Democrats, Liberal Bloggers Supporting Each Other

Coming up is the YearlyKos Convention from August 2-5 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. It's a gathering of the "Netroots community, the US-based (but globally focused and inclusive) non-partisan grassroots political action community that uses the Internet and blogs as primary tools for: expressing viewpoints, building consensus, acting to change the status quo, mobilizing huge numbers of people and informing each other and the world about current events, grassroots actions, networks, meetings, policy and more."

YearlyKos is one of numerous events and situations where Dems and Liberal bloggers have come together sharing viewpoints and gaining strength. Bill Sher's article at Huffington Post is on point when he says,"liberal bloggers have shown they can help by countering misinformation, spotlighting underreported news, and pushing parameters of national debate narrowed by pundits and political consultants." Precisely.

L.A. Hospital Gives Away Your Info to Protect President

If this isn't one great example of a total breakdown of privacy rights in the United States then... I know I can find a dozen more! This "Notice of Privacy Practices" from Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A. shows how you agree to give up your personal information for the listed reasons. One says "For protective services for the President and others." and another extremely disturbing reason, "To list you in our directory so we can respond to people asking for you by name." How is this OK at all?

Thanks to the good peeps over at Boing Boing for gettin' this out into the public view!

Will it Take a Tet Offensive?

The Vietnam War was undoubtedly conflicted. Most people now understand that. We've all been shown the videos of protests in school. And we've all read about the social changes in history classes. Yet, despite the similar unpopularity of our current conflict, the youth of our country seem lounging.

The Tet Offensive was a major campaign by the Communist Vietnamese to retake land, and, "Although the offensive was not militarily successful for the Vietnamese Communists, it was a political and psychological victory for them. It dramatically contradicted optimistic claims by the U.S. government that the war had already been won." Will it take such an act of shock and awe to spark our current populous out of apathy?

Don't think there's nothing being done. There certainly is an effort. The digital roots movement is strong. There are thousands of websites that tout slogans against the war and its creators. But the Internet is nothing more than a canvas for us to shout at. And, unless those with the real ability to change the world and war's affect on it are reading sites like this, then a digital movement is faceless.

It's true that the Vietnam war did not end because of protests. Anyone looking at a time line can see that. But those protesters did have a face. They used their bodies to become symbols of what they believed in. And a body is always a better symbol than anything someone I or anyone else could type.

I know this is my first post. I know most readers don't know me. So I'll clarify a quick point about myself. I will never be the one to answer questions like the one I've posed in this entry's title. But I will do all I can to spur the idea that we can ponder such questions. And that we, the face-full, have the ability to make sure this and future wars don't require more casualties to stab us into using our bodies as weapons of example and our minds as fevers burning out the foolishness that creates war.

Source: http://www.reference.com/search?q=tet%20offensive

"No End in Sight" Shows How Wrong Iraq Has Gone

No End in Sight Director/Screenwriter Charles Ferguson takes us on a journey to further expose the devastation caused by U.S. foreign policy in Iraq. The film is based on over 200 hours of footage, and a retelling of events by high ranking U.S. officials, Iraqi civilians, American soldiers, and prominent analysts. No End in Sight took home the 'Documentary Special Jury Prize' from Sundance this year and opens in select theaters throughout the U.S. today. Watch trailer below...

Official Site

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DEA Raids 10 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in California

The Federal government doesn't care about California voters, raids Marijuana dispensaries.

In 1996, California voters approved the use of medical marijuana, allowing Marijuana dispensaries, and said people should not be subject to criminal prosecution. Rather than listening to the U.S. citizens of California, the DEA went ahead and shut down at least 10 medical Marijuana dispensaries in Southern California yesterday. The DEA dispensary raids come just as the U.S. House (also failing to listen to the people of California) voted against a bill that would protect state Marijuana dispensaries from DEA raids.

F.Y.I. - Some presidential candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards have called for an end to the DEA’s medical marijuana raids

Listen [NPR]
Read [MPP]
Read [NORML]

Alert! New Bush Executive Order Criminalizes Antiwar Efforts Further

New Executive Order provides President with authority to confiscate assets of whoever opposes U.S. war in Iraq.

On July 17, Bush issued a new Executive Order giving the government power to seize & confiscate the assets of U.S. citizens who oppose the war effort in Iraq. The Executive Order is titled “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq” and it allows the Department of Defense to interfere in financial affairs and tell the Treasury to “block the property” and/or confiscate/freeze the assets of people and organizations opposing the war in Iraq.

Now if this isn't another swift move towards totalitarianism then I don't know what is. This is very dangerous to U.S. citizens and our freedom of speech. What should bother us more is the fact that not many people even know about this. These are the kinds of policies and orders passed under the table and purposely kept in the dark and away from any kind of popular media networks. Link [The White House]

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65% of Americans now dissaprove of Bush

Now even though most of these polls are "unscientific" we're pretty sure they give a nice rough idea. We've seen how many MSNBC viewers/site visitors think Bush should be impeached (along with many other people in the nation), and how many European's think Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il.

Now, a Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance. This places Bush in "the running for most unpopular president in the history of modern polling." Hooray for the almighty Bush who has saved us from... nothing. Read More

Loose Change producer Korey Rowe arrested for desertion

Korey Rowe, one of the producers of the movie Loose Change, about the U.S. government's possible involvement in 9/11, has been arrested for desertion. This arrest comes just as the final cut (3rd edition) of Loose Change is to be released before the end of this year. Interesting.

Rowe is a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, and was arrested on a "military warrant" that Otsego County (New York) Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. said was brought to the attention of deputies by the Oneonta, NY Police Department.

Additionally interesting: The Department of Homeland Security seems to have visited this blog which wrote about the story, from this IP pnxuser1.tsa.dhs.gov(129.33.119.12). Read More