Take 5 Minutes to Protect Your Privacy

Can you pick up the phone?

Congress is moving swiftly to "fix" the Protect America Act of 2007. The House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees have endorsed the Conyers-Reyes RESTORE Act (H.R. 3773) the acronym stands for "Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective."

Although this legislation is far better than the Protect America Act which the Administration wants to make permanent and expand, the ACLU wishes it were more "responsible" in terms of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment requires individual warrants before a search. But the RESTORE Act includes blanket warrants, which aren't really warrants at all, but a blank check allowing the government to vacuum up our international telephone calls and emails.

Please contact your representative.

Immediately and tell him or her:

• There must be individual warrants included in any bill Congress passes. Such warrants are essential to bring the surveillance of Americans in line with the Constitution.
• Under NO circumstances should Congress give amnesty to the phone companies for their role in warrantless eavesdropping. These companies violated the law. Congress should insist on accountability.
• Congress should insist on true court oversight. If it is serious about keeping checks and balances intact, it must allow the judiciary to play a significant role in overseeing the surveillance of Americans.
• Congress should not continue to legislate in the dark. Insist that the White House and Department of Justice turn over documents related to the warrantless eavesdropping program which were supposed to be given to the Senate Judiciary Committee last July.

In brief: put individual warrants into the RESTORE Act and keep immunity for the telecom giants out. And find out the facts about what the government has been doing secrecy kills democracy.

Thanks to:

Nancy Murray
Director of Education
ACLU of Massachusetts

Why Not Impeachment?

Is impeachment still "off the table"? Do we accept we can do nothing? The Dems waffled on the war, on impeachment, so who's going to impeach?

"Why Not Impeachment?" is the title of a new argument by Robert Parry. Reading it makes me hopeful there are people with backbone left in the press. The gist of it is that Rumsfeld wasn't "fired" for incompetence, he was ousted because he went soft on the war. You heard me right. He wanted a rapid draw down of troops. The memo stating this is published. The Dems ignore it. You read the story. Don't ignore it.

In other words, Rumsfeld’s ouster didn’t signal Bush’s new flexibility on ending the war, as the Democrats hoped, but a repudiation of Rumsfeld for going wobbly on Iraq.

Even when the Rumsfeld memo surfaced in early December, the Democrats ignored it, sticking to their wishful script that the Rumsfeld-Gates switch marked a recognition by Bush that it was time to begin extricating U.S. forces from Iraq.

Those rose-colored glasses got smudged badly when Bush instead announced in January that he was ordering an escalation, sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.

But instead of responding with their own escalation – and putting impeachment back “on the table” – the Democrats opted for a strategy of wooing moderate Republicans to mild-mannered legislative protests.

Why not ask your Senator why impeachment is not "back on the table"?

Columbus and Che, Honored this Day

Columbus is honored this day for discovering huge material wealth for his superpower, Spain. Che Guevara was captured and later executed 40 years ago today in Bolivia, and is celebrated a hero, almost a Christ-like figure of hope and deliverance to millions. Both used violence to achieve their ends. One is reviled; the other, celebrated in all the "other" Americas. Columbus wanted wealth and fame for himself, gold and empire for his Queen; Che wanted a better life for the poor and oppressed he felt kinship with.

We don't know what would have happened in Latin America had Che lived - his friend Fidel is not an unblemished example - but we do know what the Columbus legacy meant for the Americas. The PBS series, Conquistadors, offers a fair and balanced view of that tragic history. Compared to Columbus, Fidel is a saint.

In the mid-20th century, guerrilla warfare was the tactic of change. Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Ronald Reagan were all supporters of armed insurgency. Ho and Fidel succeeded, Reagan and Che failed. Ho's Vietnam is now embraced by the US; Cuba, still an enemy. Reagan was like the Columbus saga, the agent of a superpower who sent armed insurgents to a foreign land (Nicaragua) for interests of empire. (Let's not forget the Nixon and Kissinger coup that successfully overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile in the '70s for the interests of the US corporate empire. Can you say, ITT?)

IMHO, Ron is largely reviled around the world, as are Nixon and Kissinger. Che is largely celebrated. And, although Che was captured and executed by the militarist government of Bolivia 40 years ago, his spirit is embraced by the Bolivian government today.

Listen to CIA man, Felix Rodriguez, talk about his part in the capture and execution of Che. Read more about he and Che here. Watch those who fought alongside him talk about him today.

And do a Google video search for "Che" and see how much he is remembered in the Spanish speaking Americas today. Below is a music video found in that search that has been viewed over 200,000 times.



One lesson for today's young would be, if you want to be remembered a hero, be more like Che, and a lot less like Columbus, or Reagan, or Kissinger, or Nixon. You get the drift. :>)

It's Time to Grant 'W' Permanent Spy Powers

Doesn't that just chill your blood? That's what's going to happen, though.

"Protect America" Act is about to be made permanent. Get ready to share your phone calls, emails, etc. permanently with your kindly Republican Big Brother. (You know him, the one who says interrogation is not torture, unwarranted listening is not spying, the Constitution is just a bunch of words.)

Won't that be fun, kids? And don't forget to tell your local FBI agent what your parents are up to. "Protect America" means opening wide. Your government is obscenely curious. I know I sound like a libertarian here, but I've been around long enough to know that the government tends to spy on it's perceived political enemies rather than the real bad guys. It just works that way if there is no oversight.

So everyone, here's how to join the government spying fun in your neighborhood.

What's to fear? Really. Our beneficent telecom industry has been working nicely with Big Brother these past months. The Director of National Intelligence said so in August - the telecom companies have played a key role in NSA eavesdropping. And, of course, we don't need to know these troublesome details. If it weren't for Congressman Ed Markey demanding to know how much big telecom cooperated in domestic spying, you wouldn't have known squat. (Thank him, will you?)

The big news is, you still won't know how much telecom and agents of the cabal have cooperated. The FCC declined to investigate.

OMG, if the coup isn't real, I don't know what is.

Do Liberty a very small favor. Write your Senators and Congresspeople and tell them what a bad idea it would be to continue the "Protect America" Act without fixing it. This is URGENT. Key votes are coming up this week.

Call Senator Reid (202 224 3542) and House Speaker Pelosi (202 225 4965). Tell them the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) must be fixed, not expanded. Warrantless domestic spying must be ended.

Get involved. Be creative. Get tough. The freedoms you lose will be your own. This is your time to stand up and deliver.

A Great Unconference for Sanity and Social Networking

It's been hard to update lately since there are so many unsanity events. From Justice Whoop-dee-damn-doo Thomas' strange diatribe of Anita Hill and others (is this what repressed anger does to recovered memory?) to the finding that Inca children were fattened up for sacrifice before being left on the mountaintop to die of exposure to George "Compassionate Conservative" Bush vetoing the Children's Health bill so as to please the ultra nasty rich right and the health insurance industry while embarrassing key Republican backers of the bill who worked out compromises with Dems to avoid the veto. There's so much to choose from I became overwhelmed. I will do better, promise.

The good news is that you can look forward to meeting up with the bright and healthy folks of the new web at the Podcamp Boston 2 "unconference" later this month in Boston . You really should try to make it. This is the cutting edge for web media and networking. If Boston is too far, contact the Podcamp 2 people and say you want a Podcamp where you live! Otherwise, I'll see you there!

Click To Play

The Coup is Real

It's real if you allow it. Freedom does NOT protect itself.

Dan Rather Stands by his Story

Follow the story of Dan Rather's lawsuit. It's important. Implicit in it is how much corporate media is in bed with the Bush cabal. I fear it may get buried, as did the true story of W backing out of his military service in Vietnam, the story for which Dan Rather was fired trying to bring to light. The truth may yet emerge. Let's see. If it doesn't, you know there has really been a coup, and we're just gerbils on the treadmill.

Become a Pool Boy, Start a Revolution

What a sacrifice our Prez makes! He whores for US! No wonder he keeps getting re-elected (not).

Too bad not every American is so grateful.

"If every American had to pool-boy for these people for a day, you'd have a revolution on your hands."

You say you want a revolution? The ex-pool boy to the elder Bush has the answer.

Do it!

I suggest this because no one so much as burped at Alan Greenspan's comment that the war in Iraq is "largely about oil". Well heck, that's no surprise, but why isn't that front page breaking news in the US media? Or is it too tragic to admit publicly the WMD/Democracy/Freedom issue was utter bull (yawn).

We all knew the truth and couldn't stop the insanity. The media can assume shame for that. We know our disastrous and short-sighted policies toward the Mideast for the last century have been about oil…and racism toward the heathen Arabs…and support for dictatorships like the Saudi royal family, to whom the Bushs' are wed.

Iraqis are sick of foreign people coming in their country and trying to destabilize their country. —George W. Bush

No wonder they hate us.

Suppose this were your daily life? Take a moment, at least, to sign another petition asking Congress to recognize that there are likely over a million Iraqi deaths due to the US invasion.

Get angry and do something inventive.

9/11

On this, the sixth anniversary of the attack on our country, there are still unanswered questions, and some questions so ridiculous they don't need answering. (If you still believe "controlled demolition", etc., go here and enjoy. But think about it. How do you gain access to the bowels of a building that size to plant many floors of explosives and keep all the security and maintenance people who saw you quiet?) We may never have answers to the valid questions. The best summation of the outstanding puzzlers to the attack are best summed up by Robert Fisk, the eminent correspondent of the Independent UK.

Robert Fisk: Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11

Journalistically, there were many odd things about 9/11. Initial reports of reporters that they heard "explosions" in the towers – which could well have been the beams cracking – are easy to dismiss. Less so the report that the body of a female air crew member was found in a Manhattan street with her hands bound. OK, so let's claim that was just hearsay reporting at the time, just as the CIA's list of Arab suicide-hijackers, which included three men who were – and still are – very much alive and living in the Middle East, was an initial intelligence error.

But what about the weird letter allegedly written by Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian hijacker-murderer with the spooky face, whose "Islamic" advice to his gruesome comrades – released by the CIA – mystified every Muslim friend I know in the Middle East? Atta mentioned his family – which no Muslim, however ill-taught, would be likely to include in such a prayer. He reminds his comrades-in-murder to say the first Muslim prayer of the day and then goes on to quote from it. But no Muslim would need such a reminder – let alone expect the text of the "Fajr" prayer to be included in Atta's letter.

We do need a much more thorough investigation, as well as real answers to the subsequent anthrax attack on selected Democrats.

Don't hold your breath.

The REAL Rudy

Filmmaker Robert Greenwald has a lot to say about Rudy. He made a four part series on how Rudy failed us on 9/11. You can see Part 1 below. When you're done viewing, interact with his website and learn more.

From Robert Greenwald:

"It's just not possible."

That was the sentence we heard over and over from families who had firefighter sons, brothers, husbands and fathers killed on 9/11, from experts on emergency response, and from investigative journalists. It was just not possible that Rudy could so distort what happened on 9/11 and his role on that terrible day.

These experts, these grieving and furious family members, were united only by the fact that this story had to be told. Republicans, Independents, and Democrats could agree on just one thing: the cold hard facts about Rudy's terrible handling of 9/11 and the aftermath.

And so we went to work. We researched, we read, we interviewed. Jason locked himself in a quiet room, working late into the night. Christopher flew across the country at a moment's notice to interview. Lissette went over and over the footage. Leda kept juggling schedules so we could get the film done. Jimmy worked the phones to try and raise some funds.

And here it is... The REAL Rudy: Command Center. The first of a devastating four-part series.

Labor Day 2007 - 125 Long, Eventful Years

Nearly 6000 Americans were killed last year - on the job. Yes. As bad as that figure is, it would be a lot worse if there was no labor movement.

Here's what AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said about our workplace today:

Our workplaces should be getting safer, not more dangerous. Yet six years of Bush Administration neglect and failure of workplace health and safety have put millions of workers at increased danger. It's clear that a change in direction and leadership is needed to protect workers on the job and to improve their lives.

While some groups of workers saw improvements, in 2005 job deaths increased among Latinos, Blacks, children, immigrants and agriculture workers. Sadly, but not surprisingly, these numbers confirm that under the Bush Administration, workers at the bottom of the economic ladder are paying a very heavy price.

Looking back in our history, do you honestly think a benevolent industry leader proposed the 5 day work week? Did you know people were killed by police in an effort to prevent it? How about child labor laws: do you think legislators generously created those laws to correct the brutal treatment of children in our factories? It was through the perseverance of the labor movement that forced that legislation on Congress.

So many of the things that are decent and fair in today's workplace were the product of strikes, demonstrations, beatings, and murder by the forces of law and order, as our industrial and legislative leaders stood by. If they did not obstruct, they did little of nothing to improve the lives of the people working for them. Next time you go to work, think about the sacrifice of many generations of the labor movement that allowed you a safe, somewhat fair, workplace with (somewhat) decent hours and wages.

There's still a ways to go for fairness in the workplace, and the offer of hope for a living wage and a decent middle class life. You certainly know that. Just remember those who got you where you are today.

Happy Labor Day, 2007.

Extra credit:

Don't be fooled by the latest foolery of the boy President. Read this, briefly excerpted below.

Seven Years in Hell

On Body Counts, Dead Zones, and an Empire of Stupidity

By Tom Engelhardt

(referring to the President's recent VFW speech)

"In its own strange way, Bush's speech was an admission of defeat. Somehow, Vietnam, the American nightmare, had finally bested the man who spent his youth avoiding it and his presidency evading it. The President had finally mounted the tiger you are always advised not to ride and had officially entered the dead zone, where the bodies pile high and victory never appears, taking the rest of the country with him."

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