My "Economic Stimulus Payment" is scheduled to arrive from the IRS in the next few days.  I'm sending the entire thing to Human Rights Watch.

I could use the money.  I work two full-time jobs to help care for myself (almost $1,000 a month in medical bills, just 15 weeks out of a very successful heart surgery!) and my granddaughter (whose dad is in the US Navy and whose mom was wounded in the Persian Gulf more than two years ago).  But this is blood money, and I'm not going to keep it.

Cary-van for Change
9 a.m. - Noon, Saturday, April 26
Parking lot of Galaxy Cinema in Cary
music, breakfastalicious snackage, fun and VOTING!

North Carolina's one-stop early primary voting is under way, and we're fired up and ready in Cary!

To celebrate, North Carolina's Obama for America campaign headquarters is hosting the Cary-van for Change on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of Galaxy Cinema.

Come join us for music, camaraderie, and breakfastalicious snackage as we decorate our cars, truck, vans, go-carts, Segways, and bicycles and Cary-van ourselves to the Herbert C. Young Community Center to cast our votes for Sen. Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.

It was really just a matter of time.  Among the many reasons torture is just plain wrong, defending torture tactics as mere frat-house hijinks minimizes the effects of using "harsh methods" and condones their uses outside of the military and intelligence processes.

Case in point:

"So they held me down," Hudgens said, "and the next thing I know, Josh has a gallon jug of water and he's pouring it on my face. I can't scream because the water's going down my throat.  And halfway through he stopped for a second. I tried to mumble the words, 'Stop, knock it off.' I tried to get that out and he continued to pour.

"I'm not getting any air," Hudgens said. "Toward the end, I'm starting to black out. I'm getting very dizzy, light-headed. The sensation that's going through my head is, 'I'm going to drown.' "

Is Chad Hudgens a suspected terrorist?  An insurgent in Iraq?  An al Qaeda sleeper agent on the lam from the CIA?

No.  He sells corporate training packages in Utah.

11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Voter Awareness Rally
1-3 p.m.: Voter Registration Drive
Saturday, April 5
Galaxy Cinema in Cary, North Carolina
my.barackobama.com

If you're going to be 18 by November 4, you're eligible to vote.  But even if you're not going to be 18 this year, you can get involved in this historic campaign to elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

Make your first vote and your future votes count! Meet up with other young voters at Galaxy Cinema in Cary to learn about the Obama campaign and give your ideas on how first-time voters can forge real change in this election.

The official Wake County (North Carolina) for Obama Organizational Meeting took place at Bogart's American Grill in Raleigh tonight.  An estimated crowd of more then 300 packed the Glenwood Avenue location to sign up for getting out the vote.  Many more, daunted by the standing-room-only crowd, networked energetically on the sidewalk outside.

North Carolina's May 6 primaries come with an April 11 deadline for registering voters, so time is of the essence -- and meeting attendees heard the call to work!  A 10-foot-long sign-up sheet spread across two large tables offered opportunities to register new voters all across Wake County in the next few days.  The sheet was filled with volunteers' names an hour into the gathering.

More than 50 hyper-energy Obama supporters descended upon Metro Cafe and Lounge in downtown Raleigh's Moore Square -- making it the hot spot of the night tonight.  

Metro owner Maurowas the crucially hip host for a fundraising dinner to welcome the North Carolina Obama Campaign Headquarters staff to Raleigh.  Nothing could be finah than to be in Carolina at the Metro, with its Obamatinis accompanying delicious baked ziti, fresh breads and bruscetta, and salads.  Yum!

And with your donation to the Obama campaign in North Carolina, YOU can provide dessert!  

We can't go on like this any longer.  You've been lying about where you're going at night on those secret rendition flights.  You cheated on me in those sleazy Syrian torture chambers and with those cheap interrogation floozies in Europe.  You borrowed money from China without even telling me so that you can maintain that elaborate check-kiting scheme to fund your sketchy venture-capital projects in Afghanistan and Iraq with your poker buddies -- all the while telling me you were involved in volunteer activities for humanitarian causes.

On the flimsy accusation that I can't be trusted, you've been snooping through my sock drawer and pawing through my luggage, and you listen in when I call my Aunt Miriam.  But then you don't pay the bills for the extra line usage and you dump the whole sordid mess in my lap for me to pay for.  

Whoa there, Nelly!  NPR has turned down an exclusive interview with President George W. Bush, who reached out to conservative-leaning NPR correspondent Juan Williams for a talk commemorating the 50th anniversary of school desegregation in Little Rock.

Williams, steamed that his bosses refused to carry the interview over its radio airwaves, instead turned with alacrity to Fox News, which told the White House it would air the conversation between Bush and Williams.  Williams is the only NPR correspondent ever granted an interview by Bush in his entire seven-year presidential tenure.  This particular interview, selected to conflate the nation's anniversary of school desegregation with the nation's concerns over events in Jena, Louisiana, would have been Williams' second public conversation with the president.

But NPR would rather retain its right to assign a correspondent to the story, so they've told the White House, "Thanks, but no thanks."  Now Williams is taking his microphone to Fox News.

We had an excellent turnout at Galaxy Cinema in Cary, North Carolina, for yesterday's postfilm discussion of the documentary "No End in Sight," which chronicles the debacle of the Iraq War from the perspective of the administration officials and military leaders who were ostensibly in charge of the early planning and implementation of the war.

More than 100 people stayed to participate in the discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Gerald Surh, associate professor of history at North Carolina State University.  The event was sponsored by NC Peace Action, Triangle Green Party, and Progressive Democrats of America.

More people need to see this eye-opening chronicle of a war-gone-horrible-awry. Galaxy Cinema is inviting people who've already seen the film to come back and bring a friend/acquaintance/coworker/stubborn conservative in-law to see the movie with them for only $5 per person.

Cross-posted at BlueNC.com

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Three local branches of nationwide progressive organizations are sponsoring a community discussion on ending the Iraq War.   The event will be held after the 4:10 p.m. showing of the film "No End in Sight" at Galaxy Cinema in Cary on Sunday, September 9.

NC Peace Action, Triangle Green Party, and Progressive Democrats of America are the sponsors of the discussion.   Gerald Surh, professor of history at N.C. State University, will moderate.

Join the discussion on this first-of-its-kind documentary chronicle of how the U.S. created a war that truly has no end in sight.

[Special thanks to Screwy Hoolie, who videotaped this story at YearlyKos and YouTubed it.  He's amazing!  And if you haven't visited his blog, Scrutiny Hooligans, then the terrorists have already won.]

It's hard to know where to begin this diary, except to start with Februry 2003, when my granddaughter Leyla was born.  I went to San Diego to be with my daughter, who was stationed three in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard a marine troop carrier.  Leyla's father had already gone to Afghanistan and Diego Garcia four months earlier. My daughter had a difficult C-section with complications, so she and tiny warbling Leyla came home to North Carolina with me for a few weeks to recover.

When Leyla was five weeks old, the U.S. invaded Iraq.  When Leyla was six weeks old, we bundled her up and brought her along to Norfolk Naval Base and said goodbye to her mom.  

Her mother has never really come home.  

Today I read that the U.S. and the European Union have reached agreement on expanding a program to maintain a database on US-bound airline passengers.

The article reminded me of questions I've faced while traveling in the past few weeks, and it made me wonder what my rights are in terms of answering questions posed by airline employees, security personnel, and U.S. Customs officials.

When a U.S. Customs official asked me about my last name (where it came from, where I got it -- from mom & dad?), I was so startled that I answered.  I became flustered when he asked me where I stayed on my trip -- did I stay with someone, and if so, whom? did I stay in a hotel? what was the name of the hotel?

I don't intend to answer many of those questions the next time I'm asked.  So now what?

The contempt of Congress charges have been filed against two key White House aides.  Alberto Gonzales has been warned that his refusal to answer questions put to him by the Senate may be "actionable."

So what time is it?  It's time for another terrorism alert!  And because everything goes better with cheese, the White House has topped this alert with extra gooey goodness.

Michael Moore's Provocative New Film Comes with Health-Care Benefits

As we all know, Michael Moore's latest film, "SiCKO," met with feverish acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival – and now the contagiously controversial documentary about the U.S. health-care industry is about to infect audiences in North Carolina's Research Triangle.  

Galaxy Cinema in Cary will be hosting a "Scrubs for SiCKO" event when the film opens on Friday, June 29.  The 7:00 p.m. event will feature speakers from the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, who will talk with moviegoers about why their organizations are getting involved with the message of "SiCKO."

Well, folks, it's become a meme: we're all waiting for Godot.  At least 78 of us Kossacks have made mention of Samuel Beckett's play while we engage in discussions about changing the way things are going.

Recent diaries have panned the Godotitudinousness of our current Democratic presidential field.  Who's going to lead the opposition party in a party that's squeamish about banding together to oppose anything?

My suggestion: cut out the middleman/middlewoman and vote for Godot.

You know the tale: A young boy asks his father what holds up the Earth, and the father tells the wee tyke that the world rests on the back of a very large turtle. "But what holds up the turtle?" the son asks. The father answers, "A huge elephant." "But," the boy continues, "what is under the elephant?" The father answers confidently, "Another elephant."  The son persists: "What's under THAT elephant?"  Sensing that he is rapidly losing control of the conversation, the father finally exclaims, "Son, it's elephants all the way down!"

And that's the Bush administration's answer to the question "Just how badly have you fucked up the Iraq situation?"  According to GOP supporters of Bush and the war, it's good news all the way down.

A grassroots group of US troops have invoked the Military Whistleblower Protection Act to draft and gather signatures for a petition to Congress calling for a US pullout of troops from Iraq.

So far, more than 100 US military service members have signed "An Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq."  They expect more than 2,000 signatures on the petition, which they plan to deliver to Congress in January 2007.

Even as the UN envoy prepares to leave after being expelled from Sudan, there is still hope -- in the form of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are working on behalf of victims.

Darfurian refugees have formed their own U.S.-based organization to bring their voices to the justice process.  And now, two attorneys working with that organization have become the first in the world to file official applications to allow Sudanese war-crimes victims to participate in criminal proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.