Nationwide Protests to Oppose War with Iran Alison Raphael, OneWorld US Fri Jul 18, 11:50 AM ET WASHINGTON, Jul 18 (OneWorld) - Street demonstrations, teach-ins, vigils, and "freezes" are among the events planned for this weekend as part of a nationwide protest against what are widely perceived to be moves by the George W. Bush administration toward military conflict with Iran. "Freezes," involving a large number of people standing in place for five minutes, are planned for key locations in New York City such as Grand Central Station and Penn Station, as well as Chicago's Millennium Park and Santa Monica, California. The term and new form of street action derive from the state of U.S.-Iran relations. The Bush administration says Iran must freeze its uranium enrichment program in order to "defrost" relations between the two countries and avoid further sanctions. Elsewhere anti-war and religious groups, students, trade unions, and others will participate in "Call to Action: No War with Iran" co-sponsored by New York-based United for Peace and Justice and Washington, D.C.-based Peace Action. Actions are planned in such diverse locations as Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; Melbourne, Florida; Philadelphia; San Francisco; and Waterloo, Iowa. Two thirds of Americans asked during a recent Gallup poll whether they favor diplomatic initiatives or military action against Iran said they wanted the U.S. government to pursue peaceful negotiations. While demonstrators around the United States drive home that point, a high-ranking U.S. diplomat will attend a meeting Saturday in Switzerland with an Iranian diplomat -- a rare break with Bush administration practice that has largely shunned direct talks with Iranian officials. William Burns will attend the Geneva meeting involving Iran and a group of European Union countries trying to break through the current impasse, but White House spokesperson Dana Perino has characterized Burns' presence as a "one-time U.S. participation." The meeting is aimed at convincing Iran to accept a package of incentives offered last month by Western nations, in exchange for ceasing to enrich uranium. To date Iran has rejected the package, and earlier this month held highly publicized missile tests to show its level of seriousness. At the same time, rumors were rife that Washington is working behind the scenes with Israel to prepare a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Some experts argue that these rumors, whether or not they are true, have a negative impact by fueling Iranian nationalism, entrenching the stance of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heightening tensions, and ultimately leading to intransigence and events such as the Iranian missile tests. Media reports suggest that a pro-Israel lobby group is pressuring Congress to impose a naval blockade on Iran, which would be considered an act of war. In response, protestors in Columbus, Ohio plan a "Peace Boat Blockade" for Monday, involving a march on the offices of Republican Congressman Patrick Tiberi, who supports the blockade, carrying toy boats, submarines, and airplanes to "demonstrate the crazy policy that this blockade symbolizes." The demonstrations are scheduled for Jul. 19-21. Following the series of street actions planned for Saturday and Sunday, Monday has been designated "Congressional Education Day." Protestors will lobby Congress to hold back plans for war with Iran. OneWorld TV: U.S. Presidential Candidates Threaten War on Iran Discuss/share this article Email Story IM Story Printable View **************************************** Re: Fortress WashingtonSunday, July 20, 2008 10:31 AM From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Now that the Bush administration has made a shambles of everything for the past seven and a half years, Bush is calling for Congress to perform miracles and save this nation from total collapse. Never in all this country's history has such incompetence and abuse of power prevailed until he entered the White House. The Republican majority in Congress attempted for eight straight years to remove President Clinton from office without justification. Then, for six straight years the Republican majority supported the disastrous Bush administration, in effect, a rubberstamp, do-nothing congress. What an example of pure hypocrisy and abuse of power. All the power was delivered to Bush on a silver platter, to use it without any oversight by the Republican majority. And today, with only a one vote Democrat majority in the Senate, it still goes on. The Bush administration has in many instances, revealed it believes it is unanswerable to anyone, and above the laws of the land. This is definitely the stand taken by rule rs or dictators, not a U.S. president. The Bush administration has violated the Constitution in order to protect itself from the people, and use secrecy to hide the abuse of power and prevent the disclosure of illegal activities. If ever a party deserved to be relegated to the minority party for another 40 years it is the Republican Party. RB In an excerpt of article by Mickey Edwards he states: "The Constitution is supposed to protect the people from government. But now government protects itself from the people. How has this administration undertaken to protect itself from the people? By claiming the executive branch and other federal agencies are largely immune from Congressional oversight and not answerable to it. Constitutional scholars have responded with alarm to President Bush's use of "signing statements" to declare his right to decide whether or not he will obey the law, a practice both the American Bar Association and the non-partisan Constitution Project have condemned as unconstitutional. The threat to our constitutional system is that by disregarding the law and proclaiming himself the sole decider in a 'unitary' executive branch, Bush has declared that Congress cannot tell any federal agency what to do, even when Congress creates federal programs and appropriates money to run them. A Government Accountability Office study found agencies were in fact defying the law in a potentially large number of cases. In 2006 after the administration fired a number of U.S. attorneys. Empowered to determine whether laws had been broken or new laws were needed, Congress last year asked Harriet Miers, the president's former legal counsel, and Josh Bolton, his chief of staff, to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. They refused. They were than subpoenaed to testify. They refused to obey the subpoena and were cited for contempt of Congress. The attorney general declared that the Justice Department (part of the 'unitary executive') would not enforce Congress's contempt citation. The White House claime d Miers and Bolten were immune from questioning by the people (for that's what Congress is) on the grounds of 'executive privilege,' a legal tenet that applies only when the president is involved in the conversation: Miers, Bolten and the president himself all said he was not. The government's gathering of confidential information -- telephone conversations and records, online viewing habits, etc.--from citizens and non-citizens alike, as part of the administration's Homeland Security program. It obtained this information by demanding that corporate executives turn over their customers' private records, in violation of privacy and other laws. When news of the government's actions leaked, the companies were faced with the possibility that their customers would sue them, and the administration feared the companies might thereafter refuse to cave to government threats. In response, the administration insisted that Congress grant retroactive 'immunity' from lawsuits to the companies that had complied with the il legal demands. On the face of it, this was to be immunity for private companies. In fact, however, granting such protection would in effect give carte blanche to the government to continue to make such demands without the companies facing any consequences, thereby protecting the government from the risk that its demands would be refused. In a short time Americans will go to the polls to select a new president. It is essential that all the candidates--Democrat, Republican, Green and Libertarian, but especially John McCain as the nominee of President Bush's party--be asked forthrightly whether they believe government should be protected from the people, or, as the founders intended, the people be protected from an overzealous government. That is the single most important question facing the nation as we move further into the 21st century." ***************************************** Climate Report Cites Role of Cheney's Office By Siobhan Hughes Word Count: 623 | Companies Featured in This Article: Exxon Mobil WASHINGTON: Bush administration officials agreed that greenhouse gases could endanger the public and should be regulated under clean-air laws, but later reversed course amid opposition from Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the oil industry, a congressional report said. The report, by the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, offers a look at the breadth of Bush administration support for regulations before such plans abruptly stopped. The report draws heavily on an interview with a former Environmental Protection Agency official who had told Congress that Mr. Cheney's office tried to censor federal testimony on the ... Russia to Pick Energy Firms Jul. 21, 2008 White House: Emissions Paper Flawed Jul. 11, 2008 White House Blocks EPA Emissions Draft Jun. 30, 2008 Warming health report: Poor, elderly to hurt most Jul. 17, 2008 news.yahoo.com EPA says climate rules are the job of U.S. Congress| Environment Jul. 11, 2008 reuters.com More related content Powered by Sphere **************************************** Digg Story: Send Karl Rove to Jail!Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:54 AM From: "Digg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thought you might want to check this out. digg user Ralphdraw3 would like to share this story with you: http://digg.com/politics/Send_Karl_Rove_to_Jail?OTC-em-st1 --- "Send Karl Rove to Jail!" We've never had such a direct opportunity to hold Rove accountable. Since Rove regards the law with such contempt, it's high time the law and Congress hold him in contempt as well. We demand the House Judiciary Committee let Rove know he can't decide which subpoenas he obeys and which he ignores. +1,101 people dugg this story
To verify that this email was sent by Digg user Ralphdraw3, visit: http://digg.com/verifymail?key=4cc6118c48a85c644c76fa7a4848e202&OTC-em-st2 To opt out of ALL future emails from Digg, visit: http://digg.com/optout?key=b215971c9af0be431da86afb73507de6&OTC-em-st3 Digg will NOT store your email address, even if you opt out! Digg will store only an encrypted key, which even Digg can't decipher. ***************************************** CITIZEN charged with Felony ID Theft but Illegals set free Posted by: "Steve Hampton" [EMAIL PROTECTED] protectourbordersnow Date: Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:31 am ((PDT)) Here is another fine example of how ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS get a FREE PASS while Americans are charged to the full extent of the law ==> Felony. So, it seems ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are given a FREE PASS, while we go after American Citizens. Remember, Illegal Immigrants are caught EVERY single day doing the SAME thing, but its extremely rare (to NONE) that ANYare arrested for "Felony" ID theft, a HUGE problem in America because of ILLEGAL Immigration. With Millions of Illegal Immigrants using the IDs of other Americans, it hurts countless numbers of Americans. But the Democrats see "Illegal Immigrants" simply as voters, illegal or not, with out seeing the greater harm to ALL Americans. See report below: Rapper DMX arrested at Phoenix mall Sat Jul 19, 9:46 PM ET PHOENIX - Rapper DMX has been arrested at a Phoenix mall on a felony charge of taking the identity of another. Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill did not have details of the charge, as it stemmed from a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office case. The sheriff's office did not immediately return a request for comment. Hill says DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was being taken Saturday for booking into the Maricopa County jail. The musician/actor has had a recent string of run-ins with the law, including an arrest at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport earlier this month on outstanding warrants after he failed to appear in court. The week before, he was arrested in Miami on charges of attempting to purchase cocaine and marijuana. Steve Hampton ****************************************** http://groups.yahoo.com/group/protectourbordernow/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.protectourborder.net Member of www.NumbersUSA.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Messages in this topic (1) Progressive News/Views (since 1982) ****************************************** U.S. Video Local News Education Religion Politics Crimes and Trials Search: All News Yahoo! News Only News Photos Video/Audio Advanced Judge restores protection for N. Rockies wolves By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 46 minutes ago BILLINGS, Mont. - A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent. The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort. Environmentalists sued to overturn the decision, arguing wolf numbers would plummet if hunting were allowed. They sought the injunction in the hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding. "There were fall hunts scheduled that would call for perhaps as many as 500 wolves to be killed. We're delighted those wolves will be saved," said attorney Doug Honnold with Earthjustice, who had argued the case before Molloy on behalf of 12 environmental groups. In his ruling, Molloy said the federal government had not met its standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding of wolves between the three states to ensure healthy genetics. "Genetic exchange has not taken place," Molloy wrote in the 40-page decision. Molloy said hunting and state laws allowing the killing of wolves for livestock attacks would likely "eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur." The federal biologist who led the wolf restoration program, Ed Bangs, defended the decision to delist wolves as "a very biologically sound package." "The hunting of wolves clearly wouldn't endanger threatened wolf populations," Bangs said Friday. "We felt the science was rock solid and that the delisting was warranted." Email Story IM Story Printable View **************************************** No time to waste!Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:46 PM From: "PDAs Stop Global Warming team" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Warm-up Congress to Global Warming Legislation Dear Theresa, After eight long years of denial and avoidance in dealing with climate change, Congress has no time to waste in passing meaningful legislation that will finally begin to address the most serious issue facing the human race—global warming and climate change. Bi-partisan support for the Climate Principles letter will help to ensure that legislation is guided by best practices rather than campaign donations from industry’s worst offenders. Please ask your member of Congress to sign onto the Climate Principles letter, which describes the basic principles that should be addressed in Global Warming legislation. It has come to our attention that there is some confusion about the meaning of cap-and-trade in global warming legislation. Please read this article, which aims to explain both and to show that they are different things. (There are currently four different global warming bills in Congress—we currently support HR1590. The Stop Global Warming Issue Organizing Team is monitoring the status of the others.) Please, ask your Representative to sign the Climate Principles letter today. In solidarity, PDA’s Stop Global Warming Issue Organizing Team P.S. Join our team! Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Progressive Democrats of America is a grassroots PAC that works both inside the Democratic Party and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our goal: Elect a permanent, progressive majority in 2008. PDA's advisory board includes seven members of Congress and activist leaders such as Tom Hayden, Medea Benjamin, Thom Hartmann and Rev. Lennox Yearwood. More info: pdamerica.org Spread the Progressive Word--Shop PDAstore! NOTE: To unsubscribe use the link below.
