Climate Crisis Update: "Consumers Rank Climate Concerns Ahead of Economy"

Frida Kahlo's Roots


Climate Crisis Update: "Consumers Rank Climate Concerns Ahead of Economy"

By Richard Power

Here is some encouraging evidence that the planet's population is way out in front of its political leaders and mainstream news media pundits:

Despite the looming prospect of a deep global recession, 43% of the 12,000 respondents of the survey chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. Worldwide, 77% of respondents wanted to see their governments cutting carbon by their fair share or more, in order to allow developing countries to grow their economies. Guardian, 11-26-08

But, of course, it is a false choice to some extent; because we will not be able to bring long-term health to the global economy without turning it green and embracing sustainability as a defining principle.

Furthermore, there is no time left for procrastination or posturing, nor is there any margin for error anymore. It is next year or ...

The survey was carried out for the HSBC Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the international bank and climate NGOs including WWF, the Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Lord Stern, and adviser to HSBC on economic development and climate change and former adviser to the UK government, said: "This research demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change. The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this. Now is the time to lay the foundations of a new form of growth that can transform our economies and societies." Guardian, 11-26-08

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

For the Words of Power Climate Crisis Updates Archive, click here.

Click here for access to great promotional tools available on The Eleventh Hour action page.

To sign the Live Earth Pledge, click here.

For analysis of the US mainstream news media's failure to treat global warming and climate change with accuracy or appropriae urgency, click here for Media Matters' compilation of "Myths and Falsehoods about Global Warming".

Want to participate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

Want to join over one million people on the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now? Click here.

Center for American Progress Action Fund's Mic Check Radio has released a witty and compelling compilation on the Top 100 Effects of Global Warming, organized into sections like "Global Warming Wrecks All the Fun" (e.g., "Goodbye to Pinot Noir," "Goodbye to Baseball," "Goodbye to Salmon Dinners," "Goodbye to Ski Vacations," etc.), "Global Warming Kills the Animals" (e.g., "Death March of the Penguins," "Dying Grey Whales," "Farewell to Frogs," etc.) and yes, "Global Warming Threatens Our National Security" (e.g., "Famine," "Drought," "Large-Scale Migrations," "The World's Checkbook," etc.) I urge you to utilize Top 100 Effects of Global Warming in your dialogues with friends, family and colleagues.

Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Human Rights, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth,Laurie David, Stop Global Warming!, The Eleventh Hour, Organic Gardening, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Late Night: George Harrison -- Gopala Kirshna

Hard Rain Late Night: George Harrison -- Gopala Kirshna



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

George Harrison, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

Congo Crisis Update: "Conditions look frighteningly similar to those before the Rwanda genocide in 1994"

Read Mission Song. John Le Carre's extraordinary thriller about the Congo.Click here for the Buzzflash review.

"The leader of Congo's Tutsi rebels staged his first public rally over the weekend in newly conquered territory. Laurent Nkunda told the crowd not to be afraid. But two former high ranking United Nations officials are warning that the conditions look frighteningly similar to those before the Rwanda genocide in 1994. ... Jean-Marie Guehenno, the former chief of UN peacekeeping, believes that the extra UN troops being sent to the Congo need to be elite soldiers from Europe. Mia Farrow, 11-25-08

A rights group has accused the government of the DR Congo of using violence to eliminate political opponents since polls in 2006. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Congolese security forces had deliberately killed more than 500 people in a campaign against opposition groups. BBC, 11-25-08

Congo Crisis Update: "Conditions look frighteningly similar to those before the Rwanda genocide in 1994"

By Richard Power

Yes, there is urgent need for the intervention of a highly trained, well-armed international force in the North, as well as for an independent investigation into the politically motivated violence reported by Human Rights Watch.

But don't hold your breath.

There is also urgent need to address the immediate suffering of women and children.

There are many thousands of children wandering the streets of the Congo's cities and towns, due to the violence, displacement and economic chaos.

Women are at great risk. Rape is is a weapon.

This aspect of the crisis is something you can have an impact on.

I urge you to give through the Irish Red Cross, either on-line (click here) or via telephone (1850 50 70 70).

With salaries sometimes not being paid for up to twenty-four months, more and more parents can no longer afford to take care of their children. As a result, many youngsters end up on the street.
It is unknown how many children live in the streets of the DRC, as no nationwide research has been conducted so far. The only available information has been gathered by private and non-governmental organizations, and focuses on individual cities.
For instance, according to a survey by the Network of Educators for Children and Young People on the Street (REEJER, after its French name), the capital Kinshasa alone hosts approximately 20,000 children.
A similar scenario, although on a smaller scale, is found in other urban hubs in the DRC. Oeuvres Maman Marguerite (OMM), a Belgian Salesian NGO, claims that Lubumbashi boasts about 3,000 street children, of whom 750 live on the streets permanently.
"These youngsters have lost all contact with their parents and families," said Eric Meert, who runs Bakanja Ville -- a refuge shelter for street children. Inter Press Service, 11-22-08

"Women, children, older people and others who are not involved in the conflict continue to suffer. Reports locally indicate rape, looting and killing in the greater Goma region continues," said Noel Wardick, Head of the International Dept of the Irish Red Cross.
Tens of thousands of civilians have had to flee further north. These people are in a very vulnerable situation, as are the thousands of displaced persons near Goma.
The Irish Red Cross is accepting donations online and on CallSave 1850 50 70 70 to pay for work being done to save lives by the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement which is providing food, counseling in sexual violence, other medical services and water to tens of thousands of people in the region.
The Irish Red Cross is concerned that all parties to the conflict act in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to preserve the lives and health of civilians, the wounded and persons captured in connection with the conflict, that they do not damage foodstuffs and that they allow in emergency aid to the beleaguered population.
Donations for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo are being accepted online and 1850 50 70 70 Irish Red Cross, 11-25-08

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

For a directory of Words of Power Human Rights Updates, click here.

Congo, Genocide, Irish Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Late Night: Christina Aguilera -- Star Spangled Banner (Hockey Game, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2005)

Hard Rain Late Night: Christina Aguilera -- Star Spangled Banner (Hockey Game, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2005)



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

Christina Aguilera, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

While Great Nations & Captains of Industry Look the Other Way, Unchastened Thugocracies Crush the Defiant in Burma & the Defenseless in Darfur

Image: Tara, the Green Goddess of Mercy, and Her Twenty-One Emanations


Human Rights Update: While Great Nations & Captains of Industry Look the Other Way, Unchastened Thugocracies Crush the Defiant in Burma & the Defenseless in Darfur

By Richard Power

Do not allow the leaders of the great nations or the captains of industry to wring their hands and tell you there is nothing they can do, there is a lot they can do economically and politically. They do not act because of business interests. That is the simple, ugly truth.

From Burma, there is the appalling news that Zarganar, a popular comedian who spoke out against the thugocracy, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Imagine Stephen Colbert being sentenced to decades of imprisonment for speaking truth to power (through satire) at the Annual White House Correspondents Dinner in 2006. (Click here for the transcript.)

From the Hague, there is encouraging news that the International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the arrest of three individuals believed to be responsible for attacks on international peacekeepers in Darfur.

Next time you shake your head in astonishment about those, in your own country, who seem to be simply walking off into private life without facing special prosecutors, international tribunals, massive civil suits or at least impeachment proceedings, after brazenly trampling the Bill of Rights, the Geneva Accords and even the Magna Carta; remember the murdered peacekeepers in Darfur.

What were the peacekeepers doing? Well, one of their primary missions was going on "firewood patrols" to protect women and girls from rape and other acts of violence while they gathered grass and wood beyond the perimeters of the refugee camps. And yet, the leaders of some great nations will block efforts to bring their murderers to justice in the Hague; and some captains of industry will continue to do business with the thugocrats who armed and empowered those murderers.

With deepening global economic and environmental crises, it might seem to you that we have no time, resources or bandwidth for human rights issues. But you would be wrong to indulge in such a false assumption. There has never been a more desperate or urgent need for you to pay attention to human rights violations in Burma, Darfur, the Congo and elsewhere, because as the global economy tanks, and the global environment boils, it is your own human rights that will become increasingly disposable.

Here are excerpts from these two stories, with links to the full texts:

A popular comedian active in Burma's democracy movement has been sentenced to 45 years in jail by a Burmese court.
Zarganar was found to have violated the Electronics Act, which regulates electronic communications.
He is the latest in a string of opposition activists to be given long jail terms by the military government.
He was detained earlier this year for criticising the government's slow response to Cyclone Nargis in interviews with foreign news groups.
More than 100 activists have been sentenced over the past two weeks in a judicial crackdown across the spectrum of Burma's pro-democracy movement.
Some people have been sentenced to terms as long as 65 years.
Many took part in protests against the ruling junta sparked by fuel and food price rises in August 2007
Zarganar led a group of entertainers who organised private aid deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit in May.
An outspoken satirist of the military government, Zarganar had already been arrested and jailed four times before he was taken from his home again by the authorities in June. BBC, 11-21-08

The request on November 20 by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for three rebel leaders believed to be responsible for attacks on international peacekeepers in Darfur is an important step toward protecting those who protect civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Repeated attacks on international peacekeepers have severely compromised the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations in Darfur. ...
Security concerns remain a serious obstacle for the joint AU-UN peacekeepers (UNAMID) who took over peacekeeping in Darfur on December 31, 2007. The new peacekeeping force has also repeatedly come under direct attack from both rebel and Sudanese government forces:
* On July 8, 2008, unknown attackers killed seven peacekeepers and wounded 22 in a government-controlled area of North Darfur.
* On two occasions in July, unknown attackers shot at patrols in West Darfur, killing a peacekeeper on July 16.
* On July 21, government forces assaulted and arrested a UNAMID security officer in El Fasher.
* In August and September, unknown gunmen fired on peacekeepers' helicopters on at least four occasions.
* On October 6, a group of peacekeepers were ambushed at Menawashei, 75 kilometers north of Nyala, during an assessment patrol from Nyala to Khor Abeche in South Darfur.
* On October 29, a peacekeeper was killed when UNAMID forces came under attack at a water point near the Kassab displaced persons camp in North Darfur.
* On November 9, a peacekeeping patrol was ambushed by a group of well-armed men near Geneina in West Darfur, wounding one peacekeeper.
The suspects have been charged with war crimes for: murder and causing severe injury to peacekeepers; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission; and pillaging. Human Rights Watch, 11-20-08

Most Recent Related Posts

Burma Crisis Update: A Blogger Gets 20 Years, 14 Democracy Activists Get 65 Years Each; Meanwhile, Business as Usual for Energy Giants

Darfur Crisis Update: Enough's Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

I encourage you to follow events in Burma on Irrawaddy.

I encourage you to follow events in Darfur on Mia Farrow's site, it is the real-time journal of a humanitarian at work; the content is compelling, insightful and fiercely independent.

For a directory of Words of Power Human Rights Updates, click here.

For a Words of Power Archive of posts on the Crisis in Darfur, click here.

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

Here are other sites of importance on the Crisis in Darfur:

Dream for Darfur

Enough: The Project to End Genocide and Mass Atrocities

Genocide Intervention Network

Divest for Darfur.

Save Darfur!

Darfur, Divestment, Enough, UN, Genocide, Mia Farrow, Dream for Darfur, Sudan, Investors Against Genocide, Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, Human Rights, Richard Power, Words of Power

Billions Short of Water, Oceans Decimated, Crop-Killing Clouds -- But Le Monde's Herve Kempf Diagnoses Real Threat, Can Obama Overcome It?

United States of Climate Change, Sightline

For Obama, “the science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear.” The president-elect promised a federal cap-and-trade system that would mandate that greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, and then reduced an additional 80 percent by 2050. The government, he said, would invest $15 billion annually “to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future,” a future that includes solar power, wind power, safe nuclear energy, next-generation biofuels, and “clean coal,” whatever that means. Christian Science Monitor, 11-19-08

Climate Crisis & Sustainability Update: Billions Short of Water, Oceans Decimated, Crop-Killing Clouds -- But Le Monde's Herve Kempf Diagnoses the Real Threat, Can Obama Overcome It?

By Richard Power

I do not doubt President-Elect Obama's sincere intention.

But we will soon see if his skillful graciousness toward two vanquished foes, Senators Lieberman and McCain, translates into meaningful support in the great legislative battles ahead. Both Lieberman and McCain have positioned themselves as champions of coming to grips with the Climate Crisis, they will have the opportunity to prove it in the coming year. (Like me, you are probably skeptical.)

There is no more time. The community of nations has to come to a real consensus in 2009, and then take immediate action. There is no sane alternative.

The environmental dangers mount day by day.

Three recent stories offer profoundly disturbing evidence:

Half the world's population could face a shortage of clean water by 2080 because of climate change .... Wong Poh Poh, a professor at the National University of Singapore, told a regional conference that global warming was disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms — all of which reduce the availability of drinking water. Eileen Ng, Associated Press, 11-18-08

... during the eight years the [Census of Marine Life] has run so far, scientists have documented that more than 90 percent of the oceans' top predators -- large sharks, tunas, swordfish, cod and others -- are now gone and those remaining are in serious trouble. "We're also seeing evidence of climate change with the shifting distribution of species," he said. Inter Press Service, 11-11-08

Enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia are killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops, the United Nations .... Car traffic, factory emissions and indoor cooking are among the culprits for the "Atmospheric Brown Clouds" ... Five Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) hotspots have been detected around the world, three of which are in Asia. Agence France Press, 11-13-08

Meanwhile, the political and economic will to face these dangers has yet to be tested in the corridors of US power.

In an excellent interview with Leslie Thatcher of Truthout, Herve Kempf, Le Monde's environmental editor and author of How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth explains the problem:

What do you see as the big differences between Europe and the United States with respect to social and environmental issues?
The European Union has been much less damaged by Reagan/Thatcher capitalism than the United States. ...
The oligarchy is less powerful in Europe than in the United States. Europe still enjoys effective social protections such as health care, social security, unemployment benefits and pensions.
In Europe, the state is not seen as the enemy of society. ...
The great paradox, however, is that it's the United States which has just elected perhaps the most progressive politician of all, one who is certainly ahead on social and environmental issues and supports the oligarchy less than European leaders Sarkozy, Merkel, Berlusconi and Brown. ...
The last major difference, however, and a crucial one, is that Europeans have far lower per-capita energy consumption than Americans and their environmental consciousness - even in France, Germany and the UK - seems far more advanced than here. Leslie Thatcher Interviews Herve Kempf, Truthout, 11-13-08

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

For the Words of Power Climate Crisis Updates Archive, click here.

Click here for access to great promotional tools available on The Eleventh Hour action page.

To sign the Live Earth Pledge, click here.

For analysis of the US mainstream news media's failure to treat global warming and climate change with accuracy or appropriae urgency, click here for Media Matters' compilation of "Myths and Falsehoods about Global Warming".

Want to participate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

Want to join over one million people on the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now? Click here.

Center for American Progress Action Fund's Mic Check Radio has released a witty and compelling compilation on the Top 100 Effects of Global Warming, organized into sections like "Global Warming Wrecks All the Fun" (e.g., "Goodbye to Pinot Noir," "Goodbye to Baseball," "Goodbye to Salmon Dinners," "Goodbye to Ski Vacations," etc.), "Global Warming Kills the Animals" (e.g., "Death March of the Penguins," "Dying Grey Whales," "Farewell to Frogs," etc.) and yes, "Global Warming Threatens Our National Security" (e.g., "Famine," "Drought," "Large-Scale Migrations," "The World's Checkbook," etc.) I urge you to utilize Top 100 Effects of Global Warming in your dialogues with friends, family and colleagues.

Barack Obama, Herve Kempf, Nuclear Energy,Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Human Rights, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth,Laurie David, Stop Global Warming!, The Eleventh Hour, Organic Gardening, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Late Night: Madonna -- Love Profusion

Hard Rain Late Night: Madonna -- Love Profusion



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

Madonna, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

Food Security Update: "Almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from year before"

Image: Frida Kahlo, Love Embrace of the Universe


Food Security Update: "Almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from year before ..."

Of course, the number is under-reported (although even one would be too many). This is a uniquely dangerous period for the children of the world, even in the USA. As Economic Insecurity deepens and the Climate Crisis quickens, more and more of them are at risk. -- Richard Power

New government figures show that almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from the year before to mark the highest point since 1998. And that's even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.
The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than double the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.
Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.
Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger." Raw Story, 11-17-08

To read the full USDA report, click here.

Some Related Posts

Food Security: Tell the G-8, "Listen to Your Madre!"

The Monstrous, Two-Headed Crisis of Climate Change & Sustainability is Devouring the World's Food Before It Is Produced

Madness of Pursuing Last Drop of Peak Oil, Instead of 21st Century Renewable Energy Model, has Caught Up w/ Us -- the Food Security Fuse has Been Lit

More on How Our Climate & Sustainability Crises Impact Food Security: “Once the oceans are gone, we’re gone. The oceans sustain the planet.”

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

Food Security, USDA, Economic Security, Richard Power, Words of Power

Economic Insecurity Update: Stiglitz & Soros Speak Truth, While Tone-Deaf Nero Fiddles Out-of-Tune Encore for G-20

Migrant Mother/Pea-Picker in the Dust Bowl, Photo by Dorothea Lange, 1936


Economic Insecurity Update: Stiglitz & Soros Speak Truth, While Tone-Deaf Nero Fiddles Out-of-Tune Encore for G-20

By Richard Power

According to the Financial Times, this 21st Century Nero's "hopes for success at the international financial summit this weekend are likely to be limited to preventing tougher regulations on US-style capitalism."

Well, while this tone-deaf, 21st Century Nero fiddles his out-of-tune encore to the G-20, against a backdrop of economic and environmental disaster; those, like Joseph Stiglitz and George Soros, who understand the music of life, are speaking out.

Nobel prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, writing in Der Spiegel:

To too great extent, there has been a race to the bottom in accordance with the myth that deregulation breeds innovation. Instead, the innovation was greatest when it came to getting around the regulations designed to ensure good information and a safe and sound financial system. ...
Financial market regulators, at both the national and international level, have failed. To a large extent, Basel II, the new framework of bank regulation, was based on self-regulation, itself an oxymoron. Banks have shown that they are not up to the task of managing their own risk. But even if they had, there is the more fundamental problem of systemic risk.
The current global financial architecture hasn't been working well. But more than that, it is unfair, especially to the developing countries. They will be among the innocent victims of this global crisis that wears the “made in America” label. ... We need a new financial facility to help the developing countries, one whose governance reflects the realities of today. Going forward, this new facility might lead to deeper reforms at the IMF. Such a facility needs to be created quickly, but if experts from the finance ministries and central banks are loaned out to this new institution, it could be up and running in short order.
There are further reforms that need to be undertaken. ... Joseph Stiglitz, Der Spiegel, 11-12-08

George Soros, "financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist," testifying before the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

* Said "a deep recession is now inevitable and the possibility of a depression cannot be ruled out."
* Said hedge funds were an integral part of the financial market bubble which now has burst.
* Said hedge funds will be "decimated" by the current financial crisis and forced to shrink their portfolios by 50-75 percent.
* Said Fed, Treasury Department and the SEC must accept responsibility to prevent market bubbles from growing too big in future.
Said impossible to prevent market bubbles from forming, but they can be kept within "tolerable bounds."
* Said financial engineering should be regulated and new products approved by regulators, and that such regulation should be a high priority of the new Obama administration.
* Said a recent IMF credit facility not large enough to stabilize markets. Reuters, 11-13-08

Some Posts Related to Economic Security

Economic Insecurity Update: Woods & Forests Are Being Felled Mercilessly, We Will Miss None More Than Bretton Woods

Economic Insecurity Update: Breaking It Down -- The Shock Doctrine Full-Throttle

From Wall Street to Galveston: "Sometimes the aftermath of the storm is worse than the storm itself ..."

Economic Insecurity: Will the Cult of Milton Friedman (and Hidden High Priestess, Ayn Rand) be Smashed? -- "None of This Had to Happen ..."

Economic Insecurity: Stiglitz on the Three Trillion Dollar War; Its Devastating Impact & Its True Winners

Economic Insecurity Update: False Religion of Laissez-Faire & Milton Friedman, Its Most Persuasive Cult Leader, Have Led Us to a Monetary Jonestown

Economic Security Update: Brazilian Super Model Gisele Bundchen Joins Warren Buffet in Ditching the Dollar

Economic Security Update: "What do Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen and the People's Republic of China have in common?"

Randi Rhodes Interviews Naomi Klein -- "Not just the craziness of the Bush gang ... the logical culmination of a 25 year war on the state ..."

Hard Rain Journal 5-22-07: Economic Security -- Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying

Hard Rain Journal 6-6-07: Future Economic Security, Both Short Term & Long Term, Requires Choosing Conscience & Common Sense Over Racketeering

Hard Rain Journal 10-30-06: Economic Security -- GAO Chief Warns Economic Disaster Looms

SPECIAL EDITION: Words of Power Interviews Nomi Prins, Author of "Jacked: How 'Conservatives' are Picking Your Pocket"

SPECIAL EDITION: Generation Debt -- Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young, Words of Power Interviews Anya Kamenetz

For the Words of Power Climate Crisis Updates Archive, click here.

George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, Words of Power, Shock Doctrine, Disaster Capitalism

Hard Rain Late Night: Donovans & Friends -- Atlantis (Smothers Brothers Show, 1968)

Hard Rain Late Night: Donovan & Friends -- Atlantis (Smothers Brothers Show, 1968)



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

Donovan, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

Burma Crisis Update: A Blogger Gets 20 Years, 14 Democracy Activists Get 65 Years Each; Meanwhile, Business as Usual for Energy Giants

Image: Aung San Suu Kyi, TIME 100


Burma Crisis Update: A Blogger Gets 20 Years, 14 Democracy Activists Get 65 Years Each; Meanwhile, Business as Usual for Energy Giants

By Richard Power

I have not written about Burma in a few weeks. Not because the crisis has ended, far from it. But simply because there have been no new developments worthy of note, good or bad. Just a continuum of misery. Until now, and this news is bad.

At least 14 democracy activists, including three Generation 88 student leaders, who participated in the 2007 protests were sentenced to 65 year prison terms.

A young blogger, who was responsible for getting the truth out to the world during the uprising, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

No one should go to prison for advocating democracy in their own country, no one should go to prison for practicing free speech on the Internet -- not even for one year, not even for one moment.

The cruel sentences meted out to these brave dissidents prove that the Burmese thugocracy has no intention whatsoever of loosening its grip or changing its ways.

The sentences also prove that those governments and corporations that posture and pontificate while continuing to do business with the thugocracy are, at best, engaged in ineffectual efforts, or worse (and more likely), simply providing cosmetic cover for their own profit-driven agendas.

It is tragic, both for those who will suffer and for those who do not realize that when they are culpable in the infliction of such suffering, they also do irreparable damage to themselves.

Here are brief excerpts from the two news stories, with links to the full texts:

A young Burmese blogger who was a major source of information for the outside world on the brutal regime crackdown on the September 2007 uprising was sentenced to 20 years and six months imprisonment on Monday.
Nay Phone Latt, 28, was sentenced by a court in Rangoon’s Insein Prison, according to his mother, Aye Than. He was convicted of contravening Public Offense Act 505 B by posting a cartoon depicting junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe on his blog site. Irrawaddy, 11-10-08

Today's sentencing of at least 14 dissidents who took part in the 2007 anti-government demonstrations--each to 65 years in prison--is a powerful reminder that Myanmar's military government is ignoring calls by the international community to reverse its shameful human rights record, Amnesty International said.
"In the midst of its so-called 'Roadmap to Democracy,' the government of Myanmar reveals its true intentions by sentencing these dissidents for nothing more than peacefully expressing their views during last year's demonstrations," said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher.
Three of those sentenced are Min Zeya, Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Ko Jimmy), and Ko Jimmy's wife, Nilar Thein. They are prominent 88 Generation Students group leaders who spearheaded the pro-democracy uprising in Myanmar 20 years ago. Their sentences today were related to their involvement in the 2007 demonstrations, popularly known as the "Saffron Revolution." Additional charges against them remain outstanding. Amnesty International, 11-11-08

Some Burma-Related Words of Power Posts

While Palin Rattles A Saber She Should Not Have Been Given; Aung San Suu Kyi Quietly, Peacefully Delivers Another Blow to the Burmese Thugocracy

Weigh the Coverage of Sarah Palin's Ascension Against the Coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi's Hunger Strike & Ask Yourself What Happened to Your Culture?

"Over 200 insurance companies have stated they do not provide (re)insurance services to companies operating in Burma. They have set an example ..."

1,000 Tibetans Disappeared, Almost 100% of Darfur Refugee Women Raped, Volunteer Grave-Diggers Arrested By Burma's Junta; Still Going to the Olympics?

From Katmandu to Karthoum, from Burma to Beltwayistan, the Conscience of the World Seems Cut-Off from Action; Here's How to Break the Spell

The Bitter, Urgent Lessons of Burma & Darfur

Burma Crisis Update: One Question -- Is Aung San Suu Kyi Alive and Safe in the Chaotic Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis?

Burma Crisis Update: Perhaps Chevron Should Re-Name the Yadana Pipeline After Condolezza Rice?

Why Protecting the People of Darfur, Tibet & Burma is in Our Own Self-Interest; & What These Crises Tell Us about Our Own Slide into the Pit

Don't Forget Darfur, Tibet or Burma This Summer, Don't Forget Men & Women of US Military Either; Reflections On Speaker Pelosi's Visit to Dharmsala

Burma Crisis Update: Non-Violent, Democratic Resistance of Burmese People Offers Stark Contrast to US Political Scene

Burma Crisis Update: Talk is Cheap, Business as Usual; On Martin Luther King Day -- Remember Aung San Suu Kyi

In Burma & Sudan, Business As Usual -- What Must & Can Be Done Now!

Burma Crisis Update 11-10-07: Amnesty International on "Grave & Ongoing Human Rights Violations"; Alternate Media Vital to Resistance

Burma Crisis Update: An Open Letter to the Executives of Chevron

Burma Crisis Update: Two Weeks Into the Crackdown, China Has Not Tempered the Thugocracy's Hand; Chevron Has Not Even Slapped Its Wrist

Human Rights Update 10-6-07: Chevron, Condoleeza Rice & the Burmese Thugocracy

Human Rights Update: Blackwater, Burma, Darfur & You

Human Rights Watch to Business: "Keeping quiet while monks & other peaceful protesters are murdered & jailed is not ... constructive engagement."

Human Rights Update: Blackwater, Burma, Darfur & You

Hard Rain Journal 9-27-07: Aung San Suu Kyi was Elected in 1990, Al Gore was Elected in 2000 -- Consider What Has Befallen Both Countries Since

For a directory of Words of Power Human Rights Updates, click here.

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, Human Rights, Richard Power, Words of Power

Human Rights Watch, OXFAM & others call on world to "take immediate action to protect civilians who are at severe risk in eastern Congo"

Read Mission Song. John Le Carre's extraordinary thriller about the Congo.Click here for the Buzzflash review.

Human Rights Watch, OXFAM & others call on world to "take immediate action to protect civilians who are at severe risk in eastern Congo"

By Richard Power

The misery deepens -- yet again.

War could engulf Africa's Great Lakes region -- yet again.

Human Rights, OXFAM, Enough, the Norwegian Refugee Council and other organizations are calling on the world to "take immediate action to protect civilians who are at severe risk in eastern Congo."

In this incredible tale of woe, there are profound lessons that few seem willing to even acknowledge, let alone act upon.

So many business and political leaders shake their heads in despair and say there is nothing they can do.

And yet somehow, the weapons continue to flow into the region; and somehow, the natural resources continue to flow out.

Here are excerpts from two important stories, with links to the full text:

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on the brink of slipping back into the kind of devastating international war that raged from 1998 to 2003, according to one of the architects of the Great Lakes peace accords.
Jan van Eck, a former member of parliament in South Africa's African National Congress government, and a negotiator for 12 years in the troubled central African region, told IRIN: "The only solution people are trying is the use of military force. There is no military solution to this [the eastern DRC] whatsoever."
A year ago, he predicted another major conflict in eastern Congo, despite the comprehensive peace accords signed in 2003, arising from Rwanda's failure to grant full political rights to returning Hutus, some of whom had fled in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. IRIN, 11-7-08

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other African and international leaders meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, this weekend should take immediate action to protect civilians who are at severe risk in eastern Congo, 10 human rights and humanitarian agencies, including Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, ENOUGH and the Norwegian Refugee Council, amongst others, said today. The agencies also called on the European Union (EU), whose foreign ministers are to meet in Brussels on November 10, to send immediate reinforcements to the beleaguered UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, whose forces have been unable to halt abuses against civilians. A quarter of a million people have been forced to flee their homes since late August 2008 as a result of intense fighting between the forces of rebel general Laurent Nkunda and Congolese army soldiers and their allied militia. People have dispersed over a vast, inhospitable area without access to shelter, water, food, and medicines. The fighting has severely hampered the ability of aid agencies to reach those in need. With renewed fighting in the last two days, many more have been forced to run again in search of safety.
"The world cannot look away again as thousands suffer in eastern Congo. The people of Congo deserve more," said Juliette Prodhan, head of Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We have had fine words and important meetings but these must now be put into action by providing additional troops to safeguard the people. We need more urgency, more action and more commitment." Human Rights Watch, 11-7-08

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

For a directory of Words of Power Human Rights Updates, click here.

Congo, OXFAM, Enough, Human Rights Watch, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Late Night: Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15, No. 2 Performed by Rachmaninoff

Hard Rain Late Night: Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15, No. 2 Performed by Rachmaninoff



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

Darfur Crisis Update: Enough's Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

For More Compelling Photos from Mia Farrow's Journeys, click here.

Darfur Crisis Update: Enough's Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

By Richard Power

In the name of Enough, John Prendergast, John Norris and Jerry Fowler have written a letter to President Elect Obama:

The message of Sudan activists all over The United States is clear:
* Don’t try to contain the damage from the war in Darfur—end the war.
* Don’t just declare that genocide is taking place—end the genocide.
* Don’t just manage the consequences of crisis after crisis in Sudan—end these crises.
In short, President-Elect Obama must lead a concerted international peace surge for Sudan, and diplomacy must be backed by well-conceived and consistently escalating pressure on Khartoum and other combatants to create the proper conditions for a lasting peace. More effective protection of civilians and continued steps toward accountability for crimes against humanity, which are vital in their own right, will help advance this peace surge.
Five-and-a-half years into Darfur’s crisis, and three-and-a-half years after the signing of a peace deal for southern Sudan (the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA), there is no prospect of a peace deal for Darfur and no coherent effort to ensure that the CPA gets implemented. This is a damning indictment of U.S. and international efforts in Sudan to date. Despite an abundance of rhetoric, it is clear to all parties, including the Sudanese government, that the United States government and its international partners are content simply to manage the consequences of the crisis in Sudan, rather than resolve the situation. Enough, 11-6-08

I encourage you to follow events in Darfur on Mia Farrow's site, it is the real-time journal of a humanitarian at work; the content is compelling, insightful and fiercely independent.

For a Words of Power Archive of posts on the Crisis in Darfur, click here.

Here are other sites of importance:

Dream for Darfur

Enough: The Project to End Genocide and Mass Atrocities

Genocide Intervention Network

Divest for Darfur.

Save Darfur!

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

Darfur, Divestment, Enough, UN, Genocide, Mia Farrow, Dream for Darfur, Sudan, Investors Against Genocide, Richard Power, Words of Power

Campaign '08 Summary: Beyond Grant Park -- Many Rivers to Cross

Image: La Liberté guidant le peuple par Eugène Delacroix (1830) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Anti-Americanism will not suddenly, magically disappear. but it will have a harder time surviving and it will be forced to revisit its sales pitch. Will there be a planetary shock wave? Another New Deal, a geopolitical one? One thing is certain, the new president will feel a meta-historical weight on his shoulders: never before has an American election aroused in the rest of the world so much wild yet reasonable hope." Bernard-Henri Levy, Financial Times, 11-6-08

In his message, His Holiness wrote, “I am encouraged that the American people have chosen a President who reflects America's diversity and her fundamental ideal that any person can rise up to the highest office in the land. This is a proud moment for America and one that will be celebrated by many peoples around the world.” H.H. Dalai Lama, Tibet Post International, 11-5-08

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference. Barack Obama, Grant Park, 11-4-08

Campaign '08 Summary: Many Rivers to Cross

By Richard Power

Yes, there is "wild but reasonable hope" in the air.

Even though the economic crisis is dire, and the environmental crisis is even more serious.

As evidence I refer you to that sea of hundreds of thousands of jubilant patriots in Grant Park on the night of the election. Some of them were waving huge US flags from tall poles, rippling in the chill Chicago night.

They were not chanting "Drill, baby, drill."

They were thunderously welcoming the President-Elect, a decent young man who was raised on food stamps and taught constitutional law for several years.

For more evidence, I refer you to the Electoral College results.

Now we know it wasn't just Ohio, Florida, Colorado and Virginia, it was also Indiana and North Carolina. In other words, the 2008 US presidential election was a rout.

But you won't hear the words "rout" or "landslide" or "blow-out" on the air waves in the US.

If, on the other hand, you take a glance at front page of London's Financial Times, you will get some perspective:

"Popular vote landmark: First Democratic candidate since Carter to exceed 50%"

"Republicans begin soul-searching after heaviest defeat in popular vote for 44 years."

At the end of 2007, with the publication of Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in an Era of Global Crisis, I wrote about the deadlines that loomed ahead, "Will the USA choose reason or madness in 2008? Will UN peacekeepers halt the genocide in Darfur? Will the governments of the world achieve a meaningful accord on global warming by 2009, or stumble again as in Kyoto and Bali? Will the UN Millennium Development Goals be achieved by 2015? Will humanity rise to the challenges of overpopulation, water scarcity and other sustainability issues?

Well, the US chose reason over madness.

There is a lot of work to be done.

But in his twenty-two month campaign for the White House, Obama exhibited brilliance in both strategy and tactics, together with a subtle blend of pragmatism and moral integrity; if he brings those qualities to the challenges of governing, then I am confident that the promise of change will evolve into the reality of progress.

And no matter what happens, the most urgent goal of our collective endeavor has been achieved -- the republic has been given a temporary reprieve (although if we do not take advantage of it, we will deserve what befalls us when the reprieve ends).

The US Senate and House of Representatives will certainly benefit from the defeat of numerous denizens who unquestioningly enabled the national security, economic and environmental debacles of the last eight years.

Moving forward, Words of Power will focus on the other important deadlines I identified in Left-Handed Security:

In 2009, the nations of the world must reach a serious and sweeping agreement on swift and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. There is also urgent need to action on the world water crisis and other life or death sustainability issues.

And in 2015, the world's vow to cut extreme poverty in half, deliver universal primary education and the other UN Millennium Development Goals will come due.

And, of course, every tomorrow is another failed deadline on Darfur.

The republic has been placed on the road to renewal, now the planet cries out for rescue.



For an archive of Words of Power posts on Campaign '08, click here.

For the Words of Power Climate Crisis Updates Archive, click here.

For an archive of Words of Power posts on the UN Millennium Goals, click here.

For a Words of Power Archive of posts on the Crisis in Darfur, click here.

I encourage you to follow events in Darfur on Mia Farrow's site, it is the real-time journal of a humanitarian at work; the content is compelling, insightful and fiercely independent.

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

Darfur, UN Millennium Goals, Sustainability, Mia Farrow,
Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Indiana, Barack Obama, Colorado, Indiana, Virginia, Climate Change, Richard Power, Words of Power

Hard Rain Late Night: Sinead O'Connor & the Chieftains -- The Foggy Dew

Hard Rain Late Night: Sinead O'Connor & the Chieftains -- The Foggy Dew



Click here for Hard Rain Late Night Music Video -- Archive

Sinead O'Connor, Late Night, Music, Richard Power, Words of Power

Campaign '08 Update: Random Courage & Senseless Acts of Conscience

Jefferson Memorial at Sunset


“Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them.” Carlos Castaneda

Campaign '08 Update: Random Courage & Senseless Acts of Conscience

By Richard Power

Over the next 48 hours, those of us who have lived with our eyes open, and our voices raised, for the last eight years will be struggling to keep dread in check and hope on hold. The stolen elections of 2000 and 2004 cannot be forgotten. (Click here to refresh the bitter memory.) But neither can the world's hope that the USA will choose reason over madness. (Click here to re-live an extraordinary moment.)

Yes, Clinton-Gore built a "bridge to the future." (Of course, it had some hidden tolls that many of us did not acknowledge, i.e., Telecommunications Act, NAFTA, etc. But it was a bridge nonetheless.)

Bush-Cheney dragged the nation, kicking and screaming, back across into the 20th Century, and then in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, they dynamited and demolished that bridge.

McCain-Palin say, "My friends, there is no way to forge the divide ahead. The only way forward is to go back. Come with us deep into the 19th Century!"

There is no sane alternative to electing Obama-Biden. The nation wants a change of course, and has confidence in the Democratic ticket. Every indicator shows this to be true. The people of the world (except for those who benefit from our blunders) desperately want it too.

But what will happen if this election is stolen?

There is evidence that the Rovian machine is running on empty. Its operatives are antsy and unhinged. Its leadership is conflicted.

But the Sun Tzus of human history say NEVER to assume a powerful adversary is finished until he is utterly vanquished, and Rove has not even been held accountable for contempt of Congress.

Do you remember the phrase about practicing "random kindness and senseless acts of beauty"?

Well, over these last hectic 48 hours, we will need many "random courage and senseless acts of conscience."

Here are some encouraging from the last few days --

An agreement reached late yesterday before a federal judge in Colorado ensures that tens of thousands of Colorado voters illegally purged from the registration lists will have their votes counted. The decision was hailed by voting rights and good-government groups in Colorado and nationwide as a victory for voters and a clear message to election officials must take the necessary steps to make sure that ballots cast by eligible voters must be counted.
"This is a major victory for voters. All eligible Colorado voters who followed the rules should have confidence that on November 4th they will be able to vote and their vote will be counted," said Ben Monterroso, national director of Mi Familia Vota. Brennan Center for Justice, 10-30-08

Despite pressure from Ohio Republicans and President George W. Bush, the Justice Department has declined to intervene in a voter dispute in Ohio that could have purged at least 200,000 voters from registration rolls.
Jamie Hais, a spokesman for the civil rights division, said the Justice Department has been "in discussion" with Ohio’s Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and is satisfied she has taken steps to ensure compliance with federal laws on voter eligibility. Public Record, 10-30-08

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents. Crooks and Liars, 10-28-08

[Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R)] announced an extension of early voting hours in Florida, because high turnout was causing the usual confusions and awful waits and accusations of disenfranchisement. The Republican legislature had restricted them to 8 hours a day on weekdays (so basically, if you have a job you cannot vote) and 8 hours total on weekends (so the weekend lines are so interminably long you give up). Now polls will be open 12 hours a day on weekdays and 12 hours total this coming weekend!
This is good for Democracy, but bad for Republicans. Ben Smith writes, “‘[Crist] just blew Florida for John McCain,’ one plugged in Florida Republican just told me.” Wonkette

If the worst happens Tuesday night, start waving around this "Open Letter to Sen. Obama," signed by Gore Vidal and others --

Saturday, November 01, 2008
Obama: DO NOT CONCEDE!
From David Swanson:
Gore Vidal et al to Obama: Do Not Concede!
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/37295
An Open Letter to Senator Obama and the Democratic Leadership:
On Election Night, DO NOT CONCEDE!
"Eight years is too much" is how Barack Obama explained why we must win the coming election and begin to restore America. But, even if we receive the most votes, will we win the election?
DO NOT CONCEDE!
Both of the last two elections were conceded by the Democratic presidential candidate. The 2004 election was handed to George Bush while votes were still being counted in closely-fought Ohio. While the 2000 election was contested to the Supreme Court, it too was ultimately conceded to Bush "for the good of the country."
Some good.
Numerous politicians, investigators and authors, including Robert Kennedy, Jr., agree the 2004 election was stolen, not only in Ohio but in several other battleground states. Tactics included purging of legitimate voters and the use of nefarious voting software--but when even these actions did not yield the required numbers, Republican election officials simply changed the vote tallies in several states, all without a peep from the Democratic Party.
DO NOT CONCEDE!
In the time since the last general election the public has learned much about these scandals, which have led some states to reject electronic touchscreen voting (and which caused the infamous Diebold voting machines corporation to hide behind a new corporate name,) yet the Democratic Party seems to have learned nothing.
THREE STRIKES AND WE'RE OUT!
If we cannot afford another Republican administration, we cannot afford a third concession in the face of election fraud. Already there is evidence of massive fraud such as voter purging and caging of Democratic voters, and "flipping" of votes in early voting on electronic touchscreen machines. It is reasonable to once again
expect further manipulation on election night by some Republican operatives and election officials, as was seen in 2004; should we also expect our Democratic Party leaders and candidates to repeat history, by once again conceding in the face of such blatant fraud?
Senator Obama, we need you, our Party and all candidates to stand firm, come what may on election night. You ask us to work for you, contribute to you--and to have your back; we ask that you promise to have our back: We ask that you PLEDGE TO STAND FIRM, AND NOT CONCEDE THE COMING ELECTION in the face of election irregularities, no matter how long it takes to contest such fraud, while there remains any doubt as to any part of the process. Be assured, Democratic voters will be more--not less--energized if we see you promise to stand firm.
Senator Obama, if there is any reason to contest the election, DO NOT CONCEDE!
Signed: (Titles for identification purposes only)
* Gore Vidal, Author
* Bob Fitrakis, Professor of Political Science, Columbus State Community College, Attorney; Editor of The Free Press (freepress.org)
* Harvey Wasserman, Senior Editor, FreePress.org, Author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth
* Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, Author of Fooled Again, How the Right Stole the 2004 Election
* Tim Carpenter, Director, Progressive Democrats of America
* Mimi Kennedy, Chair, National Advisory Board, Progressive Democrats of America
* David Swanson, Co-Founder, After Downing Street
* Eric Bauman, Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party
* Garry S. Shay, Member, Democratic National Committee (CA) Lead Chair, Rules Committee, California Democratic Party
* Jo Olson, MD, Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
* Mal Burnstein, Co-Chair, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
* Marcy Winograd, Executive Board representative, California Democratic Party, 41st AD, Former Chair, Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles
* David Earnhardt, Filmmaker, "Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections"
* Don Goldmacher, Chair, Election Integrity, Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party
* Michael Jay, Progressive Democrats of America, Special Projects, Former Delegate, California Democratic Party, 42nd AD
* Sheri Myers, Director, "Wake Up and Save Your Country"
* Robert A. Feuer, Former Chairman, Stockbridge, MA Town Democratic Committee
* Thomas Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Region 3 Vice Chair, Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair, Irish American Caucus, California Democratic Party
* Howard Jennings, PDA-Virginia, State Co-Coordinator
* Sarah Stott, Chapter Chair, PDA-Virginia
* Lisa Pease, Co-editor, "The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X"
* Cindy Asner, Former Delegate, California Democratic Party, Member, National Advisory Board, Progressive Democrats of America
* Julie Lopez Dad, President, Santa Monica Democratic Club, Chair, 41st AD Committee, Los Angeles County Democratic Party
* Dr. Bill Honigman, PDA California State Coordinator and Orange County Chapter Leader, Delegate, California Democratic Party, 73rd AD
* Linda Milazzo, Senior Editor, OpEdNews.com, Blogger, Huffington Post
* Rady Ananda, Senior Editor, OpEdNews.com
* Jan Baumgartner, Managing Editor, OpEdNews.com
* Cheryl Biren-Wright, Managing Editor, OpEdNews.com
* Sherry Healy, Co-Founder California Election Protection Network, Coordinator, Election Defense Alliance
* Laura Bonham, Summit County, UT Democratic Party Chairperson
* Albert E. Fairchild, Retired Foreign Service Officer
* Dorathea Peters, Precinct Captain, Alexandria, VA Democratic Committee Notes from the Underground, 11-1-08

Visit Steal Back Your Vote, download the comic book, distribute it to everyone you know who gives a damn.

To follow developments in election security issues on a daily basis, I refer you to the fantastic work of both Brad Friedman (Brad Blog) and Mark Crispin Miller (Notes from the Underground).

Richard Power's Left-Handed Security: Overcoming Fear, Greed & Ignorance in This Era of Global Crisis is available now! Click here for more information.

For the Words of Power Archive of Election Security Posts, click here.

For an archive of Words of Power posts on Campaign '08, click here.

Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Charlie Crist, Barack Obama, Robert Mukasey, Indiana, Mark Crispin Miller, Information Warfare, Cyber Security, Voting, Elections,Election, Vote, Vote Fraud, fraud, cybercrime, cyber crime,Election SecurityRichard Power, Words of Power