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Hands Off Venezuela:
Jorge Martin Speaking Tour Date in San Francisco
When: Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 7:00 PM
Where: Center for Political Education,
3rd Floor Auditorium
522 Valencia, near 16th St.
(ring bell; not wheelchair accessible)
Cost: $5/$3 students, seniors, unemployed
Transit: BART station, 16th St.
Parking nearby: Mission & Bartlett Garage;
16th & Hoff Garage
Visit our websites at:
www.ushov.org
www.handsoffvenezuela.org
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Hold the date and Spread the word:
EMERGENCY RALLY
STAND WITH MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
Thursday, May 17th, 4 - 6 p.m.
U.S. Court of Appeal Building at
7th and Mission Streets
SAN FRANCISCO
Mumia is Innocent--Free Mumia!
For Labor Action to Free Mumia!
End the Racist Death Penalty!
On May 17th, 2007, oral arguments
will be heard in federal court in
Philadelphia on what could be the
last appeal of death-row journalist
Mumia Abu-Jamal, known as the "Voice
of the Voiceless."
The evidence shows--Mumia Abu-Jamal
is an innocent man. He has been on
death row in Pennsylvania for 25 years,
victim of a police and prosecutorial
frame-up and a racist judge. He continues
to serve the movement for human rights
as a journalist writing and broadcasting
from prison.
Come out on May 17th in SF to support
Mumia at this critical time!
Demonstrate with the Labor Action Committee
To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 Oakland CA 94610. 510 763-2347,
Sponsored by: The Mobilization to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal (Northern California);
International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Coalition (NYC); Chicago Committee to Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal; Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal,
Bay Area United Against War, and many others!
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ANSWER condemns LAPD attack on immigrant rights movement
Stop racist police violence! Fire Police Chief Bratton now!
The ANSWER Coalition unequivocally condemns the brutal,
unprovoked Los Angeles Police Department attack on immigrant
families, media reporters and camerapersons and others
in MacArthur Park on May 1. The LAPD’s racism and violent
nature has been displayed once again for the world to see.
We demand that Mayor Villaraigosa and all city officials
take immediate action to bring the officers involved to
justice. We also demand that the Los Angeles Board of Police
Commissioners fire LAPD Chief William Bratton.
On May 1, tens of thousands of protesters participated
in mass marches for immigrant rights in Los Angeles and
around the United States. The march targeted by the LAPD
was the second major action in the city that day. It marched
from Vermont and 3rd to MacArthur Park.
By all accounts, the march was peaceful—that is, until
the cops began their coordinated attack on the participants.
Soon after the thousands of marchers arrived at MacArthur
Park, a police motorcade forced its way into a large circle
of people who were enjoying the Aztec Dancers perform
an Indigenous ceremony in Alvarado St. near the Southeast
corner of the park. The cops pushed people, including Aztec
Dancers and children, to the ground.
Next, cops on bicycles rushed through the crowd demanding
people evacuate the area. They were followed closely by
LAPD “shock troops” on foot, who forced people from the
area by hitting onlookers with batons.
The crowd was obviously upset and highly concerned by the
unprovoked and violent police attack. In an attempt
to defend themselves, people responded by hurling empty
water bottles and fruit at the police.
Contrary to LAPD Chief Bratton’s statement that their
violence was in response to “certain elements of the
crowd … [who] began to create a series of disturbances,"
it was really the other way around.
As this was happening at the east corner of the park,
several hundred yards away on the other end of the park,
dozens of cops in full riot gear cleared the street
by pushing people onto the sidewalks.
The coordinated, military-style actions show a deliberate
calculus used by the LAPD. This was a premeditated attack—
a police riot. It is standard practice to repress mass
movements and working people.
‘They were merciless’
Take action today
Write an e-mail or contact Mayor Villaraigosa to express
your outrage at the attack on immigrant rights marchers
and community members.
ANSWER has set up an easy-to-use mechanism to fax or
write a letter to the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
demanding that Bratton be fired immediately and that
his application for reappointment be denied.
The worst was yet to come. Less than one hour after the
initial attack, the LAPD began its full assault on the
marchers and all people in the park. Well over 100 riot
cops, including 30 to 40 shooting pellet guns and rubber-
coated bullets began attacking everyone in the park. They
fired many times directly at people, many of whom could
not get away from the police onslaught. Police also shot
tear gas at the protesters.
One eyewitness to the LAPD violence was Ernesto Arce,
ANSWER Coalition organizer and KPFK radio host. Arce,
who was hit in the leg with a rubber-coated bullet during
the attack, described the scene:
“Without warning, cops descended into a park full of
families, homeless and handicapped individuals and street
cart vendors. They were merciless.
“For the next 30 minutes, hundreds of activists and
bystanders were shot, beaten by night sticks and run
out of the park. The police had no intention of entertaining
requests from people who were not able to move quickly enough.
They were forcefully hit on the legs until they were immobile.
“The cops didn't only move people out of the perimeters
of the park, they chased through the park firing at anyone
who might have been an obstacle. I witnessed many people
who were shot at from the back. Children and entire families
were being violently pushed or beaten. An elderly woman
cried out for help but few were willing to run back in the
face of fast-approaching SWAT police.
“We were chased onto 7th street and forced at least
6 blocks west. The police tried to cordon off the entire
area, but most protestors didn't stick around. It was
frightening for even seasoned protestors.”
The cops shut down the organized rally. Many scheduled
speakers did not get to speak. In addition, they overturned
and destroyed the tables and displays of non-profits
inside Macarthur Park. The LAPD claimed that they declared
the legally permitted event an “unlawful assembly.” But
no one heard an official order to disperse or face arrest.
In fact, a Fox News reporter heard riot cops say, “Better
hustle, it’s time to tussle,” as they moved in on people
with batons and loaded weapons.
LAPD strategy
May 1 is International Workers’ Day. It started in the
United States after police viciously attacked a demonstration
of striking workers demanding better working conditions.
The police killed several and wounded 200. They blamed
the workers for the police violence.
The police strategy is still the same in 2007. This was
displayed in L.A. as it has been many times before.
The LAPD’s May 1 attack brings to memory to the violent
repression of demonstrators outside the 2000 Democratic
National Convention in Los Angeles. Similar tactics were
used: firing rubber bullets and beating people without
cause; chasing people on foot and in police vehicles,
and then tackling and clubbing them; using military
formations to intimidate and disperse crowds; and then
blaming the victims for the aggression.
The police and Mayor Villaraigosa have promised
investigations into the police assault in MacArthur
Park. But what will come from the LAPD when its chief,
Bratton, has already blamed those attacked and said
they were throwing “missiles?”
What will come from a mayor who wants more police on
the streets and has been an apologist for police brutality
and murder—like the killing of Susie Peña—many times before?
Already, Villaraigosa has assured Los Angeles and his
wealthy backers that “order has been fully restored”—when
it was the LAPD that broke the “order” in the first place.
Little will happen unless the movement demands justice.
Bratton should be fired. His first term as L.A.’s police
chief is over, but he has applied for another. The Los
Angeles Police Commission has 90 days to decide whether
to reappoint him. His history of condoning police terror
at the expense of working and oppressed people is clear.
Attacking the immigrant rights movement
When mass movements arise—like last year’s mass upsurge
for immigrant rights—they often are met with repression
in order to maintain the status quo. The immigrant rights
movement mobilized millions to demand equality
and legalization.
Now, the ruling elite want the movement to go away for
good. A wave of racist raids and deportations has swept
the country in recent months, aiming to strike fear into
immigrant communities. The LAPD action on May 1 is part
of that strategy.
But the movement is still alive with potential. The
April 7 protest in Los Angeles and now the May 1 protests
around the country have showed this.
In the face of racist police violence, it is important
that the people stay united to demand justice. We in the
ANSWER Coalition demand justice, an end to racist police
violence and full rights for all immigrants. Fighting
against racism, immigrant bashing and police brutality
must be a top priority for the anti-war movement and
all progressive organizations.
Take action today
Write an e-mail or contact Mayor Villaraigosa to express
your outrage at the attack on immigrant rights marchers
and community members. Due to the growing national outrage,
Police Chief may try to distance himself from some of the
worst police atrocities. But Bratton and other officials
must be held responsible since this was a clearly planned
and coordinated police assault that lasted a considerable
period of time.
ANSWER has set up an easy-to-use mechanism to fax or write
a letter to the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
demanding that Bratton be fired immediately and that his
application for reappointment be denied. Click this link
to send your letter by fax or email:
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr008=z8lw7gn0g1.app13b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=197
OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA
BY BONNIE WEINSTEIN
Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,
We join with people around the country and the world
who condemn the brutal, unprovoked LAPD attack on
immigrant families, media reporters, camerapersons
and others in Macarthur Park on May 1. We demand
that you, Mayor Villaraigosa, and all city officials
take immediate action to bring the officers involved
to justice. We also demand that LAPD Chief William
Bratton be immediately fired.
There is no explanation for the violence
that was displayed by the Los Angeles
Police Department other than that their
intention was to terrorize demonstrators
into not exercising their right to free
speech and assembly. But I can assure you
this tactic will not work! We will not
tolerate it. We will not!
All the police officers on duty that day--
including their superior officers--should
be fired. If you can't do that then you
should be fired!
The LAPD has again been proven vile
and beyond redemption after their outright
display of terrorism against innocent civilians.
In effect, it is a declaration of war
against the American people by its
own government.
I end this with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.
from his speech:
"Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence,"
delivered 4 April 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity
Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.
The full speech can be
read at:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
"My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness,
for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the
North over the last three years -- especially the last
three summers. As I have walked among the desperate,
rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that
Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their
problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest
compassion while maintaining my conviction that social
change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action.
But they ask -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam?
They ask if our own nation wasn't using massive doses
of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the
changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew
that I could never again raise my voice against the
violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having
first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence
in the world today -- my own government. For the sake
of those boys, for the sake of this government, for
the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under
our violence, I cannot be silent.
"For those who ask the question, 'Aren't you a civil
rights leader?' and thereby mean to exclude me from
the movement for peace, I have this further answer.
In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: 'To save
the soul of America.' We were convinced that we could
not limit our vision to certain rights for black people,
but instead affirmed the conviction that America would
never be free or saved from itself until the descendants
of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles
they still wear. In a way we were agreeing with Langston
Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier:
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath --
America will be!
"Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one
who has any concern for the integrity and life of America
today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes
totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam.
It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest
hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who
are yet determined that America will be are led down the
path of protest and dissent, working for the health
of our land."
Tens of thousands of immigrants and supporters of the
rights of immigrants poured into the streets of America
this year on May 1. 78 percent of the American people
support immigrant rights!
We vow to proudly continue our demand for amnesty for
all and open borders! Police violence against us will
only strengthen our resolve. We have every right to fight
against unlawful police terror and for the basic and
inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness--including the right to work and support
yourself and your family wherever you can get work.
Borders don't stop U.S. corporations or their profits why
should it be a barrier to a workers' right to a good
paying job?
Such State-orchestrated police violence against this
humble demand is unconscionable.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein
BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR
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LAPD vs. Immigrants (Video)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=lapd&Submit=S&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Search&st=s
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Dr. Julia Hare at the SOBA 2007
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack2/
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"There comes a times when silence is betrayal."
--Martin Luther King
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ONE COURT DECISION:
EXECUTION OR THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
Stand with Mumia Abu-Jamal May 17 in Philadelphia
and San Francisco.
On May 17, 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, Robert
R. Bryan, will present oral arguments to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. Despite
a mountain of evidence of his innocence, a U.S. criminal
"justice" system saturated with race and class bias has
reduced his case to just four issues: exclusion of Blacks
from the jury panel, racial bias, improper instructions
to the jury regarding the death penalty and prosecutorial
misconduct.
In a 1982 frame-up trial that has been condemned by groups
and individuals including Amnesty International, the
European Parliament, the NAACP, the National Lawyers
Guild, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa,
President Jacques Chirac of France, the Congressional
Black Caucus, hundreds of U.S. and international trade
unions and the Detroit, San Francisco, and Paris, France
city councils, Mumia was falsely convicted of the murder
of a Philadelphia police officer.
Six eyewitnesses stated that the real
killer fled the murder scene while
Mumia himself was found near dead next
to the slain police officer.
Critical evidence of Mumia's innocence
was destroyed or withheld.
"Witnesses" never at the murder scene
were coerced to state that they were
present. Police distorted events and
material evidence at the murder scene.
Mumia himself was excluded from the
majority of his own trial.
Mumia was the victim of a political
frame-up. He is an award-winning
journalist, whose widely-respected
social commentaries are today broadcast
on 124 radio stations. In 1981, as
a radio commentator and President of the
Philadelphia Association of Black
Journalists, he was a leading human
rights critic of the Philadelphia Police
Department, many of whose officers had
been indicted and convicted on charges
of corruption, witness intimidation and
the planting of evidence.
Mumia's judge, Albert Sabo, was overheard
by court stenographer, Terri
Maurer Carter, to say in his antechambers
about Mumia, "Yeah, and I'm going
to help 'em fry the n----r."
Mumia has been on death row nearly 25 years.
He has become a worldwide symbol in
the fight against the barbaric and
racist death penalty. Pennsylvania
authorities seek, for the third time,
to impose the death penalty and
murder Mumia by lethal injection. We must
make the political price of this
execution and continued incarceration
too high to pay. We stand with Mumia as
he fights for his legal right to a new
trial and for his life and freedom.
Join us in Philadelphia on Thursday,
May 17, 9:30 am at the U.S.
Courthouse, 6th and Market Streets,
Philadelphia. On the East Coast call:
215-476-8812. On the West Coast, we
mobilize at the U.S. Court of Appeals
Building, 7th Street and Mission, San
Francisco, 4-6 pm. Call: 415-255-1085
Pam Africa; Ed Asner; Harry Belafonte;
Heidi Boghosian, Exec. Dir, *National
Lawyers Guild; Angela Davis; Hari Dillon,
President, Vanguard Public Foundation;
Eve Ensler; Bill Fletcher Jr., Co-founder,
*Center for Labor Renewal; Danny Glover;
Frances Goldin; Rick Halperin, President,
*Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty;
Dolores Huerta; Barbara Lubin, Dir., *Middle
East Children's Alliance; Jeff Mackler; Robbie
Meeropol, Exec. Dir., *Rosenberg Fund for
Children; Michael Ratner, President, *Center
for Constitutional Rights; Lynne Stewart;
Alice Walker; Cornel West; Howard Zinn
*Organization listed for identification
purposes only.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE EFFORT TO SAVE MUMIA'S LIFE!
Please make checks payable to: Mobilization
to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, 298
Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. -
freemumia.org; alerts@freemumia.org
Sponsors: The Mobilization to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal (Northern California);
International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Coalition (NYC); Chicago Committee to Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal; Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal
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ARTICLES IN FULL:
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1) Islam in the Western Mirror
Dr. Nasir Khan
[VIA Email from the author: nasir.khan@c2i.net ...bw]
2) Another Economic Disconnect
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
April 30, 2007
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/opinion/30krugman.html?hp
3) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Native people cheer and applaud numbers killed at the
Sand Creek Massacre"
April 30, 2007
[Via Email from: Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net...bw]
4) Spying on Americans
Editorial
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
5) Kent State Tape Is Said to Reveal Orders
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/02kent.html
6) Bees and Our Diet on the Brink
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Honeybee-Die-Off.html
7) Chávez Takes Over Foreign-Controlled Oil Projects
in Venezuela
By SIMON ROMERO
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/americas/02venezuela.html?pagewanted=print
8) May Day 2007
Amnesty for All! Open All borders!
By Carole Seligman
9) Police action on journalists at melee is assailed
Los Angeles Times
May 3, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-media3may03,0,6704192.story?coll=la-home-headlines
10) Chief vows full inquiry into violence
"Bratton questions LAPD tactics in sweeping protesters
out of MacArthur Park during May Day rally."
By Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writers
May 3, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd3may03,0,3485988.story?coll=la-home-headlines
11) Authorities Probe Police Response
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 3, 2007
Filed at 8:38 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Immigration-Rally-Clash.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
12) G.M. Profit Down 90% From 2006
By NICK BUNKLEY
[G Richard Wagoner Jr. Total Compensation: $8.5 mil
5-Year Compensation Total: $22.2 mil
http://www.forbes.com/static/execpay2005/LIRSOX2.html?passListId=12&passYear=2005&passListType=Person&uniqueId=SOX2&datatype=Person
---bw]
May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/04auto-web.html?hp
13) Afghans Say U.S. Bombing Killed 42 Civilians
By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?ref=world
14) 66 Workers at Agency Had Records, Inquiry Finds
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/03texas.html?ref=us
15) Major Parts Maker in Talks With Auto Unions
By IAN AUSTEN
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/business/03magna.html?ref=business
16) Among Chimps and Bonobos, the Hand Often Does the Talking
By NICHOLAS WADE
May 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/science/01lang.html
17) In Search of Noah's Ark
Leonardo Boff
Theologian
Earthcharter Commission
Leonardo Boff
04-27-2007
VIA Email from: Walter Lippmann
walterlx@earthlink.net
18) IRAQ: Public stoning of teenage girl
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: May 4, 2007 3:04 AM
From: Huibin Amelia Chew
19) Family Values, Betrayed
Editorial
May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
20) Action by Police at Rally Troubles Los Angeles Chief
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and JULIA PRESTON
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04immig.html?ref=us
21) IMUS AMONGST US
(Column written 4/14/07 by Mumia AbuˆJamal)
22) Where’s the ‘reform’ in massive prison building proposal?
Staff
"Lawmakers and governor deny Californians right to vote
on $7.3 billion in bonds for more prisons."
Saturday, 05 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=14
23) COINTELPRO, then and now
by Minister of Information JR
"A POCC Block Report Radio interview wit’ political
prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal"
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=14
24) Mumia’s son faces intense restrictions
by Monique Code
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=21
25) Stress on Troops Adds to U.S. Hurdles in Iraq
By BENEDICT CAREY
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/washington/06military.html?hp
26) Colombia Unearths Victims of Violence
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06colombia.html
27) Torn From Parents, a Top Speller Vents His Anger
By KIRK JOHNSON
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/us/06speller.html
28) When Carbon Is Currency
By HANNAH FAIRFIELD
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/business/yourmoney/06emit2.html
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1) Islam in the Western Mirror
Dr. Nasir Khan
[VIA Email from the author: nasir.khan@c2i.net ...bw]
Present-day images of Muslims and Islam in Western media
vary considerably. However, since the collapse of the Soviet
Union the general drift of Western concerns has been to portray
Islam as the main enemy of the West and the Muslim world as
a hotbed of terrorism that threatens Western civilization and
its democratic values. Thus in the present-day hegemonic world
order—under which all norms of civilized behavior in the conduct
of foreign policy have been discarded by the Bush Administration
and its allies in London and Tel Aviv—Muslims are associated
with terrorism. We have seen over the last few years the
expansion of President Bush’s destructive war, the inhuman
treatment of captive population of Iraq and Afghanistan,
rampant abuse of prisoners from Muslim countries by American
and British forces, total indifference towards the human
rights of prisoners of war or of those suspected of resisting
or opposing the American occupation of their countries and
false propaganda to cover up the real objectives and crimes
against humanity of the neocon rulers in Washington and London.
Needless to say, the so-called “Islamic challenge” is based
on assumptions that have no basis in reality. They misrepresent,
distort and mislead rather than enlighten and inform. Over
the last fifteen years a number of publications have appeared
that have borne sensational titles like “sword of Islam,”
“The Islamic Threat,” “The Roots of Muslim Rage,” “Islam’s
New Battle Cry” and “What went wrong with Islam?” They reveal
the sort of preconceived image of Islam their writers had
intended to convey to their readers. According to such
projections, Islam is a challenge to Western values as well
as to West’s economic and political interests. But in view
of the real power wielded by the West in general and America
in particular throughout the Middle East and beyond, the
so-called “threat of Islam” is quite groundless.
But right-wing political manipulators and Christian
fundamentalists can very easily provoke major crises between
the Muslim world and the West; we have only to recall the
case of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The real aim
of some Danish and Norwegian right-wing newspapers to publish
these cartoons was to provoke hostile reactions from Muslims
and thus cause more bitterness and resentment between Muslims
and Christians. They tried to cover up their anti-Islamic
campaign behind the smokescreen of the argument that publishing
the cartoons was a demonstration of the West’s freedom
of expression. They were xenophobic, racist and disrespectful
of immigrant cultures in Europe and the Islamic culture in
particular. How could hurting the feelings of over one billion
Muslims serve the interests of free Press, freedom of expression
or civil liberties? An anti-Islam fundamentalist Christian
by the name of Mr. Selbekk, the Norwegian editor of Magazinet
reprinted the cartoons, which were first published in Denmark.
He was asked if he would also publish any cartoons that
insulted Jesus, he said, “No.” Thus this gentleman’s vaunted
ideal of “freedom of expression” was limited to insulting the
Prophet Muhammad and obviously did not extend to insulting
the gods, prophets and spiritual avatars of any other major
religion.
However, it is important to look at the strategic goals of
such editors and publishers. They did succeed in their objective,
which was to cause maximum provocation to Muslims worldwide
and to create an atmosphere of contempt and hatred towards
them among the followers of other religions. Muslims were
predictably and understandably offended and their reactions
led to some horrible incidents in various parts of the globe.
What those who reacted violently did not realize was that they
had fallen in the trap of anti-Muslim mischief-mongers, who,
through provocation had achieved their goal. Now the stage
was set to repeat the old charge: Muslims were fanatics,
volatile and irrational—they were “terrorists!” The divide
between “us” and “them” as cultural opposites was reinforced
and widened.
The anti-Muslim media keep on churning out the common stereotypes
that portray Muslims, compared to Westerners, as more prone
to conflict and violence. These media publish accounts of
conflicts in the Muslim countries as self-evident truths to
reinforce the image. There is a general tendency to oversimplify
or ignore altogether diverse trends and complex socio-economic
factors that lead to instability and conflicts in various Muslim
countries. The explanations offered and conclusions drawn sometimes
are based on implicit, but more often, explicit assumptions about
the superiority of Western, “Judaeo-Christian” culture, while
the Islamic world is thought to be an epicenter of brutality
and disharmony.
A very common stereotype in the Western media is that Islamic
countries are inherently prone to violence, fanaticism, medieval
ideas and prejudices. This means that Islam, both as a religion
and as a cultural influence, is to bear the responsibility for
all such regional ills. The West is the harbinger of sweetness
and light (but occasionally also darkness and misery,) peace
and civility (but occasionally predatory wars and barbarism,)
rationality and open-mindedness (but occasionally irrationality,
racism and prejudice, and always is focused on its own interests.)
All those who have taken the trouble to look at the last few
centuries’ history of Western colonialism, extending from the
time of the so-called “discoveries” of America by Columbus in
1492 and of India by Vasco de Gama in 1498 by sea routes, the
“discovery” of Africa by the European for slave trade show the
“noble” hands of Western nations that were extended to the people
of Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia have left their marks
on every continent. We cannot go into historical details here.
But the global expansion of Western colonialism is the story
of plunder and destruction across continents. No doubt, the
seeds of Western civilization were sown in this way. Within
Western societies, the internal conflicts, violence and wars
present us with a gory history. This superior culture when
seen in the limited sphere of geopolitics and international
relations in the last one hundred years only leaves a legacy
of two World Wars, more wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan,
Iraq,) invasions and coups (Guatemala, Grenada, Iran, Pakistan,
Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Congo, southern Africa,)
concentration camps, racist massacres undertaken on a large
scale by the flag-bearers of Western civilization.
It is obvious that cultural differences between nations and
peoples of the world are a fact of history. And in this context
generalizing about cultural differences is unavoidable. But
in no way can such differences be equated with mutual
exclusiveness or inevitable hostility between different
cultures. Where the initial instinct is not to enter into
an anthropological or historical study of comparative cultures,
but rather to foment strife and hatred between nations and
religions for ulterior motives the consequences can be
disastrous. Let us take the events in the aftermath of the
bombing of Oklahoma City in the United States on April 19,
1995. The media rushed to spread rumors that a “Middle
Eastern man” [i.e. a Muslim Arab] was responsible for the
carnage. As a result Muslims throughout the United States
were targeted for physical abuse, rough treatment and social
ostracism. Their mosques were desecrated, Muslim women ere
harassed and cars belonging to “Middle Easterners” damaged.
A British newspaper, Today, published on its front page
a frightening picture of a fireman carrying the burnt remains
of a dead child under the headline “In the name of Islam.”
Identifying the perpetrator of such a reprehensible act
alone would not be sufficient; Islam also had to be brought
in to ignite the communal passions of people against members
of another faith. However, it soon became evident that the
bomber was a fair-haired American soldier, a decorated Gulf
War (1991) veteran. The religion of this right-wing terrorist
was not Islam but Christianity. But no one in either American
or British media labeled him a “Christian terrorist” or
apologized to Muslims for the wrongs done to them. Once
again the freedom to tell the truth and report events fairly
had taken a back seat.
The second instance is the September 11, 2001 attack on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon by a few persons, most
of whom came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a close ally
of America. They saw the policies pursued by the U.S.
in the Middle East and its support for the anachronistic
rule by the House of Saud as the stumbling block towards
a fair social order in their country as well as the rest
of the Middle East. No matter what the nature of their
grievances, I regard this attack terribly wrong. It provided
ammunition to the neocons and right-wing fanatics in Washington
to unleash the reign of terror, war, death and destruction
in the Middle East and the petroleum regions in the general
vicinity. At the same time, we ask a simple question: What
had these bombings to do with millions of ordinary Muslim
citizens of Europe and America? The answer is: nothing
whatsoever. We witnessed that they were victimized everywhere
by many white Westerners in the most grotesque and despicable
ways.
During my stay in Europe for more than four decades, I have
become acutely aware that the negative images of Islam and
Islamic civilization need a serious historical analysis for
general readers as well as academic scholars that enables
us to rise above oft-repeated and worn-out clichés of media
and partisan scholarship and thus show the facts of the
problematic relations between the two world religions and
their civilizations. My book, “Perceptions of Islam in
the Christendoms,” (2006) deals these themes and issues.
It is clear that both Islam and the West suffer from the
perceptual problems of adversary relationship going far
back in history. Their mutual perceptions have been
distorted by religious dogmas, political developments
and traditional prejudices. If we take a look at the
history of European colonial expansion in Americas,
Australia and in the East (China, India, the Middle East
and North Africa, etc.) the old balance of power between
the East and the West had changed. The colonial power
over other nations also strengthened the collective
consciousness of the industrial West, or its assumption
that it was more powerful and therefore superior to the
rest of the world. The colonized and subjugated people
also started to perceive the West as materially, culturally,
and morally superior. It is true the West was superior in
producing machines, modern weaponry and efficient armies
to invade and subjugate other countries of the world. This
made Western nations more powerful, but that did not mean
they were morally or intellectually superior. But the
subjugated races were not in a position to advance such
challenging views. In such uneven power relations under
colonialism no genuine communication was possible. The
same is true of the current neo-colonial war in Iraq by
the Bush Administration to achieve full control over the
oil resources and assert political hegemony over the
entire Middle East.
The Western ways to see Islam as a monolithic religious
and political force is against all historical facts and
contemporary political realities. Islam is not a monolithic
force; the diversity within the Islamic world is wider
than most Westerners think. Within three decades after
the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim community split
into Sunni and Shia factions following a civil war. This
division proved to be permanent, and further divisions
within the two main branches have characterized Islamic
faith and polity for fourteen centuries. The spread
of Islam followed different paths in different countries
and regions of the world. At present over one billion
people of all races, languages, nationalities and
cultures are Muslims. Their socio-cultural conditions
as well as their doctrinal affiliations show much
diversity and complexity. What this means is that
Islam as a universal religion, like Christianity,
is not a monolithic entity; this is despite the fact
that Muslims share some fundamental beliefs in One God
and His revelations through the prophets.
However, historical and religious traditions and myths
have a life of their own. Once they have become part
of a culture they continue to shape and restructure
the collective consciousness of vast populations. The
anti-Islamic tradition in the Christendoms has a long
historical pedigree and it continues to be a dynamic
factor affecting and determining international relations.
The study of history helps us to see facts in their
historical evolutionary process and thus lighten the
cultural baggage that has often poisoned relationships
between the two religious communities. An honest and
balanced study of the past and the present-day
geopolitical realities of the global hegemonic world
order means that we no longer have to passively accept
distorted legacies and close our eyes to what is
happening in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, and also
in Pakistan at the hands of the United States, its
allies and the marionette Muslim ruling cliques.
The question of “Islamic terrorism,” the denial of women’s
rights under Islam and the alleged irreconcilability of
Islamic and Western values appear all the time in the
Western media. But such accusations reveal a deep-rooted
ignorance and confusion. They have no relationship to
reality. We should bear in mind that a follower of
a religion is not necessarily a true representative
or spokesperson of that religion. Neither can the
individual acts of terrorism, state-terrorism or superpower-
terrorism be imputed to religion whether it is Christianity,
Judaism, Islam or Hinduism. If an individual or group from
a Muslim community resorts to extremism in political or
religious spheres for whatever reason or commits a crime,
the general tendency is to hold the whole Islamic tradition
responsible. What happens if someone from Western culture
or a Christian right-wing extremist resorts to violence
or commits a crime? He is held responsible as an individual
and no one blames the Western culture or Christianity for
his actions. Do we not have some powerful leaders in the
West who are Christian right-wingers and are responsible
for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Muslim men,
women and children? Does anyone blame Christianity for that?
We ask these questions and expect our readers to ask these
questions and then try to find some answers.
With regard to women, the Qur’an gave them legal rights
of inheritance and divorce in the seventh-century, which
Western women would not receive until the 19th or 20th
century. There is nothing in Islam about obligatory
veiling of women or their seclusion, either. In fact,
such practices came into Islam about three generations
after the death of the Prophet Muhammad under the
influence of the Greek Christians of Byzantium. In fact
there has been a high degree of cultural interaction between
Christians and Muslims from the beginning of Islamic
history.
The fundamental values of fraternity, respect, justice
and peace are common in all the major civilizations and
the five major religions. To call democracy “a Western
value” is simply bizarre; the monarchical system prevailed
in Europe where the kings held absolute powers under the
divine right to rule. The evolution of democratic and
constitutional form of government took shape much later.
Contrary to what the media and populist politicians assert,
there is nothing in Islam that goes against democracy
and democratic values.
Nasir Khan, is a historian and a peace activist. He is
the author of, “Development of the Concept and Theory of
Alienation in Marx’s Writings and Perceptions of Islam
in the Christendoms: A Historical Survey.” He has written
numerous articles on international affairs and the issues
of human rights.
He has his own blog at http://nasir-khan.blogspot.com
through which he can be contacted.
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2) Another Economic Disconnect
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
April 30, 2007
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/opinion/30krugman.html?hp
Last fall Edward Lazear, the Bush administration’s top
economist, explained that what’s good for corporations
is good for America. “Profits,” he declared, “provide the
incentive for physical capital investment, and physical
capital growth contributes to productivity growth. Thus
profits are important not only for investors but also
for the workers who benefit from the growth in productivity.”
In other words, ask not for whom the closing bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.
Unfortunately, these days none of what Mr. Lazear said
seems to be true. In the Bush years high profits haven’t
led to high investment, and rising productivity hasn’t
led to rising wages.
The second of those two disconnects has gotten a lot
of attention because of its political consequences. The
administration and its allies whine that they aren’t
getting credit for a great economy, but because wages
have been stagnant — the median worker’s earnings,
adjusted for inflation, haven’t gone up at all since
the current economic expansion began in 2001 — the
economy feels anything but great to most Americans.
Less attention, however, has been given to the first
disconnect: the failure of high profits to produce
an investment boom.
Since President Bush took office, the combination of
rising productivity and stagnant wages — workers are
producing more, but they aren’t getting paid more —
has led to a veritable profit gusher, with corporate
profits more than doubling since 2000. Last year,
profits as a share of national income were at the
highest level ever recorded.
You might have expected this gusher of profits, which
surely owes something to the Bush administration’s
pro-corporate, anti-labor tilt, to produce a corresponding
gusher of business investment. But the reality has been
more of a trickle. Nonresidential investment — that is,
investment other than housing construction — has grown
very slowly by historical standards. As a share of G.D.P.,
nonresidential investment remains far below its levels
of the late 1990s, and it has been declining for the
last two quarters.
Why aren’t corporations investing, and what does the lack
of business investment mean for the economy?
It’s possible that sluggish business investment reflects
lack of confidence in the economic outlook — a lack of
confidence that’s understandable given the bursting of
the housing bubble, which has already caused G.D.P. growth
to slow to a crawl.
But as Floyd Norris recently reported in The Times, there
is a more disturbing possibility. Instead of investing in
physical capital, many companies are using profits to buy
back their own stock. And cynics suggest that the purpose
of these buybacks is to produce a temporary rise in stock
prices that increases the value of executives’ stock options,
even if it’s against the long-term interests of investors.
It’s not a far-fetched idea. Researchers at the Federal
Reserve have found evidence that company decisions about
stock buybacks are strongly influenced by “agency conflicts,”
a genteel term for self-dealing by corporate insiders. In the
1990s that kind of self-dealing often led to excessive
investment, which at least left a tangible legacy behind.
But today the self-interest of management may be standing
in the way of productive investment.
Whatever the reasons, we now have an economy with incredibly
high profits and surprisingly low investment. This raises some
immediate, short-run concerns: with housing still in free fall
and consumers ever more stretched, optimistic projections for
the economy depend on vigorous growth in business investment.
And that doesn’t seem to be happening.
The bigger issue, however, may be longer term. Mr. Lazear was
right about one thing: business investment plays an important
role in raising productivity. High investment in equipment
and software was one major reason for the productivity takeoff
that began in the Clinton era, and continued in the early
years of this decade.
And low investment may be one reason productivity growth has
slowed dramatically over the last three years — another
development that hasn’t received as much attention as it
should.
In any case, next time someone tells you that any action
that might reduce corporate profits a bit — like actually
enforcing health and safety regulations or making it easier
for workers to organize — will reduce business investment,
bear in mind that today’s record profits aren’t being invested.
Instead, they’re being used to enrich executives and a few
lucky stock owners.
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3) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Native people cheer and applaud numbers killed at the
Sand Creek Massacre"
April 30, 2007
[Via Email from: Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
April 30, 2007 -- CENTENNIAL, CO -- Loud applause and cheers
erupted during the Sand Creek Massacre Site Dedication Ceremony
on April 28, 2007. They were for the 200 to 500 Cheyenne
and Arapaho people massacred there on November 29, 1864.
A Northern Cheyenne tribal speaker mention of the total
massacred at Sand Creek, anywhere from 150 to 500 Cheyenne
and Arapaho babies, children, persons with disabilities,
elders and women, on November 29, 2007 outnumbered the
thirty-two victims massacred at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg,
Virginia on April 16, 200 ignited the eruption.
Subsequent to the Virgina Tech Massacre, Lakota Sioux tribe
member, Joan Redfern, said in a "Gilroy Dispatch" article
by Kat Teraji, "To say the Virginia shooting is the worst
in all of U. S. history is to pour salt on old wounds-it
means erasing and forgetting all of our ancestors who were
killed in the past," Redfern said.
"The use of hyperbole and lack of historical perspective
seems all too ubiquitous in much of the current mainstream
media...My intention is not to downplay the horror of what
has happened ...at Virginia Tech in any way. But we have
a 500-year history of mass shootings on American soil,
and let's not forget it."
To this writer, who was at the Sand Creek Massacre Dedication
Ceremony, nausea nibbled at me as I heard the cheers and applause.
Former Colorado governor Roy Romer, present Colorado governor
Bill Ritter, Colorado Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien, U. S. Rep
Marilyn Musgrave, Kansas U. S. Senator Sam Brownback, Department
of the Interior, National Park Service Director, Mary Bomar,
former Colorado U. S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and
several others quietly observed this outpouring of emotion.
I wondered, "To where have we evolved as human beings and
as Americans?"
Contact:
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
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4) Spying on Americans
Editorial
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
For more than five years, President Bush authorized government
spying on phone calls and e-mail to and from the United States
without warrants. He rejected offers from Congress to update
the electronic eavesdropping law, and stonewalled every
attempt to investigate his spying program.
Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill
that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes
to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the
fundamental constitutional principle — over which there
can be no negotiation or compromise — that the government
must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American
or someone living here legally.
To heighten the false urgency, the Bush administration
will present this issue, as it has before, as a choice
between catching terrorists before they act or blinding
the intelligence agencies. But the administration has never
offered evidence that the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, hampered intelligence gathering after
the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Bush simply said the law did not
apply to him.
The director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell,
said yesterday that the evidence of what is wrong with FISA
was too secret to share with all Americans. That’s an all-
too-familiar dodge. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of
California, who is familiar with the president’s spying
program, has said that it could have been conducted legally.
She even offered some sensible changes for FISA, but the
administration and the Republican majority in the last
Congress buried her bill.
Mr. Bush’s motivations for submitting this bill now seem
obvious. The courts have rejected his claim that 9/11 gave
him virtually unchecked powers, and he faces a Democratic
majority in Congress that is willing to exercise its
oversight responsibilities. That, presumably, is why his
bill grants immunity to telecommunications companies that
cooperated in five years of illegal eavesdropping. It also
strips the power to hear claims against the spying program
from all courts except the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court, which meets in secret.
According to the administration, the bill contains “long
overdue” FISA modifications to account for changes in technology.
The only example it offered was that an e-mail sent from
one foreign country to another that happened to go through
a computer in the United States might otherwise be missed.
But Senator Feinstein had already included this fix in the
bill Mr. Bush rejected.
Moreover, FISA has been updated dozens of times in the last
29 years. In 2000, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, who ran the
National Security Agency then, said it “does not require
amendment to accommodate new communications technologies.”
And since 9/11, FISA has had six major amendments.
The measure would not update FISA; it would gut it. It
would allow the government to collect vast amounts of
data at will from American citizens’ e-mail and phone
calls. The Center for National Security Studies said it
might even be read to permit video surveillance without
a warrant.
This is a dishonest measure, dishonestly presented, and
Congress should reject it. Before making any new laws,
Congress has to get to the truth about Mr. Bush’s spying
program. (When asked at a Senate hearing yesterday if
Mr. Bush still claims to have the power to ignore FISA
when he thinks it is necessary, Mr. McConnell refused
to answer.)
With clear answers — rather than fearmongering and
stonewalling — there can finally be a real debate about
amending FISA. It’s not clear whether that can happen
under this president. Mr. Bush long ago lost all credibility
in the area where this law lies: at the fulcrum of the
balance between national security and civil liberties.
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5) Kent State Tape Is Said to Reveal Orders
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/02kent.html
KENT, Ohio, May 1 — An audio recording of the shootings
37 years ago at Kent State University includes the voices
of Ohio National Guard leaders ordering troops to fire
into a crowd of students, according to a man wounded
in the shootings, who obtained a copy of the recording.
If confirmed as authentic, the recording could solve the
central mystery of the shootings on May 4, 1970, which
became a defining moment in the protests against the
Vietnam War.
Alan Canfora, who was shot in the right wrist, played
a copy of the recording at a news conference here on
Tuesday.
Through grainy static and the high-pitched calls of
protesters, it was possible to faintly hear someone
shout “Point!” Mr. Canfora said the full command is
recorded on the tape, with multiple voices shouting
“Right here!” “Get Set!” Point!” and “Fire!” Those words,
however, were difficult to discern when he played the
recording. A 13-second volley of gunfire follows, during
which four students were killed and nine were wounded.
“The evidence speaks for itself,” Mr. Canfora said.
“The voices are right there, very clear. There was an
order to fire.”
The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, which
published its final report on the shootings in September
1970, never addressed whether commanders ordered troops
to fire, saying only that the events immediately before
the shooting “are in bitter dispute.” Based on the newly
available recording, Mr. Canfora said he would call on
Congress, the Justice Department and Ohio’s attorney
general, Marc Dann, to open new investigations into
the shootings.
James Sims, a spokesman for the Ohio National Guard,
declined to comment.
The audiotape of the shooting was recorded on a reel-
to-reel machine by Terry Strubbe, a Kent State student
whose dorm room overlooked the demonstrations, said
Joe Bendo, Mr. Strubbe’s friend and spokesman. Mr. Strubbe
declined to comment.
The tape originally was reviewed by the Justice Department,
which contracted with the acoustics analysis firm Bolt,
Beranek and Newman, now called BBN Technologies in Cambridge,
Mass., to remove static and digitally enhance parts of
the tape. James Barger, the scientist who analyzed the
tape more than 30 years ago, still works at BBN. Through
a spokeswoman, he said that no National Guard voices
were audible on the tape.
The original tape sits in a safe deposit box near Kent,
where it has been locked for over 30 years, Mr. Bendo said.
The copy obtained by Mr. Canfora came from the Yale University
Library, which received it in 1989 as part of a large donation
of materials from David E. Engdahl, a lawyer who represented
the shooting victims in a civil lawsuit in the late 1970s.
Mr. Canfora discovered the tape in the Yale archives
a few months ago, he said, while researching a book.
Mr. Canfora, 58, works for the Summit County, Ohio, Board
of Elections. He said he spends much of his free time teaching
students about the Kent State shootings as director of the
Kent May 4 Center, a nonprofit group that operates an
informational Web site and organizes annual ceremonies
to commemorate the shootings.
Many people who witnessed the shootings have said they
believe they were ordered by National Guard commanders.
After four days of occasionally violent protests against
President Richard M. Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia,
thousands of students gathered on the Commons at Kent State
for a noon rally. Gen. Robert Canterbury of the Ohio
National Guard ordered the students to disperse. When
they refused, General Canterbury directed his troops
to advance on the crowd with M-1 rifles locked and
loaded, bayonets fixed.
Soon the troops found themselves trapped by fences on an
athletic field. As they retreated to the top of the hill,
a number of soldiers on the right flank turned and fired
into the crowd.
“It was very precise. They all turned in unison,” said
Jerry M. Lewis, professor emeritus of sociology, who
witnessed the shooting, wrote a book and taught a class
on the events. “That’s why we’ve argued for years that
there was an order or a signal to fire.”
Of Mr. Canfora, whom he has known for more than three
decades, Mr. Lewis said, “He’s an incredibly thorough
researcher. However, his interpretation tends to be
conspiratorial.”
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6) Bees and Our Diet on the Brink
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Honeybee-Die-Off.html
BELTSVILLE, Md. (AP) -- Unless someone or something stops
it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many
of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect
on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to
a glorified bread-and-water diet.
Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more
than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have.
Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus,
broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the
really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit,
peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries,
strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.
In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from
insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible
for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if
the collapse worsens, we could end up being ''stuck with
grains and water,'' said Kevin Hackett, the national
program leader for USDA's bee and pollination program.
''This is the biggest general threat to our food supply,''
Hackett said.
While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting
that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this
one seems particularly baffling and alarming.
U.S. beekeepers in the past few months have lost one-quarter
of their colonies -- or about five times the normal winter
losses -- because of what scientists have dubbed Colony
Collapse Disorder. The problem started in November and
seems to have spread to 27 states, with similar collapses
reported in Brazil, Canada and parts of Europe.
Scientists are struggling to figure out what is killing
the honeybees, and early results of a key study this week
point to some kind of disease or parasite.
Even before this disorder struck, America's honeybees were
in trouble. Their numbers were steadily shrinking, because
their genes do not equip them to fight poisons and disease
very well, and because their gregarious nature exposes them
to ailments that afflict thousands of their close cousins.
''Quite frankly, the question is whether the bees can
weather this perfect storm,'' Hackett said. ''Do they
have the resilience to bounce back? We'll know probably
by the end of the summer.''
Experts from Brazil and Europe have joined in the detective
work at USDA's bee lab in suburban Washington. In recent
weeks, Hackett briefed Vice President Cheney's office
on the problem. Congress has held hearings on the matter.
''This crisis threatens to wipe out production of crops
dependent on bees for pollination,'' Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns said in a statement.
A congressional study said honeybees add about $15 billion
a year in value to our food supply.
Of the 17,000 species of bees that scientists know about,
''honeybees are, for many reasons, the pollinator of choice
for most North American crops,'' a National Academy of
Sciences study said last year. They pollinate many types
of plants, repeatedly visit the same plant, and recruit
other honeybees to visit, too.
Pulitzer Prize-winning insect biologist E.O. Wilson of
Harvard said the honeybee is nature's ''workhorse -- and
we took it for granted.''
''We've hung our own future on a thread,'' Wilson, author
of the book ''The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth,''
told The Associated Press on Monday.
Beginning this past fall, beekeepers would open up their
hives and find no workers, just newborn bees and the queen.
Unlike past bee die-offs, where dead bees would be found
near the hive, this time they just disappeared. The die-off
takes just one to three weeks.
USDA's top bee scientist, Jeff Pettis, who is coordinating
the detective work on this die-off, has more suspected
causes than time, people and money to look into them.
The top suspects are a parasite, an unknown virus, some
kind of bacteria, pesticides, or a one-two combination
of the top four, with one weakening the honeybee and
the second killing it.
A quick experiment with some of the devastated hives
makes pesticides seem less likely. In the recent experiment,
Pettis and colleagues irradiated some hard-hit hives and
reintroduced new bee colonies. More bees thrived in the
irradiated hives than in the non-irradiated ones, pointing
toward some kind of disease or parasite that was killed
by radiation.
The parasite hypothesis has history and some new findings
to give it a boost: A mite practically wiped out the wild
honeybee in the U.S. in the 1990s. And another new one-celled
parasitic fungus was found last week in a tiny sample of dead
bees by University of California San Francisco molecular
biologist Joe DeRisi, who isolated the human SARS virus.
However, Pettis and others said while the parasite nosema
ceranae may be a factor, it cannot be the sole cause. The
fungus has been seen before, sometimes in colonies that
were healthy.
Recently, scientists have begun to wonder if mankind is
too dependent on honeybees. The scientific warning signs
came in two reports last October.
First, the National Academy of Sciences said pollinators,
especially America's honeybee, were under threat of collapse
because of a variety of factors. Captive colonies in the
United States shrank from 5.9 million in 1947 to 2.4 million
in 2005.
Then, scientists finished mapping the honeybee genome and
found that the insect did not have the normal complement of
genes that take poisons out of their systems or many immune-
disease-fighting genes. A fruitfly or a mosquito has twice
the number of genes to fight toxins, University of Illinois
entomologist May Berenbaum.
What the genome mapping revealed was ''that honeybees may
be peculiarly vulnerable to disease and toxins,''
Berenbaum said.
University of Montana bee expert Jerry Bromenshenk has
surveyed more than 500 beekeepers and found that 38 percent
of them had losses of 75 percent or more. A few weeks back,
Bromenshenk was visiting California beekeepers and saw
a hive that was thriving. Two days later, it had
completely collapsed.
Yet Bromenshenk said, ''I'm not ready to panic yet.''
He said he doesn't think a food crisis is looming.
Even though experts this year gave what's happening
a new name and think this is a new type of die-off,
it may have happened before.
Bromenshenk said cited die-offs in the 1960s and
1970s that sound somewhat the same. There were reports
of something like this in the United States in spots
in 2004, Pettis said. And Germany had something similar
in 2004, said Peter Neumann, co-chairman of a 17-country
European research group studying the problem.
''The problem is that everyone wants a simple answer,''
Pettis said. ''And it may not be a simple answer.''
Related:
On the Net:
Colony Collapse Disorder Web page by the Mid-Atlantic
Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium:
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html
National Academy of Sciences study on pollinators: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record--id11761
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7) Chávez Takes Over Foreign-Controlled Oil Projects
in Venezuela
By SIMON ROMERO
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/americas/02venezuela.html?pagewanted=print
SAN FELIPE, Venezuela, May 1 — President Hugo Chávez
on Tuesday seized control of the last remaining oil
projects in Venezuela controlled by large American
and European energy companies. The move to take over
the projects, announced in January, is the centerpiece
of recent actions aimed at consolidating his government’s
control over the economy.
Dressed in red fatigues, Mr. Chávez delivered a fiery
speech at the coastal oil refining complex of Jose,
denouncing America’s economic influence before thousands
of supporters also clad in red, the color of his revolution.
“Today is the end of that era when our natural riches
ended up the hands of anyone but the Venezuelan people,”
Mr. Chávez said during the speech, while speaking glowingly
of important allies like Iran, a fellow OPEC member.
Venezuela’s control over the oil-production projects,
which are in the Orinoco region in the country’s interior
and worth an estimated $30 billion, will weaken companies
like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips in one of
the world’s most promising oil exploration regions.
Venezuela is allowing the private companies to remain
as minority partners, but the companies are still far
from reaching agreements on compensation for the loss
of their assets.
The seizure of control is expected to have little
immediate impact on oil exports to the United States,
the leading buyer of Venezuela’s oil despite deteriorating
political ties. The United States has steadily diversified
its oil sources since a decade ago when Venezuela, which
boasts the largest conventional oil reserves outside the
Middle East, vied with Saudi Arabia as the country’s
leading supplier of oil.
Venezuela’s oil production has stagnated in recent years
and now accounts for about 10 percent of American crude
oil imports, ranking behind Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Seizing on the symbolic potential of the May Day holiday,
Mr. Chávez also said this week that Venezuela would end
its affiliation with the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank. Venezuela recently paid off its loans
from the organizations.
Venezuela, which is benefiting from high oil prices even
as its oil industry is hampered by low investment, has
been seeking to counter the influence of the I.M.F. and
the World Bank in Latin America by lending billions of
dollars to other countries and trying to create
a development bank.
Like the I.M.F.’s 184 other member nations, Venezuela
is a shareholder in the institution. Mr. Chávez can take
back his country’s $4 billion stake by withdrawing
from the I.M.F.
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8) May Day 2007
Amnesty for All! Open All borders!
By Carole Seligman
[Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across this
country in spite of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) terror-raids that culminated in over 23,000 arrests
of undocumented workers so far this year. This speech was
delivered May 1 in San Francisco to an overwhelmingly
Latino audience in the heart of the Mission District
at 24th and Mission Streets after a demonstration of
many thousands earlier in the day. The event was a vigil
for unconditional amnesty and open borders sponsored
by Barrio Unidos, a local community group. A core of
at least several hundred people attended it throughout
and many more came and went at this very busy intersection.
Hundreds of candles were given out in little paper cups
as well as hundreds of triangular, hand-made paper
stadium flags, in Spanish and English, saying,
“Open Borders!” which were seen throughout the
crowd. The following speech was extremely well
received by this energetic audience.
—BW]
I am a schoolteacher. The names of my co-workers
show that their grandparents or parents came from
Ireland, Italy, Poland, Germany, England, China,
Mexico, Greece, Japan, Russia, and The Philippines.
In fact, unless you are Native American, your family
immigrated here, even if they came on the Mayflower.
The United States is a country of immigration and
crossing borders. Immigrant workers from the whole
world, and slaves, built the wealth of this country.
But now, the wealthy rulers of the U.S., the tiny
group of billionaires who benefit from all that
wealth created by immigrants and slaves, have
decided that only they and their money can cross
borders.
What hypocrites! Their soldiers, their weapons,
their money, their pollution cross national borders
every minute of every day. Do you think the Iraqi
people want their borders crossed by armed attackers
from the U.S.? Do you think the U.S. planes that
crossed many borders to bomb their cities and villages
are welcome? Do you think the Iranians are happy
bracing for a U.S. attack? The Colombians, the Cubans,
the Venezuelans?
We know that people leave their homes to come here
for the same reasons that all previous generations
of immigrants came here, for better opportunities,
especially for their children. They come for the
same reasons that Indians and Pakistanis come to
England and Africans come to Europe. The rich countries’
trade policies destroy the economies of the other
countries of the world and impoverish their people,
so the people try to find a way to survive—for example,
the conscious ruination of Mexican farmers because
of the government-subsidized corn exported
to Mexico by the U.S.
The biggest waves of immigration in world history
going on now are due to these policies and the wars
foisted on the poor countries.
The truth can set us free
The truth that can set us free from these predatory
billionaires who are erecting military walls to keep
people out, is that they are a tiny minority, while
the workers are the overwhelming majority. And national
borders mean little to working people. Our interests,
our needs for peace, for housing, healthcare, schools
and good opportunities for our families, jobs, decent
pay and working conditions, retirement, security—these
are the same needs for working people everywhere.
The truth is that workers, no matter where we were born,
have common interests and all we need to do is convince
our fellow workers of this and organize ourselves to win.
For a general and unconditional amnesty for all immigrants!
Open borders for a humane world. Si se puede!
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9) Police action on journalists at melee is assailed
"Some news outlets whose reporters and camera operators
were hurt in melee mull legal claims against LAPD."
By Anna Gorman and Stuart Silverstein, Times Staff Writers
Los Angeles Times
May 3, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-media3may03,0,6704192.story?coll=la-home-headlines
One day after several reporters and camera operators were
injured while covering an altercation at an immigrant rights
rally in MacArthur Park, news organizations condemned the
Los Angeles Police Department for its use of batons and
riot guns against members of the media, and some said they
were considering legal options.
"We are sorry for what happened to our employees and find
it unacceptable that they would be abused in that way when
they were doing their job," said Alfredo Richard, spokesman
for the Spanish-language network Telemundo, of the anchor
and the reporter who were hurt during the evening rally.
Other members of the media who were injured included four
employees of KVEA-TV Channel 52, a KTTV-TV Channel 11 news
reporter who suffered a minor shoulder injury, a camerawoman
who has a broken wrist and a reporter for KPCC-FM (89.3)
who was bruised by a police baton.
"I was dumbfounded," said the KPCC reporter, Patricia Nazario.
"I've covered riots. I've covered chaos. I was never hit
or struck or humiliated the way the LAPD violated me
yesterday."
Nazario said she was walking away from riot police when
she was hit in the back.
Wearing a press pass and holding a microphone, she turned
around and told the officer, "Why did you hit me? I'm
moving. I'm a reporter," Nazario recalled.
Then the officer hit her on the left leg, she said, knocking
her to the ground and sending her cellphone flying.
"I was shocked, trying to scramble to my feet," she said.
"At that point, I just started crying…. I just felt totally
vulnerable."
Pedro Sevcec was anchoring the evening news for Telemundo
when he saw the riot police moving slowly toward the
news crews.
A few dozen people had gathered to watch Sevcec do his
live broadcast.
"The next thing I heard was the shotguns," he said.
Police knocked over monitors and lights and hit reporters
and camera operators with batons, he said.
Sevcec said police hit him three times and pointed a riot
gun at his face before pushing him out of the park.
An emergency anchor in Miami took over the broadcast.
"It was so ridiculous," Sevcec said. "They know what
a TV camera is. This is not a secret weapon."
Telemundo reporter Carlos Botifoll said he was hit
by a baton as he was waiting to go live on the broadcast.
He was carrying a microphone and standing in front
of a camera.
"We were obviously reporters," he said. "There could
not have been any doubt whatsoever."
Police Chief William J. Bratton, who promised an
investigation, said at a news conference Wednesday that
a key part of the inquiry into the officers' actions would
focus on why they used force against members of the media.
"We should never be engaged in attacking anyone in the
media," Bratton said.
The use of force on news crews came despite a legal
settlement signed in 2002 calling for the Los Angeles
police and city officials to recognize journalists' right
to cover public protests even if there is a declaration
of unlawful assembly and an order to disperse.
Under the settlement, the city agreed to assign a press
liaison to such events and to set up designated media areas.
The pact resolved a lawsuit brought on behalf of seven
journalists who said they were assaulted by police officers
while covering the 2000 Democratic National Convention in L.A.
Peter Eliasberg, an ACLU lawyer who helped negotiate the
settlement, said that based on broadcast news reports he
has heard and viewed, "the police went way over the line,"
using force that "violates the law and the Constitution."
Marc Cooper, associate director of the USC Annenberg
Institute for Justice in Journalism, said the video he
viewed of the clash led him to believe that the use of
force by police was "unjustifiable and excessive."
"From what I saw, it just seemed gratuitous to go after
the reporters," Cooper said. "They weren't really in the
way, they didn't really pose a threat and, of course, they
were trying to do their job."
KPCC-FM News Director Paul Glickman said the LAPD's actions
against Nazario, who clearly identified herself as a reporter,
raised questions about whether the department's policies
and procedures are sufficient to guarantee the safety of
reporters.
anna.gorman@latimes.com
stuart.silverstein@latimes.com
Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Chief vows full inquiry into violence
"Bratton questions LAPD tactics in sweeping protesters
out of MacArthur Park during May Day rally."
By Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writers
May 3, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lapd3may03,0,3485988.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton on Wednesday
expressed "grave concern" about his officers' tactics
in dispersing a crowd at an immigration rights rally,
where police wielded batons and fired 240 "less-than-
lethal" rounds at demonstrators and reporters.
Bratton promised an aggressive investigation as public
outrage grew over the police actions Tuesday that left
at least 10 people with minor injuries — including
seven reporters — and raised serious questions about
whether officers overreacted when they moved aggressively
to disperse a largely peaceful crowd. Eight officers
were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
"The treatment you received yesterday from some Los
Angeles police officers … we can't tolerate and won't
tolerate," Bratton told reporters at a City Hall news
conference, extending his remarks to members of the
public also caught up in the incident.
Bratton and top LAPD officials acknowledged Wednesday
that there might have been significant problems with
how the police handled the incident — including how
the order to clear the crowd out of an area where
organizers had a permit to stay until 9 p.m. was
issued.
Bratton said that the initial order appeared to have
come from a helicopter, but it was unclear whether
the craft was hovering over the park or a crowd of
agitators nearby. The order was made in English only,
and some reporters and protesters said they either
did not hear any orders or could not understand
what the police wanted them to do.
Questions also were raised about the large number
of projectiles fired by officers attempting to control
the crowd. At least 240 rounds made of foam, sponge
or fiber were fired as police swept through the park
about 6:15 p.m. The move came after police clashed
with a small group of protesters near the intersection
of 7th and Alvarado streets.
"Two hundred and forty rounds with no arrests is of
grave concern to me," Bratton said, acknowledging
that none of the rounds fired were directly related
to the arrests of eight adults and one juvenile during
the rally on charges that included assault with
a deadly weapon in a rock-throwing incident and public
drunkenness. The chief labeled some of the officers'
actions "inappropriate."
Also under investigation is what role commanders on
the scene played in directing police response.
High-ranking LAPD sources, who spoke on the condition
that they not be named, told The Times that neither the
incident commander, Deputy Chief Caylor "Lee" Carter,
nor the captain in charge of the deployment were on the
skirmish line as officers confronted the crowd, raising
questions about who was guiding the officers' actions.
Focus of inquiry
Andre Birotte, the LAPD's inspector general, said his
office would focus in part on why officers used foam
rounds on reporters and marchers that videotapes seemed
to indicate were not posing a violent threat. According
to the LAPD's manual, "less-than-lethal" devices should
used only on "violent or potentially violent suspects."
"Some of the images are very troubling," Birotte said.
Police union leaders urged Wednesday against
a "rush to judgment."
"Our officers gave a legal dispersal order and were
met with violence. In the coming days it will become
clear what transpired," said Los Angeles Police Protective
League President Bob Baker in a statement.
The move to clear the area came after a small group of
protesters, described by Bratton as involving between
50 and 100 agitators, some with bandannas obscuring their
faces, began throwing rocks and plastic bottles at police.
Although some reporters at the scene heard an order
to disperse from the advancing officers, others did not.
The order appeared to come from an officer on foot with
a megaphone just north of the intersection of Alvarado
and 7th.
By 6:20 p.m., after the initial rock- and plastic bottle
-throwing incident spurred the decision to close down
a rally that was permitted to last until 9 p.m., two
lines of officers began moving northwest through the
park. Officers formed a wide V and swept protesters
and members of the media before them.
In footage shot by Fox News and Telemundo reporters,
police officers can be seen grabbing Fox reporter
Christina Gonzalez and forcefully pushing her out
of the way as she crouched to protect her camerawoman,
who had fallen after being struck by a police baton.
"I am helping her move, sir!" Gonzalez said, her
voice agitated.
The officer is heard saying: "Move her back away from
the skirmish line or you're under arrest."
As Gonzalez, whose husband is a retired LAPD officer,
struggled to regain her footing, an officer pushed her
by the shoulders, spinning her around.
"You can't do that," Gonzalez yelled at an officer,
jabbing a finger in his direction. "You cannot
do that and you know it."
Patricia Nazario, a KPCC-FM (89.3) radio reporter,
said she watched as officers marched slowly in
a single-file line.
"They had their batons crossed over their chests,"
she said. "Some came across Wilshire shooting their
bullets."
Some in the crowd, she said, retaliated by throwing
bottles and cans. Still, at that point, Nazario said,
she did not feel unsafe. Within minutes, though, the
perimeter closed in around her. As she tried to walk
away, she said, an officer struck her in the back
with a baton.
Nazario said she went to St. Vincent Medical Center's
emergency room where she was treated for her injuries.
Deeper into the park, other reporters were preparing
to go live for 6:30 p.m. broadcasts, including Telemundo
anchor Pedro Sevcec. He said he watched a confrontation
develop between protesters and police, with about a dozen
people whose faces were covered throwing water bottles
at officers. Then he heard weapons being fired and saw
people running and screaming.
But the area where he stood with about 40 others remained
calm. He went on the air.
"The next thing I heard was the shotguns, and they were
firing in our direction," he said. "Suddenly I started
seeing people falling on the ground…. It was completely
ridiculous."
Sevcec said a police officer took a camera and threw
it about 15 or 20 feet. Then the police started hitting
reporters and cameramen with their batons.
"Police ran us over," he said. "Lights were flying,
monitors were on the floor."
At one point, a police officer pointed a weapon at his
face. Sevcec said he was struck by a baton three times
on his neck and back.
Taking notes
In addition to journalists with press credentials,
others in the park carried still and video cameras
and appeared to be taking notes as they walked backward
ahead of the police line.
Maritza Alvarez, 36, a filmmaker, watched police from
the northwest corner of the park.
"I can tell you they were just shooting indiscriminately,"
she said. "I saw them beat up an elderly man, they knocked
his knees down, children were crying."
Alvarez said she and two others tried to help an old
man get up as about five riot police officers kicked
him after hitting his knees with a baton to knock
him down.
"I'm telling you, it was military style, there was
a commander there saying '1, 2, shoot,' and we were
trying to duck behind trees, running," Alvarez said.
Three investigations have been launched: an overall
departmental review of tactics, an internal affairs
investigation into the behavior of the officers and
commanders on the scene, and an independent review
by the Inspector General, the investigative arm of
the Police Commission.
Still, calls came Wednesday for outside scrutiny.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) asked
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley to launch
an independent investigation into the LAPD's actions.
Some longtime LAPD observers said Tuesday's protest
was reminiscent of clashes between protesters and
police during the 2000 Democratic National Convention
in Los Angeles in which some demonstrators and reporters
were injured.
The city settled a lawsuit brought by seven reporters,
in part, by agreeing to recognize journalists' right
to cover public protests even if a declaration of
unlawful assembly is made and an order to disperse
is issued.
"This has echoes of the DNC," said attorney Constance
Rice, who has studied LAPD management and policing
issues for several years. "It suggests the old LAPD
overreaction to things."
richard.winton@latimes.com
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com
Times staff writers Megan Garvey, Anna Gorman, Patrick
McGreevy, Jill Leovy, Francisco Vara-Orta, Tami Abdollah,
Paul Pringle and Matt Lait contributed to this report.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Authorities Probe Police Response
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 3, 2007
Filed at 8:38 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Immigration-Rally-Clash.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Investigators will review hundreds
of hours of video of an immigration rally where police
clashed with the crowd, wielding batons and firing rubber
bullets to break up the demonstration, the police chief
said Thursday.
Chief William J. Bratton said in an appearance on CBS's
''Early Show'' that he was ''not happy'' when he watched
videotape of the events at MacArthur Park late Tuesday,
when officers fired 240 nonlethal rounds to clear
demonstrators.
He said police and news media video would aid investigations
into whether the officers' tactics were appropriate.
''We have to really try to determine exactly what happened.
We're fortunate in this instance that we have a lot of video
to look at,'' Bratton said. ''We have literally hundreds
of hours of video to review to make our decisions.''
News images showed police hitting a television cameraman
to the ground, shoving people who were walking away from
officers and injuries from the rubber bullets.
Rally organizers denounced the police action as brutal.
''They were pushing children, elderly, mothers with their
babies and beating up on the media'' said Angela Sanbrano,
an organizer.
The clashes started around 6 p.m. Tuesday, when police
tried to disperse demonstrators who moved into a street,
according to rally organizers and reporters. Authorities
said several people threw rocks and bottles at officers,
who used batons to push the crowd back to the sidewalk
and then cleared the park.
A police order to disperse was in English and from
a police helicopter, a likely ineffective tactic because
of the noise and because many at the protest were Spanish-
speakers, Bratton said at a news conference Wednesday.
Bratton said police were initially trying to deal with
50 to 100 ''agitators.''
''The individuals were there to provoke police,'' Bratton
said. ''Unfortunately, they got what they came for.''
Police union leaders urged against a ''rush to judgment.''
''Our officers gave a legal dispersal order and were met
with violence. In the coming days it will become clear
what transpired,'' said Los Angeles Police Protective
League President Bob Baker in a statement.
Seven officers suffered minor injuries, and another
was pushed off his motorcycle, Bratton said. About
10 other people were treated for minor injuries,
though authorities expected the number to rise.
The investigations already under way include an overall
departmental review of tactics, an internal affairs
investigation into the behavior of the officers and
commanders on the scene, and an independent review
by the Inspector General, the investigative arm of
the Police Commission, which sets policy for the
Police Department.
John Mack, president of the five-member Police Commission,
said he was ''deeply disturbed and very disappointed''
by the news images.
''This was not a pretty picture. This incident raises
serious concern regarding the use of force by some
individual officers,'' said Mack, who is one of
Bratton's bosses.
Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who represents
the park district, also asked Los Angeles County District
Attorney Steve Cooley to launch an independent investigation
into the officers' actions.
He said police deliberately led troublemakers back to the
peaceful marchers before beginning their assault.
''The only logical conclusion I can come to is that somebody
wanted it to bleed into the march so that they can do some
target practice on some of the immigrants that were
marching,'' Nunez said.
News organizations also condemned the Police Department
for its use of batons and riot guns against members
of the media.
''We are sorry for what happened to our employees and find
it unacceptable that they would be abused in that way when
they were doing their job,'' said Alfredo Richard, spokesman
for the Spanish-language network Telemundo, whose anchor
and reporter were hurt.
Bratton promised to investigate the treatment of reporters.
''I'm not seeking to defend it at all,'' he told the
''Early Show.'' ''That's why we're having investigations.''
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers
Don Thompson in Sacramento and Jeremiah Marquez and Michael
R. Blood in Los Angeles.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) G.M. Profit Down 90% From 2006
By NICK BUNKLEY
[G Richard Wagoner Jr. Total Compensation: $8.5 mil
5-Year Compensation Total: $22.2 mil
http://www.forbes.com/static/execpay2005/LIRSOX2.html?passListId=12&passYear=2005&passListType=Person&uniqueId=SOX2&datatype=Person
---bw]
May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/business/04auto-web.html?hp
DETROIT, May 3 — General Motors reported a 90 percent
decline in first-quarter profit today as losses at its
finance arm overshadowed gains from restructuring its
automotive operations.
G.M., which fell behind Toyota Motor in the first quarter
to become the world’s second-largest automaker, posted
net income of $62 million, or 11 cents a share, compared
with $602 million, or $1.06 a share, in the period a year
earlier. It was the company’s second consecutive quarterly
profit, but the number was weighed down heavily by losses
from subprime mortgage loans made by the General Motors
Acceptance Corporation.
G.M., which sold a majority stake in G.M.A.C. last fall
to a group of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management,
recognized a net loss of $115 million from G.M.A.C. —
49 percent of the unit’s $305 million loss — compared
with earnings of $495 million in the quarter a year
earlier.
The G.M.A.C. sale led to a 16 percent decline in G.M.’s
first-quarter revenue, to $43.9 billion from $52.4 billion.
G.M. improved its performance considerably in North America,
the focus of its turnaround effort, but remained in the red.
Reductions in health care spending and reductions in marginally
profitable sales to rental-car companies helped G.M. cut
its North American losses to $85 million from $251 million
in the first quarter of 2006.
G.M.’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, described G.M., which
lost $10.4 billion in 2005 and $2 billion last year, as
essentially running “at a break-even level” during an
interview this morning on CNBC, the financial news cable
network. In 2006, G.M. cut its fixed costs in North America
by $6.8 billion, largely through buyout and early retirement
package offers that were accepted by about 35,000 of its
hourly workers.
“The first quarter of 2007 marked another quarter of
continued progress in G.M.’s global automotive operations,”
Mr. Wagoner said in a statement. “We were able to expand
vehicle sales and improve automotive profitability based
on the progress in our turnaround initiatives in North
America and Europe and our expansion strategy for key growth
markets like China, Russia and South America. We continue
to see progress on the automotive bottom line as we implement
the strategies laid out two years ago.”
Excluding special items that G.M. said were largely related
to restructuring in its Europe and Asia-Pacific regions, the
company earned $94 million, or 17 cents a share, well below
the 87 cents a share that analysts had expected. As a result,
G.M. shares were down 2.5 percent in trading before the New
York Stock Exchange opened.
G.M.’s report comes a week after its crosstown rival, the
Ford Motor Company, posted a first-quarter loss of
$282 million, compared with a loss of $1.4 billion in
the period a year earlier. Even though G.M.’s performance
in the quarter was better, investors were more pleased with
Ford because it improved so drastically.
The second quarter is off to a rocky start for both automakers,
at least in terms of sales in the United States. Ford’s sales
fell 7 percent in April, while G.M.’s were down 2 percent.
“It’s fair to say the U.S. market isn’t very robust,”
Mr. Wagoner said on CNBC, citing gas prices that have
topped $3 a gallon in many parts of the country as
one reason.
But that is slightly less of a concern for G.M. than for
Detroit’s other automakers, because G.M. now sells more
than half of its vehicles abroad.
Globally, G.M. increased sales 3 percent in the first
quarter, to 2.26 million vehicles, but could not keep
up with surging Toyota, which sold 2.35 million. G.M.
had been the world’s largest automaker since 1931, save
for brief periods in the 1970s and 1990s when strikes
among G.M. workers allowed Ford to claim the top spot.
G.M.’s biggest problem in the quarter, however, was
unrelated to its core automobile business.
G.M.A.C. said its mortgage division, Residential Capital,
lost $910 million, while net income from automotive financing,
insurance and other operations was $605 million, more than
double the earnings those divisions generated in the first
quarter of 2006. G.M.A.C. said it expects improved results
from the mortgage division in the second quarter.
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13) Afghans Say U.S. Bombing Killed 42 Civilians
By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?ref=world
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 2 — Aerial bombing of a valley
in western Afghanistan several days ago by the American
military killed at least 42 civilians, including women
and children, and wounded 50 more, an Afghan government
investigation found Wednesday. A provincial council member
who visited the site independently put the figure
at 50 civilians killed.
President Hamid Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul
that the Afghan people could no longer tolerate such
casualties. “Five years on, it is very difficult for
us to continue accepting civilian casualties,” he said.
“It is becoming heavy for us; it is not understandable
anymore.”
There have been several episodes recently in which
civilians have been killed and foreign forces have been
accused of indiscriminate or excessive force. That has
prompted Afghan officials to warn that the good will
of the Afghan people toward the government and the foreign
military presence is wearing thin.
The government delegation reported that three villages
were bombed last week in the Zerkoh Valley, 30 miles
south of the western city of Herat, and 100 houses were
destroyed and 1,600 people were now homeless, Farzana
Ahmadi, a spokeswoman for the governor of Herat Province,
said by telephone.
“The report says that some women and children were drowned
in the river, and it was maybe in the heat of the moment
that the children and people wanted to escape and jumped
into the water,” she said. “This all happened just because
of a lack of coordination between international forces
and our forces.”
A provincial council member from Herat, Naik Muhammad
Eshaq, who went to the area independently, said he had
visited the three bombing sites and produced a list of
50 people who had died, including infants and other
children under age 10. People were still digging bodies
out of the rubble of their mud-walled homes on Tuesday
afternoon, he said.
American Special Operations forces conducted raids in
the area on Friday and Sunday, and on both occasions
they called in airstrikes when they encountered armed
resistance, the military said. It said in a statement
that it had killed 136 Taliban fighters, including some
who were trying to flee across the river.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Jeremy
Martin, said, “We’re aware of the allegations, but we
don’t have any information through operational channels
to confirm the latest incident.” He added, “We take all
measures possible to limit civilian casualties.”
Villagers held protests over the bombing in the nearby
district town of Shindand on Monday and set fire
to government offices.
Ms. Ahmadi, the Herat spokeswoman, said all 42 dead
counted by the government delegation were civilians.
She said the government was continuing its investigation
to see if enemy fighters had also been killed.
Mr. Eshaq, the council member, said villagers were
adamant that there had been no Taliban fighters in
the area. “I could not find any military men,” he said.
Mr. Karzai accused American and NATO forces of failing
to coordinate with the Afghan authorities.
“I have worked personally in the past four years, almost
on a monthly and weekly basis, with the international
community to bring some sort of coordination and
cooperation to such raids on homes and on villages,”
he said. “Unfortunately that cooperation and coordination,
as we tried it, has not given us the results that we want,
so we are not happy about that and we can no longer accept
the civilian casualties the way they are occurring.
“We are very sorry when the international coalition force
and NATO soldiers lose their lives or are injured,” he
said. “It pains us. But Afghans are human beings, too.”
Abdul Waheed Wafa reported from Kabul, and Carlotta Gall
from Islamabad, Pakistan. David S. Cloud contributed
reporting from Washington.
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14) 66 Workers at Agency Had Records, Inquiry Finds
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/03texas.html?ref=us
HOUSTON, May 2 — An investigation into sexual abuse and
mismanagement at the Texas Youth Commission has led to
the dismissal of 66 employees with records of felony
charges or arrests, including one convicted of homicide
and another who had pleaded guilty to attempted murder,
the state official leading the inquiry reported Wednesday.
The employees included guards, case workers and maintenance
staff members, most of them in regular contact with
hundreds of troubled youths. Officials said they had no
information on whether any of the 66 were accused of
harming youths in their custody.
Citing reforms already instituted, the official leading
the inquiry, Jay Kimbrough, issued 56 recommendations
for changes, including background checks on staff members
and the release of juveniles being held beyond sentencing
requirements or for misdemeanors.
“The smoke signals were clearly visible; the dots should
have been connected,” said Mr. Kimbrough, faulting
a variety of watchdogs, from the youth commission
headquarters itself to a West Texas prosecutor, the
governor’s staff and legislative officials.
The scandal broke in mid-February with news accounts
of a shelved 2005 Texas Rangers report confirming
sexual contacts between confined youths and a school
principal and assistant superintendent at the West
Texas State School in Pyote. Both resigned without
charges but were recently indicted. Accusations
of abuse at other youth centers came later.
Mr. Kimbrough, a former deputy state attorney general
and director of homeland security, was named by
Gov. Rick Perry in March as conservator of the
youth commission.
From early March through April 27, Mr. Kimbrough
reported, 2,972 calls and complaints came into
a command post hot line, with 1,463 of the cases
closed. Eleven employees have been arrested, and
12 senior executives and three facility superintendents
have been fired or have resigned, the report said.
In addition, it said, 473 youths of the more than 4,500
in custody have been released and reviews of other cases
are continuing.
The commission “failed to take reasonable and appropriate
actions to ensure that employees working with youths
do not have a criminal background,” Mr. Kimbrough found.
Jim Hurley, a spokesman for Mr. Kimbrough, identified
the employee convicted of attempted murder as Cynthia
Patterson, 52, a juvenile corrections officer at the West
Texas State School. Records of the Texas Department
of Public Safety say Ms. Patterson pleaded guilty to
forgery and attempt to commit murder in 1980, and was
sentenced to 10 years’ probation.
The employee with the homicide conviction, Mr. Hurley
said, was Charles Crawley, 55, a case manager at the Ron
Jackson State Juvenile Correction Complex in Brownwood.
Department of Public Safety records say Mr. Crawley was
convicted of “murder with malice aforethought” in 1971,
sentenced to 15 years and released in 1981.
A corrections officer at the Ron Jackson facility and
a maintenance technician at the West Texas State School
had convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,
Mr. Hurley said. All 66, he said, had received letters
of termination, which some were challenging, but none
of the workers were still on the job.
Among the agency’s problems cited were a nearly 50 percent
rate of staff turnover annually — more than double that
of the adult prison system — and severe crowding.
Mr. Kimbrough called for checking all new commission
employees against state and federal criminal databases,
and setting a cap on youth placements. He also recommended
a ratio of one correctional officer per six youths, rather
than the current average of one officer to 15 youths,
and sometimes as many as one to 24. And he called for
increasing the training of officers to 300 hours, from
two weeks now.
He said that children as young as 10 should no longer
be grouped with offenders as old as 21, that superintendents
in charge of facilities should be rotated to new jobs about
every five years, and that electronic surveillance should
be upgraded in detention facilities.
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15) Major Parts Maker in Talks With Auto Unions
By IAN AUSTEN
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/business/03magna.html?ref=business
OTTAWA, May 2 — The auto parts maker Magna International,
which is considering a bid for Chrysler, is in talks with
Canadian and American auto unions about adding Magna’s
tens of thousands of workers to their ranks, according
to the president of the Canadian union.
Magna, which is the largest auto parts maker in North
America, after Delphi, and also assembles complete
automobiles for several European manufacturers, has
long kept unions out of its plants. The company offers
wages comparable to those in unionized factories,
as well as profit-sharing.
Unions have criticized Magna’s approach, however,
in part because it ties workers’ retirement benefits
to the company’s current stock price.
Only a few of Magna’s plants have been organized by the
two auto workers’ unions.
Basel E. Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers,
said that Magna’s founder, Frank Stronach, approached
him in October 2005 about negotiating an agreement with
the Canadian union and the United Automobile Workers
that would cover all its workers in Canada and the
United States. The company currently has about 50,350
manufacturing employees in the two countries and Mexico.
Mr. Hargrove said the negotiations were now at the point
where he believed that his union had a 90 percent chance
of concluding a master contract.
“I’m very optimistic we can do something,” he said.
Tracy Fuerst, a spokeswoman for Magna, declined to comment.
Christine Moroski, a spokeswoman for the U.A.W., said:
“We talk with employers and companies all the time. But
we believe those discussions are best left between us
and the companies.”
Mr. Stronach remains Magna’s chairman and, along with
family members, controls the voting shares of the company,
which is based north of Toronto in Aurora, Ontario.
Why he would seek a union contract at a time when the
North American auto industry is under significant pressure
is unclear. In 1999, Mr. Hargrove’s union threatened
to strike Chrysler Canada unless that company pressured
Magna to become less hostile toward its organizing
attempts.
The overture from Mr. Stronach, according to Mr. Hargrove,
is unrelated to Magna’s current interest in DaimlerChrysler’s
Chrysler unit, which has long been one of the company’s
biggest customers. Mr. Hargrove said that Magna managers’
preoccupation with that possible takeover had recently
slowed negotiations.
Mr. Hargrove speculated, however, that the approach might
have been partly motivated by the unions’ continued complaints
that Asian automakers spend too little on parts from North
American suppliers.
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16) Among Chimps and Bonobos, the Hand Often Does the Talking
By NICHOLAS WADE
May 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/science/01lang.html
Why is it that when people are yakking away on their
cellphones, they often accompany their activity with
face and hand gestures, a performance that their
distant listener cannot see and does not need?
Gesture seems so integral a part of human communication
that some researchers have wondered if language began
as a system of signs and switched over to speech later
in human evolutionary history. Gesture, after all,
is certainly capable of supporting full-fledged language,
as is shown by the existence of sign languages.
So it is of interest that chimpanzees and bonobos
also make liberal use of gestures in addition to the
sounds and facial expressions that are part of their
communication system.
Writing in The Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, published online Monday, Amy S. Pollick
and Frans B. M. de Waal of the Yerkes National Primate
Research Center report that the two species use gestures
in a much more flexible way than facial or vocal signals.
A scream always means that someone is under threat
or attack. But the gesture of stretching out an open
hand depends on context. In a fight, it is used as a
call for help to a third party. But it may also be used
toward a chimp with food to suggest that a modicum of
sharing would be appropriate.
With one exception, hand gestures are not seen in monkeys,
Dr. de Waal said, suggesting that they are a more recent
evolutionary development than other components of
communication like sounds and expressions and could
more easily be co-opted into a symbolic system. The
versatility of the 31 hand gestures seen among chimpanzees
and bonobos “makes gesture a serious candidate modality
to have acquired symbolic meaning” in early human ancestors,
the researchers write.
Bonobos, which became a separate species from chimpanzees
2.5 million years ago, seem to make special use of hand
gestures that elicit a response from other bonobos much
more often when included in the mix of sounds and
expressions.
The openness of the hand-gesture system among chimps
and bonobos “is consistent with the idea that the early
hominid communications system was gesture based and that
vocal communication came later,” said William Hopkins,
a Yerkes researcher not involved in the study. “The
speech system is a very recent adaptation in hominids.”
Marc D. Hauser, an expert on animal communication at
Harvard, said the work on hand gestures was interesting
but in his view had nothing to do with language.
“At some point in primate evolution,” he said, “those
parts of the body became usable in systems of communication,
and we inherited some aspects of that, as did chimps.
But we are not licensed to make any connections with language.”
The human use of gestures, he added, is not linguistic
but to enhance language.
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17) In Search of Noah's Ark
Leonardo Boff
Theologian
Earthcharter Commission
Leonardo Boff
04-27-2007
VIA Email from: Walter Lippmann
walterlx@earthlink.net
The memorandum on the production of ethanol and biocombustibles from
the March Bush-Lula encounter is causing concern in the camp of the
ecologically minded. The Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Changes, (IPCC), clearly stated that the Earth is rushing
towards a new equilibrium with the rising temperatures, which would
provoke worldwide weather disturbances, devastation of biodiversity,
and the risk of extermination of thousands on thousands of human
beings. This alarming situation creates new responsibilities for the
governments of the world, to seek strategies and adaptations to
mitigate its negative effects. Everywhere voices are heard that speak
of the urgency of creating a world power center to collectively face
world problems, and also of the necessity of a true revolution in the
ways of production and consumption. Otherwise, in this very century
we could experience the same destiny as did the dinosaurs. After
being the sole sovereigns for 133 million years on the planet, they
disappeared 65 million years ago, incapable of adapting to the new
state of the Earth provoked by the impact of a huge meteor, probably
in what is now the Caribbean.
The Bush-Lula memorandum seeks an alternative to the dominant energy
model, but not an alternative to social structure, one which is less
voracious of energy, and more respectful of the Earth. What Bush and
Lula are seeking is a Noah's ark that can save the prevailing system.
Now is a good time to ask: can this system be saved, and does it
deserve to be saved; is it worth it? Does not this system, with its
voracious exploitation, without restraint, of all the resources of
nature, bear primary responsibility for global warming? The IPCC does
not mention this. Meticulous projections reveal that the dominant
worldwide system, moved by oil and with an economy based on
competition, rather than cooperation, only functions satisfactorily
for a mere 1,600 million persons. And we are already some 6,500
million. What will happen to the rest? In The Future of Life, Edward
Wilson, the great specialist in biodiversity, clearly stated that if
we want to make universal the well being that prevails in the
industrialized countries, we would need three more planets equal to
this Earth. Our way of living is simply not sustainable. With climate
change, it has reached its end, in both meanings of "end." It has
realized its potential, (end as an accomplished objective), and is
also reaching its end (end as in death): condemned to disappear.
Therefore, what is at stake is not an alternative to the energy
model, but an alternative to the model of production and consumption,
in a word, a civilizing alternative. What use it is to redesign the
Brazilian map of production so as to maintain the old system, if it
is already in its last days? The Bush-Lula memorandum makes not a
single mention of this point.
Those who are called upon to formulate alternatives to the system are
not so much the experts and the economists, as the thinkers from the
life and Earth sciences; bearers of a new dream capable of building a
Noah's ark that really includes all and not just a few. Time is
against us. It would be desirable for the Lula government to have, as
exists in other countries, a center for studying this systemic crisis
and its possible solutions. Together with many lovers of the Earth,
we make this challenge here.
Free translation from the Spanish sent by
agenda@latinoamericana.org, served by
contacto@servicioskoinonia.org, done at
REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas
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18) IRAQ: Public stoning of teenage girl
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: May 4, 2007 3:04 AM
From: Huibin Amelia Chew
[The antiwar movement here can link up with these protests against the
public lynch-murdering of women, and with the protests' international
base of support. Kurdistan is occupied by Iraq, the U.S., Turkey, and
Iran. Moreover, the Kurdish authorities in Iraq are currently allied
with the U.S. occupiers. The occupiers have legal responsibility in
preventing these crimes, but instead have (at least the U.S.)
participated in victimizing women...DAVID KEIL
does anyone have analysis that provides context about this? extremely
disturbing footage of the murder was recorded on cell phones and is
circulating the internet.
thanks and peace,
-amee
IRAQ: Public stoning of teenage girl
In Bashika, Mosul, hundreds of men beat and stoned a 17 year old woman
named Du'a Khalil Aswad to death, in a gruesome example of collective
'honour killing'. The woman, a member of the Yezidi religion, which is
practised by Kurds in Northern Iraq ran away from her family to join
an Arab Muslim man with whom she had fallen in love and had been
meeting secretly, but who rejected her. Damned under the 'honour'
code, for running away, for choosing outside her own community and for
being ultimately rejected, Du'a had nowhere to go.
She stayed with a local Yezidi tribal leader for five days until she
was convinced to return to her village on the understanding that she
had been 'forgiven.' She was abducted and brutally murdered in front
of hundreds of men by her relatives -- who stripped her body, beat and
kicked her, and killed her by crushing her body with rocks and
concrete blocks. These brutal and inhuman acts were filmed by the
participants on their mobile phones and many of them have been
circulating on the internet and from phone to phone. They show the
participation of the police in this disgusting communal murder and the
murderous excitement of the crowd as the girl's uncle, brother and
cousin commit the grisly murder.
Islamist groups active in the area have sought to capitalise on this
crime and are urging revenge attacks upon all Yezidis, claiming that
she had converted to Islam and characterising the murder as a
'martyrdom' rather than an 'honour' killing. Women in the Middle East
face patriarchal oppression and violence whether they are Muslim,
Druze, Yezidi or Christian. 'Honour' killings are common amongst Kurds
(the UN has recorded 40 honour killings in Kurdistan in 3 months in
2007) and public murders like this have been noted before: for example
in the case of Semse Allak in the Kurdish region of Turkey. Islamists
throughout Iraq seek to exploit the racial and religious divisions in
the country; one mosque has declared a 'fatwa' against the Yezidi and
23 have been murdered. For this reason, prompt action to locate the
relatives of the young woman and the police who failed to act is
essential to restore peace and allow the Yezidi community to feel safe
again.
Mirza Dinnayi, co-rodinator of the German-based Yezidi Democratic
Community was devastated by this crime. "All Yezidi assocations and
leaders have clearly condemned this barbaric act," he said. Amnesty
International is calling on the Iraqi authorities to investigate
whether law enforcement officials were present but failed to intervene
to prevent Du'a Khalil Aswad's death by stoning, and to take urgent,
concrete measures, including through legislative reforms, to protect
those at risk of becoming victims of so-called "honour crimes." Today
in Arbil there was a huge demonstration against this murder and
'honour' killings in Kurdistan in general.
Add your voice to those calling for change in Kurdistan and Iraq and
for an end to the oppression of 'honour'.
Condemn the stoning of Du'a! Sign here.
http://www.petitiononline.com/kurdish/petition.html
Demo in Arbil : pictures there
http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1589
[Note to readers. I did not look at this footage. I just can't look...bw]
site (Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation) has cell phone
clips of murder-lynching:
http://www.ikwro.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=2
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19) Family Values, Betrayed
Editorial
May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
When George W. Bush was running for president in 2000 as
a new kind of Republican — the caring kind — he had a ready
answer for those skeptical of his moderate views on immigration.
“Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande,” he said, again
and again. He was standing up for immigrants who come here
seeking better lives for their children, and he repeated
the message so often that it stuck.
Now, like so much else in Mr. Bush’s tattered slogan file,
it’s in danger of coming unstuck. Negotiators struggling
to draft an immigration bill in Washington are being
pressured by the White House and Republican leaders
to gut the provisions of the law that promote the unity
of immigrant families in favor of strictly employment-
based programs.
Details are still being sweated out in private, but
a draft proposal circulated by the White House and the
G.O.P. would eliminate or severely restrict whole
categories of family-based immigration in favor of
a system that would assign potential immigrants points
based on age, skills, education, income and other factors.
Citizens would no longer be able to sponsor siblings
and children over 21, and their ability to bring
in parents would be severely limited.
Unattached workers with advanced degrees and corporate
sponsors could do all right, but not families, not the
moms, pops, sons and daughters who open groceries and
restaurants, who rebuild desolate neighborhoods and
inspire America with their work ethic and commitment
to one another. The plan would also shut out hundreds
of thousands of people who have applied for family
visas under current rules and are patiently waiting
because of long backlogs.
The goal seems to be to end what immigration
restrictionists call “chain migration,” a tendentious
term that recasts in a sinister light one of the
fundamental ways America was built, and a decades-old
cornerstone of our immigration policy. It’s a cruel
distortion that feeds fears of outsiders and fails
to acknowledge that healthy immigration levels keep
the economy running, particularly in a country with
low unemployment and birth rates and workers who shun
backbreaking, entry-level jobs.
America needs immigrants. Last year’s bipartisan
Senate bill recognized this, and raised quotas for
both family and employment-based immigration. Congress
should do so again. Closing the door to families would
be unjust and unworkable, and a mockery of the values
that conservatives profess. It would only encourage
illegality by forcing people to choose between their
loved ones and the law.
Compromise is necessary with any bill, particularly
on an issue as complex as immigration. But if a deal
hews so closely to the new harsh line of the White
House and G.O.P that it fundamentally distorts America’s
pro-immigrant tradition, it would be better to ditch
the whole thing and start over.
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20) Action by Police at Rally Troubles Los Angeles Chief
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and JULIA PRESTON
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04immig.html?ref=us
LOS ANGELES, May 3 — Chief William J. Bratton of the Los
Angeles Police Department said Thursday that the episode
here in which police officers clashed with demonstrators
and journalists on Tuesday at an immigration rally was
the “worst incident of this type I have ever encountered
in 37 years” in law enforcement.
Eight officers and at least 15 civilians were hurt, the
police said, with people still calling the department
on Thursday to report injuries. Mr. Bratton said 240
nonlethal projectiles were fired by the police into
the crowd.
“Clearly, something went wrong here,” he said in
an interview.
After a request by Mr. Bratton, the F.B.I. announced
Thursday that it would open a civil rights inquiry
into the incident, which has drawn outrage from
immigrant and civic groups and journalists’ organizations
and a rebuke from the City Council. On Wednesday Mr. Bratton
announced two internal investigations by the
Police Department.
News video images of the incident that erupted at
a peaceful gathering in MacArthur Park, west of downtown,
showed the police marching into the crowd, shoving
and knocking down demonstrators and journalists with
batons and firing rubber bullets at close range.
In television and press interviews throughout the day,
Mr. Bratton said he was troubled by the police action
he saw on the videos, and he sought to assure the city
that he intended full disclosure of the facts.
Organizers of the May Day rally, whose theme was a call
for broad changes to immigration laws, said they had
held extensive negotiations with the police in preparing
for the demonstration. They said the police did not
follow the agreed-upon procedure in case of a disturbance.
“It completely broke down,” said Victor Narro of the
National Lawyers Guild, who was the organizers’ liaison
with the police.
Bob Baker, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective
League, appealed in a statement for “no rush to judgment.”
He said the clash had started after the demonstrators
threw rocks and bottles. “Our officers gave a legal
dispersal order and were met with violence,” Mr. Baker
said. “In the coming days it will become clear what
transpired.”
According to demonstrators, organizers and journalists
who witnessed the incident, a band of youths who were
not affiliated with organizations formally participating
in the rally confronted the police at least one block
from the park. The youths, some covering their faces
with bandanas, taunted the officers and by some accounts
threw rocks and bottles at them.
Police officers in riot gear lined up in rows and pushed
the youths back down the street into the park, the
witnesses said. “They started moving in,” said Angela
Sanbrano, executive director of the Central American
Resource Center, an event organizer. “They started beating
up on anybody that didn’t move.”
The police said they declared the assembly unlawful
and issued orders to clear the park. But many demonstrators
said they did not hear the orders, and others, who spoke
only Spanish, did not understand them.
Nine people were arrested for various offenses, including
assault with a deadly weapon for throwing rocks at
officers, the police said Wednesday.
For the past two days, local television viewers have
seen video of Christina Gonzalez, a reporter for the Fox
News affiliate, KTTV Channel 11, being repeatedly shoved
by an officer with a baton. When Ms. Gonzalez knelt
to help a camerawoman, Patti Ballaz, whom the police
had pushed to the ground, an officer angrily threatened
Ms. Gonzalez with arrest and then grabbed her shoulders,
spinning her abruptly to the side.
“You can’t do that!” Ms. Gonzalez cried out.
“You know that!”
Ms. Ballaz suffered a hairline fracture of a wrist.
Another reporter, Patricia Nazario from KPCC-FM, a National
Public Radio affiliate here, said she was talking to her
editor on her cellphone when an officer struck her in the
back with a baton.
Ms. Nazario said she faced the officer and told him she
was a reporter. He struck her again with the baton on
her left thigh, she said.
“It happened so fast and I was on the ground,” she said.
“It was like they were robots, on autopilot.”
After examining videos of the events, Marc Cooper,
associate director of the University of Southern
California Annenberg Institute for Justice and
Journalism, said, “It seems to be a prima facie
violation” of policies the police worked out with
the American Civil Liberties Union in 2002 in the
wake of scuffles with the press at the Democratic
National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000.
The incident occurred as Mr. Bratton seeks to become
the first police chief to earn a second five-year
term since the city imposed term limits on high-ranking
police officials in 1992. Although he has reduced the
city’s crime rate by roughly 25 percent, his department
has been dogged by the widely held perception that
officers are often needlessly forceful.
The 1991 beating of Rodney G. King by the police and
the acquittal a year later of the officers charged
with using excessive force prompted riots; in the
1999 Rampart scandal, an antigang unit was accused
of framing people, robbing suspects and other brutal
conduct.
Jennifer Steinhauer reported from Los Angeles, and
Julia Preston from New York. Ana Facio Contreras
contributed reporting from Los Angeles.
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21) IMUS AMONGST US
(Column written 4/14/07 by Mumia AbuˆJamal)
( With the ending of Don Imus‚s radio and TV career has
arisen a perverse (if utterly stupid) caterwaul from
conservatives, who are (to hear them tell it) newlyˆ
born converts of free speech, and equally frenzied
adherents of attacks on the Reverends Al Sharpton
and Jesse Jackson, as if, but for their activism,
their pal Imus would still be on the airwaves.
Some have added the oral antics of various rap artists,
to somehow prove that Imus was treated unfairly for
using equally ugly terms to refer to Black women.
This noise from the fascistic rightwing of American
political life is a vital clue into how they see the
world, and thus a reflection of how they sell this
view to others.
It shows how deeply race dwells in white consciousness,
and how it is like an inner searchlight that blinds
as much as it illuminates.
These soˆcalled conservatives see Imus as "one of us,"
and as such they shared his pompous, good ole‚ boy,
spit-on-the-rabble racism that passes for the norm
in the nation: it just so happens that he spat on
the wrong group of girls this time.
And neither the Revs. Al nor Jesse starting the ball
rolling against Imus, although it may've seemed
so from TV.
The videotape of Imus went from an almost unseen
perch on MSNBC to the net, where it spread like
a virus. Nonetheless, bloggers picked it up and
passed it on, and the more folks saw it, the more
it spread. It became a living thing, nastier and
nastier each time it was replayed.
The almost juvenile rant against rappers also fades
upon a moment‚s reflection; for, while it is
undeniable that some of what is said is naked misogyny--
a profound hatred of women--it's obvious that rappers
have no where near the social or political clout
of Imus.
When‚s the last time you've seen a rapper kick it with
a candidate for U.S. Senator? When's the last time
you've heard of a rapper poppin‚ some questions to
a Mayor or a Governor?
People who wanted to be president flocked to Imus,
like supplicants kissing the ring of a bishop, because
he had the daily ear of millions, and his blessings
meant votes.
No rapper in America can say the same.
Ultimately, it's not about power, and precious
few rappers have any power. In fact, their "bling"
is an attempt to project a power (or wealth) that
most of them do not possess.
Sociologist Zine Magubane, of Boston College, made
that point in dramatic terms in his article, "Globalization
and Gangster Rap: Hip Hop in the Post-Apartheid City"
(citing the work of journalist Norman Kelley):
In an insightful article on the political economy
of Black music, Norman Kelley describes how the relationship
between the six major record firms (Warner, Polygram,
MCA, BMG, Sony, and CEMA/UNI) and African-American
artists as a "postmodern form of colonialism."
He notes that rap music, although it "forms the very
foundation of the $12 billion dollar music industry
in the United States‚" exhibits an history pattern
typical of African-American aesthetic products like
jazz and blues which, although created largely by Blacks,
were under the corporate control of Whites. Black-owned
production companies like Uptown Records, Def Jam,
and Bad Boy, Kelley explains, "do not control a key
component of the music-making nexus, namely, distribution."
For example, the albums produced by Master P's
No Limit Records as well as those by Roc-A-Fella
Records (owned by Damon Dash) are distributed by Priority
Records. Those produced by Cash Money Records are
distributed by Universal, while Sean Combs‚ Bad Boy
label is distributed by Arista. Thus, although young
Black entrepreneurs have been able to swing the balance
of power somewhat in their direction, they are still
far from having complete dominion (because) in the
music business distribution is the final battle ground.
Because African-American artists have virtually
no control over the domestic distribution of their
music, they likewise have no control over international
distribution. Thus, white owned and controlled media
conglomerates determine which African-American cultural
products enter the global arena. (Fr.: Magubane, Z.,
in: Basu, Dipannita and Sydney J. Lemelle, eds., The
Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization
of Black Popular Culture. (London/Ann Arbor, MI.:
Pluto Press, 2006), p. 211.)
Imus was a creature of white corporate and political
power, who made millions playing to the smallmindedness
of millions, who wanted to snicker at the lot of
those worse off than them.
Unless I miss my guess, someone will hire him
to do it again.
There‚s always a market for that.
ˆMAJ
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22) Where’s the ‘reform’ in massive prison building proposal?
Staff
"Lawmakers and governor deny Californians right to vote
on $7.3 billion in bonds for more prisons."
Saturday, 05 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=14
Sacramento – In a disastrous deal for California’s future,
legislative leaders and the governor announced Wednesday
an agreement to build 53,000 new prison, jail and juvenile
detention beds at an astounding cost of $7.3 billion for
construction alone via lease revenue bonds which bypass
voter approval, plus $350 million in general fund money.
The agreement does not include any of the numerous reforms
to parole or sentencing policies that have been put forward.
“California is again putting prison construction in front
of reform. Real reform would mean no need for more prison,
jail and juvenile detention beds,” said Rose Braz of Critical
Resistance, members of Californians United for a Responsible
Budget (CURB), a statewide coalition of 40 organizations
committed to reducing prison spending by reducing the number
of people in prison and closing prisons.
“Last year the legislative leadership rejected proposals to
build more cells because the governor offered no reforms of
sentencing or parole policies,” said John Lum of Californians
United for a Responsible Budget. “This deal doesn’t even
pay lip service to reform. We’re back to the policy of taking
more money from education and health care to lock up more
and more people. “
“California voters have consistently rejected more prison
construction, and we think they would have again – if only
they had been allowed to vote on the $7.3 billion package,”
said Vanessa Huang of Justice Now. “The only reason to build
prisons using lease revenue bonds is because everyone knows
voters oppose more prison construction. The polls say only
3 percent of Californians prioritize prison construction.
Using a lease-revenue bond is more expensive, and, as Nunez
denounced in floor session last week, allows politicians
to make an end run around voters.”
Four recent statewide polls of likely voters all found
that Californians favor cuts to prison spending over
any other area of the state budget. A May 2006 poll
found that 61 percent believed that “we have built
enough jails in California and now need to consider
alternative ways to rehabilitate non-violent criminals,
including treatment programs that help them get back
into society.”
“The governor and the Legislature have missed a unique
opportunity to move toward the only solution to the problem
that there are too many people in prison in California: That
is to reduce the number of people in prison,” said Craig
Gilmore of the California Prison Moratorium Project. “We
could have enacted a moratorium on sending people to prison
for technical violations which would have freed up thousands
of beds. We could have followed the lead of other states
in not placing so many people on parole, paroling geriatric
prisoners or adjusting credits. Instead, we choose to
invest even more in a costly system that has failed to
provide effective public safety.”
At a Senate Budget Subcommittee hearing just this past Monday,
the staff wrote that “parole reforms constitute the largest
part of the Governor’s strategy to immediately reduce the
inmate population …. Building capacity will realistically
take three years to implement and transfers of inmates to
facilities out of state have been halted by the courts.”
Parole reforms would have been “the only option put forth
in the Governor’s plan to immediately reduce the prison
population.”
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is
a broad based statewide coalition of over 40 organizations
committed to curbing prison spending by reducing the number
of people in prison and closing prisons. Contact CURB at
Californians United for a Responsible Budget, 1904 Franklin St.,
Suite 504, Oakland CA 94612, (510) 444-0484, curb@riseup.net
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you
need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.curbprisonspending.org
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23) COINTELPRO, then and now
by Minister of Information JR
"A POCC Block Report Radio interview wit’ political
prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal"
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=14
Oral arguments in the case of Political Prisoner Mumia
Abu Jamal will be heard in a Philadelphia courtroom on
May 17 that many believe will determine his fate; either
he will be released after 25 years in prison on the
trumped up charge of killing a Philly police officer or
given a re-trial or murdered by the state. We as the
people have to stand up and demand that the state free
Mumia now or, at the least, give him a new trial, since
his original trial was plagued with police coercion and
prosecutorial misconduct.
Here, Mumia is interviewed on the POCC Block Report Radio
show about his case, the San Francisco 8 and the Counter-
Intelligence Program – Cointelpro – in general. Check it
out as we talk to one of the “People’s main advocates,”
who spoke wit’ us from a death-row cell in Pennyslavania ...
MOI JR: What is the status of your case?
Mumia: Nothing has changed. We’re still waiting for
a briefing date from the same court of appeals.
MOI JR: What is the purpose of the corporate media being
flooded wit’ negative reporting in regards to the San
Francisco 8 case?
Mumia: I think there are two very key intentions. One is
to demonize the Black Panther Party to a generation that
only knows about it, if at all, through the movie “Panther”
or an occasional book or some scattered references in
popular culture movies like “Forrest Gump” or something
like that. Two, (it’s) to intimidate young radicals who
are inspired by the example of the Black Panther Party –
to teach them that, once a revolutionary, always
a revolutionary.
I mean literally those charges are perhaps two generations
old. They were dismissed, I think, in 1973 – because
of proven torture – by a judge in San Francisco. Most
people, when they talk about the Party, they talk about
it like “the old days,” “back in the ‘60s,” or some in
a fit of nostalgia even would say “the good old days,”
as if these days are different. Ain’t nothing changed.
The Movement continues, and the repression continues,
you see?
MOI JR: What is the connection between the case of the
San Francisco 8 and other political prisoners and exiles
like yourself, Assata Shakur, the Move 9, Hugo Pinell,
Ruchell Magee, Veronza Bowers, Russell Maroon Shoatz,
Chip Fitzgerald, Mutulu Shakur and Leonard Peltier,
just to name a few?
As a member of the Black Panther Party in his teens,
Mumia was already such an extraordinary journalist that
he was named Minister of Information.
Mumia: That the state never forgets – and never forgives
those who dare to rebel. Think of it this way: One of
the most controversial and, to us in our generation
almost incomprehensible, laws that were ever passed
in the United States was the Fugitive Slave Law. That
law proved that there is no such thing as a Constitution
when the state wants to get people who escape from slavery.
They actually began chasing people all across the United
States – in Boston, in Pittsburg, everywhere in the United
States at the behest of Southern slave owners. They passed
a law, right, and Black people all across the North had
to flee to Canada to find a place of rest and freedom
and respite from state terrorism.
How things have not changed – even though we are not
talking about space, because those good eight brothas
were in the United States – we’re talking about the
space of time. At least one of the brothas is 70 years
old; almost all of them are 60, or almost 60. Some of
them have worked with the DA’s office in California,
you dig? All of them had established good lives of
service to their community and community organizing
and activity and education of younger generations.
These were men who had established families, established
lifestyles of service, and they’re targeted really because
of their radical ideas, because many of the people –
although they are no longer members of the Party, because
the Party doesn’t formally exist – still believe in some
of the ideals of the Party, you see? And that is their
real offense. That is their real crime. That is why they
were targeted.
MOI JR: What is the connection between the media and the
government’s war of terror against the Black and Brown
hoods across Amerikkka?
Mumia: Back in the old days again, the FBI had something
called “media friendlies.” These were literally television,
newspaper and radio and wire reporters who had special
access to the FBI, and the FBI had special access to them.
They would use the media to go after targets in the Black
Freedom Movement. They would also use the media to target
and harass supporters of the Movement.
There was a woman named Jane Sebert, a white woman,
a columnist in a national and some California papers,
who covered an article saying that this woman had a baby
by Masai Hewitt. Now it was a lie. They knew it was a lie,
but the woman was so traumatized because her husband felt
like she had cheated on him with a Black guy. They drove
this woman to loosing her baby, mental instability,
insanity and suicide. This was an actress, you see?
Someone of means, money, and position in society. They
did this because she supported the Black Panther Party,
but no one calls this terrorism. You could read the files.
They applauded. They were happy. They celebrated. So the
media plays a diabolical role then and now.
MOI JR: In regards to the Counter-Intelligence Program
and the Church Committee findings, where the government
publicly admitted its illegal activity, what do you think
should have happened?
Mumia: Whatever happens when something is illegal – I mean
the government did something that was very clever. They
had congressional hearings, they brought out some of the
stuff that the state had done, but guess what? After all
of the hearings, after all of the volumes were published
and all of the news footage and the newspaper accounts,
nobody that was involved in this illegal and unconstitutional
and unlawful activity was prosecuted.
So what does it mean to say that you found it was illegal
or you called it illegal or even unconstitutional? It meant
absolutely nothing at all, not to the people who did it.
It certainly meant something to the people who were the
targets. Yeah, they got to talk about it. Some got to write
about it. What did it really mean?
These people permitted crimes against American citizens
because they didn’t like their ideas. The real tragedy
is that 30 years later, everything that was illegal,
unconstitutional, unlawful through Cointelpro has become
legalized through what? The Patriot Act. Everything. And
they’re doing today what they did yesterday, with the
impunity of the law.
MOI JR: Tupac Shakur, Kamau Sadiki, Imam Jamil Al-Amin
and Aaron Patterson have all been victims of the state’s
war against the Black community within the last decade
and a half because of stances that they have taken. What
does today’s Counter-Intelligence Program or Patriot
Act look like?
Mumia: It’s the same thing as Cointelpro except, again,
its legalized. And here is the real kicker: It never
stopped, you dig? It never stopped. It was a former FBI
agent whose name is Powers, who wrote a book about his
life in the FBI. And he would go to the FBI library and
read about it, and he went to his instructor and said,
“Wow, I read about that Cointel Program. That’s over,
right? They don’t do that any more?” And the guy looked
at him, smiled and said, “Look, if a thing worked, would
you stop doing it?”
Powers was blown away, because he had read the Church
Report hearings and he believed that that was illegal
and unconstitutional, but this was an insider speaking
to another alleged insider, albeit a Black one. He just
told him, “If it worked, why would we stop it?” All they
did was change the name of the program and continue doing
the same thing. There’s never been a time when people
who were dissenters, activists, resisters were not
harassed, were not targeted, you dig? It ain’t stopped.
MOI JR: Barack Obama as well as Hillary Clinton have
officially announced their campaigns to run for the
presidency of the United States, amongst a host of
other candidates. What is your opinion on what the
POCC calls “the (s)elections of ‘08”?
Mumia: I certainly have some preliminary opinions,
but I think it is important for people in the Movement –
of various social movements and social justice freedom
movements – to get with anybody who is running for any
of those offices, congressional offices, local offices,
and get with them about what their position is. Once
they respond to the position, then you can take an
educated guess, a really informed response.
As a rule, generally, it doesn’t matter if there
is a Black face in a high place. If anything, the
performances of the secretaries of state – the last
two in the Bush administration – should show us through
those examples that it doesn’t matter what your complexion
is, it doesn’t matter what your color is; what matters
is your consciousness. Unless we remember that important
lesson, many of us can be fooled by people who look like
us but who serve the interests of the ruling class
and the empire.
Email POCC Minister of Information JR at blockreportradio@gmail.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need
JavaScript enabled to view it , and listen to the Block Report
at hiphopwarreport.com or myspace.com/blockreportfilm
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24) Mumia’s son faces intense restrictions
by Monique Code
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
http://www.sfbayview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=21
Jamal Hart, son of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is facing intense
restrictions. Jamal’s Chicago-based attorney recently
found out that Jamal has an assault charge dated back
to 1995 that does not exist! He was given federal time
as a result of this “error.”
Jamal called on April 20 to say that he was charged with
fighting via an agent provocateur and got 30 days in the
hole because of it. A letter I received from him yesterday
states that he has also lost his visits and personal phone
calls for six months!
I’m asking everyone to BOMBARD the prison with phone calls,
emails and faxes to express your outrage. This punishment
must be the result of Jamal coming so close to exposing
his unjust incarceration through his own research.
Address all correspondence and phone calls to Warden Ronnie
L. Holt ONLY. Contact him by phone at (570) 544-7100, fax
at (570) 544-7350 or email at sch/ execassistant@bop.gov
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots,
you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Monique Code, who writes from New York City, can be reached at moniquecode@hotmail.com
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25) Stress on Troops Adds to U.S. Hurdles in Iraq
By BENEDICT CAREY
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/washington/06military.html?hp
The detailed mental health survey of troops in Iraq released
by the Pentagon on Friday highlights a growing worry for the
United States as it struggles to bring order to Baghdad:
the high level of combat stress suffered during lengthy
and repeated tours.
The fourth in a continuing series, the report suggested that
extended tours and multiple deployments, among other policy
decisions, could escalate anger and increase the likelihood
that soldiers or marines lash out at civilians, or defy
military ethics.
That is no small concern since the United States’
counterinsurgency doctrine emphasizes the importance
of winning the trust and support of the local population.
The report was provided in November to Gen. George W.
Casey Jr., then the senior American commander in Iraq.
Pentagon officials have not explained why the public
release of the report was delayed, a move that kept the
data out of the public debate as the Bush administration
developed its plan to build up troops in Iraq and extend
combat tours. Rear Adm. Richard R. Jeffries, a medical
officer, told reporters on Friday that the timing was
decided by civilian Pentagon officials.
The survey of 1,320 soldiers and 447 marines was conducted
in August and September of 2006. The military’s report,
which drew on that survey as well as interviews with commanders
and focus groups, found that longer deployments increased the
risk of psychological problems; that the levels of mental
problems was highest — some 30 percent — among troops involved
in close combat; that more than a third of troops endorsed
torture in certain situations; and that most would not turn
in fellow service members for mistreating a civilian.
“These are thoughts people are going to have when under this
kind of stress, and soldiers will tell you that: you don’t
know what’s it’s like until you’ve been there,” said Dr. Andy
Morgan, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale
University who has worked extensively with regular and Special
Operations troops. “The question is whether you act on them.”
The Pentagon’s analysis also identified sources of anger besides
lengthy and repeated deployments that could lead to ethics
violations, which would not be apparent from the outside:
eight-day rest breaks that involved four days of transit;
long lines to get into recreation facilities, especially for
those who perform missions outside the relative safety of
base camps; and inconsistent dress-code rules.
Most of all, there were uncertainties about deployment:
40 percent of soldiers rated uncertain redeployment
dates as a top concern.
The military has evaluated the emotional state of soldiers
in the past, from the cases of shaking and partial paralysis
known as shell shock after World War I, to the numb exhaustion
identified as combat fatigue in World War II. The flashbacks
and irritability reported in the years after the Vietnam War
came to define another diagnosis: post-traumatic stress disorder.
But since the Persian Gulf war in 1991 the Pentagon’s efforts
to track mental health have become far more sophisticated,
and now provide a deeper X-ray into the day-to-day realities
of life on the ground, in real time — a glimpse of how the
stresses of both combat, and policy decisions, can affect
the behavior of troops.
When the administration decided in January to send more
troops to Baghdad to try to reverse the spiraling sectarian
violence in Iraq, it sought to ease the strain on the armed
forces by announcing its intention to expand the active
duty Army and Marine forces by 92,000 troops.
But it takes years to recruit, train and equipment an
expanded ground force, and the decision to increase the
size of the military was made too late to relieve the
stress on the forces now in Iraq.
To sustain the current elevated troop levels, Defense
Secretary Robert M. Gates announced in April that the
Army was increasing combat tours to 15 months, rather
than the traditional one-year tour.
“The Army is spread very thin, and we need it to be a larger
force for the number of missions that we were being asked to
address for our nation,” said Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock, the
Army’s acting surgeon general and head of the Army’s Medical
Command, on Friday, as the report was released.
To better cope with the current strains, the report
recommended that suicide prevention program be revised,
that soldiers and marines who have combat positions outside
large bases have better opportunities for occasional rest
and recreation, and that a more determined effort be made
to teach battlefield ethics on dealing with civilians.
The military team that conducted the survey recommended that
soldiers spend 18 to 36 months at home between deployments
abroad, in contrast to the current Army policy of 12 months.
Col. Carl Castro of the Army, who led the team that carried
out the survey, asserted that the military began to carry
out the report’s recommendations immediately after it was
completed.
The report noted a direct relationship between involvement
in intense combat and soldiers who exhibited signs of anxiety,
depression and acute stress. Almost 30 percent of soldiers
who were engaged in “high combat” were discovered to be
suffering from “acute stress,” according to the report.
But the length of tours in Iraq was another important factor.
Soldiers who were deployed for more than six months were one
and a half times more likely to exhibit depression or anxiety
than those with shorter tours of duty.
Those who had repeatedly served in Iraq were also more likely
to suffer from psychological ailments than those who were
serving their first tour. The survey showed that 24 percent
of those who had done multiple tours suffered from “acute
stress,” compared with 15 percent who were on their first tour.
According to the survey, suicide rates for soldiers in Iraq
from 2003 to 2006 were 16.1 per 100,000, compared with the
average Army rate of 11.1.
In general, soldiers experience higher rates of mental health
problems than do marines. The morale of the soldiers also
tended to be lower than that of marines, who unlike those
in the Army typically serve seven-month combat tours in Iraq.
The report said psychological ailments and built-up anger
resulting from combat stress increased the likelihood that
the troops would lash out at civilians. The survey noted
that only 47 percent of the soldiers and 38 percent of
marines agreed that noncombatants should be treated with
dignity and respect. Troops who had high levels of anger
were twice as likely to violate ethical standards, the report
found. The survey found that 40 percent of troops who scored
high on measures of personal anger reported insulting or
cursing at a civilian, and 7 percent reported having hit
or kicked a civilian. Among those low on measures of anger,
only 1 percent said they had hit a civilian, and 16 percent
reported insulting noncombatants.
The Iraq war, experts say, is a new kind of war — a 360-degree
battle space, with no front or rear, no safe zone outside the
large fortified bases, and the compounded physical uncertainty
of roadside bombs and mortar attacks. The lack of any control
over these factors, and the generally limited sense of progress,
only intensifies the stress for troops.
“You can endure a lot of physical and mental exhaustion as
long as you feel you’re having an impact, you’re accomplishing
something and that you have some control over your situation,”
Dr. Morgan said. “If you don’t feel you have any of that, you
quickly get to a point where the only thing that’s important
is keeping yourself and your buddies alive. Nothing else
much matters.”
Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting.
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26) Colombia Unearths Victims of Violence
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06colombia.html
BOGOTÁ, Colombia, May 5 (AP) — Investigators on Friday exhumed
105 bodies of people they believe were killed between 1999
and 2001 in Putumayo Province in southern Colombian, the chief
prosecutor there said Saturday at a news conference.
Most of the victims had been dismembered before burial.
Historically a major region for growing the coca plant that
is used to make cocaine, the Putumayo jungles near the border
with Ecuador are the scene of almost daily fighting between
leftist rebels, far-right paramilitaries and state security
forces.
Forensic teams have found hundreds of shallow graves in recent
months, as demobilized paramilitaries confess their crimes
as part of a peace deal with the government.
The office of the prosecutor, Mario Iguarán, estimates that
10,000 murdered Colombians lie in unmarked graves across the
country, now in its fifth decade of civil conflict.
Earlier this week, Mr. Iguarán visited Washington — Colombia’s
largest financial backer — to ask for more money to help
such investigations.
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27) Torn From Parents, a Top Speller Vents His Anger
By KIRK JOHNSON
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/us/06speller.html
GREEN RIVER, Utah — Great spellers come in all types, from
egotistical showoffs to loners who find sanctuary in the
forest of words.
Kunal Sah, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, is an angry speller.
He lives with his uncle and aunt at the Ramada Limited Motel
in this tough former railroad town in eastern Utah. Kunal
is making himself into a great speller by way of unhappiness
and the immense pressure he feels to reunite his family,
which was blown across two continents when his parents were
sent back to India last year after being denied political
asylum.
He said he cried every day after his parents left, then
as the spelling bee season started and he began winning —
ultimately reaching the regional competition and becoming
one of three students from Utah who will be going to
Washington at the end of this month for the Scripps National
Spelling Bee — he began to put his frustration into words.
Capturing the spotlight at the bee, he said, could draw
attention to his parents’ case.
The Indian news media have already taken notice. An article
in March in The Indian Express, an English-language daily
newspaper, tried to capture the family’s mix of pride and
pain under the headline: “Spelling bee whiz in U.S. motel
room, parents in Bihar Village.”
“What I want to do is win the nationals, and, if I do, then
there is a chance that my mom and dad will have a better
chance of coming back,” Kunal said, sitting on his bed
in a room stuffed to the ceiling with sprachgefühl,
a word he was stumped by in a spelling bee last year.
It means things that are linguistically appropriate or
intuitive. Everything in Kunal’s room, from his dictionaries
to his spelling trophies, is linguistically appropriate.
“The anger is pushing me,” he said. “The anger is just
telling me that yes, this year I have to win.”
An immigration lawyer working on the Sahs’ behalf, Steven
R. Lawrence Jr., said he believed the Sahs might yet be
able to return, perhaps on a visa for people who own
businesses in the United States. But their case is exceedingly
complicated and even Mr. Lawrence acknowledges that a reunion
in America is not likely anytime soon.
Mr. Sah, who was born in India, came to the United States
in 1990 and shortly before his entry visa expired the next
year he applied for political asylum, saying that if he
was forced to return to his home province in southeastern
India he would be targeted by Muslims because of his involvement
in a group called Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which he described
as committed to Hindu nationalism.
Mr. Sah acknowledged in his application that he had been
active in organizing a campaign against Babri Mosque,
in northern India, because it was “built on our sacred
land” and that he “actively participated” in riots intended
to demolish it.
In 1992, after Mr. Sah had immigrated to the United States,
Hindu extremists destroyed the mosque.
In denying him haven, immigration officials noted that
Mr. Sah “had participated in the persecution of non-Hindus
and thus was ineligible for asylum.”
The town of Green River played a role in the making of
Kunal the speller. He grew up here, three hours southeast
of Salt Lake City, after his family came in 1997 from
California, where he was born, an American citizen. For
the only boy of Indian heritage in a town of about 900
people, that might be lonely enough. But Kanhai and Sarita
Sah were strivers, bent on upward mobility, willing
to work harder than the competition, trading up to
a larger motel, the Ramada, after five years in town.
Some people admitted that they did not like Kanhai,
or Ken, as he was known, although they say they admire
the son’s accomplishments.
“I really believe it was just the personality people
didn’t like,” Amy Wilmarth, the manager of the Green
River Coffee Company, said of Mr. Sah. “He probably
has quite a bit of arrogance, along with rudeness.”
On a busy summer night, there may be 2,000 travelers
in Green River’s 600-odd rooms. Most are only stopping
long enough to catch up on sleep, food and fuel.
The town sits midway between Denver and Las Vegas,
with few lodging choices for 100 miles in any direction.
And every now and then, people here say, some of those
visitors do not like seeing a dark-skinned face at the
Ramada. So Kunal’s family members rarely sit at the
front desk, only coming out when the front bell is
pushed. By the time someone has come that far, they
say, and perhaps smelled the Indian cooking, they are
more likely to stay.
Other motel operators are well aware that some travelers
are racist or anti-immigrant. “A lot of them will come
down to me because they won’t stay there,” said Cynthia
Powell, manager of the Rodeway Inn.
Kunal’s uncle, Dharm Chandra Prasad, who came to Utah
three years ago after receiving a degree in business
in England, said that jealousy over the family’s success,
combined with the ethnic and cultural differences —
much of the town is Mormon — created resentment.
“When you will go up, everybody will try to pull your
leg down,” Mr. Prasad said at the motel on a recent
morning. He said his brother was pressed to become
a Mormon. “He said, Why we should change our religion?”
Mr. Prasad said. “The god is one, same god yours, you
call Jesus, we call a different word.”
What makes everything go behind the Ramada’s walls,
and inside Kunal, is a work ethic.
Sitting on the couch in the living room of the apartment
he shares with his uncle and his aunt, Jyothie, Kunal
pointed across the room to the sneakers he was given
as a reward from his parents. The kind of sneakers that
lots of American children get just for asking. If he
could work through 5,000 words in one day, his father
promised, he would get the shoes. Kunal delivered in
16 hours.
Wherever the burning desire came from, it has manifested
itself in the embrace of language. There are friendly
words, Kunal said, and stranded, orphan sorts of words,
which are the hardest because they lack linguistic
relatives that can provide clues to their spelling
patterns.
Last year, Kunal made a friend at his first national
spelling bee, where he was eliminated early on. The
friend is Yeeva Cheng, 14, a champion speller from
Cherryville, N.C. The two study over the Internet,
lobbing pronunciations back and forth.
One recent night they kept at it until 4 a.m., and
Kunal smiled when he told the story. No anger now,
just a 13-year-old like any other.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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28) When Carbon Is Currency
By HANNAH FAIRFIELD
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/business/yourmoney/06emit2.html
AMID steadily increasing carbon emissions, and a federal
government hesitant to take the lead on climate legislation,
10 states have joined to create the first mandatory carbon
cap-and-trade program in the United States. They aim to
reduce emissions from power plants by 10 percent in 10 years.
Leaders of state environmental and energy regulatory agencies
hammered out the detailed model for the program, the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, over the course of three years.
The program sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that
the 10 states — as a whole — can emit. Starting in 2009,
each state will receive a set amount of carbon credits for
its power plants, and each plant must have enough allowances
to cover its total emissions at the end of three-year
compliance periods.
In 2003, George E. Pataki, then New York’s governor, invited
governors of 10 other states from Maine to Maryland to discuss
a program to cut power plant emissions. All but one of the
states joined the program; Pennsylvania has observer status.
Officials have closely watched the European Union, which
started its carbon trading market in 2005; analysts say the
Europeans have stumbled on some fronts. “We’ve learned a lot
from the Europeans,” said Judith Enck, adviser on environment
issues to Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York. “The way we distribute
the allowances will be vastly different than the European
experience.”
To build a carbon market, its originators must create a currency
of carbon credits that participants can trade. In Europe, power
companies received these credits directly and could buy or sell
from one another as needed. But most companies passed the cost
of the credits on to consumers even though they received them
free — giving the companies windfall profits. Power companies
in Britain alone made about $1 billion from free credits
in 2005, according to a study by the British government.
Participants in the United States want to avoid that
problem by selling some or all of the credits at auction,
with the proceeds going to state energy efficiency programs.
In Europe, power companies were not the only businesses
to profit from the new carbon market. Because power plants
there can use credits earned from offset projects that take
greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere (or put less of them
into it), businesses wanting to earn offset credits inundated
the Europeans with proposals — many of which would have
a negligible effect on emissions or were for reductions
that would have taken place anyway.
To sidestep that problem, the program here limits offsets
to five categories: capture of landfill gas, curbs on sulfur
hexafluoride leaks, planting of trees, reductions in methane
from manure, and increased energy efficiency in buildings.
Power companies can offset 3.3 percent of a plant’s total
emissions from any combination of the five categories.
“We saw what happened in Europe, so we limited the categories
and set our criteria upfront,” said Christopher Sherry,
chairman of the regional program’s staff working group and
a research scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection. “We did that so we would have assurance that the
reductions actually take place.”
Although Northeastern states have taken the lead in
inaugurating a mandatory carbon market, California and
some of its neighbors are not far behind. Those states
are watching closely; Mr. Sherry and others involved in
the 10-state effort are already helping California figure
out how best to accomplish its climate plan.
“The idea is to see what everyone else has done, and learn
from it,” said Dale Bryk, a lawyer at the Natural Resources
Defense Council who has been involved with the Northeastern
regional program and California’s advisory committee. “Let’s
not start from scratch.”
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LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES
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Propaganda Fear Cited in Account of Iraqi Killings
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
May 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/middleeast/06haditha.html
UN scientists warn time is running out to tackle global warming
-Scientists say eight years left to avoid worst effects
-Panel urges governments to act immediately
David Adam, environment correspondent
Saturday May 5, 2007
Guardian
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2073006,00.html
Anti-U.S. Uproar Sweeps Italy
By David Swanson
The U.S. government has proposed to make Vicenza, Italy,
the largest US military site in Europe, but the people
of Vicenza, and all of Italy, have sworn it will never
happen.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vicenza
As the Climate Changes, Bits of England’s Coast Crumble
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/world/europe/04erode.html
Inspector of Projects in Iraq Under Investigation
By JAMES GLANZ
May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/washington/04bowen.html?ref=world
Miami, activists in standoff after shantytown fire
BY ROBERT SAMUELS, ERIKA BERAS, LISA ARTHUR AND MICHAEL VASQUEZ
Apr. 26, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/87207.html
Gene Links Longevity and Diet, Scientists Say
By NICHOLAS WADE
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/health/03gene.html?ref=science
Feeling Warmth, Subtropical Plants Move North
By SHAILA DEWAN
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/science/03flowers.html?ref=science
Court Rejects Limit on Bids by Convicts for DNA Tests
By BOB DRIEHAUS
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/03ohio.html
California Mayor Demands Inquiry
Over Immigration Protest Clash
By REUTERS
The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio R. Villaraigosa,
demanded an investigation into a clash Tuesday between
the police and pro-immigration protesters, saying he was
“deeply concerned” by televised images of the episode.
The chief, William J. Bratton, has already said he will
open an internal inquiry into the actions of officers
who used batons and rubber bullets to clear MacArthur
Park of protesters, apparently after a small group of
people began pelting them with rocks.
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/03brfs-protest.html
Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill
By EDWARD WONG and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
May 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html?ref=world
NEW YORK CITY WORLDWIDE MARIJUANA MARCH
Saturday, May 5, 2007
(212) 677-7180
POT IS AN HERB!!! BUSH IS A DOPE!!!
March against the Drug War, kick off at 1:30 PM starting in
Washington Square Park. March against the BIG LIE in public policy,
from the War on Drugs to the War in Iraq! Tulia, Texas is the template
for W's phony War on Terror--just like the so-called "health threat of
marijuana" equals the "weapons of mass destruction." Both never
existed! Come out and protest intervention abroad and criminalization
at home under the War on Drugs. Protest the incarceration of a
generation and the calculated disfranchisement of majority democratic
voters thru the Drug War!
http://www.globalmarijuanamarch.org
Arctic Sea Ice Decline May Trigger Climate Change Cascade,
According to New CU-Boulder Study
http://cires.colorado.edu/news/press/2007/07-03-15.html
Texas officials criticize fence plan
By LYNN BREZOSKY
Associated Press Writer
http://www.star-telegram.com/462/story/87591.html
U.S. Seeks Closing of Visa Loophole for Britons
By JANE PERLEZ
"In recent months, the homeland security secretary, Michael
Chertoff, has opened talks with the government here on how
to curb the access of British citizens of Pakistani origin
to the United States."
May 2, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/world/europe/02britain.html?ref=world
Protesters Press for Path to Citizenship
By JOHN HOLUSHA
"Immigrants and their supporters rallied across the country
today seeking a reduction in deportations and legalization
for the estimated 12 million people said to be living and
working in this country without proper documentation."
May 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/us/01cnd-immig.html?hp
When communal councils meet workers’ councils in Venezuela
By Erik Demeester in Caracas
Monday, 30 April 2007
http://www.marxist.com/communal-workers-councils-venezuela300407.htm
Where is the outrage over military rape?
http://www.counterpunch.org/nader04162007.html
BILL MOYERS SPECIAL -- 'BUYING THE WAR' -- PART 1-16
Bill Moyers special on how the press contributed to the
selling of the Iraq War.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQ1L0EuNoQ
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnFNKhUmbpY
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rajv95ZtuDs
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXS_2raGlUc
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiuZfaVr53Y
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne23p-LICCk
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5rQX5ESA34
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWURC2t7Mg8
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhQJJNWxY7Q
10.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NpvO1CrfSg
11.[Skip this one -- it's the same as Part 10]
12.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FhZDL9ece4
13.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSOk8pq9hRs
14.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxeUJ02fWk4
15.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faf1Nws6F4g
16.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqGBHNp30B8
Americans want to give undocumented a break
By Emile Schepers
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 04/26/07 13:14
http://www.pww.org/article/articleprint/10961/
Soldiers Indicted in Killing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, April 27 (AP) — A judge indicted three American
soldiers on Friday in the 2003 death of a Spanish journalist
who was killed when their tank fired at a hotel in Baghdad.
Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip
DeCamp were charged with homicide in the death of the journalist,
José Manuel Couso Permuy, and with “a crime against the
international community,” defined as an indiscriminate or
excessive attack against civilians during war.
At the time of the shooting, the three soldiers were from
the Army’s Third Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Ga.
April 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/28/world/europe/28spain.html
C.I.A. Held Qaeda Leader in Secret Jail for Months
By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID S. CLOUD
"WASHINGTON, April 27 — The Central Intelligence Agency held
a captured Qaeda leader in a secret prison since last fall
and transferred him last week to the American military prison
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, officials said Friday."
April 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/28/washington/28prisoner.html
Rebuilt Iraq Projects Found Crumbling
By JAMES GLANZ
April 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/world/middleeast/29reconstruct.html?hp
Army Officer Accuses Generals of "Intellectual and Moral Failures"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042707A.shtml
ONE UNEXPLODED BOMB PER PERSON
By Dahr Jamail, Electronic Lebanon
"SRIFA, Southern Lebanon, 27 April (IPS) - Close to a
million unexploded bombs are estimated to litter southern
Lebanon, according to UN forces engaged in the hazardous
task of removing them. The United Nations Interim Force In
Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created by the Security Council in
1978 to confirm an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and
restore international peace and security. After the war
last year it has a new job on its hands."
27 April 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6843.shtml
CCR FILES CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT ON BEHALF OF THREE BLACK
COPWATCH ACTIVISTS ARRESTED WHILE MONITORING POLICE ACTIVITY
"Lawsuit Filed as NYPD Data Shows Police Stops Increased
by More than 500 Percent between 2002 and 2006, with Blacks
Comprising More than Half of All Stops"
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=ACMSs0MD9o&Content=1006
Case of Police Videotaping Is Back in the Public Eye
By ALAN FEUER
April 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/nyregion/27police.html
Hurricane Survivors to Buy U.S. Trailers or Pay Rental Fee
By LESLIE EATON
April 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/nationalspecial/27trailers.html
Criminal Charges Are Expected Against Marines, Official Says
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
April 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/world/asia/27abuse.html
Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
April 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/washington/26gitmo.html?hp
U.S. Officer in Iraq Charged With ‘Aiding the Enemy’
By DAMIEN CAVE
April 26, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-Cropper.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Israeli Democracy: For Jews Only?
April 25, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/karkar04252007.html
Move Over G.M., Toyota Is No. 1
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/automobiles/25auto.html?ref=business
Manhattan: Housing Law Struck Down
By JANNY SCOTT
Justice Marilyn Shafer of State Supreme Court yesterday
struck down the Tenant Empowerment Act, a 2005 New York
City law giving tenants in subsidized rental buildings
the right of first refusal to buy their buildings if the
owners decide to sell or quit rental assistance programs
like Mitchell-Lama. Justice Shafer said she “reluctantly”
concluded that the city cannot limit rights granted to
building owners by the State Legislature in allowing them
to withdraw from Mitchell-Lama. The Legislature itself
could choose to protect middle- and low-income tenants
in those buildings, she pointed out. “In failing to do
so, or to permit the City of New York to do so, the State
Legislature has failed the residents of the City of New
York,” she wrote in her opinion.
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/nyregion/25mbrfs-housing.html
Guantánamo Detainee Charged
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Canadian detained in Afghanistan and held at Guantánamo
Bay since 2002 was charged with murder. The detainee, Omar
Khadr, 20, is accused of throwing a grenade that killed
a Special Forces soldier while fighting with the Taliban
in Afghanistan, and planting mines aimed at American convoys.
The military charged him with murder, providing support
to terrorism, attempted murder, conspiracy and spying.
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25brfs-gitmo.html
Panel Hears About Falsehoods in 2 Wartime Incidents
By MICHAEL LUO
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25army.html?ref=us
Mexico City Legalizes Abortion Early in Term
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/world/americas/25mexico.html?ref=world
OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of Industry
By STEPHEN LABATON
April 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25osha.html?hp
Chavez Asks UN to Intervene in Posada Case
"CARACAS — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez asked the United
Nations on Sunday to intervene in the case of international
terrorist Luis Posada Carrilles, placed in freedom last week
by the United States government.
Speaking on his Alo Presidente TV and radio program, Chavez
called the decision to release Posada embarrassing and proof
of the double standard by the US government on the issue
of terrorism.
Chavez reiterated Venezuela’s demand that Posada be extradited
to the South American country to stand trial for organizing
a 1976 plane bombing that killed 73 persons.
The outcry against the freeing of the terrorist was echoed
in several countries around the world.
Upon arriving for a visit to Havana, Gennady Andreyevich
Zyuganov, chairman of the Central Executive Committee
of Russia's Communist Party, said the release of Posada
exceeds the limits of cynicism and shame.
La Opinion, the Los Angeles Spanish language newspaper,
ran an editorial Sunday calling the release of Posada
a defeat of the US legal system and adds that the move
sends a contradictory message from the US government.
In Haiti, Dr. Jean Renald Clerisme, minister of Foreign
Affairs and Worship, said the release of the terrorist
was an insult to justice. "This man deserves to be
brought to justice and there is no doubt that the
world has already condemned him".
In Moscow, the Russian Venceremos Movement, made up
of different leftwing parties, and labor and civic
organizations, delivered a message to the United
States Embassy in which it repudiates the freeing
of Posada Carriles on bail. (Taken from Granma Daily)."
http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/Special/Posada%20Carriles-Bush/Cchavez070423409.htm
If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It’s in His Tail
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
April 24, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24wag.html?ref=science
Nissan Will Offer Buyouts
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
April 24, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/automobiles/24auto.html
California: City Won’t Aid Immigration Officials
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers and other city employees will not help
federal immigration authorities seeking to round up and
deport illegal immigrant workers in San Francisco, Mayor
Gavin Newsom said Sunday. The mayor told a predominantly
Hispanic audience at St. Peter’s Church that while city
and state officials could not stop Immigration and Customs
Enforcement from conducting sweeps in the city, he would
do everything within his power to discourage them. “We
are a sanctuary city, make no mistake about it,”
Mr. Newsom said.
April 24, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/us/24brfs-sf.html
"Is It Too Late to Get Out?"
Housing Bubble Boondoggle
By MIKE WHITNEY
April 24, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.com/whitney04242007.html
An island made by global warming
By Michael McCarthy, Environmental Editor
Published: 24 April 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2480994.ece
Incremental Health Reform: Whose Life Doesn't Count?
by Rose Ann DeMoro
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rose-ann-demoro/incremental-health-reform_b_45605.html
Officials Backing Down From Plan for Wall in Iraq
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and JON ELSEN
April 23, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/world/middleeast/23cnd-Iraq.html?hp
When Bremer Ruled Baghdad
How Iraq was Looted
By EVELYN PRINGLE
April 21 / 22, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.com/pringle04212007.html
FOCUS | Key Part of Bush's "No Child" Law Under Federal Probe
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042207Y.shtml
Now That Imus is Gone, What About All The Right-Wing Lies?
Fire The Media
by Mark T. Harris; April 22, 2007
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=91&ItemID=12633
William Fisher | Guantanamo Detainees in Isolation,
Diplomatic Limbo
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042107A.shtml
Lower Manhattan, Higher Testosterone
"Since 2000, men, mostly between ages 25 and 44, have
accounted for more than three-fourths of the population
increase in Lower Manhattan. As a result, according to
a special census calculation, the sex ratio there increased
to 126 men per 100 women in 2005, from 101 men per 100 women
in 2000. In the rest of Manhattan, and in the city over all,
there were only 90 men for every 100 women."
By SAM ROBERTS
April 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/nyregion/22downtown.html?ref=nyregion
Blue Angel Jet Crashes at S.C. Air Show
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Blue-Angel-Crash.html?ref=us
A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves
By JASON DePARLE
April 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22Workers.t.html?ref=world
War Resister Agustin Aguayo Released
"Army medic Agustin Aguayo was released this week after
more than six months in military custody for refusing
to deploy to Iraq a second time.
Aguayo went AWOL for weeks after refusing the order.
He was taken into military custody and jailed after
turning himself in. We speak with Agustin Aguayo's
wife, Helga."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/20/1336213
Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H on His Journey to Actor and
Activist
"Actor Mike Farrell is perhaps best known for his role
as Captain B.J.Hunnicutt in the popular TV series
M*A*S*H. But aside from that, he is also
known for his decades of social justice activism.
Farrell has just come out with a new book called "Just
Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and
Activist."
Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/20/1336220
VIDEO | Depleted Uranium: Poisoning Our Planet
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042007B.shtml
FOCUS | Soldier Says He Was Deployed With Head Injury
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042107Z.shtml
Ongoing Defiance/Political Gridlock in Lebanon
April 20, 2007
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/lebanon/000575.php
Maryland: Bodies of Miners Are Found
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Workers found the bodies of two miners trapped when a wall
section collapsed in an open-pit coal mine in western Maryland,
a federal mine official said. The official, Bob Cornett,
acting regional director for the federal Mine Safety and
Health Administration, said the men, one of whom was found
in a backhoe, and the other, found in a bulldozer, appeared
to have died instantly. The cause of the collapse was under
investigation. Mr. Cornett said heavy rain and the ground’s
freezing and thawing could be a factor. The mine, about
150 miles west of Baltimore, has had no fatal injuries since
at least 1995 and was not cited for violations in its most
recent inspection, which began March 5, according the federal
mine agency.
April 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21brfs-BODIESOFMINE_BRF.html
Fish-Killing Virus Spreading in the Great Lakes
By SUSAN SAULNY
"CHICAGO, April 20 — A virus that has already killed tens
of thousands of fish in the eastern Great Lakes is spreading,
scientists said, and now threatens almost two dozen aquatic
species over a wide swath of the lakes and nearby waterways."
April 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21fish.html
Army’s Documents Detail Secrecy in Tillman Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21tillman.html
Anger and Alternatives on Abortion
By GINA KOLATA
April 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/us/21docs.html
World Opposed to U.S. as Global Cop
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/617/
Supreme Court Backtracks on Abortion Rights
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/616/
Report: World Needs to Axe Greenhouse Gases by 80 Pct
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/638/
Iraq Refugees: The Hidden Face of the War
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/622/
World Bank May Target Family Planning
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/19/636/
2 Miners Trapped in Maryland Under Up to 100 Feet of Rock
By SEAN D. HAMILL
April 20, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20miners.html
Leading Article: A global warning from the dust bowl of Australia
Published:?20 April 2007
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2465904.ece
General strike in the Spanish province of Cadiz to support
employees of Delphi
April 18, 2007
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=eco&article=417644&lng=1
Graffiti Figure Admired as Artist Now Faces Vandalism Charges
By THOMAS J. LUECK
April 19, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/nyregion/19grafitti.html?ref=nyregion
Pet Food Recall Expanded
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 19, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Pet-Food-Recall.html?ref=us
Pet Food Recall
Updated: April 19, 2007
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
Gates Reassures Israel About Arms Sales in Gulf
By DAVID S. CLOUD
April 19, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/world/middleeast/19cnd-gates.html
A Lot of Uninvited Guests
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail
"DAMASCUS, Apr 18 (IPS) - The massive influx of Iraqi refugees
into Syria has brought rising prices and overcrowding, but most
Syrians seem to have accepted more than a million of the
refugees happily enough."
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/syria/000571.php
Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Abortion Procedure
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:53 p.m. ET
April 18, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Scotus-Abortion.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
April 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17chimp.html
Housing Slump Takes a Toll on Illegal Immigrants
By EDUARDO PORTER
"HURON, Calif. — Some of the casualties of America’s housing
bust are easy to spot up and down California’s Central Valley."
April 17, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/business/17construct.html?hp
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INFORMATION
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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DEMAND THE RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN
The National Council of Arab Americans (NCA) demands the immediate
release of political prisoner, Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Although
Dr. Al-Arian is no longer on a hunger strike we must still demand
he be released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). After an earlier
plea agreement that absolved Dr. Al-Arian from any further questioning,
he was sentenced up to 18 months in jail for refusing to testify before
a grand jury in Virginia. He has long sense served his time yet
Dr. Al-Arian is still being held. Release him now!
See:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255
ACTION:
We ask all people of conscience to demand the immediate
release and end to Dr. Al- Arian's suffering.
Call, Email and Write:
1- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
2- The Honorable John Conyers, Jr
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov
3- Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(202)224-4242
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
4- Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
March 22, 2007
[No email given...bw]
National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)
http://www.arab-american.net/
Criminalizing Solidarity: Sami Al-Arian and the War of
Terror
By Charlotte Kates, The Electronic Intifada, 4 April 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6767.shtml
Related:
Robert Fisk: The true story of free speech in America
This systematic censorship of Middle East reality
continues even in schools
Published: 07 April 2007
http://news. independent. co.uk/world/ fisk/article2430 125.ece
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*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
[For some levity...Hans Groiner plays Monk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bsCRv6kI0
...bw]
Excerpt of interview between Barbara Walters and Hugo Chavez
http://www.borev.net/2007/03/what_you_had_something_better.html
Which country should we invade next?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3g_zqz3VjY
My Favorite Mutiny, The Coup
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
Michael Moore- The Awful Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOaTpYl8mE
Morse v. Frederick Supreme Court arguments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LsGoDWC0o
Free Speech 4 Students Rally - Media Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCjfod8yuw
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'My son lived a worthwhile life'
In April 2003, 21-year old Tom Hurndall was shot in the head
in Gaza by an Israeli soldier as he tried to save the lives of three
small children. Nine months later, he died, having never
recovered consciousness. Emine Saner talks to his mother
Jocelyn about her grief, her fight to make the Israeli army
accountable for his death and the book she has written
in his memory.
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2042968,00.html
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Introducing...................the Apple iRack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ
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"A War Budget Leaves Every Child Behind."
[A T-shirt worn by some teachers at Roosevelt High School
in L.A. as part of their campaign to rid the school of military
recruiters and JROTC--see Article in Full item number 4, below...bw]
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THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO DESTRIBUTED BY U.S. LABOR AGAINST
THE WAR (USLAW) FEATURING SPEAKERS AT THE JANUARY 27TH
MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOCUSING ON THE DEMAND - BRING
THE TROOPS HOME NOW.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6935451906479097836&hl=en
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Defend the Los Angeles Eight!
http://www.committee4justice.com/
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George Takai responds to Tim Hardaway's homophobic remarks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcJoJZIcQW4&eurl_
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Iran
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
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Another view of the war. A link from Amer Jubran
http://d3130.servadmin.com/~leeflash/
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Petition: Halt the Blue Angels
http://action.globalexchange.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=458
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/289327
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A Girl Like Me
7:08 min
Youth Documentary
Kiri Davis, Director, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Producer
Winner of the Diversity Award
Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1091431409617440489
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Film/Song about Angola
http://www.prisonactivist.org/angola/
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"200 million children in the world sleep in the streets today.
Not one of them is Cuban."
(A sign in Havana)
Venceremos
View sign at bottom of page at:
http://www.cubasolidarity.net/index.html
[Thanks to Norma Harrison for sending this...bw]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Cheyenne and Arapaho oral histories hammer history's account of the
Sand Creek Massacre"
CENTENNIAL, CO -- A new documentary film based on an award-winning
documentary short film, "The Sand Creek Massacre", and driven by
Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho people who tell their version about
what happened during the Sand Creek Massacre via their oral
histories, has been released by Olympus Films+, LLC, a Centennial,
Colorado film company.
"You have done an extraordinary job" said Margie Small, Tobient
Entertainment, " on the Colorado PBS episode, the library videos for
public schools and libraries, the trailer, etc...and getting the
story told and giving honor to those ancestors who had to witness
this tragic and brutal attack...film is one of the best ways."
"The images shown in the film were selected for native awareness
value" said Donald L. Vasicek, award-winning writer/filmmaker, "we
also focused on preserving American history on film because tribal
elders are dying and taking their oral histories with them. The film
shows a non-violent solution to problem-solving and 19th century
Colorado history, so it's multi-dimensional in that sense. "
Chief Eugene Blackbear, Sr., Cheyenne, who starred as Chief Black
Kettle in "The Last of the Dogmen" also starring Tom Berenger and
Barbara Hershey and "Dr. Colorado", Tom Noel, University of Colorado
history professor, are featured.
The trailer can be viewed and the film can be ordered for $24.95 plus
$4.95 for shipping and handling at http://www.fullduck.com/node/53.
Vasicek's web site, http://www.donvasicek.com, provides detailed
information about the Sand Creek Massacre including various still
images particularly on the Sand Creek Massacre home page and on the
proposal page.
Olympus Films+, LLC is dedicated to writing and producing quality
products that serve to educate others about the human condition.
Contact:
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
7078 South Fairfax Street
Centennial, CO 80122
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
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A NEW LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS
Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use
of these illegal weapons
http://poisondust.org/
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You may enjoy watching these.
In struggle
Che:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqcezl9dD2c
Leon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkFVV5X0p4
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FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html
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[The Scab
"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad,
and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with
which he made a scab."
"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul,
a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten
principles." "When a scab comes down the street,
men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and
the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."
"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there
is a pool of water to drown his carcass in,
or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab.
For betraying his master, he had character enough
to hang himself." A scab has not.
"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of
a commision in the british army."
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife,
his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled
promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor
to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country;
a scab is a traitor to his God, his country,
his family and his class."
Author --- Jack London (1876-1916)...Roland Sheppard
http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret]
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END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!
Stop funding Israel's war against Palestine
Complete the form at the website listed below with your information.
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?
JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177
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Sand Creek Massacre
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html
On November 29, 1864, 700 Colorado troops savagely slaughtered
over 450 Cheyenne children, disabled, elders, and women in the
southeastern Colorado Territory under its protection. This act
became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. This film project
("The Sand Creek Massacre" documentary film project) is an
examination of an open wound in the souls of the Cheyenne
people as told from their perspective. This project chronicles
that horrific 19th century event and its affect on the 21st century
struggle for respectful coexistence between white and native
plains cultures in the United States of America.
Listed below are links on which you can click to get the latest news,
products, and view, free, "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" award-
winning documentary short. In order to create more native
awareness, particularly to save the roots of America's history,
please read the following:
Some people in America are trying to save the world. Bless
them. In the meantime, the roots of America are dying.
What happens to a plant when the roots die? The plant dies
according to my biology teacher in high school. American's
roots are its native people. Many of America's native people
are dying from drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, hunger,
and disease, which was introduced to them by the Caucasian
male. Tribal elders are dying. When they die, their oral
histories go with them. Our native's oral histories are the
essence of the roots of America, what took place before
our ancestors came over to America, what is taking place,
and what will be taking place. It is time we replenish
America's roots with native awareness, else America
continues its decaying, and ultimately, its death.
You can help. The 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY PRESENTATION/EDUCATIONAL DVD IS
READY FOR PURCHASE! (pass the word about this powerful
educational tool to friends, family, schools, parents, teachers,
and other related people and organizations to contact
me (dvasicek@earthlink.net, 303-903-2103) for information
about how they can purchase the DVD and have me come
to their children's school to show the film and to interact
in a questions and answers discussion about the Sand
Creek Massacre.
Happy Holidays!
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Vasicek,+Don
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FEATURED AT NATIVE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL:
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16035305.htm
(scroll down when you get there])
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING
WRITER/FILMMAKER DONALD L. VASICEK REPORT:
http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/sandcreekmassacre.html
"THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FINALIST IN DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL COMPETITION (VIEW HERE):
http://www.docupyx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=41
VIEW "THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE" AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
SHORT FILM MOVIE OF THE WEEK FOR FREE HERE:
http://twymancreative.com/twymanc.html
SHOP:
http://www.manataka.org/page633.html
BuyIndies.com
donvasicek.com.
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