The Dem Diatribe Project

If you cannot squelch public opinion and facts with propaganda and lies, just block access to the facts. It seems that the self-appointed "Decider", George W. Bush, has decided to "end public access to research materials" at EPA Regional libraries without Congressional consent. In an all out effort to impede research and public access, Bush has implemented a loosely covert operation to close down 26 technical libraries under the guise of a budgetary constraint move. Scientists are protesting, but at least 15 of the libraries will be closed by Sept. 30, 2006. ... The suppression of information to the public and efforts to control the flow of information of the sciences has reached critical mass. Shades of the once science fictional book, Fahrenheit 451, are dangerously close to reality and the banning and burning of books looms all to surreal, but are more fact than science fiction now. Who could have ever envisioned that Ray Bradbury's vicious, futuristic, dysto...

NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional Judge orders immediate halt to program Thank you ACLU! (CNN) -- A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately. In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, -- who is based in Detroit, Michigan --struck down the National Security Agency's program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy. Taylor's ruling stems from a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. According to The Associated Press, Taylor is the first judge to rule the eavesdropping program unconstitutional. (Read the complete ruling -- PDF) The defendants "are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign...

Published: June 7, 2006 New York Times: If there was ever a sign of a ruling party in trouble, it is a game plan that calls for trying to win by discouraging voting. The latest sign that Republicans have an election-year strategy to shut down voter registration drives comes from Ohio. As the state gears up for a very competitive election season this fall, its secretary of state, J. Kenneth Blackwell, has put in place "emergency" regulations that could hit voter registration workers with criminal penalties for perfectly legitimate registration practices. The rules are so draconian they could shut down registration drives in Ohio. Mr. Blackwell, who also happens to be the Republican candidate for governor this year, has a history of this sort of behavior. In 2004, he instructed county boards of elections to reject any registrations on paper of less than 80-pound stock — about the thickness of a postcard. His order was almost certainly illegal, and he retracted it after he came ...

This will be a busy week in the House -- Congress goes into summer recess Friday, but not before considering the Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA). Never heard of SIRA? That’s the way Big Copyright and their lackey’s want it, and it's bad news for you. Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy. Even copies of songs that are cached in your computer's memory or buffered over a network would need yet another license. Once again, Big Copyright is looking for a way to double-dip into your wallet, extracting payment for the same content at multiple levels. Today, so-called "incidental" copies don't need to be licensed; they're made in the process of doing *other* things, like listening to your MP3 library or plugging into a Net radio station. If you paid for the MP3 and the radio station is up-to-date with its bookkeepin...

Mike McCurry, former Clinton Administration Press Secretary turned telecommunications industry lobbyist is out to kill the open Internet while lining his and the telcos pockets. Nothing good can come of this. If McCyrry and the giant telcos have there way, say goodby to free speech on the Internet.

Dem Diatribe's Pick for the special election on Tuesday, Aug. 2, to elect the successor in the 2nd District to Congressman Rob Portman, who recently appointed by the President to a high trade post: Paul Hackett The 2nd District it is gerrymandered to wind from eastern Cincinnati’s prosperous suburbs and posh commercial sites through such small farm counties as Brown, Adams and Pike, part of Warren and Clermont, and all the way east across the state to downtrodden Portsmouth in poverty-ridden Scioto County. The race is down to Republican Jean Schmidt, who was the only female in a 10-person primary race, a 100 percent Bush backer from Loveland, who is the head of an anti-abortion group in Cincinnati. Her opponent is Paul Hackett, a charismatic, impressive lawyer from Indian Hill, who recently returned from a seven-month tour of duty in Iraq as a Marine major, where he served on the front lines in battered Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold. If elected, he will be, incredibly, the on...

President Bush is completely back-pedaling from his 2004 pledge to fire anyone involved in leaking the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Now that it appears that his most trusted, most evil confidant is the guilty party, Bush is adjusting his rhetoric. According to the Shrub, Darth Rove must now be convicted of a crime before said Shrub will fire him. I guess giving Rove his walking papers will be a lot easier once convicted, as he will be on his way to prison anyway. The Shrub is on his way to being a bigger flip-flopper than John Kerry and he might want to pay careful attention to some of the things he says with such conviction. e.g.: "...if someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration ..." Well Mr. Shrubbery, if you were to live by those words, you would have a pretty empty office. You might want to adjust your rhetoric again in the future to something like, "If someone in my administration who is not Karl Rove or Dick Chen...