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Un-American intimidation tactics shall not silence Muslims

In the short yet painful period of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s prominence, he accused people who disagreed with his views of being Communists and many were ostracized in society. People became afraid to challenge him, fearing for their reputations and livelihoods.

McCarthy’s relentlessly overreaching tactics included investigating various governmental agencies, universities, and even the United Nations. He routinely coerced individuals and institutions to   march to his orders or else suffer the consequences.

When the Secretary of the U.S. Army refused to intercede on his behalf for a favor, McCarthy ordered the investigation of that branch of the military.    -On June 9, 1954, at a Senate hearing during that investigation,  , Joseph Welch, Special Counsel for the Army, stood up to the fear-mongering, turning the tide of history.

The dumbest thing the Washington Post could print

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you... what's next?

The Washington Post today published an article by Michael Tomasky called "The Dumbest Move the Dems Could Make."  With a lot of publications, this article itself would have been the dumbest thing they'd ever printed.  Of course, we're talking about the Washington Post, a newspaper that cheered in hundreds of articles and columns and editorials for a cakewalk in Iraq.  Still, this was the single dumbest thing the Post could possibly have printed at this time.

Some thoughts on progressives organizing

Needless to say, the Bush year’s have been difficult years for progressives. Reality’s "well know liberal bias" hasn’t been enough to keep pace with Team-W’s lies, misrepresentations, and manipulations. And we haven’t resorted to torture, or to tapping phone lines (Talking Head’s prescient "Life During Wartime" plays through my head as I type that phrase: "We’re tapping phone lines/ You know that that ain’t allowed.") We’ve had to deal with Bush’s imperial reach.

Fortunately (sort of) and not surprisingly, Bush’s imperial reach has developed into imperial over-reach to the extent that all but the most "blinded by the right" Bushies are coming to see the arrogance, deceitfulness, wrongheadedness, and just plain wrongness that characterize Bush governing. But that hardly means our difficult times are over—or that our difficult times will end on their own. And, at the rate Bush is screwing things up, we can’t allow ourselves to wait until the calendar says the bum’s got to leave the White House.

Media Corrections We’d Like to See

Former readers of Mad Magazine can remember a regular feature called “Scenes We’d Like to See.” It showed what might happen if candor replaced customary euphemisms and evasions. These days, what media scenes would we like to see?

     One aspect of news media that needs a different paradigm is the correction ritual. Newspapers are sometimes willing to acknowledge faulty reporting, but the “correction box” is routinely inadequate -- the journalistic equivalent of self-flagellation for jaywalking in the course of serving as an accessory to deadly crimes.

     Some daily papers are scrupulous about correcting the smallest factual errors that have made it into print. So, we learn that a first name was misspelled or a date was wrong or a person was misidentified in a photo caption. However, we rarely encounter a correction that addresses a fundamental flaw in what passes for ongoing journalism.

     Here are some of the basic corrections that we’d really like to see:

Paper ballots for California: Secretary of State announces de-certification/re-certification plans for e-voting systems

Debra Bowen Announces DRE (Touch-Screen) Machines to be Used Only One Per Polling Place for Disabled Voters with 100% Manual Count of Paper Trails
Dramatic Late Night Press Conference Held at 11:45pm in Sacramento...

In a dramatic late-night press conference, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified, and then recertified with conditions, all but one voting system used in the state. Her decisions, following her unprecedented, independent "Top-to-Bottom Review" of all certified electronic voting systems, came just under the wire to meet state requirements for changes in voting system certification.

Bowen announced that she will be disallowing the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems made by the Diebold and Sequoia companies on Election Day, but for one DRE machine per polling place which may be used for disabled voters. The paper trails from votes cast on DREs manufactured by those two companies must be 100% manually counted after Election Day. DREs made by Hart-Intercivic are used in only one California county and will be allowed for use pending security upgrades.

China’s transition into a society of social harmony

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

China represents one of the oldest civilizations in the entire history of our earthly society. Its dynasties managed to leave legacies that have enriched the culture of China in many unique ways. By nature, the Chinese are very kind people and they try to be helpful with those around and with those they come across. They also tend to live in peace and to let others live in peace as well. The only ambition the Chinese people seem to have is to see the members of their relatives and friends equipped with all the vital needs of life.

Comprehension of China

Ted's most excellent misadventures

When the feds raided the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens, perhaps no one was more surprised than the U.S. senator himself. Fifteen federal agents showed up.

            Not cool at all, given all Stevens has done for Big Oil and Bush-Cheney Inc.

            The Republican lawmaker's coziness with energy execs is exceeded only by the vice president's. To be caught in a federal criminal probe involving Alaska lawmakers and VECO Corp., must have caught Stevens off guard. In the Senate, Stevens is the patron saint of Big Oil.

            Remember when Dick Cheney made a big executive-privilege stink to protect his oil industry cronies from public scrutiny? Cheney believes the public doesn't have a right to know who is helping to shape U.S. energy policy.

            Stevens would agree, although he never really hid his chumminess with Big Oil. He walked the walk and talked the talk.

Help us give Dick Cheney a PINK SLIP!

Nine Reasons to Pink Slip Dick Cheney

1. He purposely manipulated information about the existence weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to make a case for launching a war against that country. THERE WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN IRAQ AND HE KNEW IT.

2. He repeatedly lied about a connection between Al Queda and Saddam Hussein in order to make a case for invading Iraq. THERE WAS NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AL QUEDA AND SADDAM HUSSEIN AND HE KNEW IT.

3. He has threatened to bomb Iran even though Iran currently has no nuclear weapons, is years from developing them, and has agreed to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into the country. He has gone so far as to propose the use of nuclear weapons against that country. AS IF THE FAILED WAR AND OCCUPATION IN IRAQ ISN’T BAD ENOUGH, HE WANTS TO START ANOTHER WAR.

4. He has sanctioned the use of torture against the invented category of “illegal enemy combatants.” With his approval, people have been kidnapped, flown to secret locations and tortured. IN HIS ENDLESS WAR ON TERROR, CHENEY FEELS HE SHOULDN’T OBEY ANY LAW THAT GETS IN HIS WAY.

Welcome to jail for destruction of election records… for some of the ladies and gentlemen of the Ohio Boards of Elections!

Destroying and Losing Ohio's 2004 Election Records is a CRIME. It is a felony. Spilling coffee on… and then destroying records is an outrage and a crime. It is also a very lame excuse for Holmes County to use to have destroyed most of their 2004 election records. Here is what Director Lisa Welch, the Director of the Holmes County Board of Elections… "Respectfully" signed her name to in her letter of explanation for Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, as to why she and her board no longer had their records,

Holmes County Board of Elections

"A shelving unit collapsed in the Board of Election storeroom on the morning of Friday, April 7, 2006. That shelving unit held the voted ballots, stubs, soiled and defaced ballots envelopes, and the ballot accounting charts fromt he 2004 General Election. The shelves and stored items collapsed onto a side table holding a working coffee maker. The carafe on the coffee maker was full at the time of the incident. Many of the stored items had to be destroyed due to the broken glass and hot coffee. The ballot pages and unused ballots were stored on a neighboring shelf and were not damaged".

The dog ate my homework

The following table is a compilation of excuses for the destruction of some or all of the records from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. The statements are excerpted from the "letters of explanation" submitted in April 2007, by certain Boards of Election to the office of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, which were provided to us in response to a public records request.

According to the Columbus Dispatch ("56 Ohio counties failed to keep ballots," August 2, 2007), Brunner stated that there is no evidence that ballots were intentionally destroyed. We respectfully refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Fayette and Warren counties, both of which state, in these exact words, that some or all ballots were "intentionally destroyed." We also refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Allen, Champaign, Fairfield, Hancock, Hardin, Holmes, Logan, Marion, Medina, Monroe, Montgomery, Morrow, Paulding, Perry, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, and Stark counties, all of which state, in other words, that some or all ballots were intentionally destroyed.

Adams – "does not have in its possession"

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