Local Volunteer Speaks on Katrina Cleanup
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Encinitas roofing contractor and San Diego Veterans for Peace activist Jim Brown spoke at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church in Hillcrest October 24 and discussed his experiences joining the volunteer effort to clean up New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Professionally trained in mold removal — a major need following any sort of flood — Brown offered expertise and tools, told workers what protective equipment they needed, saw the effects of racism first-hand and said many of his fellow volunteers, most of whom were sent by churches, were being moved towards the Left poltically by seeing the havoc left by Katrina and the failure of government at all levels — federal, state and local — to deal with the aftermath.
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Senator Barbara Boxer Speaks @ Claire de Lune
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer spoke at Claire de Lune coffeehouse in North Park October 18 to promote the paperback publication of her novel, "A Time to Run," but most of the questions she got were about politics and the future of the country and the Democratic party. Her response to speculations about future elections was simple: forget about anything past November 7, 2006 and make sure to register, vote and maximize the turnout of Democrats to take back the House and Senate.
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Over 500 Attend “World Can’t Wait” Demo
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Over 500 people attended “World Can’t Wait,” San Diego's contribution to a nationwide mobilization to demand the immediate removal of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from office, downtown at Horton Plaza on October 5. But the speakers at the event, which included a rally as well as a march through the Gaslamp Quarter, differed dramatically on their attitudes towards electoral politics and whether the Democrats present a reasonable alternative to the Republicans.
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Gerry Studds, Openly Gay Congressmember, Dies
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

By one of those ironies fiction writers dream about, the first openly Gay U.S. Congressmember, Gerry Studds — who was outed in 1983 by a former House page with whom he'd had a consensual affair 10 years earlier — died on October 14 at age 69 in the middle of the scandal around former Congressmember Mark Foley's sexually explicit approaches to pages. In 1986, Studds gave an interview to Mark Gabrish Conlan for the Gayzette, recently reprinted in Zenger's Newsmagazine in a freshly edited version from the original transcript. In it, he discussed his feelings of personal liberation when he was finally out of the closet and the degree to which intensely ideological Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan (and, one might add, George W. Bush) have deviated from the centrist views of most Americans.
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Senator Hollingsworth is a LIAR!!
Kathleen Huneke,

Senator Hollingsworth LIED in an article in the San Diego Union Tribune whereas he denied voting against 2 senate bills, which would help future fire victims. Its time to expose him for what he is - a liar. He was not there after the fires, and he's not there now for any of us in his district. Mark Hanson was at the survivors meetings and he gave of himself. He was there as a fire survivor, but he was also there as a savior to many survivors, getting cars and computers donated, and offering free workshops for months to help us with rebuilding our lives and businesses.
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Computerization of voting in Brazil
Robert Petersen,

I will present a summary of the computerization of voting in Brazil, but before that, it's necessary to explain some characteristics of the organization of the electoral power so that it can be understood, because some things happened that could lead to misunderstanding.


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Stolen election AGAIN? Help spark a general
Phalanx,

It's your right, isn't it?
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Reforms Allow More Ex-Felons to Vote, but Num
Between the Lines' Scott Harris,

Reforms Allow More Ex-Felons to Vote, but Numbers of Disenfranchised Remain Unchanged

Interview with Ryan King, policy analyst with the Sentencing Project, produced by Melinda Tuhus

As Americans get ready to head to the polls Nov. 7, some members of society will be allowed to vote for the first time since serving their sentences for felony convictions. In a new report, the Sentencing Project, based in Washington, D.C., explains that some states have repealed the harshest prohibition, which was a lifetime ban on voting for ex-felons. Other states are moving to allow ex-felons to vote once they leave prison, even while still on parole or probation. Two states, Maine and Vermont, even allow incarcerated felons to vote by absentee ballot from their prison cells. On the other end of the spectrum, two states that used to allow prisoners to vote -- Massachusetts and Utah -- have withdrawn that right in recent years.

The Sentencing Project believes that one's criminal status should have no impact on voting rights. The group advocates for polling places to be set up at all prisons to enable felons to vote, just as all other citizens have that right.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ryan King, policy analyst with the Sentencing Project. He describes some of the voting restrictions that have been lifted, then explains why the total number of disenfranchised individuals has remained steady at 5.3 million despite reforms.

Call The Sentencing Project at (202) 628-0871 or visit the group's website at

 http://www.sentencingproject.org

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Brazil: The Perfect Electoral Crime (II)
James Burk,

Security Failures in the electronic voting machines (DRE's) in the US and in Brazil.


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Oil Prices Surge. Bush- not my fault.
Joe Barton,

Oil Prices climb. Bush says - it is not my fault. Who believes him?

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Resisting Police Brutality in San Diego
sdimc volunteer,

In many San Diego communities, mostly communities of color, police brutality is a fact of life, much like the sun rising in the east or traffic jams on the freeways.

This brutality takes many forms, from harassment of youth, to profiling, to la migra, to the too common brutal beatings and murders, to the criminal injustice system and the inhumanity of prison. The resulting loss, sadness, fear and outrage rarely break through the protective bubble the corporate media have maintained around the "general public," who remain largely blissfully ignorant of the pervasive oppression and cruelty these communities are experiencing.

In 1996, a coalition of groups came together to declare a national day, October 22, to protest, resist and draw attention to the then (and continuing) epidemic of police violence.

In San Diego, two groups who have been working to combat state sanctioned violence, the Sagon Penn Chapter of CopWatch, and the San Diego Chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party, are organizing events for the weekend of the 22nd. On Friday, October 20, a fundraiser benefiting both groups and teach-in will be held at the Arts and Entertainment Center in North Park, featuring talks by candidate for governor Janice Jordan, candidate for the board of equalization Mary Lou Finley and member of CopWatch Ayesha Newell, as well as bands Unified Division, Dropjoy and Ya Basta! On Sunday, October 22, Sagon Penn CopWatch is planning an afternoon and evening of resistance, starting with a protest at the home of DA Bonnie Dumanis, over her continuing refusal to prosecute out of control cops, and continuing with police complaint form instruction, a screening of Urban Warrior and a performance by the Radical F'N Cheerleaders at Voz Alta.

Sagon Penn CopWatch | San Diego Peace and Freedom Party | Map to DA Bonnie Dumanis' Home
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Best Candidate Coverage; California Channel
Stewart A. Alexander,

The California Channel has provided the best political coverage of candidates running for statewide office in the 2006 California General Election. They get ten stars.
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Brazil: The perfect electoral crime.
James Burk,

The election was totally clean? Was there fraud in the election? God only knows. And some corrupt ones, also. Specialists warn: the security and the allegiance of the result of the electronic ballot box are not fidiciary.
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Art of War : Electronic Voting
Larmee,

Diebold
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BBC GUILTY OF VENALITY IN ITS MISREPORTING ON
Stephen Lendman,

BBC BLACK PROPAGANDA AGAINST HUGO CHAVEZ
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Agent Orange is killing children
Heather Wilson,

Stop the baby killers
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No to Angelides and Schwarzenegger!
Steven Argue ,

Angelides criticized Schwarzenegger for his praise for the racist anti-immigrant vigilantes called the “Minutemen” while in the same breath calling for a "guest worker" program that would create a new class of super-exploited worker with no political rights. Under the same type of program in the past U.S. bosses often failed to even pay Mexican workers for their hard labor. The fact that Angelides and the Democrat Party are now calling for this kind of legalization of indentured servitude place them firmly in the same racist camp as Schwarzenegger.
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Queer Demos Endorse No on 83, Yes on 89
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

The predominantly Queer San Diego Democratic Club took more progressive positions than the state Democratic Party's on two major propositions on the state ballot. The club opposed Proposition 83, the so-called "Jessica's Law" which would impose draconian new restrictions on people convicted of child sexual abuse — including forcing them to wear GPS tracking devices for the rest of their lives — and supported Proposition 89, a "clean money" proposal for publicly financed elections similar to those in effect in Maine and Arizona. The state party had supported 83 and taken no position on 89. In addition, City Attorney Mike Aguirre spoke to the club and defended his lawsuits against the city's illegal pension deals.
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Alexander Wants 50K Inmates Released
Stewart A. Alexander,

Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency to reduce the over crowed conditions in California prisons; and under the governor’s proclamation 5,000 inmates will be transferred to other states. Stewart Alexander, with the Peace and Freedom Party, says the governor’s plan is doomed to failure before the first prisoner is transferred out of state. “Under the governor’s plan eventually California will need prison space in all 50 states.”
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Action against school budget cuts at HSU
K. Scott Perry,

A call to arms. Seeking old members of City college's Resistencia Estudiantil, or other ally's, to combat cuts to education funds. Update on organizing at Humboldt State University, currently in mid-crisis.
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PFP, Alexander Represents America's Left
Stewart A. Alexander,

For years America perceived the Democratic Party as the party for working class people and protecting American jobs; today this party is no friend to working class people. The party has party has supported foreign trade affecting the income of millions of Americans and the ranks of the unemployed are fueling crime, poverty and misery.



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Labor must take the road of class struggle!
Fred Bergen,

A Working Class Emancipation labor bulletin
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Stewart Alexander Addresses Healthcare Reform
Stewart A. Alexander,

The U.S. has the largest and most expensive health care system in the world and the current system is on the verge of collapse; maybe not in 2006, however it will collapse. Today there are many signs that the system is already unraveling. Many companies are scaling back the health care coverage they offer employees; due to the lack of affordability millions of Americans are uninsured, the high cost will cause many U.S. corporations to close doors, and the future cost of health care coverage will force many local governments and public agencies into bankruptcy.



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Black, Immigrant Rights Movements Compared
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Veteran civil rights activist and International Socialist Organization (ISO) member Joel Geier spoke to the San Diego ISO September 23 on the history of the African-American civil rights movement and the lessons it has to offer modern-day activists, particularly those working to secure legal status and decent wages for immigrant workers. Geier said that the failures of the civil rights movement — particularly their inability to improve the economic status of most African-Americans — point to the need for political clarity, organization and structure within activist movements.
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Waving the Bloody Shirt
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

"Waving the bloody shirt" was a campaign tactic used by the Republican party after the Civil War. Republican orators traveled around the country to remind voters of which major party had supported slavery and tried to appease the South — and which had stood up to it and won the Civil War. Today the Republican party is once again "waving the bloody shirt" in its constant use of 9/11 and the so-called "war on terror" to scare voters into electing Republicans — and new polls suggest that the tactic is working once again, as it did in 2002 and 2004, and that Republicans will be able to keep control of Congress in this year's election despite their abysmal record of failure in Iraq, Katrina, etc.
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Int’l. Law Professor Speaks on Lebanon
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

San Diego State University international relations and international law professor Jonathan Graubart spoke September 21 at the House of Pacific Relations in Balboa Park and analyzed the recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon in terms of international law. He concluded that while Israel's adversaries, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, committed some violations of international law, Israel's violations were far broader and more serious — especially the collective punishment of Lebanese killed, injured or made homeless by Israel's bombings of Lebanese civilians.
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Activist Compares Civil Rights, Immigrant Rts
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Veteran civil rights activist Joel Geier spoke at the City Heights Recreation Center September 23 under the auspices of the International Socialist Organization. He gave a comparison of the civil rights movement of the 1960's with the immigrant rights movement of today, and said that both the civil rights movement's successes and failures have lessons for the activists of today. He stressed the need for political clarity within activist organizations and clear lines of leadership and structure in order to build a movement that can withstand both political setbacks and government repression.
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Alexander: Lower Gas Prices, Still No Bargain
Stewart A. Alexander,

Within the past two months gasoline prices have been on a steady decline; in some areas of Southern California prices have dipped below $2.60 per gallon. Stewart Alexander, with the Peace and Freedom Party, admits the lower prices are good for consumers; however he says, “It is not good enough; we need to have gasoline prices below $2.25 per gallon to benefit commuters and truck drivers, and Proposition 87 is not the answer.”
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Bush and His Masters Trying to Co-opt 9/11 Tr
Samizdat,

Are Bush and his masters trying to co-opt the 9/11 Truth Movement? See the video clip in which Bush blurts information allegedly extracted from Khaled Sheik Mohammed.
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Diebold Failures Exposed by Princeton
Truth Bomb,

With a recent study released by Princeton University, Diebold Voting Systems are finally coming under scrutiny. The following links take you to video footage documenting the weaknesses of Diebold vote tallying machines.
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