Alternet:
Kelly Dougherty, the former sergeant who is the executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), announced the start today of the Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan investigation into the United States’ conduct of its wars, featuring testimony of IVAW soldiers.

Dougherty promised that “No longer will public debate on the Global War on Terror be framed solely by politicians and pundits. IVAW will use the ongoing Winter Soldier project to spread awareness of G.I. resistance among veterans and active duty troops and build strategic alliances … to broaden and strengthen our strategy to end the Iraq occupation.” The Winter Soldiers at IVAW are not relying on the mainstream media which is good because so far major news media have ignored the event.

“Every minute of testimony will be broadcast live and will be available to watch in an online on-demand library,” said Dougherty. The pro-war lobby, including Eagles Up, the Gathering of Eagles, Move America Forward, Free Republic and commentator Michelle Malkin, are condemning and protesting IVAW’s Winter Soldier hearings.

The major Democratic Party-aligned peace groups with multi-million dollar budgets, such as MoveOn and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, like the mainstream news media, have also ignored the Winter Soldier event.

John Stauber founded the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Media & Democracy and its newsmagazine PR Watch in 1993 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Vision Magazine:

I don’t wear a lot of slogan T-shirts anymore, but the ones I wear have often come from Clothing of the American Mind (COTAM). Their message is simple and clear and their shirts wear and feel great. Made from organic cotton, they are soft and supple. Lately, I love wearing my Stop Wars T-shirt because it gets a lot of feedback from many different kinds of people. Fashioned after the Star Wars logo, I can see the “Ah-Ha” on people’s faces as they first view me as a Trekkie and then a peacenik—the latter of which I most definitely am. On the back it says, “Because the Force is With Us.” Which I believe it is. Clothing of the American Mind is a great source for political T-shirts and other clever protest wear. They are a grassroots apparel company dedicated to stylishly promoting, supporting and articulating progressive values through fashion.

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More Video’s coming at the Video The Vote YouTube Channel

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The Yellow Rose of Peace Bus has been destroyed by fire.

Bill Perry reports:

The bus in this photo, was totaled by fire, around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08. This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW “Dirty South” tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ’s @ Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts ( Including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia ) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has finally died.

This photo shows the huge “Don’t Attack Iran” and “Impeach Bush” logos, that let everybody on the highway know just how the occupants felt about the state of the state.

Owner~Operator~Driver ( and Veteran ) Jim Goodnow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames. Mr Goodnow speculates that the cause could have been anything from ARSON, to ATTEMPTED MURDER. He plans to notify the ATF Arson Squad on Saturday morning. Stay tuned….
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Cindy Sheehan, her family and numerous others will be in Pasadena this coming Monday and Tuesday. The time for Impeachment and Ending the War/Occpuation is now…Media publicity for the White Rose Coalition is truly taking off. Come and be a part of history in the making..

Download the flyer with all the details

This week the Senate will likely vote to approve the Peru Free Trade agreement, an extension of NAFTA. The following article published on Grassroots Global Justice makes a strong case against free trade agreements:

It is clear that only a few are reaping the benefits of “free” trade agreements (FTAs). Over the past two decades FTAs have created a class of super-rich individuals and extremely powerful corporations. They have disrupted the culture and livelihoods of millions of people, forcing many to leave their homes, and driven many into severe poverty.

On a daily basis, the vast majority of people throughout the world are struggling to survive–to make a living from the land, to earn a livable wage, to protect our health and environment, to assure access to water, housing and basic services. The strategies used to deny us these basic human rights are embedded in FTAs.

In fact, there is nothing free about FTAs. Communities and nations are subjected to the will of multi-national corporations, who sack our natural and human resources, eliminate laws that make corporations accountable, and wrest authority from our governments to provide basic services. The vision of George W. Bush and other “free” traders is that private corporations own the seeds and the food that they create, water and the infrastructure that carries it, medicines and the hospitals that administer them. The ultimate goal is not to eliminate poverty, and promote global prosperity and well-being, but to make every aspect of our lives into a source of profit for corporations.
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Think Progress

A new study by the University of California’s School of Public Health finds that illegal immigrants do not pose as significant a burden on U.S. Health Care resources as is often claimed. Undocumented immigrants are less likely to have insurance, but seek out health care in much lower numbers:

“Low rates of use of health-care services by Mexican immigrants and similar trends among other Latinos do not support public concern about immigrants’ overuse of the health care system,” the researchers wrote.

“Undocumented individuals demonstrate less use of health care than U.S.-born citizens and have more negative experiences with the health care that they have received,” they said.

The study is based on a 2003 survey of 42,044 people. Researchers compared the health care habits of U.S.-based Mexicans and Latinos and grouped the results according to citizenship or other status.

Among the other findings:

Undocumented Mexican and Latin American immigrants “are 50% less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California.”

Mexican Immigrants paid “1.6 fewer visits to doctors” per year than by those born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrants.

Other “undocumented Latinos had 2.1 fewer physician visits than their U.S.-born counterparts.”

Not only are undocumented immigrants not a burden on the U.S. health care system, but as Alexander N. Ortega, an associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health and the study’s lead author points out, they “seem to be underutilizing the system, given their health needs.”

– Dave de Give

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Take Action Now

Despite mounting and unanimous public opposition, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin wants to rush through essentially the same further media consolidation into the hands of fewer and fewer giant corporations, which was overturned by public pressure in 2003.

But a bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress, The Media Ownership Act of 2007 (S.2332), to stop this rash and harmful action.

At a public hearing (with the bare minimum advance legal notice) in Seattle on Nov. 9 [Bill Moyers Video], presumptively to hear citizen input, Martin turned a deaf ear to a thousand protesting voices, and announced the next business day he was going to plow ahead with his destructive plan. FCC Commissioners Adelstein and Copps were appalled at Martin’s obliviousness to the public interest, aiming to push through his gutting of current rules by December 11, just a couple weeks off.

S.2332 would start by requiring a full and fair 90 days for the public to comment on any such proposed rule changes. It would also require protections for localism and diversity of ownership, including female and minorities.

This one click form will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, plus all the FCC Commissioners, with the subject “Stop further media consolidation by passing S.2332″ At the same time you can send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper if you like.

Morgan Spurlock presents a film by Ron VanAlkemade

What Would Jesus Buy? takes a hard look at the commercialization of Christmas, globalization and the plight of the American worker — from the wildly entertaining perspective of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. When activist/performer Bill Talen transforms into “Reverend Billy,” he and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir liven up the debate about credit card debt, over-consumption and the harmful practices of mega-retailers in America with hilarious songs and antics. Their call to “stop shopping” is just to get people’s attention; the goal is to encourage Americans to think before they consume and to consider the origins of the “stuff” they’re buying.

As the season approaches when even newscasters tell you to “shop yourself silly,” Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir come to rescue the holidays and fend off the imminent SHOPOCALYPSE! With only 30 shopping days left, they hit the road on a cross-country mission to persuade people to change their shopping ways. They storm the Mall of America, hold a funeral for small-town America near WalMart’s corporate headquarters, and descend on the Promised Land Christmas Day…

What Would Jesus Buy? hits theaters beginning November 16th — just in time for the holidays!

Check local listings, watch the trailer and download the choir’s lyrics for a subversive holiday sing-along.

In just five days, over 34,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her pivotal votes to approve Judge Michael Mukasey as U.S. Attorney General and Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals. These Americans were joined by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and over 40 Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations from across California.

With a week of non-stop organizing, this movement changed the conversation of the entire meeting of the CDP Executive Board. Party Chair Art Torres spent about half of his speech on Saturday praising Senator Dianne Feinstein, acknowledging that people within the Democratic Party are upset with a few of her crucial votes. Of course, these weren’t just any votes. They were votes contrary to core Democratic (and democratic) values like opposing torture, racism and homophobia.

Full Story: Courage Campaign

Sign the petition to censure Senator Diane Feinstein