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While it may it be a wonderful life for the big banks on Wall Street, here on Main Street too many of us are struggling this holiday season. The financial sector has collapsed the economy - gifting us with layoffs, debt and foreclosures. We need aggressive banking reform now to rein in the Mr. Potters and help out the George Baileys of the world! Bills will be up for votes in the House next week.

While countries in Europe are moving rapidly to break up their biggest financial institutions to recoup taxpayer money and restore competition, the U.S. Congress has failed to take up any measure to break up "too big to fail" institutions that pose a threat to the global economy. A growing list of experts from the left and the right want to see the big banks restructured including former Fed Chairs Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan. Even John S. Reed, who as CEO of Citibank for 14 years oversaw the merger between Citi and Travelers Group, thinks these giant institutions should be broken up to separate consumer banking from risky trading. The good news? Last week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill directing the U.S. Department of the Treasury to BREAK UP THE BANKS!

Ten years ago, citizen activists shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Seattle to protest the devastating impact of the WTO's corporate globalization agenda on our jobs, wages and the environment. Now, big corporations are back at it, again pushing an expansion of the WTO's power.

We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, parents, and concerned citizens worldwide stand united across all divisions of nationality, race, religion and field of studies to declare our support for the aims and objectives of the "Education is NOT for - Global Week of Action" called for by the independent "International Student Movement".

We are united in working to ensure that:

• Public education is accessible to all and recognized as a fundamental right; NO to tuition fees!

• Public education is free from exploitative corporate practices and state interests which conflict with those of the individual and the public interest.
   

• Public education primarily serves democratic and public interests, instead of private, business, state and/or labour market interests.
   

• Public education empowers individuals to become emancipated and autonomous people, able to critically evaluate themselves and their environment, and thus be actively involved in a genuinely democratic society.
   

If we are to have such a society we need general public discussions on the role of public education systems: Whose interests do they - and should they - primarily serve?

We need your help to change the future of trade policy.

Last year, with your support, over 80 members of the U.S. House and Senate cosponsored landmark legislation setting forth a progressive vision for future trade agreements. The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act  frames a bold new debate, marking out policy space needed for a more balanced way to expand trade.
 
We now need you to urge your congressional members to cosponsor the 2009 TRADE act.
 
We expect this snowballing reform initiative to be reintroduced soon. Can you please email, call or fax your members of congress today, and ask them to sign on as cosponsors? (A sample message is located below.)
 
First introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Mike Michaud, “The TRADE Act” enjoyed support from hundreds of faith, farm, labor and environmental groups last year. By February of 2009, over 350 organizations sent a joint letter to congress backing the 2009 TRADE Act, saying it "offers a helpful roadmap for new policies that could rebuild a consensus in favor of expanded trade.”

We’ve been disappointed to see big banks receive billions in bailout funds, only to turn around and lobby for little to no oversight or accountability for how our taxpayer dollars were to be spent. Busy lobbying, the banks neglected the critical issue at hand: helping homeowners who face foreclosure. We cannot allow campaign cash and lobbying to win favors from Congress. We can't let pay to play politics continue in Washington, D.C. – not with so much at stake.

That's why we're pushing for change through citizen-funded Fair Elections.

The Fair Elections Now Act, sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Reps. John Larsen (D-CT) and Walter Jones (R-NC), presents an exciting new approach to financing campaigns.  This bipartisan bill creates an alternative to big special interest money in politics by allowing congressional candidates to run a viable campaign on public funds and unlimited small contributions from ordinary citizens. 

Passing the Fair Elections Now Act will free Congress from spending time chasing contributions from lobbyists and corporate special interest groups, and will return to focus to solving the critical issues confronting our Nation's problems: the economy, health care, and energy.

Vote Up This Proposal on Obama's Open Government Website

Here's a direct link to a proposal I've just posted on the president's new website.  Please go there, read the proposal, and if you like it vote for it.  And post your ideas to improve it. [The proposal is also copied below.]

http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3161-4049

Candidate Obama asked for our opinions through a website.  Our top demand was that he keep his promise to vote against immunity for telecoms that spied illegally.  He ignored us, promised to do better as president, and hasn't.

President-Elect Obama asked for our opinions through his transition website.  Our top question was whether he would appoint a special prosecutor for Bush, Cheney, and gang.  He refused to answer the question until asked by the corporate media, and then talked about "looking forward".

Now President Obama is asking for our opinions on a website.  This is a good thing but should be gone into with some caveats.  First, Obama has always ignored us before, and ignoring people who obediently type on your website as supporters of whatever you do first and citizens with their own opinions second is easier than ignoring just about anything else.  Here are other actions you can take following the 30 seconds needed for this one: http://prosecutebushcheney.org

Second, we have representatives and senators whom we are supposed to lobby and whom we are much more likely to lobby successfully, and they are supposed to run the country, not the executive.  Third, majority opinion and the clear mandates of our nation's laws ought to carry more weight than the opinions of a self-selected group of presidential advisors (I mean other than Congress which has devolved into more or less just that).

But what if a flood of American citizens were to give the president the kind of advice that is most useful rather than the kind that is most enjoyable to hear?  What if we were to ask President Obama to (allow the attorney general to) prosecute his predecessors and (encourage Congress to) remove the unconstitutional powers they claimed from the presidency?  Might someone hear our voices, repeat our questions on camera, begin thinking about our point of view, or ask about our issues before confirming a new Supreme Court Justice?

End the Imperial Presidency

Leave the White House less imperial than you found it. Appoint an independent prosecutor to prosecute Bush, Cheney, and their top officials in order to deter in the future the crimes of aggressive war, misleading congress, defrauding congress, misspending funds, war crimes, murder, warrantless spying, torture, domestic propaganda, violations of the Hatch Act and the Voting Rights Act, obstruction of justice, misprision of felony, retaliating against whistleblowers, etc. Restore to Congress the power to legislate, the power to begin and end wars, the power to raise and spend money, the power to approve or reject treaties and appointments, and the power to oversee the functioning of the federal government including through the power of impeachment and the power of inherent contempt. That means no more signing statements rewriting laws, and instead support for legislation that would criminalize such behavior. And it means similar action on each of the other offenses.

We, the people, must:

Demand that Congress ban the use of funds for any activities created in violation of the law by presidential signing statements.

Amend the Constitution to clearly ban the use of presidential pardons to pardon crimes authorized by the president.

Amend the War Powers Act and the Constition to include the requirement that Congressional authorizations of war include time limits of no more than 12 months, after which Congress must vote again to extend the war or end it, to disallow the unconstitutional initiation of wars without Congressional approval, and to make the law enforceable.

Make war profiteering by any war maker a major felony. This would apply to any employee of the federal government or anyone who had within the past decade been an employee of the federal government.

Legislate a requirement that, in any war, the military aged children and grandchildren of the president, the vice president, all cabinet officials, and all Congress members serve on the front lines in the most dangerous combat positions -- no exceptions, no exemptions.

Prohibit the use of mercenaries or any armed contractors, as well as the use of any military force on American soil except when directly engaged in defensive war against a foreign nation.

Repeal the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, the Protect America Act, the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the PATRIOT Act.

Ban secret budgets, secret laws, and secret agencies.

Change the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster.

Create a task force to research whether the Senate has ever served any useful purpose not better served by the House.

End all rendition, as distinct from extradition.

Amend the Constitution to make the ban on ex-post-facto laws include any laws that would retroactively grant immunity for crimes.

Amend the Constitution to bar the vice president from exercising executive power.

Amend the Constitution to clarify the congressional power of inherent contempt.

Amend the Constitution to include the right to vote and to have one's vote counted publicly at the polling place.

Give Washington, D.C., full voting representation in Congress.

Amend the Constitution to ban private financing of campaigns, create public financing, and provide free air time to candidates.

Sign and ratify the Rome treaty to join the International Criminal Court.

*****

OPTIONAL PART 2 OF THIS PROPOSAL - Drafted and withheld at first, posted May 29th in response to useful comments from ttahiti and many others posted below.

Release more evidence, and support organizations suing in court for the release of evidence.

Ask Congress to update and reissue the subpoenas that were refused during the 110th Congress, and to enforce them through inherent contempt.

Support media reform and independent media outlets. Break up the monopolies. Invest in public media, including an E-Span election network to provide free substantive election coverage.

Advance a long-term vision in which the corrupting influences of money, media, and party are restrained, and our rights are restored, enforced, and expanded, including the right to vote and to have our votes counted publicly and locally, equal rights for all, environmental rights, the right to education and healthcare, worker rights, the right to basic welfare, freedom of press, freedom from war lies, and the right to know your rights.

Push for approval, ratification, and enforcement of international human rights treaties. Build toward Constitutional amendments or a convention with a plan to establish the right to know the laws and to have them applied equally, a ban on signing statements, whistle blowers protected, inherent contempt established, corporations stripped of human rights, monopolies restricted, clean campaign money and free media created, the power of parties reduced, nonpartisan (not bipartisan) redistricting, limiting election seasons, no more electoral college, a bigger House with no Senate, the right to be represented, no appointing of senators, limiting terms for judges, requiring a balanced budget, limiting bills to single topics and requiring clarity, allowing legislation by public initiative, allowing recall elections, creating citizen assemblies, and developing a fourth (people's) branch of government.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has introduced the Executive Branch Accountability Act of 2009 (H.Res. 417), calling on President Obama to reverse the damaging and illegal actions taken by the Bush/Cheney Administration and to collaborate with Congress to proactively prevent any further abuses of executive branch power.

“Over the past several years, serious questions have been raised about the conduct of high ranking Bush/Cheney Administration officials in relation to some of the most basic elements of our democracy: respect for the rule of law, the principle of checks and balances, and the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights,” said Baldwin. “We must restore Americans’ faith that in a democracy, we follow the rule of law and that nobody – even the President and Vice President of the United States – is above the law,” Baldwin said.

“President Obama has already begun the work of reaffirming American values of justice and freedom. I commend him for his orders to close the detention facility at Guantanamo and prohibit illegal and immoral interrogation techniques. President Obama’s efforts to renew America must also include restoring executive branch accountability. We had an administration that spied on Americans, outed a covert intelligence agent, suspended habeas corpus, held people without charges and without access to counsel, and used torture and rendition. This measure lists steps President Obama can take to proactively prevent any further abuses of executive branch power and restore the public’s faith in our government,” Baldwin said.

The Executive Branch Accountability Act of 2009 calls on President Obama to:

• Affirm our nation’s commitment to uphold the Constitution;
• Fully investigate Bush/Cheney administration officials’ alleged crimes and hold them accountable for any illegal acts;
• Hold accountable Bush/Cheney Administration officials who showed or show contempt for the legal duty to comply with Congressional subpoenas; disclosed the identity of any covert intelligence agent; pursued politically-motivated prosecutions;
• Ensure that any Bush/Cheney administration official guilty of a war crime is prosecuted under the War Crimes Act and the Anti-Torture Act;
• Affirm that it is the sole legal right of Congress to declare war;
• Criminalize lying to Congress and the American public about the reasons for going to war;
• Restore the writ of habeas corpus as an essential principle of our democracy;
• Ensure that torture and rendition are uniformly prohibited under United States law;
• Responsibly close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp;
• Ensure that Americans can bring claims against their government;
• Immediately take affirmative steps to protect all Bush/Cheney Administration documents;
• Publicly review potential abuses of the presidential pardon process; and
• Further reform the use of presidential signing statements.

Congresswoman Baldwin explains why she feels this bill is necessary:

Over the years students have seen tuition rates skyrocket, sending many into debt for years after they have graduated. Recently there has also been an increasing presence of corporations within universities. Converting universities from a place of higher education to a place of business where the students are not seen as anything but the clientele creates an atmosphere which is antithetical to learning. Students, teachers and staff around the world are affected by budget cuts in public education. Our goal is to abolish the corporatization of universities worldwide and to make education affordable for all who wish to access it. Furthermore, we aim to start a public discussion on the role of public education and its importance for democracy. Accessible public education, which should enable people to critically reflect upon their environment and better understand the power structures surrounding them, plays a key role in any democracy.  Therefore this issue does not just concern those directly affected by it, like teachers and students, but society as a whole.

On November 5, 2008 students around the world joined together on a day of action demanding that tuition fees be decreased and the commercialization of education reversed. Students took to the streets, showing one of the greatest combined efforts of working together worldwide.

April 20-29, 2009 will mark the "Reclaim your Education - Global Week of Action"; people concerned about good public education will once again join together internationally and students will fight for their rights in their universities. Planning has been taking place through the forums of the "International Students’ Movement".  Activists gather on web chats to share ideas of ways to protest and to send letters of solidarity to one another. Students from over 60 groups spread across more than 30 countries united to plan this week of action.  They will communicate through online forums, Twitter feeds and will share their photos on Flickr. The groups have planned an international flashmob, to symbolize the situation people are facing in regards to public education. Each group has its own specific aims, but they fight as one against the commercialization of education.

12 million unemployed. Foreclosures up 81%. Wall Street has taken over. We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

Our plan: Real structural change of Wall Street

Decentralize: Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. The financial corporations that caused this mess must be broken up and sold back to the private market with strong, new regulatory and antitrust rules in place -- new banks, managed by new people. An independent regulatory body must protect consumers from predatory practices.

As Wall St. corporations grew bigger and bigger until they were “too big to fail,” they also became so politically powerful that they led to distorted and unfair policies that served companies, not citizens.

Its not enough to try to patch up the current system. We demand serious reform that fixes the root problems in our political and economic system: excessive influence of banks, dangerous compensation systems, and massive consolidation. And we demand that the reform happen in an open and transparent manner.

A U.S. Senate seat hangs in the balance. Voting rights are at stake. As Minnesotans trudge forward through a difficult recount, the attention of the rest of the national newsmedia has moved on to the bailouts, bribery, and other bad news. Unless you live in Minnesota, chances are you've found it difficult to follow the latest news regarding this ongoing election dispute.

Fortunately, No More Stolen Elections! has been monitoring Minnesota for you, and we can offer you a way to make a positive difference in the recount there. If you haven't checked out the NoMoreStolenElections.org website recently, you'll have missed Joseph Lindstrom's updates on the situation.

On November 25th, Lindstrom reported that:

"The mood of the recount and the comportment of each campaign--having started as generally collegial and respectful of the democratic process--has rapidly escalated into a posturing war.  Dueling press conferences are happening at least once per day, as each side claims to be gaining.  More specifically, both sides are challenging an increasing number of ballots, perhaps frivolously so as to appear to be in the lead at the end of the recount.  Senator Coleman, in particular, is hoping to be leading after the Election Day count, AND the recount so that any actions taken by the Canvassing Board would be easily discredited should Franken turn out to be the winner."

    --> For the rest, see http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/news/minnesota_ballot_challenges

Then, on December 3rd, the report was that:

"The public comments from the two sides have grown increasingly acrimonious and occasionally ridiculous.  In particular, conservatives are employing a strategy of making Al Franken's interest in seeing the recount completed as a petty power-grab by a Hollywood elitist who should not be trusted. The suggestion is that Franken will push forward with legal challenges, and will not stop until he is the unquestioned leader, and that a more patriotic individual would simply concede.  These accusations are being made despite the fact that Senator Coleman himself has admitted that he was wrong to ask Franken to step aside."

    --> http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/news/minnesota_recount_claiming_victory

Just the other day, on the 8th, Lindstrom told us:

"Following the recount process that's going on in Minnesota can be a confusing endeavor, but it can now be said that the administrative recount is done with the exception of some lost ballots in Minneapolis.  While searching for the missing ballots, the same precinct did find a plastic bag containing 12 uncounted absentee ballots which will be added to the total number of ballots to be considered by the state canvassing board.  One gets the impression that Minneapolis could have had a tighter operation on election day. Perhaps the best way to understand what's going on is to become familiar with some key numbers.

    --> http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/news/minnesota_recount_continues

The recount moves today, December 12,  to the Minnesota State Canvassing Board, where, all other things being equal, it would normally end. What --should-- happen next is a complete review by the Canvassing Board of the 6,655 ballots challenged by the two campaigns in the county recounts, along with the reconsideration of up to 12,000 absentee ballots rejected by county officials, resulting in a clear victor.

What is --likely-- to happen next is a court battle, followed and accompanied by a struggle over whether the U.S. Senate should determine the victor of the Minnesota Senate race, or whether that decision should be left to a special election of Minnesota voters.

This may be the most important message you'll read today. Make plans to attend, or if need be, to organize a Voter Assembly in your community on the evening of Wednesday, November 5, the day after the election. Your participation in a Voter Assembly is very important.

A growing database of Voter Assemblies is here:

You should register the Voter Assembly you are organizing here:

Here is the plan. Regardless of the declared presidential victor, this Wednesday, we will gather in Voter Assemblies, and we will act:

By Election Day, millions of people's right to vote will have been violated. In the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This is especially true with voting: Voting rights violations anywhere threaten voting rights everywhere. So please, don't wait for a repeat of Florida 2000, or Ohio 2004, or worse, and don't think that your community is too distant from the problem to be involved. Get organized, and plan to assemble on November 5. Thank you.

Check out this short video by Brave New Films:

Higher Education: Public Good or Global Service Industry?

While higher education was considered a public good and an essential instrument of democratization, upward mobility, and equal opportunity for much of the last century, today it is considered by many to be a lucrative business − indeed, the core business of the “new” service economy.

Major corporations see global “trade in educational services” – “transnational” or “borderless” education – as a lucrative business opportunity. While currently estimated to be a $40-$50 billion industry, the potential for increased profitability in a “global market” of higher education services is significant. For-profit educational providers and investors see the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an essential tool to dismantle “barriers to trade” in educational services and maximize their profit-making opportunities on a global scale.

However, what one party might consider to be a “barrier to trade,” another might consider a treasured educational policy. For instance, state licensing procedures that attempt to weed out fly-by-night operations might be considered sound policy domestically, but might be considered overly burdensome “trade barriers” by foreign educational providers attempting to enter the U.S. market. To create an effective “global market” in higher education services requires the dismantling of many such domestic educational policies.

Thus, at the behest of U.S. for-profit higher education providers, the Bush administration has proposed signing up the U.S. higher education sector to the free trade rules contained in the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), a global pact geared towards deregulating service sectors to the advantage of multinational firms. The GATS contains many rules which would jeopardize the following: educational subsidies for public institutions; state licensing practices for higher education institutions; U.S. accreditation practices; wages and working conditions for U.S. educators; and more.

For the most part, public and nonprofit institutions of higher education have been unaware that this march is afoot and are dangerously disengaged. They must weigh in on these matters before global trade rules are finalized in any potential new rounds of negotiations, and their profession is transformed from a “public good” to a commodity in a “global services market.”

What Higher Education Policies are at Risk?

Domestic educational subsidies: The GATS “nondiscrimination” obligation means that public sector funding would have to be shared on an equal basis between foreign institutions and domestic institutions unless public funds are specifically exempted from the terms of the agreement. The United States has attempted to safeguard certain domestic subsidies in broadly worded exemption to its higher education proposal. It is unclear if this language is sufficient to protect subsidies for public and nonprofit institutions.

U.S. accreditation policies: Unlike many other countries interested in the higher education sector, the United States is making virtually unlimited commitments in cross-border educational services. This means U.S. accrediting bodies could be inundated with requests to accredit overseas distance-learning operations. Refusals to accredit or delays in accreditation could give rise to a trade complaint, as language purporting to protect accreditation jurisdiction is only included in a footnote, of dubious legal consequence, to the U.S. schedule.

State licensing requirements: State licensing of higher education institutions is based on a large number of factors including standards to ensure financial stability and quality of educational providers; appropriate curricula; faculty qualifications; appropriate library resources and physical plant; needs tests to weed out duplicative programming; and other matters. Under new “disciplines on domestic regulation” being proposed as part of these talks, individual policies pursued by states as well as state-by-state variation in policies could be challenged in WTO tribunals as “more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of a service.”

Efforts to police fraudulent operations: While “borderless higher education” presents new profit-making opportunities for for-profit providers, the challenges presented to regulators are extreme. At the top of the list are concerns about fraud. While policing fraudulent institutions is difficult enough domestically, it is even more difficult across borders or in the online world. Many of the policies that U.S. states maintain or may want to pursue to protect students from scam artists could be considered violations of GATS rules.

Wages and working conditions for educators: The implications of the GATS for educators are also worrisome. New technology combined with unfettered cross-border supply of educational services is likely to generate further downward pressure on wages for educators. GATS negotiations also include proposals to increase the number of educators allowed into the United States on a temporary basis to provide teaching services and proposals to harmonize qualification requirements across borders.

What happens if higher education is subject to WTO jurisdiction?

• Other nations that are party to the GATS are empowered to challenge a nonconforming federal and state policy as a violation of the agreement in a binding dispute resolution system.
• State government officials have no standing before these tribunals and thus must rely on the federal government to defend a policy.
• The tribunals are staffed by trade officials who are empowered to judge, behind closed doors, if the policy is a violation.
• Policies judged to violate the rules must be changed, or trade sanctions can be imposed.
• The federal government is obliged to use all constitutionally available powers – for instance, preemptive legislation, lawsuits and cutting off funding – to force state and local government compliance with trade tribunal rulings.

Take a look at this excellent video, and then, take action . . .

No More Stolen Elections! has been carefully monitoring the potential ballot and capacity shortages that voters will encounter when they arrive at the polls on November 4th.  TrueVote.us, one of our coalition partners, is working with us to allow you to simply go to their site and quickly send a message to the election officials of states where we already know this will be a problem.

In 2004 tens of thousands of voters were denied their right to vote in Ohio when election officials provided inadequate voting machines in African American communities.  Some people waited in line to vote for longer than 12 hours.  Many thousands of others gave up and did not vote.  This alone may have been enough to change the outcome of the 2004 election.
 
Well, it's happening again. A recent report indicated that college-age and African American precincts in Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia will not have sufficient numbers of voting machines or election staff to handle the number of voters expected on Election Day.

Many say the 2008 election is being stolen right now. If two stolen elections are two too many, are you prepared to accept a third?

IF you haven't already, please read the important call to action from Rev. Jesse Jackson, Barbara Ehrenreich, Bill Fletcher, Daniel Ellsberg, David Cobb, Frances Moore Lappé, Frances Piven, Holly Near, Jerome Scott, Jim Hightower, John Cavanagh, John Nichols, Manning Marable, Marcus Raskin, Maude Hurd, Medea Benjamin, Mimi Kennedy, Norman Solomon, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Robert McChesney, Starhawk, Tom Hayden, Van Jones, and many more.

It is happening again.  Having failed once, twice, to engineer the violent overthrow of the democratically elected government of Venezuela, the CIA is at it again.  This time, however, the American public has forewarning:

• Noted journalist Eva Golinger has exposed the CIA's 'Operation Pliers' efforts to destabilize Venezuela in advance of this Sunday's national referendum on constitutional reform.  Read Golinger's report here.
• The Center for Economic Policy Reform's Mark Weisbrot warns of likely attempts to distort exit polls on that referendum vote.  Read Weisbrot's analysis here.
• And Venezuela en Vivo is scheduling regular broadcasts in English and Spanish from Venezuela.  Click here to listen to Radio Venezuela en Vivo.

Be cautious of what you read in U.S. newspapers of current events in Venezuela.  In the coming days you can expect to see the continued ramping-up of rhetoric and dramatic fictions against what is sure to be a strong "Yes" vote for Venezuelan constitutional reform.

January 6, 2005:

Take Action on Election Violations as Congress Meets to Certify the Vote!

More than a month has passed since voters cast votes for the President and Vice-President of the United States -- but every day, more and more stories surface that call into question the election's integrity.

Machines broke down, counted backwards, eliminated votes, and registered votes for the wrong candidate. progressive and African-American neighborhoods experienced by far the longest lines on election day, the most vote spoilage, the most elimination of provisional ballots, and the most victimization by precinct manipulation.

Four hundred thousand callers phoned voter protection hotlines, with complaints ranging from absentee ballots lost in the mail, to outright voter intimidation and disenfranchisement. And partisan election officials with conflicts of interest undermined voting rights in states from Ohio to Florida to New Mexico. Even progressive Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have questioned the elections' legitimacy, in a series of rigorous, painstakingly detailed letters documenting the unprecedented extent and scope of vote suppression, available at http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/

How can we have confidence in American democracy when so many questions about this election remain unanswered? In addition to the longstanding issues subtly undermining democracy -- corporate domination of the two major parties, plurality elections, and corporate media bias - the recent election betrayed democratic principles overtly.

Despite the efforts of a few valiant members of Congress, most of our Senators and Representatives have ignored our pleas for serious investigation into the "irregularities" that surrounded the 2004 election. But one more opportunity remains for these government officials to stand for democracy.

From January, 2005

Please circulate widely!

Let's Keep the Pressure On!

Welcome Congress Back with a Demand to Defend and Expand Democracy!

Last Thursday, January 6, history was made when Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Oh.) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) objected to the acceptance of the electoral college votes from Ohio because of the widespread disenfranchisement, suppression and fraud that pervaded the 2004 election. Organizing, protesting, lobbying and massive caller turnout led to their action, with support from over 30 Representatives and more than 12 Senators. And a public spotlight was shone on this critical issue.

None of this would have happened if not for the actions of literally hundreds of thousands of people who flooded Capitol Hill with emails, calls, faxes and visits.

6-22-6 - UPDATE: 

The Hunger Strike is over - Miami administrators have agreed to bargain with the union!

ORIGINAL ALERT:

Students at the University of Miami are hunger striking to demand that Miami President, and former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala honor the right of campus janitors to form a union. This hunger strike is ongoing and follows on the heels of a two-week hunger strike by janitors at the university. They need your support.

It's been a month of student and student labor sit-ins, ranging from Virginia to the Florida State Capitol to Berkeley. Students have also won a series of victories in their struggle to create a national anti-sweatshop Designated Supplier Program. And students have joined together with faculty, staff, and community members in a series of Tent State Universities (read below).

To the people of Mexico:
To the people of the world:

Brothers and Sisters:

The attack that our brothers, the people of Oaxaca suffered and suffer cannot be ignored by those who fight for freedom, justice and democracy in all corners of the planet.

This is why, the EZLN calls on all honest people, in Mexico and the world, to initiate, starting now, continual actions of solidarity and support to the Oaxacan people, with the following demands:

The people of Oaxaca are not alone. We have to say so and demonstrate it, to them and to everyone.

Democracy!
Freedom!
Justice!

For the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee - General Command of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Insurgent Subcommander Marcos
Mexico, December of 2006

----------------------------------------------------------

From APPO, Dec. 5:

The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca [APPO] greets with joy the initiative that the EZLN has taken calling to a great world-wide mobilization in solidarity with our people. A great attack against the democratic forces of the mother country is planned today by the extreme right in the political class, and a symptom of that attack is the state of emergency that exists in Oaxaca, the capital of the resistance.

We salute the EZLN and the Other Campaign, so that together we may fortify the unity of all those who refuse to submit [inconformes], the destitute... those without land, with no roof, so that as a single being we can overcome our common enemy. We believe, companer@s, this is our greatest task.

Brothers and sisters of the EZLN, in Oaxaca the state government in complicity with the federal government (a complicity sealed with blood) have [carried out] untied a ferocious persecution against our people without distinction. Today our APPO does not have a place to meet, there is no street in Oaxaca where we can pronounce ourselves without later having out companer@s end up in jail. Oaxaca lives a militarized state... The APPO today is in the dark at night, knowing that little time is left so that the luminous day arrives.

All the power to the people!

Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca.

Liberty Tree agrees with the Center for Constitutional Rights that "Congress must go beyond censure and consider impeachment.  Recent calls for a censure resolution show that some Senators finally realize that President Bush is out of control. But a censure resolution will not:

• Remove a single wiretap from American phones
• End the Iraq War
• Halt U.S. Torture
• Stop President Bush's reckless abuse of power

This March will mark a grim milestone - the fifth anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Despite the clear mandate from the American people to end the occupation, the U.S. government continues to wage war upon the Iraqi people. Bush’s mocking response to dwindling public support for the war has been the “troop surge,” or simply more of the same, while simultaneously threatening neighboring countries like Iran. For their part, the Democrats refuse to commit to a clear anti-war stance, even as they try to posture as the opposition party. Meanwhile, the threat of domestic recession looms, racist attacks increase, and millions lack decent housing, jobs, education, and health-care.

The war will drag on for many more years–draining billions of dollars and resulting in thousands of more causalities, both American and Iraqi, on top of the hundreds of thousands already killed, injured, and displaced–unless the people stand up and fight for change.

Every year, there have been protests marking the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that was launched on the basis of lies and deceit. Students have historically had an especially important role in the struggles against racism and war, and we continue to do so today. Last March, over 80 high schools and colleges answered the call by chapters of Students for a Democratic Society to come together to send one loud resounding NO to the Bush administration and the Republican agenda, to the Democrats who refuse to carry out the mandate of their constituents, and to the University administrations that so often support war efforts.

This March, SDS is urging all students, as part of the broader community of people of conscience, to voice our opposition to the war in Iraq. As the presidential election nears, candidates need to be sent a clear message: we will not stand for vague time lines and empty promises, we will not tolerate sanctions, threats, and aggression against Iran, and that we will stand in solidarity with the Iraqi people who are struggling to liberate their country.

We want as many people as possible to join us in this protest; the larger the protest the stronger the impact we have, and the sooner we can help end this war. We are calling on any and all student and youth based organizations that are opposed to the war in Iraq to mobilize their memberships, their campus, their community and hit the streets for the week of March 17-21, with March 20 as the focal point.* We are calling on students to take action on their own campuses, where we have the power to reach the entire student body with our message and build resistance on our own campuses. We are calling on our fellow students and youth to take the lead and do whatever it takes–from rallies, marches, walk-outs, civil disobedience, and direct action–to send a clear message to the U.S. government: Get out of Iraq Now!

The ability of cities to exercise local control over cable television providers is under attack. Legislation that has been introduced in Congress, as well as at the state level, that would take away cities' ability to enter into contracts - known as franchises - with cable companies and other television services providers. Among other things, the legislation would prohibit communities from negotiating with cable companies for continued fiscal support for public access television. The end result of the legislation would likely be either the elimination of community TV, or the raising of regressive property tax to pay for it.

Join United for Peace and Justice in a massive march on Washington, D.C., on Sat., January 27, to call on Congress to take immediate action to end the war.

On Election Day the voters delivered a dramatic, unmistakable mandate for peace. Now it's time for action.

On January 27, 2007, we will converge from all around the country in Washington, D.C. to send a strong, clear message to Congress and the Bush Administration: The people of this country want the war and occupation in Iraq to end and we want the troops brought home now!

Congress has the power to end this war through legislation. We call on people from every congressional district in the country to gather in Washington, DC -- to express support for those members of Congress who are prepared to take immediate action against the war; to pressure those who are hesitant to act; and to speak out against those who remain tied to a failed policy.

The peace and justice movement helped make ending the war in Iraq the primary issue in this last election. The actions we take do make a difference, and now there is a new opportunity for us to move our work forward. On Election Day people took individual action by voting. On January 27 we will take collective action, as we march in Washington, DC, to make sure Congress understands the urgency of this moment.

4,004+ U.S. Deaths - 435 Town Halls

The deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq dropped last summer after Muqtada al-Sadr declared a cease-fire, and George Bush and John McCain declared their coincidental "surge" a "success." But this week Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked al-Sadr's forces in Basra and unleashed pitched battles across Iraq that took over 100 Iraqi lives. Meanwhile U.S. soldier deaths in Iraq climbed to 4,004 - not including contractors and suicides or roughly one million Iraqi civilians.

George Bush, whose every word about Iraq has been an evil lie, called these battles a "very positive moment" and announced U.S. military "support." But in reality our planes, helicopters, and armored vehicles led the attack.

How much longer will we let Bush lie while our soldiers die?

And how much longer will we let Congress borrow and spend $12 billion per month for a never-ending occupation when we're having an economic meltdown here at home?

The Missouri House passed HB 213, the "Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act," on April 12.

The bill (now S 848) is now before the State Senate.

Most notable is the bill's explicit protection of "the viewpoint that the Bible is inerrant" (infallibility as interpreted by ultra-conservatives). The Act would legally empower fundamentalist students claiming infallibility to file grievances against non-fundamentalist instructors and have them disciplined for "lack of respect" or "viewpoint discrimination." That is, they can be disciplined for rejecting the infallibility of
ultra-conservative tenets (creationism replaces evolution in the life sciences, gay rights are excluded from law and social work curricula, programs in Black Studies, Women's Studies, and Labor Studies are eliminated, etc.).

The debate over the Iraq War changed last week in a simple, but profound way. A bill introduced on Tuesday in the Vermont State Legislature declares that the 2002 federal authorization to call up the State National Guard has expired, and would set in motion steps to recall members of the Vermont Guard. Rep. Michael Fisher, lead sponsor of the Vermont bill says that:

It is clear that the mission that Congress authorized no longer exists. The President has no current or permanent legal authority to keep Guard members in Iraq. The Governor as Commander-in-Chief of the Vermont National Guard should take necessary steps to bring them home.

In addition to the Vermont legislation, sponsored by Rep. Michael Fisher and Senate President Pro-Tempore Peter Shumlin, legislators in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island plan to sponsor similar National Guard legislation in the current legislative session.Legislators in six other states, notably Maryland, Maine, and Wisconsin are working on the issue and considering following suit.

In recent years, twelve state legislatures and over 300 communities have passed resolutions protesting the Iraq War and calling withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. This new legislation is something very different. This legislation actually ends the deployment of the Guard from Iraq.

News media from public radio, to CBS News, to Pacifica and AlterNet have already picked up the story. This new campaign to inject some democracy into our system of national defense is building.

• Intrigued?

Please take a moment to read more. We've provided you with a copy of the Vermont legislation itself, an FAQ, media reports, and several articles by Liberty Tree's Ben Manski and IPS' Karen Dolan. Just go to our resources page at: http://www.LibertyTreeFDR.org/guard.php

• Compelled?

Once you are done reading, it's time for action. Please see below for what you should do.

The movement to bring home the National Guard is growing.  State representatives and senators in Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island have joined Vermonters in drafting and introducing legislation to keep their state Guard units where they belong.  With the latest news out of Iraq and Washington D.C. -- that the troop escalation has failed to end the violence and that the Bush administration will attempt to issue additional call up orders for Guard units this summer and fall -- the time is ripe for state action to keep the Guard in the United States.

This campaign began earliest in Vermont, and it is in Vermont that the effort has made the most progress.  The Vermont Senate held hearings on the legislation last month.  The Vermont public is debating the issue.  Media outlets from the Topeka Capital Journal to CBS national news to the Houston Chronicle have covered the debate.  For the first time, Americans are becoming aware of the illegality of National Guard deployments to Iraq.  The Vermont debate is educating all of us; we are learning that:

• The President may only call the Guard into National Service after Congress has granted him/her that authority; otherwise, the Guard remain under the command of state officials.
• The 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Iraq (2002 AUMF) was the act of Congress under which National Guard call ups for deployment to Iraq have occurred until now.
• The 2002 AUMF set a clear mission for the invasion of Iraq, and that mission is over.  Saddam Hussein and Iraq are no long a threat to the United States or the region (if they ever were), and the UN Security Council resolutions on which the 2002 AUMF was based are no longer relevant.
• Some state elected officials are willing to stand up and defend the constitutional guarantee of a federal government of limited and enumerated powers, a military designed for national defense and not empire, and a government of laws and not of men!

All of this is already coming to light with a simple legislative push that doesn't even challenge the unconstitutionality of the war itself, or challenge the deployment of the Guard for purposes other than those spelled out in the Constitution.  All this legislation says is, "Federal government, we're not even telling you that your laws are unconstitutional, we're just insisting that you to obey your own laws."  Is that such a radical thing to ask?  Let's find out.

Too much is too wrong in this country. We have a foreign policy that is foreign to our core values, and domestic policies wreaking havoc at home. It's time for a change:

• No more never-ending oil wars!
• Protect our civil liberties & immigrant rights.
• End illegal spying, government corruption and the subversion of our democracy.
• Rebuild our communities, starting with the Gulf Coast.
• Stop corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy while ignoring our basic needs.
• Act quickly to address the climate crisis and the accelerating destruction of our environment.