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12/23
First of all, if you are interested in this kind of news, listen to KPFA 94.1 FM. Listen in the early morning, at noon, at 3 pm and from 5-7 every weekday (PST). There are other good topical news shows throughout the week as well. Check here for KPFA program guide: http://www.kpfa.org/1pg_grid.htm
If you are unable to listen to KPFA on the radio, you can listen online: http://secure.transbay.net/kpfa/forms/0_aud.htm
If you've missed a Democracy Now! show or a Flashpoints show (both invaluable), you can catch up by listening to their archives on the web: http://www.democracynow.org and http://www.flashpoints.net
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"Adopt a Minefield" by Lenore Skenazy, NY Daily News
"Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Consider a land mine.
..."underwrite the clearing of a minefield. Every dollar goes directly to de-mining"...
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-12-09/News_and_Views/Opinion/a-134607.asp
http://www.landmines.org/
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Xmas card: http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/12/112779.php
4 sections below:
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1 YOU CAN DO SOMETHING
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Do Something About the MEDIA: Some inspiring words from a media insider:
"LEO, LET'S GET OUT THERE!!!!!", by Jordan Thornton 5:58am Fri Dec 21 '01
"I work (for now) in the mainstream media, and believe me, I feel your pain. There are, however, some things you can do in the mainstream. Don't get me wrong, I love independent media, but we must reach the public, rather than just each other. The mainstream has the audience base we require. ...
..."We need to be in the eyes and ears, and minds, of the People at all times. A day we fail to act is a day the Enemy has won. They act against us 24/7, and we must show the same resolve. This must be a sustained effort...
..."Look, I don't have all the answers, but we must take what we have now and ACT on it. CNN is on the air right now, filling people's heads with all kinds of sh*t. We must be the antidote.
"Remember always, that truth is on your side, and you are the majority. You cannot fail. Doubt is a tool of the Enemy. Don't let it get you down. There are millions of us out there. We must SUPPORT each other."...
--a comment at:
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=109000&group=webcast
After you have read the above comment from Jordan Thornton _in its entirety_ and are thereby inspired, go to Progressive Portal, where there is a setup for automated email-sending to hundreds of news reporters, commentators, and editors throughout the country. (Plus a variety of other actions)
sample text:
"I write to call upon you to meet the epic responsibility of your profession in structuring the discussion regarding how to respond to the disastrous terrorism of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001."
http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/Tuesday911/
- Media Alliance has some great "general talking points" for approaching the media. Look down toward the middle of this page:
http://www.media-alliance.org/action/index.html . (Lots of other info re media, plus their sample letter, also.)
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Send email to findtruth40@hotmail.com with the subject "send_kit" to get a free activist's kit of information and many addresses, fax numbers, etc.
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"Recommended website re Homeland Security" 12/22/01
"Our purpose here is to provide "cookie-cutter" tools for activism in the service of liberty, tools to fight the encroachment of a police state and the mentality that leads a people to tolerate such tyranny."...
..."Therefore, to those who might accuse us of anything from disloyalty to treason, we say this: We are loyal to the Constitution of the United States of America. Aren't you?
"And we will not despair. Not while the freedom of expression -- especially political expression -- guaranteed by the First Amendment is still honored by enough Americans to make the "control freaks" in government reluctant to violate it" ...
http://indybay.org/2001/12/112802.php
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Join the Progressive Secretary Progressive Letter Writing Cooperative, which will help you send out hundreds of letters with very little effort.
http://www.progressivesecretary.org/
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Working For Change has several online activist letters:
"-Oppose Expanded Government Secrecy "
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/category.cfm?CategoryId=6
"Oppose Military Tribunals"
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=12377
Complete list of 'Working For Change' Actions:
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/current_actions.cfm
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Report to the Adbusters' "Rat Line":
"Adbusters Rousted by Feds" by Culture Jammers' list-serv, Dec 19 '01
"Have your activities come under increased scrutiny in the aftermath of S11? Ours have.
..."Vigilance we can live with. Intimidation that amounts to persecution is another bucket of fish. According to some of the emails and phone calls we've received lately, many other groups have also found themselves under investigation in a political climate that's starting to take on shades of McCarthyism.
"Our response to all of this is to set up our own "rat line." If you know of social marketing campaigns or protest actions that are being suppressed, or if you come across any other story of overzealous government "information management," please tell us your story. Go to http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/flag/nyc.html
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=108242&group=webcast
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Help keep track of government censorship post 9-11 by reporting to the two sites below (there is more information on these sites further down in this message)
OMB Watch: http://www.ombwatch.org/info/2001/access.html
Post 9-11 Right-To-Know: http://www.mapcruzin.com/news/rtkpost911.htm
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If you live in the East Bay (SF area), join http://www.citycarshare.org and help save oil !
see article at
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?archiveDate=12-18-01&storyID=9037
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Excellent flyer "TERRORISM: BLOOD AND OIL" -- print it, copy it, and get it out there.
"As you read these two pages, please try to suspend your belief that the reason we are engaged in bombing, shelling, and decimatinng Afghanistan is to redress our terrible September 11th injury." ...
http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/11/110983.php
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Petitions:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/224622495?sign[partnerID]=1&sign[m
emberID]=267514778&sign[partner_userID]=267514778
http://www.findefux.de/petition/
several petitions here, plus actions and info:
http://www.geocities.com/catcruz/
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"BUSH WITHDRAWAL FROM ABM TREATY - CALL TO ACTION" by FoE Sydney 12/21/01
Info, addresses, instructions.
"Please do pass this message on to anyone that might act on it before Christmas"
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=109969&group=webcast
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"Rescuing the Constitution", Nat Hentoff 12/20/91
...'If enough of these groups -- and individuals also intent on rescuing constitutional rights -- can move from reacting to organize a national coalition, Congress can be moved to act"...
http://sf.indymedia.org/2001/12/112805.php
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How to use INDYMEDIA:
There are now about a hundred Independent Media Center websites worldwide. They are websites which make available "open publishing", which means that anyone (which means You) can publish items to the websites' "Newswire". The newswires are always in the right-hand column of the webpage, and you can publish by clicking on the "publish your news" link at the top and then following the easy instructions.
On the left side of the page (in most cases) are links to all the worldwide 'local' indymedia websites.
The main site is http://indymedia.org . It is the "global" site, the site with the most action, with much news being posted from around the world all the time. Some problems with the global site have appeared since 9-11 because the site became so heavily used and because resources are limited (and everything is done by volunteers). Some things do not usually work now, such as the search feature, and it can be tricky to go backward to find articles that have "scrolled off" the newswire on the front page. But you can use this link to get a list of text articles in chronological order: http://www.indymedia.org/search-process.php3?medium=text --Or you can try this other link and if you are lucky and traffic is not too heavy you will be able to use the links at the bottom to travel backward and see older articles:
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?group=webcast&sort=date_desc&rate=none&page=0
The SF site is well-maintained and all the features work as they should (except when the server is down or the database has crashed and the 'tech team' hasn't fixed it yet -- check back in a bit).
http://sf.indymedia.org
Another thing to keep in mind when browsing indymedia is that since anyone can post whatever they want, there is a lot of dreck -- and especially since 9-11, as the sites have become prey to some right-wing
saboteurs.
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A list of online media from Media Alliance:
http://www.kpfa.org
http://www.kfcf.org
http://www.wbix.org
http://www.democracynow.org
http://www.fsrn.org
http://www.webactive.org
Additional reports can be found at:
http://www.nyc.indymedia.org
http://www.dc.indymedia.org
http://workingforchange.com and click on Laura Flanders' Manhattan weblog
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"links to alternative media" 12/22/01
a list of some alternative media, with links
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=109430&group=webcast
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2 SIGNS OF LIFE
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"Rep Dan Burton goes after Bush [again!] :Terrorists stats inflated by DOJ; Congress to investigate" by Associated Press
..."the Bush Justice Department had inflated its figures on convictions of terrorists. He cited reports that drunks and the mentally imbalanced had been labeled as terrorists.
..."Burton, speaking of the terrorism conviction issue and the dispute over the Boston documents, said, "An iron veil is descending over the executive branch that will keep information away from the Congress and the
public." He said that could create a schism between the executive branch and Congress."
-see also last week's "firestorm" article about Dan Burton:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1214-01.htm
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"Barbara Streisand: call to action against the Govt." reposted from email
12/22/'01
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