* Remember Florida's felon purge list from the 2000 Presidential elections, which wrongly identified 8,000 Floridians as felons - thus ineligible to vote - and listed 2,300 former felons, despite the fact that the state had restored their civil rights. Despite these and other errors, Florida used a new purge list in the mid-term elections of 2002, when Gov. Jeb Bush was up for re-election. Well, new elections, new purge list in Florida. This one has 47,000 names. But this time the names are secret, because of a 2001 state law the lists are available to political parties and their candidates. "This will make it difficult for the public to discover if thousands more Floridians are wrongly purged. In a close election, a faulty purge list could be decisive." Florida's The Ledger (June 12)
*
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" will appear in movie theaters in the US on June 25th! In May Walt Disney Co. banned its Miramax Films subsidiary from distributing the movie before the November 2 US presidential elections. Disney then ceded the rights to two of its studio executives, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who have associated with Lions Gate Films and IFC Entertainment to distribute the film. But now the Motion Picture Association of America gave it an "R" adult rating because it contained "violent and disturbing images" and strong language. Ortenberg said in a statement the ratings board's decision was "completely unjustified".
* In response to questions from Anonymous:
How much progress will be made in the US towards abolishing the death penalty and joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) depends mostly on the result of the presidential elections in November. Bush as Governor of Texas signed off a record number of executions. Despite the public sway against the death penalty, particularly after many prisoners on death row were exonerated, the Republicans are not likely to support a change in this area. [Check out National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty]. During Bush's presidency, the US has exerted pressure on a number of countries to sign bilateral agreements to exempt USAmericans from pressution in the ICC. This direction was intensified with the 'War on Terrorism'. So don't expect him to support it. The ICC, however, is not a well known issue in the US on which there is strong public opinion. [Check out USA for the ICC]
John F. Kerry is opposed to the death penalty (USAToday)
Kerry "supports U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court, but also believe that U.S. officials, including soldiers, should be provided some protection from politically motivated prosecutions." (FCNL)
For information on the legality of the prisoner detentions in at Camp X-ray, Guantanamo Cuba, check out the Center for Constitutional Rights, a NY-based law group that is leading a case on their behalf in US and international courts.
*
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" will appear in movie theaters in the US on June 25th! In May Walt Disney Co. banned its Miramax Films subsidiary from distributing the movie before the November 2 US presidential elections. Disney then ceded the rights to two of its studio executives, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who have associated with Lions Gate Films and IFC Entertainment to distribute the film. But now the Motion Picture Association of America gave it an "R" adult rating because it contained "violent and disturbing images" and strong language. Ortenberg said in a statement the ratings board's decision was "completely unjustified".
* In response to questions from Anonymous:
How much progress will be made in the US towards abolishing the death penalty and joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) depends mostly on the result of the presidential elections in November. Bush as Governor of Texas signed off a record number of executions. Despite the public sway against the death penalty, particularly after many prisoners on death row were exonerated, the Republicans are not likely to support a change in this area. [Check out National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty]. During Bush's presidency, the US has exerted pressure on a number of countries to sign bilateral agreements to exempt USAmericans from pressution in the ICC. This direction was intensified with the 'War on Terrorism'. So don't expect him to support it. The ICC, however, is not a well known issue in the US on which there is strong public opinion. [Check out USA for the ICC]
John F. Kerry is opposed to the death penalty (USAToday)
Kerry "supports U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court, but also believe that U.S. officials, including soldiers, should be provided some protection from politically motivated prosecutions." (FCNL)
For information on the legality of the prisoner detentions in at Camp X-ray, Guantanamo Cuba, check out the Center for Constitutional Rights, a NY-based law group that is leading a case on their behalf in US and international courts.
posted by André Levy @ 11:24 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:33 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you for your answers. You say: "the US on which there is strong public opinion"?! What is the percentage of people who vote in the US?! How many political parties are represented in the US Congress?! A.
At 5:16 AM,
André Levy said…
By 'public opinion' I meant references in the press and other media, and my impression of what people I contact are aware of. Its easy to be cynical about politics in the US. Absetention is high (as it is in a large part of Western Europe, for that matter) and there are only two major parties (although these contain a broader range of political views than people outside the US realize, e.g. Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Henry Waxman). I am a foreigner in the US who has come to appreciate that there is a richness of political consciousness in the US which those descriptions leave out. .... which is not to say they miss the target.
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