Alec Baldwin's kid ain't a selfish pig...

The Cops are! Well, maybe that little skank is too...

On May Day in LA's Macarthur Park:



In NYC:



No violence in Chicago... thank god!

A letter from Gitmo

Reading this today made me so sad and angry.

World peace is possible

I love morning radio. I wake up to NPR/KPCC and delight in the short soundbites I hear before I snooze my alarm for another 6 minutes. My clock radio continues to stay on while I get ready for work. It has become part of my routine and like the ultimate nerd, I really enjoy it.

This morning I was elated to hear that world peace is possible.

First, the bully John Bolton resigned today from his short-lived tenure as UN Ambassador.

This news bring joy to my heart because the Bush Administration is slowly but surely crumbling.

Moral of the Story: Bullies never win.

Then I hear this crazy story about how Lionel Ritchie is LOVED by the people in Iraq. Apparently, when Lionel last toured the Middle East, warring factions set aside their differences to watch Lionel perform. The radio commentator playfully said, "Sunnis and Shiites have two things in common: their love for Allah and their love for Lionel Ritchie."

This brings joy to my heart because I too love Allah and Lionel Ritchie.

Moral of the Story: Lovers never lose.

The corn industry is evil

Hey people... check it. My first post on BEHIND THE NEW WORLD ORDER. It's about the seedy underbelly of the corn industry.

Rumsfeld resigns!

and the Democrats win the House, with the Senate pending. Am I dreaming? If I am, do not wake me up!

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced his resignation today as the first casualty of Tuesday's elections, in which voters punished Republicans for the Iraq war and gave Democrats at least 27 seats in the House and a good shot at capturing the Senate.

Minutemen need to die

...or at least be spitted on.

Here's another Call to Action... Minutemen are intending to protest in Maywood, CA, the first and only Sanctuary city in the US for undocumented immigrants, on November 11th, 2006 @ 9am in front of Maywood City Hall - 4319 E. Slauson Ave, Maywood CA 90270. E-mail Sisepuedeamnistia@ yahoo.com or call 626-375-2873.

Apparently, the Minutemen/SOS came to Maywood before, on August 26, 2006, to protest against the city's policies, including Maywood's decision to disband it's traffic division because traffic checkpoints were used to tow away cars of undocumented residents. However, hundreds of counter protesters (up to 1000) confronted them. This included seasoned anti-minutemen activist, community members, and Maywood organizers. The community and activists stood united and peacefully in spite of countless Minutemen/SOS who tried to pass forcefully through the crowd.

Now the Minutemen are returning for another ass-whooping. Is it me or have you noticed that xenophobes never stop? Although I hate their guts, I must say I admire their endurance.

Call to Action

(This Call to Action follows a recent racial incident that occurred at
UCLA Law School.  Oh how I love my alma mater... it hasn't changed one
bit since I left!)

Friends, Alumni, Colleagues and Allies,

SHARE JD (Students Helping to Assure Racial Equity, Justice and
Diversity), an organization at UCLA Law school, is planning a direct
action to mark the 10-year anniversary of the passage of Proposition
209 which ended any participation in Affirmative Action programs on
behalf of public institutions.

Since Prop 209, the number of students of color at public
universities across California has dwindled such that at UCLA, only
96 black students enrolled at the undergraduate level for the school
year of 2006-2007 out of an incoming class of 3,000.

At the law school, we have ONE black woman in the class of 2008 which
has about 350 students. We had more black students in 1969 at the law
school than we do in 2006.

These numbers are outrageous and similar stats can be found at almost
every public higher education institution across California.

On the morning of Thursday November 2, SHARE JD is coordinating
students of color to "walk-in" to law school classes at UCLA. We want
students to see what our classrooms SHOULD look like if it was
representative of the people of Los Angeles and California.  We also
want students of color to feel empowered to take their space and their
place.

To accomplish this we need YOU to contact as many people of color as
possible and have them e-mail claudlbc@yahoo.com if they are
interested in 'walking-in.'

There are 11 classes we are trying to fill. The idea is to walk-in to
classes beginning at 10:50am and 11:00am. Each group will have a
representative speaker who will address the class and professor.
Afterwards, we will head to the courtyard to hear a speaker.

In justice,

SHARE JD

Proof that Ann Coulter is an alien

US torture continues

This past week, the Senate adopted the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This bill is identical to legislation adopted by the House, and removes important checks on the president by: failing to protect due process, eliminating habeas corpus, undermining enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, and giving a "get out of jail free card" to senior officials who authorized or ordered illegal torture and abuse.

"This legislation gives the president new unchecked powers to detain, abuse, and try people at Guantanamo Bay and other government facilities around the world," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

Permissible abuse includes shackling detainees in stress positions, stripping them of their clothes, denying them sleep, forcing them to stand for hours or days, dousing them with icy water, depriving them of heat or food or subjecting them to incessant noise or screaming.

You can judge a society by the way they treat thier prisoners.

Power Play at Pebble Beach

This past week, 250 News Corp. executives gathered for a management retreat at a posh seaside resort in Pebble Beach. As you may have guessed, this is a retreat organized by Rupert Murdoch, the devil incarnate himself.

Guest speakers included British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former President Clinton and Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres. Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton will opine on remaking complex organizations, former Vice President Al Gore will riff on climate change, and U2's Bono will deliver a keynote address titled "The Power of One."

If there's one man with the power to summon the powerful, mogul watchers agree, it's Murdoch. He has created a global media market by successfully operating in very different regulatory and political environments.

This is Murdoch's retreat agenda in PDF form. Crazy.

Goddamit. How did this one evil man acquire so much power? I faintly hear his sinister laughter now, Muhahahaha... ooh, it makes me shiver.

I am so jealous. I hate him. But at the same time, I want to be him. It's like that one episode in the Friday the 13th tv series where this really ugly record store dude with greasy hair and bad acne finds this possessed necklace that makes the wearer's dreams come true, and his wish is to be with this sexy female rock star, but later he realizes he wants to BE the rock star. It's a classic story. You know, guys wants girl, guy wants to be girl...

Sorry, I digress. Anyway, I wonder if he needs a protege? Dude, if Rupert had an Apprentice show, I would apply to be a contestant.

Here's a small public service announcement:
RESIST Murdoch! GET THE HELL OFF OF MY SPACE ... before it's too late...

The religious right to hate

Ruth Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation. So she's suing the school for its "infringement" on her right to religious expression.

A growing campaign has begun to force public institutions to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies.

Ruth, what happen to love thy neighbor? You know, you're going to burn in hell for this. You can't avoid judgment day...

Axis of Evil

The New York Times cited from a confidential British memorandum that President Bush was certain that war was inevitable and made his view known during a private two-hour meeting with Tony Blair in the Oval Office on January 31, 2003.

Bush was determined to invade Iraq without a UN resolution and even if UN arms inspectors failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the country.

Staying true to slogan: Why pay more?

Although Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in America, almost one in six Wal-Mart employees in Pennsylvania were enrolled in the state's health care program for the poor and disabled last year.

For more information, read Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy's (LAANE) fact sheet on Wal-Mart's wages, benefits and workers rights, or lack thereof.

Concentration Camps

KBR announced that its Government and Infrastructure division has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency. KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL).

The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S. The contract provides for planning initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.

The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster.

South Dakota Shits on Women

South Dakota lawmakers Wednesday approved the nation's most far-reaching ban on abortion, making it a felony for doctors to perform any abortion, except to save the life of a pregnant woman. The proposal must still be signed by Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, who opposes abortion.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America said, "This bill contains an inadequate exception to protect a woman's life and no other exceptions -- not for rape, not for incest, not even to protect the woman's health.

Welcome the newest supreme court justice

By Lalo Alcaraz of the LA Weekly

Money-hungry blood-sucking pieces of shit

ExxonMobil Corp. booked record earnings of 36.1 billion dollars in 2005, reviving claims that the oil industry is profiting from sky-high prices at the expense of hard-pressed consumers.

Addicted to Outsourcing

American corporations and our government seem to outsource everything -- from garment work to computer parts to operator assistance... and now even torture! Is there nothing sacred? Them rednecks are going to be FURIOUS. It's one thing to close the auto factories, but it's a whole other thing to allow foreigners the fun job of torturing. Now that American jobs and hobbies are threatened, maybe we might begin getting mad at Bush...

Witch Hunt at UCLA

'UCLA STUDENTS: Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican Party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter? It doesn't matter whether this is a past class, or your class from this coming winter quarter. If you help expose the professor, we'll pay you for your work."

The Bruin Alumni Association, a super conservative Republican alumni group, is offering $100 to students to report professors who speak about social and policital issues that conflict with Republican ideologies... in other words, there's a bounty on liberal professors. Free speech and exhange of ideas are threatened... by the almighty dollar. I guess Puffy was right when he said 'it's all about the Benjamin's, baby'. I can't believe Puffy is right about something, and that I just quoted him.

The truth is, I don't even fault the Republicans... although they play dirty, it's a pretty ingenious idea (now why didn't we think of this first?). Who I fault is the University. They have yet to make a formal announcement that such disclosures will not impact a professor's career or livelihood. The University must assure their faculty and staff that UCLA is an environment of higher learning that encourages and supports a free exchange of thoughts and ideas from professors to pupils and back. But, of course, they have failed to do this. This is why I refuse to donate money to UCLA. Even if I'm the last alumnus alive, and the whole university depended on my donation, I would not. Word.

It is not (yet) confirmed...

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito turned aside Democratic attacks on his judicial record and credibility at contentious confirmation hearings Wednesday... . C'mon now. "Attacks" from the Democrats is like having a snow cone at the zoo. Apparently, however, his wife was shaken up and left the room in tears. I guess she doesn't like snow cones.

Or maybe she was ruminating about the aborted child she and Sam conceived when he was in law school. After all, Alito couldn't possibly afford to be a father and an active leader in Concerned Alumni of Princeton. Whenever anyone mentions CAP, she breaks down in tears. Poor woman.

SAY NO TO ALITO!