12 Articles

Sunday, June 17, 2007
The Pride of Victory: Freeheld
June is the traditional month calling for equal rights for all citizens, especially the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. "Freeheld" tells the story of one lesbian couple, and the community that rallied behind them, to secure equal rights for domestic partners. As the GLBT community takes to the streets again this year, it can step a little lighter knowing that at least one battle for equality was won.

Sunday, June 17, 2007
Spirit of Conscious Rap: Review of "Letter to the President"
Snoop Dogg narrates this talking-heads rap with America's black youth. Rap and Hip Hop stars take turns discussing the history of the genre, the current state of US inner cities, the suppression of black votes in the 2004 election, and the need for a return to "conscious rap."

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The Rising Reign of Resistance: Review of Mangal Pandey
The man who inspired Gandhi, 90 years before India's independence, is Mangal Pandey. This is the story of the first rebellion, the one that destroyed the East India Trading Company. Exquisite costumes, music and choreography carry the film, able to inspire indigenous people from any nation under corporate siege. This film is pure India in character, celebrating the dances, songs and customs of the Hindu people.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Is Grassroots Activism Relevant? Review of "Understanding America's Terrorist Crisis"
Gore Vidal and several experts discuss stolen elections, the un-Patriot Act, theft in office, war without end, and media collusion in this panel discussion hosted by The Independent Institute. Grassroots activists can be effective when enough of us withdraw our compliance. The issues raised in this 2002 panel are more relevant today, given Bush's recent dictator directive.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Liberty Tree: Democratizing Elections
Review of "Liberty Tree," the Journal of the Democratic Revolution, now in its second year. Building real democracy entails more than just voting issues, as this journal articulates. The real measure of revolution will be when citizens gain control of elections, removing corporations and government from what is, after all, our democracy.

Friday, May 18, 2007
The Guvs Must Be Crazy
The problem is this; the guvs do that. Elections belong to the people, but only in theory in the U.S. Civil society has a cure – are we about to assert our inalienable right to govern ourselves? Many writers think the time is now.

Sunday, May 13, 2007
Honor Mom: Don't Drive for a Week
(1 comments) You know you're an organizer when holidays become public outreach events. Communication tactics abound with upcoming fairs, civic and Pride celebrations. Here's one I leapt on because it landed in my mailbox. I printed 100 copies of this "Letter to the Editor" of a local volunteer newsletter, and distributed it in my neighborhood.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007
911 Stand Up
Bootleg Culture: 9-11 Truth CD "We hold these truths to be self-evident: No. 1. George W. Bush is not president. No. 2. America is not a true democracy, and No. 3. The media is not fooling me."

Friday, April 13, 2007
Boo Who Vu?
(1 comments) San Diego County recently hired Cuyahoga County, Ohio's disgraced elections official, Michael Vu, who resigned under a storm of controversy stemming from the rigged recount in 2004 and a 2006 scientific study condemning Cuyahoga's elections. Election integrity demands Vu's removal from the field of public elections.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Electoral Management Design Handbook Review
The Electoral Management Design Handbook is written for electoral administrators, electoral administration designers and other practitioners involved in building professional, sustainable and cost-effective electoral administrations that can deliver legitimate and credible free and fair elections. It offers many sound practices that are relevant to any election worker, including parallel election workers.

Friday, April 6, 2007
Seizing the Polls
(2 comments) Firing the entire Cuyahoga Board of Elections is a stunning display of official accountability. Cuyahoga's violations were stunning. They lost not only hundreds of memory cards, but also 29 voting machines. If Brunner can replace the Cuyahoga Board with competent democracy advocates, surely we salute her, Citizen oversight is especially vital now, in this transition stage.

Friday, March 2, 2007
Silver City
In "Silver City" director John Sayles uses mining, arguably one of the most environmentally toxic processes of industricalized society, as a backdrop to expose the multiple and often hidden layers of profit-driven power. Instead of a movie about election fraud, it's about the fraud of elections.