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Author: TriSec    Date: 03/25/2008 10:41:43

Good Morning.

Today is our 1,833rd day in Iraq.

As it was pointed out yesterday in this space, we reached another tragic milestone in Bush's folly, so let's start as we always do with the latest casualty figures courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4000
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 3861
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3539
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3141
Since Election (1/31/05): 2563

Other Coalition Troops: 308
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 490

We find this morning's cost of war passing through: $505, 492, 500, 000.00



I'll veer away from the veterans today for just a moment. A sidebar at Antiwar.com caught my eye this morning, called Free Paul Jacob. Apparently, he committed the grave crime in Oklahoma of using non-residents to help circulate a petition drive. Never mind his right to petition the government for redress of grievances. You can read more about it at Blue Collar Muse...

One of our most cherished rights is to petition our government. If there’s a problem, we want our representatives to know so they can fix it. Imagine, however, if a top law enforcement official denied this right to citizens. Imagine he arrested them, threatening them with fines and imprisonment. Imagine it’s being driven by partisan politics. “Not in my America!”, you say? Let me introduce you to Paul Jacob and the Oklahoma 3.

Oklahoma is fortunate. If Oklahomans want an issue on the ballot, they can gather signatures and put it to a statewide vote. It’s called a ballot initiative and it’s popular with citizens. Gathering signatures is hard work so it doesn’t happen all the time. When it does, it’s usually to limit government somehow so it’s unpopular with legislators. To stop it, legislators try to make it very difficult. In Oklahoma in 2006, citizens wanted to vote on capping government spending increases over a certain amount and didn’t want government taking their homes and businesses through eminent domain and giving them to someone else who would pay the state more in taxes. To do that, they needed to gather almost 225,000 valid signatures in just 90 days to put the measures on the ballot.

Because it’s hard to get that many signatures that fast, it’s also common to use companies which specialize in circulating petitions. It happened all the time in Oklahoma. It’s further common for those circulating petitions to be from out of state. Legislatures, who usually oppose ballot initiatives, try to stop signature gathering with residency requirements. They legislate that to gather signatures in a state, you must also live there. Those laws have been challenged around the country and and defeated on First Amendment grounds. But not in Oklahoma because it has immediate residency laws. You can immediately come to Oklahoma, declare yourself a resident , and petition. The Oklahoma 3 knew about issues with residency laws and specifically asked Oklahoma about theirs. They were assured there was no problem with petitioners moving from other states to help out.

Oklahoma’s 20O6 initiatives faced some tough fights. The worst may have been a union organizer from Oregon bringing in squads of paid blockers to harass petitioners. Blockers lied about petitioner activity to bar them from property where they were collecting signatures. They spilled coffee and Cokes on completed petitions to destroy them. They verbally and physically intimidated petitioners and signers alike to stop the work. Despite this heavy opposition, the petitioners prevailed. They gathered almost 300,000 signatures. 80,000 more than were needed to get the issues on the ballot!

Unfazed by defeat, initiative opponents immediately started another fight. They challenged the petitions. They did not argue the signatures were invalid as that meant fighting signatures one by one. Instead, they challenged the residency status of signature gatherers. Despite ample precedent, it was deemed illegal to be in Oklahoma from somewhere else to collect signatures. The challengers won and tens of thousands of legal signatures were thrown out. Enough to prevent the measure from being on the ballot. It gets worse.

To intimidate future initiative efforts, the Attorney General of Oklahoma himself, Drew Edmondson, personally issued felony indictments for three people - the Oklahoma 3. They are Paul Jacob, an initiative consultant; Susan Johnson, owner of the petition company; and, Rick Carpenter, the Oklahoma resident heading up the initiative. The basis of the indictment? The Oklahoma 3 should have known their petitioners were illegal even though the state said they were OK. Using them constituted attempted fraud!


So tell me again, 4,000 men and women have died to bring this kind of 'democracy' to Iraq, and to 'defend our freedoms'?


Speaking of the 4,000....our friends at IAVA have issued a Press Release on the subject.
NEW YORK - On Sunday the death toll of U.S. servicemembers in Iraq reached 4,000. In response, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest non-partisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, issued the following statement:

"The 4000th KIA in Iraq is newsworthy, but the truth is that every death should be a news item," said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The 4000th death should not be exploited in the polarized arguments about the war. Honoring the fallen is neither a pro nor an anti war statement. It's about respecting the sacrifice of thousands of America's sons and daughters."

Last week, IAVA called on the media to report more thoroughly on the war in Iraq. According to the Pew Research Center, last month's media coverage of the war was at its lowest point in five years and less than a third of the public knew how many troops had died in Iraq.

"Over 80% of Americans are aware that Oprah Winfrey endorsed Senator Obama, yet only 28% know how many troops have died in Iraq. These numbers are a slap in the face to everyone who has served in the current conflicts," said Rieckhoff. "While thousands of military families across the country are coping with the heartbreaking loss of a loved one, most Americans don't even know the death toll."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families who have sacrificed for the war. But the fallen are much more than a statistic. More than half of those killed were under the age of 25 and many have left young families behind. Over 2,200 children have lost a parent in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan."



And now remaining on the subject of war...have you noticed that it's increasingly difficult to get news about what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan? I've been increasingly turning to Al-Jazeera (English) for news about the Middle East, as well as the old standbys BBC World Service, The Guardian, and increasingly Ananova. Well, it's no illusion. According to IAVA, just 3% of the news reported in February in the leadup to the fifth anniversary was about the war. I know you're starved for information...so won't you sign the open letter?
On the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq, please take a moment to sign the following letter and ask the American media to devote more air time to coverage of the war. According to this study by the Pew Research Center, only 3% of the news media in February 2008 was devoted to covering the war.

Help honor the sacrifice of those who have served in the past five years and demand that the media increase their coverage of the war.



Lastly this morning....I won't embed the image, as it's too large, but check this out.

Remember, voting for McCain is like voting for a third term of Bush.

 

180 comments (Latest Comment: 03/26/2008 03:22:31 by livingonli)
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