Left-leaning students at Hampton University have felt for some time that campus administrators favor conservative groups and limit the free speech of liberal ones. Their argument has gained steam - and faculty members' support - over the past month, as seven students who helped organize a gathering opposing the Bush administration face a hearing Friday that could lead to their expulsion.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005S.shtml

December 1, 2005

I just thought we should all pause for a moment today to remember the simple act of courage, defiance and dignity committed by Rosa Parks when she refused to move to the back of the bus because the law said she had the wrong skin color. The greatest moments in history, the ones that have truly mattered and have taken us to a better place, are made up of scores of these singular acts by ordinary, everyday people who could no longer tolerate the crap and the nonsense of those in charge.

Today, whether it is a student who holds a sit-in to get the army recruiters off his campus, or the mother of a dead soldier who refuses to leave the front gate of the president's ranch, we continue to be saved by brave people who risk ridicule and rejection but end up turning huge tides of public opinion in the direction of righteousness. We owe them enormous debts of gratitude. It is not easy to stand up for what is right, especially when everyone else is afraid to leave the comfortable path of conformity.

Rosa Parks may have been alone on that bus at the moment of her arrest but she wasn't alone for long. The old order was shaken, the world was upended and, as a people, we were given a chance for a bit of redemption.

Perhaps the best way to celebrate this most important day in American history is to ask yourself what it is that you can do today to make a difference. What risk can you take to move the ball forward? What is that one thing you've been wanting to say to your co-workers or classmates that you've been afraid to say -- but in your heart of hearts you know needs to be said? Why wait another day to say it or do it?

There is probably no better way to honor Rosa Parks -- and yourself -- than for you to put a stop to an injustice you see, not allowing it to continue for one more second. Do something. Then send me an email (contributions@michaelmoore.com) and tell all of us what you did (I'll post as many as I can).

Fifty years later, the bus we're on could use a few more people simply saying, "No. I'm sorry. I've had enough. I'm not going to take it anymore."


Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com

New evidence is emerging that the top Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating Jack Abramoff got political money arranged by the lobbyist back in 2002 shortly after the lawmaker took action favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051129/ap_on_go_ot/tribes_letters___donations


From Information Clearing House

A San Diego businessman under investigation in the bribery case of former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham is a well-known GOP fundraiser whose generosity to key members of Congress came at the same time his company saw large increases in its government contracts, public records show.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051130/ts_usatoday/contractorspendsbigonkeylawmakers



‘Duke’ keeps his pension:

Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) will soon relinquish many of his properties and his freedom after pleading guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy, but he will keep his government pension and could retain the privileges enjoyed by other former members of Congress.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/113005/news1.html


From Information Clearing House

Miller 'sorry' for WMD inaccuracies:

Judith Miller, the US journalist at the heart of the CIA leak probe, has apologised to her readers because her stories about WMD and Iraq turned out to be wrong.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4486750.stm


From Information Clearing House



Breaches of trust:

Judith Miller and Bob Woodward, have been exposed as stooges of power, accomplices of people who distort the truth and feed lies to the public to satisfy their own lusts and ambitions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11177.htm

The survey found that 74% believe the U.S. has tortured prisoners, with 20% disagreeing--with storng majorities of both Democrats and Republicans holding that view.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001572382



UK airports 'are stop-offs in torture flights':

Eleven police forces were today threatened with legal action if they fail to investigate allegations that UK airports are being used as secret stop-overs by CIA jets transferring terror suspects to torture camps.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1897755,00.html


From Information Clearing House

The only conclusion one can draw from available evidence is that Rumsfeld was more or less dispatched to mollify Hussein and assure him that his use of chemical weapons was no bar to developing the relationship with the U.S.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11183.htm

Bob Briggs got a head full of shrapnel in Iraq. Then he came home to more wars: to regain the use of his half-paralyzed body, and to get the U.S. government to pay for his medical care.

http://citypages.com/databank/26/1304/article13914.asp


From Information Clearing House

Colin Powell still can't bring himself to stand up and account for his crucial role. Instead, he's leaving it to a former aide to pin blame on those who remain at the top of the Bush administration.

http://www.counterpunch.com/solomon11302005.html


From Information Clearing House

The Hallucinations of Joe Lieberman: Is It Madness or Merely More Lying?

Sen. Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he can no longer be taken seriously. Yet, The Wall Street Journal published this nonsense.

http://www.counterpunch.com/zeese11302005.html


From Information Clearing House