To Nancy, with all due respect

Dear Nancy.  Cindy asked me to write you a letter and promised she would deliver it.  So I picture the two of you in your home over tea as you peruse this and a four-foot stack of similar missives, and I hope mine catches your eye, and I hope there are no more of those annoying poor people out front, or that you're able to have them arrested quickly and quietly.

I know that there is good in you, Nancy, and I know that you are extremely smart.  I can tell by the skill with which you've hidden from us that aforementioned good.  But I'm concerned about how you will be remembered in history.  Specifically, I'm concerned that you may not be remembered at all.  If you were the leader who ended the wars, made peace, and impeached criminals, you would be remembered and quite possibly elected president some day.  Attempting to impeach a president for an illegal war seemed to work pretty well for Congressman Lincoln.

URGENT: Help defend the rights of American voters

Friends,
Once again, America is faced with questions about the integrity of machine-counted ballots and about the rights of Americans to decide for themselves who they should be allowed to vote for in this crucial Presidential election.

In New Hampshire, it's a question of whether votes were counted or manipulated. In Nevada, it's a question of whether the GE-owned NBC television network should have the power to decide who your choices should be for President.

The vote counts in New Hampshire are suspicious. And, today's decision by NBC to exclude Dennis from next week's Presidential debate - even though he met the criteria - is outrageous. And, we need your help to deal with both of these matters.

Media misses story: Obedwards wins New Hampshire

As media commentators proclaim Hillary Clinton's rebirth from the ashes of defeat, they miss a critical story--Obama and Edwards won the New Hampshire primary. Add together Obama's 36 percent and Edwards's 17, and they beat Clinton's 39 percent by 14 points.  And because the Democratic primaries have proportionate representation, they'll in fact come out with more combined delegates—13 to Clinton's 9.  I've talked or corresponded with hundreds of supporters of both of them, pored through hundreds of blog responses, and from everything I can tell, those backing Obama or Edwards solidly pick the other as their second choice. So if only one were running, they'd be opening up an unambiguous lead.  But because Clinton's two main opponents have effectively split the vote, her three-point victory over Obama has revived a campaign that seemed on the verge of meltdown just a few days ago, and left her again the media favorite.

Protesting torture in front of the CIA

January 10: On Thursday morning activists affiliated with the Washington Peace Center and others held a vigil outside the main gates of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.

“We are here as citizen witnesses speaking out as reports continue to reveal the role of the CIA in the rendition of people who are clandestinely abducted, held without charge, denied access to lawyers or loved ones, abused, and tortured in places like Guantanamo and Bagram in Afghanistan...” said Malachy Kilbride, Washington Peace Center board president.

News reports have divulged that the CIA has covered up its role in the possible use of the torture technique known as water-boarding by destroying video evidence against apparent congressional opposition.

“I’m so tired of the illegal activities that the government is doing. I feel it is my responsibility to come from Wisconsin to stand with others against the illegal and immoral activities of this government…” said Joy First who traveled from Madison, Wisc., to participate in the CIA vigil and the January 11 International Day To Shut Down Guantanamo.

Clear evidence of widespread vote fraud in New Hampshire

There were several major vote fraud issues to arise out of the New Hampshire primary revolving mainly around Ron Paul and Barack Obama, who were both seemingly cheated out of third and first places respectively as a result of rigged Diebold voting machines and deliberate malfeasance in the counting of hand-written paper ballots.

- Obama had a 13 to 15 point lead over Hillary Clinton heading into the primary. Nothing occured that boosted Hillary's numbers immediately before the election, in fact immediately after the staged crying incident, many pundits argued it could only have harmed her chances. And yet Hillary somehow managed to instigate a near 20 point swing to defeat Obama by three per cent. If not for her 7% swing as a result of Diebold voting machines, Hillary would have lost to Obama. If Obama was struggling he would probably contest this bizarre outcome, but he is likely to accept the results simply to save face.

Bangor (Maine) Daily News first major newspaper to editorialize in favor of impeaching Cheney

Over the past 18 months, a core group of Democrats and others from the left has steadfastly maintained that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached. Mainstream Democrats in Congress are sympathetic to their arguments, but most have bowed to the political reality that impeachment proceedings would gridlock the federal government in the last year of the Bush administration, distract lawmakers from resolving problems that affect the daily lives of Americans, and possibly trigger an endless cycle of reprisal impeachment attempts for future administrations.

There is another angle on this difficult question, raised by Rep. Michael Michaud in a Dec. 21 letter to Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. "There is no doubt that at the very least this Administration has dangerously expanded the scope of executive authority and flaunted the constitutionally defined separation of powers," Rep. Michaud wrote.

Primary concerns

As the breathless sports coverage of the presidential primaries bursts around me this morning, I’m doing my best to resist surrendering to the contrived drama about “comeback kids” and the flying shrapnel of numbers and hold onto my troubled skepticism about the electoral process, or at least most of it.

First of all, before we get too enthusiastic about feminist solidarity or wax knowingly about New Hampshire Democrats’ traditional soft-heartedness toward the Clinton family, let’s ponder yet again the possibility of tainted results, which is such an unfun prospect most of the media can’t bear to remember that all the problems we’ve had with electronic voting machines — and Diebold machines in particular, which dominate New Hampshire polling places — remain unsolved.

Did the Hillary campaign really defy the pollsters? She had been trailing Barack Obama by 13 percentage points, 42 to 29, in a recent Zogby poll, as election watchdog Brad Friedman pointed out. And the weekend’s “rapturous packed rallies for Mr. Obama,” as the New York Times put it, “suggested Mrs. Clinton was in dire shape.”

Three arrested and delay Huckabee appearance at Des Moines campaign headquarters

DES MOINES--Three members of the SODaPOP (Seasons of Discontent: a Presidential Occupation Project) were arrested December 31, 2007 in Governor Mike Huckabee's Campaign Headquarters in downtown Des Moines.

SODaPOP is an initiative organized by members of the Iowa Occupation Project and Voices for Creative Nonviolence.  Members of the SODaPOP Campaign arrived at Huckabee's Locust St. campaign office early Monday afternoon, waiting for the former Arkansas governor's reply to a letter delivered two months ago that sought his pledge to completely withdraw from Iraq within 100 days of assuming office; halt all military actions against Iraq and Iran; fund the rebuilding of Iraq as well as health, education and infrastructure needs in the U.S.; and "…the highest quality health care, education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country's Armed Services."

ACLU of Florida calls for impeachment hearings for Bush and Cheney

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida has followed the lead of the ACLU of Central Florida, the ACLU of Monroe County Florida, and the ACLU of the Treasure Coast (Florida), all of which followed the lead of the ACLU of Southern California in backing impeachment and calling for the National ACLU to do the same.

The ACLU was a prominent supporter of Richard Nixon's impeachment. In 2006 an ACLU panel argued for impeachment. In recent years, the national ACLU has lobbied against numerous offenses that appear quintessentially impeachable, but refused , despite intense lobbying by its members and others, to back impeachment. The national ACLU recently announced a new motto that many impeachment advocates view as a wish for the impossible (a reference to the current presidential administration): "One More Year, No More Damage."

Still true to ObEdwards: Why I keep donating to both Edwards and Obama

It makes me feel like an indecisive mugwump, but in the wake of the Iowa caucuses, I've sent money to both Edwards and Obama. In a month, I'll have to choose, but as long as they're backing each other up more than sniping, I want them both in the race.

But why not just support Obama? He's got the charisma and momentum. He's bringing in new voters, particularly young voters and independents, who could dramatically broaden the Democrats' reach. He's worked and lived in an amazingly broad range of challenging contexts. I like how he raises hopes and expectations, and therefore what voters may demand. If we back him now, he can build on Iowa's momentum, beat Hillary Clinton and have a strong chance at defeating the Republicans.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS