Civil Rights

From Virginia Germino:

Some time back I'd talked with you about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in South Florida, a grassroots organization devoted to human-rights advocacy and education about the horrific conditions under which farm workers still work and suffer. My daughter Laura was recently honored by Sec'y of State Clinton with a Hero award from the TIPS program (Trafficking in Persons). She was the first US awardee, and that means that the State Department in the person of Hillary Clinton is publicly acknowledging the continuing existence of slavery in the fields of the United States.

The Museum of Modern Slavery is going to visit Charlottesville The Museum contains artifacts and historical documents and explanations in a replica of the truck which held farm workers under duress without food, water, or toilet facilities. The workers clawed their way out through the roof and successfully found help from the CIW and the police. The Museum will be on the Downtown Mall directly in front of the Pavilion on Sunday, July 25, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Here's the mp3 from WVTF. This is from back when Yoo was in Charlottesville but the station just aired it now.

As protests and violence are still taking place, officials have declared a curfew for Bangkok and other areas. Worse may come if Thailand doesn't have some kind of order restored. Red Shirts and other anti-government protesters are nevertheless rampant throughout Thailand. Foreign governments are beginning to urge their citizens not to travel there if possible. » read more »

By David Swanson

Here in Virginia where we're addicted to the practice of killing people in order to teach them not to kill people, there are certain things that must not be said about the moron(s) who cut a gas line to a backyard grill at the home of the brother of a congressman who voted for a health insurance bill. » read more »

By David Swanson

We're about to witness the pretense of war lawyer hearings without the war lawyers (commonly known as torture lawyers by those willing to ignore their role in "legalizing" aggressive war). This may highlight for many observers the little-known fact that Congress no longer has the power of subpoena.

During 2007-2008 Democratic congressional committees subpoenaed dozens of Bush officials, who simply refused to comply. Although any committee has the undisputed power to use the Capitol Police to enforce its subpoenas, none did. They asked the Bush Justice Department to do it. They sued the Bush Justice Department in court. But, with the exception of a weird deal for partial and secret compliance by Karl Rove in 2009, not a single one of the scofflaws has been compelled to show up. » read more »