Messages of hope

While I feel little 'hope' for America under the steely grip of corporate control that plagues our nation, I am stuck with the anticipation of which of the feral dogs will continue to bleed our nation dry. I will not vote for a Democrat nor a Republican this time around. I will vote Socialist. But I will do this with the knowledge that my candidate has no chance of winning. And looking at the pack of likely winners, I have to place my 'hope' in the only one who has not had a chance to prove that he (or she) is not a prick at heart. Senator Obama has many positions with which I do not concur. But I feel that he will do the least damage and at least try to improve the standing of our nation and the circumstances of our people. I have to hope...

That being said, here are a couple of Obama ads that I really liked and want to share. You can visit http://www.obamain30seconds.org and vote on your favorite ad.

Forgive me for hoping against hope that someone will try to make things better. I have known Hillary since '75. She is not the one. Let me put it this way: She is a lawyer and a politician. And if that doesn't clarify anything for you, she is a corporate crook who never got caught because the man who could have implicated her "committed suicide". Uh huh, right.

I have known of McCain since around the same time. As far as I am concerned, he should have been court martialed even before he was taken prisoner by the VC and collaborated with the enemy on multiple occasions. Hell, he crashed four military planes in non-combat flights, not counting the one he got shot down in! But he, being the son of an admiral received multiple medals and citations.

He worked with and for the Viet Cong, yet he will not even speak with American Socialists. Indeed, he will have them arrested for appearing at his office to request an audience.

He claims to be an agent of change... He is an agent, alright. Just not the kind that we need running our coutry.

US truckers call for nation-wide shutdown

And the last "one day strike" that they called for on April 1st was such a resounding success. The roads were FULL of truckers who either couldn't afford a day off or drove for companies that just don't care. Let's see how far their solidarity carries them this time.

US truckers call for nation-wide shutdown

Truckers' protest urges Congress to stop subsidizing oil industry and build new refineries

Wednesday April 30th, 2008

A convoy of trucks rolled through Washington, DC, on Monday, as part of a protest to pressure Congress into acting on high gas prices. As gas around the US hit an average of $3.66 per gallon--a full 66 cents above the price this time last year--truckers called on the US government to take action

Venezuelan Military Destroys Colombian Paramilitary Camp in Venezuela

Keep in mind that these are forces loyal to Alvarez Uribe of Columbia, George Bush's good buddy. And also note the nearly 175 pounds of cocaine located at their position. So much for the 'war on drugs'. Americans fund a fictitious war on drugs when our own president is neck deep in the trade.

Venezuelan Military Destroys Colombian Paramilitary Camp in Venezuela | venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, April 29, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) - The National Armed Forces of Venezuela has detected and destroyed a camp presumably used by Colombian paramilitaries only 500 meters from Venezuela's border with Colombia in the municipality of Catatumbo, in the state of Zulia.

The camp was discovered on April 24 by military personnel during a routine patrol and reconnaissance as part of Operation Sierra 2008. The operation was initiated on April 17 and is aimed at combating the cultivation of illicit drugs and the cocaine trade from Colombia.

At the premises military fatigues, fire arms, ammunition, explosives, communications technology, camping equipment and armbands from the Auto-defence Units of Colombia (AUC), were found.

The discovery includes dorm-like installations and obstacles used to train paramilitary troops in over 236 sq. miles around the camp consisting of tunnels and obstacle courses and 79 kg of cocaine.

Iran executes hundreds in 2007 - Amnesty

Iran Focus - Iran executes hundreds in 2007 - Amnesty

Iran executes hundreds in 2007 - Amnesty PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Iran Focus

ImageLondon, Apr. 15 - Iran executed at least 317 people in 2007, a prominent international human rights organisation said on Tuesday.

Iran had the second-highest number of executions per capital, Amnesty International said in its yearly statistics, Death Sentences and Executions in 2007.

Only China, with a much larger population, executed more people than Iran, the report said.

The group highlighted the case of three individuals executed in Iran for crimes allegedly committed when they were minors. "Mohammad Mousawi (16 years old at the time of the offence), Sa'id Quanbar Zahi (17 years old at the time of the execution), Makwan Moloudzadeh (13 at the time of the offence) were executed in Iran on 22 April, 27 May and 4 December respectively", the report said.

The figure of 317 was considerably higher than the 177 number of executions that the group had said had been carried out in Iran in 2006.

The group said that the true number of people executed in Iran was believed to be higher than that reported.

And if we will recall, that's about the number of death warrants that George W. Bush signed in his term as Governor of Texas.

Iran and China killed that many as a Nation. G.W. killed that many as one man from one State, in the name of that State.

Keep it in perspective, people. If you are gonna start picking out international killers, be sure to include them all.

"For Eli"

Must Watch 3 Minute Video

Andrea Gibson at the 2006 poetry slam, performing "For Eli"

Fu** Your Yellow Ribbon.

A Special Thanks to Information Clearinghouse
for bringing such quality media to our attention.

Take it from a Veteran of the USMC, all the flag waving and lip service in the world will never return the men and women that left in the service of their country to the families they left behind.

In a local bread shop, the attendant seeing my Marine Corps ball cap asked me, "What do they teach you guy's in the Marine Corps? After one tour in Iraq, I don't even know my little brother any more. He can't even go into Walmart without flipping out. All he talks about is killing and death." I was stunned. I said, "They teach us to kill whoever is shooting at us."

And then after teaching us this "skill", they drop us into the middle of some god forsaken place where they have pissed everyone off to attract their fire, thus it becomes self-preservation.

And I can tell you this, as well. Once you kill a man, it is difficult to ever see mankind as anything other than drossy chattel again.

And then they label us anti-social. The very architects of the "kill or be killed" mentality label us, their dupes, their pawns, their mercenaries, as anti-social.

And "Support the Troops" car magnets, lapel pins, signs, and such make me sick. Because it fosters the atmosphere in which these atrocities are born.

If you really want to support our troops, bring them home NOW. And don't ever send them off to the battlefield again. If our nation is physically attacked, we would all likely take up arms in our defense. And this is as it should be! But to go picking fights...

the frustration leaves me speechless. Killing is serious business with serious ramifications to all who are left behind. And permanent ramifications for the dead and those who did the killing.

TOP 10 REASONS TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT IN ANWR

Reason number one should give us pause.
Alaska Oil Anwar

TOP 10 REASONS TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT IN ANWR
1. Only 8% of ANWR Would Be Considered for Exploration Only the 1.5 million acre or 8% on the northern coast of ANWR is being considered for development. The remaining 17.5 million acres or 92% of ANWR will remain permanently closed to any kind of development. If oil is discovered, less than 2000 acres of the over 1.5 million acres of the Coastal Plain would be affected. That¹s less than half of one percent of ANWR that would be affected by production activity.

The only permanency that we can be sure of is the permanent tendency of the imperialists to lie, cheat, steal, and kill to get whatever they want in spite of any permanent pledges they have ever made. They have been breaking promises and treatise since the inception of "the States". Just find a Native American (if you can) and ask them.

I mean, think about it. When the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was created in 1960 the area was designated as a "protected" site where oil drilling would be prohibited for ecological reasons.

Now, they (the imperialists) want to carve out 1.5 million acres or 8% on the northern coast of ANWR for exploration and drilling. The typical "What we said then doesn't count now" reasoning is the rule of the day.

And this is George W. Bush, John "Songbird" McCain and the Republican Party's answer to oil addiction. And I still can't understand EVERYONE'S fixation on the necessity to burn something to produce power. It's like, no one even wants to think about REAL ALTERNATIVES to "combustion". (Might I point the reader to a previous post here.)

If you would like to look at a long list of lies, deceptions, and aggressions committed by this band of thugs and their ilk, you should read Amoral America.

Just sit back and let them go, as you have in the past. Eventually, whatever they want will belong to you... and they will take it, and possibly kill you for the trouble of taking it from you.

Oh yeah, I'm the fruitcake.

Cops: Deputies shoot, kill man with knives at Calif. court

Cops: Deputies shoot, kill man with knives at Calif. court

MERCED, Calif. (AP) - Three sheriff's deputies fatally shot a man who stormed through security at a county courthouse Monday brandishing two large butcher knives, authorities said.

Guards tried to stop the man after he ran through metal detectors at the Merced County courthouse, but couldn't catch up to him as he moved down a crowded hallway, Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt said.

The man busted through the doors of Courtroom 2, and into an area where lawyers were standing as court was proceeding, Nutt said.

"As soon as he hit the inside doors I was behind him and I started yelling that he had a knife," Nutt said. "The officers started yelling at him, and yelling at everybody else to get down and at that point it was rather chaotic. People started screaming, people started heading for the door, and I just ran back outside."

As the judge tried to hurry his court clerks out of the courtroom through his chambers, the man held the knives in a stabbing position, Nutt said.

When the man refused to drop the weapons, three officers fired directly at him, and the man died on the courtroom floor, in front of several dozen attorneys, law enforcement officers and others doing business in the court, sheriff's spokesman Tom MacKenzie said.

No other injuries were immediately reported. The courthouse remained on lockdown as investigators interviewed witnesses and the three sheriff's deputies, MacKenzie said.

Nutt said a public defender told him he recognized the man who was killed as a previous client with a history of mental illness.

Now, let me see if I got this right...

Three Cops who couldn't stop an obviously deranged man chased him into a chamber full of lawyers, judges and clerks and shot the man in that room full of people. All three of them! And they shot not just to "wing" him, but to kill him! In a room full of people! You can almost bet that if they weren't all "Johnny Law" themselves, someone would be claiming "excessive force". Because no matter how deranged the man was, he needed help - not bullets. (He was probably a vet!)

I stated in an earlier post that cops are only here to kill us, or take our property or families. And today presents a prime example of their bungling, inept implementation of the law: "Just fucking kill them. Kill them all!"

Yeah, well, karma is a bitch. Good luck with that.

Chavez confirms he is willing to help negotiate release of US hostages

I suppose that Bill Richardson is not exactly on the "friends" list of the Bush Administration right now, not to mention the chagrin of Alvarez Uribe. Gov. Richardson will probably be placed on the "watch list" of Homeland Security for his co-operative attitude towards the Venezuelan President. At least, a western diplomat is realizing the potential of a symbiotic relationship with the Bolivarian leader. Will anyone else come to their senses?

Venezuela's Chavez confirms he is willing to help negotiate release of US hostages - International Herald Tribune

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he will try to facilitate the release of three Americans held captive by Colombia's largest rebel group even though he has lost contact with the guerrillas.

Chavez confirmed his willingness to help a day after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said the socialist leader had agreed to mediate a possible exchange of the U.S. defense contractors for imprisoned guerrillas.

"I told him that we're at their service, to try to help even though the issue is very complicated," said Chavez, speaking during his weekly television and radio program.

Ethnic Cleansing in North America

So, you thought that the genocide of the Native North American People was over? Think again!

Support TMT - Free Shawn Brant

These particular charges stemmed from an earlier demonstration around the Culbertson Tract, land which the federal government has long acknowledged rightfully belongs to the Mohawks but which is languishing at the negotiation table. On November 15th, 2006, Mohawks from Tyendinaga erected posters at the site of a proposed 140-home development project which was later scuttled due to Mohawk resistance to building on their land. During the protest, five Canadian Military vehicles were spotted traveling in a convoy through the reserve. In the context of the history of military involvement in policing Native protest across Canada, the convoy was seen as a veiled threat. The Mohawks blocked the vehicles' path with cars and trucks, eventually allowing the O.P.P. to escort the military away. No one was charged until two months later - just days after Shawn Brant announced that Tyendinaga Mohawks planned to take blockade actions as part of the upcoming June 29th Aboriginal Day of Action, the three Mohawks were charged.

As is always the case with Capitalists, if they want something that even they admit is rightly yours, they will simply take it by force! "If you are not with us, you are a terrorist and we will kill you". Proud to be uhmericun!

Army, Marines up enlistment of ex-convicts

It should give one pause to consider the relationship of this issue to the facts that matter. Most convicts are low educated, poor, minorities. In other words, we are beginning to use the same people that we forced to die for nothing in Vietnam. And most of them don't even understand that they are being duped.

Army, Marines up enlistment of ex-convicts

"Concerns have been raised that the significant increase in the recruitment of persons with criminal records is a result of the strain put on the military by the Iraq war and may be undermining military readiness," said House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

In 2006, the regular Army granted 249 waivers to felons so they could join up. But the number jumped to 511 last year, Waxman said, citing statistics provided by the Pentagon's top personnel official, David Chu.

The Marines went from 208 waivers to 350 during the same period, Waxman said.

Those numbers are even higher if active-duty and Army Reserve waivers for those charged with felonies who were never convicted are factored in.

Would you rather stop bullets for fascist pigs, or adopt the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau and sit in a cell (where it is safe and warm, and people cook your meals) and live for what you believe?

The problem here is that soooooo many of these "good christian" assholes don't believe in anything to begin with... with the exception of, "I believe I'll drink some more beer and go beat my wife and kids".

Frame-up Charges Against Larry Hales HAVE BEEN DROPPED!

More Police brutality? Now, why does that not surprise me?

Troops Out Now Coalition

On Nov. 30, 2007 African-American police brutality and anti-war activist Larry Hales was arrested after 10 cops illegally busted into his home without a warrant and without permission, physically attacked him and handcuffed his partner to a chair. He is facing frame-up charges of "interfering with the police" and faces extended jail time for being the victim of a police attack.

At the time of the police attack, Hales and his partner Melissa Kleinman were housing a survivor of police brutality who was on parole. The man had been shot in the back by police and had filed a civil case against the Aurora police department. Hales had previously agreed to house visits by the man's parole officer, but only when the man was home.

However, when Hales told the police officers at his door on Nov. 30 that the parolee wasn't home, and asked to see the business cards that because of a city ordinance Denver police must carry and surrender upon request, he had badges stuck in his face and told that they didn't have to give him their cards. Hales told them that they didn't have permission to come in, that the parolee was not home and that he wanted their cards. One of them scoffed and pushed the door open and him out of the way.

The cops charged into his apartment and ransacked his house. When Hales expressed concern that his cats would escape, he was shoved. When he asserted his rights, the police told him to shut up and violently attacked him, twisting his arm, grabbing him by the back of the neck, ripping out several of his dreadlocks, throwing him against the wall, and tearing off his shirt. He was pushed down the stairs of his apartment building, against the wall and railings and out into the cold night with a half-ripped shirt, socks and thin sweat pants. One officer squeezed his cuffs and the two had an exchange, where the officer remarked that more could be done and that Hales could end up face down on the ground, then he was hit in the stomach and thrown into the car.

The officers rolled the front windows down, left Hales in the car, told him he looked like he might hurt himself and that he would be booked as a "John Doe" and have to spend 72 hours in jail before anyone could find him. He spent the night in a freezing jail cell.

Police brutality is rampant in Denver, and this attack is part of the ongoing attacks on Black youth, from the Jena 6 to Sean Bell and countless cases of police brutality and repression throughout the country.

Had enough yet? Obviously not. Don't worry, they will be knocking down your door soon!

3 NYPD detectives acquitted in 50-shot killing

Could anyone have honestly expected any other outcome?
3 NYPD detectives acquitted in 50-shot killing

Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

Reverend Al Sharpton suggested in a public statement regarding the acquittals that this was not a miscarriage of justice but was an abortion of justice. I would go even farther to suggest that what passes for 'government' in North America is no less than an abortion of social science.

The hard line drawn between law enforcement and "the criminals" that make up our society (that's YOU) by the judicial is quite apparent. Know this: YOU are expendable and if you are not the target of police aggression, you are acceptable collateral damage. Cops Kill. They are not there for any other reason than to kill you and/or take your property and family. And YOU are apparently OK with that. Fine. FY. You will get yours along with the Nazi rulers.

Prison Nation

So, we find that "democracy", as viewed through the narrow minds of our keepers, is the reason for high incarceration rates. Why does that make my stomach turn?

U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations

Several specialists here and abroad pointed to a surprising explanation for the high incarceration rate in the United States: democracy. Most state court judges and prosecutors in the United States are elected and are therefore sensitive to a public that is, according to opinion polls, generally in favor of tough crime policies. In the rest of the world, criminal justice professionals tend to be civil servants who are insulated from popular demands for tough sentencing.

Meanwhile, FBI agents have been busy teaching "terrorists" how to build bombs (to hit the WTC), organizing youths into swearing allegiance to Al-CIA-duh (Liberty City Seven), and incarcerating hundreds of children for allegedly having CHRISTIAN religious fanatics for parents.

And I can speak to Missouri policy on convicts: if you have HIV, you will do the maximum amount of time (no good time). Yeah, the show me State.

U.S. to Expand Collection Of Crime Suspects' DNA

U.S. to Expand Collection Of Crime Suspects' DNA

U.S. to Expand Collection Of Crime Suspects' DNA
Policy Adds People Arrested but Not Convicted
By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 17, 2008; A01

The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.

The policy will substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples from only those convicted of federal crimes, and it will build on a growing policy among states to collect DNA from many people who are arrested. Thirteen states do so now and turn their data over to the federal government.

The initiative, to be published as a proposed rule in the Federal Register in coming days, reflects a congressional directive that DNA from arrestees be collected to help catch a range of domestic criminals. But it also requires, for the first time, the collection of DNA samples from people other than U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who are detained by U.S. authorities.

And why should this be of concern to "law abiding" citizenry? For starters, now YOU don't have to break the law for them to TAKE your DNA. And once they have your sequence, they can grow your DNA in the lab and place you wherever they want you to have been.

Oh, yeah.

Now they can commit whatever "operation" they wish, plant someone else's (anyone they choose) DNA at the scene, and then "capture and prosecute" the "terrorist" for the crime they themselves perpetrated.

You say, "Paranoid?" I say, do you want to find out? You're about to.

The Price of doing Business

US military deaths in Iraq at 4,037

Apr 18, 7:08 PM (ET) By The Associated Press

As of Friday, April 18, 2008, at least 4,037 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,295 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

So, this would suggest that approximately one American per week dies in non-combat related incidents, as a price of doing business. Not to suggest that the loss of well over a million Iraqis is not more egregious! But if this venture were a business with an employee a week mortality rate for over 5 years, they would have been shut down years ago. And someone would likely be in jail!

“Housing bill- homeowners lose round one in U.S. Senate”

Senate housing bill- more grief for homeowners
“Housing bill- homeowners lose round one in U.S. Senate”

Stewart A. Alexander
Socialist Party USA Nominee for Vice President
Candidate for Vice President Peace and Freedom Party

April 14, 2008

Socialists across the nation are rejecting a U.S. Senate housing bill that offers little help to struggling homeowners facing foreclosure, while providing tens of billions for banks, financial institutions and big corporations. The bill (Foreclosure Prevention Act) passed in the Senate this past week by a vote of 84-12 and has been sent to the House. The vote was clearly a major setback for millions of homeowners and a big win for banks and big businesses.

There is a major provision in the housing bill that will likely exacerbate the housing crisis and will cause hundreds of thousands of working families to lose their homes; the measure provides a $7,000 tax credit for people who will buy foreclosed properties and will provide huge tax breaks for big businesses; an estimated $25 billion.

While the housing bill was still in the Senate, there was an amendment to the bill that was quickly voted down by the Democrats and Republicans. That amendment would have offered protection to struggling homeowners, giving federal judges the ability to adjust mortgage terms. More of an insult to homeowners, the bill provides financial assistance to homeowners for foreclosure counseling.

The U.S. housing crisis is a national tragedy and it is impacting neighborhoods across the country. The City of Murrieta, California is a small city with a population just under 100,000. In 2007, one of every nine Murrieta homes entered foreclosure, more than anywhere else in the country, according to data from Realty Trac, a foreclosure tracking service, and the Southern California Association of Governments.

Socialists nationwide stand in total opposition to the Foreclosure Prevention Act because it will not benefit struggling homeowners in jeopardy of losing their homes; this legislation will only provide more welfare funding for wealthy billionaires. It is important for Congress to develop comprehensive legislation that will protect homeowners and working families.

Congress must take immediate measures to protect the financial security of working class families. Congress must implement broad based legislation to deal with the mortgage crisis, sagging wages, inflation and the recession.

First, Congress must freeze all balloon payments for a period of 18 months. Congress must also eliminate all adjustable loans. During the next 24 months, Congress must act, giving federal courts the authority to prevent foreclosures and to alter mortgage terms.

Homeowners that have been in their homes for less than 36 months should be allowed to vacate their home with a small reimbursement fee, from the mortgage lender, to provide funds for relocation if it can be determined, in U.S. Federal Court, that the loan was negotiated under fraudulent conditions.

Congress should also act to restore the credit of millions of individuals that have been the victims of credit fraud. If it can be determined that a home loan was made fraudulently, the buyer’s credit should be restored, not to indicate a bank foreclosure.

Congress should also direct the U.S. Justice Department to seize certain banks, mortgage companies and financial institutions that have violated professional standards that may have put homeowners and hard working families at risk.

The Foreclosure Prevention Act is not for working families; it will only benefit Wall Street while creating more potholes on Main Street. An estimated 8,000 families are losing their homes everyday; if the Foreclosure Prevention Act becomes law, it will only increase the rate of foreclosures.

For more information search the web for: Stewart A. Alexander; Mortgage Crisis Jeopardizing Working Class Families http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/11/369231.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/home-a05.shtml

http://StewartAlexanderCares.com
http://www.vote-socialist.org/
http://peaceandfreedom-sjv.org/home/
http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/pres08.htm
http://www.politics1.com/p2008.htm

SEIU International Attacks Labor Gathering

And this is the way labor behaves with each other? I think not. Someone here has no interest at all in the plight of the worker and should be outed for their subversive motives. If Labor is going to blaze the path of a brave new world, we need to clean ourselves up. And management organizations must not be allowed to masquerade as workers' unions. The line of division must be clear.

And when we are physically attacked in lieu of civil discourse, I see no alternative save self-defense with equal or greater force than that of the attackers. We must not be "brought down to their level". But we must not be trampled under, either.

Dearborn, MI-The Service Employees International Union turned their dispute with the California Nurses Association violent by attacking a labor conference April 12, injuring several and sending an American Axle striker to the hospital.

A recently retired member of United Auto Workers Local 235, Dianne Feeley, suffered a head wound after being knocked to the ground by SEIU International staff and local members. Other conference-goers- members of the Teamsters, UAW, UNITE HERE, International Longshoremen' s Association, and SEIU itself-were punched, kicked, shoved, and pushed to the floor. Dearborn police responded and evicted the three bus loads of SEIU International staff and members of local and regional health care unions. No arrests were made.

The assault took place at the Labor Notes conference, a biennial gathering of 1,100 union members and leaders who met to discuss strategies to rebuild the labor movement.

David Cohen, an international representative of the United Electrical Workers, asked protesters why they came. He said one responded, "they told us just to get on the bus."

The protesters included several members with young children, who had to be ushered away when SEIU tried to force their way into the conference banquet hall. Protesters were targeting Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the AFL-CIO-affiliated CNA. DeMoro was scheduled to speak but declined to appear after threats were made against her union's leadership.

Despite being welcomed to the conference earlier in the day-and given space to debate supporters of the CNA and the National Nurses Organizing Committee about neutrality organizing agreements-SEIU international and regional staff shouted down speakers at workshops and panels throughout the event.

"Labor Notes has always been a space for open debate, but when a union decides to engage in violence against their brothers and sisters, we draw a line," said Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes. "Violence within the labor movement is unacceptable and we call on the national leadership of SEIU, including President Andy Stern, to repudiate it."

The SEIU International has a policy of 'Partnership with Capital" at
the expense of its own members and other unions. The SEIU thugs attack
a meeting workers and assault people and 'no arrests were made'. These
thugs have the protection of the boss' government through the open
collaboration of the SEIU International Union. When was the last time
that the SEIU International Union defended a picket line? Hell most of
them have never been on a picket line.

More Real McCain

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved,"
yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.¹

2.
According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq,
Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says
McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."²

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain
voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President
Bush for vetoing that ban.³

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."⁴

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in
Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last
year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.⁵

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires.
The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes!
Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip
their vacations.⁶





7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to
be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine.
He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."⁷

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his
campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The
government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists
raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential
candidates.⁸

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent
years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley,
believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls
a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher
John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay
rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false
cult."⁹

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters
last year.¹⁰

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be.

The Real Mccain

Get to know the man. You may be seeing a lot of him in the future!
CPUSA Online

04/07/2008 16:55 IT department sat down with Carolyn Trowbridge National Committee member of the CPUSA from Arizona to talk about her favorite Senator John McCain.

April 6th General Strike in Egypt

Arabisto.com

The text of the document from when all this activity apparently springs is as follows: “All national forces in Egypt have agreed upon the 6th of April to be a public strike. On the 6th of April, stay home, do not go out; Don’t go to work, don’t go to the university, don’t go to school, don’t open your shop, don’t open your pharmacy, don’t go to the police station, don’t go to the camp; We need salaries allowing us to live, we need to work, we want our children to get education, we need human transportation means, we want hospitals to get treatment, we want medicines for our children, we need just judiciary, we want security, we want freedom and dignity, we want apartments for youth; We don’t want prices increase, we don’t want favoritism, we don’t want police in plain clothes, we don’t want torture in police stations, we don’t want corruption, we don’t want bribes, we don’t want detentions. Tell your friends not to go to work and ask them to join the strike.” It was signed by and supported by the Al-Karama Party, the Al-Wasat Party, the Labor Party, Kifaya, the Bar Association, Educational Workers Movement, University Professors, Grain Mill Workers and of course the Ghazl Al-Mahala workers. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, however, does NOT support it and has threatened to fire anyone who misses work on Sunday.

It is obvious from this text that workers the world over are fed up with Capitalisms failed strategy of Free Market self regulation. While the world enjoys the greatest food surpluses in history, food prices are rising and wages and employment are falling. While imperialist regimes subsidize multi-billion dollar banking interests, they tell the masses to go eat rocks. They also drive home the fact that if workers complain about the impoverishment they are suffering that they will "fire" them and hire someone who is willing to work for peanuts in any event. It is hard (though not impossible) for me to find guilt in anyone who is trying to earn a buck to survive in spite of a workers' strike, but institutionalized hunger and poverty is exactly what allows big business to operate in spite of a workers' strike.

I was SHOCKED on April 1,2008 when the Teamsters had announced that there would be a general strike of the trucking industry in the U.S. but the roads were still crowded with big rigs. The fact is that if some independent truckers stop their trucks, even for a day, they will lose their livelihood altogether. I understand this position. But the economic leverage that big business has over "the little guy" is clearly demonstrated here. Work and go slowly under or strike and free fall into absolute poverty and homelessness.

So, the question becomes not when we will strike to flex our collective economic muscle but when we will Socialize all industry and remove those corrupt "middle men" who contribute little or nothing to the value of a product or service from the economic food chain. Striking does indeed serve a purpose. But it will not be the vehicle for social change. Only sweeping global economic and political reforms hold any chance of removing the element of greed from the global approach toward a free and prosperous global society.

Strike if you will and strike if you must. But solidification of all left and socialist groups, parties, and peoples in their common goal will be necessary to correct the damages wrought on society in general by "free market" and Capitalist Privatization. Only a unified voice aimed at removing the influence of special and private interests from the decision and policy making processes of governments can ever promote the progress that our world so desperately needs. And for this we need leadership from within our ranks. And there is not one headliner candidate in the U.S. Presidential Campaign that fills that bill.

Vermont Supreme Court Rules Search Warrant Required for Overflight Surveillance

Montpelier,
VT: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled last week that police must first obtain a search warrant before making low level surveillance flights over private property.

The case began after a Forest Service official, believing defendant Stephan Bryant to be "paranoid" about his privacy, suggested to Vermont State Police that they conduct a fly-over to look for marijuana. On Aug. 7, 2003, a state trooper and an Army National Guard pilot flew over the property hovering about 100 feet above it for 15 to 30 minutes, according to Friday’s court opinion. Two plots of marijuana were spotted from the air. Law enforcement then applied for and received a search warrant, and seized about 45 plants.

Ruling that Vermonters’ right to privacy extends to the airspace above their homes, the state’s highest court threw out a felony marijuana cultivation conviction against Bryant. A 57-year-old contractor, Bryant testified at his 2005 trial that he uses marijuana as an analgesic, to
cope with pain he suffers as the result of a construction accident in the 1970s. His property, on a wooded hillside in a remote area of Goshen, is accessible only by a locked gate on a US Forest Service road.

In a 4-1 decision, the justices said the helicopter wasn’t high enough when it made its flyover.

"The occupants were law-enforcement officers, trained in the identification of marijuana, who conducted an overflight at illegal altitudes solely for the purpose of discovering evidence of crime within a private enclave into which they were constitutionally forbidden to intrude at ground level without a warrant," the Court wrote in it’s ruling. "The actions of law enforcement — flying only 100 feet above the ground for up to 30 minutes over a hillside home — were an unreasonable intrusion of privacy that triggers constitutional protection."

"It doesn’t matter if the invasion comes on wheels or on helicopter rotors," said Bryant’s lawyer, William Nelson. "Vermonters have a
right to expect the government will not be intruding on their privacy, whether it’s in their house, in their backyard or on their property."

For more information, contact NORML Legal Director Keith
Stroup at 202-483-5500.

A major blow to the fascist regime and to those who would follow in their steps. While I don't hold out much hope for the preservation of our Bill of Rights in the long run, it warms my heart each and every time my brothers keeper takes a shot to the nuts. It doesn't happen nearly enough!

HIV-Positive Man Wins Acquittal In Texas’ First Cannabis Medical Necessity Defense

HIV-Positive Man Wins Acquittal In Texas’ First Cannabis Medical Necessity Defense --
NORML Legal Committee Member Leads Defense

Amarillo,
TX: NORML Legal
Committee member Jeff Blackburn won an acquittal for a man charged
with possession of marijuana, by successfully raising a medical necessity
defense, believed to be the first to be accepted in Texas courts.

Defendant Tim Stevens, 53, had never been in legal trouble
until Amarillo police arrested
him for possessing less than 4 grams of marijuana. Mr. Stevens†is HIV-positive
and uses medical marijuana in conjunction with his anti-viral medications.

Defense expert Dr. Steve Jenison, Medical Director of the
Infectious Diseases Bureau for the Department of Health in New Mexico, carried the day with his
testimony. Dr. Jenison detailed his success with the New Mexico medical
marijuana program in treating severe symptoms, particularly nausea and cyclical
vomiting, that plague many HIV / AIDS and cancer patients—for many of whom no
effective medicinal alternative exists. "[Jenison]…was a dynamite witness,"
Blackburn said. "All of this evidence came together and made for a solid defense
case -- one strong enough for us to get an instruction to the jury that they
should acquit if they had a reasonable doubt about medical
necessity."

"We prepared a very extensive presentation about the
medical benefits of marijuana," Blackburn continued. "We relied on clearly
established scientific studies and approaches, all of which show that there are
distinct benefits derived from the use of inhaled marijuana." The jury was out
only eleven minutes before reaching a unanimous verdict of "not guilty." County
attorney Scott Brumley called the verdict "unfortunate." "I respect the jury's
verdict. ... That doesn't mean I agree with it," he said.

Blackburn, who also serves as chief counsel for the Innocence
Project of Texas,
which seeks to identify and exonerate innocent people who have been mistakenly
convicted and imprisoned, believes that this victory can be replicated in other
states as well. "Nearly all states have some variant of the old common law
necessity defense."

For more information, please contact NORML Legal Director
Keith Stroup at 202-483-5500.

Chelsea Clinton Again Asked About Lewinsky

Slick Willy's lies were our business when he was President and since he and his megalomaniacal mate have thrust themselves back into the national lime light, it is still our business. If you don't like the questions being put to you, go back to your cushy 6 figure job and quit touting your parents as the messiah incarnate. If you don't like circumstances in which you find yourself, why don't you take a look in the direction of those who have placed you there: Hill and Bill.

Chelsea Clinton Again Asked About Lewinsky

An audience member at North Carolina State University in Raleigh pressed Clinton on Monday to discuss the Lewinsky scandal, which led to the impeachment of her father, former President Bill Clinton. Clinton declined again Monday to discuss her father's relationship with the White House intern, drawing applause when she told the young man that it was none of his business.

Dear Chelsea,
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Really.
Two Clinton's are more than enough.