Gender: Female
Status: Single
Age: 54
Sign: Pisces
City: ATLANTA
State: Georgia
Country: US
Signup Date: 2/4/2008
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November 3, 2009 - Tuesday
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Current mood:  accomplished
Category: News and Politics
From Cynthia McKinney: A Quick Update, Live from Libya; Accountability FOUND in Kuala Lumpur Hello! I have a few more meetings before I make the full Libya report. Yes, a group of us from the U.S. attended a Conference in Libya and learned a lot. I do want to ask you to tune in to our DIGNITY channel on Livestream (at http://www.livestream.com/dignity) and see for yourself what we were a part of in Libya. People from all over the U.S.--and, indeed, the world--were there. The full Conference proceedings have been posted. Hours of very good information in multiple languages is available. The U.S. Delegation was received very well. Democracy was the topic of the Conference, and I think it was clear that by the time we experience electronic voting machines, restrictive voter and candidate access laws, special interest money and only limited public campaign finance, our voices are muted because we have "run-away representatives" who run toward the special interests, and away from the values of the very people who elect them. The current health care debate which has turned into a health insurance mandate debate is an example of how hard it is for the people's values and policy desires to become enacted into law. Please tune in to us at http://www.Livestream.com/DIGNITY where you will see all of this and more. I think you will be shocked by my full Kuala Lumpur report. In a few days, we'll also have the proceedings from the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Conference, War Crimes Commission, and War Crimes Tribunal posted on the DIGNITY channel as well. So please stay tuned as we try and provide good, new content on a consistent basis. I am so proud that the song, "Who is Your God?" by Desert Rose was so well received in Kuala Lumpur. I made my remarks and then played the song and several people came up afterwards and asked where could they find it online. In case you didn't see or hear it yet, please click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H99mzLiBenw for a real movement song that has, by the way, been banned by the powerful Rabbinical Society in South Africa. And interestingly, if you go to youtube and put in who is your god? without the quotation marks before who and after the question mark, the song won't come up at all. So, if you lose this message and want to view the song or share it at a later date, remember to search youtube with the song's title in quotation marks. In the upcoming weeks, I will be in Minnesota; New York; Bristol, U.K., Kentucky. Please come to or share news about the events if you can! I'll send exact details later when I'm a bit more settled because now I'm still on travel. Our bike ride is coming together!! Please join us and BIKE4PEACE!! Please help us organize. Please communicate to the contact e-mail below how you can help us! Here's our press release: We're taking an unsupported bicycle ride from San Francisco to Washington, DC between July and Sept, 2010, led by Cynthia McKinney, six term Member of Congress and 2008 Green Party nominee for President. The ride will demonstrate the bicycle as a transformational tool to solve the problems of Climate Change, Oil Wars, the Health Crisis, and the Economic Crunch. Along the way, riders will facilitate community discussions around the question "How can we support each other to live true to our best values?" Our route, schedule, and discussion group are open to anybody with a free Google account. Please join us. If you would like to bicycle all or part of the route, plan a convergence ride to meet up in DC on World Car-Free Day 22-Sept, or host riders passing through your community, please e-mail bike4peace@googlegroups.com If you want the United States to re-enter the global community as a responsible partner, we must accept, atone for, and repair the damage we have done to ourselves and others. Kuala Lumpur is about accountability. If you want to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its actions, please tune in to what we are doing in Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur we heard testimony from victims of U.S. rendition and torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo. We are determined to hold the leaders who are responsible for this behavior accountable for their policies. Here are three articles about what we did in Kuala Lumpur and the types of cases we are interested in that occurred in the name of all taxpayers in the United States. We must not remain silent because we know that silence means consent: 1. Former 6 term United States Congresswoman and presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, delivers a speech at the Kuala Lumpur Conference to Criminalise War Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Mathaba) Former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, addressed the conference to criminalise war today at 11.50am local time, with a speech on the subject of `flouting international law` and on the need to criminalise war. Cynthia McKinney said that the speech given by George Galloway just minutes earlier would not be allowed in the United States, where freedom is under attack in the so-called "War on Terror." She stated that injustice is generally reserved for non-whites and the poor, and gave the experience of the treatment of New Orleans before, during and after Hurricane Katrina as an example. Cynthia gave examples of a native American "Red Indian" named in English language "Splitting the Sky" who was arrested for trying to serve a citizens arrest warrant against George W. Bush, and that she would be testifying at his trial. McKinney was the first person in Congress to ask what the U.S. administration knew about the September 11 attacks, and when did it know it. She said that she was forced out of Washington by the Israeli lobby who targeted her and that she has declared her independence from the administration which has become known for war crimes and torture. She said that the people of Malaysia learnt long ago that there cannot be peace without justice. McKinney said that while a great many Americans go hungry and without health care or housing, trillions of dollars are being spent on war, and she said that the incumbent President Obama is now continuing the war crimes started by George W. Bush. She said that "if we had true democracy in the United States, then we would not have war." She said that now Kuala Lumpur is the "Justice capital of the world." The former US Congresswoman and presidential candidate, then showed a video produced in Cape Town, South Africa, from where she has travelled to this conference. War Crimes Commission Hears Graphic Accounts of US Torture From Former Detainees By Maria J.Dass November 01, 2009 --"SunDaily" -- KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30, 2009): The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission today heard harrowing testimonies about the atrocities committed against the Guantanamo Bay detainees, which included psychological torture and routine humiliation. A total of seven detainees including Sudanese journalist Sami Al’Hajj, and British nationals Moazzam Begg and Rahul Ahmed testified today about the atrocities that took place in the camps including how they were shackled, stripped naked in front of female soldiers, thrown naked into makeshift cells made with barbed wires, injected with substances and subjected to mental torture to the point they hallucinated. Begg was detained in January 2002 in Pakistan, said he was told that there was no specific reason for his arrest except for the fact that he "fit a profile". The family man, who had previously worked in Kabul, Afghanistan on a project to build a school for girls, moved to Pakistan after the Sept 11 bombings. He said he was "kidnapped" from his home, labelled an "enemy combatant" and detained for four years. Begg, who is now director of Cage Prisoners – a human rights organisation that works to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners held as part of the War on Terror – testified about the excruciating conditions in which he was transported from Pakistan to Kandahar and then to Guantanamo Bay. Begg also revealed that he was interrogated more than 300 times including once when insinuations were made that his wife was in danger while the screams of a woman could be heard next door. He also said he was forced to sign a confession that he was member of the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda under threat of torture and because he though it would give him access to legal recourse. Begg also spoke of the psychological torture inflicted on him while he was imprisoned. He said a psychiatrist assigned to speak to him had asked him if he had ever considered committing suicide and even suggested how he could kill himself by tying his prison clothes to make a rope that could be used as a noose. "Of the six deaths that I knew of during detention, five were carried out in this way," Begg said, adding that the detainees were also drugged. Summing up his testimony, Begg revealed to the commission that 92% of people held in Guantanamo Bay were not involved with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, saying he believed many were detained and handed to the Americans to get the hefty bounty paid for each detainee. He also had some harsh words for the role played by the British government in the affair. "The British idea was that they were guests and that this was an American show and I believe my incarceration would not taken place without the aid of the British government who were closest allies to Americans." Meanwhile Ahmed and his friends learnt the hard way about the dangers of seeking pleasure in a hostile environment. In 2002, the then 18-year-old and two friends crossed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to obtain drugs and alcohol which they were told was easily available in the American-occupied Afghanistan. They were promptly arrested and Ahmed spent the next two and the half years of his life in Guantanamo Bay. He said he was interrogated frequently, sometimes in awkward positions while being forced to listen to loud music and dogs barking for up to two days. "When subjected to this for several hours, the effects of this prolonged exposure makes you hallucinate and see things that are not here," he added. Commissioners at the hearing were former Bar Council president Zainur Zakaria, former UN assistant secretary general for humanitarian operations in Iraq Prof Hans-Christof von Sponeck, former assistant secretary general for human resource management and head of UN humanitarian programme in Iraq Dennis J.Halliday, lawyer and former magistrate Musa Ismail, professor of law Gurdial Nijar, Perdana Foundation’s Dr Zulaiha Ismail and Prof Dr Mohd Akram Shair Mohamed of the Islamic University. The testimonies before the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission Hearings will be submitted to a tribunal in conjunction with the Criminalise War Conference and War Crimes Tribunal 2009 spearheaded by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Copyright© 2009 Sun Media Corporation Sdn. Bhd. 3. US/PAKISTAN: Mystery Behind Aafia Siddiqi's 'Arrest' Deepens Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Aug 20 (IPS) - ‘’For you it’s just another story. If you want the truth go to Ghazni where you will get more than I can ever tell you about my sister," said a distraught Fouzia Siddiqi, speaking with IPS, in a voice breaking with helpless desperation. Fouzia’s younger sister, Aafia Siddiqi, 35, made headlines after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced, on Aug. 4, her "arrest" for attempting to "murder and assault" United States’ officers and employees outside the governor’s office in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Jul. 17. No soldiers were reported injured in the incident but Aafia received bullet injuries. Aafia, a neuroscientist, has since been lodged in a Manhattan jail and the preliminary hearing of her case set for Sep. 3. According to charges framed against her in a New York court, she was, at the time of her arrest, found carrying documents describing how to make explosives and chemical, biological and radiological weapons. She, allegedly, also had a list of landmarks in the U.S. and ‘’chemical substances’’ in sealed containers. Aafia’s resurfacing in Ghazni, five years after her disappearance in the southern port city of Karachi, has shaken the nation. The whereabouts of her three children, who were with her at the time she was kidnapped, remain unclear. Aafia's story began in March 2003 when this Pakistani woman, then 30, along with her three children, then aged between four months and seven years, became one more victim of numerous disappearances that have been linked to Pakistan’s role in the U.S.-led ‘war-on-terror’. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has stated that she was initially picked up by an intelligence agency in Pakistan and so the "Pakistan government is also accountable for the crime". The handing over of Aafia to U.S. authorities has been criticised by Pakistani political leaders. "This is not only a heinous act, but tantamount to selling the country's sovereignty and independence to another nation. It is shameful, utterly humiliating to every Pakistani," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of the Jamaat -e-Islami party at a press conference here last week. "It is high time that the present government act like an independent sovereign nation and form its own foreign policy leaving behind the legacy of a discredited military dictator," Ahmed stressed, referring Pervez Musharraf who resigned as president on Monday, amid criticism at home of his pro-U.S. policies. In 2004, then FBI director Robert Mueller named Aafia among the seven al-Qaeda associates who were being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats to the U.S. Two weeks prior to Aafia’s arrest in Ghazni, a British journalist, Yvonne Ridley, held a press conference in Islamabad, in which she identified Aafia as ‘Prisoner No. 650’, being held in solitary confinement at the detention centre attached to the U.S. air base at Bagram. Ridley referred to the book ‘Enemy Combatant’ by Moazzam Beg, a former Guantanamo and Bagram prisoner, who had mentioned hearing endless screams, apparently by a woman being tortured, during his detention at Bagram. "Based on the testimony of detainees held in Bagram in 2003 and 2004, it is clear that there was a woman being held at the base. Whether or not that woman was Aafia Siddiqi is something that, at the moment, cannot be verified," said Asim Qureshi, senior researcher with the rights group Cageprisoners. "However, Dr. Siddiqi has confirmed that she was held in Bagram for years," said Qureshi, responding to queries from IPS. Fouzia describes her sister, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University alumna, as a ‘’fun-loving people’s person," who had completed her PhD on "how to improve memory among mentally challenged children’’. "I fear for her life. They probably don’t want her to see the light of day,’’ said Fouzia. ‘’If they release her, the truth will come out." A press release by the HRCP says: "A close look at the picture (in newspapers here) shows the years of torture - dark circles under her eyes, a broken and badly fixed nose, made up teeth and crumbled lips. It is a picture of a severely dehydrated and unwell person, almost as if on the deathbed. It shows the inhumane brutality of a ‘civilised’ nation by the administration of the country which claims to be civilised." According to the description given to Fouzia given by her brother, a Houston-based architect, who was allowed to meet Aafia in New York, she was in a ‘’fragile condition and in severe pain’’. "She was suffering from multiple bullet wounds that had been not been attended to. She came to court in a wheelchair and was suffering from intense abdominal pain for which she was given aspirin, which could only act as poison for her ulcerous condition," Fouzia said. Aafia had earlier informed her lawyer that she believed part of her intestines had been removed. "My brother told me he saw the perpetrators and the victim together in one room. There was not a shred of compassion, just stony-eyed hate," Fouzia said, tears welling up in her eyes. "She has been condemned even before the trial." "You know, it would have been better if she had died. I believed she had died and was reconciled to the idea. That way I could move on... and then she re-surfaced, like resurrected from the dead, and that brought some hope. But seeing her like this, it just breaks my heart," continued Fouzia. Since the announcement of her arrest there have been protests from rights groups across Pakistan. Amina Janjua, who has been leading a campaign for the recovery of almost 400 missing persons, as chairperson of Defence of the Human Rights, formed after her husband was kidnapped three years ago said she could feel the anguish and utter helplessness of Aafia’s family. "After seeing Aafia’s pictures splashed in newspapers across the country and the torture marks she bore for five years, I fear for my husband’s life too,'' Janjua said. '' But being a woman, and a mother whose children have been separated from her, I can feel the torment she’s going through." "To say that she (Aafia) had been taken into custody only on Jul. 17, 2008 is a blatant lie, as transparently ugly as any falsehood can be. The insinuation, that she had been hiding herself since 2003, is a travesty of truth, an affront to people’s commonsense," stated HRCP. But Aafia’s case seems to be shrouded in mystery and no one is able to piece together the puzzle of her disappearance and reappearance. This has made it difficult for rights groups to bring up her case. Her sister refuses to divulge information about her husband. And if there is a husband, he has not made any statement so far. U.S. officials have said that she was married a second time to a nephew of Sep. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM). This has been fiercely disputed by the HRCP. Zaid Hamid, a defence consultant, heading an Islamabad-based think tank ‘Brasstacks’, does not see any mystery about Aafia’s case except for the ‘’criminal betrayals and the deafening silence of our government, media and civil society about all Guantanamo prisoners, especially Pakistanis." "We consider Dr. Aafia’s case an instance of utterly unconscionable and most brutal form of attack on a human being’s individual rights," says I.A. Rehman, heading the HRCP. Asked why the commission was silent all these years, Rehman said: "The HRCP had been calling for her recovery since 2003 and when it went to the Supreme Court in 2007 her name was high on the list. The only mystery was the silence of Aafia’s family." But the silence, explains Hamid, is due to the threats faced by families in similar circumstance. This was confirmed by Fouzia who said "all these years we were told by various government people that she was alright and is well and not to probe too much or harm would come to her’’. In 2005, Arifa, 18, and her sister Habiba, 20, belonging to Karachi, were arrested from the northern Pakistani town of Swat. Their father, Sher Mohammad Baloch, filed a petition in the High Court and the HRCP took up their case. They were released after a year but HRCP was told by their father that their lips were sealed. The government, under intense pressure from an incensed nation, has sought consular access to Aafia. As a first active step, two diplomats have visited Siddiqi and the media reported that she has requested a copy of the Quran, religiously appropriate food, and assurances of a fair trial. --
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October 28, 2009 - Wednesday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
Cynthia McKinney: On My Way to Kuala Lumpur
Hello! There's lots of good news on the accountability front. By now, I hope you know about the Brussels Tribunal's filing in Spain on war crimes committed in Iraq. I will write more on that later because in Luala Lumpur, I will meet with more Iraqi victims and will have a lot more to say after I've spoken with them.
John Boncore, Splitting the Sky, Native American freedom fighter now living in Canada attempted to hold George Bush accountable for his war crimes while Bush was on a visit in Canada. Splitting the Sky tried to serve a people's warrant on Bush. Splitting the Sky is right. Now, he has a court date in March 2010 and we need to support him. As I learn more from him, I'll definitely pass the information along. Some of us might need to plan a trip to Canada for March!!
In the meantime, I did receive lots of messages about the Mike Ruppert post. Many of you were wondering about him. Well, now you know.
I received messages reminding me about various interviews that Mike or others had done that were noteworthy, particularly on the issue of drugs in the U.S. and the so-called Drug War. I include their links here, as promised:
Did I tell you that I'm working with some avid bikers to do a cross-country bike ride!!! And if I can do it, I know every one on this list that's near our route can do a part of it. And if you're not near our route, a solidarity ride can be organized in your area for sure!!! So, let's get our bikes tuned up and ready to roll!!
We're looking to start in July at the House of Common Sense in Oakland, California. I really am getting excited about this. We want everyone to get in the mood for pedaling!!! I'll send you the dates and route as soon as the experts at that are done. They are working feverishly now to get a great route that we all will enjoy. Of course, the plan is to end up at the White House which could use as much common sense as we can all muster. This is a bike ride for peace!! I understand that there is also a bike ride going on right now for peace in Palestine!
And, finally, I know that many of you on this list care very deeply about Haiti. I found this in my inbox and it is so distrubing that I had to include it in this message. As many of you know, Marguerite Laurent is Haitian-American. This message is from her:
Ron Daniels and the Haiti Support Project is at it again... ------------------------------------------ Published at: Haiti Progres by Marguerite Laurent, March 11, 2005 *
Last August, political activist Ron Daniels, who heads the New York-based Haiti Support Project, scandalized pro-democracy activists by organizing a cruise to commemorate the Haitian bicentennial with leaders of the U.S.-backed opposition front who had just helped overthrow Haiti' s democratically elected government.
Today, Daniels is again working with pro-coup forces and presenting them as "honest brokers, mediators and facilitators, people who are not tied to or committed to any political party, organization or personality within the broad array of progressive forces in the popular movement for democracy in Haiti."
Daniels is convening a host of coup d'état participants, sympathizers and supporters for a March 17 and 18th symposium at the Rayburn Office Building in Washington, DC to supposedly "facilitate a serious and substantive assessment and dialogue about the state of affairs in Haiti with the objective of creating or contributing to momentum towards positive, workable solutions to Haiti's social, economic and political crises."
But Daniels' list of invitees reads like a who's-who of the very coup elite which torpedoed Haiti's democracy on February 29, 2004. They include: Frandley Julien, who led the "Group of 184" opposition front in Cap HaVtien and was the public face in Haiti for Daniel's "Cruising into History" junket last year; Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, a leader of the opposition-aligned Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), who supported and collaborated with armed "rebels" like death-squad leader Jodel Chamblain when they rolled into Hinche in early February 2004, murdering two policemen; Jocelyn "Johnny" McCalla, whose U.S.-State Department-supported National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) has been lambasted for justifying the illegal imprisonment of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, as well as Deputy Amanus Mayette; Jim Morrell of the Washington-based Haiti Democracy Project, which was the coup's think-tank and propaganda clearinghouse; Lionel Delatour of the Center for Free Enterprise and Democracy (CLED), a U.S. State Department-supported businessmen's group which has fought Haiti's democratic forces for almost two decades; Gabriel Marcella from the U.S. Army War College, who recently advocated in U.S. newspapers that Haiti become an international "protectorate" run by Washington and its allies; Alix Baptiste, the illegal, coup-installed Minister for Haitians Living Abroad; and a gaggle of other U.S. government officials and quasi-officials from agencies like USAID and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
We should also note that no less than three representatives of Frandley Denis' National Civic Movement are set to attend.
Is it conceivable that Ron Daniels, who postures as a progressive, can be inviting this patently anti-democratic crowd to discuss "workable solutions" at this hellish juncture in Haiti's most recent coup d'état? It makes about as much sense as 9-11 survivors inviting Osama Bin Laden to the Rayburn Building in Washington to sit with Congressional members and discuss the future of the United States. It is like asking the Ku Klux Klan to come discuss the future civil rights and development of African-Americans in the U.S. after the murders of Emmett Till, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., or the Mississippi civil rights workers.
The Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) has walked in the past year, since the U.S.-backed and implemented coup d'état, hand-in-hand with the poor disenfranchised masses of Haiti, with the majority who disagrees with the coup and denounces illegal Prime Minister Gérard Latortue's murderous death squads. Our collaborators have walked with the people of Belair, Cité Soleil, Cité de Dieu, Fort National, Milot, Cap HaVtien, and those throughout the provinces outside of Port-au-Prince who face the coup d'etat's military forces and this U.S.-backed and illegitimate Latortue regime. We support the women who have been raped, the street children shot while they sleep, the political prisoners, the families forced into exile, and the refugees who cannot find asylum or Temporary Protected Status.
We know who has unequivocally denounced the coup d'état, fought for the principles and process of democracy, and been on the firing line in this merciless attack against Haitian self-determination and sovereignty. We have stood with the Black Caucus, the African Union, Caricom and the people's leaders on the populous streets of Haiti. We bear witness and can credibly point to many who joined the Haitian majority in their long walk to freedom as a new chapter began on Feb. 29, 2004. In that walk, we have not run into the organizers of "Cruising into History." Au contraire. They were one of our adversaries. In the ranks of those fighting for Haiti's dignity and respect for the one-person-one-vote principle, we certainly did not meet the pro-coup representatives who make up almost 80% of the symposium invitees and whom Ron Daniels calls "honest brokers" ready to discuss the future of democracy and development in Haiti.
How is it possible that those who participated in the destabilization and ouster of the constitutional government such as Jim Morrell, Frandley Denis Julien, and Chavannes Jean-Baptiste can now have ANY credibility to sit down and dialogue about a democratic future for Haiti? And what about the people denouncing the coup? Why is Ron Daniels not getting confirmation of attendance to his shindig from the champions of democracy, from organizations who have sent delegations to Haiti in 2004 to report on the human rights situation, organizations such as EPICA, Pax Christi, Miami Law Center, Haiti Accompaniment Project, Amnesty International, National Lawyers Guild, the Haiti Commission of Inquiry, the International Labor/Religious/Community (ILRC) and the Haiti Action Committee.
Are these pro-democracy activists not "honest brokers"? If they were invited, why have they decided to not attend? Why are organizations such as Haiti Action Committee, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, International Action Center, Fondasyon Trant Septanm, Veye Yo, New England Organization for Human Rights in Haiti, Haiti Support Network (HSN), Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners in Haiti, the Resistance Movement of the Popular Bases (MRBP), the Communication Commission for Fanmi Lavalas, Vwa ZansPt, AUMOHD Dwa Moun, Haiti Information Project, Haitkaah Social Justice Project, Ottawa Haiti Solidarity Committee (OHSC) and so many other pro-democracy forces not "honest brokers, facilitators and mediators" but Haiti Democracy Project, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, Frandley Denis Julien, and Ron Daniels are? Why are so many pro-democracy groups not participating in this symposium?
Is this a repeat of the symposium that was held on Dec. 10 and 11th in Canada where the Canadian government invited "leaders in the Haitian community abroad" who were simply coup-d'état leaders while pro-democracy groups with credibility among the grassroots movement for democracy in Haiti were not invited or welcomed at this meeting? Is Ron Daniels taking a leaf out of Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew' s book and now plotting to legitimize this idea of "protectorate" with the Chalabis in the United States?
Where are the Haitian diaspora's representatives who have fought for Haitian rights, who never called for the coup d'etat and denounced it after it had taken place? On Daniel's list, why are there so few undisputed supporters and delegates from Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti's most powerful political party, who are in New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Canada, and France?
Even if pro-democracy forces were to sit down with pro-coup people (which pro-coup forces always refused to do before they took power), at least the symposium's participants should accurately represent Haiti's democratic reality. Without question, the vast majority of Haitians oppose the coup while only a tiny minority supports it. The symposium at present has these proportions reversed and is unbalanced in its representation of the views of the Haitian majority. It's tantamount to attempting a coup d'état in the U.S. Haitian diaspora to give legitimacy to positions that hold no water with the Haitian masses.
I would say, based on the e-mail below and the compiled list of those qualified to "discuss Haiti's future," that Ron Daniels is as clueless today as he was last year when he tried, with Frandley Julien as his spokesperson in Haiti, to bamboozle the African-American intelligentsia, scholars, activists and well-meaning celebrities, such as Danny Glover and other unsuspecting Black Americans, to join him in supporting and collaborating with the "Group of 184" and the Latortue death regime in Haiti in the name of celebrating our ancestors' bicentennial.
Despite Ron Daniel's high-placed friends, the August 2004 "Cruising into History" project failed because it collaborated with putschists. Daniels didn't succeed then and is plainly looking to humiliate himself once again.
--
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October 28, 2009 - Wednesday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
MySpace is not allowing me to embed these videos from YouTube.
You will need to go to the site to check them out.
Here are the links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmoJdfOB8As
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4im28DmlJZg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7bcBpqATss
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October 25, 2009 - Sunday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
Tune in http://www.LiveStream.com/Dignity at 11am ET Sunday, October 25 and Monday, October 26, to witness an historic coming together of people from around the world planning a global effort to discuss dolutions to the problems of imper......ialism, racism, war and genocide, and poverty and oppression. Grassroots activists from around the world will present the ideas of their own communities aimed at solving the massive problems those same communities are facing. Tune in and leave your ideas so they can become a part of the record at this event
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October 23, 2009 - Friday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
A Message From Mike Ruppert by Cynthia McKinney, October 22, 2009 Hello! As many of you know, Mike Ruppert is singularly responsible for confirming from the inside what many of us on the outside knew: that the black community didn't have the infrastructure to import and distribute crack cocaine from which it still reels today, but the CIA did. Mike was on it on September 11th! And explained it to us in his book, "Crossing the Rubicon." Mike is on it in his film CoLLapse, and explains it to us in his new book, "A Presidential Energy Policy." Mike has taken many bullets for us, so that we may know the truth. Now, several more have been fired at him, but we must deflect them and not allow them to (do what they want to do with all of us with targets on our foreheads and) put this warror down. Mike needs our help. Here's what he sent out yesterday: Please Distribute Widely ARKANSAS PUBLISHER REFUSES TO PUBLISH RUPPERT BOOK CITING MORAL/ RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS OVER AUTHOR'S ADVOCACY OF HEMP LEGALIZATION DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCING IT WOULD BE IN BOOKSTORES IN NOVEMBER CA Presidential Energy Policy will be released November 24, 2009 from Variance Publishing. -- Ascot Media Press Release (for Variance Publishing), Oct. 13th, 2009. October 21, 2009 On October 19, just six days after issuing a press release announcing that Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money be in bookstores on November 24th, Variance Publishing owner Tim Schulte notified me by telephone that his company was refusing to publish the book because Point Twenty-four called for legalization of the hemp plant as a partial solution to the energy and economic crises. Schulte cited moral and religious grounds for his decision. I run a moral and ethical company. I don't allow drug use to be advocated. I don't allow rampant sexuality or profanity in my books, Schulte said. Schultes reversal came as headline stories around the country were reporting that President Obama had just ordered federal law enforcement agencies to stop raiding medical marijuana facilities in states where its use has been legalized. No prior objections to the point have been raised by the books reviewers who have all offered extensive praise for the work. Personal letters to me from many credible sources have expressed thanks for the book and welcoming it, including one from former President Jimmy Carter. Schultes decision made it impossible for book buyers to go to book stores and find the book after seeing the critically-acclaimed buzz-film CoLLapse which is scheduled for theatrical and video-on-demand release in November. (Hemp is not mentioned in the film but the film is based upon the book and says so both in the film and on its poster.) Schulte admitted that he had read the entire book after receiving it in June, felt the hemp objection at the time, but did not object to me because he thought that would be taken care of in editing. He offered no explanation as to how I was expected to rewrite Point Twenty-Four and another small section of the book in the few days left before he was committed to send it to the printer. Schulte added that he was aware that I had an agreement with the books digital publisher New World Digital to have the same book on both ends and that for me to substantively change the book would violate my agreement with New World. As a matter of principle I refused to remove Point Twenty-four and also said that I would not break the agreement with New World. Schulte then announced that he was voiding the contract because he could. Schulte was unable to offer any other explanation as to why he had waited until the last minute to raise his objection. In the book I clearly outlined a multitude of uses for the hemp plant as a means to stimulate local food production, for soil restoration and for the plants wide variety of energy-saving uses from nutritional supplements, to lamp oils, to paper, to clothing. None of this makes any sense. Variance had the book for months and had gone to the expense of cover design, layout and issuing the press release before raising the issue. Variances decision came three weeks after Oregon State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian issued a misleading and inaccurate press release (for which he later apologized) stating that I had personally been fined in an Oregon sexual harassment case which he had not read and which was filled with legal and ethical errors. I continue to maintain my complete innocence inthat case which is now under appeal. I was never a named defendant in that case. The only conclusion I can reach is that there is a concerted effort to keep the American people and readers around the world from reading this book. There is only one way to fight back. OPTIONS I have been involved in legal battles for five years now. In 2005-06 I fought and won a civil case in California showing that a former employee, Chris Fusco, had deliberately attempted to sabotage From The Wilderness (FTW). From 2006 until now I have spent an estimated $45,000 proving that I did not ransack FTW offices and smash all seven computers while publishing the Pat Tillman exposC3A9 and to fight the harassment charges. I have also fought a malicious and libelous campaign by a local Oregon newspaper to smear my reputation, even after the editor was convicted of having sex with a minor and remains under ongoing investigation for racketeering and fraud. A legal action will do nothing to get the book into stores in time to benefit from CoLLapses success. I am broke as a result of these non-stop attacks and cannot afford a retainer for yet another lawyer. I am also personally out of energy to engage in another legal battle that cannot solve the immediate problem. As a result of Variances decision, all rights to the book have reverted to me (except for digital and print-on-demand) rights which belong to New World Digital -- now the only source for this vitally important book which is available from Amazon. Retail book vendors will not buy print-on-demand books because unsold copies cannot be returned for credit. I do not have an agent but will happily talk to any literary agents or publishers who step forward. My original agent was fired for a series of egregious miscommunications. Any attempt to try and secure a new publisher for this critically-acclaimed book might take months and no publisher could have the book in stores in less than six months. I have decided to focus on the movie as the only way to get around this newest unfounded attack on my lifes work the only motive for which is to save lives. Widespread reading of A Presidential Energy Policy remains the ultimate objective of all the work I put into CoLLapse. For that I will need help. NORML After the developments I immediately contacted the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Yesterday, I taped a radio interview with NORMLs Russ Belville on Variances actions. Please contact NORML as to how you can hear it. If you have contacts in any local NORML chapters please bring this to their attention immediately. This ridiculous attack cannot go unanswered. FLOOD THE SCREENINGS! The only way to save the book now is to promote the film. CoLLapse has been mentioned by one critic as an Oscar candidate for the 2011 Oscars. That means it will have a long shelf life. CoLLapse is scheduled for theatrical screenings in the following cities. Full details here. NOVEMBER 6th - NEW YORK - ANGELIKA FILM CENTER NOVEMBER 13th - LOS ANGELES - LAEMMLE SUNSET 5 DECEMBER 4th - SAN FRANCISCO - LUMIERE THEATRE DECEMBER 4th - BERKELEY - SHATTUCK CINEMA DECEMBER 4th - SAN DIEGO - KEN CINEMA * MORE DATES COMING SOON! It is all a matter of numbers. The way to see that CoLLapse gets screened in more theaters, in more cities, and stays there is to flood these screenings. In this country every vote may not be counted but every dollar always is. Long lines at screenings (which will result in some being turned away) will guarantee that additional screenings and theaters will be added. The film, once seen, will inflame public demand to see it. That is the only thing that will provide time to find another way to get the book into stores. I will likely not see any personal income from the film until December at the earliest. Meantime I am still struggling to raise my November rent. I am incredibly gratified by the response to our pleas for donations to keep a roof over my head and to fight the Oregon appeal. Please send your donations to: either Mike Ruppert (for personal use), or the FTW Legal Defense Fund at 10736 Jefferson Blvd., PMB 618, Culver City California, 90232. For instructions on PayPal and wire transfer please see elsewhere on this blog or the FTW archival site ( http://www.fromthewilderness.com). RUBBING SALT INTO THE WOUND 93 Immediately after talking to Schulte I called Jenna Orkin who runs the blog bearing my name. In less than thirty minutes she sent me back this book excerpt from Variances web site: Fuck, he muttered to himself, turning off the car's ignition for the third time. Cal wasnt used to being nervous, and he didnt like how it felt. Goddamnit! he said, slamming his hands on the wheels. God-damn you Dan, you asshole! I am unable to provide a contact phone number because the only phone I have is my home phone. For media and interview requests please send an email to mcrfinaid@gmail.com. We check this on a daily basis. Questions about additional screenings of CoLLapse should be directed to collapse@bluemarkfilms.com. Michael C. Ruppert *********** Cynthia McKinney http://www.livestream.com/dignityhttp://dignity.ning.com/http://www.twitter.com/dignityactionhttp://www.myspace.com/dignityactionhttp://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarunhttp://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinneyhttp://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney
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October 17, 2009 - Saturday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
From Cynthia McKinney: Report from South Africa, Upcoming Events, Interesting Video Links
Hello, as promised, I'll give you a brief report from my visit to Cape Town, South Africa.
First of all, I was hosted by two activists who founded Channel Four News, a hard-hitting, truth-telling, non-special interest news outlet serving Cape Town and all of South Africa. But because of their hard-hitting questions to elected leaders, the post-apartheid era government chose to enact regulations that resulted in their temporary shutdown. Undaunted, they organized a very informative film festival chock full of documentaries recalling the South Africa-Israel connections that beefed up repressive capabilities in both states; the role of Coca Cola during the sanctions era; scenes from Gaza after Israel's Operation Cast Lead; and stories of general Palestinian life with plays, songs, and films. Please click here to hear one of the most moving songs I have heard in a very long time:
(Note from Anita: for some reason this video would not come up for me and I got a strange YouTube error message: The URL contained a malformed video ID.)
The name of the group is Desert Rose. The woman singing loaned me her makeup because I was without my suitcases, and it turned out that she sang the most heart-wrenching song of the night, Ayala Katz. The song has been banned by certain Rabbinical authorities in South Africa. Please share this song with all of your friends. I listen to it every day.
Much is at stake today in South Africa at a time when criminal charges have been brought against the South African National Police Commissioner and those charges have implications for the country's leading political party; in addition, there are ongoing investigations into arms deals that could lead all the way to top ANC leaders; information is beginning to leak out about secret negotiations between certain elements of the black resistance and the global elite even before ANC took power; and all of this information coming out at this time might indicate that the people's interests were sold out long before the ink was dry on these arms deals. It is good that South Africans are beginning to look critically and more closely at what they (a nd we, the progressive forces in the world) actually won and to investigate whether they voluntarily stopped short of complete victory. Of course, it was the people on the ground, inside South Africa, who bore the brunt of the struggle and who should reap the benefits of the victory. And they are not, and that's why this line of questioning is more prevalent.
Likewise, for us, prudence dictates that we all now pay very close attention to what is happening in the "post-racial" economy of the U.S. I am absolutely certain that there are lessons in the South African experience for us today.
Just before I arrived in Cape Town, approximately 60,000 textile workers had been on strike all over the country since September 15th. Before that, South Africa had seen general strikes called by municipal workers (over 150,000), construction workers, doctors, and taxi drivers.
I've just been told that the second electricity price hikes have been announced in order to pay for the 2010 World Cup infrastructure needs. If you'll recall, the 2006 World Cup was stolen from South Africa by one racist voter on the Committee who refused to follow his country's instructions and vote for South Africa and instead voted for Germany and the World Cup governing body, FIFA, allowed the vote to stand, so the 2006 World Cup went to Germany, instead. Well, 2010 is South Africa.
And are they building stadium after stadium! And they're beautiful. But the problem is that apartheid-era economic divisions remain and they are stark. On one side of the mountain are the pristine manses, but they have to be served by the blacks, who still live in squalor, so on the other side of the mountain is the most putrid poverty one could witness. Unfortunately, ANC leadership went along with changing the face of the political apartheid regime while allowing the gross, mean, ugly economic apartheid to remain rigidly in place. Land reform, one of the more obvious disparities, is not even on the agenda, I was told.
At the Film Festival, I debuted a short documentary on the murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California. This documentary shows the occupation of black and brown neighborhoods by a militarized, local law enforcement apparatus that parallels, in many ways, the current experiences of neighborhoods of color in post-apartheid South Africa, and of Palestinians on their own occupied land.
The film was done by Operation Small Axe (from the Bob Marley song) and it is narrated by Pacifica's and the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper's own J. R. Valrey, known in the Bay Area as the Minister of Information. The film was very well received by the South African audience who told me that their experience is exactly like that experienced by the young people of the Bay Area, up to and including the murder of Oscar Grant, as chronicled in the film. The South African audience could not believe that they were watching actual footage of a young man's murder.
After seeing what I've seen in Cape Town, it appears to me that the World Cup in South Africa will be just like the Olympics were in Atlanta: the public treasury was expended for the benefit of the fat cats and political insiders who managed most of the private reward. In Atlanta, the citizens were lucky if they got street lights and sidewalks from the deal. Gentrification, a nice way of saying ethnic cleansing, was accelerated and black homeowners were pushed out of the central city--much by design. And along with them went much of their powerful political punch.
A blockbuster book is about to be written by one of South Africa's leading journalists, whom I was able to meet, about the still-brewing arms scandal where, upon inauguration of the post-apartheid government, $5 billion was spent on arms with BAE Systems, rather than on the people. The only thing is that the deal was sealed with what authorities call "financially incentivising" politicians to the tune of C2A3100 million.
And remember, just last year, Mark Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's son pleaded guilty to gun running and coup plotting in oil-rich West Africa, in a story that Channel Four News played a central role in breaking and developing.
So, I was with this same Channel Four News outfit that was so chock-full of information about post-apartheid South Africa, from the triumphs to the disappointments of the people. It was sad as I rode through the many townships of the Cape Town area and saw sewage running through the streets, no land for any type of community gardening or farming, not even trees for a brief respite from the sun, or from which to pluck a piece of fruit.
As we made our way to Robben Island, the famous prison of South Africa's most famous political prisoners, I could see and hear Steve Biko, Chris Hani, Robert Sobukwe in my mind; my hosts told of their apartheid-era exploits--everyone played a role in the liberation of South Africa, but everyone must now also play a role in its stewardship and the management of the reward a nd the people's resources.
I'll go back to South Africa, I want to spend even more time with my hosts, and learn more about their struggle, experience the incredible vistas, and find ways to apply their knowledge to the problems confronting us inside this country today.
Probably, the most important lesson from Cape Town and Paris is this: We a re a part of a global movement for truth and justice. And we cannot be stopped.
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October 12, 2009 - Monday
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October 12, 2009 - Monday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
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October 12, 2009 - Monday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
If we want Policy instead of Speeches Vers La Verité Speech in Paris by Cynthia McKinney
President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was not the only news yesterday. And in my opinion, it’s not even the biggest news. It’s not even the saddest news. But it does provide us with some critical information as we move forward. The three-part question for us, tonight however, is “What are we moving forward TO; is that the place we want to go; and if not, what do we do about it?
In other words, “What is our vision for the future and how do we define success?”
I have been and am still in deep pain over the institutional homicide of my aunt and in my grief, I’ve considered giving up.
But then, I wiped the tears from my eyes long enough to remember communities of people that I’ve been blessed enough to get to know, from Toronto, Canada to Cape Town, South Africa; from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Valdosta, Georgia, there are people struggling through their own pain, their own deep personal disappointments to reach a better place—not just for themselves, but for the global community of man. And I know deep in my own heart, as broken as it is, that I cannot give up. My brain tells me that the struggle for truth, justice, peace, and dignity is too important to lose because of heartbreak.
The one thing that probably best defines everyone in this room are our search for and activities on behalf of principles that are bigger than ourselves. We want our governments to tell us the truth; we want them to deliver justice; we want our global community to live in peace; and we want respect for the dignity of all humankind.
So if these are the ingredients of our vision, what tools do we need to produce the desired result?
Well, first of all, the desired result has to have definition.
I mentioned in one of my messages to a dear friend in response to the Nobel award to President Barack Obama that we needed to keep our eyes on the prize and then I erased it because I don’t think we’ve sufficiently defined what the prize is.
So there must be a small, cohesive, international group of rock-solid people feverishly working to redefine for all who want to be active, and a part of our vision, just what the prize is. And this “prize,” our vision, must be repeated and explained often so people can differentiate our vision, from their reality.
Here is where language becomes important. If we want policy instead of speeches, then this must be repeated early and often because what I’m alarmed by is that in the absence of us providing real definition, and there are reasons for that, people are beginning to think that a speech IS policy.
But, as I said earlier, there was a lot of news yesterday. Some of it even more important than the Nobel Peace Prize Award, but the award certainly overshadowed all other stories.
And I’m always searching for context. Because, as the U.S. military puts it, “perception management” is important. And we must understand the context of what happens and when it happens, in order to understand why.
I always say that we must see the invisible, hear the unspoken, and read the unwritten. That’s what some of the organizers of Vers La Verité were professionally trained to do, before they became whistleblowers, and now our leaders.
Now, what were some of those other interesting news items?
Well, at a Native American Lodge located next to Senator John McCain’s ranch, two people died and several others were hospitalized following a hazardous materials situation at the Sweat Lodge, which is like a spiritual retreat led by Native Americans. I’ve even been invited to participate in one upon my return to the U.S.
Now, I find this interesting and a story that should be followed up on and I will be doing that because I want to make sure there’s no bigger story hidden in an important cultural ritual of the Native Americans who are victims of a genocide in North America that continues to this day.
On the day that the Nobel Prize was announced, we also learned that the U.S. bunker buster bomb will be ready in a few more months.
This is the bomb that holds over 5,000 pounds of explosives and is designed to penetrate hardened facilities, including those underground. Some brilliant people in the U.S. even want to put nuclear tips on bunker buster bombs. However, in announcing the near deployment of the project that pays McDonnell Douglas to adapt the B-2 bomber so it can deliver the Boeing-made bomb to its intended target, the Pentagon press secretary said, "The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion." The article noted that the Obama Administration had not ruled out military action against Iran.
Another story noted that hours after winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama met with his military advisors about troop levels in Afghanistan. The troop increase requested by the U.S. Commander ranged, it is reported, from 10,000 to 60,000—although the top number isn’t listed in that news report. One has to go to another news item to see the true top number. At any rate, it seems that the choices confronting U.S. and European leaders is whether to increase the current 68,000 U.S. boots on the ground in Afghanistan or to merely increase the number of drone attacks. Decreasing death and destruction and bringing our young men and women home is not on the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s agenda for discussion.
The last article of note is about a restaurant in west Georgia that is using the “N-word” on its marquee to describe President Obama. It reminds me of the Atlanta area restaurant that put on its marquee that I was Buckwheat with Boobs. Now, those of you who are from the U.S. will know what that means and the depth of insult that was intended. The article notes that I’ve made this restaurant’s marquee, too. Both restaurant owners claim to not be racists and to be protected by free speech.
My point in including this particular news item is that we still have so far to go just in terms of our human relations. It is imperative that we do what we can to spread our message and our vision and reach those who can be reached.
Which brings me to who can be reached.
Those with enough discernment to know that what is being pronounced from on high is not their reality. And rather than accept or discount the contradictions, we want them to join us and struggle for a better reality for everybody.
I am saddened beyond belief that on the day of the Peace Prize award, a struggling democracy in Honduras was besieged with U.S. supplied weapons and U.S.-trained paramilitaries and snipers in support of coup leaders over the democratically-elected people’s leaders. In fact, the latest dispatch from Honduras is that many of the snipers and paramilitaries—now descending on Honduras from all over Latin America—were trained in my home state of Georgia.
More and more people are experiencing cognitive dissonance and rightly so. Our leaders and respected organizations are lying to us! One friend and former Congressional Staffer of mine puts it this way: we need a democratic military instead of a militarized democracy.
The United States, with the help of its European and Asian allies maintains over 700 bases around the world. The number is increasing under President Obama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that we must combat racism, poverty, and militarism. Our movement cannot struggle against militarism and fail to address racism. We must be comprehensive and to racism, militarism, and poverty, we must now add gaining control of a media that will allow us to communicate to a broader community and not just within our small spheres, and regaining control of education so that people are not so dumbed down that they actually believe that war is peace, slavery is freedom, ignorance is strength, and lies are truth.
And if we are right, then others will join us. They will share with us their dreams and their passions and we will help to empower them.
Global resistance combined with local action, organization, vision, commitment, and resources will allow us to have significant victories in the future.
Vers La Verité understands that the foundation of all of this action, attainment of the prize, can only happen with truth as our foundation.
It’s already a brave new world, let’s get busy and make it ours!!!
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October 8, 2009 - Thursday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
Cynthia McKinney in Paris this week A Vers La Verite? From Cynthia McKinney, October 7, 2009
Hello all, I've just arrived from Cape Town, South Africa and I have a lot to tell you about that visit. However, this is just a note to let you know that I'm now in Paris doing events around civil liberties breaches, illegal war, occupation, stolen elections and electronic voting machines, 9/11 Truth, and lying governments. Yes, they have the same problems we have in our country. And you know what? It's about time we really coordinated our efforts and worked together whenever possible. Not that many of us haven't already been working globally, but it helps increase the impact every time we're together and we can really see how strong we are.
I learned a lot in South Africa and most of it was depressing but necessary information. I'll share that with you once I've recovered from my overnight flight. In the meantime, please encourage your friends in the Paris are a to come to these events. There were massive strikes in South Africa and we know the history of general strikes in Europe. Buyer's remorse isn't just in the U.S.
I just sent a message to the Paris organizers to please change the website they're sending people to for me. Unfortunately, they're directing people to haters who are squatting on my name. Other than that, please click here http://www.verslaverite.org/ to see what we're up to this week in Paris! (Note from Anita: click on the English/American flag icon to view the site in English for those that do not read French!)
Also, if you have information that you'd like me to share with the organizers and the Paris audience, please just send it to me. We need to share as much information and compare as many notes as possible!
Talk to you again soon and I look forward to hearing from you!!
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October 2, 2009 - Friday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
"Getting to South Africa in time for the Film Festival is as important to me as was putting my feet on the soil of Gaza." Cynthia McKinney I was told by a very gracious South African Airlines gate agent that a new law passed by South Africa requiring at least two blank visa pages was strictly enforced and that if they allowed me to fly without the required blank pages, I would be put in jail in South Africa and immediately returned to the US--no questions asked.
I immediately contacted a passport expediter who informed me that the Republic of South Africa is the only country that regulates the number of blank passport pages necessary for admission into the country and that he had just last week dealt with the new law (which took effect in August 2009) for another client. He took my information and my passport in order to obtain a new U.S. passport with only blank pages. I hope to obtain the new passport today in time to fly to South Africa this afternoon, arrive in Cape Town tomorrow, and participate in the Palestinian Film Festival there. It is my intention to abide by all the rules and regulations governing admission to South Africa because the Palestinian Film Festival is an extremely worthy cause and I want to be there.
Getting to South Africa in time for the Film Festival is as important to me as was putting my feet on the soil of Gaza.
McKinney is most known for her Herculean, though unsuccessful, attempts to enter Gaza by boat. In her first attempt, which took place during Israel's Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military rammed McKinney's boat in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the passengers and crew onboard McKinney's boat, the Dignity, were rescued by Lebanon. In her second attempt to enter Gaza by boat, McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire along with 19 other passengers and crew were hijacked in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea by the Israeli military and taken to Israel where she languished in an Israeli prison for seven days. McKinney finally entered Gaza by land after she joined U.K. Member of Parliament George Galloway's Viva Palestina convoy in Cairo and entered Gaza from Egypt.
McKinney finally arrived in Cape Town on October 1 and will speak at the opening of the Palestinian Film Festival tonight.
Don DeBar 87 Ferris Place Ossining, NY 10562 914 945-0815 dondebar@optonline.net Listen to WBAI - 99.5 FM in New York City Peace and Justice Radio
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September 28, 2009 - Monday
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Current mood: accomplished
Category: News and Politics
Today on the Soapbox, Cynthia McKinney (Candidate for President, Green Party) fills in for Cindy and interviews People's Historian: Howard Zinn!
Cindy also interviews Larry Holmes from Bailout the People from the Tent City that they erected in Pittsburgh during the G20 meetings! Click here to listen to this fabulous Soapbox!
http://sheehan.streamguys.org/SoapboxInternet09272009.mp3
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The International People's Declaration of Peace should be up and ready to sign by Monday, October 5th and Cindy will be reading it in front of the White House on the 5th during the anti-war rally we are calling for.
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September 5, 2009 - Saturday
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Current mood:  sad
Category: News and Politics
The Celebration of Life for Cynthia McKinney's Aunt Hazel will take place on Saturday, September 5, 2009 at: King Solomon Baptist Church 7401 S. Central Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90001 323-588-0659
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September 2, 2009 - Wednesday
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Current mood: sad
Category: News and Politics
How Did We Get From There to Here? I never want you to take the journey that I'm currently on. So, I want to tell you about it. It starts on the front of the refrigerator. "The Healthiest Foods on Earth." A two-page primer from apple to watermelon, touting immunity to male fertility support. Inside the refrigerator, natural and organic foods only. On the countertop is the Jack LaLanne juicer, the Magic Bullet, the handy food chopper plus, the food saver vacuum sealer--all items familiar to us because they are constantly hawked on the midnight cable channels. Hanging from the kitchen cabinet door are plastic bags for recycling: one for plastics, the other for aluminum cans. The house and car are filled with reusable shopping bags made of recycled materials. By the way, a new car was in the works, and not because of the cash for clunkers program of the Federal Government. An American-made hybrid was preferred--keeping U.S. workers working. In the back seat of her Ford Focus is a booklet, "Living in a Healthy Body: A New Look at Health & Weight." What I'm trying to describe is someone working very hard at changing a typically indulgent "American" lifestyle into one more respectful and healthy for the body, healthy for our earth. So, in an act of preventive medical care, my aunt Hazel went to the doctor to have a colonoscopy. We are all bombarded with television commercials advising us to have a colonoscopy. I know in the black media, those ads abound. And so, dutifully, my aunt abided by those suggestions for healthy choices and had her first colonoscopy. What the family knows is that her colon was perforated. That's when our journey took us on a wrong turn. Unfortunately, the facility that performed the colonoscopy had told my aunt not to call before the results were published and that would take up to two weeks!!! When my aunt called them because she was feeling so bad, they told her that she'd be ok overnight and that they would call her in the morning. The hospital talked to her and her daughter. The hospital told my aunt to go to sleep overnight and they'd call her back in the morning. But my aunt-tee continued to deteriorate so badly that her daughter called 9-1-1 and by the morning, my aunt-tee was already in surgery at another hospital that was not too busy to care for her. This is when the perforation was discovered and repaired. While my aunt was recovering in the second hospital, in intensive care, a letter was sent from the hospital where the colonoscopy was performed stating that they were the insured's provider and that the hospital performing the emergency surgery would not get paid. The hospital performing the mal-colostomy demanded my aunt-tee back. So, against the desires of the hospital providing the emergency surgery, my aunt, while still in intensive care, was forced to be transferred to the hospital that, in my opinion, committed a capital crime. My aunt-tee deteriorated after the transfer, but fought like heck to live. Unfortunately, her body had been so poisoned by the doctor's failure to recognize that he had perforated her colon that her body became toxic. The third affront to my aunt-tee's health and life occurred when morphine was administered, ostensibly for pain and gave her such a blow to her vital statistics that the family objected to a second administration of morphine. But guess what!!! She was given morphine again, despite her children's complaints!! !! My aunt never recovered from that. My aunt, a divorced mother of two, struggled to live righteously. Those of you in southern California know that she accompanied me almost everywhere I went. She was a hard-working woman, a proud homeowner in Watts, a student working on her Social Work degree, finally able to achieve her dreams after deferring them for so long in order to help her children realize theirs. She also took to the campaign trail too many times, traveling to Georgia to help my father and me realize ours. I can't even believe that she's gone--through no fault of her own--and I'm still wondering how the heck my aunt ended up in this place. Despite all the care she took of herself this is unfathomable to me. And sadly, too many families are arriving at this same place. Iraqi families devastated by U.S. occupation; Afghani families devastated by U.S. war; U.S. families also devastated by U.S. policy makers. Why? For the last four years, I've spouted off the racial quality-of-life disparities that exist in our country. I've said it so much, it's as if no one heard me. Because even during my tenure in Congress, I gave floor speeches, but the policy change never came. I spoke at banquets and conventions about it, but the policy changes never came. Two steps forward always seemed to end with one step backward. If we got the money appropriated, in too many instances, black institutions couldn't be in charge of it, so only a trickle at best reached the community. I found that the "plantation" was alive and well in patterns of federal spending. So when Dr. David Satcher, President Clinton's Surgeon General, found in a 2005 study that over 83,000 blacks die unnecessary and premature deaths each year due to their treatment after they arrive in a doctor's office, among other factors, I added that datum to my panoply of quality-of-life stats. And now, my aunt factors in Dr. Satcher's numbers.. I have seen such betrayal and lack of principle in the current "health care" debate, I had no intention of getting into it. In our Power to the People campaign, I wrote a platform that included policy recommendations to eliminate all disparities still extant in our society, including for health care. A single-payer system is so obviously needed, it should be too politically costly for our Democratic majority in the Congress and our Democratic White House to do anything else. I recommended an end to war. I advocated public ownership of the Federal Reserve. I even anticipated the skullduggery of the bailouts and recommended that if the "powers that be" were intent on forcing Congress to give these bailouts to institutions that conducted what I would call criminal behavior, then at a minimum, a credible person like David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller, should audit all corporations and institutions receiving such funds. I suggested that Senator Obama use the power of his Senatorial pen to amend the bailout legislation to this effect. It didn't happen. My aunt-tee had a policy of rarely voting for an incumbent. She understood that just as she was trying to change herself into a lifestyle that she could believe in, she wasn't going to get political, social, and economic change that she could believe in by voting like everyone else, for the same special interest candidates. Once she decided that it was necessary to step outside of the box of political conformity, she discovered that there were Independent, Green Party, Libertarian, and other political party candidates on her ballot that she had long ignored. She began to listen to them and learned to explore the totality of her options. It was glorious to watch my aunt-tee's liberation. So why is she in the morgue now? Not enough people took that journey with her. Not enough people saw her example. Not enough was done to change policy. At a time when the policy makers have never been so divorced from the reality borne by the average citizens that they govern, the American people have shown an amazing ability to accept graft, corruption, death, and destruction while continuing to believe that hope alone can produce real change. Why did Cindy Sheehan protest without thousands in front of President Obama's $50,000 a week vacation home? I've tried to walk my talk. Just last week it came out that one "journalist" who called for my lynching was on the FBI payroll at the time of his comment. He claims to have been paid to say provocative things. I've withstood a lot--for the people. But now, I really don't know how much more walking or talking I'm able to do. I just wonder, how many more will have to experience this before more people write their own Declarations of Independence from this political disorder. The phone just rang and it was the hospital that performed the botched colonoscopy on my aunt, that ignored her call for help, that demanded that she be transferred while she was in intensive care, that administered morphine twice, despite objections from the family and from which her vitals never recovered. They wanted to know how my aunt would rate their service. I told them poor on every count. Thank you for reading this with empathy and I thank you all for your support. I apologize for any appointments that I've missed while I've been on the road to this place I'm in now. P.S. My friend, David Josué, wrote a beautiful notice that I include in this message. Please click on the link at the end of his message because "dying while black" is real. My aunt is just the latest victim. The highlights are mine: Cynthia McKinney lost a family member . . . 100,000 Unnecessary Black Deaths Per Year! [09/01/09] It is with a heart full of sorrow that I have to inform you of the death of Cynthia's maternal aunt. Hazel was not sick and took all preventive measures to live a long life. She went to have a colonoscopy and her colon was punctured. What else went wrong during the procedure is still unknown to the family. Hazel survived Jim Crow but could not survive the health care system.Cynthia is deeply affected by this tragic event. She was very close to her aunt and Hazel loved her niece. Hazel was a fervent supporter of Cynthia's six terms in Congress and was so happy to see her niece run for President of the United States in 2008. Only last July the 4th she was in Atlanta with us while we were working around the clock to secure Cynthia's release from an Israeli jail. It is hard to accept that she is no more. Thank you David Josué --
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August 25, 2009 - Tuesday
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Current mood:  pissed off
Category: News and Politics
From: SF Bay View -------------------------- Former Congresswoman, presidential candidate and People's Advocate Cynthia McKinney, here in the Bay Area on a five-day fundraising tour for the SF Bay View newspaper, has had us all flying with her eloquence, wisdom and love for the people. This news has brought us back down to earth. Please spread the word and share your thoughts in the comment section at the end of the story on the Bay View website. (You'll also see some interesting photos there that were too big for this riseup list email.) August 24, 2009 Lynching of Cynthia McKinney urged by ‘journalist’ trained and paid by FBI Hal Turner called her ‘a violent, black, racist, bitch’ whose lynching would teach other Blacks that ‘white people are tired of your bullshit, behave or die’ by David Swanson Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney sent an email around on Sunday in which she wrote: "[I]t has just now come to my attention that a ‘journalist’ who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI’s payroll?" "Hate blogger" Hal Turner’s lawyer said last week, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was "trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative" and "worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an ‘agent provocateur’ and was taught by the agency ‘what he could say that wouldn’t be crossing the line.’" Turner is being charged with making death threats against Connecticut legislators and Illinois judges and is apparently going to claim that his actions were legal because he did the same sort of thing when employed by the FBI. In an Associated Press story published Aug. 18, Katie Nelson writes: "Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die. "‘But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,’ [his lawyer] said." This story has also been written up by Wired and by The Southern Poverty Law Center, but without the McKinney angle. McKinney wrote in her email: "Interesting that charges stem from his comments against Connecticut lawmakers and Illinois judges, but not from the threat made against me, a sitting Member of Congress at the time!" And apparently the threat against McKinney was made when Turner admits to having been on the FBI payroll. John Judge, who worked for McKinney, writes of Turner: "This is the guy who announced a program topic suggesting that Cynthia McKinney be lynched on her way to the polls to vote in 2006 and published her campaign office address on the website. He asked how she would look swinging at the end of a rope and what message it would send to other ‘uppity’ Blacks. I called NJ Homeland Security and FBI at the time …. The FBI agent I spoke to said, ‘We know all about Mr. Turner.’ Looks like they did." While Turner’s website is down, another website [AssataShakur.org] has what it claims was posted on Turner’s: "LYNCHING CONGRESSWOMAN CYNTHIA MCKINNEY: SHOULD IT BE DONE BEFORE HER JULY 18 PRIMARY ELECTION? "Tune-in to ‘The Hal Turner Show’ this Wednesday evening from 9:00-11:00 PM eastern US time as we talk about this topic! "Cynthia McKinney is a violent, black, racist, bitch whose official re-election campaign web site calls white people ‘crackers’. As such, on this Wednesday evening’s show I will ask the question ‘Given the prevalence of black crime in America, would it serve the public good to LYNCH Congresswoman McKinney within the next few weeks, while she’s on the campaign trail, so as to send an unmistakable message to other blacks: white people are tired of your bullshit, behave or die." Now, I realize that this sounds like ordinary civil discourse in tea-partied America, and yet it’s fairly easy to imagine altering it in ways that would have "crossed the line." For example, Turner might have targeted a Republican, or a Democrat in good standing, or a white person. Surely that would have crossed some line. This story first appeared Aug. 24 on Let’s Try Democracy: Writings by David Swanson. Cynthia McKinney’s Aug. 23 email about the Hal Turner/FBI call for her lynching Following is the entire email sent by former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and received by the SF Bay View on Aug. 23, 2009. She begins by referring to her current five-day fundraising tour for the San Francisco Bay View, "Cynthia McKinney’s Gaza Solidarity Triumph Tour": "Friends, "I am in the Bay Area and rocking with the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. But something quite insidious is happening and I think you should know immediately how it involves my friends and me. "Hot on the heels of my learning that the Georgia Green Party might have been described by the U.S. Government as a ‘terrorist organization,’ it has just now come to my attention that a ‘journalist’ who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI’s payroll? Interesting that charges stem from his comments against Connecticut lawmakers and Illinois judges, but not from the threat made against me, a sitting Member of Congress at the time! I wonder why. To whom can I or any other innocent citizen turn when the government, itself, is the instigator? "John Judge, my Congressional staffer, is the one who reported the threat. Here is what John just wrote, along with the article that reports that Turner was on the FBI payroll at the time the threat was made against me, according to Turner’s attorney. See the green highlights below: "John Judge wrote: ‘This is the guy who announced a program topic suggesting that Cynthia McKinney be lynched on her way to the polls to vote in 2006 and published her campaign office address on the website. He asked how she would look swinging at the end of a rope and what message it would send to other "uppity" Blacks. I called NJ Homeland Security and FBI at the time since he related it as a death threat. The FBI agent I spoke to said, "We know all about Mr. Turner." Looks like they did. Now they say he was trained as an agent provocateur by the FBI to get others to participate in illegal acts. As Jim Garrison says in the movie "JFK" after interviewing Clay Shaw, "I think we got one." Here is an excerpt. – JJ" [From the Associated Press story reprinted in full below:] "Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die. "’But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,’ Orozco said." [From Wikipedia:] "Harold Charles ‘Hal’ Turner is an American white nationalist and white supremacist from North Bergen, New Jersey. He was arrested in June 2009 over alleged threats to politicians, and is currently jailed without bail. Prior to Turner’s arrest his program, The Hal Turner Show, was a webcast from his home once a week, and it depended on listener donations. "Turner promotes antisemitism (including the rounding up and killing of Jews), he opposes the existence of the state of Israel and he denies the Holocaust. "According to the Associated Press, Hal Turner has exposed through his attorney that he worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an ‘agent provocateur’ and ‘his job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest.’ AP story: ‘Attorney: FBI trained NJ blogger to incite others’ [Here is the Associated Press story referred to above, reprinted in its entirety with Cynthia McKinney’s green highlighting:] "by Katie Nelson "Hartford, Conn., Aug. 18, 2009, AP — A New Jersey blogger facing charges in two states for allegedly making threats against lawmakers and judges was trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative, his attorney said Tuesday. "Hal Turner worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an ‘agent provocateur’ and was taught by the agency ‘what he could say that wouldn’t be crossing the line,’ defense attorney Michael Orozco said. "’His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest,’ Orozco said. "Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die. "’But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,’ Orozco said. "Special Agent Ross Rice, a spokesman for the FBI in Chicago, said he would not comment on or even confirm Turner’s relationship with the FBI. "Orozco spoke to reporters after a court hearing in Hartford on Tuesday. Turner, 47, of North Bergen, N.J., did not appear, because he is in federal custody in Illinois. His arraignment on the Connecticut charges was rescheduled to Oct. 19. "In June, Turner urged his readers to ‘take up arms’ against Connecticut lawmakers and suggested government officials should ‘obey the Constitution or die,’ because he was angry over legislation — later withdrawn — that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches more control over their parish’s finances. "He wrote in Internet postings the same month that the Illinois federal appeals judges ‘deserve to be killed’ because they issued a ruling that upheld ordinances in Chicago and suburban Oak Park banning handguns. He included their photos and the room numbers of their chambers at the courthouse. "Orozco officially joined Turner’s defense team in the Connecticut case on Tuesday, with approval from Superior Court Judge David Gold. Orozco said his Newark, N.J.-based firm has been representing Turner for the past five years, including during his FBI informant years. "Turner’s Connecticut attorney, Matthew R. Potter, said it’s too early to tell which trial will move forward first. Orozco said he plans First Amendment defenses in both cases. "Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, said the office would not comment on Orozco’s statements. "Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved." Jailed ‘Shock’ Blogger Hal Turner Claims FBI Trained Him to Be ‘Agent Provocateur’
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