Protest the twin parties of the war machine

You are going, aren’t you? Well of course you are, everyone will be there, and you don’t want to miss what might be the biggest demos ever in US history, do you?

Mass marches & rallies

Democratic National Convention
July 25 in Boston

Republican National Convention
August 29 in New York City

The twin parties of the war machine are gathering this summer in Boston and New York City to anoint their candidates for the upcoming presidential election. It is urgent that the progressive movement be in the streets in Boston and New York City.

This is a critical time for all progressives and targeted communities to take a clear stand against the political framework that is championed by the Republican and Democratic parties alike.

The Democratic Convention will certainly pull large numbers of protesters. However, the Republican Convention will be the mother of all demos. Everyone is mobilizing to be there.

Organizers have been trying, unsuccesfully so far, to get a permit for a rally in Central Park. The authorities have said, darn it, there would be too many people to put in the park, so no permit can be issued, as they weep copious crocodile tears. I guess NYPD would prefer one million plus people just wandered around Manhattan, eh? Sharp thinking, there.

Of course, as the date nears and it becomes apparent that huge numbers will be in NYC to protest Bush, the permits will be granted, as the authorities have no other choice.

Here’s why it’s important to be there.

Both parties favor the war

The war on Iraq did not just begin a year ago, nor is it Bush’s alone. The Democratic Party leadership and the solid majority of Democrats in Congress voted in October 2002 to fully support the threatened aggression against Iraq even though their offices were being overwhelmed with calls demanding that they vote no to the war. In July 2003, the Senate voted unanimously in support of continuing the occupation of Iraq - there was not one opposition vote.

The plans to demonstrate mass opposition at both conventions on the eve of the presidential election should in no way be understood to mean that the organizers are unmindful of the potential significance of this or any election. Clearly, the recent election in Spain which repudiated the pro-Bush Aznar government, just days after the horrific Madrid bombings, could be seen as nothing other than a powerful referendum on that government’s complicity with the Iraq war.

If Bush were to be defeated in November the world would have a similar joyous reaction as that which accompanied the defeat of Aznar. But if Bush is defeated and Kerry takes the presidency it is crystal clear that the occupation of Iraq and all the other associated projects of the Pentagon, CIA, and corporate establishment will continue unabated.

The real hope for change, not cosmetic alterations but the urgently needed profound social change in the United States, will come about from an enlarged and politically conscious mass movement of the people.

Be there!

Among those mobilizing for the NYC Republican Convention are:

ANSWER
NION
Peaceful Tomorrows
United for Justice & Peace
Update: Green Party

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Getting a bit testy, aren’t we, Dubya?

When asked here how Edwards would stack up against Vice President Cheney, he snapped: “Dick Cheney can be president. Next?” Then Bush pivoted away from his questioner and toward the next one.

Bush’s reply, of course, makes no sense, since Edwards as VP could certainly become president too. Maybe Bush was still thinking about that Yankees game…

Update on Cheney getting booed at the Yankees game

“What the Times left out–and what we heard from two different people who attended the game–was that the booing, jeers and catcalls were so loud and so widespread that the Secret Service hustled the Vice President out of the stadium immediately, fearing for his safety.”

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Federal court upholds Calif. e-voting ban

A federal judge today upheld California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s April 30 directive that decertified touch-screen voting machines and withheld future certification until vendors of those systems could meet specific security requirements, including voter-verifiable paper audit trails.

Push for safer electronic voting bolstered by court decision

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s push for safer electronic voting appears to be gaining momentum with a fresh victory in federal court and new agreements from counties with touch-screen machines to make extra security arrangements.

Shelley, who banned electronic voting in the state’s Nov. 2 presidential election unless it met strict new security tests, called anew Wednesday for stronger measures after a federal judge in Los Angeles upheld his actions.

He had previously banned e-voting unless there was a verifiable paper trail and the machines, and the companies that make them, could be shown to be trustworthy and reliable.

California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned a Diebold system in four counties and asked for a criminal investigation because Diebold changed its computer codes without notifying the state.

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CIA knew there were no WMDs

Some damning evidence has been uncovered by the U.S. government committee looking into Washington’s pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

Before the war, the CIA was told by relatives of Iraqi scientists that Baghdad’s programs to develop unconventional weapons had been abandoned.

However, the CIA failed to pass on that nugget of information to U.S. President Bush.

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