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This week on Uprising:

* The End of the Musharraf Era and What It Means for Pakistan
* Empire Notes on Musharraf’s Resignation
* Republican Security Expert: Voting Machines are Designed to Steal Elections
* Conversation with Tom Hayden: 40 Years After the Democratic National Convention
* Black Agenda Report about Blackwater
* Robert Jensen on “The Delusion Revolution”

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The End of the Musharraf Era

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf resigned from office earlier in the week rather than face the prospects of being the first president in the nation’s history to be impeached. The news, greeted by celebrations in the country, came just hours ago as mounting political pressures increasingly isolated the former president who took power in a 1999 coup. Officials from two major parties united in the civilian government coalition, had warned that charges against the former President would be presented to parliament later this week. A two-thirds majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament would have been needed in order to carry out an impeachment against Musharraf for his suspension of the constitution, dismissal of judges, and imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan last November. Musharraf could still face trial for treason which the coalition party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is calling for. The Pakistan People’s Party, of the late Benazir Bhutto, on the other hand, said that the matter should be resolved by parliament. With the official end of the Musharraf era in Pakistan, it is not clear who will take his place. Under the constitution, a new president must be elected within the next thirty days.

GUEST: Shahid Mahmood, editorial cartoonist for Dawn, a national newspaper in Pakistan. He is now internationally syndicated with the New York Times Syndicate. His website is www.drawnconclusions.com.

Empire Notes on Musharraf’s Resignation

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is about Musharraf’s Resignation in Pakistan.

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade.

Visit www.empirenotes.org for more information.

Republican Security Expert: Voting Machines are Designed to Steal Elections

Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold corporation, has acknowledged that its machines have a programming error that led to about 1,000 votes being dropped in the March primary. Now, a prominent data security expert and self-described life-long Republican has said that electronic voting machines can never be trusted. In a 2006 interview, Steven Spoonamore says that the 2004 election was stolen and that voting machines made by the company formerly known as Diebold, are designed to steal elections. Spoonamore is a renowned expert having worked with the US Army and the Department of Homeland Security on cyber-security and other processes. He has worked extensively in private industry as well, and has testified in front of both houses of Congress about secure communications and emergency systems used in communications. His analysis of Diebold is a damning blow to the machines as part of a civil suit pending in Ohio relating to the 2004 elections. In fact Spoonamore is an expert witness in the case. What does this mean for the 2008 elections? How can voting irregularities that marred both the last Presidential elections be avoided in this coming election?

GUEST: Cliff Arnebeck, expert in election politics, and attorney with election-related civil suit in Ohio

For more information and to watch the whole interview with Steven Spoonamore, visit www.velvetrevolution.us.

Conversation with Tom Hayden: 40 Years After the Democratic National Convention

As thousands of delegates and activists converge onto Denver for the Democratic National Convention, we spend a few minutes now hearing from one prominent activist whose role in a convention protest 40 years ago launched his political career. Tom Hayden, famously known as one of the “Chicago 8” was arrested and tried along with 7 others in a high-profile case. In an effort to preserve the history of the trial, Tom Hayden, who went on to serve in the California State Assembly and the State Senate, has co-authored a new book called Voices of the Chicago Eight: A Generation on Trial.

GUEST: Tom Hayden, former state assembly and senate representative, member of the “Chicago 8,” co-author of several books including Voices of the Chicago Eight
A Generation on Trial

Black Agenda Report about Blackwater

Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report. This week’s commentary is about Blackwater.

Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

The Delusion Revolution

This year alone more than a million acres of forest have been reduced to ashes. According to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation, “wildfire frequency and severity are increasing because of rising temperatures, drying conditions, and more lightning brought on by global warming.” Evidence of environmental destruction caused by an unsustainable lifestyle can be found not just in the ashes of our forests, but all around us: from the melting ice caps of the Arctic, to the extreme hurricanes and storms across the world. Professor of Journalism Robert Jensen analyzes the many environmental crises of the age in a recent talk entitled, The Delusion Revolution: We’re on the Road to Extinction and in Denial.” In it Jensen likens our society to people riding a train that is heading toward an abyss. The only sane option is to stop the train immediately and go forward on foot but most prefer to stay on the train having grown comfortable riding it. We are the first species, says Jensen, that will have to self-consciously impose limits on ourselves if we are to survive.

GUEST: Robert Jensen, Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, and author of several books including Citizens of the Empire, The Heart of Whiteness, and Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity.

Read Jensen’s article, The Delusion Revolution online at www.alternet.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.” — Abbie Hoffman