A reminder of what the future brings: pragmatism, centrism, misdirection, and corporate interest. Citizens must keep their goals clearly in mind to win what promises to be a wingdinger of a shell game.
The “Wait ‘Til He Gets In” Delusion: The President Elect is Not a Latent Lefty
By Paul Street
“It is hard to end up on the left turn ramp while driving in the center and right lanes.”
[One of the more recurrent refrains I heard from many of Barack Obama’s progressive supporters in late 2007 and through the recent election went like this: “Oh, he has to say and do that stuff to get elected. The corporate and military powers that be will sink him if he acts as left as he really is. Just wait until he gets in: then you’ll see the real progressive deal.”]
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=938&Itemid=1
Often repression comes in a series of small seemingly unrelated events. In South Dakota, Native Americans have struggled with unemployment. Perhaps you are unaware, but after a person loses unemployment benefits, and/or a predetermined period, that person is dropped off the unemployment statistics. A person in this position is considered to be “discouraged”, or no longer looking; thus he or she is not counted. South Dakota, while claiming to have a low unemployment rate, hides THIS.
At the same time, the struggle over gerrymandered districts has been ongoing and led to attempted voter disenfranchisement. On behalf of Native America voters, the ACLU recently was able to win this:
Federal Court Upholds Native American Voting Rights In South Dakota Lawsuit (12/16/2008)
ACLU Successfully Challenged Unlawful Voter Dilution Plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
[ST. LOUIS – A federal appeals court today affirmed a decision protecting the rights of Native American voters in Martin, South Dakota. Siding with the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Eight Circuit ordered local officials to correct violations of the Voting Rights Act that prevented Native Americans from having an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice….]
http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/minority/38118prs20081216.html
Hopefully we will prevent this from going further down the road of pillage and rape with a new administration. However, time is running out. We must stop this:
Utah oil-and-gas auction marked by bogus bidder, Robert Redford and heated protest
By DAVID O. WILLIAMS 12/21/08 7:35 AM
[ than 100 protesters outside a U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil-and-gas drilling lease auction Friday in Salt Lake City charged the federal government with selling off 164,000 acres of public land for private profit, potentially defiling some of the state’s most treasured national parks.
“It’s public lands and not for private wealth,” protester Daniel Darger told The Associated Press. “It’s going to kill tourism in this state if you can see oil rigs from Arches National Park.”….]
No doubt Afgani women have reason to fear. We haven’t done our part. Congress still hasn’t passed the 2007 extension of the Empowerment act for women. Yes, it was only a piddling .04% of the money spent over there, but it’s needed to continue training, job funding etc. What the heck is wrong with us?
Afghan women fear a retreat to dark days
Negotiating with the Taliban might be the only hope for peace, but women are nervous.
By Gayle Tzemach | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
From the December 18, 2008 edition
[KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghanistan’s Minister of Women’s Affairs, Hasan Bano Ghazanfa, closed a recent speech to one of the country’s largest-ever women’s conferences with an unexpected warning: Afghan President Hamid Karzai should avoid rushing into “political deals” with those opposing women’s rights and human rights….]
Sometimes the best thing you can do is set up roadblocks. Sometimes it works. Will Congress do the rest?
Not so dead on arrival
The unlikely success of the Clinton Roadless Rule
NEWS – From the December 22, 2008 issue of High Country News
By Rob Inglis
[The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which Bill Clinton signed into law eight days before he left office, protected 58.5 million acres of national forest land from logging and energy development. It was one of the boldest conservation measures in the history of federal land management, but it seemed doomed to a very short lifespan. Because it was only an administrative rule, it could be overturned by the next administration, which strongly opposed it.
But nearly eight years later, the Clinton Roadless Rule remains in effect for 35.6 million acres of national forest in seven Western states…]
http://www.hcn.org/issues/40.23/not-so-dead-on-arrival?src=feat
I Own My Vote, PUMA, The Denver Group, The New Agenda
Grab and Keel 
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