ACLU Launches Web Ad Campaign
Tech Daily Dose reprots that the American Civil Liberties Union has unveiled an online advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness about the lawsuit the watchdog group filed last week in New York federal court, which seeks a permanent injunction that would bar the U.S. government from conducting surveillance operations under a major revision of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
To read the whole story, click here.
Bad Days for Newsrooms - and Democracy
Chris Hedges writes that the decline of newspapers is not about the replacement of the antiquated technology of news print with the lightning speed of the Internet. It does not signal an inevitable and salutary change. It is not a form of progress.
To read the whole commentary, click here.
As Papers Struggle, News Is Cut and the Focus Turns Local
Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times writes that almost two-thirds of American newspapers publish less foreign news than they did just three years ago, nearly as many print less national news, and most of them have smaller news staffs, according to a new study.
To read the whole story, click here.
A Test of Justice for Rape Victims
Sarah Tofte reports for The Washington Post: "Every two minutes, someone is raped in the United States. Every year, more than 200,000 rape victims, mostly women, report their rapes to police. Most consent to the creation of a rape kit, an invasive process for collecting physical evidence (including DNA material) of the assault that can take up to six hours. What most victims don't know is that in thousands of cases, that evidence sits untested in police evidence lockers."
To read the whole story, click here.
Bush Administration Plans End Run for Abstinence-Only Funds
Scott Swenson reports for RH Reality Check: "The Bush Administration Department of Health and Human Services isn't getting much rest these days, using every moment of its final few months to leave an indelible ideological mark on government."
To read the blog, click here.
Election Fraud and Tyranny: Part 1 & 2
Michael Collins, in a Scoop News column: "Mark Crispin Miller's new book, 'Loser Take All,' identifies and analyzes election fraud, the foundation of extremist power in the United States since 2000. Manipulated elections have enabled everything we've experienced from the Iraq war to the current economic meltdown. None of that would have been possible without the ongoing series of 'surprise' wins for extremists and their enablers following the outright theft of the 2000 presidential election."
To read the commentaries, click here.
McSexist: McCain's War on Women
Kate Sheppard, for In These Times: "McCain's campaign has been making a clear play for women voters in recent weeks, hosting conference calls with Republican women and touting that his policies on national security, the economy and healthcare appeal to women voters. But the suggestion that women - and feminist women, at that - will be lining up behind him is a fairytale. At least, it should be. McCain's record and policies on issues of importance to women are neither moderate nor maverick."
To read the whole commentary, click here.
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ACLU. Show all posts
23 July 2008
03 June 2008
New Contracts Reflect Continued Presence in Iraq
Walter Pincus of The Washington Post writes: "The depth of US involvement in Iraq and the difficulty the next president will face in pulling personnel out of the country are illustrated by a handful of new contract proposals made public in May."
For complete story click here.
ACLU Sues Denver for Weapons Information
Rick Sallinger, CBS4 News, reports: "The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the city of Denver after an open records request for information about the purchasing of security equipment for the Democratic National Convention was denied. The group wants to know what weapons the city is buying for crowd control during protests."
For complete story click here.
Why Women Are the Primary Drivers of Change
In their new book, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen state, "Women are on the forefront of all the primary drivers of change: money, volunteer service, and the power of the vote. This is why they are the primary target audience for non-profits and political campaigns. A closer examination of their standing in these arenas helps crack open some conventional, but misguided, wisdom chestnuts such as women's income (and giving potential) lags behind men's, and that by appealing to women, you'll drive men away. In fact, just the opposite is true."
To read an excerpt from their book, click here.
Interview With Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Maya Schenwar, of Truthout.org writes: "Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has had enough of the war in Iraq, and she's had enough of the military contractors that are making it possible. 'These are the guys who carry guns - I would call them mercenaries - who are engaged in inherently governmental activities,' she told me in a recent interview, noting that while contractors carry out many of the same functions as the military, they are held to much less stringent standards. 'One has to ask, 'Is it the policy of the United States of America that contractors can get away with murder?' And frankly, so far, it seems like the answer is 'yes.'"
To read the accompany article and watch the interview, click here.
When Will U.S. "Journalism" Be Held Accountable for Promoting War?
In a thought provoking commentary, News Dissector Danny Schechter poses just this question. Schechter made WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception in 2004, a film shown in 40 countries. (Wmdthefilm.com). He wrote two books on media complicity, Embedded (2003) and When News Lies (2006).
To read commentary click here.
Gramm-UBS Lobbyist Questions Dog McCain Campaign
Mark Hosenball, of Newsweek: "For weeks now, John McCain's presidential campaign has faced awkward questions about the outside activities of several top advisers. Add one more name to the list: former Texas senator Phil Gramm, McCain's longtime friend and one of his five campaign co-chairs. According to McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker, the co-chair position affords Gramm 'broad input into the structure, financing and conduct of the campaign.'"
For complete article click here.
Is Water Becoming the New Oil?
Mark Clayton, for The Christian Science Monitor, reports, "'Water,' Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, 'is the oil of this century.' Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as 'blue gold.'"
For the complete article, click here.
Number of Uninsured US Young Adults Grows
Will Dunham writes for Reuters: "The number of uninsured US young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006, according to a study released on Friday."
To read the complete article, click here.
Walter Pincus of The Washington Post writes: "The depth of US involvement in Iraq and the difficulty the next president will face in pulling personnel out of the country are illustrated by a handful of new contract proposals made public in May."
For complete story click here.
ACLU Sues Denver for Weapons Information
Rick Sallinger, CBS4 News, reports: "The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the city of Denver after an open records request for information about the purchasing of security equipment for the Democratic National Convention was denied. The group wants to know what weapons the city is buying for crowd control during protests."
For complete story click here.
Why Women Are the Primary Drivers of Change
In their new book, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen state, "Women are on the forefront of all the primary drivers of change: money, volunteer service, and the power of the vote. This is why they are the primary target audience for non-profits and political campaigns. A closer examination of their standing in these arenas helps crack open some conventional, but misguided, wisdom chestnuts such as women's income (and giving potential) lags behind men's, and that by appealing to women, you'll drive men away. In fact, just the opposite is true."
To read an excerpt from their book, click here.
Interview With Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
Maya Schenwar, of Truthout.org writes: "Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has had enough of the war in Iraq, and she's had enough of the military contractors that are making it possible. 'These are the guys who carry guns - I would call them mercenaries - who are engaged in inherently governmental activities,' she told me in a recent interview, noting that while contractors carry out many of the same functions as the military, they are held to much less stringent standards. 'One has to ask, 'Is it the policy of the United States of America that contractors can get away with murder?' And frankly, so far, it seems like the answer is 'yes.'"
To read the accompany article and watch the interview, click here.
When Will U.S. "Journalism" Be Held Accountable for Promoting War?
In a thought provoking commentary, News Dissector Danny Schechter poses just this question. Schechter made WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception in 2004, a film shown in 40 countries. (Wmdthefilm.com). He wrote two books on media complicity, Embedded (2003) and When News Lies (2006).
To read commentary click here.
Gramm-UBS Lobbyist Questions Dog McCain Campaign
Mark Hosenball, of Newsweek: "For weeks now, John McCain's presidential campaign has faced awkward questions about the outside activities of several top advisers. Add one more name to the list: former Texas senator Phil Gramm, McCain's longtime friend and one of his five campaign co-chairs. According to McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker, the co-chair position affords Gramm 'broad input into the structure, financing and conduct of the campaign.'"
For complete article click here.
Is Water Becoming the New Oil?
Mark Clayton, for The Christian Science Monitor, reports, "'Water,' Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, 'is the oil of this century.' Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as 'blue gold.'"
For the complete article, click here.
Number of Uninsured US Young Adults Grows
Will Dunham writes for Reuters: "The number of uninsured US young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006, according to a study released on Friday."
To read the complete article, click here.
07 March 2007
Your Civil Rights
Originally read on 22 February 2007
by Christopher E. Renner
It has been an interesting week for those of us who value our civil rights as outlined in the U. S. Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights. President Bush and his cronies continue to do everything in their power to eliminate those rights, from the right to a fair trail to our right of privacy.
Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced legislation last week that seeks to eliminate online privacy by requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to maintain detailed records on each of their subscribers’ online activities. The bill would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broad discretion to determine what records ISPs must keep and for how long. In addition, it would require "sexually explicit" websites to post warning labels or face criminal sanctions.
Marvin Johnson, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office said:
"Legislation like this is like swatting a fly with a bazooka. Such sweeping measures do little to stop online crime; instead, they overwhelm law enforcement agents with mountains of raw data and have a chilling effect on ISP subscribers’ First Amendment rights. There is no limit to the amount of information Attorney General Gonzales can require ISPs to keep, from instant messages to private emails to web searches, and he can require that they be kept forever. This represents an incredible invasion into our privacy and freedom to use the Internet without the government reading over our shoulders."
And that’s not all. In May 2006, USA Today revealed that since shortly after 9/11 at least two major phone companies - AT&T and Verizon - have been voluntarily granting the National Security Administration direct, mass access to their customers' calling records, and that the NSA had compiled a giant database of those records. This program extends to all Americans, not just those suspected of terrorist or criminal activity. In short, phone companies are voluntarily turning over millions of customer records to the National Security Agency.
Acting without a court order or the knowledge or consent of their customers, phone companies are providing the government with potentially intimate details about who you know and who you talk to - details that are stored in giant databases, and perhaps mined by the NSA's supercomputers to scan through each of our associations and interests for "suspicious" signs, whatever that may be.
The goal of this program, according to media reports, is to "create a database of every call ever made within the nation's borders." This information can easily be linked to determine your identity, your friends, and your interests.
I don’t know about any of you, but I lived in Europe before the fall of Stalinism, or “hard” communism in Eastern Europe. The tactics described above are the same tactics that were used by those governments to spy on their citizens, arrest them for such illegal activities as voicing their own opinions and “speaking against the state.” Is it just me, or have we completely lost all sense of the reason why our nation exists -- it’s called democracy people and once it is lost, it is very hard to get it back. The Bush administration’s desire to spy on the American people is illegal and un-American, and immoral. It is time it stopped!
Moreover, this past week it was revealed that both AT&T and Version are attempting to obstruct discussion of their collaboration with the government by appealing to the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to block the proposed shareholder resolutions.
As owners of publicly traded corporations, shareholders have a right to vote on issues they feel are vital to preserve their company’s reputation and protect the long-term value of investments and maintain customer privacy. AT&T and Verizon customers, board members and shareholders must be aware of all the issues inherent in assisting the government with its spying. So the “free market” isn’t really free after all.
Closer to home, conservatives in the Kansas Senate gained approval of Senate Bill 169 which will require all Kansans to show photo-identification to vote as well as proof of citizenship to register to vote.
SB 169 was introduced by Senator Tim Huelskamp, R- Fowler in southwest Kansas, an area that the South Poverty Law Center has reported for several years as having KKK activities and known to openly discriminate against the Hispanic population living there.
SB 169 is nothing more than an effort to impose a poll tax on the citizens of the state and to disenfranchise poorer Kansans from the election process because the conservative agenda is to further the gap between right and poor and to allow no means for the economic disadvantaged to petition their government to alleviate their suffering.
It cost $12.00 to get a copy of your birth certificate in Kansas and the cost of a passport is now up to $97.00. For many of our listeners these are probably not expenses that seem exorbitant. However, if you are living on the Kansas Minimum Wage, or the current Federal Minimum Wage, they are.
If you earn $5.25 and work 40 hours per week, 52 weeks of the year your total annual income would be only $10,712. If you are a typical low wage earner - a single mother - $12.00 represents about three hours of work. It represents feeding you family for a day. $97.00 represents going without health care.
Why do we need SB 169?
SB 169 is yet another example of the conservative’s agenda to limit the civil rights of all citizens by placing one obstacle after another in the pathway to full participation in the democratic process. It makes a problem where there isn’t a problem and will without a doubt make things more difficult at the polling place, slow down the process, and cause people to be denied their right to vote. But after all, isn’t that what the conservative want?
And if that wasn’t enough to think about, this past week also showed how low Kansas State University will go to promote homophobia. In the lead up to the “big game” against KU, t-shirts appeared sporting the registered trade mark of the power cat and the following quote “KU = gay.”
Now according to the “values” espoused by Kansas State University, such blatant prejudice isn’t one of the Core Community Values this institution of higher learning is supposed to be instilling in its students. Moreover, since the power cat is a registered trade mark, didn’t someone in the University have to approve the use of the KSU symbol to promote this irrational prejudice and bigotry? So why did the university allow this? By equating all KU students as homosexuals, just what did KSU gain? Other than once again demonstrating for the rest of the world that we lack basic civility, respect for others, and knowledge of the complex world we live in. The t-shirts were an insult to KSU and the state of Kansas. But I doubt if anything will be done to address this most recent example of institutional promotion of homophobia unless people complain to university officials and in the press.
by Christopher E. Renner
It has been an interesting week for those of us who value our civil rights as outlined in the U. S. Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights. President Bush and his cronies continue to do everything in their power to eliminate those rights, from the right to a fair trail to our right of privacy.
Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced legislation last week that seeks to eliminate online privacy by requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to maintain detailed records on each of their subscribers’ online activities. The bill would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broad discretion to determine what records ISPs must keep and for how long. In addition, it would require "sexually explicit" websites to post warning labels or face criminal sanctions.
Marvin Johnson, Legislative Counsel for the ACLU Washington Legislative Office said:
"Legislation like this is like swatting a fly with a bazooka. Such sweeping measures do little to stop online crime; instead, they overwhelm law enforcement agents with mountains of raw data and have a chilling effect on ISP subscribers’ First Amendment rights. There is no limit to the amount of information Attorney General Gonzales can require ISPs to keep, from instant messages to private emails to web searches, and he can require that they be kept forever. This represents an incredible invasion into our privacy and freedom to use the Internet without the government reading over our shoulders."
And that’s not all. In May 2006, USA Today revealed that since shortly after 9/11 at least two major phone companies - AT&T and Verizon - have been voluntarily granting the National Security Administration direct, mass access to their customers' calling records, and that the NSA had compiled a giant database of those records. This program extends to all Americans, not just those suspected of terrorist or criminal activity. In short, phone companies are voluntarily turning over millions of customer records to the National Security Agency.
Acting without a court order or the knowledge or consent of their customers, phone companies are providing the government with potentially intimate details about who you know and who you talk to - details that are stored in giant databases, and perhaps mined by the NSA's supercomputers to scan through each of our associations and interests for "suspicious" signs, whatever that may be.
The goal of this program, according to media reports, is to "create a database of every call ever made within the nation's borders." This information can easily be linked to determine your identity, your friends, and your interests.
I don’t know about any of you, but I lived in Europe before the fall of Stalinism, or “hard” communism in Eastern Europe. The tactics described above are the same tactics that were used by those governments to spy on their citizens, arrest them for such illegal activities as voicing their own opinions and “speaking against the state.” Is it just me, or have we completely lost all sense of the reason why our nation exists -- it’s called democracy people and once it is lost, it is very hard to get it back. The Bush administration’s desire to spy on the American people is illegal and un-American, and immoral. It is time it stopped!
Moreover, this past week it was revealed that both AT&T and Version are attempting to obstruct discussion of their collaboration with the government by appealing to the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to block the proposed shareholder resolutions.
As owners of publicly traded corporations, shareholders have a right to vote on issues they feel are vital to preserve their company’s reputation and protect the long-term value of investments and maintain customer privacy. AT&T and Verizon customers, board members and shareholders must be aware of all the issues inherent in assisting the government with its spying. So the “free market” isn’t really free after all.
Closer to home, conservatives in the Kansas Senate gained approval of Senate Bill 169 which will require all Kansans to show photo-identification to vote as well as proof of citizenship to register to vote.
SB 169 was introduced by Senator Tim Huelskamp, R- Fowler in southwest Kansas, an area that the South Poverty Law Center has reported for several years as having KKK activities and known to openly discriminate against the Hispanic population living there.
SB 169 is nothing more than an effort to impose a poll tax on the citizens of the state and to disenfranchise poorer Kansans from the election process because the conservative agenda is to further the gap between right and poor and to allow no means for the economic disadvantaged to petition their government to alleviate their suffering.
It cost $12.00 to get a copy of your birth certificate in Kansas and the cost of a passport is now up to $97.00. For many of our listeners these are probably not expenses that seem exorbitant. However, if you are living on the Kansas Minimum Wage, or the current Federal Minimum Wage, they are.
If you earn $5.25 and work 40 hours per week, 52 weeks of the year your total annual income would be only $10,712. If you are a typical low wage earner - a single mother - $12.00 represents about three hours of work. It represents feeding you family for a day. $97.00 represents going without health care.
Why do we need SB 169?
SB 169 is yet another example of the conservative’s agenda to limit the civil rights of all citizens by placing one obstacle after another in the pathway to full participation in the democratic process. It makes a problem where there isn’t a problem and will without a doubt make things more difficult at the polling place, slow down the process, and cause people to be denied their right to vote. But after all, isn’t that what the conservative want?
And if that wasn’t enough to think about, this past week also showed how low Kansas State University will go to promote homophobia. In the lead up to the “big game” against KU, t-shirts appeared sporting the registered trade mark of the power cat and the following quote “KU = gay.”
Now according to the “values” espoused by Kansas State University, such blatant prejudice isn’t one of the Core Community Values this institution of higher learning is supposed to be instilling in its students. Moreover, since the power cat is a registered trade mark, didn’t someone in the University have to approve the use of the KSU symbol to promote this irrational prejudice and bigotry? So why did the university allow this? By equating all KU students as homosexuals, just what did KSU gain? Other than once again demonstrating for the rest of the world that we lack basic civility, respect for others, and knowledge of the complex world we live in. The t-shirts were an insult to KSU and the state of Kansas. But I doubt if anything will be done to address this most recent example of institutional promotion of homophobia unless people complain to university officials and in the press.
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