Democrats Learn The Wrong Lesson
The Nation
The Democrats seem to have learned the wrong lesson. Surprise!
Bush Zones Go National
by Jim Hightower
At the
2000 GOP nominating convention in Philadelphia, candidate Bush created
a fenced-in, out-of-sight protest zone that could only hold barely
1,500 people at a time. So citizens who wished to give voice to their
many grievances with the Powers That Be had to:
(1) Schedule their exercise of First Amendment rights with the decidedly unsympathetic authorities.
(2) Report like cattle to the protest pen at their designated time, and only in the numbers authorized.
(3)
Then, under the recorded surveillance of the authorities, feel free to
let loose with all the speech they could utter within their allotted
minutes (although no one--not Bush, not convention delegates, not the
preening members of Congress, not the limousine-gliding corporate
sponsors and certainly not the mass media--would be anywhere nearby to
hear a single word of what they had to say).
Imagine
how proud the Founders would be of this interpretation of their
revolutionary work. The Democrats, always willing to learn useful
tricks from the opposition, created their own "free-speech zone" when
they gathered in Los Angeles that year for their convention.
(more)
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Sunday, August 8
Democrats Learn The Wrong Lesson
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 08 Aug 2004 04:31 PM CDT
Iowa Author Publishes New Book
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 08 Aug 2004 10:10 AM CDT
Iowa Author Publishes New Book
 Mike Palecek Mike Palecek is an author living in northwest Iowa. He is a former federal prisoner for peace, Iowa newspaper reporter, and Iowa congressional candidate. His newest book will be released in September by New Leaf Books of Chicago. "The Last Liberal Outlaw" tells the story of an Iowa small-town editor fighting the construction of a private federal prison. For more information on Palecek's books: www.iowapeace.com Mike's Book "The Last Liberal Outlaw" depicts the dissidents in a small Iowa town versus the coffee shop crowd in a life and death struggle that could have been taken from today's Atlantic News-Telegraph, Diagonal Progress, or Story City Herald, if one were to read between the lines. Tom Blue is a newspaper editor who wants to do the right thing. He is willing to fight the local establishment to oppose the building of a federal prison near town, something which he sees as wrong. So often small town journalists in America, even big town ones, do not care so much about what is right, but what is profitable. However, there are still those out there fighting the good fight. One of them is Tom Blue, in little Liberal, Iowa. Come along and see Tom face down the Chamber of Commerce, the bank, the city council and even his own boss, in the middle of Main Street, with a Macintosh, at noon. Mike's Story Mike Palecek lives in northwest Iowa with his family. He works at a group home for mentally-disabled adults and also drives a bus. During the 1980s, he served five terms in U.S. federal prisons and county jails for non-violent civil disobedience against America's military. He has worked as a reporter, editor and publisher on small newspapers in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. In 2000, he was the Iowa Democratic Party's nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth District, garnering 67,500 votes on an anti-prison, anti-military, pro-immigrant platform in one of the most conservative congressional districts in the nation. Palecek was a seminary student in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1979 when he met Fr. Daniel Berrigan. On Berrigan's invitation, Palecek attended a protest at the White House and Pentagon during Holy Week, where he saw Fr. Carl Kabat pour blood on a White House pillar. [Kabat has since served over 16 years in U.S. prisons for his resistance to the American military.] He describes this as a seminal event in his move toward activism. Mike says he had a breakdown during his last jail stint, six months in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, county jail, requiring anti-depression medication to make it through. A psychiatrist diagnosed it as clinical depression, post-traumatic stress disorder. "It was the first time I had been in jail when we had a son," said Palecek. "I think that had a lot to do with it. It also could have been post-traumatic stress syndrome from an earlier time in the Chicago, Leavenworth, Terre Haute, El Reno and El Paso federal prisons. When I was sentenced to Council Bluffs, the judge gave me a choice of whether to stay close or go to the federal medical center in Springfield, Missouri. I had heard stories about Springfield and chose to stay close to my family and friends. "And my troubles could also have been due to me not being tough enough. A lot of people do a lot more time than I did and come out in better shape, or at least, that's what they say. However, the truth remains that America's prisons are horrific warehouses of human beings. And Americans generally do not care one way or the other, thinking it has nothing to do with them." For more information on Palecek's books: www.iowapeace.com
BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO RELEASE SWEETHEART DEAL THAT EXEMPTS FACTORY FARMS FROM AIR POLLUTION REQUIREMENTS
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 08 Aug 2004 05:00 AM CDT
BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO RELEASE SWEETHEART DEAL THAT EXEMPTS FACTORY FARMS FROM AIR POLLUTION REQUIREMENTS
Sources Inside EPA Say Deal to be Released as Early as Next Week; Earlier Commitment to Public Comment Period Now Not Expected to be Honored WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush Administration is expected to announce as early as next week an agreement with the meat industry that will shield factory farms from federal air pollution requirements, according to the Environment Integrity Project (EIP) and the Sierra Club. Despite making an earlier commitment to allow public comment on the sweetheart deal, the Administration is expected to go forward with the deal with mega-farms without any input from the public. Meat industry groups approached the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2002 asking the agency to shield them from Clean Air Act and Superfund hazardous waste laws. Bush administration officials then corresponded in secret with industry lobbyists to craft a deal that allows the industry to continue polluting without threat of prosecution, in exchange for a commitment from factory farms to study the problem for a number of years. The agreement with the meat industry was drafted without consulting those who suffer from the pollution caused by large livestock operations, and with only minimal input from the scientific and environmental communities. Relying on leaked drafts and documents that were obtained under open records laws, a variety of concerned parties have told EPA that they object to the sweetheart deal because of the lack of public participation in the process to date, the sweeping nature of the liability shield, and the scientific flaws in the monitoring program. Sources inside EPA say that the agency now is finalizing the sweetheart deal, possibly without seeking public comment - a move that breaks a written promise made to Congress in October 2003. Using a closed process involving only the industry, the new EPA agreement is another example of the Bush Administration letting polluters write the rules while leaving the public out of the process. The deal with the livestock industry will put many communities at risk. The American Public Health Association and the National Academy of Sciences have stated that pollution from massive animal factories jeopardizes public health in rural communities across the nation. Bearing no resemblance to the traditional family farm, these facilities pack thousands of animals into small spaces, produce as much waste as a small city, and spew toxic gases and other pollutants into the air. Livestock production is the single largest contributor of ammonia gas release in the United States, and giant animal factories also emit hydrogen sulfide and fine dust particles - both of which are linked to respiratory illness - in dangerous quantities. For more information on factory farm pollution, go to: http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/ and http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/page31.cfm |
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