WMG - Gets all over YouTubers
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Music swap and the bankrupt Warner Music Group
Topic: MEDIA

Hey Z3 Readers I ran across this discussion on WMG and their shitty treatment of YouTube users ... I found the information here:

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/12/21/in-dispute-warner-music-wmg-and-youtube-both-losers/ 

Warner will pull a vid with anybody singing "happy birthday to you" on it! Bankrupt Warner Music Group! Warner's stock is at $2 a share.. it won't take much to bankrupt them. encourage millions of viewers to set up accounts with Youtube devoted solely to uploading warner videos.

Every time they get taken down, upload more warner videos. That will also leave thousands of videos without audio with the message that they have been *silenced by WMG*..bad publicity for WMG. warner will go bankrupt with overtime trolling. Everybody should swamp WMG with their complaints!

use www.faxzero.com to send free faxes.
Warners fax is 212-275-3985.
Warner's phone: 212-275-2000.
Google/youtube fax: 650-253-0001. Google/youtube: Phone: 650-253-0000

Investing in Military or Economy - swords or ploghshares?
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: Swords or Ploughshares: Peaceful thoughts for the future
Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT

Swords or Ploughshares: 

 

 Empowering Smart Decisions

 

in Difficult Times

 

The following was taken from this link:

http://www.peace-action.org/pub/eNewsletter/march/swords_ploughshares.html

After World War Two there was a dramatic shift in our national economy.  That war was, and continues to be, trumpeted as the way out of the Great Depression.  Since then our country has maintained an ever increasing level of military spending as a means of ‘stimulating our economy.’  After a generation of considering illogical and unnecessary military spending essential to our economic growth, it is no wonder in 2009 the Pentagon budget dwarfs the budgets of many small industrialized countries. 

Seymour Melman, an economist, writer, peace activist, and gadfly of the military-industrial complex was the first to question the legitimacy of this economic model.  His book The Permanent War Economy and Pentagon Capitalism set the stage for the first of many Peace Action campaigns to reduce the military budget.

Under the leadership of then Peace Action board co-chair and International Association of Machinists leader William Winpisinger, Peace Action mounted a campaign to support Congressman Ted Weiss’ “economic conversion” legislation.  The basic premise was:  if we can ramp up our economy by spending money for war during war-time, then we can do the same during peace-time by investing in domestic and human needs. 

After suffering under the neo-conservative yoke of the Reaganites many at Peace Action were hopeful when President William Clinton promised to reduce the military budget.  We launched our Peace Economy Campaign to reinvest money wasted on Star Wars and Cold War weapons into rebuilding our economy from the bottom-up.  We endorsed the Congressional Black Caucuses’ Alternative Budget and waited for Clinton to present his budget. 

Clinton did cut the budget, but not in a way that promoted a peace economy.  He cut military personnel and none of the Reagan administration weapons.  He fully funded Star Wars and refused to reduce our nuclear arsenal.  The types of cuts he made and did not make set our peace economy campaign back.  Conservatives pointed to it as naiveté and progressives were compelled to condemn it for being ineffective.  In reality, the cuts Clinton made to the personnel in the military were just reinvested into the Pentagon and its weapons systems.

President Obama has made many promises about the military budget.  He has said he wants to “stop waste and cost overruns”; he wants to phase down our occupation in Iraq and call it a reduction in military spending.  Are these smart cuts?  They may reduce the balance of the Pentagon budget; but, they do nothing to promote a peace economy.  Even eliminating all the costs associated with our occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. military budget is still larger than that of all other nations combined. 

Peace Action is ramping up a campaign to make sure that the Obama Administration does not go the way of its Republican and Democratic predecessors.  Our second Peace Economy Campaign will officially kick off in April with protests in cities and towns all over the country.  We’ll use the 6th anniversary of the Iraq occupation to draw attention to the wasteful spending and Tax Day actions to ask the people of this country, “where do you want your tax dollars spent.” 

In the long term, our goal is to reduce the military budget by making smart cuts in our military spending and greatly decreasing our military presence around the world.  To this end we co-sponsored the Security Without Empire Conference on Military Bases last week.  In the coming months our political team will make lobby visits around the nuclear non-proliferation treaty talks and the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 

Peace Action will continue to oppose any U.S. military occupation both on moral and fiscal grounds.  This summer we’ll take that message to millions of American homes; knocking on doors with our message.  We believe that change comes from people, not presidents.  Together, we can deliver change to the country one dollar at a time.

Bad Monkey Business - Lets make It Stop - Get Active!
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Is your taxes going to monkey abuse - and what are you doing about it?
Topic: HUMANITY

 

End the Use of Chimps in Research

Watch Our Video, Then Take Action

 

http://video.hsus.org/  

VIDEO LINK - PLEASE WATCH.

 

A nine-month-long undercover investigation by The HSUS has exposed the mistreatment of nearly 300 chimpanzees and other primates at the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana. These chimps, living lives of deprivation and misery, are among the more than 1,000 chimps languishing in laboratories across the United States. Chimps, our closet genetic relative, are complex, social, and long-lived creatures. Many chimps currently warehoused in research facilities have lived for decades behind bars. Especially heartbreaking are stories of the 26 elder chimps at NIRC, who were taken from their mothers in the wild.

The Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 1326) has just been re-introduced in Congress. This legislation aims to end invasive research on the chimpanzees remaining in laboratories, retire the approximately 500 federally-owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuary (including the elder chimps at NIRC), and make the recent decision by the National Center for Research Resources (part of the National Institutes of Health) to stop funding the breeding of federally-owned chimpanzees permanent.

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor The Great Ape Protection Act. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or click here to look up your Representative and the Capitol office phone number.

After you make your call, fill in and submit the form at the right to automatically send a message to your U.S. Representative. Your legislators receive a lot of email, so it is important to personalize the subject line and text below to make your message stand out and have a greater impact.

Sample Letter from link

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

As your constituent, I am asking you to co-sponsor the Towns-Reichert Great Ape Protection Act, H.R. 1326, which was recently re-introduced. This legislation phases out the use of chimpanzees in invasive research and retires the estimated 500 federally-owned chimpanzees to permanent, suitable sanctuary

____

ABC News: Nightline aired the story of the more than 300 chimpanzees at the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana. The footage of NIRC was taken from a nine-month-long undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States.

 

Among these chimps are 26 elders who were taken decades ago from the wild. It's time to give these animals the sanctuary they deserve.

 

At any given time, the vast majority of chimpanzees in laboratories are simply being warehoused, and not actually used in research. The approximately $20-25 million in taxpayer dollars per year spent to house, care for, and experiment on this endangered species could be better spent on other, more useful research endeavors.

 

I am very concerned about the use of these endangered animals for research which causes them considerable harm. In addition to being highly social and emotional beings, chimpanzees have been shown to have amazing mental abilities such as tool use and problem solving skills. Given what we know about them, confinement in a laboratory is simply no place for a chimpanzee.

 

The United States is the only country, besides Gabon, that still uses chimpanzees in invasive research. The United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain have all banned or severely restricted the use of chimpanzees. Please help the U.S. join this list of nations by co-sponsoring The Great Ape Protection Act.

 

Thank you.

Joe Anybody

private viewing at Mr Darksides place of the 92 missing Torture Tapes
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: 92 USA torture tapes ...have been destroyed (or have they?)
Topic: TORTURE

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Hey Now Z3 Readers here is a stomach aching torture file blog. Seems Mr Darkside (war criminal cheney the dick) has been hiding the facts again.

 What facts?

Gee Mr Darkside, could it be the 92 tapes you had destroyed? What we have known for years here at Z3 headquarters is this type of criminal activity has been going on day and night and with no one holding these evil doers accountable.

Missing files....?

Give me a break!

They must think we are stupid.

Well John Q Public may be ignorant and naive but the Z3 Report readers know all to well what is going on in them dark dank holes that fly USA flags over the entrance while they do the bidding for Mr Darkside and use criminal tactics in the name of justice.

I bet those 92 tapes contained some filthy shit. And it probably had a 'made in the USA' stamp on the box. Actually smooth dick probably has them at home in his family room for viewing privately.

Posted March 2, 2009 | 06:53 PM (EST)

 92 Destroyed Tapes: A Need to Shed Light on Cheney's "Dark Side" 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/92-destroyed-tapes-a-need_b_171240.html

By: Coleen Rowley

When I first posed these hard questions in the NY Times about the C.I.A. torture tapes, we were all under the belief that only two tapes had been destroyed. Now that we know it was ninety two tapes, all kinds of further questions emerge. But the most pressing is this one: how can this still be swept under the rug?! Sweeping dark things under the rug is never the answer. And despite the crude attempt to avoid accountability by shredding the evidence, I can't imagine a time there was such a need for an independent prosecutor to shed light on what Cheney once termed "the dark side".

______________________________________________________

Published in NY Times: December 11, 2007
To the Editor:

Re ''C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations''

(NY Times front page, Dec. 7):

You don't need to have worked as an F.B.I. agent for 24 years as I did to know that shredding the evidence is always a clue. What's the common thread underlying the C.I.A.'s destruction of videotaped harsh interrogations in the midst of ongoing legal inquiries; President Bush's last-minute commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence; the millions of White House e-mail records missing in violation of the Presidential Records Act; and the administration's current push to give immunity to the telecommunication companies suspected of engaging in illegal eavesdropping and surveillance of Americans?

Clearly, the only way the Bush gang can protect itself now from accountability is to suppress the truth. To do so, officials must destroy hard evidence and, at the same time, protect and immunize those who followed their illegal orders.

Their contempt for the rule of law cannot get much worse. They learned from Nixon's Watergate, and they're trying not to leave any Oval Office tapes around. Coleen Rowley
Apple Valley, Minn., Dec. 7, 2007

__________________________________________________

 As if America didn't have enough evil to account for in its history of bigotry and witchburning. Now we are dishonored even further. Thanks a lot, Dubya, Cheney, the CIA and anyone else who contributed to this kind of sneaky, unlawful, rule-breaking thuggery that made the world hate us. I want to see them on trial yesterday.

The Downlow on Plastic Water Bottles
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: New study finds "Plastic Water Bottles" are not good for the environment
Topic: ENVIRONMENTAL

 Hello my friendly concerned Z3 Readers,

 I just found this tid-bit of information through my email from

"Mother Jones Magazine" here is the URL link:

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/02/your-water-bottle-one-quarter-full-oil

 

***********************************

Your Water Bottle Is One-Quarter Full Of Oil

  

Abu Ghraib to Reopens (shhhhh! it has a new name)
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Abu Ghraib new name is Baghdad Central Prison.
Topic: TORTURE

 Abu Ghraib to Reopen

.

- complete with children's playground -

.

Published on 02-22-2009

 

http://blacklistednews.com/?news_id=3425

 

 

 

Welcome back - Abu Ghraib's bad old days are over, claim jailers.

Now, nearly five years after its role in one of the world's biggest human rights abuse scandals, Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail has re-opened with a promise of decent conditions for inmates - including a gym, computer chatroom and hair salon.

The prison, which earned global notoriety in 2004 after US jailers filmed themselves tormenting and sexually abusing Iraqi prisoners, was shut down two years ago when America handed control of it to the new Iraqi government. Iraqi and US officials, who believed its closure would end what had become a symbolic rallying point for the anti-US insurgency, moved its inmates to another facility on the Kuwait border.

But yesterday, after a fresh lick of paint and extensive refurbishing, it officially opened its doors again, purporting to offer conditions more familiar to inmates of a prison in Scandinavia. As well as modern medical and dental facilities, there is a courtyard for visiting families that contains a children's playground and water fountain. Inmates also have a mosque, and will be able to sew their own clothes in a small sewing factory. Mindful of its fearsome reputation, Iraqi officials in charge of the makeover have even changed its name from Abu Ghraib to Baghdad Central Prison.

"The prison is officially open and we have received inmates. Hundreds are present," said prison director general Alsharif al-Murtadha Abdul al-Mutalib, who yesterday invited reporters to tour the jail, which is set behind watchtower-guarded walls in one of Baghdad's western suburbs. It will eventually be home to around 14,000 prisoners.

In all, 11 US soldiers were convicted of breaking military laws and five others were disciplined over the torture allegations in Abu Ghraib. American authorities implemented a series of reforms in the aftermath, although they still faced complaints about prolonged detentions without charges.

Conditions were far harsher there during Saddam's time, however, when the double gallows in the jail's execution chamber was in regular use, and cells were so over-crowded that inmates used to have to take turns to sleep. Just ahead of the US invasion in 2003, Saddam granted an amnesty to some 60,000 inmates that it was then holding, adding greatly to the law and order problems that beset Baghdad when his government finally fell.

Under a bilateral security agreement that calls for a full US withdrawal by the end of 2011, American commanders have to hand over around 14,000 Iraqis that they are still detaining as suspected insurgents or militia members.

Most of those detainees are expected to be freed without charge, but some will face trials under Iraqi law. Despite the promises made by Iraqi officials during yesterday's re-opening ceremony, human rights groups say prisoners in Iraqi custody are frequently beaten, abused and denied due process.

Last year, the Iraqi government said it would turn a section of the 280-acre prison into a museum documenting Saddam's crimes, but not the abuses committed by US guards.

Protests Ramping up ...well I do think so
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Londons Calling
Topic: PROTEST!

 

Published on 02-22-2009

http://blacklistednews.com/?news_id=3425

Source: Guardian

Britain faces summer of rage - police

Scenes such as those seen in London in January when protestors clashed with mounted riot police at a protest over Israel's action in Gaza could become more common sights in the UK. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Police are preparing for a "summer of rage" as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned.Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming "footsoldiers" in a wave of potentially violent mass protests.Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police's public order branch, told the Guardian that middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year. He said that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become "viable targets". So too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.

Sick Attack on Gaza Leaves "437 Dead Children" as well as1,330 adults
Mood:  down
Now Playing: Medea Benjamin tells us 437 children were recently killed
Topic: WAR

Z3 Readers This is a descouraging report from Gaza. Thank God for good people like Medea Benjamin who brings this shocking sick news from Gaza.

 437 Dead Palestinian Children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/medea-benjamin/to-gaza-with-love_b_167941.html 

When I traveled to Gaza last week, everywhere I went, a photo haunted me. I saw it in a brochure called "Gaza will not die" that Hamas gives out to visitors at the border crossing. A poster-sized version was posted outside a makeshift memorial at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. And now that I am back home, the image comes to me when I look at children playing in the park, when I glance at the school across the street, when I go to sleep at night.

It is a photo of a young Palestinian girl who is literally buried alive in the rubble from a bomb blast, with just her head protruding from the ruins. Her eyes are closed, her mouth partially open, as if she were in a deep sleep. Dried blood covers her lips, her cheeks, her hair. Someone with a glove is reaching down to touch her forehead, showing one final gesture of kindness in the midst of such inhumanity.

What was this little girl's name, I wonder. How old was she? Was she sleeping when the bomb hit her home? Did she die a quick death or a slow, agonizing one? Where are her parents, her siblings? How are they faring?

Of the 1,330 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military during the 22-day invasion of Gaza, 437 were children. Let me repeat that: 437 children -- each as beautiful and precious as our own.

As a Jew, an American and a mother, I felt compelled to witness, firsthand, what my people and my tax dollars had done during this invasion. Visiting Gaza filled me with unbearable sadness. Unlike the primitive weapons of Hamas, the Israelis had so many sophisticated ways to murder, maim and destroy -- unmanned drones, F-16s dropping "smart bombs" that miss, Apache helicopters launching missiles, tanks firing from the ground, ships shelling Gaza from the sea. So many horrific weapons stamped with Made in the USA. While Hamas' attacks on Israeli villages are deplorable, Israel's disproportionate response is unconscionable, with 1,330 Palestinians dead vs. 13 Israelis.

If the invasion was designed to destroy Hamas, it failed miserably. Not only is Hamas still in control, but it retains much popular support. If the invasion was designed as a form of collective punishment, it succeeded, leaving behind a trail of grieving mothers, angry fathers and traumatized children.

To get a sense of the devastation, check out a slide show circulating on the internet called Gaza: Massacre of Children (here). It should be required viewing for all who supported this invasion of Gaza. Babies charred like shish-kebabs. Limbs chopped off. Features melted from white phosphorus. Faces crying out in pain, gripped by fear, overcome by grief.

Anyone who can view the slides and still repeat the mantra that "Israel has the right to self-defense" or "Hamas brought this upon its own people," or worse yet, "the Israeli military didn't go far enough," does a horrible disservice not only to the Palestinian people, but to humanity.

Compassion, the greatest virtue in all major religions, is the basic human emotion prompted by the suffering of others, and it triggers a desire to alleviate that suffering. True compassion is not circumscribed by one's faith or the nationality of those suffering. It crosses borders; it speaks a universal language; it shares a common spirituality. Those who have suffered themselves, such as Holocaust victims, are supposed to have the deepest well of compassion.

The Israeli election was in full swing while was I visiting Gaza. As I looked out on the ruins of schools, playgrounds, homes, mosques and clinics, I recalled the words of Benjamin Netanyahu, "No matter how strong the blows that Hamas received from Israel, it's not enough." As I talked to distraught mothers whose children were on life support in a bombed hospital, I thought of the "moderate" woman in the race, Tzipi Livni, who vowed that she would not negotiate with Hamas, insisted that "terror must be fought with force and lots of force" and warned that "if by ending the operation we have yet to achieve deterrence, we will continue until they get the message."

"The message," I can report, has been received. It is a message that Israel is run by war criminals, that the lives of Palestinians mean nothing to them. Even more chilling is the pro-war message sent by the Israeli people with their votes for Netanyahu, Livni and anti-Arab racist Avigdor Lieberman.

How tragic that nation born out of the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust has become a nation that supports the slaughter of Palestinians.

Here in the U.S., Congress ignored the suffering of the Palestinians and pledged its unwavering support for the Israeli state. All but five members out of 535 voted for a resolution justifying the invasion, falsely holding Hamas solely responsible for breaking the ceasefire and praising Israel for facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza at a time when food supplies were rotting at the closed borders.

One glimmer of hope we found among people in Gaza was the Obama administration. Many were upset that Obama did not speak out during the invasion and that peace envoy George Mitchell, on his first trip to the Middle East, did not visit Gaza or even Syria. But they felt that Mitchell was a good choice and Obama, if given the space by the American people, could play a positive role.

Who can provide that space for Obama? Who can respond to the call for justice from the Palestinian people? Who can counter AIPAC, the powerful lobby that supports Israeli aggression?

An organized, mobilized, coordinated grassroots movement is the critical counterforce, and within that movement, those who have a particularly powerful voice are American Jews. We have the beginnings of a such a counterforce within the American Jewish community. Across the United States, Jews joined marches, sit-ins, die-ins, even chained themselves to Israeli consulates in protest. Jewish groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom lobby for a diplomatic solution. Tikkun organizes for a Jewish spiritual renewal grounded in social justice. The Middle East Children's Alliance and Madre send humanitarian aid to Palestine. Women in Black hold compelling weekly vigils. American Jews for a Just Peace plants olive trees on the West Bank. Jewish Voice for Peace promotes divestment from corporations that profit from occupation. Jews Against the Occupation calls for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

We need greater coordination among these groups and within the broader movement. And we need more people and more sustained involvement, especially Jewish Americans. In loving memory of our ancestors and for the future of our -- and Palestinian -- children, more American Jews should speak out and reach out. As Sholom Schwartzbard, a member of Jews Against the Occupation, explained at a New York City protest, "We know from our own history what being sealed behind barbed wire and checkpoints is like, and we know that 'Never Again' means not anyone, not anywhere -- or it means nothing at all."

On March 7, I will return to Gaza with a large international delegation, bringing aid but more importantly, pressuring the Israeli, U.S. and Egyptian governments to open the borders and lift the siege. Many members of the delegation are Jews. We will travel in the spirit of tikkun olam, repairing the world, but with a heavy sense of responsibility, shame and yes, compassion. We will never be able to bring back to life the little girl buried in the rubble. But we can -- and will hold her in our hearts as we bring a message from America and a growing number of American Jews: To Gaza, With Love.

For information about joining the trip to Gaza, contact gaza.codepink@gmail.com.

H-2B just a nice present from Bush to help screw over foreign workers
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: How to Rip Off Foreign Workers by using H--2B
Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT

Hey Now Z3 Readers this email alert is to tell us how the Bush Crime Family screwed the worker some more. Its called H-2B 

It allows "the worker" (in this case the foreign worker) to legally get screwed over and to allow the abuse by taking advantage of their lack of work law knowledge. But believe me the outfits (companies) that do know about this law (H-2B)

.....ohhh they know all about it.!!!

Thanks Bush... from another working stiff that appreciates your your back room policies to fuck over the working man (not!)

Action Alert - Stop Worker Abuse

 

In its final days, the Bush administration gave a gift to U.S. corporations by rewriting little-known rules that allow them to "import" foreign workers to fill jobs here.

Bush's changes make it even more attractive for businesses to hire foreign guestworkers — undercutting wages, opportunities and working conditions for all workers. This is especially troubling in today's economy.

These changes shred the few protections for H-2B guestworkers. And they're already taking a toll. Just last week, an appellate court in New Orleans cited the new regulations when ruling that an employer did not have to reimburse guestworkers for thousands of dollars in fees they paid to obtain low-wage, temporary jobs.

Foreign guestworkers don't have the same protections as U.S. workers, so they are vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers. In fact, they are routinely cheated out of their wages, and some are treated as modern-day slaves.

This abuse must stop!

We're working through the courts to stop the exploitation of guestworkers. But we need broader reforms that can only come from the federal government.

Please contact President Obama today and urge him to overturn the Bush rules and reform this program from top to bottom.

White House website

Suggested message:
President Obama, please rewrite the rules for the H-2B guestworker program. This fundamentally flawed program results in the systematic exploitation of workers and gives incentives to U.S. businesses to bring in vulnerable foreign workers, undercutting wages, opportunities and working conditions for all workers.

Free video chat for PC
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: Make sure you have your clothes on ..or not
Topic: TECHNOLOGY

Z3 Readers Here is a website that I didnt read or look at But I thought it would be a good rainy day project to read up on... Free video chat for PC For my distant friends and relatives, free videoconferencing software is a wonderful gift that allows us to chat face-to-face although we may be thousands of miles apart. A few weeks ago, Jessica Dolcourt reported on the most recent update to free video chat client Skype, which expanded the video window and improved audio reception. This week, Jessica is back with a slide-show comparison of six popular free video-chat applications: Skype, Camfrog Video Chat, ooVoo, VoxOx, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger. If you prefer talking to contacts without showing your face, don't worry. All of the programs let you perform audio-only calls as well. Give these free video-chat apps a try and let us know what you think. If you have another favorite program that you use to video chat, tell us about it in the blog. Voice chat for free on your PC Visit Download.com