MOBILE MAYOR SIGNS CUBA LETTER
"Mobile Mayor Mike Dow Dow is one of 33 politicians and heavy hitters who signed an open letter calling for Bush to work with members of Congress who seek to lift restrictions on travel, and sales of agricultural products and medicines to Cuba.
(MOBILE PRESS REGISTER)

TAPE BELIES US CLAIMS THAT WEDDING WAS BOGUS
"A wedding party videotape has been discovered by the Associated Press that belie assertions made by the US military that a recent attack that killed scores of civilians was justified because it was in actuality "a safehouse for foreign fighters."
The wedding videotape shows a dozen white pickup trucks speeding through the desert escorting the bridal car — decorated with colorful ribbons. The bride wears a Western-style white bridal dress and veil. The camera captures her stepping out of the car but does not show a close-up.
Many of the family members (mostly males and many of them children, the bride) guests and musicians appearing in the video have been identified, some of them later as victims who were killed in the attack.
Video shot by the news agency a day after the attack shows fragments of musical instruments, pots and pans and brightly colored beddings used for celebrations, scattered around the bombed out tent. "
(CANADA TV, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

WHO WOULD JESUS VOTE FOR?
A secret email obtained by Village Voice shows that White House staffers, including the National Security Council's top Middle East aide (Eliott Abrams, remember him?) have been consulting with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.
These Christian fundamentalists claim to be 'the Christian Voice in the Nation's Capital'. The group vociferously opposes the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and Solomon's temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won't come back to earth.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

GREENPEACE WALKS
A Miami federal trial judge granted a judgment of acquittal to Greenpeace in the government's unprecedented prosecution of an advocacy organization for the nonviolent civil disobedience of its members. Greenpeace was indicted for the offense once known as sailor mongering, more specifically, for boarding a ship as it was "about to arrive at its destination" in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2279, and for conspiracy to violate that statute because its members boarded the ship to protest its cargo of unlawfully harvested mahogany.
(TALKLEFT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CALLING MADAM LAFARGE!!!!
"A new site by Fundrace.org, follows the political money to your front door. While records of campaign contributions have long been available online, Fundrace has a twist: plug in any address and retrieve a list of all the donors in the neighborhood, the names of their favored candidates and the amount bestowed. "
(nyt)

WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS!
" Eminem's copyright infringement claims over use of his song 'Lose Yourself' in a commercial for Apple Computer Inc. can go forward.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the suit brought by Eminem's publishing company can proceed against several companies, including MTV parent company Viacom and advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day."
(FINDLAW)

"THE ZEW" OFFERS FREE CONCERT
Radio station WZEW-FM is bringing another free concert to Mobile, Warner Brothers recording artists The Pat McGee Band with special guest Michael Tolcher will play Sunday, May 16 @ 5:00 pm. at Felix's Fish Camp, on the Mobile Bay Causeway.
Come hear why jambands.com says:
"For the past eight years, they have built their reputation as one of the country's premiere live acts, by combining heartfelt songs with the flair for improvisation, plus the fearlessness to rip down the walls of structure and go where the music takes them. Their tremendous live energy has garnered them a passionate and devoted fan base, and they tour as hard as any jamband, playing up to300 shows a year."

ALABAMA/CUBA CHICKEN TRADE RESUMES
"Alabama's poultry industry has resumed sales to Cuba that were interrupted by the island nation's concerns about avian influenza."
(AP, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

FCC SUCKS!
"Media companies, artists and civil rights activists have joined together to protest a ruling last month by the U-S Federal Communications Commissions against U2 lead man Bono for his use of an expletive on last year's Golden Globes broadcast. The FCC received hundreds of complaints after Bono said, 'This is really, really, f------ brilliant.' "
(CFRA)

THE TUG OF HOME
"In their work and in their lives, exiled artists struggle with the place they once called home"
(BOSTON GLOBE, Suggested by Cuba News Digest)

DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT TACK
"AUBURN, Ala. (AP) As Fidel Castro worked his way through a line of American agricultural officials in Havana last summer, he complimented a visitor on his excellent Spanish.
Diego Gimenez smiled. He didn't tell the Cuban dictator that he learned the language growing up there or that he was a prisoner of war during his last visit to the island. "
(WASHINGTON TIMES, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

WAR IS HELL!
Regardless of which side of the debate about the war you're on, this film clip of a helicopter kill is interesting. WARNING: this is gruesome. It is the view from a AH-64D Apache helicopter engaging Iraqis who are supposedly placing a mine on a road. The aircraft is hovering at about 900 meters, using 2nd Generation Forward Looking Infrared and 30 MM auto cannon. The clip is from the recording of the infared system and cockpit audio recording. (This description appears in the Fucked Company site.)
(Suggested by "Cowboy" Bob Clark)

SPANISH LESSON
There's so much anti-Americanism now. That is Bush's achievement.
(NYT)

DOMINIONISTS?
(Good friend Joel Sogol just sent me a story on a piece of legislation that hasn't gotten much play. Did a Google search on "Dominionists" and the result is quite scary. Interestingly, some of the better arguments against this movement and this legislation, come, not from liberals but from rightwing extremists and religious groups who see them as false prophets. )
"The Constitution Restoration Act – drafted by a former minion of TV evangelist Pat Robertson – is the fruit of decades of work by a group of extremists known broadly as "Dominionists." Their openly expressed aim is to establish "biblical rule" over every aspect of society – placing "the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere under Christ the King." Or as Attorney General John Ashcroft – the nation's chief law enforcement officer – likes to say: "America has no king but Jesus!"
(SMIRKING CHIMP, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

US HELPED BRAZIL PLOTTERS
From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was ruled by a string of five colorless military presidents chosen by their fellow officers. The dictatorship ended in 1985 when a democracy movement swept the country. Newly declassified U.S. documents show the extent of American willingness to provide aid to Brazil's generals during the 1964 coup that ushered in 21 years of often bloody military rule.
(BILLINGS GAZETTE, unearthed by National Security Archives and Cuba News Digest)