Williams’ death will be a great tragedy and a monumental waste of human potential, but it won’t give closure to the victims’ families or reduce violent crime in this country.

There is no evidence that killing Williams or any of the other 1,000 men and women that states have executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 has deterred killers from killing.

And this unsettling statistic -

The U.S. has the highest murder rate of any nation on the planet.

The U.S. also has the highest incarceraton rate and more prisoners than any country. Why is this country so bloodthirsty and vindictive?

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Ford has agreed to no longer sponsor gay events

It’s over. Ford lied.

For days Ford has been saying this is just about a few ads. For days Ford has been saying they didn’t agree to anything. And for days Ford has been saying Volvo will continue marketing to the gay community.

Not true.

We now find out that Ford has agreed to stop supporting gay events. We now find out that Ford’s Volvo ads will continue in gay publications, but the ads will no longer target the gay community - meaning, they’ll use generic ads that they’re using elsewhere.

Ford didn’t just lie, they caved to the AFA big time. A major US corporation is no longer supporting gay and lesbian organizations - something it did to a large degree in the past - because an extremist gay-hating hate group threatened them.

Let’s keep the pressure on Ford. The mobilization on this has been huge and Ford is absolutely feeling the heat. Let’s continue until they back down. It worked against Microsoft, and it will work now.

Tag: Ford homophobia

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And the Constitution wins.

A former college professor was found not guilty Tuesday of key charges linking him to a Palestinian terrorist group that allegedly operated an underground cell in Florida, ending a lengthy trial that balanced allegations of terrorist-related acts against assertions of abused constitutional rights.

Taken as a whole, the verdict dealt a blow to one of the federal government’s first major tests of the expanded search and surveillance powers authorized by the controversial Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In the end, after more than five months of testimony by nearly 80 witnesses and the presentation of 1,800 faxes, wiretap transcripts, email and other exhibits, prosecutors conceded that no single piece of evidence directly linked the defendants to terrorist acts.

Railroading people with no evidence is the kind of thing all those bad nasty governments that Dubya shrieks about are supposed to do, while of course, he does exactly that. This is just another especially noxious case of the neocon agenda attempting to destroy basic constitutional rights in order to further their aims. And the jury didn’t buy any of it. There were four defendants, and the verdicts on all charges was either not guilty or deadlocked.

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This graphic is from Monk at Inflatable Dartboard. He has lots more amazing Photoshopped graphics online. On Monday he posted he was quitting blogging after getting a huge tax bill from the IRS. Happily though he returned today.

I realized that even though I tried to leave the blog, the blog hasn’t left me. All day today I was still being bombarded by ideas for articles and graphics.

Second, I am deeply humbled by all the comments and emails I’ve received asking me to continue and offering support. Thank you all very, very much.

I will continue to fight the fight as best I can. The political pendulum has reached it’s apex and now is the time to help give it the momentum it needs. I can’t quit now.

Many in the comments said, hey, Add a PayPal button, so he did. I just donated, maybe you can too.

It is with slight trepidation and sincere motives that I’ve added a donate button to the sidebar.

Welcome back, Monk, we need you.

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Excerpts from Marty’s Musings on the recent Ford anti-gay decisions.  

Until last week, Ford was considered one of the most gay-friendly Fortune 500 companies.

Ford has insisted that this is strictly a "business decision."

This "business decision" is the crux of the problem.

HRC, which rates companies on a 100-point Corporate Equality Index, explains that corporations are becoming more gay friendly because "fairness is good for business."

But that makes for a dangerous equation. If the AFA folks buy more Fords than we do, we lose. Justice cannot be denied just because it doesn’t make money.

The bottom line is, indeed, the bottom line. Ford is a corporation that exists to make money.

Until we hold corporations accoutable for more than their profits, this is what we can continue to expect. Ultimately, LGBT equality in the workplace will be a house of cards until society holds corporations accountable for more than making a buck.

Ditto for many such struggles for social justice. The current US system of predatory capitalism which exists solely to make money for a tiny few needs to be changed into something that serves the people. This Ford example is a clear example of how capitalism is exploitative, manipulative, and cares little for human needs when that might get in the way of making an elite few even wealthier. 

The net mobilizes.

John Aravosis at AmericaBlog is a) seriously pissed and b) a mighty good organizer, and he’s on a roll. He’s been a one-man Ford wrecking squad these past few days, mobilizing from his blog, naming names, calling Ford on their lies, and printing who to contact at Ford to protest. What’s more, it’s working. Major media has picked up the story. Sure, many other groups are doing all they can too. However AmericaBlog  is definitely leading the charge from blogdom.

John has some new bedside reading tonight, a  little light reading from Henry Ford, vicious anti-Semite and supporter of Hitler.

Let me quote you a little of the preface:

"The International Jew and his satellites, as the conscious enemies of all that Anglo-Saxons mean by civilization, are not spared, nor is that unthinking mass which defends anything that a Jew does, simply because it has been taught to believe that what Jewish leaders do is Jewish."

Alrighty then. 

He has lots more:

Ford caught posting propaganda on AMERICAblog

Let’s start dissecting Ford’s lies

Ford exec who brokered secret deal with gay-haters caught leading the charge for Bush’s extreme right Supreme Court nominees out of his Ford office.

Well, isn’t that cozy… Capitalism and right-wing extremism waltzing together at Ford.

Tag:Ford homophobia

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Youth and students against war & military recruiters!
This Sat., Dec 10, 12 noon
5051 Rodeo Road, Los Angeles
At the Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion (Just east of La Brea, near MLK Blvd)

Protest sponsored by Youth & Student A.N.S.W.E.R.

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The CIA has defended the rendition program, which dates to the 1980s, as a swift, effective way to neutralize terrorists and foil plots. The agency expanded the use of renditions after the Sept. 11 attacks, when it was under pressure to prevent more al-Qaida assaults.

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More trouble swirled around the disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff yesterday (Nov 10), after reports that he sought $9m from the leader of the west African country of Gabon to organise a White House meeting with President George Bush.

Who got the 9 million, and what did the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo get for his money?

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From MSNBC

But a senior official at 10 Downing Street, Blair’s official residence, who insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, recently seemed to give credence to the Al-Jazeera threat. The official told Newsweek London Bureau chief Stryker McGuire:  "I don’t think Tony Blair thought it was a joke."

How interesting that leaks like this are happening and that they are anti-Bush.

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