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November 09
will try to make my blog interesting and to ster u to other interesting ones.
so glad or crimminal pres. is out we'll see how the new one will be. i await for his actions. hope he incourages the Dem. congress to investigate bushys administration, free the men in Guantanamo, Cuba as well as have the guts to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, Venazuela, and Boliva, Iran etc., and stop the spying on those countrys and get Anerica back as the greatest loved country in the world as it was after WWII, instead of trying to overthrough democratically electeed governments as we have done since Eisenhower started it in 1952- Guatamala.
Iraq was invaded to controll the region and that should be enough to put Bushy in jail for live!! All those people killed so Bushy could give his wealthy crimminal friends billions for there arms industries- u know, the military industrial complex. Same goes for his crimminal father. October 27 one of the bad things about Spaces is that they put in links at the top of ur blog that make them look like u are the author. HOW CRUDE shame on Spaces
it took me awhile, but i am finally off of MS for good. i felt like a phony having that sight since it was sold to that right wing NAZI, Rupert Murdock.
i'm sure he bought it to be able to get all the info that will help him get his NAZI friends into government sso they will, in turn, give him freedom to buy up as much media as he can- like he did with Pres. Reagan; read my blog on the lying right wing press. they actually have people believing that the large media are controlled by librals!!! LMAO
but one must give them credit for fooling most americans with their lies and crimminal activity. Bushy took it to new heights!!! now we will see if the weak democrats will get some guts and impeach bushy and the crimminal republican pary September 28
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway. January 12
slow me down
SLOW DOWN ALAN
EASE THE POUNDING OF YOUR HEART
BY THE QUITING OF YOUR MIND.
STEADY Y0UR HURRIED PACE WITH A VISION OF
THE ETERNAL REACH OF TIME.
GIVE YOURSELF, AMID THE CONFUSION OF THE DAY,
THE CALMNESS OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS.
BREAK THE TENSIONS OF YOUR NERVES AND
MUSCLES WITH THE SOOTHING MUSIC OF THE
SINGING STREAMS THAT LIVE IN YOUR MEMERY.
LEARN TO KNOW THE MAGICAL, RESTORING
POWER OF SLEEP.
TEACH YOURSELF THE ART OF
TAKING MINUTE VACATIONS--
OF SLOWING DOWN TO LOOK AT A FLOWER,
TO CHAT WITH A FRIEND, TO PAT AN ANIMAL, TO
READ A FEW LINES FROM A GOOD BOOK.
SLOW DOWN ALAN AND INSPIRE YOURSELF TO
SEND YOUR ROOTS DEEP INTO THE SOIL OF
LIFE'S ENDURING VALUES
THAT YOU MAY GROW TOWARD
THE STARS OF YOUR GREATER DESTINY.
FROM THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE, HOLOGRAM (Alan)
and try to remember for the sake of peace;
Remember that the jerk who cut u off in traffic last night may have been a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.
Remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young person who can't make change correctly may be a worried 19- year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.
And, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who you said really ought to get a job!) may be a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking ur shopping progress are savoring this! moment , knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.
Remind yourself each day that, of all the gifts you give others, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.
Remember that you remembered to do this without the help of some god someone else thought up for you to follow, by using fear-- you did it on your own because your a good person. The bad comes from the hate of others that religions subtly teach; they are not as "good" as you and they are "evil." This is first step in the justification of violence and wars.
It will never change, only u can, and anyway it's all like tears in the rain when you die. But, it's really hard to think that humans can be so hateful when all they really want is someone to love and love them!!!
but, to each his own, or, c'iet la vie
We are never happy with objects or accomplishments. We only think so. This is why the wealthy are always wanting more and we feel we must brag about "things." But, in fact happiness is always in front of us- it isn't the end but the means that satisfied us. As soon as the accomplishing is over there is always an empty sensation few recognize and try to overcome by the brag, which makes it all the worse. It's the doing, not the done that fulfills us. Forget about everything accept the "DO." What do you think of all that bullshit? We only gain wisdom when we stop listening to "me, me, me." I'm not so nieve as to think that that is easy after all we assimulate on the way to developing the personality.
so much for hologram lectures. LMAO December 30 The laws covering the ownership of TV, radio, newspapers, etc. were changed by Pres. Reagan and Bush so that there wealthy friends could buy them all up and control the information u get. That is way Murdock loved Reagan and now Bush. He and 2 others control ur info. And the wealthy republican televangelist religious fanatics that bushy has funneled millions of tax payer dollars to so they can buy all the TV and radio stations that bushy changed the law to let them own as many as they wanted so they can spread they're money making lies and hate for anyone not following their god. It's not Murdocks and companys fault, they just are greedy as most business men are. It was Reagan and the Bush family that sold out our nations freedom of the press and in that way sold out our democracy to the ones who would put them in office. One of the biggest crimes against American democracy. ever. Now all the old journalist are crying as they are let go for not doing what Murdock and friends tells them to, but where were they when the public needed to be informed of the changes so they could raise a fuss? t Americans sold out for flashy, no help, stupid "news."
But u can still do something. Don't believe the right wing Republican lies. Vote them out, along with their spying "Homeland Security," scare tactics. This country use to be free of that NAZI propoganda, make it that way again.
now bushy is making it very hard to get the evidence that would convict him and his criminal friends December 29 SLOW ME DOWN
EASE THE POUNDING OF MY HEART
BY THE QUITING OF MY MIND.
STEADY MY HURRIED PACE WITH A VISION OF
THE ETERNAL REACH OF TIME.
GIVE ME, AMID THE CONFUSION OF THE DAY,
THE CALMNESS OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS.
BREAK THE TENSIONS OF MY NERVES AND
MUSCLES WITH THE SOOTHING MUSIC OF THE
SINGING STREAMS THAT LIVE IN MY MEMERY.
HELP ME TO KNOW THE MAGICAL, RESTORING
POWER OF SLEEP.
TEACH ME THE ART OF TAKING MINUTE
VACATIONS--OF SLOWING DOWN TO LOOK AT A
FLOWER, TO CHAT WITH A FRIEND, TO PAT AN ANIMAL, TO
READ A FEW LINES FROM A GOOD BOOK.
SLOW ME DOWN, LORD, AND INSPIRE ME TO
SEND MY ROOTS DEEP INTO THE SOIL OF LIFE'S ENDURING
VALUES THAT I MAY GROW TOWARD THE STARS
OF MY GREATER DESTINY.
FROM THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE, HOLOGRAM (Alan)
and try to remember for the sake of peace;
Remember that the jerk who cut u off in traffic last
night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to
cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments
with her children.
Remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young person who
can't make change correctly is a worried 19- year-old college student, balancing
his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans
for next semester.
And, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot
every day (who you said really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can
only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through
the store aisles and blocking ur shopping progress are savoring this! moment ,
knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be
the last year that they go shopping together.
Remind yourself each day that, of all the gifts you give others, the
greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold
dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all
humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy
and love.
Remember that you remembered to do this without the help of some god someone else thought up for you to follow, by using fear-- you did it on your own because your a good person to begin with. the bad comes from the hate of others that religions subtly teach you are not as good as you and that they are "evil." the first step in the justification of violence and wars. it will never change and anyway it's all lilke tears in the rain when you die. but, it's really hard to think that humans can be so hateful when all they really want is someone to love them!!!
but, to each his own, or, c'iet la vie
We are never happy with objects or accomplishments. We only think so. This is why the wealthy are always wanting more and we feel we must brag about "things." But, in fact happiness is always in front of us- it isn't the end but the means that satisfied us. As soon as the accomplishing is over there is always an empty sensation few recognize and try to overcome by the brag, which makes it all the worse. It's the doing, not the done that fulfills us.
Forget about everything accept the "DO." What do you think of all that bullshit? We only gain wisdom when we stop listening to "me, me, me." I'm not so nieve as to think that that is easy after all we assimulate on the way to developing the personality.
so much for hologram lectures. LMAO December 20
Dedicated to bringing you what you won't find in the mainstream media.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Note: If you are reading this post through Facebook, please click on the 'view original post' link
Mondo GloboDecember 4, 2007 Phil Leggiere
2001
January
Presidential directive delays indefinitely the scheduled release of presidential documents (authorized by the Presidential Records Act of 1978) pertaining to the Reagan-Bush administration. Link
Bush and Cheney begin process of radically broadening scope of documents and information which can be deemed classified. Link
February
The National Security Agency (NSA) sets up Project Groundbreaker, a domestic call monitoring program infrastructure. Link
Spring
Bush administration order authorizes NSA monitoring of domestic phone and internet traffic. Link

May
US Supreme Court rules that medical necessity is not a permissible defense against federal marijuana statutes. Link
September
In immediate aftermath of 9-11 terror attacks, Department of Justice authorizes detention without charge for any terror suspects. Over one thousand suspects are brought into detention over the next several months. Link (pdf)
October
Attorney General John Ashcroft announces change in Department of Justice (DOJ) policy. According to the new policy DOJ will impose far more stringent criteria for the granting of Freedom of Information Act requests. Link
September-October
NSA launches massive new database of information on US phone calls. Link
October
The USA Patriot Act becomes law. Among other things the law: makes it a crime for anyone to contribute money or material support for any group on the State Department’s Terror Watch List, allows the FBI to monitor and tape conversations between attorneys and clients, allows the FBI to order librarians to turn over information about patron’s reading habits, allows the government to conduct surveillance on internet and email use of US citizens without notice. The act also calls for expanded use of National Security Letters (NSLs), which allow the FBI to search telephone, email and financial records of US citizens without a court order, exempts the government from needing to reveal how evidence against suspected terrorists was obtained and authorizes indefinite detention of immigrants at the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities.
NJ Superior court judge and civil liberties scholar Anthony Napolitano, author of A Nation of Sheep, has described the law’s assault on first and fourth amendment principles as follows, “The Patriot Act’s two most principle constitutional errors are an assault on the Fourth Amendment, and on the First. It permits federal agents to write their own search warrants [under the name “national security letters”] with no judge having examined evidence and agreed that it’s likely that the person or thing the government wants to search will reveal evidence of a crime… Not only that, but the Patriot Act makes it a felony for the recipient of a self-written search warrant to reveal it to anyone. The Patriot Act allows [agents] to serve self-written search warrants on financial institutions, and the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2004 in Orwellian language defines that to include in addition to banks, also delis, bodegas, restaurants, hotels, doctors’ offices, lawyers’ offices, telecoms, HMOs, hospitals, casinos, jewelry dealers, automobile dealers, boat dealers, and that great financial institution to which we all would repose our fortunes, the post office. Link 1 | Link 2
November
Executive order limits release of presidential documents. The order gives incumbent presidents the right to veto requests to open any past presidential records and supersedes the congressionally passed law of 1978 mandating release of all presidential records not explicitly deemed classified. Link
2002
Winter
FBI and Department of Defense (DOD), forbidden by law from compiling databases on US citizens, begin contracting with private database firm ChoicePoint to collect, store, search and maintain data. Link
Spring
Secret executive order issued authorizing NSA to wiretap the phones and read emails of US citizens. Link

Spring
Transportation Security Adminstration (TSA) acknowledges it has created both a “No Fly” and a separate “Watch” list of US travelers. Link
May
Department of Justice authorizes the FBI to monitor political and religious groups. The new rules permit the FBI to broadly search or monitor the internet for evidence of criminal activity without having any tips or leads that a specific criminal act has been committed. Link
June
Supreme Court upholds the right of school administrators to conduct mandatory drug testing of students without probable cause. Link
November
Homeland Security Act of 2002 establishes separate Department of Homeland Security. Among other things the department will federally coordinate for the first time all local and state law enforcement nationwide and run a Directorate of Information and Analysis with authority to compile comprehensive data on US citizens using public and commercial records including credit card, phone, bank, and travel. The department also will be exempt form Freedom of Information Act disclosure requirements. The Homeland Security department’s jurisdiction has been widely criticized for being nebulously defined and has extended beyond terrorism into areas including immigration, pornography and drug enforcement. Link 1 | Link 2
2003
February
Draft of Domestic Security Enhancement Act (aka Patriot Act 2), a secret document prepared by the Department of Justice is leaked by the Center for Public Integrity. Provisions of the February 7th draft version included:
Removal of court-ordered prohibitions against police agencies spying on domestic groups.
The FBI would be granted powers to conduct searches and surveillance based on intelligence gathered in foreign countries without first obtaining a court order.
Creation of a DNA database of suspected terrorists.
Prohibition of any public disclosure of the names of alleged terrorists including those who have been arrested.
Exemptions from civil liability for people and businesses who voluntarily turn private information over to the government.
Criminalization of the use of encryption to conceal incriminating communications.
Automatic denial of bail for persons accused of terrorism-related crimes, reversing the ordinary common law burden of proof principle. All alleged terrorists would be required to demonstrate why they should be released on bail rather than the government being required to demonstrate why they should be held.
Expansion of the list of crimes eligible for the death penalty.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency would be prevented from releasing “worst case scenario” information to the public about chemical plants.
United States citizens whom the government finds to be either members of, or providing material support to, terrorist groups could have their US citizenship revoked and be deported to foreign countries.
Although the bill itself has never (yet) been advanced in congress due to public exposure, some of its provisions have become law as parts of other bills. For example The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge. Under the law, the FBI does not need to seek a court order to access such records, nor does it need to prove just cause. Link 1 | Link 2
March
Executive order issued which radically tightens the declassification process of classified government documents, as well as making it far easier for government agencies to make and keep information classified. The order delayed by three years the release of declassified government documents dating from 1978 or earlier. It also allowed the government to treat all material sent to American officials from foreign governments — no matter how routine — as subject to classification, and expanded the ability of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to shield documents from declassification. Finally it gave the vice president the power to classify information. Link 1 | Link 2
March
In a ruling seen as a victory for the concentration of ownership of intellectual property and an erosion of the public domain, the Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft held that a 20-year extension of the copyright period (from 50 years after the death of the author to 70 years) called for by the Sonny Bono copyright Extension not violate either the Copyright Clause or the First Amendment. Link
April
In Demore v. Kim, the Supreme Court ruled that even permanent residents could be subject to mandatory detention when facing deportation based on a prior criminal conviction, without any right to an individualized hearing to determine whether they were dangerous or a flight risk. Link
Fall
The FBI changes its traditional policy of destroying all data and documents collected on innocent citizens in the course of criminal investigations. This information would, according to the bureau, now be permanently stored. Two years later in late 2005 Executive Order 13388, expanded access to those files for “state, local and tribal” governments and for “appropriate private sector entities,” which are not defined. Link 1 | Link 2
Fall
As authorized by the Patriot Act, the FBI expands the practice of national security letters. NSLs, originally introduced in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, enabled the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. This was extended by the Patriot Act to include permitting clandestine scrutiny of all U.S. residents and visitors whether suspected of terrorism or not. Link
2004
January
The FBI begins keeping a database of US citizens based on information obtained via NSLs. Link
Spring
John Ashcroft invokes State Secrets privilege to forbid former FBI translator Sibel Edmunds from testifying in a case brought by families of victims of the 9-11 attacks. Litigation by 9-11 families is subsequently halted. Link 1 | Link 2
June
Supreme Court upholds Nevada state law allowing police to arrest suspects who refuse to provide identification based on police discretion of “reasonable suspicion.” Link
2005
January
Supreme court rules that police do not need to have probable cause to have drug sniffing dogs examine cars stopped for routine traffic violations. Link 1 | Link 2
June
Supreme Court rules that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana users even in states which have laws permitting medical marijuana. Link
Summer
The Patriot Act, due to expire at the end of 2005, is reauthorized by Congress. Link
Winter 2005
Senate blocks reauthorization of certain clauses in Patriot Act. Link
2006
March
Senate passes amended version of Patriot Act, reauthorization, with three basic changes from the original including: recipients of secret court orders to turn over sensitive information on individuals linked to terrorism investigations are not allowed to disclose those orders but can challenge the gag order after a year, libraries would not be required to turn over information without the approval of a judge, recipients of an FBI “national security letter” — an investigator’s demand for access to personal or business information — would not have to tell the FBI if they consult a lawyer. New bill also said to extend Congressional oversight over executive department usage guidelines. Shortly after bill is signed George Bush declares oversight rules are not binding. Link 1 | Link 2
June
Supreme court rules that evidence obtained in violation of the “knock and announce” rules can still be permitted in court. Link
September
US Congress and Senate approve the Military Commissions Act, which authorizes torture and strips non- US citizen detainees suspected of terrorist ties of the right of habeas corpus (which includes formal charges, counsel and hearings). It also empowers US presidents at their discretion to declare US citizens as enemy combatants and subject to detention without charge or due process
Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3
October
John Warner Defense Authorization Act is passed. The act allows a president to declare a public emergency and station US military troops anywhere in America as well as take control of state based national guard units without consent of the governor or other local authorities. The law authorizes presidential deployment of US troops to round-up and detain “potential terrorists”, “illegal aliens” and “disorderly” citizenry. Link 1 | Link 2
2007
May
National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51) establishes a new post-disaster plan (with disaster defined as any incident, natural or man-made, resulting in extraordinary mass casualties, damage or disruption) which places the president in charge of all three branches of government. The directive overrides the National Emergencies Act which gives Congress power to determine the duration of a national emergency. Link 1 | Link 2
June
In “Bong Hits for Jesus” case Supreme court rules that student free speech rights do not extend to promotion of drug use. Link
July
Executive Order 13438: “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq, issued. The order asserts the government’s power to confiscate the property “of persons determined to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.”
October
The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Act passes the House of Representatives 400 to 6 (to be voted on in the Senate in 2008). The act proposes the establishment of a commission composed of members of the House and Senate, Homeland Security and others, to “examine and report upon the facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States” and specifically the role of the internet in fostering and disseminating extremism. According to the bill the term `violent radicalization’ means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change, while the term ‘ideologically-based violence’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs.” Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3
Other research sources James Bovard, Attention Deficit Democracy , 2007 Palgrave Macmillan
Elaine Cassel, The War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled t… , 2004 Lawrence Hill Books
Anthony Napolitano, A Nation of Sheep , 2007 Thomas Nelson
Cooperative Research Commons
December 17
|
Timely release of presidential records
Presidential Records Act Amendment of 2007 By OnTheWeb: Charles N. Davis Tuesday, December 11, 2007
If your holiday shopping this season finds you in a bookstore, take a moment and do me a favor.
Ask for the section on presidential history, and go take a peek. I’ll hazard a guess you’ll find literally hundreds of works of presidential history, from the scholarly tomes with hundreds of footnotes to the downright sill works on presidential pets.
Now, take a moment and imagine it’s 2033, and you’re looking for a nice downloadable e-book history of the Clinton or Bush presidency.
What you find is truly disappointing: they look and feel like history, but sit down and read one for a moment, and the experience is wholly unsatisfying. Where is the background, the context provided by all of those once-classified memos detailing the West Wing intrigue that makes history truly come to life. Instead, we get the learned best guesses of the nation’s finest historians working without their tools: the primary documents that make history, well, history.
Sounds like a nightmare, eh? It’s reality, for the moment, and it will rob us of our nation’s historical record unless We The People wake up and do something about it.
A bit of history we do know: In November 2001, just as the National Archives was preparing to release a small portion of the records of the Reagan administration, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233. The order gives former presidents and their assignees the right to prevent the release of presidential papers—forever. It also allows a sitting president to block the release of a former president’s records, even after that former president has signaled his approval. It requires that those who challenge the action of either a former president or the sitting president seek redress in court.
Historians, most of Congress and Americans who know that our history begets our future, howled in protest, and our elected representatives slowly but surely swung into action. The House passed The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007 (H.R. 1255/S. 886) by a veto-proof margin (333-93) with 104 Republicans breaking ranks with the Administration.
The bill would nullify the Bush executive order and re-establish procedures to ensure the timely release of presidential records that the Presidential Records Act was designed to ensure. The bill also has broad bipartisan support in the Senate, and cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee by voice vote earlier this year.
We were well on our way to reclaiming our history, when on September 24, 2007, Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) objected to floor consideration of H.R. 1255/S. 886 under unanimous consent, holding up a vote on the bill. Despite repeated requests from a host of historical, news media and open government organizations, Senator Bunning has refused to state the reasons for his opposition to the bill. Recently, the White House reiterated its threat to veto the bill should it pass Congress.
For the second time this year, a lone senator has acted in the least democratic way possible to commit an act of legislative hostage taking. You may recall Sen. Kyl’s secret hold on meaningful reforms to the federal Freedom of Information Act. Sen. Kyl, to his credit, ultimately chose to voice his objections and work to address them. No such luck with Sen. Bunning, who prefers his lawmaking be done in silence. The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body is neither great nor terribly deliberative in this instance.
When the history this sad spectacle is written, it will note that the Presidential Records Act gutted by the president and aided and abetted by the callous silence of Sen. Bunning comes with a rather remarkable history of its own.
It’s worth remembering that the Presidential Records Act of 1978 emerged from the tattered remnants of the Nixon presidency, in direct reaction to another presidential power grab. It’s a remarkably straightforward piece of legislation: Under the law, the U.S. government asserts complete “ownership, possession, and control” of all Presidential and Vice-Presidential records. Upon conclusion of the President’s term in office, the National Archivist is required to assume custody of the records, and to make them available to the public when permissible under the PRA. Access to the records can be denied after the end of the 12-year embargo only if a former or incumbent president claims an exemption based on a “constitutionally based” executive privilege or continuing national security concern.
It’s simple, really: the Bush administration wants to write its own history. Future presidents, Republican or Democrat, will find that sort of control downright intoxicating. If this Executive Order is not overturned by Congress it will allow any president, their heirs, and – for the first time – the vice president and heirs, to deny the American people access to the full historical record of all future administrations.
And that is guaranteed to produce some tired pickings at your local bookstore in the near future.
Charles N. Davis, a member of SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee, serves as the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
| December 11 Are they your airwaves?
F.C.C. Chair Kevin Martin penned a column for a paper, New York Times, earlier this week. In it he shoveled a lot of everything but facts and truth. He is pushing for further de-regulation but trying to mask it in terms of 'competition.' Those of us who remember the destruction that followed the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, should be alarmed. This is a very serious issue.
F.C.C. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have issued a PDF statement that I will retype below so that no one has the excuse of, "PDF freezes my computer." Read their statement.
"JOINT STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONERS COPPS AND ADELSTEIN ON CHAIRMAN MARTIN'S CROSS-OWNERSHIP PROPOSAL"
This is portrayed as a moderate proposal, but it is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Don't let the wool be pulled over your eyes. The proposal could repeal the ban in every market in America, not just the top twenty. Any city, no matter how small, could be subjected to newspaper broadcast ownership combinations under a very loose standard.
Under Chairman Martin's plan, all markets will be open to one company combining broadcast properties with cable, the newspaper (already a monopoly in most places), even the Internet Service Provider. His proposal could propel a frenzy of competition-stifling mergers across the land. He can try to characterize his plan as affecting only the "largest markets," but consider:
* The top 20 markets account for over 43% of U.S. households. Even on its face, this proposal directly affects over 120 million Americans.
* The Chairman then creates a loophole that Big Media will drive a truck through, permitting a newspaper-broadcast combination in any market in the country. We have seen how loosely the Commission has granted waivers in the past. If this proposal goes through, the FCC could grant cross-ownership applications in such small towns as Meridian, Mississippi and Bend, Oregon. When big conglomerates can't get their way in a general rule, they press for loopholes that swallow the rule, and they would succeed with this approach.
* The non-top four stations that major newspapers will now be competing for are preciously the stations more likely to be owned by small, independent broadcasters. If we ever got serious about women and minority ownership, these are also the stations most available to them. Chairman Martin's rule pretty much reserves these outlets for the big guys. So this proposal actually perpetuates the shamefully low levels of minority and female media ownership.
The Martin rules are clearly not ready for prime time. Under the Chairman's timetable, we count 19 working days for public comment. That is grossly insufficient. The American people should have a minimum of 90 days to comment, just as many Members of Congress have requested. More importantly, the Commission has yet to finish its Localism proceeding, teed up four years ago, or to forward comprehensive ideas to increase women and minority ownership of broadcast outlets.
There is still time to do this the right way. Congress and the thousands of American citizens we have talked to want a thoughtful and deliberate rulemaking, not an alarming rush to public comment, flawed studies and a tainted peer review process -- all designed to make sure that the Chairman can deliver a generous gift to Big Media before the holidays. For the rest of us: a lump of coal.
We realize there is some urgency with respect to the Tribune transaction. The Chairman, however, has refused to act on Tribune's waiver requests that would permit the transaction to close. Let us be clear: it is important to hold the Tribune hostage in order to force a vote on media ownership before the end of the year. We are preapred to vote on the Tribune waiver requests within three working days after the Chairman circulates a draft decision. There is simply no excuse for using Tribune as a human shield.
In my October 28th report, I provided some links for background. In addition, I noted the following:
The F.C.C.'s contact page reproduces these e-mail addresses:
Chairman Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate: dtaylortateweb@fcc.gov
Commissioner Robert McDowell: Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov
You can contact Commissioners Martin, Tate and McDowell to let them know you are opposed to this latest attempt at deregulation. You should also contact your Congressional representatives in the House and Senate.
The airwaves are supposed to be a public good that belong to all of us. Chairman Martin wants to have a tag sale on our front yards.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
Wednesday, November 14, 2007. Chaos and violence continue, the Green Zone is targeted, the US military announces deaths, an army captain who went AWOL turns himself in, news due out from Canada's Supreme Court, and more.
Indybay Media has posted an (audio) interview with war resister Brad McCall conducted by Courage to Resist. Brad McCall is the war resister who self-checked out and attempted entry into Canada only to be arrested (September 19, 2007) crossing the border. McCall explains in the interview that he applied for CO status and waited ("and begged and begged and begged") before realizing it wasn't happening.
Brad McCall: I made, the final decision, I made it one night. I found out -- or one day. I talked to a friend of mine in Colorado Springs and he told me about these GIs that were running to Canada and I was like, 'Wow, this is cool.' . . . I went to another one of my friends' house and got on my laptop at her house and we both looked and saw that it's very possible. And we found Resisters.ca on the internet and that night I made the choice that a week later we would leave. She traveled with me as just a friend and that we'd leave in a week which, as a matter of face, was payday. So I knew I would need some cash to get on the road and get moving."
Courage to Resist: So you drove to British Columbia?
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: And did you connect immediately with other resisters up there?
Brad McCall: Well, initially the first thing that happened to me up there when I got to British Columbia was I was arrested at the border. For that week that I was still in Fort Carson, I had e-mail contact with Canada and with people that were willing to help me and I didn't realize that my parents actually had my e-mail password and they were watching all of this go down. And they were e-mailing all these e-mails to my commander and first sergeant so they knew I was going to Canada.
Courage to Resist: Well I guess I don't need to ask about support from your family for this decision?
Brad McCall: Oh, oh, God, no. I've been disowned. But that's why I love Canada. I have nothing to go back to in the United States so I'm very content with staying here for the rest of my life.
Courage to Resist: So you were arrested at the border?
Brad McCall: Yes, I was arrested at the border on the command of the US army by Canadian Border Services Agency -- not by US services, but Canadian services -- put into a Canadian jail for two days until my lawyer showed up and got me.
Courage to Resist: Now this was a Canadian lawyer, yes?
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: From a Canadian support committee for GI resisters?
Brad McCall: No, he's just a, uh, young lawyer. He supports the cause. He's an immigration lawyer. And he said -- the first thing he told me -- he said. "Me helping you guys out is a no-brainer." He said, "I'm not associated with the War Resisters Support Campaign or the War Resisters League or any anti-war group. I'm a lawyer by myself and I'm helping you guys out. And he's really an awesome guy.
Courage to Resist: An unsung hero.
Brad McCall: Yes, very much so.
Courage to Resist: So he got you out of the clink --
Brad McCall: Yes.
Courage to Resist: And then what did you do next?
Brad McCall: Well, um, while I was in jail, I filed refugee claim stating that I was requesting to be a refugee from the United States on ground that if I go back to the United States, I will be persecuted or legally prosecuted for my beliefs -- politically, morally and spiritually.
Courage to Resist: Right.
Brad McCall: And so that's what I've done. I've started my refugee claim, working on that --
Courage to Resist: And what's the status of that claim right now? Where are you in the process?
Brad McCall: Right now it's just a claim. It has to come under review by the Refugee Board of Canada and they will determine whether or not I am liable for refugee status. . So far there's only been two that have come up to the Refugee Board, only two claims by war resisters, and they have both been denied. They're in the appeals process right now.
Courage to Resist: This is Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey.
Brad McCall: Exactly.
Courage to Resist: Exactly. They're going to the Supreme Court I understand?
Brad McCall: Exactly. So me I'm not really expecting a victory in the way of getting refugee status. I'm not expecting that so I'm having to go ahead and prepare for other plans.
Hinzman and Hughey are waiting to hear whether or not Canada's Supreme Court will grant a hearing to their appeal over the Immigration and Refugee Board (really one person) denying them refugee status. Hinzman was the first resister during the Iraq War who went to Canada to go public with his resistance. He became the first to apply for refugee status (January 2004). He lives there with his wife Nga Nguyen and their son Liam. Prior to making the decision, Hinzman applied for CO status and was denied. Hughey went to Canada in March 2004. McCall's stories of conflicts with his family are echoed in the early reaction of Brandon Hughey's father. However, at the 2005 Veterans for Peace conference held in Texas, David Hughey delivered an amazing speech explaining the conflicts and how they had been resolved concluding with "I just thought I'd come up and introduce myself. I do support my son." The War Resisters Support Campaign announces:
Supreme Court decision on Hinzman & Hughey expected on THURSDAY NOV. 15th, 2007
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to post its decision on whether or not it will hear the appeal by US war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey THIS THURSDAY at 9:45 am.
The decision will be posted at . . . [click here] (the case number for Jeremy Hinzman is 32113, and for Brandon Hughey it is 32111).
If the decision is negative, join protests in cities across the country. Check the take action page for listing of protests locations.
If the decision is positive, we will celebrate right across the country -- but there will still be much work to do to ensure that US soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq have refuge in Canada. In TORNOTO, join us at 7 p.m. at Grossman's Tavern, 379 Spadina Avenue (at Cecil Street) for a 'Leave to Appeal' party.
That is tomorrow. On Iraq, McCall declared, "I want people to realize this is new era of war and Iraq is not going to -- if we don't stop Iraq, Iraq is not going to be the last step, not going to be the last frontier or whatever that the United States tries to take, it's just the beginning of a long series of wars that I can see in the future. It's not going to be pretty. And we've got to do something about it now. We have to do something about it now."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The voice of war resister Camilo Mejia is featured in Rebel Voices -- playing now through December 16th at Culture Project and based on Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's best-selling book Voices of a People's History of the United States. It features dramatic readings of historical voices such as war resister Mejia, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and others will be featured. Zinn will take part in the November 18th presentation (the official opening night -- but performances are already taking place) and musician Allison Mooerer will head the permanent cast while those confirmed to be performing on selected nights are Ally Sheedy (actress and poet, best known for films such as High Art, The Breakfast Club, Maid to Order, the two Short Circuit films, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, and, along with Nicky Katt, has good buzz on the forthcoming Harold), Eve Ensler who wrote the theater classic The Vagina Monologues (no, it's not too soon to call that a classic), actor David Strathaim (L.A. Confidential, The Firm, Bob Roberts, Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Ultimatum), actor and playwright Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Clueless -- film and TV series, Gregory and Chicken Little), actress Lili Taylor (Dogfight, Shortcuts, Say Anything, Household Saints, I Shot Andy Warhol, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, State of Mind) and actor, director and activist Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Beloved, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Rainmaker, Places In The Heart, Dreamgirls, Shooter and who appeared on Democracy Now! Friday addressing the US militarization of Africa) The directors are Will Pomerantz and Rob Urbinati with Urbinati collaborating with Zinn and Arnove on the play. Tickets are $21 for previews and $41 for regular performances (beginning with the Nov. 18th opening night). The theater is located at 55 Mercer Street and tickets can be purchased there, over the phone (212-352-3101) or online here and here. More information can be found at Culture Project.
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
IVAW's announcement above will be in tomorrow and Friday's snapshot and then it will appear summarized in each snapshot until the March testimony begins.
Turning to the topic of AWOL, Robert Przbylski (noted here and here and here) is no longer missing. The Army captain was stationed in Germany, due to deploy to Iraq early next year and has disappeared last month. From the beginning, Stars and Stripes' John Vandiver has owned the story because no one else could show interest. Sunday Vandiver
reported the Przbylski turned himself in last Friday: "When Przylski turned himself in Friday night he was on the brink of being declared a deserter, a designation that can take effect after 30 consecutive days of unauthorized absence. Officials said Przybylski was still in AWOL status when he turned himself in. It is unclear whether the prospect of being classified a deserter was a fact in Przybylski's return. It also remains unclear what prompted him to depart in the first place." What is known is that he went missing last month (October 10th -- if not before), that his unit had learned they were deploying to Iraq in March, that he comes from a military family (his father is a retired army Lt. Col.) and that Przybylski had already served one tour of duty in Iraq. Vandiver reports that the absence is under investigation and Przybylski is currently "restricted to Baumholder barracks and [will] be given a temporary assignment while the case is investigated."
Turning to the topic of Turkey and northern Iraq, Paul Schemm (AP) reports, "Kurdish guerillas watch the border for any signs that Turkey's military will carry out threats to sweep across. But other rumblings are coming from inside Iraq: a new ambivialence among Iraq's Kurds about support for their rebel cousins holed up in the mountains. The fear -- expressed by Kurdish officials and on the streets -- is that the showdown could threaten the relatively peaceful and prosperous enclave that Kurds have carved out since 1991 after generations of poverty and oppression." Meanwhile, following reports of the Turkish attacks on northern Iraq Monday and yesterday, China's Xinhua reports Aydogan Babaoglu (the commander of Turkey's air force) has declared it didn't happen stating: "None of the aircraft of Turkish Air Forces conducted a cross-border operation, and such reports are groundless." Bay Fang (Chicago Tribune) tries to track it down noting the following are on record stating attacks took place: Fouad Hussein (spokesperson for Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq) states two airplanes flew in and "dropped flares on five villages" on Monday, Iraqi army Col. Hussein Tamir ("who supervises border guards") states "helicopters opened fire on abandoned Iraqi villages". Damien Cave (New York Times) cited Iraqi officials for a "Turkish military aircraft" attack in northern Iraq Tuesday and noted, "Officials from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region could not agree on whether helicopters or planes had been used" while also quoting Fouad Hussein. Today's Zaman, citing "[u]nnamed Kuridsh officials," report "that the villages" were "Pirbela, Birsaka, Avashin and the Norgole area". In addition, eye witnesses have reported what they saw and heard. Patrick Cockburn (Independent of London) quotes Ibrahim Mazori stating, "I was on the other side of the mountain when I heard huge explosions and could smell TNT powder all over the area" while . Meanwhile CBS and AP note that Jala Talabani, Iraq's Kurdish president, declared today, without any further comment, that, "The crisis with Turkey has passed." Similar statements have been made before.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing ("targeted an American patrol") that claimed the lives of 2 civilians and left three more wounded (this was the bombing that targeted the Green Zone -- a second Baghdad roadside bombing targeting "an American patrol" had no reported casualties) and a Babil car bombing targeting "a host tent for Sheikh Ammar Al-Gurtani" claimed the lives of 3 civilians and left eight more wounded. CNN notes, "The sheiks and the al-Kardani tribe are part fo the 'Iskandairya Awakening,' one of Iraq's emerging 'awakening' movements -- the grass-roots citizen groups opposing al Qaeda in Iraq." And, left unstated, taking money from the US.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Iraqi soldier shot dead in Hawija and, when police reported on the scene, 1 police officer was shot dead.
Kidnappings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a farmer was kidnapped "between Hawija and Abassiyah".
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 5 corpses were discovered in Iraq.
Today, the US military announced, "A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier was killed today during military operations near the city of Mosul. The Soldier was mortally wounded by gunfire while providing security to a Police Transitional Team training mission near an Iraqi Police Station." And they announced: "Two Multi-National Division -- North Soldiers died as a result of an explosion while conducting operations in Diyala Province, Nov. 13. Additionally, four MND-N Soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a coalition hospital." Reuters count is 3863 US service members have died thus far in the illegal war. ICCC's total is also 3863 with 19 for the month thus far. (Neither total includes the 4 US service members who are known to have died from the physical wounds they received in Iraq after leaving Iraq: Jack D. Richards, Gerald J. Cassidy, John "Bill" Smith and Raymond A. Salerno III.) And Paul Tait and Missy Ryan (Reuters) report that the roadside bombing "targeting a passing American military convoy, killed a U.S. soldier and a civilian and wounded seven people including five soldiers, the U.S. military said. . . . The explosion in Baghdad was close to a checkpoint where hundreds of Iraqis who work inside the sprawling complex queue every morning." The US military announcement reads: "An explosively formed penetrator detonated in Central Baghdad Nov. 14, killing a Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier and wounding five others. Also, one Iraqi civilian was killed and two others were wounded."
Another attack on the Green Zone? Guess it will be harder to spin that as "safety" -- but give the Operation Happy Talkers time, give them time. Meanwhile the central government in Iraq continues to be in shambles. AP reports: "Iraqi troops seized the west Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Sunni Muslim group Wednesday, cordoning off the building and ordering employees out, the group said. Iraqi security forces dispatched by the Sunni Endowment, a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, surrounded the mosque complex where the group is based at 9 a.m. and demanded that the building be evacuated before noon, the Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement posted on its Web site." CBS and AP note the Association of Muslim Scholars' spokesperson Mohammed Bahsar al-Faydi is of the opinion that the forces "were not government forces but the personal guards of Ahmed Abdul-Ghafoor al-Samarraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment". Reuters notes that they were Sunni Endowment security guards and that in addition to everyone being kicked out of the building "a radio broadcast from the mosque had been stopped." Paul Tait and Missy Ryan also note that a de-de-Baathification bill is being hailed as 'progress' even though it's just been given to parlaiment (from Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet) and "[o]fficals had previously said the bill had already been given to parliament." As Damien Cave (New York Times) notes, this follows yesterday's call by the Sadr bloc for Parliament to be dissolved.
On the issue of the displaced Iraqis, nothing's being done. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today, "The leading refugee-advocate group Refugees International has issued a scathing critique of the Bush administration's treatment of displaced Iraqis. In a new report, Refugees International says the U.S. has been 'unforgivably slow' in resettling Iraqi refugees. Almost five million Iraqis are believed to have been displaced since the U.S. invasion. The U.S. is admitting more than three times as many Iranian immigrants as it is Iraqis." Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes the report's co-author, Kristele Younes, declaring, "The first reason for this is the lack of political will. Until very recently, the Bush administration never even acknowledged the humanitarian crisis because they were concerned that it would be interpreted as acknowledging failure in Iraq. And President Bush still has yet to acknowledge that there are now almost 5 million Iraqis who've had to leave their homes." Younes co-authored the report with Jake Kurtzer and it includes the following policy recommendations:
1. The U.S. immediately appoint a senior PRM official to be based in the region and charged with coordinating both the assistance and resettlement components of its response; 2. The U.S. immediately appoint an ambassador level diplomat to be based in Syria; 3. The U.S. and other donors provide earmarked bilateral assistance to countries hosting large numbers of Iraqi refugees, either directly or through a Trust Fund established by the UN or the Arab League; 4. The U.S. fund all pending UN appeals at a level of 50% or more; 5. The UN country teams make responding to Iraqi refugees needs a priority, with the UN resident representatives acting as coordinators of the overall national UN response and as liaisons with the diplomatic and donor communities.
In mercenary news, David Johnston and John M. Broder (New York Times) report that the FBI investigation into Blackwater's slaughter of 17 Iraqis on September 16th have not released a report but reportedly "have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case."
In peace activism news, more activity in Olympia. On Monday, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted, "In Olympia Washington, 15 anti-war demonstrators were arrested over the weekend while attempting to block a military convoy carrying Stryker vehicles. The protests were organized by the Olympia Port Militarization Resistance which aims to stop the U.S. military from using the Port of Olympia to ship equipment to Iraq. Protest organizers also accused police of brutalizing dozens of peaceful demonstrators and journalists. On Saturday police dressed in riot gear repeatedly used pepper spray and batons to break up the protest." The actions have continued and AP reports, "Police wearing riot gear fired pepper spray bullets into a crowd of more than 150 protesters Tuesday night at the Port Olympia and several military convoys eventually moved out" with approximately 50 activists arrested. Jeremy Pawloski (The Olympian) reports, "Olympia police in riot gear wore gas masks as they prepared to remove protesters from the main entrance about 11 p.m. At the same time, military convoys left for Fort Lewis from the port exit to Marine Drive" and that in addition to the pepper spray and pepper spray bullets, there are reports that "police also threw two concussion grenades into the crowd." And last week, Morton West High School students learned that their protest -- following the guidelines the school imposed -- against the illegal war was resulting in suspension and possible expulsion. The Columbia College Chicago chapter of SDS has started an online petition:
We are writing in defense of the students who now face excessive disciplinary actions at the hands of various Morton West school administrators. Our sympathies lie with the courageous and moral struggle that the students have taken up, and with their parents who still support them. The struggle for a peaceful and just society absent of war should not be met with punishment, but should be supported by the community as a whole, especially from within the educational setting. Furthermore, It is our firm belief that an injury to freedom for students anywhere is an injury to freedom for students everywhere. This is why we urge all Morton West administrators to drop all disciplinary action against the said students, and to remove any indications of said events from their permanent records. We urge you to respect these students right to free expression now and in the future. (Written by Columbia College Chicago Students for a Democratic Society)
At Consortium News, Robert Parry's "Why We Write" explains the basics of the site, yes, but also explains the very real need for Consortium News. He and his sons Nat and Sam will be speaking at Busboys and Poets in Arlingtion, Virginia Saturday Nov. 17th from four p.m. to six p.m. discussing their new book Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush. Sam and Nat Parry have established their own journalist skills at Consortium News and they and Robert Parry can discuss any of the topics pertaining to the current administration but remember that Robert Parry has been doing investigative journalism for years -- long enough to have had neocon Daniel Pipes insult his reporting long, long before the Iraq War -- a sure sign his investigations cause discomfort.
iraq
brad mccall
jeremy hinzman
brandon hughey
robert przybylskijohn vandiver
democracy nowamy goodman
anthony arnovehoward zinn
robert parry
bay fang
patrick cockburn
hannah allemmcclatchy newspapers
the new york timesdamien cavemichael kramerdavid johnstonjohn m. broder
Posted by Ruth at 5:16 PM
Newer Post Older Post December 07 strike is so writers can get residuals for their hard work and overtime pay-14 to 18 hr days and weekends. we just won a case in court for the overtime!!! they offer .8% residuals we want 2.5% and no less- not much out of the $ and they say internet doesn't count. lol lol it's is where everything is going. bastards want it all. Rupert Murdock and friends with bushy support. November 19 For your information You're subscribed to this mailing list. Unsubscribe
Hollywood Guild Members: WGA Strike Locations for Monday, Nov. 19 plus Rally & March Location for Tuesday, Nov. 20
From: Screen Actors Guild (memmail@sag.org)
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WGA Strike Locations and Rally Information for
Monday, Nov. 19 and Tuesday, Nov. 20
- March & Rally Scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 20 on Hollywood Blvd. -
Dear Guild Member:
We encourage you, on your own time, to walk any picket line that has been set up by the WGA to show your solidarity. If you are not working (or are on break or lunch) and want to come out to support the WGA picket line, please come to one of the following locations. When you arrive at the location, please look for the designated Screen Actors Guild staff member.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19:
PARAMOUNT STUDIOS/RALEIGH STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
5555 Melrose Avenue & 5300 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Meeting Point: Windsor Gate
Parking Option: Streets south of Melrose
STAFF CONTACT: Mark Friedlander
WARNER BROS. STUDIOS
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91522
Meeting Place: Gate 2-3 on Olive
Parking Option: Street parking around studio
STAFF CONTACT: Leslie Slomka and Niki Nakagawa
Please Note: At this location SAG Performers with Disabilities will be on the line in support of the WGA, joined by WGA members with disabilities.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20:
LABOR SOLIDARITY WITH WRITERS – MARCH AND RALLY DOWN HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD
1 p.m. – Assemble at Hollywood Blvd. and Ivar Ave.
1:30 p.m. – March down Hollywood Blvd.
Help write a chapter in Hollywood history. Join thousands of WGA members in support as they begin week three of the WGA strike against the AMPTP. March down Hollywood Boulevard with your fellow SAG members, writers, musicians, Teamsters, Service Employees and other unions in this fight for justice.
REMINDER:
* Please stay at studio locations, and do not join picketers at on-location sites. Screen Actors Guild is not condoning or participating in disruption and/or attempts to shut down location shoots.
* It is critical that SAG picket signs not be displayed at any locations other than the appropriate sites at the studios and networks.
* If you are contracted to work on a television series or motion picture that continues to produce while the WGA is on strike, you are obligated by your personal service agreement and the “No Strike” clause in our collective bargaining agreements to go to work. You can continue to audition for work and accept new work if you choose to do so.
* Screen Actors Guild members should not perform the duties covered by WGA contracts. Simply stated, you should not write anything normally written by striking WGA writers.
* Finally, and most importantly, we must support our fellow SAG members on every set even if they have to cross a picket line to get to work. They are simply following the advice of their union and honoring their contract. It is not reasonable to expect SAG cast members to risk the potentially enormous personal liability that may flow from refusing to work in the absence of a SAG strike. Please note, the WGA contract includes a similar “No Strike” clause and writers would be bound to the same rules as you are if another union were striking.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We have also set up a toll-free Screen Actors Guild WGA strike information hotline number for questions regarding work rules and picket line locations. Through this hotline number, you can get up-to-the-minute information on work rules, picket line locations and help with other questions. November 17 i'm feeling funny. friends son't write to even cuse me out.
i must be worthless. lol
or is it that u think i'm crazy. well, maybe baby, u might be right!
what is "pelit?"
now u have reason to write. lol October 31 Quote what is rodeo sex Q.What is a Rodeo Sex? A.Enter in ur Girlfriend from Back, Hold her Hair, give a Good Thrust and Whisper in her ear "Ur Sister is Better than U in Bed." Now try 2 hold for 8 Seconds October 29 From the county where drunk driving is considered a sport, comes this true story. Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a bar in Reno, Nevada. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so apparently intoxicated that he could barely walk.
The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other
patrons left the bar and drove off.
Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off--it was a fine, dry summer night--,flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left. At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road.
The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all!
Dumbfounded, the officer said, I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the sherriffs office. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."
"I doubt it," said the truly proud non-drinker. "Tonight I'm the designated decoy. Everyone who was drunk already left while you were waiting for me to pull out of the parking lot." October 28 doing alright, buried alive. doing better now that i've heard from u, as it's always a pleasure to hear from a critical thinker. the sheep will always be ready to tell u about god and how awful the homeless are, especially those loving christians. LMAO
going to a SAG meeting at noon and then to Alvera St for the "Day of the Dead" (halloween mexican style/i'm 1/2 mexican)
just another religion that has been saved from the mix of Druids and aztec. most are atheist when it comes to all other religions, but then they go one religion further. lol if there actually was a jc he wasn't thinking of anyone; he was thinking of how much the crucifixion hurt and how much it was going to hurt when they broke his legs, if he were still alive. the legs were always broken.
there is no devine being, just ur fears.
check my profile and view george carlin's video and "GOD," the view his "who controls america, ie the NAZI right wing religious fanatics. actually the ones how use this none thinkers for their greedy controlling purposes. they are really as religious as i am, but they are smart enough to use it to control americans with all their fear and hate mongering. and we've went for it all these years, and it's peeking with bushy. read up on how the NASIS started and it is a text book case of the reagan/bush eras.
use ur critical thinking and not the propagada u were raised with as were the muslims and jews and hindus, etc.
the reagan mindless and bushys have made america look like fools.
remember father bushy said the atheist and muslims should not be aloud to vote, and was probably thinking the same about jews. October 21 contrasts/everyone thinks up their own demons
Darkness, darkness
Be my pillow
Take my head
And let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow
In the silence of your deep
Darkness, Darkness
Hide my yearning
For the things I cannot be
Keep my mind from constant turning
Toward the things I cannot see now
Things I cannot see now
Things I cannot see
Darkness, darkness,
Long and lonesome,
Ease the day that brings me pain.
I have felt the edge of sadness,
I have known the depth of fear.
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night,
Take away, take away the pain of knowing,
Fill the emptiness of right now,
Emptiness of right now, now, now
Emptiness of ri-ight now.
Darkness, darkness, be my pillow,
Take my hand, and let me sleep.
In the coolness of your shadow,
In the silence, the silence of your deep.
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night,
Take away, take away the pain of knowing
Fill the emptiness of right now,
Emptiness of right now now now
Emptiness of right....
Oh yeah Oh yeah
Emptiness, emptiness
Oh yeah
or
"There's a nail in the door
And there's glass on the lawn
Tacks on the floor
And the TV is on
And I always sleep with my guns when you're gone
There's a blade by the bed
And a phone in my hand
A dog on the floor
And some cash on the nightstand
When I'm all alone the dreaming stops
And I just can't stand
What should I do I'm just a little baby
What if the lights go out
And maybe and then the wind just starts to moan
Outside the door he followed me home
So goodnight moon
I want the sun
If it's not here soon
I might be done
No it wonèt be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon
There's a shark in the pool
And a witch in the tree
A crazy old neighbor and he's been watching me
And there's footsteps loud and strong coming down the hall
Something's under the bed
Now it's out in the hedge
There's a big black crow sitting on my window ledge
And I hear something scratching through the wall
What should I do I'm just a little baby
What if the lights go out
And maybe and then the wind just starts to moan
Outside the door he followed me home
So goodnight moon
I want the sun
If it's not here soon
I might be done
No it won't be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon"
everyone thinks up their own demons, thanks to religions Hat tip: Discovering Orthodoxy
Over at Discovering Orthodoxy, Robert has posted about the “Crystal Clear Atheism” Convention and has a link to this article: Religion Must Be Destroyed… at the bottom of the page.
This article is quite interesting because it juxtaposes the battle that is going on in many factions of America, not just the Atheist one. Round about the middle-top of the article, thereabouts, the reporter contrasts the speeches given by Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, and author Sam Harris:
In his speech, Dawkins portrayed a black-and-white intellectual battle between atheism and religion. He denounced the “preposterous nonsense of religious customs” and compared religion to racism. He also gave no quarter to moderate or liberal believers, asserting that “so-called moderate Christianity is simply an evasion.”
“If you’ve been taught to believe it by moderates, what’s to stop you from taking the next step and blowing yourself up?” he said.
By contrast, Harris’s speech was a more tempered critique of the atheist movement itself. While Harris said he believed science must ultimately destroy religion, he also discussed spirituality and mysticism and called for a greater understanding of allegedly spiritual phenomena. He also cautioned the audience against lumping all religions together.
“The refrain that all religions have their extremists is bull-t,” Harris said. “All religions do not have their extremists. Some religions have never had their extremists.”
Specifically, he noted that radical Islam was far more threatening than any radical Christian sect, adding that Christians had a right to be outraged when the media treated the two religions similarly.
Harris also criticized movement atheism and questioned the use of the word “atheist.”
“Atheism is not a philosophy, just as non-racism is not,” he said. “It is not a worldview, though it is frequently portrayed as one.
“Rather than declare ourselves atheists, I think we should emphasize reason,” Harris added.
While the audience gave Dawkins a standing ovation, Harris received only polite applause. One questioner later declared herself “very disappointed” in Harris’s talk.
This need for the extreme end of the spectrum, fascinates me. I perceive that Harris is attempting to find the middle and define the movement away from “militant atheism”, yet they were having none of it. Perhaps this is what one would find in any group that would gather itself because the people who are taking the time to get together are the ones who are more energized and possess more zeal for their cause. They are on fire wanting to share their partisan devotion and revolutionary ideals, in the U.S., they are a minority and want to soak in the fraternal love of their brothers and sisters, so perhaps it is not surprising that they didn’t clap for the more moderate tone of Sam Harris. Not that, “science must ultimately destroy religion” is in anyway a moderate idea.
To be clear, here is a gem from Richard Dawkins for your consideration.
Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds
by Richard Dawkins
Reposted from:
Washingtonpost/Newsweek On Faith
Nobody is suggesting that all religious people are violent, intolerant, racist, bigoted, contemptuous of women and so on. It would be absurd to suggest such a thing: just as absurd as to generalize about all atheists. I am not even concerned with statistical generalizations about the majority of religious people (or atheists). My concern here is over whether there is any general reason why religion might be more or less likely to bias individuals towards all those unpleasant things in Christopher Hitchens’s list: to make them more likely to exhibit them than they would have been without religion. I think the answer is yes.Religion changes, for people, the definition of good. Atheists and humanists tend to define good and bad deeds in terms of the welfare and suffering of others. Murder, torture, and cruelty are bad because they cause people to suffer. Most religious people think them bad, too, but some religions (for example the religion of the Taliban) sanction all of them under some circumstances. For non-religious people, the behavior of consenting adults in a private bedroom is the business of nobody else, and is not bad unless it causes suffering – for example by breaking up a happy family. But many religions arrogate to themselves the right to decide that certain kinds of sexual behavior, even if they do no harm to anyone, are wrong.The actions of the Taliban, their vile bullying of women, their sanctimonious hatred of all that might lead to enjoyment, their violence, their ignorant bigotry, their hatred of education, their cruelty, seem to me to be as close to pure evil as anything I can imagine. Yet, by the lights of their own religion they are supremely righteous – really good people.The nineteen men of 9/11, having washed, perfumed themselves and shaved their whole bodies in preparation for the martyr’s paradise, believed they were performing the highest religious duty. By the lights of their religion they were as good as it is possible to be. They were not poor, downtrodden, oppressed or psychotic; they were well educated, sane and well balanced, and, as they thought, supremely good. But they were religious, and that provided all the justification they needed to murder and destroy. Their madrassas and their mullahs had given them good reason to think they were on a fast track to paradise.Polls suggest that 13% of British Muslims regard the 7/7 London bombers as blessed martyrs. Neighbors and friends expressed bewilderment that such nice, gentle, kind, youth-clubbing, cricket-loving young men could do such terrible things. But once you understand what they truly and sincerely believed – that it was Allah’s will that they blow up buses and subways – it becomes all too easy to understand.It is easy for religious faith, even if it is irrational in itself, to lead a sane and decent person, by rational, logical steps, to do terrible things. There is a logical path from religious faith to evil deeds. There is no logical path from atheism to evil deeds. Of course, many evil deeds are done by individuals who happen to be atheists. But it can never be rational to say that, because of my nonbelief in religion, it would be good to be cruel, to murder, to oppress women, or to perpetrate any of the evils on the Hitchens list.The following quotation from the Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg has become well known, but it is so devastatingly true that it is worth quoting again and again: “With or without [religion] you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.”
Ahh, the catchy little quote. People who are good can be lead astray by any ideology, as evidenced by the death and destruction perpetrated by the true believers among the Nazis, the Soviets and among those living in North Korea and China, who will imprison and torture and kill for their states.
State ideology is just as powerful.
Whenever one group of people looks at another group of people and labels them, for whatever reason, they have objectified that group and have made it easier to justify their aims.
Something to “free” think about… don't continue being sheep;
Americans aren't stupid or lazy, they are human (read sheep) educated in american schools to not think critically but just know enough to do the work required of them by the people who actually own America, ie. bushy and friends, the arms and big industry. See my profile and george carlin's video, "Who controls america" then go to my group, "4thestate, to understand why u don't get info u need to be a critical thinking votor.
all u get are lies that have been out there so long the pass as known true. but they are lies, period. bushy ias been the biggest since his father. only Reagan compare because he taught Republicans how to get away with such stupid lies. Nixon would turn green with envy if he could see what the Republicans were getting away with, while the Dems are too afraid of there money backers to call them on it. Dems let Thomas in the Supreme Court! weak kneed pussies/know offense ladies.
Got to put this on all my blogs. lol October 20 (compilation of my favorite blogs/the way i wish to be)
SLOW ME DOWN
EASE THE POUNDING OF MY HEART BY THE
QUITING OF MY MIND.
STEADY MY HURRIED PACE WITH A VISION OF
THE ETERNAL REACH OF TIME.
GIVE ME, AMID THE CONFUSION OF THE DAY,
THE CALMNESS OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS.
BREAK THE TENSIONS OF MY NERVES AND
MUSCLES WITH THE SOOTHING MUSIC OF THE
SINGING STREAMS THAT LIVE IN MY MEMERY.
HELP ME TO KNOW THE MAGICAL, RESTORING
POWER OF SLEEP.
TEACH ME THE ART OF TAKING MINUTE
VACATIONS--OF SLOWING DOWN TO LOOK AT A
FLOWER, TO CHAT WITH A FRIEND, TO PAT AN ANIMAL, TO
READ A FEW LINES FROM A GOOD BOOK.
SLOW ME DOWN, LORD, AND INSPIRE ME TO
SEND MY ROOTS DEEP INTO THE SOIL OF LIFE'S ENDURING
VALUES THAT I MAY GROW TOWARD THE STARS
OF MY GREATER DESTINY.
FROM THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE
and I remember
a few of my favorite things;
Maalox and nose drops and her knittin' my mittens
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittin's,
Bundles of magazines tied up with string.
These are a few of my favorite things
Cadillacs, contacts, hearing aids, glasses
Polident, Fixodent, false teeth in glasses.
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings.
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the pipes leak, when the bones creek,
When the knees go bad,
Then I remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.
Hot tea and crumpets, corn pads for bunions,
No spicy food and food with onions.
Bathrobes and heat pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Back pains, confused brains and no fear of sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frame,
When we remember our favorite things.
When me joints ache, when the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life i've had.
And then I don't feel so bad.
THEN I REMEMBER THE GREAT LIFE I'VE HAD.
AND THEN I DON"T FEEL SOO BAAAD!
YEA
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body;
but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting; Hot Damn! What a Ride
and
[don't fret some day these days will be like tears in the rain,
it's just that with bushy it now seems like a long drought!!]
U think i'm crazy, baby. you know you Might be right!
"Poor George. He cant help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth,"
the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards
AND On The Lite Side;
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
BUDDHA:
Asking this question denies your own chicken nature.
THE BIBLE:
And God came down from the heavens and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road and there was much rejoicing.
PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal a job from a decent, hardworking American.
GEORGE W. BUSH
I don't think I should have to answer that question.
BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define "chicken" please?
DARWIN:
Chickens, over great periods of time, have been naturally selected in such a way that they are now genetically dispositioned to cross roads.
EINSTEIN:
Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road moved beneath the chicken is a matter of relativity.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON:
The chicken did not cross the road. It transcended it.
JERRY FALWELL:
Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see the plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what "they" call it: the "other side." Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN:
The road, you will see, represents the black man. The chicken 'crossed' the black man in order to trample him and keep him down.
FREUD:
The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.
BILL GATES:
I have just released the new eChicken 2000, which will not only cross roads, but will also lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook; and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken 2000.
GRANDPA:
In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die. In the rain. Alone.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.
CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
MACHIAVELLI:
The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The end of crossing the road justifies whatever motive there was.
KARL MARX:
It was a historical inevitability.
FOX MULDER
You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it?
RICHARD M. NIXON:
The chicken did not cross the road. I repeat, the chicken did NOT cross the road.
RONALD REAGAN:
What chicken?
JERRY SEINFELD:
Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why doesn't anyone ever think to ask, "What the heck was this chicken doing walking around all over the place, anyway?"
DR. SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes! The chicken crossed the road but why it crossed, I've not been told.
KEN STARR:
I intend to prove that the chicken crossed the road at the bequest of the President of the United States in an effort to distract law enforcement officials and the American public from the criminal wrongdoing our highest elected official has been trying to cover up. As a result, the chicken is just another pawn in the President's ongoing and elaborate scheme to obstruct justice and undermine the rule of law. For that reason, my staff intends to offer the chicken unconditional immunity provided he cooperates fully with our investigation.
OLIVER STONE:
The question is not, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Rather, it is, "Who was crossing the road at the same time, whom we overlooked in our haste to observe the chicken crossing?"
COLONEL SANDERS:
I missed one???
and try to remember for the sake of peace;
Remember that the jerk who cut u off in traffic last
night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to
cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments
with her children.
Remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young person who
can't make change correctly is a worried 19- year-old college student, balancing
his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans
for next semester.
And, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot
every day (who you said really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can
only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through
the store aisles and blocking ur shopping progress are savoring this! moment ,
knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be
the last year that they go shopping together.
Remind yourself each day that, of all the gifts you give others, the
greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold
dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all
humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy
and love.
Remember that you remembered to do this without the help of some god someone else thought up for you to follow-- you did it on your own, but, to each his own, or, c'iet la vie.
We are never happy with objects or accomplishments. We only think so. This is why the wealthy are always wanting more and we feel we must brag about "things." But, in fact happiness is always in front of us- it isn't the end but the means that satisfied us. As soon as the accomplishing is over there is always an empty sensation few recognize and try to overcome by the brag, which makes it all the worse. It's the doing, not the done that fulfills us.
Forget about everything accept the "DO." What do you think of all that bullshit? We only gain wisdom when we stop listening to "me, me, me." I'm not so nieve as to think that that is easy after all we assimulate on the way to developing the personality.
And if u insist on being the boss-that things go ur way, remember;
When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be Boss.
The brain said, "I should be boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions."
The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go."
The hands said, "We should be the boss because we do all the work and earn all the money."
And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs, and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. So the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work.
Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the boss, so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the boss just sat and passed out the shit!
Moral of the story: You don't need brains to be a boss - any asshole will do.
From the holographic universe, Hologram |  | |  |
October 19 the laws covering th e# of TV, radio, newspapers, etc. were changed by Pres. Reagan and Bush so that there wealthy friends could buy them all up and controll the information u get. That is way Murdock loved Reagan and now Bush. He and 2 others control ur info. And the wealthy republican televangelist religious fanatics anre buying TV and radio to spreed there money making capacity.
It's not Murdocks and companys fault, they just are greedy as most business men are. It was Reagan and the Bush family that sold out our nations freedom of the press and in that way sold out our democracy to the ones who would put them in office.
One of the biggest crimes against American democracy. ever. Now all the old journalist are crying as they are let go for not doing what Murdock and friends tells them to, but where were they when the public needed to be informed of the changes so they could raise a fuss?
You were sold out Americans for flashy, no help, stupid news.
But u can still do something. Don't believe the right wing Republican lies. Vote them out, along with their spying "Homeland Security," scare tactics. This country use to be free of that NAZI propoganda, make it that way again. |  |
October 16 Come on AL GORE, don't allow these Democrats to let the right wing Republicans keep the government!
Obama can't win as our country is too racist now, and Hillary Clinton can't as she can't get the conservative vote, even though she would sell out to get it. Obama is too vain to concede, but knows his run will end in right wing victory but No thought of how his run may keep right wing in, The only thing of importance to him is that HE is in the race. Vanity strikes again.
For those who are not familiar with Al Gore; (there are a few)
Al Gore's Nobel Prize has somewhat boosted the American public's perception of him -- with the public holding a more favorable view of Gore than at any time since the fall of 2000.
40% percent of Americans surveyed say they'd like to see him run for president again, and that's is without campaining!
Most Americans say Gore deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize by a large margin.Gallup reports:
"The most visible effect of Gore's win is in the public's overall opinions of him. The Oct. 12-14 poll finds 58 percent of Americans saying they have a favorable view of Gore, up from 50 percent in the prior reading taken in August. That is Gore's high favorable rating for the year, and his best in any Gallup Poll since September 2000. Gore's favorable rating had been around 50 percent most of the year, aside from a brief period in the mid-50 percent range following his Academy Award victory.
"Gallup has tracked opinions of Gore since 1992, and his favorable rating peaked at 64 percent on two occasions -- immediately following the Democratic National Conventions in 2000 (at which he was nominated for president) and 1992 (at which he was nominated for vice president)"Democrats have very positive views of Gore, and these views are improved following his Nobel Peace Prize award. Seventy-nine percent of Democrats now have a positive opinion of Gore, compared with 73 percent in the August survey.
Gore's favorable rating among Democrats is even with that of Sen. Hillary Clinton, for whom 84 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion, again, even without campaining. But Gore now has a better favorable rating than Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, who were viewed similarly to Gore by Democrats prior to last week.
OCTOBER 12, 2007
Al Gore wins the Nobel, campaign draft calling
by William Neikirk
Video by Sabrina Fang
Al Gore is now a Nobel laureate.
But will he be a presidential candidate, too?
Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize today for his efforts in highlighting the global warming issue and put himself back into the presidential picture if he is so inclined.
The announcement was made in Oslo. He shared the award with the International Panel on Climate Change. They were cited for their efforts in warning the world of the dangers of climate change.
The former vice president has dedicated much of his time since his narrow 2000 loss to President Bush to warn the nation—indeed the world—that the planet is headed toward a potentially catastrophic warming.
Nobel Peace Prize Committee Chair Ole Danbolt Mjoes on announcement that former Vice President Al Gore is co-winner of the prestigious award. Photo by Daniel Annum Lauten-AFP/Getty Images.
Continue reading "Al Gore wins the Nobel, campaign draft calling" »
GORE!, if republicans stay in, this keeps happening, and they are just bears, think of our people..
Study: Two-thirds of polar bears threatened
by William Neikirk
Two-thirds of the world's polar bear population could be wiped out by the mid-21st century because of changes of sea-ice conditions, the U.S. Geological Survey projects in a new study.
As a result of the federal agency's study, the polar bear could soon be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. A final decision on that designation is due in January.
A scientific team investigating the future of polar bears and their habits took six months to analyze the direct relationship between the presence of Arctic sea ice and the health of polar bears, according to the USGS. The bears "depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt for seals, their primary food," according to the agency.
Continue reading "Study: Two-thirds of polar bears threatened" »
Posted by Bill Neikirk at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
AUGUST 20, 2007
Bush's new hunting order conjures up Cheney
Vice President Cheney quail hunting in 2002. AP Photo/David Bohrer, White House
by Frank James
I'm not among those who see the invisible hand of Vice President Cheney behind everything that happens at the White House.
But I have to admit, as soon as I learned about this executive order President Bush recently signed, ordering federal agencies to enhance hunting opportunities on federally managed lands, my suspicions did run in the direction of one of our nation's most famous hunters.
Here part of the executive order:
Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of this order is to direct Federal agencies that have programs and activities that have a measurable effect on public land management, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.
Sec. 2. Federal Activities. Federal agencies shall, consistent with agency missions:
(a) Evaluate the effect of agency actions on trends in hunting participation and, where appropriate to address declining trends, implement actions that expand and enhance hunting opportunities for the public;
(b) Consider the economic and recreational values of hunting in agency actions, as appropriate;
Continue reading "Bush's new hunting order conjures up Cheney" »
Posted by Frank James at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)
AUGUST 8, 2007
AND THEN THERE ARE DEMOCRATIC IDIOTS LLIKE DINGELL OF MICH. who would make it harder on the not so wealthy as he, with higher gas prices! (an he calls himself an environmentalist, RIGHT)
Dingell's energy plan would hike gas taxes
by William Neikirk
Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has a plan for combating global warming. He would slap a 50-cent per gallon tax on gasoline, end the mortgage tax deduction for so-called "McMansions," and tax and put a cap on carbon dioxide emissions.
Proposals by a single congressman are usually not so noteworthy, but Dingell happens to be the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and accustomed to getting his way in Congress.
But the question is whether the House Democratic Leadership will go this far. He and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are often at odds on energy policy. But when Congress comes back this fall, legislation to combat climate change will be considered by the House.
He outlined his ideas in a town hall meeting in Ann Arbor Tuesday, according to a story in today's Detroit Free Press.
45th Vice President of the United States
In office
January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
United States Senator
from Tennessee
In office
January 3, 1985 – January 2, 1993
Preceded by
Howard Baker
Succeeded by
Harlan Mathews
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 6th district
In office
January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 4th district
Website
algore.com
Nobel Prize in Peace (2007)
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth vice president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is also a prominent environmental activist and shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Prior to the vice presidency, Gore served in the U. S. House of Representatives (1977–85) and the U. S. Senate (1985–93), representing Tennessee.
Gore was the Democratic nominee for president in the 2000 election in which he won the popular vote by a small majority. A legal controversy over the Florida election recount, ultimately settled in favor of George W. Bush by the Supreme Court, made the election one of the most controversial in American history.[1] [2]
Today, Gore is president of the American television channel Current TV (which won the award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television at the 2007 Primetime Emmys[3]), chairman of Generation Investment Management, a director on the board of Apple Inc., an unofficial advisor to Google's senior management, and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection.
As an environmental activist, Gore lectures widely on the topic of global warming, which he calls "the climate crisis."[4] In 2006, he starred in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, discussing global warming and the environment. Under his leadership, one of Gore's organizations, Save Our Selves, organized the July 7, 2007 benefit concert Live Earth in an effort to raise awareness about climate change.
While Gore has frequently stated that "I'm not planning to be a candidate again,"[5] there are continuing efforts[6] to convince him to run for the 2008 Democratic presidential
Albert A. Gore, Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., to Albert Arnold Gore, Sr., a U.S. Representative (1939–1944, 1945–1953) and Senator (1953–1971) from Tennessee and Pauline LaFon Gore, one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School. He divided his childhood between Washington, and Carthage, Tennessee:[7] as a boy, during the school year, the family lived in a hotel in Washington and during summer vacations, Gore worked on the family farm in Carthage, where hay and tobacco were grown and cattle raised.[8]
Gore attended St. Albans School where he ranked 25th (of 51) in his senior class.[9] In preparation for his college applications, Gore scored a 1355 on his SAT (625 in verbal and 730 in math). [9] Al Gore's IQ scores, from tests administered at St. Alban's School in 1961 and 1964 (his freshman and senior years) respectively, have been recorded as 133 and 134. [9]
In 1965, Gore enrolled at Harvard College, the only university to which he applied. He scored in the lower fifth of the class for two years in a row[10] and, after finding himself bored with his classes in his declared English major, Gore switched majors and found a passion for government and graduated with honors from Harvard in June 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government. [9] After returning from the military he took religious studies courses at Vanderbilt and then entered the university's law school. He left Vanderbilt without a degree to run for an open seat in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District in 1976.
Gore served as a field reporter in Vietnam for five months.
Gore opposed the Vietnam War and could have avoided serving overseas by accepting a spot in the National Guard that a friend of his family had reserved for him, or by other means of avoiding the draft. Gore has stated that his sense of civic duty compelled him to serve in some capacity.[11] He enlisted in the United States Army on August 7, 1969. After basic training at Fort Dix, Gore was assigned as a military journalist writing for The Army Flier, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker. With seven months remaining in his enlistment, Gore was shipped to Vietnam, arriving on January 2, 1971. He served for four months with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and for another month at the Army Engineer Command in Long Binh.
Gore said in 1988 that his experience in Vietnam:
"didn't change my conclusions about the war being a terrible mistake, but it struck me that opponents to the war, including myself, really did not take into account the fact that there were an awful lot of South Vietnamese who desperately wanted to hang on to what they called freedom. Coming face to face with those sentiments expressed by people who did the laundry and ran the restaurants and worked in the fields was something I was naively unprepared for."[12]
As his unit was standing down, he applied for and received a non-essential personnel honorable discharge two months early in order to attend divinity school at Vanderbilt University.[13] Gore left Vanderbilt after completing the required one-year Rockefeller Foundation scholarship for students returning to secular work.[14] In 1970, Gore married Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson (known as Tipper), whom he had first met at his high school senior prom in Washington, D.C.
Gore then spent five years as a reporter for The Tennessean, a newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee. His investigations of possible corruption among members of Nashville's Metro Council resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two councilmen for separate offenses.[15] Gore then took a leave of absence from the paper to try law school. Before he could finish, he learned that his local congressman planned to retire in 1976.[citation needed]
Political career (1976–2000)
Congressional service
When Congressman Joe L. Evins announced his retirement after 30 years, Gore quit law school in March 1976 to run for the United States House of Representatives, in Tennessee's fourth district. Gore defeated Stanley Rogers in the Democratic primary, then ran unopposed in the general election and was elected to his first Congressional post. He was re-elected three times, in 1978, 1980, and 1982. In 1984, Gore successfully ran for a seat in the United States Senate, which had been vacated by Republican Majority Leader Howard Baker. Gore served as a Senator from Tennessee until 1993, when he became Vice President.
While in Congress, Gore was a member of the following committees: Armed Services (Defense Industry and Technology Projection Forces and Regional Defense; Strategic Forces and Nuclear Deterrence); Commerce, Science and Transportation (Communications; Consumer; Science, Technology and Space — chairman 1992; Surface Transportation; National Ocean Policy Study); Joint Committee on Printing; Joint Economic Committee; and Rules and Administration.
On March 19, 1979, Gore became the first person to appear on C-SPAN, making a speech in the House chambers.[16] In the late 1980s, Gore introduced the Gore Bill, which was later passed as the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. The bill was one of the most important pieces of legislation directly affecting the expansion of the Internet.
Opposition to U.S. government support of Saddam Hussein
While Senator, Gore twice attempted to get the U.S. government to pull the plug on support to Saddam Hussein, citing Hussein's use of poison gas, support of terrorism, and his burgeoning nuclear program, but was opposed both times by the Reagan and Bush administrations. In the wake of the Al-Anfal Campaign, during which Hussein staged deadly mustard and nerve gas attacks on Kurdish Iraqis, Gore cosponsored the Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988, which would have cut all assistance to Iraq. The bill was defeated in part due to intense lobbying of Congress by the Reagan-Bush White House and a veto threat from President Reagan.[17] Gore's positions as a Senator with regard to Iraq would later become an issue in his 1992 campaign for Vice President.[18]
1988 Presidential election
Main article: Al Gore presidential campaign, 1988
Gore ran for President in the 1988 United States presidential election, but failed to obtain the Democratic nomination, which went to Michael Dukakis. During the campaign, Gore's strategy involved skipping the Iowa caucus and putting little emphasis on the New Hampshire Primary in order to concentrate his efforts on the South. He won Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee in the Super Tuesday primaries but dropped out of the presidential race in April after a poor showing in the New York primary.[16]
On April 3, 1989, Gore's six-year-old son Albert was nearly killed in an automobile accident while leaving the Baltimore Orioles' opening day game. Because of the resulting lengthy healing process, his father chose to stay near him during the recovery instead of laying the foundation for a 1992 presidential primary campaign. Gore started writing Earth in the Balance, his book on environmental conservation, during his son's recovery. It became the first book written by a sitting Senator to make The New York Times bestseller list since John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage.
Vice Presidency
Vice President Gore talking with President Clinton as the two pass through the Colonnade at the White House.
Bill Clinton chose Gore to be his running mate for the 1992 United States presidential election on July 9, 1992. Gore was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993. Clinton and Gore were re-elected to a second term in the 1996 election.
According to the U.S. government, the U.S. economy expanded for all eight years of the Clinton/Gore administration.[19] One factor was the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, for which Gore cast the tie-breaking vote. The Administration worked closely with the Republican-led House to slow federal spending and eventually balance the federal budget. One of Gore's major works as Vice President was the National Performance Review,[20] which pointed out waste, fraud, and other abuse in the federal government and stressed the need for cutting the size of the bureaucracy and the number of regulations. Gore stated that the National Performance Review later helped guide President Clinton when he down-sized the federal government.[21]
In 1993, Gore debated Ross Perot on CNN's Larry King Live on the issue of free trade, with Gore arguing for free trade and the passage of NAFTA, and Perot arguing against it. Public opinion polls taken after the debate showed that a majority of Americans thought Gore won the debate and now supported NAFTA[22]. The bill subsequently passed 234–200 in the House of Representatives.[23]
Gore while Vice President
In 1997, Gore became the highest elected official to have run a marathon while in office. He ran the 1997 Marine Corps Marathon in 4:54:25 (an 11:14 mile pace).[24]
In 1998, Gore began promoting a NASA satellite that would provide a constant view of Earth, marking the first time such an image would have been made since The Blue Marble photo from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. The "Triana" satellite would have been permanently mounted in the L1 Lagrangian Point, 1.5 million km away.[25]
Also in 1998, Gore became associated with Digital Earth.[26]
In 1999, Gore became the subject of criticism by AIDS activists. According to a June 18, 1999 article in the Washington Post the activists said that "Gore, in talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, has threatened trade sanctions if South Africa permits the widespread sale of cheaper, generic drugs that would cut into U.S. companies' sales." Gore responded by stating, "I love this country. I love the First Amendment [...] Let me say in response to those who may have chosen an inappropriate way to make their point, that actually the crisis of AIDS in Africa is one that should command the attention of people in the United States and around the world." [27]
2000 Presidential election
Main article: Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000
Gore/Lieberman 2000 campaign logo
After two terms as Vice President, Gore ran for President again in the 2000 United States Presidential election, selecting Senator Joe Lieberman to be his vice-presidential running mate. The election was one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in the history of the United States.
Gore's daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, worked on her father's campaign during the election as Youth Outreach Chair.[28] Together with her father's former Harvard roommate Tommy Lee Jones, [29] Schiff officially nominated Gore as the presidential candidate during the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. [30] She also introduced her father during the launching of his campaign.[31]
During the entire campaign, Gore was neck-and-neck in the polls with Republican Governor of Texas George W. Bush. On Election Day, the results were so close that the outcome of the race took over a month to resolve, highlighted by the premature declaration of a winner on election night, and an extremely close result in the state of Florida. On election night, news networks first called Florida for Gore, later retracted the projection, and then called Florida for Bush, before finally retracting that projection as well.
The race was ultimately decided by a margin of only 537 votes in Florida. Florida's 25 electoral votes were awarded to Bush only after numerous court challenges. Gore publicly conceded the election after the Supreme Court of the United States in Bush v. Gore ruled that the Florida recount was unconstitutional and that no constitutionally valid recount could be completed by the December 12 deadline, effectively ending the recounts.[32] Gore strongly disagreed with the Court's decision, but decided "for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession."[33]
Gore became the fourth candidate in American history to win the popular vote (by half a million more votes than his opponent) but lose the electoral vote.[34] Gore ultimately received 267 electoral votes to Bush's 271.[35]
Gore himself attributed positive economic results to his and Clinton's policies[37] — more than 22 million new jobs, the highest homeownership in American history (up to that time), the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the paying off of $360 billion of the national debt, the lowest poverty rate in 20 years, higher incomes at all levels, the conversion of the hitherto largest budget deficit in American history into the largest surplus, the lowest government spending in three decades, the lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years, and more families owning stocks than had up to that point.
Post Vice-presidency
2004 election activities
As the first major speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Gore presented himself as a living reminder that every vote counts. "Let's make sure not only that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, but also that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court," said Gore. Gore directed remarks to those who had abandoned the Democratic Party four years ago to support third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, asking them, "Do you still believe that there was no difference between the candidates?"[39]
Initially, Al Gore was touted as a logical opponent of George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election. "Re-elect Gore!" was a common slogan among many Democrats who felt he had been cheated out of the presidency, on the grounds of his winning the popular vote and the Florida voting controversies. On December 16, 2002, however, Gore announced that he would not run in 2004, saying that it was time for "fresh faces" and "new ideas" to emerge from the Democrats. When he appeared on a 60 Minutes interview, Gore said that he felt if he had run, the focus of the election would be the rematch rather than the issues. Gore's former running mate, Joe Lieberman quickly announced his own candidacy for the presidency, which he had vowed he would not do if Gore ran.
Despite Gore taking himself out of the race, a handful of his supporters formed a national campaign to "draft" him into running. However, that effort largely came to an end when Gore publicly endorsed Governor of Vermont Howard Dean (over his former running mate Lieberman) weeks before the first primary of the election cycle. There was still some effort to encourage write-in votes for Gore in the primaries by Patriots for Al Gore who were separate from the draft movement. Although Gore did receive a small number of votes in New Hampshire and New Mexico, that effort was halted when John Kerry pulled into the lead for the nomination.
On February 9, 2004, on the eve of the Tennessee primary, Gore gave what some consider his harshest criticism of the president yet when he accused George W. Bush of betraying the country by using the 9/11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq. Gore also urged all Democrats to unite behind their eventual nominee proclaiming, "Any one of these candidates is far better than George W. Bush." In March 2004 Gore, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, united behind Kerry as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
On April 28, 2004, Gore announced that he would be donating $6 million to various Democratic Party groups. Drawing from his funds left over from his 2000 campaign, Gore pledged to donate $4 million to the Democratic National Committee. The party's Senate and House committees would each get $1 million, and the party from Gore's home state of Tennessee would receive $250,000. In addition, Gore announced that all of the surplus funds in his "Recount Fund" from the 2000 election controversy that resulted in the Supreme Court halting the counting of the ballots, a total of $240,000, will be donated to the Florida Democratic Party. Gore stressed the importance of voting and having every vote counted, foreshadowing the 2004 United States election voting controversies.
In the late 1990s, Gore strongly pushed for the passage of the Kyoto Treaty, which called for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.[68][69] He was opposed by the Senate, which passed unanimously (95-0) the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[70] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States".[71] On November 12, 1998, Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations.[72] The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification.
In recent years, Gore has remained busy traveling the world speaking and participating in events mainly aimed towards global warming awareness and prevention. His keynote presentation on global warming has received standing ovations, and he has presented it at least 1,000 times according to his monologue in An Inconvenient Truth. His speaking fee is $100,000.[73]
In 2004, he launched Generation Investment Management. This firm, which he chairs, seeks out companies which take a responsible view on global issues such as climate change. It was created to assist the growing demand for an investment style that can bring returns by blending traditional equity research with a focus on more intangible non-financial factors such as social and environmental responsibility and corporate governance.
Gore is a vocal proponent of carbon neutrality, buying a carbon offset each time he travels by aircraft.[74] Gore and his family drive hybrid vehicles.[75] In "An Inconvenient Truth" Gore calls for people to conserve energy, but the Gore family mansion in Nashville consumes 12 to 20 times more energy than the average family home, and its consumption has risen since the film was produced in 2005. [76] Gore's supporters, however, counter that the Gore Family has done much to offset their carbon footprint and electrical usage, such as through the installation of solar panels.
Interest in Al Gore's speeches reached such a point that a public lecture at University of Toronto on February 21, 2007, on the topic of global warming, led to a crash of the ticket sales website within minutes of opening.[77] A few weeks later, he spoke at another event in the same city and, for the first time, made the argument that employers have a significant role to play in mobilizing their employees to take action on climate change.[78]
During Global Warming Awareness Month, on February 9, 2007, Al Gore and Richard Branson announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a competition offering a $25 million prize for the first person or organization to produce a viable design that results in the removal of atmospheric greenhouse gases.[79]
On July 7, 2007, Live Earth benefit concerts were held around the world in an effort to raise awareness about climate change. The event was the brainchild of both Gore and Kevin Wall of Save Our Selves.
On July 21, 2007, he announced teaming with actress Cameron Diaz for a TV climate contest 60 Seconds to Save the Earth to gain people's support in solving the climate crisis.[80]
Gore starred in the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.[81] The Oscar was awarded to director Davis Guggenheim, who asked Gore to join him and other members of the crew on stage. During this time, Gore gave a brief speech: "My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue; it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."[82]
The film, released on May 24, 2006, documents the evidence for anthropogenic global warming and warns of the consequences of people not making immediate changes to their behavior. In late July, it surpassed Bowling for Columbine as the third-highest-grossing documentary in U.S. history.[83] Gore also published a book of the same title, which became a bestseller. In reference to the use of nuclear power to mitigate global warming, Gore has stated, "Nuclear energy is not the panacea for tackling global warming." [84]
2007 Nobel Peace Prize
Gore was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which was shared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, headed by Rajendra K. Pachauri (Delhi, India).[85] The award was given "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change" on October 12, 2007.[86]
Response to the award was largely positive. Some praised the decision, such as founder of the Green Belt Movement, Professor Wangari Maathai, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. Inuit Activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier stated, "The Planet Earth is a winner today and that is what counts for me."[87][88] Some, such as Czech President Vaclav Klaus and meteorologist William M. Gray, criticized awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Gore. Claude Allègre, French geochemist and climate skeptic, dubbed the award "a political gimmick".[89][90]
Gore made the following statement after receiving the prize:
I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the world's pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis—a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level. My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.[91]
Internet and technology
Main article: Al Gore's contributions to the Internet and technology
Gore at the Ansari X Prize Executive Summit, October 19, 2006
Al Gore was involved in the development and mainstreaming of the Internet as both Senator and Vice-President. Campbell-Kelly and Aspray note in Chapter 12 of their 1996 text, Computer: A History of the Information Machine, that up until the early 1990s, public usage of the Internet was limited. They continue to state that the "problem of giving ordinary Americans network access had exercised Senator Al Gore since the late 1970s" leading him to develop legislation that would alleviate this problem.[92] Gore thus began to craft the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 which was passed on Dec. 9, 1991 and led to the National Information Infrastructure (NII)[93] which Gore referred to as the "information superhighway".
In 1999, various media outlets suggested that Gore claimed that he "invented the Internet"[94][95] in reference to a CNN interview in which he said, "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."[96]
In response to this controversy, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn wrote a 2000-09-29 article (originally sent via email) that described Gore's contributions to the Internet since the 1970s, including his work on the Gore Bill:[97]
[A]s the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet." We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. As far back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the improvement of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp the potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily forgotten, now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept.
Gore has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc. since 2003 and serves as a Senior Advisor to Google Inc.[98]
On 06 June 2005, Gore was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award "for three decades of contributions to the Internet" at The Webby Awards. In giving him the award, Tiffany Shlain (the awards' founder and chairwoman) stated that she "wanted to set the record straight [...] it's just one of those instances someone did amazing work for three decades as Congressman, Senator and Vice President and it got spun around into this political mess."[99] Gore, during his acceptance speech (limited to five words according to Webby Awards rules), joked: "Please don't recount this vote".[100]
On May 4, 2004, INdTV Holdings, a company co-founded by Gore and Joel Hyatt, purchased cable news channel NewsWorld International from Vivendi Universal. The network was relaunched under the name Current TV on August 1, 2005. On September 16, 2007, Current TV won the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television award at the 2007 Primetime Emmys[101] for its use of online technologies with television. In his acceptance speech, Gore stated, "we are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make. More to come. Current.com. Next month."[102]
Family
Gore had an elder sister, Nancy Gore Hunger. She died of lung cancer in 1984.[113]
Gore is married to Tipper Gore. They have four children: Karenna (born August 6, 1973), married to Andrew "Drew" Schiff[114]; Kristin Cusack (born June 5, 1977), married to Paul Cusack; Sarah Lee (born January 7, 1979), married to Taiwanese-American businessman Bill Lee[115] (李君偉)[116]; and Albert III (born October 19, 1982). The Gores also have two grandchildren: Wyatt Gore Schiff (born July 4, 1999) and Anna Hunger Schiff (born August 23, 2001).[117] Sarah is currently a medical student at University of California, San Francisco.[118] Albert works as associate publisher of the philanthropic Good magazine.
The Gores reside in Nashville, Tennessee, and own a small farm near Carthage; they attend New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Carthage. In late 2005 the Gores bought a condominium at San Francisco's St. Regis.
WRITE TO AL GORE AND DEMAND THAT HE SAVE OUR GOVERNMENT FROM THE RIGHT WIN REPUBLICANS
algore.com October 02 Belief in a God and religion, qualifies as a delusion,; a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.
Religion subverts science, fosters fanaticism, encourages bigotry against homosexuals, and influences society in other negative ways. Examples are cases where blasphemy laws have been used to sentence people to death, and when funerals of gays or gay sympathisers have been picketed. Preachers in the southern portions of the United States used the Bible to justify slavery by claiming Africans were descendants of Noah's sinful son Ham. During the Crusades, "pagans" and "heretics" who would not convert to Christianity were murdered.
The religious indoctrination of children by parents and teachers in faith schools amount to a form of mental abuse. People should cringe every time somebody speaks of a “Muslim child” or a “Catholic child”, wondering how a young child can be considered developed enough to have such independent views on the cosmos and humanity’s place within it. By contrast, Dawkins observes that no reasonable person would speak of a "Marxist child" or a "Republican child". Skeptic Michael Shermer, writing in Science, stresses the consciousness raising messages of the book, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, in particular, he cites Dawkins's message that atheism can be healthy and intellectually fulfilling. He briefly outlines the book and praises the latter part, saying the closing chapter is a tribute to the power and beauty of science, which no living writer does better. He concludes that "Dawkins's latest book deserves multiple readings, not just as an important work of science, but as a great work of literature."[46]
Joan Bakewell reviewed the book for The Guardian, stating "Dawkins comes roaring forth in the full vigour of his powerful arguments, laying into fallacies and false doctrines", and suggesting that it is a timely book: "These are now political matters. Around the world communities are increasingly defined as Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and living peaceably together is ever harder to sustain....Dawkins is right to be not only angry but alarmed. Religions have the secular world running scared. This book is a clarion call to cower no longer."[47]
The Economist praised the book: "Everyone should read it. Atheists will love Mr Dawkins's incisive logic and rapier wit and theists will find few better tests of the robustness of their faith. Even agnostics, who claim to have no opinion on God, may be persuaded that their position is an untenable waffle." The rest of the review essentially outlines Dawkins's arguments without much commentary of its own, focusing on Dawkins's critiques of the influence of religion upon politics and the use of religion to insulate political positions from criticism. "The problem, as Mr. Dawkins sees it, is that religious moderates make the world safe for fundamentalists, by promoting faith as a virtue and by enforcing an overly pious respect for religion."[57]
To those who claim that Dawkins misrepresents religious people and argue that fanatics are a small minority, Dawkins replies that this is not true, and that intolerant fanatics have huge influence in the world.[19]
Dawkins has been described as an "atheist fundamentalist". He says that fundamentalism is defined by a refusal to acknowledge facts whilst his atheism is entirely based on the facts. He says that, if all of the facts pointed to creationism, then he would believe in creationism.[19] September 27 I put in one "g-mail alert" Richard Dawkins and got back more right wing religious fanatic yelling about him being the devil or he'll burn in hell forever (but god love him lol) the power of a religious upbringing LMAO. they must have either went to school to eat lunch or their school was not into teaching informed, critical thinking; U know, the kind Pres bushy likes americans to go to. lol
He must get a good laugh out of all they're stupid shit! lol
Ces't la vie, u non thinking right wing, religious, Republican fanatics. LMAO
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