where to?

[Ivo Skoric]

Following the controversy over Croatian pop-singer Marko Perkovic 
Thompson - and his use of nationalist rhetoric as a marketing tool 
for his music - I found an American variance of MPT: Toby Keith.
http://www.tobykeith.com/

Curiously he headlined Super-Bowl's band line-up. This is the same 
Super-Bowl that CBS TV Network broadcasted to the America public. CBS 
aired Bush's campaign ad and refused to air Move-On "Bush in 30 
seconds" ad during the same event.

This type of partisanship is worthy of Tudjman's and/or Milosevic's 
level of control over the media. Is Clark going to get NATO to strike 
down CBS headquarters as he did with RTS in Belgrade?

Ugly as it looks, Dean is losing and Kucinich never stood a chance. 
This demonstrates that peace candidates do not command the highest 
ratings. Worse, Dean is losing despite all the money he raised. This 
suggests a bad campaign management, and that perception may cause him 
to continue losing.

Interestingly, Dean is singled out as boogey-man in that Republican 
ad that aired during Super-Bowl, as a lunatic from Vermont. This 
dirty, below the waist ad hominem hit, characteristic of cowardly neo-
conservative power-trip-heads, precipitated Dean's fall.

Living in post-Dean Vermont, I can testify that he left the State in 
good shape. It may not be rich, but there is no yawning gap between 
haves and have-nots, there are reasonable, functioning social 
services, and public offices. My experience with health care, 
unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc. is across the board better 
than in New York state.

Liberal, tolerant, and diverse, Vermont looks happier than Texas. Why 
then Dean would not be a better candidate for president than Bush? 
Promising further increase in defense spending, and further tax-cuts 
for the rich, In the manner endemic to the Eastern-European 
communists-turned-nationalists, Bush administration, boldly pushes on 
with its agenda of turning the U.S. into a police state: here, judge 
subpoenaed minutes of an anti-war meeting.

Saturday, February 7, 2004 (AP) University and four peace activists
subpoenaed over anti-war demonstration RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated 
Press Writer


   (02-07) 11:03 PST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) --
   In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a 
federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a 
gathering of anti-war activists.
   In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were
served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15
forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury
Tuesday, the protesters said.
   Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.
   In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena
orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local
chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal 
activist organization that sponsored the forum.
   The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the
   1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the 
subpoena on Monday.
   "The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate
protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds 
its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement.
   Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil 
Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being 
served on any U.S. university in decades.
   Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace
Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member
of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited
Iraq in 2002.
   They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.
   "This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian
Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil
liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle
that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen
in this country from now on."
   The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard 
Home!" came the day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-war 
rally at Iowa National Guard headquarters in Johnston. Organizers say 
the forum included nonviolence training for people planning to 
demonstrate.
   The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are trying to
link them to an incident that occurred during the rally. A Grinnell
College librarian was charged with misdemeanor assault on a peace
officer; she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went limp and
resisted arrest.
   "The best approach is not to speculate and see what we learn on
Tuesday" when the four testify, said Ben Stone, executive director of
the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, which is representing one of the
protesters.
   Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based American
   Association of University Professors, said he had not heard of any 
similar case of a U.S. university being subpoenaed for such records.
   He said the case brings back fears of the "red squads" of the 
1950s and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War protesters.
   According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake
subpoena asks for records of the request for a meeting room, "all
documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the
meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify persons
that actually attended the meeting."
   It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any 
observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any 
records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any 
records of attendees of the meeting."
   Several officials of Drake, a private university with about 5,000
students, refused to comment Friday, including school spokeswoman
Andrea McDonough. She referred questions to a lawyer representing the
school, Steve Serck, who also would not comment.
   A source with knowledge of the investigation said a judge had
   issued  a gag order forbidding school officials from discussing 
the subpoena.

On the Net:
   Drake University: www.drake.edu/
   National Lawyers Guild: www.nlg.org/

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Copyright 2004 AP