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“Cuban police have arrested the wives and mothers of political dissidents at a demonstration in the capital, Havana. About 30 members of the ‘Ladies in White’ were stopped as they marched alongside the mother of a prisoner who died last month after a hunger strike. They were demanding the release of some 50 government critics who are still being held after mass arrests in 2003. … Wednesday’s protest was the third held this week by the Ladies in White (Las Damas de Blanca) to mark the anniversary of the crackdown in the one-party Communist state seven years ago.” (03/17/10) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8573447.stm | |
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“This morning, the Marijuana Policy Project called upon shoppers across the country to join in a boycott of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in order to protest the unjust and potentially unlawful firing of Joe Casias, a 29-year-old medical marijuana patient and sinus cancer survivor who suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. After dutifully working at a Wal-Mart in Battle Creek, Michigan, for five years, Casias was suddenly terminated because he tested positive for marijuana during a drug screening administered after he sprained his knee on the job.” (03/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yk6at45 | |
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“The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review whether the anti-gay protests at funerals of American soldiers are protected by the First Amendment. The case is brought by a Maryland father whose son’s 2006 funeral was picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps contends that the deaths of American soldiers are punishment for the nation’s tolerance for homosexuality.” (03/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9yoru7 | |
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“George and Sharlee McNamee have a beautiful home, an ocean view and a bounty of children and grandchildren who invade their house every weekend. The breeze is fresh, the view is stunning and retired life in Corona Del Mar, Calif., is good. But the McNamees wake up every morning fighting for their rights. In this case, the freedom to use a picnic table, shed and shower in their own backyard. … For the last decade, George and Sharlee McNamee have been locked in legal battle with California regulators over the couple’s right to build improvements on their own property, which abuts a coastal zone.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfhd492 | |
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“Amid shouts of ‘Zapata lives,’ about 100 people mourned Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo as he was buried Thursday in his hometown of Banes following his death by hunger strike this week. According to Zapata’s family and dissidents in Havana, the funeral, held under a rainy sky, took place with dozens of state security agents looking on as the Cuban government clamped down to prevent the event from becoming a rallying point for dissent. … Zapata, a 42-year-old plumber, died Tuesday in a Havana hospital after an 85-day hunger strike to protest conditions in prison, where he had been since 2003 on charges of disrespect, public disorder and resistance.” (02/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykawjwr | |
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“Microsoft today withdrew its demand that Cryptome.org yank the ‘Microsoft Global Criminal Spy Guide’ document from the site, and said it had never intended for the whistleblower’s domain to be knocked off the Web. ‘In this case, we did not ask that this site be taken down, only that Microsoft copyrighted content be removed,’ said a Microsoft spokeswoman in an e-mailed statement early Thursday. ‘We are requesting to have the site restored and are no longer seeking the document’s removal.’ The document, a 17-page guide to law enforcement on how to obtain information about users of Microsoft’s online services, including its Windows Live Hotmail, the Xbox Live gaming network and its Windows Live SkyDrive storage service, was published by John Young, who runs Cryptome.org, on Feb. 20.” (02/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yz5reok | |
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“The Supreme Court is set to examine whether of a piece of the USAPATRIOT Act… violates constitutional protections of free speech and association. On Tuesday, the high court will hear oral argument in a case challenging what some critics say is a version of modern-day McCarthyism: prosecuting people for who they associate with rather than any personal criminal conduct. The law makes it a crime to provide ‘material support’ to a known terrorist organization. It is designed to isolate terrorists by making it more difficult for them to receive assistance, services, and recruits.” (02/22/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydcqljp | |
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“A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of secretly switching on laptop computer webcams inside students’ homes says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been ‘unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked.’ The Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops — which the district noted would include ‘a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus.’” (02/21/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587073,00.html | |
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“In the face of several electoral challenges from tea party-connected candidates, Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul cautioned in a recent interview that ‘neocon influence’ is ‘infiltrating’ the movement he is often credited for creating. Speaking to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night, Paul first took up for the tea parties as a natural reaction of the people when they are unhappy with government. What they are not, he explained, are entirely adherent to his ideas. Paul suggested that the group only ’sometimes’ represents his views. ‘My message is somewhat different,” he said. … His core issues, such as creating transparency at the Federal Reserve, recalling overseas soldiers and ending the drug war, are ‘not what is generally heard from the Republican party,’ he said.” (02/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhghatv | |
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“Hackers in Australia launched attacks on government Web sites to protest upcoming Internet filtering legislation and perceived censorship, officials said. The hackers took down several sites Wednesday morning and threatened to inundate government offices with pornographic e-mails, faxes and prank telephone calls, The Age newspaper reported.” (02/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yl4yq3y | |
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“Hundreds of opponents of Democratic economic and health-care policies are assembling in America’s country music capital for the National Tea Party Convention. The gathering at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, is billed as the first formal national meeting of a grassroots movement formed last year amid protests over policies pushed by President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.” (02/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylg9zrd | |
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“The National Secular Society (NSS) has said it would mount a protest campaign against the Pope’s visit to Britain following the Pontiff’s attack on equality laws. The campaign would be made up of gay groups, victims of clerical abuse, feminists, family planning organisations and pro-abortion groups among others. NSS president Terry Sanderson said: ‘The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20 million for the visit of the Pope. A visit in which, he has already indicated, he will attack equal rights and promote discrimination.’” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhhol9o | |
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“Moscow police detained some 100 people, including several prominent opposition leaders, after an unsanctioned rally in downtown of the Russian capital, a police official said. … The protesters said they gathered to show that the authorities are violating the Russian Constitution, which grants the right to assemble peacefully.” (01/31/10) Link: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100131/157731752.html | |
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“Iran on Thursday hanged two men convicted of trying to topple the country’s clergy-led regime, the first known executions of opposition activists since unrest broke out following June’s disputed presidential elections, the Web site of state television reported. The report identified the two men as Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, and said they were convicted of trying to topple ‘the Islamic establishment’ and of membership in armed opposition groups.” (01/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yjj7om5 | |
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“A high school student found to have marijuana in the classroom would seem to be a prime candidate for a little ‘talk’ with the vice principal — and maybe a trip to the police station. But around the country today, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of high schoolers are bringing pot to school, and they’re doing it legally. Not to get stoned, but as part of prescribed medical treatment. And they don’t have to tell school authorities about it. This is putting teachers and principals in a new and challenging position. In many counties and school districts, there are no clear guidelines — for school officials, students or parents.” [since in some schools having nasal spray is “zero tolerance” grounds for suspension, this only clouds the horizon a bit more - SAT] (01/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc26y8w | |
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“All portions of a criminal trial must be open to the public, including selection of the jury, the US Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. In an unusual summary order, the high court ruled 7 to 2 in favor of a convicted cocaine trafficker who claimed that his right to a public trial was violated when a judge in Georgia barred members of the public from the courtroom during jury selection. At the time, there was only one observer in the courtroom — defendant Eric Presley’s uncle. Mr. Presley’s lawyer objected to excluding members of the public. But the judge said there wasn’t enough room in the courtroom for the 42 prospective jurors as well as public observers.” (01/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydzhg4p | |
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Text of a press release concerning the complaint filed with the International Criminal Court by Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law versus George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales. The complaint specifies alleged crimes against humanity and claims that the although the US is not party to the treaty empowering the ICC, the ICC has jurisdiction since the alleged crimes involved member states. (01/19/10) Link: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/49394/ | |
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“Thousands of demonstrators gathered in southeast Houston today to protest the opening of a new Planned Parenthood clinic. The building is located on the Gulf Freeway near the University of Houston. Protestors are calling it an ‘abortion super center.’” (01/18/10) Link: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=7225643 | |
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SCOTUS’s next frontier: You signed a petition; should your name be public?
Source: Christian Science Monitor “The US Supreme Court will take up a First Amendment challenge to a court order to release the names of people who signed a petition to repeal Washington State’s same-sex domestic partnership law. Boxes filled with signatures for Referendum 71 line the walls in a basement at the Secretary of State’s Office in Olympia, Wash. Whether petition signers’ names should be available to the public has become an issue for the US Supreme Court to decide. On Friday, the justices agreed to enter the divisive dispute and decide whether the names of petition signers must be released under a state public records law or instead must be kept private to protect the signers’ right to engage in political speech and political association.” (01/17/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yalcowz | |
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I have been unable to post since January 10. There are a few stories on the website posted by our other editors. One of my dogs, my Irish setter Ginger, suddenly became very ill Jan.9 and was diagnosed with lymphoma, she has been in a canine oncology hospital since Wed and I have barely been able to keep my household (animal and human) and day job going, so Rational Review gave me ‘time off’. I hope to be able to return to posting this week. Link: http://rationalreview.com/land | |
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“After a recent attempted terrorist attack set off a debate about full-body X-rays at airports, a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll finds that Americans lean more toward giving up some of their liberty in exchange for more safety. The survey found 51 percent of Americans agreeing that ‘it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism.’ At the same time, 36 percent agreed that ’some of the government’s proposals will go too far in restricting the public’s civil liberties.’ The rest were undecided or said their opinions would depend on circumstances.” (01/13/10) Link: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/nation/story/82156.html | |
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“The parents of a 4-year-old boy disciplined for having long hair have rejected a compromise from a Texas school board that agreed to adjust its grooming policy. The impasse means pre-kindergartner Taylor Pugh will remain suspended in school, sitting alone with a teacher’s aide in a library. He has been sequestered from classmates at Floyd Elementary School in Mesquite, a Dallas suburb, since late November. After a closed-door meeting Monday, the Mesquite school board decided the boy could wear his hair in tight braids but keep it no longer than his ears. But his parents say the adjustment isn’t enough for Taylor, who wears his hair long, covering his earlobes and shirt collar. His mother, Elizabeth Taylor, said she’ll pull back Taylor’s hair in a ponytail, acknowledging the style will keep him suspended.” [editor’s note: Perhaps the dumbest news story of the week, but somehow worthy of note - SAT] (01/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ybp9kaa | |
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“The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to delay a law requiring a paper trail on voting machines until the 2012 election cycle. The 22-10 vote was the chamber’s second run at the measure after it failed to gain a majority by one vote on the last day of last year’s legislative session. As much as $37 million in federal funding is available under the Help America Vote Act — passed in the aftermath of Florida’s 2000 general election debacle — to buy the machines in Tennessee. But several county election officials, including dozens who watched from the Senate gallery, have raised concerns that costs may exceed the federal funding.” (01/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc949t6 | |
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“A tax evader convicted of amassing an arsenal of weapons was sentenced yesterday to 37 years in federal prison in a hearing punctuated by him laughing and chiding the judge and prosecutors. An attorney for Ed Brown had argued that his client suffers from a delusional disorder and asked for the minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years, saying it was enough and amounted to a life sentence for the 67-year-old Brown. Prosecutors sought a sentence of almost 50 years. US District Judge George Singal found Brown competent and said he decided on the sentence because Brown seemed unrepentant.” [editor’s note: “Unrepentant?” Is this Singal a priest? “Delusional disorder?” Because he still wants them to show him where in the true law of the land (umm, the Constitution) not making a “voluntary donation” (IRS’s own terms) is somehow “illegal?” - SAT] (01/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y88v5c5 | |
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“Congressional negotiators and White House officials are moving forward with plans to add the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to the upcoming defense authorization bill, Democratic sources tell the Huffington Post. In Congress, members are being whipped to ensure that the votes will be there for passage, should the legislation be placed in the bill. At this juncture, aides say, the prospects look good. Meanwhile, a source close to the White House says the president has instructed the Defense Department that he believes the repeal of DADT should be placed in the authorization bill. However, disagreements could emerge when it comes to crafting the actual legislative language.” (01/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydq8769 | |
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“Simon Glik, a lawyer, was walking down Tremont Street in Boston when he saw three police officers struggling to extract a plastic bag from a teenager’s mouth. Thinking their force seemed excessive for a drug arrest, Glik pulled out his cellphone and began recording. Within minutes, Glik said, he was in handcuffs. ‘One of the officers asked me whether my phone had audio recording capabilities,’ Glik, 33, said recently of the incident, which took place in October 2007. Glik acknowledged that it did, and then, he said, ‘my phone was seized, and I was arrested.’ The charge? Illegal electronic surveillance.” [editor’s note: Cops watching you, and using every means to put you away? Upholding the law. You doing the same to them, when they violate rights? Breaking same - SAT] (01/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaslz7h | |
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“Freedom House, a U.S.-based organization that monitors democracy and political rights world wide, says global freedom declined last year for the fourth consecutive year. Although the group says there were some improvements, last year’s slump represents the longest continuous decline in the nearly 40-year history of the report. Freedom House says that whether it was the brutal repression of demonstrators in Iran, the sweeping detention of activists in China or the murder of journalists and human rights advocates in Russia, 2009 was a year that was marked by intensified repression of human rights defenders and civic activists.” (01/12/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yhardcm | |
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“Five activists filed a ballot initiative Monday that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales under Washington state law — one of the most sweeping efforts at changing marijuana laws around the country this year. Its sponsors include two Seattle lawyers and the director of Seattle’s annual Hempfest. They call themselves Sensible Washington, and say that in a time of dire budget woes, the state government should stop spending money on police, court and jail costs for people who use or produce marijuana.” (01/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8nq273 | |
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“With its idyllic views and wide expanses of pristine sand, Goose Rocks Beach has lured strollers, swimmers, and softball players for more than a century. Now, in a bare-knuckled lawsuit that has pitted neighbor against neighbor, beachfront residents are invoking Colonial law to affirm their private property rights on a 2-mile crescent that the public has used freely for decades. … Waterfront residents trumpet the suit as a principled stand for property rights, which have extended to the low-water mark since the reign of King Charles I. … But to many townspeople without a front-row view of the Atlantic, the court action is a selfish and cynical effort to hoard a precious piece of natural beauty.” [editor’s note: Hard to get much clearer cut on an issue; does property ownership mean anything, or not? - SAT] (01/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ybtsrfn | |
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“Paul Watson and his antiwhaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are keeping up the pressure after the collision earlier this week between their high-tech speedboat the Ady Gil and a larger vessel pulling security for a Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. On Friday, Sea Shepherd filed a legal complaint against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Netherlands, where Mr. Watson’s flagship, the Steve Irwin, is registered. ‘We filed a complaint for criminal prosecution with our prosecutor, requesting the start of an investigation into what we consider to be a crime — piracy, actually — committing violence on the high seas,’ Liesbeth Zegveld, a legal adviser for the group, told Reuters.” (01/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yf9u4ud | |
Commentary
jump to News Section | jump to Action Items Section
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“Anticipating hordes of black-masked, Starbucks-smashing anarchists, the Pittsburgh police and the Secret Service coordinated nearly 4,000 law enforcement officers, outfitting them with the latest in riot-dispersal technology. Crowds marching on the summit were met with pepper spray, stun grenades, and — for the first time on US soil — acoustic cannons that blast painful sounds as far as 1,000 feet. But the protesters had their own crowd-control methods, and that’s what had brought the state troopers to the CareFree Inn. What they found when they broke down the door were a couple of middle-aged housemates from Queens, New York. Elliott Madison sat at a desk with a laptop and a cell phone. A police scanner lay nearby. Michael Wallschlaeger was at the minifridge grabbing some hummus when the police rushed in. According to the criminal complaint filed against them, the two men had been ‘communicating with various protestors, and protest groups … [via] internet based communications, more commonly known as ‘Twitter.’” (03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yd8womf | |
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“I lose no sleep over the deaths of career IRS collections thugs or other ‘enforcer’-type government agents, nor do I have even the tiniest of violins to play for their money-grubbing relatives trying, through similar government-enforced tactics, to get their filthy paws on assets belonging to others who committed no wrong against them. That said, I do believe there are certainly more clearly ethical and more effective options available to proponents of freedom in the realm of nonviolence — options that do not invoke the damaging appearance of ceding the moral high ground to the state, nor the self-destructiveness of sinking to the level of government agents.” (03/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc9hljk | |
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“I’m not sure yet what to make of the arrest of an owner-operator of a medical marijuana facility called 215 Agenda in Lake Forest, and two others. There certainly are operators of such facilities who operate outside the law, and the state law and guidelines issued by Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown, though they were developed in cooperation with patient advocates, have some ambiguities and shortcomings, IMO. On the other hand, given that it issued complaints against 35 facilities last year and has made it clear it wants to shut down all such operations in the city, it appears that Lake Forest is not all that interested in a good-faith effort to allow California’s medical marijuana law to operate without unnecessary hindrance. A particular example of bad faith is the city attorney’s invocation of federal law. The city is a subdivision of the state and its officials’ job is to uphold state law, not federal law.” (03/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yldrle2 | |
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“… if the federal government actually obeyed its own laws. … The relevant law is the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which establishes five lists or ’schedules’ of progressively decreasing strictness for drugs and other controlled substances. The strictest is Schedule I, on which marijuana was put as a placeholder with the promise that the ‘medical community’ would decide if it should stay there. Possession and use of these drugs is strictly forbidden. … According to all the relevant available scientific information, as affirmed by the chief administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement Administration way back in 1988 (and as most recently confirmed by the California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego), marijuana or cannabis meets none of these criteria.” (03/05/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ye9ow7c | |
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“‘It’s a free country.’ That’s a popular saying — and true in many ways. But for a free country, America does ban a lot of things that are perfectly peaceful and consensual. Why is that? Here are some things you can’t do in most states of the union: rent your body to someone for sex, sell your kidney, take recreational drugs. The list goes on. … The prohibitionists say their rules are necessary for either the public’s or a particular individual’s own good. I’m skeptical. … Government force has nasty unintended consequences. I would think that our experience with alcohol prohibition would have taught America a lesson. Nearly everyone agrees it was a disaster. It didn’t stop people from drinking, but it created new and vicious strains of organized crime. Drug prohibition does that now.” (03/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc9qgk9 | |
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“I have never cared much for the Black Bloc, but the amount of hypocrisy about the ‘violence’ of breaking a couple of bank windows this Saturday in the demonstration against the Olympics corporate welfare fest has almost made me sympathetic. Tactical differences and criticism are legitimate. There are ethical and utilitarian aspects to any tactical choice and the BB’s are can be questioned about these. However, the bulk of hostility wafting their way has little to do with arguments about tactics. Many of the red-faced and bellowing crowd simply hate ‘protesters’ period and use the BB as an excuse to spout venom at any public critic of the system.” (02/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg9t743 | |
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“America’s greatest and strangest political secret is that, in the dead of the winter, the two parties have a brief signature gathering process and then each precinct (usually just the few streets around your home) elects a committeeman/woman. In Pennsylvania, just 10 signatures are required to be listed on the May 18 primary ballot. The signature gathering is from February 16 to March 9, hence the timing of this post. The May primary vote elects the precinct committeemen/women. These party precinct committee members then elect the party leaders, and the party leaders then pretty much decide which candidates to support and endorse and how to control funds on the local level. (Yes, it’s a little bit like a democratic mafia. Stay true to your principles.)” [editor’s note: Those dates and process details apply to Pennsylvania - TLK] (02/09/10) Link: http://www.nolanchart.com/article7358.html | |
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“So by now you may be familiar with South Carolina Code Title 23 Chapter 29, the state law that requires all organizations who ‘directly or indirectly advocate, advise, teach or practice the duty or necessity of controlling, seizing, or overthrowing the government of the United States, the state of South Carolina, or any political division thereof,’ to register their activities with the South Carolina Secretary of State. Now that I’ve been informed of the law, here are the contents of the letter that I wrote and dropped in the U.S. postal service today, addressed to Mark Hammond, arbitrary Secretary of State over South Carolina.” (02/09/10) Link: http://radgeek.com/gt/2010/02/09/civic-duties/ | |
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Bottom up resistance to the GOP’s attempted top down takeover of the tea party movement
Source: Poli-Tea Author: d.eris “Is it possible that the GOP’s public hijacking of the tea party movement could turn out to be a grave strategic error? Is it possible that the attempted coup will solidify resistance to the co-optation of the movement by the representatives of the establishment parties and their political apparatus? One thing is certain: if tea party activists do not fight to maintain their political independence, they will soon find themselves deprived of it.” (02/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj8evvy | |
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“I appreciate that ending Prohibition is not everyone’s cuppa, and some local activists may be hesitant to support this issue. To them, I say, Big Mike’s act of civil disobedience — smoking a joint in public — is not what he was arrested for, he was arrested for touching a tax-feeder. He is a political prisoner. He is a poster child for abuse of power. Your support would be against the system itself, against their incessant bullying. They arrest and terrorize peaceful people for victimless crimes because they can. Because we let them.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.fr33agents.com/2158/are-you-willing-to-get-arrested/ | |
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“After years of being ruled by governments even more destructive than usual, Haiti was far less prepared for the recent earthquake than it could have been. Not inclined to let a serious crisis go to waste, the United States government and the business interests it works with will combine essential lifesaving work with efforts to gain control of Haiti’s future. The alternative to the deprivation of social control and the disasters it will cause is mutual aid.” [editor’s note: Please support Mutual Aid Disaster Relief for Haiti at http://herbs4orphans.org! - TLK] (01/18/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/1727 | |
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“If you have been thinking about leaving the mainstream economy, this might be an excellent time. Instead of getting a job and reporting your income, consider starting a business or a non-profit that never makes any earnings. If that business also doesn’t employ anyone, there are essentially no forms to fill out, no taxes to file with the feral gummint. In some states, there is no sales tax. In many, services are not subject to sales tax.” (01/17/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle553-20100117-02.html | |
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“Why is it? People who would never click on a suspicious email link or fall for other phishing ploys think nothing of turning over intimate details about themselves and their family members to strangers who hand them official-looking forms, like bank clerks or doctors or almost anyone from the government. When you click on an email link that collects personal data, you take the risk that the info will be used without your knowledge for purposes of which you may not approve or which may harm you. When you hand the same info to banks or hospitals or a government agency (e.g. the post office), it is a given that they will share it automatically or at the request of virtually any other government agency: child protective services, the IRS, the police … If you do not wish any of the those agencies to know certain personal data — e.g. your income level, do you own a gun, your religion, etc. — then do not tell any agency.” (01/12/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3001 | |
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“The anti-choice lobby’s claim that abortions always impact on women’s mental health is moralism masquerading as science.” (01/06/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7906/ | |
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“2,600 years ago the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, ‘Victory in war is a funeral procession.’ As a young boy in Vietnam, I won my victory and I shuffled in the procession. Beginning in the spring of 1968 I spent three months in various military hospitals and during that time I saw a ghoul’s gallery of the hideously wounded. I saw the psychological impacts of physical mutilation and how phony the distinction is between the two. If you wish to experience not just ‘trauma’ but real pain and suffering, whack your thumb with a roofer’s hammer. Smash you[r] thumb and see how that affects your psychological well-being. Now imagine taking three machine gun rounds through the belly and surviving. Imagine getting your jaw and nose blown off and surviving. When you’re young and looking forward to a lifetime of pain, disability and poverty, wearing your battlefield Badges of Honor doesn’t feel like such a privilege. Almost inevitably, PTSD is the result.” (01/07/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/patterson01072010.html | |
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Freedom to Build: Frontier Centre looks at Canada’s homeless problem
Source: The Shotgun Blogs Author: Matthew Johnston “The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released a backgrounder on Canada’s homeless population. It examines the role of regulation in reducing the supply of low-cost housing. ‘Freedom to Build,’ written by researcher Fergus Hodgson. … The study notes that the policy responses to affordable housing, while numerous, have not addressed the primary cause: the restrained supply of private housing, which for the last two decades has been a significant reason the homeless proportion of the population has grown so rapidly.” (01/06/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yckg2x7 | |
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“Remember Eric Williamson? He was the Fairfax, Virginia man arrested for making coffee while naked and alone in his own kitchen last October. Apparently, he was ‘viewed’ by a woman and her 7-year-old who were taking a shortcut near or through his property, which allowed them a clear view of Williamson’s nudity through his own window. Rather than apologize, rather than knock on his door to complain or just shrug it off, the woman called the police to report a pervert and Williamson now faces a year in jail. Of course, the woman was the wife of a police officer so appealing to a gun-toting authority is probably what she does when a lightbulb needs changing.” (01/07/10) Link: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2983 | |
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Holidays with the Heimatsicherheitsministerium
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Francis A Ney, Jr. “This is the face of Homeland Security (which sounds better in the Original German). Osama Bin Laden is pissing his pants laughing. Where else can you send a few thousand dollars and a patsy and cause an entire government department to collectively spin their heads like a bad horror movie?” (01/04/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle551-20100103-04.html | |
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“How do we stop this constant cycle of violence that is perpetrated, fomented and encouraged by the U.S. Empire? We have to realize that the people of Yemen have the same existential imperative as do the 300 travlers aboard the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit!. … I have dubbed 2010 the YEAR OF RESISTANCE and we must sacrifice some of our creature comforts for peace — not just peace here at home, but most of all, peace abroad!” (01/05/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24330.htm | |
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“‘We need to make it clear,’ fulminated Patrick Lynch of the New York City Policeman’s Benevolent Association, ‘that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line.’ Taken literally, this would make a capital offense out of a familiar disrespectful gesture, a salute that is entirely appropriate when directed at officious tax-grazers of Lynch’s ilk. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that Lynch perceives criticism of the police as a species of crime. A little more than a decade ago, Lynch (whose surname appears to be one of God’s little in-jokes) attempted to manufacture public outrage over Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘American Skin (41 Shots).’ That ballad described the death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was perforated by 19 bullets fired by NYPD officers in a perfectly avoidable eruption of gunfire.” (01/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8s9ng5 | |
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“Something odd, almost bizarre, is going on in Egypt these days. About 1400 activists from all over the world gathered there on their way to the Gaza Strip. On the anniversary of the ‘Cast Lead’ War, they intended to participate in a non-violent demonstration against the ongoing blockade, which makes the life of 1.5 million inhabitants of the Strip intolerable. At the same time, protest demonstrations were to take place in many countries. In Tel-Aviv, too, a big protest was planned. The ‘monitoring committee’ of the Arab citizens of Israel was to organize an event on the Gaza border. When the international activists arrived in Egypt, a surprise awaited them. The Egyptian government forbade their trip to Gaza. Their buses were held up at the outskirts of Cairo and turned back.” (01/04/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/avnery01042010.html | |
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“For years there have been rumors on the Internet (sometimes accompanied by photographs) about ‘relocation camps’ being prepared here in America, ostensibly to help deal with large-scale emergencies like Hurricane Katrina, but actually for the purpose of dealing with dissenters. … Is any of it true? I have no idea, which is what this article is all about.” (01/04/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle551-20100103-02.html | |
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“Yes it’s true! I’ve put together an E Book on how to survive the end of the world as we know it! And it’s available for sale today! Don’t miss this chance to grab your copy at the special price of zero dollars! That’s right! My E Book is absolutely FREE!” (12/31/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8wnzog | |
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After the collectivist winter will come the spring
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal Author: Vin Suprynowicz “The vacant storefronts, the unbelievable new initiatives to make air travel even more onerous and unattractive to foreign tourists (who already have to be fingerprinted, prodded, strip-searched, and otherwise humiliated before being allowed to bring their money here) — all make the search for truly hopeful signs a task for those who can step back and take a long view. … But for those who can hang on till 2020 — I hope you salted away some gold, some silver, and some guns — spring will come.” (01/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yapap4f | |
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“But the English and Scots ’settlements’ failed in Ireland. Protestant hopes of eternal support from London eventually proved false. And so, what of Israeli hopes of eternal support from Washington? I still don’t believe in a one-state solution — which the Protestant minority will one day have to accept in Ireland, if they have not, subconsciously, already done so — but colonisation leads only to the graveyard. Walls don’t work. Nor ’superior’ religions. Nor ethnic cleansing. History, which should be studied as eternally as false hopes, is a great punisher.” (01/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylmxk7j | |
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“Some of us reached Gaza and particpated in the Gaza Freedom March as planned. All of us significantly raised the profile of dissent — particularly, American dissent — against the blockade of the people of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt, with the backing of the United States and the acquiescence of Europe. The groundwork is being laid for future campaigning in the U.S. for ‘citizen sanctions’ against the Israeli government that could help change the balance of forces influencing U.S. policy, so that U.S. policy becomes a force for peace, rather than continuing to perpetuate the Israel/Palestine conflict as the U.S. is doing today.” (01/02/10) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/02-1 | |
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“Telling the truth in Cairo, as I later discovered, can be a rather precarious occupation and certainly does not endear you to people in places of power or authority. I have been told that I will never be allowed in Egypt again although, as usual, the implied threats are never put down officially. … I am in Egypt now following the Free Gaza Movement of 1400 peace activists who gathered in Cairo from more than 40 different countries. Their week-long efforts to get to Gaza to give humanitarian aid and messages of goodwill and solidarity to the Palestinians have been thwarted with the utmost vigour and enthusiasm by the Egyptian Government.” (01/03/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24314.htm | |
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“I’ve lived in the Washington, D.C., area for the better part of the last 10 years. So I’ve seen my share of demonstrations, although more often than not I just try to avoid the traffic nightmares they cause. Among the various classes of protests — pro-life, anti-war, environmental, and now tea parties — the most destructive are the anti-globalization marches. So when cops clashed with anti-globalization demonstrators at the Pittsburgh G-20 summit in September, it was easy to assume that most of the altercations represented justified police responses to overzealous protesters. But a number of disturbing photographs, videos, and witness accounts told a different story. Along with similar evidence from other recent high-stakes political events, they reveal an increasing, disquieting willingness to smother even peaceful dissent.” (for publication 01/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2009/12/30/the-criminalization-of-protest | |
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“[I]n 1951, he signed up to become a parish priest in one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods — Washington Heights, on the northern tip of Manhattan, then a barrio of fresh-off-the-airplane Puerto Rican immigrants. The classically educated bookworm turned out to be an effective and popular priest. The experience of tending to immigrant parishioners as they got flash-fried in urban modernity left a lasting impression of the grotesque inadequacy of large-scale, rationally administrated institutions in dealing with basic human needs.” (for publication 02/01/10) Link: http://amconmag.com/article/2010/feb/01/00024/ | |
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“This corruption of our legal system, if history is any guide, will not be reserved by the state for suspected terrorists, or even Muslim Americans. In the coming turmoil and economic collapse, it will be used to silence all who are branded as disruptive or subversive. Hashmi endures what many others, who are not Muslim, will endure later. Radical activists in the environmental, globalization, anti-nuclear, sustainable agriculture and anarchist movements — who are already being placed by the state in special detention facilities with Muslims charged with terrorism — have discovered that his fate is their fate.” (12/28/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yavutdo | |
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“In February, the Supreme Court will hear on appeal what many consider to be among the most important cases that speaks to the constitutionality of political speech in recent times, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. And, in light of the failed attempt to blow up a Northwest jetliner heading from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas day, it will be a test of the strength of the Bill of Rights, and even more important that the First Amendment prevail.” (12/28/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/stahl12282009.html | |
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“A DNA database of five million people; thousands of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders dished out in place of justice; the extension of pre-trial custody from a draconian seven days in 1997 to necessity-defying 28 days; a de facto suspension of habeas corpus not seen since the French Revolution got up the noses of William Pitt the Younger’s aristocrat-only administration in the 1790s. The list of attacks on our liberty goes on. It’s a narrative of anti-freedom that characterises the decade.” (12/22/09) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7869/ | |
Action Items
jump to News Section | jump to Commentary Section
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Petition: any member of Congress who votes for ObamaCare should be forced to participate themselves
Source: Congressman Fleming Website Congressman John Fleming [LA] is proposing an amendment to the ObamaCare bill : sign petition here if you believe any member of Congress who votes for a government run health care plan should be forced to participate in the plan themselves. [editor’s note: Spread this little gem far and wide-MLS] (08/09) Link: http://fleming.house.gov/index.html | |
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NH: 2009 National 4th Annual Live Free Or Die Rally
Source: Live Free or Die Rally Event Date(s): 08/21/09 - 08/23/09 “The All Free, Only TRUE First Amendment Rally in the U.S. AUGUST 21, 22, 23, 2009 …. The National Annual N.H. State Live Free Or Die Rally is a non partisan, non aligned, non profit, all free true First Amendment event advocating freedom of speech, rights to redress with gathering and providing opportunity for the public, appropriate advocacy groups, legislators, politicians of all parties to come together on Common ground under one tent with tolerance once a year to discuss, share or review controversial topics.” Link: http://livefreeordierally.com/node/1 | |
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“Monolithic agribusiness & biotech corporations like Monsanto are gaining more and more power over our food supply, thanks in part to Congress creating policies that give them competitive advantage while harming small farmers & competitors, but also because we consume their products every day, without knowing….Accept the Challenge:I will not buy Roundup weed killer, and will instead use an alternative method of weed control. (Please fill out the form below to accept the challenge and see your impact added to our calculator).” (06/22/09) Link: http://bytestyle.tv/node/55 | |
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“The Motorhome Diaries is the story of three friends who took to the road in April 2009 to search for freedom in America. Along the way the friends — Jason, Pete and Tom — interact with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints at college campuses, homes, businesses and organizations that are united by one thing: increasing individual freedom and responsibility and decreasing the scope of government.” [editor’s note: Every day a new adventure-MLS](04/09) Link: http://motorhomediaries.com/ | |
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“Scarecrow is an attempt to unify libertarians behind one presidential candidate in the 2012 election cycle. The fact that Scarecrow isn’t running, or even real, is a bonus. … If you want liberty and smaller government, electoral politics is a loser’s game. Still, it’s the game we play in America, and it’s so entrenched in our culture that any attempt to break free of it must first involve a widespread acknowledgment of its failings. … Scarecrow For President is a movement through which libertarians can announce to the world that we’re here, we’re correct, we’re huge in number, and we’re done with Washington’s game. … The intent of this site is to kick off a movement. It is the webmaster’s hope that the movement will grow much larger than this site. I am just an anonymous blogger with an idea. You are Scarecrow For President. You should make your own Scarecrow For President site, market it, and update it constantly. You should steal all my readers and become the center of the movement.” (02/09) Link: http://scarecrowforpresident.blogspot.com/2009/02/faq.html | |
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“The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and resolve of American gun owners; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun legislation; and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our right to self defense. It is the one right that protects all others. We will accomplish our mission by a centralized, peaceful march on the United States Capitol, supported by satellite marches to State Capitols and smaller cities all across America.” (02/09) Link: http://secondamendmentmarch.com/ | |
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End The Fed: National Day of support
Source: Abolish the Federal Reserve Event Date(s): Saturday, November 22, 2008 @ 12pm “On November 22, 1910 a malevolent Creature was conceived at Jekyll Island. Ninety-eight years after its illegitimate conception, we will gather at the gates of its lair to signal the end of its reign! Patriots from across the country will join together to protest the Federal Reserve system. Activists will demand an END to private banker control over the nation’s money supply and the return to a hard, commodity backed monetary system. WHERE: All 38 Fed Bank/Branch locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Helena, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.” (10/21/08) Link: http://www.abolishthefederalreserve.com/?p=55 | |
