Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Bush coming to NC this week

Bush is expected to visit a Novozymes facility in Franklinton, in Franklin Co., this Thursday. The plant manufactures various enzymes used to facilitate chemical reactions, such as the conversion of plant parts into ethanol for fuel.  Bush will tour the factory, speal on a panel, and talk about actions being taken to reduce gas consumption by 20% over the next decade.  Given his past proposals, this is probably an overly rosey, misleading, and underfunded effort.  WRAL's brief February 16th announcement of the planned visit is online at http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1205690/.  I'm sure Bush will be dogged by protesters, and I will post when I hear of definite plans.
 
  

Friday, February 02, 2007

Defend liberty, repeal the Military Commissions Act

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (text online at
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:4:./temp/~c109IVm4h3:: ),
passed late last year, abolishes habeas corpus for
citizens and non-citizens alike and legalizes torture.
Demand that it be repealed by signing the Durham Bill
of Rights Defense Committee's petition to NC
politicians, online at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/stopMCA/petition.html

There are paper petitions at Internationalist Books,
and soon at The Peoples Channel, the Durham Food
Co-op, and elsewhere.  There will be a Durham BORDC branch
meeting Saturday afternoon (there is also a Chapel
Hill BORDC branch).

The text of the petition is:

We oppose the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This
is an unjust law that violates the basic human rights
of citizens and non-citizens. It does away with habeas
corpus rights (to a prompt court hearing to determine
whether one's imprisonment is legal, to know what
charges have been brought, and to have legal counsel).
It also gives the executive branch power to allow
interrogation techniques that violate the Geneva
Conventions and human decency. No one should be
subject to arbitrary arrest or to detention without a
prompt and fair trial, and no one should, under any
circumstances, be subject to torture.