New York Times [New York City, New York] September 3, 2004OP-ED COLUMNIST Feel the Hate By PAUL KRUGMAN
The convention opened with an invocation by Sheri Dew, a Mormon publisher and activist. Early rumors were that the invocation would be given by Jerry Falwell, who suggested just after 9/11 that the attack was God's punishment for the activities of the A.C.L.U. and People for the American Way, among others. But Ms. Dew is no more moderate: earlier this year she likened opposition to gay marriage to opposition to Hitler.
http://nytimes.com/2004/09/03/opinion/03krugman.html?hp
People for the American Way [ http://www.pfaw.org ] August 2004 The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today
In every national American election since Reconstruction, every election since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, voters – particularly African American voters and other minorities – have faced calculated and determined efforts at intimidation and suppression.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oId=16368
In These Times [Chicago, IL ] August 24, 2004 Sum of a Glitch: Evidence shows that machines might be the real swing voters this November By Bev Harris
....the media was reporting that electronic voting machines are fun and speedy, but I looked in vain for articles reporting that they are accurate. I discovered four magic words, “voting machines and glitch,” which, when entered into a search engine, yielded a shocking result: A staggering pile of miscounts was accumulating.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/978/
New York Times [ New York City, New York ] August 20, 2004 OP-ED COLUMNIST Voting While Black By BOB HERBERT
The smell of voter suppression coming out of Florida is getting stronger. It turns out that a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, in which state troopers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando in a bizarre hunt for evidence of election fraud, is being conducted despite a finding by the department last May "that there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp
San Francisco Chronicle [ San Francisco, Califonia ] July 21, 2004 Rig My Election, Please. Just how far will desperate Republicans go to trick America into another BushCo victory? By Mark Morford
Semi-clever, ultra-wealthy Bush supporters suddenly donating piles of money to the Nader campaign in an obvious attempt to steal votes from John Kerry? Pshaw. Ptooey. Child's play. Tip of the iceberg. A mere distraction. We ain't seen nuthin' yet.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/07/21/notes072104.DTL
Some of my own thoughts about Iraqui Prisoner Abuse.
In an enlightened democracy those in prison are supposed to receive humane treatement and some kind of impartial hearing to determine who they are; a terrorist, a criminal, or an innocent? Instead I am shocked when I hear people state that, "Prisoners in Iraq may have been humiliated. They were not tortured." Have these people have not read the accounts of Iraqui prisoners bleeding to death after being bitten by dogs trained by the US military? What of the Iraqui women prisoners who were raped by US military personnel? And I still haven't seen the photographs that the US Senators state are "horrible" and "disgusting" of even more Iraqui prisoner abuse. By the way many of these prisoners are innocent victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yet they are still imprisoned and dehumanized by the US military. In Iraq being an Iraqui seems to be all the reason needed by the US Military for imprisonment and torture. If that's not the definition of racism than I don't know what is. Some people decry the "blood lust of Al Quaeda," but to many in the Arab world the blood lust of the United States must feel very threatening; ten thousand Iraqui innocent civilians have been killed by the US Military as a result of this war and its aftermath. The Pentagon and President George W. Bush should not be comparing the actions of our US Military personnel with those of terrorists and dictators. We in the United States are supposed to be setting the example, as an enlightened democracy, for humane treatment, compassion and cultural sensitivity; not burying our heads in the sand over our torture of other people in other lands.
The New Yorker [New York City, New York] Issue of 2004-05-10 Posted 2004-05-01 TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB by SEYMOUR M. HERSH American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?
Read the shocking details of abuse. It's clear the USA is not capable of furthering democracy there.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact
The New Yorker [New York City, New York] Issue of 2004-05-17 Posted 2004-05-09 CHAIN OF COMMAND by SEYMOUR M. HERSH How the Department of Defense mishandled the disaster at Abu Ghraib.
Now Hersh has authored a follow-up article that is every bit as eye-opening as the first. He dispels the myth that the torture was merely the doing of a handful of rogue soldiers, but rather was a consequence of policy set at the highest levels of U.S. government. Hersh describes the Pentagon's climate of disdain for the Geneva conventions in the post Sept.-11 era.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040517fa_fact2
New York Times [New York City, New York] May 6, 2004 Masses Versus Grass Roots By JOYCE PURNICK
The NYC Parks & Recreation Department under Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently denied United for Peace and Justice’s application to use the Great Lawn for an August 29 rally, claiming that the estimated crowd size is too large and that the lawn would be damaged. Columnist Joyce Purnick criticizes Bloomberg for blocking the right to assembly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/nyregion/06matters.html
Washington Post [Washington, D.C.] March 31, 2004 For Some, A Sanitized Movement Activists: Something Lost In Fight for Gay Marriage By Michael Powell
Some days, as he watches gay men button their tuxes and lesbians slip into wedding gowns, gay rights activist William Dobbs feels like screaming. "Some gay activist in California called for mass civil disobedience until we get the right to marry," Dobbs said, his voice growing louder. "God! What could be more dreary?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37323-2004Mar30.html
Village Voice [New York, NY] March 3, 2004 Press Clips Choosing the Narrative for the GOP Convention; Pomp or Protest by Cynthia Cotts
By law, the New York Police Department must allow protesters within "sight and sound" of the Republican convention scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden from August 30 to September 2. But it seems likely that the hordes of conventioneers and protesters expected in Manhattan that week won't see or hear much of each other as the city undergoes a massive lockdown. While millions of Americans watch from the safety of their homes, the media alone have the power to bridge the divide and control perception of the convention and its impact on the November election.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0409/cotts.php
CommonDreams News Center February 18, 2004 Iraqis say, "Same Donkey, Different Blanket" by Susan Galleymore
After serving nine months in Afghanistan, my son was deployed to the Sunni Triangle on January 9, 2004. I sought support from "military moms" then realized that none amongst us knew what was really going on there.
Three weeks ago, I packed my bag, traveled to Baghdad and talked to GIs, Iraqi professionals, and Iraqi mothers affected by the occupation.
I learned about: Random shootings: jittery GIs shoot Iraqi civilians in the streets. Anwar Jeward lost her husband, 18 year old son, and 14 and 8 year old daughters this way. Her 10 year old daughter, Abir, was left for dead in the street after a female GI stole the gold earrings from the child's ears. Mid-night house arrests: GIs smash down doors of Iraqi residences, order mothers and children outside in their nightclothes, and question fathers whose faces are ground into the dirt by a heavy military boot on their neck. Iraqis agree, "Not even Saddam treated us like this."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0218-05.htm
Boston Globe [Boston, MA] Jan. 9, 2004 OPINION Carnegie Study Calls Arms Threat Overstated By Farah Stockman
Bush administration officials exaggerated the threats from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and failed to uncover any links between President Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a private nonpartisan research organization concluded in a report released yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/09/carnegie_study_calls_arms_threat_overstated/
Washington Post [Washington,D.C.] Jan. 12, 2004 Study Published by Army Criticizes War on Terror’s Scope By Thomas E. Ricks
A scathing new report published by the Army War College broadly criticizes the Bush administration's handling of the war on terrorism, accusing it of taking a detour into an "unnecessary" war in Iraq and pursuing an "unrealistic" quest against terrorism that may lead to U.S. wars with states that pose no serious threat.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8435-2004Jan11.html
Agenda [Ann Arbor, MI] May/June 2002 Buy a Coors, Fund Attacks on Civil Rights how Coors buys brand loyalty from queer Ann Arbor By David Rosenberg
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/agenda/0205/coorsboycott.htm