THE WORLD'S GOT PROBLEMS: LACK OF HEALTH CARE FOR WORKERS
August 18, 2008
J. Rosencrantz (jason@freshjive.net)
Last Friday, Mickey Mouse, Snow White and various other mythical creatures were arrested by Aneheim Police for agitating to keep health benefits for workers employed by Disney Hotels.
THE WORLD'S GOT PROBLEMS: BLIND HYPOCRISY
August 15, 2008
J. Rosencrantz (jason@freshjive.net)
"In the 21st Century, nations don't invade other nations."
Uh... Iraq? Afghanistan? Seriously, my cat takes shits that have a better grasp on recent history than this broken man.
THE WORLD'S GOT PROBLEMS: WAR IN THE CAUCASUS
August 10, 2008
J. Rosencrantz (jason@freshjive.net)
On Thursday, Georgia attacked South Ossetian separatists. Russia has responded by attacking Georgia. These images are from the Russian bombing of the Georgian town of Gori.
The People's Republic of China, host to the 2008 Summer Olympics, is assisting the Sudanese government in its genocidal campaign of mass murder, rape, displacement and starvation against the Fur, Zaghawa and Massaleit tribes of Darfur -- despite the U.N. arms embargo.
The BBC has disocvered Chinese Dong Feng army trucks in Sudan that were manufactured after the embargo was put in place. It has also found evidence that the Chinese government has been training Sudanese pilots to fly Chinese Fantan fighter jets which are then used to slaughter men, women and children in their villages.
THE WORLD'S GOT PROBLEMS: FISA VOTE RESULTS AND OBAMA'S BETRAYAL.
July 09, 2008
J. Rosencrantz (jason@freshjive.net)
Today, Obama joined the Democrat-led Congress to immunize criminal telecommunications corporations, terminate all pending lawsuits against them, and grant vast new surveillance powers to the President. By this new law, the President may now spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant.
Obama's vote in favor of cloture, in particular, cemented the complete
betrayal of the commitment he made back in October when seeking the
Democratic nomination. Back then, Obama's spokesman -- in response to demands for a clear statement of Obama's views on the spying controversy after he had previously given a vague and noncommittal statement -- issued this emphatic vow:
To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.
But the bill today does
include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.
Nonetheless, Obama voted for cloture on the bill -- the exact
opposition of supporting a filibuster -- and then voted for the bill
itself. A more complete abandonment of an unambiguous campaign promise
is difficult to imagine.
The Tom Hayden piece is here, and you can find the Greenwald pieces here or in the FISA post below.
THE WORLD'S GOT PROBLEMS: TOMORROW'S FISA VOTE
July 08, 2008
J. Rosencrantz (jason@freshjive.net)
In 1978, in the aftermath of Nixon's warrantless spying program, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in order to put government surveillance programs under judicial review as required by the 4th Amendment to the Constitution.
Since spying without a warrant is unconstitutional, FISA established a special court to grant surveillance warrants. The Bush Administration broke the law by circumventing this court when it asked the telecommunications corporations for access to private communications data.
Tomorrow, the Senate is set to vote on a FISA amendment legalize Bush's criminal spy program and also grant retroactive immunity to AT&T, Verizon and the other collaborators.
Senators Dodd and Feingold have working to strip retroactive immunity from the FISA legislation. Feingold took the Senate floor today to plead with his colleagues.
How will the Senate vote tomorrow?
In recent days, Glen Greenwald has written eloquently about:
