By David Swanson

Tonight, Monday, October 6, 2008, a group of citizens in Charlottesville, Va., organized by the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, will attend the City Council's meeting to urge the Council to take up at its November meeting a resolution opposing a U.S. attack on the nation of Iran. Some members of the Council and of the public can be expected to respond with some well-intended but confused reasons to resist taking such a step. In hopes of clarifying the issue, let me suggest briefly three things: 1.-Why the United States should not attack Iran; 2.-Why there is a serious danger that the United States will attack Iran; 3.-Why Charlottesville City Council should pass a resolution opposing such an attack.

1.-Why the United States should not attack Iran.

A Dynamic Website Helps Safeguard America’s Right to Vote

The non-profit, non-partisan Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has launched a unique website to help safeguard the fairness and integrity of US elections, using the power of citizen journalism. The Election Protect Wiki is now online at http://www.EPWiki.org . It enables citizens, journalists and government officials to actively monitor the electoral process in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. CMD and its community of volunteer editors will continue to improve, expand and update the EP Wiki beyond the upcoming November 4th election.

McCain-Obama tie possible in presidential race
By Andy Sullivan,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What if it's a tie?

A handful of battleground states are likely to determine the November 4 U.S. presidential election and it's possible that Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama could split them in a manner that leaves each just short of victory.

If that happens, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives would pick the president but it's unclear whether Democrats would have enough votes to send Obama to the White House.

The House last decided an election in 1824. But the legal skirmishing and partisan rancor would probably resemble a more recent election -- the 2000 vote in which Republican George W. Bush narrowly defeated Democrat Al Gore after a disputed Florida vote count and legal battle.

"This would be the seamy side of democracy, the lobbying and the money would be so intense," said American University history professor Allan Lichtman.

By Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, US Army Reserves

“My daughter’s dream became a nightmare,” sadly said Gloria Barrios, seven months after her daughter, US Air Force Senior Airman Blanca Luna, was murdered on Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

On March 7, 2008, Senior Airman Luna, 27, was found dead in her room at the Sheppard Air Force Base Inn, an on-base lodging facility. She had been stabbed in the back of the neck with a short knife. Luna, an Air Force Reservist with four years of prior military service in the Marine Corps including a tour in Japan, was killed three days before she was to graduate from an Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Heating training course.

The solution to this failed leadership of Nancy Pelosi, is over-throwing her in San Francisco.

It's not about being a bad "leader," it's about going against the wishes of her constituents, time and time again!

For Pelosi and her cronies, and against US, impeachment for the criminals George Bush and Dick Cheney was OFF HER TABLE; but war-funding, demolishing FISA and the 4th Amendment, torture and bailing out corporate pirates were ON HER TABLE.

Take Nancy Pelosi's re-election "OFF THE PEOPLE'S TABLE"

Volunteer for Cindy Sheehan for Congress

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Join us for our protest against the bailout at 101 Market; Monday Oct 6th: 7:30 AM

Nancy Pelosi has given San Francisco

$850,000,000,000.00 More Reasons to Vote for

Cindy Sheehan

Respond to the article below which was in the Chronicle On-line today, that never mentions Cindy Sheehan and her courageous and principled stand against Nancy Pelosi:

By Dave Lindorff

I’ve been getting some emails that refer to Barack Obama as a “Manchurian Candidate,” a guy who is somehow hiding a secret radical and/or Muslim jihadist agenda that will burst forth if he’s elected president. There is a certain idiot factor at work here, since if Obama were a closet Weatherman, who somehow learned of and adopted that 1960s college dropout organzation’s creed at the tender age of 8, it would have clashed badly with any Muslim teaching he might have picked up as a student in an Indonesian public school at the same time (he attended an Indonesian public schoolfrom the age of 6 to 8 before transferring to a Catholic-run institution).

But since some low-wattage and conspiracy-minded people seem ready to believe this kind of stuff, let’s consider John McCain’s early background, and the possibility of his being a Manchurian Candidate too. Fair’s fair, right?

Vermont Town to Honor Former Slave's Life
Lisa Rathke | Philly.com

A former slave whose memoir is among the only ones known to describe abduction from Africa is about to get a historical marker in the small Vermont town where he ended up settling.

Descendants of Jeffrey Brace , who fought in the Revolutionary War and eventually earned his freedom , will gather Saturday for the erection of the memorial on a town green.

"The importance of Brace's story is not just that he's a remarkable individual but it's part of Vermont's history and American history that had disappeared," said Kari Winter, who edited the memoir "The Blind African Slave: Or, Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace."

His memoir traces his abduction in 1758 in West Africa at age 16 and the wretched trans-Atlantic voyage that ensued, in which he was starved, shackled and whipped, and watched others die of starvation and beatings.

"Over the course of about 350 years, something on the order of 12 million people were shipped across the Atlantic and yet we could count on our hands the number of surviving first-person written accounts of people who made that journey," said James Campbell, a Stanford University history professor.

"So to have an account like this be discovered and made available to students describing the experience of capture in Africa, the experience of the Middle Passage and a life in slavery right up until the early 19th-century New England, that's an extraordinary find," said Campbell, who specializes in slavery history.

Explanation here.

Elizabeth Edwards Calls McCain Health Care Plan 'Dangerous'
Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove | NewsObserver.com

Elizabeth Edwards called presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's proposed health care plan "truly dangerous to our health-care system" at a round table discussion Wednesday.

Her comments were accompanied by a report asserting roughly 610,000 North Carolinians would lose employer-sponsored health insurance under McCain's plan.

The report was written by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a self-described progressive Washington think tank, where Edwards is a senior fellow. It is supported by Change to Win, a coalition of U.S. labor unions formed in 2005 that is backing presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The report says McCain's proposal to eliminate employer health-care tax benefits would cause many small businesses to drop group insurance. It also suggests insurance companies would cover only individuals without expensive health problems and would be able to avoid state regulations intended to ensure a higher standard of coverage.

Edwards led a discussion at Piedmont Health Services Carrboro Community Health Center, where more than half the patients lack insurance.

State Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat; State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, an Orange County Democrat; Carl Taylor, Piedmont Health Services' pharmacy director; David Tempest, lead provider at the Moncure Community Health Center; and Ida Fikes, a user of the center's services, joined Edwards at the table.

China warns US not to sell arms to Taiwan | Big News Network.com

China has told the US government that Sino-US relations could be damaged due to the US decision to sell arms to Taiwan.

Despite China's repeated opposition to the move, the US government has notified the Congress about its plan to sell Patriot III anti-missile systems, Apache helicopters and other equipment worth $6.5 billion to Taiwan.

The Chinese government has firmly opposed the sale which it says violates principles set down in the three joint communiques between China and the US.

China’s Foreign Affairs department has warned the deal has endangered Chinese national security and disturbed peaceful cross-Strait relations.

The department said the US should immediately take action to correct its mistakes, cancel the proposed arms sale and stop military links with Taiwan, which it noted was still Chinese territory.

Bush to provide $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan | BigNewsNetwork.com

The U.S. government is to sell $6.4 billion of weapons to Taiwan, the State Department announced on Friday.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said Congressional approval was required, but believes this will come quickly. A submission went to Congress on Friday afternoon.

The sales involve a range of U.S.-made weapons systems, including Patriot III anti-missile missiles, Apache attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles, and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

The State Department has sponsored the sale through its appointment earlier this year of former Under-Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz to the State Department's International Security Advisory Board. Wolfowitz is also Chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council, which includes a number of U.S. military contractors as members.

Using the Law, Billing the Taxpayers: Salem, OR Welcomes New Foreign Corporate Welfare Takers
by Michael Munk | www.michaelmunk.com

While many are furiously challenging the giveaway of $700 billion of our federal taxes to Wall Street's shiftless welfare queens, Oregon taxpayers are put on the hook for another $40 million in corporate welfare to bribe a foreign company to go into business near Salem, OR....If we actually enjoyed socialism in America, we would not need to rescue capitalists who bet wrong, or need to bribe them to create jobs in our communities.

Surf-loving priests lead interfaith worshipers in a 'blessing of the waves'
The faithful join a variety of spiritual leaders at the Huntington Beach Pier for a "blessing of the waves" service sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. Amid sunny skies and a building ocean swell of 6- to 10-foot waves, the worshipers prayed for tubular surf and a safe return to shore.
By Paloma Esquivel | Los Angeles Times

Even before the sun rose high enough to light the water Sunday morning, surfer Digger Green had paddled far into the Huntington Beach waves, taking a beating under the rough water.

"This is my life," said the 52-year-old native of Queensland, Australia. "It is my church."

For about 400 interfaith worshipers, the shoreline became a makeshift church as Catholics, Jews and Muslims gathered for an unusual "blessing of the waves."

Although their faith traditions differ, those in attendance were bound by a reverence for the ocean and the peaceful place of prayer they find on its shores -- if not surfing its waves.

Senate Approves India Nuclear Deal
By Peter Baker | NYTimes.com

The United States opened a new chapter of cooperation with India on Wednesday night as Congress gave final approval to a breakthrough agreement permitting civilian nuclear trade between the two countries for the first time in three decades.

The Senate ratified the deal 86 to 13 a week after the House passed it, handing a rare foreign policy victory to President Bush in the twilight of his administration and culminating a three-year debate that raised alarms about a new arms race and nearly toppled the government of India.

Reversal of Fortune: Economic gains of 1990s overturned for African Americans from 2000-07
By Algernon Austin | Economic Policy Institute

On all major economic indicators—income, wages, employment, and poverty—African Americans were worse off in 2007 than they were in 2000. Although the American economy has grown signifi cantly since 2000, African Americans have not shared in America’s prosperity. The current economic downturn and the subprime mortgage crisis bode ill for the immediate future for African Americans.

The overall social well-being of African American communities depends upon strong job growth. The historical

Bail-out leads to conflict of interest claims as Wall Street financiers cash in on crisis
New questions have been raised about the $700 billion economic bail-out of the US economy as President George W. Bush warned that the world may have to wait weeks for the benefits of the rescue package to be felt.

By Tim Shipman | Telegraph.co.UK

Experts warned the approach is laden with financial pitfalls, since it may be impossible to find independent contractors who do not have a vested interest in which debts to buy and the price at which they buy them. The companies hired to identify and buy the bad debts will have to make decisions that affect the same firms whose shares they own. In some cases they might effectively be buying up their own bad debts.

ACLU Condemns New FBI Guidelines
Guidelines Released Amid Protest from Congress, Privacy Groups and American Public

The standard of suspicion is so low and the predicate for investigations so flimsy that it’s inevitable we will all become suspects.

Washington, DC – New FBI guidelines governing investigations were released today after being signed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The American Civil Liberties Union quickly blasted the Department of Justice and FBI for ignoring calls for more stringent protections of Americans’ rights. The guidelines replace existing bureau guidelines for five types of investigations: general criminal, national security, foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations. The ACLU has been vocal in its disapproval of the overly broad guidelines, citing both the FBI’s and DOJ’s documented records of internal abuse.

The Palin Papers

Springsteen Rocks Obama Rally in Philly

Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen called the Bush presidency "a disaster" and said many Americans have "justifiably lost faith" in the American dream.

The legendary rocker interrupted a seven-song acoustic set at a voter-registration rally in Philadelphia on Saturday to praise Democrat Barack Obama and bemoan the crises facing the next president. Springsteen said that America remains a house of dreams for some, but that too many people have given up on the promise of fairness and equality.

"I've spent 35 years writing about America and its people and the meaning of the American promise - a promise handed down right here in this city," said the New Jersey rocker, whose songs often depict down-on-their-luck, working-class dreamers. "Our everyday citizens ... have justifiably lost faith in its meaning."

The rally, planned by the Obama campaign a week ago, drew tens of thousands of people to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Springsteen approached the campaign and asked to help out, an Obama aide said. The Philadelphia event came just days before Monday's voter registration deadline in Pennsylvania.

Spying on the Future
The U.S. Intelligence Community as Seers Without Sizzle
By Tom Engelhardt

The year is 2010 and, yes, Saddam Hussein is gone and there are no American troops in Iraq, but, as the report suggests, "the challenge will be to see whether a modern, secular successor government emerges that does not threaten its neighbors" -- especially since those dogged Iraqis are back at work on their nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, the national security agenda of American policymakers, who face no conventional military challenges, is dominated by five questions: "whether to intervene, when, with whom, with what tools, and to what end?"