Sunday, November 19, 2006

Video Bloggers "NOLA-MiseryTour"

Reposted by Radine! 11/19/06 
LA-2: The "X" - Levees - Lower 9th Ward by Tim Tagaris, Nov 19, 2006 8 PM EST
There's no separating Hurricane Katrina from the race in Louisiana's 2nd. As one Karen Carter staffer put it, "Anything happening in the city of New Orleans is related to the storm." Most folks down here like to differentiate between "the storm" and "the flood" -- one being a natural disaster, the other a man-made one. I took the "misery tour" of the Lower 9th Ward yesterday with a few local bloggers; this was "the flood" ...

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Richard Dreyfuss Sr. Advisor Oxford University on Democracy
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

WalMart Workers Teleconference with Obama & Edwards

Posted by Radine! for UNN from WakeUpWalMart
Obama and Edwards join grassroots call

This Wednesday, November 15, WakeUpWalMart.com supporters from across the country are joining together on two national grassroots strategy conference calls.

On the first call, at 7:00 PM EST, Senator Barack Obama will be our special guest speaker. On the 10:00 PM EST call, Senator John Edwards will join us. (We are having two calls so that hard-working supporters from the east to the west coast can join after work).

The calls will help launch our exciting 2006 Holiday Campaign strategy. Join us as we continue to bring together a diverse coalition of Americans fighting for health care, good jobs and a better future.

Posted by Jeremy - November 14, 2006 10:22 AM - Action
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Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Wal-Mart workers thank you for Democracy "In Action"

Posted by Radine! for UNN
"November 8, 2006 The American People Reject Wal-Mart's political agenda

Despite Wal-Mart’s last minute donations to support its anti-family, anti-employee agenda, the American people gave a strong rebuke to the Bush/Wal-Mart right wing agenda.

Just take a look at a few of the candidates who received last-minute funding from Wal-Mart and lost:

- In October, Wal-Mart gave $10,000 to Tom Kean, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey. Bob Menendez, the Democratic candidate, defeated Kean.

- In October, Wal-Mart gave $5,000 to Michael Steele, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland. Congressman Ben Cardin, the Democratic candidate who joined the WakeUpWalMart.com national bus tour, defeated Steele.

- In October, Wal-Mart gave $2,500 to Senator Mike DeWine, the incumbent Republican Senator in Ohio. Congressman Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate who joined the WakeUpWalMart.com national bus tour, defeated DeWine.

These are just a few examples where the American people won and big corporations like Wal-Mart lost.

If this election proves nothing else, it is the fact that the American people want change, they want corporations to be held accountable and they want an agenda that protects American jobs, fights for health care for all and gives workers the respect and dignity that they deserve.

Posted by Jeremy at 10:55 AM"


 
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Wal-Mart Makes Last-Minute Donations to Republicans, Pushes Anti-Family, Anti-Employee Agenda

Wal-Mart Makes Last-Minute Donations to Republicans, Pushes Anti-Family, Anti-Employee Agenda  11/6/2006 3:10:00 PM


WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by WakeUpWalMart.com on Republican campaign contributions and the upcoming election:

After launching a voter education campaign to attack Democratic candidates fighting for a better America, Wal-Mart is now pouring money into key races to support its anti-family, anti-employee agenda.

Here are several examples, in the last few weeks, where Wal- Mart contributed to the Republican candidate in hotly contested races:

-- On Oct. 17, Wal-Mart contributed $5,000 to Tom Kean, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in New Jersey.

-- On Oct. 25, Wal-Mart contributed another $5,000 to Tom Kean, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in New Jersey.

-- On Oct. 17, Wal-Mart contributed $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Maryland.

-- On Oct. 18, Wal-Mart contributed $2,500 to Sen. Mike Dewine, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio.

-- On Oct. 17, Wal-Mart contributed $2,500 to Rep. Jim Gerlach, a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania who is running in one of the most targeted U.S. House districts in the country.

-- On Oct. 17, Wal-Mart contributed $5,000 to Rep. Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee who is in a hotly contested race in New York.

Wal-Mart's contributions to Republicans in these hotly contested races follows Wal-Mart's very large donation of $500,000 to the Republican Governor's Association on Sept. 27.

"Wal-Mart's last minute contributions to Republicans proves that Wal-Mart is not only a right wing company but supports an anti-family, anti-employee agenda which ships U.S. jobs overseas, denies workers a living wage and fails to expand health care to hard-working families," said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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Monday, November 06, 2006

Wal-Mart Employees Speak Out (Audio+Report of 11/2 teleconference)

November 3, 2006
Wal-Mart Employees Speak Out
Tired of Wal-Mart's anti-worker policies and in the wake of the announcement of numerous new anti-family policies, Wal-Mart employees from across the country took part in the first ever national conference call for associates yesterday. (Audio)
The local newspaper near Wal-Mart's headquarters, The Arkansas Morning News, covered the call, noting that, "Wal-Mart...took it on the chin again Thursday during a teleconference in which employees vented their anger against the company over its new policy changes."
The article mentions the petition that Wal-Mart associates have started, calling on Wal-Mart to implement a series of changes and reverse these anti-worker, anti-family policies. Associates can sign the petition online and download copies to distribute among fellow associates.
From The Morning News:
Wal-Mart, still smarting from recent public relations fiascoes and disappointing store sales, took it on the chin again Thursday during a teleconference in which employees vented their anger against the company over its new policy changes.
The call was held by Wake-Up Wal-Mart in Washington, a union-backed group waging its own campaign against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Two callers who identified themselves as Wal-Mart employees were Ramiro Gonzales of El Paso, Texas and Susan Smith of Ponca City, Okla.
Both Gonzales and Smith criticized Wal-Mart for its new wage-cap and absentee policies. By putting caps on some employee's wages, "We have nothing to look forward to," said Gonzales, who has worked for the company six years.
Smith also alleged that if employees do not confirm to Wal-Mart's new scheduling policy, workers have been "threatened" with wage cuts.
"Wal-Mart is definitely going over the line in many things," said Smith, a 14-year employee.
Paul Blank, director of Wake-Up Wal-Mart, said calls to his organization from Wal-Mart employees have "skyrocketed" since the company implemented its new policies. He also claimed the retailer has some more changes coming next year, including doing away with profit sharing and offering severance packages to longtime employees who will have their wages cut if they don't sign, he said.
Continue reading "Wal-Mart Employees Speak Out"
| In The News

Most of the teleconference call can be heard here (personal information redacted).


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Saturday, November 04, 2006

"INN Report" News you won't see on the MSM

Radine! defers to the excellent coverage of International News Network for this weekend
"I.N.N.Report" a 30 minute video newscast of news you won't see on broadcast or MSM media:
includes 10 min interview with Brad Friedman of The Brad Blog http://www.bradblog.com


Election night coverage --info here.
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Thursday, November 02, 2006

Special Correspondent Paul Cienfuegos Appeals to YOU!

Posted 11-2-06 for UNN by Radine! as received from Paul Cienfuegos
Friends across North America and beyond,
I've checked out the hotlinks at the end of this urgent statement from the author, and they appear to be genuine. If so, this is a HUGE story which needs to get out to a larger audience and FAST. So please forward to your e-lists, as well as to any sympathetic media people you know.
I am also including below a second article by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman. The two respected authors and researchers are convinced that next Tuesday's national elections are again going to be stolen by the Republican Party. And they seem to have plenty of evidence to back them up.
Not a time to sit on your hands!
Onward.....
best to you all,
Paul Cienfuegos
Humboldt County, CA, USA
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BUSH SIGNS LAW GIVING HIMSELF DICTATORIAL POWERS UNDER MARTIAL LAW
by FRANK MORALES, Uruknet.info (information from occupied Iraq)

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law. It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act, helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

[The bill], which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious military Commissions Act of 2006. In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is "martial law."

Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and
Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted
authorities of the State or possession are incapable of . . .maintaining public order. . . in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."

For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror event.

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who
resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.

Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, anexecutive intent on using force to enforce its will. . .

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order without the consent of the nation's governors.". . .

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid,
longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressionalcommittees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of thefounding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President todeclare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty."

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=27769

LEAHY STATEMENTS
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/091906a.html
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/092906b.html

MISSION CREEP http://prorev.com/mil.htm

---------------------------------------------------
Subject: Prediction: Republicans will NOT lose either house in Congress
A Loaves & Fishes/Holy Ghost Victory for the GOP in November?
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

The polls all point to a Democratic sweep in November. The news pours in about pedophile Republicans and Team Bush contempt for their fundamentalist bedmates. Iraq implodes. Deficits soar. Katrina lingers. Scandal is everywhere.
On the other hand, there are rumors of an “October Surprise.” An attack on Iran. A new terror incident.
Osama finally captured.
Gas prices are down, the stock market up.
None of it dampens the Democrats’ euphoria. They think they are about to win. In conventional terms, they should.
But think again. Please.
It will take just two Biblical fixes for the GOP to keep the Congress, and thus solidify their power in this country, possibly forever: a loaves and fishes vote count, a Holy Ghost turnout.

We coined the phrase “loaves and fishes vote count” to describe the tally in Gahanna, Ohio, 2004. This infamous precinct in suburban Columbus registered 4258 votes for George W. Bush where just 638 people voted. The blessed event occurred at a fundamentalist church run by a close ally of the Reverend Jerry Falwell.
These numbers were later “corrected.” But they reflect a much larger reality: the 2004 election was stolen with scores of dirty tricks for whose second coming the Democrats have yet to fully prepare.
In the two years since the fraudulent defeat of John Kerry, we’ve unearthed an unholy arsenal by which that election was stolen. They include: outright intimidation, wrongful elimination of registered voters, theft, selective deployment of (often faulty) voting machines, absentee ballots without Kerry’s name on them, absentee ballots pre-punched for Bush, absentee ballots never mailed, touch screens that lit up for Bush when Kerry was chosen, lines for black voters five hours long while white voters a mile away voted in fifteen minutes, tens of thousands of provisional ballots pitched summarily in the trash, alleged ex-felons illegally told they could not vote, Hispanic precincts with no Spanish-speaking poll workers, deliberate misinformation on official web sites…and that’s not even the tip of an iceberg whose bottom we may never see.
Thanks to a federal lawsuit, we have finally been able to look at some of the actual ballots from Ohio 2004. Just for starters, researchers Stuart Wright and Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips have found a precinct in Delaware County where 359 consecutive voters allegedly cast ballots for Bush. Dr. Ron Baiman found another precinct in Clermont County where a random inspection found 36 straight replacement ballots, a phenomenon that can be accomplished only by divine intervention or outright fraud.
These initial snippets have been unearthed with no cooperation or participation from the Democratic Party. The official Democratic spin is that they have “looked into the matter.” But public records indicate that they have yet to visit the actual ballot storage facilities to examine the public records from the 2004 election.
In sum, we see no indication that the Democrats are prepared for the inevitable…that Karl Rove will steal again, and more, in 2006.
In Ohio alone, four election boards have already eliminated some 500,000 voters since the 2000 election---ten percent of the state’s electorate---from the registration rolls in four Democratic counties. No similar purges have occurred in rural Republican counties. The Democrats have said or done very little about it.

To date there is no logical explanation from John Kerry as to why he conceded with 250,000 votes still uncounted while Bush’s alleged margin was just half that. Nor have we heard about Democrat plans to monitor the ever-larger numbers of electronic voting machines deployed throughout the United States with no paper trail and no transparency for programming codes and memory cards that are privately owned, with no public inspection allowed.
Which is brings us to the Holy Ghost turnout. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has reported in Rolling Stone Magazine, in Georgia 2002, U.S. Senate incumbent Max Cleland went into Election Day with a very substantial lead in the polls. He proceeded to allegedly lose by a substantial margin. Church-state operatives like Ralph Reed attributed this astonishing turn-around to an alleged last-minute mass turnout of evangelical voters.
Similar things were said about Florida and Ohio 2004.
But it never happened. There are no visual reports or other reliable indicators of extraordinary lines or massive late-in-the-day crowds at the polls. Throughout all those election days, it was every bit as quick and easy to vote in rural precincts that gave Bush his miraculous victory as it was impossible to do so in your average black neighborhood. But there was no extraordinary turnout of last-minute Bush voters.
What happened instead hearkens to the Holy Ghost, made manifest in electronic voting machines that cannot and will not be monitored. The miraculous pro-Bush margins give new meaning to the phrase “ghost in the machine.” While the Democratic vote count was slashed and trashed in urban precincts, the rural voting stations, through the miracle of untrackable electronics, materialized just the right number of GOP votes to keep the Men of God in the White House (where it’s recently reported they dare to mock those earthly evangelicals who allegedly gave them their margin of victory).

There’s absolutely nothing to prevent this from happening again in 2006. Major studies from the Conyers Committee, the Government Accountability Office, Princeton University, the Brennan Center, the Carter-Baker Commission, and esteemed others, have all come to the same conclusion: it takes just one individual with inside access---or even just a wi-fi machine---to change the outcome of any election anywhere.
Electronic voting machines can be pre-programmed, re-programmed, re-calibrated, electronically adjusted, hacked, jimmied, jammed or otherwise blessed with a few well-placed electrons and---LO AND BEHOLD!---a Democratic landslide can be born again to a Republican deliverance.
We already see the signs. The corporate bloviators predict a last-minute surge for Bush. The Fox/Rove media machine has planted suggestive stories at the New York Times and elsewhere about the alleged hidden powers of the GOP juggernaut. They will, they say, once again turn out those invisible legions of evangelical voters when and where necessary.
Every two years, Rove leaks some story that is implausible and easily refuted: four million new evangelical voters are identified nationwide; or, a late surge of homophobic Old Order Amish rush to the polls in Ohio; or shy and reluctant right-wing Republican women flood the polls at closing and slip out unseen without speaking to exit pollsters (but, they are only shy in the early evening in Republican counties).
And the Democrats? They say they are also turning out voters. But what happens when their names are miraculously gone from the new electronic registration rolls? When there aren’t enough machines in their precincts on which to vote? When they press a Democratic name on their touch-screen and an anointed Republican’s lights up? Or when techno-gods from private partisan vendors barge in unchallenged to “adjust” the e-machines in the middle of the voting process.
So far, the Democrats have heaped abuse on those who dare to warn of all this.
But as it is written, so it shall be: unless there are armies of trained, dedicated citizens prepared to monitor this upcoming election, electronic and otherwise, the Holy Ghosts will vote, the loaves & fishes will multiply and be counted, and the GOP will once again emerge with total control of the checks and the balances---this time, perhaps, for all Eternity.

Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are co-authors, with Steve Rosenfeld, of What Happened in Ohio?, just published by The New Press. Fitrakis is of counsel and Wasserman is a plaintiff in the King-Lincoln lawsuit that has preserved the Ohio 2004 ballots. Fitrakis is an independent candidate for Ohio governor, endorsed by the Green Party; Wasserman is author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030.

Copyrights retained by original authors and used with permission.
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