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Piano wire puppeteers: the Constitution, media and Dennis Kucinich

Remarks, December 7, San Francisco State University

It’s been an odd week. For me, a particularly odd week. But that’s another story. So, wait a minute. Iran DOESN’T have nuclear weapon capability??? So, who are we gonna bomb? I want to bomb somebody! Didn’t Senator Clinton just vote in essence to give President Bush the power to bomb Iran? If he had done it last week, would that have made her right? I mean, if she knew then what she knows now? Or am I getting that backward? Golly, I’m confused. And what about President Bush? This week, Vladimir Putin, the man Mr. Bush said he “Looked into the eyes of and found to be very straightforward and trustworthy.” So much so, he was “able to get a sense of his soul.” Well that soulful fella has just successfully coalesced the most dangerous power base in Russia since the Cold War amid rumors that include allegations he ordered the assassinations of journalists and imprisonment of noted proponents of freedom (Oops).

Stop funding for Iraq War

Congress to Vote on Iraq Funds as early as Monday, December 10! As most members of the Senate and the House are preparing to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace with their loved ones, they are about to vote to fund more death and destruction. In a complete capitulation to Bush and the Republican war machine, Congress is expected to vote on Monday, December 10, to approve continued funding for the occupation of Iraq with NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

We're fed up. Though time is short, peace activists are mobilizing to make our voice heard yet again. Choose which works best for you and your district from the following tactics and please, act quickly:

Send an email to your senators and representative that says “Peace is Possible, if you vote NO.”

A strong message

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Kucinich first, Edwards second in PDA straw poll

Not surprisingly in a field of eight contenders, no candidate came close to gaining a majority of the total vote in PDA's recently completed presidential straw poll.  But two candidates--Dennis Kucinich (41%) and John Edwards (26%)--combined for more than 2/3 of the total vote.  Over 15,000 PDA activists voted in the presidential straw poll.  Full results here.

After Kucinich and Edwards, only one other candidate--Barak Obama (13%)-- made it into double digits. All the rest were in single digits: Hillary Clinton (9%), Bill Richardson (5%),  Joe Biden (3%), Chris Dodd (1%), Mike Gravel (less than 1%). In contradiction to media reporting on the primary race, PDA's results parallel those of DFA, Daily KOS, the Texas Democratic Party and others whose polls show very weak support for Clinton.

World War When?

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Iraq's million

In the Fantasy Middle East, the troop surge is helping plucky Iraq get its act together; and Iran, as serious a threat as ever and still lusting to start World War III, awaits liberation by the superpower known as “Johnny Democracy.”

In the reality version, our legacy is bad water, cancer and social chaos. Iraq has, by one scientific extrapolation, surpassed the million mark in war dead and continues to rack up other numbers (4 million internal and external refugees, for instance, but not to worry, only 133 of them got into the U.S. this year) that . . . I dunno, maybe it’s just me . . . seem antithetical to the idea of democracy. And of course, as the latest National Intelligence Estimate has just embarrassingly informed the world, Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Achilles’ heel of America: Malignancy in the Constitution

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D., President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

Achilles’ heel is described as a seemingly small but actually crucial and mortal weakness in the hind part of the foot on which the whole body-weight stands. This weakness generally continues to increase as one gets older. When the USA became an independent nation in 1776, it drew up its constitution, which was based on the dire needs of those days. By the process of time, many events took place, which the nation’s forefathers apparently did not foresee.

Frozen US Constitution

Fear of Chavez is fear of democracy

Bush: If it’s our oil, why do Venezuelans get to vote on it?
GOP panicked that counting votes in Venezuela will spread to Florida

The Family Bush can fix Florida. They can fix Ohio. But it’s just driving them crazy that they can’t fix the vote in Venezuela.

The Bush Administration and its press puppies - the same ones who couldn’t get enough of the purple thumbs of voters of Iraq - are absolutely livid that this weekend the electorate of Venezuela had the opportunity to vote.

Typical was the mouth-breathing editorial by the San Francisco Chronicle, that the referendum could make Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s President, “a constitutional dictator for life.” And no less a freedom fighter than Donald Rumsfeld, from the height of the Washington Post, said that by voting, Venezuela was “receding into dictatorship.” Oh, my!

Given that Chavez’ referendum was defeated at the ballot box, we now that, as a dictator, Chavez is a flop. Of course, without meaning to gainsay Secretary Rumsfeld, maybe Chavez is not a dictator.

50 ways to reform Ohio elections

EDITORIAL: The Columbus Free Press and freepress.org editorial board endorses the following reforms to ensure safe, secure and democratic elections in Ohio in 2008 and beyond.

1. The Secretary of State shall establish statewide uniform voting procedures in Ohio in compliance with applicable federal and state laws.

2. The Secretary of State shall establish statewide uniform election reporting procedures in Ohio in compliance with applicable federal and state laws.

3. The Secretary of State shall establish statewide uniform election terminology in Ohio in compliance with applicable federal and state laws.

4. The Secretary of State shall allow the party’s county central committees to remove party appointments to the county’s Boards of Elections.

5. The Secretary of State shall establish standards for well-trained and fully informed pollworkers familiar with the voting laws and regulations of the state of Ohio.

6. The Secretary of State shall establish statewide uniform procedures for voter registration processing in Ohio in compliance with applicable federal and state laws.

    Signing bonus

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