Global
The following news brief ran on the Associated Press yesterday:
Strickland Doesn't Want Overflow Iraqi Refugees
"Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has a message for President Bush: any plan to relocate to the US thousands of refugees uprooted by the Iraq war shouldn't include Ohio.
The administration plans to allow about 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year, a huge expansion at a time of mounting international pressure to help millions who have fled their homes in the nearly four-year-old war.
Strickland -- a Democrat who opposed the war as a US House member -- says Ohioans can't be expected to have open arms for Iraqis displaced by the war. More than 100 Ohioans have been killed since the war began. The governor says he has sympathy for the refugees' plight, but he won't ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden."
It is really all quite mad, isn't it?
Strickland Doesn't Want Overflow Iraqi Refugees
"Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has a message for President Bush: any plan to relocate to the US thousands of refugees uprooted by the Iraq war shouldn't include Ohio.
The administration plans to allow about 7,000 Iraqi refugees to settle in the United States over the next year, a huge expansion at a time of mounting international pressure to help millions who have fled their homes in the nearly four-year-old war.
Strickland -- a Democrat who opposed the war as a US House member -- says Ohioans can't be expected to have open arms for Iraqis displaced by the war. More than 100 Ohioans have been killed since the war began. The governor says he has sympathy for the refugees' plight, but he won't ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden."
It is really all quite mad, isn't it?
It has been a great week for America due to two sources typical of the new media – bright people with standards that simply don’t allow the sufferance of injustice and false claims of victory and morality when the opposite is clear.
1) Alastair Thompson, Co-Editor, GM, and Director of “Scoop” Independent News is a great friend of the US Voting Rights movement. “Scoop” has covered stories for years that are archived in American Coup II. (New Zealand) took on one of the worlds “big bullies,” Prime Minister John Howard of Australia. Just before a visit to New Zealand, Howard had the impertinence to say the following: "If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats…I hope Mr. Obama does not become President of the U.S.”
1) Alastair Thompson, Co-Editor, GM, and Director of “Scoop” Independent News is a great friend of the US Voting Rights movement. “Scoop” has covered stories for years that are archived in American Coup II. (New Zealand) took on one of the worlds “big bullies,” Prime Minister John Howard of Australia. Just before a visit to New Zealand, Howard had the impertinence to say the following: "If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats…I hope Mr. Obama does not become President of the U.S.”
From: Carol Steiner, Chris and Frank Targoss, J. Uprise and Zirca (Guerilla Radio), Lee Thompson, Marjorie Clark, Mary Jo Muser, Rebekka Willow, Cheryl Lessin
We are friends of Carol Fisher, the woman from Cleveland, Ohio , who spent the better part of 2006 battling felony charges stemming from putting up anti-Bush posters. We urge you to take a minute to read an update on her situation and pledge your support.
Millions of people are deeply concerned about the direction and fate of the world. The Bush Regime has made torture legal, is conducting a “surge” of US troops into Iraq , and continues to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. Many more need to step up to stop this, and join with people who are showing tremendous courage in refusing to be silent and complicit in these crimes being done in our name.
As most of you are aware, in an outrageous trial Carol was convicted of two felony counts of “assault on police officers”. She served 5 weeks in jail, completed a court ordered “anger management” class, and is on probation until June of 2008.
We are friends of Carol Fisher, the woman from Cleveland, Ohio , who spent the better part of 2006 battling felony charges stemming from putting up anti-Bush posters. We urge you to take a minute to read an update on her situation and pledge your support.
Millions of people are deeply concerned about the direction and fate of the world. The Bush Regime has made torture legal, is conducting a “surge” of US troops into Iraq , and continues to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. Many more need to step up to stop this, and join with people who are showing tremendous courage in refusing to be silent and complicit in these crimes being done in our name.
As most of you are aware, in an outrageous trial Carol was convicted of two felony counts of “assault on police officers”. She served 5 weeks in jail, completed a court ordered “anger management” class, and is on probation until June of 2008.
In a video interview with Tom Andrews posted at http://www.movecongress.org Congressman Jack Murtha makes clear that the limitations on additional war money that he intends to include in the forthcoming "emergency" supplemental bill are aimed only at undoing the recent escalation (a.k.a. "surge"), not at ending the war.
Murtha begins by claiming that this week's nonbinding vote opposing the escalation reinforces the message of the Nov. 7, 2006, election. That would be quite a feat, given that Bush did not propose his escalation until after the election, an election that everyone understood as expressing opposition to Bush, Cheney, and their war. Americans wanted then what they still want: to end the war.
Murtha explains that the next step after this week's nonbinding vote will be a House vote on a Supplemental bill adding more money to the war. Murtha plans to include in that bill restrictions on how troops can be used in Iraq:
1. They can't be kept there over a year.
2. They can't be sent without proper training and equipment.
Murtha begins by claiming that this week's nonbinding vote opposing the escalation reinforces the message of the Nov. 7, 2006, election. That would be quite a feat, given that Bush did not propose his escalation until after the election, an election that everyone understood as expressing opposition to Bush, Cheney, and their war. Americans wanted then what they still want: to end the war.
Murtha explains that the next step after this week's nonbinding vote will be a House vote on a Supplemental bill adding more money to the war. Murtha plans to include in that bill restrictions on how troops can be used in Iraq:
1. They can't be kept there over a year.
2. They can't be sent without proper training and equipment.
It requires no special skill to sell Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent of the New York Times, the Brooklyn Bridge. All you have to do is whisper down the phone to him that the transaction will occur at a background "briefing" by anonymous intelligence sources and a "senior official" or two.
One would think that it would require astonishing rhetorical ingenuity on the part of the sales team (in fact, operating out of the U.S. Defense Department) to keep on selling Gordon the Brooklyn Bridge, long after the deed from the first sale has been pronounced an obvious fraud.
But it's not so strange, really. Your true sucker is a vain fellow, who can never accept the evidence of his own gullibility and who therefore regards each successive purchase of the Brooklyn Bridge as a sound investment, certain to re-establish him in the public eye as a man with a keen eye for a good deal. He thus becomes psychologically and professionally a captive of the bridge salesmen.
One would think that it would require astonishing rhetorical ingenuity on the part of the sales team (in fact, operating out of the U.S. Defense Department) to keep on selling Gordon the Brooklyn Bridge, long after the deed from the first sale has been pronounced an obvious fraud.
But it's not so strange, really. Your true sucker is a vain fellow, who can never accept the evidence of his own gullibility and who therefore regards each successive purchase of the Brooklyn Bridge as a sound investment, certain to re-establish him in the public eye as a man with a keen eye for a good deal. He thus becomes psychologically and professionally a captive of the bridge salesmen.
When analyzing the consequences of and remedies for discrimination
against African Americans, courts and scholars characterize African
Americans as a minority. This Article shows that the traditional
approach is wrong: When it mattered, when the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments were enacted and for decades after, African Americans were a
majority or controlling plurality in the states where most lived.
African American-backed majoritarian governments controlled the South
after the Civil War; while in power, they enacted strong civil rights
laws and created a public education system. These policies were
reversed, and segregation imposed, not because African Americans were a
minority, destined to lose in the majoritarian political process, but
rather through elimination of democratic politics and imposition of
minority rule. African Americans and their white allies were stripped
of their electoral majority through fraud, violence and illegal
disenfranchisement.
An Iraq vet named Charlie Anderson told me that he likes to get his photo taken with senators and House members, and then have his friend fiddle with the camera, so that Charlie gets to talk while the elected official has to stand there and smile. And this is what Charlie says: "Congressman, I work every day to try to end this war. You only talk about it. I'd like it if we switched roles: you do something, and I'll talk about what you're doing."
Thus far, any senators and House members taking Charlie up on his offer are not part of the leadership of either major party. Congressional leaders have elevated talking above action to the extent that many on Capitol Hill are now apparently incapable of distinguishing one from the other.
Thus far, any senators and House members taking Charlie up on his offer are not part of the leadership of either major party. Congressional leaders have elevated talking above action to the extent that many on Capitol Hill are now apparently incapable of distinguishing one from the other.
Right now, the House is debating the resolution against escalation in Iraq. While this is an important first step, we know that it's going to take more than non-binding resolutions to stop the surge and bring the war to an end. We've signed petitions, held rallies, and made phone calls -- now it's time to get face to face with Congress to hold them accountable to Iraq.
On Tuesday, February 20th, everyday people will be meeting with Representatives at their district offices to tell them that we expect them to act now to start bringing our troops home. Will you set up a meeting with Representative Patrick Tiberi?
Congressional contacts
It's a lot easier than it sounds. Click here to get all the information you need to start setting up a meeting with your Representative about Iraq.
Representatives will be home from Washington all next week and it's the perfect time to start talking to them about the next steps in Iraq. Congress has the power to stop the escalation once and for all and it's up to us to hold them accountable.
On Tuesday, February 20th, everyday people will be meeting with Representatives at their district offices to tell them that we expect them to act now to start bringing our troops home. Will you set up a meeting with Representative Patrick Tiberi?
Congressional contacts
It's a lot easier than it sounds. Click here to get all the information you need to start setting up a meeting with your Representative about Iraq.
Representatives will be home from Washington all next week and it's the perfect time to start talking to them about the next steps in Iraq. Congress has the power to stop the escalation once and for all and it's up to us to hold them accountable.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Several groups concerned about the integrity of our voting systems are insisting that contract language be inserted into San Francisco's pending 12.5 million dollar contract with Sequoia Voting Systems that will enable fully public scrutiny of the voting technology. Alan Dechert of the Open Voting Consortium will be available to answer questions at 12:30 PM Wednesday 14 FEB at City Hall ( on the steps ) before the budget and finance meeting ( at 1:00 PM ).
"We insist that the Contract Provision for Public Disclosure [1] drafted by Open Voting Consortium be included in the contract. Otherwise, the contract should be rejected by the Board of Supervisors," said Alan Dechert, President of Open Voting Consortium. Secret software and secret processes have no place in the voting system. This practice must end and we feel the place and time for this to happen is here and now."
DemocracyAction, Democracy For America, California Election Protection and the San Francisco Election Integrity League will be there in support of the Open Voting Consortium.
"We insist that the Contract Provision for Public Disclosure [1] drafted by Open Voting Consortium be included in the contract. Otherwise, the contract should be rejected by the Board of Supervisors," said Alan Dechert, President of Open Voting Consortium. Secret software and secret processes have no place in the voting system. This practice must end and we feel the place and time for this to happen is here and now."
DemocracyAction, Democracy For America, California Election Protection and the San Francisco Election Integrity League will be there in support of the Open Voting Consortium.