable. I mean he did nothing illegal. He did things the government would find objectionable, like criticize it.

BTW, advocating violence against the state is protected speech. It's only against the law if you get specific about who and when. Then, it's conspiracy. The case, however, was about the website, not about what he said to you in chat.

He was railroaded because the politicians wanted to arrest an anarchist, to justify their PATRIOT act. He's clearly a political prisoners, convicted because of his politics.

Oh yeah - I'm also against lifting the trade barrier to these Nepalese goods. If we want to support them, we should support the resistance directly, not via buying goods.