BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUESDAY, JAN. 25, 2005

1) We ain't gonna study war no more!
(Killing and being killed is not a career choice!)
Come to an organizing meeting to get the military
out of our schools!
Saturday, 11:00 a.m., February 5, 2005
Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street
(near 16th St. in S.F.)


2) CRITICAL Hearing Friday January 28, 2005 for
SHEILA DETOY17-Year-Old Girl Shot In Head By
Rogue Cop In 1998 ...
January 28, 2005
9:30 AM
Superior Court
CIVIC CENTER COURTHOUSE
400 McAllister Street Dept. 301
San Francisco, CA 94102
CASE # CPF04-504029
LAST CHANCE FOR JUSTICE!
The San Francisco Police Department is trying
to get away with MURDER!!!
for more information call (510)428-3939

3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation – Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People’s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

4) On Eve of Iraq Vote, War Less Popular in US (link only)
LOS ANGELES
Published on Monday, January 24, 2005 Agence France Presse
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0124-05.htm

5) Grocers, unions reach contract terms (link only)
Tentative deal averts labor strife that roiled south state
George Raine, Todd Wallack, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/25/MNGAUB00GS1.DTL


6) Torture in Iraq Still Routine, Report Says (link only)
By Doug Struck
The Washington Post
BAGHDAD
Tuesday 25 January 2005
Detainees beaten, hung by wrists, shocked by security
forces, rights group finds.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605Z.shtml

7) Bush to Seek About $80 Bln for Military Operations
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:32 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7416921&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

8) U.S. Faces More Tensions Abroad as Dollar Slides (link only)
By DAVID E. SANGER
This article was reported by David E. Sanger, Mark Landler
and Keith Bradsher and written by Mr. Sanger.
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/business/25dollar.html?hp&ex=1106715600&en
=9f78376270809a43&ei=5094&partner=homepage

9) TROOP STRENGTH (link only)
General Says the Current Plan Is to Maintain 120,000
Soldiers in Iraq Through 2006
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/politics/25army.html?oref=login

10) Iraqi Women Paying the Price (link only)
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
Online
By Dahr Jamail
January 24, 2005
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/newscommentary/000183.php#m
ore

11) Subject: benefit for
AIDS Housing Alliance
Mecca44@aol.com wrote:
Hi friends, This Friday's (Jan. 28) performance of my
show, "Italian. Queer. Dangerous" is a benefit for the
AIDS Housing Alliance of SF,

12) GUANTANAMO BAY
Terror captives' suicide attempts called protest
The U.S. military disclosed a spate of apparent suicide
attempts by terror suspects in a mass protest at the
Guantánamo Bay prison 17 months ago.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Posted on Tue, Jan. 25, 2005
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10729961.htm

13) Photos from Jeff Paterson

14) U.N. Says U.S. Deficits Distort Global Economy (link only)
By ELIZABETH BECKER
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/international/25cnd-trad.html

15) FIGHT JERRY BROWN'S 10PM CURFEW FOR PAROLEES
AND PROBATIONERS!
at Jerry Brown's house - 27TH AND TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND
(NEAR 19TH STREET BART)
Wednesday, January 26, 9:30 p.m.
Forwarded Message From: Linda Evans

16) If Dr. King were alive today, he would be trying to
* tear down this new Jim Crow of an incarceration
* industry that is labeling and devastating young people
* of color in extraordinary numbers.
* - Van Jones, Human rights activist

17) International Day of Action Against Caterpillar
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
http://www.bootcat.org/docs/cat-action-apr2005.html

18) ICLU sues state over prison conditions (link only)
Associated Press
January 25, 2005
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/212200-9306-092.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) We ain't gonna study war no more!
(Killing and being killed is not a career choice!)
Come to an organizing meeting to get the
military out of our schools!
Saturday, 11:00 a.m., February 5, 2005
Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street
(near 16th St. in S.F.)

Our children are being recruited to military service right out of High
School. They are being offered Junior ROTC for class credit as an
alternative to Physical Education. Junior ROTC advocates the military
as a career choice. Every day we hear of schools and hospitals
closing. Our children have fewer job opportunities available to
them with far fewer benefits. And they are finding it increasingly
more difficult to go to college because of increased college costs and
the general increase in the cost of living. Junior ROTC makes the
military attractive to them. But these are not the job opportunities
we want for our children-or that our children want for themselves!

Meanwhile, due to an ever-increasing war budget, most of our tax
dollars are being spent on a war with no end in sight; and on
overall defense spending that dwarfs even the war budget! And
while corporations are raking in billions, two-thirds of them pay
no taxes at all. This puts a severe strain on the taxes left over-after
military and defense expenditures-for all social services and
human needs-taxes that come from the poor and all working
people. We want our children to have an opportunity to learn
and thrive to the best of their potential not to kill and be killed.
Stop the war. Bring all our troops home now. End all military
recruitment in public schools and institutions of higher learning.
Use our tax dollars for schools, healthcare, housing, jobs-all
human needs not war!

Number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq as of Jan 11: 1,357
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/USfatalities.html

Number of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq: over 10,000
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0104-12.ht

Number of Iraqis killed: est. over 100,000
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/press/

Number of Iraqis wounded: Untold.
Not counted but estimated in the millions.

Cost of the war: $149.5 billion spent as of Jan. 12, 2005
http://costofwar.com/index.html

With the money spent so far on the war we could have
hired over 2,600,566 public schoolteachers for one year.
http://costofwar.com/index-public-education.html

Total U.S. Defense spending: nearly $754 billion as of
fiscal year 2004.
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1253

The people of San Francisco voted last November 2004
by a 63 percent majority to bring all our troops home now.
We haven't changed our minds!

Bay Area United Against War (www.bauaw.org) (415) 824-8730
P.O. Box 318021, S. F., CA 94131-8021
Labor Donated...BW

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2) CRITICAL Hearing Friday January 28, 2005 for
SHEILA DETOY17-Year-Old Girl Shot In Head By
Rogue Cop In 1998 ...
January 28, 2005
9:30 AM
Superior Court
CIVIC CENTER COURTHOUSE
400 McAllister Street Dept. 301
San Francisco, CA 94102
CASE # CPF04-504029
LAST CHANCE FOR JUSTICE!

The San Francisco Police Department is trying to get away
with MURDER!!!

If the cops get their way, the Superior Court will DISMISS
THE CASE against killer cop GREGORY BRESLIN !!!

With no punishment for Breslin - or anyone - in the 1998
cold-blooded police shooting of Sheila Detoy !!!

Don't let police murder go unpunished !!!


SIX YEARS - NO JUSTICE FOR SHEILA DETOY

* May 13, 1998: San Francisco police officers shot up a car
full of unarmed teenagers and killed 17-year-old Sheila Detoy.
SFPD then blamed her friends for her death.

* The Office of Citizen Complaints found that Officer Gregory
Breslin is responsible for her death. The OCC also sustained
complaints against the other officers involved in Sheila's killing.

* In 2003 the San Francisco Police Commission decided they
wanted to file charges against the officers, but the Police
Officers Association is trying to get Breslin off on a technicality
but we say: THERE IS NO TIME LIMIT ON PUNISHING KILLER COPS!!!

for more information call (510)428-3939

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation – Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People’s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

Become an endorser and supporter for March 19

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in the United States issued a call in
early October to mobilize for the March 19 Global Day of Mass
Action. This is the second anniversary of Bush's criminal
aggression against the people of Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqis
have died and yet the resistance to occupation by the Iraqi people
has not been stifled through the resort to high tech massacres.
U.S. soldiers are being killed and maimed in a war for conquest.
In these ways Iraq parallels the U.S. war against Vietnam. While
the U.S. government is spending billions to kill in Iraq, Palestine
and Haiti, it is destroying social programs and working peoples'
Social Security. At the same time, the U.S. is threatening new
military action in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, the Philippines,
Sudan and other countries.

Antiwar actions in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los
Angeles and in other cities around the country and around
the world will take place on March 19.

On the first anniversary of the "Shock and Awe" invasion,
March 20, 2004, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and others in
a larger March 20 National Coalition promoted the building
of a united front under the slogan: Bring the Troops Home Now,
End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti and Everywhere.
The demonstration also highlighted the call for Money for Jobs,
Education and Healthcare, Not for War and in defense of civil
rights and civil liberties. More than 100,000 marched in New
York City and 50,000 in San Francisco, refuting the notion
that the antiwar movement must turn its back on the just
struggle of the Palestinian people in order to build so-called
broad support. In fact, the large turnout on March 20 of the
Arab-American, Muslim, Haitian and other targeted
communities helped the demonstration reflect the
broad multi-national and multi-ethnic reality of the
global people's movement for justice. This true united
front organizing was a major step forward for the
antiwar movement in the United States.

We urge all antiwar and people's rights organizations
to join together in this important day of action and
global solidarity.

To become an endorser of the March 19/20 Global
Day of Mass Action fill out the form below and reply
to answer@actionsf.org .

Name:

Organization:

Organization for ID only: Y or N

Organization endorses: Y or N

Telephone:

Email: Fax:

Address:

I can volunteer my time to help with March 19: Y or N

Please mail me __________# of flyers for March 19.
(You can also download english and spanish March 19
flyers at www.actionsf.org .)

I can pledge towards the March 19, 2005
demonstration: Y or N Amount:

(Please visit www.progressunity.org
and
select ANSWER to donate today or mail
donations to A.N.S.W.E.R. 2489 Mission St.
#24 San Francisco, CA 94110).
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
activist-subscribe@actionsf.org

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4) On Eve of Iraq Vote, War Less Popular in US (link only)
LOS ANGELES
Published on Monday, January 24, 2005 Agence France Presse
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0124-05.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) Grocers, unions reach contract terms (link only)
Tentative deal averts labor strife that roiled south state
George Raine, Todd Wallack, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/25/MNGAUB00GS1.DTL

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) Torture in Iraq Still Routine, Report Says (link only)
By Doug Struck
The Washington Post
BAGHDAD
Tuesday 25 January 2005
Detainees beaten, hung by wrists, shocked by security
forces, rights group finds.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/012605Z.shtml

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) Bush to Seek About $80 Bln for Military Operations
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:32 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7416921&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is seeking
about $80 billion in new funding for military operations this
year in Iraq and Afghanistan, pushing the total for both
conflicts to almost $300 billion so far.

Administration and congressional officials said the new
request, expected to be announced on Tuesday, would come on top
of the $25 billion in emergency spending already approved for
this fiscal year.

That means funding for military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan will total nearly $105 billion in fiscal 2005 alone
-- a record that shatters initial estimates of the cost.

In addition to money for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and
for new Army equipment, up to $650 million is expected to be
earmarked for humanitarian, reconstruction and military
operations in Asian nations devastated by last month's tsunami,
congressional aides said. The administration is considering
debt relief for Indonesia, the hardest-hit country, they said.

The funding request comes as the U.S. Army said it is now
planning to keep at least 120,000 troops in Iraq for the next
two years to train and fight alongside Iraqi forces against
insurgents. The Army total is part of a force of 150,000
American soldiers, Marines and other troops now in Iraq.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said it
was Congress' "highest responsibility" to provide the troops
the support they need. But she said lawmakers "owe it to them
to critically examine President Bush's request."

John Pike, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, said
the Pentagon might need even more money this year "because we
just don't know the rate at which the insurgency will grow or
subside, and we don't know the rate at which the Iraqi security
forces can be stood up."

The funding request is expected to be formally submitted to
Congress after President Bush sends up his fiscal 2006 budget
on Feb. 7.

BRACING FOR A BACKLASH

The White House is bracing for a backlash from Democrats
and some Republicans. At nearly $105 billion, total funding for
military operations in 2005 would be more than 13 times larger
than Bush's budget for the Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition to money for military operations, at least $780
million would go to combat the drug trade in Afghanistan.

The administration is also considering including $1 billion
to $2 billion to construct a new U.S. embassy complex in
Baghdad, and up to $200 million in aid for the Palestinians to
shore up newly-elected President Mahmoud Abbas.

Aid for Ukraine may also be included to bolster new
President Viktor Yushchenko, congressional aides said.

Bush has so far pledged $350 million in tsunami aid.
The new package is expected to include up to $650 million,
including $250 million to $350 million for reconstruction, and
up to $300 million to replenish funds spent by the U.S. Agency
for International Development and the Pentagon.

Administration and congressional officials had initially
expected this year's supplemental spending to total closer to
$50 billion. But cost estimates skyrocketed to as much as $100
billion as the Iraq insurgency intensified.

Critics have long accused Bush and his advisers of
understating the costs. Before the invasion, then-budget
director Mitch Daniels predicted Iraq would be "an affordable
endeavor," and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz assured
Congress: "We are dealing with a country that can really
finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."

Not including the new funding request, Congress has so far
approved $120 billion for Iraq and another $60 billion for
Afghanistan. Last year it also approved a $25 billion
contingency fund for the Pentagon.

Yet only a fraction of the $18.4 billion set aside for
rebuilding Iraq has been spent. The White House blames the
insurgency for the slow pace of reconstruction.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Anna Willard)

(c) Reuters 2005

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) U.S. Faces More Tensions Abroad as Dollar Slides (link only)
By DAVID E. SANGER
This article was reported by David E. Sanger, Mark Landler
and Keith Bradsher and written by Mr. Sanger.
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/business/25dollar.html?hp&ex=1106715600&en
=9f78376270809a43&ei=5094&partner=homepage

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) TROOP STRENGTH (link only)
General Says the Current Plan Is to Maintain 120,000
Soldiers in Iraq Through 2006
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/politics/25army.html?oref=login

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) Iraqi Women Paying the Price (link only)
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
Online
By Dahr Jamail
January 24, 2005
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/newscommentary/000183.php#m
ore

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

11) Subject: benefit for
AIDS Housing Alliance
Mecca44@aol.com wrote:
Hi friends, This Friday's (Jan. 28) performance of my
show, "Italian. Queer. Dangerous" is a benefit for the
AIDS Housing Alliance of SF,

a group that has helped
hundreds of PWAs get housing.
The group also wrote the recently passed
legislation to limit condo conversations
for buildings where seniors and
people with AIDS are evicted. On Friday
night they will be one year old. Come
celebrate their first anniversary and help
them raise much needed rent money.
Our goal is to raise $1,000 (two months
rent) which we can do if we get 100
people to come and pay $10 each
(admission is on a sliding scale from
$5-25
with no one turned away). The theatre
seats 50 but the theatre and all of us
involved with the production have
agreed to do a second show at 10pm (if
there's enough demand) and donate
every cent to the AIDS Housing Alliance. A
little about Italian. Queer. Dangerous. It's
a one-man show (17 vignettes and
a video) about my experiences growing up
in South Philly's Little Italy. It's
received rave reviews from both the
Bay Area Reporter and the Bay Times. BAR
said it was an "Italian Torch Song
Trilogy." PJ Corkery of the Examiner was
quoted in the SanFranciscoSentinel.com as
saying the show was "profound."

To make reservations call 415-554-0402
(10pm show will only be added only if
8pm sells out; you'll be called if that happens).

To catch a preview of the show:
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/id274.htm
, click on either real media or windows media video.

DETAILS: Jon Sims Center, 1519 Mission/
11th January 28, 8pm, $5-25 (no one
turned away) elevator available for those
who can't climb stairs MUNI:
underground or any bus on Market to
Van Ness, walk one block to Mission or #14
to 11th. Seating limited, please call and
make reservations: 554-0402.

FINAL PERFORMANCE of Italian. Queer. Dangerous
is on Saturday Jan. 29 at 8pm,
it's not a benefit for AIDS Housing Alliance. thanks.

Tommi

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12) GUANTANAMO BAY
Terror captives' suicide attempts called protest
The U.S. military disclosed a spate of apparent suicide
attempts by terror suspects in a mass protest at the
Guantánamo Bay prison 17 months ago.
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Posted on Tue, Jan. 25, 2005
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10729961.htm

Twenty-three prisoners tried to hang or strangle themselves -- 10
on the same day -- in a sustained, mass protest at the prison for
terror suspects in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military
disclosed Monday, more than a year after the episode.

None of the captives died in the spree from Aug. 18 to 26, 2003,
but the 20-bed prison hospital was filled during the episode, said
Col. David McWilliams, a Southern Command spokesman. All of
the prisoners were treated by a military psychiatric team.

The prisoners used pieces of their uniforms or other items in
their cells, demonstrating ``self-injurious behavior in a
coordinated effort to disrupt camp operations.''

A Southcom statement characterized the surge in so-called
self-harm episodes -- with 10 on Aug. 22 -- as an attempt
to challenge newly assigned Army reservists arriving on a regular
rotation to guard terror suspects in the U.S.-controlled slice of Cuba.

The disclosure comes as the Pentagon is preparing for the first
time to substitute active-duty sailors for Army reservists who
guard prisoners at Camp Delta.

Monday, the Southern Command refused to explain why the
military is turning to the Navy to guard the 550 or so terror
suspects, most of whom were scooped up three years ago
around the world.

CONDITIONS CITED

International human rights groups for some time have linked
suicide attempts at the remote base to desperation by detainees
held in rugged conditions without charge or trial.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Jameel Jaffer attributed
the August 2003 episode to ``the cruel and degrading
treatment to which the Guantánamo prisoners were routinely
being subjected at that time.''

Through a lawsuit, the ACLU has uncovered FBI e-mails that
described harsh military interrogation techniques 18-24 months
ago that left one detainee so desperate he tore his hair from his head.

Amnesty International's Jumana Musa said Monday that the
disclosure was ''clear indication of the detrimental effects of
long-term, indefinite detention'' and may be linked to ``the
severity of approved interrogation techniques at that time.''

In 2003, the prison recorded 350 ''self-harm'' events, including
120 ''hanging gestures,'' by detainees.

That figure dipped to 110 occurrences in 2004.

Journalists first learned of the August 2003 episode earlier this
month in interviews with medical staff at Camp Delta, but the
Southern Command didn't confirm it or provide details until Monday.

The disclosure illustrates that the Pentagon ''cannot be
trusted to monitor themselves,'' Amnesty International's Musa
said. ``The only way to end the constant stream of allegations
of torture, ill-treatment and psychological deterioration of the
detainees is to permit a truly independent investigation.''

Soldiers distinguish suicide attempts from ''self-harm'' episodes
by deciding which captives meant to kill themselves and which
captives were trying to gain attention or medical treatment.

No prisoner has killed himself at Guantánamo Bay, this ''because
of a vigilant, well-trained guard force,'' the Southcom statement said.

The most serious suicide attempt so far occurred Jan. 16, 2003.
Guards spotted a prisoner hanging in his cell. He suffered brain
damage and lapsed into a coma, but he regained consciousness.

Of the 23 prisoners involved in the August 2003 episode, only
16 remain in U.S. custody in Cuba.

McWilliams, the Southcom colonel, would not say whether the
seven who had been released from Guantánamo had been
transferred to lockups in allied nations or had been set free
after being found by an independent review panel to not meet
the minimum requirements for detention on ''enemy combatant''
status.

NATIONALITY RANGE

Guantánamo today has some 550 prisoners from about 42 nations,
although the Bush administration is arranging to repatriate four
Britons, an Australian who the Pentagon says had advance
knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and three French citizens.

The French ambassador in Washington, Jean-David Levitte,
told The Herald that negotiations are under way to repatriate
the last three French citizens at Guantánamo soon; earlier, the
Pentagon handed over to France four other French citizens .

(c) 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com

[Remember, you are reading this in the MIAMI HERALD, not in
the organ of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist
Party,GRANMA. And since Jim Jones wasn't the chaplain at
Guantnamo, you have to wonder what kind of horrors these
men were subjected to for them to have responded this way.]

The Cuban government's position on Guantanamo is clear:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/enero/juev20/05declar.html

For a more serious approach to human rights at Guantanamo:
http://www.guantanamohrc.org/

Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism

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13) Photos from Jeff Paterson

Dear Friends,

I thought I'd share a few photos and videos I produced over the
last few days.

On Thursday, Jan. 20 thousands around the country held
counter-inaugural events to declare "Not Our President!" during
the Bush oath.

Bay Area report and photos:
http://www.notinourname.net/~bayarea/20jan05-nop.htm
Video
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/01/1716741.php

On Saturday, Jan. 22 thousands of pro-choice proponents meet
thousands of anti-choice demonstrators in what "right to life"
organizers billed as a first annual "Walk of Life West Coast"
Photos:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/01/1716544.php (pro-choice)
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/01/1716463.php (anti-choice)
Video:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/01/1716850.php

-jeff
Jeff Paterson jeff@paterson.net

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14) U.N. Says U.S. Deficits Distort Global Economy (link only)
By ELIZABETH BECKER
WASHINGTON
January 25, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/international/25cnd-trad.html

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15) FIGHT JERRY BROWN'S 10PM CURFEW FOR PAROLEES
AND PROBATIONERS!
at Jerry Brown's house - 27TH AND TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND
(NEAR 19TH STREET BART)
Wednesday, January 26, 9:30 p.m.
Forwarded Message From: Linda Evans

Hey everyone: Come on out to this action to protest the 10 p.m. curfew for
people on parole and probation!! This coming Wednesday!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!

***EMERGENCY ACTION!*******EMERGENCY ACTION!*******EMERGENCY ACTION!****
Please forward to all your lists!

FIGHT JERRY BROWN'S 10PM CURFEW FOR PAROLEES AND PROBATIONERS!

Join Critical Resistance and All of Us or None as we cite Jerry Brown for
harassing and scapegoating the people of Oakland.

PLEASE JOIN US TO FIGHT BACK:

THIS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26
9:30 P.M.
JERRY BROWN'S HOUSE (OLD SEAR'S BUILDING)
27TH AND TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND (NEAR 19TH STREET BART)

Want to help make POSTERS? Join us at 7:00PM at the Critical Resistance
office - 1904 FRANKLIN STREET (AT 19TH), ROOM 504.

Jerry Brown continues to scapegoat parolees and probationers for causing all
of Oakland's problems as he plans a run for Attorney General. His newest
campaign scheme is to impose a curfew on probationers and parolees --
arresting them if they leave their house after 10pm.

After serving time in torturous conditions, former prisoners are faced with
prejudice and discrimination that make their re-entry into society difficult
and, in some cases, impossible. Prison sentences never end as long as the
discrimination against former prisoners -- like establishing a 10pm
curfew -- continues.

We need to join together to fight for real safety in Oakland. Scapegoating
and persecuting people on probation and parole will NOT make Oakland safe.
Real safety will only come when we spend our money and time on supporting
and creating opportunities for all people, not on harassing them.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP, CALL
CRITICAL RESISTANCE AT 510-444-0484 or
email croakland@criticalresistance.org.
Or call All of Us or None: 415-255-7036, x337.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Sitara Nieves, Organizer
Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-444-0484
Fax:510-444-2177
www.criticalresistance.org

***EMERGENCY ACTION!*******EMERGENCY ACTION!*******EMERGENCY
ACTION!*******EMERGENCY ACTION!****

NEWS STORIES ABOUT THE CURFEW
______________________________
Posted on Mon, Jan. 10, 2005
Adult curfew is probation's latest tactic

By Guy Ashley
OAKLAND - Curfew, the after-sundown restriction that smacks of a
crackdown on rebellious youths' Saturday-night antics, has a more
hardened group feeling the heat: adults who have past run-ins with the
law.

In a program that may be unprecedented in California, prosecutors acting
at the urging of Oakland police are demanding 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfews
as a common probation condition for those pleading guilty to felonies in
Alameda County Superior Court.

Judges have imposed dozens of curfew orders since the demands began
reaching their courts three months ago as part of plea deals negotiated
between defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Curfews have displeased defense lawyers, who say it is the latest defeat
for defendants who in recent years have faced harsher sentencing laws,
longer probation terms and stay-away orders that have become everyday
courtroom occurrences.

Defense lawyers say their hands may be tied because the curfews have
shrewdly been offered to their clients as part of a
rock-and-a-hard-place proposition: If you would rather not stay home at
night, jail is always an option.

"It's a cowardly and scary new world," Oakland defense attorney Paul
Wolf said Friday, moments after a client was sentenced to five years'
probation in a weapons case, a term accompanied by a curfew. "But in a
more narrow context, I must admit I feel some sense of relief that my
client is not going to jail."

To hear Mayor Jerry Brown talk about it, curfews hold the promise of
stifling nighttime adult activities with established links to violent
crime -- and could be the missing piece of the puzzle in Oakland's
effort to control its notorious homicide problem.

"You have to go where the problem is," Brown said in 2003, when he first
broached the curfew idea with county law enforcement brass. "Since more
than 50 percent of the murder victims in this city are either on
probation or parole, it makes sense to try to rein in the activities of
these people in some meaningful way."

Efforts to reach Brown this week were unsuccessful. The mayor is cited
by police as the driving force behind curfews, part of an array of
criminal-justice reforms Brown has touted as he positions himself for a
run for state attorney general next year.

Though a fairly common condition of state-mandated parole, the use of
curfews in locally imposed probation appears to be a ground-breaking
concept. "We've seen curfews for teenagers, but we don't know of any
other cities where this practice is in place for adults," said Megan
Taylor, spokeswoman for the League of California Cities.

"I've never seen it," said Albert Manaster, a deputy public defender in
Los Angeles County who recently completed a book for defense attorneys
specializing in probation.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said he believes curfews are
appropriate for certain convicted felons, as long as there is a clear
link between their offenses and the types of night-driven activities
that seem time and again to erupt in violence.

"We won't be prosecuting a person for petty theft at high noon and
placing them under a curfew," he said.

Penalties for violating curfew are fairly fluid, though prosecutors say
first-time violators will likely get up to 30 days in county jail.

No such violations have yet been recorded, said Ann Diem, a senior
prosecutor in Orloff's office.

While curfews so far have been confined to Oakland cases, Orloff said he
expects probationers in other county areas soon will be asked to accept
the home-at-night conditions, when warranted.

With some 20,000 people on felony probation in Alameda County, it is not
too far-fetched to say there may be thousands of people eventually
living under the stay-at-home orders if the curfew strategy proves
sound.

Precise numbers of curfew orders imposed so far were not available --
either from Orloff's staff, the county public defender's office or the
courts themselves.

"Since we're dealing with a large number of these types of crimes, I
would expect that there already is a significant number of people living
under a curfew," said Sandra Quist, a deputy district attorney who files
felony cases at the downtown Oakland courthouse.

It is possible the numbers could grow dramatically in coming months,
Quist said, because prosecutors likely will begin seeking curfews for
misdemeanor probation cases -- the number of which dwarf those involving
felonies.

The curfew demands arrived in local courts on Oct. 4, after more than a
year of Oakland efforts to target the parole population with expanded
law enforcement tools including curfews and mandatory meetings with
community-based service providers.

Curfews are the latest phase in a violence-reduction strategy police
have been pushing in the last 15 months. An array of crime-fighting
approaches targeting troubled pockets of town, the new strategy grew
from studies showing disproportionate numbers of homicides occur at
night and involve people on probation or parole -- as victims,
perpetrators or both.

"The idea is that if you can keep these people off the street, or
otherwise disrupt the street-level drug dealing and other activities
that always seem to come up, you can have a real impact on violent
crime," said police Lt. Pete Sarna, a key player in developing the
strategy.

Last week, police cited the $1 million annual strategy -- which includes
increased use of undercover operations targeting drug peddlers, and a
program in which minor parole and probation violators are locked up for
up to a week and provided substance-abuse treatment -- as a reason for
Oakland's 23 percent drop in its 2004 homicide rate..

Sarna said he knew curfews would be controversial. But he says the
numbers don't lie, and believes few critics -- even defense attorneys --
can challenge the need for new approaches to crime-fighting.

His point drew a surprising level of support from Tony Bergquist, 38,
who was sentenced in a weapons case Friday and learned he would have to
stay home every night for the next five years.

For years, Bergquist lived in one of West Oakland's toughest
neighborhoods, an experience he says showed him "there's a real need to
do something about the drug dealers and the violent people who are out
there."

"I used to see these people every night in front of my house," he said.

Nevertheless, Bergquist said he was "feeling a lot of anxiety" about
living under curfew. "No late-night dinners with my girlfriend for the
next five years?" he asked, though he did not seem to direct the
question to anyone in particular.

Wolf, who represented Bergquist in court before Judge Thomas Reardon,
said the case also raised troubling questions about the link between
crime and curfew that Orloff says is necessary.

Bergquist, he notes, was arrested in his West Oakland home in July by
police chasing another suspect into his yard, and then happened to
notice a marijuana plant growing inside his home.

Police searched the house and found 31 plants, two rifles, two handguns
and four boxes of ammunition stored in lock-boxes. Because he had a
felony conviction on his record, for a 1989 kidnapping, he was
prosecuted for being an ex-felon in possession of firearms, a felony.

No charges were brought for the plants prompting the search, because he
produced a city-sanctioned card showing he has a medical necessity to
grow and use it.

"If these curfews are designed to curtail the activities of people who
are known to frequent Oakland's drug hot-spots, then why do you require
it of somebody who was arrested inside his home just because he had the
bad luck to get mixed up in somebody else's business?" Wolf asked.

Oakland Officials Hope Curfew Will Reduce Crime
Jan. 17 (AP) - Police in Oakland are hoping a curfew imposed on people
on probation will help cut down on crime in the city.

As a condition of release from jail, probationers in Oakland are now
required to stay in their homes between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
seven days a week. The only exceptions are for work and emergencies.

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown says 80 percent of homicides in the city
involve felons who are on probation and parole, and 70 percent of
homicides occur at night.

The curfew has been in place since last fall, but officials say it could
be six months to a year before they see results from the program.

KTVU.Com
Oakland Officials Use Curfew To Stem Crime

POSTED: 3:05 pm PST January 17, 2005

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Authorities in Oakland hope a curfew imposed on
people on probation will help cut down on crime.

As a condition of release from jail, probationers in Oakland are now
required to stay in their homes between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
seven days a week. The only exceptions are for work and emergencies.

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown said the plan has been in the works for two
years and getting it implemented, at just the county level, was "like
climbing Mount Everest."

Brown said 80 percent of homicides in the city involve felons who are on
probation and parole, and 70 percent of homicides occur at night.

"People believe there is a right to travel on probation and parole,"
Brown said. "I believe their right to roam the streets of Oakland can be
limited. I think it's very (beneficial) for these probationers and
parolees to spend time in their homes."

Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris said he was "a little
disappointed" when he first heard about the curfew.

It creates another layer of law enforcement on youth and more hostility
towards police, he said.

Copyright 2005 by KTVU.com. The Associated Press contributed to this
report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rose Braz, Director
Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin St.,Ste. 504
Oakland, CA 94612
510.444.0484
fax 510.444.2177
email: rose@criticalresistance.org

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16) If Dr. King were alive today, he would be trying to
* tear down this new Jim Crow of an incarceration
* industry that is labeling and devastating young people
* of color in extraordinary numbers.
* - Van Jones, Human rights activist

Dear friend,

We're writing to let you know about CNN.com's special coverage of
a major MLK commemoration at Dr. Martin Luther King's home
church in Atlanta. Featured in the article and one of the honored
guests appearing on-stage during the festivities...none other than
EBC co-founder and Executive Director Van Jones!

Read the article: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/01/14/mlk.truth/

::: MOVING, STAR-STUDDED EVENT :::

Kerry Kennedy, human rights activist and daughter of the late Robert
F. Kennedy, helped to produce the event. Other invitees included
Nobel laureates Rigoberta Minchu and Bobby Muller.

The highlight of the days-long celebration was a dramatic reading
in MLK's home church of Ariel Dorfman's play, Speak Truth To Power,
based on Kerry Kennedy's book of the same name. Both the book
and the play put the spotlight on human rights activists of today —
people Kennedy calls "the Martin Luther Kings of our times."

The play features both human rights legends — like Desmond
Tutu and the Dalai Lama — and lesser-known human rights
activists around the world, including Van. The live performance
featured many U.S. celebrities, including Sean Penn, Martin
Sheen, Alfre Woodard and Woody Harrelson.

::: VAN CALLS ATTENTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
HERE AT HOME :::

Van used the occasion to call attention to human rights abuses
in the U.S. prison system. He drew links between the fight
against the incarceration industry and earlier struggles
against slavery and segregation.

CNN.com features not only Van's words, but also his picture
and a link to our website. [http://ellabakercenter.org] Here
is what CNN.com says about Van:


***********************
* (Frank) Wu shared the podium with
* Van Jones, executive director for the
* Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
* in San Francisco, California.
*
* Jones' organization works to expose
* human rights violations that law enforcement
* officers in the United States commit,
* and to challenge abuses in the criminal
* justice system.
*
*"I think every American century has its
* moral struggle, its moral dilemma," Jones
* said in an interview after his speech to
* schoolchildren Friday.
*
* "In the 1800s, it was the enslavement of
* African people. In the 1900s, it was Jim Crow
* and segregation. And in the new century,
* it's the incarceration industry which created
* these slave ships on dry land called prisons.
* That's the new Jim Crow."
***********************
You can read the full CNN.com article here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/01/14/mlk.truth/

Also, check out the photo gallery that goes with the article:
http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/us/0501/gallery.mlk/frameset.exclude.html

Many thanks,

EllaBakerCenter.org

Get more information about the Books Not Bars "Alternatives
for Youth" Campaign: http://ellabakercenter.org/bnb/campaign

*****
We can't survive without the support of individuals like you.
Please take a moment to support us today. Donate here:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/donate

*****
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to you.) Sign up to get e-mail updates directly by going this web
page: http://ellabakercenter.org/subscribe )

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17) International Day of Action Against Caterpillar
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
http://www.bootcat.org/docs/cat-action-apr2005.html

Over 50,000 Palestinians have been made homeless by Caterpillar
bulldozers. Cat supplies equipment used by the Israeli military to
destroy Palestinian homes, infrastructure, orchards, greenhouses,
agricultural land filled with crops and sometimes lives, including
American peace activist Rachel Corrie and Palestinian Suha Sweidan,
who was nine months pregnant when she was killed in the middle
of the night in a home demolition. While US taxpayers foot the bill,
Cat profits from the wholesale destruction of Palestinian homes and
livelihoods.

Taking what Human Rights Watch calls a "head in the sand" approach,
Caterpillar officials have repeated the same line over and over again,
that Caterpillar has "neither the legal right nor the ability to monitor
and police individual use" of its equipment. Last year, instead of
looking into the wanton destruction that their company's policies
cause, the Caterpillar Board of Directors successfully urged the
defeat of a shareholder resolution investigating whether Caterpillar
is adhering to its own corporate code of conduct regarding sales to
Israel. Caterpillar not only has the ability to monitor the use of its
equipment, but after calls from human rights organizations, members
of the office of the UN Commissioner on Human Rights, several
religious and social justice organizations, and the victims themselves,
Cat has the responsibility to investigate the ethics of selling bulldozers
as weapons and profiting from human rights abuses.

On April 13, Caterpillar shareholders will meet again in Chicago.
We call on groups to organize local demonstrations that day to protest
Cat's selling of home-crushing bulldozers to Israel. Let's send the
board of directors and Cat dealerships a strong message that
cooperation in human rights abuses will not be tolerated.
Join us on April 13.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Distribute and Sign the Petition

The BootCAT Campaign is collecting signatures to present to the
April 13, 2005 shareholders meeting. Please help us get them by
downloading these documents.
Printed Caterpillar Petition , Jan 2005 (PDF) - distribute, sign and
mail to BootCAT
Caterpillar: Stop Bulldozing Palestinian Lives , Jan 2005 (PDF) -
print and distribute handout
Read more about the Caterpillar shareholder resolution and how
you can get involved.

Organize an Action

Join other groups all over the world on April 13 to organize
a demonstration at a Caterpillar-related location in your area,
like a CAT dealership or board member's office. We'll provide
you with resources to help you make it happen.
Email abuemma@gmail.org if you'd like to organize an
action in your area.

More information and resources are regularly posted on
the following websites:
www.bootCAT.org ,www.CATdestroysHomes.org and
www.StopCAT.org

Contact Congress

Contact your Congressional representative, tell her/him
to ask for an investigation of US purchase of CAT
equipment for Israel in the General Accounting Office.
CAT equipment is sold to Israel under the US Foreign
Military Sales Program . It's illegal for US-purchased
equipment to be used to violate human rights. Make
appointments with your representatives on the week
of April 13, and tell her/him to investigate. To contact
a person in your area who can help you coordinate
a visit to your rep, go to this website and click on
your state .

GROUPS INVOLVED IN THE CAMPAIGN

Groups all over the world have gotten involved in
demanding that Caterpillar stop selling home-crushing
bulldozers to Israel. Below is a list of some of those
groups -- not all of them are involved in the Day of
Action, but all of them have contributed to the campaign.
Al-Awda
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Friends Service Committee
Amnesty International
BootCAT Campaign to Stop Caterpillar
Bradley Peace Network
Christian Peacemaker Teams
Churches for Middle East Peace
Committee for Justice in Palestine, Ohio State University
Human Rights Watch
International Solidarity Movement
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Jewish Voice for Peace
Maryknoll Sisters
National Lawyers Guild
Not In My Name
Palestine Solidarity Group
Palestine Solidarity Movement
Peace Pledge
Peoria Area Peace Network
Presbyterian Church USA
ProgressivePortal.org
Sisters of Loretto
Sisters of Mercy
St. Francis of Philadelphia
StopCAT Coalition
Students for Justice in Palestine
Students for Social Justice
SUSTAIN (Stop US Tax Funded Aid to Israel Now)
UN Special Rapporteur on Food Rights, Jean Ziegler
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Links to all organizations nationwide endorsing
the Stop Caterpillar campaign

Updated: Jan 11, 2005


(c) 2004-2005 BootCAT.org Contact Us

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18) ICLU sues state over prison conditions (link only)
Associated Press
January 25, 2005
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/212200-9306-092.html

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