In Texas, 48 percent of Republicans (and 35 percent overall) would prefer Texas to be an Independent nation. In Georgia, 43 percent of Republicans (and 27 percent overall) want independence.

Do you think the state that you live in would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America?

Would you approve or disapprove of the state that you live in leaving the United States?

While the US has been focused on Iraq, it has ignored a subtle – but enormous – change in the world. Since only the early 2000s, and under the US radar, China has changed from a country that barely interacted with the world into a growing foreign power. In fact, China savvily has amassed significant “soft power” around the world through aid, formal diplomacy, public diplomacy, investment, and other tools. Here in Washington, where China’s image is not great, it’s hard for us to understand how popular China has become in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
[...]
No one amassed chits with other nations for no reason. Now, China can begin to use its soft power. It will be able to utilize its popularity in regions where the US and China have potentially competing interests in resources. China is already trying to draw upon its charm to push back against American power in Asia.

The US Congress is likely to act within weeks on the long-controversial status of the US territory of Puerto Rico, pushing the Caribbean islands of four million people toward either independence or becoming a US state, lawmakers said.

From the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus.
28 November 2006
(Contact information at end of release.)
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' CAUCUS
www.ipcaucus.net

28 November 2006

UN affirms Indigenous Peoples are not equal to all other Peoples

The Indigenous Caucus is shocked and outraged by the actions of the United Nations, who today failed to adopt the most important international instrument for the promotion and protection of human rights for Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which represents more than 20 years of work within the UN, constitutes the minimum standards for their survival, dignity and well-being.

The newly created UN Human Rights Council, which is the premier international body to deal with human rights, adopted the Declaration in June of this year. The Declaration was one of the substantial achievements of the Council. However, it was delivered a huge blow today by African States, most of whom had chosen not to participate throughout this standard-setting process. Africa took the lead in blocking the adoption of the Declaration, which strategy was supported and encouraged by New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States.

It is clear that these actions are a politicization of human rights that show complete disregard for the ongoing human rights abuses suffered by Indigenous Peoples. This betrayal and injustice severely impacts 370 million Indigenous people in all regions of the world, who are among the most marginalized and vulnerable.

On May 24, 2002, Secretary General Kofi Annan, had proclaimed that the world's Indigenous Peoples "have a home at the United Nations." However, today's vote by opposing States clearly demonstrates that this is not the case.

----------------
Indigenous Peoples Caucus
At UN Headquarters, New York

Contacts:

Les Malezer, Chairperson, Indigenous Peoples Caucus - +1 917 774 7346
Mattias Ahren, Arctic Caucus, Indigenous Peoples - +47 47 379161
Grand Chief Ed John, North American Caucus, Indigenous Peoples - +1 604
219 1705
Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Asian Caucus, Indigenous Peoples - +1 520 461 2042

President Eisenhower said this: "Any who act as if freedom's defenses are to be found in suppression and suspicion and fear confess a doctrine that is alien to America."

Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote, "Men feared witches and burnt women."

The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk. Yet in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the full Bill of Rights.

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol?

Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of nuclear missiles ready to be launched on a moment's notice to completely annihilate the country?

Is America really in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march, when the last generation had to fight and win two world wars simultaneously?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they did.

And yet they faithfully protected our freedom and now it's up to us to do the very same thing.

We have a duty as Americans to defend out citizens' rights not only to life but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the executive branch and the president's apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law.

This historic event will be the first statewide convention on secession in the United States since North Carolina voted to secede from the Union on May 20, 1861.
[...]
The objectives of the convention are twofold. First, to raise the level of awareness of Vermonters of the feasibility of independence as a viable alternative to a nation which has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable. Second, to provide an example and a process for other states and nations which may be seriously considering separatism, secession, independence, and similar devolutionary strategies.

The Second Vermont Republic is a peaceful, democratic, grassroots, libertarian populist movement committed to the return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic as it once was between 1777 and 1791.

Nearly a week has passed since FBI agents surrounded his house, resulting in a shootout that left Ojeda Rios dead and an FBI agent wounded.

His killing has sparked an outpouring of anti-U.S. sentiment in Puerto Rico and fears that the Bush administration will launch a new crackdown on the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Earlier this week tens of thousands attended his funeral making it one of the largest funerals in Puerto Rican history.

Puerto Ricans of all political stripes have questioned the FBI's actions, especially because the shooting took place on Sept. 23 - the anniversary of an 1868 uprising against Spanish rule.

The FBI considered Ojeda Rios a fugitive from justice and the head of a domestic terrorist group - the militant Puerto Rican independence group Los Macheteros. But in Puerto Rico he has long been viewed as a leader of the independence movement. Now many see him as a martyr who was killed at the hands of U.S. agents.

Puerto Rican officials and Amnesty International are calling for an independent probe into his death. Amnesty said that the killing should be considered an extra-judicial execution if the FBI deliberately killed Ojeda Ríos or deliberately left him to die, when they could have arrested him.

Although FBI agents shot him Friday afternoon at his home they waited 20 hours before entering the house. Autopsy reports show that he bled to death from a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent.

"Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal."
[...]
The fraud took place ... under the government of Iyad Allawi, who was interim prime minister. His ministers were appointed by the US envoy Robert Blackwell and his UN counterpart, Lakhdar Brahimi.