-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Poynter ralph.poynter@yahoo.com
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Sent: Thu, Dec 16, 2010 2:30 pm
Greetings
It is official. Lynne Stewart, our hero and people's lawyer is at this very moment in transit to the Oklahoma prison complex which is a transit point for the prison system.
We still have no confirmation as to where they will send her.
They may keep her there for two weeks until this is determined. Clearly, the request of friends and family that she be allowed to remain at MCC until that time, has been deliberately disregarded.
Clearly the efforts of the police state to break and abuse her spirit is evident, in that she could have just as easily been allowed to remain close to her love ones for the holidays, instead of being handcuffed and shackled to the floor of a prison transport plane to Oklahoma transit prison. This is business as usual policy for the U.S. Prison system and we hope, against all hope, that Lynne was not shackled in this manner.
Continue to write, write, write. Her letters will follow her and when she arrives at her destination i.e. assigned place of imprisonment, she will need them as much as we will appreciate them.
Lynne Stewart 53504-054
MCC-NY 2-S
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007
Thank you much.
Ralph Poynter
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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Oakland Demo for GA Striking Prisoners!
This heads up the support letter at SF Bay View -
http://sfbayview.com/2010/a-letter-to-the-prisoners-on-strike-in-georgia/
These organizations are sponsoring a rally and march on Friday, Dec. 17, starting at 4 p.m. at North County Jail, 661 Washington St. in Downtown Oakland, and later marching to 14th and Broadway - JOIN THEM!
UC-Berkeley Student Worker Action Team (SWAT), Community Action Project (CAP), La Voz de los Trabajadores (www.lavozlit.com), Laney College Student Unity & Power (SUPLaney.wordpress.com), Laney College Black Student Union (BSU), Bay Area United Against War Newsletter (bauaw.org), Socialist Viewpoint magazine (socialistviewpoint.org), Workers International League (www.socialistappeal.org), Bay Area ISO (norcalsocialism.org), We Are the Crisis (UC Davis Chapter), Bicycle Barricades (UC Davis)
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GEORGIA PRISON STRIKE PETITION:
http://ca.defendpubliceducation.org/?p=716
A handful of East Bay organizations have put together an open letter to the strikers. If your organization would like to become a signatory, you can email me to put you on it you and can do so here. And there will be a meeting tonight to plan a solidarity rally: 6pm at the Laney College Student Center. All are welcome.
A Letter to the Prisoners on Strike in Georgia,
We, as members of activist and community organizations in the Bay Area of California, send our support for your strike against the terrible conditions you face in Georgia's prisons. We salute you for making history as your strike has become the largest prison strike in the history of this nation. As steadfast defenders of human and civil rights, we recognize the potential that your action has to improve the lives of millions subject to inhumane treatment in correctional facilities across this country.
Every single day, prisoners face the same deplorable and unnecessarily punitive conditions that you have courageously decided to stand up against. For too long, this nation has chosen silence in the face of the gross injustices that our brothers and sisters in prison are subjected to. Your fight against these injustices is a necessary and righteous struggle that must be carried out to victory.
We have heard about the brutal acts that Georgia Department of Corrections officers have been resorting to as a means of breaking your protest and we denounce them. In order to put a stop to the violence to which you have been subjected, we are in the process of contacting personnel at the different prison facilities and circulating petitions addressed to the governor and the Georgia DOC. We will continue to expose the DOC's shameless physical attacks on you and use our influence to call for an immediate end to the violence.
Here, in the Bay Area, we are all too familiar with the violence that this system is known to unleash upon our people. Recently, our community erupted in protest over the killing of an unarmed innocent black man named Oscar Grant by transit police in Oakland. We forced the authorities to arrest and convict the police officer responsible for Grant's murder by building up a mass movement. We intend to win justice with you and stop the violent repression of your peaceful protest in the same way-by appealing to the power and influence of the masses.
We fully support all of your demands. We strongly identify with your demand for expanded educational opportunities. In recent years, our state government has been initiating a series of massive cuts to our system of public education that continue to endanger our right to a quality, affordable education; in response, students all across our state have stood up and fought back just as you are doing now. In fact, students and workers across the globe have begun to organize and fight back against austerity measures and the corresponding violence of the state. Just in the past few weeks in Greece, Ireland, Spain, England, Italy, Haiti, Puerto Rico - tens and hundreds of thousands of students and workers have taken to the streets. We, as a movement, are gaining momentum and we do so even more as our struggles are unified and seen as interdependent. At times we are discouraged; it may seem insurmountable, but in the words of Malcolm X, "Power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny and oppression."
You have inspired us. News of your strike, from day one, has served to inspire and invigorate hundreds of students and community organizers here in Berkeley and Oakland alone. We are especially inspired by your ability to organize across color lines and are interested in hearing an account from the inside of how this process developed and was accomplished. You have also encouraged us to take more direct actions toward radical prison reform in our own communities, namely Santa Rita County Jail and San Quentin Prison. We are now beginning the process of developing a similar set of demands regarding expediting processing (can take 20-30 hours to get a bed, they call it "bullpen therapy"), nutrition, visiting and phone calls, educational services, legal support, compensation for labor and humane treatment in general. We will also seek to unify the education and prison justice movements by collaborating with existing organizations that have been engaging in this work.
We echo your call: No more Slavery! Injustice to one is injustice to all!
In us, students, activists, the community members and people of the Bay Area, you have an ally. We will continue to spread the news about your cause all over the Bay Area and California, the country and world. We pledge to do everything in our power to make sure your demands are met.
In solidarity,
UC-Berkeley Student Worker Action Team (SWAT) _ Community Action Project (CAP) _ La Voz de los Trabajadores _ Laney College Student Unity & Power (SUP) _ Laney College Black Student Union (BSU)
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In Solidarity
By Kevin Cooper
On Thursday, December 9, 2010, the inmates in the state of Georgia sat down in unity and peace in order to stand up for their human rights.
African American, White, and Latino inmates put aside their differences, if they had any, and came together as a 'People' fighting for their humanity in a system that dehumanizes all of them.
For this they have my utmost respect and appreciation and support. I am in true solidarity with them all!
For further information about Kevin Cooper:
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
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TWO PLAYS: Wallace Shawn's, "The Fever" and Howard Zinn's, "Marx in Soho."
We are pleased to present both, Wallace Shawn's, "The Fever" and Howard Zinn's, "Marx in Soho." The two plays are complementary. "The Fever" is a raw portrayal of a person who is coming to social consciousness. "Marx in Soho" humanizes the man whose ideas describe these fundamental realities of our societies' social structure.
Two benefit performances by veteran actor and sociologist, Jerry Levy. LevyArts' mission is to utilize theater and social theory to entertain, enlighten and stimulate a constructive and reflective dialogue about society.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 7:00 P.M. "THE FEVER," a one-man play by Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn's play, "The Fever" explores what a sensitive, well educated, arts loving and consumption-driven man or woman of any age discovers when his/her life-affirming existence is related to the often brutal suffering of others. In the bathroom of a hotel our "anti-hero" feverishly defends and relentlessly attacks his own way of life. Inner voices and imagined characters fuel his fever as he narrates and often attempts to enact his story.
Actor Jerry Levy rehearses "The Fever," a one-man play which was be presented Dec. 4 and 10-12 at the Hooker-Dunham Theater in Brattleboro. (Jon Potter/Reformer)
http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_16720592
SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1:30 P.M. "MARX IN SOHO," a one-man play by Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn's play, "Marx in Soho" portrays the return of Karl Marx. Embedded in some secular afterlife where intellectuals, artists, and radicals are sent, Marx is given permission by the administrative committee to return to Soho London to have his say. But through a bureaucratic mix-up, he winds up in SOHO in New York. From there the audience is given a rare glimpse of a Marx seldom talked about; Marx the man. The play offers an entertaining and thorough introduction to a person who knows little about Marx's life, while also offering valuable insight to students of his ideas.
Centro del Pueblo
474 Valencia Street
(Between 16th and 15th Streets, San Francisco. Wheelchair accessible.)
Reserved ticket discounts for each play: $10.00
Tickets at the door: $20.00
No one turned away for lack of funds.
To reserve your discount tickets, email:
giobon@comcast.net
(Your name will be placed on a the discount ticket list at the door.)
To benefit: Barrios Unidos and Bay Area United Against War Newsletter, bauaw.org
"The Fever" presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Services Inc.
Marx in Soho by Howard Zinn (c) Howard Zinn Revocable Trust
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NEXT MEETING OF THE UNITED NATIONAL ANTIWAR COMMITTEE (UNAC)
SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 1:00 P.M.
CENTRO DEL PUEBLO
474 VALENCIA STREET
(BETWEEN 16TH AND 15TH STREETS, SAN FRANCISCO)
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
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GO TO: http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/day-3-of-historic-prison-strike-in-georgia-blacked-out-by-media-guards-committing-violence/
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Posted: December 12, 2010 by Davey D in 2010 Daily News, Political articles
On Thursday morning, December 9, 2010, thousands of Georgia prisoners refused to work, stopped all other activities and locked down in their cells in a peaceful protest for their human rights. The December 9 Strike became the biggest prisoner protest in the history of the United States. Thousands of men, from Augusta, Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith and Telfair State Prisons, among others, initiated this strike to press the Georgia Department of Corrections ("DOC") to stop treating them like animals and slaves and institute programs that address their basic human rights. They set forth the following demands:
• · A LIVING WAGE FOR WORK
• · EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
• · DECENT HEALTH CARE
• · AN END TO CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS
• · DECENT LIVING CONDITIONS
• · NUTRITIONAL MEALS
• · VOCATIONAL AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
• · ACCESS TO FAMILIES
• · JUST PAROLE DECISIONS
Despite that the prisoners' protest remained non-violent, the DOC violently attempted to force the men back to work-claiming it was "lawful" to order prisoners to work without pay, in defiance of the 13th Amendment's abolition of slavery. In Augusta State Prison, six or seven inmates were brutally ripped from their cells by CERT Team guards and beaten, resulting in broken ribs for several men, one man beaten beyond recognition. This brutality continues there. At Telfair, the Tactical Squad trashed all the property in inmate cells. At Macon State, the Tactical Squad has menaced the men for two days, removing some to the "hole," and the warden ordered the heat and hot water turned off. Still, today, men at Macon, Smith, Augusta, Hays and Telfair State Prisons say they are committed to continuing the strike. Inmate leaders, representing blacks, Hispanics, whites, Muslims, Rastafarians, Christians, have stated the men will stay down until their demands are addressed, one issuing this statement:
"...Brothers, we have accomplished a major step in our struggle...We must continue what we have started...The only way to achieve our goals is to continue with our peaceful sit-down...I ask each and every one of my Brothers in this struggle to continue the fight. ON MONDAY MORNING, WHEN THE DOORS OPEN, CLOSE THEM. DO NOT GO TO WORK. They cannot do anything to us that they haven't already done at one time or another. Brothers, DON'T GIVE UP NOW. Make them come to the table. Be strong. DO NOT MAKE MONEY FOR THE STATE THAT THEY IN TURN USE TO KEEP US AS SLAVES...."
When the strike began, prisoner leaders issued the following call: "No more slavery. Injustice in one place is injustice to all. Inform your family to support our cause. Lock down for liberty!"
Here's the link to our recent Hard Knock Radio interview w/ Elaine Brown on this historic strike
http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/65925
READ Black Agenda Report Article at: http://www.BlackAgendaReport.com/?q=content/ga-prisoner-strike-continues-second-day-corporate-media-mostly-ignores-them-corrections-offi
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded#
Andy Cousins
counterfire.org
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POLICE KETTLING (STUDENT DEMONSTRATION against the EDUCATION CUTS), LONDON, 30-11-2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRV9h2dyBVU&NR=1
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Oscar Grant family not convinced of Johannes Mehserle's tears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxXupa9_iw
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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You need to watch this video. It made us furious, and it made us cry.
It's a powerful reminder of the real faces behind unemployment statistics. It's about three minutes and it's worth every second so I hope you'll turn up your speakers and watch the whole thing.
The same senators who are fighting to charge $700 billion in tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to our national credit card say extending unemployment is "too expensive" and "must be paid for." Meanwhile, more than one person a second is losing his or her lifeline.
If this video doesn't fuel your outrage and give you a sense of the human cost of delay on emergency unemployment, nothing will.
Please watch and send a strong message to your members of Congress. Tell them to restore unemployment insurance benefits for jobless workers who are being cut off right now at the rate of more than one a second.
Then, share this video with your friends and ask them to take action, too.
Let's fix this outrage.
Sincerely,
Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO
P.S. The online day of solidarity with jobless workers is coming Tuesday. Get ready to change your Facebook status and photo and to Tweet the word out. Thanks.
http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1011
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41st Native American Day Of Mourning: Thanksgiving Day- Nov. 25, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYmKess4hrc
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Road To Hope Convoy Reaches Gaza - Special Report
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_2sO-T_AjY
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A little holiday levity:
Check this out. It's for Willie Nelson (he's actually in it). It's a video from the Colbert Report and make sure to watch the very end:
http://rutube.ru/tracks/1248708.html
I have no money in my coffer,
No gold or silver do I bring,
Nor have I precious jewels to offer,
To celebrate the newborn king.
Yet do not spurn my gift completely,
O ye three wise men please demur,
Behold a plant that smokes more sweetly,
Than neither frankincense or myrrh.
And like a child born in this manger,
This herb is mild yet it is strong,
And it brings peace to friend and stranger,
Goodwill to men lies in this bong.
And now my wonder weed is flaring, - "Are you high?"
Lit like that special star above, - "Can it be?"
Pass it around in endless sharing, - "On christmas day"
And let not mankind bogart love. - "You'd smoke my tree!"
And the wise men started toking,
And yea, the bud was kind,
It was salvation they were smoking,
And his forgiveness blew their mind.
And still that wonder weed is flaring, - "Are you high?"
Lit like that special star above, - "You're so high!"
Pass it around in endless sharing, - "Dude, man, dude"
And let not mankind bogart love. - "You're really high, I'm gonna tell your savior"
And let not mankind bogart love.
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20 November 2010 Afghanistan: Time to Go
On 20 November 2010, as the Nato leaders met in Lisbon to discuss war strategy thousands of anti-war protesters marched through London calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan now.
The march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square was led by military families who have lost loved ones in the war, or who have relatives serving there now, and by Joe Glenton, the soldier who was jailed and court martialled for refusing to fight a war that he believed to be unjustified.
These videos capture the spirit of the day on which the cry was Afghanistan: Time to Go and Cut War Not Welfare.
Watch the great video's of this demonstration at this site:
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2170/246/
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Don't Touch My Junk (the TSA Hustle) song + video by Michael Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhEMRSp7vaY&feature=player_embedded
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Bird's Eye View: You've Got To See This
Blog - BPs Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
Wednesday, 24 November 2010 11:22
http://healthygulf.org/201011241558/blog/bps-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/birds-eye-view-you-ve-got-to-see-this
Yesterday's monitoring trip took me down to an isolated area on the eastern edge of Bay Ronquille on Louisiana's coast. Bay Ronquille is to the southeast of Barataria Bay. I went to this area after being informed by a source that there are stretches of beach near Ronquille that are "completely covered in oil "and "untouched "by any clean-up crew.
Our journey began in Myrtle Grove, LA aboard a boat with Captain Zach Mouton. On board this day was Jo Billups, GRN sponsor and member of the band Sassafrass, Randy Perez, a videographer from New Orleans, and my brother Jason Henderson, a Geography Professor visiting from San Francisco.
My source was correct in that there are miles long stretches of beach that are caked with huge mats of oil. There are enormous mats of tar that stretch from the shore to the water. In some spots, the tide covers the mats as it washes in only to reveal them as it washes back out. In other areas, the mats are so huge that they stretch from the sea bed all the way to the beach. It's impossible to tell how far out underwater they stretch. There are areas where you think you are standing on sand or mud only to realize that you are standing on huge blankets of weathered oil. There are tidal pools in the middle of the island that are filled with oil. The smell of oil is everywhere. Skulls and bones from dead birds and fish litter the sand and coyote tracks are all around. What a pity.
Whether BP has sent anyone to attempt to clean this area anytime in that last few months was hard to discern just by looking at the sand and soil. There were no usual tell-tell signs like tire tracks from four wheelers or left behind plastic bags., water bottles, and gloves. BP is aware of the area because as soon as we got onto the beach, a boat carrying BP workers saw us and sent someone to chase after us. Having been through this song and dance so many times with BP "supervisors", I decided to let my brother run interference while I foraged ahead to document the disaster. According to Jason, the BP contractor was cordial but did ask a lot of questions about who we were and what we were doing. The man explained that BP will be cleaning this area starting Monday, complete with heavy equipment and all. I am planning another trip next week to see if his claim is accurate. I've heard it all before.
By the way, on the way down to Bay Ronquille, we made a pass through Bay Jimmy. While the marsh is still covered in oil, there was not one clean up worker to be found anywhere in the Bay. That's funny considering I know of thousands of struggling out of work Gulf coast residents that would love a job cleaning up BP's mess.
Jonathan Henderson is the Coastal Resiliency Organizer for GRN
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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Quantitative Easing Explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=player_embedded#
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Report: "Tar balls and black oily plumes" wash up in Apalachicola Bay, FL - 70 miles EAST of Panama City (VIDEO)
November 12th, 2010 at 09:02 AM Email Post
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Seattle Cop: 'I'll Beat the F--ing Mexican Piss Out of You Homey'
http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/05/seattle_cop_ill_beat_the_f---ing_mexican_piss_out_of_you_homey.html
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Burning Desperation
Self-immolation has become a common form of suicide for Afghan women. Photographer Lynsey Addario speaks with women who survived their suicide attempts.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/11/07/world/1248069290784/burning-desperation.html?ref=world
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Anonymous BP cleanup worker: The oil "really hasn't even been touched"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vegVKrg84HI&feature=player_embedded
http://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2010/11/09/22476630.aspx
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Tag-Team Wrestling
"We have Learned who is For Real and who is Frontin'."
Glen Ford speaks in West Haven, CT just before the Oct. 2010 "One Nation Working Together" DC demo. See his scathing comments about the speakers from the main stage at the actual demo at blackagendareport.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAIuTM3cK9I
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Video of massive French protest -- inspiring!
http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment
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UAW Workers Picket The UAW Over Two-Tier
http://rustbeltradical.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/uaw-workers-picket-the-uaw/
Rally To End Two-Tier & Stand in Solidarity with GM Lake Orion | UAW HQ, Detroit MI (1 of 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bST5aTYZa00&feature=player_embedded
Rally To End Two-Tier & Stand in Solidarity with GM Lake Orion | UAW HQ, Detroit MI (2 of 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHLb-KMXD9c&feature=player_embedded
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BP Contract Worker "Trenches Dug To Bury Oil On Beaches"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0qop9xbGv4&feature=player_embedded
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RETHINK Afghanistan: The 10th Year: Afghanistan Veterans Speak Out
http://rethinkafghanistan.com/
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Firefighters Watch As Home Burns:
Gene Cranick's House Destroyed In Tennessee Over $75 Fee
By Adam J. Rose
The Huffington Post -- videos
10- 5-10 12:12 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/firefighters-watch-as-hom_n_750272.html
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Soldier Describes Murder of Afghan for Sport in Leaked Tape
By ROBERT MACKEY
September 27, 2010, 6:43 pm
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/soldier-describes-murder-of-afghan-for-sport-in-leaked-tape/?ref=world
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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Stephen Colbert's statement before Congress
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39343087#39343087
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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The $5 million for selling the Custer flag
should be donated to helping out Native
Americans, particularly those who are in
poverty with Caucasian diseases and freeze
to death on reservations because they cannot
afford to buy space heaters. By doing this, it
would be a minuscule contribution for all of
the indigenous people in the United States
that Custer murdered. Don't you think?
Little Bighorn Battlefield National
Monument
http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm
Sothbeys
http://www.sothebys.com/
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://www.sandcreekmassacre.net
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103
"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
- Mahatma Gandhi
If you have received this message in error or do not wish to receive these, messages in future, please accept our apologies and reply with:, REMOVE in the Subject line. We sincerely regret any inconvenience.
Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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Dear Friends, Please forward widely...
Dear Friends,
I write again to correct a possible mis-statement of the facts in my earlier email regarding Lynne's status. I called Lynne's husband, Ralph Poynter, today to learn more of the details of her situation.
Here's the basic facts:
1) Lynne's conviction on frame-up charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism makes her a candidate for a maximum security prison. This is usually what happens with all male prisoners. They are segregated to terrible facilities within various federal prisons.
2) It appears that the treatment for female prisoners may differ, case by case, and especially so since the facilities for females with such a conviction are more limited.
3) At present Ralph reports, based on talks with Lynne, that plans are underway to send her to a permanent prison as opposed to her present place of incarceration at the Manhattan Correctional Institution in New York City.
4) Rumors have it that she is being considered for a terrible facility in Texas as well as for a much better facility in Danbury, Connecticut. No one knows for sure as the government's Bureau of Prisons has made no public decisions and people have been relegated to rumors of every sort.
5) Lynne has been informed that a decision is immanent and that if Ralph doesn't hear from her each day, she will be en route to wherever they choose to send her.
To conclude, there is still some hope that Lynne will be sent to Danbury, CT. As prisons go, this is the best variant and close to NYC by train, making it easier for family visits. But there is also a strong possibility that she will be sent to a bad Texas prison.
I will keep you posted.
In solidarity,
Jeff
I just received a terribly sad one-sentence letter from Ralph Poynter, Lynne Stewart's husband. Lynne will very be shortly (if not already) sent to a maximum security prison, location still unknown, but possibly in Texas.
Lynne had previously requested that her ten-year sentence be served at Danbury Federal Correction Institution, a minimum security prison, but with several amenities that make prison life more tolerable. Danbury was the place where the famous Hollywood Ten were incarcerated in the 1950s. But vindictive prison officials, utilizing the pretext that Lynne was (falsely) convicted of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism, placed her in a terrible facility far away from her friends and family.
Lynne's appeals of her conviction and sentence will continue to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the very court that previously, in essence, ordered Lynne's sentence to be reviewed and extended. Lynne was originally sentenced to 28 months, only to have her sentence revisited by the same Judge John Koeltl. Judge Koeltl had originally ordered that Lynne serve a 28-month sentence. He undoubtedly bent to the pressures of his "superiors" and handed Lynne a terrible sentence of ten years, a term that Lynne, in poor health, will have a hard time serving. She has already been in prison for about one year and will likely receive an automatic "good behavior" sentence reduction of ten percent, making the date of her release some eight years from now.
Without doubt we must continue the fight for Lynne's freedom and for her assignment to a prison that is the most conducive to Lynne's comfort and well-being.
This will require some significant fund-raising to assist Ralph and Lynne's family to make regular visits.
Please make your generous check payable to:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
Please send a note to me as well so I can keep in close touch regarding future developments.
I have enclosed a recent letter of solidarity that Lynne sent to a California meeting celebrating the life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, whose horrific execution five years ago outraged social justice activists around the world.
In solidarity,
Jeff Mackler,West Coast Coordinator
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
510-268-9429
Tribute to Tookie
Message From Lynne Stewart to the Fifth Annual Stanley Tookie Williams Legacy Summit coming up:
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Merritt College
Huey P. Newton/Bobby Seale Student Lounge
12500 Campus Drive, Oakland
Tookie Williams may have left us five years ago but I believe and hope he will live on in our consciousness as a symbol of both the evils of this society and also the possibility of human redemption against overwhelming odds.
For me, Tookie represents the very real genocide in the African American communities of this country. The spiral, as my friend and colleague, ex-convict Eddie Ellis repeats on his "On the Count" radio show on WBAI, is from the plantation to the projects to the penitentiary. This is a descent into death fueled by educational systems that quit on the children before they are even enrolled in school and whose main purpose is to make sure the paychecks leave the inner cities and enrich the suburbs. They dumb-down and then leave alienated adolescents, provided they haven't already dropped out, full of anger, resentment and devoid of any clue of political understanding. Although poverty worsens this despair, it is not limited to those who have little; this racial depression also rages in the Black middle class because it is, at its root, born of the racism that still thrives in this society.
In the 1960's (and not to idealize) the "revolution" was recruiting everywhere but most successfully in the Universities and the Prisons. George Jackson, Attica, were the textbooks studied by persons similarly situated. Now the prisons hold elderly, respected heroes, political prisoners, POWs, and those more recently framed by the police state (Mumia, the Scott Sisters, Troy Davis, entrapped Muslims). Many of these came to jail already politicized and active. But the vast majority in prison today, are scooped off the street-a generation of mostly young men. They have attitude but not much else to build with.
Not Tookie-while he represented the vast majority of prisoners who ended up in jail, programmed for the trip since birth for all the reasons advanced above-but because the human spirit is indomitable and he was a person whose innate intellect had not been destroyed and who was able to discern the enticements and bling of a false, fraudulent society and begin to resist them. He changed, in jail. And that change led to his homicide by the State of California.
However, the careless society that produced him and thousands like him that remain in our prisons has not changed. Their goals are political-to remove and imprison the unlit dynamite of social change, to prove that crime can be deterred by the death penalty that kills and the lifetime imprisonments that throw away redeemable human beings. Tookie represented the bright hope. He was a shining example that change was possible, achievable. His efforts toward negotiation between warring factions and his understanding of the root causes that sparked "gang" wars made him stand out and so, THEY took him out.
We are here today to affirm out belief in the Tookie Williams' who are still behind bars, to acknowledge forthrightly the death of the intellect and curiosity of children wrought by the schools they attend and to stand against the genocide of African Americans. You can't see the boxcars or the concentration camps? Just sniff the air for the smoke of lives burnt up/out.
Love Struggle Lynne Stewart
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MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
Your Year-End Gift for the Children
Double your impact with this matching gift opportunity!
Dear Friend of the Children,
You may have recently received a letter from me via regular mail with a review of the important things you helped MECA accomplish for the children in 2010, along with a special Maia Project decal.
My letter to you also included an announcement of MECA's first ever matching gift offer. One of our most generous supporters will match all gifts received by December 31. 2010 to a total of $35,000.
So, whether you are a long time supporter, or giving for the first-time... Whether you can give $10 or $1,000... This is a unique opportunity to double the impact of your year-end gift!
Your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar, making it go twice as far so that MECA can:
* Install twenty more permanent drinking water units in Gaza schools though our Maia Project
* Continue our work with Playgrounds for Palestine to complete a community park in the besieged East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where violent Israeli settlers attack children and adults, Israeli police arrest the victims, and the city conducts "administrative demolitions" of Palestinian homes.
* Send a large medical aid shipment to Gaza.
* Renew support for "Let the Children Play and Heal," a program in Gaza to help children cope with trauma and grief through arts programs, referrals to therapists, educational materials for families and training for mothers.
Your support for the Middle East Children's Alliance's delivers real, often life-saving, help. And it does more than that. It sends a message of hope and solidarity to Palestine-showing the people that we are standing beside them as they struggle to bring about a better life for their children.
With warm regards,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Director
P.S. Please give as much as you possible can, and please make your contribution now, so it will be doubled. Thank you so much.
P.S.S. If you didn't receive a MAIA Project decal in the mail or if you would like another one, please send an email message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "MAIA Project decal" in the subject line when you make your contribution.
To make a gift by mail send to:
MECA, 1101 8th Street, Berkley, CA 94710
To make a gift by phone, please call MECA's off at: 510-548-0542
To "GO PAPERLESS" and receive all your MECA communications by email, send a message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "Paperless" in the subject line.
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AN ATTACK AGAINST ONE IS AN ATTACK AGAINST ALL! WE ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS OUR WEAKEST LINK! UNITY AND SOLIDARITY AGAINST THESE ATTACKS IS OUR MOST POWERFUL DEFENSE!
THIS JUST IN: NEW GRAND JURY INVESTIGATIONS; AND ATTACK AGAINST JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE ACTIVISTS:
FBI Raid Victims Get New Grand Jury Subpoenas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIlMwbkIo2E
APNewsBreak: Activists called back to grand jury
By AMY FORLITI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 17, 2010; 6:10 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111705560.html
MINNEAPOLIS -- Three Minnesota anti-war activists who refused to testify before a federal grand jury in Chicago after their homes were raided in a terrorism investigation have been told they'll be called again, an attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
In late September, authorities searched seven homes and an office in Minneapolis and Chicago in what the FBI said was an investigation into material support of terrorism. Fourteen activists in the two states were summoned to testify, but they refused and their subpoenas were postponed.
None of the activists have been charged. Warrants suggest agents were looking for connections between them and terrorist groups in Colombia and the Middle East.
Bruce Nestor, an attorney who represents some of the activists, said Wednesday that three of them have been told they'll be called back to the grand jury, but it's not clear when. Individual attorneys for those activists are working out details with prosecutors, Nestor said.
"They don't have a specific date, but they are being told that basically they will be called back in front of the grand jury," Nestor said. "They all have individual counsel, and those individual counsel are in the process of discussing with the U.S. attorney the details as to how proceed."
Randall Samborn, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, declined to comment about the case, saying he could neither confirm nor deny anything involving a federal grand jury because such proceedings are confidential.
Nestor said activists Anh Pham, Sarah Martin and Tracy Molm - whose homes were raided in September - have been told they'll be called again before the grand jury.
"These three are being called back, and within a matter of weeks will be facing the decision of testifying or facing contempt," Nestor said.
Pham said Wednesday she knew little about the situation and declined comment until she had a chance to talk to her attorney. Messages left for Martin were not immediately returned, and a phone number for Molm was not immediately available.
The activists said previously that they wouldn't appear before a grand jury because they felt grand juries had historically been used to harass activists and that testifying in secret would stifle free speech.
The government has not revealed the target of its investigation, but the activists have said they felt singled out because of their work in the anti-war movement.
"The government is not saying much, and they kind of hold all the cards at the moment," Nestor said.
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NOTE TO READERS:
The BAUAW Newsletter stands squarely opposed to the Grand Jury investigation of antiwar and social justice activists. An injury to one is an injury to all. We are all under attack now! We must stand united in defense of our fellow activists!
We have a right to fight injustice wherever it occurs in the world! Justice is an inalienable human right for everyone!
We are also alarmed and outraged about the recent pepper-spray attack against Jewish Voice for Peace activists at their own meeting carried out by Zionist thugs:
Right-wing Israel advocacy group San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs
Member Pepper Sprays Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) members
at Bay Area JVP Chapter Meeting. Wraps self in Israeli flag.
Group well known in Bay Area for harassing and intimidating peace activists
Contact: Jesse AT Jvp.org
[Oakland, CA November 15, 2010]
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/right-wing-israel-advocacy-group-pepper-sprays-jewish-voice-peace-jvp-members
Sunday night, November 14, 2010, up to a dozen members of San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs, a right-wing Israeli advocacy group with a documented track record of aggressively taunting and intimidating grassroots peace activists, attended a Bay Area Jewish Voice for Peace community meeting at a South Berkeley Senior Center.
Jewish Voice for Peace is the largest U.S. Jewish peace group dedicated to a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on democracy and full equality --- the Bay Area chapter is the founding chapter of the organization. Approximately 50 to 60 people were at the meeting, and numerous witnesses are available to corroborate the events.
Watch video of some of the disruptions and the victims and perpetrator of attacks here:
StandWithUs/SF Voice for Israel Pepper-sprays peace activists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLO2xKcYDwc
Eyewitness testimonies are here:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/eyewitness-testimony-jvp-member-about-stand-us-swu-attacks
and here:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/eyewitness-report-stand-us-attacks-jvp-meeting
Article by a Berkeley Daily Planet reporter here:
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/blog/eyewitness-testimony-berekeley-daily-planet-reporter-about-swu-attacks
Americans for Peace Now condemned the attack here:
http://peacenow.org/entries/post_25
and Meretz USA called it not a legitimate part of Jewish communal discourse here.
http://meretzusa.blogspot.com/2010/11/meretz-usa-violence-not-legitimate-part.html
Wrapped in an Israeli flag, San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs (SFVI/SWU) member Robin Dubner, an Oakland based attorney, pepper-sprayed two JVP members in the eyes and face after they attempted to nonviolently block her ability to aggressively videotape the faces of JVP meeting attendees against their will. The members, Alexei Folger and Glen Hauer, were careful to make no physical contact with her or her camera prior to the attack.
Folger said, "I did not see it coming and all of a sudden there was gooey stuff all over my head and hand. I have never been pepper-sprayed before, my whole head felt like it was on fire."
JVP had earlier this year filed a police report about a June SFVI/SWU protest at which JVP and (peace group) Women in Black members were intimidatingly videotaped and threatened by a StandWithUs supporter after being taunted with chants like "Nazi, Nazi, Nazi" or "Kapo,Kapo,Kapo".
Caught on a widely seen videotape was a SFVI/SWU supporter pointing his camera to the faces of silent peace vigil participants while saying "You're all being identified, every last one of you...we will find out where you live. We're going to make your lives difficult. We will disrupt your families..."
For that reason, JVP members were particularly concerned about protecting the safety of meeting attendees and preventing the videotaping.
Hauer, a retired attorney and member of San Francisco's Congregation Sha'har Zahav who was treated for pepper spray explained, "When one of the intruders [Dubner] continued standing and filming people despite the facilitator and facility manager repeatedly telling her that she could not, I first asked her politely to please put away the video camera, then several times told her to put away the camera, and then tried nonviolently to stay in front of the camera with my body, even when she shoved me. I could have taken the camera but decided instead to talk to the woman and to try to be the only person she photographed."
Hauer, who also leads groups on healing from WWII & the Holocaust, and speaks to churches about anti-Semitism as it relates to the movement for peace in the Middle East, went on:
"In my mind was the history of targeting of Jewish peace activists by the right wing of the Jewish community--the posting of our photos on internet hate sites, for example, followed by acts of vandalism at our homes and places of work. There were many in the room for whom I care deeply. I could also see that many at the meeting were new to the work we were doing, and I did not want them to be scared away."
Dubner was accompanied by up to a dozen other StandWithUs members--including Dan Spitzer, Susan Meyers, Mike Harris, Bea Lieberman, Faith Meltzer, and Ross Meltzer--who repeatedly disrupted and aggressively videotaped the JVP meeting and JVP members against their will, wielding the cameras in an intimidating and belligerent manner. Despite repeated requests from the JVP meeting facilitator and other JVP activists to desist from recording and put away their videocameras, the SFVI/SWU activists - who had spread themselves throughout the room - continued to record and launch lengthy monologues while the presenters attempted to speak.
They were explicitly invited by the JVP facilitator to stay in the meeting and participate without videotaping but they refused. They also refused offers for floor time by the presenters. The manager of the facility asked the SFVI/SWU members to abide by JVP's rules or face the police, and when SFVI/SWU refused to comply with JVP's protocol, the police were called.
At one point, JVP members and presenters worked to restore calm and de-escalate by singing the Hebrew peace song, Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu (Peace will come to us) while waiting for the police to arrive. Most meeting attendees did not know until later that 2 people had been attacked with pepper spray.
When police arrived, Dubner was temporarily placed in handcuffs while other members of San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs remained inside the meeting blowing loud whistles, using videocameras to intimidate meeting attendees.
Dubner refused repeated requests by JVP members or the police to identify the substance she sprayed. A police officer later identified it as pepper spray and paramedics were called to help treat the victims of the attack. One of them, Alexei Folger, looked visibly red and swollen, as though she had been burned on more than half her face.
Immediately following the attack, Ms. Folger, not knowing the nature of the substance on her face, rubbed some of it on Ms. Dubner's shirtsleeve at which point Ms.Dubner, who is a large woman, started physically shoving the petite Ms. Folger. A Jewish Voice for Peace staff member stood between them to prevent further escalation or physical contact between Ms Dubner and the shocked and injured Ms. Folger.
This deliberate confrontation is part of a pattern of escalating intimidation and attacks against peace activists in the Bay Area. Earlier this year, the home of Tikkun Magazine editor Michael Lerner was covered in threatening posters. In addition to the videotaped harassment of Women in Black and JVP members, several months ago someone placed threatening graffiti outside of the JVP offices.
###
These actions cannot be tolerated by the peace and justice movement--anywhere! We have a right to meet and protest injustice without being harassed, videotaped, pepper-sprayed, disrupted or summoned by the FBI for Grand Jury questioning!
In solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War Newsletter. bauaw.org
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS
http://mije.org/node/1343
freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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San Francisco Labor Council Resolution Adopted unanimously on Nov. 8, 2010
Resolution Condemning Police Attack on Free Speech & Assembly following Oscar Grant Rally
Whereas, on Friday November 5, former BART cop Johannes Mehserle was given a jail sentence of 2 years for the 'involuntary manslaughter' of Oscar Grant. Subtracting time served and 'good behavior', Mehserle may be back on the streets in as little as 7 months; and
Whereas, the organizers of a November 5th Rally and Gathering in Frank Ogawa Plaza to honor Oscar Grant and Respond to the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle, were refused a permit for an organized march after the rally to an indoor gathering at DeFremery Park; and
Whereas, after the rally many hundreds of community members spontaneously started marching toward Fruitvale BART, the site of Oscar Grant's murder, and after the cops sealed off an entire city block, police did not allow people to disperse, called it a 'crime scene', and arrested 152 people, including San Francisco Labor Council Delegate Dave Welsh, resulting in more arrests than at any other Oscar Grant-related protest; and
Whereas, most arrestees have been cited on misdemeanor charges, held for 24 hours and have mass arraignments in the first week of December at Wiley Manuel Courthouse, 661 Washington Street in Oakland.
Therefore be It Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council condemns this assault on freedom of speech and assembly and demands that all these misdemeanor assembly charges be dropped.
Presented by Marcus Holder, delegate from ILWU Local 10, and adopted unanimously at the regular delegates meeting of the San Francisco Labor Council held Nov. 8, 2010 in San Francisco, California.
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Deafening Silence, Chuck Africa (MOVE 9)
Check out other art and poetry by prisoners at:
Shujaas!: Prisoners Resisting Through Art
...we banging hard, yes, very hard, on this system...
http://shujaas.wordpress.com/
Peace People,
This poem is from Chuck Africa, one of the MOVE 9, who is currently serving 30-100 years on trump up charges of killing a police officer. After 32 years in prison, the MOVE 9 are repeatly denied parole, after serving their minimum sentence. Chuck wanted me to share this with the people, so that we can see how our silence in demanding the MOVE 9's freedom is inherently an invitation to their death behind prison walls.
Deafening Silence
Don't ya'll hear cries of anguish?
In the climate of pain come joining voices?
But voices become unheard and strained by inactions
Of dead brains
How long will thou Philly soul remain in the pit of agonizing apathy?
Indifference seems to greet you like the morning mirror
Look closely in the mirror and realize it's a period of mourning....
My Sistas, mothers, daughters, wives and warriors
Languish in prisons obscurity like a distant star in the galaxies as does their brothers
We need to be free....
How loud can you stay silence?
Have the courage to stand up and have a say,
Choose resistance and let go of your fears.
The history of injustice to MOVE; we all know so well
But your deafening silence could be my DEATH KNELL.
Chuck Africa
Please share, inform people and get involve in demanding the MOVE 9's freedom! www.MOVE9parole.blogspot.com
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Say No to Islamophobia!
Defend Mosques and Community Centers!
The Fight for Peace and Social Justice Requires Defense of All Under Attack!
http://www.petitiononline.com/nophobia/petition.html
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Kevin Keith Update: Good News! Death sentence commuted!
Ohio may execute an innocent man unless you take action.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-kevin-keith
Ohio's Governor Spares Life of a Death Row Inmate Kevin Keith
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03ohio.html?ref=us
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Please sign the petition to release Bradley Manning
http://www.petitiononline.com/manning1/petition.html (Click to sign here)
To: US Department of Defense; US Department of Justice
We, the Undersigned, call for justice for US Army PFC Bradley Manning, incarcerated without charge (as of 18 June 2010) at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
Media accounts state that Mr. Manning was arrested in late May for leaking the video of US Apache helicopter pilots killing innocent people and seriously wounding two children in Baghdad, including those who arrived to help the wounded, as well as potentially other material. The video was released by WikiLeaks under the name "Collateral Murder".
If these allegations are untrue, we call upon the US Department of Defense to release Mr. Manning immediately.
If these allegations ARE true, we ALSO call upon the US Department of Defense to release Mr. Manning immediately.
Simultaneously, we express our support for Mr. Manning in any case, and our admiration for his courage if he is, in fact, the person who disclosed the video. Like in the cases of Daniel Ellsberg, W. Mark Felt, Frank Serpico and countless other whistleblowers before, government demands for secrecy must yield to public knowledge and justice when government crime and corruption are being kept hidden.
Justice for Bradley Manning!
Sincerely,
The Undersigned:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?manning1
--
Zaineb Alani
http://www.thewordsthatcomeout.blogspot.com
http://www.tigresssmiles.blogspot.com
"Yesterday I lost a country. / I was in a hurry, / and didn't notice when it fell from me / like a broken branch from a forgetful tree. / Please, if anyone passes by / and stumbles across it, / perhaps in a suitcase / open to the sky, / or engraved on a rock / like a gaping wound, / ... / If anyone stumbles across it, / return it to me please. / Please return it, sir. / Please return it, madam. / It is my country . . . / I was in a hurry / when I lost it yesterday." -Dunya Mikhail, Iraqi poet
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Please forward widely...
HELP LYNNE STEWART -- SUPPORT THESE BILLS
These two bills are now in Congress and need your support. Either or both bills would drastically decrease Lynne's and other federal sentences substantially.
H.R. 1475 "Federal Prison Work Incentive Act Amended 2009," Congressman Danny Davis, Democrat, Illinois
This bill will restore and amend the former federal B.O.P. good time allowances. It will let all federal prisoners, except lifers, earn significant reductions to their sentences. Second, earn monthly good time days by working prison jobs. Third, allowances for performing outstanding services or duties in connection with institutional operations. In addition, part of this bill is to bring back parole to federal long term prisoners.
Go to: www.FedCURE.org and www.FAMM.org
At this time, federal prisoners only earn 47 days per year good time. If H.R. 1475 passes, Lynne Stewart would earn 120-180 days per year good time!
H.R. 61 "45 And Older," Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (18th Congressional District, Texas)
This bill provides early release from federal prison after serving half of a violent crime or violent conduct in prison.
Please write, call, email your Representatives and Senators. Demand their votes!
This information is brought to you by Diane E. Schindelwig, a federal prisoner #36582-177 and friend and supporter of Lynne Stewart.
Write to Lynne at:
Lynne Stewart 53504-054
MCC-NY 2-S
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007
For further information call Lynne's husband, Ralph Poynter, leader of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Send contributions payable to:
Lynne Stewart Organization
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York, 11216
---
Listen to Lynne Stewart event, that took place July 8, 2010 at Judson Memorial Church
Excerpts include: Mumia Abu Jamal, Ralph Poynter, Ramsey Clark, Juanita
Young, Fred Hampton Jr., Raging Grannies, Ralph Schoenman
http://www.takingaimradio.com/shows/audio.html
And check out this article (link) too!
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2010/062210Lendman.shtml
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GRAVELY CONCERNED THAT RULING PUTS TROY DAVIS ON TRACK FOR EXECUTION; CITES PERSISTING DOUBTS ABOUT HIS GUILT
"Judge William T. Moore, Jr. ruled that while executing an innocent person would violate the United States Constitution, Davis didn't meet the extraordinarily high legal bar to prove his innocence."
Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 212-633-4247, wgozan@aiusa.org.
(Washington, D.C.) - Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today expressed deep concern that a federal district court decision puts Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis back on track for execution, despite doubts about his guilt that were raised during a June evidentiary hearing. Judge William T. Moore, Jr. ruled that while executing an innocent person would violate the United States Constitution, Davis didn't meet the extraordinarily high legal bar to prove his innocence.
"Nobody walking out of that hearing could view this as an open-and-shut case," said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. "The testimony that came to light demonstrates that doubt still exists, but the legal bar for proving innocence was set so high it was virtually insurmountable. It would be utterly unconscionable to proceed with this execution, plain and simple."
Amnesty International representatives, including Cox, attended the hearing in Savannah, Ga. The organization noted that evidence continues to cast doubt over the case:
· Four witnesses admitted in court that they lied at trial when they implicated Troy Davis and that they did not know who shot Officer Mark MacPhail.
· Four witnesses implicated another man as the one who killed the officer - including a man who says he saw the shooting and could clearly identify the alternative suspect, who is a family member.
· Three original state witnesses described police coercion during questioning, including one man who was 16 years old at the time of the murder and was questioned by several police officers without his parents or other adults present.
"The Troy Davis case is emblematic of everything that is wrong with capital punishment," said Laura Moye, director of AIUSA's Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. "In a system rife with error, mistakes can be made. There are no do-overs when it comes to death. Lawmakers across the country should scrutinize this case carefully, not only because of its unprecedented nature, but because it clearly indicates the need to abolish the death penalty in the United States."
Since the launch of its February 2007 report, Where Is the Justice for Me? The Case of Troy Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia, Amnesty International has campaigned intensively for a new evidentiary hearing or trial and clemency for Davis, collecting hundreds of thousands of clemency petition signatures and letters from across the United States and around the world. To date, internationally known figures such as Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter have all joined the call for clemency, as well as lawmakers from within and outside of Georgia.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers who campaign for universal human rights from more than 150 countries. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
# # #
For more information visit www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis.
Wende Gozan Brown
Media Relations Director
Amnesty International USA
212/633-4247 (o)
347/526-5520 (c)
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Please sign the petition to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and
and forward it to all your lists.
"Mumia Abu-Jamal and The Global Abolition of the Death Penalty"
http://www.petitiononline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html
(A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int'l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco (E-mail: MumiaLegalDefense@gmail.com; Website: www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).]
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
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Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the U.S. Our legal effort is the front line of the battle for Mumia's freedom and life. His legal defense needs help. The costs are substantial for our litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court and at the state level. To help, please make your checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). All donations are tax deductible under the Internal Revenue Code, section 501c)3), and should be mailed to:
It is outrageous and a violation of human rights that Mumia remains in prison and on death row. His life hangs in the balance. My career has been marked by successfully representing people facing death in murder cases. I will not rest until we win Mumia's case. Justice requires no less.
With best wishes,
Robert R. Bryan
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT!
FLASHPOINTS Interview with Innocent San Quentin Death Row Inmate
Kevin Cooper -- Aired Monday, May 18,2009
http://www.flashpoints.net/#GOOGLE_SEARCH_ENGINE
To learn more about Kevin Cooper go to:
savekevincooper.org
LINKS
San Francisco Chronicle article on the recent ruling:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/13/BAM517J8T3.DTL
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and dissent:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/05/11/05-99004o.pdf
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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1) Census Data Reveal Pockets of Wealth and Poverty
"The three counties in the country with the highest median household income are all in Virginia, according to census data released on Tuesday, while the counties with the highest rates of poverty are in four American Indian reservations, all in South Dakota."
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
December 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15census.html?hp
2) The US Government's pursuit of WikiLeaks could be its undoing
By Peter Kirwan
December 13, 2010
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/369-wikileaks/4257-the-us-governments-pursuit-of-wikileaks-could-be-its-undoing
3) Assange attorney: Secret grand jury meeting in Virginia on WikiLeaks
By the CNN Wire Staff
December 13, 2010 12:00 p.m. EST
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/368-wikileaks/4249-assange-attorney-grand-jury-meeting-in-virginia-on-wikileaks
4) Air Force Blocks Media Sites
By SPENCER E. ANTE And JULIAN E. BARNES
DECEMBER 14, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576019944121568506.htm
5) New Estimates Revise Incidence of Food Poisoning
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/business/16illness.html?hp
6) Anti-Austerity Protest in Greece Turns Violent
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/europe/16greece.html?ref=world
7) The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention
By Glenn Greenwald
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2010 02:15 ET
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/14/manning/
8) Daniel Ellsberg Talks to AlterNet About Treatment of WikiLeaks' Assange
By Adele M. Stan | Sourced from AlterNet
Posted at December 16, 2010, 8:45 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/397133/daniel_ellsberg_talks_to_alternet_about_treatment_of_wikileaks%27_assange/#paragraph2
9) Julian Assange granted bail at high court
WikiLeaks founder is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 December 2010 16.12 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/16/julian-assange-wikileaks
10) WikiLeaks Founder Is Released on Bail
By RAVI SOMAIYA and ALAN COWELL
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/world/europe/17assange.html?ref=world
11) South Korea to Hold Artillery Drills on Island
By MARK McDONALD and KEVIN DREW
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/world/asia/17korea.html?ref=world
12) U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/16wiki.html?ref=world
13) Some Georgia Inmates Return to Work
By SARAH WHEATON
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16prison.html?ref=us
11) U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/16wiki.html?ref=world
12) Some Georgia Inmates Return to Work
By SARAH WHEATON
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16prison.html?ref=us
13) Some Georgia Inmates Return to Work
By SARAH WHEATON
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16prison.html?ref=us
14) 22 Arrested in LA Foreclosure Protest at Chase
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/16/business/AP-CA-Foreclosures-Protest.html?src=busln
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1) Census Data Reveal Pockets of Wealth and Poverty
"The three counties in the country with the highest median household income are all in Virginia, according to census data released on Tuesday, while the counties with the highest rates of poverty are in four American Indian reservations, all in South Dakota."
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
December 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15census.html?hp
WASHINGTON - The three counties in the country with the highest median household income are all in Virginia, according to census data released on Tuesday, while the counties with the highest rates of poverty are in four American Indian reservations, all in South Dakota.
The Virginia counties of Falls Church, Fairfax and Loudoun had the highest median income, according to the data, which spans 2005 to 2009. Falls Church was the highest at $113,313, up by 17 percent from 2000. The lowest median income was in Owsley County, Ky., at $18,869.
Of the five counties with poverty rates higher than 39 percent, four contain or are in American Indian reservations in South Dakota. The fifth, Willacy County, Tex., is on the Gulf Coast.
The data is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which samples 1 in 10 Americans on a variety of social, economic and demographic topics. It is the single largest release of data in the bureau's history, with 11 billion individual estimates covering 670,000 geographic locations. It gives details on the characteristics of American society based on surveys, and is separate from the 2010 Census, which will provide a precise count of all Americans.
In another finding, the immigrant population has spread out to areas that previously had none. The number of immigrants increased by 40 percent in the nearly 2,500 counties where they had comprised less than 5 percent of the population in 2000. Immigrants have traditionally settled in cities, but in the last decade, they have followed jobs to rural and suburban areas, particularly ones with housing booms.
Among the sharpest increases were in Frederick County, Md., where the foreign-born population nearly tripled to almost 10 percent of the population. Other fast risers were Stafford County, Va., where the foreign-born population also tripled, and Newton County, Ga., where it jumped fourfold.
Meanwhile, the nation's traditional immigrant centers - the 16 counties where immigrants made up more than 30 percent of the population, according to the data - saw their foreign-born population grow by only a quarter million.
The suburbs of Washington also contained the highest concentration of people with higher education. Nearly half of the 17 counties where more than half of people 25 and older had a bachelor's degree were in the city's suburbs. The others were in Colorado (Boulder, Douglas and Pitkin) and California (Marin and San Francisco).
There were 62 counties where less than 10 percent of the adult population had a bachelor's degree. Fourteen of these counties were in Georgia, nine in Tennessee, eight in Kentucky and five each in Florida and West Virginia.
Sabrina Tavernise reported from Washington, and Robert Gebeloff from New York.
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2) The US Government's pursuit of WikiLeaks could be its undoing
By Peter Kirwan
December 13, 2010
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/369-wikileaks/4257-the-us-governments-pursuit-of-wikileaks-could-be-its-undoing
This is about as good as it gets for the United States of America. Backed by the righteous anger of lawmakers and commentators, hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of the nation's brightest brains are working toward the goal of making Julian Assange answer for his alleged crimes in a US court.
Those engaged in this effort should enjoy the thrill of the chase. If Assange is successfully extradited to the US, a sobering experience will follow. Prosecuting the founder of WikiLeaks could very easily turn into a nightmare. In formal terms, Julian Assange will be the man standing trial. But the participant with the most to lose will be the US government. Victory, if it arrives in any formal sense, will feel pyrrhic.
The US government's position is weak because it possesses relatively few reliable legal tools. Prosecuting Assange under The Espionage Act of 1917, America's version of Britain's Official Secrets Act, still looks like the best option.
Ranging far more widely than its title suggests, the Espionage Act criminalises the communication of "information relating to the national defense", which "the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States." The act theoretically makes criminals of Julian Assange, the newspaper editors working with WikiLeaks and anyone who reads, or even Tweets, about the contents of a classified cable.
The law's sweeping nature has troubled judges for the best part of a century. As a result, administrations have become reluctant to deploy it.
A civilian *recipient* of classified data has never been convicted under this law. Nor has someone like Assange, who will claim to be protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
When the White House went after Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971, it used The Espionage Act. But Assange's position isn't analogous to that of Ellsberg. Instead, it's closer to that of The New York Times, which published Ellsberg's documents. Even the Nixon administration held back from prosecuting The Times, preferring instead to injunct the newspaper while it pursued Ellsberg through the criminal courts.
The Nixon administration was trying to circumvent the First Amendment. Yet in order to prosecute Assange, the Obama administration may have to confront the First Amendment head on. It may be forced to argue that WikiLeaks isn't a media organisation, but merely a web site, devoid of editorial functions, that publishes raw data.
The argument that only "established" media outlets can count on First Amendment protection is profoundly at odds with the reality of media production and consumption in the 21st century. Any prosecution on these grounds will provoke storms of criticism and ridicule.
Neither has Assange made this argument easy for prosecutors. WikiLeaks asked Washington for assistance with redacting the cables and met with a refusal. Yet when The New York Times asked the US government for advice on what to censor, it received suggestions. "The other news organizations supported these redactions," New York Times editor Bill Keller recently wrote in an online discussion. "WikiLeaks has indicated that it intends to do likewise. And as a matter of news interest, we will watch their website to see what they do."
If Assange has been sensible, WikiLeaks is exercising the same editorial judgements as the world's leading newspapers. It's
instructive to listen to what Sylvie Kauffmann, executive editor of Le Monde (which also collaborated with WikiLeaks) has to say about this:
"Even the political classes [in France] recognised that the newspapers who had been working on these cables had behaved in a
responsible way. They acknowledged that we had been doing our job of selecting the material in an expert way. There was a complete evolution of the public view."
The prospect of the editors of Der Spiegel, El Pais, the Guardian, Le Monde and The New York Times testifying about how they limited unacceptable side-effects should worry the White House. Perhaps Assange's defence team will also want to question US defence secretary Robert Gates about his claim that the damage inflicted by Cablegate has been " fairly modest". If this is the case, perhaps WikiLeaks and its collaborators were a good deal more responsible than critics suggest.
The US government could choose another route to court: it could prosecute WikiLeaks and the news organisations with which it collaborated. This option has been floated by Senator Joe Lieberman, the influential chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. It has also been described by Steve Vladeck, professor of law at American University, as "crossing a proverbial Rubicon that even the most secrecy-obsessed, First Amendment-indifferent administrations have consistently refused to attempt to bridge". The results would include a full-blown constitutional crisis.
Further risks lie in wait. Thanks to one of the best-known judge-led modifications of The Espionage Act, the US will also need to demonstrate, in the words of one prominent free speech lawyer, that Julian Assange possessed the "highest specific intent to do harm to the United States that you possibly can have".
This is easier said than done. Assange's defence team will argue that his target wasn't the US government per se, but its culture of secrecy and the way in which it conducts foreign wars. Moreover, WikiLeaks has published documents that have irritated many governments. It could be argued that Assange and his colleagues haven't singled out the US for special treatment.
How will the US government prove that WikiLeaks threatened national security? Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Intelligence Committee, argues that this is "beyond question". But the US courts will require proof. As the former federal prosecutor Baruch Weiss noted recently, this raises difficulties: "You have to disclose more classified information to explain to the jury the damage brought about by the disclosure."
As a result, parts of any trial may be held in secret. Yet if this happens, the credibility of any prosecution will be diminished.
Much is being made of the possibility that Assange "solicited" 251,287 secret documents from Bradley Manning, a 22-year-old US Army private who was serving with the 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division in Baghdad before his arrest in June.
If Assange encouraged Manning, it might be easier to prosecute him. Yet the US government may also have encouraged the theft of secrets. As many as three million state employees may have access to SIPRNet, the "completely secure" database at the Department of Defense and State Department from which Manning is alleged to have stolen classified documents. Manning has disclosed how, while working in his office, he downloaded documents on to "a CD-RW labelled with something like 'Lady Gaga'". (To evade suspicion, Manning has said, he "listened and lip-synced to Lady Gaga's Telephone while exfiltratrating possibly the largest data spillage in American history".)
The White House finds itself in the position of a homeowner who has been burgled after leaving his front and back doors wide open. A jury may still convict the thief and those who received stolen goods. But public opinion is likely to marvel at the laxness with which the US government handled secret material that it now describes as so important.
Yet perhaps the biggest risk of all resides in the actions of the US government to date. Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, but didn't go to jail. The case was dismissed after evidence emerged of "prosecutorial misconduct". These efforts included an attempt to bribe the presiding judge. White House operatives were also despatched to break into the offices of Ellsberg's doctor in an effort to steal medical records that could be used to discredit him.
It would beggar belief if the Obama administration sabotaged its case in such a crude fashion. Yet errors of judgement become a distinct possibility when the atmosphere gets this febrile.
Already, there are straws in the wind. Solicitors representing Assange in London have spoken of intimidating letters from the State Department and heavy-handed surveillance. In September, according to The New York Times, three laptops that Julian Assange checked into the hold of a nearly-empty flight from Stockholm to Berlin went missing. They have never been recovered.
Most of all, the courts will be interested in any evidence that the US government authorised denial of service attacks against WikiLeaks. US judges tend to take a dim view of extrajudicial attempts to restrain publication.
Sit back and add it all up: if the founder of WikiLeaks enters a US courtroom, his options will multiply. The government's will diminish. This looks like a classic ju-jitsu moment in which an underpowered defendant can turn the sheer body weight of a prosecutor to his advantage.
Putting Assange behind bars will merely make him a martyr. In 1918, Eugene Debs, the leader of the Socialist Party, was convicted under The Espionage Act and imprisoned. He promptly ran for president from his prison cell. Clearly, Assange cannot run for the White House. But he has a talent for dramatising his context that cannot be underestimated.
Senator Joe Lieberman has floated the idea of prosecuting The New York Times as well as WikiLeaks. Lieberman should be careful what he wishes for. At this stage, the best possible result for the White House would be the failure of any attempt to extradite Julian Assange to the US.
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3) Assange attorney: Secret grand jury meeting in Virginia on WikiLeaks
By the CNN Wire Staff
December 13, 2010 12:00 p.m. EST
http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/368-wikileaks/4249-assange-attorney-grand-jury-meeting-in-virginia-on-wikileaks
London (CNN) -- A secret grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, is meeting to consider criminal charges in the WikiLeaks case, an attorney for the site's founder, Julian Assange, told the Al-Jazeera network in an interview.
"We have heard from Swedish authorities there has been a secretly empaneled grand jury in Alexandria. ... They are currently investigating this," Mark Stephens told Al-Jazeera's Sir David Frost on Sunday, referring to WikiLeaks. The site, which facilitates the disclosure of secret information, has been slowly releasing a trove of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables since November 28.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that he had authorized "significant" actions related to a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks' publication of the cables but has declined to elaborate.
Assange is sought for questioning in connection with allegations of sexual assault in Sweden. He surrendered to British authorities last week.
"I think that the Americans are much more interested in terms of the WikiLeaks aspect of this," Stephens told Al-Jazeera. He said it was his understanding that Swedish authorities have said that if Assange is extradited there, "they will defer their interest in him to the Americans. ... It does seem to me that what we have here is nothing more than a holding charge." The United States just wants Assange detained, he said, so "ultimately they can get their mitts on him."
"He is entitled under international law, under Swedish law, to know the charges or the investigation that's going on, the allegations made against him and the nature of the evidence which is said to support it," Stephens said. "As I sit here talking to you now, he hasn't that that information, so he's not been able to comprehensively rebut (the allegations)."
Assange is next set to appear in court Tuesday. Stephens said his client is ready to meet with the Swedish prosecutor if she travels to London, but she has not done so.
The legal process could be a long one, he said. "There are a number of issues in this particular case which raise European Convention and human rights points."
Meanwhile, The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing Thursday on "the Espionage Act and the legal and constitutional issues raised by WikiLeaks," according to its website. More details on the hearing and a witness list had not been posted as of Monday morning.
Before WikiLeaks began posting the cables, Assange wrote to the United States and told them he did not want to imperil any ongoing operations or put anyone at risk, Stephens said. Redactions put in place are not seen to have exposed anyone to risk, he said.
Beside the United States, WikiLeaks has apparently angered Russia and China, Stephens told Al-Jazeera. Russia has accused him of being a CIA operative, according to the attorney, while cyberattacks against WikiLeaks have appeared to come from Russian and Chinese computers. "He does seem to have picked enemies, if you like, with the three major superpowers," Stephens said of Assange.
Last week, supporters of WikiLeaks calling themselves "Anonymous" and "Operation Payback" claimed responsibility for disabling or disrupting the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal. The group tried unsuccessfully to bring down Amazon.com, saying on Twitter, "We don't have enough forces."
Anonymous made the attacks not through hacking but by directing a giant traffic surge to the targeted website in a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack. Such attacks are hard for most websites to defend against, and they can significantly slow or crash a website.
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4) Air Force Blocks Media Sites
By SPENCER E. ANTE And JULIAN E. BARNES
DECEMBER 14, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576019944121568506.htm
[Freedom of the press doesn't mean you are actually free to read the press.]
The U.S. Air Force is blocking its personnel from using work computers to view the websites of the New York Times and other major publications that have posted classified diplomatic cables, people familiar with the matter said.
Air Force users who try to view the websites of the New York Times, Britain's Guardian, Spain's El Pais, France's Le Monde or German magazine Der Spiegel instead get a page that says, "ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored," according to a screen shot reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The notice warns that anyone who accesses unauthorized sites from military computers could be punished.
The Air Force said it had blocked more than 25 websites that contained the documents, originally obtained by the website WikiLeaks and published starting late last month, in order to keep classified material off unclassified computer systems.
Major Toni Tones, a spokeswoman for Air Force Space Command, wouldn't name the websites but said they might include media sites. Removing such material after it ends up on a computer could require "unnecessary time and resources," Major Tones said.
"It is unfortunate that the U.S. Air Force has chosen not to allow its personnel access to the most important news, analysis and commentary," a New York Times spokeswoman said.
The other publications couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
The move was ordered by the 24th Air Force, which is responsible for maintaining Air Force computer networks. The Army, Navy and Marines aren't blocking the sites, and the Defense Department hasn't told the services to do so, according to spokespeople for the services and the Pentagon.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has issued guidance against visiting WikiLeaks or downloading documents posted there, according to defense officials. The Air Force told its own personnel in August to avoid those actions. Service commanders have authority to go beyond Pentagon guidance and issue orders to protect classified information.
One senior defense official questioned the wisdom of blocking the newspaper sites or even prohibiting service members from visiting them on military computers, arguing that the information has spread on the Internet and that sites like the New York Times contain other, useful information. The defense official said blocking the New York Times was a misinterpretation of military guidance to avoid visiting websites that post classified material.
The new order doesn't prevent Air Force personnel from viewing the media websites on nonmilitary computers, one Air Force official said. The block can also be lifted if accessing one of the news sites is essential to a person's job, according to the screen shot.
-Russell Adams contributed to this article.
Copyright 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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5) New Estimates Revise Incidence of Food Poisoning
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/business/16illness.html?hp
A new estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowers the number of people who get sick or die from food poisoning each year in the United States, a revision that officials said was the result of changes in method and data analysis and not vast improvements in the nation's food system.
According to an estimate released Wednesday by the agency, about 48 million people get sick and more than 3,000 die each year from food poisoning in the United States.
While those are big numbers, they are lower than an earlier estimate of 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths a year that came from a 1999 study frequently cited by lawmakers and advocates seeking to pass new food safety legislation.
The new numbers don't necessarily mean there is less food poisoning. They simply mean that scientists think they can now do a better job of guessing how many illnesses actually occur. Government scientists said the new estimate should be viewed as the more accurate guess based on better information. The revision means that one in six Americans gets sick each year from tainted food, not one in four, as the old study had it.
"There's more that needs to be done," said Dr. Christopher R. Braden, director of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases at the C.D.C. "Many of these illnesses are preventable."
It was not clear whether the lower estimate might affect the fate of the long-awaited food safety bill, which remains trapped in legislative limbo. The bill, which would greatly increase the government's authority to regulate food manufacturers and farmers, was passed by the Senate last month and by the House of Representatives last week. But because of a procedural problem, it must be voted on again by the Senate, which is wrapped up in the debate over extending the Bush-era tax cuts. It is not clear if the bill will come up for a final Senate vote before Congress finishes for the year.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement saying the data underscored the need approve the legislation.
"The C.D.C. data underscore the magnitude of foodborne illness in the United States, and because these illnesses and deaths are preventable, they are unacceptable," the statement said, adding that the food safety bill would provide "new and long overdue tools to further modernize our food safety program. "
The estimates, old and new, rely heavily on the idea that most cases of food poisoning never get reported. The symptoms may be too mild for a person to see a doctor. Or, even in more severe cases, testing may fail to uncover a pathogen.
So researchers take data on reported cases and make educated guesses on how many more illnesses actually occur.
The new estimate, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, says that only about a fifth of all foodborne illness is the result of pathogens that scientists have been able to identify.
Several of those have become household names and the stuff of headlines. Salmonella, the bacteria behind this summer's big egg recall, is now estimated to be responsible for more than a million illnesses and 378 deaths a year. Less common but far more deadly, listeriawas estimated to cause 1,591 illnesses, with 255 fatalities. Various forms of toxic E. coli, a bacteria that has tainted hamburger meat and leafy greens, were estimated to cause about 176,000 illnesses and 20 deaths a year.
The most common pathogen was norovirus, which is more commonly passed along in person-to-person contact. It was estimated to cause 5.4 million foodborne illnesses and 149 deaths a year.
Dr. Braden said the new study would help regulators and scientists determine what pathogens to focus on in seeking to prevent foodborne illnesses. He said further research would look at which foods were most often associated with particular pathogens.
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6) Anti-Austerity Protest in Greece Turns Violent
By NIKI KITSANTONIS
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/europe/16greece.html?ref=world
ATHENS - Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of the capital on Wednesday for a protest against a fresh wave of austerity measures which was marred by violence as a general strike brought international travel and public services to a standstill.
The walkout - Greece's seventh general strike this year - grounded flights, kept ferries in ports, halted train services and shut down government offices and schools while leaving hospitals to operate on emergency staffing and causing a news blackout as journalists joined the action. Public transport was operating for most of the day to enable Athenians to attend demonstrations in the city center.
Around 20,000 people answered the call of unions representing civil servants, private sector workers and the Communist Party for three separate demonstrations. The rallies were mostly peaceful until the early afternoon, when self-styled anarchists broke off from the crowd and attacked the police with firebombs and chunks of stone torn up from sidewalks.
Hundreds of youths clashed with the police outside Parliament and other central landmarks, smashing store facades, setting fire to garbage dumpsters and prompting officers to fire stun grenades and unleash thick clouds of tear gas that sent Athenians and tourists scurrying into side streets with their eyes streaming.
Tensions peaked outside Parliament, where late on Tuesday night Greek lawmakers voted through new laws cutting wages and jobs at debt-ridden public companies and watering down legislation protecting workers' rights. Despite vehement protests by opposition parties and objections by some backbenchers of the ruling Socialist party, the new bill passed smoothly into law as the government retains a comfortable majority in Greece's 300-seat Parliament. The reforms are the latest raft of austerity measures demanded by Greece's European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a €110 billion rescue package granted to the debt-ridden country in May.
Opposition to the measures, and to the pressure being applied by the country's international creditors, was clear in the streets on Wednesday. Angry protesters wielded placards reading "IMF out!" and "Let us not live as slaves!" while others chanted "Thieves, thieves!" and "Shame on you!" to unseen deputies in Parliament.
At one point a conservative opposition MP and former minister, Costis Hatzidakis, spotted near the Parliament building, was chased by a group of around 100 angry protesters who pelted him with stones. The 45-year-old deputy emerged from the encounter with a few grazes after officers intervened and escorted him to safety, said a police spokesman, Thanassis Kokkalakis.
Mr. Kokkalakis said that "several" people had been detained for questioning in Athens and in the northern port city of Thessaloniki. "The clashes are ongoing; it's not over yet," he said.
As dusk fell and tear gas lingered in the air, police helicopters circled over Parliament, where rows of police officers in gas masks and shields stood guard. "This is unacceptable - it's worse than the junta," said Giorgos Papageorgiou, a 52-year-old factory worker, referring to a seven-year military dictatorship in Greece that fell in 1974. Mr. Papageorgiou said the new law voted through Parliament would lower his monthly wage to €700 from €1,000 and make it harder for him to support his wife, who does not work, and their teenage daughter.
"Is this the democracy we fought for?" said Mr. Papageorgiou, wiping the white chalky remnants of tear gas from his face. "This is fascism."
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7) The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention
By Glenn Greenwald
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2010 02:15 ET
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/14/manning/
(updated below)
Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old U.S. Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has never been convicted of that crime, nor of any other crime. Despite that, he has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia for five months -- and for two months before that in a military jail in Kuwait -- under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture. Interviews with several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard) who confirmed much of what they conveyed, establishes that the accused leaker is subjected to detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries.
Since his arrest in May, Manning has been a model detainee, without any episodes of violence or disciplinary problems. He nonetheless was declared from the start to be a "Maximum Custody Detainee," the highest and most repressive level of military detention, which then became the basis for the series of inhumane measures imposed on him.
From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not "like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole," but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out.
In sum, Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America's Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado: all without so much as having been convicted of anything. And as is true of many prisoners subjected to warped treatment of this sort, the brig's medical personnel now administer regular doses of anti-depressants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation.
Just by itself, the type of prolonged solitary confinement to which Manning has been subjected for many months is widely viewed around the world as highly injurious, inhumane, punitive, and arguably even a form of torture. In his widely praised March, 2009 New Yorker article -- entitled "Is Long-Term Solitary Confinement Torture?" -- the surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande assembled expert opinion and personal anecdotes to demonstrate that, as he put it, "all human beings experience isolation as torture." By itself, prolonged solitary confinement routinely destroys a person's mind and drives them into insanity. A March, 2010 article in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law explains that "solitary confinement is recognized as difficult to withstand; indeed, psychological stressors such as isolation can be as clinically distressing as physical torture."
For that reason, many Western nations -- and even some non-Western nations notorious for human rights abuses -- refuse to employ prolonged solitary confinement except in the most extreme cases of prisoner violence. "It's an awful thing, solitary," John McCain wrote of his experience in isolated confinement in Vietnam. "It crushes your spirit." As Gawande documented: "A U.S. military study of almost a hundred and fifty naval aviators returned from imprisonment in Vietnam . . . reported that they found social isolation to be as torturous and agonizing as any physical abuse they suffered." Gawande explained that America's application of this form of torture to its own citizens is what spawned the torture regime which President Obama vowed to end:
This past year, both the Republican and the Democratic Presidential candidates came out firmly for banning torture and closing the facility in Guantánamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners have been held in years-long isolation. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain, however, addressed the question of whether prolonged solitary confinement is torture. . . .
This is the dark side of American exceptionalism. . . . Our willingness to discard these standards for American prisoners made it easy to discard the Geneva Conventions prohibiting similar treatment of foreign prisoners of war, to the detriment of America's moral stature in the world. In much the same way that a previous generation of Americans countenanced legalized segregation, ours has countenanced legalized torture. And there is no clearer manifestation of this than our routine use of solitary confinement . . . .
It's one thing to impose such punitive, barbaric measures on convicts who have proven to be violent when around other prisoners; at the Supermax in Florence, inmates convicted of the most heinous crimes and who pose a threat to prison order and the safety of others are subjected to worse treatment than what Manning experiences. But it's another thing entirely to impose such conditions on individuals, like Manning, who have been convicted of nothing and have never demonstrated an iota of physical threat or disorder.
In 2006, a bipartisan National Commission on America's Prisons was created and it called for the elimination of prolonged solitary confinement. Its Report documented that conditions whereby "prisoners end up locked in their cells 23 hours a day, every day. . . is so severe that people end up completely isolated, living in what can only be described as torturous conditions." The Report documented numerous psychiatric studies of individuals held in prolonged isolation which demonstrate "a constellation of symptoms that includes overwhelming anxiety, confusion and hallucination, and sudden violent and self-destructive outbursts." The above-referenced article from the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law states: "Psychological effects can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and psychosis."
When one exacerbates the harms of prolonged isolation with the other deprivations to which Manning is being subjected, long-term psychiatric and even physical impairment is likely. Gawande documents that "EEG studies going back to the nineteen-sixties have shown diffuse slowing of brain waves in prisoners after a week or more of solitary confinement." Medical tests conducted in 1992 on Yugoslavian prisoners subjected to an average of six months of isolation -- roughly the amount to which Manning has now been subjected -- "revealed brain abnormalities months afterward; the most severe were found in prisoners who had endured either head trauma sufficient to render them unconscious or, yes, solitary confinement. Without sustained social interaction, the human brain may become as impaired as one that has incurred a traumatic injury." Gawande's article is filled with horrifying stories of individuals subjected to isolation similar to or even less enduring than Manning's who have succumbed to extreme long-term psychological breakdown.
Manning is barred from communicating with any reporters, even indirectly, so nothing he has said can be quoted here. But David House, a 23-year-old MIT researcher who befriended Manning after his detention (and then had his laptops, camera and cellphone seized by Homeland Security when entering the U.S.) is one of the few people to have visited Manning several times at Quantico. He describes palpable changes in Manning's physical appearance and behavior just over the course of the several months that he's been visiting him. Like most individuals held in severe isolation, Manning sleeps much of the day, is particularly frustrated by the petty, vindictive denial of a pillow or sheets, and suffers from less and less outdoor time as part of his one-hour daily removal from his cage.
This is why the conditions under which Manning is being detained were once recognized in the U.S. -- and are still recognized in many Western nations -- as not only cruel and inhumane, but torture. More than a century ago, U.S. courts understood that solitary confinement was a barbaric punishment that severely harmed the mental and physical health of those subjected to it. The Supreme Court's 1890 decision in In re Medley noted that as a result of solitary confinement as practiced in the early days of the United States, many "prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition . . . and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide; while those who stood the ordeal better . . . [often] did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community." And in its 1940 decision in Chambers v. Florida, the Court characterized prolonged solitary confinement as "torture" and compared it to "[t]he rack, the thumbscrew, [and] the wheel."
The inhumane treatment of Manning may have international implications as well. There are multiple proceedings now pending in the European Union Human Rights Court, brought by "War on Terror" detainees contesting their extradition to the U.S. on the ground that the conditions under which they likely will be held -- particularly prolonged solitary confinement -- violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which (along with the Convention Against Torture) bars EU states from extraditing anyone to any nation where there is a real risk of inhumane and degrading treatment. The European Court of Human Rights has in the past found detention conditions violative of those rights (in Bulgaria) where "the [detainee] spent 23 hours a day alone in his cell; had limited interaction with other prisoners; and was only allowed two visits per month." From the Journal article referenced above:
International treaty bodies and human rights experts, including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, have concluded that solitary confinement may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. They have specifically criticized supermax confinement in the United States because of the mental suffering it inflicts.
Subjecting a detainee like Manning to this level of prolonged cruel and inhumane detention can thus jeopardize the ability of the U.S. to secure extradition for other prisoners, as these conditions are viewed in much of the civilized world as barbaric. Moreover, because Manning holds dual American and U.K. citizenship (his mother is British), it is possible for British agencies and human rights organizations to assert his consular rights against these oppressive conditions. At least some preliminary efforts are underway in Britain to explore that mechanism as a means of securing more humane treatment for Manning. Whatever else is true, all of this illustrates what a profound departure from international norms is the treatment to which the U.S. Government is subjecting him.
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The plight of Manning has largely been overshadowed by the intense media fixation on WikiLeaks, so it's worth underscoring what it is that he's accused of doing and what he said in his own reputed words about these acts. If one believes the authenticity of the highly edited chat logs of Manning's online conversations with Adrian Lamo that have been released by Wired (that magazine inexcusably continues to conceal large portions of those logs), Manning clearly believed that he was a whistle-blower acting with the noblest of motives, and probably was exactly that. If, for instance, he really is the leaker of the Apache helicopter attack video -- a video which sparked very rare and much-needed realization about the visceral truth of what American wars actually entail -- as well as the war and diplomatic cables revealing substantial government deceit, brutality, illegality and corruption, then he's quite similar to Daniel Ellsberg. Indeed, Ellsberg himself said the very same thing about Manning in June on Democracy Now in explaining why he considers the Army Private to be a "hero":
The fact is that what Lamo reports Manning is saying has a very familiar and persuasive ring to me. He reports Manning as having said that what he had read and what he was passing on were horrible -- evidence of horrible machinations by the US backdoor dealings throughout the Middle East and, in many cases, as he put it, almost crimes. And let me guess that -- he's not a lawyer, but I'll guess that what looked to him like crimes are crimes, that he was putting out. We know that he put out, or at least it's very plausible that he put out, the videos that he claimed to Lamo. And that's enough to go on to get them interested in pursuing both him and the other.
And so, what it comes down, to me, is -- and I say throwing caution to the winds here -- is that what I've heard so far of Assange and Manning -- and I haven't met either of them -- is that they are two new heroes of mine.
To see why that's so, just recall some of what Manning purportedly said about why he chose to leak, at least as reflected in the edited chat logs published by Wired:
Lamo: what's your endgame plan, then?. . .
Manning: well, it was forwarded to [WikiLeaks] - and god knows what happens now - hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms - if not, than [sic] we're doomed - as a species - i will officially give up on the society we have if nothing happens - the reaction to the video gave me immense hope; CNN's iReport was overwhelmed; Twitter exploded - people who saw, knew there was something wrong . . . Washington Post sat on the video... David Finkel acquired a copy while embedded out here. . . . - i want people to see the truth... regardless of who they are... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.
if i knew then, what i knew now - kind of thing, or maybe im just young, naive, and stupid . . . im hoping for the former - it cant be the latter - because if it is... were fucking screwed (as a society) - and i dont want to believe that we're screwed.
Manning described the incident which first made him seriously question the U.S. Government: when he was instructed to work on the case of Iraqi "insurgents" who had been detained for distributing so-called "insurgent" literature which, when Manning had it translated, turned out to be nothing more than "a scholarly critique against PM Maliki":
i had an interpreter read it for me... and when i found out that it was a benign political critique titled "Where did the money go?" and following the corruption trail within the PM's cabinet... i immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on... he didn't want to hear any of it... he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees...
i had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth... but that was a point where i was a *part* of something... i was actively involved in something that i was completely against...
And Manning explained why he never considered the thought of selling this classified information to a foreign nation for substantial profit or even just secretly transmitting it to foreign powers, as he easily could have done:
Manning: i mean what if i were someone more malicious- i could've sold to russia or china, and made bank?
Lamo: why didn't you?
Manning: because it's public data
Lamo: i mean, the cables
Manning: it belongs in the public domain -information should be free - it belongs in the public domain - because another state would just take advantage of the information... try and get some edge - if its out in the open... it should be a public good.
That's a whistleblower in the purest and most noble form: discovering government secrets of criminal and corrupt acts and then publicizing them to the world not for profit, not to give other nations an edge, but to trigger "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms." Given how much Manning has been demonized -- at the same time that he's been rendered silent by the ban on his communication with any media -- it's worthwhile to keep all of that in mind.
But ultimately, what one thinks of Manning's alleged acts is irrelevant to the issue here. The U.S. ought at least to abide by minimal standards of humane treatment in how it detains him. That's true for every prisoner, at all times. But departures from such standards are particularly egregious where, as here, the detainee has merely been accused, but never convicted, of wrongdoing. These inhumane conditions make a mockery of Barack Obama's repeated pledge to end detainee abuse and torture, as prolonged isolation -- exacerbated by these other deprivations -- is at least as damaging, as violative of international legal standards, and almost as reviled around the world, as the waterboard, hypothermia and other Bush-era tactics that caused so much controversy.
What all of this achieves is clear. Having it known that the U.S. could and would disappear people at will to "black sites," assassinate them with unseen drones, imprison them for years without a shred of due process even while knowing they were innocent, torture them mercilessly, and in general acts as a lawless and rogue imperial power created a climate of severe intimidation and fear. Who would want to challenge the U.S. Government in any way -- even in legitimate ways -- knowing that it could and would engage in such lawless, violent conduct without any restraints or repercussions?
That is plainly what is going on here. Anyone remotely affiliated with WikiLeaks, including American citizens (and plenty of other government critics), has their property seized and communications stored at the border without so much as a warrant. Julian Assange -- despite never having been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime -- has now spent more than a week in solitary confinement with severe restrictions under what his lawyer calls "Dickensian conditions." But Bradley Manning has suffered much worse, and not for a week, but for seven months, with no end in sight. If you became aware of secret information revealing serious wrongdoing, deceit and/or criminality on the part of the U.S. Government, would you -- knowing that you could and likely would be imprisoned under these kinds of repressive, torturous conditions for months on end without so much as a trial: just locked away by yourself 23 hours a day without recourse -- be willing to expose it? That's the climate of fear and intimidation which these inhumane detention conditions are intended to create.
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Those wishing to contribute to Bradley Manning's defense fund can do so here:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/858/1/
UPDATE: I was contacted by Lt. Villiard, who claims there is one factual inaccuracy in what I wrote: specifically, he claims that Manning is not restricted from accessing news or current events during the prescribed time he is permitted to watch television. That is squarely inconsistent with reports from those with first-hand knowledge of Manning's detention, but it's a fairly minor dispute in the scheme of things.
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8) Daniel Ellsberg Talks to AlterNet About Treatment of WikiLeaks' Assange
By Adele M. Stan | Sourced from AlterNet
Posted at December 16, 2010, 8:45 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/397133/daniel_ellsberg_talks_to_alternet_about_treatment_of_wikileaks%27_assange/#paragraph2
On his way to chain himself to the White House fence with peace activists, famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg stopped off at the National Press Club to join Brett Solomon of the Australian advocacy organization, GetUp.org, in the unveiling of a full-page ad appearing in today's New York Times. The ad calls for the release and fair treatment of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and an Australian citizen. After the release of a cache of cables from the U.S. State Department, Assange was apprehended in the U.K. on sex-crime charges pressed in Sweden. He was released on bail today.
After the press conference, Ellsberg spoke to AlterNet, calling the law by which the U.S. apparently seeks to prosecute Assange "unconstitutional."
Ellsberg became a household name in the 1970s when, while working as an analyst in the Department of Defense, he leaked classified information to the New York Times that revealed a torrent of misinformation and lies put before the American public about the prosecution of the war in Vietnam. Late last month, the Times was among a handful of newspapers that published classified State Department communications released by WikiLeaks, which also previously released classified information regarding the prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The ad, signed by 90,000 Australians, reads:
Dear President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder:
We, as Australians, condemn calls for violence, including assassination, against Australian citizen and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, or for him to be labeled a terrorist, enemy combatant or be treated outside the ordinary course of justice in any way.
[...]
To label WikiLeaks a terrorist organization is an insult to those Australians and Americans who have lost their lives to acts of terrorism and to terrorist forces. If WikiLeaks or their staff have broken international or national laws, let that case be heard in a just and fair court of law. At the moment, no such charges have been brought.
Solomon noted that in a nation of 20 million citizens, the tens of thousands who signed the petition represent a significant number of concerned Australians.
According to Assange's U.K. attorney, a secret grand jury convened by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is currently meeting in Alexandria, Virginia, to consider a prosecution of Assange.
While Holder has not confirmed that assertion, made by attorney Mark Stephens to David Frost on al Jazeera television, he has not denied it. According to the Voice of America, Holder "says he has authorized significant steps to be taken in response to the latest leak."
CBS News reported on November 29 that Holder has launched a criminal investigation of WikiLeaks and/or Assange in the wake of its latest release of classified material. Ellsberg, however, held that it remains unclear whether a grand jury has been empaneled as part of Holder's investigation.
AlterNet caught up with Ellsberg after the press conference, asking for comment on an apparent public relations campaign to brand Assange as something other than a journalist. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley asserted last week that because Assange "has a political agenda." A handful of figures, including incoming Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., have called WikiLeaks a terrorist organization.
Yet, as CNN's Jeffrey Toobin pointed out earlier this month, the law no more shields journalists than anybody else from prosecution for the dissemination of classified information. For instance, in the case decided by the Supreme Court regarding the New York Times' decision to publish the Pentagon Papers leaked by Ellsberg, the court held only that the government did not have the right to keep the Times from publishing the papers, but the government still had the right to prosecute the Times after classified information from the papers was published in its pages. So, why try to make a distinction, however polemical?
"The law they're using makes no distinction between journalists, the press -- it applies to readers of the New York Times, just as well as to the publishers, the journalists and the leakers," Ellsberg explained. "The language of that law makes no distinction. Now, that's why they've been reluctant to use it -- because it's so broad, that it's almost clearly unconstitutional."
"They have tried to use the law -- mostly unsuccessfully -- but they've tried to use the law against leakers," Ellsberg continued. "They've never tried to use it against a publisher. So this would be a first."
In other words, if the Justice Department can successfully brand Assange as something other than a journalist or a publisher, it would not appear to be violating the perception of freedom of expression held by most Americans.
"[R]ather than break new ground there -- which looks even more clearly violating of First Amendment freedom of the press than against the leaker -- they prefer to say it's just the leaker -- not because of a difference in the law, it's because of the way they've applied the law in the past...and public perception."
After the press conference, Ellsberg planned to speak at an anti-war rally near the White House with activists who plan to conduct civil disobedience by chaining themselves to the fence that surrounds the White House. Other speakers included Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink; Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER coalition; Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan, Peace of the Action; Ray McGovern, retired CIA officer and former U.S. Army Intelligence officer; Mike Ferner, president, Veterans For Peace; Diane Wilson, environmental activist and author of An Unreasonable Woman; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait, and Mike Prysner, Iraq vet, cofounder of March Forward!.
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9) Julian Assange granted bail at high court
WikiLeaks founder is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 December 2010 16.12 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/16/julian-assange-wikileaks
Britain's high court today granted bail to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape.
Mr Justice Duncan Ouseley agreed with a decision by City of Westminister magistrates court earlier in the week to release Assange on strict conditions: £200,000 cash deposit, with a further £40,000 guaranteed in two sureties of £20,000, and strict conditions on his movement.
Assange stood in a dark grey suit in the dock as Ouseley began hearing an appeal by British prosecutors acting on behalf of Sweden.
There was an early sign that the day would go in Assange's favour when Ouseley said: "The history of the way it [the case] has been dealt with by the Swedish prosecutors would give Mr Assange some basis that he might be acquitted following a trial."
Mark Stephens, one of Assange's lawyers, said he expected Assange to be released later today, or tomorrow in a worst case scenario.
"We are hopeful that he will be released from here [the court] but if the formalities are not completed before the bus goes back to Wandsworth, he will be released from Wandsworth later," Stephens said.
"We haven't addressed the question of American legal action or the potential for it. Our main focus is delight and joy, and delight and joy of Julian's family, that he is going to be released in the very foreseeable future. He will not be going back to that Victorian prison. He will not be going back to that cell once occupied by Oscar Wilde."
The Crown Prosecution Service suggested that Assange's wealthy supporters were offering surety for a cause, not because they could vouch for him.
The 39-year-old Australian arrived at the high court in a white prison van. Photographers swarmed around the vehicle in an attempt to get a picture. Amid intense media interest, a queue of journalists had formed as early as 6am.
Stephens said before the proceedings that the bail money had been raised from Assange's supporters and "appears to be in the banking system". .
Assange has been held in solitary confinement, released from his cell for only one hour a day, and his mail has been heavily censored, according to his supporters.
Assange is fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct including rape made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers, which he denies.
"It's an ongoing investigation in Sweden and the prosecutor needs to interrogate him to make a decision on the matter," said Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecution agency.
Bail conditions stipulate that Assange must stay at a country house in Suffolk owned by Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline club in west London, report to police daily and wear an electronic tag.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the decision to seek a remand in custody for Assange was taken by the British authorities and not by prosecutors in Sweden.
It had been widely supposed that Sweden had taken the decision to oppose bail, with the Crown Prosecution Service acting merely as its representative. But the Swedish prosecutor's office told the Guardian it had "not got a view at all on bail" and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail.
Karin Rosander, the director of communications for Sweden's prosecutor's office, said: "The decision was made by the British prosecutor. I got it confirmed by the CPS this morning that the decision to appeal the granting of bail was entirely a matter for the CPS. The Swedish prosecutors are not entitled to make decisions within Britain. It is entirely up to the British authorities to handle it."
As a result, she said, Sweden would not submit any new evidence or arguments to the high court hearing. "The Swedish authorities are not involved in these proceedings. We have not got a view at all on bail."
The CPS confirmed that decisions to oppose bail for Assange had been taken by its lawyers. "In all extradition cases, decisions on bail issues are always taken by the domestic prosecuting authority," it said. "It would not be practical for prosecutors in a foreign jurisdiction ... to make such decisions."
Assange and his lawyers have expressed fears of a legal battle in the US, where prosecutors may be preparing to indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks' publication of the documents.
The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors were looking for evidence that Assange had conspired with a former US army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified documents.
Among the material prosecutors are studying is an online chat log in which Private Bradley Manning is said to claim that while he was downloading government files he was directly communicating with Assange using an encrypted internet conferencing service, according to the Times. Manning is also said to have claimed that Assange gave him access to a dedicated server for uploading some of them to WikiLeaks.
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10) WikiLeaks Founder Is Released on Bail
By RAVI SOMAIYA and ALAN COWELL
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/world/europe/17assange.html?ref=world
LONDON - The High Court in London granted bail on Thursday to Julian Assange, the founder of the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks, while he fights extradition to Sweden on a warrant connected with alleged sex offenses. He emerged onto a London street late in the day.
"Well, it's great to feel the fresh air of London again," he said in a brief statement to reporters outside of the Royal Courts of Justice. "I hope to continue my work and continue protesting my innocence in this matter."
But Judge Duncan Ouseley added more restrictive bail conditions to those imposed by a lower court two days ago, when the prosecutors filed an appeal and said Mr. Assange was a flight risk.
In dismissing the appeal by prosecutors, Judge Ouseley said he accepted arguments by the prosecution that many of those who were posting bail for Mr. Assange were doing so because they supported WikiLeaks and might regard "absconding as a right and justified act" to keep the beleaguered Web site running.
Dressed in a white shirt open at the collar and a dark suit, Mr. Assange sat with legs crossed through the two-hour hearing in the High Court, which is near the London theater district. He reacted impassively when the Judge Ouseley pronounced his ruling.
Bail of $315,000 was granted by the lower court on Tuesday after a friend of Mr. Assange offered to allow him to stay at a mansion in Suffolk, an hour's drive from London in eastern England.
According to the bail conditions set by the lower court, Mr. Assange must spend every night at the mansion, Ellingham Hall, a 10-bedroom Georgian home on a 650-acre estate owned by Vaughan Smith, the wealthy founder of the Frontline journalists' club in London.
The conditions include a curfew, daily visits to the police and electronic tagging to enable the police to track his movements.
On Thursday, Judge Ouseley said that in addition, Mr. Assange would be restricted to a small area around Ellingham Hall rather than be given free access to the entire estate. The judge also sought additional financial guarantees from at least two of Mr. Assange's closest associates, Sarah Harrison and Joseph Farrell. The newest demands for bail and sureties brought the total to $370,000.
Geoffrey Robertson, one of Britain's most prominent lawyers, who is assisting Mr. Assange's defense team, joked on Thursday that during his stay at Ellingham Hall, Mr. Assange would also be under the scrutiny of the estate's gamekeepers.
The hearing on Thursday was formally separate from Mr. Assange's role in the publication of some 250,000 American diplomatic documents and came as federal prosecutors in Washington looked for evidence that would enable them to charge him with helping an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information.
The American prosecutors believe that if he did so, they could charge him as a conspirator rather than a passive recipient of the documents.
WikiLeaks said on its Web site on Thursday that it had so far released 1,606 of the 251,287 diplomatic cables.
Mr. Assange's court appearance in London is related to allegations of sexual misconduct on three occasions with two young Swedish women in Stockholm last August, something he denies. Swedish prosecutors say they want him to be returned to their country to question him in connection with accusations that he broke Swedish rape and other laws.
Mr. Assange has said the encounters were consensual but his accusers say they ceased to be consensual when a condom was not being used.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that the appeal against bail was initiated by British prosecutors, not their Swedish counterparts, who said they had "not got a view at all on bail."
The case has become bitterly divisive among supporters and critics of Mr. Assange - and the focus of much attention by news media outlets around the world. Scores of reporters, photographers and camera crews gathered outside the High Court as Mr. Assange arrived in a white armored prison services truck to take his place in an ornate dock in Courtroom 4.
His incarceration has not ended the flow of classified American cables, mostly between American diplomats abroad and the State Department in Washington. Earlier, WikiLeaks published confidential American material relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The documents were made available to newspapers including The New York Times.
Ravi Somaiya reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 16, 2010
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the High Court judge who rejected an appeal challenging the granting of bail to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. He is Judge Duncan Ouseley, not Ounsley.
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11) South Korea to Hold Artillery Drills on Island
By MARK McDONALD and KEVIN DREW
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/world/asia/17korea.html?ref=world
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said on Thursday that it would hold artillery drills in the coming days from the island attacked by the North last month, as an American governor traveled to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to try to ease tensions between the Asian neighbors.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Yeonpyeong Island would be the site of a day of live-fire drills sometime between Saturday and Tuesday. South Korean marines will be joined by 20 American military personnel, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The announcement came as Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico flew into North Korea from Beijing. It was not clear whom Mr. Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, would meet, but North-South tension was expected to be the top issue.
Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed on Nov. 23 on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, when it came under artillery fire from North Korea.
The North said its artillery barrage was in retaliation for similar drills held by the South, during which shells landed in its territorial waters. South Korea said it was conducting a routine drill at the time of the shelling and accused the North of a premeditated attack.
Mr. Richardson, who has made several trips to North Korea, told reporters in Beijing that when the authorities in Pyongyang invited him to visit, "They always want to send a message of some kind."
Analysts in Seoul said a similar tactic - the use of a nongovernmental go-between - was employed recently when Siegfried S. Hecker, the former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was invited by the government in Pyongyang. Dr. Hecker was shown a new and sophisticated uranium-enrichment plant that North Korean officials said was already operational. The existence of the plant startled nuclear experts, diplomats and political leaders around the world.
"The problem is, there is no contact point," said Park Tae-gyun, a history professor at Seoul National University, referring to the inability of the United States and South Korea to talk directly to leaders in the North. "There's not even a hot line."
The hot line that had been used in past years to defuse flare-ups or hold significant North-South dialogue is at Panmunjom, the so-called truce village on the border. But that line has been severed, and leaders in Seoul and Pyongyang now communicate by leaving messages for each other at an unofficial office at Kaesong, the jointly operated industrial park in the North. There is also a fax machine there.
Mark McDonald reported from Seoul, and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong.
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12) U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
December 15, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/16wiki.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information.
Justice Department officials are trying to find out whether Mr. Assange encouraged or even helped the analyst, Pfc. Bradley Manning, to extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system. If he did so, they believe they could charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them.
Among materials prosecutors are studying is an online chat log in which Private Manning is said to claim that he had been directly communicating with Mr. Assange using an encrypted Internet conferencing service as the soldier was downloading government files. Private Manning is also said to have claimed that Mr. Assange gave him access to a dedicated server for uploading some of them to WikiLeaks.
Adrian Lamo, an ex-hacker in whom Private Manning confided and who eventually turned him in, said Private Manning detailed those interactions in instant-message conversations with him.
He said the special server's purpose was to allow Private Manning's submissions to "be bumped to the top of the queue for review." By Mr. Lamo's account, Private Manning bragged about this "as evidence of his status as the high-profile source for WikiLeaks."
Wired magazine has published excerpts from logs of online chats between Mr. Lamo and Private Manning. But the sections in which Private Manning is said to detail contacts with Mr. Assange are not among them. Mr. Lamo described them from memory in an interview with The Times, but he said he could not provide the full chat transcript because the F.B.I. had taken his hard drive, on which it was saved.
Since WikiLeaks began making public large caches of classified United States government documents this year, Justice Department officials have been struggling to come up with a way to charge Mr. Assange with a crime. Among other things, they have studied several statutes that criminalize the dissemination of restricted information under certain circumstances, including the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986.
But while prosecutors have used such laws to go after leakers and hackers, they have never successfully prosecuted recipients of leaked information for passing it on to others - an activity that can fall under the First Amendment's strong protections of speech and press freedoms.
Last week, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said he had just authorized investigators to take "significant" steps, declining to specify them. This week, one of Mr. Assange's lawyers in Britain said they had "heard from Swedish authorities there has been a secretly impaneled grand jury" in northern Virginia.
Justice Department officials have declined to discuss any grand jury activity. But in interviews, people familiar with the case said the department appeared to be attracted to the possibility of prosecuting Mr. Assange as a co-conspirator to the leaking because it is under intense pressure to make an example of him as a deterrent to further mass leaking of electronic documents over the Internet.
By bringing a case against Mr. Assange as a conspirator to Private Manning's leak, the government would not have to confront awkward questions about why it is not also prosecuting traditional news organizations or investigative journalists who also disclose information the government says should be kept secret - including The New York Times, which also published some documents originally obtained by WikiLeaks.
"I suspect there is a real desire on the part of the government to avoid pursuing the publication aspect if it can pursue the leak aspect," said Daniel C. Richman, a Columbia law professor and former federal prosecutor. "It would be so much neater and raise fewer constitutional issues."
It has been known that investigators were looking for evidence that one or more people in Boston served as an intermediary between Private Manning and WikiLeaks, although there is no public sign that they have found any evidence supporting that theory.
But Mr. Lamo said Private Manning also sometimes uploaded information directly to Mr. Assange, whom he had initially sought out online. The soldier sent a "test leak" of a single State Department cable from Iceland to see if Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks were who they claimed to be, Mr. Lamo said.
"At some point, he became satisfied that he was actually talking to Assange and not some unknown third party posing as Assange, and based on that he began sending in smaller amounts of data from his computer," Mr. Lamo said. "Because of the nature of his Internet connection, he wasn't able to send large data files easily. He was using a satellite connection, so he was limited until he did an actual physical drop-off when he was back in the United States in January of this year."
Still, prosecutors would most likely need more than a chat transcript laying out such claims to implicate Mr. Assange, Professor Richman said. Even if prosecutors could prove that it was Private Manning writing the messages to Mr. Lamo, a court might deem the whole discussion as inadmissible hearsay evidence.
Prosecutors could overcome that hurdle if they obtain other evidence about any early contacts - especially if they could persuade Private Manning to testify against Mr. Assange. But two members of a support network set up to raise money for his legal defense, Jeff Paterson and David House, said Private Manning had declined to cooperate with investigators since his arrest in May.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks is taking steps to distance itself from the suggestion that it actively encourages people to send in classified material. It has changed how it describes itself on its submissions page. "WikiLeaks accepts a range of material, but we do not solicit it," its Web site now says.
It also deleted the word "classified" from a description of the kinds of material it accepts. And it dropped an assertion that "Submitting confidential material to WikiLeaks is safe, easy and protected by law," now saying instead: "Submitting documents to our journalists is protected by law in better democracies."
WikiLeaks is also taking steps to position itself more squarely as a news organization, which could make it easier to invoke the First Amendment as a shield. Where its old submissions page made few references to journalism, it now uses "journalist" and forms of the word "news" about 20 times.
Another new sentence portrays its primary work as filtering and analyzing documents, not just posting them raw. It says its "journalists write news stories based on the material, and then provide a link to the supporting documentation to prove our stories are true."
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13) Some Georgia Inmates Return to Work
By SARAH WHEATON
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16prison.html?ref=us
Inmates in several Georgia prisons were divided over how to continue their protest on Wednesday, with some returning to work after a six-day strike. Many vowed to continue boycotting their jobs until their demands were met.
The shift came after the Georgia Department of Corrections lifted a lockdown Tuesday at four of the prisons that had been centers of the coordinated protest. Organizing with contraband cellphones, the inmates are seeking payment for work and changes to parole rules among other things.
A "handful" of factional leaders told their groups they could return to work Wednesday, said Mike, 33, a prisoner at Smith State Prison in Glennville who asked that his last name not be used because he was using a contraband phone. After hearing from prison officials, some inmates decided to call off the strike so the administration could consider the request without the lockdown as a distraction.
"Within the week we were locked down, we took over the prison in a nonviolent way," Mike said. But, if changes are not in motion by some point in January, he warned, "the next way, it's not going to be nonviolent."
A "significant number" of inmates are still on strike, said Elaine Brown, a prisoner advocate. A corrections department spokeswoman did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
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14) 22 Arrested in LA Foreclosure Protest at Chase
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/16/business/AP-CA-Foreclosures-Protest.html?src=busln
Filed at 6:00 p.m. EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police arrested 22 demonstrators who blocked entry to a downtown Chase bank branch Thursday to protest what they said were unfair home foreclosures.
The demonstrators, which included homeowners facing foreclosure, community advocates and labor leaders, silently allowed officers to bind their wrists behind their backs with plastic restraints and guide them into a police van.
Dozens more demonstrators chanted and marched on a nearby sidewalk holding sighs that said "Stop Bank Greed, Save Our Neighborhoods" as the 12 men and 10 women were taken into custody.
Detective Gus Villanueva said there were no injuries to police or protesters, who would be cited for trespassing and released.
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment member David Mazariegos said the demonstrators hoped to bring attention to the plight of people who were unjustly losing their homes.
He said banks' failure to modify many borrowers' loans puts them in violation of the Home Affordable Modification Program in which lenders agreed to participate as part of the bank bailout.
"The banks are not helping anyone stay in their homes," Mazariegos said. "It's highway robbery, what they're doing to these people."
ACCE director Amy Schur said the groups were singling out JPMorgan Chase & Co. because most of the borrowers whose foreclosures and evictions they are contesting are serviced by that bank.
A Chase spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call Thursday.
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