FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2008 Statement from NARAL Pro-Choice America on Sen. Barack Obama's Vice-Presidential Selection Washington, D.C. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement in response to Sen. Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. "Sen. Biden has consistently expressed support for a woman's right to choose. While we have not agreed with him on every vote, we have a longstanding relationship with Sen. Biden that is open, positive, and constructive, and we are confident this will continue in a new administration under Sen. Obama's pro-choice leadership. "Most notably, Sen. Biden has a strong record of opposing judicial nominees with hostile anti-choice records. He voted against George W. Bush's two anti-choice nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, and he opposed anti-choice Justice Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Court as well as multiple anti-choice nominees to lower federal courts. "In addition, Sen. Biden has a strong record in opposition to anti-choice clinic violence and voted to hold anti-choice extremists convicted of violent attacks against doctors and patients at women's reproductive-health centers accountable for their criminal actions. "Sen. Biden, who is a cosponsor of the landmark Prevention First Act, also has joined us in supporting commonsense efforts to prevent unintended pregnancy by improving women's access to birth control, ensuring teens receive accurate sex education, and supporting family-planning programs." NARAL Pro-Choice America, which tracks all choice-related votes in Congress, classifies Sen. Biden's record as mixed choice.
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/Labels: campaign 2008, Joe Biden, NARAL, reproductive rights, US elections, women
excerpt:
Olympic Sponsors Ignore China's Rights Violations on Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (OneWorld) - A leading U.S. human rights group blasted Olympic corporate sponsors such as McDonald's, Panasonic, and Coca-Cola yesterday for disregarding human rights abuses in host country China. "The Olympic sponsors claim to be good corporate citizens," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). "But as they enjoy the Games from the comfort of their seats at the Olympic stadium, they should reflect on their failure to speak up for the Chinese citizens who built the stadium and their hotels, clean their hotel rooms, serve their meals or, in the case of Chinese journalists, try to bring them their news." The statement refers to the oppressive conditions imposed on workers brought in from poor areas of China to build the stadiums; families uprooted from Beijing to make room for the Olympic facilities; 'undesirables' forcibly removed from the city; and pressure on the Chinese media to remain mute about protests and abuse, as well as detentions and beatings of both protestors and journalists. Despite their public pledges of "social responsibility," most of the corporations reached by HRW refused to accept any responsibility for speaking out on human rights
arm yourself against manipulation.
Watch this video:
Free for All
And for extra protection watch:
Orwell Rolls in His Grave
And then consider the following message from investigative journalist Greg Palast.
So much is at stake.
Thanks
Obama Doesn't Sweat. He should. In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.
 In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters.
In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.
In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.
My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was "concerned" about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular.
He's concerned. I'm sweating.
It's time SOMEBODY raised the alarm about these missing voters; not to save Obama's candidacy – journalists should stay the heck away from partisan endorsements - but raise the alarm to save our sick democracy.
And that somebody is YOU. Joining with US, the Palast investigative team. Here's how:
We have been offered an astonishing opportunity to place the Kennedy-Palast investigative findings on a national, prime-time, major-network television broadcast. Plus, separately, we have an extraordinary offer to create a series of reports for national network radio.
But guess what? The networks will NOT PAY for our public service reports. We have to raise the start-up funds in the next two weeks to film it, record it and get it on the airwaves.
WE need YOU to fund the reports, DISSEMINATE the findings as we post the print, audio and video on the web– and ACT on it.
So, for only the second time this year, I am asking each one of you to make a tax deductible donation to the non-profit, non-partisan Palast Investigative Fund of $500, $150 or $100.
Progressives have complained for years of no opportunity to get the hard, cold sweaty truth on the air. Well, put your money where your heart and soul is.
Donate at least $500, I'll send you every book I've written and every film, signed. Send $150 and I'll send you as a gift, a copy of John Ennis' film Free For All, Armed Madhouse, The Election Files and a copy of Live from the Armed Madhouse all signed.
Donate $100, and I’ll send you 3 copies, one signed to you, of "The Elections Files," (Watch the trailer here) the best of our BBC/Democracy Now films – including special never-broadcast interviews with Kennedy(Watch a clip) and fired prosecutor David Iglesias (Watch a clip).
I know you’re ponying up for your favorite candidates. But what’s the point of winning folks' votes IF NO ONE COUNTS THEM?
Please make your donation – today. No corporation, no big foundation, is going to take on this emergency in our democracy. The election’s about to be stolen – for a third time. SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Donate today (for $1,000 minimum, we’ll list you as a Producer of our next DVD, in gratitude). Why? Because the only way to get the vote-chewing cockroaches out of the voting machinery is to turn on the lights – tell the truth on them. On prime time.
After our team busted the story of Katherine Harris' attack on innocent Black voters as "felons," the NAACP sued and won back their rights. The truth CAN make the difference. Yes, we can. Indeed, we HAVE.
Think all votes should be counted in America? Then YOU stand up and be counted. Don’t expect networks or commercial sponsors to pay for your democracy. Feed the truth, donate $100 right now and pass on a copy of the Elections Files to your dippy cousin who thinks Kerry lost fair and square.
Donations from our prior and only request already paid for some of our filming in the Southwest. Don't let this story be swept under the border.
************************** Greg Palast is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for Investigative Reporting at the Nation Institute, New York. Read and view his investigations for BBC Television at www.GregPalast.com. Labels: caging, campaign 2008, DNC, fraud, GOP, Greg Palast, Media, Robert Kennedyl Jr., US elections, US politics, voting
 cartoon republished with permission of xkcd.com under a creative commons license
I never really thought about whether voting machines needed anti-virus software until blogger and security expert, Bruce Schneier pointed out the accuracy of the cartoon above in a post.
Why would a voting machine need anti-virus software? After all it's not like it will be sending and receiving email, browsing the internet or downloading games. A voting machine can't be remotely accessed, can it?
Hmm!
All I can say is if they have to remove the McAfee Anti-virus software from the voting machines I wish them lots of luck. I once decided to switch from McAfee Anti-virus to another company's software and it was a nightmare trying to remove the McAfee software.
Labels: Bruce Schneier, elections, security, US elections, voting, voting machines, XKCD.com
Oh if we could have only been so lucky!
Reuters is reporting:
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf quit office on Monday to avoid impeachment charges, nearly nine years after the key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism took power in a coup. Speculation the former army chief would resign had mounted since the fractious coalition government, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said this month it planned to impeach him.
Pakistan's Musharraf resigns
Maybe, Maybe Not. However, according to a report in Sunday's Washington Post, the prospects are finally looking better that the Blackwater Worldwide employees involved in the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Nisoor square will finally be held accountable.
Justice Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting - washingtonpost.com Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case The sources said that any charges against the guards would likely be brought under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which has previously been used to prosecute only the cases referred to the Justice Department by the Defense Department for crimes committed by military personnel and contractors overseas. Legal experts have questioned whether contractors working for the State Department can be prosecuted under its provisions. The sources cautioned that prosecutors are still weighing evidence gathered in a 10-month investigation that began shortly after the shootings.
Related posts:
Contract Justice by Jeremy Scahill for The Nation Report Closely Examines The Expanded Use of Private Contractors in Iraq Blackwater By Any Other Name
The river of money following from "K" Street lobbyists to Capitol Hill that is.
excerpt from
Real Time Investigations with Bill Allison and Anupama Narayanswamy — A Project of Sunlight Foundation Posted by Anupama, August 14th, 2008 Mark Warner, who's running for Virginia's open seat to the U.S. Senate and will serve as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, has received more than $206,000 from lobbyists since the beginning of the year, a Real Time Investigations analysis of recently released disclosure records show. That makes Warner the top recipient of money contributed directly by lobbyists to congressional campaigns in 2008. Overall, Warner, the former Virginia governor who is seeking the seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, has raised $18 million since he announced his candidacy in September 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records. Real Time is releasing a list of the 20 congressional campaigns that have gotten the most contributions from individual lobbyists and a spreadsheet with all individual contributions from lobbyists to federal candidates in the first six months of 2008. Close on the heels of Warner's $206,000 are Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and John Sununu, R-N.H. In all, the new disclosures, required by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), reveal that federally registered lobbyists have given federal candidates more than $10 million since the beginning of this year. That figure does not include the money contributed to candidates by political action committees (PACs) associated with or directed by lobbyists. It is based on available records released by the Senate Office of Public Records (SOPR) as of Aug. 8.
excerpt from Hunger Hits America's Bread Basket on Yahoo! News
by Viji Sundaram and Ketaki Gokhale, New America Media
Mon Aug 11, 6:03 PM ET MENDOTA, California, Aug 11 (New America Media) - Early each morning these days, the manager of Mendota Food Center on Derrick Avenue in this small community west of Fresno, boxes his aging produce, which he would normally throw away, and leaves it at the back of his store. Within an hour, the boxes are all gone. "It shows there's hunger in Mendota, and people will take anything," said Mayor Robert Silva, who manages the grocery store. Some other grocery stores are doing likewise, he said. Mendota, whose population of 9,000 is 95-percent Hispanic, looks today like a small dilapidated town in a developing nation and not part of "America's bread basket." The economic downturn, state-enforced water rationing, poor rains, and unemployment have all come to a head here. Now, hunger is sweeping through the community. Many farmers have been forced to cut back on planting. Some have even walked away from the field crops they had planted. "Some people are abandoning their fields; they just don't water them," said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of Fresno County Farm Bureau. According to a study commissioned by the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority, water cuts could result in an $84.6-million economic loss for the region. Experts are predicting a $33.9-million loss in farm income and a loss of more than 700 jobs.
T his is potentially illegal, and there's a petition to demand an investigation of Wal-Mart. I just asked the Federal Election Commission to immediately investigate this story. No one should be told by their boss how to vote. Please join me.http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/FEC_WalMart # # # # #
excerpt: Wal-Mart warns managers about labor bill | Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it has warned U.S. store managers in recent weeks about the possible consequences of a labor-friendly bill backed by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama that would make it easier for workers to form unions. But the retailer, which has kept its U.S. stores free of unions, stressed it was not telling employees how to vote. The Wall Street Journal reported that about a dozen employees who attended meetings in seven states said executives had told them that unionization could force Wal-Mart to cut jobs as labor costs rise, and that employees would have to pay hefty union dues and get nothing in return. The Journal said Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings do not specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's presidential election, but they make it clear that voting for Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in.
After eight years of leadership by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, consumers are up to their necks in debt and so is the nation. As Senator Kent Conrad stated during a press conference in response to the mid-session review of the fiscal year 2009 budget, the US has become a nation that is "increasingly reliant on the friendship of strangers". Click here to view the press conference held by Senator Conrad and Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) excerpt The Hill Blog» Blog Archive » Bush Administration's Legacy of Debt Will Have Lasting Consequences (Rep.John Spratt) The White House has released its last budget forecast, and even though it gets to write its own report card, the grades are not good. The bottom line: President Bush entered office with the biggest surpluses in history and leaves with the biggest deficits. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the deficit next year (Fiscal Year 2009) will be the largest in history, $482 billion, in nominal terms; and the deficit for this year, Fiscal '08, at $389 billion, will itself come close to a record.
The five largest deficits in our nation's history have occurred on this Administration's watch. The largest so far, $413 billion in 2004, is notable because it shows the abrupt about-face in fiscal policy under this Administration, from a surplus of $284 billion when it arrived to a post-policy deficit of $413 billion.
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