LIBERTAS - In the Name of Liberty

The U.S. government has been turned into an engine that accelerates the wealth upwards into the hands of a few. The Wall Street bailout, the Iraq War, military spending, tax cuts to the rich, and a for-profit health care system are all about the acceleration of wealth upwards. And now, the American people are about to pay the price of the collapse of the $513 trillion Ponzi scheme of derivatives. Yes, that’s half a quadrillion dollars. Our first trillion dollar compression bandage will hardly stem the hemorrhaging of an unsustainable Ponzi scheme built on debt "de-leverages."

Does anyone seriously think that our public and private debts of some $45 trillion will be paid? That the administration's growth of the federal debt from $5.6 trillion to $9.8 trillion while borrowing another trillion dollars from Social Security has nothing to do with this? Does anyone not see that when we spend nearly $16,000 for every family of four in our society for the military each year that we are heading over the cliff?

This is a debt crisis, not a credit crisis. Just as FDR had to save capitalism after Wall Street excesses, we have to re-invigorate our economy with real - not imaginary - growth. It does not address the never-ending war on the middle class.

The same corporate interests that profited from the closing of U.S. factories, the movement of millions of jobs out of America, the off-shoring of profits, the out-sourcing of workers, the crushing of pension funds, the knocking down of wages, the cancellation of health care benefits, the sub-prime lending are now rushing to Washington to get money to protect themselves.

The double standard is stunning: their profits are their profits, but their losses are our losses.

This bailout will not bring real jobs back to America. It will not bring back jobs that make things. It does not rebuild our schools, streets, neighborhoods, parks or bridges. The major product of this financial economy is now debt. Industrial capitalism has been destroyed.

In the next few days I will push for a plan that includes equity for every American in any taxpayer investment in this so-called bail-out plan. Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, I have proposed the creation of a United States Mutual Trust Fund, which will take control of $700 billion in stock assets, convert those assets to shares, and distribute $2,300 worth of shares to new individual savings accounts in the name of each and every American.

I will also insist that all of the following issues be considered in whatever Congress passes:

1) Reinstatement of the provisions of Glass-Steagall, which forbade speculation

2) Re-regulation of the finance, insurance, and real estate industries

3) Accountability on the part of those who took the companies down:
--a) resignations of management
--b) givebacks of executive compensation packages
--c) limitations on executive compensation
--d) admission by CEO's of what went wrong and how, prior to any government bailout

4) Demands for transparency
--a) with respect to analyzing the transactions which took the companies down
--b) with respect to Treasury's dealings with the companies pre and post-bailout

5) An equity position for the taxpayers
--a) some form of ownership of assets

6) Some credible formula for evaluating the price of the assets that the government is buying.

7) A sunset clause on the legislation

8) Full public disclosure by members of Congress of assets held, with possible conflicts put in blind trust.

9) A ban on political campaign contributions from officers of corporations receiving bailouts

10) A requirement that 2008 cycle candidates return political contributions to officers and representatives of corporations receiving bailouts

And, most importantly, some mechanism for direct assistance to homeowners saddled with unreasonable or unmanageable mortgages, as well as protection for renters who have lived up to their obligation but fall victim to financial tragedy when the property they live in undergoes foreclosure.

These are just some thoughts on the run. You will hear more from me tomorrow.

Dennis Kucinich


Take Action with CREDO
Take Action with Democrats
Take Action with Move On
Take Action with True Majority

Labels: Protecting the public interest in any economic "bailout"

UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections
The same manipluations of 2004 and 2006 looms over the 2008 election.
Sept 25, 5pm & Sept 27, 5pm with Brad Friedman & guest panel Q&A
San Diego Film Festival - Gaslamp Theatre - 701 5th Avenue downtown
Hosted by Metro San Diego Progressive Democrats (PDA) 619.665.9415
Join us for our October film series, guest speakers and discussions

Hacking Democracy
The documentary that Diebold Corp doesn't want you to see...the disturbingly shocking HBO documentary bravely tangles with our nation's ills at the heart of democracy.

Wed Oct 1, 6:30 pm social - 7pm program
La Jolla Dem Club, 817 Silverado St, La Jolla 858-752-9544

Mon Oct 13, 7pm Joyce Beers Community Center, Hillcrest shopping center, Vermont near Univ. (next to Trader Joe's) Activist San Diego & TrueVoteSanDiego 858-459-4650

Stealing America: Vote by Vote
The American ideal that every vote counts? Not true, according to this eye-opening documentary. Stealing America also indicts the national media for its reluctance to address the issue.

Fri Oct 3, 7:30pm - Joyce Beers Community Center, Hillcrest shopping center, Vermont near Univ. (next to Trader Joe's) Activist San Diego & TrueVoteSanDiego - 858-459-4650

Wed. Oct 15, 6pm - Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St, Near Euclid -
Activist San Diego & TrueVoteSanDiego - for info: Marc Chery 619-527-3405

Fri Oct 17, 7:30pm First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4190 Front St, Hillcrest, opposite UCSD Med Center - Peace & Democracy Action Group 858-459-4650

American Blackout
Sat Oct 4, 3pm - Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St, Near Euclid
For info: Marc Chery - 619-527-3405

(Suggested Donation for all Movie Screenings is $5)

Labels: American Blackout, Hacking Democracy, Movie Screenings: Stealing America, Uncounted

If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public--all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims. My advice to Washington politicians: Stop, take a deep breath and examine what you are being told to do by so-called "responsible opinion." If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics--exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. As I have been saying for several months, this crisis has the potential to bring down one or both political parties, take your choice.

First Published September 19, 2008 by The Nation.

The St. Paul City Attorney’s office announced Friday it will not prosecute Democracy Now! journalists Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman also issued a statement Friday that “the city will decline to prosecute misdemeanor charges for presence at an unlawful assembly for journalists arrested during the Republican National Convention.”

Both announcements come two weeks after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention where over 40 journalists were arrested while reporting on protests taking place outside the convention center.

Upon learning of the news, Democracy Now! Host, Amy Goodman said, “It’s good that these false charges have finally been dropped, but we never should have been arrested to begin with. These violent and unlawful arrests disrupted our work and had a chilling effect on the reporting of dissent. Freedom of the press is also about the public’s right to know what is happening on their streets. There needs to be a full investigation of law enforcement activities during the convention.”

Goodman was arrested while asking police to release Kouddous and Salazar who had been violently arrested while reporting on street demonstrations. After being handcuffed and pushed to the ground, Goodman reiterated that she was was a credentialed reporter. Secret Service then ripped the credential from around her neck.

During demonstrations on the first day of the convention police used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were arrested, as was a photographer for the Associated Press.

John Lundquist, attorney for the Democracy Now! journalists, said, “The most notable lapse by law enforcement during the RNC was the record-breaking number of journalists indiscriminately arrested and detained for doing nothing more than performing in the best tradition of reporters who gather the news.”

In the weeks after the journalist arrests, tens of thousands of members of the public contacted St. Paul officials to protest the unlawful arrests of working journalists. Goodman said, “We were deeply moved by the outpouring of support. We thank everyone who called and wrote first to have us freed and then to have the charges dropped. We thank everyone who stood up for press freedom and the First Amendment.”

The YouTube video of Goodman’s arrest was the most watched YouTube video during the convention week. It has now been viewed over 830,000 times. Salazar’s video of her own violent arrest is also available on YouTube.

Velvet Revolution

RoveCyberGate.com

Tell Congress to investigate Karl Rove’s cyber strategy to illegally manipulate elections. Click here to send an email to your Congress Members demanding immediate public hearings on whistleblower allegations that Rove architected and directed illegal attacks on Democratic candidates through the improper use of corporate funds channeled through fake Web-based front organizations, the improper political use of the Justice Department to prosecute opposition candidates, and the use of Internet based IT networks to alter election results.

EFF Sues NSA, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance

YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it.

YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.

YOUR GOVERNMENT suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.

YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.

People look at all this and think of Hitler - and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. We must act now; the future is in the balance.

Millions and millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this. They recognize the need for a vehicle to express this outrage, yet they cannot find it; politics as usual cannot meet the enormity of the challenge, and people sense this.

There is not going to be some magical "pendulum swing." People who steal elections and believe they're on a "mission from God" will not go without a fight.

There is not going to be some savior from the Democratic Party. This whole idea of putting our hopes and energies into "leaders" who tell us to seek common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving every day to be a disaster, and actually serves to demobilize people.

But silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept. There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it.

And there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need more than fighting Bush's outrages one at a time, constantly losing ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history.

Acting in this way, we join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.

This will not be easy. If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Bush and we are NOT going to stop.

The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined. The future is unwritten. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US.

The last days of the American Empire are at hand. The destruction of our civil rights of dissent and protest are a symptom of this fall. It is the duty of all good citizens to stand against tyranny. This is the cause passed down by our forefathers, now it is ours to earn, we must survive or die trying.

Since the early days of the World Wide Web, I realized the potential of unlimited communication and access of information to change our world, create true democracy, provide access to education, and empower the powerless. Combined with the concerns of journalism and a free press, the power of the internet has the potential to hold accountable those in power and help us choose who best to lead us into our complex future. Much of my study has been concentrated in the area defined below as "Web Science" because of the obvious potentials, and so have my efforts to inform you, my reader. Computer Science became communication technology, and publishing became multi-media. My Journalism became blogging and what your are reading is part of that evolution.

According to Tim Burners Lee - a former CERN scientist credited with the invention of the World Wide Web, the future of the web should be founded upon the:

basic social values of trustworthiness, privacy, and respect for social boundaries that are so critical for connecting people.

These underlying values, along with the original ethics of the web: open-source, free access, net-neutrality, etc. form the basis for a new world, where a person's potential is limited only by their character, the quality their talent, and willingness to work to achieve their dreams.

To ensure that future, Lee has founded the World Wide Web Foundation to fund web science.

Web Science has as a goal that the Web should serve humanity.

* to advance One Web that is free and open,
* to expand the Web's capability and robustness,
* and to extend the Web's benefits to all people on the planet.

"To do so we would need collaboration among researchers from a variety of disciplines (including computer science, economics, mathematics, and psychology) whose perspectives would shed new light on the Web as a system. In 2006, I helped to set up the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) to facilitate and produce the fundamental scientific advances necessary to inform the future design and use of the World Wide Web." - Lee

I love ON THE MEDIA, they ask the right questions to the right people to give us the insight we need to make informed decisions.



BROOKE GLADSTONE: So we called the Vice President’s office, and this is what they told us, quote: “The office of the Vice President currently follows the Presidential Records Act and will continue to follow the requirements of the law, which includes turning over vice-presidential records to the National Archives at the end of the term. Since the matter is currently under investigation, we will not comment further,” unquote.

So, Anne, why don't you believe the Vice President?

ANNE WEISMANN: Well, it’s not a question of not believing them, although I will say their track record is far from great on that score. But if you listen to what he actually said, it’s fine for him to give the bland assurance that they're complying with the act, but they have a completely different view than we do as to what that act actually requires him to do.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So what is that difference?

ANNE WEISMANN: Well, the law says that the President and Vice President have to preserve essentially all the records that they create in fulfillment of their statutory, constitutional, ceremonial and other duties.

Now, the Vice President’s Office and the Archives take the position that the legislative records that the Vice President creates and receives don't have to be preserved.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: What sort of documents, then, is he saying are exempt?

ANNE WEISMANN: Well, that actually is a very good question, and here’s why. This Vice President has taken the view that he’s not part of the executive branch. He’s covered by executive privilege but he doesn't have any of the responsibilities that go with being part of the executive.

He says, if I'm attached anywhere, it’s to Congress, which opens up a huge loophole here, because, for example, he’s refused to tell the Archives how he and his office handle classified information. He’s refused to comply with Ethics in Government laws that require reporting of trips that are funded by outside groups. He hasn't even been willing to give his staff list to Congress.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Anne, can you take me through the history of the Presidential Records Act quickly?

ANNE WEISMANN: Mm-hmm [AFFIRMATIVE].

BROOKE GLADSTONE: I know that it was passed in 1978 in response to the Watergate scandal.

ANNE WEISMANN: Well, the original act - it’s gone through one or two permutations since then – made clear that the records belong to the public, because recall that President Nixon left office and, much to everyone’s shock, said, these are my papers and I'm not going to share them with the public. In the past, presidents had taken their papers but they had put them in presidential libraries.

So Congress passed a law to make sure that when the President leaves office, the records, all of them, will be transferred over to the archivists, who will prepare them for eventual release to the public. It’s clear that Congress envisioned, really, that it would cover the broadest possible group of records.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So back in 2001, President Bush signed an executive order trying to alter the Presidential Records Act of 1978. What was he trying to do, and how effective was he at doing it?

ANNE WEISMANN: It’s clear that what he was trying to do is protect the legacy of his father and his own legacy going forward. He allowed former presidents to extend beyond 12 years, which the act has in it, the time period under which their records could be sealed. He gave rights to family members of former presidents to assert interests on behalf of the president. And in a little-noticed provision, he said for purposes of the Presidential Records Act, the Vice President’s records are the executive records of the Vice President.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Oops!

ANNE WEISMANN: And it was the expression “executive record,” exactly. But who knew at the time that we would be looking at a vice president who would take the view, I'm not part of the executive branch? The problem with that is that a president doesn't have the authority to unilaterally change the law by executive order or any other order.

The problem with that is that a president doesn't have the authority to unilaterally change the law by executive order or any other order.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So if he couldn't change the law, how effective was this executive order? For instance, was he able to prevent the release of the papers of President George Herbert Walker Bush?

ANNE WEISMANN: He was, and it’s my understanding that a cache of documents that would otherwise have been released were not. There was a lawsuit over the executive order, and it succeeded in small part. It mostly failed on sort of legal/technical grounds.

Of course, our lawsuit is a little different because we're not talking about records that we think eventually will become available for public review. The issue isn't when is that going to happen, now or later? We're talking about records that, unless they're covered by this act, may be destroyed altogether.

And I think it’s an especially acute loss when you consider how enormously active this vice president has been, probably more than any other vice president in history.

I realize that the vast majority of American citizens are oblivious to the fact that their country has been pulled out from under them. Most Americans are the uneducated products of the defunct public school system, or worse ignorant immigrants who still shackled with despotism of their home countries fear reprisal if they speak up about anything. Living pay-check to pay-check tends to keep you hungry, afraid than if you rock the boat you might be fired and starve in this land of the free. Above all Americans are lazy, willingly lulled to sleep by entertaining TV and sports shows that vivify them with pseudo-intellectual pursuits, so they can deny their failures and pretend that they are not slaves.

Since the farce of an election in 2000, when the Supreme Court overstepped itself and illegally judged the presidential election without grounds or president, the Executive Administration of George W. Bush, with the help of the corrupt Congress and Senate, have 'adjusted' the Constitution of the United States to make themselves more powerful. They imposed limits on our freedoms, took the checks and balances away and freed themselves to write signing-statements that effectively put the executive administration above and beyond the law.

All this is necessary, they claim, to fight the "War on Terror". Using the concept of the "unitary executive" backed by the specter of the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001, (attacks that might have been prevented if not for their own incompetence) they have played upon the fears and ignorance of America's people. Warping reality with illegal propaganda and flat out lies, they committed our military to endless illegal wars of empire. Foolishly, the majority of our citizens followed them like sheep to slaughter. As our sons die or are irrevocably maimed by the psychological wounds inflicted by the experience of atrocities committed in unnecessary wars, most Americans go on with day to day life, living a beach party, without sacrifice, as their future is slowly sucked away.

Now we face an uncertain future. One without education, or affordable healthcare, where our potential is no longer limitless, but determined by the size of your trust fund. We have let go of the American Dream, and replaced it with the competitive paradigm of capitalism, where each person is out on there own, fighting with their brothers for scraps dropped from above. And still the proud idealists, independent, self-reliant Americans, hard working and defiant, still deluding themselves with the possibility that they can become one of the over-class, win the lottery, or boost themselves up with non-exestant boot-straps, continue to support the bankrupt causes of those who believe themselves their betters based upon the quantity of income they command.

Worse, some of our weak minded Americans have fallen for the oldest con in the book, and accepted the promise of eternal rewards in the hereafter. For that they follow willingly the corrupt and mistaken preachers who live like parasites off their voluntary tithe, and willingly vote as they are told, for those politicians who play to their religious bias and prejudices. Their mistake, believing themselves to be guilty of sin without cause, and just as guilty as those who take them by the nose. Pity the fools who curse this democracy without thought, they know not what they do.

Now, here we stand, on the edge of the knife again. We have been here before, in 1776, and 1860, or maybe 1968, and we have forgotten our legacy. Once we make the choice there will be no going back. Either America will recreate itself, renew itself, reclaim itself, or it will fall back into the dust of history, as the grand experiment that ultimately failed.

We have a great battle ahead, the economy, your homes, education and healthcare, the criminal industrial complex, endless wars, a world of uncertainty awaits. The question is will you allow those who would control you to manipulate you with fear, or will you join the fight and create change. Will you dare to hope.

"We must be the change we have been waiting for."

None of the problems we face are insurmountable, we have the resources, and with hard work and will, we can right the ship. But if we allow our US Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our freedoms to fall as casualty to our failure to elect the right people in the past, then none of it will matter. We can fight, and bail out all the banks, and give people back their homes, and feed the hungry, and sacrifice till it costs our children their potential, but none of it will make any difference without our freedom. Without the Constitution this is just another kingdom, just another dictatorship, a police state called America. Without the protections of our nation, America is nothing. That founding document is what unites us, it is what binds us, it is what makes ours a country that inspires and protects the people's of the world.

What Bush and his ilk have done is unforgivable. They have attacked our Constitution and claimed our power, our freedom, for their own. Like vampires they suck out the lifeblood of our country. Stealing our honor, our potential, our very promise, and using our powers to enrich themselves while inflicting unjust suffering on peoples we had no cause to harm. Atrocities committed in our name are still our responsibility, and we must someday pay for their elite arrogance, but the first step in saving our ship of state is to patch the hole they have torn in her hull.

We must find the strength to face our failures, to rebel against the mistakes we allowed to be made, and renew the checks and balances our fathers died to protect. We must hold a light up to the abuses of power, and hold those accountable who have tarnished our freedoms. We must do the hard work to redefine the powers of the executive, restore transparency in the face of secrecy, demand that all men be held within the laws. No more can we allow our ignorance to excuse us our duty. We must learn, we must understand, we must digest and incorporate the truth of our failures if we are ever to restore our promise. America is the one country on earth that has had the courage to deny kings, now we must rebuke the elitist billionaires who have stolen our potential by buying our government.

Many people think that the American Dream is to start with nothing and become rich, but that is not my dream. My dream is to create a just world where any person can, with honest hard work, fulfill their greatest potential, and together we can succeed at maximizing our freedoms, together, without bloodshed or destructive competition.

Money may be the master of you who dare not question authority, for fear of exposing your weaknesses, but for those who hold higher values, who would face such fear, and gain the courage to stand for something greater than yourself, for you I willing dedicate my life. It is not a sacrifice, it is the price we all must pay to earn our freedom.

I challenge you, move beyond, break your shackles. If we don't hold something above our greed, if we value nothing more than money, then there is no place left for us to go. We have dominated the world with our capital, we have bought all the weapons, and paid off all the terrorists. We effectively own the world. The question now is what kind of world will it be?

The Choice is yours, November 4, 2008.

Remembering 9/11 and Moving Towards a Re-United States of America
by Dennis J Kucinich
September11, 2008

We suffer in our remembrance of 9/11, because of the terrible loss of innocent lives on that grim day. We also suffer because 9/11 was seized as an opportunity to run a political agenda... It is not simply 9/11 that needs to be remembered. We also need to remember the politicization of 9/11 and the polarizing narrative which followed... As we were all victims of 9/11, so we have become victims of the interpretation of 9/11.

9/11 Op-Ed article by Dennis Kucinich:

America must move from the errant, retributive justice of 9/11 to a healing, restorative process of truth and reconciliation.

Before the Congress adjourns, I will bring forth a new proposal for the establishment of a National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, which will have the power to compel testimony and gather official documents to reveal to the American people not only the underlying deception which has divided us, but in that process of truth seeking set our nation on a path of reconciliation.

We suffer in our remembrance of 9/11, because of the terrible loss of innocent lives on that grim day. We also suffer because 9/11 was seized as an opportunity to run a political agenda, which has set America on a course of the destruction of another nation and the destruction of our own Constitution.

And we have become less secure as a result of the warped practice of pursing peace through the exercise of pre-emptive military strength.

It is not simply 9/11 that needs to be remembered. We also need to remember the politicization of 9/11 and the polarizing narrative which followed, locking us into endless conflict, a war on terror which has wrought further terror worldwide and which has severely damaged our standing worldwide as an honorable, compassionate nation. As we were all victims of 9/11, so we have become victims of the interpretation of 9/11.

Our government's external response to 9/11 was to attack a nation which did not attack us. Indeed on the first anniversary of 9/11, the Bush administration issued a well-publicized stern warning to Iraq which was part of a campaign to induce people to believe Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

The deliberate, systematic connection of Iraq with 9/11 has led America into a philosophical and moral cul-de-sac as over one million Iraqis and over 4155 US soldiers have died in a war which will cost over $3 trillion. Additionally, soldiers from 23 other countries have died in the Iraq war.

We attempt to unite Iraq by further dividing it. We talk about restoring Iraq while taking steps to place control of its vast oil wealth in the hands of US oil giants. And we intend to impose upon the Iraqi people the cost of rebuilding a country which our government ruined, keeping a once prosperous nation lashed to debt and poverty for a long, long time. Iraq has paid for 9/11. We all continue to pay for 9/11.

The heartbreaking loss of the lives and injuries to America troops further binds us to the Administration's illogic of the Iraq war: We remember our troops' sacrifice by demanding more sacrifice; we support our troops by continuing the war.

The dominant color of our new national security since 911 is neither red, white nor blue. Everyday is orange. Everyday reminders of fear of 9/11 become banal.. Yet we no longer hear the airport announcements nor see the orange colored warnings because they have commonplace standards in our new national security state, as is the Patriot Act, wiretapping, and a host of invasions of privacy and diminution of civil liberties. The Constitution has been roundly attacked by the very people who took an oath to defend it.

There is a powerful desire across America for change, not necessarily from control by one political party to another, but a change from living with lies to living with truth.

Over two dozen nations, facing peril within and without, deeply divided by politics and war have travelled down a path of restoring civil society through a formal process of reconciliation. At some point within each of those countries it was understood that the way forward is shown through the light of truth. This process is not without pain because it requires a willingness to study evidence to which eyes had been averted and ears had been closed. But in the process of truth and reconciliation, nations found new strength, new resolve, new commitment.

The South African Truth and Reconciliation enabled that nation to come to grips with its past through a public confessional, bringing forward those who committed crimes and having the power to grant amnesty for full disclosure of crimes against the people. Of course, our path may necessarily be different: High US government officials stand accused in Impeachment petitions of violating national and international law. Our continued existence as a democracy may depend upon how thoroughly we seek the truth. I will call upon the America people to join me in supporting this effort.

The truth can move us forward, as a unified whole, so that we can one day become a re-United States. 9/11 is the day the world changed. It is the day America embraced a metaphor of war. If we are open to truth and reconciliation, we may one day be able, once again, to embrace peace.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has started the campaign to take back America.

Over the last eight years, the Bush administration has systematically dismantled the most important rights and protections in the United States Constitution. In the first 100 days of office, the next president can, often with the stroke of a pen, restore, protect, and expand the fundamental rights on which our nation was founded.

It is up to all of us to see that he does.

The Center for Constitutional Rights' 100 Days Campaign focuses on the harm done by previous administrations and the hopes we have for making the country a better place for all.

Join us in telling the next administration what you want to see in the first 100 days. Look for a series of white papers, videos, speaking tours and online activism that will bring these issues front and center in the public debate.

This brochure provides an overview of the issue areas covered in our 100 Days Campaign, including:

• Ending Torture, Rendition, and Illegal Detention


• Protecting Dissent


• Abolishing Preventive Detention


• Limiting State Secrets Privilege


• Restoring the War Powers Act


• Stopping Warrantless Wiretapping


• Rolling Back Executive Power

More Info

Location
La Jolla Shores
8400 El Paseo Grande
North Kellog Park San Diego, CA 92101
760 438-2529

How to find us
"Look for the signs and banners at the north end of the parking lot."

Who’s coming?
1 Yes / 1 Maybe
(RSVP deadline: September 6, 2008 1:00 AM)

Who's organizing?
(Organizing: Carla Mays - 760-438-2529)

Obama Beach Bash
Music, Outreach, Fellowship, Fun, Action

Obama and Democratic Slate
Beach Party and Outreach Event
Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Schedule
6:00 AM - Set Up Crew: Tent off 2-3 Fire Rings, Set Up Park
8:00 AM - Volunteers Arrive: Set up Campaign Village and schedule coverage.
11:00 - Start BBQ
12:00 Noon - Official Start Time
2:00 - 3:00 - Candidates Speak
5:00 - Bonfire Setup
6:00 - Close BBQ and Campaign Village, Start Drum Circle and Bonfire

Obama Peace & Love Beach Bash

Calling all San Diegans to the beach! Bring your boards, nets, balls, kayaks, musical instruments, good vibes, food to share and wood to burn for the bonfire.

Potluck, Please Bring Items by letter of Last Name:

A-D - Meat, Fish or Veggie Burgers and Buns to BBQ,
E-G - Chips, Snacks, Desserts or Bonfire Goodies (Marshmellows, Chocolate and Graham Crackers)
H-L - Beverages -Water, Soda, Kids Drinks
M-P - Salads and sides
Q-V - Fruits and Veggies & Corn for the bonfire
W-Z - Coolers with Ice.


Please bring a case of water, bbq and campfire tools.

TOGETHER YES WE CAN have the most awesome political beach party in San Diego history! OK, San Diegans its summer and time to do what we do best: BEACH PARTY! Come boogie board, surf, snorkel, ocean kayak, skim board, play beach volleyball, swim, bbq and rangin BONFIRE @ La Jolla Shores! Don't forget your shades, sunblock, beach umbrellas, chairs, tables, towels and a light jacket and change of clothes for the bonfire. Come out and meet Obama supporters from all over the county!

Bring $20 donation to get a OBAMA BEACH BASH T-Shirt!

Map Directions

Public Transport:
FROM: OLD TOWN TRANSIT CENTER
TO: 8400 EL PASEO GRANDE
1. At 10:15 AM take the MTS BUS route 30 UCSD-VA HOSP-UTC via OLD TOWN

2. Get off the stop on LA JOLLA SHORES at CALLE DEL ORO at approximately 11:02 AM.

3. walk 0.1 mile W to 8400 EL PASEO GRANDE

Schedules and maps for your routes
Bus route 30
Fare Information
Regular Fare: $ 2.25
Senior & Disabled Fare: $ 1.10
Total Trip Time = 0 hr. 47 min