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By Posted on Posted in Politics, Social and Economic Justice

The week of attacks on First Amendment freedom in the streets of St Paul is finally over–a shameful episode in American history. But the legal struggles have only just begun. I’ve already referred to the riot charges brought up against legitimate journalists for Democracy Now, the AP, and elsewhere who were just trying to do their very important job: covering what was really going on at the RNC.

Those cases, if not dismissed, will drag on for years, and suck away resources that should be used for reporting.

Now comes word that eight activists have been charged with “conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism”–for nothing worse than planning to block some streets, as county officials were well aware–they had infiltrated the organizing groups for up to a year (a crime in itself).

Sound like Chicago in 1968? These activists are facing serious time, even as no one seems to be holding accountable the police who ran rampant and created a climate of fear before and during the convention week.

Let’s listen to the father of one of the eight, interviewed on Democracy Now (you can read the entire interview at the above link:

AMY GOODMAN: David Bicking, your daughter Monica is one of the eight. First, can you talk about her, talk about her activities?

DAVID BICKING: Yeah. My daughter Monica is a wonderful person, very concerned—

AMY GOODMAN: How old is she?

DAVID BICKING: —very committed. She’s twenty-three. And she and all the people—I mean, the people they have charged here are not criminals. They’re some of the best people in our society. She’s really dedicated to her activism. She’s experienced activist already. She’s come about this through her own experience in her life over a long time. She is always concerned about the feelings of others.

She has done some travel abroad. And when she was eight, we were in Ecuador for four weeks, and she saw the poverty and the children begging, but also humanized it by playing with the children, the maids in the, you know, inexpensive hotels there. She has—went to Honduras for eight weeks after her junior year to work in a very remote village, humanitarian work.

After high school, she took off a year before college and worked as an intern with the American Friends Service Committee, which is a Quaker peace group. She was based in Chicago and helped in their organizing and their peace work and liaison with other groups.

So she has a lot of experience, and she’s really seen what it means when—you know, the United States’ actions through war, through injustice at home, through poverty and how that’s affected people’s lives. And it’s affected her very deeply. And so, she’s strong. She’ll get through this one way or the other.

AMY GOODMAN: Is she still in jail?

DAVID BICKING: She is still in jail right now.

AMY GOODMAN: When was she picked up? How was she picked up?

DAVID BICKING: She was picked up on Saturday morning at 8:00 in the morning. She was staying in her house, which she had just bought a month before. And there were several roommates there and a whole bunch of people who had come in for the week. And at 8:00 in the morning, they were woken out of a sound sleep. The police came banging through the back door, held everyone at gunpoint. They had automatic weapons, assault rifles, forced everybody—ordered them to the floor, face down, handcuffed them behind their backs and then proceeded to search the entire house, just ransack everything.

When I got there forty-five minutes later, she and her boyfriend Eryn and a housemate, Garrett, were already in one of these big black SUVs they have, you know, and were taken off to jail just after that. And then, for the next hour or so, they released the other people in the house one by one, after photographing them, checking ID and searching them.

Then the search of the house went on for another like six hours probably, as they carted all sort of stuff out of the house. I watched, you know, as they took things out of the garage. There were old tires. I suppose those could be burned someplace. You know, there were just the sort of things homeowners would have, especially people fixing up a house. Many cans of paint, each which was patiently labeled and loaded onto the truck. It was just an absurd, absurd overreaction.

Are they going to try to tell us that Quaker peace activists are considered terrorists now? For shame!

You can be part of the movement to demand that charges against both the 8 and the journalists be dropped immediately, as outlined in this email from Democracy Now (note that you have to replace the spaces at written out word “at” with the @ sign:

Here’s the letter I sent in response to this appeal:

I am totally appalled that working journalists were arrested arbitrarily during the RNC. I have watched the video of Amy Goodman’s arrest and do not see how the simple act of asking to speak to the officer in charge in order to help her just-arrested colleagues was in any way arrest-worthy. I find the unnecessary force used by the police objectionable. And I find the act of ripping a journalist’s credentials off her neck and telling her she won’t be needing it to be straight out of Kafka.

I am even more appalled that the terrorism conspiracy statute was dredged up for the first time against Quaker peace activists who were in no way terrorists. Blocking a street is not akin to bombing a building. And the right to dissent is fundamental.

Tens of thousands of young Americans have died to protect our freedom. When the government tries to suppress peaceful protest and censor/arrest journalists covering that protest, I have to wonder if those brave young men and women died in vain. As a business owner, an author, and an American, I urge you to remember the Bill of rights, the Constitution as a whole, and the importance of safeguarding our democracy.

The U.S. is not supposed to act like some two-bit totalitarian country where freedom doesn’t exist. Drop the charges.

CONTACT THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE – DEMAND THAT ALL CHARGES OR POTENTIAL
CHARGES BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED:
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner
janet.hafner@co.ramsey.mn.us and
susan.gaertner@co.ramsey.mn.us
(cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)
651-266-3079

Susan Gaertner for Governor
info at susangaertner.com (cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)
(612) 978-8625
(612)804-6156

St. Paul Mayor Christopher B. Coleman
chris.coleman@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Bob.Hume@ci.stpaul.mn.us
sara.grewing@ci.stpaul.mn.us
(cc: dropthecharges at democracynow.org)

Make your voice heard in the Ramsey County Attorney and St. Paul Mayor’s
offices. Demand that they drop all pending and current charges against
journalists arrested while reporting on protests outside the Republican
National Conventions.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office is in the process of deciding
whether or not to press felony P.C. (probable cause) riot charges
against Democracy Now! Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole
Salazar. Please contact Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner by all
means possible to demand that her office not press charges against
Kouddous and Salazar.

The St. Paul City Attorney’s office has already charged Amy Goodman with
misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace
officer. Contact St. Paul Mayor Christopher Coleman by all means
possible to demand that the charges against Goodman be dropped immediately.

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful
detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried
out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the
Republican National Convention.

During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested,
law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion
grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several
dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, as was a
photographer for the Associated Press.

IMPORTANT
Be sure to cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org on all emails so that our
team can deliver print outs of your messages to the St. Paul City
Attorney, the Mayor and Ramsey County Attorney offices.

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By Posted on Posted in Politics

Listening to Democracy Now this morning, hearing the jubilant interviewees at the RNC who saw one of their own in the VP seat, I had an insight.

When the nomination was announced, I assumed this was a craven attempt to capture disaffected Hillary Clinton voters–but now I think that had nothing to do with this particular political calculus. it doesn’t take a whole lot of brainpower to suspect there won’t be a heck of a lot of Hillary voters who would choose a candidate who is anti-choice, anti-Green, pro-war just because he’d chosen a running mate that happens to have two X chromosomes, even though she’s well to the right of even McCain (who is no liberal).

But what I didn’t think about is the instant street cred this gave McCain with Bush’s base: the arch-conservatives. They were not excited about McCain, and rumor had a lot of them planning to sit this one out. Now, they’re energized. They’ll vote, they’ll send money, they’ll campaign actively. In a single stroke, he makes the race a lot more competitive, and has the added benefit of something that brings in the disability advocacy community.

But…here’s my insight: The ultra-right likes this pick because they think McCain has a very good chance of dying in office.

McCain, at 72, has a long history of health problems. If he is dead or incapacitated, Sarah Palin is the wet dream of the radical conservatives. She ardently opposes abortion (and I’ll give her credit for this–chose to bring her own baby to term knowing he had Downs, so on this matter at least she lives her principles), believes in teaching creation, waves her NRA membership around proudly, censors books…and for this, they are willing to forgive much:

  • The fiscal irresponsibility and ruination of the character of the town of her years as Wasilla’s mayor
  • A long track record of petty vindictiveness and a very spotty record on ethics
  • A clear attraction to pork-barrel special-interest politics
  • Her daughter’s illegitimate pregnancy
  • The possibility that her own first child might have been conceived out of wedlock (Track Palin was born just 7 months, 21 days after the wedding–isn’t that unusual for a first pregnancy?)

    That last should be easy to check. If Track Palin, her oldest son, was a premie, there should be some significant medical evidence of neonatal intensive care. Any investigative reporters want to work on that?

    It is a bit ironic that all these people who’ve been screaming their highly intolerant definition of family values for decades suddenly find tolerance in this case. I personally don’t care who Palin slept with or when, but I find the hypocrisy very revealing.

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics, Social and Economic Justice

    Things continue to be ugly in Saint Paul at the Republican National Convention. Watch this video of police seizing the living/working permaculture demonstration bus from activists, not allowing them to remove any of their possessions except for their chickens and dogs–which were left with the bus residents on the side of a highway as cops hauled the bus away–and not giving anything resembling a valid reason for their action.

    And not much prettier on the convention floor, where Sarah Palin made an absolutely despicable speech attacking Obama last night. Among other things, she said, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” Obama, of course, got his start as a community organizer. As did I, and I don’t appreciate the jab.

    And I see they’re trotting out the L-Word again–here’s former presidential candidate Fred Thompson at the RNC:

    the Democrats present a history-making nominee for president, history-making in that he’s the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president.

    Now it’s time for Obama–who has been remarkably classy in attacking the McCain-Bush policies while commending McCain’s personal commitment and his patriotism to say what Dukakis should have said in 1988.

    “Liberals gave us the 8-hour day and workplace protection safeguards instead of 12 or 14 hours in near-slave conditions. Liberals passed historic legislation to protect the air and water of our nation. Liberals actually belief that government should serve the people–all of the people, and not just the $5 million a year and more club. Yes, I’m a liberal and I’m proud.. Why aren’t YOU?”

    That would have turned around the 1988 election and changed the discourse for decades. It can do the same today.

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics, Social and Economic Justice

    If you were as horrified as I was by the police violence I wrote about yesterday, please sign this petition from CREDO:

    Jailing journalists is unacceptable in a democracy. But that’s exactly
    what is happening at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul,
    Minnesota.

    Award winning journalist and host of “Democracy Now” Amy Goodman was
    arrested by St. Paul police while covering a protest outside the
    Republican National Convention. Though clearly identified as press,
    Goodman was charged with “obstruction of a legal process and interference
    with a ‘peace officer.'” Two of her producers were arrested for “suspicion
    of felony riot.”

    To tell you that this arrest was brutal and upsetting simply doesn’t do it
    justice. Watch this video
    https://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/
    to see for yourself. Then take action.

    I just e-mailed the presidents of CNN and NBC News (which oversees MSNBC)
    to demand that their networks cover this important story. I hope you will
    too.

    Please have a look and take action.
    https://act.credoaction.com/campaign/dont_arrest_journalists/

    Also this report from Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice,w ith the phone number for the St. Paul Mayor’s Office:

    We are sending you this message because the situation in St. Paul is very grave and we’re concerned that the real story is not being told by the mainstream media.

    Over the past few days, the heavily armed and extremely large police presence in St. Paul has intimidated, harrassed and provoked people; and, in a number of instances, the police have escalated situations when they used excessive force. They have used pepper spray, including spraying at least one person just inches from her face as she was held down on the ground by several police officers. They have freely swung their extra long night sticks, pushed people around, rode horses and bicycles up against peacefully gathered groups, and surrounded people simply walking down the streets. On Tuesday evening, they used tear gas on a small group of protesters in downtown St. Paul.

    The massive police presence and the uncalled-for actions by the police on the streets has not been the only problem. The police raided a convergence center and several locations where people are staying over the weekend and they have stopped and searched vehicles for no clear reason. https://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09022008.html

    On Tuesday afternoon, they literally pulled the plug and turned off the electricity at a permitted outdoor concert. The timing of this led to a situation where hundreds of understandably angry people ended up joining a march being led by the Poor Peoples Campaign for Economic Human Rights, a march that organizers were insisting be nonviolent. In other words, the police set up a dynamic that could have turned ugly, but the skill of the organizers kept things calm and focused.

    All of this – and much more – needs to be understood in the context of the overwhelming presence of police. Police from all around the Twin Cities have been put to work, and they have also brought in police units from around Minnesota and from as far away as Philadelphia, PA. The National Guard and state troopers are in the mix, to say nothing of the Secret Service, Homeland Security and who knows who else from the federal government!

    We are very concerned about what this all means about the right to protest, the right to assemble, and the right to have one’s dissenting voice heard. We are worried about what it means about the growing militarization of our nation and the ongoing assault on the Constitution. We shudder to think about how the influx of new weapons and armed vehicles and everything else will be used in the neighborhoods of St. Paul and Denver: both communities each received $50 million from Homeland Security to purchase the equipment and pay for the policing during the conventions.

    There are still two more days of the Republican Convention in St. Paul — two more days of protest and possibilities of police mis-conduct, over-reaction, and excessive use of force.

    We urge you to call the Mayor of St. Paul right now! Let him know that people around the country know what’s happening! Urge him to stand up for the Constitution and to take action to end the militarization of the downtown areas of his city! Urge him to reign in the police and help bring civility to the streets of St. Paul!

    Mayor Chris Coleman: 651-266-8510

    And call your local media outlets to demand that they tell the real story of what’s happening in St. Paul this week.

    Peace,

    Leslie Cagan, UFPJ National Coordinator

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    By Posted on Posted in media-general, Politics, Social and Economic Justice, Uncategorized

    I am absolutely outraged! the Republican National Convention is turning into a replay of the Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968, where cops went crazy violent against activists, who were hauled into court.

    Enough is enough!

    The first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to peaceful protest, as well as the right to freedom of the press. Here is the full text. with the relevant parts in bold:

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

    abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

    .

    At the RNC this weekend, legitimate journalists, credentials around their necks, were thrown roughly to the ground, handcuffed, assaulted, and arrested by police who violated all sorts of protocols. Earlier in the week, the police engaged in pre-emptive raids against citizen-journalists who have been known to record police brutality incidents.

    You can read, watch, or listen to the entire account by clicking here. But I want to share a few of the most outrageous bits.

    NICOLE SALAZAR: Cars were behind me. We were in a parking lot. And, you know, I was telling them that “I’m press. I’m press. Please, you know, don’t—you know, let me pass.” But I couldn’t turn around. And I tried to move in between the—between two cars, and instead of, you know, letting me pass and following the crowd, they instead came right after me and slammed me into the car, at which point I think my camera came back and hit me in the face. And two cops were also behind me, and they pushed me through that row of cars into the next area of the parking lot and slammed me to the ground and said, “Get your face on the ground! Get your face on the ground!” And I was, you know, at that point—

    AMY GOODMAN: So you were on your stomach, on your face, on the ground.

    NICOLE SALAZAR: I was on my stomach on the ground. And one of the officers, I think he was trying to grab me. He was trying to drag me. He was grabbing my leg. And another officer put his boot on my back and was pressing me to the ground.

    AMY GOODMAN: Had they handcuffed you by now?

    NICOLE SALAZAR: Yes, they had put me in those plastic cuffs, and my hands were behind my back. And my camera was, you know, two feet away from my face, lying on the ground. And I think shortly thereafter one officer came over and picked up the camera and took out the battery. And at that point I was worried that they were going to take my tape, but I don’t think—I mean, they didn’t, because now we have the tape, but he did take the battery out, I guess so the camera wouldn’t be recording.

    AMY GOODMAN: Finally, I made it to the police line, where the police in riot gear were lined up. I asked to speak to a commanding officer. They immediately grabbed me. I said, “Sir, I just want to speak to a commanding officer. My reporters are inside.” They’ve got their ID. I mean, we’ve done this in New York, as well, when there is confusion about a reporter. They immediately grabbed me, handcuffed me—and as you haven’t quite talked about, those plastic handcuffs cut right into your wrist, and they make those tight—pushed me to the ground.

    AMY GOODMAN: As I came in and I was speaking to the corrections officers, who did identify themselves—I kept asking every officer to identify themselves—a St. Paul cop behind them kept screaming, “Shut up! You, shut up!” And I asked—I said, “I want to know what your name is or your badge.” “Shut up! Shut up!” he said, I think to the chagrin of the corrections officers. One of the head guys in the jail came over and said, “He’s not ours. We can’t force him to identify himself. Our policy is that they identify themselves.” And stayed there for several hours.

    Ultimately, they released me, interference with, I think they said, the judicial process or with a peace officer.

    SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: I was taken to prison, as well. But I think one thing that was left out also in the story, and I think this happened to you, as well, Amy, was that while we were standing waiting to be processed and put on the bus, I was standing there with three credentials around my neck: my Democracy Now! press pass, which has my picture; the RNC press one, which gets you inside the convention; and a separate one, which I was supposed to put on Nicole, but I never actually did, was a limited RNC press one. A man walked up to me, who was not in uniform of St. Paul or Minneapolis police—I was later told he was Secret Service—came up and looked at my RNC press badge, said, “What is this?” I said, “It’s my pass to get inside the Xcel Center.” He said, “Well, you won’t be needing that to go—you’re not going to be going inside the convention center today,” and took it and walked off. I immediately protested. I said, “I want this around my neck to prove I’m an accredited journalist to go inside the convention center.” And he said, “You won’t be needing it today,” walked off.

    I asked my arresting officer, who incidentally was not my arresting officer—they just assigned some guy to take the picture of me and process me—he said, “I don’t know who that guy is. He looks like Secret Service.” I said, “Well, why don’t you acknowledge that this was taken, witness it somehow?” And he refused to do so. And I believe they did the same to you. They took that pass off your neck.

    AMY GOODMAN: Right. The Secret Service came up, and they—he ripped it off of my neck.

    SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right.

    AMY GOODMAN: And I said, “That is my pass. I want a receipt that you have taken that.” But of course, they didn’t give it.

    SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And then, once I was put on the bus, as well—and just to reiterate what you were saying, while I was being arrested, I was, you know, slammed violently. I got scratches on my elbow and bruises on my chest and back. But the most painful part of it was these plastic handcuffs. They were extremely tight. Getting onto the bus, I asked one of the officers, I said, “Can you just cut these off and put on new ones?” because you can’t loosen those. And his response to that was to grab them and tighten them. So it was very painful on the way. I actually still don’t have feeling in part of my hand.

    In the Bush years, the right to dissent has been unnaturally restricted and restricted. As one among many examples, national political party conventions have colluded with local police departments to deny these rights of free speech, assembly, and redress of grievances, by forcing demonstrators into restricted areas where the politicos don’t have to see and hear them.

    But vicious physical attacks on and arrests of journalists is something that isn’t supposed to happen here, in the land of the free–in the dictatorships of developing countries (all-too-often propped up with the help of the U.S., unfortunately), it might be common. But here? The land to which our forefathers and foremothers gave their lives in order to ensure that it would always be free–Thomas Jefferson must be spinning in his grave.

    Why there wasn’t mass outrage about the idea that you can cage up demonstrators and herd them away from the institutions they’re protesting against–or why this idiocy hasn’t been thrown out by the courts–is beyond me. But it’s time for the people to say, enough, we won’t take it anymore.

    We demand our right to assemble in public places–including directly outside the gates of those we want to reach.
    We demand an end to police violence against peaceful protest.
    We demand an end to harassment, assault, and arrest of journalists, including the mainstream press, the alternative press, and citizen-journalists
    We demand our rights under the First Amendment to the United states constitution to speak, to be heard, and to register our protests, and our rights as citizens of the United states to vote, and to have our votes counted honestly.

    Tell your Senators, your Representatives, and your local political party structure.

    And it’s not just journalists. I received this via e-mail from A.N.S.W.E.R this afternoon:

    The police have engaged in a widespread riot against social justice organizations, resulting in the arrest of around 300 protesters. Most of the arrested are still in jail, and at least one person with a serious medical condition has been refused care.

    Even before the Convention began, protesters had the organizing centers raided. Armed groups of police in the Twin Cities have raided more than half-a-dozen locations since Friday night in a series of “preemptive raids.” The raids and detentions have targeted activists planning to protest the convention, including journalists and videographers from I-Witness Video and the Glass Bead Collective. These media organizations were targeted because of the instrumental role they played in documenting police abuses the 2004 RNC Convention. Their comprehensive video coverage helped more than 400 wrongfully arrested people get their charges thrown out.

    You can go sign their petition to protest and demand the release of these hundreds of people.

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    By Posted on Posted in Politics

    Things are certainly getting interesting!

    First the young Obama picks old-guard Joe Biden, with foreign policy experience and working-class appeal. And then just one day after Obama accepts the nomination, McCain taps Sarah Palin–with just two years experience as governor of a very sparsely populated state. Before that, she was mayor of the small Anchorage suburb where she lives, population just 6500.

    Add to that the weird economy of Alaska, where oil revenues are actually partially socialized: yes, the same sort of direct-to-the-people benefit for which McCain and Bush criticize Hugo Chavez. In 2007, every person who had lived in Alaska at least a year got $1654 from the oil fund; the amount varies from year to year, but the wealth redistribution program has been paying out since 1982.

    In short, it’s hard to see the relevance of managing Alaska, with its hefty oil surplus and sparse population of 670,053 (about the size of in-city-limits Boston or Washington) spread out over an area more than twice the size of Texas to potentially being president of the United States of America.

    My 15-year-old son commented, “There goes the argument about more experience!”

    And he hadn’t seen the AP story, which noted,

    She has more experience catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs.

    Palin, born in 1964, is younger than Obama; McCain, at 72, is older than Biden. She’s a former beauty queen who last year posed for Vogue. She likes guns, mooseburgers, and attacking corruption, and she has a history of taking on–and beating–much more seasoned politicians.

    On the one hand, picking a woman could make significant inroads among the former Hillary voters, despite Hillary’s strong and enthusiastic endorsement of Obama at the DNC. However, any Hillary supporter who looks at policy is not going to like the anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-family, pro-big-money positions of McCain and the Republicans, so I doubt that gambit will be successful–except for those who want a woman, and don’t care about anything else. And they sure didn’t do much for Geraldine Ferraro back in 1984.

    On the other hand, I get the impression that perhaps McCain picked someone he sees as weak enough on foreign policy to not give him any guff. If he’d wanted a policy wonk, he could have chosen Condi Rice–though I could see at least three reasons why he wouldn’t go there: too tied to the Bush administration, loses him whatever racist backlash vote there might be against Obama (yes, I’m cynical enough to go there), and has said she doesn’t want the job.

    And if I can grow a third hand for a moment: Palin may not be all that easy to push around. She seems to prize her independence. In fact, she’s far more of a “maverick” than McCain has been lately. Obama pointed out last night just how often McCain has voted with Bush.

    If McCain were elected and served two full terms, he’d be 80. Many, many leaders have died before that age, so the prospect of Palin assuming the presidency needs to be looked at closely. she’s got spunk–but her experience is very limited.

    UPDATE: About an hour after I posted this, I received this blistering criticism of the nomination from Defenders of Wildlife–definitely not encouraging:

    F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E
    A u g u s t 2 9 , 2 0 0 8
    Shocking Choice by John McCain

    WASHINGTON– Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

    “Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

    “Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

    “This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

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    By Posted on Posted in Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, Politics, Social and Economic Justice

    Barack Obama’s acceptance speech tonight showed me why he is electable–and actually got me excited enough to stay up late and blog about it.

    As rhetoric, it was superbly crafted:

  • Attacking the Bush/McCain policies (and their tendency to attack those who disagree) while honoring McCain’s patriotism and sincerity–never trashing the man, only his politics and policies; positioning him as out of touch and unqualified to lead, of having a vision of America’s greatness that was incompatible with the majority of Americans, and contrasting his own vision of America’s greatness, as a champion of the poor and oppressed, as a catalyst for improving the lives of others, and as a country ready to reclaim its fallen standing–and he said, once again, that the campign was “not about me. It’s about you.”
  • Unifying Democrats who did or didn’t vote for him, by paying tribute very early to the others who sought the nomination, and especially Hillary Clinton
  • Bringing in the ghosts of major Democratic Party heroes like Kennedy, Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Also honoring the working people of this country: teachers, soldiers, veterans, factory workers
  • Using some of the most effective rhetorical devices honed by oratorical sharpshooters from Ronald Reagan to Jesse Jackson (an area where McCain, a remarkably insipid speaker, can’t touch him)
  • Showing the failure of Bush’s policies around the war, foreign policy in general, and the dismal response to Katrina, among other areas, and linking McCain to these failures
  • Building on the months-long campaign talking points of hope and change and unity–but adding at least a few specifics, especially on energy, terrorism, and education

    • On those specifics–I endorsed Obama last winter (after Kucinich dropped out), and I found myself agreeing with about 80 percent. I have issues with his energy policy, which relies too heavily on big, scary technologies such as nuclear and coal–but I thoroughly applaud his commitment to get us off imported oil within ten years (something that should have started in the Carter administration, or even the Nixon). I have issues with his foreign policy, which strikes me as unnecessarily hawkish, though light-years ahead of McCain’s. But I commend him for consistently opposing the Iraq debacle at the beginning and putting forth a timetable, even a slow one, for withdrawal.

    And the last time there was a major-party nominee who more-or-less agreed with me on 80 percent of his positions was George McGovern in 1972–when I wasn’t old enough to vote. The one before that was probably Henry Wallace in 1948, when I wasn’t even born. The one before that might have been Thomas Jefferson.

    So Obama is real progress. Not anywhere near as far as I’d like, but that may actually be to his advantage–because I think when the American people listen, they will find a genuinely likable and sincere individual who is of the people, despite the GOP’s absurdist attempts to paint him as an elitist or as a dangerous radical. He’s not very radical at all, and he comes from a broken home, worked as a community organizer, and talked quite a bit tonight about the economic hardships he faced, and how they reinforce his commitment to make sure every American can afford a college education and decent health care. In language that the typical red state voter (if not blinded by racism) can see and hear.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics: General, Publishing

    Joan Druett, my New Zealand pirate historian friend, blogged about Random House UK’s contract clause regulating the morality of its children’s authors (It’s the second post on august 21. There’s also a very interesting post on August 23 about politicians and the books they [in many cases] purport to write. Obama, apparently, actually writes his own–unlike JFK and many others.)

    Anyway, Joan found this on Galleycat, which in turn found it on a Guardian blog by Sian Pettenden:

    “If you act or behave in a way which damages your reputation as a person suitable to work with or be associated with children, and consequently the market for or value of the work is seriously diminished … we may (at our option) take any of the following actions: Delay publication / Renegotiate advance / Terminate the agreement.”

    Well, this raises a host of questions–and no, I don’t have the answers (maybe you do–oplease make a comment, below).

    First of all, who decides? Does a pacifist say that a decorated war hero is immoral due to violence? Does a fundamentalist reject out-of-hand a book by a gay or lesbian author such as my much-published children’s author friend Lesléa Newman whose long-ago book Heather Has Two Mommies has become a classic?

    Second, what do we do about the inescapable record of brilliant children’s writing from the pens of those who–in the eyes of some others–would not be considered moral? Would the world have lost such classics as Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain, the gambler, smoker, and hanger-on with a very rough crowd), Alice in wonderland (Lewis Carroll is widely rumored to have been at least a closet pederast), and Harry Potter (JK Rowling was a single mom on public assistance)?

    Third, what is the appropriate role of a publisher dealing with a morally corrupt author–whether writing for adults or children? What do you do with an outright fraud like James Frey (published by Random House, interestingly enough)? Or someone who does a tell-all in a salacious murder case? (I think you can guess which former football star I’m referring to.) Should those books be published? And if so, who should profit form them?

    And fourth, how do we protect children from those who should not be near them?

    If you have ideas, please comment here. These are important questions for the future of publishing, and for ethics in general.

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    By Posted on Posted in Copywriting, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies

    I’ve long been an advocate of writing marketing copy that uses both emotional and rational appeals.

    Here’s a specific example: my all-time favorite of the hundreds of press releases I’ve written. I did it back in 1999 when a client hired me to write a press release for a new book on electronic privacy.

    Most PR books would tell you to do a press release with a headlne like “Electronic Privacy Expert Releases New Book.” But I say they are wrong! Over 1000 books were released in the US alone every single day of 2007. There’s no news in that headline. So this is what I did instead.

    Below is exactly what I produced, except that I’ve changed the author’s name/identifying data/book titles and removed contact info. (Note that had this been a more recent book, I would have brought identity theft into the mix.)

    It’s 10 O’Clock—Do You Know Where Your Credit History Is?

    ST. PAUL, MN: It’s 10 O’clock—Do you know where your credit history is? How about your employment records? Your confidential medical information?

    How would you feel if you found out this sensitive and should-be-private material is “vacationing” in computer databanks around the world—accessible to corporate interests who can afford to track down and purchase it, but not necessarily open to your own inspection?

    According to electronic privacy journalist and technology consultant Mortimer Gaines, this scenario is all-too-common. In a groundbreaking but highly readable new book, Information Attack: Privacy at Risk, Gaines explores the twin issues of privacy in an ever-more-wired world, and citizen access to crucial information that governments or corporate conglomerates might prefer to keep hidden.

    Gaines, author of over 20 previous books including the acclaimed Internet Guide series (Windows Press, 1993-94), is not a rabid privacy nut. He recognizes that consumers often gain value by sharing personal information, in order to take advantage of express car rentals or frequent flier programs, for instance. But Gaines suggests the transaction should be voluntary, freely given in exchange for a clear benefit.

    When, for example, America Online mines data from its customer records and combines it with outside market research to create—and sell—precise demographics with specific identifying information (p. 143), Gaines feels the transaction exploits the consumer, who sacrifices privacy and gets nothing in return. Gaines is equally cogent on issues of citizen access to government and corporate records.

    Information Attack: Privacy at Risk, ISBN 0-00000-00-X, includes detailed references to specific websites, a comprehensive index, and a six-page bibliography. The 336-page 6×9″ trade paperback is available directly from the publisher for $25 plus shipping at (phone), https://www.domain.com, or at your favorite bookstore.

    Journalists: to obtain a review copy and/or interview the author, please contact (e-mail and phone).

    Notice how I started in the realm of emotion, then transitioned to credentials and facts.

    In his blog today, master copywriter Clayton Makepeace credits his success to his ability to create precisely that union of right- and left-brained processing–that inexorably leads to action.

    Clayton’s better at this than I am, and the post includes a fabulous example. Of course, Clayton also charges orders of magnitude more than I do. He does direct-mail copywriting and has made himself and his clients very wealthy. I suspect he’d not want to get involved with anything as humble and affordable as a press release. But he’s one of a very few copywriters who has a whole lot to teach me, and whose posts I read regularly. Because reading his stuff makes me a better copywriter–and could have the same effect on you.

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    By Posted on Posted in media-general

    Some good news in the world of mainstream television. As noted in Huffington Post, MSNBC president Phil Griffin was quoted in the New York Times:

    Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election, MSNBC is shaking up its prime-time programming lineup, removing the long-time host — and one-time general manager of the network — Dan Abrams from his 9 p.m. program and replacing him with Rachel Maddow, who has emerged as a favored political commentator for the all-news cable channel.

    I’m lucky enough to live in the Northampton, Massachusetts area, where Maddow got her broadcasting start years ago, as the offbeat news anchor/sidekick on the Dave in the Morning show, on WRNX-FM. I still listened when she did her own morning show on WRSI, also in Northampton, and occasionally caught her show on Air America. She still lives in the area on weekends.

    Maddow is smart, sasy, and porogressive, amaziingly well-informed, and has an authoritative voice. Best of luck and congrats, Rachel!

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