National Day of Out(r)age - May 24th

NATIONAL DAY OF OUT(R)AGE

SaveAccess.org, a national coalition of community media organizations and individuals, is coordinating a nationwide day of protests with actions taking place in New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco on Wednesday, May 24th.

FAIR is helping to organize the New York City protest.
Join us. Make your voice heard. 

Wednesday, May 24th
at the Verizon World Headquarters
140 West Street (at Vesey Street).
 
12:30-1:30pm (Pre-assemble at 12:15pm)
A/C/E/2/3 trains to Chambers St.
www.saveaccess.org/protest
(Times and locations of other nationwide actions listed below)

We are protesting:
1) Telco-driven congressional legislation (HR 5252 and S.2686) that endangers public access centers and channels, threatens to red-line communities, and undermines an open internet by not protecting net neutrality.

We need to stop these bills in their current form -- we need more protections.

2) Telco collusion with the NSA to illegally violate the privacy of tens of millions of Americans.

We need to demand an investigation and enforcement of the law.

3) The Telco campaign to buyoff statehouse and congressional representatives around the country to push their legislation through.

We need real campaign finance reform and political transparency.
 
4) The Telco policy of using “astroturf” groups to push their deceptions on the public.

We need to expose these campaigns for what they are -- corporate propaganda.
 
5) The mergers and takeovers within in the Telco industry that have resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

We need to stop the AT&T - BellSouth merger until there is accountability and thorough anti-trust reviews.
 
Other Day Of Out(r)age actions across the country include:

Boston
Rally: 1:30 – 2:00 pm  In front of the Massachusetts State House, Beacon Street

Press Conference: 2:00 – 3:30 pm  The Grand Staircase at the Massachusetts State House 

URL: www.acmeboston.org (Action Coalition for Media Education, Boston Chapter)

Chicago
The Event: "AT&T: Bringing Us To Tiers"

The Place: Outside the AT&T / SBC building, at the intersection of Congress Parkway and South Federal Street in downtown Chicago (just a block south of the Library / State and Van Buren CTA station, immediately west of the Harold Washington Library Center)

Date/Time: Wednesday, May 24, 4pm - 6pm

San Francisco
Two Community Actions hosted by Media Alliance

12 Noon at AT&T Park
Join media advocates & community activists out front of the SF Giants game for some activist style theatrical sports. Help make the point that consumers won't play ball with AT&T and other Telcos that play ball with the NSA.

4:00pm - 6:00pm at AT&T's main San Francisco headquarters 666 Folsom Street - between 2nd & 3rd

More info at: http://saveaccess.org/protest

Members of the SaveAccess.org Coalition include:

Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), NYC Grassroots Media Coalition, Paper Tiger TV, Center for Digital Democracy, Free Press, Association for Community Networking, Action Coalition for Media Education, Chicago Media Action, Media Alliance, Media Tank, CCTV-Cambridge and the Center for Media & Democracy
From: http://www.fair.org/

 

NetRootsNY

The New York Netroots Group has created their own blog and posted information about their meetings with congresscritters. Some excellent advice is included:

http://netrootsny.blogspot.com/

The Grand Old Party's Grand Plan to Hijack California

Great Post for California Activists

Michelle Kraus Bio

"Coercion, Extortion and Blackmail": The Garamendi Campaign is Under Siege

Look carefully, and the specter of the plan coalesces and clarifies before your horrified eyes. If only we had a skillful Democratic Party leadership - block and tackle could be simple, but, alas, we do not. Is it just that they cannot see, or worse.

More here:
The Grand Old Party's Grand Plan


More information:


Seeing
the Forest: Insurance Election Scandal Brewing In California

davej on Daily Kos: Election Blackmail Scandal Brewing In CA

Calitics

CBS 5: Insurers Accused Of Blackmailing Commissioner

Rooming with the media? New York and DC

Nation Interns Seek Housing
We're seeking low-cost housing options in the Washington, DC and New York City areas starting in early to mid June for some responsible, reliable, well-behaved, charming and tidy Nation interns. They all work full-time at the Nation office in Manhattan. Single rooms in houses, apartments or short or long-term house-sitting arrangements would be appropriate and appreciated. Any help you could offer would mean a great deal to us. If you or anyone you know can help out, please email Emily Biuso at emily@thenation.com.

Middle East Specialists Advise Bush Against Iran War

Click the link and sign the petition:

Open Letter to President George Walker Bush

April 21 2006

Mr. President: We the signatories of this letter have dedicated our lives to studying the Middle East and it is in that capacity and as concerned citizens that we write to strongly oppose and warn against the military option in Iran. As the International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence of research or diversion of materials toward atomic weapons in Iran, concerns about future dual use of nuclear technology ought to be addressed in face to face negotiations. Such alternative venues as coercive diplomacy and military action will lead to further militarization and pressures on civil society at the expense of the democratic movement in Iran. The extreme right of the political spectrum of that country will be the sole beneficiary of such policies. The catastrophic regional and global consequences of escalating this crisis will not serve the interests of the United States, the course of democratic development in Iran, or the cause of global peace.

http://www.antiwarpetition.com/

The War on Terror or Theatre of the Absurd

(This is a test.)

It would be funny if it weren't for the horrors this so-called "War" has produced.

Sane people know you can't make war on terror. The hope to end terrorism rests in marginalizing the perpetrators and looking at causes.

Sane people know you can't bomb a country to get terrorists. The price is too high. Besides, terrorists exist in most countries world wide.

Do we bomb them all? Or just the ones that have a lot of brown people (to help us get away with it)?

If bombing's what we need to do to fight terrorism, according to our Government there are a LOT of "terrorists" right here in the good ol' US...somewhere around 325,000 is what I hear. Should we be bombing US cities that harbor them?

Once we're done bombing all the US cities that harbor "terrorists", then we can preemptively strike all cities that harbor scary-looking people. Although, now that it's on the table, there are lots of countries that harbor scary-looking people. Maybe we should strike them as well.

Then, when we're done bombing virtually every place on the planet, we'll have to stike ourselves because well, geeez, who's scarier than us?

Only then can we (if anybody's left standing) look around and say, "WE WON!!"

Oh, Yay...