JaBbA's Hut

Andrew Meyers, the UF student who was tasered while making a scene at a John Kerry speech, was holding a copy of Greg Palast's book Armed Madhouse, which he was using as his reference while challenging Kerry.

Palast's book makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It should, because it blows the lid off the American Political scene and it's refusal to deal with reality.

Apparently, however, there are people in a lot of places that don't want you to read Greg Palast. Including Websense, the web filtering company.

When you are on Palast's mailing list, links go to http://mailings.gregpalast.com. However, click on that link at work, and you get the following:




Illegal or Questionable? Is this censorship?

Remember the old '?' flash animations from blah3.com? American Stranger is still creating animations, but they just haven't hit as often as in the old days.

Now a 15-year-old from Alabama has taken up the mantle. Her animations at PeaceTakesCourage.com are powerful. And the one titled '32%' is both hilarious and scary. For her trouble, she was awarded Buzzflash's Wings of Justice award.

JaBbA says check it out.

From The Raw Story

The question, "Are you an Ann Coulter Republican?" should confront every Republican running for every office in the land, from President to dog catcher. Every Democratic candidate should accuse his or her opponent of being in favor of poisoning Supreme Court Justices and killing Congressmen. At every opportunity, every Republican should be made to answer: "Do you agree with Ann Coulter that the 9/11 widows are witches and harpies?" And George W. Bush, Tony Snow, Dick Cheney, Laura Bush and Barney (the only lapdog with a good excuse) should be confronted with these questions as well.

Give as good as you get. The right has been trying to make Dems ashamed of themselves for years. Ann, who I generally just ignore, has really given us the opportunity to turn that around.

Some progressive friends and I are starting a new organization to push a progressive agenda in the Democratic Party. The local Dems have been driving us nuts with their inability to take advantage of the fact that the North East Ohio area is the one Blue area of this VERY Red state.

But mostly, it's because I came up with a great name for it. The North Coast Blues. Once we change the regional agenda, maybe we'll turn it into a local music organization

Right now it's just a blog, but we may expand to include other activities - fundraising, advocacy, online articles, etc. If you're interested in writing and progressive politics, use the "Contact Me" link in the right sidebar. (Or just email or call me if you know me. C'mon - you know who you are!)

So posts having to do with Ohio and Regional politics will be over there. A feed of those posts will appear on this page. C'mon and visit!

Viggo Mortensen ( yup, Aragorn ) had some very interesting things to say when he spoke at the commencement for St. lawrence University.

When calculatedly dishonest and self-serving behavior is increasingly becoming the norm from many of those holding high political positions in the United States, it is thoughtful individuals such as you, the members of the Class of 2006, who can help mend the frayed moral fabric of the nation by your personal example.

...

Don't ever be afraid to ask the question, "why?," or as most small children do, to repeat that question as many times as you receive an unsatisfactory answer. Inquiring minds are essential to a healthy society, and to making an individual art out of living. With apologies to any Latin scholars for my pronunciation, I offer the following epigram:

"Ducunt volentum fata, nolentum trahunt."

For non-Latin scholars, that translates as: "Fate leads those who are willing. The unwilling it drags." Or, if you prefer your words of warning from a Greek, Plato once said that "One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." Recent election results and subsequent political appointments in this country seem to bear that admonishment out.

Thanks to Emily for the link. JaBbA says check it out.

TruMajority.org explains the Federal Budget -- using Oreos.

JaBbA says check it out.

An email I received this morning, reprinted with permission:

As you may know, the House of Representatives passed the REAL ID Act
(H.R. 418) as part of the supplemental appropriations bill that would
provide tsunami relief and funding for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.
As matters now stand no hearings have been conducted on the REAL ID
provisions hidden in the bill . If the supplemental bill that passes
the Senate includes the REAL ID, no changes can be made in the
conference committee since the House and Senate versions in this
respect would be identical. REAL ID would then become law since
President Bush WILL sign it.

Because few Senators are likely to vote against tsunami relief and
troop funding, it is imperative to make sure the supplemental does not
include the REAL ID.

What you need to do: Contact your Senators and let them know
that the REAL ID provisions are too important to be enacted without
hearings. The easiest method is through Contact Congress, available on
the Infonet and on the AILA.org public site, that includes model
letters that you can send as is or modify:

http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7071006

The REAL ID provisions must not be included in the Senate's
/Iraq/Tsunami Relief Supplemental. Rather, the Senate needs to hold
hearings on this ill-conceived controversial measure. Pass the word to
your partners, staff, clients, and everyone you can think of who
understands the importance of just and reasonable immigration policies.
Encourage each and everyone of them to contact their Senators.
Individual letters and telephone calls are the best method. Time is of
the essence; There is a two week window of opportunity . The Senate is
expected to deal with this measure in early April. Every moment counts,
every contact you make is crucial. AILA's Advocacy Center will be
updating us as developments occur. Please, please don't assume that
that our friends and colleagues are going to do this for us. Each and
every one of us must get involved and go the extra mile.

Briefly: REAL ID would repeal the driver's license provisions that are
included in the recently passed Intelligence Reform Act. The REAL ID
imposes complicated new driver's license and ID bureaucracy on states,
including a two-tiered license system for foreigners and U.S. citizens,
and bars states from issuing regular driver's licenses to undocumented
immigrants.

REAL ID would deny asylum to applicants who cannot produce
corroborating evidence, who may make an inaccurate or inconsistent
statement that is immaterial to the claim, or whose demeanor is
inconsistent with an immigration judge's preconceived expectations.
Importantly, it also makes it harder for real refugees to be granted
asylum by making them prove the "central reason" behind their
persecution (rather than the current mixed motive standard).

REAL ID would impose guilt by association to make many people
inadmissible and deportable, permitting the removal of non-citizens who
are members or support any political organization that has used
violence, even if the organization has not been designated as a
"foreign terrorist organization." The bill thus includes a very broad
definition of terrorism to bar people from entering the U.S. or to
deport them, even if their activity is lawful and protected by the
First Amendment, is applied retroactively, and extends to many spouses
and children of people who meet this criteria. Lawful residents are at
risk, even if the association rendering them deportable occurred
decades earlier and was legal at the time.

REAL ID would suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus for the first time
since the Civil War. It would limit all judicial review of detention
and removal orders to one petition for review to the federal court of
appeals. Those ineligible for such review would be barred from ANY
review in federal court. It also would reduce the scope of any
remaining federal court reviews to an extremely narrow (possibly
unconstitutional) standard that would allow courts to consider only
"pure questions of law" or constitutional claims. Temporary stays of
removal pending federal court review in all immigration cases would be
eliminated. We need to act and act NOW. Be assured that if we don't
act NOW we will be reading and dealing with the provisions of the REAL
ID Act from now on. Passage of the REAL ID Act will have profound
consequences to our practices for the remainder of our professional
lives, and adversely impact the rights and remedies of present and
future generations of immigrants. THE REAL ID IS A BAD IDEA WHOSE TIME
HAS NOT COME!

From a friend of mine:

*Public Hearing Regarding Voter Disenfranchisement, Suppression, Denial of Constitutional Democratic Voting Rights and other Voting Irregularities*

When: Saturday, November 20, 2004 from 1-5 p.m.

Where: Windermere United Methodist Church 14035 Euclid Avenue East Cleveland (accessible via RTA Red Line)

Calling all poll workers, registered voters, lawyers, law students, provisional ballot voters, organizers, religious personnel, party members, voter registration workers, precinct committee workers, activists, union representatives, concerned citizens and elected officials!

It is time to testify!

Any individuals or organizations with any information about voting irregularities, disenfranchisement or discrimination, voter suppression or denial of voting rights may come forward and give live testimony which will be documented and videotaped.

This information will be part of a formal complaint filed with the Ohio Secretary of State and Boards of Elections and used to demand substantial election reform.

Event sponsors include: Ohio Vigilance, Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE-Ohio), Greater Cleveland Voter Registration Committee, Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, Election Protection, the Tyrian Network, Artists For Peace and others. There is also a hearing this Friday evening at the AFL-CIO from 6pm to 9pm, sponsored by the People for the American Way (216)936-6535.

Contact: Victoria Lovegren, vml4 /at/ cwru.edu, (216) 721-8088 www.OhioVigilance.org

I always liked David Cobb, especially after hearing a speech in which he used the word 'grokking':

And lastly, Greens tell the truth that's really hard for some Americans to hear. but it is the truth and more and more Americans are finally grokking it and realizing it, and that truth is that we do not live in a democracy in this country.

(I especially love the sounds of forks hitting plates as he speaks - he's obviously speaking at a very small forum, the way politics used to be done in this country)
I just won't vote for him because A) I don't agree with everything he says and B) I believe it's more important to reform the Democrats than create a third party.

But he's doing what Kerry should have done, and he's doing it effectively. They got the $150,00 they needed to start the recount, and now they're looking for $100,000 by Monday 11/22 to pay the expenses of the recount observers and also looking for places for the out-of-state recounters to crash.

So go help, already!

Who are the Internets Vets for Truth?

Who are we?

The Internets Veterans For Truth are a group of long-time bloggers, designers, and techies who decided (in slackerly fashion, around the end of last week) that some of the clips that've been floating around online needed to be seen by everybody.

A few catchy slogans, registered domains, and a mess of volunteered hours of encoding, design, dev, and server wrangling later...

Also, we served alongside George W. Bush in the hot, dry Texan jungles of the Internets Deltas.

What they've got is bittorrent, quicktime and WMV clips of all your favorite videos..scenes from F9/11, Going Upriver, Tim Ryan's speech, Bush Flip-Flopping, etc.

So pass the link around, and when using bittorrent...keep that window open!

This is worrysome. From everything I know about Bev Harris, she doesn't just shoot her mouth off -when she says she has info, she really has the info.

In this message, she says the network news people have been ORDERED AWAY from the voting problems story. This is very bad news, for it not only means that this isn't going to go anywhere, but it also means we're in for 4 more years of the news organizations deferring to the Administration and not pursuing the truth.

So Bev is asking the people to

HELP AMERICA AUDIT: 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Reclaim Democracy

1. BE THE MEDIA

2. CRUNCH THE NUMBERS

3. HAVE A HOUSE PARTY

4. HELP CONNECT THE WIRES

5. DONATE

(See the extended entry for full message)

Greg Palast is on it, but he was effectively ignored last time too.

--

I've been letting the blogosphere keep up on the check on voting fraud, but I think it's time I jumped in too. A couple reasons why...#1 - BlackBoxVoting.org is currently unavailable. No idea why, but I wouldn't be suprised if she's under a DDOS attack, similar to Electoral-Vote.com's problems. #2 - It's getting hot, with "legitimate" news organizations beginning to jump on the train. This isn't just a aluminum-foil hat issue, folks. #3 - the Blogging of the President folks have a great list, but the links keep going unavailable. They asked someone to archive them, so I am trying to do so. As I get a mirror of these sites, I'll like them in. I'll try to keep it up to date.

This has got legs, folks. Kerry's concession was a nice gesture, but has NO legal weight, unlike Gore's concession, which stopped his legal challenges.

I arrived at the polls at 6:30 - and waited a half-hour to vote.

My wife arrived at 7:30 - 1 1/4 hours to vote.

HUGE Turnout here in the Cleveland area.

The "Votemaster" from electoral-vote.com is out of the closet. He's Andrew Tanenbaum, an expatriate American citizen living in the Netherlands, and the author of MINIX, a precursor to Linux.

On Tuesday. You should too, and give them to ANYONE who gets hassled at the polls.

I'm not young, I'm not a minority, I've voted in every election I've been eligible for. I don't think I'll have a problem.

But here is what is turning out to be the center of the election universe, I expect that anyone new to the area, young, minority, etc. will be challenged - and I will have this to give them, to protect their rights.