WHEN REACHED FOR COMMENT ELLIE SMEAR SAID, "HEY, I'M ALL ABOUT BARACK. I LOVE HIM!" KIM GANDY SAID, "WHAT EVER BARACK WANTS IS FINE AND DANDY WITH ME. I'M JUST GRATEFUL THIS COUNTRY STILL LETS WOMEN VOTE. WE STILL CAN VOTE, RIGHT?" FEMINIST WIRE DAILY IS WORKING ON A BRIEF TO SELL THE SELL-OUT AS A BREAK THROUGH IN WOMEN'S LIBERATION. GRASSROOTS FEMINISTS ARE WATCHING CLOSELY AND WHISPERING THAT IT MAY BE TIME FOR SOME 'OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!' CRIES TOWARDS THE LEADERSHIP THAT REPEATEDLY STABS WOMEN IN THE BACK. WHEN REACHED FOR COMMENT, BARACK GIGGLED AND SAID, "I HATE WOMEN. SO DOES MICHELLE. IT'S SO FUNNY AFTER SHE ATTACKED HILLARY FOR BILL'S AFFAIR THAT THESE 'SWEETIES' IN THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT KEEP STICKING UP FOR ME. THEY'RE A LOT LIKE ME: NEITHER OF US HAS MUCH SELF-RESPECT." Yet the arrival of Iraq War soldiers seeking refuge in Canada didn't sit well with officials. Army Specialist Jeremy Hinzman's case was the first to be adjudicated, after he became the first U.S. war resister ever to apply for refugee status in Canada. The Immigriation and Refugee Board denied his claim; appeals may drag on for years. While his case is pending, Canada allows him to stay in the country and provides him with a temporary work permit. The ruling from the Refugee Protection Division of CIC insists Hinzman failed to mmake a case that the Iraq War was illegal: "He has not shown that the U.S. has either as a matter of deliberate policy or official indiffernce, required or allowed its combatants to engage in widespread actions in violation of humanitarian law." A veteran of the U.S. action in Afghanistan, Hinzman took his wife and baby to Canada when he received orders at Fort Bragg for a tour of duty in Iraq. "No matter how much I wanted to, I could not convince myself that killing someone was right," he said once he surfaced in Toronto. Hinzman had applied to be discharged as a conscientious objector, requested noncombat duties, and spent much of his time in Afghanistan performing kitchen chores. His CO application was rejected after a hearing in Afghanistan. Back in the States, when his orders for Iraq came, Hinzman felt he had only two choices: disobey tem and risk prison, or flee the country. Prison was not an option. "I have already missed a large chunk of my young son's life and I was willing to sacrifice any more lost time with him, especially during his formative years," he said. Canada looked like a good bet, given its policies toward deserters during the Vietnam War. Hinzman expressed no regrets about his decision and is convince the Iraq War is illegal.
"I object to the Iraqi war," he announced, "because it is an act of aggression with no defensive basis. It has been supported by pretenses that cannot withstand even elementary scrutiny. First, before the U.S. dropped the first bomb, it was quite evident that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Second, the Bush administration had the gall to exploit the American public's fear of terrorists by making the absurd assertion that a secular Batthist government was working with a fundamentalist terrorist group. There was nevery any intelligence to substantiate this. Third, the notion that the U.S. wants to export democracy to Iraq is laughable. Democracy is by the people, not an appointed puppet theater." Peter Laufer's book was published in 2006 and you might think the shelves have filled up in the time since but you'd be wrong. A few war resisters have movingly told their stories in book form and you have Aimee Allison and David Solnit's wonderful Army Of None but that's really about all. Jeremy became a news topic in May 2004. May 26, 2004 was when CBS News noted, "A U.S. soldier who deserted his Iraq-bound regiment and sought asylum in Canada said the U.S. war in Iraq was illegal and he accused the United States of committing war crimes. Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 25, is believed to be the first U.S. soldier to apply for refugee status in Canada after refusing combat duty in Iraq." In December of 2004, Jeremy told Scott Pelley (60 Minutes II, CBS), "I was told in basic training that, if I'm given an illegal or immoral order, it is my duty to disobey it." As to the myth of 'freedom' being fought for in Iraq, Hinzman declared, "Whether a country lives under freedom or tyranny or whatever else, that's the collective responsibility of the people of that country." The day started with Michael Futch (Fayetteville Observer) reporting that a decision was expected in Jeremy's status and that Fayetteville Quaker House director Chuck Fager was at work make signs for a planned demonstration supporting Hinzman -- "Shame, Canada, shame!" if the news was bad or "Thanks Canada! Jeremy Hinzman: Soldier of Conscience" if the news was good. Futch quotes Fager this afternoon explaining, "This is a very disappointing decision. It puts Canada more fully in complicity with an illegal and immoral war. Jeremy will probably end up back here at Fort Bragg. That's usually what happens." Futch also notes Hinzman and Nga added a daughter to their family in July, "Megan, who has Canadian citizenship." U.S. Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman was told today that his family's application to stay in Canada has been rejected. Hinzman was told that he does not qualify under Canada's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) program following a review by a Citizenship and Immigration department officer. Jeremy, his wife Nga Nguyen and their son Liam were the first Iraq War resisters to come to Canada to seek sanctuary. On July 21, their second child was born in Toronto. If deported, they would be the first family sent to the U.S. to face punishment. On July 15, the Canadian government deported U.S. war resister Robin Long who is currently awaiting court martial at Fort Carson, Colorado. Hinzman served a tour in Afghanistan in a non-combat role after applying for conscientious objector status. When his unit, the 82 Airborne Division, was to be deployed to Iraq Hinzman and his family decided to come to Canada. "I applied for Conscientious Objector Status in the U.S. Army because I realized that I cannot kill a fellow humna being. But my application was denied. I knew that in Iraq I would be ordered to take part in combat operations, or other actions that are against my principles," said Hinzman. "Nga and I knew Canada had welcomed many Americans like us during the Vietnam War, and we knew Canada had refused to join the invasion of Iraq." "Sending Jeremy and his family back to the U.S., where he would face harsh punishment, would be cruel," said Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign. "It would fly in the face of the motion adopted by the House of Commons on June 3, which called on the Harper government to stop all deportation proceedings against these conscientious objectors." Recent Federal Court of Canada decisions in the case of U.S. war resisters Joshua Key and Corey Glass have indicated that the refugee process which failed to grant protection to the Hinzman family may have been seriously flawed. The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on the federal government and the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to intervene to prevent the Hinzman family from being sent to the U.S. to be punished. Nick Kyonka (Toronto Star) reports, "Jeremy Hinzman, 29, had filed for a pre-removal risk assessment and permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds with Citizenship and Immigration Canada in January after several prior failed attempts to gain refugee status. Today he was told that both of those applications had been rejected and he must leave the country by Sept. 23." Kyonka quotes Jeremy stating, "Obviously we're disappointed but life goes on and we'll make the most of it wherever we end up." AP quotes him stating, "I'm disappointed but I think that every soldier that has refused to fight in Iraq has done a good thing and I'm not ashamed." Meagan Fitzpatrick (Canwest News Service) adds that War Resisters Support Campaign's Michelle "Robidoux said Hinzman, who lives in Toronto with his wife and two children, plans to take a close look at the decisions before deciding how to proceed." The Canadian Press notes: "Federal NDP Citizenship and Immigration Critic Olivia Chow, who put foward the June [3rd Parliament] motion, called the decision [to expell Jeremy] 'mean spirited.' She called on Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley to hald the deporation of Hinzman and other resisters immediately." Jeremy Hinzman and other war resisters in Canada need support and to pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do." There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. [. . .]
This is Ralph Nader. The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune in for a couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the prime time presidential debates. For our democracy to survive, prevail and thrive, we must have an open debate about the challenges we face and the solutions that we must apply. We really don't need two-candidate debates that sound like canned interviews. We don't need debaters prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants. We don't need show business, we need serious debate.
A 2000 Zogby poll showed that nearly 52% of the people wanted other candidates in the debates. In 2004, another Zogby poll showed 57% of likely voters wanted the debates opened up. A July 2008 poll by Zogby found that 44% of the public agreed that the American system is broken and cannot be repaired by the traditional two party politics and election. Another poll had 61% of the people saying both parties are failing.
It's time to open up the debates to third party candidates. I'm running for president because our democracy has been the target of an accelerating hostile corporate takeover. Control of our government by large corporations results in huge corporate welfare payouts, mega-fraud by military contractors, a pay or die system of health insurance, continued man-made global climate change and a collapsing financial system being propped up by the day on the backs of the American taxpayer with no restrictions, guarantees or return on investment. This and much more has happened with the craven complicity of both major political parties and politicians in Washington.
Friends, as things stand, the three debates run by the two parties through the private Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation, will exclude critical discussion of the control of our democracy by large corporations We need honest talk in this campaign. It's time to respect the will of the American people, to expand their access to arguments and facts that address issues central to their daily lives. It's time for the American people to take control of the political system. We can begin by opening up the presidential debates. I'm Ralph Nader.
Are you ready to rumble? If yes, make a contribution now to help fund our protest rallies in Denver (August 27) and Minneapolis (September 4). Thousands of Americans will be in Denver and Minneapolis to protest the pro-war corporate controlled Democrats and Republicans. Nader/Gonzalez has rented arenas in both cities to rally Americans opposed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and corporate control over all aspects of our lives. And to lay down one simple demand - open the Presidential debates. As Ralph put it the other day, if we are allowed into the debates - and reach tens of millions of Americans with our message - it will be a three-way race. Thanks to your help, we are on track to be on 45 states ballots by September 20 (Currently, we are on 31.) If we get into the debates, our six percent in the polls will jump to 15 percent or more. And the American people will sense a three-way race. Then everything is possible. But first, we have to pay for our up front costs in Denver and Minneapolis. And we need to raise $50,000 before August 20. To pay for sound, lights, office, arena, phone lines, staff, lodging, 100,000 handbills. We've taken some of our best road-trippers and flown them into Denver to promote the rally. We have also opened an office in downtown Denver. (See today's Denver Post article here.) Our staff is lining everything up to make them memorable rallies. But we've got bills to pay now. Then watch your name go up in lights on our new super rallies widget. And see us move toward our goal of $50,000. Let's crank it up. And get it done. Thank you in advance. See you in Denver and Minneapolis. Onward to November | |
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