Adam Durand, the animal-rights activist from the Compassionate Consumers local Rochester advocacy group, was arrested along with two others for trespassing on a Wayne County Wegmans egg farm two years ago. The sentence handed down on Tuesday, and can hardly be considered commensurate to the crime: six months in jail, one year probation and a $1,500 fine. Now his fellow advocates are staging a protest at the Pittsford Wegmans store on Sunday at 1:45pm.

» Continue Reading…

Saturday, May 20th, the Metro Justice Leadership Institute is holding a seminar featuring former D&C reporter Cory Ireland and MJ organizer Jon Greenbaum on using technology and media to give voice to the need for social change.

Admission: $15 for MJ Members, $50 for non-Members
Location: 167 Flanders St. in Rochester
Time: 10am to 2pm
Info: 585-325-2560

Boston, Massachusetts jazz/pop singer Juliet Lloyd comes to the Lilac Festival. Check out her songs on her MySpace.com page.

Where: ESL Lilac Stage
When: 5:30pm, Friday May 19th

Hip-hop/Trip-hop artist Kristin Mainhart brings her unique, jazzy sound to the Lilac Festival. Check her sound out at Kromosomes.com.

Where: The ESL Lilac Stage
When: 5:30pm, Friday, May 19th

Well, well! Apparently, when Bush talks down to Republicans and hints at thier apparent maliciousness, they get all upset!:

Bush Faces Resistance on Immigration - New York Times

Mr. Rohrabacher said that some fellow conservatives had found the president’s address condescending and that the remarks “hinted at maliciousness on the part of those who are adamant that illegal immigration is bad for the country.”

The above-linked article is a great read for those of you who enjoy nuts-and-bolts Congressional politics generally. Actually, it is kind of refreshing to hear genuine debate happening in Congress these days. But the quoted text above was what really got me. Bush’s speech was not significantly different than any other speech, either in delivery or in manner, than any number of a hundred speeches in the past. His slow, measured pace and paternal earnestness has always irritated me, the more so because of the way he mentions his detractors and “the enemies of freedom” in practically the same breath. The immigration speech was a page straight out of his playbook, and now the Republican’s and Conservative’s feathers are all ruffled. Good for them.
» Continue Reading…

Since the whole warrantless wiretapping thing turned out to be so unpopular (who knew?), the Big Telco rats are jumping ship, or at least trying to:

Verizon Denies Turning Over Local Phone Data - New York Times

Verizon, the country’s second-largest phone company, said yesterday that it had not provided local phone records to the National Security Agency as part of efforts to compile a database of calling records to track terrorist activities.

BellSouth Denies It Gave Records to N.S.A. - New York Times

BellSouth said yesterday that it had not shared customer calling records with the National Security Agency, denying a report last week that it was among three major telephone companies to have done so.

Technorati Tags: bell south, verizon, nsa, wiretapping, bush

powered by performancing firefox

Sometimes, the Republicans are thier own worst enemies.  Given the state of the Dems these days, we should be thankful.  I have always observed that if you give the Republicans a rope they will happily hang themselves, and even in the current climate, they’ve done more than enough to earn a rope rash.  One has to wonder how a politician even makes a statement like this in public ~ much less on the floor of the House of Representatives ~ given the current political climate:

Think Progress ? Hastert: ?If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don?t Pay Any Taxes?

During a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made a stunning claim on the House floor: Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don?t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don?t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut.

Now, even if he was absolutely spot-on right about this (he’s not), this is the kind of statement that is just killer with the middle classs. After all, what is it that the Republicans constantly use as a wedge with the middle class? Why, the fact that they’re being taxed too much, that’s what.  Oops.  I guess Dennie just let the cat out of the bag on that one!  Turns out, the middle class doesn’t pay any taxes at all! 

It would be more accurate to say that the middle class doesn’t pay any taxes that Dennie Hastert cares about.  Hence, Dennie says, “let them eat cake!”

I’ve taken the liberty of throwing the video of this little dustup into a vBlog window:
Click here to watch Dennie Hastert make an ass out of himself

powered by performancing firefox

Well, OK. Maybe they didn’t “confirm” it, but with this latest attack from The Right, it’s obvious they’re very, very worried. And no, I don’t think that they’re just worried about the movie. I think intelligent players in the political world are getting thier dander up about a possible second Gore presidential bid:

Big Oil Launches Attack On Al Gore:

Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will unveil two 60-second TV ads focusing on what it calls ?global warming alarmism and the call by some environmental groups and politicians to reduce fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emissions.? The ad, which will be aired in more than a dozen cities across the country, is being released just a week before the May 24th opening (in LA and NYC) of Al Gore?s new movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

Who is CEI? The Washington Post explains:

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which widely publicizes its belief that the earth is not warming cataclysmically because of the burning of coal and oil, says Exxon Mobil Corp. is a ?major donor? largely as a result of its effort to push that position.

CEI also gets funding from other oil companies through the American Petroleum Institute.

And there you have it.

Here’s what happens when you decide to play “tough-guy” throughout the world.  Others decide to play rough back.  This is interesting, to be sure.  I’m not sure what good it does Iran or Venesuela, but certainly on a symbolic level, it’s a punch in the eye.  At what point does the Adminstration figure out that playing hardball all the time leaves you with only playing hardball as a diplomatic tool?  If it doesn’t work, you have no other alternatives.

BREITBART.COM - Venezuela Weighs Selling U.S. Jets to Iran

Venezuela is considering selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran, in response to a U.S. ban on arms sales to President Hugo Chavez’s government, a military official said Tuesday.

Gen. Alberto Muller, a senior adviser to Chavez, told The Associated Press he had recommended to the defense minister that Venezuela consider selling the 21 jets to another country.

Muller said he thought it was worthwhile to consider “the feasibility of a negotiation with Iran for the sale of those planes.”

powered by performancing firefox

Witness the Federal Government actively wiretapping journalists.  This is just the beginning, folks.  The Bush Administration plays by no one’s rules but thier own.

The Blotter

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

“It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,” the source told us in an in-person conversation.

powered by performancing firefox