tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19842267883474322492024-03-04T20:07:05.766-08:00counterspinycChief Sitting Bull once said, "As individual fingers, We can be easily broken, but TOGETHER, We make a mighty fist." Never have these words proven more true, for more people. Welcome to counterspinyc, a blog sharing information, news, organizations & viewpoints not found in traditional media. Enjoy! Thanks for all you do! Live your values. Love your country. And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.comBlogger357125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-66298144584978670642010-05-08T12:11:00.000-07:002010-05-08T13:02:42.631-07:00NYC: Staten Island Ferry Andrew J. Barberi Crashes - Again.<p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD2">Staten Island ferry</span> boat crashed into the St. George terminal at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, injuring as many as 37 people according to the office of New York Mayor <strong>Michael Bloomberg</strong>. The passengers got a mere 2 seconds warning, when crew members shouted “brace yourself, brace yourself”.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The boat is the <strong>Andrew J. Barberi,</strong> and was previously involved in a 2003 crash that killed 11 people and injured 42 according to the U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman <strong>Barbara Miller</strong>.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Miller reports that there were 252 passengers and 18 crew members on the vessel at the time of this morning’s crash. It is believed that mechanical problem with the throttle caused the captain to lose control of the boat’s engine. An eyewitness reported that the boat seemed to speed up dramatically rather than slow down before the impact – listen to his comments on the video below.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Scores of FDNY rigs and ambulances swarmed the terminal to transport the injured and provide on-scene <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD1">treatment</span> to those less seriously hurt. One woman was seriously injured, and 17 others were taken to area <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD3">hospitals</span>.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Five ferries make the 5.2 mile run between Staten Island and Manhattan, transporting 65,000 passengers daily.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mnEfxFlHKGk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mnEfxFlHKGk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KKw9X0QB8pE&border=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KKw9X0QB8pE&border=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></p><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.counterspinyc.blogspot.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 67px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrRHgf5vIOW_5G1Tu1D1WsTIGa4RAM2gE24Da0-nkreZSIHlwD36Kvk93A1sIqqtK9vdNRFwo6ZAdmGLnyjZsPHqt2esiFY9764Y4OkVgJtde2KqZhGrfEmkwTfYc-yytpf8mlFhM6SWU/s320/Counterspinyc_Jan10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431820616758976066" border="0" /></a></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-80264231846596883682010-03-12T18:25:00.000-08:002010-03-12T18:36:28.026-08:00Glenn Beck on the Attack<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://cf.cnnbcvideo.com/embed.swf" id="viralVideo" style="visibility: visible;" width="480" height="385"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="flashvars" value="dataURL=http%3A%2F%2Fbeck.cnnbcvideo.com%2Fembed.xml%3Fbv_id%3Db|1227901-PGekgYx&autoPlay=0"><embed src="http://cf.cnnbcvideo.com/embed.swf?dataURL=http%3A%2F%2Fbeck.cnnbcvideo.com%2Fembed.xml%3Fbv_id%3Db%7C1227901-PGekgYx&autoPlay=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></p><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.counterspinyc.blogspot.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 67px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrRHgf5vIOW_5G1Tu1D1WsTIGa4RAM2gE24Da0-nkreZSIHlwD36Kvk93A1sIqqtK9vdNRFwo6ZAdmGLnyjZsPHqt2esiFY9764Y4OkVgJtde2KqZhGrfEmkwTfYc-yytpf8mlFhM6SWU/s320/Counterspinyc_Jan10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431820616758976066" border="0" /></a></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-70712502910720994962010-02-10T22:20:00.000-08:002010-02-11T00:11:42.428-08:00Letter to Keith Olbermann<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UECb_aEC6kx6I2XSpDRG_M2I1hKzc6ajwnVYlPuUA1zUldPddz_4AZPzbQW1qIs0VKf1v043bPXAYpyxtqRYUiOcEJcNUOlfvX3iNWy6YZPhirRz98W46Mp-_ddEgAOp3mLFwS6h1pTA/s1600-h/Oglala_Lakota_PineRidgeFlg_Feb_10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 91px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UECb_aEC6kx6I2XSpDRG_M2I1hKzc6ajwnVYlPuUA1zUldPddz_4AZPzbQW1qIs0VKf1v043bPXAYpyxtqRYUiOcEJcNUOlfvX3iNWy6YZPhirRz98W46Mp-_ddEgAOp3mLFwS6h1pTA/s320/Oglala_Lakota_PineRidgeFlg_Feb_10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436895476352231602" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" id="text_expose_id_4b73a1995f8c1132823f4" class="comment_actual_text text_exposed"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />This is video of heinous condition at Pine Ridge S.D.:<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xYh7RI0GTJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xYh7RI0GTJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Greetings Mr. Olbermann,<br /><br />I am so very pleased to share with you on this Wednesday, Indian Country has heard you, loud and clear, these past two nights.<br /><br /><span> Your first piece, airing, Mon., February 8th,"</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMRtrf4Fgm0">World's Worst Person</a>" with an award going to The U.S. Senate Committee, was sheer brilliance. We cross posted your video on facebook immediately after airtime. We are listening. Mr. Olbermann, I wish to inform you, sir, for some weeks, through social networking and many, have been taking part in varying initiatives in attempts to gain national media attention as well as Federal aid and relief. I am unhappy to say we have fallen short, as far as media is concerned. You, Mr. Olbermann are the first to broadcast.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gMRtrf4Fgm0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gMRtrf4Fgm0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />On Friday, January 28th, we began calling CNN in Atlanta at 5 pm EST and within 30 minutes, there was a helicopter seen flying over Pine Ridge and CNN promised us a story. This resulted in a measly 20 sec. spot on HLN 5 days later not on Pine Ridge, but on Cheyenne River.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.state.sd.us/oia/chysioux.asp">Joseph Brings Plenty</a> messaged me</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> last Saturday by via facebook, stating that the <a href="https://secure.piryx.com/donate/0oFFsK8c/Cheyenn-River-Sioux-Tribe/">Cheyenne River Sioux </a>are <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">99%</span> recovered from the latest storm to strike. This is by no means an answer, simply said, Joseph is considering the dire, emergency state of his relations at Pine Ridge, S.Dakota.<br /><br />Mr. Olbermann, there is a list of over a hundred families that wait for propane. Sir, these are the fortunate. Fortunate in that they can afford, on their average annual $3500 income, to have heat at all.There are many <span style="font-style: italic;">without</span> heat. I have video of meters being pulled of homes occupied by U.S. war vets dying and babies on nebulizers. The above video is by Eric Klein, of can-do.org, as well as documentarian Rick Kline.<br /><br />Conditions are tragic at best.We are lambasted by visions of Haiti. Well, here are some facts:<br /><br />- <a href="http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/2010/01/pine-ridge.html">Pine Ridge is second poorest in the Western Hemishere, second only to Haiti</a>.<br />- This is right here in our own backyard - in the United States of America.<br /><br />Not only are we in violation of basic human rights here, we're also in violation of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<br /><br />I have written President Barack Obama six consecutive days and posted those letters to my facebook wall. Though, until your coverage, no one is willing to do anything. My instincts tell me Pine Ridge is taboo, dating back to days of <a href="http://www.leonardpeltier.net/">Leonard Peltier</a>'s arrest and false imprisonment. I will continue this initiative.<br /><br />Regardless, the Pine Ridge residents have a crisis situation at hand and, with your help, we can aid the peoples of Pine Ridge. I am currently working with Rick Kline of D.C. and Eric Klein of <a href="http://www.can-do.org/">can-do.org </a>to gather a supply list of emergency goods to be dropped at three sites on the Pine Ridge reservation. This has proven difficult as Eric Klein is on the ground in Haiti and Rick and myself possess no experience in soliciting corporate donations. Heck, I'm just a "white hick" from Boston, but my intent is not to stop till supplies reach my relations and federal aid is sent. I am driving what I am able to load.<br /><br />Please contact me for any details and facts and people of Pine Ridge I can put you in contact with ie: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/alane.golden?ref=profile#%21/profile.php?id=100000147017885">Autumn TwoBulls</a>, granddaughter of Chief Red Cloud and at mere 29 years secured propane for 100 families and inspired many peoples by way of internet, including the likes of me, "white chick".<br />Many blessings and thanks Mr. Olbermann for hearing our cries.<br /><br />Migwetch~Mitakuye Oyasin ~ We are All Related<br /><br />The Reverend RavenHawk Ruane -Hasak<br />978-804-9633<br />111 Washington St.<br />Topsfield, MA 01983<br /><br />***************************************************************************************<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />As of Monday, February 8th, a call to the U.S. Committee on Indian Affairs helped explain that, in order to get funds, South Dakota's state senators <span style="font-style: italic;">need</span> to take <span style="font-style: italic;">action</span>.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> The phone answerer explained this would not be happening if it was occurring in another place, such as California, Washington, Virginia or any of the east coast states currently getting hammered by winter storms. The S.D. state senator's numbers are provided below Please know that the office will take note <span style="font-style: italic;">even</span> if callers are <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> from the state.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />Though nothing can be done until a statewide state of emergency is declared, according to the man who answered the phone at the U.S. Committee on Indian Affairs, a senator <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">can </span>make that happen. The more people who call the better - it is most effective if callers are polite, but firm. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">S. Dakota Senators:</span><span class="text_exposed_hide"><span class="text_exposed_link"></span></span><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Tim Johnson:</span> 202 224 5842<span style="font-weight: bold;"> / John Thune:</span> 202 224 2321<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;">***************************************************************************************</span><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35321645"><br /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#35321645">OLBERMANN UPDATE</a><br /></div><br /><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.counterspinyc.blogspot.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 67px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrRHgf5vIOW_5G1Tu1D1WsTIGa4RAM2gE24Da0-nkreZSIHlwD36Kvk93A1sIqqtK9vdNRFwo6ZAdmGLnyjZsPHqt2esiFY9764Y4OkVgJtde2KqZhGrfEmkwTfYc-yytpf8mlFhM6SWU/s320/Counterspinyc_Jan10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431820616758976066" border="0" /></a></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p><br /></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-25386834283986428922010-01-28T07:42:00.000-08:002010-01-28T08:13:59.171-08:00Howard Zinn, Historian who Challenged Status Quo, Dies at 87<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/howard_zinn_his.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Oy3s9hGAuDXGf0sejREbz1brZmcbN_GwySl5D1EeiEbn4RJ0KAccesLs9eoczipnIwyGjkO67n6c2fN5i16AVr0dTDyMh1D-PJ_HvsU2I_9tchiCydElmy23TF3Y0Me3by2J4pJdqDhU/s320/howard_zin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431821250970056754" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" id="node-header"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="submitted"> <span style="font-size:78%;">Published on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by <a class="external" target="_blank" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/howard_zinn_his.html">The Boston Globe</a></span></span></span><span style="font-size:78%;"> by: Mark Feeney</span> </div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and a leading faculty critic of BU president John Silber, died of a heart attack today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling, his family said. He was 87.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"<span style="font-style: italic;">His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives</span>," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, once wrote of Dr. Zinn. "<span style="font-style: italic;">When action has been called for, one could always be confident that he would be on the front lines, an example and trustworthy guide</span>."<span style="font-style: italic;">For Dr. Zinn, activism was a natural extension of the revisionist brand of history he taught. </span><a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060838655?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0060838655&adid=1T2Y49WC2WR4MS9VN5CA&"><span style="font-style: italic;">Dr. Zinn's best-known book, "A People's History of the United States</span>"</a> (1980), had for its heroes not the Founding Fathers -- many of them slaveholders and deeply attached to the status quo, as Dr. Zinn was quick to point out -- but rather the farmers of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion">Shays' Rebellion</a> and the union organizers of the 1930s. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">As he wrote in his autobiography, <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0807071277?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0807071277&adid=10W1E1Q8QM4SWX3MWCDB&">"You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train"</a> (1994), "F<span style="font-style: italic;">rom the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than 'objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.</span>"</span></p><div style="font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Certainly, it was a recipe for rancor between Dr. Zinn and Silber. Dr. Zinn twice helped lead faculty votes to oust the BU president, who in turn once accused Dr. Zinn of arson (a charge he quickly retracted) and cited him as a prime example of teachers "<span style="font-style: italic;">who poison the well of academe.</span>" </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn was a co-chairman of the strike committee when BU professors walked out in 1979. After the strike was settled, he and four colleagues were charged with violating their contract when they refused to cross a picket line of striking secretaries. The charges against "the BU Five" were soon dropped, however.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn was born in New York City on Aug. 24, 1922, the son of Jewish immigrants, Edward Zinn, a waiter, and Jennie (Rabinowitz) Zinn, a housewife. He attended New York public schools and worked in the <a href="http://www.brooklynnavyyard.org/index.html">Brooklyn Navy Yard</a> before joining the Army Air Force during World War II. Serving as a bombardier in the Eighth Air Force, he won the Air Medal and attained the rank of second lieutenant. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">After the war, Dr. Zinn worked at a series of menial jobs until entering <a href="http://www.nyu.edu/">New York University</a> as a 27-year-old freshman on the GI Bill. Professor Zinn, who had married Roslyn Shechter in 1944, worked nights in a warehouse loading trucks to support his studies. He received his bachelor's degree from NYU, followed by master's and doctoral degrees in history from Columbia University. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn was an instructor at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsala_College">Upsala College</a> and lecturer at <a href="http://web.cuny.edu/about/colleges/brooklyn.html">Brooklyn College</a> before joining the faculty of <a href="http://www.spelman.edu/">Spelman College</a> in Atlanta, in 1956. He served at the historically black women's institution as chairman of the history department. Among his students were the novelist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker">Alice Walker</a>, who called him "<span style="font-style: italic;">the best teacher I ever had</span>," and Marian Wright Edelman, future head of the Children's Defense Fund. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">During this time, Dr. Zinn became active in the civil rights movement. He served on the executive committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the most aggressive civil rights organization of the time, and participated in numerous demonstrations. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn became an associate professor of political science at BU in 1964 and was named full professor in 1966. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The focus of his activism now became the Vietnam War. Dr. Zinn spoke at countless rallies and teach-ins and drew national attention when he and another leading antiwar activist, Rev. Daniel Berrigan, went to Hanoi in 1968 to receive three prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn's involvement in the antiwar movement led to his publishing two books: <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/089608681X?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=089608681X&adid=1BK916QKXFDWN3PAXWQ6&">"Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal"</a> (1967) and <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0896086755?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0896086755&adid=0SKW1HSYVQCQS7GP3FXZ&">"Disobedience and Democracy" (</a>1968). He had previously published <a class="external" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U6QS90?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B001U6QS90">"LaGuardia in Congress"</a> (1959), which had won the American Historical Association's Albert J. Beveridge Prize; <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0896086798?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0896086798&adid=0G2HAFKVCX2480Z4T741&">"SNCC: The New Abolitionists"</a> (1964); <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0896086801?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0896086801&adid=1TJ09K1GSM7T7HQSJDCW&">"The Southern Mystique"</a> (1964); and <a class="external" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OXG5FQ?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B001OXG5FQ">"New Deal Thought"</a> (1966). Dr. Zinn was also the author of <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0252061225?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0252061225&adid=0DWAF9YTTHZXS03Y7GYP&">"The Politics of History"</a> (1970); <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/089608678X?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=089608678X&adid=0ES68896F15EV37D3VMH&">"Postwar America"</a> (1973); <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0896086771?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0896086771&adid=1M4TEVV7NDKYMJER0KCD&">"Justice in Everyday Life" </a>(1974); and <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060921080?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0060921080&adid=0JYPBVDJ5RTJASRT30W0&">"Declarations of Independence"</a></span> (1990). </p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">In 1988, Dr. Zinn took early retirement so as to concentrate on speaking and writing. The latter activity included writing for the stage. Dr. Zinn had two plays produced: <a class="external" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807073261?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0807073261">"Emma,"</a> about the anarchist leader Emma Goldman, and "<a class="external" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807073261?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0807073261">Daughter of Venus</a>." </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn, or his writing, made a cameo appearance in the 1997 film <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/6305216088?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=6305216088&adid=1W1889MTCB0AAADBGG5E&">"Good Will Hunting."</a> The title characters, played by Matt Damon, lauds "<span style="font-style: italic;">A People's History</span>" and urges Robin Williams's character to read it. Damon, who co-wrote the script, was a neighbor of the Zinns growing up. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Damon was later involved in a television version of the book, <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002W1HBNO?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B002W1HBNO&adid=053DB7J843BAAZ3NBNZN&">"The People Speak,"</a> which ran on the History Channel in 2009. Damon was the narrator of a 2004 biographical documentary, <a class="external" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007TKOSC?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B0007TKOSC&adid=126VGRKWR10AQ93Y8RY5&">"Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train."</a></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">On his last day at BU, Dr. Zinn ended class 30 minutes early so he could join a picket line and urged the 500 students attending his lecture to come along. A hundred did so. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Zinn's wife died in 2008. He leaves a daughter, Myla Kabat-Zinn of Lexington; a son, Jeff of Wellfleet; three granddaugthers; and two grandsons.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:85%;">Funeral plans were not available.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.counterspinyc.blogspot.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 67px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrRHgf5vIOW_5G1Tu1D1WsTIGa4RAM2gE24Da0-nkreZSIHlwD36Kvk93A1sIqqtK9vdNRFwo6ZAdmGLnyjZsPHqt2esiFY9764Y4OkVgJtde2KqZhGrfEmkwTfYc-yytpf8mlFhM6SWU/s320/Counterspinyc_Jan10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431820616758976066" border="0" /></a></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-81732336100650595862010-01-26T21:35:00.001-08:002010-01-26T21:47:37.277-08:00OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE’S POSITION ON RECENT FINANCIAL SOLICITING IN THE NAME OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE RE: SEVERE WEATHER STATE OF EMERGENCY RELIEF<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 73px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBeveGz0P3Z3bZcGEbKr0aeVJhGiAVYCObuijF32g0HuLUAGoQD-1221k_lw9D3ID8rSvKjg7PeEYB2dHFnd5PoF9euYN72U8i5fzMc5065r2TCROvwO29tCbMJ5FYj96fbMiGzUlo_3Df/s320/Oglala_Lakota_Masthead_26Jan_10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431289126964663474" border="0" /></a><span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >***********************************************</span></span><div class="clear_none" style="font-family:arial;"><wbr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="word_break"></span><br />Oglala Sioux Tribe - PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION<br />Loretta Afraid of Bear~Cook<br />“Anpetu Luta Win”<br />Post Office Box 2070 ~ Pine Ridge, So. Dakota ~ 57770<br />Mobile: (605) 441 | 5692 ~ Fax: (605) 867 | 6076<br />Email: Loretta@oglala.org<br />Office of Public Relatio...ns<br /><br /><span> **************************</span></span><wbr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="word_break"></span>**********************<br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 6:36pm</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE:</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE’S POSITION ON RECENT FINANCIAL </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >SOLICITING IN THE NAME OF THE OGLALA SIOUX TRIBE IN </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >REGARDS TO SEVERE WEATHER STATE OF EMERGENCY RELIEF.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > For more information, contact:</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Loretta Afraid of Bear-Cook, OST Public Relations</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >, C/O: OST Media Center</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br />Telephone: (605) 454-2592 | e-mail: Loretta@oglala.org</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span> **************************</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >**********************</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > PINE RIDGE, So. DAKOTA - The Oyate (People) of the Oglala Sioux Tribe </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation<br />recently experienced a series of harsh </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >blizzards and extreme weather beginning in late December. Hundreds of </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >families were ill prepared for the high winds, whiteouts and heavy snowfall </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >that closed all roads and highways across the reservation. Many households </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >eventually ran out of propane, firewood, food and medical supplies.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > Tribal President, Theresa Two Bulls, immediately established a Command Post </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >out of her office and organized the Emergency Management Team to begin the </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >task of assessing the situation. The team paid particular attention to tribal members </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >with severe medical needs such as heart and dialysis patients. The Oglala (Sioux) </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Lakota Housing Authority under the direction of Paul Iron Cloud; the Energy </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Assistance Director, Denise King Red Owl; Monica Terkildsen, Emergency Response; </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >and David Kelly from the OST Transportation Department; all provided the core </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >guidance to the agencies to ensure that all calls were addressed. Without the care </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >and compassion of all resource agencies, the task of responding to the needs would </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >have been next to impossible. The disaster prompted other tribes, non-profit corporations </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >and individuals to respond with food, clothing and financial assistance. Sadly, the </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >disaster has also resulted in tribal members and outside organizations “scamming” for </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >funding on the internet claiming to raise funds for the poor and needy on the Pine Ridge </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Indian Reservation. President Two Bulls advises the public that these Organizations </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >have not received permission from the Oglala Sioux Tribe to solicit funds on behalf of</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > the Oglala tribal membership.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > President Two Bulls requests that any Tribe, organization or individual who wish to </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >donate for emergency assistance can send directly to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in care </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >of Dean Patton, Treasurer, Oglala Sioux Tribe, P.O. Box 2070, Pine Ridge, South </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Dakota 57770. Mr. Patton has established an emergency fund for such donations. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Funds will be used exclusively for heating costs for electrical, propane, fuel oil and </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >firewood needs. The Housing and Energy Assistance funds have been depleted.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > The Oglala Sioux Tribe is very grateful to the organizations, tribes and individuals </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >who have contacted President Two Bulls with generous outpouring of help for this </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >ongoing need. President Two Bulls also expresses her sincere gratitude to all who </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >have kept the Oglala Sioux Tribe in their prayers. She can be contacted via her </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >direct line: (605) 867-4021, or e-mail: theresatb@oglala.org.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > Update: Due to the State of Emergency on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >the Oglala Sioux Tribe opened the doors at the Prairie Wind Casino Hotel to care for </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >25 dialysis patients and 10 supporting staff from Cheyenne River. According to media </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >reports, electrical power will be restored in approximately 10 to 14 days. For more </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >information and updates, log on to the official website of the Oglala Sioux Tribe: </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><a href="http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/">www.oglalalakotanation.org</a></span> </span> <wbr><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /> # # #<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></div><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:78%;" > </span> <div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p><br /> </div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-63614819894853417092010-01-26T13:19:00.000-08:002010-01-26T14:17:29.458-08:00Revised List<span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 116px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr0FJ0KM8BDVesO3ehLgLw56TtIuHWYd_wVLB_A52_oHRrlRa9-_4gpJ7cFSOxfIAJBG20T-wrbSGH-GZLZ5hhSA-NNE4nkoOCLtMmG2kpNQ4xIscepY4c_mOZe-E7wcgQqUML2bsIIA94/s320/Oglala_Lakota_TribalFlag_25Jan_10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431172543093236194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >From:</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/profile.php?id=100000147017885"><span style="font-family: arial;">Autumn TwoBulls</span></a></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" ><br /></span> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Revised List 1/25/10 4:37 pm:</span></b> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Urgent!</span> </span>These are the people who need their Electricity for heating their homes. Help the Lakota. Oyate. Please Share. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Friends and relatives I have another list of families who need your help to pay there electricity bill. The Local electric company has shut off many lights to homes. It's not right because there are laws protecting people from this. But not the Lakota. It is winter and the people should not have to suffer any more then we already do.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">I am really determined to get these people help because many of these families are elderly and parents with children. Many of these homes use electricity to heat their homes and many of them have health problems. Please help us help the Lakota Oyate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Call the Electric Company and give them a name you choose and make a donation to them WOPILA TANKA for your help and support. If you make a donation to these families it will help them get their electric back on or stop the electric company from shutting their power off. There's a bad storm coming to the Dakota's and I don't want people to be with out heat and medical treatment.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">If you make a donation to any of these families please email me so I can take them off the list - <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;">counterspinyc@gmail.com</span>.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">LA CREEK ELECTRIC COMPANY:</span></b> 1-605-685-6581<br /><br />Here's a list of Lakota families:<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">1. *</span><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lights are off</span></b><span style="font-family: arial;">* Jeff Sitting Bear *</span><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">NO HEAT OR LIGHTS</span></b><span style="font-family: arial;">* - La Creek Electric </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">2. *****Mary White - Elderly - La Creek electric</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">3. *****Fern Red Owl</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">4..****Aaron Desersa 1130601601 - Elderly</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">5. ****Douglas Poor Bear _ Allen housing 360 disabled Elderly</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">6. ***Clara Rodriquez - Allen housing 1707 disabled Elderly</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">7. Archie Back Ward 1313500201</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">8. Brian Red Owl - La Creek Electric</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">9. Starlet Jumping Eagle - La Creek electric</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">10. April Husman - 414 Maderson Housing </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">11. Elmerlita White Face - House 408 Maderson Housing</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">12. Waverly Chief - La Creek electric</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">13. Duwane Iron Crow - La Creek Electric - </span><st1:street style="font-family: arial;" st="on"><st1:address st="on">North Route</st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: arial;"> 1630</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">14. Leora Mercado</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">15. Nancy Broken Rope - Allen housing 367</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">16.****Delores Little Bull **Elderly** - Kyle Housing 1481</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">17. Franklin Tail, Sr.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">18. Janette Ealge Hawk</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">19. Michelle Jumping Eagle - Handicapped</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">21. Linda Hollow Horn</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">22. Christine Meseth</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">23. Mike Little Boy - 538 Evergreen - La Creek Electric</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">24. Clair Ghost – Handicapped - </span><st1:place style="font-family: arial;" st="on"><st1:placename st="on">North</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">College</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: arial;"> Housing #2017</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">25. Lisa Pawnee Leggins - 8 miles north of Maderson #1564</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">26. Jake Arapohoe </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">27. Renzel last Horse</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">**MAYBE YOU CAN HELP BY FORWARDING THESE NAMES OF PEOPLE WHO MAY BE ABLE TO HELP PAY A HEAT BILL, OR, PUT A SMALL DONATION ON A BILL**</span></span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;" > </span> <div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></div> </div></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-25229870771462640452010-01-25T19:45:00.000-08:002010-01-25T20:05:41.455-08:00Pine Ridge Needs YOU! People are Dying.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 116px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZ2jE4LiJFWen6Wgu8XtRqqmPpdLmpbxD1utlt9qP5W1LHkd20kAcfcLPWjUcKGzML8iAPc30Ir0Jn-lmHehfMFoyaAmDyPimr9aEn9L9HG76r6d3NzI_kiFnAS3Y73WEgjIHktzy0MXv/s320/Oglala_Lakota_TribalFlag_25Jan_10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430892899929058178" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">******************************************************************</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">EMERGENCY<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">!</span> WINTER ALERT</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">!</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> DIRE STRAIGHTS</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">!</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">******************************************************************</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There are many Elders suffering on Pine Ridge in need of propane, some a</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">re dually without electricity. If you'd like to contribute, you may call Alice Catches with the </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pine Ridge Emergency Fund</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">directly</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" > <span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >: </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >605-867-5771</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> to donate.</span></span><br /></div><h3 style="font-weight: normal; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Also, you may ring the </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Lakota Plains Propane on Pine Ridge</span> @ <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">605.867.5199 / 605.455.1188, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">from</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> 8a - 4:30p to pay moneys directly to the accounts <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">of those in need of propane</span></span>.</span> </span></span></span></h3><h3 style="font-weight: normal; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Below is a list of Elders / those in dire need. You should be able to give any of these customer's names and pay directly to their accounts for propane delivery:</span> </span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Emma Zemaga</span>,<span style="font-style: italic;"> 87 y.o</span>., house #779</span> </span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">-<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Mary White</span></span><br /></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Desersa</span></span><br /></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Douglas Poorbear</span></span><br /></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Claire Rodriguez</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Brian Red Elk</span></span><br /></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stanley Goodvoice Elk, Jr.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">-<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Waverly Chief</span></span> </span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dwayne Ironcrow</span></span><br /></span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="UIStory_Message"><span class="text_exposed_show"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">For more information, please visit: </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this),">http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/</a></span></span></span></h3><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > </span> <div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-11194555587866243952010-01-24T18:09:00.000-08:002010-01-24T18:38:10.252-08:00In Landmark Campaign Finance Ruling, Supreme Court Removes Limits on Corporate Campaign Spending.<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/reactions-to-the-supreme-court.html?wprss=44"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 44px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqit9_8o8ECbdir796TbYj-SsggK-EdyJc6j3nrg1qs8s4BCrkh-WcMKBZGuAbQd6SlXCK6YSz1PnoN4i06CRG12WwZnwGkY7EPGXF9kua8_1g1DGZMqAH6j42GecOHfrLSlwfGIVmDGi/s200/WashingtonPost_Masthead_Jan_10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430499130110984514" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" ><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Jan. 21, 2010.</span><br />Updated 1:25 p.m., Jan.24, 2010<br /><br /></strong></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxisTVrQoVuOG2ZBtZ4cj8ua2Ta6waPrueUSYyV-47Dg8FxAC-GBNs3_8RxFsw5cTDGO6B2waQKp-gm3Wr_KOKqy_IOFCO7xaeeQUBJm1mzsANnG5YTMC9eLDUXGQ17gZOmwkpAhhb6DQ/s1600-h/Adbusters_Corporate_Flag_Jan_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxisTVrQoVuOG2ZBtZ4cj8ua2Ta6waPrueUSYyV-47Dg8FxAC-GBNs3_8RxFsw5cTDGO6B2waQKp-gm3Wr_KOKqy_IOFCO7xaeeQUBJm1mzsANnG5YTMC9eLDUXGQ17gZOmwkpAhhb6DQ/s320/Adbusters_Corporate_Flag_Jan_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430500634893625394" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Reactions to the Supreme Court reversing limits on corporate spending in political campaigns</span><strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></strong><br /><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" id="entryhead"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <!-- begin blogger thumbs --> <!----> <!-- end blogger thumbs --> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/package/supremecourt/index.html">Supreme Court</a> has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012101724.html">ruled</a> that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns. Read the <em>Citizens United</em> <a href="http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/citizensunitedvfec_012110.pdf">opinion</a> (pdf). Reaction is coming in fast:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;">President Obama: </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;">With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington--while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates. That's why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. The public interest requires nothing less.<br /></span><p style="font-weight: bold;">Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.): </p> <blockquote>It is important to note that the decision does not affect McCain-Feingold's soft money ban, which will continue to prevent corporate contributions to the political parties from corrupting the political process. But this decision was a terrible mistake. Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president. Ignoring important principles of judicial restraint and respect for precedent, the Court has given corporate money a breathtaking new role in federal campaigns. Just six years ago, the Court said that the prohibition on corporations and unions dipping into their treasuries to influence campaigns was 'firmly embedded in our law.' Yet this Court has just upended that prohibition, and a century's worth of campaign finance law designed to stem corruption in government. The American people will pay dearly for this decision when, more than ever, their voices are drowned out by corporate spending in our federal elections. In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pass legislation restoring as many of the critical restraints on corporate control of our elections as possible.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): </p> <blockquote>I am disappointed by the decision of the Supreme Court and the lifting of the limits on corporate and union contributions. However, it appears that key aspects of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), including the ban on soft money contributions, remain intact.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): </p> <blockquote>For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process. With today's monumental decision, the Supreme Court took an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights of these groups by ruling that the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day. By previously denying this right, the government was picking winners and losers. Our democracy depends upon free speech, not just for some but for all.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee:</p> <blockquote>The Supreme Court's divided opinion is likely to change the course of our democracy and could threaten the public's confidence the Court's impartiality. As Justice Stevens noted in his dissent, the 'Court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.' </blockquote> <blockquote>Without any basis in the plain text or history of the Constitution, five Justices overturned precedent to grant corporations the same power as any individual citizen to influence elections. For these five Justices to reach their broad ruling, they overturned precedent, as well as the statute. As the dissenting Justices noted, 'the final principle of judicial process that the majority violates is the most transparent: stare decisis.... But if this principle is to do any meaningful work in supporting the rule of law, it must at least demand a significant justification, beyond the preferences of five justices, for overturning settled doctrine.' </blockquote> <blockquote>There is clear reason for ordinary citizens to be concerned that this divisive ruling will, in reality, allow powerful corporations to drown out the voices of everyday Americans in future campaigns. This ruling is no doubt yet another victory for Wall Street, at the expense of Main Street America. Our founding document begins, 'We the People,' and throughout its articles and amendments, the Constitution enshrines the power of our government in the people, not in corporations and powerful special interests.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas): </p> <blockquote>I am pleased that the Supreme Court has acted to protect the Constitution's First Amendment rights of free speech and association. These are the bedrock principles that underpin our system of governance and strengthen our democracy. </blockquote> <blockquote>This is an encouraging step, and it is my hope that political parties will one day soon be able to speak as freely as other citizen organizations are now permitted.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.): </p> <blockquote>Today's Supreme Court decision effectively rolls back decades of progress we have made towards ensuring the fairness of our elections. Giving corporate interests an outsized role in our process will only mean citizens get heard less. We must look at legislative ways to make sure the ledger is not tipped so far for corporate interests that citizens voices are drowned out.</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the chamber's third-ranking Democrat and a member of the Judiciary Committee:</p> <blockquote>"The bottom line is, the Supreme Court has just predetermined the winners of next November's election. It won't be the Republican or the Democrats and it won't be the American people; it will be Corporate America."</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's litigation center. The Chamber is the nation's largest business group and spent $136 million on political lobbying in 2009, not including its efforts against health-care reform.</p> <blockquote>"Today's ruling protects the First Amendment rights of organizations across the political spectrum, and is a positive for the political process and free enterprise."</blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.commoncause.org/">Common Cause</a> statement: </p> <blockquote>The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision today that will enhance the ability of the deepest-pocketed special interests to influence elections and the U.S. Congress, said a pair of leading national campaign finance reform organizations, Common Cause and Public Campaign. The decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which overturned the ban on independent expenditures by corporations, paves the way for unlimited corporate and union spending in elections. </blockquote> <blockquote>This decision means more business as usual in Washington, stomping on voters' hope for change," said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. "Congress must take on the insider Washington money culture if it wants to make the changes voters are demanding. The way to do that is by passing the Fair Elections Now Act. </blockquote> <blockquote>The Roberts court today made a bad situation worse," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. "This decision allows Wall Street to tap its vast corporate profits to drown out the voice of the public in our democracy. </blockquote> <blockquote>The path from here is clear: Congress must free itself from Wall Street's grip so Main Street can finally get a fair shake," Edgar continued. "We need to change the way America pays for elections. Passing the Fair Elections Now Act would give us the best Congress money can't buy.</blockquote> <blockquote>The Fair Elections Now Act (S.752 and H.R. 1826) was introduced by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.). In the House, the bipartisan bill has attracted 125 additional cosponsors. Both bills blend small donor fundraising with public funding to reduce the pressure of fundraising from big contributors. </blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Anna Burger, <a href="http://www.seiu.org/index.php">SEIU</a> Secretary-Treasurer: </p> <blockquote>Today the US Supreme Court lifted the floodgates and started dismantling century-old restrictions on corporate electoral activity in the name of the 'free speech rights' of corporations--meaning if you are a 'corporate person' (aka a CEO or corporate official), you are now free to hit the corporate ATM and spend whatever of your shareholders' money it takes to elect the candidates of your choice.</blockquote> <blockquote>Unlimited corporate spending in federal elections threatens to drown out the voices of the people who should really be at the center of the political process, i.e., voters and candidates. Unleashing corporate spending will only serve to distort and ultimately delegitimize the electoral process. </blockquote> <blockquote>Let's be clear: corporations have already been shilling out a lot of cash for political activities, letting their shareholders and managerial employees know exactly which candidates they want to win or lose elections and paying heavy sums for attack ads, direct mail and other forms of public communication through PACs.</blockquote> <blockquote>But with today's Citizens United decision, the Court has given corporate managers the greenlight to bypass the checks and balances, use unlimited amounts from the general treasury -funds that should be used to increase the value of the business or pay dividends to shareholders--to instead pay for public communications expressly advocating the election or defeat of the candidates of their choice. </blockquote> <blockquote>Our democratic process was meant to protect the people not profit margins and today's decision makes the need for an effective system for public funding, effective disclosure regulations, and other reforms of federal elections all the more pressing</blockquote> <blockquote>We look forward to working with concerned individuals, officials and groups to remedy to the greatest degree possible the unfortunate consequences of this Supreme Court decision, through legislation and other appropriate means. </blockquote> </blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" > </span> <div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-85860752697914102592009-12-28T12:55:00.000-08:002009-12-28T19:40:10.268-08:00Happy Holidays from Leonard Peltier<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420492632769338866" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 254px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 190px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49hvT533yANQ6eBzoIl2QfDN3QgTZLiFY35WCaF58JyF0efAFHc1BIOE2BnaO3prDk5OyJv6rRfOYQmxKRuoYvbqTCvsC4J7bZQ9Hx7DK5snl3gZtrwAkEdzWsFjX2Ca5gls3CPj92euZ/s320/Peltier_Extradition_SheilaSteele_Dec_09.jpg" border="0" /><strong><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;color:#000000;">photo 1: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/sheila_steele/">Sheila Steele</a></span> </strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">photo 2: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wyattneumann/">Wyatt Neuman</a></span><br /></strong><br /><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">December 23, 2009.<br /><br />Greetings and happy holidays,<br /><br />I hope this letter finds you all enjoying the spirit of the season with family and friends. </span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">My <a href="http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2009/i-am-obamas-prisoner-now-leonard-peltier-speaks-out-after-parole-denial/">August parole denial</a> was appealed in short order. We are expecting a response to that appeal sometime very soon. It has occurred to me that the viciousness of this system knows no bounds, and so I believe strongly in the coming days we will hear of another loss, another denial. This one will be timed and intended specifically as a twisted Christmas present for me, such is the nature of those in charge. With no sense of balance, fairness, or decency, I await my own personal stocking stuffer. </span><br style="font-family:arial;"><br style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We all know the so-called justice system of this country is more about revenge and retribution than finding true and just resolution. It doesn’t take into account the plight of the wrongfully convicted, nor does it allow flexibility as human endeavors always require. This system has always been about making money at the top, furthering careers in the middle, and forgetting those at the bottom.</span> </span><br /></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/24/imprisoned_native_american_activist_leonard_peltier"><span style="color:#000099;">Their reason for denying my parole is that I refuse to admit guilt and show remorse for the deaths of two FBI agents</span></a><span style="color:#000000;">. I know the righteousness of my situation. I know what I did and didn’t do. I will never yield. I also know what this country did and continues to do to me and many others. </span></span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wyattneumann/2863461290/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420496451864857282" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 307px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkR6-1Ba3DZndOEzMPwht24ni76gpkhr7mY_RWwJNEmlejfmThHjtfBMChcrGG1BBOV-C9ZW45TmKX5oZKsCgpS9BCdcTiJGfQFuENBaOKEMY6ISIUwxnKmEZvPIEZ97ERZeQ8k4I74Zwo/s320/Peltier_PineRidge_Dec_09.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">While they demand I make a false confession for the sake of my freedom, they show no remorse for the loss of much of my life, or the lives of Joe Stuntz and countless others they have murdered over the generations simply for being who they were. Those lives are meaningless when compared to their precious FBI, I guess. </span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">And now, some of the very ones responsible for the deaths and suffering of so many of my people, are peddling books and claiming to be a friend of the Indian. We’ve seen this before, and I’ll speak more about this soon. </span></div><div align="justify"> </div><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">I remain proud of what I have stood for and mindful of what real justice is. In this season of love and forgiveness, please say a prayer for all of those who never knew justice and others who have such difficulty in finding it still today. </span></div><br /><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">My love and my prayers go out to all of you. </span></div><br /><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#ff0000;"><strong>Happy Holidays</strong></span><br /></div><br /><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,</span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.leonardpeltier.net/theman.htm">Leonard Peltier</a></span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="color:#000000;">LET THE</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>REVOLUTION</em></span> <span style="color:#000000;">BEGIN!</span></strong><span style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/"></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></p><a href="http://www,counterspinyc.blogspot.com/"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 80px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/3028648030_1c32cd52fa_m.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!</span><br /></span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Live</strong> your values. </span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Love</span></strong> <span style="color:#000000;">your country.</span></span> </p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#000000;">And, remember: <em>TOGETHER</em>, <u>We</u> can make a</span> <strong><span style="color:#000099;">DIFFERENCE</span></strong><span style="color:#000000;">! </span></span><br /></p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span></span><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;color:#000000;"><strong>FAIR USE NOTICE:</strong> This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span><br /></span><br /></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-66283954993662939212009-09-29T00:21:00.000-07:002009-09-29T01:18:46.271-07:00Empire, Obama and America's Last Taboo.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/3546514151/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrp2PlX5PY5N50CKgNZMY-OZjhHiKnZ_wR-21vK4cXMgcQhogtsWxE109rC0ERBdNWEscJHGlrXVpoaxkBXf64IafvsCpKc8Da64m1wakQ6KNT-ulOxICQVJjmq02N4RiD7Hrqi-_IKSDX/s400/BenHeine_Obama_EverybodyLovesMe_28Sep_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386795525268688978" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Truth-telling Journalist John Pilger Lays Out the Hard Truths Learned Over a Lifetime of Investigative Reporting in this Wide-ranging Speech.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><em face="arial"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> What follows is an excerpt of a speech given by John Pilger at the Socialism 2009 event in San Francisco on </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">July</span> 4, <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">2009</span></em></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">.<br /><br />Illustrations: Ben HEINE: "</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Barack Obama's Popularity", </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >"OBAMA'S MAGIC" & "Colorful people for a Better World, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King". Ben on FB <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Heine/45292293615"><span style="font-weight: bold;">here</span></a>.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><em face="arial"></em></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><em></em></span></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><em></em></span><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Americanism is an ideology that is unique because its main feature is its denial that it is an ideology. It's both conservative and it's liberal. And it's right and it's left. And Barack Obama is its embodiment. Since Obama was elected, leading liberals have talked about America returning to its true status as, “a<span style="font-style: italic;"> nation of moral ideals.</span>” Those are the words of Paul Krugman, the liberal columnist of The New York Times. In the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Mark Morford wrote, “<span style="font-style: italic;">Spiritually advanced people regard the new president as a light worker who can help usher in a new way of being on the planet.</span>”<br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Tell that to an Afghan child whose family has been blown away by Obama's bombs. Or a Pakistani child whose house has been visited by one of Obama's drones. Or a Palestinian child surveying the carnage in Gaza caused by American "smart” weapons, which, disclosed Seymour Hersh, were re-supplied to Israel for use in the slaughter, “<span style="font-style: italic;">Only after the Obama team let it be known it would not object.</span>” The man who stayed silent on Gaza is the man who now condemns Iran.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In a sense, Obama is the myth that is America's last taboo. His most consistent theme was never change; it was power. “<span style="font-style: italic;">The United States</span>,” he said, “l<span style="font-style: italic;">eads the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good. We must lead by building a 21st century military to ensure the security of our people and advance the security of all people.</span>” And there is this remarkable statement, “<span style="font-style: italic;">At moments of great peril in the past century our leaders ensured that America, by deed and by example, led and lifted the world, that we stood and fought for the freedoms sought by billions of people beyond our borders.</span>” Words like these remind me of the colonel in the village in Viet Nam, as he spun much the same nonsense.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Since 1945, by deed and by example, to use Obama's words, America has overthrown 50 governments, including democracies, and crushed some 30 liberation movements and bombed countless men, women, and children to death. I'm grateful to Bill Blum for his cataloging of that. And yet, here is the 45th [sic] president of the United States having stacked his government with war mongers and corporate fraudsters and polluters from the Bush and Clinton eras, promising, not only more of the same, but a whole new war in Pakistan, justified by the murderous clichés of Hillary Clinton-clichés like, “<span style="font-style: italic;">high value targets.</span>” Within three days of his inauguration, Obama was ordering the death of people in faraway countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan. And yet, the peace movement, it seems, is prepared to look the other way and believe that the cool Obama will restore, as Krugman wrote, “<span style="font-style: italic;">the nation of moral ideals</span>.” </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Not long ago, I visited the American Museum of History in the celebrated Smithsonian Institute in Washington. One of the most popular exhibitions was called “<span style="font-style: italic;">The Price of Freedom: Americans at War.</span>” It was holiday time and lines of happy people, including many children, shuffled through a Santa's grotto of war and conquest. When messages about their nation's great mission were lit up, these included tributes to the; "...<span style="font-style: italic;">exceptional Americans who saved a million lives</span>...” in Viet Nam, where they were, “...<span style="font-style: italic;">determined to stop Communist expansion.</span>” In Iraq other brave Americans “<span style="font-style: italic;">employed air-strikes of unprecedented precision.</span>” What was shocking was not so much the revisionism of two of the epic crimes of modern times, but the sheer scale of omission.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Like all US presidents, Bush and Obama have very much in common. The wars of both presidents and the wars of Clinton and Reagan, Carter and Ford, Nixon and Kennedy are justified by the enduring myth of exceptional America, a myth the late Harold Pinter described as “<span style="font-style: italic;">a brilliant, witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.</span>” </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/3381017426/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZCGhwsc89oOyLPtezv-_q7QUJYBcK7AOvACgrC5-HBVG8JCrWVevjWmWxBcYuqgumeQqWgtVJYzEY2a_S7h0aOmXDSyB5h-iyNimhp1IwsX5Y-x8YY9WWt-6xreoOALYnt7bDSFKXpqyp/s400/BenHeine_Obama_ChangeisHappening_28Sep_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386795957686330194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">The clever young man who recently made it to the White House is a very fine hypnotist, partly because it is indeed extraordinary to see an African American at the pinnacle of power in the land of slavery. However, this is the 21st century, and race together with gender, and even class, can be very seductive tools of propaganda. For what is so often overlooked and what matters, I believe above all, is the class one serves. George Bush's inner circle from the State Department to the Supreme Court was perhaps the most multi-racial in presidential history. It was PC par excellence. Think Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell. It was also the most reactionary. Obama's very presence in the White House appears to reaffirm the moral nation. He's a marketing dream. But like Calvin Klein or Benetton, he's a brand that promises something special, something exciting, almost risqué. As if he might be radical. As if he might enact change. He makes people feel good; he's a post-modern man with no political baggage. And all that's fake.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In his book, Dreams From My Father, Obama refers to the job he took after he graduated from Columbia in 1983; he describes his employer as, “...<span style="font-style: italic;">a consulting house to multi-national corporations</span>.” For some reason he doesn't say who his employer was or what he did there. The employer was Business International Corporation, which has a long history of providing cover for the CIA with covert action and infiltrating unions from the left. I know this because it was especially active in my own country, Australia. Obama doesn't say what he did at Business International, and they may be absolutely nothing sinister. But it seems worthy of inquiry and debate, as a clue to, perhaps, who the man is.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">During his brief period in the Senate, Obama voted to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He voted<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> for</span> the Patriot Act. He <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">refused</span> to support a bill for single-payer health care. He supported the death penalty. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">As a presidential candidate he received more corporate backing than John McCain. </span>He promised to close Guantanamo as a priority, but instead <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">he has excused torture, reinstated military commissions, kept the Bush gulag intact, and opposed </span>habeas<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> corpus.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Daniel Ellsberg, the great whistleblower, was right, I believe, when he said that under Bush a military coup had taken place in the United States, giving the Pentagon unprecedented powers. These powers have been reinforced by the presence of Robert Gates — a Bush family crony and George W. Bush's powerful Secretary of Defense, and by all the Bush Pentagon officials and generals who have kept their jobs under Obama.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In the middle of a recession, with millions of Americans losing their jobs and homes, Obama has <span style="font-style: italic;">increased </span>the military budget. In Colombia he is planning to spend <span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">46 million dollars</span> on a new military base that will support a regime backed by death squads and further the tragic history of Washington's intervention in that region. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In a pseudo-event in Prague, Obama promised a world without nuclear weapons to a global audience, mostly unaware that America is building new tactical nuclear weapons designed to blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional war. Like George Bush, he used the absurdity of Europe threatened by Iran to justify building a missile system aimed at Russia and China. In another pseudo-event at the Annapolis Naval Academy, decked with flags and uniforms, Obama lied that America had gone to Iraq to bring freedom to that country. He announced that the troops were coming home. This was another deception. The head of the army, General George Casey, says, with some authority, that America will be in Iraq for up to a decade. Other generals say fifteen years.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Chris Hedges, the very fine author of Empire of Illusion, puts it very well; “<span style="font-style: italic;">President Obama,</span>” he wrote, “<span style="font-style: italic;">does one thing and brand Obama gets you to believe another. This is the essence of successful advertising. You buy or do what the advertisers want because of how they make you feel.</span>” And so you are kept in a perpetual state of childishness. He calls this “<span style="font-style: italic;">junk politics</span>.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But I think the real tragedy is that Obama, the brand, appears to have crippled or absorbed much of the anti-war movement, the peace movement. Out of 256 Democrats in Congress; 30, just 30, are willing to stand up against Obama's and Nancy Pelosi's war party. On June the 16th, they voted for 106 billion dollars for more war.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/2384869433/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 278px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLrwoQRJy4RmdLEOAAUQgzZRRHYy880AuNEdd7qjSjJCdImQun7GESgbmSOwzvvy3T_uw3dt3KbmkrkHbCJMj2EGgfij4PzdggFa9V3Xda6wDJzngmMSawu8Zq40GRsQpd9JvUMwC0ClS/s400/BenHeine_Obama_ColorfulPeopleForaBetterWorld_28Sep_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386796689441542882" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">The “Out of Iraq” caucus is out of action. Its members can't even come up with a form of words of why they are silent. On March the 21st, a demonstration at the Pentagon by the once mighty United for Peace and Justice drew only a few thousand. The outgoing president of UFPJ, Lesley Kagen, says her people aren't turning up because, “<span style="font-style: italic;">It's enough for many of them that Obama has a plan to end the war and that things are moving in the right direction.</span>” And where is the mighty Move On, these days? Where is its campaign against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And what, exactly, was said when Move On's executive director, Jason Ruben, met Barack Obama at the White House in February?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Yes, a lot of good people mobilized for Obama. But what did they demand of him? Working to elect the Democratic presidential candidate may seem like activism, but it isn't. Activism doesn't give up. Activism doesn't fall silent. Activism doesn't rely on the opiate of hope. Woody Allen once said, “<span style="font-style: italic;">I felt a lot better when I gave up hope.</span>” Real activism has little time for identity politics which, like exceptionalism, can be fake. These are distractions that confuse and sucker good people. And not only in the United States, I can assure you.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><em>This article first appeared in the Rock Creek Free Press, September, 2009.</em></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><em><br /></em></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span> </p><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:100%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:100%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:100%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:100%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:100%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-38469767728221370412009-09-28T23:43:00.000-07:002009-09-29T00:04:36.719-07:00The History of the Middle Finger.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4iiU1gGu8RGM5bizY8cSynfrUWF3Y8oCBRyp-oH_KVWaFJoJF0MRHYDRBWg3-U5fpgGemWfbi6G3AAF368CcLuPslUGmwrSYBZg3SK3XZr-Elmui26bxe5v0LsopcNHodKw8Kv1M3hAX/s1600-h/Granny_Middle_Finger_28Sep_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 317px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4iiU1gGu8RGM5bizY8cSynfrUWF3Y8oCBRyp-oH_KVWaFJoJF0MRHYDRBWg3-U5fpgGemWfbi6G3AAF368CcLuPslUGmwrSYBZg3SK3XZr-Elmui26bxe5v0LsopcNHodKw8Kv1M3hAX/s400/Granny_Middle_Finger_28Sep_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386780555185737266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >I never knew this before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to share it with you in the hopes that you, too, will feel edified. Isn't history fun? </span></div><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Before the <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_0">Battle of Agincourt</span> in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_1">renowned English longbow</span> and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_2">English longbow</span> was made of the native <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_3">English Yew tree</span>, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as 'plucking the yew' (or 'pluck yew'). </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_4">middle fingers</span> at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew! Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1254206367_5">consonant cluster</span> at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.' </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">*<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY</span>! </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span></span></div><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span> </p><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:100%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:100%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:100%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:100%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:100%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-left: 0.5in; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: left; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><br /></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-73365338506219898302009-09-07T07:59:00.001-07:002009-09-07T08:18:08.702-07:00Van Jones Resigns from Position with the White House Council on Environmental Quality.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1y8V42inT7ee50NkgqwBuA1CrbLMJL9rNFJAgKahaiU8PR9wz296GVMURgKEOiKeY11wB-rKquzQClkMJLyMEYpNNi9NcLvzQgp6qORsaKVQfVt8buA3dXg81DrfRSj8mofmV42cqpGR/s1600-h/Green_for_All_Mar_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 63px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1y8V42inT7ee50NkgqwBuA1CrbLMJL9rNFJAgKahaiU8PR9wz296GVMURgKEOiKeY11wB-rKquzQClkMJLyMEYpNNi9NcLvzQgp6qORsaKVQfVt8buA3dXg81DrfRSj8mofmV42cqpGR/s400/Green_for_All_Mar_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378740773030400194" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">September 7, 2009.</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br />Dear fellow Americans,</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Late last night, Van Jones resigned from his position with the </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_0" >White House</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_1" >Council on Environmental Quality</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" >. Many of us are left with pain and anger after seeing a leader of integrity, vision, and commitment targeted by hateful </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_2" >personal attacks</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" >. Van stepped down in service to our movement. He felt that fighting the attacks would draw attention to him and detract from our mission.<br /><br /></span><b style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Now, our challenge is to turn our disappointment and anger into action and renewed resolve for our common goals.</b> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Like the great </span><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_3" >social justice movements</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > of the </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_4" >20th century</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" >, our movement for an inclusive green economy is based in the most fundamental American values: equality, justice, and opportunity for all.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />That's why our opponents reduced the debate to fear, hatred, and division. They cannot win a debate about values. They cannot win a debate about solutions.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Our allies and friends may be redirected by these attacks, and focus on the rants of those who fear our vision.<br /><br />For Green For All, our struggle must be defined by the issues our opponents refuse to debate: ending </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252335718_5" >global warming</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" >; lifting people out of poverty; restoring the economy; and bringing health to our communities. These are the challenges that matter the most.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />This moment reaffirms our commitment and makes us more steadfast in pushing for our goals, including a climate bill that delivers on the promise of a clean-energy economy. We will not be led astray. We will not let our anger cloud our vision.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Instead, it is the time to come together around the values our movement stands for: clean air; healthy communities; good jobs; and opportunity for all. </span> <a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rGLeUDXFK3W5XAZ%2FwQH0y8tEp%2B2iF1tB"><span style="font-size:larger;">Please sign our Petition in support of the Green Jobs Movement.</span></a> <a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rGLeUDXFK3W5XAZ%2FwQH0y8tEp%2B2iF1tB"><span style="font-size:larger;"> </span></a> <a style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rGLeUDXFK3W5XAZ%2FwQH0y8tEp%2B2iF1tB"><span style="font-size:larger;"> </span></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Then pass it on to 10 friends.<br /><br />Let's use this opportunity to grow in numbers and strength.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > In the face of tactics intended to frighten and divide, we must stand strong around our core values and renew our commitment to our shared vision.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Thank you for taking a stand with us.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins </span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Chief Executive Officer</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" > Green For All</span><br /></div></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">LET THE</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">REVOLUTION</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;">BEGIN!</span></span></span> </span></div> <div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-712604715699192982009-08-28T22:46:00.000-07:002009-08-28T23:02:02.464-07:00SUN DANCE CHIEF FASTS AT WHITE HOUSE FOR LEONARD PELTIER: SEEKS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGFAuW2WV8fC78ceSGglXOXdDPzsNH-PKekbYrb9mcJym-eLgPnbXKy9Ml8Fy2zD3IJkTN2QVLmH40WG-iQ4aeIveYUkde5QazAZavUOAzNViq0w7aL8wiaa9QkWi_mOXGPhELiPTyjKEW/s1600-h/Ben_Carnes_ChoctawNation_Aug_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGFAuW2WV8fC78ceSGglXOXdDPzsNH-PKekbYrb9mcJym-eLgPnbXKy9Ml8Fy2zD3IJkTN2QVLmH40WG-iQ4aeIveYUkde5QazAZavUOAzNViq0w7aL8wiaa9QkWi_mOXGPhELiPTyjKEW/s400/Ben_Carnes_ChoctawNation_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375261334714307538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">As a result of Peltier's recent parole denial, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Ben Carnes,</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Choctaw Nation</span>, and a Sun Dance Chief, states he will go to Washington, D.C. to stand and fast in front of the White House between September 5th - 12th, in hopes of securing a meeting with President Obama.<br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"> <span style="font-family:arial;">Earlier this year, the LP-DOC sent a letter to President Obama to discuss the case of Leonard Peltier, but the reply from the White House declined to invite members of the committee for a meeting.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">Leonard Peltier has been an international symbol of American injustice based upon critical questions surrounding his conviction in 1977 in the deaths of two FBI agents.<br /><br />Amnesty International has designated Peltier as a political prisoner and a U.S. prosecutor has admitted in court during an appeal hearing that he did not know who killed the agents and cannot prove who did. A federal judge who heard this statement was unable to afford any relief wrote a letter to Sen. Inouye to ask the president to grant clemency.</span> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1GVBXzatM2K0lqQuyC4-87yKYI5Azz7gmfREj5Mg3VgCl3VcA-4Pgpiam9MMXjWnwXVB2EsetyRCgEZkQoRhrkoCl_f5g6Pb_EeLTRgC49hT-VCT2cWh2hJnlW94J8t8kURl-HwLRNgu/s1600-h/FREE_LEONARD_Jun_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1GVBXzatM2K0lqQuyC4-87yKYI5Azz7gmfREj5Mg3VgCl3VcA-4Pgpiam9MMXjWnwXVB2EsetyRCgEZkQoRhrkoCl_f5g6Pb_EeLTRgC49hT-VCT2cWh2hJnlW94J8t8kURl-HwLRNgu/s400/FREE_LEONARD_Jun_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375259641902528322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Carnes is a recipient of the 1987 Oklahoma Human Rights Award for his stand against forced hair cutting of Native prisoners. He has been asked to speak before congressional committees and has served with numerous human rights, interfaith and Native organizations. He has worked tirelessly on behalf of Peltier for over 28 years, and first became a national spokesperson in 1991. He is also national support group coordinator and advisory board member for the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />"The basis of Peltier's denial by the parole commission is one of hypocrisy. It is also beyond belief that the chair of the US Parole Commission, Issac Fullwood, who is lectures on ethics in law enforcement, would turn a blind eye to the FBI's abuse of the investigative process. And Ms. Patricia Cushwa, commission member, and Chair of the Maryland parole commission recently supported a pardon for a man who had been executed, because there were questions about the case." said Carnes.<br /><br />He said that there are questions about Peltier case that remains unanswered, and with this denial, the parole commission have made Peltiers life sentence a sentence of death as he won't be eligible for parole for 15 years when he is 79 years old. Peltier will observe his next birthday on September 12 when he will turn 65. He has already served 33 years in prison.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;">Supporters are calling for a world wide 24 vigils on September 11th - 12th to begin at 8:45 AM.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-86391873945671157852009-08-27T21:00:00.000-07:002009-08-28T23:23:41.563-07:00Health Care Fit for Animals.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3O0YdMHAF1jy1_DORrOZLkvv8TD5j5_bZhM-7e5BZyobn2wbxJSc6z-AaZAbLupvK6iELHShZ8oH4skOMm5_RtQF4Q5PWdsPiFZV0yKxiVbwroB9olfmoFeiz2MlpmAhvjikAfoQ-vIXa/s1600-h/NYT_Logo_Mar_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 65px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3O0YdMHAF1jy1_DORrOZLkvv8TD5j5_bZhM-7e5BZyobn2wbxJSc6z-AaZAbLupvK6iELHShZ8oH4skOMm5_RtQF4Q5PWdsPiFZV0yKxiVbwroB9olfmoFeiz2MlpmAhvjikAfoQ-vIXa/s400/NYT_Logo_Mar_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375266307322604290" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:78%;color:#000000;" ><strong>by </strong></span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" title="More Articles by Nicholas D. Kristof" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</span></a><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">Published: August 26, 2009 </span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Opponents suggest that a “government takeover” of health care will be a milestone on the road to “socialized medicine,” and when he hears those terms, </span><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8422"><span style="font-family:arial;">Wendell Potter cringes</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. He’s embarrassed that opponents are using a playbook that he helped devise.</span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">“Over the years I helped craft this messaging and deliver it,” he noted.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Potter was an executive in the health insurance industry for nearly 20 years before his conscience got the better of him. He served as head of corporate communications for Humana and then for Cigna.<br /></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span> </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">He flew in corporate jets to industry meetings to plan how to block health reform, he says. He rode in limousines to confabs to concoct messaging to scare the public about reform. But in his heart, he began to have doubts as the business model for insurance evolved in recent years from spreading risk to dumping the risky.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Then in 2007 Mr. Potter attended a premiere of “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s excoriating film about the American health care system. Mr. Potter was taking notes so that he could prepare a propaganda counterblast — but he found himself agreeing with a great deal of the film.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">A month later, Mr. Potter was back home in Tennessee, visiting his parents, and dropped in on a three-day charity program at a county fairgrounds to provide medical care for patients who could not afford doctors. Long lines of people were waiting in the rain, and patients were being examined and treated in public in stalls intended for livestock.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">“It was a life-changing event to witness that,” he remembered. Increasingly, he found himself despising himself for helping block health reforms. “It sounds hokey, but I would look in the mirror and think, how did I get into this?”<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Potter loved his office, his executive salary, his bonus, his stock options. “How can I walk away</span> <span style="font-family: arial;">from a job that pays me so well?” he wondered. But at the age of 56, he announced his retirement and left Cigna last year.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">This year, he went public with his concerns,</span><a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/PotterTestimonyConsumerHealthInsurance.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial;"> testifying</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> before a Senate committee investigating the insurance industry.<br /></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"> </div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">“I knew that once I did that my life would be different,” he said. “I wouldn’t be getting any more calls from recruiters for the health industry. It was the scariest thing I have done in my life. But it was the right thing to do.”<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Potter says he liked his colleagues and bosses in the insurance industry, and respected them. They are not evil. But he adds that they are removed from the consequences of their decisions, as he was, and are obsessed with sustaining the company’s stock price — which means paying fewer medical bills.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">One way to do that is to deny requests for expensive procedures. A second is “rescission” — seizing upon a technicality to cancel the policy of someone who has been paying premiums and finally gets cancer or some other expensive disease. A Congressional investigation into rescission found that three insurers, including Blue Cross of California, used this technique to cancel more than 20,000 policies over five years, saving the companies $300 million in claims.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">As The Los Angeles Times </span><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/17/business/fi-rescind17"><span style="font-family:arial;">has reported</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, insurers encourage this approach through performance evaluations. One Blue Cross employee earned a perfect evaluation score after dropping thousands of policyholders who faced nearly $10 million in medical expenses.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Potter notes that a third tactic is for insurers to raise premiums for a small business astronomically after an employee is found to have an illness that will be very expensive to treat. That forces the business to drop coverage for all its employees or go elsewhere.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">All this is monstrous, and it negates the entire point of insurance, which is to spread risk.<br />The insurers are open to one kind of reform — universal coverage through mandates and subsidies, so as to give them more customers and more profits. But they don’t want the reforms that will most help patients, such as a public insurance option, enforced competition and tighter regulation.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Mr. Potter argues that much tougher regulation is essential. He also believes that a robust public option is an essential part of any health reform, to compete with for-profit insurers and keep them honest.</span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">As a nation, we’re at a turning point. Universal health coverage has been proposed for nearly a century in the United States. It was in an early draft of Social Security. </span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">Yet each time, it has been defeated in part by fear-mongering industry lobbyists. That may happen this time as well — unless the Obama administration and Congress defeat these manipulative special interests. What’s un-American isn’t a greater government role in health care but an existing system in which Americans without insurance get health care, if at all, in livestock pens.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" align="justify">• <span style="font-family:arial;">I invite you to visit my blog, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground"><span style="font-family:arial;">On the Ground</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Please also join me on </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/kristof"><span style="font-family:arial;">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, watch my </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/nicholaskristof"><span style="font-family:arial;">YouTube videos</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and follow me on </span><a href="http://twitter.com/nytimeskristof"><span style="font-family:arial;">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span> •</div><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><div> </div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-91426656203109592372009-08-27T09:10:00.000-07:002009-08-27T09:10:00.711-07:00Are we really so miserable?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ftRHaF8a5OW_kMwlAs-Nnyh8rpG9mQknHTFbgbRuWx1ZJVDlmIkkuRdgFIsMjoEthsviCcj3tiqgAJT6mxNsccQlpGuM85vaEvxbQfiP0gQbEWlt3cjUa2ee8d827Ukvv57rDgDOt8DP/s1600-h/Salon_com_Mar_09psd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 125px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ftRHaF8a5OW_kMwlAs-Nnyh8rpG9mQknHTFbgbRuWx1ZJVDlmIkkuRdgFIsMjoEthsviCcj3tiqgAJT6mxNsccQlpGuM85vaEvxbQfiP0gQbEWlt3cjUa2ee8d827Ukvv57rDgDOt8DP/s400/Salon_com_Mar_09psd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374506808243978338" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Are we really so miserable?</span> <p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" id="deck"><span style="font-size:100%;">Antidepressant use has doubled, and anxiety is at a troubling high. Blame TV, Big Pharma -- and possibly yourself</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" id="byline"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">by:</span> Charles Barber</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" id="byline"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Earlier this month the Archives of General Psychiatry released a <a style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank" href="http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/8/848?lookupType=volpage&vol=66&fp=848&view=short">much publicized study</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> that one in 10 Americans is now taking antidepressants within the course of a year, making antidepressants the most prescribed kind of medication in the country. The number of Americans on antidepressants doubled between 1996 and 2005, and the number of prescriptions written for these drugs has increased each year between 2005 and 2008. One has to wonder: Are we really that miserable?</span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>Manipulated</em> might be a better word than miserable. If we were to pick one factor that explains the dramatically increased number of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (the technical name for drugs like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft) that now run through our collective bloodstream, it would be direct-to-consumer advertising, otherwise known as television commercials for prescription drugs. An obscure rule change by the FDA in 1997 allowed Big Pharma to advertise its products on TV and bring them into our living rooms, and our daily consciousness. The pharmaceutical companies concentrated on their best-selling “blockbuster” drugs — Lipitor, Claritin, Nexium, Viagra, as well as the psychiatric drugs Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, and more currently, Effexor and Lexapro — and soon enough these drugs became, quite literally, household names, the celebrities of pharmaceutical agents. Psychiatric drugs featured prominently in these ads because psychiatric drugs are very good sellers, among the best in the industry, for which there is a simple reason: Legitimate psychiatric illnesses are chronic (if episodic), and the legitimate sufferer needs to take the medication for a long time, if not for life.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="float: right; height: 0pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><!-- --></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With the resources and, yes, the resourcefulness of Big Pharma on hand, the ads were, for the most part, brilliant. They show the facile transformation from illness to health in a scant 60 seconds. Consider the ads themselves, which have become visual wallpaper for every TV viewer: A tormented person stares, alone and agonized, into some kind of abyss. Then along comes the depression drug, and the person is instantly transformed, grandchild on a knee, a golden retriever lolling at the feet. The sunny pictures and rousing music stand in sharp contrast to those bleak voiceovers rattling off disturbing side effects, but no matter — the way our minds work, we remember the soothing imagery, not the diarrhea and the flatulence.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Often it is hard to tell exactly what condition the drugs are treating. The taglines of the drugs are often vague — for drugs for depression, the slogans might speak broadly but inspirationally about change and hope and getting back to one’s true self. (Now that I think of it, these meta-messages are not unlike those of the Obama campaign.) The drugs thus appear to be defined less as mediators of specific medical conditions than as ways to enhance one’s lifestyle and quality of life. And this is good for business: It turns out that the market base of people who are interested in enhancing their lifestyle is far greater than of those who suffer from major depression and other serious and debilitating mental illnesses. In the case of Viagra and similar drugs, the number of people suffering from erectile dysfunction is far less than the number of people who want to have good sex.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm4kQ6YEY13J8ignuYgwWECgrfbODbN_WIMB13WWJbI1PKDcFCOL7m6GtVdmYvHhcF4ZxLFyFD_Efu1PXopmOp6VRg0Lclyxl9fDheNkUkufKm_UVEfwQyrUOtTpTgS1aObYJz6A9WBs6J/s1600-h/Happy_Pills_Aug_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm4kQ6YEY13J8ignuYgwWECgrfbODbN_WIMB13WWJbI1PKDcFCOL7m6GtVdmYvHhcF4ZxLFyFD_Efu1PXopmOp6VRg0Lclyxl9fDheNkUkufKm_UVEfwQyrUOtTpTgS1aObYJz6A9WBs6J/s400/Happy_Pills_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374507862388414994" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">And America is just about alone in the world in how we’ve embraced the commodification of pharmaceutical agents on television, the selling of them along with toothpaste and Chevrolet. Direct-to-consumer television advertising for drugs is illegal in every other country in the world, except for some strange reason, New Zealand. (Although I was contacted by a psychiatrist from New Zealand who told me that he’d never seen a drug ad on TV there, so maybe it really is just us.) It’s a very American thing, this turning of our drugs into products, and you can see its deleterious effects in the way that the illicit use of prescription drugs has risen dramatically by young people in recent years (who came of age watching these ads and don’t remember a time when they weren’t on TV), and the now not-infrequent death of celebrities who mix and match too many of these things. (Michael Jackson <a target="_blank" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/lethal-levels-of-anesthetic-propofol-killed-michael-jackson.html">died of an overdose of propofol</a>, neither advertised on TV nor recommended for home use. But reports have suggested he also indulged in a rainbow of prescription drugs, hitting a new low — or high? — in tabloid pill-popping.)</span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="float: right; height: 0pt; font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><!-- --></div><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Of course, there is a flipside to all of this: The great prescription medication march has reduced the stigma of certain psychiatric illnesses. (But by no means all: See what happens next time you tell someone you have schizophrenia.) Many patients find the drugs helpful, particularly those who actually have the symptoms of what the drugs were originally intended to treat — major clinical depression — and not just the blues, or financial, career or relationship problems, all of those things that we used to regard as life problems, and not medical or diagnosable ones.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But there is something dark and undeniable shifting in our cultural mood, too. Sure, there is manipulation in the advertising and confusion about what constitutes legitimate “serious and persistent mental illness” (a formal term to describe the afflictions of the very small percentage of people who suffer from severe bipolar disorder, major depression or psychotic disorders) as opposed to the far more normative, if often very painful, stressors and issues of living life in the early 21st century. Yet I would also say that misery and — if one were to use a slightly more clinical word, <em>anxiety</em> — are at one of their periodic high points. Arguably we have entered a new age of anxiety, a term associated with the post-World War II era through the 1960s, when the prevailing belief was that the world might blow up at any moment (and on the medication front, Valium was king). Maybe there’s some weird synchronicity that the hottest thing in our present cultural moment, "Mad Men," is set firmly in that era. In any case, I have written widely about mental health and have traveled the country in the last couple of years and, given the nature of my writing, have been sought out by all kinds of troubled souls. I can claim confidently that there is, right now, a high-water mark of worry and suffering on numerous fronts — economic, of course, but also social, with our ever-increasing isolation and Internet-driven loss of human connection and the ongoing trauma of wars and crises that just don’t seem to end.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">As W.H. Auden wrote in 1947, in a play called "The Age of Anxiety": “When the historical process breaks down … when necessity is associated with horror … then it looks good to the bar business.” Substitute “antidepressant” for “bar,” and you have our situation in 2009.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-64162562750341877952009-08-27T04:28:00.000-07:002009-08-27T04:28:00.209-07:00Single Payer Activists Target Whole Foods Stores in Los Angeles, Denver and New York City.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1403"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 38px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31thLRBkTUIP-6tSAlF5z2Q9QSic3FWOX1sLNZC1HpunlGT977QDRL-1Xc6vhyphenhyphenUb9pvB2i23BtpHo2WIgXCDZiilILZJ7aa_uZMNIn5YRTw-XA3GfkYCzo31ob2ci0Xc1FCWoUZ5SeLx8/s400/SinglePayerAction_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374497098380683298" border="0" /></a><br /><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Single Payer Action will hold a protest at the opening of a new NYC Whole Foods store<br /></span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHEN:</span> Thursday August 27, 2009 from 12 noon to 1 p.m.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHERE:</span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251341364_0"> Whole Foods Market</span>, </span><span style="font-size:medium;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FpXpZ%2F9dG9MfcwpbjGasUqTT4mVbaff9">Upper West Side</a></span><span style="font-size:medium;">, <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251341364_1">808 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10025</span>.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">F.M.I.: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">For more information, contact Josh Starcher, Phone: <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251341364_2">718.909.6343</span> e-mail: <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: rgb(220, 238, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251341364_3">joshmee_@hotmail.com</span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Hope you can attend.</span></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial; text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span></p><h2 style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">August 26, 2009</span></h2><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><h3 style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="storytitle"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1403" rel="bookmark">Single Payer Activists Target Whole Foods Stores in Los Angeles, Denver and New York City</a></span></h3><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="meta"><span style="font-size:100%;">Filed under: <a href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?cat=3" title="View all posts in News" rel="category">News</a> — russell @ 4:49 pm </span></div><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </div><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="storycontent"> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Over the next couple of days, single payer activists will be protesting at Whole Foods stores in Los Angeles, Denver and New York City.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Earlier this month, Single Payer Action <a href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1327" target="_blank">called for a boycott</a> of Whole Foods in response to Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey’s article in the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> arguing that health care should not be a fundamental human right.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">All western industrial countries – except for the United States – deem health care to be a fundamental human right.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">According to an Institute of Medicine report, sixty Americans die every day due to lack of health insurance.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Last week saw a<a href="http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1381" target="_blank"> slew of protests </a>at Whole Foods’ across the country.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">An investment group<a href="http://wholeboycott.com/2009/08/25/investment-group-wants-mackey-out/" target="_blank"> called on the board of directors</a> to oust Mackey.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">And the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119099537379" target="_blank">Boycott Whole Foods Facebook page</a> now has more than 29,000 members.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">“While the CEO of Whole Foods has the right to make his right-wing libertarian arguments in the pages of the<em> Wall Street Journal, </em>we have a right to inform his largely liberal customers about those views,” said Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action. “Mackey might be right about tofu and granola, but he’s wrong about health care. Single payer health reform – everybody in, nobody out – is the only option that will both cover everyone and control costs.”</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Tomorrow, Thursday August 27 at 12 noon, single payer activists will picket the opening of a new Whole Foods store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">On Friday, August 28, single payer activists will be outside Whole Foods’ Westwood store in Los Angeles.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">And on Wednesday, September 2, single payer activists will be outside Whole Foods’ Washington Park store in Denver.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">The Whole Foods boycott in Los Angeles is being organized by a group of medical students from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">The group calls itself Advocates for Single Payer Reform (ASPiRe).</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">“We want to educate our colleagues, faculty, and other health professionals about the necessity for single-payer healthcare in the U.S.,” said student organizer Adam Saby. “Considering there’s a very popular Whole Foods market in Westwood, which is located right next to the UCLA campus, we believe it is our duty to let customers know that their dollars are going to fill the pockets of people like CEO Mackey who do not believe in ‘an intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter.’”</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Here are the details and contacts on the upcoming protests:</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>New York City. </em>Thursday August 27, 2009, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Whole Foods Market, <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/upperwestside/" target="_blank">Upper West Side</a>, 808 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10025.<br />Contact: Josh Starcher, Josh Starcher, Phone: 718.909.6343 e-mail: joshmee_@hotmail.com</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>Los Angeles.</em> Friday, August 28, 2009, 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Whole Foods Market, <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/westwood/" target="_blank">Westwood</a>, 1050 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, California 90024.<br />Contact: Adam Saby, Advocates for Single Payer Reform, Phone: 714.454.0582<br />E-mail: asaby@ucla.edu</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>Denver. </em>Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Whole Foods Market, <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/washingtonpark/" target="_blank">Washington Park</a>, 1111 S. Washington St. Denver, Colorado 80210.<br />Contact: Judy Trompeter, Phone: Phone: 303/894-0713, E-mail: schumpeter@worldnet.att.net</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:medium;">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-60503734083196332752009-08-26T21:45:00.000-07:002009-08-26T22:18:04.018-07:00The Campaign to Free Our Phones Is Working.<a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.freepress.net/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUARpZVhQvy4SQJPXvUaxA1sW7eSiI3rfuhI3hqT1si9HWs30g3yGEw-6Uc2y8_x0hww24yMfazJw00QcCMOxLuB6lWJaXHkFqYy5UOHDoGfpEeXRTD_ecAA9F3UsfT-nN9uPcAqdfDvJ/s400/FreePress_Logo_Jun_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374500811873302434" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Dear fellow Americans, </span><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>Greedy <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_1">mobile phone carriers</span> have finally been put on notice. </strong>After more than 20,000 petition signatures from Free Press members, the </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;font-size:100%;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_2" >FCC</span> has put industry abuses like blocked applications, locked contracts, and excessive texting and <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;font-size:100%;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_3" >termination fees</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> at the top of its agenda. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">Tomorrow, all five commissioners are meeting together for the first time to discuss the future of </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(220, 238, 255);font-size:100%;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_4" >wireless communications</span><span style="font-size:100%;">.<strong> It’s the perfect moment to drive home our message: America’s <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_5">mobile phone industry</span> needs to change.</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">We have to be sure the FCC gets the message. Our goal today is to double the impact of the petition before hand it to the FCC tomorrow<strong> -- to go from 20,000 to 40,000 voices for better mobile phones in America.</strong></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=333"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTKyxBzRADV-V2O8vtqiqB34W1j-tlZLuObS3INbtfPNm6O_ICdrCm35c16zXHhuwGtVlJ-eglvH42jT5WId8mFTLd0f__P94y1SslxUQ-SJm2XtPACwe5qMnvZW9SSj1XildMszEZLR0L/s400/FreemyPhone_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374502030654175986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=aQk8_SHCgHAEigLptgMxNg.."><strong><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_6">Tell the FCC to Free Our Phones Now</span></strong></a></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">Please <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=6lutgt_V9QIQfpL-rvIrvQ.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_7">sign our petition</span> </a>and help pry open the </span><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-size:100%;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_8" >mobile phone market</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> to consumer choices, open access, and lower costs for everyone. If you have already signed on, please <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=4ldeZAbsSCgHT6eRNwLYFw.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_9">forward this note to your friends</span></a> urging them to join us in this final push.<br /><br />It's because you and other Free Press members have made this an issue that Washington and the media are paying attention. Since we launched this campaign:</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">The FCC has launched an inquiry into the blocking of applications on the iPhone;</span></li><li><span style=";font-size:100%;" >Leading members of the Senate have written letters calling for an investigation of locked phone contracts;</span></li><li><span style=";font-size:100%;" >Prominent publications like the <em><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_10">Wall Street Journal</span>,</em> the <em><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_11">New York Times</span> </em>and <em><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_12">USA Today</span></em> have condemned the carriers’ stranglehold on competition, innovation and choice in the U.S. mobile phone market. </span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thank you for putting this issue on the national agenda. Now we need to make sure that Washington follows through.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thanks Again,<br /><br />Timothy Karr<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Campaign Director</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Free Press Action Fund</span><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=r07oOgtXrcdkxoVTEHW2pQ.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_13">http://www.freepress.net/</span></a></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="body"><span style="font-size:100%;">1. Join us on <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=RyAT7lkGU1UqpHk7Nf3mXA.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_14">Facebook</span></a>, follow <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=b7BjjjwJQbVYd3nUannyDw.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_15">FreeMyPhone</span></a> on </span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_16" style="font-size:100%;">Twitter</span><span style="font-size:100%;">, or <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=aaci_um5iXRAi2-BpiejPg.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_17">tell your friends</span></a> to support FreeMyPhone. Be sure to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://free.convio.net/site/R?i=n8YQNrEAVE4whYLYbB_Gmw.."><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251348236_18">tweet about FreeMyPhone</span></a> using the #freemyphone hashtag.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="body"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-9877407902527785562009-08-26T20:06:00.000-07:002009-08-26T20:44:03.183-07:00R.I.P. Ted Kennedy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcPYp3ijHEmtyAdZQSDVuZ1OkxK65Ck8IHGGP-P-JPAXkK9BWrlomb9XITsHtMZhT-6bZbn3K5IsO4UJ0GhhDHXaHu0iWVtF8xMvX0auHAb7_o_yV_b8NGNXfRODxuv4melNtXu7kds4C/s1600-h/NYT_Logo_Mar_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 65px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcPYp3ijHEmtyAdZQSDVuZ1OkxK65Ck8IHGGP-P-JPAXkK9BWrlomb9XITsHtMZhT-6bZbn3K5IsO4UJ0GhhDHXaHu0iWVtF8xMvX0auHAb7_o_yV_b8NGNXfRODxuv4melNtXu7kds4C/s400/NYT_Logo_Mar_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374477443425701650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="timestamp published" title="2009-08-26T09:54:36-04:00"><span class="date"><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">OBITUARY:</span> Edward M. Kennedy</span><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Published: August 26, 2009 </span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">By:</span> <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_m_broder/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by John M. Broder">JOHN M. BRODER</a></span> <br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span class="timestamp published" title="2009-08-26T09:54:36-04:00"><span class="date"><span style="font-weight: bold;">photo: </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >Doug Mills/The New York Times</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Senator </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/edward_m_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Edward M. Kennedy.">Edward M. Kennedy</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew acclaim and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77.</span> </span></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> The death of Mr. Kennedy, who had been battling brain cancer, was announced Wednesday morning in a statement by the Kennedy family, which was already mourning the death of the senator’s sister <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/us/12shriver.html" title="Obituary.">Eunice Kennedy Shriver</a> two weeks earlier.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Edward M. Kennedy — the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply — died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port,” the statement said. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.” </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama.">President Obama</a> said Mr. Kennedy was one of the nation’s greatest senators.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> “His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives — in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new opportunity, in children who know education’s promise, and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just — including myself,” he said. Mr. Obama is scheduled to speak at a funeral Mass for Mr. Kennedy on Saturday morning in Boston.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy had been in precarious health since he suffered a seizure in May 2008. His doctors determined the cause was a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/health/21tumor.html" title="Article on glioma.">malignant glioma</a>, a brain tumor that carries a grim prognosis.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">As he underwent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/health/29docs.html" title="Article on surgery.">cancer treatment</a>, Mr. Kennedy was little seen in Washington, appearing most recently at the White House in April as Mr. Obama signed a national service bill that bears the Kennedy name. In a letter last week, Mr. Kennedy <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/us/politics/21kennedy.html" title="Article on succession. ">urged Massachusetts lawmakers</a> to change state law and let Gov. <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/deval_l_patrick/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Deval L. Patrick.">Deval Patrick</a> appoint a temporary successor upon his death, to assure that the state’s representation in Congress would not be interrupted. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">While Mr. Kennedy was physically absent from the capital in recent months, his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/us/politics/17kennedy.html" title="Article on Kennedy’s absence. Kennedy’s Absent Voice on Health Bill Resonates">presence was deeply felt</a> as Congress weighed the most sweeping revisions to America’s health care system in decades, an effort Mr. Kennedy called “the cause of my life.” </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">On July 15, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Mr. Kennedy headed, passed health care legislation, and the battle over the proposed overhaul is now consuming Capitol Hill.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s and that came to embody glamour, political idealism and untimely death. The Kennedy mystique — some call it the Kennedy myth — has held the imagination of the world for decades, and it came to rest on the sometimes too-narrow shoulders of the brother known as Teddy.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy, who served 46 years as the most well-known Democrat in the Senate, longer than all but two other senators, was the only one of those brothers to reach old age. President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/john_fitzgerald_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John Fitzgerald Kennedy.">John F. Kennedy</a> and Senator <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/robert_francis_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Robert Francis Kennedy.">Robert F. Kennedy</a> were felled by assassins’ bullets in their 40s. The eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., died in 1944 at the age of 29 while on a risky World War II bombing mission.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy spent much of the last year in treatment and recuperation, broken by occasional public appearances and a dramatic return to the Capitol last summer to cast a decisive vote on a <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare.">Medicare</a> bill.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He electrified the opening night of the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/democratic_national_convention/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Democratic National Convention">Democratic National Convention</a> in Denver in August with an unscheduled appearance and a<a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/20080825_KENNEDY_SPEECH.html" title="Article on convention speech. Edward M. Kennedy’s Speech at the Democratic National Convention"> speech</a> that had delegates on their feet. Many were in tears.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">His gait was halting, but his voice was strong. “My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here, and nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama">Barack Obama</a> president of the United States.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Senator Kennedy was at or near the center of much of American history in the latter part of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st. For much of his adult life, he veered from victory to catastrophe, winning every Senate election he entered but failing in his only bid for the presidency; living through the sudden deaths of his brothers and three of his nephews; being responsible for the drowning death on Chappaquiddick Island of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide to his brother Robert. One of the nephews, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/john_f_jr_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John F. Kennedy Jr. .">John F. Kennedy Jr.</a>, who the family hoped would one day seek political office and keep the Kennedy tradition alive, died in a plane crash in 1999 at age 38.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Mr. Kennedy himself was almost killed in 1964, in a plane crash that left him with permanent back and neck problems.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Senator <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/robert_c_byrd/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Robert C. Byrd.">Robert C. Byrd</a>, Democrat of West Virginia, one of the institution’s most devoted students, said of his longtime colleague, “Ted Kennedy would have been a leader, an outstanding senator, at any period in the nation’s history.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Mr. Byrd is one of only two senators to have served longer in the chamber than Mr. Kennedy; the other was <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/strom_thurmond/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Strom Thurmond.">Strom Thurmond</a></span> of South Carolina. In May 2008, on learning of Mr. Kennedy’s diagnosis of a lethal brain tumor, Mr. Byrd wept openly on the floor of the Senate. </p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Born to one of the wealthiest American families, Mr. Kennedy spoke for the downtrodden in his public life while living the heedless private life of a playboy and a rake for many of his years. Dismissed early in his career as a lightweight and an unworthy successor to his revered brothers, he grew in stature over time by sheer longevity and by hewing to liberal principles while often crossing the partisan aisle to enact legislation. A man of unbridled appetites at times, he nevertheless brought a discipline to his public work that resulted in an impressive catalog of legislative achievement across a broad landscape of social policy.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy left his mark on legislation concerning civil rights, health care, education, voting rights and labor. He was chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at his death. But he was more than a legislator. He was a living legend whose presence ensured a crowd and whose hovering figure haunted many a president.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Although he was a leading spokesman for liberal issues and a favorite target of conservative fund-raising appeals, the hallmark of his legislative success was his ability to find Republican allies to get bills passed. Perhaps the last notable example was his work with President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about George W. Bush.">George W. Bush</a> to pass <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the No Child Left Behind Act.">No Child Left Behind</a>, the education law pushed by Mr. Bush in 2001. He also co-sponsored <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about immigration.">immigration</a> legislation with Senator <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about John McCain.">John McCain</a>, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. One of his greatest friends and collaborators in the Senate was <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/orrin_g_hatch/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Orrin G. Hatch.">Orrin G. Hatch</a>, the Utah Republican.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy had less impact on foreign policy than on domestic concerns, but when he spoke, his voice was influential. He led the Congressional effort to impose sanctions on South Africa over apartheid, pushed for peace in Northern Ireland, won a ban on arms sales to the dictatorship in Chile and denounced the Vietnam War. In 2002, he voted against authorizing the Iraq war; later, he called that opposition “the best vote I’ve made in my 44 years in the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/senate/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the U.S. Senate.">United States Senate</a>.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">At a pivotal moment in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Mr. Kennedy endorsed Mr. Obama, then an Illinois senator, Obama for president, saying he offered the country a chance for racial reconciliation and an opportunity to turn the page on the polarizing politics of the past several decades. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past,” Mr. Kennedy said at an Obama rally in Washington on Jan. 28, 2008. “He is a leader who sees the world clearly, without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in without demonizing those who hold a different view.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This month, Mr. Obama awarded Mr. Kennedy the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which his daughter, Kara, accepted on his behalf.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy struggled for much of his life with his weight, with alcohol and with persistent tales of womanizing. In an Easter break episode in 1991 in Palm Beach, Fla., he went out drinking with his son Patrick and a nephew, William Kennedy Smith, on the night that Mr. Smith was accused of raping a woman. Mr. Smith was prosecuted in a lurid trial that fall but was acquitted.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy’s personal life stabilized in 1992 with his marriage to Victoria Anne Reggie, a Washington lawyer. His first marriage, to Joan Bennett Kennedy, ended in divorce in 1982 after 24 years.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Senator Kennedy served as a surrogate father to his brothers’ children and worked to keep the Kennedy flame alive through the Kennedy Library in Boston, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/k/kennedy_john_f_center_for_the_performing_arts/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts">Kennedy Center</a> in Washington and the Kennedy School of Government at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/harvard_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Harvard University.">Harvard University</a>, where he helped establish the Institute of Politics.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In December, Harvard granted Mr. Kennedy a special honorary degree. He referred to Mr. Obama’s election as “not just a culmination, but a new beginning.”</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He then spoke of his own life, and perhaps his legacy.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make,” he said. “I have lived a blessed time.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Kennedy family courtiers and many other Democrats believed he would eventually win the White House and redeem the promise of his older brothers. In 1980, he took on the president of his own party, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/jimmy_carter/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Jimmy Carter.">Jimmy Carter</a>, but fell short because of Chappaquiddick, a divided party and his own weaknesses as a candidate, including an inability to articulate why he sought the office.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But as that race ended in August at the Democratic National Convention in New York, Mr. Kennedy delivered his most memorable words, wrapping his dedication to party principles in the gauzy cloak of Camelot.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end,” Mr. Kennedy said in the coda to a speech before a rapt audience at Madison Square Garden and on television. “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">A Family Steeped in Politics</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Born Feb. 22, 1932, in Boston, Edward Moore Kennedy grew up in a family of shrewd politicians. Both his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, and his mother, the former Rose Fitzgerald, came from prominent Irish-Catholic families with long involvement in the hurly-burly of Democratic politics in Boston and Massachusetts. His father, who made a fortune in real estate, movies and banking, served in President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/franklin_delano_roosevelt/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Franklin Delano Roosevelt.">Franklin D. Roosevelt</a>’s administration, as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and then as ambassador to Britain.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">There were nine Kennedy children, four boys and five girls, with Edward the youngest. They grew up talking politics, power and influence because those were the things that preoccupied the mind of Joseph Kennedy. As Rose Kennedy, who took responsibility for the children’s Roman Catholic upbringing, once put it, “My babies were rocked to political lullabies.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">When Edward was born, President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/herbert_clark_hoover/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Herbert Hoover.">Herbert Hoover</a> sent Rose a bouquet of flowers and a note of congratulations. The note came with 5 cents postage due; the framed envelope is a family heirloom.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It was understood among the children that Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the oldest boy, would someday run for Congress and, his father hoped, the White House. When Joseph Jr. was killed in World War II, it fell to the next oldest son, John, to run. As John said at one point in 1959 while serving in the Senate: “Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, our young brother, Ted, would take over for him.”</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Although surrounded by the trappings of wealth — stately houses, servants and expensive cars — young Teddy did not enjoy a settled childhood. He bounced among the family homes in Boston, New York, London and Palm Beach, and by the time he was ready to enter college, he had attended 10 preparatory schools in the United States and England, finally finishing at Milton Academy, near Boston. He said that the constant moving had forced him to become more genial with strangers; indeed, he grew to be more of a natural politician than either John or Robert.</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">After graduating from Milton in 1950, where he showed a penchant for debating and sports but was otherwise an undistinguished student, Mr. Kennedy enrolled in Harvard, as had his father and brothers. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It was at Harvard, in his freshman year, that he ran into the first of several personal troubles that were to dog him for the rest of his life: He persuaded another student to take his Spanish examination, got caught and was forced to leave the university.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Suddenly draft-eligible during the Korean War, Mr. Kennedy enlisted in the Army and served two years, securing, with his father’s help, a post at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/north_atlantic_treaty_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.">NATO</a> headquarters in Paris. In 1953, he was discharged with the rank of private first class.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Re-enrolling in Harvard, he became a more serious student, majoring in government, excelling in public speaking and playing first-string end on the football team. He graduated in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, then enrolled in the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_virginia/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about University of Virginia">University of Virginia</a> School of Law, where Robert had studied. There, he won the moot court competition and took a degree in 1959. Later that year, he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy’s first foray into politics came in 1958, while still a law student, when he managed John’s Senate re-election campaign. There was never any real doubt that Massachusetts voters would return John Kennedy to Washington, but it was a useful internship for his youngest brother.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">That same year, Mr. Kennedy married Virginia Joan Bennett, a debutante from Bronxville, a New York suburb where the Kennedys had once lived. In 1960, when John Kennedy ran for president, Edward was assigned a relatively minor role, rustling up votes in Western states that usually voted Republican. He was so enthusiastic about his task that he rode a bronco at a Montana rodeo and daringly took a ski jump at a winter sports tournament in Wisconsin to impress a crowd. The episodes were evidence of a reckless streak that repeatedly threatened his life and career.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">John Kennedy’s election to the White House left vacant a Senate seat that the family considered its property. Robert Kennedy was next in line, but chose the post of attorney general instead (an act of nepotism that has since been outlawed). Edward was only 28, two years shy of the minimum age for Senate service.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">So the Kennedys installed Benjamin A. Smith II, a family friend, as a seat-warmer until 1962, when a special election would be held and Edward would have turned 30. Edward used the time to travel the world and work as an assistant district attorney in Boston, waiving the $5,000 salary and serving instead for $1 a year.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As James Sterling Young, the director of a </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://millercenter.org/academic/oralhistory/projects/special/kennedy" title="Edward M. Kennedy Oral History Project.">Kennedy Oral History Project</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> at the University of Virginia, said the catchphrase of that era was: “Most people grow up and go into politics. The Kennedys go into politics and then they grow up.”</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Less than a month after turning 30 in 1962, Mr. Kennedy declared his candidacy for the remaining two years of his brother’s Senate term. He entered the race with a tailwind of family money and political prominence. Nevertheless, Edward J. McCormack Jr., the state’s attorney general and a nephew of John W. McCormack, then speaker of the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/house_of_representatives/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the U.S. House of Representatives.">United States House of Representatives</a>, also decided to go after the seat.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It was a bitter fight, with a public rehash of the Harvard cheating episode and with Mr. McCormack charging in a televised “Teddy-Eddie” debate that Mr. Kennedy lacked maturity of judgment because he had “never worked for a living” and had never held elective office. “If your name was simply Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy,” Mr. McCormack added, “your candidacy would be a joke.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But the Kennedys had ushered in an era of celebrity politics, which trumped qualifications in this case. Mr. Kennedy won the primary by a two-to-one ratio, then went on to easy victory in November against the Republican candidate, George Cabot Lodge, a member of an old-line Boston family that had clashed politically with the Kennedys through the years.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">When Mr. Kennedy entered the Senate in 1962, he was aware that he might be seen as an upstart, with one brother in the White House and another in the cabinet. He sought guidance on the very first day from one of the Senate’s most respected elders, Richard Russell of Georgia. “You go further if you go slow,” Senator Russell advised.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy took things slowly, especially that first year. He did his homework, was seen more than he was heard and was deferential to veteran legislators.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">On Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, he was presiding over the Senate when a wire service ticker in the lobby brought the news of </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/topics/19631122KennedyAssassination.pdf" title="Article (pdf) on the Kennedy assassination.">John Kennedy’s shooting</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> in Dallas. Violence had claimed the second of Joseph Kennedy’s sons. </span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Edward was sent to Hyannis Port to break the news to his father, who had been disabled by a stroke. He returned to Washington for the televised funeral and burial, the first many Americans had seen of him. He and Robert had planned to read excerpts from John’s speeches at the Arlington burial service. At the last moment they chose not to.</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A friend described him as “shattered — calm but shattered.”</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">A Deadly Plane Crash</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Robert moved into the breach and was immediately discussed as a presidential prospect. Edward became a more prominent family spokesman.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The next year, he was up for re-election. A heavy favorite from the start, he was on his way to the state convention that was to renominate him when his light plane crashed in a storm near Westfield, Mass. The pilot and a Kennedy aide were killed, and Mr. Kennedy’s back and several ribs were broken. Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana pulled Mr. Kennedy from the plane.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The senator was hospitalized for the next six months, suspended immobile in a frame that resembled a waffle iron. His wife, Joan, carried on his campaign, mainly by advising voters that he was steadily recovering. He won easily over a little-known Republican, Howard Whitmore Jr.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">During his convalescence, Mr. Kennedy devoted himself to his legislative work. He was briefed by a parade of Harvard professors and began to develop his positions on immigration, health care and civil rights. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmaFugRX8wSu5lU2jDHk1_bIr3nZS1xXNtLbq63LtD4O2DoM-38Y8EWVy2zwEvvlUJTo-HbqoGxPKXGmpV2Sb-whhGyaxp_dO1hcklrhusVkodBJ4h4l2aOtyw5MtgxiG9J4vpjtxmsji/s1600-h/Ted_Kennedy_DougMills_Aug_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmaFugRX8wSu5lU2jDHk1_bIr3nZS1xXNtLbq63LtD4O2DoM-38Y8EWVy2zwEvvlUJTo-HbqoGxPKXGmpV2Sb-whhGyaxp_dO1hcklrhusVkodBJ4h4l2aOtyw5MtgxiG9J4vpjtxmsji/s400/Ted_Kennedy_DougMills_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374482629970968610" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">“I never thought the time was lost,” he said later. “I had a lot of hours to think about what was important and what was not and about what I wanted to do with my life.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He returned to the Senate in 1965, joining his brother Robert, who had won a seat from New York. Edward promptly entered a major fight, his first. President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/lyndon_baines_johnson/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Lyndon Baines Johnson.">Lyndon B. Johnson</a>’s <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/voting_rights_act_1965/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the Voting Rights Act.">Voting Rights Act</a> was up for consideration, and Mr. Kennedy tried to strengthen it with an amendment that would have outlawed poll taxes. He lost by only four votes, serving lasting notice on his colleagues that he was a rapidly maturing legislator who could prepare a good case and argue it effectively.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy was slow to oppose the war in Vietnam, but in 1968, shortly after Robert decided to seek the presidency on an antiwar platform, Edward called the war a “monstrous outrage.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Robert Kennedy was shot on June 5, 1968, as he celebrated his victory in the California primary, becoming the third of Joseph Kennedy’s sons to die a violent death. Edward was in San Francisco at a victory celebration. He commandeered an Air Force plane and flew to Los Angeles.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Frank Mankiewicz, Robert’s press secretary, saw Edward “leaning over the sink with the most awful expression on his face.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Much more than agony, more than anguish — I don’t know if there’s a word for it,” Mr. Mankiewicz said, recalling the encounter in “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/12/books/books-of-the-times-the-public-servant-behind-the-public-kennedy.html" title="Book review.">Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography</a>,” by Adam Clymer (William Morrow, 1999).</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Robert’s death draped Edward in the Kennedy mantle long before he was ready for it and forced him to confront his own mortality. But he summoned himself to deliver an eloquent eulogy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it,” Mr. Kennedy said, his voice faltering. “Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world.”</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">A New Role as Patriarch</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">After the funeral, Edward Kennedy withdrew from public life and spent several months brooding, much of it while sailing off the New England coast.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Near the end of the summer of 1968, he emerged from seclusion, the sole survivor of Joseph Kennedy’s boys, ready to take over as family patriarch and substitute father to John’s and Robert’s 13 children, seemingly eager to get on with what he called his “public responsibilities.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“There is no safety in hiding,” he declared in August in a speech at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. “Like my brothers before me, I pick up a fallen standard. Sustained by the memory of our priceless years together, I shall try to carry forward that special commitment to justice, excellence and courage that distinguished their lives.”</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There was some talk of his running for president at that point. But he ultimately endorsed </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/hubert_h_jr_humphrey/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Hubert H. Jr. Humphrey.">Hubert H. Humphrey</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> in his losing campaign to </span><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/richard_milhous_nixon/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Richard Milhous Nixon.">Richard M. Nixon</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Mr. Kennedy focused more on bringing the war in Vietnam to an end and on building his Senate career. Although only 36, he challenged Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana, one of the shrewdest, most powerful legislators on Capitol Hill, for the post of deputy majority leader. Fellow liberals sided with him, and he edged Mr. Long by five votes to become the youngest assistant majority leader, or whip, in Senate history.</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He plunged into the new job with Kennedy enthusiasm. But fate, and the Kennedy recklessness, intervened on July 18, 1969. Mr. Kennedy was at a party with several women who had been aides to Robert. The party, a liquor-soaked barbecue, was held at a rented cottage on Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha’s Vineyard. He left around midnight with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, took a turn away from the ferry landing and drove the car off a narrow bridge on an isolated beach road. The car sank in eight feet of water, but he managed to escape. Miss Kopechne, a former campaign worker for Robert, drowned.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy did not report the accident to the authorities for almost 10 hours, explaining later that he had been so banged about by the crash that he had suffered a concussion, and that he had become so exhausted while trying to rescue Miss Kopechne that he had gone immediately to bed. A week later, he pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and was given a two-month suspended sentence.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But that was far from the end of the episode. Questions lingered in the minds of the Massachusetts authorities and of the general public. Why was the car on an isolated road? Had he been drinking? (Mr. Kennedy testified at an inquest that he had had two drinks.) What sort of relationship did Mr. Kennedy and Miss Kopechne have? Could she have been saved if he had sought help immediately? Why did the senator tell his political advisers about the accident before reporting it to the police?</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The controversy became so intense that Mr. Kennedy went on television to ask Massachusetts voters whether he should resign from office. He conceded that his actions after the crash had been “indefensible.” But he steadfastly denied any intentional wrongdoing.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">His constituents sent word that he should remain in the Senate. And little more than a year later, he easily won re-election to a second full term, defeating a little-known Republican, Josiah A. Spaulding, by a three-to-two ratio. But his heart did not seem to be in his work any longer. He was sometimes absent from Senate sessions and neglected his whip duties. Senator Byrd, of West Virginia, took the job away from him by putting together a coalition of Southern and border-state Democrats to vote him out.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">That loss shook Mr. Kennedy out of his lethargy. He rededicated himself to his role as a legislator. “It hurts like hell to lose,” he said, “but now I can get around the country more. And it frees me to spend more time on issues I’m interested in.” Many years later, he became friends with Mr. Byrd and told him the defeat had been the best thing that could have happened in his Senate career.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">Turmoil at Home</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In the next decade, Mr. Kennedy expanded on his national reputation, first pushing to end the war in Vietnam, then concentrating on his favorite legislative issues, especially civil rights, health, taxes, criminal laws and deregulation of the airline and trucking industries. He traveled the country, making speeches that kept him in the public eye.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But when he was mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 1972, he demurred; and when the Democratic nominee, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/george_s_mcgovern/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about George S. McGovern.">George McGovern</a>, offered him the vice-presidential nomination, Mr. Kennedy again said no, not wanting to face the inevitable Chappaquiddick questions.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In 1973, his son Edward M. Kennedy Jr., then 12, developed a bone cancer that cost him a leg. The next year, Mr. Kennedy took himself out of the 1976 presidential race. Instead, he easily won a third full term in the Senate, and Jimmy Carter, a former one-term governor of Georgia, moved into the White House.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In early 1978, Mr. Kennedy’s wife, Joan, moved out of their sprawling contemporary house overlooking the Potomac River near McLean, Va., a Washington suburb. She took up residence in an apartment of her own in Boston, saying she wanted to “explore options other than being a housewife and mother.” But she also acknowledged a problem with alcohol, and conceded that she was increasingly uncomfortable with the pressure-cooker life that went with membership in the Kennedy clan. She began studying music and enrolled in a program for alcoholics.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In 1973, his son Edward M. Kennedy Jr., then 12, developed a bone cancer that cost him a leg. The next year, Mr. Kennedy took himself out of the 1976 presidential race. Instead, he easily won a third full term in the Senate, and Jimmy Carter, a former one-term governor of Georgia, moved into the White House.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In early 1978, Mr. Kennedy’s wife, Joan, moved out of their sprawling contemporary house overlooking the Potomac River near McLean, Va., a Washington suburb. She took up residence in an apartment of her own in Boston, saying she wanted to “explore options other than being a housewife and mother.” But she also acknowledged a problem with alcohol, and conceded that she was increasingly uncomfortable with the pressure-cooker life that went with membership in the Kennedy clan. She began studying music and enrolled in a program for alcoholics.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The separation posed not only personal but also political problems for the senator. After Mrs. Kennedy left for Boston, there were rumors that linked the senator with other women. He maintained that he still loved his wife and indicated that the main reason for the separation was Mrs. Kennedy’s desire to work out her alcohol problem. She subsequently campaigned for him in the 1980 race, but there was never any real reconciliation, and they eventually entered divorce proceedings.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Although Mr. Kennedy supported Mr. Carter in 1976, by late 1978 he was disenchanted. Polls indicated that the senator was becoming popular while the president was losing support. In December, at a midterm Democratic convention in Memphis, Mr. Kennedy could hold back no longer. He gave a thundering speech that, in retrospect, was the opening shot in the 1980 campaign.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Sometimes a party must sail against the wind,” he declared, referring to Mr. Carter’s economic belt-tightening and political caution. “We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail. The party that tore itself apart over Vietnam in the 1960s cannot afford to tear itself apart today over budget cuts in basic social programs.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy did not then declare his candidacy. But draft-Kennedy groups began to form in early 1979, and some Democrats up for re-election in 1980 began to cast about for coattails that were longer than Mr. Carter’s.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">After consulting advisers and family members over the summer of 1979, Mr. Kennedy began speaking openly of challenging the president, and on Nov. 7, 1979, he announced officially that he would run. “Our leaders have resigned themselves to defeat,” he said.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The campaign was a disaster, badly organized and appearing to lack a political or policy premise. His speeches were clumsy, and his delivery was frequently stumbling and bombastic. And in the background, Chappaquiddick always loomed. He won the New York and California primaries, but the victories were too little and came too late to unseat Mr. Carter. At the party’s nominating convention in New York, however, he stole the show with his “dream shall never die” speech.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> With the approach of the 1984 election, there was the inevitable speculation that Mr. Kennedy, who had easily won re-election to the Senate in 1982, would again seek the presidency. He prepared and planned a campaign. But in the end he chose not to run, saying he wanted to spare his family a repeat of the ordeal they went through in 1980. Skeptics said he also knew he could not fight the undertow of Chappaquiddick.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">A Full-On Senate Focus</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Freed at last of the expectation that he should and would seek the White House, Mr. Kennedy devoted himself fully to his day job in the Senate, where he had already led the fight for the 18-year-old vote, the abolition of the draft, deregulation of the airline and trucking industries, and the post-Watergate campaign finance legislation. He was deeply involved in renewals of the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing law of 1968. He helped establish the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/o/occupational_safety_and_health_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Occupational Safety and Health Administration">Occupational Safety and Health Administration</a>. He built federal support for community health care centers, increased cancer research financing and helped create the Meals on Wheels program. He was a major proponent of a health and nutrition program for pregnant women and infants.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When Republicans took over the Senate in 1981, Mr. Kennedy requested the ranking minority position on the Labor and Public Welfare Committee, asserting that the issues before the labor and welfare panel would be more important during the Reagan years. </span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In the years after his failed White House bid, Mr. Kennedy also established himself as someone who made “lawmaker” mean more than a word used in headlines to describe any member of Congress. Though his personal life was a mess until his remarriage in the early 1990s, he never failed to show up prepared for a committee hearing or a floor debate.</span> </span></div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">His most notable focus was civil rights, “still the unfinished business of America,” he often said. In 1982, he led a successful fight to defeat the Reagan administration’s effort to weaken the Voting Rights Act.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> In one of those bipartisan alliances that were hallmarks of his legislative successes, Mr. Kennedy worked with Senator <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/bob_dole/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Bob Dole.">Bob Dole</a>, Republican of Kansas, to secure passage of the voting rights measure, and Mr. Dole got most of the credit.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Perhaps his greatest success on civil rights came in 1990 with passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required employers and public facilities to make “reasonable accommodation” for the disabled.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> When the bill was finally passed, Mr. Kennedy and others told how their views on the bill had been shaped by having relatives with disabilities. Mr. Kennedy cited his mentally disabled sister, Rosemary, and his son who had lost a leg to cancer.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy was one of Bill and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Hillary Rodham Clinton.">Hillary Clinton</a>’s strongest allies in their failed 1994 effort to enact national health insurance, a measure the senator had been pushing, in one form or another, since 1969.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">But he kept pushing incremental reforms, and in 1997, teaming with Senator Hatch, Mr. Kennedy helped enact a landmark health care program for children in low-income families, a program now known as the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/state_childrens_health_insurance_program_schip/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).">State Children’s Health Insurance Program</a>, or S-Chip.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He led efforts to increase aid for higher education and win passage of Mr. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. He pushed for increases in the federal minimum wage. He helped win enactment of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, one of the largest expansions of government health aid.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He was a forceful and successful opponent of the confirmation of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/robert_h_bork/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Robert H. Bork.">Robert H. Bork</a> to the Supreme Court. In a speech delivered within minutes of President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ronald_wilson_reagan/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Ronald Wilson Reagan.">Ronald Reagan</a>’s nomination of Mr. Bork in 1987, Mr. Kennedy made an attack that even friendly commentators called demagogic. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Bork’s “extremist view of the Constitution,” Mr. Kennedy said, meant that “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, and schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of Americans.”Some of Mr. Kennedy’s success as a legislator can be traced to the quality and loyalty of his staff, considered by his colleagues and outsiders alike to be the best on Capitol Hill.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> “He has one of the most distinguished alumni associations of any U.S. senator,” said Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/rutgers_the_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Rutgers">Rutgers University</a> who has worked in Congress. “To have served in even a minor capacity in the Kennedy office or on one of his committees is a major entry in anyone’s résumé.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Those who have worked for Mr. Kennedy include <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/stephen_g_breyer/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Stephen G. Breyer.">Stephen G. Breyer</a>, appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton; <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/gregory_b_craig/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Gregory B. Craig.">Gregory B. Craig</a>, now the White House counsel; and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/kenneth_r_feinberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Kenneth R. Feinberg.">Kenneth R. Feinberg</a>, the Obama administration’s top official for compensation.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="bold">A Place in History</span></span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy “deserves recognition not just as the leading senator of his time, but as one of the greats in its history, wise in the workings of this singular institution, especially its demand to be more than partisan to accomplish much,” Mr. Clymer wrote in his biography. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“The deaths and tragedies around him would have led others to withdraw. He never quits, but sails against the wind.”</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy is survived by his wife, known as Vicki; two sons, Edward M. Kennedy Jr. of Branford, Conn., and Representative <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/patrick_j_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Patrick J. Kennedy.">Patrick J. Kennedy</a> of Rhode Island; a daughter, Kara Kennedy Allen, of Bethesda, Md.; two stepchildren, Curran Raclin and Caroline Raclin; and four grandchildren. His former wife, Joan Kennedy, lives in Boston.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Mr. Kennedy is also survived by a sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, of New York. On Aug. 11, his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver of Potomac, Md., died at age 88. Another sister, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, died in 2006. His sister Rosemary died in 2005, and his sister Kathleen died in a plane crash in 1948. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Their little brother Teddy was the youngest, the little bear whom everyone cuddled, whom no one took seriously and from whom little was expected. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">He reluctantly and at times awkwardly carried the Kennedy standard, with all it implied and all it required. And yet, some scholars contend, he may have proved himself the most worthy.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“He was a quintessential Kennedy, in the sense that he had all the warts as well as all the charisma and a lot of the strengths,” said Norman J. Ornstein, a political scientist at the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_enterprise_institute_for_public_policy_research/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.">American Enterprise Institute</a>.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> “If his father, Joe, had surveyed, from an early age up to the time of his death, all of his children, his sons in particular, and asked to rank them on talents, effectiveness, likelihood to have an impact on the world, Ted would have been a very poor fourth. Joe, John, Bobby ... Ted.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;">“He was the survivor,” Mr. Ornstein continued. “He was not a shining star that burned brightly and faded away. He had a long, steady glow. When you survey the impact of the Kennedys on American life and politics and policy, he will end up by far being the most significant.”</span><br /></span></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span class="timestamp published" title="2009-08-26T09:54:36-04:00" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="date"><br /></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 69px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1as78WfnK2KCTviD4PULJXAhWVeGLiTmFuNHWdrbtaVz7pVrejcXmmfgrmm-yygy76raYRYuvqw_e-NB0VQQfQuWicZcRCPJHHs80huKGC47dfGwjUUyojbVlQuUFREXWtr1KkypY5GF1/s400/Paul_Krugman_NYT_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374476655730989970" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span class="timestamp published" title="2009-08-26T09:54:36-04:00" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="date">August 26, 2009, <em>9:54 am</em></span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"> <!-- date updated --> <!-- <abbr class="updated" title="2009-08-26T09:54:36-04:00">— Updated: 9:54 am</abbr> --> <!-- Title --> </div><h2 style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="entry-title"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ted Kennedy</span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"> <!-- The Content --> </div><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="entry-content"> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">I don’t have much to say, except a personal thought. I remember the days, several decades ago, when Ted Kennedy was treated — mainly, but not only, on the right — as a figure of derision. He was mocked for his appearance, his personal life, his unabashed liberalism.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">And now he’s remembered as a great man. The thing is, he didn’t change — he <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><p></p></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-57198055437734475212009-08-25T22:46:00.000-07:002009-08-26T21:07:28.432-07:00Please Send a Message to Leonard.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.facebook.com/alane.golden?ref=profile#/profile.php?id=1037172690"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 366px; height: 35px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53pEqWxnsMygDf_LyIoYtp0rz-H16Ayge1kuxvynr4bD_LzotO0ixPqRxPStSgFA-jIE94Lu6BEomtSgNg-8HsHq1pk8naxUlRjXj-l0Aogfvu3SbFlwBXpb2Po5Dh0tI4xZXri6h-wMV/s400/Facebook_Masthead_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374486803666066114" border="0" /></a><span bindpoint="authorLinkWrapper" class="GBThreadMessageRow_AuthorLink_Wrapper"> </span> <span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" class="GBThreadMessageRow_Date" > <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">25 August at 22:19</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Friends,<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">In correspondence with one of Leonard (Peltier's) lawyers, I know that he's in fairly good spirits, all things considered. Family has said the same.<br /><br />But, both have also said he needs our support now more than ever. This has not been an easy decision to receive, as you can imagine. So...I had an idea.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">If you want to send me 2 or 3 sentences - a message to Leonard from you. Plus name and where you're from.</span></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">I will compile these and print them out, and send them to him.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.leonardpeltier.net/theman.htm"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfscTmaIY5bANld-PFyhHW6-w2xzq8rcHcctf8Ci8BN9C69eUW62IJuRQc1Y2fw838f6C1v7zqh9yg7CWULn1mN_Moeh31MtysxjJwknNWswh4UkP0Me3EkSD5Wu4x1be9w9VOJr_-nnPf/s400/Leonard_Peltier_Mural_Jun_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374489079616014738" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">All I ask is that you keep it to a few sentences, and include your first name - last name optional - AND where you are from - city or country. I think this would really give him a boost.<br /><br />We are just shy of 3,000 people on this site, so that is why I'm asking your message to be short. I need to have all messages by this coming Sunday night.<br /><br />He hears us talk about supporters from all over, but I think to see, and read the volume of messages plus the places would be really something for him.<br /><br />If you don't get a thank you from me it will mean there's a Facebook, or a hotmail glitch - so please resend. I don't know how many messages either can actually hold til I get to them.</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"> I hope to hear from you.<br /><br />The easiest way for me to 'cut & paste' will be through my hotmail account - <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">bkfidlin@hotmail.com</span>. But, I will check here as well if you'd rather send it through Facebook. Hope this makes sense - I may be asking for more than I can handle!!!! I think this will make him smile...</span></span> </div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Thank you!<br />Billie </span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Live</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >Love</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size:85%;" >We </span><span style="font-size:85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-size:85%;" >DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size:85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-8136116369324657672009-08-21T19:35:00.000-07:002009-08-24T07:50:18.752-07:00USA: Denial of parole to Leonard Peltier after more than 32 years in prison, disappointing.<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amnesty.org/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 96px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPa3LUmRg3NtDVBinEtymfB-lJL3fs0BIy4iW8t2AQGmiCyEODPoGiXnpAarD7CHsjBgP7ee9Cx2rr7RulrsVXGFi6Dnl9sOEYwUxCx_1ZqbzI4wzn5T7kmYQ_rdkywN2vzU6GhkvG6AC/s400/Amnesty_International_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373542063840928018" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >Amnesty International today regretted the US Parole Commission’s decision not to grant Leonard Peltier parole despite concerns about the fairness of his 1977 conviction for murder. The organization called for the immediate release on parole of the activist, who is serving two consecutive life sentences and has spent more than 32 years in prison.</span></div><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;" class="entry"> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">A prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Leonard Peltier was convicted of the murders of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, during a confrontation involving AIM members on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on 26 June 1975. While Leonard Peltier admits having been present during the incident, he has always denied shooting the agents at point blank range as alleged by the prosecution at his trial. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Amnesty International recognizes the seriousness of the crime for which Leonard Peltier was convicted. However, having studied the case extensively over many years, the organization remains concerned about the fairness of the process leading to his conviction, including questions about evidence linking him to the point-blank shootings and coercion of an alleged eye-witness.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">One of Amnesty International’s concerns is that Leonard Peltier’s extradition from Canada in 1976 -- where he had fled following the shootings -- was secured on the basis of the coerced testimony of an alleged eye-witness which the FBI knew to be false. The witness, Myrtle Poor Bear, later retracted her testimony that she had seen Leonard Peltier shoot the agents but the trial judge did not allow her to be called as a defence witness at his trial. Other concerns include the withholding by the prosecution of evidence, including potentially key ballistics evidence that might have assisted Leonard Peltier’s defence. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">"The interest of justice would be best served by granting Leonard Peltier parole,” said Angela Wright, US Researcher at Amnesty International. “Given the concerns around his conviction, the fact that appeals before the courts have long been exhausted and that he has spent more than 32 years in prison, we urge the Parole Commission to reconsider its decision.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The parole hearing, which took place over four hours on 28 July, was the first full parole hearing to be held in the case since 1993. In addition to the concerns about the fairness of his conviction, parole was sought by Peltier and his lawyer based on his good conduct record in prison and arrangements made by the Turtle Mountain tribe to receive him into their community on his release. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>Background Information<br /></strong>Leonard Peltier is an Anishinabe-Lakota Native American who was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), an activist group involved in promoting the rights of “traditionalist” Indians during a period of intense conflict in the 1970s. In the two years prior to the confrontation in which the agents were killed, more than 60 Indians on the Pine Ridge reservation had been killed, allegedly by paramilitary squads connected to the tribal government, without anyone being brought to justice for the crimes. AIM members who had come to the reservation to assist “traditionalists” opposing the tribal government were also allegedly threatened. Relations between AIM and the FBI were also tense, with accusations that the authorities had not done enough to protect those at risk on the reservation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The confrontation in which the two FBI agents were killed took place after the agents entered the reservation with an arrest warrant for four people and started following a van. A fire-fight ensued. Evidence was presented at trial to show that the agents received multiple shots and were quickly disabled before being shot dead at point-blank range.<br />Two other AIM leaders, Darelle Butler and Robert Robideau, were initially charged with the agents’ murders and were tried separately: no evidence was presented to link them to the point-blank shootings. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The jury acquitted them after hearing evidence about the atmosphere of violence and intimidation on the reservation and concluded that, arguably, they might have been acting in self-defense when they were involved in the exchange of gunfire. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Following their acquittal, the FBI renewed its efforts to pursue Leonard Peltier, who had fled to Canada. At his trial, the prosecution alleged that the rifle which killed the agents belonged to Peltier. During post-trial investigations, the defence team discovered a teletex message suggesting that the rifle in question contained a different firing pin from the one used to kill the agents; this was raised on appeal and an evidentiary hearing held at which the significance of the teletex was contested by the government. On appeal, the government also argued that sufficient evidence had been presented to the jury at trial to show that Leonard Peltier had “aided and abetted” the killings even if he had not been the actual killer. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">However, Amnesty International believes that the outcome may well have been different had Peltier been able to challenge the ballistics evidence linking him to the fatal shots more effectively.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/petition/iamwithrick/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></a></span></p><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">Thanks for all you do!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Live</span> your values. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Love</span> your country.<br />And, remember: <span style="font-style: italic;">TOGETHER</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">We </span>can make a<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">DIFFERENCE</span>!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> </div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-1072238007432961792009-08-20T15:41:00.001-07:002009-08-20T15:41:53.911-07:00<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.11NXC/bHQ9MTI1MDgwNzQ4MTM*NiZwdD*xMjUwODA3NTIxNzk4JnA9Mzg2MzYxJmQ9Jm49YmxvZ2dlciZnPTEmb2Y9MA==.gif" /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb260/angelD999/Personal%20comments/?action=view¤t=1600pennave-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb260/angelD999/Personal%20comments/1600pennave-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-52993241796628332442009-08-16T21:28:00.000-07:002009-08-17T07:58:40.424-07:00Administration Official: "Sebelius Misspoke."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 369px; height: 83px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMiWc-FVfok-ZDBBBWG4hOLmJZ4tivipP9agMKYXG8h54fQ6qYyAm71KWJumAPUWvORC7Wa6YIHJ9yArFaoiq2Kpr49xJyCX_dSomwx7O6tuUaaJ-3ggJheoN9_qE4AQkG7psg-OlipYC/s400/theAtlantic_Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370941746555220898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">by:</span>Marc Ambinder </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/what_the_white_houses_public_plan_retreat_really_means.php">What The White House's Public Plan "Retreat" Really Means</a></span><br /><br /><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke" when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option "<span style="font-style: italic;">is not an essential part</span>" of reform. This official asked not to be identified in exchange for providing clarity about the intentions of the President. The official said that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that Sebelius simply meant to echo the president, who has acknowledged that the public option is a tough sell in the Senate and is, at the same time, a must-pass for House Democrats, and is not, in the president's view, the most important element of the reform package.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A second official, Linda Douglass, director of health reform communications for the administration, said that President Obama believed that a public option was the best way to reduce costs and promote competition among insurance companies, that he had not backed away from that belief, and that he still wanted to see a public option in the final bill.<br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic;">Nothing has changed</span>," she said. "<span style="font-style: italic;">The President has always said that what is essential that health insurance reform lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all Americans and increase choice and competition in the health insurance market. He believes that the public option is the best way to achieve these goals.</span>"<br /></span></p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"> </div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A third White House official, via e-mail, said that Sebelius didn't misspeak. "<span style="font-style: italic;">The media misplayed it</span>," the third official said.<br /><br />Appearing on Face the Nation, press secretary Robert Gibbs said that fostering competition and choice were non-negotiable, but the specific mechanism designed to do so was up for discussion. That's been interpreted as a signal that the White House is getting behind the idea of adding publicly owned health cooperatives to the menu of choices that consumers without insurance will recieve. Still, this isn't exactly a walk-back -- the White House, Gibbs included, have mused favorably about the co-ops before.<br /><br />On Saturday, Mr. Obama defended the public plan before an audience in Colorado Springs. At the same time, he said that the government option was not the single critical element of reform, pointing instead to the provisions preventing insurance companies from discriminating against people, requiring them to offer plans to everyone, and capping premium increases.<br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic;">The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it. One aspect of it,</span>" Obama said.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This has been a refrain the White House has used for weeks, but not until Saturday did Mr. Obama voice it so explicitly.</span></p><div face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The perception that the White House had backed away from the public plan has roiled many prominent Democrats, who took to their blogs, and to Twitter, to protest. </span><br /></span></div><br /><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: center; font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/petition/iamwithrick/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></a></span></p><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;">Thanks for all you do!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Live</span> your values. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Love</span> your country.<br />And, remember: <span style="font-style: italic;">TOGETHER</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">We </span>can make a<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">DIFFERENCE</span>!<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-71034922856999414032009-08-12T21:13:00.000-07:002009-08-17T07:59:31.046-07:00A New Sound.<a href="https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=23930"></a><div align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCc14GU7vAhO8yxY41hp9dW6fJoQvitlAsXKRUQrawPyLb6t1F-nsuPwVy8DiWMUN41RYdMh4J142iX9a3DDLEgCcSAKs4XhMoZZBfa5sd6lEIaPmHaC-k2fBIhGB7r_748UrSwIbYDzT/s1600-h/Green_for_All_Mar_09.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 63px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369299117323844802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCc14GU7vAhO8yxY41hp9dW6fJoQvitlAsXKRUQrawPyLb6t1F-nsuPwVy8DiWMUN41RYdMh4J142iX9a3DDLEgCcSAKs4XhMoZZBfa5sd6lEIaPmHaC-k2fBIhGB7r_748UrSwIbYDzT/s400/Green_for_All_Mar_09.jpg" /></span></a></a><span style="color:#000000;"> </span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">People often ask me what the environment has to do with poverty, and why communities of color are getting so active in the fight against climate change.
<br />
<br />Today, we released a new video that says it all.
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<br /></span></div><p style="VISIBILITY: visible"><span style="color:#000000;"><object style="WIDTH: 450px; HEIGHT: 356px" data="http://widget-d1.slide.com/widgets/sf.swf" width="450" height="356" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></object></span></p><p style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=ms&at=un&id=1873497445010639313&map=C" target="_blank"><span style="color:#000000;"><img border="0" src="http://widget-d1.slide.com/q1/1873497445010639313/ms_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide8.gif" /></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"> </span><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=ms&at=un&id=1873497445010639313&map=D" target="_blank"><span style="color:#000000;"><img border="0" src="http://widget-d1.slide.com/q2/1873497445010639313/ms_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide7.gif" /></span></a><span style="color:#000000;"> </span><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=ms&at=un&id=1873497445010639313&map=I" target="_blank"><span style="color:#000000;"><img border="0" src="http://widget-d1.slide.com/q4/1873497445010639313/ms_t000_v000_s0un_f00/images/xslide42.gif" /></span></a></p><p><span style="color:#000000;"></span></p><div align="justify"><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A New Sound communicates both the pain of the old economy, and the promise of the new. It illustrates why the Senate must pass bold climate legislation this fall, and why we need a vibrant movement based in low-income communities and communities of color.
<br />
<br />It is a moving depiction of why we need an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
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<br />Watch the video and take action. Then share it with your friends and family.
<br /></span>
<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Thank you for all you do.
<br />
<br />Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
<br />Chief Executive Officer
<br />Green For All
<br />
<br />Please support Green For All. We need your contribution now more than ever, to build the rhythm for a brighter future.
<br />
<br /></span><a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/petition/iamwithrick/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:arial;">LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!</span></a>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/"></a>
<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thanks for all you do! Live your values. Love your country. And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:78%;color:#000000;">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-61325307336014902282009-08-12T21:12:00.000-07:002009-08-17T08:04:26.894-07:00The United States of Corporate Welfare.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflZxTOrQOYrU52rMHn6jGYWfxXEDGd_8sECskjO31Ngu1g4XtKPy2BcCqTu7tO3MTDYO-QeaxId1zCggfCYrC_ago9ZKLhCxA5Numh8nY34L8vDCYuJxbsdK85m5XuW86q2hAAcICqwcs/s1600-h/DownsizeDC_Masthead_23Feb_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflZxTOrQOYrU52rMHn6jGYWfxXEDGd_8sECskjO31Ngu1g4XtKPy2BcCqTu7tO3MTDYO-QeaxId1zCggfCYrC_ago9ZKLhCxA5Numh8nY34L8vDCYuJxbsdK85m5XuW86q2hAAcICqwcs/s400/DownsizeDC_Masthead_23Feb_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369297269728789522" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Quote of the Day:</span> "<span style="font-style: italic;">Even in the best economic times, you won't find an investment with a greater payoff than what these companies have been getting.</span>" -- Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of The Center for Responsive Politics</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Subject: The United States of Corporate Welfare</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">The Congressional Oversight Panel charged with monitoring the T.A.R.P. bailout scheme thinks more bailouts may be needed. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">In case you've forgotten . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* T.A.R.P. stands for Toxic Asset Relief Program</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* The T.A.R.P. was supposed to spend $700 billion buying so-called toxic assets from institutions that were supposedly too big to fail, but . . .</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* After Congress said yes to this proposal the Treasury Department instead used the funds to buy stock in major banks</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* In other words, The Toxic Asset Relief Program ended up having nothing to do with toxic assets</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">It get's worse. According to Wikipedia . . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">"On February 5, 2009, Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel, told the Senate Banking Committee that during 2008, the federal government paid $254 billion for assets that were worth only $176 billion."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">And even worse . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">"During 2008, the companies that received bailout money had spent $114 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. These companies received $295 billion in bailout money."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, our quote of the day. Spending $114 million on lobbying to gain $295 billion dollars from the taxpayers is a hell of a deal. Many thoughts flow from this . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* Those who told us that strong campaign finance laws would curtail corruption were wrong</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* Those who tell us we need Big Government to control evil corporations overlook the fact that big corporations want big government, because they benefit from it, and largely control it</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* The same kind of lobbying and corporate control is behind the scheme for increased government involvement in health care</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* And the $800 billion stimulus bill was another heaping helping of corporate welfare too</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Sadly, this isn't a new development. President Obama and the Democratic Congress are just continuing the policies of President Bush and the Republican Congress . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* Go back and scratch beneath the surface of Bush's prescription drug program and you'll find that it was mostly a corporate welfare scheme for Big Pharma.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* In addition, T.A.R.P. was passed under Bush and the Republican Congress.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">As long as partisan loyalists continue to believe that their particular political party, and their particular political savior (be it Obama, Bush, whoever) is somehow different, we'll continue to be victims of the same insanity. And at some point we might as well change the country's name to . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">The United States of Corporate Welfare</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Here's the bottom line . . .</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* If you want to stop the looting then you need to be heard to the same extent as the Big Corporate lobbyists.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* We created DownsizeDC.org to bring that about.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* But it isn't something we're going to achieve in a Big Bang.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* It's going to happen bit by bit and day by day -- because that's how real change usually happens.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">* In fact, that's how the United States of Corporate America was created in the first place.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Please use DownsizeDC.org's Educate the Powerful System (sm) to send your Congressional employees another message opposing corporate bailouts.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Tell them you object to the Congressional Oversight Panel's report calling for T.A.R.P. to finally be used to buy toxic assets. If the past is any guide then these assets will be bought at above market prices, and will just be one more heaping helping of corporate welfare.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">You can use DownsizeDC.org's "No Bailouts" campaign to send your letter.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">To stay on pace to exceed the 50,802 messages Downsizers sent to Congress last month we must send 2,598 messages today.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast your army is growing, check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">Jim Babka</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">President</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">DownsizeDC.org, Inc.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">KEEPING SCORE REPORT</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">We grew by 10 net new members yesterday. This brings us to 3,450 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,799 -- nearly 80% of the way between 27,000 and 28,000!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;">is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></div>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1984226788347432249.post-74448541039974988612009-08-11T19:54:00.000-07:002009-08-26T20:03:20.833-07:00R.I.P. Eunice.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9VcX5ZSdpf_oDPgK7ueChdIjsdqMd3T9qXSml2w4mz6N2cPV8n_ZNi8fJINrEy64b6m8nDcqpeF74mtXt39l8m0ZV6jhL4vTDtRTcYEYJiXGrYtLjeC896eT-oI7t0SM5eF3xCdegraFA/s1600-h/Eunice_Kennedy_Shriver_11Aug_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 319px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9VcX5ZSdpf_oDPgK7ueChdIjsdqMd3T9qXSml2w4mz6N2cPV8n_ZNi8fJINrEy64b6m8nDcqpeF74mtXt39l8m0ZV6jhL4vTDtRTcYEYJiXGrYtLjeC896eT-oI7t0SM5eF3xCdegraFA/s400/Eunice_Kennedy_Shriver_11Aug_09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374472533521734338" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 1921-2009</span><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Executive Vice President, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation<br />Founder and Honorary Chairperson, Special Olympics</span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><h2 style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(255, 102, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">As founder and honorary chairperson of Special Olympics and executive vice president of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, Eunice Kennedy Shriver was a leader in the worldwide struggle to improve and enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities for more than three decades.</span></h2><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the fifth of nine children of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Eunice Mary Kennedy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.</span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Following graduation, she worked for the U.S. State Department in the Special War Problems Division. In 1950, she became a social worker at the Penitentiary for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and the following year she moved to Chicago to work with the House of the Good Shepherd and the Chicago Juvenile Court. In 1957, Shriver took over the direction of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation.</span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The Foundation, established in 1946 as a memorial to Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.--the family's eldest son, who was killed in World War II--has two major objectives: to seek the prevention of intellectual disabilities by identifying its causes, and to improve the means by which society deals with citizens who have intellectual disabilities.</span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Under Shriver's leadership, the Foundation has helped achieve many significant advances, including the establishment by President Kennedy of The President's Committee on Mental Retardation in 1961, development of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in 1962, the establishment of a network of university-affiliated facilities and mental retardation research centers at major medical schools across the United States in 1967, the establishment of Special Olympics in 1968, the creation of major centers for the study of medical ethics at Harvard and Georgetown Universities in 1971, the creation of the "Community of Caring" concept for the reduction of intellectual disabilities among babies of teenagers in 1981, the institution of 16 "Community of Caring" Model Centers in 1982, and the establishment of "Community of Caring" programs in 1200 public and private schools from 1990-2006. </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Recognized throughout the world for her efforts on behalf of persons with intellectual disabilities, Shriver received many honors and awards, including: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Legion of Honor, the Priz de la Couronne Francaise, the Mary Lasker Award, the Philip Murray-William Green Award (presented to Eunice and Sargent Shriver by the AFL-CIO), the AAMD Humanitarian Award, the NRPAS National Volunteer Service Award, the Laetare Medal of the University of Notre Dame, the Order of the Smile of Polish Children, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Freedom from Want Award, The National Women's Hall of Fame, the Laureus Sports Award, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Theodore Roosevelt Award, and the International Olympic Committee Award.</span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Her honorary degrees included: Yale University, the College of the Holy Cross, Princeton University, Regis College, Manhattanville College, Newton College, Brescia College, Central Michigan University, Loyola College, University of Vermont, Albertus Magnus College, Cardinal Strich University, Georgetown University and Marymount University </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">On 24 March 1984, U.S. President Reagan awarded Shriver the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, for her work on behalf of persons with intellectual disabilities, and in, 2005 she was honored for her work with Special Olympics as one of the first recipients of a sidewalk medallion on The Extra Mile Point of Light Pathway in Washington D.C. </span></p><div style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Eunice Kennedy Shriver died on Aug. 11, 2009. She was survived by her husband, Sargent Shriver, and five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III, Maria Owings Shriver Schwarzenegger, Timothy Perry Shriver, Mark Kennedy Shriver and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver.</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LET THE</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">REVOLUTION</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BEGIN!</span></span></span><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/counterspinyc/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 54px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/3027813973_4983f07212_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Thanks for all you do!<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 85%;">Live</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your values. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-size: 85%;">Love</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> your country.<br />And, remember: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 85%;">TOGETHER</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">, </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 85%;">We </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">can make a</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-size: 85%;">DIFFERENCE</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">!</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.</span></span></span></span></span></div> </div></span></span></span></p>counterspiNYChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01454373393077453634noreply@blogger.com1