BANGKOK, Thailand -- The government's first apparent attempt to win an amnesty for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is a convicted international fugitive, failed after it was condemned as inappropriate to include him among 26,000 criminals eligible for a possible royal pardon.

Mr. Thaksin's sister is Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her government reportedly included his name last week among a list to be presented to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for him to consider endorsing to mark his 84th birthday on Dec. 5.

The Justice Ministry's royal group pardon list is an annual tradition, but usually does not include fugitives.

Convicted individuals can also apply on their own through the ministry.

"Thaksin will not receive any benefit from the [royal] decree, and his name will not be included on the list of convicts eligible for a royal pardon," Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said on Sunday (Nov. 21), indicating the list would be rewritten by the government to delete Mr. Thaksin's name.

"Convicts on the run will not be eligible," Mr. Pracha said, according to the Nation newspaper.

Richard Grossman passed away on Tuesday, November 22. The movement we know today to end never-intended constitutional rights for corporations as a step toward real self-governance was birthed, grew and developed to a great extent by this remarkable, complex human being with a deep passion and love for nature, humanity and justice. He influenced and inspired thousands directly, an incalculable number more indirectly.

Richard and Ward Morehouse started the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) in 1994, a combined think tank and breeding ground for activist experimentation to challenge corporate rule.

His work in this field originated with the publication of Taking Care of Business: Citizenship and the Charter of Incorporation, which he co-authored with Frank Adams in 1993.

Jason Box at protest against oil subsidies in front of Columbus office of US Sen Rob Portman Jason Box is an associate professor of geography and atmospheric sciences at the Ohio State University. He was part of a protest on Nov.21 in front of the Columbus offices of Senator Rob Portman, one of six Republicans on the now defunct Super Committee. “We stand here…calling for a reduction in oil subsidies. That connects with this issue of increasing reliance on fossil fuels at a time when that needs to decrease.”

Box said environmental issues are appropriately part of Occupy.

“The Occupy Movement and environmentalism go together because these are both justice movements. It’s economic justice and environmental justice.”

Protest has returned to Egypt’s Tahrir Square; the Bears won their fifth in a row; a man stands accused of strafing the White House; China warns of a long recession.

Wait a minute. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested in connection with what prosecutors describe as a drive-by shooting in which a semiautomatic weapon was used to fire nine bullets into the White House’s back balcony — where President Barack Obama sometimes strolls on a break. This should get more attention than a passing headline.

Authorities say Ortega-Hernandez drove his Honda to a road about 800 yards from the White House, stopped, and unleashed a volley from a Romanian-made semiautomatic rifle with a “large scope.” The FBI located “several confirmed bullet impact points” on the south side of the White House where the first family’s residential quarters are located.

While the prosecution of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for the crime of aggression, crimes against the peace, took two days to present because the docket was so full of important evidence, including their own books written after the Iraq War, the Defense (by way of Amicus Curiae) sought to conclude its proceedings by invoking the emotionalism of the tragedy that took place on 11 September 2001. (That's why we need an independent investigation of 9/11) Amid multiple rebukes by the Chief Justice of the Tribunal to avoid emotionalism, the Defense team could not help itself.

Lead Defense Counsel continued, "Had George W. Bush said 'we know who you are, we know what you did, and we forgive you,' the world could have been a much different place. But, instead, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo happened. We are fallible human beings. We make mistakes." And the Defense stated that the defense of Bush and Blair defense is that the accused "are human."

The Ohio Division of Forestry (DOF) and Ohio State Parks (OSP) are asking for comments on their proposed plans to log state parks. We suggest that you submit comments by December 3rd; however, OSP has stated that it will take comments beyond that date.

The budget bill recently passed by the General Assembly gives OSP the ability, for the first time ever, to commercially log state park lands under the guise of “implement[ing] sustainable forestry practices.” As a result of this new grant of authority, DOF has unveiled 5-year management plans for four state parks. Links to the plans are provided below. Two of the parks, Forked Run and Tar Hollow, have timbering scheduled to occur this fiscal year.

Talking Points:

· The offered plans fail to disclose how much timber will be cut – neither board feet nor acreage figures are provided to the public. This is the most basic and important aspect of a public logging plan – the agencies need to disclose to the public just how much timber they intend to log on a yearly basis.
Whistleblowing in our federal government may soon be a thing of the past, not because whistleblowers face more vicious retribution than ever before -- although that is true; and not because important acts of whistleblowing now result in fewer reforms and less accountability than they used to -- although that is also true and is getting closer; but fundamentally because the actions against which we need whistles blown are publicly acknowledged.

How would one expose war or indefinite imprisonment or assassinations or drone attacks or wiretapping or profiteering or bribery or massive money transfers to Wall Street? I understand how, even a few years ago, such things could be exposed by courageous whistleblowers. I understand how retired officials who missed their chance at being timely whistleblowers can now expose the steps through which these crimes have been normalized. But I have a hard time understanding how one would leak to the media or reveal on one's blog what has been openly acknowledged, legalized, formalized, and normalized.

The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress
William Jelani Cobb
Walker & Company, 2010
167 pp, Notes, Index

The title of William Cobb’s fourth book is related to several things. When Barack Obama was the junior senator from Illinois, he heard a sermon delivered by the infamous–and now strangely quiet–Reverend Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, where Obama, his wife and daughters once worshiped, entitled The Audacity of Hope. Obama used the title of the sermon as the title of his second book. Reverend Wright, however, would have borrowed it from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Cobb shows us that for once in a very long time white and black Americans voted their hopes and not their fears.

For the pro-frackers in Athens county and probably many who are undecided, the lure of jobs and other "benefits" from shale gas mining are significant considerations in favor of letting the gas companies commence the mining process. Those who favor this position contend that there will be jobs directly created in the mining operations themselves, along with a ripple effect generating jobs in other local businesses and regional industries. This is the job creation argument. The response from our side, the opposition, has largely been that these operations won't create as many jobs, especially jobs for local people, as the industry maintains. Among other studies and reports, Food and Water Watch recently released a report that contests the inflated job claims of the shale gas industry.

Last December, 2000 Americans gathered at New York's Hotel Astor to celebrate the 80th birthday of Norman Thomas. I could not be present because I had to go to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. But before I enplaned for Norway, I taped the following message to be sent to America's foremost Socialist:

"I can think of no man who has done more than you to inspire the vision of a society free of injustice and exploitation. While some would adjust to the status quo, you urged struggle. While some would corrupt struggle with violence or undemocratic perversions, you have stood firmly for the integrity of ends and means. Your example has ennobled and dignified the fight for freedom, and all that we hear of the Great Society seems only an echo of your prophetic eloquence. Your pursuit of racial and economic democracy at home, and of sanity and peace in the world, has been awesome in scope. It is with deep admiration and indebtedness that I carry the inspiration of your life to Oslo."

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