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Sat Jun 25 2005
Protesters follow the Gubernator everywhere he goes
A “Dog Arnold” protest was held outside the KMJ studios in Fresno on June 24, 2005. The governator was talking on the Ray Appleton show.
Photos
A small but vociferous crowd staged another protest against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, Wednesday, June 22. Incensed by his abuse of the special election law, designed to provide for emergencies, the voters will probably continue to attend every public event until he is forced out of office, to express their anger.
Among those protesting were firefighters upset at the continuous closing of fire houses in California. Arnold also he says he wants to eliminate death benefits for families of first responders who die in the line of duty.
Photos
On Wednesday, May 25th, at least 30,000 braved high temperatures and a relentless sun to demonstrate against the governor and his agenda in Sacramento. Nurses, firefighters, teachers and other union workers in California told Governor Schwarzenegger that California is not for sale. Photos
Past Arnold Protests
A small but vociferous crowd staged another protest against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, Wednesday, June 22. Incensed by his abuse of the special election law, designed to provide for emergencies, the voters will probably continue to attend every public event until he is forced out of office, to express their anger.
Among those protesting were firefighters upset at the continuous closing of fire houses in California. Arnold also he says he wants to eliminate death benefits for families of first responders who die in the line of duty.
Photos
On Wednesday, May 25th, at least 30,000 braved high temperatures and a relentless sun to demonstrate against the governor and his agenda in Sacramento. Nurses, firefighters, teachers and other union workers in California told Governor Schwarzenegger that California is not for sale. Photos
Past Arnold Protests
4/8/2005: Schwarzenegger is scheduled to be at a fundraiser at 800 Dwight Way in Berkeley at 9:30AM this morning. Protests are planned.
Read More
On April 7th Gov. Schwarzenegger held a fundraiser in Santa Rosa and was met by protesters with picket signs, megaphones and a mobile billboard. Read More
On April 5th: Thousands of nurses, firefighters, teachers, and labor activists converged outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco to protest a Schwarzenegger fundraiser for a proposed fall special election. Protesters spilled through police lines and blockaded all four corners surrounding the hotel; several dignitaries, including George Shultz and his wife's car, were surrounded by angry crowds as they entered the fundraiser. Schwarzenegger is pushing initiatives that would curtail state worker pensions, change the way teachers are paid, and establish new fiscal controls affecting schools.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Audio: 1 | Video: 1 | Reports: 1 | Flyer | Corporate Coverage
Previous Protests: California Nurses Association Contingent at 3/19 Anti-War March | Schwarzenegger Runs into Fresno Protest | Nurses Protest At Governor's Super Bowl Party | Workers in California Struggle to Save Lunchbreaks
On April 7th Gov. Schwarzenegger held a fundraiser in Santa Rosa and was met by protesters with picket signs, megaphones and a mobile billboard. Read More
On April 5th: Thousands of nurses, firefighters, teachers, and labor activists converged outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco to protest a Schwarzenegger fundraiser for a proposed fall special election. Protesters spilled through police lines and blockaded all four corners surrounding the hotel; several dignitaries, including George Shultz and his wife's car, were surrounded by angry crowds as they entered the fundraiser. Schwarzenegger is pushing initiatives that would curtail state worker pensions, change the way teachers are paid, and establish new fiscal controls affecting schools.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Audio: 1 | Video: 1 | Reports: 1 | Flyer | Corporate Coverage
Previous Protests: California Nurses Association Contingent at 3/19 Anti-War March | Schwarzenegger Runs into Fresno Protest | Nurses Protest At Governor's Super Bowl Party | Workers in California Struggle to Save Lunchbreaks
Thu Mar 24 2005
Movie Producer Penny Little Comes to San Jose to Finalize Filming of "Electile Dysfunction"
On Saturday, March 26th at 2:00PM at the St. James Senior Center in San Jose (199 North Third Street), speakers, musicians, and concerned citizens will meet to discuss problems that occurred with the voting machines that were used in the last presidential election, and to "plan actions to get an open, secure, and accurate voting system in place for the future." Penny Little, the producer and director of the movie “Electile Dysfunction” will be there, camera in hand, to film activists, organizers, and members of the general public. Emily Levy, the Project Coordinator of the Richard Hayes Philips project, which discovered many of the 2004 election anomalies in Ohio, will be speaking, along with Peter Drekmeier of the Bay Area Coalition for Election Reform, and Jim March, board member of Black Box Voting.org group. Alan Dechert, who is president and founder of the Open Voting Consortium, will speak about the Consortium’s open voting system. Clips from the movies “Votergate” and Little’s most recent version of her film “Electile Dysfunction" will be shown, and political singer Laramie Crocker will perform. Read more about Open Voting and this event
Open Voting Consortium website
Open Voting Consortium website
Wed Mar 16 2005
More Right-Wing Appointments
On March 16 Kevin J. Martin was selected by Bush as the new head of the FCC.
Kevin Martin, was one of the first national Bush-Cheney people to arrive in Miami from Washington, on Nov. 8 2000. He had been a deputy general counsel for the Bush campaign and before that worked for Ken Starr, the independent counsel in the Monica Lewinsky affair.
On March 14, Karen Huges was nominated for the Under Secretary of State for public diplomacy with the rank of Ambassador — a job focused on changing Islamic perceptions about America. Hughes helped run Bush's re-election campaign and will be able to use US controlled funds in her new job to promote Republican policies abroad.
On March 14, Karen Huges was nominated for the Under Secretary of State for public diplomacy with the rank of Ambassador — a job focused on changing Islamic perceptions about America. Hughes helped run Bush's re-election campaign and will be able to use US controlled funds in her new job to promote Republican policies abroad.
Wed Mar 16 2005
Neo-Conservative Paul Wolfowitz To Run World Bank
On Thursday March 31st, the board of the World Bank approved the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as its new president.
On Wednesday March 16th, Bush nominated Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank. "Paul Dundes Wolfowitz, the current Deputy Secretary of Defense (and assistant to Dick Cheney, is considered to be one of the most prominent and "hawkish" (neo-conservatives). He is the principal author of the "Wolfowitz doctrine", also known as the Bush doctrine. He is a long time member of the Project for the New American Century think tank and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC letter sent to President Clinton. Wolfowitz has ties to Northrop Grumman. He is also on the board of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is a former Dean at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University." While NPR and the corporate media have tried to sell Wolfowitz to the public as an idealistic promoter of "Democracy and Freedom" neo-conservatism is at root a belief in US unilateralism, where no country can be allowed to stand in the way of US policies and only US lives matter. Wolfowitz's support for brutal anti-democratic tyrants extends into his past as US ambassador to Indonesia and his continued support for Suharto despite many massacres of pro-independence and pro-democracy advocates.
US nominations of heads of the World Bank have never been challenged and it is likely that while European leaders may pay lipservice to Wolfowitz's controversial stands, they have likely already approved him for the job.
Democracy Now | Wolfowitz To Rule World (Bank) | Beware a Wolfowitz in Sheep's Clothing | Disinfopedia | Wikipedia | 2002 Bay Area Wolfowitz Protest | The IMF and World Bank
On Wednesday March 16th, Bush nominated Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank. "Paul Dundes Wolfowitz, the current Deputy Secretary of Defense (and assistant to Dick Cheney, is considered to be one of the most prominent and "hawkish" (neo-conservatives). He is the principal author of the "Wolfowitz doctrine", also known as the Bush doctrine. He is a long time member of the Project for the New American Century think tank and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC letter sent to President Clinton. Wolfowitz has ties to Northrop Grumman. He is also on the board of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is a former Dean at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University." While NPR and the corporate media have tried to sell Wolfowitz to the public as an idealistic promoter of "Democracy and Freedom" neo-conservatism is at root a belief in US unilateralism, where no country can be allowed to stand in the way of US policies and only US lives matter. Wolfowitz's support for brutal anti-democratic tyrants extends into his past as US ambassador to Indonesia and his continued support for Suharto despite many massacres of pro-independence and pro-democracy advocates.
US nominations of heads of the World Bank have never been challenged and it is likely that while European leaders may pay lipservice to Wolfowitz's controversial stands, they have likely already approved him for the job.
Democracy Now | Wolfowitz To Rule World (Bank) | Beware a Wolfowitz in Sheep's Clothing | Disinfopedia | Wikipedia | 2002 Bay Area Wolfowitz Protest | The IMF and World Bank
On March 7, Bush nominated John Bolton
to be the new U.N. Ambassador.
Bolton is a leading hawk on Iran, Iraq and North Korea. He has in past been quoted as saying there is no such thing as the United Nations and reportedly said in 1994 that it would not make any difference if the UN headquarters in New York lost 10 of its storeys. He has previously condemned numerous international treaties and bodies including the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court. In recent weeks, Bolton pulled out every stop to try to block Mohammed ElBaradei from getting a third term as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Bush's nomination of Bolton comes after a long series of nominations of far right leaning officials with ties to torture and other human rights violations.
On February 17, 2005, Bush nominated John Negroponte to be the first United States Director of National Intelligence. Negroponte played a key role in coordinating US covert aid to the Contras who targeted civilians in Nicaragua. He also had connections to CIA-backed death squads in Honduras and the Honduran Rights Commission "specifically accused John Negroponte of a number of human rights violations.". Despite evidence that Negroponte has little respect for Human Rights, he is likely to get confirmed to one of the most powerful law enforcement positions in US history with little opposition in Congress. Negroponte was only last year put in charge of Iraq and while a few Democrats brought up Negoponte's past, the vote was 95 to 3.
On January 11, 2005, Bush nominated Michael Chertoff to be the head of the department of Homeland Security. "Post 9/11, Chertoff played a key role limiting or eliminating civil rights and liberties protections by promoting actions such as: using 'material witness' warrants to incarcerate people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, interviewing thousands of Middle Eastern and South Asian men who entered the U.S. lawfully before and after the 9/11 attacks, denying a defendant facing the death penalty the fundamental right to face and question his accusers, and holding suspects indefinitely without counsel as “enemy combatants.' Some have described Mr. Chertoff as 'the driving force behind the Justice Department’s most controversial initiatives in the war on terrorism.'" Despite this record he was approved by approved as head of Homeland Security on February 15 in a 98-0 vote.
On November 10, 2004, Bush nominated Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States. Alberto Gonzales played a major role in paving the legal groundwork that led to the torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Despite heated debate in Congress, Gonzales was approved to head the Department Of Justice on February 3, 2005 in a 60-36 vote.
On November 16, 2004, Bush nominated Condoleezza Rice to be the United States Secretary of State. Rice openly lied to the US public before the invasion of Iraq hyping not only a threat of chemical weapons that was not confirmed but allegations of nuclear weapons that were known to be false. Before rising to power under Bush, Rice was Stanford's provost and served on the board of San Francisco's KQED radio station. Despite having openly lied to the American people, Rice was confirmed as Secretary of State in a 85-13 vote on January 26, 2005. Among those voting for Rice was California's own Senator Feinstein.
On August 10 2004, Bush nominated Porter Goss to head the CIA. Goss was a co-sponsor of the much-feared Patriot II proposal and was widely regarded as a Repuplican Party hack. On September 22, 2004, Goss was confirmed by the Senate in a 77-17 vote. In November, Goss announced the resignations of the Deputy Director for Operations and his deputy Michael Sulick. Both had clashed with Goss over suggestions that CIA counterintelligence officers should investigate leaks to the media and be more loyal to the Bush administration.
Bush's nomination of Bolton comes after a long series of nominations of far right leaning officials with ties to torture and other human rights violations.
On February 17, 2005, Bush nominated John Negroponte to be the first United States Director of National Intelligence. Negroponte played a key role in coordinating US covert aid to the Contras who targeted civilians in Nicaragua. He also had connections to CIA-backed death squads in Honduras and the Honduran Rights Commission "specifically accused John Negroponte of a number of human rights violations.". Despite evidence that Negroponte has little respect for Human Rights, he is likely to get confirmed to one of the most powerful law enforcement positions in US history with little opposition in Congress. Negroponte was only last year put in charge of Iraq and while a few Democrats brought up Negoponte's past, the vote was 95 to 3.
On January 11, 2005, Bush nominated Michael Chertoff to be the head of the department of Homeland Security. "Post 9/11, Chertoff played a key role limiting or eliminating civil rights and liberties protections by promoting actions such as: using 'material witness' warrants to incarcerate people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, interviewing thousands of Middle Eastern and South Asian men who entered the U.S. lawfully before and after the 9/11 attacks, denying a defendant facing the death penalty the fundamental right to face and question his accusers, and holding suspects indefinitely without counsel as “enemy combatants.' Some have described Mr. Chertoff as 'the driving force behind the Justice Department’s most controversial initiatives in the war on terrorism.'" Despite this record he was approved by approved as head of Homeland Security on February 15 in a 98-0 vote.
On November 10, 2004, Bush nominated Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States. Alberto Gonzales played a major role in paving the legal groundwork that led to the torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Despite heated debate in Congress, Gonzales was approved to head the Department Of Justice on February 3, 2005 in a 60-36 vote.
On November 16, 2004, Bush nominated Condoleezza Rice to be the United States Secretary of State. Rice openly lied to the US public before the invasion of Iraq hyping not only a threat of chemical weapons that was not confirmed but allegations of nuclear weapons that were known to be false. Before rising to power under Bush, Rice was Stanford's provost and served on the board of San Francisco's KQED radio station. Despite having openly lied to the American people, Rice was confirmed as Secretary of State in a 85-13 vote on January 26, 2005. Among those voting for Rice was California's own Senator Feinstein.
On August 10 2004, Bush nominated Porter Goss to head the CIA. Goss was a co-sponsor of the much-feared Patriot II proposal and was widely regarded as a Repuplican Party hack. On September 22, 2004, Goss was confirmed by the Senate in a 77-17 vote. In November, Goss announced the resignations of the Deputy Director for Operations and his deputy Michael Sulick. Both had clashed with Goss over suggestions that CIA counterintelligence officers should investigate leaks to the media and be more loyal to the Bush administration.
Sat Jan 1 2005
Long, Hard Voting Season Culminates in Verifygra Rally
After a long and hard election season, many pro-democracy activists didn't get any satisfaction from the widespread reports of vote fraud and inaccuracies nationwide. Votergate protesters worked hard to stimulate their local senator to attract her to the issue of "electile dysfunction" this week with a Pro Democracy/Count Every Vote Rally on Monday, January 3rd and a Verifygra Rally on Thursday, January 6th outside of Senator Barbara Boxer's San Francisco office. They encouraged people to ask John Kerry and other Senators to get on Verifygra and stand up against the inadequate recount in Ohio, and ultimately, to refuse to certify the
election on January 6th. Publicity materials stated that VERIFYGRA was "tested and proven effective in Ukraine --- and
now available in the United States" Photos from January 6th Rally Boxer did sign a challenge by House Democrats to the certification of Ohio's 2004 presidential vote tally, thus forcing debate in both the house and the Senate and the House. Later, Boxer was the only Senator to vote to object. Read more