Politics
Richard Nixon was a traitor.
The new release of extended versions of Nixon's papers now confirms this long-standing belief, usually dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" by Republican conservatives. Now it has been substantiated by none other than right-wing columnist George Will.
Nixon's newly revealed records show for certain that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them refuse a cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson.
Nixon's interference with these negotiations violated President John Adams's 1797 Logan Act, banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation.
The Supreme Court of Ohio will decide whether Columbus citizens’ basic constitutional rights, in place since before World War I, will survive.
Citizen’s initiatives, the favorite tool of the Progressive Era to defeat robber barons and political bosses, are being arbitrarily rejected by the one-party Democratic machine in Columbus.
The Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government filed a “Verified Petition for Writ of Mandamus” on Wednesday, August 6 with the Ohio Supreme Court. The Coalition is suing to have their initiative signatures counted concerning their “Columbus Fair Campaign Code.”
The initiative calls for public financing of elections for Columbus City Council and Mayor.
The current city charter only requires 4,478 valid signatures to get an initiative on the ballot. The Coalition submitted petitions 16,205 signatures. But Columbus City Clerk Andrea Blevins, on the advice of City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer, refused to verify the signatures as per the usual procedures.
Was Obama unwelcomed in the Philippines?
The PH government rolled out the red carpet for Obama. In the streets however, thousands marched to protest Obama’s PH visit. The protests were aimed at the unequal relations between the US and the Philippines, in particular, US military intervention and economic impositions such as the TPPA. The visit also coincided with the signing of a new agreement called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which would bring back US military facilities in the Philippines.
What happened?
We had a two day protest, the first was a march near the Presidential Palace where we burned a giant effigy of Obama on a chariot and Aquino as his running dog. There were protests in different parts of the country as well. On the second day, we marched near the US embassy where we were met by a phalanx of policemen. The police used their shields and water cannons to disperse the protesters but we stood our ground. It was our indignation regarding the signing of the EDCA.
What agreement have the governments signed?
The European Union's parliament is due to undergo elections later this month, and many poll projections across the troubled continent suggest that extreme right and fascist parties are set to make large gains. The Europe-wide elections will take place across all 28 member states in two weeks, an event which many now fear is going to give power and legitimacy to parties running on platforms of racism, sexism, homophobia and fascism.
While Europe's habitual problem of far right extremism never disappeared completely. For years, the EU had made it seem as if it was at least contained, with overtly racist parties gaining very few seats in the European Parliament or legislative bodies in their own countries. Since the global financial crash in 2008, however, the economic hardships of austerity and unemployment have led to a sharp increase in support for the extreme right across Europe, even in the more economically stable northern countries like France and the UK.
