This one disgusted me. This was a peaceful protest as far as I could see, the police went ahead and tear gassed the crowd hitting a reporter indiscriminately with the gas as well. Listen to the video, the police said that they had determined that it was an illegal protest. (read: they decided to be judge jury and executioner.

“By order of the city of Pittsburgh police. I hereby declare this to be an unlawful assembly. I order all those assembled to immediately disperse. You must leave the immediate vicinity. If you rem…” (the audio cuts off there and the scene continues with the reporter coughing and really in need of medical attention.)

The above statement was a clear violation of the first amendment of the United States Constitution.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The police chose instead to commit (in my opinion) several dozen instances of attempted murder by use of a chemical agent.

Montreal medical team exposes documents on tear gas danger

Tear Gas: Harassing Agent or Toxic Chemical Weapon?

Although described as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, many studies have raised doubts about this classification. As well as creating severe pulmonary damage, CS can also significantly damage the heart and liver.^[9]

On September 28, 2000, Prof. Dr. Uwe Heinrich released a study commissioned by John C. Danforth, of the United States Office of Special Counsel, to investigate the use of CS by the FBI at the Branch Davidians‘ Mount Carmel compound. He concluded that the lethality of CS used would have been determined mainly by two factors: whether gas masks were used and whether the occupants were trapped in a room. He suggests that if no gas masks were used and the occupants were trapped, then, “…there is a distinct possibility that this kind of CS exposure can significantly contribute to or even cause lethal effects.”^[1]

Many reports have associated CS exposure with miscarriages.^[9] This is consistent with its reported clastogenic effect (abnormal chromosome change) on mammalian cells.

When CS is metabolized, cyanide can be detected in human tissue.^[9] According to the United States Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, CS emits “very toxic fumes” when heated to decomposition, and at specified concentrations CS gas is an immediate danger to life and health. They also state that those exposed to CS gas should seek medical attention immediately.^[2]

I am sure that there are several federal anti terrorism laws as well as state and city statutes against using a known harmful chemical weapon against a civilian population. I am also certain that there are numerous international human rights laws that would be violated if such a person were inclined to research them.

Walking with a sign down a street is not a cause to use chemical restraints against a crowd. From the activity of the reporter he was in no danger from the crowd nor was the crowd any direct threat to the police force in place.

To me the police acted in a cruel and inhumane manner violating not only one of our most precious rights in this country, but needlessly endangering the lives of peaceful protesters. If the police felt that the protesters were in fact violating some law in Pittsburgh, they should have been arrested and then had the opportunity to stand trial for the crimes they were accused of. Instead the police took it upon themselves to convict and sentence these citizens without a trial. Their punishment was a lungful of a known lethal chemical agent.

The act of which if done by any civilian would have that civilian brought up on terrorism charges. Here we have uniformed and sworn protectors of the peace using a tactic that would have anyone else jailed if not executed for crimes against the state. For the crime of exercising these peoples first amendment right to peacefully assemble and protest.

Why is it that TEA party protesters can assemble and protest higher taxes, why is it that Nazi and Klu Klux Klan members can protest, Why is it that everyone except those that are the peasantry can protest?

It is a god given right in this country to go where you will and say what you will, if you have a problem with the government it is your duty to protest against it.

I believe in these protests. I believe in all of them. Because without our right to peacefully protest our grievances against what we feel is wrong we have no freedom. This is the freedom the Pittsburgh police decided to violently take away.

[edit due to new information that came to light]

It appears that the people that were involved with the G 20 summit were in fact Anarchists.

These people had no agenda other than the disruption of society as a whole. Anarchists arn’t a legitimate cause, this is not a legitimate agenda. These people have no concept of what it means to demonstrate for a cause you believe in.

whatukno.com will never ever support Anarchy. Anarchy is the collapse of all of society into a raging cesspool of dispair and intolerance, where everyone is out for themselves and will destroy everything in their path. These are children raging against a society that they don’t understand and don’t want to.

whatukno.com will always and forever support the peoples constitutional right to peacably assemble against a government that they do not agree with. I support every persons right to peacefully protest against what they feel is wrong with the country. It is not only the right of every American to do so, it is our duty as Americans.

I do not and will not however support inciting riot for riot’s sake. There is no cause in causing mayhem and destruction. If you are to demonstrate against a policy, or institution you disagree with, do so the right way and adhere to the Constitution of the United States. Under the Bill of Rights, we Americans have the fundamental duty to protest peaceably against what we feel is wrong in our society. To not act peaceably in your demonstration shows a lack of class, a lack of respect, and a fundamental flaw in your ideology.

Obama, Ahmadinejad, and Qaddafi all spoke at the UN General Assembly yesterday, Obama’s speech was about how the world needs to step up to the plate and help the US. Saying the US cannot do it alone and that we need our partners, friends, allies, and every nation to step up and play their part in world events.

The Good.

Full text can be found here.

I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.

Basically Obama is saying here: I know Bush sucked as a world leader and was more often than not looked upon as a dictator, we apologize for this idiot, thankfully he won’t have to bother anyone else ever again, please forgive America.

I have outlined a comprehensive agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. In Moscow, the United States and Russia announced that we would pursue substantial reductions in our strategic warheads and launchers. At the Conference on Disarmament, we agreed on a work plan to negotiate an end to the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. And this week, my Secretary of State will become the first senior American representative to the annual Members Conference of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The US has been working with Russia for the last 25 years following the START I treaty to reduce nuclear arms. Several treaties have come and gone sense then, with the ultimate goal of disposing of the world’s nuclear arms altogether. Nations like Iran and North Korea trying to build a nuclear arms program.

Some key things to remember when dealing with the United States and signing treaties. The US does not have a great track record of keeping treaties. (Read: Long Chain of Abuses: Broken Treaties) And we still are the only country to use nuclear weapons in an act of war.

To this date, the US, Russia, France, England and China are all states that have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

India, Pakistan, and North Korea, are all states that have not signed the NPT and are known to have nukes.

It is generally believed that Israel has nukes (The real reason they haven’t been overrun by many middle eastern countries that don’t like them very much.)

The idea of mutually assured destruction kept the US and the former Soviet Union from annihilating each other during the cold war. The US is at the forefront of making sure that no other country that we don’t approve of get’s these dangerous weapons of mass destruction.

The Bad.

Full text can be found here.

Mahamoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the security council, several times questioning the United States’  permenent placement in the UN Security Council. Questioning Israel’s right to exist, and defending Iran’s nuclear power research efforts.

Some powers proudly announce their production of second and third generations of nuclear weapons. What do they need these weapons for? Is the development and stockpiling of these deadly weapons designed to promote peace and democracy? Or, are these weapons, in fact, instruments of coercion and threat against other peoples and governments? How long should the people of the world live with the nightmare of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons? What bounds the powers producing and possessing these weapons? How can they be held accountable before the international community? And, are the inhabitants of these countries content with the waste of their wealth and resources for the production of such destructive arsenals? Is it not possible to rely on justice, ethics and wisdom instead of these instruments of death? Aren’t wisdom and justice more compatible with peace and tranquility than nuclear, chemical and biological weapons? If wisdom, ethics and justice prevail, then oppression and aggression will be uprooted, threats will wither away and no reason will remain for conflict. This is a solid proposition because most global conflicts emanate from injustice, and from the powerful, not being contented with their own rights, striving to devour the rights of others.

You have to wonder if he is wrong, the US does continue to develop more and more advanced versions of nuclear weapons.

The roots of the Palestinian problem go back to the Second World War. Under the pretext of protecting some of the survivors of that War, the land of Palestine was occupied through war, aggression and the displacement of millions of its inhabitants; it was placed under the control of some of the War survivors, bringing even larger population groups from elsewhere in the world, who had not been even affected by the Second World War; and a government was established in the territory of others with a population collected from across the world at the expense of driving millions of the rightful inhabitants of the land into a diaspora and homelessness. This is a great tragedy with hardly a precedent in history. Refugees continue to live in temporary refugee camps, and many have died still hoping to one day return to their land. Can any logic, law or legal reasoning justify this tragedy? Can any member of the United Nations accept such a tragedy occurring in their own homeland?

Although researching what Ahmadinejad, said comes up with some truth. Israel was created with the push out of the nation of Palestine. Course WWI saw the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, if it weren’t for the west’s involvement in WWI, Iran would still be under the control of the Ottoman’s.

The Ugly.

Libyan Leader Qaddafi spoke for a blistering hour and a half, ripping up papers, and generally causing a ruckus. I tried several times to find a transcript of what Qaddafi said but each site is a reported hacked site with a particularly nasty virus attached. I will however attach the following YouTube videos for you to view if you wish.

(I am sorry, but if you want to view the whole thing it’s there.)

This was an hour and a half long rant by Qaddafi, it made little sense and I feel sorry for the poor translator that had to sit through it and translate every word of it.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/obama-un-speech-text_n_296017.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/obama-un-speech-text_n_296017.html

President Obama is preparing to speak to the UN General Assembly today, trying to fix the United States still shattered world reputation. Reportedly Obama’s speech will focus on Nuclear Arms proliferation, the world economic crisis, humanitarian efforts and global warming.

Obama will have the world’s attention today as he speaks, including the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, (Unpopular election stealer and NAMBLA member) and,  Moammar Khadafy (Lybian douchebag). Reportedly, Israel and Germany plan to walk out in solidarity if Ahmainejad’s infamous verbal diarrhea decides to surface about denying the holocaust.

Obama will be backed by sky high popularity ratings worldwide even more popular than at home where his popularity rating has steadily declined in recent months because of the heath care initiative. Obama does have his work cut out for him however as the previous president George W. Bush had made sure that just about everyone hated America’s guts. Using unilateral policies and thumbing his nose to general worldwide consensus, Bush decided that the US was better off screwing up two major wars instead of working out more amicable solutions.

Obama has the difficult job (read: Almost impossible) of restoring the reputation of the United States from that of a cruel dictatorial omnibus of greed and intolerance, to something where US citizens can once again freely travel to foreign nations without having to first buy a Canadian flag patch for their luggage.

Hope rides high for President Obama in this speech and the criticism will surely be waiting with baited breath from the right when all is said and done.

American’s are angry, they are angry about one issue above all others. Health Care Reform. This issue has polarized this country in a way that I personally have never seen before. People are angry for many reasons and they are blaming our government for their ills.

The Tea Party Express…

The Tea Party Express national bus tour will host a series of tea party rallies all across the nation.  The effort will begin in California and travel eastward, building momentum as the tour reaches its final destination: the big 09.12.09 Taxpayer March on D.C.

At each stop the tour will highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses.  These Members of Congress have infringed upon the freedom of the individual in this great nation, and its time for us to say: “Enough is Enough!”

The “Tea Party Express” tour will feature leaders in the anti-tax, conservative, tea party movement along with musical performances of “American Tea Party Anthem” and “A Bailout Song” at each tea party event.  The tour delegation includes:

http://www.teapartyexpress.org/

Organized descent of our government is a cornerstone of our constitution. People have the absolute right to free expression and to keep our government in check. The will of the people is paramount in this Republic. My personal opinion of the Tea Party Express is that it is a good thing. I disagree with their statement. ( I personally am for reform to make sure that every American is able to get health insurance coverage but that is my personal opinion.) I completely agree with what they are doing and how they are doing it. Peaceful protest is not only right for this Republic. It’s Patriotic. I have to fundamentally disagree with anyone that would call these people right wing nuts or extremists. They are upholding their constitutional right to peaceful assembly. These protests are good for our country and the peaceful descent of government is only good for the democracy as a whole.

Although I feel that some of the protesters missed the mark a bit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/10-most-offensive-tea-par_n_187554.html

But why are they angry? What are their reasons? What about this idea has them up in arms.

Some are angry because it is what media outlets are telling them to be angry about. These people are truly sheep and follow whatever their favorite newscaster or pundit tells them to think. They have no idea why they are angry, but they believe what the pundit on TV tells them to be angry about.

Some are angry because they have seriously investigated this issue and it does not agree with them. They are informed and don’t like the way the country is being run. These are the intelegent angry. They see no reason why the government should be in their pockets or tell them how to live. They don’t like this because they believe that it will be too expensive and they believe that it is not our job to be insuring everyone in the country.

Some are angry of course because Obama is black and they believe all sorts of nonsense about Obama being a socialist or a Nazi or some other idiotic garbage. They are truly uninformed. These are people that believe that Obama is the son of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. They have no clue what reality is and have no idea other than a black man is in the white house why they are angry. They of course won’t admit to their racism in polite conversation but it is at the heart of their anger towards the government.

Some are angry just because it is the government that is doing it. They believe that the government has the obligation to deliver the mail and stay the hell out of their life. These people have no tolerance for any governmental body and feel that anything the government does is an affront to the constitution and their civil liberties.

Health Care is not the only thing that Congress has been working on. Here is a short summary of the things that our government has been working on this week. If the people of this country don’t understand what their government is doing they can’t be informed enough to tell their representatives about how they feel on these issues.

S. 1603 – Veterans Education Tuition Support Act of 2009

Title: A bill to amend section 484B of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to students who withdraw from an institution of higher education to serve in the uniformed services, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] (introduced 8/6/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.R.2456, H.R.2561
Latest Major Action: 8/6/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

From what I have read, the jist of this bill is that if you are enrolled in college and you decide to join the armed forces, if this bill passes into law your tuition will be reimbursed and you won’t have to pay back those loans because of your service to our country.

All well and good right? What are your opinions?

S. 147 – Close Guantanamo and Change Interrogation Policies

Title: A bill to require the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to limit the use of certain interrogation techniques, to prohibit interrogation by contractors, to require notification of the International Committee of the Red Cross of detainees, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (3)
Related Bills: H.R.374
Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Obama promised to do this his first day in office. To close the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba and to limit the way they interrogate detainees. Those “Enhanced Interogation Techniques” that were authorized by the white house that instructed CIA officers that they could use such torture as waterboarding, firing a gun off next to a blindfolded prisoner, use of a power drill on detainees, and other just nifty and fun techniques in order to try and get information out of people that were there so long that any information garnered from these techniques would be out of date anyway.

S. 1 – Stimulus Bill

Title: A bill to create jobs, restore economic growth, and strengthen America’s middle class through measures that modernize the nation’s infrastructure, enhance America’s energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (17)
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2009 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 1.
Note: For further action, see H.R.1, which became Public Law 111-5 on 2/17/2009.

I bet you thought that the stimulus bill was a law now huh? I bet you thought it was all over. Nope, now the money has to be distributed to each state. So they have to bring up the bill before congress each time they decide to dole out money to states. But there is a way that you can keep track of all the money that is going out there. You should go to http://www.recovery.gov/. There are tools there you can use to see what money your state is getting, and where it is going. This is important for each American to be concerned about, after all it is your money that is being spent.

H.R. 2701 – Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010

Title: To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2010 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Reyes, Silvestre [TX-16] (introduced 6/4/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.RES.618, S.1494
Latest Major Action: 7/8/2009 Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 618 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2701 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived except those arising under clause 9 of rule XXI. It shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence now printed in the bill.
House Reports: 111-186

This is a general bill to fund the CIA and other intelegence services. I bet they will be happy to get our tax payer money.

H.R. 2454 – American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

Title: To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.
Sponsor: Rep Waxman, Henry A. [CA-30] (introduced 5/15/2009)      Cosponsors (1)
Related Bills: H.RES.587, H.R.2998
Latest Major Action: 7/7/2009 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 97.
House Reports: 111-137 Part 1

This is what people in Michigan have been waiting for. This bill is to provide funding to companies to create clean energy jobs. See in Michigan the Auto companies are pretty much gone. People need to forget about Michigan as the home of the Big 3 and automotive manufacturing jobs. Instead Michigan needs to start really laying the groundwork to make sure that these companies look to the Rust Belt as the new home for these green jobs. Unfortunatly as usual the Unions will destroy any hope Michigan has to create jobs in this state. The greedy Unions will undoubtidly picket any company that actually wants to hire people based on hard work, but instead based on Union connections.

Unions make me sick, it’s the Unions that destroyed the Big 3 in Michigan, it’s the Unions that crippled the nations manufacturing market. If it wasn’t for the Unions companies wouldn’t outsource these jobs overseas and people would be employed. Yes it’s nice to have a decent wage, but honestly if you make it too expensive for the company to actually employ anyone, they will move their manufacturing somewhere where they can get cheaper labor. In the end making a little something is a whole lot better than making a whole lot of nothing and Unions don’t understand this. They in the end ruin any hope Michigan has for the economy here to recover. Thanks UAW, AFL/CIO, you suck.

H.R. 1388 – ‘A bill entitled “The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws.”

Title: A bill entitled “The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws.”
Sponsor: Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] (introduced 3/9/2009)      Cosponsors (37)
Related Bills: H.RES.250, H.RES.296, S.277
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 111-13 [GPO: Text, PDF]
House Reports: 111-37

H.R. 384 – Reform the Troubled Assets Relief Program (Financial and Auto Bailout)

Title: To reform the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of the Treasury and ensure accountability under such Program.
Sponsor: Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] (introduced 1/9/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.RES.53, H.RES.62
Latest Major Action: 1/22/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

H.R. 227 – Deem that human life begins with fertilization

Title: To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization.
Sponsor: Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] (introduced 1/7/2009)      Cosponsors (54)
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

This is a sneak attack against Roe V Wade. People if you are pro-choice please contact your representative and tell them to kill this bill.

H.R. 157 – Congressional Seat/Vote for DC – Increase House to 437 Seats

Title: To provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (3)
Related Bills: S.J.RES.11, S.160
Latest Major Action: 3/2/2009 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 8.
House Reports: 111-22

Washington DC is not a state, it is the District of Columbia. But there are Americans that live there and so if they pay taxes they should have representation.

H.R. 155 – Ban Taxes on Unemployment Benefits for Two Years

Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to suspend the taxation of unemployment compensation for 2 years.
Sponsor: Rep McHugh, John M. [NY-23] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (42)
Related Bills: S.155
Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

This bill helps people that are on Unemployment keep their homes. It’s hard enough for people to live on Unemployment as it is, without the government taking taxes out of what is essentially half of your previous income.

H.R. 15 – Nationalized Health Insurance

Title: To provide a program of national health insurance, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Dingell, John D. [MI-15] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 1/6/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Make up your own mind.

H.R. 11 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

Title: To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Miller, George [CA-7] (introduced 1/6/2009)      Cosponsors (195)
Related Bills: H.RES.5, S.181
Latest Major Action: 2/11/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Note: Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 5, the text of H.R. 12 as passed by the House was appended to the end of H.R. 11 as new matter. For further action, see S.181, which became Public Law 111-2 on 1/29/2009.

Basically this is to try and curb the discrepancy in pay between men and women. In this day and age its odd that a woman would get paid less than a man for the same work.

H. CON. RES. 5 – Congress and War Powers

Title: Expressing that Congress has the sole and exclusive power to declare war.
Sponsor: Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] (introduced 1/7/2009)      Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 1/7/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

This is because of Bush. Bush decided to launch a war in Iraq without anyones approval. This bill would fix that problem. So that Presidents allone won’t have the power to start a war without the approval of Congress. We may not be in the war in Iraq today if Congress were the ones that started it instead of the President alone.

So that is what your representatives have been working on this week. If you want to voice your opinion on any of these proposals please write your congressmen. Let them know what you think. It is time that people in this country keep abreast of all the issues that are before the house and senate.

In a move that is sure to be beneficial for the country as a whole. The Senate has voted to deny funding to the community organization ACORN. This organization under fire recently for not only massive voter registration fraud but also helping a prostitute cheat on her tax forms by claiming she is a performance artist.

Senate votes to deny funds to ACORN

By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP) – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases.

The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The action came as the group is suffering from bad publicity after a duo of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp released hidden-camera videos in which ACORN employees in Baltimore gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman’s income. Two other videos, aired frequently on media outlets such as the Fox News Channel, depict similar situations in ACORN offices in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.

Source:  HostedAP

Special interest groups like ACORN do not do good things for the people of this country and it is apparent that the people that are in charge of ACORN have no accountability or enough intelligence to know when they have crossed a line. Hopefully with the Senate vote, ACORN will soon be out of business and the country as a whole can soon forget them as a organization.

Dear Friends,

There is only one true health care public option: Single payer. It covers everyone, all basic health care needs, with doctor of choice. No more premiums, co-pays or deductibles. All health care assets in America would become not-for-profit. The bill already exists. It is HR 676. Congressman John Conyers and I wrote the bill. Our bill has the support of 85 co-sponsors in the House. And it is backed by a growing national movement of labor, doctors, and nurses. The movement needs you. Please join me for tomorrow’s national conference call at 10:00pm EDT. Please call toll-free 1-800-230-1096.

The hour has arrived to begin anew the Civil Rights Movement, this time for Health Care for All. I am calling upon you to become a force in this movement. Go to Health Care as A Civil Right at Kucinich.us to learn how you can circulate a single-payer petition and organize in your community. Please help fund this effort. Go to Kucinich.us now, contribute.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution and Article One, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution both describe an originating purpose of our United States: to promote the general welfare. Health care is a legitimate function of our government. Health care is a basic right in a Democratic society. It is no more a privilege based on ability to pay than is the right to vote, which was once accorded only to property owners.

Health care is also a moral imperative. Forty seven million Americans are uninsured. Fifty million Americans are underinsured. People are losing their homes, their jobs, their life’s savings, their retirement security and their financial health because they cannot pay medical bills, and despite this calamity Washington looks another way. We must not avert our eyes to this human suffering and this economic injustice.

Let’s prepare a response which Washington will long remember as the time when the people reclaimed their government from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Join us. Contribute. Together, we can initiate an action plan to intervene and provide health care for all.

1. A National Health Care for All Conference Call from Washington, DC, at 10 pm EDT, Thursday, September 10th at 1-800-230-1096. Join us, so that we can discuss our new beginning and ways in which we can all help. Pre-registration is necessary in order to reserve sufficient phone lines. Please RSVP here. When you call in and the operator asks, “what conference call?” tell the operator, “Health Care for All.”
2. On-line petition. Please contact your lists, your family and friends. Please sign the petition for a single payer system. I will deliver the petitions directly to your Congressperson.
3. Petition to download, print and circulate among friends and neighbors – including an instruction sheet.
4. Health Care Meet-Ups. Coming Thursday September 10 2009.
5. Tell A Friend. Every email forwarded will make a difference? Please use the “Forward Email” link below to circulate up to 5 emails at a time to your friends.

I need your help to initiate this action. If you believe, as I do, that we can and must begin a new long-term state-by-state grassroots effort to create a single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, please contribute now at Kucinich.us

Thank you.

Sincerely.
Dennis

Email sent by Dennis Kucinich D-OH

This was sent to me in my email. I thought I would share this with you, this is about the health care debate going on right now in the legislative branch.

H.R.676 – United States National Health Care Act or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act

OpenCongress Summary

This bill establishes the United States National Health Care (USNHC) Program to provide all individuals residing in the United States and U.S. territories with free health care, which would encompass primary care and prevention, prescription drugs, emergency care, long-term care, mental health services, dental services, and vision care. Such a program would be financed by the USNHC Trust Fund via existing sources of government health care revenue, by increasing personal income taxes of the top 5% income earners and by instituting a progressive excise tax on payroll and self employment income, as well as on stock and bond transactions. While the Indian Health Services would eventually be integrated in the program, the independence of the Veterans Affairs health programs would remain under evaluation.

So for those of you that want to make up your own minds about health care in this country go to the link above and check out the entire bill going through the house at this moment. Read it and make up your own mind and don’t let some pundit like me tell you what to think. Then you can do yourself and everyone a favor and go and tell your representatives exactly what you think with all the good information in hand you will be in a much better position to mount a better argument.

Thank you

What U KNO

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

www.whitehouse.gov

S.773 – Cybersecurity Act of 2009

A bill to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption, and for other purposes.

A deliberate and unprovoked attack on our First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. This bill if passed will undermine what is the free flowing expression of ideas and information. I urge anyone reading this to write, call, & Email your representatives in Washington and demand that this horrid attack on the bill of rights be thrown away. The only way that we as a society can keep our freedoms is if we fight for them.

I cannot express enough the outrage I feel, personally, about this terrible bit of legislation thought up by John Rockefeller D-WV. The great grandson of Industrialist and New World Order Founder John D Rockefeller. The legacy of this family against the freedoms of the people of the United States is well known. The Rockefeller family along with the Robber Barons of the early 20th century have sought to turn this republic into an oligarchy. Without the American people to stand up to them, they will destroy this country and destroy the way of life that we know and love. This is not a Republican, or Democrat issue. It’s an attack on the lower classes from the upper echelon of society. A direct attack against those of us that wish to express our ideas freely on the world wide web and have the free flow of ideas across the world.

This bill if it passes will be one of many recent pieces of legislation that have eroded our freedoms in the United States and left us worse off than we were before. Our government with the help of evil men like Rockefeller have sought to destroy the constitution and the bill of rights. Without them we will be weaker as a nation and closer to being enslaved by a tyrannical oligarchy.

Ted Kennedy

“Edward M. Kennedy—the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply—died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

http://kennedy.senate.gov/

God Speed Mr. Kennedy. Thank you for all your service to the American people.