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Thailand election may result in trials against politicians & military

BANGKOK, Thailand -- If she becomes Thailand's first female prime minister after a nationwide election on July 3, Yingluck Shinawatra may start tribunals against the current government and military for their role in the deaths of 91 people during the army's assault against an anti-coup insurrection last year.

The military, which has staged 18 successful or attempted coups since the 1930s, is worried that an increasingly likely win by Mrs. Yingluck would also enable her to investigate the army's 2006 coup which toppled her thrice-elected brother, Thaksin.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, his supportive generals, and their loyal officials, have reason to be afraid.

Thaksin Shinawatra described his sister as his "clone," and the slogan for their Puea Thai Party, or Party for Thais, is: "Thaksin Thinks. Puea Thai Acts."

Their tribunals could blame Mr. Abhisit and the military for using snipers, armored personnel carriers and other weapons in Bangkok's crowded streets against thousands of anti-coup Red Shirt protesters and others, including many who fought back, during April and May 2010.

Wisconsin: Democracy in our hands

I cannot watch enough videos of the people in Wisconsin as you bold, brave, most decent Wisconsonites are out in the streets – resisting, doing non-violent civil disobedience/direct action, dissenting, protesting, rising up, standing up to and speaking and singing truth to power in the face of Walker and his cronies.

What is happening in Wisconsin now is a model for the whole country. Not only your honorable actions, but also what Walker and the thugs behind him are trying to do in Wisconsin.

I am writing to tell you not only how much I respect and admire you, but also how very concerned I am about the recalls, scheduled as of this writing to start on July 12. They are to be done on the same electronic voting machines that could have rigged the elections in the first place as well as the Supreme Court recount. See here for information on hacking of all electronic voting machines by geeks, professors and students – both optical scammers (not a typo) and DRE’s/touchscreens – to say nothing of all the fraud and error of the electronic voting machines in real time – some lowlights: FL 2000, GA 2002, OH 2004, the list goes on and on.

Freedom riding to Gaza

Fifty years ago, freedom riders traveled by bus into the U.S. South. Now American freedom riders are joining their allies from around the world on a flotilla bound for Gaza. The U.S. ship is called The Audacity of Hope.

The heroes on this ship have pledged to sail unarmed and to refuse to use violence. The Israeli military, which continues to illegally blockade Gaza, causing endless suffering to the Gazan people, has pledged to use violent force to prevent the ships getting through.

Last May, the Israeli military, in international waters, illegally boarded another ship on a similar mission, the Mavi Marmara, killing nine people, including one American, and wounding dozens. Israel claimed, in its defense, that the Mavi Marmara carried no humanitarian aid, that all such supplies were on other ships in the flotilla.

The 36 American passengers (plus 4 crew and 10 members of the press) on board The Audacity of Hope have publicly stated that they will carry only letters: "thousands of letters of support and friendship from people throughout the U.S. to the women, children and men of Gaza."

Gaza and American ‘Security’

Exclusive: Despite opposition — and even warnings — from the U.S. government, a group of Americans will join a small flotilla of boats challenging Israel’s blockade of the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains why he is joining this protest.



Stuffing my backpack before setting out to board “The Audacity of Hope,” the U.S. boat to Gaza, I got a familiar call from yet another puzzled friend, who said as gently as the words allow, “You know you can get killed, don’t you?”

I recognize this caution as an expression of genuine concern from friends. From some others — who don’t care about Gaza’s plight or who do not wish us well – the words are phrased somewhat differently: “Aren’t you just asking for it?”

That was the obligatory question/accusation at the end of a recent interview taped for a BBC-TV special scheduled to air this coming week as we put to sea to break — or at least draw attention to — Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza and the suffering it inflicts on the people there.

Economy alone fails to explain Turkey’s success

Many commentators today are basing the success of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the June 12 elections largely on its ability to guide the country through a decade of remarkable growth.

Economic indicators are often seen as the obvious logic behind economic stability - lack thereof. However, they are not enough on their own to reach such sweeping conclusions.

In an article entitled, 'Look toward Turkey's economy to understand Erdogan's re-election', Ibrahim Ozturk opined: "From 2002 to 2007, Turkey experienced its longest period of uninterrupted economic growth, which averaged 6-7 percent year on year, while annual inflation plummeted. Moreover, the economy proved resilient following the global financial crisis, with growth recovering rapidly." (Lebanese Daily Star, June 18).

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Tax breaks for ‘Big Shots’ will cost middle class Ohioans, says lawmaker: State Rep. Sykes requests cost-impact analysis of Kasich’s new tax give-away

State Rep. Vernon Sykes (D-Akron) requested June 17 an analysis of a new proposal by Ohio Gov. John Kasich to give tax breaks to financial investors. The proposal was reportedly provided to some members of the Ohio House and Senate Conference Committee to be included in the state budget at the request of Gov. Kasich.

“This tax breaks for big shots proposal could result in another devastating blow to middle class families facing massive budget cuts to their schools and communities,” said Rep. Sykes. “Of course we want to encourage investment in Ohio companies but we shouldn’t do it on the backs of hard working, middle class Ohioans.”

Whirlpool steals workers' guaranteed health care

Unfortunately, we’ve just had another open theft of retired worker’s benefits, this time Whirlpool management stealing the health care coverage of retired former Hoover workers and their families. Once again, we see “Carpetbag” managers brought in from outide our community, Whirlpool, which took over the Hoover plant, coming here to steal from hard-working families who’d earned these benefits. Health care is not some type of “entitlement” for these hard-working families, it is a right guaranteed these folks by the IBEW contract. These working families earned those health care benefits, and gave up wages and other benefits in order to assure that their families would be provided with health care after they retired. Like pirates of old, Whirlpool management has come into our community only to plunder our friends, neighbors, leaving behind diaster while obsconding with the wealth of our community! They’ve done this in other communities across the nation. We say---IT ENDS HERE, RESTORE HEALTH CARE TO THE HOOVER WORKER’S FAMILIES!

SOAR---‘SUPPORT WORKERS, RESTORE HEALTH CARE!’

Will Fukushima teach us anything after all? - Survivng nuclear disasters - Remembering the sacrifice of brave nuclear workers

Valery Alexeyevich Legasov was a famous Soviet scientist, whose death in the spring of 1988 on the second anniversary of the tragedy at Chernobyl rocked the Soviet Nuclear Industry. At the time of the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, Legasov had become the First Deputy Director of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. His role was to investigate the cause of the disaster, and help plan for the mitigation efforts. He was a chemist, and extremely professional. "With our reactors, we may expect apocalypse any time" Legasov kept repeating in his meetings, but his words always fell on deaf ears. He had always carried a premonition of catastrophe, and constantly worked at the Institute of Atomic Energy to organize groups of experts to determine the safety of different types of reactors.

Waukesha fraud – Deep throat speaks: A slip of paper is the “deep throat” of the Supreme Court Election Fraud

It is peculiar how the smallest, most innocent, observation can become the “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Barb With was volunteering as an observer at the Waukesha recount when she made a glaring discovery. The poll tape that was being counted and matched for votes cast in the April 5 election for Supreme Court Justice was dated March 30, 2011. When she brought the suspicious date to the attention of election officials, they could not come up with any reason for the mis-dated poll tape.

Weeks later Barb appeared before the Assembly Committee for Election and Campaign Reform. This is a portion of her testimony:

An observer of the Waukesha County recount noticed such a small, innocent piece of paper that was spit out of a voting machine in Pewaukee. It was a poll tape from a voting machine on which is recorded your vote. But what caught her eye was the date at the top of the tape: 03-30-2011 or March 30. That was six days before the Supreme Court election of April 5!

I recall the Facebook messages in the group Election Integrity as she communicated the finding to the group. “Get a picture!” -- and she did.

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