See You At The Special Registration Protest Today At Noon
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Author Archives: Lisa
British Shrub War Widow Will Be Giving Him A Piece Of Her Mind
My Husband Died in Vain
By Severin Carrell and Andrew Buncombe for the Independent UK.
President George Bush will be accused this week of lying about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in a face-to-face meeting with the families of British soldiers killed in the war, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Mr Bush announced last week he was prepared to meet a small group of families of the British war dead. The names have not been officially revealed but two of the invited families have come forward to talk exclusively to the IoS, saying they will challenge the US President to explain why he went to war without a United Nations mandate and why no chemical and biological weapons have been found.
Lianne Seymour, whose husband, Commando Ian Seymour, was killed in a helicopter crash at the outbreak of the war, welcomed the chance to meet Mr Bush. But she dismissed his claim that the 53 Britons killed so far in Iraq had died in a good cause. She said: “Bush has been suggesting that he’s going to put our minds at rest. He suggests our husbands’ lives weren’t lost in vain. However, I’m going to challenge him on it.
“They misled the guys going out there. You can’t just do something wrong and hope you find a good reason for it later. That’s why we have all the UN guidelines in the first place.”…
Quite how his meeting the families of British servicemen killed in Iraq will be perceived at home is unclear: the President has not attended the funerals of any of the American troops killed. Nor has he visited any of the thousands of injured troops who have returned to the US.
Fox Nearly Sued Itself Over ‘Simpsons’ Parody
Fox Nearly Sued Itself Over ‘Simpsons’ Parody
By Agence France Presse.
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of “The Simpsons” over a parody of the channel’s right-wing political stance, the creator of the hit US television show has claimed.
In an interview this week with National Public Radio, Matt Groening recalled how the news channel had considered legal action, despite the fact that “The Simpsons” is broadcast on sister network, Fox Entertainment.
According to Groening, Fox took exception took a Simpsons’ version of the Fox News rolling news ticker which parodied the channel’s anti-Democrat stance, with headlines like “Do Democrats Cause Cancer?”
“Fox fought against it and said they would sue the show,” Groening said.
“We called their bluff because we didn’t think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. So, we got away with it.”
Other satirical Fox news bulletins featured in the show included: “Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay… JFK posthumously joins Republican Party… Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple…”
While the lawsuit never materialized, Groening said some action was taken.
“Now Fox has a new rule that we can’t do those little fake news crawls on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it’s real news,” he said.
“The Simpsons,” featuring the dysfunctional family of patriarch Homer Simpson and his rowdy brood, is now in its 14th year and is expected to become the longest-running situation comedy in US history in 2005.
What The Shrub Can Learn From The Gropinator — Oops, I Mean Governator
This one’s a little late getting up, but better late than never.
Recall Lessons for the President
By Howard Fineman for Newsweek.
It would be nice to think that the ending of Election Day here will bring peace to the politics of California, and to the country. It would be nice, but wrong. Don’t expect an end to partisan rancor, voter anger and alienation, here or elsewhere. This state’s political warfare will resume long before Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger actually takes office. And the same forces that are shaking Sacramento could materialize on the doorstep of the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave…
But in an odd but important way, the Arnold victory could be an ominous message for President Bush. There is a straight line of voter protest running from Ross Perot through John McCain and on to the Internet-based campaigns of Wesley Clark and even Howard Dean. To some extent, all were or are powered by a sense of voter alienation from the centers of authority in government politics-whether those center are in Sacramento or Washington, D.C. The bigger and more remote the government, the more ignored and misunderstood the voters feel.
Re: CIA Leak Investigation — Shrubsters Will “Organize” Notes Before Handing Them Over To Justice Dept.
Bush Aides Will Review Leak Notes
By David Jackson for the The Dallas Morning News.
White House lawyers will review phone logs and other records supplied by presidential aides before turning the documents over to the Justice Department officials conducting the investigation into who leaked a CIA undercover operative’s identity, officials said Monday.
The disclosure inspired new Democratic calls for an independent inquiry.
“To allow the White House counsel to review records before the prosecutors would see them is just about unheard of in the way cases are always prosecuted,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on NBC’s Today show. “And the possibility of mischief, or worse than mischief, is very, very large.”
Help Me Write My Term Paper On The FCC’s Process and New Media Ownership Rules
I’m writing a term paper for my Ethics class on whether Michael Powell followed all the correct procedures when he pushed through the New Media Ownership rules last June. I’m guessing that he followed everything to the letter of the law, but writing the paper will help me learn about what “the process” actually is and know for sure.
Please email me at lisarein@finetuning.com with any links or relevant articles you know of about this subject that you think would be useful to my research. I’ll be publishing the finished product here when I’m done.
Thanks!
Help Free The Berkeley 3!
Time constraints prohibit me from elaborating on this. Read for yourselves 🙂
(Thanks, Kevin.)
Help Free The Berkeley 3!
11-17-03- Drop All Charges Against The Berkeley 3!
Free speech at Berkeley is under attack. Anti-war student organizers need your immediate help.
Call, email or write to: Asst. Chancellor John Cummins Office of the Chancellor 200 California Hall #1500 Berkeley, CA 94720-1500 jcummins@uclink4.berkeley.edu 510-642-7464
**Please CC your emails to the administration to: DefendBerkeley3@aol.com
Dean of Students Karen Kenney turned the clock back decades by approving sanctions against three Berkeley students for their part in a peaceful on campus sit-in on March 20 (for more details go to www.antiwarnetwork.org). The protest was organized by the Berkeley Stop the War coalition and involved 4,000 students at a rally with 400 participating in the sit-in. Rachel Odes and Snehal Shingavi face 20 hours of community service and a letter of reprimand permanently placed on their academic record. Michael Smith faces 30 hours of community service, plus a stayed suspension for one semester. Outrageously, Smith will be forced to submit to “anger management” at the university’s infirmary. If he completes that “successfully,” his suspension might be commuted to a letter of reprimand. This use of psychological treatment as punishment for a political activity recalls the classification of dissent as a “psychiatric disorder” in Stalinist Russia. Dean Kenney’s actions mock Berkeley’s reputation as a haven for freedom of speech and progressive political action.
Besides the obvious chilling effect on student’s exercising their civil liberties on campus, the university continued its disregard for due process procedure in sentencing the students. For example:
*Chair of the Disciplinary Hearing Board Prof. Robert Jacobsen arbitrarily ruled that only 25 members of the Berkeley campus community could attend the hearing, despite repeated requests on the students’ part that the hearing be open. At least 15 university police and private security guards barricaded the entrance to the hearing site to enforce this decision.
*Jacobsen missed the university-mandated deadline for issuing the disciplinary report.
*The university provides only unpaid undergraduates “advocates” to help with the defense. When the three students obtained legal representation on their own initiative, Jacobsen announced that he would allow the lawyer to participate only marginally in the hearings at his discretion as chair.
Following the hearing, the university announced that it would eliminate students’ right to legal counsel so as to make the process more “educational.” The Berkeley Daily Cal student newspaper editorial board correctly noted that: “To suggest students have something to learn from defending themselves already assumes their guilt.” (http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=13525)
Perhaps the most shocking component of the administration’s prosecution stemmed from its conception of “progressive discipline.” Under this theory, students who take part in more than one political protest face harsher and harsher punishments. So, for instance, the university based its argument to prosecute Shingavi, at least in part, on the fact that he was the “point person” for a previous protest conducted by the Students for Justice in Palestine. Although he was not arrested or charged in connection with that protest, his association with that organization and protest helped single him out for “progressive discipline.” This legal theory of “guilt by association” led the Daily Cal to editorialize that “by picking out only three, the message sent from the university seems to be that free speech includes the right to participate in a protest, but not the right to organize one.” (http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=13176)
As the Bush administration carries out unprecedented attacks on hard won civil liberties, the Berkeley administration is shamefully jumping on the band wagon. Now that Dean Kenney has rubber-stamped Jacobsen’s verdict, the last appeal goes to Asst. Chancellor John Cummins. He will issue his final decision within 15 days.
Ironically, on November 20, Amy Goodman from Pacifa Radio’s “Democracy Now!” will receive the Mario Savio prize for free speech at a mass meeting on campus. The Berkeley Stop the War coalition plans to work with her to make sure that Asst. Chancellor Cummins hears the support for the Berkeley 3 loud and clear. We urge everyone who cares about free speech, the right to protest and academic freedom to take immediate action, by calling, emailing or writing to Cummins this week to demand that he drop all charges against the Berkeley 3. Especially, the frightening and irresponsible use of psychological “treatment” as a punishment for political activity.
We thank you in advance for you solidarity,
Todd Chretien Committee to Defend Student Civil Liberties
PS Many of you generously sent contributions towards the printing of a full page ad in the Daily Cal defending the Berkeley 3. That ad ran on October 27 and we believe it played an important part in forcing the university to back down from even harsher punishments for the students. (It can be viewed at www.antiwarnetwork.org) Some of you may have had your checks returned to you. That is because after the university found out that the Berkeley Stop the War coalition was soliciting defense donations, they took the unprecedented action of freezing all mail to that on-campus address. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you. If you’d like to re-send your contributions (or send one for the first time), you can send them to: BSTW PO Box 4001 Berkeley, CA 94704-0001
Online Policy Group vs. Diebold Case Heard Yesterday
Civil rights group fears effect of e-voting company’s threats
By Rachel Konrad for the Associated Press.
Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argued in federal court Monday that North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold Inc. should be barred from sending cease-and-desist letters to activists, who are publishing links to leaked documents about alleged security blunders at one of the nation’s biggest e-voting companies.
Judge Jeremy Fogel is expected to issue a ruling as early as this week.
Free speech advocates at San Francisco-based EFF compare the case to the groundbreaking Pentagon Papers lawsuit. The secret government study of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was leaked to The New York Times, sparking a 1971 Supreme Court battle pitting the government against the media.
“I’m not making a judgment about which is more important, Vietnam policy or the future of voting in a democracy,” Cohn said after the hearing in federal court in San Jose. “But this is important to the public debate … and you can’t squelch it.”
Computer programmers, ISPs and students at least 20 universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received cease-and-desist letters. Many removed links to Diebold documents, but some – including San Francisco-based ISP Online Policy Group – refused, and sued Diebold.
They say the leaked documents raise serious security questions about Diebold, which controls 50,000 touch-screen voting terminals nationwide. They argue they have a right to publish the data under the “fair use” exception of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
OPG, which hosts at least 1,000 Web sites of nonprofit groups and individuals on 120 computer servers, also argues that the volunteer organization cannot be responsible for every link of every client.
New Article For OpenP2P.com — Interview With LimeWire COO and P2P United President Greg Bildson
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Interview with LimeWire COO Greg Bildson By Lisa Rein for OpenP2P.com |
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Lisa Rein: So, you guys paid Brianna’s RIAA fine?
Greg Bildson: Yes, we cut the check to her mother to reimburse her. We felt that suing a 12-year old in the Bronx wasn’t the answer.
LR: Tell me more about P2P United.
GB: P2P United is basically trying to make sure that Congress doesn’t do anything stupid, which they’re apt to do in the technology world. We’re trying to make sure to protect our rights to innovate and write software, and to address all of the bad mouthing the RIAA is constantly doing to P2P.
P2P was proven to be legal in that California decision. If there’s anything we can do with respect to the overreach of the DMCA and invasion of privacy and, basically, due process — we feel that there should be due process, and there should be an actual lawsuit before they are able to get information about users.
Congress is writing bills targeting P2P, and the RIAA is talking about pornography and homeland security and identity theft and all of these things that are really minor concerns, with regard to P2P. For the most part, Congress is either overreacting or doing the bidding of the RIAA.
O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference.
For instance, there was a hearing regarding P2P and porn a few weeks ago. There are already laws that exist to punish people for being pedophiles; P2P’s got nothing to do with it. In these cases, the content itself is illegal. P2P is not the concern when it comes to child endangerment, but they are constantly targeting P2P. They should go look at AOL and Yahoo chat rooms rather than P2P networks. Orin Hatch’s presentation of child pornography began with a movie sponsored by the RIAA. The record industry is probably the last group of people to be protecting children, when their lyrics and videos are so explicit.
So the RIAA is basically using the high $150,000 per infringement to extort a settlement out of people who wouldn’t even consider fighting it. People view this more like a speeding ticket instead of something where one act of infringement can cost you $150,000. We’re in favor of people being able to protect their copyrights, but in a way that is fair. If the government is going to regulate, they need to know what they’re doing. They shouldn’t be getting their information only from the RIAA.
LR: So are you trying to educate Congress?
GB: Yes. P2P United is trying to educate Congress. However, their staffers need to be willing to be educated. So far, they’ve been willfully blind or ignorant.
Come To The Protest/Press Conference Wednesday At Noon In San Francisco
The schmuks running this country are about to do it all over again. They are requiring a second round of immigrant special registrations.
Incredible.
Wish I had more time to elaborate. But I’ll just see you at noon on Wednesday.
Refuse & Resist has endorsed the opposition to the special INS registrations – has part of taking on the whole reactionary agenda! Please get your friends and co workers to come out on Wed Nov 19th – Support our Arab, Muslims and South Asian brothers and sisters!
Remember what happened in World War 2 to the Japanese Americans – what would you have done then, what will you do now?
TAKING A STAND AGAINST SPECIAL RE-REGISTRATION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2003 BICE (INS) BUILDING, WASHINGTON AND SANSOME, San Francisco 11 AM TO 1 PM (Press conference at 12 noon).
The Dept. of “Homeland Security” Special Re-registrations of men and boys from 24 mainly Muslim countries has already begun again this month. Last year special registration meant humiliation, detentions and brutality for many of the nearly 90,000 who came in to register. This program has created fear, anxiety, frustration and despair in the Arab and Muslim communities, causing great distress to wives, children and relatives as reported by the American Muslim Voice nationwide hotline. Last year, registerees were fingerprinted, photographed, and had to turn over bankcards, social security cards, driver’s licenses, credit cards and other information. Every time they left the country they were required to get an exit stamp and re-register upon return. And in the end, about 13,000 men are facing deportation proceedings! The pettiest of visa violations, even those caused by INS incompetence are now tearing families apart.
Now the same people who registered last year are being registered again.
Last year the protest of Iranians in Los Angeles in December and opposition in the streets in January across the country, brought the reality of this ugly program to light. These actions drew attention to the fact that the 1940s Alien Registration Act foreshadowed the round up and detention of 120,000 Japanese Americans. Registration also preceded the round up of Jews in Europe. This year, as the ACLU has pointed out, the secrecy surrounding registration has all the markings of a TRAP, by which those who do not realize they have to register or miss a deadline will be subject to deportation. The Blue Triangle Network in close association with American Muslim Voice and many other organizations is calling for a rally and press conference Wednesday, Nov. 19 to denounce special re-registration, demand an end to it, and stand in solidarity with people subjected to it. Please join this effort and PASS THE WORD.