Monthly Archive for November, 2005

The Summit of the Americas has begun in Argentina, bringing together the US president and 33 other regional leaders to discuss free trade and poverty.

The official opening was preceded by protests during which thousands of demonstrators chanted ‘Get out Bush’.

George W Bush faces vocal opposition over US plans to revive talks on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Venezuela’s leader Hugo Chavez told protesters he would bury the FTAA – and defeat US ‘imperialism’.

More than 8,000 police have been drafted in to protect the fourth Americas summit, being held in the Argentine beach town of Mar del Plata.

The mainly peaceful protest march took place through boarded-up streets a few kilometres away from the summit venue itself.

Demonstrators included Argentine former football legend Diego Maradona.

They argue US-backed free-market policies have pushed millions into poverty in the region.

Addressing their rally in a football stadium, Mr Chavez said: ‘Here, in Mar del Plata, FTAA will be buried!’

He called for help, saying: ‘Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life.’

The Venezuelan government has said that it will reject any summit declaration which contains references to free trade in the Americas.

However, Mexico’s President Vicente Fox has said 29 of the 34 summit nations are willing to move forward with free trade negotiations without dissenting countries.

Apart from Venezuela, those nations opposed to the creation of a huge free trade zone include Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

The rivalry between Mr Bush and Mr Chavez is expected to dominate the meeting.

Asked at a news conference how he would approach Mr Chavez, Mr Bush replied “that he would be “polite”.

The BBC’s South America correspondent Steve Kingstone says the Mr Chavez’ growing influence helps explain Washington’s renewed involvement in the region.

Security, democracy and trade are the main areas of interest for the US in Latin America, and on all three counts, Venezuela’s leader is causing concern, our correspondent says.

Washington is concerned about military build-up in Venezuela, suspects it of meddling in Bolivia’s election campaign and fears Mr Chavez’ talk of closer ties between Latin American nations may attract leaders away from US plans for a huge free trade zone, he adds.

Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2005/11/04 20:27:08 GMT
© BBC MMV

Nov 4, 7:29 AM (ET)
By Will Lester

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush’s public support has eroded to its lowest level yet, with the Iraq war dragging on, a top White House aide facing felony charges and the White House rushing to replace a failed Supreme Court nominee.

Concerned that the president has lost his footing, some Republicans have suggested Bush should shake up his staff.

A new AP-Ipsos poll found the president’s approval rating was at 37 percent, compared with 39 percent a month ago. About 59 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved.

The intensity of disapproval is the strongest to date, with 42 percent now saying they “strongly disapprove” of how Bush is handling his job – twice as many as the 20 percent who said they “strongly approve.”

“This is the poorest excuse for a president this country has ever had,” said Max Hollinberger, a businessman from Stanwood, Wash., who leans Democratic. He cited “the economy, going to war in Iraq for no reason, the way we can get to the tsunami victims before Katrina victims – the whole business.”

A year after his re-election, Bush’s second term has been marred by rising U.S. casualties in Iraq, a failed attempt to restructure Social Security, Hurricane Katrina missteps, rising fuel costs and his forced withdrawal of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.

In a case involving the public naming of a covert CIA operative married to an Iraq war critic, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in federal court to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to investigators. The case casts a continuing cloud over Cheney and keeps Bush’s closest adviser, Karl Rove, in legal jeopardy.

Republicans are starting to worry about the 2006 elections and hope Bush can reverse his slide.

Several senior Republicans who are close to the White House and Rove say there has been a lot of talk inside and outside the White House about the need for him to leave, but they’re picking up no indication from him or his associates that it’s going to happen – at least anytime soon.

Neither Bush nor Rove has seemed to get the message, the Republicans say.

Democrats have kept up the attack. “The 2006 midterm elections will be our next opportunity to change the environment of corruption and incompetence in Washington,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday in a fundraising letter to Democrats. Reid has called for Rove’s resignation and a “thorough house cleaning” at the White House.

In the AP-Ipsos poll, nearly one in five Republicans disapproved of Bush’s handling of his job, compared with nearly nine in 10 Democrats. Nearly seven in 10 independents disapproved.

Four in five Republicans still back the president.

“I think he’s done a wonderful job,” said Gloria Bloecher, a Republican from Sherman, Texas. “He’s done wonderful things for the economy. He rescued people who needed help in Iraq – it was the Christian thing to do. I still trust his people and the people he picks for the Supreme Court.”

The president has lost support from some key groups of constituents over the past year. He’s dropped 16 points in his approval rating with men in that time, 18 points with people who have a high school education or less, 16 points among Southerners and 13 points among Republicans.

The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 31-Nov. 2 among 1,006 adults nationwide. The margin on sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Congress isn’t faring much better. In early October, 35 percent of poll respondents approved of the job being done on Capitol Hill, down from 44 percent in February.

In December 2004, soon after Bush’s re-election, 51 percent approved of his handling of his job, while 47 disapproved, and 28 disapproved strongly.

“I’m surprised it’s not even worse,” GOP consultant Rich Galen said of Bush’s latest poll numbers. He cited three months of unrelenting bad news that have Republicans “beginning to scratch their heads.”

Away from Washington, Republican leaders seemed concerned about Bush’s drift downward in the polls and about Iraq, where the 2,000th U.S. military death was recently recorded, and less troubled about the CIA-leak case and the controversy surrounding Rove and Libby.

“I think the war in Iraq being on the front page every day has taken its toll,” said Van Poole, former Florida GOP chairman and now a Tallahassee lobbyist, who expects Bush to bounce back. “Americans are impatient. Whatever our job is, Americans want us to get it done.”

Associated Press writer Tom Raum and AP polling director Mike Mokrzycki contributed to this report.

Los Angeles, CA – This November, In the Life is “Setting the Record Straight.” This hour long special explores the intersection of LGBT representation, cultural prejudice, censorship, media sensationalism vs. actual news and the big picture implications of it all. Hosted by actor, comedian, and Air America Radio talk show host Janeane Garofalo with PSAs from actor, comedian Rosie O’Donnell and young adult author Alex Sanchez (Rainbow High, Rainbow Boys).

In the Life begins with a visit to PBS’s Postcards From Buster: “Sugartime” Vermont couple Gillian Pieper and Karen Pike to discuss the rippling effects of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings‘ disapproval of the episode in which their family was profiled. Spellings urged PBS to pull the episode, slamming the door on the ‘ivory tower’ and the open dialogue she pledged to uphold in her inaugural address.

The traditional role of a journalist has been to act as an objective observer of our culture using a standard set of ethical guidelines in their effort to report the most factual information possible. Recent controversies have highlighted journalists with right-leaning agendas and the current U.S. government’s packaging of Video News Releases as actual news, calling into question the ethical practices of journalists today. In this segment, In the Life explores the effects of government propaganda and its influence on headline news, which exploits LGBT people and distracts mainstream media from reporting on official policies that impact the entire culture.

Finally, In the Life explores the newsmagazine format, in a for-profit media model. In November 2004, ABC News 20/20 ran its own hour long special, “Matthew Shepard: Secrets of a Murder”, claiming revelations about the crime using interviews with the convicted killers. The major focus was on dismantling the widely accepted position that Matthew’s murder was a hate crime. ITL looks at the sources and the methodology to discover what was missing from 20/20‘s report.

Interviews this month include: Veteran journalist Helen Thomas and former Talon News White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, Court TV and CNN anchor Nancy Grace, Judy Shepard, attorney Sean Maloney, The Laramie Project Director Moises Kaufman, Sirius Q Radio Host Romaine Patterson, Media Expert Douglas Rushkoff, the infamous Vermont couple from PBS’s Postcards from Buster: “Sugartime” episode Karen Pike & Gillian Pieper, PBS Senior V.P. John F. Wilson, and GLAAD’s Glennda Testone.

For more information, visit www.itl.tv

Copyright 11/01/2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved

Minutes before its scheduled airing, Emmis Communications, owners of Hot 97 in New York City, pulled the plug on the World Can’t Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime Ad. Hot 97 is “the” number one rap station in this city. The station itself had consciously approved the content of the ad knowing that this was both controversial and important. For some working inside the station, the idea of this spot reaching millions of urban youth in New York at this critical time was inspiring. Emmis Corporation’s legal department called Hot 97 just as the spots were to begin to play.

The ad itself was a collaboration of artists Boots Riley from the Coup and Miles Solay from Outernational. It can break down walls. Download the spot.

Youth today have come of age under the gruesome shadow of the Bush Regime. An entire generation has been betrayed, brutalized, criminalized, enlisted, denied reproductive rights. The US Military saturates the youth market with slick high-tech ads aimed at turning young people into cannon fodder and the Christian Right spends millions to indoctrinate youth with politics of intolerance and punishment.

We stand at this unprecedented time in history. The energy and creativity of young people around the country will take this movement to the level where it will be unstoppable.

This cannot go down this way. Here is what you can do:
PLAY THE BANNED WORLD CAN’T WAIT AD TODAY before November 2nd. Send this story to everyone you know in the media. Call in to local radio stations, send to place you think you can get this on the air. Forward this to press contacts and get it posted prominently on websites. Get d-jays to talk about this on the air and announce it at gigs. But most importantly PLAY THE SPOT which says it all.

Contact Ennis Communications: IR@emmis.com or call (317) 266.0100 and let them know that their actions have only given us one more reason to NOT WAIT on November 2nd. Demand that they lift the ban immediately.

Contact Hot 97: (212) 229.9797 or hot97@hot97.com. Tell them to take off the muzzle. Tell them they were right to approve the ad and they should play it now.

Then download the ad into your cell phones and i-pods and play them everywhere!

Here are the words to the ad. You get the picture.

The world can’t wait to drive out the Bush Regime!
November 2, no work, no school.
We gonna march. Join us. 12 noon at Union Square.
Come on, you seen the pictures.
Bush made torture into a sport and justifies it.
You saw Iraq destroyed by a war based on lies.
We all watched Bush leave people to die in New Orleans and treat people like criminals.
This regime is what’s criminal.
The Bush Regime is out to remake the world.
Unending war, a devastated environment, forced religion, no right to abortion, no dissent, no critical thought.
We have to stop this now. If we don’t we will be forced to accept it.
The future we get is up to us.
The beginning of the end of the Bush Regime starts Wednesday November 2.
Join us at 12 noon at Union Square.

Widespread support for actions TOMORROW grows!
Check it out www.worldcantwait.org or 866-973-4463

P.S. I wrote emails to both Emmis Communications and Hot97:

To Whom in May Concern,
I hope everyone involved in this latest act of censorship is aware of the media storm that is going to follow the decision to not air the World Can’t Wait radio ad. The story is in the process of flying around the Internet, email inboxes, and blogosphere and will undoubtedly reach more people than the original radio ad would have.

This act of censorship only gives us more proof of the need to march tomorrow. Thanks for proving our point.