[LAAMN] Jimmy Carter: America's Moral Crisis, Paul Krugman: A Private Obsession
http://www.observer.co.uk This is not the country that I once knew Former President Jimmy Carter believes that a warring America is abandoning its fundamental values Sunday November 20, 2005 The Observer In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights. Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility. At the same time, our political leaders have declared independence from the restraints of international organisations and have disavowed long-standing global agreements, including agreements on nuclear arms, control of biological weapons and the international system of justice. Instead of our tradition of espousing peace as a national priority unless our security is directly threatened, we have proclaimed a policy of 'pre-emptive war', an unabridged right to attack other nations unilaterally to change an unsavoury regime or for other purposes. When there are serious differences with other nations, we brand them as international pariahs and refuse to permit direct discussions to resolve disputes. Regardless of the costs, there are determined efforts by US leaders to exert American imperial dominance throughout the world. These revolutionary policies have been orchestrated by those who believe that our nation's tremendous power and influence should not be internationally constrained. Even with our troops involved in combat and America facing the threat of additional terrorist attacks, our declaration of 'you are either with us or against us' has replaced the forming of alliances based on a clear comprehension of mutual interests, including the threat of terrorism. Another disturbing realisation is that, unlike during other times of national crisis, the burden of conflict is now concentrated exclusively on the heroic men and women sent back repeatedly to fight in the quagmire of Iraq. The rest of our nation has not been asked to make any sacrifice, and every effort has been made to conceal or minimise public awareness of casualties. Instead of cherishing our role as the great champion of human rights, we now find civil liberties and personal privacy grossly violated under some extreme provisions of the Patriot Act. Of even greater concern is that the US has repudiated the Geneva accords and supported the use of torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, and secretly through proxy regimes elsewhere with the so-called extraordinary rendition programme. It is embarrassing to see the President and Vice President insisting that the CIA should be free to perpetrate 'cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment' on people in US custody. Instead of reducing America's reliance on nuclear weapons and their further proliferation, we have insisted on our right (and that of others) to retain our arsenals, expand them and, therefore, abrogate or derogate almost all nuclear arms-control agreements negotiated during the last 50 years. We have now become a prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation. America also has abandoned the prohibition of 'first use' of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations and is contemplating the previously condemned deployment of weapons in space. Protection of the environment has fallen by the wayside because of government subservience to political pressure from the oil industry and other powerful lobbying groups. The last five years have brought continued lowering of pollution standards at home and almost universal condemnation of our nation's global environmental policies. Our government has abandoned fiscal responsibility by unprecedented favours to the rich, while neglecting America's working families. Members of Congress have increased their own pay by $30,000 per year since freezing the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour (the lowest among industrialised nations). I am extremely concerned by a fundamentalist shift in many houses of worship and in government, as church and state have become increasingly intertwined in ways previously thought unimaginable. As the world's only superpower, America should be seen as the unswerving champion of peace, freedom and human rights. Our country should be the focal point around which other nations can gather to combat threats to international security and to enhance the quality of our common environment. We should be in the forefront of providing human assistance to people in need. It is time for the deep and disturbing political divisions within our country to be substantially healed, with Americans united in a common commitment to revive and nourish the historic political and moral values
[LAAMN] [gabriela_news] PREGNANT WOMAN, ELDERLY NOT SPARED IN ARROYO FASCIST ATTACKS
Original Message Subject: [gabriela_news] PREGNANT WOMAN, ELDERLY NOT SPARED IN ARROYO FASCIST ATTACKS From:gabriela_news [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date:Tue, November 22, 2005 4:46 pm To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- My Groups | gabriela_news Main Page NEWS RELEASE 22 November 2005 For Reference: REP. LIZA LARGOZA MAZA (0920-9134540) Tels: 9316268, 9315001 loc7230; Jang Monte (Public Information Officer) 0917-8226635 PREGNANT WOMEN, ELDERLY NOT SPARED IN FASCIST ATTACKS GABRIELA Women's Partylist Representative Liza Largoza Maza today condemned the escalating fascist attacks that included pregnant and old women. Reports from Human Rights Group from the Vizayas said among those killed in Palo Massacre included Eufemia Borra, 51 year old and Alma Bartoline, who was seven months pregnant. In another incident, former Chairperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) from Central Luzon State University, Maribel Supera , 5 months pregnant, was found killed with her husband in Nueva Ecija. quot;These incidents are heinous considering that even the United Nations passed a resolution (UN Resolution 1325) expressing concerns that civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict.quot; Maza said. quot;This resolution reaffirms the need to implement fully international humanitarian and human rights law that protects the rights of women and girls during and after conflicts.quot; quot;We hold President Arroyo responsible for these heinous political killings. Had she become hardened like the common criminal? Bilang babae, kilabutan naman siya at pati mga buntis ay binibiktima.quot; Maza said. Maza further said that massacres and killings are politically motivated and are prime examples of state terrorism. quot;As Commander in Chief, she has coddled criminals like Col. Jovito Palparan who has spawned clones across the country. The perpetrators of the massacre, members of the 19th IB remain unrepentant and are now spewing lies.quot; The Gabriela Solon joined calls for the immediate pull out of troops in Eastern Vizayas as she demanded justice for the victims of the massacre. ## YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group gabriela_news on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. === GABRIELA Network - Los Angeles Chapter A US-Philippine Women's Solidarity Mass Organization PO Box 3032 Cerritos, CA 90703-3032 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.gabnet.org === *** GABRIELA Network is a Philippine-US women's solidarity organization since 1989. GABNet provides the means by which Filipinas in the US can empower themselves, functions as training ground for women's leadership, and articulates the women's point of view. GABNet effects change through organizing, educating, fundraising, networking, and advocacy. GABRIELA stands for... General Assembly Binding women for Reform, Integrity, Equality, Leadership and Action It also commemorates Gabriela Silang, known as one of the first and fiercest women generals in the Philippines who led the longest series of successful revolts against 18th Century Spanish colonizers. GABNet-US is an all-volunteer organization of women with chapters in Chicago, Irvine, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle and Washington D.C. *** Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give at-risk students the materials they need to succeed at DonorsChoose.org! http://us.click.yahoo.com/wlSUMA/LpQLAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[LAAMN] The Committee For Investigating the Obvious, more
Hi. Talking with friends and driving the freeways today convince me that Thanksgiving vacation has already begun. So here's a bit of meaningful fun for stay-near-homes. I just got turned on to this hilarious site, of which the news conference is just one of many. Click on these websites for a very full monte. Thanks to Deb Lagutaris. Ed http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2005/11/06/the-committee-for-investigating-the-obvious-is-called-to-order/ or http://investigatingtheobvious.notlong.com November 6, 2005 The Committee For Investigating the Obvious is called to order At a press conference this morning, President Bushky announced he'd appointed a committee to investigate everybody he ever appointed or ran for office with, including the committee he just appointed. I'm bound and determined to get to the bottom of all the reports that Vice President Boss Hawg and Cooter Libby and Turdblossom were doing bad things like lying and revenging an American diplomat and telling our soldiers to fuck the terrorists and give them the rack, he stated firmly, with steely resolve, because one thing I've learned is that Americans will say 'you're doing a heckuva job, Bushky' when I act concerned and order investigations and stuff. Helen? Helen Thomas: Mr. President, how can your investigation committee investigate those guys when you appointed Cheney, Libby and Rove to be the entire committee? Bushky: That's a good question, Helen. Just watch them and they'll show you how it's done. But before they investigate themselves, they'll be investigating who leaked the information to you that they were conducting this investigation, since it's classified information. Brian? Brian Williams: Mr. President, it's been reported by an unnamed source that Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld have been a tag team in every Republican administration and have been in the middle of every foreign policy fiasco Republican administrations have been involved with over the past 35 years. Is that true? Bushky: Who told you that? Brian Williams: Dick Cheney. Bushky: That can't be true, because when Dick headed my transition team, I told him to carefully investigate my potential running mates to make sure they never were involved in any potentially unethical things. And Dick assured me, when he narrowed the list to only himself, that he was perfectly clean. And I trust Dick so completely that I named my daughter, Jenna, after him. Tim? Tim Russert: Mr. President, I understand you've taken the bold and leaderly step of sending the top officials in your administration to ethics classes. And I really think that's super and visionary, don't you? Bushky: Good question, Tim. Yes, I felt a remedial.. I mean, refresher course would be good for morale, by reminding my staff that even if they've made an error or two, they've been following a majority of the commandments, which is pretty good compared to some people I was raised with. And in an effort to streamline the ethics regulatory process, I even narrowed the Ten Commandments down to eight. Judy? Judith Miller: Mr. President, since we're winning the war on Iraq, and Afghanistan is a democracy now, where else do you think we should bomb next to force the barbaric natives to vote for people you pick? Bushky: I was thinking it should be California, Judith, because it appears the natives are thinking about replacing their elected leader with a shadowy figure who tries to invade the governor's stage. And everyone knows he's been linked to bombs and his wife is an environmental terrorist. And then I think we'll attack Virginia, because, after letting Bin Laden slip through our hands, I'm not going to rest until we get Hitler, too. Bob? Bob Schieffer: Since you mentioned the environment, sir, is there truth to the rumor that the House is planning to pass a bill to allow oil companies to drill the oily sebaceous glands on the faces of the pimply adolescents in Miss Fringle's seventh grade classroom in Springfield? Bushky: Well, Bob, it's important to end our dependency on foreign oil, Bob, and yes, the House leadership is convinced that the gallon and a half of oil available annually there could significantly lower gasoline costs for Americans. Bill? Bill O'Reilly: Good morning Mr. President. Despite the wonderful job you've done in Iraq, there are now some disloyal ingrates who are reporting there's something crooked about Halliburton's excellent rebuilding adventure in Iraq. And some particularly anti-democracy traitors are saying that Vice President Cheney has been profiteering from his old company. What would you say to discredit those liberal terrorist-huggers? Bushky: As you know, Bill, I've long said that Halliburton's no-bid contracts and windfall profits, and Dick's former CEO position with them was nothing more than a coincidence. But Dick has now convinced me it's the perfect example of the existence of Intelligent Design. John? John Adams
[LAAMN] Fwd: JUSTICE GULF: No Home for the Holidays: Stop Katrina Evictions
No Home for the Holidays: Stop Evictions of Katrina Evacuees By Bill Quigley. Bill is a professor at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law and can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sabrina Robinson lived her whole life in New Orleans. When Katrina and the floodwaters hit her house, she and her three children swam to a dry bridge where they lived for 2 days. “We watched people die,” said Ms. Robinson. Now her family and 52 other families from New Orleans face eviction from the Houston apartment complex where they lived for the last month. Tens of thousands of other Katrina evacuees also face holiday evictions. After a bus took the Robinson family to Houston, they slept on the floor for a month. On October 2, the family received federal housing vouchers from the Disaster Relief Center in Houston. Quail Chase apartments in Houston agreed to accept the vouchers. Ms. Robinson and 52 other families from New Orleans moved in to Quail Chase. After the families lived there for several weeks, Quail Chase changed their mind and refused to accept vouchers. Quail Chase has now given eviction notices to all 53 families. Now they face the streets again. “There is nothing else available,” Ms. Robinson said. “All the decent housing is taken.” In the same spirit, FEMA announced November 15 it would quit paying for housing for most of the nearly 60,000 homeless Katrina families who are residing in government paid hotel and motel rooms. In Texas, where 54,000 people are living in 18,000 rooms, Republican Governor Rick Perry said these evictions will “fuel the cycle of evacuees moving from one temporary housing situation to another – if they can secure housing at all.” The story is being repeated across the nation. In New York, 487 Katrina victims, including 115 kids, have been told their hotel rooms will no longer be paid. In the Carolinas, between 400 and 600 Katrina families in hotels face eviction even as local homeless shelters are already full. Back home in New Orleans, legal aid lawyers estimate there will be 10,000 evictions filed in November against Katrina evacuees – more in one month than are usually filed in an entire year. At this holiday time, resolve to stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people victimized by Katrina and the floods that followed. Katrina evacuees in your community need your support. Stop the evictions in your community. Nationally, 54 members of Congress, including all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have co-sponsored HR 4197, the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act. Ask your representative to co-sponsor this bill and to take action to force FEMA to assist those still left behind. There are also many other great grassroots, regional and national efforts underway to provide solidarity with Katrina evacuees. Many are listed at www.justiceforneworleans.org People displaced by Katrina do not want charity. What is needed at this holiday time is solidarity. Resolve to stand with the victims of Katrina as they search for justice. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give at-risk students the materials they need to succeed at DonorsChoose.org! http://us.click.yahoo.com/wlSUMA/LpQLAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] So. Cal. Library: Dynamic Speaker on Displaced Afro-Colombians
LUZ MARINA Secretary General of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 7 p.m. @ The Southern California Library LEARN ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN COLOMBIA, DISPLACED COMMUNITIES, LABOR ISSUES, WOMEN YOUTH ISSUES, AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS WORK OF LUZ MARINA ON BEHALF OF AFRO-COLOMBIANS Born in 1973 in Choco, Colombia, Luz Marina has worked as an activist for Afro-Colombian rights since the 1990s. In 1998, Luz was displaced by paramilitary groups and fled to a refuge in Bogota. Since 1999 she has been an integral part of the Organization of Displaced Afro Colombians (AFRODES) and in 2002 was elected General National Secretary. She has become a recognized leader for the National Colombian Women's Movement, the National Women's Afro Colombian Movement, youth issues, labor and workers' rights, indigenous issues, and displaced Afro-Colombian rights. Luz is especially dedicated to working with the women and children of Afro-Colombia. Speaking tour sponsored by Witness for Peace Southwest. FREE. EVERYONE WELCOME @ The Southern California Library 6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles (323) 759-6063 • www.socallib.org ___ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. http://us.click.yahoo.com/cRr2eB/lbOLAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Jerry Mitchell given journalism award for civil rights coverage
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051122/NEWS/511220351/1002/NEWS01 November 22, 2005 Mitchell given journalism award for civil rights coverage Clarion-Ledger reporter, 46, is accolade's youngest recipient The Clarion-Ledger An interview with Jerry Mitchell will be aired today on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The hour-long program begins at 3 p.m. Clarion-Ledger investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell has been named the 2005 winner of the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism from Columbia University for his 16-year effort to bring Klan killers to justice. At 46, Mitchell is the youngest recipient of the award, whose previous winners include veteran Mississippi newsman Bill Minor as well as several New York Times correspondents; Jim Wooten, who filed stories for ABC News from 40 countries to report on upheaval around the world; and the late Mary McGrory, who reported on Washington for more than five decades. The $25,000 annual John Chancellor Award, administered by the Columbia University School of Journalism, recognizes and rewards a journalist whose reporting over time shows courage, integrity, curiosity and intelligence and epitomizes the role of journalism in a free society. Mitchell will receive the honor Nov. 29 at a black tie celebration at the University's Low Library. Mitchell for 16 years worked to uncover evidence in the unsolved killings of civil rights activists. His reporting has led to the conviction of four Ku Klux Klan members, beginning with the 1994 conviction of Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers. Most recently, Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty in June for orchestrating the 1964 slayings of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman in Neshoba County. Jerry Mitchell is deserving of this award because of his dogged pursuit of the truth, said Clarion-Ledger Managing Editor Don Hudson. He has done strong, hard-nosed journalism throughout his career at the newspaper. Just look at all the civil rights cases of the past. Jerry has played a key role in putting a lot of criminals away. Mitchell has a heart for people and a tremendous sense of justice, said Executive Editor Ronnie Agnew. While so many were perfectly willing to turn away from civil rights atrocities, something inside Jerry wouldn't allow him to do so. David Halberstam serves on the board of the John Chancellor Award and was part of the selection panel. Mitchell pursued these stories after most people believed they belonged to history, and not to journalism, Halberstam said in a news release. But they did belong to journalism, because the truth had never been told, and justice had never been done. As each of the guilty convictions was finally handed down, it has been news of the highest order, and Jerry was there still covering the story. The John Chancellor Award, established in 1995, honors the legacy of the television correspondent and longtime anchor for NBC News. This award doesn't belong to me, Mitchell said. It belongs to those who fought so that all Americans could be free. It belongs to those who never gave up hope and never gave up their belief in justice. It belongs to those who work with me and all those who have made Mississippi a better place. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give at-risk students the materials they need to succeed at DonorsChoose.org! http://us.click.yahoo.com/wlSUMA/LpQLAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
