Hypocrisy of war and religion: How an unlikely group could unravel their evil connections

It’s almost unimaginable but it may be near the end for the U.S. military and quite possibly, the end of war. It is the result of the President’s recent decision to allow gays to openly serve in the military. Two million men and women in the U.S. military are now being forced to undergo training on how to cope with the new rules. If gays find a welcoming atmosphere in the military hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of straight men and women might drop out of the service; reserve units could be especially hit hard because this is where a large part if the older segment of the military is found and they are probably far less tolerant of tampering with God’s plan.

The Progressive Humanifesto

To whom it may concern - and by that I mean all of us and all those yet to come:
I am, or more precisely "we are," writing an essay called The Progressive Humanifesto to articulate and advance the progressive vision for America and the world.

I humbly ask each of you who identify with the progressive political spirit - the Left, the Green, the Liberal - to provide input as I work to put this treatise together. What do you think our Progressive Movement should stand for, rail against, change?

I want to hear from any and all of you who declare yourselves progressive! You who are disdainful of - and discouraged by - the democratic-republican duopoly in America!

You, you, and especially YOU!

How do the majority of us feel about the role and size of our armed forces? Sustainable consumption? The national debt? Renewable energy? Social services? Taxation? Private property? Public land? Public education? Capitalism? Socialism? The electoral process? Guns, butter, apple pie?

The Dispatch empire strikes back: Vader-like forces of darkness suck The Other Paper into a black hole

The late Herbert Marcuse, author of One Dimensional Man, and Noam Chomsky, America's most cited scholar, both have pointed out the advantage of controlling news through private corporate conglomerates. In 1947, in his seminal book Inside USA, John Gunther called the Wolfe family of Columbus perhaps America's most ruthless media monopoly.

Last week, the Wolfe family's closely held private corporation, the Dispatch Printing Company, was at it again. The Dispatch bought up the last independent weekly newspapers in Columbus, owned by American Community Newspapers. They picked up the Suburban News Publication (SNP) chain of 22 local community weeklies; The Other Paper, a weekly entertainment and commentary newspaper; Columbus Monthly, the only serious magazine in the capital; and a dozen other specialty magazines including Columbus CEO and Columbus Bride. John F. Wolfe, the CEO of the Dispatch Printing Company, told Business First that, "Putting all of these titles under one roof opens up enormous and exciting possibilities for local readers."

Really?

Troy Davis

A judge grants dubious probation

In 2001, Miami Federal Judge Joan Lenard sentenced five Cuban agents to long prison terms for conspiracy to commit espionage (although no evidence of espionage appeared during the trial). Rene Gonzalez, 55, like the other four, denied he ever engaged in or conspired to commit espionage.

Rene will be released on October 7. Lenard’s conditions demand that Rene remain in Miami for three years and be monitored by parole officers, and that he not have any contact with terrorists.

Neither condition makes sense. An admitted Cuban agent living in Miami; a man who infiltrated the anti-Castro Brothers to the Rescue and could not find an insurance company to write a policy on his life. Bookies would be taking bets on when – not if – he gets assassinated. Hit men abound in the area.

BLACKBOXVOTING: RACIAL DILUTION OF VOTING RECORDS

In June 2007, a steady voter in Memphis named Effie Washington was a Black woman. But before the 2008 presidential election, Effie's voting record was changed to read "gender: man; race: other". In June 2009 her voting record was changed, to "gender: woman; race: other".

At one time Sharonda Williams* was listed as a Black woman. She was purged from Shelby County (TN) voter rolls with a code indicating she had moved out of the county, even though she lived in Millington, a Memphis suburb in Shelby County. Sharonda was issued a different voter ID number and then listed as "race: other". Sharonda voted at her polling place in the May 2010 primary, selecting a Democratic ballot, which is marked as "cast" in the electronic poll book. But that poll book log never was made public, and the official voter history records report that Sharonda Williams did not vote. In August 2010, Williams is reported as voting Republican.

*There are only two persons on the Shelby County voter list named Sharonda Williams. One has a birthdate in 1978, one in 1981. The information above pertains to the one born in 1981.

Have You Been To Jail For Justice ?

Alec Johnson has. Like in that Anne Feeney song that asks this question, the Columbus-based activist took a stand by sitting down near the White House in August. He and hundreds of other protesters spent more than two days in a D.C. jail as a way to tell President Obama to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline plan that would transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas.

“It’s one of many tools we can use. There are hundreds of them that we can be effective with, but in this particular case, it (getting arrested) really drew attention to the issue. The fact that we got more than 1,250 people to do it over the course of two weeks was huge.”

Johnson said it was the largest nonviolent civil disobedience action in the environmental movement’s history.

Election Protection volunteers needed in Ohio

Once again, we need to vigilant at the polls in Ohio this election season. Early voting will begin in October and we need people at the polling sites then and on Election Day to help monitor the process. If you have some time to help out, we need you!
Please contact Bob Fitrakis - robertfitrakis@gmail.com to volunteer.

Local activist Chuck Lynd on techno-fixes, corporate power, and movement building

Chuck Lynd Those in the peak oil, deep ecology and anarcho-primitivism movements say we can't use technology to solve our environmental crises. Local activist Chuck Lynd disagrees. “I believe in what E.F. Schumacher called ‘appropriate technology' ...That’s true in agriculture, in industry, and in high technology. We’re creative and innovative. We just need to apply it in healthy, sustainable ways.”

But the fossil and fissile fuel industry is getting in the way of that, said Lynd, during a protest against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project during Obama's visit to Columbus on Sept 12.

“We can move now to solar, wind, and geothermal energy. There are technologies that are just in the waiting. We just have policies that support and subsidize what Harvey Wasserman calls King CONG---coal, oil, nuclear, and (natural) gas.”

The occupied turn occupiers

In a recent debate Congressman Ron Paul claimed the United States military had troops in 130 countries. The St. Petersburg Times looked into whether such an outrage could actually be true and was obliged to report that the number was actually 148 countries. However, if you watch NFL football games, you hear the announcers thank members of the U.S. military for watching from 177 countries. The proud public claim is worse than the scandalous claim or the "investigative" report. What gives?

We are supposed to be proud of the U.S. empire but to reject with high dudgeon any accusation of having an empire. Abroad, this conversation makes even less sense, because those troops and their bases are in everyone's faces. I lived near Vicenza, Italy, years ago. The people tolerated the U.S. Army base. The addition of a many-times larger one in the same town, now underway, has led to outrage, condemnation, and bitter resentment of being handed second-class citizenship in one's own country while being asked to show gratitude for it.

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