Counter the Postal-Rate Threat to our Marketplace of Ideas

Counter the Postal-Rate Threat to our Marketplace of Ideas

http://zmagsite.zmag.org/curTOC.htm
"
...
the plan the USPS adopted was largely written by Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media conglomerate.
...
McChesney also points out that the increases are a "radical reformulation" which "goes directly against 215 years of postal policy." Postal discounts for periodicals had been promoted by early U.S. leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to allow the population "full information of their affairs," specifically intended for small political publications to "penetrate the whole mass of the people." Even Federalist Alexander Hamilton (as a fiscally conservative Treasury Secretary) conceded that such rate discounts were necessary for the good of the country.
...
These new rates will have grave consequences for disseminating the very type of information our founding fathers strove to protect and foster when they first established the public postal service." According to a study by McGraw Hill cited in the letter, "Some small magazines will no doubt go out of business. Some will be forced to produce a lesser product to pay for these increases."

Though the public comment period has passed, public outcry against the plan has been growing and is having some effect. Implementation of the new fee structure has been delayed from May until July 15, and a "Stamp Out The Rate Hikes" campaign is underway to generate further public opposition through letters and other actions.
"
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/curTOC.htm

http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html
"
...
Our nation's founders understood the First Amendment would be worth little without a postal system that encouraged broad public participation in America's "marketplace of ideas."
...
President George Washington spoke out for free postage for newspapers through the mail, and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton -- no proponent of government deficit -- conceded that incentives were necessary to spawn a viable press.
...
Our free press did not happen magically; it was built on the foundation of postal policies that encouraged small publications and dissident ideas to spout and flourish.
...
the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) rejected a postal rate increase plan offered by the U.S. Postal Service. Instead they opted to implement a modified version of an extraordinarily complicated plan submitted by media giant Time Warner.
...
the matter was so complicated and unreported that the general public played no role whatsoever, and publications that could not afford significant lobbying and lawyer fees faced high barriers to effective participation.
...
We all lose if the media system loses numerous small publications due to massive postal rate hikes and if it becomes cost prohibitive for new magazines to be launched in the future.
...
The Time Warner plan proposed higher costs for small publishers and discounts for big publishers. The Time Warner plan is so complex that many publications are still unclear what their rate hikes will be if implemented; those smaller publications that have been able to do the math are finding shocking increases on tap, as high as 25-30 percent.
...
The practical result of this move is not only the decline of a democratic mission, but a rate shock for small and medium size magazines even as big publishers are getting a break.

This Is a Battle for the Internet, too
...
Much of the material on the web sites people visit that covers public affairs is generated by these print publications. Much of the material bloggers address originates in these print publications.

If these publications are forced to slash their editorial budgets -- or even go out of business --to pay the massive postal rate increases brought on by the Time Warner plan, it will shrink the range and quality of material available on the Internet.
...
If the print publications do not exist, these stories do not get written.
...
It is imperative that Congress, which is ultimately responsible, intervene to protect the postal subsidy for small publications that is the foundation for the free press in the United States.

And Congress must intervene quickly to see that the July 15 rate hike does not have the unintended consequence of severely punishing countless small and medium-sized publications, perhaps driving hundreds out of business.

Congress must now step in to protect smaller media from these unfair rate hikes.
...

Stop the Rate Hikes, Stand Up for Independent Media:

For individuals: Send a Letter to Congress and the Postal Service

For publications: Sign the Letter to the Postal Board of Governors

For academics: Join Other Professors Who Support This Campaign

"

http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html

-- Mark Frankenberg

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What did we elect these clowns for?

What did we elect these clowns for?

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=22395

-- Mark Frankenberg

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War Profiteers are a Threat to the security of a Free State

War Profiteers are a Threat to the security of a Free State

The Second Amendment is NOT for the formation of rogue business Armies

"Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

This could be read as to say that our communities.. our municipalities are legally able to organize defense forces to protect against a rogue central government, foreign invaders or corporate looters.

This DOESN't mean a "corporate person" should be able to build it's own mercenary army.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/53460/
"
Blackwater Heavies Sue Families of Slain Employees for $10 Million in Brutal Attempt to Suppress Their Story

By Daniel J. Callahan and Marc P. Miles, AlterNet. Posted June 8, 2007.

The lawyers representing the families of four American Blackwater contractors killed in Fallujah make the case that the company's executives are suing the families to keep them quiet and to avoid any accountability.

The following article is by the lawyers representing the families of four American contractors who worked for Blackwater and were killed in Fallujah. After Blackwater refused to share information about why they were killed, the families were told they would have to sue Blackwater to find out. Now Blackwater is trying to sue them for $10 million to keep them quiet.

Raleigh, NC -- The families of four American security contractors who were burned, beaten, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and their decapitated bodies hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River on March 31, 2004, are reaching out to the American public to help protect themselves against the very company their loved ones were serving when killed, Blackwater Security Consulting. After Blackwater lost a series of appeals all the away to the U.S. Supreme Court, Blackwater has now changed its tactics and is suing the dead men's estates for $10 million to silence the families and keep them out of court.
...
Blackwater...is owned by the wealthy and politically-connected Erik Prince.
...
Blackwater employed Kenneth Starr, famed prosecutor in the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, to oppose the families.

To add additional muscle, Blackwater hired Cofer Black, who was the Director of the CIA Counter- Terrorist Center.
...
After filing its suit against the dead men's estates, Blackwater demanded that its claim and the families' existing lawsuit be handled in a private arbitration. By suing the families in arbitration, Blackwater has attempted to move the examination of their wrongful conduct outside of the eye of the public and away from a jury. This comes at the same time when Congress is investigating Blackwater.
...
Due to lack of accountability and oversight, Blackwater's private army has been able to obtain huge profits from the government, utilizing contacts established through Erik Prince's relationships with high-ranking government officials such as Cofer Black and Joseph Schmitz.
...
When the families' attorneys, Callahan & Blaine, obtained a Court Order to take the deposition of a former Blackwater employee with critical information about the incident, Blackwater quickly re-hired him and sent him out of the country.
...
Blackwater has now lifted this atrocity to a whole new level by going on the offensive and suing the families for $10 million. The families now find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun as Blackwater, armed with a war chest and politically-connected attorneys, is aggressively litigating against them. Blackwater has also threatened to hold the administrator of the estates personally liable to scare him into abandoning his position, and has threatened the families' attorneys as well.
...
Blackwater has said that it will not pay one red cent to assist or console the surviving families, but instead has counter sued for $10 million.

Without help, Blackwater will succeed in avoiding scrutiny for its conduct, escaping accountability for its actions, and silencing the families of the four Americans killed in Fallujah. A defense fund has been established by which the public is able to donate money to assist the families with litigation costs and expenses.

Donations can be sent to the estates' trust account, payable to "C&B ITF Blackwater Victims Defense Fund," c/o Callahan & Blaine, 3 Hutton Centre Drive, Ninth Floor, Santa Ana, California 92707. Donations may also be made securely online through PayPal by going to blackwatervictims.com. All donations will be kept confidential and anonymous.
"
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/53460/

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/11/1531232
"
Friday, May 11th, 2007
Author and DN! Correspondent Jeremy Scahill Testifies in Landmark House Hearing on Defense Contracting
...
Jeremy Scahill testified before a House Appropriations hearing on defense contracting. Scahill is author of the book "Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army."
...
a House panel put some of the harshest criticisms of this privatization of the war into the congressional record for the first time.
...
about the lack of oversight of the tens of thousands of contractors deployed in Iraq.
...
we face the widespread use of private forces seemingly accountable to no effective system of oversight or law. While tens of thousands of these contractors provide logistical support services for the military, thousands are heavily armed private soldiers roaming Iraq. We do know that there are 48,000 employees of private military companies in Iraq alone. These forces work for US companies like Blackwater, Triple Canopy and DynCorp, as well as companies from across the globe. Some contractors make in a month what many active-duty soldiers make in a year.
...
we have a phenomenon of soldiers leaving the active-duty military to jump over to the private sector. There’s now slang on the ground in Iraq for this jump; it's called "going Blackwater." To put it bluntly, these private forces create a system where national duty is outbid by profits
...
In four years, there have been no prosecutions for crimes against Iraqis committed by contractors and not a single known prosecution of an armed contractor. That either means that we have tens of thousands of boy scouts working as armed contractors or something is fundamentally wrong with the system.
...
Members of Congress tell me they've been stonewalled in attempts to gain detailed information about the activities of these private contractors. I think it's a disturbing commentary that I’ve received phone calls from members of Congress asking me for documents on the contractors, and not the other way around. In the current discussion in the Congress on this issue, what is seldom discussed is how this system, the privatization of war, has both encouraged and enabled the growth and creation of companies who have benefited and stand to gain even more from an escalation of the war.
...
This war contracting system has intimately linked corporate profits to an escalation of war and conflict. These companies have no incentive to decrease their footprint in the war zone and every incentive to increase it.
...
Blackwater is a company that has very deep connections in US intelligence, in the military. It does indeed have political connections to the White House.
...
Mr. Prince likes to refer to Blackwater as the Federal Express of the national security apparatus.
...
not only is Mr. Prince a significant contributor to several of the campaign causes of Republicans who are in influential positions, particularly in the years of the Republican-controlled congress, as well as to the White House, but he has deep connections to some of the religious right organizations that have come to a position of prominence in this country.
[...]
I think this is a company that embodies a lot of what President Eisenhower warned against in his farewell address in 1961.
...
what we need to do is de-link corporate profits from an escalation of conflict. I think we need to pass effective anti-mercenary legislation.
"
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/11/1531232



-- Mark Frankenberg

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Russ Feingold can Help Us End the War

Russ Feingold can Help Us End the War



--Mark Frankenberg

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Iron Curtain Revisits Germany

Iron Curtain Revisits Germany

Evidence that the G8 summit symbolizes what the people want:


http://www.chroniclejournal.com/CP_stories.php?id=47348


-- Mark Frankenberg

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Mike Malloy: Radio with Balls

Mike Malloy: Radio with Balls

It is entirely possible to play catch with a softball while listening to Mike Malloy on the radio.

This guy cuts to the chase so severely that Air America was afraid to keep him in their lineup.

Now you have to pay to hear him thru here (although the following free pieces are essential):

Mike Malloy: Angry Voice In The Wilderness
http://www.archive.org/details/Protean

Mike Malloy narrates a short summary of the 14 characteristics of Fascism:
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html

Here's what he had to say the day our Armed Forces invaded the sovereign country of Iraq:
http://server7.whiterosesociety.org/content/malloy/MalloyShow-(21-3-2003)_old.mp3

http://watch.windsofchange.net/pics/shockandawe.JPG

-- Mark Frankenberg

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Ways to violate the public trust:

Ways to violate the public trust:

1. Decieve them by shifting attention regarding certain words (I.E. "911" or "JFK") to a new, unrelated situation (Example: flooding the media with this new supposed pre-crime / thought-crime Kennedy Airport thing, so that anyone looking answers regarding links between the JFK assassination and the 911 murders will be hindered in their quest for answers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb

"
...
A Google bomb (also referred to as a 'link bomb') is Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine, often with humorous or political intentions.[1] Because of the way that Google's algorithm works, a page will be ranked higher if the sites that link to that page use consistent anchor text. A Google bomb is created if a large number of sites link to the page in this manner.
...
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb


When a leak becomes a story that is referred to by the leakers as justification for an action, the deception goes full circle. Then, both the public officials involved, as well as the corporations spreading the word, are effectively betraying the public trust.


-- Mark Frankenberg

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Reporter Arrested for Asking Guliani staff 911/WTC Question at Press Conference

Reporter Arrested for Asking Guliani staff 911/WTC Question at Press Conference


We want a new, REAL investigation of 911. None of this Warren Commission Crap. This isn't Black and White TV, yo.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0706/S00036.htm
"
Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Sec
Wednesday, 6 June 2007, 4:46 pm
Press Release: Jones Report
Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Secretary

Charged with Criminal Trespass Despite Protest of CNN Staff and Official Event Press Credentials at GOP Debate in New Hampshire

Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones / Jones Report | June 5, 2006 http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/050607_reporter_arrested_giuliani_orders.html

Manchester, NH - Freelance reporter Matt Lepacek, reporting for Infowars.com, was arrested for asking a question to one of Giuliani's staff members in a press conference. The press secretary identified the New York based reporter as having previously asked Giuliani about his prior knowledge of WTC building collapses and ordered New Hampshire state police to arrest him.

Jason Bermas, reporting for Infowars and America: Freedom to Fascism, confirmed Lepacek had official CNN press credentials for the Republican debate. However, his camera was seized by staff members who shut off the camera, according to Luke Rudkowski, also a freelance Infowars reporter on the scene. He said police physically assaulted both reporters after Rudkowski objected that they were official members of the press and that nothing illegal had taken place. Police reportedly damaged the Infowars-owned camera in the process.

Reporters were questioning Giuliani staff members on a variety of issues, including his apparent ignorance of the 9/11 Commission Report, according to Bermas. The staff members accused the reporters of Ron Paul partisanship, which press denied. It was at this point that Lepacek, who was streaming a live report, asked a staff member about Giuliani's statement to Peter Jennings that he was told beforehand that the WTC buildings would collapse.

Giuliani's press secretary then called over New Hampshire state police, fingering Lepacek.

Though CNN staff members tried to persuade police not to arrest the accredited reporter-- in violation of the First Amendment, Lepacek was taken to jail. The police station told JonesReport.com that Lepacek is being charged with felony criminal trespass. Multiple witnesses on the scene reported that the state police were also heard discussing charges of espionage.

Wearing a webcam at a press event is not an act of espionage. Alex Jones, who was watching the live feed, witnessed Lepacek announce that he was wearing a camera connected to a laptop that was transmitting the press conference live at approximately 9:20 EST. When Lepacek announced that he was broadcasting live, Giuliani staff members responded by getting upset at his questions and ordering his arrest.

Freedom to Fascism reporter Samuel Ettaro was also dragged out after asking a question on Giuliani's ties with Cintra and Macquerie, two foreign contractors involved with the contentious Trans-Texas Corridor under development in Texas.

The entire incident took place in a large press auditorium, apart from the debate stages where authorized media were able to question candidates and their handlers.

Since when do campaign operatives have the power to order state police to arrest someone on false charges or arbitrate who has the right to conduct journalism, a right guarded by the Constitution?

A warning to the press-- if candidates or police don't like your questions, you could be arrested for trespassing and even espionage in the new Orwellian America.

The state police in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where the arrest was made, confirmed that Lepacek is in custody on charges of criminal trespass. Police said information on who filed the trespass complaint was not yet available and would be filed in the police report.

It is clear from talking to multiple eyewitness, as well as the live webcam, that there could not have been a complainant who originated police action, because it happened spontaneously. The police need to be very careful about violating the Bill of Rights and falsely charging someone with a felony crime. This constitutes extreme official oppression and is a total violation of the reporter's civil rights. It would have been bad enough if the reporter would have just been thrown out, but to arrest him when he had a valid press pass and CNN protested his arrest is an outrage.

The arrest-- which clearly violated the First Amendment-- was recorded from two separate camera angles, including a live feed recorded remotely-- so the episode is on record in the event that police destroy or lose tapes seized from Lepacek in attempt to obfuscate the facts of the incident.

If you doubt that police would assault reporters, seize video equipment and act on political orders, then consider the experience Alex Jones had when Texas state troopers arrested him for asking George W. Bush a question during a press conference while he was governor. See video below.

Reporters Matt Lepacek and Luke Rudkowski, both members of WeAreChange.org, as well as freelance reporters for Infowars.com, have also been previously accused-- falsely-- of being terrorists with bombs and have undergone multiple episodes of harassment during peaceful demonstrations and attempts at exercising the right of free press.

Luke Rudkowski and Jason Bermas contributed to this report.



"
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0706/S00036.htm


-- Mark Frankenberg

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Kennedy Assassination.. 9/11

Kennedy Assassination.. 9/11

Why Kennedy NOW?

The Kennedy assassination/coup and the 9/11 false-flag attack are two milestones in the destruction of the United States Republic.

Where are the connections? Here's one, from http://tomflocco.com/Docs/63/BushJfkBookDepo.htm

Some would say that posing in front of this building on that day could be interpreted as a way of winking and nodding to some, and flipping the bird to others.

Poppy's son has or is still destroying evidence.

http://www.cjog.net/speaking_charles_lewis_february_20.html
"
Under Bush’s plan, however, former presidents or their heirs may veto the release of their presidential papers, as may the sitting president—a decision that vested George W. Bush with the authority to block release of his father’s papers, for example
"
http://www.cjog.net/speaking_charles_lewis_february_20.html

Isn't it time people started pulling their heads out of their asses?

http://www.itwasjohnson.impiousdigest.com/

Check out the Bill Hicks Video. He was dead by age 32.

Bill Hicks on the JFK Assassination

See what he said before he died:
http://www.billhicks.com/

There's a lot of death surrounding the agenda of those who worship balance sheets more than human life.

-- Mark Frankenberg

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What Really Happened on 9/11?

9/11 carries the same stink that is all over the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There are even some of the same stinky people involved in both. Both incidents are historical low points in the life of the republic known as the United States of America. Indeed, many say that these two key events mark the death of the idea KNOWN as "America". I don't. I think we American Citizens need to do what we all said we would do when we recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Republic for which the Flag Stands. We need to get informed. We need to demand the truth from those we have hired to administer our communities, and we need to hold those who are misusing their power accountable.

Cindy Sheehan is spot-on in her demand for answers regarding 9/11. Thank you Cindy.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2007/310507cindysheehan.htm
"
Cindy Sheehan: Twin Towers' Collapse Looked Like Controlled Demolition
...
Sheehan, who made headlines this week after she distanced herself from the Democratic party and the establishment left, joined Alex Jones to share her views on her skepticism towards the official 9/11 story.
...

Sheehan questioned why U.S. air defenses were distracted by drills and exercises scheduled for the morning of 9/11 and why standard operating procedure for intercepting errant aircraft was not followed for the first and only time in history.

"When you lose control of an airplane, you intercept it with a military jet and that should only take seconds - from what I understand it's not even an order to do that it's mandatory," said Sheehan.

Speaking on the collapse of the twin towers, Sheehan stated, "It does look to me like a controlled demolition - I'm not an expert - but it does look to me like a controlled demolition - I'm looking at common sense."

"I do see some very high profile people saying it was an inside job," concluded Sheehan.

...

"

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2007/310507cindysheehan.htm


-- Mark Frankenberg

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Music could Die July 15th

Music could Die July 15th

Support the The Internet Radio Equality Act

Over the past decade, Internet Radio has been where new music could be heard, and where new artists were able to showcase their stuff.


http://www.savenetradio.org/musicians/index.html
"
...
The concern about the recent CRB decision is that the performance royalty rates for Internet radio services is an increase of 300-1200 percent from what webcasters were previously paying, causing the majority of webcasters to close their doors come July 15th. It is simply impossible for webcasters to pay 150% of their revenue to royalties.
...
"
http://www.savenetradio.org/musicians/index.html

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2007May/gee20070529005551.htm
"
The Internet Radio Equality Act would reverse a decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which earlier this year handed down a decision that would raise royalty fees for Internet Radio between 300% and 1,200% over the next 5 years.

Such large increases in royalty fees are expected to cause many Internet Radio service providers to go out of business. As a result, a coalition called SaveNetRadio was established to lobby for a new law that would set royalty fees to be the same for Internet Radio as satellite radio services. Currently, satellite radio pays a royalty fee of 7.5% of revenue.
"
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2007May/gee20070529005551.htm


http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/copyright-royalty-board/...
"

Two misperceptions about Internet radio, according to Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren:

First:

...higher rates mean more money for artists. The reality is that the few Internet radio companies that opt to continue (and it will be VERY FEW) will be forced to license directly from labels. In this scenario, the artist share of the revenue will shrink to almost nothing as the monies will go directly to the label and be subject to the usual artist royalty rate (post-recoupment) of single digit percentages. So not only will this eliminate the vast majority of online stations that are the ONLY source of indie music exposure, it will take what little revenue is left from the artists.

Secondly:

...contrary to any statements by SoundExchange or RIAA representatives, Internet radio is not a highly profitable business nor will it be. For most (including Pandora), it's still a money-loser at the old rates that we are working as hard as we can (15 full time sales people are on the job) to turn profitable in a year or two. The growth figures put out by JP Morgan (recently revised downward from $500M to $150M) don't mean profitability—they mean more revenue which comes with greater costs. It's a thin margin business at best. No one's profiteering here.

For more about this situation, you can visit SaveNetRadio.org. – Wilson Rothman

"
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/copyright-royalty-board/...


Support the The Internet Radio Equality Act

Common Cause Lookup Page for Legislator Contacts U.S. Capitol Switchboard: Toll Free 877-851-6437 and 800-426-8073 or (202) 224-3121.

-- Mark Frankenberg

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Public Airwaves for the Public Good

http://www.civic.moveon.org/airwaves/?id=10433-6787274-0mqAyv&t=3
"
Public Airwaves for the Public Good

The federal government is on the verge of turning over a huge portion of our public airwaves to companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast--who will use them for private enrichment instead of the public good.

These newly available airwaves are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize Internet access -- beaming high-speed signals to every park bench, coffee shop, workplace, and home in America at more affordable prices than current Internet service. Phone and cable companies don't want this competition to their Internet service--they'd rather purchase the airwaves at auction and sit on them.

In June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will make a major decision: Use the public airwaves for the public good, or turn them over to big companies who will stifle competition, innovation, and the wireless Internet revolution. We're urging the FCC to mandate that whoever wins the auction cannot stifle competition and innovation.

Can you sign this petition to the FCC today, and send it to your friends?
"
http://www.civic.moveon.org/airwaves/?id=10433-6787274-0mqAyv&t=3


-- Mark Frankenberg

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US versus THEM.. gimme a break

US versus THEM.. gimme a break

Don't let hatemongers divide us. It's part of their plan.
Two arms, two legs, a head.. good with me from the get go:

This first one's mine:



The next two are a 1957 film about how zealots divide working people to seize power:





-- Mark Frankenberg

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How is Today's America like Nazi Germany?

Here's a quick, to-the-point set of leads for you, if you have any doubts as to the seriousness of today's problem:

http://www.uksociety.org/us_germany_parallels_1.htm
"

• lack of real political opposition (weak Weimar government--weak Democratic Party)
• consolidation of massive amounts of power without a clear mandate from the people (1932 election - 2000 election)
• usurpation of leftist terminology to further a RW agenda (national socialism - compassionate conservatism)
• the use of propaganda (Goebbels - Rove, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, FoxNews, CNN)
• hatred of the French
• an appeasing British Prime Minister (Chamberlain - Blair)
• contempt for the international community (Hitler ignores the Treaty of Versailles - Bush ignores the ABM treaty and U.N. treaties on global warming, the international criminal court, landmines, chemical and biological weapons)
• hatred directed at leftists and other groups in opposition to the government (communists - war protesters)
• hatred directed at minority groups (Jews - Arabs)
• weapons of mass destruction cited as a reason to invade other countries (Hitler claims that Poland could use poison gas against Germany - Bush claims Saddam Hussein could use poison gas against the U.S.)
• a terrorist attack on the country as the final catalyst for fascism (Reichstag fire - 9/11 attacks)
• the merging of big business with government (Krupps - Halliburton)
• extreme nationalism (Nazi flags everywhere - American flags everywhere)
• a culture that emphasizes the physical over the intellectual (Aryan *supermen* - American redneckism)
• leader worship (Hitler as Der Fuhrer - Bush as God's child)
• the creation of an internal security department (Gestapo - Department of Homeland Security)
• massive build-up of military and police forces (paramilitary SS dressed in black - paramilitary cops dressed in black)
• the use *lightning* warfare (blitzkrieg - shock and awe)
• easy military victories setting the stage for other conquests (Sudentenland - Poland and France, Iraq - Syria and Iran)
• eventual disastrous conflict with the Russians (WWII - Armageddon?)

"
http://www.uksociety.org/us_germany_parallels_1.htm




-- Mark Frankenberg

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Something is Fishy in Tampa Bay

Something is Fishy in Tampa Bay.

We Have Centcom right down the street.. we have WMNF radio (88.5 FM .. www.wmnf.org) and we have a LOT of political discourse. The word Kennedy comes to mind, too..

There's a lot of dirty stuff going on in Tampa Bay.

Want to get a flavor for life in Tampa Bay? Check out this blog:
http://www.tampasbackdoor.blogspot.com/

You see,.. Not ALL of us have sold out to the dark side.

-- Mark Frankenberg

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ASK Governor CRIST to SAVE PUBLIC ACCESS TV

Please call FL Governor Charlie Crist's office at 850-488-7146, or send an electronic message, immediately, and ask him to veto House Bill 529. Ask the governor to do his job in preserving our republican government (I.E. representative democracy) by strengthening the people's access to our common, public airwaves. America needs the ability to publicly debate issues of the day on the television in a meaningful way in order to stay free.

-- Mark Frankenberg

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BUSH tries to Make U.S. Government Irrelevant

ARROGANCE.

The FOOLS who voted in the last two presidential elections as though they were wagering on the winner in a football game, the FOOLS who embrace the criminal role of America the destroyer, the pillager, the FOOLS who listen to "FAUX NOISE" and swallow every bit of it, having learned long ago to deny any doubt and just go with the flow..

The FOOLS who have enabled the selling out of our country, the leaching of capital and industry from our land; who have pushed our home to the brink of totalitarian dictatorship where torture and killing in the name of JESUS is considered patriotism..

Have stooped to the UTTER FOUL HATEFUL COWARDICE of calling a former President of the United States "Irrelevant".

The FOOLS who destabilized the Middle East by invading a sovereign, secular state thereby plunging it into squalor and religious fundamentalist terror, putting our own country into debt at the expense of our own present and future prosperity, who are working day and night to bankrupt our government and hand it over to weak leadership in order to encourage the total corporatization of governing power..

These IRRESPONSIBLE, TREACHEROUS TORIES are doing their best to make AMERICA IRRELEVANT.

DAMN THEM.

HONOR YOUR OATH.

-- Mark Frankenberg

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MAKE YOUR DAY COUNT -- R.I.P. Yolanda King

We Thank those who have passed on, for the good they did. We mourn those who no longer share this world with us.

We don't have forever. Make your time here count.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6637457,00.html
"
Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. Dies

Wednesday May 16, 2007 1:16 PM

AP Photo NY114, NY126, NY127

By ERRIN HAINES

Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - Yolanda King, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, has died. She was 51.

King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. The family did not know the cause of death, but relatives think it might have been a heart problem, he said.

``She was an actress, author, producer, advocate for peace and nonviolence, who was known and loved for her motivational and inspirational contributions to society,'' the King family said in a statement.

Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., Yolanda Denise King was just an infant when her home was bombed amid the turbulent civil rights era.

She became an actress, ran a production company and appeared in numerous films, including ``Ghosts of Mississippi,'' and as Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries ``King.''

``Yolanda was lovely. She wore the mantle of princess, and she wore it with dignity and charm,'' said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, One of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement. ``She was a warm and gentle person and was thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama.''

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he expressed his condolences to her brother Martin Luther King III on Wednesday. Sharpton said Yolanda King was a ``torch bearer for her parents and a committed activist in her own right.''

``Yolanda never wavered from a commitment to nonviolent social change and justice for all,'' he said. ``She was the first daughter of the civil rights movement and never shamed her parents or her co-activists.''

Yolanda King founded and led Higher Ground Productions, billed as a ``gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation.'' On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change.

She was also an author and a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference - which her father co-founded in 1957 - and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The flag at The King Center, where she was a board member, flew at half-staff on Wednesday.

Yolanda King was the most visible and outspoken among the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s four children during this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since the death of their mother, Coretta Scott King.

At her father's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, she performed a series of solo skits that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Ala.

She also urged the audience to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs about prejudice.

``We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other,'' she said.

When asked by The Associated Press at that event how she was dealing with the loss of her mother, she responded: ``I connected with her spirit so strongly. I am in direct contact with her spirit, and that has given me so much peace and so much strength.''

Survivors include her sister, the Rev. Bernice A. King, and brothers Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King.

Funeral arrangements would be announced later, the family said in a brief statement.

"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6637457,00.html

-- Mark Frankenberg

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Corporatist Brain: Frank Luntz

Corporatist Brain: Frank Luntz

Ever wonder why corporatists all seem to be talking about the same stuff in unison, kind of like a bunch of axe-handles bound together in common purpose (definition of "fasce", the root of "fascism", by the way)? It's because their mouthpieces.. Limbaugh, Hannity, O'reilly, Savage, Coulter, countless others... GINGRICH.. get their thinking instructions from Frank Luntz. Wanna know where to look to figure out what kind of goop is in the minds of these goose-steppers lately? Look to their programmer:

FRANK LUNTZ
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/luntz.html

-- Mark Frankenberg

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Al Arian?

What's the Story with Al Arian?



kudos St. Pete for Peace

-- Mark Frankenberg

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