Global
Election woes got you down?
Imagine the look of contempt on Karl Rove's face this past Sunday as he swaggered toward his star turn on CBS's Face the Nation only to be served with our subpoena sanctioned by the Secretary of the State of Ohio.
The federal subpoena orders Rove to testify in deposition. Our attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, intends to ask Mr. Rove about his role in the theft of the 2004 election, and to discuss his orchestration of tens of millions of corporate/billionaire dollars in the one coming up on November 2, 2010.
As co-counsel and plaintiff in the on-going King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal lawsuit, we have fought for six years to win justice and full disclosure in an election that Rove stole for George W. Bush.
In the course of this civil rights federal suit, we have seen the illegal destruction of hundreds of thousands of paper and electronic ballots that were supposedly protected by federal law.
On Sunday, when the New York Times put a “tossup” label on three dozen House races with Democrats running for re-election, there were very few genuine progressives involved. In fact, just three of the lawmakers on the list are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And only one of them is a progressive standout: Raul Grijalva.
With a record of grassroots activism that goes back four decades, Grijalva is the real deal. Since 2003, his presence in Congress -- representing a heavily Latino district in Southern Arizona -- has been a force of nature for progressive advocacy on issues ranging from healthcare and education to war. And immigration.
Now, the forces of xenophobia and bogus “populism” think they smell blood.
Nowhere in the United States is political courage for progressive principles more on the line this Election Day than in the battle to re-elect Grijalva.
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With a record of grassroots activism that goes back four decades, Grijalva is the real deal. Since 2003, his presence in Congress -- representing a heavily Latino district in Southern Arizona -- has been a force of nature for progressive advocacy on issues ranging from healthcare and education to war. And immigration.
Now, the forces of xenophobia and bogus “populism” think they smell blood.
Nowhere in the United States is political courage for progressive principles more on the line this Election Day than in the battle to re-elect Grijalva.
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I'll admit it right now. My name is David and I hate elections. (HI, DAVID!) I hate choosing the evil of two lessers. I hate attack ads. I hate endless repetitive debates that exclude all the interesting questions. I hate painting one candidate as all bad and the other as infallible even when I have to squint to see a difference between them. I hate that there are only two candidates who have a chance at winning. I hate that most of what we hear is through advertisements funded by unbelievably wealthy people, and most of the non-advertising news consists of reports on the advertisements. I hate that election season lasts for a year or more. I hate that after all this, most people don't vote, not even for third-party candidates or write-ins or none-of-the-above. I hate how people who do vote prefer candidates who promise never to be influenced by public opinion. I hate the "mandate" for fascism that the televisions announce the next day, regardless of what happened. I hate the very premises on which our electoral system rests: corporations are people, money is speech, and computer programmers have never ever cheated on anything.
Kabul, Afghanistan – After an exhausting day trekking through the dirt roads of the city of Bamiyan and outlying settlements, three Americans were guided by a dozen Afghan boys to a tent packed with overstuffed pillows and comforters. After the boys served them a delicious meal cooked over a small outdoor stove, they affixed their flashlights to the spine of the tent and invited the Americans to enter. Unlike the forts I made in my parents’ living room when I was little, this tent had a pressing message: a group of youngsters in a central province of Afghanistan want peace, not war.
The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, a group of ethnically diverse young men from a city one hundred miles northwest of Kabul, have been actively speaking out against the U.S- and NATO occupation for the last four years. The boys have endured grave opposition and community ridicule. However, through the help of networking sites and YouTube, this group of young men want to ask the world, “Why not love?”
The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, a group of ethnically diverse young men from a city one hundred miles northwest of Kabul, have been actively speaking out against the U.S- and NATO occupation for the last four years. The boys have endured grave opposition and community ridicule. However, through the help of networking sites and YouTube, this group of young men want to ask the world, “Why not love?”
The documents on the U.S. War in Iraq published by Wikileaks contained data on 15,000 Iraqis killed in incidents that were previously unreported in the Western media or by the Iraqi Health Ministry, and therefore not counted in compilations of reported Iraqi war deaths by Iraqbodycount.org. The Western media are dutifully adding these 15,000 deaths to their so-called "estimates" of the total numbers of Iraqis killed in the war. This is deceptive. What the unreported deaths really demonstrate is that the passive methodology of these body counts is a woefully inadequate way to try and estimate the number of deaths in a war zone. These 15,000 deaths are only the tip of an iceberg of hundreds of thousands of unreported Iraqi deaths that have already been detected by more serious and scientific epidemiological studies, but the U.S. and British governments have successfully suppressed these studies by confusing the media and the public about their methods and accuracy.
It’s been hard not to think about suicide lately — the act of it, in isolation and, seemingly, incredible despair.
The gay teenagers who killed themselves recently, in acts of private surrender, have made a collective public statement, but what is that statement . . . other than “something’s wrong”?
Whatever is wrong hits the young LGBT community with ferocity, but doesn’t confine itself to that community. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. — evidence of a system backing up on itself.
The young people who are on the other side of the trouble — the bullies and the bystanders — do not, for the most part, act with an independence of malice. They are channeling a cultural certainty far beyond their own reckoning: that some traits, such as shyness, clumsiness, glasses, whatever, are unacceptable. And they reap social approval for weeding out the losers and oddballs, so long, of course, as nothing goes embarrassingly wrong — because as a society, this is what we do. We weed people out. We dehumanize individuals and groups. Any sort of anomaly will do as a pretext. It’s as American as apple pie.
The gay teenagers who killed themselves recently, in acts of private surrender, have made a collective public statement, but what is that statement . . . other than “something’s wrong”?
Whatever is wrong hits the young LGBT community with ferocity, but doesn’t confine itself to that community. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. — evidence of a system backing up on itself.
The young people who are on the other side of the trouble — the bullies and the bystanders — do not, for the most part, act with an independence of malice. They are channeling a cultural certainty far beyond their own reckoning: that some traits, such as shyness, clumsiness, glasses, whatever, are unacceptable. And they reap social approval for weeding out the losers and oddballs, so long, of course, as nothing goes embarrassingly wrong — because as a society, this is what we do. We weed people out. We dehumanize individuals and groups. Any sort of anomaly will do as a pretext. It’s as American as apple pie.
The World Justice Project on Thursday published a "Rule of Law Index," and there's no easy way to say this. Let me put it this way: as when rankings on education, infant mortality, work hours, lifespan, retirement security, health, environmental impact, incarceration rates, violence, concentration of wealth, and other measures of quality of life come out, it is time once again for we Americans to shout "We're Number One!" more loudly than ever. Because, of course, we're not.
The Rule of Law Index looks at 35 nations around the world, including seven in Western Europe and North America. The researchers understand the rule of law as follows:
"I. The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
II. The laws are clear, publicized, stable, and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
III. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, fair, and efficient.
The Rule of Law Index looks at 35 nations around the world, including seven in Western Europe and North America. The researchers understand the rule of law as follows:
"I. The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
II. The laws are clear, publicized, stable, and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
III. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, fair, and efficient.
Speaking out a year ago against the idea of holding civilian trials for terrorism suspects, Liz Cheney captured the paranoid arrogance of the past decade with stunning efficiency:
“This demonstrates conclusively that we are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” she said.
Oh the horror! Fair trials, rule of law, habeas corpus, Miranda rights, blah, blah, blah — remember what a nuisance our justice system used to be before Liz’s father and the rest of the neocon High Nooniacs made us safe by hustling us off to a police state and perpetual war?
I can’t help but think about the younger Cheney’s comment — and the fear it implies, not of terrorists but of liberals — in connection with the lawsuit that a recently freed Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Razak al Janko, has filed in U.S. Federal Court against Robert Gates, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and about a hundred other current and former military and government officials.
“This demonstrates conclusively that we are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” she said.
Oh the horror! Fair trials, rule of law, habeas corpus, Miranda rights, blah, blah, blah — remember what a nuisance our justice system used to be before Liz’s father and the rest of the neocon High Nooniacs made us safe by hustling us off to a police state and perpetual war?
I can’t help but think about the younger Cheney’s comment — and the fear it implies, not of terrorists but of liberals — in connection with the lawsuit that a recently freed Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Razak al Janko, has filed in U.S. Federal Court against Robert Gates, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and about a hundred other current and former military and government officials.
Columbus, OH — In an effort to help protect animals and the planet, seven local eateries have collaborated with the Ohio-founded animal advocacy organization, Mercy For Animals, to offer exciting, new vegan options in celebration of World Go Vegan Week in October.
Participating Eateries: Phat Wraps, 10 E. 12th Ave.
Knead, 505 N. High St.
Columbus Brewing Company, 525 Short St. (Monday – Thursday Only)
All Betty’s Family Restaurants:
Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace, 248 S. 4th St. (Thursday Only)
Surly Girl Saloon, 1126 N. High St. (Tuesday Only)
Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, 73 E. Gay St. (Monday Only)
Betty's Fine Food & Spirits, 680 N. High St. (Wednesday Only)
Dates: Sunday, October 24 – Sunday, October 31, 2010
Participating Eateries: Phat Wraps, 10 E. 12th Ave.
Knead, 505 N. High St.
Columbus Brewing Company, 525 Short St. (Monday – Thursday Only)
All Betty’s Family Restaurants:
Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace, 248 S. 4th St. (Thursday Only)
Surly Girl Saloon, 1126 N. High St. (Tuesday Only)
Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, 73 E. Gay St. (Monday Only)
Betty's Fine Food & Spirits, 680 N. High St. (Wednesday Only)
Dates: Sunday, October 24 – Sunday, October 31, 2010