<$BlogRSDUrl$>

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National Institute for Technology & Liberal Education

"The World Wide Web will soon see a new naming convention for some sites: .xxx. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that it is working on technological implementation plans for enabling this suffix for pornography sites. Along with two other new top level domain listings, .jobs and .travel, .xxx is likely to be available this winter."

This is long overdue!
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TechsUnite.org - IT news and IT worker resources

"Techsunite.org is the nationally-oriented web site of WashTech/CWA, the nation's leading union for high-tech workers. We are ensuring that our voices get heard and our needs are met."

Uhhh, except they are not even using an rss feed for their site! A Tech union site that is woefully inadequete. Somebody get moven there!!!
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Outsourced America: Voice of America... Not So American Anymore?

"Labor leaders and activists have denounced the business community for years for 'outsourcing' work to other countries. Now the federal government is planning to shift a handful of highly symbolic jobs overseas, and labor unions and lawmakers are protesting angrily."
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Cadillac News

UAW workers go on strike at Wedin

"'It's not a money issue,' said John Miscikoski, day shift steward at the facility. 'We get good pay. Striking was the last resort.'

According to Miscikoski, who has worked there for eight years, workers want a contract that provides better protection for employee interests.

'Our issue is that we wanted to be partners in the business, help secure work and do more to eliminate waste,' said UAW international representative Rob Naugle. 'Workers wanted a voice in improving productivity.'"
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This Space For Rent: I Am Not My Cock

"And neither is any other man. There's been a lot of discussion about this on the blogs in the last few days. Apparently, there seems to be a widley held belief amongst even liberal men, that male humans are first and formost nothing but a cock. After that, balls, then eyes, then rage, and somewhere way down the line, they become capable of speech, thought, and memory."
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Blather: Philadelphia to "The Real World": That's How We Do It in the PA, Beeyatch

"'The Real World' is pulling out of my hometown after slamming up against one intractable reality: 'This is a union town,' according to Tony Frasco, vice president of Teamsters Local 107. RW producers figured to come into Philadelphia and set up non-union, as they've done in jerkwater burgs like New York, Chicago and Boston. They apparently didn't reckon on the creative levels of intransigence to which a real Philadelphia Teamster can rise when provoked. Too bad: Now we'll never know what a bunch of high-strung, narcissistic twentysomethings do when the Tastykakes run out."
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Tild ~: American Future

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Tild ~: On Karl Rove's Nightstand

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INTEL DUMP - -

"As Mr. Diamond sees it, 'blame for the early blunders' in Iraq 'lies with the high officials of the Bush administration - including the president himself - who decided to go to war when we did, in the way we did, with the lack of preparation that has become brutally apparent.' He reminds us that 'the startling mismanagement of planning for the postwar did not result from a sudden emergency and a lack of time to plan': civilians at the Pentagon had begun pushing the case for war against Iraq almost immediately after 9/11, and a wide-ranging report known at the Future of Iraq Project had been started at the State Department in the spring of 2002. This report, says Mr. Diamond, was initially ignored by the Pentagon, which in its early certitude about 'the inevitability and speed of America's triumph,' swept 'aside experts in the State Department and elsewhere who had described what the postwar realities in Iraq would require.' "
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Is this standard WH operating procedure? | Liberals Against Terrorism

"I don't recall ever seeing a picture like this for a foreign dignitary visiting the White House:"

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WTO for Dummies (fading-hope.blog-city.com)

"Everything you should know about the WTO

(The WTO an innocent scape goat?!)"
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Free yourself (fading-hope.blog-city.com)

"You are free to choose what want
But you are not free to choose what you want to want!

The Elite spreads Ignorance
Ignorance turns individuals into fools
Fools and the Elite going hand in hand is responsible for the destruction and exploitation
Exploitation and destruction of humans and nature by humans!

The only way to free oneself from this slavery is to resist and question
Question MTV!
Question Beauty Contests!
Question Commercials!
Question the Establishment!
Question Society!
Question yourself!
Question everything!

Ignorance is the greatest evil!"

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Red Rag



Ohh, I like that!
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Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.

"Senator Durbin:

Last week, you had the nerve to compare torture conducted by America's brave men and women in uniform to torture conducted by Nazis, Soviets, and Khmer Rouge, and today you finally apologized. As well you should have: that comment was offensive. Deeply offensive. Many of the proud men and women at Guantanamo were deeply upset by it, shaking with anger, fear and doubt as they kicked naked men in the ribs and released the dogs. One soldier could hardly muster up the morale to brain a prisoner and stuff his semi-conscious head into a toilet bowl. But they found the strength and resolve to keep going, senator. Because they aren't torturing for Nazis or communists or some third world hellhole. Those boys are torturing for the stars and stripes, senator - and don't you forget it."
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Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.

"At long last, the forces of justice have finally defeated the forces of tumor-wracked sick people. The Supreme Court has wisely ruled that Congress's ability to defend against the pernicious terrors of marijuana overrides California's meager capacity to make its own laws, and that the matter of a dying woman's health care is a personal decision between herself, her doctor, the Justice Department, the Supreme Court, and the United States Congress. "
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Menstruating She Devils



"An informal place to hang out and talk about gender. 'Kos we don't have a sense of humour."
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FCC Shuts Down Popular Community Radio Station

"Jun 24 - Ignoring a pending court case and a local community’s expressed desire, the Federal Communications Commission raided a low-frequency Vermont community radio station yesterday morning, seizing over $15,000 worth of equipment and forcing it off the air. This was the second time the station, called radio free brattleboro (rfb), had been shut down in two years."
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PeoplesNetWorks / NewStandard Staff Blog

"The readers of our de facto partner site ZNet last week voted that their 'Action of the Week' would be to try to get Brian Dominick, former ZNet staffer/volunteer and current NewStandard editor, onto Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The idea is to fill out this form on the Comedy Central site, and suggest that Brian Dominick be brought on as a guest. Obviously the more diverse and original the arguments in favor, the better. Since probably at least several dozen of ZNet's hundreds of thousands of readers have already participated, a few more dozen could only help, right?"

----
My simple statement:

"I met Brian at a conference in 2000 and he is one of the most realistic idealist people I have met.

He would make a great guest!"
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This is great! the Industrial Workers of the World have switched over to a social software site that has an RSS feed! Now it needs the ability to comment.

Great Work!
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The Naked Corporation - Home

"Many of the limits on transparency – from principal-agent problems, to the protection of trade secrets, to the complexity that can overwhelm signals with noise, to the war on openness – are increasing or ineradicable. So why do we claim transparency will increase in the near and long term? A quick review of U.S. history suggests that transparency always increases, albeit in a stutter step, crisis-driven pattern."
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karmalised: what will karl say

"An Italian official said earlier the 13 were CIA officers involved in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured,"
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Sign the Karl Rove (doesn't) speak for me Petition.
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Many-to-Many: Wikitorial Fork

"I'm sure they will open up again, and there are other MSM pilots, but let's clarify the social contract"
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d r i f t g l a s s: Mars, bitches!

"Q: Why is Laura always on top?

A: Because George W. can only fuck up!"
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War and Consequences

"Click here to Wiki this morning's editorial about Iraq."

Really cool experiment.
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Daily Kos :: homo stupidus

"A brief message to the Knuckledragger wing of the Republican party:

You guys are idiots. Total, blazing idiots. In fact, I've never seen such a collection of morons in my life, and that includes the Nixon guys.

When I say idiots and morons, I don't mean walking into walls or sticking your hands into vats of bubbling tomato sauce. I mean, you guys are wrong. And you're wrong so often and on such a massive scale that science should come up with a new term for your species: homo stupidus."

This applies only to the Republican Party, right..... not.
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LA Times: To Our Readers

"Watch next week for the introduction of 'wikitorials' — an online feature that will empower you to rewrite Los Angeles Times editorials."
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Raw Story: Path of War Timeline

"The Path of (Iraqi) War Timeline"
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Criminal Activity

Check out the trailer to the "The Fix is In: Downing Street Memo Matters"
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This is sure to be fun!

Fresh Garbage

"While the band has only been in existence since January '05 the members have been active in many projects in Detroit and Chicago. Projets like: Liquid Mojo, Another Frog Suicide, The Television Rap Opera, Sunny Jim, Radio Nine, and The Neighborhood Threat."
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Daily Kos :: Looking at Kings

"A friend of mine is at a union meeting. In his first and only language, he explains, patiently and painstakingly to an uncomprehending room, that since the British colonised the country that he came from, he has as much claim on the English language as anybody else. He passes around a copy of his immigration documentation, which is marked `Subject does not speak English. Instruction will be provided upon arrival.' He explains how he was required to attend `English language instruction' classes before being permitted to teach. 'But __' someone says, 'we don't mean you. You speak English fine - hell, you speak English better than me! But you've got to understand that we've got a duty to protect our students.'

Words failed."
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LaborProf Blog: Univ. of California Clerical Workers Strike

"Clerical workers at the University of California began a three-day strike today to demand pay increases.

The walkout by the Coalition of University Employees (CUE) affects UC's 10 campuses and five medical centers across the state as well as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The union represents 16,000 clerical workers....'"
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Unions-Firms-Markets: New Labor Federation To Be Announced Tomorrow
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While I was over at 10x10, I found this article -- Rape victim demands her 'freedom'. Which is interesting because I was just learning about the Partition of India in 1947, yesterday from a friend. What was particularly disturbing was her story of women lining up at wells, and pushing each other into the well, suicide vs rape and then being a social outcast.

I also recalled the story of Phoolan Devi from a movie I watch a few years ago -- Bandit Queen.

All this rape as a tool of war is just depressing.
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"Chip Berlet is senior analyst at Political Research Associates in the Boston area. Berlet is co–author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort (Guilford, 2000) and editor of Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash (South End Press, 1995), both of which received a Gustavus Myers Center Award for outstanding scholarship on the subject of human rights and bigotry in North America."

I met him when I was at ZMI in 2001.
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PublicEye.org - Repression, Civil Liberties, Security for Activists

"W. Mark Felt is undoubtedly a nice grandfather, but he was a key FBI bureaucrat during the illegal COINTELPRO operations and later authorized illegal break ins of dissident's homes and political left movement offices."
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FREE JEFF LUERS!

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:: SchNEWS :: How to guides - campaigning, squatting, tunneling, legal defence, suing the police, free parties, crop trashing, subvertising

"...a selection of 'how to' guides that have been pulled together from a range of sources."
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The Contents Of Your Daily Life

"How many hours a day do you spend in front of a television screen? A computer screen? Behind an automobile windscreen? All three screens combined? What are you being screened from? How much of your life comes at you through a screen, vicariously?"
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geez

"One minute she was flipping Whopper patties, the next she was sent out the back door into a hot night in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The fast food monarch locked the door behind her and she was newly unemployed and facing financial desperation.

Twenty-six other workers were likewise dispensed without just cause or compensation last year by Burger King and a few of its fast food corporate siblings – all owned in Honduras by INTUR. The company was reportedly reacting to rumors the workers were organizing to resist measures including unpaid overtime and having to pay for their uniforms out of already scant earnings."
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Shakespeare's Sister

"This is the list of fucknuts who refuse to co-sponsor the Senate’s anti-lynching resolution (finally brought to a vote about 5 generations or so after we really needed it):"
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Gay News From 365Gay.com

"(New York City) The leader of a conservative Christian lobby group appears to suggest that gays should be required to wear warning labels, although he denies that was his intention.

'We put warning labels on cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one to two years off the average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we know spreads every kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20 years off the average life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered scientific journal Psychological Reports,' Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive director of the New York Christian Coalition told the Mid Hudson News."
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BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft censors Chinese blogs

"Chinese bloggers posting their thoughts via Microsoft's net service face restrictions on what they can write."
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About Us

"Union for the Public Domain (UPD) is a non-profit citizens group. Our mission is to protect and enhance the public domain in matters concerning intellectual property. We are a membership organization, acting as an independent voice on intellectual property issues."
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Reason: American Anarchist: The life of Mary Frohman

"Discuss the family or the workplace, and she'd stake out a position well to the left of even Ann Arbor's mainstream. But if the talk turned to taxes or guns, she wouldn't be out of place at a militia meeting. We agreed on enough to be friends, and we disagreed on enough for the friendship to be interesting. Friendship was, in fact, her highest ideal: She had told Meredith, in that '89 interview, that 'because the best relationships are voluntarily chosen, the highest and purest relationship is friendship; there is no one down and it's voluntary on both sides.'

On Friday, June 3, 2005, Mary Frohman had a heart attack while she waited for a bus. Her death wasn't a surprise, but it was very sad news."
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africanfront.com (AUF)

"It is with utmost indignation that the African German community has taken notice of the plans to open an 'African Village' within the zoo of Augsburg, Germany. The opening of this exhibit is scheduled for July 9 - July 12. 2005."
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B A N C O

This is a site I have put together to reach out and let folks know what is going on in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the world headquarters of Whirlpool.

Please add these tags to your site. Education and fundraising are much needed currently.


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The Power Of Us

"Mass collaboration on the Internet is shaking up business "
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0xDECAFBAD

I wonder why I never figured this site out before. Maybe it is the crazy ass name, frightened me. But really it is one of the most impressive sites I have experienced. Nice work, check it out.
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Take Action: Support the San Francisco Hotel Workers!

"Hotel workers in fourteen hotels in San Francisco are involved in a protracted contract fight. Workers are fighting to maintain decent healthcare coverage and address workload and immigration and hiring issues. These workers have called for a boycott of their hotels. These hotels only care about their income and we need to send the message that we will not help them hurt working women and men in San Francisco. Please send a FREE fax pledging your support of the San Franscisco Hotel Boycott."
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STANDING POINT FILMS - Michigan Based Independent Media Productions

Check out a friends projects. Pretty amazing...
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From Peter Werbe:

"
You gotta watch this! http://www.ericblumrich.com/14.html The voice is that of Air America's Mike Malloy.
"

 
 


Listen to Peter's phone-in talk show, Nightcall, Sundays, 11pm-2am, EST, on WRIF-FM 101.1; and his Sunday morning interview shows on WCSX-FM 94.7FM and WMGC 105.1FM 6-7am in Detroit
Go to PeterWerbe.com for Peter's web page and for on air, web streaming, rebroadcast, and archive information.
To be on Peter's Nightcall mailing list, send a message to calltalkyes@yahoo.com with "add me" in the subject line.

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An Urgent Appeal from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)

Powerful interests in Mexico have filed a complaint against Brendan
Greene, an organizer for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC),
AFL-CIO in an attempt to stop the FLOC's groundbreaking efforts to
enforce the rights of Mexican migrant workers.

The complaint alleges that Greene asked three individuals to pay him
to process their work visas when they came to FLOC's Monterrey,
Mexico office looking for employment. The complaint includes a
forged FLOC pamphlet that Greene allegedly distributed in which FLOC
is said to have charged union dues in Mexico to protect workers from
Mexican businesses that "want to enslave workers and pay miserable
wages."

In reality, the flyer that Greene and FLOC distributed offered
FLOC's telephone numbers in Monterrey and the support of our casa de
hospedaje to FLOC members who have to wait to get their visas
processed by the U.S. consulate before they go on to work in North
Carolina.

Last September, FLOC won a historic victory for farm workers when it
got a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 7,500 temporary
guest workers employed by the North Carolina Grower's Association,
Inc. (NCGA). The agreement guarantees these workers many rights,
including hiring without discrimination, a new seniority-based
hiring system with preference for union workers, and a swift
grievance procedure allowing workers to complain about safety or
other issues without fear of retaliation.

The charges against Greene suggest that there are powerful interests
bent on interfering with FLOC's enforcement of the CBA. Without
that enforcement, the rights of Mexican temporary guest employees of
the NCGA would quickly disappear.

FLOC had hoped that the complaint against Greene would be terminated
without any further processing. However, Greene has been notified
that there will be a 15 day investigation into the charges. To
date, authorities have not provided Greene with a copy of the
charges against him or any evidence against him. This failure is
extremely serious, as the charges against Greene could be converted
into a penal case. To prevent Greene's detention, FLOC has been
forced to both retain a Mexican attorney and pay an "amparo" (the
quasi-equivalent of a bond under U.S. law) of several thousand
dollars.

The CBA is the first labor agreement to gain representation for
temporary guest workers in the history of either the U.S. or
Mexico. Without the work of FLOC employees like Brendan and the
courage of workers who continue to protest the violation of their
rights, efforts to enforce the CBA and defend workers' rights will
not succeed.

We are asking that you to contribute to these efforts by:

1. Contributing whatever funds you can to F.L.R.P./Mexico Defense
Fund to pay for legal expenses necessary to defend Mr. Greene and
other FLOC staff or members like him. Please send any funds to:
Farm Labor Research Project Inc., 1221 Broadway, Toledo, OH 43609 (A
tax-deductible 501 (c)(3) charity).

2. Authorizing the listing of your name or your organization's name
to a petition to the Instituto to terminate the deportation
proceedings against Brendan Greene. Please direct your authorizing
e-mail or correspondence to: Jerry Ceille at jceille@floc.com or
FLOC, 1221 Broadway, Toledo, OH 43509.

3. Indicating whether you have any interest in being a member in
the National FLOC/Mexico Legal Defense Committee to develop
activities or other actions in support of FLOC, Mr. Greene, and FLOC
staff or members like Mr. Greene. Please direct your e-mail or
correspondence expressing any such interest to: Baldemar Velasquez
at FLOC, 1221 Broadway, Toledo, OH 43609 or bvelasq@floc.com.

***************

"Putting the movement back in the labor movement"

Labor Notes
7435 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48210
Tel: 313/842-6262
Fax: 313/842-0227
Email: labornotes@labornotes.org
http://www.labornotes.org
http://www.troublemakershandbook.org

East Coast Office:
104 Montgomery St
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Tel: 718/284-4144
Fax: 718/287-3287
Email: marsha@labornotes.org
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A2IRV - Ann Arbor for Instant Runoff Voting

"Many individuals and organizations, including the Ferndale Mayor, Syndicated Columnist Jack Lessenberry and Peace Activist Al Fishman support Instant Runoff Voting."
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Inside Higher Ed :: Going Unionless

"Six years ago, full-time professors at Davenport University found themselves in numerous disputes with administrators and voted to bring in the United Auto Workers to represent them."
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The Simultaneous Policy - Voting for Global Peace & Justice

"If you're tired of being 'anti- anti- anti-'– anti-globalization, anti-unfair trade, anti-unilateralism, and anti-1001 other things that are wrong with the world today – adopt SP and exercise your ability to be for a new world order founded on international cooperation and goodwill.

imageThe Simultaneous Policy has as its ultimate aim the transformation of the international economy such that it operates in harmony with the global natural environment and with the needs of human nature.

John Bunzl
Founder & Director, International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO)"
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Wiki 101
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ILWU Local 5 Bookstore Portal

Puchase books through their worker's union website.
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"Welcome to our Team in Training website. We are making progress towards our goal of raising $9,000 jointly for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We will be walking 26.2 miles on June 18, in Anchorage. We're training for the marathon and each week increase the number of miles we walk.

We will be using this website to track our progress towards both our fundraising and walking goals.

Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Betsey and Michele

5-23-05: We have exceeded our original $9,000 fundraising goal. Thanks to everyone who donated. 100% of every dollar past $9,000 will go towards helping find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers."

Please donate if you can.
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Vote for your favorite design... before the Jobs With Justice Annual Meeting.

I voted for this design:

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from a forwarded email:

"Dear friends,

Yesterday, June 5, 2005, I had the privilege of attending the re-dedication of the Memorial to the martyrs of the Ludlow Massacre which took place on that site on April 20, 1914.The memorial was first dedicated on May 30, 1918 with John L. Lewis officiating.

In 1913, miners working at a site owned by Standard Oil (John D. Rockefeller I) organized against working for company script, living in company housing, sending their kids to company schools, and protesting that the boys had to go to work in the mine by age 12. In the winter of 1913-1914, the company moved all the miners out of the houses in the company town, prevented them from coming to work, and forced them to live in tents on a plain several miles out of town. To keep them there, soldiers (state and federal militia) were brought in to "guard" the miners, with machine gun nests set up all around the miners camp. We must not forget that the "tent city" sat on a plain at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. The winter of 1913-1914 was the coldest on record at that time.

Over the course of the strike, the miners walked the picket line at the mine site, and somehow the women and children had to survive. Over the course of the many months, many of the miners were kidnapped, killed, deported.

On April 20, 1914, the soldiers opened fire on the camp and set it on fire. When it was over, 18 died:

Louis Tikas, age 30 (leader of the strike)...there is a photograph hanging on a fence at the memorial site that shows Tikas' funeral cortege...it shows a horse drawn wagon with the casket, and a file of people behind it for as far as the eye can see...
James Fyler, age 43
John Bartolotti, age 45
Charlie Costa, age 31
Fedelina Costa, age 27
Onafrio Costa, age 6
Lucy Costa, age 4
Frank Rubino, age 23
Patria Valdez, age 37
Eulala Valdez, age 8
Mary Valdez, age 7
Eluria Valdez, age 3 months
Joe Petrucci, age 4
Lucy Petrucci, age 2
Frank Petrucci, age 6 months
William Snyder, Jr. age 11
Rodgerlo Pedregone age 6
Cloriva Pedregone age 4

The UMWA erected the Memorial in 1918. The statues of a man and a woman holding a child were crafted by Italian stone cutters in Vermont, and have stood there on this simple monument on this menacing wide open land all these years.

Several years ago, someone took a sledge hammer to the statues and destroyed the figures. In addition, the assailants sprayed paint on the memorial and signs leading to it..."Lies, Lies, Lies". Not an act of random vandalism.

The UMWA with some donations has worked with artists and the University of Colorado-Denver to have the memorial restored. It has been restored as close as possible to its original design. There is an archeological dig near the memorial to resconstruct the way the miners had to live through that long winter.

The site is NOT an official historical site. Neither the state or the federal government has acted on requests to make it one. Now, a substantial political movement is being waged by a variety of concerned and dedicated forces to have it made such a site.

To be there, on that ground, realizing that the local people of the UMWA have maintained this simple monument sitting out in the middle of nowhere is both inspiring and completely tragic. It is so vulnerable...to everything from the elements, to people who would actually drive out there and try to destroy it.

At the rededication ceremony, there were about 500 people, mostly local mineworkers and their families as well as union members, officials, and supporters from the nearby towns of Walsenberg, Trinidad, Pueblo, and some from Denver. Cecil Roberts, President of the UMWA gave a wonderful address, putting the martyrdom and courage of these miners in the context of the struggles that we must all face up to in a country, as he put it, that not unlike 1913, our country has been taken over by the corporations. Dan Kane, Sec-Treas of the UMWA reminded us that the Ludlow Massacre occured just 49 years after the end of the US Civil War. As he put it: all the rhetoric and ideas that people fought over in terms of maintaining a democracy were eroded to a political reality that the corporations ran the country. After all, how did Standard Oil get the military to "protect" its property?

We are reminded that this strike occured at the time of the great organizing and strike upheavels all over the US at that time, led by Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Lucy Parsons, and so many others in textiles, steel, mining, woodcutting, and basic industry. Most of those strikes and campaigns were crushed, but the experience and commitment of thiose struggles laid the groundwork for the victories of the mass organizing of the 1930's when the modern working class and middle class was built through organizing. Without the earlier struggles and courage, the later struggles would not have been as large nor as sophisticated, nor as committed.

I can tell you that this sentiment and awareness was hanging over the crowd yesterday...where do we go today, and how do we get there? The people assembled there understand the good fight, and are waiting for leadership to help them make it.

...

We all owe so much to the workers and the leaders of the UMWA, America's oldest sustained industrial union, and the union that helped create the CIO. "
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If he's the pimp, whos the ho...? - Anarchist People of Color

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[2RA.ORG] "Defending progressive ideals through non-violent, civic action."

Bill Moyers:

"They give us a program vowing no child will be left behind, while cutting funds for educating disadvantaged children; they give us legislation cheerily calling for clear skies and healthy forests that give us neither, while turning over our public lands to the energy industry. In Orwell's 1984 the character Syme, one of the writers of that totalitarian society's dictionary, explains to the protagonist, Winston, 'Don't you see? Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? "
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[2RA.ORG] "Defending progressive ideals through non-violent, civic action."

"Sen. Rick Santorum (R) attacked Democrats on Thursday for saying Republicans would break Senate rules if they banned filibusters in Senate confirmation debates of judges nominated by Bush. 'The audacity of some members to stand up and say, 'How dare you break this rule,'' Santorum said in Thursday's Senate speech. 'It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 declaring,' ''I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city. It's mine.' The irony, in March of 2005, Santorum criticized Senator Robert Byrd's remarks at the time, saying the Nazi references 'lessen the credibility of the senator and the decorum of the Senate.'"
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[2RA.ORG] "Defending progressive ideals through non-violent, civic action."

"'The Bush administration is threatening to withhold $10 million in military aid to Kenya if the country does not agree to exempt Americans from prosecution at the International Criminal Court. "
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WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: More on Jeffrey Sachs and the End of Poverty

"It's one of our core beliefs here on WorldChanging that not only are many of world's most pressing problems ones we can solve, but that solving them will in fact leave us better off than we are now. In other words, facing our planetary crises may actually help us attain some new realities that seem nearly utopian when seen through our presently myopic political debate."
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thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse

"'A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army to release more than 100 photographs and several videos taken by an American soldier relating to detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, according to court documents,' Reuters reports.

A few months back, Matt Welch described some of these photos and videos:"
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TalkLeft: Pentagon Confirms Koran Abuse

"The Pentagon today acknowledged - for the first time- that a soldier mistreated the Koran."
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Peace Garden: Cheney praises Iraq, Afghan wars

"Did Uncle Dick have a slip of the tongue? Letting us in on a little secret - more wars to come?

Speaking to Air Force Academy grads he said: 'You will be among those who lead us to victory against freedom's enemies,' he said. 'And you will play an historic role in the great victories to come.'
Since it is 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq and Afghanistan, where will these 'great victories to come' be found - Syria, Iran, Indonesia...? Tell us Uncle Dick, please!"
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Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools

"I've slowly clued into the fact that there is a network of 'World Heritage' monuments, sites, and natural parks throughout the world--places that are deemed unique enough, or endangered enough, to deserve funding by UNESCO."
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DetroitBazaar�: Dennis Archer Endorses Freman Hendrix For Mayor
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Extreme Democracy: Announcement: book in progress on "Peer to Peer Theory"

"For the past two years, I have been working and researching on a book-in-progress, which is definitely related to the work done here under the concept of Extreme Democracy.

Peer to peer theory starts from the observation that one of the dominant forms of organisation today are distributed networks. They are distinguishable from centralized and decentralized networks in that their hubs, which may or may not exist, are not obligatory."
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struggle in the land of corn and soybeans: Labor Imperialism

"In short, reactionary labor operations were carried out by the AFL-CIO throughout the Cold War tenures of presidents George Meany and Lane Kirkland.5 Considerable opposition to these operations did develop within the labor movement by the mid-1980s, and this opposition was at least one factor in developments that led to the election of John Sweeney to the presidency of the AFL-CIO in 1995."
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The missile is not invented that can kill an ideal.: Let The Rich Fight Their Own Wars

"NY Times: Growing Problem for Military Recruiters: Parents"
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Media Black Out Downing Street Minutes :: Let's Try Democracy :: David Swanson Dot Org

"Aggressive followers and participants in U.S. politics often have strong opinions about the Downing Street Minutes. Most other Americans have not heard of or are not clear about what the Downing Street Minutes are.

How is this possible? Here we have the official government minutes from a meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials, including a briefing by Richard Dearlove, then-director of Britain's CIA equivalent, MI-6, who had just returned from meetings with high U.S. Government officials in Washington."
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karmalised: Administration's offenses impeachable

"Robert Shetterly states the obvious.

What makes no sense is that Congress can't be impeached."
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karmalised: Close The Gulag

"Paul Craig Roberts begins 'Washington Is the Source of Terror' with the information that prisoners in Guantanamo whose apprehension was made possible by a bounty/reward campaign run by the U.S., are the subjects of an int'l buy back effort. According to AP's Chief of Caribbean Services Michelle Faul, Najeeb al-Nauimi is 'a former Qatar justice minister and leader of a group of Arab lawyers representing nearly 100 detainees,' and 'a consortium of wealthy Arabs, including Saudis, told him they also bought back fellow citizens who had been captured by Pakistanis.'"
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Screed: whoops.

"i still don't get why contraceptives aren't automatically part of a woman's health care plan... anyone? anyone? "
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Mass protest is happening in Brasil, anyone know what is going on?

manzanaspodridas: antagonismo anticapitalista que mola
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American Leftist

"Here's a Chomsky piece on Social Security that is getting zero play in the blogosphere. In the course of unmasking the Emperor's-new-clothes nature of the forthcoming crisis we hear so much about, Chomksy makes the following argument that was new to me:

"The official story is that the Baby Boomers are going to impose a greater burden on the system because the number of working people relative to the elderly will decline, which is true.

But what happened to the Baby Boomers when they were zero to 20? Weren’t working people taking care of them? And it was a much poorer society then.""
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Democracy Now! | Guantanamo Bay: A "Gulag Of Our Times" or a "Model Facility"? A Debate on the U.S. Prison & Amnesty International

"A week ago Amnesty International accused the Bush administration of being a 'leading purveyor and practitioner' of human rights violations, debate has intensified over the U.S. war on terror. On Tuesday, Bush described the Amnesty report as 'absurd.' Today we host a debate between Amnesty's William Schulz and attorney David Rivkin."
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Democracy Now! | CIA Secretly Restores Ties to Sudan Despite Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in Darfur

"The Los Angeles Times recently revealed that the U.S. has quietly forged a close intelligence partnership with Sudan despite the government's role in the mass killings in Darfur."
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The Dominion: Appreciating Steve Nash, basketball's anti-war MVP

"I believe that us going to war would be a mistake. Being a humanitarian, I think that war is wrong in 99.9 percent of all cases. I think it has much more to do with oil or some sort of distraction, because I don't feel as though we should be worrying about Iraq. ('Steve speaks out,' SI.com, February 7, 2003)"

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LiberalOasis: Archives For The Week Of May 29, 2005

"Most depressingly, Bush is following the irresponsible pattern of other nations that Amnesty charges with human rights abuses: instead of cleaning up his act, he blames the messenger."
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LiberalOasis: Archives For The Week Of May 29, 2005

"The W. Post gave Dubya a wet kiss headline yesterday: “In Break With U.N., Bush Calls Sudan Killings Genocide”

The implication is that Bush is somehow doing the UN one better.

In reality, while the UN is not acting in ideal fashion, Bush is actively worsening the situation in Darfur."
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The Dominion: Danger and Spectacular Opportunity

"Over 2,500 media reformers and revolutionaries gathered in St. Louis, Missouri in mid-May to discuss everything from micro radio licensing policy to direct action campaigns against media conglomerates. The second annual NCMR had to turn away attendees, with registrations far exceeding capacity."

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MoxieGrrrl.com: No! NO NO NO!

"Senior Bush plugs Jeb for president 'someday'

'He'd be awfully good,' the elder Bush said. 'This guy's smart, big and strong. Makes the decisions. And you know, not without controversy, but he's led that state.'"
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Democracy Now! | Famed Brazilian Artist Augusto Boal on the "Theater of the Oppressed"

"We are joined in our studio by one of Latin America's most famed dissident artists, Brazilian Augusto Boal. He reflects back on his life in exile and his use of theater as a tool of resistance."
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TalkLeft: Bush Calls Amnesty Report 'Absurd'

































USA’s “war on terror” detainees, April 2005

(approximate totals/estimates)(11)
USA: Naval Brig, Charleston, South Carolina2 “enemy combatants”
Cuba: Guantánamo Bay naval base520

(234 releases/transfers)
Afghanistan: Bagram air base300
Afghanistan: Kandahar air base250
Afghanistan: other US facilities (forward operating bases)Unknown: estimated at scores of detainees
Iraq: Camp Bucca6,300
Iraq: Abu Ghraib prison3,500
Iraq: Camp Cropper110
Iraq: Other US facilities1,300
Worldwide: CIA facilities, undisclosed locationsUnknown: estimated at 40 detainees
Worldwide: In custody of other governments at behest of USAUnknown: estimated at several thousand detainees
Worldwide: Secret transfers of detainees to third countriesUnknown: estimated at 100 to 150 detainees
Foreign nationals held outside the USA and charged for trial4
Trials of foreign nationals held in US custody outside the USA0
Total number of detainees held outside the USA by the US during “war on terror”70,000
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Treesit Blog

"Related to the dispute over the logging plans in Freshwater and Elk River, is the on-going saga of Maxxam's and Pacific Lumber's financial manipulations, threats of bankruptcy and the roosting chickens of Maxxam's liquidation logging of the last two decades. An economist and geologist wrote a scathing reply(see copy on EPIC's website) to Pacific Lumber's 'Economic White Paper' for the state Water Resources Board, reflecting so much of what the watershed and forest activists have been saying all along."
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TalkLeft: Milton Friedman Advocates MJ Legalization

"Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition and the potential revenue gains from the U.S. government instead legalizing it and taxing its sale. Ending prohibition enforcement would save $7.7 billion in combined state and federal spending, the report says, while taxation would yield up to $6.2 billion a year."
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the Socinian: Stem Cells: This Time It’s Personal

"Bush’s point was that every embryo is a precious baby waiting to be born, and that using them for experimentation rather than giving them the opportunity for birth is a grossly immoral affront to our common humanity.

Heart-tuggingly sympathetic, isn’t it?

Maybe, but it’s also a freakin’ cynical, bald-faced, goddam lie."
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All Facts and Opinions: Recruiting Killers

"False claims by recruiters is an age-old problem, but there's evidence it's reaching a new crescendo. Months of complaints and 480 allegations of impropriety since October led the Army to suspend recruiting May 20 and ostensibly use the day to shore up recruiters' conduct."
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Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.

"So You're Being Tortured To Death In An American Military Prison!

Q: Help! I'm being tortured to death in an American military prison! What should I do?
A: First of all, you should get your facts straight. You're not being tortured to death in an American military prison; you're being interrogated to death in an American detainment facility. America does not tolerate torture."
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Ignorance of Consumerism (fading-hope.blog-city.com)

"Four million people have died from massacre, famine, disease.

Four million in just five years.'"
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Time 4 some Action! (fading-hope.blog-city.com)

"You can find out where nuclear weapons are stationed all over the world with the Zoom on Doom map (provided by Greenpeace):"
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micah holmquist's irregular thoughts and links

"'Frankly, I was offended by it,' Cheney said in the videotaped interview. 'For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously."
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Bob's Links and Rants

From Ted Rall:

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Windchime Walker

From the Detroit Electronic Music Festival... errrr... FUSE-IN (wtf???)

"And a lot of the fun for me was the response of the young people to seeing a woman old enough to be their grandmother standing beside her disability scooter and shakin' her booty!"
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American Family Association boycotting Ford Motor Co. over gay issues

"DETROIT (AP) -- A conservative Christian group launched a boycott against Ford Motor Co. Tuesday, saying the second-largest U.S. automaker has given thousands of dollars to gay rights groups, offers benefits to same-sex couples and actively recruits gay employees."
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Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools

"The first modern map of the known universe. Spacey. Trippy. An ingenious design locates our habitat in the very grand order of things."
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karmalised: Special Memorial Day Documentary

"On this Memorial Day weekend FSRN brings you an exclusive documentary, 'A Real Marine: No Place to Serve'. Philippe Louis Jean is a non-citizen Marine who was among the first battalions to roll into Iraq when the war was declared. On his return, this young Haitian-American was arrested by immigration authorities and spent 10 months in prison as the government tried to deport him to Haiti, a country he left when he was 5."
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"But what is not evident from these snaps is that good ole Stars N Stripes is, in this instance, NOTHING BUT A RUSE! Lest you think that the Detroit Newspapers organization was letting its patriotic freak flag fly, both papers were actually wrapped with an advertisement for MARSHALL FRICKING FIELDS, the largest department store in the area!!!"
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Democracy Now! | Memorial Day Special: Preventive Warriors

"Today on Memorial Day, the traditional day to honor all US military veterans, we bring you the full documentary about the Bush administration’s national security strategy: “Preventive Warriors,” produced by Michael Burns and Greg Ansin."
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Dominion Weblog: ZNet and Venezuelans on Venezuela

"The very fact that there are 8 revolutionary parties in the coalition government is something your article ignores. This coalition includes revolutionary parties which reflect most every major radical Left tendency in Venezuela, including the Communist Party of Venezuela, two Trotskyist parties (Movement Towards Socialism and Patria Para Todos), and the Socialist Party of Venezuela. Christian socialists, indigenous revolutionaries and other non-Marxist revolutionaries are also part of the Alliance for Change. The junior parties in the government coalition have many members in key government positions. For example, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C. is a Trotskyist."
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New SPAM!!:

"From : Sgt. RICHARD GREEN
100th Battalion/442nd
Infantry Regiment in Iraq.

Dear Sir,

THE SOLDIER'S SACRIFICE

I am making this contact with you in good faith, my name is RICHARD GREEN, i am an American soldier serving in the 100th Battalion/442nd Infantry Regiment in Iraq.

As you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and Car bombs. I and my Superior have managed to move funds found during our official work in a bombed apartment in Baghdad. The total amount is US$25 Million Dollars in cash, mostly 100 Dollar bills. We want to move this money to you, so that you can keep it in your safe account. We will take 50%, my Superior and I. You will take the other 50%. No strings attached, just help us move it out of Iraq, Iraq is a warzone. We plan on using a local Security Company attached Diplomatic Courier Service and shipping the money out in one Large Silver Box, using Diplomatic Immunity.

If you are interested, i will send you the full details, my job is to find a good partner we can trust and that will assist us. Can i trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest or readiness to receive this Box. The Box can be shipped out in 48hrs.

Respectfully submitted
Sgt. RICHARD GREEN
Kindly reply to this email address: sgt_richard2000@yahoo.com"
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Dominion Weblog: RAWA on Afghanistan

"People are fed up with many critical social issues and come out on the streets to protest. When people see that Karzai shakes hands with the most dirty enemies of the Afghan people, who first of all should appear in a court of justice; when people see that millions of dollars given in the name of the reconstruction of Afghanistan goes into the pockets of warlords and no one asks about their brutality (on the contrary Mr. Karzai frequently installs them in key posts); they have no other option but to protest and in many cases it takes a violent form."
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The People's Republic of Seabrook: After all, doesn't everyone??

"Newsweek had to retract a report about the Koran. The article caused violent anti-U.S. rioting in Muslim countries. And that’s too bad because up until now they really loved us. -- David Letterman"
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TalkLeft: Military Lawyer Proves Iraq War is Illegal

"After a 20-30 minute eternity that left us all in a stupor of disbelief that the war's legality had just been debated in a military court, on the record, and had lost, badly, the attorney for the prosecution sat down. And then the judge said, 'I believe the government has just successfully proved that any seaman recruit has reasonable cause to believe that the wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq were illegal.'"
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TalkLeft: Iraqi Journalists Complain of Censorship

"Iraqi journalists who try to report the diversity of opinion in Iraqi society complain of harassment and censorship by the United States and coalition forces. U.S. forces have detained eight journalists since March. Two of the journalists followed insurgents for a few days to write about their lives; they're now said to be security risks."
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Vision Circle: Spiritually Dead

"A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
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Picking up where we left off, or, Have you made up your damn mind yet? | Prometheus 6

"Are we still dealing with classic white supremacy, or, is a genuine though as yet incohesive attempt, being made to morph that into American supremacy? Is American supremacy something that a black partisan can get with, or, is it a moral and cultural abomination that we should oppose?"
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From the Washington Post (via Steve Gilliard):
This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow: May 29, 2005 - June 04, 2005 Archives

"More than a third of the mortgages written in the Washington area this year are a risky new kind of loan that lets borrowers pay back only the interest, delaying for years repayment of any loan principal. Economists warn that the new loans are essentially a gamble that home prices will continue to rise at a brisk pace, allowing the borrower to either sell the home at a profit or refinance before the principal payments come due."
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LRB | Eliot Weinberger : What I Heard about Iraq

"In 1992, a year after the first Gulf War, I heard Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, say that the US had been wise not to invade Baghdad and get ‘bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq’. I heard him say: ‘The question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: not that damned many.’

In February 2001, I heard Colin Powell say that Saddam Hussein ‘has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours.’

That same month, I heard that a CIA report stated: ‘We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programmes.’

In July 2001, I heard Condoleezza Rice say: ‘We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.’"
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Bob's Links and Rants: A friendly article about Hugo Chavez

"The Chavez government, for its part, has forged ahead with various spectacular social projects, assisted by the huge jump in oil prices, from $10 to $50 a barrel over the past six years. Instead of gushing into the coffers of the already wealthy, the oil pipelines have been picked up and directed into the shanty towns, funding health, education and cheap food."
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What Should I Do If The Internet Goes Down?

"Televisions, strange boxes that sit in your parents' living rooms, were once used to provide entertainment, long before DVDs and Playstations were invented. Televisions have the capability of broadcasting streaming information similar to the content on multimedia websites. With a 'remote control,' a wireless device that is like a small one-handed keyboard, you may be able to surf a limited number of 'channels,' while you deal with the loss of your connection. Unfortunately, television is only a one-way media."
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Living on Less

"Bush called Amnesty International's report on human rights absurd today, and went on to say that allegations of abuse at Guantanamo were made by detainees, people who hate America and 'have been trained to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth.' [Not an exact quote, perhaps. I'm writing from memory.] Mike and I both just busted out laughing."
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Movement as Network: "Power to the Edges" -- a great primer on networked movement theory

"a solid summary of the fundamentals of network organizing theory circa early 2005"
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Movement as Network: Ten Assertions About Network-Based Movements

"The people and the grassroots leaders are the heart of change. They are everywhere. The power comes from the ability to connect to each other and swarm on an issue."
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