Foxtrot gets it right!
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 13:04 - Category: Unfiled ;
Archive for March 1st, 2004
Los Angeles protests
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 10:46 - Category: Unfiled ;
Los Angeles protests
Emergency demonstration on Haiti
Today, Mon. March 1, 5 pm
Westwood Federal Building
Protest Bush in Los Angeles
Wed. March 3, 5-7 pm
Shrine Auditorium
649 W. Jefferson
Just east of Figueroa and the 110. Map. Bush will be speaking there at 5:45 pm
“It’s a coup, it’s a…
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 09:26 - Category: Unfiled ;
“It’s a coup, it’s a coup, it’s a coup”
Kidnapped Haitian President Aristide today by cell phone from the Central African Republic to Congressmember Maxine Waters. “I did not leave voluntarily, I did not resign, I was kidnapped”.
From Democracy Now!
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS:
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS ‘I WAS KIDNAPPED’
‘TELL THE WORLD IT IS A COUP’
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was “kidnapped” and taken by force to the Central African Republic.
Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. “He’s surrounded by military. It’s like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped,” said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide’s US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide “emphatically” denied that he had resigned. “He did not resign,” he said. “He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup.” Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
Audio and Transcripts will be posted shortly. The Demcracy Now! website is under extremely heavy load due to this story.
The Marines, and armed forces from other countries have now invaded Haiti - after violently replacing the leader and without the consent of the populace.
Aristide’s lawyer is on Democracy Now saying they are exploring taking legal action against George Bush for the impeachable offense of kidnapping Aristide, who a is US citizen.
Let’s give Dubya a hearty…
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 00:09 - Category: Unfiled ;
Let’s give Dubya a hearty L.A. welcome!
From a leftie listserv
Bush will be in LA this Wednesday March 3, 2004
At 2 p.m., Bush will make remarks at the 11th Regional White House Conference on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
He then will attend a Bush-Cheney reception at 5:45 p.m. at the Shrine Auditorium, before leaving for a private Republican National Committee dinner.
More bulletins as events warrant! I’m guessing the bulk of the protests will be at the Shrine (649 W. Jefferson, just east of Figueroa and the 110.) When I know more, I’ll post it.
I suspect security will be impossibly tight, with lots of street closures and subsequent gridlock. Protestors probably won’t be able to get anywhere near the Shrine - which, of course, is no reason not to go!
Grocery union contract approved by…
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 00:05 - Category: Unfiled ;
Grocery union contract approved by 86% vote
And 96% is obviously an overwhelming vote.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, current union members will not have to make any contributions toward their health care plan premiums in the first two years and will only need to pay between $5 to $15 in the third year if health care contributions in reserves are not sufficient to cover the costs.
But the contract creates a second, lower tier of supermarket employees who will receive less pay and inferior benefits. New supermarket hires will have to pay about $9 a week for a basic health care plan and will make less than the average wages of $12 to $14.
As I’ve mentioned before, it may be a long time before management tries to hang this tough again in a strike. Both sides suffered, and suffered big. Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway, publicly said he wanted to break the union, and in this he failed completely. The unions and the strikers held the line.
And I’d call that a victory…
ANSWER on Haiti
Bob Morris @ Mar 1st 2004 00:03 - Category: Unfiled ;
ANSWER on Haiti
From the national ANSWER website:
Whether President Aristide was actually kidnapped by U.S. forces, as some sources have reported, or was just presented with ‘an offer he couldn’t refuse,’ there is no question that Washington played the decisive role in this regime change. The coup in Haiti is reminiscent of similar deadly CIA operations in Iran, Guatemala, the Congo, Chile and numerous other countries in the last half-century.
