J19 Protest Against Privatization

I am now DEFINITELY for the elimination of private health insurance companies.

Protests at GHI offices in NY  Read more 

Florida Demands Representation, a grassroots group, has planned a protest at the DNC in Washington DC on May 30 and 31, 2008.

The group is asking the DNC to count the votes and seat the delegates in accordance with the certified January 29 Presidential Primary results.

If you are a Florida resident, please see details in the link below and numbers you can contact for more information. If you are not a Florida resident, and live close to DC, please consider attending. Also, sign one of the petitions, instate or out of state.

If you support other sites, please consider posting this.
FloridaDemandsRepresentation  Read more 

Excellent:

The President will speak at the school’s Performing Arts Center in a visit sponsored by the World Affairs  Read more 

Let’s review. This important document is pretty clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So I really don’t understand this legal ’logic:’

Mr. Casper and Mr. Klinkerman lost their motion for dismissal, and this week their lawyers filed an appeals brief arguing that their clients had the right to take action against Mr. Young and Ms. Weise precisely because the two held views different from Mr. Bush’s.  Read more 

Zack raises a lot of interesting points in history and ask some good questions. I enjoyed this part:

Organizers these days tend to fall into one of two camps. The first are followers of Saul Alinsky, who is being remembered in this TPMCafe thread. They believe their job is not to lead, but to teach The People how to lead themselves (by practicing “leadership development” and “consciousness raising”). The other camp believes their job is to steamroller The People into doing what’s best for them (because they are not capable of leading themselves).

Please notice what these camps have in common: Both see themselves as separate from The People. Both see The People an object that must be treated by organizers in certain ways to achieve desired outcomes. One camp fancies itself more democratic; the other more realistic and results-oriented. They are unified in their belief that they each possess a special status apart from The People. To both, “We, The People” could only be a bit of good PR, not a sincere sentiment.  Read more 

Damn. This is Too Cool:

There’s a lot of weirdness every day in the capital city, but this one pushed the envelope: 13 Iraq war veterans in full desert camo going on “patrol” from Union Station to Arlington National Cemetery. They carried imaginary assault rifles, barked commands, roughly “detained” suspected hostiles with flex cuffs and hoods — and generally shocked, frightened and delighted tourists and office workers.

“How does occupation feel, D.C.?!” shouted Geoff Millard, head of the local chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who previously served on a brigadier general’s staff in Tikrit.

They cut a swath across downtown, taking imaginary sniper fire and casualties on the grounds of the Capitol and the Washington Monument, scouting the White House, performing mock arrests at the foot of the Capitol steps and a vehicle search on the Mall. At the Capitol, the veterans almost got detained themselves by civilian peace officers with real guns. The vets brought their act to a military recruiting station on L Street NW and concluded with a memorial ceremony in the cemetery.  Read more 

Fuckin’ A! This is so great to read:

Written by Justin Vogler
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
It was every adolescent revolutionary’s dream: schools throughout the country were occupied and the gates were barricaded.

Tens of thousands of uniformed pupils on the streets defied police brutality, support came in from across adult society and, to top it all, the education minister prevaricated hopelessly in the face of coherent, well articulated demands.

“Chile’s secondary school pupils have scored the highest marks in history,” wrote the University of Chile historian, Sofia Correa, in a recent newspaper column. “Their organization, media management, awareness of civic duty and timing, have all been outstanding.”  Read more 

Greensboro, North Carolina has a rather shaky history when it comes to police-protester relations. The cops apparently couldn’t decide who they disliked more in 1979 when a Kluxer/NeoNazi group went up against the Communist Worker’s Party and stood back to observe while nine people were shot dead. But oh they’re right on the ball when Dear Leader’s tranquil soul might be disturbed:

…members [of The World Can’t Wait NC] clashed with police during a downtown protest against President Bush in January. Seven protesters were arrested at the rally after they confronted plainclothes officers with the Criminal Intelligence Division who were photographing protesters and the license plates of cars. The protesters faced a variety of charges, including assaulting a public official, inciting a riot and carrying a concealed weapon.

So the ACLU has filed suit to find out just exactly what written guidelines are in place telling cops what to do in such circumstances. Turns out….there aren’t any. The policy, it appears, is Make Shit Up As You Go Along.  Read more