We may be one terror attack away from a totalitarian state. Everyone needs to see this film!-- former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."-- Sinclair Lewis.
Five Authors. One Warning.
How close is America to fascism? Does a perpetual “War on Terror” signal the end of the Republic and the transformation of America into an authoritarian regime? Has the surveillance state eroded the basic freedoms required to sustain a democracy? How has corporate power changed American politics and economics? How did this happen, and what must be done to rescue American democracy? The Warning asks tough questions and gives some hard, often startling, answers.
Terrorism. Cronyism. Surveillance. The suspension of basic Constitutional protections. The Patriot Act. Pre-emptive War. Bad intelligence. Torture. Corporate power. Mercenaries. Occupation. The Unitary Executive. Neo-Cons. A never-ending war against "terror."
For the first time, all five of these fearless authors come together to speak truth to power. They expose shocking trends towards an accelerated merger of religious fanaticism with a corporate-controlled federal government, and blatant subversion of constitutional guarantees that could well lead to a police state.
Richard Cizik, the chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, was named one of TIME's 100 most influential people.
Richard Cizik is one of the country’s most powerful and outspoken Christian evangelical leaders. He happens to be a Republican, and he has known the GOP’s presidential nominee for many years. “I thought John McCain was a principled person,” Cizik says. “But John McCain has backed off, not just on climate change but on torture and a sensible tax policy — in other words, he’s not the John McCain of 2000. … He seems to be waffling on issue after issue. “It’s not illogical for someone to conclude that John McCain is going to be more like George Bush than John McCain is going to be like John McCain in 2000.”
Characterizing the GOP’s presidential nominee as an unprincipled waffler is strong stuff from the man who oversees governmental affairs and is the chief lobbyist of the 30-million-member Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Evangelicals. But Cizik — named this year by TIME magazine one of the world’s 100 most influential people — is no stranger to controversies that come from strong convictions. Over the past several years, Cizik, whose organization represents 45,000 churches from 59 denominations, has emerged as a passionate leader in the Creation Care movement — efforts by Christian evangelicals to respond to the perils of global change.
Suffice to say, Cizik’s efforts have rocked much of his world — including the minds of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and a phalanx of other old-guard evangelicals like Tony Perkins, Paul Weyrich and Gary Bauer who tried last year, unsuccessfully, to get Cizik fired from his job of 26 years for sounding the global warming alarm. Dobson and the others, you see, would prefer to keep the evangelical focus on what they call “the great moral issues of our time,” specifically abortion, man-woman-only marriage and “the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children.”
They have disparaged Cizik for having a “preoccupation” with global warming and other related issues, including poverty and overpopulation. In 2006 Dobson even head-butted Cizik in the press for supporting international regulations of emissions, calling his views “anti-capitalistic and [having] an underlying hatred for America.” Cizik, who takes the long view of winning converts to the global warming battle though biblical truths and employing what he describes as a “winsome, non-argumentative spirit,” was in Colorado Springs last week for a two day speaking tour with an unlikely partner in crime, the populist commentator Jim Hightower (who has detailed Cizik’s work in his latest book, “Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go Against the Flow”). The first night the two addressed a crowd of 500 congregants of the Vanguard Christian Church and the next spoke to a crowd of hundreds of Colorado College students and environmental activists. And yes, during his speech Cizik made a joking reference to “people” who say he should be fired. He also expressed hope that Colorado Springs — headquarters to Dobson’s ministry and media empire Focus on the Family — would become ground zero for a renewed “focus on the Earth.”
“We live in the same world, but some people see through different glasses,” Cizik said of critics. “We have to move them.” In an extensive Colorado Independent interview shortly after his Colorado stop, Cizik spoke more specifically about his views of the presidential election,including his thoughts on McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin — who rejects the science of human induced climate change — as his running mate. Cizik tells of an encounter he had with McCain a year ago, after the candidate had been the target of loathing from evangelical leaders — most notably from the very same James Dobson who has gone after Cizik. In McCain’s case, Dobson let it be known in no uncertain terms: “I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances … he’s not in favor of traditional marriage and I pray that we don’t get stuck with him.”
McCain, says Cizik, wanted to know what to make of these declarations. Cizik’s response? Where else are people like Dobson really going to go? Ultimately, he says, the criticism may have given old-guard leaders like Dobson leverage over McCain’s vice presidential choice. And lo and behold, since Palin was picked, Dobson has been gushing over the ticket, indicating he will in all likelihood “pull the lever” for Palin, er, McCain.
“It is pretty obvious that the Palin nomination plays to identity politics and cultural war issues,” says Cizik. “Her selection is more than an acknowledgment that evangelicals are an important part of the Republican base, and everyone knows that John McCain is not that exciting to religious conservatives.” Palin, Cizik says, has certainly excited the Republican base, and picking her was certainly a deft, if cynical, political move by McCain — at least in the short term. However, in the longer view, his running mate may do just as much to energize the opposition and prove a turn-off to independents.
“Not everyone in the evangelical movement is fawning over Sarah Palin,” Cizik says.
Let’s review the conflicting messages: Just as hurricanes like Katrina and Rita and Ike have laid devastating wakes, McCain has selected a doubter of human-caused global warming as a running mate. Palin’s record as a drill-baby-drill-for-oil advocate, including in Alaska’s National Wildlife Reserve; supporting shooting wolves from low-flying airplanes; and de-listing polar bears as an endangered species doesn’t exactly resonate among evangelical Christians who have embraced a commitment to caring for God’s creation.
And, sending perhaps the most important signal of all, McCain himself has chosen not to not to speak out on the issue of climate change, Cizik notes. His campaign instead has opted to play identity and culture-war politics.“He’s playing that card, and many of us thought he didn’t need to do it — it just polarizes the country,” Cizik says. “The irony of it is that John McCain can’t speak with an evangelical voice of faith — let’s face it, it’s just not his thing — so I guess the substitute is this other [Palin]. I guess that’s pretty cynical, but maybe his actions are cynical. “The consequences of going to identity and culture-war politics is that experience is denigrated, authority is questioned and ignorance is strength,” Cizik says.
That said, come Nov. 4 does Cizik plan to cast his vote for Barack Obama? He doesn’t know. “Obama doesn’t have the experience all of us would like,” Cizik says. “I’m not in Washington to be an advocate for the Republican or the Democratic Party; that’s not my calling. I’m not an ideologue. I do wish Obama had 10 years experience in the Senate and Sarah Palin had [more experience]. “I am a Republican, but I’m not comfortable with giving the Republicans four more years. I don’t see John McCain differing enough from the incumbent, and yet Obama is a work in progress, pretty much, so we’d be taking some risk with him. It’s a conundrum.”
Scientists and evangelicals slept side by side last summer on the floor of a preschool in the Alaskan village of Shishmaref. We were there to see for ourselves the devastation of climate change on the Inupiaq Eskimos, whose island is eroding into the Chukchi Sea. The leaders of our small band were the unlikely pair of Eric Chivian, 65 , and Richard Cizik, 56. Chivian shared the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1985 for his efforts to stop nuclear war, and is now a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of its Center for Health and the Global Environment. Cizik, an ordained Evangelical Presbyterian minister and head of the Office of Government Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), came to prominence 25 years ago when he drafted a letter to President Ronald Reagan inviting him to talk to the NAE. That address became Reagan's "evil empire" speech. The event helped give Evangelicals the political clout they still enjoy.
What brings Chivian and Cizik together is a shared passion for the environment, although they act on that passion in very different ways. Chivian is a highly trained scientist who tells stories like a teacher with the bedside manner of the general-practice physician he used to be. Cizik quotes the Bible, carefully referring to "creation care" rather than climate change or global warming, and advocates a brand of pro-life politics that extends well beyond human conception, up through the care of God's creation itself.
They both have their critics. Why would a scientist like Chivian collaborate with Evangelical Christians who talk about the authority of the Bible and their faith in Jesus Christ? Cizik's detractors say there are more important issues for Evangelicals to tackle, and there is no consensus within the community about global warming anyway. Coming from different directions, the physician and the preacher combine their influence, persuading Americans to take better care of God's creation. And they practice what they preach: Chivian keeps his thermostat at 60°F (16°C) on cold New England nights, and Cizik drives to work in a Prius hybrid.
Anderson is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, based in Washington
The West Coast Hip-Hop Underground takes on George W. Bush
Think back…way back. The year was 2001. A vibrant, growing underground music scene was sweeping across the West Coast. Combining hip-hop, Latin, Funk, and Spoken Word elements, bands such as Ozomatli, Blackalicious, Dilated Peoples, and The Coup were creating new music and building audiences. The L.A. Times called it “Positive Hip-Hop,” others preferred “Conscious Hip-Hop”. Whatever the moniker, the infectious new music spoke to the disaffection and rebellion roiling through their generation. Then came September 11.
Not in our name Will you wage endless war...
Nothing was the same. Fear, uncertainty, reaction set in. Virtually unopposed,the government began rounding up immigrants, passed draconian new laws, and launched a massive invasion of the poorest country in the world. “People should watch what they say” was the “advice” the Bush administration gave to artists, as Bill Maher and others were driven from the airwaves. “You are either with us or you are with the terrorists!” intoned the president of the United States.
...will you invade countries bomb civilians, kill more children...
Ozomatli’s new CD, released on September 11, was buried in the patriotic onslaught, and the West Coast Hip-Hop Underground found itself struggling in the new reality. Had they become historically irrelevant?
Do they now face the choice of "Get with the program" or dissolve into oblivion? What could be done
...letting history take its course over the graves of the nameless...
Their answer was obvious. Hold a concert! On Mother's Day, May 12, 2002, as bombs were raining down on Afghanistan and the future plans for Iraq were still a deep secret, an event took place in Hollywood that began to broach those questions. Before a sold out crowd of 1,800 at the legendary Palace theater, a disparate group of Hip-Hop, Latin Funk, Spoken Word and Visual Artists–rising stars and unknowns–created and produced what would become the first antiwar concert of the new millennium, ArtSpeaks! Not In Our Name...Not by our hearts will we allow whole peoples
Tonight we continue our Road to 270 series with the Grand Canyon State, Arizona.
JOHN MCCAIN'S HOME, Arizona will give its ten electoral votes to its native son. One of the poorest per capita states in the nation, this stunningly beautiful state was also Barry Goldwater's home, and indeed John McCain took Goldwater's seat in 1986. Only once since Harry Truman left office, Bill Clinton's 2-point win in 1996, has the state supported a Democrat for President, and the trend will continue this year.
Note: Factors colored in red can generally be thought to help McCain. Factors in blue can generally be thought to help Obama. Factors in purple have ambiguous effects. Except where otherwise apparent, the numbers next to each variable represent the proportion out of each 100 residents in each state who fall into that category. Fundraising numbers reflect dollars raised in the 2008 campaign cycle per eligible voter in each state. Figures for seniors and youth voters are proportions of all residents aged 18+, rather than all residents of any age. The figure for education reflects the average number of years of completed schooling for all adults aged 25+. The figure for same-sex households reflects the number of same-sex partner households as a proportion of all households in the state. The liberal-conservative index is scaled from 0 (conservative) to 100 (liberal), based on a Likert score of voter self-identification in 2004 exit polls. The turnout rates reflect eligible voters only. Unemployment rates are current as of June 2008.
What McCain Has Going For Him
John McCain outraised Barack Obama in his home state by better than two-to-one, and McCain's home state is his best. Arizona ranks tenth on highest Republican partisan self-ID, as well as tenth on lowest Democratic partisan self-ID. There are 21 states raked more conservative on the Likert scale, and a large number of Mormons and reasonably high percentage of veterans tilt the scales in the Republican's favor. While Al Gore famously lost his 11-EV home state of Tennessee in 2000 and it cost him the White House, John McCain will not suffer the same fate in 2008.
What Obama Has Going For Him
Barack Obama has a high Starbucks:Walmart ratio and a very large number of Hispanic voters and Native voters. Also, Arizona posts a surprisingly low gun ownership rate for a Mountain West state. The rest of the factors normally thought to weigh in a Democratic candidate's favor seem to rank at or near the 50-state median at best. Catholics, voters under 30, Obama fundraising numbers are all quite average, and that doesn't get the job done when McCain's statistical edges are significantly more pronounced where he has them.
What To Watch For
Arizona has several House races in contention this year, with freshman Democratic seat defenses looking good in AZ-05 (Harry Mitchell) and AZ-08 (Gabrielle Giffords). Rick Renzi's open District AZ-01 seat appears to be a likely Democratic pickup, and incumbent, conservative Republican icon John Shadegg in AZ-03 (north Phoenix suburbs) faces a challenge from Democrat Bob Lord. The Lord-Shadegg race is a classic strong incumbent facing a well-funded opponent in a wave year, so this is the #1 race to watch. Will John McCain bring enough coattails in his home state that he can at least protect Shadegg? -- Sean Quinn at 11:02 PM
"Military conflicts always bring human suffering. They also bring longer-term security threats, such as environmental degradation and new risks to human health." ~Pekka Haavisto, Former Chairman, Post-Conflict Assessment Unit, United Nations Environment Program, 2005 Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives is a film about our deep dependence on the natural world and the significant threat to that world posed by war and preparation for war.read more here
SCARRED LANDS AND WOUNDED LIVES-
THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS OF WAR
(71 minutes) Iraq/USA/Vietnam Directors/Producers: Alice and Lincoln Day
Description: The scale of environmental damage over the last half century is unprecedented. Falling water tables, shrinking forest cover, declining species diversity-all presage ecosystems in distress. These trends are now widely acknowledged as emanating from forces of humanity's own making: massive population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, species loss, ruinous environmental practices. Ironically, however, war, the most destructive of human behaviors, is commonly bypassed. In all its stages, from the production of weapons through combat to cleanup and restoration, war entails actions that pollute land, air, and water, destroy biodiversity, and drain natural resources. Yet the environmental damage occasioned by war and preparation for war is routinely underestimated, underreported, even ignored. The environment remains war's "silent casualty." Activities that do such damage cry out for far-reaching public scrutiny. The very sustainability of our planet is at stake. We can no longer maintain silence about the environmental impact of war on the grounds that such scrutiny is "inconvenient" or "callous" at a time when human life is so endangered. If we cannot eliminate war, we can at least require a fuller accounting of war's costs and consequences, and demand that destructive forces used in our name leave a lighter footprint on this highly vulnerable planet. Biography: The Days met at Columbia University as graduate students in sociology. Their earliest joint project was a book (Too Many Americans, 1964) about how continued population increase can adversely affect the quality of life not only in less developed countries but also in more developed countries. The Days have traveled extensively in the U.S., Australia, Europe and Turkey, and less extensively in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They lived in Australia for twenty-three years and have dual American/Australian citizenship.
Contact Information: Alice and Lincoln Day Fund for Sustainable Tomorrows
2124 Newport Place, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 E-mail: scarredlands@verizon.net We site: http://www.fundforsustainabletomorrows.org/ ____________________________________________________
Six years ago Congress granted the president Bush the power to unilaterally attack Iraq. Oil was the main motivator then and is now a topic of discussion in the presidential debates. How much of U.S. oil really comes from the Middle East? And is Arab oil, bad oil? Answers to these questions and more on Link TV's Mosaic Intelligence Report.
I am disappointed by ABC's refusal to air the Alliance for Climate Protection's Repower America ad. The ad has the simple message that massive spending on ads by oil and coal companies -- ads which your network airs -- is a key reason our nation hasn't switched to clean, renewable sources for energy. http://www.wecansolveit.org/
For many of us, a report about the potential impacts of unchecked climate change can read a bit like the Old Testament. Floods and fires. Infestations. Communities forced to flee. Consideration of catastrophes “on a biblical scale” no longer require imagination — or even faith. We can see the contemporary version of these catastrophes on the evening news.
But the biblical references matter greatly. And faith plays an essential role in the work to solve the climate crisis. This is why The Climate Project hosted a unique training session on climate change for more than 130 faith leaders last week in Nashville. Al Gore spent three 14-hour days with a dedicated group of spiritual leaders, sharing tools and information they can take to their congregations and communities across the U.S.
Eric Sapp, director of the Eleison Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm focused on faith initiatives, attended the sessions in Nashville. He said “the climate crisis is a top moral priority for the faith community.”
“The poor and the most vulnerable bear the brunt of the worst effects of climate change and we have a responsibility to care for the least among us, according to the Bible,” Sapp explained, saying the faith community is embracing the climate change issue in ways that break down traditional notions of conservative politics among Evangelicals. “The faith community’s outreach programs are absolutely progressive when it comes to preserving God’s gift of the Earth.”
Sapp was wowed by Gore’s passion, stamina and humor in the training and left impressed by the range of potential solutions to the climate crisis. He left with a better sense of how to heed what he described as “Genesis’ call for us to be good stewards of God’s creation.”
Click on the links below to find out more about polar bears and how you can protect them from global warming and extinction.
What You Can Do To Curb Global Warming
Order NRDC "Unplug for Polar Bears" and "Turn Off Global Warming" stickers for chargers and light switches by emailing: polarbearsosinfo@nrdc.org Be sure to give your mailing address and how many sets of stickers you need (each set contains six stickers, 3 each of "Unplug for Polar Bears" and "Turn Off Global Warming"). Supplies are limited so please keep your order to two sets, unless you have a special need for schools or institutions.
Follow these easy steps to help limit global warming pollution:
International action is necessary to protect polar bears from extinction. Download the Polar Bears on Thin Ice fact sheet to learn more: http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/thinice.pdf
Educational Material for Children Download NRDC’s Polar Action Guide and give it to kids you know:
Environmental Defense and NRDC Launch Counter Attack TV Ads
In response to the various propaganda videos such as the now infamous "CO2 is Life" advertisements put out by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, various environmental organizations are funding programs of their own. Most recently brought to my attention is a frightening short by Environmental Defense and the NRDC which outlines the crisis of global warming and points a finger at the "oil and gas lobby" for holding progress back. It's very dramatic, and from an asthetic point of view it's almost as nail bitingly awful as this wacky radio spot (listen here) put out by an industry funded group called SEECalifornia. The assembly bills the ads are referring to are specific to California, but the style is not. They propose various caps on emissions be put in place statewide.
Although I give NRDC and Environmental Defense the benefit of the doubt, I really wish the "other side" of the battle didn't have to stoop to the same overdramatic, vague propaganda to get their point across. To me it simply underscores the communication gap that exists between industry and environmentalists that keeps flights brewing and prevents real dialogue. Then again, maybe I'm overestimating the depth to which the average TV viewer thinks.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has produced two 60-second television spots focusing on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use. The ads are airing in 14 U.S. cities from May 18 to May 28, 2006.
If you havn't seen the mindboggling advertisements put out by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI, funded by numerous companies - notably ExxonMobile, has produced these ads to make people belive that there is, in fact, no climactic crisis on the globe at all. The ads are so bad, they look like deliberate parodies.
I almost feel sorry for Exxon. They've got so much money right now they really don't seem to know what to do with it. While BP and Shell continue to accept the facts about peak oil and global warming, slowly and visibly tranistioning themselves to a post-oil world by investing in solar and other technologies, ExxonMobile and other myopic corporations continue to blindly fight like stubborn mules. In ten or fifteen years, unless ExxonMobile gets a clue, we're going to see BP and Shell picking apart its remains, and deservedly so.
McCain's Losing Strategy: Double Down on the Anger
John McCain scored the zinger of the night with, "I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."
But his performance in the third debate was, in fact, incredibly Bush-like, mirroring Bush's signature stubbornness -- especially on Iraq -- by doubling down on a failed strategy.
McCain's reliance on angry, negative, personal attacks on Obama -- including the pathetic Ayers smear and ACORN "destroying the fabric of democracy" -- has been an unequivocal failure, with the poll numbers to prove it. But instead of course-correcting, McCain doubled down tonight -- coming across as angrier and meaner than ever before.
This debate wasn't decided on the arguments being made. It was won on the reaction shots. Every time Obama spoke, McCain grimaced, sneered, rapidly blinked, or rolled his eyes. "He looked like Captain Ahab, again and again going after Moby Dick," John Cusack told me. "Or an animal caught in a bear trap. He even seemed pissed at Joe the Plumber."
McCain's contemptuous reactions were so intense and frequent, they've already been turned into a YouTube video. The disdain McCain feels for Obama was unmistakable. It's as if Obama is not just blocking his way to the White House, but robbing him of his destiny.
By contrast, every time McCain was on the attack, Obama was smiling. And the nastier McCain got, the brighter Obama's smile became. It was the non-verbal equivalent of Reagan's disarming "There you go again" -- and it served to underline McCain's need for anger management. The angrier McCain got, the more unruffled Obama appeared.
It was like watching a split-screen double feature -- Grumpy Old Men playing side by side with Cool Hand Luke.
McCain was frantic -- as though he was running out of time, which he is -- throwing everything he had at Obama, logical connection between thoughts be damned. In one memorable answer, he brought up Colombia, quickly jumping from free trade, to drugs killing young Americans, to hostages freed from Colombian rebels, to job creation.
Colombia also brought out one of McCain's most sneering reactions, chiding Obama for never having "traveled south of our border" -- a jaw-dropping line of attack from the man who chose Sarah "Just Got My Passport" Palin as his No. 2.
Another head-scratcher: McCain's claim that "talking about a positive plan of action to restore this economy" is "what my campaign is all about." Really?
This is another way in which McCain's campaign mirrors Bush's handling of the Iraq war: not only doubling down on a failed strategy but also engaging in an endless search for an underlying rationale.
McCain's campaign was all about experience -- until he picked Palin. It was all about putting country first -- until he picked Palin. It was all about the success of the surge -- until everyone from General Petraeus and the authors of the latest NIE made it clear that victory in Iraq exists only in McCain's and Palin's stump speeches. It was all about William Ayers -- until voters rejected that line of attack. It was all about national security -- until the economy collapsed.
Now it looks like it's going to be all about Joe the Plumber -- and Sarah Palin's "expertise" on autism. Note to Sen. McCain, check out Palin's record as an advocate for special needs kids. She may understand their problems "better than almost any American that I know," but she sure isn't making their life easier in her state. (Is it any wonder McCain choked on the words as he referred to Palin as a "bresh of freth air"?)
Another note to McCain: If your mentioning Hillary Clinton three times in the debate was an attempt to win the hearts of women, putting women's "health" in air quotes and labeling it the concern only of "extreme" pro-abortionists was not a very good way to close the deal. He can kiss those women -- and those pro-choice swing voters -- good-bye.
McCain's spirit at the beginning of the debate quickly curdled into a desperate rage. And looking at the post-debate insta-polls, one thing became crystal: for voters, a lot of anger doesn't go a long way.
Obama closed by promising to "work every single day, tirelessly, on your behalf." McCain closed by just sounding tired -- exhausted by all the unleashed fury.
As the Bush administration announces a $250 billion plan to partially nationalize the nation’s banking system, we speak to Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Department in the Reagan administration and a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. Roberts says the latest bank measure suggests the bailout is “either incompetence or fraud.” [includes rush transcript]
As the financial crisis dominates the attention of the news media and the presidential campaign, a global food crisis continues to affect millions of people around the world. Last night, a group of farmers and food policy experts gathered in New York for an event to mark World Food Day. We speak to Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, and Ben Burkett, president of the National Family Farm Coalition.
In the last few weeks, 28 million copies of a DVD titled “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” have been distributed in key battleground states. The film features graphic, violent images and makes comparisons of Islam to Nazism.The DVD comes amidst concerns of increasing levels of ethnic and religious bias in US politics and the stoking of Islamophobia. We speak to Ibrahim Cooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Isabel Macdonald of Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, co-author of the new report “Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation.”
The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq (Blackwater, Halliburton/KBR, CACI and Titan) and the decision makers who allow them to do so.
It probably goes without saying, but it would really help our efforts if as many people as possible bought a copy of The Corporation directly from us. Purchases here help fund our continuing outreach efforts. If you already downloaded the film (with the best of intentions, we're sure!) why not check out the Special Edition DVD, packed with over 8 hours of extras? We're asking you, if you're able to, to show a little financial appreciation. Even if it's only a couple of bucks, it all helps.
Human Rights must be the first concern if we are to survive as a society. To think we can cure border problems by using murder as a deterent is disturbing and it is not working.
I make videos that capture the injustice taking place in Arizona. I believe what is happening here effects us all.
The world needs to be aware and help stop the corruption and racism within Maricopa County as it is already spreading across the United States.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is only a symbol of a society that has become infected with hatred and fear. What was unacceptable 2 years ago is now becoming common place and just as soldiers in Abu Garab did horrific things, we as a society are condoning unacceptable behavior under a "rule of law" mentality? When does it stop?
While Arizona boasts about its harsh stance on illegal immigration, not one report is made on how many children are without parents.
The local media spends more time covering animal abuse then what is happening to children who lose their parents as a result of racial profiling and unjust immigration policies.
---------------------------------
Wells Fargo joins Arpaio in protesters' crosshairs
The Arizona Republic Sept 29, 2008
Tired of being ignored, they've taken their message to his doorstep.
More than 50 chanting protesters, playing music and carrying signs disparaging Sheriff Joe Arpaio, clogged the sidewalk outside the Wells Fargo Building in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday in an ongoing effort to draw attention to Arpaio's immigration-enforcement tactics and to pressure the bank to not renew the county's lease for Arpaio's office space on the building's 18th and 19th floors.
Protesters have gathered on the sidewalks near First Avenue and Washington Street for the past three weeks, and the effort has spread to other Wells Fargo locations around the country, drawing protesters from outside the Valley who are upset with Arpaio's methods.
"We're here to let him know we're not criminals," said Jose Morales, a Washington, D.C., resident who flew to Phoenix to join the protests. "I think what he's doing is not right. That's what made me fly here from Washington. It's racial profiling, and we're not going to stand for it." Arpaio said county administrators chose to put his staff in the bank building, but he does appreciate the attention the protesters bring. "I love it.
They're building up my polls," said Arpaio, who is running for re-election. "They're trying to get rid of a tenant, me, by protesting. It's disgusting how far they will go to make me stop enforcing illegal-immigration laws."
In the string of Arpaio-related protests that have bubbled up in the past year, starting with the scene outside Pruitt's Furniture and extending to crime sweeps and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meetings, the action outside the Wells Fargo building has become the most persistent. Organizers say they have no plans to abandon their two-hour weekday vigil outside the bank tower until the lease is broken on the space the county leases for Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement breaks the agreement that allows Arpaio to perform immigration-enforcement functions.
Those efforts, which have swept up citizens and immigrants in the country legally along with illegal immigrants, have put Arpaio's office in the spotlight.
Kevin Greathouse said he and other protesters view Wells Fargo as "aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. They've not only permitted, they've accommodated the sheriff and the county attorney." Arpaio and dozens of his administrative staff have been based in the 18th and 19th floors of the bank's building since Oct. 1, 1998. The agency occupies 31,250 square feet of space, at $19.20 per square foot, or about $600,000 yearly. An additional $12,000 is tacked on each month - $144,000 each year - for utilities, property taxes, insurance, elevator and plumbing maintenance, roof repairs, pest control, landscaping, cleaning costs, and other services. County Attorney Andrew Thomas' lease is virtually identical. The protests are the work of a coalition of local organizations opposed to Arpaio, including Puente, a group that helped organize the day-labor center in Phoenix's Palomino Neighborhood and led protests outside Pruitt's Furniture last year. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/18/20080918wellsprotest0918.html
September 18
Bay Area Community Groups Call On Wells Fargo Bank To Evict Racist Az Sheriff Joe Arpaio
NNIRR by Arnoldo Garcia
Bay Area Community Groups to Call on Wells Fargo Bank to Evict Racist Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio from WFB Offices in Phoenix, AZ
What: Press conference and picket line to report results of community meeting with representatives of Wells Fargo Bank Corporate Headquarters on national demand to evict Maricopa County Offices and Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix, AZ.
When: Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. PST
Where: In front of the Wells Fargo Bank at 130 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA
Who: Representatives from the
• Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition
• Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network
•National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• San Francisco Day Labor Program
• San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
• Young Workers’ United
Why: Representatives of Bay Area day laborer, community and immigrant rights groups will call on the Wells Fargo Bank to stop leasing offices to Maricopa County Offices, where the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio sits, in Arizona. Wells Fargo Bank financially benefits from its lease to Maricopa County, contributing to the state of siege and mass rights violations perpetuated against Latino and migrant communities by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
As part of a national campaign organized by Arizona Latino, day laborer and other community groups with PUENTE and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Bay Area groups are demanding that Wells Fargo evict Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Wells Fargo property in Phoenix. Arpaio is carrying out unlawful sweeps and arrests against Latinos in Phoenix and the surrounding county area and harassing, detaining and deporting day laborers. Using illegal racial profiling, Arpaio indiscriminately carries out mass detentions and arrests of Latino citizens and non-citizens. Arpaio also charges migrants with “co-conspiring” to be smuggled into the state under an Arizona state law that makes it a felony to be undocumented in the state.
From PUENTE: PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX For three consecutive weeks, members of PUENTE and individuals from the community have been peacefully demonstrating in front of the Wells Fargo tower on 100 W. Washington. Since September 2, our goal is to create awareness about the financial benefit the banking corporation is receiving from Maricopa County by leasing thousands of square-feet in office space to the Maricopa County Sheriff Office. We are asking Wells Fargo -a financial institution reaching out to thousands of Latino families- to not renew the County's lease and to evict the sheriff and his staff from their luxurious facilities. In doing so, Wells Fargo won't be associated with Sheriff Arpaio and his blatant violations to human and civil rights. We are exercising the freedom of speech and assembly granted by the U.S. and Arizona Constitution by meeting Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m [in Phoenix].
Rosa Clemente and Cynthia McKinney's acceptance speeches in Chicago's Green Party Convention on July 12th, 2008.
Had enough CLONE POLITICS? Vote for CYNTHIA MCKINNEY in NOVEMBER!
An insightful personal conversation with Cynthia McKinney, Green Presidential hopeful. McKinney reveals her personal journey growing into a political activist with her father as mentor.
She talks about her entrance into the electoral arena from Georgia State Legislator to Congressperson and the trials, tribulations and wisdom gained and her desire to create meaningful change in people's lives by running for President as a Green. This is an AD for Cynthia McKinney's Presidential Campaign! Please rate the video, click it to your YouTube favorites, snag it, forward it and embed it on your blogs and sites!
Anyone who works towards PEACE and SOCIAL JUSTICE! In the fight against bigotry, we stand together, and we must. In the fight against injustice, we stand together, and we must. In the fight against intimidation, we stand together, and we must. After all, a regime that would steal an election right before our very eyes will do anything to all of us.
Denny Carr, MFA
Photographer and Video Artist
BIKE !!!! hase lepus trike (stroke-paralysis)
age 61 eco-friendly no-car
"I am a stroke survivor and deal daily with a speech disorder called Aphasia. This disorder is a result of my stroke in 2005. I am thankful God has given me the ability to express myself through my images and films." For more information, visit these websites: http://www.azimagery.com/
"Military conflicts always bring human suffering. They also bring longer-term security threats, such as environmental degradation and new risks to human health."
For many of us, a report about the potential impacts of unchecked climate change can read a bit like the Old Testament. Floods and fires. Infestations. Communities forced to flee. Consideration of catastrophes “on a biblical scale” no longer require imagination — or even faith. We can see the contemporary version of these catastrophes on the evening news.
Order NRDC "Unplug for Polar Bears" and "Turn Off Global Warming" stickers for chargers and light switches by emailing: 
Posts
