Activism Across America

If you keep your head in the sand, or you watch cable TV to get your news, you haven’t heard about the shocking news last week that President George W. Bush admits to approving the use of torture by the CIA against people held prisoner by the American government.

Reaction to Bush’s statement that he not only knew of the meeting with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell to approve of illegal torture, but approved it as well, has been met by strong condemnation across the country… by those citizens who are intelligent enough to pay attention to what’s going on.

Even in Alabama, at the heart of Red Republican territory, has come a voice calling for the restoration of responsibility in our government - by holding George W. Bush and other top White House officials responsible for their crimes.

The editors of the Tuscaloosa News write that, “Long after the Bush administration is history, our nation will continue to be tarnished by its record of disregard for the rule of law and human rights… The American Civil Liberties Union has called on Congress to investigate. Given the record of the Bush administration, including the political manipulation of the Justice Department under disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the request is entirely reasonable. We urge our elected officials to embrace it - and to restore our country’s dedication to moral leadership.”

The investigation that these editors refer to is one by an independent prosecutor.

It’s about time that we hear such talk.

Will these sensible words be repeated in the halls of Congress, or will the Democratic leadership continue to mumble in a corner and hope that everyone just forgets about this insult to American liberty?

Activist opportunity: If good journalists down in Alabama can have the courage to stand up and call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush White House, so can you. Call your two senators and your member of the House of Representatives, and tell them you expect a special prosecutor to be appointed by Congress as soon as possible.

Alabama has a long history of supporting right wing politicians. The economic condition of Alabama, however, indicates that the voters of Alabama ought to consider a change in course.

As indicated in the Food Research and Action Center’s 2007 State of the States Report, Alabama is being crushed under the weight of a high poverty rate. With a general poverty rate of 17 percent and a child poverty rate of 24.8 percent, Alabama’s burden of poverty is much higher than the national average.

With one in four children in Alabama living in poverty, the prospects for Alabama’s future are not bright either - unless Alabamans abandon their attachment to right wing economic ideology that clearly hasn’t worked for them. The 2008 presidential election is coming just in time for Alabama to support a progressive candidate for President who will replace right wing neglect with an effort to use the power of government to lift Alabamans out of poverty and into a state of genuine opportunity.

Let’s start out at the beginning of the alphabet with a progressive organization in Alabama. It looks as if the Alabama Green Party is in trouble. The latest update on the Alabama Greens’ web page is from December 11, 2004. The Alabama Green Party forum link is dead.

The Alabama Green Party is still listed as an active political party by the sources that I know, though the mainstream press has not reported on the Alabama Green Party in years. Of course, lack of mainstream news coverage is pretty ordinary for the Green Party.

Tennessee Indymedia mentions a lecture sponsored by the North Alabama Green Party on April 13, 2007, so it’s obvious that some Alabama Greens are still active.

If anyone is able to give some news of what the Alabama Green Party has got going on lately, I’d love to hear from you.