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Armchair activism for today

Armchair activism for today

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Stop New Pollution and Global Security Threats from Nuclear Waste

The US has a serious nuclear waste problem, and like the rest of the world, we have found no solution. Nonetheless, the White House is proposing a giant program to import and reprocess foreign spent fuel. In his current budget, the Bush Administration proposed the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) which would make major changes to U.S. policies regarding the global management of spent nuclear fuel. Under GNEP, “supplier” countries would reprocess other countries’ commercial irradiated fuel and provide fresh fuel for “user” countries that agree not to enrich uranium or reprocess fuel domestically. Reprocessing other countries’ spent fuel would increase the amount of highly radioactive waste that the U.S. would have to permanently store. What this will do is cause more pollution, create an enormous security threat, and be dangerous to communities and neighborhoods.
Demand that your Senators vote no on Bush budget’s initiative on nuclear reprocessing.
(Public Citizen/The Petition Site/Care2)

The America I Believe In

The America I Believe In doesn’t torture people or use cruel, inhumane treatment. . . doesn’t hold people without charge, without fair trials, without hope, and without end. . .doesn’t kidnap people off the street and ship them to nations known for their brutality. . .doesn’t condone prisoner abuse and excuse high-ranking government officials from responsibility for that abuse. . .doesn’t justify the use of secret prisons. . .and does not rob people of their basic dignity.

Amnesty International has launched a new campaign that will fight to restore our traditional American values of justice, rule of law, and human dignity. In the coming weeks and months, we will as a nation either end some of the worst human rights abuses of the Bush administration or continue down this destructive path. Amnesty is fighting for the America we believe in, the America that leads the world on human rights. Be part of this campaign. Shape the outcome. Join with Amnesty International to restore “The America I Believe In.” This campaign is mobilizing people of conscience all across America to speak out. Please join us. We won’t stop until we turn America around on human rights.

Sign The America I Believe In Pledge
(Amnesty International)

CARE 60th Anniversary action

The United Nations member states have made a promise to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. On their 60th Anniversary, CARE is urging world leaders to follow through on this commitment by investing substantial resources in women and girls in the developing world.

Add your voice to CARE’s 60th anniversary Women CARE declaration
(CARE, thanks to Elainna)

LCV’s Environmental Scorecard

Since 1970, the League of Conservation Voters’ Scorecard has tracked your Congress members’ voting records. LCV’s Scorecard is based on crucial environmental votes, including energy and oil drilling, environmental health standards, and protecting wild places. Nothing more starkly illustrates how your representatives in Congress have helped or harmed the environment. How did your elected officials score?

The good news is that the next Congress can do a whole lot better. They will have new opportunities to debate and vote on legislation to tackle global warming and promote a cleaner, safer, and cheaper energy future.

Sign the New Energy Now! Petition to help push America’s next Congress to improve its National Environmental Scorecard score by promoting clean energy, protecting the environment, and reinvigorating the economy.
(League of Conservation Voters)

Send a Message of Support to Heroes of Justice and Freedom

Standing up for something you believe in takes great personal courage. That is especially true for the brave individuals who have stood up to government abuses carried out in the name of the ‘war on terror.’ Every time you hear about a lawsuit challenging government spying, protecting someone’s right to criticize the government or suing over mistreatment and abuse, behind the headlines there is a brave individual or group taking a stand for all of our rights.

That is why the ACLU is asking liberty-loving people across America to join them in thanking a remarkable group of clients who joined them in challenging government abuses since September 11, 2001. These amazing people come from diverse backgrounds and from a range of occupations. They are librarians, religious leaders, business people, students, pacifists. They represent many faiths, communities, cultures and political viewpoints. But they share one thing in common. Each has had the courage to stand up and fight for the core American values of freedom and fairness. It only takes a minute to let these courageous people know that they are not alone and that there are many Americans who appreciate and support what they are doing.

Send a message of support to this extraordinary group of ACLU clients.
(ACLU)

Demand Emergency Paper Ballots

Urge your political representatives and election officals to provide Emergency Paper Ballots at every polling place, along with a well-publicized plan for action so that every election official, poll worker, and voter will be absolutely clear on the procedures for utilizing them. No legally registered voter should ever be told to “come back later,” or be forced to use a provisional ballot simply because a voting system is unavailable to them at the time they are able to vote.
Demand that an ample supply of Emergency Paper Ballots be made available at elections.
(Progressive Democrats of America)

Homework:

American Fascism Is on the Rise, Stan Goff

The precursors of fascism — militarization of culture, vigilantism, masculine fear of female power, xenophobia and economic destabilization — are ascendant in America today.

A splendid achievement, Terry Jones
(yes, that Terry Jones)

Wherein the World League of Despots recognizes President Bush’s accomplishments and formally invites him to join their membership.

11 Worst Places to Vote – and Why

11 Worst Places to Vote – and Why

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11 Worst Places to Try to Vote = places where it is all the more important that you DO vote!

In some places voters still fill in paper ballots or pull the levers of vintage machines; elsewhere, they touch screens or tap keys, with or without paper trails. Some states encourage voter registration; others go out of their way to limit it. Some allow prisoners to vote; others permanently bar ex-felons, no matter how long they’ve stayed clean. Who can vote, where people cast ballots, and how and whether their votes are counted all depends, to a large extent, on policies set in place by secretaries of state and county elections supervisors — officials who can be as partisan, as dubiously qualified, and as nakedly ambitious as people anywhere else in politics. Here is a list — partial, but emblematic — of American democracy’s more glaring weak spots.

  1. The New Poll Tax – Atlanta, Georgia
  2. Machine Meltdowns – Beaufort, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (tie)
  3. Line Forms Here – Franklin County, Ohio
  4. Incompetence – Cuyahoga County, Ohio
  5. Foul Play – New Hampshire
  6. Gerrymandering – Travis County, Texas
  7. No Felons (or possible felons) Allowed – Mississippi Delta
  8. Voting While Black – Charleston, South Carolina
  9. Students are Suspect – Waller County, Texas
  10. Failing to Register, Registrations Lost – Florida
  11. Politicos in Charge – Ohio

For all the gory details and the runners-up, read the article: “Just Try Voting Here: 11 of America’s worst places to cast a ballot (or try),” by Sasha Abramsky

Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to The White House Sasha Abramsky is the author of Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House (The New Press, 2006).

No Immunity for Unconstitutional Spying – Take Action

No Immunity for Unconstitutional Spying – Take Action

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The idea that the rule of law – and even the Constitution itself – threatens our safety has been used to justify repeated attacks on civil liberties and the principle of checks and balances since 2001. And now Congress is about to consider new legislation that would further bloat the power of the executive branch by removing crucial judicial and congressional oversight. Legalizing the President’s warrantless domestic surveillance is not what the Founding Fathers meant by ‘checks and balances.’ I don’t want any legislative “fixes” to the law that would whitewash the executive branch’s illegal eavesdropping.

Please do your bit to stop three awful bills that are taking shape in congressional committees. S. 2453 (Sen. Specter), S. 2455 (Sen. DeWine) and H.R. 5825 (Rep. Wilson) would essentially codify Bush’s illegal domestic spying program despite that 1) the full scope of the program is still a secret, and 2) A federal court in Michigan ruled the program unconstitutional.

Urge your congressional officials to protect the Constitution!

The White House is cranking up its fear and smear machine again. President Bush and his political allies exploited the 9/11 anniversary with yet another round of media appearances equating dissent with support for terrorists. They’re trying – one more time – to smear and intimidate anyone who objects to Bush administration policies that run roughshod over our Constitution. The administration’s propaganda blitz was not only about exploiting fears of terrorism for the fall elections. It was also about building support for a new push in Congress to give the Bush administration political and legal cover for policies that violate basic constitutional principles like due process.

E-mail or fax your representative and senators now and tell them to reject these dangerous bills and all legislative whitewashes that would give the executive branch immunity from the judicial and congressional oversight so vital to our system of checks and balances.

More information about the NSA illegal spying program

(People For the American Way)

Crumbs for the Bottom, Banquets for the Top

Crumbs for the Bottom, Banquets for the Top

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What will it take for blue-collar, middle-to-lower suburbia, struggling rural, and working poor to understand that they do not benefit from the policies and aims of this administration? I do not understand how this administration has been able to mislead demographics like NASCAR fans and Southern Baptists into the ranks of the supporters. As interest rates and prices rise, recognition is growing.

Here’s another piece of sneaky legislation: Frist has proposed holding a vote to see if estate tax cuts can get through the Senate if they are linked to a modest minimum wage increase. Insidious. The current minimum wage bill would finally grant a little boost in minimum wage (a $2.10 increase over three years, and tips are counted) – but only if it’s tied to yet more welfare for the superrich!

Don’t get excited about his latest incarnation of the estate tax reduction bill unless you and your family are pretty loaded. Most Americans don’t pay much if anything in estate tax now anyway. Next time you do your taxes, just ask about grandma’s house (if she has one). But if you’re really really rich, this is a big payoff. A married couple won’t pay penny one in estate tax on property unless it’s worth more than ten million dollars. The very top estate tax rate would fall from 46% to 30%. Another tax break for the people who least need it, more lost revenue for the government that Republicans want to break back to pre-FDR.

Yes, I understand that this kind of bundling is a way to pass things that wouldn’t otherwise pass, or even see a vote at all. But to combine unlike proposals like this in the same bill means that the public really doesn’t have a sense of what their representatives are voting for and against. How does a member of Congress, on either side or in the middle, decide how to vote on something like this?

  1. Is it more important to boost minimimum wage for the lower classes, or to oppose additional huge gifts to the upper classes that drastically cut already-dwindling revenues (about $753 billion over the next decade)?
  2. Is it more important to oppose any minimum wage increase, or to grant buddies and sponsors in the upper classes more favors?

Give just a few cakecrumbs to the bottom-level wage earners (be happy with the crumbs), strengthen the class divide (plan the excessively huge banquest of millions of designer cakes), and work to bankrupt the federal services and entitlements at the same time (get rid of any security for the American people) – nice class warfare (the use of cake imagery is intentional). When do we get to use the word aristocrats? When do we get to actually say that the class warfare is from the top down, and that the top isn’t even human, but protected and corporate?

Have a care, Congress. An election is coming up, and Americans are starting to get a sense of priorities again. What you do and what you are is more and more obvious with every passing day.

Look around the world – just look. We need real leadership, real ethics, real diplomacy, real intelligence and real planning.

To the party formerly known as Republicans: Don’t bother with your pitiful claims to empire. Don’t bother with your Constitutional disregard. Don’t bother with your gestures toward theocracy. Don’t bother with your transparent propaganda. Don’t bother with a staged terrorist attack. Don’t bother with your hate. Don’t bother trying to hide your mother lode of corruption. Don’t bother with your secrecy, your deceptions, your lies. Don’t bother scapegoating critical voices. Don’t bother with a rigged electoral system.

The multiple voices of America will be heard again. We will take back our democracy.

Main Page – WikiThePresidency

Main Page – WikiThePresidency

People For the American Way believes that “a healthy democracy is an informed democracy,” so they have created WikiThePresidency.org to establish a single place for the public to both acquire and share information about Executive Branch wrongdoings.

It’s a Wiki, so anyone can edit the site, but there are rules. You must post factual claims (no op-eds), with links to credible supporting material. No spouting off.

Take a look. It’s interesting reading.

Main Page – WikiThePresidency

Liar Liar – What more proof?

Liar Liar – What more proof?

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Yesterday I wrote a very long and detailed post on the Plame leak situation. It had quotations and it had links. It had the whole history, the timeline, and it had several compelling points. Just as I was about to publish it, a site in another window crashed my browser. Bummer. I have really got to start writing these things offline. I’m just too disheartened to reconstruct the whole blasted thing. Since you can easily look up everything to do with it, I’ll just contribute my own thoughts to the public conversation.

I believe that Plame was outed intentionally, which is a felony crime if not outright treason. Either Cheney or Bush authorized it. I actually suspect that it was Cheney (with Rove?), and that the official story is a backdated version for coverup purposes. The outing of Plame was meant to punish Plame’s husband (Wilson) for stating the truth – and it was also a message to the intelligence community that they had better give them the “intelligence” that is wanted, rather than assessing reality.

Although people within the administration knew that Bush’s claims weren’t true – and there were efforts to remove them (including by Tenet), these claims kept getting re-added to Bush’s State of the Union speech, which was delivered. It was just one of the ways in which Americans were manipulated – playing on their fears to drum up support for our illegal and unethical invasion of Iraq. This has proven to be a disaster, and all of the people who were demonized for speaking their minds at the time have been proven correct. We took over in Iraq for reasons that will become abundantly clear in future, if they aren’t clear enough to you already (hint – permanent bases on the oil pipeline, Cheney’s secret energy meetings, Enron, Halliburton, record oil profits, corruption, fraud…).

Neither American lives nor Iraqi lives (remember, we’re “rescuing” them?) matter enough to this administration for them even to answer the basic question of what cause our soldiers are fighting for. Modus operandi: when in doubt, change the subject – when in doubt, use doublespeak – when in doubt, use your media assets or run commericals as news – when in doubt, change the “reason” we’re there – when in doubt, hide everything. If they had nothing to hide, we’d be getting a lot more information instead of being under surveillance ourselves.

To claim that “declassifying” Plame and leaking her CIA status to their kiss-butt reporter friends (remember, it wasn’t a White House press release) was in the interests of national security is an outright lie.

Tell me – how does disrupting a valuable source of intelligence, undoubtedly along with others who could be tied to her, help our national security? Isn’t it obvious that it is actually a serious breach of our national security? I wonder how many people died as a direct result, and how much real intelligence has been squandered. It is a felony for good reason.

When he was asked about this leak, he stood up and said he’d get to the bottom of it, that whoever was responsible would be fired. Fire Cheney and yourself, Mr. President. Resign. If there wasn’t anything wrong with what your administration did, you would have explained yourself at the time, not years later when Libby was in court.

Oh wait, we still haven’t really gotten an explanation from the mouth of the king. His sycophant messengers have just given us some spin, that’s all.

Whatever voting machines haven’t been hijacked yet will tell you our judgment – if that matters anymore. We’ve seen what the interests of the American people mean to you – that is, nothing at all.

Take a good look around. Our land and water are being polluted. Corporate interests are all but writing our laws. Our system isn’t functioning – ask people from New Orleans, ask people who have to face new interest rates, ask people who are working part-time in more than one job, ask people trying to navigate Medicare and Medicaid, ask the children who are left behind or who graduate from our schools with a substandard education. Many people who believe they are religious have been hookwinked into following false prophets who would like to see this country turned from the land of the free into a pseudo-christian theocracy – money-grubbers of hate and corruption are even attempting to start ’em young with home schooling and bible classes in the public schools. People openly assert claims of empire and world domination. Now you’re deliberating whether we might use nukes on Iran? So what, we’re worse than Hussein now? Wasn’t that the ultimate no-no? Oh, and didn’t you just make a deal on that very topic? What was that all about?

I’m watching to see what happens in November. We know about the election fraud, the hidden programming in the voting machines. We know that even now Diebold technicians are making the rounds. With popularity in the 30-40 percent range, it would be very strange if the Republicans retained control of both houses, wouldn’t it?

So what’s on the menu? Planning to blow up a few more towers? Maybe a Bin Laden sighting in Chicago? A nuclear meltdown in Florida? A small dirty bomb in some suburban neighborhood?

Contact your congresspeople – it’s time for them to show some spine. We still – so far – have only the soft version of fascism. There is still a chance to use our democratic system the way it was intended.

Wherever you are, do whatever you can – while you still can.

How can anyone still support this President, this Vice-President, these cronies of theirs? What more proof do you need?

Vote. Vote. Vote.