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Book Review: Jim Crow America: A Documentary History

Jim Crow America: A Documentary History
Catherine M. Lewis and J. Richard Lewis, eds.
University of Arkansas Press 2009
234 pp
Annotated Bibliography and Index

If slavery was the most pernicious chapter in American history, then Jim Crow is a close second. Defined as the legal, extralegal and customary separation of the black and white races, the system of Jim Crow successfully returned much of the United States, especially the eleven states of the Old Confederacy, back to slavery. It meant the loss of citizenship rights for African Americans, and was accompanied by crushing poverty and terrible hopelessness. A dual society allowed whites to retain financial, emotional and physical control over African Americans and was used to prop up the doctrine of white supremacy.

I am Barack Obama's political prisoner now

The United States Department of Justice has once again made a mockery of its lofty and pretentious title.

After releasing an original and continuing disciple of death cult leader Charles Manson who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford, an admitted Croatian terrorist, and another attempted assassin of President Ford under the mandatory 30-year parole law, the U.S. Parole Commission deemed that my release would "promote disrespect for the law."

If only the federal government would have respected its own laws, not to mention the treaties that are, under the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land, I would never have been convicted nor forced to spend more than half my life in captivity. Not to mention the fact that every law in this country was created without the consent of Native peoples and is applied unequally at our expense. If nothing else, my experience should raise serious questions about the FBI's supposed jurisdiction in Indian Country.

Will the Corporate Supremes now dance on democracy's corpse?

The Four Courtsmen of the Apocalypse are poised to finally bury American democracy in corporate money. The most powerful institution in human history---the global corporation---may soon take definitive possession of our electoral process.

It could happen very soon.

While America agonizes over health care, energy and war, Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas could make it all moot. They may now have the fifth Supreme Court vote they need to open the final floodgates on corporate spending in political campaigns.

In short, the Court may be poised to shred a century of judicial and legislative attempts to preserve even a semblance of restraint on how Big Money buys laws and legal decisions. The ensuing tsunami of corporate cash could turn every election hence into a series of virtual slave auctions, with victory guaranteed only to those candidates who most effectively grovel at the feet of the best-heeled lobbyists.

Not that this is so different from what we have now. The barriers against cash dominating our elections have already proven amazingly ineffective.

Stop Glenn Beck show advertisers from supporting stupidity

Below are the advertisers on the Glenn Beck Show. If you feel like it, contact them and let them know whether or not you appreciate their sponsorship of Glenn Beck's show. You can remind them of Glenn Beck's comments, like "I think President Obama is a racist" and "The Hurricane Katrina survivors are scumbags" and ""I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims." You could ask these advertisers if they endorse or reject Glenn Beck's comments and insinuations.

Click here

Click here

The Glenn Beck Show can be heard between 9 AM and noon weekdays on 610 WTVN, Brian Dytko, General Manager, phone number 486-6101. You could suggest that WTVN's parent company, Clear Channel, return Progressive Talk to the radio airwaves in Columbus so the majority of people in our community have a station that they do not find insulting and hateful.

Aesthetics

Tonight on Glenn Beck: Victory!

The resurrection of Antioch College: A small victory for humanity

The struggle and victory to re-open Antioch College as an independent institution separate from Antioch University is a major victory for peace and progressive forces in the United States. On Friday, September 4, Antioch University officials signed a 750-page closing document after 14 months of negotiations to turn Antioch College assets over to the Antioch College Continuation Corp. (read: the alumni).

A group of Greene County citizens recently dropped a complaint filed with the Ohio Attorney General’s office to strip the University of its tax exempt status. The complaint alleged that the University had neglected and wasted the assets of the former College, including severe damage to the historical main building at the Yellow Springs campus.

The Attorney General’s office acknowledged that the withdrawal of the complaint helped pave the way for the final settlement.

Obama has fed his Green Jones to King CONG

Van Jones has been fed to King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).

Obama’s one serious green bright spot been sacrificed at the McCarthyite altar of the corporate bloviation machine.

The brilliant, charismatic Jones was responsible for the administration’s single significant accomplishment to date. With clarity and verve Jones finally brought to the mainstream the critical message that what’s good for the environment is also good for the economy.

The convenience of this simple truth has long been known to the green power movement. Since the early 1970s we have argued that converting away from fossil and nuclear fuels---coal, oil, nukes & gas---and onto a Solartopian system based on renewables and efficiency is the only route to long-term prosperity. With community-based solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, mass transit, increased conservation and efficiency, we can and must build a sustainable economy that will create jobs and geo-political stability.

Join the March in Pittsburgh at G20

Friday, September 25th, 2009, Noon – 5:00 PM. Pittsburgh: Thousands to March to the G20 Summit to Bring the Peoples’ Demands: Money for Human Needs, Not for Wars and Occupations – Environmental Justice for the Earth and its Inhabitant – Jobs and Health Care for All.
WHAT: Permitted rally and “Peoples’ March” to G20 Summit
WHO: Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee and 40+ endorsing groups

WHERE: The plans for Friday are:
12:00 pm – Opening Rally at the corner of Fifth and Craft Avenues in Oakland.
2:00pm – Protestors will march down Fifth Ave. to the City County Building Downtown for a speak-out.
3:00pm – They will march down Grant St. to the Federal Building for another speak-out.
3:30pm – They will march down 10th St. to a block from the G20 and then conclude the march.
At least three feeder marches are being organized to join the march along the route.

Republicans Scream "Stay Away From Our Kids, Obama! If Anyone's Gonna Fill Their Heads With Partisan Crap It's Gonna Be Us!"

The latest controversy that has Republicans' panties in a collective snit is President Barack Obama's plan to address the nation's school children Tuesday in a speech designed to motivate, challenge and inspire excellence through education. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, not if you're a closed-minded conservative who views Obama's address as a form of "indoctrination."

A parent interviewed on Fox News Thursday morning said she's so angry that she's keeping her children home rather than subject them to Obama's speech: "This is government of the people...it's not about us having to do for government but what the government should be doing for us."

So much for the selfless principle behind President John F. Kennedy's stirring, patriotic plea to the American people during his 1960 inauguration address: "Ask not what your country can do you for, ask what you can do for your country." This woman couldn't have presented the typical Republican 'I-don't-give-a-shit-about-anyone-but-me' philosophy any clearer.

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