Block the overtime pay take-away

Effective Aug. 23, when the Bush Fair Labor Standards Act changes are scheduled to take effect, employers may begin to reclassify their employees as exempt, DENYING YOUR RIGHT TO OVERTIME PAY. We can still act on this. Contact your representatives and senators here:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/fax4otpay/step1.tcl

From Michael Moore to Aladdin Casino president

From http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93:

Open Letter to Bill Timmins, President Aladdin Casino and Hotel

Bill Timmins
President
Aladdin Casino and Hotel
Las Vegas, NV

July 20, 2004

Dear Mr. Timmins:

I understand from the news reports I've read that, after Linda Ronstadt, one of America's greatest singers, dedicated a song to me from your stage on Saturday night, you instructed your security guards to remove her from the Aladdin, which they did.

What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.

For you to throw Linda Ronstadt off the premises because she dared to say a few words in support of me and my film, is simply stupid and Un-American. Frankly, I have never heard of such a thing happening. I read that you wouldn't even let her go back up to her room at your hotel! Are you crazy? For crying out loud, it was a song DEDICATION! To "Desperado!" Every American loves that song! Sure, some people didn't like the dedication, and that's their right. But neither they nor you have the right to remove her from your building when all she did was exercise her AMERICAN right to speak her mind.

Of all the things that go on in Las Vegas, this is what creates the need for serious action? What about the other half of the crowd at the Aladdin who, according to the Las Vegas Sun, cheered her when she made her remarks? Did you throw them out, too?

I think you owe Ms. Ronstadt an apology. And I have an idea how you can make it up to her -- and to the millions of Americans you have offended. Invite her back and I'll join her in singing "America the Beautiful" on your stage. Then I will show "Fahrenheit 9/11" free of charge to all your guests and anyone else in Las Vegas who wants to see it.

Mr. Timmins, as the song "Desperado" says -- "Come to your senses!" How can you refuse this offer? I await your reply.

Yours,
Michael Moore
Director, "Fahrenheit 9/11"

from http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93

A MOB of Moms.

"We are Mothers (and others) opposing Bush because this administration’s policies endanger our families and our country.

Our mission is to get the facts out, get the voters out and get this administration out of office."

http://www.mob.org/

Participate in the mass e-mailing to slingshot progressive radio into the "mainstream"!

Please take a moment to send the following paragraph (or a better one by you) to the staff of Air-America Radio at their contact site (http://www.airamericaradio.com/pub/resContactUs.htm):

Air America would do well to include Amy Goodman's hour-long "Democracy Now!" daily news program (www.democracynow.org), as well as programming such as "CounterSpin" and "RadioNation" from the FAIR organization (www.fair.org). Tampa Bay has been the beneficiary of these and other progressive programs for years, and as a result our listener-supported station WMNF, 88.5FM is very successful. Amy Goodman's Tampa showing was her largest in the country. Air America can anchor itself in the radio marketplace and do the United States a great service by airing these programs, the beginning of the genuine "Fair and Balanced" journalism this democracy needs in order to survive.

Should the U.N. monitor our election this year?

U.S. Congresswoman Corrine Brown said regarding the 2000 election, "I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat." She confirmed that plans are in the works to add international monitors.

A "republican", Steve Buyer from Indiana, proposed a measure barring any federal official from requesting that the United Nations formally observe the U.S. elections on Nov. 2. His proposal was approved. As is the order of the day, every single other "republican" in the House of representatives voted "yes" for that proposal.

The House also voted Thursday to strike Corrine Brown's words regarding the stolen election from the congressional record.

There are those who would make the case that the world is now dominated by the United States, and since the United States is a free country, its people should have the right to monitor its elections. The people of the world.

Verified Voting at stake (time sensitive)

Here's a list of things you can do to help ensure that we will have paper reciepts in the coming election (without a reciept, you can't have a recount) :
http://markfrankenberg.com/vvotemail.html

A Storm Threatens the Propaganda Machine

After the Fairness Doctrine (which required the media to present contrasting views on controversial issues) was obliterated by the Reagan Administration in 1987, the Informed Citizenry in the United States began a sixteen-year decline. Coupled with a shrinking middle class, an exploding prison population, increasing homelessness and crime and a collapsing educational system, entities like Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and Fox News appeared. The word "Liberal", which actually means "not limited to or by established dogmata", "free from bigotry", "favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded"... became an expletive to be sneered at by the newly misinformed "mainstream" (i.e. "the Masses"). Timothy Mcveigh lashed out at the perceived "liberal", "big government". The "mainstream" press became more and more a megaphone for a class of radical tories (self-described "conservatives" who railed against the forces of democratization or reform) and who achieved major political victories in the U.S., culminating in the current rein of George the Second.

Is this what we were talking about in the "Pledge of Allegiance", back in school?

The basis of democracy is an informed citizenry.

People are quickly realizing this now. There is a storm coming very fast and it has many fronts. In its path lie many manifestations of what is plainly a propaganda machine. The first casualty in this storm may very well be the FOX organization.

There is a film circulating like wildfire around the country exposing the blatant abuse of the public airwaves by this organization, which can be viewed or bought through this site:

http://www.outfoxed.org/?520=

There is also legal action being initiated against this organization:

http://www.tvbarn.com/ticker2004/archives/024177.shtml

These are steps in the right direction. We need real journalists. A real press. Good information. A consensus of truth. Only then will we be able to restore the greatness of this country, heretofore known as the "Land of the Free".

Your Tax Dollars at Work in Iraq

Caution, the pictures on the following website may jolt you back to reality (may not be suitable to persons under 18 years of age, or to those who prefer to think of the war in Iraq as a video game, a sporting event, or some other form of entertainment: (more at http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_page1.htm)

Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein

An event and a film to expose the FOX propaganda machine

"Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, Fox News Channel turns Republican talking points into news headlines. Now Uncovered director Robert Greenwald -- working with a group of Fox-monitoring MoveOn members -- has put together a documentary film called Outfoxed that exposes Fox for what it is: partisan spin, not news."

"This Sunday evening, July 18th, you're invited to be among the first to see Outfoxed at one of over 2,500 house parties across the nation, hosted by MoveOn and Common Cause members. Then join together in a coast-to-coast conference call with comedian and radio host Al Franken and the movie's director, Robert Greenwald. We'll kick off an exciting campaign to take on Fox for its partisan reporting and deceptive slogan 'Fair and Balanced.'"

Find a house party in your neighborhood at:
http://action.moveon.org/outfoxed/

Check out the trailer for Outfoxed at the movie website here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?520

At this web page, you can also order your own copy of Outfoxed -- for only $9.95 plus shipping.

NAZI GERMANY’S WAR ON TERRORISM

[Copied From Kyle Brackin's site, http://c0balt.com/resources/terror/terror.shtml]

Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag (Parliament) building by a deranged Dutchman to declare a “war on terrorism,” establish his legitimacy as a leader (even though he hadn’t won a majority in the previous election).

“You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history,” he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. “This fire,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion, “is the beginning.” He used the occasion – “a sign from God,” he called it – to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their “evil” deeds in their religion.

Two weeks later, the first prison for terrorists was built in Oranianberg, holding the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the nation’s flag was everywhere, even printed in newspapers suitable for display.

Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation’s now-popular leader had pushed through legislation, in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it, that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people’s homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.

To get his patriotic “Decree on the Protection of People and State” passed over the objections of concerned legislators and civil libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on it: if the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack on the Reichstag building was over by then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people, and the police agencies would be re-restrained.

Within the first months after that terrorist attack, at the suggestion of a political advisor, he brought a formerly obscure word into common usage. Instead of referring to the nation by its name, he began to refer to it as The Fatherland. As hoped, people’s hearts swelled with pride, and the beginning of an us-versus-them mentality was sewn. Our land was “the” homeland, citizens thought: all others were simply foreign lands.

Within a year of the terrorist attack, Hitler’s advisors determined that the various local police and federal agencies around the nation were lacking the clear communication and overall coordinated administration necessary to deal with the terrorist threat facing the nation, including those citizens who were of Middle Eastern ancestry and thus probably terrorist sympathizers. He proposed a single new national agency to protect the security of the Fatherland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single powerful leader.

Most Americans remember his Office of Fatherland Security, known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and Schutzstaffel, simply by its most famous agency’s initials: the SS.

And, perhaps most important, he invited his supporters in industry into the halls of government to help build his new detention camps, his new military, and his new empire which was to herald a thousand years of peace. Industry and government worked hand-in-glove, in a new type of pseudo-democracy first proposed by Mussolini and sustained by war.

[Copied From Kyle Brackin's site, http://c0balt.com/resources/terror/terror.shtml]

Don't let these guys take your election away!

Look. They will use terrorism to frighten you into giving up your election. They are already using it to justify secret searches of your home and review of your financial, purchasing, library and health records. Don't think for a second that your freedom is a given. Look how big China is! Do the words Tiannamen Square mean anything to you? Look how many soldiers and policemen and national guard armories there are compared to that shotgun you might keep under your bed.

With all the un (or under) employed I.T. workers in our country, we can put together a system that will reliably enable us to vote over an 800 number or on line, very quickly and with transparency, accuracy and accountability. The military is already putting a system like that in place for soldiers overseas (using a Bermuda-based company, I might add). If they give us an anonymous confirmation number for our vote, all the votes can be posted on line, next to the anonymous confirmation numbers, along with total headcounts for each precinct, so that any discrepancies can be identified by anyone. For people voting over the internet, the data-entry work will be done by the voters themselves, as they fill out the online forms. This works when you buy something on line or over the phone, or when you deal with your bank in that manner. Demand no less for your vote. Need a paper-trail? Write that confirmation number with your candidate choices on a slip of paper and there's your paper ballot. Don't wait for them to say it's too late to install printers on all those black boxes they bought. Don't let these guys take your election away! It is all the democracy we have left.

Also, remember the word "Impeach". And the word "Immediately". These fascists are playing for keeps. Don't take what's left of your freedom for granted!

Another way to participate in democracy (Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's)

"I started TrueMajority in order to compound the power of all those who believe in social justice, giving children a decent start in life, protecting the environment, and America working in cooperation with the world community."
http://action.truemajority.org/register/

Bring movie "The Corporation" to your theatre

They didn't want us to see "Fahrenheit 911". They
Really don't want us to see "The Corporation".

http://www.thecorporation.com/
http://www.thecorporation.tv/usa/

We Demand Clean Elections

We have learned that our elections are being managed by private and foreign interests, and that our voting machines won't even give us paper verification, preventing recounts should they be needed. We have learned that polling technology is vulnerable to tampering. We have learned of the intentions of some of the providers of this technology to influence the outcome of our elections. We have severe concerns regarding the integrity of our electoral process.

WE DEMAND an OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBER FOR OUR BALLOT and the ABILITY TO CHECK IT.

We demand an OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBER at the poll, visible right next to the list of candidates we have chosen, when we vote. We demand that these OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBERS be listed on the internet along with the votes corresponding to each OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBER; so that any one of us can verify that the votes corresponding to our individually-assigned and unique, OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBERS are correct, and that our ballot was in fact actually cast. We demand the ability to view, on the internet, the list of OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBERS, with their corresponding votes, for any precinct in the United States of America, along with the actual total of votes cast for any and every precinct, for all elections beginning with the November, 2004 election, so that any one of us can re-count the votes if we choose.

We, The People of the United States of America demand a clean election, this time and every time afterwards. For this and only this purpose, and for every election from November 2004 to eternity, we demand an OPTIONAL, ANONYMOUS TRACKING NUMBER and the ABILITY TO CHECK IT, for our ballot.

-- Mark Frankenberg (http://www.americanwisdom.org)

"Fascism Can't Happen in America"

Really?
http://www.oilempire.us/fascism.html

Help Make Fahrenheit 9/11 a Huge Hit

"Given how devastating Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11 is to President Bush's carefully crafted facade, it's hardly surprising that right-wing groups who call Moore a "domestic enemy" are using censorship and intimidation tactics to try to get it pulled from theaters. That's why we've got to do everything we can to make the opening a huge success. We're asking people to pledge to see the film on the opening night -- Friday, June 25th. (If you can only make it on Saturday or Sunday, that's OK too.) To pledge, just fill out the form below."
http://www.moveonpac.org/f911/

Reclaim Radio

Take Action Now!

Senate Bill 2505 would give thousands of communities the right to broadcast on low-power FM airwaves. Congress needs to know how important it is for this bill to pass. Please take these two steps. It only takes a minute.
http://freepress.net/lpfm/

Jeb Bush Enables Ballot Box Stuffing

Prior to 25 May, 2004, in Florida, a witness signature was required in order to validate an absentee ballot. No more.
According to the Miami Herald, "Lawmakers say they acted this year to drop the witness signature because election supervisors were throwing out ballots because they lacked the signature. Nearly 2,000 absentee ballots weren't counted in the March presidential primary because they did not have a witness signature."
Maybe they were right to throw out those ballots. Maybe notices should have appeared in the news emphasizing the need to have a witness sign the ballots. Maybe, as in 1997, some of those ballots didn't deserve to be counted.
".. this change in law came despite the fact that witness signatures were pivotal in tracking down allegations of voter fraud in the 1997 mayoral election in Miami that was eventually overturned and led to multiple arrests.
"
What we need is a giant spotlight, to be shone on the electoral process this year.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=ascii&q=jeb+absentee+ballot+signature