IT’S THE WEEKEND - TIME FOR SOME REAL LIBERAL NEWS AND JOURNALISM

LET'S SEE SOME I.D.
Maria Luisa Tucker, AlterNet
What happens if you refuse to surrender identification when authorities demand it? You may go to jail. Or, you may not.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29268/

IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE...
Democracy Now!
Twenty-five years after John Lennon's assassination, a biographer discusses the musician's anti-war activism and the impact his death had on the world.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29283/

GOODBYE, NEW ORLEANS
Mike Tidwell, OrionOnline.org
The Bush administration has given New Orleans a quiet kiss of death with its final Katrina budget package. Without the right federal help, rebuilding is a waste of time and resources.
http://www.alternet.org/katrina/29274/

CLASS WARFARE WITH TAXES
Robert B. Reich, TomPaine.com
When the tax cut battle is between the wealthy and super wealthy, it looks like both groups win. So, guess who's going to foot the bill.
[Duchess Note - The poor and middle classes are footing the bill, so those arrogant greedy rich buggers get to play in easy street. No more, fight back! The rich don't deserve a "free ticket". Power to the people - "we the people" deserve those breaks, not some asshole Mr. Millionaire.]
http://www.alternet.org/story/29294/

A HANDSHAKE DEAL WITH SADDAM
Norman Solomon, AlterNet
The media has barely mentioned Rumsfeld’s key role in aiding the Iraqi tyrant.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/29273/

DON'T BUY THE B.S.
Stephen Pizzo, News for Real
Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and Big Energy are trying hard to convince us they really do care. And they do -- they care about keeping things exactly the way they are.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29240/

THAT END-OF-EMPIRE FEELING
David Corn, TomPaine.com
Ignoring Bush's recent claims of a healthy economy, his ill-advised foray into Iraq may well prove the beginning of the end of America's global influence.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29239/

CAPITALIZING ON GOVERNMENT REPRESSION
G. Pascal Zachary, In These Times
For American corporations in China, staying in business often means collaborating in -- and sometimes assisting -- governmental repression of citizens.
http://www.alternet.org/story/29237/

TRANSFORMATION HILLARY
Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
According to a secret memo leaked by a senior, fictional Clinton official, the worst is yet to come from Hillary.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/29215/

THE TOP TEN WAYS TO DEBATE IRAQ
Michael Schwartz, Tomdispatch.com
Among those who oppose the war, there are lurking questions that haunt our discussions. Here are a few pointed answers.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/29235/

REAL LEADERS HAVE HEART
Terrence McNally, AlterNet
In her new book about Abraham Lincoln, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reveals the quality that makes a president great -- his capacity for empathy.
http://www.alternet.org/story/28782/

MESSAGE FROM FELLOW NYC KUCITIZEN REGARDING “WORKING FOR CHANGE” ORGANIZATION

Please take a little time to go to this site and sign the petitions.
www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=20026&afccode=climate

This is the time to remind our government that we expect them to be better. Working for Change is a great site. They are supporting Kyoto and the Climate Change issue as the top issue on this page, but very conveniently you can sign petitions to investigate Karl Rove, to bring the troops home, to defeat the Budget Bill, to tell Ford to stop its association with anti-gay groups and to close your wallet to Wal-Mart. Excellent seasonal greetings don't you think? If you click on all Actions you will see an impressive list. Scrolling down a bit will get you to "Support Health Care for All" which was their lead a few months back. Please be sure to sign that one too. We can't just stand by watching American businesses loosing ground in the global race because they have to cover healthcare (a burden which is causing them to take drastic steps like cutting pensions).

MESSAGE FROM MARTY WALSH AT SENATOR TED KENNEDY WEBSITE
This White House stands between the American people and the truth. Despite growing public outcry for answers about Iraq, this administration continues to deny the Senate the documents necessary for a thorough investigation of pre-war intelligence. Every day more Americans ask questions about the war, and you and I have played an important role in this growing – and healthy -- awareness. Over the past few weeks, we've activated thousands of our fellow citizens through a simple document that calls for the White House to cooperate and release these documents. Now it's time to take our demands to the source. This coming week, a group from our community will hand-deliver a power petition to the White House gates. Fifty thousand names on hard copy is an impressive sight, and I promise to send you some pictures. This is the last chance to sign on, so tell anyone who may want to before it heads over to Pennsylvania Avenue: http://www.tedkennedy.com/tellmore

We will not be silent while the White House asserts that Congress had access to the same pre-war intelligence it did. Key materials – including the Presidential Daily Briefs -- are still being withheld from the Senate's current investigation. Simple actions like this petition are how Americans reclaim the truth through democracy. Each of us has the responsibility of making sure our fellow Americans realize the truth about this war – and demand change. Thank you for your continued work.

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem
By Dr. Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God. Are you there?
Are you there really? Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,

Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.