Global
President Bush told us how he wasn't going to allow the world's most
destructive weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists and along with
freeing the Iraqi people these were justifications for us to remove Saddam
Hussein from power by any means necessary. Over the past few weeks the
world has witnessed a steady increase in clashes reported in Iraq. The
decision to close a Baghdad weekly affiliated with Shiite Cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr sparked a new round of protests from thousands of Shiite Iraqis. We
were told we'd be welcomed with open arms.
With warfare escalating in Iraq, syndicated columnist George Will has
just explained the logic of the occupation. “In the war against the
militias,” he wrote, “every door American troops crash through, every
civilian bystander shot -- there will be many -- will make matters worse,
for a while. Nevertheless, the first task of the occupation remains the
first task of government: to establish a monopoly on violence.”
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.
AUSTIN, Texas -- You may be wondering why House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is raising money for a legal defense fund and telling his fellow Republicans in Washington to be prepared to name his replacement in the event he is indicted. DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.
It's been a bad 12 months for American journalism. Given fourth estate gullibility regarding Bush's WMD claims, plus fictioneering at The New York Times and USA Today, I'd been hoping (with the dulled, hopeless hope that people on Death Row clutch to their bosoms) that maybe this year the Pulitzer Board would give its prizes a pass, at least so far as the press is concerned.
But the Pulitzer industry, eternally clubby and corrupt, is designed in part to reassure the citizens that, all available evidence notwithstanding, the press is a vigilant watchdog for our liberties and fully deserves those Constitutional protections that guarantee it a 20 percent rate of return on capital invested.
But the Pulitzer industry, eternally clubby and corrupt, is designed in part to reassure the citizens that, all available evidence notwithstanding, the press is a vigilant watchdog for our liberties and fully deserves those Constitutional protections that guarantee it a 20 percent rate of return on capital invested.
Machines will produce 99.4% of the election results for the upcoming 2004 presidential election. With all the hoopla over voting machine "glitches," porous software, leaked memos, and the creepy corporations that sell and service these contraptions, and with all the controversy that surrounds campaign financing, voter registration, redistricting issues, and the general privatization of the election process - we are missing the boat on the biggest crisis facing our democracy.
Americans aren't really voting. Machines are. Call it faking democracy.
And no one seems to be challenging it. As far as I can tell from my own investigations and from discussions with law professors, attorneys, and others, there has never been a lawsuit that challenges the right of machines to be used in the voting process. Recent lawsuits that have been filed by Susan Marie Webber of California and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) are based on verification. The plaintiffs want voting machines to produce paper ballots so that voters can verify that the machine's output matched their input. They also want paper ballots for manual audits and recounts.
Americans aren't really voting. Machines are. Call it faking democracy.
And no one seems to be challenging it. As far as I can tell from my own investigations and from discussions with law professors, attorneys, and others, there has never been a lawsuit that challenges the right of machines to be used in the voting process. Recent lawsuits that have been filed by Susan Marie Webber of California and Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) are based on verification. The plaintiffs want voting machines to produce paper ballots so that voters can verify that the machine's output matched their input. They also want paper ballots for manual audits and recounts.
Please get the word out: REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT!!! Nice,
hardcopy ballot. Re-countable. Easy to obtain. As a temporary
solution.
We can figure out the complex, multi-jurisdictional electronic voting maching problems AFTER THIS CRUCIAL '04 election. There is no time now. PLEASE ALERT PEOPLE to this temporary solution. I'm not saying stop current efforts to change the voting system--watchdogging, challenging, pressuring, seeking legislation, suing, etc. But the Republican Congress is NOT going to fix this before Nov. '04--nor can anyone else.
And we have a built-in solution.
We can figure out the complex, multi-jurisdictional electronic voting maching problems AFTER THIS CRUCIAL '04 election. There is no time now. PLEASE ALERT PEOPLE to this temporary solution. I'm not saying stop current efforts to change the voting system--watchdogging, challenging, pressuring, seeking legislation, suing, etc. But the Republican Congress is NOT going to fix this before Nov. '04--nor can anyone else.
And we have a built-in solution.
The National Day of Silence will be held this year on Wednesday, April 21,
and at Ohio State, the day will conclude with students presenting stories,
poems, essays, and other work about being LGBT, in what is being called the
"Night of Noise." The event will feature a reading by Kevin Kumashiro, the
director of the Center for Anti-Oppressive Education in El Cerrito,
California, and the editor of Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer
Asian-Pacific-American Activists.
Lee Gough won’t be paying her federal income taxes this year.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the artist and part-time temp worker won’t be setting money aside for April 15th – just that the federal government won’t be getting any of it. The 37-year old Brooklynite has decided to make 2004 the year that she takes a stand, a move she’s been working towards for some time now. “I’ve asked the temp agency to increase the number of allowances on my W-4 form, and when I had unemployment I told them not to take any taxes out,” she says. “I’ve also stopped paying the federal excise tax on my phone bill, and when tax time comes along, I’ll take the $13 I’ve collected and redirect it to a more worthy cause.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that the artist and part-time temp worker won’t be setting money aside for April 15th – just that the federal government won’t be getting any of it. The 37-year old Brooklynite has decided to make 2004 the year that she takes a stand, a move she’s been working towards for some time now. “I’ve asked the temp agency to increase the number of allowances on my W-4 form, and when I had unemployment I told them not to take any taxes out,” she says. “I’ve also stopped paying the federal excise tax on my phone bill, and when tax time comes along, I’ll take the $13 I’ve collected and redirect it to a more worthy cause.”
Lee Gough won’t be paying her federal income taxes this year.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the artist and part-time temp worker won’t be setting money aside for April 15th – just that the federal government won’t be getting any of it. The 37-year old Brooklynite has decided to make 2004 the year that she takes a stand, a move she’s been working towards for some time now. “I’ve asked the temp agency to increase the number of allowances on my W-4 form, and when I had unemployment I told them not to take any taxes out,” she says. “I’ve also stopped paying the federal excise tax on my phone bill, and when tax time comes along, I’ll take the $13 I’ve collected and redirect it to a more worthy cause.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that the artist and part-time temp worker won’t be setting money aside for April 15th – just that the federal government won’t be getting any of it. The 37-year old Brooklynite has decided to make 2004 the year that she takes a stand, a move she’s been working towards for some time now. “I’ve asked the temp agency to increase the number of allowances on my W-4 form, and when I had unemployment I told them not to take any taxes out,” she says. “I’ve also stopped paying the federal excise tax on my phone bill, and when tax time comes along, I’ll take the $13 I’ve collected and redirect it to a more worthy cause.”