The above is a video from the War Resisters Support Campaign and it is Jeremy Hinzman, with his wife Nga Nguyen and their children Liam and Meghan, delivering a request to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Last Wednesday, US war resister Jeremy Hinzman was informed he had to leave Canada by September 32rd. Courage to Resist alerts,
"Supporters are calling on Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship
and Immigration, to intervene. Phone 613.996.4974 or email finley.d@parl.gc.ca,"Iraq Veterans Against the War
also encourages people to take action, "To support Jeremy, call or
email Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and
ask her to intervene in this case. Phone: 613.996.4974 email: finley.d@parl.gc.ca." In addition to that, Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign
is staging an emergency meeting this week (August 20th, Wednesday, 7:00
pm, Steelworkers Hall at 25 Cecil St.) and planning a day of action
(September 13th) where "[a]ctions, demonstrations and pickets will take
place in cities and towns all across Canada."
In Iraq today, violence is already registering. Reuters notes
a Baghdad roadside bombing which left four people (three are police
officers) wounded, a Baghdad roadside bombing that left five people
injured (three are police officers), a third Baghdad roadside bomb that
left nine injured, a Mosul roadside bomb that left injured "three
prison guards," 2 people shot dead outside Abul Khasib, 3 "militants"
killed by Iraqi forces in Baghdad, and 1 Shi'ite cleric shot dead in
Baghdad (his wife was left injured in the shooting).
Good
morning, this is Ralph Nader. As you know, Nader/Gonzalez is being
blocked from the presidential debates. The corporate controlled
so-called Commission on Presidential Debates will not let any
independent candidate in unless they show 15% in a series of polls in
September. That's no surprise. What is surprising is the failure of
other debates to fill the vacuum. Part of this is due to Senator
Obama's reluctance to engage his opponents. On May 4th, Obama told Tim Russert on Meet The Press
that he was willing to debate with "any of my opponents about what this
country means, what makes it great." But earlier this month, Obama's
campaign manager backed off, saying that Obama would debate only
Senator McCain and only in the three rigged debates that's sponsored by
the two parties and paid for by corporations. Senator
Obama's also refused to participate in a number of other debates
including the Google debate in New Orleans, the Texas Ft. Hood debate
that is being organized by veterans groups and the series of ten
townhall meetings proposed by Senator McCain. Senator Obama's refusal
to participate is a mistake and is costing him in the polls. Just
yesterday, the Gallup tracking polls put McCain and Obama tied at 44%
each. If Obama doesn't agree to more debates he could end up at the end
of a sentence that starts out "Mondale, Dukakis, Gore and Kerry. With
only McCain and Obama on the stage , there will be no debate of key
issues and redirections important to the American people . Just go down
the partial list. Single-payer Medicare for all healthcare, supported
by the majority of the American people, the majority of doctors and
nurses, and just recently, unanimously, by the US conference of mayors?
Obama says "no," McCain says "no." Reversing US policy in the Middle
East? Obama says "no," McCain says "no." Cut the bloated, wasteful,
redundant military budget? Obama says "no," McCain says "no." They want
a bigger military budget. Empty the prisons of drug possessors and fill
'em up with corporate criminals? Obama says "no," McCain says "no."
Nader-Gonzalez says "yes" to each. The
only way to change this systemic exclusion is for millions of Americans
to become engaged now. If you can, please join with us at our two Super
Rallies-- on August 27th in Denver at the University of Denver Magness
Arena or September 4th in Minneapolis at Orchestra Hall. And help us
raise the banner for all to see: "OPEN THE DEBATES." If
you are not able to attend, please go to VoteNader.org and donate now
whatever you can up to the legal maximum of $4,600 to help fund our
Open The Debates Campaign. Our goal is to raise $50,000 by Wednesday
night. Last night, we were close to $14,000 in less than three days,
but we have a ways to go. So join with us in Denver and Minneapolis if
you can. We're planning to have some prominent activists and musicians
with us. Stay tuned for more information on that. And we have some
surprise, giant, inflatable visuals that should be a lot of fun, that
will travel with us as we move from Denver to Minneapolis and then,
hopefully, will bring attention to our Super Rallies from the press. Thank
you for your ongoing and considered support to our campaign. Together
we are making a difference. Onward to November. I'm Ralph Nader.
Lynda had a few questions and they're good ones so let me answer quickly. 1) What's covered each week at Third and in Hilda's Mix
in terms of the daily audio? In both, I will do transcripts through
Friday and Friday only. Anything after, I'm happy to grab the following
week. And anyone else can transcribe it (members without sites or
members with websites) and it can go up on the weekend. Saturday's
flying back home and then comes the nightmare writing edition for Third. For me, Friday's the cut-off date. 2) Jess spoke with Nader's Denver campaign office and nothing on that went up at Third?
News to me. (Lynda's right.) That was included in every draft. I don't
know who typed it up and don't need to because I know no one objected
to that section. What most likely happened is that whomever got stuck
typing that was tired and missed that section. I'll see if Jim can take a look at it, find that passage and add it today. [How tired was everyone? When I was doing "And the war drags on" last night and going through the e-mails, I saw Jonah's suggesting I "take a look at 'Truest statement of the Week I' and 'Truest statement of the Week II'"
and I saw why he suggested that: they were the same statement. We'd
posted John Walsh twice and not even noticed.] 3) Lynda thought it was
strange we didn't include Ralph's commentary above in "Open Up The Debates!" yesterday. I don't know that anyone saw it/heard it. Ava, Kat, Wally and I hadn't. "Open Up The Debates!"
is three features cobbled together (which may explain why Jess' section
got dropped). The first is about John Edwards' 'advanced' views. Marcia
especially wanted that as an article. The second was about opening the
debates. The third was Ralph's audio commentaries. Everyone was tired
and the three were forced together from various drafts. Opening the
debates contained several paragraphs and I believe that's where the
section on what Jess learned from calling the Denver headquarters was.
The thing on Edwards' 'advanced' and 'evolving' views just wasn't
working. Marcia worked like crazy (she wasn't the only one but she was
the only one with the persistence to rally everyone for another try). Dona's
the one who said, "_____ is the strongest point in this and it's about
the debates, so how about we pair it with the open the debates
feature." Everyone was fine with that and then Ty
suggested we bring the week's audio commentaries in so that they were
part of that article and not a stand-alone. Again, I'll let Jim know
that the section on the Denver headquarters isn't in the article and
he'll try to locate those paragraphs. Thank you, Lynda. (And thank you,
Jonah.)
Friday morning, this was noted: "Kimberly Wilder encourages people to check out this video
of Asa Gordon 'explaining his electoral college lawsuits' which is
about 'proportional apportionment of presidential electors'." Fridays
until Monday morning, we avoid videos here because it takes the site
longer to load for many (who aren't checking in on work computers the
way they do during the week). If you saw the link and were interested
Friday but forgot to check it out, the video is below.
