Amazing!

NPR: The Challenges To Turning Off The Internet In Iran (3:44) - June 17, 2009
NPR: Iranians Still Connect To Social-Networking Sites (3:42) - June 18, 2009

The Iranian people gather by the hundreds of thousands to protest against election fraud. In the Video they are chanting - "Karroubi, Musavi get my vote back!" With just two-thirds of the votes counted last Friday, the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the election with 66% of the vote.

Ahmadinejad defeated his two opponents, Majlis Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, in what the people of Iran now believe was a stolen election.

The New York Times: serious fissures have opened in the face of Islamic rule and one that may prove impossible to patch over, particularly given the fierce dispute over the election that has erupted amid the elite veterans of the 1979 revolution.

As we watch people put their lives on the line for democracy, new media and social networking sites, like Twitter, have allowed young Iranians the ability to communicate what's happening inside their country -- even as the authorities try to prevent it. Yesterday's rally was just amazing!
(Picture from HuffingtonPost.com)

From the Guardian: More than 500,000 Iranians are silently marching from from Haft-e-Tir Squre to Vali Asr Square, reports Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran.

HuffingtonPost: Iran Updates with VIDEO / Live-Blogging The Uprising

NYTmes:

• Defiance Grows as Iran's Leader Sets Vote Review (June 16, 2009)
• Social Networks Spread Defiance Online (June 16, 2009)

Remeber That DHS Report Warning Military Veterans Might Join Right-Wing Extremists?

Under President Bush, the US military effectively adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when recruiting white supremacists and neo-Nazis into the Army.

That Department of Homeland Security Report on right-wing extremism, heavily criticized by right-wing conservatives when it was released in April, warned precisely of the type of violence that occurred at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic. That same DHS report also assessed that some military veterans could be susceptible to recruitment by these extremist groups.

Even though the report exclusively identified neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members and radicalized abortion opponents as right-wing extremists, a wide swath of conservative Republican voices -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at the DHS Secretary over what they deemed an anti-Republican report. (Do they identify these right-wing extremists as a core part of the Republican Party?) Mainstream conservatives went into a frenzy over the report, demanding that Secretary Janet Napolitano be fired. Even after last week’s shooting by a white supremacist at the Holocaust Museum, conservatives stood by their criticism of the DHS report — despite the fact that the report specifically warned about white supremacist and anti-Semitic extremists.

Many conservatives also lashed out at the report for suggesting that military veterans might be susceptible to extremist recruiters. Republicans said the Homeland Security report "unfairly characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists." House Republican leader John Boehner described the report as offensive and called on the agency to apologize to veterans.

Here again Republicans are playing partisan politics on an issue that is critical to the security and safety of Americans. According to Newsweek, some local intelligence “fusion centers" ceased their operations monitoring right-wing extremists because of the conservative outcry.

Numerous articles have detailed the Army’s manpower shortages under President Bush's stop loss order that returned soldiers to combat tours of duty three, four and five times in two war zones. Potential recruits were more difficult to enlist when faced with multiple duty tours, duty recalls and the increasing possible death by the fifth successive tour of combat duty.

In an effort to fill recruitment quotas under President Bush, the US military effectively adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when recruiting white supremacists and neo-Nazis into the Army. Under pressure, the Army ignored its recruiting standards to let in neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members who otherwise should have been turned away, according to a new article in Salon by Matt Kennard:

“Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.”

“Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing ‘hajjis’ is their duty as white militants.”

“Soldiers’ associations with extremist groups, and their racist actions, contravene a host of military statutes instituted in the past three decades,” he adds. “But during the “war on terror,” U.S. armed forces have turned a blind eye on their own regulations. A 2005 Department of Defense report states, ‘Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism. If individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinions overt … they are likely to be able to complete their contracts.’"

"Following an investigation of white supremacist groups, a 2008 FBI report declared: "Military experience — ranging from failure at basic training to success in special operations forces — is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement." In white supremacist incidents from 2001 to 2008, the FBI identified 203 veterans. Most of them were associated with the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement, which promote anti-Semitism and the overthrow of the U.S. government, and assorted skinhead groups."

"Because the FBI focused only on reported cases, its numbers don't include the many extremist soldiers who have managed to stay off the radar. But its report does pinpoint why the white supremacist movements seek to recruit veterans — they "may exploit their accesses to restricted areas and intelligence or apply specialized training in weapons, tactics, and organizational skills to benefit the extremist movement."

"In fact, since the movement's inception, its leaders have encouraged members to enlist in the U.S. military as a way to receive state-of-the-art combat training, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, in preparation for a domestic race war. The concept of a race war is central to extremist groups, whose adherents imagine an eruption of violence that pits races against each other and the government."

--- Click here for REST OF MATT KENNARD'S STORY IN SALON!... ---

Related Links:

• Right-Wing Populists Disavow Responsibility
• Will Conservative Republicans Continue To Defend Right-Wing Extremists
• Timothy McVeigh - right-wing extremist and military veteran - blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City
  

Collin County Commissioners Court Public Hearing On Free Clinic Funding

The Collin County Commissioner’s Court will vote on guidelines that will over-burden non-profit Healthcare providers with administrative requirements. These new administrative requirements will make County Funding technically available, but not practicably feasible to obtainable. Non-profit clinics of Collin County provide needed Healthcare to those who are struggling in the current economic downturn.

The Healthcare Committee of Collin County, a non-profit grassroots movement advocating health care accessibility for the uninsured, asks concerned citizens to attend the Commissioner’s Court public hearing on Monday June 15th to tell the commissioners to vote no on a burdensome measure to only reimburse clinics services for patients at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level.

The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 15th at the Wylie City Hall, (2000 State Hwy 78, North) starting at 6PM .

Read background information in the Dallas Morning News here and here, and McKinneyNews.net

Collin County Observer: Special Commissioners Court meeting expected to draw a crowd tonight

Democratic Party - Party!

Democratic Party of Collin County Denton County Democratic Party Fish Fry Social & Fund Raiser Friday, June 19, 2009 7:00-9:30 p.m. The Landing at Myers Park & Event Ctr 7117 County Road 166, McKinney, TX (map) Deadline To Buy Tickets June 15 Individual: $25 Guest Speakers Include: 2010 U.S. Senate Candidate John Sharp 2010 TX Governor Candidate Tom Schieffer 2010 U.S. Congress Candidate Neil Durrance (click to go to the DPCC information page) (click to go to the DCDP information page)

Hurry - The deadline to buy your ticket is tomorrow, Monday June 15th!!
The food promises to be great - catered by the famous Alligator Cafe you can select from a buffet of all you can eat catfish, hush puppies, slaw, and fixins, with ice tea to drink.

2010 candidates will speak on about the importance of Collin and Denton County voters remaining as active for upcoming 2010 elections as you werre for the 2008 presidential election.

Great indoor location, so come - rain or shine - dressed casual and bring your friends!

Approximately 3 miles North of HWY 380 (University Dr) on FM 1461 (N. Lake Forest Dr.) (Collin County Gov. Map) (Google Map)