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ellisonz

ellisonz's Journal
ellisonz's Journal
December 21, 2011

Tucson Shooting 1 Year Anniversary Approaches - Hold a Candlelight Vigil for the Victims.

January 8th will be the 1 year anniversary of the Tucson shootings - and before we get too lost in the holidays I would like to give you something to think about...Let us pray nothing like that horrible day happens again this Christmas break - please take a stand against gun violence.



Imagine stopping a bullet before it kills a child.

Impossible? Not with your help! All across America people are coming together to save lives from preventable gun violence. Will you join them, and the Brady Campaign, as we host a nationwide candlelight vigil to honor victims of gun violence?

We all will gather on the same day, Sunday, January 8, 2012.

This date marks one year since the Tucson, AZ shootings and we want to remember those victims and survivors along with others across the nation.

Click here to find a city or town near you hosting a vigil. Or consider hosting your own small or large event.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/toomanyvictims/
http://www.bradycampaign.org/toomanyvictims/get-involved/
http://www.bradycampaign.org/toomanyvictims/local-vigils/

(Arizona especially needs organizers)


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It often seems as if one of the most unifying glues of the Tea Party and the Republican Party is their opposition to gun control in just about every tangible form.

Require an extensive background check, they'll complain, restrict the size of handgun magazines, they'll complain, state you're not sure how an AK-47 variant is appropriate for either hunting or target shooting and so in an attempt to provide you with cartoon resources for this coming holiday season where you are very likely to hear from your less liberal companions that Democrats, liberals, and President Obama want to take your guns away, we say, no, we just want you to start making sense.

Boy do they love their individual right to guns at at almost all costs. So please, enjoy the holidays, and enjoy this inoculation to that good old time favorite last defense claim of the right-wing of this country when all your arguments that they're voting against their own economic interests don't work.

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

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In 1992, Warren E. Burger, a former chief justice of the United States appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, expressed the prevailing view.

“The Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to have firearms at all,” Mr. Burger said in a speech. In a 1991 interview, Mr. Burger called the individual rights view “one of the greatest pieces of fraud — I repeat the word ‘fraud’ — on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/us/06firearms.html?pagewanted=all




Recent Investigation into Illegal Gun Sales "Point, Click, Fire: An Undercover Investigation of Online Gun Sales : http://www.nyc.gov/html/cjc/html/news/gun.shtml

Donate to the James Brady Campaign:

https://secure2.convio.net/mmm/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=1102

Happy Holidays! Please K&R

(Note to Mods: I believe that the approaching 1 year anniversary is a news event related to guns of national importance and qualifies as "really big news." Thank you for understanding.)
December 21, 2011

Toons: Faithfulness, Complications, Veterans of Pointless Wars, and more. 12/20/11


By Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/20/2011


By Kirk Walters, Toledo Blade - 12/20/2011


By Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner - 12/20/2011


By J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register - 12/20/2011


By Parker, Florida Today - 12/20/2011


By Keefe, The Denver Post - 12/20/2011


By Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette - 12/20/2011


By Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle - 12/20/2011


By John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri - 12/20/2011


By Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/20/2011


By Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle - 12/20/2011


By Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette - 12/20/2011


By Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle - 12/20/2011


By Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons - 12/20/2011


By Riber Hansson, Sweden - 12/20/2011


By Pat Oliphant, December 21, 2011


By Ted Rall, December 21, 2011


By Tom Toles, December 21, 2011


By Stuart Carlson, December 21, 2011


By Matt Wuerker, December 21, 2011

December 20, 2011

S. Korea sends condolences to N. Korean people



By the CNN Wire Staff - CNN's Jiyeon Lee, Barbara Starr, Alina Cho and Madison Park contributed to this report.
updated 3:39 AM EST, Tue December 20, 2011

(CNN) -- The South Korean government sent its condolences to the people of North Korea following the death of Kim Jong Il, South Korea's unification minister said Tuesday.

In a televised press conference, Unification Minister Yoo Woo-ik also said Seoul will not send a government delegation to North Korea. However, the South will allow bereaved family members of the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the late Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Mong-hun to visit the North in return for a visit by North Korean delegates to the funerals of the two South Korean figures.

In addition, the South Korean government asked church groups to refrain from lighting Christmas trees near the demilitarized zone between the two countries due to the North's mourning period. The Christmas trees have been deemed a symbol of psychological warfare, and North Korea threatened in the past to retaliate if the South lights the trees.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un, the son and successor of the recently deceased North Korean leader --viewed his father's body in Pyongyang on Tuesday, state-run media said, as the world watched for clues on how the leadership transition will play out in the insular dictatorship.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/20/world/asia/north-korea-leader/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
December 20, 2011

Toons: Kim Jong-Il, Hocus Pocus, The End and more. -12/19/11


By Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - 12/19/2011


By Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner - 12/19/2011


By Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/19/2011


By Taylor Jones, Hoover Digest - 12/19/2011


By Jimmy Margulies, The Record of Hackensack, NJ - 12/19/2011


By John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune - 12/19/2011


By Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant - 12/19/2011


By Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News - 12/19/2011


By Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com - 12/19/2011


By Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner - 12/19/2011


By Kirk Walters, Toledo Blade - 12/18/2011


By Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/18/2011


By Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons - 12/18/2011


By J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register - 12/17/2011


By Steve Greenberg, VCReporter, Ventura. CA - 12/17/2011


By Osama Hajjaj, Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions - 12/19/2011


By Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen - 12/19/2011


By Pat Oliphant, December 19, 2011


By Ted Rall, December 19, 2011




By Jeff Danziger, December 16, 2011
December 19, 2011

60 Minutes: The Gardens of the Queen



Anderson Cooper takes viewers on an underwater adventure to one of the world's most vibrant coral reefs, an anomaly at a time when many of the world's reefs are in danger - or already dead.
Web Extras

60 Minutes cameras take you on an underwater adventure off the Cuban coast to one of the world's most pristine and vibrant coral reefs, known as the Gardens of the Queen. Anderson Cooper scuba dives with marine biologist David Guggenheim, dodging giant groupers and sharks, to explore this increasingly rare oasis. Scientists estimate that 25 percent of the world's reefs have died off and much of what's left is at risk.

---------

It takes some time to adjust to the routine wonders of this place, but after a while, even we began to feel like residents of the reef.

Guggenheim: You know, in the conservation world, the work that I do, a lot of it is pretty negative. You know? Things have gotten pretty bad. So to come to a place like this and see it so alive, you know, I feel like a teenager again. I feel like there really is hope.

Transcript: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57344527/the-gardens-of-the-queen/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7392092n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

You cannot watch this story and be indifferent to the plight of the underwater world...
December 18, 2011

'Don't Shoot': Stopping urban violence with sweet reason


Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Gang interventionist the Rev. E. Winford Bell hands out peace message ribbons to motorists in Compton, Calif., on May 28. He is founder of the Silver Lining of Hope Crusade.

David Kennedy details how Operation Ceasefires truly reduced the killing in fractious city neighborhoods
Sunday, December 18, 2011
By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Billions of dollars are poured into an unwinnable war on drugs. Gun violence has thinned the ranks of black men, and prisons have claimed others in alarming proportions. The intertwining of the two has become inextricable, and the result seems unsolvable.

In "Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship and the End of Violence in Inner-City America," David Kennedy describes how the problem is solvable. His method has proved effective in city after city that wrestled together a collaboration of city officials, police departments, district attorneys, federal drug agents, probation and parole officers, ministers and street volunteers. Their secret ingredient? Reason.

The program, which piloted in Boston in the 1990s, became known as Operation Ceasefire. It was taken to Stockton, Calif.; Minneapolis; East St. Louis, Ill.; Baltimore; Cincinnati; Richmond, Va.; and many other cities that include Pittsburgh, where collaborations began in 2008.

It works this way: After the law enforcement team has run its data, collected its evidence and videos and connected the dots on who the players are, they call in the players for a meeting. They promise not to arrest anyone; in fact law enforcement wants to prevent one more arrest.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11352/1197140-148.stm?cmpid=entertainment.xml#ixzz1gspWVJaj
December 18, 2011

Oahu parade honors Japanese-American WWII veterans


Alan Rhoads gives a flag to veteran Theodore Wakai before the start of a parade in Waikiki honoring Japanese American WWII veterans, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 in Honolulu.

By Associated Press
POSTED: 07:23 a.m. HST, Dec 17, 2011
LAST UPDATED: 01:08 p.m. HST, Dec 17, 2011

Hundreds of Japanese-American World War II veterans have been honored with a parade in Honolulu — nearly 70 years after they volunteered to fight for their country even as the government branded them "enemy aliens."

The event Saturday celebrated the Congressional Gold Medal the veterans received in Washington, D.C., last month at a ceremony, which some did not attend because of fragile health.

About 200 of them rode through Waikiki in convertibles, troop carriers and trolleys, with a crowd of tourists, family and local residents cheering from the roadside.

-------

Two-thirds of the Japanese-Americans who served were from Hawaii.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/135737813.html

Four-Forty-Second Infantry— We're the boys of Hawai'i nei— We'll fight for you And the Red, White and Blue, And go to the front... And back to Honolulu-lulu. Fighting for dear old Uncle Sam Go for broke! HOOH! We don't give a damn! We'll round up the Huns At the point of our guns, And vict'ry will be ours! GO FOR BROKE! FOUR-FOUR-TWO! GO FOR BROKE! FOUR-FOUR-TWO! And vict'ry will be ours!

December 17, 2011

Wukan Revolt Begins Like Others, but Its End Is Less Certain


Relatives carried a picture of Xue Jinbo, who died in police custody after villagers chose him to negotiate a solution to a land deal in Wukan, China. Agence France-Presse - Getty Images


Villagers tied white ribbons on their arms before heading to a makeshift funeral alter to pay their respects to Mr. Xue. Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

By MICHAEL WINES
Published: December 16, 2011

WUKAN, China — Each day begins with a morning rally in the banner-bedecked square, where village leaders address a packed crowd about their seizure of the village and plans for its future. Friday’s session was followed by a daylong mock funeral for a fallen comrade, whose body lies somewhere outside the village in government custody.

------

It has been nearly a week since the 13,000 residents of this seacoast village, a warren of cramped alleys and courtyard homes, became so angry that their deeply resented officials — and even the police — fled rather than face them. Now, there is a striking vacuum of authority, and the villagers are not entirely sure what to make of their fleeting freedom.

“We will defend our farmland to the death!” a handmade banner proclaims, referring to a possible land deal they fear will strip them of almost all their farmland. “Is it a crime,” another muses, “to ask for the return of our land and for democracy and transparency?”

How long they will last is another matter. As the days pass, the cordons of police officers surrounding the village grow larger. Armored trucks and troop carriers have been reported nearby. On local television, a 24-hour channel denounces the villagers as “a handful of people” dedicated to sabotaging public order, with the names of protesters flashing on a blue screen, warning that they will be prosecuted. Many here fear this will all end badly. “The SWAT teams and the police here are acting like they’re crime organizations, not police forces,” said Chen Dequan, a 50-year-old farmer and fisherman. “The entire village is worried.”

Shi Da contributed research from Wukan, and Mia Li from Beijing. Sharon LaFraniere and Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting from Beijing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/world/asia/wukan-revolt-takes-on-a-life-of-its-own.html?hp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Lufeng_city_riot

Wukan is on the southern coast of the PRC...it seems they're going to need that 15% increase in domestic security spending. One day, the PRC will come crashing down.

December 17, 2011

Matisyahu shaves beard, drama ensues

Posted at 08:03 AM ET, 12/14/2011
Matisyahu shaves beard, drama ensues
By Sarah Anne Hughes

Matisyahu, with his signature beard. (Helayne Seidman - For The Washington Post) Matisyahu, the reggae rapper who brought Orthodox Judaism to mainstream music, revealed to the Twitterverse yesterday that he shaved off his trademark beard. The Internet seemed a little confused: Had Matisyahu left Judaism all together?

“No more Chassidic reggae superstar,” Matisyahu, born Matthew Paul Miller, wrote on his Web site. “Sorry folks, all you get is me … no alias.”

The musician, best known for his hit “King Without a Crown,” explained that he once thought he needed rules “to become a good person,” but said he is now “reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission.”

“Get ready for an amazing year filled with music of rebirth,” he wrote. “And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry … you haven’t seen the last of my facial hair.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/matisyahu-shaves-beard-drama-ensues/2011/12/14/gIQATtFltO_blog.html?wprss=celebritology


Matisyahu, with his signature beard. (Helayne Seidman - For The Washington Post)


matisyahu 3 days 22 hours ago Twitter
At the break of day I look for you at sunrise When the tide comes in I lose my disguise

December 17, 2011

Toons: Big Heads, Tebowing, Going Home and more. - 12/16/11


By Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/16/2011


By Kirk Walters, Toledo Blade - 12/16/2011


By Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune - 12/16/2011


By Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons - 12/16/2011


By Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette - 12/16/2011


By John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune - 12/16/2011


By Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - 12/16/2011


By Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/16/2011


By John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri - 12/16/2011


By Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com - 12/16/2011


By Milt Priggee, www.miltpriggee.com - 12/16/2011


By Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons - 12/16/2011


By John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri - 12/16/2011


By Iain Green, The Scotsman, Scotland - 12/16/2011


By Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen - 12/16/2011


By Matt Wuerker - December 16, 2011


By Tom Toles - December 16, 2011


By Ted Rall - December 16, 2011

All previous editions can be found in my journal.

Profile Information

Name: Zachary Ellison
Gender: Male
Hometown: Los Angeles
Home country: United States of America
Current location: Los Angeles
Member since: Tue Oct 4, 2005, 03:58 AM
Number of posts: 27,723

About ellisonz

Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors. Find me on: https://zacharyellison.substack.com/
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