“Watch out now, take care

Beware of greedy leaders

They take you where you should not go

While weeping atlas cedars

They just want to grow, grow and grow

Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)”

Canada puts US, Israel on torture watch list, then retracts

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/Arti…

http://www.reuters.com/article…

But, given swhat Canada allowed to happen to one of its own citizens, Maher Arar, perhaps Canada itself should be on the torture watch list.

The Horrors of Extraordinary Rendition:

http://www.commondreams.org/vi…

http://www.freedomsite.org/leg…

From the page: “TORONTO . January 15, 2007. Despite an Eastern Ontario snowfall that delayed the appearance of his counsel, Barbara Kulaszka , for an hour and a half. M arc Lemire walked out of Federal Court in Toronto today a happy man. By sheer persistence, he had wrung out of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions some amazing admissions. At least one investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission has adopted a false Internet persona and trolled the Internet engaging in conversations with prospective victims. In other words, the CHRC is spying on Canadians, not observing and investigating, but participating and instigating.”

Hate, brought to you by the Canadian government.

Thanks to Laukev7

http://laukev7.stumbleupon.com

and for his tireless work for truth at

http://www.gatecreepers.com/

Crossposted from http://SanchoPress.com

Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization.

We must make our choice; we cannot have both.

– Abraham Flexner  

War is a Racket.

– General Smedley Butler

The creative and inventive list of nonviolent peace strategies below is from the website A Force More Powerful:

http://www.aforcemorepowerful….

There is also a game available; read about it here:

http://www.aforcemorepowerful….

Stephen with the Wish Flag. Click on the image to get a fair-use copy – and spread the message.  

http://www.ccrjustice.org/news…

“Americans from all over the country – more than 37,000 of them – asked that a copy of the Constitution be delivered to the President in their name and cordially requested that he make time in his busy schedule to read it.

“While I was going over the list of who’s been naughty and nice,” Mr. Claus said, as he prepared for his visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, “I heard from many people who feel the President hasn’t been doing a very good job of upholding his oath to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution.”

Responding to an urgent request from the Center for Constitutional Rights, Claus stepped in to bring messages from Americans who felt the President might need a refresher course in the Constitution. Citizens want to remind President Bush that the Constitution forbids torture and spying on Americans without a warrant, requires that prisoners get a fair hearing of the charges against them before a real court and makes the government’s treaty obligations, such the Geneva Conventions, the law of the land.

“These Constitutions will make great holiday reading,” Claus continued. “I want to be sure that the President has plenty of time to look at them before he decides on his New Year’s resolutions.””

Give Hope –  Pretty Bird Woman House – gear and other ways to help

Pretty Bird Woman House Video by SisterKris featuring  music by Irina and Todd, “The Heartbeat of My Soul”:



Thank you, SisterKris!

Amnesty International is profoundly concerned about violence against Native women and supports Pretty Bird Woman House. Read their report here:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/repo…

Pretty Bird Woman House is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization.

You can donate directly to Pretty Bird Woman House at

http://www.prettybirdwomanhous…

Please mail cheques and physical donations (new and gently used goods) to

Pretty Bird Woman House

P.O. Box 596

McLaughlin, SD 57642

Other no-cost ways to help Pretty Bird Woman House:

Sponsor them when you buy through iGive – http://www.igive.com/

Set your browser to Goodsearch and register as a Pretty Bird Woman House supporter –

http://www.goodsearch.com/

Mr. Olberman, we want to see you wearing a button for Pretty Bird Woman House on your show – soon. Read about that here: http://www.correntewire.com/pr…

and here: http://www.theunapologeticmexi…

Finally, a big Thank You to Robert Covington, who created Compositor for Macintosh – the great graphics program I work with and rely on. Without Compositor, this art would probably not exist.

Robert is an artist and designed Compositor with artists in mind. The program is wonderfully intuitive. If you love “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”  and want to be able to draw and paint with a computer program, but dread the left-brain interruptions of remembering F1 codes, Compositor is for you. It works well with the big-name products, and often outperforms them, yet costs one-tenth of their fee. And upgrades are free.

Try it free for a month: http://www.artlythere.com/

And check out his other great Mac offerings – most are free. Snow’d and Slide Freebie I really love.  

Not a diary – just news.

Creating a virtual 51st state

U.S. Democrats can click to vote from Canada

SIRI AGRELL

From Monday’s Globe and Mail

December 17, 2007 at 5:37 AM EST

American citizens living in Canada will be able to use the Internet to vote in the U.S. presidential primaries for the first time in 2008, but only if they’re Democrats.

Democrats Abroad, an organization representing more than seven million Americans living outside the U.S. , is holding its first “global primary,” allowing American ex-pats in Canada and around the world to vote online as part of a virtual 51st state.

Unlike Republicans Abroad, whose members must still vote by absentee ballot in their home states, Democrats Abroad is recognized as an official branch of the Democratic National Committee, and will send 22 delegates to the party’s convention in August, putting its influence on par with states like Idaho (23) and North Dakota (21).

In previous elections, these delegates were selected in caucuses held around the globe, requiring American citizens to actually show up at polling centres. In 2004, a group of just 80 Americans gathered in Toronto ‘s Metro Hall to showcase their support for John Kerry or Howard Dean.

But in next year’s primary, Democrats across Canada can vote through the mail or on the Internet, and organizers hope to dramatically increase voter involvement.

“We hope in Canada to see a lot more than 80 people participating,” said Toronto ‘s Toby Condliffe, international vice-chair of Democrats Abroad. “There are hundreds of thousands of Americans here, so you might say that anything would be an up-tick.”

Democrats living in Canada can sign up at http://www.VoteFromAbroad.org throughout the month of January, and vote from Feb. 5 through 12. The results will be announced on Feb. 22, and Democrats Abroad from around the globe will gather at a caucus in Vancouver next April to select their delegates.

big snip

Read the rest of the article and find related news here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com…

Please make this go viral – pass it on!

Click on the image to get a copy!