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Update, 08/27/08 – Thanks to subscribing contributor LvS, whose $10 payment (she sends a check every two weeks!) arrived yesterday! That brings our running total to $1670 versus our goal of $5k. As web readers can see, the fundraising meter graphic is fixed now (found a nice, cheap little Flash doodad from 3 Nerds and a Server). We’re right at 1/3 of the way to goal … and our “mini-goal” for this week is $200 per month in new subscribing contributorships (we’ve got $10 of that $200 thanks to GB’s signup yesterday). It’s $3330 to goal, we’ve got a full tank of bandwidth, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it - TLK —– Dear readers, Earlier this year, I told you that RRND/FND would be moving to a “twice-a-year” fundraising schedule — and we’re keeping our word. We’ve even waited almost a month past mid-year to start our first 2008 drive. But now it’s time. The goal is $5,000, and we’ll keep plugging until we reach it (even if that means extending into our year-end fundraiser, which we’d certainly prefer not to do!). You can support “the freedom movement’s daily newspaper” (and our offshoot publications — 2nd Amendment News Digest, Liberty Action News Digest and Progressive News Digest) in any of several ways: One-Time Payments Online
Become a Subscribing Contributor! [Note: All subscription payments received during the fundraiser will be credited toward its total]
Other Options If you prefer to support RRND/FND through the International Society for Individual Liberty, to target your contribution to this project. Please drop me a line so that I can thank you and add your contribution to our total (ISIL doesn’t send us a daily report). If you’d like to send a check, money order, cash or other valuable thing via US Snail, again, write me so I can send you the address and instructions. And Now For Something Completely Different Would you like to see NO MORE RRND/FND fundraisers for nearly a year? So would we … so here’s a “side bet.” Up-front disclaimer: This mid-year fundraiser WILL continue until the goal is met, even if that’s some time next year (hopefully it will be some time next month!). But, we’re running a simultaneous “contingent pledge drive” through Fundable.Com to raise ANOTHER $5k … and if we make it, our next fundraiser won’t be until at least mid-2009. It’s a simple concept: You pledge the amount of money you’re willing to contribute to that second $5k. If we raise $5k in pledges like yours, you pay. If we don’t, you don’t. That simple. Click here to make your pledge. Yours in liberty, | |
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“There is ‘no excuse’ for people to be too fat, the Conservatives will declare today as they launch a drive to encourage healthier lifestyles. In a speech which points to Conservative demands for greater personal responsibility across social policy, the Tories’ health spokesman Andrew Lansley will insist that people claiming biological or environmental causes for their obesity are simply making excuses.” (08/27/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5qfgyf | |
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“Kelly Jacobs will be wearing dresses made from a ‘peace flag’ every day at the Democratic National Convention. As a delegate and a CodePink activist, she’ll don bright pink earrings, shoes and backpacks — and hundreds of peace and pink-colored buttons. … These are hard times for peace activists. Despite CodePink’s flashy costumes and willingness to disrupt campaign events and congressional hearings — sometimes facing arrest for it — the women are finding it more difficult to maintain public attention on the Iraq war. Americans are now focused more on the gasoline prices they’re paying, declining values of their homes and other economic issues. The ups and downs in a highly contested presidential election also have edged Iraq off the front page and evening newscasts most days.” (08/26/08) Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080825/ap_on_el_pr/codepink | |
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“A War On Terror board game designed in Cambridge has been seized by police who claim the balaclava in the set could be used in a criminal act. The satirical board game was confiscated along with knives, chisels and bolt cutters, from climate protesters during a series of raids near Kingsnorth power station, in Kent, last week. The game’s creators, Andrew Sheerin and Andy Tompkins, web designers from Cambridge, have expressed total shock at the inclusion of their toy among ‘criminal’ items. Andrew, 32, said: ‘I saw pictures of the board game in papers and was absolutely baffled. Surely no member of the public is going to believe that a board game could be used as a weapon?’” (08/25/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6h3552 | |
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“The city of Denver reopened some of the closed roads in downtown Denver on Monday because of lack of participation and low attendance in a protest parade. … The roads were originally supposed to reopen at 3 p.m. on Monday after being closed at 11 a.m., but the city reopened them by noon instead. A few hundred protestors did show up for a protest during the lunch hour on Monday. They walked from Civic Center Park to the U.S. Courthouse at 19th and Stout on Monday much to the bewilderment of lunch goers on the 16th Street Mall. Chanting ‘No Justice, No Peace!’ the group caused a few minor traffic delays, but no major issues were seen.” (08/26/08) Link: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98319&provider=top | |
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“Propping up a large banner beneath the steps of the Colorado State Capitol dome, 25-year-old Weston Wilson was clearly underwhelmed with the anti-war protest taking shape around him. ‘I’m a little bummed out,’ the Denver English major and seasonal landscaper said Sunday morning, estimating his fellow anti-Iraq war marchers at no more than 700. Wilson was well aware of the hype that preceded this day: one group, calling itself Re-create 68, was hoping for a turnout of 10,000 to 20,000 and was advocating for a re-creation of the infamous 1968 Chicago Democratic convention when protesters battled police for more than a week.” (08/26/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5hvlaq | |
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“A British woman held in a Chinese jail for three days without charge after a Free Tibet demonstration has said she is ‘elated’ to be back in the UK. Amanda McKeown, 41, of Bristol, was arrested while filming protesters near the Beijing Olympics site on Thursday. … Two Americans and a German were also detained by the Chinese authorities following the protest, during which a Tibetan flag was unfurled.” (08/26/08) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7581032.stm | |
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“It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute. Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory. The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies. A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation. ‘There’s a tremendous amount of money at stake,’ said Robert Willens, a New York City-based tax analyst at Robert Willens LLC. ‘Tens of thousands of people could be in line for a refund.’” [editor’s note: This “win” is only a diversion from the much larger issues in this arena of “taxable income” - SAT] (08/25/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,409761,00.html | |
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“Indian police have arrested the two most prominent separatist leaders in Indian-administered Kashmir ahead of a protest rally in defiance of a curfew. Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq were arrested at their homes on Sunday night, hours before the rally was due to begin in Srinagar. An indefinite curfew was imposed on Sunday morning to prevent protesters reaching the city. Separatist rallies drew hundreds of thousands of people in recent weeks.” (08/25/08) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7580325.stm | |
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“An increasing number of children are being criminalised by the justice system, it was claimed yesterday, as new figures showed that more than 1,000 youngsters have been jailed for an average of six months each for breaching anti-social behaviour orders. Penal reformers and children’s groups warned last night that the heavy-handed use of Asbos against youngsters risked turning them into criminals in adult life. And new figures showed that 986 children aged 10 to 17 were jailed for breaking Asbos between 2000, when they were launched, and the end of 2006. Another 300 to 400 youngsters are thought to have joined the total in 2007 and 2008.” (08/25/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6ajgha | |
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“The first American war resister deported from Canada — where he had fled after refusing to be deployed to Iraq — was sentenced to 15 months in jail yesterday at a court martial hearing in Colorado. Pte. Robin Long, 25, of Boise, Idaho, was also given a dishonourable discharge after pleading guilty to charges of desertion. The sentence was the longest any convicted army deserter had received since the beginning of the 2003 Iraq war, said retired U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright, a former diplomat who resigned from her post out of protest at the war’s outset.” (08/23/08) Link: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/484115 | |
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Commentaries on The power of art to counter injustice, Afghan woman stands up to warlords, Civil liberties lost since 9/11, the Free Gaza Movement, Slow Food Nation and more! In activist news, Metallica singer’s fence: Heavy-metal impact in Marin, New Zealand Court gives green light to “boobs on bikes” parade, Protesters “reinstate” king in Hawaii, and Bomb victim completes peace walk in UK …. In police state news, Citizens’ US border crossings tracked, Federal court Ruling lets stand Tennessee school’s Confederate flag ban, Two arrests over turbo chair in Germany, Tennessee Sex crime registry may add juveniles, Virginia Teens charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, immigration raid turns Iowa town into open air prison … and, in nanny state news from the UK, Fat children “should be taken from parents” to curb obesity epidemic. Til next week For freedom Mary Lou Link: http://rationalreview.com/land | |
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“The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations. Officials say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed last month by the Department of Homeland Security in a Federal Register notice, is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats. It also reflects the growing number of government systems containing personal information on Americans that can be shared for a broad range of law enforcement and intelligence purposes, some of which are exempt from some Privacy Act protections.” (08/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6n4vf7 | |
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“A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of a Tennessee high school that banned students from wearing clothing with the Confederate battle flag after several racial incidents. Students Derek Barr, Chris White and Roger Craig White claimed in a lawsuit that their free speech rights were violated by the 2005 ban on the Confederate symbol at William Blount High School in Maryville. School officials said their ban came after racial tension that included a fight, a civil rights complaint and graffiti of a Confederate flag, a racial slur and a noose. In its opinion filed Wednesday in Cincinnati, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school officials had a right to ban the flag because they could ‘reasonably forecast’ that it would disrupt education.” (08/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5a4uw5 | |
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“James Hetfield co-founded the influential heavy metal band Metallica and, as its chief songwriter, helped pen and perform strident songs such as Don’t Tread on Me. It might as well be his anthem for property rights in Marin County. The Marin County resident has erected a barbed-wire fence on his property near San Rafael, cutting off a fire trail that locals say has been used for at least a half-century to access treasured hiking trails along scenic ridgelines. Hetfield’s representatives have told county officials that the metal and barbed-wire fence is a response to vandalism on the property. Nonetheless, the decision has infuriated the bikers, hikers and equestrians who use the trail.” [editor’s note: Now we find out if Metallica fans actually listen to the lyrics! - SAT] (08/19/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6xkxm6 | |
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“A New Zealand court has allowed a parade of topless porn stars on motor bikes to proceed on the main street of the country’s biggest city, local media said Tuesday. Auckland City Council had sought a court injunction to stop the ‘Boobs on Bikes’ parade, scheduled for Wednesday, saying it breached a bylaw banning offensive public events. But Judge Nicola Mathers said while opponents may find the parade offensive or tasteless, the fact that 80,000 people had gathered for a similar event last year meant a significant number of people did not agree with the critics, New Zealand Press Association said.” (08/19/08) Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080819/od_nm/parade_porn_odd_dc | |
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“Police in Germany have confiscated what’s thought to be the world’s fastest office chair. Two 17-year-olds had pimped up the offending seat by adding a lawnmower engine, bicycle brakes and a metal frame.The teenagers claimed they had only tested their contraption by riding it a few metres, but witnesses had reported seeing it whizzing about all over the streets of Gross-Zimmern. The pair were arrested. Officers are considering charging them with a variety of offences — including riding a vehicle without insurance, licences or registration.” (08/19/08) Link: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2972634.html | |
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“Tennessee’s failure to include sex offenses by juveniles on its public sex offender registry could start costing the state federal money in 2009. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said the agency is going to ‘wholeheartedly push’ to have the legislature change the sex registry law to include offenses by juveniles. The federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 includes a 10 percent reduction in federal law enforcement funding to states that fail to comply with the law by July 2009. The law allows two annual extensions for states that show significant movement toward including juveniles in public sex offender registries.” [editor’s note: Given how broad a term “sex crime” has become, this is unlikely to be good news - SAT] (08/18/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/58v5fm | |
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“Two Pembroke teenagers have been charged in connection with a series of playing cards that were defaced with threatening writing and left at stores in Christiansburg and Pearisburg — a gesture police said the teens admitted had been inspired by this summer’s Batman movie, ‘The Dark Knight.’ … [Police Chief] J.C. Martin would not say how they identified the suspects but said the teens admitted Tuesday during police interviews they were responsible for the cards, which they patterned after elements of ‘The Dark Knight.’ Both were charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism. In Christiansburg, the same pair of teens was charged Wednesday with disorderly conduct in connection with cards left inside the town’s Kmart, said police Maj. Dalton Reid.” (08/16/08) Link: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/173027 | |
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“Grossly overweight children may be taken from their families and put into care if Britain’s obesity epidemic continues to escalate, council chiefs said yesterday. The Local Government Association argued that parents who allowed their children to eat too much could be as guilty of neglect as those who did not feed their children at all. The association said that until now there had been only a few cases when social services had intervened in obesity cases. But it gave warning that local councils may have to take action much more often and, if necessary, put obese children on ‘at risk’ registers or take them into care. It called for new guidelines to be drawn up to help authorities deal with the issue.” (08/16/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5bk4nn | |
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“It was as if a tornado had whipped through the town or a flood had swallowed up houses. Three months after the raid, that’s how many in Postville describe the events of May 12. Lives disrupted. People pushed out of jobs and homes. Children separated from parents. Businesses verging towards collapse. … And as in any small town swept by disaster, the community quickly banded together to help the victims. In the days following the raid, donations of food, clothing and money poured into St. Bridget’s, which became a sanctuary to nearly 400 immigrants, and to the local food pantry, flocked by families in need.Red ribbons, symbolizing support for the detained workers, still flutter from lamp posts and tree trunks.” (08/17/08) Link: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/136/story/132417.html | |
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“Tourists were turned away from the Iolani Royal Palace in Honolulu yesterday as authorities assessed the damage from its brief occupation by protesters claiming they had reinstalled the islands’ king on the Hawaiian throne. The takeover began late on Friday and lasted for two hours before state police entered the palace grounds to bring it to an end. Officials said that 22 people had been arrested and 14 charged with trespassing. Others faced charges of burglary after forcing their way into the building, allegedly knocking aside and slightly hurting one employee along the way. … A group identifying its leader as King Akahi Nui claimed responsibility for the latest incursion. They distributed an ‘occupation public information bulletin’ after the break -in. It stated that ‘Majesty Akahi Nui, the King of Hawaii, has now reoccupied the throne of Hawaii. The Kingdom of Hawaii is now re-enacted.’ King Nui says he was crowned in 1998.” (08/18/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6ggp4j | |
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“A woman who lost both legs in the 7 July bombings on London’s transport network has completed a 250-mile walk she hopes will help unite communities. Gill Hicks, 38, took 30 days to walk from Leeds to London, stopping in 22 towns and cities along the way. Her Walktalk project aimed to help people of different faiths and communities to engage with each other.” (08/17/08) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7567188.stm | |
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“The town of Postville, Iowa, population 2,000, has been turned into an open-air prison. Jerry Johnson, who works at nearby Luther College, called it something out of a bad science-fiction movie or the kind of thing a 1930s totalitarian regime might have cooked up. ‘This was not only a grievous injustice but a shame on the state of Iowa and the federal government,’ said Mr. Johnson. ‘These were good, decent people who were also the most defenseless.’ On May 12, immigration officials swooped in to arrest 400 undocumented workers from Mexico and Guatemala at the local meat-packing plant, a raid described as the biggest such action at a single site in U.S. history. The raid left 43 women, wives of the men who were taken away, and their 150 children without status or a means of support. The women cannot leave the town, and to make sure they do not they have been outfitted with leg monitoring bracelets. ‘The women are effectively prisoners,’ said Father Paul Ouderkirk at St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church. ‘The difference between them and anybody who is in jail is that in jail the government pays for them, but if they’re on the streets we pay for them.’” (08/16/08) Link: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=726632 | |
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Commentaries on free speech ‘zones’, Protecting our kids … or jeopardizing everyone’s freedom?, state spies on the Net, handcuffing the property cops, Witness Against War, anti-China protests and more! In activist news, Protesters “reinstate” king in Hawaii, Chicoms abduct British protester in Beijing, Beijing’s protest zones: Apply at your own risk, Tennessee Teen battles school’s Confederate flag ban, Mistrial in student’s Confederate flag lawsuit, Ex-drugs policy director calls for legalisation in the UK, Canada to expel US war resister, and Disabled groups protest “Tropic Thunder” premiere In police state news, NYPD plans to track all vehicles in Manhattan, Brit council tells elderly couple to stop feeding birds in their back garden. and college student escorted out of mall by police for a too short dress. Til next week For freedom Mary lou Link: http://rationalreview.com/land | |
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“A teenager’s free-speech lawsuit against a school dress code that banned Confederate flag clothing ended in a mistrial Friday when a jury in federal court failed to reach a verdict. The panel of five women and three men deliberated about 13 hours over three days before telling U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision in the case of Tommy DeFoe, 18. Lawyers for DeFoe and for the Anderson County School Board both claimed victory.” (08/15/08) Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26224642/ | |
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“A British man has been held by police in China after unfurling a pro-Tibet banner on a building in Beijing. Philip Kirk, 24, of St Albans, Herts, and Australian-Canadian Nicole Rycroft, 41, scaled the Central Television building to make their protest. The pair, from the group Students for a Free Tibet, and three other supporting protesters were detained on Friday. Han Shan, spokesman for the campaign group, said the banner read ‘Free Tibet’ in English and Chinese.” (08/15/08) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7562264.stm | |
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“Tommy DeFoe wore his Southern pride on his Confederate flag belt buckle Wednesday as he argued in federal court that a school dress code banning such items violated his free speech rights. ‘I am fighting for my heritage and my rights as a Southerner and an American,’ the lanky DeFoe, 18, said during a break in the trial that started Monday in his lawsuit against the Anderson County School Board and several county education officials. DeFoe’s lawsuit is the latest in a string of cases across the South since the 1990s challenging dress codes that ban Confederate flag apparel: a prom gown in Kentucky, purses in Texas, T-shirts in Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia. … The all-white jury in DeFoe’s case deliberated two hours and will resume work today.” (08/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5rczyn | |
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“A Kentucky college student has hired a lawyer after she was escorted out of a mall by security on Sunday because her dress was deemed too short, MyFOXBoston reports. Kymberly Clem, a 20-year-old student at Eastern Kentucky University, wore the dress Sunday after purchasing it from the mall in Richmond the previous day, the Richmond Register reported Tuesday. After just a few minutes inside of the mall, a security guard approached her and expressed concerns over the length of the garment. According to MyFOXBoston, the guard informed her that several female patrons had complained that she was disrupting their shopping experience because their husbands were ‘checking her out.’” [editor’s note: The short hemline has less to do with it than what’s inside it; she’d be a cutie in a frickin’ muumuu — Get over it, ladies! - SAT] (08/13/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403146,00.html | |
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“A former senior civil servant who was responsible for coordinating the government’s anti-drugs policy now believes that legalisation would be less harmful than the current strategy. Julian Critchley, the former director of the Cabinet Office’s anti-drugs unit, also said that his views were shared by the ‘overwhelming majority’ of professionals in the field, including police officers, health workers and members of the government.” (08/13/08) Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/aug/13/drugs.legislation | |
Commentary
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“Two weeks ago, I had never heard of South Ossetia and I could only tell you four things about Georgia. 1. It was a former Soviet republic. 2. It was somewhere on the southern periphery of Russia, but I could not tell you exactly where. 3. It was Joe Stalin’s home country. 4. It was the Georgia the Beatles sang of in ‘Back in the USSR.’ Now, Bush, Cheney and McCain are foaming at the mouth over a purely regional conflict involving Georgia that has no bearing whatsoever on America.” (08/26/08) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle482-20080824-03.html | |
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“Anti-government protesters stormed government buildings and blocked roads in the Thai capital Bangkok on Tuesday, sending residents fleeing and the stock market diving. The unrest ominously points to splits inside the military, and the honeymoon following former premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s flight into exile is over.” (08/26/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JH27Ae02.html | |
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“The threat of violent protests at the Democratic National Convention was a topic of endless discussion here in Denver leading up to the DNC. There were city council meetings, lawsuits, hand wringing and secret detentions centers (otherwise known as Gitmo on the Platte). Yet, up to this point, it seems, all of it was an overreaction to a clever public relations campaign waged by a handful of ‘anarchist’ groups.” (08/25/08) Link: http://davidharsanyi.com/blog/2008/08/25/seattle-its-not/ | |
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‘In June, 2008, by a vote of 137 to 110, Canadian parliamentarians in a non-binding resolution asked the Harper government not to deport US war resisters ‘who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations.’ Yet, one month later, in a controversial move, Canadian police jailed and then deported on July 15, 2008, US war resister Robin Long for having not reported a change of address. Canadian Immigration put Long into the waiting hands of US law enforcement authorities who immediately turned Long over to the US Army.” (08/25/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/24/11135/ | |
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“This morning I am sorry to find myself back on dry land in Cyprus, separated from my fellow sailors who are now completing the final leg of their trip to Gaza. They are carrying humanitarian and medical aid to a people now suffering both an international boycott and the illegal Israeli occupation. On board the refurbished fishing boats, SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, are more than 50 activists from 17 nations — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, farmers, fishermen, officials, language teachers, piano technicians and one 85-year-old Holocaust survivor — all united in their determination to break the Israeli siege.” (08/23/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/qashoo08232008.html | |
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“’That stuff is bad news,’ my friends told me. ‘It’ll mess you up, even kill you.’ But I didn’t listen. I needed a fix, and I needed it soon. The place where I used to score was shut down, and it was imperative that I find a new connection. I hit the streets, and it didn’t take long to find someone who was holding.” (08/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5cklb9 | |
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“The artist’s role as social commentator and activist has historically been engrained in our culture. Art and its creation as a response to social and political issues can become powerfully influential in raising public awareness that results in positive change. Art as a social weapon has been around for a long time. Recall the great German expressionist painter Kathe Kollwitz, who created works of art that centered on themes such as poverty, unemployment and worker exploitation. Diego Rivera and the other Mexican muralists used their art as a tool for the oppressed against their oppressors. They expressed their opinions and got their message across to the literate and illiterate alike, and earned worldwide recognition. In April 1937, the world learned the shocking truth about the Nazi Luftwaffe’s bombing of Guernica, Spain — a civilian target; Pablo Picasso responded with his great anti-war painting, Guernica.” (08/21/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/papa08212008.html | |
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“Afghanistan lives in the fear of the US-sponsored war lords. These hated warlords are not scared by the Taliban-monster raising its head in the south. Ironically, they live in the fear of an unarmed girl in her late twenties: Malalai Joya. To silence Joya’s defiant voice, war lords dominating national parliament, suspended Joy’s membership for three years in 2007. Earlier, at almost every parliamentary session she attended, she had her hair pulled or physically attacked and called names (‘whore’). ‘They even threatened me in the parliament with rape’, she says. But she neither toned down her criticism of war lords (‘they must be tried’) nor US occupation (‘war on terror’ is a mockery). Understandably, she’s been declared the ‘bravest woman in Afghanistan’ and even compared with Aung Sun Suu Kyi.” (08/18/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/sulehria08182008.html | |
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“This is the home page for the Loss of Civil Liberties Since 9/11 investigative project, one of several grassroots investigations being hosted on the History Commons website. The data published as part of this investigation has been collected, organized, and published by members of the public who are registered users of this website.” (08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5cz6r6 | |
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“In a few, short days, the Free Gaza Movement, a diverse group of international human rights activists from seventeen different countries, will set sail from Cyprus to Gaza in order to shatter the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. I’m proud to stand with them. Over 170 prominent individuals and organizations have endorsed our efforts, including the Carter Center, former British Cabinet member Clare Short, and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire and Desmond Tutu.” (08/17/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11042/ | |
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Slow Food Nation celebrates the good, clean and fair
Source: Point Reyes Light Author: Molly Birnbaum “Slow Food is a tomato, plucked from the garden. It is a wedge of Red Hawk cheese from Cowgirl Creamery and beef short ribs from Marin Sun Farms. It is Peter Worsley and Warren Weber. It is a discussion and a debate, a concept and a crowd. Slow Food, exalted by some and disparaged by others, is a movement that has seen a worldwide explosion in the last two decades. Its mission: to create a food system that is ‘good, clean, and fair.’ That mission is gaining momentum in the national media: Slow Food Nation, a gargantuan festival in San Francisco set for Labor Day Weekend, will be the first-ever American gathering to unify the sustainable food movement. It is no surprise that West Marin is playing an active role in the event-the mission fits comfortably in the county’s vibrant community of organic farmers and conscientious local eaters.” (08/16/08) Link: http://www.ptreyeslight.com/cgi/latest_news.pl?record=176 | |
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“There was no reason it had to come down like this: Two militant greens standing in the middle of an isolated, snow-crusted road in a place where a road should never be; bracing their bodies against a train of logging trucks, snowmobiles, and Forest Service jeeps groaning at the gate, demanding entry; willingly subjecting themselves to arrest by Idaho troopers armed with guns, clubs, and a draconian and sub-constitutional new law. All in a last-gasp attempt to halt a vastly destructive timber sale in the heart of the nation’s largest roadless area, a timber sale two federal judges had already found to be a brazen assault on our national environmental laws.” (08/16/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/stclair08162008.html | |
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“The bulwark against tyranny is dissent. Open opposition, the right to challenge those in power, is a mainstay of any healthy democracy. The Democratic and Republican conventions will test the commitment of the two dominant U.S. political parties to the cherished tradition of dissent. Things are not looking good.” (08/14/08) Link: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080813_dont_cage_dissent/ | |
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Protecting our kids … or jeopardizing everyone’s freedom?
Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: C. Alexander Evans “Few crimes deserve greater sanction than child sex offense. Such crimes betray all reasonable standards of moral conduct and they are (deservedly) punished harshly. Yet in society’s understandable rush to punish these criminals, the Constitution is being violated. Residency restrictions, unconstitutional laws that bar sex offenders from living in a specified area, are on the rise. But why break the highest law for the lowest crime? When government betrays the Constitution, no matter the reason, we jeopardize everyone’s freedom.” (08/14/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0814/p09s01-coop.html | |
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“As many as 280,000 Chinese bloggers are reported to have been appointed by the government to disseminate pro-party propaganda, notify the authorities of dissent and otherwise police China’s cyberspace. The so-called ‘Five Mao Party’ uses pseudonyms to post pro-party opinions, but regular bloggers already distrust and dislike the imposters.” (08/13/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JH14Ad01.html | |
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“Susana Tregobov dries clothes on a line behind her Maryland townhouse, saving energy and money. But now her homeowners association has ordered her to bring in the laundry. The crackdown came after a neighbor complained that the clothesline ‘makes our community look like Dundalk,’ a low-income part of Baltimore. Tregobov and her husband plan to fight for their right to a clothesline, but the odds are against them. Although their state recently passed a law protecting homeowners’ rights to erect solar panels for generating electricity, it is still legal in Maryland for communities to ban solar clothes-drying.” (08/12/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5zdd7e | |
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“Witness Against War continues westward to La Crosse later this week and then begins its northwestward trek along the Mississippi River, aiming to arrive in Saint Paul on August 30, in time for the Republican National Convention. Emphasizing that the issue is not about Democrat or Republican; that it’s not about Left or Right; but rather that it is about what is Right and Wrong — Witness Against War began its trek in Chicago, site of the 1968 Democratic Convention and will end in Saint Paul, site of this year’s Republican Convention. It truly is a matter of challenging the powers-that-be within both political parties and holding both accountable for ending the Iraq and Afghanistan war.” (08/11/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/leys08112008.html | |
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“For once, mainstream media have found an anti-government protest to embrace. When the Olympic torch arrived in San Francisco on April 9 and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to decry human rights abuses by the Chinese government, journalists descended on the scene like ants at a picnic. CNN led the feeding frenzy. … In many ways, it was a coup for protest organizers, whose message reached far and wide. Despite much shallow coverage and inane speculation about the whereabouts and path of the rerouted torch (Daily Show, 4/10/08), CNN actually did provide a number of different angles on the story and acknowledged its importance.” (08/10/08) Link: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3581 | |
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“‘To queue is glorious,’ reads a new catchphrase festooned across Beijing as part of the government’s frantic push to improve social etiquette for the Olympics. Swearing, spitting, littering, not smiling and raising livestock at home are just a few of the banned habits as Beijing strives to refine its ‘civilizational levels.’” (08/07/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JH08Ad01.html | |
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“The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a criminal act on an epic scale. It was premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsic criminality. For this reason its apologists have sought refuge in the mythology of the ultimate ‘good war,’ whose ‘ethical bath,’ as Richard Drayton called it, has allowed the west not only to expiate its bloody imperial past but to promote 60 years of rapacious war, always beneath the shadow of The Bomb. The most enduring lie is that the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war in the Pacific and save lives.” (08/06/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5p8esa | |
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“This week, to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, hundreds of us converged on Los Alamos, New Mexico, birthplace of the bomb, and did what some may think strange. Taking a page from the book of Jonah, we sat in sackcloth and ashes, like the people of Ninevah, and repented of the mortal sin of war and nuclear weapons. Along Trinity Drive we sat in silence, our hearts begging the God of peace for the gift of nuclear disarmament.You might think it strange that people resort to sackcloth and ashes. But in a town where thousands of people build and perfect weapons of mass destruction, in a world of war, executions, poverty, starvation, nuclear weapons, and global warming, our gesture was an eminently sane thing to do.” (08/06/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/06/10829/ | |
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“Slow Food Nation leader Alice Waters — founder of Berkeley’s famous Chez Panisse Restaurant and author of eight food books — spoke at the small town (8000 people) Sebastopol Farmers’ Market in Northern California August 3. She was interviewed about the August 29-31 SFN celebration to happen around San Francisco by KRCB public radio host Michelle Anna Jordan for her ‘Mouthful’ program to run that evening. ‘We want to lift a loud voice to change our food system,’ Waters responded when asked about SFN, where over 50,000 people are expected. ‘We need to change the ways we grow, distribute, and eat food, which needs to be good, clean, and fair. Things are at a crisis point with respect to health and the environment.’ Waters described how the lawn in front of San Francisco’s Civic Center, one of the sites for SFN, has been replaced with a victory garden. ‘We have been talking about a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. This would be a way to talk about stewardship and nourishment. Thomas Jefferson had such a garden.’” (08/05/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/05/10806/ | |
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The anthrax attacks and the assault on civil liberties
Source: CounterPunch Author: Paul Craig Roberts “Sami Al-Arian is a fabricated terrorist created by federal prosecutors and judges in behalf of an undeclared agenda. The Al-Arian case proves that terrorists are in short supply and that the Bush Regime has had to create them out of total innocents. The ‘war on terror’ is a hoax used to justify war crimes and the overthrow of America’s civil liberties. The anthrax scare is one more example of the Bush Regime’s use of disinformation to advance an undeclared political agenda. As Glenn Greenwald reminded us last week in Salon, the Bush Regime used Brian Ross at ABC News to spread the lie far and wide that US government tests proved that the anthrax mailed to various Americans, including prominent US Senators, was made in Iraq by Saddam Hussein. This lie was essential for scaring Congress into passing the Bush Regime’s Gestapo laws, such as the PATRIOT Act, and for overcoming opposition to invading Iraq. When it leaked out that the anthrax actually came from a US government lab, the Bush Regime tried to frame a US scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, but failed. On June 28th, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hatfill, ‘The former Army scientist who was the prime suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings agreed Friday to take $5.82 million from the government to settle his claim that the Justice Department and the FBI invaded his privacy and ruined his career.’” (08/05/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/roberts08052008.html | |
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“Is the Democratic Party an inept opposition that is out of touch with its constituency? Don’t citizens have a right to assemble publicly and air their grievances? Isn’t a country that welcomes debate and dissent, even when it is ‘civilly disobedient,’ preferable to a National Security State where all dissent as attacked for even existing as such?” (08/04/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/wright08042008.html | |
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“Efforts to free Sami al-Arian have now reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 30 an appeal was lodged with the Court by his attorneys, led by Professor Jonathan Turley. There are few prospects in the justice system so grimly awful as when the feds decide never to let go. Rebuffed in their persecutions of some target by juries, or by contrary judges, they shift ground, betray solemn agreements, dream up new stratagems to exhaust their victims, drive them into bankruptcy, despair and even suicide. They have all the money and all the time in the world. Several months ago I wrote here about the appalling vendetta conducted by the US Justice Department against Sami al-Arian, a professor from Florida who had the book thrown at him in 2003 by Attorney General Ashcroft.” (08/03/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cockburn08022008.html | |
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“For a tiny town of 2000, Postville, Iowa has been tagged with a lot of superlatives lately. The biggest immigration raid in American history. The biggest Kosher meatpacking plant in the country. And now, maybe the biggest scandal over slaughterhouse work conditions since Upton Sinclair wrote ‘The Jungle.’ On May 12, federal agents swooped in to round up nearly 400 mostly Guatemalan immigrant workers for prison time and deportation. Now comes the inside story of coercion, child labor, and cattle guts — a meat hook beating, and workers who say they felt like slaves. This hour, On Point: The uproar in Postville.” (07/29/08) Link: http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/07/the-postville-raid/ | |
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“Just as a runaway slave would run from house to house to get to a free state, I have used the Internet to go from websites to blogs, to arrive at a free state of mind. The only difference is that runaway slaves started off with their eyes on freedom; I merely started off with justification for what I believed, to sing in the choir someone was preaching to. I ended up with the frightening notion that freedom really and truly exists within each individual alone; and that any ideology, religious belief, political process, or preconceived notion that opposes or limits individual freedom must be wrestled with and eventually discarded.” (07/31/08) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/82/merrick/merrick2.html | |
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“The Chinese government’s obsession with its role as host of next month’s Summer Olympics has led to a raft of security policies — surveillance cameras, visa restrictions, forced relocations and work stoppages — that some say will take the fun out of the Games.” (07/30/08) Link: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JG30Ad01.html | |
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“At 6:45 a.m. yesterday morning, our friend, Joel Gulledge, called from At-Tuwani, a village in the West Bank where he and another Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) member were escorting Palestinian children to a local summer daycamp, protecting them from hostile Israeli settlers. A masked settler, carrying a slingshot, was threatening the children. While Jan Benvie, the other CPT team member, raced the children to safety, Joel paused to film what was happening. The masked settler caught up with Joel and attacked him. ‘He smashed my head again and again,’ said Joel, ‘with my video camera, and punched me in the face, repeatedly, with his other hand.’ Joel managed to remain standing. He didn’t fight back, but he screamed for help. The attacker broke Joel’s glasses, and Joel was bleeding from a gash over his eyes. When he called, he was waiting for an ambulance to arrive.” (07/28/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/kelly07282008.html | |
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“Daniel Ellsberg is the kind of American who should receive a Medal of Freedom. Except that the Medals of Freedom are distributed by presidents who routinely give them to ‘useful idiots’ and apologists for their wars and power grabs. It should be renamed the Medal for Enabling or Applauding Official Crimes in the Name of Freedom. Ellsberg knowingly risked spending a life in prison to bring the truth about the Vietnam War to Americans. He had hoped truth would set Americans free from the spell of official lies. But the experience in Iraq indicates that Americans have learned little if anything from the Vietnam-era deceits.” (07/24/08) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bovard07242008.html | |
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“What part of the Fourth Amendment do the Vermont State Police not understand? We ask this question after reading an Associated Press story that appeared in Monday’s Reformer about a librarian in Randolph who seems to know a little bit more about the law than the state police.” (07/24/08) Link: http://www.reformer.com/reformereditorials/ci_9967728 | |
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“The peace movement was moving full-throttle during the primary season to confront the presidential candidates on the war, and can take credit for helping to shift the momentum from Hillary Clinton — who voted for the invasion of Iraq — to Barack Obama — who opposed the invasion. And we have certainly contributed to the momentous shift on the need for a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. We have also moved into high gear to prevent a war with Iran, and so far, have been holding our ground on that front. But in Afghanistan the peace movement has been missing in action. This has come back to hit us in the face during Barack Obama’s Middle East trip, where he called for sending 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan. John McCain, not to be one-upped in putting our young men and women in harm’s way, is also calling for an escalation of the Afghan war.” (07/24/08) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/24/10574/ | |
Action Items
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Restore the Constitution in your county now
Source: from Reason to Freedom Author: Melinda Pillsbury-Foster “This is the first Restore the Constitution Project for you to undertake in your county. Using it you can deliver the message that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. You will find instructions, sources for supplies and a Proof of Service Form for this project. Other projects, each on its own small site, will follow. Using these, you can serve law enforcement officers with a letter and a copy of the Constitution. If you like, you can also include a copy of ‘The Proper Role of Law Enforcement,’ by Sheriff Richard Mack. The project can be carried out by a small group very inexpensively. It is the first of a series of such projects. Together, the projects will enable you to restore your county to government by the people, transitioning from the present system to one that is stable and reliable and resistant to becoming uppity.” (08/08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6ohamn | |
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“The Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve have been forced from their ancestral lands in a wave of evictions by the Botswana government. In 2006 they won an historic legal victory when Botswana’s High Court ruled that their eviction was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional.’” (02/08) Link: http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/bushmen | |
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“On November 1st of this year, the tax moratorium on the Internet is set to expire. If not renewed, Internet users could expect to see higher internet rates as additional taxes could be applied.” Link: http://www.populistamerica.com/say_no_to_internet_taxation | |
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“On April 16, 2007, twenty-seven students and five faculty members at Virginia Tech lost their lives to a madman who possessed one distinct advantage over his victims — He was not concerned with following the rules. Undeterred by Virginia Tech’s status as a ‘gun free zone,’ this mentally unstable individual carried two handguns onto the university campus and indiscriminately opened fire. During the week of October 22-27, 2007, college students throughout America will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and campus policies that stack the odds in favor of armed killers by disarming law abiding citizens who are licensed to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else.” (10/09/07) Link: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article3989.html | |
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“In honor of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic ‘March on Washington’ for civil rights, The Firearms Coalition is joining with other gun rights groups to declare August 28 ‘National Exercise Yo |