Ilene PRoctor INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS Press Contact: Ilene Proctor or Angus Hsu Direct Line: (310) 271.5857 Cell: (310) 721.2336 E-mail: proctor@artnet.net www.ileneproctor.com Congressional Contender Winograd Calls on McPherson to Scrap New Voter ID Rule That Disengages Electorate, Disenfranchises New Voters and Sends Wrong Message about Democracy Marcy Winograd, Democratic Party Candidate for California's 36th Congressional District, calls on Secretary of State Bruce McPherson to immediately abandon his new "exact match" statewide voter registration database. Under McPherson, California became one of nine states to pledge to the federal government that it would use an "exact match" standard, requiring voter registration records be the same to the letter as DMV applications. The LA Times reports (3/29/06) the "exact match" standard has already disenfranchised almost 15,000 potential voters in LA County. "If I register to vote as Marcy Winograd and my DMV application reads Marcy A. Winograd," I may not be able to vote for myself in this congressional race," said Winograd, who is running in the June 6th Democratic Primary to unseat incumbent Jane Harman. "At a time when we want to engage the electorate, to encourage young people to vote, to reach out to new citizens, this sends the exact opposite message -- Don't bother voting because your vote may not count." Winograd for Congress plans to conduct a voter outreach campaign in the 36th district, a 30-mile area which spans San Pedro, Wilmington, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Lennox, Marina del Rey, Venice, Mar Vista, Palms and West LA. Approximately, 30% of the district is Latino. Winograd fears the Voter ID rule will rob new citizens of their right to vote. "New citizens are at a disadvantage when filling out voter registration applications. They don't know the ropes and may face language challenges. A rule requiring an exact match is bound to impact them disproportionately." Winograd adds, “Poor people are also more transient, which means they re-register more frequently, resulting in a greater chance the new database will not recognize their names. Plus, there are bound to be more data-entry problems with non-English names.” McPherson plans to launch an education campaign in April to inform Californians of the exact match rule. Said Winograd, "Before investing time, energy, and taxpayer money into this misguided education program, McPherson should acknowledge the potential for disaster and scrap the program altogether." According to the LA Times, problems associated with the new exact match policy have forced county registrars to contact many voters -- a labor-intensive undertaking that strains limited county resources. Prior to McPherson's confirmation as Secretary of State, Winograd testified in the Assembly Rules Committee against his appointment. Concerned about McPherson’s transition team that included a Diebold lobbyist and Republican fundraiser, Winograd argued McPherson might too easily be influenced by corporate interests. While in Sacramento to testify, Winograd met others who also opposed McPherson’s nomination and co-founded the California Election Protection Network, a grassroots statewide organization that successfully lobbied for State Senator Debra Bowen’s bill requiring a paper, not electronic, tally in the event of a contested election. ***** National Impeachment Movement Ignored by Corporate Media By Peter Phillips If a national movement calling for the impeachment of the President is rapidly emerging and the corporate media are not covering it, is there really a national movement for the impeachment of the President? Impeachment advocates are widely mobilizing in the U.S. Over 1,000 letters to the editors of major newspapers have been printed in the past six months asking for impeachment. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette letter writer George Matus says, "I am still enraged over unasked questions about exit polls, touch-screen voting, Iraq, the cost of the new MedicareŠwho formulated our energy policy, Jack Abramoff, the Downing Street Memos, and impeachment." David Anderson in McMinnville, Oregon pens to the Oregonian, "Where are the members of our congressional delegation now in demanding the current president's actions be investigated to see if impeachment or censure are appropriate actions?" William Dwyer's letter in the Charleston Gazette says, "Congress will never have the courage to start the impeachment process without a groundswell of outrage from the people." City councils, boards of supervisors, and local and state level Democrat central committees have voted for impeachment. Arcata, California voted for impeachment on January 6. The City and County of San Francisco, voted Yes on February 28. The Sonoma County Democrat Central Committee (CA) voted for Impeachment on March 16. The townships of Newfane, Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney in Vermont all voted for impeachment the first week of March. The New Mexico State Democrat party convention rallied on March 18 for the "impeachment of George Bush and his lawful removal from office." The national Green Party called for impeachment on January 3. Op-ed writers at the St. Petersburg Times, Newsday, Yale Daily News, Barrons, Detroit Free Press, and the Boston Globe have called for impeachment. The San Francisco Bay Guardian (1/25/06) The Nation (1/30/06) and Harpers (3/06) published cover articles calling for impeachment. As of March 16, thirty-two US House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors to House Resolution 635, which would create a Select Committee to look into the grounds for recommending President Bush's impeachment. Polls show that nearly a majority of Americans favor impeachment. In October of 2005, Public Affairs Research found that 50% of Americans said that President Bush should be impeached if he lied about the war in Iraq. A Zogby International poll from early November 2005 found that 53% of Americans say, "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment." A March 16, 2006 poll by American Research Group showed that 42% of Americans favored impeaching Bush. Despite all this advocacy and sentiment for impeachment, corporate media have yet to cover this emerging mass movement. The Bangor Daily News simply reported on March 17 that former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark has set up the website Votetoimpeach.org and that other groups are using the internet to push impeachment. The Wall Street Journal, on March 16, editorialized about how it is just "the loony left" seeking impeachment, but perhaps some Democrats in Congress will join in feeding on the "bile of the censure/impeachment brigades." The corporate media are ignoring the broadening call for impeachment - wishing perhaps it will just go away. Television news and talk shows have mentioned impeachment over 100 times in the past 30 days, mostly however in the context of Senator Russ Feingold's censure bill and the lack of broad Democrat support for censure or impeachment. Nothing on television news gives the impression that millions of Americans are calling for the impeachment of Bush and his cohorts. The Bush Administration lied about Iraq, illegally spied on US citizens, and continues war crimes in the Middle East. Despite corporate media's inability to hear the demands for impeachment, the groundswell of outrage continues to expand. Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and Director of Project Censored a media research organization. Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips is scheduled for release this summer by Seven Stories Press. -- Peter Phillips Ph.D. Professor Sociology/Director Project Censored Sonoma State University 1801 East Cotati Ave. Rohnert Park, CA 94928 Office: 707-664-2588 www.projectcensored.org ***** FOX TV Refers To Iranian Women as 'Whores and Apes' In Weekend MAD TV Skit New York Human Rights Activist, Bahram Maskanian, outraged and saddened over obvious attempt to dehumanize Persain women, making it easier for American masses to stomach war. 28 Mar 2006 By Greg Szymanski A recent FOX Television skit on MAD TV has overstepped the bounds of human decency in the guise of comedy, depicting Persian women and their offspring as "whores and monkeys," according to Bahram Maskanian, of a New York community peace and human rights group trying to instill a better relations between the Middle East and the West. FOX TV executives issued a statement Monday to the Arctic Beacon, saying their intent was "to make people laugh" but Maskarian said "nobody in the Muslin community was laughing." In a "cloaked effort" to debase, dehumanize and demean a historically great nation and people, Maskanian strongly objected to the skit broadcast nationally Saturday night, saying it was "totally unacceptable" to portray "Persian women as "whores, apes and monkeys on a national television network" even in the guise of comedy. "Since 1978, I have been living in the U.S. I have had many unpleasant racist experiences to say the least, but no one ever portrayed Iranian / Persian women on American National television, many times over as apes / monkeys," said Maskanian of Persian descent, whose peace group is called Circles of Unity and Engagement - Ethics in Action Community. "As if the barbaric Islam dehumanizing Persian / Iranian women was not enough to deal with, but now our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters are been portrayed as whores and apes / monkeys, that makes us the Persian / Iranian men sons of whores and apes / monkeys. Iranians / Persians who have given birth to civilization with a longest and the richest history on Earth, extending to twelve (12,000) thousands years and eight (8,000) thousands years of written history of philosophy, sciences, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, languages, poetry and more are now reduced to whores and apes / monkeys. Shame on all of us, Iranians / Persians, to allow this to be and happen." Regarding the specifics of the skit that aired as a repeat fromseveral months ago and the pending threat of nuclear war in Iran, Maskanian was "appalled" by the demeaning references to his people, as well as saying this type of portrayal actually dehumanizes Persians in the eyes of the viewers, making it easier to justify going to war against people who are depicted as less than human. Here is what Maskanian wrote about the specifics of the FOX television skit: "A few months ago I had a talk with an American friend who had seen a supposed comedy show aired on Saturday nights on FOX television, called MAD TV. He told me about this shocking and highly insulting sketch they did called the Persian Tow Truck Driver. "Michael McDonald plays the role of the truck driver. He is a chain smoker, has a thick reddish-brown mustache and is talking to Ike Barinholtz, another actor to whom he shows a picture of an orangutan as his Persian wife. "As we all know, orangutans are large apes or monkeys, who live in South East Asia on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These apes mostly live on treetops. They are arboreal and swing from branch to branch using their arms. Orangutans have a large, bulky body, covered with long reddish-brown hair, a thick neck, very long, strong arms, short, bowed legs, and no tail. Orangutans are about 2/3 the size of the gorilla just to give an idea how Iranian /Persian women are portrayed on FOX Television and MAD TV and their show writers, producers and sponsors. "Through the course of the sketch Michael McDonald, the Persian Tow Truck Driver, is talking to Ike Barinholtz, while smoking cigarettes. He establishes as facts that all through his life he had sex with his Persian wife only twice 2, but he has fifteen 15 children. As camera pans into the nursery, McDonald pointsout a little monkey in the nursery to Barinholtz , as his newly born daughter looks just like her mother. "A few seconds later the little monkey is brought out of the nursery and handed over to McDonald.. The little monkey crawled out of the white towel it was wrapped in and began running over the shoulders of the two men. I might add there were many other highly insulting comments designed deliberately to dehumanize a nation, very insulting comments made in a few troubling and painful minutes." Maskanian wanted the biography and facts about MAD TV made public, as well as the email, in order that people can voice objections to the program and stop any future airings of what he called a hate-filled comedy sketch that doesn't promote better human relations during a period of crisis betwen the Middle East and the West. About MAD TV MAD TV is a late night sketch comedy television show. It premiered in 1995 and, over the years, has become famous for its sharp parodies of film, television and music. MAD has featured hundreds of guest stars and musical acts including: Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Jack Black, Dennis Hopper, David Alan Grier, Halle Berry, George Carlin, Seth Green, Martin Short, Jackie Chan, Snoop Dogg, No Doubt, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Drew Barrymore, Jon Heder, Ludacris, Nicole Richie, Alanis Morrisette, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, Ryan Reynolds, Don Cheadle, Outkast and Green Day -- to name only a few. During its 10 seasons, MADtv has created a variety of original characters including: Ms. Swan, Stuart, Lorraine, Dot, Trina, UBS Guy and Bunifa, among several others. MAD's cast has evolved and changed since its first season. It has featured over 30 full-time cast members, many of whom have gone on to star in film, television and radio. Current full-time cast members include: Bobby Lee, Arden Myrin, Daniele Gaither, Frank Caliendo, Ike Barinholtz, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael McDonald, Nicole Parker and Stephnie Weir. MAD has been nominated for a number of awards over the past 10 seasons and has won Emmys for the accomplishments of both its Hair and Wardrobe departments. Currently, MAD airs Saturday nights on FOX. It can also been seen six days a week on Comedy Central. Mad TV - info@madtv.com For more informative articles, go to www.arcticbeacon.com Greg Szymanski Listen to my Radio Broadcast live Monday night at 8pm Pacific time on LewisNews, returning Jan. 1 2006 Radio http://webs.lewisnews.com/radio/index.htm. Greg is also regular on Rense.com the first Thursday of every month at 9pm pacific time. Greg also has his own daily show on the Republic Broadcast Network. Go to www.rbnlive.com and will be starting a daily program on the Genesis Communications Network soon at www.gcnlive.com Greg Szymanski is an independent investigative journalist and his articles can been seen at www.LewisNews.com. He also writes for American Free Press and has his own site www.arcticbeacon.com ***** Johansson Tops FHM's 'Sexiest Women' Poll The Associated Press Monday, March 27, 2006 NEW YORK -- Scarlett Johansson tops a lovely list of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World," in a poll of readers by FHM magazine. "One of the best things for a woman to hear is that she is sexy," the 21-year-old actress, star of "Match Point" and "Lost in Translation," said in a statement. "I'd like to thank FHM's readers for the huge compliment." Angelina Jolie is No. 2 on the list, followed by Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Keira Knightley, Halle Berry, Jenny McCarthy, Maria Sharapova, Carmen Electra and Teri Hatcher. Johansson ranked ninth on last year's list. Jolie was No. 1. "It's remarkable how Scarlett Johansson has caught the attention of our readers," said Scott Gramling, the magazine's U.S. editor in chief, in a statement. "Her sultry voice and striking beauty certainly have a lot to do with that, but so does the confidence she exudes." "She seems to be one of those women who would be equally at ease on the red carpet as she would just hanging out with the guys." The magazine's May issue goes on sale April 4. ***** Life on Planet Rickey By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports March 28, 2006 JUPITER, Fla. – Rickey Henderson is still delusional. Phew. An injection of Rickey every so often is good for the soul. It reminds us that personalities make baseball great, and Rickey – lip-flapping, self-aggrandizing and earnestly narcissistic to the end – is an all-timer. Just ask him. "Teams won't give me tryouts because most of them know I'll make the club," Rickey said Tuesday, on assignment here as a baserunning coach for the New York Mets. "If I don't make a club, I know I'm done. But I've still got that question mark. Look out here." Rickey gazed around Roger Dean Stadium. "I can play with these kids." Maybe that was code for "most of them could actually be my kids." Rickey is 47, and he is serious about coming back, even if no one else is. Rickey believes someone needs him. And he's right. We need Rickey's innocence. He popped out of the dugout Tuesday wearing a gleaming Mets uniform, a warmup jacket and a hat. He stretched with the players and laughed with them. He trotted around the outfield and wore Endy Chavez's glove. Rickey looked like he belonged because for so long he did. He played for 25 years with nine teams. He still owns the major-league records for runs, walks, stolen bases and third-person references. "In life, you're here for a reason," Rickey said. "This is my reason. I've been blessed to have this body. I've been blessed to never have a surgery. As much as I hit that ground, never. I didn't burn out. I can play." We need Rickey's motor. Rickey wakes up at about 6 a.m. and runs four or five miles, busting through the hills around San Francisco. He's got about as much fat on him as a filet mignon. Last season, he played for the San Diego Surf Dawgs in the independent Golden Baseball League. Rickey was second in the eight-team (now six-team) league in on-base percentage and hit five home runs in 73 games. He stole 16 bases. With all the running he did – 1,406 career stolen bases, almost 500 more than runner-up Lou Brock – his fingers are intact and his nails are in manicure-worthy shape. Rickey's grandmother lived to 98, and he thinks he could play another five, six years. "What, time ran out all of a sudden?" he said. "Please." We need Rickey's flamboyance. Throughout the Mets' pregame workouts, Rickey sported a diamond-encrusted watch on his right wrist. He talked so fast he sounded like a carnival barker. He strutted to assert himself as the preeminent 47-year-old on the premises. There was another. Julio Franco is still playing, too, and Rickey couldn't seem to understand how Franco received a two-year contract with the Mets and he can't even get a minor-league deal. "He hasn't accomplished as much as I have, and that's why he got it," Rickey said. "I know I have way more tools than he has." We need Rickey's bluntness. An exchange between an autograph-seeking fan and Rickey on Tuesday: "Rickey, I've been a fan of yours for so long." "I believe you." "Can I have your autograph?" "No." "No?" "Remember me as a player?" "Yeah." "Well, I'm a coach now. And I gotta coach." And Rickey laughed like mad. We need Rickey being Rickey. The day Rickey starts making sense, we're all doomed. Rickey claiming he no longer can play baseball could throw the planet's equilibrium into a dysfunctional state. Barry Bonds might actually tell the truth. Before Manny was ever Manny, Rickey was Rickey. He would talk in the third-person – a running gag, he now says – and toss out all kinds of malaprops. Like Tuesday, when he called it "talking in the third party." Or, as legend has it, when he was sitting on a bus with the Padres, and Steve Finley told him to take any seat because he had tenure. "Ten year?" Rickey said. "Rickey's got 17 years." We need Rickey. It's that simple, really. Even though Rickey can't play – and he showed that by hitting .233 or worse with limited power his last four seasons – he's like that inappropriate uncle: You never stop shaking your head at him, but if he wasn't around, you'd miss him. Soon enough, Rickey will be gone from baseball. In 2009, Rickey will earn first-ballot entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he'll grace us once more with his, um, wisdom. So appreciate him. Because by then, hopefully, he will realize that he's unwanted but not unloved, that he no longer needs to seek employment through bait-and-switch maneuvers. "I thought maybe I'd come out here and trick 'em," Rickey said. "They'd look at me, give me a glove and say, Go play.' " Yeah, Rickey's delusional, all right. And we wouldn't want it any other way. Yahoo! Sports' national baseball writer Jeff Passan previously was the national baseball writer for the Kansas City Star.